A Couple of Weekday Concert trips to Boston and a Full-Load of Films
Tuesday night I went to a somewhat "new" venue in Boston (new for me, I guess, as I'd never been there) for a show with my sister. She's currently obsessed with a band named: The World is a Beautiful Place, and I am No Longer Afraid to Die. Somewhat an emo band. Somewhat a great instrumental band with lyrics and a singer (with an interesting voice). I've listened to them solely through my sister and I definitely enjoy them, but I think seeing them live was probably the best experience, as opposed to just listening to them on CD. Their live show was incredible. And they were the first opening band, so they only played for about 40 minutes. I would've definitely listened and stood on the floor for although hour, if they'd been the headlining band. Either way, my sister and I got what we paid for (actually, my sister paid for my ticket) and we left after their set. So, it was one of the earliest nights I've had, in terms of concerts. But, it was totally worth it.
And then on Thursday night, I went down to Boston and visited another new venue: Brighton Music Hall, which is an excellent place with a great interior design, a spruced up old building with brick interior walls and a couple of bars. This is like one of the most perfect venues that I've visited. Tim Kasher was playing. I've loved his songwriting, especially in his two amazing bands, Cursive and The Good Life, but this show was more in celebration of his solo recordings. It was a decent show, I even saw Tim Kasher walking around in the crowd a couple of times during the opening acts, but of course, I didn't know what to say to him, so I just made eye contact with him and that was enough. What would you possibly say to someone that you may not idolize, but find to be an incredible artist?
Film 312
"In A Day"
starring: Lorraine Pilkington, Finlay Robertson, Rose Keegan, Jake Broder
written and directed by: Evan Richards
You know you've seen a lot of films in a year's time when you've queued up films on Netflix and you start watching one of them, only to think and/or realize you may have already watched it. That happened to me with "In A Day" (a charming, British comedy), but regardless I watched it again, because I don't think I've watched it for this project, but rather perhaps a couple of years ago.
Ashley (Pilkington) is a jazz pianist whom we never really see playing any music, but we know this as part of her background story, in order for us to understand her situation. She works during the day at a small sandwich shop, which is frequented by Michael (Robertson) who has seemingly taken a liking to her. Have you ever had a crush on someone that works someone and you find yourself going back all the time just to have that brief, yet satisfying interactions which can make your day? I've definitely gone through that. Anyway, that's not what this film is about. It's about one day, in the life of these two people, who apparently have more of a history between each other than either let on at the beginning.
Ashley gets accosted, sort of, by a man who talks her up at a bus stop only to be verbally/sexually assaulted by her and insulted at the same time. He then throws coffee in her face after she refuses his advances. Michael happens to be standing/hovering by and he comes to her aid, inexplicably, other than his weird explanation that he is some kind of guardian angel. He wants her to have a good day, at any cost to him.
With the premise of this film, we are supposed to believe that love, not just friendship, can blossom into something completely fathomable in just a few hours, not even an entire day. There is a bit of a twist, which comes in the third act, pretty much at the end of the film, too, that changes the game. This makes everything about the day come off as trite, but somehow the two actors make it work and make it believable. As a romantic, I want to believe that two people can fall in love in just a day, even if Michael's reasons are a bit manipulative and self-serving.
I enjoyed yet another adventure in romance found in a day spent between two people. It worked for me and the actors were quirky and charming as individuals and together as they ventured around the city and learned more about each other through conversations (in the same vein as "Before Sunrise"- why do I always seem to come back to that movie as the pedestal for which all other movies in this genre stack up against?).
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Film 313
"Small, Beautifully Moving Parts"
starring: Anna Margaret Hollyman, Andre Holland, Mary Beth Peil, Jane Pickett, Sarah Rafferty
written and directed by: Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson
I've read other people's reviews of this small, brief, indie film that were less than kind, but I really enjoyed it for the sum of its parts. It's a road-trip, self-discovery (of course) film that focuses on a woman, Sarah Sparks (Hollyman), who finds out she's pregnant within the first opening minutes of the film. Her partner (Holland) is excited about the future offspring, but the audience can tell that Sarah is less than delighted. But why? She's a woman at the rip-age of bearing children. It's supposed to be the next thing in her successive chronological line of life. She's not unhappy. She's indifferent. So, in order to perhaps find some excitement about motherhood, Sarah decides to take a solo road trip from New York to California (because her sister is throwing her a baby shower), but she also wants to connect with her absentee mother (who disappeared years ago from Sarah's life, which is perhaps the major reason why Sarah is indifferent to motherhood- she never had a positive role model to look up to or gain any guidance from). Sarah is hoping this road trip and her encounters will help mentally prepare her for impending motherhood.
The interesting layer that the filmmakers put into the story is that Sarah is a technophilic who has to shed layer after layer of her technology in order to come out of her technical bubble. Technology is her protective armor and slowly things start to go awry. First, her GPS dies/stops working. Then, her cell phone dies. All this helps Sarah kind of realize that perhaps she has alienated herself from the physical world as well as from herself, and maybe technology has contributed her lack of motherly feelings.
I guess the only flaw in the script is that the writers spend every expense to make sure we see/know the connections of the virtual dependency and the lack of sensitivity to the actual, real world and experiences between real people. Sarah can only marvel at the wonders of technology, as opposed to the wonders of growing a child inside of her body.
In the third act, Sarah's final encounter before self-realization comes in an almost technology-free encounter with her mother (in a bizarre meditation/yoga-type commune, where technology really is not allowed). Sarah has an emotional numbness and the way Hollyman plays Sarah Sparks, we can really feel for her throughout her journey and you end up not necessarily rooting for her to find herself as a mother-to-be.
I think the film and the story helps the viewer realize how dependent we've become on every technology-related. And yet, I write this review from my laptop, while watching DVDs on my television, while my cellphone buzzes at me with text messages and my iPod is docked and charging so that I can listen to music whenever and wherever I want (specifically at the gym, so that I can actually avoid human conversations, because I simply want to be able to workout without interruptions) and my car is ready for any kind of road trip with a GPS!
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Film 314
"Union Square"
starring: Mira Sorvino, Tammy Blanchard
written and directed by: Nancy Savoca
I think Mira Sorvino might have pigeonholed herself as a stereotypical Bronx girl (thanks in large part to her Oscar performance in Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite). In Savoca's family about a broken-down family, Sorvino plays Lucy who is a loud, somewhat obnoxious, negative stereotyped Bronx girl in the midst of a mental breakdown thanks to the impending doom of her screwed up relationship with a guy. As you get to know Lucy, you don't necessarily garner any sympathy for her, because you can sense that this kind of stuff has happened to her throughout her entire adult life. Lucy is a trainwreck of a woman. Lucy is loud, has no social decorum, and dresses like a streetwalker or bar girl asking to be used by any guy who'll take her home. She is also apparently an embarrassment to her sister, Jenny (Blanchard). Lucy's embarrassing behavior is uncomfortable for the viewer perhaps from the beginning, but becomes even more so when she shows up at her sister's place. Jenny has done every she possibly could to run from and escape completely from her old upbringing, including become the fiancee to a wealthy man, whom she lives with in the upper-crust of Manhattan. She's even created a new background for herself, telling her fiancee Bill that she's from Maine.
Of course, with Lucy coming back into Jenny's life, she shakes things up. What starts off as horrible and embarrassing, slowly breaks down as the writers actually use Lucy as a more sympathetic character than who we were first introduced to. Lucy reveals herself to be more than just the one-dimensional stereotype that we saw. Instead, Lucy begins to expose Jenny's half-lies and half-truths. The filmmakers skillfully shift our sympathies as Jenny is forced to face and acknowledge what she lost in her transformation. The importance of family is the underlying point that the filmmakers are trying to drive home and it really is driven home at the very end of the film when Lucy shows Jenny a homemade video posted on a Facebook-type website. Both women breakdown and the story reveals its sentimentality as well as both character's vulnerabilities, which they seemed to be running away from for years.
I really liked this film and found another indie gem from filmmakers that know how to expose feelings in both their characters and the audience. The story flowed really well and the way the characters speak to each other and interact comes off as well. The cinematography and camera-work puts us in these two women's lives, front row and center.
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Film 315
"The Diary of Preston Plummer"
starring: Rumer Willis, Trevor Morgan
written and directed by: Sean Ackerman
This was an absolute failure from the beginning for me. Although it is quite an ambitious, indie film that seems to be telling somewhat of a personal story for the film's writer/director Ackerman, it really fails to make any kind of emotion connection with the audience. The acting performances are subpar. And the script tries so hard to do so much with very little.
Preston Plummer (Morgan) has just graduated from college and has a seemingly bright future for himself if he could only ground himself to see his own potential. Here's what we know about Preston: he's a bit of a loner, he doesn't have much money, and his mother is not really a part of his life. He's keeping a diary through tape recordings that he is keeping for his absent mother to perhaps someday hear for herself.
Preston meets Katie (a less than stellar actress, Rumer Willis, who is probably getting jobs solely based on the fact that she's the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore) at a graduation party. He drives her home after she has a fight with her boyfriend. Just as she's about to head inside, Katie asks Preston to drive her to her parents' home in Florida. Since Preston has the personality of a loner, he's rather hesitate to embark on this car trip with a stranger, but he's very attracted to Katie (for whatever reason).
When they arrive in Florida, for some inexplicable reason, Preston is invited to visit Katie's estranged from the family's grandfather, who is holding a family secret (well, actually Katie's parents are keeping the secret as well), and for some reason feels compelled to reveal everything to Preston. When Katie and Preston arrive in Florida, the film really starts to break down because of the many awkward scenes between the eventual romantic couple as well as Katie's parents. The dialogue is awkward at pretty much every turn and the acting is really terrible, even for veteran actors.
It was hard to believe what is happening on the screen during The Diary of Preston Plummer because the storyline felt contrived and the acting performances lacked any conviction. In the end, the film may have tried to do too much with what it had. The subplot of Kate’s family history ends up overshadowing the main plot of the film, as it initially starts out as a road trip love story between Preston and Kate, but quickly shifts into being about solving a family mystery. Small glimpses of potential are briefly seen in the film, but they never fully emerge.
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Film 316
"The Lifeguard"
starring: Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Joshua Harto, David Lambert, Amy Madigan
written and directed by: Liz W. Garcia
I don't know how this movie didn't really seem to live a decent life in theaters when it first came out. I don't think it even came to any theaters in Maine. I'd like to think I wouldn't have missed it.
The way it's written and directed (by a woman), it's like the female version or answer to Zach Braff's self-indulgent male fantasy/midlife crisis film "Garden State" (which is still one of my Top 5 Favorite Films). "The Lifeguard" is dark and messy. It has a great story hidden within itself that never really has a chance to really find its voice because the tone is never truly established. It's at times, vague and a bit cliche, but thankfully, in those typical scenes, Kristen Bell saves the film by giving an outstanding performance as a sensitive, lost, and complex woman on the verge of turning 30 years old who is struggling at the beginning of the film with the life she's carved out for herself in New York as a reporter for the AP. So, she returns to her hometown and intends to move back in with her parents as she figures things out (her parents are not so thrilled to have her back, well, more her mother than her father). So far, there's a parallel in the story to "Garden State," but then it veers into a darker story. Leigh (Bell) decides to take up a job as the community pool lifeguard (a job she held in her high school days) and she reconnects with some of her old high school friends, who haven't left their hometown, but have made decent, respectable lives for themselves. Mamie Gummer (whom I recently saw in "Twelve Thirty") plays Mel, a high school assistant principal, married and rather uptight, as she's tried to distance herself from her crazier high school days. Todd (Martin Starr, who has grown into his body since his brief stint as a geek on Judd Apatow's genius, albeit brief NBC show "Freaks and Geeks") is a closeted art gallery worker.
The darker side of the story comes from Leigh's job as lifeguard. Through this job, she befriends two teenage boys, Jason and Matt, whom the older crowd begins to hang out with and get high in the woods with. Jason and Matt are outcasts and misfits to the town. They want to be left alone, but most importantly they want to get out of their hometown. At first, Leigh acts as a counselor to the two boys but then she starts up a torrid and passionate affair with Jason. The moral implications are not necessarily cast aside, since Jason is 16 years old and Leigh is "29 and 10 months." Mel becomes very concerned for how wrong their sexual affair is and knows that her job is in jeopardy if she doesn't report it. But the double-standard of the older woman and the teenage boy idea really comes through when Mel confronts Jason's father with the details and Jason's father seems to careless that his son may be taken advantage of by Leigh, because hey, his son's getting laid. And as Jason says, "it's not like she's raping me." Is that the double standard? That perhaps it's harder for society to see what's wrong with this type of affair, as opposed to the Humbert Humbert and Lolita-type affair, because a teenage boy is a walking hormone, with an erect penis pretty much every minute of the day and if a teenage boy is getting laid, he doesn't really care if he is ultimately being taken advantage of? Teenage boys don't see things that way, maybe.
As a character, Leigh resembles Zach Braff's character in "Garden State" in that they are both rather unlikable characters. They are clearly using their respective partners in their stop-overs in their lives until they realize what they need to. Leigh is clearly lost, but doesn't really give the viewer any reason to have sympathy for her lost state of mind. You don't ever really feel bad for her, instead you kind of resent her need to sympathy and understanding because she is dragging everyone around her down, too. Her mother can see right through her facade. And if you're an intelligent viewer, you can see past Leigh as well.
Regardless, I really enjoyed "The Lifeguard" because Kristen Bell plays Leigh with such precision that she really saves the film when it's failing itself.
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Film 317
"She Wants Me"
starring: Josh Gad, Kristen Ruhlin, Hilary Duff, Charlie Sheen, Aaron Yoo, Debra Jo Rupp, Wayne Knight, Johnny Messner, Melonie Diaz, Brit Morgan
written and directed by: Rob Margolies
Here is a film that begs the viewer to side with and accept Josh Gad's film writer character as a lovable loser who deserves the beautiful, aspiring actress played by Kristen Ruhlin. Unfortunately, the experiment failed for me. Gad's character, Sam, just comes off as dry and self-indulgent as well as quite self-serving, and he doesn't get all that he truly deserves (to ultimately be unhappy because of his own stupidity and choices- instead, he reaps the benefits of his stupidity, which made me actually dislike him even more). Kristen Ruhlin's Sammy is the likable girl who seems to have "married down" so to speak, because Sam is overweight and unkempt. Sam has really defined himself as the film-writer working on his next project, which he's promised the starring female role to Sammy, his live-in girlfriend, all the while he is pursuing a much more high profile actress found in Kim Powers (played by Hilary Duff). When shit hits the fan and Sammy finds out the truth, she takes off, as she should. But, in the meantime, she's also invited her wealthy, beefcake ex-husband to stay with them, for whatever reason (under the guise that he will pay rent in order to allow Sam to finish his screenplay to alleviate financial responsibilities on the couple). Her ex-husband, John, staying with them, of course creates a cause for concern for Sam and he definitely develops more insecurity than he had before (wouldn't you?).
This is film that really wants to tell the story of the awkwardly acceptable relationship between Sam and Sammy as they face the many complications that come with any relationship without it falling apart. Sure, they take a break from each other and Sam finds weird comfort in a girl at a party that he first dismisses because she seems to be rather promiscuous thanks in large part of a tattoo of an arrow on her lower back. The story seems to go from one conundrum to another as Sam puts his foot in his mouth or shoots himself in the foot several times and it never really works for me, unless Kristen Ruhlin is on the screen, because her performance is the most believable as the girl who's been hurt more than she deserves to be.
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Film 318
"Poolhall Junkies"
starring: Chazz Palminteri, Rick Schroder, Michael Rosenbaum, Mars Callahan, Alison Eastwood, Christopher Walken
written and directed by: Mars Callahan
This is a young man's film, humming with the fun of making it. It was directed and co-written by Gregory "Mars" Callahan, who also plays the leading role, Johnny Doyle, who was so good when he was a kid that "the cue was part of his arm and the balls had eyes." He never wanted to grow up to be a pool hustler. He wanted to join the pro tour. Unfortunately, life doesn't always work out as you want, but Johnny has learned to work with what he was given. He is ultimately a good guy, if not for just the one simple encounter a little ways into the film, when his most important pool-playing bet involves the high stakes of ensuring that the woman he loves gets the job she really wants- as a lawyer at a seemingly prestigious law firm. Christopher Walken plays the girl's Uncle Mike and he of course turns in another stellar performance as Johnny's beneficiary.
The plot you are already generally familiar with. There will be high-stakes games of pool with lives and fortunes, etc., hanging in the balance. That goes with the territory. "Poolhall Junkies" is a pleasure not because it rivets us with unbearable poolhall suspense but because it finds a voluptuous enjoyment in the act of moviemaking. Callahan wrote and played the character of Johnny Doyle not to persuade you he's the meanest mother in the city, but simply to demonstrate that it would not be wise to bet large sums of money against him in the game of pool.
"Poolhall Junkies" was a surprisingly entertaining film that told a decent story and allows you, as the viewer, to have a good time. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a feel-good movie with some good and sometimes cheesy dialogue, as well as the somewhat expected, cliche scenes of good guys versus bad guys, the exception being that theses scenes take place in a poolhall instead of alleyways.
And then on Thursday night, I went down to Boston and visited another new venue: Brighton Music Hall, which is an excellent place with a great interior design, a spruced up old building with brick interior walls and a couple of bars. This is like one of the most perfect venues that I've visited. Tim Kasher was playing. I've loved his songwriting, especially in his two amazing bands, Cursive and The Good Life, but this show was more in celebration of his solo recordings. It was a decent show, I even saw Tim Kasher walking around in the crowd a couple of times during the opening acts, but of course, I didn't know what to say to him, so I just made eye contact with him and that was enough. What would you possibly say to someone that you may not idolize, but find to be an incredible artist?
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(Cursive song)
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(The Faint cover)
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(The Good Life song)
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Film 312
"In A Day"
starring: Lorraine Pilkington, Finlay Robertson, Rose Keegan, Jake Broder
written and directed by: Evan Richards
You know you've seen a lot of films in a year's time when you've queued up films on Netflix and you start watching one of them, only to think and/or realize you may have already watched it. That happened to me with "In A Day" (a charming, British comedy), but regardless I watched it again, because I don't think I've watched it for this project, but rather perhaps a couple of years ago.
Ashley (Pilkington) is a jazz pianist whom we never really see playing any music, but we know this as part of her background story, in order for us to understand her situation. She works during the day at a small sandwich shop, which is frequented by Michael (Robertson) who has seemingly taken a liking to her. Have you ever had a crush on someone that works someone and you find yourself going back all the time just to have that brief, yet satisfying interactions which can make your day? I've definitely gone through that. Anyway, that's not what this film is about. It's about one day, in the life of these two people, who apparently have more of a history between each other than either let on at the beginning.
Ashley gets accosted, sort of, by a man who talks her up at a bus stop only to be verbally/sexually assaulted by her and insulted at the same time. He then throws coffee in her face after she refuses his advances. Michael happens to be standing/hovering by and he comes to her aid, inexplicably, other than his weird explanation that he is some kind of guardian angel. He wants her to have a good day, at any cost to him.
With the premise of this film, we are supposed to believe that love, not just friendship, can blossom into something completely fathomable in just a few hours, not even an entire day. There is a bit of a twist, which comes in the third act, pretty much at the end of the film, too, that changes the game. This makes everything about the day come off as trite, but somehow the two actors make it work and make it believable. As a romantic, I want to believe that two people can fall in love in just a day, even if Michael's reasons are a bit manipulative and self-serving.
I enjoyed yet another adventure in romance found in a day spent between two people. It worked for me and the actors were quirky and charming as individuals and together as they ventured around the city and learned more about each other through conversations (in the same vein as "Before Sunrise"- why do I always seem to come back to that movie as the pedestal for which all other movies in this genre stack up against?).
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Film 313
"Small, Beautifully Moving Parts"
starring: Anna Margaret Hollyman, Andre Holland, Mary Beth Peil, Jane Pickett, Sarah Rafferty
written and directed by: Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson
I've read other people's reviews of this small, brief, indie film that were less than kind, but I really enjoyed it for the sum of its parts. It's a road-trip, self-discovery (of course) film that focuses on a woman, Sarah Sparks (Hollyman), who finds out she's pregnant within the first opening minutes of the film. Her partner (Holland) is excited about the future offspring, but the audience can tell that Sarah is less than delighted. But why? She's a woman at the rip-age of bearing children. It's supposed to be the next thing in her successive chronological line of life. She's not unhappy. She's indifferent. So, in order to perhaps find some excitement about motherhood, Sarah decides to take a solo road trip from New York to California (because her sister is throwing her a baby shower), but she also wants to connect with her absentee mother (who disappeared years ago from Sarah's life, which is perhaps the major reason why Sarah is indifferent to motherhood- she never had a positive role model to look up to or gain any guidance from). Sarah is hoping this road trip and her encounters will help mentally prepare her for impending motherhood.
The interesting layer that the filmmakers put into the story is that Sarah is a technophilic who has to shed layer after layer of her technology in order to come out of her technical bubble. Technology is her protective armor and slowly things start to go awry. First, her GPS dies/stops working. Then, her cell phone dies. All this helps Sarah kind of realize that perhaps she has alienated herself from the physical world as well as from herself, and maybe technology has contributed her lack of motherly feelings.
I guess the only flaw in the script is that the writers spend every expense to make sure we see/know the connections of the virtual dependency and the lack of sensitivity to the actual, real world and experiences between real people. Sarah can only marvel at the wonders of technology, as opposed to the wonders of growing a child inside of her body.
In the third act, Sarah's final encounter before self-realization comes in an almost technology-free encounter with her mother (in a bizarre meditation/yoga-type commune, where technology really is not allowed). Sarah has an emotional numbness and the way Hollyman plays Sarah Sparks, we can really feel for her throughout her journey and you end up not necessarily rooting for her to find herself as a mother-to-be.
I think the film and the story helps the viewer realize how dependent we've become on every technology-related. And yet, I write this review from my laptop, while watching DVDs on my television, while my cellphone buzzes at me with text messages and my iPod is docked and charging so that I can listen to music whenever and wherever I want (specifically at the gym, so that I can actually avoid human conversations, because I simply want to be able to workout without interruptions) and my car is ready for any kind of road trip with a GPS!
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Film 314
"Union Square"
starring: Mira Sorvino, Tammy Blanchard
written and directed by: Nancy Savoca
I think Mira Sorvino might have pigeonholed herself as a stereotypical Bronx girl (thanks in large part to her Oscar performance in Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite). In Savoca's family about a broken-down family, Sorvino plays Lucy who is a loud, somewhat obnoxious, negative stereotyped Bronx girl in the midst of a mental breakdown thanks to the impending doom of her screwed up relationship with a guy. As you get to know Lucy, you don't necessarily garner any sympathy for her, because you can sense that this kind of stuff has happened to her throughout her entire adult life. Lucy is a trainwreck of a woman. Lucy is loud, has no social decorum, and dresses like a streetwalker or bar girl asking to be used by any guy who'll take her home. She is also apparently an embarrassment to her sister, Jenny (Blanchard). Lucy's embarrassing behavior is uncomfortable for the viewer perhaps from the beginning, but becomes even more so when she shows up at her sister's place. Jenny has done every she possibly could to run from and escape completely from her old upbringing, including become the fiancee to a wealthy man, whom she lives with in the upper-crust of Manhattan. She's even created a new background for herself, telling her fiancee Bill that she's from Maine.
Of course, with Lucy coming back into Jenny's life, she shakes things up. What starts off as horrible and embarrassing, slowly breaks down as the writers actually use Lucy as a more sympathetic character than who we were first introduced to. Lucy reveals herself to be more than just the one-dimensional stereotype that we saw. Instead, Lucy begins to expose Jenny's half-lies and half-truths. The filmmakers skillfully shift our sympathies as Jenny is forced to face and acknowledge what she lost in her transformation. The importance of family is the underlying point that the filmmakers are trying to drive home and it really is driven home at the very end of the film when Lucy shows Jenny a homemade video posted on a Facebook-type website. Both women breakdown and the story reveals its sentimentality as well as both character's vulnerabilities, which they seemed to be running away from for years.
I really liked this film and found another indie gem from filmmakers that know how to expose feelings in both their characters and the audience. The story flowed really well and the way the characters speak to each other and interact comes off as well. The cinematography and camera-work puts us in these two women's lives, front row and center.
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Film 315
"The Diary of Preston Plummer"
starring: Rumer Willis, Trevor Morgan
written and directed by: Sean Ackerman
This was an absolute failure from the beginning for me. Although it is quite an ambitious, indie film that seems to be telling somewhat of a personal story for the film's writer/director Ackerman, it really fails to make any kind of emotion connection with the audience. The acting performances are subpar. And the script tries so hard to do so much with very little.
Preston Plummer (Morgan) has just graduated from college and has a seemingly bright future for himself if he could only ground himself to see his own potential. Here's what we know about Preston: he's a bit of a loner, he doesn't have much money, and his mother is not really a part of his life. He's keeping a diary through tape recordings that he is keeping for his absent mother to perhaps someday hear for herself.
Preston meets Katie (a less than stellar actress, Rumer Willis, who is probably getting jobs solely based on the fact that she's the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore) at a graduation party. He drives her home after she has a fight with her boyfriend. Just as she's about to head inside, Katie asks Preston to drive her to her parents' home in Florida. Since Preston has the personality of a loner, he's rather hesitate to embark on this car trip with a stranger, but he's very attracted to Katie (for whatever reason).
When they arrive in Florida, for some inexplicable reason, Preston is invited to visit Katie's estranged from the family's grandfather, who is holding a family secret (well, actually Katie's parents are keeping the secret as well), and for some reason feels compelled to reveal everything to Preston. When Katie and Preston arrive in Florida, the film really starts to break down because of the many awkward scenes between the eventual romantic couple as well as Katie's parents. The dialogue is awkward at pretty much every turn and the acting is really terrible, even for veteran actors.
It was hard to believe what is happening on the screen during The Diary of Preston Plummer because the storyline felt contrived and the acting performances lacked any conviction. In the end, the film may have tried to do too much with what it had. The subplot of Kate’s family history ends up overshadowing the main plot of the film, as it initially starts out as a road trip love story between Preston and Kate, but quickly shifts into being about solving a family mystery. Small glimpses of potential are briefly seen in the film, but they never fully emerge.
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Film 316
"The Lifeguard"
starring: Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Joshua Harto, David Lambert, Amy Madigan
written and directed by: Liz W. Garcia
I don't know how this movie didn't really seem to live a decent life in theaters when it first came out. I don't think it even came to any theaters in Maine. I'd like to think I wouldn't have missed it.
The way it's written and directed (by a woman), it's like the female version or answer to Zach Braff's self-indulgent male fantasy/midlife crisis film "Garden State" (which is still one of my Top 5 Favorite Films). "The Lifeguard" is dark and messy. It has a great story hidden within itself that never really has a chance to really find its voice because the tone is never truly established. It's at times, vague and a bit cliche, but thankfully, in those typical scenes, Kristen Bell saves the film by giving an outstanding performance as a sensitive, lost, and complex woman on the verge of turning 30 years old who is struggling at the beginning of the film with the life she's carved out for herself in New York as a reporter for the AP. So, she returns to her hometown and intends to move back in with her parents as she figures things out (her parents are not so thrilled to have her back, well, more her mother than her father). So far, there's a parallel in the story to "Garden State," but then it veers into a darker story. Leigh (Bell) decides to take up a job as the community pool lifeguard (a job she held in her high school days) and she reconnects with some of her old high school friends, who haven't left their hometown, but have made decent, respectable lives for themselves. Mamie Gummer (whom I recently saw in "Twelve Thirty") plays Mel, a high school assistant principal, married and rather uptight, as she's tried to distance herself from her crazier high school days. Todd (Martin Starr, who has grown into his body since his brief stint as a geek on Judd Apatow's genius, albeit brief NBC show "Freaks and Geeks") is a closeted art gallery worker.
The darker side of the story comes from Leigh's job as lifeguard. Through this job, she befriends two teenage boys, Jason and Matt, whom the older crowd begins to hang out with and get high in the woods with. Jason and Matt are outcasts and misfits to the town. They want to be left alone, but most importantly they want to get out of their hometown. At first, Leigh acts as a counselor to the two boys but then she starts up a torrid and passionate affair with Jason. The moral implications are not necessarily cast aside, since Jason is 16 years old and Leigh is "29 and 10 months." Mel becomes very concerned for how wrong their sexual affair is and knows that her job is in jeopardy if she doesn't report it. But the double-standard of the older woman and the teenage boy idea really comes through when Mel confronts Jason's father with the details and Jason's father seems to careless that his son may be taken advantage of by Leigh, because hey, his son's getting laid. And as Jason says, "it's not like she's raping me." Is that the double standard? That perhaps it's harder for society to see what's wrong with this type of affair, as opposed to the Humbert Humbert and Lolita-type affair, because a teenage boy is a walking hormone, with an erect penis pretty much every minute of the day and if a teenage boy is getting laid, he doesn't really care if he is ultimately being taken advantage of? Teenage boys don't see things that way, maybe.
As a character, Leigh resembles Zach Braff's character in "Garden State" in that they are both rather unlikable characters. They are clearly using their respective partners in their stop-overs in their lives until they realize what they need to. Leigh is clearly lost, but doesn't really give the viewer any reason to have sympathy for her lost state of mind. You don't ever really feel bad for her, instead you kind of resent her need to sympathy and understanding because she is dragging everyone around her down, too. Her mother can see right through her facade. And if you're an intelligent viewer, you can see past Leigh as well.
Regardless, I really enjoyed "The Lifeguard" because Kristen Bell plays Leigh with such precision that she really saves the film when it's failing itself.
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Film 317
"She Wants Me"
starring: Josh Gad, Kristen Ruhlin, Hilary Duff, Charlie Sheen, Aaron Yoo, Debra Jo Rupp, Wayne Knight, Johnny Messner, Melonie Diaz, Brit Morgan
written and directed by: Rob Margolies
Here is a film that begs the viewer to side with and accept Josh Gad's film writer character as a lovable loser who deserves the beautiful, aspiring actress played by Kristen Ruhlin. Unfortunately, the experiment failed for me. Gad's character, Sam, just comes off as dry and self-indulgent as well as quite self-serving, and he doesn't get all that he truly deserves (to ultimately be unhappy because of his own stupidity and choices- instead, he reaps the benefits of his stupidity, which made me actually dislike him even more). Kristen Ruhlin's Sammy is the likable girl who seems to have "married down" so to speak, because Sam is overweight and unkempt. Sam has really defined himself as the film-writer working on his next project, which he's promised the starring female role to Sammy, his live-in girlfriend, all the while he is pursuing a much more high profile actress found in Kim Powers (played by Hilary Duff). When shit hits the fan and Sammy finds out the truth, she takes off, as she should. But, in the meantime, she's also invited her wealthy, beefcake ex-husband to stay with them, for whatever reason (under the guise that he will pay rent in order to allow Sam to finish his screenplay to alleviate financial responsibilities on the couple). Her ex-husband, John, staying with them, of course creates a cause for concern for Sam and he definitely develops more insecurity than he had before (wouldn't you?).
This is film that really wants to tell the story of the awkwardly acceptable relationship between Sam and Sammy as they face the many complications that come with any relationship without it falling apart. Sure, they take a break from each other and Sam finds weird comfort in a girl at a party that he first dismisses because she seems to be rather promiscuous thanks in large part of a tattoo of an arrow on her lower back. The story seems to go from one conundrum to another as Sam puts his foot in his mouth or shoots himself in the foot several times and it never really works for me, unless Kristen Ruhlin is on the screen, because her performance is the most believable as the girl who's been hurt more than she deserves to be.
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Film 318
"Poolhall Junkies"
starring: Chazz Palminteri, Rick Schroder, Michael Rosenbaum, Mars Callahan, Alison Eastwood, Christopher Walken
written and directed by: Mars Callahan
This is a young man's film, humming with the fun of making it. It was directed and co-written by Gregory "Mars" Callahan, who also plays the leading role, Johnny Doyle, who was so good when he was a kid that "the cue was part of his arm and the balls had eyes." He never wanted to grow up to be a pool hustler. He wanted to join the pro tour. Unfortunately, life doesn't always work out as you want, but Johnny has learned to work with what he was given. He is ultimately a good guy, if not for just the one simple encounter a little ways into the film, when his most important pool-playing bet involves the high stakes of ensuring that the woman he loves gets the job she really wants- as a lawyer at a seemingly prestigious law firm. Christopher Walken plays the girl's Uncle Mike and he of course turns in another stellar performance as Johnny's beneficiary.
The plot you are already generally familiar with. There will be high-stakes games of pool with lives and fortunes, etc., hanging in the balance. That goes with the territory. "Poolhall Junkies" is a pleasure not because it rivets us with unbearable poolhall suspense but because it finds a voluptuous enjoyment in the act of moviemaking. Callahan wrote and played the character of Johnny Doyle not to persuade you he's the meanest mother in the city, but simply to demonstrate that it would not be wise to bet large sums of money against him in the game of pool.
"Poolhall Junkies" was a surprisingly entertaining film that told a decent story and allows you, as the viewer, to have a good time. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a feel-good movie with some good and sometimes cheesy dialogue, as well as the somewhat expected, cliche scenes of good guys versus bad guys, the exception being that theses scenes take place in a poolhall instead of alleyways.
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