Meanwhile, back at the movies
Earlier in the week, Fran and I saw Lady in the Water.  It took me a long time to figure out what I thought about it because it's not a movie I would have seen under just about any circumstances.  However, it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and you all know that I love his movies more than I love most things. 

I'll start with the fact that the story is pretty retarded.  On paper, the idea of a mermaid-type person living in your apartment building's pool is iffy enough.  Sure, you can make all the jokes about Splash you want, but there's a bigger backstory about wolves that look like the lawn and huge eagles that swoop and grasp mythical creatures.  This whole thing is also told in a mish-mash way that got on my nerves.  But that, as well as many elements of the film and its characters, end up coming together in the end, similarly to the way things unfolded in Signs.  Unfortunately, it does so in a rather plodding manner that you can see a half hour in advance.  Fran and I called pretty much every speed bump in the plot that came our way. 

Performances run the gamut.  Paul Giamatti, who I've always loved (especially in Sideways and American Splendor) does a great job as the building supervisor, Cleveland Heep.  He's the only character in the story that I really cared about, and that's too bad because we don't get to spend enough time with him rather than the stuff that he does.  Still, he got some great laughs out of me, and his catharsis in the climax was legitimately moving.  Bryce Howard, who I flipped for in The Village, looks the part of water nymph Story, but the character is written so poorly she doesn't get to shine NEARLY as much as she did in her last Shyamalan outing.  At least I can look forward to her playing Gwen Stacy in Spider-man 3 next year.  Meanwhile, Night himself plays one of the most pivotal characters in the film, in a move that will quite likely end up being viewed as his biggest moment of self-indulgence yet.  I'll defend him on this film.  I get the sense that this was a story that he really wanted to tell, so he gave himself a bigger role than in his other movies.  Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is so lackluster that people will turn on this decision and he'll end up attracting even more hatred from critics and movie-goers.  And Bob Balaban (who is a fixture in Christopher Guest's films) plays a film critic who acts as Night's mouthpiece on the subject of... well, film critics.  I got the joke, but when you put everything together, this character will be a lighting rod for the already terrible reactions this movie's been pulling down.

On the whole, I think Night's a misunderstood filmmaker.  He's one of the only storytellers who still wants to tell tales that inspire and give hope that maybe there's something more than the everyday, the mundane, and even the horrific.  But this movie just didn't do it for me, and it's a movie only his fans will get anything out of.  Oh well, even Spielberg made Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  (oh snap)  Better luck next time... maybe Unbreakable 2 next time?

Ruud to Real: News You Don't Care About
My boys at Manchester United have had a quiet summer thus far as far as signing new players is concerned.  Things got trickier this week when superstar striker Ruud van Nistelrooy made the move to Real Madrid.  It'll be rough going without him, but if anyone deserves to join up with Galacticos, it's Ruud.  Besides, this gives more opportunities for Ole Solskjaer to fit back into the squad, Giuseppe Rossi may not go on loan, and Alan Smith can better mount his brave comeback from injury.  But it also opened the door for us to buy Michael Carrick off of Spurs, so the midfield will finally have a holder in place (unfortunately, it probably won't be Gennaro Gattuso).  I think one more good signing will make us strong enough to give Chelsea a run for their money.

Now, if you understood any of that, you and I should be friends.  If you're a girl and you understood that, what are you doing on Saturday night?

Capsule Music Review Time
Here's my own reviews of the last three CDs I've purchased...
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere ... Thanks to the Internet, friends' recommendations, and Chuck Klosterman's New York Times article, I've picked up this album sooner rather than later.  I say that because it was really only a matter of time.  The buzz surrounding Gnarls Barkley (made up of mega-hot producer Danger Mouse and hip-hop journeyman Cee-Lo) has been big enough, and with "Crazy" getting lots of crossover radio play, they'll be hard to ignore. 

The album is pretty hard to classify.  It's not quite hip-hop, it's not quite rock, it's not always electronic.  "St. Elsewhere" is a great serving of soul, while "Transformer" is a fast-paced and bizarre trunk-thumper that may or may not be an homage to my favorite 80's cartoon.  There's all sorts of genres being thrown around here, but the songs are all catchy and fun.  I'd say that the closest artists I can equate with them are Outkast, but even then, it's not even close.  This is probably going to be this year's biggest "phenomenon" type of album that everyone's going to be picking up.  I suggest you do the same if you're a fan of Danger Mouse, Gorillaz, and just about anyone else who's making music that's outside the box.

Thom Yorke - The Eraser ... Radiohead's front man has used downtime away from the band to put this album together with longtime producer Nigel Godrich.  When he initially announced it in a w.a.s.t.e. email this spring, I knew what to expect.  The Eraser is much like an evolved version of Kid A, but not as fleshed out.  Basically, it's what a Radiohead album without the Greenwood brothers, Ed O'Brien, or Phil Selway would sound like.  In that sense, it's an interesting way to look at how that band works together; to see what kind of influences Yorke's songwriting has on the rest of the band's input, and vice versa.  Not every track really works, almost in a "got it started but never really finished it" sort of way.

But the more I listen, the more The Eraser takes on its own life, and as moody, dark, and sparse it might seem at first, it starts to take on its own strange warmth.  It's been a while since I've been able to say that songs reveal their layers the more you listen to them.  It's true here... what might seem like a minimalist effort ends up sounding much more sophisticated.  I'm sure I'll be revisiting The Eraser as the fall begins to settle in.  It also gets bonus points for having the coolest packaging since Arcade Fire's Funeral.  And speaking of the Arcade Fire...

The Decemberists - Picaresque ... Like I said in the last post, Darryl suggested that I check out the Decemberists if I liked the Arcade Fire.  I got their latest album, Picaresque, and I've been analyzing it all week.  They do share a lot in common with Arcade Fire, especially in terms of musicianship and the flair for behaving like a band of traveling minstrels.  However, singer Colin Meloy fits the "singer/songwriter" mold much more than Win Butler, and the Decemberists sound much more like a "folk group" to me.  I also don't feel the same level of emotional reaction to their music, at least not with every song.  I also ended up finding some similiarities with R.E.M. circa 1984-86.  Meloy can sometimes sound like Michael Stipe in this time frame (when he was really trying to find his voice), and the guitar work sounds like Peter Buck's acoustic stylings.  Try listening to R.E.M.'s "Swan Swan H" and then the Decemberists' "Eli the Barrow Boy" and tell me they don't sound strangely similar.  The rest of the time, though, he sounds like a lot of other near-emo wailers, but his lyrics are too good to complain over such silly things.

Comparisons to my favorite bands aren't fair, though.  The Decemberists are their own band with their own direction, and once I looked at them in that light, I got to really love this album.  Each song is its own little story, some funny, some very sad, others uplifting.  "We Both Go Down Together" is a touching story of young love, while "The Bagman's Gambit" is an epic about passion between two Cold War spies.  The best track on the album is "The Engine Driver," which combines all the band's strengths together in a plea to be free of a haunting love. 

After hearing Picaresque, I'm intrigued to hear more from these guys... I believe there's a couple more albums floating around out there and another on the way, so I might have to get myself caught up. 

The house is in fantastic shape considering the condition it was in when they bought it (there were still a couple of upstairs rooms that had to be taken care of, so I could compare).  I finally got to meet housemates Chris and Matt, and my presence was thoroughly pleasing to Corey and the visiting Three Star General Robbie Langevin III, Esquire, PhD.  We all mostly hung out, listened to Flaming Lips and John Frusciante on repeat, played old Dreamcast games, talked about video editing, and the like.

Soon enough Robbie had to go to work and the evening was winding down, so Darryl and I headed back to get my car in Gardner, but not before dinner at Papa Gino's (AKA "Luca's").  It was there that Darryl told me that if I love Arcade Fire, I will in turn love the Decemberists.  This I'll have to research.

When I got home, I looked at the listings for Showcase North.  A Scanner Darkly is indeed already playing in Worcester.

I got the beat, do you?
Okay, so what have I really been doing with my summer?  The truth is, over the past several weeks I've been donating the 9 to 5 slot on my day off to volunteer at the production office for a movie... a movie that's actually going to be shot in and around Worcester.  It's called We Got the Beat, and it's going to be a high school comedy set in 1983.  I've just read the script, and it's pretty damn funny.  There were moments that had me nearly crying.  Shooting is scheduled to begin in a month or so, and things are getting exciting.  I've been having fun working on the project so far, and it's only going to get better on the set (my favorite part). 

In an effort to promote the movie, we made a video using clips from cast auditions, and I want you to see it.  I also want you to tell all of your friends about it, too.  Remember, these are all real people.  (Hint: If you're good enough, you'll see me in there.)  Check it out:

This is gonna be huge.  I know it.  If you wanna know more about the movie, check out www.wegotthebeatmovie.com.  Add us on MySpace, too!

Italy wins 2006 World Cup, Caputo family's hearts

The World Cup is over, and I did indeed get to see the whole match (on a replay).  Wild.  Absolutely wild.  Of course, everyone is going to remember this game for the infamous Zinedine Zidane headbutt.  But if you look at the entirety of Italy's run from the group stage to the final, you'll see incredible performances from a team that many people didn't think would make a big splash in the tournament (Group E, which also included the USA, was immediately dubbed the "Group of Death" after its selection).  They worked as a team; no one player scored more than 2 goals the whole way (not including the penalties).  Gianluigi Buffon proved his popular standing as the best keeper in the world, only allowing one goal before the final (and that was an own goal). 

The coolest thing I can take away from the World Cup this year is that it actually got my family excited about soccer.  We never cared about the game at all, but a couple of years ago I started to follow international and later club soccer overseas.  It was sort of my own little thing, but I enjoyed it.  Then, with the Cup approaching, we all started to watch Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures on the Travel Channel.  Drew, as it turns out, not only loves soccer, but also loves photography... so much that he's become a press photographer in his spare time.  His show followed him around Germany for the Cup, and his analysis was big in getting us all excited for it.

After watching the brilliant semifinal against Germany, we latched onto the team.  Fabio Grosso, Luca Toni, Fabio Cannavaro (above), Mauro Camoronesi, and others would become household names.  Dad and I are big on midfield boss Gennaro Gattuso, and Fran's immediate favorite was Buffon.  We became proud of our "countrymen."  The shootout victory over France was sweet victory...  I've always been proud of being Italian, and for the last few days, it's felt even better.

And now for the Zidane issue.  For one, I've never been much of a fan of Zisou.  Sure, the guy is brilliant on the ball, sure, he can hit some wicked swerving shots, sure he's got fantastic passing ability.  But he's got a temper, and not in a good way.  Sure, I might be a fan of some guys with short fuses (Wayne Rooney, Roy Keane, etc), but I don't think this is the same.  There's just something about Zidane that puts me off.  He always looks angry.  He looks mean.  I wouldn't want to hit the field with this guy, pretty much because I'd be afraid he'd do something to me like what he did to Marco Materazzi.  Did Materazzi provoke him?  Nobody really knows how bad it was, but Materazzi elaborated with something like this: "I held onto his shirt a little too long, and he turned around to me, sneering, and said, 'If you want my shirt so bad, I'll give it to you afterwards.'"  If I were Marco, I'd have punched Zidane in the face for a remark like that.  However, he kept his cool and fired back with something, which according to him was something that all footballers say to one another as a jibe (but not about his mother/sister/being a terrorist, apparently) and BOOM, HEADBUTT!  (That was for Dean.) 

Why the hell would you do such a stupid thing when you're (A) in extra time with penalties looming, (B) the captain of your team, and (C) in the flipping WORLD CUP FINAL?  It's not like there's a billion people around the world watching the game on TV.  It's not like your team is counting on you.  No pressure or anything.  I think it's just as well that the game ended the way it did, it was instant karma.  I can only wonder what Manchester United legend/French international outcast/Crystal Palace fan-kicker Eric Cantona has to say about this whole thing... especially after being the face of Nike's expensive Joga Bonito campaign.

Oh well.  They'll be talking about this one for years... but the fact remains that Italy is putting a fourth star on their team crest, and right now, that sounds very good to me.  See you in four years.

PS Here's a picture of Buffon for Fran.

Superman Returns is the best movie of the summer
It's a good thing Brian Singer left X-Men: The Last Stand.  As much of an X-Men fan as I am and as good a director as Singer is, those movies weren't going any further than just being straight popcorn movies.  Face it, they're good, but not great.  So when Singer got the opportunity to direct Superman Returns, he left the X-Men franchise to devote himself 100% to his new project.  Fox got angry and rushed production on X-Men to show him up with a movie that came out quicker, but couldn't deliver on what the fans were hoping for.  Meanwhile, at Warner Brothers, Singer gave the throngs of Superman fans everything they could have wanted.

The timing on Superman Returns is perfect.  Sure, in 2002, Spider-man hit the screens and gave New York the superhero it so desperately needed.  Batman came back to the movies a year ago and brought along some delicious, non-lethal vigilante justice.  But these days, we need Superman more than ever.  People need a real escape and a familiar icon to escape with.  Nobody can do it like Superman, and if you're going to do it, you've got to do it right.  Brian Singer does so many things right with this movie, he deserves some Oscar consideration.  I'm not even saying a nomination, I'm just saying he should be in the running.  This movie is that good.

The first thing he does right is the casting.  Brandon Routh is an unknown now, but he's going to be absolutely huge thanks to this movie.  He channels Christopher Reeve while giving Kal-El (and the shy Clark Kent) a dimension of his own.  He was a stellar choice for the famous costume (which I really liked, although the 'S' was a little too small).  Kate Bosworth plays a great conflicted Lois Lane, trying to deal with Superman's homecoming after moving on with her boss's nephew and her son.  She is incredibly natural in performance and quite likable.  Her fiance is played by James Marsden, who played Cyclops in the X-Men flicks with Singer, and is a FAR better written and more interesting character in this movie.  Kevin Spacey picks up where Gene Hackman left off as Lex Luthor.  I'm not sure who did a better job with the character because I love both actors, but I might have to give the edge to Spacey here because he plays up the "evil genius" element a little more.  Parker Posey, a Christopher Guest favorite, is great as Lex's tagalong ladyfriend Kitty. 

The effects are right up there with Star Wars, King Kong, and the other superb extravaganzas we've seen recently.  Superman flies, deflects bullets, saves crashing airplanes, and uses x-ray vision in ways that make it impossible to say, "Oh, that looks fake."  You're really sucked in by everything you see.  The sound design is equally impressive.  John Ottman's score isn't overpowering (or distracting), but still uses most of the familiar parts of John Williams' original Superman music. 

At two and a half hours, Superman Returns is top quality from beginning to end.  This was the exact kind of film I was hoping for this summer, and not one bit of it was disappointing.  You're sure to have a smile put on your face with this one.  Here's another movie that's actually worth ten bucks to go see.

WORLD CUP FEVAH!
The World Cup final is going to begin in about an hour.  Italy versus France... should be a very good match, and I'm hoping for a big win for the Italians.  Unfortunately, I can only see the first half... gotta go to work.  Oh well.  I've got my 'Italia' shirt on, and I'll be wearing it under my uniform.  OLE OLE OLE OLE!

This really doesn't have anything to do with the Fourth of July, but it's too good not to mention.  Last night a lot of us from work hit the Outback to honor Chuck, who's leaving for the Army in a couple of weeks.  When we were just about to go in to eat, I thought I heard someone say, "Hey, is that Steve?  Yeah, I think it's Steve..." in the distance.  Turns out it was Wilson Jackson, Matt Varney, and Jake Peloquin, old pals of mine from high school.  Wilson was visiting on vacation from his service in Baghdad, and Matt's been in the reserves.  I invited them to join us; seeing as how we were seeing one of our own off, we might as well honor a couple of boys already in the service as well.  It was great to see them and catch up, and we all had a good time.  So to the three of you, many thanks for what you're doing! 

Meanwhile, in Coney Island, they held the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.  I didn't get to see it, but it seems that American Joey Chestnut is moving in on world champion Kobayashi.  Kobayashi set a new world record (again) with 53¾ hot dogs, but Joey managed 52.  I remember he did very well last year, and that was his rookie season.  Well, I guess that we can start a new countdown to next year's showdown... only 365 days to go.

And from the most American contest I can think of to the most non-American thing going on today (other than North Korean missile testing)...

ITALY BEATS GERMANY!
When I got back home from work, the World Cup semifinals came on, and much to my surprise, we all watched it.  Chances are, the main reason we all watched was because Italy was playing against Germany.  Being Italian, we had a stake in the game's outcome, and man, what a game.  It was scoreless and looked like it was destined to become a penalty shootout.  But, on a corner kick situation a mind-blowing 128 minutes in, Fabio Grosso found the net, prompting Dad and I to go nuts.  A couple of minutes later on a breakaway chance, Alessandro Del Piero wrapped it up with a fancy one, and we knew it was over.  It was an exciting match, and I'm going to watch the final, which will feature the winner of the France/Portugal match tomorrow.   

Will I see Superman Returns tomorrow?  Mmmmmmaybe.  Check back in a day or two to find out!