WordPress added a poll option and I am dying to use it. I really doubt that I get enough regular visitors to make this worthwhile, but the polls, I cannot resist them. But what to poll? No need to get political, there’s plenty of that every other minute of the day. And I didn’t want to do something boring. So I decided to do what amounts to a Sophie’s choice kind of poll, whereby the reader must choose between three equally awesome things. First in a series of time wasters for everyone involved! (… has it really come to this?)
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist: Seriously, Don’t Any of These Kids Have a Curfew? October 9, 2008
I started forgetting about Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist the second I walked out of the theatre. I had to pay a visit to IMDB just to remember some of the characters’ names, and I know there were funny lines but I can’t remember any of them. It’s not that it’s a bad movie, by any means–it’s just that it’s lightweight, like a piece of store-brand cheesecake that tastes good but is not even remotely memorable.
It’s not the fault of the actors–they all do a fine job, even the minor ones. Michael Cera’s Nick is mopey and lovelorn, pining after the girl that broke his heart. It’s plain to everyone else that his slutty ex, Tris (Alexis Dziena), doesn’t deserve him, but he continues to make mix CD’s for her and stare longingly at pictures of the two of them together. Tris’s school-pal frenemy, Norah, (Kat Denning) is the typical slightly geeky girl (of the music nerd variety) who doesn’t know how pretty she is. She’s been scooping Nick’s mixes out of the trash for months, but has never met the guy … which comes in handy when she later pulls a stranger in for a kiss to prove to Tris she’s there with a boyfriend, and the stranger turns out to be Nick himself. Nick’s gay bandmates immediately conspire to bring Nick and Norah together with a brilliant two-part plan: a) get Norah to switch over to a push-up bra they just happen to have in their van and b) take custody of Norah’s drunk friend Caroline (Ari Graynor, who nearly steals the movie) so the pair can get some quality time together while cruising around New York in Nick’s yellow Yugo. They spend all night searching for the secret show fictitious band “Where’s Fluffy?” is playing somewhere in the city, and everyone’s rooting for them to fall in love. But will they?
Denning and Cera have a chemistry that makes you want to pinch both of their cheeks and feed them cookies. I’ve adored Michael Cera since the moment he uttered his first word on Arrested Development, but I’m starting to have the tiniest of concerns that he might only be good at playing different variations of the same adorable dork. He’s still enjoyable, but I worry about his career longevity. (I say this with love, Cera!)
Ultimately, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” is guilty of trying too hard. Aside from a few references to the kids’ college plans, the entire thing could have played as a storyline for disaffected twenty- or even thirty-somethings rather than high school seniors. These are supposed to be the uncool kids-destined-for-coolness, but from minute one it’s clear they’re anything but uncool. It’s true that all teen movies bank on stereotypes, but the stereotypes in “Nick and Norah’s…” feel groundless, to the point that the defining issues of being a teenager–largely stemming from trying to figure out who you are–seem to fade away. These kids have it more together than a lot of adults I know, but it’s like watching 17-year olds act out a play; they’re cute and entertaining, but there’s no real emotional weight behind the things they do and say because they’re too young to do and say them.
Bottle Shock: The One Thing Wine Can’t Save October 8, 2008
So … I applied to write for a pop culture website and they asked me to be a feature writer, but then they gave me a crazay assignment that was WAY too time-consuming for non-paid work, so that’s not happening. I worked on my submission review for a while and hated for it to go to waste, so I’m letting it loose on the internets …
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I knew two things about this movie when I went to see it. It’s about wine, and Alan Rickman is in it. SOLD! Sadly, while those two things may be enough to get me through my daily life, they are not enough to make Bottle Shock a good movie.
The film is based on a true story, and an interesting one for say, a “Vanity Fair” article–the kind you might read on a long flight after flipping through to look at all the pictures. But a movie? They’ve stretched the story pretty thin to make it work. In a nutshell: prior to the mid-1970’s, nobody drank California wines (except, presumably, hobos and teenagers). French wine was considered the wine, and everything else was sub par. But that all changed in 1976, when a blind taste test pitting the French vintages against the Californian turned the wine world on its snobby little head. And that’s why trips to Napa are so expensive today, kids.
Rickman plays Steven Spurrier, a British ex-pat living in Paris who inadvertently changes wine forever by initiating a taste test the French were never supposed to lose. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) and his hippie son Bo (Chris Pine — aka ‘Captain Kirk’ in JJ Abram’s Star Trek) are trying to make a go of their struggling winery, Chateau Montelena. When Spurrier arrives, offering a chance for Napa wines to finally gain some international attention, he is properly shocked to discover they aren’t serving up swill. After a breathless scare involving chardonnay that turns temporarily brown and Eliza Dushku (in a pointless cameo as a local bartender), the Montelena wine soundly beats the Frenchies in a cork-pop-heard-round-the-world moment that brings them instant success. There’s a subplot involving the hippie son, his best friend (the charismatic Freddy Rodriguez), and a beautiful girl intern (Rachael Taylor) who lives in a too-picturesque shack somewhere in the vineyard, but it’s mostly just meant as a shiny distracting filler for a story that’s not quite enough to justify a feature-length film.
Alan Rickman could read a phone book for two hours and probably get nominated for an Oscar for it, and though he turns in his usual entertaining and capable performance, he cannot save this film from itself. Pullman’s character typifies the stereotypical too-angry dad; Chris Pine’s surfer-hair wig overshadows his performance; and the true main character–the wine–takes a backseat to the young love triangle that’s been shoehorned into the story. It’s scattered but predictable, and terribly cliché in a way a true story shouldn’t be.
Bottom line: if you enjoy drinking wine while watching Alan Rickman, wait till this one’s on DVD. It’s pretty to look at and entertaining/educational in parts, but it’s not good enough to watch without a nice glass of pinot to help you through the rest.
This crab cake tastes like &^%#&@$ (&^@! October 2, 2008
I might be in love with Gordon Ramsay.
He’s just so GOOD at everything. I’ve been watching a lot of the British version of Kitchen Nightmares, and every episode makes me like him more. He’s so passionate about these restaurants succeeding and he knows exactly what needs to happen to make the chefs give up whatever it is that’s preventing them from making good food. He yells a lot but only because he can’t bear it when people serve crappy food or don’t care about cleanliness or whatevs. I’m pretty sure I haven’t liked/respected anyone on TV this much since “Highway to Heaven” went off the air (oh, I kid) .
Anyway, I wish I were that passionate about ANYTHING. I’ve taken a page from Ramsay’s book and started cursing at the workers at my local Taco Bell about how obvious it is that they have lost their love for food and don’t care anymore …
Call me, Gordon!
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