Author: Caillou Pettis

Leo Borlock (Graham Verchere) is an average student at Mica High School. He gets decent grades, is a member of the school’s marching band and has always been content flying under the radar. But all that changes when he meets Stargirl Caraway (Grace VanderWaal), a confident and colorful new student with a penchant for the ukulele, who stands out in a crowd. She is kind, finds magic in the mundane and touches the lives of others with the simplest of gestures. Her eccentricities and infectious personality charm Leo and the student body, and she quickly goes from being ignored and ridiculed to accepted and praised, then back again, sending Leo on a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

Maybe it’s just because I am a sucker for syrupy sweet coming-of-age tales or maybe it’s because I love powerful and uplifting stories of troubled teens finding their way in the world. Either way, Stargirl is a remarkably impressive, feel-good breezy watch that is infectiously happy. It’s an exceptionally told story of a mysterious girl and a teen boy that find their place in the world and their school, even if it does have some issues along the way.

Throughout the course of my life, I have seen dozens of coming-of-age films. While I greatly enjoy and appreciate some of the classics such as Sixteen Candles or Stand By Me, my personal favorite has to be Kelly Fremon Craig’s masterful The Edge of Seventeen; a raw and emotionally rich character study with tons of heart and laughs.

Julia Hart’s Stargirl is similarly chalked full with a lot of heart and laughs to be had along the way, even if it isn’t the most reinvigorating or fresh addition to the genre. The filmmakers set up the world of this story and even Stargirl herself to be something of a mystery. Throughout the course of the film, we are never really sure as to who Stargirl is. Along the way, we do find out more about her and it is incredibly interesting and fun to follow her storyline. Unfortunately, it does at times falter from following some of the genre tropes and clichés that we have come to expect at this point.

But what makes this movie stand out significantly is the way it progresses its story. For the first thirty minutes, it does feel disappointingly familiar and it felt as if Hart was unclear as to where she wanted to take this story. Gratefully, by the second act came around, the grand picture became a little more clear and therefore, the rest of the film was much more entertaining to follow.

So even though the story can oftentimes be familiar and predictable, it can also be exciting and interesting. But without a doubt, the biggest praise I can give Stargirl is its performances by Grace VanderWaal and Graham Verchere, who help boost the film’s infectiously sweet style and presentation.

Up until this point, VanderWaal has not necessarily been known for acting. In fact, this is the debut feature film role for the young star. Best known for winning the popular reality competition series America’s Got Talent‘s eleventh season, she has garnered quite the reputation in the music community ever since her victory in 2016.

Ever since then, she has released one studio album and two extended plays. I have always been a massive fan of her music career and I even own some of her music on my phone, but I just was not too sure as to how I felt about her being an actress. Sometimes, musicians try to be actors and it simply does not work out.

However, I can gladly report that the opposite is the case with VanderWaal. In the role of Stargirl Caraway, she delivers a gleefully cheery and shockingly emotional performance. One scene in particular in which she has to deliver a speech left me with my mouth open, staring at my screen in complete silence.

In addition to this, the chemistry that she has with Verchere is a delight to watch. The two feel like they have known each other in real life for many years and the relationship they share in the movie never once felt fake or forced. Getting to witness the journey of Stargirl and Leo was not only a blast to watch, but rewarding as well.

The dynamic they have is extremely uplifting to watch and is sure to put a smile on anybody’s face. They always do things together such as taking long walks and sing songs. However, their journey ultimately leads to an ending that, while I can definitely appreciate and respect it for being incredibly bold and surprising, felt like a cop-out.

For the longest time, the movie feels like it is definitely going to go one way. The way that it was originally heading would have been a great and sweet ending, but towards the final thirty minutes, it takes an abrupt and jarring turn for the worse.

Even if the ending was less than satisfying and out of the blue, this was still a highly fun and cute watch. It definitely won’t be for everybody, and that’s okay. But if you are looking for a breezy watch that will be sure to put a smile on your face and feel good inside, this film will do exactly that.

Although its story can oftentimes feel predictable and familiar, Stargirl‘s cheery and uplifting style mixed with its terrific performances from Grace VanderWaal and Graham Verchere make it a delight to watch.

Determined to find her missing daughter, a desperate woman named Mari Gilbert (Amy Ryan) launches a personal investigation that leads police to the unsolved cases of murdered sex workers.

Based on the novel Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker, this feature film adaptation directed by Liz Garbus is an admirable effort and can be hard-hitting when it comes to its subject matter and some of its intense sequences, even if the storytelling was quite uneven.

Throughout the course of the film, we transition from multiple different points of time and we do so incredibly rapidly. There aren’t a lot of scenes in which we, as an audience, can sit back and contemplate what we just watched. It’s definitely the biggest problem with Lost Girls and makes for unintentionally jarring moments.

Within the first thirty minutes of the film, Mari is seen frequently interrogating several people that could possibly know information regarding the whereabouts of her missing daughter. Once she confronts the person, they always tell her to talk to this other person that she may have known. Then, she goes on over to the next person to interrogate them about information, and it got extremely stale fast.

Thankfully, this movie is accompanied by stellar cinematography throughout by director of photography Igor Martinovic. All of the frames on display are truly astounding. There are tons of wide shots here that are greatly impressive and will most certainly stick with you long after the credits roll.

Another element that saves this movie from being a failure is namely the performances from everybody, but especially Amy Ryan. I haven’t seen her in a ton of her work in the past, but the role of hers that I am the most familiar with is that of Holly Flax on the hit mockumentary American television comedy series The Office.

On that show, she portrays a highly goofy, fun-loving and hilarious character that quickly bonds with regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Michael Scott. In Lost Girls, she plays the exact opposite, and it works with chilling intensity. Mari has no time to waste. She will do whatever it takes to find out what happened to her daughter. There’s never a moment where she loses track of her mission. I truly did not expect her to give the emotionally raw and oftentimes devastating performance that she ended up giving.

But aside from her, a large portion of the other actors did fantastic things in their roles too. Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit, The King) portrays one of Mari’s daughters, Sherre. Her character goes to places that were definitely unexpected but welcomed. The story that plays out with her was incredibly interesting.

In case you do not know the real-life story behind this movie, I won’t go into too much detail regarding another one of Mari’s daughters, Sarra, but I have to mention how great Oona Laurence (Big Time Adolescence, Southpaw) was in the role. Watching her arc unfold was deeply intriguing.

All of these actors come together as one and deliver remarkable performances that further boost the heartwrenching and disturbing story on display. Although a lot of it is definitely uneven and extremely rushed, whenever the filmmakers’ pause on certain plot points and choose to explore them further, they hit hard. This all leads to a third act that was surprisingly emotional yet immensely rewarding and is an exceptional tale of how far one will go to uncover the answers behind where their loved ones are.

Lost Girls‘ storytelling may be a bit rocky at times, but its emotionally heartwrenching plot elements and terrific performances save the film from being forgettable.

The world of a New York detective, Jacob Kanon, (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is destroyed when his daughter and son-in-law are brutally murdered in London. Unable to sit idly by and do nothing, Jacob travels to London to get the answers he needs. As he learns of similar heinous murders happening across Europe – each preceded by a postcard sent to a local journalist – Jacob is in a race against time to stop the killings and find justice for his little girl.

Going into The Postcard Killings, my expectations were not too high. It isn’t because I thought the cast was weak or anything like that – in fact, the complete opposite can be said. One of the most underrated actors of this generation, in my opinion, is Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

As Negan in the hit AMC post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead, Morgan brings an incredible sense of fear and intimidation to the role and has since grown to be a fan favorite character over the course of about four years now. Plus, while his appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was short, it was welcomed.

In addition, I also feel as if Famke Janssen is an underrated actress and I hope that she gets more recognition soon. Unfortunately, The Postcard Killings is definitely not the movie that is going to put respect on her name. While the acting is respectable and good for the most part, this is a film that ultimately falls flat on an array of levels.

One of the biggest reasons as to why this movie doesn’t work is thanks to the screenplay by Liza Marklund and Andrew Stern. Strangely enough, the film oftentimes feels like a simplistic drama rather than the gripping thriller that it promised. Large time periods go by where you start to realize that nothing has happened to develop the storyline or progress it along in any way.

It’s not like it’s painful to watch or anything like that, but rather, it’s one of those movies where you can’t help but see what they should have changed to make it a significantly better movie. All in all, it’s a drastically generic and by-the-book thriller that is not only relatively predictable but just flat-out boring to watch at times. So many scenes are completely devoid of suspense and tension, where those two key elements were supposed to be present in. Everything feels incredibly dry and mishandled. The screenplay as a whole just didn’t work and had such a hard time telling this story in a unique and exciting way.

But if there is something to praise here, it is the performances. Jeffrey Dean Morgan does an excellent job of portraying a detective that is at the end of his line. He feels like investigating this case is the only thing that he is capable of doing. He won’t rest until he solves the case. It was truly relieving to see the screenplay actually do a good job of fleshing out his character in a way that was immensely impressive and it was boosted due to Morgan’s raw performance.

Furthermore, Famke Janssen does a great job in the role of Valerie Kanon, as does Naomi Battrick in the role of Sylvia. They all have pivotal roles in the story, and while the movie as a whole wasn’t worthy of their talents, it was delightful to see how well the characters, in general, were handled. They all got fleshed out quite well and it was by far the strongest aspect of the film.

So while the film is definitely respectably well acted and great in a character and even cinematography aspect, this was nevertheless a deeply underwhelming thriller that doesn’t quite hit the mark.

The Postcard Killings offers a great cast that gives their all, but the story as a whole is too generic and uninteresting to make this story worth experiencing.

Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are — or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted, Crystal (Betty Gilpin), turns the tables on her pursuers.

If you are an avid film lover such as myself, then you have more than likely heard about the troubled past surrounding the release of Craig Zobel’s The Hunt. The film was originally scheduled to be released in theatres on September 27, 2019. Marketing on the movie had already begun, and it seemed like that date was a lock. But then, sadly, the horrific El Paso and Dayton shootings transpired close to the film’s release date, which caused Universal Pictures to postpone the release date of the film indefinitely saying that “now is not the right time to release the film”.

Although the decision was smart and responsible for Universal to do, people were left wondering when, or if, we would be able to see what Zobel cooked up with his seemingly insane action thriller. Months went by and still no word on a new date, but after a while, it was confirmed that the movie would finally see the light of day on March 13, 2020.

Ever since the project was initially announced, I was actually looking forward to it quite a bit. Everything about it seemed like it would work. It came across as The Hunger Games but for adults only. Now that I’ve seen it, I can happily report that it was definitely worth the wait, as The Hunt is an incredibly entertaining satirical action extravaganza, even if it misses the mark in a few areas.

If you have seen the trailer, you are probably going to head into the theatre expecting it to be a bloodbath, and it most certainly is. Don’t go into The Hunt expecting a relatively tame experience with not a lot to say. The opening sequence alone was disturbing and absurdly gory, but it never comes across as showing off. Sometimes, a film will have so much blood and gore in it to the point where you have to stop and ask yourself, “Is there even a story to tell here?”. Gratefully, there is a story to tell here amongst the killing spree, and it is one that was profoundly interesting.

Even though it can be a little bit predictable in some aspects, the plot was one that was original and intriguing. It makes you ask yourself hard questions and really puts you in the position of the lead characters. If you were to wake up in the middle of a massive forest with a bunch of strangers who are ball-gagged along with you, you would absolutely be terrified. But once you learn that you were placed there by a group of people that are ultimately going to try to kill you for sport, you would be even more horrified, and you would do whatever it took to get freedom, and this movie does a great job of exploring the mindset of the people inside this twisted game.

Easily one of the strongest aspects of the film as a whole was the performances from the entire cast, such as Emma Roberts and Ike Barinholtz. But the most terrific performance in the movie was without a doubt Betty Gilpin as Crystal. She feels carefully reserved here, and incredibly dangerous. By watching her character as the story progresses, you get the sense that if you were to do her wrong, she would have absolutely no problem killing you or seriously injuring you. Gilpin does a wonderful job of portraying a woman on-edge and one that you can understand. The way her character is incorporated in this gripping and intense story was profound and interesting.

Luckily, the story never takes itself one-hundred percent seriously either. I was deeply worried that screenwriters Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof would attempt to make a fully-fledged dark thriller because, if that is what The Hunt ended up being, it quite simply wouldn’t have worked. But by injecting a sense of lightheartedness into the script every once in a while, it made everything feel much more entertaining. If they had gone the fully serious route, it would have come across as tired and uninteresting.

Regardless, the balance of comedy and thrills here is extremely good. Although not all of the humor works, especially with some of the characters early on, there is still enough of it to be entertained by. But when it comes to the thrills and the action here, it is immensely entertaining and brilliantly done. Yes, there are a ton of elements to The Hunt that will cause controversy. There are some moments that will make people upset, and that’s completely understandable. At times, Zobel bites off more than he can chew. But in the long run, this was a great satirical action-thriller with one whopper of an ending that will leave you thinking long after the credits roll.

The Hunt‘s comedic aspect may be a bit hit or miss, but when it comes to the intense, hard-hitting action and thrills, it delivers in spades.

Ride Like A Girl: Another Review – As a little girl, Michelle Payne (Teresa Palmer) dreams of the impossible: winning the Melbourne Cup – horse-racing’s toughest two-mile race. The youngest of 10 children, Michelle is raised by single father Paddy (Sam Neill). She leaves school at 15 to become a jockey and after early failures she finds her feet, but a family tragedy, followed by her own near-fatal horse fall all but ends the dream. But with the love of her dad and her brother Stevie, Michelle will not give up. Against all the medical advice and the protests of her siblings, she rides on and meets the Prince of Penzance. Together they overcome impossible odds for a shot at the dream: a ride in the 2015 Melbourne Cup, at odds of 100 to 1.

Sports movies like this are ones that are often avoided by a lot of audiences simply because they can fall under a ton of genre-conventional tropes. It’s completely understandable. Although movies such as Miracle and Hoosiers are typically regarded as quite good, most people can agree that they are fairly predictable.

These films usually have a ton of the same elements in them, with one of the biggest ones being a long, drawn-out montage sequence. There’s usually a point in the middle where our lead protagonists/sports team is losing confidence and things aren’t looking too great for them at the moment. Then, they somehow find a way to come back and find their mojo and have a shot at winning it all.

Rachel Griffith’s Ride Like a Girl is similar to those other movies in that it does have sequences like this and is mostly predictable in the long run. But, along the way, there is plenty of fun to be had to prevent this from being completely disposable.

A large portion as to why this movie works as well as it does is due to the lead performance by Teresa Palmer. She totally disappears into the role of Michelle Payne, and is incredibly charismatic and charming. We always know what her ambitions are, and seeing her drive was greatly inspiring, even if you know how the real-life story plays out. There’s always something immensely uplifting about watching somebody trying to accomplish their goals when they’re so passionate about it, and to say that Payne is passionate would be an understatement.

Ever since she was little, she has loved horses and has wanted to enter a horse race. She feels a deep connection to the sport and wants to prove every naysayer wrong. While the story that plays out is quite predictable and is nothing we haven’t seen before, it is still an entertaining journey due to the performances from the main cast and the excellent character development and arcs that we get. Another element that boosted the film as a whole was the cinematography by Martin McGrath and the musical score by David Hirschfelder. They compliment each other beautifully making for one great technical achievement.

If there is something big to complain about here, it would have to be the first act. It is mainly a set-up act that shows us what Michelle was like when she was younger, and we spend a lot of time getting to learn about her past. While this is absolutely necessary, it does, unfortunately, make the first portion of the movie a little boring to watch. Once the second act comes into play, the entertainment value picks up immensely.

All of this leads us to a third act that was remarkably crowd-pleasing in all the right ways. The direction the film took was highly satisfying and is sure to put a smile on every viewer’s face. It’s ultimately a tale of how far someone is willing to go to accomplish their goals and see their dreams become a reality. While it isn’t the most original outing there is, it’s nevertheless heart-warming and gleefully fun.

Ride Like a Girl may fall into typical genre tropes, but the performances across the board and the heart-warming story are too excellent to ignore.