The Favorite Foursome Blogathon: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

You can check out the Favorite Foursome Blogathon hosted by Movie Movie Blog Blog and all the entries from the other participants HERE.

Thinking about favorite foursomes, there are so many to choose from. Be it something like cartoons or movies or other forms of pop culture in general, I’m at Montreal Comiccon this weekend so all kinds of pop culture is just smashing me in the face. However, one of my absolutely favorite ones goes to the four best friends in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I am referring to the movie and not the book (since I’m a horrible procrastinator and haven’t gotten around to it). I’m considering this as a movie review however, a good part of what makes this movie shine is in the four young ladies and their journey and friendship.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

Director: Ken Kwapis

Cast: Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel,America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Jenna Boyd, Bradley Whitford, Mike Vogel, Michael Rady

Four best girlfriends hatch a plan to stay connected with one another as their lives start off in different directions: they pass around a pair of secondhand jeans that fits each of their bodies perfectly. – IMDB

There’s a lot to love about The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I remember checking this out originally because of Blake Lively because of Gossip Girl. However, its the friendships here and the growth of each of these girls in their first summer apart that strengthens them not only their friendship but also themselves as they have to face their own different problems and grow up to be a little braver about embracing the different people they meet and spend the summer with. The idea of traveling pants is just the connection that they have and the magic that it holds in having a spiritual holder for the three others that aren’t with them wherever the pants are. It gives them a little update as the pants move around the world. Its grounded to some teenage issues and a lot of it is a coming of age where they learn to find themselves and be okay with sharing their own self and being vulnerable. Sure, its not your typical foursome as the movie sees them together only at the beginning and the end but you can see their friendship even as they are separate. The movie is so smart in doing that because together we get to see how each of them contrast in their personality and its this personality that makes also creates barriers. Before they had each other to love and be there to balance out each other, but apart they need to deal with a lot of these emotional things themselves. Its all part of growing up and that is what makes the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants such a great experience.

As we take a look at each of their journeys, they each have something to share that makes it so each to connect to. For Lena (Alexis Bledel), her personality is an introvert and fairly conservative. Her journey to Greece to visit her grandparents over the summer is an eye-opener because she needs to do things for herself now. She’s almost met the expectations of her family and being a good daughter. Same in Greece, she learns to communicate with her grandparents who don’t speak English well and her Greece is fairly non-existent. It creates the humor here. With that she meets Kostas who she learns has a conflict with her own family creating a barrier that she needs to choose despite her growing feelings. While Kostas is the person who breaks her out of her shell a little, Lena goes through quite the journey as she learns to be brave for herself and let herself be vulnerable and break down those walls that keeps her safe.

Almost opposite in personality, Bridget (Blake Lively) is outgoing and always gets what she wants. Off to Mexico for soccer camp, she goes against the rules to try to get the attention of one of the coaches. However, what comes tumbling back to her is that she doesn’t get everything that she wants and some of her deeper feelings are dug up when she has to face rejection. She may be good at a lot but it means nothing in the whole spectrum of things. Her journey brings back waves of how much she has hidden away those feelings of sadness and masked it with happiness. Dealing with grief and loss is her journey.

Carmen goes off to her father and learns that he is ready to marry another woman with two kids of her own. As she tries to embrace it and help with the wedding preparations, she starts feeling like she doesn’t belong. The feelings of abandonment and an outsider from her father who has always had a good relationship with her turns into quite a moment when she embraces that she is mad at him for the things he has done and how he has treated the situation. Yet again, admitting her feelings and just letting it go is her journey to face this new future and rebuild.

As for Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), the final piece of this foursome, who is the more sarcastic and cynical of the four has to stay home where she pursues making a documentary while working at Walmart. In this process, she meets an annoying girl who won’t leave her alone called Bailey. Suffice to say that, Bailey teaches her a little something about enjoying life even with its imperfections. While Tibby might feel abandoned by her friends and a complete loser for her situation, she learns the lesson to be grateful for the little happy moments in life and making those count for more than the bad.

Overall, what makes this journey worthwhile and these four work is their personalities. The jeans might be the glue that reminds them of the sisterhood that they trust and know that they always have their backs no matter where they are. Its a way to still share their lives and know when its time to make sure everyone is okay. Its this friendship that makes these four one of my faves. Their different personalities and the lessons they teach aren’t just for teenagers but some people of any age need to learn or just be reminded of it. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants embrace strong sisterly friendships as well as sharing the differences they have and being able to make those into fun and emotional journeys. If you haven’t seen The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, its really a great movie worth checking out.

The Shallows (2016)

2016 release reviews have been far and few here. Especially the bigger ones. Nothing just seemed to peak my interest enough to get me to go to the theatres other than the whole Fantasia phase in late July. Regardless, I rented The Shallows a few weeks ago and gave it a go. The Shallows crept up on me. I had no idea that it was coming out until it was released and mixed reviews showed up (although a lot of them were on the favorable side, I believe).

Let’s check it out!

The Shallows (2016)

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Cast: Blake Lively, Oscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen, Sedona Legge

A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills. –IMDB

 I love shark movies. To actual bits. Sure, there are a few really fluky ones but whether its the “so bad its good” Sharknado or the 90s Deep Blue Sea or the Australian horror thriller The Reef and of course, the classic Jaws, they are packed with so much awesomeness. The Shallows looks like it has that grasped well and it does deliver for the most part. Sure, there are always things of circumstance like we learn that our protagonist Nancy (played by Blake Lively) is studying to be a nurse. What better than a nurse with some medical skills to be attacked by a shark, right? Except while The Shallows is about Nancy and her fight to survive back to shore, its also a character study and development. Jaume Collet-Serra has directed a good portion of thrillers in his filmography, half of them are action thrillers with Liam Neeson but there are some standout titles like Orphan which is the first time I’ve seen his work and love that one quite a bit. Its nice to see him jumping back into a horror thriller like this one. While I do have to say it packs more thrills than horror, there is a lot about how he makes The Shallows and not revealing the shark so much but rather the water perspectives that make the movie a much more thrilling and engaging experience. When you bond with a seagull, you know that the protagonist and the plot has had some effect.

While there are a few scenes with other characters, like the opening bits mostly, a good part of this movie is really just spending time with Nancy alone in the middle of The Shallows with the beach only a little ways away. What makes Nancy great is that she is smart and resourceful. While there are some convenient situations, there are always changing factors to keep the pacing intriguing to see what else she can do and what other options her character thinks of. Especially because Nancy is not only trapped and hunted, but she is hurt. It is a race with time for her especially the changing tides. The Shallows is a thrilling race to safety and survival against a shark but we slowly realize that Nancy isn’t just a hot body, she also has some issues she needs to work out. It is why she surfs and why she hasn’t decided to settle down and stop surfing and travelling around the world and pursuing her career. Blake Lively has gone a long way. I’ve always enjoyed her as an actress, whether it was in her younger roles in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants or later on in Gossip Girl and this role shows how much she has grown as an actress.

It is a little funny how I’m writing this coming off of discussing another thriller called “Blood in the Water” over at That Moment In which you can find here. What we criticized in that one as making it even more lackluster was what I liked a lot about this one. Essentially the finale of the movie is somewhat shown in the beginning and then it backtracks to the days as we hit that moment we started with. Another thing that is pretty nice about The Shallows is that while it takes great joy in being a serious thriller, there are still taunting moments that are fun, even if a little predictable of the outcome. They fit together to piece together what we do see in the opening scene as well.

Thrilling shark movies are rather hard to find. The Shallows is one that I truly enjoyed a lot. It had tense and intriguing moments. It tries to be thoughtful and aims for a deeper character study of than just human vs. shark and Blake Lively pulls off a great performance as Nancy, a smart and competent character. There is a lot to love in shark movies in a genre that is generally full of tropes and predictable moments, this one pulls off a few fun surprises and a thrilling movie experience.

Have you seen The Shallows? What is your favorite shark movie?

Three Quick Reviews: Accepted, Chronicle & How To Deal

This past week, I’ve been taking a break from reviews.  Before I dive into 3 short reviews, that prove I haven’t been NOT watching movies, I’d like to tell you why.

Aside from the reason of work totally burning me out, its mostly because I’ve been prepping myself for March’s recommendation month.  I’ve gotten the material watched so that I just need to worry about writing the reviews and I have some time to give it more thought.  Its something I’m working on actually.  To not watching everything last minute and then play catch up with my posts.  I’m hoping it’ll work out, but I don’t know…

Anyways, enough of that! I’m excited about recommendations month but first things first, I need to exercise those reviewing muscles.  I watched 2 of those this past week and the other one, maybe two weeks ago.  The reason I do these, its really because I’ve piled up too many movies or there’s just not enough to review in a single post.

Lets start with…

ACCEPTED (2006)

Director: Steve Pink

Cast: Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Blake Lively

Bartleby (Justin Long) and a few friends didn’t end up getting accepted into any colleges but to please their parents, they come out with a fake school and stage the whole going to college event. That is until, the word goes out and actual acceptances were done through a fluke on their website.  Bartleby ends up running the college while creating something a lot more than he expected.

Accepted is a pretty stupid comedy and it revolves around a lot of dumb(ish) humor.  A lot of times (actually, more often than not), it doesn’t work for me.  It just doesn’t so I usually run the other way.  Somehow, I remember hearing before that this wasn’t bad so one late night, while I was feeling sick and couldn’t sleep, I turned it on to make me feel better. Its a comedy so its supposed to do that.  To be honest, I can’t pinpoint the reasons, but I ended up enjoying it.  I acknowledged the stupid parts but for the most part, I liked it.  Plus, I really like Justin Long doing that nerdy/geeky sarcastic humor thing and I have no idea why…

I do realize that aside from Blake Lively in Gossip Girl and Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (which I should review), she’s never been very enjoyable in movies.  Its not that she’s bad but nothing quite beats her performances especially in Gossip Girl.  Either way, average humor and its a good one to sit around, leave your brain at the door and laugh a little.

Do you like Blake Lively? How about Justin Long? Any roles you particularly enjoyed of either of them?

CHRONICLE (2012)

Director: Josh Trank

Cast: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan, Ashley Hinshaw

Andrew (Dane DeHaan), Matt (Alex Russell) and Steve (Michael B. Jordan) discover a hole in the middle of the woods in the outskirts and go inside to find that they have absorbed some sort of energy that allows them to have all sorts of superpowers from telekinesis to even flying.  As their power develops, they are now torn as to how to use the powers in a rightful way and not be  lead into the darker side of things.

I’m not an expert at found footage. In fact, the only found footage I’ve seen was for last year’s Halloween fest opener, Area 407 (review HERE).  Oh yeah, I hated it! Its one of the reasons I’ve been hesitant to watch Chronicle but since it was going to expire (or has as this goes up), I figured I would.  To my surprise, Chronicle turned out to be pretty good.  I’m not saying I loved it but I liked it.  They used the found footage camerawork really well and even incorporated it with not only their camera but also whoever has filming devices like someone else’s camera (using a second point of view) and phones, etc.  I seriously think for found footage, that aspect is very important.

Plus, they used decent young actors. They portrayed their roles very well.  It helped that the script was done pretty good also.  It had a very intense parts, especially once their bond grows and then starts to fade near the end with disagreeing with how their powers should be dealt with.  Plus, the ending was pretty fulfilling 🙂

Do you like found footage films? Which ones are your favorites?

HOW TO DEAL (2003)

Director: Clare Kilner

Cast: Mandy Moore, Trent Ford, Allison Janney, Alexandra Holden

Halley (Mandy Moore)has seen so many love disasters that she doesn’t believe in true love.  When her sister and then her father both announce to get married and her best friend falls madly in love, she tries to stay supportive.  However, as she starts to know Macon (Trent Ford), the best friend of her best friend’s boyfriend, she starts to like him a lot but also tries to control her feelings.  Except, is it so easy?

Ever since I rewatched A Walk to Remember for the Valentine’s Marathon HERE, I’ve been trying to find more Mandy Moore flicks.  How To Deal is a romantic comedy and although I don’t think its a really great one, its good enough to deal with.  Let me make it clear though, I liked it because of the characters in the story. I always feel that Mandy Moore is a very crush-worthy girl because she gives off this simple vibe.  Plus, Trent Ford reminds me of the more recent Tyler Blackburn from Pretty Little Liars. He has this dark, mysterious but sexy-ish appearance. Plus, they have strong supporting role from Allison Janney.

Of course, the dialogue and story itself isn’t all that great, even though it is supposedly an adaptation of two novels that I’ve never heard of. There’s something missing and the main character is really not good.  I didn’t connect with that one as well but having Mandy Moore there makes this rom-com a lot more tolerable 🙂

OVERALL…the three movies I watched were pretty much average.  I never recommend comedy as its so personal to your tastes.  Even me, I’m not quite sure if its because I was feeling sick when I saw it.  I would recommend Chronicle though.  It was definitely the best out of the three here.  It was also a surprise.  How to Deal isn’t a great romantice comedy but it does have a decent cast who helps it to be better.

Have you seen any of these? What did you think?

The Town (2010)

Director: Ben Affleck

Cast: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively, Jon Hamm

Set in the town of Charlestown where bank robbers are born and passed down through generations, Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), James “Jem” Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Gloansy and Dez are the next generation in a group that starts the story robbing a bank which results in them taking the bank manager as a hostage and then letting her go unharmed.  This starts to worry them when the FBI, especially Special Agent Frawley (Jon Hamm) gets involved and Doug decides to approach the bank manager, a woman called Claire (Rebecca Hall) and starts to fall in love with her.  Just as he wants to leave town with her, there is a big job that comes up that he has to take.  The question now is whether he’ll be able to get out of this mess and manage to leave the town.

I liked the cast a lot.  Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall and Jon Hamm and even many of the other characters was amazing.  They were great in their roles.  I really enjoyed that a lot.  The only person that I didn’t enjoy was Blake Lively as Coughlin’s sister and also a girl who loves Doug.  I’ve been a fan of Blake Lively in Gossip Girl and even when she did The Sisterhood of  the Traveling Pants movies.  She was fantastic in that but somehow for this one, her accent sounded forced and it bothered me because if I didn’t have the subtitles, I wouldn’t have understood what she said at all.  However, she didn’t have that much screen time so it was alright.

I’ve never been a big fan of Ben Affleck as an actor, but funny enough, I’ve been seeing his movies which he directed.  This one definitely was a good movie, maybe not a great one for me.  However, I did enjoy Gone Baby Gone so thats why I had decided to give this a shot.  Point is, even as an actor here, I found him very enjoyable.  Maybe its because this is something that he’s creating himself so there is more heart and soul that he puts into even the role he takes.  It doesn’t really matter because it works to its advantage.

Also, I felt that I enjoyed the second half of the movie a lot more than the first part.  It really takes some time to get into the whole story.  Its not that the basis is bad.  I did some research and its based on a novel called Prince of Thieves which I will add to my reading list.  As a crime thriller, I felt that it really caught my attention near the climax when things started getting bad and then eventually get to the very awesome ending.

Even though thats the case, I did sit to think about this a bit and I’d say that its definitely worth a viewing.  The good parts really more than make up for the parts that were lacking and I’m pretty sure that I would gladly sit down and watch this again.

So what do you think about The Town? How about your views on Ben Affleck as a director? Or maybe you  liked him better as an actor?