Review: Youth in Revolt (2010)

Miguel Arteta's Youth in Revolt, from C.D. Payne's novel, is an entertainingly referential, dysfunctional and quirky love story among a young man, Nick Twisp, his alter ego, François Dillinger (both Michael Cera), and a girl, Sheeni Saunders (the appealing newcomer Portia Doubleday). I haven't read the novel, but it's sitting here staring at me while I write this.

Nick is sort of a boring jerk, a teenager with divorced parents (the very good Jean Smart and Steve Buscemi), who moons around, doesn't take much seriously and loves the idea of love. When his mom's boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis) needs to leave town for a bit, Nick and his mom join him at a trailer park for a little "vacation" while they wait for some disagreements at home to pass them over.

There Nick meets Sheeni, who lives at the park with her parents (M. Emmet Walsh and Mary Kay Place), religious fanatics who quickly take a strong (and pretty understandable) disliking to Nick. But Sheeni stays enamored, advising Nick to do whatever it takes to cause trouble to get himself kicked out of his mom's house so he can live with his dad, closer to Sheeni.

That command, taken so seriously by Nick, and added up with his newfound interest in all things Sheeni loves, leads him to create his alternate, devil-may-care, French chain-smoking alter ego, François Dillinger. This is a pretty spot-on moniker, as the film amusingly pays tribute to French New Wave films like Breathless (À bout de souffle), Shoot the Piano Player, Elevator to the Gallows and others, as well as cinematic and other retellings of the John Dillinger story.

When I saw conservative activist James O'Keefe's photos as he was released from jail in New Orleans after being caught trying to tamper with Sen. Mary Landrieu's telephones, I felt I could not be the only one who saw O'Keefe as Nick Twisp, and wondered who his Sheeni might be. Likely answer: wealth and fame. On second thought, given the light box office for this film, I may indeed have been the only person who thought that....

But back to the film, Sheeni's direction begins Nick's life of crime, a sad and pathetic, yet still humorously portrayed spree of foibles and disasters. Mom's new boyfriend, a cop (Ray Liotta), offers to help cover up Nick's crimes while Nick goes to live with his father, but by this time Sheeni has been packed off to boarding school, incidentally, along with Nick's romantic rival. Too much more plot will get me into spoiler territory, so I'll quit with that.

Miguel Arteta has made perfect films in the past, notably Star Maps and Chuck and Buck, but this one doesn't quite get there. There's solid acting from everybody, quite funny dialogue and quite a few funny situations, but it's missing something. It probably goes to the drug well too often, for both humor and plot points, and while this is mostly funny, like I say, it might be too easy a crutch. Nevertheless, it's a treat to see Galifianakis, Smart, Liotta, Fred Willard, Justin Long, Adhir Kalyan and others playing some funny parts, and Cera and Doubleday are quite good at selling the love story.

There are some animated interludes which bring to mind the (superior overall) John Cusack movie Better Off Dead and which advance the plot at times, but they are not the greatest animation, or the greatest way to advance the plot. They're cute and not overdone.

Youth in Revolt is pretty funny and good-hearted, despite some very mean things people do to one another. It doesn't have any wrong notes, but a few very weird notes which don't necessarily add much. Cera's performance(s) alone (together?) is (are) worth the price of admission. He's a fine comedic and dramatic actor with such a bright future in the movies. He reminds me of the Woody Allen of Take the Money and Run, Play It Again, Sam or Annie Hall. You could already have a very fun Michael Cera movie festival.

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

There you go again, Glen(n)?....

What's that extra 'n' for in your name, genius?

Alex
Choose Our President 2012

Shop the Shop!

Check out the Choose Our President 2012 Shop. Since '05, I've sold items in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. military bases overseas, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan, Canada, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, Australia, the United Kingdom, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey. I've sold campaign items for President Barack Obama (IL) and for first lady for Michelle Obama, as well as Colbert for President and Olbermann for President items.

There are congressional campaign items available for potential House challengers Ethan Berkowitz (AK), Rob Miller (SC-2) and Dan Seals (IL-10), and for Reps. Tammy Baldwin (WI-2), André Carson (IN-7), Travis Childers (MS-1), Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (SC-6), John Conyers (MI-14), Elijah Cummings (MD-7), Lincoln Davis (TN-4), Chet Edwards (TX-17), Donna Edwards (MD-4), Chaka Fattah (PA-2), Barney Frank (MA-4), progressive health care reform debate hero Alan Grayson (FL-8), John Lewis (GA-5), Jim Moran (VA-8), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (CA-8), Loretta Sanchez (CA-47), Carol Shea-Porter (NH-1) and Peter Welch (VT), and Senate campaign items for Sens. Michael Bennet (CO), Barbara Boxer (CA), Russ Feingold (WI), Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer (NY), Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp, Rep. Kendrick Meek (FL-17), and Rep. Joe Sestak (PA-7).

And there are governor's race items for Rep. Artur Davis (AL-7) and Govs. John Lynch (NH), David Paterson (NY) and Deval Patrick (MA), and no doubt others as we get on toward 2010 and beyond.

My candidate stores have buttons, rectangular, oval, and bumper stickers, notebooks, mugs, shirts, yard signs and more, so get decked out and support your candidates early!

Along with specific-candidate items, there are Democrat and state and national flag items, and more at my politics and humor site.

Here are my Obama designs, just click to visit each store:















Thanks,

Alex
Choose Our President 2012

Thune leads 2012 GOP presidential nominee web poll results for January

Sen. John Thune (SD) led January voting for who respondents thought would be the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. As usual, this is of self-selected voters of any party who found my website, so it is not scientific in any way. (This means you should not complain that it was not scientific because it's never going to be.) Voting is just for fun, please no wagering. Here are this month's results:

January 2010

#1 - Sen. John Thune (SD) ... 24.8%
#2 - Gov. Sarah Palin (AK) ... 21.3%
#3 - Rep. Mike Pence (IN) ... 20.6%
#4 - Gov. Bobby Jindal (LA) ... 5.7%
#4 - Gov. Tim Pawlenty (MN) ... 5.7%
#4 - Fmr. Vice Pres. Dan Quayle (IN / AZ) ... 5.7%
#5 - Gov. Haley Barbour (MS) ... 4.3%
#5 - Fmr. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (GA) ... 4.3%
#6 - Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) ... 2.8%
#7 - Sen. Sam Brownback (KS) ... 2.1%
#8 - Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) ... 1.4%
#9 - Fmr. Gov. Jeb Bush (FL) ... .7%
#9 - Fmr. Gov. Tom Ridge (PA) ... .7%
#10 - Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (MI / UT / MA) ... 0%
#10 - Other ... 0%

141 total votes cast / Margin of error ±100%

You can vote for this month's new poll here, or click the vote button from any of the Choose Our President 2012 pages.

Alex
Choose Our President 2012

2010 Oscar nominations (with my favorites and predictions)

I have seen all of the nominated films on this list, except those indicated. This year's Oscar nominations (in the major categories I follow most):

Best Original Screenplay

Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy, Up

I have not yet seen The Messenger in this category.

My favorite: Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
My prediction: Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker

Best Adapted Screenplay

Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, In the Loop
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

I have not yet seen In the Loop or An Education in this category.

My favorite: Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
My prediction: Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

I have not yet seen The Last Station or An Education in this category.

My favorite: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
My prediction: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

I have not yet seen A Single Man or Invictus in this category.

My favorite: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
My prediction: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

My favorite: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
My prediction: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Best Supporting Actor

Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Walz, Inglourious Basterds

I have only seen The Lovely Bones and Inglourious Basterds in this category.

My favorite: Christoph Walz, Inglourious Basterds
My prediction: Christoph Walz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

My favorite: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
My prediction: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Best Animated Film

Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

I have not yet seen The Secret of Kells in this category.

My favorite: Fantastic Mr. Fox
My prediction: Up

Best Picture

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

I have not yet seen An Education in this category.

My favorite: The Hurt Locker
My prediction: The Hurt Locker

Hmmm...Let's see. I'm a bit disappointed that Public Enemies was ignored. Marion Cotillard could have been a good Best Actress nominee for that or Nine, not to mention Billy Crudup for Best Supporting Actor as J. Edgar Hoover. Quinton Aaron in The Blind Side would not have been out of place for Best Actor or Supporting Actor. Much too much attention for the slightly overrated District 9, Up and Up in the Air, though some of the nominations for them make good sense. 'Tis a bit odd that District 9 would be recognized as a Best Pic nominee with no Sharlto Copley for Best Actor.

The Oscars will air Sunday, Mar. 7 at 5 p.m. Pacific time on ABC.

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

Alex's worst ten movies of 2009

And now for the worst....Here are my worst ten movies of 2009, though, to be fair, I'm only including films I have reviewed. I'll do them in reverse order, with number one being the worst of all:

10. State of Play. A few decent performances in search of a story.

9. The Unborn. Lame riff on The Exorcist.

8. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. What a snooze, and even the squirrel stuff wore out its welcome.

7. A Perfect Getaway. A totally stupid hiking/identity theft "thriller," a bad year for Milla Jovovich fans.

6. The Fourth Kind. Boring alien--or superowl?--encounters in Alaska, a bad year for Milla Jovovich fans.

5. Push. Dakota Fanning stars as telekenetic mutants fight over...zzz....

4. The Last House on the Left. Cheesy revenge-slasher-horror which might have had the makings of more, with less.

3. Land of the Lost. Will Ferrell had a funny joke or two in this. Truly, the less said the better on this one.

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Bad, bad wolverine.

10. The Box. Move along, nothing to see here.

Estimated number of viewings in total for these ten films: 11.

And that is quite enough of the worst movies.

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

Alex's top ten movies of 2009

Well, the Oscar nominations will be announced Monday. Here are my top ten movies of 2009, all four-starrers:

1. The Hurt Locker. Kathryn Bigelow's taut, gripping Iraq War story with Jeremy Renner's career-making star turn. This film deserves to win Best Picture and Director, at least.

2. A Serious Man. The Coen Brothers don't disappoint with this deep, sparkling gem.

3. Precious, Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire. Beautiful story of betrayal and heartache, priceless, with outstanding acting work from Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique.

4. Funny People. Judd Apatow's apex, a brilliant work with some of Sandler and Rogen's best performances ever.

5. Public Enemies. Michael Mann's perfect, terse gangster pic is deepened and revealed by passionate performances from Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup and more.

6. Soul Power. Muhammad Ali and James Brown at the heights, a brilliant, rocking doc about a time and a place. Not to mention B.B. King and more!

7. Moon. Layered and complex sci-fi with the amazing Sam Rockwell in dual roles, a class act.

8. Fantastic Mr. Fox. Wes Anderson's faithful yet original animated tribute to Roald Dahl and the sixties and seventies. It probably won't happen, I'd predict, but Best Supporting Actor consideration should probably be given to Eric Anderson, Jason Schwartzman for this.

9. Jennifer's Body. Really quite good high school horror metaphor with perfect script by Diablo Cody and perfect casting. It probably won't get a screenplay nomination, but it's deserving.

10. Extract. Jason Bateman heads a great cast in Mike Judge's perceptive and hilarious morality farce.

Since these are, in my opinion, the ten best films of the year, I will view it as an injustice if any are not nominated for Best Picture, as there are ten open slots this year. But there are always Oscar injustices, you just have to factor that in, so whatever....I'll be glad to see some of them get some recognition.

And to round out a full top twenty for 2009: Ninja Assassin, Harold Ramis's Year One, Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos), Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats, Jane Campion's Bright Star, Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, and Watchmen.

Estimated number of viewings in total for these twenty films: 67.

Would definitely still like to see: Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, John Hillcoat's The Road, Tom Ford's A Single Man, Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon, and maybe a few others.

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

Review: Daybreakers (2010)

NO STARS
The Spielrig Brothers' Daybreakers is a dim, dumb, unfocused vampire story which makes a modicum of sense as you watch it, then later you're like, "Was that a movie I watched? Did stuff happen? Did it mean anything?" and the answers are: sorta, kinda and not really.

Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, the chief hematologist for Bromley Marks pharmaceuticals, which is trying to develop a blood substitute to feed the mostly vampire population. Human supplies are running low, most of the humans have been eaten or farmed to the end of their lives for their blood supply.

So how does the economy work? How does the government work? How has society been altered by the conversion of most of the population into superpowerful vampires with eternal lives? These are some good questions.

The film isn't too interested in them, however. And hey, it's not my high concept, I'm not going to be better at telling you than the film. There are a few indicators. There's a Vampire Army and propaganda messages to turn in humans to the authorities, there are nifty auto navigation systems which blot out the sun and use video navigation only, and Matrix-echoing Third Reich and concentration camp references too superfluous to be distasteful. But these details don't add up to a plausible, interesting picture of Vampire World. Instead, it's a massive fail.

If you're not too excited about your own high concept (or too excited to think it through and say something with it), you'd better get something going on a character level, or you're going to be in trouble. Daybreakers is in trouble, because there's nothing going on at that level, either.

Ethan Hawke mopes and grimaces. The character of his brother, a member of the Vampire Army, gets way too much screen time, isn't compelling, and even becomes annoying one or two times too many to forgive. Sam Neill is all right as the head of Bromley Marks, but his character is boring. The dialogue is heinous and stultifying. Even Willem Dafoe basically has nothing to do here.

There are some decent effects on display when some ravening, starving vampires stage a few attacks, and when Ethan Hawke volunteers for some de-vampirization experiments, but that's the sum total of what's good here. Even big group vampire attacks are lame, the blood looks like something that drains out of somewhere in my car when I get it serviced--and not in a neat metaphorical way, it's just sludge.

I want to like vampire movies, I even gave Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant a solid three stars. That movie at least had some fun and interest, solid acting even with a cheesy storyline, and some impact from the casting of Willem Dafoe in a small role.

Daybreakers is a boring, stupid, bloody mess. It is only the second review I have ever written awarding no stars. I could happily have passed two and a half hours in a similarly constructed film which made sense and had characters to enjoy watching and identifying with in some way, but as it is, I could barely stand a little more than an hour and a half. Avoid at all costs.

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

Review: Avatar (2009)

James Cameron's Avatar is a pretty good sci-fi/fantasy (more fantasy) flick. It's gotten a lot of buildup from being in production for so long and having so many spectacular effects, and indeed something unique has been achieved in this film. The effects are spectacular as advertised, the 3-D involving, a whole alien world is created in which the characters have been digitally created from actors' performances, and the film is quite a ride.

That said, it's also pretty derivative, paper-thin logically, with terrible dialogue and no real innovation in its storytelling overall. I love the Ray Bradbury quote bemoaning the science fictional consequences of Star Trek, to the effect that it made aliens not much more than humans with crap on their faces. Digital effects have now advanced to the degree that humans can actually aspire to be the crap on the aliens' faces.

The film's plot and various appurtenances owe big debts to Dances with Wolves, Star Trek, "The Smurfs," Sea Monkeys, The Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings, Hellboy, Philip K. Dick, and Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels (soon to be movies themselves).

So to the actual plot, Jake Scully (Sam Worthington, not as good here as in his other Cameron-related project for 2009, Terminator Salvation) is a Marine who has lost the use of his legs in an accident. Coincidentally, his twin brother is involved in a very complicated project requiring his specific DNA, so Jake is brought in on it as the only other alternative, requiring him to travel to a remote planet, Pandora, to try to figure out how to replace him, and incidentally earn a spinal cord-replacement operation which could restore him to full health.

To do so, he must balance the prerogatives of the scientific team, led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), who wants to convince the natives to get out of the way of progress, and the military team, who would be happy to annihilate first and ask questions later. And he must do it all as a huge blue Pandoran bred with half of his late brother's DNA.

Along the way, he meets Neytiri (Zoe Saldana, Star Trek), and convinces her to show his odd intruder alien the ways of her people. He engages in a love affair with her and finds himself conflicted over whether he could best help his human cohorts or his new alien clan. Neytiri learns to love a narcoleptic, as Jake's alien body shuts down whenever he's not online, especially problematic for action scenes.

The Pandoran world is quite beautiful and convincingly created, despite the many threads of Earth cultures woven in--Native American, Indian, Buddhist, Maori, with a dose of Anne McCaffrey's dragonriders thrown in for good measure. Still, it's a wonder to watch, if a bit of a cultural and ideological mess.

The acting is pretty solid, though bad dialogue for Worthington and Weaver hurt their characters. Giovanni Ribisi is completely over-the-top, and his silly accent here is not as effective as his silly accent in 2009's Public Enemies. Stephen Lang is good as the military commander, here dedicated to destroying the hippie aliens, whom his character in 2009's The Men Who Stare at Goats wanted to learn from. And Zoe Saldana is excellent in her digitally transplanted performance.

Avatar may be a 3-D landmark, an innovative effects movie, and pretty good, but its weak points are not minor, they do take away from the achievement. I'd like to have seen a more creative use of its strong points to serve a stronger story. It's okay, just a bit overhyped.

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

Review: Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (2009)

Lee Daniels's Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire is a lively, colorful, richly textured, inspiring, melancholy, unflinching portrait of the abuse and neglect of a young girl, Clarice Precious Jones, in 1985 Harlem. With no whiz-bang effects or movie stars, it's a searing and soaring roller-coaster ride of emotions with no--zero--sour notes.

Oscar talk is already swirling for Mo'Nique, the actress known for comedic roles who here takes on one of the most unsympathetic parts in film history with chutzpah and incredible commitment. That kind of notice and praise is well-justified.

And yet, the real face of the picture is the face of Precious, the face of actress Gabourey Sidibe as a young teenager struggling with illiteracy, loneliness, abuse and her second pregnancy. Sidibe's face is beautiful, sculptural and expressive. If it's not the face of your typical movie heroine, why not? There should be as much or more Oscar buzz for Sidibe's fine work as for Mo'Nique's. If there's ever been a stronger film debut in a leading role, I couldn't name it.

Precious is thrown out of her high school for being pregnant for the second time, but offered a chance to enroll in an alternative high school program in Harlem. Paula Patton is wonderful as Ms. Rain, a wise and caring teacher who goes out of her way.

As Precious's case runs through the system, we also encounter Mariah Carey, who is also excellent as Mrs. Weiss, the social worker assigned to it. Many of the most effective scenes between Precious and her mother are prompted by Mrs. Weiss's blunt and serious demeanor. Lenny Kravitz as Nurse John, who advises Precious during her delivery and recovery, is quite good in his fewer scenes as well.

The film uses fantasy sequences, sometimes spilling over into Precious's real life, to provide a glimpse into Precious's mind, how she sees the world and her place within it. This easily could have been disastrous handled incorrectly, but each sequence has its purpose and feeling and intent and fits right into the main tale.

One really feels like the film gets inside the souls of some tortured, complex characters, and what is seen there is beautiful, terrible and amazing.

Most amazing about Precious is not that it is based on a true story (it isn't, but might as well be), or that it deals with hard issues without a sledgehammer, though it's great that it does, but just to watch the journey Precious takes, what she makes of it. It's like the film stays out of her way.

If you're not looking for something "heavy" or deep, don't spend your time on this movie. The emotional lows are low, the human behavior portrayed often quite depressing--but the emotional lifts are also quite uplifting, without being saccharine or over-the-top, and much of the human behavior portrayed is quite realistic, dramatic and fulfilling. If you do skip it, it'll be your loss. It's one of the very best films of 2009.

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

Palin leads 2012 GOP presidential nominee web poll results for November (for the second month in a row)

Fmr. Gov. Sarah Palin (AK) led December voting for who respondents thought would be the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, for the second month in a row. As usual, this is of self-selected voters of any party who found my website, so it is not scientific in any way. (This means you should not complain that it was not scientific because it's never going to be.) Voting is just for fun, please no wagering. Here are this month's results:

December 2009

#1 - Gov. Sarah Palin (AK) ... 33.3%
#2 - Rep. Mike Pence (IN) ... 23.7%
#3 - Sen. John Thune (SD) ... 7.1%
#4 - Fmr. Vice Pres. Dan Quayle (IN / AZ) ... 5.1%
#5 - Gov. Haley Barbour (MS) ... 4.5%
#5 - Gov. Tim Pawlenty (MN) ... 4.5%
#6 - Fmr. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (GA) ... 3.9%
#6 - Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) ... 3.9%
#6 - Gov. Bobby Jindal (LA) ... 3.9%
#7 - Sen. Sam Brownback (KS) ... 2.6%
#7 - Other ... 2.6%
#8 - Fmr. Gov. Jeb Bush (FL) ... 1.9%
#9 - Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) ... 1.3%
#9 - Fmr. Gov. Tom Ridge (PA) ... 1.3%
#10 - Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (MI / UT / MA) ... .6%

156 total votes cast / Margin of error ±100%

You can vote for this month's new poll here, or click the vote button from any of the Choose Our President 2012 pages.

Alex
Choose Our President 2012

Get yer calendars! 2010 is now

Get yer gorgeous 2010 Jose Guadalupe Posada Calaverandars at the Posada Calaveras Store (regular or oversized):


Thanks,

Alex
Choose Our President 2012
The Magic of the Movies

Overheard at the movies tonight

"When The Empire Strikes Back first opened, I had to sit in the front row with my neck craned up."

"I remember Harry Potter was like half in 3-D, the lights kept blinking when you were supposed to take your glasses off."

"Steve Martin was great in that party scene (in It's Complicated)."

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

Giuliani won't be 2010 candidate

From Reuters:

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who won acclaim for his leadership following the September 11 attacks in 2001, said on Tuesday he does not intend to run for New York governor or the U.S. Senate in 2010.

...

"I have some very significant commitments for next year that would make it impossible for me to really run full-time for an office," he said at a Manhattan news conference. "It would be hard running from Brazil."

Giuliani, 65, had been mentioned as a possible candidate for both the Senate seat and the governor's job, and his announcement cast doubt on his political future. He ended his second term as mayor of New York at the end of 2001.

I guess it would be more interesting if he were trying to set himself up credibly for 2012, but then again how interesting could that be?

Alex
Choose Our President 2012

Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

"Basically, there's three grabbers, three taggers, five twig-runners, and the player at whack-bat. The center tagger lights the pine cone, chucks it over the basket, and the whack-batter tries to hit the cedar stick off the cross rock. Then the twig-runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out and the umpire calls hotbox. Finally, at the end you count up however many scoredowns it adds up to and divide that by nine."

So says frequent Wes Anderson collaborator Owen Wilson as Coach Skip in Fantastic Mr. Fox. Anderson and his co-writer for Fox, director Noah Baumbach, have also taken a whack-bat to children's animation with their game-changing, instant-classic film.

The film opens with shots of fields laid out from above, and it's clear that's what we're seeing, even though the various sections are made of shag carpeting, corduroy, and other clothy textured materials. Then a quote from the book appears on-screen. Then we see a shot of a library copy of Roald Dahl's short children's novel Fantastic Mr. Fox, the version illustrated by Donald Chaffin, which is opened and fades to a scene very like the cover illustration, in which our hero, Mr. Fox (voice of George Clooney), is waiting for his best girl Felicity (voiced by Meryl Streep) under a tree, listening to "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" on his Walksonic radio.

They decide to take the "scenic route" home, stopping along the way at a squab farm to gather some dinner. This caper is set to the tune of The Beach Boys' "Heroes and Villains," and sets the tone for a beautiful, picaresque time at the movies. The joys of the lovingly handmade stop-motion animation (mixed with some digital wizardry which enhances and focuses it) become apparent immediately, as Mr. Fox and Felicity approach their goal with wild-animal agility.

Anderson and Baumbach accomplish something very special with their script, as well, including nearly every line, dot and dash of detail from the novel while expanding some characters and the ending to turn the film into a full-blown, eccentrically perfect Wes Anderson film worth the title, and still a classic Roald Dahl filmed adventure. Specifically, they beef up the parts of Felicity Fox and "the little foxes," as they are referred to in the book, as well as some animal neighbors, to create a slightly larger story with more family drama of the droll and honest variety Anderson favors, without taking away or departing in spirit from Dahl's vision. They also add a rabid, nasty beagle one feels would have been right at home in the book.

The conflict between the Foxes' son, Ash (voice of Jason Schwartzman), and their nephew, Kristofferson (voiced by Wes Anderson's brother Eric), who comes to stay with the Foxes during his father's illness, is a brand-new masterpiece which fits snugly into the main tale as Dahl wrote it. It adds layers of humor and sympathy for all the characters, as well as providing the catalyst for a slightly more complicated ending. Schwartzman and Anderson are just right as their vocal performances invest the puppet characters with real personalities, they could be extra Royal Tenenbaums brothers. There's a scene in which Kristofferson gives Ash a karate lesson which very much echoes the opening of Anderson's first film, Bottle Rocket.

Mr. Fox is not the complete hero of this film that he is in the book. His sillier or more grandiose ideas are subjected to much more criticism from the other characters, especially his wife, than they are in the book, as befits a Wes Anderson production. Fox becomes much more an imperfect and put-upon patriarch familiar from Anderson's films, one who has to balance his instincts and ambitions with the responsibility of fatherhood and the foibles of his family.

Little details add up over the film to create a whole anthropomorphized animal world which interacts amusingly with the world of people. Seventies-and childhood-reminiscent images and textures give the film a wondrous feel, with characters' eyes replaced with rotary-telephone looking asterisks or neat spirals when they are dazed, manhole covers which are pencil-sharpener faceplates, shag carpeting standing in for whatever texture is capable of being represented with shag carpeting, curse words replaced with the word "cuss" (even for graffiti), and a French-resistance or more generic "fight the power" motif which brings Rushmore to mind. The dialogue absolutely crackles and has a depth not present in the book.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a great movie, a great kids' movie, a great Wes Anderson movie, a great Roald Dahl adaptation, a great story exceptionally well told. It is beautiful, funny, action-packed, lovingly detailed and expertly built in every way. It's one of the best movies of the year. And the music!

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

Everybody gets a turn in the chair

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Choose Our President 2012

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Choose Our President 2012

Sens. Franken and Brown vs. Thune and naysayers

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Choose Our President 2012

Review: Brothers (2009)

I was not optimistic about Brothers. The preview is an unmitigated disaster, which both gives away too much and just makes the film look bad, trite, silly. So I was surprised to find the film itself to be a rather restrained and largely effective melodrama, not overdone or pandering, but a solid family story with sympathetic characters in a heck of a situation.

Tobey Maguire plays a Marine, Captain Sam Cahill, with a wife, Grace (Natalie Portman) who was his high school sweetheart, two daughters, and a brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), just out of prison, when Sam ships off to Afghanistan.

Despite the obvious alcoholism of Sam and Tommy's father (Sam Shepard, very good), the Cahills are portrayed as a tight-knit family who spend time together and love one another, though tensions work beneath the surface. We never know why Tommy was in prison, but we do see an unfolding of events which makes all of the family relationships work out satisfyingly.

Mare Winningham is particularly good as the brothers' stepmother, who has the unenviable task of loving and mediating between three strong men who seem capable of violence and recriminations in their interactions with each other and the world. As in her Oscar-nominated effort in the wonderful Georgia, she has a way here of radiating a wise and practical femininity and stability which is intriguing and complicated.

Natalie Portman is also remarkable as Grace, a character as strong as, but more vulnerable than Winningham's. When Sam disappears after a skirmish in Afghanistan, and is presumed dead, Grace is eloquent in her grief and determined to stay present for her daughters and move on with her life, which increasingly includes Tommy, a welcome and growing if loserish source of strength and continuity for herself and her children.

The non-spoiler twist, of course, is that Sam is not dead. Instead, he has been taken captive by Taliban or al Qaeda forces who videotape the brutal interrogation and torture of Sam's fellow captive, and inflict psychological torture upon Sam through starvation, isolation and other means. Sam returns brutalized and at times brutal himself, detached from his family life, disturbed and paranoid (and not without some cause).

The denouement of Sam's return and the sort-of love triangle which has developed among Sam, Grace and Tommy strongly flirts with the most negative connotations of melodrama, but some restraint in the storytelling and good acting, and a resistance to play it too easy win out in the end, providing a realistic touch.

Maguire and Gyllenhaal are both all right, and there's some believable affection between their Sam and Tommy, and interesting relationships between the brothers and Grace, and the brothers and their father and stepmother. I never believed for a second that Gyllenhaal had been in prison, however, nor that Maguire was a military leader. Neither quite displayed the character notes that would have sold these histories, there are textures missing which might have sold them. However, there was a nice interplay of these backstories with the repressed violence of the situation which develops between them, which the two actors do get pretty much right.

A fairly persuasive and moving story of love, violence, persistence and struggle against difficult odds, without easy answers, Brothers is worth seeing. It's not perfect or great, but it is good.

Alex
The Magic of the Movies

Review: The Princess and the Frog (2009)

The newest Disney "animated classic" is The Princess and the Frog, a gorgeous and slight fairy tale based on the "actually classic" fairy tale of the Frog Prince who needs only a kiss from a princess to restore him to his human form.

The broad themes of the original story are "Don't judge a book by its cover" and "Look for hidden treasures others might miss," promising themes for Disney's first film about an African American princess set in a time of widespread racism, and while they're touched upon in many ways, there's a lack of imaginative exploration of them here which is not necessarily troubling, but also not very revelatory or dramatic.

Tiana (voiced by Elizabeth M. Dampier and Anika Noni Rose) is a waitress and a talented chef herself who grows up in New Orleans in the twenties. Her mother (voice of Oprah Winfrey) is a seamstress who sews princess dresses for Charlotte La Bouff (voiced by Breanna Brooks and Jennifer Cody), the daughter of the wealthiest man in town, Big Daddy (voice of John Goodman).

Tiana's father (voice of Terrence Howard) has dreams of being a first-class restaurateur which he transmits to and shares with Tiana from her childhood. After his death, she continues to aspire to own her own restaurant, and works two jobs, saves her tips and tells everybody that this is her goal.

Charlotte's goal is just to marry a prince. So when the swinging Prince Naveen (voice of Bruno Campos) of Maldovia (apparently located somewhere around Turkey, India and/or Nepal) arrives for Mardi Gras, Charlotte is hooked. Naveen is irresponsible, free-spending and freewheeling, plays the ukelele and loves jazz, and has come to find his fortune and chase women after getting the boot by the more conservative royals of his clan.

His plans go awry when he's approached for a tarot reading by Facilier (the lovely growling voice of Keith David, who also voiced the black cat from this year's Coraline), a voodoo practitioner with plans of his own for a fortune royalty could attract. This starts all the frog business, as Facilier transforms Naveen's British manservant into a Prince Naveen lookalike to woo Charlotte and Big Daddy's money, and Naveen into the titular frog, who mistakes? Tiana for a princess who can transform him back. Instead, she joins him in amphibianhood, and the race is on to switch themselves back into humans, save Charlotte from a mismarriage and up the bid on the old sugar mill Tiana has set her heart on for the location of her restaurant.

Along the path of their quest, which involves finding Mama Odie, another voodoo expert they believe can help them, they meet up with friends Louis the jazz-playing alligator and Raymond the lovesick Cajun lightning bug (voiced by Jim Cummings, and easily the most entertaining and sympathetic character in the film, despite being practically unintelligible much of the time).

Everything you know about New Orleans even if you've never been is referenced, from The Big Easy to Tennessee Williams, voodoo, Mardi Gras, funeral bands and spooky above-ground graveyards, and especially every culinary delicacy extant, from gumbo and jambalaya to beignets and froglegs. In Kung Fu Panda, a similar tactic was used with the Chinese setting, with exactly one perfect joke or association with the story for each reference. The Princess and the Frog mostly just name-drops; Tiana never even cooks any froglegs, and if that's not a missed opportunity, I don't know what is. Also as in Panda, a different, sleeker style of animation is used for dream sequences and fantasies, and it's gorgeous in Princess, too, but again less well-used to serve the story.

The music (by Randy Newman) and the animation in The Princess and the Frog are top-notch, and the vocal talents on display are exceptional, but the overall execution tends toward a homogeneity which inspired the current linguistic usages "Mickey Mouse" and "Disney-fied," not in the very worst way possible, but there you have it. It's better than Pocahontas, though perhaps without as catchy a hit song, not as good as Mulan. For an animated kid adventure story with teeth, don't miss Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Alex
The Magic of the Movies