Rodrigo y Gabriela

Music pick of the day

Rodrigo y Gabriela on Letterman - This duo sounds great and watching them perform is mindboggling

Movie 167: Duplicity

Duplicity (2009) by Tony Gilroy
starring Clive Owen and Julia Roberts

In a nutshell: Fun and somewhat unpredictable. Slickly made - equal parts Ocean's 12 and Michael Clayton - but probably won't end up sticking with me very long. Nothing terribly original except the corporate espionage setting.

Quick synopsis: Ray (Owen) and Claire (Roberts) are entangled in a high-stakes game of corporate espionage.



Content: Duplicity caught my attention right away. It is director Tony Gilroy's 2nd movie after Michael Clayton which I liked more than a little. So I was very interested to see what he'd do with a slightly less serious movie. Sure the stakes are high, but unlike Michael Clayton, no one is ever really in danger. The devious CEO's of the two battling companies are obsessed, but are also not the type to start ordering hits. Gilroy hilariously establishes this fact during the opening credits with a slow motion fist fight between the two. Except, let's just say it wasn't Ali/Frazier. Flailing swings and awkward bear hugs result in almost no damage being done until Tom Wilkinson lets an errant fist fly into the pavement.

The movie is slickly made. It is the kind of movie that confuses you for the first hour because it is supposed to, but does a good job of slowly revealing the truth about what is going on. It's pretty much a solid B/B+ all-around, but never reaches that next level that would make it stick with you. The world of corporate espionage is one that I was not terribly familiar with, so that aspect is cool. The twists and turns, while hard to see coming, aren't that earth-shattering.

Clive and Julia are solid and the main problem with them is in the writing. Professionally, their characters are well-put together and leave nothing to chance, but in their dealings with each other are very haphazard and leave themselves open to getting screwed in ways they never would as spies. It's inconsistent.

Duplicity is definitely worth watching. Expect to enjoy it without being blown away.

Rolling rankings:
1. Do The Right Thing (#162)

2. Duplicity (#167)

3. Battle Royale (#165)

4. Into the Wild (#166)

5. Doubt (#160)

6. Interview With The Vampire (#163)

7. I Love You, Man (#164)

8. The Happening (#161)

9. Fever Pitch (#158)

10. Fanboys (#159)

A New Low For ESPN

2 orders of business today -

1 - YouTube music picks!

My Morning Jacket - Highly Suspicious

A little different than their normal southern rock-tinged sound, but it still kinda rocks. Sweet guitar work.

The Shins - Phantom Limb

Spoon - The Underdog

2 - A new bone to pick with ESPN

I understand they have 24 hours of programming to fill on at least 5 stations (ESPN, ESPN2, Classic, U, ESPNNews), but have some self-respect. I was listening to one of my favorite sports shows Around The Horn (which is available in podcast form for those of us w/ commutes) when Tony Reali broke out this gem of a question for the panelists (I am paraphrasing): If the Lakers don't defend their title this year, will it have been Ron Artest's fault?

So let me get this straight...In order to find something new to argue about, ESPN has resorted to making up imaginary circumstances and then handing out fault? Seriously?

Trailer Madness

So...no movies for a while. And I won't be watching any until at least next weekend either. That is, unless I finally make it to a theater for Inglourious Basterds.

Instead, here's something I've been telling people about for months. Now that it's getting close, I'm getting really excited.

This was one of my favorite books in elementary school. I haven't even

flipped through it since then, so I don't quite remember the story. As

with Horton Hears a Who! and similar movies based on children's books,

the greatest challenge is taking a ~20 page book with about one

sentence per page and turning it into a feature length movie. We won't

know whether Spike Jonze succeeded or not until we see it, but DAMN,

did he do an amazing job with everything else. The wild things look

absolutely amazing and just like in the book. I'm glad he limited

the amount of CG used and went with some old school costumes and

animatronics. The scenery looks incredibly cool and, as if he was

making the trailer specifically for me, he threw in one of my favorite

songs. A tip for any trailer makers out there - much like the music from

Requiem For a Dream, Arcade Fire will make ANY movie seem better

than it is actually going to be. And of course Wake Up is a perfect choice

based on the lyrics. Throw on top of all that the hand-drawn text and the

messages that say "inside us all is..." Whoever put this together

deserves a raise because it is a perfect marketing campaign. Hopefully

it will be a perfect movie as well. I don't know what to think about the

stories about Spike fighting with the studio about his vision, but it sure

looks like he won because this cannot be what the studios wanted out

of him. But it's EXACTLY what I wanted.

In other new, another one of my favorite books from my childhood,

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, was also made into a movie that

is supposed to be good (although that one looks like it will appeal far

less to adults). Can't win 'em all, but I'm just glad I am getting validation

of my taste when I was in 2nd grade.

Trying to think back to my other favorite books - let's see what's been

done with them:

• Jumanji - movie is ok, although it wasn't stylized at all. The atmosphere of the book was nowhere to be found.
• The Polar Express - never saw the movie - have no intention to
• Where's Waldo - eventually a movie will be made
• Strega Nona - Not sure anyone else ever read this one
• The Giving Tree - Would make a great short, probably not a feature
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Is it weird that I liked that?
• Tikki Tikki Tembo - Would probably be annoying

That's all I can think of right now.

Now with Music!

This morning I was feeling nostalgic about the "top 5 song recommendations" that I used to post in my AIM profiles in college (which may be the last time I acutally signed onto AIM), when something occured to me...I'm an idiot. Why haven't I brought them back in the blog? It's never too late to start.

So welcome to my enhanced music picks, thanks to the magic of YouTube.

I'll throw a few out there today to make up for all those missed weeks:

Pearl Jam - The Fixer (BRAND NEW! - audio only)

An awesome new Pearl Jam song. They will never top their first three albums, but they are showing no signs of slowing down.

Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye

The Hold Steady - Lord, I'm Discouraged (audio only)

Saw these guys in concert. Pretty good. Check out the Slash-esque killer guitar solo in this power ballad.

enjoy! give feedback!

Movie 166: Into the Wild

Into the Wild (2007) by Sean Penn

starring Emile Hirsch

In a nutshell: A very long and tragic tale, but one filled with beautiful scenery and a riveting journey. Slow, at times, but a solid movie.

Quick synopsis: Christopher McCandless, a recent college grad who is dangerously ideological, takes an epic journey to separate himself from society but is ultimately undone by his boldness and disregard for preparation.

Content:

Rolling rankings:

1. Do The Right Thing (#162)

2. The Hangover (#157)

3. Battle Royale (#165)

4. Into the Wild (#166)

5. Doubt (#160)

6. Interview With The Vampire (#163)

7. I Love You, Man (#164)

8. The Happening (#161)

9. Fever Pitch (#158)

10. Fanboys (#159)

Movie 165: Battle Royale

Battle Royale (2000) by Kinji Fukasaku

starring Tatsuya Fujiwara and Aki Maeda

In a nutshell: Gratuitous violence and a slightly confusing background story are held together by haunting characters and a fast-paced thrill ride to the end of the countdown.

Quick synopsis: In the near future, Japan has collapsed and children are chosen at random to participate in a macabre game where they are placed on an island and pitted against each other in a game of kill-or-be-killed. Last man standing gets to go home.

Content:

Rolling rankings:

1. Good Will Hunting (#156)

2. Do The Right Thing (#162)

3. The Hangover (#157)

4. Battle Royale (#165)

5. Doubt (#160)

6. Interview With The Vampire (#163)

7. I Love You, Man (#164)

8. The Happening (#161)

9. Fever Pitch (#158)

10. Fanboys (#159)