Edge of Seventeen

Hey, “Edge of Seventeen” (2016). I saw what you did there. And you did it well. So I’m not going to spend the next 84 words belaboring comparisons to teen films from the 1980s. Suffice to say kids are different these days (and so are parents), but they still deserve good movies about themselves. And this is one. And a wink and a nod at the genre’s forebears signifies respect, not derivativeity. I’m also not going to continue discussing my non-sexual but age-inappropriate crush on Hailee Steinfeld, which began with “True Grit.” Suffice to say I’m glad she’s 20 now.

No Country for Old Men

Whenever I hear about Hollywood executives forcing a movie to re-shoot its ending, I roll my eyes. Can’t they just let the filmmakers’ vision unfold and not worry about whether a focus group thinks an ending is sufficiently upbeat? But then I saw “No Country for Old Men” (2007), which could have been re-titled “No Payoff For Patient Moviegoers.” I mean, you spend two hours immersed in mesmerizing acting and brilliant dialogue as drug money leaves a bloody trail across West Texas. And then Tommy Lee Jones tells a story about a dream he had. The end. Seriously? Seriously? WTF?

 

Now You See Me

“Now You See Me” (2013) is a wet dream for 17-year-old boys with ADD. I think Joe Cliche Movie Reviewer would refer to it as a “nonstop thrill ride.” There are certainly lots of seizure-invoking strobe lights, swelling music and bombastic statements, all designed to obscure (like a good magic trick) the boilerplate plot twists in this traditional caper flick. Even if it’s empty calories, it’s definitely worth wasting a couple of hours on a Friday night for. Me? In the first two minutes, they did the “pick a card” trick. I picked a card. They got it right. Props.