There are always movies that slip under the radar either due to bad marketing or a low budget. I hope to use this blog to expose some movies that you may have missed, but need to see.
Movie: It's Kind of a Funny Story
Starring: Emma Roberts, Zach Galifianakis, Keir Gilchrist
Released Date: September 26th, 2010
IMDB Tagline: A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.
It's Kind of a Funny story is really a movie about character, and less about plot. It's set in a mental ward of a New York hospital, and 90% of the movie takes place there, so it allows for a lot of development for each of our main characters. Bobby, played by the extremely talented Zach Galifianakis, looks out of place at first because he isn't your prototypical mental patient. He seems wise, calm, and more like he's on vacation then getting treatment. The subtle changes are wonderfully expressed by Galifianakis as he steals the movie. Galifianakis's charisma sells the audience on the Bobby character, but his underrated acting skills allow his arc to seem natural. His performance strengthens my theory that most comedic actors can give top level dramatic performances but most dramatic actors can't perform well in comedic roles. Dramatic actors get the grade-school gold star for effort, while comedic actors get Oscars. Best example is Tom Hanks, but that theory will be delved into another day.
But the heart of the movie is carried by Keir Gilchrist and Emma Roberts. The love story between the two teenage patients is both sweet and heartbreaking. Gilchrist and Roberts are pitch perfect in the roles. There's never a moment when you think, 'Oh, she would never go for him' or vise versa. Despite his solid performance, it's Roberts' vulnerability as Noelle that is the standout. Even though her screen time was less than her co-stars, Gilchrist and Galifianakis, she had me anticipating her next appearance. I do believe DNA plays a role in one's ability to be a top level actor and with her father (Eric Roberts) and aunt (Julia Roberts) already highly respected actors, it's only a matter of time before she is thought of as a leader of young Hollywood with the other Emmas -- Stone and Watson.
If you couldn't tell by my review, I highly recommend this movie, especially for readers who enjoy good writing and directing over plot heavy stories. It's not for people who need their movies to be depressing and raw. The story is lighter than say, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, but I don't believe the story is meant to show Craig (Gilchrist) is in any danger like Jack Nicholson's R.P. McMurphy in Cuckoos Nest, but rather that he's in his own head, and the ward gives him some prospective on his life. He meets people with real problems, and realizes that his life is not so bad -- a lesson most teenagers should learn.
Recommendation: Definitely rent this movie. It's worth a look.
Showing posts with label DVD Tuesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DVD Tuesday. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
TV Thursday: The Fine Art of the Teen Drama
Yes, I watch teen dramas. Everyone who knows me, knows this. I do not hide my love for these shows as I own a few on DVD. But I do have a problem with the over-saturation of the genre killing the effect on a generation these shows can have.
There is an art to writing a teen drama. Just like other genres, you have to weigh plot, character building, and tone. But you have the added pressure of the small attention spans of the 18-34 demographic, especially in the last five years. It seems like you can't build a love story as organically anymore. The best slowly build love story was Pacey and Joey, but things were different in the 90's. It took 18 episodes to pay off the Pacey-Joey build up, but now were lucky to get to the winter hiatus. This hyper-active story telling leads to my first point.
SHORT SHELF LIFE
These current versions need to be refreshed or ended by season four. There's only so many love triangles and drug addictions that can happen to one group of friends in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, the networks only look at the ratings (as they should) and allow the stereotype to perpetuate. Shows like Gossip Girl, 90210, and to a lesser extent, Degrassi have all been on the air way too long, and their characters have grown stale. Even a favorite of mine, One Tree Hill, has jumped a family of sharks as it heads (stumbles?) into its ninth and finalthank god season.
Unlike some other genres, rotting teen dramas are easy to spot. They become very plot heavy and have more twist than an M. Night Shyamalan ending. This seems to be the illness of CW shows. While season one of Gossip Girl was quite good, its been a train wreck since. Its something I like to call....
THE O.C. SYNDROME
The show-killing illness is caused when you've done a great job of establishing the characters and their background, but then you don't take the same care when introducing new characters. After failing with the new characters, you begin writing crazy situations for your mains so that the show doesn't grow stale, but you end up losing the moral center/reality you established early on. The best example is, obviously, from the O.C.
Season one of the O.C. is quite possibly be the best single season of all time, but one decision in season two contributed to the downhill slide of the series: Sandy Cohen possibly cheating on Kirsten. Some laud this as showing that not every man is perfect, but I see it as losing the show's moral compass established in the pilot. Just like every story needs a good villain, it also needs the white knight that would never be corrupted. Dawson Leery comes to mind as the perfect example.
For the O.C., that man was Sandy Cohen. Once Sandy was allowed to be corrupted (even though he never followed through), every situation he gave out advice after that didn't have the same power for the audience. And once the series lost the moral center, everything else crumbled. Remember, this story line was established after the failed creation of the Lindsey character, which lead to the blundering of the Alex character. But there is a cure...
THE REBOOT
One Tree Hill had a disastrous second season following a solidly built foundation in season one. They're O.C. Syndrome was called Anna, Felix, and angry Mouth. Felix was the most useless character to reside in Tree Hill. He was meant as a foil to Lucas and a love interest for Brooke, but he did neither well. Anna was supposed to be a love interest for Lucas, but became the show's token gay character instead. And angry Mouth didn't work because the aggressive turn for his character made him like one of the poplar kids when his purpose was to be the moral grounding post for Lucas. But credit Mark Schwahn for realizing his mistake, getting rid of the characters and using the season's final episodes to set up the reboot of the series and head into arguably the series' best season.
He reestablished Mouth as a level-headed reasonable guy, and rewarded him with his first girlfriend. But most importantly, he resuscitated the heartbeat of the show by hinting at a Naley (Nathan and Haley for those not in the know) reunion, and finally allowing Lucas to admit he loved Brooke. With those subtle course changes and without resorting to a plot device, he was able to heal his show and continue it for two more years, and then extended the shows life with a five year jump for season five. But without the Reboot, the ship would have sunk like the O.C. did after four seasons.
FINAL THOUGHTS
For every Dawson's Creek, there a Secret Life of the American Teenager. For every One Tree Hill, there's a 10 Things I Hate About You (I seriously turned it off after 15 minutes). And for every The O.C., there's a Hidden Palms. Every genre goes through a period of over saturation, but teen dramas are the only ones that insults its audience by thinking a pretty cast cast will out-do good writing.
If you want to see writing in this genre at its best, I recommend The O.C. (Season 1), Dawson's Creek (Season 3), and One Tree Hill (Season 3). Also, there's a gritter, more realistic type of teen shows that are just as great, but are much different then the shows above. But I highly recommend watching My So Called Life and Freaks and Geeks to become a more well rounded teen drama fan.
So the next time you see a pilot for a teen drama, give it a chance. Teen dramas are the one genre of television that never grows old because there will always be a new batch of teenagers. Hopefully your generation's is more Dawson's Creek than 90210. If yours is 90210, do yourself a favor, and go watch Dawson's Creek.
There is an art to writing a teen drama. Just like other genres, you have to weigh plot, character building, and tone. But you have the added pressure of the small attention spans of the 18-34 demographic, especially in the last five years. It seems like you can't build a love story as organically anymore. The best slowly build love story was Pacey and Joey, but things were different in the 90's. It took 18 episodes to pay off the Pacey-Joey build up, but now were lucky to get to the winter hiatus. This hyper-active story telling leads to my first point.
SHORT SHELF LIFE
These current versions need to be refreshed or ended by season four. There's only so many love triangles and drug addictions that can happen to one group of friends in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, the networks only look at the ratings (as they should) and allow the stereotype to perpetuate. Shows like Gossip Girl, 90210, and to a lesser extent, Degrassi have all been on the air way too long, and their characters have grown stale. Even a favorite of mine, One Tree Hill, has jumped a family of sharks as it heads (stumbles?) into its ninth and final
Unlike some other genres, rotting teen dramas are easy to spot. They become very plot heavy and have more twist than an M. Night Shyamalan ending. This seems to be the illness of CW shows. While season one of Gossip Girl was quite good, its been a train wreck since. Its something I like to call....
THE O.C. SYNDROME
The show-killing illness is caused when you've done a great job of establishing the characters and their background, but then you don't take the same care when introducing new characters. After failing with the new characters, you begin writing crazy situations for your mains so that the show doesn't grow stale, but you end up losing the moral center/reality you established early on. The best example is, obviously, from the O.C.
Season one of the O.C. is quite possibly be the best single season of all time, but one decision in season two contributed to the downhill slide of the series: Sandy Cohen possibly cheating on Kirsten. Some laud this as showing that not every man is perfect, but I see it as losing the show's moral compass established in the pilot. Just like every story needs a good villain, it also needs the white knight that would never be corrupted. Dawson Leery comes to mind as the perfect example.
For the O.C., that man was Sandy Cohen. Once Sandy was allowed to be corrupted (even though he never followed through), every situation he gave out advice after that didn't have the same power for the audience. And once the series lost the moral center, everything else crumbled. Remember, this story line was established after the failed creation of the Lindsey character, which lead to the blundering of the Alex character. But there is a cure...
THE REBOOT
One Tree Hill had a disastrous second season following a solidly built foundation in season one. They're O.C. Syndrome was called Anna, Felix, and angry Mouth. Felix was the most useless character to reside in Tree Hill. He was meant as a foil to Lucas and a love interest for Brooke, but he did neither well. Anna was supposed to be a love interest for Lucas, but became the show's token gay character instead. And angry Mouth didn't work because the aggressive turn for his character made him like one of the poplar kids when his purpose was to be the moral grounding post for Lucas. But credit Mark Schwahn for realizing his mistake, getting rid of the characters and using the season's final episodes to set up the reboot of the series and head into arguably the series' best season.
He reestablished Mouth as a level-headed reasonable guy, and rewarded him with his first girlfriend. But most importantly, he resuscitated the heartbeat of the show by hinting at a Naley (Nathan and Haley for those not in the know) reunion, and finally allowing Lucas to admit he loved Brooke. With those subtle course changes and without resorting to a plot device, he was able to heal his show and continue it for two more years, and then extended the shows life with a five year jump for season five. But without the Reboot, the ship would have sunk like the O.C. did after four seasons.
FINAL THOUGHTS
For every Dawson's Creek, there a Secret Life of the American Teenager. For every One Tree Hill, there's a 10 Things I Hate About You (I seriously turned it off after 15 minutes). And for every The O.C., there's a Hidden Palms. Every genre goes through a period of over saturation, but teen dramas are the only ones that insults its audience by thinking a pretty cast cast will out-do good writing.
If you want to see writing in this genre at its best, I recommend The O.C. (Season 1), Dawson's Creek (Season 3), and One Tree Hill (Season 3). Also, there's a gritter, more realistic type of teen shows that are just as great, but are much different then the shows above. But I highly recommend watching My So Called Life and Freaks and Geeks to become a more well rounded teen drama fan.
So the next time you see a pilot for a teen drama, give it a chance. Teen dramas are the one genre of television that never grows old because there will always be a new batch of teenagers. Hopefully your generation's is more Dawson's Creek than 90210. If yours is 90210, do yourself a favor, and go watch Dawson's Creek.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
DVD Tuesday: Is It OK to Own a Vin Diesel Movie?
Its time for...Why Do I Own That?!!
Movie: xXx
Starring: Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson, Asia Argento
How I acquired it: Purchased it the day it was released...sigh.
First off, how in God's name did this movie get a sequel? And who thought it was a good idea to cast Ice Cube in the lead? I would love to have been in on that meeting.
Anyway, back to the (better?) original. This movie is your run of the mill action-thriller. There are russians. They like vodka and techno. They want to destroy the world. They have a stupid name. And America (obviously) needs to stop them. So who doesAgent Augustus Gibbons Samuel Jackson call on? The CIA? The FBI? Seal Team Six? Ghostbusters? Nope, he recruits Xander Cage, an "extreme sports athlete" who apparently is trustworthy enough that the government believes there's no way he could be seduced by money or women. Thankfully, they found the one anti-establishment rebel who is cool with keeping government secrets. Long boring story short, he saves the world in James Bond fashion, wins the heart of the sexy, eastern European double-agent (are there any others?), and kills all the marine life in Prague.
Now the $64,000 dollar question, why did I waste $20-something hard earned dollars on this "film"? Ignorance? Naivete? Maybe. But the real reason might be that I thought it was better when I was sneaking off to see it while on duty as an usher at a movie theater. But, then again I didn't buy that abortion of a boxing movie, Undisputed, or the completely forgettable (Literally, no one I know has seen this movie), FearDotCom.
Let's go through my check list. Hot Girl? Sorta. Good Writing? Haha. Good acting? Even Mr. Jackson mailed it in. Must see actress? No. So bad its good? Ding. Ding. This one definitely fits in this category, which honestly we could rename the Vin Diesel section. So I guess even mistake purchases have a purpose on your DVD rack as they remind you to rent before buy. Or give you something to watch with friends after you've finished a case (or two) of beer, and you don't feel like watching infomercials at 2 a.m.
Recommendation: Watch it high or drunk, preferably both...on Netflix instant.
Movie: xXx
Starring: Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson, Asia Argento
How I acquired it: Purchased it the day it was released...sigh.
First off, how in God's name did this movie get a sequel? And who thought it was a good idea to cast Ice Cube in the lead? I would love to have been in on that meeting.
Anyway, back to the (better?) original. This movie is your run of the mill action-thriller. There are russians. They like vodka and techno. They want to destroy the world. They have a stupid name. And America (obviously) needs to stop them. So who does
Now the $64,000 dollar question, why did I waste $20-something hard earned dollars on this "film"? Ignorance? Naivete? Maybe. But the real reason might be that I thought it was better when I was sneaking off to see it while on duty as an usher at a movie theater. But, then again I didn't buy that abortion of a boxing movie, Undisputed, or the completely forgettable (Literally, no one I know has seen this movie), FearDotCom.
Let's go through my check list. Hot Girl? Sorta. Good Writing? Haha. Good acting? Even Mr. Jackson mailed it in. Must see actress? No. So bad its good? Ding. Ding. This one definitely fits in this category, which honestly we could rename the Vin Diesel section. So I guess even mistake purchases have a purpose on your DVD rack as they remind you to rent before buy. Or give you something to watch with friends after you've finished a case (or two) of beer, and you don't feel like watching infomercials at 2 a.m.
Recommendation: Watch it high or drunk, preferably both...on Netflix instant.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Introduction
Hello, Everyone!
This first post will explain what to expect each day from this blog. I will be updating it Monday through Friday, and each day will have a theme.
Let's start with...
MOVIE MONDAYS
Starting next week (not tomorrow), this post will either contain a review of a movie in theaters, a rant of some kind, or thoughts on a phenomenon in the movie industry.
Tomorrow's post will explain the list you see in the sidebar.
DVD TUESDAYS
This will be dedicated to three things: Reviews of popular movies that were released on DVD/Blu-ray that week, a recommendation of a previously released DVDs that you may have missed, and a special monthly segment called, "Why Do I Own That?!!," where I write about a DVD in my personal library which is either embarrassing or a guilty pleasure.
TV THURSDAYS
Obviously, this is when I discuss all things on the small screen. There will be reviews of new series, recommendations of current, cancelled, or classic series and a special split post titled "How Did/Didn't that show get cancelled?" Also, within each post I will dedicate a section for the rant/observation/opinion of the week. Sort of like Jerry Springer's final thoughts.
SPORTS FRIDAY
I will lead you into the weekend with my thoughts on the sports stories of the past week, and a look ahead at the week to come.
When college football begins, I will also include my "Game of the Week." A segment which will discuss and predict the most noteworthy contest of the week, and will continue through March Madness, covering only college athletics (except the Super Bowl, of course).
The weekend will be for special posts or for answering questions for you, the loyal readers. Also, look out for the podcast that will be added for Sunday in the near future!
No, I didn't forget Wednesday. If you read the poll below, I'm allowing you to vote on it. The first Wednesday post will be for the week of the 8th.
Finally, I hope you decide to come along on this journey with me as I trek into the world of blogging. I look forward to reading all suggestions, questions and/or snide remarks. Also be sure to follow me on Twitter @offthemarktweet.
This first post will explain what to expect each day from this blog. I will be updating it Monday through Friday, and each day will have a theme.
Let's start with...
MOVIE MONDAYS
Starting next week (not tomorrow), this post will either contain a review of a movie in theaters, a rant of some kind, or thoughts on a phenomenon in the movie industry.
Tomorrow's post will explain the list you see in the sidebar.
DVD TUESDAYS
This will be dedicated to three things: Reviews of popular movies that were released on DVD/Blu-ray that week, a recommendation of a previously released DVDs that you may have missed, and a special monthly segment called, "Why Do I Own That?!!," where I write about a DVD in my personal library which is either embarrassing or a guilty pleasure.
TV THURSDAYS
Obviously, this is when I discuss all things on the small screen. There will be reviews of new series, recommendations of current, cancelled, or classic series and a special split post titled "How Did/Didn't that show get cancelled?" Also, within each post I will dedicate a section for the rant/observation/opinion of the week. Sort of like Jerry Springer's final thoughts.
SPORTS FRIDAY
I will lead you into the weekend with my thoughts on the sports stories of the past week, and a look ahead at the week to come.
When college football begins, I will also include my "Game of the Week." A segment which will discuss and predict the most noteworthy contest of the week, and will continue through March Madness, covering only college athletics (except the Super Bowl, of course).
The weekend will be for special posts or for answering questions for you, the loyal readers. Also, look out for the podcast that will be added for Sunday in the near future!
No, I didn't forget Wednesday. If you read the poll below, I'm allowing you to vote on it. The first Wednesday post will be for the week of the 8th.
Finally, I hope you decide to come along on this journey with me as I trek into the world of blogging. I look forward to reading all suggestions, questions and/or snide remarks. Also be sure to follow me on Twitter @offthemarktweet.
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