Crazy is the New Normal

Looking for a little entertainment this weekend away from the heat? Why not come and peruse the video collection at the Warsaw Community Public Library? If you're not quite sure about what to choose, have I got a film for you...Silver Linings Playbook.

Every now and then a movie comes along that works on nearly every level and bowls you over. For me, Silver Linings Playbook was one of those movies. When I first sat down to watch this movie, I wasn't sure what to expect, but as I settled in, I began to recognize parts of my life in this story and could relate to its characters. Set in Philadelphia, the movie shows Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) returning home from a stint in a mental institution after a domestic incident with his ex-wife highlighted his struggle with bipolar mood swings. Pat moves back in with his parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) as he tries to get his life back together, hoping to reunite with his ex-wife. Things get very interesting when Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a young woman with issues of her own.

At heart, this is a film about mental illness and its effects on everyday life. And how sometimes we are left with the task of putting our lives back together and starting over, and probably not for the last time. It's about dealing with unemployment, failed relationships, feeling 'less than', different, like we don't fit in...the older than our years wisdom that we acquire from years of suffering, dealing with our demons and doing "a lot of therapy", the long list of medications we have tried, looking for something that works and learning to accept the side effects, the realization that we are not the only ones with issues, that we are all, in the end, just human beings and everyone around us is struggling with something and that we all have our strengths and weaknesses. And how we just need to find that "silver lining" to get through life.

This film is good medicine for anyone who deals with the ups and down of mental illness. It is ultimately a joyous affirmation of life's possibilities. And who doesn't need a little of that?

Let's pretend this never happened

First of all I'd like to say that Jenny Lawson had me on her book cover alone! Who doesn't love a white mouse doing Shakespeare? Her memoir entitled “Let's pretend this never happened made me laugh so hard that I cried. Even as I was laughing, I was thinking, "Should I be laughing at this?”

Let's pretend starts out with hilarious childhood stories that revolve around Jenny's unconventional taxidermist father and kindhearted mother. Most of us did not grow up with dead animal carcasses hanging around the house but Jenny Lawson did and it served many humorous moments. She holds nothing back. She tells of her struggles to get pregnant, of her marriage, of her patient husband, and many other anecdotal incidents along the way. Though this book is written as a humor novel, it is also a tale of a woman who struggles with anxiety disorder which often inhibits her in social situations while providing her a unique strange view of the world.

I could relate to Jenny Lawson in that, like me, she realizes that her experiences in life has made her the unique individual she is and that she wouldn't trade it for anything else. Plus, she also believes in the impending zombie apocalypse! Definitely a woman after my own heart!

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

I spent last Sunday afternoon watching a TV show on MTV called “Catfish”. I had heard of this show through my sons and since MTV was having a Catfish marathon I decided to watch it. After watching the last episode of the first season I figured why not watch the movie that started this whole “Catfish” phenomenon? Where better to find this movie than at the Warsaw Community Public Library? So I grabbed the movie, settled in and was hooked from the first frame to the last.

In this day and age it seems that social networking has dominated our lives. People think nothing of interacting online with someone they've never met in person. The big question is how much can you really trust a person you meet online? The movie Catfish is a documentary that addresses this. Yaniv Schulman(Nev) is a young 20 something photographer who thinks he has found the perfect woman, problem is they've never met in person. When Nev discovers that Megan(his dream girl) is being deceptive, he, his brother, and a friend embark on a road trip to meet her face to face. What they find is partly what viewers will expect, but partly not. What emerges from this story is a tense, more-than-a-little-disturbing study on human deception and the lengths some people will go through to live a lie.

It's not to say that every online friendship/romance turns out this way(mine had a happy ending), and while this story is not the worst case situation it was one that was definitely full of lies. While it is entertaining to watch, it is also really sad that someone's life can become so pathetic that they create this whole world online in an attempt to reach out to what they've missed out on and how that can hurt the person at the other end. A little lie always has to be covered up by dozens of other little lies and sometimes, as in the case of “Megan”, your whole life becomes a lie. Even when she is caught, she continues to lie.

I think Catfish should be required viewing for all teens so there is an awareness that what you see or hear isn't always truth. There is a difference between perception and reality. Some people like to say perception is reality....Catfish proves otherwise.

I Want my MTV back!

Do you have moments where you long for those glory days of the 80's? Well then, VJ the unplugged adventures of MTV's first wave is the book for you! If you were a teenager in the early 80s(Like me) and were fortunate enough to have cable, MTV was in all likelihood a momentous part of your life. Embraced by the young and bashed by the critics, MTV made it's debut on August 1, 1981 at 12:01 am, and it forever changed the way music marketed itself. In the beginning there were the original five VJ's : Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn. Most of us from that era have our favorite(mine was Mark, loved the hair). MTV introduced me to tons of music I would have never heard otherwise(U2, The Cure, etc.). I can remember setting the timer on our VCR to record the debut of new videos that were unveiled well after midnight on school nights(This was way back when they actually played videos  24/7).

But VJ isn't really about the network MTV, instead it is a collection of 
recollections and interviews by the four surviving original VJs(JJ Jackson passed away in 2004). The book encompasses their lives from the beginning before their hiring, to their departures from the network, to a few being rehired, to all the way to present day.  I have to give props to all of them for their frankness in discussing their immersion into the world of sex drugs and rock 'n' roll. They seem very much like how I imagined them. The only downfall to this book was the absence of JJ Jackson's voice, who was sorely missed.

An item of interest that I did not know was the VJ's were never actually watching the videos they introduced! All their VJ segments were recorded separately(Who knew?)

 I have to say after finishing the book I was saddened by the fact that these five amazing people, who were such a big part of my youth, just sort of faded into oblivion as did the format of MTV(Even now I still mourn the loss of the 24/7 video play). And yet even after 30 plus years these five are still widely remembered by those of us who can remember the moment when video did actually kill the radio star.

The Red Dawns: a comparison

Hollywood's constant idea of recycling old successful movies has become irritating(with the exception of Star Trek) More so than those other remade films, Red Dawn was a period piece which played into a specific '80s obsession: “The Cold War”...The Communists are out to get us! Updating the scenario to the 21^st century, who's the enemy now? Well initially the filmmakers made China the enemy, but shortly after finishing production realized, "Oh wait it might not be such a good idea to tick off China". So after being shelved for 2 years, changes were made to the remake and the bad guys became North Korea. The 1984 Red Dawn was about not backing down and fighting for freedom. 28 years later, we are totally happy to neuter our super-patriotic movies so as not to offend a country whose money we want and need.

Because of this (the remake) I didn't buy that it was guerrilla warfare. It seemed more like either a weekend survivalist retreat with some poorly staged battle sequences or a fun game of capture the flag. Even though there are some scenes that try to play homage to the original, such as the drinking of the deer blood, they mostly fall flat. When one of the wolverines states their situation is just like Modern Warfare, I have to disagree. Modern Warfare is more believable.

Chris Hemsworth as Jed, is likeable but the rest of the cast lacks the chemistry of the original  cast. I idolized the Wolverines of the first movie, they were fighting for our country. These new wolverines seemed like wannabe thugs who were given toys and spent most of their time blowing up stuff.

And if this wasn't irritating enough the filmmakers tried to convince us that the youth of America are just one bad-ass training montage away from becoming guerrilla warriors, a group that are suppose to stir up a lot of patriotic fervor defending their homeland. Instead we are shown whiny image-conscious, spoiled brats.(Like those self-involved kids in horror flicks you take pleasure in watching die at the hands of the hacksaw murderer hiding in the woods)

So the best advice I can give you is if you were around for the first Red Dawn you probably really don't want to waste your time on this new forgettable one! But if you aren't part of Generation X you might want to consider watching the remake before taking on the original.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the filmmakers and studio might be wanting to make the film into a franchise with sequels, due to how the remake ended.

If this is the case may God have mercy on our souls.

High School Never Changes!

American Teen takes its cue from the classic teen movie Breakfast club. Most politically correct people would say that there are no easy stereotypes in high school and that this movie does not represent the true American Teen. Well, I hate to break it to these people, but ... there are and even though our town of Warsaw might be labeled affluent it's what I would consider middle America. Every high school has its cliques, the privileged, the underprivileged, the in crowd, the out crowd, etc.

This documentary tells the senior-year story of four and a half(The half being Mitch) very different teens living in our small town of Warsaw. I found each story compelling in its own way. Hannah, the rebel, wants out of Indiana(I related to her the most). Colin, the jock, needs a basketball scholarship. Megan , the queen bee needs to be accepted to Notre Dame. Jake, the geek, wants a better social life. And last but not least is Mitch, the heart throb.(Enough said)What I truly liked about American Teen apart from the obvious fact that it was filmed in Warsaw, was the sheer brilliance of the director in how she was able to make us feel both the excruciating pain and overwhelming joy, that comes with being a teenager. When you're that age and in high school, all that really matters is your world and your issues and while most of those said issues are trite they are and will remain huge issues to teenagers.

 Some would say that this film isn't really a documentary because a few of the scenes and situations seem set up or scripted. Whether real or scripted I think American Teen skillfully captures the tumultuous time of Senior year and the mixture of optimism, uncertainty, and the transition of a group of complex young people trying to find their way into adulthood. And even though the times have changed the hopes, fears and stresses of high school remain the same for each and everyone of us.

No matter how long it's been since you've been in high school, you will find yourself identifying with these teens and also remembering those pressures of growing up(Now the issues and pressures seem so few). High school...you either loved it or hated it. You either grew and went on to bigger and better things, or you didn't and realize high school is all you have, meaning you peaked.

It's been close to 5 years now since the documentary was shown and I would be interested in catching up with these teens who are now adults and seeing how different or the same they are from their teenage selves. Each had the potential for awesomeness, just wondered if they achieved it!

Life of Pi, a beautiful Journey of faith

It's been days and I am still awestruck! Not since “Avatar”, has a movie left me so riveted! “Life of Pi” turned out to be nothing like I had anticipated. I went in with modest expectations, and came out truly amazed. This movie reaffirmed that there is humanity in cinema. From the trailer, I had anticipated amazing visuals, yet was not quite sure about the story. I figured mediocre, at best(I was mistaken) The story is incredible, a fascinating parable about faith and determination. The director, Ang Lee is impeccable(As always). His mastery of imagery is superb

The story centers on Pi, the son of an Indian zookeeper, who due to unfortunate events finds his family and himself on a freighter to Canada. All the animals are on board and are to be sold once they arrive. A shipwreck later, the boy finds himself alone on a lifeboat with a tiger, zebra, orangutan and hyena. The story is told in flashback mode to a reporter.(Normally I don't care for flashback story-lines) Pi, now a middle-aged man, promises that by the end of the tale, the reporter will believe in God.

I will not give away any more details, except that there are two versions of the shipwreck story and you have to discover which version is believable to yourself. What we do know is that a young man went on a hero's journey, resolved either by pure human perseverance and a Darwinian instinct for survival or by divine intervention. This, in my opinion, is the best part of the film. Long after the credits have rolled you will keep “Life of Pi” in your brain and ponder on this fantastic story's message...It makes no difference what religion you follow, or don't follow for that matter, as long as you're blessed and find reason for your existence, NO ONE has the right to tell you otherwise. We should learn to live and let live and above all never lose hope even when we are pushed to our weakest points.

So if you want a movie that will not only make you think, but captivate you visually as well, then be sure to make a trip to the Warsaw Community Public Library and pick up a copy of “Life of Pi” and remember to tell them Missy sent you!