I'm A Sucker For Movies Like "Touchback"

Touchback (2011)

Rated PG-13

Starring Brian Presley, Kurt Russell, Melanie Lynskey, Christine Lahti, Marc Blucas, Sarah Wright

Written and Directed by Don Handfield

The Story:

Scott (Presley) was a lock for college football greatness and possibly beyond. It all came crashing down 15 years earlier on the last play of a the championship game when his leg was shattered. Now, struggling to make ends meet as a farmer, he's refusing to acknowledge what used to be because of how painful it is. He then makes the realization that he's worth more to his wife (Lynsky) and children dead than alive, and decides to take fate into his own hands. However, he awakens to find himself with another shot at making his life different, 15 years earlier. All he has to do is not get hurt in the game and his future is set.

Of course he then begins to realize that his new future may not include his wife and he sets out on a course to win her over before the big game.

Add equal parts It's A Wonderful Life, The Family Man and Mr. Destiny with a touch of football, and you've got Touchback.

As I mention in the title, I'm a sucker for these kinds of movies.

No matter how bad your life may seem, for the friends and family around you, you're pretty darn awesome and they wouldn't want their lives to not have you in it.

That's a pretty good message, and I'm glad that filmmakers pick up this theme and run with it every so often.

I'm rarely disappointed in their efforts, and this movie proves to be no exception.

While fame and prosperity sound great on paper, to do so at the cost of love makes the trade-off seem pretty steep.

Needless to say, I had a pretty good time with the film, and it's officially in the running for best of the year honors.

Not bad at all.

Final Grade: B+

Who's "The DUFF" In Your Life?

The DUFF (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Bianca Santos, Skyler Samuels, Nick Eversman, Ken Jeong, Romany Malco,

Directed by Ari Sandel

The Story:

Bianca (Whitman) is entering her senior year and she gets stuck with writing the article of what homecoming means to her by Mr. Arthur (Jeong). Naturally, Bianca is that one girl that has no interest in homecoming or the assignment. She does however, have a major crush on Toby (Eversman) and would do anything to get to know him. Enter her obnoxious jock "friend", Wesley (Amell) who is going to teach her how to stop being the DUFF and start being herself.

Okay, I suppose I owe the explanation of the acronym DUFF:

Designated Ugly Fat Friend.

:)

Once Bianca learns that she is the DUFF of her two best friends (Santos & Samuels) needless to say, she's not too happy.

And when the evil queen of the school (Thorne) tries to stop Bianca from being friendly with Wesley, the claws really come out.

So what do you think, sound familiar?

Taking equal parts of Whatever It Takes, She's All That, Mean Girls and countless other high school ugly duckling/beautiful swan movies, The DUFF adds to the catalog with another winner.

Because face it, when these are done well, they are a lot of fun and add another time capsule of "life in high school" to a long list of cinematic cult favorites.

It's a genre I enjoy watching, and normally they are fun to share with the kids.

This is where I pull out my soapbox and mention that this film uses a bit more language and innuendo than I would have preferred in a PG-13 film, so it gets knocked down because of it.

I still think it's a lazy screenwriter trap to be explicit, but the world is full of potty mouths, so what can you do?

I would have liked to add this to favorite films of the year, but I'm taking it down a notch for the language.

Still a pretty funny movie though.

Final Grade: B

Pretty Appropriate Title... "Drive Me Crazy"

Drive Me Crazy (1999)

Rated PG-13

Starring Melissa Joan Hart, Adrian Grenier

Directed by John Schultz

The Story:

Nicole (Hart) is dumped by her boyfriend a month from the big dance.  What's a girl to do?  Turn to next door neighbor, Chase (Grenier) and pretend to be going out so that they can make their exes jealous.  Yeah, what could possibly go wrong with that plan?

If you've seen this movie once, you've seen it a thousand times.

The problem, after a thousand times, you remember the better versions of the story and so when something comes along that's less than the best?

Well...

Boredom sets in.

Normally, I'm a fan of Melissa Joan Hart, but even she couldn't save this one from treading water.

If I'm going to spend 90 minutes of my life in high school again, it's going to be with just about any other movie.

Final Grade: C-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No thanks, nothing would make me want this one again, not even as background noise.

If You've Seen Variations Before, Is It Still "The First Time" ?

The First Time (2012)

Rated PG-13 for language and situations

Starring Britt Robertson, Dylan O'Brien, Victoria Justice, James Frecheville

Written and Directed by Jon Kasdan

The Story:

 Dave (O'Brien) has been pining away for Jane (Justice) but she thinks of him as just a great friend. One night at a party, he meets Aubrey (Robertson) a girl from another school and the two begin chatting away and getting along famously.  It turns out that Aubrey is planning on having her first time with her boyfriend Ronny (Frecheville).  However, Dave and Aubrey have such magical chemistry, maybe, just maybe, some relationships are about to change.

What a great little comedy.

Part romantic comedy, part coming of age film, part high school film...

You get the idea.

However, it's all the good parts.

Excellent storyline and dialogue in this film thanks to Kasdan who follows very well into his father's footsteps.

The dialogue is believable and not too kiddish...not too adultish.  Believable, and fun(ny).

The relationship between Dave and Aubrey is believable and not too rushed.

You root for them as the story progresses, even as Dave gets some less than ideal advice which adds the dramatic tension in the relationship that keeps everything from going smoothly.

Amazingly, with the PG-13 rating, Kasdan also avoids making a film about coming of age/first romance that really shouldn't be seen by the target audience.

And no, technically I'm not the target audience, but I have kids that are, and this one can join the list of those 80s movies that showed how relationships work (or don't) in high school that are enjoyable to watch, and fun to revisit.

Final Grade: Going with a B+... this was a nice surprise.

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'd have no problem buying it or watching it again in the future when it goes streaming/comes to cable.

It's Zombie Apocalypse Weekend, Part 1: "Detention of the Dead"

Just when you thought High School couldn't get any more terrifying!

The Story:

6 students are serving detention for various offenses when a zombie outbreak hits the school.  Can a nerd, jock, bully, cheerleader, goth chick and stoner possibly hope to survive the onslaught of the undead?

Yes, it's the Breakfast Club with zombies!

The enjoyable, funny/horror films that I have been enjoying recently continue.

While this one doesn't quite match the level of enjoyment I've had with the other films, it's just a notch below.

Some of the jokes are obvious gags, but for the most part the humor is low key and subtle enough.

This is simply a group of high school students that don't want to die versus the zombie horde.

Naturally, that's not going to happen, and one by one, the teens will succumb, but they may learn a life lesson or two before they become mindless zombies!

Of course by then, it's too late!

: )

It's a good film tha just missed the greatness they were reaching for with this film.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I would add this to the horror-comedy wing of my DVD library which could see several new entrants before the year is over.  This horror comedy genre with scary movies is proving to be quite entertaining.

These Brownies are Delicious... "High School"

Next to Sam Rockwell's amusingly menacing drug dealer from The Sitter, he is topped by Adrien Brody in High School.


The Story:

A high school valedictorian depending on a scholarship to go to college makes one mistake after having a bad day, and winds up getting a little high.  Turning to his former friend and campus weed fiend, they attempt to elude the mandatory drug test for all students the next day by baking some weed brownies, and getting the entire student body high, thus voiding the test results.

The problem is, how do they get that much product from Adrien Brody's stash without paying him for it?

This movie is filled with kid actors I didn't recognize, but they did a good job.  Brody, Colin Hanks and Michael Chiklis are all onboard in bit parts, but Brody steals the show as the crazed drug dealer who the kids rob, and then have to avoid paying him back when he finds out who got his stuff.

Nothing you haven't seen before in a million Cheech & Chong movies, but still an amusing 90 minutes of wasted time.

Wasted...

Get it?

: )