John's DVD pick of the week (11/29/11)

Hey guys sorry I've been on MIA These past few weeks. This week I chose a fun Indie It's

Our Idiot Brother

That's right the Paul Rudd leading esamble is my pick this week. The other big releases are The Jesse Eisenberg action comedy 30 Minutes Or Less, the romantic comedy Friends With Benefits, the kids flick The Smurfs, and the Anne Hathaway drama One Day. I have not seen any of these four but I'll see the first two at some point.

My vintage pick is... In honor of this week's release of Shame, I'm recommending Steve McQueen's (that's the director's name) previous film it's Hunger, so pick it up at some point.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of a good homemade pizza.  Well, sort of homemade.  Here was tonight's dinner-in-a-hurry.

I used store-bought crust, pre-grilled chicken, mozzarella, and (squeezable!) pizza sauce.  It took about 15 minutes total, including oven time.

I finished it off with some freshly cracked black pepper.  Nums.

Review: The Muppets (***1/2)

It's difficult not to get swept up by the hype of the first theatrically-released Muppet movie in 12 years. The preview trailers have been going viral since this past summer, and the Muppets & their human co-stars have been hitting the talk show circuit like never before. Audiences who don't catch on to this Muppet fever will be missing a refreshingly entertaining movie.

"The Muppets" lives up to most of its hype. It's a solid, stand-alone movie with a great storyline. While the film may be considered a tribute, which in many ways it is, very rarely does a tribute make a great movie. Any TV show can put the Muppets on proverbial pedestals using archive footage. "The Muppets" succeeds by breathing new life into characters we've known for years, and bringing them back down from their high pedestals so they're easier to see.

It really takes a Muppet fanatic to reintroduce these classic characters about whom the movie alleges everyone forgot. In the movie, that fanatic is Walter, who is himself a Muppet that the world treats like a human being, albeit a very short human being. When Walter accompanies his best friend and roommate Gary (Jason Segel) and his longtime girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) to Los Angeles, Walter's ultimate goal is to take a tour of the famed Muppet theater. He soon finds that the theater's glory days are long gone, and the Muppets themselves have since gone their separate ways.

In reality, it's Jason Segel who is the Muppet fanatic. Segel co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller (director of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (2008)), and also served as executive producer. He does a good job acting in the movie, knowing precisely when to take a step back and have the film's real stars take center stage. As a screenwriter, he also allows virtually every classic Muppet to have their screen time, as the Muppets are brought together the same way Jake and Elwood reunited the old band in "The Blues Brothers" (1980). Each character's appearance reminds us why they were so revered way back in "The Muppet Show" days.

While the plot about a Texas oilman wanting to demolish the Muppet theater because they're oil underneath has been done before, but Chris Cooper, as villain Tex Richman, lives up to his clever name. He's funny while also being a convincing villain. He performs a rap number (yes, Chris Cooper raps) that is desultory, but amusing if only for its randomness.

If the thought of Cooper rapping alone makes you cringe, there are plenty of other highly original songs that will wash out that memory quickly. All the songs, most of which were written by Bret McKenzie (one half of the band/comedy duo, Flight Of The Conchords), are well-written. My favorite was "Life's A Happy Song. 

"Pictures In My Head", sung by Kermit, is also surprisingly touching, with Kermit's walking through a hallway of Muppet paintings adding to the sentiment. It could rank as the best Muppet movie song since "Together Again" from "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984). The aforementioned songs, and perhaps even "Life's a Happy Song", have strong possibilities to be nominated for Best Original Song at the upcoming Academy Awards.

With all these original tunes, it's a wonder why they wasted precious royalty money on the terrible Starship song "We Built This City". Alas, this is the chosen song the Muppets sing while renovating the Muppet theater. 

While the songs add heart to a movie that makes the term "franchise reboot" seem too myopic, the movie would not be worth watching if it was not funny. Fortunately, most of the Muppet gags are gut-bustingly hilarious. Some gags are self-referential with characters breaking the fourth wall without even have to look at the camera. Others are the zany gags you'd expect from seeing "The Muppet Show", but are clever and hilarious too.

While the trailers had their share of recent movie parodies, the film fortunately eases up on them. There's one reference to "Kill Bill", but it's slight and capricious. I also laughed at the 80's Robot.

All the classic Muppet characters make their mark in ways they haven't done since "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992), the last great Muppet movie. The few newer Muppets that are allocated screen time happen to shine, fortunately. Walter is a great new Muppet, and has a lot of heart of which the late Jim Henson would whole-heartedly approve.

Dozens of celebrity cameos abound here, but the film's strength is knowing who the real stars of the movie are and why we love them. I just hope younger audience members get the same message.

Gift Guide 2011: Etsy Edition

I love a gift guide.  And this year I thought I'd break mine up into small editions to keep things easier.  First up is Etsy. 

Where to start?  These picks came from countless hours of perusing blogs, magazines, and Etsy itself.  Most of my favorites are of the paper variety, but I tried to branch out a bit.  I am a fan of supporting independent businesses and craftspeople whenever possible.  You end up with unique, creative gifts while helping someone else live their dreams.  Hokey but accurate.

A milk & honey candle from Sweet Petula.  It's vegetable wax in a clean scent, and it will burn for 60+ hours in that snazzy frosted (reusable) glass.  $24

A linen-covered journal in awesome chevron stripes from Holli Zollinger.  And a kraft paper binding, naturally.  Let your recipient sketch, list, and doodle to their heart's content.   $12

A jar of chocolate spoon fudge from Nicole's Treats.  Handmade in a really nifty 4 oz. jar, with two mini spoons!  Nummy.  $9

A monogrammed porcelain tray from Jeanette Risco.  Customizable, 6.75" x 5.25", and just the right size for an array of finger sandwiches or your favorite cosmetics containers.  $31

A chevron jotter from Wit & Whistle.  I love a chevron.  Guilty.  At 3.5" by 5" and in sturdy kraft paper, it's perfect for marking down websites, coupon codes, blog ideas, etc. in an old-school way.  $5.75

A set of me & you pencils from Knot & Bow.  Now, aren't these sweet?  A veritable who's who of the great food pairings, along with a lil' sentiment for a best friend or a significant otre, to round out the set of six.  $12

(Note: I received permission from all sellers to use their images and to link to their Etsy stores.)

Review: Puss In Boots (**)

Puss in Boots is one of my favorite characters in the Shrek series. Giving him a stand alone film is an interesting idea. It's suppose to be cool and exciting. It get what it wants. The movie is fun and often hilarious. The cat jokes are clever. Bunch of impressive scenes. The 3D is great. The scale is large. But the plot is too small for its large scale. It gets lazy in the second half and a bit predictable in the end. Though the film is pretty enjoyable but it could have been a lot better.

Puss In Boots starts in a solid blockbuster way. And one part of the beginning, the dancing, is very impressive. It's more than funny. That scene excites me which gives me a feeling that this film will be very great. I don't know why but it's just my feeling. The first half is exciting and great to introduce the cat hero. But when it comes to the second half(after the flashback), it's large but the story has a very little plot. It's a big adventure but ends up a little bit unsatisfying.

The story is like what Dreamworks Animated films usually do. Flashbacks of these critters when they were babies. They grew up being themselves. The rest of the story of Puss In Boots is Jack in the Beanstalk with Puss in Boots and Humpty Dumpty. It's not faithful to the original story. It's just another fairytale collaboration but this one has Mexican culture. The problem is the laziness of the storytelling. They mixed all the fairytale stories and threw some heart. These things are collaborated and nothing else. It's close to Direct-to-Video type of storytelling since this film was originally planned to be that.

But the film is never meant to be in the small screen since the scale is large. The movie is in 3D, as usual. The 3D is great. Just like Megamind, the camera is flying again. Swashbuckling cats and a lot giant stuff. The humor is clever. The natural instincts of cats are used as a joke. Like drinking milk, chasing a light, and some meows. It's adorable. The "Ooooh" cat is the "Do the roar" kid of this film. Here's the thing, cats are adorable and their instincts are funny.

In the end, it's just like Monsters Vs. Aliens and Shark Tale. But this has its heart but it's not well executed. It's still enjoyable to watch in the big screen and 3D. The filmmaking is good enough and everything is large. It just needs to make the story better. The film has ambitions for a sequel. Well I got to admit, it really needs a sequel because this adventure is not quite satisfying. More adventures to this kitty cat could be fun. Again, this film is fun but it won't blow your mind or touch your heart too much.

Review: The Descendants (***1/2)

'Descendants' focuses on the life of a family during the days when the mother lies in a coma after a boating accident, poised between life and death. Nothing crashes or blows up on screen, but there are plenty of emotional detonations as her husband and two daughters struggle to meet the challenges and, oddly, the obligations of the unexpected, tragic crisis. This is neither a perfect family nor a perfect mess of a family - it's something in between. They are well off - definitely 1 percenters - live comfortably, and are each very engaged in their lives and communities. The girls, Mom included, are hell raisers to some degree, but in ways that attract more than repel - they each make friends and play well with others, at least some of the time. Yet the members of the family are subtly estranged from each other, and we learn from Clooney's narrative and monologues with his wife's inert form that the marriage was a source of some disappointment for both of them, a disappointment that was not confronted or resolved in their years together. The movie takes us through the resolution of this family crisis, revealing progressively what each character has withheld from the others, and loops in a larger plot involving their extended family and, in effect, the entire Island community. 

Clooney gives a consistent, effective performance, and is one of the reasons this movie should work alright for the average guy (Women on average tolerate him pretty well, I believe) despite it's focus on relationships as the subject matter and rather slow pace. He maintains a strong masculine 'hero' persona throughout, and definitely rises to the tragic occasion. Along the way, he responds in ways, some comic and some cliché, that make him an attractive 'male' perspective from which to view the events of the film. He is strong, well meaning, active, and ultimately prevails to a large degree in the terms of the film. 

I really enjoyed the performance of Shailene Woodley in the role of his daughter, poised on adulthood. Her character's response to Clooney and their work with one another represents the visible 'love story' - father-daughter in this case - that makes the movie work moment to moment.

The comatose patient is very much a character in several of the most important scenes. I was struck by how silent the relatively full theater was during some of these climactic moments. The audience was neither restless nor tearful, just intent, during even the long, slow, quiet moments. Never sentimental, the film focuses on the experience of confronting death in others as an argument for living life authentically, acknowledging and resolving conflict rather than lapsing into comfortable disengagement.

All in all, a fascinating couple of hours of storytelling, acting, and thought-provoking cinema. A notch or two above the average theater experience, and way higher than the average among films that tackle this category of emotional experience.

Review: J. Edgar (**1/2)

Leonard DiCaprio continues to distinguish himself as an actor with a powerful performance as America's number one crime fighter of the twentieth century in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar. Focusing more on the man than the achievements it is a joyless interpretation by Eastwood who displays some sympathy but mostly dubious aspects of the FBI Director's career re-hashing with very little new insight the same old tired rumors tossed around for decades about a paranoid workaholic with quirks that had the goods on enough Presidents to give him absolute power, corruption being the perk.

J. Edgar Hoover first made his name rousting Reds during the Rise of Bolshevism in the 20s. At age 26 he was given charge of what would be the FBI which he would transform into the elite crime fighting and forever Red hunting organization of the USA. The Linbergh baby kidnapping is solved, Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Baby Face Nelson are all brought to justice. With success comes fame and more power which Hoover plans to hold onto for as long as possible. In this case it will be his last dying breath.

Eastwood's script and direction runs with all the rumors of the day (homosexuality, cross dressing, glory hound extroadinaire,) to flesh out J. Edgar and it comes across as catty as Hoover and Tolson in a scene gossip queening about Lucy and Daisy. There's a Ginger Rogers look alike Robert Kennedy and Richard Nixon imitators along with the dismissive glances of real American hero Charles Lindbergh who sees through the crime busters facade to convey his venality but little evidence from the up tight but elusive Hoover to offer viewer or historian anything new beyond the suppositions half a century old. 

With Eastwood literally and figuratively putting Hoover in a bad light throughout the film it is left up to DiCaprio to humanize him which he does with a startling restrained coldness and power of a man delusional or otherwise whose aim is true. From young adulthood to grave DiCaprio remains fully focused, convincing and absorbing. DiCaprio can only carry J.Edgar so far though and Eastwood's attempt at defining the man as a humorless Darth Vader most of the way adds nothing revelatory to the anti myth of the past few decades that followed the legendary build-up of the 20s and 30's.