Movie Review: Like Crazy

If you are in the mood for a very real love story that's not afraid to sugarcoat romance, then look no further than Like Crazy. Starring Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin, this film tells the story of Anna and Jacob, two star-crossed lovers both going to college in Los Angeles. Anna is an exchange student from the United Kingdom and must return home once she graduates. Instead she opts to remain in the United States with Jacob, thus violating her visa. After taking a quick trip home to visit her family, Anna is detained while trying to return to the United States. Now separated by thousands of miles, Anna and Jacob attempt to navigate the troubled waters of an extremely fervent long distance relationship.
Where Like Crazy hits the nail on the head is its deftness with visuals. The editing is truly brilliant here. I found myself on many occasions completely understanding and feeling the emotion of a scene with absolutely no dialogue. To accompany the impressive visuals is a perfect score for this film. The music does a great job of setting the appropriate mood for each scene and acts as an auditory translation of what each character is going through. Speaking of the characters, the acting is another high point of Like Crazy. The two main characters of Anna and Jacob were perfectly cast, and I was also impressed with Jennifer Lawrence's performance. The final positive note I want to make is that this film is a truly unique love story, one that many filmmakers are scared to attempt. It's real; Like Crazy doesn't flinch away from the scary and heartbreaking realities of any relationship.
So by now you're probably wondering why I only gave this film three stars. Part of the reason is simply how vapid the plot is. This is a great film visually, but there's not much substance to it. Two people fall in love, get separated from each other, and form lives apart while continuing to make their relationship work. There's just not much else going on here. The other big problem at hand is just how irritating the two lead characters are. Yes, they're perfectly acted, but it's how they're written where things go wrong. At the begining of the film Anna and Jacob are head-over-heels in love, which is a delight to witness on screen. As time progresses however, they struggle to continue their relationship. They form side romances, but refuse to reciprocate any deep feelings for these new people they've let into their lives. The relationship between Jacob and Samantha is particularly frustrating to watch unfurl. One can't help but feel awful for Samantha as she gets dragged through the mud, again and again, because Jacob can't bring himself to commit to her. Toward the end of Like Crazy it basically becomes the story of two people trying to rekindle a stagnant relationship, even though they seem much happier apart.
So, to conclude this movie review I will say that Like Crazy is a solid film. It misses the mark on a few important aspects, but I think that it's many positive elements do a good job of redeeming it. I would recommend giving it a watch if you get the chance. If you can get past the lack of substance in the plot and lead characters you sometimes want to yell at, I think that it's a gem of a romance movie and one that deserves more attention.
Rating: PG-13

Genre: Romance, Drama

Run Time: 90 minutes

Release Date: October 28, 2011

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Movie Review: Lion

Lion, the feature debut from director Garth Davis, is a film that I had been wanting to watch for quite some time and only recently did I finally get the chance to. Between its moving plot, stellar cast and Oscar hype, I was expecting a walloping good movie. I can't say that Lion completely lived up to every single one of my expectations, but it did deliver on many of the aspects that I was hoping it would.
Lion follows the life of Saroo, a young boy living in India with his older brother, younger sister and mother. They are poor but happy, and Saroo looks up to his older brother and wants to do everything that he does. One day, Saroo loses track of his brother and wanders onto a decommissioned train while looking for him. The train begins to move, and before he knows it Saroo is lost in a foreign Indian city completely isolated from everything that he is familiar with. Later on, the movie jumps ahead to Saroo when he is a young adult, having been adopted by an Australian couple. He begins to feel that something is missing in his life, and starts being plagued by memories of his childhood. He decides to use Google Earth to track down his old village and connect with his past.
This film certainly delivers an original, moving story that is quick to enthrall audiences. The first half of the movie that follows Saroo as a young boy in India was especially riveting. Sunny Pawar absolutely shines and is the true standout here. The rest of the cast also had great performances for their respective characters, and I really connected with their emotions surrounding the plot. I also want to point out just how good a job this film did in portraying Indian culture. The first half of the movie is entirely in subtitles, but this had absolutely no negative impact on the experience of watching Lion. If anything, I think it helped add an element of genuineness to the story. This aspect, along with the unfiltered visuals of Indian streetchildren, massive throngs of train commuters, Saroo and his family laboriously collecting rocks, all made this film seem real and captured the life of an Indian boy's experiences through his eyes.
Now I'll move on to what did not work for me with Lion. Although the first part of the film was extremely well done, towards the middle it began to lose me. When the storyline jumps to Saroo as an adult, the plot just begins to grind to a halt. What partly caused this was the complete unraveling of Saroo as he becomes overcome with the memories of his childhood. He essentially goes mad, becoming consumed with finding his childhood home. It gets to a point where his reaction becomes unbelievable; I understand why he wants to discover his past, but he goes so far as to quit his job, disown his brother, and completely cut off his parents and girlfriend. I just felt that his reaction was unwarranted for the situation he was in.
The bottom line here is that Lion is a solid motion picture that I was overall pretty satisfied with. It left a few things to be desired, but I can see why it was nominated for Best Picture for the 2016 Academy Awards. Despite the few problems that I did have with this film, I would recommend giving Lion a watch if you get the chance.
Rating: PG-13

Genre: Drama

Run Time: 120 minutes

Release Date: November 25, 2016

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Monthly Amusements: January 2017

As the first month of 2017 comes to a close, I wanted to take a quick look back at some of the things in the entertainment world that I enjoyed in January. Overall, this month pleasantly surprised me considering that January is typically a lackluster month for entertainment. Just a quick note, the items on my list do not have to be released in January 2017. They are simply things that I've happened to stumble upon for the first time in this particular month. So with that being said, here are the things that I've enjoyed most in January 2017.

Movie: Sing Street

Sing Street was a film that thoroughly took me by surprise. I had no expectations for this movie, but it delivered a heartwarming story about an Irish teen who starts a band to win over the girl of his dreams. I actually did a full review for this film (read it here) where I go into more detail, but the bottom line is that Sing Street was by far the best film that I had the pleasure of watching this month.
My Rating: ★★★★★

TV Show: Last Tango In Halifax

The BBC dramedy Last Tango In Halifax wound up being my favorite TV show for the month of January 2017. I will be the first to admit that this show goes more than a little overboard on the family drama, rendering its plot apocryphal and characters measurably unrelatable. However, because of this it became my guilty pleasure and I quickly blew through all three seasons of Last Tango In Halifax. It's certainly not the best show to ever be made but it delivers on creating an enticing, albeit over-the-top plot that is hard to stop watching.
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Book: Invincible

Invincible, Amy Reed's saga about a teenager dealing with cancer, was my favorite read of this month. I found this story to be incredibly raw and honest, giving a touching portrayal of a girl struggling to find herself in a world where she is known as "the cancer girl." Feeling suffocated, she runs away from her old friends and family into the arms of Marcus, the only person who really understands her. I loved just about everything that this book delivered and I am looking forward to reading Unforgivable, Reed's followup novel to Invincible. I would definitively recommend this read and it's my favorite book from this month.
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Music: Double Dare

Double Dare, the debut album by the pop punk band Waterparks, has had a prominent presence on my playlist this month. It delivered some great tunes that just got stuck in my head, such as Royal and Gloom Boys. A few of the songs did miss the mark for me personally, but overall it was a great album to rev myself up with at the start of the new year.
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Book Review: Tonight The Streets Are Ours

A while ago I read This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales and quite liked it. I wanted to give some of her other books a try, so I picked up Tonight The Streets Are Ours from my local library. Unfortunately I was somewhat letdown by this book, and wanted to share my reasoning as to why it missed the mark.
To give a quick synopsis, Tonight The Streets Are Ours is about a girl called Arden who considers herself "recklessly loyal." She has always made sacrifices for others, often to the point of undermining herself. One day she stumbles upon an online blog called Tonight The Streets Are Ours, written by a teenage boy living in New York City called Peter. Through his blog, Peter expresses many emotions that resonate closely with Arden. She realizes that she has to meet him, and so embarks on a crazy road trip to the city on a quest to find him.
My main issue with this book is that it has absolutely no idea what it wants to be. There's a confusing smorgasbord of parental woes, friendship strains, and romance that frankly made my head hurt at times. Each individual aspect of this book has potential, but when all of the pieces are mashed together into an attempt at a cohesive story, things fall apart. To make things worse, the already convoluted plot is carried by characters that I found to be rather unlikable. The main character of Arden was annoyingly spineless, and things only got worse when Peter was introduced into the story. I found him to be obsessively egotistical and because of this I really couldn't connect with his character at all.
My one high praise for Tonight The Streets Are Ours is that it carries two very true messages: that there is always more than one side to every story, and that the best way to help others is to help yourself first. The author did a great job of delivering both of these concepts in this book, but unfortunately their potential influence on readers was muddled by the rest of the plot.
To rap up this review, I will simply say that Tonight The Streets Are Ours just has too many elements going on at once. This is its Achilles heel; what potential this book did have is almost entirely lost in the absurdity of the plot. Tonight The Streets Are Ours is readable, but is certainly not memorable. However, this should not be reason to avoid all of Leila Sales' books, as I can attest that some of her other projects such as This Song Will Save Your Life are wonderfully executed. Perhaps just think about bypassing Tonight The Streets Are Ours though, and invest your time in a more worthwhile read.
Author: Leila Sales
Genre: Drama/Romance/Teen Fiction

Pages: 342

Year Published: 2015

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Movie Review: Sing Street

Sing Street is a delightful film that I hadn't even heard of until very recently. It seemed to completely slip under just about everyone's radar despite the fact that it is easily accessible to many viewers on Netflix. It's easy to say that Sing Street is one of the most surprising movies that I've seen recently. I had few expectations at the movie's start, but it was quick to impress as the plot unfolded.
Sing Street is set in 1980's Ireland during the burgeoning era of pop music and music videos. Conor, a teenager living in Dublin with his family, is transferred to a less expensive school by his parents. He struggles with his new environment and the mistreatment that he faces there from bullies and his new principle. One day, he sees a girl standing across the street from the school and is immediately captivated by her. In order to get her attention, Conor asks her to appear in a music video for his band and she agrees. With the help of several other misfits from his school, Conor assembles a band in the hopes of winning the affection of his new crush.
Sing Street is a deftly executed motion picture that immediately captures the hearts of viewers. It dives so much deeper than its romantic plot as Conor comes to terms with his parents divorce, finds his strength to be his true self and defy his oppressors, and builds the courage to follow his dreams. It's Conor's relationship with his older brother that especially makes this movie shine. These elements combined help transport Sing Street beyond the story of a clichéd romance into a nuanced film that is very relatable among viewers. The characters add even more to this movie, providing a variety of different personalities on screen. Every actor does a stellar job at portraying their role at a perfect volume so to speak, with the whole film relying on the relationships between characters rather than on the shoulders of a single protagonist. I also want to give note to the great soundtrack that Sing Street offers. The score provides a great mix of upbeat pop tracks and melodic ballads that really complete this film. Although Sing Street is a musical, it's done in a way where the soundtrack doesn't completely dilute the plot. Instead, the music perfectly complements the storyline as it unfolds and it provides Sing Street with a bittersweet feeling as the film ends.
In conclusion, Sing Street is a humble film that is made great by interesting characters, a finely woven plot with varying elements that work together well, and a soundtrack that provides the cherry on top. I racked my brain trying to come up with negative aspects of this film, but Sing Street provides a seemingly flawless coming-of-age narrative that is quick to captivate and hard to forget.
Rating: PG-13

Genre: Drama/Musical

Run Time: 106 minutes

Release Date: April 15, 2016

My Rating: ★★★★★