Stuck On Repeat
"Candy" -- Robbie Williams
"Get Lost" -- Gossip
"This Kiss" -- Carly Rae Jepsen
"Sweet Nothing" -- Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch
"Fistful of Love" -- Antony & The Johnsons
Cinema
Lawless - Tom Hardy is an entertaining actor to watch; he is full of mannerisms, yet manages to make them seem natural rather than forced. Never has there been a more expressive mumble - though I have to say, I thought his voice here was a bit close to Bane, just minus the mask. While Hardy shows us how it's done, Guy Pearce shows us how it shouldn't be done: his performance is way too over the top and his accent is comical. I felt like he was trying out for a Dick Tracy reboot (attention Hollywood: do not take that idea literally). Of course Gary Oldman and Jessica Chastain were reliably excellent, and the story itself was interesting. The violence was pitch-perfect - raw and visceral enough to actually have an impact.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - One of the best movies ever. It's that simple. Every time I see it, I can only ask myself why I don't watch it more often. Few things are better than Harrison Ford at his prime, and Spielberg doing what he does best. Seeing it on the big screen, and IMAX to boot, just made everything exponentially better. I want to go live in this movie.
Bachelorette - What a wonderfully cynical film! All of the characters seemed very real to me - these are people you could meet out and about in the city (not that you'd want to do so). Isla Fisher and Adam Scott provide just the right amount of levity to balance out all of that cynicism, mainly projected by Kirsten Dunst, doing a bang-up job with her role. The film has a certain sense of wisdom about it, with just the right amount of cinematic absurdity to the proceedings to keep things balanced. There is also a sincerity to this film, a desperation expressed by all of the characters in a believable way. I am not sure why this film resonated with me quite so much, but I am glad that it did; it's nice to feel a strong connection to a film every once in a while.
Hello I Must Be Going - This is another engaging independent film which I enjoyed very much. The cast is excellent all around - some really lovely nuanced performances are on display here, perhaps helped along by the fact that the director, Todd Louiso (from High Fidelity, among other things), is an excellent character actor himself. In fact, Louiso's name, along with that of Dan Futterman (Val in The Birdcage), drew me to this film. I am always up for seeing and supporting actors and directors I enjoy as they take on smaller passion projects. Like Bachelorette, this film clearly draws its inspirations from real life; the story incorporates some nicely presented observations about relationships of many kinds. And to top it all off, the soundtrack is nicely done and complements the fantastic cinematography.
Arbitrage - Richard Gere's incredible screen-presence was a perfect fit for this film, and the supporting cast was more than able to keep up with him. The story was much more human than I was expecting it to be. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this film had any warmth to it, but there was an appropriate level of fallibility throughout. Arbitrage is sort of a mash-up of some of the best elements of American Psycho (Tim Roth's performance here reminded me so much of Willem Dafoe's there), Cosmopolis (the book; I haven't seen the movie), and Margin Call, with just a touch of something that reminded me of Michael Clayton. While Richard Gere certainly owned this film, Susan Sarandon's character has a very nicely developed arc that explodes in a powerful verbal duel. It is such a pleasure to watch two actors at the top of their game play to their strengths with no holds bared.
Liberal Arts - I feel rather conflicted about this film. On the one hand, there were so many great conversations about literature (many of which I have totally had in real life or at least given way too much thought to on my own), plus Zac Efron and Allison Janney totally own the movie with their stand-out performances. On the other hand, Josh Radnor had this benign-Dane-Cook thing going on, Richard Jenkins was tossed under the bus once his character served the purpose of getting Radnor's character back to college, and the tone of the film is wildly uneven. To top it all off, there was an annoying thing going on in which no contemporary literature was mentioned by name, because apparently all of us lit geeks talk about books in code: "If people love the book and they’re holding it and talking about it, they don’t really say the title." Ummmm, what?! There are intelligent people out there who genuinely love books (::raises hand::), and then there is an annoying sub-set of those people who feel like they have something to prove. The main character of this movie falls into the later group, and that person's story is ultimately not that entertaining or enjoyable to watch.
The Master - I am not ashamed to say that I didn't, and still don't, understand this film. Additionally, I have a sneaking suspicion that the critics don't understand it either, but are giving it good reviews because they fear appearing less that worldly. Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman are both excellent, but it is all for naught, since the story doesn't make any sense or have any point. This is a major WTF movie that I would encourage others to see simply because I would like somebody to be able to explain it to me, if that is even possible.
Head -This film is rather poorly made, and it stars The Monkees. Yet, I will not hesitate to say that I enjoyed it much more than The Master, mainly because it made more sense. And this is a psychedelic film co-written by Jack Nicholson that I'm talking about. "The Porpoise Song" (written by Carole King!) has been a favorite since I heard it in Vanilla Sky, and seeing Head gives the song's use in the newer film much deeper meaning. Head is nothing more than a campy cult classic, and as such it is worth seeing as a happy, twisted little piece of pop culture marginalia.
Trouble with the Curve - Come for Clint Eastwood, stay for Justin Timberlake. As much as I love Clint, this movie made me sort of sad because under someone else's direction he is presented as a parody of himself. Clint is old and grouchy. We get it. However, there is a more sophisticated way to get those character traits across (see: Gran Torino) than through the direction given here. Meanwhile, Amy Adams does a brave job of soldering through relationship cliches, Justin Timberlake steals the show with that rascally grin of his, and Matthew Lillard couldn't be more weaselly and one-dimensional. At least this film does get across a genuine love of baseball, despite the sport's relegation to a set piece. Overall, the film is clunky and lacks the passion, drive, excitement, sizzle, and flair of last year's Moneyball.
Knuckleball! - Being a lover of both baseball movies and chances to learn new things (not to mention movie titles with exclamation points - see also: That Thing You Do!), I was super excited to see this film, and it did not let me down. Of course it didn't hurt that one of the subjects of the film was Tim Wakefield, a Red Sox pitcher who I grew up watching. And having seen this documentary, I can now say that I am also a fan of the Mets's R.A. Dickey (thank goodness he doesn't play for that other New York team who shall not be named). Both of these guys have compelling stories and are personable and humble, just like the knuckleballers who came before them, several of whom are also featured here. The mindset of these players, the strategies of pitching, and their struggle to keep the knuckleball alive are all fascinating aspects of the game that deserve the close attention of a film. Not only do I have a new appreciation for Wakefield and Dickey, but I also feel that I am better armed in the sports trivia department.
Jaws - Yup, it's still fantastic! Strongly considering putting a BluRay player on my Hanukkah list just so I can get and watch this film on BluRay.
Book Shelf
Florence of Arabia, Christopher Buckley
As is usual with the younger Buckley, this is highly intelligent fluff. However, despite being published in 2004, this book still seems quite relevant. What that says about the situation in the Middle East is probably not a very good thing. Has so little progress been made in eight years? The answer appears to be mostly "yes." The satirical tone of the writing is clever and amusing without being trite or smug, and for die-hard Buckley fans, there is a nifty little Nick Naylor cameo.
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, Julian Rubinstein
This is a book with the soul of the film Goon, plus many, many times the level of absurdity of said film, plus robberies, but set in Hungary, and a true story. It tells a very engaging story, while also imparting a great deal of knowledge about the history of Hungary. Rubinstein has created a very well-balanced piece of non-fiction, albeit a very random one. Worth a read for history buffs, hockey buffs, and true crime fans.
No Easy Day, Mark Owen with Kevin Maurer
Just in case you needed a reminder that SEALs are badass, here is this book. I was so excited about this one that I actually bought and read it in hardcover (I *hate* hardcover books). Of course I read it in two days, so the whole hardcover thing really wasn't as much of a pain in the ass as it usually is. There are some good tidbits of Team 6 history, and the stuff about
day-to-day life and previous missions was extremely interesting. The
Osama stuff is pretty much the last 100 pages of the book, and it is
edge-of-your-seat crazy and totally awe-inspiring. I couldn't help but
admire and respect the outstanding characters of these men (both the
SEAL team members and the pilots), the self-discipline, and the problem
solving and strategic thinking skills. All I could think during the last hundred pages was (a) wow, these guys are totally amazing and crazy, and (b) I can't believe somebody I know used to do stuff exactly like this. I am also very glad that I have seen Act of Valor and Black Hawk Down and read Black Hawk Down and Argo. All of those pieces provided great context and/or visuals to help put everything in No Easy Day into context and make sense of some rather complicated missions and tactics. I continue to be blown away by the caliber of the personnel at the elite levels of our military.
A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers
If I wanted to be all Liberal Arts about this, I could go into a long comparative lit essay about Hologram and Florence of Arabia. While I have done that a little bit in my head, I will spare you the details here. Also, I am lazy. The words that first come to mind to describe this book are "gentle" and "tender." There is a sense of delicate fragility throughout the story, mirroring the tenuous state of the fictional, under-development super-city in which much of the action is set. Typical of Eggers, this is a lyrical book with rich description of scenery and appearances that drew me into the story while keeping me at arms length from the characters. I felt like I never got to truly know any of the characters as they floated in a suspended state outside of the life and events going on in the world beyond their immediate environs.
A Feast for Crows, George R. R. Martin
I can't believe it took until the fourth book for Martin to realize that concentrating on a limited number of stories and characters makes for a stronger work of fiction. Now, if he could just realize that one should also ensure that all main characters have more than one dimension (I'm looking at you, Cersei), we would be in business. On a serious note, I enjoyed this book much more than the three before it and wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen, rather than just to be done with it as quickly as possible and move on to something else. Fingers crossed that he keeps up this momentum in volume five!
White Jacket Required, Jenna Weber
I have been reading Jenna's blog, Eat Live Run, and following her on Twitter for over a year now. I have made many of her recipes and gotten great results. However, the most important thing about Jenna's blog is that it always makes me smile, no matter how badly my day is going or how little sleep I got the night before. I love how much of herself Jenna shares along with her recipes, book recommendations, and product reviews. I was very excited when Jenna first announced her book, and, like No Easy Day, this is one that I had to get in hardcover as soon as it was published. I sat down and read it in one afternoon. Even though I have gotten to know Jenna through her blog, her book still offered up plenty of surprises, as well as a heaping helping of inspiration, not to mention more fantastic recipes that I can't wait to cook in my own kitchen.
Post title from: The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
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