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medusamansamusa
Reviews
Before I Fall (2017)
Deep and Distinguished within a Derivative Genre
Finally a Feature Film that's Full circle. This story plays out intelligently, and ends with a strong resolution. None of this open-ended, maybe a sequel, weak B.S. WARNING!!! The beginning is slow so...Patience is Key!(DJ Khaled voice). Listen to me... "If you just Hold on for one more minute" you'll see. I only watched this in the first place b/c IMDb reviews hinted it could be a sleeper. So listen to the reviews, we know! After the first 10 or 15 minutes I thought I made a mistake. Derivative and cliché kept coming to mind. But...But...Once you get past the inevitable part in all time loop movie's where the pro-tag gets to that third day and is sure they are in a time loop and say F@#$ It!, and change stuff. That is when the story turns up.
Very reminiscent of 13 Reasons Why in the topics it tries to cover. The subject matter, in fact, is what distinguishes it from just any old "Groundhog Day" type movie. There is 3 or 4 specific ways I could tie this to 13RW, but the direction the Female lead takes is much different. Sam K. (Zoey D.) starts off as a mean girl in a mean girl clique character archetype. However, the writers don't make it so black and white. They show her getting caught up in every day pettiness early in the story. Her character is believably dynamic and begins to wise up.
Diverging from 13RW the Female lead is portrayed as a much stronger, and logical human being. Which is, I gotta say, Refreshing! The story didn't have me yelling at the screen, berating the lead for making the same dumb mistake over and over again. Also Refreshing! What really made this one stand out is the ending. The ending brought a lot of things full circle. Very satisfying to see a good resolution and a deeper message conveyed juxtaposed to the trivial nature of Highschool drama! The beginning held me back from giving it an 8. It's a solid 7, 7.5 if you're of the younger crowd.
The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)
G.H. Hardy and Ramanujan Relationship Drama
This story is Poignant in some parts, but not a Heart wrench-er. There is a decent pace to this film, and a little action sprinkled through out. I enjoyed learning about S. Ramanujan, definitely has that (your teacher might show this movie in class) vibe. A focus on Hardy and Ramanujan's relationship is the biggest driver in this film. His work in mathematics is in the forefront, but not the biggest focus. They Dabble in WWI They touch ever so slightly on race relations in England The Relationship Ramanujan and his wife is told parallel to the main plot
Basically Jeremy Irons acts like Jeremy Irons (aristocratically smug) taking Dev Patel for granted, then Patel throws a couple temper tantrums and almost dies, and somewhere in there he solves partitions.
That being said, Jeremy Irons(he's my DAWG!) and Dev Patel did an amazing job, all in all that's what I came for. Good acting drove this movie, story is missing a little something in my opinion, maybe more Bertrand Russell!
Worth a Watch