Winter Break Media Madness

     This break has given me some time to watch plenty of good, great, and just okay movies. Though I watched plenty of beloved favorites, below are my reviews of the movies I saw for the first time over break.


Love, Actually
9/10

Summary---Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

I finally understand this gif that I had seen a hundred times before ever seeing the movie! Also, this
guy (Mark) was probably my favorite character. So #relatable

I can't believe I waited this long to watch this movie! Actually, my journey towards this movie is a little complicated. I remember seeing the last bit of it on TV once and thinking it looked all right, but obviously I didn't have a fully developed grasp on the concept since I had just scene the grand romantic ending gestures of a bunch of stories to which I had no context or attachment. I forgot about the movie for a while. Then I saw some articles about the movie on Buzzfeed and parts of it kept showing up in WatchMojo lists on YouTube and I just kept thinking to myself "What on earth is the big deal with this movie?? It really doesn't seem all that spectacular!" So I forgot about it again. Then I went over to GC's house for a sleepover at the beginning of break and she suggested we watch this movie, so I agreed. The final consensus is that I really liked it! I should qualify that by saying that I really liked parts of it and the idea/concept as a whole, but there were some parts and story lines that I found wholly unnecessary. But because of the format of the movie, it's kind of easy to just block out the individual stories you don't care for, or use those moments as a time to go get snacks or as a bathroom break. I think this type of movie appeals to me as a writer because there were just so many stories and I LOVE stories and because each individual story was relatively short in the grand scheme of things, it left a lot of room for imagination of what else could have happened or been developed had each story gotten more screen time. I will say that this is certainly a chick flick (though at the same time, there are some parts which I'm not sure would really appeal to most women? I.e., fat shaming? Stereotypes about American women being raged sex kittens? Nice women not getting their fairy tale ending?) But I guess in a way some of those things are realistic. Anyway, over all I really enjoyed this movie. So much so that I suggested watching it a second time only a week or so later. I think it might end up being one of my yearly Christmas viewings.

23 Blast
6/10

Summary---When a high school football star is suddenly stricken with irreversible total blindness, he must decide whether to live a safe handicapped life or bravely return to the life he once knew and the sport he still loves.

So adorably awkward! 

This movie actually pleasantly surprised me! When I saw the thumbnail and read the synopsis, I wasn't expecting some great piece of film that deserved an Oscar. I just knew that I wanted something light and inspirational, and I knew a good overcoming-the-odds-hometown-football-hero movie would do the trick. In the end, I felt like this movie pretty realistically portrayed what it would be like to be a teen who suddenly has to figure out how to navigate life as a blind person. And while the acting wasn't stellar, I felt that all the performances were sincere. And, honestly, the little bit of romance in the film was really stinking cute!!!! Plus, I hadn't realized it when I chose the movie, but Alexa PenaVega was in it, and I totally love her and everything she stands for as an actress, so it was definitely a serendipitous moment when she showed up on the screen. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wants something not too serious or cinematically great but that will make you feel good inside                                                                     when the credits roll.

Unexpected
5/10

Summary---An inner-city high school teacher discovers she is pregnant at the same time as one of her most promising students and the two develop an unlikely friendship while struggling to navigate their unexpected pregnancies.

I couldn't find a gif from this movie, but here's a picture of Cobie Smulders'
perfect hair. 

I had been wanting to see this movie for quite a while now and was really excited about it because the premise was super interesting. Unfortunately I would have to say I was a little disappointed. First of all, the movie attempts to break down stereotypes about unplanned pregnancy and teen moms, but in a way I felt like it actually ended up perpetuating them in some ways. Another thing was that there were some scenes that felt completely unnecessary. For example there's a lengthy scene of Sam in the shower washing her hair where nothing happens except Sam being in the shower washing her hair with some unexciting soundtrack music in the background. It added nothing of significance to the plot or the movie as a whole. There was also a scene where Jasmine paints her nails. And a scene where Sam fills up the car with gas. And a scene where Sam wakes up from bed. I just didn't get the point of any of those scenes. Like was I supposed to be gleaning some sort of insight from them? Maybe if there had been some narration talking about what was going on in the characters' heads in those moments, they would have made a bit more sense. But as is, they just made the movie go pretty slow. In fact, I watched the movie in increments because I had to keep taking little breaks to go do something else. I wanted to finish the film because there were honestly some really good parts and I really liked the premise, but it also dragged along for much of the movie. And it's not even a long movie! It's only like an hour and 25 minutes! But it took me way longer than that to actually get through it. I will say though that Cobie Smulders' hair in this movie is basically everything I have ever wanted in a haircut. Sigh. Perfection. Oh, but here's another thing. The main character is white, but she's basically like the only white person in the entire school? So maybe it was a purposeful choice to juxtapose the unexpected pregnancy of a well off white adult with the unexpected pregnancy of a poor black teenage girl, but it also just felt demographically unrealistic. Like literally all the other teachers at the school were black and I think I only saw one or two white students. So the fact that the movie ends up being about a white lady...felt a little unnecessary. Anyway, it was all right. That's what I'll say about it.

Collateral Beauty
8/10

Summary---Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

I liked this movie in a similar way to how I liked Love Actually. There were lots of different story lines, and I really liked some of them, and wasn't so interested in others. Also, it went from being really heartfelt and emotional and sincere (I almost started crying more than a few times. And when I say almost, I mean legitimate tears were in my eyes about to spill out, chest was heaving in that "omg don't cry don't cry don't cry push it back stop it stop it stop it" kind of way) to being suddenly confusing and unrealistic and not wrapping things up in a way that explains what actually happened. But I think the things that I liked about it outweighed the things that I disliked about it. All of the performances were incredibly sincere, and there were plenty of recognizable faces and the stories were real and emotional (if not particularly original).

Loving
8/10

Summary---The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, whose challenge of their anti-miscegenation arrest for their marriage in Virginia led to a legal battle that would end at the US Supreme Court

#Goalssssss

I think perhaps I hyped this movie up too much in my brain because when I finally finally got to actually watch it, I was a teensy bit disappointed. There was nothing particularly wrong with this movie-- in fact it was beautiful and I did like it a lot. I thought it was EXTREMELY well cast, like the characters looked exactly like the real people. I thought it was extremely realistic, and judging by the research I have done on the case that it's about, it stayed very true to reality. At the same time, there were about 150 words in the entire movie. And about half of those words were mumbled. There were also a lot of scenes where people just stood there not saying anything. And I couldn't tell if I was supposed to be interpreting their solemn looks, or if it was just for artful effect but didn't actually mean anything. Also, (and maybe this is just my limited perspective as a girl who likes romance) I wish there had been more backstory or dialogue or something to help me understand how and why Richard and Mildred fell in love. Because obviously they were very much in love and were willing to do whatever it took to stay together and have their love be recognized as legitimate. But we didn't ever actually get to see them fall in love, and I guess I was just kind of hoping for that when I went into the movie. Overall, I think it was worth seeing, and I think it was relevant and beautiful and had a great cast ("The Douche" from Parks and Rec played the lawyer!!!! Hilarious! Except he looked WAY TOO MUCH LIKE MY HIGH SCHOOL MATH TEACHER. It was disconcerting). I just wish there had been more, what's the word...oh, words.

-VaughnDL