When watching The Diary of a Teenage Girl (even though I’m sure most of my audience won’t), I want you to find the humor in film. Sure, it’s a pretty screwed up film. A 15 year old girl starts to sleep with her mother’s boyfriend, because she just wants to have sex, and then commences to make a huge deal out of it, leading to some pretty disturbing shit happening. That’s what this movie is, but I beg of you to not look at it that way. I beg of you to find the complex themes (physical beauty vs sexual beauty), but I also beg of you to find the humor in all of it. Now that may be slightly difficult, but shock value has always been a great place to draw comedy from. The angle that The Diary of a Teenage Girl decides to take is brutal honesty, and that’s actually a great way to go to get some truly fantastic drama/comedy out of it. The film’s plot details and story elements may seem dark and dingy, but it’s screenplay and execution is pretty hilarious. To give an example, (meaning spoiler, but seriously who of you guys is going to convince your parent to take you to see this so does it really matter) there’s a moment when Minnie (an exuberant, and bright Bel Powley) decides to leave the man she’s been sleeping with (a very surprisingly warm and uncreepy Alexander Skarsgard) a note about why he’s been ignoring her, and focussing on her mother. First of all the scene is fuelled with the hilarious foreknowledge that Minny is sleeping with her mother’s boyfriend. That’s quite good drama, and the unconventional way it plays out is pretty great. Then you have the note itself which seems to be bouncing back, and forth between the mind of an adult and the mind of a child which is ultimately hilarious. She’s trying to be an adult, and yet she can’t. I’m reminded of the few poor souls in my own peers who (while not to the extremes shown here) received all this very adult culture in their early teens, and don’t know what to do with it so they end up sounding, and acting like kids anyway. That makes that scene a particularly more hilarious to me, and honestly is what made the film great. However, the film isn’t really funny all the way through though. Minnie finds the whole facade of sex, and drugs, and everything in between fun at first but in true coming of age fashion, that all comes crumbling down. I think the film depends on the beginning being fun and spirited, so that when the latter half of the film comes along the more troubling side of the films brutal honesty can rear it’s ugly head. There’s a gleeful innocence to the first part, and the way it contrasts with the latter just makes the film feel more rich. I’ve seen a lot of rock bottom moments in film, and just like it does with so many other conventions of the coming of age story, The Diary of a Teenage Girl creates new twists on this scene. Actually, near that later half the film seems to really get into some crazy twists which may cause a little imbalance, but I liked it nonetheless. The actors are ready for all the crazy twists and turns the story has to offer though. Bel Powley, who I mentioned before, is perfect as Minnie. Her childlike demeanor both makes us laugh, but never forget the fact that she’s smaller. Her mother is played by Kristen Wiig expertly navigates a tough role in the few scenes she’s given. There’s a scene in a bar with a confrontation that is equal parts disturbing and hilarious, simply because Wiig plays the character. Alexander Skarsgard is the boyfriend, and I think I’ve never seen him better. He’s a tender person that you actually don’t hate by the ending. Other than that, there’s a few terrific supporting roles. Christopher Meloni is hilarious as Minnie’s stepfather who shows up for about 5 minutes, and then never comes up again. But to be honest, it may all feel too slight. I was engrossed in this film from start to finish, and yet there’s nothing to really keep you thinking about it other than the inherent themes that come up. It feels like a John Hughes film ramped up to realistic standards. It’s not bullshitting you, and that’s certainly refreshing, and I fear that some people will find themselves more disturbed by the brutal honesty than delighted. Yes, what is happening on screen is ultimately problematic, but the characters are delightful, the cuts are hilarious, and the acting is superb on all fronts. I said at the beginning of this review and begged that you let go of the content, and not be disturbed by it, and just find the funny. If you don’t, I fear you’ll lose the point of the film, and won’t be able to fully appreciate the little gem we have here. I give The Diary of a Teenage Girl a 9 out of 10.
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The End of the Tour: Directed by James Ponsoldt, Starring: Jason Segel, and Jesse Eisenberg8/23/2015 Interesting people are hard to come by, but when you find someone, it’s always interesting to see where they will take you. I didn’t know where The End of the Tour would take me, but I’m glad that I went for the ride. The actors are so good that they almost seem to become their characters, and you could say that David Foster Wallace, and David Lipsky took me somewhere. It’s an eye opening film that deals with lots of interesting themes about how perception is manipulated by media and just all out conversation, and yet it seems so grounded as a personal drama between two strangers who just want to talk. The End of the Tour is about the last week of David Foster Wallace’s book tour for his lauded Infinite Jest. Personally I knew nothing of the book before now, and to be honest I really won’t ever, but if you’re wondering, that turns out to be unimportant. The End of the Tour is more about the relationship that builds around these ideas, and these people. It’s about figuring out what makes them tick. Segel’s David Foster Wallace is a character we meet, and immediately realize is a little odd, and just lonely, but it’s not explained why. Those who aren’t paying close enough attention may not even figure out why. It’s a film that rewards the ones that will pay attention, and through it’s own conversations will lead to your own. The End of the Tour isn’t the greatest written film, but the ideas that its characters propose in their conversations are certainly thought provoking; if just a little broad. I say a little broad because in all honesty this should be a pretty small compacted film. It takes place in small compacted places like planes, hotel rooms, guest rooms, and backs of cars, and yet these two men are talking about huge themes concerning place, and purpose. The film can’t help but feel a little too broad in its scope when its two very normal characters find themselves discussing whether or not a bandana can take away the perception of a person’s free will, and yet are in a very self contained story about a short weekend. But it’s still commendable that screenwriter Donald Margulies was able to fit all of it in one movie, even if it’s a little too much. Aside from that, the other problem the film faces is that it’s all based on the ideas which makes the film feel a little shallow. That doesn’t end up mattering because Jason Segel, and Jesse Eisenberg are interesting enough to power punch through any of the slower moments, but it’s definitely noticeable. The performances are really great, and they are characters that come into the film almost fully formed, but are missing tiny details. That’s not a big deal either because these tiny details give the characters somewhere actually to go, and when Segel finally lets loose, and fills in the detail of what causes Foster to be so odd and thoughtful, it's heart breaking. The End of the Tour is a pretty good film, but I think it’s a little too broad of a film to fully cement itself as a great film even if the dialogue and acting is really up to par. I give The End of the Tour an 8.5 out of 10. Trainwreck is a pretty great movie. It’s funny, it feels rich because it’s got interesting (though cliched) drama that is floaty enough to make sure the jokes stay funny, and the film moves briskly through 2 hours, and 5 minutes. That already makes it a better film than Judd Apatow’s previous work. And honestly, I could just leave it there. There’s not much to analyze in why Trainwreck works as a movie. It’s genuinely funny with a great script (and probably improv) by Amy Schumer. I had a root beer during my showing, and within a minute I had spit all over myself. I had to laugh. And not really because the jokes were all that funny. I can honestly say that a lot of the jokes in Trainwreck shouldn’t work, but they do because the actors are so awkward, and hilarious that it doesn’t matter. Amy Schumer is the queen of this. Her reporter, and one night stander Amy (same name) is hilarious, and seems quite real as a character because of the drama. Now getting to that drama— see, all of it is cliched romantic comedy stuff, but that actually makes it simple enough to follow, and easy enough to get on board with. This allows the film to feel somewhat deep, interesting, and even nuanced. Of course, it’s just comedy sketches strung together over two hours, but they at least seem meaningful because of this drama. And the actors who include a great Bill Hader, a wonderfully awkward John Cena, and deadpan Lebron James make it all plays out great. And that’s all I can say. I realize this review is sloppy, but Trainwreck is a great comedy, and that makes it difficult to review. Bottom line is, check it out. This is one of the funniest movies of the year, and probably the best comedy. I give Trainwreck an 8.5 out of 10. Joel Edgerton's The Gift is great because it's so well constructed. This is Edgerton's directorial debut, and it's a masterpiece of direction, specifically. I noticed this immediately. The entire thing feels orchestrated, but never seems fake because the actors are really quite subtle. Plus an orchestrated plot doesn't particularly mean a bad one. The Gift shakes the audience around so much that it's almost worth the slight amount of artificiality. REALLY WORTH IT. The Gift has a husband and wife, played by Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall, who move into a new house. Their lives are then upheaved by the appearance of an old acquaintance, named Gordo (Joel Edgerton). The Bateman's character is hiding something, and everything unwinds. I will not say anything to that matter. Spoiling this film would be a crime. But again, this movie is really more about the direction of everything, and that becomes more apparent as the minutes tick by. There always seems to be something off. Always something that makes your chest tighten up, and your hands shake. This is achieved, I think, because Edgerton uses staging incredibly, even though he pushes it a little far. The film is over-staged, but it somewhat works to it's benefit. Edgerton doesn't just want you to see the characters; he wants you to see the whole frame. He wants you to see what's in the background, and the way it's all staged means that you notice that. These small details in the background then link to other details, and so on, and so forth. It's really satisfying when you realize that something small that you noticed earlier pays off in a big way, and it makes the film seem all the more rich. Richness that the film needs to counterweight the somewhat implausible proceedings, as well as the fact that it's all a little over staged. The details also make the film pretty scary. There are two jump scares in this movie, but they feel earned because there is truly something to be scared of on the other end of them; one song's use is so scary I almost cried when it came blasting in. The plot and direction style you may gather are not that subtle, and probably with actors that were the same, the film might have become campy. That's not really the case though. Most of the actors are very subtle, and that benefits the film by enriching it, and helping with the crazy plot just as much as the direction does. Rebecca Hall is the best here, doing some great method acting that helps advance the already excellent staging. Edgerton himself plays Gordo, and he's really having fun getting into the character he wrote. Gordo is a soft spoken person, and really interesting when you get down to it. The bulked up Edgerton is awesome in the role, giving off a very friendly, but also creepy vibe. If there's one actor that doesn't quite fit the subtlety, it's Jason Bateman, but he's never been too subtle of an actor, leading to his scenes feeling a little campy. He's really no where near bad; he's just a little out of place. And that's all I can say. To be frank, The Gift is so intelligently put together I am having a hard time with reviewing it. This is an excellent film and thriller. I give The Gift a 9.5 out of 10. Fantastic Four is the type of film that really pisses film critics off. It's horrible, trite, and here's the kicker, just the boring kind. This means that we have to sit through a horrible and trite film, but also when we walk out of it, we have to deal with the fact that there is literally nothing interesting to say about it. That is worse than anything. Heck, that might even be worse then Pixels. Fantastic Four is a retelling of the origin of Marvel's Fantastic Four. Well, it's less a retelling than what happens when someone chops up the story, adds a good dose of unnecessary and gritty realism, and then throws out any resemblance of three act structure. These are shallow characters only showing us how their world works in boring ways. I hate to steal from other critics, but this is a film of exposition. All of it could be the first act of a bigger, but probably not better film, seeing how shitty all of this was. And you know what happens when your movie is just a first act? It's boring. There's no investment. There's nothing to latch onto, and make a good movie out of, and unfortunately that's just what happens here. It doesn't help that the entire thing is really, really, shallow with most of the characters meeting and becoming friends through a montage. That's just lazy, and with the horrible story structure, you can't afford to be lazy. It might have worked too, if the actors would just sell it, but they don't. Yes, Miles Teller is good in Whiplash, and The Spectacular Now, but here he's back to playing a smug douchebag type character he played in Project X, and That Awkward Moment, so there's a waste. Reed Richards is supposed to be smart not insulting The THING! Kate Mara isn't even worth mentioning because she's only around for a few minutes, and Michael B. Jordon just seems lost in a script he can't really get into. The only one with a relative amount of charisma might be Jamie Bell as The Thing, but that's only because he plays the whole "HOLY SHIT I'VE TURNED INTO A ROCK MONSTER!" pretty good in the couple of lines he's given to talk about it. All the acting doesn't really matter though, because we don't care about the characters. This is them in Act 1, so they don't really matter. But the film honestly thinks that there's enough stuff in there to make a climax out of. The film (I hate to sound like a broken record) seeing how it feels like a first act jarringly jumps to it's climax without really giving the audience time to realize it's happening. In my theatre seat, I was wondering why it took so little time to get there, and whether or not it really was the climax because I hadn't seen any indicators of that yet. The action isn't even good. The film seems to want to get you out of the theatre as quick as possible so you don't realize how much of a clustercuss (Fantastic Mr. Fox anyone) the entire thing is so the action scenes take like 2 minutes, and feel unfinished. I was really disappointed in these, seeing how the director, Josh Trank, squeezed so much thrilling action out of the found footage battle at the end of Chronicle. He could do it with that film, but not with this one? It also doesn't help that the CGI looks horrid. I was sitting in the theatre during a sequence of The Human Torch flying, and thought I was watching a low rent CGI animated film... then I shuddered at the fact that I was. Fantastic Four is a disaster. Nothing about it really works. EVERYTHING IS SO DULL, AND BORING. NOTHING STICKS, BUT I DON'T WANT IT TO. THIS IS THE WORST FILM OF THE YEAR. I give Fantastic Four a 1.5 out of 10. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is not a perfect film, but it deserves a 10/10. I would feel guilty for not allowing it, because, while flaws are present, the overall flow of the film is so incredible that I it makes me want to cry in my seat...out of happiness. This is a thrilling, smart, ominous action thriller that is so adrenaline pumping it would be unfit for me to leave the theatre without a pillow at times. Yes...it's that good. So Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is about the IMF fighting "The Syndicate," a group that is against them. That's all I'll say as far as story. First, because of the fact that you would have to hurt me to make me spoil this, and second, the point of these films is not the story, but more the personalities and set pieces. It's just that kind of movie. Judging whether or not it's a perfect version of this type of film is simply based on whether the personalities and the action works, and MI5 brings everything in the most perfect way. The characters are great. Tom Cruise has been doing this for years, and is selling the hell out of it. He's basically become Ethan Hunt. Simon Pegg is just as funny as last time, and it's a treat to see his reactions to Hunt. He's a great comic actor. Alec Baldwin is good, but is not really given a lot to do. The villain is miles better than in the other films. Sure, he's just as shallow, but McQuirrie previously wrote The Usual Suspects, and I'll take a shallow but charismatic Keyser Soze clone type of villain over, "nuke guy" from the last one. However, special mention (and this is going to an actor in a Mission Impossible film, a franchise that is simply dominated by Tom Cruise) is Rebecca Ferguson. She plays the girl, and that's what she is — the girl equivalent to Tom Cruise, and she does incredible work. You know, I've noticed that I really can't say much for the performances here, other than the compliments, but the film just seems so streamlined that I really didn't notice them. But it's with the set pieces, and twists that MI5 really outshines it's predecessors. It hits the ground running with a great set piece, and then goes up from there. I don't really want to give away a lot of stuff, but let me tell you something; there's a fight above a performance of sorts, and it's so good, and timed so well I could almost not console myself. Also, the obligatory car chase may have been more thrilling then anything in Mad Max: Fury Road. That's saying something. But on top of that, most of the stunts are practical, and feel real so everything is as thrilling as intended. And the story is perfect too. It's got a darker, more weighted feeling to it than Ghost Protocol, and is therefore more engaging than it. It's definitely much less forgettable than that one (not saying that Ghost Protocol was, but then again the Burj Kalifa doesn't have anything on some of the shit they do in this movie). Near the end there's a moment of such well timed serendipity that I was just stunned. McQuirre, I think, is the reason for the darker tone, and it's definitely welcome. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is not just a great action movie; it's a classic film. A film that will thrill you, but is also weighty enough to keep you down in the action. I give Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation a 10/10. Reviewed by Stephen Tronicek. |
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |