Movie Review: Fruitvale Station (2013)

Can't we all just get along

This film tells the the true life story of Oscar Grant, a young man who was shot by a transit cop in San Francisco.  The film chronicles the last day of his life while also giving a look into his past.  Apart just being a really great story, the film is very well made.  It has already won numerous awards including the Sundance Grand Jury and Audience Awards for best dramatic film.  The fact that this is Ryan Coogler's first feature film makes it all that better. 

Fruitvale Station gets 4 out of 5 stars!

Director: Ryan Coogler
Writer: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Metacritic: 85%

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The Kings of Summer (2013)

After the boys of summer have gone

Teenager Joe is struggling at home and struggling at school.  Feeling the need to get away from his life, he has a plan.  Recruiting his friends Patrick and Baggio, the trio builds their own cabin away from civilization.  I am a sucker for coming of age films like this one.  This film has echoes of so many of my favorite kid and teenage films (The Goonies, Super 8, Adventureland).  The overall positive tone of this film is tempered by the black humor and real sadness felt by everyone in the film.

The Kings of Summer reigns supreme with 4 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Writer: Chris Galletta
Starring: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Metacritic: 61%

Liberal Arts (2012)

I don't want to grow up

35 year old New Yorker Jesse is asked to return a small college in Ohio for the retirement of a favorite professor.  Getting reacquainted with his alma mater, Jesse finds himself caught up memories of his own college life.  While in Ohio, he meets Zibby, a 19 year old college girl with whom he begins a long distance friendship.  The rest of the film is filled with misunderstandings, broken hearts, and some tough life lessons.  The characters are likeable and memorable, the dialogue is very poignant at times, and the film manages to stay away from the cliches that are so common in Hollywood dramas.  Overall Liberal Arts if a very respectable first film for Josh Radnor.

Liberal Arts gets 3.5 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Josh Radnor
Writer: Josh Radnor
Starring: Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy Mae Marlene), Richard Jenkins (Cabin in the Woods), Zac Efron
Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
Metacritic: 55%

Ginger & Rosa (2012)

Youth is wasted...

Born soon after WWII to mothers who were best friends, Ginger and Rosa have grown up together.  As they reach their teenage years and the world reaches a crisis point (The Cuban Missile Crisis), their paths begin to diverge.  This film could have easily been overly sentimental or melodramatic, but it is neither.  It is unflinching in its ability to show the realness of hurt which is experienced by each character in the film, to one degree or another.  The cast list is stuffed with great talents, but Elle Fanning (Super 8, Somewhere) stands out and continues to show herself to be very talented (more so than her older sister even). 

Ginger & Rosa gets 4 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Sally Potter
Writer: Sally Potter
Starring: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Annette Bening, Christina Hendricks, Timothy Spall, Oliver Platt, Alessandro Nivola
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
Metacritic: 69 out of 100