Movie Review: The House Bunny

2008. Starring Anna Faris, Emma Stone. Beauty and brains. Rarely do the two co-exist. As I said back in August, when penning an admiring (and not-at-all-creepy) tribute to Anna Faris, she is capable of carrying an average comedy into a next level of funny. In The House Bunny, she portrays Shelly Darlington, a 27-year-old resident of the Playboy Mansion who dreams of putting that beauty on display as a centerfold. Instead, she is kicked out of the mansion and, now homeless, staggers onto the distressed yard of a sorority much in need of her help. The Zetas, made up of …

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Country Music Reclamation Project: Coat of Many Colors

I’ve been thinking a lot about my family, with Christmas coming up, and of Christmases past. Whether I was bad or good for the entire year, I was always spoiled by my parents on December 25. I realize now how hard they worked to shelter and feed our family, clothe us and keep us healthy, and still get me that electronic football game or Hot Wheels SuperCharger Race Set. I’ve always felt fortunate, and that feeling has little to do with money. Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors is reportedly autobiographical, and about as clearly written as any work about …

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Elsewhere Online: The Tragic History of Snowmen

The online edition of Smithsonian magazine features an article by Bob Eckstein that discusses a forgotten shame: the pre-Frosty treatment of snowmen in popular culture. Snowmen were assaulted and abused by children and adults alike, possibly leading to their frequent depiction as drunken, out-of-control anthropomorphic wads of snow. Snowmen were apparently an easy target — unable to run or fight back, they were also weakened by direct sunlight, and not as dapper as later depictions would have you believe. And advertisers exploited their pathetic nature: To add insult to injury, the snowman somehow became a spokesperson for any product of …

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Movie Review: The Last Picture Show

1971. Starring Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepard. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Anyone who has visited my other site, couderaywisconsin.com, knows that I have real affection for my hometown, and for small towns in general. The experience of growing up in such a small town — Couderay had a population of 113 when I lived there — is impossible to describe. As a kid, there was nowhere safer, surrounded by woods and backroads, but also by neighbors who kept an eye on you. But there was soul-crushing boredom for us kids, who watched TV and saw movies and knew of …

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Movie Review: The Seven Samurai

1954. Starring Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai, like John Ford’s The Searchers, is mentioned so often as an inspiration for other films that to finally see it feels a bit like a cheat — I feel like I know what’s going to happen. But watching 207 minutes of subtitled 16th-century warfare, undoubtedly infused with much cultural significance over the head of this dull Wisconsin boy, was surprisingly entertaining. Takashi Shimura plays Kambei, recruited by desperate farmers to help protect them against a return visit by marauding bandits. The farmers are tempted to …

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Elsewhere Online: The End of Wall Street’s Boom

Michael Lewis, who wrote about the madness of Wall Street in 1989’s Liar’s Poker, has an amazing article in the December issue of Portfolio magazine, detailing the ridiculous evolution of subprime-backed securities and the irresponsible, incompetent business culture that embraced them. This is great journalism — and I love the earthy, blunt language used throughout the article. Here’s an excerpt: The funny thing, looking back on it, is how long it took for even someone who predicted the disaster to grasp its root causes. They were learning about this on the fly, shorting the bonds and then trying to figure …

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Passings: Bettie Page

Last weekend began with an AP news item that Bettie Page, the 85-year-old iconic pinup model, had been hospitalized after a number of strokes and was in intensive care. I’ve been checking for updates all week, avoiding the practice of some major newspapers of writing about her life in the past tense until she passed away. She apparently never regained consciousness, which can be a blessing. Bettie Page’s face and figure are so well-known that, I bet, anyone who doesn’t recognize her name will recognize her photo. Even her hairstyle was iconic. She began her career in somewhat more innocent …

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Movie Review: Shop on Main Street

1965. Starring Ida Kaminska and Jozef Kroner. Directed by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos. The banality of evil is truly underrated. And the desperation and denial of human beings in challenging times remains endlessly fascinating, even when portrayed with some slapstick. In Shop on Main Street, there is plenty of desperation and denial, and evil is gathering strength every day. Antony (Jozef Kroner) likes the simple things in life, wandering around with his dog, doing the occasional carpentry job and a drink now and then. His wife complains about his idleness, his lack of ambition — why can’t he be …

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Thank You Lord (for Jenna Fischer)

I know almost nothing about Jenna Fischer’s career outside of The Office. I know she had a major role in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, but I haven’t seen the movie. She was also apparently in Blades of Glory — didn’t see it. I kind of remember her being on That 70s Show, but I don’t remember her character’s name or purpose. But she has brought to life a believable and memorable TV character as Pam Beesley, the funny-while-put-upon receptionist who finally gets the love (though not the respect) she deserves on NBC’s Thursday night must-seer. Her character first …

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Country Music Reclamation Project: Streets of Baltimore

There are many songs about the pride rightfully felt by rural folk who aren’t “citified” — and by that I mean cosmopolitan, shallow and materialistic. In the early 21st century, we’ve begun to turn “simple” back into something positive, but country music always took the side of the simple folk. Nothing was more transforming than to give up the farm and head for the bright lights of the city. Bobby Bare was among many who recorded this song about fulfilled dreams that turn out to be a fork in the road. Streets Of Baltimore (performed by Bobby Bare) Words and …

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