Thoughts: The Way Way Back – Movie Review

Before I begin, as a disclaimer I am a huge fan of Steve Carell. Not a lot of people really like his sense of humor and it is possible that he might even scare movie goers off, because they don’t like his type of comedy, but personally I think he is hilarious. 🙂

So now, let’s get back to the movie.

I had the opportunity to watch The Way Way Back (TWWB) at an off chance and having seen a run of fairly forgettable “blockbusters” it was nice to watch a low budget flick.

Duncan (Liam James) is a teenage kid who is trying to find his own place in the world. Duncan’s divorced mother, Pam (Toni Collete) has decided to shack up with Trent (Steve Carell), thereby forcing Duncan to deal with an absent father by replacing it with a domineering, judgmental, prick of a “father figure” in Trent and his narcissistic daughter Steph (Zoe Levin).

Duncan prefers to be with his father who is apparently shacking up with a younger version of his mom but is still being dragged off to Trent’s summer vacation home. Once here, Duncan wishes to disappear as he sadly endures humiliation and desolation until he meets Owen (Sam Rockwell), the manager of the “Water Wizz” water park. Owen is a man-child and immediately takes a liking to Duncan. The two develop a friendship and Owen offers him a job which Duncan gladly accepts. The movie has a few other characters such as Trent’s neighbors Betty, an off the wagon (again) single mum with two kids, one an eye patch wearing 8 year old Peter (River Alexander) and the “girl next door”, Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb). Also in the mix are Trent’s “best friends” Kip (Rob Corddy) and his wife Joan (the gorgeous Amanda Peet) who end up becoming their couple friends for all their outings. The movie is about a boy trying to find a place, it’s about imperfections within all of us and it’s about the awkwardness and embarrassment of adolescence and finding friendship.

The opening scene just before the credits sets the tone of the movie, highlighting the equations between all the four characters and sort of sets the movie for a drama movie, though in a very pleasant surprise the movie is nothing of the usual family heavy, tear-shedding drama types and thus makes for a very pleasant viewing.  A Dramedy if you will (Drama + Comedy)

A principle reason why the movie does very well is two people: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. The same partnership that won an Oscar for writing The Descendants have come together and scripted another beauty.  They have earned themselves loyal fan bases individually as actors as well (Specially Rash as Dean Pelton in Community. That guy is a riot!).

The acting is par excellence. Sam Rockwell who seems to be in his element at playing a care-free kind of man-child does a brilliant job here. Another actor in her element was Toni Collette who portrays the mixed-up mum who seems torn between defending her son and trying to make things work with the arrogant boyfriend who doesn’t always treat them right. She does a nice job of showing a woman who is holding it together and hoping for the best, but by papering over the cracks with tissue. And of course, (without prejudice) Steven Carell does a decent job of being the seemingly heartless guy that the mother is dating.  It was great to see Carrell play the bad guy and it is a nice respite from his usual lovable and funny characters. The rest of the cast does a terrific job all around–from the eyepatch kid to his fast talking alcoholic mother all the way to Maya Rudolph’s love struck life stuck act.

The cast gel very well together and there is a certain amount of chemistry between all the actors which makes it interesting and believable. However, the best scenes of the movie are by and far between Duncan and his new older friend (only by date of birth). Even though his communication with Duncan is mostly full of wisecracks, there is an underlying connection between the two that is not based on need alone.

On the drawback, the only issue I found was that the movie does occasionally get a little too “feel good”, but that’s a small drawback overall I guess.

There are some movies which sound so simple that it’s hard to convey to people just how good they are. The Way, Way Back is a warmhearted and beautifully realized comedy that is as poignant as it is comical.

It is a gem of a movie and my recommendation would be to go ahead and get the DVD. It will be worth your money.

Thoughts: Try Harder!

Dear Kiddo,

How goes the daily grind? (Before you answer, just remember, “It could be worse” :))

It is said that the darkest hour is just before dawn and it is quietest right before the storm. And then there are days when both sneak up on you when you last adduce yourself idling away on a lazy Sunday afternoon. No one can help you prevent a storm just as you can’t stop the sun from shining, but you can ride it out through both.

Losing everything on days when it can’t get worse, staying patient would help more than you can understand.

You might not triumph with every act, but the only difference between “try” and “triumph” is the small “umph” (pronounced “oomph”). A little more….a little more than what you gave it the last time and you would be where you aim. Every accomplishment of yours, every attainment, every deed would start with the decision to try. It’s only the “oomph” that gets you across. Keep in mind that this “oomph” doesn’t roar, it is not a thunderous, deafening, earth shattering vociferation. It is the quiet voice at the end of your attempt, which resonates in your mind, “Let’s do this again, one more time.”

You might not get what you really want, no one around might be able to help you with it either, you might not even be close to it, but with a little bit of effort you might end up finding what you need, and to be honest, it would be worth a lot more than what you want. People don’t judge you on the number of times you fail (and as a side note, they aren’t happy with the number of times you succeed) its only you in the long haul and you need to blank out the rest. The extra “oomph” you feed into your desire to succeed would be directly proportional and act as fuel to the number of times you fail and continue trying.

Your only rival would be your own potential and your only failure would be to live up to your own possibility, for in order to succeed your desire your success should be much more than your fear of failure.

Sometimes, if all you have is old words, all you can do is put them together and hope they say something new. I’m sure you have heard this before, all I ask of you is that do not forget to try again….to try over and over again. But I obscurely digress.  The point was not to try again….but to try harder the next time. We are to try harder, for only a fool does the exact same thing and expects a different result. The success of life lies not in us being able to be the best, but to give our best and you will be surprised at your own strength when the time comes.

Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions – Lao Tzu

Thoughts: The Relics Expended

Could a movie have a better cast? Probably not!

Could the movie have been made better…sadly, Yes!

For those who saw the first part, I feel sorry for you guys going to see the second part in the theatre hoping for something different. I mean with 12 men in Hollywood who could probably displace Earth of its axis if they jumped together on it and if you went in looking for a movie like Shawshank Redemption you are probably not only barking up the wrong tree, in all probability the tree is not there anymore and you are probably barking at a branch of the original tree you wanted to actually bark at.

The story (or lack of thereof) is ultra basic, The Expendables team is back to do a “simple job” of retrieving something that was on a plane that crashed in the former Soviet Union. As usual things go wrong and one of their men Bill the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) is murdered on the job. Now you would imagine that in a job such as theirs death is part and parcel of everyday work, but Barney Ross (Stallone) is pissed and payback’s a bitch, so the next orders are, “Shoot anything that moves”. Hell-bent on payback, the crew of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgreen) , Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) are all sent to wrap up the left over remains of the former USSR. Throw in a girl as a semi love interest Maggi (Nan Yu) and we have The Expendables Reloaded.

To retrieve the “mysterious object” the crew embarks to USSR and cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces like a hot knife through butter and in the midst of wreaking havoc and by shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time – five tons of weapons-grade plutonium (which for those keeping track is more than enough to destroy the world 5 times over) the crew ends up saving the world, saving the village where the  men are forced to work as slaves and the women churn butter all day and the crew ends their day by flying into the sunset all guns smoking. (And CUT!)

How is this movie different from the first one? It isn’t, major difference probably could be that the main bad guy is a kick-butt-first-ask-questions-later tough guy who strangely enough doesn’t have a name in the movie, or he is called “Villian” which I assume is just the name of a generic bad guy. (By the way, if anyone comes across it kindly let me know) but he is more popularly known as the “Muscles from Brussels” Jean Claude Van Damme

The story couldn’t be complicated, bad guys die, good guys win, and Chuck Norris is God! The movie is a little better than the first but then to be honest its nothing special. There is an attempt at some humor which Stallone is usually very good with but then somewhere I guess it could be written better to elicit more laughs. But it’s not that much of a big deal really as there are funny moments in the film, more so than the first film. The movie isn’t best suited for the Gen X and the Gen Y target market and is more suited to the people who loved the action genre movies of the 80’s and the early 90’s, those who loved Beverly Hills Cop or Passenger 57 and the likes. The actors in these cases don’t necessarily act too well, but how they are makes Captain America seem like a watchman or the GI Joe and Cobra fight seem like a playground scuffle. The action heroes in that era were larger than life and could make the Big Bang seem like something that happens when you eat spicy food and end up passing gas.

Simon West (Director, also made Con Air, the General’s Daughter) is great with action sequences, he brings his touch to this movie as well. The movie has spent big bucks being made and has raked the same in, so it’s a safe bet to say that the target market is very welcome of a rehashing of these old men as leads.

A few places where the movie lacks would be a story for one (but then if you are looking for a story you are definitely watching the wrong actors), also the music score which definitely needed some more zing on it to make it more engaging. Thirdly there wasn’t enough hand to hand combat as much as in the first movie, and this is probably why there wasn’t enough of Jet Li in the movie as well.

Personally speaking the movie is not one of the best I have seen, maybe it is something we develop a taste for and maybe I might never get it, but I believe a better story would have helped. More positively the second one was much better than the first one and this leads me to believe that there will be a third one as well. My two cents for the third part of this would be to give John Woo the reins and put all the actors in space fighting aliens and throw in Wesley Snipes, Kurt Russell, Harrison Ford, more of Chuck Norris and even Clint Eastwood who only tells the alien scumbag

I know what you’re thinking: “Did he fire six shots, or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in MY world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well do ya, punk?

All I hope is that they throw it in; bad guys from ANY planet don’t stand a chance!!

 

Watch the movie, don’t count on too much, I’d give it a 6/10.

Thoughts: An abyss…

Deep, dark and desolate.

The lurking of fear and the stench of failure.

You try and vie but are tangled in a web you sew.

Quicksand!!

You sink and struggle to keep your head above.

You plunge further, Your hands reach for the welkin.

The night laughs, for,

You belong to her.

The dark abysmal abyss beckons,

Reason, logic and hope all abandon the time in need,

An eternity of solitude coaxing.

A look yonder, a last fleeting glimpse,

Of life and love and glory passing by.

Life travelling at the speed of light,

Glory too arrogant to stop by and help

But love?

Love looks and sees the distress,

She stops to divert and floats through the treacherous terrain

But then she is too far…too frail to help.

She smiles and says “It’s going to be ok”

And she sits by the quicksand…..

Serenading the weary,

Serenading the lonely,

Serenading the dying,

Singing of better days,

Signing of smiling days,

Smiling with the warmth of the sun.

And then beneath the dark desolate moonlit sky,

He lets go…

Knowing it will be ok,

Knowing he would surely lay

His head in a better place.

Thoughts: Time And Her Mystery

The definition of time, we weigh,

We digress, for time holds no clout on us all,

From the high of its peak,

To the valley down the trough.

From the King of Atlantis and Shangri –La.

To the Empire of dust and bones and all that it bears,

Time hastens by, to borrow the phrase,

When we are busy making other plans.

 

People come and they go, some approbate,

Some so different they circulate.

But for a precious few you hold on to.

And yet exiguous years down the line,

To blink and stupor

“Who were they and Why were they here?”

Life remains, but a fleeting glimpse.

Those who catch it, scruff it,

Those who let it go, remain vagabond

 

Such a brittle thought,

Such a delicate flower.

It picks up the subtle and pommels on the hard.

The words obviate from thoughts,

They flee for being put under one roof.

A reason to be adjudged as a thinker…..

A road less travelled by a greater half of this planet.

 

Time flies on,

Its gets higher as life moves.

The want to see a bird’s eye view,

Increases, for experience plays as wind.

Age plays its role as the wings

And you go soaring high

People no smaller than ants

To blink and wonder

“Who were they and Why were they here?”

Thoughts: Thoughts!

The definition of living, it varies,

From the loft of its peak,

To the valley down the trough,

From the King of Atlantis and Shangri –La,

To the Empire of dust and all that it bears.

 

Such a brittle thought,

Such a delicate flower,

It picks up the subtle and drops on the hard,

It needs a new direction,

It needs to glide on a path,

To carve its niche,

All it needs is to make the start.

 

For we are but travelers in space,

Moving along…..

Aimlessly and misdirected more often.

Grasping, checking, choking and tugging,

Looking for the ledge,

Pushing up the edge,

Standing still, and climbing again.

 

‘Life is but a dream’, thus we row on,

But dreams are for those who sleep,

Yet we remain bug eyed awake,

Trying to grasp a meaning,

To grasp solace in solitude,

To grasp straws in our clutches,

Where it be easier……

To just let it go…to just let it flow

Thoughts : Hugo is Huge

Martin Scorsese has pulled out yet another masterpiece. Hugo has all the elements that are needed to make a movie and it all blends perfectly well on the screen.

Scorsese has managed to capture the elements of cinema in a near poetic manner and with the backdrop of a picturesque Paris coupled with the childlike innocence in fantasy and the small element of mystery, has created a movie fit for all age groups. Albeit the element of fantasy and magic is a little less than what is projected initially, the movie over its course holds the audience’s attention.

The movie story is a tad elaborate. It’s the 1930’s and Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield, who from the looks of it was in the movie only for his blue eyes) is an orphan living in the Paris train station. After his father (Jude Law, who was in the movie only for a brief cameo) who fixes clocks and other gadgets dies in a fire, Hugo is taken in by his drunk uncle who fixes the clocks in the Paris railway station where Hugo is asked to quit school and start work.

There is only one thing though that Hugo wants to fix and that is an automaton (a weird looking robot) that his father left him. For the proper functioning of the robot though, Hugo needs a key which he finds tied around the neck of the adventure-seeking Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz, who I have begun to ADORE since her role in Kick Ass!!) Isabelle’s grand-father is the grouchy George Meilies (the ever tasteful and brilliant Ben Kingsley) and upon further embarking on his adventure Hugo finds the unique connection between George, the robot, his father and the word “film making”. Of course Hugo would need to do all this with the Station Inspector (Sasha Cohen Baron, who is interesting in a role much different from what he usually does), who’s main job is to catch all the orphans living in the station and send them to the orphanage, snapping at his heels.
Will he find out the mystery? What is the connection? Will the Inspector catch him? Watch it to find out

Tastes albeit differ and Hugo is not for everyone. Some people would find this movie really slow and boring which would make it unable for them to be able to view the movie for what it is and others would see this movie for the way it was made and they way it transcends into the mesmerizing story it depicts and they would be the ones who really enjoy it.

The movie’s selling proposition is the visuals. The train station, the Paris cityscape, the snowy weather and the effects as such just add to the grandeur of the movie. The actors have had their good and bad moments. At times the emotions and dialogues are real and you feel as a part of them, but then there are times in the movie when it just seems a tad hammed up.

The movie’s pace though is where is sort of looses a little bit of steam. The start is interesting enough and sets you up for an interesting climax, but then in the middle the pace drops, starts up again, drops again and somehow labors towards the end. The plot of the movie is a tad elongated and thus it loses a few points from its perfection. Scorsese would have done well had he cut short a few scenes and due to this it seems that the movie is a little below par.

But if you can forgive the tiny flaws, its slow pace and a fade in and fade out plot most of us would really enjoy Hugo. It’s an inspired film history lesson along side of being a dreamlike children’s fable. Martin Scorsese has finally made a movie without violence, gang wars, gun shots, tension and has dipped his finger in children’s fantasy. Everything about the movie speaks of love of cinema and Scorsese has managed to showcase his love for it via this masterpiece.

Based on a famous children’s book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” by Brian Selznick, Scorsese has done well to keep the element of fantasy and mystery coupled and not lose a lot from the essence of the story. The movie holds it together (apart from the pace) and might not have gotten the Oscar and might not be in the same league as Goodfellas, Taxi Driver or even Raging Bull but it is definitely beautifully made and well worth a watch.