Next to my appreciation of telenovelas, infomercials, and Shannon Tweed late night flicks, I'm probably one of the world's oldest fans of teenage sex comedies, although few of them really have much actual sex. I've thought for years that "The Sure Thing" was one of the best movies ever made, seen "Mean Girls" three times, thought Kate Bosworth was as painfully miscast in "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton" as in "Superman Returns," and had the words "One time, at band camp. . . " appear randomly in my head on a fairly periodic basis. So, when "Superbad" came out with the great reviews, by the same guys who did "Knocked Up," well, had to go.
It was good. Not something I'll buy the video of to go next to "Say Anything," but good. I usually go to these things by myself (but I get looked at funny) or with The Boy, but this time The Wife went with me. The Boy and I have long classified movies as those we'd take Mom to and those we wouldn't. This was a "wouldn't," although she was a good sport about it (I thought, since she liked "Knocked Up," she'd give this a pass). She doesn't like loud people, cussing people, or gross people. And that's about what the first half hour is. Well, actually, most of the movie until the end. But it's definitely a movie The Boy and I would have attended satisfactorily.
The story line is straight from teen comedy land, as are the leads. Two nerds, one fat and squat, one skinny and tall, friends forever, senior year, last chance to score with their crushes, facing their own "breakup" as they look at different colleges after summer. Along with an uber-geeky sidekick who manages to get a fake id and then only puts one name on it, they have the adventure of their lives over one night just before graduation. Most of the conventions, including the school bullies, humiliation, threats of beatings, plenty of puke, cute girls with cuter bodies.
But that's where the movie actually turns most teen comedies on their heads. Very little is done conventionally with these conventions. The inevitable liquor store clerk is a tough-looking young black woman who ends up being a veterinary student. The cops who dominate the second half of the movies aren't hardassess, but party animals. (I found them one of the weaker parts of the movie, but The Wife liked them so to each his/her own on this point.) The love story isn't between the boys and their crushes, but the heroes themselves (but not to the "Brokeback" point). The requisite striptease is funnier than sexy and ends up sad and bare boob-less. And most and best of all, the girls are not your conventional teen movie chicks, not even "hot" so much as wholesome. These are two girls you as a nerd yourself might even be lucky enough to have a chance with, so you can believe that the two knuckleheaded leads might have a chance, too. The "smart" one ends up being the stupidest, and the "party" one ends up not even being a drinker. And the ending with them and the leads is believable and warm, even as it brings touching closure to the point of the whole movie. One of the key things in a genuinely good movie is how well it lands the dismount, how well it completes everything that the performance previously provided. "Superbad" surely gets at least 5.8s and 5.9s, except for that damn Czech judge.
Will this be the classic that other reviews and box office totals have indicated? I liked it better than "American Pie" and it's much deeper than "Porky's." (Ever thought you'd hear "deeper" and "Porky's" in the same sentence?) It's not "The Sure Thing" or "Say Anything" but they had Cusack. If you like bodily fluids (did I mention the menstrual blood?), nerds winning, and love (between friends as well as between genders), then you'll get what you want here. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth . . . wait. Random words coming in. "One time, at band camp . . . ."
Monday, September 03, 2007
Superbad
Sunday, August 12, 2007
My Month of Entertainment – July 2007
Yeah, I'm really late with this one. It didn't dawn on me until way too late that the beginning of the month was going to coincide with my trip to Chicago. But hey...better late than never. Starting in mid-July, the amount of my monthly entertainment took a hit with the purchase of our lovely MacBook Pro, but thanks to eMusic and Netflix, I'll never be totally, uh, unentertained.
Books
none
Movies
Reno 911!: Miami
Idiocracy
Extras, Season 1
Music
Living with the Living, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
The Loon, Tapes ‘n Tapes
Plume Delivery, The 1900s
Anhedonia, The Graduate
Icky Thump, The White Stripes
These Days (The Virginia Sessions), Pat McGee Band
iTunes Originals, Flaming Lips
Progress Reform, iLIKETRAINS
Live at Schubas 3-12-2004, The Hold Steady
Live at Bonnaroo (6-16-2006), My Morning Jacket
Frochot Music Sampler: CONGO
Funkadelic, Funkadelic
Thank you, emusic. You made Lollapalooza much more enjoyable for me, both in finding me bands I needed to see and at least one I didn't need to see. I spent a majority of my monthly downloads on Lolla bands in July, and though I didn't find as many Lolla artists on the site as I thought I would, the ones I found were worth it.
1. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. Like my major June discovery, the Ike Reilly Assassination, this is a band that has developed many albums and a dedicated following completely and totally outside my radar screen. I'm sure there are hundreds of bands out there, that fit that description, and if they all sound like this, I'm going to be a lifetime eMusic subscriber. Either way, they were a perfect way to kick off Lolla weekend for us.
2. Tapes 'n Tapes. This Minnesota band also left me plenty to rave about on Saturday at Lolla, and if I hadn't downloaded The Loon in the weeks before the Chicago trip, I'd have probably settled for going to Pete Yorn with Hear No Evil and his girlfriend. I can pretty much guarantee that I wouldn't have enjoyed that nearly as much.
3. The 1900s. My original plan was to check out The Graduate (11:15) and The 1900s (12:00) first thing on Sunday. The 1900s have a quirky, interesting sound, one that's a bit similar to previous eMusic discovery Elk City. I had every intention of checking them out, and I was looking forward to it...however, getting out of bed and out of HNE's apartment before noon proved impossible.
4. The Graduate. I regretted missing out on The 1900s, but thanks to eMusic, I didn't waste time regretting missing this band. There's nothing wrong with them per say...they just suffer a bit much from Generic Modern Rock Band Syndrome for my tastes. In fact, I'm pretty sure they're going to hit it big for that very reason, but that doesn't mean I'm going to spend much time on this band.
Beyond the Lolla bands, July also provided me with three major Best of 2007 candidates: Ted Leo's aforementioned Living with the Living, the White Stripes' Icky Thump, and Pat McGee Band's These Days. That's a good month, no? I have high hopes for August as well, with Common's Finding Forever (more on that later...this is about July), as well as Ben Harper's Lifeline and Talib Kweli's far-too-long-awaited Eardrum. But that's not even all that July gave me!
Other purchases: I was totally taken advantage of by iTunes with the ultimate impulse purchase, the Flaming Lips' iTunes Originals set. I was on iTunes to buy the White Stripes, and naturally I was unable to pass up something new (sort of) from The Lips, which basically consists of the Lips' greatest hits (plus a couple new/unreleased originals) with Wayne Coyne discussing and/or explaining the tunes. It's fun.
Also, I finished up my monthly eMusic downloads with some iLIKETRAINS (eh), Funkadelic (this month's download: their debut album, Funkadelic), and a live release from The Hold Steady, a 2004 show at Chicago's famous Schuba's (HNE lives roughly two blocks from Schuba's, by the way...I hate him for that).
Finally, one service I'll probably be taking more advantage of in the future due to the fact that a) it's free, and b) I have more live bands to keep track of now, is the always phenomenal www.archive.org, which houses free live recordings from hundreds and hundreds of bands. I'd used the service for some Pat McGee shows, but now I'll be delving into the My Morning Jacket and Ted Leo catalogs as well...no telling who else is on this thing...it takes 30 minutes just to sift through the list of bands...
As for movies...we hopped back on the Netflix train this month. While still renting some movies for The Butterfly's parents, we were far too busy cranking through all five seasons of Smallville (her anniversary present) in May and June to watch movies. But we're back. And we picked some interesting movies in July.
First up was a movie I was strangely giddy about seeing: Reno 911!: Miami. Wow, did it live up to expectations. This movie earned an R-rating in every single possible way. Language, insinuation, nudity...this movie was delightfully grotesque and obscene in every way. I loved it for all the wrong reasons. And the beached whale scene (you saw it in the commercials...the scene where Junior falls into the whale) was even better than I thought it would be. I recommend listening to the commentary on that scene as well.
Another Netflix rental: Idiocracy. I was talking to my high school best friend a while back, and as he has two kids of his own, it was time for his monthly "So...when are you having kids?" inquiry. I gave the monthly excuses ("still living in in-laws' basement", "wife isn't in a position to miss that much work yet", "still enjoying ourselves", etc.)--all very legitimate, I'd say--and he laughed and mentioned a movie he had just seen. Basically the premise is, smart people barely reproduce (having 1-2 kids max) while stupid people have as many kids as they can possibly pop out, so in the future the country just gets dumber and dumber. Honestly, that's a fantastic premise for a movie. However, when the main stars are Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, and Dax Shepard, you know that premise probably isn't going to live up to its potential. It's still at least somewhat enjoyable, though...I mean, when are you going to have another opportunity to see Luke Wilson playing the smartest man in the world?
Finally, we delved into the world of Netflix TV show rentals, checking out the first season of the painful, funny Ricky Gervais comedy, Extras. If you like The Office or Frasier, you'll love this show. It's nothing but that type of uncomfortable, oh-god-please-stop-talking-you're-only-making-things-worse type of comedy, where you're wincing and laughing at the same time. You love and hate the show simultaneously. Honestly, Extras is worth it for the cameos alone...Kate Winslet giving phone sex advice, Samuel L. Jackson being, well, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller quoting the opening weekend figures for all his movies...I love that they were willing to do this, Kate Winslet in particular. Other shows now in the Netflix queue: Firefly (The Butterfly loves Joss Whedon, so it's probably time she gives this a try) and Freaks & Geeks, which I somehow never watched.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Hairspray
Saw "Hairspray" a couple of weeks back. Didn't comment on it at the time because of other things going on and because I didn't have much to say that other reviewers didn't. It's not the original John Waters movie, which was as raw and campy and pointed as critics have pointed out, and, being a remake of a play, not the movie, this version didn't have all the social commentary and ridicule that Waters slammed into his story. That said, the movie was pleasant, the stars all good, Travolta completely acceptable playing a big mamma coming into her own. Despite all the silly crap "Crash" took from too many supercilious critics for its unsubtle messaging, it was a very good effort to reopen our minds and discussions to the importance of integration and racial acceptance in a functioning society, an effort that "Hairspray" continues.
In fact, what I've taken away from "Hairspray" in the days since I saw it were two frankly depressing realizations. One, of how awkward the civil rights movement and message are today when presented in the same basic terms they were in their heyday. All we do today is lip service, if we do it at all, and the attacks on "Crash" and "Hairspray" are just proof of how jaundiced our "superior" minds have become. As someone who long ago realized that a single civil rights worker showed more courage in a day than I will in my life, I lament what we've done to their legacies. Two, of Baltimore, the site of the hopeful acceptance of racial integration in the movie. Anyone who knows Baltimore now sees how ironic?, sarcastic?, painful? the happy integration turned out in real life. It's like finding out Cinderella and the Prince ended an abusive marriage in divorce and their kids in drug rehab.
Over the last few decades, with the support of both parties and the media, we've pulled the curtain down on the effort and the dreams and the lives of Dr. King and Bob Moses and Fanny Lou Hamer and all the others. The Supreme [sic] Court just reversed Brown, with a ridiculous rationale that being unbiased meant supporting white dominance, and we yawned (if that). We've turned incarceration into the third subjugation of blacks in this country after slavery and Jim Crow, the litany of tasks still to be done is as long as ever, and the SCLC and NAACP seems most worked up about defending a dogfighting quarterback. Still, you leave "Hairspray" revitalized about the hope and the promise. If we're lucky, people will also leave thinking "why aren't we still doing that?" Isn't it time to work up some signs and get back into the streets?
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Some Good News from Hollywood
Looks like some folks there have grown consciences about cigarette use in their movies and shows. Good for them. Now just get their “talent” to stop doing it and to start telling impressionable folks to stop. Maybe they should point out the erectile dysfunction that occurs from it. That should get some attention. (Think of the commercials!!)
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Torture Porn
I know I’m just a cranky old man, but one of the continual signs of this nation’s unseriousness and amorality has been its thrall for “torture porn” movies. Rather than rant on, I’ll just turn you over to this guy who does a really fine analysis of what the popularity of these putrid films means and leads us.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Once
"The Commitments" is one of my all-time favorite movies, not just because it's Irish but because of the music. So when I heard about "Once," the latest Irish film export, which starred a member of the Commitments' cast, it got my attention. When I saw it had, like, 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, it was on my list.
Definitely worth the 97%. (What movie were the 3% watching?) Not much plot. Couple of lonely musicians who find each other, work together, awed by each other's music, getting a demo made to take to London to find a distributor. Smart music, smart movie. An Irish kind of "Lost in Translation," with the same lingering tone. (You'll have to see it to know why.) The male lead actually did write most of the songs. The film captures the Dublin feel, not all "Irish Springy" but the real Dublin, even grainy and coarse a lot of the time. The relationship between the male lead and his father is touching, and a vacuum player gets a key part.
The thing about this movie that I really appreciate is that I got a great sense, maybe for the first time, of what a musician, someone who lives for the music, actually feels and why. I've seen some documentaries that try to get it across, but they seem like people who know they're being filmed. These two leads, with their earnest appreciation for each other and their talents, do better acting it than those doc subjects living it. The ending isn't American, which means you'll find yourself thinking about it, challenged by it, appreciating it long after. I think this is a movie that musicians will relate to. I'm just glad they made it so some of the rest of us could understand a little better, too.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Knocked Up
Saw "Knocked Up" today. It's good. Don't have much to add that the other bloggers haven't hit on. Didn't get as much out of the stoner guys as some reviewers, but it may have been because my wife was with me. The Boy and I used to go to some teenage sex movies without her (with no askance looks from others in the audience, I assure you) because she thinks some things and guys are too gross for words, much less to laugh at. It's good she didn't visit The Boy more often at college, I think, especially his last year getting his MBA.
In any case, the story is good, sweet, and responsible, which are neither liberal nor conservative, and neither group should condemn or claim the movie. How low have we gotten in our discourse when two oddly matched people fall in love and start a family, whether it was their original plan or not, causes debate? The movie is right. Make your plans, make yourself ready to have them blown up, take responsibility for what you get, and move on. That's a message we need to hear a lot more of in our movies, one every segment of our society should take seriously. Let's hope this starts a trend in Hollywood. The Boy and I will keep taking my wife if they will.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Waitress
Saw two movies over the weekend. One was "Waitress," a sweet, well-done story of a young wife with an abusive husband and a talent for making pies who discovers forlornly that she is pregnant but, by the end, she has reversed her life and welcomed her beloved daughter into the world. The other was "Waitress," an unforgettable love letter from a mother, who wrote, directed, and co-starred in the movie just before being murdered by a construction worker she argued with over his noise downstairs, to her just-born daughter, who is star Keri Russell's daughter in the final shots. The first might make you think of "Alice," with the acerbic cook and two loved girlfriends and the not-to-be romance with an off-limits guy, but "Alice" wishes she were "Waitress." The second is one of the saddest movies I've ever seen, knowing that Adrienne Shelly had written it while pregnant and intended it in part to show her daughter her thoughts and growing love but that, instead, it will stand as the most perfect, most tragic legacy of pure love that a mother can leave a daughter. As I watched the final scenes, I couldn't help but wonder at what age the girl's father will let her see this movie. Is he already? At what age will the girl shift from a vague understanding that this movie has her dead mother in it to a realization that she was the intended audience for this emphatic "I love you so much" from a woman she will never know? How will that girl respond? Being a man, of course, I didn't cry. But I didn't talk much during the walk from the theater to our car. It was truly a unique experience, watching one movie that was really two, enjoying them each, recommending the first, never forgetting the second.
