I watch crappy movies so you don't have to.

Friday, June 6, 2014

Movie Review for June 6, 2014

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff
Plot: Two teens with cancer fall in love and learn how to live a beautiful, if short, life.
Trailer

Clint Says: Drop everything and go see this movie now...and take tissues


Not only is TFIOS the best movie of the year so far, (I told you MALEFICENT wouldn't hold the title very long), it has a great chance of holding that title when the year finally comes to a close. It is a master-class work by the entire cast and crew. 

Fans of the book by the same name will not be even the slightest bit disappointed by the film adaptation. It is rare to see a movie that so closely follows the book. I liken it to the first HARRY POTTER film where almost every bit of the book was portrayed on the big screen, and in a way that was very true to the book.

Shailene Woodley gives an Oscar-worthy performance and Ansel Elgort is charming throughout. Woodley and Elgort are perfectly cast as Hazel and Augustus, and even the hard-core YA fans aren't going to have a problem with the they-are-brother-and-sister-in-DIVERGENT-but-lovers-in-TFIOS-how-weird thing.

For those of you out there who say, "ugh, I don't want to see some cancer death movie," don't be so quick to judge. In THE HUNGER GAMES kids killed kids, yes, but that wasn't what it was about. In TFIOS, teens are dying from cancer, but the story is about them living, and loving, to the fullest that they can in the short infinity they are given.

I have seen TFIOS twice, something I rarely do simply because I see so many movies that I only have time to see ones that I REALLY love more than once. The second time through I was able to really see the layers that make this film so enjoyable.

A few weeks ago I had the honor of hosting the DEMAND OUR STARS event at War Memorial in Nashville with John Green, Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff and 2,000 screaming TFIOS fans. You can see the recap of that event here. We also got to interview all four of them on Mix 92.9 the following day. You can hear that interview here, or see it here.

They are all very down-to-earth, genuinely good people that were able to come together and make a truly stellar film.



EDGE OF TOMORROW
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt
Plot: A soldier finds himself repeating the same day, a day the aliens destroyed humanity. But he uses his special ability to get trained in a way to destroy the enemy.
Trailer

Clint Says: Wait until after opening weekend, but see it in theaters


If you like sci-fi action flicks EDGE OF TOMORROW will completely satisfy your craving. It has aliens, explosions, cool weapons, people that don't get what's happening, a pretty boy that has no clue how to do anything and a super-awesome, kick butt woman that has to turn the pretty boy into a hardened soldier so he can save the world.

I found the movie to be mostly original in its story, with the exception of the one-alien-to-rule-them-all thing that so many sci-fi movies use as a crutch to make sure the humans can finally win. But aside from that it was an enjoyable action flick with a 50 FIRST DATES style love story thrown in to give the audience a little break from the action.

I would recommend paying the extra money to see this in a bigger theater with the huge sound system, but if you don't want to blow $20 on a movie for one ticket, seeing it in 2D will still get the job done.
By the way, these tough soldiers are going to lose big time to the teen girl army at the box office this weekend.

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