Category: Marguerite Darcy - NUFEC

Marguerite Darcy on The 5th Wave

1/22/2016

The 5th Wave is an apocalyptic movie about the extinction of human race after an extraterrestre invasion. It follows Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz, Clouds of Sils Maria, If I Stay) an otherwise normal high school senior girl, whose life changes when “The Others” invade the Earth by launching several waves of attacks in order to wipe out the humans -- power failures, floods, epidemics and other nice things. As she is separated from her family, she promises to look after her little brother Sammy, but loses him and therefore makes it her mission to get back to him, even though many miles separates them. The movie also follows Ben (Nick Robinson, Jurassic World,) Cassie’s high school crush, who’s training at an army base with a ton of other kids, AND you’ve guessed it, Sammy, in order to prepare the imminent fight against The Others.

The 5th Wave tries to deal with delicate subjects such as: how do humans cope with the things they are forced to do in a life-or-death situation, like guilt after killing someone? And actually, what makes us human? And of course, what is Love, and how powerful is it?

The movie presents an interesting invasion strategy, and way to conquer our world, as well as manages to make fun of us humans by reminding us that we don’t need extra help to wipe ourselves off the Earth -- we’re already pretty good at it. The 5th Wave also explores who the enemy really is, as well as how we can be blindfolded by our surroundings, and the inherent values we don’t question.

The film also unsurprisingly offers a pretty crappy love-story between Cassie and a sexy guy (Alex Roe) that rescues her -- and then goes on cutting wood outside of the house or bathing in a river (I’m not complaining.)

So while the unfolding of the alien attack and the questions raised are credible and well thought-out, the actual scenario -- as well as Cassie’s journey -- is far less. But I guess it’s just a typical recipe for an American movie.

Grade: C+

Marguerite Darcy on 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

1/15/2016

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is a true story, and a tribute to those American soldiers who defended CIA agents and other personnel in Benghazi, back in 2012, when Libyan radicals attacked their compounds. Directed by Michael Bay (Transformers, Pearl Harbor), the movie tells the story of six American elite soldiers, including last recruit Jack (John Krasinski, you may have seen him in The Office) that are deployed as a security team to protect a secret American base in Benghazi, where CIA agents operate as the country goes through a revolution to oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi. When the nearby and under-armed American diplomatic compound is attacked by Libyan radicals, and Ambassador Chris Stevens’ live is at risk, the team, led by Rone (James Badge Dale) disobeys orders and chooses to go rescue the embassy. After this first attack, the radical Libyans turn their guns towards the secret base, where the American soldiers bravely fight back to defend it.

13 Hours aims to show the man behind the gun: these soldiers are tied by what they lived, saw, and did together, and most of the time have a family; a wife and kids waiting for them at home, who don’t understand why they keep on going back there. These soldiers are on a job, and most of the time it’s so intense that going back to civilian life is extremely difficult afterwards.

The movie depicts what war is: a big fucking mess. You don’t know who’s a friend and who’s not, there are guns everywhere, you can buy people’s friendship, you can get killed on a misunderstanding, and the police has its own agenda. The motto is pretty much “kill or get killed,” which is how you start a violent revenge circle. At the end of the day, it’s not just a bad guy that’s killed, it’s a human who had a mother, and perhaps a wife and children. As French poet Jacques Prévert wrote: “quelle connerie la guerre.” or “what a fucking stupidity war is.”

13 Hours is a well produced, impressive movie with guns, explosions, gunshots, guns, explosions, blood, and tears. It shows how civilians go on living when their city is uprising, and gorgeous landscapes polluted by the aftermath of war. It also shows the complexity of war and its opposed interests, and it is a tribute to those two American soldiers that gave their live during this attack.

Grade: B

Marguerite Darcy on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

11/20/2015

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 concludes the Hunger Games series. It begins directly where Part 1 ended, which is pretty unsettling. Big picture, the rebels are marching on the Capitol, and so is Katniss. Basically, it’s one ideology trying to overthrow another -- a painful reminder of the recent world events, by the way -- in this case, the poor masses rebelling against the privileged few, the Girl on Fire vs. President Snow.

If Part 1 made me think of communism starting a war on capitalism, Part 2 displays the hero Katniss alone in the world trying to fight both evils -- realizing the good guys aren’t that good after all. Well, somewhat alone at least, since she ends up stuck with a loyal squad in her determined crusade to Snow’s mansion. The love she is supposed to carry for her sister Prim, what started the very first Hunger Games, is almost completely overlooked in Part 2, with the exception of one grotesque dancing scene at Finnick’s wedding. In parallel, the love she is supposed to carry for either one (or both) of her two love interests has also gone missing, with unpassionate and quite pathetic kissing scenes on top of ridiculous dialogues.

I’m sorry to report that there was nothing in this movie, except terrible, terrible dialogue, maybe 15 minutes of actual combat scenes, unnecessary kissing, and the worst Hollywood-worthy ending you could possibly think of. There was no powerful and goose-bumping monologue like the other movies had, and there was no passion. This movie will make you laugh at its patheticness.

Grade: D

BONUS: Somebody at Vanity Fair has a different vision. He apparently liked it. Ah!

Marguerite Darcy on Experimenter

10/30/2015

Experimenter is a movie about the famous Milgram Experiment -- which every psychology or marketing major student knows about. Social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of tests in the 60s in order to find out how men -- and later on women -- reacted to authority when intentionally hurting someone. He primarily wanted to understand how the Holocaust was made possible -- how “normal” people could go on and kill, and be fine with it, stating they were just obeying orders.

The test goes on like this: out of two participants, one is picked to be teacher, and the other student. The teacher (a random participant) is asked to conduct a memory test on the student (actor, not a real participant) by a scientist (figure of authority). The teacher has to press a button that delivers an electric shock to the student if the latter gives the wrong answer, with every shock being more intense than the previous one. The scientist stays with the teacher the whole time, while the student is in the neighbouring room. The teacher cannot see the student, only partially hear him. As the study goes, the teacher can hear the student (faking) being hurt, screaming, saying he doesn't want to be a part of the study anymore and asking to get the hell out of here. If the teacher tried to bail out, the scientist is to ask him to go on, saying he (the scientist) is responsible for anything that would happen. The study found that an alarming number of teachers went all the way to the final and most powerful shock, with only very few quitting the experiment stating they would not harm the student furthermore.

Experimenter does a good job at displaying the personal and work lifestyle of Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard, most recently seen in Black Mass) as he performs his most famous study and other ones throughout his life. But it does a terrible job at everything else. Mainly, the setting is pretty weird: Milgram is guiding us through the movie, voicing over as if he was writing his memories in a diary. But at some point he suddenly faces, and actually talks to the camera while an elephant walks in the background. Yes, a literal elephant. And another time, as Milgram and his wife (Winona Ryder, do you remember Beetlejuice?) visit an old colleague of his -- Pr. Asch, the one behind the Elevator experiment -- the set suddenly turns black and white with rudimentary vintage settings that just seem out of the place. It’s as if the movie was intended to be an hybrid of a documentary, autobiography and biography. And it feels very wrong.

What makes the movie interesting is it shows the actual experiments Milgram did -- good, because that’s the purpose of a biographic movie about a social scientist, right? I’ll only cite four. One: social proof- if a couple of people are standing on the street looking at something in the sky, what are you going to do? Probably stop and look too. Two: Kindness of strangers- Milgram displayed lost letters in different neighborhoods and counted how many were sent back by the strangers who found them. In addition, he tried testing white sounding names in black neighborhoods and vice-versa. The findings showed that people weren’t so nice when it came to send back a letter to someone that wasn’t of your skin color. Three: How many people does it take one person to contact another that s/he doesn’t know? It takes 6. We live in a small world. Four: Taking polaroid picture of people, and... I don’t know, the movie didn’t tell. Kinda frustrating.

There is a disturbing lack of explanation of the conclusion of most of the studies presented. I got to see the studies, I heard some findings, but I had zero explanation about what that actually meant, how this work impacted Milgram’s life, or work, or the scientific body (but hey this article actually sheds light on modern criticism about his most famous experience!) There was zero analysis of Milgram’s findings, which I found very frustrating.

Grade: C-

Marguerite Darcy on Our Brand is Crisis

10/30/2015

Our Brand is Crisis tells the story of an American politician PR consultant, Jane (Sandra Bullock; Gravity, among many others), and is set in the middle of a Bolivia divided by a democratic presidential election. Her job is to install a new leader, Castillo, who has actually already been President, but become quite infamous because he nationalized the Bolivian industries. We quickly discover that the main reason Jane agreed to go is because an old enemy of hers, Candy (Billy Bob Thornton, played the President in Love Actually...) is helping the opposition, and poll favorite, Rivera. The movie oversees the presidential campaign, and what it takes to convert people and change their opinion, as well as how dirty people are willing to be in order to win.

The movie is a more or less subtle critique of the consequences of American “help” on emerging countries -- helping to make a big mess in exchange for big bucks, and taking-off at the end of the contract -- and more largely on politics as a whole. It clearly states that politicians are nothing without their consultants, and that elections are merely a game where the winner is simply the best actor/liar. Faith in humanity, anyone?

Through Jane’s ups and downs, Our Brand is Crisis introduces the questions of how far (literally, in that case) you can go for money, and how liking your job is directly linked to your own happiness and inner peace. It shows the importance of having a positive impact, and doing something you find meaningful with your life and career -- I’d admit that this particularly spoke to me as I find myself at that time of my life… Decisions, decisions. Ultimately, the story behind the story of Our Brand is Crisis is the path Jane takes towards that ultimate goal; and that it’s never too late to make a radical change.

Even though this feels like the movie is very intellectual, it is actually pretty easy to watch. It offers impressive monologues from Bullock, good acting, some pretty fun lines, and is overall quite emotional. I really enjoyed it!

Grade: A-

Marguerite Darcy on A Walk in the Woods

9/2/2015

A Walk in the Woods is directed by Ken Kwapis and is a comedy adventure about the journey of Bill Bryson (Robert Redford!) through the Appalachian Mountains Trail. Bill is a writer, and had a good and adventurous life. He lived in India for 10 years, and traveled Europe a lot, especially England where he met his wife and stayed for another 20 years. However now, Bill lives a quiet retired life in the US, in New Hampshire, where he enjoys the occasional company of his grandkids and kids with his wife Cathy (Emma Thompson).

One day, Bill suddenly decides to turn his life around and takes on the challenge of hiking the Appalachian Mountains. The only companion he can find to make the journey with him is an old friend, long lost, Katz (Nick Nolte) which by the way still owes him $600 from their European escapades. Katz is anything but in shape for this journey, and the two quickly realize their differences. While Bill spent his life reading and is full of knowledge about his surroundings (the formation of rocks, the disparition of the American chestnut, and other vital facts), Kats is more of a TV kind of guy, and couldn’t care less about the different types of rocks along the trail.

Their first encounter sets the tone of the adventure: an oddball woman in her 30s that hikes by herself, because “everyone else is boring or annoying or both,” and that has an irritating habit of singing the famous Daft Punk song “Get Lucky” day and night. That gives Bill and Katz a first bonding experience: they have to figure out a way to run away from her.

The journey also brings relationship challenges, as Bill finds himself somewhat attracted to a motel manager that is roughly his age along the way. Katz on his side seems to be flirting with every overweight woman he meets, whether it is at the restaurant about pancakes or at the laundromat when a woman asks him for help with her panty that got stuck in the drum.

At some point, Bill and Katz fall from the trail and find themselves stuck and they die and it’s the end of the movie. I’m kidding. They do get stuck though, and that allows both of them to realize and talk through the meaning they attribute to this journey, as well as their fears and expectations of what the future holds. They fall asleep to a breathtaking sky full of stars and they die. Kidding again.

To sum things up, A Walk in the Woods is full of beautiful shots of the Appalachian Mountains and awkward situations. The movie explores your relationship to your spouse and kids and grandkids, old friends, and new acquaintances, as well as your views on life, when you’re passed a certain age. It’s meant to be funny, and honestly I found myself laughing out loud with the audience a couple of times; but overall I think I wasn’t the target audience of this movie, and I therefore enjoyed it much less than if I had been 40 years older.

Grade: B-

Marguerite Darcy on We Are Your Friends

8/28/2015

We Are Your Friends is directed by Max Joseph in his directorial debut, and is the story of a young aspiring DJ, Cole (Zac Efron) that lives in “The Valley” in LA with his best friends. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it. This was my first time seeing Zac Efron acting since High School Musical, and I have to say I was pretty impressed by his performance, as well as the cast’s in general. The movie is a mix of attractive characters that nevertheless are very good actors, enjoyable Electronic Dance Music throughout the movie, forbidden romance, true friendship, and an actually coherent plot.

Cole and his best friends -- Mason, Squirrel and Ollie -- aspire to get out of the San Fernando Valley, but can’t afford it. They didn’t go to college; instead they promote parties on Thursdays, Ollie sells drugs in the club, and Cole DJs, but is still trying to find his voice and waiting for “the track”. The group of friends try out working for this real estate guy, Paige (Jon Bernthal, seen in The Wolf Of Wall Street) who totally looks like a scary mafia boss. When it turns out that Paige does dirty business comes to the question of doing the right thing, not only for yourself but for the other people involved.

When Cole meets James (Wes Bentley, the creepy neighbour in American Beauty) a famous yet oldish DJ, his life and career is about to change. But he finds himself really attracted to James’s assistant and girlfriend, Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski, model, seen in the music video “Blurred Lines”) and this new lifestyle brings the question of loyalty: towards his best friends that he neglects, and towards his new friend and mentor that he betrays. However, the romance between Cole and Soph is at the very border of being too much, and what’s more we can see some overly sexual outfit and even some underboob here and there, which I think is totally unnecessary considering the quality of the movie.

We Are Your Friends is about what it takes to find your voice and realize your dreams, seizing the opportunities, and not screwing them up (or at least getting back on your feet afterwards). This movie will pump you up and make you want to dance in the theater. Or at least shake your head in rhythm. I recommend it, it is definitely a good time!

Grade: B

Marguerite Darcy on Paper Towns

7/24/2015

Paper Towns is an original teenage love story set in Orlando, FL. It's based of the book of the same name by John Green, who also wrote The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska. Quentin (Nat Wolff, the blind guy in The Fault in Our Stars) has been in love with his neighbour, Margo (model Cara Delevigne) ever since she moved in when they were kids. Friends for a short period of time, they nevertheless grew up to be very different. Q turned into a shy, straight A student, while Margo is more of a rebel, run away girl and high school legend.

It’s the last weeks of senior year of high school, and one night Margo climbs Quentin’s window, as she used to when they were kids. She’s asking for his help to accomplish her personal vendetta, promising “the best night of his life.” While Margo gets her revenge, Quentin definitely lives the craziest night of his life. The end of their tour reveals a side that Margo was hidding: she’s tired of everything surrounding her, and completely lost. It seems like she’s just playing with Quentin, but it’s more like she’s trying to teach him that life can, and should be enjoyed.

The next morning though, Margo is nowhere to be found. Thinking it’s another of her mysterious games, Quentin starts investigating to find the girl that stole his heart. Helped by his two best friends, Ben and Radar, the investigation rather turns into exciting first-time life experiences, such as skipping class and going to a party. Once Quentin figured out where Margo is (or so he thinks) he, Ben and Radar, Margo’s hot BF Lacey and a last-minute guest embark in a crazy roadtrip to get Margo back to her life.

The movie is absolutely cliché, and starts off quite badly, but turns out to be pretty funny. In the end, it’s more a story of a group of friends enjoying their senior year -- and life -- for the first time, and finding themselves in comical situations, than a cheesy romance. One of the guys has his first sexual experience, another finally gets a prom date, Ansel Elgort (Gus in The Fault in Our Stars) is a dragon-tattooed gas station cashier, and everybody almost dies because of a cow in the middle of the road. So as they say, it’s really more about enjoying the journey than getting to the destination.

Grade: B-

Marguerite Darcy on Batkid Begins

7/10/2015

Batkid Begins is a documentary about solidarity, support, and the power of media. It tells how a 5-year-old fighting leukemia, Miles, became Batman, and how San Fransisco was transformed into Gotham City for a day. It all hapened thanks to the Make-A-Wish foundation, which aims at giving a sick children “some of their childhood back.”

The documentary follows the different team members that took part in the dream realization, and shows that what first was an ambitious idea, and nothing but a sick child’s dream, actually became an international attraction supported by thousands of strangers. Indeed, Miles’ story happened to resonate for many people, unleashing an insane media coverage: tweets, emails, phone calls, interviews, press articles, and so on. Batkid Begins achieves in relaying the momentum of solidarity the organizers experienced: as soon as the story got out, they became overwhelmed by messages of support, and people asking “what can I do?”

This documentary shows some of the American mentality in a nutshell, as it appears to my French eyes: very supportive, getting excited over an idea they believe in, and getting to become a part of it -- in this case, posting on social media, and actually taking the time to show up, with handmade signs, joy and enthusiasm.

Batkid Begins explores -- voluntary or not -- the notion that what you give out of solidarity is actually returned to you in well-being; that helping others is actually helping yourself. The documentary leaves you with a strong sensation that nothing’s impossible; especially with the technology now surrounding us: a simple idea can go viral, and if people care, they will support you.

Grade: B+

Marguerite Darcy on The Longest Ride

4/10/2015

The Longest Ride is a love story adapted from the book of the same name by Nicholas Sparks (the author of The Notebook), so you should get a feel for how the story unfolds.

The plot is pretty straightforward: two young and beautiful people, Sophia and Luke (Britt Robertson and Scott Eastwood -- yes this is Clint Eastwood’s son) from two very different worlds meet and unavoidably fall in love. While Luke is a professional bull rider living on a ranch, Sophia is a senior art student living in a sorority house, about to leave North Carolina for an internship in Manhattan.

So they should not work. But they happen to save an old guy’s life, Ira (Alan Alda), and Sophia discovers he once had a love story very similar to hers. Destiny plays its part and Sophia and Luke decide to give it a try anyway. We get to witness the growth of two love stories at two different times, with some interesting thoughts about the challenges of lasting love. Sophia and Luke are confronted with having to choose between their career and love; and some decades before that, Ruth (Oona Chaplin --yes this is Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter) was confronted with the choice of fulfilling her dream or marrying the man she loved.

It is very, very, very, very cheesy, often too much, but overall really cute and nice to watch. And while you think the story is so predictable, there are actually some unexpected twists along the way.

So not the best plot, nor the most natural scenes, but definitely a good time, and some powerful lessons about love. Embrace the cheesiness.

Grade: B