“Adventureland” vs. “State of Play” - Which is Style & Which is Substance?

Agent 5150’s DVD reviews of the week feature a film about corporate & military corruption leaching into the highest levels of our government and a flick about college students working in dead-end summer jobs who like to smoke pot. Guess which one has more to say about life?

That’s right - “Adventureland” is your winner. A John Hughes-style romp with heart and brains to spare, “Adventureland” stars little-known Jesse Eisenberg as a Michael Cera clone (albeit with a bit more wit and good looks than Hollywood’s resident nerd of the moment) who needs to pick up some quick cash in order to move to New York and attend grad school at Columbia University back in 1987 when it was moderately affordable. With a college degree under his belt, he’s actually overqualified for most menial jobs (does that sound familiar in reference to today’s world or what?), so he stumbles into a gig working the midway at Adventureland, a Pittsburgh amusement park that’s run by a likeable but borderline psychotic couple (SNL’s Bill Hader & Kristen Wiig). Love enters the picture (as it always does in a movie like this) when Kristen Stewart appears, and the rest of the film is essentially an endearingly awkward mating dance. All the usual lessons from 80s teen flicks are present…don’t overanalyze the events of your life, don’t pass up the sure thing in love for the pipe dream, etc…but the movie comes off as anything but stale and recycled. 3 wistful Eddies…

On the other hand, “State of Play” is a fairly formulaic paranoid thriller based on the BBC miniseries of the same name. Given it boasts an Oscar-pedigreed cast featuring Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, and Ben Affleck, one would expect greatness…or at least something new and different. Instead, we get the typical ‘you can’t trust anyone’ spiel. The performances in “State of Play” aren’t really inspired, either; Crowe and Affleck are competent but unremarkable as a reporter and Congressman (respectively) while Mirren is much too abrasive as Crowe’s newspaper editor. Meanwhile, Robin Wright Penn and Rachel McAdams are stuck in two thankless female ‘sidekick’ roles - Wright Penn as the woman who puts a wedge between Crowe & Affleck, McAdams as the novice blogger who plays Gal Friday to Crowe’s Crusoe. I’ll reluctantly give “State of Play” a weak 2 ½ Eddies…

In the end, I guess I would much rather frolic in “Adventureland” than stumble around in “State of Play”…

Playing Catch Up!!!

Sorry for being incommunicado for so long, kids. Inspiration, that fickle muse, took a major siesta for a few weeks behind Agent 5150’s back; however, the mojo has returned so here are some entertainment nuggets that cover the last half of August 2009. The obvious starting point is the big news that broke yesterday…

1) Disney buys Marvel: Well, we all thought Wal-Mart would eventually take over the world, but it looks the Mouse House will have something to say about that before all is said and done. As a former comic book geek, I am deeply saddened by this news. You already need a sizeable loan to buy a handful of comic books each week (they currently average $3.99 an issue!), but Disney will surely figure out a way to extort more money out of the unwashed masses still living in their parents’ basement. Cynical? No, realistic…just look at how the price of admission to Disney’s theme parks has escalated over the last few decades. Outside of any major university, I defy you to find me a business entity with a higher year-to-year percentage increase in prices. Let’s just hope that Disney doesn’t castrate Marvel like they did ESPN…I mean, does Mickey really want to screw around with the guys to my right?

2) New Collective Soul: I’m still not sure if their latest effort is technically another self-titled affair (following the 1995 classic that featured “December” & “The World I Know”) or if it’s called “Rabbit”, but this new album simply rocks. Easily their best CD/MP3 since “Disciplined Breakdown”, “Rabbit” has but one misfire…the sappy, generic “You”; the remaining ten tracks range from blistering arena rock (“Welcome All Again”) to goofball party tunes (“Fuzzy”, “Lighten Up”) to tender personal disclosures (“Hymn For My Father”) to new-classic behemoths (“Dig”, “My Days”). Ed Roland and company are in top form here…like The Cars in the 70s and 80s, Collective Soul are underrated troubadours for the 90s and 00s who are never ‘hit-and-miss’ like their peers (sorry Pearl Jam fans, but “No Code” sucked and “Riot Act” wasn’t much better!). 3 ½ Eddies for “Rabbit”…

3) Quick Hit DVD Reviews: Agent 5150 has actually been able to catch a few flicks recently in between lawn mowing marathons and mass resume mailings. Let’s get up to speed, shall we?

“Push” is fun junk food for the brain, a decent ‘X-Men’ rip-off that’s actually just as good as the summer blockbuster “Wolverine”…2 ½ Eddies.

“Gran Torino” closes the book on Clint Eastwood’s ‘Dirty Harry’ persona like “Pale Rider” did for ‘The Man With No Name’. Yes, I know in both cases the main characters are technically different from the classic personalities they represent, but the similarities are just too striking to ignore. That being said, “Gran Torino” feels a bit manipulative on an emotional level, and Eastwood explores themes he’s already covered over and over and over again…3 Eddies.

“Killshot” stars Mickey Rourke and Diane Lane in an Elmore Leonard adaptation that surprisingly only saw a limited U.S. theatrical release earlier this year despite Rourke’s presence hot on the heels of “The Wrestler”. Maybe that’s because the flick is average at best - not much charm or humor in this crime drama…2 Eddies.

“Yes Man” once again shows that Jim Carrey is slightly ahead of Adam Sandler in the battle to claim the title of ‘Hollywood’s King of the Moderately Amusing Movie’. Very similar in tone to “Liar Liar”, “Yes Man” is a tolerable comedy with just enough sweetness to make it digestible…2 ½ Eddies.

“Horsemen” is a straight-to-DVD thriller starring Dennis Quaid that doesn’t try very hard to hide the fact that it’s a mirror image of “Seven”. Still, “Horsemen” manages to weave its disturbing little spell fairly well - Quaid plays haggard and obsessive with a nice edge, and the overwrought ending doesn’t sink things completely…2 ½ Eddies.

Finally, “I Love You, Man” is an overrated buddy comedy about grown men trying to find buddies. Paul Rudd is a bit too nerdy here; also, a little less gay innuendo and a little more nastiness in the script could have made “I Love You, Man” much, much better…2 ½ Eddies.

That’s it for now, people…wake me up when September ends. Just kidding…I’ll be back atcha in a week or so. And please forgive me for the lame but appropriate use of your song title, Green Day…

Now That I’ve Finally Seen “Slumdog Millionaire”...

Agent 5150 has a fantastic daughter, a month away from being 8 years old. While I get to experience the priceless moments of watching my child grow up, I don’t get to see movies in the theater too often any more (those of you out there with kids can easily relate, right?)...

In the end, the tradeoff is a no-brainer, but it’s especially easy to swallow in this day and age of stupid screenplays, ridiculous popcorn prices, and obnoxious cell phone users. However, one of the minor drawbacks I deal with every year is the fact that I never get to see the five (soon to be ten) ‘Best Picture’ Academy Award nominees until they come out on DVD in the late spring or early summer after the Oscars have already been handed out. You can peruse my previous blog posts and see my recent reviews for “The Reader”, “Frost/Nixon”, and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (I try my best to see all of the nominated flicks, but some just obviously aren’t my cup of tea & I won’t waste my time with them, integrity be damned…that’s why “Milk” isn’t included here). Since I finally chiseled some time out to see “Slumdog Millionaire” about a week ago, I feel as though I can FINALLY throw my two cents’ worth out there into the blogosphere with respect to the Academy’s 2008 selections...

First off, let’s look at “Slumdog Millionaire”...neither as great as critics would lead you to believe or as horrendous as its detractors would have you think, “Slumdog” is a typical Hollywood underdog romance, albeit set in India. We follow a street urchin named Jamal through all of his young life’s hardships as he plugs along on his quest to reunite with his one true love. There are laughs and tears, betrayals and tragic misunderstandings. Blah, blah, blah.

The conventional script doesn’t do the film any favors. The acting is adequate, but not great. Danny Boyle’s directing is subpar - a slo-mo, hyperkinetic, handheld camera mash-up. The terrible soundtrack grates on the nerves of anyone with decent musical taste. So why does Agent 5150 give “Slumdog Millionaire” a respectable rating of 2 ½ Eddies?

Quite simply, the one factor that makes “Slumdog” Oscar-worthy is the framing device used as both the film’s climax and a clever tool for disclosing the events of Jamal’s life. Jamal (at this point, played by Dev Patel) is on India’s version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” and as the nefarious host pushes him through question after question, the answers unfold as flashbacks to the formative moments of the ragamuffin’s early years. Brilliant stuff...almost makes up for the mediocrity that permeates the rest of the movie.

So, in retrospect, how does Agent 5150 look back at 2008’s Oscar choices for ‘Best Picture’? With grave disappointment. Of the four nominated films that I saw, none were true classics. “Slumdog Millionaire” & “Benjamin Button” were mildly ambitious but flawed. “The Reader” and “Frost/Nixon” were humdrum projects that pandered to typical Academy tastes (biographies, historical dramas, Holocaust tales). The impending expansion of the ‘Best Picture’ field from five to ten is a dark cloud of embarrassment hanging on the horizon for the Academy...if you can’t find five good flicks to nominate in any given year, how are you going to come up with ten?!?!

“Knowing” When A Movie Stinks...

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit too harsh on Nicolas Cage’s latest hit with that title, but “Knowing” is a flawed, schizophrenic flick that teases us with phenomenal special effects & freaky ‘end of days’ logic but ultimately fails due to a pathetic sideshow featuring cheesy otherworldly forces...

“Knowing” is essentially a misguided cross between “The DaVinci Code” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Cage stars as an MIT professor who comes across a 50-year-old list of numbers in a time capsule. Since he’s obviously a super-smart dude, he cracks the numeric puzzle in an alcohol-induced haze & realizes he’s stumbled upon a detailed prophecy for the end of the world (and a few other catastrophes that will occur in the meantime). Of course, in the grand tradition of disaster flicks, nobody believes him, so he’s stuck trying to figure out a way to save the world all by himself...

Director Alex Proyas does a superb job visually with the catastrophes wedged into the screenplay - I’m not sure but my mouth may have actually been hanging open in awe at his two showcase scenes of destruction. However, the last twenty minutes are a supreme letdown, a copout that should embarrass the screenwriters totally & completely. No spoilers here, but suffice it to say that “Knowing” has one of the dumbest endings ever in the history of major motion pictures. If omnipotent celestial beings judged us on the climax of this flick, we’d be doomed...

In summation, “Knowing” could have been a creepy jaunt in the tradition of M. Night Shyamalan’s first few flicks; instead, we get yet another example of Hollywood’s insistence on shying away from intelligent scripts in favor of the easy out...a weak 2 ½ Eddies for “Knowing”...

The Knack – Most Underrated Band of All Time???

I happened to stumble across a couple of ‘instant watch’ gems on Netflix a few nights ago – a 2004 documentary feature and a (debatably) live 2001 concert video, both featuring The Knack. After inundating myself for two and a half hours with the music and myth of Doug Fieger & company, I remembered how much I loved their songs and how utterly abused they were in their heyday back in the late 70s & early 80s...

Everyone has a band or two, or a singer, who they consider their ‘secret’...not necessarily an obscure act, but a performer or group who hang around on the fringes of success, never quite becoming blockbuster icons. For Agent 5150, those acts include Living Colour (look beyond “Cult of Personality”, my friends), Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, Zebra, and The Rainmakers. However, the one ‘guilty pleasure’ group whose half-dozen studio CDs I always seem to turn to escape the same old, same old (yes, I admit it...there’s only so much “Panama” I can take!!!) are The Knack...

Laugh if you will, Frickers (and you know who you are), but the fact is The Knack were much, much more than a Beatles knock-off. “Get The Knack”, their mega-selling debut, may be one of the best albums of the rock era…period. From beginning to end, one infectious song after the next, the disc gets in your head and never leaves. Sure, “My Sharona” may be widely acknowledged as one of the greatest songs of all time by fans and haters alike, but little known gems like “Siamese Twins (The Monkey And Me)”, “Frustrated”, “Your Number Or Your Name”, and “(She’s So) Selfish” are far better than most of the ‘hits’ on your iPod today. Even the follow-ups that ultimately doomed the band in its first go-round, “...but the little girls understand” and “Round Trip”, are solid. When The Knack launched a comeback with three more albums (“Serious Fun”, “Zoom”, “Normal As The Next Guy”) from 1991 to 2001, the public was indifferent (with the exception of the minor hit “Rocket O’Love”) but the music was still excellent...

Hard to believe, but time has been harder on the band than the critics were. Original drummer Bruce Gary died in 2006, and singer & primary songwriter Doug Fieger has been battling cancer for years. The most important thing is Doug’s health, but I have to admit that it saddens me that we’ll probably never hear from The Knack again beyond the occasional nostalgia gig. With that in mind, let’s cherish the music they gave us, pompous critics be damned. Go ahead, crank up “My Sharona” but don’t forget to groove on “That’s What The Little Girls Do”, “The Hard Way”, “Africa”, “Lil’ Cals Big Mistake”, “Won’t Let Go/Aces & Eights”, and “Pop Is Dead” as well...

It’s never too late to “Get The Knack”, kids!!!

With 10 ‘Best Picture’ Slots Now Available, Why Not “Fanboys”???

Okay, okay…I acknowledge that I’m REALLY stretching common sense to its limits with my latest blog entry’s title. However, what better way to expose the flaws in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ recent decision to expand the ‘Best Picture’ field for the Academy Awards from five films to ten by comparing a prestigious nominated film from last year with a lowbrow comedy that bombed at the box office earlier this year? Are ya feelin’ me?

Yes, Agent 5150 saw two movies this past week - “The Reader” and “Fanboys”. And I will tell you right up front that I give both movies 2 ½ Eddies. My point…if a somber drama that the Weinsteins pushed into the last Oscar race is on a par quality-wise with a flick about goofy “Star Wars” fans (ironically, also distributed by the Weinsteins), what foolish decisions await us early next year when the Academy’s best goes ‘Top Ten’?

On to the reviews, hmmm? “The Reader” starts off on an extremely creepy note – Kate Winslet seduces a fifteen-year-old boy. Winslet has always been considered brave by Hollywood for her willingness to appear naked on screen, but the context here turns her nudity into something distasteful. Once the disturbing premise plays out, the movie settles into a low-key, somewhat effective legal thriller-lite with some unrequited love thrown in for good measure. Worth watching once? Sure. One of the five best films of 2008? Not hardly.

As for “Fanboys”, I find it mindboggling that a movie with this many comedy stars fell flat on its face. Jay Baruchel, Dan Fogler, and Kristen Bell on a road trip to sneak an advance peek at “Episode One”? Seth Rogen playing three different roles? Cameos up the ying-yang? Less than $1 million at the box office?!?!

I have no idea what happened behind the scenes to botch the release of “Fanboys”, but the movie itself is a fairly amusing lark with some classic lines that deserved a better fate. In fact, let’s rectify the situation and start the campaign for “Fanboys” for Best Picture immediately! After all, if early returns point to J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” getting an Oscar nod, what better smackdown could we hope for at the Academy Awards than the Trekkers/Trekkies calling Han Solo a bitch on the red carpet at the Kodak Theatre?!?!

The Greatest (Fictional) American Hero

Agent 5150 has always had an obsession with heroes. Maybe it’s because my moral code hasn’t always been as perfect as I would have liked it to be. Maybe it’s because I too often look at the negative in life yet always hope for the best with the start of every new day. Maybe it’s because I haven’t helped everybody I could, every possible time I could. Maybe it’s because to settle for being the flawed human being I am seems somehow disingenuous...

Anyway, enough psychobabble. I got to thinking about what would constitute my idea of a perfect hero (we’ll stick with fictional characters for this debate; real-life heroes are too few & far between, and too precious to even consider debasing with this silly exercise). If I look back through all the movies, novels, and television shows I’ve digested over my many years, which qualities from which characters would I combine to create Agent 5150’s ultimate heroic icon? Let’s take a look at the top ten (in no particular order), shall we?

1) The laconic cool of Clint Eastwood’s ‘Man with No Name’ and ‘Dirty Harry’. Never a doubt. No distractions. Never needs anyone...ever. No friends, no women, nobody. The ultimate representation of independence. How can you go wrong when you have that much faith in yourself?

2) The world-weary optimism of Dave Robicheaux. Battled the bottle and the dark underbelly of New Orleans but still believes in love and friendship. Enough said.

3) The self-assured fragility of Sonny Crockett. Confident enough to seduce any woman, but sensitive enough to bow out of the picture if he feels his baggage is too great a burden for her to handle.

4) The ability to change exhibited by Jimmy McNulty (we'll pretend Season Five never happened). From boozer to family man in roughly one season of “The Wire”, he experienced the hypothetical ‘moment of clarity’ that all men deep down inside hope to face at some point in their lives.

5) The strength to stay the course at all costs shown by Patrick Kenzie (especially in “Gone Baby Gone”). Kenzie gave up the love of his life because he couldn’t reconcile one crucial moral decision with her. Would you take that kind of an emotional hit to stick to your guns?

6) The capacity to help people even when every fiber of your being screams against it for fear of being hurt as shown by Lew Fonesca. His wife was killed by a drunk driver. Fonesca actually took the drunk driver in over the span of a few books until they reached a level of forgiveness that worked well for both of them. Would you be strong enough to do that?

7) The analytical focus of Alex Delaware (and Nero Wolfe, as well). All business, all the time. Well, maybe a little nookie and fine cuisine thrown in for good measure...

8) The perfect balance of smart-ass and dead-serious problem solver, as demonstrated by Elvis Cole. Cole hasn’t exactly matured or evolved over the years…life has just had its way with him. He’s a little more bitter than he was when we first met him, but he can still sling a wicked sarcastic barb when needed...

9) The Hemingway-esque view of life demonstrated by Travis McGee. Beds a ton of women, always waxes philosophical about evil and love and man’s inhumanity to man. Kicks ass, beds more women. He gets it.

10) The clear chivalric code of Spenser. Will kill when needed, will make a deal with the devil if it leads to a net positive in the end...

If some of these names aren’t familiar to you, Google ‘em. Or better yet, go to Amazon.com or Best Buy (or your local library, if you’re pinching pennies like most of us) and get a copy of the book or DVD. Feel free to send me your suggestions, ideas, or arguments for or against any of my picks...

After all, our heroes are as unique as we are, right?