Adventureland

Director: Greg Mottola
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Margarita Levieva, Matt Bush
Running Time: 107 min.
Rating: R

★★★ 1/2 (out of ★★★★)

What a year for coming-of-age films this is turning into. It's infrequent that I see two movies in a row that are so similar thematically and manage to strike the same chord. Both Adventureland and (500) Days of Summer were both misrepresented as fluffy comedies, the former more severely. Both deal with a transforming summer relationship. In each, music is a major component. And both focus their gaze on a twenty-something male protagonist wrestling with post-grad blues, invoking recollections (one very literally) of The Graduate. 2009, which was feared to be heading down the same underwhelming path as '08, has turned some kind of a corner recently and it's been fun to watch the reaction. I've yet to see all the films triggering this widespread enthusiasm but at least now I can scratch another off the must-see list and report it met expectations.

Greg Motttola's Adventureland received mostly mixed reviews when it opened in April and didn't connect with audiences who mistakenly went in expecting another Judd Apatow-style comedy in a year when even Apatow didn't feel like making a Judd Apatow-style comedy. We had I Love You, Man to fill that niche, which it did quite well. Unfortunately, when you splash the words, "FROM THE DIRECTOR OF SUPERBAD" across a film's poster, certain expectations will accompany it, all of which Adventureland couldn't have delivered on because it just isn't that kind of movie. But those who had actually seen and liked it didn't just merely like it. They LOVED it. No matter what it was marketed as, it was clear that it really spoke to them in a big way, piquing my interest in it further. This is a drama with very few huge laughs and you'll enjoy it best if you prepare yourself for that before tackling it. What it does expertly instead is succeed at invoking a very specific time period, mood and atmosphere that makes it easy to see how it's connected with a vocal minority of viewers on the level it has. In avoiding many of the pitfalls that plague this genre and choosing to go a more subtly intelligent route, the film definitely deserved much more attention than it was paid.

It's 1987 and recent Oberlin College graduate James Brennan (Jessie Eisenberg) is looking forward to touring Europe for the summer before attending Columbia University grad school to study journalism in the fall. That is until his parents (Wendie Malik and Jack Gilpin) break the news that they can't subsidize him and he'll have to put his dreams of going to Europe on hold to instead spend the summer working in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He lands a gig at Adventureland, the local amusement park run by an eccentric married couple (SNL's Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig), that employs a wide variety of interesting, colorful characters.Despite his desire to work on RIDES, James is incorrectly sized up by management as a GAMES guy. Or as his t-shirt reads, GAMES GAMES GAMES GAMES. In a just world where audiences actually went to see this movie, millions of those shirts could have been sold. The awkward, intellectual James immediately befriends the even geekier and more awkward Joel (Martin Starr) and despite still nursing a broken heart from college, starts to develops serious feelings for the captivating Em (Kristen Stewart). Besides wrestling with a troubled home life, she's been having a fling with the park's married maintenance man, Connell (Ryan Reynolds), a former musician whose claims to have jammed with Lou Reed are dubious. Things are complicated further for James with the return of seductive rides operator Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), a Madonna clone who transfixes all the guys at the park. Whether he likes it or not, his worst summer ever is on a path to become the best and most memorable of his life.

Adventureland is the kind of movie likely to dredge up a lot of memories (some painful) for those who watch it. What laughter there is comes from the situations where you can stop and say, "Yeah, I've been there." And even if you haven't been there, it kind of feels like you were anyway. Unlike (500) Days of Summer, it doesn't go for the jugular in its depiction of romantic relationships and is more sentimental, unapologetically drenching itself in nostalgia. It also fits into one of my favorite movie sub-genres: Cool workplaces. Think Clerks or Empire Records. I've always found it compelling to watch people who would have never otherwise met be thrown together by chance in a job only to end up forging a lasting friendship. James is lucky enough to get that experience but his post-grad struggles before taking this seemingly lame, dead-end job. are shown realistically by Mottola and reverberate with personal sentiment. The cold, hard fact that college can't possibly prepare you for life is thrown in James' face when the comparative literature major is simultaneously over-qualified AND under-qualified for every menial job for which he applies. James is too introspective, too observant, and too sensitive for his own good. In a way, his sincerity is his own worst enemy and he needs something or someone to break him in. His relationship with Em provides that.

Eisenberg (who first impressed in 2005's The Squid and the Whale) has been criticized for giving performances too reminiscent of Michael Cera in their awkwardness. While I'm sure Cera would be flattered (offended?) by the notion that he actually has a "style" of acting that can be imitated, his persona didn't consciously occur to me at all as I watched Eisenberg. Cera is more sarcastic, which perfectly fits a raucous film like Superbad, but would be ill-suited for more dramatic material like this. It's insane to assert the two actors are interchangeable. What Eisenberg does bring to it is a subtly grounded approach, thankfully choosing not to play James as some kind of stuttering, stammering dork incapable of social interaction. As cliche as it's becoming to see the geek get the girl in every major comedy released these days, thanks to him it at least comes off more bearable than usual.

Strangely though, the movie's success doesn't begin and end with him. This is a rare occasion where the female love interest is being presented pitch-perfectly both in terms of writing and performance and ends up being the more fully realized character. What's most refreshing is that there isn't a phony, insincere bone in Em's body and she doesn't play games. She's given a difficult home situation but the card isn't overplayed and we feel bad for her because she's essentially a good soul who just doesn't know it yet. You can see what James sees in her, and Stewart conveys everything Em's going through with little more than a glance in a revelatory supporting performance.It's a shame she's sabotaging her career by starring in big-budget projects beneath her as I'd like to believe she can recover and continue to do meaningful work like she did in Panic Room and Into the Wild. It would be awful if despite her contribution, the film ages poorly merely because of her star presence in it. The last thing anyone wants to do is remember this as the amusement park movie with "that girl from Twilight." Her and the film deserve better. While the idea of Ryan Reynolds' character getting it on with Stewart's, who looks (and probably is) about half his age, is pretty creepy, the challenging sub-plot is pulled off in an effective, mostly non-creepy way, which is a real credit to the two actors. They make us view it as the mistake that it is and they know it to be as well. When Connell finds out about James' feelings for Em his reaction isn't what you'd expect. He isn't a jerk, just a decent guy with an ego struggling through some issues, an important distinction that would go missing in a lesser script and performance. It's a relatively small part for Reynolds, but it's his most complex to date and he finds a lot of truth in it.

Anyone who says '80's music is discreetly slid into the picture must have been watching a different film than me. Hardly a single scene goes by where key music of the era isn't blasting, whether it be Lou Reed, INXS, Falco, Expose, Husker Du, The Replacements, Crowded House and just for old times sake, The Velvet Underground. It's overkill but I didn't mind since song-for-song it's the best soundtrack to come along in a while. Beyond perfectly capturing the era in terms of music and dress, this joins movies like Donnie Darko and Son of Rambow in not only harnessing the feel of the '80's, but feeling like it was made during that period. Terry Stacey's cinematography and Yo La Tengo's score only reinforces that atmosphere. What laughs there are come from the painful truths of growing up more than anything else, while the rest are filled in by Hader and Wiig, (who are crazy but reined in) and James' former childhood friend Tommy Frigo (Matt Bush), who remains in a perpetual state of adolescence. The one character who didn't really work for me was Lisa P., who seemed more a walking stereotype for the decade and a plot marker than an actual human being.

This is an optimistic film coming-of-age-film that understands life can be filled with disappointment and darkness but every once in a while something really incredible happens and you just want stop time and hold onto it for as long as possible. It operates with the knowledge that life can suck sometimes and you'll still survive, but doesn't condescend in any way or succumb to cheap sentimentality (aside from a closing scene that reeks of pure fantasy to the point it feels like a dream sequence). I'm not entirely sure how you can even market movies like this, which is a shame, because coming-of-age films can be the most rewarding of all genres when presented well. Why it's even rated "R" or wasn't given a more advantageous summer release date are valid questions. In a way it reminds me of Judd Apatow's the short-lived TV masterpiece, Freaks and Geeks, which also managed to perfectly capture a mood and time period not too far off from this one. This movie will hit hardest for those who were teenagers in the '80's but everyone else will probably find a lot to appreciate also. Mottola really put himself on the line. It would have been easy money to follow Superbad with another vulgar comedy but he instead chose to tell a story that clearly meant a lot to him. This is one movie I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel of since I cared about these characters and would want to know what they're up to now. It isn't good for anyone when a quality film like Adventureland flops because too many people already think no one cares about their story or what they have to say. The last thing they need is another excuse to not share it.

(500) Days of Summer

Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Chloe Grace Moretz, Geoffrey Arend, Matthew Gray Gubler, Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly
Running Time: 95 Min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)

MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW

"This is the story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing he'd never truly be happy until the day he met the one. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music, and a total misreading of the movie, The Graduate."

So begins the opening narration of the anti-romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer, a movie that exposes some harsh truths and breaks a lot of rules we're not used to seeing broken in its genre. Starring two of the most talented young actors working today, I couldn't have guessed there would be so much to discuss when it's over that their onscreen pairing would be the LAST THING I'd feel like talking about. Forget about the film merely being worth the price of admission, I'd pay just to listen to two people have a conversation about it. When it's over it leaves you thinking hard and hits close to home with certain portions connecting more with some than others. That's to to be expected when its subject is the gradual disintegration of a relationship over the span of 500 days. The film's tag line reads: "This is NOT a love story." And in making that declaration it joins an exclusive club of movies frequently featuring an unlucky-at-love male protagonist struggling with relationships, often against the backdrop of a memorably hip soundtrack. Almost Famous, Say Anything, High Fidelity, Rushmore, Garden State, Annie Hall, and The Graduate all come to mind as examples of coming-of age dramas masquerading as romantic comedies. This is that...but in a way, it isn't. We have a main character who's extremely likable, but not not fully clued into reality, allowing himself to become the doormat for a cold, detached female antagonist. While couples will likely be arguing for hours as to who's really more at fault, the hilariously biting "dedication" that opens the picture indicates that the filmmakers are sure of their stance and at least have a wicked sense of humor about it.

Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a hopeless romantic whose job as a greeting card writer in Los Angeles couldn't possibly be a better fit since you get the impression he's the kind of person who actually believes the sentiments he's writing. But like many twenty-somethings, he feels as if he's just punching the clock. He went to school to become an architect but things didn't work out, as they sometimes don't. His entire world is turned upside-down when his boss' (Clark Gregg) new assistant, Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) arrives on the scene from Michigan and within the first few seconds of seeing her, he instantly knows she's "THE ONE". And he doesn't think he has a chance. Sadly, he's proven right, just not in the way he expects. The movie makes no bones about the fact that this won't end well for him. After some initial awkward posturing, they kind of fall into a relationship, if you can even call it that, since he's far more emotionally invested in it than her. The cynical Summer is Tom's opposite. She doesn't believe in soul mates or even the very notion of love and let's Tom know this from the start. She just wants to have a good time. No strings attached. Nothing serious. No commitment. On the surface he seems fine with it, but of course he isn't.

The story isn't necessarily told as out of order as you've been lead to believe from the ads and commercials. It opens at the end of the relationship and through flashbacks we're given the chronology of events that lead to the break-up. A counter shows up letting us know where we are in the course of Tom's 500 days so it's mostly a pretty straightforward narrative. The device works because it enables us to see bits and pieces of their time together before finally putting together the entire puzzle of what went wrong. We only have a general idea of the ending but this enables us to discover along with Tom the "how" and the "why." It isn't just a gimmick. In a particularly clever sequence toward end of the film Tom describes in excruciating detail all of Summer's most notable traits. The qualities that represented beautiful perfection to him earlier morph into ugly, disgusting flaws as the relationship heads past the rescue point and we're predisposed to side with him, being that the story's told from his somewhat slanted perspective.

First-time director Marc Webb (working from an unusually observant script by screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber) employ many more devices (such as split screen, voice-overs, title cards, and musical numbers), none of which are groundbreaking, but feel like they are since we've rarely seen them utilized as brazenly in a romantic comedy since Annie Hall. The voice-over narration (provided by Richard McGonagle) recalls the detached objectivity underlining 2006's Little Children and though it's used more sparingly here, it's no less effective. Having first carved a niche for himself directing Regina Spektor music videos, Webb's playing favorites with the soundtrack selections, but it's understandable since few songs could fit the story as well (especially the brilliant use of Spektor's "Us" over the opening credits). Many have already complained that this is just another one of those "hipster" movies by the way the characters dress and the name-dropping of indie bands, most notably The Smiths. But the fact is many young people do dress like this and listen to that type of music. And some don't. Who cares? Regardless, these two did and I believed it. More importantly, it's actually key to the story, informing the decisions the protagonist makes.

Besides falling prey to mislabeling this as another quirky indie comedy, another misconception surrounding the film is that there's a gender reversal going on in the dynamic between the two (implicitly hinted at during a pivotal early scene), when it's actually our preconceived notions developed from watching other movies that's challenged. I'm willing to bet there are a lot more guys out there like Tom who do secretly want a commitment and are looking for "THE ONE," but just aren't allowed to show it. Similarly, there are probably just as many Summers who have no desire for a serious relationship and just searching for a good time. And, of course, the reverse is true as well. We've been weened on an unhealthy dose of dumb romantic comedies and stereotypical gender roles for so long that we've had it in our heads how male and female characters are supposed to behave. In that sense, this story re-invents the wheel by simply acknowledging our behavior can sometimes conflict with expectations.

The two leads share what you could almost call a negative chemistry with her being the vessel through which he channels his dreams and goals, attempting to make up for his own self-perceived shortcomings. He's doing all the work in the relationship and even during the good times you see how hard he tries to keep this thing afloat, a sure sign of trouble. It's almost exasperating to watch. He's not exactly in the "friend zone" but he isn't that far off and isn't even close to where he needs to be with her. In the biggest shocker for me, I actually had problems seeing what Tom saw in Summer, which is downright bizarre considering the insanely likable actress playing her. But maybe that's the point. Only Tom's supposed to see it. It's almost as if you took all of Zooey's characters from her previous movies and removed their soulfulness and sensitivity. Her usual quirkiness is dialed way down, as it needed to be for this part. Categorizing Summer as cold and detached isn't far off the mark. At one point she's labeled remarkably "average," but possessing an unmistakable aura that draws you in. And that isn't far off the mark either. In other words, she's an enigma of sorts, and the more we learn about her, the more complicated and inconsistent she seems. Obviously, the toughest part of the character to rationalize is that she isn't a bad person trying to hurt Tom, and that's easier to digest because of the protagonist's own insecurity issues. And the actress chosen to play her.

Casting Zooey Deschanel works on a couple of different levels, but mostly because many guys watching are guilty of holding the actress to same impossible ideal Tom holds Summer. At first, you think Zooey's stretching to play the role because it's so far from what she's done before. But is she? Chances are this character (flaws and all) comes closer to the real person playing her than any of the "Manic Pixie Dream Girls" her many male fans have assumed the actress must be like. Is it actually possible she isn't nearly as zany, flaky, quirky and extroverted as we suspected? That she was really a lot working harder than we thought in all her OTHER roles? This film presents that theory, and it's a good one, painting her previous work in a different light. While I can't go as far as to say she's "playing herself," there's probably more truth in that statement than obsessed Zooey admirers would ever want to believe or admit. Webb likely knew that and selected her as Summer because she'd sting the most. The director uses Zooey's most endearing qualities as a guided missile, aimed directly at the male audiences she's captivated throughout her career. Rarely is our perception of a character so influenced by our knowledge of the actress playing her.

What JGL projects perfectly as Tom is fake confidence. On the outside he seems to be well adjusted and have his act completely together, but on the inside turmoil brews. A pro at playing tortured characters in hard hitting dramas like Brick and The Lookout, Levitt is equally adept at doing the same in a looser way here, while also displaying the comedic chops we remember him having as a child actor. Tom doesn't act like a loser but thinks he's one and by holding Summer on an unattainable pedestal she becomes just as unattainable as he believes her to be, self-fulfilling his own negative prophecy. Of course the viewer can plainly see he's neurotic and wrong, so we wait anxiously for him to catch up to us, which doesn't occur until the final scenes, but by then it's too late (at least for him and Summer). When he punches a jerk hitting on her in the bar it's not to protect her honor as he convinces himself, but because this guy's cutting insult ("HE'S your boyfriend?"). brings his feelings of unworthiness to the surface. Hardly an act of chivalry, you'd see why she's not impressed.

Tom's wise-beyond-her-years 11 year-old little sister (played by a scene-stealing Chloe Grace Moretz) gives sound advice at just the right moments, which would be too cutesy if not for the ironic fact that she has a more realistic grasp on relationships than he does. It's an obvious gimmick, but still serving the themes of the story. When she informs him that just because he and Summer share the same bizarre interests it doesn't make her his soul mate, it's the kind of truthful observation likely to make a lot of guys watching cringe as uncomfortably as he does. His occupation is also key to the plot, as this is the rare film where workplace scenes are handled intelligently. Tom has a fair, understanding boss and cool co-workers willing to help him out. Plus, who wouldn't want to write greeting cards? Why he's unhappy at all, much less having a Jerry Maguire- like office meltdown in the third act (maybe the only scene that feels overly scripted) is clearer when considering it has nothing to do with what he's doing with his life, but what he isn't. Toiling away at a job he doesn't like while projecting his dream of becoming an architect (as well as all his other baggage) onto this one girl, who he hopes will solve all his problems. Ironically, she has just as much baggage, and has gone to the opposite extreme in closing herself off to feeling anything at all.

Summer isn't let off the hook, nor are female audiences approaching this as a date movie or "chick flick." If guys are predisposed to root for Tom because they can relate in some way, girls are equally likely to side with him after years of watching lesser romantic comedies telling them they should root for the geek, underdog, or "nice guy." This film dissects that myth, then blows it to bits. In the third act when Summer's actions arguably cross the line into pure selfishness (just enough, but not too much), it gives permission to females watching to abandon Summer's view and (falsely?) convince themselves they would never in a million years do what she did. You could argue all day and night whether she was engaged before inviting him to the party or it happened during it, and whether her invitation was cruelly insensitive or not, but the end result remains the same. That's why the most memorable character just might be someone we never even see or meet--Summer's mystery fiancee. It's a credit to the writing that even though we don't know his name, what he looks like or even the slightest thing about him, we can still try to guess, and ponder the troublesome possibility he could be someone similar to the guy Tom punched out in the bar.

Far from just gloom and doom, the film excels at capturing that initial feeling when you're first falling for someone and every emotion seems heightened. The morning after Tom beds Summer the funniest, most uplifting scene of the film comes in the form of a Hall & Oates musical number complete with an animated bluebird. Levitt makes the scene soar, making us want to reach through the screen and high-five Tom. There are moments in the movie you think (hope?) along with the protagonist that this could work, like their trip to Ikea where both at least seem to appear to be on the same page at the same time. But they weren't. As a memorable split-screen sequence in the film depicts, this entire situation revolved around EXPECTATIONS and REALITY, with the latter coldly winning out.

It's fitting in a movie that's as much about how we watch movies as it is about a failed relationship, that the key to this one centers around the ending of The Graduate, or rather Tom's "misreading" of it (at least as far as it's possible for someone to misinterpret an open-ended film). A one-sided, reductive reading is probably the better description, as Summer's tragic interpretation could just as easily be categorized as too extreme in the other direction. Yet another example of how the characters' attachment to pop culture isn't just there for window dressing, and in Tom's case, may unhealthily be influencing how he views life. It's the impetus for the break-up but I won't spoil the scene other than to say that nearly everyone will read it differently. And like The Graduate, how someone chooses to see it will probably say more about them than the film. Tom's ending is vaguely hopeful as the idea of fate is touched on, but unlike other movies in the genre, this one's more interested in exploring why people would believe in it than just merely acknowledging its possible existence. Summer may or may not have been "THE ONE" if there is such a thing but the closing minutes hint she probably entered his life as the catalyst for something bigger.

In somewhat of a breakthrough, the script doesn't take sides, presenting a free-thinking female lead who's an agent of action rather than a prize to be won. It acknowledges neither character is blameless, with Levitt and Deschanel's performances filling them with too much complexity for you to completely dislike either. Both have their issues, but at the same time actually seem real, making the same mistakes we would. He didn't get the message, while she was careless with his feelings, but the screenplay cleverly disallows us from viewing the film through the same one-sided prism Tom saw The Graduate. It isn't just about a failed relationship and there's a universality in recognizing that everyone's a "Tom" or a "Summer," or at least a combination of both.. That's not noteworthy until you consider this is supposed to be a romantic comedy. And how many of those ever provoke deep analysis or reveal life truths? Besides being a terrific coming-of age film that breaks formula, (500) Days of Summer also exposes how movies can reflect back at us whatever we want to see.

How Movies Age (Part II)

The world changes and so does our culture, thus making it inevitable that a lot of movies will just stay stuck in their time period and age poorly, unable to keep up with the changing milieu. The cinematic landscape is always evolving and this is the argument I often use for defending Stanley Kubrick as the greatest director who ever lived. Every single one of his movies not only ageless, they seem to gain in importance and resonance with each passing year.

Even 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut, widely regarded as his weakest film, has picked up steam recently and now it’s actually not considered blasphemous to mention it alongside his other masterpieces. The same can now also be said for 1987’s Full Metal Jacket, previously considered another one of his weaker efforts but recently gaining in acceptance.

It’s hard to determine to what degree aesthetic choices, thematic elements or some other factors influence how a movie ages over time. For example, Roger Ebert thinks 1967’s The Graduate is a dated film. He cites the movie’s themes, not its visual style as an example. In his review he seemed almost insulted that we’re asked to cheer for the main character’s selfish actions throughout the story, chalking it up to the overriding idiocy of the time period in which it was made.

I can kind of see where he’s coming from but for me that just makes the film more goofy and endearing. It dates it, but not in a bad way. I think The Graduate is one of those that have to be looked at as a “time capsule movie,” and as that, it will never let you down no matter how many years pass. Its intentions are too good hearted and it’s executed far too well for time to do any serious damage to it. And there’s also the music, which has helped it considerably.
The surest way to guarantee your movie will age poorly seems to be to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. Maybe No Country For Old Men doesn’t look like such a bad choice to me because of the many terrible Best Picture selections the Academy has made in the past. In their defense, they don’t have a crystal ball telling them how these choices will look down the road but it’s still tough to justify Rocky winning out over Network, Taxi Driver and All The President’s Men, Kramer vs. Kramer beating Apocalypse Now, or Saving Private Ryan losing to Shakespeare in Love.

I’m one of the few who thinks that Rocky has aged terribly, but also would argue it wasn’t really all that good to begin with. I know many who would want to go a few rounds with me in the ring for saying that. It does have its fans. As the years go on I feel less and less sorry that Citizen Kane lost Best Picture because it has since received an honor far greater. Though it’s worth noting it took years for that to happen.

Then there’s the recent intriguing case surrounding 2005’s winner Crash. Like many, when I first saw the film I was blown away. Then about a week later I hardly remembered a single thing about it outside of Sandra Bullock’s supporting performance, and that probably had more to do with it being such a thrilling departure rather than her work actually being brilliant.

Now it’s difficult for me to look back on the film without laughing because it’s essentially a contrived, turgid melodrama with characters being thrown into racially volatile situations by writer/director Paul Haggis. Why couldn’t I see that then? Probably because the excellent (although at times overwrought) performances did a good enough job covering it up. Plus, the more movies I see, the worse (and sometimes the better) the ones I saw before start to look.
In my defense, audiences and the Academy were blinded as well because the other nominee that year, Brokeback Mountain, was being shoved down our throats by the media. You couldn’t turn on a late night talk show without hearing a “Brokeback” joke and it was a foregone conclusion that movie would win the big prize. People were sick of it and no one likes a frontrunner so they rallied behind Crash, a message movie that made everyone feel comfortable. It may have appeared at the time to be a brazen, risky choice to make for Best Picture, but in actuality it was just dumb and spiteful.

Time has revealed Crash to be a heavy-handed TV movie about racism, while Brokeback Mountain wasn’t just a movie about gays, which was what everyone was effectively fooled into believing by the media. All Crash’s victory helped prove is that Academy voters are apparently more comfortable with racism than homosexuality. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone now who thinks the right movie won that year and the recent Heath Ledger tragedy has only added fuel to that fire. Crash looks dated as ever…and it’s only a few years old! That said, I'm not a huge fan of either film and had they decided to not give out a Best Picture Oscar for 2005 you wouldn't have heard any complaints from me. That's how weak a year I thought it was.

Interestingly, I also feel a lot less enthusiastic than I initially did about Million Dollar Baby’s 2004 win, which leads me to believe any film wth Haggis’ name on it just might have the expiration date of milk. So maybe the producers of The Best Picture nominees should sit in the Kodak Theater with their fingers crossed that their movie isn’t announced as the winner because it may end up having a longer shelf life if it loses. That’s good news for There Will Be Blood.

When I compiled my list of the best films of 2007 joked with people that they should wait a year or two then I’ll give them my real choices. Theres' some truth to that though. I actually had an easier time picking my ten favorite films of all-time because those choices had years of mileage behind them and my opinions on them were long established. Even with some of those though, my feelings are constantly evolving as I watch them repeatedly.

A couple of weeks ago the American Film Institute aired a television special celebrating the 10 best films in 10 different genres. Besides failing to acknowledge that “Horror” and “Musicals” are indeed genres, their perception of what constitutes one is pretty warped. To give you an idea where their minds are at, before the show I downloaded their ballot and discovered Legally Blonde was one of the nominees for the “Courtroom Drama” genre (what?)

These lists were done only so the AFI could flaunt the choices they already made when they named the 100 best films last year and throw some newer viewers a bone by including just a couple of recent choices. Everyone knows very few movies from the past twenty years stand a chance with them. I will give them credit for doing a great job in the “Science Fiction” category though and at least all their lists featured films of quality and merit.

That’s more than I can say for Entertainment Weekly’s embarrassing list of 100 “New Classics” in movies (Titanic at #3?) over the past 25 years. I know a list like this is completely subjective but it would have been nice if they didn’t just simply rank the films by counting their box office grosses and the number of gold statues they won. I can’t argue with their number one choice (Pulp Fiction) on merit, but I can argue they only put it in that spot because it was popular. The rest of their lists prove it.
They also ranked television shows (The X-Files at #4?) and albums (Green Day’s American Idiot at #6?). The magazine insists these lists were meant to spark debate but it doesn’t because no one would disagree that most of their selections are awful. It instead encourages eye rolling and disbelief at their views of what entertainment has aged well and I’m not just saying that because I don’t agree with many of the choices. I like to think everyone ignores lists like this but part of me believes we do pay attention to them and the media subconsciously effects how we perceive certain films are aging. After all, I like reading lists as much as everyone else, no matter how inaccurate I think they may be.

If we look at the movies we must also consider the actors’ future legacies that will inevitably be tied to them. Who will be the next Grant, Bogart or Stewart? Their choices determine their place in film history. Icons like Redford, Newman, Pacino and DeNiro have already secured their legacies, even if the latter two have recently put them in serious jeopardy by becoming parodies of themselves.

Everyone keeps heralding George Clooney as "The Last Great Movie Star” but his only important cinematic contribution came just last year with Michael Clayton. Most everything else he’s done has ranged from good to very good, or in some cases, just plain garbage. None of those categories qualify an actor for legendary status.Can you really picture anyone watching Ocean’s 11, Syriana or Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 20 years from now? More movies like Michael Clayton and he may get there, but it’s a long shot.

The best bet is, shockingly, Tom Cruise, the only actor who seems to know he's running a marathon not a sprint. I predict years from now no one will remember the couch jumping, Katie Holmes or the Scientology but rather that he gave memorable, criminally underrated performances in a wide variety of different roles under many brilliant directors.

They’ll remember Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire, Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia. If you go back to the very beginning even his fluffy rookie movies like Top Gun, Cocktail and Risky Business were iconic roles. One hand washes the other since his presence in those films have caused them to age considerably better than they otherwise would have. I won’t say he hasn’t stepped wrong a few times but even those missteps served a purpose.

His latest film, Lions For Lambs may have flopped, but his performance was one of the best parts of it and he got a rub by starring alongside acting legends Redford and Streep. The guy isn’t stupid. As much as it pains me to admit it, he’s maybe the only actor who’s done everything and has done it exceptionally well in a wide variety of genres. He may or may not be off his rocker but when it comes to his career he doesn’t mess around. His upcoming role as a one-eyed Nazi in Valkyrie is generating bad buzz and even some giggles but if anyone through just sheer determination can make it work he can. History has proven it. He definitely isn’t the most talented but he may end up being remembered the best.
Lately, Brad Pitt seems to have taken a page out of Cruise’s book and has been going in a similar direction. This could be because actors like Cruise and Pitt are so well known as movie stars they have to work that much harder to gain ground with their film choices. They’ve done a good job picking up the slack. This year Pitt may have been robbed of a Best actor nod for The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford but if this winter’s The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is as good as its trailer suggests that oversight could be rectified, further benefiting his legacy. Of the newer generation of actors, Christian Bale is already starting to rack up enough great performances in wildly different and challenging roles to begin to compete with them.

As for the actresses, the field is narrower but that’s because for whatever discriminatory reason they’re given far fewer opportunities to carry movies than their male counterparts. If I had to pick I’d say Meryl Streep’s place in history is all but a lock and Cate Blanchett is one of the safest bets around. I think there's an overlooked actress who will eventually be remembered best of all when the final score is tallied but I’m saving that controversial theory for another date and place. How these actors are viewed will undoubtedly heavily influence how their films age over time.

So how will the movies of today be judged 25, 50 or 100 years from now? There’s no way to tell but we can speculate. My gut tells me that as far as directors go David Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson are the only two are currently making films that seem to be gaining ground quickly. Too few years have passed to accurately determine how much but they’re getting there and both are relatively young and should have their best work ahead of them. A scary thought. Wes Anderson and the Coen Brothers’ work also seems to be holding up very well also. But really, who knows? Ask me in a week or two about this and it’s possible I’ll have to take it all back. All of this is full of subjectivity and speculation... but that's what makes it so much fun.

Top 10 Best Uses of Songs in Movies

The marriage of movies and music can be a beautiful thing. At its worst it can seem cloy and obvious, but when it works, magic unfolds. At its best it can be difficult to imagine the song or the movie existing without one another. And in the rarest of cases (as with my number one choice on this list) the perfect placement of a certain song in just the right scene can actually enhance the entire film, bringing something out of the song we didn't know was there before and changing the way we listen to it.

I don't think anyone expected to be rocking out to Wilson Phillips' "Hold On" during Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. Of course the song sucks but that's the point and it was exploited brilliantly in that scene. And for a just a second it sucked a whole lot less. Everyone may have hated the series finale of The Sopranos but there's no denying David Chase's use of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" was pure genius. There's a reason that song's sales increased by a couple of hundred percent following the episode. It always a great song, we had just forgotten. That scene reminded us in a big way.

I'm not ranking the films here or even their soundtracks, just the use of the song in the movie. Musicals obviously don't count. I had planned to do a top 10 but found 11 choices I really loved so I declared a tie for tenth place. At the bottom I listed some choices that just missed the list. Be warned that some these choices DO CONTAIN PLOT SPOILERS.


(TIE) 10. "Tiny Dancer," Elton John (Almost Famous)
No director receives more criticism for how he uses music in his films than Cameron Crowe. That's never been truer than with his more recent soundtrack efforts in Vanilla Sky and Elizabethtown. But what has to be understood about Crowe is that he's a filmmaker who wears his heart on his sleeve and makes no apologies for his musical tastes. As a former writer for Rolling Stone, he's earned the right not to. He's not afraid to use his movies as his own personal mix tapes and if I didn't love all the music he uses in them I probably wouldn't be able to stand it. But I do, so I can not only stand it, but love it.

Even his biggest detractors would come clean and say he was never more in his element with a soundtrack than with his autobiographical love letter to Rock, Almost Famous. The gang spontaneously breaking out into Elton John's Tiny Dancer" after being burned out by the grinds of the road shouldn't work at all. But it does. And I guess that must be Crowe's gift. Taking moments that should be too syrupy and making them believable and heartfelt. Yes, these characters would do something like this. There's another Crowe moment just like this later on in this list. And why has this song (which I previously considered one of Elton John's lesser efforts) sounded so much better to me ever since seeing this film?


(TIE) 10. "Needle In The Hay," Elliot Smith (The Royal Tennenbaums
Wes Anderson is pretty much infamous for employing "quirky" musical tastes in his films ever since Rushmore. But there's nothing "quirky" about this selection in 2001's criminally underrated The Royal Tenenbaums. After years of failing to meet his family's expectations and his own washed-up professional tennis pro Richie Tenenbaum is frozen in time. Forever stuck, physically and emotionally, in the moment of the on-court meltdown that ended his career and plagued with guilt over his feelings for his sister, Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow).

In a family of geniuses that all failed to live up to their promise, he's the biggest disappointment of them all. He hardly does or says anything the entire film, until a key scene where he says and does something VERY BIG. "I'm going to kill myself tomorrow." With those words begins a profoundly disturbing scene and the song playing during is Elliot Smith's "Needle in the Hay." If there was any doubt this song was destined to appear in this particular scene consider that both the actor who co-wrote the film (Owen Wilson) and the man who wrote and performed the song (Smith) both attempted suicide. Wilson survived. Smith, tragically, didn't.



9. "Save Me," Aimee Mann (Magnolia)
Recent Academy Award nominated director Paul Thomas Anderson's polarizing 1999 film Magnolia contemplates the randomness and unfairness of everyday life through nine separate but connecting stories about regular people struggling to come to grips with their pasts and present. The use of music in this film differs from the others listed here in that the film was actually WRITTEN AROUND THE MUSIC, not the other way around as we're accustomed to. Anderson has stated that it was Aimee Mann's music that provided the basis for the story and inspired him to write the screenplay. I can't ever remember a case of that happening, or if there was, we've never heard of it. She supplied every single song in the film and it's more than fair to say that without her music we wouldn't have even had a movie.

The film explores themes such as loneliness, forgiveness and, in what made audiences most uncomfortable, the idea that some things are just unexplained or out of your hands. At the end of the film all the emotions that have been building in us and the characters for over two hours just come pouring out (literally) in one memorable scene. The song we hear: "Save Me," by Aimee Mann. It's perfect. Even if you hate Magnolia or find it self-indulgent (and a lot of people do) you can't deny that it's unforgettable. A major reason why is the music. This is the first of two P.T. Anderson films that will be appearing on this list.


8. "Where Is My Mind," Pixies (Fight Club)
It's shameful for me to admit now but I wasn't that familiar with the Pixies were before the infamous strains of "Where Is My Mind?" blasted during the final moments of one of the best films of the '90's, David Fincher's Fight Club. There's no better choice to accompany one of the bleakest, most catastrophic endings of a motion picture you're ever likely to see. And when it's happening this is the song we hear. It couldn't be more fitting, both the song and its title.

What Fincher is an expert at is using famous songs sparingly, but when he does use them it's done perfectly at just the right time and has an unbelievable effect. When we hear them in his movies it almost takes a second to recognize because it engulfs the film so deeply. His use of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" in The Game and more recently Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" in Zodiac both almost made this list. I picked this one though because in the context of the film it's the best of the three, as agonizing as it was to choose. And I'm sure Fincher isn't even close to done with supplying us more memorable music moments in his films.



7. "Mad World," Gary Jules (Donnie Darko)
I usually hate it when a film ends with a song. It just feels so contrived and obvious most of the time. This, on the other hand, is one of those rare exceptions. I can't even picture the ending of Donnie Darko without Gary Jules' hauntingly beautiful cover of Tears For Fears "Mad World" accompanying it. The main character has made the ultimate sacrifice and when Jules' song kicks up we realize we were watching something much more than just a clever time travel movie. It gives the story an added emotional pull that takes it over the top and makes it heartbreaking. Up until that point it was a very good film, but that helped make it a great, moving one. And it's a rare cover that's superior to the original, extracting something out of the song we never knew existed.


6. "Singin In The Rain," Gene Kelly (A Clockwork Orange)
I'm cheating a little here since the song isn't actually played during the scene, just sung by one of the characters. But as we know that doesn't make its appearance any less memorable. When Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his gang of droogs break into the old man's house and rape his wife it's a brutal, uncomfortable moment. But when, out of nowhere, Alex starts singing the most famous of all American movie musical numbers it becomes a sick, depraved one and Stanley Kubrick literally takes the song away from Gene Kelly and claims it as his own.

Before 1971 this song invoked warm and fuzzy feelings. Since then all it's done is produce nightmares. I've actually met people who think the "Singin' In The Rain" originated in this film, and honestly, I can't say I blame them. In a way, it kind of did. Supposedly Anthony Burgess was unhappy with what Kubrick did to his book, precisely because of scenes like this. But whether he likes it or not, it paid off because we're still talking about it over thirty years later.


5. "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon," Urge Overkill (Pulp Fiction)
The reason this isn't ranked higher is only because Pulp Fiction is a movie that uses all its music so brilliantly throughout the film as a whole rather than being remembered for one particular song in a scene. "Son of a Preacher Man," "Let's Stay Together," "Flowers on the Wall." The list goes on and on. You could make an argument for any one of those making this list and if I didn't have to pick just one I could have filled the entire top 10 with songs from this film. It's unquestionably the greatest motion picture soundtrack of all-time. I just picked Urge Overkill's cover of "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" because it just sticks out in my mind as the most memorable, which is really saying a lot with a soundtrack like this.

When Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) hits "PLAY" on the tape deck even if you've heard the song before it feels like the first time. Could there possibly be a more appropriate song for that character to play at that moment? If there is, I can't think of any, or at least Tarantino won't let us. I have no idea whether Neil Diamond was approached by Tarantino about using his version for the film and turned him down. If he did, then he's a moron. But it all worked out for the best because Urge Overkill's is better.



4. "Stuck In the Middle (With You)," Steelers Wheels (Reservoir Dogs)
"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right." You knew this one was appearing on the list. It's funny because before Quentin Tarantino employed Steelers Wheels "Stuck In The Middle With You" so memorably in his directorial debut no one had ever really heard of it. Now you can't flip on any classic rock station in the country without hearing it. That's because of Reservoir Dogs. And that's why Tarantino is so damn good. His love and knowledge of music runs just as deep as that for film and when the two converge it's something very special.

Tarantino is known for having resurrected the careers of washed up actors like John Travolta, Pam Grier, Robert Forster and David Carradine but it's hardly ever mentioned what he's done for all these obscure or underappreciated musical artists like Steelers Wheels. Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) playing this song while cutting a man's ear off is brilliant on about a thousand different levels.


3. "In Your Eyes," Peter Gabriel (Say Anything)
I wonder how Peter Gabriel feels about the fact that no matter what he accomplishes in his career he'll always be remembered for his "In Your Eyes" blasting from Lloyd Dobler's boom box. And how does John Cusack feel knowing that no matter what role he plays, THAT will be the one for which he's most remembered? I'm guessing they're both pretty pissed about it, but they shouldn't be. They should be proud and honored to have been part of it. Is the scene syrupy? Yes. Is it corny? Absolutely. But no one could ever claim Cameron Crowe's seminal teen flick doesn't earn every second of it. It's ironic that in a film called Say Anything the most memorable moment comes when the main character lets the music do all the talking for him.



2. "Mrs. Robinson," Simon and Garfunkel (The Graduate)
Imagine you're a songwriter named Paul Simon or Art Garfunkel and you're assigned a task, one that pays a considerable amount of money. Come up with some songs for Mike Nichols coming-of-age film about a recent college graduate (Dustin Hoffman) who's seduced by the sexy mother of his girlfriend. And then you come up with THAT. Sure it was a very good film, but I don't think anyone would be discussing it now, nor would it have ended up on the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest movies if not for Simon and Garfunkel's most famous song.

It wasn't just the perfect song for the film or the moment. It was the perfect song for that period in our country. I think we take for granted just how good it is because it's become so ingrained in our the fabric of our American culture. How many other songs from movies can you say that about? Another one of their musical contributions that opened film, "The Sounds of Silence" isn't too far behind. Upon the film's release in 1967 Roger Ebert called Simon and Garfunkel's soundtrack "forgettable." Oops. I guess even Ebert's entitled to an off day.




1. "Sister Christian," Night Ranger (Boogie Nights)
The stage is set: Dirk (Donnie Wahlberg), Reed (John C. Reilly) and Todd (Thomas Jane) arrive at the house of the insane, strung out Rashad Jackson (superbly played by Alfred Molina) for a drug deal that's about to go very bad. The tension builds. Firecrackers go off. A song is blasting from Rashad's stereo. It's… "SISTER CHRISTIAN?" Paul Thomas Anderson's ode to skinema is full of big risks but his choice of this forgotten '80's power ballad is the biggest, and most brilliant. It's just kind of song this crazed creep would listen to. How about when he tells everyone to shut up when the chorus comes? Classic.

There may be more "respectable" choices on here but I don't care. This is the best. What's interesting about it is it really isn't the focus of the scene, but a character in it. It may be tough initially to recognize just how much it adds because it blends in so seamlessly, but I'm betting if we played the scene without the song everything would seem different and nearly all the emotional energy would be drained. It plays as big a role in the scene's success, if not bigger, than anyone acting in it.

One of the many reasons I put this in the top spot is most of the other choices were songs pretty much everyone loved, even before their appearance in that particular film. Previously, if Night Ranger's Sister Christian had come on the radio I'm sure many would probably switch the dial, writing it off as cheesy 80's corporate rock. I know I would have. What was our problem? How could we be so wrong? And thanks to Anderson I can now admit that without embarrassment (or at least a whole lot less than before).

It takes only a moment for him to change our perception of the song, redefine a band's legacy and lift his film to even greater heights. He takes a dorky song and makes it cool, giving us a case study on how to effectively use music in a motion picture. In fact, the soundtrack to this film is so strong they actually had to come out with a second volume. I have both and also harbor no shame in blasting Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" (which also appears in that same scene) as loud as I can.

Part of me thinks I only posted this blog to profess my love for this song and actually first got the idea to compile this list when listening to my ipod and discovering out of the thousands of songs on it, guess which is the most played? Even after hearing it half a million times I still get chills up and down my spine and get as excited as Rashad when that chorus kicks in. I'm kind of pissed that The Game came out in 1997 so I couldn't name this masterpiece (which has aged VERY, VERY WELL) as the best film of that year. Heather Graham AND Julianne Moore. Burt Reynolds in the greatest role of his career. Night Ranger. It doesn't get any better than this.

Honorable Mention: "Everybody's Talkin," Harry Nilsson (Midnight Cowboy), "Trouble" and "If You Want to Sing Out," Cat Stevens (Harold and Maude), "America," Simon and Garfunkel (Almost Famous), "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen (Wayne's World), "Sounds of Silence," Simon and Garfunkel (The Graduate), Every Song from Pulp Fiction "Secret Garden," Bruce Springsteen (Jerry Maguire), "Hurdy, Gurdy Man," Donovan (Zodiac), "White Rabbit," Jefferson Airplane (The Game), "Miracles," Jefferson Starship (Crank), "Without You," Harry Nilsson (The Rules of Attraction), "Hip To Be Square," Huey Lewis and The News (American Psycho), "Against The Wind," Bob Seger (Forrest Gump), "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, B.J. Thomas (Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid), "Layla (Piano Exit)," Derek And The Dominos (Goodfellas), "I'm Shipping Up To Boston," Dropkick Murphys (The Departed), "Comfortably Numb," Roger Waters feat. Van Morrison And The Band (The Departed), "New Slang," The Shins (Garden State)