I didn’t like The Diary of a Teenage Girl as much as the critics did. It is good, and well acted, but not ground-breaking or anything. It is a coming-of-age movie about Bel, a 15 or 16 year old girl living with her single mom in the 70’s. The movie starts with her having just lost her virginity, and we quickly find out it was to her mom’s boyfriend. It would be more creepy if it weren’t all her doing, as she made all the moves to make it happen. In teenage fashion she thinks she is now in love and all will be ok, but she has a lot of growing up to do before the end of the film. The movie holds nothing back, it shows Bel experimenting in sex and drugs and trying her hardest to grow up as fast as she can, as we all did at that age. A decent film, just not stellar for me.
Sleeping With Other People is also just OK. Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie are the leads, they lose their virginity to each other in college on a one-night-stand, and years later meet up again. Neither has had a healthy relationship in the intervening time, and set out to be just friends and support each other. Obviously know where this is going. If you like Sudeikis’s humor a la Horrible Bosses (and I do) then you will enjoy this film more, if not, you might almost hate it.
Monkey Kingdom is the latest from Disney Nature films. For animal lovers like myself, you will enjoy this one as you probably have the others. It follows a single community of monkeys in Asia, giving names to individual members and following them over the course of a year or so. It is narrated by Tina Fey, who injects some humor into the story/documentary as well. A short film at under 90 minutes I think, with plenty to like for families.
99 Homes started out great, but fizzled in the end, at least to my tastes. It takes place during the housing market crash in the mid-2000’s, and stars Andrew Garfield as Dennis Nash, who just lost his house to foreclosure, and Michael Shannon as Carver, the greedy real estate mogul gobbling up cheap homes. Nash is broke and trying to support his mom and son, and finds himself working now for Carver, evicting others. The movie is tense from the beginning, as Nash balances his morals with his need to help his family, and the moments when he confronts angry homeowners defending their house are edge-of-your-seat worthy. Unfortunately the ending wasn’t quite there for me, but still a good movie over all.
Freeheld is sort of the opposite of 99 Homes. Most of the film felt uninspired (even if it based on an inspiring true story), but the ending was great. It has Julianne Moore as Laurel Hester, a cop of 23 years dying of cancer, who is trying to leave her pension to her domestic partner Stacie (played by Ellen Page). Taking place in 2005, it brought a heightened awareness to same-sex marriage. I don’t know how much of the film was true and how much was made for the screen, but it was ok overall. Michael Shannon is in this one too as Laurel’s cop partner, and he is good here too, but Steve Carell’s character of a gay right’s activist is a little over-the-top, and I often couldn’t tell if he was trying to be serious or joking. The ending is a little heavy handed but acceptable.
Jons Movie Takes 