THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER - apparently rape, death and madness

A depressing teen movie with slight fluctuations of joy and angst perpetuate within this one. I liked it—kinda.

I find myself relating quite a lot to the main protagonist—the Logan Lerman character. He is quite shy and really just fearful of being unliked by anyone that surrounds him. He is smart but does not put on an ostentatious display. He is also quite troubled because of two devastating past tragedies. You feel bad for him and are happy he finally finds some friends that like him and make him feel... infinite? It's a touch corny and is one of those movie epiphanies that seem cathartic and nice for the character but if it were to be translated into real life—it would just be silly. 

The film tries hard at bringing us into a teenage universe of veracity. It does a pretty good job. Although, why do these movies always contain outrageous bullying—have you ever seen anyone walk by another person and just rip a cover off their book and then laugh at them? This kind of thing seems to be a filmic fabrication but maybe I'm wrong—I just find it rather funny. The overall story is decent as well. Just please don't celebrate mediocrity for it's own sake—come to a subjective realization of the truth of your abilities, for better or worse, and make the best of it. We are not all Einsteins and Newtons, Mozarts and so on but we all are cognitively distinct in some fashion and that is cause for celebration. 

Recommended Viewing: Heathers - Clueless - Flirting

              Bob Scale: The Critic: 6.8   -   The Fan: 7.0

             MetaCritic: 66

 Rotten Tomatoes: 84

                    IMDB: 7.9

THE HUNGER GAMES - still famished

First, I must say that this is a film geared towards teens - you might say duh, obviously - but I've witnessed many teenage films that are still enjoyable by any intellectual adult such as Thirteen. This is not one of those. Hailed as the next Twilight, I would be inclined towards consent. It is certainly more interesting than the Twilight series in my opinion and the stories show great promise. I cannot speak on behalf of the series of books because I have not read any of them but I have seen all the movies and witnessed the thousands of screaming and wooing teens in the theater. In fact when I attended the midnight showing of the second Twilight I could not even find a single seat in no less than 11 theaters!

The movie takes place in one of many possible dystopian futures. It's important to note that this is not a new story - The Most Dangerous Game was published in 1924 by Richard Connell and subsequently made into classic film in 1932. Many other films have played on the idea of people, young or old, placed into an arena of death and murderous intent - for what - bloodthirsty pleasure viewing of course. It's the modern day gladiator ring spelled out in the fantasy of literature and celluloid. Appropriate for teenagers?  I leave that to you. 

Jennifer Lawrence is the lead - interesting it is, that the last two great teen novels series have had a strong female presence - she is very good in the role and has shown real talent since she first came into public consciousness with Winter's Bone. This movie has a little more appeal towards male audiences than just appeasing their girlfriends, it has decent action and a girl that many guys would do well to chase after. She is smart, beautiful and most important, clever and able to survive in difficult situations.

This movie suffers from it's lack of clear direction, poor cinematography, abject character development and most likely an adherence to a PG-13 rating. It could have been far more exciting and interesting given an R rating - if you don't believe me you should check out Japan's Battle Royale which is far more stimulating and is very nearly the exact same story. Many of the shots convey confusion and are cut so quick that you literally never see anything except blurs - I hate this kind of viewing - it's headache inducing. The director (Gary Ross who directed the superb Pleasantville) would have done much better to put some time into other characters playing the game so that I would have actually cared if some of them died or not. Even Lawrence's character only kills to save another or out of self defense - this is boring because it supersedes reality and lacks interesting moral quandaries. The costumes and future set designs are minimally invasive and seem to me to be mediocre at best but as I stated at the beginning this is a movie for teens and really should not be considered as much more than pop culture realized.

Recommended Viewing: Battle Royale - Surviving The Game - The Running Man

              Bob Scale: Objective: 6.2   -   Subjective: 6.5

             MetaCritic: 68

 Rotten Tomatoes: 86

                      IMDB: 8.2