2013 seems to be the year of the coming of age film. First Mud, then The Kings of Summer and finally I had the pleasure of allowing the nostalgic honesty and painful recognition of The Spectacular Now wash over me. And of the three it is my favourite.

When I was about protagonist Sutter's age, life was complex and pretty tough for me. I sort of lived by an 'it's better to burn out than to fade away' mentality. At that age, not knowing where you're going isn't that big of a problem, not seeing anything worth going towards is awful. It's not that I recognised anything in Sutter's character or situation, but his plight and outlook on life and…

The best thing about now is that there's one tomorrow.

I wasn't too eager to believe that The Spectacular Now managed to capture real high school environments, characters, and most importantly, romance.

Capturing those three things seems to be something that Hollywood just can't do. With the way they clumsily and sloppily handle the lives of teens on screen you would almost think they are searching for the fucking Holy Grail. Like they are observing foreign people in a foreign land. Even some of Hollywoods best outings at capturing teen life still unfortunately succumb to stupid pitfalls and romanticization.

Teenagers aren't always special little snowflakes. They aren't always 100% self aware or junior philosophers trying to wade through people who…

Life changes drastically for a person who loses a loved one. Be it parting by way of death or separation, from a lover, a soul mate or from a parent, it is a loss that is irrevocable and has a telling effect on the person's perception of life, of the people around him and most importantly his approach and interpretation of love itself. The potency of the consequence that losing in love brings to a person can be evaluated based on when it happens in a person's life time. Fortunately or unfortunately if it occurs at a very young age, time and memory heal the scars very soon. If it occurs at middle or old age, the efficacy of the…

The Spectacular Now gets it. It gets the heartbreak, it gets the disillusion, it gets the lifestyle, it gets the emotion, it gets the tragedy; wonderfully honest, beautiful, and unbearably tragic, The Spectacular Now is one of the finest films ever made about 'teenagers.'

However, this isn't a surface level teen movie. Sure, there's a prom scene and some cliche discussions, but the film is about so much more. It just feels so goddamn real in every aspect. The subtle direction, the slight use of makeup, the way the story unfolds, the screenplay; It all culminates in a work that feels raw, personal, and yet utterly engrossing.

Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. Holy shit. Their chemistry is so electrifying that…

Totally get why everybody I know only has positive things to say about this movie. Really nice performances by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley (more on them in a sec), sensitive, solid direction by James Ponsoldt, a familiar story that somehow seems fresh and new...

So what's holding back that extra half (or full) star I'd love to tack on? I guess what lingers for me is Teller's extremely rushed epiphany and Woodley's Aimee being too much of a cypher. She may be "the film’s true lynchpin," as Scott Tobias put it, but her need for Sutter's approbation and affection -- how her will is consistently suppressed -- doesn't necessarily make her a great dramatic character, even if it all…

The Spectacular Now is one of the better high school films that I have seen over the past couple of decades. The movie delivers a matter-of-fact and down-to-Earth approach to incidents that would have been overemphasized or used as preachy moments in lesser stories, and it is quite adept at depicting awkwardness and discomfort when it comes to those moments in a teenager's life when assertiveness is necessary.

Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley are outstanding in the lead roles, and I also appreciate the presence of Jennifer Jason Leigh, who starred in teen movies back in the 1980s when I was actually part of the target audience for such films.

Since I live in Georgia and visit the city of…