MOVIES:
Steven Spielberg once said “the only thing better than seeing movies is
reading about them.”
We agree. This month:
P&F Magazine revisits our reviews of some of this year's Oscar
Nominated Films.
DVD'S:
Rick Sayre reviews
Yentil: Director's Extended Edition.
MUSIC:
Rick Sayre
brings us The Annie Lennox Collection.
BOOKS:
Jonny Bowden’s The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth and Frederic Delavier’s
Strength Training Anatomy.
FOCUS:
"In Honor of Our Mother." by Markell Williams.
SPOTLIGHT: "As we come back
from a commercial break the unmistakable silhouette of Reese Witherspoon
appears from nowhere, dressed in sapphire blue like a princess on her
way to a masquerade ball she walks from behind the curtain onto the
Oscar stage. She then proceeds to introduce her category and name the
outstanding nominees for the second most coveted prize in the award
show, Best Director. “And the Oscar goes to, Danny Boyle…” Those seven
words represent the culmination of a lifetime of hard work, sacrifice,
passion and devotion. As Danny Boyle takes the stage and makes good on a
bet that he made years ago with his children, he bounces his way to the
highest achievement a filmmaker can hope to accomplish in his career."
MOVIES:
Our reviews
of some of this year's Oscar nominated films
Starring: Meryl
Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis.
Doubt is based on a successful stage play written by
John Patrick Shanley. The critically acclaimed Broadway show ran from
November 2004 until July 2006 for a total of 525 performances. The play
won several awards including the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2005
Drama Desk Award for Best New Play and four Tony awards including Best
Play of 2005. So you could say it’s no surprise that the film was
nominated for five Oscars and five Golden Globes. Unfortunately,
Doubt finds itself in a tight race against a lot of great films. (It
had no luck at the Golden Globes, so I find it hard to imagine that it
will have any success at the Oscars.) Regardless of the outcome of these
award shows, I still think that this is a superbly well-written and
entertaining film. Right from the opening credits you feel the suspense
building onscreen just like a pressure cooker. At any moment the tension
and drama could escalate into a full scale Hoffman/Streep acting war.
The film takes
place at the St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx during the fall of
1964. The story revolves around four main characters: Father Brendan
Flynn, Sister Aloysius Beauvier, Sister James and Mrs. Miller. Father
Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a seemingly progressive, caring and
loving individual that welcomes change but hides a terrible secret. He
is unaware that the school’s principal, Sister Beauvier (Meryl Streep),
is keeping a close eye on him. Sister Beauvier believes that the use of
fear and discipline is the only way to run a school. She trusts no one,
and is determined to prove a theory that could ruin the lives of several
people. Sister James (Amy Adams) is a loving, passionate teacher with an
innocent sometimes naïve nature, unaware that she is about to fall
victim to one of Sister Beauvier’s modern day inquisitions. Mrs. Miller
(Viola Davis) is a hardworking African-American woman that would do
anything to avoid a scandal involving her family. She just wants her son
to finish the school year regardless of the price he might be paying.
The pivotal scene
in the story happens when Sister Beauvier confronts Mrs. Miller
regarding the inappropriate conduct of Father Flynn towards her son.
Mrs. Miller understands what’s going on but she begs Sister Beauvier not
to act. She feels that the only way that her son can have a chance to be
accepted at a good high school is if no one says or does anything.
Unfortunately this is the same attitude that a lot of families and
people of authority within the Catholic Church have taken when faced
with this problem. The families allowed the abuse to continue because
the priests represented authority, status in the community and a future
for their children. The church allowed this abuse to happen because they
knew that a life of celibacy encouraged this behavior. In their eyes,
sex with a woman is an unforgivable act, but sex with a child, well,
that only becomes a problem depending on who knows about it. As long as
the sex did not involve a consenting woman or man, any child abuse
scandal or accusation was just swept under the rug.
Even though the
direction of the story is no surprise, it’s the acting and the tension
created by the actors circumstances that make this film a must see. Both
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep are fabulous in their roles but
it’s Meryl Streep that steals the show. Her portrayal of a cold,
methodical, disciplined and unforgiving Sister detective sets the pace
and convinces us that she is right and everyone else is wrong. Can
experience and suspicion be enough to prosecute and convict someone,
even when there is no concrete evidence to prove the guilt of an
individual? This is the question that resonates throughout the film.
There will always be some doubt since very few things in life are
truly certain.
Written by: Baz Luhrmann, Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood and Richard
Flanagan
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman
In the tradition of grand old romantic
epics like Gone With The Wind or Doctor Zhivago,
Australia marks Baz Luhrmann's return after seven years away from
the cinema. His previous three films, Strictly Ballroom, Romeo
& Juliet and Moulin Rouge were all flashy, colorful,
theatrical treats that he came to refer to as his “Red Curtain Trilogy.”
Having seen nothing but these flamboyant and audacious productions, it
was hard to imagine what Luhrmann would be like without the Red Curtain
effect. Turns out that he's not so bad. However, he's also not as
exciting as he is when he's working his magic, exploding color and
quirkiness on to the screen.
Australia
follows Nicole Kidman's Lady Sarah to the dry Northern Territory, where
she is determined to sell her cattle ranch. Cowboy Hugh Jackman is there
to help herd the cattle and of course, become the object of Sarah's
affections—a spot he shares with a young half-breed Aboriginal kid who
they must protect from the authorities who would send the "creamy" to a
Church-run mission. Oh yeah, and World War II is starting to simmer.
It's a big story that's told with style and class—just not the trademark
style of Luhrmann. Which for some people is probably preferable, but as
much as I enjoyed the story and properly swooned and sighed over its
three hour running time, I felt a twinge of disappointment that it
wasn't the sort of Baz Luhrmann extravaganza I've grown to know and
love.
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond,
Jason Flemyng and Elias Koteas.
With all of the hype surrounding The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,
and with the intriguing trailer that surfaced a couple of months back, I
definitely had high expectations for David Fincher’s latest film.
Fincher’s last film, Zodiac, is remarkable and continues to be
one of the best films that I’ve seen in years, and that is something
that I often find myself remarking about his work in general: from
Se7ven to The Game to Fight Club to Panic Room
to the aforementioned Zodiac, David Fincher makes movies that are
saturated in the mood of their story, are visually stimulating and often
groundbreaking. At the core of all of these films, all of them
thrillers, is a central purpose that drives both the story and the
audience through the arc of the film. The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button took Fincher years to make and develop, but watching his end
result makes me wonder exactly what it was that drove him to tell this
fairy tale in the first place? His purpose does not translate clearly to
the film.
Nor does the story’s. Much has been made about the movie’s 2 hour and 45
minute length, but that didn’t bother me nearly half as much as the
film’s plot. There were so many odd elements to the film—from the
present-day-Katrina setting juxtaposed with Daisy’s (the luminous Cate
Blanchett) flashbacks (a technique that I hated in Titanic and
once again fails here) to the completely useless, except as a narrative
tool, underused existence of her daughter as played by Julia Ormond
(crazy that she was once the love interest of Brad Pitt in Legends of
the Fall)—but all of these elements could have worked had there been
more at play in the film other than a cute and odd fairly tale.
Grasping at a deeper meaning or a
commentary on wisdom and age in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
is really hard to do. I know that was probably Fincher’s as well as
Pitt’s intention but I find it to be reaching. Fincher accomplished a
technical feat by casting Pitt in the role of Benjamin, and watching him
age and regress to youth again is truly fascinating, but Pitt doesn’t
bring a lot of warmth or depth to Benjamin. His performance is oddly
reminiscent of his take on death in the awful drama Meet Joe Black,
with a little more charm thrown in for fairy tale’s sake. The Curious
Case of Benjamin Button shares a lot in common with Tim Burton’s
Big Fish, but unlike that film which managed to both develop a
story, a moral and a fairy tale all while wowing us with special
effects, Benjamin Button is just, well, disappointingly nice.
Which is an adjective that I never thought I would use to describe a
David Fincher film.
Documentaries are
not often known for being suspenseful, leaving you on the edge of your
seat (unless they’re directed by Errol Morris of course), but James
Marsh’s Man on Wire does exactly that. The ‘man on wire’ in
question is French tightrope walker Philippe Petit whose 1974 illegal
high-wire routine, performed between the World Trade Center’s twin
towers, became the stuff of legend. (I, in fact, always thought that it
was a legend even though I recall seeing a plaque years ago at the World
Trade Center that confirmed the act.)
The documentary
tells the story leading up to the death-defying routine: how Petit sat
in the dentist’s office one day, as a teenager, and read an article
about the building of the WTC and knew immediately that he would one day
walk between them; how Petit first walked the Notre Dame Cathedral and
then between the Sydney Harbour Bridge, aided by his group of
long-suffering friends and girlfriend; how Petit only ever dreamed of
being suspended in the air, dancing on a high-wire with nothing to hold
him back. The film ends with the climactic WTC act itself.
Petit himself is
interviewed in the documentary, along with his former girlfriend,
friends and co-conspirators. Petit is in many ways the perfect subject
for a film—he is likeable, intelligent and charming, three things that
come in handy when faced with the fact that he is also kind of a
selfish, self-involved prick. But what artist isn’t essentially? Time
and again, Petit “forced” his friends to participate in his criminal
acts not to mention watch him nearly die every single time, and
they faced all of it alone. For the WTC act for example, Petit became a
national hero and was let off with a mere penance (performing for a NYC
crowd) for his crime while his friends were severely punished, one
cohort even banned from entering the U.S. ever again.
The documentary
however makes no judgments on Petit nor asks us to; it simply revels in
the beauty that this man was able to accomplish with his wire walking. I
can’t remember the last time I watched scenes so beautiful and
awe-inspiring, where my mouth was literally left wide-open for minutes
at a time. Man on Wire is really about all that we can accomplish
as human beings, and truly encompasses the essence of the great Dana
Whitaker line from “Sports Night,” courtesy of Aaron Sorkin: “Look what
we can do.”
Written By: Ben
Stiller, Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen (Not to be confused with
writer/director Ethan Coen)
Starring: Robert
Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Ben Stiller,
Eric Winzenried, Steve Coogan, Bill Hader, Nick Nolte, Matthew
McConaughey and Tom Cruise.
As Tropic
Thunder opens you feel compelled to laugh uncontrollably. Could it
be that you are watching Ben Stiller’s latest comedy masterpiece? Or did
you mistakenly walk into Hot Shot’s Quest for the Missing Sheen?
Only time will tell, for now I suggest that you prepare yourself for a
dangerously funny and uncomfortable excursion into the Vietnamese
jungle.
So what can you
expect from this highly anticipated comedy? A hilarious first twenty
minutes. Then things start to get a bit dumb. Not to say that all of the
best lines or funny moments are in the beginning of the film, but it’s
the introduction of the characters and the set up for the story that’s
worth the price of admission.
The star of the
film is Kirk Lazarus played by Robert Downey Jr. His portrayal of Sgt.
Osiris is by far one of the funniest characters I have seen in a long
time. Sadly, after about half an hour into the movie, things take a bad
turn and you find yourself watching another installment from the Hot
Shots series, with an absurd kid villain and cheesy war movie
spoofs. (And just wait until Tom Cruise starts to dance.) The lack of a
concrete story ruined what could have been a very original and funny
film. It’s almost like the writers gave up right after the first half.
The cast keeps the movie afloat during the second half writer meltdown
but unfortunately, bad jokes, a lack of plot and the creepy Tom Cruise
force you to wonder what could have been. The movie is not as funny as I
expected, but it’s still worth watching. For now just wait until it
comes out on DVD and watch it in the comfort of your home.
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, Anna
Walton, Luke Goss, Seth MacFarlane and John Hurt.
It is no secret that I love Guillermo Del Toro—I love his passion, his
intelligence, his dark sense of humor, and I especially love his ability
to scare the shit out of me with horrific looking creatures. Having said
all of this, the fact that I loved Hellboy II: The Golden Army so
much more than the first Hellboy did come as a surprise
considering how much I loved that film. From the very beginning of this
film I was enthralled—by the way the story unfolded, by the growth of
the characters, but most of all, by the incredible world that Del Toro
envisions. The scene where Hellboy and the rest of the Bureau for
Paranormal Research and Defense gang go into the underground troll world
reminded me of the Mos Eisley Cantina scene in Star Wars, except
sooo much cooler and filled with even creepier and freakier
creatures. Del Toro, with the help of “Hellboy” comic book creator Mike
Mignola, tells the story of Hellboy with such care and attention to
detail that it is truly awe-inspiring to watch. Add to the mix the
perfect casting of Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor and, my
personal favorite, Doug Jones as Abe Sapien (my heart flutters
especially for him!) and you have yet another fantastic comic
adaptation. Watching this film I couldn’t help but imagine the world
that Del Toro will create for his upcoming Hobbit films. “Oh the
places we’ll go…Oh the people we’ll see…”
2008 was a great year for comic book fans. It was hard to
escape hearing about movies based on comics this summer, mostly due to a
pair of the year’s biggest movies, The Dark Knight and Iron
Man (not to mention the less-admired Incredible Hulk and all
of the buzz on next year’s Watchmen). I’ve got to say that for my
money the year’s best comic book movie was definitely… okay, The Dark
Knight. But mostly because I’m certain that it was the best
comic book film ever.However, a close second is Guillermo Del
Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Therefore, I was counting
down the minutes and stalking the mailbox until my copy of the 3-Disc
Collector’s DVD arrived. (You can also get a super-deluxe edition with
toys and such or a single movie-only disc.) The disc is done right (as
was the original film’s special edition), filled with commentaries,
featurettes, deleted scenes and even a digital copy. Hellboy on
my iPod? Yes, please.
In case you were wasting your time on other superheroes this
summer, here’s what you missed: This time around, Hellboy and company
are trying to prevent the awakening of a clockwork army that will no
doubt destroy the world. On top of that, they are handling personal
problems (Hellboy and Liz try to keep their relationship afloat), a new
team member (who turns out to be the loveable Krauss, voiced by Seth
McFarlane) and coming out of the closet to a world that still sees them
as a group of freaks, despite all of the good they’ve done. Combine all
that with the astounding vision of Guillermo Del Toro and you have a
movie that entertains on every single level and won’t leave you feeling
empty the next morning. He brings us tooth fairies that aren’t what we’d
expect, a Troll Market filled with amazing sights (I love the man with
the castle on his head!), a plant elemental that is both destructive and
heartbreaking, and a mesmerizing prelude told with puppets. The movie is
also blessed with a good dose of Del Toro’s wonderful humor, including a
great musical moment featuring the best use of a Barry Manilow song
since Serial Mom or television’s “Angel.”
I’m sorry; I gave Iron Man a try and while I adored
Robert Downey Jr. in the lead, that was pretty much all I took away from
it. I prefer to spend time in Del Toro’s unique world, populated as it
is with the freaks and the outsiders and Ron Perlman’s wildly
charismatic, ever-so-much-more interesting Hellboy.
Starring: Ben
Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger,
Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver.
It’s hard to
believe that it has been almost 13 years since Pixar’s animation team
first caught our attention and collective imaginations with the landmark
Toy Story. Since that film Pixar has become the standard in
animation—a brand name that is as recognizable (and successful) as, say,
Starbucks or even Apple (the latter is no coincidence considering Jobs’
still owns shares in Pixar). What is particularly remarkable about the
company is how they manage to raise the bar consistently with nearly
every film that they release (the underwhelming Cars not
included). When you saw Monsters. Inc. or Finding Nemo or
The Incredibles, you marveled at the moving story, at the
realistic characters, and at the level of animation technology being put
to use on the screen. Film after film, it was a given that Pixar would
deliver on all of these fronts, but with their latest release, WALL-E,
they have surpassed even my wildest expectations.
WALL-E is a joy to watch from beginning to end. From the
very first moments when you glimpse our beloved robot walking through
trash heaps, collecting knick-knacks for his private collection, and
squeaking and miming adoringly…well, let’s just say that WALL-E “had me
at hello.” Equal parts E.T. and Number 5 (“Number 5 is alive!), WALL-E
may just be the cutest Pixar creation ever. Every moment that he is
onscreen you are beguiled and enthralled by what he will do and discover
next. It is as if you are seeing the world for the very first time,
experiencing the joy of falling in love and being loved back, all
through the heart and eyes of a Charlie Chaplin-esque robot.
WALL-E features all of the wit and humor that we’ve come
to expect from Pixar—the sound of WALL-E powering up never got old—but
what steals your heart (and in my case, makes you sob) is the touching
story of one lonely robot’s search for someone’s hand to hold. (Yeah,
there’s also a whole underlining
we-human-beings-are-destroying-our-environment-thing, but that’s neither
here nor there.) It may seem ridiculous to some but WALL-E’s search is
THE universal search—I can’t even begin to tell you the number of days
that I’ve spent watching movies (not quite Hello Dolly! but…),
honing in on the love story and longing for it to mirror my own. The
sight of a trash-compressing robot like WALL-E finally finding love with
EVE is the animated-equivalent of Hanks and Ryan finally meeting each
other at the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day in
Sleepless in Seattle.
Starring Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Hiam Abbass, Danai Gurira.
“In a world of six billion people, it
only takes one to change your life.” The tagline for the follow-up to
Thomas McCarthy's The Station Agent best sums up the surprising
and humbly glorious power within each soul to save another's.
Walter Vale (Jenkins, a.k.a. the
father on “Six Feet Under”) is a kind-eyed, sixty-two-year-old
Connecticut economics professor who's been blankly going through the
motions of teaching and writing each day. In order to fill the void of
his beloved wife's passing, he attempts to learn classical piano. He's
somewhat put off by his instructor offering to buy his piano after their
first lesson together.
Just when he was resorting to
white-out a three-year old course syllabus, he's asked to present a
paper at a large conference in Manhattan. Arriving at his small
apartment in the city late one evening, he notices a fresh vase of
flowers and soon after, the young couple who have made a home in his
apartment. Scammed in real estate, Syrian drummer Tarek (Sleiman) and
his beautiful Senegalese jewelry-making girlfriend, Zainab (Gurira),
have nowhere to go. After they've gathered their belongings and headed
to find shelter, Walter finds a colorful yarn framed photo of the two
together and rescues them, letting them stay with him until they've
arranged plans.
Tarek is a passionate musician and his
heart is alive and open to resurrecting Walter's in their current
circumstance. He offers to teach Walter how to play the African drum, an
essential part of home for Tarek. Told that Tarek grew up drumming in
his underpants, viewers find Jenkins preciously doing the same on his
own one afternoon. In time, the incredibly soulful, simple rhythms bring
Walter out of his solitude to visit local jazz clubs and join Central
Park drum circles. Witnessing this academic find a new life in change is
both funny and sincerely heartwarming. You will love Jenkins' head-nods
and pizza eating in the park, conference nametag and all. Go, Walter!
One afternoon on their way to the drum
circle, Tarek is stopped by the police in the subway. An undocumented
citizen, he is held for deportation at a detention center in the Bronx.
Walter summons his personal courage and fire to do everything he can to
rescue his friend. Tarek's lovely worried widowed mother Mouna (Abbass),
in the know at least every three days, arrives from Michigan to find her
son. Walter offers Mouna Tarek's room while she waits for answers; the
two have much in common and share a slice of Paris together on Broadway
after seeing The Phantom of the Opera.
While I was expecting a happy
resolution at the end of the film, there wasn't one, and I felt the two
hours ended suddenly. But then I realized that the beauty of each of the
film's moments were the treasures: Tarek's gift of a Fela Kuti CD to
Walter during a lunch of schwarma; Walter selling jewelry at Zainab's
table while she gushed nervously over coffee with Mouna at a nearby
cafe; Zainab sharing her and Tarek's unique love for the Statue of
Liberty and Long Island ferry rides; Walter so honestly confessing to
Mouna that he hadn't been doing anything for a very long time (so
golden); and Mouna seeking comfort in Walter's arms their last evening
together. And that's really what's it's all about. As the Dalai Lama
said, "Compassion is the radicalism of our time."
Yentl:
If we don't have to hide my studying from God, then why from the
neighbors?
Yentl's
Father: Why? Because I trust God will understand. I'm not so sure about
the neighbors.
Yentl
(Barbra Streisand) is a young Jewish woman living in Eastern Europe
during the turn of the last century. Her father is allowing her to study
Talmudic Law, despite the laws preventing women from doing so. Yentl is
a spinster with a passion for learning and is truly devoted to her
father. When he dies, Yentl leaves her village and the life she would
have inevitably had to lead—that of a wife and mother, not the life of a
student. Yentl disguises herself as a boy, Anshel, so that she can study
at the yeshiva. Anshel is befriended by Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin, who, if
you don’t mind me saying so, is incredibly hot in this movie),
another passionate young student. However, while Avigdor loves Haddas
(Amy Irving), Yentl/Anshel finds herself falling in love with Avigdor.
The film is
based on a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Streisand had been
interested in making a film of Yentl for years before she finally
did in 1983. It was her directorial debut, a debut so accomplished that
it was compared by several people (including Steven Spielberg) to the
debut film of Orson Welles, a little movie we like to call Citizen
Kane. I’m not even sure I buy that, and I am a fan of Streisand’s.
However, there’s no doubt that this is an impressive film, particularly
by a first-time director. Did I mention that it’s a pseudo-musical? It’s
not your traditional movie musical at all. No one breaks out in song and
dance. The music, by Michel Legrand with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn
Bergman, is more like a glimpse into Yentl’s thoughts, serving as her
internal dialogue. Only at the end does she go into full-on musical
mode, and it is appropriate at the time. The performances in the film
are all quite good, with Patinkin in particular shining brightest.
The DVD is
one of those gifts for movie fans: An extended version of the film and
deleted scenes, with introductions and comments by Streisand herself. A
second disc includes deleted songs and featurettes about the cast, as
well as an 8mm concept film shot by Streisand. Whatever your thoughts
are where this particular megastar is concerned, I encourage you to give
the movie a chance. It’s an interesting and complicated story, but one
that is even more astounding for being released in the early 80s by a
major studio as a mainstream picture.
I have to
start off straight out by telling you that you need to buy The Annie
Lennox Collection and that you must buy the CD/DVD edition. I’ve
called myself a fan of Annie Lennox’s music since her post-Eurythmics
career began, with the singles “Why?” and “Walking on broken glass.” But
I’ve been a very casual fan. In fact, I never owned her debut album,
Diva, until a few years ago. On the other hand, I remember
purchasing Medusa, her sophomore disc, the day it came out,
bolstered by my love for the single, “No more I love you’s”. There was
excitement when, years later, she released her third disc, Bare.
I bought it as soon as I could, but didn’t really love it.
Her most
recent studio disc, last year’s Songs of Mass Destruction, was
given to me as a gift. While it was definitely better than Bare,
it still wasn’t one of those albums that I completely latched on to. In
fact, it wasn’t until listening to The Annie Lennox Collection
that I realized that the only Lennox album I could sing along to
completely was Medusa, an album of covers. That is, until now.
Filled from top to bottom with her gorgeous singles, from “Why?” to two
new tracks, this collection really does include the most perfect songs
of her career. What’s great about it is that while I have found myself
backtracking and listening to my favorite songs over and over again (the
“No more I love you’s” loop is a particularly easy one to get caught in,
as is the “Why?” loop), I have also found myself going back and
re-listening to songs I may not have loved before. Like “Cold” and
“Precious” which of course, is leading me back to re-experiencing the
albums individually, which will probably make me a much bigger fan. The
first of the new songs, “Pattern of my life” was written by Tom Chaplin
of the band Keane. It’s pretty good. However, the final song and the
second of the new recordings, is a cover of Irish band Ash’s song
“Shining light” and Lennox’s rendition is just as joyous and
heartwarming as the fantastic original (which is available on the band’s
best album, Free All Angels. Go obtain this immediately).
The bonus DVD
is also a revelation. While I certainly find myself thinking of the
magnificent Dangerous Liaisons-esque video for “Walking on broken
glass” every time I hear the song, I had forgotten how startling and
beautiful many of Lennox’s music videos are. Above all, the astounding
video for “Why?” is iconic. However, the video for “Little bird” with
its different incarnations of Annie singing along is brilliant (and who
else but Madonna or Kylie has had as many interesting and unique
personas throughout the years?) and the multiple Annies singing “Waiting
in vain” is even better than the singing Toris of the Tori Amos video
for “Crucify.” Unfortunately, the videos from her recent albums do not
fare as well. The ones that appear from Bare and Songs of Mass
Destruction are uninspired and grey compared to the edgy and
gorgeous earlier ones. (What is disappointing is that the Technicolor
video for “Shining light” was not included on the disc, although it is
part of the expanded edition on iTunes.) Fortunately there’s far more
great than blah on the disc and I think I love the DVD just as much as
the CD it came with.
On any given
weeknight all members of my gym fall prey to a phenomenon that I’d
politely dub “machinehead.” The symptoms of said affliction include in
this order: looking around for any aerobic or weight training equipment
not in use; realizing that all of it is unavailable; searching then for
free weights; realizing that the only dumbbells on hand weigh four times
your body weight; taking a deep breath and deciding that, “Hey, ten
minutes of stretching should do it. After all there’s a 20-minute time
limit on the cardio equipment;” contorting into some obscene yoga and
pilates poses for ten minutes, only to look over at the machines and
note, “Hey, those are the same people as before!”; then pacing the gym
floor, contemplating mass murder while pondering the relative moral
repercussions of defenestrating all these people’s children from high
rises. From a distance, watching this angst in an endorphin junkie is
perhaps better than tuning into the always cornball re-runs of
Laugh-In. When it’s you, however, who slip into machinehead, rest
assured, it’s all just blinding frustration and fury.
With the
recession in full swing, it seems the machinehead mentality has now
become even more common. The fear of the country’s economic strife, or
even, as some people darkly predict, collapse, works directly into the
equally paralyzing fear of illness. In the last several months, a
societal shift away from viewing health as an aesthetic badge of honor
to a sheer pocketed-dollar necessity seems steadily underway. Who, in
this time period, could possibly afford terminal sickness? Who could
afford the health insurance?
In a way, this
slowly but surely growing awareness of the importance of bodily health
is much-needed. Even in studying the body shape changes of American
women in the past two generations, it’s daunting to note the
debilitating effects of common ingredients such as high fructose corn
syrup. Even the tiniest and healthiest of women these days look as if
they’ve worked for it painstakingly, some of them through strictly
regulated vegetarian or vegan diets, some of them through calorie
depravation and diet pills. That lean, somewhat soft beauty of the women
of both my grandmother’s and mother’s generations is somewhat lost to
time now. That’s not to say that women are not as beautiful now as in
the past; it’s just to note that the beauty is of a vastly different
nature. It’s generally bulkier, firmer and quite conscious of itself.
For those with minds to picture this, think Carrie Underwood’s
athletic-caliber quadriceps, Jennifer Aniston’s yoga-trained frame, and
(Oh, do we dare go here?) Madonna’s too-well defined biceps and triceps.
American women at least are sculpted now, else they find themselves not
with a nice little layer of soft, malleable and organic fat but with an
amorphous, pudge fat.
For men, the
shift has been the same, albeit the fat generally accumulates around the
abdominals. When it’s taken into account that the abs afford great
stability and balance in later life, this truth is at least a bit
frightening. I imagine, for myself, all the men of my generation, say in
their sixties, all falling at one time, all of whom can’t get up for
lack of core strength. It’s a ridiculous image I know, but when you
begin to hear from family members that your grandfather has fallen and
broken a hip, you’ll understand that the exaggeration is meaningful.
Granted, the superficial, physical toll of current nutritional standards
on men seems not as great universally as on women, and that in part
deals with the way in which men and women store fat.
A quick primer:
Healthy men should carry between 15 to 20 percent body fat, healthy
women between 20 to 25 percent. The evolutionary reasoning here is that
in times of famine or dearth women will still survive through
pregnancies. Other controversial evolutionary theories posit that women
also maintain on average five percent more fat than do men because in
formative times the women spent a greater deal of their lives near
water. The fat then was meant to provide buoyancy. Seeing then that
women hold fat as a precaution for pregnancy, it’s a great deal harder
for women than for men to drop weight quickly.
This is not to
say that men these days are healthier than are women. The high fructose
corn syrup has done just as much if not more damage. This is only to say
that men tend to drop weight much faster and are for that reason able to
out-run health risks including diabetes and heart disease with seemingly
greater ease.
Here’s also a
last, fun fact about fat point to consider: One pound of fat equates to
3500 calories. For men that’s enough energy to carry through one and a
quarter full days of activity, for many women through two full days of
activity. That’s only one pound. So, if you happen to be, as I generally
am, almost 20 pounds overweight, there’s about 40 days of food for me to
work off at any point—that point in the day I decide I really want that
piece of dark chocolate, that point at which a bottle of blueberry ale
might be nice, that last point in which I feel the uncontrollable urge
to have a burrito loaded with white rice and black beans and cucumber
and avocado and....Oh, the list goes on of the foods that seem so
fitting in the moment.
Now, perhaps
within all that culinary desire, I do force myself to limit and drop
four or five pounds, here’s the dilemma: Each fat cell sets up systems
of communication with the body. The excess glucose, the energy unit of
conversion for foods, needs to store as fat in the cell, and then when
it’s needed, the fat needs to leave the cell, convert back into glucose
and then burn off for body fuel. This all means there’s a supporting
system of capillaries for each cell that moves the glucose into and out
of the blood stream. In order to ensure that a pound of fat is in fact
dropped, that supporting system needs to collapse, and that my friends,
takes at the least, six months to do. In other words, when you lose a
pound of fat, you’ll still be working it off for six months. This fact
succinctly explains why crash dieting doesn’t work. If you see the
advertisements for Acai Berry supplements, go screaming to the hills;
even if you do lose a bit of weight that way, the effect is temporary
unless some serious exercise accompanies the weight drop. For six
months.
While there are a
plethora of other weight loss and muscle building techniques I could
share, I’ll lead you instead to two of the greatest sources of my
rudimentary knowledge of nutrition and weight training, Jonny Bowden’s
The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth and Frederic Delavier’s
Strength Training Anatomy. Granted neither of these books is
page-turning reading, neither will well in you the emotional reactions
elicited by greats like John Steinbeck or Carson McCullers--and if they
should happen to, then I seriously fret about your mental health. Both,
however, will give you a knowledge of one of the most intimate subjects
imaginable, namely the workings of your very inner self.
Without sounding
too New Age here, I note for myself a definitive mind-body connection
that the fast food generation has largely ignored. While we may not
always be what we eat, we are often, yes, the products of our diets, and
this works directly into Bowden’s strength throughout The 150
Healthiest Foods… A health expert himself, Bowden collects
information for this “unbiased” book from multiple nutritionists
nationwide, and through an analysis of their answers and his knowledge
breaks down for his readers the health benefits of foods, which I kid
not, some of which Bowden himself had never heard of before beginning
his study. There’s nothing dire about the book; in fact, how can a book
on health be dire when coffee, red wine and dark chocolate still make
the list? But, Bowden is honest, and he sets out his warnings. Breast
cancer, yes, seems to have a connection to alcohol consumption. Grains,
no, are not meant as a staple of your diet. The ease of Bowden’s
explanations never paint him in a light of a fanatic, and this, I’m
grateful for, makes his voice both trustworthy and pleasant.
For those who
find themselves intimidated by the medieval contraptions of weight
training equipment, which, I admit, I at first was, Delavier’s
Strength Training Anatomy goes through an detailed breakdown of
varied exercises for whole body toning that explains not only how to
complete the muscle movement but also what exactly is happening to the
muscle group during contraction and release. In sidebars, Delavier also
explores training injuries and ways in which they may be prevented.
As my father had
cause to point out over the phone a few days back, I may here run the
risk of sounding like a health and fitness fiend. “It would be better
motivation for you to tell me that jumping on my bicycle is a good
cross-training technique to improve my reflexes on the motorcycle,” he
said. “It doesn’t help me when you say I’ll be convalescent at this rate
in my mid-seventies.”
Granted, I know
my father’s right. I know that most people loathe even hearing the word
gym spoken in a 100-foot radius. But, if I’m not mistaken, that word is
rapidly gaining increased importance, and by goodness, how glad my
little machinehead is that I find time to go to the gym on the off
hours.
Those are just some of the
words often used to describe Rosa Parks
As Nikki Giovanni described
her, she was a woman “who did an extraordinary thing”
She exemplified strength,
dignity, humility and great character
She was a leader who devoted
her life to fight against injustice
And on December 1, 1955
After living in a time of
segregation
After living in a time of
inequality
After living in a time when
we were considered less than human
Rosa said enough is enough
She was tired of being
treated as less than
Because she knew we were so
much more
It was time for the tables
to turn
And to reclaim our freedom
In that moment, when she
refused to give up her seat to a white man
When she refused to go to
the back of the bus
Her life, the brothers and
sisters of the Movement and our lives changed forever
Her act of defiance caused
us to rally together to fight for our civil rights
So that we could free
ourselves and this nation
Rosa’s actions should serve
as an inspiration
To stand up against any act
of hatred, intolerance, prejudice or discrimination, so
When you feel any form of
injustice taking place be it racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia and the
like,
Stand
When you feel that your or
someone else’s rights are being trampled over
Stand
If one person’s or a group
of people’s rights are being neglected, disregarded or deemed null and
void
We are all affected
Don’t be afraid to go out on
that limb
And do what’s right
Don’t be afraid to be like
Rosa
And do the extraordinary
thing
Because change will only
happen when we allow it to
When we’re ready to accept
it into our lives
When we’re ready to take on
the position and follow through with our actions
Only then will we see the
outcome
And it will be felt by all
It speaks volumes when a
nation mourns the loss of an individual
And when our nation mourned
the passing of Rosa Parks, it was a defining moment
For she became the 1st
women to lie in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol
Because many of the rights
we take for granted were fought for by people
Like Rosa Parks, Martin
Luther King, Bayard Rustin, Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X,
Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height, Paul Robeson and Mary McCloud Bethune
to name a few,
It begs to question, when
our foremothers and forefathers see us carrying on the way we do each
day, are they proud?
Do they feel that we are
honoring their legacies?
Do they think we’ve turned
our backs on the fight, our rights, our people, and personally, our
selves?
All the more reason why we
should continue to honor, celebrate, and commemorate Rosa Parks
Because we’ve come a long
way
And we still have a mighty
long road to follow
And if Rosa had not refused
to give up her seat, our fight
Along this road would’ve
been a great deal longer
History would be quite
different and so would we
So bask in the glory of Rosa
Parks and that moment
Be grateful for the work and
the many achievements of
Rosa and the other brothers
and sisters of the Movement
And please don’t forget your
ties
And your obligation to
honor, and when called upon,
To strengthen the legacy
May the Mother of the Civil
Rights Movement, Rosa Parks, Rest In Peace!
As we come back
from a commercial break the unmistakable silhouette of Reese Witherspoon
appears from nowhere, dressed in sapphire blue like a princess on her
way to a masquerade ball she walks from behind the curtain onto the
Oscar stage. She then proceeds to introduce her category and name the
outstanding nominees for the second most coveted prize in the award
show, Best Director. “And the Oscar goes to, Danny Boyle…” Those seven
words represent the culmination of a lifetime of hard work, sacrifice,
passion and devotion. As Danny Boyle takes the stage and makes good on a
bet that he made years ago with his children, he bounces his way to the
highest achievement a filmmaker can hope to accomplish in his career.
Danny Boyle was
born in Radcliffe, England on the 20th of October 1956. When
he was fourteen years old he tried to transfer to a seminary school but
a priest advised him against it. It’s a good thing he listened to the
man otherwise only God would have known about his tremendous talent.
Boyle began his artistic career in theater with the Joint Stock Theater
Company and later became an Artistic Director with the Royal Court
Theater. At the same time he was also working in television as a
producer for BBC Northern Ireland. Following a successful run directing
several hit shows, he decided to put television on hold and set his eyes
on feature films.
His first feature
film was the dark comedy Shallow Grave written by long time
friend and collaborator John Hodge. The film deals with the pros and
cons of finding a suitcase full of cash, and what it really means to
have to share it with friends. (So lock your door, turn off the light,
and make sure your share of the stash is hidden somewhere safe. Then
just sit back, relax and wait to be killed by your best friend.)
Although this is not one of my favorite Danny Boyle films I do feel that
he was successful in building the suspense and providing just the right
amount of violence to make it a memorable viewing experience. We also
can’t forget that this film is our introduction to an unknown Scottish
actor named Ewan McGregor.
His next project,
Trainspotting, is still one of my favorite films of all time. As
if by some divine inspiration Danny Boyle manages to create one of the
most realistically shocking films about drug use and the world inhabited
by the drug users. Everything about this film is painfully
brilliant--from the amazing soundtrack to the endless roster of talented
actors. This movie defined my generation, we couldn’t look away from the
screen, and it forced us to take responsibility for our actions and to
choose life. Trainspotting is a beautiful, funny, romantic,
scary, happy, sad, suspenseful and even sinfully pleasurable film to
watch. You will be drawn into Renton’s vein even before you realize that
Mr. Boyle has already made you an addict.
A Life Less
Ordinary
was the eventual dip in an otherwise steady climb for Danny Boyle. Not a
bad film, but not exactly what you would expect as a follow up to
Trainspotting. This film would also prove to be the last time that
Mr. Boyle collaborated with screenwriter John Hodge on a feature film.
In order to avoid offending those people that did like the movie I will
try to limit my criticism and just say that A Life Less Ordinary
is a cute romantic comedy with a predictable heavenly twist that made me
wish somebody else would have directed it.
The Beach
was the much-needed step in the right direction. For this film Danny
Boyle partners with a new screenwriter and begins working on the formula
that will one day lead him to Oscar glory. Based on the novel by Alex
Garland, The Beach is a sobering reminder of the price you might
pay to live in a utopian society. The film will leave you wondering how
far you would go to protect your perfect piece of paradise. This would
become the first of many film collaborations between Alex Garland and
Danny Boyle. (Personally, I think that this partnership becomes the
catalyst for a new direction in his career that will lead him all the
way to his most critically acclaimed project Slumdog Millionaire.)
This film is the first in a series of Danny Boyle films that try to show
how we are all connected and that our actions do have consequences.
28 Days Later…
is the ultimate zombie movie. Not because of the carnage or the violence
but because at the heart of it there is a well-written suspenseful
survival story. Most films in this genre never have the budget or the
desire to shoot something that’s well written. So you could say that
Danny Boyle has accomplished what no director has done before. He made
the first intelligent, refined, artistic zombie film. I love this movie;
it has everything you could ask for and more. Without a doubt 28 Days
Later… is the perfect example of the risks that Danny Boyle is
willing to take as a filmmaker. Any other director would have dismissed
even the thought of getting into this genre, especially if nobody else
was doing it. I think the fact that this movie was so well received
among audiences of all ages clearly illustrates the skills and talent
that Danny Boyle has achieved as a director.
In Millions
Danny Boyle tones it back down a bit. Millions is the story of
two kids that find a bag of money that has to be spent in a week’s time.
The kids try to make everyone happy by spreading the wealth around, but
in the end they realize that money is as much a burden as it is a
blessing. Overall this is a good movie with an even better message, but
I just couldn’t stand the younger of the two brothers. That freaking
little kid drove me crazy throughout the movie; everything he did would
bring nothing but trouble for himself and his family. He was cute and
all but by the end of the film I wished that zombies would suddenly make
a cameo and take the kid out for dinner.
Sunshine is a
supernatural sci-fi thriller, a beautifully shot and well-written film
that questions our right to play God. Fifty years into the future as
Icarus II races to the sun on a last chance mission to save our dying
star, the brave crew is now entering unknown territory unable to shake
the constant reminder of the failure and disappearance of the first
mission Icarus I. Sunshine is a non-stop thrill ride with an
unforgettable climax played brilliantly by a superb international cast.
I truly hope that Danny Boyle continues to explore this genre,
especially since nobody else wants to. Once again Boyle shows us that he
can take on a risky project and make it pay off. This leads me to his
latest and riskiest project of all, a modern day rags to riches story
set in the slums of Mumbai.
Slumdog
Millionaire,
winner of eight Academy awards including; Best Cinematography, Best
Director, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Original Song, Best Sound, Best
Adapted Screenplay and the most important prize of all, Best Picture. So
you could say that it has all finally paid off for Danny Boyle. This
modern day rags to riches story is living proof of the bonds that hold
us together. If you persist and if you stay true to yourself your time
to shine will come. Even during the darkest moments you can always be
sure that light is just about to break through. Danny Boyle has a
special sensitivity to the human condition; this is why I believe that
he is the only filmmaker that could have made this story work. The
choice to go with the young unknown Indian actors was also a key
decision that proved successful in making the film feel as authentic as
possible. Slumdog Millionaire will break your heart and fill it
up again. So don’t be surprised if you leave the theater asking
yourself, What can I do to help?
Ever since I got
hooked during Trainspotting I have been unable to stop watching
Danny Boyle’s films. He is a man on a mission; he wants to make the
world a better place one movie at a time. Using only his camera, his
heart and his big beautiful smile, Danny Boyle will show us that we are
all brothers and sisters and we share the same love and passion for
life. I can’t wait to see what Mr. Boyle has in store for us in the
future, and I’m pretty sure that this will not be the last time that we
will hear: “…And the Oscar goes to… Danny Boyle.”
