Stuck On Repeat (the song and the whole album)
"The Origin of Love" -- MIKA
"All Over the Road" -- Easton Corbin
"Storm Front" -- Billy Joel
Cinema
Looper - A month later, I still haven't gotten used to Joseph Gordon-Levitt's face in this movie, nor do I particularly think he resembled Bruce Willis. Aside from this constant distraction, Looper is a solid piece of time-travel SciFi. The mechanics of the time-travel and the resulting circuity of the story work nicely if you don't think about them *too* much, but require just enough thought to be engaging and keep things just a bit unstable, in a good way. There are a a lot of nice little nods to other SciFi films here (hey, that hover motorcycle looks a lot like Kirk's in the most recent Star Trek) to tickle fans of the genre such as myself. I also really liked the ways in which the story tackled the issues of choice and morality. This film doesn't demand multiple views to be understood, but it will get them due to pure enjoyment value.
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial - I saw E.T. for the first time when I was approximately five, and then never watched it again, because the main thing that I remembered was being profoundly sad when watching it that one time. Since I have been on a bit of a Spielberg kick lately, I thought that a 30th anniversary screening was as good a time as any to revisit this film. Surely I could handle it now that I am an adult. Nope, still profoundly sad. I'm am pretty sure that there was not a dry eye in the theatre by the time the credits rolled. However, I blame John Williams as much as anybody. His music made War Horse much more sad than it should have been, and the situation is exacerbated in E.T. because the music has had 30 years to gain its own iconic cultural relevance and thus its emotional power has been increased. Still, a great film that more than deserves its iconic status in the pop culture pantheon.
Taken 2 - I was not expecting this film to be as good as its predecessor, so I was able to be entertained without feeling too disappointed. Sure, there are some terrible bits of dialog and they use two pieces of music from Drive, while channeling none of the coolness of that film, but with so much absurdity going on, it's hard not to just sit back and enjoy Liam Neeson kicking some ass. Because in the end, that's what it's really all about.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Remember how I said last month that I wanted to live inside this movie? Well, based on that, I really couldn't pass up a chance to see it yet again on the big screen. The fact that this was an IFC midnight showing made it that much more delicious. A girl would be foolish to turn down a date with Dr. Jones at any hour.
The Paperboy - I know I'm in the minority on this, but I really liked this film. If I weren't trying to see so many other films and generally running around like an over-scheduled crazy person, I would gladly see this film twice in the cinema. Yes, it's pulpy as hell, but that's what makes it so enjoyable. It is dirty and gritty and the humidity seems to seep through the screen. This film reminded me most of a collection of Flannery O'Conner stories that I read last year. Both those stories and this film drip with the twisted tropes of Southern Gothic that can only leave one unsettled and unnerved. The Paperboy is wonderfully atmospheric and tantalizingly filled with the secrets of its characters. I was fully drawn into and mesmerized by its parochial world. This film has stuck with me in a way that so many others haven't. And when I can't shake a film, I take that as a very good sign.
Argo - This was one of my most highly anticipated films of the fall, and it didn't let me down. I probably said this when I reviewed The Town, but if you had told me in the wake of Good Will Hunting that there would be a time when Ben Affleck would far surpass Matt Damon on all counts, I wouldn't have believed you. Yet, here we are are, with Ben hitting it out of the park on multiple fronts once again. Having read the book before seeing the movie provided me with a solid background and base, but it also created some distraction because the compressed version of the story the film tells differs significantly from the book on several occasions. However, one of these occasions is the ending, which helped to make it all the more suspenseful, even though the outcome of the story is known. The script is full of so many really great lines and moments, mostly for the supporting cast who are all fantastic, especially John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Chris Messina, and Bryan Cranston. Argo is a perfectly balanced film filled with committed performances - a rarity in cinema today.
The Big Picture - While this film borrows a lot from several Hitchcock films and other classics, it does a nice job refreshing the accidental murder/assumed identity plot-line. There was enough suspense that I was never quite sure where the film was going to go next. Romain Duris, one of my favorite French actors, brings his usual blend of aloofness and soulfulness to his role. To top everything off, the ending was pitch perfect - just the right blend of closure and the unknown.
Seven Psychopaths - This film is pure bloody fun. It has a clever, meta script (Martin McDonough continues to turn out terrifically wicked scripts), exuberant performances, and over-the-top violence that is there just because it can be. Seven Psychopaths is a Guy Ritchie movie for smart people. It makes no apologies and takes no prisoners. All the actors play to their strengths, and it is a pleasure to watch them having a blast with the tropes of the genre.
The Sessions - It is impossible not to like this movie - it doesn't have a bad bone in its body, just like its protagonist, Mark O'Brien. However, while the acting is commendable all around, and I was moved by several scenes and enjoyed the gentle humor throughout the film, it just didn't reach or connect with me on a deep emotional level, as I expected it to.
Frankenweenie - Even though I tend to steer clear of most kid's films these days, there was just something about Frankenweenie that I couldn't resist - mainly the adorable title character. My trip to the cinema for this one was well rewarded, as I found this film to be utterly delightful. The animation is terrific, the characters are wonderfully quirky (*love* Weird Girl and Mr. Whiskers), and the references to classic monster movies are a real treat. I also liked the fact that the film is done in black and white - it adds so much to the atmosphere of the story. It's good to see Tim Burton return to his roots with such success.
Cloud Atlas - Like the proverbial train wreck, I just had to watch this film even though I knew it was going to be terrible and disappointing. See below for my review of the book, which I thought was quite stunning in its creation of worlds and the characters who inhabit them. The movie does Mitchell's six stories a disservice by compressing them and leaving out so many of the peripheral details with the result that much of the book's soul is lost - a major irony for a book and a film that are meant to be centered on human connection. Nor am I fan of the way in which the film alters Zachry's story and thus the "end" of the film. Meanwhile, Sonmi's story is so reduced that all the details that make it so captivating and satisfying in the book have been completely stripped away. This film has no value because it fails to communicate the messages expressed in the book, and which, from press materials, the directors wished so fervently to express themselves. In a world in which it apparently takes three long-ass movies to bring The Hobbit to the big screen, I am unsure what would possess anyone to believe they could bring Mitchell's complex visions to life in under three hours.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower -Just give Ezra Miller all the awards, now. This young gentleman is a powerhouse, as evidenced here and by his role in We Need To Talk About Kevin. Perks is full of solid performances from young actors that give the film an old soul, perhaps the one so lacking from Cloud Atlas. Unlike many teen films, this one has few pretensions, and comes across as tenderly honest. This is a film that does not ask much of the viewer, and yet gives so much of itself in return.
Book Shelf
God And Man At Yale, William F. Buckley, Jr.
Being the WFB superfan that I am, I thought it might be time to read his first major work. Yikes, this one is a mite dry, a tad dense, and a bit of a chore to get through. However, as we gear up for a presidential election, it is astounding that so many political and economic issues from 61 years ago are still being discussed and remain unsolved today. Always good to have my cynicism about politics confirmed by books from 1951.
A Dance With Dragons, George R. R. Martin
Aside from a bit of Dan Brown-itis (we're playing a game of... thrones, you say? Is that right? You only mentioned it every third chapter and in the title of the first book, so it was unclear. Also, what are words that rhyme with reek? Those were not provided often enough for me to retain them), the fifth volume of Martin's overblown saga satisfied in that it once again stuck to a more limited number of characters and stories. However, many of those stories were developed far too slowly to create a truly interesting or exciting momentum of any kind. Meanwhile, I have made an executive decision to not watch the HBO version of this saga in the near future. Conceptually, I was all excited about it. Then someone convinced me to read the books that I had had sitting around for over a year, and I reluctantly immersed myself in Martin's world. As tends to happen when I read, a vision of how this world and it's inhabitants looked formed in my mind. When I was nearly done with A Feast for Crows, I decided to go to the TV show website and check out the cast. I was sad to see that nobody other than Sean Bean/Ned Stark (who I knew about before reading the books) looked like I thought they should. As much as I lean toward the indifferent and exasperated when it comes to reading the Song of Ice & Fire saga, I think the TV show would just plain ruin it for me at this point.
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
In reading Cloud Atlas immediately after A Dance with Dragons, the main thing that stood out for me is what a huge difference it makes when an author knows how to use words to their full advantage. Mitchell accomplishes six times of what Martin does in a fraction of the pages. While Cloud Atlas isn't going to become one of my very favorite books, I do admire Mitchell for the structure of his book and his ability to shift convincingly between genres and styles. I found the Ewing and Frobisher stories to be a bit dull, but at least the later is quite full of emotion. The Lusia Rey story is pure fun and a pleasure to read in all it's pulpiness. I keep forgetting about the Cavendish story - it was entertaining enough, but not attention grabbing, perhaps because it is set in the present and is little more than a trifle after the shock of initial twist has worn off. Of course, being the lover of dystopias that I am, the two stories that grabbed me the most are Sonmi in a future version of Korea and Zachry in post-Apocalyptic Hawaii. The Sonmi story is brilliantly done, from the interview structure in which her story is presented to the final delicious SciFi twist. I didn't want to put the book down when I was reading either of Sonmi's chapters. The society Mitchell envisions in these chapters is fascinating, even if it is not wholly original. And the linkage between Sonmi and Zachry is another beautiful touch to cap things off. This book is a curio, a set of nesting dolls, a three-dimensional puzzle which must be picked up and viewed from many angles to be truly appreciated.
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Somehow, despite having one of the best and most expansive children's book collections ever, I had never read this book. Since my 2013 Moleskine planner, and one of my past journals, are Little Prince themed, I figured that needed to change. This is certainly a lovely, timeless story with many layers of meaning in its simple, yet profound, parables. I am glad to finally understand first-hand why this book is considered to be one of the classics.
The Sea Is My Brother, Jack Kerouac
This story has the hallmark Kerouac need for escape at its core, but because it is one of his earliest works, it is more grounded and less mystical than many of his later works. Like all Kerouac stories, this one deftly and vividly portrays a slice of life and definitively renders a specific time and place. Here is another writer who understands the true power of words to capture and create a world that defines one generation and will influence many more to come.
Less Than Zero, Bret Easton Ellis
So this is sort of like the LA version of Bright Lights, Big City, from what I can remember of the later. Despite his insistence on including horrible images of violently mutilated women in his books, I do like Ellis's writing style. It has a soothing rhythm to it, echoing and emphasizing the facade of complacency that rests over the aimless, vapid lives of the characters the inhabit the upper echelons of society. As with American Psycho, Less Than Zero perfectly captures the ethos of a generation struggling to find meaning where there is none.
Post title from: The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
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