Tag: comedy

Movie review: 21 Jump Street

*** 21 Jump Street (May 2012) – Rental

21 Jump Street posterJonah Hill, Channing Tatum. Two rookie police officers get assigned to go undercover as high school students to find the source of new dangerous drug.

She says: This is one of the stupid comedies that works, partly because it’s not totally stupid. It is far-fetched, but it’s hard not to enjoy the self-reflexive in-jokes and some inspired guest casting. And the premise that what is cool at high school today—environmental consciousness, sensitivity to gay rights, earnestness—is very different from what was cool ten years ago feels kind of true (though how the heck would I know, at my age) and definitely makes for some funny moments. Was is it with American movies and the idolizing of male friendships, though? Wow…

He says: You liked that? It was kind of stupid, wasn’t it?

[She adds: And y’all think I’m the movie snob…]

Movie review: Crazy, Stupid Love

Crazy, Stupid Love poster***1/2 Crazy, Stupid Love (July 2011) – Rental

Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone. After 25 years of marriage, Emily tells Cal she’s had an affair and wants a divorce. He moves out and meets Jacob, a ladies’ man, who offers to coach him in the single life.

She says: The base plot doesn’t sound like much to work with, but this movie was very entertaining. It was often laugh-at-loud funny (in the right places) and featured a number of plot twists I did not expect, yet seemed to work in retrospect. For so much talk of sex throughout, it wasn’t particularly sexy, but I must say I totally get the Ryan Gosling thing now. Wow.

And, you know, good acting by him, and by all involved in this one.

He says: That was a funny movie! I really liked it. Interesting that the most mature character was probably the 17-year-old girl.

Movie reviews: The Sessions and Blue Valentine

We saw two love stories, of sorts, recently. One is a current release about a man who spends most of his day confined to an iron lung, and thus is still a virgin at 38. The other is about the volatile relationship between a nurse played by Michelle Williams, and a house painter played by Ryan Gosling.

One of the two was really depressing. But probably not the one you think…

**** The Sessions (October 2012) – Theatre

John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, and William H. Macey. Journalist and poet Mark O’Brien, whose childhood polio has left him confined to an iron lungmost of the day, but who does have functioning genitalia, becomes determined to lose his virginity at age 38, with the help of a sex therapist.

She says: The trailer for this movie makes it look really funny, and much of it is, in the interaction between Mark and his caretakers, and especially with his open-minded priest, played by William H. Macey. But it is also really touching, especially in the relationship between Mark and his sex therapist, Cheryl. Cheryl (who is married) knows the pitfalls of transference and how to set limits on the sex therapist / client relationship, but her own emotional response makes these harder to maintain as the sessions (six maximum!) continue.

The sex in this movie is really beautiful, not because of amazing bodies or great cinematography, but because it really is an expression of intimacy and love. It’s triumphant.

He says: That was a really sweet movie. (And that’s all you’re allowed to quote me on.)

Scene from The Sessions

** Blue Valentine (December 2010) – Rental

Poster from Blue ValentineMichelle Williams, Ryan Gosling. A marriage at the end of its ropes is contrasted with the happy start of the relationship.

She says: The acting is good here, it’s very realistic, but it’s brutal watching two people who once loved each other just tear each other apart. Made for rather depressing viewing.

He says: I didn’t find anything good about that. I don’t care that it’s “well made”; there was just nothing to enjoy there.

Movie review: Ruby Sparks

*** Ruby Sparks (July 2012) – Theatre
Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan. A young novelist struggling to write his second book after the successful first is finally inspired by a character he names Ruby. Then one day, Ruby shows up in the flesh, just as he has envisioned her…

She says: It was hard not to go all “feminist analysis” on this one, with the character of Ruby being, of course, the ultimate “manic pixie dream girl”. Having literally been imagined into existence, she is indeed a quirky young woman who lives only to inspire and please the main male character.

But then the movie examines that point. Having been brought to biological life as a complete human being, Ruby starts to chaff under her limitations. She’s lonely. She wants to do more. She wants to be more. And the reclusive Calvin isn’t sure he likes it.

It was definitely an interesting movie. Though I still wonder what it would have been with the genders reversed.

He says: Yes, enough happened in that movie; it had enough plot for me. He was an odd duck, that Calvin, though. Not a typical guy at all. She was just riveting. The whole thing held my interest.

Yeah, OK, I liked it.

Movie reviews: Two British comedies

*** The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (May 2012) – Theatre
Judy Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith. British retirees are lured to the bargain price Marigold Hotel in India, only to find it’s not quite like the brochure.

She says: This is another one Jean didn’t see; I went with my Mom. We both thought it was a fun movie. It wasn’t terribly deep, but it was engaging, and certainly elevated by the excellent cast.

Image from Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

*** Hysteria (May 2012) – Theatre
Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal. Story about the doctor who helped invent the vibrator, as treatment for female “hysteria”.

She says: “This story is based on actual events. No, really.”

Such is the tagline of Hysteria, which tells the story of young, Victorian-era doctor, Mortimer, (Hugh Dancy) who treats female “hysteria”—a very broadly defined condition—by giving them intimate massages, until they achieve “paroxysm”. This popular treatment leads to serious hand cramping until he and a tinkerer friend (Rupert Everett) almost inadvertently invent the vibrator.

These quite strange but true facts are woven into a sort of romantic comedy between the younger doctor and the activist daughter, Charlotte (Maggie Gyllenhaal), of the older doctor who employs him. Charlotte works with the poor and thinks her father’s work frivolous; she is not shy about expressing these opinions.

I found the movie mostly fun and entertaining, with very lively performances by the actors. But the glimpses of Charlotte’s work, and even early scenes of Mortimer toiling at public hospitals, gave this movie a sort of weight that didn’t entirely sit well. It was hard to completely enjoy the story of the ridiculous, yet appreciated hysteria treatment when there was so much misery on the edges of that story.

He says: Well, that was a funny movie. And the hardest part to believe was what was actually true!

Image from Hysteria

Mess with our Internet, and we will tweet you to death

Yesterday was typical in that, in scanning my Twitter feed, I was becoming incredibly irritated with Conservative Party of Canada. The source this time was Vic Toews’ tabling a bill to allow police, spies, and federal bureaucrats to collect information about the digital services Canadians use—without a warrant.

So the same party who insisted that the long-form census and the long-gun registry, despite their incredible value, had to be done away with to protect Canadians’ privacy—think having access to everything we all do online is just fine.

Ontario’s privacy commissioner also pointed out that pooling all this data was very dangerous, as it would be a “gold mine” for the hackers that you know would get at it.

In response to complaints, Vic Toews said that people were either with him or with child pornographers! He even gave the Bill the 1984-esque monikor of The Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, even though it covers far more than pornographic activity online.

Criticism was widespread, and not only from the usual suspects. The Sun, the Post, blogging Tories, even Margaret Wente wrote a very thoughtful article on why she was “with the child pornographers” on this one.

But the funniest stuff was online, particularly on Twitter.

The first salvo was from new account @Vikileaks30, which just pumps out facts about Mr. Toews, starting with ugly divorce from his wife, precipitated by his having an affair with impregnating a much younger woman. Though some called it an invasion of privacy, it’s actually all part of the public record. Unlike the information the government wants to store about us.

But today took the cake. Today #TellVicEverything was trending. These were a series of tweets, with that hash tag, often also directed to Mr. Toews real Twitter account, sparing Toews the bother of spying on us by just telling him everything we’re doing.

And it was hilarious. Oh, my God, Canadians are funny. (Not me. Mine was lame.) And busy! There was no keeping with it. But I’d just check in every couple hours or so for latest, and laugh…

A tiny sample…

Justin Trudeau, MP @justinpjtrudeau

During QP @johnbairdown dropped by and I asked him to tell @ToewsVic that I had to pee. He didn’t know we #TellVicEverything. Awkward.

ThisHourHas22Minutes @22_Minutes

Dear @ToewsVic: Just yawned. Now the guy beside me is yawning. Feeling guilty about it. #TellVicEverything

Dan Gardner @dgardner

Hey, everybody! You either #TellVicEverything or you side with the child pornographers.

And by the way…

This bill is actually going to committee now instead of to second reading, as would normally be the case.  You may think that’s nothing, but with this band of time allocation junkies (they already have limited debate on more bills than any other government in Canadian history), it is waving a white flag. Unlike the many other bad bills recently, they will actually entertain amendments to this one.

Never underestimate the power of the Twitterverse.

The L.A. Complex

Three episodes in, I remain fairly impressed with The L.A. Complex, a new show about a group of young Canadians (actually, I’m not sure if they’re all supposed to be Canadian) in Los Angeles, most of them living at the Lux, all trying to make it big. Which as I write it, sounds a little lame. But it works because the scripts are fairly smart and engaging, not sugar-coating the gargantuan tasks these people face in trying to become, or stay, successful.

It’s a bit of a soap, with the cast intersecting and hooking up in various combinations. That makes it kinds of sexy and fun. There is a fair bit of humour as well, as the aspiring actors, dancers, or comedians do not always lead lives of dignity. But there’s a real core of sadness underlying it, too, because these people’s lives are kind of miserable.

Abby Vargas is a young, pretty Canadian who can sing, and possibly can even act. But six months after moving to L.A., her biggest role is as dead hooker, in body bag. She is broke. She lived in her car until it broke down; now she’s crashing with Nick (more on him later) and having to take the bus everywhere.

Connor Lake looks as though he, at least, has it made. He’s been cast in a lead role in a big medical drama, and has moved out of The Lux for more luxurious digs. But he’s having trouble keeping up with all the lines, and the producers are insisting he see an acting coach. He’s trying to anesthetize with sex, drugs, and most recently, self-mutilation.

Raquel Westbrook used to be big. Everyone remembers her from that cult show 12 years ago, which had the terrible time slot and so was cancelled after one season. She knows everyone, but at this point, she’s reduced to trying out for dead hooker roles, and losing those to younger actresses. (Because 32 is so old!) It’s making her a little edgy, and she’s drinking too much. All her hopes are now pinned on a great script she read by a couple of unknowns.

Nick Wagner works at a coffee shop by day to pay the bills, and tries his act out at comedy clubs by night. So far, he’s bombing, both professionally and personally. He’s the guy every girl wants “as a friend”, and he’s low on funds. I was thinking that of all characters, he’s the one who really should pack it in, but last episode he finally hit on a comedy groove, based on mocking himself.

Tariq Muhammad expected to make music during his internship at a record company, but mostly he’s been running errands and washing cars. That is, until he secretly sent Usher some “beats” that proved he had talent. He’s now assigned to work with tough rap star Kaldrick King, and things are going well—they’ve really hit it off. If only they weren’t both in the closet, and wanting to stay there…

Alicia Lowe is a dancer who works hard at her craft. But so far it’s close but no cigar at signing up for a tour. To pay the bills, she works as an exotic dancer. (This means she has fewer money troubles than most of the cast.) Her latest gambit is to make a sex tape with a former movie star, in the hopes of gaining fame, Paris Hilton-style. Previews of the next episode indicate that’s not going to work out so well.

So that’s our merry crew. If you’re at all intrigued, you can catch up with all episodes online, and new episodes play Tuesdays at 9:00 (hey, that’s now–I love my PVR) on Much Music.

The Kids Are All Right; Cafe de Flore

This movie review set will mostly be a “She says”. And I didn’t set out to compare these two movies; they just happen to be the last two we’ve seen.

The Kids Are All Right posterThe Kids Are All Right, released July 2010, we saw on rental DVD. (The first DVD I’ve experienced, by the way, that has a special rental version that excludes the “special features”.) It’s about a lesbian couple in a long-term relationship who each have a child with the same sperm donor dad. After the daughter’s 18th birthday, the kids decide they want to meet him. His entry into the family’s life is disruptive, as both children and one of the mothers (Jules, played by Julianne Moore) by turns all find themselves drawn to him, while the other mother (Nic, played by Annette Bening) stays pretty frosty.

Donor dad Paul is played by Mark Ruffalo, a good-looking guy whose character is the epitome of cool–he drives a motorcyle, runs a gourmet bistro featuring local organic foods, and owns a wood-paneled house with a terraced backyard. Of course (almost) everyone is smitten!

Bit of a spoiler here, but Jules and Paul have a fling that, once discovered, changes the whole dynamic of the movie. Only, I knew most of that going in, and it didn’t really spoil the experience for me. It’s a well-acted movie with a lot of funny bits along with the dramatic undertone. You did end up caring about all the characters. The affair prompted the most discussion between Jean and I: Were Jules and Paul really equally to blame (as the movie suggests), when Jules was the only one in a committed relationship, and the really the one who intiated things?

Cafe de Flore movie posterThis brings us to Cafe de Flore, released December 2010 and seen at Waterloo’s Princess Theatre. It’s a French-Canadian film that explores some similar territory as Kids, but in a really different way.

Cafe de Flore switches between two stories: one in present-day Montreal, involving a 40-year-old, successful DJ (Antoine) who is smitten with his new lover, but his still haunted by ex-wife of 20 years, with whom he had two daughters. Do we hate this guy? No, we do not, as we are given insight into his psyche, through both an omniscient narrator and sessions with psychologist, and because Rose, his new love, is so beautiful and wonderful. But we can’t help but also feel for Carole, the ex-wife, as she is simply unable to move on from the only man she’s ever loved.

The other story takes place in Paris in the late 1960s, and tells us of Jacqueline (played by Vanessa Paradis), a hairdresser, and single mom to her only child, Laurent, who has Down’s Syndrome. Defying the conventions of the times, she won’t institutionalize him, and devotes all her energies to making him everything he can possibly be.

The parallels and connections between the stories come out slowly and when it’s all out there… The details don’t really matter. This movie is really about the ideas explored on the journey: Do we have soul mates? What is the nature and quality of love? What makes a family? It’s just a gorgeous film, with beautiful shots and fantastic cinematography, and its use of music is exquisite. For characters in both times periods, listening to music is a really important aspect of their lives, and I could really relate to that part of it.

Jean also liked this film, though we both thought, not as much as I did.

I would say that Kids is a perfectly decent, entertaining, 3-star movie. I think Cafe de Flore could be a 4-star. It’s one I’d definitely watch again.

White Wine in the Sun

Today was “our” Christmas celebration, in advance of events with the extended family on the actual days.

As a result, it seemed apropos to play the “Christmas” playlist. (Particularly as I received a new iPod dock I had to try out.) But though all 82 songs are self-selected and heavy on the non-traditional, I gotta say that it’s just not my favorite type of music.

However, there are a few stand-outs.

* Sting’s “Gabriel’s Message”, a simply gorgeous song proving that not all rock star Christmas songs for charity have to suck.
* The Kink’s ”Father Christmas”, a somewhat dark yet catchy tune, that unfortunately seems timely: A poor kid just wants cash for Christmas, or “give my Dad a job ’cause he needs one.” All those toys? Gives them to the little rich boys.
* Adam Sandler’s Hanukuah Song which, OK, isn’t about Christmas at all. But though I’ve heard all the jokes in it many times before, it still makes me laugh. “OJ Simpson… Not a Jew!”
*  Do They Know it’s Christmas? Truly the weirdest set of lyrics ever penned by an atheist, and ones I’m sure Geldof, now an expert on Africa (as he wasn’t then), must wince over. Still, too many good memories around this song. And I love its jingly-jangly sound.
* Last year’s YouTube discovery, Spiraling’s mash-up of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” with The Who’s “Baba O’Riley”, producing the most awesome guitar riff in a Christmas song ever.

And this year’s YouTube discovery, courtesy of @eoutwater of the KW Symphony: Tim Michen’s “White Wine in the Sun”. Lovely, funny, and true, Minchen’s explains his fondness for Christmas despite his reservations about “the commercialization of an ancient religion, the Westernization of a dead Palestinian”. But you get to be with your family in a relaxed state, and that’s what it’s all about. 5 stars.

The curious appeal of Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages is a musical built around rock anthems of the 1980s. It had a run in Toronto, and is playing at Kitchener’s Centre in the Square this week.

But despite good notices, I’d been dragging my feet about seeing this one. I was a teenager in the 1980s, but musically, I was into the New Wave British stuff: Duran Duran, Adam Ant, Spandau Ballet, Billy Idol, U2, Culture Club, Howard Jones… The stuff in this musical? Journey, Whitesnake, REO Speedwagon, Poison… That would be the 1980s music I didn’t like. At all. The musical even includes possibly the worst rock song of all time, “We Built This City” by Starship.

Finally, though, I was lured in by a package deal involving the show + dinner at Verses. (Though note the advertising for this is deceptive; you don’t get any discount on the ticket, just on the meal.)

As the musical began, it became clear that a big part of the premise was trying to save the Los Angeles Sunset strip from being cleaned up and redeveloped. Seriously? Los Angeles? OK, I’ve never been there, but my impression, and what I’ve heard from people who have been, is that this isn’t a city that inspires great passion for preservation. The place seems like more of a necessary evil than anything else.

Still, I found I couldn’t help but be drawn in by the good-natured vibe of all the whole thing. Take, for example, the horrid “We Built this City”. This plays back as an echo from the chorus from the German developer who wants to tear everything down and start anew. “But we built this city on rock’n’roll!” It’s a short snippet, it’s performed better than the original (how could it be done worse?), and it’s funny.

And that sort of thing just keeps winning you over. It’s not taking itself seriously. One character keeps breaking the fourth wall (rather 90s, that) to comment on the play’s structure and how it plays with the musical conventions. That’s funny, and so are a lot of the other bits. A lot of the singers, particular strip club owner Mother and lead actor Drew, have fantastic voices. Only parts of the songs are performed, then you’re on to another.

And, well, not *all* the songs suck. I do have some fondness for “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”—much more comfortable here than in the original, as sung by male actor Franz, possibly the funniest character of all, and “Cum on Feel the Noize”, soundtrack to an exuberant moment at the rock club, and even “We’re Not Gonna Take It”—even though it’s used to protest the destruction of a sleazy rock club.

It’s also kind of a sexy musical, with the attractive young cast making the most of their assets. Male and female cast, I would add. (Even though I don’t really remember the 1980s as being so sex-drenched, but whatever.) And I did love the unexpected, big gay love story in the middle.

So, I clapped, I cheered, I wished I had bought tickets earlier so that I would have been in better seats. It is a pretty impressive achievement to put together such an appealing show on such an unpromising premise.