The Edge of Seventeen

First Hit:  This is a wonderfully full and expressive film about growing up.

The opening scene sets the stage. Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) bursts into Mr. Bruner’s (Woody Harrelson) classroom at lunch, sits across from her teacher and tells him she’s going to kill herself. His response is priceless as is most of his dialogue with Nadine.

As the audience starts to understand her current crisis, you see that she doesn’t think much of herself, has very low self-esteem, and the film shows a myriad of scenes being alone through childhood. Her best friend, as a young girl, is her father (Tom – played by Eric Keenleyside) who can make her laugh and see the bright side of things. And if all else fails there might be a cheeseburger in her future.

Finally, she meets Krista (Haley Lu Richardson) who becomes her fast-best friend. They do everything together and the scenes of her father watching Nadine and Krista exploring the world together makes him extremely happy.

Unexpectedly her father dies and Nadine takes this loss very hard. Her mother Mona (Kyra Sedgwick) and brother Darian (Blake Jenner) become Nadine’s foils and rescuers. Darian is a perfect son, excels in everything thing he does, and shows up to his family in every crisis. It is a lot for a young man in high school. Mona, does her best as a slightly scattered mother, holding down a job and being head of household.

Nadine is socially awkward and the scenes where she attempts to connect with others are wonderfully staged. Krista helps her to smooth out the rough edges and accepts her fully, but when Darian shows a romantic interest in Krista, Nadine falls apart. She cannot stand her perfect brother in his perfect life and now he has her best friend as well.

Have you ever accidently sent a text you didn’t mean to send? The engagement of this and other angst stories, real or not real, are part of the fascination of this film. One thinks that Mr. Bruner may not care, but that isn’t true. The belief that Darian has a perfect life, gets tossed in the air as he goes to rescue Nadine and their mom, yet again. Krista must learn to accept and balance her friendship and love interest with non-attachment and acceptance. And of course, there is Nadine, who slowly learns to see the coolness and honest sweetness in Erwin (Hayden Szeto) as he shows her his interests in life.

Steinfeld is utterly fantastic. This is her film and she is “The Edge of Seventeen”. She may get an award nomination for this role and in my book, she earns it. Harrelson once again shows why he is one of the very best character actors we have today. He’s perfectly poignant in how he can be perceived as not caring, but really does care. Keenleyside is wonderful as Nadine’s dad in this brief but effective role. Richardson is wonderful as Nadine’s best friend. Loved the balance and acceptance she brought to the character. Jenner is equally wonderful in his role as the brother. He’s committed to his family and yet he’s striving for his life as well. Sedgwick is perfect as the harried loving mother who is doing her best to survive tragedy of loss and hold her family together. Szeto is an amazing find and gives a wonderful performance as another socially awkward young man trying to find his way. Kelly Fremon Craig wrote an amazing script and, with a great feel for the angst of a young teenager, directed this fantastic cast to deliver a great film.

Overall:  I was really taken away in this coming of age story.

Pitch Perfect 2

First Hit:  The upside was the music the downside was the comedy, which was sophomoric, staged, and unnecessary.

I’m not much for musical films but when done right as part of the plot it can be good. The singing here was very strong and some of the representations of current and older songs were fun to hear. Unfortunately the part of the plot that didn’t work was the staged comedy scenes.

Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) rowing across the lake, Fat Amy hanging from the middle of the stage and her costume rips. Yes the screenwriters and director used this to push the plot in a particular direction but the women in the film are too old and too smart for this sort of plot.

The only actress that seemed to fit age wise for college was Emily (Hailee Steinfeld). Beca (Anna Kendrick) sang well but I couldn’t help but think she wasn’t really interested in the role. The silly scenes of her being pulled up into a tree on the retreat or her unintelligent comebacks to Chloe (competitor lead singer) weren’t in-line with her, the depth of her character or the film.

Kendrick is a very strong singer and it is unfortunate that the screenplay had her underplay her skills. Wilson is hard to watch. Her voice is mediocre compared to the rest of the cast (occasionally flat or sharp) and having her be the brunt of the humor because of her size is type casting and unfortunate. Steinfeld was good and seemed to be the only person who was age appropriate for the part. Kay Cannon and Mickey Rapkin wrote a very poor script and the story they created to put the Bella team into a situation where they had to sing well to get their reputation back, was lame. Director Elizabeth Banks didn’t make this film stand out but she wasn’t given much of a script to work with.

Overall:  This film probably didn’t need to be made and there better not be another.

Begin Again

First Hit:  Thoroughly enjoyed Keira Knightly’s role and character – she made this film work.

There are a number of scenes in this film in which Knightley shines, one is when she sings the first song in the alley way. Another is when she connects with Dan’s (Mark Ruffalo) daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld). There is an infectiousness light that exudes from her.

Basically, Gretta (Knightly) is in New York to support her singer boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine). She is also a songwriter and has penned and partially penned some of Dave’s hits. He gets caught up in being famous and cheats on Gretta. Dan, who is a down on his luck alcoholic record producer walks into a bar and hears her sing a song.

What I loved about this scene, and others in the film, is that the audience gets different views of the same scene, which show a different perspective – wonderful direction. Dan hears her song fully produced and even through his drunk state, you get this is a great song. Their relationship helps them both grow as people and in their professions. Another wonderful relationship in the film is Gretta’s with her old friend from London - Steve (James Cordon). He’s in New York trying to make a living with music and the way he openly reaches out to Gretta is beautiful.

I felt the direction; especially the use of seeing the same scenes from a different point of view was excellent. This technique wasn’t over used and added to the “setup” of the characters.

Knightly shines in this role and her singing was delicately very good. Ruffalo was good, and as the film progressed his engagement with making the music was really strong and I grew to care about his character – which was the point. Steinfeld in her limited role was very good. Cordon was very good in his supporting role. Levine was OK as the character and better when he sang. Mos Def as Ruffalo’s business partner was a great casting because he embodied the role he knows so well – producer. Ceelo Green as a friend of Dan’s was also a great casting because he brought an amusing yet sound viability of Dan’s role in the film. John Carney wrote and directed this film and some of his scenes were really wonderfully shot.

Overall:  This was a really nice film to watch.

3 Days to Kill

First Hit:  Parts were really funny; some were really unrealistic, but overall it was entertaining.

Does the CIA really have agents that act and look like a hooker that drive around in an Audi R8 sports cars? I doubt it. But here the head agent Vivi Delay (Amber Heard) charged with killing “The Wolf” (Richard Sammel) gets to do this and more.

The plot is a bit convoluted with “The Albino” (Tomas Lemarquis) and some other characters who work for The Wolf while he’s trying to sell a dirty bomb. To get the job done Vivi hires Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) who is a veteran at killing people for the agency. He’s grizzled yet he’s got a soft spot for his daughter Zoey (Hailee Steinfeld) whom he hasn’t seen since she was a small child.

Each year he contacts her on her birthday but that’s it. He’s fighting what he thinks is a cold but discovers he’s got cancer and only has a few months to live. With this news he wants to spend more time with his daughter and wife Christine (Connie Nielsen). Both are reluctant to have him back in their lives while Christine makes him promise to quit doing jobs for the Agency. But Vivi hooks him in by offering him a unclassified drug that might extend his life a bit.

The funniest part was when he and Vivi are trying to decide which guy in the room is The Wolf’s accountant.

Costner is fun, craggily, physical and smooth. I enjoy watching him use his experience in these parts to make them work for the audience and story. Heard is quirky and electric as the agent. Steinfeld is very good as the daughter who is trying to figure out if she cares, why she cares, and how to express her mixed emotions. Nielsen is very good as Costner’s estranged wife. Adi Hasak and Luc Besson wrote an unbelievable script but in the end it worked. McG (Joseph McGinty Nichol) directed this and cannot figure out what impels him to use “McG” as his name, when the film pretty good – don’t we want to know his name?

Overall:  I was entertained throughout this implausible story.

True Grit

First Hit: A different and powerful version of a wonderful western story.

Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn a rundown US Marshall who drinks way too much, is a great shot and is not afraid of any man.

He is hired by Mattie Ross (played by Hailee Steinfeld) a 14 year old girl whose father was shot by Tom Chaney (played by Josh Brolin). Chaney has run off into an Indian reservation. Mattie is headstrong and from the moment the film opens I was amazed at her character, her presence and the ability of Steinfeld to make Mattie her own.

Matt Damon has the third important part is this saga as Texas Ranger LaBoeuf. He joins the search for Chaney because Chaney is wanted for killing a judge in Texas. LaBoeuf and Cogburn don’t see eye-to-eye on how to track Chaney so Cogburn and Ross split up from LaBoeuf. As they are about to give up because the trail has gone cold, Ross stumbles on to Cheney. Well you can imagine what happens next.

Bridges is fantastic in bringing to life a different Rooster Cogburn than the one John Wayne brought forth. What was wonderful is that Bridges performance did nothing to diminish Wayne’s portrayal and added his own unique version with some real character and depth. This is an Oscar contending performance. Steinfeld, was phenomenal and nothing short of great. Poise, character and immediately mesmerized me into fully believing her every action and word. She did not falter or lose character in any way. She could garner an Oscar nomination. Damon was very good, and as the third character fully rounded this film. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the screenplay and directed this without the tendency to make it more twisted or impactful. This film is shot straight-up and it is good.

Overall: Truly a wonderful western that doesn’t feel out of date or out of character.