Right This Minute

Movies

Young Adult - Director Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) re-teams with Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody on an unflinchingly dark comedy about an author (Charlize Theron) who returns to her small hometown to try to steal her high school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson) from his wife and newborn baby.  Meanwhile, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with an old peer, played to nerdy, charming perfection by Patton Oswalt.

Theron turns in one of the year's best performances - she's a top contender for that elusive fifth Oscar slot - as Mavis Gary.  This is a woman with some deep psychological problems, a self-professed alcoholic who clings to the past so desperately that it's no surprise she doesn't realize what a mess her present situation is.  She's a monster, yes, but Theron manages to make her sympathetic, or at least almost.  The film is gutsy, not offering the traditional redemptive arc that leaves movie-goers feeling good as they leave the theater.  Cody's smart, deceptively straightforward screenplay has layers of depth, delving into Mavis's messy psychology even if there's no remedy to the narcissistic horror show within.

Heartbeats - This is some inspiring stuff - Heartbeats comes from 21 year-old Canadian wunderkind Xander Dolan, who not only wrote and directed the picture, but also served as the film's editor, costume designer, art director, and star.  While there's a youthful flair to his work, Dolan also demonstrates a masterful understanding of how to tell a story using lush slow-motion sequences (some of the best I've seen in recent years), dramatic splashes of color, and evocative, Tarantino-esque use of music.

This offbeat romantic mystery (?) follows two friends (Dolan and Monia Chokri) who fall for an androgynous, flirtatious Adonis (Niels Schneider).  I name the genre so clunkily because the film does a great job of giving small bursts of hope and greater moments of deflation to both interested parties, creating a tug-of-war of intimacy and resentment that threatens to ruin the main characters' friendship.  A visual stunner, Heartbeats is one of the year's most interesting imports, and well worth searching out on DVD.

TV

The Big C - With most shows on mid-season breaks, I'm catching up with some TV on DVD.  Laura Linney stars in Showtime's The Big C, about a teacher who finds out she has cancer and starts living life a little more fully.  While the premise is rather stale, the show's tone is more novel, striking a similar balance of uproarious comedy and heart-wrenching drama as 50/50.  Linney is radiant and an amazing crier, and the supporting cast - which includes Oliver Platt, Gabourey Sidibe, Cynthia Nixon, and Idris Elba - is wonderful.  The first season has a wonderful emotional arc as it proceeds from being more comedy-heavy to blissful tear-jerker.  I'm looking forward to Season 2's DVD release.

Parks and Recreation - Though it's on hiatus, I still find myself plopping down on the couch every Thursday night to catch reruns of NBC's best comedy.  Having recently revisited the first season, I realize 1) how brilliantly funny and well-formed this show has been since its inception and 2) how much its grown from its early days.  Amy Poehler leads the funniest cast on television in a show that has evolved into more than a re-skinned Office with extra small-town charm.  Even with how offbeat and exaggerated some of the characters are, they're also utterly relatable and sincere.  Parks and Rec has established itself as one of the best comedies on TV.  Now if only more people would notice.

Video Games

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA via 3DS) - Thanks to Nintendo's generous Ambassador program - through which early 3DS adopters can download 10 NES and 10 GBA games for free - I finally have the chance to play The Sacred Stones, which I somehow missed out on in by GBA days.  Fire Emblem ranks after only Zelda and Mario on my list of favorite franchises.  The gameplay is straightforward enough: turn-based strategy on a grid with various rock-paper-scissors relationships between different weapons and classes of magic.  The stories are full of stock fantasy cliches, with warring factions, dragon-riders, and mistaken identities.  But the games are so addictive.

Part of the allure is that, instead of amassing an army of faceless units a la Advance Wars, every unit in Fire Emblem has a name, personality, and some sliver of a backstory.  Certain units form relationships or come with them intact, so losing a unit hurts a little more than watching a bunch of infantry get gunned down by a tank.  Especially since losing a unit means losing a unit.  No post-battle respawning here.  Losing a valued unit means either turning the game off to restart and make sure to save him/her - a little dose of revisionist history that would make Mr. Resetti scowl - or counting your losses and trudging on without your beloved pegasus knight.  It's the sort of permanent consequence that doesn't show up much in gaming, and helps to make each turn matter that much more.

Books

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler - This recently-published high concept young adult novel came to my attention because the movie rights have already been scooped up.  The premise is as fun and corny as it sounds: two teenagers access the internet for the first time in the mid-nineties, only to find that they're automatically logged into their Facebook profiles from fifteen years in the future.  As they go about their drama-laden lives, they see the long-term impact of their actions on their Facebook accounts as marriages fail, children disappear, and vacations are re-routed.

Obviously, the suspension of disbelief required for optimal enjoyment is high, but I managed well.  The concept is used to clever ends as the dual narrators attempt to simultaneous navigate the hormonal roller coaster of adolescence and the crushing reality of adult life.  Asher and Mackler do a great job giving voice to world-weary Emma and girl-crazy Josh with Josh's chapters often reading like pages taken from my own embarrassing middle school journal.  While I'm not sure the story will translate well to the screen (casting will be key), it sure is a fun read.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick - It should come as no surprise Selznick's gorgeous illustrated novel makes my reading list right after Martin Scorsese's magical adaptation hits theaters.  The novel shows the same love for and influence of cinema that Scorsese so wonderfully communicated, and having chunks of text interrupted by pages and pages of beautiful pictures makes for a unique reading experience, somewhere between graphic novel and storyboards.  Even if you've seen the movie, the novel is worth reading for both the quality of the craftsmanship and the differences in the story.  It stands on its own as a marvelous work, and seeing the way it has grown to fit the big screen makes both the book and the film that much more meaningful.

Music

The Muppets Soundtrack - When I first saw the new, nostalgic Muppets movie, I felt gleefully fan-serviced, but also somewhat underwhelmed by the music, which I had been so excited to hear.  I ended up downloading the soundtrack anyway, and I'm glad I did, as it simply took some time for the new tunes to nuzzle into my heart.  Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords has done a great job adding his musical know-how to the Muppets canon, and Conchords fans will be especially delighted by the hilarious "Man or Muppet," which feels like it was ripped from a Jim Henson-themed episode of the Kiwi folk pop comedy duo's HBO show.  Even better is "The Rainbow Connection," which - in the film - represents one of the year's best movie moments, and is pure ear candy when not coupled with the visual accompaniment.  Though none of the songs managed to snag Golden Globe nominations, expect at least a couple to pop up at the Oscars, and rightly so.