The Age of Adaline (2015)

Directed by Lee Toland Krieger
Written by J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz
Starring Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford and Ellen Burstyn

A young woman, born in 1906 is involved in a freak accident which renders her ageless. As decades pass, she finds herself staying exactly the same as she was. Soon, people begin to notice, causing her to have to live her life constantly on the run. But after a lifetime and a half, she meets a man who might be worth exposing her secret to.

Unlike the titular character, this film keeps no secrets. In an incredibly coherent and detailed way, the cause and effect of what Adaline experienced is explained with uninhibited clarity. With each passing life event, the audience is told exactly where the protagonist stands. However, this does cause the plot to be very predictable.

Regardless of the lack of mystery behind what will happen next, I found myself wanting my prognosis to come to fruition. Everything that happens to the character is what is best for the story. It is most certainly a crowd pleaser.

Arguably, the most engrossing scenes of the film are those in which Harrison Ford first meets (or re-meets) Adaline. He shows an incredible vulnerability unlike I have ever seen from him before. It was as if it wasn't the same man who is Han Solo or Indiana Jones. He was completely unrecognizable in his mannerisms.

The man playing Ford's younger counterpart was incredible as well. He captured the deep, rumbling voice that many of us are accustomed too as well as the slight fluctuations that made it undeniable that this was William (Ford's character) in his 20s.

Blake Lively had the poise and sophistication of an old soul, creating a completely believable characters of a 107 year-old stuck in a 28 year-old's body. She commanded each scene with a grace that was reminiscent of the stars in the golden age of Hollywood.

It is definitely a film you have to be in the right mindset to see. As is the standard with all romantic films, many scenes are cringe worthy and filled with sappy one-liners. But where romances fail, as in the story and acting (I'm looking at you Nicholas Sparks!), this film exceeds expectations.

My Rating: 7/10

The Devil's Backbone (2001)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Written by Guillermo del Toro, Antonio Trashorras and Mavid Muñoz
Starring Fernando Tielve, Íñigo Garcés, Federico Luppi and Eduardo Noriega

After Carlos, a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War, arrives at an ominous boy's orphanage, he discovers the school is haunted and has many dark secrets that he must uncover. Mainly the mystery of "the one who sighs", the ghost of a little boy who wanders the orphanage.

There are truly no horror films like those of Guillermo del Toro. He has such a way with storytelling, that he does not need jump scares and gore to keep you terrified. He does so with a subtlety and grace of the building tension, until the pot boils over.

Rather than having a monster or ghost the source of fear in his films, he uses them as the victims to the much more real villain of human cruelty. It is certainly a privilege to watch his stories unfold and this is no exception.

Being one of his earlier pictures, "The Devil's Backbone" fells as though it set the course for his career. It also becomes apparent that his style has not changed, not that it needs to. The themes of the innocence of children and their first experience with death has been prevalent throughout his career, and this is no different. It is one of the thing that makes him unique. 

He does not present death as something you should be afraid of. He presents it as the sad, inevitable finale of life that we must all accept. He finds a way to find the beauty and humanity of pain and present it with a sense of calm and solace. He continues to show why he is one of the more unique directors out there.

My Rating: 7/10