My Review: Begin Again (8/10)

“I just think you have let your troubles get in the way of your entire life.”

There is no doubt that music has a deep influence in our lives, and there is no one who expresses this better in movies than director John Carney, who has returned to the musical drama genre after his success in 2006 with Once. Begin Again is sort of a love letter for musicians and aspiring musicians as well, reminding them about the importance of not selling out and remaining authentic. This is a big part of the dramatic narrative and Carney, a former musician himself, reminds audiences that music is personal and has a different meaning for everyone. This isn’t your standard rom-com because the screenplay is written in such a way that you never can fully anticipate what direction it’s heading. Rather than centering on a love relationship it focuses on a work collaboration between people who are passionate for music. Somewhere along the way they got their hearts broken and lost their motivation, but a coincidental encounter brought these two characters together and set them in the right path once again. I fell in love with these characters and found it hard to resist this feel good film. The chemistry between Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley was special and charming. This film may have flown under many people’s radar, but it is one that is worth checking out. There are plenty of authentic and funny moments while the dramatic elements are also engaging. The cinematography might not be the best we’ve seen, but the rich characters and charming score make up for it. Begin Again is a joyful and genuine film that pulls at your heart strings without ever feeling manipulative or clichéd.    

The performances are a huge part of the success of this uplifting and cheerful musical film. Mark Ruffalo has been on quite a role lately and once again he plays a rather flawed character in such a way that he still manages to remain likable for the audience. This lost musical producer seems to find his way when he encounters Keria Knightley’s character in a bar one night. Knightley is fantastic as well and I felt her performance to be impressively genuine and authentic. Every scene she shared with Ruffalo felt real and the dialogue was never forced. The natural chemistry between these two is something you don’t run into very often. I would go as far as saying that Knightley’s performance is one of my favorite of the year. Adam Levine gives a solid performance playing this self absorbed rising star. He is a better singer, but that doesn’t mean he can’t act. Hailee Steinfeld has grown as a mature actress, but she has always been a force to reckon with ever since her outstanding performance in True Grit. Most Def and Catherine Keener also have solid supporting roles. Everything about this film is charming and hard to resist despite the fact that it remains small and unimportant. It’s simply a feel good movie that pays homage to the influence of music in our lives, and lets us in on the creative process while at it. 

My Review: Enough Said (8/10)

"I've been listening to this woman say the worst things about the guy I'm starting to really like." 

Directed and written by Nicole Holofcener (Friends With Money and Please Give), Enough Said is a charming middle aged rom com that benefits from an incredible chemistry between James Gandolfini and Julia-Louis Dreyfus and a witty script. At first I had a hard time separating Julia's character from her sitcom roles, but eventually she began growing on me and I ended up enjoying her performance. The true highlight of the film however was the late James Gandolfini's performance. He was absolutely charming and delivers on a completely different range than what he showed in The Sopranos or most of his other film roles. Here he plays a very sympathetic and sweet middle aged divorced father who is having a hard time accepting the fact that his daughter is leaving for college. It was one of his best performances and he deserves all the accolades he's been receiving. Enough Said is one of those rare mature comedies that delivers authentic moments. It's a realistic and warm film that adults will enjoy. People who say that they don't make films for middle aged adults anymore should check this out. I am glad Holofcener is receiving so much love for this film because it's good to have a strong female voice in Hollywood. This is a film for grown ups about second chances and finding love after having failed in the past.

Eva (Julia-Louis Dreyfus) is a divorced middle aged mother who works as a masseuse. Her daughter is about to leave for college and so she's beginning to feel the void her absence will cause. After going to a party with her married friends, Sarah (Toni Collette) and Will (Ben Falcone), she meets Albert (James Gandolfini) a divorced father who is going through a similar experience with her daughter. The two hit off pretty well and begin dating. At the same party Eva also meets Marianne (Catherine Keener), and she becomes one of her clients. Eva quickly becomes friends with her admiring her style and good taste, but when she discovers that Albert was her ex-husband who she speaks terribly of, she begins having second thoughts about starting a relationship with him. She continues to date Albert and befriend Marianne without ever telling them about each other while she tries to make up her mind about giving love a second chance.

This romantic comedy drama is charming without ever being unauthentic or ringing false. It seems to hit all the right notes at the right time. I loved the scenes that Gandolfini and Dreyfus shared together, especially their first date. The scenes they shared together sitting on his front porch were also very touching and charming. Toni Collette's accent in this film felt a bit out of place, but I enjoyed the rest of the performances and every character was developed pretty well. The film does say something important about the power behind words and how much the opinion of someone we admire affects us in the way we perceive others and make decisions about them. Despite how much Eva liked Albert she let Marianne's perception of him influence her in the way she saw him. Enough Said is just one of those warm films that are hard to resist. Gandolfini truly shines here.

My Review: The Croods (5/10)

"Anything new is bad. Curiosity is bad. Going out at night is bad. Basically, anything fun is bad. Welcome to my world! But this is a story about how all that changed in an instant."

The Croods is one of those animated films that kids will love, but adults will barely find amusing. Kids will pretty much enjoy anything, even co-director Kirk De Micco's previous film Space Chimps. I on the other hand was completely disappointed with this film considering the other co-director involved here was Chris Sanders, who brought us the highly acclaimed How to Train Your Dragon (now that is a sequel I'm really looking forward to). I didn't have a problem with the visuals here, because they were great, but my major issue with this film had to do with the story. The Croods suffers from a completely formulaic narrative where you have the young daughter wanting to go out and experiencing life, while the over protective father doesn't allow it. Last year's Pixar film, Brave, dealt with this very same issue and I personally feel a bit tired of it. These animated films have a history of putting up children against their parents and always giving them the reason. Usually it's the parent that has to change his ways and learn the lesson from their younger child. I understand that this is what is appealing to kids, but pretty much every film targeted towards them is appealing (they won't even hesitate to watch The Smurfs movies again). I am used to these cliched stories and usually forgive them if the film has clever characters with funny dialogues, but The Croods has neither. I don't remember laughing at any scene, and I don't think any of these characters is really memorable.

The story focuses on a family of cavemen whose patriarch, Grug (Nicolas Cage) has kept everyone safe thanks to his extreme rules. He has shielded them from the outside world and kept them inside the cave for most of their lives, only abandoning the cave to collect some food for a few minutes every three or four days. Grug lives with his partner Ugga (Catherine Keener) and her mother Gran (Cloris Leachman). They have two kids: Eep (Emma Stone) and Thunk (Clark Duke), and a young baby. Everyone seems content with Grug's rules, except for Eep who is desperate to explore the outside world. One night after following a strange light out of her cave she runs into a nomad named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who has discovered how to make fire. Guy is an inventive individual who has managed to survive in the outside world on his own. He warns Eep that the world is coming to an end and that they should head to the high lands. When Grug sees that Eep is missing they immediately go find her and bring her back to the cave, but before they can arrive Guy's predictions come true. Now the entire family will have to embark on a journey with Guy and discover a whole new world while facing the threats in the outdoors.

There are several interesting action scenes in The Croods and some beautiful visuals (although nothing as near as beautiful as Pixar's Brave) as they explore and are in awe of this new world. None of the characters here are developed very well and most of the film centers around Grug and Eep. The story does begin to pick up with the introduction of Guy who reminds us of the power of new ideas and the importance of being creative. Unfortunately the film isn't creative with its narrative and that is what left me disappointed. The vocals here were done pretty well with Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, and Emma Stone standing out mostly because their characters are basically the only ones who have much screen time. The Croods isn't a film the entire family will enjoy, but I am sure the kids will have a blast because it involves outdoor exploration and has plenty of action. I was expecting this film to be a lot funnier, but nothing really stands out.

My Reviews: The Oranges (4/10)

¨I´m your ex girlfriend´s boyfriend´s wife.¨

I´d rather sit through an hour long episode of Dr. House, The OC, or Gossip Girl rather than watch this film starring some of the actors from the above mentioned series. The Oranges was directed by Julian Farino, who I had never heard of before this film. I actually went to see this film because I thought it had an interesting cast. The biggest flaw of The Oranges was its screenplay; written by Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss. The dramedy never quite manages to feel authentic and everything felt like a complete farce. The dialogue in this film felt very light considering the subject matter and the comedic moments weren’t effective. The relationships didn’t feel real either, although I must admit that the friendship between Laurie´s character and Platt´s was probably the strongest thing about this movie. Beside the three TV stars: Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester, and Adam Brody, the film also stars Allison Janney and Catherine Keener whom I always thought looked very much alike. These are all very likeable actors, but they were given some really underdeveloped characters and the film never really rang true to me. Other films have tackled this subject matter in much better ways. Examples that come to mind for me are The Graduate and American Beauty, but this movie doesn’t even come close to what those films achieved. Despite how much I wanted to like this movie because of the actors, I had a hard time watching this. I would pick any of their television series over this film anytime.

The film focuses on the relationship between two Jersey families. On the one hand, we have David (Hugh Laurie) and Paige Walling (Catherine Keener) who have two children: Vanessa (Alia Shawkat) and Toby (Adam Brody), and then we are introduced to their neighbors, the Ostroff´s, consisting of Terry (Oliver Platt) and Kathy (Allison Janney). Terry and David have been best friends for a long time, and their families get together often. The Ostroff’s have a daughter named Nina (Leighton Meester) who decides to return home after five years for the Holidays. Her presence will change things when she falls in love with David. The two begin seeing each other and it has a tremendous effect on both families. Nina convinces David that there are no rules to happiness, but at the same time his decision affects everyone around him. When Paige finds out about this relationship she confronts David and soon everyone’s life is affected by this relationship.

The film doesn’t seem to take sides on the moral issue, but it doesn’t ever feel like it takes things seriously either. The entire film felt like a complete waste of time. The relationship between David and Nina never felt authentic and there was no chemistry whatsoever between them. The film really suffers from a poor script and the likeable actors aren’t enough to save this film. The narration of the film didn’t work for me either and I felt like it was simply used to simplify things. The question the film seems to be raising is whether it is really worth doing whatever makes you happy without measuring the consequences and how it can affect the rest of the people around you. At first it seems as if it agrees with this premise, but later their consequences catch up with them. Some characters seem to be better off, but things never remain the same. I think I am getting a little too philosophical for a film that really didn’t take itself too seriously, but I definitely felt that something was completely off with The Oranges. It is an awkward film and one I wouldn’t recommend.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

My Review: Where The Wild Things Are (4/10)

¨It's going to be a place where only the things you want to happen, would happen. ¨

The only thing I wanted to happen while watching the highly appraised Where the Wild Things Are was for the movie to get over with. I found this film very boring and couldn`t identify with the characters. I understood the melancholic point the director was trying to get across, but I guess my childhood was nothing like that. I remember enjoying my childhood a lot and never feeling so philosophical and sad towards life like the main character felt. The first twenty minutes of the film you just feel so sorry for Max because he feels so ignored and misunderstood. I think this movie is a little too dark for kids to enjoy and a bit too imaginative for grownups to endure. Perhaps it is just me, but I found it very difficult to identify with Max. This film was directed by Spike Jonze, who is famous for directing several videos for musical bands, directing Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, and working as a writer for the Jackass series. This time he adapted Maurice Sendak`s classic children`s story. I haven`t read the story so I can`t say if it is faithful to the original material, but after watching this movie I am not even remotely interested in reading the story. The movie has a very sad and pessimistic feel to it, but at the same time it does feel artistic as well. The main problem I had with it is that I wasn`t being entertained and felt the movie was taking forever.

Where the Wild Things Are is a movie about a kid named Max who feels misunderstood and lonely. He doesn`t have many friends and spends most part of the day playing with his wolf suit and his dog. Max is played very well by the young Max Records (from The Brothers Bloom); he is very mature on screen and gives the best performance in this movie. His sister is a little older than him and she is going through the stage of dating boys and doesn`t pay too much attention to him. His mom (played by Catherine Keener from 40 Year Old Virgin fame) is a single mother who has to make time for work and the children. One night Max gets upset while his mother is downstairs with her boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo from Zodiac) and he throws a tantrum because he doesn`t get what he wants and ends up bighting her. After this Max runs away from home and ends up imaginatively crossing an ocean and reaching an island full of strange creatures. Here he finds a group of them who are arguing with one because he is throwing a fit and destroying their homes because someone has left the group. Max decides to assist Carol, the creature who is destroying everything, because he identifies with him (Carol and Max are very similar in nature). The creatures at first want to eat Max, but he tells them he is a king and that he has special powers so the creatures decide to crown him king of the island as long as he takes away the sadness. He says he has a sadness shield that will keep sadness away from everyone so they all accept him. All the creatures have different emotions, one feels like no one ever listens to him, another is always upset and wants to eat people, and Carol who is the most similar to Max always has to get what he wants. In this new world, Max feels accepted and listened to, but he will soon find out that it isn`t easy to be king and will learn an important lesson in the process. The creatures are voiced by James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O`Hara, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, Michael Berry Jr., and Lauren Ambrose.

I think this movie is too dark for kids to enjoy. Max Records does a great job of expressing these wide ranges of emotions a ten year old kid goes through, but the material is a bit too complicated for children. At least I couldn`t identify with what Max was going through as I remember my childhood more enjoyable and less philosophical. I think that Up is a movie that expresses these issues in a better light and that kids and grownups will enjoy much more. This film is very artistic, but you really feel sad for the kid right from the opening scene and the movie just feels too nostalgic and doesn`t seem to focus enough in the good moments we all have had in our childhood. When the movie began I was hoping it would get to the moment we were introduced to the creatures because I felt it was dragging too much, but then when we get to the creatures I was just waiting for the movie to end because I was bored and felt it was taking forever. I wouldn`t recommend this movie, although most people I have talked to have enjoyed it so you might want to check it out because it could have a different effect on you than it did on me.