The Aviator

A beautiful portrayal of obsessive compulsive disorder. OCD characters show up extremely rarely on film, usually in one episode of a TV series. A show that went into the subject a little deeper and didn’t judge it or downplay it was Grey’s Anatomy. In season 10 one of supporting characters, Miranda Bailey developed OCD behavior for a couple of episodes, before being treated and put on medication. Back in season 2 there was a patient who had a very severe case of OCD and had to be assured everything was ‘clean, clean clean’. Most of the time if there even is an OCD character, it’s only mentioned superficially. Fortunately, in The Aviator it is perfectly shown. So realistically in fact, DiCaprio had to go to therapy himself as his own OCD amplified. Shame he didn’t get an Academy Award for his fantastic performance, I’m sure he would have won if people knew about his own struggles and how he risked his sanity to some extent. Plus his Howard Hughes performance is so much more important than his The Revenant role. Another aspect of the film that caught my attention was the focus on Hugh’s famous flying accident, that many people don’t know of or don’t remember. Every film layman has seen at least 5 Scorsese’s films, sometimes by accident, and this one comes up in those 5 most popular ones. I love how Scorsese adjusted scenography and colors with each year in colored film. Notice how blue the film seems at the beginning? More often than not Scorsese’s films lack focus on his female characters, they are added as a decoration, very stereotypical, but The Aviator ladies had just enough screen time, at times I thought they actually got a little more than expected. Cate Blanchet gave a wonderful performance as usual, and her Katherine Hepburn accent was quite delightful. One thing, which I suppose didn’t happen and was added by the scriptwriter was the last scene of Howard with Ava Gardner, portrayed by Kate Beckinsale, having a final chat with Howard and effortlessly helping him get better without realizing this saying ‘Nothing’s clean, Howard. But we do our best, right?’, which calmed even me down. The film didn’t focus on Howard Hughes the director/producer, but the aviator, which is understandable since he quit cinema for planes and later was overtaken by his disorder. If you haven’t seen the Outlaw or Hell’s Angels yet, do so.

‘You don’t care about money because you’ve always had it.’

Does that look clean to you?
Nothing’s clean, Howard. But we do our best, right?

‘You listened to my phone calls?’
‘No! Honey I would never do that! I just read the transcripts.’

I don’t want them bribed, Jack. I want it done legally. I want them bought.

‘I feel like a little adventure.’
‘Do your worst, Mr. Hughes.’

9/10

Short Term 12

How have I not heard of this film till yesterday, when I saw it expiring on Netflix ? It was simply wonderful, one of the psychological meets mental issues meets social problems films. The minute I read the description on Netflix, I had a feeling this is were the film was going. Short Term 12 tells a story of a young social worker sexually abused by her father in the past who meets a young teenager who she suspects is going through similar abuse. I absolutely loved that the medusa and shark children story the girl wrote referring to her abuse, may as well have been about the girl’s relationship with a razor. The film includes some of the most accurate quote about self harm I have seen captured on film. I highly recommend this independent masterpiece to everyone.

‘When I was your age, I had to stand in a courtroom with a bunch of strangers and tell them all the ways that he abused me. What he hit me with. How he got drunk. How he forced me to take a shower with him. Got me pregnant. I sent him to prison. I didn’t talk about it. I didn’t think about it. Until I met you.’

‘Last night, that girl sat next to me and she cried and she tried to tell me the only way that she knew how.’

‘It’s impossible to worry about anything else when there’s blood coming out of you.’

‘All fucked up now, damn near 18. All the pictures in my past ain’t never fading. I’m always wishing for something amazing but when your life is shit then it ain’t no trade in so put me in your books so you know what it’s like to live a life not knowing what a normal life’s like put a label on my head so you know what it’s like not knowing what a normal life’s like look into my eyes so you know what it’s like, look into my eyes so you know what it’s like, look into my eyes so you know what it’s like to live a life not knowing what a normal life’s like.’

‘Once upon a time, there lived a young octopus named Nina and she was very happy. But then, on Monday, the Shark showed up. “Do you want to be my friend? Just let me eat one of your arms,” said the Shark. Nina had never had a friend before, so she donated an arm to her wonderful new friend. Every day that week, Nina and the Shark would play together. And every night, Nina would give him another one of her arms to eat. On Sunday, after playing all day, the Shark told Nina that he was very hungry. “I’ve already given you six of my arms, and now you want one more?” She said.“I don’t want one. This time I want them all. Because that’s what friends are for.” When the shark finished his meal that night, he felt very sad and lonely. He missed Nina very much. So, he swam away to find another friend.’

‘I know the rules: no belts, no razors, no scissors, no fucking freedom.’

‘Grace, you are a line staff. It’s not your job to interpret tears. That’s what our trained therapists are here for.’
‘Then your trained therapists don’t know shit.’

‘Take the advice you give your kids every fucking five minutes and learn to talk about what’s going on inside your head.’

‘Please don’t be offended if I’m not very friendly, but I’m going to be living with my dad soon, and I don’t really like wasting time on short-term relationships. So, you know, it’s nothing personal.’

9/10

Far North

A lovely but monotonous film starring Jessica Lange. I am not sure why Patricia Arquette’s character was a bit on the crazy side and slutty too, but the film as a whole was satisfactory. There was this one very relatable scene where Jessica’s character talks about her rushing to move out the minute she could and not thinking about coming back home and now realizing it’s nice to have somewhere to come back to and explaining to her sister that there are worse things than raising your child in the house you grew up in.

4.5/10

Starting Over

A Burt Reynolds film you only saw if you’re a huge Burt Reynolds fan or if you were a divorcee starting over in 1979. Jill Clayburgh looked so much like Diana Keaton in this film. The second hal of the film got more romantic comedy like with Burt throwing balls and making her fall into the little basin. Are we supposed to be happy he tried to get back together with his ex-wife or are we supposed to treat it as a betrayal?’ Hight difference and sexual element?’ The storyline wasn’t special but Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen were both nominated for an Academy Award for their roles.

6/10

Hustle

And I thought Starting Over was weak. Without a doubt the worst film of both Burt Reynolds and Catherine Deneuve. I only liked the surprisingly tragic and somewhat random ending. If you cut out the grieving parents, you’d have a really shitty film.

3.5/10

He Said, She Said

Kevin Beacon’s character was a little too shady with not being able to decide whether he does love Elizabeth Perkins’ character enough or not, once saying she loves her and another time that she can’t marry her. I am always shocked that Elizabeth’s career did not start off after this. I am glad she finally got recognition for Weeds, but her 80s/90s films and her character on Weeds are two completely separate things. The film was a bit cheesy at times, but what romantic comedy isn’t.

6/10

Fruitvale Station

A moving biopic about the 2008 New Years Eve tragedy. This films is produced by Forest Whitaker and it stars Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer. Not only was Oscar targeted as a black man, he also had to come across a dumb cop who mistook a gun for a taser. 22 is way too early to go. Thanks to Netflix for showing me this. There’s not much I need to say about this, go watch this especially now with what’s happening yet again.

‘Nooo! Don’t go. I’m scared.’
‘Scared of what?’
‘I hear guns outside.’
‘You know what, baby? Those are just firecrackers. You’ll be safe inside, with your cousin.’
‘But what about you Daddy?’
‘Me? Baby, I’ll be fine.’

‘You shot me. I got a daughter…’

‘I told him to take the train. I didn’t know they were gonna hurt my baby. I should’ve let him drive, but I wanted to keep him safe. You gotta let me hug him. Please, let me hug him. He didn’t like to be alone.’

‘Where’s daddy?’

7/10

Secrets of Eden

John Stamos as a priest, what in the world is this? No one actually suspected the priest, as it was just too obvious, so I was quite invested to see how it all came together. I don’t think I’ve seen any of these actors before other than Uncle Jesse and the Breaking Bad wife. Every once a while there’s a Lifetime film worth watching, and this isn’t it.

4/10

Cyberbully

I liked the other Cyberbully so much more. The 2010 one starring Emily Osment was filmed from the perspective of a victim of bullying and this one is about a bully being bullied. I expected something more jumpy like Unfriended or at least a better threat than a bunch of naked pictures being posted. I didn’t even know people made sites just to laugh at Youtubers for how unprepared they are, I thought It was just mean people commenting stuff on their channels, like since the dawn of the Internet. Honestly I only liked the last scene – not really a spoiler – when she yelled ‘Dad’ and you could hear him running to her. -Spoiler – I hated that we never found out who the person who did this were. Please check out the 2010 Cyberbully, it was wonderful, and skip this mediocrity.

3/10