u/Kimber80

Well I felt like a movie on Wednesday afternoon, and saw that "Mile End Kicks" was playing. This looked like one of those artsty-quirky-hipster kind of things that, despite not being arsty or quirky or hipstery myself, I tend to enjoy. So off to AMC I went.

Anyway, "Mile End Kicks" is a slice of life coming of age kind of thing. Set in Montreal's Mile End neighborhood circa 2011, An early-twenties-something girl, struggling to launch but with a love of "Indie" rock music, leaves her dullish life in Toronto for Montreal, hoping to write a book on Alanis Morrissette and to report on the city's thriving indie-rock scene of the time. Moving in with a friend who is already settled there, she ends up struggling and forging through her journalistic work, her book writing, financial crunches, and hooking up with various rock band members. This goes on for about 110 minutes of youthful pain and joy and discovery.

I mean, I kind of liked this movie. It *is* very artsy/quirky/hippy, and the makers and cast do a good job of evoking the time and place (I happened to spend time in Montreal in 2010-2011 and remember the scene), as well as the familiar struggles of being 20ish and trying to launch. The movie was clearly made by someone with a passion for all these things so you are drawn in by it. Still, it is perhaps 20 or so minutes long, there are scenes that seem repetitive. But this is a minor thing, overall.

B ... decent indie/quirky/artsy movie about an indie/quirky/artsty music scene 15 years ago.

Well I'm a big fan of Bob Odenkirk, his "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" character is IMO one of the best we've seen on TV the past 20 years, so I have made a habit of watching his movies. And when I saw he was starring in "Normal", that was enough to draw me to the theater.

Anyway, Odenkirk stars as Ulysses, a Sheriff-for-hire who fills in temporarily when a town is between full time sheriffs and needs a temp. He's hired by Normal, MN to do just this, and when he arrives, the town does indeed seem utterly boring and normal on the surface. But a bank robbery soon reveals that strange doings are happening, involving just about everyone in town, a big pile of cash and gold, as well as the Japenese Yakuza crime organization. Lots and lots and lots of gunfighting ensues. This goes on for about 90 minutes.

Basically, I liked "Normal" while the film was, well, normal, with the sheriff interacting with the local townspeople and fellow law enforcement. Henry Winkler, who will always be The Fonz to me, is good as the mayor, and we get one of the pretty women from Game of Thrones as well. These interactions have a quirky, "Fargo" vibe that worked. But once the fireworks start, the film devolves into just a mass orgy of shooting and killing and over the top disbelief. This bored me, and since the fireworks are about 80% of the movie, it bored me.

C - minus .... recommended for John Wick-type blast away fans only.