Word: melodrama
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...melodrama, it's thumping good stuff. But as politics, it's sort of a train wreck - at once powerful, spellbinding and uncontrolled. Like William Jennings Bryan whipping up populist Democrats over moneyed interests or the John Birch Society brooding over fluoride, Beck mines the timeless theme of the corrupt Them thwarting a virtuous Us. This flexible narrative often contains genuinely uncomfortable truths. Some days "they" are the unconfirmed policy "czars" whom Beck fears Obama is using to subvert constitutional government - and he has some radical-sounding sound bites to back it up. Some days "they" are the network of leftist...
...Still, a movie about a guy who fires people, released at a time when at least a tenth of the workforce is out of work, is utterly nervy. And wonderful. Up in the Air is not primarily an issue movie, banging home its thesis with reductive characters and heavy melodrama. It's a romantic comedy, as Ryan finds a soul mate - if either of them has a soul - in the sultry Alex (Vera Farmiga), another high-flying executive with an itch for sex in Marriott hotels and airplane commodes. As she tells him, "Think of me as yourself, only with...
...introduced with a flourish--the daredevil, the soulful surfer, the bumbling cops--and Psihoyos takes the George Clooney role. (He's got the tan and the big white teeth.) There's time-lapse photography, footage shot on infrared film and some nail-biting moments that are milked for melodrama. The Cove is slick and smart and, in its real-life urgency, puts Hollywood capers like Mission: Impossible to shame...
...Funny People's subpar returns dealt another body blow to its distributor, Universal Pictures. Big releases like Land of the Lost, Brüno, Duplicity and State of Play have all underperformed this year. Public Enemies has done O.K., but with its $100 million budget, the Johnny Depp crime melodrama hasn't come close to making back its costs after five weeks in North American theaters, and it's all but comatose abroad. The studio's one ginormous 2009 hit is Fast & Furious, which has earned nearly $350 million worldwide on an $85 million budget. Except for the Vin Diesel...
...seeing two sexagenarians—both of whom have hit rock bottom enough times for multiple lifetimes—prancing around the stage like the glory days never ended, I think I’ll be able to view my next trip to Harvard Yard with a little less melodrama, and a little more perspective...