If you're tired of summer sequels, prequels, and '80s cartoon remakes, District 9 offers a unique take on the alien invader genre - and on topical issues like refugee camps, mercenary armies, and xenophobia. 2.5 PB Jars
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Gran Torino a Grand Disappointment
Rented Gran Torino on DVD this week and was definitely disappointed. My main criticisms are:
- subpar acting - especially on the part of the children who play Thao and Su
- subpar writing - Walt's (Clint Eastwood) racist rants were kind of funny in the beginning, but the weakness of the dialogue writing becomes apparent by the time we get to the ridiculous barbershop scene (in which Walt teaches Thao how to "be a man" by insulting people and talking about his imaginary car being in the shop).
- subpar story - There were some potentially interesting threads left dangling, such as the potential rivalry between the Hmong gang and the Hispanic gang, and I would have liked to see Thao take "Yum Yum" out on their date in the borrowed Gran Torino. That would have been a perfect opportunity for Thao to display his newfound confidence in a confrontation with his gangbanging cousin.
I'm a big fan of Clint's, but this movie really dragged for me. I'd recommend that you instead rent his underrated film Blood Work (2002), co-starring Jeff Daniels and Angelic Huston. Now that's an interesting and well-paced movie.
DVD Review of Gran Torino: 1.5 PB Jars
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
MOVIE POLITICS IN A NUTSHELL: Alternate Histories
By Peanut
Can a historical film flip the script on history - and still be considered historical?
I argue "Yes" in the case of Inglourious Basterds, which injects a giant shot of Quentin Tarantino epinephrine into the heart of a WWII drama. Specifically, he imagines a fictional counterpart to Hitler's Gestapo terror squads: the Basterds, a crew of Jewish-American guerillas led behind enemy lines by Brad Pitt's "Aldo the Apache." While the Basterds and their deeds exist outside the real historical timeline, their adventures (and those of the revenge-seeking Shoshana) shine a spotlight on the the defining themes of the war.
Brutality and Mercy - Seeing as this is a Tarantino film, we expect the Inglorious Basterds to be defined by their brutal methods. Yet for all their bat swinging and machine gunning, the Basterds demonstrate a remarkable capacity for mercy. Case in point: Aldo will let a Nazi soldier live so long as he answers his questions honestly. This does serve a practical purpose - the survivor will enhance the Basterds' infamy in recounting their violent acts - but it helps to contrast the absurdity of the Nazis' violence to the purposefulness of the Basterds'. Their goal is to end the war - ASAP. While they take personal enjoyment in achieving that end, this humane goal supercedes their individual well being.
The Nazis were not the only ones guilty of senseless brutality during the war. The British killed hundreds of thousands in their bombing raids against Germay, as did the Americans against Japan (including the two nuclear attacks). At the same time, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt declined to drop bombs on the Nazi concentration camps, perhaps because he couldn't stomach killing the innocent prisoners inside. Whether or not FDR made this decision out of a sense of mercy for the death camp detainees, the ultimate consequence was that America left the gas chambers untouched, and 12 million people (including 6 million Jews) were murdered in those camps between 1939-1945. The Basterds serve as more than just an instrument of revenge: they illustrate when it's best to display mercy, and when it's best to inflict brutality.
Nice to know that Tarantino doesn't pull any punches - or baseball bat swings -
when taking on as dark and heavy a subject as World War II.
Innocence Lost - In films like Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, we see the dehumanizing effect of WWII on the soldiers and civilians involved. Inglorious Basterds does an excellent job of illuminating this loss of innocence for soldiers and civilians alike. On the soldier side, we're introduced to "The Bear Jew" (Eli Roth), a Basterd who strikes fear in the hearts of Nazis with his Louisville Slugger. Yet this super soldier image stands in contrast to his innocent former self, symbolized by his Boston accent and references to Ted Williams and Fenway Park. By the end of the film, he's like a machine-gun-wielding psycho - a hyperbolized portrait of the shell-shocked GIs who ultimately returned from the war.
The story of Shoshana reveals the civilian side of lost innocence. The Nazi reign over Western Europe shatters her childhood and transforms her into a cold, calculating revenge-seeker. Even though her plot to take down the murderous Nazi regime was pulled from Tarantino's imagination rather than the history books, Shoshana embodies the anguish and the courage that defined the experiences of so many victims and survivors.
So - what does it all mean? I say that alternate histories have incredible value when they can find a way to shine more light on the historical narrative. Inglourious Basterds is outstanding entertainment in its own right - incredibly well written and acted - and it tells familiar stories in a new, revealing, and necessarily bloody way. 3 PB Jars
Thursday, August 20, 2009
POP HAIKULTURE: The Immaculate Fermentation
What would Jesus do
With the 12th overall pick
In my bar league draft?
Will Andre Johnson
Outscore Fitz and Moss this year?
And what about Brees?!
My indecision
Could kill my draft day mojo
So I'll let Him* choose.
*Him = Sam Calagione,
creator of Dogfish Head beers,
which I will be drinking heavily throughout
our fantasy draft this Sunday at Standings Bar (NYC's best sports bar).
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Top Chef Last Vegas
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
POP HAIKULTURE: What about Brett Fav...ruh?
He couldn't let Vick
Hog the quarterback spotlight -
Same old song and dance.
I never thought I'd
Say this in a thousand years:
Go back to acting!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Trailer of the Month: TFD
Can't wait for that NASCAR tire to hit that dumb girl in the head...in 3D!!!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Best Show You Didn't Watch This Summer
...is "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."
I'm not a big fan of police procedurals (never seen "CSI"; used to watch the original "Law and Order" and "SVU" but eventually abandoned them), but "Criminal Intent" should appeal to anyone looking for great writing and storytelling on television. I expected the worst from newcomer Jeff Goldblum, whose Det. Nichols replaced franchise favorite Det. Logan (Chris Noth) in the recently-concluded 8th season. But Goldblum has created another idiosynchratic detective akin to D'Onofrio's Goren. Also, "Criminal Intent" finds intriguing ways to tell its ripped-from-the-headlines stories (unlike in later seasons of the flagship "L & O").
I highly recommend you catch this show on re-runs during the remainder of the summer. Season 9 won't begin on USA Network until next spring, but you can catch re-runs throughout August (here's the schedule). It'll help you get through the 6 week TV/movie doldrums between now and the start of the new Broadcast TV season (9/21).
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
MOVIE POLITICS IN A NUTSHELL: Political Frosting
By Peanut
This week: Frost/Nixon
Let's get the obvious bit out of the way first: it's hardly a coincidence that Frost/Nixon hit theaters during the year of George W. Bush's exit from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. It's wishful thinking on the part of the Bush-haters out there to think we'll ever see Bush's own Frost/Nixon moment. Yet the theme of coming to terms with your past deeds, and acknowledging their consequences, is certainly one that should resonate with all of us.
It's easy to point fingers at others in a crisis, as so many on both sides of the aisle did during the mortgage crisis and its aftermath. In the film, we see how language can divide a country into warring camps. Kevin Bacon's character blames Italian shoe-wearing liberals for America's failings, while Sam Rockwell's puts responsibility squarely on the Abuser in Chief. They are the Dick Cheney/Jon Stewart archetypes of the film. (Of course, Nixon was Cheney long before Cheney was Cheney.) How do we reconcile their polar opposite views of Nixon? How do we as Americans reconcile our polar opposite views of Bush? Of Clinton? Of Reagan?
I don't think we should get hung up on the politics of the film itself (or its title figures). What's important is for people of all stripes to strive for objectivity in evaluating other people's legacies - and our own. Presidents operate on the most public of stages, drawing intense scrutiny during and long after their time in office. None is as bad as his worst offenses or as good as his best successes.
If you turn on CNN or Fox News or MSNBC these days, you'll often see two "experts" painting two oversimplified versions of a person or situation, after which they doggedly debate whose version is correct. Yet to learn from our mistakes -- as individuals, as Americans, as human beings -- we must avoid glossing over the messy details of life. Nothing is so simple that it can be categorized into a neat little box. Nixon was no exception, and Frost/Nixon reminds us that even the most tarnished leader in U.S. history was not just "a crook." 2.5 PB Jars
Monday, August 10, 2009
Summer of George
Ever since I left my cushy East Harlem middle school teaching gig, I've been deprived of one of life'sgreat joys: the lazy summer. It's one of those things we're expected to give up by the time we reach adulthood. Sure, we've still got weekends, maybe even Summer Fridays. But unlike some of the more ambitious and motivated people out there who can't stand being inactive for more than 10 minutes, I crave multi-hour blocks (if not multi-day blocks) of unadulterated laziness. My only goals involve the number of times I'll have to re-watch Pulp Fiction before I've memorized every line, or the number of BCS championships I'm going to win in NCAA Football 10 before I have to return it to Blockbuster.
In other words, I take lazy summer to its illogical extremes.
Though I haven't had 2 months of inactivity to fill, I have enjoyed a relatively "Summer of George"-esque week. What do I have to show for it?
- The International is a must-rent DVD. I loved Clive Owen as the badass mo' fo' in Children of Men and Shoot 'Em Up!, and he brings that same attitude to this well crafted political thriller. Three words to sum it up: AWESOME. MUSEUM. SCENE. 2.5 PB Jars
- Interview with the Vampire doesn't hold a candle to more recent pop-culture vampire incarnations. This was my first time seeing the 1994 Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt novel adaptation, and I was hoping for more (especially given Entertainment Weekly's recent ranking of Lestat as the #1 greatest vampire). Cruise and Pitt both provide good performances if you've never seen the film -- and it's funny to watch Kirsten Dunst "vamp" it up -- but HBO's "True Blood" cast puts Lestat and company to shame. 1.5 PB Jars
- Return of the King's additional content is well worth the extra 40 minutes of your life. As shocking as that might sound, given that the running time of the theatrical cut is over 3 hours, I thought several of the deleted scenes were spectacular. My favorite: the confrontation between Aragorn and a monstrous (perhaps "Guellermo Del Torovian") envoy of Sauron outside the gates of Mordor. 3 PB Jars
- Speaking of fantasy epics, Willow is still great fun. This 1988 Ron Howard/George Lucas film was one of the defining movies of my childhood and holds up surprisingly well. The first 40 minutes are a great mix of humor, action, sentimentality, and even horror (the dog attack). One of Val Kilmer's best roles, IMHO. Watch the making-of featurette to learn that Willow also played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi (shocker) and see Ron Howard rock the Cosby sweater/goofy mustache combo. 2 PB Jars
- Push is a new-release DVD that had some things going for it. For a rather played-out concept (individuals with super powers band together against evil g-men), it felt fresh with Fantastic 4's Chris Evans and teenaged Dakota Fanning running the show. Neither of them is a great actor, but they play well off each other. Granted, Push feels like a Jumper re-tread (just substitute Evans's reluctant hero for Hayden Christensen's, and Djimon Honsou dogged pursuer for Samuel L. Jackson's), but it's a decent DVD popcorn flick nonetheless. 1.5 PB Jars
- I FINALLY saw The Hangover after weeks of hearing the buzz. It didn't live up to my elevated expectations but it provided many laughs. I don't know how I feel about Todd Phillips recycling the same comedy screenplay formula; we've seen these characters and this plot structure in Old School and elsewhere. But what's a lazy summer without a heaping portion of juvenile humor? 1.5 PB Jars
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