May Movie Madness! (Pt. 1)
I have a feeling that the summer installments of these monthly movie reviews are going to be a bit longer than the ones during the school year, for the sole reason that I ain't got no homework, so there's plenty more movie watching opportunities. For that reason, I have split up this month's movie madness into two separate posts so as not to overwhelm my dearest readers.
Tramps
9/10
Netflix
A young man and woman find love in an unlikely place while carrying out a shady deal*
This movie was SO GOOD! Sometimes I'm skeptical of Netflix original movies because Netflix has very flexible ratings, which sometimes means their movies are unnecessarily profane or graphic just because they're allowed to be. But other times, Netflix has some of the most creative, and incredibly well done original films I've ever seen. Tramps definitely fell into that category. In a weird way, it reminded me of Everything Is Illuminated, maybe because it was that level of "indie"ness, or maybe because the main guy spoke Polish and Everything Is Illuminated takes place in Ukraine (so similar NOT). Either way, it was just the exact style of movie that I absolutely love. I'd never seen either of the two main actors before, and they were so so good that I can't wait to see them again. Actually, I just saw a comment on the trailer for the movie that says the main girl looks like "an older version of the Cash Me Ousside girl" and now I can never unsee that because she totally does! But believe me, she's way better than that girl. I just love the way this movie handled the "romance", if you can even call it that. It was very slow paced and under the radar, whereas most movies that involve two people that are potential romantic mates are just heaped full of an exasperating amount of sexual tension that eventually explodes in one graphic moment that is honestly pretty unrealistic. But in this movie, they just become really good friends who then realize maybe there's the potential for something more, but there's no pressure. I loved it. Also, this movie had the weirdest, twangiest soundtrack ever, and I absolutely loved it! It was so unique. I also loved the visuals. It was colorful, but in a somewhat subdued way? And it was filmed on location in New York city which is really cool! Honestly, this movie is the type of film I could watch all over as soon as the final credits start rolling.
The Man In The Moon
8.5/10
Hulu
A coming of age story set in the South of USA when Elvis was King.**
SPOILERSSS!!!
This movie is HEARTBREAKING!!! (And really good). That seems to be how I feel about almost all coming of age movies. Because most of the time, the thing that causes the main character to "come of age" is really stinking tragic!! This movie is no exception. First of all, her first love gets stolen by her older sister, who is pretty enough she could have had ANY guy she wanted but NO she just had to have Court. And when I say stolen, I mean hook line and sinker. And Court was absolutely adorable, but he certainly wasn't much better because the minute he saw Dani's older sister Maureen, it was like a 180 turn and he no longer cared about hanging out with Dani anymore which is just terrible because they were such good friends and so cute together. I wanted to punch him through the screen. And THENNNNN Court freaking DIESSSSS. Are you kidding me????????? Devastating. Absolutely devastating. I cried. That being said, it was a really really great movie, the kind that should totally be required to watch in school or something, because there's so much to discuss, and so many great relationships were developed between sisters, mother and daughter, father and daughter. Really quality content, in my opinion.
The funny thing about coming of age movies is that they're supposed to feel so true to life and nostalgic and relatable. And I agree that The Man in the Moon feels true to life and nostalgic, but personally, I couldn't actually relate to it at all. Because when I was fourteen, I was most certainly not jumping in lakes with seventeen year old boys and getting kissed by them and having my "first love". I had crushes, sure, but nothing ever actually came of them. Heck, I'm nineteen now, and I'm still not jumping in lakes with boys three years older than me and getting kissed by them, and I honestly don't foresee any such thing happening any time soon. When I watched coming of age movies when I was little, I always thought: "that's what life is going to be like; that's going to be me" and now I'm like "pssshhhh what kind of kid is having their first love at fourteen???" But I guess it's a real thing that does happen for some people somewhere, --just not me. And that's quite all right. It still makes for a very entertaining movie. For a really, really great and beautiful review of The Man in the Moon, that basically says everything I could ever want to say about this lovely movie, check here. Here's a quote I love from that review: “'The Man in the Moon' is a wonderful movie, but it is more than that, it is a victory of tone and mood. It is like a poem."
Lastly (can you tell I've been thinking a lot about this movie??) someone made a FanVideo of some clips from the movie set to parts of the song "Youth" by Daughter, and the lyrics of that song just fit the movie so perfectly it's surreal. It's not the most wonderfully edited video, but it gets the point across. Just see for yourself:
Hello, My Name Is Doris
9/10
Amazon
A self-help seminar inspires a sixty-something woman to romantically pursue her younger co-worker.
Do you ever see a movie trailer, fall in love with it, pine after that movie for ages, and then finally finally finally get to watch it, and it's everything you'd hoped and wished for?? That's how I felt about this movie. In a weird way, it kind of reminded me of The Man in the Moon! They're both kind of bittersweet coming of age stories-- it's just that Dani in The Man in the Moon comes of age at 14, while Doris in Hello, My Name Is Doris doesn't come of age until about her mid sixties.
This movie is so colorful and bright and vintage and thrifty and has so many little quirky witty parts and a great soundtrack and I just loved it so much!! Doris is literally what I'm going to be like when I'm an old lady. She wears crazy mismatched clothes, takes home free stuff she finds along the road, fantasizes about her cute new coworker, is kind of a hoarder, loves her cat, and has a hilarious best friend. And her best friend is played by Tyne Daly, and I have LOVED Tyne Daly ever since I saw her in Christy. In fact, the entire movie is spectacularly cast, with Sally Field and Max Greenfield (who you probably know better as Schmidt from New Girl) (and some other actors that I know from the absurd number of movies that I watch but you probably have never heard of). Honestly, every actor gave such an honest performance that I was so impressed. Of course their performances couldn't have been what they were without an amazing script, and the script was so funny and genuine it was just downright lovable. Something else I loved about this movie was how it totally makes fun of millennials, which is something I think is so hilarious. Parts of this movie are truly sad, but I think that just makes it all the better because the sad parts are the most realistic and relatable parts. And in the end, Doris realizes the true value of friendship and is able to get over much of the sadness, which brings the movie full circle in a really memorable and meaningful way.
Overall, it was such a unique movie that I think anyone could enjoy, so I highly recommend it!
Sophie and the Rising Sun
8/10
Netflix
Autumn of 1941 in Salty Creek, a fishing village in South Carolina, two interracial lovers are swept up in the tides of history.
Stylistically, this movie reminded me a lot of The Help. The aesthetics and cinematography were very beautiful, which made watching this a feast for the eyes. I really liked the concept of the story as well, and the characters were really well cast. I love Margo Martindale, and the guy who played Mr. Ohta was pretty cute if I may say. I also love any movie that explores a part of history that hasn't been explored a million times already in film and media. I feel like the discrimination of Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor is a topic that gets brushed over when discussing the World War 2 era. We love to act like Jewish concentration camps "over there" were terrible but Japanese internment camps right here in America were justifiable. For that reason, it's rare that you come across a movie that actually talks about WW2 Japanese skepticism. In fact, the only other movie I think I've personally seen which deals with it a little bit is The Magic of Ordinary Days (shout out to one of my favorite films). Exploring an underrepresented topic like that was something that made this film refreshing. I also love the two main female characters in this because they do what they want when they want to in an era where lots of women weren't doing that. Overall, a really enjoyable movie.
The Matchbreaker
5/10
Netflix
When an idealistic romantic gets fired from his day job, he is offered a "one-time gig" to break up a girl's relationship for her disapproving parents. This "one-time" gig spreads through word-of-mouth and he ends up becoming a professional match-breaker. However, he ends up falling for one of his clients and must figure out how to balance his secret job with his love-life.
Okay admittedly, I was pretty distracted while watching this movie, so maybe I'm not the best judge of it's quality. But at the same time, if it was really good, wouldn't it have kept my attention? I think the biggest flaw in this movie was the acting, and that's understandable because most if not all the actors in this film are YouTubers, singers, and other non-actors. So while the premise of getting together well known personalities to make a movie seems cool, when they can't really act all that well, it definitely takes you out of the story. It's also weird because the whole time I was watching this movie, I just kept thinking about the fact that Christina Grimmie is dead. It's always an interesting experience watching something where one of the actors is deceased, especially if it happened recently. I feel like this movie would have been more enjoyable if I were younger, and were a bigger fan of Christina Grimmie, Olan Rogers, and whoever some of the other people in the movie were. As is, however, I just wasn't a fan.
-VaughnDL
*Okay, can I just make an editor's note that sometimes I really hate IMDb's little summaries?? Like the summary they gave for Tramps makes the movie sound like the lamest, most boring, most unoriginal story, when it was QUITE the opposite! Whatever.
**Um, once again, this summary is so dumb. Elvis was so not the main concern in this movie? And they describe nothing that happens in the movie besides "coming of age"! Sigh. I digress.
Tramps
9/10
Netflix
A young man and woman find love in an unlikely place while carrying out a shady deal*
This movie was SO GOOD! Sometimes I'm skeptical of Netflix original movies because Netflix has very flexible ratings, which sometimes means their movies are unnecessarily profane or graphic just because they're allowed to be. But other times, Netflix has some of the most creative, and incredibly well done original films I've ever seen. Tramps definitely fell into that category. In a weird way, it reminded me of Everything Is Illuminated, maybe because it was that level of "indie"ness, or maybe because the main guy spoke Polish and Everything Is Illuminated takes place in Ukraine (so similar NOT). Either way, it was just the exact style of movie that I absolutely love. I'd never seen either of the two main actors before, and they were so so good that I can't wait to see them again. Actually, I just saw a comment on the trailer for the movie that says the main girl looks like "an older version of the Cash Me Ousside girl" and now I can never unsee that because she totally does! But believe me, she's way better than that girl. I just love the way this movie handled the "romance", if you can even call it that. It was very slow paced and under the radar, whereas most movies that involve two people that are potential romantic mates are just heaped full of an exasperating amount of sexual tension that eventually explodes in one graphic moment that is honestly pretty unrealistic. But in this movie, they just become really good friends who then realize maybe there's the potential for something more, but there's no pressure. I loved it. Also, this movie had the weirdest, twangiest soundtrack ever, and I absolutely loved it! It was so unique. I also loved the visuals. It was colorful, but in a somewhat subdued way? And it was filmed on location in New York city which is really cool! Honestly, this movie is the type of film I could watch all over as soon as the final credits start rolling.
The Man In The Moon
8.5/10
Hulu
A coming of age story set in the South of USA when Elvis was King.**
SPOILERSSS!!!
This movie is HEARTBREAKING!!! (And really good). That seems to be how I feel about almost all coming of age movies. Because most of the time, the thing that causes the main character to "come of age" is really stinking tragic!! This movie is no exception. First of all, her first love gets stolen by her older sister, who is pretty enough she could have had ANY guy she wanted but NO she just had to have Court. And when I say stolen, I mean hook line and sinker. And Court was absolutely adorable, but he certainly wasn't much better because the minute he saw Dani's older sister Maureen, it was like a 180 turn and he no longer cared about hanging out with Dani anymore which is just terrible because they were such good friends and so cute together. I wanted to punch him through the screen. And THENNNNN Court freaking DIESSSSS. Are you kidding me????????? Devastating. Absolutely devastating. I cried. That being said, it was a really really great movie, the kind that should totally be required to watch in school or something, because there's so much to discuss, and so many great relationships were developed between sisters, mother and daughter, father and daughter. Really quality content, in my opinion.
The funny thing about coming of age movies is that they're supposed to feel so true to life and nostalgic and relatable. And I agree that The Man in the Moon feels true to life and nostalgic, but personally, I couldn't actually relate to it at all. Because when I was fourteen, I was most certainly not jumping in lakes with seventeen year old boys and getting kissed by them and having my "first love". I had crushes, sure, but nothing ever actually came of them. Heck, I'm nineteen now, and I'm still not jumping in lakes with boys three years older than me and getting kissed by them, and I honestly don't foresee any such thing happening any time soon. When I watched coming of age movies when I was little, I always thought: "that's what life is going to be like; that's going to be me" and now I'm like "pssshhhh what kind of kid is having their first love at fourteen???" But I guess it's a real thing that does happen for some people somewhere, --just not me. And that's quite all right. It still makes for a very entertaining movie. For a really, really great and beautiful review of The Man in the Moon, that basically says everything I could ever want to say about this lovely movie, check here. Here's a quote I love from that review: “'The Man in the Moon' is a wonderful movie, but it is more than that, it is a victory of tone and mood. It is like a poem."
Lastly (can you tell I've been thinking a lot about this movie??) someone made a FanVideo of some clips from the movie set to parts of the song "Youth" by Daughter, and the lyrics of that song just fit the movie so perfectly it's surreal. It's not the most wonderfully edited video, but it gets the point across. Just see for yourself:
Hello, My Name Is Doris
9/10
Amazon
A self-help seminar inspires a sixty-something woman to romantically pursue her younger co-worker.
Do you ever see a movie trailer, fall in love with it, pine after that movie for ages, and then finally finally finally get to watch it, and it's everything you'd hoped and wished for?? That's how I felt about this movie. In a weird way, it kind of reminded me of The Man in the Moon! They're both kind of bittersweet coming of age stories-- it's just that Dani in The Man in the Moon comes of age at 14, while Doris in Hello, My Name Is Doris doesn't come of age until about her mid sixties.
This movie is so colorful and bright and vintage and thrifty and has so many little quirky witty parts and a great soundtrack and I just loved it so much!! Doris is literally what I'm going to be like when I'm an old lady. She wears crazy mismatched clothes, takes home free stuff she finds along the road, fantasizes about her cute new coworker, is kind of a hoarder, loves her cat, and has a hilarious best friend. And her best friend is played by Tyne Daly, and I have LOVED Tyne Daly ever since I saw her in Christy. In fact, the entire movie is spectacularly cast, with Sally Field and Max Greenfield (who you probably know better as Schmidt from New Girl) (and some other actors that I know from the absurd number of movies that I watch but you probably have never heard of). Honestly, every actor gave such an honest performance that I was so impressed. Of course their performances couldn't have been what they were without an amazing script, and the script was so funny and genuine it was just downright lovable. Something else I loved about this movie was how it totally makes fun of millennials, which is something I think is so hilarious. Parts of this movie are truly sad, but I think that just makes it all the better because the sad parts are the most realistic and relatable parts. And in the end, Doris realizes the true value of friendship and is able to get over much of the sadness, which brings the movie full circle in a really memorable and meaningful way.
Overall, it was such a unique movie that I think anyone could enjoy, so I highly recommend it!
Sophie and the Rising Sun
8/10
Netflix
Autumn of 1941 in Salty Creek, a fishing village in South Carolina, two interracial lovers are swept up in the tides of history.
Stylistically, this movie reminded me a lot of The Help. The aesthetics and cinematography were very beautiful, which made watching this a feast for the eyes. I really liked the concept of the story as well, and the characters were really well cast. I love Margo Martindale, and the guy who played Mr. Ohta was pretty cute if I may say. I also love any movie that explores a part of history that hasn't been explored a million times already in film and media. I feel like the discrimination of Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor is a topic that gets brushed over when discussing the World War 2 era. We love to act like Jewish concentration camps "over there" were terrible but Japanese internment camps right here in America were justifiable. For that reason, it's rare that you come across a movie that actually talks about WW2 Japanese skepticism. In fact, the only other movie I think I've personally seen which deals with it a little bit is The Magic of Ordinary Days (shout out to one of my favorite films). Exploring an underrepresented topic like that was something that made this film refreshing. I also love the two main female characters in this because they do what they want when they want to in an era where lots of women weren't doing that. Overall, a really enjoyable movie.
The Matchbreaker
5/10
Netflix
When an idealistic romantic gets fired from his day job, he is offered a "one-time gig" to break up a girl's relationship for her disapproving parents. This "one-time" gig spreads through word-of-mouth and he ends up becoming a professional match-breaker. However, he ends up falling for one of his clients and must figure out how to balance his secret job with his love-life.
Okay admittedly, I was pretty distracted while watching this movie, so maybe I'm not the best judge of it's quality. But at the same time, if it was really good, wouldn't it have kept my attention? I think the biggest flaw in this movie was the acting, and that's understandable because most if not all the actors in this film are YouTubers, singers, and other non-actors. So while the premise of getting together well known personalities to make a movie seems cool, when they can't really act all that well, it definitely takes you out of the story. It's also weird because the whole time I was watching this movie, I just kept thinking about the fact that Christina Grimmie is dead. It's always an interesting experience watching something where one of the actors is deceased, especially if it happened recently. I feel like this movie would have been more enjoyable if I were younger, and were a bigger fan of Christina Grimmie, Olan Rogers, and whoever some of the other people in the movie were. As is, however, I just wasn't a fan.
-VaughnDL
*Okay, can I just make an editor's note that sometimes I really hate IMDb's little summaries?? Like the summary they gave for Tramps makes the movie sound like the lamest, most boring, most unoriginal story, when it was QUITE the opposite! Whatever.
**Um, once again, this summary is so dumb. Elvis was so not the main concern in this movie? And they describe nothing that happens in the movie besides "coming of age"! Sigh. I digress.
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