99 Homes (8/10): A modern day companion to WallStreet

"Don't get emotional about real estate."

99 Homes is a powerful drama that resonates with the current economic state of the United States in the same way that Wall Street did in the 80's. Michael Shannon's Rick Carver as a realtor who makes his living by evicting families from their homes and cheating on the bank system, is in a way the modern Gordon Gekko (a character that turned Michael Douglas into an iconic figure for business people around the globe). 99 Homes is a morality play and a film about greed which poses interesting questions as to how far one would go to achieve the American dream. The film could be a great companion to McKay's The Big Short which focused on the housing bubble collapse, although this film focuses exclusively on the real estate brokers who managed to make a fortune upon the disgrace of the hard working blue collar families. Director, Ramin Bahrani, however doesn't try to turn Carver into a charismatic character. He is a greedy, selfish, calculating, and cold blooded man who doesn't care one bit about the families he is evicting from their homes. There is no glorification of his character whatsoever and it truly shows what kind of person you have to be to live with such low morals. 

Andrew Garfield's Dennis Nash on the other hand is the character the audience can relate to because he goes through a deep struggle as Carver's protege to accept his new line of work. Dennis was a former construction worker who due to the real estate crisis is left without a job. He lives with his mother, Lynn (Laura Dern), and his young son Connor (Noah Lomax) in the family home he's always grown up in. Unfortunately due to the current economic situation he is evicted from his home by Carver who shows up at his door and gives him two minutes to take his belongings and move out. As much as he hates the situation there isn't anything he can do so he is forced to relocate his family in a nearby cheap motel. After realizing his tools are missing during the eviction, Dennis goes to confront one of Carver's handymen. Dennis arrives at the right time because a crisis ensues and Carver realizes that his construction experience can come in handy. Despite not liking his boss one bit, Dennis begins to realize there is an easy way to make money and he justifies his actions by wanting to give his son a better life. The question then becomes how far Dennis will be willing to go to be like the man he despises.

Ramin Bahrani isn't a director that many people know because he has made several small independent films, but if you were an avid reader of Roger Ebert's film reviews then you know Bahrani was one of those small directors that he had high praise for. That is how I actually ended up hearing about his movies and decided to check out Goodbye Solo, a film focusing on two strangers who form an unlikely bond. Bahrani is passionate about delivering social films and you can see traces of it here in this much bigger film. The cast elevates the material even more as both Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon deliver superb performances. There was even some talk of Shannon receiving an Oscar nomination, but his work was overlooked once again. 99 Homes works as a morality play but it still is concerned on the social issues present in today's world. It might not have the same character development and dynamics that we saw in Goodbye Solo, but that is because there is so much more suspense and thrills going on here. I personally prefer his smaller films, but this was a memorable film that still remains provocative and resonant in today's economy.

Wild (6/10): A long walk in search of self-recovery

“What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn't have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed?”

Over the past decades Nick Hornby’s novels have been adapted for the big screen successfully (About a Boy, High Fidelity). He also adapted the wonderful screenplay for An Education. His latest screenplay, Wild, is based on Cheryl Strayed’s memoir who hiked over a thousand miles in the Pacific Crest Trail on her own. It is quite a fascinating tale directed by Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club) and starring Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl. The Canadian born director has proven in the past that he can get great performances from his actors, and he does so once again. Witherspoon seems to be playing a similar character from the one she played in MUD. She has been through some traumatic events which have caused her some self destructive addiction problems, but we don’t know what they are at first because the way that Vallee tells the story is through flashbacks as Cheryl is walking through the trail. It rewards patient viewers because despite not being able to identify with her at the beginning we are given small glimpses of her past that will later on allow us to understand why she is doing this. What is made clear from the very opening scene is that she isn’t doing this simply as an adventure because she has  no experience whatsoever. She is walking with way too much weight despite her small size, which also is symbolic because we soon realize that she is carrying a heavy burden herself. Wild’s strength relies on Witherspoon’s performance and those encounters she has along the way, but this is ultimately a road trip movie we’ve seen done many times before in the past (Emilio Estevez directed his father Martin Sheen in The Way a few years ago, and Emile Hirsch starred in Into the Wild both with a very similar premise). Despite the gorgeous landscape, I wasn’t awed by the cinematography which kept its focus on Witherspoon’s inner struggles as she walked the walk.

Unlike what I’ve heard from most audiences, I wasn’t moved by Wild. It tells a powerful story, but somehow I didn’t feel that connection with the heroine of the film. Witherspoon gives a strong performance and we see her without any makeup and full of bruises from the expedition during most of the film. This was very much a physical role for her and she went all in. Laura Dern has also received a lot of acclaim for her supporting role as Cheryl’s mother during the flashback scenes. This mother and daughter relationship is given a lot of importance in Wild and both actresses deliver, although I wouldn’t go as far as considering them amongst my favorite of the year. They’ve both been nominated for their performances. The flashbacks weren’t my favorite part of the film however, because I enjoyed the encounters Cheryl had during the trail. She spends most of the film walking on her own, but there are brief encounters with several other hikers along the way. Those were perhaps the most engaging moments of the film for me. They are simple encounters, but very authentic reminding us the importance of human interaction. There is a scene near the end of the film where she encounter a boy and her grandmother that is very touching. Wild covers too familiar a territory to stand out for me, but I still enjoyed it and definitely would recommend it for Witherspoon’s strong lead performance. I would say that Wild isn’t as much a film about self-discovery as it is about self-recovery becauase Cheryl is trying to recover from destructive addictions while isolating herself from society and taking a thousand mile journey across the Pacific Crest. 

When the Game Stands Tall (4/10): As clichéd as sport movies go.

“People always ask me what it’s like to never lose. Today I am lost.”

A 151 game winning streak is not something you see everyday, so when they decided to make a film about the De La Salle High School football team who managed to remain undefeated for 12 years I was sold. A lot of credit has to be given to Coach Bob Ladouceur for his accomplishments because he didn’t stay undefeated with the same group of players. The streak went on for over a decade so he had to continue winning with different players and that goes on to prove what a talented guy he is. This is a fantastic story for every sport fan out there, but unfortunately the movie is full of cliches and doesn’t offer anything new to the sports genre. It tries too hard to be inspirational and it includes several fictional characters that were completely unnecessary. This is such an inspiring tale in real life, that there was actually no need to make it more inspirational than what it already was. The relationship between one of the running backs and his father (Alexander Ludwig and Clancy Brown) was placed here exclusively to give it a more melodramatic arch, but it is laughable. Brown plays the over demanding father who wants his kid to break the national record for most touchdowns. The scenes are placed here exclusively in contrast to the coach’s philosophy which has to do more with being a team of brothers who are there for each other. There is no I in team. We’ve seen these clichés in sport films many times in the past, but here the dialogue is even more cheesy and forced. I did find some of the melodramatic moments quite touching, like an eulogy the coach gives midway through the film, but most of the sports scenes felt disconnected with the dramatic ones. The film left me with a sense of wanting to learn more about this real life story, but When the Game Stands Tall doesn’t do a good job of telling it. There are some great sport scenes that kept me engaged for a while, but the film fails in the dramatic department forcing inspirational moments and feeling too preachy. It is a manipulative and by the books uplifting feel good tale.

   

The film at times felt disconnected. You are introduced to this fabulous coach (Jim Caviezel) who is always inspiring his players, but at the same time his situation at home doesn’t seem to be going too well. His wife is played by Laura Dern and I felt like these family moments didn’t work at all in this film because they only touched the surface of their problems. The relationship with his son (Matthew Daddario) wasn’t explored either and everything was sort of left in the limbo when the second half of the film focuses exclusively on the football games and practices. The actors are fine, but the script is weak and ultimately their characters suffer from not having any depth. There is also a subplot involving some of the seniors who are heading to college that’s also kind of ignored after the passing of one of the players. It is a key moment in the film, but it simply felt disconnected with everything else.

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.