Starcrossed (2014) Reviews

• Visualization

  gltoffic2016-05-15

  I did enjoy this movie, but is was only after long consideration afterwards. That said I am looking forward to watching it again sometime soon. I guess this is where the spoilers alert might come into play, but not really sure. The film clicked, finally, for me when I considered the premise that the opening scenes at the beach and at the typewriter, and those same location scenes at the end of the movie were actually the only "reality" scenes in the movie. This is perhaps best presented by the lack of pages in the opening shots to the large stack of pages and feeling of being done shown in the last view at the typewriter. The only similar movie I could think of off the top of my head was "Princess Bride". The Grandfather reading the grandson a book and the boys visualization of it gives the "story" a wonderful innocent feel throughout. The rest of the movie is the authors visualization in his mind of the story as he is writing it. If the movies various scenes are given this premise then the problems of pacing and the one dimensional feel of many of the locations and such take on that "as written" and not "as viewed" feel over and over again. The scene of Ben and Cat meeting shows it best. It is their meeting that is important. The starkness of the area keeps one focused on the dialog. I would guess that the vast majority of fiction novel writers "view" the same sort of movie format as they write. If the film was indeed from the perspective of the "authors minds eye", the story might have subtly slipped in a scene back at the typewriter mid movie. Just a thought. All that being said I felt the cast did a fantastic job of portraying their "characters" in the authors imagination. I also felt that the musical choices for the entire film were excellent as well.  Finally I would like to mention that the movie really needed a different title. Just do an internet search for Starcrossed and it is self evident why.

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• Love or Lust

  yuksel-414852016-05-24

  An engaging and intriguing movie, depicting the degeneration of family relationship in modern cities, which consume genuine love and compassion in humanity. Four people find themselves in an asymmetric and awkward relationship in a huge and fancy house. It is no secret that many beautiful houses hide horrible homes; many well- dressed bodies hold miserable souls. But what is the chance of complete metamorphosis? In Starcrossed, actors match their characters and they play them flawlessly... But, I had difficulty to understand how those characters with complicated and volatile relationship let each other stay alone in pairs, for so long, and so many times... That should explain the reason for the deduction of one star :) As for the second lost-star: the culprit was x-rated scenes, which I had to fast-forward. I wish, the author/director had taken the creative challenge to convey the intimate relationships with only subtle references, short scenes and innuendos. I command the young author/director/co-producer Chase Mohseni (his name sounds like his parents have a very interesting story for his next movie) for his ambition and success in his first film. With such a start, I will not be surprised if I hear his name mentioned in an Oscar night within 19 years from an obnoxious host. Who knows, for writing the best script, for directing the best film, or for acting. He is a polymath and ambitious, and I am sure he will show us all.

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• Deep and intimate movie about California love

  johnyu-446312016-05-29

  Overall the movie had awesome production values and a cool main cast. The two leads click throughout in a movie that's good enough to engender curiosity. The theme was a uncommonly smart and insightful way to look at relationships while delivering the requisite torment and romantic heat. If you're tired of the predictable plots of romantics like me, check out this unconventional romantic movie. In most romantic movies, the obstacles men and women face are usually just misunderstandings and personalities that seem incompatible at first. However, couples in unconventional romantic movies, like this, have to deal with all sorts of crazy problems. Definitely worth a watch.

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• Interesting, but just barely

  telia_teh_poit2016-05-14

  If you're the sort of person who drinks lame wine with your neighbors before you pick up your kids from public school that pretends to be private, then you might like this. Sorry, it's incredibly slow when it comes to plot development and even slower when it comes to revelation. It's a good enough movie if you have absolutely nothing else going on in your life for the whole 78 minutes. I'm not one of those people married to a phone or tablet. I have three kids and three girlfriends, it took me over six hours to watch this boring mess. The premise was OK. No, really, it's cute and unique. Delivery took forever. Result was like masturbating and giving up in favor of a nap.

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• synchronicity or coincidence on this night?

  jjollyjjumper2016-05-13

  Drama, family and romance are the genres given for this movie. I would add mystery to those. There was a story evolving during the course of the film, it was not great but it kept me watching. Unfortunately, it dissolved at the end into a pile of plaintive questions, but then, as if to redeem the movie, the happy ending...I think...I'm not sure how they got there. The whole thing was a bit tentative. The acting was pretty good, Eric Roberts appeared briefly near the end, a cameo performance. If the story just had a transition of some sort between the climax at the peak of the action, to the happy scene at the end, it would have been OK but there was not..it did not..really explain how they got to that point. Or maybe it did and I missed it. It was a novel situation, it could have been a good film but in my opinion that glitch at the end spoiled it.

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