Right This Minute

Movies
Anna Karenina - When Joe Wright teams with Keira Knightley, good things happen.  Anna Karenina is far different from the director-actress combo's previous collaborations (Pride & Prejudice and Atonement), a fascinating adaptation of the Tolstoy novel that I've not been able to shake since seeing it nearly a week ago.  Wright takes the film in a bold direction, pushing artifice and theatricality to the forefront while commenting on the ubiquitous spectacle of celebrity culture.

Most of Anna Karenina's world exists within a theater, with scenes unfolding as the sets change to reflect the characters' travel between different locations.  Anna (Knightley) and others wander through cobweb-draped backstage areas, suggesting that the system of propriety, artifice, and rules is as old and well-worn as the theatrical tradition itself.  Wright traps Anna onstage, with onlookers observing her every move, gossiping behind upheld fans, and never bothering to conceal their fascination with the woman who breaks the rules.

When she begins her affair with Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the film adds another layer of artifice, apparently letting Anna escape her carefully constructed and manipulated world to open fields and rooms that exist outside of the elaborate theater.  The film creates a clear distinction between the cinematic (scenes shot on location that represent a separate world from the pageantry of society) and the theatrical, but the eventual blurring of that line creates a much more complex world, punctuated beautifully in the film's final shots.

The performances are solid across the board, with Knightley taking on the strange task of creating an unsympathetic protagonist that viewers still want to stick with to the end of the film.  She handles the task beautifully, making Anna difficult to explain but easy to understand as she abandons one illusion for another.  The supporting players all deliver as well, with Jude Law and Matthew Macfadyen standing out especially.

The film is gorgeous, lush, beautifully choreographed, and not the stuffy adaptation one might expect.  It's a mostly successful experiment that deserves credit for its conviction and novelty.

Life of Pi - Ang Lee has done the unthinkable in bringing Yann Martel's deeply philosophical novel to the screen.  The internal musings are replaced with staggering vistas, as the film creates breathtaking tableaux at every turn.  The special effects are stunning; viewers are likely to be guessing which shots involve an actual tiger, and which employ the digital creation.  The acting is just as special as the effects, with a small cast delivering nuanced performances, especially the trio of actors who play Pi at different points in his life.

What is perhaps most surprising about Life of Pi is that it demands to be seen in 3-D.  While most films use 3-D as a money-grabbing gimmick, here is the rare film that uses the third dimension to bring its fantastical images to even more vivid life.  There are numerous shots that are almost too beautiful to be believed, not in the sense of "That can't be real" but in the much stranger sense of "That's too beautiful to even exist in the constructed fantasy world of a movie."  Quite simply put, Life of Pi is one of the most beautiful movies ever made, and even if the religious debate and deceptively straightforward narrative aren't to your liking, it's impossible to not be transported by the wonder onscreen.  Not many films can claim such a thing.

Video Games
New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)- Full disclosure: I'm a Nintendo fanboy.  But even if I weren't, I can't imagine being immune to the wonderful fourth entry in the New Super Mario Bros. franchise.  The series has developed a sort of trend where the handheld entries in the series are somewhat bland but enjoyable while their console brethren stand among the best sidescrollers of their generation, or ever, for that matter.

That's surely the case here, with the Wii U title (the first time a Mario game has launched with a home system since the N64) paying tribute to Mario's storied past while also injecting plenty of new ideas.  The game pays particular homage to the Super Nintendo classic Super Mario World, with a massive world map and food-themed worlds.  Even the new flying squirrel suit is reminiscent of SMW's beloved cape, and it's one of the most fun power-ups in recent Mario memory.

The game is fully playable on the Wii U Gamepad, which is how I've played most of it.  The graphics are beautiful, with the familiar Mario aesthetic really popping in high definition.  By connecting the game to the Miiverse, players can leave notes for each other offering helpful tips or gloating taunts.  It's a small step in bringing Nintendo into a better integrated online model, but it's a fun step, too.

Star Wars Angry Bird (Mobile) - I've long been immune to the cute charms of Angry Birds, but with a new smart phone and the lure of Star Wars, I've finally been sucked in.  Star Wars Angry Birds does a nifty job of drawing from both universes, even combining their respective musical themes to surprisingly pleasing effect.  The gameplay is tried and true, but the Star Wars powers and backgrounds go a long way to making it feel fresh.  Plus, there are lots of laughs to be had in the drawings, and fans will be pleased to know that bird Han shoots first.

Books
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield - My current read, I first heard about Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone on John Green's Twitter feed.  It's a young adult novel about a recent high school graduate whose world is doubly shattered when her boyfriend breaks up with her on graduation night and a mysterious body is found on the side of the road outside of town.

Rebecca, who serves as the book's narrator, has a strong voice, employing beautiful imagery and making even mundane scenes and conversations pop with poetic flourishes.  Every few chapters, Rosenfield switches things up by focusing on the titular Amelia Anne, who is, of course, the roadside body that gets the small town in a tizzy.  Amelia's appearance becomes a specter in Rebecca's life, as her excitement for getting away to a faraway school suddently becomes a dangerous prospect.  She realizes that sometimes, it's dangerous to leave home.

As I mentioned, I'm not yet done with the book, so I don't know how neatly things are tied up, but if it continues as it's been going, I'll be glad to see where first time novelist Rosenfield takes the story, and what she writes next.

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp - This one's next for me, and for a very specific reason: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the scribes behind the (500) Days of Summer screenplay, adapted the novel into a movie that is due to premiere at Sundance next month.  As such, I have to give it a read.  Luckily, it sounds like a good one.  The Spectacular Now is about a popular high school senior who decides to romance a social outcast (Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley in the film) and help her realize how wonderful life can be.  Sounds like it's right up my alley.

TV
The Newsroom - Aaron Sorkin's behind-the-scenes news drama caused quite a stir when it premiered, drawing as much criticism as praise for its depiction of female characters and the supposed drama in the writers' room.  I'm glad to be discovering the show while no one's talking about it, because I'm quite keen on it.

The Newsroom focuses on a new era for a primetimes news program following an acidic speech on American idealism delivered by anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) while participating in a discussion on a college campus.  McAvoy's ex, MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer) is brought in as executive producer, and they begin a show that seeks to inform the electorate rather than pander to entertainment junkies.

The show tackles actual news stories, and Sorkin's rat-a-tat dialogue feels just right in the setting, as breaking news demands rapid exchanges and machine gun shorthand.  The characters' personal drama sometimes falls flat in comparison to the scenes of production, which is when the show really shines.