PREVIEW WEEKLY - FRIDAY MAY 22

Grand Readership,

Surprisingly, I have avoided the BOX OFFICE report - but even if I didn't, my prediction that TERMINATOR SALVATION will disappoint wouldn't change. The first week won't be the worst, either. SALVATION will flop hard and send several WARNER BROS. productions to a screeching halt as they digest how they could produce TDK (THE DARK KNIGHT) one summer and then fluke hard and fast the next. NIGHT AT THE MUESAM should do fine - but really has no chance against DISNEY'S UP, being released next week. If I were you, avoid the theaters this weekend and wait for the good stuff.

Enjoy!

TERMINATOR SALVATION (DIR. McG)

TERMINATOR SALVATION is the latest footnote in WARNER BROS. well-publicized (a la T3) neglect for a once-great franchise; with the latest iteration being helmed by McG (CHARLIE'S ANGELS) and hailed as disaster. I suppose if you're a die hard TERMINATOR fan you may have interest, but even those would be mention this later picture same breath as T2: JUDGEMENT DAY. Let's face it, WARNER BROS. messed up - but they have time to recover. Let's just hope they listen. Avoid.


NIGHT AT THE MUSEAM: BATTLE FOR THE SMITHSONIAN (DIR. SHAWN LEVY)

The DIRECTOR, WRITERS and STARS from the original are back - a fact that would suggest 20TH CENTURY FOX is taking after their biggest competitor DISNEY in keeping together creative teams that work. Also adopted from DISNEY? The colon riddled title. BEN STILLER is tiresome, the gag is old - but frankly, its better than most of what's released. If you find yourself at the theater this weekend - its the best new pick.

THE BOOK REVIEW: THE CORRECTIONS

Everyone has that one book that they love; that one book that they feel is a high point of literature and they want to rush to the nearest mountaintop and tell the world to read this book immediately. For your humble book reviewer here, my mountaintop is this column, and that book is The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. No book I have read published in the last 10 years captures Americana quite like this one. It is a tale of morality, greed, social criticism, lust and the deterioration of old-fashioned American values and the creation of a new set of American rules as we enter the new millennium; all told through the backdrop of a dysfunctional American family.



Franzen had published two novels previously to limited critical acclaim and even more limited sales. When sample chapters of The Corrections were sent to publishers and critics, they were floored by what they were reading. Franzen was being hailed as the one new author who could bring literary fiction back to the bestseller list, something not really seen since John Updike. Oprah Winfrey had decided to name The Corrections as her book of the month selection and as any writer knows, when this happens, that means one thing: MONEY AND VAST READERSHIP! However Franzen did not really see it this way. The Oregonian newspaper published an article citing Franzen’s uneasiness with the selection of his book. He said that he didn’t want his book slapped with the Oprah logo on it as he saw it as representative of “corporate ownership”. He also lamented the fact that the selection by Oprah would result in diminished male readership. Soon after the article came out, his invitation to the Oprah Winfrey show was rescinded. While his words caused Oprah some embarrassment, she kept the book on her list. Financially, the book did not suffer however, becoming a monster bestseller and one of the best reviewed books of 2001, winning the National Book Award and becoming a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

I’m stressing the fact that this novel is literary fiction, because I feel it can stand right up there with other great works of fiction. What separates this is the fact that it is contemporary. Characters chat via emails, they perform internet searches, they search for new methods of medicine; this novel takes place in today’s America. For all the greatness of a book like The Great Gatsby, it is trapped in a time capsule of the roaring twenties.



Witness the Lambert family! Born in the Midwest in a town called St. Jude in an unnamed state, Alfred and Enid Lambert have been married for years and have borne two sons and a daughter. They raised their children with typical Midwestern values and sent them off to the world while staying behind. As Alfred slowly descends into Alzheimer’s, Enid is left to run the house, the finances and care for a man who she starts to question whether their love for each other was ever truly real. Gary, the eldest, runs off to Philadelphia and marries Caroline, a woman who is a complete antithesis of the world he grew up in. They have three sons who are being raised in a completely alien environment.

Caroline is the epitome of a new age, modern, liberated woman. She throws maternal instincts to the wind in favor of books to raise her children. She supports her one son’s hobby of installing surveillance cameras throughout their house simply because she read once that encouragement is the key to raising a healthy son. She withholds sex from Gary to get her way. She hates Gary’s parents and refuses to accompany Gary to visits to St. Jude and refuses to let their children be exposed to the Lamberts without her supervision. Denise, the sole Lambert daughter, follows Gary to Philadelphia, but rarely socializes with him in favor of her career as a top chef in one of the fanciest restaurants in the city. She is hopelessly single, a fact that her mother not only disapproves of but simply doesn’t compute in her mind that a beautiful woman would not want to make marriage a priority. Denise is a woman who oozes sexuality and uses it to both her benefit and to her eventual downfall. Chip, the youngest child, is a neurotic man who was once a college professor in Connecticut, but after unfortunate events, moves to New York and eventually Europe to participate in a money scam fully backed by the Lithuanian government.



Enid, whose doubts are becoming large by the day, tries to organize one final Christmas celebration in St. Jude with the entire family. What follows is a complete emotional breakdown for all parties involved. Grievances are brought to the forefront. Gary both hates and loves his father and has nothing but contempt for his mother, someone he views as a doormat for her father’s emotional abuse. However Gary’s confusion delves from the fact that he comes to realize soon that perhaps his family is not the perfect unit he believes them to be. Denise battles with her mother regarding her liberated view of women in society. Chip is the one child who accepts his parents’ values, but simply might be too weak to even question them. Enid light be the true protagonist of this novel, but I leave that for you to decide.

Yes, this is a dysfunctional family, but not in the cliché sense of divorce and un-wed mothers. Their dysfunction rises from a deep emotional level and all characters are either too weak or too strong to come to terms with their feelings in regard to each other and their rapidly deteriorating father. Flashbacks are used to illustrate what growing up in the Lambert household was like and serves as a reflection to the current state of affairs. What I truly love about this book is the amount of themes it covers, yet never overwhelms. Two people can read this book and draw two wildly separate conclusions as to what the book says about society. If there is only one book that any of you readers would pick up from my column, make it this one!

PREVIEW WEEKLY - FRIDAY MAY 15

Grand Readership,

Back to being on schedule! This week holds the high profile follow up to THE DA VINCI CODE, ANGELS AND DEMONS and two other smaller pictures in THE BROTHERS BLOOM and MANAGEMENT. ANGELS AND DEMONS will be hard pressed to oust STAR TREK, but then again, THE DA VINCI CODE saw wild success. Who can blame the audiences, frankly. If the only TOM HANKS I'm going to get anymore is packaged by RON HOWARD and inspired by DAN BROWN... well, I have no choice but to take it! BROTHERS BLOOM has some quiet hoopla around it - and feels like it could be a sleeper hit of sorts. MANAGEMENT won't do much, but will be a nice alternative to for the non-blockbuster crowd... Enjoy!


ANGELS AND DEMONS (DIR. RON HOWARD)

There isn't much to say about ANGELS AND DEMONS - at least in the sense that many have already made their mind up about this picture. Either you're a TOM HANKS fan or a DAN BROWN fan (or less likely a RON HOWARD fan) or for some reason just refuse to buy into the STAR TREK buzz. ANGELS AND DEMONS is a direct follow up to THE DA VINCI CODE; ROBERT LANGDON (TOM HANKS) is back - this time alongside EWAN MCGREGOR and the two are charged with tracking down a mysterious but imminent threat in the ILLUMINATI. The trailer is more a less a step by step of the plot and the cliff hanger device couldn't be more transparent. Still, DAVID KOEPP wrote the screenplay - and he's helmed so many monster hits he's in a league of his own. Like I said, you know whether or not you're going to see it... but as for me, I couldn't be less interested.


THE BROTHERS BLOOM (DIR. RIAN JOHNSON)

THE BROTHERS BLOOM sort of snuck up on me. There has been some buzz, mostly good, and it's packaged with some talented young stars in RACHEL WEISZ, ADRIEN BRODY and MARK RUFFALO. I haven't seen ROBBIE COLTRANE in a while and am eager to see what he brings to the table (seldom be the instance where he's let me down). The writer/director RIAN JOHNSON previously gave us BRICK - a well-received but puzzling picture deemed a detective noir but set among teenagers. THE BROTHERS BLOOM opens in limited cities this week and gets a wider release on MAY 22. Definitely for the quirkier crowd - we'll have to wait and see if it's a picture everyone should check out.


MANAGEMENT (DIR. STEPHEN BELBER)

MANAGEMENT is writer/director STEPHEN BELBER's first role in such a title - and I have to say it looks promising. Starring STEVE ZAHN, JENNIFER ANISTON and WOODY HARRELSON, there's enough appeal in those three to get me off my couch. Let's hope ZAHN fares better in this than his earlier entry this year, SUNSHINE CLEANING, but his failure in that was more a lack of screen time than anything else. ANISTON hasn't overdone it lately, which is perhaps a sign of maturity on her part or perhaps a lack of interest on the studios part. Whichever it is, the script seems clever enough to justify choosing... and any opportunity a women gets to make out with WOODY HARRELSON is always, at least, an interesting choice. Sadly, not much of a chance at the box office- but that it's getting a release says a lot about it. I'd check it out if you're a fan of any of the above, otherwise, waiting for the in-home release would be far from criminal.

REVIEW: THIS AMERICAN LIFE

Grand Readership,

Ever see those previews for IN-THEATER EVENTS? Things like live beer tastings and live opera shows and so on...? Ringing any bells? Well, the basic idea is to take an event - and broadcast it live via satellite to a select theaters in cities across the country. The most recent of these events was to take the popular NPR radio show, THIS AMERICAN LIFE - and broadcast it live (complete with IRA GLASS) across the country. I'm excited to announce that one of the readers here at X RETICENT REVIEWS, HOOM HUM, was able to attend one of the two screenings. He's a passionate student of the pictures and I'm happy to share his take on the experience. Hope you enjoy!



This American Life, the Peabody winning radio show, has been a public radio staple for over a decade. Each episode is comprised of personal short stories, documentaries, and fiction readings, all tied loosely to a common theme. The quintessential “driveway moment” show, This American Life is also the #1 podcast on iTunes, a cable television series, and now a live film. On April 23rd, TAL recorded its radio show and broadcast it live to hundreds of theaters across the US.

The show starts, as it always does, with Host Ira Glass taking the stage and introducing the theme, “Returning to the Scene of the Crime.” He tells an amusing story about a Florida judge with a unique punishment for shoplifters. Shoplifters have to literally return to scene of their crime, and hold large signs saying, “I stole” or “I am a thief.” Taking advantage of the screen, the piece was also animated in parts.

Kicking off Act 1 is comedian Mike Birbiglia. He tells a story about being hit by a drunk driver and the sloppy accident report that followed. The tale is hilarious, infuriating, personal, and poignant. Birbiglia has a great stage presence from his years of standup, and is expert at story telling. This was a great story to start with, and was the best of the show.

Starlee Kline then took the stage. She tells a personal story about her time spent at an emotional therapy retreat, which centered around “killing her parents” (pillows) with a whiffle ball bat. Her story was accompanied by simple drawings shown in a split screen. The story is amusing, and the drawings are nicely integrated, but the story is not as focused as the others.

Next up is Dan Savage, of sex advice column Savage Love fame. In a completely different mode than his column, Savage drops the snark and tells an extremely personal and affecting story of his struggle with faith while being gay, and his relationship with his mother. It's an emotional, darkly humorous piece, and had Savage, the audience, and myself, at the brink of tears.

Capping off the show is Joss Whedon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Firefly,” and the internet musical “Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog.” The new DVD contains a musical commentary track, complete with rhyming lyrics and backing instruments. Whedon perform the first song from the track. The song isn't too bad, and the lyrics are funny. A pleasant way to end to show.

It was very well put together program, and as good as This American Life can be. But is it worth seeing in theaters? While every story had visual components, they didn't add very much, except to highlight some of the humor. Kline's piece benefited the most from the visuals, but oddly, this was the weakest part of the whole program.

Seeing the people behind the voices was interesting and it was fascinating to watch Ira Glass smoothly cue up music and audio clips during his story. Visuals aside, it is great to see This American Life in theaters and experience it in a group. We laughed, gasped, smiled, and cried, together, an experience impossible to have while listening in your car. A collective driveway moment. The show will be rebroadcast on May 7th, in select theaters, and played on the radio in the coming weeks.

PREVIEW WEEKLY - FRIDAY MAY 8

Grand Readership,

Late, late, late! Almost too late to preview these movies - but why the heck not? A great blockbuster in STAR TREK and then some quieter releases... I don't see STAR TREK having trouble dismantling WOLVERINE (hopefully permanently) and should do very strong the next week against ANGLES & DEMONS. We'll have to wait and see - until then, check out the sneak peaks below!

STAR TREK (DIR. JJ ABRAMS)

People who know me know I'm no friend of JJ ABRAMS. Sure, M:I:3 was fun, LOST is a cultural phenom and everything that is tagged with JJ ABRAMS seems to fly off the shelf. Still, I've been sore about him. However, even I cannot deny this is the freshest take on STAR TREK since NEXT GENERATION - and the trailer riles up genuine interest in me - both in story and action. STAR TREK features some newcomers (certainly to this scale of picture) in CHRIS PINE and ZACHARY QUINTO (who play KIRK and SPOCK respectively) as well as some more seasoned veterans in SIMON PEGG, ERIC BANA and JOHN CHO. Is STARK TREK this year's IRON MAN? Certainly appears that way - and it has my vote. See this in a theater, but don't bother with IMAX.


NEXT DAY AIR (DIR. BENNY BOOM)

NEXT DAY AIR marks BENNY BOOM'S first entry into feature filmmaking, and seems be a simple enough premise: a package containing drugs being delivered to the wrong address and hilarity ensues. That BOOM was able to keep this picture rated R in a time where PG13 is all the studios want, is a good sign that he's able to sell his own material (his writer is also a first timer in BLAIR COBBS). NEXT DAY AIR stars MOS DEF (BE KIND REWIND, THE ITALIAN JOB), whom I have a huge soft spot for and DONALD FAISON who's been reliably entertaining in NBC'S SCRUBS. Won't do much at the box office - but there should between $5-10M for the taking in its opening weekend.


RUDO Y CURSI (DIR. CARLOS CAURÓN)

RUDO Y CURSI follows two small town brothers (RUDO and CURSI) who make it big as professional football players in MEXICO - and their lives and they adjust to newfound wealth, fame and opportunity. Director CARLOS CAURÓN was a writer on Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN and has worked with GAEL GARCÍA BERNAL often. BERNAL has star power across the road having such smash hits as Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, AMORES PERROS and THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES. Looks light enough, and if its playing in your city and the foreign language scene is for you, there's no reason to miss it.