If this movie had not been based on a true story, I would have given it a meager score (less than 50%). Even though it was based on a true story, it felt very cheesy and overly sentimental, with way too much overacting. Its design evoked emotion and tugged at our heartstrings, making us believe that one person can make a difference simply by caring. If this story were fiction, it would be utterly unrealistic. And just because it is based on a true story doesn’t mean the real-life events played out exactly as shown in the movie. I’ve learned that “based on a true story” differs from “the following story is entirely true.” My most life-altering experience of this is Remember the Titans. When I discovered how many changes were made to make this story a more moving movie experience, I became very skeptical of Hollywood. Keep in mind that, even though Remember the Titans came out in 2000, I did not realize how glamorized Hollywood made it until a few years ago, when I was surfing the Internet and decided to look into the history of Virginia high school football. When I saw that the TC Williams Titans did not beat Andrew Lewis High School in the state championship game 10-7, but rather defeated them 27-0, I began to wonder what else Disney embellished in the telling of this story. It turned out that they embellished a ton.
Category Archives: Drama
Ex Machina (2015)
Sometimes, when you see a movie that you know nothing about, you are treated with an unknown little treat – a film that will stick with you forever. Ex Machina is the movie this year. My comparison here is to the Brad Pitt/Morgan Freeman gem Seven. It was a movie I knew nothing about. I had only heard that it was a movie I must see through word of mouth. Seven probably has a place in my all-time top 25 forever. That’s how good it was. But a lot of this initially high rating was because of how in awe I was when I saw it in such a small, rickety stage theater converted into a movie theater in Lexington, VA, in the fall of 1997. Now, Ex Machina is not in the class of Seven. But like Seven, it is a gripping, carefully scripted movie that will stay with you long after you watch it. Ex Machina will challenge for best movie of the first half of 2015.
Maria Full of Grace (2004)
Joshua Marston’s (The Forgiveness of Blood) Maria Full of Grace is one of the best foreign-language films I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, I watched this movie on the heels of another foreign-language film (A Girl Walks Home At Night), which, despite its 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I found incredibly dull and had no interest in reviewing. So I was unsure about watching another subtitled movie the next day, but I am glad I gave it a fair chance. It’s a great movie that tells a heart-wrenching and believable story.
A Walk on the Moon (1999)
Promises (the only film he has been nominated for an Academy Award) was the first movie I ever reviewed for my blog. It wasn’t the most straightforward movie to review, and I would like to see it again one day and then read what I wrote for that first review, but that will be something that comes later. He’s a solid actor who seems to do fewer and fewer movies each year, but when he’s on his A-game, there aren’t many who are better. I had never heard of A Walk on the Moon before it showed up as a Netflix recommendation. I quickly threw it in the queue, and I’m glad I did. In addition to a fabulous performance by Mortensen, this was a solid movie with one of the significant foundations of human life at the forefront. It’s the most surprising movie I’ve seen this year, and I may have to reevaluate my 1999 top 10 list. This movie won’t be good enough to get on there, but there’s a chance it will. This review may be the deciding factor.
Big Eyes (2014)
Every once in a while, I’ll see a preview for the first time that I have absolutely no interest in. The movie looks cheesy, bland, weird, and so on. But then the film earns a solid rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and I’ll read what a couple of critics who liked the movie have said about it. And then I’ll watch the same trailer again and try to watch it with a different set of eyes. And between my first and second viewing, something convinced me to give the movie a chance. With Tim Burton’s (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) Big Eyes, my chief complaint was that the film would be a little too weird for me. However, after a couple of weeks, I convinced myself I would see that movie. I hoped to catch this one in the theater (generally speaking, I am far less distracted in a theater than at home, but then again, I’m Captain Obvious with this statement). However, Big Eyes grabbed my attention from the get-go and held it through the 1-hour 45-minute viewing.