BANANA GRABBERS DOT COM

"Shockingly good" might be the best way to summarize my reaction to MacGruber. That, of course, is a matter of low expectations, but I only mention it because I don't want to sell the movie too high or too low. It's an imperfect beast that was just right for me late this afternoon.

MacGruber hits many of my weak spots. It is, in many ways, right up my alley. I love a good running gag, and there are plenty here. I also love the original skit (something I can't say about most SNL recurring characters), and while the film is nothing like those sketches, it put my butt in the seat.

But what really works in the most general sense -- and why I'll recommend it to all of you, although you probably won't have a good chance of seeing it until DVD -- is the really dirty edge that the film walks. There are just some really cool jokes here that you wouldn't expect from a comedy based on an SNL character, and Forte makes them work. He's always exploited a pretty face to say some pretty incredible, dark things in his career. MacGruber works at both 3 minutes and 90 minutes for this very reason. The character may have been thin, but Forte has the chops to broaden him.

My pal Arielle e-mailed me recently and asked me -- or, well, told me -- to resume writing about movies and updating my sidebar rankings for the year, titled "Tough Decisions."  I was glad to hear this, because I usually like to imagine that no reads these posts, let alone following a feature buried down in the middle sidebar.  And she's right, I do need to write more here in general, and definitely about movies.  I see enough of them.

She suggested I start with Hot Tub Time Machine.  So I'll do that, and throw in a bonus from my alternative Easter Sunday.  The conversation about Hot Tub Time Machine seemed to occupy one of two extremes.  First, "That movie looks so dumb, I'm not seeing that shit."  Second, "That movie looks so dumb, I'm totally seeing that shit!"  The movie falls somewhere in the middle.  It's nowhere near as dumb as it looks, even in its humor.  One of the things I feared most is that it would simply make dumb 80s references and milk those for laughs, but the 80s nostalgia is light.  You see it in the clothing, and hear it in the musical cues, but it otherwise sits politely in the background.  The movie falters, though, with its story.  I expect any mainstream comedy to have a romantic storyline threaded through its running time, but the arc here makes no sense.  And most of the individual redemptive tales falter.  I don't expect a well-crafted story from a comedy like this, but the story is sometimes to creaky that the characaters have to spend way too much time walking us through it.  Probably worth renting, unless you love Crispin Glover, in which case go see it today.  The guy steals the movie.

I saw Greenberg today with Rachael at the AFI in Silver Spring.  I mention the theater because it's fantastic -- nice place, roomy seating (first public theater/stadium/arena/whatever that sacrifices a few seats for consumer comfort) and you can buy yourself a beer for the show!  As for the Baumbach film ... It's great.  I'm not going to touch Tough Decisions at the moment because I'm overhaulin' the blog layout, but it would be No. 1 for 2010 if I was going to fix it.  I'm always deeply interested in a movie that demands the viewer loathe the protagonist, then makes us feel for his plight while still recognizing his flaws.  Greenberg is a pretty brilliant take on a character type, told from a perspective and age we don't normally see.  The film seems so casual and effortless, but at it's heart it's very difficult.  It's a dialogue-driven film featuring characters who have trouble talking, whether it's to themselves or to others.  The ending is so quick and tidy that it feels minor in execution but large in retrospect.  Go see it, Arielle.  And anyone else who is reading.

My favorite assignment this semester? Watching The Big Lebowski for my detective fiction class. Naturally, I've had this song in my head all day, including an hour-long loop while writing earlier.

I saw Coraline last weekend and have to give it the big 'ol BANANA GRABBERS DOT COM seal of approval. There's already a lot of hype for Pixar's Up, but it certainly won't waltz to the year's "best animated film" crown. Henry Selick's work is gorgeous, although that certainly comes as no surprise. My only regret is that I didn't get to see it in 3-D, as it apparently serves a purpose beyond pure advertising gimmickry.

A recent story at CHUD about the sorry state of film posters (plus a follow-up!) reminded me that I had not shown any main page love to a blog I recently discovered. It's called Not a movie poster, and is described as follows: "Lovingly crafted by various film poster designers, these are the film poster designs that didn't make the cut. These are not film posters."

While I suppose it could be one talented person throwing up all of these "rejected" posters, I get the sense it's legit, given the frequency of posts (every other day) and the diversity of images (there are both international and US layouts, as well as boilerplate quotes -- like in this rejected Persepolis poster).

Even if it is one talented person pulling some weird hoax, the key word is "talented" -- there is some good looking stuff on the blog. At left is my favorite thus far -- a poster for the upcoming Sam Rockwell film Moon.

OK, so I ripped posting videos, but here's another followed by an explanation:

Last night, there was a bit of a Talking Heads lovefest on Twitter. While I'm usually the guy who says Twitter is worthless (and yes, I know, I'm still on it despite this), moments like this are perfect. While the conversation isn't much with only 140 characters to work with, I did flip immediately to More Songs About Buildings and Food on my iPod this morning. I then fell in love with "Found A Job" all over again, like I normally again. I then went to YouTube to find the Stop Making Sense performance. Then dug into even more videos.

Congrats, Twitter. For once, you've outlived your character limit.

I do this every year, it seems, so here goes:

• This year perfectly encapsulates how screwed up the Oscars are: they could have gone the populist route and propped up some very good (if still overrated) films like The Dark Knight, or gone a very tasteful route with films like The Wrestler and Vicky Christina Barcelona.  Instead, we get ... I don't even know what to call it.
• My favorite film of the year -- Synecdoche, New York -- couldn't even manage to nab the token "look at this cool film we acknowledged for its original screenplay!" nomination.  Looks like that went to In Bruges.
• The Oscars somehow passed up the opportunity to nominate and award Bruce Springsteen.  I assumed this was a guarantee, as it would enable them to hype Bruce Springsteen in the weeks leading to the show.  On top of all that, "The Wrestler" is easily the Best Original Song of the year.
• When the Best Picture and Best Director nominations are identical, I start to suspect that these voters have no idea what to look for in some of these categories.
• OK, I lied, I started to suspect that when I first started watching the Oscars.
• I mentioned that the Oscars passed up the populist route by not nominating The Dark Knight for Best Picture, but I do give them props for angering all of the nerds who are inexplicably pissed off about this.
• The Best Actor category is pretty damn competitive.  I imagine that Langella, Penn and Rourke are all viable options.  I am sure I'll pull for Rourke, but given how little love the Academy has for The Wrestler, I'll place my early bet on Langella for the win.
• Anne Hathaway gave the best female performance of the year, but I imagine she will have a tough time triumphing over names like Streep and Winslet, regardless of the films that follow those names.
• I can't imagine Heath Ledger doesn't win Best Supporting Actor, but I think it's very cool that Downey got nominated; in fact, I wonder if the inevitably of the award helps in generating this sort of left-field nomination.
• Another nominee I'll strongly root for -- Man on Wire.
• I think one of three things happens with Best Picture, and I'll order them from most likely to least: Slumdog Millionaire rides its tremendous good will to victory, Milk rides a strong Hollywood reaction to Prop 8 to victory, or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button just struck a nerve with these people and has the right base to win.
• But I rank that last because I can easily see it winning no major awards.
• One of these years I should see all of the nominated short films, just so I can be one of the few people to know what I'm talking about in those categories.

Was that scattered enough for you?  I sure hope so.  Regardless of the ups and downs of these nominations, they will surely provide enough fodder for mocking and joking come February 22nd.

Social networking is everywhere, so I shouldn't be too surprised that Netflix has such a network built into their site.  But I am.  I'm giving it a shot, even though my queue is already much too long.

Want to be my friend?  Click here.

I had an unplanned Emile Hirsch double feature today. I took in a Milk matinee this morning, featuring Hirsch as the activist Cleve Jones. Milk was very good, and Hirsch was very good in it, supporting Sean Penn as the title character. I found the film clumsy at times, but its timing is impeccable -- it's a moving film opening during an urgent time for gay rights. It was quite difficult to bother with the faults of the narrative in light of some incredible moments. Consider this the BANANA GRABBERS DOT COM seal of approval.

Speaking of incredible moments ... while kicking around the house, I decided to watch the Netflix movie that's been sitting on my table for the past week. What was it? Emile Hirsch in Speed Racer! An entirely different animal, but pretty remarkable in its own right. If you haven't seen it yet, give it a shot -- it's wild enough that you'll find some part of it entertaining. You'll also kick yourself for not seeing it in the theater, let alone IMAX. Speed Racer is quite a sight.

Anyways ... there's a copy of Into the Wild (which I've already seen) glaring at me from my shelves. Should I do it? I'll let you know.

Remember that movie poster quiz I posted a while back? Well, like anything having to do with blockbuster movies, there's a sequel. And the photo above is right -- this one is tougher. I scored 31/46 on the first quiz. This one? 14/68. I wish you much better luck.