#20: It's Kind of a Funny Story...

Wow.

If you saw the trailers for It's Kind of a Funny Story..., you still know nothing about the movie. I decided to see the movie on a whim this weekend after seeing the ads. I was looking forward to a nice, light, easy, funny movie about the obvious comedic opportunities provided by a mental hospital. Fortunately for me (but not for some of the people I saw it with), this movie goes much, much deeper than just Zach Galifianakis goofing off in a straitjacket.

It's Kind of a Funny Story... touches on a whole mess of adolescent issues from self-mutilation to suicide to (shocker:) romance. The movie walked a thin line, presenting itself as a comedy but bringing up suicide and other extremely serious issues, opening the door for a whole lot of tasteless, unfunny jokes. I was impressed to find that no jokes were obviously in bad taste and Galifianakis' character had a serious side, which he played impressively well.

It's Kind of a Funny Story... is much more of an indie teen romance than a Hangover-esque comedy. That said, it was funny and I found myself unable to look away. I genuinely liked these characters and wanted to see what would happen to them, a quality far too few movies have.

I'll let you decide whether or not you should see it, but being a sucker for indie movies and having just come out of those teen years and the depression that came with them, I loved It's Kind of a Funny Story...


Overall Rating: 9.2 / 10


-Taylor Dobbs

#18: American Beauty

American Beauty--as far as dramas go--is the closest to perfect I've ever seen. The brilliance comes in the subtlety, as with a lot of Kevin Spacey films. Honestly, I have nothing bad to say about this movie. I'm sure it could have been improved in various ways, but I certainly am not in any position to say what or where.

The writing in American Beauty, both in script and plot, is brilliant. As a literature nerd and a (very amateur) writer, I couldn't watch this movie without laughing to myself at the perfect imagery the script provides and the mood it sets for the accompanying visuals. Along with the script, the soundtrack of American Beauty is subtle but right on. Unless I was listening for it, I barely knew it was there. It was simply another element of the mood I was feeling.

I'll spare you a plot summary, but only because I want every person reading this post to watch American Beauty and find out for themselves. Nearly perfect.

Overall Rating: 9.8 / 10


-Taylor Dobbs


This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Hands down. I can't get enough of this movie. To be honest, if I haven't mentioned it yet, this is why Kevin Spacey is one of my all-time favorite actors. It's probably a top-five performance. Everything about actor Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham) in this movie is just fantastic, not to mention how hysterical he is. I think almost every time he spoke I pretty much laughed. This movie is greatness. American Beauty is one of the first movies where I noticed how great the soundtrack was and how well the music went with each scene. The script is unbelievable and the directing is genius. Alan Ball and Sam Mendes tag team to make one of the greatest films ever made. Thora Birch, Annette Bening, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari and Chris Cooper collaborate to make an unbelievable supporting cast.


I think one of the best underlying aspects of the film are its symbols. Alan Ball uses the color red throughout the movie to represent characters, moods and settings. In the first scene, we see the bright red door, with a white house with a white picket fence and blue shutters. We see, Carolyn Burnham (Actress Annette Bening,) Lester Burnham's wife, cutting her red roses from her garden. Throughout the film, Kevin Spacey's sexual fantasies are represented with the color red using red rose petals. Kevin Spacey's remote control car that he hit the foot of his wife with was a red car. In an important scene with Chris Cooper's character, in the background is a bright red automobile. This theme continues throughout the movie all the way to its end.

To sum everything up, this movie is one of my absolute favorites. Honestly, nothing bad at all about it. I'd be very surprised if anyone disagreed with me. In my opinion best movie we've seen together so far.

Overall Rating: 9.8 / 10

- Josh Berg

#17: Hannibal

Hannibal is actually one of the most sadistic and fiendish movies I've ever seen. Anthony Hopkins is purely genius in Hannibal; if you've seen Silence of the Lambs, I wont have to tell you that you can expect nothing less than spectacular. Julianne Moore is brilliant as well, while Ray Liotta plays a fellow agent. Surprisingly, Liotta is really funny.

Getting back to the movie, director Ridley Scott helped continue the great tradition of Silence of the Lambs. I think the only other films so malicious and inhuman and so well done are the Saw series. Hannibal may not be as great as Silence of the Lambs, but this is a great follow up and is definitely worth seeing if you've seen the first, shortly after, watching Red Dragon will also continue this gruesome tradition of sadistic killing. Hannibal is just one of those movies you kind of have to see.

Overall Rating: 8.0 / 10

- Josh Berg

Watching Hannibal, I had only ever seen Silence of the Lambs before, so Red Dragon and the other parts of the series are unknown to me. Anthony Hopkins, as Josh said, nails the role. Other than that, I thought the plot was somewhat weak and there was no "holy !@#$" moment in the movie for me.

Hannibal leans on gag-factor to survive, which just doesn't cut it for greatness in by book. Unless you're going to throw a character into a pit of needles or force them to cut off their own leg (as in Saw), that doesn't cut it. So despite a great performance by Hopkins and good work by all of the other actors involved, I didn't love this movie, and it definitely wasn't as good as Silence of the Lambs. It's very possible that--as it fits into the series of Hannibal Lecter movies--this movie is brilliant in ways that I simply didn't notice. This wouldn't be a fault of the movie, but me as the viewer.

Whatever the case, I'm not a huge fan of Hannibal, but it wasn't terrible either.

Overall Rating: 7.2 / 10


-Taylor Dobbs

#16: The Aura

I honestly don't know how we came to seeing this film, I guess it was because I randomly owned this Sundance Film Festival DVD. Ricardo Darin, the lead actor, plays a taxidermist who manages to go with a friend on a hunting trip, which goes wrong.

Throughout the movie, I was saying to Taylor that this movie reminded me of a foreign mix of The Town (#10) and the movie Armored (#12) that we saw. If you haven't realized yet from the poster, The Aura is a foreign film. It does have sub-titles and you will have to read pretty closely because it goes by quickly. I thought this movie was a little odd; it was very scattered to me. I just thought Ricardo's role of being a taxidermist is a somewhat tedious and completely irrelevant.

I did not fall in love with this movie, at times I started to get bored and almost fall asleep. This film was disappointing because I've been sitting staring at the DVD cover waiting to see this movie thinking it would actually be pretty good, but not so much. The ending was atrocious, wait let me rephrase that, THERE WAS NO ENDING! I looked at Taylor when the movie ended and said "Wait did the movie really just end?" I guess that's how the director, Fabian Bielinsky, had intended the film to be. Although, I do want to give this movie some credit for having a potentially good idea, but it didn't pan out the way I would've liked. Honestly, I would most likely pass on it if I had another chance.

Overall Rating: 6.0 / 10

- Josh Berg

The Aura was an extremely unique movie. I don't know if I've ever seen anything even remotely like it. It's an Argentinian film about a taxidermist whose hunting trip takes some unexpected turns. He finds himself in the middle of a network of organized criminals, and the allure of crime keeps him from running away.

The oddness comes in the blatantly unsatisfying ending. Maybe there were more layers of the film that I wasn't tapped into, but it seemed a very strange and lacking ending. I wouldn't say I hated the movie overall--it definitely had a feeling of realness and confusion to it--but I feel like despite  everything, nothing really happened.

I don't regret watching The Aura, but I don't think I'll watch it again either. It's definitely one only to watch if you like subtitles and foreign indie films. If Transformers is your favorite movie in the whole wide world, stay far far away from The Aura.

Overall Rating: 6.7 / 10

-Taylor Dobbs

#15: Cashback

We came to a consensus at midnight last night that we both wanted to watch a comedy, but there's wasn't much that we wanted to see. We were considering Slap Shot, a hockey comedy made in 1977, so I guess I felt it was a little dated and we needed to be more current and watch something completely different, so we decided to go with the movie Cashback.

Personally, I really enjoyed the movie, while to me it resembled three movies in one: Click, 500 Days of Summer and The Machinist. Sean Biggerstaff, who plays Ben Willis, the lead role, reminds me of Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 500 Days of Summer. Throughout the movie, a theme of time manipulation reminded me of Click, and Ben Willis has insomnia, reminding me of Christian Bale's character in The Machinist. The writer and director Sean Ellis did a great job making this film, from the shots to the screenwriting to the whole performance in general. It felt completely different from anything I've ever seen and it was definitely worth seeing. It's a little vulgar but also extremely funny at times. For me, definitely worth the 100 minutes.

Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10

- Josh Berg

I re-shelved Cashback more times than I can remember when I was working at the local movie store in high school. Every time, I looked at the cover and rolled my eyes. "Another movie claiming to be 'artsy' that's just an excuse to get girls naked in strange places," I'd think. A worthy cause perhaps, but it's never produced a good film. Cashback surprised me. While there was a fair amount of nudity, the movie genuinely wasn't about degrading women.

Being a comedy, I expected there to be a fair bit of tasteless, sexist humor in Cashback. But while the movie definitely had a theme of sexuality, it stayed classy with its humor.

I really liked Cashback. The direction was amazing and the humor was spot-on. It was serious enough to get me caring about the characters and funny enough to keep me watching. It was a British comedy with British humor, a type some Americans don't have a taste for (I'm not being a worldly snob here, just telling you that if you don't like British humor, this movie probably isn't for you), but I thought it was hilarious and adorably genuine at the same time.

I recommend Cashback, despite the strange cover art.

Overall Rating: 8.7 / 10

-Taylor Dobbs

#14: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

I walked into this movie expecting something similar to the first - a decent flick. I walked out impressed.

I've liked Shia LaBoeuf since Even Stevens, but here he did a better job than I would have expected with a high-powered Wall Street type. I most recently remember him from Transformers, where he plays a nervous, nerdy high-schooler. Coming out of that to play a tough-talking, motorcycle-driving stock broker was a big transition, to say the least. This is the first LaBoeuf character I've ever seen that is dealing with real adult issues. Money, parental issues, love, and the rest of the wonderful grabbag of responsibilities that come with being an adult change the game for his character, but he didn't disappoint.

I thought the movie was a great, modern counterpart to Wall Street. While it doesn't abandon the plot elements or characters from the first movie, it doesn't get stuck on them either. The grim realities of the modern market play a big role in this sequel, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture of the role banks played in the crisis.

Michael Douglas' return as Gordon Gecko was perfectly played, in my opinion. To say any more might hurt your experience with it, but my advice is this: Go see Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

Overall Rating: 7.9 / 10


-Taylor Dobbs



When I saw the preview for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, I thought it looked amazing. Shortly after seeing it, not so much. To be brutally honest, not one of my favorites this year. I was really upset after I saw this movie. I agree with Taylor; I think Shia LeBouf is amazing at what he does, and Michael Douglas is always going to be great playing Gordon Gekko. The acting doesn't necessarily make the movie great though. I thought it was very similar to the original Wall Street, just updated and somewhat tedious at times throughout the film. I guess it was worth seeing for me, but if I was to recommend a movie out this year, it would most definitely not be this one. If you love the stock market and work on Wall Street, then you'll enjoy it. But like I said, definitely not my favorite. I thought it could have been way more exciting than it was. If you see this and you didn't see the first, you really won't miss much. Only small details will travel a longer way for those who did see the original starring Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas. All in all, slightly disappointed but glad to have seen it.

Overall Rating: 7.5 / 10

- Josh Berg

#8: Session 9

Hm. Weak sauce, in my opinion.

Session 9 is one of those movies that seems like the writer got a single good idea and then wrote an entire movie around it. In essence, the final five minutes had me going "oh, neat," but the 85 minutes leading up to it were boring enough that it really wasn't worth the wait. I guess the only thing I really credit this movie with is a somewhat original idea. Since it came out, a few (much, much better) movies have come out based on a similar premise, so it's possible that the movie was way more mind-blowing when it first came out. Whatever the case, I don't recommend this movie. Frankly, it's not worth any more of your time of mine. You win some and you lose some, but if you spend 90 minutes of your life watching Session 9, you've lost some.

Overall Rating: 3.8 / 10


-Taylor Dobbs

Session 9 was definitely not my kind of movie. I'll start off with the acting; I don't know how many C.S.I Miami fans there are but I also liked that show except for David Caruso and his horribly corny lines. As a supporting actor in Session 9, Caruso didn't win me over. I don't particularly like the directing and I thought most of the film was pretty boring. I almost started to fall asleep because it was so slow (although that's partially because we started the movie after midnight). The acting was so off and it really wasn't what I had been expecting, although I hadn't expected much from this movie to begin with. Session 9 had a decent plot, but everything else just went downhill from there. To be truly honest, you shouldn't see this movie. It's an absolute waste of your time if you do. You'll laugh because you could probably put a better movie together with ten friends and no training. I simply did not enjoy watching this movie. No offense to the director and actors, but definitely not my preference whatsoever. To me, Session 9 movie was an utter fail.

Overall Rating: 3.6 / 10

- Josh Berg

#7: Zombieland

It's a rare comedy that I enjoy enough to watch more than once. Usually, the jokes are tired or the plot is unoriginal. Zombieland definitely isn't the first movie to depict a zombie apocalypse, but the approach was relatively unique. Shaun of the Dead took comedy to the zombie world years ago, but other than that, the niche genre is relatively unexplored (ignoring those zombie movies that attempt a serious, grim view with comical failure).

Woody Harrelson, an actor I've never enjoyed much, took this movie by storm. His role was the perfect addition to Jesse Eisenberg's timid, admittedly wussy character. If this movie had - at any point - tried to take itself seriously, the whole thing would have been lost. The key to Zombieland's success, in my eyes, is that it was always fun. There's never a point in the film where you'd get strange looks if you laughed out loud in a theater, and that makes the whole thing one fun ride.

(Disclaimer: I love zombie movies. Even the crappy cheesy ones are fun. Something about running around a wasteland creatively killing zombies is just awesome to me. If you aren't a zombie flick fiend, read Josh's review for a more objective take.)

Overall Rating: 9.0 / 10

-Taylor Dobbs

The title might turn people away from this movie. Well, at least it did for me in the beginning. I thought it would be another stupid and unbearable movie to see on DVD. After hearing so many people come to me and say "Have you seen Zombieland?" I'd respond with a "No..." I think every person I spoke to said something along the lines of "You need to go see it, it's actually so funny." Well, here I am and I saw it for you. Honestly, Zombieland was really good. I thought it would have a crap plot and horrible acting as most zombie movies have. This one was different; Jesse Eisenberg was hysterical. He puts no effort into being absolutely hilarious, reminding me of another favorite actor of mine, Vince Vaughn. Alongside him, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin tag team to create a posse of funny characters, meeting up along the way with Bill Murray. The premise of the movie wasn't exactly the greatest but the acting really put this movie together and made it very enjoyable for us to watch. It was definitely one of the funnier movies I've seen within the last year or so. I actually do recommend seeing this movie, especially if you like comedies. All in all, a good performance.

Overall Rating: 8.6 / 10

- Josh Berg

#6: Freedom Writers

Freedom Writers is possibly my favorite English/Writing/School movie. It's one of the most inspiring films I've seen. Listen, I'm not going to say the directing is the greatest but the idea of Freedom Writers is brilliant. Even better, it's based on a true story. The first time I saw Freedom Writers, it pretty much brought tears to my eyes because it was unlike any other film and it was just a fun film to follow. The characters really give this movie a whole new way of looking at life. Hilary Swank is unbelievable as usual; this one probably one of my favorite movies of hers. Million Dollar Baby is also at the top of that list, but this was just a movie where she seemed so in touch with the characters, genuinely emotional and comedic at the same time. I thought this movie had tons of potential, although it didn't get much hype after release in theaters. Overall, an amazingly inspiring movie so my suggestion is most definitely go see it.

Taylor is a Journalism major, so watching him see the movie was great. I got the feeling he might like it even more than me. And again, a purely uplifting and inspiring film.

Overall rating: 8.4 / 10

- Josh Berg

In a word: Amazing. In another: Inspiring.

Freedom Writers doesn't have tricky chronology or the direction of an industry prodigy, but it has a hard, subtle, mood. Hilary Swank enters as an underprepared, unexperienced teacher who has only hope on her side. From there, the movie takes a series of predictable turns. Predictability hasn't been a theme in our movies so far, but this one nearly defines it.

Despite its predictability and near-Disney levels of cheese, I really liked Freedom Writers. I'm a sucker for an inspirational story, and one about the power of teaching, and one about the power of writing. So this movie drilled through all of my soft spots and forced me to feel fear, joy, and sadness right on cue. If you hate predictability and don't get suckered by inspirational, lovable characters doing inspirational and lovable things, dont watch this movie. If you do, watch it and love it.

Overall Rating: 7.9 / 10

 - Taylor Dobbs

#5: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Just to let you all know, we decided to go with a foreign film to throw into this 365 mix. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a crime-filled and action packed Swedish film. I'll start off by saying, I did happen to enjoy this film. In the beginning, I wasn't really drawn in because it was a little slow, but as the movie ran, I started to get into it way more. I think the whole concept of the film is really intellectual and fascinating. It's very well thought out and unlike most mystery films. This Swedish film is worth seeing if you have the time. This film is very dark and some may find it disturbing at times but that doesn't make it a movie not worth seeing. It's a foreign film, so it does have subtitles but I don't think that takes away as much as you might expect from the movie. The film, to me, was worth seeing, though I think it would get mixed reviews all around.

Overall Rating: 8.0 / 10

- Josh Berg

Of the films we've seen so far in the 365 project, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is by far the hardest. I don't mean that in the sense that it was hard to understand or I found myself having trouble focusing on it, but it's hard. I've seen this movie from start to finish once, but when we watched this time, I left during parts of it. It has a lot of intense scenes in it and I'm not sure it's for everyone. It's a film that confronts some difficult issues and doesn't do so apologetically.

Despite its darkness, I love this movie. The phrase that comes to mind when I think of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is "the best way out is through." I think that if I stopped watching the movie halfway through, I would not choose to resume it. It's so incredibly depressing and painful to watch, but there is a sense of satisfaction and contentment I get at the end, even though many of the most difficult issues in the movie aren't resolved favorably (if at all).

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is possibly my favorite foreign film of all time (though I haven't seen many) and if you can stand to see a movie with subtitles, watch this (I've also heard wonderful things about the book, by the same title). You'll feel it.

Overall Rating: 8.8 / 10


- Taylor Dobbs

#3: 21 Grams

Image: Salon.com

Wow.

Let's just say Sean Penn is a top 10 actor in my book and 21 Grams is refreshingly unpredictable with the directing! The way Penn pulls off his role in 21 Grams is truly remarkable. This movie is so intriguing from start to finish and may be one of the more depressing movies I've seen. But don't get me wrong, I thought it was very clever and and touching. 21 Grams' director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and writer, Guillermo Arriaga go on to collaborate with their other sophisticated film, Babel (#2). The difference is that 21 Grams may actually make you feel more pain for the families in this movie. All in all, 21 Grams is another must see, and if you like Sean Penn, you can't miss this one.

Overall Rating: 8.4 / 10

- Josh Berg

This was my first time seeing 21 Grams. I expected something similar in tone and composition to Babel, but beyond that, I had no idea what it was about before we watched it. As it turns out, I still wouldn't know what it was about until the end, when the significance of the phrase "21 Grams" is explained. Just like Babel, this movie doesn't make it abundantly clear what its message is. But with the genius writing of Guillermo Arriaga, I knew it was there somewhere.

My only complaint with the movie is that it was slightly harder to follow than Babel as everything played out. This was mostly remedied in the end when everything was expertly tied together.

This one I'll leave to you to figure out, but I will say it was very similar to Babel, and if you liked that film, you'll love this one. The cold, depressing hopelessness that the movie portrays is excellent and - unlike Babel - the film lacks any sort of music in the vast majority of scenes. The end effect is an experience that feels more real and harsh than Babel, and much closer to home. Watch it, love it.

Overall Rating: 8.1 / 10


-Taylor Dobbs

#2: Babel

Watch this movie. If you don't get it immediately, you're in good company.

I first saw Babel a few years ago when it first came out on DVD. It is the third installment in the set of three similar but seemingly unrelated movies (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel) by the writer/director team of Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro González Iñárritu. I watched the whole thing through in my dark bedroom on a Monday night. As the credits rolled, I cried. Unlike other movies, Babel didn't make me cry because of the death of a beloved character or the loss of love. Babel made me cry because it depicted a world that felt so real (not altogether surprising, since it was choc-full of acting talent and the men in the chairs knew their stuff) that so amazingly sad. As it follows its three (somewhat) convergent story lines, each loses its hope and joy. As a viewer, I clung desperately to all of the havens of innocence and happiness in these stories. As the movie unfolds more and more, Arriaga pries all of these bright points of hope away.


My reaction to the movie immediately after watching was that it was pointless, having no concrete point of climax and no single plot element that was the problem to be overcome in the movie. As I sat there crying, the credits ended and the DVD menu came up. When the word "Babel" came up prominently on my screen, I thought about it as it applied to the movie. The apparent disconnect between the three storylines throughout the movie doesn't lend itself to any single title (as James and The Giant Peach did, for example), but as I thought about "Babel," I realized that perhaps the movie wasn't about those characters in those exact places doing those things, but about miscommunication in today's world of mass communications. It seems it should be so easy for any given two people to connect and converse but, for reasons presented in the movie, it's not. Virtually of the tragedies depicted in the film, large or small, are caused by the inability to people and groups to communicate. The powerlessness and frustration I feel as I watch this movie are minuscule in comparison to what's going on in the real world, but I suppose that's the point.


Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10


-Taylor Dobbs


Babel  is a new one I've seen. It's a great movie that really gets to you deep down. In parts of the movie, I said to myself, "Wow, I can't believe something like that can actually happen." Throughout the movie, there were a few different timelines that really kept me interested in each individual's life and experiences. Brad Pitt is just as brilliant in Babel as he is in all of his movies. This movie really expresses the greater details in other people's lives. Throughout the movie, I felt for each character and found myself feeling saddened, but inspired at other moments. If you like movies with a good time line and a sense of togetherness with characters, this is another you have to see. Great screenwriting and amazing directing.

Overall Rating: 8.3 / 10

- Josh Berg

#1: Memento

Memento is a top-notch, backwards thrill-riding hit movie. Guy Pearce takes his acting skills to a whole new level of creativity and brilliance. On the other hand, Christopher Nolan shows his clear and sheer proficiency from start to finish in the film. The acting is phenomenal, the directing is fantastic, the idea and plot of the movie is purely fascinating and it is a hands down must see. I promise you won't regret it and if you love movies that make you think, here's another that should be at the top of your list.

Overall Rating: 9.0 / 10

-Josh Berg

This is a classic. You already know this, most likely, but that doesn't make it a movie worth skipping over in Beantown's 365.

I've seen this move twice now and the magic really hasn't faded. As a premise, this movie could have gone all sorts of ways, but the ingenious writing by Christopher Nolan and the deeply layered writing make it impossible to fully grasp. In the same way Inception bent our minds this summer, Memento takes the filmmakers' rulebook and turns it on its head. It's hard to say much about the filmmaking strategy without taking the fun out of it for the viewer, but I will say that if you appreciated the cleverness of Inception, this one won't disappoint. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's a must-see, especially if you've ever enjoyed anything by Christopher Nolan.

Overall Rating: 8.3 / 10

-Taylor Dobbs