The Fiction of Experts

Growing up there was this phrase on TV about notifying the authorities.  This usually referred to the police but it was open-ended enough that the adults might mean someone even more important.  In this past year I have come to believe that authority is born out of ambition rather than skill.  Authorities are people who can persuade people they are authorities.  At work it's about convincing your boss.  This works really well when your boss is not an authority on the things you want to represent.  

On TV authorities are whoever you can get that agrees with the point of view that supports this particular news program.  There was a time I would have said cable news, but all electronic news is more or less the same anymore.  They all have a point of view and each is less uncomfortable presenting it than times past.  A lot of this never occurred to me until news started finding Covid-15 experts to come on their programs.  How can you be an expert on a disease that we don't yet fully understand.  Now, if you develop a vaccine or come up with a therapeutic treatment then you are getting into expert territory. But these guys were on TV from the strength of knowledge of other viruses.  If you wrote a book about Ted Williams do you automatically become an expert on this kid tearing up A ball?

Experts are just trope in news so that the viewer can listen to an authority say things that agree with their personal views.  If you are person who seeks government mandates then some stations will have experts that praise mandates  If you are a person that seeks personal freedom there will be experts that like that on your preferred channel.  In some cases maybe these guys are experts or maybe they just know the appropriate rhetoric for their audiences.  I tend to think the world has very few experts and the true experts are often times speaking outside of their expertise.  How often is a narrow expertise really going to be called on for comment?  An expert on a certain blood thinner drug can tell you all of the possible side effects, but he can't tell you which ones will both you.  You'll need your common sense to decide whether that blood thinner is worth the cost.  I think this is a true in many things.  They use to have a tip sheet at the dog track you could buy for $5.  As we started going weekly and seeing the same dogs our imperfect picks were not any worse than the expert.  

But experts exist and will always exist because experts comfort people.  We all want there to be somebody out doing something about the things we hate so we imagine experts are out there right now doing it for us.  The way that Dr. Fauci can tell us that Covid is nothing to worry about or that masks don't work only to later say without embarrassment, the opposite, is about our need to listen to a guy rather than make our own decisions.  It's like flipping a coin when we are unsure and it always landing on the expert.  Of course, listening to conventional wisdom is how you ensure yourself an average life. The people that get rich do so listening to their own inner voice rather than the collective one.  They become the experts of whatever it is that made them rich.  But they still can't tell you how to be rich because only you know your own circumstances and opportunities.  

The narrowness of expertise is really no match for a person of great analytical ability.  I believed the experts that said Trump couldn't win the Republican primary or the presidency in 2016.  But after being shocked I went back and read the people who said the opposite. The difference is that the expert was caught on the idea that no one like Trump had ever won before and therefore history would be consistent. The analytical guy said that no one like Trump had ever won because the circumstances that would bring a win for a Trump type had not existed previously.  

When I was around 11, I started experiencing pain in both of my feet.  Our pediatrician said that it was growing pains.  It grew worse over a course of a year and with the doc blowing it off my mom eventually took me to a podiatrist that took xrays that revealed a condition.  This was an actual expert but my mom took it for granted that any doctor would have this skill.  Just like we took if for granted that Dr. Fauci was an expert.  

GONE WITH THE WIND

GONE WITH THE WIND

This was on TMC last night and it's coincidentally Tricia's favorite movie so we watched it until Trish keeled over from fatigue. I stuck around and watched the whole thing again forgetting that it's a surprisingly effective movie despite the length. It has a modern feel that few classic movies have and it's not just the color photography. Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) is color and feels as old as any other Errol Flynn film. I credit production values. The burning and escape from Atlanta, the crane scene showing all the wounded men, the largeness of the sets set it apart from it's time. It also helps that Vivian Leigh had a natural acting style and Clark Gable was one of the great rogues of the day. What a travesty he lost Best Actor to Robert Donat. Donat got the award for playing a teacher that ages through the years. It's not bad acting, but seems like acting. Gable shows strength, humor, determination and they all feel natural. The wrong actor in that role could have sabotaged the movie. How many people have seen GOODBYE MR CHIPS?

I've only seen a few Leslie Howard movies, but his character here seems the same as the other Leslie Howard movie that I know well, THE PETRIFIED FORREST. In both movies he seems like a man of speeches rather than a man of action. Howard is the weakest link in the movie. How much better it would have been had Errol Flynn or Gary Cooper or even Robert Taylor played Ashley. Olivier could have been an interesting choice.

Olivia DeHavilland, on the other hand, is great as Melanie. She looks nothing like the DeHavilannd in Errol Flynn movies and she probably would have won the Oscar had Hattie McDaniel not been in the same movie. McDaniel is gone for long stretches, but you don't forget her and when she's on screen she can be commanding.

My favorite scene in the movie is not one often mentioned. The night that Ashley and some others go off to clean up the shanty town where Scarlett was attacked and Rhett Butler comes to the rescue. The traditional approach to such a scene would be the action at the shanty town, but Fleming (or which ever one of the directors did the scene) focuses on the ladies tense and waiting for an outcome. It helps that the Yankee captain coming to arrest them is Ward Bond, one of my favorite character actors. And using Belle Watley's bordello as their alibi is a nice dramatic choice that makes the Yankee captain blush in front of the ladies present. BOND: Rhett, do I have your word as a gentleman?
GABLE: As a gentleman, Tom, of course.

Rhett's language in the last scene crossed a barrier in movies, but almost as surprising is how the love story resolves itself. Movies trying to be big box office have rarely made the same choice.

Neither the movie nor book were created to be historically accurate, but they succeed because they are great examples of romantic literature. What Rhett and Scarlett get away with due to their brains and beauty allows the audience a guilty thrill of living it through them.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

I saw this in the theatre so many years ago, I believe Kevin Seeger was along. We must have been some of the few who saw it then because it didn't make much money. I have seen it 3 or 4 times since, the most recent being Sunday. One thing that strikes me is how young everyone looks. I think that reaction comes from how current the movie still feels. The only loud giveaways are the style of the cars and how none of the salesman are using computers. I have the movie on before just to watch the Alec Baldwin speech and then couldn't help myself and watched it through to the end. I'm particularly impressed with what Jack Lemmon does because in my head he is still the guy in drag next to Marylin Monroe or he's loaning his apartment to Fred MacMurray or clearing his sinuses and embarrassing Walter Mathau. He's always this young comic actor in my head, naive and good-hearted. In the film he is con man with pathos and more believable than in anything that came before. Pacino was nominated for Best Supporting actor for this and Pacino is better here than in SCENT OF A WOMAN, the movie he won Best Actor for this same year. There are shades here of Pacino's overacting but they are forgivable compared to his cartoon performance in SCENT. 20 years hence I have to feel that Lemmon deserved it more and even Baldwin could be considered more worthy for his short yet iconic appearance.

I decided to watch it again after my praise for Mamet's THE VERDICT script and I really love how within all the profane language Mamet has Alec Baldwin wish them luck at the end and calls them gents. It's like a little wink that acting and selling are the same thing. The MacGuffin mystery within the film is less interesting and the solution to it seems a contrivance, but it's easy to forgive after watching Jack Lemmon standing in a phone booth on a rainy night pretending to talk to a secretary that doesn't exist all for the sake of a sale.

Amour (2012)

AMOUR is what you do with all that youthful love after the youthful part is no more. Brought to you by Michael Haneke, a director that seems to court controversy as much as pursue art, as if in his mind they were both one in the same. His most violent expression thus far was in the enigmatic FUNNY GAMES (1997, remade by Haneke in English in 2007) a movie designed almost so that you would hate something about it. I say that because I enjoyed his CODE UNKNOWN (2000) and I think his film CACHE (2005) is one of the top ten films on the first decade of this century. CACHE is a straightforward film with intrigue, subtlety and even a little shock value, but all doled out in proportions that are digestible mind food. Haneke’s excuse for FUNNY GAMES was that his violence in the movie was a harsh commentary on violence, as if Jerry Falwell began making skin flicks to point out the immorality of skin flicks.

Haneke’s 2001 film, THE PIANO TEACHER got a lot of ink either because his subject matter of unhealthy sexual relationships was daring or that it struck a nerve with movie critics. I’m not one to think that every perverse human practice needs to be documented in art films, but for those that do Michael Haneke is here to oblige. His last two films have been a change of pace. 2009s THE WHITE RIBBON is an early 20th century period piece shot in black and white that would have been a comment on fascism had I finished it. I gave up on it after an hour because of fatigue, meaning to return but never finding the motivation.

And here is Amour (2012) nominated for Best Picture about an elderly couple trying to cope with aging. Realistic to the point that you get to read your own meaning into it. It can be a commentary on how money won’t buy immortality if you want it to be. It can also be a comment on how no one is prepared for the reality of human frailty or a comment about how adult children and adult parents grow apart. All of these themes have been mined to death in cinema, but as a change of pace for Haneke I can see why the Academy reacted as they did. Haneke’s not trying to shock them is a shock unto itself. Emmanuelle Riva is also nominated for Best Actress without any argument from me, but ignored is the actor that plays her husband, Jean-Louis Trintignant. Hers is a portrayal of a degenerative illness while his burden is the more difficult one, having to show the quiet angst of picking up the pieces. I’ve seen enough French films through the years to wonder why this one stands out in the minds of voters. It probably has more to do with 10 open slots than anything else, not a knock on it as much as a curiosity. If you are a person with the tolerance for foreign films you will most likely appreciate the execution, but I doubt you will want to hit the replay button.

The Girl On The Bridge (1999)

Of all the great injustices done by Johnny Depp in his lifetime none may ever match the treachery of plucking Vanessa Paradis out of films for five years after the completion of this quirky 1999 gem. Miss Paradis’s combination of vulnerability and pixie style charm is why we go to the movies and it’s seldom seen in popular American actresses anymore to the point that I just can’t see how this movie would work in our native tongue. Maybe it doesn’t work in French either if you speak French, but it works for me and I bet it will work for you too. You have to sort of buy that French men are such that they will throw out young ladies like Paradis as they would the trash and even older knife throwers are more interested in turning them into assistants than girlfriends. All the better because it gives that knife thrower 90 minutes of reflection time to think better of it by the denouement. Our knife thrower is Daniel Auteuil, an actor so French looking that that you can almost imagine his face on their national flag. He has that Gabriel Byrne demeanor that makes him perfect for roles that call for emotional indifference. I saw him first in the 1992s “Heart in Winter.” If you ever had the kind of girlfriend that was always asking you what you were thinking or feeling then Auteuil’s character in HEART IN WINTER would have just drove them nuts. The late career Cary Grant understood that it would be unseemly for him to chase young girls across the silver screen, but it was acceptable and even fun to watch the girls chase him. GIRL ON THE BRIDGE is that formula with a modern sensibility. If I have piqued your interest you can stream it on Netflix or Amazon Prime.

The Verdict (1982)

This movie is mostly known for Paul Newman's great performance. But equally important is the excellent script by David Mamet. Mamet is great at dialogue, but what makes this a cut above is how he takes genre material and finds the right structure to get optimal mileage out of the plot. Although I have seen it several times I still enjoy the little plot twists and the non-conventional conclusion.

THE SUN ALSO RISES a book review

THE SUN ALSO RISES a book review

Jakes Barnes is our narrator and main character and yet the book revolves around the machinations of Lady Brett Ashley, a beautiful young woman that has everything and yet only wants what she cannot have.  The result of Lady Ashley is that most every man in the book is thrilled and miserable for her existence.  There is a lot of drinking in THE SUN ALSO RISES, that mirrors Ernest Hemingway’s own adventures in France and Spain during the 1920s.   Although Hemingway just liked to drink you get the impression that Hemingway’s characters drink to rid themselves of the pain caused by the oblivious Lady. 

The conventional wisdom of the book seems to be that Jake and Lady Ashley are in love, but unable to consummate their relationship due to Jake’s unspecified war injury.  But it seems to me that Lady Ashley’s love for Jake is precisely because his injury allows her to see herself as some sort of tragic heroine.   For his macho reputation, Hemingway writes very sensitive and complicated men that hide their emotions in booze.   The most outwardly macho of them all, Robert Cohn, is treated as a bully and loathed by everyone by the conclusion. 

Although Hemingway’s personal adventures in Paris get much ink, I feel that the novel only offers a glimpse of that location.  The sequences in Spain are much more vivid.  You’ll learn how to fish for Spanish trout or how the bulls are herded through town rather than how to get from the Champ Elyse to Notre Dame.   The reader comes away understanding why Hemingway was so invested in the Spanish Civil War.  He really loved that country.  

I don't know whether I would recommend the book to just anyone.  I think you'd need to have some interest in the locales or activities, because the characters aren't exactly inspiring.  Hemingway's short stories from this period are more economical.

ARGO (2012) a movie review

I'm not sure if Argo benefits from the generally lousy movies that come out every year or if the critics and the Academy are just surprised that Ben Affleck is a decent director. This film, like his two prior efforts GONE BABY GONE, and THE TOWN, is above average in so many ways and yet still a bit overrated. While some of the film is brilliant docudrama chronicling the Iranians storming the U.S. Embassy, other parts use stock Hollywood characters for the sake of humor in ways that are entertaining although unsurprising. The biggest letdown is Affleck’s ending that uses the same formula that D.W. Griffith invented in 1915 and has been used a thousand times since. And the shame is that it didn’t really need that device to make the ending work.

Affleck himself proves again to be a decent leading man in the right material. Bryan Cranston has become the king of the solid two scene role, John Goodman seems to have a small role in 1/3 of all Hollywood movies released this year, and Alan Arkin gives a stock character enough charisma that you forgive the familiarity.

There was a better movie inside this entertaining movie had Affleck only had the confidence to surprise us a few more times. If this were to beat ZERO DARK THIRTY for Best Picture it would akin to SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE beating SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012) a movie review

After a few exploding heavies it occurred to me that Quentin Tarantino has borrowed the central device from Passion of the Christ for his last two movies. That premise being if you make the antagonists sadistic enough then no amount of violence is too much. In Gibson’s case the violence was heaved on our hero, making the heavies all the more so vile. In Tarantino’s case the violence is directed toward Nazis or slave holders and in such comic form that it is part shocking and part humorous. As the audience we must simply accept that human beings are put into this film to turn into a river of goo. If you think of it as a Tom and Jerry cartoon with guts then you will have a better shot at getting through it, because in Django Unchained human biology is 80% blood and a single gunshot empties the entire container. Further, guys will sometimes run into a room single file so that Django can turn them into empty containers, much like Beatrix putting away teenage samurais in Kill Bill. At one point it seems that every white man in Mississippi lay dead in a single plantation house after being summoned by Django’s shooting iron.

Tarantino has a real knack for milking the tension in a scene, but those scenes sometimes drag on for so long and/or fail to payoff that the tension doesn’t work on second viewings. He can also write great dialogue so that he often faces the danger of letting his characters talk too much at the expense of action or just talk too much after they have run out of interesting things to say. For both of those reasons I liked Kill Bill 2 quite a bit at the cinema, but couldn’t make it through 30 minutes later on Netflix. I haven’t tried Inglorious Basterds again fearing that I couldn’t make it again through that tavern scene.

Tarantino is good at the homage and this movie is full of them beginning with the music from the original 1960s movie, Django. It’s also full of cameo appearances by people you might recognize from regular movie viewing and others that you would recognize from b-movies. Some of them surprised me. I didn’t recognize Tom Wopat until I saw his name in the credits. Don Johnson was recognizable despite the great Gaylord accent and a Mark Twain suit. He gives a fine short comic performance. Leo is quite good with his menacing southern charm. Sam Jackson is memorable as only he can be in Tarantino material. No complaints about Jamie Foxx either. I think Foxx was a better choice than Will Smith for Django because Smith has a hero’s charm, but he lacks the danger necessary for such a vengeful role. Mostly I was impressed with Christopher Waltz that went from Nazi heavy to sympathetic bounty hunter under Tarantino and was the most interesting character in both movies.

The movie isn’t for all tastes, but if you like his other material you shouldn’t walk away disappointed or surprised at the outcomes.

LINCOLN (2012) a movie review

I think Spielberg was smart to focus the movie on short time frame, but I question whether the passage of the 13th amendment should have been his pivotal moment. We already know it passes and anyone that has read the history knows it would have passed pretty easily later as the 14th and 15th amendments passed after the completion of the war. The legislative battle has some drama, but it's nothing that we haven't seen before. The film's small moments work best with Lincoln and Seward or Lincoln and his family. Spielberg seems true to the Lincoln as raconteur and the stories he shares are memorable. Daniel Day Lewis has that Lincoln twang that most actors have adopted throughout the years that makes it authentic, although we have no idea what he sounded like. It is somewhat curious that Spielberg chooses to join the action directly after the completion of two significant historical moments, Lee's surrender at Appomattox and Lincoln's assassination. Maybe the latter has been done enough times, but I have not yet seen good a depiction of the former. Spielberg has the right actors, tone, setting, and authenticity, but he chooses the formula battle instead of trusting the smaller moments to carry the action. It may not have been the strongest choice.

ZERO DARK THIRTY (2012) a movie review

What I like most about the movie is that the heroes are the boots on the ground CIA members and the painstaking work they do to keep the world safe. Our media is only interested in making heroes and villains out of our Presidents and other elected officials, but it’s the CIA people that are a constant as party politics shift back and forth at the national level. If you are not risking your personal skin in the fight then you really aren’t a hero. This movie is about heroes.
 
Most movies tend to be a cartoon version of life with everything having a clean answer and no loose ends left. Zero Dark Thirty is played in the reverse. It’s a complicated movie about the various tactics used through the years that led to the capture of Osama Bin Laden. While in real life we heard that waterboarding is torture and torture never works narrative from our media, in the movie those interrogation techniques yielded information that led to the capture of more terrorists that eventually led to paydirt. We can argue about the morality of those techniques but they work in a way that complicates easy answers. When national chatter includes prosecuting CIA operatives that used those techniques, it’s the people in this movie we would prosecute. What makes ZERO DARK THIRTY great is that it doesn’t stop the debate over the techniques but it makes weigh their success into your worldview. While The Hurt Locker shows you what it’s like to be a soldier during the war years, Zero Dark Thirty show you the intelligence struggles. The two movies together are best document yet of the challenges of a post 9-11 world.

JACK REACHER (2012) a movie review

Jack Reacher is a great throwback to the 1980s and 1990s before CGI dominated action films. Critics are unfairly harsh on Christopher McQuarrie expecting that every movie be another Usual Suspects when he seems more interested in perfecting the kind of action movie that is becoming extinct. I have read the first 5 Jack Reacher books and they all required more suspension of disbelief than this film. And McQuarrie also finds an economy of storytelling in the movie that author Lee Child lacks with some of his books totaling over 700 pages. Cruise may be a nutter outside of film acting, but performances like this remind you why he has been on top for so long.

A WEEK IN PARIS == March - April 2010

Note: I originally wrote the synopsis after returning, but I didn't like the flow of my prose. Other distractions kept me from re-writing it immediately. With the passage of time I hope to find greater insight from the experience.


SATURDAY March 27 /SUNDAY March 28

We flew overnight to get into Europe on KLM Airlines. It re-affirmed that the Dutch are sweet people and the airline was as friendly and efficient as any we ever traveled on. They offered us the last upgrade to something called comfort class, but as I was saying yes and she was typing the information in the seats were sold from under us in a different line. Our person felt so bad she put us in the emergency exit line for no charge, seats that had more legroom than the comfort upgrade. There are places to save money when traveling overseas, but I am a believer that paying for comfort when trying to sleep on an overnight flight is money well spent. Not sleeping enough can make you groggy and ruin a couple of valuable days when you do arrive.

I felt like an old hand walking through the Amsterdam airport. It was entirely different than in 2003 when the experience was dreamlike. The layover in Amsterdam was long, but not long enough to feel comfortable riding into the city for breakfast. Instead we sat at the typical airport cafe with CNN International on the television. Larry King was interviewing SnooopDogg. The sound was turned down so we had to rely on Info Graphics to give us the highlights.

Snoop on Susan Boyle “She is a great talent”
Snoop on Tiger Woods “Everyone makes mistakes”
Snoop on Obama “He's doing a great job”
Snoop on Weed “I only smoke it in a blue moon”

I went up the counter to purchase refreshments and when I returned a new friend was sitting next to Trish at our table drinking one of those strong thimble sized cups of coffee. Now it felt like Europe, the invasion of personal space.

Arriving in Paris: Taking the train from Charles DeGaulle Airport into the center part of the city showed the part of Paris they don't romanticize in Hollywood movies. There are some pretty rundown suburbs on the way in. It reminded me of the drive into New Orleans from Sliddell. The guidebooks cautioned against the train, citing pickpockets. But I hate taking buses anywhere and a cab ride would be ridiculously expensive. Had it been my first trip to Europe I would have heeded the warnings, but I've been enough times now that I'm confident that we aren't the most obvious target anymore. On this particular train another American lady was with two high school aged girls talking at twice the accepted volume begging to be targets of someone. Through good luck it only took one train transfer to be spit out 100 meters from our intended apartment. I still wonder if the loud lady found a predator.

The apartment was in the 6th Arrondissement, on the Left Bank about a 10 minute walk from Notre Dame. The place had a full kitchen, Satellite TV, Internet Connection, and a washer/dryer that allowed us to pack lightly for no more money than a hotel room would have cost.

We arrive at the place at dinnertime so we decided to explore the general area around the 6th Looking for a grocery store. It didn't occur to us that it was Palm Sunday until we saw a flock of worshipers leaving the church with tree branches. Palm fronds must be hard to get in France. We located a little corner market and a neighborhood bakery and enjoyed quiche and baguettes for dinner. Sleeping was easy.

MONDAY MARCH 29

Our first stop the next morning was Notre Dame, a ten minute walk from the apartment. I read that the Gargoyles were installed after the Hunchback of Notre Dame book was written meaning that the Disney cartoon was anachronistic. They turn out to be so high off the ground that you can't get much of a look at them unless you want to climb the tower. We decided not to (Trish is pregnant with Emmy, although we hadn't made the public announcement yet). The inside of the church warned of pickpockets, much like the guidebooks, but we got in and out unscathed. One key is never carry a wallet. I stopped doing so anyway several years ago when Kevin said his chiropractor claimed it would put your back out of alignment.

We walked east across the bridge from Notre Dame to Ile Saint Louis, a small river island known for ice cream. We walked down the center street and there were easily 8 ice cream stands within 2 blocks.

Crossing over into the Left Bank we walked along the river heading toward the Louve. The area on both sides of the river house book sellers, and there are plenty of them, although not all of them were open on Monday. It was a shame to be such a bibliophile and not be able to enjoy the selection. A few of the vendors had art work. One guy had a picture of portly Jim Morrison with the caption “Last known of picture of Jim Morrison before his death.”

Morrison who fashioned himself a poet traveled to Paris as the right of passage of any serious American writer. The tradition began with Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald etc. in the 1920s. They only reason they chose Paris is that it was a very cheap place to live after the war. Now Paris one of the most expensive places to live on earth, but the tradition isn't very easily broken. In our lifetime the poor young artists flocked to Prague after the Iron Curtain fell. The rich kids travel to Pairs.

When people praise the French healthcare system they do not talk about how this once inexpensive place has become one of the most expensive on the planet. I can buy Perrier water cheaper at Publix in Orlando than at the super market in Paris. It's obvious that French politicians are afraid to tax wine and beer though. Or maybe they figure that people are less likely to revolt with a steady buzz from cheap wine. At the supermarket I bought a 750ml bottle of Kronenberg Beer for 90 cents (Euro). The same size bottle of water was 1.40 (Euro).

Eating in restaurants is even crazier. The simplest meal for two is going to cost at least 30-35 Euro. A nicer meal would easily cost 80-100 Euro, and many a gourmet restaurant was charging 400-800 Euro for a meal. We ventured by the cheap cafes that Hemingway use to frequent and ordered an open face melted cheese sandwich with Chicken – 12 Euro.

The writer's of guidebooks are uniformly Left of center and it's entertaining the way they reconcile the great palaces and museums that are a spoil of war and imperialism with their love of European passivity. Not once does an author note that without the European blood lust of the past, few would much care to visit these places today. Rick Steves, the best of all European travel writers, seems painfully aware of this when he suggests in “Europe Through the Backdoor” that people should venture in the quaint villages to see how the locals really live. That idea allows progressive writers the idea that they are catering to open-minded multiculturalists when the average traveler would rather see the castle.

It was mid-afternoon when we arrived at the Louve, and much too late to make the cost of admission worth it. And the line was wayyyyyyyyy too long? Steves gave us a good tip when he suggested the Museum Pass. It allows you into over 30 museums and the best feature is getting through the side door of busy museums. The pass saved multiple hours at the Louve and the D'Orsay.

We sat a while in the gardens around the Louve and eventually got the umbrella out for the first of the rain that we would see every day. The temperature was in the 60s on Monday and that was as warm as it ever got, falling into the 30s on some nights. Continuing West from the Louve we came to the Corcorde, a square with an Egyptian obelisk and roundabout traffic. There is a little fountain pond that we sat by before heading toward the Arc de Triomphe. It's not a bad walk although thousands of years of civilization still have not resulted in the paving of the first half of the path. On both sides of the road were little snack stands selling fresh crapes. Trish tried applesauce and I had fromage. It was a nice change of pace snack.

After the crepes the homogeneous global economy took over with McDonalds, Virgin Megastore, Hagen Daas, Gap etc. littering the street up and down. The sidewalks were nice and wide which was unusual for the city and The Aviators Club Casino was so unobtrusive that I didn't even notice when I passed it.

To get to the Arc you have to do so underground, but we had to walk to the other side of the arc to find the pathway down. Part of the arc was going through a rehab and it was our luck that a little military ceremony was taking place and the entire French Army showed up, pictured here.

Trish had enough walking by that time and we took the Metro back to the place. To our surprise the train elevated before crossing the river by the Eiffel Tower and stayed above ground for several stops before submerging into the 7th Arrondissement. The only negative to this way home is that our normal stop wasn't functioning on this line and we had to find an alternative in the dark.

For dinner we ventured to the American Breakfast, a diner joint opened by an American in 2004. At 9pm on a Monday night there was a line out the door with mostly French college kids waiting to get in for a stack of pancakes or a burger. The burger was much praised online, but it was pretty standard, no better than Orlando Ale House at three times the price. It was a fun place though, and our American waitress mistook us for French with our black garb and laughed when we spoke English back. That's the way it usually went. The French made us for Americans from 20 feet, but fellow Americans thought we were European. I did fool a German once, struggling with French and asking if I could speak English.

Tuesday March 30

We had every intention of seeing the D'Orsay, but it was nearly noon when our Orlando-time bodies awoke and the line at the museum was 2 hours long. That's when we sought out the Museum Pass and planned to do everything on Wednesday and Thursday. We strolled the city again on Tuesday and wound up back at the Concorde.

I made the mistake of looking at the Metro Map, and a kid spotted me and asked if I spoke English. I nodded and he produced a postcard with a story about how he was a refugee from Bosnia in Paris for the last two months and his sister has leukemia. Could I spare some change? This is something I rarely do, but he just looked too young to want booze and he didn't look like an addict so I gave him some change and then laughed at how I deserved to be taken by staring at a tourist map. About 10 minutes later I saw the same kid eating a bag of potato chips and as we walked further away I felt that I should have given him more money as he had obviously just wanted some food. Later I would read his note is typical of syndicates that hire kids to do begging.

Raining again as we sought the Presidential Palace that revealed itself to be right on the pathway behind the crepe stands from the day before. We had to come at it from the back in order to realize where we were. Security was pretty tight and it seemed that Sarkozy must have been at home, although Drudge would reveal that night he was in Washington handshaking Obama. Trish told me of the rumors of Carla Bruni stepping out on the President.

Next, we made our way up to the Sacre-Coeur, a 19th century cathedral on the tallest hill in Paris. When we were looking for an apartment, many options were available in the area, but Trish had been to Paris once before and knew the area well enough to steer clear. The litter everywhere in Paris is a bit disappointing. I certainly don't want to hear the French complain about global warming when they can't even pick up their trash. But up in the 16th it looks as bad as Boubon Street in New Orleans or the Red Light District in Amsterdam. The Sacre-Coeur itself is a great location to see the entire city. The only thing missing is the Eiffel Tower that is blocked by buildings in that direction. It took us a while to make the walk up the stairs though, because a strong rain came and pushed us to a cafe across the street. We ate and drank and watched the tour crowds bump umbrellas for 45 minutes before we tried it ourselves.

The Sacre-Coeur was the first place where we saw the West Africans, who provide the same nuisance that Bangladeshis do in Rome. They have a dozen scams to get your money and the preferred one is a friendship band they tie to your hand and then ask for payment. We steered clear but they caught quite a few in their traps.

After some rest back at the apartment we bought our museum tickets on the Champ Elysees and Trish then sought Ice Cream despite the cold weather. It did bring a heated seating area.

Wednesday March 31

Back in 2005, we saw two General Strikes in Italy, with old Soviet flags waving and 1930s type speakers blaring. I half expected Mussolini to show up. The only strike we saw this time was on Wednesday morning. This strike was medical workers complaining about the low wages. I read an article before I left about how French Doctors are unhappy with the money and they argue that it's not a career for upwardly mobile people anymore. And that's kind of the problem with Europe in general. They try to split the pie in so many pieces that no one gets what they earn any longer. The last thing you want in a country is a feeling among your brightest children that medicine is no longer worth the pursuit. How long until we feel the same here?

The D'Orsay was a great a museum to see. It was packed full of people and great impressionist and post impressionist works. Renoir, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezzane were all thoroughly represented. The Museum Pass allowed us to circumvent the two hour line for a 10 minute one. The downside is that I wasn't able to obtain an audio guide, a favorite accoutrement of mine. Later after we left the museum we realized that we never saw Whistler's Mother. I don't think we missed any rooms. I wonder if it is on loan somewhere.

In the afternoon we crossed the bridge to the Louve and gladly bypassed that line as well. Here they had an audio guide, but they were all sold out. On the bottom floor is a sort of reconstructed medieval castle. The first major work we found was the Venus de Milo which was fun to see in person although nowhere near as impressive as Michaelangelo's David. The story goes that it was found on a Greek Island in the 1800s and bought cheaply by a French Ambassador who sent it back to the home country. Now it's priceless, someday to be sold by the French government for more social programs.

The Mona Lisa was an experience all to itself. The painting is behind glass with a stanchion around it and then ten feet or so back another wooden barrier making a semi-circle. People were lined up to that barrier 5 deep and holding their cameras above their heads to snap photos. The effect made it seem like a Press Conference. If you were too short to see the painting above the crowd you would have thought that some French movie star was walking down the red carpet or some French President was announcing his resignation. I couldn't figure out why they all wanted their own photos. The glass made a flash picture useless and you can find the image in a thousand places on the net. The painting looked exactly as it was supposed to but the barriers kept you so far away that it could have been a copy from a color printer.

Although I had wanted to see the Louve for most of my life we didn't spend more than 2 or 3 hours there. Like the Uffizi in Florence, it's full of old Medieval and Renaissance works that will quickly feel redundant if you stare too long. One thing nice about impressionist art is that each artist has their own look. The older stuff all seems to be a copy of other older stuff. Another thing getting us on our way was the immense crowd. But I probably would have spent twice as long at each place with just a simple audio tour. I wanted more history and the significance weaved into the experience.

On the way back from the museum we walked the streets of St. Germain near the apartment and we came across the Supermarket that was closed on Sunday and Monday. The store sold Lays potato chips and Special K cereal like home, although this small store had a cheese selection bigger than any specialty market I've seen in America. I chose a good looking inexpensive bleu cheese that went great with Baguettes. The nearby bakery provided quiche and we had a better dinner than anywhere in the city thus far.

THURSDAY April 1

Versailles. Palace to kings and the place where the ill-conceived treaty was signed that many believe led to World War II. It's an easy train ride from the city center and it took about 30 minutes. The suburbs on the way to the palace were nicer than the area from the airport, although the living quarters still looked pretty tight.

The palace is quite striking from the outside, gilded at every possible location and expansive. The inside of the palace was much like the Doge's palace in Venice so I felt that I had been there before. Squeezing through some of the smaller rooms was difficult especially when a private tour guide would constipate a walkway to tell a punch line or two. The Hall of Mirrors is the real highlight although I had seen enough pictures to have felt that I had been there before.

The landscaped grounds are just as impressive especially in their size. Even standing on the hill they looked like they went on for eternity. The gardens themselves probably look more lush in the summer but the fountains and statues and staircases were everywhere to make up for it. Again the Museum pass made it much easier to enter the grounds.

After getting back to the city we saw Center Pompidou, the modern art museum. This was a chance for Tricia to see her favorite, Picasso, since the actual Picasso Museum in Paris is in the midst of a rehab that will keep it closed for several years. The museum building is as unique as anything inside the building. It also gives a pretty decent view of the city when you ride to the top. Like much of modern art, there were some striking pieces, some silly pieces, and many that were meant for shock value.

Paris is full of cinemas. I read that Paris has more cinemas than any other city in the world and I can believe it. In the 6th near the apartment movies screens were up and down rue St. Germaine and the Latin Quarter. Many of the screens show American movies in English. The biggest shame is that French thrillers are one my favorite genres and yet you can't find a screen with English subtitles anywhere. It's an incentive to learn French and return some day. Due to Herzog's strong European following, Bad Lieutenant was playing all over the city and reviewed in the current Cahiers du Cinema magazine.

That night we finally saw the Eiffel Tower. You can buy advance tickets online to go up in the tower but we waited too late and the line outside was two hours+ according to the experts so we skipped the climb and enjoyed it from the park. We found another market and got a snack and watched the sun go down and the lights go up.

FRIDAY April 2

This was the day that we would have gone to Normandy to see the museum and landing beaches, but we instead decided to use the last day to soak up the city. We bought Abby a few dresses and ate at Les Deux Magots, one the Hemingway haunts.

We also saw the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore that is right across the river from Notre Dame. It's an English language bookstore opened in the 1950s by an American who studied in Paris. The shop is now run by his daughter. There was a good selection of books, but I hadn't been reading as much as on earlier trips and I still had plenty of material. Like everything else in the city, the prices were steep. The atmosphere reminded me of the French quarter used book stores in New Orleans. The political books dealing with America were anti-American, which seems counter intuitive to why someone would come into an American book store in the first place. The political philosophy books were socialist. No Bill Buckley, no Thomas Sowell, no Milton Friedman. Finding a book by Noam Chomsky wouldn't have been an effort though. Outside of the shop was a short biographical sketch of the founder explaining how Dostoevsky wrote his life story before he was born, The Idiot. It was quite a charming little piece and it made me wish I had met the man.

SATURDAY April 3

Friday night in Paris so close to the colleges was not a recipe for good sleep. Add that to my cellphone ringing twice and I was asleep at 11pm, awake by midnight and never to sleep again. Benjamin the apartment owner met us at 5am. He was a gentleman during the entire trip even printing out our boarding passes for the plane. I had luckily collected euro coins during the trip for the ticket machine on the way back to the airport, because the ticket office wasn't manned at 5:15am. We made it to the airport in time to get through inspection and make the plane. The Europeans let you keep your shoes on which is a nice thing. I'm convinced that American airport security has little to do with our safety and lot to do with political CYA.

The long layover Amsterdam afforded us a short trip to the city Center where we ate at the Cafe Luxembourg, a place we visited in July of 2003. The weather was actually a bit warmer this time. The city was pretty quiet at 11am.

The trip back to the states is the worst part of every European trip for me. It takes longer than the trip over and it's in full daylight making sleep very difficult. Like usual, it was full of kids on their way to Disney World. So what began as a normal flight generally morphs into kids running up and down the aisles. The good thing is that the ear plugs and the eye mask helped me sleep a little to make up for the lost night. I also finished reading a Travis McGee book on the flight.

Security coming through Orlando just wouldn't quit. First was customs and only one line for U.S. Citizens. Then we took our bags to another area where they would have riffled through them had we bought any duty-free items. I'm so glad we didn't have time to buy any. After that we went through a line where we once again had to take off our shoes and send our liquids through a conveyor xray. I asked the lady why we had to do this all over again since we had already done so in Amsterdam. She said that we were not sterile entering a sterile environment. I should have scheduled surgery.

PARTING THOUGHTS

We didn't have any experiences with rude Parisians. Now it might have helped that we skipped the high end restaurants, but people were very friendly and everyone except one bakery clerk spoke English. I didn't get any hint of anti-Americanism or superior attitudes. It felt like Paris was a great city for Americans. I was expecting the worst what with their opposition to Iraq. But maybe since the French didn't send any troops to Iraq they weren't really invested in the war the way the English were. Their opposition was theoretical whereas the English are now angry for their involvement. What's one fewer Middle Eastern dictator to them?

The most disappointing thing about the trip is that I've seen enough of Europe now that it feels repetitive in places. I've seen so many castles, palaces, and ancient art that I am no longer overwhelmed by the experience and instead feel the touristy element more. To see new unique things like the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower is still great, but the 14th Century painting looks the same in Florence or Paris. When we make it back to France I am looking forward to Normandy and wine country and the French Riviera. I look forward to more of those subdued experiences

The French are still a great people, but burdened by a government that no longer seeks their greatness. I can only imagine how hard it is for Benjamin and his brother to try and operate a business renting out property. It would be a lot harder than trying to do the same thing in America. The current French system couldn't build a city like Paris, but they do inhabit the one created for them quite well. I can see how Americans with money come to live there and have a hard time leaving. People without money should just wave as they pass by.

I hope to bring the girls back to Paris when they are old enough to enjoy it. I liked it more than I had expected.

PAUL NEWMAN (1925-2008)

It’s easy to talk about the films and I do that below, but it should also be mentioned that Newman used his star power to help people in a way that few celebrities do. I saw him interviewed on 60 Minutes a few years ago. They were at his HOLE IN THE WALL GANG camp for children with cancer. He proved to be a guy who really made a positive difference in this world. Many of his other causes weren’t mine, but when it counted his money went to something that really mattered. I hope to enjoy his salad dressing and spaghetti sauce for years to come.


SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME (1956) – Newman’s breakout role as boxer Rocky Graziano was originally supposed to star James Dean, I once read. He was already 30 years when he made this, but he looks so young in comparison to the roles you remember that he seems much younger. Newman became quite a good actor over the years, but that Actor’s Studio style is evident and annoying here.

THE LEFTHANDED GUN (1958) – Newman is Billy the Kid. The film has a decent enough reputation helped by the direction of Arthur Penn, but it was not particularly memorable for me. I saw it the same week I saw Arthur Penn’s PENN AND TELLER GET KILLED, showing that the auteur theory is still somewhat debatable.

LONG HOT SUMMER (1958) The first film he made with Joanne Woodward also stars Orson Welles. While neither Welles nor Newman seem believable as a southerners to me, Woodward is believable in most anything. Newman is the hardheaded young man in conflict with Welles during most of the story although Welles comes to respect him more than his own weakling son. But can Welles match Newman with his daughter, Woodward? You guess.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958) – Newman teams with Elizabeth Taylor in the Tennessee Williams play. Like most of Williams stuff “the love that dare not speak its name” is hovering around the periphery. The play begins with Newman’s unseen friend having killed himself and Newman feeling guilty because the friend had a crush on him. The central conflict of the play is that Newman has cut off the advances of wife, Elizabeth Taylor. But his dying father “Big Daddy” needs him to produce an heir so his tub-of-goo brother doesn’t inherit the plantation. Newman’s star power is evident and Taylor’s natural acting style is a pleasure to see. Burl Ives reprised his Broadway role as Big Daddy. I saw Ashley Judd, Jason Patric, and Ned Beatty do this on Broadway and critics weren’t kind. They weren’t as good as the movie cast, but it was still better than watching most of the Broadway musicals that I’ve seen. So much of good acting is good material and this was Newman’s best film up to this time, I think.

THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS (1959) Back when getting a Philadelphia lawyer was tantamount to getting the best, Newman is a young ambitious lawyer who will do anything to get ahead, stepping on those that love him along the way. The movie is melodramatic in that late 50s sort of way so it should be no surprise that Newman gets some redemption at the end. Brian Keith has a nice turn early in the film. I can’t think of a bad Brian Keith performance.

THE HUSTLER (1961) – The first out-and-out classic Newman movie and the first one I remember where he seemed relaxed enough to be the character instead of trying to play the character. Most everyone knows that Newman is pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson, a talented but egotistical young man who rises and falls. It’s great material helped along by Newman’s gritty determination. Had Newman died shortly after this film, I think we’d see HUSTLER posters in much the same way we see REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE now.

HUD (1963) – Newman gets to play the heel and a cowboy one at that. This is the most famous Newman film I have never seen, and the only one on this list haven't seen. I just didn’t think I could skip over it for all its importance.

COOL HAND LUKE (1967) – Another one of the all-time classics. My old hippie boss got me onto it and he loved to talk about the Christ symbolism. I found it interesting that he was a free spirit who wanted to be left alone and he inadvertently created a following that he wasn’t comfortable with. The fight with George Kennedy, and then the egg eating contest, and the rush to build the road all seem so fresh in my mind. I found it slow the first time I saw it. I was expecting another Butch Cassidy, I guess. But the second time I saw it much differently and I have admired and enjoyed it every time since.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) – The first Newman movie I ever saw. It was on television when I was twelve years old and I watched it all by myself and then quoted it in English class when the teacher asked about hero characters on the wrong side of the law. It was the most powerful ending I had seen up to that time and still one of the all-time great resolutions. I particularly like the train robberies early in the film and how nice Butch is robbing people. I have since recommended it to other friends with mixed results. One friend said that he couldn’t stand the music montages especially with the pop tune. That song does seem dated, but I think the montages in South America still work although he had no use for those either. Historically it's probably the first buddy film to be successful enough to create that subgenre.

SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION (1971) – This is not considered a great movie, but there are a couple of reasons that it appealed to me. First, Henry Fonda as the father of Paul Newman has great possibilities. Second, it’s one of three movies where the main characters are named STAMPER. Can you name the other two? This film is based on the book by Ken “Cukoo’s Nest” Kesey about a family of loggers who are in the midst of a union fight. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I remember thinking it had a conservative bent which seems impossible with this cast and author. I guess I wasn’t supposed to like the Stampers and what they do. That would explain it. The other thing I remember is a real poignant scene where Newman’s brother Richard Jaeckel is trapped under a log. Looking it up on ALLMOVIE, I realized I had totally forgotten about the other plot involving Lee Remick (Not easy to forget) and Michael Sarrazin.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN (1972) My least favorite movie on the list. I saw it during the period I was watching all of the John Huston movies I could find. Newman is not sympathetic although the movie is funny at times. It just has too many weird characters for me. I suppose it could be someone’s cult favorite, but not mine.

THE STING (1973) – This is the Newman/Redford movie that won best picture although I prefer the other one. Still, this movie is a lot of fun and can be enjoyed multiple times. Robert Shaw always made a good heavy and there are plenty of other good supporting parts as well. Charles Durning and Harold Gould come to mind. The granddaddy of all confidence man films, I suppose.

THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974) – One of the weaker Best Picture winners with a great cast. Famous for the opening credit where McQueen’s name was first, but Newman’s was higher. The 70s loved disaster movies with high priced talent and this was just one of many.

THE DROWNING POOL (1975) – A sequel to the 1966 film HARPER where Newman plays PI Lew Harper once again based on the Ross McDonald’s Lew Archer series. The drowning pool is exactly how it sounds and a clever device to kill Newman in the movie. But maybe he escapes! Woodward shows up as does a young Melanie Griffith.

ABSENCE OF MALICE (1981) – Ironically, this movie is the counter-balance to the Redford film, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, where crusading reporters are admonished for printing stories based on hearsay information from anonymous sources. Both and Sally Field are quite good and the investigation into the truth works pretty well too.

THE VERDICT (1982) – If there was ever a time where you could say that Newman was not only a great movie star, but a great actor, the Verdict would be the example time I would pick. Everything about the performance says that it needs an actor and not a personality and the way Newman becomes this alcoholic lawyer is really impressive. It’s a shame that he didn’t take more character parts. He would have been a joy in those Robert Duvall type roles.

HARRY AND SON (1984) – Newman is Harry and Robbie Benson is the son and they have less than a harmonious relationship. It’s not a very good movie and it’s not all that memorable, except that Newman had lost his own son a few years earlier and that he chose to direct this picture says something about its meaning to him.

THE COLOR OF MONEY (1986) – Newman returns as Fast Eddie in this Hustler sequel directed by Scorsese and co-starring the up and coming Tom Cruise. There is a lot to like about the movie and I enjoyed it again last year sometime. The shame is that the Academy chose to finally reward Newman for his body of work and it should have been for something a little more interesting.

BLAZE (1989) Ron Shelton’s follow-up to Bull Durham is only nice for Newman’s performance as the corrupt Louisiana Governor and even that wears a bit thin at times.

FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY (1989) – A dull telling of the atomic bomb creation with Newman wasted in a role anyone could have portrayed.

NOBODY”S FOOL (1994) – Newman really deserved to win an Oscar for this forgotten movie about a lovable loser who reconnects with his family. It’s a little quirky at times like the Richard Russo novel it’s based on, but if you can forgive that this movie is a gem and the last classic he made. Bruce Willis is great in a small role as Newman’s boss/friend./rival and Melanie Griffith is Willis’ wife and an object of Newman’s fancy. Jessica Tandy plays Newman’s land lady in her last screen role. I first saw it at the theatre with brother John and have seen it again several times over the years and it never gets old.

HUDSUCKER PROXY (1994) – One of the Coen Brothr’s lesser efforts and still not without its moments. Newman plays the CEO of a big company and Tim Robbins the lowly office boy who makes good. Jennifer Jason Leigh channels Katherine Hepburn’s screwball comedy accent.

TWILIGHT (1998) Newman re-teams with Russo and director Robert Benson as a Private Detective shot by Reese Witherspoon. A few years later he is living in the garage apartment of Reese’s parents (Gene Hackman and Susan Sarandon) and trying to solve as mystery. It’s a fine effort for all involved and worth the time if you see it on cable.

ROAD TO PERDITION (2002) Sam Mendes follow up to American Beauty starring Tom Hanks is a adaptation of a graphic novel filled with stars but also a kind of emptiness. Newman won a supporting Oscar nomination for his small but impactful role as a crime boss.

REVIEWS OF MOVIES FROM 2007

SHOOT ‘EM UP (2007) –The reliable Clive “no smile” Owen is just a schlub waiting for a bus when he notices a gunman trying to shoot down a pregnant lady. Although unarmed he tries to save her life and winds up with a baby for his efforts. From then on, a gang led by Paul Giamatti chases Owen and the bambino all over creation. It’s a funny movie that makes the villain a gun manufacturer and then entertains us with bullets flying everywhere and mostly into the guts of evil henchmen. The death toll is enormous and the stunts are inventive with early ones seeming a bit of a stretch and later ones downright impossible. It’s so over the top that you have to enjoy it on its own terms, and it helps if you aren’t sickened by the sight of blood.

AWAY FROM HER (2007) – Julie Christie seems to materialize once a decade for an Oscar nomination and here she is this time with Alzheimer’s. And it’s a fine performance all and all. It’s directed by Sarah Polley, the girl who played the cashier in GO and has been seen most recently as the daughter of JOHN ADAMS in the HBO miniseries. She does a fine job with good performances by Gordon Pinsent as her husband and Michael Murphy and Olympia Dukakis as another couple who figures big in the plot.

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (2007) Last year I saw Julian Schnabel’s film about the artist Basqaut who died of aids in the 1980s before people even knew what aids was. To find a more depressing subject, Schnabel chooses a guy completely paralyzed by a stroke who has to write a book with eye blinks. What’s funny is that Schnabel seems like a pretty up beat guy in real life. I saw him interviewed once about some paintings he was exhibiting and he was smiling and was not the least bit pretentious. I can understand Schnabel’s nomination for director, because this book is not easy material to turn into a film and he does a wonderful job of bringing the paralyzed world to life. Still, the main character is a narcissistic bore and recounting his life doesn’t redeem him.

DAN IN REAL LIFE (2007) – Steve Carell is the affable widower who meets cute with Juliette Binoche in a bookstore. It turns out that the French babe is dating his brother although she and Carell might turn out to be soul mates. Dane Cook is the brother, Diane Wiest as mother, and John Mahoney plays dad. If that sounds appealing you’re in for no further surprises.

INTO THE WILD (2007) – Sir Saunders summed this up a in a post a while back and I agree that it’s a fine movie that showed all of the adventure of such a pursuit and the danger at the same time. Sean Penn is a very thoughtful director, which is baffling after seeing him on Larry King back in 2003 where he couldn’t speak a coherent sentence in an hour of trying. Steve and I recently spoke about the adventure and how the environment has really been romanticized in the last 10-15 years. It’s like the Garden of Eden myth is back in the consciousness. Talk about coming full circle. But the movie shows how the environment will kill you without remorse. Civilization is little overrated until you’re out of rice and on the wrong side of the river. I think that’s why conservatives make the best outdoorsman. They have the most respect for the wild and they don’t mind turning hooves into steaks. Progressives are hoping that Puck and friends will sweep into the camp and with manna. Emile Hirsch is solid as Chris McCandless and Penn casts the supporting players ably too. Catherine Keener stands out as the aging hippy who takes on Chris as the son she lost. Nominated Hal Holbrook didn’t appear until the last 30 minutes, but he was a joy to watch. I liked the film enough that I might read the book.

MARGOT AT THE WEDDING (2007) – I consider Noah Baumbach’s 1995 debut KICKING AND SCREAMING to be a minor classic. 5 movies later I just can’t imagine he’s the same guy after watching the tiresome MARGOT. Is there anything really left to say about dysfunctional families? Some people just don’t love one another as they should and some have baggage. If the point of movies is to make you uncomfortable then they rang the bell, otherwise this is a yawn.

LA VIE EN ROSE (2007) – Another singer biopic and this time in French. Marion Cotillard’s Oscar for Best Actress is right out of the Charlize Theron book of “let’s ugly it up for the sake of art.” You can see her beautiful in awful film, A GOOD YEAR. I don’t see her winning that statue without the imagination of the voters thinking of her beauty. And isn’t it time we ban Oscar nominations for biopics about singers anyway? Edith Piaf was another interesting person that just didn’t have it easy. These scripts almost write themselves anymore. I can’t wait to see all the terrible things that happened to Pat Boone before he became famous.

WE OWN THE NIGHT (2007) – Duvall is a cop and the father of Marky Mark (cop) and Jaquin Phoenix (nightclub manager). Well the nightclub is mobbed up and Mary Mark takes a bullet and Phoenix quits his pals for family. Everything else about the plot is cat and mouse which is alright if you are in the mood, but not exceptional.

DARJEELING LIMITED (2007) – Wes Anderson has the style down pat and he loves unusual characters, but I’m convinced that he isn’t interested in story. I find that the majority of his movies aren’t really about anything. And although they are funny at times, they are mostly slow. I don’t think I have liked any of them since The Royal Tennenbaums, and that movie might not have worked at all without the brilliant Gene Hackman. Here three brothers Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody, and Jason Swartzmann are on a search in Asia to find their wandering mother Angelica Huston. Not as dysfunctional as MARGOT, but playing the same general idea for laughs.

KING OF KONG (2007) - Documentary on the guys who hold the all-time scores on classic video games, with a focus on two guys battling to be the best Donkey Kong player in the universe. Player one, Billy Mitchell, has been the Donkey Kong champion since he was a teenager in the 1980s. So famous was he during that time they included the guy in a Life Magazine spread about the best gamers. He’s now around 40 and the owner of a sports bar and wing sauce business in Hollywood, FL. He still enjoys in the glory of his teenage self, having never cut his long long hair. The challenger, Steve Weibe from Washington State is a normal looking guy with a nice family and an obsession to be the best Donkey Kong player anywhere. We watch him play the game for hours in his garage as his kids and wife yell for his help with various household things. The wife is both annoyed at the time this takes and proud when he achieves his goal. It’s not too unlike my own experiences with poker. The film maker builds up good drama between the two rivals especially the way the champion shows no respect for the budding challenger. It’s one of those stories where you really root for people.

2 DAYS IN PARIS (2007) –Writer, Director, Star, Julie Delpy doesn’t have the French characters look down at Americans, but she does have the American, Adam Goldberg do so. He is the typically holier than thou American who is better than where he came from, even going so far as to give American tourists the wrong directions. I’m supposed to love him for it because one of the ladies is wearing a Bush/Cheney T-shirt, an unlikely possibility. That’s not the problem with the movie, but the problem with what Delpy finds funny. The real trouble here is that she tries to channel Linklater with a talky boyfriend/girlfriend piece and it has none of the charm of the BEFORE movies and with time it gets annoying. By the end it’s not even realistic. But it never really was realistic, because I don’t see Julie Delpy anywhere near the geekish Adam Goldberg even on a bad day.

JUNO (2007) – The script is full of quirky dialogue that sometimes surprises you into laughter. Ellen Page seems a perfect fit for the role as a cute yet somewhat harsh teenager trying to find parents for her accidental baby. The couple she lands on, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman, seem perfect at first like most couples, but underneath lies a struggle between the two. JK Simmons plays Juno’s father and is becoming quite a reliable character actor filling that unashamedly masculine authority figure device. My only real knock on the movie is that I don’t find Jennifer Garner all that sympathetic, she’s a bit of a pain really and seemingly phony at times, and yet she comes out better at the end than the story would have led me to believe.

EVAN ALMIGHTY (2007) – Steve Carell is winning enough, but this is the one-joke premise with few surprises. I didn’t see the Jim Carey version a few years ago and I don’t know why I thought this wouldn’t be mediocre. The God comedies are a little awkward, always having to stick with the Old Testament version and sidestepping the Jesus question. Remember how George Burns deflected the question as posed by John Denver. Here we get the humor of the prophet beard growing faster than he can shave, as if the beard were holy in itself.

THE BRAVE ONE (2007) – It’s more or less a remake of DEATH WISH with Jodie Foster in the Charles Bronson role. Like Death Wish, Foster loses a loved one to a violent attack and she fights back wild west style. Plenty of action, although the New York depicted here is really pre-Guiliani with a mugging on every corner. You’ll be surprised how many crimes Foster is the potential victim of and how quickly the perps become dog meat. It’s directed by Neil Jordan of all people. The original Death Wish has a few scenes that really test suspension of disbelief, and the Brave One is no different. Christopher Guest will never speak to Jodie Foster again.

GONE BABY GONE (2007) – I liked Mystic River for the most part. An hour into the film it had all the making of a classic, but I found the last ten minutes disappointing and the ending disjointed. I can see now that my problem was with the book author, Christopher Lehane, who also wrote GONE BABY GONE. This plot is just too busy with too much grey area for the character to reside in. Casey Affleck is quite good. I knew Amy Ryan from HBO’s THE WIRE, and she continues to be a solid actress, although her screen time didn’t really warrant a nomination. I think using heavyweights like Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman in smaller roles gives too much away and the resolution is quite contrived.

ACORSS THE UNIVERSE (2007) – This could have been an interesting 90 minute movie, but at 133 minutes its way too much for way too long. If you like Beatles music and know a little of their backstory then you can enjoy the first 30 minutes or so, but the movie drops off a cliff soon after that. The story of a bunch of kids exploring the possibilities of life with the Fab Four in the background is nothing but the millionth baby boomer romantic fantasy. Will that generation ever grow up? Julie Taymor is overrated, her one hit being the Lion King stage show that already had a built-in fan base. Did you see her last film, Frida? I did and I don’t remember anything but Geoffrey Rush showing up as Trotsky.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) – This was interesting material for the Coen Brothers. It really fits their crazy dark genre and yet fits into the realism universe at the same time. Javier bardem got all the ink and the Oscar, but it’s one of those performances that’s rewarded for the writing blended with the actor’s obscurity. I think Benicio Del Toro could have played the character just as menacing but we would have expected that. Tommy Lee Jones is so weather beaten that the guy has been playing an old man for ten years and he’s still not 65. I can’t complain about his performance though. They’re all good really. Even Woody Harrelson’s quirky personality seems to fit here. You could argue that it’s the Coen’s best film. I still prefer Miller’s Crossing. It may not have been the best film made last year, but it was better than the other films that were nominated for Best Picture.

CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR (2007) – No script can turn Tom Hanks into a whiskey- soaked womanizer. The first scene of the movie has him in a hot tub with naked strippers and you don’t believe it for a minute. WILSON does have a typically good performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and another icy performance by Julia Roberts. Is she no longer allowed to play fetching? Hoffman makes all of his scenes worth it and the scenes without him drag. The movie built a lot of good will with me by acknowledging the real bad guys. Enough time has passed that the Russians can be enemies even to Aaron Sorkin. But I guess it was all worth it to Sorkin so that he could have his little epilogue with Hoffman explaining to Hanks that without U.S. funding for Afghan schools, the whole place will fall apart, and he only needs $1 million. I don’t know what’s funnier about that comment, that a typical liberal solution of more education solves everything or that the whole country can be educated for $1 million. Orange County Florida can’t build a single high school for less than that. Good will or not, this is not a very memorable movie. I finished watching it 25 minutes ago and I’m having trouble remembering plot points.