Smells Like Teen Spirit

Day 5 of JGL fever is gonna mess you up!

You know a movie is indie when you look at the first few frames and all you want to do is throw up from motion sickness. If you haven't figured out my opinion on the matter, I'll just lay it out for you. I believe that style, when used effectively, can salvage lack of substance, somewhat. A movie may have nothing in the story or acting department, but it can cover for it with a certain sense of slickness. Look at Wanted. That's what I believe, but I also believe that it can work in the opposite direction. Too much style can squander substance, especially when the substance in question is very well crafted. Manic is such a film. This 2001 indie boasts strong writing and incredibly powerful performances, but, the cinema verité look that the director chose to go with distracts from those things so much that you sometimes don't even notice them. It single handedly brings this film down from a YAY, to an eh.

You couldn't get more screwed up than this if you tried!

Heavy Boots of Lead

Let the mayhem begin! The summer movie season has officially started, and all the wonderful craziness and explosions that comes with it will be here in full force. If you follow my madness, you will know that I formulate my opinion on the summer based on the first BIG movie of the season. Last year, the season began with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. As such, my opinion on the summer was decidedly cynical. This year, we have Iron Man 2. In my opinion, this summer will be damn good!

Don't mess with this!