An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.In this 2013 film debut by Destin Cretton, we see Grace (Brie Larson) as a counselor in a group home for “at-risk” youth,–Short Term 12— a facility for “transitioning” out adolescents into the world. Grace is a beautiful, extremely vulnerable case worker who relates to everyone in the Short Term 12 residence. She struggles in a precarious balancing act between being a surrogate parent/friend/disciplinarian on the one hand and being a “professional” without emotional attachment to the young residents. We do not know Grace’s secret, but as viewers, we know she has personal demons. Mason (poignantly played by John Gallagher, Jr. from television’s “Newsroom”) is a fellow counselor and product of the foster care system himself. Passionately in love with Grace, he eventually peels away at Grace’s defenses.

Jayden, a young newcomer to Short Term 12, who has suffered and has also built almost insurmountable defenses to protect herself, is assigned to Short Term 12. Grace, who involuntarily identifies with Jaden, slowly chips away at the emotional distance between them as as Mason does with Grace. The major plot is now set. Marcus, one of the oldest residents at Short Term 12, is about to be emancipated, but dreads life outside the group home. Talented and well-liked, Marcus is –as are all the young wards of the state—deeply wounded, dumped there as garbage by family members. The overriding theme in “Short Term 12” is the damage that dysfunctional families inflict on teenagers, jeopardizing their chances for future stability. A riveting bird’s-eye view of a group home for troubled teenagers, “Short Term 12” has the feel of a documentary, a series of scenes of adolescents both lost and scrambling to make sense of the world they’ve been thrown out of and then back into.

Larson gives a luminous breakthrough performance that foreshadows her next major role in “Room”, for which she has been nominated this year for Best Actress by the Academy Awards. (She won this year’s Golden Globe in that category). Just as Jennifer Lawrence astounded in her breakthrough role in “A Winter’s Bone”, this young actress will undoubtedly also amaze us in future films.feng sushi menu fulham Lending subtlety and layers to a very flawed character, Brie Larson evokes, for the viewer, both sympathy and frustration with her choices. sushi in guelph woodlawnIf the editing and tightening of the narrative had been more accomplished, I would consider “Short Term 12” a masterpiece. jiro dreams of sushi magnet link

However, filmed in only 20 days by a newly-minted film graduate, it nonetheless is an engrossing study of young adolescents and adults who deserve much more from society and family. A wonderful human drama.In that case, you got no right to wear New Balance sneakers ever."samurai sushi menu rancho cordova ca The movie takes off from there.  sushi grade tuna harris teeterNow this could have so easily been another one of those mindless and ultimately heartless flicks about cynically picking up chicks and being "funny" only in the sense of gross-out humor, cheap tricks, sex farce, and stupid pranks of the lowest buddy-movie type.  ninja sushi menu ewa beachWith its various subplots, it could have also been a cloyingly saccharine mess of emotional manipulation and formula designed to turned the audience into witless mush.  

It could have been a toxic combination of both.  In fact, I was half-expecting this because I've pretty much hated every "romantic comedy" I've ever seen (see this too about horrible behavior in rom-coms).  "Crazy, Stupid, Love," however, takes an entirely different tack on ... well, almost everything. Having said all that, let's talk about Ryan Gosling, who steals the entire movie.  I've called him a "character actor of the first caliber" who deserves the growing accolades of being one of the best dramatic actors of his generation; I've noted his indie cred and his "chameleon-like" ability to vanish into his delicately yet powerfully realized dramatic, even tragic characters--the damaged schoolteacher of Half Nelson, the Steve McQueen-cool and laconic lead of Drive, the painfully shy yet tenderly human protagonist of Lars and the Real Girl, the exquisitely tormented student of Stay.  I haven't even talked about The Ides of March or Blue Valentine.  (UPDATE: My Blue Valentine review is now up.

Same for The Ides of March.) Jacob as a character is a work of art, and he's absolutely hilarious to watch: sardonically funny, brutally honest, brashly confident, and deliciously wicked, he exudes effortless cool magnetism and saucy grace.  You (and I) can intellectually disapprove of his lifestyle and modus operandi as he perches at the bar or saunters like a panther across the floor toward his next target, but he's simply so darn good at it that you can't help but be captivated watching him work his mischievous magic.  It's also eye candy taken to inhuman levels, but it's far more than looks (though they're certainly in play, and Gosling's character is so buff that the script even points it out for laughs).  It's the entire vibe that he gives off.  Irresistibly smooth with charisma to burn and a dashingly naughty smile, Palmer is Satan if Satan read GQ -- he's the devil in a designer suit.  In fact, if I had to cast Mephistopheles or Lucifer, I would totally cast Jacob Palmer.