Insurgent (4/10): Bigger and louder sequel, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's better.

“You are living proof that the divergent problem has grown beyond all control.”

Director Robert Schwentke (RED, RIPD) replaced Neil Burger for the Divergent sequel which is much bigger, louder, and action packed. I actually ended up mildly recommending the first film which I found engaging enough thanks to Shailene Woodley’s lead performance. Unfortunately, Insurgent is a step down for the franchise because bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. The action scenes look great and the film is very pretty to look at, but the main issue I have here is with the story which I felt was so convoluted that I wasn’t able to engage with any of the characters. I honestly couldn’t remember much of what had happened in Divergent (which means it didn’t really make an impact on me the first time around), but we get enough flashbacks and exposition here to recall some of the important events. We are also introduced to the two other factions that the first one left out (amity and candid) so we get new characters that mostly appear on screen for a couple of minutes. Octavia Spencer is the leader of amity and Daniel Dae Kim of candid. Insurgent also introduces us to the factualness who are led by Naomi Watt’s Evelyn. So Insurgent basically ha the same flaws most sequels do, which is try to make everything bigger and it ends up crowding the screenplay and leaving little room for character development. Sure, some of the action scenes are great (mostly the first couple of scenes) but I simply lost interest in the story and found it incredibly tedious and boring. By the end I didn’t really care what could happen to any of the characters. I haven’t had much luck with Schwentke’s films recently and would’ve preferred Burger continued directing the franchise instead. If you are a fan of Veronica Roth’s YA novels you probably will enjoy this, but I’m not familiar with her work and didn’t enjoy this film at all.   

Insurgent takes place right after the events of Divergent so if you haven’t watched the first film you might feel lost. Basically, the story is set in a dystopian future where society is divided into five factions based on people’s virtues. Jeanine (Kate Winslet) is the head of the erudite (the intelligent faction) who basically has control over this wrecked city surrounded by giant walls which separate them from the vast outdoor wasteland. The heroine of the franchise is Tris (Shailene Woodley) who discovers she’s divergent because she doesn’t fit into one faction, but decides however she wants to be Dauntless (the more adventurous and fearless members of society who become the protectors of the city). Here she falls in love with Four (Theo James), befriends Christina (Zoe Kravitz), and is bullied by Peter (Miles Teller) and Eric (Jai Courtney) who are all returning characters in the sequel. In Divergent, Tris discovers that her kind isn’t accepted in society believing they are a threat for not fitting in. She also discovers that Jeanine is planning on taking over the rest of the factions beginning with Abnegation which is where her parents (Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd) reside. Her parents are killed in the attack but she eventually stops Jeanine’s plan. Insurgent picks up right after the attack as we follow the surviving fugitives hiding out with the Amity faction. Tris’s brother, Caleb (Ansel Elgort) is also with them. Jeanine will stop at nothing to capture Tris discovering she’s a valuable asset. 

The plot in insurgent felt much weaker and the film focuses mainly on the action sequences. There are way too many characters introduced, which is a shame because it diverts the attention at times from the main ones. Shailene Woodley gives a solid performance but she didn’t carry the film this time around. I found her character a bit less charismatic since she spends most of the film feeling guilty and unable to forgive herself for the loss of her parents and friends. Theo James isn’t any better either and the romantic chemistry that existed in the first film grows weak this time around. Ansel Elgort is devoid of all the charm he brought to the table in The Fault of Our Stars (it is weird seeing him play Woodley’s sister in this film after being her love interest). My favorite performance in this sequel surprisingly came from Miles Teller who doesn’t get much screen time but shines in the few scenes he’s in. The villains aren’t actually very menacing and everything about this sequel felt more boring and tedious to me. Even the simulation and dream sequences are a bit of a letdown and took me away from the film completely.    

Men, Women & Children (4/10): Reitman's sermon against social media lacks subtlety

“Like it or not, for the moment The Earth is where we make our stand.”

Jason Reitman’s latest film, Men, Women & Children, left me speechless but I don’t mean that in a good way. I was a huge fan of Reitman’s first three films: Thank You for Smoking, Juno, and Up in the Air so I went into this movie with high expectations despite his recent misses with Young Adult and Labor Day. Juno is one of my favorite films so I still look forward to what Reitman is working on next, but I sure hope he teams up with Diablo Cody soon because his scripts lack that sharp and witty dialogue. The greatest problem with this film (which failed to connect with audiences in the theater making less than 1 million at the box office) is that it feels too preachy. Reitman screams out his message about the dangers of social media in the most clichéd ways. First, he establishes several familiar characters that play a certain stereotype with the purpose of getting his message across. For instance you have the over protective mother who is highly exaggerated in the way she controls what her daughter is doing and who she is chatting with, then you have the other extreme where a mother is managing her daughter’s life in order for her to become famous by uploading sexy pictures of her in a website, and finally you have a father who has trouble communicating with his son and basically lays off of him after his wife has abandoned them. These characters all play certain stereotypes and have no personality whatsoever. Reitman also tries to tackle other familiar social issues like porn addiction, unfaithfulness, anorexia, and video gaming by portraying how social media has changed the way we live our lives. The message is heavy handed and we’ve seen it portrayed many times in the past in better films. Another issue I had with Men, Women, and Children is that it lacks subtlety in the way the message should be delivered. It is also heavily one-sided and never tries to portray the positive side of social media. My final complaint has to do with Reitman’s decision of including a voice narration from Emma Thompson with scenes of a satellite traveling across the galaxy showing how small our planet is in the vastness of our universe. It was too ambitious for a film that never feels authentic or groundbreaking. 

Perhaps the greatest thing about Men, Women, and Children are the performances from the impressive cast. Adam Sandler and Rosemarie DeWitt play a struggling married couple very well. Sandler gives a very restrained performance as he has done in past dramas and once again proves that he has a range when it comes to acting. Reitman could have taken a similar approach with this film and been more subtle and restrained in the way he was trying to deliver the message. Jennifer Garner and Judy Greer are given perhaps the most exaggerated characters in the film so many people might have a problem with their performances, but I thought they delivered strong roles despite the poor material they had to work with. Breaking Bad fans will also be delighted to see Dean Norris on screen again as he delivers in his supporting role. The teens in this film also give convincing performances beginning with Ansel Elgort who is the football star of his High School, but decides to give up on playing the sport and becomes addicted with online video gaming. Kaitlyn Dever, who was great in Short Term 12, delivers once again as the teen whose interactions are overseen by her overprotective mother. Olivia Crocicchia plays the sexy teen who is encouraged by her mother and dreams of becoming famous. Elena Kampouris plays the anorexic teen who is searching for acceptance from her crush. The performances are all solid and despite the fact that there are many different storylines they all get sufficient screen time. The only problem is that they all play familiar stereotypes and I didn’t find a distinct personality in anyone of these characters. They all seem to be playing a specific role in order to deliver a message. J.K. Simmons, who frequently collaborates with Reitman, also has a small role in this film but he is underused. This drama failed to connect with me perhaps because the timing of the film was a bit off and it also lacked subtlety. 

My Review: The Fault in Our Stars (8/10)

"You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful."

The Fault in Our Stars is one of those rare romantic melodramas that succeeds thanks to its talented cast and its believable script. Considering how easy it could've been to emotionally manipulate and exploit the audience with the material, director Josh Boone did an excellent job of recreating a tender love story while avoiding cliches and one dimensional characters. I was unfamiliar with John Green's bestselling novel which this film was based on, but I had high expectations for this film considering the script was adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber whose work in 500 Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now I highly admired. The Fault in Our Stars didn't disappoint thanks to yet another powerful performance from Shailene Woodley (in my opinion her best work), who played her character in such a natural way that she made the story feel believable. Considering the subject matter this film could've been over manipulative, but it never feels this way thanks to a smart and intelligent script and some strong performances. The film balances these dramatic moments with grace and there were also some very funny moments that helped lighten the mood when things got grim. This isn't like other cancer dramas (I'm mostly thinking of My Sisters Keeper here) which have mostly failed by being too exploitive, because this film handles the material with grace. It's still a heartbreaking film, but it is much more natural in the way it approaches the material. This is one of those rare chick flicks that guys will actually enjoy as well.

This love story is narrated by Hazel Grace (Shailene Woodley), a teenager who has been diagnosed with stage 4 thyroid cancer and has to carry an oxygen tank with her at all times in order to breathe. In an effort to get her out of the house, her parents, Frannie (Laura Dern) and Michael (Sam Trammell), convince her to join a cancer support group. Despite thinking it's a waste of time, something good comes out of it when she meets Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort). He happens to be there supporting his friend, Isaac (Nat Wolff), who has a tumor in his eye and is about to lose his sight. Augustus himself is a former cancer survivor who lost his leg and is now wearing a prosthetic one. From the moment they bumped into each other at the support group, he just can't take his eyes off her and easily wins Hazel over with his charm and wit. The two become good friends although their relationship seems to be a bit more limited by time than most other couples.

In order for a film like this to work it is important that the two main characters share a strong and believable chemistry together. The Fault in Our Stars makes the most out of this thanks to strong and natural performances from both Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort. The chemistry between the two is amazing allowing the relationship to feel authentic and captivating at the same time. We've all seen what Woodley can do, and she has been amazing in every film she's been in, but this is, in my opinion her best performance to date. Ansel Elgort on the other hand completely took me by surprise as I wasn't too impressed with his work in Divergent, but here he is incredibly charming. Nat Wolff, who was one of the main characters in Josh Boone's previous film (Stuck in Love), has an important supporting role here considering his character helps break some of the dramatic tension with several laugh out loud moments. Those scenes really helped lighten up the mood and made this a much funnier film than what I was expecting. Laura Dern and Sam Trammell are also convincing as the parents who are dealing with their daughter's condition. The scenes that really didn't work for me however, were the ones involving Willem Defoe as the author of Hazel's favorite novel. Those scenes were just too weird and took me out of the story, but it's my only complaint for an otherwise incredibly captivating and tear inducing romantic drama.

My Review: Divergent (6/10)

"I don't want to be just one thing. I can't be. I want to be brave, and I want to be selfless, intelligent, and honest and kind. Well, I'm still working on kind."

Let me start off by saying that I had no prior knowledge of Veronica Roth's novel which this film is based on so I can't make any claims on how faithful the adaptation is. Although I will say that 5 minutes into the film I kind of got a feeling that this futuristic dystopian story had some similarities to The Hunger Games which made me wonder if Divergent was not yet another one of Suzanne Collins' novel adaptations. The main reasons why this film was among my most anticipated films for 2014 were director Neil Burger, for his unique work in Limitless and The Illusionist, and Shailene Woodley who has been terrific in just about every film I've seen her in. So I was greatly disappointed when I discovered that Divergent, which had a heavy message aimed towards young adolescents about not being labelled or categorized and discovering who you really were by following your own path in life, was being a bit hypocritical in its approach considering it can easily be categorized as yet another generic and formulaic teen romantic adventure film full of cliches. This was far from Burger's previous films which I found unique, perhaps due to their indie approach. However having said all this, I still found Divergent entertaining enough to mildly recommend it thanks in most part to the Shailene Woodley's lead performance. I'm not Divergent's target audience, but I think adolescents and young teenagers will love this film and their expectation will be fulfilled. They are the only reason why  the planned sequels will get to be made, but the truth of the matter is that this is a much lesser film than The Hunger Games and will easily be forgotten in time.

Vanessa Taylor and Evan Daugherty adapted the screenplay from Roth's novel setting the story in a futuristic dystopian Chicago where people live confined inside wired walls. They are also divided into five factions based on their virtues. Their is Abnegation who represent the selfless, Dauntless the brave, Erudite the intelligent, Candor the honest, and Amity the peaceful. The Abnegation faction are the ones in charge of governing the city considering they are selfless and always put others first. They are merciful people. Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) and her brother, Caleb (Ansel Elgort) have been raised by their parents, Andrew (Tony Goldwyn) and Natalie (Ashely Judd), in this faction, but when they turn 16 they are free to choose the faction they feel they belong with. Before they decide they must take a test which basically tells them what faction they really belong to, but they are free to decide on their own. Everyone always fits into one faction, but if you make a wrong choice you could end up factionless (homeless). When Tris takes the test she discovers she's one of the few people who is divergent (meaning she has basically all the virtues from every faction), but she must keep it to herself because these people don't fit in to this dystopian society where being different is viewed as something dangerous. When the day comes for Tris and Caleb to make their decision she ends up choosing Dauntless, who are basically in charge of the security and enforcing order in the city. Knowing that faction comes before family she must bid them farewell, and her training with Dauntless begins. At first she doesn't fit in due to the extreme physical and intense psychological tests that their instructors, Four (Theo James) and Eric (Jai Courtney), make them go through. If she doesn't pass the initiation program she will be sent with the factionless, but at the same time if they discover she is divergent, she could be killed so the adventure begins (and of course the romance as well).

I enjoyed the performance from the young actors in this film and I think Woodley had great chemistry with James. A lot of people had issues with his performance, but I thought he was very believable and pulled it off well. The cast elevate this film and make the film's extended running time worth the while. There are some beautiful scenes that work really well in Divergent, I loved the cinematography and the dream sequences were probably the highlight of the film. There was also a scene where Tris went down a canopy line through the destroyed buildings that looked pretty cool. The story is formulaic and has its flaws. It felt melodramatic towards the end and tries too hard to leave audiences hooked for the sequel. The first part of the film suffers for taking to long to set things up and introducing each character, but once we are with Tris in Dauntless as she goes through the initiation process the film picks up. The film also fails to engage the audience as to why the divergent are so dangerous to their society, but it all seems to rely on the message the film is trying to give to young teenagers. It is a metaphor playing on the fear of adolescents of finding their place in society and discovering who they really are. It wasn't the film I was hoping for, but I am feeling merciful today so I will give it a passing grade.

My Review: Carrie (5/10)

"There are other people out there like me who can do what I can do."

And there are other people out there that have adapted the same novel that this film is based on. Brian de Palma did in the 70's and the film has reached some sort of cult status since then. I was never a huge fan of that film and really didn't care too much for this remake. I never found Carrie's character terrifying so I didn't expect this to be a horror movie either. The reason I did decide to go see this was because I really like Chloe Grace Moretz and have seen almost everything she's done. Despite how much I like her, I don't think she brought anything new to the role of Carrie and wasn't able to carry this film. The entire film felt more of a remake of De Palma's film than a reimagining of Stephen King's classic novel. This version didn't bring anything new and thus felt completely unnecessary. The bullies in this film are so stereotypical and over the top that the film felt like a comedy at times. The greatest thing about Carrie was Julianne Moore's performance as the overzealous religious fanatic. I thought she was great, but the rest of the cast didn't really convince me beside one or two supporting performances. I still didn't hate this film, but I thought it was just another average and uninspired remake. At least director, Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry) hired actual teens to play the part of High School seniors instead of older actors like De Palma did. So at least she gets some credit for that. I wanted to like Carrie because of Chloe Grace Moretz, but this just wasn't the role for her. I just never connected with this film.

Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz) is a quiet and shy girl who lives with her overprotective religious fanatic mother Margaret (Julianne Moore). Carrie is different due to the fact that she's been sheltered by her mother for so long and for that reason she gets bullied on a lot at school. She has the misfortune of experiencing her first period in the locker room at school after her gym class. Her mother has never talked to her about this so when she sees the blood she panics and begins to scream. All the girls realize what is going on and so they begin to make fun of her and pretty soon the entire school finds out about it thanks to Chris (Portia Doubleday) who uploads the video on the internet. Her beautiful classmate, Sue (Gabriella Wilde), feels bad about the way she treated her and to try to make things right she asks her boyfriend, Tommy (Ansel Elgort), to ask Carrie to prom. Carrie begins to discover that she has telekinetic powers and decides to research in school during her free time, while Chris who was banned for prom plans the perfect prank on her. Little do they know that Carrie could be a dangerous if they continue to push her.

If you've seen the Brian de Palma version then you pretty much know how the film is going to turn out. There is nothing fresh or unique about this film, but it isn't terrible either. The film has nothing to offer really and we as an audience are left waiting for the build up to the infamous prom scene. If you enjoy mindless films than you will probably enjoy Carrie, but if you were expecting a reimagining than you will leave disappointed. In a time where teenage bullying is hotter than ever, Carrie could have brought some new insight, but it failed to do so. It never says anything new about being a social outcast and in the end you have to wander what the point of the entire film was.