Inherent Vice (4/10): The First time I was disappointed with a PTA film

“She came along the alley and up the back steps the way she always used to. Doc hadn't seen her for over a year. Nobody had.”

Before I get a lot of hate for disliking this film I just want to say that I have a lot of respect for Paul Thomas Anderson as a director and have rated all of his previous films with at least four out of five stars. Inherent Vice was one of my most anticipated films for 2014 because his recent movies have been mesmerizing. The Master and There Will Be Blood are both films that I absolutely love. Inherent Vice unfortunately didn’t work for me and I had a very difficult time keeping up with the movie’s plot. I was unfamiliar with Thomas Pynchon’s recent novel which this film was adapted from, and perhaps the movie works best for audiences who have read it, but I just couldn’t follow what was going on. There are many characters who seem to be mumbling their lines and stoned out of their lives, so at times it was hard to figure out wether we were seeing actual events or simple hallucinations. I also had difficulty understanding a lot of the dialogue and found the pacing extremely slow. I put a lot of effort into trying to understand the plot of the film, but I simply didn’t get it. The comedy didn’t work for me either and at times I felt like I was missing a lot of the jokes everyone else seemed to enjoy. It was one of the rare films that I thought I wasn’t going to be able to finish, because I felt tempted to walk out of the movie. I kept with it out of the respect I have for Anderson’s work, but in all honesty I wasn’t able to engage with the characters.

There are some great performances in Inherent Vice. Joaquin Phoenix is impressive and delivers a solid and believable role as Doc Sportello, a private eye who is constantly getting high. Josh Brolin also delivers as Bigfoot, the tough detective who is always on Doc’s back. Katherine Waterston plays this sort of femme fatale who had been Doc’s girlfriend in the past and needs his help investigating her current lover (Played by Eric Roberts). I don’t want to get into details into the plot because it isn’t really important in Inherent Vice. This isn’t your conventional detective mystery story. The narration is hard to follow and many characters are introduced in the story with no specific purpose other than to invade Doc’s world. 

Anderson tends to choose projects that center on the end of an era, and in Inherent Vice it revolves around the end of the psychedelic 60’s. You get this sense of nostalgia towards that era where the hippies dominated the scene. Anderson does a great job at capturing that period very well and he transports us to this time. It is perhaps the greatest thing about this film along with the strong performances, but the lack of a cohesive narrative and its extremely long running time made it very difficult for me to endure. This is the first Anderson film that I have to admit I didn’t enjoy and that I won’t be revisiting any time soon. The story is completely absurd and the humor wasn’t for me. I kind of feel like I’m the odd one out when everyone else is praising the comedy because I simply never got it. It was a very boring and non engaging experience personally, but I still haven’t lost my respect for what Anderson does. I just wasn’t interested in these character and wasn’t able to follow the story (which I think is purposely done this way). I think The Big Lebowski does a much better job of creating a fun experience for the audience with engaging characters without having an important plot. 

Big Hero 6 (8/10): Another Disney classic with memorable characters

“Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion.”

I can’t avoid going into a Walt Disney Animation Studio film with high expectations considering they very rarely get it wrong, especially when John Lasseter is involved in the production. Big Hero 6 is their latest animated film, and this time they teamed up with Marvel so there was much more to get excited about. Big Hero 6 delivers everything it promised in the trailers: fun characters, stunning visuals, entertaining action scenes, and a lot of heart. Let me begin with the aspect of the film I found most fun: the characters. This is basically an origin superhero story about characters I had not heard about. They really don’t have special powers, but they are science enthusiasts who come up with great inventions. The lead character, Hiro Hamada, is all about making easy money as he destroys his opponents in robot battles, but when he meets his brother’s friends who are all working on cool science experiments he wants in. His brother has created a personal healthcare companion that looks more like a giant marshmallow than an actual robot. Its name is Baymax, and is by far the most endearing character in the film. Since it takes everything literally most of the comedy comes from it misinterpreting things (Marvel always has some character who behaves in this way) and the sweet way in which it reacts to different moments. It is the heart and soul of this film and the chemistry between it and Hiro is what elevates this film and makes it more endearing. Pretty much every character in this film has some sort of distinct personality and they all have their comedic moments. Big Hero 6 has its emotional moments as well as we deal with the death of one of the characters. It is standard at times and even predictable in the direction its heading, but it never ceases to entertain with a fun action-packed and comedic pacing. You have the superhero element on one hand and the touching relationship between Baymax and Hiro on the other. So there are several reasons why you can find it pleasing. It’s hard to avoid comparison with The Incredibles and I think it does live up to the same level of enjoyment we got from those memorable characters as well. 

So on the one hand you get plenty of action scenes because this is a superhero animated film where they face a mysterious villain, while on the other it remains emotionally engaging and touching with the center core relationship between this personal healthcare companion and Hiro. The film balances these moments extremely well and thanks to the memorable characters Big Hero 6 will surely become another classic from Disney Studios. I’ve focused my review on the narrative structure of the film, but I can’t leave out how good the visuals are here. The city where the action takes place is San Fransokyo, a combination of San Francisco and Tokyo. The architecture from both cities is combined here and makes for a gorgeous to look at futuristic city. I loved the way in which they blended these two styles together and the film looks amazing and culturally diverse. Add that to the charismatic characters and you have an instant classic. 

My Review: The Way Way Back (8/10)

"Duncan! On a scale of 1 to 10, what do you think you are?"

It's been a great year for people like me who love coming-of-age films. So far I haven't been disappointed. Mud is my favorite film of the year, The Kings of Summer was a lot of fun, and The Way Way Back was charming. I loved this film despite it pretty much following the same formula most of these coming-of-age films do. The thing that stood out for me here were the performances and the emotion involving script written by Academy Award winning screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants). I was engaged with the story from the very opening scene and cared deeply for these characters. There were a perfect mix of funny and entertaining moments with some emotional drama. Liam James delivers a strong lead performance although at times he overdoes the physical aspect a bit by shrugging his shoulders a little too much (especially during the first half of the film until he begins building his confidence). It felt like he was trying too hard to point out that he was shy and lost, but I still sympathized with his character. The true stars of this film however are the secondary characters. Sam Rockwell gives yet another spectacular performance and he owns this movie. It was a pleasure to see his character on screen and he had great chemistry with Liam as he helped the kid grow and became a sort of a father figure to him. Steve Carell hits all the right notes in this film as the douche bag without overselling the performance. No matter how much you may love him as an actor, he genuinely is despiteful in this movie. Allison Janney is also hilarious in this movie. For a coming of age film I thought the adult actors were much better than the kids (at least their characters were better developed), and the location truly felt like a Spring Break for adults. Faxon and Rash not only wrote the script, they also played secondary characters (they were also really funny), and this was their first film as directors. I really liked this movie and thought it was even better than Payne's The Descendants which they helped write. The Way Way Back gets my respects and I definitely recommend this movie.

Fourteen year old Duncan (Liam James) is a shy and lonely kid who is being forced by his mom, Pam (Toni Collette) to travel with her to her boyfriend's beach house for the summer. She has been dating Trent (Steve Carrell) for over a year now and they decide to travel together along with his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Once they arrive to their destiny they are welcomed by Trent's single sister, Betty (Allison Janney) and her two kids: Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) and Peter (River Alexander). Duncan has a difficult time talking to anyone and would have preferred going to his father's house in California (especially since Trent treats him so badly). At this unexpected place he begins to find himself when he accepts a summer job at a water park managed by the goofy Owen (Sam Rockwell). Owen takes a liking for the shy kid and teaches him a few life lessons. He also befriends the rest of the employees of the park including Caitlin (Maya Rudolph), Roddy (Nat Faxon), and Lewis (Jim Rash). He tries to spend as much time as he can in the water park, since back home the only person he can actually talk to is Susanna with whom a nice friendship slowly begins to form. Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet also star in this film as Trent's friends with whom they spend most of the time.

The Way Way Back has some similarities to Adventureland and although that film might be a little better I still think The Way Way Back holds its own mainly because of how great Sam Rockwell is here. It was easy for me to identify with Duncan and the film builds on that nostalgic sentiment of adolescence at times. Some elements may seem familiar or taken from other movies, but they still work in a unique way here. I really wouldn't mind watching this film again because it was a pleasant experience. It's like a summer destiny I would like to visit again the following summer. I loved how they managed to turn so many familiar elements from the genre and make them feel fresh and new. There are moments where you will find yourself laughing hard and then the next minute you will feel heart broken. I also loved the soundtrack for this film. The Way Way Back is a very enjoyable film, especially if coming-of-age films are you sort of thing.

My Review: Bridesmaids (9/10)

¨You`re like the maid of dishonor¨

Bridesmaids isn’t your ordinary chick flick, and I wouldn’t necessary call it the female version of The Hangover either, because this movie works very well for a male audience as well. Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo managed to write one of the funniest scripts of the year in my opinion. I hadn’t laughed so hard in a movie for quite some time. This is definitely the best comedy I`ve seen all year. Kristen Wiig not only co-wrote the script, but she also played the main character of the film; and she was absolutely hilarious. Mumolo also had a small cameo as one of the passengers in the plane that sat next to Wiig. After watching Bridesmaids all I can say is that I hope that these two actresses continue to work together because they managed to deliver a lot of laughs and it’s a movie that both male and female audiences will enjoy. It is probably the best SNL film I`ve seen in a long time. This is a really smart comedy which at times reminded of Tina Fey`s work in Mean Girls. Paul Feig was also the right choice as the director, although he was mostly known for directing TV series like The Office, Nurse Jackie, and Arrested Development. Judd Apatow`s name is also attached to this film as one of the producers and that is always a good sign because Apatow is usually synonym to a funny comedy. This is my favorite comedy of the year so far.

Annie (Kristen Wiig) and Lillian (Maya Rudolph) have been best friends all their lives; they`ve shared the best of times and the worst of times together. Lillian seems to be going through a great point in her life and she has a healthy relationship with Dougie (Tim Heidecker), while Annie is pretty much at a low point after losing all her money in a bakery business that went bankrupt. She also has an unhealthy relationship with Ted (Jon Hamm) who only calls her for sex and then basically kicks her out of the house. Dougie asks Lillian to marry him, and of course Lillian asks Annie to be her maid of honor. Annie decides she is going to give Lillian the best wedding ever, but things don’t turn out as expected. Lillian introduces her other bridesmaids to Annie and she finds a rivalry with Lillian`s new wealthy friend named Helen (Rose Byrne) who seems just perfect. Helen seems sweet and nice, and Annie becomes jealous of their friendship. The other bridesmaids: Becca (Ellie Kemper), Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), and Megan (Melissa McCarthy) all seem to love Helen`s ideas as well. As everyone begins to favor Helen; and things continue to go bad for Annie she becomes more and more jealous and pretty soon this might affect her friendship with Lillian. As a side story Annie is pulled over by a cop named Nathan (Chris O`Dowd) who ends up being a neighbor of Annie`s and soon they begin a nice friendship that can turn things around for Annie if she doesn’t blow it likes she`s done so many times before.

The movie began a little slow for me and I didn’t have as much fun with it until the bridesmaids show up and the rivalry begins. I really loved Melissa McCarthy`s (star of the TV series Mike and Molly) performance; she was truly hilarious and stole every scene she was in. Wiig also is great in the lead role and she had good chemistry with her SNL co-star Maya Rudolph. There are also very memorable and laugh out loud scenes like the one in which the bridesmaids go try on their clothes, or when they all get on a plane together to fly to Vegas. There are really great moments in the movie and I had a great time with it. I laughed really hard and loved most performances from the cast. Guys shouldn’t doubt on seeing this film because it isn’t an ordinary chick flick, it doesn’t follow those same formulas, it is much more than that and the scenes work in a true comedic fashion. This is a really funny movie and one you won`t want to miss.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/