99 Homes

Say what you want about America but money is a  very big part of our society. It's a free-for-all pursuit of money and it so helps with having a good family background. If you can't afford college to get your degree or don't have a career after high school, you are on your own. It's like high school all over where you have to find yourself again.

99 Homes has many themes pertinent to today's society. From the idea of money and how to handle your money and also the banking system, it's an accurate image of our society today. Who knows how it will hold up twenty years down the road due to how society is going to change but for now 99 Home knows exactly what's going in the world now and tells it's story in a very original way.


Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) is an unemployed construction worker who gets evicted along with his family from his home by businessman and con-man Rick Carver (Michael Shannon). As a way of getting his childhood home back, Dennis joins Rick's business team not knowing what lies ahead for him.

As most kids after high school, I didn't have a plan for myself and college was my only option. I was lucky enough to get a good job at a grocery store that will be able to support me though college. Even though I had my differences with my hometown, growing up in one of the richest towns in Michigan had it's perks also. It's so hard and heartbreaking to watch Dennis not have money or a name to himself. He must support his mother Lynn (Laura Dern) and his son Conner (Noah Lomax) through only construction jobs. Then you have someone like Carver who's at the different end of the spectrum and doing everything right for himself but he is someone who makes his big dough from forcing people out of their own homes and in the wrong way. As we expect, Michael Shannon, always plays a determined and powerful character and he is able to captivate every character that he plays. That said, Andrew Garfield's performance is even more impressive. He is able to express through emotions the things his character is dealing with and he takes you on a ride with him. He plays a character who does not know how to save his family and who is wondering if the scheme he is involved in is the right thing to do. His morals and values are being severely tested.


Another example of the money ideas at play here is the setting. The movie is set in Orlando, Florida, with some of the biggest houses on the street sitting next to the smallest houses where the evictions happen. It is such an accurate image again of how different the concept "money" is for everyone. Some people are set for life where others are living paycheck to paycheck. This film seems to know both sides of that so well.

99 Homes is a film that the main topic is eviction and really this should have been dull ride. How this film is able make this topic interesting and thought-provoking is very impressive.  99 Homes is so off the map on this topic but in a good way.

99 Homes is a character study with Oscar quality performances especially from Garfield. It is also societal story and commentary, a story of determination and one of the top films of the year all rolled in one. There are literally are 99 reasons to go see this movie.
     
5/5

The Amazing-Spider Man 2

In 2012, the first Spider-Man came out from the new reboot series and it came out in a very "out of the blue" way. I can't say I never did appreciate a Spider-Man film though because Spider-Man is for sure one of my favorite superheroes out there. Why though, would they create a Spider-Man series five years after the last film in the original series?

The Amazing Spider-Man of 2012 still was a positive even with all the hate I give it. It brought in new rising stars who we got to know and it played well in the summer market. The film got a new audience for this famous Marvel character and it generated sequels.

In this movie, following the events in last movie, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is really up in the air (no pun intended) with his relationship with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and a new villain, Electro (Jamie Fox) comes into the spotlight. Peter Parker also must deal with an old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) who is now in charge of Oscorp and who's emotions turn him into the villain the Green Goblin. Parker is sure dealing with lot of tuff and it's starts to show.

Andrew Garfield is again likable which makes you wish he was around more often in films. He has very good chemistry with his co-star Emma Stone but the story of them trying to solve their relationship is surely past done by now. Still though, they make this film and I don't know where this film would be without the two of them together. Electro is nerdy and not a mentally stable guy and it's quite interesting for him to be in this film because he is not the most known villain in the Spider-Man universe which makes him original. The special effects with him are quite quirky and of a different vibe than what we have seen before but like the most characters in this film, his pacing is way off. Rising star, Dane DeHaan known for the forgotten but solid film Chronicle is just as silly as Electro but it's Dehaan himself who eventually who ruins this character for us. He can't develop the character himself making it a mundane character nor is his acting really up to a par. Even the usually lovable Sally Field as Aunt Jane is nowhere to be found and really adds nothing to film even when she is around.  

There also isn't much of a plot here. Sure, these characters do add something but a large portion of the film wanders around going nowhere and the movie has some really bad pacing. You would expect the typical long, action battle scenes to end the story and here the last battle scene sure does change the whole series. The main settings is New York City which it had to be but really you know what you are getting with this setting by now. It' a plot that has a lot to it but doesn't really go anywhere with it. I give the substance here a barely passing grade.

These are probably some reasons why this is movie is getting hated on after only one week at the top of the box office. You have wonder what Sony Pictures thinks of the future now for this series. This reboot continues to introduce us to new things to this character that we never thought would come to us but still fails to deliver the necessary stuff to make a really good Spider-Man film. I can't even say that I'm even looking forward to the likely sequels coming in the next few years and I never said this when the original sequels were coming. The Amazing Spider Man 2 and this whole reboot series  sure seems like a big question mark to me.

3/5