Archive for October, 2007
My Fall Break Consumption, or, Good Stuff to Watch, Read, & Listen to
Fall break was not long enough; I think we can all agree on that. Fortunately, I managed (in between homework and eating Maryland crabs) to partake of some media goodness:
Movie: We Are Marshall
I’m a sucker for underdog sports movies: Remember the Titans, Invincible, and yes, Facing the Giants. That said, We Are Marshall is less about football than it is about tragedy, triumph, honor, and letting go. Based on the true story of the Marshall University plane crash in 1970, the film depicts the aftermath of the devastating loss that shattered the town of Huntington, West Virginia. Matthew McConaughey plays Jack Lengyel, the ever so slightly eccentric yet charismatic head coach who comes to Marshall to help the town begin to pick up the fragments of their former lives. Matthew Fox backs him up as assistant coach Red Dawson, the only returning coach for the 1971 season. The dialogue is pure and honest, punctuated with mirthful moments that will leave you laughing even as your cheeks are still wet. Cinematographically savvy, the two hours moves at the perfect pace with class and without irrelevance. Sprinkled with footage and photos from the original team, We Are Marshall is an absolute gem.
Watch it: on a big screen with people you love, comfy pillows, lots of popcorn, and peanut M&Ms.
Book: Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
If I flirted shamelessly with The Kite Runner, then I am a love slave to A Thousand Splendid Suns. Like Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a raw and gritty story tied together with poignant writing. Suns follows the lives of two Afghani women, Laila and Mariam, whose lives inevitably become intertwined amongst the political and economic violence engulfing their world. Set almost entirely in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion and civil war, neither woman escapes the atrocities unscathed. Hosseini has, once again, created a masterful work that sets meaningful characters again the backdrop of Afghanistan’s history. A Thousand Splendid Suns is, quite simply, a beautiful and heartrending story. Happy ending? Not quite, but it resounds and stays with you, which I think is more important. My friend Wikipedia has informed me that Columbia Pictures has acquired movie rights, so I personally will be waiting impatiently for the next few years.
Read it: In the early morning before anyone is awake, with the sun shining into the room, sitting on a leather easy chair with a fleece blanket and hot chocolate.
Music: These Friends of Mine by Rosie Thomas
What is there to say about this? This is my “It” cd for the fall. Rosie’s fourth album is a sort of collaboration with Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens, and for a few seconds on “Why Waste More Time?” we get to hear a little bit of their witty banter. Accompanied by an absolutely darling jacket with whimsical drawings to match the tone of the album, These Friends of Mine need(s) to be in your cd player/laptop/ipod. Self described as inspired by springtime in New York City, it’s my humble opinion that this can and should go anywhere at anytime. Thomas’ (actually, I think I want to call her Rosie) voice has that ethereal quality that few can achieve, and it is sweetly complimented by the harmonies of Stevens and Witmer. Though my personal favorite is “Kite Song” (in which Rosie wistfully asks, “Tie me to the end of a kite / So I can go on, I can go on with my life”), her cover of “The One I Love” should replace the original everywhere.
Listen to it: At dusk/night time when you’re driving alone in your car thinking.
AND
Next Wednesday @ 10 pm in the Union when she’s here for B-sides!!! (I’m SO excited!)
Strength, Honor, & Love,
Natalie
Matt Wells Reviews “Transformers”: Unedited, Uncensored, and Unrated
I wish we could have put Matt’s full review on the menu holders this week, but it just wouldn’t fit. It’s so great though, I just had to put the whole thing here. Enjoy…
TRANSFORMERS (PG-13; 144 min.)
“Ok, that one part where they’re fighting on the highway and the one Transformer is on the skates and just before he takes out that bus you see his reflection in the bus and you just think… they’re not even computer-animated. THEY’RE REAL ROBOTS.”
– a unidentified young man residing in Witmer Hall.
That quote is the kind of quote that you should take seriously in regards to Transformers: The Movie. The best reviews for Transformers don’t come from the Rolling Stone’s and The New York Times’s with their well-structured paragraphs, participles, and 5 dollar words like “paradigm shift”. Look to the media snobs when you want to know what film best encapsulates America’s turmoil with the Middle East or historical war drama serving as a metaphor for America’s turmoil with the Middle East. For Transformers, you ask the guy pumping your gas, you ask the brother-in-law who flunked out of tech-school, you ask the little sister who has no less than 900,000 Myspace friends. They’ll give you the facts. The best reviews for Transformers come in run-on sentences - the kind with adjectives that begat adjectives that begat superlative adjectives. That’s because this movie is the cinematic equivalent of the best run-on sentence you’ve NEVER read.
Transformers defines all that is America. In one fell, two-and-a-half hour swoop you will get equal shares of action, drama, romance, and product placement. Imagine the old tall tales prospectors used to tell of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill but with corporate sponsors. This is a movie that knows exactly what it is, and never pretends to be anything more. Yes, the robots do throw tanks around like toys. Yes, the tanks then become bigger, sassier robots and throw the fore-mentioned robots around like toys. Yes, Shia Lebeouf will sauté you with charm. Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus, and his name is Michael Bay. Legend has it that Transformers’ director Michael Bay is actually a 200 year-old Uncle Sam who cheated death by making a deal with the devil (Jerry Bruckheimer) who replaced his heart with a case of Rockstar Energy Drink and enslaved him to making over-the-top action movies with pro-American themes in exchange for immortality. The more popular belief is that Uncle Sam was never a real person, and Michael Bay is really just this big jerk who worked his way up from Got Milk? and Levis commercials to become really good at blowing things up.
If you think my use of sarcasm and hyperbole are in some way trying to deter you from seeing this movie, I will hurt you. Transformers made me feel like I was 8 years old again which is a feeling I have not known since I was 10 years old. Each of the 150 times those cars, trucks, and other vehicles went anthropomorphic and stood in the harsh sunlight - I felt sparks inside my heart and my brain which had not yet been awakened. I think maybe I was going through my own transformation… to manhood. This homecoming weekend - it’s not an option of you seeing Transformers - it’s how many times you’re seeing it, and this is after you buy it on Tuesday and watch it a dozen times before it’s screened in Parmer. I don’t know if Transformers is a particularly great movie, but it makes me feel closer to God.
So now that I’ve given my own run-on sentence, I will leave you with a haiku that came to me in a dream.
More than meets the eyes
Michael Bay raises his fists
Robots in disguise
“The Kingdom”
Peter Berg’s “Friday Night Lights,” both the movie and the subsequent TV show he developed (which I’m watching right now as I write this, it’s so great), must count as two of the most surprising movie/shows in recent memory. They should suck, or be yet another entry into the ESPN-movie that’s more sport then anything. But instead, Berg shows his care for the REAL people and their all too REAL lives, and that’s what resonates so much more than touchdowns and field goals.
“The Kingdom” is similar, and it’s another great film from the young and increasingly talented Berg. The central mystery of the film (who was responsibe for an attack on a US base in Saudi Arabia) isn’t really that interesting or involving, and it’s the film’s sole downfall. Everything else though is great - these are real people working for the FBI, working for the Saudi government, working for the terrorists, and that’s what shines through the film the most. Acting is strong on all fronts; this is the most I’ve liked Jamie Foxx, who usually agitates me. Jennifer Garner and Chris Cooper are there usual dependable selves, but the true surprise is Arrested Development’s Jason Bateman. His character starts off as the comic relief, but as the film progresses he turns on his drama skills and impresses more then anyone else.
The last 30 minutes of the film count as some of the most intense action you’ll see all year. The person sitting beside me literally hyperventilated, and I can see why - it’s wall-to-wall craziness, with cars exploding, rocket launchers, snipers, Jennifer Garner being literally hurled against a wall several times, and more.
Like “A Mighty Heart” this week at Lost Films, one of the joys of “The Kingdom” is seeing people of different cultures and faiths working together for the one common purpose. It’s just one of the things that make “The Kingdom” a surprisingly great movie. By the time it’s chilling ending comes around, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree with me.
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