The New Age Military ... And Goats

For a while into this movie, I thought The Men Who Stare at Goats was going to be a stone-cold classic.

The acting and actors were especially snappy, tight, and hilarious. George Clooney is a perfect mix of his whiskery and slick characters ala Three Kings and Ocean's Eleven. Ewan McGregor is a young "Jedi warrior" journalist on a mission to Iraq to prove to his ex-girlfriend that he's a real man. Jeff Bridges follows a strong line of movie-character gurus like Tom Cruise in Magnolia and Mike Myers in The Love Guru. Kevin Spacey is the only big star here who doesn't offer much.

An excellent McGregor finds his way into the middle of the war by sneaking into Iraq with Clooney, who has served for years under the New Age troop leader Bridges (who invented the slogan "Be all that you can be"). The soldiers in this troop learn the spiritual arts of mind control, and Clooney's powers are so strong that, at one point, he kills a goat just by out-staring it.

Although the three main stars keep this movie captivating throughout, and the dialog and social commentary on the true-life adventures of the U.S. military's explorations into parapsychology is truly fascinating and wacky, the script becomes a little tiring. By the end, it seems a little too silly, even by my low standards in this category.

**** out of ***** stars

Pavement Reunites!!!

They're back, playing their first show down under. Now we just have to wait until September to see them in New York. Photos courtesy of Spiral Stairs' blog.

Government Subsidies Could Return Journalism to Golden Era

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) convened a hearing in Spring 2009 on the crisis of the current media landscape. And while it's encouraging that there are early signs of a political awakening, the loss of sheer numbers of reporters, enterprising investigation, and deep journalistic thought has clearly entered crisis mode.

"For the first time in modern American history, it is entirely plausible that we will not have even minimally sufficient resources dedicated to reporting and editing the news and distributing the information and informed analysis that citizens require."

These are the words near the opening of a new book by Robert McChesney, host of the Media Matters radio show, and John Nichols, The Nation's D.C. reporter, two writers I've respected since reading their media-theory books in graduate school and seen present their reformist theories a few years ago at Busboys and Poets.

But despite what sounds like a plea for the nostalgia of ink-stained newspapers, The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again makes the call for government subsidies to save the media.

Interestingly, "the entire press system of the U.S. was built on a foundation of massive federal postal and printing subsidies that were provided to newspapers during the many decades that forged the American experiment. The purpose of the subsidies was not to enrich publishers but to broaden the marketplace of ideas and to provide a journalistic check and balance on those who might threaten fragile freedoms."

The authors give the example of public universities drawing subsidies without political interference of academic freedoms. They rightfully blame journalism's problems on media owners, with their emphasis on entertainment over civic value. Thankfully, they don't blame a simple scapegoat like the Internet.

Subsidies is certainly something that would be interesting to explore. With health care, global warming, wars and the obstructionist partisan bickerings of Congress on President Obama's plate, it's probably something that will unfortunately have to wait. Good thing for my blog, eh?

Precious: The Urban Antidote to the Suburban Blind Side

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire is the second consecutive movie I've seen about a poor African-American kid who is mercilessly abused but goes on to lead a relatively happy existence.

And it's very good, with the benefit of being a lot less Hollywood syrupy than The Blind Side. Mo'Nique is pure evil as the domineering and extremely abusive mother of 16-year-old Precious. She chucks her daughter's babies aside like old rags. Babies that are the product of her boyfriend's rapes of her daughter! Then everyone gets HIV.

Yeah, fun stuff. The supposedly uplifting moments of the film examine the day-dreaming Precious imagining that her high-school teacher is in love with her and that she is a famous pop singer. A lot of these moments seem to cater to the American Idol masses, and they aren't very interesting.

The great thing about the movie is the characterization. Precious and her friends are fascinating, and singers Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz do nice jobs in supporting roles as a social worker and male nurse.

It will be interesting to see how many prizes Precious claims at the Academy Awards, where it's nominated in six major categories. My guess is that nothing about the movie is major enough other than Mo'Nique's face-melting scene at the end when she rationalizes her life to social worker Carey. She should be a lock for best supporting actress, if only for these five minutes.

**** out of ***** stars

Palm-Lined Beaches of Dominican Republic: Here We Come!

With my first trip to the Dominican Republic three weeks from today, I took a look at The Lonely Planet's excellent coffee-table tome called The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World.

When buddies Tim and Dan and I stay at Puerta Plata on the northern Atlantic side, it appears there will be no shortage of activities to keep us busy for four days of sun and fun.

Some notable highlights:

-- "Rugged mountain interior with world-class rafting, trekking, hiking, and bird watching in the national parks"

-- "Windsurfing in Caberete, the DR's hippest beach town," and whale watching

-- Drinking rum and the DR's Presidente beer

-- Eating sancocho, a "hearty soup with manioc, plantain, and seven types of meat"

-- Since I've already read the excellent The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, next up should be Dominican contemporary classics, In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez and Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa

-- What to say?: "Que chulo" means great!

-- "Trademarks: Palm-lined beaches, plantains, merengue music, rum, cigars that are better but not as famous as those from Cuba, Sammy Sosa, parties"

-- The people?: "Dominicans are amazingly polite and tend to dress quite formally

The Blind Side Enters My List of Top 2009 Movies

Michael Oher went from nothing to making Old Miss's honor roll twice, graduating with a degree in criminal justice, and getting drafted in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens.

His story along the way is a touching one, and detailed in The Blind Side, based on a book by Michael Lewis of Moneyball fame. Sandra Bullock is said to be a front-runner for the Academy Award for best actress in her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy, the Republican socialite who took in young "Big Mike." This later results in NCAA investigations into whether Tuohy and her husband (played by a likable Tim McGraw) shaped Oher (played by an even more likable Quinton Aaron) into bringing glory to their beloved Old Miss team.

This movie has floated under the radar somewhat, but it's a quality addition to the best movies I've seen this year: Avatar, Inglourious Basterds, Julie and Julia, Drag Me to Hell, Up in the Air, Adventureland, Crazy Heart, Funny People, Bruno, Star Trek, Away We Go, and The Hangover (I still haven't seen Precious, A Single Man, Invictus, Where the Wild Things Are, Sherlock Holmes, Zombieland, The Informant!, Fantastic Mr. Fox, An Education, The Men Who Stare at Goats, State of Play, The Messenger, and The Hurt Locker).

**** out of ***** stars

Look for my own Academy Awards after the real ones are announced March 7.

Music Reviews in 3 Words or Less: Volume 16

Guided by Voices - Isolation Drills (2001)
Huge chiming crunch
Touchstones: The Who meets Cheap Trick
***** out of ***** stars

Ulysses - Ulysses (2004)
Perfectly melodic nuggets
Touchstones: Apples in Stereo meet XTC
****1/2 out of ***** stars

Trash Can Sinatras - I've Seen Everything (1993)
Sad morning sunshine
Touchstones: New Order meets The Style Council
**** out of ***** stars

The Mary Onettes - Islands (2009)
Jangly Swedish drama
Touchstones: The Smiths meet Shout Out Louds
**** out of ***** stars

The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics (2006)
Psychedelic symphonic cosmos
Touchstones: T. Rex meets Syd Barrett
**** out of ***** stars

Cornershop - Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast (2010)
Groovy Indian indierock
Touchstones: Ravi Shankar meets The Beatles
**** out of ***** stars

The Kinks - The Kink Kontroversy (1966)
Invasion's abrasive rollick-ers
Touchstones: Herman's Hermits meet The Animals
***1/2 out of ***** stars

U2 - The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
Dramatic arena wave
Touchstones: Late-era Replacements meet Roxy Music
***1/2 out of ***** stars

Ugly Casanova - Sharpen Your Teeth (2002)
Experimental country punk
Touchstones: Modest Mouse meets Red Red Meat
*** out of ***** stars

Secrets of Eden Provides Straight-Forward Storytelling

I began Chris Bohjalian's latest work, Secrets of Eden: A Novel, and will probably come back to it, so I wanted to jot down what happens in the first 25 pages so I don't have to re-read them later.

Rev. Stephen Drew leads a small Baptist congregation in southern Vermont. The night he baptizes Alice Hayward, she is murdered by her abusive husband, a handsome and well-respected retailer who then kills himself. This horrific act not only makes the reverend's town notorious, but leaves the couple's young writer daughter Katie without parents.

The husband, George Hayward "had come from Buffalo and saw that Manchester could use more than high-end designer outlets and shops that sold maple syrup."

There's really not much compelling me to continue with this book, but it seems to fall into the straight-forward storyteller tradition of Richard Russo and Ethan Canin. It depends what jumps ahead of this book on my reading list, but Secrets of Eden is probably a good candidate for light beach reading if all this snow eventually goes away.

Jennifer Egan's Gothic Illusions Continue Her Success Streak

Her recent short story in the The New Yorker called "Safari" got me inspired to read more of Jennifer Egan's work. Then I recalled that she also wrote a highly memorable story for the magazine in 2007 called "Found Objects."

By this time, I was psyched to dive into the San Francisco writer's 2006 best-selling novel The Keep. It's a modern gothic tale about Danny, who leaves his troubled past in New York City to accept an invitation to work for his estranged cousin Howard, a millionaire who is building a business around a dilapidated old castle somewhere in Eastern Europe. The problems begin when phone-addicted Danny is unable to use the telecommunications devices (including a small satellite dish) that he's hauled all the way there. Danny freaks out and begins to lose his grip on reality, exemplified by a run-in with an old (or maybe young and beautiful) baroness in the castle's tower "keep," a terrifying adventure in the castle's underground tunnels, and a fall from one of the tower's windows.

It turns out this entire story is actually a piece of fiction being written by a prisoner named Ray, who is in love with Holly, his writing teacher with a dark background of her own. These stories-within-the-story are certainly creative, although I think I feel a little cheated. Danny and Howard's story is so good that I didn't want it to get swallowed up by the others.

But there is no doubt that Jennifer Egan is one of today's top storytellers. In both her short stories and The Keep, she induces mouth-panting page-turning. The Keep features the talents of Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King's horror, Franz Kafka's gothic creepiness, and Chuck Palahniuk's modern technology and blended perceptions all wrapped into one great book.

**** out of ***** stars

Jeff Bridges' Top 11 Movies

Prediction: Jeff Bridges, the son of Lloyd Bridges, will win the Academy Award for best actor. Crazy Heart represents his fifth nomination for either best actor or best supporting actor, and there is usually some kind of rule about being nominated that many times. The person has to win, even if it's really just a replacement for a Lifetime Achievement Award.

11. Iron Man (2008)
10. Seabiscuit (2003)
09. The Contender (2000)
08. The Vanishing (1993)
07. The Fisher King (1991)
06. Starman (1984)
05. King Kong (1976)
04. Arlington Road (1999)
03. Against All Odds (1984)
02. Crazy Heart (2009)
01. The Big Lebowski (1998)

All kinds of caveats go into this list. As I was reading his bio, I realized that I haven't seen several movies that are considered JB classics. The Last Picture Show, The Last American Hero, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (starring another one of my favorites, Clint Eastwood), Stay Hungry (for which Arnold Schwarzenegger won a Golden Globe), Heaven's Gate, Cutter's Way, Jagged Edge, 8 Million Ways to Die, The Morning After, Nadine, Tucker: The Man and His Dreams, Fearless, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, and The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Granted, as I embark on seeing those movies listed above, many will undoubtedly prove to be stinkers, as so many of Bridges' movies over the years have been (especially many of his countless romantic-comedy roles).

Final caveat: I love sci-fi, but I distinctly disliked Tron, which I saw at the Wildey Theater in Edwardsville, Illinois when I was 11 years old. Maybe I should revisit that one. Surely, all my media tech grad-school classmates at Georgetown would urge me to do so.

Feel free to let me know where I'm screwing up this list.