The Fault in Our Stars

When I started to think about my feelings regarding this movie, I somehow managed to split the movie into two halves for myself. I like to refer to them as Pre-Amsterdam and Post-Amsterdam. Unfortunately, only one of these is good, or watchable, or effective in any way, shape or form. And that would be Post-Amsterdam. You have to give the writer and director credit for sticking so closely to the beloved book, but, at the same time, sometimes books just don't transfer to the big screen very well. Sometimes, you have to make changes in order to make it work for a movie. After all, books and movies are two very different animals. So, for the most part, I felt the first half of the movie was pretty damn bad, to be honest. The second half, post-Amsterdam, was a good movie - an unrelenting emotional roller coaster, but, by then? Too little too late.

The Fault in Our Stars is based on a almost universally acclaimed YA book by John Green, that I happened to absolutely love. It follows the story of Hazel (Shailene Woodley), a 16 year old with terminal cancer who meets Gus (Ansel Elgort) at a cancer support group. Gus is there to support his soon-to-be-blind buddy Isaac (scene stealer Nat Wolff), but is also a cancer-free survivor. Of course, Hazel and Gus fall in all kinds of love, and they are adorable and cute and all those things you want them to be. This is pretty much what the first half consists of, and it's all pretty terrible, to be honest. The witty, meet-cute dialog and banter that flows so well in the book? It sounds clunky and cheesy and over-wrought in the movie. It's just hard to invest in these characters because they don't feel like they are well-developed, it feels like the audience is just supposed to feel invested in them, because we read the book and that's how we are supposed to feel, and that's a short cut that isn't fair or good enough.

Then the story travels to Amsterdam. Hazel wants to meet the writer of her favorite book. She has a lot of childish questions regarding the ending the book, and Gus uses his cancer wish to take her (and her mom, since she's a minor!) to Amsterdam. Amsterdam, itself, is pretty hit or miss. The scene with the eclectic asshole writer played by Willem Dafoe is fantastic, and their sweet date night is beautiful. But then they go to the Anne Frank house and in the most eye-roll inducing scene you will see in all of cinema this year, they proceed to make out in the attic of the house while a bunch of uppity Dutch tourists applaud for them. I'm pretty sure people wouldn't give a standing ovation to a couple of horny teenagers who decide to suck face at a historical landmark, but maybe that's just me.

Post-Amsterdam, the movie gets infinitely better. The emotion from the book transfers very well to the big screen and it's an unrelenting emotional journey that just doesn't let up. You will cry during the last hour or so of the movie, and you may very well start crying and not stop for the entirety of said final act. I don't want to give anything away for people who may not have read the book, but, let's just say, it's a tearjerker. But, to be fair, you can't judge how good a movie is by how much it makes you cry. And the fact that the movie finally finds its footing is relieving, but also not quite enough.

The performances are a bit hit or miss too, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not entirely sold on Woodley as an actress. For all the times she delivers a scene perfectly, and beautifully, there is a scene like one of the voice over scenes. She was supposed to be telling her cancer story to Gus, but it doesn't sound like a character living these experiences. It sounds like an actress reading lines, and it's jarring and disappointing. But, she mostly delivers here, especially in the final act of the movie, although everything is elevated by then as well. Elgort is a mystery to me as well. He plays this part so overly excited and so earnestly, that sometimes his actions don't feel honest at all, but rather like he's trying to dupe Hazel for some reason. Although, if you read the book, you know he's a good guy, in the movie, he seems too good to be true, like there will be some final act reveal that he's truly evil, or something. The true star of the movie, for me, was Nat Wolff, who absolutely steals all the scenes as the blind Isaac. He's wonderful as the comic relief. He makes you smile every time he's on screen. This movie needed 100% more of him, and then at least when it was dreadful, it would have been entertaining.

Grade: C+

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-

Top Ten Films 2013

10. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - A lonely day dreamer finally escapes his dull life and enters on the adventure of a lifetime while trying to find a missing photograph negative. That's Walter Mitty in a nutshell and the film is a great experience filled with laughs, action and the most beautiful scenery. It's visual overload with volcanoes erupting and boats at sea. Walter Mitty is a sweet movie for the daydreamer in all of us.

09. Captain Phillips - If you like your movies intense, than Captain Phillips is for you. The true story of a cargo ship boarded by Somali pirates, Captain Phillips is the most intense film of the year. Tom Hanks is charming and heroic. Newcomer Barkhad Abdi makes his presence felt as the empathetic villain. But it's the hand held camera work and gut-wrenching emotion that makes this one of the year's best. And once you see Tom Hanks last ten minutes on film, you'll wonder why he was snubbed by Oscar this year. It may be the best ten minutes in all of movies this year.

08. Disconnect - Interwoven stories tell the tale of how we are all so dependent on technology for connection, and really, how lonely and disconnected we all feel on a day to day basis. Disconnect is a little, indie movie that I happened upon that ended up being so much better than I ever could have imagined. It's got a great ensemble featuring the likes of Jason Bateman, Paula Patton and Alexander Skarsgaard. But, mostly it's the story that you can relate to se easily. If you have ever been lonely, or bullied, or made mistakes, or wanted to escape your life... than there is something in this movie for you.

07. The Spectacular Now - This past year has been a remarkable year for coming of age stories and The Spectacular Now is the best of the bunch. It's the story of the most popular guy in school (Miles Teller) who falls for a smart and sad outcast (Shailene Woodley). And while that may sound cliche, this movie manages to avoid feeling like something you've seen a million times before. Perhaps it's the chemistry of the stars, or the fact that everything just feels real. This is a great movie about two teenagers on the cusp of becoming adults, with great performances, especially by a scene stealing Kyle Chandler.

06. Inside Llewyn Davis - The Coen Brothers have always loved unlikable men, and the folk musician at the center of Inside Llewyn Davis is no different. He's, more or less, a self-destructive asshole who angers and upsets just about everyone he comes in contact with. The fact that we can root for Llewyn at all says a lot about the amazing performance of Oscar Issac. Inside Llewyn Davis is yet ANOTHER Coen Brothers masterpiece, and this time, it's got a great, sing-along soundtrack as well.

05. 12 Years a Slave - I still believe that 12 Years a Slave has its flaws, but it's so close to being a masterpiece that it barely even matters. Not only is it an Important Movie (with capital letters!), but also it is a beautiful one. Never has something so ugly looked so pretty. The cinematography, the acting, the directing, the script: it's all wonderful. My only hesitation with it initially was thinking it was a little too pretentious. But that's nearly an afterthought now. Years from now, when people talk about the year 2013 in film, they will be talking about 12 Years a Slave.

04. The Place Beyond the Pines - Another flawed epic of a movie, The Place Beyond the Pines follows the lives of two men whose lives intersect and then, years later, their sons whose lives intersect as well. The Place Beyond the Pines is a refreshing sort of movie that is absolutely mesmerizing from start to finish. It's also unpredictable, and while the female characters seem like a sort of afterthought, the movie itself is a breath of fresh air in this day and age of remakes and sequels and unoriginality.

03. The Wolf of Wall Street - The most brazen, ballsy, out of control movie of the year is also won of the best. Martin Scorsese is still making movies like he's in his twenties with something to prove and star Leonardo DiCaprio has never been so free, completely letting go of his inhibitions to give one of the best performances of the year. The Wolf of Wall Street is an absolute masterpiece of greed and debauchery. The men at the center of the film are awful people, but that doesn't make watching them any less enjoyable.

02. Frances Ha - I don't know exactly what it is about this little black and white movie that struck me so much. Perhaps it's just how much I seem to relate to Frances (Greta Gerwig). Frances is a lonely girl living in New York City with big dreams, and although she has ambition, nothing ever quite works out for her. It's the story of struggling through life when all your friends seem to have their shit together but you can barely get out of bed some days. But mostly it's the story of a girl who is just trying to get her life straightened out. Frances says it's okay to have no idea what you're doing on a daily basis, and I thank her for it.

01. Her - The newest love story from Spike Jonze follows the story of a lonely writer desperate to make a connection (just like so many films I loved this year). He ends up falling in love with the new operating system for his computer. Her is just about everything a movie should be: smart, funny, intimate, quirky, original, sweet, and sad. This is the sort of lovely, wonderful movie that will have you crying one moment and laughing the next. Anchored by the joyful performance of Joaquin Phoenix and featuring the best screenplay of the year, Her is an absolute little gem of a movie.

The Spectacular Now

Remember when high school movies used to be meaningful? You would to connect with every richly developed character and the movie would effect you in a way that would meaning something to you for the rest of your life. The movies were funny, romantic, and also a little sad. They didn't trivialize the emotions of teenagers because they were young. The teenagers in these movies had actual, real problems and they persevered because of that or in spite of it. John Hughes more or less made an art form out of making movies like this and when you talk about the greatest high school movies of all time, you can't not mention him. His films are very 1980's but also feel timeless. Then something shifted and high school movies turned into a joke - an endless parade of raunchy jokes and oh-so-much alcohol. But lately I think the tide is turning again. Last year, The Perks of Being a Wallflower was one of my favorite movies of the year. It even made my year end Top Ten list against some pretty heavy competition. This year, you've got The Spectacular Now, a movie that is just as great as it's title. And while it features all the cliches you have come to know and love from tired genre movies (cute boy falls for not-so-pretty-until-you-really-look-at-her girl, the prom, graduation), it never feels recycled. It always feels fresh and daring.

Miles Teller stars as Sutter, the most popular boy in school. But here's the rub - he's popular because, wait for it, he's nice. He's nice to everyone. He is quite possibly the most likable boy in school. He has the biggest heart and is just as likely to talk to the school jock about sports as he is to talk to the school nerd about anime books. Of course, he has his demons, mainly the fact that he is almost always drinking. When his super popular, life of the party girlfriend (Brie Larson) breaks up with him, he goes into a downward spiral which leaves him passed out and hungover on a lawn where he's found by Aimee (Shailene Woodley), a shy girl he goes to school with. She is sweet and helpful to him. The transformation of the not-so-pretty girl into the pretty girl isn't physical here. Aimee is already beautiful (Sutter even tells her this because she doesn't know it herself). Unlike every other high school movie, her transformation is purely mental. Sutter gives her something no one else can - self confidence. At first, Sutter doesn't have the best of intentions. He hangs out with Aimee for selfish reasons - maybe she can help him with math, which he's failing, maybe he can make his ex jealous. But he begins to fall for her, although at a way slower pace than the way she falls for him, which is head over heels and fast.

The Spectacular Now has a great script and the performances feel raw and real. Everyone is talking about how this is Woodley's breakthrough performance and I agree. She is truly a revelation. However, more people should be talking about Teller, who, for me, is truly the star. He makes Sutter so damn likable that even when you question his motives (which is pretty often, actually), you never stop rooting for him to make the right decisions and clean up his act. He has so much charm, so much charisma and his chemistry with Woodley just oozes off of the screen. It feels less like a movie than a snap shot into the lives of these kids and their struggles. Aimee is supporting her family and trying to stand up to her mom so she can go away to college. Sutter has a bag load of daddy issues from his father abandoning him. They find each other in a way that feels real. I'm not sure I see this movie as a romance movie. To me their relationship is failing right from the start. But it is romantic if you think about it in terms of how they change each other's lives for the better. The movie ends enigmatically, not really knowing what happens for this couple, but either way, this is the first kind of love, the good kind that may hurt a little at the time but stays with your forever, shaping who you are as a person.

Of course, the movie isn't perfect. About two-thirds of the way through, Kyle Chandler shows up like a tornado. He steals the goddamn movie away from everyone with his deadbeat dad (miles away from his unforgettable turn as Coach Taylor on Friday Night Lights). You can immediately tell where Sutter gets his charisma because Chandler, as his dad, charms every person he meets in the movie, and the audience. And he's a terribly unlikable character, but, my Lord, if you don't want to know more about him, if you don't want to follow his character to the depths of the earth. His performance is so powerful that I'm sure it will stay so fresh and vivid in my mind for months to come. The problem is, that after he's gone, it's sort of like all the air gets sucked out of the movie. From that point on, the movie relies too heavily on melodrama and never fully recovers its footing. Still, two-thirds of a damn near perfect movie is still a pretty great accomplishment, and a feeble third act can't stop me from recommending this movie so very strongly. Go see it now. It's one of the years best.

Grade: B+

The Descendants & Beginners

The Descendants - I will fully admit this right now: I didn't like Sideways either. I guess "either" is a strong word. It leads you to assume that I didn't like The Descendants, which isn't entirely true. It's not that I didn't like it. It's just I sort of felt the same way about it as I do about every other Alexander Payne movie. It's good, solid story telling, acting and film making, but all terribly overrated. The Descendants follows Matt King (George Clooney - this is his best work ever, no joke), a Hawaiian lawyer who is dealing with selling his families pristine beach when his wife hits her head while boating and falls into a coma she may never come out of. To top it all off, he has two daughters: a 10 year old who sends nasty texts to her classmates and a 17 year old at a boarding school (a really, really superb Shailene Woodley) who is all kinds of messed up. Then, to make matters worse, he finds out his loyal and devoted wife was cheating on him and preparing to leave him for a real estate agent (a surprisingly well-rounded Matthew Lillard). So, Matt deals with his crazy daughters and traipsing around the islands to tell different friends and family members about his wife's condition. He meets with cousins of varying craziness to discuss proposals about selling the land. He deals with daughter Alex's annoying maybe-boyfriend (really, the only character that you want to punch in the face and guess what? Someone does!). Then he decides to track down his wife's lover, Brian Steer to confront him and maybe fight him, only to discover that he's a happy family man who never really loved Matt's wife the way she loved him. By this point in the film, if you're a little bored, don't fret, the fantastically underrated Judy Greer shows up to steal the whole goddamn movie (well, almost, Woodley is stupid good too). So, there you have The Descendants. It's great, sad story telling. The film making is amazing. There are two scenes in particular that are flawless: the spiral staircase scene and the scene where Alex begins to sob underwater which was my single favorite moment of the movie. The acting is surprisingly good all around. Clooney and Woodley will surely be nominated for Oscars for their complex, layered, flawless performances. Clooney is charming and flawed. He looks handsome and destroyed. Woodley is a revelation. I was a skeptic. I didn't think some teenybopper from some dumb ABC Family show could really be that good - but I will fully admit that I was wrong. She is so, so very good, just empathetic and full of sassy attitude, angry, depressed, sad, happy, sometimes all at the same time. Greer turns up around 3/4 through the film and all but steals it away from everyone else. But her role is so small, she probably won't get any nominations out of it. So, The Descendants is good, it's just not THAT good, the level of good that everyone is saying it is. It's slow moving. It's boring at times. It's too long (and that's coming from someone who LOVES long movies). Plus, there is way too much annoying voice over at the beginning. Still, The Descendants is worth checking out, because there is still a lot of good in there.
Grade: B

Beginners - Now here is a surprising little film. It all but came out of nowhere to tie with The Tree of Life to win Best Film at the recent Gotham Awards. I can't say I'm surprised. It's lovely, heartfelt little movie. It follows Oliver (Ewan McGregor, superb), an artist who is struggling with getting to know his dying father (Christopher Plummer, Oscar worthy) who, after being married for 44 years has come out of the closet as a gay man. Meanwhile, Oliver is also trying to take a page from his father as he attempts to start his life over and forge a relationship with a quirky, adorable French actress (Melanie Laurent). It's a simple, little story and could end up cliched in the hands of a lesser cast and filmmaker, but instead, Beginners is a different, original, funny, sad, heartwarming take on a tired genre. Writer and director Mike Mills is fantastic, adding humor and quirky little extras (a dog that talks via subtitles) to the film. McGregor, who has a lot of misses on his resume due to the crap he's been making for the past decade or so, is really, really great, as is the adorable Laurent. Their initial meeting is instantly classic. But, it's Plummer, who recently received his very first Oscar nomination at the age of 70something for The Last Station, who is mesmerizing to watch. Plummer is so good - alive even though is character is dying - that he should not only find himself nominated for a second Oscar, but also, probably winning.
Grade: B+