Well, not much going on around here, folks. All the fish we bought a few days ago passed into the great beyond, thanks to a poor filter in the aquarium, which sucked up all our little tetra fish and killed them, forcing us to turn off the filter - hence killing the rest of the fish!
Pitiful.
Movie Review
21 Jump Street
I never saw a single episode of the TV show that ran on Fox from 1987 to 1991 and made a star out of Johnny Depp, but that in no way hindered my appreciation of this surprisingly entertaining and funny reboot, with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as the young cops who go undercover as high school students to expose a drug ring.
Because it's a modern comedy, expect a heavy dose of hard humor: penis jokes, gay jokes, F-bombs, penis jokes, gay jokes... and back around again. It's a wonder that the movie is so funny, but it is. Tatum, an unexpectedly nimble delight, and Hill make an oddly engaging team - the film has them playing against stereotypes for long stretches, with Tatum the science nerd and Tatum the popular jerk. The action scenes go on a bit long, but I wasn't really bothered by that. Johnny Depp and Richard Greico make cameo appearances, and the film has a nice supporting cast, with Dave Franco (James' brother) a stand-out as a drug dealer. You pretty much know where you stand with this film in the first ten minutes; you'll either immerse yourself in the high-energy spirit of the thing (with Ice Cube foul-mouthing it up as the pair's scowling boss) or you won't. I did, and I would see it again.
(***)
*
William Faulkner died fifty years ago today. What can I say? He was an American master. When he was good, he was great (The Sound and the Fury, Light in August, As I Lay Dying). When he was bad, he wasn't readable. I don't think he has aged that well. Or maybe it's stream-of-consciousness hasn't aged that well. But A Rose For Emily is amazing and one of the two best short stories I've ever read - Shirley Jackson's The Demon Lover being the other.
*
Steve Nash to the Lakers? I'll give that an A- : not a long-term solution, but it's one of two pieces the Lakers need.
Jason Kidd to the Knicks? Same grade: A- : not long-term (how old is Kidd? Forty?) but the Knicks need someone to move the ball first, shoot second.
Ray Allen? It'll be interesting to see where he goes.
Joe Johnson going from the Hawks to the Nets won't equate to that many more wins for the New Jersey... er, Brooklyn Nets unless they can get Dwight Howard.
*
Book Review
It took me a while to finally read this book-club fave, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought at times it was a bit earnest and predictable, but I was really won over by the strength of Ford's period detail, the emotional pull of the Romeo and Juliet storyline, the quietly compelling characters, and Ford's gifts at showing me a time in American history I wasn't at all familiar with. If you liked David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars, you'll probably like this.
In 1942 Seattle, a young Chinese-American, Henry meets a girl at his English-language school, Keiko, a Japanese-American. Henry is drawn to her but his nationalistic father considers the Japanese the enemy and forbids Henry from spending time with her. The Japanese citizens of the city are being rounded up and placed in internment camps, an event that separates the young friends. Henry stays close with Keiko and her family, visiting and writing her, but eventually communication dries up. All that remains of Keiko and her family in their old neighborhood are the belongings they have stored at the Panama Hotel, a majestic building that marks the border between the Japanese and Chinese neighborhoods.
It's a fairly simple, timeless, love-across-all-obstacles story, crosscutting between the eventful, turbulent scenes set in melting pot WWII Seattle and the present, with the recently-widowed Henry driven by his son (with whom he has a fractured relationship) and son's new girlfriend to try to track down Keiko. Well-paced and moving, and I give Ford credit for opening my eyes to an oft-forgotten, tragic period in American history. It's a very easy book to like.
(****)
*
Let's keep going with my 500 Greatest Performances of All Time:
Kurt Russell
as Herb Brooks in Miracle (2004)
We've seen inspirational, hard-driving coaches before, played very well (Gene Hackman in Hoosiers to name a great one), but Russell, an often underrated actor, really brings it in Miracle. As Herb Brooks, the coach who guided the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, who pulled up the upset of all upsets, making us (to quote sportscaster Al Michaels) "believe in miracles" by beating the mighty Russians, Russell provides a grounded, always believable, rock-like presence. He's not sentimental, and he's so focused, so real, that his emotions, in a strange way, become our emotions: when he gets angry, so do we; when he cheers, so do we; when he doubts, so do we. Russell never plays emotions, he just is. He gets a great speech too.
One more:
Gary Cooper
as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon (1952)
Cooper was a rangier and sturdier actor than you probably remember, aside from being a great, towering, authentic American movie star. In arguably his finest, most iconic role, he brings a weary, grave, dutiful sense of hard-earned honor to the role of Will Kane, a man abandoned by all his friends and associates - his whole town, really - as he waits for the noon train that will bring his long-lost enemy to town to exact revenge. Recently married to Grace Kelly's Amy Fowler Kane, who knows deep down that a man has to do what he has to do, Will has everything to lose but wouldn't be able to live with himself if he turned and ran. It's a great, manly role, and Cooper projects strength and fortitude, but what really grabs your attention is the way in which Cooper (who copped an Oscar for the role) shows how Will is still so nagged by doubt; Cooper isn't afraid to project honest-to-God fear. You didn't see that much at the time from our western heroes.
Images:
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