The Place Beyond the Pines

2012 - 3/5

Okay, so this review is going to have spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it in the last 3 years, my suggestion to you is, watch it. As for the rest of you who have seen this movie, read on.

I’ve been meaning to watch this since it came out, mainly because I really like Ryan Gosling. His role in this movie seems similar to this role Drive (2011). We all know that this guy has acting range. Bradley Cooper seemed to be a good fit as well. I figured the weak link would be Eva Mendez, but she held her own; not saying it was Oscar worthy, but it worked.

When Luke (Gosling) died 50 minutes in, I actually checked how much time is left in the movie. His story was really interesting. He was the main character and I was blindsided that he was killed. Enter Avery (Bradley Cooper). At this point, the movie picks up on his life. I wasn’t expecting that to happen; ie, Luke actually dying, mainly because the impression I got from the trailer is that Avery (over several years) is trying to catch Luke… little did I know! Then eventually, the 3rd main character is Jason, Luke’s son! Although the movie did emphasize that Luke and Avery’s son’s were the same age, it didn’t even pop into my mind that Jason, Luke’s son obviously still lived in the same area of Avery and A.J.

The movie has 3 main characters, and it’s just amazing how they made it work. It was incredibly interesting that this is how the plot went because when you think about it, this could have not worked at all. But my goodness, it did! This made me like the movie even more because the trailer didn’t give anything away. In essence, it made you think it was going in one direction, but it took a turn you weren’t expecting… in a good way.

Side note (irrelevant to my review), but now I see the look/attitude Justin Beiber was going for when he started to become a shitty person. He had to have watched this movie!

The Intern

2015 - 3/5

I loved the pair – Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro. They worked SO well together. You could tell just by watching the trailer that it was going to work. Robert DeNiro as Ben Whitaker was perfect for this role. He’s an old school guy: charming and chivalrous. He embodies the 70 year old persons’ generation so well. He’s a great balance to Anne Hathaway’s character, Jules, in which things needing to happen in a matter of minutes and her life is go-go-go.

I liked how the main focus of the movie wasn’t “old people having troubles with technology”, rather, it mainly focused on Ben and Jules relationship. I’m happy it wasn’t old clashing with new because this movie could have easily gone in that direction and could have included all the cheap jokes and one-liners possible. The plot was simple and humble. Even though it was a 2 hour long movie, there were no pacing issues, nor did it drag at any point…albeit, there was 1 particular scene that could have been taken out and it wouldn’t have changed anything in the movie (when Jules accidentally sent an email to her mom). I enjoyed watching Ben and Jules relationship grow, and I especially loved that there wasn’t a huge falling out between the 2; the director saw that there didn’t need to be and kept it that way.

This movie makes you appreciate the old school class, and that anything and everything you want doesn’t always exist at the tip of your fingers. I wouldn’t classify this as a comedy, and I wouldn’t classify this as a drama. There’s a good mix of each.

This Is the End

2013 - 1.5/5

This movie was great – for what it was and that is all. Although this movie does have a plot, it seems like a lot of things were added in because they just wouldn’t fit in other movies. It started out like Entourage in which there were several celebrity cameos and nothing was actually happening, then it turned into the first season of Lost in which they’re trying to figure out what to do and stay alive.

I enjoyed watching each actor playing a realistic/fictional version of themselves. At times it was really good, at other times it wasn’t.
The Michael Cera parts were funny. It was nice seeing him in a role that you know is so incredibly over the top, but it worked.
The Jonah Hill parts trying to be friends(?) with Jay were high-larious! He did that so well.

It did drag and at times you think you see the light at the end of the tunnel, but that’s not the case. There just isn’t that much substance to keep the plot afloat, but I did laugh half a dozen times.

I understand why some people would write Seth Rogen off after this movie, but in my books, I really don’t put this movie in the same category as Superbad, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express and Zack & Miri Make A Porno. It goes in the same category as The Interview.

When I say that this was a hot mess, I mean it was 30% hot and 70% mess.

I Smile Back

2015 - 1.8/5

Sarah Silverman as Laney was amazing. She portrayed the bleakness of the character so well. Even the guy that played her husband and her kids did a good job too.

One thing that I didn’t really get was whether or not her husband knew about her drug addiction/cheating ways before she woke him up. It’s hard to tell because her husband seems to sweep the issue under the rug and doesn’t want to talk about and he seems to have the “can’t you just be happy” approach to whatever mental issues Laney was going through (why she was taking pills in the first place).

I do like how it ended (Laney walking out of the house) because it seemed more realistic than her staying at home and everything being okay. When it comes to what lead Laney to have a bloody face, I think that wasn’t really necessary; she could have just fallen down a flight of stairs after she had sex with that guy in the bar.

There were a few parts of the movie that when it happened, I thought it wasn’t necessary, however, as a whole, it did work. That’s not to say that this movie is groundbreaking in any way.