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