Reviews

Carnival: Book Review

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This summer is running through with great novels coming out. Several binge-reading, addicting books are coming out…and a lot of them are self-published ones. The novel I’m reviewing in this post is Carnival, a new adult romance novel chronicling the life ahead for the protagonist, 18-year-old Charlie.

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Carnival by K.B. Nelson

Things are a bit bumpy for Charlie at the beginning of the book. She lives in a small town that doesn’t have much. College plans loom on the horizon. Despite the exciting prospect of going somewhere new, Charlie decides not to go to college. She isn’t exactly sure what she wants to do. She’s up for anything. This carefree attitude leads to her sleeping with a carnie stranger named Blue, at the town carnival.

Blue has been living his whole life on the carnival circuit. He likes the nature of it, traveling around and not staying in one place to long. Things hit a halt when he meets Charlie. For the first time in his life, he isn’t really sure exactly what he wants to do.

Charlie and Blue come together, two people living reckless lives, wondering what choices need to be made. They start to form a bond that most wouldn’t understand. They become an outlet for one another to trust.

Now here’s the thing that might trouble some people about this novel. It isn’t some sugar-coated cliche romance story that ends with a “happily ever after” line. It’s an honest look into two types of people that are still trying to figure themselves out. They experiment with things along the way. Swearing happens throughout the novel. Bad things are done.

The novel is commendable in it’s surprising twists and turns. This isn’t some light soap opera-ish reading. It gives depth to the otherwise ordinary lives that people seem like they’re living on the surface. Nelson is good in crafting the conflict that Charlie faces, wondering what to do with her life. The characterization is very distinct.

4/5 stars: Great, gritty read. Good start to a promising series by author K.B. Nelson. Carnival releases to book retailers July 7th.

To get a taste of carnival, read the first and second teasers that the author had released so far.

 

 

Film Review: Wish I Was Here

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wish I was here poster (2)   Aidan Bloom is a 35 year old struggling actor trying to find his purpose in life. His dad gets cancer and cannot pay for Aidan’s kids yeshiva school tuition anymore. This leads to Aidan attempting to homeschool his children. Throughout the film, Aidan reflects on the unpredictable and hard circumstances that come with raising a family. He wants to provide for his family yet follow his dream of being an actor. He wants him and his wife, who supports the family, to be happy. Throughout the film he tries to find meaning in life’s nature.   Aidan Bloom is a 35 year old struggling actor trying to find his purpose in life. His dad gets cancer and cannot pay for Aidan’s kids yeshiva school tuition anymore. This leads to Aidan attempting to homeschool his children. Throughout the film, Aidan reflects on the unpredictable and hard circumstances that come with raising a family. He wants to provide for his family yet follow his dream of being an actor. He wants him and his wife, who supports the family, to be happy. Throughout the film he tries to find meaning in life’s nature. IMG_1595 Although Braff has good intentions with Wish I Was Here, the film falls flat. The film has nice cinematography, pacing and acting yet it seems like something is missing. With Garden State, Braff explored a lost twenty-something. In Wish I Was Here, he explores a lost thirty-something. The film doesn’t seem to deliver any insightful nature because it’s caught up in Braff’s mind fantasies. It seems as though he wrote down all the challenges of raising a family, trying to be happy, making sense of life’s hardships, and so forth…but the film doesn’t ever go past depicting these things to provide any insightful nature. The film ends, basically saying “Hey, raising a family and trying to be happy is hard.” It never really has a full solution to Aidan’s endless doubts about life.  B-

This is Where I Leave You (Book Review)

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Judd Foxman’s life isn’t exactly the best at the moment. He wife has been having an affair with his cocky boss. WIth a broken marriage heading towards divorce, he becomes unemployed and starts to live in a basement. Then Judd’s father passes away after fighting cancer. A final wish of Judd’s father is for the entire Foxman family to come together and sit shiva for seven days. Judd and his three other siblings of varying nature return to their childhood home and revisit their lives so far.

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This is Where I Leave You offers a dark but realistic look at the inner workings of a family. Paul, Judd’s older brother, faces a grudge against Judd for a past incident. The youngest sibling, Phillip, still hasn’t figured out how to grow up. Judd’s sister, Wendy, deals with the staleness of her marriage while revisiting an old flame.

Reading this novel may bring up a lot of funny anecdotes one may have about their own family. Jonathan Topper’s writing resonates well in the reader. The novel is full of sentiment, humor and tenderness. Topper writing expresses depressing yet realistic situations with great honesty.

The novel is categorized by many as a dark comedy. It seems to be more than that. Tina Fey’s coined term of it being an “emotional comedy” strikes the right balance of this book is. Must read if you like realism type stories of everyday life.

A film adaption is currently in post-production and scheduled to be released on September 12, 2014. It stars Jason Bateman (as Judd), Tina Fey (as Wendy), Dax Shepard (as Judd’s cocky boss, Wade) and Rose Bryne (as Penny).

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Hateship, Loveship (2014)

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Hateship, Loveship is a strange movie that wanders often without coming back. It goes slow at times and doesn’t have a clear resolution to it’s characters. Despite the shortcomings of the script, great performances by Wiig and Pearce make this a worthwhile viewing. Hateship_Loveship Synopsis The movie starts with Johanna Perry (Kristen Wiig), an extremely introverted woman, who has worked as a caregiver for most of her life. When the elderly woman she takes care of passes away, Johanna takes a job in a new town working as a housekeeper for an elderly man, Mr. Cauley (Nick Nolte) and taking care of his granddaughter Sabitha (Hailee Steinfeld). Sabitha’s father, Ken (Guy Pearce), lives off in Chicago. He has had a life full of alcohol and drugs. A tragic accident involving a boat wreck, driven by a drunken Ken, kills Sabitha’s mother and leaves her in the care of her grandfather. Sabitha isn’t content with her living arrangement. Her and her friend, Edith (Sami Gayle), think that Johanna is weird and don’t really enjoy her presence. They decide to draft up a fake letter written by Ken, Sabitha’s father, to Johanna. In the letter, posing as Ken, they write about how much they enjoyed Johanna’s arrival and think of her as a good friend. When Johanna unexpectedly responds to the letter, Sabitha and Edith start to send more. This results in a long correspondence. Johanna’s dull life starts to become exciting. Reading the letters, she thinks that Ken really likes her. She is feeling things, doing things she normally wouldn’t. She is breaking through her shell. Review Hateship, Loveship is one of those quirky indie dramas that many people will not get. It drags on at times. Thoughout the film, there are several instances that pick at character development but end up getting abandoned. Sabitha is rebellious yet her attitude toward her father seems to change in an instant. Sabitha’s friend, Edith, who is the commander of the fake letter correspondence, drifts off in the middle of the movie not to be seen again til the end. Grandfather Mr. Cauley starts a romance with a local bank employee but no development is ever shown through the film. The indie drama’s tagline on its poster is “Dare to care.” Watching the film, it seems like the script tries to explore the various stages of life of a broken family and caregiver, Johanna, yet it never fully follows through on exploring it. The main attraction to this movie is the performances. Kristen Wiig, in her first leading drama role, captures the viewer as quiet, minimal Johanna Perry. The character has lines but a heavy emphasis is on what happens when Johanna is not talking. A well-known quote comes to mind when watching Johanna throughout the film:

Acting is reacting 

Wiig embodies this quote very well in her performance of Johanna. She is subtle and not to over the top. Every one of her eye movements, lip quivers, and hand mannerisms all seem to have a purpose. Wiig breathes life into a very dull character and you can’t keep your eyes off of her.

The concept of a dead beat dad character has been done often. In his role as Ken, Guy Pearce delivers well in providing charm and sensibility into a character that could have easily become a caricature.

Despite Hateship, Loveship not having any huge or clear character development, the performances by the main cast make it worthwhile to see. B

Hateship, Loveship is available on demand at iTunes, Amazon and other online video providers.

Successes and Faults of Veronica Mars (film)

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It’s easy to think that more people would be in the Veronica Mars fandom if the show had aired during the current binge-encouraging TV community. The show ran from 2004-2007 on UPN/CW. It was low-rated but beloved for its writing, format and acting.

Despite (very persistent) fan attempts for a movie to be made, Warner Brothers (the studio that financed/distributed the show) opted not to fund the possible film. Fast foward six years to 2013 and a Kickstarter campaign was launched, raising $5.7 million in 30 days. The movie was officially happening

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Review

The prowling teen detective, covering the seedy happenings at Neptune High School and its town, is back.

Veronica Mars was last seen at the end of season three, her freshman year of college, getting recruited by the FBI (Great career planning!). Nine years later she is living in New York City with her college boyfriend “Piz” and pursuing jobs at a few law firms. In the midst of landing a pretty sweet gig at a law firm, she gets contacted by her ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls. He’s in trouble, having been accused of the murder of his girlfriend Carrie Bishop who was a fellow student at Neptune High.

Bishop, who went on to become a successful popstar under the stagename Bonnie DeVille, was found dead in her bathroom. Echolls, a lieutenant in the US Navy and son of movie star Aaron Echolls, is the prime suspect. Lawyer offers being thrown in his face, Veronica treks down to Neptune to help him clear his name.

During her 10-year high school reunion, she realizes that Bishop’s murder is connected to the death of her best friend, Susan Knight. Knight mysteriously disappeared during a boating trip nine years prior.

The ensuing plot involves Veronica working to clear Logan’s name while dealing with the seedy and corrupt nature of small town Neptune.

Observations

The film was well-paced and had a steady plot and resolution. A quick two minute introduction at the start gives non-viewers of the TV series a brief history of Veronica Mars and company and allows the film to be enjoyed without ever watching the series.

The only qualms a non-viewer of the TV series would experience is the pop ups of various characters from the TV show.  The instances aren’t too distracting to keep the viewer from enjoying the movie as a whole.

While the film was good, I noted a few disruptions to it

  • Interaction among characters was big in the TV series. In the film it isn’t, all the side characters from the series have few scenes and aren’t really engaging to the plot of the film.
  • Movie feels a little weird. It plays like some TV movie. Veronica Mars isn’t meant for film. It’s writing serves best when restricted to hour-long TV formatting.

Will the Veronica Mars film be counted as a success? Many already consider it so (it was finally made into a movie after seven years after all).

Box office and movie insiders are looking closely to see whether actually will be a success or not. The film cost a reported $6 million to make. To be classified as a success it would have to make double its budget back, $12 million. A figure that doesn’t seem likely to be happening.

  • Opening weekend: $2 million from 291 theaters for its opening weekend.
  • Second week: dropped 76.5%, obtaining around $470,000 from 347 theaters.

Making back its budget from theater box office doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Video on Demand sales may be its saving grace. No report has been released on the exact state of its VOD viewing numbers (distributors have a frequent history of not releasing on demand numbers).

A long time ago, we used to be friends…and we still are. Veronica Mars, despite its few quirks, works well for a night of movie watching outside of the typical slapstick comedy genre. A- 

 

 

 

 

Movie Review: Gimme Shelter

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You know that weird gut feeling you get sometimes? It’s a feeling you get whenever your tired of seeing the same type of movie over and over. It’s the feeling I had after seeing over the top comedies and big action movies one after the next. Going to see Gimme Shelter was the solution.

Plot: 16-year-old Agnes “Apple Bailey (Vanessa Hudgens) is a troubled, aggresive girl who has lived in abusive environments her whole life. Apple’s mother June, played by Rosario Dawson, is a sleazy drug addict who doesn’t care much for Apple besides the extra welfare money she gets for being her parent. Apple, fed up with her living situation, sets out to find her long lost father. Upon meeting him, she finds out that he is a successful Wall Street Broker with a wife and two kids. After a dispute she leaves. Apple eventually ends up in a shelter for pregnant young women run by a spritiual women.

Main Point: Despite a line of capable actors, the film falls flat with dull dialogue and a script that does little more than go beyond standard cliches.

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Slow mutterings start the movie. “I’m okay. I’m not scared. I can do this.” Apple says to herself in the mirror while chopping off her black hair strand by strand. It’s noticed from the get go that Apple is misguided, not having a clear head to make decisions. She is leaving the abusive house she lives in with her druggie mom. With an addressed letter to guide her, she lands at her long lost father’s house. Tom, her father (Brendon Fraser), greets her with a former look and a head of hair gel (typical).

Apple sticks out like a coffee stain on a t-shirt compared to Tom’s lifestyle. Tom lives with his wife and two kids in a wealthy, picket fence neighborhood. When the married couple find out Apple is pregnant, they schedule for her to get an abortion. Frustrated, she storms out and onto the streets again. Stealing a car and wrecking puts her in the hospital and under the guidance of a chaplain Father McCarthy (James Earl Jones).

Only halfway through runtime and the film is already unsettling. The dialogue feels weirdly unnatural. The acting and scripting does little to add originality to an environment that has been seen several times before. Apple is constantly in angst against the ones around her. Then suddenly shortly after arriving at the group home for pregnant teens, she changes. She likes the place she is at. There is stability and a sense of safety. The problem is that the viewer never sees this. The script does nothing to make it seem like  a new sense of being has been developed. The idea that Apple has developed close relationships and belonging with all the girls feels false. There wasn’t enough building. The whole film starts to feel like a gimmicky PBS TV special.

The start of the film was promising but interest quickly drops after Apple is taken into the care of the priest and group home. Despite the lacking script, Vanessa Hudgens, Brendon Fraser and Rosario Dawson give refreshing performances. This just isn’t the best work to see these actors in.  Hudgens shines farther with her acting chops in The Frozen Ground and Dawson with her performance in Kids. Rating: C

That Awkward Moment (film review)

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“These are some weird tasting mints..”

“Yeah it’s cause their viagra.”

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It’s easy to dismiss That Awkward Moment as another cliche, feel-goodie rom-com. It has the standard set of characters and scenarios to make it like others: main character is down on their luck, a talkative friend stands nearby and eventually the main character falls for another newly introduced character that is beautiful (but not conventionally so).

Suprisingly That Awkward Moment provides a fresh take on the romantic comedy film genre that many thought was dying. The dialogue holds viewer interest with its witty fiascos and funny liners. The film has a lot of “bromantic” nature to it yet it remains something that any viewer (male or female) could laugh at and relate to.

The film starts with Jason (Zac Efron) as he goes through a “break-up” with a girl he has been seeing for the past six weeks. She wants to break up yet he didn’t even know they were dating. He has a hard time deciding if he is “officially dating” any of the girls he sees. It doesn’t help that he has a talkative womanizer friend named Daniel (Miles Teller) who flows through girls with the help of a female friend luring them in to talk.

Things change when Jason and Daniel learn that Mikey’s wife has cheated on him. Jason and Daniel make a pack with him: stay single with him. Things prove tricky when Jason and Daniel both end up falling in love and have to start hiding it.

The film is hilarious and not like other generic love dove rom-coms. The dialogue points out common cliches of the bar dating scene. The film never seems to go stale as it tells the tale of a group of people trying to understand how to have a stable relationship with another person.B+

With the downward trend of romantic comedies and their less than stellar box office results, Director Tom Gormican took a good move in making the film (with a cast of well-known stars hot off successes) for only $8 million.

Film Review: Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit

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Jack Ryan is back, this time going to Moscow to stop a Russian radical from  collapsing the U.S. economy. 2002’s The Sum of All Fears (with Ben Affleck in the main role) was the last time the Jack Ryan character has seen the big screen.  The late Tom Clancy started the successful literary series. Now five films in the film lineup, with Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck all having a slice of the Jack Ryan pie, the film series has a  history of reaping box office success (despite mixed critical reviews).

Plot: College-aged Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) decides to join the Marines following the 9/11 attacks. the decision to join leaves him skeptical and wanting more. A helicopter crash leaves him injured, retired from the military, and wondering what to do next. In comes mentor Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner). Harper recruits Ryan into the CIA, having him investigate companies on Wall Street suspected of funding terrorist actions. In the standard action move, Ryan discovers a plan by Russian radicals to collapse the U.S. economy via various transactions. Ryan is tasked with taking down the head of the operation Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh, who also directs) while holding together his complicated relationship with longtime girlfriend Dr. Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley).

Main Point: Everyone loves a good action/spy flick and this film , with it’s standard set of action intense scenes, satisfies that without being to over top.

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The Jack Ryan name has been mostly forgotten following a string of successful action films in the past 12 years mostly due to the successful James Bond and Bourne film series. Action packed scenes and witty dialogue keep the viewer’s attention intact during the whole ride of 100 minutes runtime. The starring cast fill their roles well and Branagh, who has previous directed Thor, finds his filmmaking niche. The camerawork is great, shots done well, and the actors know what to do without feeling dull.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a great, solid film. The film’s MLK weekend opening didn’t attract quite the audience it was targeting (most of audience was over 50 rather than 18-25) it still holds well with it’s near 18 million debut opening. Go forth and watch it if you feel an adventurous itch inside or are tired of seeing the standard weepy rom-com’s and parodies this time of year. B+

“They can fix this crap on Elysium”

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Elysium does not go deep into the immigration reform and social status issues that are displayed front and center in the film’s trailer. It doesn’t have to. Upon viewing the film, it provides enough exposure of a message without being too in the face about it.

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image by TriStar Pictures via http://www.imdb.com/

Elysium works as a sort of but not really follow up to Neill Blomkamp’s feature film directorial debut District 9 (2009). Watching the movie, one can tell that it expands upon some of District 9’s themes of segregation and reform. The movie is set in 2154 when the earth is polluted and full of waste. The city of Los Angeles, where main character Max (Matt Damon) lives, is run down and filled with garbage. Wealthy people live on a space station habitat called Elysium that orbits earth.

Ever since he was a kid Max has always wanted to go to Elysium. They have everything: plentiful food, safety, and medical healing pods that detect and cure any abnormalities in seconds. After a factory accident involving radiation poisoning leaves Max with days to live, he decides to go on a mission to Elysium. Max wants to get to one of Elysium’s medical pods so he can heal himself and continue to live.

Audiences may feel a sense of refreshment when watching the films. It is one of the few action/special effects heavy films this year that has more than just mindless fight sequences and star power to offer. The movie lets people think about a dystopian world that might actually become a reality. Blomkamp said of the theme of the film “No. No. This isn’t science fiction. This is today. This is now.”

Since the film has a few loose ends it did not tie up, it leaves much of its dystopian/sci-fi future themes to the imagination. That shouldn’t scare away viewers. The film holds well in providing a good overview of what director Blomkamp was trying to convey. Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley all give solid performances.

Top Indie Films of 2013

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Obviously there have been a lot of good independent films this year. I read an article that stated 2013 was the “Year of the Indie.” It is a strong declaration to make. Several mainstream big budget films this year did not fare well (RIPD, Turbo, The Lone Ranger, Broken City, and so forth). Below is a list of the films that had a positive reaction among many and seemed good word-of-mouth talk.

Before Midnight

Richard Linklater’s third installment in the “Before” trilogy follows a married couple who are in the challenging stages of their relationship. They met each other on a train in Before Sunrise (1995), nine years later they were reunited at a bookstore in Before Sunset (2004) and now, nine years later, are married, living in Greece with twin girls.

The film never fails to capture what a real life relationship is like. The script does a fine job of displaying the different perspectives in a relationship (leads Julia Delpy and Ethan Hawke share writing credit with Linklater for the film). Like the two previous installments, the film employees the use of (extremely) long takes to make the exchanges feel authentic and natural. The beginning of the film involved a 14-minute continuous take of Delpy and Hawke’s characters exchanging conversation in a car ride.

Audiences seemed to fall in love with Linklater, Delpy and Hawke’s characters all over again. Before Midnight went on the become the highest grossing film of the “Before” trilogy, raking in over $20 million worldwide against a modest $3 million budget.

The Way Way Back

Giving off a strong 80’s vibe (the movie was originally supposed to be set in 1983) The Way Way Back is a film about a 14-year-old socially awkward boy named Duncan (Liam James) who travels along with his mom (Toni Collette) and mean stepdad (Steve Carell) to a vacation at a beach house for the summer. At the start of the summer Duncan gets a job at a water park run by a talkative and fun-loving guy named Owen (Sam Rockwell).

The solid performances by Rockwell, Carell, and James keep the movie from being passed off as just another coming-of-age film with a socially awkward lead that a hipster would love. The script lets the variety of characters in the film shine without seeming too cluttered. Everything is tied up by the film’s end. The “summer that changed everything” is officially over. Duncan has made a new friend, Owen, and has a better sense of confidence in him.

The Way Way Back received acclaim from critics and went on to make $23 million from a production budget of just $5 million.

The Spectacular Now

It’s very hard to make a film chronicling the coming-of-age process for teenagers without having it suck. So many films have done. So many films have done it badly. The Spectacular Now is not one of those films. The Spectacular Now follows Sutter (Miles Teller) and Aimee (Shailene Woodley), two high school seniors trying to figure out their lives. Aimee has hers figured out and Sutter does not.

What makes the film great is it’s realistic and simplistic nature. The characters are played by actors that actually look like teenagers. There is no iPhone toting, excessive texting, or glamourized things going on. It is just Sutter and Aimee, navigating life, trying to figure out where to go.

Sutter and Aimee aren’t perfect. They make mistakes. They cuss. They were regular clothes. The viewer feels connected with them.  Teller and Woodley’s performances let the viewer feel like they know them. At the film’s end, one could feel good with the film.  The film depicts the age of 18, becoming an adult, effectively. Coming of age is no easy process.

The Spectacular Now received widespread acclaim. Teller and Woodley received the Special Jury Award for Acting at the Sundance Film Festival. Woodley has received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. The film grossed around 6.8 million from a 2.5 million budget.