Excerpt: Unfriended uses its subtle development of suspense to create genuine, well-earned scares, even if there are only a few. As a byproduct, this film serves as an effective anti-bullying PSA and as a means to connect with most of the audience through the use of all of the popular social media outlets. All except Twitter, but that is probably because ghosts aren’t fond of the 140 character limit.
RATING: ★★★★★★(6/10 stars)
To read my full review, go to The Young Folks
Excerpt: We don’t always notice the specific changes we go through, whether they’re physical, emotional, or even metaphysical. Cloud of Sils Maria takes a look at all of the past stages of Maria’s life, like ghosts coming back to haunt her on the eve of her transition. This metatheater film uses beautiful, natural scenery to parallel how natural change is, even if you try to rage against it. With inspired performances for three powerhouse females, this film shows us that no matter at what age, a great performance is timeless.
RATING: ★★★★★★★★★(9/10 stars)
To read my full review, go to The Young Folks
Excerpt: This film is full of missed opportunities, regrets, and bad decisions, and I’m not just talking about the characters in this half-cocked story. The story suffers from a conflux of narratives, each unstably stacking on top of each other until you get a tiered wreck. The entire cast is squandered as they endeavor to go through the motions and make it through this banal calamity. Even the genres seemed muddled, trying to be a mystery and suspense film, by being too predictable to keep up with any intrigue or uncertainty. The odd part is that this film feels like it’s courting comedy, but never really lands any punchlines. Which is a shame really, because if the film had gone all out assassin spoof, it would have faired better, especially where some of the cast is concerned.
RATING: ★★(2/10 stars)
To read my full review, go to The Young Folks
Excerpt: Desert Dancer has beauty and truth in it, but it lies exclusively in the chemistry between the two leads and the stylized dancing. That said, these instances were too few in a film that could have greatly benefited from being an entire interpretative dance performance. The story of freedom from oppression and freedom of expression in Iran is a somber and ruthless one, but you’d never know the true extent of it by seeing this film.
RATING: ★★★★(4/10 stars)
To read my full review, go to The Young Folks
Excerpt: White God has all the moralistic themes and allegorical elements to make the film evergreen when applied to almost any social, political or socio-economic conflict. The quality of the canine choreography and acting is beyond reproach, even when compared to the skillful performances on the human side. An added side effect of this film is that you will want to go immediately home and give that special pet in your life a big treat. Maybe even invest in a jugular guard or two.
RATING: ★★★★★★★★★(9/10 stars)
To read my full review, go to The Young Folks
Excerpt: To Write Love On Her Arms is a symphonious specimen of the melding of dazzling visuals, masterful musical scoring, and remarkable performances (especially by Kat Dennings). This film was one of the casualties of the Sony leak last year, and even though more than a handful of you may have already seen it (via illegally downloaded), it is well worth buying or at least renting. A portion of the sales go towards the organization.
RATING: ★★★★★★★★(8/10 stars)
To read my full review, go to The Young Folks
Excerpt: The Oscars have come and gone again this year. The only difference is that they went out with bang instead of a whimper like past years. Neil Patrick Harris has really become a pro at hosting awards shows, and this year’s Oscars was easily the most entertaining in recent history. The competition was fierce and possibly the closest it’s been in a while. Here are the winners of the most popular categories, along with who I thought should have won.
To read the rest of the article, go to Pop Junk.
Excerpt: The thing that makes Kingsman: The Secret Service stand out from any alternative film coming out this Valentine’s Day weekend is that you will actually enjoy this one. It does have violence, sex appeal, and a very penetrating (almost unnecessary) final scene like it’s competition, but this film has an engaging (and consensual) story and great character interactions with people obviously enjoying themselves. As the body count rises, our enjoyment rises with it. Did I mention the villain’s name is Valentine?
RATING: ★★★★★★★(7/10 stars)
To read my full review, go to TheYoungFolks
There are few things in this or any other world as satisfying as the completion of something. Like finishing a big project, eating an entire wheel of cheese, or watching the last film in a trilogy that had no right being a trilogy in the first place. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies gives you that euphoric rush of fulfillment, partly due to the bombastic ending, and partly due to finally reaching the end of this severely elongated trilogy.
We return to Middle Earth for possibly the last time. Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) is on his way to destroy Lake-town. He is harpooned by Bard (Luke Evans), but not before he sets the whole town ablaze. Meanwhile, our plucky group of dwarves led by Thorin (Richard Armitage) and Bilbo (Martin Freeman) have take over the mountain, but now they must defend from not one or two armies, but 5. Thranduil (Lee Pace) comes with his army to take the mountain for himself, but then changes sides when the forces of darkness attack, wanting their piece of the prize.
Meanwhile, Gandalf (Ian Mckellen) is being held captive by Sauron and his forces while Sarumon (Christopher Lee), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett, and Elrond (Hugo Weaving) come to save him. Gandalf quickly gets to his feet and rushes to the battle, trying to save the situation and unites the forces of elves and dwarves. The only question is, will they be enough to take out the massives battalions of orcs and goblins?
I’ve been a long fan of Tolkien, Middle Earth and really any underdog tale involving hobbits, but this particular film trilogy took a toll on me. Everything in The Battle of the Five Armies is really the only moment I was excited to see this story created cinematically, and it Peter Jackson did a good job bringing it to life. Good, not great. The CGI explosion of fighting at the end seemed overly bombastic with a lot less emotionally invested, and a little too reminiscent from our first Middle Earth trilogy. Namely Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, except that in the vast armies we still felt a connection to the conflict. This time around, we are bombarded with a full screen, small scale battle, not really caring which side wins or loses because that is not the focus of the film. The pay-off was as satisfying as it could be, but at the same time it did not merit a trilogy.
There is little that made this entire trilogy worth even watching up to this point and it was Martin Freeman and Ian Mckellen. The charismatic and quirky Bilbo, played by Freeman, gave life to the stagnant panoramic shots and the sometimes glacially paced scenes. Coincidentally, one of my favorite scenes in the film didn’t actually occur in this book, but in “The Silmarillion”, and the sequence was also the most originally done (cinematically) in this second trilogy. That scene is when Gandalf went to face Sauron and then was saved by his friends. That intimate (in comparison) battle is what won me over this time around because it didn’t leave me feeling like I was lost in a crowd. With the heavy handed CGI and heavily watered down story, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies manages to finally draw to a close this long, drawn-out trilogy with a feeling of satisfaction.
RATING: ★★★★★★ (6/10 stars)
I’ll admit, when I was in elementary school, I was a class clown. I was always quick to crack a joke, make a pun, and just overall lighten any mood. I was never taken seriously, and as a child, I was fine with that. It wasn’t until I got to high school that I wanted to be taken seriously, but the title stuck. Everything I said was thought to be a joke, and even the serious things were thought to be jokes; unfunny ones at that. Top Five is all about the comedy and tragedy behind trying to become something more than what people think you should be.
Recovering alcoholic and stand-up comedian/film star Andre Allen (Chris Rock) is trying to break out into different genres, unsuccessfully. Being critically panned for his high grossing, low brow costumed bear films, he has aspirations of doing something more serious. Like say, a film about a Haitian uprising. On the eve of his film’s release, his bachelor party and his wedding to reality star Erica Long (Gabrielle Union, he agrees to have a writer from the New York Times shadow him for a day. Writer Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson) is much more than she appears to be, and suspects that Andre Allen is also, as she prepares to find out more about his life, his past and hopefully, his future.
This isn’t Chris Rock’s first attempt at the writer/director/actor trifecta, but this is the first time he was a resounding success. His humor has always been pretty much on point, but in “Top Five” we are given it in controlled doses. This helps bring his point home because at its core, this film is about control. It’s seen not only in his nimble use of humor in a sentimental narrative, but also in the story of overcoming alcoholism. The feelings don’t come off as false or forced, and that is because they come from a place of truth and genuineness. Less than a decade ago, Rock lost his brother to alcoholism, and you can feel his remorse in Top Five as we witness a story that might ring a little truer to Rock’s life than we have any right knowing about.
There also romantic aspects mingled with social commentary about celebrities and public perception vs. real life. Rosario Dawson and Gabrielle Union personify this concept perfectly as they each play Rock’s love interest. They weren’t the only stand out cast members, but if I listed every comedian and celebrity cameo in the film, you would already by on your way theater to see the movie rather than finish reading this. This film was co-produced by Kanye West and Jay-Z, so naturally their tracks makes up the film’s soundtrack, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I laughed, I let out a sympathetic “Awwwww”, and I cried (because I laughed so hard). Top Five is a hybrid, not without its flaws. This clearly self-referential “dra-medy” is just the right mixture of Chris Rock’s best of comedy, and thoughtful, emotional depth to show us that he is much more than just a stand-up comic proficient in situational humor and quippy one-liners. This film will take a well-deserved spot in your “Best Comedies of 2014” lists. Might even be in your Top 5.
RATING: ★★★★★★★★(8/10 stars)
Still To Be Scene 