Off the Chart

Initially, I was skeptical.  A romantic comedy starring Rachel McAdams?  With a name as trite as Midnight in Paris?  But then again, it’s Woody Allen, and I couldn’t find a single bad review.  So, I reluctantly bought a ticket, expecting the worst, but hoping to be surprised.

Surprised I was.   This movie blew me away.  It’s a wonderful little story about a writer named Gil (Owen Wilson) who visits Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams), and finds himself transported to the 1920’s.  Gil is what you would call “a man of a different era”; he has built up a mental schema of “Old Paris” as being the golden age of literature, film, and music.

This is where opinion of the film diverge.  Some viewers complain that the film is shallow and lacks an important point.  I disagree. The film is an excellent commentary on the effects of nostalgia on society today, and is simply a delightfully told little story.

The acting in this film is fantastic.  Gil is a perfectly empathetic endearing character, and Wilson’s acting really helps the viewer relate to his struggle to be satisfied with life in modern times.  McAdams plays an excellent antagonist, as she constantly belittles Gil and fascination with 1920’s Paris.  Certain bit characters aren’t portrayed as well as they could be (Gertrude Stein has a certain cringe-inducing delivery), but it’s balanced out by the portrayals of Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Acting: A

Supporting Acting: B+

Storyline: B+

Overall A-

Metacritic: 44% (Mixed or Average Reviews)
Rotten Tomatoes: 35% (Rotten)

Almost 2 years after Todd Phillips surprise blockbuster The Hangover, the much anticipated sequel has finally been released.  It basically picks up 2 years after the first film, with Stu (Ed Helms) playing the role of the groom-to-be.  Stu’s wedding is in Thailand, much to the chagrin of his friends Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper), and Alan (Zach Galafianakis).  Tension builds between Alan and the bride’s brother Teddy (Mason Lee), whom Alan believes is getting in the way of the friendship he shares with the “Wolfpack” of Stu, Doug, and Phil.  An unanticipated bachelor party bender leads to a night of drunken tomfoolery, and a missing friend they have to find before the wedding!

Sound familiar?  It should.  The story is very similar to the first film, almost a carbon copy.  Does that make it a bad film?  Not necessarily.  The main criticism of this sequel seems to be that it borrows too much from the original film.  However, I do not believe that this precludes it from being a good film.  When fans of the first film bought tickets to see this movie, I’m sure they were looking for the same thing I was, more drunken hijinks!  With a name like The Hangover, it would be very difficult to make the film about anything other than an all-night bender.  It’s pretty clear that fans are enjoying this film much more than the critics (As of now, the film has a 94% “liked” rating by fans on Rotten Tomatoes), and I believe this is because of different expectations between the two groups.  The critics are looking for a film that takes the plot further, expands on relationships between characters, and offers something new and exciting.  The people who bought $45 million worth of tickets this Memorial Day weekend, however, are happy seeing essentially the same movie as long as it still has the same raunchy, unexpected humor.

Acting: B+
Overall, this is the same brilliant cast that made the first film such an incredible success story.  Zach Galafianakis is hilarious as Alan, socially-awkward “stay-at-home son”, and Bradley Cooper brings a needed sense of confidence and charisma to the group.  Ed Helms is good as the stuffy dentist Stu, but I believe the film suffers by making him into the “main character”, as he really doesn’t have the skills to carry the whole film.

Supporting Cast: C
Mason Lee, son of director Ang Lee, is absolutely terrible as Teddy, the 16 year old genius brother-in-law of Stu.  Honestly, every line he delivered was so forced, wooden, and unnatural.  Hopefully he can improve his delivery with age, but he should have never been given such a crucial role in a major film.  The supporting cast grade is buoyed by the hilarious performance of Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow.

Script: B-
This was the most difficult portion of the film to judge.  I think the script was lazy at times, and relied way to much on conventions from the previous films, but it was not completely unoriginal.  There are still many unexpected twists and turns, and may laughs to be had.  Also, the writers did a great job including Mr. Chow just enough so that he was funny, but not intolerable.  However, the writers missed a huge opportunity to develop Doug as a character, and the script could have branched off a bit more from the original than they chose to.

Overall Rating: B-

M.I.A -/\/\ /\ Y /\ (Maya)

Metacritic: 68/100
RateYourMusic: 3.00/5

Okay, let me start off by saying that M.I.A’s third album is very clearly her worst.  That isn’t to say that it’s a bad album, her previous albums (Arular and Kala) were both fantastically enjoyable, but this album is a bit of a let down.  The infectious, chirpy hooks of her previous albums have been replaced by driving guitar distortion and ear-piercing mechanical noises.  The album as a whole seems soulless, shallow, and intentionally grating at points, especially on Meds & Feds.  If you pick up this album expecting anything close to Paper Planes or Galang, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

However, this album would have made a fantastic EP.  Born Free is a standout track, M.I.A. mixes fuzzy, distorted beats with her signature vocal style to create an unforgettable track.  But, unfortunately, most of the album really feels like filler.  Space is boring and unremarkable, Steppin’ Up is plagued by what seems like a pretty lazy hook (A-rub-a-dub dub dub, rub-a-dub dub…), and Meds & Feds is grating and unremarkable.

The album seems very confused, and never really finds a definite tone or identity.  The distorted, scrambled Steppin Up runs right into the radio-friendly XXXO.  M.I.A’s lyrics are also extremely shallow, much like her knowledge of the current conflict in Sri Lanka.  She seems to hint at a deep political meaning, but never really elaborates.  It seems like she’s just vocalizing general, anti-establishment platitudes in an attempt to seem deep, without having to say anything at all.  The beats, however, are superb, Blaqstarr really did a great job on this record.

Overall, this album has a few great tracks, but they’re buried under all the filler.  Hopefully this album was just an experiment, and not M.I.A. being crushed by the pressures of fame.

My Rating: 65% D

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