Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

Black Swan reminds me of the Best Oscar contenders of old. It’s heavily melodramatic and highly charged. The drama, given a different presentation, would be laughable.

So kudos to director Darren Aronofsky for bringing everything off with aplomb. I have to admit that my positive regard for this movie did not come about until the end of the film, but I was interested and entertained throughout.

In the end, I appreciated what the movie has to say about art and the process of creation. I felt that the over-the-top tone of the movie was the right one to strike.

To be fair though, the understanding that the movie is melodramatic did not strike me immediately.

Aronofsky and Natalie Portman managed to immerse us in this world of balletic excess seamlessly and right from the opening sequence. And they continued to strike the right balance of drama and engagement right to the end.

If I Picked the Oscars 2011 (in order of my vote)

Best Picture:

• True Grit
• Black Swan
• Toy Story 3
• Inception
• Winter’s Bone
• The Social Network
• 127 Hours
• The Fighter
• The King’s Speech
• The Kids Are All Right

Best Director:

• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (True Grit)
• Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
• David Fincher (The Social Network)
• David O. Russell (The Fighter)
• Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)

Best Actress:

• Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
• Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
• Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)
• Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
• Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone)

Tags: Movies by Ms. SP
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This book did eventually win me over, but I have to warn you that the first one hundred pages of this book are horrible—virtually unreadable. If this wasn’t a book club book, I would have chucked it.

Adam Langer wants to make Crossing California very time and place specific. The time is during the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979–1981. The place is the West Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Within this timeframe, it means that we’re going to visit a predominately Jewish community.

The book, however, tries way too hard to establish all of this within the first hundred pages. It felt like a list of details that drowned out all the characters. There is no plot.

We know that such-and-such a place is on this street, which is crossed by that street, and this other place is next to it while somewhere else is across, and that place is known for whatever.

Horrible.

The kicker is—none of this is necessary. My enjoyment of the rest of the book was because of the characters and the fun that the author had in developing them.

I didn’t really need this time and place specificity. It feels like an editor failed him somewhere. The heaviness of the effort in this first section contrasts strongly with the rolling-ness of the remainder.

The story follows a bunch of the neighborhood teenagers through their various family, school, and life dramas. There’s a good mix with each character standing out on his and her own.

California is an avenue that marks the border between the Haves and the Have-Nots. Some of the characters live on the east side. Some are on the west.

I feel like I should explain the title, but now that I’ve started, I realize there’s nothing much to say about it because the crossing of California is only tangentially important to the book.

Everyone’s just trying to get along. The kids are striving towards their futures using the strengths at their disposals. It’s a very affirming novel because the kids are allowed to shine with their talents. One is a self-decreed master actress who is a natural leader of people. One is an aspiring drummer who is capable of great clarity of goals.

A pair of old-for-their-ages teenagers (she’s a political radical and he’s a pragmatic filmmaker) are especially endearing and engaging.

There are antics that will make you laugh and enough truth that will make you nostalgic for your own high school years. I left the book with a smile on my face and well wishes in my heart for all of these fictional characters.

Tags: Books by Ms. SP
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There are some movies that are just so deliciously and delightfully awful that they become so, so entertaining to watch. Burlesque is one of these movies.

Right from the opening sequence, I knew this was going to be one special viewing experience. I’m not sure why the director decided to make his movie look like it was filmed in the 80s, but the shots are incredible. There is so much soft focus that I kept wanting to wipe my glasses. There are music video angles during the non-musical scenes, and the editing goes from random close-up to another random close-up.

There are also repeated lines, the exact same lines, in scene after scene. Someone did not take care of the script in the editing room.

I don’t think it would be possible to achieve this movie if one was actually targeting this end result. I think what came into the world is just the result of so many things going wrong that it just became kismet.

Because they didn’t hire bad talent. Stanley Tucci is excellent in his role. And they have Kristen Bell, my beloved Veronica Mars and an actress who could deliver a line reading like no other. BUT, Kristen Bell stank in this movie. This is how bad Burlesque is.

Ok, yes, Cher and Christina Aguilera are also in the movie but really, Cher is Cher. And I have no idea what Christina Aguilera is supposed to look like or who she really is as an artist. I do know that the songs do not pop and the dialogue is way overwrought and clunky to do them any justice.

This is a great movie to watch through with the snarkiest of your friends. You will laugh and laugh and laugh and have a great time.

Tags: Movies by Ms. SP
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