I have always been a huge fan of Natalie Portman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt so when you combine the two and have them in a movie, I am probably going to watch. That was definitely when it came to today’s film which is called Hesher (the movie poster was also bad ass). TJ (Rubber‘s Devin Brochu) for the last two months has been having a rough time since the death of his mother whether it’s dealing with his dad (The Office‘s Rainn Wilson) who is also depressed or the school bully who beats up on the poor kid all the time. One day unexpectedly, a mysterious anarchist named Hesher (Levitt) moves into his garage and introduces a little bit of chaos into his life and turns things upside down for his family. The film also stars Natalie Portman (Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge Of The Sith) as Nicole, Piper Laurie (The Hustler) as Grandma, Brendan Hill (Dude, Where’s My Car?) as Dustin, John Carroll Lynch (American Horror Story) as Larry, Mary Elizabeth Barrett (There Will Be Blood) as Meryl, Frank Collison (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) as the funeral director, Monica Staggs (Tears Of The Sun) as Mom, and the film was written and directed by Spencer Susser (I Love Sarah Jane).
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is just absolutely brilliant in the film as he is the agent of chaos for the family. Sometimes in order to get people to see clearly when their minds are clouded is to introduce a little chaos and that is what Hesher does for them. The film is a dark comedy which means it’s not a film that contains stupid funny like the previous film I watched for this blog. Every character sort of has a balance with each other and there is a cause and effect for all of them when Hesher shows up. Natalie Portman’s character is a mess and she becomes even more of a mess when she meets Hesher, but she seems to turn out OK just like TJ’s family. When I was first watching the film, I felt like Hesher wasn’t real because it seemed that only certain people could see him and he never got blamed for anything stupid he did. It almost like he was an agent of God sent down to try and help them fix their messed up lives, but other people can see him. The other appealing thing about this film is the soundtrack because Hesher himself is a heavy metal maniac. If you love early Metallica and some Motorhead thrown in there, then you will love the soundtrack like me. Jospeh is an amazing actor and combine him with other amazing talents and you have a hidden gem here. That is why I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.
There are always films that get announced or you see some details and it gets you excited for it, but you end up waiting for it for a while. That was the case with today’s film Cooties which I had heard about back in 2014, but we finally have it here for you. Cooties follows aspiring writer and now substitute teacher Clint (Elijah Wood) as he returns home to Fort Chicken to teach at the elementary school. The only problem for Clint is that when he gets to school, a virus begins to spread that turns the children there into flesh eating zombies. Now Clint has to lead a group of ragtag teachers to safety before they are torn to shreds by the infected students. The film also stars Rainn Wilson (House Of 1000 Corpses) as Wade, Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World) as Lucy, Jack McBrayer (The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret) as Tracy, Leigh Whannell (Insidious: Chapter 2) as Doug, Nasim Pedrad (Saturday Night Live) as Rebekkah, Ian Brennan (Scream Queens) as Vice Principal Simms, Jorge Garcia (The Ridiculous 6) as Rick, Cooper Roth (The Road Within) as Patriot, Morgan Lily (X-Men: First Class) as Tamra, and the film was directed by Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion.
At first before I watched the film I questioned why this never made it into theaters before it went straight to DVD. Then after watching the film, I can definitely figure out why it never made it and I am not saying that as a bad thing. This is definitely one of those films that is so bad that it’s awesome. I just figured that having Rainn Wilson, Elijah Wood, and Jack McBrayer would be enough to get into theaters, but it’s really funny regardless. One of the elements I loved about this film was the little quips that are thrown like a reference to The Lord Of The Rings series that Elijah Wood starred in at one time. It also helps that Rainn Wilson is absolutely hilarious and Leigh Whannell’s character was weird, but a very funny addition to the ensemble. I really believe that without all those factors I listed, this film would’t be as good or enjoyable to watch. One thing it will do is make you not want to eat chicken nuggets ever again as you see how they are made and what goes into them. One of the things I also liked about the film was how creative they were when you see one kid using intestines as jump rope or a human head on the end of a rope that is used for tetherball. It was those little things that made the film enoyable to watch, but it’s still a little cheesy at times. With that being said, I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 