Hiatus (Again)

Whew! Sorry, you guys.
College has been nuts. We're in the homestretch of the last semester of my freshman year. That's why I haven't posted on here in almost a month. However, I will be posting a few reviews today. Hopefully. :)
Thanks for your patience!

Love,

Oscar Results

these are in the order they were presented in. congratulations to all!

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz

Best Animated Short Film: Paperman

Best Animated Feature Film: Brave

Best Cinematography: Life of Pi

Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi

Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Les Miserables

Best Live Action Short Film: Curfew

Best Documentary Short: Inocente

Best Documentary Feature: Searching For Sugar Man

Best Foreign Film: Amour

Best Sound Mixing: Les Miserables

Best Sound Editing: a tie - Zero Dark Thirty, Skyfall

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway

Best Film Editing: Argo

Best Production Design: Lincoln

Best Original Score: Life of Pi

Best Original Song: "Skyfall" by Adele

Best Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio, Argo

Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Best Director: Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Best Leading Actress:  Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Leading Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Best Picture: Argo

Congratulations to all! :)

Final Oscar Predictions for Sunday

hello! so I thought since my next post is a few days away, I would share my Oscar predictions with you all!

Best Picture: Argo

Best Leading Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Best Leading Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Best Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio, Argo

Best Foreign Language Film: Amour

Best Documentary Feature: Searching For Sugar Man

Best Animated Feature: Brave

Best Cinematography: Life of Pi

Best Film Editing: Argo

Best Music - Original Score: Life of Pi

Best Music - Original Song: "Skyfall" by Adele

Best Production Design: Anna Karenina

Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina

Best Sound Editing: Zero Dark Thirty

Best Sound Mixing: Les Miserables

Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi

Best Hair and Makeup: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Best Short Film - Live Action: Curfew

Best Short Film - Animated: Paperman

Best Documentary Short: Open Heart

House At The End of The Street (2012)

Image Source: Twitchfilm

VERDICT: While it is more of a thriller than a horror movie and provides some heart-pounding here and there, the only thing really going for this movie is its lead, who seems to float over the awful script, poor editing, and mediocre acting from the supporting cast. Jennifer Lawrence, and Elizabeth Shue, to her credit, deserve better than this.

Whew! It's been a busy few weeks. And my brain's tired. So I figure the time is ripe for me to review a movie that was a complete stinker. I haven't done that yet, have I?

My birthday was on the twelfth of February, which my college friends honored with a surprise party they'd been planning since January. I did not clue in at all until they surprised me, so kudos to them. It was a truly wonderful day; one I will remember for a long time. I also was hired by a contractor at oDesk to begin writing articles for whatever they want me to write about, so it's iffy how often I'll be on here.

Directed by Mark Tonderai and written by David Loucka and Jonathan Mostow, House At the End of the Street surrounds teenager Elissa Cassidy (Jennifer Lawrence) and her single mother Sarah (Elizabeth Shue) as they are moving into their new house, hoping to start fresh. Turns out they've moved in to the house next door to another in which a young girl murdered her parents. When Elissa befriends Ryan (Max Thieriot), the son of the deceased parents, she wanders into the folds of a confusing mystery and a horrible, hidden truth that, as Elissa learns, is far from being resolved.

OTHER CAST MEMBERS: Gil Bellows, Nolan Gerard Funk, Allie McDonald, Joy Tanner

I saw this movie purely because Jennifer Lawrence is in it. I will admit I do have a raging girl crush on the woman (I am straight, I promise), but it's mostly due to her acting. Because she's phenomenal. You can't take your eyes off her. So any movie with Jennifer Lawrence in it must be a good movie, right?

Let House At the End of the Street stamp out that myth right now.

I think the thing that got me first was the script, because it was terrible. It sounded like a high-schooler had written it as a last-minute short story project for English class. It was shallow and uncreative. I recall one particular scene where Ryan is going to see Elissa and the neighborhood jerks are like "You tappin' that?" and when he doesn't answer they say "I guess it's official. She will sleep with anyone." I cringed at how poorly placed that was, because it was painfully simplistic and it made absolutely no sense considering what minimal character exposition we had been given of Elissa already. Plus, Elissa is still new in town at this point. Does she already have some kind of reputation? As well as already joining a band within days of moving there? It's like the filmmakers were as bored with these characters as we were. Also, no teenager of this generation starts a conversation with "You tappin' that?" If it was meant to be set in the 2010's, that sure didn't prove it.
As a (screen)writer myself and an avid movie viewer, a bad script is like an insult to my intelligence. If a movie has a good script, it has the ability to make up for a lot of other things that might have fallen short. So setting the basis of the film with a horrible script is strike one with critics and it affects the rest of the film. It won't necessarily bother the audience, unless they're smart. In which case, they'll feel like they're being addressed with condescension because the script is on such an elementary level. There are many people, I'm sad to say, who probably found the shallowness and stupidity of the script to be just at their literacy level. Perhaps even above it. That might be why I continued to see people on my Tumblr who were like "HATES was so amazing omg!" But then, people still say the same of Twilight.

Even Jennifer Lawrence seems to know that she's in a complete garbage dump of a movie.

Image Source: Blogspot

What's frustrating is that the story had potential. It's an interesting take on the normal horror story formula; it begins with your usual psycho kid kind of story before the weird psychological twist that you weren't really expecting. In fact, I managed to get my hands on an early draft of the script some time ago, and the original story was actually better than the one they decided to transfer to the screen. The original story had Elissa discovering the truth and leading the victim involved to safety. Which, honestly, would have been a much better idea than what the final story ended up presenting us with. I won't spoil it for you, but I suppose it isn't even entirely worth it either way. You don't really care about any of the characters at all, so that by the time the "big reveal" comes around, it's not that big a deal. It's actually pretty lame.

"How did my agent ever let me sign on to this movie?"

Image Source: CLCLT

One of the only good things about this movie was Jennifer Lawrence, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a huge fan of hers. She's perfectly in character; so perfectly, in fact, that she seems separate from the entire movie. It's that bad. And what's worse is that they got Elizabeth Shue in on this too, the other great actress who doesn't deserve a movie this awful. They try to work on the mother-daughter problems they have, or at least Sarah does while Elissa consistently acts the daughter-turned-mother role. That subplot is perhaps the best acted, just because it only consists of Lawrence and Shue. The rest of the subplots, ranging from Ryan being bullied by the other teenage boys to Officer Weaver (Bellows) hitting on Sarah from time to time, just fall flat. They aren't well-acted and they have nothing to do with the general plot. Basically, it's enough to bore the pants off of you. It's like the plot kind of meanders around before we start to figure out what part Ryan plays in this supposedly urgent situation that still managed to go unsolved for years and years. And then Elissa does what every smart movie character does with the bad boy and proceeds to hang out with him against her mother's will, beginning a pretty boring romantic subplot. Their chemistry's believable, but it, like everything else, feels lifeless.

Adding face-suck did not help in the slightest.

Image Source: Marienela

So then Elissa gets knocked unconscious and taken down to the basement. Guess her mom was right about her psycho boyfriend, huh? You would think that anyone who lived in that day and age had seen or at least heard about a dozen horror movies similar to that one and would know better than to do the exact same thing that all of the other stupid horror movie characters do that end up getting into sticky situations. At this point, when Elissa is screaming and running around, you're like "Dude, you brought this on yourself," because the scantily clad girl running away from monsters is so overworn it's beginning to look dog-eared.

Now Jennifer Lawrence was a good sport about being in a crappy movie. She saw it all the way through, even praising the director and the script in interviews. She was approached about her second Oscar nomination (for Silver Linings Playbook) on the CCA (Critic's Choice Awards) red carpet, and interviewer Josh Horowitz asked "What was this for, House at the End of the Street?" Jennifer burst out laughing.

I think J-Law can breathe a sigh of relief. Since it was sandwiched between The Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook, no one's going to remember that she was even in this movie.

Image Source: Tumblr

If you are bored beyond bored, rent this movie. Or don't.

RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and terror, thematic elements, language, some teen partying and brief drug material

GRADE: D

House At the End of the Street (Trailer)

MORE INFORMATION:

IMDb

Rotten Tomatoes

Trade of Innocents (2012)

Image Source: MovieInsider

VERDICT: Despite the sometimes middling road it takes to invoke emotion, Trade of Innocents is made to inform, not to entertain, and should thus be critiqued with this in mind. It has many flaws, but many more subtle truths, poignant symbols, and heartbreaking realities. It's one of those that takes a little while to sink in before you may find yourself shedding tears over the world's injustice.

I'm back! Sorry for the wait. My computer is up and running now.

This week I am reviewing a film that has remained virtually unknown this year due to low budget. But it is very much worth the discussion. I think if I hadn't seen this movie I would have just gone back to my normal review of something mainstream. But I'm changing it up this time. It'll just be quite a bit shorter, because it's a shorter movie and I don't have a whole lot to say about it.

Written and directed by Christopher Bessette, Trade of Innocents tells a story of a married couple, Alex (Dermot Mulroney) and Claire (Mira Sorvino). Broken by the loss of their young daughter and wanting to fix the strain on their marriage, they go to Cambodia to try and rescue girls from the sex slave trade, becoming fixated on one particularly widespread offender (Trieu Tran).

My college was actually screening this movie when I saw it, and Christopher Bessette himself came to our screening (how cool is that, right?). We have to get a certain number of chapel credits throughout each semester and this screening was worth two credits. So of course a few of us went. I plopped down next to one of my girlfriends and the premiere got started.

It's a shocking movie from the start. It's not comfortable to sit through, at all. But it isn't supposed to be. The idea is to disturb you enough about a very real situation to make you feel prompted to do something about it. The first scene where Alex plays rock-paper-scissors with a young girl who automatically reaches to take off her clothes before he stops her plays pretty well on the theme of stolen innocence, and this thread continues throughout the rest of the film.

It is a little strickening to see this young girl start to unbutton her shirt almost immediately.

Image Source: Amazon

The emotional subplot fell a little flat in my opinion, though it had its moments. It was certainly easy to see why both Alex and Claire quest to save these children; they themselves had their daughter kidnapped and killed when she was eight. It was saddening, certainly, and the writing isn't totally mediocre. Bits of light shine through the cracks in its dullness. But you don't have enough characterization to really care about these characters. Then again, they never ask you to. Because again, this movie was made to inform, not entertain.

They tried. Mulroney and Sorvino are decent actors. It's just that you aren't given enough time to care about them.

Image Source: ReleaseMovies

On the informative side, you may be surprised how well this problem has managed to stay hidden in our exposed modern times. The figures presented are startling, and even more disturbing is the fact that they are presented to be entirely truthful. I would list the figures, but it's much more jolting to hear them yourself.

One thing that this movie was good at doing, especially for me and my friend (nameless for privacy's sake), who was sitting next to me, was making us feel revolted at the flagrant pedophilia the movie brings to light. The brutal and vile language used to describe the young virgin girls that the main customer, Adderly, wants for himself is enough to make your skin crawl (describing them as "fresh flowers"). I appreciated how unflinching the movie was in terms of its honesty, because that kept me from completely writing it off for its low-budget look and mediocre emotional subplot. 

This scene, as mentioned by the director, actually happened. It's easy to believe that it did, due to the way it makes your skin crawl and blood boil through every sickening minute.

Images Source: IMDb

I waited for about twenty minutes after the Q&A with the director had ended to speak to him. I had to tell him that I appreciated what he had done; the symbolism he used was striking and beautiful and I believe that was part of what disturbed me so much about the movie. My favorite motif was at the very end, when Adderly has not been given the girls he asked for. He packs his things and prepares to leave his hotel room, when he spies the white ribbon on the table that he periodically smells throughout the movie. He hesitates, then goes to the table, grabs it, and then leaves, becoming a lurking shadow.

A young man in the audience at the showing stood up at the Q&A and openly expressed his disappointment that Mr. Bessette had not resolved anything by the end of the movie. As a writer, screenwriter, and film enthusiast, I was a little angered by that comment. So, when I talked to Christopher Bessette, I told him that I flatly disagreed with that comment, that I liked that the issue was unresolved. Because it is unresolved. That kind of open ending leaves the audience wanting to do something about it. 

I gushed compliments in his face, utterly impressed and amazed with what God had done through him in this movie and how beautiful and brave the message was to me. 

He chuckled. "Well, bless your heart!"

Needless to say, my friend and I were both shaken emotionally by this movie for personal reasons. In the movie, Adderly asserts many times that he wants seven-year-old girls. After the movie was over and I went down to my friend's dorm (because if I didn't talk/cry about what we had just seen then I wouldn't sleep), she looked at me, her eyes rimmed with tears, and said "I was seven." My friend had been sexually assaulted at that age, and although she was never in any sort of sex slave trade, she looked haunted by the reminder of her own traumatic experience. Part of me was thinking about her and the other part of me was thinking about these poor girls in the movie and all over the world. Either way, the movie brought me to tears. And I'm a stone in movies. I rarely cry. It was a weird sort of relief, though, to know that I still could cry at movies. I figured then it must have had some kind of impact that touched me very deeply. Another reason why I can't write off this movie completely.       

If nothing else, see this movie for its symbolism and its brutal honesty. Because this movie does something special despite its mediocrity; it values its message more than its image.

GRADE: B 

RATING: N/A

Trade of Innocents (Trailer)

MORE INFORMATION:

Official Website

IMDb

Rotten Tomatoes

Hiatus

Sorry, everybody, I have reviews ready for when my computer is back up and running. My charger's busted so I have to wait until this weekend before I can publish anything. Thank you for your patience.

The Descendants (2011)

Image Source: Starometer

VERDICT: Painfully funny and poignantly moving, The Descendants is a quiet and tropical work of art, with George Clooney never failing in character.

So this is a new little series I'm going to start here on this blog. Every so often, I'm going to review a movie that deserves to be rented/bought/watched illegally (kidding!) if the theater's output is unsatisfying or inconvenient. No one sees every movie that comes out every year, right? But there are so, so many that deserve your time and attention. Thus, this little series of mine is born.

Directed and written by Oscar winner Alexander Payne, The Descendants takes us into the life of indifferent businessman Matt King (George Clooney), whose life is turned upside down in every way after his wife suffers a boating accident. While dealing with the knowledge that his wife's coma is permanent and that she was having an affair before her accident, he also tries to figure out how he's going to raise his two daughters: Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), a foul-mouthed, brutally honest seventeen-year-old, and Scottie (Amara Miller), a rowdy yet naive ten-year-old whose innocence is in danger of being shattered with the truth. On top of everything, Matt has to make a decision about their descendants' land: whether he will decide to keep and preserve it, or sell it to some hopeful buyers and allow himself and the rest of his numerous family members to reap the financial benefits.

OTHER CAST MEMBERS: Nick Krause, Patricia Hastie, Beau Bridges

I scan Rotten Tomatoes pretty regularly for recommendations on what movies they think I would like based on the movie preferences I have expressed on their website. The Descendants was one I came across in this way. I hadn't heard very much about it; I didn't follow awards shows for 2011/2012 nearly as much as I've been this year. It wasn't a huge winner but it was a decent-sized nominee at the Oscars and the Golden Globes. So, I figured, it can't be that bad.

You might find yourself deeply moved by The Descendants.

Most of the plot is the stuff soap operas usually tend to derive from, except Alexander Payne chooses to tackle the situations with honesty and grace. We've all seen the "somebody's in the hospital" type of story where everyone's life falls apart while that someone is in the hospital and then they magically become closer after that death or whatever happens and then bittersweet ending and then credits. And I'm not saying that kind of thing doesn't happen every day. It sure does. But what I admire about Payne's work here is that he takes the soapy stuff out of it and gives it the weight and eloquence it deserves. He rather brilliantly captures the emotions surrounding a dying loved one without passing them off as a saint.  When someone is dying, we don't want to look at them in a negative way. We don't want to feel like their life was a waste or a shame. Death is the point in which all humans are equal, so admitting that the dying person has faults feels like we are bashing on humanity as they die. And that feels uncomfortable and disrespectful. Mrs. Elizabeth King was far from saintly, as we learn throughout the story, and we watch as Matt and Alexandra struggle with that harsh truth. And at no point does Payne assert what we should believe about any one of these people. He does not condescend to his audience. He tells it like it is. That kind of honesty really resonates with people, I think, which is one of the reasons this film can be identified as moving. It felt much more realistic, and thus touched on levels that we do connect with deep down, whether or not we'd like to admit it.

I knew George Clooney would be amazing. That's a given. He's George freakin' Clooney. But Shailene Woodley has literally come out of nowhere in recent years and she rocked this role. Kudos.

Image Source: The Moving Arts

It 's definitely a sad movie, given the subject matter, but it isn't a giant sobfest. There's a theme of poignant, albeit painful, humor that is present through most of the film. It keeps your attention because it's clever humor that doesn't resort to vulgarity (despite colorful language here and there), and that feels more respectful towards the audience. It is to the credit of all great filmmakers when things can be funny without also being disgusting. That says to the audience that they can handle smarter humor.
What I also loved was the unique dynamic between Matt and Alexandra. It reminds me of my relationship with my own father (except I am much less foul-mouthed), in that we are also friends as well as family. At several points in the journey do they connect, a lot of times over their frustration and anger with Elizabeth and their mutual want to protect Scottie's innocence for as long as they can before they have to tell her that her mother is going to die. They both carry on their secret operation of finding the man Elizabeth had an affair with before her accident behind the backs of everyone in their family, including Scottie. At any given point in time Matt and Alexandra have a huge weight on their shoulders. But they carry it because it is important.

Another painfully funny scene here - these two play off each other extremely well.

Image Source: The Movie Waffler

 The supporting cast only adds to the chaos that poor Matt has to handle; Elizabeth's father, who refused to see Elizabeth as anything else but a perfect girl who deserved more in her life. It pains you a little to hear his tirades at Matt about how she was "a faithful and devoted wife," especially when you know now that this is far from the truth. Alexander Payne captures the concept of lying for the sake of painful truth in a way that really moved me; when Elizabeth's father says Elizabeth deserved better, Matt says quietly "You're right, she deserved better." You can tell that the real story is fighting to burst from him, but for the sake of Elizabeth's father already hurting a lot, he can't bring himself to make it worse. So then when Alexandra and her friend Sid (a pretty minor comic relief character, for the most part) jump up and defend Matt, you feel a sense of satisfaction, because you care about Matt so much by this point that you kind of hate Elizabeth's father for relentlessly ragging on him about everything he is doing wrong. 

Which brings me to Matt's character. It's really to George Clooney's credit that this character was pulled off so well. All of the acting in this movie was spectacular, but Clooney really steals the show. I expect he's somewhat used to doing this by now, but I was continually impressed by how much he was able to make me feel just in his facial expressions and voice. And honestly, you so believe the character. He is doing the best he can under an entire world of weight on his shoulders. A feeling that I'm sure many adults can relate to.

But seriously, George Clooney.

Image Source: Tumblr

If you are curious about a good drama film to rent/buy/watch illegally (again, kidding), then I highly recommend this one. Watch it when you're in a mellow mood, for sure. But do watch it.

RATING: R for language including some sexual references

GRADE: A

AWARDS

Since it's getting really tedious to copy down every award all of my reviewed films are honored for, I will provide a link so you can look for yourself. I would continue to type them all out myself, but I am in college and have limited time. Thank you for your patience.

The Descendants (Trailer)

MORE INFORMATION

Official Website

IMDb

Rotten Tomatoes