Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin

A family, each member down on their luck and down in the dumps, decide to make a trip from New Mexico to California to enter the youngest member, Olive, in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Along the way, the family must examine their own ambitions, both realized and forgotten, to find some semblance of happiness. "Little Miss Sunshine" offers some very spectacular performances, especially from Breslin, which makes each of the characters very relatable to the audience. Each of the characters possess their own strengths and weaknesses giving them depth that is very rarely seen in films of this nature. The film also offers some very memorable scenes climaxing in its most unforgettable, Olive's perfomance in the pageant. These elements added together make it very hard not to like as well excusing is minor flaws, including its tendency to be too cynical to find funny at times. One can expect to be entertained with this film and find the performances rich with real-life nuances.

Twilight

Twilight (2008)

Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Kellan Lutz

When Bella (Stewart) moves from her comfortable surroundings of Phoenix to a mysterious small town in Washington, she has no idea that she would soon become involved in a relationship with a vampire. Based on the popular novel by Stephenie Meyer, "Twilight" offers some interesting takes on the vampire genre, including one of the film's most memorable scenes of an undead game of baseball. Add this with strong performances from the cast, most notably Pattinson as the complicated Edward Cullen, the movie has the potential to be better than it actually is. The problem lays in the fact that the film takes much too long to reveal Edward's immortal identity that the action in the last part of the film seems rushed and not all that thrilling. A little more time spent relaying the true danger of the vampire underworld and a little less time spent trying to normalize the vampire family unit may have saved this film from its mediocre fate.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007)

Director: Dennis Dugan
Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel, Dan Akyroyd, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi

When firefighter Larry (James) begins to worry about receiving his pension, he calls on a favor from his friend, fellow firefighter Chuck (Sandler). Together, they plan a domestic partnership in order to ensure that Larry's kids will be taken care of if something happened to him. This lends itself, obviously, to very awkward situations as they must prove themselves to be a loving gay couple. The film has movie has genuinely funny moments (especially any scene with Steve Buscemi in it) however nothing on par with what we have come to expect from someone as funny as Adam Sandler. The end of the movie begins to drag as they have exhausted every gay joke and stereotype that there really is nothing propelling the rest of the film's comic effect. The audience may get a few chuckles from the movie but remembering the jokes after viewing may prove to be more difficult.

The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys (1987)

Director: Joel Schumacher
Cast: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman

"The Lost Boys" tells the story of a family moving to Santa Carla, California only to find that the town is plagued with vampire teens, picking off the town's population one by one. Dianne Wiest offers the film's best performance as the mother of the two teen boys, Michael and Sam (played by Patric and Haim respectively), but even that is not enough to save the film from it's fatal flaws. Micheal's descent into the immortal occurs so quickly that he ends up a flat, one-dimensional character: stupid teen turned sassy teen vampire. Albeit, this movie recognizes itself to be a campy take on the vampire genre. The problem remains that the movie lacks the fundamental entertainment value necessary to excuse it's camp qualities.

P.S. I Love You

P.S. I Love You (2007)

Director: Richard LaGravenese
Cast: Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Harry Connick Jr., Gina Gershon, Lisa Kudrow, Kathy Bates

Based on the novel by Cecelia Ahern, "P.S. I Love You" undermines the talent of it's very much talented cast. Holly (Swank) loses her husband only to find that he had her grieving process mapped out in the form of sappy, unrealistic letters. In its attempts to be the tale of a loving husband's final goodbye, even after his death, "P.S. I Love You" assaults its audience with characters you don't care about and situations that are more conveniently scripted than they are believable. Between the melancholy "my husband just died" scenes to the uplifting "disco diva" scenes, the film doesn't know whether or not it wants you to laugh or cry at any given moment. Unfortunately, it doesn't succeed in making us do either.

Ordinary People

Ordinary People (1980)

Director: Robert Redford
Cast: Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch

Based on the novel by Judith Guest, "Ordinary People" is the story of a family torn apart by tragedy. Robert Redford's methodical direction and Alvin Sargent's skillful adaptation give the film a real life quality, allowing the audience to connect with the characters in a profound way. Suicide and family disputes are not often successfully executed subjects in movies, however this film avoids the typical pitfalls and cliches with it's careful attention to pacing. The beginning of the film shows the parents (Sutherland and Moore) trying to maintain a normal existence after the death of their eldest son and the suicide attempt of their youngest son, Conrad (brillantly played by Hutton). The film goes on to show the degeneration of the family when their feelings finally boil to the surface. Powerful performances and direction make "Ordinary People" an intelligent and moving film.