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A-L-Ourson
Reviews
Get Hard (2015)
A Great Comedy with Vulnerability
I went into this film thinking that it would be just a dumb comedy, which I happen to love; however, the film exceeded my expectations. It does have funny stupid humor, but there is also an unexpected vulnerability in the two main characters.
Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart both portray good guys that are in bad situations. Kevin Hart's character, Darnell, has his own business, but bad credit and lack of savings keeps him and his family living in a rough area. Will Ferrell's character, James, has it all--beautiful fiancée, tons of money, lovely house. Sadly, James is framed for embezzlement and is sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security prison. Darnell, for a price, becomes James' tutor for prison life and hilarity ensues.
Even more than hilarity, James and Darnell start to genuinely care for each other. Their bromance is one for the books. The two actors have great chemistry and an awesome height difference. I would totally watch another movie with these two, especially if Will Ferrell does Capoeira again.
I also give points for originality. I have seen a ton of movies in my life, but none were someone gets tutored for prison. Plus, the tutorial is so elaborate and well planned.
Based on chemistry, comedy, creativity, and Capoeira, I definitely recommend this film!
The Duff (2015)
Great film with believable teen situations
"The DUFF" is great. It tells the story of Bianca, a sarcastic and nerdy high school senior, who finds out that she is the Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) of her friend group. Bianca wears a lot of overalls and flannel. She's an honor student. Her tastes lie in old horror films and wannabe musicians who play with their hair too much. Bianca is cute, but since her friends are model –beautiful and outgoing, she, by default, becomes the DUFF. Hating her newly realized title, Bianca asks the school jock for help. Hilarity, cyberbullying, and unexpected relationships ensue.
Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell do great as the leads. Whitman is charmingly awkward and vulnerable. My favorite line is probably when she comes down the stairs and her mom says "You look crazy," and Bianca replies "Crazy Awesome." I think that pretty much sums up Whitman's portrayal of Bianca—crazy awesome. She has great comedic timing, and she avoids being overly dramatic in her sadness.
Amell plays an equally charming asshole. He is the type of guy who is so cool, whether he is being a d**k or a nice guy, he is always cool. Amell portrays him with a cocky confidence that makes him both attractive and funny. Throughout the film, you can see why Bianca falls for Wesley, even though he does act like a stereotypical jock sometimes.
There is of course a mean girl, and Whitman is the victim of some cruel cyberbullying, but she pulls out of it by owning it. The best part is that Bianca wins in the end by being herself and getting the guy, expected, yes, but who would want it any other way?
One of my favorite aspects of the film is that the teenagers actually speak like teenagers, cussing and all. I find that teenage movies often go in two ways: weirdly dark ones with drastically dramatic teenagers, like" Havoc," or innocent Disney-type films where teenagers speak like they're in the forties. I think this film is a good middle. Not too explicit, not too innocent. Just right.
All in all, the movie is very entertaining, and it did get me psyched and ready to re-read the book.
Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)
"Fifty Shades of Grey": Beautiful People Having Believable Sex
"Fifty Shades of Grey" has been getting a lot of bad reviews, but in truth, it exceeded my expectations. I did read all of the books, just barely, as the third one was a little hard for me to get through. Against books alone, the movie is amazing. The film manages to do something that the books did not: make the characters likable.
Throughout reading the novels, I often wanted to punch Ana in the face. Her "Inner Goddess" and constant blushing, to the point that I thought she might have suffered from some kind of medical problem, grated on my nerves. Not to mention, she didn't own a computer or have email. Seriously, you cannot go to college without email. Not believable in this century. The movie removes that problem by saying that Ana's computer is down. Instead of being a girl from the wrong century, she becomes a broke college student who can't afford new electronics.
Throughout watching the movie, I wanted to hug Ana constantly. Dakota Johnson is officially my new celebrity crush. It was hard for me to understand the novel's portrayal of everyone adoring Ana, as she seemed to be awkward in an unlikeable fashion. In the movie, Dakota Johnson gave me comprehension of how someone could be super awkward but also super f**king adorable. Not only is she drop dead gorgeous with an absolutely amazing body, she smiled and giggled so charmingly, I understood why everyone loved her. I respected her power play during the business meeting, where she just left Christian there (payback for him ditching her after graduation). And her angry and final No! at the end of the movie was far more powerful than Ana's reluctant exit of the book. My favorite scene of Miss Johnson's had to be when she was drunk, I could not stop laughing at how endearing she was.
Jamie Dornan. Hot. Great abs and really nice butt. He is the perfect choice for Christian. I know that fans got really mad when Charlie Hunnam pulled out, but as much as I like Charlie, I think Jamie's boyish personality and looks make him more suitable for the part. Charlie is sexy, that is for sure, but Jamie is kind of sexy/nerdy, making him a more believable 27 year old billionaire. I also liked that Jamie played Christian akin to a commitment-phobe rather than a totally stunted man. Yeah, he is controlling, but Jamie played it up like Christian is f'd up, but also just like your average 20 something year old guy who doesn't want to stay the night at his girlfriend's place. His portrayal was more believable and easier for me to connect to him as a character. I thoroughly enjoyed how he played the sex scenes. I actually saw him clearly as a dominant; he didn't overact the control aspect, he just seemed like the type of guy who would do whatever he wanted in bed and would drive his partner crazy in the process.
There are definitely some faults in the film. Some of the writing is corny, but you kind of have to expect that in a romantic film. In terms of plot, if you already read the book, you know that it is a very basic relationship story, nothing too climactic happens; I didn't mind that because I knew it before going in, but my boyfriend was extremely bored with the film and its two-hour length. I know people complained that the sex scenes were too tame, but I don't actually think that is the case. It was definitely like soft-core erotica, but we still got to see a lot of nudity, and it was tasteful. If I just wanted to see two people going at it uncoordinated and fully nude, I could just watch porn at home.
All and all, the movie was entertaining and even better the second time I watched it because I knew when the corny lines were coming, so it wasn't as comically bad. I can't wait to catch the sequels and see how Johnson's giggly charisma and Dornan's boyish charm add to the rest of Ana and Christian's story.