The Art of Getting By (2011)

 Freddie Highmore stars in this romance tale as a teenage rebel with no time for textbooks, but when he's given a glimmer of friendship with longtime crush Sally Howe (Emma Roberts), the trench-coated loner discovers that some feelings aren't too trite to explore.

The Art of Getting By seems to be aimed at the same teenagers its two leads happen to be. I won’t say others can’t enjoy it, but it’s definitely catered to a specific audience. It’s a small little indie romance that has a slew of problems but still winds up being enjoyable by the time its conclusion comes around. It feels like your typical indie film, but features two familiar faces that are now all grown up hoping to drift their careers into more mature oriented characters. This is a decent start, but ultimately forgettable.

The film focuses on two high school kids who somehow have their worlds collide, despite being on different ends of the spectrum. It feels a bit cliché at times, and the path the film takes doesn’t help contradict that feeling. A lot of scenarios are taken from a lot of the other films in its genre, but taking the best parts of other films and combing them into one doesn’t mean you’ll have the best movie ever; you’ll just be left feeling a bit underwhelmed by what you see. Despite the cliché storyline, not all of it feels wasted. Its two leads each create a character arc that feels real and goes through a transition that feels well-paced and left off in the right spot. Their relationship takes some ups and downs and while the film shows you how they began, it leaves it up to you where they will go.  There is no over the top moment that usually takes shape in these films. Ironically it seems to be cliché in every spot except the spot that really matters. Maybe that is why despite the numerous problems, it still felt more enjoyable than it was. *I guess I should mention that George never does his homework which is supposed to play a big part in the film, but thinking back on this, it’s just the films ploy to keep it moving forward so he can learn a life lesson.*

Freddie Highmore is all grown up now. Many will recognize him from family fun fare like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Spiderwick Chronicles, but here he’s graduating high school now. He plays a very depressed kid that can be annoying at times His childish look may end up being his downfall, but he shows for a few moments that he can lead a film; His chemistry with Emma Roberts is great. Moving into Emma Roberts, she seems to be comfortable playing the cute somewhat depressed girl role well and hopefully these performances lead to bigger things for her. She seems to have some of the same talent her Aunt once had rising through the levels of Hollywood. I hope to see these two in more films in the future.

The Art of Getting By almost feels like it’s not worth mentioning. It never does anything to bedazzle you, it doesn’t do anything new, and it doesn’t feature great acting. It’s just a film that you may enjoy in the time you watch it, but never think about it again. If your into indie romances, you might want to give it a shot, but otherwise you’ll probably want to stay away from this piece of work. It probably isn’t for many.

Overall Score: 6/10

The Change-Up (2011)

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50/50 (2011)

 Adam (JGL) is a 27 year old writer of radio programs and is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. With the help of his best friend (Seth Rogen), his mother, and a young therapist (Anna Kendrick) at the cancer center, Adam learns what and who the most important things in his life are.

50/50 had to clear some big hurdles to finally make it out to the theater because its subject matter was a fairly hard sell on its audience; how exactly do you market a comedy centered on a battle with cancer? Thank the movie gods that Summit Entertainment took the chance to get it out there because the movie is just a phenomenal piece of work. It does a great job of mixing in serious heart-felt moment’s in-between a slew of comedy to keep your experience constantly bouncing around. At its funniest high, you’re out of breathe and at its saddest, tears are rolling out. It’s a perfect mixture of everything you want out of a film.

 The film jumps rather quickly into the whole cancer disease, which benefited it tremendously as it allowed the film to take its time through the entire process and see all the ups and downs Adam (JGL) goes through. It well paced to make it feel funny, sad, and most of all real. This is a man who did everything right in the world yet somehow developed cancer. He doesn’t deserve this, so you want him to kick cancers ass and pull through. It’s a roller coaster of a journey that leaves you knowing you just watched something special.

Joseph Gordon Levitt’s has taken a much more unappealing way to fame, but through great performances in tiny indie films, he has created a huge fan base that goes bananas over anything he does. I know because I am one of them. I can say with some good confidence this is the best work he has ever done to date. He takes the character Adam and runs away with you. The entire film, he attempts to hide his emotions from everyone as to not burden them. That’s just the type of guy he is, but in those moments of helplessness, JGL lays it all on the line and pulls at your heart. The dude had me in tears, making me feel vulnerable to pain. Simply Amazing. A lot, but not all of the comedy, comes from Seth Rogan. It is his usual raunchy comedy, but it feels right in this film. He feels perfectly casted as the best friend who loves him but doesn’t show it type of guy. So even if you’re not a fan of his comedy, you’ll still find it enjoyable here. Throw in a small, cute, important role by Anna Kendrick and you have a winning cast.

50/50 shocked me. I knew it was going to be funny, but didn’t realize it’d be hilarious. I knew it’d be sad, but never thought I’d be tearing up. I knew it was going to be good, but never this great. It’s the surprise hit of the year and will end up being one of the best films you see this year. I couldn’t be any more thankful to see these two months early, but it is truly terrible that I have to wait another two months to watch t again. It’s just one of those films. Don’t hesitate and go watch this that Friday it comes out, ou’ll love every second of it.

Overall Score: 10/10

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

 Marvel launches another super franchise with this action-packed origin story, which follows Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) as he volunteers for a secret experiment during World War II. Transformed into a superhero named Captain America, Steve goes after the Axis. With his perfect physique and heightened reflexes -- and his sidekick, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) -- Steve battles the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), a super soldier created by Italian fascists.

When Marvel announced that they were establishing one universe connecting all of its heroes to form The Avengers, many people didn’t think it could be done. Yet here we are with one last movie to go before the big payoff comes through and they have done exactly what they said they were going to do and they got fanboys salvating at the mouth. But before we can get to The Avengers, first there is Captain America. It was one of the best marketed blockbusters that made it seemed poise to take the crown for best comic book movie of the year away from X-Men First Class, but as we know about Thor, the footage can be deceiving. Thor had a terrible looking ad campaign, but wound up being fantastic. It’s the exact opposite for Steve Rodgers and company.

It starts off fairly well, before Steve Rodgers undergoes his transformation. It quickly does a good job of setting up his personality, his resistance to run away, and the inner strength that makes him the perfect candidate for the super soldier experiment. The problem is we don’t see enough of it. This is the first of many times the film feels rushed. After he does his transformation, the film throws in a creatively unexpected sequence showcasing the Captain as a walking ad to support the war. It feels out of place yet perfect role that showcases the characters past life as a weak powerless man. All of this feels as if the film is headed to somewhere special, but once he dons the suit and takes the frontline, things get really messy, cheesy, and just plain boring.

Every single one of Captain Americas battles goes as follows: running through the door, throwing shield, shooting bad guy, deflect bullet, all to the fine viewing of slow motion. It got extremely boring fast. It probably had to do with the Hydra soldiers being duller then the stormtroopers from the star wars saga. They acted as if they had never gone into battle or didn’t have ultra-high tech weapons that would overwhelm any other army. I think just seeing Captain in action would be good enough, but it wasn’t. You have to put some kind of face to the enemy otherwise it just turns into one long blur. The nemesis to him, Red Skull, was much better than previous Marvel villains aside from Loki. They dwelled just deep enough to understand that he had higher ambitions than Hitler and wanted the world to bow down to him as the god he was. His motivations were high, just poorly executed in action.

Almost as perfect as Downey was for Tony Stark, Chris Evans feels right for Steve Rodgers. He is never really the problem with the film. His charming usually cocky smart remarks and gone and instead turned into a underdog turned winner who has a massive heart who just wants to feel a sense of purpose. It’s a role that Evans has never done before, but accomplishes much more than that here. His love interest, Peggy Carter, is nice to look at from the neck down, but ends up proving she is nothing special and isn’t worthy of the Captain; All around terrible role and even worse dialogue. Huge Weaving tries to do much more with the Red Skull role, but his character isn’t given enough to screen time in the right moments. He’s supposed to be a genius, yet seems to stand around doing nothing at the most inopportune times. As for everyone else, they pretty much turn in forgettable roles in the grand scheme of things. Not a signle one seems to stand out to even be worth mentioning.

The final big superhero film comes to an end with a big wave of disappointment as both Green Lantern and this proved to but bad to forgettable. This seems to help set up the Avengers far more than any other film, but the terribly written world war 2 story seemed to make it never feel quite right and ends up being Marvels worst adaption to date. It never seemed to live up to the potential, but I fault The Avengers for that because the film had a predetermined fate far before it even began filming. With that, despite the medico of this film, I would still feel a sequel could end up being fantastic in the modern world with a rare chance to start over for scratch since a slew of new characters would have to come into the mix due to the vast time jump. If you decide to see Captain America, go in knowing full well it’s not very good but is still important in the large scale of things.

Overall Score: 5/10

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

When Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) discovers that his wife (Julianne Moore) wants to end their marriage, he reluctantly faces the unwelcome prospect of single life with the counsel of the younger and smoother super-bachelor Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling). Meanwhile, Cal's adolescent son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), has formed an unquenchable crush on his 17-year-old babysitter (Analeigh Tipton) -- but is she more interested in Robbie's recently unwed father?

There is a line of dialogue in the film that reads, “Go Big or Go Home!” Well Crazy Stupid Love is as big as they come in the romance genre. You may walk in thinking it may be ordinary, but it will be impossible to walk out and not say you didn’t love the film. It is the best romantic dramedy I have ever had the pleasure of seeing and other films will have a very hard time of topping it in the years to come. I walked in with the highest of expectations and not surprisingly the film still managed to blow me away with everything it threw at me.

The typical story that comes along with these types of films are sort of threw out the window. It consistently twists your emotions to the point your laughing one moment and the next your feeling sorrow for these characters. The film takes its time to develop nearly every character and make you feel attached to them to the point you want them to be happy; you want the best in the world for them. The miniature twists the film takes is where it excels. When you think things, generally you’re wrong and the film turns on you. It’s this fantastic style of writing that turns repetition into this fresh product you think you have never seen before even though you’ve seen it countless times. This is the type of film where the risks paid off and everything came together so smoothly, you don’t even care that the ending was probably what you thought it was going to be. It never feels rushed and its climax had my jaw on the floor from both shock and laughter. It was one of those rare moments that will be imprinted in your head and when briefly mentioned, you’d immediately know what film is being discussed. Every film in this genre should take notes and strive to reach the ambitious heights Crazy Stupid Love achieved.

It all is mute though if the characters aren’t portrayed well, even the greatest written character can become corrupted with a wrong take on them from the actor, but every role was nailed to a tee. Steve Carell who started off poorly in thee leading man role fits in comfortable in his best film to date. He plays the average looking slow talking fatherly figure well and thrives with his character. It’s one of the rare times he doesn’t come off as fake trying to force a laugh out of you, instead playing it subtle and as real as possible. Simply fantastic here. Ryan Gosling on the other hand takes a dramatic shift in roles as he takes on his first comedic role. As the ladies’ man he sizzles up the screen and gets more than his share of laugh, but still manages to be at his best when his character takes a more serious turn in the film. It’s great to see Gosling in such a different manner and actually seeing his character have fun in the film for once. With this being first of three highly anticipated films for 2011, he’s off to a tremendous start already; this is his year. As for the rest of the cast Julianne Moore plays a woman you should hate but simply is too likeable to do that, she continues to be her expectable self. Emma Stone feels a bit lost in the midst of things but when they ask for her to step into the spotlight; you understand this girl will be a leading lady in Hollywood for many years to come. She’s simply terrific for her age. The film even manages to actually have substantial child role that now only gets a good amount of laughs out of you, but never gets annoying.  It may seem small but the kid seems to prevent holes in spots that matter. Simply put, this is an ensemble cast that feels just absolutely perfect.

Crazy Stupid Love is about as close to perfect as you’ll ever get in the romantic comedy genre. You’ll want to rewatch it when its over and continue to watch it every few weeks. If you had any doubts that the film looked like a chick flick, I can tell you with a guarantee, it will be one of those films everyone mentions years from now when highlighting the best films of 2011. Do yourself a favor and make sure you do not miss out on this film; it’d be a huge mistake on your part. That goes double for all the Gosling fans out there.

Overall Score: 10/10

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (2011)

 In the second installment of the two-part conclusion to the überpopular Harry Potter series, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his best friends, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), continue their quest to vanquish the evil Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) once and for all. Just as things begin to look hopeless for the young wizards, Harry discovers a trio of magical objects that endow him with powers to rival Voldemort's formidable skills.

In the second part of the epic conclusion of the Harry Potter series, no fan should walk away feeling cheated. It pulls at your heart when it wants to, it keeps you holding your breathe when it wants to, and it throws a slew of epic battles at you when it wants to. They key there is when it wants to. All of that material comes easy when your seven films deep into a series and the audience already has established many bonds with all of these characters. Often times the film seems content with showing just enough to evoke a reaction out of you rather than going above and beyond. It would have been more work, but would have ended up paying off at the end of it all. And for a film that was broken into two parts and accumulated nearly five hours of footage, they still seemed to rush crucial scenes that shed new light on characters. It’s a major disappointment for me because it they happened to be my favorite parts of the series.

After getting my little rant out of the way, the film started off a bit slow and clumpy, but as the film progressed and moved into Hogwarts things kicked into high gear. A giant battle between wizards begins to take shape and people die. For the first time, viewers understand that anything can happen now; nobody is truly safe (unless you’ve read the book obviously).  The battle scenes consist of plenty of explosions and a wide range of colorful spells flying around all over the place. It’s the magical version of a war epic. Amidst all this chaos, you have the trio scrambling to find parts of Voldemort’s souls stored away in objects waiting to be destroyed. It really slows the pacing down but is a requirement the film simply cannot skip over. When the film comes to its epic showdown, thankfully the corny dialogue is cut and it’s simply the two doing a battle to death. The only complaint is for an hour long battle it sure seemed to end awfully quickly; I’m sure they could have squeezed a few more minutes out of it. It’s a triumph ten years in the making and his end comes with a smile. The first part will be the best in the series for me, but I know for many this nonstop roller coaster of a finale will leave the lasting impact many have come for.

It’s truly shocking looking back and seeing the cast of it all grow up from little children into young adults. Seeing how they started and what they have become is fascinating and all three of the gang hopefully can move onward from this and become their own person with the impressive talents they have put on display these last four films.

With the Harry Potter series coming to an end as the most successful series ever on screen, I feel a part of me feels numb. I have grown up with these characters, with these books, and how they have translated on screen. As I matured so did the material and the films. They were in a rare breed of getting better with each film and we will probably never see something of this scale again. It’s a true treat to have grown up during this time period because watching them over real time rather than all at once is something that simply cannot be duplicated for future generations. This is a series that will stay forever with its fans. Now that the journey is finally over, we can only look back and admire what Warner Brothers, JK Rowling, and the cast involved in the series were able to accomplish. I for one will miss them, but thankful for what we have received.

Overall Score: 8/10