Visiting the Smithsonian: Part 3 Wednesday, Aug 3 2011 

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This post is the last in my three-part summary of my visit to some of the Smithsonian institutions in Washington, D.C. This one will cover my visits to the Natural History Museum, the Renwick Gallery, and the Sackler Gallery.

Natural History Museum

The taxodermied elephant in the lobby of the Natural History Museum.

I’ve been to the Natural History Museum before. In general,  I tend to like natural history museums. I arrived early — almost as soon as the museum opened — which was great: no swarms of kids everywhere!

I started by buying a ticket for an IMAX movie. The tickets seemed fairly cheap, and I figured it was a good way to get out of the heat. Then I started wondering around the museum to kill the hour or so until my movie started.

I began upstairs by looking at the Hope Diamond, which has never really interested me. This time was no exception. But I enjoy looking at the other jewels in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals. I especially liked the Elbaite gemstones:

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Rabbit Hole: A Review Sunday, May 1 2011 

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Last night PJ and I finally saw Rabbit Hole starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as a couple, Becca and Howie, whose lives are turned upside down after their young son, Danny, dies in an accident. Directed by John Cameron Mitchell, this film starts 8 months after the accident and examines how parents grieve under such awful circumstances. Here’s the trailer:

I loved this film. I had been a little hesitant to watch it, since I felt that watching a movie about grieving parents would be anything but fun. But Rabbit Hole surprised me with its quiet beauty. The word that came to mind after seeing it is “restrained.” There’s a beautiful restraint to this movie that really appeals to me.

Kidman’s restraint is probably what makes this movie so good. A lesser actress might have been tempted to do more obvious actorly things to convey Becca’s overwhelming sense of loss. But Kidman keeps her grief quiet and inwardly focused, slowing consuming her with its magnitude. Kidman is also not afraid to play unlikeable characters. Becca is brittle and in pain, making everyone around her uncomfortable. Nothing they do is right, and Becca lets them know it at every turn.

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Catechism Cataclysm: A Review Monday, Apr 25 2011 

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Friday PJ and I went spent the evening at the Athens Film Festival, where we saw Catechism Cataclysm, a new movie by Todd Rohal, an alum of my college. It’s always great to see our students’ and alumni’s work, but I was tempted to just stay home — it had been a long and busy week. But I went out, and I’m glad I did, because I really enjoyed this movie.

The movie stars Steve Little as Father William Smoortser, a goofball who seems more interested in watching funny clips on YouTube than in preparing his parishioners for salvation. Consequently, his superior decides to send him on vacation a little early, encouraging him to think deeply about his calling before coming back to the church.

Father William arranges to meet up with his childhood hero, the guy who dated his older sister in high school, Robbie Shoemaker, played by Robert Longstreet. Robbie is everything Billy isn’t: cool, experienced, and world-wise. The two embark on an afternoon canoe trip, but after Billy accidentally drops his Bible into a used toilet, things start to go increasingly awry for the two acquaintances.

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Meek’s Cutoff: A Review Sunday, Apr 24 2011 

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The Athens Film Festival started on Friday, and PJ and I had a great night out as a result: dinner at O’Betty’s (I LOVE their tofudog — I always order a “shy” Lily), two movies at the festival, and a quick beer in between.

One of the two movies we saw was Meek’s Cutoff, which is about a small group of pioneers who are lost in the Oregon desert on their way west. I only knew two things about it before seeing it: it is set in the 1840s and it stars Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, and Zoe Kazan. Here’s the trailer:

The film follows three families trying to make it to The Dalles, Oregon. They have hired Stephen Meek, played by Bruce Greenwood, to guide them. Meek is an unemployed fur trapper who claims to know the route; it turns out that he doesn’t. Just as the group realizes that Meek has gotten them lost, they come across an Indian, played by Ron Rondeaux. Meek argues that they should kill him before he brings his tribe to massacre them all, but the leader of the group, Solomon Tetherow, played by Will Patton, maintains that the native can lead them to water. The rest of the movie explores the pioneers’ individual responses to these decisions.

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Role/Play: A Review Saturday, Apr 2 2011 

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Last night, PJ and I watched Role/Play from Netflix. This 2010 movie written and directed by Rob Williams stars Matthew Montgomery and Steve Callahan as divorcing gay marriage activist named Trey and a recently outed soap star named Graham who’s been caught in a sex tape scandal. These men happen to meet at a gay bed and breakfast in Palm Springs. Here’s the trailer:

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie for a few reasons. First, I have an irrational love for all things Matthew Montgomery. He’s a good actor, so I don’t want to reduce his appeal to the mere physical, but it’s also the case that I just think he’s hot and adorable. He’s definitely got charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, to borrow RuPaul’s catchphrase. And hotness. Plus, he seems to make intelligent choices in his films, by which I mean that you know that, if he’s in it, it’s going to be an interesting film even if it’s not always absolutely great.

I’ve also tended to like Williams’s movies, which include Long-Term Relationship, 3-Day Weekend, and Make the Yuletide Gay.

And finally, the plot sounded interesting: these two wounded men meet, get it on, fall in love, decide what to do next.

Overall, Role/Play is an interesting film that’s trying to do exactly what I keep saying I want a gay independent movie to do: just tell a human story without the angst of coming out or the narrative pyrotechnics of a random drug abuse or murder plot. The problem is that the script just doesn’t get as incisive or as interesting as Williams hopes it is. Consequently, I liked the idea of the movie more than I liked the movie.

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Bear City: A Review Sunday, Mar 6 2011 

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Last night, PJ and I watched Bear City from Netflix. The movie follows Tyler, played by Joe Conti, as he searches for true love among the hairy, meaty, butch men of New York City’s bear scene. Along the way he makes new friends in the community and quickly learns that bears and men in relationships with bears have their own issues to deal with.

Here’s the trailer:

Perhaps I should start by admitting that I’ve never been into the bear scene. I don’t find big, hairy men particularly sexy — but then again I don’t tend to find any group, as a group, particularly sexy (except maybe male models!). Because of my lack of interest, I wasn’t entirely sure that I was going to enjoy this movie.

However, I quickly saw that my own preferences were not going to be a hindrance to thoroughly enjoying this movie. Bear City is a delightful romantic comedy that kept me laughing and entertained. The writing is funny, the actors are engaging, and the plot is a Sex and the City-ish look at this group of friends. I definitely recommend it.

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Favorite Movies of 2010 Sunday, Feb 27 2011 

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In honor of tonight’s Oscars, I thought I would finally compile my annual list of favorite movies. Living in a small college town means that many of the smaller films take a long time to get here or never come here at all.

Consequently, I can’t make my films list until well into the new year. This year I’ve been putting off making the list until I saw a few last films, one of which still hasn’t come to Athens, so I’ll just have to add it later if I want to. So, here’s my list of favorite movies from 2010 that I’ve seen to date. As in past years, I’ll include the trailer and a link to my original post about the movie.

Number one on my list is Blue Valentine, which was one of the movies I was waiting to see.

Often, anticipating a movie is just setting yourself up for disappointment. But not in this case. Blue Valentine is exquisite. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are amazing, and everything about this heartbreaking movie is perfectly designed to maximize its quiet despair. I reviewed it here.

Number two on my list is The King’s Speech.

I know a lot of the movie blogs I read are against this movie sweeping the Oscars tonight, but I think it will deserve any award it gets. Just as I love the heartbreak of Blue Valentine, I love the optimism and sentimentality of The King’s Speech. Colin Firth should finally get an Oscar tonight. I would also love it if Helena Bonham Carter won Supporting Actress. I wrote about it here.

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A Prophet: A Review Sunday, Feb 20 2011 

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Early in Jacques Audiard‘s Un Prophete, 19-year old Malik El Djebena, played by Tahar Rahim, newly incarcerated on a six-year sentence for assaulting a police officer, is talking with another inmate, Reyeb. Malik is illiterate and without assistance from outside the prison; he also has no protection from the other inmates. When Reyeb realizes that Malik can’t read, he tells him to use his time in prison wisely. As he tells Malik, come out of prison better than when you went in.

Reyeb simply means that Malik should learn to read, but these words have a much greater impact on Malik than Reyeb could ever imagine. Against his will, Malik has been sent by the Corsican mafia running the prison to Reyeb to kill him. His choice is to do this job or be killed himself. With nowhere else to turn, Malik ultimately chooses survival and kills Reyeb in a bloody struggle. This “success” sets him on a path towards his goal of coming out of prison better than he went in.

Here’s the trailer:

Of the three crime movies I’ve seen this year, including The Town and Animal Kingdom, A Prophet is by the far the best. Suspenseful, action-packed, and even kind of magical, A Prophet is an excellent movie.

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The Social Network: A Review Sunday, Feb 13 2011 

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I finally got the chance to see The Social Network when PJ ordered it from Netflix and we watched it on Friday. He had already seen it when it was still in theaters, but I had been too busy at the time to go with him.

It’s won nearly, if not all of the critics awards this season, and it’s nominated for multiple Oscars. The primary film site that I read, Awards Daily, has been championing it for Best Picture, Director, etc. and readers there have been adamant about its superiority over The King’s Speech, a film that I really enjoyed. So, I’ve really been looking forward to seeing it so that I could judge for myself.

Here’s the trailer:

As I’m sure everyone knows, The Social Network depicts the foundation of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg and suggests that he succeeded at the expense of his friends. The frame story is that he is “now” being sued by multiple people, all of whom claim that he stole their ideas and/or illegally screwed them over. The film further suggests that Facebook is the product of Zuckerberg’s efforts to impress women and to be accepted by the monied elites at Harvard and that when these goals aren’t achieved Zuckerberg decides to make his creation even bigger in order to show the girls and elites just what they’re missing.

Overall, I think this movie has to be evaluated on two different levels. The first is just as a movie. On this level, The Social Network is a tale of greed, computer nerdiness, and revenge with Zuckerberg as the anti-hero who uses his computer savvy to pave his way to fame and fortune. Along the way, he screws over every friend he’s ever had, but, since he only cares about his creation, his lost friends don’t really phase him.

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Blue Valentine: A Review Sunday, Feb 6 2011 

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PJ and I just got home from seeing Blue Valentine starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as a couple, Dean and Cindy, whose marriage is falling apart. The film, directed by Derek Cianfrance, cuts back and forth between the past and present, comparing moments in these people’s lives: happy moments and sad ones, moments that have brought them together, and moments that are driving them apart.

Here’s the trailer:

This movie is exquisite. The performances, the screenplay, the direction, everything about this movie is beautifully tragic, an examination of what Elizabeth Inchbald once called “the exquisite sensation of pain” that occurs when you’ve done something that you believe is right but that will also cause you suffering. I love that Blue Valentine explores this relationship, showing us exactly who these two people are and how they got this way while never blaming either of them. Neither one is right or wrong, or maybe they’re just both wrong.

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