Remaking Masterpieces

★★★ 1/2

A Review by Kevin Powers

Late last year, my wife presented me with a novel she had read about, one she thought I would like, a YA title by an author named Jessie Andrews called Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. She said, "It's about a guy who loves movies." I read the back. She was right. Not only does this character love movies, he loves, like, real arthouse stuff, his (as the back cover puts it) favorite influence is Werner Herzog.

I read the book. Loved it for the most part. Laughed out loud reading it. As I was in the middle of reading it, I caught wind that a movie adaptation had been made and was seriously racking up at Sundance. Oh, and it did, it won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize, dedicated to "a film that comprises the best of both great comedy and drama." To quote one of the film's characters, the history teacher Mr. McCarthy (Jon Bernthal), "True fact!"

Nothing More, Nothing Less

★★★

A Review by Kevin Powers

A fanboy I follow on Instagram recently posted about how disappointed he was with director Colin Trevorrow's latest installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World. I wasn't. Thankfully, I had no expectations.

I have now seen all of the Jurassic Park movies on the big screen, each one a little bit worse than the one before (until this one), but the thing is this:  these movies are and always were straight up Hollywood popcorn blockbusters. They offer thrills and chills and spectacle. Nothing more, nothing less. Jurassic World is certainly no exception, and, as far as I'm concerned, it's the best since the Steven Spielberg original.

Blind Spot 2015 - Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Remember when you were a kid, a young teen perhaps, maybe even middle school age, and you're with your friends and and they're all always talking about something you seriously just don't get. For me, that was WWF wrestling. My friends were all "Did you watch Raw last night?" And I'm all like, nodding my head in silent agreement. I just didn't get it. I did not "smell what The Rock was cooking." And "that's the bottom line because", well, I said so.

I sometimes feel that way about movies I'm seeing for the first time that are deemed "great" or "classic" or "masterpiece." It's almost like dealing with peer pressure.

And that's partially my reaction to Rainer Werner Fassbinder's low-budget 1974 love story Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. I get it for the most part. But as far as "this is one of the best movies ever"...I'm only part of the way there.

The 100th Movie: Shane Carruth's Primer

So, as it happens, this movie is the 100th movie I've watched since the New Year. It was a hot afternoon this past Monday, and I knew I wanted to watch a movie. Saw this on My List on Netflix Instant, got really stoked (since I remember how highly praised this movie was back in 2004), put it on, and....and...and...

Thursday Movie Picks: Sibling Relationships

"He ain't heavy, he's my brother." - The Hollies

Since I don't have a brother (I have a younger sister), I find it hard to believe how easily my mind went to brother-brother relationships. Maybe it's because I don't have one. I never really thought about wanting one. My sister is awesome!

Anyway, my picks this week are sort of all over the place, but they all share that strain we all know if we have siblings, the difficulties of getting along with (and even understanding) the closest family member we have.

So, here we are, another edition of Wandering through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. This week it's an All in the Family Edition: Sibling Relationships.

Truths from the Inside Out

A Review by Kevin Powers

★★★★

Truth. I am as far away from being an 11-year-old girl as possible.

Truth. I teach 12-14 year olds, so I know a few things.

Truth. I don't have kids of my own.

Truth. Pete Docter's new gem from Disney/Pixar, Inside Out, is now at the top of my list of the best of 2015...so far.

How is that possible?

Missed Masterpieces: Searching for Sugar Man

Working Class Hero

by Kevin Powers

The singer-songwriter known as Rodriguez came to me a little less than a decade ago, back in 2007-8ish, when I was just about to finish college. I had seen a movie trailer for an Australian film, starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish, called Candy. It featured a song that hit me like a freight train. After a couple Googles, I had it cornered. It was a song called "Sugar Man" from a little-known artist from the early 1970s called Rodriguez. 

On my pizza deliveries over the next several weeks, I listened to this song over and over and over and over. I was literally in love with it. I didn't listen to any of his other stuff...

...until last year...

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Set in a High School

Another Thursday is upon us and another week of Wandering through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks.

This week, I'm going over to the dark side. I feel as if I've beaten the fun, teen movies to death. This time and with this category, I am doing the dark, brooding, even violent type. One angsty period piece, one political satire, one twisted mind-fuck, plus a bonus pick, a serious, hard-hitting, quiet masterpiece. None take place completely in a school building. But all of them feature brilliant scenes within high school gyms and auditoriums and hallways and classrooms, etc.

This post is meant to serve as a reminder that not all Movies Set in High Schools are about the fun, popular, pretty people, or even the nerd getting the girl. Sometimes they're about the opposite of all that.

Directed by - A New Series

About a year and a half ago, January 2014, I started getting serious about watching movies again. In college, I was an unstoppable movie-watching machine. Then, real life happened. College was over. I had to get a "real job." I had to change my life.

Thursday Movie Picks: Kids Movies Adults Would Enjoy (Non-Animated)

It's been a few weeks since I've been able to devote any time to this site whatsoever, much less my beloved weekly post as part of Wandering through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks Meme.

This one is a doozie. Sort of tough at first, but then I was just flooded with ideas. I have a list of timeless (and ageless) movies. Live-action films that work for me now (at age 30) just as perfectly as they did when I was a kid.