Deep Something

Savages, The – A Movie Review

January 5, 2009 B. John 356 Views 0 Comments Tamara Jenkins, Philip Bosco, Drama, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney

The last thing the two Savage siblings ever wanted to do was look back at their difficult family history. Having wriggled their way out from beneath their father’s domineering thumb, they are now firmly cocooned in their own complicated lives. Wendy is a struggling East Village playwright, AKA a temp who spends her days applying for grants, stealing office supplies and dating her very married neighbor. Jon is a neurotic college professor writing books on obscure subjects in Buffalo. Then comes the call that informs them that the father they have long feared and avoided, Lenny Savage, is slowly being consumed by dementia and they are the only ones that can help. We were pleasantly surprised.

Culture Movies

Eagle Eye – A Movie Review

January 4, 2009 B. John 271 Views 0 Comments Thriller, Drama, Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, D. J. Caruso

Jerry Shaw and Rachel Holloman are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations–using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move. As the situation escalates, these two ordinary people become the country’s most wanted fugitives, who must work together to discover what is really happening–and more importantly, why.

Movies Culture

Spirit, The – A Movie Review

January 3, 2009 B. John 312 Views 0 Comments Action, Samuel L. Jackson, Adaptation, Gabriel Macht

Lay and I went to see this movie last night. I will provide a review when we are able to actually watch the movie all the way through. For some reason, it was one of the most unruly theaters we’ve ever been in, and we left and got out money back after about 15 minutes. We were not the only ones from that movie at the customer service desk asking for our money back because of the noise and cell phones.

Culture Movies

Burn After Reading – A Movie Review

January 3, 2009 B. John 428 Views 0 Comments John Malkovich, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Comedy, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand

An ousted CIA official’s memoir accidentally falls into the hands of two unwise gym employees intent on exploiting their find.

Culture Movies

Visitor, The – A Movie Review

January 3, 2009 B. John 345 Views 0 Comments Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira, Hiam Abbas, Marian Seldes, Tom McCarthy, Drama, Richard Jenkins

In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life. Sixty-two-year-old Walter Vale is sleepwalking through his life. Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, he fills the void by unsuccessfully trying to learn to play classical piano. When his college sends him to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek, a Syrian man, and Zainab, his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go. In the first of a series of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him. Touched by his kindness, Tarek, a talented musician, insists on teaching the aging academic to play the African drum. The instrument’s exuberant rhythms revitalize Walter’s faltering spirit and open his eyes to a vibrant world of local jazz clubs and Central Park drum circles.

Culture Holidays Family Friends Fun Stuff Places Kings Mountain Travel

So Where Have I Been Lately

December 29, 2008September 29, 2018 B. John 495 Views 0 Comments diary, home, Christmas, Blogging, Depression, Malaise

If you’re a regular visitor (or you receive the digest email) I suppose you have noticed a decided lack of activity here lately. I have to tell you, I’ve just been tired. I think that’s the best way to describe what’s been going on in my life lately. It’s not that feeling of “being sick and tired of being sick and tired,” but more a general malaise that came over me during the last months. I didn’t send out Christmas cards this year, and didn’t even decorate the house. I came into the season with a good deal of the shopping done, and combined with some upcoming time off, I was actually looking forward to the holiday, but somewhere along the way, I just sort of lost that holiday spirit. I’m working on a comeback.

Culture Movies Religion Society Gay Issues

Doubt – A Movie Review

December 29, 2008 B. John 416 Views 2 Comments Drama, Religion, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Viola Davis, John Patrick Shanley

It’s 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A vibrant, charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the school’s strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the country, and, indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James, a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius is galvanized to begin a crusade to both unearth the truth and expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shred of proof or evidence except her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn, a battle that threatens to tear apart the Church and school with devastating consequences. This is an excellent must-see movie.

Culture Movies

Valkyrie – A Movie Review

December 29, 2008 B. John 443 Views 1 Comment Biopic, Tom Wilkinson, Action, Adventure, Drama, War, Bryan Singer, Bill Nighy, Tom Cruise

A proud military man, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg is a loyal officer who serves his country all the while hoping that someone will find a way to stop Hitler before Europe and Germany are destroyed. Realizing that time is running out, he decides that he must take action himself and joins the German resistance. Armed with a cunning strategy to use Hitler’s own emergency plan – known as Operation Valkyrie – these men plot to assassinate the dictator and overthrow his Nazi government from the inside.

Culture Movies Fun Stuff

Wall-E – A Movie Review

December 29, 2008 B. John 413 Views 0 Comments Pixar, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Sigourney Weaver, Andrew Stanton

After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, Wall-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named Eve. Eve comes to realize that Wall-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, Wall-E chases Eve across the galaxy.

Culture Movies

Cadillac Records – A Movie Review

December 28, 2008 B. John 292 Views 0 Comments Drama, Musical, Biopic, Chess Records, Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Darnell Martin, Beyonce Knowles

The rise and fall of Chess Records, which launched the careers of Muddy Waters, Etta James and Chuck Berry. Leonard Chess scoured the South, checking out the various blues scenes and selling records from the back of his Cadillac.

Culture Movies

Step Brothers – A Movie Review

December 28, 2008 B. John 287 Views 0 Comments John C. Reilly, Adam McKay, Comedy, Will Ferrell

Brennan Huff, a sporadically employed thirty-nine-year-old, lives with his mother, Nancy. Dale Doback, a terminally unemployed forty-year-old lives with his father, Robert. When Robert and Nancy marry and move in together, Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers. As their narcissism and downright aggressive laziness threaten to tear the family apart, these two middle-aged, immature, overgrown boys will orchestrate an insane, elaborate plan to bring their parents back together. To pull it off, they must form an unlikely bond that maybe, just maybe, will finally get them out of the house.