I don’t really ask for much during the summer. A nice ocean breeze, a nice grilled veggie dog, some good waves, and at least one mindless action movie that doesn’t subtract brain cells. Salt definitely isn’t a classic movie, or is it even close to being a good movie, but it certainly fills the bill for an entertaining summer popcorn picture: lots of bang for your buck.

Salt returns Angelina Jolie to the spy/action genre that she inhabited so wonderfully in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but don’t be fooled—-Salt is a far cry from the well-made, well-written and well-acted film that Mr. & Mrs. Smith was. Here Jolie is bland and uninspiring, even as she kicks butts and performs the best James Bond impersonation I’ve ever seen from a female onscreen. The character she plays was originally written for a man—Tom Cruise, in fact—so some of her feats are quite implausible, but I think she’s the only actress in Hollywood that could have even come close to pulling it off. She has this unique combination of strength and sex-appeal that is truly appealing—to all demographics. And that’s what makes it easy to forget how out-matched she is for the character, as written, and you are able to accept all the many “oh come on, no WAY” moments that occur during this film. I went to see the movie on opening weekend and the theatre was filled with every type, from old ladies to teenage boys. Jolie’s universal appeal is undeniable. But even Angelina Jolie cannot save Salt from being just another run-of-the-mill action shoot-em-up movie and the only reason to go see this in the first place IS Angelina Jolie.

She does have the good luck of having a co-star, in Liev Schreiber, who is smart, strong and equal to her in everything but sexiness. Schreiber has long been a completely underrated actor and he gets some moments here to shine, but, mostly, he is reduced to being an extra in chase scenes and is never able to rise above the script, which is painfully one-dimensional and unimaginative.

What director Phillip Noyce—best-known for the Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan actioners—is able to do, and quite well, is make a movie that is so fast and furious that you really don’t—and can’t—pay attention to its flaws. There is hardly a moment to breathe, and, before you know it, it’s over. To some, that may be a relief, especially for those who roll their eyes at some of the action sequences that are way too far-fetched to believe. But, for me, I found Salt a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a hot summer afternoon, as I accepted that this film is simply Hollywood-being-Hollywood and, sometimes, that means checking your critical eye at the door. Accept it for what it is and you’ll have a good time. And maybe be happy that summer only lasts for 4 months.

Review/ Commentary

My biggest pet peeve, in life and in movies, is falseness. If I don’t believe it, then you’ve lost me. Or, worse, if you try to put something over on me, I will actively rebel.

This is me actively rebelling.

The Kids Are All Right is one of the best-reviewed movies of the year so far. It has a 93% approval rating on rottentomatoes.com, the film review site that generates scores for movies based on the number of positive or negative reviews from both top critics and average Joe reviewers. For comparison’s sake, last year’s Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker, had a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97%. So 93% is pretty good. Generally, anything garnering in the 90th percentile usually gets you a spot in the Best Picture race.

I should be happy. The Kids Are All Right is a nice and well-made movie about lesbians. With stars Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, two Oscar nominees, it qualifies, even though it’s independently made, as a mainstream movie. Much like Brokeback Mountain, people will hold up The Kids Are All Right as another step in the right direction for Hollywood to represent the most under-represented group on the big screen. Don’t get me wrong, there are “gay” movies out there, but they are generally marginalized and labeled “gay movie” and usually only see the light of day at Outfest or go direct to DVD for the niche crowd. Any of you straight folks ever heard of Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss or The Adventures of Two Girls in Love? Didn’t think so.

So now, we get a warm, wonderful and funny story of a longtime lesbian couple who have been raising their two children, happily and normally, for 18 (or more) years. Into their life comes the man who served as their sperm donor, sought out by the couples’ son because he wants to meet the man who is his biological father. The donor’s arrival into their perfect suburban Los Angeles life throws everything awry, as this new figure’s presence—and his unique relationship to everyone in the family–causes dramatic and sometimes funny situations that never of them would have ever expected.

Sounds good, right? I mean, what more could I ask for? The film portrays a happy and stable lesbian couple who have two teenage children who have grown up just fine and neither of whom have any problem with and show no ill effects from having been raised by two women. And it stars two A-list actresses—with 7 Oscar nominations between them—which guarantees it an audience and critical looks. This is what we want, right? Honest portrayals of gay people, just living their lives, having problems like the rest of us, doing and experiencing all the things that straight people do and experience. There are no serial killers here, no self-loathing suicidals, and not a single flaming queen sidekick/best friend or frumpy depressed old maid in sight.

Which is why I am so angry. After falseness, I hate wasted potential even more.

The Kids Are All Right cheats, takes the easy way out, and undermines everything it initially sets out to be.

[SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t seen The Kids Are All Right yet and plan to, stop reading]

click here to keep reading The Kids Are All Right »

“What we usually call ‘consciousness’, the fact that I am aware of myself and therefore in a sense can appear to myself, would never suffice to guarantee reality.”
-Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind

“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” -Edgar Allan Poe

Perception. Consciousness. Reality. Philosophers have grappled with these concepts for eons, trying to define things that are undefinable and concretely grasp the most abstract of ideas. Awareness is the most complicated concept of all, it’s what puts us at the top of the food chain, yet it is also the one thing that creates our anxieties, our fears, our hopes and, yes, our dreams.

Inception, the latest film from Christopher Nolan, who also brought us the trippy Memento and the soul-searching Dark Knight, is a visceral interpretation of all the possibilities of awareness, perception and consciousness—and all they could be, destroy and create. Arendt and others may have written and philosophized about the life of the mind, but Nolan has visualized it. And the result is a film just as confusing and complicated as perception itself.
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If you’re wondering where the heart is in Hollywood, you don’t have to look any further than Pixar. Disney was very wise to have bought the spunky little animated studio-that-could. In a classic case of “if you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em” economics, Disney knew it had to do something about Pixar, who was not only starting to take over Disney’s niche in Hollywood, but recreating it as well. While Disney was focused on pirates and teen musicals, Pixar was redefining what Disney had invented: the animated feature. And doing it better, perhaps, than Disney had ever done.

The “Pixar phenomenon” is not too hard to figure out. It’s quality product (read: top of the line technology) blended with great story and characters and true emotional appeal. In short, Pixar films, at their best, appeal to the three things we want fed when we experience a film: the head, the heart and the spirit. But mostly, they make movies that appeal to all ages: from the kids to the kids who live in the adults. Emotionally and spiritually, Pixar knows the secret formula: play to the heart and the rest will follow.
click here to keep reading Toy Story 3 »

The saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” should somehow be applicable to movies, but re-worked to “if you don’t have anything to say, just don’t speak.” Or, if you don’t have a story, DON’T MAKE A MOVIE. Unfortunately, though, in Hollywood, that would mean we’d be left with maybe 10 movies a year. Sigh.

I’ll be the first to admit I was too hard on Sex and the City: The Movie. I think I was so hard on it because my expectations were so high. Being such a huge fan of the television series, I had such high hopes for the big-screen reunion of Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha, and I knew they had more to say and do since their HBO series seemed to have ended too soon, in my opinion. Having watched it now a couple of times, I see that the film is actually very true to the series and was much better than I gave it credit for. It proved wonderful closure for those of us who needed just a little more and left on a perfect note.

But money trumps all and the enormous box office tallies for Sex and the City: The Movie demanded that, even though there probably was no more tale to tell, another movie had to be produced, story or not.

And I think I speak for all Sex in the City fans when I say, Sex and the City 2, we’re just not that into you.
click here to keep reading Sex and the City 2 »

It’s taken me three days to even be half-inspired to put pen to paper about the latest incarnation of the legendary tale of Robin Hood, let alone try to put two thoughts together about it, I was so un-moved by the film that was supposed to be the big kickoff to a star-studded summer movie season. Director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe have delivered big before— this is their fifth collaboration— most notably with the spectacular and Oscar-winning Gladiator in 2000. But Robin Hood is a far cry from Gladiator. I hate to even mention them in the same review, let alone the same sentence, they are such disparate cinematic experiences. But Gladiator must be brought up because Robin Hood feels so influenced by it, both in scope, mood and atmosphere, and even, loosely, certain plot and story elements. They are both about solitary men who emerge from years of battle to discover tyranny and oppression at the hands of royalty and become somewhat reluctant but heroic leaders of their groups of oppressed people. So, I won’t lie. I knew all of this going in.

And I was expecting to see Gladiator 2.

What I wasn’t expecting was a history lesson.
click here to keep reading Robin Hood »

Here we go again. Summer, sequels and superheroes. I thought we had gotten off this rollercoaster with Star Trek, Up, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, and even Transformers making up the bulk of our blockbusters last summer—not a single superhero sequel in sight. But alas, the mini-vacation was not to last. The superheroes are back, and, unfortunately, not better than ever.

Iron Man was a revelation. Brash, bold, bawdy, brilliant and a breath of fresh air, Robert Downey Jr. infused the classic Marvel superhero character with a personality and charm not usually seen from our brooding, conflicted doppelgangers. The 2008 movie was fast-paced and fun, and, mainly because of Downey’s appealing and surprisingly well-measured performance, it was also fantastically entertaining. It also made a boatload of money. So, of course, they had to make a sequel. Which means they, of course, had to ruin it.
click here to keep reading Iron Man 2 »

DVD Review

I keep surprising myself. First, I loved The Hangover, a straight-up guy-as-you-can-get comedy that brings new meaning to the term immature. Then I actually paid money to see a movie called Hot Tub Time Machine and laughed my head off. And now, looking for something enjoyable to share on a Saturday night with friends, I convinced my partner to grab Zombieland from the Red Box. Yes, Zombieland.

And guess what? Zombieland kicks ass.

What is Zombieland? Well, it is a zombie movie. It’s a cheesy B-movie filled with zombies roaming the earth eating people. It’s gross, scary and so over-the-top that you bust out laughing when you’re not jumping straight out of your seat. And it’s FANTASTIC. Normally, I totally don’t go for zombie movies—in fact, I’ve never seen a single zombie movie in my life. The closest I’ve ever come to a zombie movie is Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. But this—this is awesome. Why? Because it’s hilariously disgusting and scary. That’s right. Disgusting and scary. And hilarious.
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