Reviews

REVIEWgracie587/600
Gaby Bromfeld

Spectacular Soccer Screenplay

(Photo Credit: imdb.com)

Gracie is a heartfelt, emotional movie that pulls the audience in with grief, pride, and determination. This movie was made in loving memory of William Shue, alumni of Columbia High School (CHS) and great contributor to the community of Maplewood and South Orange. Elizabeth and Andrew Shue, siblings of William Shue, produced and starred in Gracie to demonstrate the importance of the Title Ⅸ Amendment and sticking up for oneself.

The movie starts with a family revolved around soccer. All three brothers and one sister are obsessed with soccer. The sport has become their lives. After the fatal car accident involving the death of older brother Johnny Bowen, Grace Bowen has an idea. This idea is rejected by her family and the varsity soccer coach at CHS. Bowen continues on her own, navigating through boys, sports, and being alone. This teaches her that if she wants something she has to fight for it.

Bringing this issue up with the school board, she is given a hearing to present her case. This results in the board making tryouts accessible to both boys and girls at CHS. Based on a true story, Elizabeth Shue went to CHS and gave girls access to soccer. Sticking with her own, Bowen trains hard and prepares herself for tryouts. Along the way she gains the help and support from both her father, played by Dermot Mulroney, and her mother, played by Elizabeth Shue. Her father starts coaching her and realizing his daughter has a shot of making the team. Pulling the family together, Bowen arrives at tryouts determined to show them all she has got. Bowen makes the junior varsity team and represents the barriers being broken that allowed more girls the opportunity to participate in “boys only” sports. Bowen is played by Carly Schroeder who accurately represents the hardworking girl who petitioned the school board.

Brian Webster, a movie critic from the Apollo Guide, said, “In addition to Carly Schroeder's performance, the highlights are its honesty, willingness to show real family struggles, and the gradual way Gracie achieves success.” Gracie does just that. It compels a range of emotions out of the audience and springs them into the story. While Gracie is a heartfelt movie that keeps the audience engaged, it does have some downfalls. The movie is somewhat predictable and follows a basic plot that isn’t too surprising. The drama and sadness shown in this movie is also shown in sports movies where the main character is pursuing a dream. Kyle Smith, a movie critic from the New York Post, said, “It is puzzling to watch someone present her own life in terms of cliché.” This refers to the movie representing Elizabeth Shue’s life through the typical standpoint of feel good movies.

While being a cliché, Gracie still brings out emotions from the audience and especially residents of the South Orange and Maplewood community as well as alumni from CHS. Recognizing the town and high school in the film, draws people into the plot and interested in what they are going to see next. Being able to show what Maplewood, South Orange and CHS looked like in the year 1978, touched residents and students in seeing where they live or lived and their own high school. Seeing this in a movie is how the audience gets excited. Seeing two of their own, Andrew and Elizabeth Shue, successful and thriving makes the community happy and proud. This movie was gripping and shows a spirit that carries all the way through.

REVIEWSshortterm694/700

Max Fisher

Must Watch

(photo Credit: Wikipedia)

“Short Term 12,” written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton is one of my favorite movies. The excellent writing, as well as the stellar performances, makes it an emotional rollercoaster.

Grace, played by Brie Larson, is a supervisor at a group home for kids in between foster homes. Although the kids there are only supposed to be there for less than a year, many have been forgotten about and have been there for three years. The story focuses on two kids; Marcus, played by Lakeith Stanfield, and Jayden, played by Kaitlyn Dever. Marcus is turning 18 and will have to leave the group home and fend for himself which causes him to act out because he is scared. The performance given by Stanfield is nothing short of heartbreaking. On the other hand, Jayden is a new intake. She is very angry and acts out, but it is obvious she uses it to mask something that seriously wrong. During several emotional scenes, it eventually comes out that Jayden is being abused by her dad. Meanwhile, Grace's abusive father is being released from prison and she is forced to confront her past.

One scene, in particular, stuck with me for months, is when Marcus performs a rap that Stanfield himself wrote. The gravity of this scene is felt because previous to this scene the audience sees Marcus getting caught with drugs and starting a fight with another kid but does not know why. The rap shows how afraid he is of leaving the group home and how he feels about having to confront his abusive mother. This scene was so spectacular that he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male.

In fact, all the actors and actresses in the movie gave fantastic performances. Even the kids, were extremely believable and genuinely seemed damaged. What gives this sense of authenticity is the documentary style of filming, which comes from Cretton’s previous work on those types of films. This style makes the film seem like looking in on the characters lives, making the audience almost forget that the story is fictional. What further adds to the sense of authenticity is the fact that Cretton actually worked at a halfway house for a year before he got into filmmaking. In an interview, he even said many of the events in the movie are closely related to things he saw while working in the halfway house or things that people he interviewed had seen.

The tone of the movie is executed perfectly without ever breaking immersion. Calling it a roller coaster could not be more accurate. One moment you’ll be laughing from a joke one of the kids tell to the next where you realize another kid tried to kill themselves due to the trauma from their childhood abuse.

The movie also focuses on how the effects of abuse do not stop when the kids leave the foster system. Grace was sexually abused as a child and struggles with her serious relationship with Mason played by John Gallagher. When she finds out that she is pregnant and struggles with the idea of having to raise a child.  Larson nails the character of Grace, when she is confronted by her past she reverts to acting like one of the same children she is in charge of taking care of.

The most unique scenes in the film are the bookend stories told by Mason. What makes these scenes so distinct was the choice not to show the events they are talking about but just keep it as someone telling a story. This grounds the movie in reality and makes the stories even more impactful.

Richard Roper of the Chicago Sun said,”[Short Term 12 is] one of the best movies of the year and one of the truest portrayals I’ve ever seen about troubled teens and the people who dedicate their lives to trying to help them.” Short term 12 is a near perfect movie that truly is a piece of art. If you have not seen the movie yet I would recommend you watch it immediately.





REVIEWSgardenstate595/600                                                                                     Max Fisher

100 Percent Original

(photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures)

“Garden State” written and directed by Zach Braff, Columbia High School(CHS) graduate, gripped me from the first scene. The surreal dream state opening on a plane was very original and stood out from other movies. The whole movie is a breath of fresh air that does not always play it safe.

"Garden State's" protagonist, Andrew Largeman is highly medicated mid-twenty-year-old who returns home for his mother's funeral after nearly 10 years. Shortly after arriving, he reconnects with his old friends but struggles to really connect with them. Through the film, Andrew has to confront his inner demons and make peace with his past. Along his journey, he meets Sam, a compulsive liar, who he falls in love with.

Garden State explores the themes of coming to terms with being an adult. One reviewer even said, “Garden State gets it. Not since "The Graduate" has a movie nailed the beautiful terror of standing on the brink of adulthood with such satisfying precision.” To emphasize this Braff focuses on how Andrews high school friends, still behave like they did in high school and how they never grew up. This helps to build an atmosphere of disparity that is felt throughout the film.

One thing I really enjoyed about the movie was the authentic New Jersey feel. It does this through excellent cinematography which captures the uniqueness of New Jersey that many movies fail to do. If you live in New Jersey you can recognize many of the locations. It even has a short shot of CHS at 1:07.45. I also enjoyed the sequence near the end of the movie where Andrew and Sam go wandering all over New Jersey with Mark, Andrew’s friend. It shows off some of the strange places unique to New Jersey.



Zach Braff nails the balance of humorous and serious scenes. The humor is subtle and at some points pretty dark. My favorite scene is in the hospital when Andrew meets Sam for the first time. This serves as a great introduction to Sam but also answers the question why Andrew does not like talking about his acting career.

Sam: Hey, I recognize you.
Andrew Largeman: Oh, did you go to Columbia High?
Sam: No, not from high school, from TV. Didn't you play the retarded quarterback?
Andrew Largeman: Yeah.
Sam: Are you really retarded?
Andrew Largeman: No.
Sam: Ooh, great job man! I really thought you were retarded. I mean, you're better than that Corky kid and he's actually retarded. If there was a retarded Oscar you would win, hands down, kick his ass!

One thing I disliked was how bland Andrew was for the first half of the movie. Andrew is extremely depressed which is expressed very clearly, nevertheless, he could have shown some more unique tendencies to make him more likable. All the jokes in the first half come from the people around Andrew and not him. This was done to make people connect with the hopeless feelings that Andrew has but the adverse effect is that I found it difficult to really care about him when he was so uninteresting and generic.

“Garden State” is definitely worth a watch. Rene Rodriguez from the Miami Herald said, “There's no denying the intelligence at work here, or Braff's skill at weaving off-the-wall humor and sight gags into a story that, at heart, is profoundly sad.” From its great script to its unique cinematography, “Garden State” breathes originality. Although "Garden State" is not one of my favorite films of all times, it definitely will be remembered.