Feria Films

Your Reality Isn't Real: Sucker Punch (2011) and Source Code (2011)

2011-07-19T12:29:00.000-04:00

I'm just going to issue a blanket SPOILER ALERT now, okay? Okay.

Sucker Punch

I used to think that I knew the difference between a good trailer for a good movie and what's simply a good trailer, but Sucker Punch (and, subsequently, Priest) proved me wrong. Well, not "wrong," exactly. It's not like I thought that Sucker Punch was going to be some kind of masterpiece. I thought it would be stupid and fun, and it turned out to be only one of those things.

Props where props are due: the wordless opening is the movie's high point. It's scary, atmospheric, and moving in all the right ways. And then her horrible step-father? guardian? lawyer? hauls her off to the insane asylum. Now, right away we hit an issue for me: I get that she's aggrieved, but just keep shooting, okay? The bad man wants to hurt you, so keep shooting until the gun runs out of bullets.

Our protagonist (Emily Browning) doesn't have a name at this point, just a nickname she picks up further down the rabbit hole. And since that nickname is Baby Doll, I'm not all that inclined to use it. Lacking better options . . .

As a result of the abuse heaped upon her in Level 1 (asylum, a.k.a reality), Baby Boll creates Level 2 (cabaret). I want to be very clear about this: Level 2 exists in Baby Doll's mind. It's an escape. So you might think that it would be, in some way, an improvement over the first level. It's not. It's better lit and possibly cleaner, but it's in no way better. Instead of being abused by the employees of the asylum, the girls are sex slaves at a cabaret/burlesque club.

That's where Level 3 (anime/WWII mash-up) comes in. Because of all the sex slavery, Baby Doll creates a third level within her mind. The movie is very clear that Baby Doll knows it isn't real and can enter this level of her own volition. It's all sailor scouts and dragons and zombies, which is pretty cool. A movie still filled with gaping plot holes and random infantilization, but I guess an elite squad of modern day Amazons can't be perfect. Here's the the part that I don't follow. Level 1 is horrible, so she needs an escape. Level 3 exists within her mind, and she has the power to access it. So why does the equally horrible in-betweener Level 2 even exist? Beyond giving Oscar Isaac something to do, that is. He's fantastic as dirty David Krumholtz, but that's neither here nor there.

Two reasons. One has to do with the plot, and the other reason, which I suspect is of greater significance, has to do with objectification. See, when people are unjustly institutionalized and abused, you feel bad about objectifying them. Same goes for the cabaret. They're being forced to dance (only dance, in Baby Doll's case, though it's a metaphor), but she still needs to escape the escape of her own creation. So she goes to another world where everyone is still in skimpy costumes. On the plus side, they know kung fu. So when they're running around in short skirts and garters and skin-tight everything with a samurai sword or bazooka, you don't have to feel as bad about objectifying them because they're empowered (except for the part where they're not) and because hey, it's not real anyway.

It's Level 3 and Level 3 ALONE that Baby Doll gets the instructions/picks up the tools to help her escape the cabaret. At the very end of the movie, we find out that they were actually using them on Level 1 to escape the asylum like it's some big significant REVEAL. But we already know that Level 2 doesn't exist, so it must bear some relationship to Level 1 or else what's the point of everything we just watched. Maybe I put too much stock in the audience's intelligence, but I'm pretty sure if the girls ran around picking up a map, fire, a knife, and a key in Level 3, we could guess what they would be used for. But then we'd have to watch them escape (and in some cases die) in the grungy real world instead of the bustiers and sparkly tights of Cabaret Land, so we'd be right back to feeling guilty about the objectification. As reasons for getting away with leering at pretty young things go, that's pretty gross.

The worst of it is that I think Zack Synder's a fairly talented visual stylist, so I wish I could go to his house with my crayons and construction paper and storyboard a simple tale for him (like how in the world I found his house in the first place). At the end, I would say, "And that's a narrative," and it would blow his mind. But until then, his fundamental lack of storytelling skill will never make up for his letting his fanboy salivating run wild. Down, boy. D

When I saw Source Code, I thought it was the movie Sucker Punch should have been. Which I realize doesn't make sense on its face with the terrorism and the using someone else's memory and the 8 minutes, but it's there nonetheless. Source Code is about putting a guy into a situation that ends violently every time and daring him to find a way out limited resources and a whole lot of imagination.

Since that guy is played by Jake Gyllenhaal, you've got a delightful amount of imagination on display. When you pair him with Michelle Monaghan, you get a nice little lesson in chemistry as a bonus.

The movie has this fantastic built in cheat: because they need Captain Colter Stevens (love that name) to stop an imminent terrorist threat, they don't have time for his questions or his Swiss cheese memory. It's 24 by way of Quantum Leap, and Dr. Samuel Beckett himself gets a voice cameo complete with signature catchphrase. The "they" in question is Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright, who shows up to say stuff like, "The mind is like a light bulb," which makes just enough sense that you think, "I get that . . . wait, what?" BOOM! The bomb goes off, and we start all over.

Unfortunately, the movie doesn't go quite go like gangbusters, and gangbusters is what you need in this situation. There's time-outs for pseudo-science, and eventually Monaghan runs out of new ways to say, "I took your advice. It was very good advice," without making you want to slap someone.

And then. Oh, boy, and then. It's not that Gyllenhaal couldn't earn that conclusion though sheer force of charisma, and it's not that the movie as a whole doesn't do a far better job of earning its happy ending than The Adjustment Bureau. It's that I can't figure out what makes Captain Colter Stevens better than the rest of us or what will happen next. If I could find the pulse of one of those ideas, I might let the other one go, but I can't on either point. I don't feel like they broke free and created a new mirror world (the bean, the bean, always back to the bean). I feel like they created a cycle that will carry forward every time America faces such a crisis. Send in Captain Colter Stevens (can't stop saying it) and his wily imagination, and he will get to Farmiga every time. She'll let him alter reality every time. And there he will be, loose, stealing yet another life from someone who . . . ceases to exist? No, seriously, where is Sean Fentress? Is he trapped inside while Colter Stevens gets the girl, à la Being John Malkovich? Or is dead dead in any reality? And how is Stevens going to fake being a middle school history teacher? Doesn't Fentress have a family and friends who will notice a significant shift in his personality? Don't show me a movie that wants me to think then tell me stop thinking beyond the end credits.

There's a read on this movie as an inferior product to director Duncan Jones' last offering, Moon (in fairness, he didn't pen this one). It's the same story of multiples and doing a job you can't fully understand, guided by a voice that may or may not have your best interests at heart. But what it makes up for in explosions, it somehow loses in plot. It sounds obvious, but setting the story in the future is a pretty good way to get the audience to suspend disbelief. If they had picked up the pace a little and dropped some of the malarkey, they probably would have gotten away with it. B

X-Men: First Class (2011)

2011-06-06T12:41:00.002-04:00

Though he may have directed the lackluster Kick-Ass, Michael Vaughn was also responsible for Layer Cake, and it's hard not to imagine he had creating the next Bond in mind while polyglot Michael Fassbender slinks through exotic locales, his impeccably tailored ensembles never quite concealing the malice in his movements. X-Men: First Class isn't quite the Magneto movie we were once promised, but it's awfully close.

Of course, Erik Lehnsherr isn't the only character whose origins we must explore this time around. Charles Xavier as able-bodied womanizer gets play, too, and James McAvoy is having a helluva time doing it. His delight in his fellow mutant is as genuine as it is joyful, and none makes him more so than his new bestie.

But since this movie isn't X-Men: Besties, Erik and Charles have to pick up a few friends along the way. Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) acquit themselves well (particularly Hoult, whose American accent is flawless), but the rest threaten to disappear into a two dimensional melting pot of "ooo, look, powers!" (Is Riptide mute?) Combined with a slightly too long running time and a bizarrely paced trilogy,* the flaws keep the superb performances from transcending the movie. B+

*SPOILER ALERT Here's what I mean by bizarrely-paced trilogy: EVERYTHING happens in this movie. Magneto branches off on his own, Charles loses the use of his legs, Hank turns blue . . . it just makes me wonder what's left. Wouldn't you have the Charles/Erik relationship dissolve in part 2 and come to a head in part 3?

Also, and this is unrelated, hiding out at your own house is pretty obvious. Where ever will they look?

UPDATE: I meant to say that I also saw The Hangover Part II this weekend and can tell you with near-certainty that you would be far better off renting The Hangover than paying to see that garbage in the theatre.

Thor (2011)

2011-05-16T16:52:00.001-04:00

I was more confused than excited when it was announced that Kenneth Branagh would be directing Thor. The fact that he didn't cast himself in it was a positive sign, but the trailer and tv spots made the movie look more dull than anything else. Though it's not a top shelf Marvel adaptation (not as sprightly as Iron Man or as deliciously weird and weighty as Spider-Man 2), the movie's pretty good. Don't bother with the 3D, though; at one point I asked my viewing companion if anything was even in 3D. Maybe Mjölnir came at us at some point?

What took me by surprise was how much I like Thor, the character. Here's the thing about the god of war: he's remarkably angst-free. Sure, some stuff gets him down, but he bounces back awfully quickly. He's not a orphan, nothing tragic happens to give him his abilities or drive, he wastes no time in adapting to Earth, and, when he likes a girl, he just goes ahead and lets her know. None of this "can't be with you in order to protect you" malarkey. He learns a few necessary lessons, and it's all derry-doing from there on out. He's practically Errol Flynn, if Errol Flynn were a giant war-mongering Labrador retriever. Depending on who you read, Chris Hemsworth is either serviceable or turning in a star-making performance. I was going to tell you to split the difference to find something closer to the truth, but, given how much I like the role, a good part of that must be down to Hemsworth (or as I initially typed, "The Hemsworth"). I should just admit that I love that big slab of beefcake. Seriously, though, he is huge.

Juxtaposing him with teeny Natalie Portman makes for an effective sight gag, but it's the lovely way that serious scientist Jane Foster comes undone by the courtly colossus that really makes the relationship (and the movie) tick. Stellan Skarsgård is equally up for some good old fashioned Norse fun, and I bet he had plenty of Viking advice to pass on the Hemsworth, given that he is the father of one. The vision of Asagard as a 1930s golden wonderland presided over by Anthony Hopkins is just icing.

Though it could do with a little more substance, it's a decent first outing and an excellent addition to the rapidly expanding Marvel movie universe. B

The Adjustment Bureau (2011) and Never Let Me Go (2010)

2011-03-23T11:30:00.001-04:00

When David Norris (Matt Damon)'s Senate campaign goes belly up because he mooned his frat brothers at a college reunion, it's hard to believe that the State of New York would be so deeply offended. It's not exactly like they have the best taste in morally upright politicians. Still, Damon sells the crushing knowledge that the election is over long before the media calls it, so, when he meets cute with Elise (Emily Blunt) in the men's room before he gives his concession speech, it's not hard to believe that he would get this buzzed from something positive happening in his life.

The movie lives or dies by this meeting. Either you buy that these two attractive people, high on the unlikeliness of the situation, pheromones, and maybe something more, would get this intimate with each other this quickly, or you don't. Fortunately Damon and Blunt's chemistry is palpable, so it's easy to buy.

The next bridge this movie has to sell you is its premise of a group of nattily attired men who make "adjustments" that help guide people toward their destinies. Since one is Anthony Mackie and one is John Slattery, it's not so bad. When David accidentally sees too much, they level with him but caution him to carry their secret to his grave and to stay away from Elise. The former proves a lot easier than the latter.

Again, this isn't so hard to believe or follow, but longer it goes on, the more ridiculousness writer-director George Nolfi has to pile on, and the further away the movie strays from credulity. Suddenly David's a fool for love and Mackie's a Magical Negro and Elise is a damsel in distress. All of this could be tolerated if not for the complete cop out that is the ending. Associate Producer Eric Kripke, I'm looking at you.

The cop out put me in mind of last year's Never Let Me Go, which featured a similarly doomed couple kept apart by forces beyond their control. For the most part, those "forces" are Ruth (Keira Knightley), though there's a lot stacked against Kathy (Carey Mulligan) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield). Mostly that they are (SPOILER) clones grown for their vital organs.

Though director Mark Romanek's yellow tinted lens does it best to draw you into the hazy half lives of our protagonists, it's difficult -- especially after the fact -- not to ask basic questions like, "Why don't they just run away?" Maybe that idea is better addressed in the novel, but there's no reason here why they accept their fate.

The prevailing air of fatalism doesn't stop the movie from being affective nonetheless, particularly early on when the school received a "bumper crop" (that's a punch to the gut) and later when Kathy and Tommy finally, finally, finally get out from under Ruth's thumb. Her reason why is so obvious that when she says it, "durr" seems the appropriate response, but the spark of hope it lights in the others carries over to the audience. The ending's not quite as crushing as it should be, but it's close and certainly a blueprint for what Nolfi et al. should have done. The Adjustment Bureau, B; Never Let Me Go, B+.

In other news:

The Adjustment Bureau did make me think about how people always say that Slattery gets all the best lines on Mad Men and how it's not fair, but c'mon. His delivery is the best in the business. He makes "son of a bitch" a laugh line.
Never Let Me Go: the song of the title, if you're interested.

The Lincoln Lawyer, Paul, and Limitless (all 2011)

2011-03-21T13:15:00.000-04:00

The Lincoln Lawyer

I'll admit, however much I should be embarrassed about this, that I was most excited to see The Lincoln Lawyer this weekend. I'm no Matthew McConaughey fan. Heck, I'm not even a McConaughey apologist. But I do remember a time when there was a chance McConaughey might make a good movie instead of, say, The Wedding Planner, and that chance was roughly 15 years ago, so it's good to see that guy back again.

Because, between this and A Time to Kill, is there anything he does better than lawyer? He's so damn charming as a unscrupulous defense attorney because, hey, even scum deserve the full measure of the law that you root for him. You root for him because McConaughey makes it clear that there's a man behind the charlatan. Of course, he doesn't keep his shirt on the entire time (the 80s are making a comeback), but it's a step in the right direction.

Sadly, Ryan Phillippe took a step in the wrong direction, away from acting and toward smirking, as did the ad department by including a near final scene in the trailer.

Still, the movie deserves full points for the way everything, just everything, comes together in the end (even the walking 50s anachronism), and for the way this is not a redemption story. Don't get me wrong -- McConaughey's Mick struggles to put right an injustice over the course of the film. But he doesn't turn into a better, decent, pro-bono for the poor lawyer or any such thing in the end. He deals with the specifics of this case and moves on. I like that. I didn't like the spiny camera of insanity, but I liked that. B

Paul

I wasn't sure entirely what to expect from Paul except that Pegg + Frost - Wright would never be as good as Pegg + Frost + Wright. No offense to Pegg and Frost, who are delightful, but Wright's visual wizardry not only adds panache to the proceedings but mines every aspect of comedy so that the visual isn't just a delivery mechanism. Director Greg Mottola, whose work I liked for Superbad, doesn't bring it in the same way here.

I don't know how to put this except to say that it's just not that funny. It is funny, there are laughs, but there's no hysterical "did you see/hear that" arm-clutching action. There's more like smiling, guffawing, nodding funny. Part of it is that the script is smart without being particularly clever in its ribbing (fundamentalists = broad side of barn, but the devil's in the details on that one), and the other part is the direction/cinematography/editing doesn't fully support it.

What surprised me was how much I liked Seth Rogen's voice work, especially after The Green Hornet practically threw me into fits. His anger is toned down, and, without the teddy bear exterior, a greater nuance of emotion gets through. It's very sweet, really, how this goofy, fun-loving, chain smokin' alien just wants to get home. And can't drive. B

Limitless

There's a time and a place for that bane of my movie existence, narration, and Limitless is almost entirely it. It's hard for us to understand exactly how NZT functions just by watching Eddie (Bradley Cooper), other than knowing it's Adderall times a million, without him explaining that he's not wired, just focused. Stop for science: you already use all of your brain (just not consciously), and being able to cut down distractions wouldn't necessarily give you the ability to understand everything. Science break over.

Cooper is perfectly cast as a smugly handsome overachiever, though he starts out in sad-sack Will mode: a struggling, scraggly writer who bumps his ex-brother-in-law (Johnny Whitworth, aka A.J. from Empire Records, who's apparently been in other things I've seen over the years without my noticing) during a particularly low moment and naturally gets hooked on a drug that, at the very least, makes him feel limitless. When said ex-BIL ends up with a bullet in his head, Eddie grabs the drugs and gets out, but it's really only a matter of time before the same fate catches up to him.

Of course, how he gets there involves some camera work and murky storytelling I could have done without, so it's not perfect. It's fluff: well cast fluff but fluff nonetheless. A little more emotional heft, and we could have gotten there. Ah, well. At least I like Abbie Cornish now. B-

Pop Culture Round-Up: January 29 - February 11, 2011

2011-02-11T17:36:00.000-05:00

Tyranny of the Alphabet - By Timothy Noah - Slate Magazine
You might be like, "Huh?" but, as a Y, let me tell you that I read this entire thing nodding and going, "This is SO TRUE." Also very disappointing for five year-old me to learn that you never get over it even if you change your name since as I child I truly thought that marrying someone whose name came higher up (look, even that!) in the alphabet was my ticket to happiness.

A Golden Age of Foreign Films, Mostly Unseen - NYTimes.com
Aw, I see them! Also, Carlos is really long. Less so when you realize that it was originally a two-parter, but still.

Narcissus Regards a Book - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Hmm, I don't actually remember why I wanted to read this, so it will be surprise to all of us.

The Tyee – Frugging Lycanthropes! - The Sadies make the great Canadian music video.
How could dancing werewolves not be a good thing?

Separating Fact From Film - WSJ.com
It's time for Black Swan backlash, no?

CBC News - Books - Canada Reads names 2011 winner
It is sadly not there any longer, but this article was originally published with the subhead (and I am not making this up): SPOILER ALERT: Prize winner revealed below. I'm spoiler-averse, but are things so off-kilter that articles clearly announcing winners need spoiler alerts? WARNING: This article contains news!

‘Black Swan’ Deconstructed, Film’s Many Faces - NYTimes.com
And there it is. Odd, because even as I was watching it I thought an apropos subtitle would be "Nina's failure to orgasm," but I didn't make the link, "And also sexism."

FFWD - Calgary Screen - Film Features - Romantic movies for the fellas
Or the Aprils.

FFWD - Calgary Screen - Film Features - Rom-com romp
I haven't seen four out of five, so let's talk about numero cinq. Lars and the Real Girl should totally make you barf. It's cute enough while you are watching it but not cute enough to stop you from thinking that what Lars is doing isn't radical therapy. His "solution" to ending his surrogate relationship -- so that he can have a real one -- is to kill his girlfriend. That's not going to help him having happy, functioning relationships in the future. His prospective human girlfriend should run for the hills.

'Twilight' Writer Melissa Rosenberg Takes Over Summit's 'Highlander' Script (Exclusive) - Heat Vision
As my best friend put it when she sent this link to me, "Best. News. Ever." But how can anyone improve on the Kurgan?

1968-75: How 'X-Rated' Became Synonymous With 'Porn' - James Fallows - Culture - The Atlantic
X-rated is so overrated.

"I jest, I jive!"

2011-01-28T18:33:00.000-05:00

Yet another petty grievance with IMDb's redesign: instead of showing you the quote that contains the keyword for which you have searched, you only get the matching titles. Then you have to go dig the quote out yourself. From hundreds of returns. Like that's useful. No one does a search to make their lives more complicated. Eff, that is stupid.

Not what we're here to talk about though. Two things: 1) check out my latest Culture article, "The January Movie," in which I set out the find the best of the traditionally terrible movies that come out this month. 2) This here blog is seven (7!) today. While the number of posts have been on a steady decline over the years, in part because recapping tv shows over on Culture's blog is pretty dang time consuming, and it would be narcissistic and not terribly accurate to say that my writing has improved, I can say that I'm still going to see way more movies than someone who isn't getting paid to should and that I'm still writing about them. I can say that. If you've been sticking with me regardless of where I pop up, thank you.

Now I'm off to buy bloggy something made out of wood or copper or a desk set. A wood and copper desk set?

Pop Culture Round Up: January 15 - January 28, 2011

2011-01-28T18:18:00.000-05:00

Getting GG with it :: Film :: VUE Weekly
I initially though this was about the GGs (the literary award kind), but it turns out to be about filmmaking. Cool!

Maisonneuve | Portraits of a Changing Paris
Largely because I just went there.

Two spaces after a period: Why you should never, ever do it. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine
I couldn't agree more.

Vulture Critics’ Poll: What’s the Worst Movie of 2010? -- Vulture
The best part is the individual ballots where you find outliers, often movies that are ignored or even well regarded, but one critic just hated.

Speak the speech ... Shakespeare's plays to be performed in 38 languages | Culture | The Guardian

Directors: Directors on directing - latimes.com

Roger Ebert: Film Criticism Is Dying? Not Online - WSJ.com
What can I say? This is a perpetual concern of mine.

When it comes to humour, we live in funny times - The Globe and Mail

Adam Haslett on Stanley Fish's How To Write a Sentence. - By Adam Haslett - Slate Magazine

The strange trajectory of Hollywood movies: Fizzling in U.S. but skyrocketing overseas | The Big Picture | Los Angeles Times
"But he's big in Japan!"

BoyGirls who like GirlBoys :: Film :: VUE Weekly
Underrepresented.

The Social Network (2010) and The King's Speech (2010)

2011-01-27T16:15:00.010-05:00

There's talk in some parts that The Social Network's triumph over The King's Speech at the Golden Globes is some kind of referendum on the middlebrow melodrama. When I first started cooking up The Underrated List, "middlebrow melodrama" was my initial M. While I wouldn't go back and change my entry now, they -- specifically historical* ones -- hold a special place in my movie going heart.

That said, The Social Network is a better movie than The King's Speech. It's already gone through two backlashes (1. that it's not factual, which I addressed here; 2. that it's sexist, which I would argue is true of the characters but not the filmmakers) and continued apace, surely a noteworthy fact. But the thing that really sets The Social Network apart from The King's Speech is every element is brilliant.

It seems kind of unnecessary at this point to sing the praises of the movie, given the acclaim it's received since its October 1 release, but I'm going to anyway. Most of it should go to Jesse Eisenberg, who I had previously written off as Michael Cera-lite. Confidential to Jesse: I couldn't have been more wrong. I had no idea that you had the depth of character or the talent to play a sympathetic asshole. In your care, Mark Zuckerberg is borderline autistic in his inability to foresee the impact he has on those closest to him, but he's also a ruthless genius who's deeply, deeply sad. And, thanks to Aaron Sorkin, quite quippy.

Of course, it helps that he's drowning in talent, whether it's Andrew Garfield's Eduardo Saverin (the closest the movie comes to having a moral centre, he's presented as more short-sighted than anything else), Armie Hammer (whose ability to come play the the physically-imposing twins as separate and distinct is a sight to be cherished), and Justin Timberlake's Sean Parker. Up until I saw this movie, I had no real interest in JT, especially as an actor, but now . . . let me quote: "early Facebook President Sean Parker, devastatingly portrayed by Justin Timberlake as a narcissistic clown." That is so true!

Again, though the combination of noted internet hater Aaron Sorkin + David Fincher + Facebook sounds like a recipe for disaster, it's anything but. Fincher's dark Harvard hallways add verve to Sorkin's trademark snappy dialogue, and Trent Reznor's buzzy score elevates the movie to a place that feels raw and modern, edgy in the season of being on the edge of something. Bracing, even. I was going to say that Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter's editing is the only stuff that could give Inception a run for its money come Oscar time, but, since Inception wasn't even nominated (wtf?!), I guess I'll just keep that to myself.

So why does all that make The Social Network better than The King's Speech? Because TKS, for all it's fantastic performances, is nothing more than that: a collection of fantastic performances. Certainly, if Colin Firth doesn't win every award ever I am going to throw a fit, but after that . . . there's nothing spectacular about Tom Hooper's direction or David Seidler's script and, the less said about Alexandre Desplat's score, the better. The Social Network, A; The King's Speech, B+.

*Confession: As I just learned what period piece means last week, I intentionally did not use it here. Turns out that term is reserved for pieces that were written during the period in which they are set. Did you realize that? I thought it was just an alliterative way to call something historical.

True Grit (2010) and Winter's Bone (2010)

2011-01-18T11:59:00.002-05:00

The problem with seeing a movie that critics you trust call the best movie of the year is that you expect it to be the BEST. EVER! Ah, expectations. They get ya every time.

Winter's Bone is an exceptional movie. It's small and quiet and down to the bone harrowing. Jennifer Lawrence's star-marking performance betrays not a hint of vulnerability because Ree just can't. She can't, so she doesn't. Watching her make stew is a lesson in keeping your back straight, never mind combing the meth ravaged Ozarks for any sign of her father, lest her family lose the home he put up to secure a bond.

Though with significantly less screen time to work with, it's hard not heap praise on John Hawkes as the improbably named Teardrop. Maybe I'm just predisposed to like Hawkes (Deadwood forever!), but I doubt it. Teardrop is no Sol Star. For a man to grab a gun rather than let Teardrop to approach him "naked" and for Hawkes to earn that just by standing there, it's scary how naturally that kind of weight comes to him. If the movie hasn't already, his last line will break you all the way down.

Perhaps what's most striking is the way co-writer and director Debra Granik handles this all so patiently and levelly. The movie's on Ree's side, to be sure, but Granik manages to give even ladies who are more like feral cats than humans a certain legitimacy. There's little judgment here. It's a pocket of the US that's held up for inspection, yes, but it's not for mockery. Some things just are. Ree's life just is. It's how she deals with that that makes her, and the movie, transcendent. A-

It was next to impossible to sit in the theatre and not think of the similarly-themed True Grit. Of course, Mattie (Haliee Steinfeld) wants to see her father's killer brought to justice while Ree could give two craps about any such thing, but it's still there: the unforgiving landscape, the quest, the less than perfect assistance. Mattie's burdens are considerably less yet her persistence remains the same.

I hereby elect the Coens to direct every new western from here on out (for what was No Country for Old Men if not a western?), and I further recommend Jeff Bridges to star in each subsequent output. His voice dropped, craggy and old, Bridges' Rooster Cogburn is a mess. He's drunk and lazy, and he always, always shoots first. Somehow -- and it's a testament to Bridges' bottomless talent -- he's still a man you want on your side.

I feel like it's almost unfair of me to give True Grit extra points for Roger Deakins' expansive, arid cinematography or Matt Damon's total hilarity as an effete Texas Ranger or Barry Pepper reminding me of Ben Foster in 3:10 to Yuma and making me forget about him, but I don't feel bad about loving Carter Burwell's mournful score. Burwell just might be my favourite composer working today.

But mostly, it gets extra points for managing to inject humour in the stark, desolate, adult world into which Mattie is thrust and must survive with her will intact. A

Pop Culture Round Up: Some day - Janaury 14, 2011

2011-01-14T17:00:00.002-05:00

This is the last one of these that was just sitting here unclaimed with no idea why I bookmarked these articles. Hopefully it will be the last.

Ayelet Waldman, Author of Bad Mother and Red Hook Road, on Writing Well - WSJ.com

The Professor of Small Movies - NYTimes.com

On a borderless internet, how will we nurture Canadian content? : This Magazine

CBC News - Music - Dylan's lyrics to protest anthem for sale

CultureLab: Secret Cinema: Exploring mental health first-hand

Well, Hush My Mouth: Congress Is Moving Against LOUD Ads - WSJ.com

Their Pain, Our Gain: Why Schadenfreude Is Best Enjoyed in Groups: Scientific American

Black Swan explained

The End Of Movie Projectionists?

The digital revolution: Film - thestar.com

Two films, two sex scenes, two different ratings - latimes.com

Why Religious People Tend to Be Happier

Nuns gone wild - The Boston Globe

“Craving Corrie” by Danielle Groen | The Walrus

Actresses over 40 on a box office roll - latimes.com

Views: That's Offensive! - Inside Higher Ed

Face Memory Peaks Late : Discovery News

Attention Restoration Theory Taps Nature's Medicine | Miller-McCune.

Get your shiz together! - EYE WEEKLY

Why Criticism Matters - Editors’ Introduction - NYTimes.com

Mailbag: Readers on Criticism - NYTimes.com

Easy A (2010)

2011-01-13T12:46:00.000-05:00

Emma Stone

A savvy high school student could have a field day unpacking all the references, far beyond The Scarlet Letter, in Easy A. A savvier women's studies student could do well to examine why all those references, from Olive's Ray-Bans on down, are to male characters.

This is not a knock against Emma Stone's breakout performance, which is the very definition of charming. In fact, it's next to impossible to watch the movie and not spend the next 20 minutes talking about how damn charming Stone is. Then you move on to discuss what delightfully loopy parents Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci made ("I want them to be my parents!" you'll shout). Maybe you'll wonder if Penn Badgley can ever really shed Dan Humphrey (short answer: outlook good). But after awhile, all you're left with, "Wait, is she Ferris Buller?" and also, "Is selling the idea of sex any better than selling sex?"

Now, it's hard to begrudge her the former since Ferris Buller is the Platonic ideal of high school-hood. But the latter is a sticky, dirty, uncomfortable place that the movie refuses to go, just like it will nod in the general direction of a double standard for boys and girls in high school re: having sex and then refuses to follow that thought through to the end.

Someday, someday a movie might address those ideas (I hope, I pray, I . . . write?), but I guess I can settle for this delightful, if slight, romp for now. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go sing "Pocket Full of Sunshine" a million times. B+

P.S. Someone who looks like Stone would so get noticed in high school.

Black Swan (2010)

2011-01-13T12:19:00.000-05:00

Natalie Portman

A dancer perfect to portray the White Swan loses her mind trying to develop the duality necessary to portray the Black Swan when she's cast as the Swan Queen.

As an over-boiled body horror thriller, this movie's aces. As much pretty anything else, not so much. I must admit I was disappointed to see that Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan is merely good, not a masterpiece. He certainly tries hard: all the close ups of toes en pointe or even Nina (Natalie Portman) and her mother (Barbara Hershey) ripping up and remaking her slippers hold a certain fascination for their insight into a world plagued by body issues, workplace sexual harassment, and cutthroat competition.

The movie's certainly spooky (rehearsal spaces have never looked so creepy), but it's too serious to be much else. If only it could, as Nina is repeatedly told to do, loosen up a little. There are a few moments of levity (Rothbart's casual backstage "hey" chief among them) that make me think that Aronofsky is this uptight deliberately. Which is a shame because it makes Portman's performance, captivating though it is, ever-so-slightly unsympathetic (if everyone you know tells you to assert yourself and you won't, how long can the audience root for you?).

Still, technical and acting props for the shudder-inducing swan transformation at the end and Clint Mansell's beautiful, frightening take on Tchaikovsky's timeless work. Mila Kunis and Winona Ryder are such hilarious bitches that I almost want to hug them, and Vincent Cassel is some sort of a genius for making me think that despite his abuse, he actually cares about helping Nina progress as a dancer.

As it is, the movie is more trashy than full-on camp but too plagued by its intense focus to be much of either. "Just like Nina!", you might defend, but tell the truth: would you really prefer a movie about the White Swan to the Black one? B

Pop Culture Round Up: Some date to some later time

2011-01-09T21:06:00.000-05:00

I don't know, I just found this here.

Sound and fury | The Australian

Why Roger Ebert Loathes Top 10 Film Lists - WSJ.com

CBC News - Music - Lady Gaga course coming to U.S university

Brow Beat : Don Draper Says, “What?” I Say, “Is Jon Hamm a Good Actor?”

How Back to the Future made incest fun for the whole family. - By Juliet Lapidos - Slate Magazine

Zapping the Brain Improves Math Skills : Discovery News

Norway Tops Nations in Quality of Life : Discovery News

CBC News - Film - Depp, Burton team up for Dark Shadows film

Art believed destroyed by Nazis found in Berlin - Yahoo! News

Move to rescue obscure words | Books | The Guardian

Fly, Ryan Murphy! Be Free! | The House Next Door

Half the Time Everyone's Thinking About Something Else | Smart Journalism. Real Solutions. Miller-McCune.

Prolific humour writer nominated for lit award - The Globe and Mail

Why Beckham, Aniston, Winslet and A-Rod Earn So Much - WSJ.com

How Hollywood killed the movie stunt - Film Salon - Salon.com

Spillcam, vuvuzela are top words of 2010

2010's Word of the Year: 'Refudiate'

Why Flops Are Vital to Cinema

Why Hollywood Doesn't Do Working-Class

Study Tracks How Online Comments Spread News

Philip Glass Writing a Second Kafka Opera

Are Women Artists Finally Getting Their Due?

How Stunt-Casting Jumped the Shark -- New York Magazine

Producers Forbidden to Use Adrien Brody's Image to Promote Movie He Stars In

Party Lines: Vampires Paul Wesley and Denis O’Hare Swap Fan-Biting Stories at Elling Premiere -- Vulture

Pop Culture Round Up: October 16 - 29

2010-10-29T17:42:00.000-04:00

CBC News - Film - Bonjour tristesse

Decisions on Mates and Products share Criteria | Smart Journalism. Real Solutions. Miller-McCune.

What Creates Buzz? - WSJ.com

The insiders' guide to the arts | Culture | The Guardian

CBC News - Film - Comedy awards pick Less Than Kind, Trotsky

Does the Internet Make You Smart or Dumb? : Discovery News

“Upcycling” turns garbage into useful products. But is it really green? : This Magazine

Is Pure Altruism Possible? - NYTimes.com

The decline of video stores: Here's what we lose when our video stores close - chicagotribune.com

Do Intelligent People Drink More Alcohol? : Discovery News

How the web blurs the line between truth and falsehood : This Magazine

Pop Culture Round Up: September 4 - October 15, 2010

2010-10-15T17:39:00.000-04:00

Urban Plight: Vanishing Upward Mobility — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Jokes To Tell Your Parents For Rosh Hashana : NPR

Damien Hirst faces eight new claims of plagiarism | Art and design | The Guardian Mind -

Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - NYTimes.com

How to use a semicolon - The Oatmeal

Commercial cinema stands condemned | The Australian

It Turns Out There Is Accounting for Taste | Miller-McCune Online

Mad Men: the future of American film is on television | David Hare | Television & radio | The Guardian

CBC News - Film - Tarantino accused of favouritism in Venice

Looking for a Blockbuster Film in the ‘Mad Men’ Age - NYTimes.com

When a comma makes life needlessly hard - The Boston Globe

Christo vs. Colorado - WSJ.com

FFWD - Calgary Screen - Video Vulture - Better wizards than Nicolas Cage

Maisonneuve | The Eh-List

CBC News - Media - Messing with the medium

Op-Ed Contributor - A Dictionary of the Near Future - NYTimes.com

Hollywood Weighs In on Fat People - NYTimes.com

Cold Case, Numb3rs - chicagotribune.com

MTV -- Yes, MTV -- Wants Your Financial Aid Ideas - NYTimes.com

The Civilizations Buried Beneath Us : NPR

CBC News - Books - Lulu nods put Ottawa graphic artist in hot seat

Watch and learn - The Boston Globe

Hooray for Nollywood! | Film | guardian.co.uk

Ballroom steps on to stage

Ipsos OTX Study: People Spend More Than Half Their Day Consuming Media | TheWrap.com

"Where the Wild Things Were" A retrospective of werewolves in popular culture by Emily Landau | The Walrus | Online Exclusive

In Praise of Laziness - By Robert Zaretsky | Foreign Policy

Barbra Streisand inspires a killer dance track - Things That Go Pop!

Are Our Writers As Lousy As Our Bankers? - 3quarksdaily

CBC News - Film - Goon hockey film begins Winnipeg shoot

The Authentic Self: How Do You Know If You’re ‘Really’ Racist or Sexist? – TIME Healthland

An appreciation of film editor Sally Menke. - By Sasha Watson - Slate Magazine

The film career of David Bowie. - By Jessica Winter - Slate Magazine

Pop Culture Round Up: August 20 - September 3, 2010

2010-09-03T18:10:00.003-04:00

CBC News - Media - BBC's Gosling charged over mercy killing story

DVRs shaking up movie marketing

Discovery of ancient cave paintings in Petra stuns art scholars | Science | The Observer

Eye wired open

An Airline Magazine That Makes Travelers Want to Pull the Rip Cord - WSJ.com

The Medium - What ‘Fact-Checking’ Means Online - NYTimes.com

Vampires bring $7 bil to Hollywood economy

Eternal Fascinations with the End: Why We're Suckers for Stories of Our Own Demise: Scientific American

Teary-Eyed Evolution: Crying Serves A Purpose : NPR

Does Peter Parker Have a Moral Responsibility to Be Spider-Man? | Big Questions Online

Exclusive First Look: 'Gossip Girl' season 4 trailer! | Ausiello | EW.com

CBC News - Music - Early unreleased Dylan songs in new album

Bering in Mind: Polyamory chic, gay jealousy and the evolution of a broken heart

The Smart Set: Lady Trouble - Chicago was once full of killer broads.

CBC News - Film - John Cusack plays Poe in movie thriller

9GAG - 35 Life Hacks You Should Know

Bob Dylan's No-Ticket Show No Sell-Out : SFGate: Culture Blog!

Phys Ed: Playing Music During Exercise - NYTimes.com

Plato's Pop Culture Problem, and Ours - NYTimes.com

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness published as a graphic novel | Books | The Guardian

Pawan Kalyan to star in Bollywood film of Christ's life | Film | The Guardian

The Online State of Nature | Big Questions Online

The Black Panthers: The soul survivors - Features, Music - The Independent

Book Review: The Oxford Book of Parodies - WSJ.com

Does a book's popularity guarantee its movie's success? - chicagotribune.com

Pop Culture Round Up: July 31 - August 20, 2010

2010-08-20T17:08:00.004-04:00

The Music-Copyright Enforcers - NYTimes.com

PBS is what CBC could be: marginal and obscure - The Globe and Mail

CBC News - Film - Scarlett O'Hara's gowns need mending

Salvador Dalí's home town to be recreated in China | Art and design | The Guardian

Cultural Studies - Crafting Fictional Personas With the Language of Facebook - NYTimes.com

It’s not TV. It’s George F. Walker : This Magazine

The Tyee – Eat, Pray, Botox

CBC News - Arts - Kerouac's On the Road being shot in Gatineau

More Brahms, Please. And Pass the Popcorn. | Philadelphia Inquirer

Berliner Philharmoniker: Live in more than 60 cinemas all over Europe

Hollywood questions ‘The Twitter Effect’ - Films, Arts & Entertainment - The Independent

BBC News - E.T. v Avatar v Titanic

The Other Guys (2010)

2010-08-18T20:31:00.003-04:00

Despite the fact that David Edelstein really seems to think it's a comic masterpiece just waiting for me to give it a second chance, I do not feel that way about Step Brothers, and it made me wary of signing up for another Adam McKay-Will Ferrell match up. Then again, Tommy Corn does ballet! That's got to be worth seeing, right?

We open in one movie about a pair of high octane cop movie parodies (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson) who cause wanton property damage and refuse to do their paperwork, for which they are in turn revered and despised by their fellow detectives. They leave the picture, suddenly, and other movie starts. This one's about a mismatched pair of detectives, one of whom is just fine at his desk, thankyouverymuch (Ferrell) and one of whom would be a hotshot homicide detective if it weren't for that tunnel incident (Mark Wahlberg). Either of these movies would be great, I'm sure (well, I'm not sure I want to see Jackson in particular stretched featured length), but they are interrupted by a third movie.

I have no idea where I was going with this. Never abandon your drafts for six weeks, friends.

Let's move on to the real issue. I would really like Ferrell to stop doing the following: delivering observations while yelling. You know what I mean. Picture him writhing in the parking lot after an explosion (think back to the ads) and yelling about how he doesn't understand how people in movies can walk away from explosions. That's not realistic because THEY'RE REALLY LOUD AND HOT AND DANGEROUS! THIS REALLY HURTS! Please stop yelling, Mr. Ferrell! This has ceased to be funny!

While we're at it, I would really like movies to stop doing the following: thinking that by virtue of putting obscene/inappropriate language in the mouth of an older lady, it is automatically funny. The crux of the joke wasn't even that the lady was old (that was a mere part of it). Rather, it was that she was one of the player's mothers and that she was wildly uncomfortable passing along the filthy messages. Audience reaction: crickets. Eventually one guy laughed to break the silence, but trust me when I tell you that this sequence worked for no one.

Tommy Corn is pretty hilarious, though. I think he might get his own joke now. B-

Pop Culture Round Up: July 17 - 30

2010-07-29T18:46:00.003-04:00

Oops . . . forgot to publish this one.

Netflix video-on-demand expands to Canada

Bureaucracy Meets Art, Delighting Christo

Among Celebrities, Mystery’s Not Fashionable

A new type of tear-jerker

Another reason for voting reform: Parliament needs women

Hooray for Budapest: Is Hungary the New Hollywood of Europe?

TV's Celebrity Guest Star Epidemic: What's in It for Them?

Digital movie standard tackles format hurdles

The Strange Gender-Humor Divide in Fake-Real News Shows

Jay Baruchel Broke Apatow Ranks to Make The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and It Didn’t Work Out So Well
You can read my response to this here.

Bollywood flops take-off on TV

Why The Next Big Pop-Culture Wave After Cupcakes Might Be Libraries

Armond White: “I Do Think It Is Fair To Say That Roger Ebert Destroyed Film Criticism”

Ernest Hemingway Stories As Told By George Plimpton

The fine art of recommending books

L.A. Artist's 37-Year-Old Nudity Too Much For YouTube

Alfred Molina joins Law & Order L.A.

NoizeMC, aka Ivan Alexeyev, and Russian Rap Inspire a Movement

Verbed!

It's a name game with hybrid fruits

Gay tango festival puts new spin on Argentine dance

Hollywood is squandering one of its greatest comedic resources: Paul Rudd.

Lee Pace to Play Edward's BFF in Breaking Dawn?
Please, please let this come true.

Inception (2010)

2010-07-28T13:46:00.004-04:00

Again, next to impossible to discuss without discussing the whole, so SPOILERS ABOUND.

Christopher Nolan has always been very, very good at layering his films, taking us through them as a characters experience them so that the twist, the reveal, whatever it might be, cuts the audience, too. It's clever without being stagy, giving the narrative thrust with little trickery. It's storytelling in the fullest possible way.

And Inception is filled to the brim with ideas and possibility. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) assembles a dream team of extractors -- an architect (Ellen Page), a point man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a forger (Tom Hardy), and a chemist (Dileep Rao) -- for a client (Ken Watanabe) who wants them not to steal an idea from his rival's (Cillian Murphy) mind but to plant one. "Can't be done," Arthur (Gordon-Levitt) insists. "The subject’s mind always knows the genesis of an idea."* Cobb knows otherwise. He's done it before. So it begins, a heist of Fischer's subconscious, getting him to carry them deep enough to make inception possible.

*I agree with Lucas on this one: "Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear."

The idea is brilliantly conceived, and there are set pieces, like a zero g fight in a hotel corridor, that that go like gangbusters, in part because CGI is eschewed for good old fashioned guys on wires. Yet for a movie about dreams, so much of it is too literal -- particularly some character names (Ariadne, Yusuf, Mal, though the last works better if you interpret it as "hurt" or "pain" instead of "evil") --, while it simultaneously lacks any sort of levity or surrealism outside of Arthur's humourously literal take on Escher's Ascending and Descending and its inherent paradox.** In fact, Arthur and occasionally Eames (Hardy) are the only ones who seem to be having any fun here, like the idea of creating new worlds and using them to unlock the mysteries of people's minds might be kind of cool. Everyone else is all dour, dour, look at my psychological problems (DiCaprio), please explain them to me (Page).

**Completely unrelated: in the last few weeks, I have also been amused by paradoxes, remembering first year when I didn't understand what they were, and a rez mate tried to tell me that they always involve time travel. Even when I had no clue, I still went, "I don't think that's right."

Which is why . . . alright, here's what I think: the entire Saito/Fischer rivalry is a set up for Cobb. It's his mind that they trying inception on as a radical form of therapy. A once brilliant architect so paralyzed by guilt that he lives in exile in the very place where he once wooed his wife, and along comes a job whose payoff is making all his legal trouble disappear. Part and parcel with this plan is an asexual neckerchief sporting cipher who needs regular doses of exposition to live and who's main concern isn't the heist at hand but Cobb's degrading mental state in it. Other characters get left behind in the dreamscapes they create; only Cobb can travel further toward limbo, a space who's architecture (a mash up of memory and imagination) he spent 50 years exploring. Even when he finds Saito, it's in a space that Arthur first created to trap him. Cobb has to go down to the bottom, to the place where he made his most significant mistake, in order to find a measure of forgiveness.

Of course, I could be wrong about all this. The movie could only be operating on the level on which it is overtly operating (though I highly doubt it), and there is an extent to which, like The Prestige before it, the movie is a metaphor for filmmaking itself: all its oddities and eccentricities (like how characters invisibly travel from one location to the next while suspending their conversations until the camera joins them again at their destination) brought to the fore instead of hoping for suspension of disbelief. Regardless, whether you think the top keeps spinning at the end or you see it falter on the way to falling, the movie is excellent: genius editing (Oscar to Lee Smith), sumptuous set design, rich score from Hans Zimmer. It's one Cheese Man*** away from a masterpiece. A-

***I am telling you, it all comes back to Buffy.

Predators (2010)

2010-07-21T13:58:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure I can discuss this movie at all without discussing it in its entirety, so SPOILERS ABOUND.

You had to figure that there would be a point to Topher Grace's character because he's just so pointless for so long, but, as I was lulled into his pointlessness until shortly before the reveal, I was actually chilled by it. Well played, movie/Grace. Of course, I strangely found it a relief because he was the worst doctor ever. Honestly. I kept being like, "Do you want to offer any of these guys some medical care? No?" Even when he himself is bleeding, he does not suggest bandaging the wound. I survived the Predator Preserve and all I got was this lousy gangrene!

Here's something I need explained to me: movie characters who have nothing to live for have the greatest will to live. Survival instinct and military training would only take you so far, wouldn't they?* Maybe I wouldn't know because I've never been in a life or death situation, but, for the love of peace did I not understand what was motivating Royce (Adrien Brody). We're told he's a mercenary, and he uses Hemingway to deflect/illuminate the idea that he just might really love the hunt/killing people. But if that's all you've got in your life (no family, no friends, no name until the very end), wouldn't you love the Predator Preserve? Wouldn't you be really excited to be there and get to do what you love all the time? The Predators themselves don't seem to be hunting for fun or spoil (we only see one collect the traditional head/spine trophy despite multiple kills) but to hone their skills. Maybe the Predators didn't factor in the idea that getting kidnapped and dropped on some weird jungle planet doesn't bring out your best game. They should include little guide books with the parachutes: Congratulations! You've been selected for Predator Planet, a boundless game preserve on which you will almost certainly die!

The movie itself is pretty much what you'd expect from the genre: sketchily drawn ensemble cast, one liners, heavy on action, and short on plot. From the shocking opening to the oppressively heavy rain forest, DP Gyula Pados' work is of a far higher calibre than the merely competent work you'd normally see. Aside from that and the usual, there's really only Louis Ozawa Changchien as a member of the Yakuza to pay attention to. As soon as it was made clear he was Yakuza, I inwardly cheered, but then I started to worry that I was reverse Othering by fetishizing the Other (Yakuza, ninjas, samurai) instead of dealing with any negative feelings I may have about the Other, and it is a strange day indeed when a movie with no deep thoughts of its own makes you confront your own potential racism. C-

*It's sort of the opposite of Buffy at the end of Season Two when Angelus is all, "Now that's everything, huh? No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away and what's left?" and goes in for the killing blow, but she stops it and says me, "Me." Her will to live is greater than the traditional things one would rely on to sustain it because her will to live is directly tied into the fate of the world. Things keep coming back to Buffy lately, but it was a really good show.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

2010-07-16T19:20:00.005-04:00

It's obvious Disney wants to turn The Sorcerer's Apprentice into their next Pirates of the Caribbean or at least the next National Treasure, but I don't think that's going to work. I've been trying to pinpoint why. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is no Pirates, but surely Nicholas Cage and director Jon Turtletaub could create another Treasure, right?

Bear in mind that I realize that this is Disney we're talking about here, but I think the problem is that there are no stakes. The Chosen One is a story that's been done to death, but, as far as magic goes, the Chosen One is owned by Harry Potter at this point in the cultural lexicon. Those books, and by consequence the movies, grew with their readers: they got progressively darker as Harry (and the reader) got older. So to drop us into a story where the Boy ~~Wizard~~ Sorcerer is 20 and to at no point give us any reason to think his life might be imperiled by the ones who want him dead is a misstep. Sure, Max (Alfred Molina) keeps saying that he's going to kill Dave (Jay Baruchel), but, when presented with a prime opportunity, he doesn't even try! Doesn't even knock him unconscious. Pull it together, villains.

And while we're talking villains, can someone please explain to me the value in ending the world? Remember way back in the glorious second season of Buffy, when Spike allied with Buffy over Angelus mostly to get Dru back but partly because he didn't see the appeal of ending the world anyway? I always think of that little speech ("like Happy Meals with legs") whenever villains want to end the world in movies and on TV because then you die, too, moron. Unless that's the point, in which case kill yourself and save us the trouble. Selfish. Anyway, it's later clarified that the world "as we know it" will end, which is another thing entirely. I can see why you'd want to do something about that.

But I digress. So here are these characters, locked in mortal combat for over a millennium, waiting to find the Prime Merlinian, so they can release Morgana Le Fey (bully for Max), so Dave can kill her (bully for Balthazar (Cage)). Even when your outcome is a foregone conclusion, you can still build some suspense. But all the suspense I felt was of the tying the plot elements together variety: "I wonder how the Tesla coils will fit into this." "Oh, there we go." Did I wonder if Dave would accept his destiny and live up to his potential? Of course not. And not just 'cause it was a movie. Because it was a deliberately lighthearted movie. I've seen Baruchel in some dark places before (Just Buried), so I'm sure he can bring it. The movie didn't want to go there, so none of the actors did either.

That's not so bad, I suppose. It certainly means a less hammy Cage than you might expect. If anything, he and Molina are having a helluva time being just hammy enough. Despite the lack of pathos, Baruchel is still charming and a comic find. Plus you've got Toby Kebbell up in there (between this and Prince of Persia, I'm starting to wonder if he's got a three picture deal at Disney) poking hilarious fun at Criss Angel (just like that great episode of Supernatural!), so it's a good time. A fluffy, frothy, fitfully fun good time.

I don't know. It's like the Fantasia sequence: it feels like it was just dropped in the middle with no thought about how to properly integrate it into the story. It doesn't suit the character (a guy who has little confidence in his magic suddenly opts for a big spell?), and it involves a comical amount of mops and brooms (didn't they replicate themselves in the original? Okay, after Mickey splintered the first broom). Instead of wondering how this will end or laughing at the dedicated cleaning crew, I was baffled by the sheer abundance of mops and brooms. Why would an unauthorized lab space in an abandoned subway roundabout have all these cleaning supplies? Did Dave put them there? See?! These are the wrong things to be thinking about. But there's no tension or suspense to stop my mind from spinning. C+

Also, maybe screenwriters and the world and I should have a little talk about how we could have tweaked the Becky (Teresa Palmer) plotline a little so it came across as more of a "what if?" thing instead of a creepy, weird thing. Not that it's played it that way, but that's what you would think if some dude thought of a grade school crush as the One That Got Away. Also, why is Becky a freshman? SEE?!

Pop Culture Round Up: July 10 - 16, 2010

2010-07-16T16:39:00.005-04:00

Breaking Dawn to film in B.C., Baton Rouge

The Creativity Crisis

Much ado about women: Modern-day reading or distortion?

Too Hollyweird for Hollywood? David Lynch asks fans to help fund his movies

EXCLUSIVE: Marvel confirms they will hire new Hulk for The Avengers
May I suggest Eric Bana?

Bella and Edward Who? Real-Estate Tycoon Deconstructs Twilight
This is amazing.

Discovering Canada's cool capital

Court rules against FCC policies on indecency

The story of pink

The bookcase you'll want to live in Historians locate King Arthur's Round Table

Mark Ruffalo In Late-Stage Talks To Be Marvel’s New Hulk in ‘The Avengers’
The Buffalo!

HBO Picks Up Dustin Hoffman Drama

Vulture’s Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Type Guide to Casting Sensitive Geeks
Quick, guess which one I got on the first try!

Tales from New Orleans
There's a larger thing brewing in me about about literature and New Orleans and Treme and feminism, but we're not quite there yet.

Jay Baruchel to get ACTRA award

Colonoscopy: It’s Time to Check Your Colons
The punctuation mark which I am addicted to. It used to be semi-colons.

How Caravaggio saw in the dark

William Faulkner Goes Online, 50 Years Later

The Smart Set: I Like Candy
I had no idea you could use the word "existential" and its permutations so many times in an article about rediscovering candy in middle age.

The Smart Set: Theater of the Completely Normal

Kick-Ass (2010) & The A-Team (2010)

2010-07-14T11:56:00.004-04:00

I think casting directors of the world and I need to have a little talk. During this little talk, we will discuss the hows and whys of casting far more compelling and talented actors as villains instead of in the lead roles. I get why you would want someone compelling in the bad guy role, I really do. But when you put them up against vacant spaces (Kick-Ass) or smug bastards (The A-Team), it's hard to want to see the good guys win.

Really, was there any single relationship in Kick-Ass as well drawn or fun to watch as Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Frank D'Amico's (Mark Strong)? Sure, Chris sets Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) up, and Frank shoots some random teenager in the street. But Frank takes Chris to the movies and makes sure he gets his Twizzlers! They watch TV together! Really, are you going to root for the guy who buys his 11 year-old a butterfly knife for her birthday and lets her use the saltiest language I've ever heard this side of Deadwood? Actually, I'm kind of confused as to where she picked up this stuff give the 1950s turns of phrase her father favours. Did Marcus speak to her this way? Point is, Mintz-Plasse makes Chris sparky and fun and lonely and weird in the best, most honest teenage way, so why would I care if boring Aaron Johnson saves the day? Also, there is no scuba suit in the world that flexible. C

I know it's standard now to make the first movie in what's meant to be a tentpole series an origin story, but let's go ahead and stop doing that now. Unless, of course, you wanted to see a 30-second opening narration turn feature length yet still make no sense at all. I mean, I do get it to an extent. If you wanted me to sit down and sketch out the basic plot, I could probably get it right. Of course, half of that's only upon reflection and discussion. But if you wanted me to sit down and sketch out the enjoyable parts of the movie, they would focus on Patrick Wilson's Lynch almost exclusively. Maybe Brian Bloom as Pike. But that's it! I'd much rather see Wilson have his silly little freak out in the car than pretty much anything involving Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, and Quinton Jackson. Wilson plays a lot of straight-laced and dim characters, so maybe he's just excited to let loose. He's having fun, which means we're having fun watching him. It's either that or an overload of smug characters cracking up at I don't even know what because I have yet to hear a joke. I hear catchphrases, and I hear smugness. Liam Neeson, I expect more from you. C-

Pop Culture Round Up: July 3 - 9, 2010

2010-07-09T16:50:00.004-04:00

Jeffrey Deitch, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, on General Hospital

Egypt unveils discovery of 4,300-year-old tombs

Putting the MEN in Menu

Teenagers inspired by Twilight sink fangs into each other in new 'biting' trend, parents fear risks

Why You Should Feel A Little Bad for Robert Pattinson

Gross - Expanded Avatar to return to theatres

The Medium Is the Medium

A heroic wiki project to identify lost and orphaned films.

See Photos of Gossip Girl Shooting in Paris

Snoop Dogg looking to walk down Coronation Street

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

2010-07-08T13:10:00.007-04:00

I put nearly every thought I ever had about the story on the table in Book vs. Film: Eclipse, so I've decided not to go for anything in the way of a review here but just collect my stray observations instead.

Stray observations:

Xavier Samuel as Riley might be the hottest vampire we've seen in the series. It's not that the others couldn't be hot (the actors underneath are); it's just that the movies seem committed to styling them in the least attractive way possible.
He's also quite charismatic! Too bad Riley's a one book wonder.
Remind me again why they replaced Rachelle Lefevre with Bryce Dallas Howard? I was previously under the impression that Howard had at least some acting ability. Does she just not get the character? Whatever, she's dead now (Victoria, that is).
Oh, sweet fancy Moses, some one save me from all these close ups. I can't imagine what that was like in IMAX. OME! girls must have been thrilled.
Intentional jokes! Billy Banks! Two great tastes that taste great together.
What is with Von Pattinson's sideburns? Were they always this out of control?
His eyelashes, on the other hand, are fabulous. I want that mascara.
I've forgotten her name and IMDb doesn't list it, but the wigmaster is this movie's MVP. Bella's hair looks so lush and shiny!
Has Nikki Reed lost 20 pounds or so? Not that I thought that she needed to lose the weight (because she didn't), but she looks decidedly thinner, particularly in the face, this time around. She looks good either way, just something I noticed.
I think Kristen Stewart might have been a little worse this time around. I did not think she was all that concerned with Jacob going off to die. If Von Pattinson's default setting is "pained," then her's is "forgot how to breathe." I sort of think I like her as an actress, though, so I hope she pulls it together.
Taylor Lautner's a sweet kid, but things I would not put him in charge of include wishing people were dead, threatening people with suicide, and use of the word "bro" (c.f. Humphrey, Dan).
Man alive is Julia Jones (Leah) beautiful when she's not so angry. Which is exactly how Stephenie Meyer described her. Casting coup!
Why are these olde tyme vampires so ugly?
Em pointed out that Jackson Rathbone appears to be playing Nicholas Cage in Con Air and to a certain extent that's true, but there were also moments when genuine emotion broke through instead of ham mixed up with the accent, which makes me kind of sad for him over all. Also, why does he have different hair every time? And why are his contacts the exact same colour as his hair? He looks extra freaky!
While I appreciated the attention to detail of giving the Cullens dark contacts at certain points in the movie to show that they need to hunt (and I'm pretty sure that these lined up with the novel), did anyone else find their golden eyes freaky this time around? Actually, you'd think that would be something the other students would gossip about: how come everyone in this adopted family has the exact same (non-human?) eye colour? You'd think some Cullens would wear contacts to blend in/mix it up.
I bet Justin Chon's glad he showed up for his one line.
When Carlisle and Billy shook hands, I was reminded of the time I was talking about Twilight the Movie with a co-worker, and she said that she thought that the adults' performances were better than the teens'. I started to say something like, "Well, of course, they're all better actors," but I ended up just confessing that I would totally watch a spin-off show about the dads. Picture it! Dr. Acula, Sheriff Swan, and wheelchair-bound Quileute Chief Billy Black? Admit it, that sounds totally cool.
Re: the tent scene. Everyone was thinking, "Kiss! Kiss!" right? What is with these movies and how easy they make it to root for non-Bella and Edward coupling?
I like how they left in imprinting but cut out the precedent-setting Quil-imprints-on-a-two-year-old stuff. Probably for the best.
Or how pretty much everyone but Jacob imprints.
Or how Edward likes to invade their wolf-base hive mind.
Which later bites him in the ass when they all feel the pain of Jacob's attack.
Ha.
The Cullens wear matching outfits in the scene where they first try to catch Victoria. Oh goodness. Way to emphasize the fact that they are a cult.
Seriously, what was the point of hiring Howard Shore? I'm not a huge Shore fan, but he's definitely done some cool stuff while working with David Cronenberg. They really need to get Carter Burwell back.
I wasn't even much of a fan of Bella's lullaby, but now I kind of miss it. It's one of the two repeated elements in the books that pretty much doesn't exist in the movie (Edward's favouring of blue on Bella is the other).
The soundtrack's a little better than New Moon but still not as rad as Twilight.
How come no more Von Pattinson on either, come to think of it?
I like how Seattle's vampire army wears a lot of flannel.
Actually, there's a lot of plaid in this movie. What's with Bella and plaid?
Dakota Fanning is good as Jane, but I miss Aro. Michael Sheen rocks.
When the Cullens were just standing around waiting for the newborn army (seriously, they just stand there, I believe in matching outfits again), I wondered why they can't get poor Emmett a jacket that fits.
Von Pattinson's chest hair is still in place. Check that chest hair on Peter Facinelli! And one of the other ones (Jackson Rathbone, I think)! The Cullen men are working it.
Edward's graduation party outfit struck me as perfect. Actually, it was really only Alice who looked oddly dressed at that party, which is the exact opposite of how Alice should look.
I sometimes forget that Edward, and all the vampires really, should look freaky and non-human in comparison to the rest of the cast, but I saw it here a few times in a good, not obviously undead way.
I hate narration, so I'm glad they barely used, but it's even more distracting when used so sporadically. It sounds like something you keep forgetting to do and then suddenly throw in to say, "Oh, yeah! Narration!"

That's all I can think of right now, but I reserve the right to add more observations as they come back to me. Massive improvement over New Moon. Probably the best in the series. B

And if you're in need: A Guide to Recognizing Your Vampires

The Last Airbender (2010)

2010-07-06T14:29:00.006-04:00

Hey, have you watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Nickelodeon cartoon series on which this movie is based? No? Me neither. Apparently that's a crying shame, but let me tell you something: maybe that shouldn't be the main criteria critics should use to judge the film.

Perhaps that's an odd sentiment coming from a purveyor of Book vs. Films, and I know I've hated on movies before because of how poorly I felt they represented the source material. I've also thought that I would have liked certain movies on their own merits if I hadn't already experienced the source.

In essence, I think that's what happened here. The story, at the very least, is cool: the earth is divided into eight kingdoms, north and south for each of the four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. Within these kingdoms, there are people who can "bend" or control their element (kind of like those kids on Captain Planet, only without the goofy heart stuff). To each generation an Avatar is born: a child who can bend all the elements and maintains the balance between the kingdoms and between the Earth and the spirit world.

About 100 years ago, the Avatar went missing, and the Fire people took over the planet, forcing benders into prison camps. The world's lived in topsy-turvy chaos ever since. Until now, that is, when a Southern Water Kingdom hunter (Jackson Rathbone) and his undisciplined bender sister (Nicola Peltz) find Aang (Noah Ringer)/the Avatar trapped in a bubble/suspended animation. When Aang realizes what happened when he shirked his duties, he sets out to complete his training and bring order back to the world.

Alright, so maybe I wouldn't have let writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan write his own adaptation. We don't need Dev Patel (with a credible American accent) to repeat his motivation every single time he's on screen. I promise to remember who he is. And maybe I would have looked a little harder before settling on Ringer for Aang. I know quality child actors are hard to come by, but this kid didn't bring it as the role requires.

All that said, I do think the movie looked cool (I gave up on 3D a few movies back, and I doubt this one is worth the extra money given that it was added after the fact), and I may have gotten a little misty eyed during the montages of the Earth people liberating themselves from their Fire overlords because apparently team work gets me right here. So what if it doesn't live up to the cartoon? It's good summer fun, and I'd much rather see it again than or The A-Team or Clash of the Titans. Isn't that enough? C+

I am going to have to watch the cartoon, though. There's no way this movie is going to do well enough at the box office to develop into a trilogy.

Pop Culture Round Up: June 19 - July 2

2010-07-02T16:03:00.003-04:00

Video Games - 3-D Without Glasses

The Tony Kushner "Angels in America" effect

Night of the Living Wonks

Chinese reporters schooled in news manipulation

Ivan Vasiliev: rocket man

Five Reasons Why Moving the Oscars to January Is a Good Idea

Maslow’s Pyramid Gets a Makeover

Brace for Impact — It’s Action Movie Season

Copy-Editing the Culture: Grown Ups

Fans Can Expect Lots of Skin – and Sex! – in Breaking Dawn

The Star Market - The Vulture
Taking over from the Fame Index, are we? Man, I still miss Fametracker.

The revealing truth about modern burlesque

The secrets of "Psycho's" shower scene

Are Hollywood actors saving their best for the stage?

Where have all the protest songs gone?

FIGHTING WITH TEENAGERS: A COPYRIGHT STORY

Gossip Girl Gets a Premiere Date

A Maxim a Day Keeps Bad Feelings Away

Pop Culture Round Up: June 12 - 18

2010-06-18T16:37:00.002-04:00

Ozzy Osbourne writes health column

The Dictionary of American Regional English to Be Finished—Maybe Next Year

Strike a Pose - The Function and Fiction of Punk

Movie futures trading wins regulatory approval

Writing categories perplex Emmys

'Treme': A Shouting Match
Hilarious.

With Sequels and Reboots Failing, Hollywood (Finally) Puts Out a Desperate Call for Original Material

Hitchcock's Psycho at 50, the Sounds of Violence

Antiheroes play by their own rules

Contested Will Looks at the Nuts Who Think Shakespeare Didn't Write Shakespeare

The B-movie prophet

Twilight' screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg talks Kristen Stewart, Bill Condon and Breaking Dawn

All the Dead Are Vampires

Damien Hirst in line to open his first gallery in Hyde Park

Pick up just about any novel and you'll find the phrase "somewhere a dog barked."
You'll never not notice this again.

Love Songs Linked to Receptiveness to Romance

Halifax fire bosses sue online critics

How Jaws taught Hollywood to make a killing

Battle Raging Over Age Listings on IMDb

"Saneman" - In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Michael Cera is the ultimate Canadian superhero

"The Long Decline" - Canada used to have a vibrant critical culture. What happened?

Snoop Dogg Professes His Love for Sookie Stackhouse
Snoop is just . . . it's hard not to love Snoop. He's going to buy Sookie a gin and juice down at Merlotte's.

Zach Gilford on Returning to Friday Night Lights and Making Us All Cry

How has the culture of TV (and TV-watching) changed? | Crosstalk

Pop Culture Round Up: June 5 - 11

2010-06-11T17:17:00.000-04:00

Kind of slow news week:

Capitalism: Hollywood's Miscast Villain

Fictional Stars, Real Problems

Do you speak foreign?

Why "Glee" is this century's "Twin Peaks"

Zach Gilford Ends His Role on 'Friday Night Lights'

Movie Trailers Give More and More Plot Away

Soundcheck: Slow Down, Robert Johnson!

It's Official: 'Breaking Dawn' split into two film

It's Complicated, Sherlock Holmes, Before Sunset, The Book of Eli: Movies on a Plane

2010-06-08T19:35:00.008-04:00

On one hand, selecting your own movie from a fairly well stocked list makes plane travel that much more enjoyable. On the other hand, that teeny screen six inches from your face changes your perspective, doesn't it?

It's Complicated (2009)

I don't ever think I've seen Meryl Streep this sexy before. She's certainly having the time of her life (to be honest, she seems to be having the time of her life all the time lately. It's great to be Meryl Streep these days), and Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are right there with her for the most part. Too bad the movie is endlessly distracting with it's "oh, look at the problems of these affluent white people" attitude. I mean, that's all Nancy Meyers movies, but I am telling you it stands out more starkly this time around. You've "earned" a reno to make your massive, gorgeous house even more massive and gorgeous? Seriously, every one's like, "I'm so happy you're getting the reno you've always wanted," and, while I get that a perfect kitchen is the great white whale for a chef or baker, could we cool it with the cooing for a minute? Wouldn't it be hilarious if Meyers were to one day find out that people who work at say, NGOs, never make all that much money? She should write a romantic comedy about them. They need love, too. B-

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

A RE-view! We haven't had one of those in forever. It mostly held up the way I remembered it, but I did find it even more slow moving this time around. How long does it take to get to the plot? Also, I'm not sure how I feel about using the same tricks twice in the one movie (both Holmes planning out an attack in slow-mo, then we see it in real time, and when he pulls off some feat, and we go back to see how he got there). Still, the slow pace gave me more time to appreciate Hans Zimmer's score and the dinner at the Royale. I love that Law is styled after Tsar Nicholas II in that scene. B

Before Sunset (2004)

I can hardly believe that the movie keeps affecting me the same way, but it does: such exquisite agony. By now I know the rhythms and what conversations to expect, and it works for the film. I find myself nearly breathless in anticipation for Jesse to tell Celine he was there or for her to reveal that she thinks all her relationships since have paled in comparison to their one night. And then, there they are in her apartment, one waltz later and Nina Simone on the soundtrack. He is going to miss his plane. It's been six years. Is that enough time to start work on a sequel? A+

The Book of Eli (2010)

It's tough to say because I didn't finish this one, but I'm going to say it anyway: there is a zero percent chance that God wants to you to cross the country killing people when they threaten you but stand by while others are attacked, Eli. Thanks for coming out.

And since we're here, check out my Canadian Cinema Canon on The Trotsky.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2010-06-07T11:06:00.005-04:00

Jake Gyllenhaal cuts a strange action figure. No one can argue with that physique, and the chest hair is a nice touch. Even the hair, though not exactly the most flattering, is period acceptable. But, man, when the camera closes in on those puppy eyes, you're in another movie.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a near perfect Disney summer blockbuster: lots of action, lots of good-looking people, lots of fun. It's also overstuffed and overlong, but, hey, that worked for Pirates, right? DP John Seale was obviously inspired by video games for much of his composition, particularly shots of Dastan (Gyllenhaal) diving from various heights and running across Persia's rooftops (parkour before it had a name).

The story itself feels like a mash up of Moses, Aladdin, and The Fugitive: an orphaned street kid is adopted by the king and raised as a prince. Later, framed for murder, he goes on the run with a beautiful princess (Gemma Arterton), who seeks to steal and return the dagger the prince claimed in battle to its sacred temple before it falls into the wrong hands. The dagger, you see, is a one-minute time machine. So they run all over Asia at incredible speed (seriously), and Alfred Molina shows up just for the love of ostriches.

It's all very silly, but it's summer. As long as the guys are hot and the story doesn't make us beat our heads against our seats at the incoherence of it all, why complain? Putting a ringer like Gyllenhaal in the lead role is just icing: the emotional moments ring true even when they shouldn't, so holding hands is enough to make hearts flutter. Aw. If only they have cast someone worthy as his romantic interest. Arterton really needs to learn to lighten up. B-

Pop Culture Round Up: May 22 - June 4

2010-06-04T17:07:00.000-04:00

Trivial Pursuit co-creator dies

Del Toro leaves The Hobbit
I think it's time they let this one go. It's just not happening.

Further Thoughts of a Novice E-Reader

Cable still rules summer; broadcasters trying

As CD Sales Wane, Music Retailers Diversify Their Wares

Online Buzz Doesn’t Equate to Ratings

Cognitive Surplus: The Great Spare-Time Revolution

Brando, Hepburn Made Stinkers Along With Classics

20 things you never knew about Shakespeare

Star Trek actor Stewart knighted

My sticker shock: Sixteen bucks for a movie, and it wasn't even in 3-D

Nothing minimal about this composer's eventful life

Rue McClanahan Dead at 76

'The Shallows': This Is Your Brain Online

Coffee consumption unrelated to alertness: Stimulating effects may be illusion, study finds

Pop Culture Round Up: May 1 - May 21

2010-05-21T17:39:00.003-04:00

Studios hit with homevideo slump

Why I Hate 3-D (And You Should Too)

'Rewired' Generations Small But Savvy

Uncommon Act of Design: The Secret of Getting Kids to Eat Veggies? Move the Salad Bar

Dempster Highway to serve as movie backdrop

A special report on television: The lazy medium

The Complete Metropolis

Computer Software Decodes Emotions Over the Phone

Twitter: No matter what Hollywood thinks, it's totally uncool for kids

Survey - critics still crucial to theatre

Mom returns Gossip Girl series books she kept off library shelves for almost two years

Gossip Girl Producers Reveal Details on Next Season’s Trip to Paris

3-D Abounds, but What’s the Frenzy Really About?

Director Tim Burton gets seaweed namesake

Mozart doesn't make you smarter: study

Reclaiming Roles: Actors Play Beyond Disabilities

Downey vs. Rourke: A Tale of Two Comebacks

A better world at 40% off

Ladies as gentlemen: the cross-dressing women of Edwardian musical theatre

Brontes get an action makeover

An Online Game to Entice the Movie Audience

It came from "Metropolis": The legacy of a classic

David Lynch’s new film for Christian Dior

The secret to creativity

Orson Welles' tarnished legacy

Poetry In Allen Ginsberg's Photography

Fish Tank (2009)

2010-05-05T09:47:00.003-04:00

Andrea Arnold's sophomore feature Fish Tank is a wondrous little bubble of a film: with only a handful of characters and locations, you can feel the way Mia's (Katie Jarvis) life is crashing down on her even as it expands.

A would-be dancer, she hides out in a empty nearby apartment, drinking and coming up with new routines. She's good -- or at least better than her neighbours --, but you can tell she knows that she might not be good enough to make anything of it. Then her mum (Kierston Waering) brings Connor (Michael Fassbender) home, and it's game over. Mia's just beginning to test the power of her sexuality, and you can actually see Fassbender run Connor through mental calisthenics just to figure out how to deal with her.

Something expected happens, then something unexpected. It doesn't exactly go off the rails; Arnold and Jarvis have a firm grip on Mia throughout. But for a quiet, slow moving film like this one (at least four people walked out of the screening I attended, though that may have been the profanity), it doesn't sit well until the final moments. Maybe when getting out is the point, how you get out doesn't matter. B

Pop Culture Round Up: April 24 - 30

2010-04-30T17:16:00.004-04:00

Have the stars lost their shine?

Popularity of 3-D is affecting how screenplays are written

Gossip Girl Doing Its Part to Bring Chest Hair Back

Yes, yes it is. It and Robert Pattinson.

'Twilight: Breaking Dawn' taps Oscar winner Bill Condon as director

Is it now a musical?

Lock up your daughters

Robin Hood shoot amazing: Great Big Sea singer

Blyth Festival Company List

Whoo! Go, Nathan!

Kinnear, Holmes cast for Kennedy miniseries

Out of mind, out of sight: Blinking eyes indicate mind wandering

Judge Diane P. Wood, oboist, potential Supreme Court justice

Pop Culture Round Up: April 2 - 23

2010-04-23T16:46:00.003-04:00

This is what happens when you forget to post these things. Hold on to your hats.

Hollywood stars to film in Ottawa

Anna Paquin declaration causes site to crash

Host of books appear as angels become theme of new teenage reading cult

Are they inspired by Castiel? Because I can see that.

Branding Deals Come Early in the Filmmaking Process

NBC Shows Send Signals to Recycle, Exercise and Eat Right

Bering in Mind: Scientists say free will probably doesn't exist, but urge: "Don't stop believing!"

Hold on to that feel-en-i-en! Oh, how could any one resist?

'Breaking Dawn': 'Dreamgirls' director Bill Condon is the first choice for the last two 'Twilight' films

Tracy Morgan Gets Emotional When Asked About Tina Fey

Home Library Key to Academic Success

Twitter chatter may predict movie box office

We're doomed.

It's time for Hollywood to see past the coming attraction of sequels

Are newspaper critics old hat amid the flood of online critics?

Why did 'Date Night's' Tina Fey and Steve Carell go from great TV to a bad movie?

I didn't think so!

Age gap between men and women on TV is closing, research finds

We Predict the Timeline of the Inevitable Glee Backlash

10 Famous Movie Quotes In Graph Form [PIC]

Love sees Gosling or McAvoy as Cobain

5 Reasons 3D TV Won't Take Off

Good because I don't want to puke in my living room.

Lovers, Not Victims

Blinded by jealousy?

Brad Bourland, Grocer With a 10,000-Top-Movie List

Dear TV Theme Music: What's Become Of You?

Death, Italian Style - Best Sendoffs

Movie critics: Shut up already!

Movie theaters turn to live event screenings to fill seats

The Food Network Expands With the Cooking Channel

Not a joke.

Museums Take Their Lessons to the Schools

Leave it to Turkish soap operas to conquer hearts and mindsin the Arab world

Of course! Who doesn't love the cheese of a good soap opera, which I am going to go ahead an assume is universal.

A New PETA Ad Will Feature the Late Bea Arthur

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

2010-04-22T16:20:00.003-04:00

In Tuesday's comedy Olympics, I completely forgot to mention that I also saw Hot Tub Time Machine. Stop judging me. Sometimes broad comedy is just the thing.

Though you may not have guessed it from the ads, there's a depressing beginning to the hot tub time machine-related antics: estranged college friends John Cusack and Craig Robinson take Rob Corddry to a ski resort they frequented in during better days after Corddry attempts suicide. Once the hot tub send the trio plus Clark Duke back in time, they waffle between trying to relive their exact experiences for fear of disturbing the space-time continuum or potentially improving their lives for the better. Actually, their sights are set hilariously low, mostly involving avoiding physical pain (though there's some unfortunate sexism thrown in there for good measure). There's a lot of bodily function humour along the way, but the chemistry between the leads mostly redeems it or at least inject genuine emotions into the proceedings.

Yes, comedy is wildly broad, Cusack was sometimes a disconcerting shade of orange, and the end raised more questions for me than is reasonable considering what preceded it. There's also a character named April who isn't a crazy bitch (yay, Lizzy Caplan!), and Sebastian Stan is in it. So there. No Date Night but not as terrible as you might think. C+

Cooking with Stella (2009), The Maid (2009), Date Night (2010)

2010-04-20T15:05:00.006-04:00

Spring and summer naturally mean more comedies, and that's just as well after slogging through winter, winter movies, and particularly this year's crop of the same. For whatever reason, I tend not to lean toward comedy, and, when I do, I prefer my comedy spliced with something else, e.g. a hor-com like Shaun of the Dead or an action rom-com like Grosse Pointe Blank. Even so, I've been seeing a lot of comedies lately, and they disappoint more than they amuse.

First was Cooking with Stella (2009), in which the housekeeper (Seema Biswas) at the residence for a Canadian embassy worker in New Dehli who's been ripping off the household for years nearly has her plan derailed when the latest residents include a househusband (Don McKellar) who's also a chef and wants to learn Indian cookery from said housekeeper. The potential here is pretty good: Don McKellar, cooking, comedy spliced with a con. But here's the thing about a good con movie: you either need to believe that the con is harmless enough to the mark (e.g., he's so rich he won't miss a few mil) or that the mark is such a rube he almost has it coming. Neither is the case here. Michael (McKellar) obviously respects Stella (Biswas), so she . . . goes for the big con. By the third act everyone in the theatre around me just seemed tickled pink, laughing away, and I was clutching the arm rests and trying not to growl. If they had done one thing to make Stella in some way sympathetic -- given us the impression that she was making up for getting poorly paid, hinted at some massive debt she needed to clear, pointed out family she was supporting -- the end result would have been a lot different. I love a well executed con, and I'm willing to give points for trying. But this? Everyone kind of sucked, so there's no fun in watching them suck in varying ways. Also, almost all of Lisa Ray's dialogue sounded like bad ADR. C-

Initially, The Maid seemed like it was going to bother me just as much, if not even more. A maid (Catalina Saavedra) who's been with a family for 21 years, is getting sick and complaining of too much work, so the family offers to bring someone in to help her. Raquel (Saavedra) then sets about sabotaging everyone they bring in. This part drags on for way too long. I don't know whether to blame writer-director Sebastián Silva, Saavedra, or some combination of the two, but there is no insight into Raquel's psyche. We never get to the bottom of why she chooses to behave this way, and the mask posing as Saavedra's face doesn't provide any clues either. Even when we take time out to seemingly focus on Raquel's inner life, there's still nothing there: Raquel admires a cardigan in Mrs.' closet, so she buys the same one on her day off. Because of how she looked in the sweater? Because of how it made her feel? Because she feels she deserves sweaters just as nice (she gets one as a gift from the family early in the movie and makes a point of looking at the label, but we don't see the label and what do I know about Chilean labels anyway, so it's hard to judge)? Who knows? After the third maid, Lucy (Mariana Loyola), is brought in while Raquel is incapacitated with illness, and Lucy manages to crack through Raquel's . . . whatever it is that's the matter with Raquel . . ., the movie picks up considerably and packs quite a few laughs in. If only they had cut down the first hour to twenty minutes or so and given us the slightest window in Raquel's mental disorder, it could have been a great movie. B-

It's beyond obvious how hysterical Steve Carell and Tina Fey are, so throwing them together in front of a camera should achieve at least a few laughs. Throw them up there with some material that's actually funny and give them funny people to work with? You're cooking with fire. Date Night's not a perfect movie -- it drags when it focuses on the thriller angle over comedy -- but it's by far the best comedy I've seen all year. As a suburban married couple who try to get out of their rut by heading into the city for a dinner out and find themselves wanted by crooked cops for stealing a mobster's property, Carell and Fey hit the exact right balance between fish out of water and resourceful parents who love each other. By the time William Fitchner gets to deliver the line "sex robots," you're pretty much dying with laughter. I should feel bad/guilty/something negative about liking the Hollywood-delivered obvious choice in the comedy Olympics here, but I don't. Added bonus: Mark Ruffalo. I know you were thinking, "Shirtless Mark Wahlberg," but I prefer the opportunity to lean over to my viewing partner and whisper, "The Buffalo!" B+

Pop Culture Round Up: March 20 - April 1

2010-04-01T16:00:00.001-04:00

On The Media: Transcript of "Tropes Galore"

The Aztecs, through old-world eyes

Love music, hold the criticism

The original, R-rated 'Grease' comes home to Chicago

Twilight: New Moon Scene Explains Why Victoria Was So Mean

Michael Bay Assembles Dream Cast for Transformers 3

Why Women Novelists Don't Lighten Up

Someone rescue Robert Pattinson

Sounds like a job for a pair of burgeoning celebrity interventionists I know.

James Cameron Challenges Glenn Beck to a Debate, Global-Warming Skeptics to a Shoot-out

When It Comes to Wooing Barbie, Jon Stewart Puts Ken to Shame

Mission: Obsess Over Continuity, Post Gotchas Online

See you at the movies - Roger Ebert's Journal

Snobbery, Projection, Resentment

Why are professors at Harvard, Duke, and Middlebury teaching courses on David Simon's The Wire?

Lightfoot mulls new Edmund Fitzgerald lyrics

A futures market for the movies

If movie theaters made concessions to health ...

Thanks to cable, actors are getting a chance to make unexpected transformations

David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen Reteaming for EASTERN PROMISES Sequel

How Lady Gaga Became the World's Biggest Pop Star

Stars Rib Matt Damon During Hollywood Salute

Best Boss Ever? Michael Steele & The RNC Interns

Is There a Future for Arts Criticism?

Next Big Thing - Literary Scholars Turn to Science

Cinema's greatest writer villains

Repo Men (2010)

2010-03-24T11:25:00.006-04:00

Repo Men takes place not so much in a dystopian future as a dystopian alternate reality. People can replace their organs, bones, and other body parts with artforgs, but the cost is so high that many people default on their payments. That's where Jude Law and Forest Whitaker come in. If you go 90 days without a payment, they track you down and repossess the Union's property without deference to that property's host.

Even if you haven't seen the trailer or TV spots, you can pretty much guess what happens: as the result of an accident, Law ends up with an artificial heart and a change of heart. He turns against the system. Violently. Really, really, violently.

The truth: I went into this one expecting little more than a) Law fighting against the system and b) violence and gore. This movie delivers on both counts. Around the halfway mark what started out as a smart, maybe even timely idea with a stylish execution goes off the rails, but it goes so spectacularly off the rails that it achieves its own kind of magnificence. There's a wildly erotic self-surgery scene, for Pete's sake. How can you not love it?

Law continues on his upward trend in my esteem. Once he's freed of the need to act the fop, he's also free to do the work. Though there was little moment I could have done without, he was otherwise delightful, as was Liev Schreiber in full oily salesman mode. For dedication to bananas-osity alone, C+.

Confidential to Jude Law: you know what would go well with your hairy forearms? Some chest hair. Do us a favour and stop waxing.

"If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained."

2010-03-23T12:36:00.004-04:00

Just like life and twice as large, Clancy Mother*uckin' Brown's performance in Highlander will not be contained, which is why it's the subject of my latest Culture article.

While you're there, don't forget to check out the Culture blog, which has replaced TV Thursdays (remember those?) in that I now recap half a dozen shows (including the currently airing Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Supernatural) in addition to whatever else I get around to blogging about. Try it; you'll like it.

Shutter Island (2010) and The Ghost Writer (2010)

2010-03-22T11:25:00.005-04:00

Two mystery adaptations set on rain swept New England islands, supported by pathetic fallacy, directed by aging masters who have left their mark on the cinematic landscape, and nearly toppled by an Alexandre Desplat score? Hmm.

Depending on your point of view, Shutter Island will either make you think that Martin Scorsese's off his game or that he's exactly where he should be. I'm in the latter camp. His bombast is so dynamic and his vision so haunting that his experimentation with turning Dennis Lehane's pulp into a cross between a B-movie and a full-on psychological nightmare is easily forgivable (i.e., if it doesn't work for you).

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a U.S. Marshal brought in to investigate a missing persons case at a facility for the criminally insane, only for his and partner Mark Ruffalo's questioning to bring them no closer to figuring out how Emily Mortimer could have "evaporated through the walls." DiCaprio's haunted by his time as a solider in WWII and the death of his wife (Michelle Williams), and the still-waking visions that plague him are as disturbing as the details of case that slowly reveal themselves.

Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer is a far more current and political story, simultaneously smaller and grander in scale. Ewan McGregor's brought in as a ghost writer to finish former British PM Pierce Brosnan's memoirs after the last ghost and aide fails to get off the ferry one evening and washes up on shore three days later. Though McGregor initially sees his work as little more than turning something deadly boring into slightly more palatable prose for a handsome reward, the announcement that the Hague will investigate Brosnan for war crimes is enough to pique his interest to investigate his predecessor's sudden demise.

The Ghost Writer feels infinitely more claustrophobic, though no less isolated, than Shutter Island. The compound where the majority of the action takes place feels like just that, and Polanski fills each corner with tension. Seething resentments, recriminations, and resignation hang in the air. It's the best deployment of McGregor I've ever seen, and Olivia Williams stands out as femme fatale. Just switching to a red sweater is enough to make you nervous.

It's hard ignore the parallel between Polanski and Brosnan's Lang as men who take refuge in one country's refusal to extradite. Shutter Island may tell the more personal story, but it's The Ghost Writer that feels personal. Former, B+; latter, A-.

Pop Culture Round Up: March 6 - 19

2010-03-19T17:06:00.005-04:00

An Omnipotent Enemy Comforts Us

Could This Deleted Scene, Set in Outer Space, Have Won Up in the Air an Oscar?

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Johnny Depp's latest adventure in gender-bending.

TV Host Silvano Vinceti Probes History's Coldest Cases

Sony to start selling 3-D TVs in June

What Critics Talk About When They Talk About The Nose

Animals Commit Suicide, Too (And Not Just Lemmings)

Shakespearean Insulter

‘Mad Men’ Dolls in Barbie’s World, but Cocktails Stay Behind

Da Vinci gets action film treatment

Pass the Camera: Many Directors Shoot 1 Star-Studded Comedy

How a romantic breakup affects self-concept

Hoax Shakespeare play Double Falsehood turns out to be the real McCoy

Why do I find some of the melodic themes “playing” in my mind for several days after a concert?

More (whingy) songs about film critics and paying work, and a dirty little secret

Talking Back to Your TV Set, Endlessly

Objectification Hinders Some Women's Cognitive Ability

Babies 'born to dance' says York University research

The importance of being vague

Lifetime achievements: Saluting Betty White and other seasoned seniors

Remaking foreign-language films in English

Sigourney Weaver Enters The Fang Club

She's Out of My League (2010)

2010-03-16T15:44:00.006-04:00

I went into this one with my eyes open but perhaps too wide: I fully expected this movie to suck horribly. Basically, I thought I would go see it because I like Jay Baruchel, I would like him in it, and that would be the end of it. Surprisingly, it's not.

It's not high above* the level of suckage I initially anticipated, and that's not necessarily a knock against it. It does play like a raunchy, less carefully plotted version of The 40 Year-Old Virgin, and I think a lot more work needed to go into Kirk's (Baruchel) friend circle. Devon (Nate Torrence), the married-young-and-still-innocent one, and Jack (Mike Vogel), the ladies' man (maybe?), were ill-defined but still more likable than Stainer (T.J. Miller), who gets the majority of the screen time and seemingly holds stronger sway over Kirk for reasons that are again unclear. Aside from the fact that they all work at the same place, I couldn't really get a handle on the bond between them, and I think it damaged the movie overall because Kirk's relationship with his friends plays a big role in his perception and handling of his relationship with Molly (Alice Eve).

In case the broadsheet didn't make it clear, the entire plot is found in its tagline: How can a 10 go for a 5? Eve's quite sweet in the role, and there's an awkward chemistry between her and Baruchel that rings true. Beneath the sex-farce, there's a better movie about the value of confidence and its ability to overcome a host of real and perceived relationship shortcomings. Aside from two drawn-out "set piece" jokes that would have been best left on the cutting room floor, though, the finished product isn't too far off from that idea. C

Also, Krysten Ritter (Gia of V-Mars fame) totally rocks as the bitchy best friend.

*Was "She's So High Above Me" on the soundtrack? Yes, yes it was.

Top 10 of 2009

2010-03-09T12:17:00.003-05:00

Now that I have finally finished my own personal death race (tm Sars, of course), it's time for some unifying, concluding thoughts on last year's movies. Okay, here it is: meh. Bearing in mind the possibility that I can't count, I saw over 60 new releases last year (not including the ticket stub I can't identify). My overall feeling was that it was a blah year for movies. Even though 2007 is generally agreed upon as a spectacular, perhaps unbeatable year for movies, 2008 still had plenty to impress. Maybe I just saw too many stupid 2009 movies. Maybe there just isn't much to recommend this year.

Even so, there are movies from last year worth seeking out if you haven't already. My Top 10 for 2009:

10. Drag Me to Hell
9. Crazy Heart
8. Mary & Max
7. A Single Man
6. Inglourious Basterds
5. District 9
4. The Young Victoria
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox
2. In the Loop
1. The Hurt Locker

Pop Culture Round Up: February 27 - March 5, 2010

2010-03-05T18:47:00.003-05:00

Film - Women on the sidelines

Oscar alternative: The beauty of bad movies

Josh Schwartz Gives Us a Preview of the New Gossip Girl Episodes

Lady Gaga and Miss Piggy May Be One

Harlequin Titles Reveal Audience's Desires

Bringing New Understanding to the Director’s Cut

China's Only Independent Dance Company Led By Country's First Transsexual

Vampire Diaries: Why It's One of TV's Most Addictive Shows

Inside the Singular Hysteria of the Brutal Academy Awards Race

The Short Take: Neglect 2009 - Part V

2010-03-05T11:46:00.004-05:00

Only four movies left. I think I just overheard someone recommend 2012.

Jennifer's Body (2009)

It's Jacob's favourite movie of the year, and you can actually see the Jacob-reality disconnect when you watch it. The ideas underneath are as powerful a statement as you can imagine about the nature of feminism and the role of sex in trying to present woman as person. Despite what others may tell you, Megan Fox is actually kind of awesome (or at least awfsome) in the this movie. She's well suited to the role, and she brings a lot of energy to it. So it's too bad that a) someone wants me to believe that Amanda Seyfried is plain and b) this movie does not have the courage of its convictions. The opening narration makes a stronger point than anything follows in the movie. At least Kyle Gallner continues to be amazing. Too bad he only seems to be in horror movies lately. D

Fame (2009)

It's always funny when you can compare newer movies to older movies and realize how much more ballsy people used to be. If not in subject matter, certainly in the things they would say to one another. Basically, it's a lackluster remake of a movie that was, despite its fluffiness, far braver the first time around. And I still like the original theme song better. C

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)

Depending on your point of view, this was either a lackluster attempt to cash in on the current (and forever) vampire craze or delightful departure therefrom. While it's not a perfect movie, the relish with which John C. Reilly and Willem Dafoe approach their roles almost makes up for any deficiencies. Yes, it is obviously just a set up for a (yet to materialize) sequel. But it's cute and sweet, and the second act set at the camp is actually the movie's best. If I had to choose which Weitz brother vampire saga adaptation I'd rather watch again, it would be this one. C

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

I need someone to explain to me when and how I turned the corner on Quentin Tarantino. It's not like I didn't like him before just to be contrary. I have tried, several times over, to watch Pulp Fiction and the apparently underrated Jackie Brown. I have never successfully sat through either one once. But man, do I groove on Death Proof (though not the full director's cut) and now Inglourious Basterds. It seems weird to compare them, but I'll do it anyway: despite the massive, obvious differences, Basterds has got the same joyous, freewheelin' vibe and man on a mission plotting as Fantastic Mr. Fox. I bet a double bill, if you've got the stomach for both, would make for one helluva night. Though it's overly and unnecessarily long, it's also well-acted and well-plotted. Who knew revisionist history could be so fun? B+

Aside from a movie title-less Bytowne ticket stub from Sunday, January 10, thus concludes by 2009 clean up. Hurrah! On to the top 10.

The Short Take: Neglect 2009 - Part IV

2010-03-04T20:06:00.001-05:00

Turns out it will soon be time to move to the couch. It is not yet time.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Went to see this movie out of movie-related boredom. Said everything I need to say about it here. D

District 9 (2009)

This is one of those movies I wish hadn't fallen through the cracks of my massive lack of reviewing because it was one of the best movies of 2009. It's powerful, well-acted, and completely different from what you thought it was: ballsy, political conscious, and graphically violent. A smart movie with the power to surprise? That is something. A-

Whip It (2009)

I always want to put an exclamation point at the end of the title, and that's pretty much the review right there. The movie is never more than its girl-power tagline, "Be Your Own Hero," but, as girl-power movies go, that's a pretty good thing to be. Drew Barrymore makes for an assured presence behind the camera. Now if someone could just explain to me what the legal difference is between 18 and 21 in Texas inasmuch as you apparently can't legally consent to participate in roller derby until you are 21, that would be great. Because I'm pretty sure you're a legal adult at 18, so one of the movie's big conflicts sort of deflated for that reason. But, you know, otherwise cute and you go, girl and all that. B

The Hangover (2009)

I was so sure I had already reviewed this one, but, since it's one of the most popular movies this year, I'm pretty sure you've already seen it. You don't need me to tell you that it's funny (particularly Mike Tyson and a discussion about renaming roofies), but not the funniest shit ever warranting a sequel and, like, a girl version and whatever the crap else. It's sort of an one-note thing to begin with, okay? B-

(500) Days of Summer (2009)

Sadly, I told someone I had already reviewed this movie. That turned out not to be true. Sorry, Ames! I mentioned this exact scenario to my best friend, and she asked, "What would you say about it?" Well, I would say that it is inventive, particularly the two Ikea set pieces, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's dance number, and the reality divorcing from expectations. I would also say that it wears its devotion to The Catcher in the Rye a little too on its sleeve, that Tom (Gordon-Levitt) is a dough head, and that I would call Summer (Zooey Deschanel) a bitch, but that last remark wouldn't be fair. The movie prevents you from ever getting to know her in any meaningful way, so it's not right to blame Summer for that. Insight ultimately squandered on characters unworthy of it. B

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

I had to go see this movie as part of a bargain, and the other person turned to me when it was over to apologize. Seriously. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, are you hurting for money? Come over, and I will make you a sandwich next time. We'll figure something out. Bring Christopher Eccelston with you. D-

Now it's time to move to the couch.

The Short Take: Neglect 2009 - Part III

2010-03-03T19:11:00.001-05:00

Dinner = eaten. Saved by the Bell = watched.

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

The movie is overall too shaggy to amount to much, though it does deliver excellent doses of George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Stephen Root, Stephen Lang, Robert Patrick, Glenn Morshower*, and Kevin Spacey. Yes, Ewan McGregor also in this movie, but his whole point is react like Clooney is kind of bananas and eventually sort of fall in love with him, i.e. to be the audience. It's not exactly demanding. But Clooney dancing or Spacey inducing a terrible trip? That's good stuff. B

*Has he graduated from Hey! It's That Guy! College? I see him in stuff all the time now.

2012 (2009)

2012 is a) bloated, b) so boring that I went to the bathroom for something to do, and c) ridiculous. I sort of love how cheesy it is. It hits absolutely every trope you could possibly think of and then floods them. People have a right to fight for their survival, Chiwetel Ejiofor? Against a worldwide deluge? Okay, we'll get right on that. I mean, John Cusack's son's name is Noah, for pity's sake. D

Gamer (2009)

Cool trailer, endlessly gross and terrible movie. Doesn't even have the good sense to let the bottom fall out and embrace how truly terrible it is. Michael C. Hall sure seemed to be having fun, though. D

Moon (2009)

It's funny that someone didn't think to multiply Sam Rockwell or make Kevin Spacey a disembodied voice sooner. Those are both exactly the right choices to make. It's not a perfect movie, but it's haunting and beautiful and occasionally very funny. It bodes well for Duncan Jones' career. B+

9 (2009)

A very cool looking movie that isn't that exciting to watch. Shane Acker expanded it from his award-winning short, but the story almost seems better suited to a graphic novel than a feature film. Both the philosophic arguments and pulse-pounding chases that make up the movie make for amusing diversions, but it culminates in a rickety finish. B

The Time Traveller's Wife (2009)

Read my Book vs. Film. Better yet, read the book.

The Soloist (2009)

I never thought of Robert Downey Jr. as an actor in need of direction, and I'm not entirely convinced that that's the problem here. His character is ill-defined, but I doubt we should lay that at the feet of Downey exclusively. I'd sooner say that the problem is director Joe Wright, specifically the relationship between Wright and the material. He also made the lush, passionate, tragic Atonement, so it's not like he can't direct. But he doesn't know what to do here. He puts Jamie Foxx in a room with real life afflicted people. He attempts to show make music looks/feels like to Nathaniel through colour. None of it sticks. I do like that the movie makes it clear that Steve can't ever "fix" Nathaniel, that things just aren't like that, but I'm not sure you should hang a movie about the relationship between a journalist and a schizophrenic musician on the strength of any one's narration even if it is Downey. C

Time to move to couch.

The Short Take: Neglect 2009 - Part II

2010-03-02T17:49:00.000-05:00

Turned on light. Ordered dinner. Back to typing. Discovered that I already reviewed some of these stubs. Hurrah!

The Boys Are Back (2009)

It's equal parts brave and stupid to write a book about how you pretty much almost killed your kids after your wife died, yet you give little evidence that you've truly redressed. Don't get me wrong, Clive Owen doesn't actually endanger children's lives. It just takes him a while to figure out how to be the parent to two kids on his own. And then he does. The end. B-

An Education (2009)

Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is repeatedly presented as whip smart, but she's so ridiculously naïve, so willfully ignorant of the idea that there could be more skeletons in David's (Peter Sarsgaard) closet that you're practically glad she goes through what she does. Girl needed a good shaking to be honest. Screen adapter Nick Hornby, director Lone Scherfig, and Sarsgaard do what they can to find a little sympathy for Peter. Paul Englishby's score starts out strong in the opening credits (in fact, the opening credits are actually some of the movie's strongest work) but never lives up to its promise. At least Rosamund Pike makes for a delightfully dizzy dame. B+

Julie & Julia (2009)

By now everyone and their brother has told you that the Julia (Meryl Streep) parts are excellent and Julie (Amy Adams) comes across pretty poorly by comparison. I'll say no more except that I like Adams and only wish she'd be a bit more discerning with her script choices. On the other hand, maybe this is all she can get. Also, Streep, Stanley Tucci, and Jane Lynch together is heavenly. C

Adam (2009)

Movie is cute, Hugh Dancy is particularly good, having Rose Byrne essentially write "This is my evil plan!" in giant letters in her day planner in order to create conflict is moronic. C+

Ninja Assassin (2009)

Amazing: a movie that stars Rain as a ninja assassin, and nothing happens. Someone may claim that there is a plot, but that person is wrong. There are flashbacks, and there are ninja assassinations. That is it. C

Food arrived! Will be back after eating break.

The Short Take: Neglect 2009 - Part I

2010-03-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

Oh, blog, how you have been neglected in the last year plus. I think now my ticket stubs have hit critical mass: the pile is so big that it seems impossible to tackle them. I've decided that I am just going to work my way through them until they disappear. No system, no plan. Write a phrase, write a paragraph until they're all gone. Might back date the posts to break them up, but that's it. You with me?

Red Cliff (2008)

Plays at times like a John Woo parody rather than a John Woo movie, but then Takeshi Kaneshiro shows up as the hottest damn war strategist ever and makes it all worthwhile. Between that and Tony Leung's badassery, it's definitely worth checking out. Too bad we slow North Americans can't enjoy the two movie version they got in China. B

Mary and Max (2009)

I think I'm a little sensitive to movies where people finally get what they want when what they want is something small. Instead of beating us over the head with how deserving the protagonists are or what hard lives they live, Mary and Max's lives are presented as matter of fact (and odd and adorable) that the idea that all they each want is a friend is enough to break your heart. It's also nice to hear Philip Seymour Hoffman outside of his wheelhouse. Makes me want to send him a pom. A-

A Single Man (2009)

A Single Man is a sensory delight from start to finish, though perhaps not for the reasons Tom Ford would like me to point out. From John Hamm's rich voice on the other end of a phone line to Lee Pace showing up with a calabash pipe,* this movie is delicious. Ford's direction is, at times, too formal and too fussy, and Julianne Moore kind of goes off the rails. I never thought of her as an actress in need of direction, but there it is. Colin Firth finally found the exact right role for his cerebral, internal, occasionally sensual gifts, but he won't win the Oscar. It's a shame, really, because when is a role like this, one that takes place entirely behind a mask, going to come up again? A-

Crazy Heart (2009)

Crazy Heart is exactly the kind of small movie that showcases brilliant acting and little else. The story is shopworn and the coda unnecessary, but, man, who wouldn't want to draw near as Jeff Bridges worked out a melody sitting on his porch? Maybe Maggie Gyllenhaal is just inside by an open window, typing away at her computer. Robert Duvall's going to be here any minute now, and somehow you agree that it's a good idea for him to bring Colin Farrell along. You'd line up for that, wouldn't you? So the story hits its beats a little too hard and characters that could have been more are either buried under exposition or given short shrift. But the view is beautiful (thanks, DP Barry Markowitz), and how many more times are you going to get invited to a party like this? P.S. Bridges will obviously win. B+

Good Hair (2009)

Your $1000 weave is on layaway. At what point do you realize that your priorities are seriously out of whack? The movie delivers a lot of new, surprising information (you'll practically do a double take when Raven-Symoné starts sliding her weave around) but shows no real interest in diving into the socio-political-economic reasons behind why black women approach their hair in such a way. On the other hand, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of "creamy crack." B

Legion (2010)

I'm a big fan of bad movies (almost as good as great movies, I say, and just as valuable), so how bad does it have to be that I would tell people that not see it? Pretty fucking bad. Paul Bettany is kind of awesome in that his idea of showing Michael's love for humanity is to act like he wants to make out with whomever he's talking to (it helps that he's lookin' good in this movie), and there's something wonderfully offbeat about Kevin Durand. Aside from that, there's nothing redeem a movie so messy it can't even follow its inner logic. D-

The Wolfman (2010)

Emily Blunt, you sure do look good in period clothes. Anthony Hopkins, you've got some sort of Alan Rickman thing going on here with the way you add syllables to words (Rickman is the king of turning words you thought you knew and understood against you). Rest of the movie? You're cool for the first act, big on scares and atmosphere. The work that goes into the Benicio Del Toro's transformation is genius, the rest of the movie is not. Way too much atmosphere, not enough plot. Hugo Weaving's still cool beans. Should have told half the movie from his point of view and had it go ramming into Del Toro's. That would have been something. C

*Whoo! Foxy TV men!

Pop Culture Round Up: February 13 - 26

2010-03-01T09:29:00.004-05:00

I just keep forgetting to publish this.

Where's diversity in Vanity Fair's Hollywood?

Actress's Performance a Bit Robotic... Literally

How to write an incendiary blog post

The sweet smell of morality

The Top 43 Sexiest U.S. Presidents

Walters to end Oscar interviews

Twins sought for National Gallery installation

BBC digitises Henry Moore films

The film fantasy of writers' lives

Connor Paolo Wants Eric Van Der Woodsen to Go Postal

Tut was a 'frail king' with broken leg

Oscar Spoilers: Best Original Song Artists Not Performing; But Contestants Invited From ‘So You Think You Can Dance?’

Sebastian Bach Saved Axl Rose’s Life!

Queen Victoria's passion for nudity goes on display in new art exhibition

Empathy May Drive Workplace Creativity

Drama pilots getting more diverse

Winterbottom defends extreme violence in his film

The Hurt Locker sees off Avatar at Baftas

Ten rules for writing fiction

Oscar night funds academy's other projects

Gossip Girl: Nate Is Serena’s Fairy Prince

Hee!

Tables of vampire traits

Mind - New Research Focuses on the Power of Physical Contact

bea arthur mountains pizza

'Avenue Q' puppet too busty for Colorado Springs

The Last Station (2009)

2010-02-23T12:05:00.003-05:00

Hey, want to see a spineless guy be ineffectual? No? Even if he's cutie pie James McAvoy? Still no? Neither did the editors of The Last Station it would seem, as they abruptly and randomly cut from his scenes to those featuring Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren as Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofya every chance they get.

Not that I am blame them or the Oscar voters that nominated Mirren in the role. As adorable as McAvoy is making that hyper-earnest face with the veins popping out in his forehead, there's nothing to his character, his character's conflict, or the movie's central conflict (who will retain Tolstoy's copyright after his death). The movie is so stacked in Sofya's favour that even as Mirren (somewhat uncharacteristically) tears into Sofya's histrionics, it's impossible to root for Paul Giamatti and his moustache wax (though I dig that he carried around moustache wax).

Writer-director Michael Hoffman's has no aptitude for the small work on his hands: though the subject matter itself may be new to the viewer, he doesn't address it in any way that's fresh and ends up divorcing the characters from their supposed beliefs so rapidly that your head will spin. Ultimately, what you get out of the movie is directly related to what you get out of Plummer and Mirren's scenes. Fortunately, those scenes are delightful, much like Sebastian Edschmid's cinematography, which makes Russia in springtime look like an enchanted forest. B-

Now, where can I find a Russian tea set?

"I like to think of it less as a friendship and more as a solid foundation for future bliss."

2010-02-14T13:24:00.003-05:00

The same can be said of the central relationship in It Happened One Night, which I explore in my latest Culture article. It's the foundation of every rom-com ever made, so blame Frank Capra if you're not a fan.

And don't forget about Ask Miss Smartypants, updated every Monday. Send your questions to advice@culturemagazine.ca.

Pop Culture Round Up: February 6 - 12

2010-02-12T17:19:00.004-05:00

A Tour of 'Hell' in Evening Dress

New vote counting procedure for Best Picture Oscar is hard to follow

People Share News Online That Inspires Awe, Researchers Find

Surprise! Bradley Cooper Won’t Be Romancing Julia Roberts in Valentine’s Day

Creature feature

Magicians Speculate on Profession's Gender Imbalance

A world of Marvel

Exclusive Details on the Escape From New York Remake: Different Big Apple, Same Eye Patch

Sex Change: The Rise of the Female-Driven Blockbuster

Bored to Death? It Could Happen

Exclusive: 'Friday Night Lights' sets end date

The Wolfman’s Anthony Hopkins on Twilight, Working With Benicio, and the Problem With Mumbling Actors

Bob Dylan paintings get London gallery show

A discussion about Liz Phair, Riot Grrrls, and other '90s women in rock.

In the Loop (2009)

2010-02-08T11:03:00.004-05:00

In the Loop is only nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, although why it isn't nominated for just about everything is beyond me. Is there an award for most inventive cussing?*

Based on TV series The Thick of It, co-writer and director Armando Iannucci has created a pitch-black satire that's almost certainly a hair's breadth away from being exactly right, which is what makes it so scary and funny to watch. The (never-seen) US President and the UK Prime Minister fancy themselves a war in the Middle East, but not everyone in their respective governments agrees. A single off-message word dropped in a radio interview by International Development Minister Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) is all it takes to kick the ramp up to international conflict into high gear. He's equally beset by political factions for and against the war, but it's the Prime Minister's own director of communications, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), who wields the most dangerous weapons: words and influence.

It's like The West Wing in reverse: instead of an idealistic group of people who want to change the world for the better united under a passionate, intelligent leader, a disparate group from both sides of the pond are too obsessed with their own careers and machinations to see clearly through the conflict they're helping create even as they try to negate it. In the middle of it all, there's a man so adept with one-liners and profanity that to add in his drive makes him look positively Shakespearean (if Shakespeare's characters said things like, "I've already told you to fuck off twice, and yet you're still here").

It's genuinely unsettling to realize that people no one elected can effect such catastrophic policy (and so quickly), so Iannucci et al. have the good sense to make it so funny that you keep from losing your head. Packed to the gills with recognizable faces and brilliant supporting work, the docu-verité shooting style and editing only heighten the feeling that what you are watching could be a dramatic recreation of the truth. Finally, Dr. Strangelove has found its true heir. A-

*Actually, if there were, In the Loop would have some stiff competition from Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Pop Culture Round Up: January 30 - February 6

2010-02-05T17:07:00.004-05:00

How having the web on your phone is changing urban living

You suck, and so does your writing

Independent Cinema - Poised for a D.I.Y. Revolution

RAZZIES Nominations

Zachary Quinto (aka Spock & Sylar) Tunes Up For Spielberg’s Gershwin

Zac Efron to be the next Spiderman

Catalan film theaters go on strike

Yes, “awards season” is stupid, but it beats the alternative

Prokofiev’s operatic talent to bemuse

Basics - Abstract Thoughts Prompt Literal Physical Responses

Is Avatar the All-Time Box-Office Champ or Not? Vulture Has a New Equation

The Odd Situation Of The Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar

Clooney as Batman tops worst movie list

Days of Our Lives actress Frances Reid dies

Risk and the adolescent brain.

Avatar (2009)

2010-02-03T11:21:00.003-05:00

Weighing in on Avatar is entirely unnecessary at this point, aside from saying that I've seen it. There: I saw it. I saw it in magnificent IMAX 3D, where the kid at the door gave me and my viewing companion glasses with different coloured arms than the people around us. Perhaps because they had to go over our regular glasses?

"Unnecessary" seems the best word to qualify much of writer-director-HMFIC James Cameron's approach to dialogue, characterization, and plot. We played a little game called "I've seen this movie already" and came up with The Last of the Mohicans, Pocahontas, and FernGully: The Last Rainforest. There's nothing surprising about what happens in the movie, nothing that isn't telegraphed well in advance, no character who comes close being as 3D as Pandora itself.

And that's fine, in its own way. Obviously a lot of though and work went into imaging this lush new moon, and it is truly awe inspiring from the seeds of the soul tree right on up to the floating mountain range. But it's also insanely, excessively long. I grew tired hearing Giovanni Ribsi whinging about unobtanium (legit science term though it might be), Sigourney Weaver demanding for cigarettes, or Stephen Lang war-mongering like he was on the verge of war-starvation (limit of one character trait per actor!), as well as James Horner's overblown score. To be honest, the movie would have been a lot better if we cut out almost all the human stuff and just watched the Na'vi (especially Zoe Saldana's fierce warrior poses) for an hour and a half. C+

Pop Culture Round Up: January 23 - 29

2010-01-29T17:01:00.002-05:00

U.K. supermarket chain to offer movies with milk

Banksy's first film unspools at Sundance

Smoking in ‘Avatar’ and the Limits of Boundaries on Ratings

Fox Wins Studio War For Robert Rodriguez’ ‘Machete’; Now His New Filmmaking Home

Tim Burton président à Cannes

It’s the 1980s all over again at the cinema

Consumer advocates declare war on copyright treaty

Design - When More Is Decidedly Less

District of Columbia's Bag Tax Creates Unique Behaviors

What were Macbeth and his wife Gruoch really like?

Bacon Bourbon Caramel Corn

School briefly pulls dictionary over 'oral sex' entry

Miramax Dies: Rest in Peace

Catcher in the Rye was never adapted, but its influence is everywhere

The Conchords Meet The Muppets?

Miracle dog survives icy trip on the Baltic

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

2010-01-25T13:46:00.005-05:00

Despite my feelings about The Lovely Bones' failings, I wish more adaptations were as freewheeling as this one. Sherlock Holmes, as you know him, probably isn't close to what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote anyway. Deerstalker and calabash pipe? Never. Boxing? Why yes, Watson did describe Holmes as an "expert" boxer.

It seems as though screenwriters Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, and Simon Kinberg combed through Doyle's stories for the best quips and least used traits (beyond the obvious, of course) and tried to tackle the character from a fresh angle. Since they have Robert Downey Jr. in the role, it worked. I hope nothing ever happens to that wildly expressive face. How does he get emotions to travel as currents under the surface of his skin? He can hold an expression for a ghost of a second, and you feel it yet never feel the work. It's extraordinary.

But I think my feelings about Downey are (too?) well documented at this point (no, seriously. He makes a basket case whose neuroses are only held at bay by mysteries and cocaine look like fun), so let's move on to Jude Law, as this movie made me like him again. This is the first role I've seen him in since . . . forever? that didn't rely on or even make reference to his looks as a part of his character. Instead they slapped a mustache on there and let him go to town, and it's lovely town to visit. His Watson is lithe, elegant, and precise but with a rough and dangerous edge. Watching the two of them together -- arguing over a vest, walking through evidence, or even sitting at home with their shirt sleeves rolled up -- casts such warmth that it's hard not to want to curl up in their scenes.

Despite their chemistry, the movie isn't all fun, games, and hotties. It's slow to get moving, a farting dog is used as a punchline, Mark Strong is underused, and Kelly Reilly has too much dark eye make up on (what? A lot of dark eye make up on light-haired ladies makes me think the character is evil because you see two black pits where the eyes should be, and Mary isn't evil). While the movie is more interested in building a franchise than telling the story at hand at certain points, the plot is decent, and director Guy Ritchie obviously put the emphasis on fun. It worked. Now if I can only find an opportunity to remark, "Now that we have a firm grasp of the obvious" or yell, "No girl wants to marry a doctor who can't tell if a man's dead or not!", that would be ideal. B+

Sidebar: Down with advertising campaign! Pretty much every scene you've sees of Rachel McAdams in the ads is not in the movie. She's great in the scenes she does get, but that's not the point.

Pop Culture Round Up: January 16 - 22

2010-01-22T17:14:00.003-05:00

On Language - Movie Misquotations

Valery Gergiev slows the tempo

American Library Association presents kids lit awards

'Drag Me to Hell' for best picture?

Billy Baldwin Is Serena's Home-Wrecking Father on Gossip Girl

Marc Webb to direct 'Spider-Man'

Twilight graphic novel set for March

Bafta nominations pitch Avatar against An Education and The Hurt Locker

Why we love TV's anti-heroes

The Lovely Bones (2009)

2010-01-19T12:02:00.004-05:00

My Book vs. Film came out today, but it's not one of my long, detailed ones (phew?). It's more in line with Time Traveler's Wife, under a 1000 words because I have so little to say. When the credits rolled, I remarked to one of my viewing companions that I felt like I saw half a movie.

I wonder how I would feel if I wasn't familiar with and attached to the source material. I read it years ago during a period of unemployment when I was devouring books. Best of all, all I knew about the book was that it was popular and well liked by a handful of my peers. I knew nothing about the plot, and, since I'm not much of a book jacket reader either, I was completely surprised and shocked by what followed. Moreover, there are bits that have stuck with me over the years: Lindsey borrows something from Susie's closet to wear to the memorial service, but it was something that Susie had borrowed from her best friend Clarissa, who opens her mouth to say something but decides against it. There are other, more germane to the plot elements of the book that I remember as well (including the metaphysical WTF that appears late in the story), but things like that -- the details that don't need to be included -- are what make books memorable and reading worthwhile.

I mentioned in the book vs. film Mark Wahlberg's hyper-earnest performance, which is a drag, but not Stanley Tucci's, which is so over the top that I briefly wondered if it were a joke. To be honest, there's not a lot of sense and coherence behind the casting of the adult characters. Rachel Weisz is underused (I really feel like she could sell me on why Abigail leaves, but the movie doesn't give her a voice), and Grandma Lynn is so reduced that Susan Sarandon (great though she is) comes off as misplaced.

Saoirse Ronan, on the other hand, is so expressive and available as an actress that it's impossible to imagine anyone else in a role once she inhabits it. She's funny and beautiful as Susie, and you just want to give her a hug long before anything happens to her. If the entire movie were Ronan, the quietly strong Rose McIver, the sensitive Carolyn Dando, and the impossibly adorable Reece Ritchie, it might have been something. The rare moments of emotional impact (Susie's attack, Lindsey's break-in) are so few and far between and the rest of the movie so fussed over, that it doesn't live up to the promise of its star. C

Pop Culture Round Up: January 9 - 15

2010-01-15T17:04:00.005-05:00

“Oh, I’m chasing this guy? No, he’s chasing me.” 34 essential uses of voiceover in film
Knowing my opinion of voiceovers, this list contains a few of my favourites.

U.K. Unveils First-Ever Double Prince Portrait!
So cute!

Marilyn Manson has proposed to his actress girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood
WTF? What happened the last summer's rumour that she was banging the Viking?

Watching TV shortens life span, study finds
I'm effed.

Spider-Man 4 Unravels as Franchise Moves On Without Tobey Maguire, Sam Raimi
At first I was annoyed, but I've started to come up with some pretty cool reboot ideas.

UseMyAccent Helps Actors Talk Like an Egyptian

Mystery at the Philharmonic: Who Was That Clarinetist?

Jeff Bridges's 10 greatest performances
Everyone's going to pick The Dude, but what about Seabiscuit?

Depp gets life-sized statue in Serbia

Anxious or sexually competitive? Try God

James Cameron rejects claims Avatar epic borrows from Russians' sci-fi novels
But what about Pocahontas?

Daybreakers (2009)

2010-01-13T15:06:00.007-05:00

Daybreakers should be exactly the kind of palate-cleansing fluffy actioner that comes out in January. For large swaths, it is. Unfortunately, it's also a metaphor about dwindling resources that never quite gets out of the gate.

A 2009 plague has turned the vast majority of Earth's human population into vampires, and, by 2019, the world is on the brink of devastating blood shortage (by extermination the human race). Chief Hematologist Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) has been tasked with finding a suitable blood substitute, but he gets caught up with a group of rebel humans (led by Willem Dafoe and Claudia Karvan) first. Turns out they have something better on offer: a cure.

Yes, twin writer-director team Michael and Peter Spierig, the world needed another golden-eyed vampire named Edward who doesn't drink human blood and wants to be human again and (maybe) falls for a brown haired lady. Okay, he's not really like that Edward. I just found it momentarily distracting.

Though the vampires are actually kind of pathetic (aside from arresting the aging process and accelerated healing, they have no special abilities to speak of. At only ten years on, immortality's not even guaranteed) and the dialogue, particularly Dafoe's, is often ridiculous, it works out. The filmmakers hosted a contest on Worth1000 to come up with the design for a world were vampires ruled, resulting in a sleek, modern 1930s twist (not unlike personal Hawke fav Gattaca), and it's filled to the brim with cool ideas about how such a world would work: specially tinted windows and small cameras allow vampires to drive in daylight and see themselves without mirrors, the subwalk connects the city for easy pedestrian travel, blood is treated like cream for coffee.

But for all this, there's little actual thrill or action to suspend the viewer in this world, and many of the connections between characters aren't drawn well enough to keep the viewer's attention there either (though one fight between Edward and his brother Michael Dorman smarted). Still, it's awfully cool to think about. And did I mention that when the vampires are staked, they explode? C+

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

2010-01-11T10:39:00.008-05:00

It's a rare movie that manages to have a completely understandable plot and still make next to no sense.

Here's what I get: a millennium ago, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) showed up at Doctor Parnassus's (Christopher Plummer) monastery, where the monks continually tell the eternal story because the universe would cease to exist if they didn't. Nick stops them from telling the story, and the universe continues to exist, but it doesn't sway the good doctor's faith. Nick makes Parnassus a bet: first one to 12 disciples wins. Parnassus gets immortality as a reward, which turns out to be a curse. 1000 years later, Parnassus falls in love with a young woman but can't woo her as a homeless old man. Nick strikes a new deal: Parnassus is young and more powerful than ever, and all he has to do give up any offspring at the age of 16. The woman and Parnassus are happy together for years until she's pregnant at 60 and dies in childbirth. Parnassus raises the girl, Valentina (Lily Cole), alone, and we join the story a few days before her 16th birthday, where she is part of Parnassus' traveling magic act, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, along with Anton (Andrew Garfield) and Percy (Verne Troyer). Nick shows up to make new bet: first one to five souls wins Valentina.

Pretty straightforward, right? I mean, magical and all that, but nothing you can't follow. But you may have read that whole thing and thought, "Wait, isn't this Heath Ledger's last movie? Didn't they hire three other dudes to also play him?" Yes, and I'm glad to tell you that with only a minor bit of re-writing by Gilliam and Charles McKeown, having Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell step in as Tony does make sense. Each time he enters the imaginarium (basically your imagination amplified so that you can walk into it), he does so with others, and thus must compete with their imaginations.

That part, surprisingly, is the part that makes sense. Everything else about Tony, particularly and mostly importantly to the story his motives, remains essentially unknowable. That's not a crack on Ledger's acting -- he plays Tony as unknowable and each of the other three actors tasked with taking up the part do manage to pick up elements of his performance and weave it into their own (though Law's, in particular, seems at first oddly hammy). But why Tony has to be such a mystery and why it must remain unsolved is as unclear as the character. Ledger's a slippery, charming con artist who seems equal parts self-serving and selfless with a rather unhealthy interest in a 16 year-old girl, and I had forgotten how fantastic his voice is. The whole thing -- light but rich -- makes his death feel unreal.

There are other details that don't entirely add up (why is Percy also an immortal?), but for everyone of those there are mitigating circumstances, like the delightful Garfield who absolutely shines as the put upon Anton or Cole, who's just the right amount of radiant to make everyone fall in love with her.

But I don't get it. The movie's in a class by itself: stunning to watch, utterly impossibly to comprehend. What's real? What's fake? What does it matter? Like the movie suggests, the story isn't critical. It's the telling.>B+

"They never have rat exhibits in the zoo. I could start a new trend!"

2010-01-08T17:25:00.005-05:00

I normally find a quote that utilizes the month's theme, but it turns out that "liberation" quotes didn't go that well with my latest (Cult)ure article. It's a handy checklist to the trends behind the movies that defined the decade. It will also help explain why your favourite movies from 2000-2009 didn't make anyone's top of the decade list.

Also, I believe I forgot to tell you about the interview I did with writer-director David J. Garfield last month. Enjoy!

Pop Culture Round Up: January 4 - 8

2010-01-08T17:15:00.002-05:00

It's not like I've been keep tabs over the holiday break.

The noughties in cinema

‘The Lexicographer’s Dilemma’ - Jack Lynch Explores English

Rule #1: 'If You Want To Be A Great Writer, Be A Man'

Baby-Sitters Club books to be revived

Christopher Lee to release 'symphonic metal' album

Villain dispute could delay Spider-Man 4

Vampires really are everywhere!

Alice Guy Blaché, Cinema Pioneer, at the Whitney Museum

In Praise of Infidelity

Heirs get settlement in dispute over Picassos

The Young Victoria (2009)

2010-01-07T08:52:00.002-05:00

In a small way, Jean-Marc Vallée's The Young Victoria is the movie that Sophia Coppola thought she was making with Marie Antoinette. Both tell stories of young, independent-minded, and head-strong royals thrust to the throne when they were perhaps too young to rule. Of course, Kirsten Dunst's Antoinette was a naïve twit caught up in circumstances beyond her control, and Emily Blunt's Victoria is anything but. Nonetheless, both movies have a rock 'n' roll vibe to match their protagonist's youth and enthusiasm. With Coppola, it's literally the soundtrack, but Vallée somehow got it to pump through Blunt's veins.

Though it takes her uncle's (a delightfully loopy Jim Broadbent) death to break her free from her mother (Miranda Richardson) and her mother's comptroller's (Mark Strong) shackles, Blunt's Victoria is a passionate, sparkling, and willful queen, not at all what we've come to associate with the royal we. When Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) sets out to pull her under his spell, you almost worry for him.

Victoria, you see, has only one love, and it's the swooniest, most romantic love affair committed to celluloid in years. Victoria's cousin, Albert (Rupert Friend), is coached to win Victoria's heart at the behest of his uncle, King Leopold of Belgium (Thomas Kretschmann), but chafes at the notion. Shortly after meeting her, he stumbles in his charade and decides to try being himself instead. It works in no small part because Friend as Albert is one of the handsomest creatures you could ever lay eyes on. He's announced as His Serene Highness, and Friend took the cue for his performance from that title. Instead of a smouldering sex appeal meant to draw Victoria in like a magnet (surely what Melbourne had planned), Friend exudes intelligence, patience, and serenity, on the likes of which you could build a lifetime of love. Blunt and Friend glow when they are together.

Though screenwriter Julian Fellowes (who also gave us the glorious Gosford Park) takes some liberties with the history, he's also created one of the richest, most rewarding romances ever. The movie around them doesn't always shine the way they do, and its chess metaphor is a little too spelled out, but oh, well. The idea that Victoria had Albert's clothes laid out every day after his early death at the age of 42 used to strike me as daft, but now it's heartbreaking. A-

Invictus (2009)

2010-01-06T11:56:00.003-05:00

Invictus is a rare movie that is wondrously more than the sum of its parts. You'd expect something directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon to be good, even great. Film starts rolling, and nothing spectacular happens. Every moment, every frame, every action feels obvious. Good for Freeman and Damon on the accents -- South African accents are notoriously tricky -- and that's about it, you start to think.

But much like Nelson Mandela's gamble that a symbolic victory could be just as valuable in healing his fractured nation as political policy, Eastwood's gamble on telling the story so straight it could slide into boring any second manages a rousing pay off.

Set in 1995, when Mandela apparently up and decided that winning the rugby World Cup would be great for South Africa even if their team was terrible, he called up Francois Pienaar and gave him just that job. And then they do. I really couldn't tell you how: they get a new coach who ensures that even if they're not the best team in the league they will surely be the fittest, but there's no indication that they develop a bunch of great new plays or become better at their positions. They just . . . try really hard? I don't know. I didn't even realize that they were playing the final match until after it was over.

Even so, it's nearly impossible not to be drawn in. It's not an underdog story so much as a story about people whose belief is so strong it can give the rest of us hope. Despite the rote filmmaking, that's enough to make the movie soar. B

Up in the Air (2009) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

2010-01-05T13:37:00.005-05:00

I feel almost guilty about how much I dislike Up in the Air. I went into it initially thinking I might not like it, and perhaps that sent me down the wrong path. The performances are terrific, particularly Anna Kendrick, who was so funny in her one scene in New Moon, and now gets to chafe and struggle as a bright upstart confined by her work and her workplace. There's something about her you just want to love even when her character is maddening.

George Clooney and Vera Farminga are also lovely and positively glowing together. But this being co-writer and director Jason Reitman's third feature length film, I've noticed a pattern: Thank You for Smoking, Juno, and our current entry all have third act twists that don't line up with the movie that came before. There is one scene of foreshadowing, and poof! Massive character change! It's neither shocking nor realistic, so it ends up feeling empty. Change for change's sake, like someone in the editing room suddenly remembered that there should be a plot, and it should go somewhere.

There is the additional problem that -- and I know I'm going out on the limb here -- Clooney is miscast. He's not bad in the role in any way, so don't think that. He's great. It just that he's so convincingly satisfied with his life before his spiritual awakening, and his life is in no way made better after it that you are left with the feeling that maybe he was right all along. Maybe moving is living. Maybe this is a rebirth. Maybe . . . I don't know, exactly. The movie's ambiguous ending might just be the best part. B

It doesn't help that Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox might just be the perfect deployment of Clooney. Three movies out this fall, and the one where he's an animated character from a Roald Dahl novel might be his best work ever. Somehow without the olde tyme good looks he's extra-charming, as well as vain, generous, loyal, cunning, smart, and sneaky. There's even a gentle waft of self-mockery. The whole thing just feels like so much fun.

Of course, it helps that the movie around him is so wonderful. The setting and colour palette might be autumnal, but the movie feels like a burst of refreshing springtime air. Anderson's fussy compositions get new life when filmed to deliberately resemble Rankin-Bass holiday specials (think Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer).

All the old Anderson cronies are there -- Owen Wilson, Jason Schwarztman, Bill Murray -- as well as delightful new voices like Meryl Streep's subdued take on Mrs. Fox. For a movie that had to be carefully fussed over to be created at all, Anderson achieves a magical sense of joy and freedom in his proceedings. Subsequent viewings may prove Fox his best film yet, but for now we'll have to agree that it's simply fantastic. A-

Pop Culture Round Up: December 12-18

2009-12-18T16:29:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-11T11:51:00.001-05:00

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)

2009-12-08T16:02:00.003-05:00

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)

2009-11-24T09:27:00.003-05:00

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)

2009-11-23T12:07:00.007-05:00

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:

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!"

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

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?"
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

2009-11-20T17:20:00.002-05:00

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."

2009-11-20T09:32:00.001-05:00

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)

2009-11-10T11:12:00.004-05:00

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)

2009-11-02T12:04:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-30T17:06:00.003-04:00

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)

2009-10-30T10:17:00.004-04:00

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

2009-09-25T17:27:00.003-04:00

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)

2009-09-09T10:09:00.007-04:00

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

2009-08-28T16:50:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-31T16:44:00.001-04:00

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."

2009-07-29T12:31:00.002-04:00

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)

2009-07-28T11:13:00.006-04:00

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

2009-07-24T16:30:00.004-04:00

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."

2009-07-23T22:13:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-22T21:22:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-10T16:33:00.003-04:00

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