Out to own today:
Bleed for This
 | “I’m not done yet. I’ve got more in me,” Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller) The problem with boxing movies is that there are only so many ways they can conclude: Win, lose or draw. Perhaps they are the most conventional sporting subgenre now, because the ability to sidestep cliché trappings has proved too difficult for most filmmakers? However, the best pugilistic films are not even about the ring, but what is going on outside, e.g. RAGING BULL, MILLION DOLLAR BABY and ALI. Bog-standard is as good as BLEED FOR THIS gets. Yes, there is a rough charm, and a positive message of almost superhuman recovery, but beyond those there is nothing much else of interest. [To read more, click here.] |
The Edge of Seventeen
 | “We don’t need to get into the minutiae,” Mr Bruner (Woody Harrelson) The awkward high school comedy/drama/dramedy flick is usually the preserve of a male lead. There are positive signs gender parity is coming along, from JUNO to THE TO DO LIST and DETENTION, where the female protagonist is just as wittily unpopular. THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN overtly acknowledges the phenomenon by having Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) hold up a still of Pedro from NAPOLEON DYNAMITE in comparison to herself. How these teen movies break out is by speaking to all of the audience, of any age and gender, to say, we get it, most of us at some point are socially incompetent and often feel uncomfortable in our skin. “I don’t even like me.” Nadine verbalises (perhaps unnecessarily) about how she looks down on herself literally and figuratively. [To read more, click here.] |
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