A tribute

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Review of “The Art of Getting By”

Source: en.wikipedia.org

While on vacation, I caught a delightful movie on HBO that I did not recall ever seeing advertised for showings in the theater.  The film is entitled The Art of Getting By and stars Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Emma Roberts (niece of Julia Roberts), Alicia Silverstone, Rita Wilson, and Blair Underwood.

The movie is about a gifted art student (Freddie Highmore) more or less coasting his way through high school until graduation approaches and he may not receive a diploma. This storyline intertwines with his budding relationship with Emma Roberts’ character. It is very well done and I enjoyed the movie. Also, the soundtrack is simply superb for this film with terrific alternative and indie rock tunes artfully blended into the score.

 

Hence the question, why no release in theaters? Best I could determine by reading between the lines on IMDb is some of the critics were not particularly kind to the film when it was release at the Sundance Film Festival. They praise Mr. Highmore’s and Ms. Robert’s performances, but otherwise were rather tepid.

As a result the film went directly HBO and similar outlets. Granted, I discovered the film there, but I think it would have been even a more impressive movie in a theater. Sadly, the critics’ response to the film and Fox Searchlight’s response to the criticism narrowed the public’s choices versus broadening it.  Once again…money talks.

Is The Art of Getting By perfect? Of course not. Is it deserving of a general release – absolutely. I think a lot of people would like it, warts and all. If you, get a chance, check it out on HBO or rent the film – it is certainly well worth the  time and cost.

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Cool artistic Cali theaters

Here are photos of two historic theaters in located in the Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Sacramento in the lovely communities of Grass Valley and Nevada City.

Amazing art deco Del Oro Theater in Grass Valley

Another view of the Del Oro

Nevada Theater in Nevada City, CA

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Wasting away in mind-pollutionville

I detest infomercials and cannot think of any less imaginative way to run a television station than to air mindless infomercials. Here in Greater Lansing they seem to be the programming du jour when stations have nothing better to do or are too lazy to be imaginative. Long gone are the golden days of television where local entertainment programming greeted you in the morning, filled the lunch hour, and welcomed you home in the evening.

I understand there is little cost and lots of profit built into broadcasting infomercials, but they seem to be yet another example of the dumbing down and wasting away of society in general and entertainment in particular. If signs personify visual pollution, then these “shows” and I use that word loosely, are simply mind pollution of the airwaves.

Why not create original programming, play reruns, show cartoons, or how about educational programming? My bet is more than one station manager has claimed infomercials to be education – for numbed minds, perhaps.

Someday, somewhere, some enterprising person is gonna fill the vast void of dumbness with something unique and fun. When they do, they are going to do very, very well. Let’s all hope our minds can still function at that point.

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Spider-man is truly amazing

Source: gamezone.com

I saw The Amazing Spider-man last night and thought it was a very enjoyable and entertaining movie. In fact, I liked it better than the initial version with Tobey Maguire.

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were perfectly cast as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy and literally heat up the screen whenever they were together. I particularly liked how he would appear at her window 20 stories up and especially liked how he revealed his superhero persona to her. The music was nearly spot-on by James Horner. Best of all were the supporting roles played by Denis Leary, Sally Field, and Martin Sheen. All three were excellent additions to  the movie, who added more depth to the story.

Source: guardian.co.uk

Personally, I really liked the movie and highly recommend it, even though I went in with some trepidation. I found Andrew Garfield to be far more convincing as Spider-man than Tobey Maguire, as he seemed to reflect a more realistic attitude of a teenager suddenly endowed with super powers. Congrats to all involved in making the motion picture.

Fyi: stay through the first part of the credits, there is a little surprise preview.

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The heart of “Brave”

Saw the newest Pixar movie, Brave yesterday afternoon in a theater stuffed to the rafters. While not my favorite Pixar movie of all time, it ranks up there with the best. An excellent film full of howling laughs, edge of your seat action, drama, lovely animated scenery that made me feel I was back in Scotland, and an important moral to the story -

“you must be brave enough to follow your fate.”

The best and most important aspect of the film was the two strong central characters were both women. Both Merida and her mother, the Queen are excellent characters who carry the storyline on their own. They are the heart and soul of the picture.

Most of the men in the movie are rather comical, except Merida’s father. One the three suitors for Merida even vaguely resembled a Middle Ages’ Napoleon Dynamite.

All in all, an enjoyable film that was worth every penny. One caution, small children may get frightened by some of the battle scenes, so use good judgment. Lastly, it is very nice to see Pixar back at the top of its game. Kudos on a terrific film.

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Obsolete watch – things about to disappear

Here’s my initial list of things that will largely disappear in the next decade. Sure, you can still find buggy whips in certain places, but they don’t permeate the market like they did 100 years ago.

• Wristwatches – who needs them when everyone carries a cell phone?
• Alarm clocks – ditto
• Video rental stores – Can you say, “bye-bye Blockbuster?”
• Film – remember Fotomat’s? Forget largely any kind of film for photography and the equipment that goes with it.
• CDs – the music and data storage disks, not the investment option. Not sure if I am thrilled about his one. Seems like every time I get all my crap transferred onto a new storage medium it goes out of date. Everything’s going digital or to the cloud, wherever the heck that is?
• Chain bookstores – personally, I am sad about this one. Love wandering through a good bookstore. Used and niche bookstores will remain, but the chains are being replaced by electronic options.
• College bookstores – same reason, but I won’t miss the price ripoffs, especially on returns.
• Daily newspapers - neighborhood-oriented and specialty ones may remain, as well as national publications like the New York Times, but most small to mid-sized cities will have none.
• SUVs – the sooner the better for these gas hogs.
• Schedule planners and non-photographic calendars – who needs them in our electronic world?
• Dial-up internet – sorry AOL hanger’s on, time to join the 21st century.
• Phone books – despite how many they pile up at your doorstep.
• Land lines for homes. Haven’t had one for a year myself. Still may be necessary for work.
• Keys – with electronic door locks, keys may all but disappear for many uses. This prediction will not be true for Florida where they have many lovely keys dotting its coastline. : )
• Key chains – ditto.

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Two celebrity cafes

For fun, here are photos of two coffee shops/cafes in the United Kingdom that have a certain amount of celebrity status associated with them. The first is the Beatles Coffee Shop in London. If you take the excellent and interesting two-hour Beatles Walking Tour, this is where your trip concludes.

The second is the Elephant House Tea and Coffee Shop in Edinburgh, Scotland where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter. It has excellent food and an outstanding view of the Edinburgh Castle. Be sure to see the table where Ms. Rowling sat and wrote the books as she looked out over this lovely city. Definitely worth a stop to visit.

Source: flickr.com

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TV by the numbers in the U.S. and Canada

Just for fun, here is my list of television shows that include some sort of numerical value in their name, with a little help from Sporcle.

• Once Upon a Time
• One Day at a Time
• One Tree Hill
• One Versus 100  (two numbers)
• 1-800-Missing (two numbers, Canada)
• Stargate SG-1
• Jacob Two-Two (Canada)
• Twin Peaks
• Two Broke Girls
• Two and a Half Men
• Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place
• G2G (Canada)
• Third Rock from the Sun
• Three’s Company
• My Three Sons
• Numb3rs
• The Fifth Estate (Canada)
• Babylon 5
• Party of Five
• 7th Heaven
• Eight is Enough
• Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter
• 9B (Canada)
• Deep Space 9
• Adam 12
• 6Teen (Canada)
• 16:9 (Canada)
• 18 to Life (Canada)
• 20/20
• 21 Jump Street
• This Hour Has 22 Minutes (Canada)
• 24
• 30 Rock
• 48 Hours
• Train 48 (Canada)
• Hawaii Five-0
• Car 54 Where Are You?
• 60 Minutes
• North of 60 (Canada)
• Studio 60 on Sunset Strip
• That 70s Show
• 72 Hours (Canada)
• 77 Sunset Strip
• 90 Minutes Live (Canada)
• 100 Huntley Street (Canada)
• Detroit 1-8-7
• Room 222
• Reno 911
• Mystery Science Theater 3000
• The 4400
• $25,000 Pyramid
• $64,000 Question
• Beverly Hills 90210
• $100,000 Pyramid
• Who Wants to be a Millionaire

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Dialing in Radiohead live

I attended a Radiohead concert last night at the Palace of Auburn Hills outside of Detroit. The opening act was Caribou and from what I saw (the last ten minutes due to traffic) they were very good.

Radiohead hit the stage at 8:30 pm and proceeded to put on a terrific and inspired 2.5 hour performance in all regards except for one – the lack of playing some of their most famous and popular tunes.

While I enjoyed the show and thought Radiohead’s on-stage performance was great, I was left wanting to hear “Creep,” “My Iron Lung,” “High and Dry,” and “Fake Plastic Trees.”  That is one of the inherent risks with attending a long-term supergroup’s concert. You want to hear the recognizable hits and the band wants to play their new and favorite stuff too.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some classics included on the playlist such as “There There” (my personal favorite) and “Karma Police,” but of the 25 song set, the majority were either songs from more recent releases or a few newly written compositions.

Aside from the playlist, the entire band was in top-notch performance mode last night and Thom Yorke is simply an incredible stage presence. In addition, the light and video show during the concert was the best I have seen aside from U2′s 360 Tour.

If you have an opportunity to see Radiohead, definitely make the effort, but especially if you are a die-hard fan and are familiar with the band’s entire discography.

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