November 2006
An Inconvenient Truth
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An Inconvenient Truth A Global Warning Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Sharon McGreevy |
WOW!! What an eye-opening movie. The picture comparisons from yesterday to today were completely amazing and scary at the same time. I watched this movie with an open mind despite the things that I had heard about this from friends who had already viewed the movie. It was sad in a way but made you think what is happening with global warning. It also explained the high temperatures everyone has been experiencing as well as the water temperature and all the hurricanes/tornados and things that go along with it are happening and why. Watch a clip after the jump.
From the press release:
Humanity is sitting on a time bomb. If the vast majority of the world’s scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet’s climate system into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced- a catastrophe of our own making.
If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom -- think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man’s commitment to expose the myths and misconceptions that surround global warming and inspire actions to prevent it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on an all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. In this eye-opening and poignant portrait of Gore and his “traveling global warming show,” Gore is funny, engaging, open and downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our “planetary emergency” out to ordinary citizens before it’s too late.
With 2005, the worst storm season ever experienced in America just behind us, it seems we may be reaching a tipping point – and Gore pulls no punches in explaining the dire situation. Interspersed with the bracing facts and future predictions is the story of Gore’s personal journey: from an idealistic college student who first saw a massive environmental crisis looming; to a young Senator facing a harrowing family tragedy that altered his perspective; to the man who almost became President but instead returned to the most impassioned cause of his life – convinced that there is still time to make a difference.
With wit, smarts and hope, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH ultimately brings home Gore’s persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue – rather, it is the biggest moral challenge facing our global civilization.
Posted November 27, 2006 Permalink
24 Minutes on Nacho Libre
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Nacho Libre starring Jack Black |
To: coffeerooms@w3pg.com
Subject: Nacho Convo
[15:07] jtp: so Coffeerooms needs that nacho review. i thought we could do it on IM
[15:07] rgp: good plan
[15:10] jtp: so yea
[15:10] jtp: you wanna just do it now?
[15:11] rgp: I gotta get in the shower soon. think it'll take us long?
[15:11] jtp: hey, that's nacho review
[15:11] jtp: i think it'll take about 5 minutes to be honest
[15:11] rgp: Hey, that's not cho lee bray
[15:11] jtp: we've already started as far as I'm concerned
[15:12] rgp: started what? I just want to talk about Nacho Libre!
[15:12] jtp: ugh hold on one sec
[15:12] rgp: rofl
[15:16] jtp: ok
[15:17] jtp: thoughts on nacho
[15:17] rgp: I enjoy them with cheese
[15:17] rgp: And I think it's sweet he gives nachos to the orphans. What a guy.
[15:17] jtp: ok, thoughts on nacho libre : i found the movie entertaining though not really up to par with school of rock or napoleon dynamite
[15:18] rgp: No doubt about that. It doesn't stand up in comparison. In fact I was a bit surprised I didn't enjoy it even more, being an actual wrestling watcher and all.
[15:19] jtp: and the ending seemed a little odd. usually these type of comedy fluff flicks have like a uplifting morality thing at the end, but in this there was no real resolution between his love of the church and his desire to wrestle
[15:19] rgp: Yes, but he did get the girl!
[15:19] jtp: but all in all, totally entertaining. we don't come to these movies for the plot so much
[15:20] jtp: yes, but the girl was a nun! so, who wins? God, or wrestling?
[15:20] rgp: Well, being an avid comedy watcher myself (unlike you) it was much less than I expected. The jokes were in the accent and the choice of words. Not so much the story.
[15:21] jtp: i don't know why you always say that about me. Who here has seen borat? mm hm
[15:21] rgp: That's true. Touché...sorta.
[15:22] rgp: You have to admit, I'm the more likely candidate to sit down to a night of Adam Sandler/ Will Ferrell
[15:22] jtp: i love me some jack black. the jokes are a little deeper usually than your typical scary movie or whatever parody type stuff
[15:22] rgp: It's true. Jack usually takes it to a whole different level without even trying.
[15:22] rgp: He didn't go there this time though.
[15:23] jtp: yea it just wasn't quite LOL enough
[15:23] rgp: Let's talk about our favorite matches. Mine is hands down the wrestling match with the two twin little monster guys.
[15:23] jtp: yea that was twisted! those little guys were freaky
[15:23] rgp: Wish I could remember what they were called. See how it stuck with me?
[15:24] jtp: all of the matches were definitely high points.
[15:24] jtp: my favorite parts were the matches and the singing. jack black + singing= hilarity. always
[15:25] rgp: I'm also a huge fan of the sidekick, Esqueleto (played by Hector Jiminez)
[15:25] rgp: When Nacho goes to get the free nachos from the back door of that restaurant and Esqueleto swoops in to steal them? Hilarity ensued.
[15:26] jtp: yes
[15:26] jtp: oops
[15:26] rgp: Never mind the scooter Nacho rode throughout.
[15:26] jtp: so what have we learned?
[15:27] rgp: What have we learned? That every actor, even Jack Black, has a moment of weakness.
[15:27] rgp: A parody on a sport can go amazingly well (Talladega Nights) or mediocrely (word??) bad.
[15:28] jtp: I think everyone assumed that jack black + napoleon dynamite people would automatically = awesomeness. and maybe they assumed that too... its a fun movie but in the end it just doesn't stick much
[15:28] rgp: Yeah, I give this one a "rent it"
[15:28] rgp: good thing it's not playing on the big screen anymore. ROFL
[15:28] jtp: yes good thing you can now own(rent) this shiny new nacho libre
DVD
[15:29] rgp: I AM glad that we own it. Even though it wasn't fantastic, I have no doubt I'll watch it again in the future.
[15:29] jtp: ha! word
[15:30] rgp: word.
DVD Extras:
Commentary by: Jack Black, Jared Hess and Mike WhiteDolby Digital 2.0
Commentary by actor Jack Black, director Jared Hess and writer Mike White
Deleted scenes
Nacho Libre Comic Book Creator
5 behind-the-scenes featurettes
Photo Gallery
Jack Sings
Posted November 15, 2006 Permalink
Make Someone Happy
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Arrested Development Seasons 1-3 |
Released today, the perfect gift for someone who needs some laughs. Or treat yourself, you won't regret it.
Posted November 14, 2006 Permalink
12 and Holding
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12 and Holding Starring: Conor Donovan, Jesse Camacho Director: Michael Cuesta Rated R Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Ben Madonick |
If you’re a parent and you want to open up tough topics with your teen, this film can help—but you’d better be there. It’s a loss of innocence tale that is brutally honest, terrifyingly true. The issues are huge, the scenes are dramatic…a girl’s first crush—on an adult male…an obese boy who finds the path to health and nearly kills himself and his mother trying to get there…twin boys, one of whom has a major disfigurement and the other who is too perfect not to have something terrible happen. Parents who try, parents who miss on every count. Teens that kill, teens that go to jail; teens that kill and don’t go to jail. Unhappy kids trying to find their way and finding all kinds of trouble in the process. It’s the hidden world of what could be behind the “how was your day” “fine,” “what happened?” “nothing,” conversations parents and their kids have coast to coast every day. And what is so disturbing is that there’s really nothing in this film that couldn’t happen. If you’re looking for a warm-hearted bowl-of-popcorn family movie, this isn’t it. But it is still a family story. 12 And Holding may be the one that gets you on your knees begging, if you get in trouble, please, please, please come to me. No questions asked.
DVD Extras:
Commentary by Michael Cruesta
Deleted scenes
Posted November 11, 2006 Permalink
WORDPLAY
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Wordplay An in-depth look at The New York Times' long-time crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz and his loyal fan base. |
I'm an admitted crossword addict. And snob. I do the NY Times puzzles in ink and stick to the Thursday through Sunday issues. I'd be happy to have a Saturday puzzle every day of the week. So it's no surprise that I loved Wordplay. I smiled from start to finish, and then watched all of the extras. What did surprise me was the fun had by my movie-watching partner. He’s not a crossword puzzler. He knows who Will Shortz is, but I’m sure he’d never heard of Merl Reagle before. He enjoyed Wordplay almost as much as I.
The structure of Wordplay is very similar to Spellbound, the 2002 documentary about kids competing in the 1999 National Spelling Bee. We meet Will Shortz, editor of the NY Times puzzle and only person in the world to hold a college degree in Enigmatology, the study of puzzles. Merl Reagle, a master of constructing, gives us a demonstration of how a puzzle develops. We meet several solvers, the sort that not only does the puzzle in ink, but also uses a stopwatch to track their daily times. We get feel for their “normal” lives as well as their obsession. This is all an intro to the main event, the 28th annual *American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Connecticut. We join the solvers we’ve met and about 500 more for an "orgy of puzzling". The finals are fun, tense and even have a little twist or two.
Scattered through the action are pieces of interviews with famous people who love the NY Times puzzles; Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton and Bob Dole (who are featured in perhaps the cleverest crossword ever published), Ken Burns, The Indigo Girls, and Yankee pitcher Mike Mussina, all engaging and chatty about their puzzleheadedness.
Technically, the film is tight. The editing is inspired with an excellent use of split screen that shows puzzle clues and “real time” solving. Most of the soundtrack is just right, with Shawn Colvin’s cover of The Talking Heads's "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) " as well as songs Cake and They Might Be Giants. It all looks and sounds great.
The extras are really worth the price of buying the DVD rather than renting. You get a booklet with 5 really unique puzzles as well as over 85 minutes of on-disc features:
- Feature commentary with Director Patrick Creadon, New York Times Puzzle Editor, Will Shortz and Crossword Constructor Merle Reagle
- Interview gallery
- Deleted scenes
- The 5 Unforgettable Puzzles Ever Featurette : An inside look into creating puzzles and the tricks of the trade
- “Every Word,” a music video by Gary Louris
- Waiting for The New York Times – a short film by Patricia Erens
- Wordplay goes to Sundance
- Wordplay photo gallery
* Directed by New York Times Crossword Puzzle Editor Will Shortz, this is the nation's oldest and largest crossword competition. Solvers tackle eight original crosswords created and edited specially for this event. Scoring is based on accuracy and speed. Prizes are awarded in more than 20 categories, including a $4,000 grand prize. Evening games, guest speakers, and a wine and cheese reception allow solvers to meet each other in a relaxed and entertaining atmosphere.
Posted November 4, 2006 Permalink
Shadowboxer
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Shadowboxer Starring: Helen Mirren, Cuba Gooding Jr. Director: Lee Daniels 2.5 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson |
“Shadowboxer” finds Cuba Gooding, Jr. still wallowing in a post-Oscar slump. It’s a better picture than “Boat Trip,” an embarrassing “Love Boat” clone, or “Snow Dogs” a true hound of a flick in which his co-stars were huskies. Still, Gooding’s agent must be using a Ouija Board to make his career decisions – one with some seriously bad mojo.
There’s a creepy undertone in this flick that will make you go “Yuk.” Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Helen Mirren play mismatched hired mob assassins who have the hots for one another. Mirren’s character, Rose, was Gooding’s father’s main squeeze, sort of making Mirren Gooding’s step mother, which paints their nuzzling and tender glances with a heavy Oedipal brush. Gooding’s character, Mikey, is an assassin savant – he obeys Mirren’s wishes without question and is so emotionally bankrupt he barely breaks a sweat whenever he takes time out from killing underworld undesirables to shadowbox. (Hey, they had to fit the title in somewhere.)
Mirren and Gooding get their marching orders from Andrew (Tom Pasch), a wheelchair-bound go-between for Clayton (Brad Dorff), the local psychotic gangster. (Is there any other kind?) When Clayton suspects his girlfriend Vicki (Vanessa Ferlato) of infidelity, Mirren and Gooding are called in to obliterate Ferlato and four of his own mooks that know too much. The four punks go the way of Star Trek security guards (on screen long enough to get shot), but when Mirren draws a bead on pregnant Ferlato, whose water promptly breaks, her maternal instincts kick in and she can’t complete the hit. Ferlato goes into labor on the spot and suddenly the botched hit gets very complicated indeed. You see, Mirren is slowly dying from cancer and has convinced herself that meeting and saving Ferlato is part of her destiny.
**WARNING** SPOILERS after the jump
Against Gooding’s wishes, Mirren spirits Ferlato and her newborn away. Thinking Feralto has been perforated, Dorff has Gooding mop up a glaring lose end by having a hit put out on Vicki’s best friend Lisa. Lisa is played by eccentric warbler Macy Gray, who has yet to dial in on this planet. Gooding picks up Gray in a bar where there’s only one other patron – a worn out transvestite having a bad hair day. Who could afford to keep a place like that open? (Suspend your beliefs movie moment #1.) Gray’s character is supposed to be slightly sloshed, but she overdoes it, slurring her lines like a stroke victim on valium. When she tries to seduce Gooding, she dances with the rhythm of an anchor. Gooding poisons her and Gray’s jerking, hacking death scene assures she’ll be nominated for a Razzie Award.
The four fugitives set up house in the country with the former long-haired brunette Ferlato wearing an obvious blonde wig that makes her look like she stepped out of an old “Avengers” episode. Isn’t the idea to look as inconspicuous as possible when you’re on the lam? And why not just dye Vicki’s hair blonde? Even the real estate transvestite (yes, another one), who shows them the house and looks like Divine’s homely sister comments on Ferlato’s phony appearance. (Suspend your beliefs movie moment #2.)
Mirren’s condition worsens, but rather than get her the type of first-class medical treatment he can obviously afford, Gooding takes her out into the garden, makes gut-churning love to her, then shoots her in the head like a tired warhorse. I’m warning you – put the popcorn bowl over your head. Do not watch this scene. I worked in a morgue and saw fewer things as repugnant as these two making the beast with two backs. It is, however, a pivot scene. In the midst of their lovemaking Gooding flashes back to the moment when Mirren shot his father before his father could beat him to death, a portent of things to come. (Suspend all your beliefs – big time—movie moment #3.)
Years pass and Gooding’s character slowly warms up to Vicki and her son Anthony, who readily calls him daddy. Ferlato’s muskrat wig also disappears without any explanation. (It was probably due back at the zoo for a feeding.) Gooding continues to take Dorff’s contracts, rubbing out a trio of homies in a steam bath and capping an unsuspecting John in a motel. That’s right, I said John. Although the killing is filmed from the John’s perspective, it won’t take you long to figure out who the “woman” in the scene is. Yes, it’s Gooding, five o’clock shadow and all, dressed up in pumps and rouge. You finally get to see Gooding after the killing when he goes to brood alone on a bench. I can’t imagine any freak in this dimension or any other being attracted to she-Cuba long enough to get killed. Gooding looks like a cross between Jamie Foxx’s gender bender Loquisha from “In Living Color,” and Flip Wilson’s “Geraldine.” (Suspend all your beliefs – and try to stop laughing—movie moment #4.)
The trio’s odd but idyllic lifestyle is threatened when another peripheral character, crack puffing Precious (Monique) is wronged by her doctor boyfriend, “Third Rock From the Sun”’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt. As a reward for telling Dorff his mistress and son are alive, Dorff puts a bullet dead center in Monique’s head, and, as the scene fades, prepares to do away with the Doc as well. Dorff corrals Gooding’s makeshift family in the basement intending to permanently remove them from his life. After cutting off Gooding’s finger he makes the classic villain mistake – turning his back on the hero to threaten the heroine. Marshaling his shadowboxing skills and previously unseen Kung Fu expertise, Gooding punches, kicks and makes Dorff and his men sing soprano. Kudos to Gooding for doing his own stunts, but his thrashing about make him look like he’s with the road company of “Riverdance” rather than someone desperate to save his family. After dispatching the last hooligan, Gooding is felled by a recovered Dorff, who prepares to chop off more than just his finger. Surprise - Dorff is blown off his feet by his own son, Anthony, and the film has gone full circle. (Gooding had a hand in his father’s death and Anthony has a hand in father’s demise.) “You’re proud of him, aren’t you?” Gooding asks the wounded Dorff before delivering the coup de grace. That line and Gooding’s film-ending conversation with his son, provide “Shadowboxer” with some of its few memorable lines. “You’re my son,” Gooding says as the trio pulls away from their blood-soaked million- dollar home. “We’ll have to be careful because someday there may be more men like that.” Forever damaged (like Gooding), Anthony replies: “Then we’ll kill them.”
There’s enough skin and bad intent in “Shadowboxer” to warrant its R rating. Unfortunately, most of the nudity seems to surround Gooding’s butt. Sorry guys, you’ll get a glimpse of Ferlato as she seduces Gooding, a topless soon-to-be mentioned extra, and Mirren, who is starting to look way too much like John Hurt. Thankfully, she keeps most of her duds on. It might take weeks and some extensive therapy to get Gooding and Mirren’s tangle in the garden out of your head. Like Oedipus, you’ll want to scratch your eyes out. You’ll see Gooding’s butt in the shower as Ferlato stares at him through the steamy haze, trying to quell her attraction to him; Gooding’s butt raised high in the air when he’s giving Mirren a last romp in the garden before he puts her out of her misery; Gooding’s butt when he digs her gave and buries her in that same garden. (Isn’t there some sort of union rule saying you can’t bury someone while your buck naked?) There’s so much of this man’s posterior on the screen the film should have been titled “Shadowbutt.” Not to be outdone, Dorff’s moment occurs when he is doing an imitation of a pneumatic drill on an unhappy female extra and the landlord comes looking for her money. Exasperated, he stops, giving the audience a full Monty view as he pulls away. It’s nice to know Dorff’s character practices safe sex, but his reaction to the coitis interruptus is even more gasp worthy. He shoots the landlord and two of his bickering henchmen, wounding his trustworthy second-in-command while bellowing: “Didn’t I tell you not to talk while I’m !! %#!!” It’s an old plot device designed to show how stone-hearted the villain is -- and it works.
The performances range from fun to filthy. Dorff is appropriately menacing as Clayton, one of the few characters with any depth, even if he’s as cuddly as Joe Stalin in the midst of a cabinet purge. Helen Mirren’s grace and elegance quotient takes a hit whenever she gets warm for Gooding’s form, but she’s still a great actress, so you do feel sorry for her character whenever she goes into a coughing fit. She’s also smart enough to exit the picture early, avoiding the pat ending. If a quick exit from “Shadowboxer” is a good idea, then Macy Gray is a genius, but my guess is the producers decided to kill her character of Lisa off after getting a glimpse of her epileptic acting. Veteran TV actress Vanessa Ferlato (“24,” “CSI”, “Law and Order”) rides the emotional roller coaster well, going from kept woman to frightened victim to strong-willed, single mother in making Vicki believable. As the eternally cool Dr. Don, Joseph Gordon Levitt takes a slight role and revels in it, providing the little wit that peaks through the script’s dark recesses.
“Shadowboxer” includes commentary from Cuba Gooding and director Lee Daniels a
“Making of…” documentary. At least you get an explanation for the Zebra that walks around Dorff’s compound for no apparent reason – Daniels insisted, despite the cost. No explanation is given for his transvestite fixation, and you probably don’t want one anyway. You’ll also get snippets of interviews that hint at the cast’s camaraderie. There’s enough chemistry between Ferlato and Dorff to suggest maybe he and Gooding should have switched roles. (Ryan Phillipe was originally cast as Mikey, but had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. Imagine how different “Shadowboxer” could have been.) Not surprisingly, Gooding whose character is isolated emotionally, comes off as being cut off from his fellow thespians as well.
Sometimes an independent film remains one because of its unique slant on life. Other times, as in the case of “Shadowbox,” it’s because studios won’t back a plot that breaks several Commandments and laws made to protect small children and farm animals. If you’re into incest movies and Cuba Gooding’s butt, this movie will fill that weird little niche in your soul. It’s worth a look for the performances of Dorff, Ferlato and Levitt, which manage to rise above the script’s primordial ooze. Just close your eyes during the garden scene.
Posted November 2, 2006 Permalink
