Nick And Norah Have A Boring Playlist

This week I've been a bit busy (plus the Phillies won the World Series) so I forgot about having seen "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist". That comment alone is not one that suggests lots of upcoming positive praise.

This is another in a growing list of movies trying to be like all the other Judd Apatow romantic comedies of recent history (but isn't an Apatow movie). It even features several actors that were featured in some of those same movies. I suspect there's a relationship in there somewhere but it's not hyped in any way if there is.

That being said, it certainly didn't come packaged with any of the laughs of the other movies. This one is a pretty flat experience with some pretty ridiculous concepts, a bevvy of stereotypes and only a few decent laughs throughout.

I wasn't in a rush to see it because it stars a now perennial punching bag of mine in the name of Michael Cera. See past blogs regarding my total disdain for this actor. In every film he seems to play the same exact guy. Each time he's supposed to be the geeky guy trying to win the girl but in each case I think it fails because he's simply gay. I don't know if the actor himself is gay but if there's one thing Michael Cera knows it's how to play gay even when he's not trying to play gay.

He kisses like someone allergic to women. He looks like someone allergic to women. He carries himself like someone allergic to women. He responds like someone allergic to women. I've come to believe he must be allergic to women.

Norah, played by Kat Dennings, is a likeable enough character and probably the one saving grace of the movie. I last saw her as the virginal daughter in Apatow's "40 Year-Old Virgin". She's cute here, does a good job and manages to keep your interest in the movie going long after it should have been abandoned. I think she'll sadly have to work overtime to distance herself from the bad job of casting here and the lackluster script. She has better things in her future hopefully.

This movie, in the end, felt like a very low-bandwidth version of the excellent, "Juno" except that it isn't in the same league. I don't feel ripped off having seen it but I could have had as good a time sitting at home napping.

When Will We Catch The Criminal?

I want to know when the FBI and local authorities are going to get off their asses and get out on the street to catch a despicable criminal that has clearly been traveling around the country.

What kind of sick mind brainwashes someone to wear $150,000 wardrobes against their will while making them act as if they're happy doing so? This sort of activity needs to stop.

Seriously, I'm sick of the bullshit coming out of the McCain campaign over the issue of her wardrobe and other related items.

They want to point to the wealth of the Obama's but there's a huge problem with that approach. Unless this fictional criminal was even more devious, no one forced Governor Sarah Palin to attempt to appeal to voters with her "I'm just like you", "hockey Mom" rhetoric. It was their campaign that purposely made this distinction.

It was like when Republican Congressman Dennis Hastert was running around telling people he drove a hybrid only to be photographed driving a huge SUV to within blocks of events and then switching over to his hybrid. Palin is the one that wanted people to believe she was just like you and me. She then thought it was totally fine to wear the wardrobe the RNC put in front of her and to accept getting hair and make-up that came from a stylist who makes more than anyone else in the campaign.

The fact that she doesn't own the clothes--her defense, is irrelevant. She showed poor judgement in wearing them at all. She talks about being against frivilous spending and how she fights it at every turn but the evidence shows the exact opposite in every case. She said she was against the bridge to nowhere but was first for it and, in the end, KEPT THE MONEY even when the project was dead.

Forgive me Governor but your words ring hollow.

Rachel Getting Married In Appaloosa

The movies for this past week took me to a wedding and the old west.

First up was, "Rachel Getting Married". This film stars Anne Hathaway as Kim, a troubled young woman returning home from some sort of incarceration just in time to experience the chaos of planning and preparation going on there for her sister Rachel's wedding the following day.

The movie is shot as if a camera were hidden in the room simply recording everything that happens--good and bad or, as is the case here, boring or not (more the former).

Most things in life are not good fodder for a movie and I contend that this is why Hollywood embellishes everything so much. This is the perfect example of why we don't just record everything and call it a movie.

We get one scene that runs for 10 minutes that focuses almost exclusively on a fully-realized, fully-detailed "race" between the father of the bride and the groom-to-be over who can fill the dish washer better. I'm not joking. The entire scene exists to spend 10 seconds on the closing shot to tell us something we all already gathered. Other scenes drag on like this seemingly forever. The wedding reception shows what feels like every song the band plays, in real time, and we see various characters dancing for the entirety of the songs. When the scene does change it changes to another song and more people dancing. Once in a great while we see a shot of Kim looking despondent.

In all there are perhaps two or three scenes of any real merit in the entire movie. It just wasn't worth the hassle to get to the meat here. It was like driving all day to get to a buffet that only offers one option. As a result I will have absolutely no interest in, of course, "Rachel Getting Divorced" if any such film ever gets made.

The second movie was the new western, "Appaloosa" starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger and Jeremy Irons. This was quite an interesting experience from the very start. I can't say I've ever seen a film quite like this. The dialogue is entirely unique and the repartee between Harris and Mortensen is something you have to see to understand. Frankly, it's what both drives and makes the movie. Their characters have a symbiotic relationship that has been forged over years of working together that cannot be matched or upset.

They play "lawful" guns-for-hire brought into the town of Appaloosa to deal with a town local gone bad played by Irons. Mortensen looks amazing in the role and seems to have been transported directly out of 1880 for the role. He looks so good in it that it's a bit disturbing for a while.

If there's a misfire it's in the casting of Jeremy Irons and the antagonist. He tries, but never fully succeeds, in using an old-West accent. As much as I like Irons he just doesn't work here.

The story is decent but nothing to write home about. It's a worthwhile investment and you'll enjoy the unique nature of the movie even though it will leave you feeling a bit wanting at the end.

I Saw A Girl Cut In Two

Wow, that title reads great. Thankfully it's not the way it sounds. I saw a movie called, "A Girl Cut In Two". The oddest part about it is that the only time that happens is at the end of the film in a sequence that makes absolutely no sense to the rest of the film.

This is a French movie with English subtitles for those who hate subtitles. I don't mind them at all. A good story is a good story to me. This, however, was not one of those cases. It's mainly the story of an older French man who, seemingly on a whim, falls for a much younger woman around 35 years his junior. She, of course, just as nonchalantly falls for him without any reason for doing so. To further complicate matters, since the guy is French, he's also happily married, and no one seems to care at all about that fact. He parades the new girl about at all his favorite haunts like it's the most perfectly normal thing to do.

There's also a young challenger for the girl's affections and he's no cup of tea either. In fact, he's a complete prick. This, of course, means that the girl doesn't just dismiss him at once but keeps him around for some entirely unknown reason.

How this colossal waste of time received so many positive reviews is a complete mystery. This could have a hard time avoiding my least favorite movies of the year list.

Closing Thoughts

The further I get from the debate the more I think John McCain lost it by a wide margin (not withstanding Fox News' poll that had 89% saying McCain won..... amazing).

The biggest things that stand out now:

1. John McCain, when asked by moderator Tom Brokaw (who really stunk) who he'd appoint as Treasury Secretary said, at first, that Barack Obama had a great advisor in Warren Buffett.

2. In the same question McCain chooses to bring up Meg Whitman as a great choice. Had he left it at that it might have gone quietly but instead he points out that she was the CEO of ebay and talked about how great ebay is. This speaks heavily as to how out-of-touch McCain can be. Did no one mention to McCain that ebay announced a huge layoff of 1,600 jobs or 10% of it's entire workforce?

3. Somehow McCain wants us to believe that he has the better judgment and underscores that by refering to Obama as, "That one" in a dismissive insulting manner. This shows a complete lack of any comprehension of common sense. For a number of valid reasons you don't refer to someone else, especially someone of color, as "that one".

4. McCain had a huge gaffe when he tried to paint Obama as erratic and inexperienced. When Obama started to respond McCain pushed the door wide-open for Obama when, in response to Obama's retort that mentioned McCain stating he's stable, said, "Thank you!" At this Obama then hung McCain out to dry by reminding everyone that McCain was the one that wanted to obliterate North Korea, sang "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" and wanted to race into Baghdad well before the right time. You could see McCain visibly cringe when he realized he stepped into this.

5. "It's like nailing jello to the wall. Sooner or later there'll be another one." This in suggesting Obama wants to raise taxes. What the heck does that even mean?

6. His total body language and condescending tone throughout the debate was completely off-putting. He needs to stop saying, "My friends". My friends are of my choosing. Do not call me a friend when you don't have any clue who I am or what I stand for. It suggests to me that you're trying to sell me a snow job. Add to this the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae comment to a questioner and it's just all bad.

Debate 2: Answers vs. Rhetoric

I'm in the middle of watching the debate and so far it's pretty one-sided.

John McCain is not winning this debate so far. He's doing little with respect to laying out his plans and simply attacking Barack Obama. I also feel much of the approach he's using as condescending. The biggest example was when he told an audience member that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are two organizations he likely had never heard of.

I also find that I'm becoming completely sold on Obama's command of the issues. Obama is not without problems here as he's taking the bait on some of the attacks. However, he is going much further than McCain on laying out detailed specifics on his plans for running the country.

It seems so far that Obama is leading this debate but it's not, so far, by a knock-out. McCain certainly isn't gaining any ground with this. His rhetoric is often putting him in bad light and driving independent voters towards Obama.

I was leaning towards Obama and the reality of Governor Sarah Palin as McCain's choice has pretty much cemented my decision. This debate is just working to make me feel more comfortable in my thinking. If only I could believe this is the same John McCain from 2000....

Two Movies About Faith

This past week I saw another two movies and for the first time in a long time I felt like there were a lot of choices for a change.

The first movie was, "Flash of Genius". This is the true story of the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper. Unfortunately the movie is almost as boring as that sounds. It stars Greg Kinnear in the lead role and he does a fine job as usual.

The biggest problem with the movie is that it never really takes the time to explain why the intermittent windshield wiper is such a big deal. We're all so used to it now that it'd be like having a movie about the guy who invented the Post-It Note.

Furthermore, it's pretty standard fair as these stories go. Little guy invents something new, takes it to big business, has faith they'll treat him fairly, gets screwed, sues, ends up losing everything in the battle but ultimately prevails.

Trust me, I didn't ruin it for anyone as the movie makes it pretty evident that it's going to be the same standard story all the way through. It's a good movie for younger teens as an educational experience in why you shouldn't be so trusting of corporate America but that's about it.

The second movie was Bill Maher's "Religulous". Maher has made a career out of questioning religion in all forms and Religulous is his attempt to bring that question to the masses.

This one is pretty much as I expected. I'm a big fan of Maher but he tends to rant on some subjects and loses sight of the bigger picture along the way. This movie is no different. He takes aim at just about every religion and feels it's okay to stop questioning after simply ridiculing whoever he happens to be talking with.

This had the chance to be something special but Maher just isn't a skilled filmmaker. There are some nicely funny moments and some enlightening ones as well but it's all no more than skin deep. He's done a much better job of making his point on the subject during his own HBO show or in various stand-up routines.

Debating The Definition of Debates

The Vice Presidential debate is over and I'm glad we can finally talk about larger issues again.

The bottom line for this debate was clear in my view. It was less about who won or lost and more about Governor Sarah Palin's performance. She's the one everyone is curious about. After the incredible disaster of the Katie Couric interviews everyone wondered if she'd destroy the entire McCain campaign in one last major meltdown. That didn't happen and that seems to have re-energized Republicans with regard to her capabilities but it's a false sense of security.

In the final analysis this was supposed to be a debate. Viewed as a debate Governor Palin failed in every legitimate analytical perspective. Senator Joe Biden made Palin look like a complete novice with regard to her grasp of virtually everything of importance in the world today.

It struck me that the most accurate way to comment on Palin is to realize that she was extremely polarizing tonight. If you went into the debate as a fan of hers then you likely left happy. If you weren't a fan then you were even more certain of your position afterwards.

However, back to the debate concept, the facts are pretty irrefutable:

Governor Palin, on several occasions flat-out dodged the question. On several of those she did respond to she botched the answers. I was concerned that she didn't understand what the Constitution says about the powers of the Vice President. She tried to pull a Dick Cheney and that's not going to endear her to any undecided voters.

It seemed clear that Governor Sarah Palin also benefited from a poor job of questioning by the PBS moderator. There really weren't any surprising questions. Palin simply sat up there reciting a series of stock answers from her speeches and this only worked because of the lack of originality in the queries.

I quickly tired of her avoiding answers by trying to play to "ordinary" Americans by again using the phrases, "hockey moms" and "joe six-packs". We're just completing eight catastrophic years that underscore the result of voting for an "ordinary" guy we all want to have a drink with. The last thing I want in office is a run-of-the-the-mill hockey mom. We deserve much more.

She offered no real facts. When she did try a few they were incorrect.

A major blunder in my view was when she tried to suggest that the blunders of the current administration represent nothing out of the ordinary. She said that all administrations have these. This from the aforementioned hockey mom who must have taught her kids that two wrongs don't make a right.

I caught several examples of her trying to leverage past great moments in history. The biggest one was when she plagiarized President Ronald Reagan when responding to Biden with, "There you go again, Joe."

She had her backside handed to her by Biden when she overstated the "Maverick" title that John McCain has been trading on after having shed that skin to get the nomination. Biden turned the comment on its ear pointing out how his maverick label isn't accurate based on the record of things that matter to most Americans.

Biden's biggest moment was calling out Palin on the biggest point of all. He noted, quite memorably, that Governor Palin failed entirely to point to a single case where John McCain's planning differs at all from those of President Bush. The irony is that Governor Palin kept trying to suggest that Biden is stuck in the past when it's so easy to suggest that it's McCain who's stuck there.

She failed entirely from telling anyone about any substantive plans for how her ticket would solve any problems. Senator Biden pointed out such details more than a few times. It was all talking points without any depth.

In the biggest testament to her true make-up she again failed heavily. Near the end of the debate Joe Biden was put in a position where he felt he needed to touch on the tragedy that had befallen his family back when he was 29. Biden was clearly moved and choked-up and really connected with many. When the response period moved quickly back to Palin she offered no comment, no response, no sympathy--nothing. She just went right to more talking points about Americans desire for change. Yes, we want change--change away from people who talk the talk but don't have a heart that allows them to truly walk the walk.

The best thing you can say about her performance tonight is that she didn't wilt. If that's what you see as being enough to qualify someone for the White House then I have to seriously question your judgment.