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The classic story of four sisters is condensed and twisted to make a surprising fresh take but seems to leave out much of the relationships that made the story strong.
Read MoreOh hell, it's Eric Bana again
Read MoreThe human spirit forces itself on so many movies you have to wonder if that's the whole reason we make the damn things. Gruff, no nonsense men learning lessons about being brothers while overcoming uncertain odds. That's pretty much the whole story here.
Our story starts in Siberia where men are kept like cattle by communist Russian forces. This prison camp holds any and all enemies of the state, from the idealistic and funny to the gruff and mean. Political and violent alike. Then a bunch of them escape and its those assholes we follow.
The true star of this film is the direction and cinematography. There's some good acting, to be sure, but views of snowy forests, mountain lakes, vast empty deserts, and peaks of Eastern Asia fill the screen and demand to be seen. As the men walk to each new climate, you have to wonder how this new and beautiful piece of the world is going to kill another man.
Make no mistake, this film is brutal as it is beautiful. When the prison camp is the most hospitable place in the story, be sure challenges continue to mount. No one gets off this planet alive, but it's amazing when there's good views.
Question: How much does this movie love Sacramento? Answer: So much. Almost too much that it's distracting.
Lady Bird follows the life of the self-named "Lady Bird," a seventeen year old kid who is about to have an entire high school experience in two hours. She joins a club, gets friends, loses friends, gets a boyfriend, gets laid, gets drunk, gets high, gets all the things and more. Also her mom is up her shit and they are just not a happy family.
But they love each other, right?
I don't really know. Honestly.
I think the problem is the Sacramento stuff. The Big Tomato (is that really Sacramento's nickname?) stands in thematically for that every hometown that people escape from and then look back on fondly. But it's just a little too… Sacramento. Before this movie I had never thought this hard on Sacramento and now I feel like I would recognize places there while driving around and that kinda misses the "everytown" theme.
I liked the movie. Go see it. It's Rushmore meets Juno and all the shit with Molly Ringwald. You could say that Lady Bird's dyed hair is a commentary on Mrs. Ringwald. Think about it.