Pop Culture Round Up: December 12-18

Portman takes on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies film

Movie stars break the song barrier

A titanic duo: Gibson, DiCaprio join forces for Viking film
I refuse all Vikings that are not Eric.

Hollywood's missing 'Voice'

Are directors overrated? Filmmakers shed light on their real power

Portrait of a Multitasking Mind

Can Anybody Make a Movie for Women?

Pop Culture Round Up: November 21 - December 11

Progressive Detective: Am I socially obligated to get the flu shot?
Quick answer: yes.

Hip-Hop’s New Steps - Jerking
I thought jerking had been around for a long time . . .

Philip Glass on His Latest Opera, Kepler, and Where Music Meets Science

Magazine Publishers to Build an Online Newsstand

Thanksgiving box office record blown away despite absence of new hits

How do movie blurbs work?

Rogers launches Hulu clone

Is Loneliness Contagious?
But is it also underrated?

Coronation Street's Maggie Jones dies at 75
Sad! Can't imagine the show without Blanche.

Want To Get Your Audience Out Faster? Put Something In Their Way

Film composers lose luster
Enjoy variety while you can! They are gradually instituting a pay wall as of yesterday.

Dogs vs cats: The great pet showdown
Ooo, science to back up a preference!

Brothers (2009)

Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, and Jake Gyllenhaal are some of the best young actors you can working today. It's a shame for them that director Jim Sheridan and writer David Benioff's adaptation of the 2002 Danish source movie gives them so little to go on.

The movie's publicity campaign hasn't helped in the slightest. The trailer and TV spots give away so much of the movie's action and plot that there's little left to see. Of the two things that are left (what goes on between Portman and Gyllenhaal and what Maguire "had to do to get back"), only one of them actually happens.

The one that does happen, what Maguire did, occurs in the second act. You spend the rest of the movie knowing exactly what's going on with him, and it lends the movie exactly zero tension or drama. It's all very well acted and shot: Maguire's skin seems to barely contain a coiled intensity and sublimated grief that previous roles never so much as hinted at, and Sheridan's camera is sometimes so intimate that you feel compelled to look away from the screen.

Non-spoiler alert: nothing happens between Portman and Gyllenhaal. Their affair, if you want to call it that, is similar to the one in Cairo Time: an emotional bond develops, and its existence threatens other bonds. Again, Maguire just knocks it out, flailing against the thing he can see and knows is lost to himself without ever being able to come out and say exactly what it is. And, man, are he and Gyllenhaal phenomenal together on the screen. From the first barely heard interaction to the picnic table confrontation wherein Gyllenhaal can't bring himself to directly answer the questions he's been asked to their final climatic blow out, every note is right. And to see Gyllenhaal play someone so down trodden he can barely get his words out? Wow.

Portman is equally lovely, refusing to stand and gape in her grief, to make it a living thing. Sam Shepard, as the patriarch, and Carey Mulligan, as a fellow war widow, are so vivid in their lamentation that their screen time practically cuts.

All are under-served by a movie where nothing happens. There's a plot, to be sure, but it feels so empty and motionless that it only barely hints at a story. I've seen plenty of movies where nothing or next to nothing happens and that fact doesn't matter (e.g. Before Sunrise and Before Sunset), but Brothers is not one of those movies. It's a fantastic showcase for actors (particularly Shepard) and not much else. B

Pirate Radio (2009)

Pirate Radio's trailer would like to deceive you into thinking that it's about a ragtag crew of radio rockers and The Man (Kenneth Branagh, having the most fun I've possibly ever seen him have) trying to bring them down. It is about that, don't worry, but what the trailer fails to inform you is that it's also about Carl (Tom Sturridge), an adorable little moppet who gets kicked out of school, so his mom (Emma Thompson, briefly and fantastically) sends him to his godfather (Bill Nighy, at his most charismatic when he's at his most languid), who just so happens to own and operate a pirate radio ship. So in addition to pirate radio shenanigans, there's also coming of age drama. It's kept to a minimum, and, like I said, Carl's an adorable moppet.

Writer-director Richard Curtis, who was also responsible for the adorable moppet and ragtag crew of Love Actually*, has a knack for gathering delightful British comedians (and one notable American) and letting them have at it. It's a good thing, too, as there's otherwise nothing striking in his direction or his script.

The notable American is, of course, Philip Seymour Hoffman. The Count is very similar to what I like to imagine Hoffman is like in real life (there are also similarities to his character in Almost Famous), and he's also responsible for the movie's only real emotional moment.

Pirate Radio the kind of movie that's exceedingly pleasant to watch, the kind that you put on when you're bored or in need of a little cheering up. There are worse things to be. C+

*I constantly want to put a comma between those words. What is that?

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

My Book vs. Film is already out, so maybe you want to start there and work back. I don't know. It's downright exhaustive, so I'm not going to get into the strength of the adaptation here. Let's focus on the movie as a movie.

I've got a complicated relationship with composer Alexandre Desplat, but let me tell you this much: he damn near ruined the movie for me. A lot of my other complaints about this movie are very much based in a comparison with Hardwicke's Twilight, which is just too bad for New Moon director Chris Weitz, but I am certain I would have found this score egregiously overwritten at every turn no matter what. He actually dings! when someone is supposed to have a moment of recognition. For all I know, there were dun-dun-duns, but I was probably working overtime to block it out. It's the most obvious and attention seeking score I have heard in years.

In talking it over with my viewing partner, she noted that there is a time and a place for a full orchestra, and New Moon is not it. Truer words, people. I liked Carter Burwell's work well enough last time around (okay, I do feel that the conspicuously-absent-from-New-Moon lullaby was not quite right), but I never realized before how his electric guitar and tribal drum driven work was modern, sexy, dangerous, and cool. Exactly what the score for our teen vampires and werewolves in love should be.

Regardless of the DP, director, or composer, these movies are bound to rake in a ton of coin. But does that mean that aesthetic concerns don't matter? Of course not! While cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe does lovely work in the lush coastal rain forests of Vancouver, he's sort of at a loss when people are in the frame. Aguirresarobe and Weitz make sure that Edward (Robert Pattinson)'s first real appearance is held long enough for fangirls to get in a good squee (there is a fan involved, I'm pretty sure), but they lose it shortly thereafter. To wit:

1. Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) sows up Bella (Kristen Stewart)'s arm in candlelight while pulling her close and listening to opera. Wait, who is she supposed to be dating? Because I just thought, "Kiss! Kiss!"


2. A tilt to suggest Bella is thrown by Edward breaking up with her? Is this Doubt?


3. The camera pushes in on her lying down in the woods, and I thought, "Why wouldn't the camer pull out to show how alone and vulnerable she is?"
   
   
4. Bella tosses Jacob a slice of pizza during a fixing-up-our-bikes montage, and he catches a socket wrench (montage!). Not only does the wrench catch look completely fake, but it comes in from a completely different height and angle than the pizza through to what looks like a different area of the garage. Intentionally funny?*
   

It's like they're not sure what story they want to tell. Hardwicke clearly wanted to tell a story called, "The Cullens are cool, and now you want to join their cult, too." If Weitz's angle was supposed to be, "The wolves are cool, and now you want to join their cult, too," he really didn't hit the mark.

Don't get me wrong; the wolves are pretty cool. You're not going to get a lot of arguments from me against good looking guys with their shirts off, and New Moon has those aplenty. They're also a lot less openly hostile toward Bella in the movie than they are in the book, which I appreciated. Taylor Lautner's baby-face doesn't quite match the 25-year-old man Jacob is meant to morph into, but he's got Jacob's tenderness, heartbreak, and barely suppressed rage down pat. It will certainly be interesting to see what he does with Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Plus, unlike others, aging will work in his favour.

Others being Pattinson, of course. Not that he looks markedly older to me, but there's something in his aspect this time around that's less boy and more man. I already thought he was perfectly cast as Edward, and he certainly brings exactly what's necessary to the role, cutting through Stephenie Meyer's florid prose to the human underneath. Yes, human. While Edward's beyond obsessed about his status as a vampire, Pattinson manages to play him in such a way where you can see how, for Bella, that would be just one thing about him but not the main thing. There's a man there. That said, this change I see makes the decision to rush through production slightly more reasonable.

Stewart's also doing some more lovely work (I was especially cheered by the face she makes right after she makes a pointed remark. It's a great "Get it?" face), though not all her choices work out that well. Even so, I see her growing into the character as well as making Bella grow up with her. It's the kind of thing that just might be worth study over time.

All the usual suspects are back, and they're just as great and underused as they were before (although what is up with Jasper's hair? Why can they not make it work?), and, though Fanning might try to steal the show as Jane, it's all about Michael Sheen as Aro when it comes to supporting players because it is fantastic to watch him pull a dude's head off and then gleefully cheer happy endings a few scenes later. I always liked Aro, but I just might love him now. I can only guess what's in store for Sheen now after playing a werewolf and a vampire. Frankenstein's monster? Dr. Frankenstein? Zombie? Angel? Demon? The sky's the limit!

Limited, I hope, will be Weitz's involvement in any future installments of this series. He and his team just aren't a good fit. Harwicke gets teenagers better than most directors (she's like John Hughes that way), and Weitz just doesn't seem to have the same respect/understanding of the source material. I mean, it's the same screenwriter (Melissa Rosenberg) either way, so it's hard to place the blame/credit there. Overall, the experience is satisfactory but nothing more than that. C+

*Point number four was added on the 24th after I remembered it.

Pop Culture Round Up: September 26 - November 20

Van Gogh's personal letters debut online in English

Stars + time + box office = franchise hit

Forget Rule No. 1 - Still Talking About ‘Fight Club’

Technology increases chances to see porn in public

New Brain Cells May Knock Out Old Memories

You want fries with that rap?

Mistakes in Typography Grate the Purists

Overdue library books returned half century later

Screen Memories

Was a WWII Classic Too Gay?

Scientists nose out clue to preserving books: their smell

Contact lenses to get built-in virtual graphics

Women living in 'Twilight' will not apologize for loving Edward, Bella and Jacob

Noises off: The rules of being a theatre critic | Stage | guardian.co.uk

Bare Breasts Don't Translate into Big Box Office

Spoiling for a fight

Stars lined up for new audio Bible

Montreal to see terracotta warriors

Hollywood's 10 Most Overpaid Stars - Hollywood's 10 Most Overpaid Stars

Artist Jeanne-Claude dies; co-created 'The Gates'

Taylor Lautner Denies That He Suffers From Restless Leg Syndrome

"People don't realize this, but loneliness is underrated."

The only reason Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who uttered that line, doesn't appear on my Underrated List is time. If I had more time, each letter would have multiple entries. Even so, my A to Z guide to everything in movies you've been missing should have enough to pique your interest.

This Is It (2009)

I was one of those that were mildly disgusted when news broke of the plan to release This Is It, rehearsal footage from the London concert prep meant for Michael Jackson alone. Then Dana Stevens admitted to weeping, and I wondered if maybe there was something I had missed. For years now, every time a new scandal or court case hit the news, I wondered why people were still interested in what Jackson was doing. Now that I've seen the movie, though, I understand.

While Jackson (or MJ, as those on the set refer to him) had a director, vocal coach, and choreographer, it's obvious that he is all those things on stage. The precision with which he moves his body at 50 (far finer than mine at 26 or any age, no doubt) is astonishing. By "Smooth Criminal," the fourth or so song in set list, I had a huge grin on my face and had to warn myself not to get too emotional. MJ describes the jazzy behind the beat take on the opening to "The Way You Make Me Feel"* to his piano player "like you're dragging yourself out of bed."

He never quite belts it out the way you wish he would and know he can (saving his voice for the performance that will never be), and there are a couple of diva moments scattered in there. But the respect with which he treats his company and the awe they show him in response are palpable. When he says it's "for the fans," you actually believe him. It's clear the man was more performance than person. For the fans was all he had to give.

By now we know what happened and seeing how dangerously thin MJ was on stage gives you pause, but This Is It still contains lovingly captured footage of an artist we'll never see again. B

Also, I don't mean to jump the gun or anything, but Orianthi and I are in love.

*Personal favourite.

Cairo Time (2009)

Patricia Clarkson has a way of opening up a character to you. With her voice and the way she moves her body, she suggests a life far beyond what a script can give you. Where other actors develop ticks so distracting they're ultimately pointless, Clarkson is elegant.

Good thing, too, because aside from the performances and the stunningly captured setting, there's little to distinguish Cairo Time. There's nothing extraordinary about a woman on vacation who finds herself drawn to the local (Alexander Siddig) acting as her guide. Clarkson and Siddig are restrained and beautiful in their roles, and Luc Montpellier's cinematography makes the most of Cairo's bustle and haunting surrounding dessert.

Though the main actors do their best, the movie is too sedate. It's the the kind of movie that you leave on low volume in the background while you work at home, providing a welcome rest for your eyes when you look up. C

Pop Culture Round Up: September 26 - October 30

That Sept 26 business is just a guess based on my last saved PC round up. It's a surprisingly short list for a month's worth of bookmarked items, but at least the folder is cleaned out instead of haunting me.

In praise of inconsistent directors

'Scots' opera gets Botswana treatment

Coen Brothers, Tarantino and Jewish History Real and Revised

Do readers really want video-book hybrids?

• No? Because we're not leotards? On the other hand, maybe most of us are.
  

Mann to create biopic of war photog Capa

Bette Davis: What a Star

Think yourself a better picture

Tate Modern puts void in Turbine Hall

• I love the Tate Modern. There's something refreshing and freeing in how balls out they are. They don't even care what you think - they are putting a giant black box in Turbine Hall. Deal with that.
  

Short Cuts | The New Republic

Halloween Book Burning at Baptist Church to Include Copies of the Bible

• I did a double take when I saw that headline? Who burns books anymore?
  

THE LAST DAYS OF THE POLYMATH

Do Soap Operas Boost Women's Rights? Economist Says Yes

With strong female characters, Hollywood suffers from a fear of failure

• Odd since so many examples point of movies that weren't very good or even roles that the actress wasn't very good in (e.g. Julia Roberts in Duplicity). Not that I don't agree about the lack of strong female characters at the box office, just question the examples given.
  

Zombieland (2009)

My review of Zombieland went live today over on (Cult)ure as part of Horror Week. Because it's a review and not whatever it is that I do here (or don't do here, given how little I've posted in the last year), there are things I left out. Nitpicky things, naturally; some spoilery things, and you know how spoiler adverse I am. But since that's the review and this is the blog, and since the movie came out almost a month ago, let's discuss those things here, shall we? Consider this the annotated review.

• Eventually they meet up with two resourceful sisters, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin.

Stone and Breslin are both winning as a pair of grifters, although the fact that they were grifters was so obvious from the word "go" that I was a little surprised at how stupid Eisenberg and Harrelson would have to be to fall for it. Also, because Stone is hot and approximately Eisenberg's character's age, there's a romantic interest there. Harrelson's character alternatively encourages Eisenberg or obliviously cockblocks, which is funny either way. I found it hard to believe, however, that a man who has obviously been alone and celibate for several months wouldn't even notice an attractive, prospective partner. Not that I wanted to watch an Eisenberg-Stone-Harrelson love triangle or to see Harrelson get creepy on Stone, but still, a throwaway "I'd hit it" is all I ask in the name of realism. Yes, zombies = not real, but the best of these movies put believable characters in extraordinary circumstances.

• Though the narration is oppressive early in the film -- when Eisenberg is the only character on screen
  

By "oppressive," I mean damn near omnipresent. In the PC round up I just published this morning (again, whoops), I link to an AV Q&A entirely because of Steven Heisler's answer. The one cliché he would do away with? "Almost all narrators or voiceovers in films." Ah, a kindred. When you only have one character, do you really need a non-stop monologue to go with him? Do you think viewers are incapable of interpreting what they see? I recommend you watch the first seven minutes of season four of Supernatural, which were nearly dialogue free, entertaining, and even suspenseful.

• Eisenberg's performance consists largely of his best Michael Cera impersonation.

I feel kind of bad for Eisenberg as he's older than Cera and quite possibly invented that particular comic delivery (props Madison for pinpointing who Eisenberg reminded me of), and, while there is a small novelty of seeing someone other than Cera do it, it's started to wear thin for even him. Hope he finds some other hook.

• Harrelson makes a delightfully badass roughneck.

He's the ninja version of a roughneck. It's completely silly, but it also suggests that would make an excellent action hero in the John McClane mold (more ordinary guy than super agent).

• The movie derives a surprising amount of mileage from [Harrelson's] ingenious killing techniques.

What the movie does not do is explain why each killing implement is abandoned as soon as it is used. It's always distracting in movies and on TV shows when someone uses a weapon and promptly tosses it while running away since that all but guarantees that the weapon will be needed again. Obviously that's not the case here (zombies stay dead), but it's still distracting. It could be that the zombie blood will infect Harrelson, but that's never made clear enough to know the reasoning for certain.

• It's not the performances, however, that make the movie so good.

I specifically wrote this line because my editor initially added a line about how the performance made this movie good despite the thin plot. While he was right that the initial draft needed rewriting, he was wrong about that point. The performances are good -- the movie overall is well cast -- but that's not why it's so laugh out loud funny.

• It's the off-beat "rules" Eisenberg's invented for survival and particularly the movie's illustration of said rules.

No, seriously. Not only is the soccer mom running from little girl zombies, they're little girl zombies dressed as princesses. That shit is priceless. And, as you can see, unrelated to the performances of the main players. It's all about direction (including set and art direction) and writing here.

• First time feature director Ruben Fleischer owes a debt to Shaun of the Dead (which he sort of acknowledges)

Which he also sort of makes fun of in having Eisenberg explain not to be stingy with bullets (the double tap) by cracking that it's not a cricket bat. They had to improvise!

Nitpicky as I am, I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. It's funny as all get out, and, though I am not good with horror, I do love a good dose of GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE! B+

Pop Culture Round Up: ? - September 25

Oops. I just left this sitting here instead of publishing it. Old news!

The curious appeal of miscellanea - The Boston Globe

David Denby goes on the hunt for snark, abuse in a public forum | Books | The Guardian

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Wire writer says adverts kill TV

Fox sets 'Fantastic' reboot - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety

Classic literature can take whatever we throw at it | Art and design | guardian.co.uk

Cliché, cliché, go away | Film | A.V. Club

The habit Hollywood can't seem to kick: Remakes | The Big Picture | Los Angeles Times

Evan Rachel Wood and Alexander Skarsgard Reportedly Canoodling -- Vulture -- Entertainment & Culture Blog -- New York Magazine

YouTube - Senator Al Franken draws map of USA

Forgotten Memories Are Still in Your Brain | Wired Science | Wired.com

New Season - Movies - Exploring New Routes to the Indies - NYTimes.com

A look at new paintings by Bob Dylan | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times

Golden Girl Betty White wins career honour

Reading Kafka 'enhances cognitive mechanisms', claims study | Books | guardian.co.uk

Valery Gergiev: The passion that drives the ultra patriot | Ed Vulliamy | Music | The Observer

When have we not been in the midst of a vampire craze? - By Christopher Beam and Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine

Lack of sleep linked to Alzheimer's - health - 24 September 2009 - New Scientist

Extract (2009)

The worlds that writer-director Mike Judge creates are so richly observed and true to life that it's almost (almost) worth waiting a decade for a spiritual sequel to Office Space. Idiocracy, while a clever satire in its own right, never quite comes to fruition the way these two movies do. With Judge at the helm, it's comedy first, life lessons later (or not at all).

Jason Bateman plays Joel, the owner of an extract plant on the verge of being bought out by General Mills. Naturally, this is the moment when Joel is beset by problems: his wife (Kristen Wiig) has ceased having sex with him, a freak accident puts an employee (Clifton Collins Jr.) out of commission, and a grifter (Mila Kunis) arrives to capitalize on this disaster.

While the movie sort of gives shortshrift to Wiig's hilarity in favour of Kunis' charms, it's also got one helluva supporting cast to offer plenty of other laughs from Ben Affleck's delightfully spaced out bartender to Dustin Milligan's hilariously blank gigolo to David Koechner's insanely obtuse neighbour.

At the centre of it all, we have Bateman playing what surely must be known as a Jason Bateman-type. It's sort of a wry everyman who reacts to the insanity around him with deadpan hilarity. There are variations: on Arrested Development, for example, Michael was also a complete narcissist. Mind you, that's not all he can do (cf. the sleaze he played in State of Play). On the other hand, who doesn't love this character? Who doesn't want to see Bateman grow rich playing him? If anything, the conflict that moves much of the plot forward is the movie's least believable element: who wouldn't have sex with Jason Bateman?

And even if you're not into that (but let's admit it: you are), Judge's instant (cult?) classic set pieces and set ups should keep you in quotes for weeks to come. Is there any better reason to see a movie? B+

Pop Culture Round Up: August 24 - 28

As Stars Slip at Box-Office, Hollywood Frets

Sienna Miller Stars in Patrick Marber’s 'After Miss Julie'

An Ode to Drew Barrymore

• Good, because I totally love her, too.

Dollar by Dollar, Patrons Find Artists on the Web

Something's Out of Line for Hollywood and Grown-Ups

The New Thing: Books Without Jackets

• I've always wondered what the point was. They just get ripped, and you end up throwing them out.
  

Early music discovered on carving

Is Evan Rachel Wood Playing a Lesbian Vampire?

• Never mind that! Click on the link about the shower scene and faint!
  

Pop Culture Round Up: July 25 - 31

Oldman lets Batman 3 news slip

Co-Chief of NBC Entertainment Departing - NYTimes.com

Mila Kunis hunts 'Black Swan' Shrew versus shrewd - Los Angeles Times

Vampires suck. - By Grady Hendrix - Slate Magazine

From the Set of Gossip Girl: An Illicit Kiss! -- Daily Intel -- New York News Blog -- New York Magazine

Howard to replace Lefevre in 'Twilight'

Robert Pattinson: Edward Is a Murderous Weirdo - E! Online

Twilight's Lefevre 'stunned' at loss of role

Jones County, Miss. - Civil War Fires Up Literary Shootout - NYTimes.com

Synchronised blinking stops viewers missing the action - life - 29 July 2009 - New Scientist

Replaced Twilight Actress ‘Stunned,’ Possibly With Good Reason -- Vulture -- Entertainment & Culture Blog -- New York Magazine

Jeremy Renner is talk of 'Town'

Vulture Taste Test: Tru Blood -- Vulture -- Entertainment & Culture Blog -- New York Magazine

Robert Downey Jr Loves Jude

Tim Burton's art to show at MoMA

Film - Four Decades of Cary Grant Movies in BAMcinématek Series - NYTimes.com

Seth Rogen: A Career in T-shirts -- Vulture -- Entertainment & Culture Blog -- New York Magazine

"And, finally, here are some completely gratuitous pictures of penises to annoy the censors and to hopefully spark some sort of controversy."

I don't actually discuss any full frontal male nudity in my latest Culture article, but I do tackle the heyday of gratuitous sex scenes: 80s action movies. You're welcome!

What's that? Two articles in two weeks? I guess you're lucky, kid.

The Hurt Locker (2008)

Allow me to alarm you: what we have here is a movie worth seeing this summer that lives up to its hype.

Director Kathryn Bigelow, working from a script by Mark Boal (whose only previously produced work is In the Valley of Elah), quotes "war is a drug" at the opening and then makes good on that promise.

Inside of 131 minutes, bombs will detonate, people will be shot, and the truly terrifying thing is getting up and going through it the next day. Bigelow excels at creating tension so that no two diffusions are the same and the audience will never be sure who will make it to the next scene.

The movie is anchored by compelling, human performances across the board. Whether it is in the script or no, Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty refuse to allow their characters to slip archetypes of maverick, by the book, and the green soilder caught between them, respectively. Geraghty finds time to give his character quiet confidence, while Mackie explores Sanborn's short fuse.

All of it supports Renner's finely calibrated performance. At no point will he let his character be any one thing, and he will not make it easy for you to figure him out. There are always more layers, each of them revealing a solid human being, so fully flesh-and-blood that your connection is difficult to shake after you leave the theatre. It doesn't hurt that he possesses the kind of sex appeal that draws you in slowly and hooks you for life.

A couple of shots recalled Lord of War, but this is a better movie than that. Barry Ackroyd is probably the better DP. In The Wind That Shakes the Barley, he showed us how guerrilla warfare can make a homeland seem alien and inhospitable. Here, he takes an alien and inhospitable land in a time of war and makes it home. The desert's embrace may be unfamiliar but at least it's warm.

The triumph of Bigelow's production, much like triumph of its performances, is in its ability to keep you guessing. The plot is constantly twisting away from you and not in the Shyamalan "gotcha!" way. Instead, the uncertainty rings palpably, petrifying true. Having Guy Pearce, David Morse, and Ralph Fiennes show up is just gravy. A

Pop Culture Round Up: July 11 - 24

Ryan Reynolds lands Green Lantern role

Writing Pictures: Ann Hornaday on the Art of the Hollywood Screenplay

As Music Mags Fall, Pitchfork Is Booming

Andrew Sarris - A Survivor of Film Criticism’s Heroic Age

Daniel Radcliffe Aces Interview With Terrified 11-Year-Old Reporter

Tate perfects the modern art of living dangerously

Female Directors, Still A Scarce Movie Commodity

Chace Crawford Moves Out of Ed Westwick's Apartment

... | The New York Observer

Leonard Cohen's heard enough of Hallelujah

Third 'Bridget Jones' in works

Austen in sea monster mash-up

Emmy Nominations Announced!

Artistic tendencies linked to 'schizophrenia gene'

The privileged Westerner’s guide to talking about the rest of the world

Valery Gergiev: The Ring master

Report says doom and gloom of movie biz means make more movies!

Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite dies

The Tyranny of Choice

Jane Austen tames Tombstone

True Blood's Christian Conservative Vampire-Hater Speaks Out

Target’s Book Club Can Make Sleepy Titles Into Best Sellers

Sam Raimi plays 'Warcraft'

Researchers Train Minds to Move Matter

The end of the affair: five of the best breakup movies

Singer gets his revenge on United Airlines and soars to fame

Twilight 2 Soundtrack to Feature Non-Belchy Thom Yorke Track

Jeffrey Wells Is on Team Edward

Today’s Swooniest Brit Actors

"You can't be gay for one person. Unless you're a lady. And you meet Ellen."

Oh, Lemon, you are wrong on that account. You can be plenty gay for just one person. It happens on damn near every TV show I watch. That's why my latest Culture article is a HoYay round up.

And if you're not keeping up with the advice column, you probably have no idea how to deal with the first of May. Send your May Day questions or questions about any other day of the year to advice@culturemagazine.ca.

The Short Take: A pile of ticket stubs and you

Alright, I've just gathered up a loose collection of ticket stubs from various locations (on my desk, that pile next to my desk, that other pile near my desk). We're going to go through them in the order they appear. And so . . .

Two Lovers (2008)

Writer-director James Gray remains a fascinating, fatalistic director with a fantastic sense of place. Though romance isn't his forte, the combination of Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Vinessa Shaw is potent. Phoenix is in fine form as always, perhaps even finer, as a suicidal man pushed toward a caring family friend (Shaw) but drawn toward the troubled shiksa upstairs (Paltrow). The ending is either the happiest or saddest one you could imagine and probably both. B-

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Leave it to writer-director Sam Raimi to come back to horror with a PG-13 comedy. It's the slickest entry in the hor-com subgenre since Shaun of the Dead and twice as silly. Every time you think it couldn't get sillier, it's genuinely scary. Just when you really start to freak, the demon breaks into a jg. "You shame me" deserves its own place in the lexicon. B+

Adoration (2008)

Naturally the first Atom Egoyan movie I sit through is as herky-jerky as this one. Even when you make it to the end and the plot sorts itself out, it still doesn't make any sense. And as a post-9/11 commentary, it comes awfully late to make what amounts to broad points. Excellent choice if you are in the mood for some Canadian eye candy. C

Bart Got a Room (2008)

When did 80s fashions become code for quirk? Everyone looks and acts like it's 1987, and then Alia Shawkat rolls up in a Neon to completely throw everything off. Though the cast (Shawkat, William H. Macy, Cheryl Hines, and newcomer Steven Kaplan) are a likable mix, the movie never really moves beyond the obvious. Not a waste if you happen to stumble upon it, but certainly not worth the effort to seek out. C

Nightwatching (2007)

Such an interesting premise, such boring execution. Writer-director Peter Greenaway sets and lights every scene like it is a Rembrandt, the net result being that you can't see half of what's going on. You also can't understand half the dialogue -- thanks to the think accents -- even when the characters address the camera directly. When you're going theatrical, why go halfway? Too bad for Martin Freeman in a rare dramatic lead. It suits him. D

Gomorrah (2008)

Possibly one of the bleakest movies ever made. Director Matteo Garrone deftly lays out five glamour-free Mafia-centred stories in Naples that combine in an interlocking system of oppression from which there is no escape. Despite the lack of uplift, it's surprisingly urgent, even necessary, viewing. A-

Pop Culture Round Up: July 4 - 10

Religion : La plus vieille bible en ligne

Faiths compete on Turkish game show

Slate's Summer Movies issue

Why You Can’t Keep Your Foot Out of Your Mouth

Monkeys have a memory for grammar

Beethoven's Ninth unites the Japanese in song

Teacher's racy novel 'to encourage pupils to read'

Mr. Farber has been killed by a scrunt: 17 films and TV shows that turn the tables on critics

Would You Vote for Alec Baldwin?

Is Manhattan Really As Bad As It Appears on 'NYC Prep' and 'The Real Housewives of New York City'?

I Love You, Man trailer banned by U.K. watchdog

Zooey Deschanel set for 'Highness'

Apparently, It Is a Crime to Wear a Costume in Times Square

First jobs and pop-culture memories

Pop Culture Round Up: June 20 - July 3

1) I typed "poop culture." Twice.

2) Two weeks worth is a lot of stuff to make pithy comments about, so I'll give it to you as is. Maybe I'll go back and add some thoughts later.

Movies online: The future is (almost) here

Small windows cramp big movies

Pop What You Preach!

Crazy in Love: A new book makes the case for passionate obsession.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Shows His Fierce Sensitivity in '500 Days of Summer'

Exile on Madison Avenue: Goings On

Can women write about sex?

A Wandering Mind Heads Toward Insight

The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner on His Bomb-Dismantling Playlist

Movies offer escape. Theatre lets us understand

How DVD marketing is rewriting the history of film.

Beatles poster sells for $50,000

Zac Efron to topline thriller for Mandate

Oscar expands best pic noms to 10

A Candy Q&A: 'True Blood' star Stephen Moyer answers your questions

Nazi Loot Recovery Is Slow, Arbitrary, Claimants’ Groups Say

Holocaust Conference Urges More Efforts on Looted Art

Historian probes origins of letter found in wall at MFA

Film Scores

Academy may silence original-song Oscar

Art criticism is not a democracy

Inside the Classics: A Critic Runs Smack Into The 21st Century

OMG: New Blonde Replaces Gossip Girl’s Serena!

Canadians Seth Rogen, Michael Cera named Oscar judges

Rembrandt: a portrait of the artist as a young lad

Bravo, Sarah Jessica Parker launching art-themed reality series

What are the greatest gangster movies?

Stop the Music: Oscar Misses the Melody

Godfather loser, Hollywood legend

Public Enemies (2009)

This summer has offered a pretty bland movie going experience so far, and Public Enemies is no exception. Perhaps I set myself up to be disappointed after highly anticipating the movie for so long. Perhaps not.

The movie begins with two of the exact type of gangbuster sequences you would want it to: John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) organizes a jail break, and Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) guns down Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum, and that's all you'll see of him). Two driven, organized, powerful men at cross purposes that are bound to crash into each other. Heat for the Great Depression. Those two sequences are . . . mildly tense.

Director and co-writer Michael Mann has lost his edge. His last effort, Miami Vice, suffered from the same inert, distanced quality that puts, if anything, a fifth wall between the audience and the story. There's no way to get involved because there's nothing to get involved in. Forcing Jaime Foxx to quote The Eagles didn't do the movie any favours either.

Possibly worse was when I realized that I had seen this movie before, only better. No, not Heat, although I am sure that's what everyone was thinking. It's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Both are long, introspective looks at famous criminals and the men that killed them, peeling back the layers to reveal a criminal who has accepted said death as inevitable and a killer who cannot yet grasp the consequences of his actions. Assassination was exactly like the winter it depicted: cold, haunted, and delicate enough to contain the tender promise of spring.

Public Enemies is none of those things. It's dull when it should be exciting (unless it intended to make bank robbing look boring with occasional spatters of violence) and tepid when it should be hot (there's something weirdly chemistry free about the pairing of super hotties Depp and Marion Cotillard). Elliot Goldenthal's score is mismatched the few minutes it is used. Otis Taylor's "Ten Million Slaves" works far better when it comes up.

Mostly though, I would have killed for some exposition, which is a strange complaint for a movie that's 140 minutes long. But why is Purvis so innovative yet inept? What kind of man is he? Why is Dillinger so sad?* What's with Billie (Cotillard) and Dillinger's fatalistic take on relationships?

To say that Depp, Bale, and Cotillard offer great performances** is to say nothing at all. We already know that they are great performers. Mann drummed the personality and magnetism right out of them, and, in doing so, nearly drummed it right out of the movie. There's enough in the story (and the supporting cast) to make the movie worth watching, but it's almost in spite of Mann. Plus, Depp did me the great favour of singing, as it's next to impossible for me to see him in jail and not expect him to burst into song. C+

*Truly, if you could only use one word to describe Depp's take on Dillinger, it would be "sad." Ironic given that others will describe him as "jolly," and I think it may have been ironic on purpose. There's one for you, movie!

**Purvis' walk, in particular, killed me. It was a nice contrast to Dillinger's swagger and stomp.

Little Ashes (2008)

I'm sure I've said this before, but it bears repeating: the worst thing a movie can do is be boring. Not matter what else you do, if you can't get the audience to pay attention, you've got nothing.

It's unclear exactly how writer Philippa Goslett and director Paul Morrison couldn't find a single interesting element in the lives of Federico García Lorca (Javier Beltrán), Salvador Dalí (Robert Pattinson), and Luis Buñuel (Matthew McNulty). Talented and passionate artists forged, in part, in fascism and war, so let's . . . put a tragic love story in the centre. Okay, that might not be so bad.

It wouldn't be, again, if it weren't so boring. Often in fiction, the best romances are forbidden, and the hottest relationships are unconsummated. Here we have one that's both, but it's never possible to get swept up, in part, because the characters never do. Lorca and Dalí should be consumed by an overwhelming passion that drives them to break the rules, but all it really leads to is poetry (sexy?) and some unexplained combination of brattiness and psychological dysfunction* (weird).

Part of it is that Beltrán holds back while forgetting to suggest that his character is the one holding back. Emily pointed out that saying all his lines as though he is in physical pain just seems to be Pattinson's acting style, and, while we agreed that is makes a certain amount of sense for Edward, it makes a certain amount of sense here, too. I think he's trying to suggest the difficultly in expressing anything, especially anything that might be approaching truth, when one is so dedicated to artifice. Of course, the problem is that's what I think he's trying to suggest. That could just be how he acts.

Mostly, though, it all just seems like a waste of McNulty, whose momentary teary-eyed realization of the affair is possibly the best acted moment in the entire production. Morrison, I loved Solomon and Gaenor, but I think I might have just been high on the Gruffudd factor. Tragic love stories may have seemed your thing, but this time you disappoint. C-

*By which I only mean that he is portrayed as having some sort of mental problem.

Pop Culture Round Up: June 13 - 19

That's definitely an improvement over Paul Haggis.

Heh. I just read a story about how much more Internet savvy we are as a nation, too.

"But America’s film critics, an ornery lot, are not dead yet." Thank goodness.

Huzzah! I may have a morbid fascination with the idea of a new Whedon-less Buffy, but this is something I have no interest in seeing resurrected.

To the Zip List! Well, perhaps not.

This does not surprise me. Until we find proof that there are boatloads of unproduced scripts about women at every age and stage, I'd suggest that the people don't seem to understand how to write women, generally, and women's friendships, specifically. I would never want to be part of a reality show, but I can almost guarantee that if you were to follow my best friend and me for any length of time, you would find fodder for hundreds of characters, TV shows, and movies.

Yes , obviously. Relentlessly unfunny is the way this thing should go, given how relentless unnecessary the idea is.

If I could have only found a third 1959 story this week, the sentence, "Suddenly, 1959 is everywhere," would be true.

This is just a saying in my family.

Stories like this make me think that either my friends and I defy all demographic trends or that the survey techniques they use are subtle enough to capture their true markets. We do rent movies like guys, I'm told.

I laughed a little at this because I am mean. I also laugh a little at things like this. And things like this just make me happy.

Wolverine, Star Trek, & Terminator Salvation

2009: The summer in tent poles (so far)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

This movie does not, as I had previously thought, have a double colon in the title. They are missing out. Of course, the movie's also missing things like interesting characters, plots that make sense, and my attention. Punctuation's the least of their worries. Screenwriters David Benioff and Skip Woods seem to have thought of this movie backwards from action set pieces (cool guys don't look at explosions) and then filled out the bare minimum of plot between them. Gambit (Taylor Kitsch, deciding to do little in the Cajun accent department, but otherwise rocking) was cut from the first movie because of the budget, yet they're still doing the least they possibly can with the character. And for what? So we can laugh when Logan (Hugh Jackman, who I always want to type as Huge Jackman - that's his porn name) cuts a sink in half with his new adamantium claws? So we can get a backstory on his amnesia that makes no sense whatsoever? So Liev Schreiber can run around making his evil villain the most fun (and dangerous) character in the proceedings? Actually, that's kind of worth the price of admission. Though, like Watchmen, the movie is never so good as its opening montage (as Jimmy and Victor go from war to war over more than a century, Jimmy becoming disillusioned and Victor gradually losing his humanity), Schreiber's line reading on "Ooo, shiny," is too good to describe. He deserves a better movie. D

Star Trek

J.J. Abrams, look at you! Here we have something that doesn't start in the middle, makes sense without endless exposition, and is a heck of a lot of fun in the interim. Apparently you and scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are finally figuring these things out. Best of all, you found an inventive way to reboot the entire series that works. And really, I don't know if I've ever seen anything as badass as a 12 year-old driving a car off a cliff. Chris Pine may be an excellent Kirk, all cocksure swagger with just the right stripe of intelligence to pull it off, but Zachary Quinto as Spock owns that movie from start to finish. So long as you've got those two in place, you're set. Well, kickass Bruce Greenwood, dreamy Karl Urban, and adorable Simon Pegg and Anton Yelchin don't hurt either. This might be going some place good. Maybe cool it with the solar flares next time, though. B+

Terminator Salvation

Another colon-less confusing title! Another Anton Yelchin movie! In this case he goes from being adorable with an overblown accent and a head of curls, to, quite frankly, a little bit sexy with his tight pants and guns and the come-with-me-if-you-want-to-lives. The casting is spot on for this kid to grow into Michael Biehn. I have no idea why writers John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris (and the legions of other writers brought on to do rewrites, of course) chose to saddle him with a little mute girl and then didn't have the good sense to kill her (for pathos not my personal amusement), but what are you going to do? I'd rewrite this movie if I could. I'd tell McG to rethink the lighting scheme (not a joke), to give dreamboat Sam Worthington some direction other than "yell a lot," to give dreamboat Christian Bale some direction other than "brood." We get that he can brood, and we love that about him, we really do. I suspect that if I were hunted for the entirety of my life, I would brood a lot, too. But then I'd remember the immortal words of Roger Ebert, and I'd get the stick out of my ass. I'd remember that my character calls for imagination. Mostly, though, I'd call up those bastards in charge of cutting my trailers and ads and thank them for spoiling the only innovative twist the movie had going for it: do you know that Worthington's some kind of terminator? You do? Too bad the movie spends its entire first hour waiting for you to find that out. Bloody hell. There really ought to be some communication when it comes to these things. I don't know if I would have made the movie less boring, but I bet it would have been a good start. C

Pop Culture Round Up: June 6 - 12

How dare you tell us how to commence!

At first I thought there was only one series in this gallery that I would want to see rebooted, but there were actually quite a few I wouldn't mind seeing a modern spin on.

I gotta say, I agree with the screen size and quality objections.

"The Pillars of the Earth, an eight-part series starring Donald Sutherland and Ian McShane, is to screen in 2010." I have no idea what that is, but I want to watch it.

"Does it matter that George Orwell pinched the plot?" Yeah?

I have no idea what many of these things mean.

30 ROCK is a rip-off of THE MUPPET SHOW! The headline really says it all.

Oh, thank goodness. Also, set your PVRs.

One of these will work on me.

I know that they're taking a mocking tone, but that's kind of awesome.

I need to start planning my vacation now.

Read the article on which Saturday Night Fever was based.

That's a good point.

Very true. Now when does she wear that t-shirt?

Pop Culture Round Up: May 30 - June 5

Vladimir's got your back if you need someone to tell you that firing people is no biggie.

"If the consumer marketplace allows useful, effective products to disappear, then what is it good for? Or who is it good for? Not the person who's buying."

Good.

I can't decide if this is awesome or just kind of weird. Don't you like interacting with clerks?

Head butt!

Lick it!

If I made this list, it would be entirely different.

He's just trying to appeal to all the old school geeks out there.

Sad.

It's the last one that really makes the list.

This is the most exciting Black Panther news since Em told me that Shirley Thomson used to be one. The internet does not confirm that tidbit, though.

I like how "increased appetite" is likened to terrible suffering.

Journaling made easy. You should give one to every 12 year-old girl you know to save her from looking back on bad poetry when she's older.

"Oh, yeah? Me and my banana stand are going to kick your banana stand's ass!"

So many lovely treats for you over at the Bananas issue of Culture! First there's my latest article, a carefully culled list of bananas celebrities, hand-crafted by Sarah, Emily, and myself. Then you can move on to giggling at my bananas-themed YouTube picks, and finally settle down for some advice which, sadly, is not banana-related. If you have banana-related questions (or any questions really; the next theme is Sex), send them to advice@culturemagazine.ca.

And if you are not already doing so, don't forget to check out the mag's blog, as written by its editors. By which I mean, mostly Kevin and me.

Pop Culture Round Up: May 16-29

I was going to post some of these last week, but I realized that I only have five links and promptly lost the other ones I was going to add. They were about Chace Crawford and Footloose and how I am totally going to see that now. I think you can imagine the missing words.

This prompted a lengthy discussion as to whether or not he looked more or less vampirific. Guess which side I came down on?

Read my Sherlock Holmes trailer-related thoughts.

Get distracted my reading my blog. It's good for you.

The great IMAX swindle continues apace.

I guess I won't watch it after all.

This week in excellent news for lazy people: Perfectionism Linked to Early Death.

Hmm. I have mixed feelings about him.

I watched the mini-season and quite liked it, though I thought more Homicide than Hill Street Blues.

The original rake?

How else will you know that you're better than everyone else? On the other hand, it is free.

Dude has either not read the book or is desperate to film a sex scene.

I am morbidly fascinated and hope Perry can fit in a cameo.

I would read this.

I got all excited that they are making a movie, then sad that it's not with Edgar Wright, then excited about the comedy powerhouse.

I believe he also later wore an eye patch.

"Loving music, to a critic, cannot simply mean bestowing praise." It also means burns!

And, apropos of nothing, vampire abs.

17 Again (2009)

Back when this movie was heavily advertised, my feelings were equally split between thinking it looked terrible and thinking it looked cute. My curiosity won out. Fortunately, so did cute.

Zac Efron's basically doing a Matthew Perry impression for much of the movie, but there are worse ways to go with the role. He's got to break out somehow, so why not as everyone's favourite Friend? Sure, despite the fact that he's 21, I'm completely uncomfortable with the sight of his shiny, bronzed, hairless chest* (he is a child! put your clothes on!). Even so, he generates some serious heat with Leslie Mann (who wouldn't?), and he has a genuinely likeable screen presence. It will be nice if that translates to success outside of musicals as well.**

Of course, writer Jason Filardi's got this little problem where he can't tell the difference between 17 and 20, so he doesn't realize that if you had a child 20 years ago, that child would not be 17 today. It's completely distracting if you are the kind of person who gets hung up on that sort of thing, and I am exactly that person. Fortunately Michelle Trachtenberg rules (esp. on Gossip Girl), so it all comes clean in the wash.

He's also got this problem with sexual politics and can't seem to make up his mind about what position he wants to take. He ends up backing two horses: abstinence and marrying your high school sweetheart should you knock her up. Why isn't safe sex an option? What about oral and toys and a host of other options out there? Alright, I might be pushing it a little for a movie rated PG-13. I should just be happy that they acknowledged condoms.

All in all, it's a cute little movie about a guy who learns to stop being such a dick, which is a pleasant change as far as rom-coms go. Plus, you know, cute. B

*Unlike Hunter Parrish's chest, which we don't see at all but really should have.

**Though I would be all for a musical revival if one were to suddenly develop, MGM-style.

The Short Take: 2009 Crappy Movie Round Up

So we already had to do this once already, but we're going to do it again. I'm looking at this pile of ticket stubs, and that's what I think we should do. Let's get to it:

Knowing (2009)

If you saw this movie, it's pretty much because you think watching Nicolas Cage go crazy is funny (for this I also recommend Moonstruck). It's too bad that he has to spend a good portion of the movie not being crazy, as it's quite the stretch, but he gets there eventually, and then Rose Byrne actually yells, "We've got to think of the children!" As ridiculous end of the world movies by directors who made a couple of good movies a while ago, this is one of the better ones. Marco Beltrami's winking, pseudo-Hermann/Hitchcockian score certainly helps. C-

The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

It's a shame that this movie is dumb, boring, and not nearly as scary as is should be, as Kyle Gallner should really be more famous by now. He's an excellent actor and does not disappoint here, and his scenes with Virgina Madsen hint at the movie that could have been. Her scences with Martin Donovan, who I generally root for, do not. Apparently they were playing a married couple, as opposed to siblings, which is what I thought for much of the movie. Like so much of the movie, this is in no way evident or clear. Good work, team! D+

Duplicity (2009)

One of these days I'm going to write an article called, "The Problem with Tony Gilroy." Here's a preview: In his emphasis on impressive opening and closing sequences, on smart casting, and on sharp, playful dialogue, writer-director Tony Gilroy often misses a movie's most important element: plot. Things have to add up, Tony. Looking and sounding pretty doesn't cut it. C+

Fast & Furious (2009)

Cars go fast, Vin Diesel is furious (and kind of awesome), Paul Walker still can't act. What? I don't think anything else opened that weekend. What else explains the box office take? Fine, MILD SPOILER ALERT: the movie loses its best assest early on, and it's all downhill from there. But the beginning in the Dominician? That's a good movie right there. C