Some of the films I’ve seen last year and never got around to review.
Little Miss Sunshine
An incredible drama that will make you laugh and want to buy a yellow mini bus, just so you can push it and jump into it all the time. Isn’t it always that we keep on hearing about our biggest enemy’s success over and over just when we’re most fragile? Who would have guessed the dance Olive and grandpa were preparing was actually astriptease? Every seen will make you feel like you’re a part of something really special, like you’re a better person just by experiencing their journey. Reading taglines is one of my favorite things, and taglines for this film were quite unusual: ‘Welcome to hell.’, a line from the film that can be read Welcome to the family, ‘Where’s Olive?’, as they lose her at the gas station, ‘A family on the verge of a breakdown’, self explainatory, ‘Everyone just pretend to be normal’, a line from the film almost all families can relate to. I think I haven’t seen it, because it was advertised as a comedy, and I wish I have given it a try years ago.
I hate everyone.
What about your family?
Everyone.
- Why did you try and kill yourself?
I tried to kill myself because I was very unhappy.
Why were you unhappy?
There were a lot of reasons, mainly though I fell in love with someone who didn’t love me back.
So that’s when you tried to…
Well, no, you see that was okay, except he went and fell in love with a colleague of mine: Larry Sugarman.
Who’s Larry Sugarman?
He’s the second highest regarded expert on Marcel Proust in the US.
Oh. Who’s number one?
That would be me, Richard. - Please don’t kill yourself tonight.
Not on your watch; I wouldn’t do that to you. - Grandpa?
Yeah?
I don’t wanna be a loser.
You’re not a loser. Where’d you get the idea you’re a loser?
Because… Daddy hates losers.
Whoa whoa whoa, back up a minute. D’you know what a loser is? A real loser is someone who’s so afraid of not winning, they don’t even try. Now you’re trying, right?
Yeah?
Well then you’re not a loser! - Mom? Dad?
What is it, hon?
Grandpa won’t wake up. - It’s an A. See? Right there?
It’s bright green. Dwayne, I think you might be colorblind. You can’t fly jets if you’re colorblind.
FUCK!
What happened?
He’s colorblind. He can’t fly.
Aww, that’s so sweet, and where’s your d now?
In the trunk of our car.
Okay. Everybody just pretend to be normal, okay?
I wish I could just sleep until I was eighteen and skip all of this, high school, everything
Do you know who Marcel Proust is? French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he’s also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he, uh, he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, those were the best years of his life, ’cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn’t learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you’re 18– ah, think of the suffering you’re gonna miss. I mean high school? High school– those are your prime suffering years. You don’t get better suffering than that. “
You know what? Fuck beauty contests. Life is one fucking beauty contest after another. School, then college, then work… Fuck that. And fuck the Air Force Academy. If I want to fly, I’ll find a way to fly. You do what you love, and fuck the rest.
Okay, you’re out. On the condition that you never enter your daughter in a beauty pageant in the state of California, ever again… ever.
I think we can live with that.
10/10
This is Where I Leave You
Funny, until the very forced and unnecessary ‘mom is a lesbian’ storyline.
6.5/10
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Not as good as Now and Then, and a little better that The First Wives Club. Womenly and good, not even close to Steel Magnolias. The older generation made this film, Maggie Smith’s character is my favorite.
7/10
The Myth of the Fingerprints
The best Bart Freundlich’s picture so far. I honestly don’t like his other productions, other than the child film starring Kristen Stewart and Max Thierot, Catch that Kid, and I’ve seen all motion films he’s done, and The Myth is a highlight of his career. I will never understand why everyone needs to screw while all their family mememers are at home, or why does Julianne Moore’s character has screw the guy on the train, but other than that it’s an intriguing drama.
6.5/10
Titus
An extraordinary adaptation of one of the most maddening Shakespeare’s plays. Alan Cumming simply is Titus. I adore how you can feel how that it’s a play, as the producers don’t try to hide it, and you witness that empowering stage feeling. An absolute opposite of what Jessica Lange has done till that point. Even though Sybil was a strong character too, and some of her lastest roles are also similarly empowering, see American Horror Story.
7/10
The Assault
Simply good. I watch every single rape/sexual assault film, and this is 2014’s take on the case we’ve all heard off. It is a little far-fetched and lifetime-y, but as a whole, it’s a must see.
6/10
My Sister’s Keeper
A little better that I expected, and sad, but not good enough.
5.5/10
Evan Almighty
Funny film for kids of all age. I did not expect that catastrophic scene, and was disapointed when no one got hurt. It’s a kids movie, what’d you expect?
6/10
Violet & Daisy
Refreshing, covers the reaction of men to women in power very well. The scene where the younger assassin is being explained that the older one was gang raped just so she knows where her place is and Alexis Bledel’s character cries behind the dumpster is the most imporstants
4.5/10
Annabelle
I love doll/puppet horror films. Anything from those Goosebumps episodes that feature the puppet, through Chucky to Annabelle. I saw this film called Robert and I need to see it later this week.
6/10
The Purge 2 : Anarchy
A huge disapointment, the first one was such a masterpiece.
4/10
Deliver Us from Evil
Very mediocre.
2.5/10
Post Grad
So she gave up on her dreams to be with the guy, great, romantic comedies always make so much sense.
2/10
Mr Woodcock
One of the biggest disapointments in a long time. Thornton and Sarandon and such bullshit?
1.5/10