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You’ve Gotta Keep ’Em Separated

30 Apr

In the new film The Five-Year Engagement, Jason Segel plays Tom, the kind of nice-guy boyfriend that most women would love to find.

Actually, he’s a bit too nice, and a bit too in love with his fiancée, Violet (Emily Blunt), and that makes him a bit of a pushover, which is why Tom ends up quitting his job as a chef in San Francisco, leaving his brother and family behind, delaying his wedding, and moving with Violet to Michigan, where she’s been accepted into a two-year post-doctorate program.

Awwww … how sweet of him.

But when Violet’s position gets extended, Tom’s life becomes even more of a shred of what it once was, and soon these two lovebirds are struggling to stay together.

They’re not the only ones. Continue reading →

Can this Film Stop the Bullying Problem?

12 Apr

It happened when I was in fifth grade.

Our class had a substitute teacher one day, and we spent the last hour outside.

Many of us played kickball. But when the game started to get stale, the “cool kids” took the ball and started doing their own thing.

I wanted to play with them, so I tried to get in their game.

However, instead of welcoming me, they started calling me names and throwing the ball at me, hitting me with it multiple times in the head, chest, and back.

I tolerated it for a while, but then decided I’d had enough. Upset and near tears, I went inside without telling anyone. The substitute was so oblivious she didn’t even see me go.

I got to our classroom, picked up my bag and jacket, and before I headed out for the bus, I wrote a very simple note on the blackboard:

“I suck. Signed Marty”

Somehow, I held it together on the bus, and when I finally got home, I made a bee-line up to my bedroom, where I broke down and cried.

For most of my childhood, I’d been on the receiving end of bullying. From incessant name-calling to being pushed around and excluded from activities, I was pretty much your stereotypical suburban bullying victim.

And like most bullying victims, I’d gotten used to it, as if that was my lot in life and there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it. My parents didn’t know much about how I was being treated (I generally kept it to myself), and the teachers at school were doing very little to stop it. In fact, their coddling of me probably made it worse since I was seen as a teacher’s pet.

So that day in fifth grade was a real breaking point for me.

I told my parents what had happened, and they asked a lot of questions. Why? How? Didn’t anyone do anything? What were you doing? I didn’t really want to answer these questions, so they didn’t exactly make it easier for me, or make me want to tell my parents again.

I don’t recall any specific action being taken after that day, but I have to believe something did happen because I don’t have any memories of things being quite so bad ever again. In fact, by the end of middle school (around the time of my 13th birthday, to be specific), I’d found some confidence and strength, and things got much better for me.

But I never would forget those earlier days of being bullied, and how awful it felt. And even now, that one day in particular still stands out.

So you can probably imagine the visceral reaction I had while watching the new documentary Bully. Continue reading →

The Song Remains the Same for “Once”

11 Apr

Like the movie it’s based on, Once the stage musical (which I saw last week) begins in unassuming fashion.

The stage has been “converted” to a pub, where audience members can go for a drink before the show (and during intermission). The ensemble is right there on stage performing Irish and Czech folk songs, in a seemingly impromptu jam session, and patrons are treated as if it’s just another night in the pub.

Gradually, all the audience members are led back to their seats, and without any fanfare, there’s someone “new” on stage, who the ensemble parts ways to let sing.

And does he ever.

With broken-hearted passion, this Guy belts out “Leave,” a slow-burn song about his girlfriend, who has left Dublin — and him.

Slowly the lights go down and the show has begun.

Continue reading →

13 Years Later, and Jim’s Still Not Getting Any

5 Apr

Are you nostalgic for the first American Pie movie?

Is anyone?

Anyone other than the original cast, that is.

If you are, then American Reunion is a movie for you.

It plays like a cinematic version of a K-Tel Records “Who Loves the ’90s?” album, complete with the same basic story of a bunch of horny guys in East Great Falls, Mich., who just want to get laid.

Of course, we’re talking Reunion here, so the action all takes place 13 years after that first film. And if a 13-year reunion seems random to you, well … you’re right.

But who cares? After all, if you’ve been to a reunion, then you know what to expect: Initial feelings of anticipation, stress, awkwardness, and/or regret, that eventually lead to good vibes for everyone. That describes the characters’ reunion and the movie itself.

Continue reading →

He Needs to Talk About Kevin

25 Mar

In the new movie Jeff, Who Lives at Home, the title character is looking for a sign.

About halfway through, so was I.

A sign that would tell me when the movie was going to kick into gear.

Jeff (Jason Segel) spends most days on the couch, in the basement of his mother’s house, getting stoned and looking for signs from the universe about what he should do with his life.

Yes, he’s one of those loveable but directionless losers who appear on screen all the time, who we’re asked to root for, even though they don’t really inspire much affection (blame the casting department that we do root for them anyway).

One day, Jeff’s mother, Sharon (Susan Sarandon, randomly cast), asks him to go to the store and get some wood glue. And it’s on the way to fulfill that mission that he meets up with his estranged and more successful brother, Pat (Ed Helms), who isn’t getting along with his wife, Linda (Judy Greer).

Meanwhile, mom works away at her cubicle job, where she’s being flirted with over instant message by a mysterious secret admirer.

It’s just another day in indie film world. Continue reading →

5 Reasons Why “21 Jump Street” Isn’t as Bad as It Looks

20 Mar

If you’ve seen the promotional campaign for the big-screen reboot of 21 Jump Street, then you probably think it looks pretty bad.

That’s what I thought, too.

But then I saw the movie and was pleasantly surprised. It’s actually pretty good.

(Yes, I know that’s damning with faint praise.)

This flick had a lot of factors going against it, so I figured I would share the five things that are working for it, and that make 21 Jump Street worth seeing. Continue reading →

100% Committed, 50% of the Time

19 Mar

Here’s a truth that people with children don’t like to admit: Things are different once the kids arrive.

Oh, sure. You say things won’t change, and you’ll do everything exactly the same as before … but you just can’t.

And all of a sudden, whether they want to or not, your single or childless friends have to work around that, your relationship with them changed forever.

The first 15 minutes of Friends with Kids, Jennifer Westfeldt’s smart, sophisticated, funny new film, dramatize this in cringe-worthy fashion. Continue reading →

A Tale of Two Sweethearts

26 Feb

It was the best of movies, it was the worst of movies.

Alright, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but go with me here for a little while, okay?

Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston are both back in movie theaters now with new movies, and while they’re of different quality, they made me think about how differently these two actress’ careers have evolved.

Both at one time was America’s Sweetheart, a beloved figure on the small and/or large screen, and yet, where one has gone right(er), the other seems to be totally off track. Continue reading →

Meryl Streep, Prime Minister

28 Jan

Whether you liked her or didn’t like her, Margaret Thatcher was an important political figure. So she rightly deserves any recognition she gets, and merits a bio-pic.

That said, watching The Iron Lady, you get the feeling that this is a film more about Meryl Streep playing Thatcher, than it is about Thatcher herself.

Would the movie have been made without Streep? Who knows. But you know somewhere, a few years ago, some film producers were sitting around and came up with this brilliant high-concept idea.

Thankfully, Streep delivers. Continue reading →

Pal Joey

8 Jan

In recent years, the proudly, blatantly self-important projects that Steven Spielberg has worked on (often with Tom Hanks) — ones like the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific — have been such a turnoff.

They may be good, but who wants to sit through something out of a feeling close to obligation?

So I’ll admit, I was resistant to seeing War Horse, uncle Steve’s latest prestige project, and pre-disposed to not liking it.

This film, an adaptation of the Tony Award–winning play and children’s novel, tells the story of boy gets horse, boy loses horse to World War I, boy enlists in army to find horse, boy and horse are reunited, and all is well. It’s about as audience-friendly as can be, and with gorgeous photography, a predictably majestic score by John Williams, and decent performances, the film is a rousing one that will make you stand up and cheer. Continue reading →

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