Shailene Woodley: Rising Star

Shailene Woodley. You may not recognize the name, but you definitely know her face. I first knew her

Shailene Woodley

as the annoying pregnant teenager from "The Secret Life of the American Teenager", an ABC Family show that went on too long and ruined Molly Ringwald for me forever. At first the show was a guilty pleasure of mine, until I came to actually dislike it, mainly because of the character Shailene Woodley portrayed. Then, "The Descendants" came out. I almost didn't watch it, but when I heard it had George Clooney in Hawaii, I had to put aside my prejudice. 

I loved the film, and surprisingly one of my favorite parts was Shailene's performance as Alexandra. Woodley played the exact opposite of her "Secret Life" character, instead showing us her more rebellious and brash side, while still evoking emotions and connecting with the audience. I was impressed, especially as she was thrown side by side with one of the most iconic actors of our time. After "The Descendants" I was hooked, and couldn't wait to see what she would do next.

What I love about Shailene Woodley is her flexibility. She can bounce from a TV show, to an indie movie, to a blockbuster, one right after another, and fit in with almost any style. My favorites are her indie films. I was blown away by "The Spectacular Now", a film about two seniors in high school who fall in love and force each other to explore the people they've become. I'm a huge fan of Miles 

Teller and Woodley from "The Spectacular Now"

Teller already, so I was shamelessly biased to see this movie. I was enthralled by the rawness of the actors' performances and the strange chemistry that somehow worked for the film. This was no typical high school romance story, and Woodley and Teller really sold it. 

After seeing "The Spectacular Now", I found out Woodley was starring in the new movie "Divergent". It peaked my interest, but I was mostly just happy to see her in another big film. I haven't gotten around to seeing it yet, but from the what I've heard, I predict Woodley's future will only increase steadily in success. And recently I discovered that she is starring in Josh Boone's new film, "The Fault in Our Stars", an adaptation of John Greene's famous novel. I'm extremely excited to see it, as I believe Woodley's talent has only grown, and we'll see another side of the actress we've never seen before. 

The film will be released this upcoming summer. I'm excited to see what moves this promising actress decides to make next.

Wes Anderson

A couple weeks ago over thanksgiving break, I forced my Dad to sit and watch one of “my” movies. This basically means a quirky independent movie he’s never heard of before, or a movie without explosions and gruesome death scenes. Although he fell asleep halfway through, we watched The Royal Tenenbaums. I haven’t seen this movie in a couple years so I was excited to watch it again. This time, (since I’ve taken some classes about filmmaking) I noticed a lot of great things.

As usual, Wes Anderson uses a strong color scheme. In Moonrise Kingdom for example there were a lot of green and yellow. In the Life Aquatic there are strong blues and red. In this particular film, there was a strong use of reds. This varies between each scene of course, for example when Luke Wilson’s character tries to commit suicide the tone of the room is blue, which sets the somber mood of the scene and anticipates something bad is going to happen.

Also, there always seems to be a narrator in his films. Whether they are physically in the movie or just their voice is heard, the movies are always being told by someone outside of the plot that the characters don’t know exist. Although it can be annoying at times, it is also a comic relief and is used to pay attention to detail of the characters. This is shown clearly in The Royal Tenenbaums, where the narrator (Alec Baldwin) spends most of the beginning of the film solely describing he characters. I find this a good way to get the audience connected with the characters and understand their background better, even if this put my Dad to sleep. 

I thoroughly enjoy his films although they are a little off beat and usually end up with a two people running away. 

Garden State

Recently, after Hurricane Sandy and it being close to Thanksgiving I’ve been very homesick. So, I decided to watch Garden State directed by Zach Braff because it always reminds me of home. Obviously (hence the title), the film takes place in a suburban town in New Jersey. Zach Braff, the main character, is an overly medicated struggling actor in LA who goes home to jersey because his mother died. Within the first few minutes of this film, we know so much about his character. His room is blank and white, and his medicine cabinet is completely filled with medicine. Without any use of dialogue, we can tell by the cinematography and facial expressions about this character.  I try to use this technique in most of the films I make. Less dialogue, and more cinematography to tell about the character since I have such a short amount of time to convey my story. 

Most of this movie is Andrew (Zach Braff) meeting up with old friends and basically doing nothing around his town, other then drugs and explore abandoned places. This reminds me a lot of my home town, most of the kids are so bored and are always doing nothing. Although people say this movie is about people do nothing, it has a lot of sentimental value to me. All the character’s are very relatable and the situations seem real. Although there isn’t much of a climax other then their love story, or a any action in it, it holds my attention the hold time. 

Another great aspect of this movie is the soundtrack. Zach Braff claims he picked out each song of this soundtrack based on his life at the time of writing this film. I felt this music accurately portrayed the mood of the film at the time and fit to each characters emotions. I didn’t think it was too much and was totally worth obtaining all the copyright information. A lot of my favorite bands today were featured in this film, and it basically started my interest in indie music. This film has a lot of great elements, and whenever I watch it, it reminds me of home. Even if you’re not from Jersey, this is a great film to watch, whatever mood you’re in. It has kind of a sappy love story, but it isn’t cheesy when put in the context of this film. 

Blue Valentine

About two years ago, a film called Blue Valentine came out in selected theaters. At the time I never heard of it before, only knew Ryan Gosling was in it. So inevitably I had to go see it. I assumed it would be a sappy romantic comedy that was similar to the notebook. Wow was I wrong. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams relationship is nothing like Noah and Allie from the Notebook. Blue Valentine begins with Dean and Cindy; an older married couple with a young daughter. The family dog is missing, and Cindy is so agitated and distant from Dean it’s sad to watch. They find the dog dead on the side of the road, which is a clear symbol to the death of their love as well.  However, after this scene establishing their failed marriage, the film shifts back and forth to when they first met and how they got to where they are now. 

The one word I can use to describe this film that makes it different then any other movie about a failing relationship is the rawness. This film is up close and personal to say the least. The emotion in their eyes and worn faces shows the extreme difference in time in their relationship. The sex scenes are even long and semi uncomfortable at times. However this plays into the rawness and is what makes this film so different. 

Blue Valentine is definitely not something to watch with your lover/boyfriend/girlfriend, it’s more of a movie to see alone or with friends. It’s a pretty sad reminder that not all love lasts forever, and most people fall out of love eventually. The truthfulness in this film is something not a lot of people can handle. My favorite scene is in the beginning of their relationship when Ryan Gosling plays the ukelele for her and sings “You Always Hurt the Ones you Love” and Michelle Williams tap dances. They look so young and carefree it’s a harsh contrast to them years later, married with a kid. I posted a link of the song but unfortunately couldn't find one of the scene. But that is him singing and playing ukele. If you’re not a big fan of the Notebook then you should check this movie out. 

Paranoid Park

One of my favorite director’s is Gus Van Sant. Many people know him for his films like Good Will Hunting and Milk, but the one that I can watch over and over again is Paranoid Park. The movie is based off of the novel written by Blake Nelson. 

The film takes place in Portland, Oregon and the soundtrack stays authentic to it’s location. A lot of the soundtrack is Elliott Smith who is one of my favorite musicians of all time. He gained most of his popularity from Portland and played a big role in the music scene there. Since the movie doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, the soundtrack was crucial in the movie. Gus Van Sant has used Elliott Smith’s music in his past films as well, where his song Miss Misery was nominated for an oscar for Good Will Hunting.

Along with Elliott Smith’s music, Van Sant used a varitey of French composers and other artists to make complicated music for the scenes of skateboarding. The music made the skateboarding seem almost dreamlike and put it in another light. This movie is an example of how important sound can be. 

I also enjoyed his cinematography style. As seen in his his past films, Gus Van Sant used very long shots and uses different speeds through out the movie. He slows down the scene at major points in the plot. He also uses very soft lighting which gives the film a very eerie feeling which goes along well with the plot.

The movie is about a young skateboarder who accidentally kills a security guard while goofing off on a train one night. The film is about his guilt and how he deals with the horrible mistake. Paranoid Park is more focused on the cinematography and skateboarding rather then the plot itself. I love this movie and it will always be one of my favorites.