Long overdue posting, and for a noble cause…

Hi folks.

I haven’t posted anything in ages cause well, I’m a lazy blogger. I’ll spare you the excuses about how busy I could be or some such. I just finished watching something that is well worth posting about though. If you haven’t watched the horror-documentary that is Food, Inc., I implore you to track it down and watch it soon.

The horrors presented in this film are, sadly, not shocking, but I was still repeatedly caught off guard by how bad things are. There are many aspects where our food system has actually regressed in this overarching quest for efficiencies (both monetary and production capacity). Both workers and animals are increasingly treated worse, the food that is produced is more dangerous, but this is all largely ignored because many of the folks in regulatory positions come from the very industry they’re supposed to regulate. This doco has some surprising tidbits and is a real eye-opener on the production of food in the U.S. and the ramifications of our system on ourselves as well as on the world stage. It wraps up on a sorta feel-good note about how as consumers we can vote with our wallets and press for regulatory change. I’m not sure how much faith I have in that option, and this film really encourages a person to look at the possible ways to change how we acquire food for our family.

Movie Reviews: Slacker Edition

You wouldn’t think it’d be so hard to watch stuff then bang out a crappy review…

So, it’s been a bit since the last post, and here’s what I’ve been watching.

Wild Target was a fun little British romp. Our story is thus. World-class assassin Victor Maynard (Bill Nighy) has been given the job of taking out resident kleptomaniac Rose (Emily Blunt) after suitably evil Ferguson (Rupert Everett) gets duped in an art forgery scheme. While he’s on the job, he’s interrupted by the backup hit squad who he ends up eliminating in the confusion. It’s also around this time that we’re introduced to the bungling accidental assassin-protégé Tony (Rupert Grint). In the process of accidentally saving Rose, Victor’s life is subsequently turned upside down, and when he continues to not get the job done, the nearly-as-world-class assassin Hector Dixon (Martin Freeman) is dispatched to finish the job, which included the satisfying prospect of taking out Victor as well.

We found the acting and the dialog quite enjoyable, the character quirks are aplenty, and the movie was fun to watch as a result. I’d recommend giving this a go.

The same can be said for Crazy Stupid Love. Cal (Steve Carell) finds out early that his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) has cheated on him with David (Kevin Bacon) and wants a divorce. Cal isn’t much on confrontation and moves swiftly toward the exit. While drowning his sorrows at the local watering hole, he observes and eventually meets Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a massive player who can’t help but feel pity and an extreme sense of obligation to help Cal find and reclaim his manhood. During the course of all of this suave manliness and conquest, Jacob meets Hannah (Emma Stone) who makes him see that there could be more to life than a string of meaningless one-night-stands.

The comedy is great, the dramatic moments were touching, and there are a few surprised that really bring this story together well. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and I’d recommend watching this one (even at theater prices).

Hardcore fans and young children need only apply for a watching of The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I’d heard going into this one that “Yawn Shredder” might be a more suitable name for the ship, so accordingly, I set my expectations low. Unfortunately I wasn’t disappointed. It felt thrown together for the sake of making it, and probably with the hopes of making money. The story drug along, and the tense and dramatic bits weren’t all that tense or dramatic. More on that in a bit. We have the return of the two young characters from the first film, along with brief cameos by the rest, and the introduction of the annoying Eustace (Will Poulter, much better in Son of Rambow), cousin to Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes). They arrive back in Narnia via a pretty cool effect involving a painting and find themselves on board the Dawn Treader, captained by none other than Caspian (Ben Barnes). Usually when they’re sucked in to Narnia, it’s because of problems. There aren’t any this time, says the cheerful captain. Peace rules the realm. “So why are we here,” they ask themselves, and we immediately find out that well, ok, not EVERYTHING is ok, as there happen to be seven missing members of royalty, which they’re currently investigating. They’ll be sailing the very edges of the map on their quest which involves, among other things, half-baked tests of their resolve. Quick spoiler alert here. Lucy is facing one of these tense and dramatic tests, which lasts all of about 5 minutes and is more of a prophetic dream sequence than the grueling test we’d been promised earlier. At some point, perhaps during the good part, I’d already dozed off for a small snooze, waking for the cheezy finale.

Watch it if you must, but try not to spend too much money or time doing it.

Lastly, who could resist a movie about a pair of 20-something High School students in the type of high school that only exists in movies?! Ok, that opening line’s a bit snarky, but honestly, if we’re expected to believe these people are in high school, we must believe that they’re either really stupid, or that they go to the progeria academy.

Moving on…

Beastly is, of course, a different take on the classic Beauty & the Beast tale, where our strapping moderately young Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) is the handsome, superficial and arrogant guy who is transformed into a fugly man in order to teach him valuable lessons about life and love. The aforementioned unrealistic high school is populated full of stereotypes, including a whole host of attractive and wealthy “kids”, plus a bunch of dressed-down-yet-still-largely-attractive nerdy types (who’re all still wealthy), and they all go to school in building that is architecturally a looong way from something that might be considered a school.

I digress…  again…

Anyhoo, Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) is the school witch/outcast who Kyle pisses off and who curses him to a life of ugliness. He can undo the curse if he can just get someone to love his ugly ass in a year’s time, as marked by a pretty cool tattoo on his forearm. Enter Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) who is supposed to be a nerdier type at the beginning. Through a bizarre string of events, she ends up more or less captive at a fairly lavish apartment Kyle’s dad has put him in out of embarrassment, and that ultimately allows love to blossom. As movies go, it was ok, and nobody bursts out into song for the duration. We got this one for a buck from the local Red Box. I could take it or leave it though.

The Grand Finale

It was with much excitement that we arrived a bit early at the opening-night midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. The atmosphere in line was, dare I say, magical.

Who am I kidding.

Much of the crowd’s vibe served one main purpose, which was to make me feel practically geriatric. This is a younger person’s story and a younger person’s film, and I was dutifully chaperoning my children to the event. Instead of the boy who lived, I was the old guy who stuck around. To their credit, the largely younger crowd was quite well behaved and I can’t recall even being annoyed. (“you damned kids get off my lawn!”)

The seating worked out very well (we had a very choice section) and the pre-film logistics worked out pretty well. No complaints there. We caught many a trailer, one in particular was the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, which really got the crowd excited. Had the trailer actually showed more than the title and some CGI, I probably would’ve been excited too I suppose. Not sure what all the hubbub was about. Then, the feature event finally started, prompting cheers and the raising of many dorkish wands of every variety (at least one such wand resourcefully made out of a screwdriver). So, how was it…

It was, in many ways, a solid and fitting end to what has been a very long series. Many of the main and exciting points from the book are played out, the effects and the acting are generally pretty good, and they even tossed in the epilogue at the end for a nice, nostalgic, light-hearted ending. That said, at just a shade over two hours of run-time, they could’ve probably pulled a Peter Jackson and stretched this out another half-hour or more. Some of the key plot points felt rather rushed, as there just wasn’t time to explain those a bit more and still make the final cut. I shouldn’t be spoiling anything for anyone (it’s in the trailer) to say that there were parts in the movie that were manufactured out of whole cloth. Harry grabbing Voldemort and leaping with him into the abyss? Yeah…that’s not in the book, unless we’ve got some cut-rate books anyway.

Just the same, the action was good, the heroes and villains played their parts well, and it was every bit the big-screen spectacle we’ve come to expect from these films. This one was a fitting end, and it was worth the price of admission to see it. I’d recommend it.

Due Date

I really wanted to like Due Date. I really did. I’ve become a fan of Robert Downey Jr. over time, and Zach Galifianakis has potential, but this movie just wasn’t that great.

The premise is essentially a rehash of Planes, Trains & Automobiles, but not as good. We have Peter (Downey Jr.) as an uptight man in Atlanta on business who needs to get home to his very pregnant wife in time for the scheduled c-section. Ethan (Galifianakis) is the exceedingly socially awkward guy, traveling in the same direction, with whom Peter’s life intersects for what becomes a cross-country journey of increasingly disastrous proportions.

To be fair, there were some pretty funny and laughable moments. The problem is, these moments were too often far between the long stretches of awkwardness brought to bear by Ethan. I understand that this is Galifianakis’ shtick, and perhaps if you’re a big fan of his, this movie might be a real hoot. The other problem the movie has is a lack of coherency with the script. Sure, the main arc of getting home is there the whole time, but then we get this segment with Jamie Fox that feels like it was shoehorned into the film. The way the film was cut gives it more the feeling of a series of sketches, all sharing a similar theme, but none really connected.

All said, I wouldn’t recommend this one unless you really enjoy Galifianakis a lot. The occasional laughs just weren’t enough to redeem the whole package.

I’ve been exceedingly lax in the reviewing of things. Time to post some updates already.

In my first cinema outing in over a year, I went and saw X-Men: First Class with family and friends today. The overall story, pacing, and acting were well done and a good time was had by all. There was plenty of big-screen spectacle, and combined with a first-rate story and solid character development, it was worth the price of admission.

One item I’ll address right away is January Jones’ portrayal of Emma Frost. Prior to viewing, I’d heard and read nearly universal praise for the film, lots of great performances, yada yada. In stark contrast, Jones was nearly universally panned, terrible acting, etc. Maybe that’s the case, maybe it isn’t, but in my humble opinion, she really wasn’t in the film enough to matter anyway. Maybe in the follow-up if she has, say, FOUR lines instead of three, we’ll be able to more accurately reassess. Her character may have been present during some key scenes, but so were the guys labeled in the credits as “extras”.

The film, for those who haven’t heard, lays out an origin story for some of the main characters in the X-Men world, and how they came to be the way they are. James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier starts out the movie still in command of his legs AND his hair, and we get a good look at the beginnings of Magneto, played with flair by an excellent Michael Fassbender, with some solid backstory on why he’s a rather angry guy. In a move which provides solid underpinnings for the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon for many years to come, we have Mr. Bacon here in excellent form as bad guy Sebastian Shaw. We also get a bit of development of others such as Mystique and Beast. The backdrop for the story leads up to and through the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis.

Overall, in a time when I’ve found myself NOT rushing off to the local theater unless I really think a movie can justify the ticket price in entertainment value, I’d recommend this one. It’s good big-screen popcorn fare and a solid well-acted story to boot!

Beyond this point be spoilers…aaaarrrrrr

The main nitpicky moment that comes to mind is one of the young recruits whose mutation is the ability to rapidly adapt to survive. As such, he can turn into a lot of things, depending on the need, and has the nerdy x-men moniker of Darwin. He dies fairly early and fairly quickly as the result of an “energy thing” done to him be Kevin Bacon, to which he apparently can’t adapt. Really. A character with that kind of potential really didn’t need to be killed so quickly. This is what happens when I’m not consulted on script writing.

We had the opportunity also this weekend to go to the actual theater (live action) where we took in a local production of Lend Me A Tenor and it was, in a word, fabulous. The setting, Bozeman, Montana’s Ellen Theater is a lovely throwback to classier times, and this play, a comedy, was thoroughly enjoyed by my whole family.

The story (written by Ken Ludwig) centers around a young man who is the assistant to a man putting on an opera which is to involve the world famous tenor Tito Morelli. The young man is an inspiring opera singer of sorts, and he’s also interested in the affections of his boss’s daughter. We also have an eager bellhop, an amorous female opera singer, Tito’s hot-tempered jealous wife, and an exceedingly Italian Tito in a story that takes place entirely within one hotel room over the course of a very long, very chaotic day. Your actors may vary, but the local cast here put on an excellent and hilarious performance. It’s smartly written, and when performed well, it’s a real treat. If you happen across a local production of this, I’d recommend checking it out.

It’s something, but not a retraction per se

I’ve done some reviews of Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools books, which have spent loads of time on the various best sellers lists and have really motivated a lot of people to give to the cause presented within those pages. Namely that through the construction of secular schools targeted primarily at educating young girls (though by no means excluding boys) in some of the poorest regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan that we might be able to affect positive and lasting change that could help push extremist terrorism back to the margins of society where it often ekes out an existence. That mission, in and of itself, seems like a very realistic and useful approach that has the potential that extensive bombing campaigns just don’t have. Through these books, tireless work, and extensive speaking engagements all over the place, Greg has emerged as an unlikely hero, championing the cause of education for some of the planet’s most disadvantaged children. It’s very difficult to find fault with that.

However…

The State of Montana has launched an investigation into Greg’s charity, the Central Asia Institute (CAI), based on a 60 Minutes investigation and also investigative journalism by Jon Krakauer, who has written a short piece entitled Three Cups of Deceit. There is discussion about the fabrication of many stories within Mortenson’s books, possible defamation issues, and issues with the non-profit organization’s handling of funds in regard to Greg’s expenses. The general feeling from every angle seems to be that the central purpose here – educating children in that part of the world – is a just and noble cause well worth pursuing. The questions in many minds is, has the trust built so far been abused and to what extent.

To that end, the books themselves were indeed good reads as far as that goes. I have to say though that I’ll be watching the proceedings as the investigation continues and withholding judgment on CAI’s viability as a trustworthy charity until there is more available information.

On the subject of the Pat Tillman story, it is with great disgust that I read about the appointment of General Stanley McChrystal to an advisory board with the mission of supporting military families. Yes, the very same General who was an instrumental part of the friendly-fire cover-up of Pat Tillman, and the PR campaign to make it look like he died under extra heroic circumstances in order to provide distraction from the poor war effort in Iraq at the time.

1st Samuel

Welcome to 1st Samuel. This is to be the first book we encounter that is so good it spawns a sequel. Though to be honest, it doesn’t start out well, treading much ground already covered in previous books and continuing, what is in my mind anyway, the description of a God who seems to experiment and toy with His creations. Yes yes, I am but a mere mortal who couldn’t possibly comprehend the mind of God.

Still, the first 16 versus are about a man with yes, two wives, and for reasons beyond comprehension, God has seen fit to “close the womb” of one of them, making her the object of ridicule for the other and causing her extensive grief and anguish. In her grief, she pleads desperately with the Lord that if he will only bless her with a son, she will then give that son over to the Lord to follow him all of his life. At this, God does indeed take notice and shortly thereafter she conceives a child, gives birth, and once the child is weaned she gives the child over to Eli the priest. To recap, God makes her barren, then He ultimately allows her to have a child – 9 months maternity, labor and delivery, then approximately a year of nursing and care – then the child is handed over to somebody else. Truly this woman is blessed beyond all comprehension. (he types, with perhaps a touch of sarcasm)

At any rate, Eli raises Samuel to follow the Lord while his own sons partake in all manner of debauchery and otherwise become living embarrassments in the eyes of God and their father. Due to this downfall, God isn’t really with the Israelites at this point so the Philistines have an opportunity to thoroughly route the Israelites and capture the Ark of the Covenant. It will be many years later that Indiana Jones is able to locate the Ark and that with God’s help and the Ark’s face-melting capabilities, it is safely stored in a massive gov’t warehouse. Back in olden times though, the Philistines learned a tough lesson as each city the Ark was sent to tended to have disaster befall it via things such as ill omens and tumors. After only months of such devastation, the Philistines decided it might be a good idea to just give the thing back.

As Samuel gets old and feeble the people start demanding that a new king be appointed. After discussing the matter with God, eventually Saul is appointed. Saul, along with his son Jonathan spend much of their time in various skirmishes with the Philistines, and adhering (or not) to rather odd demands which are apparently tests of faith. Ultimately due to disobedience, God regrets appointing Saul king.

At this point we’re introduced to David, a young shepherd who is hand-picked and destined to be the next king. Samuel dutifully anoints the new king-to-be, and it is shortly after this that the young David enters the service of Saul. What’s going on with Saul at this point? Some crazy stuff, that’s what. Chapter 16, verse 14, “Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil (alternative translation: harmful) spirit from the Lord tormented him.” This is from the NIV version.

Really.

Let’s take a moment to again remind ourselves about our apparent lack of comprehension of the mind of God. We’re, again, dealing with a God of unlimited capacity in every way imaginable and unimaginable, the alpha and the omega, the head cheese, and this is how He chooses to manage his people. This sending an evil spirit business isn’t just limited to Saul. It’s not as though he goes into a deep funk and withdraws from society. He’s still the king, and as the saying goes in any management structure, the excrement rolls down hill. God could have seemingly just removed him…sent him to sleep with the fishes or something…but then he wouldn’t have been able to commit all manner of dick moves and attempted treachery toward the NEXT would-be king.

Moving along.

This book gives us the famous David and Goliath story. Goliath, a very large Philistine (think Hagrid from the Harry Potter series), keeps coming forth and taunting the Israelites to send out their best warrior for mano y mano combat. Winner rules the land. For a mere FORTY days the Israelites more or less ignore the challenge, as they’re all too busy back in camp soiling themselves and trembling in their boots. David and his trusty sling have other plans though, and a well placed stone to the forehead secured his place in infamy (and in various small business board rooms all over the world, thousands of years later). To then make a powerful statement, a statement which likely led to an epidemic of Philistine armor soiling, David then goes and takes Goliath’s sword and uses it to chop off his head. I’d like to think he had the comedic chops of Austin Powers, and made a series of “no time to lose your head” jokes, but there’s no evidence of that in 1st Samuel.

Saul, being of unsound mind, starts harboring some intense jealousy toward our young hero, and, with God’s evil spirit messing with him, starts making his first assassination attempts. While God is pouring the evil into Saul, he’s theoretically protecting David, making this whole scenario more like a marionette show than anything. Much more of the same happens for quite a bit of the book. Saul tries to kill David, David evades the attempt, on a couple of occasions David has the upper hand but spares Saul’s life, etc. Eventually Saul kills himself. Samuel is also dead by this point from old age.

The end.

A terrific story really. I can’t wait to see what the sequel has in store in:

2nd Samuel: Part Deux, for the second time, again!

In which, utilizing every piece of advance technology known to mankind, Samuel is brought back as half-man, half-cyborg, all-vengeance!

You thought the Philistines were bad, wait till you meet the new enemy! The Pleistocenes! The Israelites must confront a problem of mammoth proportions!!

In this installment, will David finally get the girl? (again, in addition to the girls he has) Will he finally be the wonderful God-picked king that we’ve all been waiting for who doesn’t turn out to be a total hoser??

BUM-Bum-bum!

Yin & Yang

Two halves of a whole.

I’m going to start this one off with The Tao of Pooh. “While Eeyore frets…and Tigger bounces…and Owl pontificates…Pooh just is.”

This book by Benjamin Hoff takes a look at Taoist philosophy through the lens of A. A. Milne’s famous character Winnie the Pooh. We find that our beloved Pooh seems to thoroughly embrace a life of simplicity. A life that doesn’t overthink everything to death, and as a result, a highly contented life.

While Eeyore’s often down and feeling sorry for himself, while Owl jabbers on incessantly, while Tigger singularly focuses on bouncing, and while grumpy Rabbit works to enforce some arbitrary set of rules, Pooh, very simply and quietly often figures out the solutions to all of life’s problems for himself and his friends merely by existing and not trying too hard and missing the solution due to overexertion. He’s in harmony with his surrounds and this often leads to some wonderful insights.  (paraphrasing: “We keep looking for home and keep finding the sand pit, perhaps if we look for the sand pit, we’ll find our way home.” Pooh, of course, turns out to be right and by ultimately listening to his tummy, he finds his way home to his stash of honey while Rabbit remains hopelessly lost in the woods)

Hoff’s goal here was to take philosophical discussion out of the hands of academics and make it available to us, the general public. The results are pretty good. I found the book quite engaging both for the entertaining way that it’s explained, and also because much of this rings true. I’ve found I do tend to achieve better results when I approach things with a bit more Pooh.

Well, now that we’ve had the Yin (our positive and uplifting offering), it’s time for some Yang.

Jon Krakauer writes some brilliant books that tell us a very compelling story (of the non-fiction variety) while cutting to the heart of the details surrounding it. In Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, Krakauer takes us through the life of Pat Tillman leading up to his dramatic death in the war in Afghanistan.

Much of this story is known to the public and is available on the jacket, so I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say that his death was the result of friendly fire. Fratricide in military parlance. The rest of that incident is also fairly broadly known. How the U.S. was suffering some publicly embarrassing setbacks in their questionable campaign in Iraq and seized the opportunity to misdirect the public about the heroic final moments (all fabricated) of a national hero, Tillman, a multi-million dollar NFL player who walked away from the easy life to service his country, and to do what he felt was right and honorable, and how he fought the enemy to the bitter end. How pretty much every step of the chain of command, from the very top to the very bottom conspired to cover up the true events of his death, thoroughly trampling on the very legacy of everything Tillman stood for, purely for political gain (something that has happened repeatedly throughout both wars over there). And finally, how it was only through the dogged determination of the family that turned out this extraordinary person, and the efforts of his strong and determined wife, that this story finally came to light.

There’s a really good chance this book will piss you off. The actions taken by so many are so thoroughly unconscionable and contrary to their stated mission, and that alone makes the book tough to read at times. Throw in Pat Tillman, and the subject matter here can really make your blood boil. Tillman was no saint, but at the same time, he was closer than a lot of us, and not in a religious sense, but in his strong sense of duty, honor, and his fierce defense of what was right. I’d highly recommend this book (and really, pretty much any of Krakauer’s stuff). There is much richness to be obtained in the life of Tillman, and his family has much to be proud of. The world is poorer for his death, and though everybody involved in the cover-up should’ve been given their walking papers at least, and harsh prison time at worst, very few have been punished or even reprimanded. So much for honor.

Redbox is cool

We returned to the U.S., and one of the wonders that awaited us was Redbox. DVD/Blu-ray vending machines positioned at all sorts of places around town offering a significant selection of movies for $1 per night, and which are returnable to any other Redbox machine of your choosing. This is pretty slick stuff, so I can only assume the rest of the civilized world has had it for years. ;-)

One such movie that burst forth from the bowels of the machine was Secretariat. This is quite possibly the most incredible true story of one secretary making a name for herself in the secretary pool at work amidst unimaginable odds… one second… I’m being told that was a different film.

Right. This one’s about a horse. Not just any horse either, but the movie’s namesake who, in 1973 won the triple crown of horseracing, setting a record unbeaten to this day. More importantly, it’s the true story of Penny Chenery Tweedy (Diane Lane…ooolala), the woman who believed in herself and her horse in the face of overwhelming odds. In terms of surprise, this film has the plotline of Titanic. You can read the results on the DVD case or look up the records of the horse. I’m not spoiling anything to say that he does indeed win. What’s wonderful about this film is the journey. The telling of Penny’s amazing story of conviction, even when support from those closest to her was absent. It’s a wonderful family film to watch (with performances by John Malkovich, Dylan Walsh, and James Cromwell to mention a few), and I’d recommend it.

With this next one, I’d ideally modify the title to The Last Airbender Movie Ever to be Made. It was mildly entertaining for the kids, but even they were on the edge of boredom here.

The story is roughly this. The kingdom of the Firebenders has waged war against the other people (specifically the Earth and Waterbenders). What’s a bender? They’re someone who can manipulate a particular element. The last Airbender is also coincidentally the Avatar; a person who can manipulate not just one element, but all four. It’s a can’t-miss idea.

The cartoon on Nickelodeon is quite popular and fairly well thought of. This live-action M. Night Shyamalan production was neither. The acting, such that it is, is of pretty amateurish quality (much like certain unnamed movie review blogs). The dialog and pacing are painful. You want to know what the characters are doing? You’re in luck, because they often do something, then tell you what they did, or tell you what they’re going to do and then do it, or sometimes mix things up and tell you what they’re doing while they’re doing it, usually with all of the craft involved in a kid talking to their parents’ video camera.

M. Night apparently planned on this being much more awesome, as this installment really only gets us through “water,” with earth and fire presumably slated for the sequels which may not get made given how this one went. In all fairness, the concept is solid enough that, properly done, the sequels COULD be good. Much work would need to be done, much studying of what went wrong with the first installment would need to be taken, and then maybe. Just maybe. As it is, I really wouldn’t recommend this one, unless you’re taking a Mystery Science Theater 3000 approach to viewing.

The Martial Arts Kid

So, they remade The Karate Kid, with a few minor tweaks. The one that probably got the most coverage was the part where this movie really doesn’t involve karate. At all. I don’t think they ever even utter the word. The movie apparently just wouldn’t have been the same if they called it “The Kung Fu Kid”.

“Who cares,” you say. Indeed. Had he been doing Taekwondo, Tai Chi, or Stir Fry, it would’ve been the same overall story (though to be fair, if the tagline had been “Will he be able to out-wok the rest and win honor?”, that would’ve been a really fresh take on things).

How’s the movie though?! Well, it’s pretty much what you’d expect, and not a lot of surprises. A young kid, freshly moved to a new part of the world encounters bullies, and those bullies really kinda like beating him up and generally making trouble for him. He finds a love interest as well. The final ingredient is a reluctant figure battling his own demons who eventually agrees to help our young aspiring hero out.

In this installment we have Dre (Jaden Smith) moving to China, and ultimately befriending handyman Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). The acting’s decent, the script’s predictable (spoiler: he wins), and overall it’s good family fare. The kids enjoyed it, and serious props to young Mr. Smith. He’s a pretty flexible guy and he’s got the moves. Most entertaining in my opinion are those occasional looks he gets on his face that look A LOT like Dad. They also cover some pretty spectacular scenery in China. Worth a rent if you like a good underdog flick.

Some fresh viewage

I haven’t updated in awhile, but rest assured, I still waste plenty of time watching mindless drivel. Here’s the latest round for your reading enjoyment.

Astroboy was somewhat entertaining for the kids. I think. It was depressing on many levels, and this wasn’t really balanced very well with light moments.

The plot is like so, and I’ll likely spoil parts of it, so I guess you’re warned, but with any luck ya won’t watch it anyway. Earth has been thoroughly ravaged by humans, so science creates a floating city upon which the worthy humans live. Some remain on the surface for varying reasons. This floating paradise is kept nice and orderly as all the refuse is dumped over the side. But wait, it gets better! Brilliant robotics scientist Dr. Tenma (Nicholas Cage) is a genius who can’t be bothered to spend much time with his equally brilliant child Toby. Tenma convinces himself that for the advancement of science, he needs to play ball with the not very nice militant President Stone (Donald Sutherland), and through the course of events, Toby is accidentally…er…liberated from his mortal coil. The distraught Tenma, who blames himself (and rightfully so), creates a robotic clone of his son, complete with memories, but can’t bring himself to love the clone (who up to this point doesn’t even know he’s a robot), and Toby ends up (through depressing events) on the surface. There, he meets a kind hearted robot repairman Hamegg (Nathan Lane) and a rag-tag bunch of orphans. Hamegg of course doesn’t really love robots, so much as he loves fixing them up to make them fight to the death for his amusement and profit. Ultimately the plot gets to such a point that it’s up to Toby to save the world from the evil President Stone, who’s bent on drumming up a military crisis in his bid for re-election.

It does have a few engaging and entertaining moments, but it’s largely a heavy-handed tale of the evils of war and planetary destruction, told in one of the most depressing ways possible for a cartoon. Rent Iron Giant instead.

In stark contrast, Despicable Me was thoroughly engaging and seemed to have all of its own fun, plus the extra fun that’s left out of movies like Astroboy. I’ll try and give away less of the plot here.

Gru (Steve Carell) is a super villain whose track record of late has been less than impressive, but he has a grand plan of stealing the moon. He’s assisted to hilarious and adorable ends by his minions (the little yellow dudes) and his evil assistant Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand in one of his tolerable performances). His arch nemesis, the younger up-and-coming villain Vector (Jason Segel) provides the competition, and through the course of events three orphan girls come into the picture to turn Gru’s life upside down.

Voice casting was superb, the dialog was great, and the story was often times funny with touches of sweetness. Really well put together, and enjoyable for the whole family. I’d highly recommend this one.

RED, short for Retired, Extremely Dangerous, is the tag stamped on the files of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), Victoria (Helen Mirren), and Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman). They’re all ex-CIA operatives who’re past their prime.

They’re largely left alone, suffering the boredom of retirement, until their collective involvement in an incident from their past results in them being put on a cleanup list by some rather high-ranking forces within government, at which point William Cooper (Karl Urban) steps in to “eliminate the assets” as it were. Pulled into this mess is Sarah Ross (Mary Louise-Parker) who is a gov’t pension officer who has developed a long-distance phone relationship with Willis over some years of retirement boredom, equally retired ex-Russian spy Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox), and a brief turn by Ernest Borgnine as Henry, the records keeper.

The resulting story was often amusing, well acted, and for the whole “ex-assassins, people being killed” plot, it’s not a bloody movie, and I think it’s the better for it. I quite enjoyed the action, humor, and overall pacing of the movie and would recommend this one.

On the TV side of the fence, I’ve been watching True Blood (so far through the end of Season 2).

This is the decidedly HBO adult version of vampires, not to be mistaken for the more broadly viewable Buffy series (see: way more blood, nudity, swearing, etc.)

The series centers primarily around Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a local waitress, and her vampire love Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). Over time we also get a well developed set of secondary characters in Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), owner of the bar/café where Sookie works, Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley), bartender and Sookie’s best friend, Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten), the brother, and a host of others as well.

In the storyline here, vampires have come out (so to speak) and are going through what could probably be described as their civil rights movement, raising awareness of their kind, trying with limited success to shake off their history of not-so-nice-to-humans behavior, etc. This of course presents several dynamics to the respective populations. The vampires who want to truly live in harmony with the humans, and those that thinks puny humans should bow to their superiority. We have humans who think vampires should be hunted down and eradicated, those who think we should all be friends, and some kinks who get off on vampire encounters (ie. having their own blood drank and/or consuming vampire blood which heightens their own senses and such).

It’s quite the storyline so far, and just when ya think ya know what they’re going to get into next, then tend to still bring the surprise. Personally, Season 2 went a bit bizarre. They had a story arc that they did follow to the end, but I kinda wish they could’ve sped that up a bit. Talking to other people, it sounds like Season 2 was a bit whacked and they reeled it back in a bit again in Season 3. I’ll keep you posted. Overall I’ve found it entertaining so far, and the end of an episode is usually followed with a “What???”, and the desire to watch the next one despite the late hour. If you enjoy vampire stories, this may be worth a look. I won’t pretend that it’s for everyone though.

The Book of Ruth

I’m a bit hesitant to call this a book. At some three pages and roughly fifteen minutes of reading time, this might more accurately be called the Pamphlet of Ruth. It’s a rather short accounting of how Ruth, recently widowed, insisted on staying with her mother-in-law rather than returning to other family, and of how she ultimately would start the family line that would give us King David with a man named Boaz.

Really.

That’s it.

We’ve already touched upon books of the Bible that are referred to but weren’t seen fit for inclusion, and now we get the inclusion of a book that could’ve really been a prologue to some other book given the scant information contained therein. Thus is life. Onward!

An Education

An Education is the tale of a young high school girl Jenny (Carey Mulligan) on the cusp of graduation and womanhood who catches the attentions and affections of an older man David (Peter Sarsgaard) whose charms work not only on her, but on her rather rigid parents (played to good effect by Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour).

As the relationship develops, Jenny grows into a woman who’s quite convinced she has the world figured out, but is that really the case, or are there more shades of gray than she at first thought?

This film has a largely British feel to it (no, not Monty Python-British). It’s very well acted and has a fairly compelling storyline, but the overall mood is rather subdued (compared to, say, a more Americanized equivalent). This isn’t to suggest this is a bad thing, but merely a disclaimer of sorts if you haven’t appreciated such offerings in the past. Overall, I found the movie quite engaging (and particularly enjoyed Molina as the father), and I’d recommend it for a viewing.