Archive for February 15, 2010

Monday Movie Review: (500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer (2009) 4/10
Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets Summer (Zooey Deschanel) and begins a romance that we know from the outset will end. Title cards show us which of the 500 days we are looking at in each of the scrambled-time-sequence scenes.

About half the reviews I’ve seen of (500) Days of Summer were delighted and laudatory. Most of the others suggested that the movie was too cutesy and self-satisfied with its own happy cuteness. In response to those, I thought, Wow, sounds like the movie for me! I love cute. Finally, some reviews suggested that the movie was sexist, and while I don’t love that, I love movies, and a lot of them are sexist. I survive.

Boy, was I not prepared for the hellfest that was (500) Days of Summer.

First of all, cute just doesn’t cover it. Cloyingly cute. Smugly cute. Derivatively cute. Me shouting at my TV “STFU with your cuteness you stupid cute thing!” cute. Dude, you are not Ferris Bueller, stop trying to trick me into thinking so. Your cute checklist is so obvious! Wise-beyond-her-years preteen, adorable musical moment, cute jobs (at a greeting card company, of all things), cute drunkeness, and Zooey Cute-chanel.

Now, all of this is not to say that the movie isn’t often witty. It is sometimes well-written, and its stars are six kinds of awesome. My love of Joseph Gordon-Levitt is well-established at this point. And yes, there were several times I laughed out loud. Even during greeting card scenes.

But in order to fully examine what’s wrong with this movie, we have to move on to the sexism. By which I mean, the deep-seated misogyny. The movie opens with three screens of white text on a plain black background: (1) The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. (2) Especially you Jenny Beckman. (3) Bitch.

When I saw that, my stomach knotted up. Anything that followed, no matter how cute, was now tainted by this angry, gendered outburst. Later, during one of the late-relationship days (circa 280), Tom writes a greeting card that says: Roses are red, violets are blue, Fuck you, whore. Fuck you, whore. For the record, Summer has not cheated on Tom; the only thing she’s done to warrant being called a whore is to be female and hurt Tom’s feelings. There’s just this deep undercurrent of misogyny throughout the film, and again, no matter how sweetly it’s painted, how do you forget that? Even the final scene, which is obviously going to be about closure and moving on, seems pointedly designed to erase Summer as if she no longer deserves to exist.

So I dunno. Some people liked it. But if you’re reading my reviews and going by my opinion, I have to tell you, Do Not See This Movie.

Monday Movie Reviews: Quick Hits

Escape From Alcatraz: Clint Eastwood stars in a real-life escape story set in 1960. Directed by Don Siegel.
Everything you’d expect from a Siegel movie of the 1970s. Hard-boiled, intelligently spare, ultra-masculine, pacing that grips you like a vise. Clint Eastwood & Don Siegel were such a great collaboration. 8/10

Lady Sings the Blues: Biopic of Billie Holiday, replete with gritty drug addiction, starring Diana Ross.
I’d heard, long ago, that this was a bad movie. Recently, some folks in some film discussions praised it highly, so I decided to see for myself. Dear Gods, this is bad. 4/10

Quigley Down Under:
Tom Selleck is the sharpshooter, Alan Rickman is the bad guy, in the Wild Wild Australian West.
You know I love Westerns. You know that. But this one is just so-so. San Giacomo’s crazy lady thing is way too over the top, and everything else is serviceable and by-the-numbers, except in Australia instead of the American West. Alan Rickman is always a great bad guy, and Selleck is pleasingly macho without being a jerk; he actually has a lot of soul. 7/10.

Revolutionary Road: Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio really goddamn hate suburban life.
I got about 20-25 minutes into this horror before I gave up. Histrionic, obvious, and obnoxious, full of tell-instead-of-show, and just relentlessly loud. Unbearable. 3/10

FSG suggestions so far

New Moon — not an expert on moon lore, but I’ll consider.
How about working with groups – tips and things to avoid? — Very good thought.
spellcasting master class — I’ve done that at FSG before, I wouldn’t wish to appear to be a one trick pony.
DIETIES OF ALL TYPES — I have a couple of deity classes, definitely a possibility.
shielding from the negative energy of others, history of modern paganism (the good, the bad, and the ugly), comparative mythology — shielding is a good one, history is a maybe because I don’t really focus on the scholarly, mythology can tie in with deities…all good thoughts
Gardnerian Wicca 101 for the Unititiated–I did my Who Are the Gardnerians once at FSG and it was under-attended. Not sure there’s real interest.
Elementals as Helpmates–Oh, I do NOT recommend elementals as helpmates. BUT I could put together a multi-session course on the elements.
Sleeping Late as an Act of Worship–HA! Schedule that one for 9 am, bitchez!
Empowering the Elections in 2010–Not really interested in going political. This would do better as a choice people make based on my teaching magical techniques.

Keep ’em coming!

Free Spirit Gathering

I will be attending Free Spirit Gathering in Maryland June 15-20 as a “featured speaker” (whoo-hoo!). This is one of my favorite events. I’ve been asked to present four (many!) workshops.

So what should I do? I have a list of workshops that I offer, although it hasn’t been updated in about a year. I could choose from that list, come up with new stuff, or a combination.

What would you like to see me do? What Deborah Lipp worskshops/classes/facilitated discussions/guided experiences would excite you? I am wide open here.