Gradumacated!

Holy shit! That went by fast!

I'm graduated now. No way I can stay any longer at USC as an undergrad. And I'm not doing grad school right away either, 'cuz that's for pansies (maybe I'll pansy out after a few years...we'll see).

Like all grads, I am totally freaked about what I'm going to do with my life, how I'm going to survive, whether I'll be able to follow my dreams, and all that jazz. And I'm really worried about who I'm going to stay friends with, and who I'm never going to see again friends-wise.

But frankly, I decided to write a blog entry right now as a way to FORGET about all that stuff. I'm a smart, creative, driven dude, who is generally well-liked, and passionate about what I believe in. I think I'll do OK.

I also wish I had written more blog entries this semester because it was quite an exciting one, but...cez't la vie!

Any now for my favorite writing distraction...movie reviews!

1) "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" I saw this movie at a preview screening already and did a review of it here, and I have to say, while I still really liked the film, I think I liked it a bit less the second go-around. Some of the jokes were less fresh, and I was also willing to forgive mistakes less than I was at the preview screening. Also, while I overall am glad with how the movie was trimmed (it certainly needed some trimming), one particular scene that should have stayed was outed. It was the scene where Peter says goodbye to Sarah at the airport. This was a pivotal scene, because it is one of the few times you really felt bad for Sarah, but it also allowed Peter to really get closure on his relationship with her. It made Sarah much more sympathetic, and the whole thing more real. I wished they had left it in.
That said, Jason Segel and Mila Kunis give stellar performances, although they are nearly upstaged by both Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd in their few hilarious scenes. Also, this time around I found myself liking the character of Alduous Snow a lot more than before.
It's still a very good romantic comedy, and I highly recommend it. I just wish they had left in that one more scene, instead of having their final unresolved departure be with the weird BJ (a good scene in itself, but it never gives Peter a chance to firmly "get over it").

2) "Iron Man" After going through film school, and watching a million DVD special features, it is hard for me to watch an effects picture and be distracted by "that's a practical shot, that's an effects shot..." musings. However my highest praise for Favreau's "Iron Man" is that not once did this ever pop into my head. I was so enraptured by the action and the storytelling that I rarely was distracted by curiosities about the technical handling...and that's quite a feat. "Iron Man" is full of some rather silly suspensions of disbelief (the terrorists were quite stupid to let Tony get away with building the first suit RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSES), and the climax was a bit underwhelming, but when the whole movie was done, I was enjoying myself so much I could have gone on for another hour, and it's a long movie as it is. Robert Downey gracefully slips into the Tony Stark role with ease, and Jeff Bridges is lots of fun as the bad guy, even if he does smack a tiny bit of The Dude at times. The summer is off to a good start. Bring on the sequel! I guarantee we'll see War Machine.
I do want to say, though, that I am getting a bit tired of superhero movies. This one is good, but the formula is getting a bit old, and I hope that, save the "big" heroes, this genre is on its way out. Fanboys will know of the post-credit Ultimate Avengers tease in this movie, but as far as I'm concerned once that movie hits it is going to be the nail in the coffin for the superhero genre. And frankly, maybe we could use that nail anyway. Aside from Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man (I'll give it to him), and maybe a few other quirky favorites like Hellboy, I'm starting to hope that the superhero film dies down a bit. Let's see if Hollywood can be a bit more creative than the tried-and-true "good lone dude with fantastic abilities vs. bad dude with fantastic abilities." Whatever happened to the old-school ordinary heroes like John McClain and Indiana Jones? Well...actually they had sequels made about them too...but...you know what I'm trying to say, right?

3) "Speed Racer" I saw this movie exactly the way it was meant to be seen. It was being shown for free in Norris theater, so I decided that instead of spending my money on the movie ticket, I'd spend it on CANDY to eat while I watched the movie. This was the PERFECT movie to see while hopped up on a sugar rush. If you see "Speed Racer," make sure you have enough candy to be consistently popping a Skittle in your mouth throughout it's 2 hr 15 minute (!) duration. I really really enjoyed this movie, but I was with the right group of people to enjoy it with, and running off the right kind of sugar high. I'm actually quite bummed this movie did not do better at the box office. The "good guy" cast of Racer and his family is all around surprisingly good, but my favorite performance had to come from Matthew Fox, who practically walks away with the movie as Racer X. As a huge "Lost" fan I feel I know who Matthew Fox is, but I feel he is actually more perfectly cast as Racer X is than he is as Jack on our favorite island show (which is finishing up a very good season now, by the way). So buy a bunch of candy, pretend you are eight years old again, and check out "Speed Racer," so we can boost those ticket sales and maybe get another one made. I'd see it.

4) "Lord of the Flies" (1963) Yes, Will, I finally finished your DVDs I've borrowed over a year ago. This was a very faithful adaptation of the novel, although that did not mean it was necessarily that interesting. There are some surprisingly good performances by the kids though, which I must give strong kudos for. I get the feeling the filmmakers just let the cameras roll a good deal of the time and let the kids be kids, allowing them to get some very natural and interesting reactions, particularly from the very youngest actors. Worth seeing if you like the book.

5) "Moby Dick" I really liked this adaptation of Melville's book (and boy, if ever there were a tough book to adapt, it's "Moby Dick"). Gregory Peck makes for an interesting Ahab, although my favorite performance actually belonged to the actor playing Queequeg. The real star of the movie is the whale though. I don't know HOW, in the 50s, they were able to pull of special effects like this, but they really made a realistic convincing White Whale. VERY nice job. It's also cool to see Orson Welles in a cameo roll. This is a much better movie than the made-for-TV Patrick Stewart version (sorry, Patrick...you know I love you).
My only worry is that I can't tell in a few cases if the special effects are good, or actually REAL. While they obviously could not get a real white whale for the movie, at times they do use footage of actual wild dark whales. At at other times, it looks like they actually might have gone out and KILLED those wild whales. I don't know if whaling was still common practice in the 50s (I thought it was outlawed by then, but I could be wrong). Either way, I hope the shots of the crew killing dark whales are just very convincing fakes, because it would be terrible if these majestic gentle giants were killed just for the sake of a movie.

6) "To Be Or Not To Be" I actually had no idea what to expect from this movie, and was pleasantly surprised. I assumed it was going to be an old black-and-white (slightly boring) romantic comedy, but it in fact is a dark World War II comedy. Interestingly, the first chunk of the movie is much more comedic, and the middle section much more serious. It is not until the final pieces fall into play that the movie becomes a successful blend of the two. But all is forgiven...this was quite a nice surprise, and certainly worth a watch. The movie was also remade by Mel Brooks, and it seems tailor-made to suit his sensibilities, so I'll have to check that version out at some point too.

7) "Diary of a Chambermaid" Call me crazy, but I cannot stand most French cinema (see my review of "Amelie" in the previous post). I really try, because I think it is healthy to have an understanding of foreign movies. But I just cannot get my head around the French. "Amelie" was too cutesy and disjointed for its own good, and while I can respect "Breathless" for what it accomplished, I found it distracting and off-putting to what I like in a film. There are other examples, but I don't want to go into them.
This movie was made by Luis Bunuel, who was Dali's partner on "Un Chien Andalou," another movie that I admire for what it managed to accomplish, even if it isn't the sort of thing I'll be watching over and over again on a Saturday night (what...you don't pop in "Un Chien Andalou" when you're hanging with friends?).
However I hated, HATED this movie. It is boring, insipid, and doesn't go anywhere. I must have completely missed the point, because yet again the French are doing everything in their power to disappoint me.

8) "The Lion in Winter" If you think you're family is dysfunctional, than just be glad you aren't the family of Henry II. Holy crap!!! This was a very neat movie that involved a lot of famous actors playing royalty, yelling a lot, and fighting with each other. At times I thought the overdramatic acting got a little out of hand. Katherine Hepburn, for example, won the Oscar for her performance here, but I have seen her much better in other films. I thought her overwrought performance was a bit laughable. Peter O'Toole as Henry II fares much better, although he too goes a little bit out of bounds at times.
However the coolest part of this movie is to see some of the younger actors stretching their wings before they became as famous as they are today. I did not even recognize Anthony Hopkins at first, and it is startling to see him so young. Often, once an actor plays the "pivotal" role of their career, it is hard to see them as any other part in a later movie. For example, since "Silence of the Lambs" Hopkins has always been some form of Hannibal Lecter in my mind. As I mentioned in my "Iron Man" review, it is tough to see Jeff Bridges as something other than The Dude. But Anthony Hopkins is so young here that I was not distracted by this in the least. And he does a very good job.
The other big surprise in the movie is Timothy Dalton as the King of France. Dalton has sort of become a joke as the "campy James Bond" actor (though he kicks Moore's ass as far as I'm concerned), but he pulls off a very good performance here, and is one of the highlights of the movie. And again, he is SO YOUNG.
All in all this is an interesting movie with a few really good scenes, and a few uneven ones, but its worth a watch to see O'Toole, Hopkins, and Dalton get at each others throats.

So there you have it. 'Til next post...which I hope will be sooner than the last.