Crazy, Stupid, Love
BY REBEKAH WICKS
The romantic dramadies this summer featured a slew of disappointments and washed out pre-teen dramas.
All hope seemed to be lost for the genre, until “Crazy, Stupid, Love” entered the scene. The film revolves around Cal (Steve Carell), whose marriage seems like perfection, until his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) suddenly requests a divorce. Newly single and struggling to find solace in the bottom of girly alcoholic drinks, Cal is approached by ladies’ man, Jake Palmer (Ryan Gosling) who offers to reignite Cal’s love life again.
The screenplay gives cynicism a newly comedic approach, but the characters refrain from any hateful actions or words against one another. Emma Stone and Kevin Bacon give life to characters that could have been left in the shadows but instead shone through alongside the leading roles. The movie does contain some sexually crude humor and themes of adultery, but ends in favor of love and marriage.
Win WIn
BY KAMERON TOEWS
Thomas McCarthy’s film, “Win Win,” revolves around a financially strapped lawyer and high school wrestling coach who happens to stumble upon an opportunity to make money, help a runaway teenager and acquire an all-star wrestler. All seems well until the teen’s mother returns from rehab asking for what is rightfully hers.
The film is wonderfully cast with Paul Giamatti starring as the hilarious Bobby Cannavale with newcomer Alex Shaffer as a quiet and hardened teen.
While there may not be much surprise in the movie’s conclusion, it’s still heart-warming, comical and beautiful. The script conveys McCarthy’s knack for understanding what it is that makes humanity tick. The story moves nicely and mimics real life, freeing the audience to fall in love with its characters.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
BY MICHAEL GUTSCHE
Picking up immediately where the previous movie left off, there’s an action sequence, a few jokes and some plot thickening before Voldemort hugs Malfoy in an awkward way after blowing up a bunch of Hogwarts and then, here comes the spoiler alert, dramatically dies.
The last Harry Potter movie looked good, the direction was solid, but ultimately, it was kind of underwhelming. Most people who would see this movie and get anything out of it are the folks who have either read all the books, and thus know what’s going on anyway, or seen all the previous movies. Or both. They’re already HP Groupies.
So, I suppose the most thorough and concise review I could give of this is “Oh. Ok. Well that was what I expected.” It was really good, but in an endearingly “I just want to be acceptable” way.