Monday, January 26, 2015
Reel Reviews
The Book Thief -- This may be the first movie about Nazi Germany to ever capture so clearly the sense of how medieval the place, time, and frame of mind was. Though the story, and the film's interpretation thereof, are set in the Germany of the '30s and '40s, the feeling that comes through when watching this film is of a place and time--and, perhaps, a culture and an ideology--from at least two centuries before then. Within that context the movie presents a lovely story that manages to avoid being a downer despite the grief and horror that surrounds young Liesl's life. (Big kudos to young Sophie Nélisse, who shines in the role of Liesl.) It can be a little heavy at times, but this picture delivers a moving experience and deserves your attention.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Reel Reviews
The Fault In Our Stars -- This is obviously a work of fiction. Most real life people aren't nearly as charming, intelligent, sophisticated, and interesting as the two protagonists in this tearjerking tale. If you can get over that suspension of disbelief hurdle, you'll find yourself pleased and charmed and moved by this film, and you'll probably get a good cry out of it, too. And that's definitely something everyone needs once in a while. Give this one a look.
Recently Read
A Nice Little Place on the North Side:
Wrigley Field at One Hundred
by George Will
As a newspaper columnist and television talking head, George Will has been the epitome of elitism and snobbery, all wrapped up in a bow-tied package that serves only the interests of the wealthy masters who pay him handsomely for such representation. But every once in a while, Will steps away from his political role and chooses to celebrate his other--perhaps only legitimate--passion, baseball. And when Will writes about baseball, he becomes...well, not exactly likeable. Tolerable is probably a better adjective for this other dimension of Will's character.
Loveable is not the correct adjective either, though it is one that is often attached--along with tag "losers"--to Will's subject in his latest baseball book, the Cubs. For while A Nice Little Place on the North Side is ostensibly about Wrigley Field, the ballpark is just a building, and it would be of little note to anyone but for the actions of the team that has spent most of the park's history as its primary tenant.
That's a problem, because, while a reader should absorb an author's work with a dispassionate mind, the fact is that when a professional sports team serves as the bulk of a book's subject, only a non-fan can maintain that kind of stoic disassociation. And those who are not sports fans rarely pick up sports-related books. Those who will crack the spine of a newly minted baseball book are most likely baseball fans, who will bring to those pages their own thoughts, feelings, and memories regarding the team in question.
Hence, the central role played by the Cubs in A Nice Little Place... can undermine the reader's enjoyment of the book (unless, of course, you are--like Will himself--a long-time Cubs fan). While a baseball fan may be able to appreciate a telling of the highs (rare) and lows (legion) of the Cubs' history, he is unlikely to be moved in any great sense by the vignettes presented in this book. (Will eschews a straight narrative history of the park and instead offers a more episodic, mostly chronological telling of Wrigley Field lore.)
That is probably why A Nice Little Place... is at its best when Will shifts away from idle tales about the Cubs' fortunes and relates more information about how Wrigley Field has affected the team's performance. Nowhere is this clearer than in Will's portrait of P.K. Wrigley, the son of the field's namesake and "reluctant owner" of the Cubs through the much of the middle of the 20th century (when losing records became Chicago's hallmark). In the junior Wrigley, Will gets to portray a near perfect idol for why the Cubs have underachieved for so long; the man actually came out and plainly said that his goal, in emphasizing the Wrigley Field experience (rather than winning teams), was to cater to "people not interested in baseball." Will builds a solid case that such a philosophy--ballpark as showcase and team as afterthought--has been the ruin of many a Cubs season.
One wonders then, if the ballpark has been so guilty, why would a true blue Cubs fan be so quick to lionize the place? Will, however, never wavers from his Cubs fan bona fides, even expressing some cautious optimism that the current Ricketts family ownership will put a stop to all this "just have a good time" stuff and put a winning team on that hallowed field. How quaint. Anyone who's been paying attention knows that recent renovations aren't going so well, and the neighborhood around Wrigley Field is getting restless.
So it goes for the Cubs, and partisans such as Will will have to endure the tribulations for a while longer before they see better days for their favorite team. And if things keep working out as usual for the team on Chicago's North Side? Well, Will and his friends will still have their favorite ballpark--in at least some of its glory--to comfort them with memories good and bad. Such is life and baseball.
Wrigley Field at One Hundred
by George Will
As a newspaper columnist and television talking head, George Will has been the epitome of elitism and snobbery, all wrapped up in a bow-tied package that serves only the interests of the wealthy masters who pay him handsomely for such representation. But every once in a while, Will steps away from his political role and chooses to celebrate his other--perhaps only legitimate--passion, baseball. And when Will writes about baseball, he becomes...well, not exactly likeable. Tolerable is probably a better adjective for this other dimension of Will's character.
Loveable is not the correct adjective either, though it is one that is often attached--along with tag "losers"--to Will's subject in his latest baseball book, the Cubs. For while A Nice Little Place on the North Side is ostensibly about Wrigley Field, the ballpark is just a building, and it would be of little note to anyone but for the actions of the team that has spent most of the park's history as its primary tenant.
 |
| George Will's A Nice Little Place on the North Side |
Hence, the central role played by the Cubs in A Nice Little Place... can undermine the reader's enjoyment of the book (unless, of course, you are--like Will himself--a long-time Cubs fan). While a baseball fan may be able to appreciate a telling of the highs (rare) and lows (legion) of the Cubs' history, he is unlikely to be moved in any great sense by the vignettes presented in this book. (Will eschews a straight narrative history of the park and instead offers a more episodic, mostly chronological telling of Wrigley Field lore.)
That is probably why A Nice Little Place... is at its best when Will shifts away from idle tales about the Cubs' fortunes and relates more information about how Wrigley Field has affected the team's performance. Nowhere is this clearer than in Will's portrait of P.K. Wrigley, the son of the field's namesake and "reluctant owner" of the Cubs through the much of the middle of the 20th century (when losing records became Chicago's hallmark). In the junior Wrigley, Will gets to portray a near perfect idol for why the Cubs have underachieved for so long; the man actually came out and plainly said that his goal, in emphasizing the Wrigley Field experience (rather than winning teams), was to cater to "people not interested in baseball." Will builds a solid case that such a philosophy--ballpark as showcase and team as afterthought--has been the ruin of many a Cubs season.
One wonders then, if the ballpark has been so guilty, why would a true blue Cubs fan be so quick to lionize the place? Will, however, never wavers from his Cubs fan bona fides, even expressing some cautious optimism that the current Ricketts family ownership will put a stop to all this "just have a good time" stuff and put a winning team on that hallowed field. How quaint. Anyone who's been paying attention knows that recent renovations aren't going so well, and the neighborhood around Wrigley Field is getting restless.
So it goes for the Cubs, and partisans such as Will will have to endure the tribulations for a while longer before they see better days for their favorite team. And if things keep working out as usual for the team on Chicago's North Side? Well, Will and his friends will still have their favorite ballpark--in at least some of its glory--to comfort them with memories good and bad. Such is life and baseball.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Reel Reviews
X-Men: Days of Future Past -- What's the strength of this franchise? Most would say action, special effects, the metaphor--whatever else is obvious about these movies. I'd say it's casting. The reason we care at all about what's going on here is simply how well these actors inhabit their roles, and make the characters meaningful to us despite all the hullabaloo. This is particularly so with Jackman's Wolverine, but also applies to Stewart and McAvoy as Xavier (they don't really look that much alike, but you still buy them as different ages of the same guy), Fassbender as Magneto, even the lightning quick kid whose name (and actor) I didn't catch. Oh, and what is going on here, a.k.a. story? Preposterous bullshit, of course--which is sort of the point of these things. Regardless, it's enjoyable bullshit, and worth at least a couple hours of your future time.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Reel Reviews
Kick-Ass 2 -- Lighten up, Jim. Yes, this is an extremely violent movie, but given the story it tells it could hardly be otherwise. In fact, I'll take this in your face violence over the sanitized, inconsequential violence we've been fed in so many Stallone or Schwarzenegger movies. The real problem here is not the graphic nature of the action, but the lack of freshness in the overall work. Such shortcomings are inevitable, perhaps, in a sequel like this, when the original was so fresh and...yes...original. What pulls this one through is the characters; we like and believe in Kick-Ass and Hit Girl, and want them to come out on top, whatever fight they're in. Just relax and let this one be what it is, and you'll have some fun watching it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
