Stuck On Repeat
"Away I Go" -- Johnnyswim"Heaven" -- Cheryl Cole
"Bounce" -- Calvin Harris feat. Kelis
"It's Love" -- Treasure Fingers
Cinema
Thor - A bit bland and vanilla, with surface taking a great lead over substance. Videogum says it best. Even the surface didn't do much for me; I sort of got bored before Thor even got to Earth. I was expecting to be much more wowed by this film than I was, which was very little indeed.
Prom - very cute, cheesy, fun, adorable, and enjoyable. The lead guy definitely grew on me as the film went on, though he is no Zac Efron. Bottom line is this film made me laugh out loud as many times at it made me sigh wistfully. It is a sweet harmless film that does an adequate job filling the High School Musical gap, even though none of the kids are as charismatic as the HSM crew.
Last Night - I went to see this more because a friend and I had talked about how bad a film it would be when we first heard news of it last year. Keira Knightly and Sam Worthington seem like a deadly combination of annoyingness and lack of acting ability, so I was surprised when it got okay reviews from a few of my more trusted media outlets. And yet, in the end, it is exactly the film my friend and I had predicted it to be - a pointless indie star vehicle. It is as if someone with very little film making skill decided they needed to make a knock-off Edward Burns film. I understand that the movie was produced by Tribeca Films, so clearly it had to be set in New York, but I don't understand the need to cast a Brit, an Australian, and a Frenchman as three of the four leads in a New York set film. Self-indulgent all around, with an ending that tries and fails miserably to be arty and clever.
The Beaver - I was truly surprised by this film. I went to see it because of the hype around Mel Gibson and because despite his crazy personal life, the man can still act. Gibson's performance in The Beaver is quite remarkable. His interplay with the puppet and the emotion that he is able to create in an inanimate object is worth seeing. The movie is very powerful at unexpected moments, with Anton Yelchin also turning in a strong performance. In fact the acting is quite good all around and it is the dynamic interplay between the characters that gives the film its oomph.
Midnight In Paris - Love it. Love the Hemingway. Love the Fitzgerald. Love the scenery. Love it. This is a dream of a movie for me. Not only do I love Paris, I also love the authors and artists of the 1920s, and I love Woody Allen films. The shots of modern Paris were beautifully done, but it is the 20s "cameos," just barely restrained from caricature, that truly delighted me. Hemingway was by far the best, with Papa's staccato, simple-yet-profound statements and proclamations skillfully bringing a larger-than-life figure within reach. Adrian Brody's turn as Dali was also a great treat. In fact, the script and performances were superb. Midnight in Paris is a cinematic confection, a bonbon, and a love letter - a reminder that the present is richer for being influenced by all of the past.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Not as bad as expected! Better than the two that came before it (but nowhere near as good as the first)! Why did I go see this movie after promising myself that I wouldn't? No clue. However, Ian McShane was a delight to watch as always, and I am a sucker for Fountain of Youth/eternal life stories (see also: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Fountain). I am fascinated by how such stories handle the question of the morality of immortality. Pirates did a decent job of it. I could have done with just that end bit of the film and a little bit of exposition rather than the double and triple crossing and efforts to fit too many characters into the plot as possible. I was quite bored for most of the film and had to resist the urge to fiddle with my blackberry as if I were sitting on my sofa rather than in the cinema with people behind me of which to be mindful. While Penelope Cruz and Geoffrey Rush seem rather pointless most of the time, at least Johnny Depp seems to have gotten some balance back into the character of Jack Sparrow. But it is those final fountain scenes that make the film worth seeing even a little bit - the demise of Black Beard makes the melting Nazis of Raiders of the Lost Ark seem rather tame (though they are definitely more charming).
Prom - very cute, cheesy, fun, adorable, and enjoyable. The lead guy definitely grew on me as the film went on, though he is no Zac Efron. Bottom line is this film made me laugh out loud as many times at it made me sigh wistfully. It is a sweet harmless film that does an adequate job filling the High School Musical gap, even though none of the kids are as charismatic as the HSM crew.
Last Night - I went to see this more because a friend and I had talked about how bad a film it would be when we first heard news of it last year. Keira Knightly and Sam Worthington seem like a deadly combination of annoyingness and lack of acting ability, so I was surprised when it got okay reviews from a few of my more trusted media outlets. And yet, in the end, it is exactly the film my friend and I had predicted it to be - a pointless indie star vehicle. It is as if someone with very little film making skill decided they needed to make a knock-off Edward Burns film. I understand that the movie was produced by Tribeca Films, so clearly it had to be set in New York, but I don't understand the need to cast a Brit, an Australian, and a Frenchman as three of the four leads in a New York set film. Self-indulgent all around, with an ending that tries and fails miserably to be arty and clever.
The Beaver - I was truly surprised by this film. I went to see it because of the hype around Mel Gibson and because despite his crazy personal life, the man can still act. Gibson's performance in The Beaver is quite remarkable. His interplay with the puppet and the emotion that he is able to create in an inanimate object is worth seeing. The movie is very powerful at unexpected moments, with Anton Yelchin also turning in a strong performance. In fact the acting is quite good all around and it is the dynamic interplay between the characters that gives the film its oomph.
Midnight In Paris - Love it. Love the Hemingway. Love the Fitzgerald. Love the scenery. Love it. This is a dream of a movie for me. Not only do I love Paris, I also love the authors and artists of the 1920s, and I love Woody Allen films. The shots of modern Paris were beautifully done, but it is the 20s "cameos," just barely restrained from caricature, that truly delighted me. Hemingway was by far the best, with Papa's staccato, simple-yet-profound statements and proclamations skillfully bringing a larger-than-life figure within reach. Adrian Brody's turn as Dali was also a great treat. In fact, the script and performances were superb. Midnight in Paris is a cinematic confection, a bonbon, and a love letter - a reminder that the present is richer for being influenced by all of the past.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Not as bad as expected! Better than the two that came before it (but nowhere near as good as the first)! Why did I go see this movie after promising myself that I wouldn't? No clue. However, Ian McShane was a delight to watch as always, and I am a sucker for Fountain of Youth/eternal life stories (see also: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Fountain). I am fascinated by how such stories handle the question of the morality of immortality. Pirates did a decent job of it. I could have done with just that end bit of the film and a little bit of exposition rather than the double and triple crossing and efforts to fit too many characters into the plot as possible. I was quite bored for most of the film and had to resist the urge to fiddle with my blackberry as if I were sitting on my sofa rather than in the cinema with people behind me of which to be mindful. While Penelope Cruz and Geoffrey Rush seem rather pointless most of the time, at least Johnny Depp seems to have gotten some balance back into the character of Jack Sparrow. But it is those final fountain scenes that make the film worth seeing even a little bit - the demise of Black Beard makes the melting Nazis of Raiders of the Lost Ark seem rather tame (though they are definitely more charming).
Netflix Queue
44 Inch Chest
Amature Gourmet
Southwest stew of black beans, corn, green chilies, Rotel, roasted red peppers, & jalapeno chicken sausage
Couscous with spinach & feta chicken sausage, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, & feta crumbles
Pan-seared pork chops with perogies and sauerkraut
Couscous with spinach & feta chicken sausage, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, & feta crumbles
Pan-seared pork chops with perogies and sauerkraut
Book Shelf
The Dead Republic, Roddy Doyle
A suitably epic finish to an epic trilogy. It is funny and touching and educational as it pays tribute to a generation that should not be forgotten in Ireland or anywhere else. I couldn't remember as much as I would have liked from the two earlier books (A Star Called Henry and Oh Play That Thing) since it has been quite a while since they were published and I read them. However, this one stands enough on its own that it works in conjunction with vague memories of earlier adventures or for a new reader. I am glad that I had seen Hunger, about Bobby Sands, because the hunger strikes play a role in this book, and it was nice to have some additional background and context for that period of Irish history. Doyle creates just the right blend of history and fable to draw in and enchant the reader. Henry Smart is one of the great characters in fiction, and we are lucky to be given the chance to become a part of his story.
A Conspiracy of Paper, David Liss
I greatly enjoyed this book. It was a rather timely read, as it tackles the topic of the Stock Market, albeit the stock market of 18th Century London. There was also quite a bit of philosophy and logic worked into the plot, which was great fun for me. I admire Liss's ability to work within a rather closed system of characters so that everything ties up neatly at the end of the book and no player's part is wasted, yet at the same time provide so much color and distraction that it is difficult to piece together the puzzle until all is revealed. Books that are interesting and engaging enough that I don't need to entertain myself by trying to solve the puzzle prematurely are always winners.
Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart
Ugh. I totally read this book because the British paperback cover is gorgeous and I couldn't resist being a total hipster and picking it up at Heathrow even though I pretty much hated Russian Debutante's Handbook. And then my friend Chris happened to recommend the book to me after I had already bought it. That should have been a major red flag, since Chris and I seldom agree on books (see also: Confederacy of Dunces and World War Z). I guess I picked up Super Sad hoping it would be dystopian (one of my favorite genres), but I found it to be post-apocalyptic (not such a fan) instead. This book is like a post-apocalyptic Philip Roth novel, without the genuine cleverness and subversiveness of Roth. Shteyngart is just one of those smug authors that I want to slap because of the affectations of intellectual superiority that he deploys. The pompous pseudo-intellectual social commentary mars the justifiable dystopian commentary that lurks as a secondary, but much more interesting layer of the story. On many levels the book reminded me of a less interesting retread of the film Idiocracy. Never has Dax Shepard's presence been more missed.
The Real Deadwood, John Ames
This was a super quick (one day), but super informative read. Ames does a nice job of presenting interesting facts in an easy to digest manner and tying everything back to HBO's version of Deadwood to provide some historical context for those of us who know and love that show. I am very glad that I picked up this little gem before embarking on a visit to the charming town itself.
A Friend From England, Anita Brookner
I've had this book on my shelf for a while and was loathe to read it after reading and disliking another of Brookner's books. However, I knew it would be a quick read and I just wanted to be rid of it already. It was as unenjoyable as I had expected. As much as so many other books make me long to return to England, this one does its damnedest to remind me of all the sucky things about living there: namely the incessant rain and the lack of ability for normal emotional connections and relationships that many Brits seem to have. There is a certain ferocity in the narrator's voice that drives the story along and was compelling enough to make me want to actually finish the book, but overall Friend resembles an extremely overly long rant by a chronically bitter acquaintance.
Post title from: "May 16" -- Lagwagon
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