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Film Review : Obvious Child (2014)

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IMDB Score – 6.8
Rotten Tomato Score – 90%
Amazon Watch Instant

Directed By – Gillian Robespierre
Starring – Jenny Slate, Gabby Hoffmann, Jack Lacy, Richard Kind, Polly Draper, Gabe Liedman, and David Cross

A twenty-something comedienne’s unplanned pregnancy forces her to confront the realities of independent womanhood for the first time.

Rom-Coms. Like the ever so fragile horror genre, there is a very small window of success when it comes to romantic comedies. At least for me. I know a few people that can’t get enough of them. A few professional critics I read laud films like Love Actually and 500 Days of Summer. I’ve seen the latter. I thought it was okay. One of my favorite films of all time, Lost in Translation, could possibly be categorized as a Rom-Com but I wouldn’t say so. That film is a dream like look at empathy and loneliness but surprisingly establishes the exact quality that I look for when I watch something romantic, realism. Whether it’s funny or not, realism is what makes a good film from a bad one. I also think that tragedy can be a very useful but overused tool when it comes to these films. The Apartment had heavy tones dealing with adultery and suicide, yet was still hysterical and endearing. Blue Valentine was devastating as we see two people spiral out of love. Obvious Child is hilarious but deals with unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Maybe I’m just fucked up, but I just can’t like a romantic film unless something horrible happens. I guess that’s why I don’t consider Lost in Translation to be a rom-com. Nothing bad really happens. It’s just two people hanging out and developing a relationship.

Obvious Child does the opposite. It starts with the end of a relationship which catapults the films protagonist Donna, played INCREDIBLY by Jenny Slate, into a bit of a spiral. Donna is a comedian and brings her life on stage every time she gets up there. She eventually meets Max and here is where the films starts to develop into what ended up being such a pleasant surprise.

Like I said before, realism is important to me. I have to be able to feel like the characters in the film could actually exist in real life. No woman that Jennifer Lopez or Cameron Diaz have ever existed outside of Beverly Hills, Miami, or the upper west side. The majority of rom-com female leads make up the smallest percentage of what real women are like. Jenny Slate brings realism to this film. She’s awkward, anxious, and has no idea what she’s doing in her life. She reminds me of Greta Gerwig from Frances Ha except a little less hipster cool. Donna lives in Brooklyn, somehow pays only $500 in rent (which totally contradicts this whole realism theme), and works at a failing bookstore. She’s an everyday person. Thankfully, she’s also hilarious. I had a few laugh of loud moments while watching this. Slate, who appears regularly on comedy central shows such as The Kroll Show, has a natural sense of comedic timing which really helped me connect with her character. She just seemed like a person who is struggling to make an impact at 26 years old just like everybody else who is 26 is.

As the film progresses, Slate’s acting chops really start to show. I was surprised. I had heard that she was great in the film and saw that she was nominated for a Spirit award but she still caught me off guard. The tornado that her life ran into required some serious emotional cutbacks and Slate handled it perfectly. She was able to convey a girl who has no idea how she got herself into the situation perfectly. I was impressed.

The film tackles some sensitive subjects with honesty. Abortion isn’t a very widely used subject for film, especially comedies, but Obvious Child was able to take it on without getting too heavy, but also not insulting the situation with humor. I’m the type of person that cracks jokes at funerals and is laughing while being taken to the ER. I always have been. I use humor as a defense mechanism when things are too serious to handle, at least in public. When I’m alone or with family, the true feelings come out, and they did in this film. Those scenes were touching.

The supporting cast was good, but this is really Slate’s show. She didn’t carry the film because I think it was a very well written and directed movie, but I don’t think it would have been the same without her. The film is currently streaming on Amazon Instant and I’d totally recommend it.

4/5




Quick Review : St. Vincent (2014)

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IMDB Score – 7.4
Rotten Tomatoes – 76%

Directed By – Theodore Melfi
Starring – Bill Murray, Jaeden Lieberher, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Chris O’Dowd, Kimberly Quinn, and Terrence Howard

A young boy whose parents have just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic war veteran who lives next door.

There are very few things in life that instill a complete sense of tranquility whenever they’re present. A nice roaring fire on a cold night, a juicy burger and a tall cold beer, a nap during a rainstorm…and Bill Murray.

I love Bill Murray. I know everybody generally loves Bill Murray but I ignore them all and just savor the fact that this man is still making me laugh in movies. Ever since I heard him explain to the mayor of New York that Walter Peck had no dick in Ghostbusters, sarcasm has been a friend. Sometimes it doesn’t go over as well as when Bill uses it. I’ve been in some awkward situations in public situations where my sarcasm has been laid down too strong and prompts me to explain how I’m not really a jerk. Bill never has to do that though. He’s Bill Murray. He’ll always be Bill Murray and nobody else will ever be Bill Murray. That doesn’t make sense. I don’t care.

St. Vincent, a film that I obviously wanted to see ended up being a sweet, cute, very funny film that didn’t do anything special in terms of story of style, but just raked in the smiles from the on screen cast. It reminded me a lot of Chef earlier this year where we have a young actor playing opposite of a more known actor and letting the story kind of run in the background. Sometimes you really just need a relaxing comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously and that’s what we have here. Don’t get me wrong, there are some emotional scenes in the film that landed as being sincere. The film tackles divorce and Alzheimer’s pretty seriously but the film never drops into it too long before coming back with a laugh.

Bill Murray was obviously awesome. There was a scene that was in the trailer so I don’t mind talking about it here, involving Bill sitting in a lawn chair while Oliver (Lieberher) mows his dirt. McCarthy asks him if he’s drinking alcohol and we get this long Bill Murray stare and response of “I honesty don’t remember”. I died. I had seen the scene in the trailer but honestly it’s so funny that it surprised me when it happened. Bill turns on and off a Brooklyn accent for the duration of the film and REALLY did a phenomenal job at the end of the film. I won’t say what happens, but I’ll just say it was really a perfect interpretation of what people really go through after such an event. Speaking of accents, Naomi Watts may have done one of the worst accents in the history of film. Her character is Russian and her attempt at the accent is just laughable. She sounds like if Niko Belic and Yakov Smirnoff decided to be a lady. It was horrible. Chris O’Dowd is amazing. I could have watched the scenes with him in the classroom for two hours. The cast was great.

The film was delightful while not being a special snowflake. Does that make sense? It’s like comfort food. Mashed potatoes aren’t special but sometimes they’re the perfect thing. Also, Bill Murray.

3.5/5



Film Review : The Double (2014)

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IMDB Score – 7.1
Rotten Tomato Score – 82%

Directed By – Richard Ayoade
Starring – Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn, Noah Taylor, Cathy Moriarty, Chris O’Dowd, and Paddy Considine

A clerk in a government agency finds his unenviable life takes a turn for the horrific with the arrival of a new co-worker who is both his exact physical double and his opposite – confident, charismatic and seductive with women.

I decided, for the first time since moving to Fort Lee, NJ, to head into the city and see a movie. I tried picking a theater where I could see a double feature and settled on seeing “The Double” and Only Lovers Left Alive” at the Landmark Sunshine on East Houston street. I figured that since I live next to the most famous city in the world that just so happens to have a billion theaters showing films that show nowhere else around me, it might be a good idea to start venturing in and taking advantage. First up is “The Double”, directed by the extremely talented British quirk, Richard Ayoade.

His first film, “Submarine” is one that I have actually seen but remember nothing of. I must have been outside my head that day because even though I have tried, I can’t remember a single thing from that film. I stated he is talented because of his work on “The IT Crowd” and the fact that he was the only entertaining thing about “The Watch”. I’ve also heard him in a bunch of interviews and he seems like a very intelligent and unique person. All those qualities showed up in “The Double:, an adaption of a Fyodor Dostoevsky novel of the same. Jesse Eisenberg, who was brilliantly cast for this role, plays Simon, an employee at a data processing firm who can’t seem to catch a break or the recognition from his peers. In walks James, an identical looking/dressing Simon who is everything Simon is not, charismatic, funny, charming, and outgoing. He picks up women as he pleases and he wins the smiles of everyone he encounters. I remembered seeing the trailer when it was released and thinking that the film was going to be a trip because I had no idea what was going on. Having seen the film I’m still not quite sure. It’s going to take a second viewing to understand fully what happened but one thing the film was…impressive.

Besides the obvious science fiction elements, for example the fact that the film takes place in an obvious dystopian world not of our own, the film is a comedy. It’s a quick draw of wit around every corner and delivered perfectly by Eisenberg who secured an Oscar nomination for playing a character who is fast talking and witty. Ayoade did his homework. Eisenberg, who plays both main characters, played them both wonderfully. Simon is shy, neurotic, and miserable whereas James is outgoing, engaging, and seems to be the favorite person of every single employee and person in the city. Nobody mentions the fact that they both loo exactly alike which is the game played on the viewer. I was constantly trying to understand why nobody seemed to notice the similarity and why bad things continually seemed to follow Simon around. It’s only as the movie progresses that we start to accept the vagueness of the other characters and start to focus in on the similarities of James and Simon. The ending of the film was a bit disappointing as we are led to believe the mystery behind the two is a conclusion that we’ve seen in film countless times but for what the ending lacks in originality, the rest of the film thrives in being a type of comedy I’ve never seen before.

Oh, and the cameos by Paddy Considine and Chris O’Dowd were fucking hilarious.

The film showed just how talented Ayoade is as a young filmmaker and I’m going to be looking forward ti what he does next because if it was anywhere as unique as “The Double” then he has a bright future ahead of him.

4/5

Suggested Viewing – Brazil, 1984, Enemy, Dark City,




Film Review : Enough Said (2013)

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IMDB Score – 7.2
Rotten Tomato Score – 96%

Golden Globe Nomination for Best Actress – Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Screen Actors Guild Nomination for Best Actor – James Gandolfini

Directed By – Nicole Holofcener
Starring – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette, Ben Falcone, Tracey Fairaway, Eve Hewson, and Toby Huss

A divorced woman who decides to pursue the man she’s interested in learns he’s her new friend’s ex-husband.

I didn’t think this movie was going to be for me. Why? Well, I’m 24, not married, never been married, and don’t have children. I thought it was going to be a film that I appreciated but didn’t really understand. In a way, I didn’t understand, but the performances from the two leads and a superb first half left a lasting impression. It’s also good to note that the late James Gandolfini left us with one more amazing performance capping off an entire career of them.

Enough Said is about two middle aged recently divorced parents who meet at a party and take a chance with one another and go out on a date. This is where the magic of the film resided with me. If this was a film starring any other combination of people I don’t think I would have liked it as much but the chemistry between Louis-DreyFus and Gandolfini had me belly laughing from how, well, freakin’ adorable it was. These were two people who had been through the dating scene, found somebody they thought they loved, lived through a divorce, and are now trying again. It was fun watching them feel each other out, stumble through awkward conversations, and basically act like kids again. James Gandolfini, who is famous for being a brash and brutal human being, was funny, endearing, and kind. It was a version of him that people don’t really get to see. It really shined a light on his acting chops and it’s sad we won’t be able to see more of that with his passing. Julia Louis-Dreyfus complimented her partner perfectly and as the film revolves mostly around her journey, she proved to be an exceptional emotional force as she leap through comedy into melancholy gracefully. Honestly, I think she got robbed this year at the Oscars. I would have loved to have seen her up there instead of maybe Amy Adams. Adams was great but Dreyfus kind of came out of the blue to deliver such a real performance in this film.

The only real gripe with the film is one that I can’t help but have. I hate scenarios like the one that Dreyfus found herself in during the middle and end of the film. Now this isn’t particularly a spoiler due to the fact that it’s in the synopsis but her character is a masseuse who finds herself working for and eventually becoming friends with her boyfriends ex wife. Catherine Keener, who plays the ex wife has no problem talking shit about her ex husband, whom Dreyfus is emotionally involved with, and instead of ending that relationship then and there, Dreyfus keeps quiet and lets the situation play out. I have always cringed at these situations and rarely enjoy them when they happen. It’s like those old fashioned sitcoms where the male character sets up two dates ON THE SAME NIGHT? OH MAN HOW IS HE GOING TO SWING THIS ONE? I have always found it annoying that people would put themselves in these idiotic situations and I find myself squirming and waiting for it to end. Now, I understand the importance that this situations holds in the context of the film, but it just took me out of it for a good forty five minutes. The beginning of the film was just so sweet and perfect and it was overshadowed a little bit by too much awkwardness. The film thankfully ended on a better note.

That being said, I enjoyed the film a lot. I loved the acting from both leads and the dialogue/writing was smart, witty, and most of all funny. It’s a shame we lost such a great actor in James Gandolfini but I’m glad that he at least was able to give us one final gem as he teamed up with Julia Louis-Dreyfus to give us and on screen couple that should be up near the top of the best couples in recent film history.

4/5

Suggested Viewing – Crazy Stupid Love, Lost in Translation, Away We Go



Film Review : The Lego Movie (2014)

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IMDB Score – 8.5
Rotten Tomator Score – 96%
Currently number #164 on IMDB Top 250 <—–Woah.

Directed By – Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Starring – Chris Pratt, Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Nick Offerman, and Liam Neeson

An ordinary LEGO minifigure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil LEGO tyrant from gluing the universe together.

I need to get this out of the way. THIS MOVIE WAS AWESOME!!! SO FUNNY. SO AWESOME. SPACESHIP!!!

Okay, that was the twelve year old me getting some much needed screen time on this website. You can only review depressing relationship films, gritty foreign dramas, and anything that falls out of Lars Von Trier’s ass for so long. The inner child had to come out and I picked a wonderful film for that. The perks of working at a movie theater came to fruition as I picked the latest showtime last night for my friend and I to see this film. We were the only ones in the theater. This had good an bad points. The good points were that we were able to talk a bit without the fear of pissing people off and I was also able to laugh like a lunatic during a movie aimed at kids without seeming like a freak. The bad points were that I would have loved to enjoyed this film with other people because it was a riot and a lot of fun. In the end though I was glad I didn’t have children telling their parents what just occurred on screen for five minutes as they drowned out the audio. This film is a joke a minute type of deal. Hell, I didn’t even catch 100% of the jokes and I was paying full attention. Let’s get into why this film was so awesome.

First off let me describe my childhood as quickly and as entertaining as possible. I was an outdoors kid and when I wasn’t doing things outdoors I was inside playing Sega or playing with my matchbox cars. The second part there is important. I huge theme of “The Lego Movie” is that you should honestly build whatever the fuck you want to build and let you mind be imaginative. I had that. I just didn’t have it with Legos. I had it with matchbox cars. I would create scenarios and situations with over fifty cars as I would crash them, create sound effects, make scenery and roads for them to drive, and of course, mangle the shit out of them with vice grips. What? You never did that? The point is that I had an imaginative mind but focused the energy on little cars. I had Legos, but I would honestly play with them for about twenty minutes before I got bored and got my multiple boxes of cars out. I tried a couple times to build a Millenium Falcon but just couldn’t keep my attention on it to get close to finishing it. That being said, my enjoyment of this film was not out of some nostalgic euphoria, but rather an old fashioned coming out party for my inner child.

This film didn’t need you to be a Lego freak when you were younger. The whole concept of playing with toys as a child was in full focus throughout the whole film, even to the point of attaching mouth sound effects to moving legos ships and machines, JUST LIKE KIDS DO. Multiple situations were fixed with thinking outside the box and attaching unorthodox Lego blocks to parts of the body and other whacked out things kids would do with these things. Look at this great strip from one of my favorite things ever, Calvin and Hobbes…

That was what this movie was. It was a bunch of adult kids getting to let their inner children come to life in a way that never has been seen before. We’ve had Lego movies before. These movies were made with cheap special effects and looked like they were rendered on Windows 95. This is a film shot entirely in CGI but with the delicacy to make sure that every single Lego block looked real. The animation was so real looking that I had a hard time believing I wasn’t looking at a stop motion film using real Legos. It was great. Everything was Lego. The water was Lego. The smoke was Lego. The fire and bullets were Lego. It was a great sight. I remember first seeing posters and trailers for this and thought it was going to be too silly but in reality it was a perfect blend of kid humor and adult humor. This is what makes Pixar fantastic and what is now making Phil Lord and Christopher Miller household names in animated films. They aren’t just for kids. I’m glad they exist.

The cast is also fantastic. Chris Pratt was the perfect person to play the lead Lego man Emmet. Pratt basically plays Emmet as he plays his one of a kind character of “Andy” on Parks and Rec. He is a lovable but ultimately small brained Lego man that is just trying to fit in. Morgan Freeman plays the Gandolph like “Vitruvius” who is a blind prophet trying to stop the evil Mr. Business, played hilariously by Will Ferrell, from taking over the world. Other fantastic roles include Charlie Day as the 1980’s spaceman…SPACESHIP!!!…Alison Brie as Unikitty, and of course, Will Arnett as FUCKING BATMAN. That felt good to say. Batman and Benny the 1980’s Spaceman were the best parts of the film in my eyes. I haven’t laughed that hard in a theater since “This is the End”. The whole cast was a riot.

Lastly there is a good message at the end. I won’t go into spoilers but parents who bring their children hopefully will be leaving with a nice war fuzzy feeling inside and hopefully will spend time building things with their kid. I expected somewhat of a mushy ending and that’s what I got, but it certainly didn’t detract from the film at all. It didn’t add a whole lot but was a nice way to end a film that’s sole purpose was to entertain and make us laugh.

Overall I loved the movie. I want to see it again. I love being twelve years old. The movie was charming, hilarious, and featured one of a kind animation. I’m looking forward to anything those two make i the future and the film lived up to the hype.

SPACESHIP!!!!

4.5/5