ME BEFORE YOU Review

If you're buying a ticket to Me Before You you know what you're getting yourself into. The movie itself, based on the novel by Jojo Moyes (who also penned the screenplay) and directed by first time feature director Thea Sharrock, knows what it is and has no qualms with embracing the tropes of the romantic drama genre. Its ultimate goal is to have tears flowing from your eyes as you leave the theater and if you are indeed buying a ticket to Me Before You and subsequently crying as the credits roll you are probably happy with said purchase. That is what audiences are looking for from a movie like this and for the most part, Me Before You delivers. What isn't necessarily expected from such a film, but that Me Before You tends to deliver in spades, is an endearing quality of humanity. It isn't anything new to find a relative nature to the characters at the core of the conflict in movies such as this, but with our two leads here Moyes smartly adds another layer to their relationship that takes it beyond being non-traditional and not just based on if issues of the heart will keep them together or draw them apart. Rather, this caveat elevates the story to one that forces us to contemplate the courage needed to redirect a life that has been thrown completely off course. That may sound slightly dramatic in itself given the tone this film initially takes on is quite affable, but when it comes down to it-when the relationship has been developed and the tears inevitably shed there is left a large amount of respect for Me Before You for not only embracing the recurring archetypes of its genre, but for daring to try to improve upon them. Whether this be through the act of stronger characterization in our female lead than typically seen, the sometimes downright dislikable nature of the male lead or the generally high quality of acting on display-there is something pedigreed and understated about the final product that allows skeptical audiences to appreciate its willingness to improve upon acknowledged tropes while pleasing the target audience in a way they may not have known to be possible before. All in all, Me Before You is a tearjerker that earns that title through improving on and adding to the familiar while still hitting every box on the genre checklist.

Full Trailer for ME BEFORE YOU Starring Emilia Clarke

I was just thinking this weekend about how it's been a long time since we've had any type of romantic comedy, legitimately fun despite its conventions or not. There are no marquee male stars to headline these things anymore and the closest we seem to get presently are either riffs on the genre a la last summer's Trainwreck or the dredge that is director Garry Marshall's holiday-themed movies that intertwine multiple stories and feature as many stars as possible so that the financial success doesn't hinge on a single name (we get Mother's Day at the end of this month if you're curious). So, I began to wonder what a modern romantic comedy might look like and without considering the aforementioned films that are more or less derivatives of the original template the closest thing I could come up with was Brooklyn. Yes, last years tale of an Irish immigrant who lands in 1950s Brooklyn where she falls in love with a local Italian is the closest I could come up with. Clearly, this isn't in the same genre as those Matthew McConaughey headliners from the mid-2000's though, and so my thoughts extended even further into the genre of grand romantic films in general. A genre the Nicolas Sparks-based The Notebook reinvigorated in 2004, but has since become something of a parody of itself with the continued adaptations of Sparks' novels turning into rote, cheesy reminders of how great Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were together. One movie looks to buck that trend this year though. Me Before You is an adaptation of the hugely popular novel by Jojo Moyes and is being brought to the big screen courtesy of theater director and Call the Midwife alum Thea Sharrock making her feature directorial debut. Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) star in this story of a girl in a small town who forms an unlikely bond with the recently-paralyzed man she's taking care of. The film also stars Jenna Coleman, Janet McTeer, Matthew Lewis, Charles Dance, Vanessa Kirby, Stephen Peacocke, and Brendan Coyle. Me Before You opens on June 3rd, 2016.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT Review

Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa have carved out something of a niche for themselves by making high-brow, star-centric, concept dramedies that one can't help but to be interested in if over a certain age. With Crazy Stupid Love being something of a breakout after their underrated 2009 debut in I Love You Phillip Morris the co-directors collaborated on writing and directing the stylish if not overly convoluted Will Smith caper last winter in Focus and have now moved on to collaborate with Tina Fey and long time writing partner Robert Carlock for this adaptation of newspaper reporter Kim Barker's memoir, "The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan". While I haven't read Barker's book this is one of the few stories I almost feel compelled to go back and read after having seen the movie version. Typically, I like to read any type of source material prior to seeing a film adaptation due simply to knowing where the idea for the film came from and what/why certain changes might have been made to better adapt the material to a different art form, but Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (why they didn't keep the more engaging title of the book for the movie is something of a mystery, especially given I don't recall there being a title card in the film) is something of an aberration in the sense that the film itself is not necessarily what we might expect from a seeming comedy, that somehow was able to get away with an R-rating, and stars one of the more agreeable celebrities of our time. Fey is someone even the most cynical among us can't seem to dislike and so to pair her with directors who have somehow managed to secure solid budgets on thoughtful, adult fare such as this is inspiring and thankfully, worth the endeavor as the resulting product is a well-constructed, nicely measured bit of insight into a set of circumstances not many can identify with making this inside look and the general proceedings all the more engaging and interesting.