The Key of Rock

Movies: Rock N' Roll High School and Get Him to the Greek

Rock N' Roll High School

Sample lyric: Fun fun rock n' roll high school/Fun fun rock n' roll high school


Although the above lyric recalls a less celebrated song that glorifies "partyin' partyin (yeah)" and "fun fun fun fun", Rock N' Roll High School, a sweetly anarchic comedy that revels in the joy of skipping class, getting to second base with your best gal, and the music of the Ramones, is the real deal. It's a true celebration of the power of music in a teenager's life, wrapped in an absurdist, genre-defying package.


The plot of Rock N' Roll High School revolves around the students of Vince Lombardi High School, specifically Riff Randall (P.J. Soles), the sweetest, most chipper rebel rocker you'll ever meet. Riff is obsessed with the Ramones and wants to share the joy of punk rock with her high school. Unfortunately, Vince Lombardi High has a new principal--humorless Miss Togar (Mary Woronov)--who is hell bent on whipping the school into shape.

This movie cracks me up because even though it's about punk rock music and causing mass mayhem (including arson) on public property, it's so darn lovable. When Riff meets the Ramones backstage at a concert, they're not shooting up or drinking heavily--they're just salivating over pizza! When the two star crossed lovebirds Katie and Tom finally get together at the end of the movie, they don't have awkward teen sex in the back of Tom's van--they just kiss! Rock N' Roll High School has the music of the late 70's, but the heart of a more innocent time. And the movie's sweetness makes the climax all the more hilarious and weird.

4 out of 5 stars

Get Him to the Greek

Sample lyric: When the world slips you a jeffrey/Stroke the furry wall


Get Him to the Greek, by contrast, is far more cynical (but just as hilarious) in its view of the music industry. Jonah Hill plays Aaron, a scout at a record company whose boss assigns him to travel to England and escort rocker Aldous Snow (Russell Brand, reprising his role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall) to New York for an appearance on the Today Show and then to the Greek Theatre in LA to perform an anniversary concert. Along the way, Aaron is forced to do drugs, have freaky sex, and undergo a number of enlightening/humiliating experiences in order to earn Aldous's trust and get him to the Greek.


First of all, I want to say that this movie is ingeniously cast. Not only are Hill and Brand perfect for their roles, the supporting actors are all unexpectedly hilarious. Sean "Puffy" Combs steals the show as Sergio, Aaron's flashy jerk of a boss, whose idea of "game changing" music is a rap song with the lyrics "I'm gonna fuck your shit/I'm gonna rock your bitch". Rose Byrne plays Aldous's ex-wife, Jackie Q, a British model and singer whose beauty and delicacy bely her filthy mouth and drug addiction. Elizabeth Moss (Peggy from Mad Men) plays Aaron's overworked doctor girlfriend. I thought her role would be one of those lame, two-dimensional "girlfriend" roles, but she and Aaron have a legitimate conflict when she's offered a residency in Seattle, forcing the couple to consider relocating. In addition, there are a number of amusing cameos sprinkled throughout the movie, from Tom Felton (Draco in the Harry Potter films) at a club in London to Paul Krugman at the Today Show. Watching Get Him to the Greek was like opening presents on Christmas--you didn't know what you were going to get next!

The film's cynicism lies in its satirical exploration of the modern music industry, where selling records is more important than artistic expression. The film opens at the video shoot for Aldous's latest single, "African Child", which pokes fun at pretentious white rockers trying to single-handedly "save" third world countries. Aldous even refers to his look in the video as a "white, African, space Christ" (Bono would approve). Get Him to the Greek accurately captures slick celebrity culture in which celebrity romances, divorces, and addictions are just as much fodder for entertainment as their music and movies are. The film also manages to get a lot of humor out of drug use, while simultaneously pointing out that drugs destroy lives and relationships. In true Judd Apatow fashion (he was one of the producers of the film), Get Him to the Greek has a sweet, moral message lying under a heap of drug and sex jokes.

I had relatively low expectations for Get Him to the Greek and I wound up being pleasantly surprised. Russell Brand may not have the widest range in the characters he plays, but he frickin' owns Aldous Snow.

4 out of 5 stars

There Was a Child Went Forth at Hogwarts

Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 2

Spoilers.


I am not a model Harry Potter fan. I've only read the first book and a little of the second. I keep meaning to pick up the third and read from there, but other books seem more interesting to me.

But in a weird way, not reading the Harry Potter books gives me a unique perspective on the films. I'm not concerned about whether or not every plot line and every character makes it to the movies. My concerns for each Harry Potter film are: 1) Is it fun? 2) Is it artistically done? 3) Can I follow it?

Based on these criteria, my favorite of the Potter movies (not including the last two) are The Prisoner of Azkaban for it's artistic vision and emotional weight (I wanted to cry when Harry realized that the vision he saw of a wizard performing the Patronus charm was not his dead father--but was Harry himself. Not exactly subtle, but still...) and The Order of the Phoenix for the sheer force that is Dolores Umbridge. I found myself not so enamored by the first two films in the series (kid stuff) and the Half-Blood Prince (I remember about 5% of what happened).

The first six films have their ups and downs, but the final two, The Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2, seem to be cut out of entirely different cloth. The safety of Hogwarts seems like a distant memory. Harry's isolation and fear are palpable. Imagine it: Harry's closest loved ones and mentors are dead, and he knows that Voldemort will not stop there. He will kill anyone and everyone to get to Harry. Although Harry has his loyal--perhaps insanely loyal--friends with him, he must surely realize that he's going to have to sacrifice himself in order to save those he cares about. And that is a task he'll have to face all alone.

The first part of The Deathly Hallows is concerned with Harry, Ron, and Hermione fleeing from Hogwarts (now under the supervision of Snape) and hunting down and destroying the horcruxes--objects with bits of Voldemort's soul. The second part brings us back to Hogwarts for a final showdown between good and evil.

I realized while watching this movie that the Harry Potter films become increasingly grim with each entry. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But while earlier films had dangerous situations that were leavened with humor, zaniness, and/or Ron screaming shrilly and pulling a face, the dangerous situations in The Deathly Hallows are just, well, dangerous. Take the scene where the gang breaks into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. In an earlier movie, this scene would have been done with a sense of wacky humor. Instead, when the trick vault ends up nearly suffocating Harry, Ron, and Hermione with luxurious objects like silver plates and gold coins that reproduce when touched, it just seems like another terrifying obstacle for the trio to overcome. And when Goyle sets fire to the room of requirement, forcing everyone to frantically search for an exit on brooms, I thought "My God, these kids are psychopaths!". Malfoy, Goyle, and the other kid (whatshisface) are no longer just bullies--they're arsonists and attempted murderers. Stupid, incompetent ones at that.

This change in atmosphere reflects the maturity (or loss of innocence if you like) of the characters, and it's what makes the final Harry Potter film so bittersweet. All of our favorite characters are grown up and forced--whether they like it or not--to kick ass in order to survive. Here is sweet Neville Longbottom assassinating the snake Nagini with the Sword of Gryffindor. Here is the Weasley family, sobbing over Fred's dead body. I admire JK Rowling for having the guts to kill off major, beloved characters--because death and destruction is exactly what happens in a violent battle.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 unfortunately doesn't have room to fit in everything. I was surprised at how quickly the battle scenes went by. In the aftermath, we see Tonks on Remus Lupin lying side by side in death, and there's a throwaway line about how their baby will grow up to learn how its parents died fighting for a noble cause. Um, lame? Even the scene where Harry dies and meets Dumbledore in the afterlife seems to go by quickly (nice touch with the bloody fetus/Gollum type thing representing the part of Voldemort's soul in Harry). The movie is packed so full that it can only afford to linger on the most poignant and exciting scenes for a few moments before moving on.

But all of the flaws in the final Harry Potter film are understandable and unavoidable. You can't translate an epic book series to the big screen without breaking a few eggs, right? And I'm not sure if my lack of knowledge of the books made me more forgiving or less forgiving of the movies' foibles.

In the end, it doesn't really matter that I never read the books. Maybe I avoided some of the intense and complicated emotions that devout fans of the books who grew up with Harry felt. But I was still touched and awed by the final chapter, in which the Boy Who Lived grew into a man.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Hostile Work Environment

Movies: Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses' strength lies in its spot-on ensemble cast. In fact, you can't really talk about the movie without going into detail about the cast and the characters they play, which is exactly what I'm going to do now.

Some of the roles are played by the very actor who you would expect in that role, and they fit like a glove. For example, Kevin Spacey as the smirking, sadistic Dave Harken. Dave is Nick Hendricks's boss, played to a T by every-straight-man Jason Bateman, who grimly accepts that in order to get ahead, he must put up with Dave's cruelties and abusive behavior. Jason Sudekis and Charlie Day play Nick's buddies, Kurt and Dale. Kurt is a laid-back womanizer who is lucky enough to work for a great man, Jack Pellitt (Donald Sutherland). That is, until Jack has a heart attack, leaving his self-made company to his son, Bobby, a coke addicted weirdo who simply wants to milk his father's legacy for every penny it's worth. Dale is a talkative, slightly manic dental assistant who is a true romantic. In a voice over, he tells the audience that when he was a kid, he wanted to grow up to be a husband. He's about to get the chance to fulfill this dream after proposing to his fiancee. If only it weren't for his boss, Julia Harris, who enjoys sexually harassing and humiliating Dale on a daily basis, and threatening to blackmail him if he doesn't submit to her outrageous advances.

In addition to the actors who fit perfectly into their roles, there are some surprises. Jennifer Aniston (who is, by the way, secretly a good actress. See The Good Girl) eats up her role as Dr. Harris, the nymphomaniac dentist who has a mouth so filthy, all of the dental instruments in the world wouldn't be able to clean it up. Colin Farrell, hot under normal circumstances, is unrecognizable as Kurt's cokehead boss with a bad combover and beer gut. Also, Jamie Foxx, has a hilarious cameo as "murder consultant" named Motherf*cker Jones (nee Dean Jones--he didn't want to be confused with the actor from The Love Bug). It turns out that MF Jones never actually served time for killing anyone, but for pirating a movie.

Unfortunately, the strong cast doesn't change the fact that Horrible Bosses is, well, highly derivative. Of course, the very premise of the film--the three friends conspire to kill one another's horrible bosses--recalls Strangers on a Train. But in addition to that, Horrible Bosses has a number of jokes that are pretty much stolen from other movies. You know the scene in Annie Hall where Woody Allen sneezes on some expensive cocaine? Yeah, there's a scene like that in Horrible Bosses. And the scene in Dodgeball where Ben Stiller brings Vince Vaughn a briefcase with ten thousand dollars, and it's this tiny stack of bills? Also in Horrible Bosses. And the scene in High Fidelity where John Cusack fantasizes about beating up Tim Robbins with his coworkers cheering him on. You guessed it...Horrible Bosses has a similar scene.

I guess you could argue that there's very little new under the sun and that most movies steal from other movies. True enough. But it just seemed more noticeable in this film. Don't get me wrong--I laughed a lot during the movie. I just wish it had been a little more original.

Also, there were a lot of jokes about rape and sexual harassment. Rape and sexual harassment of men, to be specific, because apparently it's funny when that kind of thing happens to men. I mean, I expected a couple of jokes about how Dale is "lucky" to be harassed by his sexy, female boss, but I didn't expect all the prison rape jokes. It felt gross after a while. And worse than gross--tired.

Despite its flaws, Horrible Bosses isn't a total waste. It's got some legitimately hilarious moments. But, like Cedar Rapids, which I saw earlier this year, it's more of a Red Box rental than a full price ticket movie.

3 out of 5 stars

With Friends Like These

Movies: The Trip

Just as there is a Stephen Colbert and a "Stephen Colbert", there is a Steve Coogan and a "Steve Coogan"--a real man, and his character which sometimes bleeds into real life.

I've seen about 7 or 8 movies starring Coogan (a glance at his profile on IMDB reveals just how prolific the actor is). In a few of the movies he plays himself and in others he plays a character. In all of them he plays a self-important, pompous ass. So, my assumption is that the real Coogan is carefully controlling his career so that he always comes off, whether in character or not, as an ass. Either that, or Coogan is, in fact, an ass.

The Trip, like Tristram Shandy and Coffee and Cigarettes, is one of the films where Coogan plays "himself". And when I say he plays "himself", I mean he plays this asshole named "Steve Coogan", in the same way that Stephen Colbert plays an asshole named "Stephen Colbert" on The Colbert Report. Ok...now I'm just confusing myself. But you get my point. I don't really believe the real Coogan is like the Coogan he plays in The Trip. But then...maybe he is?

Anyway, in The Trip Coogan and his actor friend Rob Brydon take a road trip around north England, eating in the finest, hippest restaurants for a story for The Observer. The two men wine and dine, do celebrity impressions (Brydon's Michael Caine is unbelievable), and bicker. Coogan is narcissistic and aggressive, demanding the best rooms and constantly attempting to one-up Brydon. Brydon is laid-back and takes Coogan's jabs with good humor. The film also highlights the men's relationships with women: Brydon's loving relationship with his wife, and Coogan's fraught relationship with his semi-girlfriend, Mischa. In the end, Brydon comes off as a happy, goofy man with stable relationships and Coogan comes off as a bitter, insecure crank who is all alone. The end.

Seriously, that's it. While The Trip had its moments of hilarity, the film left me wanting something more. The dynamic between Coogan and Brydon was intriguing, but in the end, the message seemed too simple. I was left wondering what I had gained from seeing The Trip. I certainly hadn't lost much--the film was worth the money I paid for it, and, except for a few boring scenes, was an overall solid two hours of entertainment. But I didn't really get much out of it either. It was a wash. It was one of those movies where the funniest scenes are in the preview, and the feature length film offers a little more, but not much.

I'd recommend The Trip to fans of Coogan and/or Brydon and aficionados of British humor. Anyone looking for a light buddy-comedy will likely be disappointed.

3 out of 5 stars

An Uncommonly Gentle Man

Movies: Buck

Buck is a documentary about Buck Brannaman, a horse trainer who was one of the inspirations for Nicholas Evans's novel The Horse Whisperer (the book was, however, not solely based on him). Brannaman proves to be an ordinary man with extraordinary talents. Although he claims that any person with enough patience can become a horse trainer, Buck's way with animals seems truly exemplary. He trains young, spirited horses not by forcing the horse to obey, but by taking it at the horse's pace. He points out that a horse who acts wild and violent is often scared and on the defensive, so a good trainer will slowly gain the horse's trust by being gentle and non-threatening. Director Cindy Meehl shows Buck in action at various horse-training clinics. It's amazing to see how Buck's presence almost immediately calms the animals down.


In interacting with humans, Buck is similarly gentle, yet firm. He is not afraid to chastise owners of particularly unruly horses (he says that a horse's behavior is often a mirror of its owner), but he does so in a way that is helpful and never harsh. You can hear the pride and love in Buck's voice when he talks about his wife and children, though he doesn't gush. This man is the definition of the "strong and silent" cowboy type. He is soft spoken, but he's no pushover.

The truly extraordinary thing about Buck Brannaman is the fact that he emerged from an extremely violent childhood. Buck's father was physically abusive, beating Buck and his brother on a regular basis. The two boys were eventually removed from their father's household (their mother died when Buck was around 10 or 12 years old) and placed in foster care. Buck's foster mother is still alive and was interviewed for this film--and she is obviously a loving, gutsy lady who raised Buck to be the man he is today. Some people who come from violent homes grow up to perpetuate that violence; others have a difficult time with trust and communication as adults. Against great odds, Buck managed to thrive despite the horrible things he went through as a child. He discusses how when he first went to foster care, he was terrified of adult men and had difficulty speaking to them or looking them in the eye. But over time and with the help of a his foster mom and dad, he overcame these obstacles. It's pretty clear that Buck's experiences growing up--both being abused, and being rescued from that abuse--play a large role in his ability to understand and train horses. Buck says, "Abused horses are like abused children. They trust no one and expect the worst. But patience, leadership, compassion, and firmness can help them overcome their pasts."

Buck is a documentary that is inspiring without being sappy. The world would benefit from more people like Buck Brannaman.

4 out of 5 stars

Holistic Medicine

Movies: Love and Other Drugs

Based on the book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman, Love and Other Drugs is a pleasant, cleverly-written film with a surprisingly poignant center.


When the film came out last fall, it received mixed reviews. The main problem critics seemed to have with it was that it had too much going on at once. Indeed, I originally wrote a review attempting to explain the plot that went on for about 6 long paragraphs. Instead of subjecting you to that, I'm going to outline the plot minimally here (spoilers):

* Jake Gyllenhaal plays Jamie Randall, a young man who is natural salesman (and ladies man) who becomes a pharmaceutical rep for Pfizer after dropping out of medical school.
* In the course of his interactions with Dr. Stan Knight (Hank Azaria), whom Jamie is trying to convince to switch from prescribing Prozac to prescribing Zoloft, Jamie meets Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway). Maggie is 26 years old and suffering from early on-set Parkinson's disease.
* Jamie and Maggie begin a relationship based purely on sex since neither of them is particularly capable of intimacy.
* Meanwhile, Jamie's star rises at Pfizer. When a new drug for erectile dysfunction premieres (a little blue pill called Viagra--hard to believe it's just over a decade old), Jamie becomes a top seller.
* But Jamie is not satisfied with earning a ton of money and being promoted. He's falling in love with Maggie and attempting to convince her to deepen their relationship.
* Maggie's Parkinson's is getting worse and Jamie is set on finding a cure for her. It becomes a single-minded focus of his, and soon Maggie realizes Jamie can love her only if there's hope that she may be cured. She breaks up with him.
* Jamie is given a big promotion, which will take him to Chicago. Instead, he performs a Grand Gesture of Movie Love (tm) and convinces Maggie to take him back. He quits Pfizer and decides to go back to medical school.

See? Even my bare bones outline takes forever! The critics may be on to something. But when you think about it, there are really only two plot lines going on here: 1) Jamie's career trajectory at Pfizer and 2) Jamie and Maggie's relationship (annoyingly, we're told little about Maggie's personal life and job). It's just that the two plots are fully fleshed out and we see what happens over the course of a couple years, so it *seems* like the plot is stuffed full, when really it's just very detailed. I actually found that the two stories buoyed each other and made each one seem more real. If the movie had focused entirely on Maggie and Jamie's relationship, it may have fallen into Lifetime movie territory (womanizer learns how to love when he meets a dying woman). If it had focused on Jamie's career at Pfizer, it would have lacked the message about accepting vulnerability in life and love that comes across so sweetly in the end. Together, the plot lines intertwine to create a unique film about balancing a difficult relationship with a high-powered career, and growing as whole person too. It's about evolving, sacrificing, and accepting limitations. Maggie and Jamie start out damaged: Jamie is a talented, intelligent man who secretly dislikes himself and focuses on making money and having sex to avoid facing his problems. Maggie considers herself damaged goods and thus protects her pride by refusing to get close to anyone. Together, the two characters learn that it's okay to let others help you, even though it's scary to put that much faith in another person.

It all sounds so cheesy when I write it, but Love and Other Drugs nearly had me in tears multiple times. A scene where Maggie attends a convention for Parkinson's victims is both heartbreaking and uplifting. When Jamie nearly has a panic attack before blurting out "I love you" to Maggie (something he never said to anyone before), it has a feel of familiarity--the feeling of fear, exhilaration, and surrender when we realize we love someone. Although the film is cliched and flawed in many ways, it didn't strike me as typical Hollywood fluff where no one has any real problems and the obstacles are minor and easily overcome. This is partially due to the acting chops of Gyllenhaal and Hathaway, who, in addition to both being absurdly pretty, have depths and abilities that other absurdly pretty A-listers don't. The two are natural together, and they make you believe in their love and pain.

In addition, Love and Other Drugs has a surprisingly funny and cavalier script. Viagra is referred to as a "fuck drug" or a "dick drug" in casual conversation. For some reason (I'm immature?), I found that to be hilarious. One review said that the movie's relaxed attitude toward nudity was almost "European". I wouldn't say that, exactly, but the film is infused with a laid-back sense of humor that somehow manages to be dirty without being crude.

I don't know. Love and Other Drugs can be annoying and silly at times, but I got a lot out of it.

4 out of 5 stars

Revenge of the Nerd

Books: Bossypants

Tina Fey's hilarious and light memoir, Bossypants, has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 12 weeks now. Currently, it's hovering at #5 on the list of bestselling hardcover fiction--one slot above Ann Coulter's latest screed, Demonic, I might gloatingly add.

I'm very happy about the visibility of Fey's memoir for a number of reasons. Unlike some people who are famous for being famous (and go on to write irrelevant memoirs about their irrelevant famousness), Fey is actually a multi-talented, hard-working, and very intelligent woman. In Bossypants she starts from the beginning, describing her middle class upbringing (the chapter about her father, Don Fey, is excellent), her dorky, boyfriend-less years at the University of Virginia, her first job, and her time with Second City. We learn that Fey is, in some respects, as average as you or me. She truly was a dork growing up, working at a community theatre camp and dealing with unrequited crushes*. Fey is in turn modest about her success, suggesting that she lucked into certain circumstances, while also giving off an air of sarcasm toward those who would mock or detract her (in one chapter she responds directly to trollish online comments about her). She never comes off as bitter, though she is definitely wry.

Fey goes on to write about her ill-fated honeymoon, her start as a writer and eventual performer on Saturday Night Live, her experiences as a mother (the section about pumping breast milk while watching Entourage is not to be missed!), and, of course, Sarah Palin. Fey's insights into what actually happens "behind the scenes" in showbiz removes the glamour and reveals the surprising ordinariness of Fey's work.

Although Fey avoids political statements (and is diplomatic--quite diplomatic--toward Palin), she does discuss feminism quite a bit. I liked this. Fey is a rare person in the spotlight who is an "out" feminist and actually uses the word. She discusses being part of a number of "boys' clubs", where she was treated respectfully and equally as compared to other environments where she was subject to explicit "institutionalized gender norm nonsense" (at Second City they told her that no one would want to watch a sketch starring two women). So Fey is not railing against the patriarchy, or anything like that, since she didn't experience as many setbacks because of her gender as one might think. However, she's not shy in pointing out the subtle unfairness and sexism women face as mothers and in their careers. She even deconstructs the famous Sarah Palin/Hillary Clinton sketch she and Amy Poehler performed, pointing out that it was less about politics and more about the ways women in the political sphere are condescended to and mocked. Fey handles all this discussion of feminism and sexism with humor and a clear-eyed perspective. She calls a spade a spade, but never exaggerates to make her point.

Overall, Bossypants is consistently funny and interesting. Fey comes off as the real deal: modest, but not falsely so; warm, yet pleasantly sarcastic; intelligent, but not dryly academic. She's the woman you meet and instantly want to be friends with. I am in love with this woman.

4.5 out of 5 stars

*Did you know--Tina Fey not only didn't have a boyfriend in high school or college, but she lost her virginity at age 24 to the man she ended up marrying. See also: Paul Feig, creator of Freaks and Geeks and author of Superstud: Or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin. Seems as though some late bloomers in romance often become successful in later life.                                                                                                                      

Read this too. Just, seriously, read it.