Archive | April, 2008

Pregnant Pause

13 Apr

In the category of Pleasant Comedies, you can add Baby Mama. It’s a better than average film, with some decent laughs — none of which come close to, say, Forgetting Sarah Marshall — that’s never quite as good as you want it to be. That’s because the script isn’t as sharp as it should be; unfortunately, it strands stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in Mediocre Land. We’ve definitely seen them better on “Weekend Update” back on Saturday Night Live.

Baby Mama is the story of Kate (Fey), a successful single woman who has decided that after years of putting her career first, she now wants a baby. Learning that she is unable to conceive, Kate hires Angie (Poehler), a working-class woman of questionable morals, to be her surrogate. This seems like a setup that could let Fey make fun of celebrity adoptions and career women and other timely subjects. If she had written the script, maybe she would have. But instead, writer/director Michael McCullers aims his arrows at subjects like Jamba Juice and Whole Foods–like stores, and they don’t really stick. Fey and Poehler have real chemistry and are generally enjoyable to watch — more so than Steve Martin, who looks embarrassed in an unbilled role as Kate’s boss — but they almost look pained to be put in such lame situations. Hopefully these two will get the chance to star in a Fey-written comedy in the future. (That is, another Fey-written comedy — both appeared in Mean Girls.) For now, their Baby Mama only rates a B– from me.

Not So Smart

10 Apr

Full disclosure: I also saw Smart People this week, on Monday night.

It’s the story of a dysfunctional family with all kinds of Independent Movie Quirks, and there’s not too much of a plot, and I wasn’t really enjoying it, and, well, I fell asleep in the middle, so I missed about a third of it.

(What? I was tired from the move.)

I’m not going to bother giving the movie a grade (though C comes to mind), but I wanted to at least mention that I’d seen it, just in case you saw it advertised and wondered what I thought.

Pivot!

10 Apr

I’m not really sure how I totally forgot about this clip, given what happened with the move on Saturday and all, but better a few days later than never. This is one of my all-time favorite scenes from Friends, and minus annoying Ross, it’s pretty similar to what happened when we tried to get my couch into my new apartment. Enjoy.

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

9 Apr

Anyone who’s ever been dumped knows how hard it is to get over someone you love. For Peter Bretter (Jason Segel), it’s near impossible. His girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), is seemingly perfect, and even though she has the lack of courtesy to break up with Peter while he’s completely nude (not the last time he’ll be nude in this movie, by the way), he still pines for her. To escape the constant reminders of their relationship, Peter goes to Hawaii, where, what d’you know, Sarah’s there with her new boyfriend. It turns out Forgetting Sarah Marshall is more challenging than Peter thought.

Thankfully, liking this movie is much easier. Written by Segel, it includes many quotable lines and doesn’t fall for the typical romantic comedy cliches. Yes, Peter meets an equally engaging young woman (That 70s Show‘s Mila Kunis) and sure, Sarah’s new boyfriend is an idiot, but things don’t always go as expected with this foursome. Delivering the dialogue is this very appealing cast, led by unexpected leading man Segel. As with Knocked Up, the leads here are a pretty unlikely couple, but you can believe why they’d actually be together. Knocked Up writer/director Judd Apatow produced this film, and things are rounded out by amusing performances by a supporting cast that includes his regulars Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, and Paul Rudd. The laughs here aren’t as big as Knocked Up or Superbad, but FSM is definitely worth seeing. I’m giving it a strong B.

I’m Loving This "Angels" Instead

9 Apr

Memo to David Archuleta: This is how “Angels” is supposed to be performed. Not the way you did it last night on American Idol. Granted, you had a smaller crowd to sing to than Robbie Williams does in this clip, but you damn near drained the song of any emotion and made it sound pretty limp. “Angels” is a bigger song than you could ever sing. It’s a fantastic song, and a great song choice — but not for you. Just watch as Robbie sings it in front of thousands and thousands of people, and listen as they sing along with him. Look at the passionate response he gets, and the way he engages a crowd that large. You could never do that, David. I hope you’re voted off this week. And if not this week, then next week. Or the week after. You shouldn’t win this competition. You’re overrated. You always have been. And maybe after you’re voted off, you can use the time to find a personality. When you’re not singing, you just stand there with your goofy grin and not much else. I don’t like you, David. I want you off the show.

Sincerely,
Martin

Sweet!

7 Apr

Free ice cream and Opening Day at Fenway Park — what could be better? To celebrate the start of home games over on Yawkey Way, J.P. Licks is giving away free ice cream all day tomorrow, Tuesday, at every one of their locations. Woo hoo!

In Fact, It’s a Gas

6 Apr

As with the recent U2 3D film, Shine a Light is a document of big-time performers that must be seen on a very big screen.

This film of two 2006 performances by the Rolling Stones at New York’s Beacon Theater does more than just demonstrate why the Stones are such a legendary band; it also, ahem, shines a light on the men in the band, giving us insights into why they’ve stuck together all these years.

Director Martin Scorsese is a huge Stones fan; he uses a song by the band in most every movie he makes. In fact, in recent interviews, Mick Jagger has joked that Shine a Light may be the only Scorsese film that does not include “Gimme Shelter” in its soundtrack.

Point is, this is a guy who knows his subject. Continue reading →

Honey, I’m Home!

6 Apr

If there’s one thing I learned this weekend during the move, it’s that I, Martin Lieberman, am quite good with the spatial relations.

You see, all was going pretty well Saturday morning. Other than some early-morning mist, the rain mostly held off. The elevator in my building was on the fritz, but somehow it worked until the last load had been brought down, and then it died.

The movers got to me a little bit later than expected, but it gave me some extra time to take care of some last-minute packing I didn’t do the night before. So it was all good.

But when we got to my new place and started to unload the truck, my couch wouldn’t fit through the apartment door. The movers tried multiple ways of fitting it through the door, but none worked because the doorway was too thin, the stairway was in the way, and the sprinkler system was inches too low from the ceiling.

They were giving up, and the couch was going to have to go down in my storage unit; I would have to buy a new one. Continue reading →

Cincinnati Music Factory

6 Apr

Sometimes local news is so random. Like this early-morning broadcast on channel 12 in Cincinnati. I’m sort of happy they don’t do stuff like this here in Boston … although it would be awesome if VB, Doug, or Cindy busted out some moves one morning on the F0X 25 morning news. Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I present this clip. (Thanks to EW.com’s PopWatch for the heads up.)

Movin’ On Out

4 Apr

One last post before I pack up my computer here at 110 Babcock — or simply “The ‘Cock,” as someone called it last night. The apartment is pretty empty; other than furniture and books, most everything else has been moved to my new place. As expected, packing has been a fun experience; I’ve found all kinds of stuff I hadn’t seen since I moved in (old photos, a bag full of Louis, etc.) and taking a week to move in gradually before the actual movers came has turned out to be a great idea.

After more than six years in one place, it’ll be a real adjustment to have my life centered elsewhere, but I’ll be fine (of course). There’s a lot I’ll miss about this building (the location, mostly), but in the end, I’m very happy to be moving on (thank you, violin players and noisy, insensitive neighbors and price-gouging management company). In fact, it gives me immense pleasure to know that I’ll be going out with a bang — my movers are scheduled to arrive at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Now, you know how I feel about noise on Saturday mornings when I’m trying to sleep late. But after all these months of tolerating the violins and the flutes and the pianos and the loud talking and smoking outside my window and the late-night phone calls next door and the smelly cooking and all the shoes left in the hallway and the rude neighbors who don’t hold the door open when you’re right behind them and the heavy-footed upstairs neighbors and the folks who park their minivan next to me and don’t know how to open doors without hitting my car and the side doors being propped open, etc. etc. etc., it only seems right that I disturb my neighbors for a change. So, goodbye 110. I’ll miss you. (But not too much.)

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →