Well, the good news is our brains got a nice rest. It’s a decent cowboy flick. You’ll recognize parts of Silverado, Indiana Jones, and a million others. It’s a terrible science fiction movie, though you will recognize tiny, poorly translated details of Aliens and, I don’t know, Back to the Future or something. It ought to be a treat but it’s flat as a pancake. If you must watch turn it off about 20 minutes in, for the first 20 minutes at least Paul Dano is doing something against type which is interesting to watch. This photo represents basically the only consistently interesting thing in the movie, Daniel Craig’s nudity, and I know that’s not going to work for everyone.

So then this weekend I was sitting around with a friend and we came across Temple Grandin in the On Demand menu and decided to give it a shot. I knew this was the same woman, I wasn’t that ignorant, but I was pretty ignorant. Ms. Grandin grew up in New England and did all of her early schooling in my home state. Her mother was told to institutionalize her. She was mainstreamed before mainstreaming was a dirty term but only because it just wasn’t done.

Let it suffice to say I was fascinated by the whole story from stem to stern. I was moved and excited and I laughed and learned. Claire Danes did a lovely job as the title character. The accolades, though, belong to Julia Ormond and Catherine O’Hara as Grandin’s mother and aunt respectively. They thrilled me and broke my heart at every turn. David Strathairn as a high school science teacher instrumental in Grandin’s development only graced the screen for a few moments but all of them were beautiful.

This is a very basic biopic. It’s not a format or even information that’s especially new or shocking. It doesn’t need to be, though, because the bio they’re pic’ing, if you will, is enthralling. Well worth the investment.

First up was Wanted, an action flick from a couple of years ago. James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie as part of an ancient guild of weavers (oh yeah, you heard me) headed up by Morgan Freeman. The weavers seem to um…help out fate or something. It’s ever so Grecian by way of The Matrix. If you’ve seen the previews (scanty clothing, bent bullet trajectories, zippy sports cars, mercenary rats) you probably already suspect that it’s a terrible movie. You should add some terrible to that estimate…no, multiply it by terrible, a lot of terrible. I wanted (heh) it to be ridiculous but a ton of silly fun fighting and a crazy back story and a nice way to turn my brain off. I just kept saying to my viewing companion, “I don’t have enough disbelief to suspend to make this work!” Don’t spend your precious time, re-watch Gladiator instead, we did that later.

Super 8 was more enjoyable than I thought it would be; it had a very Stand By Me feel to it that I liked more than I was expecting to.

I was heartily disappointed in The Ides of March.  It just didn’t work for me – the character development was REALLY weak (a shame, because I have grown accustomed to being wowed by the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti), the central conflict of the film was thin, and the ending was, well, flat.  I know they were going for a big, dramatic, “what happens next?!” ending, but it didn’t work for me.

I picked up a cheap copy of Mission Impossible (the first Cruise imagining) at Target the other day (while I was in the store to buy laundry detergent.  Yeah, yeah; I know…).  I enjoyed seeing the film again, though I was a little taken aback by how campy some of the lines are.

Apparently I can name that reaction in one note! I sat there knowing that at some point Jeff Bridges’ character was going to fuck up. But at what point? The clear presence of that tension was a slam dunk writing-wise but as an audience member I had a very hard time not turning it off and hiding my head under a pillow.

Then it was over and I cried. Some of that can certainly be attributed to the week I’ve had but I don’t want to take all the credit away from a truly well-crafted movie.

That subject matter is Lance Corporal Chance Phelps and the marine who volunteered to escort his body home to his final resting place.

That’s probably all I need to tell you, isn’t it? Don’t be a stickler for high art, bring a hankie, but watch this movie. I think it’s important.

In case you’re wondering what the hell I’m talking about, Pina is a celluloid love letter from filmmaker Wim Wenders to choreographer Pina Bausch. Ms. Bausch participated in the creation of the film until her “unexpectedly fast” death in 2009.

I’m not certain I can form a proper essay about the film but I don’t want to leave it at the shortest thing I can say. I think both of those things might be OK for a powerful visual creation. I’ll lay out the things it made me think about.

3D – The film was shot in 3D. I had heard some buzz that people who were excited about the movie were disappointed at under-usage of the media. I disagree completely. In fact I think that what was misinterpreted as under-usage is actually such a seamless integration of the format that you don’t even realize what it’s doing for you. There’s a moment in the first dance we explore where suddenly a man is in close up. He’s not doing anything at the time but he’s right here in the room with us. In 2D it would be an entirely different, and much less powerful, experience.

Bodies – I love the variety of bodies in Bausch’s company. You’re not going to see a ton of people who are out of accepted weight ranges but there’s a nice variety of age and little left to the imagination. Poochy bellies and saggy breasts and crow’s feet and strange hair and beaten down feet abound. All the bodies are strong and beautiful and no one does anything to try to hide them.

Preserving dances – It’s harder than you might think. Film of dance is largely awful and doesn’t express the emotion of it. If you aren’t seeing the original dancers or a production overseen by the choreographer then you’re also probably losing a lot. That being said, this felt emotional and faithful though not complete and that seemed like the nicest tribute Wenders could possibly give.

German contradiction – We see footage of Bausch describing reviving her role in a piece called Cafe Muller. Her character performs the entire thing with her eyes closed and she found she couldn’t reclaim the emotion of the role until she realized that, even behind closed lids, she needed to be looking down instead of straight ahead. “Details are important!” she declares. Those details, though, rather than stripping emotion build it to operatic levels.

Dance company cults – It’s not just dance companies. You can get a cultish feeling from a lot of close knit creative groups. Dance and theatre are a fertile ground because, as I mentioned above, it’s not a medium that is easily recorded for posterity, not in a fully encompassing way. People gather around a creator and stick with them for years for the opportunity to see that person in action, live action, as often as possible. One of the dancers described refusing to perform Cafe Muller without Bausch on stage as well because, “it’s the only way people can see her…dance.” I kind of miss that feeling.

Missing – I miss dancing and choreographing. Watching a master’s life work makes me feel like I wouldn’t know the first step to take back on that path but I miss it.

Have fun seeing Pina! I’m just going to assume you’ll take my advice.

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Last week, I showed the first installment of the Twilight saga to my Aliens and Vampires in Literature class (yes, that’s a real class; I teach in an awesome high school where I get to teach classes like that).  Once they got over their “it’s cool to dis Twilight” bellyaching, the settled into the story quite well.

I showed it to them as part of an arc of vampire films – beginning with Nosferatu, moving through Braham Stoker’s Dracula and ending with Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and Twilight – intended to investigate the evolution of the character of the vampire.  Somehow, I told them, we’ve managed to go from a hideous, asocial creature to a charming, handsome, integrated entity.  Somehow, I pointed out, we’ve moved from something associated with damnation and dirt and darkness to something concerned for his own and others’ souls, who lives among people and strives for a semblance of “normalcy.”  These things don’t happen by accident, and I am interested to see what the kids think are the reasons for the evolution.

I went home this weekend and watched the subsequent two films with 14-year-old Punkin’, and I have to say that, despite the “it’s cool to dis Twilight” campy-ness that sometimes made me shudder, I really enjoy these films.

Look; there’s a LOT about this story to discredit it.  I’m not going to bother going into the many, many shortcomings because people smarter and more observant than I have pretty much beaten them to death.  There’s something about the story, though, that appeals – and appeals greatly – and that’s what I’m interested in.

There’s something compelling – for me, at least – about the idea of entering into a relationship with the knowledge that it’s going to be forever; not just this lifetime, but forever.  I love the idea of chosen family that the story highlights and will admit to choking up a little during the scene in the first film where Rosalie is resisting helping Bella escape from James, Victoria, and Laurent.  Carlisle puts her in line by saying “Rosalie. Bella is with Edward. She’s part of the family now. We protect our family,” and she acquiesces without a second word.

The tag line in the films is When you can live forever, what do you live for?  The answer, at least for this story, is love.  I’m totally down with that.  I’m a sucker for a devoted love story.  For all the camp and strenuous work one has to do to suspend disbelief, I do not regret the time I’ve spent watching these films.

I saw the revival of Nine on Broadway a few years ago. It starred Antonio Banderas, who wasn’t my favorite, but also starred women like Jane Krakowski and Mary Beth Peil, who I love, so it was a great way to be introduced to the piece. Also a great way to make me really sad that I missed the original because it starred Raul Julia.

So when the movie came out I knew I’d probably want to see it but I wasn’t all that excited about it. Any time you gather a group of people who, by and large, don’t sing and dance to do something that hangs entirely on singing and dancing I am skeptical. You know, it’s not a great musical. It’s disjointed and odd and non-linear and way too introspective to be clearly dramatic. It’s got a couple of hot numbers, though, and the scenery in the movie is spectacular. They did a fair job of casting so that everyone plays to their strengths and doesn’t take away from the material. I certainly had fun with it and am now considering singing a couple of the tunes.