James_Ernesto Reviews

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Has its moments, but ultimately too clichéd for me

[6/10 · 26 July 2013]

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

I just got around to watching this movie. I was really looking forward to it - I had never heard of the book, but I really liked Emma Watson in the Harry Potter series and I generally like watching coming-of-age movies. And after the first 30 minutes, my pleasant anticipation seemed entirely justified. I really loved the first half an hour, it had so many great scenes in it: The innocent Charlie eating a hash brownie and being high for the first time, blabbering entertaining absurdities and demanding a milkshake, Emma Watson experiencing freedom while listening to David Bowie and of course my favorite, the awesome high school dance where Sam and Patrick do the 'living room dance'. So, after about 1/3 of its runtime, the movie looked really promising to me.

Sadly, it went all downhill from there for me. One reviewer here stated that he liked about this movie how it replaced 'tired clichés' and while I of course respect anyone's opinion, I actually felt a lot of clichés were merely repeated here. The shy, introverted guy with the good heart, who likes poems and reading, falls in love with the good-looking, upbeat girl whose only negative character trait seems to be constantly falling for douches. Her stepbrother, Patrick, is gay and dating one of the popular football playing kids, Brad, who is secretly gay, but obviously doesn't want to tell anybody and instead hides his relationship with Patrick. Eventually, Brad's father catches the two making out and punishes his son violently.

Meanwhile, Charlie and Sam clearly have romantic feelings for each other, but Sam has a boyfriend and because of this, Charlie doesn't dare to ask her out. He gets in a distinctively unhappy relationship with one of their friends instead, Mary Elizabeth, but eventually has to confess he doesn't love her and only wants Sam. In the end, it is revealed that Sam's boyfriend has cheated on her the whole time, because, well, he's a douche, and before Sam leaves for university, she and Charlie finally get their big romantic moment they've been craving all along, confessing their love for each other and making out enthusiastically.

Doesn't that sound awfully familiar? To me, it does. It's the typical romance 'chick-flick' structure, just mixed with a coming-of-age tale here. I awarded six stars to this movie because, even though it's clichéd, there's no denying it's well done - the acting is decent, the dialog is mostly good and the soundtrack is awesome. The little twist at the end regarding Charlie's aunt comes unexpected and makes kind of sense, but wasn't absolutely necessary to the story in my opinion. All in all, a decent movie with a lot of heart that really cares for its characters, but definitely no revelation and a little overrated here on IMDb, me thinks.

Magnolia (1999)

The best movie I have ever seen

[10/10 · 20 June 2013]

After completing this movie, Paul Thomas Anderson gave a pretty daring statement saying that whatever movie he'd be directing in his later career, nothing could surpass 'Magnolia', which he, at the tender age of 29, called 'the best movie' he would ever make. Now, I'm not as daring as him and I won't say Magnolia WILL end up as the best film I ever watched, but so far, I haven't come across a better movie.

'Magnolia' is really my favorite movie by some distance. It's biggest strength is how good it dissects its character. This is especially remarkable when you know there are like 10 main characters. Of course some characters are given a bit less screen time, but as a whole, every character gets his fair share of time and we have enough opportunities to get to know everyone and see what it's like to walk in their shoes. This is why the run time of three hours is entirely justified - not a second of it seems wasted.

There is not much to say about the plot, especially since I don't want to spoiler anyone. It's just a bunch of more or less ordinary people, all carrying their very own emotional baggage, being followed around for one extraordinary day of their lives, all having to make decisions, all experiencing various emotions. You definitely need to like these kinds of movies, which is why Magnolia is so polarizing. I for one absolutely love character studies and I especially love it when it isn't about soldiers, superheroes, astronauts, killing machines or rock stars, but about people who just struggle to lead a happy life, people without superpowers, but with 'ordinary' problems like me and you. I also don't mind it getting a bit emotional. I basically knew I'd love 'Magnolia' just after reading the one-sentence plot summary here on IMDb, but I never knew how much I would be impressed with it.

Needless to say, I love the cast of 'Magnolia'. Tom Cruise gives what I'd call the best performance of his career, Philip Seymour Hofman, although not exactly in a leading role, is always a treat, so is Julianne Moore, and some PTA-regulars like William H. Macy, Luis Guzmán, Philip Baker Hall and the awesome John C. Reilly are present as well.

I was also blown away by the style of the movie, which just switches between the characters. While this may not be a particularly new concept, I see it as a very powerful device in 'Magnolia', partly because there are so many people to focus on, partly because of its long run time.

So, to conclude this overly enthusiastic review, yeah, I dig 'Magnolia' like crazy. If you haven't watch it, just go and see it. There is the potential that you might hate it, but if you do like it, boy, then you'll be crazy about it. Paul Thomas Anderson is hands down my favorite director and Magnolia is hands down my favorite film, not only in his filmography, but also of all movies I have yet seen. A masterpiece.

Garden State (2004)

Average flick

[5/10 · 26 May 2013]

Finally got around to watch this movie today (I'm late, I know). First, let me say that I've always been a big Scrubs fan, which made me want to watch this movie. And while I think for a first time writer-director it's an alright effort with some good ideas, on the whole it's no more than a mediocre movie for me. Braff has clearly tried to make an ambitious movie and I give him credit for that, but in the end this movie ends up more like a standard romance flick than a serious character study.

Even though the airport scene was clearly a rip-off from Fight Club, I actually liked the first 15-20 minutes, maybe until the party scene (which is filmed in a style that's also been done in a lot of films). But from then on, the movie (slowly but surely) becomes the victim of its own ambition.

The biggest flaw for me is the character drawing. I actually like Braff's character, he has got some depth and you really get to know him. But sadly, that's about it. Natalie Portman? Yes, she's incredibly gorgeous. Yes, she plays her role extremely well. But her character remains unrealistic and cliché for me. She hasn't got real depth and at the end of the movie, I didn't have the feeling I knew very much about Sam. You see, she's incredibly nice, quirky, adventurous, always upbeat and seems to be incredibly innocent. Yes, she's an obsessive liar, but apart from that she's a total cliché. It's like Braff thought 'Well, what kind of girl could a guy like Largeman fall in love with?' And sadly, he came up with the stereotype of girls who get the guy in romantic movies. It's always the same, there's this one totally awesome girl, this sweet-girl-next-door-type, who never says a bad word and never does a bad thing, who's absolutely likable and who ends up with the guy. This is not inventive character drawing, this is 08/15.

On the other hand, Largeman's friends are quite realistically drawn, but completely unlikeable. I wouldn't even spent time with most of them if I'd been offered money.

The worst character is his father, though, as it looks like Braff didn't even make any effort to give him any kind of personality at all. Yes, he's drugging Largeman, fine. That's not nice. And he seems to hold him somewhat responsible for the accident which led to the paraplegia of Largeman's mother. But that's about everything we get to know about him. I think that to really explore Largeman's character we would have to take a deep look into the relationship with his father and how that affects his life, but unfortunately Braff doesn't give us the opportunity to. The 'conversation' they have at the end is a complete joke, the dialogue being about 60 seconds long and the summary of it would look like this:

Largeman: The drugs are ruining my life. I will not take them any more. But I forgive you for drugging me. His father then only says one sentence, like: I am your doctor and you shouldn't go against my recommendation. Then Largeman says: I will live my life the way I want to. But I think we should respect each other and try to be happy. I hope we can do that.

That's it. That's where the movie completely lost me. If you ask me, that's really awfully done. Just look at a movie like Magnolia, which explored parent-child-relationships and their impact on both incredibly well, and this looks absolutely amateurish in comparison. And that's because it is.

I didn't really care much for the cheesy love scene at the end, where Largeman is about to fly back to L.A., only to change his mind, leave the plane and go back to the weeping Sam, who he met some three days ago. That's the typical ending of a romance movie again, which, again, isn't bad - but if you try to make an ambitious movie that's more than the average Hollywood love story, you shouldn't let it end that way.

So, on the whole, it's not like there's nothing to enjoy in Garden State. But it certainly is no extraordinary movie. It's a decent love story and that's where it succeeds. But if you expect it to really explore the life of a troubled young man in his mid-20s, it simply falls short.