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Flash Movie Review: Luckiest Girl Alive
WHEN I WAS TOLD GIRLS WERE nasty fighters, I did not understand what it meant. I remember looking around at the girls in my classroom and wondering how any of them could be “nasty.” It was not too long after hearing this “fact” before I saw it with my own eyes. A fight broke out on the playground between two girls when we were all outside for recess. Only seeing a group of boys and girls congregating at a corner of the playground was the only reason I even knew something must have been going on. I thought it might have been a stray dog that wandered onto the playground or some weird looking insect; but it was nothing like that. As I came up behind the crowd of kids, I could hear two girls yelling at each other. Within a matter of seconds, the crowd started shouting out stuff as the two girls’ argument became physical. I only caught glimpses of it as the girls were scratching and slapping each other, besides throwing punches and kicks. One of the girl’s punches missed the face and hit the other girl in the shoulder. When she recoiled back, her blouse ripped from the fist still holding onto some decorative ruffles. Both girls’ faces started bleeding just as a group of teachers broke up the fight. THE GIRL WHO TOOK THE WORSE beating was in my class. When she walked into the room the next day, I could see the other students glancing at her bruises and scratches. She did not make eye contact with anyone, keeping her face down as best as she could while walking to her desk. I felt bad for her. When she reached her desk and sat down at it, a boy who sat kitty-corner to her leaned over and called her a loser. A couple of the kids who heard started to giggle. I could not believe it. The poor girl just sat there staring at her desktop. Whatever caused the fight did not matter, it still was not right to make fun of her. Since the boy who called her a loser was one of the alpha male bullies in the class, a couple of the other boys started to call her names whenever they saw her in the hallway. I did not see her the next year, so I had to assume she either went to a different school or moved out of the neighborhood; I could not blame her if that was indeed the case. This is why I partially understood what the main character in this dramatic, mystery thriller did to herself. ANI FANELLI, PLAYED BY MILA KUNIS (Black Swan, Bad Moms franchise) appeared to have a perfectly charmed life. Yet no one knew she was a survivor from a horrific tragedy. With Chiara Aurelia (Gerald’s Game, Cruel Summer-TV) as young Ani, Finn Wittrock (Unbroken, American Horror Story-TV) as Luke Harrison, Connie Britton (Joe Bell, Nashville-TV) as Dina and Scoot McNairy (Frank, 12 Years a Slave) as Andrew Larson; this movie was lucky to have Mila in the lead role. I thought she was the big standout from the cast; her acting was excellent. Unfortunately, it was not enough to make up for the uneven direction of the choppy script. There were elements of the story that were engaging, but jumping back and forth in time was a distraction for me. I feel if the writers had stuck with one story line, then this film would have had a greater impact on me. The topic was tough to watch as were the other main story lines. By the end of the film, I had to sit there and think about people in general who have survived a brutal tragedy. It must be beyond awful on all levels.
2 ¼ stars
Flash Movie Review: The Fallout
IF I GET SICK FROM A MEAL I had at a restaurant, I just will not go back there ever again; but I would not say I am afraid of the place. There is a person I know who keeps the temperature in their home to a cold setting, to the point where I am uncomfortable. Anytime I am invited over I know to dress warm. Now for many years I was afraid to go into any type of locker room, due to what I saw and experienced through my school years. Whether it was the locker room at a friend’s tennis club or at a company I worked for or at a place where I was a guest fitness presenter; I was always anxious and wary whenever I had to walk into a locker room. Sure, I see the irony in this since I am a fitness/yoga instructor; but that fear was always there. In fact, at one health club all the instructors were assigned specific lockers and mine was in the corner of an alcove. I could not use it because I felt too exposed and vulnerable stuck in a back corner. I had to talk to the fitness director and tell them I would not be able to teach there if I had to keep the locker; I needed one that was on an aisle in a more public area of the locker room. The director agreed to move me after I shared with him some of the abuse I had received in my younger days. THE REASON I MENTIONED THE PREVIOUS examples is because with all of them I was able to make a choice on how to manage the situation. I think about my elementary school years and the only drills we had periodically were fire and tornado drills. There was nothing else that was pressing enough where the students had to go through training drills. Presently, the amount of school shootings I have heard about is horrific. School entrances with metal detectors, training drills regarding an active shooter in the building; it is frightening to me. And what I find worse is all the hollow bluster politicians spew out on how we need to change things to prevent such heinous acts from ever happening again. Let me add a special appalling ugly aspect, the people who deny that these brutal crimes ever took place. What is wrong with humanity where we are at such a low level of consciousness and empathy? What about the students who survive? Do you ever hear anything about how they are being taken care of after being part of such an awful act? They do not have a choice; they still must get, you would hope, an education. Please see what I am talking about by watching this tough drama about the aftermath of a school shooting. THE WORLD LOOKS SO DIFFERENT FOR Vada Cavell, played by Jenna Ortega (Scream, Jane the Virgin-TV), after she survived a school tragedy. The question is how she can move forward when everything looks so overwhelming. With Maddie Ziegler (The Book of Henry, West Side Story) as Mia Reed, Niles Fitch (St. Vincent, This is Us-TV) as Quinton Hasland, Will Ropp (The Way Back, The Unhealer) as Nick Feinstien and newcomer Lumi Pollack as Amelia Cavell; the acting from this young cast was emotional and authentic. Kudos to the writers for creating a script that came across in such a real and honest way. I was pulled into the story right from the start and thought Jenna was outstanding in the role. While watching this film, I was thinking about the shootings that took place at Parkland and Sandy Hook and could only imagine what the intensity level must have been for the students and their families. If this picture is only showing a fraction of the reality, then how can anyone in a position to make change sit and do nothing, let alone deny such things had even happened?
3 ½ stars
moviejoltz 