The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This book was a very big book for me. I read it as an eighth grader and completed it in just one day. I know, it's not a very big book, or a particuarly daunting one, writing style wise, but it's still the only book I ever read in one day. I related to this book more than I can say. I was a chubby, shy, unpopular kid and this book gave me hope that I would meet cool friends like Sam and Patrick who would make me feel loved and included, who I could share interests with and who would make me feel, finally, like I belonged. Of course, that never happened. High school was one long awful time for me. Surprise, surprise, there aren't kids like Sam and Patrick in Shithole, Pennsylvania. But still, The Perks of Being a Wallflower was still a very important part of my formative years.

The movie version was adapted and directed by Stephen Chbosky, who wrote the book. The story follows Charlie (Logan Lerman), who spent some time in a mental hospital and is now the outcast as he begins his freshman year. Half of the student body are terrified of the crazy kid, and the other half mock and tease him. Then he meets Patrick (Ezra Miller), a flamboyant senior who is outgoing and wonderful. He easily befriends Charlie and soon they are hanging out with Patrick's half sister Sam (Emma Watson), who Charlie crushes on hard. Charlie and Patrick are fun and they love the Smiths as much as Charlie and they are obsessed with the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Charlie immediately feels included and accepted. Still, he struggles with his demons and his inner sadness.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is as fine a coming of age movie as I've ever seen. It's an excellent celebration of what it is to be a teenager, about you can feel infinite in those moments when you are with your friends and it feels like you are the only people in the entire world. Of course, Chbosky captures everything great about his book and it transfers so well to the screen. But all of this wouldn't work if he didn't cast the parts correctly. Luckily for him, they mostly are. Lerman is great as Charlie, combining shyness and subtlety to his performance. Ezra Miller absolutely kills it as Patrick. He is over the top brilliant and I wish this was more of an Oscar movie because he deserves to be recognized for his fearless, heartfelt performance. Paul Rudd has a small part as an inspirational English teacher. My only real problem with the performances was Emma Watson. I've never seen a Harry Potter movie in my life so I never saw Watson act in anything. Basically, I wasn't impressed. I don't find her to be a particularly mesmerizing actress. Still, when there are so many great things in this movie, I could overlook her flawed attempts. Ezra Miller and his perfection of a performance more than made up for it.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is such a great movie, that I'm truly surprised I haven't heard more buzz about it. I read a good review in Entertainment Weekly and I heard some good things about it after the Toronto Film Festival, but no one is really talking about it they way they talked about, oh, let's say, Looper. Overall, it's a great movie about growing up, falling in love for the first time, and feeling infinite for just one moment in time.

Grade: A-

Horror Movie Month: The Stepfather

The Stars: Terry O'Quinn

The Plot: A man brutally murders his wife and her kids and then changes his identity and moves to another town and marries a new woman with a rebellious teenage daughter.

The Scares: It's not scary at all. It's more psychological. The first ten minutes are pretty riveting and the final twenty minutes are exciting, as well. Unfortunately, pretty much everything in between is a tad on the boring side. The only reason to watch this movie at all is for Terry O'Quinn (who played weirdo Locke on Lost) and his subtle, chilling performance.

The Body Count: 7... although, according to IMDB, there is a Stepfather 2, so maybe only 6.

The Grade: C

Horror Movie Month: The Thing

The Stars: Joel Edgerton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

The Plot: An American paleontologist joins a group of Norwegian scientists in discovering a space craft and an alien life force frozen in the terrain of Antarctica. A.K.A. A prequel to John Carpenter's seminal horror classic of the same name.

The Scares: It's nowhere near as scary as the 1982 version, which is one of the scariest movies ever made, but that's not to say it's without merit. I was hesitant about this movie (although I love me some Joel Edgerton) because I thought it was a remake. Remember in the Carpenter version, when the group stumble upon the camp of the dead Norwegian scientists?? Well, this movie is about them. So, a prequel, I'm okay with. It can still steal from the original without blatantly ripping it off. This version isn't very original though. It's pretty much the same old thing, just not as scary. Horror movies from the 70s and early 80s were scary because they needed to set a tone and use a lot of different things in order to be scary. They didn't have the big budgets and special effects that exist today (and the creature effects in this version are awful). If anything, this prequel may get a few people from the younger generation interested in watching John Carpenter's version for the first time, and that's definitely a good thing. You can't argue with results like that.

The Body Count: Let's put it this way: only one person survives.

The Grade: C

Argo

For me, Ben Affleck has always been an underwhelming actor. It's not that he's not a good actor, but I feel like there was a long period of time where he picked all the wrong projects, and his winning personality and charisma was never enough for me to think of him as a good actor, the way I think of his pal Matt Damon. When I saw Gone Baby Gone, I was convinced Affleck should quit acting altogether and focus on directing, because, for me, that's where his strengths lie. At that time, I felt he was a better director than actor. Then came his follow up, The Town, which, as good as Gone Baby Gone was, The Town was even better. Plus, Affleck acted in that film too, and was actually really good. Now comes Argo, Affleck's third directorial film in which he also stars. Maybe the success of directing has given him more confidence, or maybe he's just reached a time in his life where he is starting to pick better projects but Affleck blew me away with Argo, both behind and in front of the camera.

Argo is the true story of the Iranian hostage crisis of the late 70s and early 80s. Six American diplomats escape the embassy as it's being overthrown and hide out at the home of a Canadian diplomat. Soon, the CIA becomes involved in a mission to get them out before the Iranian government realizes they are missing. Affleck portrays a CIA agent who specializes in such hairy situations and he comes up with a proposterous idea that is so ridiculous it just might work - he will fly into Iran and pose as a Canadian producer of a bad science fiction movie named Argo. He will meet up with the six almost hostages and they will pretend to be a film crew scouting for exotic locations before flying back to the United States together. He then teams up with an Oscar winning make up designer (John Goodman) and an aging but still fiesty producer (Alan Arkin) to make their cover story seem legit.

Argo is one part espionage thriller, one part intense, searing drama and one part homage to Hollywood. It's exciting and it's smart and it's funny. Basically, there is something here for everyone, which why, at this point, it seems like a front runner for Best Picture at the Oscars. Argo is a sincere and authentic film, a celebration of the kinds of movies that can be made within the Hollywood studio system if they didn't focus all of their attention on sequels and remakes. It's a genuinely exciting film. Try not to be on the edge of your seat during the last twenty minutes or so (even if, since it's a true story, you have an inkling that it all just might work out for the best).

The best thing about Argo is the cast. Affleck is a superstar and he probably easily could have gotten some big name celebrities to star in this movie. However, he went the route of casting celebrated character actors and I think it was the best move. The faces of actors like Goodman, Arkin, Bryan Cranston, Kyle Chandler, Titus Welliver, Chris Messina, Victor Garber, Clea DuVall, and Tate Donovan are all familiar enough that they seem like real people that you know and are willing to invest your time into, however they are not so famous that it becomes distracting. It was a great decision that definitely works in the favor of this movie.

Overall, Argo is a great blend of thrills, laughs and history. My only criticism is maybe that the hostages aren't as developed as characters as you'd like them to be, but that's so minor when you think about how good Argo really is. Is it a masterpiece? Not quite, but it is a genuinely great movie and Affleck is getting closer and closer to becoming a truly great actor/director. While Argo, the sci-fi film within the film never actually made it to the big screen (and it probably would have been awful anyway), thank goodness this Argo did, because it's definitely one of the year's best films.

Grade: A-

Horror Movie Month: Sinister

The Stars: Ethan Hawke, James Ransone

The Plot: A true crime writer moves into a house where a family was brutally murdered in order to write a new novel about it. In the attic, he finds a creepy box of super 8 home movies which depict multiple seemingly connected crimes spreading across countries and decades. Creepy things ensue and also, the family apparently don't have electricity.

The Scares: The movie is not scary at all. In fact, it's sort of stupid. I had read a few reviews of the movie and all of them said it was genuinely scary. That's false. The plot is stupid and the more supernatural it gets, the dumber the movie becomes. Everything Ethan Hawke's Ellison does is a bad decision. The movie is basically a mash up for every classic horror movie that has come before it, but not nearly as good as any of the predecessors. The footage from the super 8 videos is genuinely creepy and that alone deserves a much better movie. Plus, I genuinely liked the ending although I think it took a big stretch to get to that point. The writer took a big leap of faith with the ending, hoping the audience would believe all of these far fetched things in order for it to work. I, for one, didn't believe much of it so it didn't completely work for me, although I did like the idea of the ending. Overall, Sinister is pretty lame. Even my love for James Ransone and the creepy super 8 footage couldn't save it. Also, moral of the story? Don't have kids... right???

The Body Count: 3 in real time. If you include the super 8 footage, then I think it's 21 or something like that.

The Grade: D-

Horror Movie Month: Lake Eden

The Stars: Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender

The Plot: A young couple go away to a deserted lake (it's shut down to the public because they are about to turn it into a gated community) for a romantic weekend which quickly turns into the worst vacation of all time when a group of teens start terrorizing them.

The Scares: It's not so much scary as terrifyingly realistic. The movie seems so real, the director and writer make you feel such empathy for this couple in love, that you really are invested in the outcome of their relationship, and ultimately, their lives. The movie is also filmed really well with great acting all around. It's just top notch as far as these types of movies go.

The Body Count: Definitely 4. Possibly 5. Probably 6.

The Grade: B (I'm teetering on giving it a B+ but that seems sort of generous although this is a high B, because I really enjoyed this movie).

Horror Movie Month: Lovely Molly

The Stars: Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden

The Plot: Molly (Lodge) and her new husband Tim (Lewis) move into her old family home after getting married where they are met with increasingly weird things happening, mostly while Tim is away and Molly is home by herself.

The Scares: The main problem I had with this movie is that it's sort of a mess and it's kind of all over the place. I mean, sometimes it succeeds almost too well at being creepy. But at other times, it's more silly. I'm over the cliche, "is the house haunted? is she on drugs and/or having a mental breakdown?" thing and that's what this movie relies on so heavily. Directed by Eduardo Sanchez (who became famous with The Blair Witch Project), he does a good job at developing a creepy vibe amidst the animalistic violence and sexuality. More than being a run of the mill horror film though, Lovely Molly is also sort of a relationship drama and the success or failure of the movie depends entirely on the performances. Like I said, sometimes the performances are so on that the movie is so engrossing. Others, it's sort of over the top and borderline ridiculous. The movie rests on Lodge's shoulders and I'd say she more succeeds than fails at carrying the film, as she evolves from a sweet and scared girl to a haunting, crazy seductress.

The Body Count: Only 3, but one of the most chilling parts isn't even a death scene but more an attack scene.

The Grade: B- (if it was just a little more evened out, I would have given it a higher grade, but that doesn't mean that I don't recommend it).

Horror Movie Month: Tenebrae

The Plot: An American writer visits Rome to promote his book where a killer begins to murder women in the most grisly of ways, recalling scenes from his latest best seller. He teams up with an Italian detective to try to find the killer.

The Scares: It's not scary at all. In fact, it's not even so much a slasher movie as it is a murder mystery with super bloody and gory death scenes. I was expecting something else entirely from this Dario Argento film. I haven't seen a lot of his films, but the few I have seen have been intense and operatic and sort of epic. This moves at a glacial pace and is boring for a long time. The end, however, is awesome.

The Body Count: 11.

The Grade: C

Horror Movie Month: Inferno

The Plot: A woman living in New York City discovers a book that may be about the apartment building in which she lives. It seems many years ago, an architect built three different buildings for The Three Mothers to dwell in. The three mothers are evil, evil women. One lives in Germany. One lives in Rome. And the third, and the worst of them all, lives in New York City. She is convinced this woman lives in her apartment building so she starts snooping around. As coincidence would have it, her brother lives in Rome and has a friend who may or may not live in that particular building as well.

The Scares: Dario Argento is all about setting the mood. Plus, his musical scores are so unsettling that they keep you on edge at all times. That being said, the movie isn't scary, necessarily, but it is efficient in its intensity and in making sure you aren't prepared for things to happen. The music is loud and comes out of nowhere and doesn't match what's happening in the scenes (and I love it). Argento also uses a lot of long takes so that you are just waiting for something to happen which adds to the tense overall feeling you have when watching one of his films.

The Body Count: 8 (one of which gets mauled to death by ALLEY CATS! and another gets eaten (almost) to deat by rats).

The Grade: B. Not nearly as good as Argento's masterpiece, Suspiria, but still a good way to start off Horror Movie Month.

Ranking the Halloween Franchise

Every October for the last five years or so, I have devoted the entire month to watching (and re-watching) as many horror movies as I possibly can. My Netflix queue is filled up and ready to go. I have a Dario Argento double feature waiting patiently for me for this weekend. While Texas Chainsaw Massacre has sat atop my Best Horror Movie list for, well, ever, my favorite horror movie franchise happens to be Halloween. I will watch and re-watch (and re-watch, and re-watch, and re-watch) all of those movies as often as possible. It's virtually unheard of by a franchise of any kind to still be churning out quality films by the time you reach the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th installments but that's exactly what sets the Halloween films apart from every other franchise. So, to kick off Horror Movie Month in style, I have decided to compile my top ten list ranking the Halloween films. Here we go...

10. Halloween II (2009) - Not the original follow up, but Rob Zombie's re-imagining in which he manages to continue to make the beloved characters of Laurie Strode and Dr. Loomis absolutely abhorrent and in which he includes ghosts and horses and I don't even remember what else. I mostly managed to block it out of my consciousness, thank goodness.

09. Halloween: Resurrection (2002) - The red-headed step child of the Halloween franchise, Resurrection is a complete mess of a movie that is only saved by Jamie Lee Curtis' cameo. She was contractually obligated to appear so she probably begged and pleaded to be killed off (although that could be easily fixed in future installments). Basically this movie involves Michael returning to his childhood home to find a bunch of college kids - and Busta Rhymes (no, for real) - filming a reality program there. And that about sums up how much it sucks.

08. Halloween (2007) - When I first heard that Halloween was being remade, I was furious. Then I heard Rob Zombie was remaking it. I was a huge fan of his film House of 1000 Corpses so I sort of thought, "Well, if SOMEONE has to remake Halloween, I'm glad it's him." And I can admit when I'm wrong because I was wrong. His remake is an atrocity to everything the Halloween films stand for including, but not limited to, Taylor Scout-Compton's Laurie becoming an oversexed hyper-annoying character instead of the stale-fast and virtuous survivor we remember.

07. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) - As far as horror movies go, this isn't bad, per se. However, as far as Halloween movies go, it's at the bottom of the barrel, mostly because it has absolutely nothing to do with Michael Myers. Based on the blazing popularity of the first two, someone decided the best idea would be to do a series of movies based around the holiday and having nothing really to do with the original characters. The movie was a failure so that idea was abandoned. So Halloween III, about a mask that will turn those wearing it into homicidal maniacs when a certain commercial plays on Halloween night, remains as the one that doesn't quite fit in.

06. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) - I'm in the minority here but I enjoy the continuity of characters in this, the sixth, film. Remember Tommy Doyle from the original Halloween? The little boy that Jamie Lee's Laurie babysits? Well, he's all grown up and the protagonist of this film and played by Paul Rudd. Also, remember Laurie's daughter Jamie (played in 4 and 5 by Danielle Harris, who would grow up and be the best thing about the Halloween remakes)?? Well, she's all grown up (and not played by Harris for some reason) and has a baby of her own and Michael is on her trail. Of course, this movie suffers from a bit of ridiculous pandering, i.e., Michael suffers from some sort of disorder which gives him the urge to kill off every single one of his family members. The one downside of the franchise is the continual need to explain everything and build mythology upon mythology. Sometimes, the less you know is scarier.

05. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) - After the failure of Halloween III, the series was relaunched with the return of Michael (hence the title). He discovers that his sister Laurie was killed in a car crash but left behind a daughter named Jamie (Danielle Harris) and he feels the urge to go after her. I always loved the scenes with the lynch mob in this movie, and of course, that frightening ending that shows maybe some things do run in the family.

04. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) - This picks up right where 4 leaves off and Jamie is now mute and safely tucked away in a home for troubled children. Of course, it is Halloween night and so she won't be safe for long because Michael has a very real connection with her and is out to find her. While 4 and 5 are not the best of the series, I've always had a soft spot for them and I think these two films show how much the series thrives, even as it grows older. Also, given my mood, these two films can be reversed in their order.

03. Halloween II (1981) - Taking place almost directly after the original film, Halloween II was great in so many ways. Laurie Strode is in the hospital being treated after the horror that was Halloween night. However, Michael will soon find her, and he will kill everyone that stands in his way. It's a great and classic slasher film. The only downside of the movie is that this is where it's established that Michael and Laurie are brother and sister, a development I'm not exactly fond of. I don't think it's necessary at all, but it is what it is.

02. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) - If you pretend that Halloween 3, 4, 5 and 6 don't exist then Halloween 2 leads right into this installment. We meet Laurie who goes by an assumed name after faking her death and is currently the headmaster at a prep school in California. She has a son (Josh Hartnett) who attends the school and a new boyfriend and is fairly happy. So, of course, Michael comes and finds her. The ending of this movie is so great and cathartic (even though Resurrection eventually reverses it) that it's an all around great, fun movie. Her real life mom, the ORIGINAL scream queen in Psycho, Janet Leigh even makes a cameo.

01. Halloween (1978) - Was there ever any doubt that the original Halloween would top the list? It just has to be. It's a horror movie classic and the second best horror movie of all time (in my opinion) for a reason. It stands the test of time. Without all the mythology that later gets heaped upon the series, Halloween was simply about a little boy who snaps and kills his family and goes to live in a mental institution and then breaks loose. He returns to his hometown and fixates on a sweet high school girl and eventually goes on a rampage in which he kills all of her friends and tries to kill her. There is no reason for any of this, which is why Halloween is one of the scariest films ever made. It's just a crazy guy with a knife who wants to kill you. You have no idea why. And that's terrifying.

Looper

The very first thing I said to my boyfriend as we left the theater after seeing Looper was, "If you didn't like that movie, we are breaking up right now." Luckily, he agreed with me and thought it was the best movie we had seen this year.

Quite a few years ago, I happened upon a little indie movie called Brick. When I was growing up, I wasn't like normal kids and while they watched animated Disney movies, I watched movies like Chinatown and The Maltese Falcon. So Brick, which married film noir with high school, seemed like it was almost tailor made for me. Plus, it starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, an actor who I loved since his days on 3rd Rock from the Sun. It also co-starred an actor named Noah Segan who I had never seen before but who I gravitated to immediately. Plus, it was written by this first time writer / director named Rian Johnson. I immediately thought "No one writes dialogue better than this guy" (and I still feel that way all these years later). Brick and these three guys quickly became personal favorites. A few years later these three teamed up again for The Brothers Bloom which was just as good with characters so vivid and dialogue so fresh. Needless to say, I was excited for Looper. I had high expectations, for sure. I knew it would be good, but I wasn't completely prepared for how great it would be.

Looper takes place in 2044 in Kansas. Time travel hasn't been invented yet, but 30 years in the future it will have been. It will immediately be outlawed but, since it will be impossible to hide a body in the future, some very mean men will use it as a way to transport their targets back to "present day" where special assassins (loopers) will kill the targets, dispose of the body, collect their fee, get high using eye drops, party with hookers and so on. When a mysterious and super deadly figure called The Rainmaker takes over in the future, he begins to do something called "closing the loop." This means that the loopers future self will be sent back to be disposed of. In the case that this happens, you kill your future self, end your looper contract and go on your merry way, where you can live your life for the next 30 years waiting for the day your fate comes a-calling. But, unforunately for Joe (Gordon-Levitt), his future self is portrayed by Bruce Willis, so when he hesitates for just a moment, Older Joe, since he is Bruce Willis, proceeds to be a complete bad ass. He knocks Younger Joe unconscious, steals his truck and takes off into the city. Younger Joe wakes up knowing he's got to find his older self and kill him before his boss (Jeff Daniels) sends his thugs (led by Noah Segan) to find him. The cat and mouse game eventually leads to a farm owned by Emily Blunt's Sara. She lives there with her son, Cid (Pierce Gagnon), and they take in Younger Joe.

Honestly, the plot sounds more confusing than it is. And this is thanks to Johnson's stellar writing. Time travel movies can usually veer into confusing "what is happening" territory but that never happens with Looper. It's mind boggling and keeps you thinking but it's never difficult or impossible to understand or follow. The greatest thing about Looper is that you think it's about one thing - this showdown between your current and future self - but that's only really the first 30 minutes or so. Then Emily Blunt shows up. It quickly becomes something else entirely and I'll say it, something so much better than I expected. But the best writing and directing in the world can't help you if you don't have the right cast. And Johnson has the perfect cast.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an actor I am so familiar with. I loved him when he was starring in little-seen indies (Manic, Mysterious Skin) and I loved him when he was stealing very big movies from actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises). But here, in Looper, he's nearly unrecognizable thanks to make up that makes him look more like Bruce Willis. His performance is intense and searing and it's made all the more real because he completely becomes someone else. Speaking of Willis, he's great too. When I first saw the trailer, I thought the make up effects were going to be distracting. I didn't think Gordon-Levitt looked anything like Willis, but I was wrong. When they are together on screen, you can see it. Although, I will argue that it's not even necessary. The two actors have such a great chemistry that it doesn't even matter whether or not they look alike. Willis manages to be a tough bad ass (like in the scene where he SHOOTS EVERYTHING!!!!!) and imbibes that with tenderness. Even when his character is doing despicable things, you still feel for him. Emily Blunt all but steals the movie for me. Her emotional and subtle performance brings a whole lot of heart to this movie. I know Looper may not be the kind of movie the Oscars love (although they did nominate Inception and this is just as good, if not better), but I'm holding out hope for a Best Supporting Actress nominee for her, as well as a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Johnson. Daniels does a stellar job with a small role as he manages to be both funny and ferocious. Paul Dano is, I think, the only actor under 30 who can hold his own on the screen with the likes of Daniel Day Lewis and Robert DeNiro so, of course, he manages to bring a whole lot to a very small part. Pierce Gagnon was 5 years old when they made this movie but somehow manages to deliver a performance so devastating that it's hard to believe he hasn't been in the business for 30 years. Then there is Noah Segan. I've followed his career closely and I'm so impressed with his Kid Blue, a villain but also, maybe not. I found his character fascinating and of all the great characters in this movie, I wanted to know more about him. I didn't see him as such a bad guy. Just someone who is so eager to please, that he'll do just about anything for someone to tell him he's doing a good job (and we can all relate to that!). This movie will surely put him on the map and I'm not entirely prepared to share him with the world. It's that weird moment when your favorite thing is about to become really popular. I mean, you want to hold it close and keep it to yourself, but at the same time, it's your favorite thing for a reason so, really, it should be everyone's favorite thing. So, you're welcome world. You can share Noah Segan with me.

I hope this review made some sort of sense and it wasn't just be babbling for however many paragraphs. I have been thinking and talking about this movie non stop for two days and so it's hard to sort through all of my thoughts. This movie gives you so much to think about it. Johnson is officially three for three in my book and I'm so excited to see what he does next. Looper is the sort of movie that will inspire a generation. In fact, in twenty years or so, the next generation of filmmakers will be asked about their influences. I think they will cite the complete works of David Fincher, last year's Drive and Looper. And that thought gives me a lot of faith in the future of the film world.

Grade: A