Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 56
Sign: Aquarius
City: Upstate
State: NEW YORK
Country: US
Signup Date: 4/23/2006
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
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Lucky Seven?
I've been remiss. Below you'll find my seven most recent Fred Sez
blog entries (save for a few featuring new Hembeck illos and one
focusing on some ridiculous Rawhide Kid panels--use the link if you're
curious, and scroll down). I'll try to not get so far behind again. In
the meantime, if you haven't read these before, enjoy...
Boris, Boris, Boris!! (..And A Pair Of Belas...)
Well, I finished watching the other three
Boris Karloff films that were on that TCM
tape with the "Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome"
flick I told you about the other day. Y'know,
I find it pretty hard to believe, but as
best I can figure, I'd never actually seen
"The Black Cat" or "The Raven"
before--though the latter's climactic "pit
and the pendulum" sequence seemed awfully
familiar, likely because it was featured
in a documentary about co-star Bela Lugosi
that I caught on PBS years ago. Inasmuch
as both of these films garnered heavy visual
coverage in the sixties' era monster mags
I was briefly obsessed with, finally seeing
them produced an odd sense of deja vu. Images,
burned into my impressionable pre-teen mind,
were finally playing themselves out on my
TV screen, four and a half decades later!!
Very odd sensation.
As for the movies themselves, the pre-Hays
Code "The Black Cat" is easily
superior to the following year's (1935)
"The
Raven". Both have little to do
with
Edgar Allen Poe, both offer enough
blatantly
implied torture to keep any and all
of Lon
Chaney's distant relatives happy, and
both
feature the scene-chewing thespian
technique
of Bela Lugosi, an acting approach
that doesn't
differ much whether he's playing the
bad
guy in "The Raven" or the
good
guy in "The Black Cat".
Karloff, on the other hand, displays
an admirable
versatility--though he's mostly wasted
with
a largely mute role in "The Black
Cat"
(as well as being made to suffer a
less than
classic make-up job). By contrast,
as the
urbane devil worshiper in "The
Black
Cat", he oozes menace even when
traipsing
about his futuristic act deco mansion
in
his dressing gown!!
But the real surprise for me was the OTHER
Karloff-starrer, 1937's "West of Shanghai",
a movie I was frankly totally unfamiliar
with. The story isn't much--several Americans
travel to China in hopes of making claims
on a recently discovered oil field, only
to run into a Chinese warlord, who takes
them all as his prisoners. Boris, the aforementioned
warlord, doesn't actually show up until about
15 minutes into this zippy 64 minute programmer,
but once he does, things REALLY start to
cook!!
I was fully expecting him to be a total brute,
an unfettered Ghengis Khan type. Instead,
delivering his lines rapid-fire in broken
English, always with an underlying sense
of amusement, Karloff's General Fang is more
Charlie Chan by way of Damon Runyon!! Like
I said, the plot's nothing much, but there's
more than enough enjoyment to had listening
to Karloff trade snappy patter with the rest
of the cast to more than justify catching
the flick if you ever get the chance!!
Going along with that line of thinking, I
had sincerely hoped the whole thing was up
on YouTube somewhere, but alas, 'tis not
the case. However, there IS the original trailer for the film
posted, and the two-and a half minutes it takes
to eye-ball it may give you a taste of what
I'm talking about. (Notice how even the on-screen
blurbs are tongue -in-cheek, with the star
billed as "Boris "Baby-scarer"
Karloff"). Oh, and if the previews make
ol' Boris out to be a bit more blood-thirsty
than I described, please not that most of
his threats encapsulated there-in were empty
(though the two characters he does kill--or
has killed--during the film truly had it
coming.).
"West of Shanghai" gave me new
and deeper appreciation for Karloff's acting
prowess. Too bad he was usually type-cast
as a baddie--there's evidence here that he
could've done very nicely supplied with some
dryly comedic material.
Bela on the other hand? Well, many of his
later movies WERE funny. Trouble was, they
generally weren't supposed to be. Oops...
The End--Or The Beginning?....
Yesterday, we went to see the Oscar
nominated
Best Picture contender, "The Reader",
featuring Kate Winslet's Best Actress
winning
performance. As these sorta things
go--former
female SS officers seducing underage
boys,
using sex to con them into reading
Homer's
"The Odyssey" and Tintin
comics
out loud to them--it was pretty good.
Winslet
truly deserved her prize, not only
for her
acting (which was exemplary) but also
for
the sheer guts it took to perform so
casually--and
convincingly--naked for most of the
first
third of the film!! Whoda ever thought
so
much skin and simulated sex could get
past
the old fogeys in the Academy and still
garner
you an Oscar? I guess the story's Holocaust
connection didn't hurt any...
But we're not here to talk about that. Decent
movie--go see it. No, I want to complain
about a trend I've been noticing of late,
one that "The Reader" was especially
guilty of:
Credits banished to the very end of
the movie.
And not just credits, but the actual
title
as well!
Look, I'm not a TOTAL idiot, okay?
I generally
KNOW what film I've just seen, but
still...
The movie ends, the screen goes black,
and
first up is the director's name (natch),
then the writer, then the author of
the original
source material. Fine, I say, if somewhat
begrudgingly. THEN the producers--of
course.
But if by now, you're expecting to
see names
of the stars of the film--much less
the actual
NAME of the thing, well, you're not
even
close!1.
No lie--the names of the HAIRDRESSERS
rolled
across the screen before the cast made
an
appearance--themselves preceding the
godforsaken
title, no less!! it had to be a good
three
or four minutes after the last scene
played
out before any of us still in the theater
learned that that was Ralph Fiennes
playing
the male lead and not Liam Neeson (hey,
an
easy mistake to make, y'know?...).
And I got a newsflash for you, Hollywood--THERE
WEREN'T HARDLY NO ONE LEFT IN THE THEATER
BY THAT TIME!!!
There never is. It's amazing to see
folks
flee these darkened arenas as soon
as the
lights come up but before the credits
begin
to role in earnest--you'd think people
were
afraid that the last one out would
be obligated
to pay for the Best Boy's college education
or somesuch!!
The truth is, you'd think the film-makers
would WANT the folks watching their
movies
to know exactly WHO was responsible
and put
the credits--at least SOME of the credits
(catering can wait til' later--no objections
THERE...) at their flick's outset.
But no.
Someone. sometime decided it was way
cooler
to list the credits at the conclusion
of
a film, and now EVERYONE does it!!
I was
struck by the fact that "Coraline"
DIDN'T resort to this now-tired device,
and
actually let the audience know who
was responsible
up front--because, god knows, even
with some
nifty animation accompanying the end
credits,
fully two-thirds of the patrons in
the theater
that afternoon fled their seats as
soon as
the curtain came down on the story
proper.
So, c'mon, you cinematic artistes out
there--put
your masterpiece's name right up front.
We
won't think less of you, promise. Don't
be
shy--Kate Winslet certainly wasn't,
and look
what it got HER!...
Hang In There, Harold!!
When it comes to the so-called golden age
of silent comedy, is there any single image
more iconic than Harold Lloyd dangling precipitously
from the hands of a building's clock, high
above the streets below?
And yet, it was only recently that I FINALLY
saw the film that contains this famous sequence,
1923's "Safety Last". Fact is,
until I dug out an eight hour tape made back
in 2003, when TCM broadcast an entire day's
worth of his movies, I'd pretty much never
seen a Harold Lloyd movie PERIOD!! Not really
my fault, though--as indicated here, Lloyd owned a majority of his own films,
and back in the sixties--when I would've
been most likely to have viewed them--he
was asking too much money to broadcast 'em,
so most station managers chose chump change
for Chaplin over loads of largess for Lloyd.
Makes sense, I guess--but it also deprived
me from appreciating the bespeckled comedian
for way, WAY too long!!
The tape I had on hand was arranged chronologically,
beginning with several shorts made in the
late teens, then onto to a few Roaring Twenties
era features (including his other classic,
"The Freshman"), finishing up with
an early pair of sound vehicles, "Welcome
Danger" (1929) and "Movie Crazy"
(1932). (Check out this fascinating article about
"Welcome Danger'', Lloyd's first talkie. Originally filmed
as a silent picture--AND clocking in at an
astonishing 2 hours and 45 minutes!!--a majority
of the picture was refilmed with sound after
Lloyd witnessed the amazed reactions of audiences
to other early talkies, adding dubbed dialog
to the rest, while shaving off over an hour
of the original's bloated running time. Frankly,
it's a bit of a mess, but an interesting
mess that's not with out it's bright spots.
Right from the get-go, though, Lloyd comes
across as tremendously comfortable speaking
on screen. In fact, opposite the delightful
Constance Cummings in "Movie Crazy",
Lloyd makes for a very appealing romantic
(albeit comedic) leading man.)
But forget all that for now. Let's talk "Safety
Last". It's one of those universally
accepted classics of the silent era. Hey,
I've SEEN some of those universally accepted
classics in my time, and I'm often left scratching
my head afterwards, wondering just what all
the fuss was about. Not this time. It's a
wonderfully conceived film, and far more
than the few famous seconds used in every
compilation of famous film clips ever compiled.
That whole climbing up the side of a building
bit? It lasts nearly a half hour--and is
set up very nicely, storywise, in the time
preceding it. I wasn't a Harold Lloyd fan
before popping this tape into the VCR, but
"Safety Last" sold me.
And if you're not already sold, thanks
to
YouTube, you can take a look for yourself,
and maybe it'll sell YOU too!!
Safety Last Part 1
Safety Last Part 2
Safety Last Part 3
Safety Last Part 4
Safety Last Part 5
Safety Last Part 6
Safety Last Part 7
Safety Last Part 8
Amazing what you can do with a pair of glasses
and a whole lotta nerve...
Boys Will Be Boys
The other night, while searching unsuccessfully
for a tape containing a bunch of early Bing
Crosby flicks, I instead located that previously
elusive tape housing the 2000 telefim, "The
Beach Boys: An American Family", the
one I couldn't find a few weeks back, so
I instead watched "Return To The Batcave".
Well, this time around, I figured it was
fate, so simply I abandoned my quest for
Bing and inserted this tape into the VCR
instead.
Aside from The Beatles, The Beach Boys are
my all-time favorites, so you might wonder
why it took me so long to get around to watching
this particular bio-pic. Well, one reason
is, this ABC production hit the airwaves
a mere ten years after NBC's "Summer
Dreams: The Story of The Beach Boys".
That was the one that starred Bruce Greenwood
as Dennis Wilson, the wild brother, focusing
inordinately on his antics and limiting brother
Brian to second-banana status, ending with
the drummer's tragic drowning death. It was
also the film in which the Al Jardine character--Beach
Boy number 5, for those of you keeping score
at home--didn't merit a single line in the
teleplay!! Not one!! So maybe, back there
in the year 2000, I felt it was a bit too
soon to revisit once again this all too familiar
story (well, all too familiar at least to
ME).
But I'm glad I did!! Not only was proper
emphasis of this sprawling sage restored--composer
Brian Wilson being the focal point, followed
by his tyrannical father Murry, cousin (and
collaborator ) Mike Love, with Dennis coming
in a semi-distant fourth (though of course
he naturally gets the spotlight during the
recounting of his dalliance with the Manson
Family). Amazingly, THIS Al Jardine gets
plenty of dialog!! Even David Marks, his
brief early era replacement, gets several
scenes!! Frankly, I was amazed at the film's
excessive attention to the group's genesis.
I shouldn't have been--and wasn't, not once
the words "To Be Continued " flashed
across the screen!! This was TWO-PARTER!!
Four hours, not two!! D'oh--I totally forgot!
when i began watching! But at that point,
I was firmly committed (not to mention enthralled),
so I kept on going, taking in the whole thing
in one glorious single sitting.
Y'know, it's kinda pointless reviewing an
otherwise unavailable TV flick from nearly
ten years ago, except to say, if you're a
Beach Boys fan--or even harbor a minor interest
in the group--this flick is worth checking
out (if you can FIND it...).
The only scene available on the YouTube was
apparently posted by Nick Stabile, who portrayed
Dennis (him again!...). In it, lip-syncing to Dennis's actual vocal,
he performs the lovely "Forever"
for dad Murry (4: 32). This is perhaps the only scene in the entire
four hours in which Father Wilson comes off
agreeably. Likely that's because the very
next scene he's in (not included here), he
falls out of bed and suffers a fatal heart
attack. But at least Mr. Wilson made nice
with Dennis first...
Unlike the 1990 teleflick, this one ends
on an up note, focusing on a triumphant 1974
concert appearance of the revitalized Beach
Boys (with each member's eventual fate written
in text across close-ups of the various actors).
This ending mirrored the finale of The Three
Stooges ABC bio-pic of a year or so later
(the one with Michael Chiklis as Curly),
another recent--and belatedly--viewed hunk
of VHS tape by yours truly (and a much sillier
flick, as the flick's writers unconvincingly
tried to work Stoogisms into their protagonist's
everyday lives). That one had the rediscovered
comics meeting their new-found TV bred audience
for the first time, performing a live stage
show for their new generation of fans in
1959. Nice ending--BOTH times ABC used it.
But The Boys story didn't come to a halt
in 1974, not by a long-shot, as shown on
a special two hour edition of A&E's "Biography:
Brian Wilson", broadcast just a few
days before the ABC mini-series, and seemingly
done in conjunction with it (which I watched
AFTER the fictionalized version). Seeing
several of the anecdotes from the bio-pic
in turn verbalized by various interviewees--gee,
Brian really DID spill hot chocolate on his
future wife when he first met her!!--was
an odd experience, lemme tell ya! The last
quarter century of Brian's largely Beach
Boyless life is given due coverage, and it's
not always a pretty picture. In fact, it
rarely is. Against all odds, he survived.
But even if he didn't, his music will. I
go in and out of cycles--and up until I watched
all six hours of this tape, I'll admit, I
was on an "out" cycle. But y'know,
I ALWAYS come back to Beach Boys music eventually.
I never stay away for long, and thanks to
a little video nudging, everything from "Pet
Sounds" to "Sunflower" to
"Keepin" The Summer Alive"
is getting prime time play on the ol' CD
machine!! Can't say I'm going surfing anytime
soon--and these days, I really DON'T get
around--but that's okay. I'm more than happy
to simply sit in my room and enjoy the good
vibrations!!
I'm Ba-aaack!!
Pardon the absence.
Lynn and I left for Geneva last Monday, making
the five hour drive upstate to pick up daughter
Julie, who successfully completed her freshman
year at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
It took us about two days to pack up all
her stuff, and what we didn't leave at her
boy friend Alec's apartment (like winter
coats and such), we barely managed to stuff
into our car--
AND THEN DROVE NORTH TO BUFFALO!!
Yup, it was time for a short vacation in
Buffalo, New York. Know that thirty-five
years ago this very month, I first met Lynn
Moss there, a freshman who'd been living
in the very same dorm as yours truly, though
we'd blissfully ignored each other for the
entire year until the waning weeks of the
spring semester. I don't need to tell you
how THAT came out! So naturally, Buffalo
equals good memories, and we wanted to share
those vibes with our offspring (the last
time we'd been in town was way back in 1988,
a couple years before Julie was hatched).
Big mistake.
The SUN Y Buffalo campus had changed significantly
even by 1988, eleven years after we had left--the
short of it is, there was an old, Main Street
campus where we had both lived and attended
most of our classes, and a new, just emerging
(circa 1974) campus located out in the middle
of nowhere about a twenty minute shuttle
ride away from the original campus, very
little of which was built while we attended
the school. NOW the new campus is the main
campus, a sprawling city in and of itself
(and almost totally unfamiliar to us alumni)
while the Main Street campus is now devoted
entirely to medical and dental grad students.
Norton Hall--once the bustling student union
of yore, has since been renamed, rebuilt,
and now houses dentists of the future and
is no longer open to indiscriminately wander
through!! And Cooke Hall--our beloved dorm?
The name has since been transferred over
to the no-longer-not-so-new campus, with
the front door locked to previous residents.
To add injury to insult, we were caught in
a sudden rainstorm during our trudge down
memory lane, a suitable end to a decidedly
imperfect tour.
(And things looked even more dire while reinvestigating
the various off-campus dwellings we rented
back in the day. Just about every familiar
landmark on Bailey Avenue was either gone
completely or regrettably run down. Main
Street was only slightly better--everything
changed, save for Parkside Candies remaining
intact, as well as--remarkably--Queen City
Comics!! (Though Queen City was originally
located on Bailey--by '88, it was on Main.
It was the first bona fide comics store I
ever regularly patronized--I can still recall
walking down there my first weekend on campus
and buying, among other books, the very first
appearance of Master of Kung Fu in Marvel
Special Edition. I never chatted much with
the folks behind the counter, though, and
my loyalties switched over to Grant Books
across town mid-way through my stay in Buffalo,
but it's nice to know they're still there.
Yes, I stopped in. No, I didn't recognize
anyone--unlike back in '88--I didn't buy
anything, and as per usual, didn't identify
myself. No point at this point, y'know?...)
So we spent a few hours with one of
Lynn's
aunts (another reason to visit the
area--my
wife has relatives in town) and visited
the
Albright Knox Art Gallery, and had
a mostly
good time. But going back to the old
school
in search of the past? Not the best
idea
we ever had.
Going to Niagara Falls on Friday? THAT was
a GREAT idea!! Remind me to tell you about
it sometime!
(And if you're Facebook friends with Lynn,
check out the three photo albums of 60 pics
each that she's already posted, with the
Buffalo chapter still to come. Ah, ain't
digital cameras grand? I'll try and share
a handful of the 200 plus that we took here
in the coming days, so don't say you haven't
been warned!...)
Saturday, after a seven hour trek down
the
New York Thruway, we finally arrived
home.
It was fully my intention to share
these
personal endeavors with you later that
self-same
evening, but with only minutes of Monday
left, I've FINALLY managed to bore
you with
the details of my mini-vacation in
Buffalo!!
Vacation in Buffalo?
Well, it SOUNDED like a good idea at the
time...
We Watched "Watchmen"!
Lynn, Julie and I just got back from the
theater, having viewed the film adaptation
of--as the credits would have it--the "graphic
novel co-created and illustrated by Dave
Gibbons", Mr. Moore apparently opting
to eschew any credit for the original scenario.
Without knowing specific details--I didn't
read any reviews (and still haven't) before
seeing the flick--I was nonetheless fully
aware that this big screen version did not
win universal plaudits from either folks
familiar with the source material or from
those blissfully unaware of it.
Me, I liked it.
Let me explain.
In the thirteen months it took DC to issue
the original limited series back in 1986/1987,
I read each of the twelve issues as they
came out--and haven't since. I have a paperback
collection of the whole thing I bought a
long time back, with the plan in the back
of my mind being to someday sit down and
enjoy the whole thing in a far more concentrated
period of time--but , well, I haven't, y'know?
But I have paged through it in recent times,
mostly looking for costume reference to do
up my own versions of the main cast. So,
I kinda knew the plot, having read the story
once twenty two years ago, and looking at
it, been reminded of some of the key visual
cues, but oh so many of the finer points
have long ago faded from my memory banks.
And the two hours and forty five minutes
I spent watching the, well, YOU know who--THAT
was the very first time I experienced the
story in toto without waiting a month in
between each chapter, and it sure makes a
difference.
Whether or not the film deviated from some
key elements of the comics, I couldn't truly
say. All I can say is that it worked for
me as a movie, mostly. Yes, it lacked some
of Moore's sublime verbiage, and while Gibbons
art was masterfully replicated in general,
the subtle artistry of his panel by panel
breakdowns--a particular strong point of
the original series--couldn't help but be
totally lost. But there's a lot of story
to be told, and it unfolds in segmented yet
mostly smooth fashion. I had no trouble following
it, and in fact, appreciated the ending more
than I did when I finally read the twelfth
and final issue (y'see, I had been anticipating
the greatest finish of all time, which is
fairly hard to deliver; sorta knowing what
was actually gonna happen made it far easier
to swallow). Lynn and Julie--neither of whom
knew the first thing about the storyline--both
proved up to the task of following the at
times convoluted plot, and enjoyed it, mostly.
About the aforementioned mostlys. The movie's
a bit on the violent side at times. Being
familiar with the comic, I knew this going
in. But you know what? A six panel sequence
of a thug being killed to so as to facilitate
another crook's access to a jailed Rorschach
is a whole lot more intense when amplified--and
expanded upon--on the big screen. The violence
in the comic book version of Watchmen never
seemed to be intended to titillate--I'm not
sure I can say the same for the movie version.
That was Lynn's big objection to the film,
and as someone who doesn't particularly care
for excessive bloodletting, it made me squirm
at times as well. I could more easily tolerate
the rudimentary fisticuffs favored by Nite
Owl and Silk Spectre as opposed to the Grand
Guigol-fueled antics of The Comedian and
Rorschach, even if the actual point was to
contrast their opposing approaches.
The actors? All fine. No one's gonna get
nominated for an Oscar, but no one embarrassed
themselves, either (though I thought that
nose hastily puttied onto the actor playing
Nixon WAS distracting at times...). I liked
the music, especially the clever way they
worked in Jimi Hendrix's version of "All
Along The Watchtower" (not nearly as
subtle a drop-in as the fleeting use of a
Supertramp ditty in the first Superman movie,
but decidedly more appropriate).
Overall, the so-called greatest graphic novel
of all time made for a decent movie--and
I think THAT'S why it failed to connect more
with either the general public or to devoted
Moore/Gibbons fans. "THIS was the greatest
graphic novel of all time?", the uninitiated
no doubt wondered, and to those to whom it
WAS the greatest graphic novel of all time,
well, it clearly wasn't the greatest movie
of all time, so they had to be disappointed
as well. Me, I know movies are movies and
comics are comics, and I try not to expect
them to be one and the same. So, it was a
decent movie. Now, I'm hoping to find some
time to finally reread the limited series--and
maybe then, I'll realize just how bad a movie
it was! But for tonight, save for witnessing
a little more blood splattered than I may've
liked (and I am ever so thankful we didn't
see it in IMAX!!...), I had a good time.
Better than I did at "The Dark Knight",
"The Hulk", or yes, even at "The
Spirit"--but nope, not "Iron Man".
On a side note, the theater was fairly full
(it was dollar day, reduced to a single showing
in the film's second and final week), and
unfathomably, someone brought a BABY to see
"Watchmen"! Forget who's watching
the Watchmen--who's watching those parents??
Geez, at least the kid was mostly quiet--and
may well've left midway through, as nary
a peep was heard after awhile--but still,
WHAT were they thinking?...
Another Day, Another Movie
We all went to see "Adventureland"
today (paid the full two dollar admission
as well--wanted to make sure we caught it
before it left the multiplex). Seeing that
this romantic teen comedy set at a run-down
amusement park, circa 1987, received a surprisingly
high average of 89% over at Rotten Tomatoes was impetus enough to get me to see a flick
I likely otherwise would've passed on (plus,
truth is, I'm a sucker for the amusement
park milieu).
It wasn't bad, but I sorta felt I'd already
seen it a few months back, as "Nick
and Norah's Infinite Playlist", whose
plot was very similar (and which I liked
a whole lot better--and not just because
I saw it first). Star Jesse Eisenberg--who
looks like a cross of SNL's Andy Samberg
and the aforementioned "Nick",
Michael Cera"--portrays a sensitive,
intellectual college grad (who also happens
to be a virgin) working a summer job at a
cheesy amusement park, before going off to
grad school in the fall. There he meets fellow
employee, the worldly Kristen Stewart (the
female star of the "Twilight" series).
Eventually (and inevitably), this mismatched
pair fall in love, but not without enduring
a fair amount of complications both before
and after.
Very few laughs, though--anybody expecting
a raunchy teen sexfest (which is how the
TV commercials tried to sell this) will be
sorely disappointed. Despite the obligatory
swearing, drinking, drugging, and (off-screen)
copulating, the heart of the story is sweet.
It's just that I must be going to too many
movies these days, as it sure feels as if
I've seen it all before. Stewart and Eisenberg
make for an attractive couple, but that's
ANOTHER thing--do girls like Stewart (or
Kat Dennings in "Nick and Norah")
REALLY wind up with guys like Eisenberg or
Cera, or are these movies as preposterous
fantasies as "Watchmen"? I mean,
these kinda stories have a certain appeal
to guys like ME, but I wonder how the LADIES
in the audience are feeling? "Oh great--the
geek gets the hot girl--be calm my pitter
pattering heart." Where are the movies
in which the geeky GAL gets the hunk? (Not
that I really need to rush out to see said
film, mind you--just curious...).
SNLer's Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig have
supporting roles as the married couple who
run the park, but only Hader has the opportunity
to generate any laughs. Wiig--currently the
funniest and most used cast member of the
venerable sketch show--has little to do,
and does it very quietly. Someday she'll
get a proper big-screen showcase, but this
sure ain't it.
One other quibble--when it comes to teen
romcoms, I've come to expect a certain amount
of boozing and drugging, but I kinda thought
this movie went a bit over the line into
irresponsible territory. I seem to recall
that the two lead characters in "Nick
and Norah" eschewed both, leaving the
drinking entirely to their friends in the
back of the van, as the group drove all around
Manhattan on one eventful night. Conversely,
in "Adventureland", everyone--including
our sensitive, intellectual leading man--is
shown repeatedly smoking pot and drinking
alcohol--
AND THEN BLITHELY GETTING BEHIND THE
WHEEL
OF A CAR!!
Again and again. With no real consequences,
save for (SPOILER WARNING) late in the flick
when, bummed by his break-up with Stewart,
Eisenberg grabs a bottle of hard liquor his
dad has stashed in the glove compartment,
guzzles it while driving, swerves to miss
another car, hits a tree, and wakes up the
next morning to be berated by his mother,
ultimately relinquishing all the money he
earned at the park to pay for the auto's
damages!! Well, THAT'LL sure teach HIM!!
In relation to cinematic substance abuse,
there have been more responsible Cheech and
Chong flicks! Geez...
Otherwise, not a bad movie, just not nearly
as good as I expected it to be--and given
the choice, I'd easily recommend the superior
"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist".
3:06 AM
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