American Beauty (1999) – A Review

American Beauty is a good movie. The five Oscars it won in 2000 will tell you that, but I am not smart enough to tell you why it is a good movie. This is the kind of movie that when you watch it, you know you aren’t getting everything. There were blatant metaphors and feelings that come with being older and wiser. As a nineteen year old, I am neither old enough or wise enough to tell you in detail everything that this movie has to say.

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a middle aged man going through his mid-life crisis right before he dies. Unlike most stereotypical mid-life crises, Lester develops a crush on his teenage daughter’s best friend, and she is the driving force in his quest to become someone she’d want to have sex with. For months Lester is throwing away all of his adult responsibilities and reverting back to who he was as a teenager, which includes smoking pot and flipping burgers, leaving his wife to take care of all the house and the family.

Most of the subplots in the film involve Lester’s wife and daughter starting new relationships with people they probably shouldn’t be with. This strongly mirrors how Lester views his life has been for years: something is out of place. His newfound drive to win over his daughter’s friend Angela, (Mena Suvari) causes the audience to have emotional conflicts because Angela is underage, but Lester is happier than he has been in a long time.

American Beauty is a movie that is very enjoyable to watch the first time, but to truly understand all of the film’s complicated messages about love and finding yourself, it requires multiple watches. The movie absolutely deserves all the Oscars it won in 2000.

9/10

One Day (2011) – A Review

Let me start this review by saying that I am a sucker for a good romantic comedy, and One Day is a romcom that I have been wanting to see for the past three years. Finally I sat down to watch it, and I loved it. The film took my emotions and played with them in the same way it plays with time. After I thought there could not possibly be a satisfying ending, Lone Scherfig (director) brought me back from the depths of sadness to a level of content that I did not think was possible. In short, I highly recommend One Day.

The clever idea for the plot of this film comes from the writer David Nicholls who decided to only show us the lives of Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess) on one day every year, July 15th (St. Swithin’s Day). Yes the plot is somewhat predictable; nerdy girl falls and extroverted boy decide they should remain friends rather than pursue a relationship. However, I argue this is not a bad thing because the film allows us to see the parallels between chasing impossible dreams.

Emma and Dexter graduate from college in 1988 with big dreams. One wants nothing more than to be famous, Dex, and the other wants to publish her writings, Em. Without a booming writing career, Em, has to resort to other methods to make her way in the world while Dex uses his charisma to skyrocket to the top. Hathaway demonstrates the frustration most feel when striving for what they want more than anything in the world with little proof that it could happen, and Sturgess shows the struggles of living the easy life.

Does One Day have problems? Absolutely. Some of the dialogue is cheesy, and Emma’s obnoxious, stand-up comedian boyfriend is nothing but a way to show the audience how great Dexter is. But I was swept away by this film, and the ending is a lesson, I didn’t expect to learn from a romcom.

8/10

Hollywood, Here I Come

First of all, welcome to my slice of the internet. My name is Emma. If you are one of ten people that managed to stumble across my videos on Youtube who don’t consist of my family or college friends, I totally have a friend crush on you. Thank you for clicking on this blog.

I’ve got a naive dream that one day I will be able to make movies that show people that there is good in the world underneath all the rubble. I’ve been dabbling on all the social media sites I can handle to try and see what I want to become one day. It is entirely possible that I will abandon my drive and stay within my daydreams when it comes to these projects, but right now I am way too focused on becoming involved in the movies, like tons of other college kids with big eyes focused on Hollywood. I believe that I am different from the rest.

See you at the movies
-Emma