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mjmazza
Reviews
Non-Transferable (2017)
Take a leap into the ocean!
As a person with usernames like wand3rlust and mustlovemaps, who loves to travel, is an aspiring travel blogger, and watches or reads almost anything travel/travelogue related, it's practically a given that I would love Non-Transferable. It's helped by the fact that I'm nearly as much of a Jane Austen fan (and therefore a huge fan of Ashley Clements' due to the wildly popular Lizzie Bennet Diaries series) and so I found out about this little gem because of her.
What I didn't expect was for this film to really come into my life at the perfect moment with such a positive and inspirational message of hope and optimism. Sometimes as millennials we get so mentally trapped by what should happen in our lives rather than what IS happening. Or worse yet, when things are difficult, we feel so trapped by what is happening that we can't see how we might get out of it. This is not to say those fears are unfounded (they aren't) but it's nice to have a reminder that good things can still happen with bumps in the road.
As a single, childless, 33 year old woman, I know full well what it's like to be disappointed with aspects of "The Dream TM" not going the way previous generations told us it would if we just followed the road-map they set down for us. It can be hard to pick yourself back up and look at other options. But this film shows that sometimes you have to just go with the flow and let life take you on a new path, even if it's scary. As a friend of mine once told me, something that might feel like a setback now, could just be a perfect opportunity to catch your breath and re-group. And really that's the message at the heart of this movie.
I loved the fun uses of social media, the entrepreneurial spirit to this film with Amy and her creative business sense and I think it's a refreshingly nice look at millennials and how we see and interact with the world around us.
I love a good indie rom-com (or drama) with fun travel elements to them. I think it's because travel makes us more honest versions of ourselves. If you like good travel- themed films like Wild, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Chasing Liberty, Take Me Home, and Leap Year then I think you'll enjoy this fast paced and fun film. A solid film from this fresh young group of actors, directors, cinematographers, etc.
P.S. I'm curious why the delightful Brendan Bradley isn't listed as the second lead star as "Joshua Merit"? Hopefully IMDb will correct that since it seems a dis-service to not highlight Brendan's his easy charm on screen with his co-star Ashley Clements in addition to his writing and directing talents.
Take Me Home (2011)
Delightful Surprise
I don't review things often unless I feel really compelled to. And this one compelled me. What a delightful film. The humor was on spot, but not heavy handed. The buildup of the relationship between these two was believable and I love how they handled themselves like adults would.
I was bothered by one small scene in the beginning but the main character addresses it and apologizes for it later so I appreciated that. The leads have great chemistry which is probably partially due to them being married in real life, but (let's be honesty) at the same time we've all seen married couples have poor chemistry on screen too and so I think we can safely say their excellent acting played a big role too.
I like road trip films/books/tropes and this one wasn't as predictable as I thought it was going to be. Sure there are a few expected tropes, but they were well done. This one was good enough for me to buy it to keep. It's one I can see lounging around and putting on during a lazy weekend. Highly recommended.
In a Day (2006)
Ending ruined a movie that could've been a great tale about the consequences of harassment, bullying, manipulation and lying.
4 stars from me. I really wanted to like this movie. I wish I could've given it more. The two leads had really good chemistry, but the premise of the movie is unsettling to me. I read in another review on Netflix that the movie addressed street harassment and bullying therefore the harassment scene in the first 10 minutes, while clearly disturbing, was actually very realistic in nature. It's something I have experienced myself and it's not talked about often enough, so I was OK with it showing how scary a scenario like that really is to women. And I was really hoping to see a movie that further addressed this aspect of society.
********SPOILERS BELOW********
But the problem is, she goes directly from that incident, visibly shaken, into a store to get some paper towels, when the other lead in the movie recognizes her and calls after her. She is so distressed she CLEARLY doesn't want to talk to anyone. So what does he do? He follows her, persists in asking her what's wrong and what happened. And frankly I feel he takes advantage of the situation manipulating her into having breakfast with him. Claiming he can make her feel better. Others might not see it as manipulative, but it bothered me how that whole scene (and later ones too) played out. The whole opening 20 minutes was frankly distressing to ME to watch.
As one other reviewer pointed out elsewhere, he spends the rest of the day asking her to do things, favors, etc the *he* thinks will make her feel better, not really asking her what she wants except for once.
The scene with the sister was awkward on so many levels. Not only because how of how emotionally abusive she is towards Michael, but also just awkward for Ashley. I felt like it was crappy for Michael ti knowingly walk her into that kind of situation with his sister. It reeks of emotional manipulation is his part trying to get sympathy from Ashley. But that's not surprising given the plot twist showing he's got a deeper ulterior motive. And don't get me started on that plot twist.
I'd have been happy with the ending had it ended when she walked out of the café. I'd have even been happy if it had ended with her confused phone call to her friend because she'd felt her trust and emotions had been so thoroughly violated and she was confused. Hell I'd have even been OK if she'd decided to forgive him on her own. But the way it ends with him showing up to the sandwich shop claiming she needed to listen to his explanation, stop being so sensitive and be mature and try and see why he did what he did. If she couldn't he would come back day after day (can we say STALKING??) until she forgave him? Nope that was the nail in the coffin there. The ending was horrible on top of an already manipulative and selfish premise.
I almost wish now he were an angel. That would've actually been an interesting story