Divergent

Y.A. books happen to be a major guilty pleasure of mine. Look, I read pretty heavy books too, so every once in a while I like to sit down with a book that doesn't make me think too much. Plus, let's face it, I'm really a 14 year old girl deep down inside and I love the strong females and the love triangles and the mysterious cute boys. Okay?? So, yes, I read Divergent. And, yes, I loved it (at least the first and second books... the third was a bit disappointing). That being said, I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about the movie being made. I loved the casting decisions but my expectations were admittedly low. There were a lot of things in the book that I wasn't sure could transfer well too the screen. Turns out, I was mostly wrong, because the movie version of Divergent is pretty damn good.

Divergent takes place in the future in Chicago. Post-war, a fence was built around the city and citizens were separated into five factions based on character traits. When you come of age, you get a Choosing Ceremony where, after taking an aptitude test, you decide what faction you will spend the rest of your life with. If you choose to leave the faction you were born into, you will never see your parents again. So, when our lead character Tris takes the aptitude test and it comes up inconclusive, she discovers she is divergent, which is dangerous because the leaders of the community don't want people who don't conform. She tries to hide her result and leaves her selfless Abnegation factor to join the brave Dauntless. The first half of the film is all about her training as she goes from being weak and meek to strong and kick ass. The end of the movie sort of loses steam a bit, although the action sticks fairly close to the book (it does almost completely change the ending).

For the most part, Divergent is a pretty action packed, intense film. Sure, a lot of the things that are plain and clear in the book don't necessarily get explained very well in the movie. (I saw it with my boyfriend, who didn't read the book, and had a lot of questions afterwards... mostly a lot of "well, why?" sorts of questions.... The "why" of the situations are explaining much better in the book). But, the movie does benefit from having a pretty great cast of actors including star Shailene Woodley as Tris. She manages to make Tris feel like a real girl. My problem with Katniss in The Hunger Games was always that she doesn't feel real, and she never gets her hands dirty. Sure, bad things happen all around Katniss, but mostly other people take care of things for her. Katniss is a great role model for girls if you like your role models simple and clearly defined. Tris is much more complicated. She does a lot of bad things, and she isn't always likable. Plus, she spends most of the second book racked with guilt over things she does in Divergent (another problem with the movie, they didn't take enough time to develop character relationships so that you can understand why she'll be so guilt-ridden in the next movies). Also, Katniss just is strong. Tris starts out weak and has to work her butt off to become strong. But Woodley takes this complicated, kick ass character and makes her feel real and lived in. She's going to be a huge star and she totally deserves to be.

The rest of the cast mostly succeeds with their characters. Theo James, who is so good looking I think he might be photo-shopped, plays love interest / trainer Four and he and Woodley have great chemistry and most of their scenes are tension filled and intense. Kate Winslet is super under-used as Erudite leader Jeanine Matthews but she does what she can with the ice queen role. My biggest disappointment is with Miles Teller and the role of Peter. It's not Teller's fault. I thought Teller would absolutely kill this role, but someone somewhere thought it was a good idea to turn his character into mostly just a loud mouth fast talking troublemaker. In the book, he is much more than just a smart ass bully. He's a borderline sociopath, which makes him much more dangerous and untrustworthy and gives his character a lot more depth in the sequels. They also managed to cut out his most intriguing story line (and I don't want to spoil anything but the character of Edward, who is merely mentioned in passing here, plays a pretty big role in the future). MVP goes to Jai Courtney as Dauntless leader Eric. He may look like a punk rock Macklemore, but his take on the troublesome, fierce leader is absolutely wonderful. He steals every scene he is in with a mixture of menace and dark humor. I wanted more and more even though his character lives on the outskirts of the main story line.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with Divergent. It's not going to win any awards, but it's probably forty minutes too long (although there were elements cut for time that probably should have been in the film), but it was fun and thrilling. I'm glad it did well at the box office because I'm excited to see the sequels on the big screen. And, who knows, since they took so many liberties with the final act of Divergent (and they mostly worked), then maybe they can fix the major problems with Allegiant, as well.

Grade: B-

DVD Mini Reviews

During the year, I like to try to watch as many movies released during that year as possible. I won't go pay to see a bad movie in theaters but I have no qualms about watching bad movies via Netflix. This is so I can make my best possible best and worst lists at the end of the year, making sure I see as many options as possible. The movies I've been watching lately from Netflix from this year were sort of on the disappointing side for the most part.

Mud
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Shannon (!!)
Plot: Two young boys set out to find an island where a boat has been washed into a tree. They also happen to find a mysterious man named Mud and they become entangled in his personal life. Drama and danger ensue.
Thoughts: This was the only good movie I've seen via Netflix in the last few weeks. It's a pretty simple story, but the script is so well written and all the performances are out of this world, that it just elevates the material. Tye Sheridan is a great find, a young actor who can completely command attention from more famous co-stars. And McConaughey?!? Man, he is on a role. His career is so hot right now that I am always anticipating new work from him which is something I never, ever thought I would think. But, seriously, how many award worthy performances can he give in a row???
Grade: B+

Dead Man Down
Stars: Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Terrence Howard
Plot: A lonely disfigured woman witnesses the man across the street kill another man in his apartment and decides to blackmail him into murdering the man who disfigured her.
Thoughts: The best part of this movie was when it was over. I think I may have fallen asleep at one point, but it really didn't matter because you can see the "plot twists" coming a mile away. I love Farrell and Rapace and think they did a great job with the material, but this movie ultimately fails to deliver but succeeds at boring you into submission.
Grade: D+

A Good Day to Die Hard
Stars: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney
Plot: John McClane heads to Russia, where his wayward son is in trouble with the law. Or is he?? Turns out his hottie son is working for the CIA and the two sexy bald McClane men team up to fight Russian bad guys. Smashing through ceilings, gun fights and helicopter chases ensue.
Thoughts: Obviously not as good as the original Die Hard. Or Die Hard 2. Or even Live Free or Die Hard from a few years ago. It's basically Die Hard paint by numbers and if you like action and sexy bald men, then it's not a terrible way to spend an hour and a half. This would have gotten a higher grade had Jai Courtney been shirtless for more than ten seconds. (What?? I'm totally a girl sometimes.)
Grade: C

Magic Magic
Stars: Juno Temple, Emily Browning, Michael Cera
Plot: A bunch of college friends go to a secluded farm to drink and hang out. One of their cousin's tags along. She goes cray.
Thoughts: Allow me to justify why I got this movie from the Red Box to begin with: I had a coupon, okay?? It was for a free movie and it expired that particular day. Neither my boyfriend nor I had ever heard of this movie. I have a pretty major girl crush on Juno Temple and he has a thing for Emily Browning. Plus, Michael Cera is awesome, so we decided to go for it. BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER. This is, quite possibly, one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my entire life. I don't even know why we watched the whole thing instead of just turning it off and calling it a day. Still, it's better than Lords of Salem, so that's a plus, I guess.
Grade: F

The Host
Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger, William Hurt
Plot: Aliens begin taking over the bodies of humans, erasing their memories, and living a peaceful existence. One young woman fights back against the force to hold onto her love and protect her brother.
Thoughts: Positives first - William Hurt is awesome in this movie. Also, I'll never complain about a movie featuring not one (Irons) but TWO (Abel) cute boys. But, mostly, this movie is ridiculous. There are no high stakes. There is no drama, really, except for a minute here and a minute there. Plus, this movie features the absolute strangest love triangle I have ever seen.
Grade: D+

Welcome to the Punch
Stars: James McAvoy, Mark Strong, David Morrissey
Plot: It's your basic cops and bad guy movie complete with dirty cops and complicated plot lines that don't entirely make sense until the end.
Thoughts: Like I said, pretty basic. There is nothing bad about this movie, but there isn't really much to say about it that's good either. This movie is basically entirely carried by the charms and charisma of McAvoy, so if you like McAvoy like I do, then you probably won't mind watching a mediocre movie.
Grade: C+


And finally, the movie COMPLIANCE was released last year instead of this year, but I finally got around to watching it and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's the true story of a man who poses as a police officer and calls fast food restaurants to see how far he can push managers in taking advantage of employees. For example, he tells the manager of Chickwich that one of her employees is a thief which leads to a strip search and so much more. This is an entirely true story and according to Wikipedia, happened at least 70 times around the country. I can't really believe one group of people were stupid enough to fall for this hoax, let alone 70! It's a pretty uncomfortable movie to watch but i also find it highly effective. It's as tense as a movie that takes almost entirely in one small room can be. So, anyway, I'm still not sure what to make of it so if anyone watches it, I'm really interested to hear another take on it.