Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

2015 - 3.2/5

Just a heads up… I never intended that this review be a comparison to The Fault In Our Stars (2014), but I couldn’t help it. So I apologize in advance that this is what this review has turned out to be.

This movie is exactly what I wanted The Fault In Our Stars to be (although I had read the book when it first came out and didn’t like it). Where that movie was too pretentious for its own good, this movie is a breathe of fresh air. I really enjoyed this movie. It reminded me of Juno (2007). To put it in the most simplistic terms, TFIOS is like McDonalds (January 2016 update: I actually don't mind McDonalds, so I'll change 'McDonalds' to 'crap'), and ME&tDG is like the awesome hole-in-the-wall restaurant you never knew you needed in your life.

The characters in this movie were far more believable than TFIOS. Greg’s wit and the bond he had with Earl and the bond he developed with Rachel (aka, the dying girl) didn’t seemed forced or make you want to rip your head off. Greg, Earl and Rachel weren’t using “profound” speech mixed with “typical teenage talk”; the dialogue seemed more genuine, authentic, and not at all cliché.

This is a very heartfelt movie. The movie was quirky and on the independent side and never felt like a Hollywood flick. It was a very grounded movie that stuck to its roots.

Goodnight Mommy

2015 - 1/5

So I don't remember how I heard of this movie, but I intended to watch it just before Halloween; well, that didn't happen, and I'm still interested in watching it.

I am going to assume that the majority of you who read this review have probably never heard of this movie. I will mention that there are going to be spoilers, but considering this is the first time you’ve heard of this movie, I’m thinking most of you aren’t going to bother watching it anyways.

This movie is set in an isolated house where 9 years old twin boys live with their mother. The mom comes home after having some sort of major facial surgery, and the twins begin doubting that she’s indeed their mother. This is not a horror movie. This is not an “artsy” movie. If I had to categorize this movie, I’d say drama.

By watching the trailer, I thought this movie would be about the twin boys trying to figure out if the lady that came home was their mom. What I got was a movie in which nothing amounted to anything. The director just added the scenes for the sake of them being there. They didn’t build on the ones before or after; everything that happened was compartmentalized, vague and unexplained. Needless to say, this movie left a lot of loose ends. Case in point: 

Why did the mom eat the cockroach?
What was with the mom stripping in the woods and the whole demon thing; this part was even shown in the trailer – but did it amount to anything? No.
Why did the mom kill the cat?
The boys walking through the cave with all the human bones – did that have a point?
I found the Red Cross part to be ridiculous. Did they add that to add tension in the movie? Because I saw it more of a joke.

You know when you were in elementary school and the teacher writes a sentence on a paper, covers it up, and tells each kid to write the next sentence and eventually, it becomes a story? Ya, that’s what the plot of this movie felt like. As if it had 20 different people were dictating what the next scene should be only knowing the general premise of the movie and having no clue what the person before did.

There wasn’t much to the script; and just after the half way point, it did become a bit repetitive, so I can’t give the movie any points for that.

When it comes to the acting, I’ll say that this was the strong point. The twins, Lukas and Elias were really good. Although they portrayed 9 year old boys, I think they looked more along the lines of 12.

I will admit that I didn’t catch that Lukas had died, but looking back, the boys at the lake, the mom only serving breakfast to Elias, the mom only talking to Elias, the mom only punishing Elias, it should have been obvious.

Overall, I did spend $4.99 and although I wouldn’t watch it again, I don’t feel completely cheated out of my money.