A Post That is Long Overdue....

I've been surprised at how busy college has kept me lately. I mean, it was expected, but I suppose my last two semesters have never hit the road running this hard so early in the school year. I am taking 17 credits, mainly due to my foreign language (a requirement for English majors) that lasts five days of the week, along with my 300-level Literary Criticism class where I have to write a 2-page response paper over a very dense reading for Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm not asking to be pitied--I'm just trying to put into perspective why I have not been able to update as frequently as I'd like.

Anyways, the updates will come. Slowly, but surely, they will.

Tasteful Humor for "Extract

What is presumed to be the third in a trilogy of Mike Judge comedies (the first two being "Office Space" and "Idiocracy"), "Extract" brings together some of that working class, dealing with idiots, "I-hate-my-job" humor we saw in the cult classic "Office Space." But this film is not just a rehash of what we saw in 1999. Instead, we get to see things from the boss' perspective and the dense employees he must put up with.

"Extract" starts with Joel (Jason Bateman), an honest entrepreneur running his baking extract company while dealing with the headache his self-righteous, irrational employees cause him. His home life is anything but a sanctuary from the workplace where Joel meets sexual defeat when his wife (played by Kristen Wiig) tightens those sweat pants that aren't coming off for the rest of the evening. Bateman does a great job showing the frustration bottling up inside of Joel, just like the bottles of almond extract filled in the factory (if they don't fall off the conveyor belt!). The movie is definitely a character-driven plot and it works because the characters are so memorable and realistically white trash. J.K. Simmons, although once again the careless, dry, and sarcastic mentor-figure, was a pleasure to watch rag on the employees who's names he replaces with "Boy Genius" and "Dinkus." I was also pleased to see Mila Kunis (last seen as Jason Segel's love interest in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall) back, but this time as the con artist who begins working at Reynold's Extract to get in on a million dollar lawsuit. Ben Affleck, who I'm normally not too fond of, pulled off a great boneheaded best friend to Bateman who happens to be hyped up on drugs half the time. Even members of the unknown supporting cast really pulled everything together: the gossipy middle-aged women accusing everyone of doing wrong or stealing from them, the dopey Step who endures a rather unfortunate severing below the belt, the annoyingly talkative next door neighbor, and Brad the gigolo, who unwittingly falls in love with Bateman's wife. Perhaps the strangest casting choice was Gene Simmons as a lawyer, but the character was supposed to be a theatrical buffoon, so it worked out.

What I really liked about this movie was its ability to pull off the miserable vibes played in "Office Space" while moving into a completely new region of the work comedy territory. There's a nice balance between Bateman's home and work life, where both places seem to be falling apart. The only place he can turn to is the bar, where Affleck works, and receive idiotic ideas on how he can attempt to fix his problems. The plot is formulaic, but it still retained little surprises that satisfied the palate. It was constructed well, holding the audience's attention with Kunis' cunning manipulation. She becomes the inspiration for Bateman's desire to exit his empy marriage, which in turn only twists the already bunched up problems in his life. I kind of wanted a little more interaction between the two, but the film worked well without it.

Again, if not for anything else, "Extract" is worth watching for the characters that are surprisingly accurate representations of people you've seen or met. I felt this might've been a tad bit better than "Office Space" primarily due to the tour-de-force of the cast and the dynamic scenarios that challenge the characters throughout the entire film. Just like the title suggests, "Extract" definitely carries that extra flavor of enjoyment.

BOTTOM LINE: I don't know if I'm going to place it in my Top 5 movies of the year, but "Extract" does deliver a fresh batch of funny characters that leaves you with a good taste in your mouth.

PROS:
1. Brad the gigolo -- This blonde airhead was so amazingly stupid that I think he stole every scene he was in.
2. Jason Bateman -- He gave a lot to this role.
3. Lidiea & Gabriella -- The two chatty-Cathy's working the conveyor belt with a little bit of curious racism. They're usually the source of the problems in the plant because they refuse to do their job if they see someone else not doing theirs.
4. Ben Affleck as a stoner -- Following the steps of comedic revival like Tom Cruise, Affleck does this side-character some justice.
5. White trash -- Yep. There's a lot of it. And it's funny if you've been around these people before.
6. Nathan the annoying neighbor -- Everyone has met this guy.

CONS:
1. Kind of like with "Office Space," I was left wanting more.
2. Some of the decisions Bateman makes might not go over well with a more moral audience. But it's sort of justified with the fact that he was slipped horse tranquilizers.

RATING:

1/2 OUT OF 5

New Play: Shakespeare's Inferno

Although this has nothing to do with film, I still think it's an important addition in the world of theatre. "Shakespeare's Inferno" is a play Kirby Ann Witte and I wrote together our senior year at Carlsbad High School in New Mexico. It has now been officially published through Pioneer Drama, and you can check it out online right here.

We had written this play partly as an assignment for our English teacher, Carol Parr, and in the hopes that it might become the play our theatre class would select to take to our annual Drama Fest at ENMU in Portales. It took about a month to write (with the both of us writing sections and e-mailing it to the other, or writing parts together), and that was a bit of procrastination on our part! Mrs. Parr had Kirby and me read a few Shakespeare plays (Henry V and Taming of the Shrew) to expand our cast list a bit. We finished it close to November, with positive feedback from Mrs. Parr and our drama teacher, Mannie Bemis, and offered it up as a potential option for our theatre troupe to perform.

Our Play Production class voted between "Shakespeare's Inferno" and another one act play I had written that summer by request. The class was split, but "Shakespeare" ultimately triumphed. We had auditions in December and hit the road running with rehearsals upon returning from winter break. Danelle Morrill was selected as director, and Kirby took the role of Puck while I performed as Captain Fluellen. It was quite interesting and impressive to see our classmates speak these words we had written. The rehearsals would become painful at times, particularily with line memorization. I felt the heat mostly through gathering costumes for the cast and learning a Welsh accent. But it all pulled through at the end, as it does with every production, and it was amazing.

We performed the second to last week in February 2008 (the week of Valentine's Day) with two day performances on Monday and Tuesday along with an evening performance for parents. Our fellow students in the audience understood the humour very well, which boost our confidence in bringing the play to Portales. We had brought a very successful play the year before ("We're Experiencing Technical Difficulties"), so naturally we felt a lot of pressure to deliver our absolute best. And just so, we did. The moment of our performance was such a blur, but I guess we received nearly a full standing ovation. What felt the best, though, was the lasting effect we had on our audience. Afterwards, Kirby and I had people come up to us, congratulating us on a job well done as well as how they could obtain the scripts for their own productions. I remember standing in our hotel hallway when group passing us shouted, "Hey, it's the Shakespeare people!" while grabbing their friends from the room to come meet us. In short, we felt like celebrities.

At the end of the festival, ENMSU handed out awards to the different plays. "Shakespeare's Inferno" received an Excellence in Directing for Danelle, an Excellence in Acting for Terence Taggart as MacBeth, and an Outstanding in Original Work. That "Outstanding" gave us the best feeling, not only because it was the most prestigious award possible, but we were the only ones to have received one out of all the categories. Mrs. Bemis conveyed to us that the Drama Department was greatly impressed with the calibre of our work. As the ceremony wrapped up, we again had questions about obtaining the rights to our play. And that's when Kirby and I decided we should get "Shakespeare's Inferno" published.

We went through some edits during our very busy summer (having just graduated, gone on vacation to DisneyLand and NYC, and trying to prepare for college), and sent it off to Pioneer Drama Services in August, and Playwright, Inc. a couple months later. We hadn't heard anything for a while, but they had notified us that it would take about 6 months until a final decision would be made. I was beginning to lose confidence that "Shakespeare" would ever get published, until around February 2009 I received a letter from Pioneer Drama explaining they would like to publish the play. They had already included the contracts too. I was amazed that it was happening, and canceled our submission to Playwright, Inc. after they had explained they would not publish it.

Our only drawback was obtaining the rights to the copyright. Pioneer normally would've kept them, but Kirby insisted that we needed that copyright in our hands so we could get credit if ever "Shakespeare" would become popular. But first we had to get the copyright, which was a long and expensive process in itself. I was beginning to wonder if this would ever get done until the copyright finally came through mid-summer and our editor was sending us e-mails about last minutes tweaks to the script.

And now it's finally done. With $5 a script and $30 for royalties, it can finally be purchased. Kirby and I get 10% of the profit (of course, that means 5% for her and 5% for me), and 50% (25/25) of the royalties. We won't get a check until about April, but I'm still immensely thrilled. It won't be a major profit, but it's given me a slight foot in the door and an early achievement that I had never expected to happen :)

Box Office Results: Fresh Sci-Fi District 9 Triumphs

Title	Weekend	Total	Analysis
District 9	$37.0M	$37.0M	Great reviews and word-of-mouth buzz propels twisty, creative sci-fi flick to #1.
G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra	$22.5M	$98.8M	The last of the summer blockbusters fell almost 60% from Week 1 opening.
The Time Traveler's Wife	$19.2M	$19.2M	Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams romance a mild success as sci-fi/cartoon counter-programming.
Julie and Julia	$12.4M	$43.7M	Cooking dramedy makes its $40M budget back in 2nd week.
G-Force	$6.9M	$99.0M	Animated guinea pig action pic showing strong legs as it approaches $100M "blockbuster" status.

Bomb of the Week: The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard is this week's winner due to mere $5.3M take in spite of large marketing push. Perhaps some actors just work better on TV.

COURTESY OF ReelzChannel.com

Movie Recommendation of the Week: Once

Once, 2006

~ Starring ~

Glen Hansard
Marketa Irglova

~ Awards ~

Academy Award for Best Original Song, "Falling Slowly"


~ Synopsis ~

Sometimes, you only get one chance to follow yours dreams. So, when a brokenhearted street musician clicks with a beautiful and feisty keyboardist, the unlikely couple decides they have nothing--and everything--to lose. Over the course of one electric week, the duo writes, performs and records an incredible cycle of songs every bit as spontaneous and soulful as their improbable romance. This truly unforgettable blend of transcendent pop music and raw, naturalistic storytelling is absolutely mesmerizing, because something this passionate and original comes along only...Once.

~ Why I'm Recommending It ~

• It has sort of a raw, documentary feel to it. What I found interesting about it was that Hansard and Irglova were only called in to play these parts when the real actors couldn't quite master the musical performance.
  
• The chemistry between Hansard and Irglova is positively sweet. The "love story" is recognized, but they meet bumps along the way that makes it difficult for them to commit to one another. In other words, the love story isn't "sappy" and that's why it's easy to get into.
• THE MUSIC. It feels like a musical, without the grand dance numbers and spontaneous bursts into song. The songs are hauntingly heart-wrenching and beautifully composed. You watch them create the music together, giving it a very personal feel. "Falling Slowly," "If You Want Me," "When Your Mind's Made Up," "The Hill", and "Say It To Me Now" are some of my favorites.
  
• The names of the two main characters are actually never mentioned in the film. I felt this made the movie more universal and personal--this relationship can be happening to anyone.
• Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are incredibly talented musicians. With Glen's Irish lilt to his performance and Marketa's slight Czech-accent in her singing voice, it makes this movie about music and love quite dynamic.

RATING
1/2 OUT OF 5

A Mostly Positive Direction for "Away We Go"

(Note: This is Jezebel's boyfriend giving this guest review. Since Jez lives in a town with a really crappy movie selection, I offered to give reviews of films that are playing in my neck of the woods.)

Usually, when walking around the mall or something with my family, my parents will see a little kid being incredibly obnoxious while the parent is entirely oblivious, and we all feel that we need to comment on this. After experiencing this quite a bit, we've started to use the phrase “We're the perfect parents of other people's kids."

But first of all, I must say that the script, written by master satirist Dave Eggers (If you don't know who he is, he's the editor of the great satire magazine, McSweeney's) and his wife Vendela Vida, is fantastic. They provided some very fun and interesting characters for all the actors involved to live in, and introduced some twists into the genre about pregnancy and road trips. For instance, Burt and Verona find out they're pregnant during oral sex. Without getting too graphic, Burt determines Verona is either starting menopause or is pregnant. Mind you, that's just the first scene. The conclusion of the movie is a conversation in the middle of the night, while both of them are laying down on a trampoline.

The character work also shines bright in this film. John Krasinski is no stranger to playing the understanding nice guy, and he uses that to full effect as Burt. He practically becomes the emotional center of the entire film. While on this large journey, he's also charged with the task of talking Verona out of the emotional breakdowns that come with pregnancy. Being incredibly sweet and a little bit quirky at times, it's really rather easy to see why Verona had fallen in love with him. However, perhaps because of the script, Verona wasn't as strong of a character as I thought she should have been. While there are little bits that show through, she just seems incredibly introverted and aloof for most of the film, which is made even more apparent during one-on-one scenes with Burt. While it looked like she was the one in charge in the beginning, by about halfway into the movie it's pretty much all about Burt.

Part of the fun of road trip movies is the large cast of supporting characters. Eggers and Vida wrote some great eccentric characters in each of the cities that Burt and Verona visit, and for me they really stole the show. Perhaps the funniest supporting role belongs to Allison Janney, who plays the loud and abrasive Lily, Verona's former boss. She prefers a more hands-off approach to parenting, which usually means her kids are dragged along while she acts like they're not even there. Maggie Gyllenhaal also stole the show in her brief role as LN, the ultra-progressive liberal hippie parent who doesn't believe in strollers and shares a bed with her husband and kids, even while they're having sex.

However, my major problem with the film happened within the last half hour. As soon as the couple arrived in Montreal, the entire film did a sudden, sharp change in mood. While the events in Phoenix, Tuscon, and Milwaukee were hilarious, the film suddenly takes a sharp turn into the realm of drama. After an hour and a half of seeing bad parenting, we suddenly see families with good parents that have fallen into bad luck with divorces and miscarriages. While these scenes certainly would stand up well on their own, it felt like too jarring of a change. I kept on waiting for another opportunity to laugh, which didn't come until the conclusion. After a last moment reviewing everything that happened and exchanging vows to never do what they had witnessed other parents doing, they settle upon a place to live, which felt like a good, sweet ending.

BOTTOM LINE: “Away We Go” offers a lot of laughs, lovable characters, and has a script that will certainly catch your attention. Fans of independent cinema will certainly enjoy it. However, be prepared for the comedy to dry up considerably in the final act.

PROS:
1.Burt Farlander – John Krasinski's character was weird, goofy, sweet, and lovable. It's hard not to take a liking to the character.
2.Hilarious side characters – Allison Janney and Maggie Gyllenhaal really steal the show for their brief appearances.
3.The little kid telling Burt and Verona what he knows about babies – you have to see the movie to really get this one. It's the most hilarious line in the movie.
4.Great script by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida – Especially since it's their first. I really can't wait to see how Eggers does on his next project, the adaptation of “Where The Wild Things Are”

CONS:
1.Verona – There wasn't really much to the character. Most of the time, she was either crying or being incredibly introverted and aloof.
2.The Final Act – This is really a deal-breaker for the movie. Up to that point, it was absolutely hilarious. Once they hit Montreal, the film suddenly sobers up and becomes a drama. If the movie had balanced comedy and drama well enough, this wouldn't have been such a big issue.

RATING
Out of 5



WRITTEN BY: GrouchoMarx

Secrets Revealed in "District 9"

A good alien invasion flick is hard to come by these days. Aside from the kiddie movies from this year (“Monsters Vs. Aliens” and “Aliens in the Attic”), there hasn't been a good effort for a while to make a decent sci-fi movie for the adult demographic. Luckily, that just changed as District 9 opened in cinemas this weekend.

Directed by newcomer Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter “The Lord of the Rings” Jackson, the film centers on a fictional encounter in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1989. After a giant alien ship stalled over the city, humans cut open the ship and came into contact with an alien race, nicknamed “Prawns” because of their shellfish-like appearance. In a humanitarian effort, the Prawns are brought down onto Earth to give them food and shelter. However, after a crime wave, their presence isn't welcome and they are segregated into a slum, known as District 9.

Fast-forward twenty years to the present, where the ship is still hanging over the city and the people are still weary of the Prawns. Signs are everywhere, declaring certain areas of town forbidden for “non-humans”. However, the people of Johannesburg don't feel that is enough and demand for the Prawns to be relocated to a place out of town where they won't be able to bother the humans. They turn to private contracting group Multi-National United (MNU) to carry out the evictions.

Heading up this task is a well-meaning simpleton by the name of Wikus van der Merwe. During the eviction raids, Wikus comes in contact with a fluid that starts slowly turning him into a Prawn. Now wanted by MNU for research purposes, Wikus goes into hiding in the only place he knows they won't find him: District 9.

The complicated backstory of the film makes up about the first 45 minutes, which is presented as a documentary on the building of District 9 and the upcoming eviction. Instead of a having an omni-present camera showing everything firsthand, things are revealed through interviews with people involved in the incident as well as using news footage and feeds from surveillance cameras. With a plot as outlandish as this movie has, the documentary footage adds an air of reality to the whole film, making it more believable.

The most realistic and daring thing about the movie is that the story doesn't take any sides. Both the humans and the Prawns are shown to have their faults. During the eviction in the beginning of the movie, the agents of MNU are shown to be trigger-happy, and could care less about the welfare of the Prawns. Wikus even deliberately sets fire to a shack full of Prawn eggs, smiling the whole time. The Prawns are shown to have their faults as well, not entirely fitting in with the customs of Johannesburg, committing crimes, and spitting in the faces of MNU agents. While realistic, this dynamic made it hard to root for either side in the beginning.

As soon as Wikus escapes from MNU's labs, where they, due to his newly transformed Prawn arm, force him to test out the Prawns' weaponry on live targets, the documentary angle is dropped and the rest of the story is told almost solely from the point of view of Wikus. While not a professional actor, Sharlto Copley still gives a very believable, emotional performance as Wikus. By the middle of the movie, I felt ready to forgive him for the horrible atrocities he committed in the first act.

The further adventures of Wikus as he goes into hiding and befriends a Prawn named Christopher Johnson are captivating, and while the plot is pretty straightforward, there are still enough twists to make every new revelation in the film completely unexpected. The action sequences, especially the ones with Wikus using Prawn weaponry, are very well done, and unlike other action movies this summer, feel justified in the structure of the film. I personally liked the Prawn weaponry, especially the giant mech that Wikus pilots in the climax.

For a film with copious amounts of CG, the animation was top notch. The Prawns themselves were all incredibly believable, and the character of Christopher Johnson gave such a great performance, that I completely forgot at times that the Prawns were pure CG. Between the Prawns and Gollum from “Lord of the Rings”, I wonder when the Academy will start to recognize performances made by non-human CG characters.

The finale, while gladly defying the stereotypical Hollywood “happy ending”, still felt a little bit truncated, and some loose ends still hadn't been tied up. Instead, it leaves a glimmer of hope for the future of these characters, and leaves a glimmer of hope in me for a possible sequel in four or five years.

The Bottom Line: District 9 is one of the best films of the year, as well as one of the best science fiction flicks I've seen in a long while. The documentary style storytelling keeps it new and exciting, and there's enough action and exploding heads to satisfy any fan of the genre. I really look forward to whatever Neill Blomkamp decides to direct next.

Pros:
1.A cast of unknowns – By not having a big star attached to the film, the entire world feels more believable.
2.Documentary-style storytelling – It's something I haven't seen before in a science fiction movie, and it really helped me become immersed in the world of the film.
3.Breathtakingly good CG characters – There were times I forgot that the Prawns were entirely CG, a testament to the animators behind the movie.
4.Explosions, blood, and gunfights... with a reason – I love a good action sequence, and this one had plenty. However, the action served to further along the story instead of just merely being spectacle.

Cons:
1.Documentary style dumped – After about 45 minutes, the film switches to mostly conventional camera work, which is kinda disappointing.
2.Unlikeable characters – It took me a while to warm up to Wikus, especially since he was an asshole in the first act.
3.The ending – While not aiming for a Hollywood ending, it still felt like not everything was resolved. Here's hoping for a sequel!

Rating
Out of 5



WRITTEN BY: GrouchoMarx