QUICK FIX Movies To Watch #56-60

QUICK FIX Movies To Watch #56-60 are raw but real dramas

Quick Fix Movies To Watch is a weekly column of mixed movie suggestions for both the avid film fan and the casual movie-goer. Dive in, swim around a little bit, and come up with a new movie or two you think is worth watching. They’re all great!

This week’s Quick Fix takes a look at Mystic River, Into The Wild, Hesher, Click, and Stay.

QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #56: MYSTIC RIVER

Release: 2003    Rating: R   Director: Clint Eastwood

Stars: Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Harden

For a while there Clint Eastwood seemed to be on top of the game with his more modern directorial efforts, and in the middle of it all he gave us Mystic River. The film is a mystery filled drama brought to life by a terrific cast and an impressively layered examination of different people trying to do what’s right. When you don’t have all the pieces in the right place it’s hard to see the big picture, and everyone’s making decisions based on an incomplete picture here. Mystic River is fine film making all around.

HIDDEN GEM:  Sean Penn has a few moments where he lets loose emotionally, and I can imagine any parent in his position would break down and simply lose it. What’s really great is seeing how he, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon have changed since childhood and how this murder mystery affects their already broken friendship.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #57: INTO THE WILD

Release: 2007    Rating: R    Director: Sean Penn

Stars: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener, Kristen Stewart, Zach Galifianakis

Into the Wild is a movie that should be seen by every adventurer-at-heart who’s wanted to uproot and just go. It’s a true story film adaptation of a man (Christopher Johnson McCandless) who did just that – burned his credit cards and ID, donated the entirety of his savings to charity, drove his car as far as it would go before stopping, and walked the rest of the way into raw wilderness. It’s an inspiring yet cautionary tale of what freedom really means and the extreme highs and lows such freedom can bring with it.

HIDDEN GEM: Emile Hirsch as McCandless is the kind of adventurer I want to be. Happy, open, giving, hard working, intelligent, and an all around good guy. Seeing his performance inspired me to read more about the real-life McCandless.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #58: HESHER

Release: 2010    Rating: R    Director: Spencer Susser

Stars: Joseph Gordon Leavitt, Rainn Wilson, Natalie Portman, Piper Laurie, Devin Brochu

Every now and then Joseph Gordon Leavitt makes a film that flies just under the radar, and it’s this kind of film that usually sees him open up as an actor and experiment a little more. Hesher sees Leavitt embody the mind and mannerisms of a devil-may-care deviant who listens to heavy metal music, crudely tattoos himself, and works his way into the lives of a young boy and his emotionally absent father (Devin Brochu and Rainn Wilson). Is his presence a blessing or a curse? Hesher’s brand of misguided, misunderstood ultimate anarchy may be exactly what the family needs to move on and come together.

HIDDEN GEM: Rainn Wilson is pretty great as a toned-down helpless father figure, and seeing him transition and react to the unleashed Hesher is entertaining. Theirs is one of many relationships throughout the film that felt real and honest, and I enjoyed watching Hesher build an unlikely friendship with the family and those around them.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #59: CLICK

Release: 2006    Rating: PG-13    Director: Frank Coraci

Stars: Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken, David Hasselhoff, Henry Winkler, Jonah Hill, Sean Astin

If Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore are Sandler’s goofier and less intelligent movies, and Punch Drunk Love is the comedian at his least comedic, then Click is the middle ground that showcases the range of the man’s acting abilities many movie-goers have missed entirely. Click is a film that has a handful of honest laughs surprisingly layered in among some Sandler go-to jokes (humping animals or sexual humor) wrapped up in a very heartfelt and emotionally solid story. While it might be a little sappy for some, and outside of the tried-and-true Sandler catalog for others, it was nice to see an honest tear shed, some time manipulation thanks to a magic remote control, and a mystical Christopher Walken who may or may not be the devil. Give it a try!

HIDDEN GEM: Slow motion is fantastic, that’s all I’ll say about that. But all jokes and fantasies aside, it’s the emotional weight of this story that elevates it above most of Sandler’s other films.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #60: STAY

Release: 2005    Rating: R    Director: Marc Forster

Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling, Naomi Watts, Bob Hoskins, Janeane Garofalo

There are few movies (if any) that I love and recommend based solely on the last 5 minutes, but Stay has been and always will be such a film. The last 5 minutes put such a twist on all the scattered haziness and confusing scenes the rest of the movie has built in such a beautiful yet devastating wrap up for everyone involved, and it worked so well for me. This one’s going to be short and sweet because the less you know about this movie the better. 

HIDDEN GEM: The revelation at the end is so perfect! It’s dark and sad and intelligent and just so damn beautiful!

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