Best movie of this year hands down!
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
View MoreOne of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
View MoreThere is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.
View MoreThis is not a ditzy teen movie. Robertson is great in the lead.
View MoreIt starts out all light and funny and cute, ya shes a sex addict, has daddy issues but is way too together seeming for how she is behaving. the movie rolls along, her life is getting progressively worse. then she just disappears. they switch to her mother revealing the truth of her blogging, fact vs fiction and the mom is asking the readers of her blog to help her find her daughter. and thats it. the movie ends. they went from 10 mph to 200 mph in 10 seconds flat. no transition, just WHAMO! i hated it. here i am thinking she is going to finally do something with her life... its like the director didnt know how to end it so he just pulled the plug. so bad.
View More(*WARNING: May contain spoilers. If you didn't see the movie, don't read the review until after you've watched the movie. Also, trigger warning for sensitive subject matter.)Well, THAT was deep! Initially I didn't pay attention to this movie other than seeing my Mom watching the film but I kind of wrote off "AMA" as being another rom com. Until now anyways.Tonight I sat down and turned on Netflix and, after watching the trailer, decided to give "AMA" a try and I'm glad I did. This movie exceeded my expectations and what starts off as a light hearted sex and coming of age movie turns into a deep, thought provoking study in *spoiler #1* the deep toll sexual abuse takes on the survivor years later. Katie (played by an excellent Britt Roberson) was a character that fascinated me; Katie was witty, snarky, fragile, sarcastic, free spirited, troubled, complicated and complex all at once. Katie can frustrate and confuse you just as she can make you feel for her and relate to her. And Katie was a young girl with enough flaws as much as she's got emotional wounds, and while she made some reckless and destructive decisions, in knowing that Katie was sexually victimized as a child, you understand her. Britt totally carried the entire movie with her performance; she didn't so much play Katie as she was Katie. And everyone else from Christian Slater, Kimberly Williams- Paisley, Justin Long, Martin Sheen, etc. gave equally great performances that kept me engaged with the movie from beginning to end, and I really admire the way the movie approached the topic of sexual abuse/molestation with enough sensitivity without being too neat and enough frankness without being too gratuitous and exploitative. We need more of that in modern day cinema. Now, onto discussion of (warning: spoiler #2): the ending. The ending really threw me for a loop and I was so taken aback that I needed to rewind so I could watch the entire scene without missing anything. Seriously, I did NOT expect such a bleak, heavy, haunting and rather unsettling, ambiguous ending. It's as if the movie did a double whammy in first removing any signs of regular rom com/coming of age and turning that into a deep study of the affects of sexual abuse, and then turning that into what could be a cautionary tale. What really adds to the shocking quality of the ending is that after (*spoiler #3*) Katie/Amy finds out that she's pregnant and just when she's coming into a maturing sense of awareness in growing up, finding closure in dealing with sexual trauma and moving forward in her life, BAM--the ending comes and, for me, this ending left me questioning everything that was shown. Now I will say that Katie/Amy's story was valid since her Mom did confirm that most of what she said was true, just with certain details added and altered, and names and identities changed. Yet I also do believe that someone who knew Katie/Any may have taken her. Could've been Justin Long's character. Could've been Christian Slater's character. Could've been the ex boyfriend. Could've been anyone, and the ambiguity of the circumstances leading up to Katie/Amy's disappearance, which person that could've taken her and even Katie/Amy's fate is what's unsettling. That actually makes me sad, worried and scared for Katie/Amy.The ending caused mixed reactions: some people loved the ending, some people were annoyed by the ending. I thought the ending was effective. In fact, you can say that the movie can also be considered a cautionary commentary on modern day millennial's obsession with the internet as well as searching for love, attention, adoration, notoriety and fame on the internet and the dangers and consequences thereof, which is just as super important and actually mandatory to address now in this day and age.Overall, this indie movie is a masterpiece and now a favorite in my movie collection. My rating and vote is an A+ and 10/10.
View MoreI just saw this now, on Netflix streaming movies. Based on the book by writer-director.Britt Robertson, in a very good role, was about 22 or 23 during digital capture, she plays 17 just turning 18 Katie Kampenfelt. She is attractive and bright but has a secret. She is seeing an older man, a 32-yr-old professor (Justin Long). So she makes up the excuse that she wants to spend a year "finding herself" so that she can stay closer to him.On the advice of a school counselor she initiates a blog, "Ask Me Anything" under a pseudonym. Meanwhile she also gets a job, first at a bookstore but being only 17 her mom makes her quit upon finding out the bookstore owner (Martin Sheen) was once convicted of a sexual offense. So she finds a job as a nanny and soon starts an attraction with the man of the house, 40-something businessman (Christian Slater).So we see Katie struggling with life's issues, her boozing dad hospitalized, her boyfriend getting too familiar with her best friend, and a number of other things. Certain people in her life try to convince her that she can slough off her bad habits and make a fresh start but she doesn't know if that is what she wants.It is a very smart script and Ms Robertson is very effective in the role. The ending does not tie up all loose ends, the filmmaker wants viewers to interpret the whole movie in a way that is satisfying to them.SPOILERS: In the last few minutes Katie disappears after a "blocked" call is received, her family are looking for her. Then we see her mom, her employers, her friends all played by different actors from the movie, as if we had been seeing a real story, But the better interpretation is all those we see through 90% of the movie are "characters" that her blog represents, in most cases some exaggerations inserted. Now she is gone, maybe she took the advice, maybe she disappeared to make a completely fresh start.
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