100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 38: Beautiful Creatures

Director: Richard LaGravenese
Genre: Drama/ Fantasy/ Romance
Runtime: 124 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Alice Englert, Alden Ehrenreich, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Thomas Mann, Kyle Gallner

Description: Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena (Alice Englert). Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.

Review: Supernatural teen romances are a real hype and young fans of dark fantasy get exactly what they want. If the whole film was better executed it would have reached a broader audience.
Teenagers Ethan and Lena are the beating heart of the story. Ethan lives in a small community in the state of South Carolina. He doesn’t want to be there and doesn’t want to belong to the petty community. Then he meets Lena who, as an unconventional newcomer, doesn’t belong there either. Lena has magical powers which puts the love between the two in jeopardy.
The two leading characters, although not very well known, are the power of the film. They are convincing together and it never gets too ‘sweet’. The supporting roles are less successful. Jeremy Irons and especially Emma Thompson don’t seem to belong in this film. Where Irons, as Lena’s eccentric uncle Macon, gets away with his portrayal at times, Thompson is sometimes more caricatured.
Another weakness is the background of the ‘casters’. Although director Richard LaGravenese has simplified it, it’s still a bit confusing. Especially when you never read the book it’s based on. And Lena is supposed to be the mightiest caster in progress, but she doesn’t really show that.
“Beautiful Creatures” isn’t a bad movie but with more guts it could have been a more intelligent version of “Twilight”.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (53)

This weeks trailers are about two star-crossed lovers, an art thief, retired opera singers, boy scouts and a big business converging with the strength of small-town community.

Beautiful Creatures
Description: Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) is a young man longing to escape his small town and falls in love with Lena (Alice Englert), a mysterious new girl. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson
Trailer: Trailer "Beautiful Creatures"
Comment: Haven't read the book yet, but now I just have to.

Gambit
Description: Harry Deane (Colin Firth) is a London art curator who enlists a Texas Rodeo Queen (Cameron Diaz) in a scheme to con the richest man in England.
Director: Michael Hoffman
Starring: Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci
Trailer: Trailer "Gambit"
Comment: The screenwriters are the Coen brothers, that promisses a lot.

Quartet
Description: Reggie (Courtenay), Wilf (Connolly) and Cissy (Collins) reside in Beecham House, a home for retired opera singers. Each year they stage a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday, which also raises funds for the home. Reggie's ex-wife Jean (Smith) arrives at the home and creates tension, playing the diva part but refusing to sing in the concert.
Director: Dustin Hoffman
Starring: Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay, Sheridan Smith
Trailer: Trailer "Quartet"
Comment: Love Maggie Smith!

Nature Calls
Description: Scoutmaster Randy Stevens (Patton Oswalt) is a dwindling, apathetic troop ditches a scout meeting in favor of a TV-themed slumber party hosted by Randy's brother Kirk (Johnny Knoxville), his polar opposite and arch nemesis. When Randy rounds up the boys in the middle of the night, stealing them for an highly unauthorized/unorganized trip to the woods, all hell breaks loose as Kirk pursues with a pair of gun-toting employees (Rob Riggle and Patrice O'Neal).
Director: Todd Rohal
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Johnny Knoxville, Rob Riggle, Maura Tierny, Patrice O'Neal, Darrell Hammond
Trailer: Trailer "Nature Calls"

Promised Land
Description: Steve Butler (Matt Damon) is an ace corporate salesman who is sent along with his partner, Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand), to close a key rural town in his company's expansion plans. With the town having been hit hard by the economic decline of recent years, the two outsiders see the local citizens as likely to accept their company's offer, for drilling rights to their properties, as much-needed relief. What seems like an easy job for the duo becomes complicated by the objection of a respected schoolteacher (Hal Holbrook) with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man (John Krasinski), as well as the interest of a local woman (Rosemarie DeWitt).
Director: Gus van Sant
Starring: Matt Damon, John Krasinski, Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt, Hal Holbrook
Trailer: Trailer "Promised Land"
Comment: My favorite of the week. Really want to see this.