What to see in theatres this week

Do you want to see:

A female lead?

• Divergent
• The Single Mom's Club
• Frozen
• Veronica Mars

Written or co-written by a woman?

• Divergent
• Frozen

Directed by a woman?

• Frozen

Passes the Bechdel Test?

• Divergent
• Non-stop
• The Single Mom's Club
• Veronica Mars
• Frozen

Review #19: What's Your Number?

Release Date: September 30th, 2011
Writer: Gabrielle Allan, Jennifer Crittenden
Director: Mark Mylod

Logline: A woman looks back at the past twenty men she's had relationships with in her life and wonders if one of them might be her one true love. (Source IMDb)
Romantic Comedy, 106 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests.

Review

I actually kind of like this movie. What's Your Number? is a romantic comedy about a woman, Ally, who tries to track down all her previous romantic partners to avoiding raising her "number".

One of the biggest failings of RomComs in recent years, is that they have to be bland to be relatable, and if the lead is female then she needs to take everything in her life super seriously. The saving grace here is that Anna Faris is such a talented comedian that she makes everything funnier and genuine. She's an actress who isn't afraid of finding the faults in a character and exploiting them for comedy.

The very important topic being tackled by this movie is how many sexual partners is too many? Ok, it doesn't actually discuss the topic in any critical or serious way, but it does present a good role model. There seems to be an intention of expressing that it doesn't matter how many sexual partners a man or a woman has had, that it doesn't imply something about their morals or characters it's just how people live their life. The conflict comes from the fact that Ally feels overwhelming social pressure, particularly from her girlfriends and family, to settle down and change her ways. There are some conflicting messages here, because the driving force in this movie is that she gets slut-shamed, and when (obvious spoiler) she settles down at the end it's to be with one person monogamously. The intention, I think, was meant to be more progressive and liberating. Ally is not troubled, or full of regret. She seems to have the same frustrations with relationships that we all have. Colin the "decent guy" says no one should care what someones "number" is, and that's the message they are trying to push. Sometimes it's like movies are made to be entertaining and fun and not to teach america a lesson about their judgements of women in society.

Lets go back to me liking this film. One of my favorite parts about What's Your Number? is the terrific cast. Chris Evans gets to flex his acting muscles instead of just his muscles muscles. I mean, he doesn't exactly throw down like Daniel Day Lewis, but he isn't the stiff bore that his role could easily be interpreted as. Okay, it's not a great acting job but boy is he handsome. Joel McHale is a douchebag, and show's off his butt. Everyone loves butts. Ari Graynor is super underrated. Eliza Coupe has some great lines. Cue the "awws" because this is role #2 for Anna Faris and her husband Chris Pratt. I am particularly fond of the endless number of cameo's by fantastic actors playing Ally's former lovers.

For all the ditzy dumb moments, I really love this movie. There's family and friends, there's drama, there's super sweet fantasy dates, it's a nice piece of feel good fluff. Sure, it might be predictable, and desperate for jokes, and probably should have been edited down, but this is a nice little romance film. There is something endearing about the vulnerability of friendship as opposed to just dating all the time. Instead of going to fancy restaurants, Ally and Colin visit the local Deli. Plus, you know you want to watch a movie that uses "He recognized my vagina!" as a major plot point.

Portrayal of Women: There was a good range of Ally being laid back, her sister being uptight, their friends being a good variety of women. The biggest eyeroll I think I've ever experienced when watching a movie, however occurs when Ally tries to google her ex's. In a montage. With upbeat pop music. While she speaks out loud, drinking wine. Apparently she's also never used a computer before! Teehee. EDIT THIS SHIT OUT, MOVIES. GOD. Girls can use computers, and we stalk all our ex's so don't pretend that its some revelation.

Sisterhood Moment: A few years later, Kristen Wiig stole the opening scene of What's Your Number? for the opening scene in Bridesmaids. In both, our leading lady is sleeping with a douchebag, and they sneak out of bed in the morning to put on makeup. They are both an inspiration to us all.

Rating: All of Chris Evans arm muscles. All of them. Sigh.

IMDb - What's Your Number (6.0)
Wikipedia - What's Your Number
Rotten Tomatoes - What's Your Number (23%)

Review #18: Somewhere

Somewhere

Release Date: September 3, 2010
Writer: Sofia Coppola
Director: Sofia Coppola

Logline: After withdrawing to the Chateau Marmont, a passionless Hollywood actor reexamines his life when his eleven-year-old daughter surprises him with a visit. (Source IMDB) Drama. 97 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests. Barely.

Review

I’m generally pretty on board with slow movies where not a lot happens - that’s not the case with Somewhere. It was so slow and so boring that I spent the entire film asking stupid questions to try and distract myself from how much I hated the movie.  Questions such as:

• Why are the synchronized pole dancers not doing a better job at being synchronized
• Why is Johnny Marco obsessed with white Tshirts
• How does this 11 year old kid know how to make eggs benedict??
• Should I be embarrassed that I can’t make eggs benedict?
• Is she ice skating to Gwen Stefani’s “Cool” because the ice rink is cold and she’s trying to be clever - or does she just love this song? 
• Should I pause this movie to youtube that song and also google Gwen Stefani’s life history? That seems like a better way to spend this hour and a half.
• But seriously, how do you make eggs benedict?

Every scene seemed to drag on and on until it was so uncomfortable that I was praying for the next scene to start. Some might say this was brilliantly intentional - it's supposed to show how terrible it is for Johnny to be stuck in the monotony of his awful life.  Others might suggest that since I was bored, I'm not smart enough to really get what Coppola was going for. To those people I would say: #1 I once won a Sudoku solving contest so I'm pretty smart. #2 I don't care if there is insight to be found in each painfully drawn out moment, I hated it anyway.

To be fair, I enjoyed both Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning and their performances were great. There were even some scenes that were funny and others that were perfectly sweet. Unfortunately, the performances and handful of okay scenes were drowned out by the slow pace of the film.

There should’ve been a lot more father/daughter bonding and whole lot less of Johnny silently waiting for his plaster mask mold to set. I loved seeing the two of them watch an old Friends episode while sampling a plethora of gelato flavours.  I loved watching them play Guitar Hero while discussing family stories. I loved how they did the tea party at the bottom of the swimming pool. Why couldn't we just have had a full 97 minutes of that?

Portrayal of Women: Women mostly exist to cater to Johnny.  Wherever he goes, women throw themselves at him and he often takes advantage of this.

His daughter Cleo is smart and vivacious and she really brings a welcome refreshment of joy into Johnny's life. She's the one girl in the film that truly makes his life better instead of just adding to the ongoing misery he is always enduring.

The only reason this film passes the Bechdel is that there is short scene where one of Johnny's hookups has a brief conversation with Cleo over breakfast.  She manages to ask Cleo's age before launching right into a discussion about boys.  So it technically passes, but just barely.

Sisterhood Moment: I guess you could call the synchro pole dancing a sisterhood moment, the dancers were even real sisters - twins actually.  Like I said before, they probably should have practiced a little more before unveiling their big performance.

Rating: Negative 5 bowls of gelato and 1 black Ferrari

IMDb - Somewhere (6.4)
Wikipedia - Somewhere
Rotten Tomatoes - Somewhere (71%)

Review #17: Girl Most Likely

Release Date: July 19th, 2013
Writer: Michelle Morgan
Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

Logline: A failed New York playwright awkwardly navigates the transition from Next Big Thing to Last Year's News. (Source: IMDb)
Comedy, 103min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all 3 tests.

Review

A movie like this with such universal bad reviews is going to be a bad movie. There's no getting around that. What surprised me when I watched this movie, however, is that it had potential. I presumed this would be a "talker" where everyone stands around and talks, and nothing exciting happens. Girl Most Likely suffers from the opposite problem. There are so many events, plenty of action for the characters, but they don't add up to anything. There is no plot.

There is a universal piece of screenwriting advice to not go easy on your protagonists. Writers become attached to their characters and don't want to seem them struggle, but it's far more beneficial to the story to make it difficult for them to achieve their goals. Girl Most Likely opens on a scene of young Imogene being an inconsiderate young diva, demanding the school production of The Wizard of Oz change it's ending to appeal to her undeveloped sense of logic. The writer was not exactly going easy on this character, was she? This is a case of the pendulum swinging too far. Imogene is given the worst character traits, with nothing redeeming. This character is so awful that she can't dig herself out of the hole she's in. In fact, Imogene doesn't even achieve her goals in this movie. She is too paralyzed to even try.

Part of the reason I wanted to watch this movie was the cast. After her Bridesmaids success, Kristen Wiig has become a box office draw, even though she's not the best screen actor. Annette Bening is a great actress, and her role as Zelda is killer. In fact, the whole cast is killer. The problem is, their individual roles are interesting but they just don't go together. Kristen Wiig is 40. I guess in the movie her character is supposed to be 25-30ish? She still has a room in her mom's house, she just got out of school, so she's certainly not supposed to be 40 in the script. I don't have a problem with that, in fact it's encouraging to see women playing a variety of roles. The hitch is that her love interest in the movie, Darren Criss, is most famous for playing a high schooler on Glee. There's nothing wrong with a 27 year old and a 40 year old dating, but there's something awkward about the way this movie portrays them as being the same age, and in the same position in life.

This kind of disconnection creates the foundation for the movie. Imogene is a failed playwright, something that's brought up every 20 minutes of the movie, but never once does she write anything during the movie. Never. Imogene's mother Zelda is a gambling addict, and never once is this addressed. She's the same person at the beginning as she is at the end. The goal they achieve at the end isn't something they ever strived to do during the body of the film, so it falls flat. It's sort of like a sitcom, isn't it? There was no major driving force in this movie. Characters didn't try to achieve their goals, they were trapped in the same scenario at the beginning as they were in the end. That's the very definition of a sitcom. That setup would be fine if this was a story meant to be developed over 2 seasons and 40 episodes, but the episodic nature of television isn't suited for film. When the audience leaves not having achieved anything, you better believe the ratings are going to be abysmal.

Portrayal of Women: The women in this movie are broken and have complicated relationships. They're not exactly role models, but they're not furniture either. There's not much to say about characters that don't develop. I think Kristen Wiig's natural charisma assists her characters likability, but no one is that memorable or relatable.

Sisterhood Moment: The savage 90's wardrobe. When Imogene has to stay at her Mom's house, she has no clothes with her so she spends the rest of the movie in amazing floral skirts and sundresses. It was supposed to be funny but it just made me jelly.

Rating: One sad teacher out of five Glee songs.

IMDB - Girl Most Likely (5.7)
Wikipedia - Girl Most Likely
Rotten Tomatoes - Girl Most Likely (20%)

Review #16: Dallas Buyers Club

Dallas Buyers Club

Release Date: November 22, 2013
Writer: Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack
Director: Jean-Marc Vallee

Logline: In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is himself diagnosed with the disease. (Source IMDb)
Drama. 117 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests.

Review

As a huge fan of Jared Leto's perfect hair as well as a big time supporter of the McConaissance, I was destined to love this movie.

The performances really made the film.  Both McConaughey and Leto disappeared into their characters, becoming vivid depictions of a homophobic redneck and a transgender drug addict - both struggling with AIDS.  Someone recently asked me how you can tell if someone is a good actor, I answered that it's when you forget who the actor is and just believe that they are their character. Both Leto and McConaughey achieved that in this film.

It's always inspiring to see someone beat the odds and that's exactly what McConaughey's Woodroof does.  When he is given 30 days to live, he dimply* determines to prove everyone wrong.  Through his journey of fighting to survive, we see him transform into a completely different person.  The man who had zero tolerance for anyone different from himself must now ask those same people for help and support.  He is forced to face the worst parts of himself and he becomes a better person for it. (Simply. Editors note: this type is too descriptive of McConaughey to change. He is dimply amazing.)

The most significant way we see this change is through Woodroof's friendship with Rayon.  At first he is disgusted with Rayon and her lifestyle; as the movie progresses that disgust turns into an appreciation and respect.

This film is a triumphant depiction of how someone can use their adversity to make change in an unfair world.  It succeeds in honouring Woodroof's legacy and takes a necessary look into the heartbreaking effects the AIDS epidemic had.  The combination of an important story and wonderful acting made this one of my favourite films of last year.

Portrayal of Women: There has been some arguments over whether this film passes the Bechdel test. If we judged based on actors than it would not - because it's based on characters, it does.  Rayon may be played by Jared Leto but her character identifies as a woman so that is how we identify her as well.

The other woman in the film is Jennifer Garner who plays Dr. Eve.  Although Woodroof is the driving force in setting up the Buyer's Club, Rayon and Dr. Eve are his main supports. The women in this film play a huge role in helping him to succeed, they are smart and very valuable to execution of the story.

Sisterhood Moment: Okay. Let's just talk about Rayon's makeup for one second. That contour was insane. Makeup Addicts forevs. Here's an article about how all the makeup was done for $250. I can't even do my own face for that.

Rating: 4 white cowboy hats out of 5

IMDb - Dallas Buyers Club (8.0)
Wikipedia - Dallas Buyers Club
Rotten Tomatoes - Dallas Buyers Club (94%)

Review #15: Frozen

Frozen

Release Date: November 27th, 2013
Writer: Jennifer Lee
Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee

Logline: Fearless optimist Anna teams up with Kristoff in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna's sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom in eternal winter. (Source IMDb)
Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Musical. 102 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all 3 tests.

Review
I was the default reviewer of Disney's Frozen because Alyssa hates animated movies and I tend to really like them. Sadly, this is another big miss from Disney.

Frozen is a disjointed collection of unfinished pieces of a movie that don't come together. At its core is a movie about sisters who have been divided by differences. A nice idea. Let's see where it falls apart.

The movie opens with a musical tribute to CGI ice. This has almost nothing to do with the movie. In fact, it confused me on the first watch because I assumed it meant the city was already in a frozen wonderland. It was not. Then after the random musical ice number is the introduction of the two sisters, Elsa and Anna, who are the lead characters. For reasons not explained, one of them has magical ice powers. Come on, Disney. You couldn't come up with an evil witch, a curse from birth, a prophecy, nothing? Elsa just has powers and the audience needs to go with it. Then Elsa tries to hide her powers from the world, and she becomes a recluse because she is afraid of hurting people. So she hurts people. To avoid hurting people. Anna sings a medley "Do You Want to Build a Snowman", further reinforcing the initial belief I had that the city was in a frozen wonderland. But it wasn't yet, it took 30 minutes in before Elsa accidentally casts a spell sending the city into a frozen wonderland. I think it's pretty clear that by that point I didn't care.

Do you see why I dislike Frozen? I get that this is a kids movie, but when the standard for comparison is Shrek, Finding Nemo, Up, The Incredibles, and How to Train Your Dragon, the expectation of a quality story is high. Like other Disney films, this was destined to be successful with kids because it's got those essential elements - the same beautiful animation of Tangled, a big imaginative setting, and a stunning broadway singer (Adele Dazeem). The major story problems though are unforgivable. It becomes generic and forgettable.

I think the biggest failing of the story is not having a straightforward central conflict. That doesn't necessarily mean an enemy, like what The Snow Queen originally was. Many of the movies I named previously don't have a big bad, they just have a central conflict usually around their unusual qualities being rejected by society. Elsa is fearful and isolates herself, but she totally embraces her powers. She makes herself a kickass ice castle and gives herself a makeover. The whole "uncontrollable powers" thing is gone, and with it goes her fear of her powers. The stakes are even further removed at this point because we are lead to believe there is some terrible collateral damage because the town is now in a frozen wonderland. However, without any characters who live in this town or even show why that's a bad thing, this curse has no effect at all. At least Josh Gad's snowman sidekick character shows up, to distract the audience.

I'm just going to skip right to the ending - Spoiler alert? Lets be honest, the plot is about as complicated as a peanut butter and jelly recipe. Sandwich spoilers: it's peanut butter. And jelly.

The movie ends with Elsa getting "saved" by Anna choosing to save Elsa or some nonsense. Love was the key all along! Once again, this makes no sense. Here's why: Elsa choose to flee the city from fear of hurting her loved ones, meaning she loves these people so much she sacrifices herself. Then she choose to make an amazing ice palace, which shows she had precise control over her powers. So what was the part she was missing? She had control, and she had love. Or is this about Anna? It can't be. Anna loved her sister at the beginning, and loved her sister when she scaled a mountain to go visit her, and loved her sister at the end when she sacrificed herself. Can someone explain this to me? Did she have to feel regret to "heal" Anna? Because she felt that at the beginning when she hurt her the first time. This whole love-saves-the-day thing is a deus ex machina in disguise. This ending is so contrived it negates almost everything that previously happened. If love is how Elsa learned to control her powers, then she should have been able to control them at the very beginning when she hurt Anna the first time and was so distressed over hurting her sister that she sacrificed her whole livelihood to stop it from happening again. In fact, I'm not sure any conflict is even resolved in the end. Elsa's powers are still bizarrely unexplained, and the town only accepts her witchcraft after she unfreezes them and puts on a show. Bread and circuses, I guess?

If I were to ignore the plot holes, I still have a problem with the fact that the movie feels like it's all setup with no payoff. The climactic ending feels like the halfway point to most movies because that's the first time the characters became convicted in their goals. It's the first time stakes seem to be relevant. It was an incredibly long movie for such little payoff. It all left a bad taste in my mouth.


But hey, there's an Arrested Development shout out. I guess that's cool?

Portrayal of Women:
One of the sisters is introduced as being only interested in being swept off her feet by a man. Then she gets swept off her feet by a man. Then she gets swept off her feet by another man.

The other sister is bitter and jaded from the expectations of her as future Queen.

I mean. I don't even know what to say about that. At least Rapunzel in Tangled had a myriad of interests and hobbies, she was driven to discover her family, her own person, and was willing to defend herself. Rapunzel was a character who lived in the world and was shaped by it, not just a cliche damsel in distress. I can't say the same about the women in Frozen.

It's nice that they love each other as sisters, but neither one is a quality character.
Oh and they both looooove chocolate. Sorry Disney, this is a big miss.

Sisterhood Moment:
You know, it's super disappointing that in a movie about the love of sisters, I can't think of a really great moment I loved with the two of them. Their relationship was generic and uninspired.

When Elsa is totally isolated and uses the power of song to build a castle, plus a new ice-outfit. Maybe it's real clothes, who knows. If I was locked in a castle, you better believe I'd be wearing a cape, too.

Oh and Disney, just because you made the Princess and the Frog doesn't mean you've met your diversity quota. This movie was whiter than snow.

Rating: 2 out of 5 annoying kindergartners.

IMDb - Frozen (8.0)
Wikipedia - Frozen
Rotten Tomatoes - Frozen (89%)

Academy Awards Wrap Up

The Oscars are done, the awards given out, In And Out burgers consumed.

Big props to Ellen DeGeneres for hosting. She was pretty funny all night, and kept things moving, in my opinion. A lot of critics are saying she wasn't a great host, but I disagree. The Oscars are such an old fashioned mode of entertainment that they're always going to be boring and slow. Ellen has made a name for herself by being so nice to everyone, rarely does she mock individuals, so anyone looking for a scathing monologue making fun of the nominees was clearly looking for another host. 

Highlights: 

• JLaw tripping again. It sure would be embarrassing if someone brought that up...
• Ellen asking if anyone in the audience wanted pizza and Kerry Washington shot her arm so fast. 
• Pizza's legitimately arrived and Brad Pitt got super into it.
• Harvey Weinstein not understanding a joke "Pizza costs more than $200?" Leave it to the professionals. Lupita paid in Lip balm. Girl knows whats up.  
• The selfie that broke Twitter (Alyssa and I were booted from LiveTweeting) 

Whatever complaints people have about Ellen's job hosting, I think the most important thing was she got into the audience and got the celebrities involved. Sure some people love a song and dance routine, but I found her interactions with the nominees to be fun and refreshing. 

As for the rest of the show... There were some ups and downs. Some long speeches, some adorable moments, Amy Adams almost fell asleep at one point. 

Other Highlights

•  Let It Go won for Best Original Song...Actually no one cares about the song, but they made the cutest acceptance speech ever made. The married couple who wrote the song recited with enthusiasm a rhyming sing-song. They were my favs. Also, EGOT is a thing! 
• Pharrell's Best Original Song nomination for Happy was the best musical number of the night. He had a huge number of choreographed dancers, bright colors, and a great up tempo song to dance to. Lets be honest though, the best dancers were Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, and Lupita Nyong'o.
• Now that Lupita has her Oscar win, she's going to transition into a first-name only, fashionista starlet. Oh wait, she's already that. 
• Cate Blanchett. The Queen of Red Carpet Fashion. The Queen of the movie The Queen. One Bad-Ass Mother. She got to take home her Oscar for Best Actress from her role in Blue Jasmine. She's the only Red Carpet diva who can make us go "huh, that dress is... interesting." and then still end up on our Best Dressed List. 
• Kerry Washington got pizza, by the way. So Did Jared Leto's Mom. SoCute.
• Kevin Spacey showing up everyone by giving Frank Underhill on stage. I may have screamed a little. 
• Love for Whoopi Goldberg who's kind of a hosting legend. 
  
• Love for Liza Minnelli who's a living legend. 
• Love for Liza Minnelli who showed up in Pajamas and no one cared. She still rocked them. 
• Love for Liza Minnelli who tried real hard to get into a picture with Ellen, then got denied. (It's ok, she might not be in the photo that broke twitter, but she had her own Ellen Selfie.)
• Everyone brought their Mom's. Seriously, everyone. Jared Leto had a family reunion. Matthew McConaughey showed where he gets his "Vegas Pimp" fashion sense from. Jonah Hill's Mom was so cute, and pretended not to notice that everyone was making dick-jokes. And of course, Bruce Dern brought his talented daughter Laura Dern. What a sweetie.

Here at Fempire, we try to support women in writing and directing roles, as well as behind the scenes. So congratulations to Jennifer Lee for winning Best Animated Feature with Frozen. 

We are also super proud of Melisa Wallack, screenwriter for Dallas Buyers Club. Although she lost out on Best Original Screenplay to Spike Jonze's Her, and Best Picture to 12 Years a Slave, her movie still took home some statues. Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor, and Jared Leto won Best Supporting Actor. The film also took home the trophy for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, which was an incredible win for the ladies involved. They did such an incredible job, with a $250 BUDGET. Are you kidding me? I've got more makeup than that in the bottom of my purse. Girl's a damn miracle worker. Again, big props to Robin Matthews and Adruitha Lee for making that happen. 

To celebrate these wins, we're going to review Frozen and Dallas Buyers Club for you this week. Right, Alyssa and Sarah? You're not going to get lazy and forget about it, now are you? What did you think of the 2014 Oscars? 

Review #14: Whip It

Whip It

Release Date: October 2nd, 2009
Writer: Shauna Cross
Director: Drew Barrymore

Logline: In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin. (Source IMDb)
Sports, Comedy, Drama. 111 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests.

Review
This should not be a good movie. By all accounts, it should be forgettable, disposable, and cliche. But 5 years after its release, I still kind of love it.

Whip It has some good summer popcorn staples to give it legs. Ellen Page was fresh off of Juno, the roller derby fad was just blowing up, the soundtrack is killer, but there's some extra magic in this movie that makes me love it.

First and foremost, the cast is outstanding. Ellen Page, playing Bliss, is just so damn talented. The rest of the cast is really filled out by secondary characters who are extremely well written. It's a big red flag of lazy writing to make minor characters who get the story moving, to have no personality whatsoever, and yet it happens all the time. Rounding out the cast is the vicious Juliette Lewis, the saccharine Marcia Gay Harden, the hysterical Alia Shawkat, and the lovable 'Hot Tub Johnny' Jimmy Fallon. Notice that all of those characters have a defined character? That's so important in making a movie memorable. Giving all the derby girls a reason to be there, and complicated lives and personalities makes them fun and real.

Second, don't you just love a good sisterhood moment? Girls are sort of taught not to play on teams, not to trust each other, and that's not fair. Whip It has Bliss finding herself within a team of women. She's not individual who rises above, she gets the support of her girls. You know what I love even more? She doesn't limit herself to the identity of being someones girlfriend. I can't think of another female lead movie where her relationship was NOT the most important thing in her life.

Finally, the relationship Bliss has with her Mom is portrayed spectacularly. Who doesn't have a relationship like that with their Mom? At some point the overbearing good intentions of Bliss's Mom becomes that direct motivation to rebel. Something often botched in coming of age films. More importantly, however, is how that relationship grows and changes. I love the scene when Bliss talks to her Mom about her boyfriend. It breaks my heart. So many films show kids rebelling and abandoning their parents reign, and they find nothing but boundless success after without ever needing to reconcile those two worlds. I have so much appreciation for the fact that Bliss remained tied to her parents in this movie, it's realistic and genuine.

This might be a flat movie for some people, it's predictable and a little cheesy at times. It's certainly not going to win any awards, but it's a ton of fun. It's one of my favorite feel-good movies. Did I mention the soundtrack is killer?

Portrayal of Women: Can the badass ladies of Roller Derby get any better? It's not just the women, all the characters. They're textured, they're real, they exist beyond the stereotype. I want to be on a Derby team with Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell, and Eve.

Sisterhood Moment: Bliss and Pash hanging out in the diner, singing and dancing to Jolene (more specifically, their own version called Bodeen). I'm pretty sure every girl in American has sang Jolene at some point. Dolly Parton is a force of nature.

Rating: Two packs of twizzlers.

IMDb - Whip It (6.1)
Wikipedia - Whip It
Rotten Tomatoes - Whip It (84%)

Review #13: The Queen of Versailles

The Queen of Versaille

Release Date: July 20th, 2012

Director: Lauren Greenfield

Logline: A documentary that follows a billionaire couple as they begin construction on a mansion inspired by Versailles. During the next two years, their empire, fueled by the real estate bubble and cheap money, falters due to the economic crisis. (Source IMDb)

Documentary, 100 min.

Bechdel Test: N/A

Review

During that most annoying phase of life where people are constantly asking "So what are your plans after you graduate?" I started to answer with "I really just want to marry rich."  Usually this would elicit a polite laugh and then they'd leave me alone. 

But really, doesn't marrying rich sound amazing? You can just chill all day, buy whatever you want and revel in the realization that your biggest worry is whether you have coordinating Louboutins for every outfit.

That's exactly the situation that we find Jackie Siegal in.  She is married to a real estate billionaire who is building her the biggest home in North America. She has a bunch of kids, a bunch of dogs, and a ton of cash - her life seems amazing.  Then the 2008 economic crisis comes along and we get an entirely different perspective. We see that her relationship with her husband is strained and her kids are being raised by nannies. She seems to have lost her identity in the overwhelming lifestyle of the rich.

This documentary gives the viewer a captivating look at what life is like for the richest of the rich. No matter what kind of pay cheque you're bringing home, everyone worries about pretty much the same things: money, fitting in, family, and house training your dogs.

Portrayal of Women: Jackie is the most interesting person in this film.  Her life was filled with ups and downs and her marriage to David was supposed to be her happy ending.  I wonder if she is truly happy with that decision.

In her hometown, people talked about how smart she was and how they could always tell she was going places.  Is marrying a billionaire hindering that potential?  Should we envy her or pity her - is she wasting her life away as she completely identifies as David's wife?

The answer to that is no one's business but Jackie's, but I'm dying to know how she would answer.

Sisterhood Moment: You can tell Jackie does have good intentions when it comes to helping people. She sends money to her high school bestie to help save her house from being foreclosed.  Even if you don't speak to your high school girlfriends anymore, that history always counts for something.

Rating: 3/5 plus 3 Pomeranians and a Miss America sash.

IMDb - The Queen of Versaille (7.1)

Wikipedia - The Queen of Versailles

Rotten Tomatoes - The Queen of Versailles (95%)