My Other Web Sites:
my
group- Subscribe to my email list and send me a note. Remember, dissent is *not* disloyalty!...
- Comments:
headlines :: music :: movies :: files :: about me :: linkscontact me :: galleries 1, 2, 3, 4, ***5***
Exxxtasy Show, July 16-18, Chicago
The King of Custom Imprinting!
www.corporategiftsand
promotionalitems.com
CINEMA SEEN - "LABOR Dazed!" by Bill Margold I’ve taken to dividing my years of existence by utilizing some of the major Holidays as bookmarks in the scrapbook of my mind. And while I don’t really “celebrate” any Holiday with the exception of Thanksgiving Day (the fourth Thursday in November), if for no other reason than it affords me the opportunity to watch my beloved Detroit Lions play on TV, and then getting to eat an enormous amount of food…either with gusto if my Pro Football team has won…or in attempt to bury my misery under a mountain of artery clogging and belly bloating goodies if my squad has been clawless---there is one other Holiday that does make me slow down and consider the passing of time, and the memories that have been carved into the massive, multiply-branched tree of my life. I’m not much of a “Merry” Christmas and “Happy” New Year kind of guy, and in fact, I get annoyed because they are packed on top of each other, causing a virtual cessation of activities among many people who use that period of the year to hibernate from their daily responsibilities. And while my cause-driven preservation of the Adult Entertainment Industry’s pursuit of various Freedoms (which must earned and should not be expected) has increased my acknowledgement of Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day---my second most favorite Holiday is Labor Day (the first Monday of September) because it truly signifies the passing of the carefree period of my youth called “Summer Vacation.” Back in my usually hectic elementary, junior high and high school education experience(s), Labor Day, which always looked SO FAR AWAY in mid-June and the ending of a school year, ALWAYS seemed to be upon me before I had really had a chance to fully savor the “not having endure tedious teachers” and “not having to do homework” moments of Summer---as the bell of having to be back in class rang again. And in what may seem like an odd introduction to the two films featured on this year’s Labor Day circulated page of Cinema Seen---I feel that the very smart as well exceptionally painful high school based adventures of the characters abounding and rebounding in the superbly mounted, awesomely evocative HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX and the insightfully touching, outrageously sharp SUPERBAD are truly symbiotic in depicting the tough/tender or tender/tough (depending on one’s priorities) themes of transition, and the realization that for the heroes and heroines involved in POTTER and SUPERBAD---adolescent recess is almost over, and the reckless abandon that embodies a playground is rapidly becoming an adult work place. HARRY POTTER (adapted from J.K. Rowling’s incredibly inventive visions of a wondrous world wherein magic spells are to be cast carefully or one may get much more than is wished for) is a truly remarkable film series that quite simply keeps on getting better and better and better…and now in its breathtaking fifth chapter (herein compellingly directed by David Yates) of wand waving…it shows no sign of slowing down, even as the path in front of its title character (Daniel Radcliffe, who has truly grown into, as well as with, the role of the much troubled wizard of “ahhs”) is becoming fraught with mean-spirited roadblocks (particularly a scene-stealing nasty Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge) and slick with fallen tears---as sacrifices are inevitable when the forces of good and evil collide. Things are little bit less complicated in SUPERBAD, which should have been called “Eighteen Candles”----with a spicy measure of “American Groin-ffiti” tossed in for pithy measure. A perfectly cast trio (sweetly shy Michael Cera, adorably annoying Jonah Hill, and groaningly geeky Christopher Mintz-Plasse) of yearning high school boys burning to become men are hell-bent---in keeping with the say-it-for-shock-value script-doodlings of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg---“to get their dicks wet.” And during a very long alcoholically dazed journey through a wild, wacky (thanks to a pair of demented cops etched frenetically by Rogen and Bill Hader) but eventually warm night, the fellows learn a great deal about themselves. Which sets up one of the most sobering scenes of impending adult resolution (between Cera and Hill in a shopping mall) that I’ve ever seen. And while the temptation to dismiss SUPERBAD as just another “terrible teen” comedy might be entering your mind because you will be having a hard time handling all of the howling humor…it’s the perceptively painful moments of the Greg Mottola-directed production that will linger on long after this Labor Day has been torn from the calendar. end NOTE: Originally published in LA Xpress, August 30, 2007 issue. |