Quick takes on 5 films

Z For Zachariah is about as slow of a movie you can find, it will test your patience. Not to say it isn’t good, because it is, but I think a lot of viewers will struggle with the pace. It features just 3 actors, all good in Margot Robbie (from Focus), Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Chris Pine. Margot’s character is living alone in a valley untouched by a vast nuclear war that has killed just about everyone. One day Chiwetel’s character arrives, he has been looking for a safe place to live and traveling around in a hasmat suite and relying on meds to keep him alive. He survived the war in a bunker but ventured out when loneliness got to be too much. He and Margot settle in together and are just starting to get comfortable with each other when Chris’s character shows up, a brash young man who seems to have secrets. Live is now a little unsettled and Chiwetel clearly does not trust the new man. I love post-apolyptic movies, so I admittedly probably like this film more than the average person, but it is very well acted and tense, if quietly so.

There is nothing quiet about Furious 7. These movies are ridiculous from the beginning, and this one rachets up the craziness to a whole new degree. When cars are driving out of planes, or crashing through windows from one high-rise building to the next one, subtle is not a word that comes to mind. The whole team is back together again, for Paul Walker’s last ride, with a new villian in Jason Stathum. It is eye-rolling worthy, but it is a glorious action packed film. Not sure how they are going to top themselves in the next one, they are going to have to go to the moon or something. The ending is well worth the ride too to say goodbye to Paul.

Testament of Youth is another movie not for everyone. It is a British period drama, so it is quiet, slow, and well acted, with beautiful cinematography. Mostly a dialogue-driven drama, it is based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain. It is a rare woman’s look at World War I, at a time when women were struggly to be heard. Vera struggles to get into Oxford, but no sooner is she there that she leaves to follow her fiance and brother to the war, to be a nurse and do her part. Nothing seems to go as planned though, and instead of saving British lives, she ends up in a unit saving wounded enemy Germans, which gives her a unique perspective on the war and humanity in general, ideas that will stay with her throughout her life. Again, you have to patient for this one, but worth it for film lovers, and especially those like myself that like biographical films.

Digging for Fire includes a who’s who of actors that love doing small indie films, including Jake Johnson, Brie Larson, Anna Kendrick, and Sam Rockwell. In it, Tim and his wife Lee are house-sitting a huge mansion for a couple weeks, and on one particular weekend they split up to do different things. Lee takes their daughter and goes to her parents house, and ends up at a bar flirting with a stranger. Tim stays at the big house and invites a bunch of friends over, who bring girls along, and Tim ends up spending the day with one of the girls. The basic premise of the film is each other’s weekend-long emotional affairs, and where that leaves them in the end. A weird film, with some of the quirky strange dialogue that some indie films are known (infamous?) for. Can’t say I didn’t enjoy, but not sure I’ll remember much about it a year from now.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is another indie release, with a bunch of unfamiliar faces. The “me” is Greg, and the film is told from his perspective. About to graduate high school, he has spent his life hiding from real relationships. He doesn’t get close to any one “group” (drama club, nerds, dope heads, jocks), but instead offers passing greetings to everyone and doesn’t piss off anyone. He even goes so far as to each lunch alone rather than in the lunch room, so he doesn’t have to pick a table to sit at. His one friend is Earl, with who he makes silly home-made movies. When a girl at school, Rachel, is diagnosed with cancer, Greg’s mom forces him to go over to her house and spend time with her. He does it reluctantly, not because he is weirded out about the cancer, but just because he doesn’t want to get close to anyone. The movie is the rest of the trio’s story, with Greg doing a lot of growing up along the way. I really enjoyed this film, and you just have to watch it to see how it ends!