Review – Boyhood

Movie Title: Boyhood

Director: Richard Linklater

Date Released: August 15th, 2014

Date Seen: January 22nd, 2015

Seen with: Kim

 

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

I decided to see this because of all I’ve heard about it and being nominated for the best picture Oscar.  I’m glad I saw it.  I can’t figure out exactly why I liked it so much, but I did.

We follow a boy, Mason (Ellar Coltrane) throughout his childhood, all the way up to age 18.  The movie could just as easily have been called “parenthood” or “life” or something as similar.  We just mainly see everything through Mason’s eyes in some way or another.  The movie was filmed over 12 years, using the same actors for all the characters.  While it is a bit “gimicky”, it would not be the same movie without this.  You literally see Mason grow up right in front of your eyes.  It makes the movie so much cooler.  It feels like the scenes we see are all a sequence of moments that defined Mason.  When you think back upon your life, you don’t remember every single moment that happened.  You don’t even remember necessarily only “big” events.  It’s just some events that defined you or changed you in some way.

So while the movie focuses on Mason, I found the story of the parents far more interesting – and of course the acting was eons better (though Ellar Coltrane did pretty great). We see Mom (Patricia Arquette) go through a number of husbands, schooling, all while raising her kids.  We see Dad (Ethan Hawke) go from a dead-beat dad playing in a band to a hard working family man.  Since we see the parents over the 12 years, it’s interesting to see the subtle changes in them each year.

Overall, the movie was pretty good, but again, I can’t pinpoint exactly why.  My main problem with the movie is that there is almost no rewatchability.  I can’t really think of a time I’d just pull out the movie to watch, other than to maybe show someone the movie I know would like it.  To me, that is a problem.  However, it’s still a very good movie and a nice piece of art with great directing.

 

Part 2 – In Depth Spoiler Ridden Review

There was one thing I think that either the director got VERY lucky, or was a freaking genius about – and that was the pop culture references.  At the time, you couldn’t be certain Harry Potter would blow up like it it did – so was it an exceedingly lucky move to have them reading Harry Potter in bed one night? What was the scene you DID have in mind instead of the Harry Potter midnight premiere then? It just seems very lucky that some stuff worked out like that.  I also wonder how much stuff landed on the cutting room floor.

 

Overall: 8/10

It’s so good.  You can’t really figure out why, it’s just a good honest movie that is oddly satisfying.  However, there is limited rewatchability in the movie, which brings the score down a little bit for me.

 

Review – Blue Valentine

Movie Title: Blue Valentine

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Date Released: January 24th, 2010 (Sundance Film Festival)

Date Seen: April 26th, 2013

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

If you want to cry all the tears in the world – go watch this movie.  It’s not my normal type of movie, but I’ve been meaning to watch it for a while – especially after having watched “The Place Beyond the Pines” by the same director.  So I decided to watch it and just see what happened.  I was amazed by how much I enjoyed this movie, despite it being so outside my normal genres.  This movie is not one that’s going to have a happy ending, but it is so good to watch.  It is brilliantly shot, acted, and written, it is just a super sad story.  The movie follows a couple, Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) as we watch their current marriage situation – not to happy, things not going great.  We are inter-cut with scenes of both their lives pre-meeting each other all the way up to their wedding day.  It’s brilliantly shot and allows you to understand their story better and better as time goes on (obviously).  The movie opens with a scene that instantly connects you to the family, having you caring about them from the beginning.  It’s exceedingly well done.  The timing of certain events in the present with the events that were cut in from the past were GENIUS.  You will cry for happiness and sadness in the same 10 seconds span.  It’s great.

I think Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams had great chemistry, which makes a huge difference in how the movie turned out.  The scenes where we see them meeting and falling in love are so adorable that you find yourself wishing that you could have that exact same thing. It’s adorable.  The girl who plays their daughter, Faith Wladyka, clearly connected great with Ryan Gosling (we see Frankie way more interacting with him than the mom) and it was great too.  Really just everyone that acted in this movie was phenomenal.

Part 2 – In-Depth Spoiler Ridden Review/Synopsis

There is a good synopsis here.

A couple of scenes early on already had me choked up.  One of them quite possibly made me cry the most was a very happy scene.  When Dean is moving the old man, Walter, into his room at the nursing home. Rather than just willy nilly, quickly unpack the boxes, Dean spends the time to actually set up the room, getting out the little matchbooks and taping them to the walls, putting up pictures of Walter and his wife all over the room so wherever he is, he can see them.  He also hangs up a flag and Walter’s old military uniform that Dean found in a box.  Then, despite being rushed out by his coworkers, Dean still shows Walter everything in his room.  The old man is clearly overwhelmed by everything Dean has done for him, but is so happy and excited.  It was a very powerful scene.  It was one of my favorites.

When Cindy and Dean met on the bus, I thought their interactions were hilarious. I found her child molester joke funny, but then again, I’m a sicko (go to the main page and look at the majority of the movies I watch for evidence).   My favorite scene in the whole movie was soon after that when Dean is playing the little guitar and singing the song to Cindy while she dances.  It was so adorable.  I went back and watched it again later because it was just so dang cute.

I didn’t find the scene in the hotel room hard to watch at all.  And I thought it was clear, that Cindy kind of wants Dean to hurt her, because she is looking for any excuse to leave him.  So then she gets upset when he won’t, because Dean just isn’t that kind of person.  The very next day though, conveniently, Dean is a dick-wad at the hospital giving Cindy a ready made way to ask for a divorce.  I didn’t find her very likable in the later years, but I can see where her stress and frustration was all coming from.

I do not think at the end that Dean was going to leave forever.  Yes, he might get divorced from Cindy, and yes, Frankie is not biologically his daughter.  But Dean is Frankie’s dad no matter what.  A TON of their present day stuff showed the adorable interactions between Dean and Frankie.  I’d like to think that there’s no way he’d abandon her.  If he did, he’d be starting the circle of a child growing up in a broken home all over again (like he had… but a house with fighting parents is what Cindy had).  So, yes, that’s what I’d like to think and I’m not going to change my mind.

Overall: 7.5/10

I highly recommend this movie to fans of Derek Cinafrance, the director, or Ryan Gosling.  If you like dramas, watch it.  If you like really well shot, smart, relationship stories, watch it.  It’s great.  It will make you cry little baby tears, but it will be totally worth it.