As I sat down with my movie companion to watch this film, I realized the pattern of my recent movies–all focused on music. Yet all three of those films approach the subject differently. Rocketman was a direct sort of biopic using Elton’s John music to loosely tell his story. Yesterday used the Beatles music to…
In case you haven’t heard, the new film Lady Bird has nothing to do with LBJ. Or Texas. Or female birds. It has everything to do with family and growing up and relationships and love and meanness and gentleness, and, well, I think you’re getting the idea. And I bet you’re not surprised to learn…
This movie left me conflicted. On the one hand, of course Sally Field is joyful and lovable, and she is a bright star. On the other hand, even as the bright music of Field plays, the film dances slowly with sad and pitiful, and while spinning around the floor, hurtful and mean-spirited cut in. Okay, so…
Mistress America was funny. But it was also scattered and tiring. It rambled. It was muddled. And it did not sell its premise to me well enough. It’s a good enough movie to escape for a short time for a matinee, but if you’ve choices for that time, think about which way to spend your…
Boyhood was a great film to watch, even if it wasn’t a particularly great film. The premise, filming a movie using the same cast over a twelve-year period, filmed to watch as Mason grows from the pictured six-year-old to a young man graduating from high school, is unique and makes the movie stand out. And…
The summer was full of “coming of age” movies, telling the tales of those turning the page from the teens toward adulthood. But Frances Ha finds the real time of coming of age to adulthood—those years in the late 20s when’s so many truly figure out how to settle into the person they’ve become. The…
Anger. Grief. Victimization. Joy. Hope. Helplessness. Shame. Trust. Outrage. Support. And love. Love. Short Term 12 is a movie that moves through the above things with the heart and openness needed to truly get a glimpse into the lives shared in the film. I laughed. I cried. I ached deeply inside at the hurt portrayed…
I didn’t like Sutter, the character who is the male lead in The Spectacular Now. But I got him. I didn’t want Aimee, the female lead, to like him as much as she did. But I understood her doing so. And the path he takes her on is anything but spectacular in the positive way.…
What started many of these Summer 2013 coming of age movies? It was Mud, which opened early this past summer. I got around to watching it only this past week. When I think of Matthew McConaughey, I tend to think Rom-Com. But in retrospect, I suppose that’s not completely fair. He was in The Paperboy,…
The Way Way Back is a charming coming-of-age story that does everything such a film should do: I laughed, I shed a tear (or seven), and I cheered and felt like I sat on the edge of my seat in the final moments, genuinely unsure of the outcome in the “challenge” toward the end. The…
Ahhh—-Summer. What a time for movies. Shakespeare, war documentaries, Hasidic Jewish family affairs—–and this one, The To Do List. One thing you cannot say is that I’ve not enjoyed an eclectic blend of films the past month! The To Do List is a raunchy but endearing movie told, surprisingly, from the point of view of…
Friends, Fathers, Sons, Girls—-all of these come together in a sweet story about growing up….and getting past tragic loss. Kings of Summer tells the story of three boys coming of age. It’s enjoyable enough, but the premise was just a bit too unbelievable, preventing me from getting more attached to these young men’s plight. (That…
Moonrise Kingdom is quirky and fun, even if quiet. There’s quite a who’s who in the cast—-mostly playing some very different roles than those we usually associate with each actor. Admittedly, it might be too quiet (some would say slow) for me on some days, but it actually has quite a bit to say. And…
I loved this movie. Yes, it’s a teen movie, but it’s completely unlike others: it’s deep, painful, real, and most importantly, unpredictable. The layers of Charlie’s angst peel away slowly. My movie companion actually missed the key layer, much to her surprise. But that, to me, was part of the beauty: you discover, gradually, the…