The Spectacular Now Review

“I’m 100% serious about not being serious.” This seems to be the life-motto of one Sutter Keely (Miles Teller), the incredibly charming, out going, big man on campus that is seen in most high school dramas or romantic comedies. The one thing about Sutter, though, that separates him from those other teenaged archetypes is that he actually has substance. There’s a sadness inside of this young guy that proves to be the cause of his exuberance and leads him to go down a path of self-discovery in this simple yet outstanding coming-of-age film.

From the outside, this movie will seem like the typical “popular boy meets shy girl and learns an awful lot about himself” high school movie—it is but it goes much much deeper. Instead of Sutter being a jerk, he actually has a problem: alcohol; and instead of the “shy girl” Aimee (Shailene Woodley) being that ever-present Manic Pixie Dream Girl, she’s actually a normal girl, who just so happens to fall in love with the boy who doesn’t love himself. The result is a very sweet and moving story about the people who have the ability to change us; whether it be a sweetheart, a deadbeat dad, or an encouraging boss. The people in Sutter’s life truly care about him, but throughout the film he learns that life isn’t always about pleasing others, it’s about making the right decisions for himself.

Being a true, Dillon Panthers, Friday Night Lights fanatic, I must first mention Kyle Chandler’s performance as Sutter’s absentee father. Fans of the show will surely be proud of Chandler’s range in this film; he’s charismatic, he’s energetic but he’s also a pathetic skirt chaser. It’s nice to see that Chandler can play someone with a lot more vulnerability than his previous roles (Clear Eyes, Full Hearts!)

Now to our young leads. Those familiar with her work will recognize Ms. Woodley as the teenager in trouble in The Secret Life of the American Teenager as well as the daughter with an attitude in Alexander Payne’s The Descendants. She truly has grown into a very fine young actor—which isn’t easy for me to say as I would gladly steal her career if I could. Her ease and fluidity in each of her scenes was very refreshing to watch; she never pushes, she’s just present. Those will most likely recognize Miles Teller as the comic relief in most movies (Footloose, 21 and Over), but here he truly holds his own as a great, dramatic actor. Similar to his father, Sutter’s charisma overflows the audience, and yet we suffer parental cringes whenever he reaches for his flask.

Besides a few—very few—moments where the scenes seem to drag on a bit, I truly enjoyed this film, and I think it’s an important one to catch for any aspiring actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, and movie fan out there. 

Fruitvale Station Review

Life is all about choices. We go about our daily routines—taking the eight o’ clock bus instead of the eight-thirty or having hamburgers for dinner as opposed to hot dogs—without ever really thinking about how these little, seemingly insignificant decisions can affect the course of our day. For Oscar Grant (played by Michael B. Jordan) the decision to take the train on December 31^st, 2008 was a fatal one.

Writer/Director Ryan Coogler’s feature-film debut “Fruitvale Station” depicts Grant’s last day on Earth and the decisions he made as a father, partner, friend, and son up until the moment that caused an upheaval in the Bay Area, as well as the rest of the country.

Oscar’s choices in this film are all about protection. Though desperate for cash, Oscar abstains from going back into weed dealing in order to provide for his young daughter a legitimate, safe upbringing. In a rather gut-wrenching flashback, we see Oscar in prison defending his mother’s honor after another inmate causes a stir, and while stalled on the tracks at Fruitvale Station, we see Oscar protecting himself and his friends, which ultimately leads to his death.

Coogler cleverly uses the actual footage of the shooting as a prologue for the film; the daily routine of Oscar and his family is shrouded in a cloud of foreboding tension as a result. The majority of audience members will be fully aware of the ending to this film; showing us the end at the beginning heightens the preceding scenes, forcing us to really concentrate on who Oscar Grant was as a man, and how his decisions affected those around him.

Michael B. Jordan (in a role that will surely warrant him an Oscar nod) leads this film brilliantly with both tremendous warmth and contained ferocity. We can see the frustration and embarrassment in his eyes when he’s laid off from work, and we can feel the unconditional love for his daughter Tatiana (Ariana Neal) and girlfriend (the wonderful Melonie Diaz) in his great, big smile. Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer supports this cast as Grant’s mother, Wanda, who suggests to Oscar that taking BART might be the safer choice.

It is quite difficult to view a film like this and not be reminded of what is going on in today’s news, but Coogler admirably abstains from using his film as a soap-box for issues such as these. Coogler's screenplay is natural and current and depicts these characters as real people without any sort of agenda. This film is not so much about Grant’s death as it is about his life and the impact he had on those whom he loved dearly. The decisions he made during the hours before his death may have seemed insignificant at the time, but for Oscar they were all done with the mindset of protection, love, and even inspiration. 

The Conjuring Review

Here’s the formula: Take one creaky house; add a simple but loveable family; throw in a few demons and you’ve got yourself one helluva scary movie, right? Not exactly.

The Conjuring, directed by James Wan (who brought us Saw and Insidious), falls short in an attempt to resurrect the horror genre by simply being lazy. Sure, there are some scares as a result of many—too many—jumpy moments, but anyone can make an audience jump with loud noises and a creepy doll; it doesn’t make it good horror.

This film tells the supposed true story of the Perron family and their terrifying ordeal when they move into a centuries-old farm house (secluded of course!) and a haunting presence starts to torment them. With the help of ghostbuster/demonologist couple Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga respectively), the Perrons undergo terror, violence, and a lot of screaming children when the dark force becomes disturbed.

Doors begin to move independently, the family dog won’t enter the house, the creepiest child begins to sleepwalk, and perhaps the most chilling is the clock that always stops at 3:07am. These little moments begin to build at an alarmingly slow rate, giving off the sense of foreboding but ultimately falling flat. Curiously, the non-scary moments are simply on screen for expositional dialogue, and even then the characters and plotlines are not completely well rounded or tied up in the end.

It is clear that Director Wan tried so desperately to use this film as a cultural and artistic nod to the great horrors of the past. Genre fans will see resemblances to The Exorcist (the cold rooms, the Catholic undertones, etc.) as well as some allusions to The Shining but what once seemed new and fresh in the eyes of the scary movie-going crowd is now just a barrage of clichés.

The performances were fine; Lilli Taylor and Ron Livingston as the Perron parents are convincing, and Wilson and Farmiga do a good job of delivering the oh-so cringe worthy expository lines, but the film’s real flaw is simply lack of originality. Wan succeeded in reinventing the genre with Saw, and he did a decent job with Insidious, but I’m afraid The Conjuring did not live up to the hype. Spooky camera angles and creaking doors can only take a film so far. 

Hello!

Being a recent college graduate, I have found that my free time has increased at a terrifying rate. Mix that in with living at home, and trying to be an actor, there is not much for me to do but wait for auditions and watch a lot of movies.

Now, those of you who know me know my love for movies and my penchant for either ripping one to pieces or overly touting one as "the best movie ever." So I figured, "what better way for me to get use out of a creative writing minor than to write movie reviews?" So here I am.

I'll be reviewing any new film I see as well as occasionally writing about old movies that I particularly love. I hope you take a look and enjoy, and hey, maybe I can even save you $10.

I'll be starting with a review of the new horror film, The Conjuring.

Enjoy!
Steph