Movie Review: The Duff

Very rarely will you come across a movie that is not only great but also speaks to you on a deeply personal level. 

For me The Duff is that movie. 

Though it has only grossed $31 million in it's 28 days of release, that's more than three and a half times the Lionsgate/CBS Films co-productions $8.5 million budget. I not only consider it my favorite movie of 2015 thus far but also the best movie I have seen in years. 

Luckily I graduated from high school right before "cyberbullying" started. Yet anyone who was ever picked on in school would almost certainly resonate with the main protagonist and what she has to go through. 

That protagonist is high school senior Bianca Piper, played by Parenthood's Mae Whitman (even if you have never seen Parenthood you most likely seen her before as the President's daughter in Independence Day). A cult-horror film fanatic, Bianca is not your typical high school teenager. One night Bianca and her two best friends Jess and Casey (played by Skyler Samuels and Bianca A. Santos, respectively) go to a party thrown by reality-show wannabe and Queen B of the school Madison Morgan (Bella Thorne) who views people like Bianca as inferior to her. 

During the party, Bianca runs into her much despised next-door neighbor Wesley Rush (Robbie Amell), Madison's boyfriend and a star on the school football team, who explains to her that she is Jess and Casey's "Duff"-their "Designated Ugly Fat Friend", the friend who is not as popular or attractive as her friends, therefore making her the person can ask questions about them before making their move. 

This revelation turns Bianca's whole world upside down. In addition to having a falling out with Jess and Casey after finding out that she is their "Duff", Bianca reluctantly enlists the help of Wesley to make her less "Duff" like in exchange for helping him pass chemistry so she can win the heart of her guitar-playing crush Toby Tucker (Nick Eversman). In one of the comedic moments of the film, Bianca and Wesley head to the mall, where she tries on new clothes and pretends that one of the manequins is Toby, confessing her love and pretending to make love to it. This gets secretly filmed by one of Madison's friends, gets uploaded on YouTube, and causes the entire student body to make fun of Bianca. 

The scene where she cries in the school restroom is one of the very few times I have sympathized so deeply with a character on film. Although I graduated from high school in 2007, a time when high schoolers didn't have smartphones and the term "viral video" didn't exist, like Bianca I was picked on for being "weird" or "different", for not being a "normal" person like everyone else. It is the kind of experience that feels like hell at the time but that makes you a stronger person. 

Wesley tells Bianca not to let the video get to her and be straight up to Toby about her feelings for him. I'm not going to say what happens next because it would spoil the whole movie, but I will say there a few surprising twists and turns in the last half hour or so of the film. 

Major props go to Whitman, who essentially helped carry the entire film and not only made the character of Bianca fun and enjoyable but also someone you can root for. If director Ari Sandel had chosen a less capable actress the movie might have ended up being boring as hell. Liking The Duff rests entirely on liking the character of Bianca, and Whitman does such a superb job of making the character likable that you end up wanting to watch her journey on screen. Though Whitman has been mostly under the radar save for people who have watched Parenthood, she has the capability and potential to be a leading comedic actress in the vein of Tina Fey and Melissa McCarthy. 

The Duff will not end up being one of the top 10 grossing movies of 2015 or even the top 100 grossing movies of 2015. Upcoming blockbusters like The Avengers: Age of Ultron will certainly surpass the films entire domestic gross in just one day. But if you've ever been made fun of for being quirky or different, seeing The Duff while it is still in theaters is an experience worth having. 

Neil Patrick Harris Bombs as Oscar Host

Neil Patrick Harris gave a very un-wait for it-legendary performance tonight as host of the 87th Academy Awards. 

I expected a lot better from the guy who gave the world Barny Stinson. If Harris's performance were a suit, it would be the plainest, dullest suit you had ever seen. The jokes fell flat, some parts were incredibly boring (especially when he's in the audience talking to the Oscar sitters) and the whole bit about guarding his "Oscar Predictions" was incredibly lame. When he said "Oscar Predictions", I thought he meant the predictions about who was going to WIN. But instead, it was predictions of stuff that absolutely made no sense. Oh, and the whole titie whitie bit didn't impress me either. 

When I first heard that Harris would be hosting the Oscars I was excited, for I am a huge fan of How I Met Your Mother. He will always be Barney Stinson to me, the guy who wears suits and teaches everyone how to be awesome. If Harris had given at least half the effort and dedication into his job as host this year as he did in HIMYM, this Oscars might have been very memorable. Instead, his time as Oscar host will be long forgotten, like a suit hanging in a closet, gathering dust. 

Why Philadelphia is an Awesome Choice for 2016 Democratic Convention

In picking the city of Brotherly Love to host its next national convention, the Democratic Party has chosen a symbolism of patriotism as a way to propel their next presidential nominee (most likely Hillary Clinton) to the presidency. 

Although it beat Columbus, located in the most crucial battleground state besides Florida, and Brooklyn, which would have had no problem raising money for a convention bid, Philadelphia was widely seen as the front-runner among the three finalists. The 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland made it harder for Columbus to get the bid because it would have had a tough time competing for donations. Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, champion of progressive politics he may be, has become a polarizing figure nationally, criticizing police officers who turned their backs on him during a cops funeral. The tension between de Blasio and the NYPD may have caused concerns regarding security for the convention (another, though not often talked about reason for not choosing Brooklyn, is that it would have highlighted Mrs. Clinton's ties to Wall Street as she is trying to make income inequality a central issue of her campaign). 

Philadelphia is no stranger when it comes to hosting political conventions, having held either party's conventions a total of eight times. The last time it held a major party convention was when it held the gathering for the Republicans back in 2000, when it nominated George W. Bush for the first time. The last time the city held a Democratic Convention was in 1948, when President Harry Truman was nominated to a full term. 

On the surface, Philadelphia may seem like an odd choice. Pennsylvania has voted Democratic in each of the last six presidential elections, and Democrat Tom Wolf's victory over an incumbent Republican governor was one of the very few bright spots for Democrats last November. But whatever Philly lacks in swing state status it more than makes up for in terms of it's history. It was in Philly, of course, where the Liberty Bell is located, where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, and where George Washington served as our nation's first President. With Mrs. Clinton almost certain to become the first woman to the be the presidential nominee of a major political party, it makes perfect sense for the Democrats to hold their convention in the place where American History was born. 

The city could also help with a party message of equality. Even if the Supreme Court rules this summer that gay marriage should be legal in all 50 states, the rights of gay couples to be wed will certainly be a part of the convention platform. The Democrats will also for sure put in their platform a call for all employees nationally to not be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation, which, quite surprisingly, is still legal in some states. This could in turn help drive millennials, a key part of the Obama coalition, to the polls. 

For decades, the GOP has successfully established itself in the minds of many voters as the party of patriotism and American values. By choosing Philadelphia, Democrats have a chance to show the nation that love of country and the American Flag do not belong to one political party. Rather, that they belong to all of us-all races, all creeds, all religions, and all sexual orientations. 

And what better way for Mrs. Clinton to open her convention speech by saying, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men-and women-are created equal?"

"Project Almanac" is a time-traveling thrill ride

If you're a time-travel nerd like myself, Paramount's Project Almanac is the move you should definitely go and check out to tide you over until the new Terminator movie comes out this summer.

Produced on a $12 million budget, the movie has already surpassed that in it's first two weeks of release. Shot as a "found footage" film (much like 2012's Chronicle) Almanac tells the story of high school senior David Raskin (Johnny Weston) an aspiring inventor who dreams of going to MIT. His dream finally comes true when he gets his acceptance letter in the mail, yet his whole world comes crashing down when he only receives a $5,000 scholarship instead of the $40,000 he was hoping for. In order to help her son pay for his tuition, David's mother (Amy Landecker) decides to sell the house. While going through the attic with his sister Christina (Virginia Gardner) in order to find something their late father (Gary Weeks) might have left in order to help David get another scholarship, they both come across a video camera showing footage of David's 7th birthday. Surprisingly, David finds what appears to be a reflection of himself in a mirror within the footage.

Along with David's friends Adam Le (Allen Evangelista) and Quinn (Sam Lerner) the four of them find blueprints in David's basement for a "temporal relocation device" (AKA Time Machine) that his father had worked on before his death. When David's long-time crush Jessie (Sofia Black D'Elia) goes to a party in the neighborhood, David and his friends use the battery pack from Jessie's Prius to charge the machine and successfully they transport a toy car back in time by a few weeks. Eventually they are caught by Jessie, who decides to join the group.

After naming their experiment Project Almanac and laying a few ground rules (i.e. no one travels alone), the five teens have a bit of fun with their time-traveling device. My favorite time-traveling experiment of all in this film is when Quinn, who failed a chemistry presentation and is doomed to repeat his senior year, goes back to the day of his presentation over and over again until he finally passes. Another really fun moment is when Christina goes back to get back at a few girls who bully her at school by purposefully bumping and spilling drinks on them right after they made fun of the "present day" Christina ("I'm everywhere, bitch!" is the best line of the whole film). The gang even goes back a few months to check out Lallapalooza ("old" VIP passes were just five bucks each on E-Bay) and they event go on to win the lottery, which helps David pay for his college tuition and helps his mom keep their house (as a car fanatic, I love the part when Quinn checks out a Maseratti convertible on the show room floor).

Things start to go disarray, however, when David goes back in time to Lallapalooza by himself (essentially breaking one of the ground rules that he himself created) in order to make him and Jessie a couple. The plan works, but it also creates a ripple effect that causes a plane crash that kills over 700 people. Every time David goes back to try to fix it it causes another ripple effect that causes another terrible thing to happen. This is somewhat similar to The Butterfly Effect in which Ashton Kutcher's character travels to the past several times to correct things over and over again.

In an age of ever-constant superhero movies, Project Almanac is a breath of fresh air of originality. The movie is downright fun, and it's hard not to root for our five heroes whenever they succeed in their time-traveling experiments. Yet because the entire movie is shot camcorder style like the Paranormal Activity movies, the film can sometimes feel a little too jerky and cause a little bit of sickness, especially during scenes when their are running involved. Despite this, however, Almanac is the kind of time-traveling movie that time-traveling nerds like myself really need right now. 

Obama No Longer the Boogeyman

President Obama has a lot to smile about on the day of his sixth State of the Union Address. His approval ratings have hit 50% for the first time in two years. Unemployment is at it's lowest level since he took office, and is continuing to drop. But most surprising of all is the bipartisan praise the President's nominees for Attorney General and Defense Secretary have received in the Senate, making it almost certain that both of them will be confirmed.

Just a few short months ago this would have been a fictional reality what with the GOP obstructionism the President encountered ever since he took office. But the midterms changed all that. Now that the GOP has control of both houses of Congress they can no longer be the party of no. Instead they have no choice but to govern with the President in order to have any chance of winning in 2016, which is why you see Republican Senators such as Jeff Flake of Arizona publicly supporting the administrations move towards normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba and other Republican Senators like Bob Corker of Tennessee supporting an increase in the gas tax to help with infrastructure improvements. 

The obstruction and attacks made by the Republicans in Congress over the past six years mostly had to do with them not wanting this particular President to have a legacy. But very soon the party of Reagan will face an electorate that is much more unfavorable to them, with more minorities and young people and other democratic constituents expected to vote in higher numbers in 2016 than in 2014. So therefore they must do everything they can to show that they can govern if they want to still be a major presidential party rather than just a congressional party in Washington. 

But there is more than just the GOP's desire to occupy the White House again that is creating an atmosphere of cooperation on Capitol Hill. It is also the reality that, with only two more years left in office starting today, President Obama is no longer the political threat to the GOP he once was. 

The 2014 midterms were the last in which the GOP would "run against" President Obama. Now moving forward, with the next Presidential Election on the horizon, the Republican Party is now setting it's sights on running against the next Democratic nominee for President, presumably Hillary Clinton. Therefore the GOP will focus more on attacking the future leader of the Democratic Party rather than the current occupant of the White House. 

This current dynamic of cooperation makes it possible for Washington to actually get things done. Let us hope the GOP finally works with the President and help get done as much as possible over the next two years. 

Why The Real 2015 Is Better Than The Back To The Future 2015

If you're a fan of the Back to the Future trilogy, 2015 may seem like a real letdown. We have no flying cars, no hover boards, we have no automatic size-adjusting and automatic drying ja

ckets, no power laces, and there is no weather service that can predict the weather within seconds. Despite those prognostications from Bob Zemeckis and his producer/partner Bob Gale, I would actually rather live in the real 2015 than in the BTTF 2015. 

Back to the Future Part II was filmed just a few years before the public availability of the internet, so the BTTF 2015 acts as if the internet never existed. Nobody in that 2015 have an smartphone, and it doesn't even seem as if the McFly family has a computer in their own home, something that is the universal norm for every family in America nowadays. Marty McFly Jr. was even seen in the film walking into a phone booth, whereas in the real 2015 if he wanted to call someone he would have just flipped out his iPhone or Android or any other smartphone people use nowadays. 

Although many have believed that we would have flying cars by now, the cars in the BTTF 2015 are simply horrendous. They have no sense of style, no sense of design, and no "wow" factor that makes you desire to get one someday. They are basically just boxes that can fly through the air. Come to think of it, living in a universe where we have flying cars can be quite dangerous, because what if a car runs of gas or electricity or whatever they run on and they fall to the ground? (see my other article, "Why We Don't Have Flying Cars") The result would be total catastrophe, with nobody daring to go outside for fear that a car would fall on them and crush them to death. The Airline industry would also be in turmoil since there would be the risk of a fluing car crashing to an airplane. Despite the plane crashes that happened in the past year, at least we don't have to worry about an airplane running into an oncoming car. 

While I get very annoyed when I see kids as young as 3 watching videos and playing games on an iPhone, young people these days are a lot cooler than the kids in 2015. Who would in their right mind think that "wearing clothes inside out" would be considered cool? And why would anyone call something where you have to use their hands not cool because it's a "baby's toy?" Well,. how else are you supposed to use something? 

But perhaps the thing I dislike the most about the BTTF 2015 is that all lawyers have been abolished, which means that my fathers hard work getting through law school and his long nights studying for the Bar Exam wouldn't have meant jack squat. It is actually a scary reality when a judge can just sentence someone to 15 years in prison within two hours without a jury, a fair trial, and a lawyer that can assist in representation. It is also a scary reality when The Supreme Court can just rule on what it wants without having lawyers from both sides arguing their case. Obviously both Bobs didn't think about that when they made this movie. 

Hoverbards, power laces, and automatic drying jackets are all things that I hope will become universally available within my lifetime. But despite not having any of those right now, I would much rather live in the real 2015 rather than the one Michael J. Fox visited any day.

Republican Control of Senate May be Short-Lived

The GOP had a wonderful night last night largely because the Senate map this year was in their favor.

Of the seven seats the party picked up, five of them were in states won by Mitt Romney in the last Presidential Election. The fact that they also won Senate races in Colorado and Iowa, two states won by President Obama in 2012, also dealt a major blow to Democrats.

But the problem the Democrats had this year will be the same problem the GOP will have in 2016.

In that election, seven Republican Senators who were elected in 2010-Mark Kirk of Illinois, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Rob Portman of Ohio, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire-will be running for re-election in states that President Obama carried in the last presidential election, with an electorate that will be much less favorable to them than this year.

With Angus King’s announcement today that he is still going to caucus with the Democrats, the party of President Obama would have 46 seats if Begich concedes in Alaska and Mary Landrieu loses the December 6 runoff in Louisiana. That would mean Democrats would need to win five of those seven seats held by Republicans where Obama won. They could also potentially win a Senate race in North Carolina, especially with a larger youth and minority turnout in presidential years.

Even if Democrats don’t succeed in winning back the Senate in two years, the Senate landscape next time around may be good for the country, since those seven senators might be willing to compromise on certain issues such as immigration reform in order to have another six years on capitol hill.