Culture

Smoke on the water. Winner of the Sundance Audience Choice Award and now being considered for an Academy Award nomination, Fuel is an amazing resource for those wishing to know more about the hottest issue of our time, energy independence. Not as sensational as a Michael Moore production (there is no equivalent to standing on a boat outside of Guantánamo Bay with a bullhorn demanding healthcare), it is far more practical and the main themes are knowledge and action.
Fuel is a comprehensive look at energy in America. A history of where we have been, our present predicament and a solution to our dependence on foreign oil, given an effort by the American people and our government. The film flows seamlessly through scientific data, facts, history and personal narrative and is never dull or overwhelming. Quite the opposite in fact, there is intrigue, conspiracy, murder, and greed, which is made all the more infuriating because this is not fiction.

Been waitin' for the bus all day. Knowing writer Charlie Kaufman's (Being John Malkovich/Adaptation) warped sense of humor, I figured the misspelling of Schenectady, New York was a setup for a cool in-joke. Turns out "synecdoche" is a real word, which according to Webster's means, "a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (as society for high society).

And Synecdoche New York is set in Schenectady. This movie is a surreal mess, mesmerizing in its complexities, perfectly depicting depressing beauty with stunning diatribes of madness, loneliness and despair. It's also a hilariously dark comedy.
Directing for the first time, Kaufman delivers what seems a straightforward story, but after a few minutes things start to twist. The first few hints involve the misinterpretation and mispronunciation of words. Kaufman then begins to fill the screen with images and ideas at a rapid pace. Soon we figure out that it's not going to do us any good to try and make sense of this journey. Just sit back and enjoy the circus.

Besides bloodlust, we have great hearing and a keen fashion sense. "Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone I loved. Noble even. That ought to count for something."

Thus begins the new movie, Twilight, inspired by the first of four books about a young girl and her vampire boyfriend by Stephanie Meyers, and in the hands of virtually every young girl aged 11 to 20 in America right now. Four novels, seventeen million copies - get the picture?
I have to admit, I didn't read the book and went in cold. And I was mesmerized. The story involves a sixteen-year-old high school student, Bella Swan (Kristin Stewart), who leaves her single mom in Arizona to go and live with her policeman dad in Forks, Washington. It's a gorgeous setting for this film: grey, perpetually foggy, green, mossy, mysterious, and, most importantly for vampires, sunless.

Cry it out. This fun little movie is actually a light-hearted look at Hollywood
back stabbings and financial dealings. In other words, this could have
been a scathing expose on Hollywood corruption, but What Just Happened
just lets it happen and allows us to be the judge.
Robert De Niro
plays Ben (yes, just "Ben"), a producer trying to balance his work
while juggling a messed-up life involving two ex-wives and kids to go
with them. Ben has two big deals in the works: one is a Cannes entry
entitled, "Fiercely," starring Sean Penn (as himself), directed by
indie filmmaker Jeremy Brunell (a superb Michael Wincott). We only see
snippets of the cruel and violent ending scene of "Fiercely," which the
producers insist should hit the editing floor. Jeremy takes it badly,
promoting tension between producers and himself. The second deal is an
action picture starring Bruce Willis (as himself). Here, the dilemma is
that Willis, contrary to all advice, has put on weight and grown a
Grizzly Adams beard, adding extra girth for his concept of the role
then refuses to shave his beard.