UNCLE DREW, LEAVE NO TRACE and HEARTS BEAT LOUD musings
LEAVE NO TRACE
Bolstered by a great performance by Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE is a slow, patient and powerful coming of age story. The movie really does takes it time; it’s not boring, but as it went on it really got to me.
McKenzie plays Tom, the daughter of Ben Foster’s character, Will, who suffers from PTSD and lives on public land with Tom near Portland, Oregon. There are no grand flashbacks to Will’s time in the service to tell us how Will got to be so mistrusting. The chemistry between Foster and McKenzie is fantastic, as most of the movie involves just them. It’s a heavy weight to carry, and they’re both up to the task. TRACE didn’t fully connect with me, but there was enough quiet dramatic moments to warrant a glowing recommendation to those interested in slower indie movies with stellar performances.
RATING: PURCHASING FOR MY COLLECTION
(Refer to my rating system HERE!)
HEARTS BEAT LOUD
Having only seen posters for this movie, I was completely surprised at how much HEARTS BEAT LOUD affected me. During the summer before leaving for college, Sam (Kiersey Clemons) and her father, Frank, played by the incredibly warm Nick Offerman, write a few songs together. One of the songs achieves a spot on a popular Spotify playlist, and Frank is excited to be swept up in the spirit of writing and performing, but Sam is ready to move on with her life. It is a wonderful kind of slice-of-life movie that I couldn’t help but relate to.
Sam falls in love with a girl; writes, sings and plays guitar; and the summer before college was just as life-changing for her as it was for me. It’s so heartwarming to see her father so supportive of every aspect of her life, and it reminded me of the love I received from all my family. (Also interesting to note the theme of dead mothers in this movie and LEAVE NO TRACE. )I consider myself extremely lucky to have been raised the way I was.HEARTS BEAT LOUD hit exactly all the right feels on all accounts for me.
RATING: BEST OF THE BEST
(Refer to my rating system HERE!)
UNCLE DREW
No dead mother story lines in this movie unlike the other two movies I saw this week. Spinning off (basketball pun!) from the viral internet clip of Kyrie Irving putting on old makeup and playing some street basketball with unsuspecting ballers. It was a great concept that somehow got picked up as a movie, which could have been so much better if it had a better script and direction.
The athletes (Kyrie Irving, Shaquille O’Neal, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, Lisa Leslie and standout Chris Webber) are surprisingly solid when given the chance. It’s odd that some of the actual actors aren’t as good as the athletes, with the exception of Nick Kroll whose absolute ridiculousness works wonders for the movie. The script does no favors for the movie, and lots of the jokes don’t land, especially as it resorts to short and fat jokes straight out of 2006. The basketball scenes are pretty electric, although relatively sparse throughout the movie.
RATING: DIDN’T WASTE MY TIME
(Refer to my rating system HERE!)
