'The Walking Dead' recap, 'Wildfire' - Season 1, Episode 5

A few months after the first season of "The Walking Dead" ended, I wrote up a recap/review of the season's fifth and penultimate episode that never left its file in Microsoft Word. I have decided to share it below. Enjoy:


When we last left Frank Darabont’s thrill ride “The Walking Dead,” a zombie ambush plagued the 20-plus survivors who were finally united near that big abandoned rock quarry outside Atlanta. This racks up the group’s body count, which now includes an abusive husband. The walkers bit both Ed in his tent and Andrea’s younger sister Amy, the worst bummer it being the night before the girl’s birthday. Andrea had been diligently looking for makeshift gift-wrap.

Around dawn, Rick, a sheriff’s deputy in civilized life, uses his walkie-talkie in the hopes that Morgan – a man whom Rick met after awaking from a coma in “Days Gone Bye” – can hear him, and urges him not to enter Atlanta, which is crawling with hungry walkers. When Morgan and his son Duane went elsewhere, Rick gave them a walkie-talkie to maintain contact everyday at dawn. Morgan once said the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta was allegedly working on a cure; he is since unreachable. These details from the pilot are big motivators for Rick in Season One’s penultimate episode.

Andrea leans over Amy’s body, still in frozen shock from the slaying. The clock ticks until Amy is to become a zombie, but Andrea threatens to shoot whoever approaches the corpse with intent to harm.

The group deals with death in different ways. Ruthless redneck Daryl Dixon moves Ed’s body to be burned, which upsets Korean 20-something Glenn, a former pizza delivery boy who believes all should be buried. Families come to terms with their respective losses – by doing the devastating deed of killing a loved one before they turn into a full-on zombie. Carol smashed in her husband Ed’s head with an axe, and Andrea shot Amy just in time. Everyone, the characters and the audience, knows that the bitten need to be killed, sooner rather than later. Then, there’s the guy who conceals it. Jim gets called out for concealing a stomach bite from the ambush. Rick tries to protect him from trigger-happy folks like Daryl in the precious hours before morphing into a bug-eyed stiff.

Meanwhile, Rick keeps his pipe dream of visiting CDC in his back pocket. Shane vehemently shoots it down and proposes relocating to the heavily armed, if not operational, military base in Fort Benning 100 miles south.

Lori is ambivalent about the two men in her life. Looking back, her husband Rick left camp looking for a bag of ammo almost as soon as he arrived, and his best friend Shane lied about Rick being dead while he was MIA post-coma. Shane dutifully looked after Rick’s family then, specifically shacking up with Lori, unbeknownst to Rick. (Hopefully, that secret won’t come to light for a while.) Needless to say, neither guy is Lori’s biggest fan right now. But she supports the voyage to CDC.

While hunting in the woods, Shane aims his rifle at Rick from a distance. Dale subtly notices, only strengthening the token old guy’s own paranoia, and Rick unconvincingly plays it off like “we need some damn reflective vests around here!” The pilot, “Days Gone Bye,” was the only episode that convinced me that Rick and Shane were best friends. Aside from a Tarantino-esque squad car chat over hamburgers, these police have yet to click in an apocalyptic setting.

In what amounts to a Jack Shephard speech, the de facto leader of the pack, Shane, concedes to pushing onward to CDC in the morning. “The most important thing here is we need to stay together,” he sermonizes, to the group at fireside. All but one family chooses to stay behind. Rick equips them with guns and ammo.

Again, Rick’s attempt to reach Morgan at dawn via walkie-talkie is to no avail. Our considerate hero leaves him a note and map. No sign of Morgan yet – will he show up in the finale for a “Shawshank”-style homecoming?

The crew departs in separate vehicles, which goes smoothly until Dale’s ancient RV burns out. Jim is, predictably, in bad shape, so they leave him by a tree to ideally die as far away from them as possible.

Then, we meet someone new, Dr. Jenner (played by Noah Emmerich), who records scrambled video transmissions as the last remaining CDC scientist. He is admittedly a suicidal wino, or in other words, an entertaining guest role. The gang arrives at the corpse-ridden concourse outside lab headquarters and immediately loses hope. Not Rick though! After detecting a slight shake of the security cam, he desperately pleads for CDC to open up. As Jenner programs the doors to unlock, a beam of light is cast on the survivors.

Barney's Version to win best picture at 83rd annual Academy Awards

THE PREDICTIONS!

THE CATEGORIES:
Best Motion Picture of the Year

4 Black Swan

5 The Fighter

8 Inception

7 The Kids are All Right

1 The King's Speech

2 The Social Network

10 127 Hours

3 Toy Story 3

6 True Grit

9 Winter's Bone

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

2 Annette Bening (The Kids are All Right)

4 Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)

3 Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)

1 Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

5 Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

4 Javier Bardem (Biutiful)

2 Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)

1 Colin Firth (The King's Speech)

3 James Franco (127 Hours)

5 Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

1 Christian Bale (The Fighter)

4 John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)

5 Jeremy Renner (The Town)

3 Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right)

2 Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

5 Amy Adams (The Fighter)

3 Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)

1 Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

2 Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

4 Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

3 How to Train Your Dragon

2 The Illusionist

1 Toy Story 3

Best Documentary Short Subject

2 Killing in the Name
4 Poster Girl

1 Strangers No More
5 Sun Come Up
3 The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Short Film (Animated)

1 Day & Night Teddy Newton

2 The Gruffalo Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
5 Let's Pollute Geefwee Boedoe
3 The Lost Thing Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
4 Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) Bastien Dubois

Best Short Film (Live Action)

3 The Confession Tanel Toom
4 The Crush Michael Creagh
2 God of Love Luke Matheny
5 Na Wewe Ivan Goldschmidt
1 Wish 143 Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Achievement in Art Direction

2 Alice in Wonderland

5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

4 Inception

1 The King's Speech

3 True Grit

Achievement in Cinematography

4 Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)

1 Inception (Wally Pfister)

5 The King's Speech (Danny Cohen)

3 The Social Network (Jeff Cronenweth)

2 True Grit (Roger Deakins)

Achievement in Costume Design

2 Alice in Wonderland (Colleen Atwood)

3 I Am Love (Antonella Cannarozzi)

1 The King's Speech (Jenny Beaven)

5 The Tempest (Sandy Powell)

4 True Grit (Mary Zophres)

Achievement in Directing

3 Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)

4 David O. Russell (The Fighter)

2 Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)

1 David Fincher (The Social Network)

5 Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit)

Best Documentary Feature

2 Exit through the Gift Shop Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)

4 Gasland Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)

1 Inside Job Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)

3 Restrepo Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)

5 Waste Land Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)

Achievement in Makeup

2 Barney's Version

3 The Way Back

1 The Wolfman

Achievement in Film Editing

5 Black Swan (Andrew Weisblum)

3 The Fighter (Pamela Martin)

2 The King's Speech (Tariq Anwar)

4 127 Hours (Jon Harris)

1 The Social Network (Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall)

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

2 Biutiful (Mexico)

4 Dogtooth (Greece)

1 In a Better World (Denmark)

3 Incendies (Canada)

5 Hors la Loi (Algeria)

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

5 How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell)

3 Inception (Hans Zimmer)

2 The King's Speech (Alexandre Desplat)

4 127 Hours (A.R. Rahman)

1 The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

4 "Coming Home" from Country Strong Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey

1 "I See the Light" from Tangled Music and Lyric by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater

3 "If I Rise" from 127 Hours Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

2 "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Achievement in Sound Editing

1 Inception

3 Toy Story 3

4 TRON: Legacy

2 True Grit

5 Unstoppable

Achievement in Sound Mixing

1 Inception

2 The King's Speech

5 Salt

3 The Social Network

4 True Grit

Achievement in Visual Effects

2 Alice in Wonderland

3 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

5 Hereafter

1 Inception

4 Iron Man 2

Adapted Screenplay

5 127 Hours (Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle)

1 The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)

2 Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)

3 True Grit (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

4 Winter's Bone (Debra Granik and Anne Rossellini)

Original Screenplay

5 Another Year (Mike Leigh)

4 The Fighter (Paul Attanasio, Lewis Colich, Eric Johnson, Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy)

3 Inception (Christopher Nolan)

2 The Kids are All Right (Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko)

1 The King's Speech (David Seidler)

Best of 2010

FILM

1 The Social Network
2 Black Swan
3 The Kids are All Right
4 Inception
5 Animal Kingdom
6 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
7 Toy Story 3
8 Winter’s Bone
9 True Grit
10 127 Hours

Honorable Mention: The Fighter, The King’s Speech, Greenberg, Kick-Ass, Please Give, Life During Wartime, Cyrus, Solitary Man, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World.

Did not see: Another Year, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Rabbit Hole.

WORST IN FILM
Spork
Somewhere
Hot Tub Time Machine
Due Date
It’s Kind of a Funny Story

TV

1 Community
2 Mad Men
3 Louie
4 Breaking Bad
5 Treme
6 Party Down
7 Men of a Certain Age
8 30 Rock
9 Parks and Recreation
10 The League

MUSIC

1 Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
2 LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
3 Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
4 Bruce Springsteen – The Promise
5 Beach House – Teen Dream
6 The Black Keys - Brothers
7 Cee Lo Green – The Lady Killer
8 The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt
9 Das Racist - Shut Up, Dude
10 Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

Honorable Mentions:
Sleigh Bells – Treats
Yeasayer – Odd Blood
The National – High Violet
Ben Folds & Nick Hornby – Lonely Avenue

Best Single: "Rill Rill" by Sleigh Bells

'Tiny Furniture' star has ample room for growth

At the forefront of the low-fi comedy “Tiny Furniture,” is a new brand of the recession-era female nerd, a “Juno” of the mumblecore.

Oberlin grad Lena Dunham, 24, wrote, directed and starred in her second feature, “Tiny Furniture,” in what is likely a semi-autobiographical profile of the directionless twentysomething.

Aura is 22, a college grad in a self-professed state of delirium since moving back home after four years in Ohio. She has an imperfect, flabby body with an ugly arm tattoo and an endearing neediness. Here is an example of Apatow’s common depiction of man-child syndrome as adapted for the XX chromosome. Dunham the actress has a knack for eliciting surprise chuckles from the audience, not the hearty guffaw but the zinger that’s so faint it strengthens the tone more than anything else.

Aura gets a job as a day hostess, reunites with a rebellious old schoolmate Charlotte (Jamima Kirke) and lets a platonic boyfriend Jed live with her in her mother Siri’s posh TriBeCa loft. Siri, a successful artist, sides with Aura’s bratty teenage sister Nadine (Grace Dunham, Lena’s real-life sibling) in almost every family quarrel.

As a storyteller, Dunham makes a fervent attempt to stay true to the characters and honest in its depiction of relationships. Pop culture allusions do slip into the wry, self-aware dialogue. There’s mention of YouTube and Seinfeld re-runs as well as the Codyesque line, “It’s worth a Google.”

“Tiny Furniture” has more polish than the Hollywoodized indie circle where Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Sam Mendes and dull conversations about Vampire Weekend went to die. Those movies have plots that movie at a glacial pace or search for life answers that never appear.

By the time the audience is content with the pacing in the third act, Aura’s life flies off the handle. She takes a progressively active role in harming each of her relationships. It’s awkward, vaguely disturbing and ultimately redeems itself as offbeat.

Celebrity comparisons are evident, a tribute to its effectiveness perhaps. Alex Karpovsky has a David Krumholtz voice, Grace Dunham has a Scarlett Johansson vibe and Laurie Simmons must derive her character’s coldness from an Anjelica Huston role. And, David Call, who plays the chef, may be a thin Tom Hardy.

In addition to a laudatory New Yorker profile, Dunham has gained residency in Apatown in response to the film. Judd Apatow is producing Dunham’s new series for HBO, tentatively titled “Girls.” Dunham’s potential as a new star transcends through all of this, and in spite of the film’s blemishes, the girl has room for growth.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Photo Credit: indiewire.com

Franco adds weight to stoner persona in boulder saga ‘127 Hours’

With “127 Hours,” Danny Boyle’s career comes full circle with a film that once again makes use of the tourniquet a la “Trainspotting.”

His tenth feature arrives on the heels of Oscar wins and takes on the true story of Aron Ralston, who in 2003 went to great lengths to survive while trapped between a rock and a rigid spot.

If watched back-to-back with “Slumdog Millionaire,” a crime-tinged romance lacquered in artificiality, the opening five minutes are bubbling with passion. Shown in a three-panel split screen, the hyperkinetic opening presents huge crowds amid global haste. Then, enter the solitary Ralston, portrayed with commanding sincerity by NYU grad student James Franco. He leaves home in the early morning to embark in a canyoneering trip through Blue John Canyon in Utah and tells no one where he’s going.

His right arm goes without circulation for five-plus days in the recesses of a cave. Within 10 minutes of running time, Ralston’s trapped under a boulder, which initially had me worried. The movie keeps the story compelling as we’re caged in with our Castaway.

Most folks going in already know how the story will unfold, but the anxiety of the situation had a boy begin to vomit in the row in front of me.

If Boyle hadn’t taken it on, the tale would have been relegated to a two-minute blip on a broadcast newscast or fodder for a short screening at the Tuttleman IMAX dome.

Franco takes his career to new heights, acting bleary-eyed and aloof with none of the stoner drollness.

His family is played by Lizzy Caplan and, in inspired casting, Treat Williams, who also worked with Franco in “Howl.” I craved more Williams screen time, but that’s not uncommon.

I had a problem with how “Into the Wild” portrayed the family as caricatures. Even poor William Hurt. “!27 Hours” employs them for the sake of brevity and atmosphere without making much of a statement.

The film is sparsely plotted with Aron’s several futile attempts at escape and a memory recall of snapshots from his life. The retrospective would be more meaningful, not only if they were longer but if the 28-year-old had lived a more remarkable life.

Boyle, arguably too anxious a filmmaker for straightforward source material like this, gets stylish when filming inside Aron’s camcorder, his bottle of water and even the water itself. These shots struck me as David Fincher’s territory, but it worked. When it comes to the few grisly moments however, the camera is stationary.

Boyle re-teamed with “Slumdog” crewmembers, his writing partner Simon Beaufoy and music composer A.R. Rahman, all of whom possess Academy Awards. Compared to back when he debuted with “Shallow Gave,” he’s working with an almost entirely new set of people.

Franco dives deep, and Boyle makes a film about courage and perseverance even if it the end product does not warrant repeated viewings.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Two Lower East Side dive bars are not what they seem

Two of the Lower East Side’s finest bars are shrouded in irony.

Cake Shop and The Library are unpretentiously hip and unique dives, sort of. The Cake Shop is too multi-functional to be classified as a bar, and The Library’s back wall projector of an endless stream of cult movies detracts patrons from the front-counter seating. Speaking of irony, the former has no pastries (but $3 Rolling Rock cans), and the latter has a few novelty rank bookshelves out of arm’s reach.

Upon entering The Library, lasciviously dressed barmaids in low-cut garb serve affordable beer and lowbrow combos like The Pube – a shot of whiskey and a can of Natty Light. The best in punk, post-punk, indie pop and speed metal is blasted through speakers. You’ll hear more Pixies, Metallica and Smiths there than anyone else in the neighborhood. Lady Gaga’s LES hangout, on the other hand, wishes it has this kind of cred.

But the main attraction is the selection of depraved, vile B-movies and grindhouse pics on the big screen in the back. Some films have the awesomely bad quality, prompting you and your date to engage in a do-it-yourself Mystery Science Theater commentary. “Scanners” is a prime example because spontaneous combustion in the third act is still fun.

Other times, it takes it too far. Horror-exploitation classic “Blood Sucking Freaks” is grotesque beyond the realm of camp. The women are either topless or in bikinis while getting their brain sawed into by a Gene Wilder-type gone berserk and his ‘little person’ assistant. This pint-sized henchman is no Tony Cox, Peter Dinklage, elf or smurf; he’s pure evil. Violence is enacted with a skull-crushing vice, a bone saw, a meat cleaver and the goddamn anachronistic presence of a guillotine.

Two women abandoned their table to nestle amid a crowd by the bar up front. It takes both confidence and apathy to play that during peak hours on Saturday night. I don’t frequent this place enough to know how frequently “Videodrome” is played, but it would probably be gilded in a shrine.

Unabashedly plaintive pop and rock numbers, good beer and the unpredictable X-rated cinema pretty much sum up my expectations for a fun night.



Cake Shop is a lot more hands off albeit juggling multiple personalities. This amalgam of a records store, bar, music venue, coffeehouse and speakeasy puts the ball in your court. Their red velvet cake is a cool commodity but never the sole reason to visit. The ragged, vintage furniture situated incongruously always appears to be in a state of quiescence.

It’s a one of the few bars that promotes an interrupted, introspective conversation with friends and applies little-to-no pleasure to drink. No one will bug you if it takes you three hours to finish a design project on your Mac.

The Library - 7 Ave. A.
Apollo's Rating: B+

Cake Shop – 152 Ludlow St.
Apollo's Rating: A-

Photo Credits:
1 - The Library - nymag.com
2 - Cake Shop - urban75.org

Film Review: Knight and Day

In light of the commercial failure of Knight and Day, some analysis is needed. The movie, which cost some $125 million to produce, has thus far failed to recoup even half that amount at the box office. The question: did it deserve to flop?

The film’s plot, formulaic as it is, pushes the right buttons for a summer action movie. Cruise plays Roy Miller, a rogue secret agent with apparently noble ideals. Cameron Diaz is June Havens, a civilian who’s swept up into Miller’s world by chance. The formula is so well worn that a movie released just a few weeks prior to Knight and Day – the Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl bomb Killers – used it as well.

As is the case with such movies, Knight and Day leaves its identity in the hands of its stars. The leads, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, are two Hollywood veterans who could once be counted on to rake in the ticket sales. Their performances are predictably solid, and their time on-screen together almost sells the idea that a super spy could fall for a girl next door type after meeting her in an airport.

Audiences long ago learned the appropriate amount of suspended disbelief necessary to accept the diminutive Tom Cruise as an action hero. He’s not doing anything here that’s more difficult to swallow than, say, any of the Mission: Impossible movies. Cameron Diaz, on the other hand, is out of her element in a way the film’s writers didn’t intend. No doubt, she’s perfectly cast as a fairly sheltered middle class woman who is unaccustomed to flying bullets and international espionage.

But the film expects us to believe she owns an auto garage and is completely restoring her father’s dilapidated 1966 Pontiac GTO to give as a wedding present to her sister. It isn’t that a woman as slight as Diaz couldn’t believably get her hands dirty tinkering with muscle cars. The problem is she doesn’t sell the idea, a problem that may well lie more with the script than Diaz. Whenever she talks about the car, it’s as if she has only a passing knowledge of auto restoration. It’s unfortunate, because it turns out that Diaz’s supposed profession plays a sizable role in the movie’s plot.

Other than these minor holes in the plot, Knight and Day makes a perfectly sturdy summer popcorn flick. It’s funny at times, particularly the interactions between Cruise and Diaz, and there’s no shortage of gunfire and explosions. Why, then, did no one really care when it was released?

The most likely culprit: star power, or lack thereof. The leads certainly haven’t lost their acting edge, but this is the age of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. In comparison, Cruise and Diaz are most likely in the twilight of their years of drawing the 18-35 demographic based on name recognition alone. Pair that with an essentially nameless summer paint-by-numbers flick and it’s a recipe for a big disappointment.

The bottom line: expect plenty of light entertainment from Knight and Day. Expect a similarly plentiful number of empty seats in the theater.

5 out of 10

TV Review: Louie

HBO – a time-honored vessel for innovation and truth in the modern-day television medium – treated Louis C.K. like trash. While comedies like "Bored to Death" and "Flight of the Conchords" were fresh but low-rent shows that shot on location, “Lucky Louie” had the production value of a cardboard box.

The network gave a multi-camera sitcom with a laugh track to one of the most subversive, brilliant stand-up comedians, and canned it after one season despite a gradual surge in viewership. He has yet to succeed in film or television for the reason that he never had the freedom to mouth off in the vein of his specials, “Shamed” and “Chewed Up.”

Thankfully, Louis C.K. is back on TV in “Louie.” From the looks of it, FX lent him some freedom. He writes, directs, stars, produced and edits the show, which follows Louis as middle-aged divorcee with two young daughters and fading ginger locks.

What ensues is a claustrophobic, caustic series of vignettes that are largely very funny. Some segments daringly venture into darkness through conversation, such as when Louie and his poker buddies interrogate a gay friend (Rick Crom), or fly off the handle with imaginary conclusions. Those fictionalized bits smugly suggests you’re in Louie’s head – his sad life, his twisted dreams, his perverse curiosity – and therefore at his disposal. He can lie to you, take you on detours and break the fourth wall to tell off Marshall McCluhan if he so chooses. Boy, if life were only like this!

More a sketch show than a sitcom, “Louie” features the comic’s stand-up act and leads into a semi-related skit. It’s sharply photographed but still gritty, especially the intimate club scenes privy to essentially to him, the viewer and the brick wall. In the opening credits sequence set to “Brother Louie,” the title character emerges from the Washington Square subway to the evening Manhattan streets, all the while detached from humanity and somewhat pissed off. He eats a slice of pizza, then heads to the Comedy Cellar – the shots playing like a more downtrodden version of Saturday Night Live opening.

In the first two episodes, Louie finds himself on a bus full of kids who are lost in Harlem and Facebook stalking an old classmate with whom he once shared a ‘moment.’ Meanwhile, an old woman flashes him in the hallway of an apartment hallway, and he explains his approval of bestiality. In the aforementioned poker sketch, fascinating truths come out of comedians arguing about elements of their respective acts that are considered taboo.

“Louie” perpetuates a ‘No hugging, no learning’ Larry David-style doctrine of self-loathing while avoiding the structural requirements of a series-long narrative. The format of a comedian using stand-up to lead into scripted scenes dates back to before “Seinfeld,” but the edgy Louis C.K.’s manner is modern, cruel and thoroughly hilarious. This is a huge leap for the comedian and, God help us, director of “Pootie Tang.”

Bottom line: By taking the lion’s share of executive creative control, Louis C.K. has finally found a highly promising vehicle. “Louie” deconstructs the TV comedy form and tailors it to his peculiarity. It replicates the animosity the world feels toward David on “Curb” and takes it even further thanks to a fearless asshole like Louis C.K.

"Pilot" and "Poker/Divorce" = 8.5 out of 10

Film Review: Iron Man 2

"Iron Man 2" is a vibrant but forgettable spectacle, a sharp light that momentarily blurs your vision and then fades into anonymity.

With superhero movies coming out every month for the past few years, the excitement is lesser, but the stakes are consistently higher. Either skewer the genre ("Kick-Ass") or make the best entry yet ("The Dark Knight"). “Iron Man 2” does not try to be the best; it tries to be the fastest.

At the onset, billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) has revealed his identity as Iron Man to the public and rejects the U.S. government’s commands to hand over his inventions.

Stark is slowly being poisoned by the palladium in his arc reactor, he acts irrationally and promotes his secretary Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to CEO in what is already a severely understaffed corporation.

Stark admitting that he’s Iron Man causes such a media circus that, in the world of the movie’s first half, his life is practically broadcast on TV. From a live session with the Senate on C-SPAN to the car racetrack on a sports network

Director Jon Favreau - a chummier Brett Ratner - goes ahead with the ‘bigger is better’ philosophy in almost every way. He even gives himself a bigger cameo role in the sequel. He’s not just delivering Burger King happy meals this time.

“Swingers” fans, note the inclusion of “Picking up the Pieces” in one of the expo scenes.

More so than the first film, the sequel cobbles together the pedigree of several big-name actors: Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell (who might have the biggest part as a Queens-based weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer), Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Garry Shandling, not to mention, it’s penned by actor Justin Theroux. The machine appears not just to be onscreen but in backstage Hollywood.

In a film with this many major characters (and this many egomaniacs), backstory must be concise but essential. Russian physicist/ex-con Ivan Vanko, played by Rourke, may boast impressive credentials and a genius father, but from what the viewer sees, he’s no more than a criminal with a limited vocabulary and a distinct likeness to Randy "The Ram" Robinson.

The second act, while still propulsive, is wasteful. Stark acts like a belligerent drunk and sulks over daddy issues. Like the protagonist, the movie is running on a battery and has to re-up midway so as to deliver through to the end.

The party scene would have been entirely superfluous even if it didn’t give Col. James Rhodes a reason to sell the suit, feature Daft Punk’s “Robot Rock” and an allusion to Gallagher’s watermelon shtick.

The Avengers, the film series’ add-on subplot, has gone nowhere after two movies. Jackson as Nick Fury shows up post-credits in the first film to appease comic book nuts, yet in the sequel, he awkwardly appears in two scenes with Stark, which play like some out-of-context job interview. But Fury’s not a recruiter; he’s a cocky intruder in a boxed-in script.

The pacing on the whole still makes the film nonstop fun despite the aggressive commercialism and the lackluster snark that has since eroded from its peak form in the original. This speeding-bullet actioner doesn’t quite warrant a follow-up third film in spite of the thin Avengers hook. Yet considering the velocity of the visuals chewing up frame after frame of “Iron Man 2,” signs say no. 3 will be here soon enough.

6 out of 10


Frame of reference:
Iron Man 7/10
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 8/10
Sherlock Holmes 5/10
Superman 9/10
Watchmen 6/10
Swingers 8/10

'Lost' by genre

IF EACH ‘LOST’ CHARACTER WERE A GENRE
Sawyer – Western
Kate – feminist crime drama
Hurley – stoner comedy
Sayid – post-9/11 action drama
Juliet – romance that ends in tears
Sun and Jin – historical nonfiction
Desmond – existential noir involving time travel
Daniel Faraday – meta-science fiction
Jack – part-medical, part-domestic drama
John Locke – science fantasy
Ben – psychological thriller
Charlie – alternative music journalism (nonfiction)
Miles – black comedy
The Man in Black – horror
Jacob – propaganda
Claire – Australian docudrama
Mr. Eko – faith-based drama
Walt – Disney fantasy

Film Review: Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness is Mel Gibson’s first appearance in a leading role since 2002, and he uses it to remind audiences that he’s far from finished as an actor. The film itself doesn’t quite live up to that standard.

Edge of Darkness was originally a six-hour BBC mini-series that aired in 1985. The longer television format may have benefited the story in a few cases, particularly the character development of Emma Craven (Bojana Novakovic). The audience is barely introduced to Emma before she’s dead in Craven’s arms, which makes it more difficult to share in his desire to find her killer. That’s where Gibson’s performance takes over.



Though his recent media-baiting personal problems have obscured the fact, Gibson remains a powerful actor. His turn as the unfortunately named Tom Craven may not be the most original or challenging role – a police officer driven to work outside the law in order to avenge his daughter – but the pain he emotes, coupled with several “hallucination” scenes with a younger version of Emma, helps flesh out the relationship he had with his daughter that wasn’t initially apparent. Elsewhere, Danny Huston plays corporate fat cat Jack Bennett with skin-crawling efficiency.


The plot is intriguing enough to keep audiences engaged, and the initial questions are answered in a reasonably satisfying manner. There are, however, some murky points, the lingering one being Jedburgh’s (Ray Winstone) motives for sympathizing with Craven.

Though action movies fans will be happy to see Gibson’s several scenes of gunplay, the movie focuses more on conspiracy and less on violence. The story seems to take on an anti-government theme, and the fear over nuclear research that fueled the British mini-series has diminished over the time between the Cold War-era airing of the original and the present. The official types working against Craven tend toward the one-dimensional, demonstrating shady evil-for-the-sake-of-being-evil personalities that are all too familiar in conspiracy films.

Meanwhile, it takes a suspension of disbelief to follow Craven’s relatively linear search for the murderer, considering characters’ constant assertions that the perpetrators of such crimes are rarely captured. It doesn’t wrap up as neatly and happily as it could have, but the ending is pure Hollywood. For comparison, consider that the original series’ writer, Troy Kennedy Martin, wanted Craven to transform into a tree at the conclusion of the story.

As a conspiracy thriller, Edge of Darkness is above average, thanks to Gibson’s strong portrayal of Craven. The movie itself doesn’t quite live up to the legacy of its televised inspiration, but it’s a worthy diversion nonetheless.

[Apollo's] Hipness rating: 5 out of 10
[Apollo's] Actual rating: 6 out of 10

2009: Andrew's Picks

Music

Top 10
1. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
The incomparable Neko Case returned in 2009 with the strongest album of her solo career. Her haunting voice is on display here, and her unconventional songwriting shines.

2. Doves – Kingdom of Rust
3. The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come
4. The King Khan & BBQ Show – Invisible Girl
5. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South
6. Manic Street Preachers – Journal for Plague Lovers
7. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us
8. Collective Soul – Rabbit
9. Muse – The Resistance
10. Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream

Honorable Mentions
Chris Isaak – Mr. Lucky
Elvis Costello – Secret, Profane and Sugar Cane
Booker T. Jones – Potato Hole
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures

2009: Mark's Picks

FILM

CREAM O’ ‘09
01 A Serious Man
02 Up in the Air
03 Inglourious Basterds
04 Adventureland
05 The Hurt Locker
06 Sugar
07 500 Days of Summer
08 Funny People
09 Precious
10 District 9

RUNNERS
Moon
In the Loop
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Zombieland
The Men Who Stare at Goats
The Messenger
The Hangover

DUDS
Miss March
The International
Serious Moonlight
Taking Woodstock
Taken
Public Enemies
Away We Go

STILL NEED TO SEE
The White Ribbon
An Education
Avatar
The Road
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans


MUSIC and TV


MUSIC

CREAM O' '09
Bat for Lashes – Two Suns
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes – Up From Below
Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

RUNNERS
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Passion Pit – Manners
The xx – XX
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

ROLLING STONE IS UNFAIRLY OBSESSED WITH
Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream
U2 – No Line on the Horizon

TV

CREAM O' '09
Mad Men
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Shark Tank
Modern Family
Bored to Death
Party Down

RUNNERS
Parks and Recreation
Hung
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

SORRY I DON’T WATCH
Battlestar Gallactica
Friday Night Lights

Film Review: Up in the Air

Up in the Air – a funny, sad, naturalistic and polished dramedy from co-writer/director Jason Reitman – is undeniably a contender for the 2010 Academy Awards. Yet it has no elaborate costume or set design, James Cameron-engineered digital effects, an epic narrative or even propulsive drama. This comparatively small film by Oscar’s standards will rack up nominations but should win only the smaller awards by no fault of its own. It just isn’t that breed. This is the kind of winter film that's comforting in its bleakness and uncertainty and doesn’t flaunt production value but instead sees it as economic cache.

Reitman's solid antecedent comedies, Thank You for Smoking and Juno, laid the bricks for his best feature yet. It doesn’t hurt that he's the son of the guy who made Ghostbusters.

An apotheosis of the George Clooney persona, Ryan Bingham flies 270 days a year as an expert layoff specialist, formally dismissing employees from companies around the country when the bosses lack the cojones to do so. It’s an unusual job that has manifested itself into a life mantra for never having to really know anyone.


“How much does your life weigh?” asks Ryan at the podium of motivational seminars. He coaches traveling professionals on the mentality of someone with a successful, baggage-less solitary existence. Home in Omaha for Ryan is torture. Not because of sour relationships with his sisters or painful memories but because he lives for traveling. “No man is an island” means zilch to him.

He meets Alex (Vera Farmiga), sleek, sultry and professional, whose occupation is never revealed, in a cocktail lounge. They hit it off right away. Alex is even shallower than Ryan and requests keeping their relationship strictly business-sexual. “Think of me as you with a vagina,” she says.

Then, enter Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a 23-year-old precocious Cornell grad has new plans for the company – upgrading from in-person layoffs to cost-saving video chat firings from the Omaha office. Ryan’s boss (Jason Bateman), absolutely smitten with the whiz kid, strongly considers it but first sends Natalie on the road with Ryan for a series of corporate send-offs.

The sight of two people nervously preparing to deliver bad news to an unsuspecting American taxpayer triggered déjà vu ala The Messenger. And Ryan’s seminars reminded me of the faux-profound nature (thanks to Carter Burwell) of Clooney’s speech about the Massey prenup in Intolerable Cruelty.

No doubt this new depiction of romance and seduction is as impersonal as the coupling of 21st-century technology and the application of sociology. Witty, sexual banter is exchanged via text messages, and post-coital activity includes Ryan and Alex logging onto their adjacent laptops to check flight times and layovers.

Critics swooned over Up in the Air in the past month for being delightfully modern, which certainly makes Ryan’s senseless detachment from family, dependence and commitment a relatable flaw. Although Reitman shows the hardship and adversity the recession has incited, he probably will ironically make a healthy sum from it.

Clooney has amassed plenty of mileage in a decade and a half, and he delivers one of his most complete performances in this role. Farmiga, who more or less faded into the back of The Departed’s decked-out ensemble, may finally have a chance for meaty roles in the future.

The screenplay, adapted from Walter Kirn’s 2001 novel, doesn’t shy from corporate lingo and appropriates fearlessly astute dialogue within romantic scenes, a rarity in post-George Cukor and post-Howard Hawks cinema.

There is a great scene in a hotel lounge in which Natalie, who was recently dumped by her boyfriend, and Alex take turns describing their ideal life mate while Ryan listens. Alex’s standards for a man are much lower than Natalie’s, though both desire a figure of status. The 15-year gap between them is vast, and Natalie can’t imagine a life without the potential for perfection.

Before the film digs itself into a hole of depression, it bursts out with a happy hour of sorts. The two large-group events in the film include the tech convention after-party and Ryan’s sister’s wedding. Natalie’s drunken exuberance in the former and Ryan and Alex’s closeness in both scenes are sportively amorous yet also sincere.

Actors known for their comedic relief - Zach Galifianakis, J.K. Simmons (Reitman regular) and Danny McBride – have small bit parts in essentially serious roles. McBride is given one of his first roles since All the Real Girls to prove he can actually act.

The soundtrack plays to the strengths of the wavering tone. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings’ sassy version of “This Land is Your Land” is the opening number, and somber, folky tracks from Crosby, Stills & Nash, Elliott Smith and Roy Buchanan fade in at the right moments.

The story gets blotchy in its final ten minutes. Some surprises and the jumpy cuts to suitcase handles and airport terminals dizzies up the mise-en-scene in an otherwise smooth conclusion for the characters.

While still an unlikely pick for Best Picture, Up in the Air scores a lot of points for pathos. Reitman's film offers a refreshing blend of classical star wattage and a potently contemporary perspective that forge a connection with the audience on many levels despite an overall elegiac tone.

Flobots gets behind local economies

This past week, Denver-based alternative rock/hip-hop band Flobots issued a statement supporting the local economy. They have designated this week "Buy Local Week," promoting the importance about supporting the local economy, especially in these times of need. The holidays have always attracted many shoppers to spend more money than usual on gifts and holiday cheer.

The Flobots are particularly known for supporting many activist groups pertaining to everything from war to music to food. They have issued these statements on their Web site, Fight with Tools. They are very much community members and share their views on their activists ways through their music and fan base.




Although, hailing from Denver, they are vehement advocates of the Colorado economy and asked us all to do the same thing around our local neighborhoods.

I have, many times, discussed the importance of buying local pertaining to our food supply. Keeping local farmers around is a prominent factor. Even though buying local, especially in the food sector, might be a little bit more money, it's money that is circulated back into the local economy and not sent to big business and government. Remember: we all pay taxes and therefore should help our neighbors pay their taxes too, rather than supporting corrupt multimillionaire CEOs who don't necessarily look at the environment - their employees, and our economy - but how they can squeeze every little cent into their own pockets by the year's end. Many local producers work very hard, trying to make a living and feeding their families this holiday season doing what they love. So go out and support your local economy by buying from local farms, shops, and craft fairs.

And remember there are major corporations out there, although few, that do support the local economy and environment. So do your research, and if you feel the need to stop into a major chain, make sure it is one that supports local!

No Room for Squares

John Mayer is a musician loaded with talent.

One must look only as far as his appearance at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads guitar festival to see how monstrous his guitar technique really is.

So why does he choose to continue releasing albums of panderous crooning and safe, mellow grooves?



A guy who could have been the guitar hero of our time, the Eddie Van Halen of the Aughts, has chosen instead to condemn himself to the world’s soft rock radio stations for all of eternity.

There’s no doubt he’s a solid songwriter. I can call the melodies of “No Such Thing” and “Gravity” and “Daughters” and “Waiting on the World to Change” to mind instantly. But when I want to rock out, Mayer’s got nothin’. He goes with the Jack Johnson brand of hazy brain-fuzz strumming instead. There’s a time and place for that, of course, but Mayer’s capable of so much more.


Those music fans who have been waiting for Mayer to come out of his shell probably got excited when word got out that 2006’s Continuum contained a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Bold As Love.” Finally, Mayer takes a shot at the role he should be playing, right? But they were likely disappointed when the album actually dropped.

Mayer’s covers of “Bold As Love” and Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” (on the recently released Battle Studies) pay homage to his influences, two gods of rock who he has the talent to copy. Unfortunately, neither song rises above that “copy” status. His Stratocaster cuts like a knife on “Bold As Love” but the song still manages to sound sanitized. The beaten-down-but-still-tryin’ vibe of “I’m On Fire” is replaced by a pale imitation.

John Mayer Trio’s live album Try! is the closest Mayer has ever come to baring his soul on a recording. “Who Did You Think I Was,” the disc’s opening track, is a rock song. Unfortunately, he settles back into his familiar groove later in the set.

Taking Mayer’s entire recorded body of work into account, maybe it’s time to admit it: Mayer is overrated as an underrated guitarist. He can replicate the burning blues licks of his heroes, but he can’t make them his own.

He won’t be recording Springsteen’s “I’m A Rocker” next because he’s not. He’s a singer-songwriter who crafts pleasing mid-tempo melodies. His influences may be some of the blues-rock greats, but he’s content to imitate them in his spare time and then go back to recording low-voiced snoozefests.

He’s probably happy with his legacy. How many children have been conceived to Mayer records? It has to be at least a few. But the chances of Mayer throwing us a bone and making a rock album are looking mighty bleak.

Album Review: The King Khan & BBQ Show - Invisible Girl

A review of the new King Khan & BBQ Show album, Invisible Girl, is available for your reading pleasure here.

A quick summary of the verdict on the record:

"There’s always the lingering feeling that this is all a joke, a fact not hindered by “Animal Party” and “Tastebuds,” and it takes away from the sincerity and emotional impact of songs like “I’ll Be Loving You.” However, a record that errs on the side of fun is far preferable to one that takes itself too seriously. ... All in all, The King Khan & BBQ Show’s eccentricities might not jibe with your average music fan, but forget ‘em. This soul revival is far more entertaining than most of the acts that decided to get in on the vintage music boom."

Quite honestly, King Khan & BBQ might be too far out for most listeners to handle. Anyone who hungers for more modern radio pseudo-soul won't find it on Invisible Girl. "Tastebuds" by itself would surely horrify any prudish housewife searching for the new Amy Winehouse or Duffy.

Though the group lacks mainstream appeal, Invisible Girl should be in consideration for the myriad "Top Albums of 2009" lists that will be popping up in a month or so.

[Apollo's] Hipness rating: 7 out of 10
[Apollo's] Actual rating: 8 out of 10

Film Review: The Messenger

Films portraying U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq have a bit of a bad reputation save for The Hurt Locker and a few others. Most are loaded with ideology and preach no more coherently than a cable-news pundit. Those that examine the reintegration period when soldiers return home have not had as much of a chance to shine.

The Messenger, from first-time director Oren Moverman, is about post-Iraq as much as it is about any war. The film refrains from flashing to gritty warfare footage and from dwelling on soldier’s stories until it’s absolutely necessary. There is wrenching drama in observing the aftermath of war on all those directly or indirectly connected to the U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Despite weak pacing in the second hour, The Messenger articulately provides fascinating profiles of two men forever scarred from fighting on the front lines – with a more concentrated focus than other post-Deer Hunter coming-home fare.



Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) is back home in New Jersey stationed at Fort Dix with no family aside from an ex-girlfriend who moved onto a new suitor in his absence. Combating loneliness, he finds employment notifying families of their spouses or kin’s recent death in the military overseas. Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) accompanies Will on each home visit, enforcing a strict list of orders that prohibit any subjective empathy with the bereaved. Will violates the job’s contract when he develops a relationship with a shy widow Olivia (Samantha Morton).

The first hour of the film serves as an insightful, joltingly emotional in-depth look, more moving than any newspaper feature, into the job of a casualty notifications officer. It is harrowing work that requires enormous discipline on the part of the officer. Identifying with Will and Tony as dutiful workers on the job, you can’t help but feel strangely dissonant when frustrated that a distraught father (Steve Buscemi) of a deceased soldier lunges out at them, threatening violence. The casualty’s parents aren’t the bad guys, but the officers’ mission as messengers of death isn’t as esoteric from an outsider’s perspective now.


The disparity between those who have been directly affected by the war and those haven’t is a widening crevasse. The same goes for the duality of the responsibilities of a messenger in delivering bad news and/or good news. To have shared in the experience either on the front lines or in losing a loved one abroad is to suffer a wound that can’t easily be healed.

Foster, appropriately unhinged, is a fine actor in his own right but too often falls one tier below method performer Ryan Gosling. Harrelson, on a roll in 2009, steals the show as he did in October’s buddy horror-comedy Zombieland.

The second hour hits a snag in which the plot tends to meander about. One such sluggish scene between Will and Olivia packed no nuance, no sense of pacing nor comprehension of fluidity. The couple’s relationship is never developed thoroughly and Olivia always appears like she could care less. The impact of the first hour slightly flattens in retrospect.

Unlike the majority of recent Iraq fare, Moverman’s downer, anchored by two powerful lead performances, doesn’t bite off more than it can chew in showcasing the inherently fractured nature of the outcast veteran.

[Apollo's] Hipness rating: 5 out of 10
[Apollo's] Actual rating: 7 out of 10

Comedy and musicality aren’t mutually exclusive

There have been several bands in recent years that have managed to combine solid musicianship with some comedy. Though rock musicians have famously taken their art very seriously, fans of the music are often interested in simply being entertained. It’s a dichotomy that begs the question: why don’t more bands have more fun?

The “fun” bands exist on a sliding scale from actual musical entity to joke band. Spinal Tap is the most famous example of a fake band, though it has released several studio albums. Tenacious D and The Lonely Island are bands formed by comedians that play real music. Steel Panther and The Darkness pay homage to a musical style even while poking fun at it.



Just because these bands are sometimes making music with their tongues in their cheeks doesn’t mean they can’t write a solid hook. Tenacious D and The Darkness had songs played on modern rock stations. Steel Panther is the newest “joke” band to release an album of original music, and there’s an argument to be made for the band being better than the groups it’s aping.

The reason why a band like Steel Panther can actually be better than its hair metal predecessors: while bands like White Lion and Mötley Crüe were seriously intent on doing smack and banging groupies, it’s clear the Panther knows how much fun the whole thing is.


Chuck Klosterman wrote the book on hair metal, literally. His Fargo Rock City (Scribner, 2001) is the quintessential tome on hair metal fandom, written from the perspective of a music fan who grew up in the mid-‘80s. Klosterman went on to be a talented writer and pop culture guru, so his growth couldn’t have been stunted too badly by a diet steady diet of KISS albums and Shout at the Devil.

But Klosterman’s outlook on hair metal hasn’t changed from the one he had as a young boy in rural North Dakota. He loved Ratt and Poison because they seemed like badasses, hard-living rebels who may or may not have worshipped Satan. History, meanwhile, remembers the same bands for their buffoonery and questionable fashion choices.

Hilarity can be badass, and it’s certainly more entertaining than watching a band that clearly treats its music as work. Who wants to watch another day at the office? That’s what it is for career musicians, after all. But Steel Panther understands the inherent absurdity of the music it plays. There’s no pressure to create musical works of art or even appease music critics. They’re entertainers, and they’re funny.

Most of all, the band writes and plays original songs that are hummable, with good hooks and catchy choruses. Isn’t that the point of pop music?

Thanksgiving Week

What is the one common factor that every American family has during Thanksgiving? If you have guessed football, you're probably in the Pittsburgh following, but the answer I was looking for is Food. Thanksgiving has always been about the food since the native americans brought the Pilgrims their first major gathering meal and it will remain about food and gathering. The typical American family will gather together in one home to cook this magnificent feast. The oven and stove becomes the center of attention on the one day a year where people pick at turkey skin and talk about the holidays or catch up on life. Some might only cook the typical turkey, boxed stuffing, canned cranberry sauce and candied yams, or if your one like myself, you go all out and make everything from turkey, chestnut and pumpernickel stuffing, heirloom cranberry sauce to sweet potato marshmallows topped with brown sugar.

With this common theme bustling around the house this week - Black Friday shopping aside - let's take time to reflect on our roots and think about why we even sit together on this holiday. The food!!!

Every American is entitled to a decent Thanksgiving meal, so if you haven't already purchased all of your food from the grocery store, head over to the local farmer's market or farm stand and try to buy as much food from there as possible. Yesterday, the farmer's market in Union Square (NYC) was packed with holiday cheer but more importantly some very unique heirloom vegetables that might be an interesting addition to the table this year. These farmers have worked very hard to supply these delicious vegetables and meats, so please spend the few extra bucks, have a little culinary adventure and give the farmers a decent thanksgiving with their families. Explore food.