I can't say for certain, but this film feels like it was directly inspired by Ira Sachs' previous directorial outing, Love is Strange. As much as I enjoyed that other film, what really stood out to me was that ending with the kids skateboarding. I can't remember too many specifics about the plot or even the characters, but those images of golden sunlight, long shadows and the overall feeling of hopefulness that accompanied them, finds its way into my brain fairly often. With its focus on the friendship of two young and openhearted boys, Little Men feels like it is intentionally picking up where that other film left off. The supporting characters of one film are now the leads of this new one. It's all so beautiful and subtle and perfectly honest about how the world works. A film this slight is destined to be forgotten among all the other great cinema of this year, but for me it is near the top.
Wasn't 2013 a great movie year? The big Oscar winners were all excellent, and some of the smaller and overlooked movies that year were real gems as well. They struck a chord and really stuck with me. Enter The Spectacular Now.
Sutter (Miles Teller) is popular, the life of the party, and professes to all that he lives in the "now," that the past and future don't matter, even with his high school graduation looming on the horizon. After a breakup, he finds himself getting close to Aimee (Shailene Woodley), a bookish good girl from his school who he meets after waking up hungover on a stranger's front lawn. As their relationship progresses, it becomes apparent that Sutter's alcohol problem is quietly tearing his life apart.
This movie really spoke to me because I've known people who are self-destructive, who just can't will themselves to get their shit together. Misery loves company, so when Sutter starts bringing Aimee down with him, you want to shake him and say "Look at what you're doing to yourself! Leave her alone!" Some naysayers of this film complain that Sutter is unlikeable and douchey, and Aimee is a doormat. But that's real. Some people are a mess, and some people enable that mess to happen. Teller and Woodley are great in their roles, playing their parts with sincerity and raw openness. This film is a lot like life: people treat each other badly for no reason, people come together and drift apart, and questions go unanswered. It's a very special film with characters that you end up loving in spite of their flaws, and it definitely deserves a spot in your queue.
I remember watching The Breakfast Club a lot on TV when I was a kid. Yeah, it was heavily edited, and a bit of it went over my head, but I'll always remember how it made me feel. Growing up is sad and scary. Writer/director John Hughes had a gift for giving a voice to young people, and giving a face to that teenage anxiety so many of us have felt. From afar these characters look like stereotypes ("a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal"), but when they open up to each other, they find they have more in common than they ever imagined. They're all afraid. They're unsure of themselves. They have no idea what they're doing. And these feelings were so familiar to me as a teenager and even still as an adult. Allison (Ally Sheedy) says in the film, "When you grow up, your heart dies." I think we could all use a reminder of how it feels to be young, wild, and scared. We don't have to be numb adults with dead hearts. The raw performances in this film, the silliness and the sadness, and that defiant fist-pump into the sky wake us up as adults, remind us that we are alive, and make this film definitely worth revisiting.
Who misses the 90s? I know I do! I miss the nonsense of the teen movies, the questionable fashion, the sense of fun, the music, sigh! I was feeling particularly nostalgic the other day and decided to watch this (it's streamable on Netflix!)...so here's a little post on why this awful movie is also the best ever!
1. Rachel Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr.
Remember when they were in stuff? I used to looooooove Freddie Prinze Jr. Not so much anymore. And I love how awkward Rachel Leigh Cook is supposed to be. Like ugh, not that tortured artist with GLASSES!
2. "High Schoolers"
Because they all walk around like they're on their way to the beach, and talk like this: "One second, you're Zach Siler, class president, stand-out athlete, all-around bad-ass mamba-jahamba; the next thing you know, you're Zach Siler, bitch-boy."
3. Scary Performance Art
"Be silent! Be still!"
4. Bitchy McBitchFace!
I miss mean girls in movies. Like...unrealistically heinous horrible people like Taylor Vaughan. For example, here are her thoughts on her chances of being crowned prom queen: "Careful of what? OK, I could win this thing in fluorescent lighting, on the first day of my period, cloaked in T.J. Max. Ok? My mother was prom queen in '71, my cousin - prom queen in '82, and my sister would have been prom queen in '94 if it wasn't for that scam on the Conway Bed tour bus, okay? I am a goddamn legacy, all right? And besides, not to be a bitch, but who's gonna beat Taylor Vaughan?" And she totally does win! I love it.
5. The casting of Usher as some kind of student/DJ/announcer who supposedly taught the entire student body this dance:
6. The casting of other awesome people!
Clea DuVall! Anna Paquin! Kieran Culkin! Yay!
7. Happy ending set to that Sixpence None the Richer song!
Yeah I totally slowdanced to that song at my wedding. 90s kid 4 life!
Freshman Charlie (Logan Lerman) is socially awkward and a loner. He's anticipating a pretty miserable high school experience, until seniors Patrick (Ezra Miller) and Sam (Emma Watson) take him under their wing and welcome him into their circle of friends.
Don't you love when a movie you've been eagerly anticipating turns out to be awesome? I'm a big fan of the novel by Stephen Chbosky (who directed the film and adapted the screenplay)...I must've read it at least five times since high school. I can't explain the weirdly sad and nostalgic feeling I get from the book (considering my high school experience was absolutely nothing like the book), but it's a beautiful story that I return to time and time again. Having the author direct the film reassured me that the overall feel of the story would remain intact. Really strong performances from all, especially Lerman and Miller, and I also loved the heck out of Mae Whitman's Mary Elizabeth. I found her simultaneously more bitchy and more sympathetic than she was in the book. I think really seeing a character's face brings a whole new dimension than just reading about the character. I'm so happy this adaptation was successful!
I'm trying not to gush, but this is truly a special film. It captures the fear of future that so many of us felt at that age, and the performances are SO good. I highly recommend checking this film out!
Sam: Why do I and everyone I love pick people who treat us like we're nothing?
A group of four friends (Giuseppe Andrews, Edward Furlong, James DeBello and Sam Huntington) ditch school to attend a KISS concert in Detroit...rock city.
* * *
I firmly believe that the best rock & roll is dumb rock & roll. There's an immediacy to it. The groove is hard and the emotions are raw. Everything is life and death...just like when you're in high school. Sure this film isn't Fellini and sure KISS aren't The Beatles, but so what? I love albums like Tommy, Pet Sounds and Dark Side of the Moon as much as the next guy. They are monumental works that prove what rock and roll is capable of. But when I really want to just let loose, I put on Meat Loaf, Andrew W.K. or KISS. The same goes for film. You can only watch L'avventura and Stalker so many times. Sometimes you just need to lose your mind in Detroit...Rock City.
Three interconnected stories spell out the particulars of one wild night in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
* * *
The Star Wars series aside, films don't change as the years go by. What changes is the viewer. Released between my freshman and sophomore years of high school, Go was a big film for me. I'd just started hanging out with a new group of friends and was experiencing a lot of firsts. Though I wasn't having nights as wild as the one depicted, Go felt true to the life I was living. So what if my point of reference character was Claire? Having recently re-watched it at the age of 28, the film now feels like a eulogy. A requiem for those nights when we were immortal and the most important question was, "What's next?" I don't give a fuck if the depiction of rave culture is 'inaccurate' and I don't care if it's a 'rip-off' of Pulp Fiction; this film has elicited strong emotional responses from me at two drastically different times in my life. How many films in your life can you honestly say that about?
High School dorks Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) and Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) decide to create their dream girl using only their home computer and a Barbie doll. What they get is Lisa (Kelly LeBrock)...and their lives will never be the same again.
* * *
According to legend this film was written in two days and I think it shows - in all of the best ways. John Hughes had no time to second guess himself. Everything rattling around in his brain was spilled out onto the page and in turn onto the screen giving the film this insanely manic energy that is just so intoxicating. Sure The Breakfast Club is more poignant and Pretty In Pink is more romantic, but nothing can beat Weird Science for sheer insanity and fun. No, not even Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Oh yeah I said it! What you gonna do about it?
It's July. Our apartment is a sauna. It's too hot to sleep. Naturally, I've got summer movies on the brain!
Today's offering is the original Gidget, starring Sandra Dee. Francie's friends are busy spending the summer boyhunting while the, erm, lesser developed and somewhat tomboyish Francie would rather spend her time at the beach snorkeling. She's a bit of an outcast. When she gets tangled in some seaweed and is rescued by a dreamy surfer, she becomes immediately addicted to the thrill of surfing. She befriends the local surf-bums who call her Gidget (girl-midget, get it? GET IT??) and the rest writes itself.
This movie is kitschy, cute, and even a little creepy sometimes (old beach bum, STAY AWAY from Gidget! She's, like, fifteen or something!) but it's definitely fun. Gidget has about a thousand different swimsuits, James Darren as Moondoggie is totally adorable and even has a little song, and the luau scene is just too hokey and fun. Good times by all!
Also, a heads up that I'll be writing about Gidget Goes Hawaiian soon...it's the sequel and probably my favorite in the series, but I thought I'd start at the beginning!
