Guys Like Me Are Born Loving Women Like You: Young Adult (2011)

I had the highest hopes for a film that was written by Diablo Cody, she is perhaps the only writer who I have come to know by name excluding Aaron Sorkin and it took multiple movies for that to become the case.  Given this, I was thoroughly excited to see her name attached to Young Adult, as I knew it would be a witty, hip narrative that required a vast cultural awareness to appreciate.  While this can certainly be said about the narrative, it still manages to fall short as a film.  I felt the film to lack several layers of believability and any amount of sincere honesty.  I cannot blame this on the acting, because each actor delivers their character with skill and subtlety and void of the self-reverence present in Cody's previous film Juno.  I am more inclined to blame the films overall lack on the filmic composition of the narrative, we are given little back story throughout the film to understand the characters, but nowhere near enough to empathize with them, regardless of their various levels of pity.  Simply put, Cody tries so desperately for us to find her characters troubled, yet endearing that it becomes obnoxiously obvious to the point that their self-loathing, particularly the main character, is disgusting.  I applaud Cody for removing the wit of her work from the script, as it would undeniably serve as a crutch, yet she as a writer has not evolved enough to find a replacement for the wit and the Young Adult suffers heavily from this failure.

Young Adult follows a ghostwriter named Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) who is having an existential crisis concerning her impending 30th birthday and the realization that her former boyfriend was having a child.  As a result undertakes a quest to return to her small town of Mercury, Minnesota to flaunt her popularity and win back her high school sweetheart Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson).  Mavis, a functioning alcoholic, who spends her days knocking back buckets of Ben & Jerry's and watching reality television thinks, that her plans will happen instantaneously and that everything in Mercury will be precisely as she left it a decade ago.  When she enters the now suburban city, she is disgusted by its corporate consumption and seeks out shelter in a popular local pub named Woody's.  There she runs into Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) a former classmate of Mavis's who was badly injured by classmates who beat him up after falsely assuming him to be gay.  Mavis in a drunken stupor explains her plans to Matt who instantly dismisses her reminding her that Buddy was married with a child.  Mavis ignores his warnings and schedules a meeting for drinks with Buddy, who agrees to the date simply out of kindness.  It is at this point in the narrative that viewers realize how far gone Mavis is mentally.  Her meeting with Buddy is clearly awkward and brief, yet Mavis is assured that she has won back her former lover and agrees to meet up with him again to see Buddy's wife Beth (Elizabeth Reaser) play a live show with her band, aptly named Nipple Confusion.  In the process every thing falls apart for Mavis.  She wrecks her vehicle, has an awkward confrontation with her mother and drunkenly sleeps with Matt before waking up to realize the delusion she is facing.  She leaves Matt's room and after having a talk with his younger sister about the place of her life in relation to Mercury and drives off to return to Minneapolis.  It is implied that Mavis finishes her book with a new and bold perspective on life, one that is completely distanced from her past.

Young Adult is a decent movie, but I cannot begin to attempt to analyze the varying problematic portrayals within the film.  The film is drenched now with what one would call "first world problems," a phrase made popular by the rise of tumbler based websites.  These problems refer to anything that is a seeming inconvenience to an individual that are reflective of their obvious comfort, for example a person complaining about their favorite restaurant changing the menu would be first world in that a considerable part of the global community struggles to gain proper, if any, nourishment.   While the film's examples are by no means this extreme, they certainly are rather arbitrary.  Mavis complains of her job as a ghostwriter and her lack of hip restaurant choices to the people of Mercury when it is clear that her lifestyle far exceeds any of those she encounters, particularly that of Matt who has become a cripple based solely on fictitious rumors spread by ill-willed teenager.  Her job and lazy lifestyle are the thing of dreams as made apparent by the longing gazes of the women she encounters in the film, making her complaints seem bitter and illogical.  Similarly, Mavis is self-destructive, abrasive alcoholic who is never judged in the narrative for her actions.  Instead, the film simply ends with her comfortable in her own shoes, implying that her truly destructive ways are in the past, along with the people she inevitably destroyed.  Aside from suffering from Trichotillomania there is really no explanation to Mavis mental state, thus making her actions simply bitter and hateful, not acts of a person who is suffering mental instability.  While it may seem this way, Mavis is an unkind person who never receives narrative punishment for her problems.  This is perhaps the inherent flaw in the film that explains is ultimate lack of enjoyability.

I know my critique makes it seem unwatchable, but the film is not terrible.  If anything, you should watch it just to see the excellent performance by Patton Oswalt...trust me it will surprise you.  It is still in the cheap theaters making it worth a theater going experience.

You Destroyed Your Spirit In A Waste Of Shame: Red State (2011)

Kevin Smith has always brought a certain level of serious societal criticism to his films, whether it be a his hilarious romp through the fallacies of organized religion in Dogma or his clearly autobiographical look at lost love in Chasing Amy.  Smith, however, always manages to keep his films staunchly comedic endeavors, rarely going wholly dramatic in his approach.  This fact is what helped to make his newest film Red State something completely out of the ordinary.  Instead of being a comedic film with dashes of drama, Smith's 2011 film is the complete opposite and its very much an action/drama film that is light on its comedic hits.  One could quickly assume that a director completely stepping out of his comfort zone would produce dire results, yet to my surprise Red State is a very watchable film.  It will never make the short list for the best Kevin Smith films by any means, but it is an excellent change of pace for the director, particularly given his apparent decreasing relevance to contemporary indie discourse.  Regardless, the film is fully realized and a fresh take for Kevin Smith, not to mention given its clearly liberal leanings it was not entirely difficult for me to enjoy its scathing attack on the illogical horrors exacted by religious fundamentalist extremism.

Red State is rather bizarre in its plot, but one that seems entirely possible in American society.  The initial portion of the film focuses on three boys Travis (Michael Angarano), Randy (Ronnie Connell) and Billy-Ray (Nicholas Braun) who are unpopular in their high school, making their quest to get laid seemingly impossible.  This quest is overshadowed by their community dealing with the absurd protest of the Five Points Trinity Church at a recently murdered gay student's funeral.  Despite this, the boys are able to chase down a possible sexual encounter via a craigslist style website for sex.  Planning ahead, the group is able to get one of their parents car and travel to the location in the country outside of their small suburban town.  On the way to the encounter, they accidentally sideswipe a car which is occupied by the town sheriff and a gay prostitute.  In a panic, the group flees the scene and continues on their quest.  They quickly reach their point and find their meet-up point, which happens to be a trailer occupied by a woman named Sara (Melissa Leo).  The nervous boys adhere to Sara's demands without question, which includes downing multiple beers before stripping.  It is at this point that Sara chastises the group for attempting to engage in sodomy.  Befuddled the boys begin to lose consciousness and pass out, only to wake up to haunting spirituals and a realization that they are victims to the previously mentioned Five Points Trinity Church.  Witnessing the murder of a gay man at the hands of the church led by the maniacal, yet eerily friendly Abin Cooper (Michael Parks) the boys try to escape.  Their efforts seem futile, but luckily, the upset sheriff has sent a deputy to search for the car, which leads him to the Five Points compound.  The deputy after realizing that the situation is quite suspicious attempts to call in reinforcements, only to be shot by a member of the church.  This shooting leads to the sheriff, despite threats of blackmail by Abin, to call in the help of the ATF.  The film then enters into its second act, which focuses on Agent Keenan (John Goodman) who is a specialist in the plots and going-ons of Five Points, particularly their accrual of weapons and explosives.  Attempting to make the confiscation and removal of members from the location amiable, Keenan sets a stakeout point, only to have the sheriff ruin the plan by shooting one of the fleeing boys leading to a full-on shoot out, which leaves many killed in the process.  After much fighting and a constant changing of plans by the government the member of Five Points evacuate their facility after hearing what sound to be trumpets.  Thinking these sounds to be the act of God, Abin walks up to Keenan defiantly only to be subdued with a headbutt.  The film then cuts to Keenan at a federal hearing to justify his actions, in which he is scolded on camera, only to be told off camera that his actions were perfectly reasonable, if not hilarious, and would result in his promotion.  The film closes with Abin jailed for engaging in intended terrorist activities, with an ironic assumption that the gay acts he loathed so much would be enacted upon him frequently in jail.  It is in this closing shot that we get the most Keven Smithesque jab of the entire film.

So this film is not initially what one would expect form Kevin Smith, with that being said it is still easy to pick up his little offerings throughout the film.  The first and foremost is the raunchy characters, while they are not on the level of Jason Mewes, the young boys foul mouth and sex-crazed minds immediately place the film in the world of Kevin Smith.  Second, the film is incredibly detailed both in its narrative and in its physical world.  The characters statements, including the seemingly insane ramblings of Abin are realized and quite reflective on what an individual in such a role would say.  Furthermore, Smith's attention to details with his set is one of his best creations to date, from the civics classroom covered with quotes, pictures of presidents and reminders to the church complete with a large metal cross, children's drawings and food for a post-rapture world, this is a world that exists as a plausible reality.  It has always been a concern of Smith since his filming of life in a convenience store to promote believability and Red State certainly adheres to this notion.  Finally, and perhaps the hardest to connect between the collective works of Smith are his moments of prophetic clarity in his works.  Perhaps the most prolific of these occurs in the diner conversation between Ben Affleck's character and Jay and Silent Bob, in which Bob breaks out of his muteness to explain the woes of love and how every individual has to "chase" their own inaccessible love.  This moment of clarity occurs in the closing of Red State during the interview between Keenan and the government agents, in which Keenan realizes that the blaring horns, which actually from a practical joke played by neighboring college students, were so unexpected and illogical that such a thing as divine intervention occurs in the world, even if the source is not literally divine.  It posits the possibility of karmatic punishment and reward, without directly tying it to a deity.  It is a profound moment in a film about hateful and ignorant blindness, and one that could only come from the mind of Kevin Smith.

Just like my previous review of Restless, Red State is another great film for the year of 2011.  It is certainly not Kevin Smith's best, but one well worth owning nonetheless, particularly given the gritty beauty of the bluray release.

What I Believe In Is Called The Constitution Of The United States Of America: The Ides Of March (2011)

Sometimes you can tell by a trailer alone that a film will be fantastic, this is certainly the case with The Ides of March.  I am sure that a large constituent of people dismissed this film solely because it was directed by George Clooney or because it was a political film, however, those who instantly disregarded this film are missing out on something special.  The Ides of March is an honest film about the deceitful and theatrical world of political performance and the unforeseen effects such illusions of normalcy have on the private lives of those involved.  It is a film so intertwined with the desires and beliefs of each character shown that is becomes almost impossible to choose a character that you like, or can even tolerate.  It is clear from the onset that we are to side with certain individuals, but even with this information, the viewer cannot help to disdain their involvement in unethical endeavors, even if they are simply doing so to survive in the Darwinian inspired landscape of American politics.  I know those past few sentences seem like incoherent ramblings, yet it is the best I thing I could provide to even begin to explain the intensity of this film.

The film centers mostly on the actions and experiences of Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling) a up and coming speech writing prodigy for the democratic governor Mike Morris (George Clooney)  who is seeking the candidacy of president.  Myers is keen at his job as in a major factor in assuring that Morris receives the nod from his party, despite facing tough competition against a senator named Ted Pullman (Michael Mantell).  Assisted by weathered political adviser Paul Zara (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) the Morris campaign is invincible and even has the assistance of the media via New York Times writer Ida (Marissa Tomei).  Everything seems set to work brilliantly, until Myers receives an unusual call from the competing campaigns adviser Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) requesting that they get lunch and discuss things.  Myers is justifiably suspicious but agrees to meet with Duffy regardless.  When he engages in this meeting, he quickly realizes his mistake, as Duffy attempts to recruit him to Pullman's campaign.  Upset and confused Myers leaves the restaurant and decides to take up a dinner invitation from one of the interns for the Morris campaign.  The young girl Myers has dinner with is one Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood) whose father heads the Democratic National Committee.  Regardless of the blatant problems with sleeping with Stearns, Myers decides to pursue a relationship with her because he finds her exceptionally intriguing.  Their romance seems to be probable until they are together and Myers accidentally picks up a call for her from Morris.  Realizing the inherent issues in his discovery Myers demands that Stearns ceases all contact with the governor.  However, this request is not simple given that Stearns has become pregnant as a result of her encounter with Morris.  This all comes in the face of the Morris campaign discovering Myers recent meeting, which leads to his removal from the campaign.  His removal is quickly trivialized when it is discovered that Stearns has overdosed on prescription drugs, one that she received after the realization that her recent abortion was more about Morris's political image than her own comfort.  Myers seizes this opportunity, with some emotional turmoil, and uses his knowledge to regain access to the Morris campaign, in a backroom shadowy scene that is reminiscent to Network.  The film then closes on Myers reengaging in the Morris campaign with a new look in his eyes; one that is a combination of disillusionment and disdain for all that is political.

I mentioned the film being an incredibly personal look at the effects of politics on individuals, which perhaps helps to explain the uncomfortable detachment I felt as a viewer.  It helps truly elucidate the impossibilities of any political figure truly representing the ideals of every individual, because what is relevant to one person may completely illogical or counterintuitive to another.   Take for example the candidates desires to win over the Democratic senator Franklin Thompson's (Jeffery Wright) nod of support.  Both realize that the endorsement of his voters, if only verbal, could be the single factor in influencing the actions of the remaining election.  However, they also realize that in order to gain such support they must be willing to provide a substantial offer in return, in this case cabinet positions.  It may seem as though Thompson's actions are conniving and dishonest, however, the simple fact is that he is concerned with his future in politics, which rest on assuring his place in a political position.  Similarly, Myers reacts to the announcement of Stearns pregnancy with little joy and, in fact, much disdain.   Myers is justified in his concern, because as he notes a politician one can get away with pretty much anything, but sleeping with interns is the obvious exception.  Myers is reacting out of concern for Morris's political image, which inevitably means his future employment.   In an idea situation Myer's would prefer what is best for Stearns, however, politics muck up everything and often have very dire and fatal results.  The film shows how quickly politics concerning the repressed on a large scale disappear simply because each individual has an insurmountable amount of ulterior motives.

The Ides of March is yet another movie from an outstanding year of filmmaking, to call it middle of the road would be true for 2011, yet if it were released in any other year, it would be one of the best movies of the year.  Grab a copy and watch it, it is an intensely real film experience.

Top Ten Thursday: Biopics

A good biopic is expansive, detailed and more often than not extremely biased.  Often released around Oscar season, biopics are usually inundated with respected actors and directed by notable persons in Hollywood.  Today I offer my list of favorite biopics, many of which were not Oscar contenders and a handful that were.  It is all in the hopes that the upcoming Abraham Lincoln movie will be glorious.

10.) The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

A poem of a film, The Passion of Joan of Arc set the standard for all biographies made after.

9.) Andrei Rublev (1971)

The Tarkovsky masterpiece on the unconventional experiences of a artistic monk is a film of grand proportions.

Review Here





8.) The Pianist (2002)

Roman Polanksi's biopic about Polish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman will drain your heart each and every time you watch the film. 

7.) An Angel At My Table (1990)

Simply put, An Angel At My table is how one should make a biography about an author.  I would be hard pressed to find a more cinematic study of an author than Jane Campion's biopic on Janet Frame.

6.) My Left Foot (1989)

My Left Foot introduced the world to Daniel Day-Lewis as cripple Christy Brown, garnering the actor his first of what will likely be several Oscars.

5.) Richard III (1955)

"A donkey,  a donkey, my kingdom for a donkey."

4.) The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (2007)

This French stream-of-conscious biopic is a lesson in artistic cinema that left viewers mesmerized upon its release.








3.) Raging Bull (1980)

The black and white story of Ray La Motta made Scorsese a household name and Robert De Niro a man's man actor.

2.) Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Perhaps the most controversial biopic on the list, the story of T.E. Lawrence burns off the screen with excitement.

1.) Amadeus (1984)

This music heavy biopic is as much about the title character as it is about Antonio Salieri, and its excellent composition earned it a slew of Oscar nods.

Honorable Mention

Schindler's List (1993)
The King's Speech (2010)
The Social Network (2010)
Moneyball (2011)

How Can You Not Get Romantic About Baseball: Moneyball (2011)

I enjoy sports movies, mostly for their underdog narrative and quotability.  I will staunchly defend a film like Remember The Titans or Hoosiers as sound pieces of narrative cinema that are both enjoyable and relevant.  However, I am less apt to hone in on sports movies about professional baseball teams with the same kind of support.  This was the case at least until I watched Moneyball.  Perhaps it was the always impressive acting of Brad Pitt or the keen yet accessible dialogue of Aaron Sorkin, but Moneyball was everything I was looking for from a mainstream movie in 2011 and was elated to close out a year of movie going with such a respectable piece of cinema.  Moneyball certainly does not top the art house magic of Tree of Life or the nostalgic beauty of Midnight In Paris, but Bennett Miller's follow up to Capote is what a biopic should be honest, engaging and unbiased.  Moneyball has villains and heroes, yet as a great film reminds its viewers, both sides are fighting a battle that is often much larger then their seemingly petty problems.


As advertisements made clear, Moneyball is based on a true story, that story being of the player turned general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and his attempt to redeem the 2002 Oakland Athletics from baseball obscurity.  However, his task is rather burdensome because he must do so in the opposition of losing his teams best players to financially powerful teams while also dealing with his own team's relatively miniscule budget.  Believing all to be lost, Beane attempts to make a friendly trade in Cleveland only to discover that the Indian's have hired a wunderkind statistician named Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) to make their trading decisions.  Intrigued by the general manager's willingness to listen to such a young guy, Beane approaches Brand and asks how he makes his decisions.  Brand explains at great length that he has created various mathematical equations about on base percentage and other factors which help to point out that many teams overlook excellent players simply for their appearances, off field antics or assumed aging issues.   Impressed by Brand's attempts to change the face of baseball, Beane hires on Brand and they proceed to change the entire Athletics roster.  This change faces opposition from the teams coach Art Howe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and head scout Grady Fuson (Ken Medlock).  Furthermore, Beane faces his own issues of the field, which include accepting his own failed attempt at baseball glory, dealing with his life post divorce and keeping a close relationship with his daughter.  Although Beane faces the same end of season loss, Brand's suggestions and Beane's headstrong attitude about baseball lead to the team winning twenty consecutive games thus breaking the MLB record and a new found respect for how baseball could be played.  Beane, however, remained disillusioned by the fact that he still lost and accepts an interview with the Boston Red Sox.  Despite being offered a startling sum of 12.5 million dollars Beane decides to remain at Oakland.  The film closes with a subtle yet poetic image of Beane riding through the decaying landscape of Oakland while listening to a song recorded by his daughter, a statement about the truths of baseball and life, one that reminds viewers that some quests in life cannot be accomplished by statistical analysis and bargaining, but simply must be learned through trial and error.

In classic Sorkin fashion, the narrative seems straightforward and free of social criticism at first glance, however, by the end of the film it is apparent that Moneyball is a blatant critique of corporate oppression in the United States with baseball serving as the venue.   It is blatantly a film about capitalist domination whether it is the ability of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees to buy out any hopes of a winning chance or his ex-wives change of spouse to someone more financially stable.  However, Sorkin is careful to show how expansive this oppression is through the character of Art Howe who is the villain throughout the film for his refusal to partake in what he believes to be an absurd approach to baseball management.  Howe, though, as Sorkin shows through dialogue is concerned with his own job in the future and would ideally support Beane's decision if it meant his own financial safety.  In a capitalist structure, Howe represents a white male who thinks his power comes from financial security and thus adheres to the structure for what he believes to be his own security when in fact it is a falsely created sense of safety for the capitalist oppressors who care little for his place in the structure.  To the oppressors, in this case teams like Boston and New York, Howe is dispensable and replaceable with a quick signing of a check.  For a team like Oakland, Howe is absolutely necessary, however, they have no ability to financially back this notion.  The rebellion to this aforementioned oppression comes then from Brand who realizes the illogical nature of baseball theory which places its heaviest pride in image and financial revenue as opposed to practicality and functionality.  Thus, the ironically named practice of "moneyball" is about frugality as much as it is about dismissing the need for obstinate amounts of money, a liberal critique of capitalism if ever one existed and an obvious exertion of Aaron Sorkin's power as a respected screenwriter.

Moneyball is one of the films to see from 2011.  It should fair nicely at the Oscar's and might even garner Pitt an Oscar for best actor, even if it should go to him for Tree of Life.  Regardless, go see this film in theaters while you still can, it will be well worth your time and money.