Lost and Found

19 Aug

I got lost yesterday.

Again.

My company had its annual summer outing at the Nashoba Valley Ski Area, and on my way home, I decided I didn’t like the route the Google Maps app on my iPhone was suggesting (i.e., Route 2).

So, I opted to go back home the same way I got to Westford: By driving past Walden Pond and through the ‘burbs, by my office, and then onto 128 and the Pike (or up Trapelo Road, if there was traffic on the highways).

I thought I knew where I was going.

I was wrong. Continue reading →

Caesar Is Home

12 Aug

So here’s how the apes came to rule the planet, according to the new film Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Sometime in the present day, a scientist (James Franco) develops a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease — one that not only restores normal brain function but improves upon it. Tests on chimps have the expected result: They get more intelligent. So these already strong beasts are now smart as well.

And while the scientist is kind, and he takes good care of one chimp in particular named Caesar, he’s the only human who does, so Caesar eventually gets mad. Sharing the drug with his fellow primates, he leads a rebellion against humankind and, well, anyone who’s seen the other Planet of the Apes movies knows the rest. Continue reading →

Not My Piece of Pie

10 Aug

The premise is cringe-worthy and racially-charged: In the early 1960s, a white young woman in Jackson, Miss., interviews black housekeepers to learn what it’s really like to work for such cruel and racist families. And yet, The Help tells its story with a fair amount of love and respect, so it is not as offensive as it could have been. Much of that is due to the dignified and heartfelt performance of Viola Davis, and of course, much credit also goes to writer/director Tate Taylor, a childhood friend of Kathryn Stockett, on whose book this film is based. (Octavia Spencer, another longtime friend of Stockett’s who inspired one of the characters, also gives a notable performance.)

But love will only take you so far. While much care may have gone into the making of The Help, the movie itself will not be a winner for all audiences. It’s a “women’s picture” — which is to say not a dumb romantic comedy “chick-flick” — and I’m definitely not the target audience. I also didn’t really dig yet another story about an idealist young white woman who redeems the persecuted black community. I’m just not sure Davis or Spencer’s characters would ever have told so much to fresh-from-college Skeeter, even if she is played by the in-demand Emma Stone. So The Help, while not an awful movie, gets just a B from me. No doubt it will be beloved by many who’ve read the book, but it’s not my piece of pie.

Guns Hot

4 Aug

Dave (Jason Bateman) is a married man, the father of three kids, and a lawyer. Suffice it to say, he’s settled, but with lots of obligations. His best friend Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) is perpetually single and unemployed, with all the time in the world to enjoy his life. So of course they each want each other’s life. That’s the premise of The Change-Up, a body-switching comedy from the creators of Wedding Crashers and The Hangover that actually is about as funny as you might hope it would be, given that pedigree.

Yes, you’ve seen movies like this before. But I can’t remember one that was R-rated or this funny. Credit that to a screenplay that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and a performance by Bateman that’s more fun than anything he’s done in recent years. For a change (no pun intended), he gets to loosen up and not play the straight man (as he does in movies like Horrible Bosses), and he’s great. Also, um, Olivia Wilde is in the movie and that’s a very good thing. To be sure, The Change-Up is not a smart, sophisticated comedy. It’s got its token share of poop jokes and other broad, crude humor. But it’s also got lots of laughs, and it’s easy to like. So I’m giving The Change-Up a strong B.

All for Love

1 Aug

When I say that they don’t make movies like Crazy, Stupid, Love very often, I’m serious.

Yes, there are plenty of romantic comedies out there, some involving adults, and yes, a plot about a wimpy, broken-hearted man who seeks counsel from a cooler guy isn’t new, but too infrequently is the movie as good — as smart, as funny, as warm-hearted, as alive — as this one is.

And that’s why Crazy, Stupid, Love is one of the best movies, not just of the summer, but of the year so far. Continue reading →

Don’t Cowboy Up

29 Jul

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly magazine, the creators and cast of Cowboys & Aliens explained that to them, the whole joke of the movie was in the title, so they consciously decided to play the rest of it straight and serious.

(Actually, they say it was producer Ron Howard’s idea not to make the film like a western version of Men in Black.)

Big mistake.

This action film, about an alien invasion in the late 1800s, is so serious that it’s not very fun. Continue reading →

Can They Kick It?

27 Jul

A documentary for fans, and made by a fan, Beats Rhymes & Life tells the story of the rise and fall and rise and uncertain future of A Tribe Called Quest, one of the best rap/hip hop groups of the last 20 years. Through interviews with group members and others (including The Beastie Boys, Monie Love, De La Soul, The Jungle Brothers, and Common), we learn how the group was formed, how it found success with a unique sound, and how eventually, differences, miscommunications, pride, and ego led to the group’s breakup in 1998.

Actor Michael Rapaport (Friends, Prison Break, Mighty Aphrodite) set out to make his movie in 2008, when A Tribe Called Quest reunited and went on tour. The film captures not a triumphant return to the stage but a fractured and tenuous relationship among the band, with unresolved issues that threaten any long-term reunion plans. In this footage and the accompanying interviews, Q-Tip is presented as ATCQ’s brains and leader, and Phife Dawg as its heart. And those two just can’t seem to see eye to eye. It’s a love-dislike relationship, with wounds that cut deep. And the film, in natural, not augmented ways, helps you see the discord is very real and heartfelt.

The rest of the movie is like that too. Neither a slick documentary, a PR puff piece, or an amateurish home video, Beats Rhymes & Life feels instead like an affectionate tribute to an influential music group, warts and all, made by a guy who really likes them. It’s filled with great music and well shot interview footage. I wouldn’t say the movie was essential viewing, but it’s a fun documentary and worth the hour and a half if you’re a fan of hip hop and rap. I’m giving Beats Rhymes & Life a B.

For the Kids

26 Jul

When my niece, Abby, was born, my sister and brother-in-law told me they were committed to visiting Boston twice a year so that I could be more a part of her life, and so she could see where I live.

They’ve done just that.

Now that I have two nephews, the same philosophy holds true.

And this weekend, the boys — and their sister and their parents — came to visit me.

Like Abby’s first visit, it was a low-key weekend, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have fun. Continue reading →

She Told Ya She Was Trouble

24 Jul

When news broke yesterday that Amy Winehouse had died at the age of 27, the news was less shocking than it was just sad.

After all, Amy was a singer who burst on the scene in 2007 and created an immediate buzz with “Rehab,” a song that would later go on to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year (she won four other awards that year).

And that song seemed to tell you everything you needed to know about Amy, a troubled singer who had problems with drugs, drinking, and the law: “They tried to make me go to rehab,” she sang, “and I said ‘No, no, no.'”

Ultimately, that’s what derailed her career and now seems to have ended her life as well. Continue reading →

When Dylan Met Jamie …

22 Jul

Among the many things we can thank When Harry Met Sally… for is the not-breaking news that try as they might, men and women just can’t be friends because sex always gets in the way.

If they could, then many, many, many movies would never have been made. Among them: Friends with Benefits, a new film in which two impossibly good looking, single, emotionally detached people decide to sleep together but not date. (Yes, it’s pretty much the same plot as No Strings Attached.)

Will these two eventually get over themselves and fall in love? What do you think? Continue reading →

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