Movies

Read more about the article Random Reviews: Inkheart, Wanted, Chalk

Random Reviews: Inkheart, Wanted, Chalk

We’ve been having a lot of Blockbuster nights since we bought the house last summer, while managing to catch whatever kid-friendly movies worth seeing in theaters whenever possible, and I’ve been reviewing a lot of them on Flixster but wanted to round up the most recent batch and post them here, including expanded commentary on a few.

Inkheart: Saw it tonight and loved it! A great cast highlighted by Paul Bettany and Helen Mirren, who lift Brendan Fraser beyond his typically solid leading-man performance, and Andy Serkis as a great villain; plus, an intriguing story combine for what is effectively an entertaining love letter to the power of the written word, writers, and imagination itself. It’s a little dark for some kiddies — India said afterwards that she thought it was rated R! — but I enjoyed it so much that I went and bought the book right afterwards and started reading it in the store.

Side note: This was the first movie I’ve seen Mirren in since those pictures last summer of her in a bikini and it was a little distracting for the first couple of minutes. Zoinks!

Black Snake Moan: Surprisingly poignant and touching; great performances from Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci enable Craig Brewer to fulfill the potential of his risky idea — the DVD extras are must-see — and Justin Timberlake does a solid job of not embarassing himself. The music, too, is amazing and I want the soundtrack which includes Jackson doing “Stack-o-lee”, one of the many songs that inspired the best graphic novel of 2006, Stagger Lee.

Wanted: Imagine, if you can, a mash-up of The Matrix and Fight Club, written by a roomful of monkeys with iPods and directed by the least talented monkey in the room, and you’ll get close to the total wackness that is Wanted. James McAvoy’s character and acting were lame imitations of Ed Norton in Fight Club, and the handful of kewl action moments were overshadowed by the sheer lameness of the script and, pardon the pun, threadbare plot. The comic book it was based on was similarly hacktastic, so it’s no surprise, but I expected a little better from Easy Reader. Morgan Freeman: You’re on notice!

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Read more about the article How Wonderful Is It?

How Wonderful Is It?

Back in 1996, when I was publishing my short-lived zine, zuzu's petals — which, in a wonderful bit of circularity, played a significant role in my getting married! — I wrote a pretty cynical essay about why I loved It's A Wonderful Life, not so much for its purportedly uplifting message, but rather for its "unintentionally subversive message".

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Read more about the article Review: The Incredible Hulk

Review: The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk

I skipped The Incredible Hulk in theaters because I was fully expecting to be disappointed, but my son really wanted to see it and Iron Man was unexpectedly good, so we picked up the DVD and I was pleasantly surprised.

Ed Norton isn’t as dynamic an actor as Robert Downey, Jr., unlikely to carry a blockbuster superhero movie on his own shoulders, but he brings the right level of intensity to the Hulk’s conflicted alter ego, Bruce Banner, that combined with some precision casting — and, according to several rumors seemingly backed up by many of the DVD’s bonus features*, exerting influence far beyond his own character — makes for a movie that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Tim Roth and William Hurt shine in their roles, and Liv Tyler manages to escape the confines of the cliché “female interest” as she and writer Zak Penn (who takes an impressive step forward from Fantastic Four and X-Men: The Last Stand) make her character work as the emotional centerpiece of the story.

It’s a well-paced action movie with just the right dash of drama — many of the deleted scenes featuring psychiatrist Dr. Samson are deservedly so — and the CGI Hulk and Abomination are even more impressive than last year’s Transformers triumph, especially their final battle which is arguably the best balls-to-the-wall fight scene put to film in recent years.

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Read more about the article Things to Do

Things to Do

Montclair Honeybee Fest
Originally uploaded by bloomfieldguy

Last night, we were suprised to hear the sound of jazz music coming through our front window, at first thinking our neighbor might be having a party, then realizing it was LIVE music from a concert going on in Watsessing Park. According to the Essex County website, it was the Carrie Jackson Quartet, performing as part of the 2008 Essex County Free SummerMusic Concert Series, which I only know because I Googled it this morning out of curiosity.

Last month’s Dionne Warwick concert in Brookdale Park, which I first heard about the night of while having dinner at Vinnie’s, was part of the same series and while I wouldn’t have attended that one, it was a little disappointing to find out about last night’s as it was happening because we would have probably shaken the Sandy Hook sand out of our Neat Sheet, grabbed a couple of chairs and walked over to check it out. I don’t recall seeing any promotion for the concert series in The Star-Ledger (which I pick up sporadically), or Bloomfield Life (which I pick up weekly), or Baristanet (which I check daily), or even a flyer stapled to a telephone pole somewhere between the Park and the train station, but maybe I just missed it?

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Read more about the article Cory Booker: Hero?

Cory Booker: Hero?

Cory Booker at StoryCorps Griot launch by jsmooth995
Despite my previous reflexive defense of East Orange, I’ll admit to buying in to the some of the negative perceptions of Newark, and was originally going to post a link to a great article on Newark’s Mayor Cory Booker that I just got around to reading in last month’s Esquire (with the inane Mike Myers on the cover), but when I went to their site to get the link, I was suprised to come across a scathing letter from Booker, ripping the article’s author Scott Raab a new one.
While I thought the article was a well-written bit of hero worship, it does go a bit overboard in comparing Booker to Will Smith’s character in I Am Legend, effectively casting Newark as a blighted dead zone with little hope of recovery, pretty much what I believed it to be despite knowing better. In his letter, Booker takes Raab to task on a number of points, particularly his narrow focus on the ills plaguing the largest city in New Jersey while ignoring the strides made in the past couple of years — of which he cites numerous examples — but perhaps more impressively, I appreciated his lengthy rebuttal of the idea that he is some lone hero facing insurmountable odds:

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Read more about the article Goodbye Potter’s Field

Goodbye Potter’s Field

Home ownership is a key theme in one of my favorite movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, and as I called our current landlord this morning to officially let them know we won’t be renewing our lease, I couldn’t help but recall the scene where Mr. Martini is moving his family into their new home courtesy of a loan from the old Bailey Bros. Building & Loan Association:

“No more we live like pigs in this Potter’s Field!”

While our apartment is far from a slum, we’ve definitely outgrown it, both physically and psychologically, and more than any other step we’ve taken in the home buying process so far, making that phone call felt like the most concrete affirmation yet that we’re really doing it. There was also a bit of the bittersweet there with the realization that, after a combined 17 years, I will likely never live in the Bronx again.

Of course, It’s A Wonderful Life has an answer for that, too:

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Read more about the article Monday Mash-up, 2/4/08

Monday Mash-up, 2/4/08

1) While a couple of good things happened in January (most notably an unexpected promotion at work to Online Ad Sales Director for all of our properties!), overall it was as bad a start to 2008 as I could have imagined. Nothing major, but a lot of bumps in the road that tested my constitution and nearly shook my resolve. I’m very glad that it’s February.

New Fossil Bag2) I’m not a big shopper but I’m a complete sucker for a handful of things, including bags and electronic gadgets. While picking up a new wallet from Macy’s on Saturday (one of those slim, front pocket types that I’m still getting used to, frantically patting my back pocket every couple of hours) I saw this great Fossil messenger bag that kept screaming my name, no matter how many times I said it was too expensive. I make fun of Salomé all the time about the many, many, many bags she owns (rivaled only, perhaps, by her shoes) but I can appreciate a good bag and this is a nice step up from the cheaper, smaller bag I’ve had for the past year or so. It fits all of my gadgets comfortably plus has plenty of room for all of the books and papers I’m invariably carrying around, whether I need them or not. We also came close to buying an HD TV as Best Buy had a great deal on a 32″ Westinghouse but I still couldn’t quite bring myself to pull the trigger. Soon, though. Probably when we get the Wii.

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