Mixed Media

Piers Morgan Tonight

2011-02-09T02:59:00.003-06:00

Replacing CNN’s Larry King, Piers Morgan is breathing fresh air into CNN’s late night schedule. Gruff, like King, can work for me, but it was time for something new and fresh. I had never heard of Morgan, but his first week’s line up with Oprah piqued my curiosity. Her line “Oh, you’re good,” sold me on giving this new show a chance. If Oprah thinks and interviewer is good, he must be. I like how Morgan interviewed her asking good and sometimes tough questions, without being aggressive. He’s respectful and intelligent with more polish than King.

Today I caught his interview of the famed Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, whose suit against Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook was portrayed in “The Social Network.” Morgan asked the questions I’d want to ask and challenged these young men as to why they still are seeking more money, why they still say Zuckerberg stole their idea, why they haven’t moved on and what they thought of the movie. Morgan challenges his subjects without being a jerk or patsy. His gets the tone just right and the British polish and idioms, which add to the appeal.

On the Winklevoss interview, I did think, “Just move on boys.” They claim it’s all about principles and that now there’s new evidence that shows that they deserve a bigger cut of the Facebook pie. It sure is hard to buy that. Their idea, even as they presented it, was for a social network for Harvard students. Facebook’s success is due to it’s openness, not the exclusivity the twins had in mind. Also, as I watched, I just agreed with Piers and the Harvard president’s character in the movie - move on and come up with the next idea. Yet they clung to the “it’s the principle” response. I just couldn’t live with myself and if I had a son (note not a daughter) who got ripped off by a business associate, how could I look him in the eye as I hadn’t fought for these rights and protections for the American business person yada, yada, yada.

I did like that Piers asked how much it was about money and how much about principle and followed up by saying, well, if it’s about principle, you’d be giving the money to charity . . .

On the movie they said they liked it as a film, but that the inner turmoil shown in Zuckerberg’s character. They contend he lacks that depth. Hmm.

In the end the Zuckerberg’s came off as guys who’re just stuck and hurt because they feel they’ve been cheated. They see their case as a fight for justice and insist that one must fight all injustice. Seems they didn’t learn to “choose one’s battles” at Harvard.

The interview was intriguing and Zuckerberg was invited to participate, but he refused. Morgan has an open invitation for him.
After this interview, Morgan welcomed Michael Oher, whose life was portrayed in the film The Blind Side. I just caught a bit of that. Oher has written a book and wanted to show that Hollywood, as it does, adjusted the truth to make a good drama. He did not need the young son, to teach him football plays using jam and ketchup bottles. He wasn’t as stupid as the movie shows. It was mildly interesting and I think the producers were right to put these two interviews on together and the time allotment was good. The Winklevoss claim is interesting, but after awhile they got repetitive. As a viewer the repetition was interesting in that it shows how these young men think and how stuck they are.

The King's Speech

2011-02-05T09:04:00.002-06:00

Since I'd heard such high praise for The King's Speech and I knew what it was about, I figured I'd enjoy this movie, but not be blown away. Well, it is a terrific movie so it does succeed in living up to high expectations.

As I knew, it's the story of Prince (later King) Albert, whose speech impediment is a curse considering he's a royal and even the second son needs to make speeches on occasion. The film closely tracks Bertie's struggles and his relationship with a controversial, unorthodox speech therapist. During this era stronger stories and persons fill the history books: Prince Edward whose romance with Mrs. Simpson can easily fascinate and Winston Churchill are off to the side in this story, though in history they are front and center. As a history buff, I enjoyed seeing this small story told well. We get caught up in Bertie's struggle and admire him for persevering. Lionel, his therapist, gets to push and prod royalty, which is like dancing in a mine field. He always respects Bertie, but knows that brutal honesty is needed for success with this patient.

The script is spare, very Aristotelean, I'd say as it focuses on the primary relationships and we root for Bertie to face his demons and disability. Helena Bonham-Carter plays Prince Albert's wife with understatement and loyalty. Though I did wonder how they got together and how she saw past Bertie's stutter when they first met. The only actor I didn't like played Winston Churchill. Granted, that's a hard role as Churchill had such a strong persona overacting is a real danger. Luckily, Churchill's not on screen much.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 1

2011-01-06T20:48:00.004-06:00

Well, I haven't read the books or seen any of the Harry Potter films in their entirety. I just haven't gotten into them. Yet when a hostess in Korea suggested going to the latest Harry Potter film, I couldn't refuse. It would make for a good activity to do with your first foreign guest.

I didn't expect to like the film much. I knew I would miss out on some of the backstory, yet since the film is steeped in pop culture even if you haven't read the books you know about the main characters and thrust of the work. Also any good film will provide most of what a new entrant to a series needs to know. That was the case with this movie.

I found I did like the characters and was interested in their relationships. The story fits the genre and kept me interested. I did think some scenes, like when Harry's red haired friend, feels jealous of Harry and Hermione, or as I think of her "the girl." The voice over of his fears was a bit heavy handed. I remind myself that this story is targeted to teens and kids so the author does want them to understand the dynamics so I try to keep the critic in my head at bay. I did think the main villain with the weird nose was well done. There's a lots of clever magic bits like fruit that flies and wacky homes and newspapers with photos that move and I liked all that.

In some parts I felt the film was a lot like the Lord of the Rings, another series I've skipped but know of due to its general popularity. The effects are good, state of the art CGI, but there's a thing about CGI. No matter how sophisticated they are I can spot them as CGI and while I'm watching them I'm fully aware that I am and evaluate them as such. They stop me from suspending my disbelief till their through. Why is that?

I did like this film and would see another Harry Potter film in a theater. I don't think a DVD viewing would keep me interested.

I AM

2010-12-27T00:00:00.002-06:00

Tom Shadyac, an extremely successful Hollywood director, had all the toys and luxuries that money could buy but still wasn't happy. Then he had a mountain biking accident which left him with post-concussive syndrome. As he dealt with his injuries and continued to question, he set out on a journey that resulted in the uplifting documentary, I AM.

I AM illustrates its message, "We're all connected" persuasively in scientific and straightforward terms. It makes the case that cooperation, not competition, is far more important to the Darwinian world we inhabit and that the smallest of actions can have impact. Rather than be paralyzed by the enormity of the problems, I AM encourages us to act with empathy and sympathy.

Shadyac did a Q&A session after the movie and I was impressed with the level of intelligence present in his discourse. Some in the audience wished to take his message into the realm of new age spirituality and Shadyac did an admirable job of validating their views while still maintaining a grounded realism. It seems to me that there is something to this idea that while we can't yet scientifically explain it, we are all connected on a physical, biological but mysterious level. He uses an Einstein example of two spinning atoms separated by a great distance, each of which simultaneously mirrors changes made in the other's rotation. We don't yet understand why it occurs, but we know it does. The linear, rational being that I am appreciated Shadyac's well-reasoned argument.

I saw the movie, What the #$*! Do We Know, a few years back and left the theater feeling like I had just been fed a bunch of weird mumbo-jumbo. It was just too over the top. I AM strikes me as similar but much more plausibly presented than What the #$*! Do We Know.

And taking its message to heart can't hurt.

Dr. Zhivago

2010-12-22T05:49:00.004-06:00

Monday I finished watching Doctor Zhivagothe 1965 version with Julie Christie and Omar Sharif. Although the movie omitted some parts that even our highly abridged Penguin Reader had, I was swept up in the story. It's an epic and director David Lean captures the immensity of Russia. There's restraint and passion so you don't feel like you've had to check your intelligence at the door when you come to see Yuri and Lara together.

The end of the novel was chopped off. We don't see Yuri's lassitude and his third woman. Also, the BBC mini-series which I just saw a couple hours, is far clearer in Lara's mother's character flaws and Victor Komarovsky's exploitation of Lara. In that version, Lara really looks like a school girl, while Christie looks more like a woman during that part of the film.

The film is filled with captivating images. It deserves to be a classic and is perfect to watch on a winter's night. I can't forget seeing the deserted estate house, shown below:

The Social Network

2010-11-20T06:20:00.006-06:00

Wow! Only Aaron Sorkin could write a movie about a sedentary, geeky life of a computer whiz (who's kind of a jerk, to put it mildly) and have an audience so rapt.

The Social Network's themes of revenge, desire and betrayal are compelling to say the least. The dialog is smart and rapid fire, like The West Wing though not as funny. It's a fascinating look at a man who's changing how we relate and connect in a big way. Just fascinating. I'm thinking of seeing it again next weekend, that proves this is good. Jesse Eisenberg was remarkable as Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, who's the quintessential nerd, but still commanded my interest.

I hope this gets some Oscar attention and wins best screenplay.

Glee: My New Favorite Show

2010-09-25T19:22:00.005-06:00

There's so much good TV right now. Bridget, if you're reading this it was a good time to buy a television. One reason I say this is Fox's Glee,the smart, funny musical show that mixes comedy and drama to entertain and satirize. Like many American shows it's set in a high school and looks at the lives a teens and tho adults who touch their lives. Glee satirizes the pecking order of high school, the deification of athletes and the ridicule various "losers" face. The music is amazing week after week. I love how the show blends all genres: broadway, rock, rap, funk, you name it. The characters, while played over-the-top, are inspired. I love how they all are full of contradictions. Even the villan has more to her than you think. The writers are masters at surprise and can play off any stereotype you give them. The lines are fantastic. They aren't above making fun of the show and cast as is the case in the final episode when one of the Regional judges, Olivia Newton John, sneers at the tokenism of our team, the New Directions. They're not afraid to have a real live non-PC villian as guests and regulars.

Death in Gaza

2010-09-12T22:13:00.000-06:00

My cousin lent me this documentary that chronicles the life of a young Palestinian boy and his friends. It's riveting, shocking and so upsetting. I liked watching the boys and getting a view of this conflict through the eyes of a child. I was quite angry with the adults in his life. His mother seemed so passive and the militia men were using the boys and encouraging them to fight and be martyred, when I wanted them to say, "This is an adult job. You're job is to be a kid, a student, a son."

The filmmakers wanted to make a pair of films one with Palestinian children and another with Isreali's but events in the production made that impossible. While the movie is so unsettling, it is well worth watching.

From Zero to Infinity: A History of Numbers, Part 1

2010-09-08T16:57:00.001-06:00

Sierpinski's Triangle

I saw that the library had one of the Teaching Company's DVD sets on math. These are rather pricy and though I'm interested in learning more about math in a casual way, I've never bought them. So I gave this a try.

In this program a professor from Williams College explains all sorts of cool and often esoteric facts and theories about math. I learned loads including:

that some birds can count to as high as 4
that some tribes can't count beyond 2 or 4
what Canter Dust is
that the Samarians used a base 60 system
where the arithmetic signs came from
that the probability of rolling a rational number if you keep rolling a 10 sided die is 0%

The professor is affable and makes the concepts clear. If you miss a point you can easily rewatch it or consult the accompanying. Each half hour program is rather dense so watching both discs (12 lessons) is

The production values are rather low, but that's okay as long as I was learning. This DVD did make me wish that I had better high school math teachers or just one who'd let a video teach than doing it herself. Also, I wish we had courses like number theory offered. With this and shows like Numb3rswould have made me more well-rounded.

I would recommend that the library let patrons keep the DVDs for more than a week. I felt like I was cramming 8 weeks of instruction into 7 days. Not something that I'd encourage.

Simpsons in Ireland

2010-08-31T16:35:00.001-06:00

By chance this was on last week.

SPOILER ALERT

This part has a homage to Once that reveals the end of that film.

Once

2010-08-24T16:54:00.002-06:00

Brilliant! That's the word to describe Once a poignant film about a nameless guy and girl (that's how they're referred to in the credits) who meet by chance in Dublin. He's a vacuum repairman cum busker. She's immigrated from the Czech Republic and sells flowers and cleans houses. They meet by chance brought together by music, honesty and perception. They develop a relationship that defies easy classification as they both have complicated lives and sensitive hearts.

Neither has much money. His guitar is just pathetic and she has no stylish outfits, but he plays well and she's beautiful. It was quite refreshing to watch two people, in such ordinary clothes and settings, engage each other, not saying all they want to, developing a unique relationship, that I doubt either will ever forget.

They do write songs together and sing, beautifully. I've ordered the soundtrack.

The Other Guys' End Credits

2010-08-22T09:41:00.006-06:00

We went to see The Other Guys on Friday night. While there were laugh out loud moments, it wasn't as consistently strong as Anchorman or Talladega Nights. It does leave you with funny takeaway moments, you know, the kind you laugh about as you're walking out of the theater.

The best part, though, was the surprisingly sobering end credits which laid out in eyegrabbing detail exactly how appalling the financial crimes shaking our economy are. Moviefone has an article about it and you can watch the end credits in their entirety below. If the video below won't play, here's the link.

Food, Inc.

2010-08-21T18:28:00.000-06:00

I just finished watching Food, Inc., the documentary that examines how our food is mass produced and offers ways to make better choices. It's certainly shocking and depressing in parts as we see how terribly animals are treated and how e coli can caused by some of these practices kills people. It makes viewers see that the romantic notion of food coming from the pastoral red farm like the one Wilbur in Chralotte's Web inhabited has been replaced with food factories that cram as many animals into a dark space and pump them full of hormones to fatten them fast.

Yet the film is intelligent and offers hope. We see farmers and company owners who care about producing healthy choices and at they end subjects suggest that since consumers changed the tobacco industry, we can change the food industry.

Eat Pray Love :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

2010-08-17T11:43:00.000-06:00

Both Bridget and Roger panned this adaptation of a mediocre book: Eat Pray Love:: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

I hoped for better, but won't waste my time or money. The destinations are inviting, but it just sounds vapid. Perhaps none of the producers or the writer didn't realize that enough people may read a so so book to make it a best seller, but you need more to make it a good film.

Anna Karenina, 1967

2010-08-04T08:44:00.000-06:00

I'm nearing the end of the novel and wanted to see one of the Anna Karenina films. Seems that a Russian version would offer the best experience. Since it's the only version I've seen, I can't say if Aleksandr Zarkhi's version is the "best," but it sure was satisfying. The film is just two hours and 19 minutes so the story moves along quickly. (The book is over 800 pages.) Most of the storyline with Levin is eliminated. The film is very impressionistic. Given the time period, I was surprised that the director didn't focus much on class struggle and he didn't make the main characters, who're all nobles, look like evil.The film reminded me more of a French film, than what I'd expect from 1960's Russia.

Don't watch this with the English dubbing as that makes the film sound ridiculous. Adjust the DVD so you have subtitles with the Russian.

Watching the film, doesn't replace reading the novel, but it's a good add-on.

Michael Clayton

2010-07-24T18:14:00.000-06:00

Wow! Michael Clayton is a thriller that shows the collusion of our legal system and bad business. George Clooney plays the title character, a man who "fixes" ugly situations for his law firm's powerful, affluent clients. He's messed up himself accruing debt from a failed business venture. For years his firm has been trying to help a corporate polluter escape liability for the disease it's caused. Michael's colleague, played by Tom Wilkinson, has an epiphany and starts to take the other side. In a deposition, he loses it, declares his love for one of the plaintiffs and disrobes. Soon the firm sends it's covert henchmen to get Tom's character.

It's an exciting thriller that explores the effects of corporate greed, sort of muck racking for our time. It would make a good film for a class to view and discuss, especially a law school class.

Finished - In Treatment, Season 1

2010-07-20T09:52:00.001-06:00

**SPOILER ALERT**

I finished watching HBO's In Treatment Season 1. Wow. Wow. Wow.

The acting and script were superb - intelligent and intense.

I've said before that this was an outstanding program. I'd say awesome, but that word has been so overused. I won't evaluate the program, but I will comment on my thoughts about the characters.

Laura - the storyline was well executed, and in the end Laura showed growth and more character than I expected, but she was the least likable patient because she was so manipulative. Paul's interest in her was so cliche, but he knew that and was fighting against it. I can't believe he told his wife, "I'm going to Laura's now." That was a situation in which you either lie or don't go. Though since the wife announced she was going to Italy with her lover, I guess this is what one does in this marriage.
Alex - talk about intense. Blair Underwood was great. The final "sessions" when we meet his family was inspired and creative and taught Paul a lot about what he knows of his patients.
Sophie - the actress Mia Wasikowska was absolutely incredible. She'll be a leading actress of her generation no doubt about it. The character was so brave and smart. In fact Sophie may be the bravest teen character I've ever seen. So preceptive, real and brave. I never knew what to expect.
Jake and Amy - at first I didn't like them and thought they should just get a divorce. While I can't say I'd want to know or be friends with either of them as the series progressed their authenticity and complexity captured me. Amazingly, I still don't like them, but like watching them. I think Paul's suggestion that their passion is rare and thus they shouldn't proceed to the divorce court was on the money. It's strange how I came to think this couple should stay together although they have so many problems and are so contentious. For them, that's what "worked." This sort of thing is the power of In Treatment it makes you reconsider what works versus what society seems to say does.
Paul and Gina - Well, Paul's therapy sessions with his former supervisor Gina, played by Dianne Weist were so powerful and capped each week well. Not only do we see Paul unravel as he reviews his week, we see him challenged mightily. We see the whole practice of therapy questioned and challenged intelligently.

Such an incredible television program. I will watch these episodes again and look forward to Season 2.

Valentine's Day

2010-07-13T07:38:00.000-06:00

I'd seen mediocre reviews for Valentine's Day and pretty much believed them. Yet when the film was offered on my flight to the US, I figured why not.

Turns out I'm in full agreement with the critics who panned it. Valentine's Day employs the well worn plot device of showing several people who's lives are connected though they usually don't realize it. It's as contrived as can be. The writer crammed in more storylines than necessary. The characters were stereotypes and so much was far fetched. For example, Jennifer Garner plays a school teacher. Clearly, the writer and director never considered making that job look realistic. Funny things happen in school, though the kids remarks are never stilted as they were here. The dialog was so hackneyed.

I love good romantic comedy like that of Nora Ephron or Billy Wilder. I want real chemistry like Tracy and Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn and any good leading man or even Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. (Hanks in such films is a good guy, but not one that is all that alluring.) This was miles away from that standard. Glad I didn't pay for this.

Perhaps if the people who did Love Actually, were involved it would have been a better film.

Manufactured Landscapes

2010-07-13T07:28:00.000-06:00

I started watching Manufactured Landscapes, a documentary that shows how the environment is getting terribly polluted by all the muck from factories, but stopped. It didn't grab me and it failed to make its point. For me, it was preaching to the choir as I'm all for clean manufacturing. Also the weirdly colored rivers and land were so bizarre that they were rather beautiful, though strange. I think to effectively get people to sit up and take action, a film needs to show how the pollution is hurting people, people the viewers know and love. HBO's Gasland is a documentary that I'm told does just that.

Notorious

2010-06-27T16:03:00.000-06:00

I just finished watching Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant in Notorious. It's the story of the daughter of a German spy pressured into becoming an American spy during WWII. There's witty repartee, a love story, and suspense. It's captivating, but I was astonished at how uncomplicated the spying was. We've learned a lot and so have they it seems. The ending was quite abrupt, though it satisfies.

It was interesting to see Claude Rains as someone other than Capt. Renault. He wasn't anywhere near as funny. Bad hair piece.

Man On Wire

2010-06-25T08:13:00.001-06:00

I just finished watching Man on Wire the documentary about Philippe Petit's amazing endeavor to tightrope walk on a cable between the two World Trade Center buildings. Mainly, it's a retelling with lots of re-enactment, but it's fascinating. I got so caught up in Petit's obsession with this project. This film is everything the blurbs claim: riveting, spellbinding, wildly entertaining

Crazy Heart

2010-06-18T08:14:00.000-06:00

Crazy Heart stars Jeff Bridges as has been country western singer, Bad Blake. He's playing dives and battling booze. Booze is winning. The story takes viewers down some familiar paths, really well worn paths and doesn't do anything particularly daring or new. As expected Bad has some one night stands so we can see he's a chick magnet, though a worn down chick magnet, before he meets the woman who'll change him or inspire change in him. Conveniently, this character is a reporter for a small paper. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the single mom smiling beauty. She's got charm and looks, but the writer forgot to give her much of a life. At first it seemed that she must be a total newcomer as a reporter since she had her uncle request the interview. Later it seems she might be more established. Sadly, the film doesn't bother to care about her life much beyond how it can serve as a plot device to spur Bad through the required development.

As I watched, I kept wanting to like the film more. The music was good and Bridges was colorful, but we've all seen a lot of drama about a characters who're drunks or formerly famous or both. We know what's required, what's involved. We've also known people who've gone through the experience. Crazy Heart disappoints because it gives so little. It doesn't go down all the soul search or painful alleys that alcoholism pulls people into. The prime example of this is the sequence of scenes at the substance abuse center. We see the familiar circle with people standing and saying, "I'm Bad and I'm an alcoholic." There's a couple minutes of that and then the film cuts to Bad's friend picking him up from the center making it seem like it's a walk in the park to go to one.

Also, since the love interest Jean wasn't fully developed, we never learned what she liked about him and she never had to examine or acknowledge the few flaws she had.

The Godfather III

2010-06-15T03:43:00.007-06:00

It is finished. I finished watching the last movie in The Godfather Trilogy. More drama and intrigue. I didn't like this one as much as the others, I think I could predict what was coming and even though I didn't know "how" something would happen, I was detached as I waited for that "how."

Sophia Coppola plays Michael and Kay's grown daughter, Mary. She certainly has fabulous hair, but I couldn't forget that she really looked different from the Mary in Godfather II, who looked more like her mother. And the actor who played Tony, looked like Kay, while in the earlier movie he looked so Italian. It's rare that children grow out of their earlier looks to that degree.

This film's plot brought in a lot of conspiracy theory relating to the papacy and John Paul I's death. I actually buy into that theory, but here it seemed convenient and forced. Coppola clearly wanted to send a message, as Goldwyn would say, "If you want to send a message, call Western Union."

I couldn't get over the fact that people died so quietly. Men who were stabbed barely made a peep at the back of the opera theater never arousing anyone's interest. Also their bodies magically disappeared as they tend to do in film. Here that presented more of a problem for me as all those involved stuck around for further killing.

I did wonder why Connie's grown son, who was Michael's godchild in the first film didn't appear. I thought that would have been poetic, if he was included deftly.

I loved Joe Mantegna's performance as Joey Zasa, who represented the "New Mafia" for a while at least.

I thought Pacino's make up and performance was off. He seemed to be working hard to Brando-ize an older Michael, who was slicker and classier. Somehow this Michael seemed to have grown up in the Bronx as opposed to the suburbs.

I did like Diane Keaton's performance as Kay, the only person who refuses to buy into Michael's excuses about how everything he did was to protect his family.

All in all, I found this to be the weakest of the three films and doesn't compare to the Family Secrets Trial, but if you watch the first three, you sort of have to watch the third.

I agree completely with Roger Ebert that the last scene of this film is weak, rather too predictable.

The Godfather II

2010-06-13T06:51:00.003-06:00

I just finished watching the classic The Godfather II and yes I was impressed. Although anyone can predict what will happen, there's suspense in how it will happen and that kept me engaged. Again the cast is compelling.

It's a long movie and I didn't watch it in one sitting. Because it shifts back and forth from the yearly years of Vito's life to the middle of Michael's, it's like watching two movies deftly sewn together.

I've decided to start watching Godfather III tomorrow, so that's a sign of a good drama.

I did wonder why Kay admitted to having an abortion. She didn't have to and it just led Michael to get angry. He's not a guy you want angry with you. She seemed smarter than that. By nature she isn't wily, but she wasn't under oath to "tell the whole truth."

Also, I wondered why the senate had a hearing on Michael rather than his being on trial in federal court. We never covered that in Civ Pro.

Love Letter

2010-06-09T06:46:00.002-06:00

When I first started watching, Love Letter kind of confused me. I'll admit that I didn't quite understand the jumping from the librarian to the fiancee. Both roles are played by the same actress. (Hmm . . . maybe it would have been better to have two different actresses who just look a bit alike or to make resemblance irrelevant.) Anyway one woman is mourning the death of her fiance and the other receives and responds to letters addressed to him. The letters get to her because she lives in the same small town and has his same name, coincidentally.

There's a lot of coincidence and sentimental emotion here, but the film is often beautiful and has a certain nice vibe to it. I think it would have been better without the coincidence. It could still work. That the second love is the spitting image of the first lessens the romance.

So Long: Behind the Times Part II

2010-06-04T06:43:00.003-06:00

I did get a little weepy as I watched the final episodes of Gilmore Girls: The Complete Seventh Seasonwhich obviously makes no sense since I've got the DVDs. I was worried that they'd end things in a way I didn't like. I didn't want Rory to marry Logan, who's just too privileged for my tastes (Jess, would be better, but why hurry at ). I was so glad she didn't. I'm on the fence about how I wanted things for Lorelai. I feared a quick engagement or marriage with Luke. But I was so pleased with how things worked out.

Stars Hollow was whisked to have sunny Rory whisked away on the campaign trail for her first reporter's job. Lane, Miss Patty, Babbette et al wanted more time. It's good that she'll be missed, yet was leaving with well wishes.

What to do with Lorelai isn't easy and some writers would have been tempted to make the end too perfect with a proposal or elopement. Here it was masterfully done with a satisfying kiss promising love, while not tying everything up tightly with an undeserved bow.

The final scene was perfect, bringing us full circle with the premiere having this simpatico mother and daughter team teasing Luke at his diner.

Seems television can do a much better job with good family and romance fare. It's Complicated and Love Happens were perfect and predictable, while shows like Gilmore Girls or Joan of Arcadia show more conflict and flaws winning the day, in my book. Even if you just compare the first two episodes of Gilmore Girls with one of these recent movies I think you've got much better entertainment on TV.

It's Complicated

2010-06-04T06:16:00.007-06:00

Complicated, yes, all that interesting, no. Despite a strong cast with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin (and Alec Baldwin, but I'm not a fan of his so that's not a selling point) It's Complicated failed to really entertain me. This romantic comedy about a woman who starts an affair with her ex-husband was okay, safe and kind of funny, but that was it. The characters didn't pull me in. At times they annoyed me. Streep was so consistently glib and cheery, I just wanted her to have a really bad day, not a zany bad day where she traipses off to the almost witty therapist, so I'd get some relief. Baldwin was one-dimensional, which didn't surprise me.

For awhile the characters were engaging, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood for the typical movie about privileged, glib people in their coordinated outfits with their perfect homes that were redecorated like last week (and yet will be renovated to make them more perfect). The grown children really got to me at times. Streep and Baldwin's children were pretty much interchangeable, though Jon Krasinski does get a bit to chew on with his part as the oldest daughter's fiance. There was a point where the parents and kids are all gathered for movie night like old times. Fine, but the two kids cuddling with daddy had these vapid smiles as they watched The Graduate Why were they smiling so widely? 'Cuz Daddy's back? I just didn't buy it.

Having seen a few of director Nancy Meyer's films, I felt she was working off a checklist, posh decor - check; three clever, witty friends (see if Rita Wilson's free) for wine & wisdom, check; meet with therapist; check; predictable ending, check. It's a wrap. Since this film will appeal to older viewers, you'd hope for something a bit fresher or different. Instead it was a "not bad" film like Love Happens.

Australia

2010-05-29T07:48:00.002-06:00

Stereotypes abound in Australia a comic book like epic with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. During WWII an uptight Englishwoman goes to Australia to shape up her ne'er-do-well husband, who's conveniently murdered soon upon her arrival thus freeing her for subsequent romance with commitment-phobic loner hero Drover who she needs to help her drive her cattle to market.

The plot depends upon this oil and water pair going against the odds with a motley crew in a mission to beat out the villain who wants a beef monopoly. The subplot involves their saving of a charming, magical bi-racial boy. All the plot points are visible a mile away and the emotions are oversimplified. There's a lot of computer graphics scenes which you can tell are done on computers, which I think weakens a film. I want a story that I get caught up in and forget the strings of the puppeteer. That's not the case with this. Heavy-handed storytelling and direction are the mainstays of this flick.

I do feel Australians need to come up with something more sophisticated and compelling to tell the world of their history. This was a disservice.

Behind the Times, I Know

2010-05-24T06:23:00.002-06:00

I'm finally getting through season 7 of the Gilmore Girls. The more I watch the more I wish it were still on. Anyway I have such mixed feelings about the direction of the show. In fact, I feel someone's toying with my emotions. Throughout the series for the most part I've wanted Lorelai to wind up with Luke.

I came to terms with her marriage to Chris. Hardly, a bad guy to settle for. Yet now that marriage is going kaput after just a few TV months. We're told they've grown and changed and yet . . . just as we see they have, the show careens and the relationship is on the skids.

I do love the dialog and the relationships, or most of them, but I have seen the storylines conveniently change for the sake of plot. I never bought that Dean and Rory would reunite and then he'd give her up so easily. He sacrificed his marriage, again perhaps not a marriage made in heaven, but not shown to be horrible or without potential, for Rory and he lets her go off with the first blond trust-funder she finds.

I'll go on record as never being much of a Logan fan. I'd much prefer her with Jess. There's more edginess and character in Jess.

Love Happens

2010-05-17T08:55:00.004-06:00

New Rule: If a film begins by depicting a cliche, it's not going to get better. Case in point, Love Happens, which begins with the main character slicing lemons, as in when life gives you lemons, and making, you guessed it lemonade. The "humor" is that he adds some vodka. How creative.

Cliches abound in this mediocre romantic comedy. Aaron Eckhart plays a self-help guru unable to get over his wife's death and Jennifer Aniston plays a florist who breaks up with her cheating boyfriend with in the first few scenes leaving her conveniently available for the emotionally unavailable motivational speaker. Every quirk and plot point feels so artificial. I wanted to gag when Eckhart (SPOILER ALERT)

frees his wife's parrot into the wild as she asked. Am I really to believe that an intelligent pet owner would think that her pet parrot longed for freedom in Seattle's woods or would a savvy movie goer realize that two writers thought it would be "fun" and "quirky" to have Eckhart stumble around getting the parrot from his in-laws and then coaxing the bird to fly?

The film needed a rewrite desperately. And a new director. The cast was a blessing. Not just the leads but they also got Martin Sheen. How do you miss? Well, it happens.

I didn't really buy into the romance. Yeah, they could fall in love, why not? But it never was essential. I never cared that much.

Good Television

2010-04-22T03:03:00.004-06:00

Finally, I've gotten to see a few episodes of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on

Capitalism: A Love Story

2010-04-15T07:59:00.000-06:00

Michael Moore does it again. He made a documentary that shakes things up and makes us consider his thesis on Capitalism. As usual, he uses satire to wake us up. He is mad as hell and doesn't want to take it any more vis-a-vis how American capitalism has infiltrated politics and tamed our democracy so except for a few daring representatives, many politicians have sold out to the likes of Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.

I was shocked to see many parts of this movie including a sequence on a county that privatized the juvenile justice system, two judges were paid off and they shuttled kids into their crony's detention center. A more encouraging sequence showed a group of neighbors in Miami help a family return to the home they'd been evicted from through passive resistance.There's a lot to ruminate over in this film, which dissects how messages are manipulated to get us to buy into a system that encourages debt in an economy built on stagnant wages. (The Financial Times had a good article on how debt is used to make sure the natives don't get to restless. I think the article came out in August.)

The Blind Side

2010-04-03T18:42:00.006-06:00

From all I heard about this film, I expected to be blown away, especially by Sandra Bullock since she won an Oscar for this role. Well, I did enjoy this movie about a woman and her family who take in a disadvantaged young black man, but I didn't think it was spectacular. I thought it was interesting and as good as a lot of Hollywood films, but not extraordinary, which an Oscar winner should be.

I'm impressed by the real woman and her family who did this and liked the movie, but certainly wasn't blown away and thus was a tad disappointed. I liked the young son SJ, who just loves his new older brother and had a lot of spirit and energy. I liked the mother too and her gumption, though when she threatened a boy in Michael's hood, I thought that was foolish and she's lucky she didn't get hurt just then. It's well worth seeing, but as is often the case, didn't live up to the high praise I'd heard.

I did wonder why on earth no one got a tutor for this boy sooner. That seemed like a no-brainer.

This American Life

2010-03-24T08:09:00.001-06:00

This American Life had a cool story on pen pals. It's well worth listening to.

Up in the Air - SPOILER ALERT

2010-03-24T07:16:00.002-06:00

I watched Up in the Air and expected to really like it, but in the end thought it was very well constructed, textbook screenwriting in fact, and disappointing. Up in the Air has all the tropes and plot points described in any book on screenwriting and the result was a slick movie that could have been better.

It's the story of a rootless frequent flyer, whose job is to go from city to city firing people. Their employers don't have the guts to do the job themselves. He's a master and coined a great line to make people feel less bad. "Anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it's *because* they sat there that they were able to do it." It works though I'd figure some people would be a little too street smart to buy it. The stories of these people who're let go and how that's effecting society would fuel a great film.

But the story isn't about them. It's about Ryan Bingham, the rootless traveler, who meets another frequent flyer in a hotel bar. They're cut from the same cloth and hit it off. They both seem to like to keep their distance and avoid mainstream commitments. But anytime there's a couple that seems so well suited you have to figure it's not going to work out.

When a hyper-efficient, ambitious 20-something proposes the money-saving (and highly implausible) idea that the company can save loads of cash by firing people via webcam Ryan's way of life is threatened. (Inciting Incident.) In the fashion of a buddy film the oil and water pair, Ryan and Natalie must travel together to fine tune her firing ability. She's a very tightly wound ambitious woman and for me her character didn't work. On the one hand she was all business and bottom line, on the other she would follow her boyfriend to Antarctica or Omaha if she had to. Sure some people may be like that, but I couldn't buy this inconsistency with this character. She did what the screenplay required and danced to the plot points rather than being less malleable and more real.

The love interest wasn't that convincing either, though she was interesting. I thought it was phony how people would meet her and say "She's so beautiful." She was attractive, but people normally don't ooze like that. They've seen equally good looking women. Her going to the family wedding in Northern Wisconsin was also mighty implausible. And the short montage of Ryan's falling in love and his epiphany at the wedding reception was an easy way to try to convince us that this love was "real." Also, I didn't buy that Ryan was in this relationship that would scar him if it ended. I didn't buy that he only had one women on the road. He would have met a lot more and some would approach him.

I knew one of the people whom they fired would commit suicide way before that happened. The change I wanted to see in Ryan wasn't that he'd abandon his lifestyle or change his motivational speech (which was a contrivance so he could reveal his emotions and was a platform for a soliquey every now and then) but that he'd feel something about the system that disposes of people so easily. That never really got to him.

At one point the film shows that what helps people get past termination is their families. In many cases that's probably true. But we all know that some people will be abandoned and some will start drinking too much and some will become abusive. In some cases, their ego will just let go of their worst selves.

As a draft this is fine, but I do wish it went deeper and was more innovative. The twist with the relationship was different, but since so many of the puppeteer's strings were in clear view throughout this film it wasn't enough to recommend it.

Waiting for Hockney

2010-03-02T22:32:00.000-06:00

I accidently caught this documentary and had to watch. It chronicles artist Billy Pappas, who graduated from art school, and drifted into bartending aware of his failure to use his talents. In time he meets Larry Link, an eccentric, who urges Pappas to do something big with his art. Thus Pappas decides to illustrate Marilyn Monroe in a style no other artist has tried. He painstakingly draws Marilyn centimeter by centimeter taking over 10 years to complete this portrait.

Next Link and Pappas decide that they need a champion and work to get an audience with David Hockney, who for some reason, they figure is their best bet as a mentor for Pappas, who hopes to get a big commission for his next work. It is pretty exciting to watch them try to see Hockney. They're persistent and smart in this endeavor and do succeed in the end.

It's quite dramatic as we see the big meeting approach. Pappas and his entourage are so excited and pleased that Hockney spends five hours with him. You would figure that if an important artist gives you five hours of his time he does like what he sees. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case and nothing results to propel Pappas' art career.

It's an interesting film with a semi-depressing end.The Billy Pappas Problem - artnet Magazine

Up

2010-02-18T19:22:00.001-06:00

What a charming, poignant movie! Up tells the story of Carl, who deferred his dream for adventure for most of his life. After his wife dies, this balloon salesman turns cranky and leads a solitary life. But to protest getting sent to a nursing home, Carl flies off to Paradise Falls in South America where he always dreamed of going. He uses tons of helium balloons to lift and fly his house.

The one hiccup is he's got an unmeaning stow-away, Russell, a scout hoping to earn a merit badge by assisting the elderly. Together the unlikely pair face a wide array of adventures, many comical and some touching. It's clever and sometimes a bit sad.

Blindsight

2010-02-14T17:39:00.002-06:00

I found this gem while looking for a film Ling recommended called Blind Well and I'm glad I did. Blindsightis a documentary about six blind Tibetan teens who go on a Himalayan expedition with Eric Weihenmayer, the first blind man to reach Everest's summit. In Tibet may people discriminate against the blind insulting them and exploiting them. They're shoved to the margins of society and often seen as a curse to their families. Superstition still prevails and many believe that the gods curse people or karma justly punishes them with this condition.

German Sabriye Tenberken, who is blind herself, came to Tibet after getting turned down by the German Peace Corps. They wouldn't send a blind person as a volunteer anywhere so she decided to send herself and now runs a school called Braille Beyond Borders. She contacted Eric to visit the school and soon that visit was expanded to a full expedition up to a summit of a mountain near Everest. Eric assembled an able team including a doctor and skilled climbers who've assisted blind climbers.

It's a gripping story and in addition to seeing the climb, viewers see the students' families and hear about their future plans and past hardships. There's conflict and suspense as you really don't know if they'll make it and you do ponder whether they should give up at various points. It's compelling and inspiring.

Modern Family

2010-02-14T10:55:00.000-06:00

I heard about Modern Family a new comedy on ABC and decided to check it out although my friend wasn't sold on it herself.

Sally was turned off by the use of the mockumentary style with its characters talking directly to the camera. I love The Office and People Like Us so I thought I might not find that device tiresome. (Wrong, there are too many shows with this and some of the weaker one's are hurt by borrowing this technique.)

I saw the pilot on hulu.com and found it entertaining. The program was clever and updated the family comedy by including a gay couple who just adopted a daughter, Ed O'Neil as the husband of a much younger Columbian woman who has a preteen son, and the conventional two parent family headed by a dorky dad who thinks he's the "cool parent" and a beautiful mom, who always seems frazzled. Evidently, the show is rather popular and has been renewed for a second season already.

I liked the stories and first few episodes. I liked the relationships and the surprise at the end of the pilot that these three families are related. Yet, now that I've seen about six episodes, I've lost some of the early enthusiasm I had. The flaws I can't ignore now are the mockumentary interviews and the stereotypical characters. Although the show has beautiful people, in beautiful clothes and homes and it features contemporary situations like hover parents and the consequences of say texting, the jokes rest on stereotypes and its sort of one joke after another about Columbia as a wild country run by druglords, Latinas spicy sexiness, and fussiness in gay men. One teen daughter is obsessed with boys and the other is the tattle tale brain. How I wish some of these characters would display an unexpected interest or trait.

I'm also tired of seeing parents who are so overwhelmed. No doubt parenthood is tough and confusing, but it's not beyond us. My friends with children seem far more competent and can take most things in stride. These parents seem undone by the smallest task required. It's just so far fetched and makes people look stupid. I long for Clare and Heathcliff Huxtable or any of the parents that dealt with the weirdness and challenges of parenthood without falling apart and questioning ad nauseum their every decision. True they may be idealized, but the real people I see are far more able to cope than these TV parents.

I started to watch In the Middle on ABC, but within minutes there was a scene with the mother also addressing the documentary cameras and she seemed pretty frazzled too. No more of this, please.

Departures

2010-02-01T19:43:00.001-06:00

Departures, the winner of the 2008 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, blew me away. It chronicles its hero's journey from mediocre cellist to apprentice to a professional who prepares bodies for funerals (in a way that's ceremonial and thus very different from our undertakers - we don't have the job or the name for it).

Talk about moving and powerful. Natural, humorous, touching and real. The lead character's orchestra is shut down and he decides to move from Tokyo to his hometown with his wife, who's sweet and kind, but unable to accept his new job, which he applies for mistaking it for a job in the travel industry. Not quite. The departures his clients prepare for take them much farther from us than say Hawai'i or Okinawa.

The pace is slow, but fitting, as we need time to get used to this profession too. Eventually, like the hero, we come to see the beauty in preparing a body for a funeral. This ritual speaks volumes about the value of life and the respect each of us deserves no matter how we hurt others or shirk our responsibilities.

Roger Ebert describes the film well saying

The company serves clients making their final trip. [The hero] Diago is shocked to discover what the owner (Tsutomu Yamazaki) does; he cleans and prepares bodies and painstakingly makes them up to look their best. The ritual involves undressing them in behind artfully manipulated shrouds in front of the witnesses. The owner is a quiet, kind man, who talks little but exudes genuine respect for the dead.

Daigo doesn't tell his wife what he does. They need the money. His job is so low caste that an old friend learns of it and snubs him. The clients are generally grateful; one father confesses cheerfully that the process freed him to accept the true nature of his child.

I can see why this won and Oscar, it probably merited Best Picture.

I saw this with friends and the copy lacked English subtitles. One friend summarized the dialog. I definitely encourage getting the subtitled DVD, but it says a lot about the power of this film that it still resounds without getting a lot of the dialog.

It Might Get Loud

2010-01-31T22:33:00.000-06:00

It Might Get Loud gathers three great guitarists: Jimmy Page, the Edge of U2, and Jack Winter of White Stripes to discuss their music and careers. Each relates how they started and how their music developed. It was fascinating and something I wouldn't have taken the time to see, except on a long flight. I am glad I did.

The Informant

2010-01-31T22:22:00.001-06:00

On the flight home I saw Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre in The Informant, an interesting film about the man who worked with the FBI to bring Arthur Middling Daniel's price fixing schemes to light. Damon plays a rising executive, who at the start seems to be taking a moral high road while risking his career and standard of living. As the story plays out, we see that Whitacre's version of what's happening should not be entirely believed. He's a master at embellishment and lies of omission. After the FBI busts AMD, the FBI learns that Whitacre is not as honest as he makes out. Damon plays the duplicitous Whitacre masterfully as the bland executive excited to be part of the FBI team, worried about saving his own neck and protecting his finances, egotistical, self-important and deluded.

People Like Us

2010-01-28T21:42:00.000-06:00

The BBC's People Like Us is dry humor at its best. Each episode features the off-camera narrator who follows and interviews a person who works in a field like law, education, real estate or law enforcement. As he meets with their colleagues and clients, he inadvertently discovers the foibles and nonsense that's part of the organization.

The narrator himself is often skewered as his subjects comment and question his competence and knowledge. Everyone reveals more than they should about their jobs and personal lives. The show captures the tone of the serious public television documentary while poking fun at its techniques and tone. If you like dead pan humor, you'll find this amusing.

CCTV 9

2009-12-21T02:58:00.000-06:00

Here are a few gems from CCTV 9:

This video on Dubai and Chinese expats there cracked me up because there is so much emphasis on the first interview subject's Louis Vuitton bag.
This page offers bias galore on Macao's handover 10 years ago.

Young Victoria

2009-12-20T06:56:00.000-06:00

I never gave much thought to Queen Victoria beyond her stern demeanor and the rigid era during which she reigned. I do remember taking a course in Victorian literature and learning that she was much more cheerful and pretty in her early years.

In Young Victoria, we see the early years of this Royal, who was manipulated and sheltered by her mother and her mother's lover, who used her as a pawn and planned to get her to sign over her sovereignty. Later various men, her uncle in Belgium and Lord Melbourne try to control her and use her as a puppet. She's keenly aware of her inexperience and the importance of outwitting these men. She is compared to Elizabeth 1 and some suggest she shouldn't marry. Yet she doesn't follow that path.

Instead she meets her cousin, Alfred from Belgium and after getting him to admit his father's plans, they establish an open friendship that turns to romance. Every step this young woman takes must be weighed and planned. After her coronation, she's beset by vipers hoping to manipulate her. She must learn whom to trust and how to rule. Of course, she makes some political mistakes and loses her popularity. I didn't know she faced so much tumult inside and out of the palace. Her subjects protested violently outside the gates and there were two assassination attempts. (Only one is in the film. The other occurred later.)

Her courtship and marriage with Albert are charming and original. Since she's queen, she has to time her marriage wisely and she must propose. A man can't.

Like Roger Ebert I enjoy these royal biopics. I did get a good look at British history and will search for a good biography on Victoria. The film left me wanting to know more.

Whatever Works

2009-11-22T01:08:00.000-06:00

Starring Larry David, Whatever Works is probably the best Woody Allen film I've seen in years. It's not the best film I've seen in years and Woody, in my opinion has created a slew of mediocre films so I'd say this one's pretty good.

David plays the Allen persona as a misanthrope who's got lots of cynical, funny lines. He's a former physics professor, a genius no less, who meets a Southern bimbo, who's sweet as can be. As far fetched as it is, they fall in love and marry. Eventually, her parents find her and are aghast by her husband, but eventually everyone finds what Allen thinks is their true calling. It is quite contrived, but the witty dialog keeps things moving. Like all his films, this one is no doubt a therapeutic movie that helps Allen work out his confusion and issues involving relationships. That does get old. It's an expensive, indulgent means of probing one's psyche and there's a certain ick factor. Or maybe it's a "Here he goes again" feeling. Most people in the audience probably have more mature answers to the great philosophical questions than Woody. Yet it wasn't a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

I'm glad I didn't go to the theater for this one though. It's not worth $10.

Wings of Defeat

2009-11-18T22:20:00.003-06:00

Rachel brought this DVD home to watch tonight for homework or more accurately, as a make up for the IB history class she missed last Monday when we were in Chicago.

A documentary done by a Japanese American born in New York whose uncle was a Kamikaze pilot who survived World War II, Wings of Defeat is a thoughtful, almost peaceful dissection of the oft-misunderstood and demonized Tokkotai which is what the Kamikazes called themselves. The film features former Japanese pilots telling their stories of becoming Tokkotai, fighting as Tokkotai and most surprisingly, especially to themselves, surviving the war. Also included are interviews with survivors of the USS Drexler, a destroyer sunk by a Kamikaze attack.

In English and Japanese with English subtitles depending on who's being interviewed, Wings of Defeat puts a sympathetic human face on young boys who were simply doing their duty as they understood it, even after they understood the futility of it.

Away We Go

2009-11-18T04:18:00.001-06:00

In this modern quest for "Home," a couple played by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, who are soon to become parents go from city to city in North America looking for just the right place to raise their daughter. It's a wry comedy, with many sweet moments, written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, who are married.

As the couple, Burt and Verona make their way from Phoenix, to Madison, WI, to Montreal, they encounter odd balls of every persuasion, the overly extroverted, the earth mother and father, etc. Most are ridiculed as is usual in Hollywood fare. Watching it I was entertained, but later I thought don't we see a lot of such characters?

I kept wishing this movie were more like Juno which still sticks in my head as exceptional for its wit and the fact that characters had idiosyncrasies, as well as wisdom. There was no one in Juno that you should just blow off. Here the main characters reject those who welcome them and you can see why. Yet as they stormed out of the earth parents home, I did think, "This is rather forced for the sake of drama." Most people would stay, swallow any insults considering the source and move on. Here I felt Burt and Verona were rude and rather clueless. Get a bit more info about the old friend before you consider that person as the touchstone for a move to Madison.

Then they go to their friends in Montreal and I sort of checked out. At first it was ideal, their college friends, who had adopted several children seemed to have a great life. Though I wondered how people in their mid-thirties had adopted so many unrelated children so fast. (I figure they'd try fertility treatments for years and finally in their 30s start to adopt. Only if you got a group of siblings would you be able to get them by this age. The wife was troubled by her infertility, which I can understand is a major disappointment, but I know people with this problem and they're more stoic as I think one should be. (I like Stoicism. It's practical.)

On the couple goes to Miami where Burt's sister-in-law just deserted his brother and their daughter. Coming to the aid of this broken family, I expected would be the end of the quest. They'd see the importance of helping the brother.

Spoiler Alert

They don't. They reflect on it and discuss it and feel sympathy, but they don't see that they might make a difference for others by setting down roots in Miami. So I felt they were rather clueless.

In the end, they decide to move to the house Verona grew up in somewhere down South. It had been rented out, but Verona and her sister own it. The last scenes were of Burt and Verona entering the house. They were sort of zombie like in their entrance and As they walk through the house it was as if they were in a trance or looking at Martians. I'd have ended the film with them in Miami shortly after they were up all night exchanging non-wedding vows of unending love.

It's worth seeing, but not something I'll watch again and again.

Disney's A Christmas Carol

2009-11-16T21:59:00.001-06:00

A new holiday classic?

Hard to say.

Maybe for the first time viewer.

It was visually engaging but suffered from familiarity. I kept trying to watch it through fresh eyes and could see where it might have some staying power.

It was also odd watching it so early in the season. Whatever Disney's rationale was for releasing it so early, it just made me wonder.

This Is It

2009-10-30T22:59:00.002-06:00

This Is It isn't it. (How clever am I?)

I wanted to see it because, although I never considered myself a Michael Jackson fan, I did grow up with his music and certainly enjoyed a lot of it.

The movie spoke to that nostalgia in that did make me want to listen to Michael's old standards and see some of the old videos. It was interesting to see the process behind putting together a concert extravaganza.

But it was too long, Michael's voice was too ragged, and the cinematography too obviously not intended for a full length major motion picture.

To my mind, the execs at Sony Pictures are delusional if they think it's Oscar worthy.

But what do I know?

How Art Made the World

2009-10-15T12:17:00.002-06:00

This BBC documentary explores ancient civilizations to see how images and art fostered civilizations' development. It unexpectedly blew me away and taught me as much about anthropology as it did about art.

The charming (and I bet he knows it) Cambridge scholar, Dr. Nigel Spivey leads viewers into caves, tombs and temples to discover the answers to such questions as: why they create so many images that distort the body, why they make images at all, why they surround themselves with art that features death, etc. It proceeds from the premise that:

The essential premise of the show," says Spivey, "is that of all the defining characteristics of humanity as a species, none is more basic than the inclination to make art. Great apes will smear paint on canvas if they are given brushes and shown how, but they do not instinctively produce art any more than parrots produce conversation. We humans are alone in developing the capacity for symbolic imagery."

The six hour series was engaging and edifying and included interviews with psychologists, archeologists and other scientists.

Broken Arrow

2009-09-19T08:51:00.001-06:00

Genevieve recommended Broken Arrow as a Western with a modern perspective and lent me the DVD. Based on historical events with a love story and a few other alterations thrown in, Broken Arrow stars Jimmy Stewart as Tom Jeffords the one soldier sick of fighting the Apaches and determined to make peace. He learns their language and takes a chance on riding out solo to see their chief, Cochise. Many of the Americans in town want to attack the Apaches and see them as evil. One general does see an obligation to work towards peace. The film tries to show several points of view and go beyond stereotypes. At times, the dialog was flat-footed, the Apaches were played by Whites and the love story was artificial, but given its innovation for the era (1950s) it’s worth a look. The story moves quickly and a lot happens in its 93 minutes.

Frost/Nixon

2009-09-12T21:13:00.003-06:00

Frost/Nixon was a simple man v. man plot and a very compelling look at the face-off between talk show host David Frost and former President Richard Nixon. The stakes were high for both men who longed to use these four part interviews to salvage their reputations to open the doors for future opportunities. Both know only one can win.

David Frost bet his career and fortune on these interviews which he funded with his own money in large part. Richard Nixon was this tragic, skillful, strategic politician destined for the small time speaker circuit, though he wanted far more influence in DC.

The movie not only shows their face-off, but the research and behind the scenes strategy. Although it's a historical film and I knew the outcome, I got wrapped up in wondering who'd win.

As Bridget mentions in her review, there's an article in Smithsonian by James Reston, Jr. a writing professor who worked on the research team for Frost. The article describes the evolution of the play and movie and considers the tensions and compromises between history and historically-based entertainment.

As I watched, I identified with Reston's point of view as I also wanted these interview to set the record straight since there wasn't going to be a trial and in his last speech in office he never admitted any wrongdoing. Will Frost measure up to Reston and Zelnick's (the other researcher) journalistic standard? And till the very end we're not sure.

Frost/Nixon presents an important look at Nixon's presidency and personality as well as offering questions on the modern presidency itself.

Easy Virtue

2009-09-04T21:04:00.000-06:00

En route to Beijing I watched Easy Virtue with Jessica Biel, Kirstin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth. It's an adaptation of a Noel Coward play, so you can expect witty banter throughout and a upperclass English setting. Easy Virtue follows Biel, an American divorcee and her new husband to his home in the countryside. Biel's character, Larita, is icily welcomed by Scott Thomas, the husband's disapproving mother. Biel can do no right to fit in. She sits on her new mother-in-law's adored chihuahua and kills it. Then she tries to cover up the dogslaughter unsuccessfully. Every time she tries to help out she makes things worse. (Really? This was all rather far fetched.)

The father-in-law, played by Firth seems sympathetic, but he's emotionally checked out of this family so he's of little help (though toward the ending one can say he checks back into life). The husband just can't understand why his wife is so unhappy and he doesn't figure out how to make his wife happy though she repeatedly asks him to move back to London.

It's not a bad movie, but it didn't win me over either. I could see that Larita would have been smarter to hang back and see how this society worked. She did try to make some alliances, but none worked. Clearly Coward wanted to critique the snobbishness of the upperclass, but it was hard to believe that the matriarch would be so totally elitist. I think that's because class has changed even in England and now things are warmer between the US and England. So the main problem I see is just that the film is dated.

Alas, now that I'm back in China I can't upload photos. Ugh.

Dear Zachary

2009-08-30T22:11:00.002-06:00

A documentary filmmaker wanted to make a film for his deceased friend's son. He wanted to explain who the father was and delve into his murder. This MSNBC production does have a feel of something made for television, but it is compelling. The editing is non-linear and very personal. At times I'd say the filmmaker took unnecessary liberties to make his friend's murderer and former girlfriend look funny. She was clearly crazy and there were odd things she did and said, but at one point he has her face with animated lips moving and that just wasn't necessary.

It's a tragic story and quite emotional. It's interesting and I recommend it, though not strongly.

Parks and Recreation

2009-08-27T19:00:00.003-06:00

From the producers of The Office comes another work-related sitcom. I watched with loads of hope. I've seen it three times and each episode has been a poor imitation of The Office without the insights, wit and engaging interplay between characters. Amy Poehler seems to have watched too much Steve Carell because rather than creating an original role she's simply an imitation of Michael Scott, which just doesn't work.

Flywheel

2009-08-27T08:13:00.004-06:00

Jennifer recommended this film and really described it in such glowing terms that I thought I'd enjoy it. She did mention that the actors, writers and all were amateurs. But French director Robert Bresson (I should have remembered that he's a genius) only uses amateur actors, so that's not necessarily bad.

But it is bad, or even in this case horrid, when the story's written by someone who writes like a high school kid and the director doesn't know how to coax good performances out of his actors.

Anyway, this is the story of a corrupt used car salesman, who eventually changes his ways. I could only bear 20 or 30 minutes of the beginning. I just could not watch the bad acting where every point and feeling was so obvious and the story was so hackneyed. Some people think that since there's a Christian message, a film is wonderful and can't be criticized. Not me. Remember this:

If you want to send a message, use Western Union.
If the film stinks, few will sit through the pain of bad filmmaking to see it.
It's possible to tell a spiritual story using great art. Consider the work of Evelyn Waugh, Francois Mauriac, Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, Francis Ford Coppula, Chagall, DeMille, Zeferelli.

Pass on this. I'm glad I turned it off and did some reading instead.

The Best Years of Our Lives

2009-08-24T10:02:00.003-06:00

My friend David had this on his list of 15 influential films so I got it from Netflix. Directed by William Wyler, The Best Years of Our Lives follows the return home of three WWII soldiers. One has been married for 20 years and drinks a lot. He's got a job at a bank if he wants to return. Then a pilot has a new wife, a woman he married in a whirlwind prior to the war, an hopes but few prospects for work. Finally, there's a sailor who lost both of his hands and doesn't know if his fiancee will still love him.

The movie is darker than other films of this era, but keeps viewers engaged. A lot of the dialog is frank and real, though some characters are rather clichéd. Still since it's an old black and white film, I bought it.

We get the impression that the WWII vets were warmly embraced and slid right back into society. Here we see the trauma and hardship some faced finding work and re-establishing ties.

Coming Soon

2009-08-21T19:45:00.002-06:00

Ivanhoe

2009-08-21T13:47:00.003-06:00

I're rereading Ivanhoe for my bookclub and really not getting into it. I didn't like it much the first time I read it when, I think, I was in high school. I like it better, but not much.

This BBC production sweetened the story. It's a tale of adventure set around the conflict in England when John was on the throne and Richard the Lionhearted had just returned to take it back. Good jousting scenes and the usual castle intrigue. for romance there's Ivanhoe's quandary of whether to remain true to his sweetheart Rowena or to jilt her for Rebecca. That matter provides a good deal of tension.

Watching the mini-series did provide more good visuals on the Saxon and Norman cultures. Not bad.

Website on Real Estate Data

2009-08-20T17:06:00.002-06:00

Talking with my parents and friends real estate is often a popular topic. This website shows data on real estate markets. It tells you how prices have changed, number of foreclosures and median prices in a town.

Comedian, a Film

2009-08-15T12:38:00.002-06:00

In Comedian viewers follow Jerry Seinfeld as he takes the stage in comedy clubs in his post-Seinfeld years. We see him backstage dissecting stand up with other comedians and off stage discussing how he's thrown away all his old material and trying to build a new act from nothing.

Viewers also see newcomer Orly Adams, who can be funny, but is most often annoying and narscissistic. On and on Orly goes about the press he's gotten and the fame he desires. My stomach turned when he actually read a review of his act to an audience in Montreal and then moaned about how the crowd didn't really laugh enough. Since it seemed like Adams mistook the audience for his family, who might be more interested in this first, it's sad that he didn't notice his error. At one point, another comedian does offer him some advice urging him to be less self-absorbed. Adams actively asked this guy for advice and then flew off the handle. Hmmm . . . maybe since Adams is not a household name six years after this film, we can assume that the comment had credence.

The film was kind of funny and kind of interesting. Not a must see, though.

I was struck by Seinfeld's observation that when he was in his 20's he used to write twice a week. Then one day he noticed construction workers heading back to work after lunch. He had an epiphany. If these guys, who have a tough, grimy job, can go back day after day, maybe Seinfeld himself should adopt that work ethic. Seems to have worked.

15 Films that Stuck with Me

2009-08-13T13:23:00.006-06:00

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen movies you've seen that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what movies my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note -- upper right hand side.) I hope you participate, even if you didn't get tagged!

(There are so many more, but these are the ones that came to mind quickly, in no particular order)

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Sabrina
In the Loop
Small Change (L'Argent de Poche)
Network
You've Got Mail
Yi yi
Life is Beautiful
Brazil
The Wizard of Oz
Best in Show
Good Night and Good Luck
Ikiru
Juno
Tokyo Twilight

I could go on . .. The Italian, Out of Africa, Sunset Boulevard . . . L'argent

Woman under the Influence

2009-08-13T08:55:00.002-06:00

Another Cassavetes film. This one is in color and starred Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk. Rowlands plays a woman suffering from mental illness and Falk is her caring, confused husband.

It's an interesting film, pretty much a slice of this family's life. Most of the drama takes place at their house and we never see the heroine when she's institutionalized.

The characters are better people than in Faces but that film was more engrossing.

Julie & Julia

2009-08-12T15:21:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I saw Julia & Julie with my mother. It's an entertaining film about how Julia Child came to teach servantless American wives how to cook French food and how Julie Powell, office drone cum home cook, finds meaning through a self-imposed challenge to make all 524 recipes in Child's first cookbook Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One (1) (Vol 1)in one year. The story goes back and forth between Julia Child's life and Julie Powell's.

We see both bloom, though Child had a head start at 40 something and a more defined sense of confidence and style. The stories worked well together and apart just aren't film-worthy. I enjoyed watching Julia with her adoring husband in Paris, a city I'd much rather live in than sloppy, dirty Queens. Like Julie, but not to the same degree, I admired Streep's Julia, while I rooted for the underdog Julie.

The movie has no big message. It does succeed in making blogging watchable and the cooking interesting (but not as interesting as Babbette's Feast). Nora Ephron wrote and directed the film so it makes sense that some of the voice overs when Julie is blogging sounded like Meg Ryan's character in You've Got Mail. I think she structured the film quite well.

I did find Paul Child, Julia's husband, more interesting than Eric Powell, who's married to Julie. Eric's more of a side kick and plot device to show us how Julie grows. Since I've criticized films for weak female characters, it's only fair to point out the weak male characters and Eric is one. We learn that he's and editor for an archeology magazine, but other than that he's got no background. He exists to eat the food and react to Julie and just be a nice guy, who's not quite as adoring as Paul Child. Maybe in time.

Meryll Streep is terrific as usual. The real Julia could be rather grating, but Streep isn't. Amy Adams was cute, but has a way to go before she can carry her own film.

When I came home I took out my mother's copy of Julia Child's Menu Cookbook. I was surprised by how unappealing the food photos were. We've come a long way. Nonetheless I may make a recipe or two from it, but certainly not all of them.

(500) Days of Summer

2009-08-07T21:00:00.007-06:00

(500) Days of Summer is a fascinating film. I went with Bridget who said that her daughter Rachel wanted to know how the film ended before deciding whether or not to see it. Well, I'd say see it because the outcome is secondary to the film's value. Anyone interested in screenwriting, and Rachel is, should see it.

(500) Days of Summer is the non-linear film about a relationship that the main character Tom has with his dream girl Summer. It has some great, original elements. I liked the look of the movie, some interesting sets, though I wasn't sure why the greeting card company looked so run down. I liked how the story shifted through time in an unpredictable manner and scenes like the split screen renditions of Tom's "reality" vs. "expectations" view of Summer's party. Very clever.

I also liked that it was an emotionally ambiguous film. From the beginning Summer states that she's not looking for love and doesn't believe in it and it's dramatically smart to pair her with Tom who, of course, (believes he) loves her.

Yet there were some missing pieces. Most troubling was Summer's missing substance. She leaves her job and we never learn what she does after that. She isn't independently wealthy and she is a grown up so what has she been doing? Oh, right she's mainly the clever, engaging object of Tom's desire so it doesn't matter. The film would be much better if it addressed that somehow. Either by having Summer have that complaint about Tom, who never asks her what she aspires to, though Summer does know that Tom wants to be an architect and probably wouldn't make that move without his non-girlfriend's prompting. Summer doesn't wind up with anyone the audience or Tom sees as flesh and blood. That was a missed opportunity.

At one point, Summer suggests breaking up the non-relationship because they argue all the time. Well, we don't see much arguing so what is she talking about? A stronger movie would give us a real reason.

Despite this I suggest people see the movie. It's charming and original. It just could have been better. A couple days ago I saw the intense "Faces." Both films focus on contemporary romance. Kevin asked why I liked such pessimistic film. Now I know. It's because all the characters, who were quite messed up, were 100% flesh and blood. And it was written by someone who had lived a full life. So the poster really does capture this film better than say the still.

Yet young directors with promise are worth supporting, so see this.

Faces

2009-08-06T13:31:00.006-06:00

John Cassavetes' Faces is an intense drama set in suburbia. It focuses on a married couple, living a life of affluent desperation. The husband is nearing 50 and is a real jerk. He responds to his secretary's "How are you?" with a "Do you want a list of my maladies?" followed with a "you look lousy today." The wife looks to be in her mid-30s and is a beautiful, unsatisfied housewife.

It's set in the late '60s and shot in black and white. The cinematography and script are terrific. It's intense and original. It's got brilliant scenes between the husband and the wife, who hate and possibly love each other - if you think they're capable of love. Anyone writing or directing a film about relationships should see this. Although American life has changed a lot - we don't mindlessly hop in the car letting our drunken friend drive us home and secretaries aren't so servile, Cassavetes masterfully captures how people laugh, talk, betray, argue and seduce. Occasionally, someone says something that's very honest.

John, the husband, begins a liaison with a prostitute, while his wife responds to her loneliness by sleeping with "an aging Playboy" (as the Netflix envelope called him) that she met with her friends at a nightclub. The film is so unpredictable and feels so real. You don't want to be or know any of the characters here, but you do want to watch them for a short while.

Here's Ebert's original review.

Tristram Shandy

2009-08-03T09:24:00.005-06:00

Lawrence Stern's 18th Century novel is known as the first post-modern novel. It's funny, crazy and very nonlinear. It's considered to be completely unfilmable. And yet it's been filmed and adapted brilliantly. (I tend to use "brilliant" a lot when describing British comedy it seems.)

Just how does one film a period piece with so many stops and starts and transgressions? One excellent answer is that you make a film about filming the story. You include an insecure actor who is afraid the support (or is it co-starring) actor will upstage him. You have the crew and actors constantly discussing the book and what's been left out and what should be put in (which would tilt the film in favor of the supporting actor) and you have the lead character fretting about this story and trying not to let on that he's the only one who hasn't bothered to actually read the novel it's based on. Also you add the actor's girlfriend and baby son who've come to visit and you present all the lack of commitment and the temptation of a pretty and smart crewmember. The story is very funny and again we see that the Brits have loads of talent and need to be making more films or we need to be showing more of them in theaters or on TV.

I watched the DVD and the bonus features like extended scenes and interviews. I normally don't but this film was so funny and smart that I had to.

In the Loop

2009-08-03T08:20:00.008-06:00

I'm so glad Bridget suggested we see In the Loop, a British satire based on the hypothetical (wink, wink, nod, nod) premise that through deceit, ineptitude, stupidity and egotistical ambition the Brits were pulled into a war in the Middle East with (or by) their friends across the Atlantic. It's an incredibly funny film with loads of profanity, probably the most inventive swearing I've ever heard. The dialog is brilliant and I'm sure I didn't get all the jokes which come at you a mile a minute. The characters reveal all the many faces of how to protect a fragile career in politics, which they probably should just let tank to salvage any scintilla of dignity, sanity or ethics.

Simon Foster is the British Minister of International Development and more or less living proof that the Peter Principle is alive and well. In a radio interview he states that he believes a war in the Middle East is "unforeseeable," which is exactly what the Prime Minister's Pit Bull, Malcolm Tucker, did not want said. He then goes on to a meeting that the new junior communications officer set up. He's only supposed to sit there, but no one tells him he's only filler in the room. Of course, he says something and of course, it makes things worse.

To salvage the situation a Washington fact finding trip is planned, but that just leads to more trouble and comedy as we see how the Americans can botch and twist things up just as well as the Brits. The more Tucker and Foster try to fix the situation the more political disaster and belligerent tongue lashings ensue.

The movie contains so many hilarious lines that you have to hear in context. Something like "difficult, difficult lemony difficult" needs context to be appreciated. I loved that women like Foster's advisor stood up to Tucker when he verbally attacked them while still maintaining intelligence and poise no less. The whole cast is strong including the junior staffers. If there was an award for the lamest excuse to give your girlfriend to explain an infidelity, it's in this film and it's hysterical.

Away We Go

2009-07-24T22:00:00.000-06:00

I liked it.

Rachel wasn't sure.

Funny. But in a thoughtful, delicate way. (I stole the word delicate from the Rolling Stone review because I thought it was perfect.)

Full of characters you're glad you don't know and some you wish you did.

Poignant.

What a beautiful journey . . .

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

2009-07-15T22:49:00.000-06:00

The Harry Potter movies face an imposing task. In order to be truly successful, they must satisfy the faithful with their knowledge of the most inconsequential details, retell the story for those who've read the books but forgotten, and present a stand-alone experience for those who haven't read the books (yes, they do exist).

Because I fall in the middle group, it's difficult for me to assess how successful the sixth movie is at accomplishing all of those goals. But, speaking for my constituency, the movie performed admirably. The movie has an overall more ominous tone (these are not the more carefree days of yore) and yet still manages to inject humor and charm. The scene where Ron is under the spell of the love potion is pure frivolity.

Rachel and I both remarked that we're glad we've already read the seventh book, in that we have some insight into where things are headed. But it would also have been interesting to have experienced the movie without that knowledge.

The Paper Chase

2009-07-12T20:54:00.003-06:00

I'd never seen the famed 1973 law school film The Paper Chase so I put it in my queue. It's reputation or rather plot precedes it. I already knew it was the story of a first year law student who's dating the daughter of an older professor known for eviscerating students "Socratic" style.

I actually expected the professor, Kingsfield, to be meaner. He's cold and aloof, but only a few times vicious. I did learn from IMDB.com that John Houseman was the sixth actor the producers asked to play this role.

The plot follows Hart through the course of the grueling first year, which makes or breaks a student. Various law school experiences are represented by the six members of his study group. (Edward Herrmann and James Naughton are familiar faces there.) Mainly we see Hart, who's more or less an Everyman.

As for the romance, one night he meets a beautiful woman and before he knows it he's involved with his antagonist's daughter. This relationship did strike me as purely contrived and it irked me that the daughter had no personality and very little life. She really served the plot and was this weird nymph-woman, who could conveniently provide tips or insight about the godly antagonist. She apparently had no job or interests or friends. She was an independent feminist sort when that served the story and the impatient girlfriend who can't believe the weekend plans were scrapped when that did. There's the obvious scene where Hart is almost caught in his professor's bed with said professor's daughter, but he narrowly escapes. (There'd be more drama if he'd be caught.) By 1973 writers had developed much more interesting female characters.

All in all, I found the film interesting. It's hard to make studying, going to the library and worrying about grades compelling. It's hard to make a contracts class interesting to people outside of law school. It's hard to get an audience to really care about the GPA of a middle class student at an elite school, but this film does kind of. (I'm reading Blake Snyder's screenwriting book Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

and I'm sure he would say do something different in the hotel scene as the audience may just side with the manager more than you'd want them too.) It doesn't wow, but it doesn't bore either. It kind of captures law school, but not exactly.

John Williams does the score and I liked it. There were some nice shots like on on a dock in winter when we're far from the couple who're having a serious relationship discussion. Original. Usually we're right in the thick of things.

Public Enemies

2009-07-11T16:06:00.001-06:00

Johnny Depp - plus.

Violent criminal - minus.

Loyal lover/boyfriend - plus.

Alone, betrayed and anachronistic at the end - minus.

Marion Cotillard - plus

Public Enemies is not an easy movie to characterize. It's violent and Dillinger is hardly someone to like. Of course, as portrayed, he has his moments of rakish attractiveness but there's also little illusion regarding his inevitable end.

It's an engrossing eyes wide open look at America's most wanted criminal and the agent who brought him down.

Another Bad Choice: Tokyo!

2009-07-11T10:00:00.004-06:00

I'm just having such bad luck selecting films. Tokyo! is a collection of three short films in homage to this lively city. I watched the first and got into it a little. I enjoyed just hearing Japanese again and understanding it and seeing the difference between the subtitles and dialog. It was the story a young couple who come to the city and stay with an old friend. They encounter trouble finding work and an apartment that's not infested with vermin. It's kind of engaging, but then it lost me. After overhearing snotty comments about herself and seeing her boyfriend flirt with other women, the female lead sort of turns into a ghost and haunts this apartment that she passed with her boyfriend who made this comment about ghosts. See why it lost me?

The next short was about a French ogre of some sort who stirs up trouble or . . . yeah, I had no patience to see more.

Next in the queue is The Paper Chase, a well known film from years ago. If nothing else, it's safer.

Conversations with Other Women

2009-07-11T09:43:00.004-06:00

See the blackline - they're shot separately

What a waste of time. Luckily, I got this from Netflix so after the first half hour of pain, I just put it back in the envelope.

With Helena Bonham Carter, who hasn't done much I've liked lately, and Aaron Eckhart, of whom I expected better, Conversations with Other Women shows a man and a woman who meet (again it turns out) at a wedding. The woman is bored to tears. She was asked to fill in as a bridesmaid for a woman she really doesn't like. But get this, since she had frequent flyer miles she decided "Why not" and flew from London to New York to attend a wedding she had no interest in. I can think of better ways to use miles, can't you?

The gimmick of this film is that for the most part, the male and female leads, both jaded bores with no new insights into life, are shot in separate screens that are placed side by side. It's a clever conceit to show that men and women inhabit different spheres, but when most of the film is like this (I assume) it gets very annoying. In a short film, it would be fine.

Anyway, it turns out that this man and woman had a relationship 15 years ago and now engage in cat and mouse banter and eventually find themselves in bed, all the while dissecting relationships with urbane banality if that's possible. I'd have avoided both of them if I knew them and turning this off to return to a good book was a good choice.

Every Little Step

2009-07-05T23:06:00.001-06:00

A Chorus Line was a vivid part of my high school years. It came to Chicago around the time I was a junior and I went downtown to see it. I bought the album which I still have. A high school classmate, a year ahead of me, got hired for the touring company.

When I saw a preview for Every Little Step which the Aspen Filmfest was bringing to Aspen as part of its summer film series, I was immediately interested.

Every Little Step is a documentary which uses the casting of the current revival of A Chorus Line as a vehicle to explore the creation of the original Broadway smash. It is at times touching, heartrending, hilarious, nostalgic and always fascinating. 5 of us went to see it and all 5 came away well-pleased.

Even the technical difficulties which left Paepcke Auditorium with only one projector and Jon Busch scrambling to change reels on that sole projector with as little interruption as possible couldn't dampen our enjoyment of the film. It was actually a novel experience which gave us an opportunity to discuss the film as it was unfolding.

It'll be available in limited release but if it comes to your area and you have the slightest interest in A Chorus Line or in the Broadway audition process, I recommend you see it.

Chopped

2009-07-05T12:08:00.003-06:00

I've got a new favorite summer show, the Food Network's Chopped. It's reality TV at its best. It's an authentic test of culinary talent with game show time constraints. In each hour long episode, viewers watch four culinary pros compete for bragging rights and $10,000. It begins with four contestants who're given three ingredients say Brussels sprouts, squid and peanut butter. They must develop an appetizer using all three in thirty minutes. They do have access to a pantry full of staples and a commercial kitchen full of appliances.

When time's up three judges taste and critique each dish and decide to eliminate one cook. The remaining move on to the entree competition. Again more odd ingredients are provided. I'm amazed at how quickly these cooks can come up with edible or even tasty dishes with ingredients like sea beans that 1) I never heard of and 2) don't go together normally. The winners of the entree competition face off for desserts. The ultimate winner is whoever is deemed to have the most creative, delicious dishes that actually do work together as a meal.

Chopped is satisfying since the competition makes some sense. Good cooks should be able to be creative and fast. Some great recipes like Kung Pu Chicken were actual results of a professional cook having to make a dish for a sudden banquet with whatever was on hand. In one hour you will learn who won, so you don't have to watch every week. Viewers do learn about food from the judge's and contestant's comments.

Also, these people don't all live together so there's no drama involving annoying drama queens or kings.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-29T00:01:00.002-06:00

Par for the course for a second movie of a trilogy, Transformers 2 is not as good as 1.

But I didn't hate it. (High praise, huh?)

What I did really, really hate was the scene where Sam's brain is probed. It was awful and had a totally different tone than the whole rest of the movie. I felt like they had taken a scene from a horror movie and dropped it into this sci-fi, adventure movie.

I also really did not like Michael Bay's overuse of the spinning, circular camera shot. Give it a rest, dude! Is that all you've got?

The Sam/Mikaela relationship was cute and Sam's parents were a hoot.

All in all, I enjoyed it. Just go to the bathroom during the torture scene . . .

Ok, so it wasn't THAT bad

2009-06-25T10:01:00.000-06:00

The Pepsi Center holds 20,100 for a concert with a center stage.

A conservative guess is 5 teenage girls for every parent. That puts it at about 16000+ teen and pre-teen girls. 16000+ girls, all of whom would erupt in screams for no apparent reason. I'm talking pre-concert, nothing going on except young girls screaming.

We had awesome, unbelievably excellent seats. 2nd row, right in front of the stage entrance and exit. By the time the Jonas Brothers came on, everyone had figured out where they would be entering from so the powers that be brought them in in an equipment box. But we did get to watch Honor Society and Jordin Sparks enter and exit and the security production when the Jonas Brothers exited was quite impressive.

The show was very energetic and had some cool effects, including a water feature that rained shapes including hearts. In a nod to the parents, they performed Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline.

The girls were on such a high from the concert that they didn't even complain when we walked all the way back to the hotel.

Darjeeling Express

2009-06-24T15:51:00.002-06:00

This was on the top of my queue when I reopened my Netflix account. India is fascinating and so colorful and works as a setting for films like Outsourced, but doesn't work here. I doubt anything could lift up this wreck, which tells the story of three quirky, estranged brothers who set off on a spiritual journey in India. That plan soon goes awry. Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman play the weird brothers in this comedy that isn't quite zany. I think I could have gotten more into this film if it were either quirkier or more realistic. Instead I just kept rolling my eyes thinking this would never happen. Nothing was ever that funny either so I groaned when I suppose the filmmaker wanted me to laugh.

I think a film either needs to be about odd things happening in a normal world like in Stranger than Fiction or about a fish or three out of water, so strangers in a strange land. This trio never connects with the setting in any realistic way.

The movie began with a separate and thus on DVD optional short film with Schwartzman and Natalie Portman as alienated lovers. Neither had a scintilla of credibility or likability in their character so I didn't care if they reunited or not. This story was alluded to in the feature, but not that important.

Don't bother.

The Proposal

2009-06-24T09:42:00.001-06:00

Recently I've been disappointed by romantic comedies. So disappointed that I found it hard to believe that I was actually watching an enjoyable romantic comedy.

Rachel and I looked at each other early on and said, "This is funny!" But I couldn't resist adding, "So far."

Well, it maintained throughout the duration.

I read that it exceeded all box office expectations in its first weekend and I can see why.

Betty White was a character, rolling her eyes and making gentle sarcastic remarks. Mary Steenburgen was genteel in her puzzlement. Sandra Bullock really does excel at the romantic comedy genre. Ryan Reynolds was a treat as a cute lovable leading man, able to pull off the put upon assistant but also able to transition to the strong masculine Alaskan.

A Prairie Home Companion

2009-06-21T05:00:00.000-06:00

I know that I'm not a fan of the radio show.

I guess maybe I'm not a Robert Altman fan, either.

I am, however, a Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones fan.

Which is why I thought I might enjoy the movie.

Wrong!

Steve, Rachel and I watched it together and all three of us had the same reaction. The movie was just weird. As Steve said, it took all of the least funny parts of the radio show and made a movie out of them with some additional weirdness mixed in.

Pretty much a waste of time. At least, we got it out of the library for free . . .

He's Just Not that Into You

2009-06-21T01:34:00.003-06:00

I had heard for the book and thought it does contain some common sense, but it's a shame that people can become millionaires by peddling common sense to women on Oprah.

This was another movie that I watched on the flight back from China. I didn't expect much and had just watched a really bad movie so my expectations were low. I also recall reading some luke warm reviews of this.

Turns out I thought it was decent. There's a good cast including Jennifer Anniston, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, and Scarlett Johansson. The script follows the intersecting lives of several young Baltimorians (Baltimorites) as they navigate dating and marriage trying to figure out how to love in this email, MySpace, voicemail, speed dating, "I'll call you" society. How should a woman decode the underlying meaning of a "good night"? Which promises are sincere, which aren't?

Seems the book suggests that none of these kiss-offs should be believed, but the movie questioned that conclusion. I've seen better, but this wasn't bad. I do wish Nora Ephron had something coming out or any writer who can mix up something with wit, wisdom and romance.

New in Town

2009-06-21T01:20:00.002-06:00

I like romantic comedies and think Renee Zellweger is pretty good, but if I had more choices on this flight from China, I'd have changed the channel real quick rather than wat New in Town in its entirity.

It's the story of an ambitious, high power citified woman who moves to small town Fargo-esque Minnesota to restructure a factory. She can't believe the frigid weather or the corny people who talk funny and have unsophisticated hobbies like ice fishing and scrapbook making. She lacks a sidekick so we never here her candid thoughts on her reactions, which might have been witty (in another movie).

As the movie progresses she meets a handsome union rep (of course it's her professional adversary) and eventually they fall for each other. One expects and hopes for such relationships to take spark, but one also wants real feeling, witty dialog and chemistry. I didn't find it here. Too bad the flight didn't have Adam's Rib or any classic in this genre. Too bad the writers and actors hadn't studied such films and rewrote this story before they started filming.

One problem was that Renee looked so bad, so grumpy throughout the film. She just wasn't the actress one rooted for in say Jerry McGuire or Bridget Jones' Diary.

The Hangover

2009-06-20T05:00:00.001-06:00

I don't like these kinds of movies.

Frat boy humor. Yuck.

And yet . . .

While it was a victim of its hype in that I didn't like it as much as I was led to believe I might, I liked it better than its genre would suggest.

It was pretty out there and yet it always managed to pull back just before it fell irretrievably over the edge.

Instead of just being a gross frat boy over the top extravaganza, it resolutely held fast with an underlying sweetness and I laughed in spite of myself.

The photos during the end credits are as funny as the whole rest of the movie.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-06-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

Other than a nice opportunity to drool over the eye candy that is called Hugh Jackman, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is just ok.

I'm an X-Men fan. I have been for about 20 years. I've enjoyed the other X-Men movies.

I don't know if it's because I saw it shortly after seeing Star Trek and it suffered in comparison but this movie was so-so.

There was a rote feel to the movie, that of just going through the motions.

But, put Hugh Jackman in another X-Men movie and I'll see it too . . .

Star Trek

2009-06-16T05:00:00.000-06:00

I would not call myself a Trekkie.

I occasionally watched the original series. I've never watched an episode of any of spin-offs. I didn't like the movies (with one exception below).

But, did I enjoy this movie! Exhilarating fun. Adventure. Heroes. And so many great nods to Star Trek lore.

I will admit that I also really enjoyed Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home when it came out in 1986. It had a sense of humor and I'm a sucker for time travel. According to Leonard Nimoy, IV was the most successful of the Star Trek movies.

This movie too reaches me as a non Trekkie. By tapping the humor element and including a healthy dose of time travel, the movie successfully capitalizes on previous popular elements.

While I'm aware that many "true" fans don't agree, I felt the alternate reality gambit was a clever way to deal with the difficulties of developing a prequel. It also provides much flexibility for any future projects.

Up

2009-06-14T14:48:00.001-06:00

Pixar scores again.

So many resonating images. Days later, we're still referencing the dogs' collars in routine conversation.

The creative minds at Pixar have such a knack for creating these fantastical movies which sample our everyday lives.

Add to that the visual experience that is Pixar and Up is too fun.

Marley and Me

2009-06-13T20:08:00.003-06:00

Very cute for about two hours, but don't you want more? I got this DVD thinking it would be good as an end of the term film for my students. I think it might be, but to enjoy this movie, to make it worth 2 hours of your time, you do hope for more.

It's the story of a married couple who move to Florida and the husband buys a dog to delay his wife's biological clock. Their golden lab, Marley turns out to be the ultimate badly behaved dog. He eats everything he can; he jumps on guests; he runs off at the beach etc. Obedience school would be the answer, but he gets kicked out. His bad behavior continues and it does bother these adults, but they never try another obedience school or training of any kind. Most people in the audience are going to see that they like this chaos and lack the maturity to train the dog.

We see the couple as they have children and move to new homes and jobs. It's palatable, but the dog never does anything endearing or changes at all. The couple address some issues in their marriage, but this is done better on a regular basis on television. It's a way to kill a couple hours if Netflix doesn't have your first ten choices.

Yet if your choice is between Marley and Me (n.b. it's not Marley and "Us" the narrator suffers from Peter Pan Syndrome for most of the film) and The Visitor I'd choose Marley, it's more sophisticated.

My Life in Ruins

2009-06-12T09:15:00.000-06:00

The first half was pretty bad. Bad enough that Rachel and I turned and said to each other virtually simultaneously, "This is really bad." We were the only ones in the movie theater.

Basically, the set up was painful. One episode after another, each more uncomfortable to watch.

Luckily, it did improve. The second half of the movie was palatable. Not good, but comparatively, what a relief.

I wouldn't recommend it.

Tokyo Sonata

2009-06-11T08:39:00.001-06:00

Hmmm.

I liked it.

Or did I?

The winner of 11 awards from 8 different film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, the Chicago International Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize and two Best Director awards for Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

I suspect that there was a fair amount that just culturally doesn't translate. I spent a fair amount of time trying to decipher what was cultural dissonance and what was filmmaker's license.

The movie was methodically paced which some audience members didn't appreciate, judging by their comments as we were filing out.

No question that it's an art house film. Full of angst, symbolism, repetitive imagery . . .

Sugar

2009-06-09T20:04:00.001-06:00

Highly acclaimed, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and for the 2009 Independent Spirit Award.

Sugar is the story of Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a 20 year old pitching phenom from the Dominican Republic who arrives in the US to find that he's basically cannon fodder for the professional baseball farm team system. Baseball is merely the vehicle for exploring the culture shock experienced by a talented import and the reality of the pursuit of the American Dream through sports.

Sugar is the antithesis of the Disneyfication of the sports story. We travel with Sugar, experiencing his triumphs, his alienation and his self-respect salvaging choice.

No pat answers here, but plenty of thought provoking depth. Even Sugar is left wondering.

Talk about Cliched

2009-06-09T08:40:00.001-06:00
I saw The Visitor since its lead was up for an Oscar and it was supposed to be a good film. I didn't know anyone who raved about it, but in the air it was touted as good.

Save your time. Unless you've never seen a movie about a fuddy duddy who learns to "live" through getting acquainted with cool, lively people, don't bother with this. It's the story of a college professor whose wife has died. He has little interest in his students or his field. When he's forced to go to a conference all the way in New York, where he can afford to keep an apartment he never uses, like the Three Bears he discovers someone's been sleeping in his bed.

A multicultural, immigrant couple have been duped into subletting an apartment, their friend had no right to rent. It might have been interesting if they tracked down that friend, but the hero is too phlegmatic to bother. He does come to take an interest in the couple, whom he allows to stay and learns to play the drums from Tarek, the man.

One day Tarek is arrested due to a misunderstanding on the New York subway. He's arrested and soon turned over to Homeland Security since he's not in the U.S. legally. That's the heart of the story. What will happen to Tarek, whose story is far more interesting that the pale professor's. We never go inside the cellblock or see Tarek meet with his attorney. We do see some heavy handed visuals that are supposed to be ironic, if you like your irony in neon (e.g. the mural at Homeland Security, that I doubt exists, boasting that "Immigrants make This Country Great.")

Instead we're stuck with the prof who meets Tarek's mother and keeps his girlfriend informed of his whereabouts. Tarek's mother is rather ethnically bleached. I guess that's to either make her acceptable to American audiences or to show she's "just like us." A few years overseas does not make someone assume all the conventions of the host country.

Tarek's thinly crafted. He's the cool musician ethnic guy, quite a cookie cutter character. He's got a slim backstory about his father in Syria and his need to leave, but it's rather ordinary.

The plot trods along predictably. There were plenty of times I just had to groan, like when Walter, the professor, complains about teaching the same course for 20 years. Well, pal, change it up! You have more privileges and freedom in your job than most. You could go AWOL to New York and miss a meeting at work that's probably just an hour from N.Y.C. with no consequence to speak of and you're not even smart enough to tell your Dean that you missed it because you were helping someone escape deportation. That would easily get you some respect. Are you stupid? The last scene at the detention center just revealed complete naivete. I do suppose they'd be happy to finally rid themselves of this tenured bore back at Whatever University. Yep, Walter we can arrange that leave of absence. Go play the drums.

Someone can make a great movie about Post-9/11 detentions. Too bad this production is so disappointing. Also, whoever does so, has to allow for the fact that some of these people should be deported or detained. It's not a black and white issue.

Skip this. I wish I had.

Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

2009-06-04T20:14:00.000-06:00

Fun.

Didn't really know what to expect.

The local reviewer kinda panned it (altho I didn't get past the headline, "'Harvard Beats Yale' lacks winning formula").

We really enjoyed it.

Part of the charm actually was our unfamiliarity with the game. It's just so preposterous.

It was great also seeing the connections with Garry Trudeau, Al Gore, Meryl Streep.

It was just fun.

Yi Yi

2009-05-25T23:01:00.000-06:00

Amazing, awesome, beautiful. Edward Yang's Yi Yi - Criterion Collection is set in modern Taipei and chronicles a family as they individually deal with the difficulties of love, friendship, fidelity (or in), dignity and honor in business, and death. It's a quiet film and a long one. I watched it in installments. Talk about haunting moments. I couldn't sleep after finishing it as dialog and scenes lingered in my head.

Yang goes in directions other directors ignore. He finds mystery and power in the choices people don't make out of fear, routine or morality.

On NPR there's a recording of a review of this film. The blurb says
Tawainese filmmaker Edward Yang's latest movie, Yi Yi , which is the first of his works to be distributed in the United States. The movie's title is literally "one one" in Chinese, and the drama centers on a family in Taipei. Yang says his movies haven't been "Chinese" enough for American audiences...they deal with contemporary Chinese life rather than the exotica these audiences expect.
I can't hear the review since RealPlayer isn't working here. If anyone can let me know what it says.

Yang blew me away with quiet juxtaposed scenes like when the father is on a rendezvous with his first love in Tokyo while his daughter goes out on a first date with her neighbor's former boyfriend. Brilliant in a quiet way.

I want to find more of his films. I was sad to learn that he died two years ago at age 60. He certainly has a lot to show us.

Get the Criterion Collection version (from Netflix) and watch the interview about Taiwanese film.

American Splendor

2009-05-20T22:29:00.001-06:00
American Splendor is the film version of the autobiographical comics Harvey Pekar. I had read an anthology of American Splendor comics about a year ago and enjoyed the bleak Rust Belt take on life.

The film stays very true to the book yet the detail one gets of say Pekar's pig sty of an apartment really strike the viewer. How did Joyce look past that filth and decide on their first date that she should marry this self-proclaimed gloomy guy with so much debris in his living room? I don't think I'll ever understand that.

I did wish there were some scenes about parts of Harvey's life that I hadn't read about. Evidently he included everything (he wants us to know) in the comics.

The film includes scenes with Pekar, his family and friends in which they answer questions about the comics and their impact on their lives. That was interesting and done well.

All in all, it is an original movie that intrigued me despite never creating a feeling of "I'd like to be that character." It ain't cheerful, but it's witty and different.

WFMT & Studs Terkel

2009-05-02T23:44:00.002-06:00
Every Saturday, my Sunday, WFMT presents an hour of Studs Terkel's old program. They're usually interviews, but sometimes he takes a historical period like the Civil War and presents a facinating array of perspectives on it. Today, in honor of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday, they rebroadcast part one of an interview with Seeger.

What an education I'm getting. I don't know much about folk music, but it's growing on me. Seeger talked about the unfortunate trend of women in music trying to always be 16 and contrasted that with Malvina Reynolds, a singer who was a full fledged adult and proud of it. Her song "Little Boxes" is now stuck in my head and most likely I'll have students learn it. Is that going to be too controversial? I just don't know.

The lyrics are:
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

2. And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

3. And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

4. And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

Not at all what I expected

2009-05-02T22:35:00.005-06:00
Last Chance Harvey caught me off guard. I thought this film starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson would be a romantic comedy. Wrong. It's a drama, with some witty lines, about Harvey Shine, an American visiting London who's finding he's unwanted at work and at his daughter's wedding. He just doesn't belong. On the home front, his wife's second husband has replaced him and at work the younger composers are.

By chance he meets, and brushes off Emma Thompson's Kate. For much of the movie we see their lives and how they both seem dissatisfied and rather lonely, but stoic. Yet they do meet. Then we see two adults connect and befriend each other. It's not a whirlwind, it's a natural unfolding.

Towards the end there's misunderstanding, which came off as contrived and unoriginal, but on the whole this movie portrays real life and risk taking quite well. I recommend it.

I didn't realize a wedding would feature so centrally in this movie. It's interesting how different this was compared with Rachel Getting Married. Both were fresh real weddings, a good contrast to the contrived wedding with the stereotypical wacky relations and mix ups.

I liked that the height difference which is never hidden and never an obstacle.

Worked for me 50% of the time

2009-04-18T03:40:00.002-06:00
Regifting Robin

W

2009-04-18T03:04:00.004-06:00
Oliver Stone's W presents a familiar interpretation of George W. Bush's life up to the end of his presidency. It's the story of a spoiled rich boy who partied a lot in his youth till he found religion. He desired the approval and admiration of his father and hated living in his younger brother's shadow. Seems we should have seen more of George with Jeb, that would have been new territory.

So against all logical odds this C student with the help of "Boy Genius" Karl Rove, bumbles his way up to the highest office in the land. Talk about dumb luck.

All though we all know what happened, W still keeps one's interest. I watched not for the story as much as for this depiction, to see how the inner circle was played. I liked the Dreyfuss' Cheney and thought Thadie Newton's Condoleeza Rice was just too wooden. I was interested in seeing what I imagine some of the meetings about invading Iraq were like.

The film doesn't mock as much as I expected it to. I did sort of feel sorry for George, though I continue to feel greater sorrow for the people of Iraq and the US who still suffer due to his poor decisions.