Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Spring Breakers - Movie Review

If you are going into this movie expecting a non-stop party movie like Project X or 21 and Over, you aren't gonna get what you were expecting. Instead you are going to get a movie that features partying, but the main focus being the twisted minds of some of these young women.

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This is definitely one reason to see the film!
Spring Breakers is the story about three wild party girls (Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine) and their easy going friend (Selena Gomez) who want to leave school for spring break but don't quite have the money yet. The only way to resolve this in the eyes of the before mentioned three girls decide to rob a restaurant and get money for their spring break trip. When the girls get there they start doing what they came their to do and ended up getting arrested and later bailed out by a gangster named Alien (James Franco)and then things suddenly change for these girls.

I went in this movie with an open mind and not seeing the trailers and even though it was hard to watch sometimes; I respect what the director (Harmony Korine) achieved. He had a great style of shooting and I really appreciated what he has doing. There are times where their is a voice over over a scene of partying and then two minutes later, the scene where the voice over was being spoke came. I think that was pretty cool and really haven't seen anything like that. The performances were pretty decent. The three girls who were wild and crazy played their part like I would imagine, pretty annoying but that is the point. Selena has the innocent girl who tags along worked out very well and James Franco as Alien is hilarious. He can do that role of a goofy wannabe gangster off pretty well. The tone of the film was pretty dark and I think that worked pretty well. Like I said before, it's not a non-stop party movie like it looks like. It gets very dark and very deep and I think that alone makes it better.

A few people left the theater when I saw this and I understand why they did, it wasn't what they expected. Either you like or you hate it. If you aren't digging it 15 minutes in, you won't dig the other 75 minutes. There is more substance in this film that those other party movies. It does have flaws, its hard to watch. Some of the things these girls say, think, and do make you uncomfortable and question is this what society has come down to. It does open your eyes to the world we live in now where the stuff seen in this movie is what people do now. The second half of this movie gets very hard to watch and takes a direction that I think hurt the film. But its not that hard to make it through it.

Overall, its a different kind of movie but with a nice directorial twist. It is a tale of two halves. I am not going to recommend you watch this movie and theaters and this movie is a coin flip on whether you not you like it. Wait for the Redbox or Netflix if you want to watch it.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

Compliance - Movie Review

Compliance is a film that I heard a lot about from a bunch of my film critic friends and saw that it was getting favorable reviews. Now regardless if they were positive or negative, I totally wanted to see this film based on the plot but it was only in select theaters and of course didn't come to St. Louis. A few days when I was browsing Netflix I came across it and actually jumped out of my seat. I just had to find a time to watch it where I could be focused and that time was now.

Compliance is about a manager of a busy fast food restaurant (Ann Dowd) who gets a phone call from a police officer who informs her that one of her employees (Dreama Walker) stole some money from acustomer and wants the employee to be put in the back room until he gets there; and until he gets there, asks the manager to do certain tasks for him with each task getting more personal.

The film establishes a very nice tone in the opening minutes and really gets the audience entrenched in the setting and atmosphere of the movie. It shows how busy the store is, how stressed the manager is because her day isn't going, and how clumsy the teenagers working there are. I must say that the script of this film is very good. Given the events are based on a true story, and given research I did to see how true the story actually was... the script and story go hand in hand and the details are spot on. The way the film was directed was pretty impressive as well. It gives you the feel like you aren't watching a movie, but in fact you are in the restaurants witnessing the events that are going on. The mannerisms and the things these characters do, it's easy to see that they are the same things you and I would do if we were in the same situation. I don't want to give away the whole plot because about 30 minutes is where things really take off and get interesting. But I will say you will become interactive with the film. Some uneasy things do happen and they WILL affect you personally and the fact that these events REALLY happened, several times in many states, it will infuriate you .
It's a good movie with a really touchy subject. But it is a brilliantly made film with a lot of moments that will make you scream at the screen and ask WHY is this happening and WHAT is that character thinking... DON'T do it. I will say I enjoyed this movie as a movie itself, but I didn't enjoy the events going on. That would be pretty messed up. If anyone wants to watch a well made movie then this is your flick. The acting is superb on all counts (from the manager to the second cashier who haves only 8 minutes of screen time), and to me, the things the characters do given the position they are in I believe are very realistic in the way of how people would handle the situations they are placed in.

Some of you will be able to sit through this and not be disturbed; some will not want to finish because it will bother them. Honestly, I hope you can make it through because from a film stand point this movie is well made from all angles. Recommended.

4 out of 5 stars.