The Spirit(2008)

I am starting to think there is not a super-hero movie out there that I will not go see. No matter how bad it is, I am there. Punisher, Daredevil, Ghostrider, and now The Spirit.

At least with one you can say, "well, there were some interesting visuals!" All that Frank Miller noirish shtick. All that was there, but it didn't have the striking effect it did with Sin City. Nor, did it have the quality of actors.

The story had the structure of the first Spiderman movie with that whole "Who am I?" question that the story was sandwiched around. The images the Spirit running across rooftops in the highbred of New York and Chicago was always Spidey-esque.

Remember in Sin City that every scene was so over-dramatic that no real character development was really necessary. They try the same here, but it doesn't work because the scenes really don't work. Only Scarlett Johansson, the only talented actor in the ensemble, had any development, but that seemed almost by accident.

There some weird Nazi scene that I really didn't like. It is the only time I have scene a black man dressed in full S.S. Nazi uniform. There are times when surreally meant scenes fail. There was that great game show scene in Natural Born Killers that really worked. It was funny , disturbing and somehow brilliant then there is the The Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie that just failed entirely.

Oh right, the story. What story? The movie was that bad.

I think The Spirit tried marry elements of the first Spiderman, Tim Burton's Batman movie, and the Frank Miller style. Nah. it didn't work.

Look, I figure if you are a male under 12 years old, you will like it a lot. If I saw this movie at age 10, I would have dragged my mother to Toys R' Us for get me a Spirit action figure.

Doubt(2008)

An intriguing, disturbing, insightful and a power movie. It comes from the hit play on Broadway. Tells the story of a implied gay priest in the 1960's at Catholic school who takes an inappropriate relationship with a black boy at a recently integrated school. The principle, a head nun, takes a suspicion of him because she suspects he is a homosexual. One day, one of the nuns smells alcohol on the boys breathe after he comes back from a private conference with the priest.

The head nun, played by Meryl Streep, Sister Aloysius Beauvier, starts a crusade against the priest. In that process, she speaks to the mother who is more worried about her husband beating her son because he suspects his son is gay. The mother is complaisant to an inappropriate relationship her son and the priest, because, at least, someone is caring for her son despite the price.

The priest played by Philip Seymour Hoffman is obviously protecting the child and is aware of his situation, but he is hiding something. It is never clear what he is hiding. Is it that he is gay? Is it that something happened? Or is it that something happened in his past? Whatever it is he fights hard to hide from Sister Beauvier. She threatens to bring out some past allegation from a previous school he worked at. She doesn't really know anything, but she buffs and he resigns.

The story seems like a side bar of the real story of moral themes of kindness, doubt, fear, gossip and suspicion. The movie is filled with discussion of these themes.

The movie is heavy. You walk out unsure of a lot of things.

Merly Streep's performance is the best I have seen this year. She probably deserves another Oscar. There were are very strong performances by Philip Seymore Hoffman, and Amy Adams who's body language is still very girlie like in Enchanted despite being a troubled Nun.

Doubt is one of the few cerebral movies out this year. Definitely one of the best. I actually paid full price on this one!

Yes Man(2008)

I think Jim Carry is giving us tales of Morality. I feel like the last few Carry films I have seen were like funny allegories. Lair Lair, don't lie. Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind is almost a It's a wonderful life tale of your life is precious no matter how much pain your in. This one,Yes Man, tell the audience that is you say yes to life good things will happen, and if you say no bad things will happen, but you have do it responsibly.

This movie was number one at the box office last weekend. Again, it the economic downturn a funny light hearted movie is needed. Isn't funny during booms (e.i. the roaring 90's) people like disturbing entertainment. Well, in times like these it is quite the opposite.

Jim Carry plays Carl who is miserable cloistered man who avoids as much social contract and effort to enjoy life. He attends a self-help talk that persuades him to say yes to everything that comes his way. At first this looks disastrous but in the process unexpected good things happen to him.

This is really good role Carry who tried be a serious actor, but I think he was too good at being depressed. Nobody wanted to a favorite funny man so sad. So, he went back to silliness. This movie has both aspects.

This movie has your usual Carry stick, funny faces, a funny musical number, playing with language and conversations. The movie G rated enough for older kids.

It co-stars Zooey Deschanel, who couldn't look like a more perfect girl, and Danny Masterson, from That 70's show, who is still playing Steven Hyde.

If you couldn't tell I really enjoyed this one. I think it is great fun little movie. Good you want to get your mind of things.

Four Christmases (2008)

I think the current economic crisis has contributed this film being a hit. It was number 1 at the box office for two weeks. With times seeming so bad and maybe getting worse, people need something light and really quite, frankly, stupid to watch. Four Christmases is one of the worst movies I have seen all year.

It was starts with a good premise. The premise that that people work so hard to develop themselves into the people they want to be, but their families still see them as they saw them before they left for college. So, the movie could have explored the conflict was when these people have to confront the conflict in contrast.

Another thing it had going for it is the cast. It was like trying to be the ultimate date movie. It stars human Barbie-doll, Reese Witherspoon. Every girlie-girl loves her. Then for the guys it has the Swingers reunion with Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, and the guy who played "Sue." Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and a few country guys round out the cast. They could have added the Jonas brothers to make the movie try to appeal to larger demographic or just added one minority I don't remember seeing one person of color of any kind.

The idea of this movie that a unmarried couple go to see their families for Christmas. Both families are divorced and our mismatched couple of Vince and Reese have been avoiding these type events for the past few years. I am not denying that this could have been a good movie but it is so cheesy that it would make the Bollywood audience embarrassed. In fact, the only thing that this movie is lacking is a series of song and dance numbers.

Many other things don't work as well. Reese and Vince as a couple. Vaughn towers over her like the Empire State Building to a hotdog vendor. Reese as a former lesbian doesn't work either. Nor does the excessive shots Vaughn gut. He has really let himself go.

Really the word banal does cover the blandness of this one. In these times we don't have money to spend on such crap.

Role Models (2008)

The Alchemy of Comedy troupes seems to be working this year. It seems like the Apatow touch of style and actors are combining with others of the crude male variety. There was the excellent Zack and Miri, make a prono, which combines Seth Rogan and Kevin Smith. This time you have the mostly the Apatow crowd running with the guys from the The State,One Hot American Summer, and Reno 911 crew.

Maybe you are wondering why such a stupid looking movie such as Role Models is still showing. The reason is that it is pretty good. In the tradition of the Bad News Bears, The Mighty Ducks and any other films where reluctant males have to come to the rescue of eccentric kids where the movie metamorphosizes into a family movie, Roles Models does that too but better.

Why Better? It is better because usually in these movies you have really boring intro where the dude is down on his luck and basically crabby. Here you have Paul Rudd and Stiffler from American Pie acting like some overly sexed Martin and Lewis team. There is story about their friendship and Rudd and his girlfriends. There is a movie right here without the two kids who enter their lives by Plea Bargain.

The movie easily can be retooled into a sitcom a la the Simpsons. There are enough well developed secondary character that everyone is interesting. Most of them are from Apatow films. You got the doctor from Knocked Up, the nerdy kid from Drillbit Taylor, the newly wed from Forgetting Sarah Marshall and let's not forget Paul Rudd and McLovin'.

Oh the Story? Well our heros work for an energy drink company that tries to get kids off drug and on to energy drinks. Stiffler dresses up as a Minotar Beast for the kids. Rudd is depressed that his life has amounted to this, and his girlfriend can't stand him anymore. She leaves him.

Rudd, depressed, crashed the company car, and both are in it and charged. His ex-girlfriend, a lawyer, gets them a thousand hours of community service. They entered a help the children big brother program run by an ex-crack whore. Their little Bro's are a very angry little boy and McLovin'. McLovin is a Harry Potter looking Medieval re-creationist who might not have reality that far in his hands. As you can imagine, it doesn't go so well at the start, but the guys start to love it when they realize that these kids look up to them like gods. Just when they start to enjoy it is when the get kicked out. Later, somehow they all fight as a they all fight as a team in a Medieval re-creationist war dressed liked the members of KISS, which kinda lose in the end.

What makes this movie good is all the little characterizations and quirky interactions between them.

The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame Annex Soho

I guess Rock is really dead. Maybe it died with Jack Black's "School of Rock" movie where Rock 'n Roll got reduced to a historical recreation club for kids. Rock seems to have splintered down an endless series of niche markets. To mark the death of Rock and to water down what Rock is, we have the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, where you can see old guitars, shoes, and scraps paper like you are touring the ancient Egyptian wing of your local museum. And is worth it? Is it worth the $26 dollar price of admission in these harsh times? Well, frankly NO.

You can see more interesting Rock n' Roll memorabilia at your local Hard Rock Cafe, where $26 at least gets you a burger, fries, soda, and salad.

The annex seems like it is based on the Holocaust museum. You walk into a hard room with your other guest, like you do in the Holocaust museum to simulate what it would be like to be sent to a concentration camp, except this time you where snippet's of music, then you see a film.

OK, I have to admit I liked the film. The sound was great and it hard to want to sing along. After a pretty cool film you are given a headset. There are images of bands, like the Beatles and U2 that light up and the head set plays their most popular song. Like, "I can't get no satisfaction" for the Rolling Stones. No history. They make sure you don't learn anything. Then you walk and look really non-interesting items that the rock stars just gave away. There are some hard written song lyrics, but it is unclear when these were written. The assumption is that they are written at the creation of the song, but it never says that and they look too neat to be made in the throes of creation.

There big exhibit was of the "The Clash". I mean I like a some of their songs but not enough to look at 12 pairs of there boots.

At other times, as awesome as Rap is, is it really Rock n' Roll?

Isn't Rock n' Roll suppose to be anti-establishment? This place thinks a nose piercing and a tattoo is really sticking it to the man.

The whole thing could have been a Morgan Stanley corporate event.

An Evening with "The Daily Show and and Friends" Thursday, December 4 @ Comix

John Oliver at Comix
An Evening with "The Daily Show and and Friends" Thursday, December 4 @ Comix

From a location what I believe used to be local dive bar "The Village Idiot" the newish New York City comedy forum Comix presents periodically the test platform for the writers of the Comedy Central' Daily Show to test new material. All this for $15 and a two drink minimum.

After Tattoo Jack gets your Stella, you sit down for three comics and a MC/warm up guy. This guy was a gay Pakistani. I have never seen a openly gay Pakistani. He had a good joke. He spoke of the old 80's Christmas song "Do they know it's Christmas", which was a British pop song for Ethiopian famine relief. Our gay Pakistani retorts do those those Brits know they are Muslims? Take that Sting!

The next guy so was so horrible I won't even mention him by name. It was just an uncomfortable set for everyone. He just made the audience nervous with his unabashed hostility.

Then Finally relief, Rory Albanese walks up. He's a pro. He does very little and gets a joke. He is good with using the mic to have sound effects. I appreciate this. He is from Long Island and gets the local perspective in with jokes about Jersey et al. However, he starts to lose the audience by getting too much into your face. He comes off as just plain mean at times, so much so that you can't relate and therefore he is no longer funny. Rory was a funny guy but he needs to a little off his shtick.

The star of the show was John Oliver, who is a regular on the Daily Show. He took over for Steven Colbert as John Stewart's main reporter. Oliver's style was refreshing as it was confident and respectful. He drifted between middle and highbrow humor but not so stuffy as to walk around like some animal. John was my favorite because he took things further than most. He seemed to go with the notion of what if I explained the world as of everyone was confidently and purposely trying to do the right thing. If people weren't incredible dumb and filled with vice. It's funny to me!

Cafe Local 144 Sullivan St New York,NY 10079 (212) 253-2601

Cafe Local 144 Sullivan St New York,NY 10079 (212) 253-2601

I knew there was something right in the world when I found out that Craig Walker opened up his own Coffee shop.

Craig owns Cafe Local in Soho, which is the cleanest cafe I have ever seen. The beans are fair trade. I have a half pound ground for stove top expresso in my apartment right now.

The coffee for immediate consumption is less expensive than any coffee chain operating in Manhattan. The staff are young and friendly. Even Bill Clinton stopped in one day, and stayed awhile.

If you ever wanted to see the real Soho; see what New York is all about. Stop in order something and hang out. No one will bother you. Long time residents will come in and out. Craig only lives a couple of blocks away. He comes in and out refilling supplies, which come from quality Manhattan stores. You might recognize him from Television. Craig is an actor who has been on the T.V. show Law and Order, commercials and many other projects.

Cafe Local isn't the easiest to find. so good way to get there is to start on Houston Street and Sullivan Street; walk down the west side of the street and it is the green store front pictured above.

Best damn beef chow fun

A chinese food suggestion so powerful that it came from NASA. Yummy Noodles had the best damn beef chow fun I have ever had, and it was dirt cheap. Please let that metaphor let your imagination run amok. The place was very clean. The service was quick.
46 Bowery
New York, NY 10013
(212) 374-1327‎

Pre-Macy's Thanksgiving parade Balloons 2008

Outside the Mus. of Natural History amongst thousands of people the balloons are inflated and displayed to the general public




That's Ronald McDonald




That's a Keith Harring float





That's Pikachu

The Long Tail: Why the future of Business Is selling less by Chris Anderson (2006)

Maybe 2006 was a blur to me. Maybe it was the year that books by writers from Wired magazine didn't seem to matter much. Almost self-proclaimed futurist Chris Anderson pontificates in perfect Generation X prose a single idea over and over again. To extrapolate a feature article from Wired; well to be generous it could have been a book chapter, into a whole book is not an art form.

In an idea he shares, would Anderson have spent so much time watching reruns of Gilligan's Island if there was something better to do? Probably not.

He offers us a the salvation of giving us an insight into the life since 2000. Now, this could be of great use to my Grandfather who thinks of Bob Newhart as a young guy. But really, Anderson is preaching to the choir.

But . . . ok maybe this book is for middle age men looking at the new media and scratching their heads.

This book provides full descriptions in e-commerce sites such as google, netflicks, amazon, itunes, etc, and how they work.

He makes the point that when people have more options they are not going to be sitting around watching TV. He punctuates these points with interesting factoids, such as that a top TV show now would not make the the top 10 shows in the seventies, because less of the population is watching TV.

I can relate. My TV watching declined significantly when I moved to New York City where there are a thousands better things to do than watch TV. A case in point I can watch John Oliver on the Daily Show or I can go we him perform live at Comix on 14th street.

Actually, speaking of the Daily Show, Anderson tells us that more people watch it on-line than see it on TV. Still, he goes further. He predicts that formats of shows will change as people see TV content on the web or through Tivo. He has a point with Handheld devices , such as, the iphone, who wants to sit through a scheduled half hour of TV to see the one good Simpson joke. He makes this analogous to buying individual tracks of an album on itunes instead of buying the whole CD for one song. Why should I spend $10 on the last U2 CD when the only good song is Vertigo. This is liberation!

Google (+it's services like utube), itunes, amazon are making fortunes by giving people exactly what they want and for a lot less money and time. Now I have more money and time to try out new music, for instance, often based on the sites suggestions with customer reviews to back it up. Far out ,if I may barrow the expression.

So what is happening here? How is it different than what has happened in the good ole days.

As Anderson quotes some dude, people are filled with general and specific (niche) interests. On-line stores have infinite self space, so now I can get that music of German groove and funk from 1967 to 1974 that I heard in Canada but couldn't find in one New York city record store. It's really good by the way.

So, why could I not find this music today. It's the same reason why there was a radio show called 'Name that tune.' Limited shelve space equates to limited choices. In the 1940's everyone knew the latest Benny Goodman hit. Today, I don't think I have heard a song that went to number one on the billboard chart since Outcast's "Hey Ya." And my german music would not have many buyers besides me, and Costco can only sell so many CDs so they stick to the hits. Maybe if I couldn't find my german music on line I would have bought "Fifty cent sings the Journey catalogue, 'Don't stop believing in the da Hood'" Ok, sadly that isn't a real CD.

So, what is happening with the virtual store front, such as Amazon and itunes, is that people will be able to buy their niche interests. True, they only sell a few of those each, but aggregate that and the sales equal the sales of the hits. People generally flock to stores that selling everything than specialty stores, but on-lines are both. This is the long tail, in a standard deviation there is hump then lines goes off. It is where this line going off is where the money is.

Anderson gives us most of this is the first chapter and the rest of his goes over it again and again from slightly different directions.

Fall Central Park 2008

Farragut North (Atlantic Theatre Company, The Linda Gross Theatre 336 West 20th Street)

November 13, 2008

Got a chance to see the hottest play in New York City. Bad weather got me the last ticket. Farragut North is play loosely based on experiences of working on the Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton campaigns of 2004.

The play starts in a bar couch with two political hacks, their assistant and a New York Times reporter. Just what you would expect to paint the scene of back office politics. Chris Noth ( you know from Law and Order and Sex and the City) is the senior hack. Broadway star John Gallagher Jr. plays the hotshot Stephen. Stephen has the press in the palm of his hands. The banter goes back and forth. Noth takes up most of the space as the guy as gained a considerable amount of weight, he is much bigger than you may remember from TV. The chemistry doesn't work. The actors seem forced. Gallapher dominates the scene, Noth doesn't seem comfortable with that. Nevertheless, the scene works, because characters and conflicts are set up.

Everyone leaves except Stephen. Two things happen that set the story in motion. Stephen meets Molly. Molly is an attractive 19 year old intern. I wish that she wasn't an intern. I mean you know where this is going. An intern, come on! Molly is played by Olivia Thirlby. Olivia Thirlby couldn't look less like Monica Lewinsky, but her shadow is all around this character.

The second thing is that Stephen gets a phone call from the opposition in the Democratic Race. He meets this guy and doesn't tell his boss Noth. Stephen is asked to jumped ship. He told that the polls have been manipulated, and Stephen's candidate is not way ahead but in fact way behind. Stephen is conflicted and gives a tenuous "no!" Stephen goes back to the bar and screws the intern.

The next day, Stephen realizes that he has committed mutiny and confesses to his boss (Noth).

Stephen tries to make amends for his action, but things have changed. Shortly, knowledge of Stephens meeting is leaked to the New York Times reporter. He is confronted by the reporter. Now Stephen knows he in deep trouble. He tries to find out who screwed him. It seemed obvious to me that it was Noth. However, in the play, Stephen laboriously confronts everyone else but Noth. Until the lastly, Noth spills the beans.

This is a very good scene. Stephen is being a whinny little bitch. Noth plays it perfectly. He is the man. Watching the play you wonder what women see in Noth. He just looks an old fat guy. Here, though, he shows that he is a man's man.

Stephen goes backs and begs for the job on the other team, but they won't hire him. They just wanted Stephen out of the game. Either on their side or just out. It would look bad to hire him at this time under this heat. They knew that Noth was big on loyalty so they figured they would get Stephen or Noth would fire him. Stephen has just been screwed again.

He returns to his hotel room drunk and Molly, the intern, enters. After almost beating her. Stephen call the New York Times reporter from Molly's phone, and tells her about Molly and Noth. So, now everyone gets screwed.

In the very end, Noth is fired too, because of the scandal with the intern.

The play has excellent acting. A smart script full of bad words and fast double talk. The play obviously has more relevance before the Election. It does lack in overall story. It is a little predictable. Except for Noth's character there wasn't much character development. Olivia Thirlby plays exactly like she does in every film I have ever seen her in; that and the fact you never her face the audience directly was very disappointing. Still, it is very good, but it could have been much much better.

BryanSarkinen Wedding: http://www.bsarkinenwedding.com/

Bryan Sarkinen launched a new website (http://www.bsarkinenwedding.com/) to promote his wedding business. So how is it?

Well, it takes a while to load on my machine. The intro page, which is a bunch of little windows opening up to little wedding scene from Bryan's work, are numerous and distracting. This is a shame because if you look at Bryan's prices, they are quite reason, and a deal when you see their quality.

If you can get pass the the start of that mess, go to the video section using top navigation. On the side navigation you will see option to many different types of weddings that Bryan has shot and edited. This is the best part. These snippiest of wedding are a hollywood like production value and editing. Shot in digital video, the picture comes alive. You don't feel like you are watching someone's wedding, it feels like you are watching a movie. This is the best part to watch a wedding and not feel like you are. Bryan as a videographer captures those moments that grasp the excitement and beauty of the occasion. With smart editing, the final products is enjoyable to your college-age pal and to your mom.

The rest of the site provides a testimonials, a bio on Bryan Sarkinen, prices and contact details. The bio page lists many of Bryan works out side of Wedding Videos. There are too many projects to list here but you can go to the site it for yourself. What Bryan is demonstrating is that his lens goes beyond what you get with Videographers. So check it out here

Challenging (2008)

Challenging will probably grab a best director Oscar nomination if not Best Picture as well. This is a very good and racist picture that almost all credit goes to the director, Clint Eastwood.

Why racist? Because this movie is set in Los Angeles in 1928 and it is an all white cast. Los Angeles at the time had very high populations of Mexican-Americans and Chinese Americans. There is never a Chinese person shown once, and only time you see a hispanic is in police custody. There was a white influx into California after the Dust-Bowl and the Great Depression, but this movie predates that.

I doubt that most people will notice this but they should. As a true story, there should have been more of an effort to get the details right. There are many inaccuracies, such as showing Union Station and Los Angeles city hall when these structures were built in the 1930's. Not to mentions that these locations were built on Chinese neighborhoods and what was old Mexico at the time. This is where Charlie Chaplin filmed most of his early work.

The movie tells a story of a mother, Christine Collins played by Angelina Jolie, who son goes missing. Collins is a single mother. The LAPD brings a child a few months later that is not her child. They convince her that she is wrong, but that doesn't last for long. At the same the police are finding out about horrible crime that would be later know as the Wineville Chicken Coup murders.

The Wineville Chicken Coup murders was a heinous murder of young boys. Twenty boys were murdered, molested, killed and chopped up by a young man who would search for boys to kidnaped off the streets. The police stumbled on it when they picked up a kid who was wanted for being in the country illegally from Canada. He confessed, and his uncle was picked by Canadian law enforcement for the murders.

One of the boys who was said to be one of those killed was Walter Collins, the son of Christine Collins.

Interesting enough, Wineville has since changed its name to Mira Lomba, which is town over from where my Grandfather grew up. He was eight years old at the time. I told him, it was lucky that he wasn't picked up by this murderer. My grandfather failed to see any humor in that.

The movie goes further to tell the story of Christine Collins battle with the LAPD. By not accepting that the boy was hers the police put her in a mental institution, which was a common practice of the LAPD at the time, to commit women who challenged them.

Collins is helped by preacher played by John Malkovich, who is on a crusade to expose the LAPD for its abuses of power.

The movie takes us in the court room drama of two trails. One of the LAPD and the other of the murderer.

What the movie does best is to keep the audience involved in every scene. All the emotions are squeezed out of every scene. Every situation is rich, tense, and rewarding in its outcome no matter how horrible it is.

The director and writer do a very good job at exposing how people are manipulated and coerced. Christine Collins has one thing she wants, she wants her son back. Everyone can understand that. The LAPD detective twists and recasts that into every plausible situation to discredit her. It is so real and I have seen it so many offices. This part of the movie can be studied to understand this phenomena.

Angelina Jolie is interesting her. She makes you uncomfortable. There is something about her that does that. It keeps you awake and interested. The only time you feel you are seeing her as a real person is when she is going crazy at the asylum. She seems to have a hard time playing normal. She seems to be good in movies with a strong director and a strong cast, so that movie to goes on around her. Then her air of instability works to give the movie an edge. Tom Cruise does something similar.

If you see this film, remember that it is very long and emotionally draining.

Last Night (2008) by Moby

Last Night is Moby's best work since Play This work was released at the beginning of the year. It is surely one of the best album of the year.

If you are true fan of Moby going back to the early underground days in the early 90's, and you have stumbled across this review; you will probably see me as a poser. You would be right. I only got into Moby with Play, which I think is one of the best album of the nineties; up there with U2's Achtung Baby and Radiohead's OK, Computer. I never went back and really explored Moby's pre-Play works. I have been up-to-date since then though.

The cover looks like an American Apparel add. It is all 80's retro, except that the 1980's never had such high resolution digital pictures.

Moby gives his mission statement like he does with all his releases. This time Moby is trying to gives the listener a taste of what is was like going out in New York during his youth. He regales us with tales of sneaking out from his elitist Connecticut suburb and taking the Metro-North rail into the city on a school night during high school.

Moby a habitual night owl, continues to describe the surreal world of night. He gives a very sober account, but you wonder what he might have been on during those time, as raves are not known for being drug free.

Must Download:

ooh yeah
Disco Lies
the stars

Like most good Moby works, you don't hear him sing so much. There are loops of Black soul singers in much of the work. Some of it does remind you of previous releases. In the song live for tomorrrow reminds you of When its cold, I like to die, but this time the structure is much more sophisticated which leads to a beautiful ending.

Through much of the album I can't help feeling that I am listening to something new, but familiar. It has the uncomfortable feeling of something you like but are not used to. Your mind has to adjust. Once your ear adjusts, you're into it.

I find that this work doesn't go very well with the rest of CDs in my collection. Maybe this is because I have no 80's dance music that Moby's is trying re-interpret. I say "try" because this so NOT 80's music. It is more 90's retro than 80's. The song hyenas like his contemporaries Air, French Band, and there is something updated in here too.

Last Night would have made a perfect follow up to Play. Somehow tracks from this CD could have gone well next to The Strokes or The Killers.

In the end Moby sounds like Moby, and he does a very good job. He creates a very good album too.

Maybe Eminem is right that nobody listens to Techno, but maybe they should.

W. (2008)

Brillant! A bio pic on a sitting president. I think this is the first time this has been done. Not only that, but a president that the country is so divided on. W. seems sort of doomed to begin with. Those on right will not take any negative criticism, and others want a conviction on George W. Bush. Then there is the fact that most people are tired of Bush, and probably do not see a movie about George W. Bush as entertainment.

As a film maker Oliver Stone has to make his main character, our president, likable enough that the audience cares about him and his story. You really like W. after watching this film. You feel sorry for him.

The story finds Bush after 9/11 and the time is during the events that lead up to the Iraq war and then the Iraq war quickly turning into a disaster. The movie shows events that lead up this moment using flash backs. According this movie W. thinks about his life a lot.

We meet the young George Bush Jr. in a Skull and Bones hazing ritual at Yale. We learn that he gets into trouble, has bad grads, and is a disappointment to his father. As he gets older we see W. as a womanizer, a man with a major drinking problem, and basically getting through life as spoiled rich boy with his father getting him out of jams often. There seems to be no end to what George H.W. Bush, W's. father, will go for him. However, young W. always pines for his father's acceptance and outward displays of affection, which seem to be hidden behind an old world waspy guard.

It is overly simplistic, as it is like Homer Simpson as George W. Bush, but get some broad brush stroke on the major events of his life. Nothing that Bush does is ever with malice. He is either having a good time or just dumb.

Oliver Stone doesn't show W.'s use of cocaine. This is probably because audiences don't like to see that. Audiences can accept alcoholism just so long as it is rehabilitated by the end of the movie.

The great part of the film is W. as president. While the back story was entertaining, the White House story is where Stone nails it.

So, how do you make a film depicting the events of the past almost eight years that are so horrific. Well, I guess you don't show them. The Bush administration has had a disaster to deal with every few months. First there was the dot-com bubble burst, then the biggest 9/11, then war in Iraq and hurricane Katrina , and now the financial meltdown. How could you put all of this in one film and do it justice? Well, Stone basically ignores it, except for Iraq.

This scenes, statements and situations are taken right from well documented news conferences, pictures and popular books that most people have seen on the evening news. The meetings were shown just has Paul O'Neal described them in Ron Suskind's book "The education of Paul O'Neal",and the description of the Dick Cheney's concept of the One Percent doctrine is done perfectly from Ron Suskind's book of the same name. The One Percent doctrine is if you think there is a 1% that something bad could happen you act like it is a 100% chance that it will happen. Of course , the problem with this is that it foregoes reason, probable cause, and means you are 99% wrong all the time. If you are familiar with other books on the Bush Administration you will see allusions them too. Not just Ron Suskinds.

The administration's chemistry and personalities seem pretty right on. If you are familiar with cover of the book Hubris that scene is recreated. Also, Bush's tendencies of giving people nickname will be found too.

The dynamic between the Colin Powell and the Neo-Cons seems to be as it has been written. That dynamic is that you have Colin Powell who is a military expert. and the Neo-Cons who see the world as through there ideological prism. They clash.

In the movie, W. is very much maneuvered by these Neo-Cons. W. wants to see the world as fitting into his own simple views.

Stone gives W. a very decent personality. He is not prejudice; more so than probably any president in history. He treats everyone the same respect no matter what social class they are in. He just seems over in his head, and is how the movie ends.

This is, of course, not a complete story. That is obvious. And it is not clear how much Stone got right, but it looks he did something right.

This is a very interesting movies. It is one that you want to talk about at length after it is over. In someways it is not really over yet.

Passengers (2008)

Not even a pretty girl can't save this one. See the picture above. That is face you will be making for an hour and a half if you go see this film.
This is basically a film that starts with one idea, throws it out, then tries to pull a fast one on you.

The story if you can call it that, is this. Anne Hathaway plays Claire comes to what appears to be a hospital and is greeted by Andre Braugher; who usually plays roles like Angels. He discloses that Claire has two masters degrees and is working on a Ph.D. We assume that he is her boss and that she is some sort of therapist. Claire meets Eric, a surviver that seems to have extraordinary knowledge about her and coming on to her at the same time.

Claire starts group therapy with the survivors and visits Eric one on one. Eric seems to be out of reality and really manipulative, which Claire dismisses as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome(PSD). Since the audience believes that Claire know more about PSD than they do, we let it go.

The movie here tries to be a story about a therapist working with a group survivors with Hathaway doing her best on having that blank and present therapist face. Then very quickly and unconvincingly the movie turns into a cover up thriller with the airline covering up the cause of the crash. There is a creepy airline guy who is always poking his head around and antagonizing Claire. Luckily, at this time, Claire starts sleeping with Eric, after she follows him after his countless/shameless manipulations of her.

In the final act, we learn that Eric is dead. You could see it a mile away. We learn that everyone else is dead, but there is still 30 minutes left in the movie. Do you think Claire is dead?

OK, so the passengers are dead. Not sure why they are in group therapy then. The creepy guy turns out to be the pilot. Doesn't seem to make too much sense why he is antagonizing Claire. But he does carry about a briefcase with a list of the dead, which would have to been compiled after crash when, of course, he would have already been dead. But let's not let logic get in the way here. Being that spirits of the dead tend leave briefcases around, Claire finds it. Guess what? Claire's dead. You kinda suspect that five minutes into the film, because, there is a long open credits bit.

Think the movie would be done there. The audience is not that fortunate.

It is probably a safe guess that this film will not be showing on your next flight.

Ardsley, New York at Sunset

ardsley_at_sunset

Golden Delicious by Mike Doughty (2008)

Another great disappointment in music for me was Mike Doughty's Golden Delicious out this year. I am not sure what happened here. I think maybe he has a record contract that required him to put out a new disk even if he wasn't ready. This is the worst work I have heard from him.

I have followed him since a co-worker at a coffee shop introduced me to Soul Coughing. Doughty's was the lead singer. I have so far followed him since then. I have made it out to Brooklyn to see him solo and without a record contract. He would sell his CDs from a backpack after the show for $10 each. and stuff was great.

Much of the tracks on this new album sounds like reworking of older material from his solo career or Soul Coughing days. Other songs are actually from EP's that he sold from that backpack. These EPs have been released commercially since his record contract came to be.

Still all is not lost. Doughty has a very East Village feel. This , of course , where he has lived for many years. His music has a the shape of some of those dirty lonely streets. "I got the drop on you" has a eerily intensity that drops the mood of work down, and is the first good songs after many bad tracks.

This musical direction charts a direction of New York City rarely leaves itself. The East Village is so far removed from the rest of the city that it is hard to find yourself there if you have no business there, and the residents make you feel it. For most people it is like going into another world, but it is in fact a deeper layer of New York city with an undercurrent of sadness for some reason that I never could figure out. At same time it is rich in every way. You can here this here, but I would suggest "Skiddish" for that, which his best work.

There are three songs worth checking out:

I got the drop on you
Nectaring
Book of Love

Mike Doughty does a beautiful cover of the Magnetic Field's classic "Book of Love" in his live show. He recorded it and it is available on the itunes version of Golden Delicious. Either version is a must download.

You also might want to check out my friend Scott's review of Golden Delicious here.

Sex and the city movie (2008)

Go out and grab your girlfriends, a cosmo (or two or three), and sit back and enjoy the "chickflick" of all chickflicks. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and 'the girls' are back for one more shot at love, romance, and happiness.

We see Carrie and the girls 5 years later (from when the show ended) and between conversation and flashbacks we were caught up to what's been going on in their lives over the last few years. In short... Miranda is with Steve and they are having marital problems. Steve cheated on Miranda, she got mad and moved out. Charlotte is living her happily ever after married life, adopts a baby, has a bunch of really adorable dogs, and gets the best news of all...she's pregnant. Samantha has temporarily put her mojo to rest and is still with the same youngin' actor/model living in LA now. She's bored out there though and flyes back to NY every opportunity she gets. She also has a really hot naked neighbor. That leaves our girl Carrie. What happened to her since that kiss with Big (Chris Noth) - whose real name we finally find out - in Paris? Well...she and Big are together again (after many more breakups) and they finally decide to get married.

Get married???? WWHHHAAAATTTT!?!?!? That's right. Dream come true (you'd think). It started out as a small wedding, but because of the status and connections of Carrie and Big, the wedding process turns into a three ring circus. Unfortunately, Carrie is left at the alter. She's devestated. Crushed. Broken. Takes her girlfriends on her honeymoon with her. Doesn't help. You see Carrie heal and try to get over Big over the next few months. We've all been there. Been hurt. Try to recover and move on... But not really ever letting go. It's a tough road, and through it all we have our friends.

So how does this story end? Miranda and Steve try to work things out, Charlotte has her baby and is as happy as ever, and Samantha leaves her youngin' and moves back to NY where she belongs. Carrie, well Carrie in true 'Sex and the City' fashion, goes to get her shoes that are still in 'her and Big's' apt before the lease runs out and she looses her shoes forever and finds Big there, waiting. They get married - a small, circus free wedding this time and live happily ever after (I hope)

Overall, this movie was great. The emotions were real, the girls were back and in rare form and the clothes, bags, and shoes were all fabulous. Its an enjoyable, fun filled must see movie.

By Lauren Boykin

WILLING SERFS OF AMERICA

WILLING SERFS OF AMERICA
"Deer Hunting With Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War" by Joe Bageant (2007)

In "Deer Hunting With Jesus", Joe Bageant takes on the great question American politics: why do the white working poor America vote Republican, given that the party demonstrably works against their self-interest? And who better to answer that question than Bageant himself, a son of the working class who returns to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia in middle age.
"Deer Hunting" is a series of essays about working-class life - a life Bageant reveals to be in crisis. In the 1960s, he writes, a man could walk into the Rubbermaid factory in town, earn $1.65 an hour full-time, and comfortably support himself and his family. In 2007, his old friend was still working at the factory, but struggling to make ends meet while pulling overtime. Company-funded health insurance was gone; the tidy hospital that gave basic medical services to the community had largely been converted to an old folk's home, while those people that were sick had to eke out their Medicare benefits to get service from a hospital in the next town. Meanwhile many are being crushed by the debt on their subprime mortgages and car loans. In short, the dignity of labour has been torn away. Where once a man could do unskilled or semi-skilled labour and live decently on it, or at least know that his children would enjoy a better life, now men are struggling to stay solvent, destroying their health with long hours while competing with each other for overtime. Marx would have recognized it as the atomized proletariat.
Bageant argues that there is a simmering class war: the workers are silently enraged at their poverty, their constant economic oppression. The Republican party has simply taken advantage of this rage (and also stoked it not a little) by presenting it with a target: the champagne-sniffing, fine-art-appreciating, Volvo-driving "liberal elites" who, along with their improbable stooges the unions, are the reason the poor remain poor, taxing the working man and giving the money to homosexual-run art galleries and crack whores in the cities. By contrast, the Republicans are ordinary folk just like them. The shots of George W. Bush clearing away brush in his ranch resonated greatly in Winchester, especially when contrasted to shots of John Kerry windsurfing.
The eight essays in the book are hit-and-miss. American Serfs and "Republicans by Default" which examine working-class rage and its co-opting by Republicans are (I think, at least) the best. "The Deep-Fried, Double-Wide Lifestyle" and An Authorized Place to Die, discussing commercialism-as-solace and the health care system, also make for interesting reads. "Valley of the Gun" starts out with a tantalizing discussion of working-class gun culture and then veers into a predictable defence of Second Amendment rights. "The Ballad of Lynndie England", about the villain of the Abu Ghraib prison, somehow manages to paint her, unconvincingly, as a victim. (In fact, "The Ballad" could have been taken much further if it had become a fuller discussion of the role of women in the working-class crisis. The book is all about rage, remember, and rage is almost entirely the monopoly of men). Despite the ups and downs, the book is a quick and easy, not to mention illuminating, read, and I recommend it to all liberal elites.
We live in interesting times. I wonder what will happen now that housing bubble has well and truly burst, now that many Republicans, finally disgusted with its liberal-baiting tactics, seem to be abandoning their party, now that a liberal, elite black man with tremendous charisma is going, in person, to the white working class to promise them change. Somehow I do not think much change will take place - the poor will remain poor, and will be forgotten - and their rage will simmer on.

By

Jan De Bakker

More thoughts on Nick and Norah's infinite playlist (2008)

More thoughts on Nick and Norah's infinite playlist (2008)

For the ultimate review of this movie see Jan De Bakker's review below (apologies for the generation X style of that phrase. I am, by the way, proud to be too young to be a part of generation X).

I saw this movie too and had some thoughts on it as well. I also review the soundtrack, see below.

This is a highly anticipated movie, mainly because it stars Michael Cera. Cera is a Canadian actor who starred in the two biggest teenage movies of last year: Juno and Superbad. Cera is sort of on the verge of being an icon of his generation. Now that GenX is reaching their 40's, a new generation emerges. Cera is introverted, stable and good natured, which is the complete opposite the previous generation that celebrated "trash talking" and extremism of aggression.

So, the question is: will Nick and Nora follow in the tradition? Well, it sure tries.

You meet Cera who goes by the name Nick now. He is broken up with his girlfriend. You kinda wonder if the girlfriend is Ellen Page. He looks and dresses the same as in SuperBad, except that he is changed from green hoodie to a blue one. If you want one yourself, the one he wears in the movie is from American Apparel. His room looks just like Juno's room with the cut outs all over the wall. He lives in a house that looks like his house from Juno too.

He is met by his friend Thom, played by Aaron Yoo, who wants him to play in their band for a gig in New York City. We learn that the band members are gay except Nick. He tells him that it is "hard being straight" and Thom couldn't understand that. Yoo is an interesting actor. He represents a growing asian presence in films. Almost every teen orientated film seems to cast him. Always in a small role where he is gay or asexual. He not so much playing an asian stereotype like -Jackie Chan, but he is clearly subjugated. John Cho of Harold and Kumar fame makes an appearance later in this film. Ever notice that the only time you see an asian male actor being aggressive to another person in a non-racist stereotyped way is when they doing so to another ethnic?

Well, I am proud to say that this film is directed by Peter Scollett. Scollett is someone who was at NYU when I was there. Two of my good friends were in classes with him at Tisch.

Now with this in mind, the when the movie gets to New York from the safety of the close New Jersey suburbs, it is shot in all the NYU kids nightlife pallet. If fact is you are thinking of going to NYU, you should check out this movie for taste of your nightlife. Scollett got the look and feel of being out on a Thursday through Saturday night downtown. NYU students study on Sunday.

The girl in the film Norah is played by Kat Denning. Denning does a good job playing an introverted cold and stuck up girl with a lot of money who is highly troubled. Basically like many of the girls you would meet if you attended NYU.

The trouble is that Denning and Cera do not pair up well. Cera needs to be paired with a extremely lively and loud partner. Jonah Hill and Ellen Page had more personality than most people can handle. Cera seemed to absorb that, and it create a pleasing dynamic. When you pair two introverted people it is kinda boring. In fact, the most interesting chemistry was between Nora and Tal , played by Jay Baruchel (Canadian). Jay Baruchel has a lot a of presence in his bit role as the manipulative friends-with-benefits guy that Nora is involved with when she meets Nick. Baruchel standout very much when is away from his Judd Apatow brothers such as Seth Rogan.

The movie also makes a bad move by having Nick and Nora have sex or whatever they were doing. One thing that movie has going for was a kinda innocence to it that has been seen from Rushmore to Juno. Somehow, the way it is was done here has that sleazy feel that teenage sex had in the 1980's teenflicks.

Nevertheless, movie has it's moments. It greatest accomplishment is cinematography is the shot at the end. It ends with a kiss on the escalator in Madison Square Garden going to Penn Station. It is really ugly place in New York, but it is a very beautiful romantic shot. So, maybe there was beauty there after all.

At other times the movie is boring without a lot going on. I would say about 45 minutes could have been cut out There is not real conflict presented. Everything just seems too safe. Overall, it is a cute movie, and I would recommend it.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

TIKKUN O'LAM IN MANHATTAN
"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist"

What is it about romances that draws us back to movie theatres over and over again? I mean, it's the same story every time, isn't it? My literature humanities instructor in undergrad would probably have said that it is an expression of the Universal Human Experience. Whatever. I just like seeing people in love with each other*.
"Nick and Norah" is one such romance. Michael Cera as Nick plays essentially the same character as he did in "Juno": an awkward, kind and irrepressably geeky high school senior. Norah (Kat Dennings) is a moody, "stone-cold Jap" stuggling to come out from the shadow of her rich father. Both are huge music geeks in tune with the underground hipster scene. The movie takes place over a single night in Manhattan, as Nick and Norah, along with a motley assortment of friends, try to find the secret location of a surprise concert to be given by "Where's Fluffy". Hints to the concert's venue are only given by rabbits drawn in improbable places, and indeed as the group of teenagers meet, disperse, and meet again in various misadventures in the nighttime world of Manhattan, it is in fact as if they have gone through the looking glass. In the course of this midsummer night, Nick and Norah fall in love, fall out of love, and fall back into love in the inevitable sonata of the love story. And through it all, of course, there's a great and nearly constant soundtrack. Now I am not myself a huge music geek in touch with the underground hipster scene, so don't recognize the songs or the bands, but I definitely appreciated the music.
"Nick and Norah" is really a reflection of American Graffiti. Both are movies about a group of teenagers spending a night on the town and coming of age in twelve hours. For Nick and Norah, this happens in the hipster music scene in New York, while American Graffiti takes place in the car-racing scene in Modesto, California. But there is a fundamental difference. American Graffiti is about what those who lived in the Swinging Seventies would be pleased to call "self-realization": each of the characters in the movie come of age, but they do so individually, as separate entities. The entire movie takes place on the night before college begins, and while they all grow up overnight, they also know that they must part ways in the morning and seek their own way as adults. "Nick and Norah" by contrast is all about coming together: the main characters do so, of course, but so does everyone who, after patient searching and red herrings, is finally unified by the ethereal music of Fluffy. And while American Graffiti takes place on the Anytown, California strip, Nick and Norah pointedly takes place in Manhattan, devoting several shots to its cityscape and celebrating it as the great crossroads.
Near the end of the film Norah says that her favourite part of Jewish philosophy is Tikkun O'lam, the "repair of the world", because it brings broken pieces of this world back together again. And that's what this movie is all about. It's a charming morality tale in which the self-centred, those who are only in it for the money or the sex, are cast into the outer darkness, while the just seek, lose their way, persevere, and finally find each other and the concert at the end of the night.

*except on public transportation.

by

Jan de Bakker

Weezer (the Red Album) – Weezer (2008)

Weezer
This is probably the biggest disappointment in entertainment for me this year. This CD really sucks!

It has about two and a half good songs, Pork and Beans and Troublemaker.

Must download:

Pork and Beans

Pork and Beans is about as good as anything Weezer has ever done. The music video is one of the best modern music videos I have seen. They use the stars of youtube reenacting their best youtube moments. The song spent weeks at number one on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. It is simple song with nerdy anti-conformity tip. It basically says “Hey, I’m gonna do my own thing.” It is sort of a classic in its own right.

Troublemaker is cool because Mr. Rivers C. is playing with language a la Eminem. It is about three years too late, but I appreciate the effort. The song is playful and doesn’t take itself seriously at all, which is refreshing.

It is all down hill from here. I heard that the whole band contributed songs this effort. Big mistake.

I am not sure where this leaving the future of the band. It is really a miss album.

I think what I really liked from Weezer was in the root of the music was 80’s hair-band style music with a John Lennon circa The Plastic Ono Band like lyrics, which was packaged in a nerd-cool envelope. This is not really the case here, but maybe they needed to go in a different direction.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist Soundtrack (2008)

For some reason, the soundtrack to Nick & Norah’s infinite playlist looked good. Maybe because the Juno soundtrack was so good, and this movie has Michael Cera from Juno and SuperBad in it. Nevertheless, the soundtrack is really good.

It reminds me a bit of Blurs’s Parklife in that it is the mix of different styles of music under one umbrella that gives it character and makes it interesting to listen to.

It is a good listen to from beginning to end. I brought the 18 track itunes editions. I think that is the best value as you get a couple more good songs from it and the itunes qualities is good.

There are a few must download songs if you don’t want get the whole things. So check out:

Speed of Sound by Chris Beil
Middle Management by Bishop Allen
Ottoman by Vampire Weekend
Xavia by The Submarines
After Hours by We are Scientists


What’s cool about the soundtrack for me is that I don’t really know these bands. Being a few years out of High School and College I can’t say that I am down with new bands.

This is indie music which is a genre that evolved from Alternative which evolved from New Wave. So if you can name a good White Snake song, this is not for you. Also, if you have ever corrected someone for pronouncing Fifty Cent as it is spelled and not saying ‘fitty cent’, then this is also not for you. You know who you are.

Now, the indie genre has many sub genres to it. Over the Bush years indie bands have stretched from The Shins to The Vines with a 1980’s retro tip. So, it's cool that this soundtrack is like a sampling of the subgenres within the indie genre. The songs are mixed so that the subgenre’s change from track to track.

It is hard not to hear echo’s of such earlier bands like The Cure and Echo and the Bunnyman but like every retro experience some things are changed. A case in point, in the 1990’s kids dressed in 1970’s clothes except their hair was really short. No one had short hair in the seventies. For a fuller explanation please see Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

Anyway, this soundtrack is worth checking out.

Toronto, Canada

The Dark Knight (2008)

Batman aka Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) really was The Dark Night in this movie. It’s just a shame there wasn’t more of Batman without the armor. This movie was the sequel to Batman Begins. Usually when you hear the term ‘sequel’ you think, oh no, disaster. That was not the case in my opinion on this movie. Batman is on a quest, his usual quest of saving Gotham from it’s unusual villains, continue building his empire, and trying to get the girl as well.
The villain this time is ‘The Joker.’ He’s played by Heath Ledger. Let’s take a moment first to remember Heath Ledger. His role as The Joker in this movie was his last before his untimely death. He died just as the movie production was wrapping up, so there were no re-takes of any (or maybe very few re-takes) of his performance. His performance was amazing. He portrayed the most psycho-like Joker I have ever seen. From the way his head twitched, to his voice, to the way he licked his lips, to the way he held his knife. He was serious and focused. He knew what he wanted. One of those things he wanted was to hurt Batman – not just physically but emotionally as well.

As for the plot…Wayne Enterprises (Batman’s company) is negotiating with a Hong Kong based securities firm who also happen to be negotiating with Gotham’s mafia. Jim Gordon, the Lieutenant is trying to expose this scheme between the mafia and this firm while the new District Attorney – Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart) who the people of Gotham just adore and his girlfriend the other District Attorney – Rachel (played by Maggie Gyllenhall – who could not act at all in this movie) and who Batman is in love with – are trying to put behind bars. In the midst of all this the Joker comes in and ruins everyone’s life. He forces Batman to choose between saving Harvey or saving Rachel. Batman chooses. Rachel dies and half of Harvey’s face gets blown off (oops, did I just spoil the movie for you). Harvey then turns to the dark side to avenge everyone for the death of Rachel. (Nevermind how Batman must feel). At the end of the movie, Batman and the Joker have a fight typical of comic book characters brought to the big screen. I think we’ll have to wait until the next movie to find out what ‘really’ happens.

Batman himself gets an upgraded bat-suit, new car, motorcycle, and gadgets. He’s helped by Alfred, his long time butler, and Lucius Fox – head of the board at Wayne Enterprises. All of which I thought worked very well in the movie. ‘Batman: The Dark Night’ was action packed, had a fun cast of villains, some old friends, and made for a great summer blockbuster.

By Lauren Boykin

Hamlet 2 (2008)

Not as bad as it looks. Really!!!

This stars Steve Coogan, who is best known from some British television work that is barely known in the United States.

It tells a story of a talentless actor working as a high school drama teacher in Tucson, Arizona who is trying to save the drama department, which is basically him and his students.

It has the usual clichés of the students bonding at the end, and the pulling it together spirit of theatre experience. Given that if you have worked in theatre you will no doubt in enjoy this film; as it has all the right moves as lets say Noises Off. With that in said, I only know this because I had an ex-girlfriend who worked in an improv place in Austin Texas during her high school in the 1990’s.

The movie has a couple of things working for it. Coogan has a great talent of looking like a loser so much so that you feel a little bad for him, and he genuinely has some chemistry with his young cast.

The rest of the movie is supported by the supporting cast that really nails their bit parts. Catherine Keener plays his acerbic wife. Amy Poehler plays an ACLU lawyer. David Arquette and Elizabeth Shue around the cast of well-known actors. But I must mention the racially ambiguous actress Melonie Diaz who I am seeing in more and more movies and really liking. Maybe she is someone to look out for.

Like every movie of this sort, it climaxes with theatre piece of, you guessed it, Hamlet 2, which features a faux-blasphemous number called “Rock me sexy Jesus” Jesus portrayed as some Keanu Reeves character circa Point Break . This is about as blasphemous as any Christian fundamentalist youth retreat.

In conclusion, Hamlet 2 is barely good, but it works.