Stuck On Repeat
"All Over the World" -- Electric Light Orchestra"Live Alone" -- LCD Soundsystem
"Slip On Through" -- The Beach Boys
"What A Fool Believes" -- The Doobie Brothers
"Fight for This Love" -- Cheryl Cole
"Not Giving Up On Love" -- Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Cinema
Source Code - Moon sold me on Duncan Jones from the word "Go," and Source Code is a solid sophomore effort. I was expecting the twist to be a bit twistier than it was, but on the whole the film is solid and well made with an excellent score to boot.
Paul - This is a cute and harmless bit of fun. The joke that cracked me up the most was in the last few minutes of the film and involves Jason Bateman's character and a pun.The road trip aspect of the story was well done and managed not to be trite. Not the best Pegg and Frost collaboration, but it has its moments.
Arthur - I have seen the original Arthur, but it's been a while and I don't really remember it all that well, so I was judging this film on its own merits. Russell Brand's performance gets more impressive every time I think back on this film; Brand's Arthur is a layered soulful man-child expressed through an impressively nuanced performance. Unfortunately, Jennifer Garner and Greta Gerwig don't live up to that standard. Their characters are extremely flat and neither of them bring any sparkle or charm to the film. Helen Mirren gives a fine performance of course, but even her character could have been given more dimension. The mangled version of "The Best That You Can Do" that played over the credits didn't help matters, and I left Arthur feeling a bit let down, even though in reality the film was pretty much just what I expected it to be. I had simply been foolish enough to hope that it would surprise me.
Win Win - It's a Paul Giamatti movie. It's well acted. The story is cute and the scenarios are believable - I could totally believe that these characters could exist in the real world. Compared to Barney's Version, Win Win isn't all that spectacular, but it is a nice way to pass an evening.
Hanna - This is another movie that left me feeling disappointed when the credits rolled. There wasn't anything fulfilling about the film; it felt as empty as its soulless characters, a shell or outline with more surface than substance. However, The Chemical Brothers score was fantastic and really fit superbly with the visuals and editing.
Sucker Punch - It's been quite a while since I saw a film that I felt was a complete waste of my time, but Sucker Punch certainly remedied that situation. The script was thin, the plot was obvious, the visuals were overwrought and not particularly pretty. I was not able to come up with one redeeming feature for this film, and that is rare indeed.
Top Gun - Goose talked to me and he reminded me this film is awesome. It was fantastic to see it on the big screen after all these years of holding it near and dear to my 80s-loving heart. I will always love playing with these boys.
Tribeca Film Festival
Revenge of the Electric Car - This follow-up to one of my favorite documentaries, Who Killed the Electric Car?, does not have the provocative shock value of its predecessor, but is still illuminating and informative. It was fascinating to see Bob Lutz (GM), Elon Musk (Tesla), and Carlos Ghosn (Nissan) at work behind the scenes and hear their differing inspirations for, philosophies about, and approaches to electric cars. Bob Lutz is as old school awesome and candidly politically incorrect as I expected him to be based on articles I have read over the past few years. Elon Musk is more of a messed-up egotistical jerk than I was ever led to believe by magazine articles. And Carlos Ghosn is just as straight-forward and practical as one would expect him to be based on his recent profile by BusinessWeek. While current efforts seem rather weak after the death of the ev1, at least people are trying to take electric cars seriously, and even make them affordable in Ghosn's case. It will be interesting to see if a triumphal third installment in the series will ever be made, and if so how far down the road that will be.
Beyond the Black Rainbow - WORST. MOVIE. EVER. A fever dream of 70s/80s sci-fi cliches, rejected Guillermo del Toro ideas, horrible fan noises masquerading as music, and the odd zombie. I am pretty sure they forgot to give us drugs with our tickets, yet I'm not even sure which drug would aid the watching of this film. That is all you need to know. Watch it for yourself if you're curious, but don't blame me when you can't get those two hours of your life back. (Yet strangely, I don't feel that it is as much of a waste as Sucker Punch, perhaps because I had no idea what to expect with this one or where it was going, so the fascination level was higher, despite the awfulness. If anything the redeeming feature of this film is that it is so bad that you can't help but laugh at it in bemusement and wonder.)
Black Butterflies - A pretty standard alcoholic-writer-who-eventually-commits-suicide biopic, but a well acted one. Carice van Houten reliably throws herself - heart and soul - into the role of Ingrid Jonker, who was apparently a South African version of Sylvia Plath, but without the mopey depressingness. If Sylvia had been as manic and passionate as Ingrid, maybe The Bell Jar would be more bearable. The South African setting means lots of gorgeous beach related scenery and cool accents. This is a film that would have caught my eye as a regular theatrical release, and I'm glad I got to see it.
The Hideaways - I was expecting this film to be much weirder than it is. If you had asked me before the festival, I would have picked this to be the worst film I would see, but in fact it was simply an English countryside (dark) fantasy with a few mildly disturbing elements and little more gore than is typical of the genre. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Though not remarkable, it was leagues above Black Rainbow - definitely curiosity generating and attention holding, even if the acting tends toward the twee.
My Piece of the Pie - from the director of L'Auberge Espagnole, another one of my faves, My Piece of the Pie is a terrific farce - a fine piece of well-acted European comedy. Not only was it far and away the best TFF film I saw, but it was the best film I saw all month. It is genuinely entertaining, and it is the kind of film that reminds me why I love going to the cinema. Like L'Auberge, this film successfully runs the emotional gamut; it is comedy, social commentary, financial commentary, and family drama all rolled in to one.
Paul - This is a cute and harmless bit of fun. The joke that cracked me up the most was in the last few minutes of the film and involves Jason Bateman's character and a pun.The road trip aspect of the story was well done and managed not to be trite. Not the best Pegg and Frost collaboration, but it has its moments.
Arthur - I have seen the original Arthur, but it's been a while and I don't really remember it all that well, so I was judging this film on its own merits. Russell Brand's performance gets more impressive every time I think back on this film; Brand's Arthur is a layered soulful man-child expressed through an impressively nuanced performance. Unfortunately, Jennifer Garner and Greta Gerwig don't live up to that standard. Their characters are extremely flat and neither of them bring any sparkle or charm to the film. Helen Mirren gives a fine performance of course, but even her character could have been given more dimension. The mangled version of "The Best That You Can Do" that played over the credits didn't help matters, and I left Arthur feeling a bit let down, even though in reality the film was pretty much just what I expected it to be. I had simply been foolish enough to hope that it would surprise me.
Win Win - It's a Paul Giamatti movie. It's well acted. The story is cute and the scenarios are believable - I could totally believe that these characters could exist in the real world. Compared to Barney's Version, Win Win isn't all that spectacular, but it is a nice way to pass an evening.
Hanna - This is another movie that left me feeling disappointed when the credits rolled. There wasn't anything fulfilling about the film; it felt as empty as its soulless characters, a shell or outline with more surface than substance. However, The Chemical Brothers score was fantastic and really fit superbly with the visuals and editing.
Sucker Punch - It's been quite a while since I saw a film that I felt was a complete waste of my time, but Sucker Punch certainly remedied that situation. The script was thin, the plot was obvious, the visuals were overwrought and not particularly pretty. I was not able to come up with one redeeming feature for this film, and that is rare indeed.
Top Gun - Goose talked to me and he reminded me this film is awesome. It was fantastic to see it on the big screen after all these years of holding it near and dear to my 80s-loving heart. I will always love playing with these boys.
Tribeca Film Festival
Revenge of the Electric Car - This follow-up to one of my favorite documentaries, Who Killed the Electric Car?, does not have the provocative shock value of its predecessor, but is still illuminating and informative. It was fascinating to see Bob Lutz (GM), Elon Musk (Tesla), and Carlos Ghosn (Nissan) at work behind the scenes and hear their differing inspirations for, philosophies about, and approaches to electric cars. Bob Lutz is as old school awesome and candidly politically incorrect as I expected him to be based on articles I have read over the past few years. Elon Musk is more of a messed-up egotistical jerk than I was ever led to believe by magazine articles. And Carlos Ghosn is just as straight-forward and practical as one would expect him to be based on his recent profile by BusinessWeek. While current efforts seem rather weak after the death of the ev1, at least people are trying to take electric cars seriously, and even make them affordable in Ghosn's case. It will be interesting to see if a triumphal third installment in the series will ever be made, and if so how far down the road that will be.
Beyond the Black Rainbow - WORST. MOVIE. EVER. A fever dream of 70s/80s sci-fi cliches, rejected Guillermo del Toro ideas, horrible fan noises masquerading as music, and the odd zombie. I am pretty sure they forgot to give us drugs with our tickets, yet I'm not even sure which drug would aid the watching of this film. That is all you need to know. Watch it for yourself if you're curious, but don't blame me when you can't get those two hours of your life back. (Yet strangely, I don't feel that it is as much of a waste as Sucker Punch, perhaps because I had no idea what to expect with this one or where it was going, so the fascination level was higher, despite the awfulness. If anything the redeeming feature of this film is that it is so bad that you can't help but laugh at it in bemusement and wonder.)
Black Butterflies - A pretty standard alcoholic-writer-who-eventually-commits-suicide biopic, but a well acted one. Carice van Houten reliably throws herself - heart and soul - into the role of Ingrid Jonker, who was apparently a South African version of Sylvia Plath, but without the mopey depressingness. If Sylvia had been as manic and passionate as Ingrid, maybe The Bell Jar would be more bearable. The South African setting means lots of gorgeous beach related scenery and cool accents. This is a film that would have caught my eye as a regular theatrical release, and I'm glad I got to see it.
The Hideaways - I was expecting this film to be much weirder than it is. If you had asked me before the festival, I would have picked this to be the worst film I would see, but in fact it was simply an English countryside (dark) fantasy with a few mildly disturbing elements and little more gore than is typical of the genre. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Though not remarkable, it was leagues above Black Rainbow - definitely curiosity generating and attention holding, even if the acting tends toward the twee.
My Piece of the Pie - from the director of L'Auberge Espagnole, another one of my faves, My Piece of the Pie is a terrific farce - a fine piece of well-acted European comedy. Not only was it far and away the best TFF film I saw, but it was the best film I saw all month. It is genuinely entertaining, and it is the kind of film that reminds me why I love going to the cinema. Like L'Auberge, this film successfully runs the emotional gamut; it is comedy, social commentary, financial commentary, and family drama all rolled in to one.
Netflix Queue
Stargate
The Fisher King
Scenes of a Sexual Nature
The Fisher King
Scenes of a Sexual Nature
Amature Gourmet
Ravioli and spinach in chicken broth (yes, again. It's easy and satisfying!)
Mac & cheese with ham and broccoli
Matzo Ball Soup
Mac & cheese with ham and broccoli
Matzo Ball Soup
Book Shelf
The Confession, John Grisham
This is a bit like a fictional version of Grisham's non-fic masterpiece The Innocent Man. And yet, having read and loved that true story, I found the fictional version superfluous. Yes, more people need to realize that police corruption and other bad decisiosn lead to many people being wrongfully sent to death row and/or executed. However, Grisham's tone is this book is almost to preachy to be as effective in spreading the message as he could be. There are absolutely no surprises in this book; it is very easy to tell where it is going every step of the way. Even for Grisham, this book is very light reading.
The Nearest Exit, Olen Steinhauer
I liked this installment much better than its predecessor The Tourist. Now that the exposition and character introductions are out of the way, Steinhauer is able to give himself over to storytelling and here he knits a nice little tangled web for our hero, Milo Weaver. While this is still a boiler plate spy story, the pacing was much better and I was definitely more engaged with the story, which made it a much faster read.
Onward, Howard Schultz
As much as I love Starbucks and buy into the cult, this book disappointed me. I had read and liked Shultz's first book (as well as some books by third parties) when I wrote a paper on Starbucks for my Master's course-work. However, Onward comes across as overly schilly - just another of Schultz's efforts in Starbucks's turn-around after the recession. Even when he relates stories about mistakes, he manages to toot his own horn. Additionally, in trying to sound un-establishment, he ends up spouting a bunch of non-corporate-speak that ends up sounding very silly and fake-anti-corporate. It feels that Schultz is hiding something in his transparency and has put up a weird barrier that was not there during his first turn as ceo (at Starbucks they put all titles in lower case. excuse me while I roll my eyes.). Howard, if you want to keep your loyal customers who already love the brand and will stick with you no matter what, please stop fronting. This book projects a meta-idea of the Starbucks brand, rather than the actual brand, and in so doing goes against that for which the brand claims to stand.
How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez
I needed a light, entertaining book to help me close out the month among the chaos of my schedule, and this fit the bill. As usual, Alvarez's writing is effortlessly rich and vibrant. While this collection about a family of four girls is not as weighty as In the Time of the Butterflies, it is still a fascinating look into mid-20th Century Dominican culture and the immigrant experience in New York.
Post title from: "Pieces of April" -- Three Dog Night
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