Ghost World Review

Ghost world is an obscure indie coming of age drama film about these two girls who are best friends in high school and how they get along after high school. They go through their differences especially when they older man gets involved with one of them and they grow farther apart but in the end they remain best friends.

Being 22 going on 23 here in the next month I can relate to movies like this. I have it on vhs and have seen it a couple times but I just revisited it looming through my vhs collection and put it on again. This one is a strange one for me. I had seen it numerous times at the video store, websites and later on at thrift stores but didn't actually see it for a good while. Rosy watching it again as an adult with a job and an apartment and having dealt with flying the nest more recently I can relate to this movie even more than any pervious time I've seen it.

Things like your first time in an adult store, finding an apartment, worrying about what the hell are you going to do with the rest of your life, disappointment after disappointment, relationships. This is a tough time for most when you're still growing up and all of a sudden the flow of your life that you've dealt with most of your life just abruptly stops and now you're in trouble. In this movie the main character has more going for her. She has an older man willing to be let her move in and be with her, she has her best  friend willing to let her move on with her and she has her father letting her stay with him. I didn't have all that and I know a good number of people who didn't either so some may look at this film and think she doesn't know the half of it but as I always say just because someone has it better than the worst doesn't mean they aren't suffering. This movie illustrates that point very well.

This is one of those drama films that ate really down to earth, tells it like it is and lets you experience and identify with the character and you meditate on your own life, revisit memories think of things you could've done or can still do to improve your life or help another's. The progression of the story is fine and the ending is abstract and artistic. It's not so much particular dialogue or even events that matter with a movie like this it's more of the whole experience of coming of age in general. It sounds kind of weird saying what happens in the movie isn't as important as what the movie means as a whole but that's how I feel about it. It's one of those movies you would suggest to a stranger in their 20s you start talking to at a college or a book store or an art gallery who starts telling you their own tragic life story and how lost they feel. This movie may help them gain perspective into their situation and promote brainstorming on new patterns on development in their lives.

All in all its a good down to earth indie drama that can help and heal certain people in certain circumstances. There aren't many like this out there and I'm glad it's there because I think it has some good potential. 

Be Kind Rewind Review

Be Kind Rewind is a little dramatic comedy film from 2008 written and directed by Michel Gondry starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Melonie Diaz, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow and Sigourney Weaver. It's a quaint movie about a small time video rental store in the town of Passaic, New Jersey and their struggles living in a poor area trying to get by and the people in that town.

Mos Def plays what I would say the leading character is with jack black supporting the role as mos defs friend in the movie and it goes through their struggles trying to save the video store both while the owner is there and while he is away. All the VHS Tapes get ruined and they make their own homemade bootleg versions of the entire video collection at the store and it gets a little out of hand. By the end of the movie you're going to have sympathy for the characters and the Be Kind Rewind Video Store and even the town passaic, new jersey and its history. It tugs at the heartstrings like you experiences their hardship and are rewarded with a happy ending. Its one of those kind of movies but the humour strewn throughout the film are really interesting and creative and close to reality. Its like you're in a ghetto town video store with some dorky fellows who were the geeks in school and never really had any success but they get by and have a humble existence.

Each event in the film is engaging it makes you want to see what happens next and you have the feeling like "oh my gawd i can't believe they did that lol" and you wanna see the consequences. It makes for good drama and the things that are so dramatic that they do are silly and just wonderfully dorky. Makes you really like the characters by how silly they are. Everyone loves a silly goose and we all know jack black is a big silly goose. It's definitely classic jack black comedy with a touching story.

Give it a try.. if you can find it. Not the easiest one to find but you know amazon is always a good place to get it but I wouldn't check your local video store that deals in new and used movies because it can be a hard one to find; very hipster they've probably never heard of it lol.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox Review

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a stop motion animation comedy film made in 2009 based on the book of the same name by Roald Dahl the author of such things as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach and The Witches among other classics. Great author of childrens books I loved them when I was a kid and they make great family films. This one can be seen as a kids movie but this more is more of an adult movie in my opinion. It was directed by Wes Anderson and I read that it was his first animated film and first film adaptation. It stars George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Michael Gambon, and Owen Wilson. 

So I think this film is very avant garde indeed. The animation with the humanoid bodies and the animal heads has been done before but the art is very "indie culture" and I think that kind of urban millenial artist type aesthetic is protrayed excellently in this film. Its intellectual its very adult in its humour like you see alot in 90s media but relatively safe for kids to watch. It pokes fun at things like having family members staying at your place and the kid gets jealous, midlife crisis where you buy extravagant things to make your ego satisfied the realty business stuff like that. Things adults willl understand that kids wont but kids can still find things they like about the film too.

The plot of the story is about the self proclaimed "Fantastic Mr. Fox" who was a thieving fox played by George Clooney who you may know from the oceans 11, 12, 13 etc thief movies. He has a girlfriend whos eggo goes preggo so she tells him to settle down and stop being a thief and so he starts a family and everything then moves to a new place and gets the urge to start stealing again and the whole thing goes by the actions of his last thief job and the consequences therein. All the characters are lovable they all have something unique and interesting about their character. The voice acting may seem a bit strange at first but the more you watch it the more you can see it was planned that was and is actually very good and very smart in how the actors read their lines in conjuction with the animation it all melds for a soup of lovable dorky characters. They took the original story but they definitely made it new and creative and its own kind of thing not like most other film adaptations. You will either love the creativity and artistic drive in this films making or you'll think its like an indie comedy disguised as fantastic mr fox and won't like it so much. This is one of those movies that creates its own slang terms and in my experience any media like that is always going to be cherished by certain dorky people who like to use dry humour to make their friends laugh in a dorky way and this gives you fuel to do that. I won't spoil it for you you'll just have to see. 

All around this movie is unique and artistic and a joy to behold. Yoou have to pay attention to get the little jokes though you can't half watch it half check your smartphone or you'll miss all the little jokes that make this a gem of a film. The animation is interesting you can tell its cheap stop motion right away but they made that a quality about the film to be enjoyed. The choppy parts of the animation they make use of that in a creative way which is very avant garde you don't really see creative uses of a smaller budget stop animation film like this movie has. 

And thats my review I think everyone should see this movie at least once and if you liked it you should go out and buy it because its a fun artistic movie with lots of quality humour and there is some pretty good music in it too.

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