If this movie had not been based on a true story, I would have given it a meager (we are talking less than 50%) score. Even with it based on a true story, it felt very cheesy, overly sentimental, and had way too much overacting. Its design evoked emotion and tugged at our heartstrings while making us believe that one person can make a difference just by caring. If this story were fiction, it would be utterly unrealistic. And, just because it is based upon a true story doesn’t mean that the real-life events played out exactly as they were 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 know how glamorized Hollywood made it until a few years ago when I was surfing around the Internet and decided to look at 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 by the score of 27-0, I began to wonder what else Disney embellished in the telling of this story. It turned out that they embellished a ton. In case you are curious about some of the other inaccuracies of this movie, check out this link http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/rememberthetitans.php. Even in 2014, when my top four films were all based on true stories, there were some inaccuracies in all four of them. These inaccuracies weren’t to the extent of Remember the Titans, but they also weren’t 100% true (especially The Imitation Game and Foxcatcher). This isn’t meant to blast movies based on true stories. Very often, these are my favorite movies. But now I do know to make sure I check out the facts of each film before I write its review. Now Freedom Writers isn’t nearly as good of a movie as The Imitation Game, Foxcatcher, or even Remember the Titans, but it is based on a true story that seems a little too Hollywood to be entirely 100% true.
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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 that movie this year. My comparison here is to the Brad Pitt/Morgan Freeman gem Seven. It was a movie in which I knew nothing. I had only heard that it was a movie I must see through word of mouth. Seven probably has a place forever reserved in my all-time top 25. That’s how good it was. But I think a lot of this initially high rating was because of how in awe of it I was when I saw it in a such a small, rickety stage theater converted to 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, and one that will stay in your head for a very long time after its viewing. Ex Machina will be hard to beat for the best movie of the first half of 2015.
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Something’s Gotta Give (2003)
Romantic comedies are very rarely my thing. I often try to avoid them like the plague. There are, of course, some exceptions to the rule. If it’s a Rated-R raunchy romantic comedy like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, There’s Something About Mary, etc. I’m in. But those movies have become their brand. Before 1997, you didn’t see movies like this made. I’m talking about the PG or PG-13 romantic comedies. I like Notting Hill, Garden State, and, of course, Groundhog Day. And I think movies like My Best Friend’s Wedding, Hitch, High Fidelity, etc. are serviceable. With Something’s Gotta Give, the film sought me out rather than vice versa. Somehow when I clicked the like button on Netflix, a list of other movies came up, and I guess I clicked on the picture of the film and added it to my list. I don’t remember doing this. So when it arrived and I ripped open the envelope with excitement, a “What the f*** is this?” comment and a look of befuddlement was an understatement. So there it sat next to my television for a couple of weeks. In the back of my mind, I knew I would give it a chance. It did earn high marks on Rotten Tomatoes, and it did have a star-studded cast. It would have a short rope, but it would get a chance. I’m glad I did. It was far from a great movie, but, despite some severe flaws, it was entertaining enough to recommend a watch. With that said, this movie is a one-and-done for me. I won’t ever watch it again. One of the reasons I do this blog is so that I can remember the movies I watch. It is much easier to read a five-minute summary.
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The Harvest (2015)
It’s never really a good thing when your movie is released on Video on Demand the same day it opens in the theater. This is slowly changing and becoming a more accepted practice because it helps some of these independent movies earn more money. However, it still means that regardless of how good a movie is (in any category), it is not eligible for Academy Awards nomination consideration. So if it is a movie that you think will be great, you wouldn’t allow it to be available on OnDemand until after he exits the theaters. With that said, I believe that all those involved with this movie (regardless if you loved it or hated it) knew that it would never be in contention for an Oscar award. This is a movie I would not have seen in the theater, and had it not been on OnDemand at the same time as its theater release date, it would have been a movie that I would have missed altogether. Their release plan was a good one. The film, on the other hand, was meh.
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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 the 95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, I thought was an incredibly dull film and one I had no interest in reviewing. So I was a little uncertain about watching another subtitled movie the next day, but I am happy I gave it a fair chance. It’s a great movie that tells a heart-wrenching and believable story.
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