Review: Dope (USA: 2015): Finding One’s Voice on a Deadline

Dope (2014)

Dope (2014)

Rick Famuyiwa’s high school comedy about avoiding gang trouble while finding one’s voice hits its stride early and doesn’t let up until the final credits roll. Shameik Moore as Malcolm gives a performance strong enough to keep us concerned with his high school trials: can he get his Harvard entrance essay completed and unload a few kilos of molly he’s found in his backpack?

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Review: The A-List (USA: 2015): In the End, We Find Popularity Doesn’t Matter So Much (Shocker)

The A-List (USA: 2015)

kkadfkdfasdf The A-List (USA: 2015)

Sometimes we look through the overlooked movies and find hidden gems, but Will Bigham’s debut, The A-List, isn’t one of those. As a comedy about the downside to popularity in high-school, it is too predictable with too few memorable moments to recommend to any but the most die-hard fans of teen movies.

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Futureless Things (Korea: 2014): one never knows what’s in store next

Kyung-mook Kim’s off-beat third feature focuses on the everyday and sometimes surreal interactions in a convenience store. Futureless Things is more a series of comedy sketches than a unified narrative, but since everyone eventually needs a Coke, the setting is a good one to explore the many layers of contemporary society and the dreamers who find themselves stuck behind counters for a moment.

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Fish Story (Japan: 2009): A cult hit song creates a cult

Atsushi Ito finds inspiration from an obscure text

Yoshihiro Nakamura’s Fish Story appears to be most noteworthy for its non-linear narrative.  But syuzhet chutzpah aside, the story about a punk rock band saving the world comes together in the end to relay a clever story about the origins of belief, myth-making and finding religion in unexpected places.

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Crazy, Beautiful You (Philippines: 2015): Princess Selfish meets a Cinderfella

KathNiel

A romantic comedy that probably was designed to cash in on the popularity of the “KathNiel” pairing, Crazy, Beautiful You doesn’t stray much from the Poor Boy/Rich Girl love story formula. However, the leads do produce a certain amount of warmth together that may make it worthwhile for fans of the RomCom genre and not just the couple.

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