Archive for the ‘chasm reviews’ Category
midnight in paris »
Friday, September 2nd, 2011
Paris. It’s as much a location as a map as a fantasy. A place easily flown to but never reached. The idea of Paris is as much a part of western culture as the Big Mac, consumerism, or infallible markets.
Americans, especially, have a total hard-on for the Parisian Ideal. Mr Allen does an impressive job making a movie that simultaneously perpetuates this and laughs at it simultaneously.
A self-described hack screenwriter, Gil (Owen Wilson), piggy-backs on a trip to Paris with his fiance, Inez (Rachel McAdams), and her parents. They are uninterested in Paris and he’s infatuated, specifically with Paris of the 1920s (and in the rain). (more…)
2011 Oscar Predictions »
Sunday, February 20th, 2011
So, the posts are thin here at the Chasm but I couldn’t let next week’s show go by without putting in my few cents (one less than last year). Below are my picks, the likely winners and a few comments. You can look back at my predictions over the last four years here. Nominees are here. There should be a follow-up eventually. (more…)
Skins is MTV’s death rattle but it’s still an icon! »
Friday, January 21st, 2011
“At one point, MTV wasn’t terrible. It was a cultural icon, in fact,” I will tell my grandchildren. When did it first become the rotting pile of teenage flesh that made your childhood weep, they will inquire (they are smart, attractive)?
Most of you would reply with “Jersey Shore.” (Of those, ninety percent are probably avid viewers.) Reasonable.
Others point to when the “music” ratio dropped below .05 hours of music videos for every two of reality shame. That’s hard to pinpoint. (more…)
inception [updated] »
Monday, July 19th, 2010
Update: The post here was written the day after viewing the movie. I’ve come through with edits and notes. I hope the edits aren’t too confusing. Because it’s been a week, I’ll even break my own rule and go crazy with spoilers.
I won’t ruin the ending of this film. Granted, I’ll try my ass off, but I’ll fail. That’s how good this is. It’s so good the end is meaningless. [That the top falls or not doesn't matter. His indifference to whether it falls is (hopefully) the whole damn point.]
Let me fail to explain.
First, I’ll put it simply. Christopher Nolan (ignoring temporarily his Batman movies) is our Stanley Kubrick [M. Night Shyamalan]… but better. (I said it. [Comparing him to Kubrick? Really? How drunk was I?]) How, you ask? By writing this crazy his own damn self. [It's the first notable crazy he's written.] (more…)
looking forward to November »
Friday, May 7th, 2010
George W. Bush has a book coming out. I’ll let that sink in.
Now, with his decision-making and demeanor, I bet you’re surprised he could legibly write his name. I am too. But computers are glorious machines and maybe he learned how to pay someone to type.
I suggest you read the excerpt highlighted by The Awl. (I’ve been working through my noted items in my reader and finally got to it.)
First, I have to make note of his being baldist. I get that he should fear or loathe Dick Cheney (everyone should) but even for him this sounds hurtful to the hairless:
But he and the bald man had kept in touch. I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being bald bothered me. My idea of baldness came from the movies. In the movies, the bald were always trying too hard, like they wanted to make up for their lack of hair. My friend Karl was that way. At any rate, a bald man in my house was not something I looked forward to.
That’s cold, Georgie. Cold. (Granted, I have friends who probably meet my presence with trepidation.)
Second, you’ll note from that little bit and the passage (if you read it), he writes like a prepubescent. Cool narrative style, right?
Unfortunately, (if you read the passage; seriously, did you read it?) this story can’t take place more than seventeen years ago, so he’d be forty-six, at the youngest. That cool narrative turns into a depressing look at his capacities.
(Sigh.)
Generally, it’s a poorly written, glossy portrayal you’d hear in an octogenarian blogger’s memoir about his first Christmas memory. If that story included homoerotic architectural sketching with a weak-hearted, grunting uncle full of booze. (Which, I think you’ll agree, would be awesome.)
This is how he decided to run for the Presidency? Is it that easy? Along those lines, this is a story about his decisions and there aren’t any. What’s the point? (That’s rhetorical.)
If this is any indication of the rest of the book (I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be), it saddens me it was even put to print. That Palin, Beck and Bush can sell so many versions of their ignorance is telling of where our nation is heading.
I’m looking forward to November.
Photo courtesy New York Times