IMDb plot summary: The story about the relationship between a rebellious 1950s teenager and his abusive stepfather, based on the memoirs of writer and literature Professor Tobias Wolff.
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones. Starring Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jonah Blechman.
I forget sometime how great Leonardo DiCaprio was as a very young actor, not just as an adult. The choices he makes here are smart and precise as he captures the conflict between wanting to do the right thing and feeling angry at everyone all the time because puberty's a beast. Robert De Niro also tackles a tricky balance here playing the controlling stepfather as a realistic villian and not just a cartoon. We see all the small signs of his inflated ego and begin to realize just how dangerous it is for anyone to try and deflate it. Even if everything else is the movie were sloppy and awful, it'd be worth watching for those two performances. And the rest of the movie's pretty solid too, so it's definitely worth a watch.
How it entered my Flickchart:
This Boy's Life > Kung Fu Panda
This Boy's Life > Forgetting Sarah Marshall
This Boy's Life < Citizen Kane
This Boy's Life < Philomena
This Boy's Life < Fruitvale Station
This Boy's Life > Hairspray Live!
This Boy's Life > Mr. Brooks
This Boy's Life < Elf
This Boy's Life < The Great Race
This Boy's Life > Woman in the Dunes
This Boy's Life > The Graduate
This Boy's Life < Kuroneko
Final spot: #696 out of 3093.
No comments:
Post a Comment