Gravity (2013)

“Life in space is impossible.” These are the words that first appear on screen in “Gravity”, the new film released on October 4^th, by Alfonso Cuarón (“Children of Men”, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”) and these are the words that set the tone for the rest of the movie. The story is exceedingly simple; at its heart, “Gravity” is your run-of-the-mill story of survival set among the stars. Its narrative arc is completely predictable and in typical Hollywood fashion, its characters escape danger at the last possible second. With its opening words, however, the fragility of the human body against a backdrop of a larger universe totally incognizant of our insignificance is something that cannot be forgotten. That the astronauts, with only their space suits to protect them, won’t end up like their colleagues once exposed to an environment devoid of life — frozen, with faces shattered and caved in — is something that is kept in mind throughout the film. Oddly poignant objects drift past the camera lens at select moments — a Marvin the Martian doll, a ping pong paddle, a single teardrop — against a floating Earth and it’s these moments that present a strange juxtaposition between humanity and the cosmos.

To me, “Gravity” is not a science fiction movie. Unlike so many other science fiction thrillers that happen to take place in space, “Gravity” is not concerned with alien fights and warp speed travel. In fact, the only real threat that propels the film forward is flying space debris. Space itself is the movie’s focus because space is fascinating and terrifying enough to keep the movie going without threats from extraterrestrial life and the aid of futuristic toys. Auroras travelling across Earth’s surface and the constant orbital rotation of the stars form the background against which the astronauts fight for survival. Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) takes a few moments to admire the sunrise over the Ganges during all this; it’s hard not to wonder at the beauty of the universe through it all and to feel completely insignificant when looking at Earth from afar. Comparisons to Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” almost can’t be avoided with cinematography as spectacular as that of this film. While “Life of Pi” makes Earth beautiful, Emmanuel Lubezki, Cuarón’s regular cinematographer, makes space breathtaking in its realism.

“Gravity” is not without its flaws; the script and dialogue are unremarkable at best. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a first-time space traveller, is annoyingly helpless without Kowalski at the start of the movie. The side story of the death of Stone’s 4-year-old daughter is completely unnecessary and added in solely to give an emotional dimensionality to Stone’s character; it gives Stone a reason for living. With shots of Earth’s lights in an otherwise infinite nothingness, the struggle of a stranded astronaut to get home is more than enough to keep the film moving. These shortcomings, however, do nothing to dent the movie’s awesomeness, a word well deserved by the film’s truly awe-inspiring and spectacular depiction of the cosmos. It certainly helps that Sandra Bullock gives one of the best physical performances I’ve ever seen by delivering essentially a one-woman show during which she twists, turns, and swims to suggest a plausible environment that defy the regular laws of physics on Earth through gestures in a studio simulation. After Sandra’s character slips out of her spacesuit and into a oxygen-filled escape pod, the audience is given a memorable image of a sort of poetic rebirth in the amniotic fluid of our universe.

“Gravity” inspires a certain “How did they do that?” reaction, even to the most jaded viewers, and that’s a reaction very rarely achieved by many of the films today. It’s not noticeable during its viewing when the audience is transported to space alongside a floating camera lens, but Cuarón manages to rewrite the space genre and movie-making as a whole. With “Gravity”, outer space turns into a very real place bound by very different, but very tangible rules. The movie begins with one of Cuarón’s signature long, unbroken shots and it is in this shot that the genius of where the camera is moving in relation to the action can be seen — it sometimes feels as if the Earth’s rotation is controlling the shot and it can be hard to remember that almost everything in the movie, down to the character’s costumes, was edited in. The shots are done with such technical precision that shifts in perspective transition smoothly when the camera lens float from the macro scale, where the astronauts are just miniature specks against the Earth’s horizon, to the micro scale, where individual nuts and bolts from the shuttle float past the lens, as the lens drift slowly from outside to inside a character’s space helmet, seamlessly shifting to first person. The film allows the audience to float alongside the astronauts in zero G, as the stars travel around them.

Oscar nominations for best actress, cinematography, and direction are to be expected with a masterpiece like “Gravity”. I’m just sad I did not watch the film in IMAX 3D. When the struggle for life in an otherwise terrifying and unknown space of simultaneous nothingness and infiniteness is thrown at us for a solid 90 minutes, I have a newfound appreciation for a world where life is tedious, complicated, sad, and comfortable, but entirely possible.

Note: This article made its first appearance in The Cavalier Daily. This is the original, unedited review.

Phoenix at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion

On September 1st, 2013, Phoenix performed at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion and while I was not what you would call a diehard Phoenix fan walking in, I definitely became one walking out--most good concerts generally tend to have that effect.

Silhouettes of the band stood against a screen of flashing colors and scenes of the streets of Paris. Thomas Mars fell into the crowd and though I nearly suffocated by the sheer number of bodies rushing forward towards the stage, it was clear he had a real love for his fans (and I stood directly beneath him as he stood up supported solely by my and fellow devoted fans' hands).

When Thomas Mars stepped off the stage to serenade the audience with an acoustic version of "Countdown", there was just no denying Phoenix's abilities as fantastic live performers. 

The Wolverine (2013)

The Wolverine works as a stand-alone film. I know this because I walked into the movie theater with only the vague memory of X-Men: First Class (the only X-Men film I'd previously seen) and the widespread consensus on X-Men Origins: Wolverine's mediocrity (my expectations for The Wolverine were low) to guide me.

While I'm not particularly familiar with director James Mangold's previous works, I do realize he is not an action director in the classic sense of the term; his more renowned films (Girl, Interrupted and Walk the Line) are dramas, not huge Hollywood action flicks. Consequently, a basic reflection of Logan's character underlies The Wolverine's flashy action sequences, not unlike the deconstruction of almost all our favorite comic book superheroes à la Iron Man in Iron Man 3 and Batman in The Dark Knight Rises.

An existential crisis is in order when immortality has come to define you, and Logan, who has outlived everyone he once loved, has long lost his reason for living. That is, until a beautiful girl predictably plops into his life and he's faced with the choice between his immortality and the opportunity to live and die as any normal person would. Fights with ninjas are fought and if you're in it for Hugh Jackman, you won't be disappointed; he spends no shortage of time shirtless, so that we may bask in all his muscular glory. I suppose you could call the Viper a villain, but I'm not entirely sure she deserves the title. Other than serving to wear a ridiculous green cartoony outfit, she's a worthless villain and a rather useless character. Don't even get me started on Harada, the supposed sworn "protector" of Logan's love interest and the most incompetent ninja ever to have existed.

Useless characters aside, there is never a boring moment in The Wolverine, even as the film begins to fall back into the routine superhero plot with a comic book climax. If anything, you'll certainly get your $11.50's worth of the Wolverine's burly,"I don't care" attitude.

The Cuckoo's Calling (2013)

Even now, six years after the conclusion of an era that defined the collective childhood of an entire generation, the prospect of a new published work by J. K. Rowling is still cause for an unhealthy level of excitement for me; I suppose I've never stopped looking for the magic that ensnared millions elsewhere, particularly in the words of her other books. I wish I could truthfully say I was one of the brave few to have read The Cuckoo's Calling before news of Robert Galbraith's identity was leaked, but if I'm being completely honest with myself, I can't remember the last time I read a book that was not already relatively well-known and well-liked, or at least written by an established author.

Even without knowledge of Rowling's authorship coloring its pages, The Cuckoo's Calling is undoubtedly a masterfully written mystery. Conducted entirely through lengthy dialogue interspersed with artful metaphors and descriptions that took me straight to the streets of London, the ending, in typical Rowling fashion, is completely unexpected and utterly delightful in its unexpectedness (though, I confess, somewhat unsatisfactory). Rowling has a distinct writing style--dry humor weaves itself into its words and each character, dead or alive, is incredibly complex.

It's easy to see why the book was written under a pseudonym; The Cuckoo's Calling is clearly no Harry Potter and that's exactly the kind of comparison I'm sure Rowling was trying to avoid. Admittedly, I'm not sure I would have given a review as positive as this one if the author were truly an unknown man named Robert Galbraith. The novel is not without its flaws and I've certainly read mysteries more captivating than this one. Even so, there is a rumored sequel in the works. You can count on me to be the first in line to buy the book at its midnight release (or not, due to my perpetual state of poorness...college struggles).

Waitressing Adventures

I haven't been a server for very long--this is my second summer working as a waitress and as it would appear, I have once again been delegated the wonderful responsibility of serving greasy gyro and souvlaki sandwiches to my fellow patrons. But even with only two summers of experience under my belt, this particular job has given me an eclectic collection of stories to tell and the somewhat useful ability to have a smile perpetually plastered on my face.

The summer months are particularly slow for a restaurant in a college town; I've been consistently making below minimum wage for the past month and I wasn't expecting to make any more than usual when I went in for my shift earlier today. It was mid-afternoon and just as I was beginning to think I was actually going to lose money coming in to work (neither the parking nor the food is free), an old couple walked in and ordered two Arnold Palmers and a single triple decker sub to share between them. I've always had good experiences with senior citizen customers; they always seem to be fairly decent tippers (though if there's one thing you learn as a server, it's that you can never predict who's going to be a good tipper or not based on appearance alone), but with the meal costing around $11 total, my hopes weren't exactly high.

Throughout the course of their meal, the old man jokingly said things like, "This sandwich is great! Did you make it?" or "The food is fantastic! Would you like some?" in response to my standard, "Is everything alright? Do you need anything?" There are, of course, the customers who shower compliments and endless words of gratitude throughout the meal, only to leave a terrible tip afterwards; words of gratitude, while appreciated, are useless without the corresponding tip!! I'm pretty sure this man, however, was an angel in disguise. Upon leaving the restaurant after a cheery "thank you so much for the great meal", I went to clear the table and collect my tip.

He left a $20 tip for an $11 meal.

It felt like Christmas had come early. He managed to singlehandedly restore my faith in humanity. Happiness can come in many forms and today, it came in the form of unexpected kindness from a good-natured old man.

Watch the music video for The Mowgli's (an excellent band I discovered today) "San Francisco" for an apt depiction of my happiness:

Watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt's dance number to Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams" from (500) Days of Summer also works.

This Is the End (2013)

This Is the End is everything you'd expect of a movie both directed and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and I mean this in the best way possible.

Jay Baruchel, who is paying a visit to Seth Rogen in Los Angeles, is dragged to a housewarming party at James Franco's. It's clear that sins of various kinds are committed by a majority of the celebrities in attendance and of course, within the first thirty minutes of the film, when the apocalypse begins to run its course, the sinning actors are thrown into a fiery chasm that opens up in Franco's front yard, leaving only a few remaining survivors trapped in Franco's house. In a movie where actors play exaggerated, tabloid-versions of themselves, it'd be easy to turn the film into a vanity project. Instead, the audience is taken along for the ride and what a ride it is! Funny one-liners and hilarious jokes made at the expense of the actors are thrown at us almost constantly; not even the approach of judgment day can stop quips at Jonah Hill's post-Oscar nomination film choices and Seth Rogen's role in The Green Hornet from being made.

There were certain moments in the film that were strangely terrifying and hilarious simultaneously, which is a feat rarely accomplished by movies claiming to be horror comedies. There are excellent, well-written scenes that parody The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby; they manage to make a demonic possession comedic. There are very well-endowed devils born from the underworld now running rampant on Earth. The movie, while funnier than I ever expected, was also gorier than expected, with no shortage of bloody killings (Michael Cera gets a particularly gruesome death) and even some cannibalism. A sweet emotional undercurrent runs throughout the film; while this film is as crass and raunchy as you might expect it to be, underlying feelings of hope and ultimately, friendship of the purest kind, ties the movie together.

For those that do not enjoy this particular brand of movie, the kind that exploits crude and sexual humor to as far as society will let it, this movie will not be enjoyable. Those that can get past that will be surprised by just how funny and well-crafted the movie can be.

Now You See Me (2013)

I don't know what I was expecting upon walking into the movie theater--perhaps some newer, better (if that were even possible) version of Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, but I should have learned by now: never walk into a movie theater with high expectations; you're only setting yourself up for the inevitable disappointment. Now You See Me had an excellent premise--four magicians robbing banks through elaborate magic tricks? Count me in! But it never quite lives up to its potential.

Four magicians, each gifted in different fields of magic and each summoned by a mysterious benefactor via tarot card, are performing together in Las Vegas as a single act, "The Four Horsemen". As with any magic show, a member of the audience is brought onstage to add a dimension of realness to the "magic" being performed. In this case, the audience member is apparently transported to his bank vault in France, where he activates an air duct that vacuums up the Euros and showers it down on the crowd in Las Vegas a few seconds later. Morgan Freeman, playing an ex-magician who makes money by revealing the secrets behind well-known illusions, serves his usual role, effectively narrating and explaining the mechanics behind each trick. And as Morgan Freeman's character makes clear, the bank heist is actually achieved not through magic, but through an elaborate, almost logic-defying plan that seems just as unbelievable as magic itself.

The movie is full of these flashy, superficial illusions involving hypnosis, holograms, doubles, giant mirrors, flash paper, and more, but that's what makes this movie so fun. The onscreen magic tricks are a source of endless entertainment; that is how the movie weaves its own magic. What is lacking, however, is the development of the actual storyline. The identity of the mysterious benefactor is something that's at the back of your mind through the entire film because it's clear that without his careful planning, the Four Horsemen could not exist; however, who he is, his motive, and ultimately, the entire point of the movie, is thrown at you towards the end, and before any time is given to process what exactly is going on, the credits start rolling. And really, by the time the benefactor's identity is hurriedly revealed,  it feels as if it doesn't really matter anymore because the point of the movie isn't to pinpoint the perpetrator of all this, but to just sit back and enjoy the magic show.

OneRepublic at Wolf Trap

On August 5, 2013, OneRepublic performed at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts and while it was not the borderline religious experience that I had with The Antlers concert earlier this year, I can honestly say that of all the hours I've lived through during my short 19 years of existence, this concert was, without a doubt, one of the best one and a half hours I've ever had the fortune of experiencing in my life. The concert was that good.

Monsters University (2013)

When a studio like Pixar announces the release of yet another movie and a sequel (or rather, prequel) no less, the pressure to live up to the expectations set by not only the original movie, but also the standards set by every other excellent Pixar movie made (with the exception of Cars) is always high. While I did not expect Monsters University to be nearly as good as Up, one of my favorite Pixar movies to date, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was nearly as good as Monsters, Inc, which is a feat in and of itself.

Not so much the heartwarming tale that forms the basis for Monsters, Inc., Monsters University is a coming-of-age tale, campus comedy, and sports movie all packaged into one outstanding movie. While the spirit that embodied Monsters, Inc. continues to live on in its prequel, the movie's creators never rely on the audience's love for the first movie to carry on through this one--the new creative content is endless.

"The Blue Umbrella", the Pixar short that begins the film, tells a love story between two umbrellas. It's imaginative, artistic, and cute, utilizing anything that can pass off as a face (drainpipes, crossing signals, to name a few), as characters. This is not Pixar's best short; it's relatively bland and unmemorable, but I can't deny its creativity.

Monsters University starts off with a 6-year-old Mike, who dreams of becoming a scarer upon visiting Monsters, Inc. on a school field trip. Mike is relatively friendless as a kid and is unable to find a partner when asked to pair up on the trip. It's hard not to pity Mike at this point because this is a scene that is relatable to anyone--everyone has experienced, at some point in their lives, that moment of panic when the teacher asks the students to pair up for some group project and you think you might end up alone. The politics of partner-finding are more complicated than you might think, but I digress. A good movie must be, above all, relatable to its audience and Monsters University is full of these kinds of moments.

Fast-forward a decade and Mike is a scare major at Monsters University, presumably one of the most prestigious colleges in the monster world. He's a hard-worker and he gets the good grades, but it's obvious he just doesn't have the talent for a life of scaring. Enter Sulley, who by any standard is the polar opposite. He's a jock who gets by the scaring program based solely on pure natural talent passed down along generations of famous scarers. We find that Sulley's lazy, underachieving attitude, however, is really just a front to cope with the high pressure and expectations that come with being born into a distinguished scarer family. If it's not obvious enough already, the dimensionality of every character within the movie is crazy; you begin to forget that the movie is filled with monsters, not humans. That the characters' mannerisms are not achieved through human acting, but through pure animation, is astounding.

As a current college student myself, Pixar's portrayal of college life, while slightly exaggerated, is still strangely realistic, or as realistic as a movie about monsters in college can be, and completely relatable. There is the school rivalry between Monsters University and Fear Tech (ahem, Virginia Tech) and the annual scare games held by Monsters University's Greek system, which itself consists of the fraternity of stereotypical jocks, the fraternity of outcasts, the sorority of bubbly, giggly monsters, among others. There is no shortage of adventure and it is in this movie that we get to see the start of Mike and Sulley's friendship and eventually, partnership at Monsters, Inc. (as told through a series of well-chosen "photographs" of the two).

Was this movie worth $11.50? Without a doubt, yes! Pixar movies are Pixar movies because of Pixar's attention to even the smallest detail. It's a quality that has yet to be successfully emulated by any other animation studio. Monsters University is just a testament to Pixar's continued genius.

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

I never understood the appeal of Despicable Me. The yellow minions were a little cute and there were the occasional funny and emotional moments, but I found the movie to be completely bland and unremarkable as a whole. Rarely does a sequel ever successfully meet the standards set by the original and if anything, with an ending as conclusive and satisfying as the one to Despicable Me, it's clear a sequel was made solely because Universal Pictures couldn't resist raking in the first movie's $251 million dollar domestic box office gross yet again. If I haven't made it obvious enough already, I walked into the movie theater almost reluctantly and with almost zero expectations. Unfortunately, the movie met my expectations in almost every single way, and I mean this in the most disappointing way possible.

Despicable Me 2 was essentially a worse version of the original. At least the first movie successfully managed to tug at my heartstrings a bit towards the end, and while the sequel does have its moments, it's just nowhere nearly as good. Gru, the former criminal mastermind turned father, is recruited to help Lucy, from the Anti-Villain League, find the villain responsible for using the mutagen, PX-41, to turn even the most harmless of fluffy bunnies into indestructible killing machines. Working together as undercover bakery owners at a mall where every shop owner is considered suspect, the inevitable happens: Gru and Lucy fall in love. It's a little heartwarming because everyone in the movie realizes that Gru's adopted daughters are in need of a mother, even the girls, who take it upon themselves to set up an online dating profile for the guy, but again, this plot is no where near as inspired as that of the first movie. The movie's full of one-liners that are kind of funny, but not funny enough to make me laugh.

If it weren't for the minions, who play a bigger role than ever in this sequel, this movie would not have the same appeal that it did. Scientific studies show that 80% of the movie's audience watched the sequel solely for the minions (only half-joking, of course). It's no surprise Universal is making a spinoff dedicated solely to those adorable yellow creatures.

While Despicable Me 2 was cute and funny, it was not cute and funny enough to warrant spending $11.50 for a ticket. Save your money for something better (like Monsters University, for example).

Friends with Benefits (2011)

Friends with Benefits follows the generic rom-com formula to a tee: two characters, Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis), fall in love despite agreeing to keep their relationship strictly physical (hence the title). Obstacles are hit, fights are fought, and just when you think things couldn't get any worse for the two, some cheesy reconciliation is achieved, through a flash mob no less. There is even the supporting character; Dylan's father, an Alzheimer's victim, provides the predictable, but crucial speech, delivered coincidentally during a just long enough lucid period, to give Dylan the push needed to see the error of his ways and to chase after the love of his life before it's too late.

It's hard to keep movies like these from getting too repetitive and bland, but director Will Gluck makes it work with excellent direction and witty dialogue. And to be honest, it's hard not to like this movie when Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake are delivering the lines--their likability is too hard to resist.

Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

I walked into the movie theater knowing only two things about the series: that it involved cars (the fast) and that it had to involve some completely predictable plot line to form the basis and I suppose, "furiousness," of the movie, as with any other run-of-the-mill action flick (the furious). I don't know what I expected (my expectations were undeniably low), but I guess you get exactly what you expect with a movie like this: cars, beautiful people, ridiculous action sequences, more cars, and more ridiculous action sequences. I can see why this testosterone-fueled series developed such an avid following over the years; this movie has all the ingredients of an action movie made specifically to entertain, without much to say for its plot.

At its very base, Fast & Furious 6 is about friendship and that, to me, is the only redeeming quality of the movie. With the antagonists essentially a mirror image of Dom's crew, the only thing that differentiates the two is loyalty and that is essentially how Dom and his Fast Six crew wins out in the end. If there's one thing Justin Lin has yet to learn, it's that the best action movies are the ones where the audience is made to care. At the heart of any action movie is the character's basest need to survive. It is the director's job to make the audience root for the characters as they struggle to live while undoubtedly risking their lives for some honorable cause. Friendship alone is not enough to save the movie from the boredom I felt at certain points in the film. You'd think car chases (with a tank plowing down the wrong side of a highway, no less) and explosions would cause some level of excitement, but instead I felt only restlessness and the hope that those scenes would soon be over to allow for the plot to continue to move forward. Some characters do end up dying in this movie--the Fast Six crew cannot remain intact forever with all the crazy antics they get involved in, but I felt maybe only a short moment of loss, if that, before more explosions and car chases were thrown at us. I couldn't even care about the characters if I tried; we weren't given a chance to.

Some of the action sequences were so outrageous I actually laughed out loud in the theater. With any action movie, we have come to expect the survival of at least the main characters, despite how ridiculous the odds are they'd survive if that same scenario were to occur in reality. There is a limit to that ridiculousness, however, and this movie toes that line. Some of the more outrageous moments involve gravity-defying jumps and a fight involving The Rock and the antagonistic version of himself.

Was this movie worth $11.50? In my opinion, definitely not, but you'll certainly get your fill of explosions and car chases for maybe an entire month.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

This review is coming from the standpoint of a person who has never even remotely been a part of the Star Trek universe. I had and still have not watched The Wrath of Khan; I did not understand any of the references in the movie to the past Star Trek universe. It is precisely in this way, however, that J. J. Abrams manages to succeed: he makes the movie appealing to both audiences unfamiliar with Star Trek and those that have been Trekkies from the start.

By any standard, Star Trek Into Darkness is a superb action movie. Certain action movies have come to bore me (read: Fast & Furious 6, but that's for another day), but J. J. Abrams keeps the movie interesting by doing what he does best--developing the characters in such a way that the audience actually cares for their wellbeing. Of course, there are some moments that engender some incredulity, but what are Hollywood action movies without characters who survive despite the impossibility of it all?

The movie begins on a gorgeous red planet populated by a primitive white species. While trying to save the planet from an impending volcanic eruption, something invariably goes wrong and violation of the Prime Directive is necessary to save Spock from being burnt to a crisp in the volcanic core. It is here that we begin to see the dynamic that has come to define Kirk and Spock's relationship. Spock, with his actions defined by irrefutable logic and the ongoing internal conflict between his Vulcan and human roots, would rather sacrifice his life than violate the Prime Directive. Kirk, with his careless, playboy, "I do what I want" attitude, has no problems disregarding the Prime Directive to save his friend. It's Kirk's general tendency to make spontaneous and completely rash decisions that unfailingly result in Kirk winning by the seat of his pants that keeps this movie moving along. Plot twists and emotionally-charged moments (read: Spock and Kirk's bromance) are abound with a scene that harkens back to The Wrath of Khan. I didn't get it at the time, but I feel like it would have been a nice touch to Trekkies everywhere.

Benedict Cumberbatch makes for an excellent villain. I'd hate to have to share a screen with Cumberbatch--any acting by most other actors just pales in comparison. While Chris Pine is no doubt an excellent actor himself, there are some scenes where he falls short of Cumberbatch, not even with the aid of his piercing blue eyes (pretty sure half the movie's color palette was chosen specifically to complement his eyes).

This movie was not only worth the $11.50 for a ticket, but also worth the extra $6 to watch in 3D. While most movies released in 3D today seem to serve no other purpose than for the sake of being in 3D (and reaping the cash), the effects were truly something special--it's hard to believe the 3D effects were put in post-production.

Rainy Day Essentials

I love summer rain. I can open my windows and let the sound and smell of rain accompanied by the notes of a select few songs instill a certain special sense of serenity; it's a feeling you'd be hard-pressed to find elsewhere! Here are a couple songs and artists I consider essential to any rainy day mix. Enjoy!

- Comptine d’un autre été : L’Après-midi / Yann Tiersen
- Anything by Ludovico Einaudi (I suggest "Experience", "Run", and "Giorni Dispari")
- Any of the Chopin nocturnes (Nocturne #19 in E minor and #20 in C# minor are my favorites)
- Avril 14th / Aphex Twin

(Reviews of movies posted almost immediately after the initial viewing requires a certain kind of discipline that I lack. I'm working on my reviews though, I swear! Expect them sometime in the near future.)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

I walked into the movie theater with certain expectations of the three essential ingredients that have come to make up an Iron Man movie: witty humor from the self-absorbed protagonist, Tony Stark, the thrilling, but predictable action sequence that invariably concludes all of these films, and a villain that is undoubtedly trying to create a bigger, better version of the Iron Man suit used for evil. Director Shane Black was the much needed change to inject some life into a franchise bordering repetitive tiredness.

The witty humor is still there and Robert Downey, Jr. is as hilarious as ever. There is also the thrilling, but predictable action sequence towards the end of the movie. The villain, however, is no longer someone trying to create a knockoff Iron Man suit (thank God), but a terrorist called the "Mandarin", played by Sir Ben Kingsley, whose acting is absolutely brilliant and completely spot on, and his questionable connection to the charming and handsome scientist entrepreneur, Aldrich Killian. Injections with a serum result in superhuman creations that have the freaky ability to generate heat and regenerate body parts, not unlike Dr. Curt Connors and his lizard monster from The Amazing Spider-Man, except that Killian's creations tend to spontaneously combust at random.

You'll certainly get your fill of explosions; Tony Stark's mansion is completely destroyed by the Mandarin in a spectacular show of multiple missiles and the slow motion destruction of all his Iron Man suits on display. There are new gadgets: Stark now has the ability to summon his suit, piece-by-piece, via implanted microchips within his arm. Even Pepper Potts has her own shining moments involving much badass-ery on her part. Happy is just as loyal as ever and Colonel Rhodes is just as dependable, working as the government's own Iron Man, the "Iron Patriot". Tony Stark actually spends most of the film outside of his suit and it is in this way that we get to see him in all his character-flawed glory. It's clear he needs to see a therapist in this post-Avengers era, when words like "New York" or "wormhole" send Stark into a crippling anxiety attack. There's a subplot involving Stark and a young boy that could have easily evolved into a cheesy boy-breaks-through-superhero's-emotional-barriers, daddy issues moment, but it doesn't because, well, it's Tony Stark. Instead, the screenwriters turn this scene into pure comedic gold.

The plot could have been fleshed out a bit more. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what the Mandarin's motives were--some mixture of trying to cover up accidental combustions, purposefully dropping actual bombs in an attempt to rule the world, wanting to make money, and trying to score a date with Pepper. Whatever the reason, we are given a massive final battle between an army of Iron Man suits and an army of glowing superhumans. Suits are destroyed, superhumans are thrown off high heights, Stark summons suits in midair, and the villain almost wins. Prepare to be entertained.

The Great Gatsby (2013)

Once in a while, if I'm feeling particularly morbid, I'll think of my own funeral--who would attend and what would they say about me? That's probably why I find The Great Gatsby to be such a depressing novel. Jay Gatsby was nothing but a sad, lonely man too stuck in the past to really live. And nobody bothered to attend his funeral.

I love The Great Gatsby (the book) for two main reasons. There are the feelings it so effectively evokes: the blind hope, the corrupted American dream, the friendless man with no one at his funeral. There is also the beautiful prose, which made the work a certifiable masterpiece. You have to wonder how a movie adaptation could possibly capture or even come close to capturing all the subtleties of the book. If the writing made The Great Gatsby so great, then how can that greatness be translated to the big screen, where no tangible words are available for full digestion by the audience? For this reason, it is easy to understand why so many film critics have unsurprisingly bashed the movie for its supposed lack of faithfulness to the great F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Really, what is an adaptation but a director's own reading of the book? It is Baz Luhrmann's job to interpret the text and it is our job to sit back and trust him. He does an incredible job of breathing life into the story and bringing it onscreen. The movie may have been substantially empty, but Baz does one hell of a job of making the film a pure visual feast (I would have expected nothing less from him). It is only with Baz's signature dramatic flourishes and over-the-top artistic details that the audience gets a feel of the frenetic, vibrant 1920s aura; sometimes the truth can only be revealed through exaggeration. Even the prose that defined The Great Gatsby's greatness is brought to life; chosen poetic quotes float across the screen in floral prints and cursive fonts and the tangibility of its language is very real.

There is almost too much going on within the film. We are so distracted by the millions of things thrown at us (quite literally in 3D), that we are given no time to really appreciate the message Fitzgerald wanted us to take from all of this. "Less is more" is a lesson that Baz has yet to learn--perhaps a more traditional adaptation at certain points of the film would have allowed the audience to appreciate his direction and Fitzgerald's original intent.

The casting is perfection. Leonardo DiCaprio nails his role as Gatsby right on the head. The anachronistic soundtrack makes the movie a little more relatable to the modern audience. The 1920s were a time of change and while jazz was new and unprecedented then, it certainly isn't now. There are a few ways Baz Luhrmann could have improved his adaptation of the book, but quite frankly, this movie is great as is. And as a personal, self-proclaimed avid fan of the book, that's saying a lot.