Booksmart

Man I wish I saw this in theaters!

This was a great fun movie, I pretty much loved it from beginning to end. So this is Olivia Wilde's directorial debut centered around two teenage girls, Amy and Molly who decide to let loose the night before graduation and move onto college, and I have to say I flippin' love these girls. They're funny, they're intelligent, but they're not sticks in the mud or uptight, they act like teenagers, they can be weird and silly but still have real conversations with their friends. I thought the writing for the characters was incredibly well done, and the jokes and humor made me laugh so hard I sounded like a combination of a bull frog and Muttley from Wacky Races. That hard. No movie has made me laugh that hard ever, but not only did I laugh I got emotionally involved quick. Beanie Feldstein who I already loved in Lady Bird had so much time to shine in this movie, and I enjoyed Kaitlyn Dever from shows like Justified and Last Man Standing so I knew she was going to be a lot of fun in this. They have superb chemistry together and their friendship is one that I've experienced before so I grew attached to them and really enjoyed the ride with them. They mainly are trying to get to one big party but of course it quickly gets derailed and they encounter all sorts of weird people and situations, including one person who might be the best part of the entire movie, I'm not exactly sure who she is but she's played by Billie Lourd and is actually the best running gag I've seen in awhile. She just ends up at all these places way before Amy and Molly do, and she is completely off her rocker and I love everything about it. I will say however I had some massive issues with the movie. Now I'll be perfectly clear, I actually liked the fact that Amy was a lesbian, they don't overplay it and it's just a part of her character and I like that. However! The relationship the movie tries to project is just...wrong. So let me lay this situation out, Amy meets up with that bitchy character in every high school and then they argue about not really knowing each other before Amy kisses her on the lips. Hwhat? Granted she was in a bad place at the time emotionally so I can forgive a stupid decision but then they are about to have sex, and then my contempt grows. The situation ends badly and yet they both kinda want to be in a relationship together and I'm just wondering who thought that was needed in the script. Okay fine, it's a relatively new move I've never seen in a teen movie before, hell the closest we got to innovation was the weird quiet girl hook up with the jock in The Breakfast Club, but it just screams wrong to me. You don't try to screw some **** that you hate in high school, it's a stupid decision and I'd give them about 3 months before they break up. Second and most importantly, the ending. The bombshell drops that Amy will be leaving for Botswana for an entire year before she starts attending college and Molly has to say goodbye to her friend. I was having an emotional meltdown suffering friggin' PTSD from Lost In Translation and Her, to the point where I got so angry it almost ruined the movie for me. I mean, they totally don't just go their seperate ways and never see each other again for a whole year, but it dragged it out long enough to the point where I was legitimately concerned they were gonna pull that emotional card on me. That's how much I loved seeing this friendship between these two girls, I was gonna just flip out over a depressing ending to a fun movie, but the other side to that coin was well they just toyed with my emotions and now they can go to hell. I was seriously that upset, very few movies can make me that emotional but this one did. But I stepped away for a few days and gathered my thoughts, and yes you should see this movie. It is great fun, hilarious, and endearing despite the issues I took with it. Yes the ending made me have a breakdown and the relationship angle was just...are you serious, but it's a good movie perfect for a night in with friends. 3 stars, 7.5/10, go rent it and enjoy yourself.

In Retrospect: Lady Bird

I get it more now on the second go.

Lady Bird is a movie about life, identity, and acceptance. It's a very good movie and that while I feel came just a touch late in my life, in some respects it still holds great truth at this point of my life. And I think this movie could be seen 100 years from now and still hit people close to home. I understood the greater emotion to it all and that's what the movie's drive is, emotion. The character's while still thinking, logical beings are guided and driven by emotion. Christine wants to be recognized as an individual, Lady Bird, and yet falls into following others and not doing what she wants to do until the end. It made me think an awful lot about my teenage years and honestly this movie wasn't that far off, I was emotional, I was trying to figure stuff out, I was not appreciative of certain people and things but I got better at life and not taking things for what they are. The movie is an important movie, and one that should be seen regardless of age or other factors in life. The ending kind of puzzled me the first time seeing it in the theater, she wanted to go to New York, she got there, achieved what she wanted and I thought the credits would start rolling not long after she walked out of the subway station. So why keep going until she calls her mom and then end? It's like in The Graduate how the ending keeps going after a point where every other movie would stop. Well, realizing more of the emotions and motivation for Christine on further viewing made the ending makes sense, she accepts the person she is and not the person she wants to be, she is Christine and not Lady Bird. She accepts it, but still remains who she is almost as if Christine and Lady Bird were synonymous. Now that may seem odd, it's the same person so why act like they are different yet the same? Names are really the most arbitrary thing to a human being besides, well....the human being. She realized regardless of whether her name is Christine or Lady Bird, she is who she is so there was no reason for Lady Bird to still be her name. It's a clever and meaningful ending to her character. I for one am happy to see this movie again and will no doubt give more insight in future viewings.

Lady Bird

You know, for the highest rated and all around best reviewed movie on Rotten Tomatoes.....it was good.

Now don't get me wrong, Lady Bird is a very endearing, very well made, and just plain nice movie, I very much enjoyed the film and thought it was a very faithful and interesting movie that still rings true to late teenage years for most people. I mean the movie can be summed up in about two sentences. Lady Bird is your everyday, ordinary girl mainly living her life. She goes to a catholic high school, makes friends, finds romance, deals with her family, and all around is trying to progress through life. Bam. Easy plot, but so well done. Like, this movie legitamately feels like the life of a teenage girl like she was a real person. Saoirse Ronan is excellent in this movie, and I actually do look forward to seeing more from her in the future, she just nails it in this movie. You feel for this girl, can identify with her, and really wish for her to succeed in life. Now whether this movie can be described as an independent (because I refuse to call it 'Indie') is up to debate, but I love the look of the film. It's very basic in camera movement, but in terms of style, use of color, and environments it gets an A+ very easily from me on visuals. I don't know, for such a simple movie it had so much heart, and intelligence to it, there are few to no cliches in the movie, and honestly I only have one problem with the movie. The ending. Now let me clear this up, not the actual ending. Well....kinda. Basically the movie could have ended perfectly at several different points! Like, there was at least 4 or 5 instances where the credits could have rolled and I would have been very satisfied. But the film just keeps...sort of, meandering on and ends right the hell out of nowhere and it kinda hurt the film. I thought Return Of The King had a severe case of multiple endings disorder, this reaches a whole new level! The movie ends on a fairly basic and just all around "Eh." moment, and it could have done better! Did I still like the movie? Yeah! Do I recommend you watch it? Very highly, yes. It is a very good movie, not perfect, but very well done and an important movie to see, regardless of age, gender, or current standing in life. Will it win awards? Yeah. Do I still love Lady Bird? Without a doubt. But let me know how you thought the movie was, until next time good friends.