TO ROME WITH LOVE

TO ROME WITH LOVE
Written and Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Penelope Cruz and Woody Allen


Jack: What’s so great about suffering?
Monica: There’s just something attractive about a man who is plagued by the perils of existence.

Woody Allen remains true to form with his latest international comedy TO ROME WITH LOVE. And by that I mean that he has followed up a genuine hit with a complete misfire. This is Allen’s pattern after all. On occasion, he gets it just right and many people thought he did just that with last year’s MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. The Oscar winner for Original Screenplay is not my favourite Allen film by any means, but it did certainly enchant with its whimsical look at Paris and people from a cross-generational perspective. His latest hopes to achieve that same success in Rome, but it is such a disconnected collage of familiar Allen talking points that I don’t see the masses swooning this time around. And sadly, if history continues to repeat itself, we will be in store for a few more Allen misses before another hit.

I’m not really sure where to begin with TO ROME WITH LOVE. Alec Baldwin plays an architect vacationing in his former stomping grounds and Jesse Eisenberg is, what I interpret as, a younger version of himself. Baldwin revisits his past by observing Eisenberg (the character Allen himself said he would have liked to play, y’know, if he was fifty years younger) as he waffles between passion (Ellen Page) and stability (Greta Gerwig). Alison Pill referees between her new fiancé, Michelangelo (Flavio Parenti), and her parents (Judy Davis and Allen, making his first film appearance since SCOOP, another real winner), as Allen tries to make Antonio’s father (famed tenor, Fabio Armiliato) into a famous opera singer by staging him in shows where he sings in a shower. Meanwhile, Penelope Cruz plays a prostitute who is mistaken for the new wife of a young businessman (Alessandro Tiberi). They parade around the city with his family while his actual wife (Alessandra Mastronardi) remains perpetually lost in Rome. And then, as if the rest of it wasn’t absurd enough, Roberto Benigni plays a nobody who suddenly and inexplicably becomes an overnight sensation, his every move, from breakfast to bedtime, becomes public fascination. As individual parts, they are more or less amusing and occasionally very witty, but as a whole, they never cohesively come together to mean anything substantial.

TO ROME WITH LOVE was originally called, “Nero Fiddled”. The name change itself exposes what I believe to be the only major selling point about this movie. Clearly, the hope was that those who fell in love with Allen in Paris would do the same in Rome, which is, of course, just as picturesque. The reality is that there will certainly be more interest in this film as a result, but once those patrons get there, I doubt very much they will feel the warmth and charm they are expecting. Before long, everyone who celebrated Allen last year after years of denouncing him as over, will probably find themselves wondering if his late in life romp through Paris, was just a fluke.

The Social Network

The Social Network, 2010
Directed by David Fincher
Won 3 Oscars: Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score
Lost BP To: The King's Speech
Up Against: The King's Speech, Black Swan, The Kid's Are Alright, Winter's Bone, True Grit, 127 Hours, Toy Story 3, The Fighter, Inception


Last year, I was a huge huge fan of the King's Speech, and rooted for it all the way. After the nominees came out for Best Picture, I decided I should probably see what the big fuss was about for The Social Network, it's biggest competitor. Whether it was bias, or because it truly didn't strike my fancy, I wasn't a fan. I didn't see why it was getting attention, though it was an average, kind of dull movie, and completely dismissed it.

Now, about a year later, I've decided to give it another chance. Why? Because I've become a fan of Andrew Garfield, having watched him in Never Let Me Go and the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, both of which he was fantastic. Also, having dismissed the Original Score as well, thinking How to Train Your Dragon should've won, I also picked that up again, and while I knew it was just okay on it's own, it probably rocked with the movie. Thus, I picked it up from the library and settled down and watched it tonight.


This is the story of Facebook, and the people behind it. Mark Zuckerburg is a computer genius, even before he started Facebook. He was going to Harvard, and was able to create websites in an evening, while drunk, that would gain 22,000 hits in one night, and crash the Harvard network. That's the kind of guy he is. When he's approached by the Winklevoss twins to program a website for them, Harvard Connection. It's an exclusive facebook/social network for Harvard University students. Mark initially says he's in, but then he deems their idea lame, doesn't tell them he's out for 6 weeks, and starts up his own social networking site, TheFacebook, for Harvard students with his best friend Eduardo Saverin.

The story revolves around Mark, obviously, and just how he rolls to the beat of his own drum. Doing things with Eduardo's money before asking him for said money, teaming up with Napster-creator gone broke, Sean Parker, moving to California to set up his business, and eventually betraying Eduardo. Mark is given to us a cold-hearted college student. The only person he really cares about is himself. And that shines through in every moment we see Mark. Though we know at the heart of the matter, Mark wants acceptance. And he does this through creating Facebook. It's an interest flip-flop, seeing this in the opening scene with Erica, and then the lawsuit scenes. In the end, you can't have worldwide acceptance, and keep your best friends, it seems.

This movie moves back and forth from the past (creation of Facebook/Harvard) and the present (lawsuits). It's almost as though this film is a supplement and evidence in the cases. We see the scenes as they come up in the suits, sometimes with description and narration from Mark or Eduardo. And we are taken, linearly through the process of the creation of Facebook. The "stealing" from the Winklevoss's, the creation and programming of TheFacebook, with Mark and Eduardo, the college celebrity phase, the move to LA and teaming with Sean Parker, and the Business Deal. It's well told, with not too much narration (but a sufficient amount), and not too much back and forth between the two (though, again, sufficient, that we don't forget about it, and it keeps us wondering what went wrong with Mark and Eduardo).

The screenplay, written by Aaron Sorkin, is whip-smart, witty, and just so geeky. It is said that the opening scene between Erica and Mark was 8 script pages long, and took 99 takes to get right. And I believe both those facts. Aaron Sorkin's screenplay was really great. He has such a talent for turning okay subject into really great movies (see Moneyball).

Additionally, the movie was well acted, and it garnered Jesse Eisenberg a Lead Actor nomination. Though, if anyone should've been nominated, it should've been Andrew Garfield. He's a really strong actor, and that's also true for this film. He has so much passion, and you can see it in every line he speaks in this film (with a wonderful American accent to boot). Of all the acting in this film, I'd say he was definitely the strongest, especially with his moment of confrontation, at the end, with Mark. He plays that so perfectly.

Overall, the film was good, but not Best Picture worthy. I understand the nomination, but still agree it shouldn't have won. It was a well told film, with an interesting(ish) story, but I don't think it'll stand the test of time well, since it's such a modern piece. Not that modern is bad, or that Best Picture's need to stand the test of time, but it's a very here-and-now movie, and while it was good, it wasn't amazing.

7.5/10

030. Rio

030. (24 Jan) Rio (2011, Carlos Saldanha) 47



Considering how well-animated Rio is, it's astonishing the concept is so awful. It's almost entirely reliant on visuals since the plot merely has an awkward parrot lost in Rio. His misadventures are a lame excuse for one action sequence followed by another. Bad musical numbers and awful voice actors are plentiful. (Who on earth cast Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway as the leads?) Jemaine Clement tries to liven things up as the villain, but there's no discernible motivation for a villain in this film so he's just misplaced. At least there's a nice sequence featuring air gliders. The Oscar-nominated "Real in Rio" opening number is also pleasant, if forgettable.

30 MINUTES OR LESS

Written by Michael Diliberti

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Anzari, Danny McBride and Nick Swardson

Dwayne: Sometimes fate brings out it's big, old c@#k and smacks you right in the face with it.

I’ve decided that, in the spirit of the title of this film, I’m going to dedicate no more than 30 minutes to writing this review. In actuality though, my decision has very little to do with the title. I don’t want to dedicate any more time than this to Ruben Fleischer’s (ZOMBIELAND) second film because 30 MINUTES OR LESS plays out like he didn’t spend any more time than that on it either.

First of all, the title itself has nothing to do with this movie. Nick (Jesse Eisenberg, looking particularly pale) is a pizza delivery man-child who never meets his “30 minutes or it’s free” guarantee. He gets jumped by a couple of wannabe thugs (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) in ape masks and when he wakes up, he has a bomb strapped to his chest. He must then rob a bank and bring back $100 grand to them so that they can in turn pay a hitman (Michael Pena) to kill one of the thug’s controlling father (Fred Ward). You would think he would have all of 30 minutes to accomplish this task but really he has 10 hours. The suspense is pretty much cut out of this picture right there.

Nick is joined by his reluctant best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari) and they get to work through their growing pains together while they bond in this experience. The cast is solid – Ansari’s deadpan delivery is always brilliant and McBride redeems himself to me after his disastrous turn in YOUR HIGHNESS – but their random moments of mild hilarity are not enough to make up for how paper thin and half-assed this film truly is. Essentially, 30 MINUTES OR LESS will be forgotten just as quickly.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Written by Aaron Sorkin
Directed by David Fincher
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake

Mark Zuckerberg: There is a difference between being obsessive and being motivated.

With over 500 million members worldwide, Facebook has come a long way since it was just a little social networking site kicking around a few prestigious colleges in the United States. In fact, I remember quite vividly when I first heard about it. It came out of nowhere and suddenly everyone I knew was asking why I wasn’t on Facebook yet. I actually held out. I had done Friendster and Myspace. Why did I need this new network to come into my life so I could feign the idea of closeness with people I had neither seen nor thought of for years? For days, I cursed it to anyone who would listen. This made it particularly difficult when I actually joined Facebook a few weeks later and started inviting all the people I had complained about it to, to be my friend.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK, or what is affectionately known as “The Facebook Movie”, is not about a bunch of bored office workers or late night loners wasting hours of their lives on Facebook. That’s about all it isn’t about though. Screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, has taken the real life story of how Facebook came into existence and turned it into something so much more revealing about human nature. By walking us through the two lawsuits that Facebook co-creator, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), was served as a result of how he went about co-creating Facebook, Sorkin is able to comment on everything Facebook touches on, directly or indirectly. Suddenly, a factual account of a civil law suit is able to expose America’s class system as still going strong, our universal fascination with gossip and popularity and the increasingly blurred difference between public and private statement. Even the inclusion of the lawsuits themselves denounce an American fascination with suing to get even, even when that means suing your best friend.

Fortunately for Sorkin’s ambitious script, David Fincher helms THE SOCIAL NETWORK and I really want to add him as my friend again after THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON made me hide him from my news feed. (Kidding, David Fincher is not my friend in any capacity). Fincher has this one though. He has an incredible awareness of the implications being made by the actions and accents the perfect moments to prove the points subtly and effectively. He also drives brave, brazen performances from his three young stars. Justin Timberlake shows dramatic depth as Sean Parker, the creator of Napster. Andrew Garfield finally shows me why I should give him any notice as Facebook co-creator, Eduardo Saverin. And Eisenberg, an actor that is oft criticized for being one note, takes what is now his signature whip of a tongue and infuses it with a strong sense of character and understanding. He plays Zuckerberg as an unstoppable force, driven by a deep-rooted self-hatred. You want to hate the guy yourself but Eisenberg makes it so you think twice before you do.

One of my original arguments for not joining Facebook was that I thought it enforced a horrible falsehood. People could remain close virtually and keep up with loved ones without making any actual effort to be a real part of their lives. It would drive us further apart while making us feel like we were getting closer. THE SOCIAL NETWORK proves me wrong though. This fantastic and fascinating piece of filmmaking will unite us all through the one thing all 500 million of us can relate to, our love/hate relationships with Facebook. And by breaking it all down, he manages to find the heart behind the screen.

Adventureland

“Adventureland” is my favorite film of the year so far, a wise and winning look at the awkwardness and yearning of first love, and the struggle to carve an identity for oneself while navigating those roadblocks life throws at you.

It’s a rich, bittersweet and touching movie, quite different from the advertising campaign which makes it out to be a rowdy comedy. It’s not, and the film is better for it.

Set in 1987, James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) thinks he’s going to graduate school in New York in the fall following a summer sojourn to Europe. Reality sets in when his family faces a financial crisis, and his trip to Europe is scuttled. Without his parent’s financial help for grad school, James is forced to take a job over the summer at Adventureland, a nearby amusement park, to earn money

The park is run by an odd married couple played by Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig, both from “Saturday Night Live.” Hader is a hilarious, wigged out amusement park owner, and is nicely complemented by Wiig, an equally spaced-out wife. Reality rarely seeps into their hermetically-sealed, amusement park-centered world.

James befriends and falls in love with co-worker Em (Kristen Stewart), who has a relationship with the much older married maintenance worker Mike (Ryan Reynolds). Em comes from a troubled home but is a good person and is trying to find herself and her place.

The park’s workers are an interesting bunch. Everyone smokes pot and gets high a lot and there’s lots of sexual activity, both real and imagined.

I especially liked Joel (Martin Starr), a most likeable sad sack type who is perpetually stoned to make it through the drudgery of working at Adventureland (and, one suspects, life itself). He also utters my favorite movie line in a long time, where he and equally stoned Sue (Paige Howard) find themselves making out in a car one night.

I didn’t know who the actress was playing Sue until the end credits, and saw her name was Paige Howard. Since she was a redhead I guessed she was Ron Howard’s daughter and sister of Bryce Dallas Howard and I was right. She has a bright future ahead of her, but then I’m partial to redheads.

Many painful truths and lessons are learned before the movie is over. Writer/Director Greg Mottola obviously likes these characters, despite the damage they do to themselves and others. I also liked the fact that Terry Stacey’s cinematography is kind of grimy, looking like a film made in 1987, and not given the digital sheen typical of many movies today.

Good acting is on display all around, especially by Eisenberg and Stewart. These two characters are made for each other if they only they were wise enough to realize it.

I also liked Ryan Reynolds’ performance quite a bit. He takes a philandering character preying on impressionable young girls and makes us understand him and yes, even like him. He’s not the stock bad guy. Reynolds is one of those actors that I don’t think gets the credit he should. He makes it look so easy. Hopefully this will change, as this is some of his best work.

Much has been written by others about the smart use of songs in the movie. I’ll take their word for it. Though I was 25 in 1987, I rarely listened to the radio and was completely out of the loop when it came to contemporary music. I was more concerned with wondering when the next Jerry Goldsmith-scored movie was coming out. So I guess songs by the likes of Crowded House work just fine; indeed this is the type of movie that cries for a song-based score, so I’ll the word of the rock experts that the right songs were chosen.

I never had a summer job like working at a place like Adventureland, but I did work for two years of high school and almost four years of college at a small, local grocery store, so there was much in “Adventureland” I related to. A lot of us really didn’t like the job, or the low pay, but we liked each other and would often go to each other’s houses for parties or go bowling or have outings of some kind.

“Adventureland” has several scenes of the workers visiting with each other in the parking lot after their shifts are over. I remember those times. Many a summer night was spent hanging in the parking lot visiting with each other after work. There was strong camaraderie and because many of us were roughly the same age, there were lots of flirtations and rivalries for the guys with the new cashier or the girls with the new stockboy/bagger.

One memory came at me full force while watching “Adventureland”, a memory I hadn’t thought of in a long time. For a period of time I worked the Friday night shift and one of the cashiers was a cute girl named Gail. One summer weekend a small Jaycees-sponsored carnival set up in the parking lot of the local community college. The store closed on Fridays at 9 p.m. and the carnival was open until 11:00. Several of us decided to carpool it to the carnival that night, but by the time we closed up the store, counted the money, swept the store and prepared it for opening the next morning, it was close to 9:30. A drive to the carnival meant we had only about an hour to spend there. Gail and I broke away from the others and went wandering and found ourselves in the ride section. We stood in front of one of those machines where the seats, shaped like Tilt-o-Whirl seats, flies up in the air and down again. Nothing too strenuous like a roller-coaster, so we decided to check it out, especially since there was no waiting in line. The carnival had started to shut down but we thought we could squeeze a ride in. We went up to the operator, a young kid just a little older than ourselves, to see about going on the ride, but he said, “Sorry, we’re all done for the night.”

Indeed the carnival was shutting down and the other rides were going dark one by one. People had started to stream out to the parking lot.

We must have looked really disappointed, because he looked at us, looked up and down the midway as if looking for his boss and then said, “Get on.” He refused to take our tickets. He proceeded to give us a private ride, just the two of us, with the lights from the ride flashing brightly and the music blaring full blast in an otherwise quiet carnival. I think we were the only activity in the carnival at that time. It was the best carnival ride I was ever on. We thanked him profusely when we got off and he looked at us and said, “No, no, glad to do it.”

I have a feeling the workers in “Adventureland” would have done something similar. Behind the insults, drinking, swearing and pot use beat the hearts of hopeless romantics.

Rating for “Adventureland”: Three and a half stars.