Some of my favorite films have been the high school teen dramas (i.e. The Breakfast Club, Can’t Hardly Wait, etc.) for as long as I can remember. So, when I heard that today’s film, The Edge Of Seventeen, had a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I had to check out the film for myself. The early teens can be an awkward age for teens especially when you are trying to navigate your way through the jungle known as high school. Things have never been easy for Nadine (True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld) like it has been for her brother Darian (Everybody Wants Some‘s Blake Jenner). Now things are about to get incredibly worse for her when her best friend Krista (The Bronze‘s Haley Lu Richardson) decides to date her brother. What is Nadine to do when she has no one to turn to in her life? The film also stars Woody Harrelson (Now You See Me 2) as Mr. Bruner, Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) as Mona, Hayden Szeto (The Unbidden) as Erwin, Alexander Calvert (Scream: The TV Series) as Nick Mossman, Eric Keenleyside (Godzilla) as Tom, Nesta Cooper (Heroes Reborn) as Shannon, Lina Renna as Little Nadine, Ava Grace Cooper as Young Krista, and the film was written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig.
The film was definitely interesting to say the least and it had it’s moments of brilliance. Would I compare it to a John Hughes film? Well, probably not, but it comes pretty close in spirit. This could definitely be the film for all the awkward teens out there who feel that they don’t fit in. There can be times in the film where the moments are almost predictable like you guessed that her brother was going to hook up with her best friend and I guessed that without reading the synopsis of the film. She is just way too pretty to not go unnoticed by anyone and that would be the ultimate drama filled subplot. The best moments of the film were Nadine’s interactions with Mr. Bruner played by the excellent and the MVP of the film in Woody Harrelson. He was definitely the comedic relief of the film giving us some really cool sarcastic moments with Nadine who unknowingly thinks that she is the only one with problems. Although he is sarcastic, he always seems to be there like any teacher would be essentially in our time of need. The film is filled with all the awkward moments teens deal with in life especially in the technology age and maybe this is this generations teen flick. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed watching the film, it was well written and well acted. What else could you possibly ask for? I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.
The world of Harry Potter is definitely one that is interesting and that’s only having seen just two films. When I had heard that they were making a film about a book that Harry contained called Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, I had to see and it’s today’s film. In 1926, wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) decided that he wanted to travel to New York to let go of a friend that belonged there. Things get complicated when he bumps into a no-maj (a muggle) named Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) which in turn sees some of the beasts in Newt’s suitcase get set free into New York. Now it’s up to them and two other wizards to try and find these magical creatures before the council finds out, but they stumble upon something more sinister along the way. The film also stars Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice) as Tina, Alison Sudol (Between Us) as Queenie, Ezra Miller (Suicide Squad) as Creedence, Samantha Morton (John Carter) as Mary Lou, Colin Farrell (Daredevil) as Graves, Jon Voight (Midnight Cowboy) as Shaw Sr., Ron Pearlman (Hellboy) as Gnarlack, Josh Cowdery (Godzilla) as Senator Shaw, Faith Wood-Blagrove as Modesty Barebone, Jenn Murray (Brooklyn) as Chastity Barebone, and the film was directed by David Yates (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince).
First off, I just wanted to say that if you are a fan of Harry Potter then you are absolutely going to love this film because I loved it. The film features some great writing, amazing special effects, and some amazing acting from everyone especially Colin Farrell, Eddie Redmayne, and even Dan Fogler. It’s hard to just choose a few because everyone was amazing in the film. What I can say is that there is definitely too many people to mention which is why I only chose three. We could go on forever talking about the rest of them. There is a reveal at the end of the film that will either shock you or you cheated and went to IMDB and you are no longer surprised. Either way when you see it, you’ll be instantly excited. I almost fell out of my seat when I saw the surprise. The creatures were great and there were a lot of funny moments to go along with the cute moments (especially the Niffler who has a habit of stealing) from all the creatures. This is definitely a great origin story and they make various references to Hogwarts and even Dumbledore and that has me excited to see exactly what the future holds in store for this amazing wizard world. I know I am going to be glued to the news to see and hopefully after you see this, you’ll feel the same as me. I am going to go ahead and give the film an A for a final grade because it deserved it.
There are times where I thank myself for starting this challenge because it gives me opportunities to see some amazing films and sometimes not so amazing of films. Ever since Marvel and Disney had announced that the third film for Captain America was going to be Captain America: Civil War, I couldn’t wait to see it. When The Avengers have to go in to a city and save the day, who has to answer to the people and the victims of the aftermath? Who is held responsible and who is to be held accountable? That is one of the many questions that Secretary Of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) have presented to the team after a mission in Nigeria has some terrible consequences. With Bucky Barnes still on the loose and now wanted for the murder of King T’Chaka (John Kani), Captain America (Chris Evans) looks to prove that Bucky (Sebastian Stan) is innocent even if it means he has to go rogue. The film also stars Paul Bettany (Priest) as Vision, Scarlet Johansson (Lucy) as Black Widow, Anthony Mackie (Pain & Gain) as Sam Wilson, Don Cheadle (Crash) as War Machine, Jeremy Renner (The Town) as Hawkeye, Chadwick Boseman (42) as Black Panther, Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla) as Scarlet Witch, Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) as Ant-Man, Tom Holland (Locke) as Spider-Man, Daniel Brühl (Rush) as Zemo, Frank Grillo (Warrior) as Crossbones, and the film was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
I am seriously trying my best not to spoil anything for anyone who has not yet seen this film. I am seriously going to try my best, but just in case spoiler alert: do not continue to read in case of any details slipping through. I am going to start this off right away by saying that I truly loved the film and was totally not disappointed by it at all. All I can really say is that there are some small questions that are answered in this film that play a big role overall in the film. Not to mention, there is some bad ass action sequences in the film and some really cool appearances by certain characters like one Spider-Man and Ant-Man. I really loved Spider-Man’s interactions with Tony Stark and the Avengers team in general. The film really does a terrific job with character development and if you are looking for a character driven film, then this is it. All of the action sequences are amazing and all of the fight scenes are worth the price of admission. Chadwick Boseman making his debut as Black Panther was absolutely awesome and the drama was well written. The conflicts hit you really close especially if you are a fan of a certain character. This is definitely one of my favorite films of the year besides Deadpool so I am going to have a hard time with ranking these films. Check out the film, choose a side, and see if you made the right choice for yourself. I am going to give the film an A+ for a final grade because it had the right amount of drama and it sneaked the comedy in at the right times plus everything I mentioned above.
For today’s Ass Whoopin Wednesday film, I chose a film that I wanted to check out for a while when I heard that WWE wrestler Dean Ambrose was the latest to get into films. Dean is the latest to star in 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown which he plays a troubled Detective named Shaw. Dean is returning to the job for the first time in months after the death of his partner. While on the job, he discovers some corruption in the precinct involving a former partner and he decides to investigate it. Detective Burke (Roger R. Cross), the corrupt cop gets wind of what Shaw is doing and to protect his own behind, he puts the whole building into lockdown and he hunts Shaw. Shaw only has 12 rounds in his gun to help defend himself while he tries to figure out a way to get the evidence out. The film also stars Daniel Cudmore (X-Men: The Last Stand) as Gideon, Lochlyn Munro (Scary Movie) as Darrow, Ty Olsson (X-Men 2) as Harris, Sarah Smyth (50/50) as Officer Taylor, Rebecca Marshall (That’s My Boy) as Captain Matthews, Kirby Morrow (RoboCop) as Saul, Toby Levins (Godzilla) as Meeks, Sharon Taylor (Stargate: Atlantis) as Carmen, Hugo Steele (Man Of Steel) as Hurst, and the film was directed by Stephen Reynolds (Vendetta). To see the stats and the review of the film, please click 
365moviesin365dayschallenge 