50 in 2011: #8 Neil Laundau with Matthew Frederick: 101 Things I Learned in Film School

A stocking-stuffer from a cousin this past holiday season, I tore through this little number while making my through the pre-Hogwarts section of "Order of the Phoenix".

It's cute. One titular "thing" per page-turn, with accompanying illustrations. Some lessons are familiar technical jargon, like the rule of thirds or a summary of traditional three act structure. Occasionally, there's a great quote from a successful filmmaker that seems like something I'd want to write on the wall in my office (if my office wasn't the TV room in my parents' house). The authors, one of whom is the brain behind an entire "101 Things I Learned..." series, quote director Sidney Lumet: "All great work is preparing for the accident waiting to happen."

This was a fun little read that I think packs more punch than it's convenient title and packaging demonstrate. I'll be keeping this guy handy while hacking my way through my feature first draft next month.

[Note: Lumet himself wrote a very good memoir about his career and creative process called "Making Movies." -- highly recommended."]

50 in 2011: #7 David Sedaris: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

Not a lot to say here. A good, short read that transplants Sedaris' usual ultra-dry, super-analytical yet soft footed prose into the world of the antrhropomorphized animal kingdom. With really direct and demented artwork contributed by Ian Falconer, this volume comes off like a cute and cuddly creature on the surface but contains the same unsparing emotional honesty that we all expect and demand from the prolific Sedaris.

Just because the awfulness of human behavior is told through the eyes of a vigilant rabbit or a motherless bear doesn't mean they won't get their comeuppance dished out by the author's clever sense of justice (poetic or otherwise). Since I've read a few other of his books and have come to know the author's style, the "game" of reading this book became waiting to find out how, in each story, he would mix human behavior and social structures and the known biological and ecological traits of the animals he was using as stars.

A piece clearly written by an author comfortable in his style and sharp enough in his powers to try something a little high-concept, I find Sedaris' work a bit more emotionally dangerous than most of his readers, or maybe that's just me. "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk" might be disarming for those pet-lovers looking for heart-warming animal tales, but for fans of Sedaris, it's a freshly-decorated return to that familiar uncomfortable pause-filled land of "maybe I should try to be a better person" - this time, with paws.

50 in 2011: #6 Chelsea Handler: My Horizontal Life

As H_Ram dwarfs my reading rate, I press on with this surprise entry into my 50, a comedic memoir of the author's exaggerated sexual exploits: Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life.

One of the effects of living with women is that occasionally, I can't help but ignore their literature. (I freely admit to not only not ignoring, but seeking out the occasional ladies' magazine. I love embarrassing stories about bad dates, what can I day?) My sister, of Engonoula fame, has been reading Handler's books. After reading some scathing but humorous things the cable TV host said about Angelina Jolie and Mariah Carey, I couldn't ignore her wit, and thought I'd give her one night stand anthology a look.

I'm over hateful comics. I don't think making fun of something is the highest form of comedy and rage comics turn me off fast. But, at least in this book, Handler's most frequent target is herself, and self-deprecating comics land higher on the list. She's her own worst critic.

The stories are fun and funny, sometimes embarrassing and always brief. [Like her relationships?] Overall, I liked it but wish she wouldn't inject jokes into what would be a funny enough set of events. You can tell when she's embellishing or writing just for a punchline and it feels hacky. It's much easier a read when she lets the events speak for themselves and keeps to her direct, personality-filled style.

It's a fast 213 page read, and I always enjoy an "insider" tale, even if this one has almost nothing at all to do  with her entertainment career. (One anecdote concerns a libidinous friend of her first TV producer, who's recreational activities wreaked havoc on his lovemaking).

If you've ever enjoyed a good Cosmo, (drink or mag), you should check it out.

Hall Pass Revoked

I'm going to try really hard to make the title of this post the only pun I make in this review.

Last night I third-wheeled into AMC Mountainside for the Farrelly Bros.' latest HALL PASS, with Owen Wilson & Jason Sudeikis. It was lackluster, tame and boring. Only at the very end did it come alive with the violent Farrelly mania that injected their past hits like Dumb & Dumber and There's Something About Mary with the kind of idiosyncratic energy that elevated them (in my eyes) past contemporary filmmakers like Kevin Smith. 

Since their heydey, they seem to have lost a trick or two. HALL PASS takes an already sketchy concept and doesn't back it up at all - not even the protagonists believe in it strong enough to ignite any real debauchery before a desperate Richard Jenkins as the aging party-animal Cokely comes in on Day 6.

After years of chaotic Will Ferrell comedies, heartfelt Apatow exercises in earnest, and the shock-treatment of the Hangover, HALL PASS plays like the tame, TBS-version of itself. Owen Wilson, whose well-being I'm continuously worried about, plays the straight man again as in Wedding Crashers, when he's clearly more suited to the Hansel/Hutch type of eccentric wild-man. No one wants to see a Wilson brother play it straight.

I give credit to Jason Sudeikis for exercising his incredible commitment to character on the thankless role of Fred, the seemingly more wild but in reality more impotent of the two leads. He gets the most laughs of the movie (before a scene-stealing barista/DJ gets his shot - literally [fuck, another pun]).

The few dick & fart jokes shoe-horned in here are even obtrusive than usual because the tone of the film is more earnest and understated of all Farrelly movies. The opening, before the high-concept of the hall pass is introduced by the distracting cue-card reading Joy Behar, plays very cooly, funny but without "jokes". It reminds me of the beginning of Ghost Busters - how, once we meet Murray & Aykroyd, the movie could be about anything, though we already know it's about ghosts. The same happens here: we know we're in for a shit-stained, raucous trip from the Farrelly's (or so we hope) but they set it up slowly and Sudeikis & Wilson are the best in the relaxed opening, when they're two jerks. It's more strained later, when they're two jerks "on a mission". They try to justify the point of the movie, that they have a week off from marriage to party & cheat, but also play nice guy horndogs who can't even lay on a pick-up line without failing.

If you think about it, the very concept is too weak to sustain a feature and we've the evidence to prove it.

+ 2 points for the (apparently expensive) use of the Law & Order "dun-dun" sound effect.

+ 2 more points for a surprisingly potent runner about Kathy Griffin that pays off well

I could go on, but I don't want to. Next, Cedar Rapids.