My Review: Drinking Buddies (6/10)

"That's the problem with heartbreak, to you it's like an atomic bomb and to the world it's just really cliche, because in the end we all have the same experience."

Drinking Buddies is mumblecore director Joe Swanberg's latest film which benefits from an impressive cast and an interesting premise that examines young adult relationships in a fresh way. Many people have called it the When Harry Met Sally of this generation considering it brings up the question whether or not men and women can become best friends without falling in love. This film never raises the question through dialogue, but we see it through the actors actions and emotional responses. One of the things I liked about this film is that things go unsaid like in real life relationships and it's up to the audience to judge the characters without ever being forced or pushed to feel a certain way about them. It is one of those rare romantic comedies we can relate to. The main problem I had with this film however has to do with the fact that the first 30 minutes of the movie felt like the characters were being forced towards a predictable direction and setting everything up, but then all of a sudden it shifts and becomes something completely unexpected. I wasn't a huge fan of that misdirection, but thankfully the last hour is really entertaining and sincere, making Drinking Buddies a film worth watching. 

Kate (Olivia Wilde) works at a local Chicago brewery and despite being the only female she gets along really well with her male co-workers, especially with Luke (Jake Johnson) with whom she goofs around often. Kate is currently in a relationship with a music producer named Chris (Ron Livingston), while Luke is in the midst of marriage talks with his girlfriend of six years, Jill (Anna Kendrick). The two couples decide to spend a weekend together in the woods where we see (or at least think we do) which couples actually belong with each other and which don't. Spending their free time drinking a lot doesn't make their decisions any easier either.

The film was also edited pretty well by Joe Swanberg who also was credited for writing the screenplay despite the fact that all the dialogue in this film was completely improvised and the actors were only given a vague outline of the plot. The chemistry between Jake Johnson and Olivia Wilde was great and they both deliver some of their best performances here. Wilde really surprised me here considering I didn't think she had this in her, she was outstanding. Anna Kendricks is a great actress but I wasn't impressed very much with her role here, perhaps because I've seen her in stronger roles before. Despite its flaws this was an entertaining film that felt at times like a good hang-out movie. Swanberg was great at capturing some of the small moments really well and building the sexual tension between the two friends. In the end the audience can decide whether these characters were really perfect for each other or not, but the incident near the end where Luke cuts his hand with a nail allowed me to make up my mind pretty easily.

My Review: Parkland (7/10)

¨It's the first time that the secret service has lost a president under its watch.¨

I'm actually surprised I enjoyed this film so much considering the bad reviews it has been receiving and my lack of knowledge on the historical details about the assassination of John F Kennedy. There have been many films made about this specific event, but very few have taken this approach where you get to experience things through the eyes of secondary characters and people behind the scenes like the Parkland medical staff that had to attend the president, or Oswald's brother who is shocked to hear his brother has shot the president. The apparently small scaled moments of this tragic event (like how the medical staff decide to keep the president's boxers on during surgery to preserve his dignity, or the urgency with which the Secret Service agents were trying to get a film of the assassination developed, or how Robert Oswald reacts when he hears that his brother is the prime suspect of the murder) are what truly make this film gripping and unique. The film has its flaws such as failing to have narrative cohesion and the characters are underdeveloped at times, but I think it worked really well considering everything happened so fast and these people had to make split second decisions. The overall feeling of chaos and messiness of the events that took place really transcend here as everything happens so fast and the film is reduced to a length of merely 90 minutes. The film follows a semi documentary style that totally works because you can feel the tension and urgency with which they had to deal with during such a catastrophic event. Parkland is Peter Landesman's first feature film and somehow the movie touched me in a way that apparently hasn't touched most audiences or critics. I didn't expect to like this film as much as I did, but I really felt engaged from the very opening scenes up to the very end. It doesn't offer new insight to a popular historical event, but it does tell the story differently. As we approach the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's death this might be a movie worth checking out (just don't go into it thinking you are going to get another Oliver Stone JFK). The film's strongest strength relies on this sense of urgency and how it depicts the events in real time as everyone had to make life changing decisions in a matter of seconds. But it also seems to be its weakness as many consider it to be a little too over the place and chaotic with little cohesiveness.

The film follows the tragic events that occurred in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 involving the assassination of President John F Kennedy. The story focuses on the perspective of the people in the sidelines that witnessed the event first hand like the medical staff in Parkland Hospital that were there that tragic day. Young Doctor Jim Carrico (Zac Efron) was the resident doctor that day in Parkland, and some of the nurses that were there to assist him were Nurse Doris (Marcia Gay Harden) and the emergency room nurse played by Mallory Moye. We get another perspective of that day through the eyes of a small businessman named Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti), who happened to capture the assassination on his Super 8 camera. We also see things through the eyes of Dallas's chief of the Secret Service, Forrest Sorrels (Billy Bob Thornton), an FBI agent named James Hosty (Ron Livingston) who was investigating Lee Harvey Oswald (Jeremy Strong), and Lee Harvey's brother Robert (James Badge Dale) and mother (Jacki Weaver) who react differently to the news about the murder. All these different perspectives are weaved together giving us an engaging film and different insight into what was going on. Tom Welling, Mark Duplass, Colin Hanks, Jackie Earle Haley, and Kat Steffens all play secondary characters in this star studded cast. 

There were some strong performances in this film although not really Oscar worthy. I specially liked James Badge Dale in this film who gives a quiet but brave performance, while Paul Giamatti rings true with his emotional performance as he has to deal with the pain of viewing the horrific event he captured on camera. The rest of the cast didn't really stand out considering they all had very little screen time, but it was good to see some of these talented actors working together. Jacki Weaver is a talented actress and she proves it once again in this small role. The cast is solid and the script is also pretty engaging. I was glad everything was depicted so fast and that the film didn't run too long.

My Review: The Conjuring (9/10)

"The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges on which we decide to follow."

James Wan has always been a hit or a miss for me as a director considering I was a big fan of Saw, but really hated Dead Silence. When The Conjuring began I was fearing the worst seeing that a doll was involved once again, but fortunately it was just part of a prologue and the main story was about a haunted house. So my next thought was: ok we've seen this scenario played out a million times before in horror films and I'm not a huge fan of spirit demon possession movies. So once again, I had my doubts about this film because I was sure I'd seen it all before and it wasn't really my thing. But I was wrong once again, because this film absolutely blew me away once the main characters were introduced and the story began creeping me out. The Conjuring is nearly a perfect film and in my humble opinion this is the best horror film of this millennium. Wan has made one of the creepiest films I've seen and I found myself feeling goosebumps all over my body during several scenes. The mood and 70's setting worked really well here and the characters were surprisingly all likable as well. The silence in this film worked really well and the score also added to the overall effectiveness in this movie. The best thing about The Conjuring is that Wan didn't go for cheap jump scares, he created a genuine and effective eerie atmosphere that had me tense during the entire film. The performances were all great as well (something that is difficult to find in the horror genre) and the camera work was unbelievable (I recall a masterful scene where one of the young kids senses a presence in her room and looks under the bed with the camera following her point of view). But what I loved the most about The Conjuring is that the film didn't have to use gore in order to shock the audience; Wan managed to scare us with the classical horror film techniques of the old days. This was one of the funnest experiences I've had in the movies this year.

The film claims to be based on true events revolving around a Rhode Island family that experienced strong supernatural activity in their new home. Famous paranormal investigators, Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson), were called to help this family. The Conjuring is a retelling of what the Warren's found in the house. Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor) are a very lovely and hard working couple. They have five beautiful daughters: Andrea (Shanley Caswell), Nancy (Hayley McFarland), Christine (Joey King), Cindy (Mackenzie Foy), and April (Kyla Deaver). Due to their financial struggles they believe this cheap big old house could be a new start for them, but they begin to experience some strange events. First, their dog refuses to enter the house and the next morning they find him dead. All the clocks in the house stopped at 3:07. April, the youngest, begins speaking to an imaginary friend, and Christine begins feeling something pulling her leg at night. Several strange things continue to occur in the home which leave  Carolyn no other choice than to look for these famous paranormal investigators and ask them to help them. After just one visit, the Warrens realize there is definitely a dangerous demonic presence in the home. They promise to help, but the secrets hidden in this house and the threat might even be too menacing for the Warrens to undertake.  

The Conjuring is really well crafted despite the familiar genre and premise. The film kind of surprised me in that it never tried to manipulate the audience with the score. Actually the scariest scenes occur mostly in silence, and when the music begins to play and you expect some sort of scare usually something silly happened to lighten the mood (the scene that comes to mind here is when a door moves and everyone expects to see the ghost manifest itself, but it was actually an investigator coming out of a bathroom). I found the film to be very creepy and I must say that when I went to bed later that night I made sure that my feet were well tucked in under the blankets so that nothing pulled my legs. The film succeeds as a horror story and it really delivers several scares that stick with you long after the movie is over. I think The Conjuring is a modern masterpiece and it might be The Exorcist of this generation. Wan is so good building suspense in this film and making the audience care for the characters. I loved his long tracking shots and the moments of silence that just added to the overall tension the movie made me feel.  I will never forget the silence coming from the audience after the movie ended as if they were still trying to loosen up from all the tension built up in this nearly two hour film. Wan tells this story with such a retro vibe and simple techniques that even clapping hands scared the heck out of me. The Conjuring is intense and everything I look for when I want to see a scary movie. If you think you've seen it all and nothing can scare you, you might want to give The Conjuring a view because it could surprise you.

My Review: 10 Years (7/10)

¨Now the party can start!¨

The film is about a 10 year High School reunion, and I know that the formula seems repeated and overdone but this film felt fresh and original. The cast is great and they all share a good amount of screen time. This film manages to deal with all the separate stories and characters much better than other high budget films tried to (Valentine`s Day and New Year`s Eve). I was interested in the different relationships between these characters and was hooked from the beginning. I thought Channing Tatum would be the lead character and that the story would focus around him, but it actually doesn’t; everyone gets a decent amount of screen time. There is no side story here, all the stories are equally relevant and have sufficient time to find some sort of closure. 10 Years was written and directed by Jamie Linden and this was his first film as a director. He had written the screenplays for Dear John and We Are Marshall. Here he gets to work with Tatum once again, but my favorite performance from this movie came from Oscar Isaac, who I really liked in Drive. Drive was my favorite movie from 2011, and despite the fact that Ryan Gosling carried that movie; I thought Isaac was absolutely perfect in his role as well. The chemistry he shares here with Kate Mara is amazing, and the song he performs at the karaoke bar was one of the highlights of the movie. 10 Years is not a laugh out comedy, but it has it`s funny moments. I felt like it worked best as a sort of melancholic romantic drama. The actors were all perfectly casted in my opinion and they each delivered. 10 Years was a lovely and entertaining film.

As I mentioned before the story revolves around a 10 year High School reunion. The first couple that`s introduced in the story is Jake (Channing Tatum) and Jess (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) who have been dating over three years. Jess is going to accompany Jake to his High School reunion. Before going to the party they stop to meet up with Jake`s High School buddies Cully (Chris Pratt) and Sam (Ari Graynor) who are happily married with two kids. Then they also reunite with Marty (Justin Long) and AJ (Max Minghella), and with Scott (Scott Porter) and Suki (Eiko Nijo) who are visiting from Japan. The last one that meets up with them is Reeves (Oscar Isaac), the most successful person from his class who has become a rock celebrity. Together they arrive at the High school reunion and meet up with the rest of their classmates. Cully, who was the class bully, is trying to redeem himself from his past and is looking to make amends with all the nerds. Jake is surprised when he sees  his ex-High School sweetheart, Mary (Rosario Dawson) arrive with her hubby Paul (Ron Livingston). Apparently Jake and Mary were pretty much a perfect couple during their teenage years. And then there`s Elise (Kate Mara) who always played it low in High School, but who Reeves remembers all too well as the girl who got away. There are several other supporting characters who also contribute to the overall humor and heart of the film like Garrity (Brian Geraghty), the ¨whigger¨ and his wife Olivia (Aubrey Plaza) who had never heard of that side of Garrity.

There is no novelty or breakthrough in this film. The story has been told before and we`ve seen the characters in other movies. In a way 10 Years reminded me of an 80`s John Hughes movie. The film really worked thanks to some great performances from the cast and an emotionally gripping script. I was really hooked with some of the stories and the way in which these characters interacted with each other. Despite the ten years that had gone by, these characters still remained the same deep down inside and some needed closure. I loved Isaac`s character and his song. His story and the chemistry between him and Mara was pretty intense. Aubrey Plaza really didn’t get much screen time, but I saw her as a leading lady in Safety Not Guaranteed and there is no doubt she is really talented. Tatum got to act beside his wife once again after first meeting her on the set of Step Up. There was really a lot of chemistry between so many of these characters and they all seemed like real life friends. This is an interesting directorial debut from Jamie Linden and I hope more people get to see this good movie.

  

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