The Fault in Our Stars

Movie Pilot

Opening with a similar narration to that of Little Manhattan, The Fault in Our Stars' protagonist, Hazel Grace Lancester (the can't-do-wrong Shailene Woodley) informs us that her love story isn't the happiest or most uplifting - it's just the way it is. And as much as it breaks the audience's heart, the film's truthfulness supersedes our need for a happy ending, even though we'd do anything to see Hazel and her beau Augustus (Ansel Elgort) get one.

Diagnosed in her early teen years, 17-year-old Hazel struggles with the side effects of her cancer every day, including an excess of fluid in her lungs. Mrs. Lancester is almost certain her ill, indoorsy daughter is depressed, and so her doctor recommends a teen cancer support group. That's where she meets Augustus, an 18-year-old leg amputee who is happily cancer free. Boasting the looks and confidence every boy wishes he had, Augustus approaches Hazel, looks her in the eye, and tells her she's beautiful. I'm assuming most fangirls who read that sentence are already starting to tear up again.

As the two develop a bond, Augustus's spirit inspires in Hazel the idea that even though oblivion is inevitable, it's still a good life, and love is not only a reality, but a necessity. Augustus proves to be the new king of originality, taking Hazel everywhere from his basement to Amsterdam in their quest to make the most of their time together. But as virtually all cinematic productions promise, all good things must come to an end (including this movie).

The characters are fully worthy of my praise as a reviewer. Hazel and Augustus force viewers to embrace mortality in their own lives, as well as encouraging us to take chances (although making out in Anne Frank's attic may have been a step too far). The two never define themselves until the very end, when Hazel says a line something like "I'm his girlfriend…not that it matters," solidifying the idea that Hazel and Augustus' romance transcends any label or title you could give it. What those two had was simply love.

Shailene Woodley is continuously climbing the Hollywood ladder to A-list status with her emotionally powerful performance as Hazel, while Ansel Elgort lights up the screen in ways I have truly never seen before with his screen time as Augustus. The movie also manages to take a respectfully humorous approach to a rather touchy subject, similar to 50/50's format.

Although awards season doesn't pick up for another few months, I can already tell The Fault in Our Stars will be one of the best movies of 2014. It is by one of the best, if not the best, romance movies of the decade. It's heartbreaking, touching, funny, and above all else, conveys a sense of reality in its approach. Just go watch it. Okay?

Rating: 4.5/5

Blended

Vulture

You've seen Blended dozens of times. Guy chases the girl, guy loses the girl, guy gets the girl back, they kiss, everyone cheers, the end. But even though it's nothing radically new, it's a familiar, feel-good movie that you're happy to watch again. It doesn't pretend to be anything extraordinary, and because of that, it's an uplifting and occasionally special comedy.

Blended starts out on a blind date gone wrong between widower Jim (Adam Sandler) and divorcee Lauren (Drew Barrymore). Coincidentally, both end up hearing about the exact same vacation package to a beautiful African resort. Thinking it would be perfect for his three daughters and her two sons, they take the chance to get away. When they run into each other during the resort's blended family event, the two families soon discover they're in for a wild adventure leading up to the foreseeable happy ending. Proven in their past collaborations for movies The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates, Sandler and Barrymore do some of their best work together, complimenting each other's artistry in every shared scene.

The film's supporting cast of characters helps to make Blended different from others of its kind. The charming performances by youngsters Kyle Red Silverstein (who I'm convinced is Nolan Gould's doppelgänger) and Alyvia Alyn Lind evoke an impressive balance of fun and innocence, while Bella Thorne brings heart and laughter to the androgynous Hillary (aka "Larry"), and the comedic timing of resort employee Nickens (Terry Crews) and his merry band of backup performers is nothing short of perfect.

Despite having an epilogue that stretches out a bit long and some unsuccessfully forced humor, Blended is an otherwise brilliant comedy. It's just as funny (and in some aspects, better) than 2014's Bad Words and Neighbors. Although it's nothing for the history books, it's the best that I've seen Adam Sandler in years, partially because it never gets as unnecessarily dramatic as some of his other works like Big Daddy or Mr. Deeds. Not since 2007's Click have I been so convinced that Adam Sandler still has a few surprises up his sleeve.

Don't listen to the other critics - listen to me. Go see the Adam Sandler movie in Africa. Go back to a time when you weren't able to predict the ending to every romcom on the planet, and put yourself in the mindset that a movie with goofy sex jokes and a lot of laughs could be the feel-good film of the year. If you go into Blended with that mindset, you might just be surprised to find yourself enjoying an Adam Sandler movie in this decade. Isn't it time we had another light-hearted comedy to our list of lovable movies? Well, believe it or not, Blended might just be that movie.

Rating: 4/5

Godzilla; Neighbors; X-Men: Day of Future Past

Hooray for mini-reviews! Because I saw these movies months ago and forget most of the plot details.

Godzilla

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What's Godzilla missing? It's an exciting monster movie with dramatic twists, genuine performances, thrills, and spectacular visuals, all centered around well-thought out characters in an extremely human-grounded story. But it is missing something: Godzilla.

The movie focuses on the Brody family. Joe (Walter Whi…I mean Bryan Cranston) and Sandra are a married American couple working in a Japanese power plant, where one day unusual seismic activity leads to the catastrophic destruction of some of the area. Sandra dies in the accident, and when the plant and surrounding vicinity are put under quarantine, Joe adamantly stays in the area to find out what caused the accident that led to his wife's death.

Fifteen years later, the Brody's son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is in the military. When he's not on a tour, he's at home with his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and their young son. After getting word his father has been arrested for trespassing in the quarantine zone, Ford returns to Japan to see his father, who convinces his son that the accident that caused his wife's death was covered up. While you're reading this, are you wondering why Godzilla hasn't been mentioned yet? Yup - I was too. 

After getting caught in the quarantine zone together, Ford and Joe become acquainted with two scientists who have been monitoring the situation for decades, and reveal that a giant monster called MUTO (that's right, not Godzilla) was responsible for the accident, and has been in a deep slumber since the day of the catastrophe. They also explain that wherever MUTO goes, it seems to draw the attention of a giant, prehistoric predator called…wait for it…Godzilla! When MUTO finally awakens, Godzilla arrives to pit nature against nature in a series of intense, civilian-threatening battles around the globe, complete with astonishing cinematography and a fittingly erie score. While not necessarily brining the same level of destruction as Pacific Rim's Kaiju and Jaegers, Godzilla and MUTO still bring undeniably havoc-wreaking brawls to the screen.

As entertaining and dramatic as Godzilla was, I can't completely forgive the movie for using the big monster's pre-existing name, image, and reputation as tactics to fill seats in the audience. And even though Godzilla was a good movie, it wasn't a Godzilla movie.

Rating: 3.5/5

Neighbors

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As someone who has gone to college, let me tell you: Greek life can get very old very fast. But don't bother telling this to the Radners (Seth Rogen & Rose Byrne), they already know. When a caravan of frat bros move into the house next to theirs, the couple decide to get on good terms with the leaders of the brotherhood (Zac Efron & Dave Franco). One night of heavy partying seems to solidify the neighbors are respected acquaintances, until an all-out rager keeps the newlyweds and their adorable baby Stella up until 4 am. When they call the police, the offended fraternity president (Efron) vows to make the rest of their time in the home as torturous as possible for the family.

Neighbors brings very little that's new or rejuvenating for the comedy genre, but while I was watching it, I didn't want the movie to end. While I did laugh a lot, I'm pretty sure I'd only find most of the jokes funny for one more viewing, two max. What makes Neighbors worth that extra viewing or two is not just its material or fresh atmosphere, but the fact that it displays the expectedly impressive performances by leads Rogen and Efron, while Rose Byrne continues to prove why she is radially becoming a household name. The movie boasts that the simplistic neighbor versus neighbor idea can be drawn out for an hour and a half. And even if it wasn't able to do that, how can anyone not love the Robert De Niro party idea? It's 40 seconds of pure genius.

Rating: 3.5/5

X-Men: Days of Future Past

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I find it hard to believe that the X-Men, a group of superhumans who are collectively capable of pretty much anything, would be scared of being annihilated by a few robots. But seeing as these bots are the major antagonists of the film, I guess I'll just have to look past it. These robots, called Sentinels, adapt to any mutant power to eliminate these abnormalities of nature. 

Surviving members of the X-Men, including Storm, Professor X, Magneto, and Wolverine, realize there demise is inevitable. With the help of team member Kitty Pryde, X-Man Wolverine (aka Logan, played by everyone's favorite Australian, Huge Jackman) is mentally sent back in time to recruit younger versions of the team to stop these Sentinels from ever being built. To do so, they must thwart Mystique's attempts to assassinate the machines' creator, Bolivar Trask.

One of the best decisions of X-Men's filmmakers was the extent to which they used Jennifer Lawrence, and by connection, her character Mystique. They took full advantage of Lawrence's cultural popularity and screen presence, and brought her to a villainous role that audiences had never seen Lawrence undertake. Needless to say, she owned it.

Day of Future Past is successful in merging the bridge between the two different directions the franchise took, connecting the storyline and actors from both X-Men: The Last Stand (which I have not seen) and the prequel X-Men: First Class. It's able to bring a fresh and riveting story and conflict to a franchise that, in my opinion, never seemed to have a sincere idea of where to go (minus X2). In Days of Future Past, the massive ensemble of players are able to balance flawlessly in terms of screen time, while the screenplay weaves in scenes of drama, action, and comedy almost effortlessly. I see it as the best superhero movie since The Avengers, and a reason why we should all be excited for X-Men: Apocalypse. 

Rating: 4.5/5

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Screenrant

Wes Anderson, I have no doubt that you are a cinematic genius in your own eyes. However, you need to find a way to let that genius show to a wider audience. Watching your film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, I caught glimpses of the way your mind works, and I was impressed. But as much as I wanted to fully embrace your film, I only found it to be marginally entertaining.

To my readers: I couldn't really tell you much of what The Grand Budapest Hotel is about. It seems Anderson focused most of his efforts on elaboration of scenery and cinematography, as well as sly gags, rather than characters and plots. All I could gather was that a man named Zero looks back on his experiences as a hotel lobby boy at a magnificent European hotel. He would work every day to do well in the eyes of the hotel's eccentric concierge, Gustav (Ralph Fiennes).

When one of Gustav's regular guests (who moonlights as his cougar) dies, he discovers he has inherited the woman's most valuable possession - a painting worth millions. The woman's enraged family denies him ownership, prompting him to steal the work of art. This soon leads to an escapade throughout ski slopes, prisons, trains, and of course, The Grand Budapest Hotel.

In terms of the film's style, I'm not one to shy away from a quirky movie, but The Grand Budapest Hotel took things to a new extreme, where artwork and quick dialogue delivery become the focus of the entire movie. For example, I can hardly remember anything about Willem Defoe's silent assassin/bodyguard character except for the fact that I liked him and wanted more of him, but didn't get any. I don't even remember his character's name. Or Adrien Brody' characters. Or the character of the underused Saorsie Ronan. Or Harvey Keitel's character.

I found myself laughing for a split second at many points in the movie, but laughs were less and less frequent when I stated realizing I wasn't sure who or what I was laughing at. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to Anderson's style of work. Although I've seen Moonrise Kingdom, I've yet to watch any of his more notable works like The Royal Tenenbaums or Rushmore. Until I understand where Anderson's coming from with is approach to movies, I guess I'll just destined to never fully enjoy his creations. But The Grand Budapest Hotel is worth a watch, if only for the originality it tries so desperately to achieve and its stunning visuals.

Rating: 3/5

Bad Words

Patheos

 

Take Slumdog Millionaire. Replace "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" with a spelling bee, Jamal with a 40-year-old named Guy, and Latika with, well, someone else. What's the result? Bad Words.

Guy (Jason Bateman) isn't really a people person. He lives alone, was abandoned by his father as a child and works as a warranty proofreader. Tick him off and he'll insult your race, gender, age, children, sexual orientation, appearance, or whatever he's feeling at the moment.

Guy has a photographic memory, and even though his 8th grade guidance counselor saw him as a genius, Guy never made it to high school. That makes him eligible to compete in a national spelling bee, despite the fact that he's 40. The bee's equivalent of pageant moms don't take too kindly to Guy's participation, so they throw chairs at his car and threaten the tournament's directors (Allison Janney & Philip Baker Hall) if Guy isn't removed from the competition. Much to everyone's anger (and the audience's delight), the loophole prohibits Guy's disqualification based on age alone.

10-year-old speller Chaitanya works diligently to befriend Guy. Guy's racial slurs bounce right off the lovable boy played by Rohan Chand - a young actor who makes performing look easy in what might be the film's best part aside from Bateman himself. After much effort on Chaitanya's part, Guy takes the boy under his wing, bringing him along on his wildly inappropriate nightly adventures.

Bad Words is 2014's first great comedy, and while it may be insulting, degrading, and jaw-dropping to witness Bateman effortlessly spew out insults, it's what makes Bad Words the movie that it is. Maybe it's just the film had just the right amount of raunchiness, but Bad Words is just too good to overlook, and it's a nice addition to Jason Bateman's respectable body of work.

Rating: 4/5