Palo Alto (2014)

Please don't spend money on this.

Memorable, crazy movie

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I got really excited watching the trailer for this movie for a few reasons: Gia Coppola's cinematography, the sound track, and James Franco. I was not disappointing by any of these three, but was unfortunately disappointed with this movie as a whole . Many reviewers argue that the characters in Palo Alto are all stereotypes, but I disagree- I was glad I did not see any football players or cheerleaders that always find their way in every American high school movie. The characters were not one sided either. Take April- she could have been the stereotypical good girl but she wasn't: she didn't get perfect grades, she smoked while babysitting, etc. Gia Coppola showed the self-destruction that characterizes teenagers so well that it almost hit too close to home where it was more painful to watch than entertaining.The acting was convincing in this movie. Nat Wolff's performance especially stood out. The acting almost made up for the poor dialogue. I think the dialogue was the main reason people had trouble empathizing with the characters- although the Coppola's purpose was to try to show a more real image of teenagers, they just came off as shallow and stupid. I loved how visually stunning Palo Alto is, it stimulates nostalgia and gives off a dreamy feel. It fit perfectly with the soundtrack. My main complaint is how slow this movie is. It has no plot, and is just a bunch of intimate scenes of teenagers doing teenager things strung together. Overall: would not watch again, if it were not for the cinematography, I probably would not recommend.

It's been a long time since I watched movies and I have to say that this kind of movies has reminded me of the reason why I watch movies. The difference between books and movies is that books are so much easier; the reader could imagine and project anything they want from their own experiences onto the books. Movies, on the contrary, are often frowned upon because the screenplay is the director's vision, thus, there is much less left for fantasy for those dreamers who want to enjoy the movie in their own way. As a person getting out of high school, I fully relate to this. Even though I live in a remote part of Asia and could not experience such wild events as in the movies, somehow, I could understand the message. Despite a great many of their unreasonable actions that would seem unintelligible to older generations including self-destructive behaviors done out of self-hate, insecurities, they crave love and want to contribute something meaningful to their own life. Judging from their own circumstances, it was understandable that they were under too many pressures, both from within and without; hence, they couldn't realize what was wrong and what was right. By putting themselves out there, facing their problems, these youngsters have been courageously transforming every aspect of their life and as a result, become a better person. The process may take a long time and may not promise an easy route but I believe that with determination, these kids will succeed. Gia Coppola have done an amazing job in depicting what is happening with the young nowadays, striving to live in a world full of turmoil and struggling to find a purpose of their life.

Palo alto is one in thousands movies talking about young people, but the first one that make you think for real. First movie that make you think why young people do stuffs, cuz they are bored, hiperactive or just lost? In other movies you have protagonist and antagonist and at the end someone win and live happy, but this movie is talking about how young people have only one problem, to realize who are they. Teddy, April, Emily and Fred are friends who struggle to realize who are they, they are drinking, doing drugs, fall in love... We all were one of them Teddy and Fred are best friend but they are totally different, Ted is quiet boy who falls in love with April but he is just to shy to tell her that and on the way to tell her that he's making some really bad moves like cause car crash and runaway, drinking a lot just don't thinking about effects also he's best friend is Fred who just can't stop acting crazy fighting, screwing around but through the movie we can see how insecure he is. April is always nice with Teddy and it looks like she want him too but her coach who is played buy James Franco is wooing on her and she's like all, she made one bad step and give him a chance but he coach is older and hurt her very soon, now she need to think about school, love life, and all the other stuffs. And at the end Emily young girl who want a boy to love her doesn't matter who and she is giving a chance to everyone and people start looking at her like she's sl** It's just so realistic, and for me best generation movie ever even better than dazed and confused. So will Teddy find the way to tell the true, will April find the way to finally do something, will Emily find real love, will Fred wake up? Enjoy

Review: Man, I really got fed up with watching these teenagers going around doing nothing but drinking and smoking. The characters were boring and the structure of the movie seemed to drift from one story to another without much point or substance. It seemed like low budget indie movie starring destructible children who don't have that much to do with there life's. Its hard to summarise what the film is actually about because it based around a group of school kids who are doing normal day to day things, which doesn't really end up anywhere. The main character in the film, who has a brief affair with her school teacher, finds out that her close friend loves her and then the film abruptly ends. Another one of the characters is a destructible youth who always pushes situation to the max but that doesn't really end up anywhere either. Basically, I don't know what the director was trying to achieve with this film because there isn't a moral to the story. There isn't any major situations which change the direction of the film so it's very one tone without much point. The director also, didn't really go into much depth with the characters so it did get quite boring after a while. I must admit, I am getting a bit fed up with these type of movies because the kids are just going around without a care in the world and there only problems are with relationships and friendships. Anyway, I think that you can tell that I didn't really enjoy this film, but if you want to watch a bunch of teenagers having sex, drinking and smoking then you might enjoy it. Dull!Round-Up: After seeing that this film was written by James Franco, I can only think that his mind was in a strange place when he wrote it. He has made some weird movies, like Child Of God and As I Lay Dying,  which are very different in many ways but not that great. This film is nothing like the others that he has made so he's obviously trying to cover every genre. Personally, I couldn't get into the film but there is an audience for this type of movie, in America. Along with James Franco, Nicolas Cages cousin, Gia Coppola, made the movie and at 28 years old, you can see that it was made from a young person who can relate to these type of teenage/college situations. As I didn't go to college in America, these teenage movies always seem a bit far fetched and unreal but maybe I have to experience it to understand it. Usually the comedy in this movies are quite funny, like in Superbad and the American Pie franchise but this film seemed like a serious drama which was the wrong genre to pick. Anyway, there wasn't anything interesting happening in the film from my point of view so it gets the thumbs down from me.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $900,000I recommend this movie to people who are into their teenage dramas about a group of school kids who have nothing to do with there life's but drink, smoke, love and party hard. 2/10