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VOD Pick of the Week

The Spectacular Now
John Hughes may be long gone, but his legacy lives on. Two of the strongest movies of the last couple years follow in the Hughesian tradition of examining the trials of being a teenager in an insightful and sensitive manner. In 2012 there was The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and last year was The Spectacular Now, which is now available on DVD and VOD.

Based on the novel by Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now focuses on Sutter Keely, a high school senior who is the life of the party. It quickly becomes apparent that his drinking is more than just a normal teenage weekend partying or experimentation. Sutter is on his way to becoming, if he isn’t already, a full blown alcoholic. His drinking has affected his schoolwork, his job, and his relationships, and his girlfriend dumps him because she sees no ambition in or future with him. The break up sends Sutter on a bender that ends up with him passed out on the lawn of classmate Aimee Finecky.

Aimee is the opposite of Sutter. She is studious and certainly not a partier. She’s never had a boyfriend and is something of a geek and a fan of science fiction novels. She is a bit taken aback when Sutter shows interest in her, but is won over by his charm. She agrees to tutor him and they start to date with Sutter introducing her to his party lifestyle, and while Sutter does seem to have genuine feelings for Aimee, he also still has an eye for his ex.

Things are also complicated at home for Sutter and Aimee. Sutter blames his mom for driving his dad away and is angry that she will not help get in touch with him, while Aimee is considering giving up her opportunity to go to college out of town because she feels like she needs to take care of her mother. When Sutter is finally able to get contact information for his father from his sister, Aimee accompanies Sutter on a trip to visit him. It is that trip that allows Sutter to finally take a look at himself, his life, and the direction he is heading.

The film is blessed with two stellar performances by its young leads, for which they were awarded a Special Jury Prize for Acting at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Shailene Woodley has already had her breakthrough with her Golden Globe nominated performance in The Descendants, and here she shows Aimee’s great strength that is hidden under her outward vulnerability. Miles Teller, who has appeared in two broader party movies (Project X and 21 & Over) captures what can sometimes be the dark side when someone uses the party to hide inner demons. In contrast to Aimee, Sutter uses his show of confidence to hide his inner vulnerability.

The Spectacular Now and The Perks of Being a Wallflower would make an intriguing coming of age double feature. One of the interesting things they have in common is their frank depiction of drug and alcohol use among teenagers. While that is something that is usually done as an ultimately harmless act of rebellion or simply to have a good time, the films do not back away from the fact that for some people it can lead to more dire consequences. While both movies would likely to appeal to the teenagers that they portray, they also seem made for former teenagers who can look back and reflect on how those years informed their future life.

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New releases for February 14th

Adult World: Emma Roberts plays Amy, a recent college graduate has dreams of making it as a poet, but poetry doesn’t pay the bills and her parents are no longer going to support her financially and force her to get a job. She finds that job at an adult bookstore called Adult World. There she befriends the store manager, but concentrates more on stalking a once celebrated and now reclusive poet (John Cusack), who she hopes will become her mentor.

Easy Money: Hard to Kill: Joel Kinnaman has two movies out this Valentine Day weekend, the much higher profile Robocop reboot and Easy Money: Hard to Kill the sequel to the 2012 Swedish film Easy Money. In the first film, Kinnaman played JW, a finance student who turned to a life of crime to be able to afford to fit in with the 1% finance culture he desired to enter. It is now three years later and he is being released from the prison term he served due to his actions in the first film. Trying to go straight, he finds that people are not willing to give an ex-con a second chance, forcing him back into the underworld that cost him his freedom to begin with.
Available at Vudu

Jimmy P.: Based on a true story, Benicio Del Toro plays Jimmy Picard, a Native American Blackfoot veteran who was injured in World War II and now finds himself in a military hospital labeled as a schizophrenic. At a loss as how to treat their patient the doctor’s bring in a French anthropologist and Native American scholar (Mathieu Amalric). Through a combination of psychotherapy, dream analysis, and Native American culture and tradition the two men form a bond that is deeper than doctor-patient.

The Returned: Think of it as an unzombie movie. The Returned takes place in the aftermath of a zombie breakout where a treatment, but not a cure for the zombie virus has been developed. Individuals infected with the virus, who are called the “Returned,” can live normal lives and prevented from turning into ravenous monsters through daily injections. Threatened by attacks from anti-Returned groups and a shortage of the life-sustaining drug Alex, one of the Returned and his girlfriend Kate find themselves on the run.