Netflix And Chill: Let It Snow (2019)

Three people wrote the book that this screenplay, written by another three people, was based on. That's six people altogether. Okay, the book is three thematically-linked stories, but it still seems like six is an awful lot of people to come up with a film that feels very much like something John Hughes should have come up with over twenty years ago. Just with much better representation.

Anyway, let's rattle through some of the storylines. It's snowing. On Christmas Eve. Julie (Isabela Merced) bumps into Stuart (Shameik Moore) on a train that then grinds to a halt. Stuart is a famous singer trying to enjoy some time not being recognised. He and Julie end up heading to a nearby waffle house. Also at that same waffle house is Keon (Jacob Batalon), hoping to get his shift done and then throw a great party for anyone who decides to stick around. Dorrie (Liv Hewson) works at the waffle house, and is upset when she has to serve a girl (Kerry, played by Anna Akana) that she had an amazing date with, only to find that her attitude seems completely different while she is surrounded by her friends. Dorrie is also infuriated by her friend, Addie (Odeya Rush), who is having her standard relationship issues that seem to stem from her own insecurities. And Tobin (Mitchell Hope) hangs out with Angie (Kiernan Shipka) without being able to tell her how he really feels, which becomes harder for him as she enjoys the company of JP (Matthew Noszka). They are also eventually heading towards the waffle house. 

Director Luke Snellin has a number of credits to his name already, all of them being shorts or TV show episodes. This may not be the most sophisticated material for a feature debut, but he knows how to handle it, and how easy it is to forgive the more cheesy moments when everything is so well put together.

The script is chock full of teen angst about very teen issues, but that doesn't mean they're all light and easy to dismiss. The characters with the less painful situations (wanting to throw a great party, wanting to spend some time out of the spotlight) are played by actors who help them remain just as appealing as those dealing with more serious issues (unrequited love, an ill parent, struggles with people who may resent their sexual orientation). Which isn't to say that the latter characters are portrayed by any lesser players, it just highlights the great casting all around.

Moore is someone I have enjoyed since seeing him in the excellent Dope, and he gives a winning turn here, working well with Merced (who I last saw in the enjoyable Dora The Explorer movie . . . yes, it IS enjoyable). Hewson shines in her role, and Hope and Shipka have you rooting for their friendship to turn into something more, while Batalon continues to be a fun and enjoyable onscreen presence. Rush and Akana are a little bit hampered by how their characters act for most of the runtime, but that's just how the script treats them until the expected changes in the finale. You also get an enjoyable supporting turn from Joan Cusack, as a woman who drives a tow truck while wearing a lot of tin foil (she's actually credited as Tin Foil Woman).

This is not a film for cynics, and not a film for those who cannot remember how painful it can be to not be spending time with the love of your life as a teenager (because you're obviously going to have a romance that lasts forever). It's a light and lovely comedy drama that serves as an enjoyable seasonal distraction, despite not focusing on the Christmas trimmings we normally get in a movie set at that time of year.

7/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Lady Bird (2017)

Lady Bird is a film I assumed I was going to love. Written and directed by Greta Gerwig, who I have been a big fan of for years now, starring Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf, both great actresses, and it has already been on the receiving end of a lot of love. I was ready to be impressed.

And I was.

Saoirse Ronan plays Christine, a young woman who wants to go by the name Lady Bird, who wants to get away to university and start her life properly, and she has the standard troubles of a teenage girl while her parents (Laurie Metcalf and Tracy Letts) try to deal with their own problematic situation. That's really all there is to it.

Staying in very familiar territory for her solo directorial feature (she previously co-directed, co-wrote, and co-starred in a film with Joe Swanberg), Gerwig certainly has a feel for all of the characters in this tale. There are moments that feel authentic, here and there, but a lot of the moments feel as if they're very much based in a cinematic reality.

Ronan is superb in the lead role, perfectly portraying the strange mix of curiosity, confidence, nerve-wracking insecurity, restlessness, and frustration and anger that makes up most of our teenage years. Metcalf and Letts are equally superb as the mother and father who have different approaches to their interactions with their daughter. The other young co-stars also do very well, with solid turns from Beanie Feldstein, playing the best friend, Lucas Hedges and Timothee Chalamet as two young men Lady Bird finds herself attracted to, and Odeya Rush as a "cool girl" who ends up an unlikely friend of Lady Bird.

All of those performances were enough to impress me, as were many chunks of the script. It was all good, if a bit familiar. But there was something else here, something that I haven't noticed anyone else mention, despite it seeming blindingly obvious. Without focusing on a pink dress or the opportunity of a perfect date, Gerwig has given audiences a John Hughes movie for the 21st century. Ronan is a stronger lead than Molly Ringwald, Eric Stoltz, or . . . Molly Ringwald, but she's given a character very close to those '80s souls that were also desperate to change the direction of their lives. It's even commented on more than once that she, according to some (including Lady Bird herself) lives on the wrong side of the tracks.

It's nice to see such a movie dressed up enough to gain a good bit of critical and commercial acclaim, but that's also a slight problem for the film. It tries to feel natural and realistic while also using characters that often feel indelibly like movie characters.

I was impressed by Lady Bird, I liked it a lot. But I still prefer the likes of Some Kind Of Wonderful and Pretty In Pink.

7/10

I THINK this is where the Blu ray will be available to buy.
Possibly here, in America.