2012: Week 44: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Genre: Drama, Romance 


Main Players: Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller

General Gist:  A story that follows the school year of a shy freshman boy who becomes friends with two seniors.

Deb's Take: 
I loved this movie!  It felt like the "Breakfast Club" meets "Pretty in Pink".  I have always liked movies about high school.  Everything is so innocent and new.  The thrill (or maybe agony) of becoming an adult, and experiencing so much for the first time.  It's also scary, and lonely and sad for some, but when it's not, its amazing.

I loved the chemistry of these actors. The characters were bizarre, quirky, and perfect!  All three of the actors were great.  I really liked Logan Lerman, what a wonderful job. There were funny parts, sad parts, and happy parts.  All those things that make life...Life, and all those things that shape who we are.  Yes, we all experience life differently, but all in all, everything is a lesson, and if we make it through we learn something about who we are and who we will be become. 

Deb's Rate: Opening Night

Tiff's Take:
Ditto on what Deb said.  Yeah, really great movie.  Although I'm not surprised.  I thought I would like this one from the first time I saw the preview.  It's been out a little while and I wasn't sure if we would get to see it so I'm glad we finally did. 

The basic story line was pretty straight forward.  A boy trying to fit in while finding unlikely friends in two older kids.  But there was a lot more to the back history of the three main characters that made it interesting.  In fact, it makes you want to know more about them.  Parts of it are vague which I think was done on purpose to let you fill in the holes.  That can be annoying at times but worked for this.  I'm guessing the book gets into a lot more detail but the movie worked.

I loved all three of the main actors/characters.  They each had a special charm to them.  I loved seeing Emma Watson do so well in a post Harry Potter movie.  Definitely one of the better movies we've seen this year.

Tiff's Rate: Opening Night 

Preview:  Review for Argo and Wreck-It Ralph coming up. 

Week 44: The Way

Last weekend we saw The Way.  Never heard of it you say?  Well, neither had I until I was browsing through our options.  Let me tell ya, it's been a duddy couple weeks in movies and this was the only one that seemed worth going to.  This was released first in Spain then at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.  It came out a couple other places internationally before it hit here this October.  So this isn't your average American blockbuster.  And what a nice change of pace. 

Emilio Estevez wrote and directed this with a minor role in the movie.  The main character was Martin Sheen.  Everyone else was pretty much no namers. Martin Sheen played Tom, a guy who travels to Europe to retrieve the body of his son (played by Estevez) who died in an accident while embarking on a pilgrimage from France to Spain.  As he's there he decides to finish what his son started and take the pilgrimage himself.  (With his son's ashes in tow.)  On his journey he meets up with three other people who are making the trek for their own specific reasons. 

What I loved about this movie is it was so simple and honest.  There wasn't a lot of drama or unnecessary dialog.  Martin Sheen was really perfect in this role.  He was understated and believable.  The other characters were equally as good.  It was a thought provoking movie and to top it off there was some humor thrown in as well.  Really well done.

If you're looking for something off the beaten path this is the movie for you.  It might even make you want to drop everything and go "find" yourself in the European countryside. 

To Sum it up: Touching, funny, and inspires you to be a better person.