Category Archives: Jill

Derrick, Evie, Formal Portrait, Jill, Personal Photo Project

Personal Photo Project of the Week #56

February 25, 2011 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

The Finite is Not the Infinite

I decided to start experimenting with multiple exposures again and when I got this roll of film back, I realized how rust I had become with this photo technique.

This was a roll of 36 pictures and most of the multiple exposures came back so beyond creepy, that they will never see the light of day. That was slightly disappointing considering that nobody in Ames develops real black & white film any longer, so just getting this roll of film developed involved multiple trips to Des Moines.

Here are a few more pictures from the roll of film that turned out or hasn’t been rendered obsolete by time.

Forgot to set the camera for multiple exposure on this one!

I have another roll of film out for development from my pinhole camera. I have no clue what to expect from that roll of film, but I doubt that I get it back before next Friday. Next Friday’s Personal Photo Project of the Week will be Sara and the 9 Emotions.

Alexis, Jason, Jill, Johnathan, Mom, Movies, Nader

Movie Reviews: Exit Through the Gift Shop and Restrepo

February 9, 2011 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

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.

Derrick, Jen, Jill, Movies, Nader, Willy

Movie Review: 127 Hours

February 2, 2011 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Movie – 127 Hours

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.

Jill, Movies, Nader

Movie Reviews: Blue Valentine and The King’s Speech

January 26, 2011 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

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.

Dawn, Jesse, Jill, Julie, Vest, WPC - Submissions

RWPE Y2 #3: Panning Camera Blur

January 24, 2011 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

There was a decent response to what I consider to be the most technically demanding (with the possible exception of PAINTING WITH LIGHT) theme of the 52 different themes.

Here are the submissions for PANNING CAMERA BLUR:

IMAGE LOST
Julie Johnson

IMAGE LOST
Dawn Krause

Jesse Howard

Christopher D. Bennett

Mike Vest

After two weeks of fairly technical themes, I hoped that the the Random Theme Generator would give out a more interpretable theme and it did cooperate. Here is this week’s theme:

HARMONY

That is a theme that is fairly open to interpretation. Here is look back at last year’s HARMONY submissions:

HARMONY

Good luck with this theme. Hopefully it will inspire many people to contribute next Monday!

Jesse, Jill, Movies, Nader, Sara, Willy

Movie Reviews: Black Swan and The Tourist

January 11, 2011 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Movie – Black Swan

Director: Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream)

Writers: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, and John McLaughlin

Starring: Natalie Portman (The Professional, Garden State, The Other Boleyn Girl), Mila Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Book of Eli, Date Night), Vincent Cassel (Ocean’s Twelve, Eastern Promises), and Barbara Hershey (Hoosiers, Falling Down, Hannah and Her Sisters)

Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion – Jesse and Nader

Food – Mongolian Buffet

Intellectual Honesty

I didn’t bring a ton to the table. I’ve liked Natalie Portman as an actress since The Professional, but unfortunately she slummed for awhile by making those dreadful Star Wars movies. I think she is overrated as a beauty, but I think that happens to all actresses that come to the public’s attention at a young age or is in some type of science fiction/fantasy nerd film franchise. The double whammy for Portman. So when people tell me they want to see Black Swan just because Natalie Portman is hot (Willy), I don’t get it. I think Darren Aronfsky is kind of hit and miss, but more hit. The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream are fantastic. The Fountain is not.

Baggage

For some reason I have a prejudice against Mila Kunis. I’m not really sure why when I think about it. She is an integral part of Family Guy and Robot Chicken. Two of the greatest shows ever. She did stink it up something fierce in Book of Eli though, but I finally recently watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall and she is definitely very watchable in this movie.

Ever since I saw the first trailer for this movie I’ve thought it looked somewhat inane. However, because of the tremendous reviews and the imminent Best Picture nomination, I knew I would have to go see it. It is better after all to make preparations for the Oscar Party early rather than trying to scramble to find the nominees later.

Synopsis from IMDB

Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side – a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

Review

I should start by saying that I’m pretty sure that the working title of this film was Masturbationfest 2010! There are 4 masturbation scenes in this movie, but one of them is cleverly disguised as a lesbian sex scene. During Natalie Portman’s first masturbation scene a thought crossed my mind. All of the Star Wars fans that came to see this movie because Natalie Portman is hot, probably looked at the screen and thought, “Wait, something is backwards here.” Although surely unintentional, it is the kind of meta-joke that I can appreciate.

I have already written that I consider Portman to be overrated as a beauty, but in this movie she is so grossly thin that there are times that she is hard to look at. During her 2nd masturbation scene, I thought, “All things considered, I’d really rather watch her eat a sandwich.”

I don’t want to dwell on the masturbation, but one of my first thoughts while I watched this movie was, the reason this movie is so highly regarded by the critics is because of all the masturbation.

It has been a long held theory of mine that film critics, not to sound Puritanical, overrate movies that contain sexual deviance. I’m not saying that masturbation is sexual deviance. I’m not saying lesbian sex is sexual deviance. I’m not saying that staring at Portman on the subway and masturbating is sexual deviance, okay maybe I am saying that one is sexual deviance, but if there is a hint of sexual deviance then film critics are all over it like a dog in heat.

There is no other way for me to explain why movies like The Piano or The Crying Game are so highly regarded. There is no other way to explain the one and only movie that Roger Ebert ever wrote.

When I left the theater, my initial gut response was that I had seen the most overrated movie of 2010. This was not without reason, with about 25 minutes to go the movie had become so insipid that I was ready for it to be over. However, when it ended, the ending was so great that it kind of saved the rest of the movie for me.

That isn’t to say that the ending was a surprise. If you paid attention to Portman’s character’s relationship with her mom, I think you could figure out the ending. One of the truths of filmmaking is that you can have problems in the 1st and 2nd act, but if you wow them in the 3rd, that is all that matters.

Truth is that if this movie would have ended in any other way, I would have considered it one of the worst movies of the year. Since it ended the way that it did, it is eking into my Top 10.

What do I mean by eking? Since I’ve left the theater, I have continued to think about this movie. The more I think about it, the more I like it. The performances are great, with the exception of Winona Ryder who seems hopelessly out of place in the world of ballet. Portman and Hershey are particularly great. As is Cassel. Kunis is very serviceable.

The visual effects are stunning and the music is fantastic.

So I sit here and I think on this movie…

Rating
3.5/5 Caramels

Buy on DVD
I think I might, but I might not.

2010 Ranking
I’m going to place it barely in my Top Ten for now.

Bonus Information
This is easily the most enigmatic movie of the year for me. There is a chance that I will see this movie again this weekend with Jill. If I do, I will revisit this review briefly.

Movie – The Tourist

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others)

Writer: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Christopher McQuarrie, and Julian Fellowes

Starring: Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd, Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean) and Angeline Jolie (Changeling, Salt, Wanted)

Theater – Century 20 Jordan Creek – West Des Moines, Iowa

Companion – Sara

Food – BangBang Mongolian Grill

Intellectual Honesty

I really like Johnny Depp. Even when he is in absolutely terrible movies (Alice in Wonderland or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) he is still worth watching.

Baggage

I can’t stand Angeline Jolie. Other than Girl, Interrupted; I don’t think that she has been in anything worth watching. Remember what I said about being an overrated beauty and Natalie Portman. That is Angeline Jolie times 10. That is a conservative estimate.

Synopsis from IMDB

Elise (Angelina Jolie) sits next to an American tourist, Frank (Johnny Depp), on a train going to Venice. She has chosen him as a decoy, making believe that he is her lover who is wanted for police. Not only will they need to evade the police, but also the mobster whose money her lover stole.

Review

There isn’t much to say about this movie. It isn’t really worth much of a review. I think the best way to describe it is North by Northwest for stupid people.

The surprise ending of this movie you can see almost as soon as the credits start to roll. The opening credits.

There isn’t much action. What action there is, is boring. The love story is terribly contrived. For this being a love story, there seems to be a decided lack of chemistry between Depp and Jolie. The secondary characters seem like caricatures rather than fully fleshed out characters.

Looking for a positive. Venice is beautifully photographed. I would recommend this film to the Venice Tourism Board, but to nobody else.

Rating
1.5/5 Caramels

Buy on DVD
Nope. Don’t even think I would watch it again on basic cable.

2010 Ranking
One of the worst of the year.

Bonus Information

BangBang is AWESOME! It has replaced HuHot as my favorite Mongolian Grill. There wasn’t many people in the theater, but there was a May-December couple there. Only I think it was more like a February-December couple. I thought it was a grandpa and his teenage granddaughter, until they left the theater holding hands. I don’t want to sound like a Puritan (again), but gross!

Calendar, Christianity, Flowers, Jen, Jill, Kelly, Macro, Mom, Night, Personal Photo Project, Sara, Teresa

Personal Photo Project of the Week #48

December 31, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

I’ve finally distributed almost every last 2011 Photography 139 Calendar. Allow me to explain what images were used and I will include the briefest of notes on the pictures.

This year, the calendar was a little bit more of an adventure than usual. The printer from the last two years baled on me. I couldn’t find the kind of paper that I have used the last couple of years. The paper I used was too thick to duplex. In the end though, it all came together and a perfectly acceptable calendar has been produced.

Here are the pictures:

Front Cover

This picture was taken at the Iowa State Fair. I like to photograph one of the flower gardens at the Iowa State Fair every year. I have to confess to being a little disappointed with the garden this year, but I have no doubt it will be back to its full glory in 2011.

January

This picture was taken in my backyard. It is actually connected to the August picture. I purchased a bouquet of flowers for the August photo. Then I waited for the flowers to die and photographed them for the January picture.

February

I found this frog in my favorite frog finding spot – Lost Lake in Ledges. He was surprisingly brave for coming from a race of creatures that are notorious cowards.

March

Sara was with me when I took this picture down in the Papajohn Sculpture Garden. This is the only picture in the calendar that was taken with the aid of a photo assistant.

April

This lonely farm scene can be found between Boone and Ames on US30. There is a secret to how this picture was produced, but Photoshop isn’t that secret.

May

Even though I drove to Pella in a rainstorm to photograph their tulips, I found my best tulip picture in my Grandma’s front yard.

June

On a road trip with Mom and Teresa to State Center, I must have taken at least 300 pictures of roses, but it was this picture of a rose leaf that stood out as the most memorable image of the day.

July

I visited a couple different wild daisy patches, but the daisy image that made the calendar was found in my Mom’s yard. It was my belief that after “The Solace of Ordinary Humanity”, I couldn’t possibly take a better daisy picture, but I took camera in hand to photograph daisies to figure out a birthday present for Jill.

August

This is the only image from the Random Weekly Photo Experiment to make the calendar. This picture was taken in the middle of the Winter with a daisy bouquet. This image is hanging in Kelly’s salon – Salon 908.

September

This picture is meant to be parody. Nobody else in the world will understand that, but believe me, it is meant to be parody. This is also the only picture in the calendar that is manipulated by Photoshop in a meaningful way. This hibiscus grows in my Mom’s yard.

October

In retrospect, I’m not sure this picture belongs in October, but it is too late now. This picture was taken near the sewage treatment center in Boone. I hope that doesn’t take some of the romance away from it.

November

I photographed this lily in my Grandma’s flower garden. She planted so many lilies that she wasn’t sure what colors were even going to come up.

December

This is a picture of my Grandma Bennett’s Bible.

I have only 1 stated goal for the 2012 calendar. There will be a picture of an iris in it. Jen’s favorite flower is the iris and it is the one flower that I can’t figure out how to photograph. I will meet my adversary head on this year and 1 of us will fall.

Becky, Blogging, Cousin Amy, Derrick, Evie, Football, Frank, Jason, Jen, Jill, Sara, Writing

Proust No. Seven

December 28, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Becky Perkovich correctly gave 1 of the 4 possible correct answers to the Christopher D. Bennett Trivia Question:

Q: What is Christopher D. Bennett’s favorite movie?

A: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Proust Quote

“Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible.”

Confessions Question

Your idea of happiness:

2009 Answer

Proust Questionnaire Number Ten

When Becky chose her question she said that she hoped to get a “real answer”. It is the kind of disrespect that would normally cause me to cancel her email subscription to this journal. However, since it is the Christmas season, I will allow it to slide. All of my answers are real and real is a stupid word.

Actually, it has nothing to do with the Christmas season. I just sat through an Advent Study where there was frequent discussion about how we become “better people” and have more “peace” during the Christmas season. I couldn’t really relate to the conversations and hardly ever contributed because I don’t feel that I have more peace or become a better person during Christmas.

I can’t figure out if that makes me an absolutely terrible person or a person of unsurpassed greatness. These are the only two options.

As this question relates to 2010, this question will need to be thought of as “what made you happiest in 2010?”

That is an easy question to answer: Evie.

To extend the answer to this question just a little bit, let me tell you a few tales.

I’ve known for quite some time that Jen and Derrick were trying to have a baby, but the thoughts of me seeing them as parents didn’t really start to materialize until early January.

I was at Derrick and Jill’s parent’s house for Marla’s birthday party. Sort of. I was kind of a late addition to the invite list.

Nothing earth-shattering happened while I was there. I would find out later that before my arrival Derrick and Jen had told his parents and Jill that they were pregnant on that night, but my arrival had extinguished all the conversation about the baby. They must have hated me for showing up, but this story is about me and my happiness. It was the first time that I noticed that Jen was not smoking. I noted it, but didn’t jump to a conclusion.

Later in January Derrick, Jen, Sara, and I attended a Brandi Carlile concert. It was the time of year where we were starting to make plans for the big Iowa State-Kansas State game in Kansas City. We had attended the game the previous year. Despite some awkwardness to the previous year’s trip (staying at the Bates Hotel, my cousin offering us drugs), I was looking forward to making the trip this year. Possibly with the addition of a couple of new people.

I was talking about how we would make this year’s trip better while we were parked in Sara’s driveway when Derrick utter the following cryptic line:

“I’m not sure if we will be able to make the trip to Kansas City this year.”

He would offer no explanation.

Before the Brandi Carlile concert we dined at the Gateway Market. I noted that Jen drank water. Jen still was not smoking. In fact, Derrick had yet to have a cigarette.

During the Brandi Carlile concert, Jen went to the bathroom about 14 times.

I was certain now that Jen was pregnant. I waited for the rest of the night for the announcement. I was certain that this was the perfect night to make the announcement. I was certain that they wanted to tell Sara and I together.

The night ended without an announcement. I went to bed confused.

That week I met noted filmmaker H. Richard Stauffer. He is Frank’s friend. He was working on a musical number in the area. He invited Jesse and I to come watch him in action on his set. We agreed.

The next day, Sara announced that she would be in Ames for clinicals on the exact same day that Jesse and I were going to be watching the great H. Richard Stauffer in action. I have had a goal of photographing him since I first met him, but that is a story for another day.

We set up a lunch meeting with Jen and Derrick. I resolved to shaft H. Richard Stauffer because I was pretty sure that at this meeting Jen and Derrick would announce a pregnancy.

I was right, as I sat down at the table, Derrick said: “Hey Chris, we won’t be able to go to the Kansas State game this year. Jen is pregnant.”

There was merriment.

We made an appointment to photograph the happy couple before they became a couple “plus one”.

The next happy moment came a few months later. I’m not sure of the exact month, but I know that it happened before Jen, Derrick, Sara, Cousin Amy and I ate at The Open Flame.

I plopped down on the chair in the Gorshe living room and for the first time I saw a blob on the television that would turn out to be Evie.

While we waited for Sara and Cousin Amy to arrive, we watched the video 3 times. Then we watched it twice with Sara in the room and Cousin Amy waiting for us in the car due to her cat allergies.

I would watch the video a few more times a few weeks later when Jill was back in town. It never really got old. Nor did the gnawing feeling that the video could use background music ever go away.

The next joyous moment came in late August. I have never been to a baby shower, but I got talked into co-hosting a shower with Sara.

My part of the shower was to make sure it was cool enough for guys to attend plus make whatever Sara wanted to happen magically happen. I believe I came through on both fronts.

We found time to cram in one last photo shoot of the Gorshes before the blessed day occurred.

Then there was nothing but waiting.

The Iowa State-Kansas State football game came. This was very close to the due date. I was worried that the baby would come while I went down to Kansas City to watch the game. Not really sure why I was worried. It is not like I had a job in this process, but I was antsy nonetheless.

Then my fears seemed to be coming true.

Derrick texted me: “Are you in Kansas City?”

I texted Jill that I was in Kansas City and never heard back.

These two incidents are seemingly innocuous, but in the mind of a…. well in my mind, they spelled “baby on the way”. Let me explain.

Derrick never texts. Derrick is the Chris Bennett of 2007. He hates texting. He can’t stand it when other people text him. It costs him money because he doesn’t have a text messaging plan.

Only once before this day had he text messaged me. That text consisted of scatological humor. In fairness, it was a parody of scatological humor. I believe Jen had to help him send this text.

It seemed very strange to me that out of the blue he would send me a text message. I responded back in the affirmative. He never wrote me back.

Why had he texted me?

I also make a habit of sending text updates about Iowa State games to Jill. She always texts back with appropriate responses: “Yay!!!” or “That’s terrible.”

Why had she not texted me back?

The answer seemed obvious to me. Somewhere in the Mary Greeley birthing center, Jen was bringing the newest Gorshe into the world. Somewhere on I-35, Jill was speeding down to Ames to see her niece or nephew for the first time.

I watched the entire game with this feeling in the back of my head that as soon as the game was over I needed to get back to Ames.

After the conclusion of the game I called Derrick. To my great surprise he answered his phone. He didn’t have any news. He was just genuinely interested in whether or not I had went to Kansas City.

The great rush back to Ames was called off. Jason and I went to Oklahoma Joe’s for supper and the best barbecue I’ve had in my entire life.

I had made plans with Jen and Derrick and Sara for the following Tuesday night. We were going to give them the baby advice book that Sara and I had put together with pictures from the Baby Shower.

Then Tuesday came along. I spent the morning at work texting Jill about the new Maroon 5 album.

Then Derrick called.

“We aren’t going to be able to do dinner tonight.”

“Why is that?”

“We’re at the hospital. Jen’s having the baby.”

I spent the rest of the day texting Jill, all the while dancing around the only topic that could possibly be on either of our minds.

A little after 4 Derrick called with the joyous news. Evie was born healthy (like a lot babies) and adorable (like very few babies).

I just kind of stared at the clock at work for the next couple of hours waiting for Sara to arrive.

Finally 6 o’clock came. Sara showed up. I sent 1 last text to Jill that I was leaving work and going to the hospital. I figured that was safe ground.

She texted back how excited she was to be an aunt and it was a relief to finally be able to talk about it.

Sara and I got to the hospital and got to see and hold Evie. This was my happiest moment of 2010.

Of course we also got to take this picture too:

This concludes the wordy portion of the Proust Questionnaire for 2010. Congratulations to Jen. She just became the 5th person to reach the 100 journal entries about her plateau.

Black & White, Jill, Julie, Music, Shannon, Vest, WPC - Submissions

RWPE #45 – Diagonal Rule

November 15, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

This week there is a submission from somebody I have never met. I think that is an exciting development. Here are the submissions for DIAGONAL RULE:

Mike Vest of Waxen Media

Shannon Bardole of Little White Lye Soap

Christopher D. Bennett

Julie Johnson of The Joy Is In The Journey

Karen Bittner

I stuck a quarter in the Random Theme Generator and pulled the handle. Before it gave me a theme for this week, it reminded me that there are only 7 themes left. As I was ruminating on this, the Random Theme Generator spit out the theme for this week:

Spiritual

Vest and I have decided to continue on with this project for another year. I put a call out for people to submit ideas for themes for next year. Nothing was submitted. Here is you last chance.

Vest and I are meeting soon (like today) to finalize the list of themes for next year. If you have a theme you want to see on next year’s list, you can leave it in the comments section of this journal entry and it will be considered for inclusion. But you are almost out of time.

Derrick, Evie, Football, Formal Portrait, Jen, Jill, Personal Photo Project, Teresa

Personal Photo Project of the Week #42

November 12, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

IMAGE LOST
7 of 6

When it comes to framing and matting pictures I am a horrible procrastinator. So when Jill invited me to Evie’s final baby shower so that “Derrick and Rob would have somebody to talk to”, it provided me with a deadline.

I needed that deadline because although I had planned this project since shortly after Derrick told me that Jen was pregnant by telling me that they were canceling our trip to Kansas City to see the Cyclones play the Wildcats and I found this window sitting in my basement just begging to be used for such a project, I sometimes sit on things.

After all, I needed a gift for the baby shower. Otherwise, what would justify my eating of all the delicious free food? My natural charisma only takes me so far.

I got Teresa to cut the pictures since she has a steady hand and let’s face it, attention-to-detail isn’t exactly in my toolbox. Even though I’ve tried to purchase it at the local Sears on more than one occasion.

The baby shower was on a Sunday. We put it together on a Friday night. I snapped this picture and emailed it to Jill on the Saturday morning before I left to start the tailgating adventure before the final Iowa State-Nebraska game.

Since I didn’t get home from that game until after midnight and I woke up early for Church the next day and left for the baby shower shortly after I got out of my Methodist Men Board Meeting, what you see above is the only picture I have of the culmination of what was an 8 month project from beginning to end.

Probably the longest photo project of my career.