Wire walker at Kings Island
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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2008 > April > 05 > Entry
That superbad gangster, John Adams
The new-greening season is here at last in all its blustery glory, and I’ve got spring fever so bad that I can’t keep my mind on anything long enough to wring an entire column from it. Instead, here’s a smattering of stuff I’ve seen, heard and sampled lately.
The best movie I saw this winter was one that came out last year and disappeared nearly overnight: “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”A hollowed-out Brad Pitt plays James as a charismatic ghost of a man who knows his fate felled at the hand of a friend; Casey Affleck is mesmerizing as Ford, who gradually comes to realize that his reason for being born was to make that fate come true. Pitch-perfect in tone and gorgeously acted, scored and shot, it is ineffably sad and deeply moving. I watched it again as soon as it was over.
Speaking of Casey Affleck, Ben’s little brother had a great 2007. We also recently caught his other movie, “Gone Baby Gone,” a gritty-streets-of-Boston crime drama (burgeoning genre, that) in which he’s superb as a young PI who has to grow up fast. I’ll go see anything he’s in from now on.
Speaking of crime dramas, “American Gangster” was far better than nearly every review of it that I read. I’m starting to wonder about critics more than I wonder about movies.
The critics have been right, though, about the wonderful HBO mini-series “John Adams,” in which Paul Giamatti plays the second president as a cranky optimist who played a bigger part in the birth of the nation than you might’ve thought. One wonders, though, whether Adams was truly always the smartest guy in the room, with people like Washington, Jefferson and Franklin around.
Speaking of smart guys, if you ever get a chance to catch Garrison Keillor on one of his visits to the area, take it. Thursday night, April 3, he opened the University of Dayton’s Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop with his dry growing-up-Minnesotan stories that hilariously mix understatement and overstatement. There are comedians and there are humorists, and Keillor reminds one that the latter is usually what you want.
Speaking of the workshop, hoorah to UD and organizer Tim Bete for putting Dayton on the writer’s map where it belongs.
Speaking of humor, and again of movies, I also finally caught up recently with “Superbad.” Toooooo long, and after the first 20 minutes, not too funny. What was up with the hype? Those critics, again….
Speaking of funny, I thought of Woody Allen’s quip that “Half the secret of success in life is just showing up,” when I read this week that Mariah Carey has outcharted Elvis with her 18th No. 1 hit, and is just two songs from lapping the Beatles. Does Mariah claim to be better than either? Nope, but she does get full credit for sticking around, honing her craft and keeping at it. Good for her.
And finally, speaking of talented singers, here’s to local hero John Legend, who addressed a Congressional committee this week to boost the National Endowment for the Arts. He said the secret to his success was being in a school play as a kid. Next time you read about we spend on bombs vs. the arts, think back to that.
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By John
June 5, 2008 1:03 AM | Link to this
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