There were a couple of submissions for ADVENTURE. Here they are:

Julie Johnson of The Joy is in the Journey


Mike Vest of Waxen Media


Christopher D. Bennett

I’ve visited the Random Theme Generator is pursuit of a theme for this week. This is what it spit out:

As it is warming up, this seems like just the right time for this theme.

Here is a look back at last year’s COLORFUL submissions:

Good luck everybody!

“In the end, everything is a gag.”

- Charlie Chaplin

When it comes to college basketball prognostication, 2011 will be remembered as the Year of the Woman.

Not only did the Roundball Oracles crown our first ever champion from the fairer of the two sexes, three out of the top four finishers were also members of the female persuasion.

It was certainly a chaotic NCAA Tournament this year.  Consider these facts:

• Before the Final Four was even played, our championship was already secured.
• Only two people (Jesse and I) even got a single Final Four team right. We both got Connecticut right.
• Our eventual champion’s national champion lost in the 1st Round.
• 6 people picked Kansas as their champ, 4 picked Duke, 2 people picked Ohio State, 1 person picked Syracuse, 1 person picked UCLA, 1 person picked Michigan State, and 1 person picked BYU. None of those teams even made it to the Final Four.
• Our eventual champion finished in last place last year.
• Our 3 time defending champ finished in 2nd to last place this year.
• Only Jesse got 1 of the teams in the championship game (Connecticut) right.

So who is the new Queen of College Basketball Divination?

The Final Standings

Name – Bracket Name – Points – Correct Games – Last Year

1. Carrie Baier – Izzo – 100 points -41/63 – 21st
2. Jesse Howard – MeatThermometer – 94 points  – 39/63 – 13th
3. Linda Toot – LittleSister – 74 points – 38/63 – 9th
4. Dawn Krause – Duh Winning – 73 points – 34/63 – 3rd
5. Jason Baier – Duke the Fifth – 72 points – 35/63 – 7th
6. Corey Faust – Always Go Top Shelf – 69 points – 34/63 – 4th
7. Christopher D. Bennett – They Call Me Mr. Bennett – 63 points – 31/63 – 18th
8. Robert Henning – Losing Bracket – 59 points – 32/63 – 8th
9. Russell Kennerly – StackinWinsLikeJustinBeiber – 59 points – 31/63 – 17th
10. Andree Jauhari – Floccinaucinihilipilification- 58 points – 31/63 – DNP
11. Nate Buckingham – White Magic – 57 points – 33/63 – 9th
12. Tim Peterson – Dominate Monkey – 57 points – 32/63 – 9th
13. Lowell Davis – Golden voiced hobo lover – 53 points – 34/63 – DNP
14. Nader Parsaei – Oscar – 51 points – 29/63 – 2nd
15. Mark Wolfram – Taiwan Hawkeye – 26/63 – 1st
16. Shaun Kirsch – Lil_Dog – 45 points – 29/63 – DNP
17. Frank Meiners – Master Picks – 0 points – 0/63 -4th

If I were giving an award for the best bracket name, it would clearly go to Andree, but I am not. Perhaps next year.

Carrie’s name now sits in the Hall of Champions with the past greats:

Past Champions

2011 – Carrie Baier

2010 – Mark Wolfram

2009 – Mark Wolfram

2008 – Mark Wolfram

2007 – Tim Peterson

2006 – William McAlpine

2005 – William McAlpine

I already can’t wait for the next college basketball season to start and not only because I expect the Cyclones to return to greatness next year. At least I have the Spring Game to look forward to in a couple of weeks. It is football, but it is something.

I will be leaving the state for a few days on a photo sojourn, so the next two days of journal entries have been written and will publish automatically at 8 am on Thursday and Friday. I will not be sending out email copies of those entries until at least Sunday night, but more likely Monday morning. If you are an email subscriber and can’t wait, I suggest you go to the website on those days shortly after 8 am.

I will be Tweeting (probably not a ton, but some) on my photo sojourn, so if you are bored with your life and want to see what I’m doing on this trip, you can follow my Twitter feed:

This trip would have been a prime opportunity to play with Foursquare, but I don’t think I have time to set up an account and figure that stuff out.

Regardless, I won’t be responding to many emails, texts or phone calls in the next 4 days.

Movie – The Adjustment Bureau

Director: George Nolfi (Directorial Debut)
Writer: Geoge Nolfi (The Bourne Ultimatum, Ocean’s Twelve, The Sentinel)
Staring: Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, The Departed, The Bourne Ultimatum) and Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, The Young Victoria, Sunshine Cleaning)

Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion – Nader

Food – Mongolian Buffet

Intellectual Honesty

I am a big fan of Matt Damon. I have been ever since Good Will Hunting. I also favor Emily Blunt. I’ve liked her ever since The Devil Wears Prada.

Baggage

I was intrigued by this movie, but the fact that Hollywood dumps most of its disappointing movies in the early part of the year was a concern. Also, it looked like it might have been a ripoff of Inception. Source Code also looks like a ripoff of Inception.

Synopsis from IMDB

Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Matt Damon stars in the thriller The Adjustment Bureau as a man who glimpses the future Fate has planned for him and realizes he wants something else. To get it, he must pursue the only woman he’s ever loved across, under and through the streets of modern-day New York. On the brink of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate, ambitious politician David Norris (Damon) meets beautiful contemporary ballet dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt)-a woman like none he’s ever known. But just as he realizes he’s falling for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart. David learns he is up against the agents of Fate itself-the men of The Adjustment Bureau-who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent David and Elise from being together. In the face of overwhelming odds, he must either let her go and accept a predetermined path…

Review

I loved the beginning of this movie. I legitimately like Matt Damon and Emily Blunt enough that I would have been quite content for a straight romance movie. The conflict of running a high profile campaign for the Senate and dating somebody like Blunt’s Elise would have been more than enough conflict to make an interesting movie.

David and Elise meet in a bathroom while David is practicing his concession speech after losing his bid for the U.S. Senate because a picture of him participating in a prank at a college reunion shows up on the front pages of the NYC newspapers. His brief interaction with Elise causes him to not give the speech that was written for him.

The speech he gives is the 2nd best scene in the movie and it is the speech that I badly wish that some politician (any politician) would give in the United States.

He starts out giving the speech with a story about a rule from his own neighborhood. It wasn’t whether or not you got knocked down, but it was what you did when you got back up that mattered.

After he delivers the line he stops. Then he tells a story about a magazine article about him revealed that the number one thing that drew other people to him was that he was “authentic”. However, he didn’t feel authentic.

He then tells the truth. That wasn’t a rule in his old neighborhood. It was a line that tested well to focus groups. He didn’t pick out his tie. A consulting firm that his campaign had paid decided that he should wear red and blue ties. Then he takes off his shoe and holds it up. His campaign paid a consulting firm 7300 dollars to decide what was the correct amount of scuffing to have on his shoes. Too little scuffing makes him look like a lawyer or an investment banker and that would limit his appeal to the working class. Too much scuff on his shoes would damage his appeal to lawyers and investment bankers.

I loved this scene because it is sadly true. I was almost as excited to vote for David Norris after his speech as I was for Barack Obama, and he isn’t even real!

It was one of the best movie political speeches I’ve ever seen. It ranks right up there with the speeches from The Candidate.

The speech reminded me of Ronald Reagan a little bit. Love or hate Ronald Reagan, if you want, but I respect Ronald Reagan. The real Ronald Reagan, not the one that the Republican party has tried to make him into. The Ronald Reagan that raised taxes 11 times, granted amnesty for illegal immigrants, and signed an arms reduction treaty with the Soviet Union.

I don’t know how true this story is, but I once heard this story about Ronald Reagan and it is a large part of the reason why I respect the real Ronald Reagan.

He was having a meeting on an issue and one of his advisers brought up polling data and how certain decisions would effect his approval ratings. He told his adviser to stop. He didn’t want to know how his decision would effect his popularity. He wanted to know what decision he could make that was best for the country.

But I digress…

It is a month after this speech when David runs into Elise on a bus that the Adjustment Bureau steps into their life and tries to stop their romance from blossoming. David is told that he is never to see Elise again and that if he tells anybody about the existence of the Adjustment Bureau they will erase his brain.

It is what the Adjustment Bureau is that is probably the weakest part of the movie. The script seems to want to be very bland about who these people are and they definitely aren’t affiliated with any religion. They exist and they work for The Chairman who writes “the plan”.

This raises a large amount of issues of predestination versus free will. I come down fairly strong on the side of free will. So much so that, if I didn’t believe in free will I would view life as a completely fruitless exercise in futility. However, the movie tries to play it both ways.

Apparently these “case workers” intervened in human history from our “hunters and gatherers” stage on through the Roman Empire. Then, humans were allowed to make their own choices, but we screwed it up and that lead to the Dark Ages. This caused them to intervene again, but they stopped intervening in 1910. But had to start intervening again because we were going to blow ourselves up during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

However, humans can try to make their own decisions but if it messes with the Plan, then the Adjustment Bureau adjusts your decisions to get you back on the plan.

David doesn’t give up on his dream of Elise and years later “chance” throws them together for a third time. This leads to what I consider the best scene in the movie where David tells Elise the full story of why he got into politics. It is a story about how he was bottoming out after his mom and brother died a month apart when he was a teenager. The scene ends with what I personally consider some of the most magical words in the English language: “I’ve never told anybody that before.”

For the record, that is considerably different than “don’t tell anybody else this.”

The Adjustment Bureau tries again to break them up using tactics that do raise interesting moral questions.

“Would you stay with the person you loved if you knew it was going to be bad for you?”

I think that is a very easy question to answer, but the next question is much harder to answer:

“Would you stay with the person you loved if you knew it was going to be bad for them?”

Even though I think the movie ducked some questions and its history of the world interpretation is very spotty at best, I did enjoy this movie. In fact, when I initially left the theater I left thinking it was just kind of average. But the more I think about it, the more I like the movie. Yes I found the ending a little frustrating and the mechanics of the Adjustment Bureau a little lame, but everything else more than countered my qualms.

Rating
3.5/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
Yes I will.

2011 Ranking
Currently number one. Although admittedly the competition hasn’t been too stiff.

Bonus Information
There was a preview for the movie The Conspirator that looks really interesting.

Up Next
Most likely Cedar Rapids. For real this time.

EDITOR’S NOTE: SINCE THE ORIGINAL PUBLICATION OF THIS BLOG IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT MONICA AND JEFF WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DELICIOUS FRUIT PIZZA. MY APOLOGIES FOR GIVING THE CREDIT TO DERRICK.

Movie – Hall Pass

Director: Bobby and Peter Farrelly (Dumb & Dumber, Kingpin, There’s Something About Mary)
Writer: Pete Jones, Peter Farrelly, Kevin Barnett, Bobby Farrelly
Starring: Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, The Royal Tenenbaums, Marley & Me), Jason Sudeikis (Going the Distance, What Happens in Vegas), Jenna Fischer (The Office, Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), Christina Applegate (Anchorman, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Married with Children)

Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion – Nader

Food – Okoboji Grill

Intellectual Honesty

I like Jenna Fischer. I thought that the trailer looked funny.

Baggage

Owen Wilson is pretty much always terrible unless he is in a Wes Anderson movie. The Farrelly brothers movies have been pretty blah since There’s Something About Mary.

Synopsis from IMDB

A married man is granted the opportunity to have an affair by his wife. Joined in the fun by his best pal, things get a little out of control when both wives start engaging in extramarital activities as well.

Review

Let’s face it, there really isn’t much to say about this movie. If you take out the Kathy Griffin jokes at the end of the movie, almost all the funniest parts are in the trailer.

Save the money and the time and watch the trailer.

Rating
1.5/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
Nope.

2011 Ranking
I’ve seen two 2011 movies. It is the 2nd best. The other one I saw (The Dilemna) was nothing special either.

Bonus Information
I saw previews for several movies. They all look terrible. Thor. Cowboys & Aliens. The Hangover Part II. I wonder if Hollywood is even trying this year.

I got an email from Russell referring to me as Movie Man and asking kindly if he could get my opinions on the Oscars or if he would have to wait for a journal entry.

Since most people don’t possess the bravery of Russell, I’ll just paraphrase the email I sent to him about my Oscar experience.

I can’t complain about most categories besides Best Picture and Best Director.

Some of the people I was rooting for didn’t win (Michelle Williams and James Franco), but I can’t really argue with giving the Oscar to Natalie Portman and Colin Firth.

I was sad to see Randy Newman get an Oscar, but this was a pretty weak year for Original Song.

I prefer How to Train Your Dragon over Toy Story 3, but I knew that was a lost cause.

The King’s Speech is kind of a glorified made for TV movie with two exceptional performances.

It is a good movie, but not the best movie of the year. That was clearly The Social Network, but what I think happened is that the older members of the Academy just didn’t get The Social Network and they swung the vote for the much safer The King’s Speech.

Because of the type of movie he makes, I hope this wasn’t David Fincher’s last chance at an Oscar. But if it was, he’ll be in good company. Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles never won an Oscar (for director). However, one Alfred Hitchcock movie did win Best Picture. Rebecca if you really must know.

I was glad that The Kids are All Right didn’t win anything, but now I’m also having to re-watch it to figure out if I think the daughter in the movie is a lesbian or not. I was glad that Jeff Bridges didn’t win. Mumbling is not acting.

I would have been happy to see Amy Adams win, but I freely confess that Melissa Leo was better than her.

The Oscar Party I attended was successful and I had lots and lots of very tasty food. Derrick made some kind of shrimp and cream cheese dip kind of thing that was phenomenal. Plus he made fruit pizza, which is one of my all-time favorite foods. Plus Derrick also made a mean batch of little smokies. There was soup there as well, but I forgot to sample its undoubtable goodness.

I got to give Nader a ride in Jill’s Solstice and this seemed to be one of the biggest thrills of his life, so that was a bonus as well.

I don’t know that I really have an opinion on any of the speeches because truthfully I didn’t really pay much attention to any of them.

Everybody at the gathering seemed to agree that Kirk Douglas’ presentation was painful to sit through. I love you Spartacus, but that was almost as bad as watching Dick Clark on New Year’s.

I don’t have much of an opinion on the hosts. They weren’t so terrible that I noticed them, but they weren’t so funny that I’m dying to have them back. Jay seemed to like them. He said it was the best Oscars he had ever seen. I definitely wouldn’t go that far.

As far as fashion goes, I don’t really have opinions on fashion. So I will relay to you what the fashion expert Jill liked. She liked some of Anne Hathaway’s outfits. I can’t really remember which ones. She didn’t like the Black Swan looking one or the one blue one that looked like it was made of vinyl or the one that she was wearing at the end that made her look borderline naked. She did like Amy Adams’ bluish-sparkly dress. That is all I can recall of fashion conversations.

On an unrelated fashion note, Evie wore pajamas with guitars on them. They were clearly the fashion hit of the evening.

We also watched a little bit of Freakonomics afterward. I wanted Jen to watch it so I could show her the part on whether or not what you name your children has any effect on whether or not they are successful in life. It reminded me of her job.

More Bonus Information

I’ve been messing around with the website and I have added a few little dodads that you should checkout. For example all the pages except the home page have sidebars now. I’m still tinkering with the sidebars, but they currently include links to the last 5 Journal entries and the last 5 pictures I’ve uploaded to the Artistic Gallery. The header now changes as well. Although at this time, there are only two headers. There will be more in the future. I’ve also widened the website so that it looks better on widescreen monitors. I’ve also changed the menu system, but you probably won’t notice any changes in that respect. I’m sure I’m not done tinkering, but those are the recent changes.

Movie – The Illusionist

Director: Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville)
Writers: Jacques Tati and Sylvain Chomet
Starring: Jean-Claude Donda and Eilidh Rankin

Theater – Fleur Cinema – Des Moines, Iowa

Companion – Nader

Food – China One International Buffet

Intellectual Honesty

I don’t know that I brought any positive inclinations into the theater with me. I’m not overly familiar with anybody involved in this movie. Although I was excited to see a traditionally animated movie again.

Baggage

I am painting this with a very broad brush here, but I don’t really enjoy foreign animated movies. I enjoy foreign live action films, but have never really liked a foreign animated film with the exception of Persepolis. In particular, I can’t stomach anime. Literally. I get sick watching anime. The Illusionist is a French film, like Persepolis, so it had that going for it.

Synopsis from IMDB

Details the story of a dying breed of stage entertainer whose thunder is being stolen by emerging rock stars. Forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theaters, garden parties and bars, he meets a young fan who changes his life forever.

Review

I go to about 30 movies a year with Nader. Maybe more. He is awake for about 10% of them. This is the 2nd time we have been down to The Fleur to see a movie and the 2nd time that he has fallen asleep before the movie even started. This time, I kind of wished I could have joined him in grabbing some shuteye.

Although there are times that this movie is beautiful to look at (particularly), it is mostly just boring.

The Illusionist is followed around by a girl that thinks he is actually a magician. Even though she is extremely poor, she becomes very materialistic very fast. She thinks that The Illusionist is making the things she want appear magically, but in actuality he is buying the things and then making them appear through illusions. Then she keeps wanting more.

This is a French film and it is presented without subtitles. However, there is hardly any dialogue in the the entire film, so not being able to understand what little dialogue there is, doesn’t really hurt the movie. It isn’t necessary for understanding it.

The movie just feels very deliberately paced and what does happen might seem whimsical to some viewers, it just left me wanting more of a plot than an entertainer watching his job disappear before him trying desperately to cling to his last audience member.

The ending is also incredibly depressing. That isn’t a criticism. I can handle depressing endings, but considering how bored I was for the first 75 minutes of the movie, I didn’t need to be depressed for the last 5.

Although I could relate to The Illusionist’s plight of owning a rabbit that hates him.

Rating
2.5/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
No chance.

2010 Ranking
Dead last of the animated films I’ve seen. I think Despicable Me probably deserves the Oscar nomination that this movie holds.

Bonus Information
On Tuesday Waiting for Superman came out on DVD. If you have even a passing interest in what is laughingly referred to as the education system in this country you should run to your nearest video store and pick up a copy of this movie. It is not nominated for Best Documentary and that is the greatest travesty of the Oscar nominations.

Waiting for Superman nails it on the head what is wrong with our educational system (hint: bad teachers and teacher’s unions) and it will tear your heart out watching our nation’s youth being reduced to gambling (yes, that is what a lottery is) for a chance at going to a decent school and therefore a decent life.

The stakes are really that high. Win a charter school lottery and get to attend a school that is a feeder system for colleges OR lose the lottery and attend a school that is a feeder for our much better funded prison system.

Although I would strongly urge you to watch it by any means necessary (short of theft, looking at you pirates) it is definitely worth buying. Why? In addition to being a great movie, the Blu-Ray (I don’t know about the DVD, I’ve kind of evolved) comes with a 25 dollar donation to the local public school of your choice. In a way, you are getting your money back.

For more information, go to the Waiting for Superman website: http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/

Movie – Exit Through the Gift Shop

Director: Banksy

Starring: Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Thierry Guetta, Space Invader and Rhys Ifans

Theater – Bennett’s Union Street Theater – Boone, Iowa

Companion – Flying Solo

Food – I had dinner with Nader at Mongolian Buffet.

Intellectual Honesty & Baggage

Sometimes I feel that I’m the only person I know that LOVES documentaries. One of my all-time favorite movies is Born into Brothels and I can barely get anybody else to touch the DVD case, let alone actually watch it. Usually when I try to suggest watching a documentary to somebody else, they act like I asked them to sit through 90 minutes of riding the lightning.

For the most part I’ve given up on trying to get anybody else to watch a documentary with me. I say “for the most part” because I’m not a quitter. I just don’t get why most people hate documentaries. The world is just an extremely fascinating place, I don’t know why people don’t want to learn more about it.

I know most documentaries tend to make people angry or sad, (besides the sickest bastards in the world, who wants to watch the Japanese chop up a bunch of dolphins) but they are also so enlightening. If they are done properly.

True the most famous documentaries are usually thinly veiled propaganda, but even the works of Michael Moore are educational if you are intelligent enough to be able to sift the gold from the muck.

Synopsis from IMDB

The story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader and many of the world’s most infamous graffiti artists at work.

Review

I admittedly live in very small town Iowa. My exposure to street art is very limited, but even I am familiar with and appreciate the work of Banksy. I am familiar with Shepard Fairey because he created the single most iconic image of the last at least 20 years: The Obama Hope Poster. But I knew nothing of any of the other street artists in the movie.

However, the movie does a very good job of introducing the viewer to the world of street art, before it really starts to focus on its subject Thierry Guetta.

Guetta follows around many of the most preeminent street artists in the world filming them under the pretense that he is making a documentary, but it seems that he doesn’t really have any intention of making a movie. He just films everything that he does.

Eventually he ends up in Banksy’s fold. Eventually Banksy pushes him to make his movie, but when Banksy see the finished project he realizes it is a complete disaster. He sends Guetta home to work on his art and remakes the movie himself.

What Guetta does when he gets home is a little mindblowing, but not in a good way.

I’ll give you this much of a clue. A long time ago Jill loaned me the movie Factory Girl. Factory Girl follows the story of Edie Segwick, a socialite that falls into Andy Warhol’s flock. Edie’s father is a complete piece of garbage that sexually molested Edie when she was young and dumped her into a mental institution when she walked in on him having an affair with their neighbor.

However, during one scene in the movie he is having dinner with Edie and Warhol and says the most spot on thing to Warhol:

“You’re really more of a print-maker than an artist, aren’t you?”

That is what I would say to Guetta if I ever met him.

This is a very well crafted movie and follows some very fascinating people. The end of the movie is actually a brilliant statement on our culture’s ability to buy into hype over talent. Although I’m sure there are some that would call me an elitist for thinking that way.

If I could get somebody else to watch a documentary out there, I would highly recommend this flick. It is on Netflix and is available on DVD.

Rating
4.0/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
Probably not. I have it on Netflix, so I can watch it any time I want.

2010 Ranking
Number 10. It knocks True Grit out of the Top Ten.

Bonus Information
Since both Ames and Des Moines have decided to not bring any new movies worth seeing to their collective theaters, I just had dinner with Nader on Tuesday night and went home and decided to start getting caught up on my Oscar nominated Documentaries.

Movie – Restrepo

Directors: Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger

Theater – Bennett’s Union Street Theater – Boone, Iowa

Companion – Flying Solo

Food – I had supper at my Mom’s with Alexis, Johnathan and Jason before I watched this movie. She made Salisbury Steak and mashed potatoes and gravy. It was awesome!

Intellectual Honesty
I am a fan of Sebastian Junger’s writings. I was very legitimately excited about seeing this movie as soon as I heard about it.

Baggage
I’m not a big military guy. I understand the reason for the military’s existence, but I don’t get all excited when talking about the military like many of the men I know do.

Synopsis from IMDB
Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s year dug in with the Second Platoon in one of Afghanistan’s most strategically crucial valleys reveals extraordinary insight into the surreal combination of back breaking labor, deadly firefights, and camaraderie as the soldiers painfully push back the Taliban.

Review
One of the reasons I was excited to see this movie is that it is supposed to be a very neutral portrayal of the war in Afghanistan. I had read an interview by the filmmakers about how both sides of the political spectrum had attacked this movie for being too pro-war or too anti-war.

If both sides were attacking the movie, I figured it must be fair and balanced. I mean legitimately fair and balanced, not like how FoxNews is fair and balanced, using the words like some kind of extremely ironic tagline that they themselves are privately surprised that they have the balls to use in public.

I come from more of the war is “old-men-talking-and-young-men-dying” frame of mind rather than the “war!-what-is-it-good-for?-absolutely-nothing-except-ending-slavery-and-stopping-Hitler” frame of mind.

Because of that, when I watched this movie, I saw more of the anti-war side of the story. Even though, this isn’t what the movie is trying to do. It just covers one platoon for one year and shows the facts. But in my mind, it is rather clear that the facts are that war sucks!

When I turned the movie off, I could only feel bad for these young men that they had to be put through this because of our glaring foreign relation mistakes since… probably since the end of WWII.

It is an interesting movie and it is graphic in its depiction of war, so there are definitely scenes that aren’t for the faint of heart. But I would highly recommend it because it is a view of the war you won’t see on any news network.

It doesn’t preach one side or the other. Which is very refreshing.

I would probably rate it higher, but there are moments where the movie drags on a little bit.

Rating
3.5/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
No need, I can watch it on Netflix anytime I want. Although I might buy the corresponding book.

2010 Ranking
I would put it just outside of my Top Ten.

Bonus Information
Looks like Ames is bringing in only a steaming pile of poo for movies again this week: Just Go With It, Just Beiber: Never Say Never and Gnomeo and Juliet, I would have to be paid and paid well to endure any of those movies. Looks like I’ll be watching more documentaries next Tuesday as well.

Director: Danny Boyle (Slum Dog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later…)

Writer: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Slumdog Millionaire)

Starring: James Franco (Spider-Man, Milk, Howl), Kate Mara (Shooter, Iron Man 2, We Are Marshall), and Amber Tamblyn (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Ring, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt)

Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion – Nader

Food – King Buffet

Intellectual Honesty

I am a big fan of Danny Boyle. I think he is one of the most innovative filmmakers currently working and his movies are always interesting. 28 Days Later… is about the only straight zombie movie I can stomach. Slumdog Millionaire is one of the best and most inspiring movies of the last 10 years. The scene in Trainspotting with the baby (if you’ve seen Trainspotting you know what I’m talking about) haunts me to this day.

I’m not overly familiar with Simon Beaufoy, but after seeing his credits, I’m going to have to keep an eye on him.

I like James Franco, but he never seems to get a big enough role in his movies.

I’ve been a big fan of Amber Tamblyn ever since Joan of Arcadia. That is one of my all-time favorite shows that nobody else has ever seen, from when I used to watch television. Although bringing her up in the context of this movie is fairly pointless. Nobody but Franco is in this movie for more than a couple minutes.

Baggage

I think the only negative I brought into this movie was that I knew how it ended already. Thanks Willy! Thanks for nothing that is…

I guess considering there was a blizzard going on outside, I had some worries that I would make it out of the parking lot after the movie. If I was able to get out of the parking lot, would I be able to get home. If I was able to get home, would I be able to get home in time for my scheduled phone conversation with Jill.

Synopsis from IMDB

127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet?

Review

Two things.

Number one, this is a really, really good movie.

Number two, I’m not sure if I could ever watch it again.

Although I was impressed with Colin Firth’s portrayal of an inbred loser with a stammering problem in The King’s Speech and I’m pretty sure he will win the Oscar, I will now be rooting for Franco and his portrayal of a rock climber/adventurer (Aron Ralston) who gets trapped when a boulder falls on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah.

Franco essentially is this movie. After he parts company with two other hikers (Mara and Tamblyn) the rest of the movie is essentially him. For most of the movie he is essentially trapped by a rock and can’t even move. Despite this fact, the movie is never remotely boring. The movie bounces between Ralston’s attempts to free himself from the rock and his thoughts about his life and the mistakes he made that led him to this position and fantasies about partying with the two hikers that were the last people to see him, possibly alive.

Ralston carries a video camera with him and some of the best scenes in the film are when he is filming his goodbye to his parents and his sisters.

Although I’m sure most people know how this movie ends, I don’t want to give it away to the few people that don’t know. The reason why I’m not sure I could ever watch this movie again is because of the brutality in the scene where he does get himself free.

I don’t consider myself to be a squeamish person, but I could barely force myself to watch the movie screen during this scene.

On a less grotesque point of the movie, the canyons of Utah are filmed absolutely beautifully. It is an absolutely beautiful movie to look at.

It is a great movie with a great performance, so my only real complaint would be that sometimes the style of the movie overwhelms the story and I fear that at some point in the future will make this film feel dated.

Rating
4.0/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
Honestly, I don’t know. I write now that I don’t know if I could ever watch this film again, but when this movie comes out on DVD, I’ll probably be buying it in the 2-Disc Special Edition, if there is a 2-Disc Special Edition.

2010 Ranking
I rank it as #3.

Here is my current Top Ten of 2010 (Subject to change on a whim)

1. The Social Network
2. Inception
3. 127 Hours
4. The Fighter
5. Hereafter
6. How to Train Your Dragon
7. Black Swan
8. Winter’s Bone
9. The King’s Speech
10. True Grit

Bonus Information

When we ate at King Buffet, we were the only people in the restaurant. The theater was mostly empty. If you eliminated the Oklahoma State Woman’s Basketball Team, the theater was practically vacant.

After get outside into the weather, I decided it was prudent to just stay in Ames, so I crashed at Jen and Derrick’s. Thanks to them for having an extremely comfortable guest bed!

I saw the trailer to Cedar Rapids. It looks pretty funny.

Up Next
Looks like Ames in only bringing in garbage next week, so a trip down to Jordan Creek to see Biutiful might be in order.

Movie – Blue Valentine

Director: Derek Cianfrance (Brother Tied)

Writers: Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne, and Joey Curtis

Starring: Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Shutter Island, Halloween H20) and Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl, Half Nelson, Remember the Titans)

Theater – AMC Southdale 16 – Edina, Minnesota

Companion – Jill

Food – Ruby Tuesday

Intellectual Honesty

I don’t think I have anything to disclose. I like Ryan Gosling, after I forgave him for The Notebook, but I’m not a huge fan. I like Michelle Williams, but I’m not a huge fan.

Baggage

I don’t think I brought any with me. This is essentially the director’s first movie. There aren’t any actors in the movie that I dislike.

Synopsis from IMDB

The film centers on a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods.

Review

For starters, I’m disappointed that the IMDB could only spit out that pathetic synopsis. I am terrible at writing plot summaries, but I’ll give it a shot:

The movie follows the beginning of the relationship of Dean (Gosling) and Cindy (Williams) and the end of their relationship in a nonlinear timeline. Beginning when Dean spots Cindy at a nursing home while working a moving job and ultimately finishing when they get away for a romantic weekend at a room themed motel.

I have admittedly struggled with processing this movie. I’d like to think that is pretty rare for me. I think I struggled with this movie because it took me so long to figure out who was the “bad guy” in the movie and that statement isn’t even accurate. Like in real life, when a relationship goes sour, it isn’t one person’s fault, but it is usually more one person’s fault than the other. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that Dean was more to blame than Cindy. That is because at the beginning of the relationship, Cindy might have been using Dean more than loving Dean.

I think part of this is because I was stuck on thinking that the following line uttered by Dean to a co-worker was supposed to be the essence of the movie:

I feel like men are more romantic than women. When we get married we marry, like, one girl, ’cause we’re resistant the whole way until we meet one girl and we think I’d be an idiot if I didn’t marry this girl she’s so great. But it seems like girls get to a place where they just kinda pick the best option… ‘Oh he’s got a good job.’ I mean they spend their whole life looking for Prince Charming and then they marry the guy who’s got a good job and is gonna stick around.

It isn’t the essence of the movie though. It is the essence of the beginning of their relationship.

Cindy doesn’t respond to Dean’s advances at first. Then when her boyfriend gets her pregnant by messing up their birth control “system”, she leaves him and finally Dean wears her down with his persistence and his cute little song.

When he finds out she is pregnant he goes with her to have the abortion. When she backs out of the abortion he marries her and raises the child as his own.

The film shows the beginning of the relationship where Dean is extremely caring and loving. The film shows the end of the relationship where Dean has descended into alcoholism and he has become increasingly controlling. My main complaint with the movie is that we never really get to see the middle. What turned Dean from the charismatic likable guy at the beginning of the movie to the shell of a man he is at the end?

I guess the truth could be that he never really changes. Perhaps it is only our perception and Cindy’s perception of him that changes. This is a movie that is definitely worthy of a 2nd look and it needs more thinking about.

The performances by Williams and Gosling are both brilliant. Williams is very deserving of her Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a woman unsure about what to do about her relationship. I hope she wins the award, even though I’m sure Natalie Portman is a lock for Black Swan. I would have liked to have seen Gosling nominated instead of Jeff Bridges for True Grit, but I’m guessing that he might have missed out on the nomination because there are similarities to this character and his Oscar nominated performance in Half Nelson.

Rating
3.5/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
I’m slightly leaning towards buying it.

2010 Ranking
After viewing it, I’m ranking it number 10. Although like Black Swan, its stock could raise the more I dwell on this movie.

Bonus Information
If you have a smartphone, I highly recommend the Flixster app if you like movies at all. Earlier in the week Jill and I had discussed seeing How Do You Know, but she couldn’t find it playing anywhere in the Twin Cities. With this app, I was able to find that it was indeed playing at 1 movie theater in Apple Valley. Jill worried that this was too far from Oakdale, but with this app we were able to look at every movie that was playing with in a 50 mile radius and we found Blue Valentine. A movie she wanted to see, but didn’t even realize it was out yet.

On the slightly negative side, I wasn’t able to find an app that was very effective in finding a restaurant in the area. So we ended up at Ruby Tuesday. That kind of violates my rules against eating at corporate restaurants, but I’ve never eaten at a Ruby Tuesday before, so it worked out. Although, my burger was tasty, Jill had an unfortunate experience with a salad.

Worry not good people, for it has already been decided that next time we will be eating at Fat Lorenzo’s. I also found a decent restaurant finding app, for other circumstances, but that is a secret since Jill has falsely accused me of being obsessed with my phone.

Movie – The King’s Speech

Director: Tom Hooper (The Damn United, John Adams)

Writer: David Seidler (Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Quest for Camelot)

Starring: Colin Firth (The English Patient, Love Actually, Pride and Prejudice), Geoffrey Rush (Shine, Shakespeare in Love, Les Miserables), and Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club, Sweeney Todd, Hamlet)

Theater – Fleur Cinema – Des Moines, Iowa

Companion – Nader

Food – Ted’s Coney Island

Intellectual Honesty

I do love Helena Bonham Carter. I don’t know many actresses that play her range of completely psychotic chick to future Queen of England (not that underneath everything the Queen of England probably isn’t a completely psychotic chick) so effortlessly. I always consider it a good sign when there is only 1 writer listed in the credits. The less writers the better. Even if their most recent screen credit was something called Kung Fu Killer.

Baggage

I don’t like royalty in real life. I don’t like royalty in the cinema. If you have to have royalty, my favorite kind is with their head on a pike be carried by an angry mob. I don’t respect countries that have royalty. I particularly don’t respect countries that have royalty that only have ceremonial duties.

I was pretty sure that Colin Firth’s performance was overhyped.

Synopsis from IMDB

Tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George (‘Bertie’) reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stammer and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country through war.

Review

First things first. The accolades for Colin Firth’s performance as a man struggling to deal with a speech impediment are well deserved. I have no doubt that he will walk away with the Oscar and deserve it.

Nearly as great is Rush’s performance as the eccentric speech therapist that help the future King of England work through his stammering and his childhood traumas. He won’t get the Oscar because Christian Bale will deservedly walk away with that trophy, but Rush certainly deserves his nomination.

Helena Bonham Carter as Bertie’s wife, but I don’t know if there is anything particularly spectacular in her performance.

As far as movie royals go, these royals are tolerable. Yes, the movie would have been improved if at the end a mob of angry peasant would have broken in and cut off Bertie’s head and paraded it around the streets of London, but it wouldn’t have been historically accurate and I’m not sure it would have helped them fight the Nazis.

Perhaps that is where I struggle most with this movie. Bertie and Lionel are fascinating characters, but I don’t really think that if Bertie would have struggled through his big speech, the Nazis would have defeated England. At the end of the day he is still a figurehead.

Another thing that troubled me with the movie was the demonization of Wallis Simpson. I understand that she wasn’t the greatest human being in the world. She was definitely a Nazi sympathizer and a racist. There is even some evidence that she might have leaked information to the Nazis as well.

However, in this movie her greatest crime seems to be that she is American and even worse, a commoner. The movie has no sympathy for Guy Pearce’s King Edward VIII and his decision to give up the throne for the woman he loves. On more than one occasion the film suggest that the more correct course of action would have been just to use the woman he loved as a mistress rather than have her as a wife.

When he abdicates his throne to be with her, it is seen as an act of cowardice rather than love.

Particularly annoying is when Carter’s Elizabeth is upset that she is received by a commoner rather than the King. It would have been the perfect time for a mob of angry peasants screaming “Off with their heads!” to have broken into the room.

My personal problems with the conflicts in the movie aside, this movie is really well done and it is one of the best movies of the year. It is particularly great in the scenes with just Bertie and Lionel.

My only other real complaint is Timothy Spall’s portrayal of Winston Churchill. He comes off more like the Batman villain Penguin than Winston Churchill. It is very distracting.

Rating
4.0/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
Not likely, unless there is an alternate ending with… well you know what I want to see!

2010 Ranking
#5.

Bonus Information
It was exciting to introduce Nader to the greatness of Ted’s Coney Island. On the way home, we listened to true royalty: Elvis Presley.

Up Next
Looks like 127 Hours is next in the hopper.

Movie – The Dilemma

Director: Ron Howard (Backdraft, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, Frost/Nixon)

Writer: Allan Loeb (Things We Lost in the Fire, 21, The Switch)

Starring: Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers, Dodgeball, Old School, Swingers), Kevin James (I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Hitch, Paul Blart: Mall Cop), Winona Ryder (Heathers, Girl, Interrupted, Dracula) and Jennifer Connelly (Requiem for a Dream, A Beautiful Mind, Blood Diamond)

Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion – Nader

Food – King Buffet

Intellectual Honesty

I’ve been a big fan of Winona Ryder since Heathers, (one of my all-time favorite movies) but it doesn’t seem like she has gotten many great roles lately. She was in Black Swan, but she seemed slightly out of place. Ditto for Jennifer Connelly. I know these won’t be great roles, but at least it is something.

Baggage

Oh Vince Vaughn, I wish we could just go back to Swingers and start all over again. Kevin James’ stand up comedy is hilarious, but his movies have been absolutely awful, with the exception of Hitch. He owes me a written apology for my sitting through Paul Blart: Mall Cop, perhaps the worst movie of 2009.

I’m not sure how Ron Howard became attached to this movie. My best guess is that he was feeling nostalgic for his early days of Night Shift, Splash and Gung Ho. I would think that the director of Apollo 13, Ransom, Frost/Nixon and A Beautiful Mind would pursue a more demanding project, but then I remember he also made Edtv, The Da Vinci Code and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Synopsis from IMDB

A man finds out that what you don’t say to a friend is just as important as what you do is this story of how far you can bend a brotherly bond before it snaps. Since college, confirmed bachelor Ronny (Vaughn) and happily married Nick (James) have been through thick and thin. Now partners in an auto design firm, the two pals are vying to land a dream project that would launch their company. Ronny’s girlfriend, Beth (Connelly), and Nick’s wife, Geneva (Ryder), are by their sides. But Ronny’s world is turned upside down when he inadvertently sees Geneva out with another man and makes it his mission to get answers. As the amateur investigation dissolves into mayhem, he learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own. Now, with the clock ticking and pressure mounting on the biggest presentation of their careers, Ronny must decide what will happen if he reveals the truth to his best friend.

Review

The surprise of this movie is that the best role and only performance worth noting is Winona Ryder’s turn as the cheating wife. Amazingly her character ends up being extremely likable and while you hate her for what she is doing, she is still intelligent, interesting and has a level of depth missing from every other character in the movie.

Kevin James is a little hard to believe as an auto-engineering genius. He plays the straight man and while Paul Blart proved that he doesn’t belong as the leading man in a movie, he is much better as the goofy friend like in Hitch than as the friend of the goofy guy.

Vince Vaughn plays the exact same role he has played in every movie and he plays it well, but at some point I hope to seem him cover some new ground. At least the character is likable in this role, unlike Wedding Crashers or The Break-up.

Connelly is completed wasted in this role. She plays Vaughn’s girlfriend struggling to trust him due to his gambling addiction. However, this is never really explored and seems to be mentioned as little more than a plot device.

Channing Tatum was surprisingly interesting as Zip, the man that Ryder was having an affair with. Surprisingly, I wanted him in the movie more. His character was legitimately funny.

Not legitimately funny but just flat out puzzling is Queen Latifah. I think her character existed only to remind the audience that on top of the dilemma Vaugn’s Ronny was facing, he and James’ Nick need to produce an electric motor that sounds and shakes a car like a muscle car from the 70s. Why anybody would be interested in such a product, I don’t know. Apparently the filmmakers felt it was necessary to try to make her “funny” by repeatedly saying “woman wood”, but it wasn’t funny.

Of course, that is really the main problem with this movie. According to the Internet Movie Database, this movie is both a comedy and a drama. Well, it tries to be a comedy but feels like a drama.

It isn’t completely devoid of humor though. It isn’t laughless like Grown Ups. In fact, the scene where Ronny gives a toast to a couple married for 40 years is one of the funnier scenes of the year, but the laughs are few and far between for the rest of the movie.

It wasn’t a bad movie, but it felt like wasted potential. It wasted the talents of Ron Howard, Winona Ryder and Jennifer Connelly. Even though Ryder is definitely the highlight of the movie.

I think a better ending might have gotten an extra half star out of me.

Rating
2.5/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
No, but I’m reminded that I should see if Heathers is on Blu-Ray. I would watch this movie again on cable.

2011 Ranking
As the first 2011 movie I’ve seen, it currently ranks #1. I hope it doesn’t hold it for very long.

Bonus Information
Since the Cinemark refuses to bring any movies of merit to Ames, next week Nader and I are going down to The Fleur to see The King’s Speech and I will introduce Nader to the greatness that is Ted’s Coney Island.

I’m sick of seeing advertisements for Sucker Punch. I’m intrigued by Hall Pass. I don’t know what to think of Your Higness. Might be an early contender for worst movie of 2011 (with Sucker Punch and Just Go with It), but it might also be brilliant.

There was a certain amount of controversy about the use of the word “gay” in The Dilemma. To know what I think about that controversy read The Toad, The Turtle, and the Duck in David Sedaris’ “clever” Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Beastiary.

One other note, Raging Bull came out on Blu-Ray on Tuesday. If you haven’t already, you should run to buy it.

Movie – Country Strong

Director: Shana Feste (The Greatest)

Writer: Shana Feste (The Greatest)

Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow (Se7en, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Royal Tenenbaums), Tim McGraw (The Blind Side, Flicka), Garrett Hedlund (Troy, Four Brothers, Tron: Legacy), and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl, Date Night, The Roommate)

Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion – Nader

Food - King Buffet

Intellectual Honesty

I like Gwyneth Paltrow. All things considered, I thought she would have had a slightly better career.

I also like it when the writer and the director are the same person. It helps me buy into the auteur theory and I really like that theory.

Baggage

I really can’t stand new country music. I grew up listening to old country music and enjoy the works of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Sr. and Tom T. Hall (the first person I ever mention that name to and they instantly know the song Sneaky Snake – well there aren’t words for how I feel about that person). I can’t stand the warbling of any of the current country “musicians”.

I also thought that Tim McGraw was terrible in The Blind Side.

Synopsis from IMDB

A drama centered on a rising country-music songwriter (Hedlund) who sparks with a fallen star (Paltrow). Together, they mount his ascent and her comeback, which leads to romantic complications involving her husband/manager (McGraw) and a beauty queen-turned-singer (Meester).

Review

I’m not into cleverly changing the name of the movie to reflect how I feel about it. I leave that to Nader, but considering the inevitable resolution to this movie, I think the title is a misnomer. Cliche Strong would be a good name.

Cliche Strong because this movie piles one country music cliche on top of another on top of another. I understand that this happens because country music (the current incarnation) is the least interesting and least creative form of music being created today. If you write a song about your dog and a beatup pickup truck I guarantee you that it will be “rocking” karaoke nights all across Boone County, but it is as about as intellectually stimulating as paying your water bill.

It seems like this movie is meant to be the girl power version of Crazy Heart, only in the end the girl isn’t overly empowered. It follows the story of an alcoholic country musician, the only difference being the location along the career arc for the musicians. Bridges’ Bad Blake was washed up. Paltrow’s Kanter is still a big star capable of selling out arenas. Despite the fact that she fell off a stage drunk, 5 months pregnant and lost her baby.

Crazy Heart is much deeper and the music is better. Country Strong paints its emotions with a wide brush and it feels like it would be right at home on the Hallmark Channel. For you middle aged women out there, that wasn’t a compliment.

Despite Crazy Heart having better music, Country Strong is at its best when you don’t have to listen to the cliche characters struggle through cliche dialogue. It is best when they are on stage performing. I particularly enjoy the songs by Hedlund’s Hutton. The title song is kind of week, but the climatic Coming Home isn’t bad and is the best of Paltrow’s songs.

Tim McGraw doesn’t sing once in the movie, but he gives the best performance. As milquetoast as his performance is in The Blind Side, he is really good at playing a multi-layered douchebag here. He isn’t all bad, but in the end, he is a douchebag that takes his wife out of rehab too early and forces her out on a tour that her sobriety isn’t able to sustain. When she gets drunk before the first stop on the tour, he doesn’t see this as a sign that she needs to go back to rehab. He just forces the tour on, hoping to cash a bigger check in the future. Rather than spending more time with her, he spends it with Meester’s Stanton. McGraw is really good as a nonsupportive-semisupportive husband.

Nothing else really stands out in this movie, except that you’ve seen it all before. Done better.

Rating
2.5/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD
I won’t, but I considered buying the soundtrack until I realized they had replaced some of the songs performed by the actors in the movie with Faith Hill and Sara Evans. Not digging it record execs.

2010 Ranking
One of the most mediocre of 2010. Like Star Wars, made bearable by good music.

Bonus Information
While at True Grit the trailer for Country Strong played. Baier leaned over and proclaimed that he would seize the Man Card of anybody that attended this movie. I told him exactly when and where I would be watching this movie. He must have decided he wasn’t man enough to try to seize my Man Card, because I am still in full possession of it.

This review officially catches me up on movie reviews. In the future, I plan to use Tuesdays as a look back at my personal archives of photos. I’m going to go through every folder on my hard drive (before Photography 139) and start publishing a few out of a different folder every week. If I can stay disciplined, then I will use Wednesdays for movie reviews. Then I can officially get most of my private life out of the blog and turn to the creation of a collective blog. It is there that I hope to start a collection of fictional short stories. It is a goal any way.