The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend)

This week on MC's Film Critique I review The DUFF directed by Ari Sandel.

The film is set in a high school and after a few minutes we meet the main characters Bianca and her two friends Jess and Casey. Bianca our main protagonist gets called the DUFF of the group  at a party. This causes her to leave, and becomes the driving force of her actions for the rest of the film. 

I want to take this moment to look a problem I see in the film industry. In the United States the legal drinking age is 21. The main cast is playing students about to graduate high school so they are around 17-18 years old. A few years too young to buy their own drinks. Now are kids seeing this phenomena in films and drink because they think that they should be doing this? Or is the film industry noticing that kids drink regardless of the legal drinking age and are trying to portray real life? I'll just leave that out there.

Back to the film. The film is a comedy and does a good job at being funny with its jokes. It is a very now film. It's up to date with trends and social norms, while understanding how teens function. They are on their smart phones, Twitter, YouTube, social networking, all that good stuff. Other than the crazy party, there wasn't a part of the film that made me disbelieve the story.

The film even looks at Cyberbullying. Anyone who knows me well knows that I don't tolerate bullying, with my friends, with my co-workers and especially between the kids at my summer job. The film looks at high school labels and in a comical way and turns them around in a positive way.

Speaking of plot, this one was really good. The way the main character interacts passes the Bechdel test (see the video to the right), the film is funny but, it was predictable, which is a pet peeve of mine. A predictable movie can still be good, but I like not knowing what's going to happen next. 

If you like comedy and are looking to laugh, this film is a must see.

Badge: None

Rating: 8/10

Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Movie poster

This week on MC's Film Critique I watched Birdman. There was a lot of hype about it and it did really well at Oscars so I thought I would check it out.

Many films try to be different by trying out different camera shots. I'm not a fan of change, usually because it is for the worst when messing with different camera shots. However, the way that Birdman is shot, it seems as if it was done all in one take. I thought it was pretty cool. I tried to play a game of where I thought the shots ended and started back up again.


Lets talk about the film. It's an interesting story, we follow around an actor/director of a play who is trying to distinguish himself from his former Hollywood super hero role BIRDMAN. Does he succeed? Spoilers. 


I think the film reflects how actors take playing a role to an extreme. It's basically a self critique of the industry. I think that's why it won so many awards.

The music was interestingly done. It's basically a drum kit and small jazz band that play for most of the film. At points it is even shown and looks organic. The transitions are organic feeling as well, like I said earlier it was interesting.

Things I didn't like about the film. There was a sound issue for me at least, sometimes it was super quite, sometimes  it was really loud. I kept having to adjust the volume accordingly. At times the film was in my opinion boring. We are faced with these long shots going down hallways as if we are walking through Broadway, which was cool but added to the length of this film while not adding much in the way of plot. It also made Broadway seem very unappealing.

The ending is quite strong but filled with this boring dream like transition before we reach the conclusion of the film.

Overall see the film. It's different from the rest and worth your time. Just keep your remote handy to adjust the volume.

Badge: None

Rating: 7.5/10

Jupiter Ascending

This week on MC's Film Critique I look at Jupiter Ascending. Directed by The Wachowskis, brother and sister director duo who brought us The Matrix trilogy.

The trailer looked interesting, so this was on my radar. For those video game savy and fans of other Si-Fi films, let me know if you agree with me that the film looked like Mass Effect meets Star Craft II meets The Fifth Element.

Visually this film looked great. The effects were awesome! There were some really out there concepts in this film such as: owning planets, spliced humans with animals and this super important but rarely mentioned key aspect of the film. 

There is the Abrasax dynasty of who Jupiter (Mila Kunis) is a reincarnation of the head of the dynasty. That's all that made sense to me. After that there is some type of King Lear squabble between her former selves children. Side note, I felt like it reminded me of a Shakespearean play, but I was at a lost until I read this review rogerebert.com. 

Each of the three had like half a goal. POSSIBLE SPOILER One wanted to be closer with her and then is never seen again in the film. One wanted to marry and kill her to inherit the earth to make more money? Then the eldest, Balem Abrasax. First off the actor Eddie Redmayne whispers most of the film so as to not hear him. This motivation was the least clear. He wanted to kill Jupiter so he could keep the Earth? SPOILER OVER

Basically this film had too much going on. It didn't give many answers, and I found myself asking too often "what is going on and why?" While the action scenes are quite choppy, though they had potential. Not to mention a main plot point is excluded. Why anyone wants or should be helping Jupiter will forever be a mystery.

Overall don't watch this unless you bring earplugs and skip the plot to enjoy how pretty the film looks...

Badge:Jar-Jar Badge

Rating: 4.9/10 Being Pretty Doesn't Cut It For a Passing Grade.