Laggies (2014)

“You can't keep putting aside what you want for some imaginary future. You've gotta suck it up and go with your gut.”

            Ever feel like you have no idea what you want to do with your life or you do know what you want to do but do not really know how to start? Both scenarios are going on with me at the moment. I thought I always had a passion for what I went to school for but I feel that passion is burning out and it does not completely interest me anymore. That totally sucks only because I do not really have any other skill sets in my life and I paid so much damn money for school! Where my true passion lies is with movies and talking about them and film history but there are less jobs for film buffs than there are for museum and art buffs like me. So needless to say I am fucked no matter what.

            I will at least say that I have never run away from something that scared me or made me crazy no matter how much I wanted to. I have had to push myself to get on with life and things in it more times than I care to count. I never used to push myself I used to give up. Looking back at my younger self that is frustrating and I hate myself for doing that. When a character in a movie decides to give up on things or says no to things that could help them I go crazy. That is exactly what the character of Megan does in the movie Laggies.

            Megan (Keira Knightly) is just floating through life. She has been seeing the same guy since high school and he absolutely adore her, she is working for her father’s accounting agency as a sign holder out on the sidewalk, her friends from high school all have their shit together and are super serious about everything, and she seems to have zero ambition in life. Megan’s mother plays the bad parents reminding her to go to career searching workshops and career centers. Megan just blows it off mostly because her father lets her stay in the house and work for him.

            At the wedding for one of her friends, Megan’s boyfriend proposes and she says yes. After that she finds her father cheating on her mother with the mother of the bride. Megan cannot handle what she sees and storms out of the party. She comes to a liquor store where a group of kids are hanging out. One of the kids, Annika (Chloe-Grace Moretz), asks Megan to get them some alcohol with the few bucks they have on them. Megan comes out with beers for them and hangs out with them for a while.

            When Megan gets home her now fiancé suggests that they go elope instead of having a big wedding. She sees that as a good idea but delays the elopement by saying she has a week-long career seminar she wants to go to. Megan gets her chance to escape for a week in form of Annika. Annika needs Megan to pretend to be her mother and come down the guidance office to speak to a counselor. Megan gives Annika a ride home. She asks her new friend if she can stay at her place for a week. Annika says that will fine but the only thing is she lives with her dad and Megan will have to hide from him.

            The plan for Megan to hide from Annika’s father Craig backfires he of course finds out almost right away.

            To wrap this up summary up quickly, Megan lies that to Annika and Craig that she needs a place to stay because her lease on her apartment is up and not because she is getting away from her fiancé and parents, she and Craig of course fall in love, Megan’s entire plan goes to shit and her cover is blown, she goes back to her fiancé but just as she is about to get on the plane she tells him that she cannot marry him, and Megan winds up going back to Craig whom she has real feelings for.

            Big gigantic shock that ending.

            Despite being predictable I really liked Laggies. I liked how it was the girl who did not have her shit together instead of the guy.  With stories like this it is always the guy who is aimless in life and not the girl. There are plenty of women out there in the world who are wandering aimless through life it is not just guys. The story of Megan I felt was handled very well and was played excellently by Keira Knightly. Chloe-Grace Moretz seems so much older than she is and I loved that about her. Her chemistry with older actors and actresses is awesome. With Laggies I finally found a character that I can really relate to, well, except for the running away aspect. Sometimes even though I push myself to keep going and keep looking for jobs and other things in, there are times where I feel aimless.  Laggies is a great movie and one I definitely suggest seeing

Hick (2011)

“You could grab the past and drag it with you like a bag of rocks. You can grab that new diet with grape fruits, and a brand new exerciser, and maybe that new washer-dryer set. You can grab and grab and grab, 'til your fists turn green. You can grab everything you ever wanted. Shake it. Try to make it go boom. Yeah, you can never ever grab enough. Pop!”

            I wish I could just pack up and go. Leave my house and my family for an adventure to anywhere. I am twenty-seven and bored at shit living at home in a town that voted one of the most boring places for young people to live and working a shit part time at a library where I get hit on by old creepy guys. If I had the money and a car that worked I would pick up and leave in a heartbeat. My mom told me I should move out to California and live with my uncle but I am not going anywhere without money. I literally have less than two hundred dollar in my bank account right now. If I were to go places I would want money so I can enjoy myself and not stress the fuck out over not having any money to do anything or go anywhere else.

            I wish I had the guts to pack up and go like Luli McMullen (Chloe Grace Moretz) does in the movie Hick. The girl is thirteen and has the balls to leave her home to travel to Las Vegas where she thinks she will find a sugar daddy. I would not go to Vegas I would want to head out to California so I keep in tuned with the movie scene (as a fan and watcher of movies not as an actress. You do not want me to act)… also the weather is ten times nicer than New Jersey’s.

            Luli lives in a small town in Nebraska. Her parents are alcoholics and never really pay any attention to her. After seeing a commercial of show girls in Las Vegas Luli decides to run away. While walking she gets picked up by a guy named Eddie (Eddie Redmayne). He says something she does not like and gets out. Luli then gets picked up by a sweet southern girl named Glenda (Blake Lively).

            Glenda and Luli travel together for some time until they come to this guy’s house. Glenda is apparently working with him in some capacity. When they get to the guy’s house they see Eddie is now working for the guy and neither girl is very happy to him. Eddie convinces Luli to go out with him to leave Gelnda and the guy alone. Eddie is a dick. He basically kidnaps and rapes Luli and ties her up to a bed. The following day Luli wakes up to Glenda in the room. Glenda recalls her story about her and Eddie. Eddie comes back into the room. He has a gun which he says is not loaded but it goes off and there was a still a bullet in it that winds up killing Glenda. Eddie tries to smooth things over with Luli but she grabs the gun and kills Eddie.

            Luli makes it out. She gets help from the hotel owner Beau (Alec Baldwin). He brings her to the bus station. Luli calls her mother but her mother has other shit going on that makes Luli not want to go home. Beau puts her on the bus with a note in her sketchpad telling her where to find him and his sister out in California.

            I was bored watching Hick. It literally took me three days to watch it because I would get bored and fall asleep. It was not god awful but it was not fun to sit through. The story did solidify that I will never travel without money or a car. I never ever want to end up in a situation like Luli’s! I will not say to skip Hick it was not that bad but it was not that great for me to even say it is worth watching once. 

If I Stay (2014)

“Isn't it amazing how life is one thing and then, in an instant it becomes something else. Like here I am, Mia, the girl who thinks about the cello and Adam, and whether I get a stupid letter or not, and just like that...”

Four years ago I studied abroad in London for a month. It was the first time I was ever away from home for so long and the first time I was in a foreign country. I missed my family terribly I kept thinking about them and all the things each one would have liked to have seen and done. One day I was in the Imperial War Museum (one of the absolute best museums I have ever been to. Definitely go if you can) and my friend were walking through the Holocaust section. It was the first time I had ever seen anything related to the tragedy. The one part I will absolutely never forget for the rest of my life was hearing an interview of a survivor. The survivor was a woman and she said at the time when she was taken to a camp she had been separated from her brothers and father. Her mother was with her. She went on to say that if she had to she could possibly imagine life without her father and brothers but she could never imagine living life without her mother. After hearing this I got so choked up. I missed my mom the most and I even missed my dad even though he drives me up a wall. I missed my three younger brothers too mostly because I knew they would have been having a ball in London. That part of the interview hit me right in the gut. I could never imagine my life without my family no matter how we may argue or grate each other’s nerves we still love each other unconditionally. I remember going back to my room that night and emailing my mom about the interview. I nearly cried writing that email.  

Now you might be thinking what does a line from an interview with a Holocaust survivor have to do with the new movie If I Stay. It has everything to do the main character’s struggle of wanting to let go and wanting to live.

Mia Hall (Chloe Grace Moretz) comes from a family who loves her unconditionally. Her parents, Denny and Kat (Mireille Enos), are very into music especially rock music. Mia on the other hand loves classical music and plays the cello extremely well. She loves her parents but she is in no way like them and feels like the odd duck out.

School is canceled one day due to snow. Denny and Kat convince Mia to come out with them to spend some time together. With some bribery and guilt tripping from her parents and her younger brother, Mia agrees to go. Unfortunately tragedy befalls the family when their car is struck head on by a truck on the icy, snowy roads.

Mia is now left in limbo. She can see and hear everything that is happening around her. Her physical body is taken to the hospital where she is operated on for hours. A nurse tells her on the operating table that her whole fight, whether she survives or not, is up to her. Mia now has to choose to live or not. She thinks over her life with her parents and her brother and how her world will be nothing without them. She especially thinks about Adam, her boyfriend and the love of her life. Mia has to think now that there is no one there for her besides her grandparents if being alive just for Adam and to go to Juilliard to play her cello will be enough.

I must confess I only went to see If I Stay to see Mireille Enos. A few weeks ago I saw Chloe Grace Moretz on Live with Kelly and Michael and the clip that was shown for If I Stay was one with her and Enos. I loved the scene. I got super excited to Enos because I thought she was incredible in the TV show The Killing. After seeing Enos in If I Stay I think I like her even more. I was not expecting to see her in a role like Kat Hall, this rock chick who was all carefree, after watching her be so serious in The Killing. Two of her scenes were my favorite of the entire movie. Enos was fantastic. Moretz just killed her role she was amazing. The girl can only get bigger and bigger she has such a great talent for acting. I have seen her in several other movies (she will always be the little girl from the Amityville Horror remake to me) and this was my favorite of hers.

If I Stay was completely heartbreaking yet excellent. The entire cast was perfect. The story was good. I was not thrilled that Mia chose to live for a boy but  for her Adam was her true love and someone that was so important she wanted to live for. Right now in my life I only have my family that I would want to live for. That was my point with the interview from the Holocaust survivor from the Imperial War Museum. I could never live without my parents and my brothers. I wanted to and still want to cry just thinking if, God forbid, anything like what happened to Mia ever happened to me and my family. I know I would never be able to get over their loss and I would feel such pain and ache and want for them every day. But I know they would have all wanted me to move on and live my life. I know they would always be with me and watch over me and love from wherever they had gone to.

I absolutely recommend seeing If I Stay. It is such a good gut wrenching emotional story with great acting. 

Dark Shadows (2012)

“My name is Barnabas Collins. Two centuries ago, I made Collinwood my home... until a jealous witch cursed me, condemning me to the shadows, for all time.” 

            First let me get myself prepared for all the things that will come flying at me before I begin this post…… Ok I am prepared….

            I am not a huge fan of Johnny Depp….. wait, wait let me finish!!!! *darting all the items being hurled at me*. Geez, people can be so touchy!

            Let me start again… I am not a huge Johnny Depp fan but every once in a while I see a movie of his where I actually like him. I do not mind him as an actor but sometimes he just drives me nuts. I found myself really enjoying him as Barnabas Collins in his new Tim Burton feature Dark Shadows. I actually enjoyed the entire movie.

            Barnabas lived his mortal life in the late 1700s. He left Liverpool, England with his mother and father and moved to Maine where they ran a very successful fishing and boating business. As Barnabas got older he became a playboy messing around with several women. Unfortunately he had messed with the wrong woman. Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green) has worked for the family ever since she was young and has loved Barnabas all her life. He does not love her, he loves a young beautiful woman named Josette. Angelique is a witch and created a spell that made Josette walk to the edge of a cliff and kill herself. Barnabas jumped after her but Angelique turned him into a vampire so he could spend the rest of eternity suffering over his lost love. She then has the whole town of Collinsport turn against him for being a monster and they chain him and bury him.

            Two hundred years later in the 1970s the few remaining descendants of the Collins family still lives in the lavish Collinswood home that Barnabas’s father had built. The family has been hit hard throughout the years owed to Angelique who is still alive and running her own business against the Collins’s. One night a group of construction men stumble upon Barnabas’s coffin. They make the mistake of opening the coffin and they pay with their lives.

            Barnabas returns to his family home. He is greeted by Elizabeth Collins (Michelle Pfeiffer) who is the head of the family. Barnabas lets her know that he is a vampire and also the secret passage where his father’s fortune has been hidden for all the centuries. He helps to rebuild the family business and clean up the mansion. Angelique finds out Barnabas is back and still wants him more than ever.

            Things happen to piss Angelique off and she wreaks havoc on the family and Barnabas.

            The story was actually really good. I found it to be interesting with a lot of back story. the characters were so good and the actors did a fantastic job bringing these crazy people to life. Helena Bonham Carter was the whole reason I even thought of seeing it for and she did not disappoint whatsoever. She was not really in it too much but to me she stole the movie. Johnny Depp was his great. The man does have a gift for delving into his characters and really becoming them. All the praise in the world goes to Eva Green. Really the woman just made the entire movie she was so damn incredible. Green was the perfect villain. There was one scene where she smiled the most sinister smile I have ever seen; you will know exactly what I am talking about when you see the movie. The rest of the cast was alright. Michelle Pfeiffer was good in her role as the matriarch of the family trying to keep things as normal and proper as they could be. Johnny Lee Miller was a slim but it is always good to see him in something. Chloe Grace Mortez was a typical moody teenager made more so by the fact that she listened to moody 1970s music like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

            I liked Dark Shadows so much I cannot wait until it comes out on Blu Ray. I enjoyed the story and the performances so much. I especially liked the theme of family Barnabas says right off the bat that family is everything and he proves it by helping his very distant relations just because they share the same blood. But I must warn you that opinions of this movie vary a lot. While I liked it my two brothers and out parents were not too thrilled with it. Reviews for it were all over the place. I say see Dark Shadows and decide for yourself, it is worth seeing at least once.  

Hugo (2011)

“I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason.” 

            Since Hugo came out I have been reading more about Martin Scorsese. Sure the guy has been around for a long time but now with Hugo out Scorsese has been getting more attention than he usually does. And I am paying more attention to him now since I really like movies. I admire the man for his love of cinema and film history. My brother saw Hugo in the movies when it was released and since then he has been saying how incredible the movie was. He bought it last week and from beginning to end I adored the movie. When the movie was over I was so happy to have seen such love and care go into making a film about a man who was so much a part of film history.

            Hugo Cabret lives in the French train station Montparnasse. He fixes the station’s clocks and makes sure they run on time. He did not always live there. His father died in a fire in the museum he worked at and his mother had died when he was much younger. He was sent to live with his uncle in the train station where the uncle worked as the clock fixer. Before living with his uncle, Hugo’s father used to have a clock shop. One day he found an automaton in the museum and the two spent evenings trying to make the automaton work. Hugo still works on the automaton by stealing parts from a toy shop in the station.

            One day Hugo goes to steal some parts from a windup when he sees the owner has fallen asleep. The man (Ben Kingsley) catches Hugo before he can snatch the toy and run away. The man tells Hugo to empty his pockets and one of the things in his pocket his is father’s notebook with drawings of the automaton. The man has a look of shock on his face and asks where he found the robot. Hugo tells him and the man says that he is to work off stealing by working for him in the shop.

            Hugo sees that the man knows a young girl and thinks she is his daughter. He meets the girl named Isabelle (Chloe Grace Mortez). Isabelle tells him that she is not the man’s daughter but she calls him Papa Georges. Hugo asks her to get his notebook back for him but she cannot Georges has put it somewhere she cannot find it and also that it caused Georges and his wife Jean a great deal of stress.

            Hugo begins to trust Isabelle since she is very nice to him. He sees that she has a key with the end of it in the shape of a heart. The automaton has a keyhole in that shape. He wound the automaton once but it did not work because he did not have the key. He brings Isabelle to his living quarters to see try the key. It works and the automaton begins to write something. It stops but when it starts again and finishes it has drawn a picture of the moon with a rocket in its eye and the signature of Georges Méliès in the corner.

            The picture is the beginning of marvelous things and heartbreaking memories.

            As I said at the beginning I loved Hugo. The story is so interesting the way it unfolds. I really liked how the story used Georges Melies who if you do not know was one of the French pioneers of filmmaking in the early 1900s. He used camera tricks to bring to life wonderful stories. His most famous film is Le Voyage dans la Lune (Voyage to the Moon).  Everyone has seen the part of Le Voyage when the rocket hits the moon in the eye it is one of the most famous film clips ever. Melies’s films were rediscovered in 1931 and his reputation restored to glory.

            The story comes from a book entitled The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Yes, he is related to David O). Selznick wrote such an entertaining and heartfelt story. You can tell he cares for his subject which was perfect for Scorsese to make a movie out of because he has a great passion for film and its history.

            The blue and gold tones in the film are fantastic. If I had to assign a color or colors to Paris it would be blue and gold: blue because it is a city and I think of cities as cold places and gold because it is the City of Light.

            The time period that Méliès was rediscovered could not have been more perfect. Paris in the 1920s and 1930s is so interesting to learn about and the city was never more alive and flowing than in these times.

            Hugo is nothing short of a masterpiece. It is entertaining and beautiful from the moment it starts. I had a wonderful time seeing and hearing old film references as well as art references to the surrealists with their magazine Vu. The cast is large and incredibly well put together everyone is wonderful in their parts. Hugo is in line with films like The Artist and Midnight in Paris that keeps my faith in Hollywood producing high class and truly original films.

            In an interview, Scorsese comments on why it is important to look to classic films to absolute perfection:

“I’m often asked by younger filmmakers, why do I need to look at old movies; I’ve made a number of pictures in the past twenty years. And the response I find that I have to give them is that I still consider myself a student. The more pictures I’ve made in the past twenty years the more I realize I really don’t know. And I’m always looking for something to, something or someone that I could learn from. I tell them, I tell the younger filmmakers and the young students that I do it like painters used to do, or painters do: study the old masters, enrich your palette, expand your canvas. There’s always so much more to learn.”

           

            As a classic film admirer and a lover of the art of filmmaking I am so happy and grateful for directors like Martin Scorsese and Michel Hazanavicious for making quality films and shedding light on film history for younger generations to see and hopefully become interested in.