Now Available on DVD: Adam and Amelia

In the past couple of weeks, there has been a flood of movies that have been released on DVD. I have to admit that this is one of my favorite months of the year when all of the movies that I wouldn't pay $10.50 for, come out on DVD and I only have to spring for $5! Sadly, I should not have even spent the $5 on some of these films.

I was excited about Adam because I thought that it would be a new take on the old formulaic plot of boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Nope. Same formula, different characters. Adam, the main character, has Asperger's Syndrome which causes him to make inappropriate statements and seem self-absorbed. When a woman named Beth moves into the apartment below his, she is suddenly taken with his awkwardness and finds his quirks endearing. The couple go through their ups and downs, as most romantic comedy couples do, until their relationship breaks due to scandal in Beth's family and Adam's inability to be supportive. Though the interactions between Beth and Adam can be adorable at times, they do not seem to have the spark that I had hoped for. In addition, the ending did not seem to fit with the development of the characters which left me feeling dissatisfied. I would have to say that the saving point of the movie is Peter Gallagher who plays Beth's aristocratic (and shady) father. Yet, when a movie's saving grace is Peter Gallagher...you have to be suspicious. Overall, it was a dud.

Next on my queue was Amelia with Academy Award Winner Hilary Swank and Richard Gere. If there is a movie that could be worse than Adam...this is it! Though no one should be surprised because any movie that has Richard Gere is bound to make you want to cringe. Being that most people are familiar with Amelia Earhart's story, the director decided to put the plot in a blender and shoot the audience through time. This would not have been so frustrating if the scenes were longer than a couple of minutes (which they were not!). Just as the audience felt that they were settling into a scene, the director would not only change to another but would switch to a completely different decade. Sadly, there was very little background into Amelia's childhood or upbringing which made her gusto and bravado seem unwarranted. However, Hilary Swank did an incredible job playing the part. I have to say that had the movie been a one woman show of Hilary Swank playing Amelia, I would have wept with joy! She really nailed the persona and was able to show the multiple sides of Amelia's personality. Still, the director chose to focus more on the romance between Amelia and her husband which was dull not to mention that Swank and Gere have no chemistry. The movie could have been slightly improved if the director had merely decided to run the plot chronologically instead of chopped up which left the viewers saying "wait...is this the flight where she dies? wait....was that the flight where she dies?". Overall, a dud.

-DLP

Movie Review: 500 Days of Summer

I have to say, I found this movie to be a bit of a snooze-fest. I struggled to stay awake during the film, which jumped through time, yet beleagued the pace of story-telling. I could have left the room for half an hour, let the movie run and not have missed any of the plot. Joseph Gordon-Levitt resembled the wooden acting technique of Keanu Reeves and lacked all the charm he displayed in the late 90's film, 10 Things I Hate About You (maybe because I was 13 I thought he was charming). For a non-traditional love story, 500 Days of Summer was traditionally boring - unlikeable characters and no action. Stories without action can be compelling, but this was not one of them.

 

- KER

Just for fun: The Fourth Bear

In both the Thursday Next series and Nursery Crimes, Jasper Fforde creates a complex, alternate version of the UK in which there are literary detectives. The brilliance of Fforde's creativity lies in the ability to reference and connect obscure tales, poems and characters. The Thursday Next books are a lengthier series with many complex subplots, but the Nursery Crime books are pure joy. The most recent addition, The Fourth Bear finds Jack Spratt and his cohorts investigating a missing woman named Goldilocks and a chasing the psychopathic serial killer - The Gingerbreadman. I loved the first Nursery Crime, The Big Over Easy until the final moments when Fforde drew together all the references and nuances of his plot into a convoluted scheme to gain world power, which was somehow connected to the genetic re-engineering of Humpty-Dumpty. (spoiler alert: Humpty neither fell off the wall or fell victim to a malicious push - he hatched) Unfortunately, overly complicated conclusions seem to be part of Fforde's formula for the Nursery Crimes. Throughout The Fourth Bear I was delighted by the clever references and connections, impressed by the quick pace and remained interested in the politics of the police force's lack of respect for the Nursery Crime Division. And then there were 50 pages left and things started to unravel. Again, Fforde locked up the story with a world domination plot underlying all the prior twists and turns. In a way it seems like Fforde puts all these great ideas - a fourth bear! the gingerbreadman as the serial killer! goldilocks as a hard hitting investigative journalist uncovering the secret to cuclear energy! bears addicted to porridge! - and then can't figure out how to cleanly tie it all together. However, the demise of The Gingerbreadman is sure to thrill any reader and eek out a few chuckles, as is Jack's next door neighbor's - Punch and Judy. While the ending leaves something to be desire, Fforde's Nursery Crimes are a fun read with loads of silly literary references to keep everyone smiling.

- KER

Book Review: Eating the Dinosaur

This year I decided that I would make a resolution to read more essays because it is a genre in which I am completely lacking. It is for this reason that I picked up Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman. I had read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs when it was first published and found it rather lacking. While many reviewers found his essays to be insightful and hilarious, I found them to be littered with swears and tangential to his established thesis. Therefore, it was with great trepidation that I started this book but once I did I could not put it down! I suddenly discovered everything that reviewers had written years ago.

Basically, Klosterman has written Freakonomics for pop culture. He tackles football, basketball, Kurt Cobain, Weezer, Ralph Nader, and Don Draper all in hardcover. Perhaps the greatest testament to his book is that since reading his essays I have rethought my dislike for Kurt Cobain and all things Nirvana. On my top ten list of pop icons that I host a strong aversion to, Steven Speilberg tops off the list but Kurt Cobain comes in as a close second. However, Klosterman has made me feel compassion and understanding for Cobain. Though I still hate his music and find his fans to be some of the most obnoxious people since Jaws fans, I can now appreciate what he did for music and his role in the 1990s.

Only Klosterman can do this! He has the ability to take pop culture icons and intellectualize them which allows people who feel alienated from their generation (such as myself) to think twice about casting aside Brangelina and The Hills as insipid and unworthy of attention. It is with the perfect mixture of insight, cynicism, sarcasm, and humor that makes Klosterman one of the greatest essayists of our time.

-DLP

Book Review: Persepolis II

After reading the first Persepolis, I could not help but read the second. I wanted more about Marj and her family and the sequel gave me just that. In this book, we meet up with Marj in Austria where she has been sent by her parents in order to keep her safe and away from Iran. She is supposed to be living with a family friend and attending school. However, the family friend cannot afford to keep Marj in their small apartment and so she is sent to a convent. Her independence and rebellious spirit eventually forces her to leave and find residence in an apartment which also ends poorly. She falls in love but is betrayed which causes her to turn to drugs and life on the streets. Eventually, she returns to Iran where she finally feels at home but even those warm feelings do not last in the post-war Iran.

While the first Persepolis is about Marj’s developing identity as an Iranian during the revolution, this installment centers on Marj’s personal growth and the friction it causes with her Iranian background. She must endure extremely painful relationships in order to find a way to love herself and her homeland though both are broken (and at times seem to be beyond repair). Though Marj's travels take her across Europe and back to Iran, any reader can relate to her self-discovery and the struggles that she faces with herself and her country.

-DLP

Graphic Challenge: Persepolis

 For my second graphic novel, I decided to read Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I have read all of her other works but have always shied away from her most famous book. I thought that it received a great deal of hype and therefore steered clear. After reading all of her other works, I decided not to read Persepolis because I did not want to be let down. Yet, this challenge has inspired me to pick up this graphic novel and I am thrilled that I finally faced my own fears.

After rave reviews, a blockbuster movie, and a sequel there is very little that can be said about Persepolis that hasn’t already been stated. Still, I must join the cacophony of voices who have given this graphic memoir glowing reviews. As many already know, the story is about Marj (the author) who is a young girl living in Iran when the revolution begins. Her family is liberal and made up of very revolutionary thinkers, which puts them in great danger. As a ten year old, Marj watches as various members of her family are imprisoned and others are executed for their beliefs. Due to her young age, Marj gets caught up in the revolutionary sentiments that are all around her. However, she is unaware of the hazards of resisting authority and attending demonstrations that counter the government. Though her parents cultivate her passion and independence, they know that they cannot keep her safe in their homeland.

At times this memoir is troubling and frightening, yet it always remains tender and thoughtful. Despite the fact that this book is about war and oppression, it is not violent and none of the illustrations are explicit. The importance of family and close friends are lessons that readers of any age can enjoy and learn from. Perhaps the best aspect of this novel is that the reader does not need to have any knowledge of the Iranian revolution in order to understand the plot. It is also important to note that it is not your typical clichéd “coming of age” tale in which a young adult goes through a sexual awakening and suddenly sees his/her parents as real people and therefore is released from childhood. Instead, this is a true tale of maturation in which the main character finds herself and her own voice despite the rampant oppression around her. She grows up not because she finds love and has her heart broken but because she learns the true importance of family and freedom.

-DLP

Graphic Challenge: In the Shadow of No Towers

I decided to kick off my graphic novel challenge with Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers. As author of Maus, I had very high expectations for this graphic novel that focuses on September 11th. I was not disappointed. Once again, Spiegelman has created a graphic novel that is heartbreaking and poignant while still having aspects of humor. I would not say that his style is humorous but there are elements of dark humor that make the reader chuckle at his irony.

It is in an oversize format in which the book opens vertically like a newspaper. This adds to Spiegelman's design of having each page look like the front page of a newspaper. Half of the graphic novel is formatted in this way while the other half consists of plates from 1903-1921. Though the main story is only told in about twenty pages, it is filled with such passion and insight that it could easily fill an entire 400 page novel.

There is no true "plot" in this graphic novel but instead centers around Spiegelman's own experience on 9/11 and his reflections on the event years later. Clearly, Spiegelman suffers from post-traumatic stress due to the event and the extremely emotional situations that his family was put through. Though the content is heavy, he pokes fun at the government and the onslaught of patriotism that the event caused.

Written between 2002 and 2004, this graphic novel is a reflection on that day and the horrific days that followed. At times, In the Shadow of No Towers feels like Spiegelman’s personal project that he created in order to help with his own neurosis and come to terms with his own experiences. Yet this is not detrimental to the story and at no time does the reader feel as if Spiegelman pities himself. In fact, many of his observations about himself are pretty universal to anyone who lived through that day and the emotional/political whiplash that followed.

Before reading this book, I had not read a single book (fiction or non) that even remotely touched upon 9/11. I felt that it still hangs over us and that it was too soon for any movie or book to be written. It took me a couple of weeks before I was even willing to pick up this book but I really respected Spiegelman's treatment of the Holocaust in Maus and therefore thought that I would give it a try. I am so glad that I did because his perspective and opinions matched my own. I do not know if this book is for everyone because Spiegelman certainly is outspoken about his views. For those who are willing to give it a shot, it has the potential to be extremely therapeutic.

-DLP