The Theory Of Everything

The Theory Of Everything was the second half of a double feature for me on Saturday night.  The film tells the story of physicist Stephen Hawking (played by Eddie Redmayne).  The action begins shortly before he meets his wife Jane (Felicity Jones) for the first time when they both were in college.  When Stephen was just 21, he was given the devastating diagnosis of  a motor-neuron disease (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) and given two years to live. 

Hawking has lived well past that diagnosis, but its effects are debilitating, and the film shows he and Jane trying to raise a family despite Stephen's difficulties.  Jane develops feelings for Stephen's caretaker, so the complications in the story were more than just physical. 

I enjoyed The Theory of Everything, especially the performances by Redmayne and Jones. There were scenes that stuck with me, like when Hawking learns of his diagnosis from  a doctor who lacks  warmth and dumps all the repercussions of his disease out all at once in a hallway.  It's a wonder that Hawking ever gets up again, but Redmayne's portrayal of Hawking's persistence and Jones's firm-jawed performance as Jane Hawking really made the film for me.  I think both could be up for some awards in the months ahead.

Birdman

Riggan Thomsen (played by Michael Keaton) was a big deal.  Past tense.  He played a superhero twenty years ago, but now he's the kind of guy TMZ would catch at an airport to get a meaningless sound bite.  As the film begins he's in his dressing room, and he's got problems. Someone delivered a poster of one of the Birdman movies, and it's taunting him as he tries to mount a Broadway production of a Raymond Carver play that he's starring in and directing.  He needed a miracle when it came to a lead man, and although a solution arrived in the form of Michael Shiner (Edward Norton), that solution is a head case.  Throw in the fact that his daughter Sam (Emma Stone) despises him, and he's got more than enough on his plate.


I was eager to see Birdman.  Other than the part about Michael Keaton playing an actor who was a superhero, I didn't really know what to expect.   Birdman, it turns out, is unlike anything I've seen in a while.  There's steady percussion and drumming in the background.  The camerawork is in-your-face (or rather, in the actors' faces).  The plot adds complication to complication, making the viewer feel almost as overwhelmed as Riggan.  I found myself not on the edge of my seat, but leaning back as events unfolded.

I think Birdman is one of the best films I've seen in a long time, simply because it didn't let up and didn't let me catch my breath. It efficiently and effectively tackles themes of self-worth versus worth in others' eyes, throws in some supernatural elements and a lot of unexpected twists.  I highly recommend seeing Birdman while it's still in theaters, as it's definitely a vivid sensory experience.

Chef

 

In Chef, Jon Favreau plays chef Carl Casper.  Carl's happiest when he cooks, and life's pretty good at his restaurant.  Pretty good, that is, until he receives a humiliating review from food blogger Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt), and the ensuing Twitter fight leads him to try to change his menu to show Ramsey that he hasn't lost his creativity.  The changes don't sit well with the restaurant's owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman), who wants him to "play the hits".  Carl storms out, then storms back in to confront Riva.  Carl's tirade goes viral, and he lays low for a while before finding a new opportunity to be creative and bond with his son.

Chef certainly made me hungry, as there is a heavy focus on food preparation and enjoyment throughout the film.  Unfortunately, Chef also made me restless and a little bored.  After the conflict early on, there's not a lot of drama.  Casper starts a food truck, and too much of the film after that is travelling to the next location, shopping for food, and Casper's son Percy tweeting.

What left the sourest taste in my mouth was Carl storming back into his restaurant to berate Ramsey  To be sure, Ramsey's review got personal (saying that Carl's weight gain probably came from eating the food sent back to the kitchen).  But Carl starts almost whining that the bad review really hurts and wasn't fair to his hard-working staff.  This seemed ridiculous to me, as surely Carl would have had a bad review before and not lost his mind (and job) because a food critic simply did his job. 

 

Life's A Ride

    
     A new roller coaster recently opened at Six Flags Great America.  It's called the Goliath (shown above), and it features a first drop that's nearly straight down, as well as some inversions, one of which apparently makes riders feel weightless.  It's opening with a lot of fanfare, as it's the newest and scariest thing in the roller coaster wars.  I'll have to settle for watching the online videos for now, as the line probably stretches on for hours, but I did have my own Goliath when I was a kid.



      Water had frequently given me trouble as a little guy, going back to when I was really tiny and thought that I was going to follow the water down the drain in the bathtub.  My first solo swimming lesson was a terrifying experience.  As I made my way out of the locker room at Pulaski High School, I saw the water in the shallow end and immediately thought that I would drown if I jumped in. 

     I'd eventually get over the swimming lesson anxiety (a few years later, I was one of only two in my class to pass the higher level "Swimmer" class).  As a little kid, though, I did have a summer nemesis.  It was a metal water slide perched menacingly in the shallow end of the McCarty Park pool.  It taunted me when I came out of the locker room, and I thought maybe my parents would forget about it and I could just have fun in the water.  No such luck, though.  Each time, I had to go down the slide.


   I would muster up some courage and look up at the slide.  It seemed to stretch into the sky.  I'd put one foot on the bottom step, and then climb up, knees wobbling slightly, one foot at a time.  I must have looked ridiculous, but I didn't care.  The steps were treacherous to me, as they were slippery and spaced far enough apart that I felt compelled to one-foot them instead of climbing. By the time I was near the top, my fear of heights kicked in and I'd cling to the sides before whooshing down into the water.  Success!  Time for an ice cream sandwich (which, for some reason tasted best next to the pool).

    I haven't totally lost the nerves around rides.  Two years ago, Sarah and I went to the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells.  It was February, so in addition to the wave pool and lazy river, we tried out all the indoor slides.  Indoor waterparks tend to build up and not out, so as to maximize space, so I'd get a little shot of nerves here and there climbing up the stairs.  For the most part, the slides were really fun, but storm clouds began to gather in the Klondike Kavern, where the Hurricane awaited.

    
The Hurricane was a regular slide, for the most part, but instead of a last drop to safety, it drops riders into a funnel, where they go up and down the sides until finally exiting the ride.  It was also accompanied in true theme-park style by fake weather reports and flashing lights.  The butterflies  were back, and I think they were a result of me flashing back to infanthood and my fear of circling the drain. Being in my early thirties, I wasn't going to let some nerves get in my way.  It was a water slide.  What was the worst that could happen?

     Oh, I don't know, me screaming "I HATE THIS THING" loud enough for the entire waterpark to hear as we were flying up the side of the funnel and thinking we'd fly off our slide and fall to serious injury or death.  It's just one of those in-the-moment things.  Same thing happened to my mom when I was a little kid and we were on a ride at a church festival.  I think she thought it was just going to be a gentle ride up in the sky, but after we shot up and over the grounds pretty quickly, she was screaming for the operator to stop the ride. The thrill, though, is the point of the ride, and conquering fears and anxieties is a thrill.  Not only did I survive The Hurricane, I wanted to go again.  
Similarly, twenty or so years ago, in one fearless and slightly drizzly half hour, I rode both Iron Wolf (a stand up roller coaster) and the scariest ride I'd ever seen, the Shock Wave (below), with its terrifying drop and seven loops.  I felt invincible (and also slightly queasy) after exiting the Shock Wave, another victory under my belt, and I'm sure if Goliath existed back then, I would have turned and pointed in its direction, ready to scream my bloody head off yet again.

Book Review- I Don't Care If We Never Get Back

Even the most hardcore of baseball fans probably wouldn’t want to see 30 games in 30 days, especially when cross-country car travel is required, but it was a dream for Ben Blatt.  Not so much for his friend Eric Brewster, who doesn’t even like the sport.  Eric went along to see the country, but winds up seeing mostly ballparks and interstate highways.  

I Don’t Care If We Never Get Back is the chronicle of the daunting trip.  It’s not really geared towards baseball fans, or packed with information about the different ballparks.  It’s more about the journey of two friends and a tale of logistics.  Ben is a statistics freak, and he designed an algorithm to identify the most efficient route to accomplish the 30-in-30 feat.  There is much attention paid to how much driving the two would need to do to make it to the different ballparks, and how Ben went from a baseball fan during the trip to rooting for short games so the travel would be easier.

It’s a fast read, but ultimately kind of repetitive, as the friends strive to make it to each ballpark on time (Ben doesn’t consider it a complete game unless they’re there from first pitch to last).  There are some notable moments, though.  Ben gets to meet his idol (not a player, but Cubs President Theo Epstein, in a meeting that doesn’t go as planned), family is visited, and complications arise throughout the trip.

 

One of the great things about watching baseball (for baseball fans, at least) is that memorable or odd things can happen at any game.  The odds may be small, but in any game, a pitcher can throw a no-hitter, a player could hit four home runs, or the game could end dramatically on a hit or home run in the bottom of the ninth.  Here are just a few of my memorable moments:

 

·         September 9, 1988 was my first Brewer game, and Gary Sheffield hit his first home run in the major leagues, a game winner against Seattle.  Sheffield would go on to hit over 500 home runs.

·         I watched the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim play a game at Miller Park.  There was a huge snowstorm hitting Ohio and Major League Baseball moved the Cleveland/LA series to Miller Park.  Tickets were heavily discounted, and we sat right along the first base line for $10.  This would be the first time I’d see CC Sabathia.

·         My dad and I were at one of Sabathia’s first home starts.  Sabathia was a huge acquisition for the Brewers,and he didn’t disappoint, throwing a complete game and hitting a home run.

I think everyone has a little Ben and Eric in them when going to a game.  Not every game is going to feature the spectacular plays, and some pitchers work very deliberately, so it’s very easy to get fidgety.  For a lot of people, it’s a three-hour opportunity to visit and chat, with the game taking a back seat to good conversation, brats and beer.

Book Review- Sitcom and Top Five Sitcoms

To me, good sitcoms have tended to be few and far between. For every good one, you might get five shows like According To Jim or Two And A Half Men, shows that I wouldn't watch unless forced, shows where the laugh track goes every five seconds as if on a timer, even if nothing remotely funny has been uttered, as labored and long as this sentence.

I'm sure Saul Austerlitz has sat through many of those same shows, along with the 24 he profiles in his book Sitcom. The book is set up into 24 chronological "episodes", ranging from I Love Lucy to Community.  Austerlitz details in each episode how the show came to be, what made it great, what influences it would have (or, in the later chapters, the show's influence).  

Sitcom was an incredibly fast read for me, and an informative one at that.  Not having seen many episodes of I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners, it was nonetheless interesting to read about how they changed the landscape of early TV by not being the same episode over and over when that was the expectation back then.  Similarly, I hadn't considered how difficult it might be to develop a truly original sitcom today, as the last chapters detail how 30 Rock and Community really don't even try to be anything original and are hyper-aware of every sitcom cliche.

My Favorite Sitcoms

1.  Frasier

I loved Frasier from the first episode, and the first few episodes were not always funny, as Frasier got established in Seattle after moving from Boston.  No, what I loved in the first season was the tension between Frasier and his father Martin, a former police officer who was shot in the hip and couldn't live alone.  They're on each other's nerves and at each other's throats, which doesn't sound all that pleasant, but it felt almost like theater, funny and intense.

The show didn't keep up that level of intensity, but the characters and the relationships between the characters made it a great show.  Frasier and Martin eventually work things out (although there's always some tension between the two), Niles lusts after Daphne, and Frasier and Niles spend a lot of time throwing dinner parties and running themselves ragged competing with each other.   

Sitcom mentions how many early sitcoms would make sure to resolve all issues and changes before the end of the episode, and Frasier's way of doing that was to make sure Frasier was still single at the end of most episodes. There are so many instances of either Frasier or his family fouling things up and ultimately ruining his chances.  In a way, it's the opposite of Seinfeld.  Jerry and company find so many ways to end relationships by finding flaws, but Frasier's too busy ruining his chances by showing his.


2.  Seinfeld

I think Seinfeld's probably the most talked about show of all time, so I'll keep this short.  Like Frasier, I've seen every episode enough to almost know them by heart.  I think what I enjoyed most was Seinfeld's twists.  I just saw the episode where Jerry's mechanic (Brad Garrett) absconds with his car because he doesn't feel Jerry's taking sufficient care of it, which sets off an entirely new chain of events.  Elaine's invested in the situation because she's got a set of her bosses' coveted golf clubs (allegedly used by JFK) in Jerry's car, and Newman and Kramer (speaking of zany) interrupt a road trip in a mail truck to chase down the stolen car, which appears in front of them.  Kramer feels like they're not moving fast enough, so he pushes Newman out of the truck.

The zaniness extends to characters outside the group.  A mechanic steals a car because of its owners' negligence.  A fellow comedian sells Jerry a suit, and his only demand is that Jerry take him out to dinner, but what constitutes dinner?  Evidently, a cup of soup does not.  Speaking of soup, does making unbelievable soup mean that a proprietor can mistreat his customers?  It does, provided that said proprietor doesn't tick off the wrong customer.  





3.  The Office

Jim and Pam.  For a while, it was all about Jim and Pam, and if we didn't have them, The Office might not have been as enjoyable a watch.  For a few seasons, it was all about Jim's longing for Pam, and Pam's awful, soul (and dream) crushing relationship with Roy kept her from Jim even as the two flirted at the reception desk.  

Jim (John Krasinski) was always looking at the camera in that "can you believe this" sort of way as his boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell) ushered his employees into conference rooms for meaningless meetings.  He egged on Dwight Schrute, his humorless co-worker, encasing Dwight's stapler in Jello or impersonating Dwight perfectly, but it all came back to Pam.

Michael Scott, meanwhile, was a clueless and spineless boss, unable to stand up to the warehouse when the office workers beat the warehouse at basketball and therefore should have had Saturday off.  Time was wasted in so many ways, from movie Mondays to meetings about whatever was annoying Michael.

The moments that I remember most were not necessarily the funniest.  In one episode, it is revealed that Michael is working a telephone sales job to help pay off the debt he's accrued over the years.  This causes him to finally run away from the office, only to be tracked down and consoled by his girlfriend Jan.

There's another episode in which Michael takes the women in The Office to the mall to go shopping, and over lunch Michael reveals that Jan has mistreated him, and the women urge him to break up with her.  Finally, Michael has Jim and Pam over to a dinner party and we learn just how toxic his relationship with Jan has become, as eventually the police are called.

4.  Arrested Development

Arrested Development is the story of the children of two very self-absorbed parents.  As the story begins, George Bluth Senior (Jeffrey Tambor) is arrested for corrupt business dealings, and The Bluth Company is left adrift.  Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) and his son George Michael plan to leave the family behind, but can't, as he is the only one with any business sense (supposedly) and he doesn't want to deprive George Michael of time with his family.

His siblings Lindsey, Gob (pronounced "jobe"), and Buster are different shades of clueless, but all are as self-obsessed as their parents.  Michael struggles to raise his son and provide a good environment for George Michael with his family being around and George Sr in prison.

The writing is razor-sharp for much of the series, with a lot of wordplay and character-based silliness (a lot of it featuring Lindsey's husband Tobias, who can move around like a cat and puts himself in a lot of precarious situations).  Gob is an illusionist whose stage shows involve a lot of him dancing around with a knife in his mouth or simply holding cards in his hand.  Buster is a mama's boy who clings to Lucille and rebels against her by dating her friend, also named Lucille (and played hilariously by Liza Minnelli).  

 5. Taxi

There's a theme in each of my five choices.  Without memorable characters, a sitcom is noise, a painful laugh track going off after every line or just plain boring.  Many sitcom stars have moved on to other series, only to find that the same magic just isn't there.  Joey Tribbiani couldn't really be Joey without the rest of his Friends.  Jason Alexander was in a couple different series that didn't last, and same for Matthew Perry.

Taxi, as Sitcom points out, didn't really have any main characters.  There was no love interest to root for, so the viewer rooted for everyone in the group, especially against the vile Louie (Danny DeVito).  Sure, the show centered on Alex (Judd Hirsch) as someone to give advice (or money, in an early episode), but each character had his or her own troubles, so they all helped each other out.

What made it work?  There were a couple of unusual characters that occasionally stole a scene or episode.  Latka (Andy Kaufman) was frequently butchering the English language but would also provide a kind of examination of American culture by comparing the traditions of his culture.  Reverend Jim provided one of the funniest scenes in the show by repeatedly asking what a yellow light meant on a driving exam and not understanding the group's answers.  

These worked for a laugh or two, but the characters all had relatable issues.  In the pilot, Alex reveals that he hasn't seen his daughter since she was little and regrets it.  Bobby (Jeff Conaway) is continually looking for work as an actor.  Elaine is searching for something besides cab-driving.  Louie has his own struggles, but mostly resists any urge to be a decent human being.  There's an all-for-one spirit throughout the show, and the writing is good enough to support the characters.

Veep and TV Bosses

Before looking at the first season of Veep, I thought I'd look at some of my favorite and least-favorite TV-comedy bosses.

 

• Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell), for instance, is cringe-inducing at times on The Office in his blundering and inability to manage, but as The Office went on, his character is fleshed out and next to some of the characters (the bears, beets, and Battlestar Galactica- loving Dwight Schrute, for one), Michael looks downright normal.

 

 

• On the other hand, Arthur  Carlson (Gordon Jump) is so bumbling and fumbling and clueless that I couldn't really sink my teeth into WKRP in Cincinnati.  I know that he didn't totally have his position by merit, but there's very little spark of intelligence, so it seems the radio station runs in spite of him, and the surrounding characters aren't memorable enough for me to stay tuned.

• One of my favorite TV bosses is the despicable Louie DePalma (Danny Devito) on Taxi.  Louie is enough of a villain that the cabbies he manages have no choice in some episodes to rally against him.  Since he is so vile, there are also episodes where he has to go along with the group, and it's fun to see him squirm. 

 

• The show that I found most consistently funny last year was Brookyn Nine-Nine, and the dynamic at the start was that Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher) and Detective Joel Peralta (Andy Samberg) wouldn't get along because Peralta's a free-wheeling detective and Holt is very disciplined.  They clash many times during the season (Peralta doesn't want to wear a tie, for example), but Holt is well-played in that he's pretty much deadpan, so when he loosens up, it's even funnier.

• Finally, one boss who is consistently funny (because he's so exaggerated) is George Steinbrenner on Seinfeld.  Shown only from the back and voiced by Larry David, George is often left shaking his head after leaving Steinbrenner's office (if he's not leaving it, in one case, to go to a mental institution at Steinbrenner's orders)

So is an incompetent boss (even in a comedy) a bad thing, especially when the boss is the Vice President of the United States?  I'd say Veep leans more in the direction of The Office (since it's HBO, a much more vulgar version, of course).  As the season progresses, I started to wonder about the backstory of Selina Meyer (Julia Louis Dreyfus).  The credits show headlines from a run for president that didn't turn out well (a meltdown is hinted at), and she now leads an office that is nowhere near respected (in fact, a potential candidate for governor explicitly tells Selina that he does not want her endorsement).  To say she's awkward around people is an understatement, so at some point she must have done something right to even be considered a presidential candidate.

The staffers in her office also turn out not to be the most capable, leaving Selina without a real "ideas" person to lean on, so between the fact that the president dumps undesirable projects on her office and there's here's no real competence in her office, Selina's chances for success don't seem too high.  Julia Louis Dreyfus is funny throughout the season reacting to all this madness, and Tony Hale is particulary good as her "body man", frequently whispering tidbits (some quite absurd) as politicians and other notables approach

I thought the last few episodes were the strongest, as the personalities became more defined and the stakes were raised, so I'm looking forward to seeing the newer seasons.








 

The NFL, overexposed?

Look, you didn't ask for my opinion, but here it is...

I've heard a lot of talk about Mark Cuban's Facebook post about the NFL being overexposed and how there might be a drop in popularity due to overexposure.  Here's the thing, though.  If people haven't yet gotten sick of the NFL, it's not likely to happen. 

The NFL's giving higher profile to their Thursday night games this season.  The league knows that two teams that have only had three days to rest and recuperate are not likely to produce high-quality football, but they don't care.  They know that the eyeballs will be there, because the NFL's a habit.  Fantasy football's a habit.  People telling each other who is on their fantasy football teams at the office, on the bus stop, on radio shows (and to complete strangers) is a habit.  We can't help it.  If pro football's on, we're watching it.

Even anticipating football's a habit.  People start to salivate when the schedule is released (in a three-hour TV special, no less), thinking about all those Sundays and Mondays (and Thursdays) huddled in front of a high-def TV with junk food and beer, rooting on their teams during a possibly scintillating, possibly mind-numbing three and a half hours.  The phrase "indisputable visual evidence" is uttered so often that it's a wonder we believe anything life has happened without indisputable visual evidence.  (Oh yeah, that's what Facebook is for, indisputable visual evidence of everything, including apparently virtual reality).

Myself, I try to anticipate what ridiculous rule or rule change might come out of the owner's meetings.  This year, the NFL decided to ban the goalpost dunk, with Rams coach Jeff Fisher fretting that a player's hamstring might tighten up if a game is delayed because a crossbar needs to be adjusted after being displaced.  The NFL doesn't worry about those same players not having enough time to recuperate between Sunday and Thursday, but dunking a football and delaying a game, that could lead to some serious injuries.

Is this all to say that I'm anti-NFL?  No, not really. I'm a sports fan, so I consume a lot of sports media and the NFL dominates.  Maybe I just need to turn all the talk off and show up at game time.  Chicken sounds good.
 

Music Spotlight

Jamestown Revival, "California"

I think their entire debut album Utah is excellent.  This is just a fun listen, and in particular I think the song "Home" might be one of my favorite album-closers.   Here's "California", the second track on Utah:

http://youtu.be/VidjX0j04og







Nickel Creek, "Destination"

I'm really looking forward to A Dotted Line (due out April 1).  I've always thought that Nickel Creek had such a distinct sound and was sad to see them break up several years ago.  I'm not a fan of Chris Thile by himself, but with Sara and Watkins, there's much more of a nice balance.

http://youtu.be/JawK7QcEGKU





Nickel Creek, "The Lighthouse's Tale"

This is a very haunting song from Nickel Creek

http://youtu.be/ARIr6S_0lAQ




Feist, "The Bad In Each Other"


Feist's music sometimes meanders too much for me, but she does have a knockout voice.  This one sounds like it would be the perfect concert opener, with the stomping intro and determined guitar.
From 2011's Metals


http://youtu.be/mV8BrMDtOjY


Feist, "Caught A Long Wind"

This song, also from Metals, is a little more gentle, but is still goosebump-inducing in parts.

http://youtu.be/Q1Ywmjn_1FU


RETRO PICK: 

Phil Collins, "We Fly So Close"

I wasn't a big fan of Both Sides, but this song is absolutely beautiful.  Incredibly melancholy, but like "In The Air Tonight", it's incredible for the mood that it sets.

http://youtu.be/Pzs8Cdrgzw0



And finally...


Yuna, "Falling"

This is my current favorite song.  I've listened to it dozens of times, but I always hear something new.  Her latest album Nocturnal has a jazzy, laid-back vibe, and her voice is accompanied by some just perfect choices instrumentation-wise.  It's a great workout song, great chill-out song, just an overall great song.

http://youtu.be/HGY2MBdv9Y0






 

Enough Said (and other movies)

Enough Said:

Out of the movies that I've seen over the last month and a half, the best by far was Enough Said.  It's the story of Albert and Eva, both of whom are previously divorced.  They meet at a party, hit it off, and begin seeing each other. 

Eva's a masseuse, and one of her clients is Marianne.  Marianne's a poet and a bit of a free spirit, and she and Eva strike up a friendship.  She doesn't have anything good to say about her ex, and Eva's all ears, but things become complicated when Eva figures out that Marianne is Albert's ex-wife.

I have to recommend Enough Said because I felt like it was a realistic romantic comedy.  Eva's a bit oblivious to certain realities (for example, that it might be hurtful to her daughter that Eva's getting really chummy with her daughter's best friend) and starts to see some of Albert's habits as flaws after hanging around with Marianne.  Gandolfini's Albert is very vulnerable.  It's obvious that his habits (however innocuous) annoyed Marianne to no end, and that they just weren't a match, but Eva seems to take her word as gospel and sees flaws that may not even really be flaws. 

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Other films I've recently seen:

The Spectacular Now

This is a solid teen-romance film, and an opposites-attract teen-romance film.  Miles Teller gives a very John Cusack like performance as Sutter, a high-schooler who carries around a flask and is very much about the present (to the detriment of any future he might have).  Sharlene Woodley (The Descendants and the upcoming Divergent movie) as Aimee is a very naïve and innocent girl who falls for Sutter, who continues his self-destructive behavior even after they start dating.  It's easy to dislike Sutter, but throughout there's a sense that there's a decent guy underneath all the trouble.  It's also easy to see why Sutter is the way he is after meeting his father (played by Kyle Chandler).  The struggle for Sutter to change and the suspense of not wanting to see Aimee get hurt makes this a compelling watch.

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Katy Perry:  Part Of Me

I didn't really feel like I learned too much from this documentary, other than that Perry's shows might be sensory overload.  Yes, touring is difficult, and yes, it takes a toll on one's personal life.  It wasn't a shocker that Katy was a bit of a ham as a kid. Altogether, this wasn't a terrible documentary, just not terribly enlightening.

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French Immersion (at UWM's Festival of Films in French)

Goofy film about life in Quebec at a French Immersion school for adults.  Said adults are not allowed to speak English in school or with their host families.  Culture shock leads to most of the humor.  The school is being investigated because of mismanagement, so the school's leadership tries to do everything they can to save it, and one of the new students has political aspirations but needs to hide for a little while.  It's a likable film without too much depth or intensity.

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Dans La Maison (In The House)

This was a second viewing of a film screened for Milwaukee Film Club members last year, and since I knew of the twists and turns this time, it wasn't nearly as entertaining. 

 

The film centers around the budding relationship between Germain, a literature teacher,and one of his students.  Early on, the teacher laments the disappointing quality of his students' work, as they seem incapable of even describing their weekend in an interesting manner.  Along comes Claude Garcia, who tells the story of the happenings in his friend's house as he begins tutoring him in math. 

Germain begins mentoring Claude, as he sees Claude's potential, but begins to offer his opinion on the plot and writing style. Claude, meanwhile, begins to linger in his friend's home and writing on life there.  Eventually, this becomes very complicated for both Germain and Claude and has consequences for both.

My second viewing felt a bit tedious, but I definitely recommend it, as it is a unique experience, both funny and suspenseful.

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The Lego Movie

After seeing the trailer for The Lego Movie, I couldn't wait to see it opening weekend.  Although it's aimed at kids, it looked like it would be able to be versatile enough to appeal to adults as well.

The plot is pretty simple. Lord Evil Business (Will Ferrell) has a weapon called the Kragle, and plans on using it to change the world as everyone knows it.  He's tired of people messing with his stuff, so he intends to stop that with the Kragle.  Lord Vetruvius (Morgan Freeman) says that there is a chosen one who will find the Piece of Resistance and be able to thwart Lord Business.  Emmett Brickowski winds up finding the piece.  The trouble is, there's nothing special about him.  He can't put two pieces together to save his life, which frustrates him and his friends.

The Lego Movie didn’t wow me the way I hoped it would.  It’s a good movie, not great, mostly because I wasn’t sure in watching it what it wanted to accomplish.  Was it a story about how an ordinary person could be special?  Was it supposed to be just a zany film featuring Legos?  For a brief second or two, I realized that this could just be one giant ad for Legos with some pleasant moments. 

That’s not to say that there weren’t parts I enjoyed.  There are some hilarious characters (Bad Cop, for instance, is one of Lord Evil Business’s henchmen, but he also has another side, like some Legos do).  I think Will Arnett as Lego Batman may be my favorite Batman ever, as he spoofs how dark Batman tends to be.  And Will Ferrell voices a great villain in Lord Business, playing a menace with good comic timing.

This movie’s for the kids, of course.  But I did read some glowing reviews saying how much adults will love it, so  I did have high expectations going in.  Though they weren’t totally met, I do recommend seeing The Lego Movie and I’m glad it’s out there.

Super Bowl Thoughts

Well, that got out of hand quickly, didn't it?  The first snap sails over Peyton Manning's head, the Seahawks do The Safety Dance, and Broncos fans/Seahawks haters get a little bit of a feeble, queasy feeling that this Super Bowl might be a let down.

It wasn't going to be an easy night for Mr. Manning.  The Broncos weren't used to this NFC West brand of football.  Many moons ago, they and the Seahawks were AFC Westers, back when the Seahawks weren't sporting much of a defense, much of an offense, much of anything, and the Broncs were led by a rambling, scrambling John Elway.  Nowadays, the Seahawks engage in twice (and sometimes thrice) yearly scrums with the only team that seems to keep it close, the 49ers. 

Think you're going to beat the Seahawks with a statue like Manning at QB?  The Seahawks were practically in his helmet.  Manning looked truly ill at ease.  This wasn't going to end in an orange blaze of glory, not tonight, not when the Legion of Boom was taking away everything.  The Broncos (like the Colts) rely on timing, quick passes, long drives.  They were used to little resistance.  They sure didn't get anyin the AFC playoffs.  Against the Pats, Manning might as well have been wearing a red jersey, because he wasn't touched at all.   The Seahawks made him squirm, stutter, and scowl all night.

The 'Hawks offense was nothing to sneeze at, either.  Under little pressure from the Broncos, Russell Wilson became comfortable and started throwing rainbows.  Percy Harvin reminded the world why he's so dangerous (when he can stay healthy) in more than one aspect of the game.  It was truly a clobbering in all phases of the game.

After Harvin broke the kick return to start the second half, it was all over but the commercials, and it was too bad they weren't better.  Any other night, the TV gets turned off after all hope is extinguished, but this is the Super Bowl and the commercials aren't supposed to be bathroom/kitchen break time, but there was little of note this year.  I did crack up at the Doberhuahua commercial, and the Seinfeld/Costanza/Newman reunion was nice to see, but otherwise, there was not much of note. Same goes for Bruno Mars, by the way.  Not that he wasn't entertaining, but I didn't feel there was anything I hadn't seen before.

Hopefully next year someone can stand up to Seattle, but for tonight, they're the champions, andoverwhelmingly so. 

January

It's been a while since I've last posted, and I've decided to make this a monthly blog, to do my watching and listening and report back on the end of the month on the great, awful, and everything in between.   Let's get started!


Best movies I saw in January:

I wanted to name a best film, but there were two so outstanding that I couldn't decide.

Co-winners:  Mud and Her

One is an Oscar contender, the other could have been in a weaker year.  One deals with the tall tales that children believe, the other with how real a relationship with an invisible entity can be.  They're both extremely entertaining and suspenseful, but in completely different ways.

Her is the Oscar nominee, of course, and throughout the film I was thinking how fine a line Spike Jonze walked in making this film.  I could imagine seeing this in the late 80s, Theodore Twombly (played subtly by Joaquin Phoenix) carrying a gigantic cell phone around (as the film is set in the "near future" and typing away in front of a green computer screen, cursor blinking.  It would have been played more broadly for more laughs (there are funny parts, but Her is not truly a comedy).

Or in today's world, Theodore could have been played by a smirking Steve Carell, whose friends mercilessly tease him about falling in love with his operating system (a very advanced digital assistant).  (And mind you, I'm a fan of Carell, but we're in a time where Adam Sandler comedies make kajillions of dollars.  Subtlety is not a money-making adjective).

But the film portrays the life cycle of a real relationship, and in this near future the relationship between a man and his digital assistant is not scorned (well, for the most part).  As Samantha's programming becomes more advanced, complications arise for both parties, and the resolution is heartbreaking.

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Mud, on the other hand, is not a love story, but about the difference between what teenagers believe they know and the actual truth.  Ellis and Neckbone are two teens without stable home lives (Neckbone is being raised by his uncle and his parents' marriage is falling apart.  The two venture out on their boat to an island and happen upon Mud (Matthew McConaghey), who tells them that he's trying to reunite with his love Juniper.

There's more to the story than that, including a murder, but the two friends choose to believe that love is the motive and keep on helping Mud.  Ellis in particular doesn't show much fear.  He operates on instinct, and a few times his impulses land him in precarious positions.

I liked how Mud illustrates that the line between young adult and adult can be very thin, especially when young adults unwittingly throw themselves into very adult situations.  McConaughey is excellent as the enigmatic Mud, and Tye Sheridan is memorable as Ellis. 

 
 
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Worst Film of The Month:

The Heat

2014 didn't start out well.  The Heat was the first movie I saw, and what a mess it is.  Melissa McCarthy's character is so obnoxious in the opening minutes that I nearly stopped watching.  It's a very shrill film.  McCarthy's character stays loud and obnoxious throughout, and Sandra Bullock plays a very tightly wound detective.  It's supposed to be sort of a odd-couple sort of thing, but neither character is anywhere near likeable. 

The film could have worked much better if both the defining characteristics of both main characters were toned down a bit.  McCarthy has shown that she can do oddball and endearing simultaneously.  Perhaps that'll happen in the sequel, but I won't be rushing out to the theater to see it.

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Others:

• I was disappointed in another Oscar contender.  David O. Russell's last film, Silver Linings Playbook, was my favorite film of 2012.  Every scene seemed to crackle, so many memorable sequences, and I was really looking forward to American Hustle, especially with the stellar cast it boasts.  I never felt connected to the story or the cast, however, so it just seemed kind of long and somewhat entertaining.  With all the big names, I think my favorite character was played by Louis CK, although Amy Adams has a couple of knockout moments.

• I admittedly didn't stay awake for all of The Queen of Versailles, but it's a strange documentary.  David and Jaqueline Siegel are planning on building the largest house in America.  David owns Westgate Resorts, a lucrative time-share business, and the Siegels live very large.  They both believe that they deserve to have the largest house, as they've worked for it.  Everything's all set for them to start building, but then the economy tanks, the business takes a hit, and suddenly life isn't so rosy.  Life after the downturn takes a toll on the Siegels, and the aftermath feels like reality-show finger-pointing.