Josh Hutcherson – Way Too Indie http://waytooindie.com Independent film and music reviews Fri, 02 Dec 2016 17:34:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Way Too Indiecast is the official podcast of WayTooIndie.com. Our film critics grip and gush about the latest indie movies and sometimes even mainstream ones. Find all of our reviews, podcasts, news, at www.waytooindie.com Josh Hutcherson – Way Too Indie yes Josh Hutcherson – Way Too Indie dustin@waytooindie.com dustin@waytooindie.com (Josh Hutcherson – Way Too Indie) The Official Podcast of Way Too Indie Josh Hutcherson – Way Too Indie http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/waytooindie/podcast-album-art.jpg http://waytooindie.com The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-2/ http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-2/#respond Fri, 20 Nov 2015 14:04:03 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=41843 The last chapter in Katniss' saga is an ugly one.]]>

For the past five years, the Hunger Games saga has been the preeminent young-adult fiction franchise on the big screen, with Jennifer Lawrence‘s Katniss Everdeen leading the charge not just for the people of Panem, but for a new wave of female-led action blockbusters. As the series has progressed, the American-Idol glamor and spectacle of the first entries has gradually fallen away, developing into a gloomy story about loss, misery, corruption and failure. The final film in the series, The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay – Part 2, directed by Francis Lawrence, is the grimmest and most depressing of all, with icky, gut-punch character deaths at every turn and a color palette so nocturnal and dreary you’ll be starving for sunlight—whether you find the movie entertaining or not is a question of taste, but I predict wide audiences will find Katniss’ final fight too irksome to enjoy.

On one hand, it’s heartening that a movie franchise aimed at teens has such a firm grasp on the devastation of war, both in the body count it leaves behind and the extent to which it ravages the mind. Half of the cast doesn’t make it out alive, and the film takes time to make sure we feel the weight of each death. It’s the nature of the story novelist Suzanne Collins and screenwriters Peter Craig and Danny Strong have been telling over the course of the series’ four movies—to put an end to the elder upper class’ corrupt regime, in which the olds keep peace by slaughtering children under the guise of a televised arena “game,” the younger generation must sacrifice everything in the name of a better future for their own children. In-your-face as the symbolism may be, these are compelling themes Collins and the filmmakers delve into.

The burden of Mockingjay – Part 2 is that it must, in all earnestness, embody that grand sacrifice in gory detail. In other words, the movie’s directive is to make you feel like shit, and for better or worse, it does just that. It’s a suffocatingly bleak story (especially given its target audience) that starts with Katniss rehabilitating severe throat wounds inflicted (at the end of the last movie) by her once-lover, the Capitol-brainwashed Peeta Malark (Josh Hutcherson). Romantic, right? Despite Peeta’s newfound obsession with killing Katniss, the two of them are smooshed together by the rebels’ leader (Julianne Moore, who plays a great weaselly, two-faced politician) to join a handful of other Hunger Games champions and military randoms in a strike team whose mission is to shoot propaganda footage as the rest of the rebels storm the Capitol and take fascist President Snow (Donald Sutherland) down for good. Katniss, of course, has other plans: she wants—needs—to take Snow’s life herself.

Snow and his cohorts are well prepared for the rebel attack, turning the Capitol into a giant Hunger Games arena, lining the streets with deadly booby traps (“pods,” they call them) designed to slaughter invaders in horrifically gruesome ways. One deathtrap sees our heroes nearly drowned in a city square quickly turned into a giant pool of black ooze; another finds them in the sewers, swarmed by a horde of fangy crackhead-zombies in close quarters. These two scenes are the only action-centric high points of the movie, and they’re well done, no doubt. The claustrophobic sewer skirmish is particularly excellent; Lawrence finds fear in the dark so well that the movie goes into full-on horror mode, which is awesome. That, unfortunately, is sort of where the movie’s awesomeness ends.

Pacing is a crippling issue for Mockingjay – Part 2. It starts slow, with the rebel troops mobilizing and Katniss wallowing in despair. Then, a surge of excitement in the city square and sewers as we watch our badass heroes finally kick some ass and, for some, go down in flames (literally). But the thrills are fleeting, giving way all too soon to the rest of the movie, which is even sadder and sappier than the first act. The action is abbreviated, sorrow is bulky, and the storytelling as a whole feels janky and numb. Lawrence’s Katniss is the most iconic heroine of the past couple of decades at least, and she’s able to, on occasion, give the movie a jolt with a piercing glare or a wail of anguish. She’s a savior in that way, though the movie’s dangerously close to being beyond saving.

It’s painful to see is our last glimpse of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman, again playing Moore’s right-hand advisor. In a movie this dark, this layer of meta-mourning doesn’t help the experience at all. The Hunger Games series has been, in large part, a winning endeavor. The movies are solid sci-fi adventures (Catching Fire was terrific) with more brains than your average tentpole and a measure of love-triangle indulgence that never feels trashy. Most notably, the series made a bold statement in the face of Hollywood gender inequity, proving female-led movies can rake in just as much dough as any testosterone-pumped dude-flick. The last chapter in this landmark saga is an ugly one, but not so ugly that the magnificent Lawrence won’t live to act another day. For that, we’re fortunate.

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Comic-Con Swoons for the Cast of ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2’ http://waytooindie.com/news/comic-con-sneak-peeks-the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-2/ http://waytooindie.com/news/comic-con-sneak-peeks-the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-2/#respond Thu, 09 Jul 2015 20:59:05 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=38064 Comic-Con audiences get first look at 'Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2'.]]>

Thursday’s Comic-Con panels in Hall H included sneak peeks of the final installment of the Hunger Games collective. Fans were chomping at the bit and several Katniss lookalikes were tightening their bows. Based on the initial cheers, a large portion of the audience likely waited all night on the cold sidewalk for any small taste of how the popular series would end.

The Lionsgate panel was preceded by a white-vested marching band. Because High School. And of course the battle drums leading to the final showdown. Next up: a video message straight from District 13.

The first teaser was an ROTC-style choreographed video of the soldiers of District 13 prepping for battle. #Unite

Then in walked Conan O’Brien—who has been filming his show from various parts of Comic-Con—as moderator of the panel. Just to clarify, he announced that he is NOT in the Hunger Games films but he IS Team Josh (Hutcherson that is, who plays Peeta for those not immersed in the Panem universe.)

Questions posed included one towards producer Nina Jacobson about how she came to her decisions in bringing this franchise to a close. She gave most of the credit to Suzanne Collins’ incredible ability to bring this epic commentary on our society and politics through her books. Emotions were high as the cast begins their final press engagements and saying their goodbyes to each other and their well beloved characters. Jacobson spoke of her desire to deliver to the fans, who have delivered so much back to them.

Director Francis Lawrence spoke on what we could expect, and though he slipped a little with Katniss’s final decisions in the movie’s end (not the least of a few accidental spoilers mentioned in the panel that book readers will be well aware of including the epilogue), he mentions Katniss will be brought out from the sidelines she resided in in the first installment of Mockingjay.

Then what the people came for: the first full trailer for the film. Where weapons are finally aimed on the Capitol, and on Snow. Ending to thunderous applause, those faithful to the book will see visual proof that there will be many, many scenes honored and uncut from the book, as is so often feared with adaptations. Later in the panel, Francis Lawrence shared that the ending will be just like the book.

Jennifer Lawrence was asked about her favorite Katniss moment from all of the movies. She stumbled with memory recall and overwhelmed by the broadness of the question (and amid shouts of “I love you Jennifer!”) but Willow Shields (Primrose Everdeen) bailed her out by declaring that of course it had to be when she volunteered as tribute. But Lawrence did say that her favorite moment will be in the last movie and she didn’t want to spoil it.

Joshua Hutcherson (Peeta Mellark) was asked about where we will pick up with Peeta after the traumatic place we left off with him (trying to choke the life out of Katniss). Just as well-spoken as his character, he shared that it’s a long road to recovery. And of course Jennifer Lawrence reminds him Peeta couldn’t stay away long, euphemisms intended.

For Gale’s part, Liam Hemsworth spoke about how the stakes are raised again for him in this last movie. The friendly dynamic between Hemsworth, Lawrence, and Hutcherson was by far the most amusing part of the panel.

Asked what they are most excited to see resolved in this final film, Francis Lawrence replied he is excited for everyone to finally have closure and to experience the way it ends.

When asked what they hope fans will take away from this last film, Jennifer Lawrence responded with, “the power of our future is in our own hands.” Recalling how at the beginning of the movies it is just one girl against everything and though the book condenses world issues into one continent, they are very real. Lawrence also appeared slightly emotional when asked how she bid goodbye to Katniss, declaring that it hasn’t happened yet and the changes made in her through the movies are so permanent they will never leave her.

Set to come to theaters November 20th, the new trailer features plenty of action and what looks to be a satisfying ending to what has been a true-to-the-books adapted series.

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Escobar: Paradise Lost http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/escobar-paradise-lost/ http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/escobar-paradise-lost/#respond Fri, 26 Jun 2015 14:27:57 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=37609 By eschewing the most interesting parts of Escobar's life, this fact-based thriller misses the real story.]]>

If you’re not up on your Colombian drug lord trivia, in the late ‘70s to early ‘90s, Pablo Escobar (played here by Benecio del Toro) was a man to be reckoned with. He’s credited with starting the Colombian cocaine trade into the US, along with murdering anyone that might pose a threat to him. However, Escobar wasn’t offing just other criminals, but judges, journalists, and even a Colombian presidential candidate. At one point, he killed all 107 passengers aboard a commercial flight just to secure the death of one witness. He was one of the most powerful men in Colombia, if not the most powerful.

Yet somehow, almost inexplicably, none of that gets touched upon in Escobar: Paradise Lost, the newest film from director Andrea Di Stefano. Instead, we follow the footsteps of Nico (Josh Hutcherson), the Canadian husband of Escobar’s niece Maria (Claudia Traisac), who’s staying in one of Escobar’s many Colombian villas. But his terrifying uncle-in-law (Hutcherson spends most of the movie with his eyes popping out of his head in fear) won’t be around for long. He’s secured a plea bargain with the Colombian government, and is to turn himself in the following day. But before then, Escobar has one or two things to take care of. For a wealthy drug lord, it’s the usual: calling together his most trusted men to bury diamonds and other valuables, followed by swiftly executing any witnesses. In a rare, quiet moment before the film’s final showdown, Escobar tells Nico he sees him as a son, then shows him how to use a gun. Escobar orders Nico to meet up with one of his men who knows the location of an abandoned mine. Escobar’s instructions: shoot the man once the treasure is securely buried. This definitely isn’t the paradise Nico envisioned when he and his surfer brother showed up to Colombia a few years prior.

As much as we can sympathize with Nico’s “good guy must grow a pair” dilemma, that predicament has been done to death in movies. Escobar: Paradise Lost is a decent enough action film, but the real problem is with the film’s namesake; he’s just not that interesting on screen. And that’s incredible, because the real Escobar was a polarizing and complicated figure, and Benecio del Toro is an effective and nuanced actor. The real problem is that the writers picked the wrong story to tell. Nico is the protagonist here instead of Escobar, and Hutcherson spends more time making concerned expressions with his face than actually talking. It’s hard to feel invested in him or his relationship with Maria. It’s only when his would-be target calls in sick for the job and sends his 15-year-old son instead that any dramatic tension in the film appears. The unlikely cat and mouse chase that ensues makes for an above-average action caper in the second half, but not enough to overcome the missed opportunity of covering the film’s fascinating and largely untapped source material.

To be fair, Benecio del Toro is transfixing during his time on screen, nailing those subtle tics of suppressed anger. But the problem is more about the lack of any stakes in the film. It’s easy when a writer is so entrenched in a subject to not realize that 1991 is now over two decades ago, and not all moviegoers are going to remember CNN footage like it was yesterday. Without introducing us to the backstory at all (the movie starts in medias res with Nico and his wife frantically attempting to flee the country), we don’t know how important it was to capture Escobar. And since we’re not introduced to the polarizing nature of his character either (he had a bit of a Robin Hood complex, selling cocaine to the rich and giving to Columbia’s poor communities), it doesn’t make a lot of sense when throes of people show up in support as he turns himself in to the police. Even with a quality actor like del Toro, Escobar comes off as nothing more than a generic cutthroat mobster who takes no prisoners.

I’m reminded of another cocaine kingpin film, 2001’s Blow, starring Johnny Depp as George Jung. While not necessarily the genre’s finest either, the script, based on the book written by the drug lord himself, has some ambiguity that makes the character a bit more interesting than Escobar in Paradise Lost. It’s obvious that Jung’s version of events are complete rubbish, but this kind of self-delusion and superman complex, and the task inside the audience’s mind of reconciling truth from fiction, is sometimes what makes for interesting characters. In contrast, Pablo Escobar, at least in this film, is unfortunately transparent, obvious, and lacking any sense of real humanity. For a man that was finally caught because, against his own best interest, he kept making long phone calls to his teenage son (another point the film doesn’t get to), I think there was more dynamism to get to here. And Benecio del Toro is sorely underutilized in that regard. Still, the acting elevates it to something watchable, if not particularly revelatory or enticing. For true history buffs, the 2009 award-winning documentary, Sins of My Father, as told through the perspective of Escobar’s son, might be a more worthwhile investment.

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-1/ http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-1/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=27555 The third entry in the 'Hunger Games' series is the darkest yet, but sorely lacks purpose and feels like a placeholder to ]]>

Following the money-doubling strategy that maximized the lucrativeness of the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, the third book in Suzanne Collins’ dystopian-epic Hunger Games series has been split into two movies, the first of which, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, hits theaters today. Halving the franchise’s third act is a smart business move no doubt, but there’s an artistic compromise involved that Mockingjay‘s shortcomings can largely be attributed to. This doesn’t feel like a fully-formed movie; it feels like an episode, a placeholder, a transient experience that’ll get you excited for the series’ explosive conclusion, but doesn’t offer much sustenance on its own to encourage revisiting (unlike its excellent, re-watchable predecessor, Catching Fire). The movie’s abrupt, randomly-placed ending is frustrating and off-putting because, well, it happens in the middle of the book. It’s not an ending at all, really. But hey, in the big-budget landscape of Hollywood, where two tickets are better than one, them’s the breaks.

Mockingjay is the darkest entry in the series, in more ways than one. Gone this time around are the glitz, pageantry, and blood-soaked spectacle of the games themselves, with fierce rabble-rouser Katniss Everdeen’s defiance of the tyrannical President Snow instead taking center stage. Katniss has been positioned (whether she likes it or not) as the symbol for the brewing insurgency sparked by her survival of two Hunger Games in a row, and throughout the film we follow her as she grows into her new role as “The Mockingjay”, the rebellion’s goddess of war.

The film largely takes place within the bowels of District 13, a forgotten, underground compound that looks like a dreary doomsday silo and now acts as headquarters for the rebel forces. Running the show down below are the benevolent President Coin (Julianne Moore, a series newbie) and Capitol turncoat Plutarch (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who together use Katniss and her image to stoke the flames of the revolution. Also roaming the halls of District 13 is former Hunger Games fashion consultant Effie (Elizabeth Banks), who misses her giant wigs and is none too pleased by the drab jumpsuits she’s now forced to wear.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

J-Law’s casting as the durable, tormented Katniss continues to be the franchise’s greatest boon. She has a knack for making scenes that, while perhaps silly on the page, come off as totally convincing on screen. In a scene that serves as both an exhibition of her acting skills and a meta examination of the franchise’s mass appeal, Katniss, dressed in warrior-queen armor and standing in front of a green screen, awkwardly postures and regurgitates cheesy lines for a rebel propaganda video. It’s all good for a laugh, but it also succinctly expresses how unready she is to be a revolutionary symbol, as well as how distressed and divided she is on the inside. Also affecting are recurring scenes in which a watery-eyed Katniss is tortured by broadcasted videos of baker boy Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), who’s being held captive by President Snow (again played by the naturally dastardly-looking Donald Sutherland) and is looking more sickly with each televised appearance.

Moments like these–in which the characters act in front of a camera to further a political agenda, echoing the duplicitous nature of politics in our own society–are a trademark of the series. The device is growing a little stale, but the message still rings true. The key theme here, though, is liberation from oppression. Peppered throughout the film are sequences of citizens fighting back against Capitol forces, as well as images of mass slaughter (a rebel raid on a Capitol dam is breathtaking). The amount of action in Mockingjay is considerably less than its predecessors, as the focus here is more on the larger costs of war rather than intimate acts of violence. (That isn’t to say the film isn’t violent, though: a multi-district execution scene’s lurid presentation is particularly startling.) The stakes feel high, and that’s a good thing.

What isn’t so good, however, are the film’s momentum-less pacing and shapeless plot. The story never finds its purpose, because its purpose lies in another movie, which we won’t see until next year. The climax we’re given around the series’ most insipid sub-plot: the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale (Liam Hemsworth). The thing that appeals to me most about Katniss as a character (besides her being a legitimately dangerous badass) is that, unlike most other Hollywood heroines, her existence isn’t defined by her romantic life. In fact, she barely has one! She’s more than compelling enough on her own, and to be honest, it’s hard to think of more uninteresting characters than Gale and Peeta, whose personalities are virtually interchangeable. They’re both heroic, they both really love Katniss. One’s tall, one’s small. Blah, blah, blah. Who needs ’em? To be fair, the the story isn’t so fascinated with the boys. But in this film more than the others, I questioned whether or not I care about them at all.

There’s a lot of talking in Mockingjay: talking in rooms, talking on rubble, talking at TV screens. No one is given much to do besides skulk and strategize in their drab living quarters and war rooms. It’s obvious that underneath all of the motivational speeches and propaganda videos, what this movie is really meant to do is bide time until Part 2 hits next year. I’m willing to bet that, in the grand scheme of things, Mockingjay won’t be viewed as such a trudge of a movie. I’m hoping Part 2 blows us away and gives Part 1 some much-needed context and payoff. I just wish I didn’t have to wait so long to gulp down the chaser for this bland, bitter drink of a film.

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Benecio Del Toro Intimidates the Heck Out of Us in ‘Paradise Lost’ http://waytooindie.com/news/benecio-del-toro-intimidates-the-heck-out-of-us-in-paradise-lost/ http://waytooindie.com/news/benecio-del-toro-intimidates-the-heck-out-of-us-in-paradise-lost/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=23182 Actor turned writer-director Andrea di Stefano doesn’t yet have a U.S. release date set for his film Paradise Lost, but in the meantime we have a glimpse of Benecio Del Toro as Pablo Escobar, the infamous drug lord in the newly released teaser. The film is told as less of a biopic and more from the perspective […]]]>

Actor turned writer-director Andrea di Stefano doesn’t yet have a U.S. release date set for his film Paradise Lost, but in the meantime we have a glimpse of Benecio Del Toro as Pablo Escobar, the infamous drug lord in the newly released teaser.

The film is told as less of a biopic and more from the perspective of young American surfer Nick (Josh Hutcherson) who falls for Escobar’s niece, Maria (Claudia Traisac), who then takes him home to meet the family. Escobar is a hot topic at the moment with several other projects in production right now revolving around the formidable figure including a Netflix TV show called Narcos.

The teaser is short, but Del Toro never did need much time to lure us in.

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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/hunger-games-catching-fire/ http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/hunger-games-catching-fire/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=16368 Much like its successful predecessor, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire–directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) and based on the book series by Suzanne Collins–features rock-solid performances, great writing, and inventive action set pieces set in a sci-fi dystopia. The Hunger Games was a largely enjoyable and entertaining blockbuster romp, but its sequel betters it in […]]]>

Much like its successful predecessor, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire–directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) and based on the book series by Suzanne Collins–features rock-solid performances, great writing, and inventive action set pieces set in a sci-fi dystopia. The Hunger Games was a largely enjoyable and entertaining blockbuster romp, but its sequel betters it in every respect, a tightly-woven, thrilling, adrenaline-pumped beast of a film with a 146-minute running time that feels like 60. Like a bulldozer, the film plows forward, never stopping, sweeping you up in its sci-fi action clutches and never letting go.

As the film begins, we find our teen heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, the backbone of the film) in a traumatized state after “winning” the last Hunger Games–a Battle Royale-style arena challenge used as a tool of oppression by a totalitarian government called “The Capitol”–for the people of District 12, the place she calls home. She and her friend Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), who represented District 12 with her in the games, found a way for them to both survive the contest, outsmarting the Capitol and irritating President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in the process. The bow-wielding huntress’ cunning defiance has made her something of a symbol of hope for the destitute, violently oppressed districts of Panem. In retaliation, the malevolent Snow has finagled the next games so that Katniss and Peeta are thrown in again, along with other winning tributes from previous games.

As Katniss and Peeta are sent on a Capitol-mandated “victory tour”, paraded around in front of the districts whose tributes they’ve killed in the games, they wrestle with overwhelming PTSD and winners’ guilt (they’re plagued with constant night terrors and visions of death), though they’re forced to feign happiness (and love for each other) when in public. Katniss is reluctant in her new role as revolutionary, to say the least. Disgusted is a better word. Though she’s ignited a spark of revolution in Panem, all she really wants is to keep her loved ones safe and lead a normal life–a fool’s dream at this point, tragically.

The tension is thick and the stakes are sky-high from the opening moments of the film, and the intensity never ever lets up. This is mostly thanks to Lawrence, who sells the gravity and magnitude of the drama every second she’s on screen. With the Capitol bearing down on her and the rebellion holding her up her up, she’s being crushed in the middle, and the anguish is written all over her face.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire movie

In a terrific scene, Katniss stands in front of a district whose deceased tribute was one of her allies in the games. She sees the family of the tribute, and guilt, sorrow, fury, and regret slowly crush the pretty princess charade forced onto her by the Capitol. She gives an impassioned, mournful eulogy of her fallen friend, and inadvertently inspires the downtrodden citizens to show transgressive signs of revolt against the Capitol guards, who respond with lethality. Katniss is dragged away, heart shattered by the consequences of her accidental incitation, and we see her soul break in front of our eyes. The grand, sweeping themes of gender expectations, mental oppression, feminism, and violence as entertainment are siphoned through a relatable, layered, human character in Katniss, and Lawrence gets the message across superbly.

The supporting cast rises to the occasion, too. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, a new, fantastic addition to the cast (no surprise there), plays the new “game designer” (a sadistic position, in the context of these “games”.) Stanley Tucci returns as the absurdly jubilant Hunger Games host, and matching his pizazz is the also returning Elizabeth Banks as the gaudily attired Effie Trinket, Katniss and Peeta’s den mother, of sorts. Jena Malone is a standout as Johanna, an axe-wielding, F-bomb-dropping punk queen who spits in the face of the Capitol.

The love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and hunky huntsman Gale (Liam Hemsworth) is downplayed here, as are the games themselves. It’s appropriate, since the real story here is one of people vs government. Fear not; nearly half of the film is spent with Katniss fighting for her life in the games, but the light of the rebellion and shadow of the Capitol pervades it all. Like the first film, the actions scenes are slick and imaginative, and Lawrence sells the games’ danger just as well as she does the dramatic beats. Francis Lawrence has a good eye for action, and infuses the action set pieces with so much suspense and terror it can feel like a horror movie at times. The set and costume design are also excellent, and Lawrence’s lush visual style magnifies their craftsmanship.

The one major weakness of the film is an unavoidable one: the ending is such a cliffhanger (it follows the book to a T) that it makes the film feel more like an episode than a complete, contained story. It’s noticeably manipulative, but for the life of me I can’t begin to think of an alternative narrative route. This is a series, after all.

Despite sharing a similar narrative structure with the first film, Catching Fire ups the ante and heightens every element of the storytelling, from the drama to the stakes to the performances to the action. All of the elements of the film work so well in concert that it’ll capture your attention entirely, and you’ll forget that it’s a tentpole studio film meant to sell merchandise. It transcends the category of “young adult cash-grab” many are so quick to shove it into, next the Twilights of the world. It’s so much better than that; this is a high-quality science fiction series for a new generation, and it’s one they can be proud of.

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Detention http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/detention/ http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/detention/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=5943 Joseph Kahn, who is well-known as the director of Torque, comes back to filmmaking after seven years with Detention. If anything, Detention could be seen as a second chance for Kahn to prove himself as a capable director after the disastrous reception Torque received. Luckily, Detention (which Kahn funded entirely by himself) is a huge success, and should hopefully break Kahn out of director’s jail.]]>

Joseph Kahn, who is well-known as the director of Torque, comes back to filmmaking after seven years with Detention. If anything, Detention could be seen as a second chance for Kahn to prove himself as a capable director after the disastrous reception Torque received. Luckily, Detention (which Kahn funded entirely by himself) is a huge success, and should hopefully break Kahn out of director’s jail.

The film opens with a popular girl waking up for school and telling the camera everything about ‘being cool’ within minutes. The scene, which is filled with so many pans, zooms, jump cuts and on-screen text, starts to feel overwhelming even before the girl is murdered by a masked serial killer. Afterward we meet the ‘loser’ Riley (Shanley Caswell) and popular kid Clapton (Josh Hutcherson) who are having problems on their own. Trying to explain what their problems are would be a waste of time as Detention’s storyline is a revolving door. Shane and Riley’s friends Ione (Spencer Locke) and Sander (Aaron David Johnson) get into the mix, and before anyone realizes this teen slasher suddenly branches off into dozens of different directions.

Detention movie review

Kahn more or less goes through a checklist of every teen movie staple he can think of, from dance competitions to time travel to Freaky Friday body-swaps to the Breakfast Club style weekend detention that gives the film its title. There’s almost no time to recover from each moment as Kahn immediately moves on to another genre while piling more details on top of the film’s convoluted plot. By the time one character reveals he’s part fly (along with a lengthy flashback explaining his story) everything has gone so far off the rails that the scene gels in perfectly with everything that came before it.

It’s Detention’s pure lunacy that ends up making it such an exciting film. Kahn uses almost every stylistic trick he can think of to match the sensory overload of the main characters’ lives while dripping everything in as many layers of self-awareness as he can. This is the kind of movie where the school’s principal (Dane Cook, not so convincingly playing against type) can look at the production design credit decorated on one of the school’s walls and casually say “This is ugly.” Detention bombards the audience with its hyper stylized A.D.D. visuals and storyline with a giddy, go-for-broke level of insanity behind it that almost every second is captivating to watch. It feels like Joseph Kahn is stuffing every frame and scene to its breaking point.

Despite the candy-coated exterior, Kahn proves himself to be more than a capable director. The casting is dead-on, with its four main leads actually managing to make their characters feel grounded throughout all of the madness. Shanley Caswell and Josh Hutcherson have an early scene together that shows off more chemistry than almost every other recent teen-oriented movie, and a dance sequence set to Hanson’s “Mmmbop” while referencing Dirty Dancing is more fun than it deserves to be. Like Crank, Speed Racer and more recently Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Detention is a film that thrives in pure excess. It may look like a giant mess, but missing out on this would mean depriving yourself of one of the year’s most entertaining films.

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The Kids Are All Right http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/the-kids-are-all-right/ http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/the-kids-are-all-right/#comments Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=1151 The Kids Are All Right is a film about an unconventional family dealing with the struggles of marriage and raising children that any family can relate to. For better or worse the storyline is straightforward and safe, making it relatable but ultimately very predictable. The cast and screenwriting make it interesting enough to watch even though at times it feels like more could have been done.]]>

The Kids Are All Right is a film about an unconventional family dealing with the struggles of marriage and raising children that any family can relate to. For better or worse the storyline is straightforward and safe, making it relatable but ultimately very predictable. The cast and screenwriting make it interesting enough to watch even though at times it feels like more could have been done.

Life is neither perfect nor easy but more specifically neither is marriage. That is the message The Kids Are All Right delivers. Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a happily married lesbian couple who both have teenage children, Joni and Laser, from the same anonymous sperm donor. Nic is a doctor and Jules is currently trying to start up her own landscape design business.

Joni recently turned 18 years old and is spending her final summer at home before leaving for college. Joni and Laser are aware that they are half-siblings from the same father but different mothers and now that Joni is of age to request to get in touch with their biological father, she does so.

The Kids Are All Right movie review

Their father is an easy-going hippie named Paul (Mark Ruffalo) who is in charge of an organic restaurant and garden. He receives a call out of the blue informing him that his two children would like to meet up with him. Even caught off-guard with this news he, as he normally does, has a nonchalant cool-guy attitude about the situation and eagerly accepts the children’s request.

Paul meets up and eventually bonds with the two children. Joni seemed to drawn closer to him than Laser did but I think it would be pretty typical for a 15 year old boy to be hesitant to open up to his father after just meeting him. Nic and Jules soon learn about the children bonding with Paul and are accepting of it although perhaps feel a little uneasy.

After meeting with the whole family, Paul learns that Jules is looking for landscape design work and hires her to do some work. Because Nic is territorial she becomes concerned that Paul is intruding her life. It turns out her instincts were not wrong when she finds out that Paul and Jules have moved on from just hanging out in the garden to hanging out in the bedroom.

The acting performances were solid and earned nominations at the Oscars and Independent Spirit Awards for both Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo. While I understand Ruffalo’s nomination as he does a good job of playing the cool-guy father figure while giving some comedic relief, I do not understand Bening getting nominated for Best Female Lead over Julianne Moore. Moore deserves just as much recognition as Bening if not more for her roles as the heart and soul of the relationship who has her faults.

Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right is a very realistic and honest film, but I felt there could have been more done with the plot. I respect a film that contains as much honesty as this did and I do enjoy loose endings to a film but the emotional connection needs to be strong and deep to really be effective, which is where the film faltered a bit for me.

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