If I could some up my reaction to this movies in one sentence: I was definitely expecting more.
We all know how great Alexander Payne is but this movie really disappointed my expectations. I went into this thinking George will be great, Shailene Woodley will be more of the same, but there would be an amazing script, storyline and some killer cinematography.
Well, I was totally wrong about Shailene Woodley. If anything, she was the standout for me.
Sidenote: I actually met Shailene when I was 16 and trying to promote a short film I had made with Samsung Mobile Fresh Films. Total sweetheart and totally down to Earth.
Anyways...
George was pretty blah the whole way through but that was his character. His performance towards the end definitely had me a bit choked up. George is George; he's a classic. Back to Shailene; HOLY BALLS. I thought she was pretty mediocre on the Secret Life of the American Teenager (with all the other bad acting around her I gave up on that show long ago) but her performance in this was spectacular. She not only embodied a typical rebel child but also a daddy's girl that she would never admit. She kept a perfect balance between the two; cussing and corrupting her little sister at one point but then taking such an interest in her Dad. The first time we see her, she's supposed to be sleeping in her dorm room (at some boarding school) but they find her and her friend drunkingly messing around off grounds. Now, this normally could be a very easy scene to make any actor look foolish (as in pathetic and untalented) but she played it off just right. It's simple scenes like this that will set her apart from the others. Shailene: you definitely gained a new fan.
As for the storyline, eh, it definitely had something there but I don't really think it was executed. There were too many scenes that just dragged on and didn't really seem that necessary. They would get this good pace going but then it was broken up by one-to- two irrelevant shots that were silent. Really had no effect of me and bothered me quite a lot during the film.
There was nothing too special about the cinematography. They would throw in these random cool shots that just completely off set the vibe and just didn't fit.
All in all, George and Shailene should get some Oscar noms and maybe a Golden Globe nomination for the screenplay, but other than that, I don't think its worthy of anything else.
We all know how great Alexander Payne is but this movie really disappointed my expectations. I went into this thinking George will be great, Shailene Woodley will be more of the same, but there would be an amazing script, storyline and some killer cinematography.
Well, I was totally wrong about Shailene Woodley. If anything, she was the standout for me.
Sidenote: I actually met Shailene when I was 16 and trying to promote a short film I had made with Samsung Mobile Fresh Films. Total sweetheart and totally down to Earth.
Anyways...
George was pretty blah the whole way through but that was his character. His performance towards the end definitely had me a bit choked up. George is George; he's a classic. Back to Shailene; HOLY BALLS. I thought she was pretty mediocre on the Secret Life of the American Teenager (with all the other bad acting around her I gave up on that show long ago) but her performance in this was spectacular. She not only embodied a typical rebel child but also a daddy's girl that she would never admit. She kept a perfect balance between the two; cussing and corrupting her little sister at one point but then taking such an interest in her Dad. The first time we see her, she's supposed to be sleeping in her dorm room (at some boarding school) but they find her and her friend drunkingly messing around off grounds. Now, this normally could be a very easy scene to make any actor look foolish (as in pathetic and untalented) but she played it off just right. It's simple scenes like this that will set her apart from the others. Shailene: you definitely gained a new fan.
As for the storyline, eh, it definitely had something there but I don't really think it was executed. There were too many scenes that just dragged on and didn't really seem that necessary. They would get this good pace going but then it was broken up by one-to- two irrelevant shots that were silent. Really had no effect of me and bothered me quite a lot during the film.
There was nothing too special about the cinematography. They would throw in these random cool shots that just completely off set the vibe and just didn't fit.
All in all, George and Shailene should get some Oscar noms and maybe a Golden Globe nomination for the screenplay, but other than that, I don't think its worthy of anything else.
