The Green Hornet

Can a spoiled good-natured exceedingly wealthy party animal suddenly turn his life around and combat the forces of evil with unerring alacrity and formidable strength? Definitely not without the help of his ingenious barista, and within Michel Gondry's The Green Hornet this is sort of what happens, although the exploits of Britt Reid (Seth Rogan) and Kato (Jay Chou) do not proceed as smoothly as aforementioned. It's a film more about cool gadgets, sophomoric dialogue, and stunning automobiles than battling bad guys and dispensing justice, a different sort of super hero film, if you can call it that, where the villain (Chudnofsky [Christoph Waltz]) has the best lines and the most integrity (ala Frank Booth [note the gas mask]), and the hero is a jealous, ineffectual schmuck (your reaction to Chudnofsky's identity crisis could make or break the film for you [I only saw one Green Hornet ad showcasing Chudnofsky and I'm not surprised; the jokes only work well in context]). A lot of superheroes lack the confidence to engage in superheroic acts until that special moment when they realize they've possessed what it takes to superhero all along. In The Green Hornet, Reid has the confidence to engage in superheroic acts and it's not until that special moment where he realizes he's a douche bag, one who seriously needs his support network, that he discovers the necessary skills. The film's well written insofar as it develops intriguing ingenuous and devious characters full of frustration and weakness who are relatable and comedically tragic and places them within off-beat game-changing big-picture situations (Reid equals fantasy, Kato, reality). The structure's somewhat suspect however inasmuch as more screen time is spent exploring the friendships/relationships between Reid, Kato, and Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz) than developing legitimate underground crime fighters (this would have worked more successfully in a graphic novel). Nonetheless, they do fight crime, and near the end we watch as a socially-conscious American floats through the sky seated beside a brilliant Chinese self-made-person, their livelihood sustained by an incisive woman, existential yet practical as they have made a difference.

Mehopes this image bears fruit in the 21st Century.

NFL Conference Finals Picks

Here are my picks for the NFL Conference Finals:

N.Y. Jets/Pittsburgh: the best three teams in the AFC for the last decade have been New England, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh, but the N.Y. Jets have had some successful seasons too. Can the Jets win three road games against the AFC's finest on the way to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1969? I think they can. Jets win by 3.

Green Bay/Chicago: the oldest rivalry in the NFL, Green Bay and Chicago have been playing head to head since November 27, 1921. Chicago leads their all-time series 92-83-6 and won their only playoff match in 1941, 33-14. But this season they split their two games and neither team looks like they have a significant advantage. I want to see Green Bay win the Super Bowl so I'm picking the Pack, but if Chicago's defence shows up they'll definitely have their hands full.

Java Connection

River cross residual
scattered serpentine
note noted connoted
bloated securely predisposed to
pertinent intricate unnerving
lamentations paced evenly
spread Northern wind descends
battles the ice fog liturgically
laughing naming names gently
caressing frozen cheeks battered
visions clarified stultified commercialized
stipulated unforeseen predictable
structural elementary speed
purchased levied leveraging
nourished alpine beckoning
fasten furnish frequent
allot resurgent reminiscent
stole.

NFL Divisional Round Picks

Here are my NFL Divisional Round Picks:

Pittsburgh/Baltimore: classic match-up. They've met in the playoffs twice before with the Steelers winning both times. Pittsburgh leads their all-time regular season series 20-12. They've split their last 4 regular season games with neither team defeating the other by more or less than 3 points. I want Baltimore to win to line up a rematch with the Patriots who lost against Baltimore at home last year during the Wildcard round. So I'm picking Baltimore.

Chicago/Seattle: if Seattle loses in the Super Bowl they finish the season at 500. I'd like to see them continue to win but I predict their playoff run ends in Chicago.

New England/N.Y. Jets: if the Jets can run the ball against New England the way in which they ran it against Indy last weekend throughout the entire game and Sanchez stops throwing high passes they may stand a chance. They were one of only two teams to beat New England this season but then the Patriots hammered them 45 to 3. Methinks New England wins again.

Green Bay/Atlanta: Green Bay and Atlanta have met twice in the playoffs, each team winning a game with Atlanta winning the most recent at Green Bay. A lot of the time in the NFL, one unheralded team has an outstanding season, gets the bye, and then loses at home in the second round (still can't believe Jacksonville beat the Broncos when they had their unheralded outstanding bye season back in the 90s). While I think Atlanta has an excellent shot at winning, this trend may halt their playoff progression, and, well, who doesn't want to see Green Bay play Chicago in the Conference Finals? Green Bay 37, Atlanta 34

Lady Terminator

A legendary Javanese goddess known as the South Sea Queen is out for revenge after having been spurned by an innovative lover. Swearing to return in a hundred years to terminate this lover's great-granddaughter, she retreats to the bottom of the sea to plot her vindictive trajectory. 100 years later, a young anthropology student (Barbara Anne Constable) scuba dives through her underwater domain and becomes the body which she carnally inhabits. A violent rampage follows wherein men are seduced and disposed of as she seeks her object of vengeance with coldhearted calculated precision.

Basically a low-budget rip off of The Terminator, Jalil Jackson's Lady Terminator re-imagines Arnold Schwarzenegger's robotic menace and portrays it as an unstoppable she-beast. Up and coming pop star Erica (Claudia Angelique Rademaker) substitutes for Sarah Connor and is protected by law enforcement officer Max McNeil (Christopher J. Hart). The film unabashedly follows The Terminator's narrative with entertaining accuracy even duplicating scenes and reusing the "come with me if you want to live" line. Nothing is taken seriously and it unreels as a fun, ridiculous, salacious peculiarity whose content has been thoroughly homaged in shows like South Park and The Family Guy. Should you be careful when approached by an alluring voluptuous goddess seeking pleasure and pain in no particular order? Yes you should. Should you take the time to meticulously edit your kitschy film to ensure internal consistency before distributing it to your local and foreign markets? No, you should not. Should you try and hide the fact that you're remaking a film four years after its release, following its plot developments religiously, without taking the time to examine any of the pertinent copyright legislation issues? I really don't know, but Lady Terminator is an amusing chaotic highly gratuitous audacious gambit whose legacy has cultivated a devoted underground following. I'm not going to talk about the eel.

Season of the Witch

After willingly and directly embracing the vicious profits of an unrelenting crusade, knights Behman (Nicolas Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) desert to find their way home. But representatives of the church are none to happy when they discover them passing through their land, and they quickly have them thrown in the dungeon. Freedom is offered with a price: transport a witch (Claire Foy) who has been blamed for a plague to a remote monastery where she will receive her trial. The knights begrudgingly accept, and, aided by a cast of individuals seeking virtue, or clemency, depart on their most treacherous and psychologically destabilizing journey yet.

Dominic Sena's Season of the Witch is an exercise in bipolarity. Many of Nicolas Cage's lines attempt to sound insightful and wise but come across as questionably delivered hokum. At the same time, he seems to be aware of this as does Sena and at times it seems as if Season of the Witch is subtly lampooning itself. But during other moments its seriousness is genuine which results in a cloying, frustrating affect (occasionally mitigated by Ron Perlman). Everyone within is frustrated however so this affect, albeit irritating, does correspond to the film's internal dynamics. At first, the opening scene seemed rushed and hasty, causing me to fear for the fate of the movie. But as it dragged on, its ridiculousness, qualified by a priest's undying commitment to his calling's principles, had a certain irresistible flair, insofar as it wasn't cut off willy nilly and was given time to grow. The next scene depicts a lacklustre religious figure mundanely yet confidently rallying his troops to combat a group of recalcitrant 'heathens.' The figure lacks the bold, energetic, lively characteristics I've come to identify with those filmically delivering a war cry, and the following scenes do nothing to generate greater sympathy. Hence, one priest is valiant in his fight against evil, another religious figure banal; religion is upheld as just and benevolent and then immediately depicted as rapacious. The dialogue throughout casts doubt on the church's legitimacy as it relates to the hunting of witches, yet witches exist within and logically should therefore be hunted. An over-the-top sensational battle between the forces of good and evil seems ready to be showcased during the conclusion yet instead we receive a brief, run-of-the-mill, laid back encounter which reminded me of Eddie Murphy's The Golden Child. Season of the Witch attempts to play to fans of low budget intelligent horror yet mixes in so many mainstream compromises that its diluted product, once again, occasionally remixed and spiced up by Ron Perlman, who should have been given the leading role, suffocates beneath the weight of its bewitching disorder.

I generally like films which play with conventions and offer a broad taste of ambiguous potential to a wide audience, but Season of the Witch's steady reliance on unimaginative proclamations, unless these proclamations are seen as Behman's unconscious absorption of his crusading leader's disproportionate dialogue, distorts its edge and sickly sentimentalizes its grit. Sena does a lot with his script and there's certainly much to discuss but it lacks the less disheartening developments found in a film like Christopher Smith's Black Death, and falls far short of its intellectually entertaining goals.

It was just the way he said "these days" that made it one of my favourite expressions, as if he had sharply embraced his grassroots and provided them with an inclusive, understanding, momentum, that kept refreshingly rolling along.

Mèche Blanche, les aventures du petit castor (White Tuft, The Little Beaver)

After a furious current deposits him far away from the safety of his mother's lodge, Mèche Blanche, the little beaver, must find his way home. Lost in the wild with little knowledge of the necessary survival skills, Mèche Blanche scavenges and scurries his way through the forest, agilely avoiding a hungry pack of wolves, until he finds refuge with a grumpy old beaver. Meanwhile, back at the dam, Mèche Blanche's mother and sister hold down the fort while conducting a search and outwitting a scurrilous otter. Bears, lynx, raccoons, owls, porcupines, skunks, snakes, frogs and squirrels round out the cast as these beavers go about their business of beavering. Some may find it odd that Mèche Blanche couldn't fight harder against the current which deposits him so far away, or that a bear would cross a narrow beaver dam when it could simply swim past, but it's best not to question the designs of this legend for they bravely define a young hero's strength building quest, as he struggles against the odds and contends with adversity. Friendships are made, tests are passed, hardships endured, and mischievousness managed, as the courageous Mèche Blanche learns what it means to beaver.

NFL Wildcard Weekend Picks

Here are my picks for the upcoming NFL Wildcard Weekend:

N.Y. Jets versus Indianapolis: the Jets looked strong in the first two-thirds of the season but have struggled as of late, the exact opposite of the Colts. Plus, the Colts are hosting the game and are lead by stalwart quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning has been known to lose big games but the Jets aren't the San Diego Chargers. Although earlier on in the season I thought the Jets would contend for the AFC title, I think this rematch of last years AFC title will see Indianapolis win again, in a close game.

Green Bay versus Philadelphia: Philadelphia hasn't played well since Michael Vick declared that he's this season's most valuable player (it's obviously Brady), and Green Bay has modestly put together a solid finish to this year's season. The only reason Philly's in the position they're in is that they luckily pulled off a huge upset against the Giants. Methinks Green Bay will win.

Baltimore versus Kansas City: surprising how the Kansas City Chiefs won 10 games this year; they obviously know how to win. But they only beat two teams who had a shot at the playoffs (San Diego and Jacksonville) and didn't have the toughest schedule. Baltimore on the other hand beat the Jets, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and New Orleans, while losing close games to New England and Atlanta. Unless the Ravens can't field their A team next week due to injury, I think they'll dispose of Kansas City with ease.

Seattle versus New Orleans: nice to see that a 7 and 9 team made the playoffs and won their division (maybe that's not so nice), but if Seattle beats New Orleans I'll eat whatever pair of socks I'm wearing next Saturday.

*Shit

Slacker

Fluidly connecting multiple random moments from a day in the life of Austin, Texas, Richard Linklater's Slacker staggeringly introduces manifold characters, themes, and situations, each negotiating its own peculiar qualification, before fading into the background and constructing the affect. Rituals and declarations and circumstance. Considerations and diversification and history. Walking the beat, tweaking the pace, adapting the rhythm, refocusing the plurality. It's about difference, non-financially motivated objectives, rugged potential, and flourishing happenstance. The consent found within this emancipated group has not been manufactured as I've come to understand the white picket fence phenomenon and it's refreshing to watch as its manifestations suggest, plead, and evaluate before fading and reappearing with a refurbished energetically relaxed focus. There's no climax, build-up, or predictable order of things, just a number of individualized reflections presented and compellingly displayed.

Yogi Bear

Jellystone Park is in dire straits. Wicked politician Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly) has decided that its trees must be harvested in order to raise enough capital to keep his bureaucracy functioning. He supports his decision through recourse to a bylaw which states that government supported organizations must earn enough money to cover their operating costs each year, and Jellystone is tens of thousands in the hole with less than three weeks to come up with the cash. Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh), documentary filmmaker Rachel (Anna Faris), Yogi (Dan Aykroyd) and Boo Boo (Justin Timberlake) are none to impressed and immediately launch a campaign to sustain their way of life. But subterfuge and treachery are afoot and due to the fact that they don't coordinate their fundraising efforts, Jellystone is threatened with annihilation.

Eric Brevig's Yogi Bear amusingly examines the dynamics of federal and provincial politics. As the right uses local laws to attempt to destroy a public resource, only a national regulation can be applied to thwart it. The left is divided and it isn't until they learn to collaborate that a successful counterattack is launched. The idea that government supported organizations must cover their operating costs is clearly embedded in the script, a fiscal challenge to the sacred cultural essence of parks such as Algonquin. Do logging companies want to cut down the trees and exploit the resources within these Parks? I'm sure some of them do. Do they have deep pockets and lobbyists who are consistently trying to find ways to break down the legal protections preventing them from doing so? Methinks it's most likely. Is it a good idea to promote a fiscally responsible environment wherein such parks cover their operating costs? Sounds like prudent planning to me. But should said parks be commercialized in order to achieve such goals at the expense of the endemic wildlife etc. whose proliferation reflects the purpose of such parks? Definitely not, and for a good example of the negative impact on protected wildlife within commercialized parks see The Grizzly Manifesto by Jeff Gailus. He's smarter than the average bear!

True Grit

Revenge. Determination. The Law. Bold teenager Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is determined to hire a lawperson in order to bring the man who murdered her father to justice, and she possesses the stubborn constitution and iron will necessary to do so. Refusing to allow the stereotypes regarding her age and gender thwart her, she convinces the grizzled alcoholic U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to pursue, and accompanies him along the way. The bumbling Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Matt Damon) is also in search of their quarry and the ensuing relations between the three roughhouse traditional conceptions of law and order. Cogburn and La Boeuf are like a rugged cantankerous reflection of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and their argumentative dialogue complicates matters before the Coen Brothers round up their complementary strengths and weaknesses (it's as if they've taken a "good" standard lawperson, separated him or her into two, provided both personalities with piss and vinegar, and then used [in this case] feminine strength to bring them together). Mattie saves them from themselves and maintains a firm influential grip, perhaps suggesting that as patriarchal conceptions of the good drink and qualify themselves to death, strong young women will revitalize and recast their semantics, maintaining a prominent place for men while creating one as equally influential for women, thereby manifesting true grit. The fact that her efforts are only substantialized through a stroke of somewhat random good fortune suggests that an egalitarian feminine and masculine power distribution may be generated both legally and politically and treated as if it was evolutionary publicly, if and only if the actual composition of its resonance is dependent upon frustrated logic reinvigorated serendipitously, i.e., the introduction of and capitalization upon a paradigm which oddly corresponds to and uplifts its socialized framework, something formally similar to Lafontaine and Baldwin's use of restraint in the 1840s. A catalyst, a cyberstone, something from within. Good film.

Black Swan

Discovering that hidden talent, the improvised malevolent sensual complement to your precise demanding technical expertise, with competitors vindictively waiting in the wings, with a smile and a patronizingly friendly remark, ingratiating, lackadaisical, treacherous, while a mental illness, hitherto concealed and dominated, can no longer be subjugated as pressure reallocates psychological resources to spontaneous professional challenges, and exquisitely chaotic repercussions must be embraced. Mother will learn to adjust. Romance is simply an illusion. He could certainly be more of a prick. It's the seductive consequence of perfection. Darren Aronofsky once again coaches his cast into delivering first rate performances as Natalie Portman internally glides her way through Swan Lake. Intertwining an artist's subjective deconstruction with her universal adherence to and revitalization of performance standards, Black Swan suggests the costs of multidimensional characterizations can indeed be extreme, if not everlasting. Smutty and taciturn and evocative and sinister, paranoia is unleashed and interrogated as Nina Sayers learns to dance the Black Swan. While her paranoia is logical, as it increases in proportion to her responsibility it realistically manifests her worst fears and results in her best performance.

Had the best French class tonight. The teacher discussed bears in French for almost an hour. Nice.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Tough to discuss the latest instalment in the Chronicles of Narnia film series without looking at the difference between fantasy and reality as seen through the eyes of pesky newcomer Eustace (Will Poulter), the movie's principal saving grace. Eustace is a mischievous trouble maker whose perspective is governed by fact and he is none to happy with the fact that his cousins Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skander Keynes) are currently living with him. Alas, he is also none to happy when his factual world disappears altogether and he is transported to the realistically-fictional world of Narnia. Expressing his discontent in a number of flamboyant tantrums, Eustace must come to terms with the fantasy in which he has been cast in order to save what remains of his scientific marbles. Thankfully, as he seems reluctant to do so, he is transformed into a giant dragon after inappropriately handling a hidden deposit of gold. As he comes to terms with his scaly scorn, things take a turn for the better, and he is eventually instrumental in defeating the forces of evil.

Seems to me anyways, the dragon being a symbol of the unconscientious nouveau riche, if Eustace were to continue on his present concrete path within the real world, he would have become a miser, breathing impenetrable critical fire wherever he causticly tread. By embracing the fictional realm of Narnia, which realistically molds him in his traditional symbolism, he develops a generous spirit which becomes socially conscientious, like Mr. Scrooge, and begins to help everyone. Thus, we are provided with a basic differentiation between the aristocrat and the oligarch, the one who believes they have an obligation to nurture their community which involves listening to that community's input, and the one who believes they own the community and it should therefore bow down to his or her pressure. By recognizing the realistic beauty inherent in fiction, quests, adventures and what not, Eustace begins to qualify his reality with a wider array of fruitful principles, theoretical hypotheses being an intrepid scientific catalyst, progressive thinkers believing in universal healthcare materializing various tenants of several religious focal points, which, are unfortunately upheld by a King to whom everyone bows, and well, I'd rather not get into it.

It's the holiday season.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

A kidnapping scenario where everything goes wrong. The sympathy generated is profound insofar as its apolitical nature sophisticatedly reexamines traditional dichotomies and leaves one anchored in an ambiguous, amorphous juncture. An organ transplant is required. In order to gain the necessary funds a child is kidnapped. After the ransom is delivered, the child accidentally dies. The police and the past-the-point father investigate while a terrorist organization keeps tabs. High and low, rich and poor, everyone is deconstructed while a sadistic sense of humour consistently produces feelings of guilt. Not for the faint of heart, Chan-wook Park's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance convolutedly presents a nocturnal psychological thriller which playfully and insouciantly complicates its volatile subject matter. Distinct and provocative, it mischievously detonates a compelling aesthetic which creatively questions its audience's motivations. More subtle than Oldboy and an insight into what it's like to live without universal healthcare, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance oscillates and undulates while establishing definitive strikes, a mutated dialectical homage to kaleidoscopic terms of endearment.

His instinct was impressive. It was as if every decision had been tailored by a modestly incisive broad conceptualization whose various tenants had been synthesized then sequestered (for expediency's sake) in order for the day's routine to be enthusiastically engaged. Wit was also employed in order to dryly and sardonically acknowledge alternatives whose character, while robust, could not fit into that particular moment's configuration. Formidable yet endearingly diplomatic, as a verdict of taste, I staggeringly laid down my anatomical tract.

Belle and Sebastian's live version of "Here Comes the Sun" popped up on my ipod shuffle first thing in the morning last Friday and Joel Plaskett's "Beyond, Beyond, Beyond" was the last song I heard after returning home. That was some cool randomness.

If you have a gloomy exterior and can't do anything about it, to the point where you're sitting there in a state of extreme happiness while passers by regard you as if you're suicidal, then it's a matter of just accepting that your inner-world is not adequately reflected by your appearance, and trying to convince people that you're having a good time as they frustratingly ask if everything's okay.

Doorways getting in the way again. Today, I ran into an elderly person in the street with whom I'm acquainted because he frequents my place of work once or twice a day. Not wishing to appear rude, I said "hi" and listened as he began to talk. As the doorway approached, I figured that since he is older, he likely wishes to open the door thereby simplifying my passage through. As the door was opened, I followed my plan of action only to recoil in discouraged frustration; he had not opened the door for me as I had suspected but for a mother who was waiting to pass through with her baby carriage. I foolishly walked through only to halt my progression upon recognition when I immediately felt incompetent, idiotic, and ineffectual. I tried to remedy the situation by agreeing to hold the door open for the mother at the same time noticing an electric door opening button. In my haste, I decided not to push the button and proceeded to stand there with the door open. Naturally, the elderly person walked through, pushed the button, and kept going. Doorways: I really can't win.

Nadja

Pleasantly awkward ridiculous dialogue effectively normalized and elegantly delivered, in scene after scene, as if an electromagnetic butterfly is quietly lamenting its misshapen cocoon, delicately fluttering from one petal to the next, breathing in the air, analyzing the moisture, multiple seductive themes variegating its flight, the wind's benevolent seniority quaintly clarifying its path, Michael Almereyda's Nadja revitalizes Bram Stoker's Dracula through sheer complacence and subterranean muses, voluptuously illustrated, magnanimously debated, by a multidisciplinary soundtrack, a haunting, viscidly structured purpose, a metamorphosis incarnated, a resurrection infuriated, mesmerizing, juicy tidbits lusciously lounging within your consciousness, united, shattered, synthesized, compartmentalized, with no particular goal, no definite objective, besides a sister's love for her brother, a husband's undying devotion, a nurse's attentive care, and a hardwired eccentric romantic. Like Nathalie Parentau's paintings, Nadja's subjects are surreal, affectionate, verbose, and dynamic, uttering convulsive resurgent facts, determining sundry, fervid pronouncements, observing dreamlike, rustic reverberations, and organic, felicitous statements. Immediate and everlasting, it gently settles in the underbrush, and shivers.

Unstoppable

Enjoyed Tony Scott's Unstoppable prior to engaging in further reflection. Overtly, it's an entertaining, generally modest, popcorny thrill-ride wherein two blue collar workers heroically save the day. Issues examined: the hardened worker with 28 years experience must deal with the green newcomer who thinks he knows it all; the ways in which nepotism haunts unions; the ways in which executives ignore the advice of their subordinates and make decisions with only the interests of profit in mind; jealousy's rueful mania; the notion that the good of the many outweighs that of the few; labour costs; the dynamic forged by corporate-media relations during a moment of crisis. Not very many Female characters within and I'm assuming Scott found some of his funding from Hooters. Fox news is legitimized which I found disconcerting. Blue collar workers who have a mistrustful eye regarding unionized labour are provided with a more profound degree of sincerity. Many scenes lack emotional depth, as if the actors are trying to finish several sequences quickly and efficiently throughout the course of a day, focusing on production costs rather than art. Sorry to say that the sum of these parts equals a subtle, sinister form of Republicanism, dangerously barreling down North America's cultural track. If we imagine Denzel Washington and Chris Pine's characters as representing United States Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders, then Unstoppable's Republican agenda can be deconstructed and revitalized however. The film concerns a runaway train that must be stopped before its toxic contents destroy a section of Stanton Pennsylvania.

I'm glad I can honestly say, "well, I like bluegrass," when someone asks the awkward, "so, do you like country music?" question.

Have you noticed how people in their thirties are constantly trying to 'out-advice' one another? I generally prefer this type of social interaction when it concerns ironic inappropriate advice, like that so eloquently delivered by Dad in every episode of The Brak Show.

Wish I didn't feel morbidly-ill yet content every time ethics trumps self-preservation.