February Movie Madness!
I almost forgot that there are only 28 days in February! It's been another great month for movies. A wide range of really amazing films, and less than stellar ones as well. Something interesting I've noticed is that I often have the least to say about the best movies. Probably because they speak for themselves. Enjoy.
Always
8.5/10
Pete Sandich and buddy Al Yackey are daredevil aerial forest-fire fighters. Pete finds True Love with Dorinda but won't give up the job. When he takes one risk too many, Dorinda faces deep grief and cannot easily put her life back together.
The whole time I was watching this movie, all I could think about what how much our friend AP would like it. It's from the 1980s and it has the exact type of stupid/random humor that she would love, plus a cute romance, plus a hunky airplane pilot. What I really thought set this movie apart from other 1980s RomComs was that they actually gave the main characters complex personalities. Whoever wrote the script obviously put a lot of thought into all of the characters and it paid off. I was also really impressed because they showed a LOT of stuff about forest fires and airplanes and I honestly have no idea how they managed to film all that! I also greatly appreciated that for much of the movie, the characters are really dirty. Like covered in grease and sweat and random liquids. Because for a movie about airplane firefighters, being messy is a humongous reality! I feel like this is the type of Romantic Comedy that could easily be enjoyed by both guys and girls, making it a great date movie. And I will definitely be showing it to AP the next time we get a chance to hang out because I can just picture her cackling at it right now. (Oh, also, this movie randomly had Audrey Hepburn in it? Which was kind of cool?)
King's Faith
7.5/10
When eighteen-year-old Brendan King attempts to leave his turbulent gang life behind him, his past continues to threaten his new-found faith, family, and future.
Okay, I liked this movie, but I had some problems with it too. So I'm going make kind of a Pro/Con list of what I liked and didn't like:
Things I Liked:
-Diversity: This is a movie about Christians who have ISSUES! Not just perfect saintly Christians who never do anything wrong. There was a legitimate diversity of not only race, but also personalities and walks of faith.
-Soundtrack: I love when a soundtrack makes me pause the movie and look up the song. This happened in this movie a few times, and when I looked the songs up, they were all super duper unheard of, oddly obscure songs. Honestly some of the songs on this soundtrack had less than 500 views on YouTube! That is some next level obscurity, which is kind of cool. In fact, I did some digging, and some of the songs on the soundtrack are BY some of the actors in the movie! I love that the people in charge of the soundtrack were like "Hey does anybody on set happen to have an obscure music career on the side? If so, we'd love to use your work in the film!"
-Not so squeaky clean: I appreciated that Brendan (and some of the other characters) had tattoos (although some of them looked pretty fake) and scars. I hate it when there's a "bad boy" in a movie who's been "out on the streets" but he doesn't actually look anything like a "thug". I also appreciated that they actually showed not-so-great stuff that actually goes on in life. For example, there's a scene where some of the characters have to dig up drugs and drug money, and there's guns and gang activity and whatnot.
-Not a miraculous conversion: This kind of goes back to what I was saying in my first point. The main character (Brendan) has just gotten out of Juvie, and while he has made a sincere decision to turn his life around, he still gets influenced by his old gang because they were honestly like his family before he was taken in by foster parents. So he's in this struggle where he's trying to do the right thing, but he also feels like he still has a responsibility to his old "family". Which is realistic!
-Backstories: The characters didn't just jump into existence for the purpose of telling this story. And in fact, by the end, there are still some things that haven't been 100% tied up.
-Enjoyable to watch: Sometimes "Christian" movies can be trite, cheesy, or boring. I didn't experience that with this movie. Then again, I have a higher tolerance for cheesiness than some people, so this could just be a personal opinion.
Things I Didn't Like:
-Almost too many issues?: Like I guess there are places in the world where gang activity, arsen, abortion, drugs, guns, car chases, hit and runs, etc. are all prevalant in one instance. I'm probably just naive because I haven't been exposed to all of those things at once in my life. But at the same time, it felt a bit scattered.
-Some things left unresolved: I mentioned this above as a positive because I do think a little lack of resolution at the end of a movie can make it more realistic. But it's also kind of annoying. Like I want to know about the rest of the characters lives!
-Been there/done that story line: Bad boy goes to Juvie, starts reading the Bible, turns his life around, wrestles with his past demons, eventually overcomes them. I've seen it before. It's a legitimate story line, of course, and one that lots of people have gone through in their real lives. But it's also been told plenty of times.
-Typical amount of cheese: There were definitely some scenes where I was on the verge of cringing. Especially scenes between Brendan and the main girl character. Like maybe she was just a subpar actress, or maybe the writing wasn't the best, but they were a little painful to watch at times. And all the people in the high school were like...nothing like the kids in my high school. We'll just say that.
-Obviously low budget at times: There's this one part where Brendan's friend from school gets hit by a car and has to go to the hospital, and when they pan to a shot of him in the hospital bed with his face all "bloody", it looks SOOOOO FAKE!!!!!!!!! Like I literally laughed out loud.
Overall, I liked it. I think it might be a great choice of movie to show in a group setting of both younger kids and adults because I do feel like there's enough for any age group to enjoy. It wasn't prefect, but it was a valiant effort, and I would say, worth the watch.
G.B.F.
8.5/10
What happens after Tanner is outed by his classmates and becomes the title "gay best friend" for three high school queen bees?
I wasn't expecting to like this movie as much as I did. I thought for sure it was going to be way way too teeny-bopper for me. But in fact, it was so hilarious! It takes a lot for a movie to make me guffaw out loud, but this movie made that happen more than a few times! Granted, some of the humor was a little on the raunchy side, but all of it was just downright clever. Whoever the screenwriters for this movie are, I would love to just go out to dinner with them sometimes and listen to all their jokes and witticisms. Besides just being an absolute laugh riot to watch, this movie had some really great themes about friendship and taking a deeper look at people to get a new perspective about them. At it's roots, this movie is all about breaking down stereotypes, and I think it did a really impressive job of that. It also did an impressive job at poking fun of some really hypocritical things that go on in the high school realm and kind of exposing them to show just how ridiculous high school drama can really be. This movie is honestly kind of the perfect hybrid between Mean Girls and Geek Charming. (And probably a ton of other teen movies as well). I also loved all the recognizable faces! Within the first few minutes of the show I was playing the "Oh my goodness it's so-an-so from that one show!" game, which is something I always enjoy. This movie is the perfect thing to watch at a slumber party, and even though it's probably meant to be targetted towards kids a bit younger than myself, I think the super clever humor makes it a movie that can be enjoyed for college age folks and even up.
Hacksaw Ridge
10/10
WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people, and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
This movie would have been absolutely perfect to watch in my FYS class last semester. My class was called "Faith and Violence in Film and Literature". Unfortunately, the movie hadn't been released until the very end of the semester. I guess we could have gone on a field trip as a class to go see it, but that didn't happen. Anyway, they were playing it as a Lost film the other weekend, so we (my roomies and I) went to go see it. I've seen a lot of war movies in my life, but I think I'd have to say that Hacksaw Ridge was probably the most gory war movie I've ever seen. That being said, it was really really good.
The Green Mile
10/10
The lives of guards on Death Row are affected by one of their charges: a black man accused of child murder and rape, yet who has a mysterious gift.
I know you're supposed to vehemently abhor your parents' taste in just about everything, but I've gotta say, my parents have really good taste in movies! They love really emotional, really thought provoking movies. It's almost like they can pick the movies that are going to end up being classics. After years of my parents talking about this movie and making references to it that I kind of adopted as references I used too (even though I'd never actually seen the film), I finally watched this movie, and it was just as good as my parents always made it out to be. It's one of those movies that should be played in schools. And it's based off a series of short books by Steven King, so those books should be read in school too. Maybe they are somewhere, who knows.
The Submarine Kid
6/10
Despite a returning Marine's mundane reality, his haunting wartime past shepherds him into a magical and destructive new existence to expose his ultimate truth. (And the award for world's vaguest summary goes to...)
Okay. This movie put forth a very noble effort, and I wanted really badly to like it. But it just wasn't for me. I'm impressed that it was co-written by the guy who played the main character (Finn Wittrock) and I'm pretty sure it was his first attempt at writing a screenplay, so he definitely deserves some kudos even if I didn't exactly jive with the movie itself. And there were some things that I really did like about the movie, like the amazing soundtrack and the aesthetic, which was very colorful and had that 1950s vibe. But all the characters seemed a little flat, and the two characters that the viewer is supposed to have a connection with were the two characters that annoyed me the most. Honestly, I didn't even finish watching quite the whole thing. Not because it was that terrible, just because I felt like there was better stuff out there for me to watch. The main guy plays a very typical home-from-war soldier (Spencer) who is mentally tortured by visions and flashbacks. And while that is a completely valid and realistic experience for many individuals, the portrayal of it in this movie was very stereotypical and lacking depth, and the character himself was not likable. The girl he falls in love with (Alice) is likewise unlikable. She's supposed to be quirky and mysterious and "different", in a Zooey Deschanel way I suppose. But she just seemed rude, and I didn't appreciate that she was basically replacing Spencer's long time, dedicated girlfriend. Granted, Spencer's dedicated girlfriend was pretty annoying and insensitive too, but at least she still wanted to spend the rest of her life with Spencer despite everything he'd gone through and the fact that he was basically a butthole. I liked that Spencer worked at a cool little bookstore, and the bookstore actually reminded me a lot of one of our local bookstores back home (Wonder Book and Video). I also thought it was a good plot device to have the bookstore owner be a mentor figure in Spencer's life who had been through the same things he had. I also liked that the movie didn't try to brush Spencer's issues under the rug or make the argument that the love of his friends and family would be enough to "fix" him. At the same time, I didn't understand the things Spencer was experiencing because they were never fully explained. Anyway, maybe someone out there would really like this movie, and like I mentioned, I really WANTED to like it, but it just didn't really connect with me.
The Edge of Seventeen
8/10
High-school life gets even more unbearable for Nadine when her best friend, Krista, starts dating her older brother.
This was a solid movie that I would definitely watch again and probably multiple times. I will say that it was rated R for good reason because the language wasn't great and some scenes were pretty frisky. I will also say that while I could relate to Nadine immensely in some respects, there were definitely plenty of choices she made that I was like "Whattt? No. That was very out of character." I mean she's supposed to be this shy, awkward, socially unaware, not-pretty girl, but yet she has the confidence to get into the car with the hottest guy in school? Just no. But movies always seem to do that don't they? And in the beginning of the movie Nadine is described as being badly dressed (even though I personally loved her style) and by the end she was wearing typical "cute" teenage girl clothes and suddenly knew how to do her hair and makeup?? No. I'm just trying to imagine a universe in which I suddenly threw my personal fashion style to the wind and suddenly knew how to do a perfect winged eyeliner and perfectly shaped eyebrows and it's just not realistic. Those were the main things I had a problem with. I loved the humor and the relationship between Nadine and her brother was pretty accurate, and I felt really intensely sad during some parts of the movie, as I think I was supposed to. The movie was definitely good at evoking emotions, that's for sure. At parts I was on the verge of tears, at other parts I was laughing like crazy, at other parts I was hunched down in my seat cringing, and at other parts I just wanted to clutch my heart and say "AWWWW!" (Specifically the relationship between Nadine and Erwin). Another awesome thing about this movie was, you guessed it, the soundtrack. It was amazing, it was like my iPod on shuffle. I freaked out every time they played a song I knew/loved. Except I have one beef with the soundtrack: the movie is called The Edge of Seventeen and yet THEY DIDN'T PLAY THE SONG "THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN"???? It would have fit so perfectly at the end!! Or the beginning. Or literally anywhere in the middle of the story! I'm so mad about that!
Dope
7/10
Life changes for Malcolm, a geek who's surviving life in a tough neighborhood, after a chance invitation to an underground party leads him and his friends into a Los Angeles adventure.
This was a really well thought out, very well done film, but I think it's intended audience was someone other than myself. The acting was swell, the aesthetic was swell as well. The writing was great. But I, being the stickler that I am, just didn't really like the subject matter or the choices that a lot of the characters made. I mean it was about dealing dope for goodness sake. I couldn't exactly relate. I loved the theme that expectations dominate our lives-- the main character Malcolm was a huge dork, so nobody ever suspected him of being in on a huge dope empire. At the same time, he was black, so nobody ever suspected he would be able to get into an Ivy League school. It just felt a bit unrealistic that someone as clean cut and dorky as Malcolm would ever a) get involved with drug dealers or b) get the hot girl. But then again, I guess it was a movie all about defying expectations. Anyway, I can't say this was one of my favorite movies. I see the merit it has and there was plenty to appreciate about it. It just wasn't particularly up my ally.
(All movie summaries courtesy of the Internet Movie Database).
-VaughnDL
Always
8.5/10
Pete Sandich and buddy Al Yackey are daredevil aerial forest-fire fighters. Pete finds True Love with Dorinda but won't give up the job. When he takes one risk too many, Dorinda faces deep grief and cannot easily put her life back together.
The whole time I was watching this movie, all I could think about what how much our friend AP would like it. It's from the 1980s and it has the exact type of stupid/random humor that she would love, plus a cute romance, plus a hunky airplane pilot. What I really thought set this movie apart from other 1980s RomComs was that they actually gave the main characters complex personalities. Whoever wrote the script obviously put a lot of thought into all of the characters and it paid off. I was also really impressed because they showed a LOT of stuff about forest fires and airplanes and I honestly have no idea how they managed to film all that! I also greatly appreciated that for much of the movie, the characters are really dirty. Like covered in grease and sweat and random liquids. Because for a movie about airplane firefighters, being messy is a humongous reality! I feel like this is the type of Romantic Comedy that could easily be enjoyed by both guys and girls, making it a great date movie. And I will definitely be showing it to AP the next time we get a chance to hang out because I can just picture her cackling at it right now. (Oh, also, this movie randomly had Audrey Hepburn in it? Which was kind of cool?)
King's Faith
7.5/10
When eighteen-year-old Brendan King attempts to leave his turbulent gang life behind him, his past continues to threaten his new-found faith, family, and future.Okay, I liked this movie, but I had some problems with it too. So I'm going make kind of a Pro/Con list of what I liked and didn't like:
Things I Liked:
-Diversity: This is a movie about Christians who have ISSUES! Not just perfect saintly Christians who never do anything wrong. There was a legitimate diversity of not only race, but also personalities and walks of faith.
-Soundtrack: I love when a soundtrack makes me pause the movie and look up the song. This happened in this movie a few times, and when I looked the songs up, they were all super duper unheard of, oddly obscure songs. Honestly some of the songs on this soundtrack had less than 500 views on YouTube! That is some next level obscurity, which is kind of cool. In fact, I did some digging, and some of the songs on the soundtrack are BY some of the actors in the movie! I love that the people in charge of the soundtrack were like "Hey does anybody on set happen to have an obscure music career on the side? If so, we'd love to use your work in the film!"
-Not so squeaky clean: I appreciated that Brendan (and some of the other characters) had tattoos (although some of them looked pretty fake) and scars. I hate it when there's a "bad boy" in a movie who's been "out on the streets" but he doesn't actually look anything like a "thug". I also appreciated that they actually showed not-so-great stuff that actually goes on in life. For example, there's a scene where some of the characters have to dig up drugs and drug money, and there's guns and gang activity and whatnot.
-Not a miraculous conversion: This kind of goes back to what I was saying in my first point. The main character (Brendan) has just gotten out of Juvie, and while he has made a sincere decision to turn his life around, he still gets influenced by his old gang because they were honestly like his family before he was taken in by foster parents. So he's in this struggle where he's trying to do the right thing, but he also feels like he still has a responsibility to his old "family". Which is realistic!
-Backstories: The characters didn't just jump into existence for the purpose of telling this story. And in fact, by the end, there are still some things that haven't been 100% tied up.
-Enjoyable to watch: Sometimes "Christian" movies can be trite, cheesy, or boring. I didn't experience that with this movie. Then again, I have a higher tolerance for cheesiness than some people, so this could just be a personal opinion.
Things I Didn't Like:
-Almost too many issues?: Like I guess there are places in the world where gang activity, arsen, abortion, drugs, guns, car chases, hit and runs, etc. are all prevalant in one instance. I'm probably just naive because I haven't been exposed to all of those things at once in my life. But at the same time, it felt a bit scattered.
-Some things left unresolved: I mentioned this above as a positive because I do think a little lack of resolution at the end of a movie can make it more realistic. But it's also kind of annoying. Like I want to know about the rest of the characters lives!
-Been there/done that story line: Bad boy goes to Juvie, starts reading the Bible, turns his life around, wrestles with his past demons, eventually overcomes them. I've seen it before. It's a legitimate story line, of course, and one that lots of people have gone through in their real lives. But it's also been told plenty of times.
-Typical amount of cheese: There were definitely some scenes where I was on the verge of cringing. Especially scenes between Brendan and the main girl character. Like maybe she was just a subpar actress, or maybe the writing wasn't the best, but they were a little painful to watch at times. And all the people in the high school were like...nothing like the kids in my high school. We'll just say that.
-Obviously low budget at times: There's this one part where Brendan's friend from school gets hit by a car and has to go to the hospital, and when they pan to a shot of him in the hospital bed with his face all "bloody", it looks SOOOOO FAKE!!!!!!!!! Like I literally laughed out loud.
Overall, I liked it. I think it might be a great choice of movie to show in a group setting of both younger kids and adults because I do feel like there's enough for any age group to enjoy. It wasn't prefect, but it was a valiant effort, and I would say, worth the watch.
G.B.F.
8.5/10
What happens after Tanner is outed by his classmates and becomes the title "gay best friend" for three high school queen bees?I wasn't expecting to like this movie as much as I did. I thought for sure it was going to be way way too teeny-bopper for me. But in fact, it was so hilarious! It takes a lot for a movie to make me guffaw out loud, but this movie made that happen more than a few times! Granted, some of the humor was a little on the raunchy side, but all of it was just downright clever. Whoever the screenwriters for this movie are, I would love to just go out to dinner with them sometimes and listen to all their jokes and witticisms. Besides just being an absolute laugh riot to watch, this movie had some really great themes about friendship and taking a deeper look at people to get a new perspective about them. At it's roots, this movie is all about breaking down stereotypes, and I think it did a really impressive job of that. It also did an impressive job at poking fun of some really hypocritical things that go on in the high school realm and kind of exposing them to show just how ridiculous high school drama can really be. This movie is honestly kind of the perfect hybrid between Mean Girls and Geek Charming. (And probably a ton of other teen movies as well). I also loved all the recognizable faces! Within the first few minutes of the show I was playing the "Oh my goodness it's so-an-so from that one show!" game, which is something I always enjoy. This movie is the perfect thing to watch at a slumber party, and even though it's probably meant to be targetted towards kids a bit younger than myself, I think the super clever humor makes it a movie that can be enjoyed for college age folks and even up.
Hacksaw Ridge
10/10
WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people, and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
The Green Mile
10/10
The lives of guards on Death Row are affected by one of their charges: a black man accused of child murder and rape, yet who has a mysterious gift.
I know you're supposed to vehemently abhor your parents' taste in just about everything, but I've gotta say, my parents have really good taste in movies! They love really emotional, really thought provoking movies. It's almost like they can pick the movies that are going to end up being classics. After years of my parents talking about this movie and making references to it that I kind of adopted as references I used too (even though I'd never actually seen the film), I finally watched this movie, and it was just as good as my parents always made it out to be. It's one of those movies that should be played in schools. And it's based off a series of short books by Steven King, so those books should be read in school too. Maybe they are somewhere, who knows.The Submarine Kid
6/10
Despite a returning Marine's mundane reality, his haunting wartime past shepherds him into a magical and destructive new existence to expose his ultimate truth. (And the award for world's vaguest summary goes to...)
Okay. This movie put forth a very noble effort, and I wanted really badly to like it. But it just wasn't for me. I'm impressed that it was co-written by the guy who played the main character (Finn Wittrock) and I'm pretty sure it was his first attempt at writing a screenplay, so he definitely deserves some kudos even if I didn't exactly jive with the movie itself. And there were some things that I really did like about the movie, like the amazing soundtrack and the aesthetic, which was very colorful and had that 1950s vibe. But all the characters seemed a little flat, and the two characters that the viewer is supposed to have a connection with were the two characters that annoyed me the most. Honestly, I didn't even finish watching quite the whole thing. Not because it was that terrible, just because I felt like there was better stuff out there for me to watch. The main guy plays a very typical home-from-war soldier (Spencer) who is mentally tortured by visions and flashbacks. And while that is a completely valid and realistic experience for many individuals, the portrayal of it in this movie was very stereotypical and lacking depth, and the character himself was not likable. The girl he falls in love with (Alice) is likewise unlikable. She's supposed to be quirky and mysterious and "different", in a Zooey Deschanel way I suppose. But she just seemed rude, and I didn't appreciate that she was basically replacing Spencer's long time, dedicated girlfriend. Granted, Spencer's dedicated girlfriend was pretty annoying and insensitive too, but at least she still wanted to spend the rest of her life with Spencer despite everything he'd gone through and the fact that he was basically a butthole. I liked that Spencer worked at a cool little bookstore, and the bookstore actually reminded me a lot of one of our local bookstores back home (Wonder Book and Video). I also thought it was a good plot device to have the bookstore owner be a mentor figure in Spencer's life who had been through the same things he had. I also liked that the movie didn't try to brush Spencer's issues under the rug or make the argument that the love of his friends and family would be enough to "fix" him. At the same time, I didn't understand the things Spencer was experiencing because they were never fully explained. Anyway, maybe someone out there would really like this movie, and like I mentioned, I really WANTED to like it, but it just didn't really connect with me.The Edge of Seventeen
8/10
High-school life gets even more unbearable for Nadine when her best friend, Krista, starts dating her older brother.This was a solid movie that I would definitely watch again and probably multiple times. I will say that it was rated R for good reason because the language wasn't great and some scenes were pretty frisky. I will also say that while I could relate to Nadine immensely in some respects, there were definitely plenty of choices she made that I was like "Whattt? No. That was very out of character." I mean she's supposed to be this shy, awkward, socially unaware, not-pretty girl, but yet she has the confidence to get into the car with the hottest guy in school? Just no. But movies always seem to do that don't they? And in the beginning of the movie Nadine is described as being badly dressed (even though I personally loved her style) and by the end she was wearing typical "cute" teenage girl clothes and suddenly knew how to do her hair and makeup?? No. I'm just trying to imagine a universe in which I suddenly threw my personal fashion style to the wind and suddenly knew how to do a perfect winged eyeliner and perfectly shaped eyebrows and it's just not realistic. Those were the main things I had a problem with. I loved the humor and the relationship between Nadine and her brother was pretty accurate, and I felt really intensely sad during some parts of the movie, as I think I was supposed to. The movie was definitely good at evoking emotions, that's for sure. At parts I was on the verge of tears, at other parts I was laughing like crazy, at other parts I was hunched down in my seat cringing, and at other parts I just wanted to clutch my heart and say "AWWWW!" (Specifically the relationship between Nadine and Erwin). Another awesome thing about this movie was, you guessed it, the soundtrack. It was amazing, it was like my iPod on shuffle. I freaked out every time they played a song I knew/loved. Except I have one beef with the soundtrack: the movie is called The Edge of Seventeen and yet THEY DIDN'T PLAY THE SONG "THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN"???? It would have fit so perfectly at the end!! Or the beginning. Or literally anywhere in the middle of the story! I'm so mad about that!
Dope
7/10
Life changes for Malcolm, a geek who's surviving life in a tough neighborhood, after a chance invitation to an underground party leads him and his friends into a Los Angeles adventure.
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| I absolutely loved Malcolm's (center) fashion sense!!! |
(All movie summaries courtesy of the Internet Movie Database).
-VaughnDL
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