Sarah L's Film Studies Blog 2020

THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED) A Noah Baumbach film SOME INITIAL THOUGHTS This 2017 film first came to my attention after I watched a video on it from the YouTube channel, "Lessons from the Screenplay." I couldn't find the video when I went back to link it to this post, so... c'est la vie. Conveniently enough, it was streaming on Netflix, though I feel like streaming great movies like this one on Netflix, where a lot of other crappy shows and movies are housed, does those movies a disservice. But that's for another post, I suppose. Despite my qualms with Netflix, I must say that I am really glad I could access this movie. The clip that I watched on YouTube was the perfect hook for me, because it clued me into the realistic dialogue that reveals deeper character struggles and relationships -- that's something I always appreciate in a movie. This film deals with family dynamics in the modern day when the members reconnect for their fathe...

        Booksmart , a teen comedy directed by actress-turned-director Olivia Wilde, has earned an impressive 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. It involves two particularly driven students who, on their last day of high school, realize that their choice to study instead of party was moot, since the kids who did both still got into great colleges and had bright futures. Anxious for self-redemption, they spend their last night of high school partying to make up for lost time. Despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews, a handful of negative reviews have been written up about it, including Richard Brody's "'Booksmart,' Reviewed: Olivia Wilde's Toothless Teen Comedy" featured in the New Yorker. Mostly critical, Brody employs snark and condescension throughout the piece to convey a general distaste for the "toothless" comedy. I use "snark" in particular because Brody argues that Wilde missed the mark in accurately depicting the "high school snark ...

1. What is the first movie that really made a strong impression on you? I remember the dragon bursting out of Gringotts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 to be one of the coolest things I'd ever seen at the time, and the ending with Snape and the Pensieve was my first realization that I could like characters that could be both really good and really bad. 2. What are 3-4 of your favorite genres? Indie/Arthouse, Drama, Historical, Romantic Comedy 3. What are 3-4 of your LEAST favorite genres? Disney, Teen, Documentary 4. What are your five favorite films? La La Land, Rushmore, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, First Man, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood 5. List three characteristics of what you consider to be a good movie. Unsatisfying/irresolute ending, realistic dialogue (rhythm and content, silence), subtle humor (isn't dwelled upon) 6. What are some (3-5) of your least favorite movies? Welcome to Marwen, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Talladega ...