The Way Way Back

The much, much better film in comparison to The Descendants. Its everything The Descendants should have been but wasnt. This is not in anyway dissing Descendants (though I wasnt a fan either) but The Way Way Back is such a little gem and deserves alot more fanfare. Written by the same team and dealing with the same disfunctional family theme but with alot more satisfaction.

Okay, Im probably being a bit biased because I'm a huge fan of coming-of-age movies and this now becoming one of my favourites. The film circles around Duncan (Liam James) as he is dragged on a summer vacation with his mother (Toni Collette) and her mean boyfriend (Steve Carell), who is less than supportive in this growing up stage of his life, labeling him a three out of ten.

The Way Way Back features a stellar cast including Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Liam James, Sam Rockwell, Anna Sophia Robb and Maya Rudolph. 

Each character manages to make a statement and you'll feel and understanding towards them, depsite their little screen time, each bring a little something to the movie. The Way Way Back moves along at its own pace and never falls short of funny and sweet scenes. Its a confident little movie that can definately stand alone without the need of comparisons to Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's previous work. 

 

Its a heart warming movie that manages to bring the joy to a daunting summer vacation and showing that you really can find a family outside of your real family. Although not being an entirley orginal movie in its genre, its definatlry one of the best.

HER

Her is definately one of the weirdest film I've ever watched. It isnt the first movie to be dealing with artificial intelligence in the future and how they can develop 'feelings' through time. What sets Her apart from the rest though, is how it presents a positive human reaction towards overly clever AI's opposed to the usual computers taking over the world and humans retaliating shinanigans.

Theodore Twombly (Jaoquin Phoenix) is a bit out of touch with reality after his recent split from his wife (Rooney Mara) and subsequently adopts a new operating system, Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), eventually falling in love. Going into the movie I was just intrigued to see what extent they were going to take the whole relationship. And its very far.

Watching the movie, its very hard to get around the fact and accept that Samantha can develop such humane feelings but films like 'iRobot' and 'Wall-E' are doing the same thing really. Only they have a physical form making it somewhat easier to accept although it doesnt make it any less weird.

Ultimately the film deals with loneliness at its core. Theodore is a nice guy. He is sweet, sincere and has the capacity to emote so much compassion but still he's alone. You just want to give him a hug by the end of the movie.

Unable to create a deeper connection with anyone other than his ex or his computer. Samantha understands him but is it because she's programed to understand him? Or is she really getting that smart to understand human feelings? The era in which the films is set around also seems more prone to this pandemic as intimate relationships with OS's become more common. Instead of facing reality the world has developed a habit of hiding themselves from any true emotion with the help of advanced technology. Even the characters of Theodores few friends (Amy Adams) seem very stoic and uninterested.

For a movie thats trying to display inadverted emotion it manages to pull your sympathy all the while watching a wrong, cringe worthy relationship that never should have happened which is shot beautifully. A strong cast helps with its engaging story and down-right weird nature which will definately keep a few users weary of its IOS Siri or future iterations.

Inside Llewyn Davis

Set in 1961, New York, Inside Llewyn Davis is story about a folk singer hoping for his big break which inevitably doesnt come.

I watched this movie with my friend who I share quite a similar taste in films with but came out of the cinema with very different feelings. To me, the movie was great on every level from the casting, music and cinemagraphy. But to my friend it was simply "a pointless movie".
And I can see where she is coming from. See, Inside Llewyn Davis doesnt fall into the conventional tracks of a typical hollywood movie and ultimately ends where the film first starts. No happy ending, no climax, no "resolve" as such. And for some thats okay, for others maybe not so much.


Oscar Issac finds the right balance bewtween despicable yet despondent character of Llewyn Davis. Shame there was no Oscar nod.



Llewyn paints a very solemn picture of hope and passion and although based very loosely on a real life character, doesnt ever offer you a point of elation for our dead beat singer. Instead we see our protagnist go through hurdle after hurdle to no fruition. Its sad to watch because unfortunatley, its a pretty accurate depiction of a "loser". He sits and watches his friends success, having to hold back envy as they are the people he turns to for a couch to crash. Takes an exhaustingly long journey in hope for that one chance to no prevail. Cant tell his closest of family that his music is getting him nowhere. He cant even afford a coat. But we are never lead to feel entirely sorry for Llewyn because frankly he's a douche. A douche who knows he's a douche but somehwhere in the back of your mind your sure he doesnt want to be.

The only ounce of joy we get comes when Llewyn finally excepts that he may never get anywhere with his talent which is still depressing in itself.

Inside Llewyn davis also stars John Goodman, Carey Mulligan and Jutin Timberlake.
The later two also contributing to the amazing soundtrack.

This film will most likely make you think again about your own dreams and rethink about actually persuing them. Even though its a bitter pill to take (definately not a movie to pick if you want to brighten up your day) it definatley a movie worth watching even if it does make you think twice about pursueing your own dreams. Its a breath of fresh air when so many movies can suffocate and sugar coat everything: its nice to be brought back to reality, even if it is a glum one.