What Built My Road 10/14-10/20/07

This is running a little late this week. Not that the blog actually has deadlines or anything, but I try to keep a regular schedule on these things. Anyways, I’m tremendously sorry about that. I had a crazy fun weekend during Wartburg’s homecoming and was left with no time to really write a proper entry this weekend. Thus, I’ll keep this short.

Mad Men Season Finale (Television)
While I would say that there was one subplot in the episode that rang slightly false (I won’t go into details, as I’m hoping any readers who didn’t catch this show will do so as soon as it hits DVD), the Carousel scene---watch it here, it’s worth the three-and-a-half minutes and will be a fine gauge as to whether this show is for you---makes me forgive any and all flaws this show had this season or may ever have. While the previous episode answered more questions and was, all and all, more ‘explosive’---the melancholy nature of the finale has my dying to know where this show is going to go. Too bad I have to wait until Summer 2008 for my next fix.

Across the Universe (Film)
In Roger Ebert’s positive review for Across the Universe he mentioned that the Beatles’ songs were already movies in their own right. He couldn’t be more right---all the emotions and imagery you get from a classic film are right there. Actually putting a story and visuals to them, while unnecessary, in the right hands of the makers of ATU proved to be far from redundant. Director Julie Taymor is second only to Michel Gondry when it comes to stunning visuals and that alone would make the film worth seeing. The film is able to capture the manic energy of the Beatles in their youth as well as the psychedelia of their Sgt. Pepper days as it follows the lives of several young people (named after Beatles songs, of course) as they fall in love, go to war, and other typical 60s things.

The plot is secondary, of course, to the music and the visuals--so if you’re not a fan of Mummenschantz-style visual art or the music of the Fab Four, the film may be off-putting. While I adored most of it, some scenes are absolutely terrible (I’m thinking of Eddie Izzard’s rendition of For The Benefit of Mr. Kite) and the film could stand to lose about fifteen minutes. If you’re a Beatles fan, you need to check it out—but if you find the idea of people covering the Beatles blasphemous or are not a fan of musicals (especially meta-musicals that incorporate pop songs), leave it alone.

The fact that the film allowed me to mention the Mummenschantz in a review makes me like the film all the more.

Carcassonne (Game—Xbox Live Arcade version)

My former roommates and I played a lot of this board-game turned Xbox Arcade video game this weekend. The goal of the game is to build cities and roads while placing your ‘followers’ on the tiles where you will most benefit from the completed structures. It’s quite a fun mix of luck, co-operation (turned to trickery far too often), and Sim/God role-playing. The Xbox version keeps the players from doing the unenviable job of scoring while perpetuating repeat play.

Too Many Damn Movies!

After a September where I found myself going to the movies out of pure habit instead of an actual desire to see any of the films showing, the tables have now turned where there are a ton of movies I want to get around to---but no time to see them!

While I have made plans to see the promisingly psychedelic Across the Universe tonight, there are still a handful of films I’ll have to catch before they disappear from my local cineplex (which in a world where Saw IV will more than likely take up multiple screens is a very small window.)

I’ll have to pull a Hermione Granger if I want to catch comic book adaptation 30 Days of Night, well-reviewed box-office underperformer Micheal Clayton, political thriller Rendition, early Oscar favorite Into the Wild, poorly-reviewed-but-I-want-to-see-it-anyway-sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and the buzzworthy Affleckfest Gone Baby Gone before they’re replaced with Jigsaw’s latest masterpiece(s) (If that tagline gets used for Saw V, I’ll sue) and the generic looking Steve Carell Is In A Movie (oops, I mean Dan in Real Life).

Not to mention that I’m still hoping that Sleuth, The Darjeeling Limited, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford still make it into the area.

Also, November brings it’s own onslaught of intriguing looking (if not guilty pleasure teasing) films: American Gangster, Bee Movie, Lions for Lambs, No Country for Old Men, Southland Tales, Beowulf, Love in the Time of Cholera, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Margot at the Wedding, Enchanted, Hitman (yeah, I’ll probably go to those two), The Mist, I’m Not There, and Teeth. If you want to see a premise that’s due to send shivers down your spine check out that last one.

It’s certainly an exciting time to be a movie-goer: for your eyes and ears, if not your wallet.

What Hauled My Gravel...10/7-10/14/07

Here’s this week’s batch of things I found good enough to blog about:

Radiohead- In Rainbows (music)
Not only is Radiohead’s new album a pretty good one, but the inventive nature of its distribution (pay what you want---including $0.00 for the entire album in digital download form) makes it historical. Go here and see for yourself. Play it loud or with headphones for maximum effect.

30 Rock (television)
This show is probably my favorite comedy currently on the air and this week’s episode had the show in top form. Don’t believe me? Watch this scene.

In the Valley of Elah (film)
I never thought that Paul Haggis’ directorial debut Crash was a horrible movie. I never thought it was a particularly good movie either—and it certainly wasn’t the best film of 2005 (that would have been The Constant Gardener), despite it winning the Best Picture Oscar. Where Crash suffered from a heavy-handed approach to the messages it was trying to share and a seeming attempt to work every flashy director trick into one film, Haggis’ sophomore effort In the Valley of Elah benefits from much-needed restraint.

Part family drama, part crime procedural, Elah follows Tommy Lee Jones’ Hank Deerfield: a former MP officer and current gravel hauler who after receiving a call telling him that his son has gone AWOL, decides to visit his son’s military base. As Detective Arbogast said in Psycho: “If it doesn’t gel, it’s not aspic.” Since Deerfield didn’t even know his son had returned from Iraq, the AWOL thing doesn’t sit right with him- he decides to take manners in his own hands and find his son.

He’s assisted in his pursuits by a police detective played by Charlize Theron (glammed down again for Oscar season). The relationship between the two characters works because they don’t develop a trust immediately and are constantly questioning each other’s competence. In a supporting turn, Susan Sarandon appears as Hank’s wife. Sarandon is only in a handful of scenes, but is perfect in all of them.

Tommy Lee Jones is a fine actor, but he almost doesn’t need to be. His face says everything you need to know about his character---but it’s the same face he wears in all of his movies. It’s a role built around the Tommy Lee Jones persona, and for the first time in a long while, that’s a good thing.

Elah is not a perfect movie. While it’s not as preachy as Crash, it has its moments. I will warn you that the very last scene in the movie and the scene in the first act that sets it up are the two worst scenes in the film. While a pretentious air of importance may have been barely palpable through the rest of the film, for those two scenes it was choking.

Still, In the Valley of Elah is a good film that manages to be both patriotic and a polemic. Is it anti-war or just anti-this-war? If it wasn’t for the two scenes mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t have an answer---and I would have preferred it that way.
8/1

Kristen Wiig (television)
I just love Kristen Wiig, currently the second best thing about the current incarnation of Saturday Night Live (the first being The Digital Shorts). My absolute favorite of her sketches (her carpooling w/ Alec Baldwin) has been pulled from YouTube and unavailable on NBC.com due to (my guess is) music rights issues, but this week’s SNL featured Wiig doing a definitive Björk impression. I fell in love all over again. Watch it here.

Pushing Daisies (television)
I’ve been holding off on mentioning this show, hoping that the pilot wasn’t just a fluke. Well, after the second brilliant episode I’m still holding my breath, praying that it can keep this up. Bryan (Wonderfalls) Fuller‘s new creation is a combination of that show’s whimsy and the visual flair of Tim Burton circa Big Fish. It’s full of black humor (the main protagonist can resurrect the dead with one touch, but kills them again with a second) and pie---two of my absolute favorite things.

A murder procedural fairy tale, the pie maker with the magic touch (Lee Pace) uses his powers to solve crimes (with the assistance of a private investigator/gun cozy knitter played by Chi McBride). After awakening his recently deceased childhood sweetheart, his life becomes more complicated since the slightest touch will cause him to lose her a second time. I’m also a fan of pie shop waitress Kristin Chenowith (known to break out into a random musical number) and narrator Jim Dale (of the Harry Potter audiobooks).
This show isn’t for everyone—if you can’t accept the premise of, say, a car that runs on dandelions for fuel, then I suggest you skip this one.

Bummer of the Week:
Smallville’s new cast members
OK, so Laura Vandervoort’s Supergirl Kara is growing on me…slowly, but the actor who is playing the new Daily Planet editor Grant Gabriel, Michael Cassidy, sucks sucks sucks. I believe when I started blogging on this site I made an oath to accent the positive and these ‘Bummers of the Week,’ seem to go against that. That said, I’ll try and only point out truly egregious affronts to my pop-culture intake. Cassidy’s lame delivery—or maybe it’s just the sucky character he plays---is one of those affronts.

HDoGG's Movie Bonanza!!

Ok, so lately it just seems like I don't have enough hours in the day to make sure and get the blogging in as much as I'd like. This is readily apparent as Live Free or Die Hard has been on the upcoming review list going on forever! What can I say? A lot of other interesting material kept popping up that I wanted to review more than it, so it got the back shelf. Not any longer, though, as now I kill four birds with one post. Here it is - HDoGG's movie bonanza!

Live Free or Die Hard - I've never been much into the whole Die Hard thing, but for some reason I wanted to see this one. Not entirely sure why, but I did and ended up catching it back in June with some buddies. When the hiatus is as long as it was for Bruce Willis and this franchise, one went in wondering if there was possibly anything left in the tank? I don't know about the rest of you, but I for one was pleasantly surprised and entertained to boot. McClane is back and this time he is fighting techno terrorists determined to bring America to its knees by essentially pulling "the plug" on the Internet, banks, the power grid... everything! So while McClane is busy snooping on his teenage daughter in the wee hours, he gets pulled into the fray once again, this time trying anything and everything to keep good hacker Justin Long alive.

What a ride! In the summer when its hot and you just want to sit in the air conditioning and watch some good action its films like this that deliver. Willis proved that he still has it and I felt that he and Long had a pretty darn good "buddy" chemistry going as the odd couple (action hero cop/computer geek). There were some good laughs, great chases, outlandish moments (most notably involving a super jet and a semi trailer) and a satisfying end, even if we didn't actually get to hear McClane's signature catch-phrase in full. It was all good... and it didn't suck like 1408. 8/10

Superbad - Seth Rogan certainly had a good summer. First we were treated to Judd Apatow's Knocked Up starring Rogan and then we got his own film Superbad, starring Jonah Hill and Michael Serra (Arrested Development). This film pretty much defines juvenile, but with the right crowd it was a great time! I laughed pretty much the whole time. And the part about the right crowd is absolutely true. I went with a high school buddy and we were in a half full theatre with nothing but other adults in their 20s, so we didn't have annoying packs of high schoolers to ruin the atmosphere. Nothing against teenagers, but I've reached that age where I'd prefer not to watch this type of comedy surrounded by them because, honestly, I can't relate with the kids anymore.

This coming of age buddy flick was pretty much one crazy gag after another as two friends try to score before they part ways for college after high school. Naturally they are losers who never get chicks and it just so happens that they have a good chance now, but everything hinges on getting booze for a party which of course involves the use of a fake ID. One thing leads to another and before they know it things have gone terribly wrong and they are in the middle of the craziest night of their young lives. Crude doesn't even begin to describe this movie, but nevertheless it is funny and elicits its fair share of yuck-yucks. If you haven't seen, have a strong stomach and are in the mood for a really stupid but entertaining comedy, check out Superbad. 8/10

Inside Man - A Spike Lee Joint, you say? Yes sir, and it stars my boy Denzel (Crimson Tide, Training Day). It also stars Clive Owen, whose star is rising faster than Lindsey Lohan's rehab bill. I mean, what the hell is up with Cliver Owen?! Sin City, Children of Men, Shoot 'Em Up... this guy is kicking ass and taking names at a theater near you like every other Friday it seems. He is a damn good actor, so keep it coming Clive.

Inside Man is a pretty good heist movie that breaks the mold and goes about things in its own way; a standoff film that is three parts cerebral and one part action, like The Score only actually worth your time. You are never really certain what is going on in the film until the very end when all the pieces come together. And I won't call the ending brilliant, but it was very satisfying. Ok, so maybe a bunch of hints were laid out that maybe you could have figured out what was coming, but it was still good. Denzel and Clive were on their respective games and that is always fun to watch.

This film also featured Jodi Foster (in a non-victim role), Willem Defoe (in a non-creepy role) and Christopher Plummer (in a non-Klingon role). I didn't much care for Foster. Don't have any specific reason for this, but I just didn't. Plummer was practically a bit player, which is ironic seeing as his character is essentially the reason for the plot of the film, but who cares? Christopher Plummer is still getting work and I respect that. Oh yes, and it also featured Chiwetel Ejiofor (Serenity) who did a fine job in a supporting role.

All in all I blind bought this film based on lots of good buzz and I enjoyed it. Check it out. 9/10

The Kingdom - Premise: a terrorist attack on US nationals within Saudi Arabia gets the attention of the FBI. They killed Jennifer Garner's friend and now she wants blood. So she, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman??? saddle up and head to Saudi Arabia despite objections of the state department to get to the bottom of who pulled off the brutal attack. And it was pretty brutal!

They aren't welcome in the Kingdom, but they are guests of the Prince so they are allowed to do their work under very heavy supervision and with a laundry list of restrictions. Oh and they also don't like Garner because she is a woman. They have 3 days to do what they want to do.

The Kingdom comes at the audience marinated in the years of stereotypes and bitter resentment that have built up between the Muslim world and the West, especially since 9/11. And while I don't doubt the realism of any of the situations in the film, it does come across as being very heavy handed. Still, the central message of the film that I took away was the importance of building bridges and finding common ground which takes place between the Americans and the Saudi agents they are working very closely with. It is a cold reception at first, but eventually both sides start to understand each other. The film culminates with a chaotic third act involving abduction, street combat, and rescue within a very hostile environment. For all real purposes, Saudi Arabia might as well be on another planet because it is shown as a very different world that what you and I are are used to. Its intense.

I couldn't get over what I perceived as an air of pretentiousness from this film. As I said before, it felt very heavy handed and overly dramatic at times, almost as if to scream out "look at how important and relevant this film is!" It was good but I take away points because it was a little too self important for me. 7/10

What Fought My Foo...9/30-10/6/07

I may have been over-writing these in the past couple entries, so I’ll keep this week nice and short.

Erase/Replace from Echoes, Silence, Patience, Grace - Foo Fighters (music)
ESPG is another solid album for the reliably good Foo Fighters. It may not be their best release, but it’s more focused than the filler-filled In Your Honor double album. The stand out song from the album, Erase/Replace, combines singer/guitarist Dave Grohl’s whiplash-causing vocal dexterity from quiet whisper-singing to full on scream with some speed-metal drumming for what is certainly the Fighters’ most rocking song in years.

The Balcony Archive (web)
I could spend hours watching the archived reviews of all incarnations of the Siskel & Ebert/Ebert & Roeper television programs…and now I can. Thousands and thousands of reviews have now been posted online so everyone can watch the infamous Blue Velvet disagreement or Ebert’s Hated-Hated-Hated review of North.

The Perry Bible Fellowship (web comic)
I would argue that most web comics have about the same ‘funny’:’huh?’ ratio, and The Perry Bible Fellowship is no exception. Some of the strips are either unfunny or confusing, but when it hits the sweet spot of perversion and humor, its brilliance.

Bummer of the Week:
Seth Rogen on Saturday Night Live
Rogen wasn’t really that bad of host—he was game for whatever they threw at him and didn’t look like he was reading off cue cards (most of the time), but the sketches he starred in were underwhelming and too often fell back on a stoner/crude persona. The 2007 Douchebag Awards was an alright sketch and I laughed at Rowlf and the Swedish Chef—even when I knew it wasn’t funny, but I was left disappointed by Stonetown and the increasingly unfunny MacGruber. Musical guest Spoon, on the other hand, were excellent and I quite enjoyed Chevy Chase’s appearance.