Welcome to the Movie Review and Movie Summary site by Michael The Moviegoer. Your place for movie recommendations with helpful movie reviews of the latest theater releases.
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Movie summary of Fish Tank by Michael The Moviegoer.
FISH TANK = ***1/2
“A Great Catch”
“Fish Tank” is one of the best pieces of modern British cinema I have seen in a very long time. Only a few months ago we were all hailing Carey Mulligan as the next great actress from England (Mulligan was just nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for “An Education”). Now, along comes Katie Jarvis and her phenomenal performance as a lonely troubled teen named Mia desperately looking for a way out of her life in a bleak public housing dead-end neighborhood.
But unlike Mulligan, Jarvis is not a trained actor. She was discovered by director Andrea Arnold on a train platform in the same area where this film’s story is set and filmmed. Perhaps this is why “Fish Tank” has a sense of raw realism not usually experienced while watching a movie. We are immediately caught up in Mia’s pain, loneliness and isolation. Like her, we find ourselves searching for a way out only to end up sharing her pessimistic attitude that help is nowhere to be found.
I’ve read many reviews of this film that describe Mia as a girl who is looking for trouble. But the way I interpret it is that trouble comes looking for her. Mia dreams of auditioning as a hip-hop dancer as if that will change her life. In that sense, Mia is oddly reminiscent of Jennifer Beals’ character in 1983’s “Flashdance”. But Mia gets no support from her disapproving mom, and her mom’s boyfriend Connor, played by Michael Fassbender, develops a dangerous crush on Mia.
In a coming-of-age moment for Mia, after spying on Conner and her mom having sex, Mia falls into Connor’s seductive trap. When their relationship abruptly ends, “Fish Tank” shifts gears and becomes a wild psycho thriller that involves Mia kidnapping a little girl. It’s in this film’s second hour that I found myself truly on the edge of my seat.
I’m not quite sure what the film’s title means. This movie is unique in the way that we see everything from Mia’s point of view. Arnold’s camera never strays from this. We never see Mia, or her story, from anyone else’s viewpoint. In a way, for the audience, it’s quite voyeuristic. We’re allowed to look, but unable to touch. Much like looking into a fish tank.
DVD Double Feature: Great movies about troubled teens are not limited to British cinema. 2003’s “Thirteen” is a revealing look at American teens. It’s the portrait of an intense mother-daughter relationship gone sour starring Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood. “Thirteen” was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and the screenplay was written by real teenage co-star Nikki Reed. Despite it’s ‘R’ rating from the idiotic MPAA, this is one of the most important films made about teens that any and every teenager must be allowed to see.
Michael The Moviegoer
Movie Summary of Edge Of Darkness by Michael The Moviegoer.
EDGE OF DARKNESS = **1/2
“Bring A Flashlight”
By now we all know there are two Mel Gibson’s. There’s Mel Gibson the crazed religious fanatic. And then there’s Mel Gibson the movie [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of Extraordinary Measures by Michael The Moviegoer.
EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES = **1/2
“A Clinical Trial”
There are moments in “Extraordinary Measures” where it feels almost like a propaganda film raising awareness for Pompe’s disease and soliciting for charitable donations. It got [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of Youth In Revolt by Michael The Moviegoer.
YOUTH IN REVOLT = ***
“Theory Of Revolution”
After his teenage hormones made him a teen dad in “Juno”, Michael Cera, still a teen, takes another shot at a quest to lose [...] Continue Reading…
Michael The Moviegoer’s
100 Favorite Films of the Decade 2000-2009:
1. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – At the end of “Inglourious Basterds” when Brad Pitt says “this just might be my masterpiece” he’s no doubt echoing the sentiment of writer/director Quentin Tarantino. And if [...] Continue Reading…
Michael The Moviegoer’s list of the Ten Best Films of 2009:
Over the past couple of years, some of my favorite film critics have been shying away from compiling year-end 10-Best lists. They would simply list, alphabetically, their favorite movies [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of Avatar by Michael The Moviegoer.
AVATAR = ***1/2
“King Of Another World”
James Cameron is a master storyteller. A true visionary. As an unknown first-time director working with a minimal budget, he captured the imagination of a generation with [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of The Last Station by Michael The Moviegoer.
THE LAST STATION = ***
“Tolstoy In Love”
Poor Helen Mirren. In accurately portraying Sofya Tolstoy in “The Last Station” she must appear as though she is over-acting. But historians might well [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of Everybody’s Fine by Michael The Moviegoer.
EVERYBODY’S FINE = ***
“Connecting With DeNiro”
Robert DeNiro is a widower trying to re-connect with his four grown children in “Everybody’s Fine”. It’s a warm and fuzzy film with a holiday heartlight [...] Continue Reading…
Movie Summary of Brothers by Michael The Moviegoer.
BROTHERS = ***1/2
“Siblings At War”
Unexpected. How else can you describe it? An Irishman, Jim Sheridan, directs an English-language adaptation of the Danish movie “Brodre” by Susanne Bier about the emotional toll of [...] Continue Reading…