Eighties nostalgia, young love, and the horrors of summer jobs describe the cinematic ride of Adventureland .

Although written and directed by Greg Mottola, best known for the comedic hit Superbad (2007), this film can only be loosely called a comedy. (And if you are expecting a laugh-filled movie experience like his last film, then Adventureland is not for you.) Instead, Mottola delivers a coming of age story set in Pittsburgh in the 1980s.

Adventureland is the story of college graduate, James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) who has big plans to move to New York City and attend Columbia University’s graduate school. He wants to become a travel essayist and thinks a master’s degree in journalism will help him because the field is “still an old boys’ network.”

However, James’s big plans and lifelong dreams fall flat when he finds out that his parents are broke. Not only is his college graduation gift of traveling through Europe with his buddy canceled, but his parents also tell him he needs to get a summer job to save money.

After rounds of applications to every menial and entry-level job in town, Brennan finds he isn’t qualified for anything, except a “games” job at the local amusement park, “Adventureland.” So, tucking his highly educated tail between his legs, he attempts to make the best of the situation.

James soon finds there are some upsides to his rather brainless job. He develops friendships with people who are crazier and more socially awkward than he is. In some of his summer circles, James becomes the “almost-cool kid.” He also meets a girl, Em (Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame) who is the sad, often depressed, and girl-next-door plain. Yet, she is sexy enough to tug at his heart strings.

And, perhaps one of the best parts of the summer for James Brennan is his weed stash—thanks to his friend who is off in Europe. He had enough weed to make the whole summer bearable and even dim it’s memory. (And having a couple of blunts may have nabbed him a couple of friends and the interest of a hot chick.)

Adventureland is a rather predictable love story with characters that most people can relate to. Almost everyone has experienced a crappy summer job. And most of us, remember the struggles, awkwardness and pain of falling in love for the very first time.

“So, you are a virgin,” said sexually experienced Em on one of their impromptu dates. To which James said, “There were circumstances.”

The relationship between James and Em is realistic, endearing and at times even uncomfortable. The two cover a lot of ground in the movie—from sexual experiences to coping with grief to their hopes and dreams.

This script came rather easy to writer and director Mottola because it is partly autobiographical. He used his own summer job at an amusement park in New York’s Long Island in the 1980’s as the basis for Adventureland.

“I decided this is going to be a personal film and, for better or worse, base it on my recollection,” said Mottola in a recent interview. “Perhaps it is indulgent, but I wanted to draw on my own memories of the time and place. It’s just fun. I could use the music I loved and dress [the cast] in those crazy costumes and stuff like that; but I didn’t want it to be a big ‘kitch’-fest.”

And the blast-from-the-past music was notably one of the best aspects of the movie. Just when the plot slowed down or a laugh was needed, Falco’s 1986 Billboard hit “Rock Me Amadeus” came on to lighten the mood—and hell, just to make you feel good. And to punctuate the tragic nature of young love and stupid decisions, The Velvet Underground’s 1969 “Pale Blue Eyes” song with the lyrics: “Sometimes I feel so sad, but most of the times you just make me mad” were just pure genius to underscore the film’s heartbreak and pain.

Adventureland also scored points for casting characters that fit the part. As Stewart said in an interview about working with Jesse Einsenberg (who played James), “they didn’t hire someone a little more obvious — like a young Brad Pitt.” Instead, they chose ordinary but likeable Eisenberg, who has been acting for 10 years in mostly indie films like Roger Dodger and The Squid and the Whale seraphim falls download . He’s completely believable as the wannabe cool guy, who remains his well-read self but still falls for a kick in the groin from his jokester elementary school friend.

And even Stewart fit the Em character who, like her role in Twilight, has an appreciation for the morose, dark side of life.

Although the movie gets down right juvenile at times with lines like “you’ve got a boner,” you may find yourself laughing in spite of yourself.

So, if you are looking for a fun movie to relive your early twenties, first love and your crappiest summer job while listening to some great tunes – then Adventureland is the ride you’ve been looking for.

Everyone loves a good love story. How about adding some twists and turns as well as some tricks and tests between two star-crossed spies? That’s the recipe for Duplicity, the sophisticated, cleverly written romantic thriller starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen that doesn’t disappoint.

Like most Hollywood love stories, the secret affair between Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) and Ray Koval (Clive Owen) begins with the guy spewing some clever pick-up lines – to which Stenwick denies at first. However, after a bit of back and forth between the two, they end up doing the horizontal tango in the most beautiful and luxurious of places, a decadent hotel room in Dubai on Independence Day in 2003.

This chance encounter develops into a clandestine love affair that spans five to six years on screen – although it’s not told chronologically. Rather, it simply sets the stage and tempo for the espionage story that unravels. Duplicity takes the viewer on a seductive path to figure out who is going to win in a knockdown, drag out “corporate death match” between two battling pharmaceutical companies to develop a one-of-a-kind product first. Their longstanding competition and race to win requires teams of spies, double agents and former CIA operatives. And that’s where Claire Stenwick, Ex-CIA, and Ray Koval, Ex-MI6, get a piece of the action. The two are hired to spy on each other’s company but are secretly in cohorts. Because after all says Stenwick, “All we have to do is find the product. If we get there first, we make a fortune.” Their scheming and maneuvering takes the audience on a thrilling ride.

Written and directed by Tony Gilroy who worked his same magic in Michael Clayton and The Bourne Identity series, Duplicity delivers sophisticated, action-packed and perfectly paced scenes as well as sharp writing and well-timed comebacks.

In addition to the artful writing which leaves you on the edge of your seat attempting to solve the mystery (which you can’t), Duplicity characters are flawlessly cast. The hilarious, ultra-competitive CEO, Richard Garsik, is played perfectly by the Sideways (2004) star, Paul Giamatti. And British actor; Tom Wilkinson (most recently seen in Valkyrie with Tom Cruise) carries off the calm, collected and scheming role of Garsik’s arch nemesis. The opening scene with two characters locked in a physical, slow motion, middle-aged men fight is hilarious, unexpected, and a pleasure to watch.

And the pairing of Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, seen together before in Closer (2004), is pure genius. The two light up the screen with genuine chemistry that is both exciting, enticing and sexy. Roberts, who’s unbelievably forty-one years old, proves that she’s still a knockout and a box office hit.

Although the relationship between Stenwick and Koval is full of sparks and lustful encounters, it’s not for the lighthearted. The basic components of a good relationship – love and trust – are continuously tested on a personal and business basis for them. From worries about the other cheating while undercover to wondering if they are each keeping their part of the bargain, the mere concept of trust is never taken for granted. “Admit it. You don’t trust me either,” said by Stenwick to Koval, which just about sums up their liaison.

And if your eyes get tired of watching two of the hottest stars on the screen – Roberts and Owen (which would be hard to believe) – the beautiful Condé Nast Traveler

-like locales are a feast to behold. Duplicity takes the viewer on a visual smorgasbord and broke travelers dream with scenes in Dubai, Rome, Miami, Zurich and London. The cobblestone streets, Roman architecture, and clear blue seas are just a few of the treats.

Suspenseful, sexy and full of espionage – Duplicity keeps you guessing right until the very end. The guy gets the girl but do they pass go, reach the goal and collect their reward? Who gets gamed? You will definitely want to know. And besides, it’s a lot of fun to watch.

It’s really bad when the state of humanity hinges on a bunch of pseudo-sadomasochists parading around as costumed heroes who haphazardly decide to save the world for mere kicks and giggles. This is the twisted sense of humor and entire point of the mystery adventure Watchman.

This 2009 American superhero film is based on DC Comics’ award-winning, limited series graphic novel (1986-1987) illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Zack Snyder, who is famous for the adaptation of the 300 graphic novel, directed the movie. And Lawrence Gordon (Die Hard), Lloyd Levin (United 93) and Deborah Snyder (300) had a hand in producing it.  However, viewers should not expect the same level of cinematic beauty or the type of compelling storytelling in Watchmen that Snyder showed us was possible in 300. Instead, the long and needlessly drawn out film, which lasts a restless two hours and 43 minutes, has the audience wishing for their own superhero powers to teleport themselves out of the theater.

Watchmen begins in the year of 1985, and tells the tale of a group of former vigilantes who used to dress up as superheroes. Although the somewhat-counterfeit crime fighters have “retired,” a couple of them decide to pay attention to the nuclear threat (read: end of world scenario) and tension between the United States and Russia.

The stakes are high but the audience’s investment in the protagonists or their success is relatively low. This weak story drags on for a full hour and forty minutes and consists of confession after confession from weary and depressed individuals who must decide if they are really going to solve the weak mystery, which is somehow connected to the complete obliteration of mankind (for the remaining hour).

And here is where this artificial set of superheroes is exposed. Aren’t most superheroes like Superman concerned with unnecessary violence and killing people? Don’t most champions of justice risk their lives to save others and humanity? And don’t all superheroes have a special power or two that us mere mortals could only dream of?

On these accounts, viewers could legitimately question whether the movie had any bonafide superheroes at all. The protagonists, with the exception of the neon blue Dr. Manhattan, actually lacked any “real” or perceived super powers. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) can see into the future and teleport himself all over the universe after a science lab mistake. Next to him, the other hero hopefuls are pretty laughable. Heck, all they want to do is fight for fun and stave off boredom.

And speaking of characters, there were only a few that are truly memorable. There is the demented and bloodthirsty Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), whose street name was Walter Kovacs. Although his journal accounts provide the framework for the story, the inkblot masked Rorschach’s killing scenes will make the audience wonder if the film was written or produced by Quentin Tarantino.

And then there’s Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman), whose action hero’s name is Silk Spectre II. She had only one power—her drop dead gorgeous looks that captured the attention of her fellow superheroes. Other than a decent left hook and a swift kick, she disappointed the audience who expected a more Wonder Woman-like performance due to their close resemblance achieved through casting, makeup and wardrobe.

The rest of the major quasi-vigilantes—The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) known for his “Life is a joke” attitude, peace at all deadly costs Oxymandias (Matthew Goode), and pushover turned wannabe Superman, Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson)—leave the role of hero as a lot to be desired.

And for the parents and children expecting a Batman or Spiderman type film, please be aware—this movie is not for anyone under seventeen. In addition to the constant nudity of Dr. Manhattan, there are gratuitous sex scenes that weren’t worth actress Malin Akerman even baring her breast. And more importantly, the violence depicted in scene after scene was extremely bloody, gross and overdone—enough to make a grown man cover his eyes.

And as you may have guessed, the movie begins and ends with violence and death depicted in a realistic manner unlike its comic book beginnings. This is a film that could easily create nightmares for children and adults alike.

Thus, the only characteristic Watchmen smiley face this movie deserves is one that is turned completely upside-down and covered with the blood of its own fake super heroes. Like the main theme of the Watchmen: “Life’s a joke,” clearly this movie was too.

If you ever wanted to understand why teaching puberty-ridden, curious, and  rebellious high school kids is a tough job, just watch the Oscar-nominated French film, The Class (Entre Les Murs). This movie dives into the deep end of the complexities of teaching a multi-ethnic, socioeconomic diverse class in the new immigrant rich France.

The Class (2008) takes place inside the narrow confines of the high school campus, which may sound limiting, but it was a careful choice made by director Laurent Cantet. The docudrama is based on a book and screenplay written by François Bégaudeau, the author and teacher who plays himself in the movie. It is a somewhat loose day-in-the-life story of his struggles to teach a diverse class of challenging students.

Most viewers realize the teachers are in for a rough time from the very first scene. Smartly foreshadowing the year to come, a group of teachers meet to prepare for the incoming students. The team shares its words of encouragement and advice, especially for the rookies. A retiring teacher said “[He’d] like to wish the new arrivals plenty of courage” because he knew they would need it.

The complexity of courage and respect are played out in the film’s French classroom and in “real-world” classrooms internationally. François, and the other teachers, wear a shield of courage each day to face the brutal, disruptive and demanding students. Like the new France, François’ class had students of all nationalities—Moroccan, Mali, Chinese as well as other African and Middle Eastern nations. The Class proves that teachers also needed respect to understand the daily battles their first and second-generation immigrant students encountered in their tough French neighborhoods. These constant clashes between teacher and student for understanding left the audience with mixed sympathies.

This push-pull tension around respect in the classroom played out perfectly. Several students, like Khoumba, a sharp-tongued, moody African girl, were quick to demand respect from their snappy and exasperated teacher. In one power play, she is scolded by François for her insolence in class after refusing to read aloud. In a tug-of-war after class discussion, François demands a sincere apology from her. Feeling a lack of respect shown, she offers a half-hearted apology and runs off to join her friends who waited and snickered in the hallway. Seeking to provide balance to the commentary on respect, the film shows another side of Khoumba, as a sensitive, emotional teenaged girl. In a well-written note to François, she explains how she feels disrespected by him.

In various scenes, teacher François attempts to unravel the multiple layers inside each child while trying to teach the class French. The major class project is a self-portrait, which each student is allowed to approach in his or her own way. Despite numerous interruptions and outbursts about everything from homosexuality to spoken imperfect subjunctive French, all of the students miraculously create a picture of their personality – and a window into their personal challenges, fears, uniqueness and beauty.

One student, Souleyman, a sullen Malian teenaged boy is surprised when François gives him praise for his pictorial self-portrait. Originally uninterested in the project, he told François, “I have nothing to say because no one knows me but me.” Depicted as the troublemaker in the film, he is used to more negative feedback than positive.

Similar to real life, The Class showed that the students were also misunderstood and at times underestimated. Revealing his own bias and shortcomings, François was shocked when students like Esmeralda, a quick-witted Middle Eastern teen, read books like Plato’s “Republic” because it exceeded his expectations of her. In earlier conversations, François had difficulty selecting books for the class to read because he assumed his students had low reading abilities. Other students like Wey, a gifted Chinese young man with French language challenges, and another intelligent male student who dressed in Goth fashion were often ignored in favor of their loudmouthed, rambunctious counterparts. Thus, the slower students led the pace of François’ teaching – remarkably similar to critiques of American public schools.

The Class shines with multilayered complexity, and reveals that teachers are human and also make mistakes, especially after being pushed too far. It also depicts the reality of public schools in which mutual respect between teacher and student is often not the standard. The film illustrates that in order to get respect, you have to earn respect.

The Class succeeds because of its real world critiques on respect and the complexities of student – teacher relationships as well as the challenges of navigating unfamiliar immigrant worlds fraught with language and cultural differences. In the daily trials between student and teacher in the real world and cinematic classroom, the audience is left wondering who is really teaching who?

Despite Taken’s (2009) action-packed, hyped-up trailer featuring an angry, vengeful father who is on a fast-moving, butt-kicking warpath to find his daughter who is taken, this action flick actually begins at an agonizing snail’s pace. Not surprisingly, the most exciting moment of the film was actually experienced in the beginning of the flick—making viewers wait impatiently for the action to commence.

For an action flick, Taken begins slowly by showing father and ex-CIA operative, Bryan Mills, (Liam Neeson) reminiscing about his daughter’s childhood. The audience is led through a series of uneventful scenes that depict a somewhat pathetic Mills trying to make-up for lost times and rebuild his relationship with his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). He has even given up his career, which kept him away from his family, and moved to be closer to his precious Kimmie. Although it appears as though no love is lost between Mills and his daughter due to his absent years, he struggles with playing second fiddle to his ex-wife’s new husband and new money.

And just as the movie starts more closely resembling a drama, the foreshadowing begins as Mills is characterized as an overprotective and paranoid father who is extremely concerned about his 17-year-old daughter traveling abroad without parental supervision. Kimmie tells her father, “Mom said your job made you paranoid.” To which Mills blandly responds, “I was a “preventer” of bad things from happening.”

The pace (finally) begins to quicken as the viewer waits wearily for the daughter to be “taken.” Although the kidnapping was not a surprise, Mills’ timing and sideline involvement added an interesting flip on the standard abduction scene. It is only after poor Kimmie is captured that the viewer gets what they’ve been waiting for–the angry, taking-no-prisoners Mills who not only vows to get his daughter back but threatens her kidnappers. In the most memorable line of the movie, Mills says, “I don’t know who you are but if you don’t let my daughter go, I will find you and I will kill you.”

The rest of the movie unfolds at a slightly faster pace as Mills begins his strategic rampage to get his daughter back within a key 96-hour timeframe. In true ex-government operative style, Mills swiftly unravels several clues from the beginning of the kidnapping. He cleverly re-traces steps, obtains CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) level evidence and produces the best translation ever of barely audible words recorded digitally.

And although a bit unbelievable, Mills enlists minimal help to track down his daughter’s kidnappers. He calls a friend or two from his ex-CIA days to provide background information on the country of the abductors, which end up providing more harm than good.

Liam Neeson is at his most believable as an adoring father. In several action scenes, he single-handedly takes out seven and eight men by himself, which seems a bit unlikely for a 50 to 60 year old man, even one who is an ex-CIA agent. It’s like casting Jason Bourne of The Bourne Identity with a graying, middle-aged Matt Damon. It just doesn’t work.

Taken does provide some small plot twists and turns, but not enough for the viewer to forget what the next step in the story was going to be. The movie is predictable, but thankfully not embarrassingly so.

And Taken, like all good action and adventure flicks, has the foreseeable, fairy-tale ending in which the girl is rescued and brought to safety before any real harm is done. And any retribution or repayment of the harm and violence caused in the process is all but forgotten. Despite killing over 20 people, torturing others, stealing cars, destroying several homes and buildings, Mills manages to keep the audience rooting for him – after all he is the good guy.

In one of the major fight scenes between Mills and a leader of the kidnapping ring, the point of the movie is given. While pleading for his life, the bad guy says, “Please understand, it was all business. It wasn’t personal.”

Mills says blankly: “Well, it was all personal for me,” and then shoots and kills the guy.

Before his daughter’s abduction, killing and fighting bad guys was just his job. However, the kidnapping of his pride and joy made Mills life worth living as he risks it to save his daughter—because well after all, it is personal.

When movies usually mix animation and wartime violence, they become action flicks (think GI-Joe cartoons), bloody horror shows or somewhere messy in-between. Yet, Waltz with Bashir (2008) —which is up for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category—is surprisingly neither of these. Instead, the beautifully done animation makes the difficult issues in the documentary–such as death, torture, post-traumatic stress disorder, war and suffering— a bit easier to swallow, watch and understand. The cartoon images managed to soften the blow of the sad and troubling story of the first Lebanon War and the Palestinian massacres in Sabra and Shatila.

After hearing about his friend’s recurring dream of being chased by 26 vicious dogs, movie director Ari Folman and his friend connect this nightmare to their experience as soldiers during  the 1982 Lebanon War. It is at this point that Folman realizes that his mind is blank. He doesn’t remember his participation in the war, nor his witnessing of the Sabra and Shatila massacres of Palestinians. This conversation then sparks his first flashback into the times his mind helped him forget.

The movie unfolds beautifully as Folman attempts to bring back his memories of the war and the massacres by interviewing and speaking with others who were involved.

Although an interesting choice to use animation for a film with such deep themes, Folman’s decision turns out to be both extraordinary and appropriate for showing the depth of these issues. The use of animation and cartoons allowed the movie to artistically depict the tricks that the mind can play on people who survive wars and those that witness and commit countless acts of violence.

In this movie, flashbacks, dreams and moving in and out of the past and present are the name of the game. In fact, the memories create the story—they are the story. There is a naked blue woman who appears out of the sea to rescue a soldier, who then climbs upon her stomach and leaves his fellow soldiers back on a ship. This boat is then blown to pieces in an attack as the soldier wearily looks on. These types of flashbacks, or the mind’s attempts to move past traumatic events, are woven into the storyline, which addresses the wounds of soldiers and the pains of war.  The movie’s animation gives us, the viewer, an up-close-and-personal look at post-traumatic stress disorder, without the sharp vivid images of real pictures and images. However, Folman does choose to show a few minutes of the actual video footage of the Palestinian massacre. These powerful images will be painted into the minds of the audience, and serve to reinforce the very depths of horror and trauma endured.

Surprisingly, Bashir isn’t political.  It doesn’t make Israel or Palestine into a hero. Through the interviews with the war’s survivors, Folman paints an animated picture of the emotional and human realities of war as he recreates his own memory. The documentary doesn’t point political fingers. It explains the trauma of war and the Palestinian massacres of Sabra and Shatila by providing first-hand accounts from the people who witnessed it. On screen, Folman interviews a military leader whose soldiers say they saw Christian Phalangist soldiers murder innocent Palestinians by shooting them at gunpoint. No political blame—just animated images that mesmerize the viewer of the human accounts of these times.

And strangely, even without a prior understanding of the history of the Palestinian massacre or the first war of Lebanon , the movie is still able to achieve its goal—to transport the audience into the hearts and minds of people affected by the war.

This documentary could have easily been made today to depict the current Gaza battles because it transformed the viewer into a space of compassion for all of the people involved—Palestinians and Israelis alike. We understand. War is hell.

With the limited shelf space for holiday movies, the consensus in Hollywood is that one Christmas-themed pic per year is more than enough. However, 2008 brings you an embarrassment of Christmas riches in the form of two craptacular holiday movies that are rehashed, unfunny, and not exactly filled with holiday spirit.

The biggest culprit is inexplicable box office smash Four Christmases. Vince Vaughn and John Favreau play basically the same characters they’ve been playing since Made in 2001. You get the feeling Vaughn and Favreau just made the flick so they could hang out together. After directing Elf in 2003, Favreau must have decided Christmas movies were easy money, and convinced Vaughn to take part in this holiday tradition: Vaughn—who went on to make Fred Claus, 2007’s holiday non-classic—has now starred in two godawful pics two years in a row.

The oddest aspect of Four Christmases is the casting of Reese Witherspoon—she’s supposed to be Vaughn’s long-time girlfriend, but their chemistry is nonexistent. It is difficult to believe a character with type-A personality tics, would be in love with the bullshit-talking Vaughn character.

The film has less to do with Christmas and more to do with being a rip-off of Meet the Parents. Simply substitute some casting choices, subtract a few sight gags, and rotate in a Christmas background, and they’re the same movie. As such, the movie doesn’t hold a sprig of mistletoe, even compared with Favreau’s Elf, and certainly not against any actual holiday classics.

2008’s second place holiday movie, in every respect, is Nothing Like the Holidays, which is like a Puerto Rican take on The Family Stone. If you don’t get enough family fighting, fatal diseases, and special Iraq war moments in your real life, why not watch a Christmas movie about it?

As a movie Nothing Like the Holidays is more interesting than Four Christmases because of the interesting cultural touches, and the actual family moments, like the three siblings ending up in the attic together talking shit about each other— which are genuinely moving and intimate. On the whole, though, Nothing Like the Holidays is too heavy-handed. Nothing will stop a movie from entering the classic holiday cannon like being inescapably depressing.

Don’t go see these movies. TBS will play 24 hours of A Christmas Story. Admit it: it’s the Christmas movie you really want. Pole licking, B.B. guns and angry parents: what’s not to love?

November has been a long string of weekends finishing ahead of last year’s numbers.

In movies, that is.

The Thanksgiving long weekend was no exception, with audiences flocking to see a range of new releases, from the treacly (Four Christmases, $32 mil ) to the teen-y (Twilight, $27 mil) to the family-friendly (Bolt, $26 mil) to the action-packed (Quantum of Solace, $20 mil) to the Oscar-contending (Australia, $16 mil). A little something for everyone, so to speak.

The real news of the moment, though (as much as I would love to dwell on happy-go-lucky box offices numbers), is the impending actors’ strike.

Sharon Waxman broke the story this weekend about a meeting, “like a scene from one of the Godfather movies” of the biggest names in acting in the last thirty years – a meeting that happened (if it happened) before AFTRA cut its deal. Continuing to negotiate without AFTRA was at least a step toward a strike.

Meanwhile, 17 thousand people have signed a “No SAG Strike” online petition, including Bill Murray, Cybil Shepherd, Jessica Biel, and Jason Patric.

SAG leadership is expected to ask for strike authorization in the coming weeks, despite intense pressure from the economy (officially in recession) and industry insiders and dependents still smarting from last Christmas’ WGA strike.

Interview, Multimedia Production, Video Editing: Brooke-Sidney Gavins

photo of video tag in Arizona by Obama-rama Tour.

Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy has inspired a legion of supporters from the artistic community. From the infamous Will.I.Am “Yes We Can” video to the heavyweights like Wyclef Jean performing in Denver for the DNC to the ubiquitous Shepherd Fairey posters, those with creative bones have rallied behind the Illinois senator and created art inspired by the politician. Artists and fans have used the internet, YouTube videos, or other viral content to spread the word of Barack, pushing stories up the hotlist at Digg and helping articles spread like a California wildfire on Facebook.

But with around 90% of all Facebook users in the United States (roughly 20 of 22 million as of January 2008) on a site that has averaged 250,000 new members a day since the start of 2007 falling into the under 30 and college-educated demo, are all of these stunning endorsements simply preaching to the young, liberal-minded choir?

When we heard about Jared Lovejoy and Lisa Chacón’s “Video Tagging” Obama-rama tour around western battleground states like Nevada and Colorado, we were immediately intrigued by the premise. Get a powerful projector, get in a van, and drive around playing all of this content on the sides of buildings to make sure people are getting a chance to see all that’s out there. Lovejoy’s project was almost like bringing a Twitter feed to life.

“What we love about what we’re doing is that it takes the sense of connection to an ‘idea’ that you have when you watch an MCYogi video on YouTube at home, and extends it to the streets so that it becomes a shared experience with others as well,” Lovejoy said.

But taking it one step further, he speaks of a convergence between digital and earthly analog worlds: “The power of the internet and social technologies like this is that they are being used to mobilize the people’s movement,” he said. “That’s what this was about for us, seeing people connect with each other and with this content which was originally only available virally on the internet. We use every day networking technologies (Facebook, Blogs, twitter, Youtube) to bring people together in 3D and catalyze interactions and motivate people to get involved. Ideas inspire people but ideas alone don’t vote.”

We caught up with Lovejoy via email:

P+P: As you tour across battleground states in the West, what have been your plans logistically to avoid preaching to the choir and making sure this content reaches people who have never seen it before?
JL: We keep it open to a wide cross-section by hitting areas that are mainly about traffic, not demographics. We’ve done our show outside of bars and restaurants, near college campuses, and interesting areas that lend themselves to a surprise encounter with what we are doing. Our “Video Tagging” concept is meant to explore the iconic nature of the HOPE poster created by Shepard Fairey. This poster created by a street artist has captured the spirit of the entire vision of the campaign. So, yes, it is promoting Obama and we are all for that, but equally as important, it represents the hope an entire generation has for the future of this country. Tagging has been the voice of many young people for decades, in many communities it’s the only voice some kids have. It’s a way of claiming space, demanding in the face of crass overly advertised landscapes what WE want to see—that this is everyone’s space. It is about claiming, for a moment, public space and capturing the public’s attention. The Video Tag is a HUGE, non-destructive, ephemeral, yet impactful, statement that everyone “gets” right away. Tagging is like a coded message to whoever has eyes to see and it will evolve but it will never go away. People have been tagging since the dawn of time with drawings, images and icons. Neo-graffiti like this challenges us to explore our concepts of art, public space and awareness. Artists like Jenny Holzer have used light to create thought provoking graffiti to international acclaim. We thought since Shepard is a legendary street artist, using his image to paint the skylines was an appropriate homage not only to Obama and the vision of HOPE, but also to the long history of street art and tagging as a way of reaching out beyond words to other human beings. We have managed to tag every state capitol building we’ve come across and create video tags the size of 20-story buildings that dominate the visual landscape. Even if the tag is only up for a a few minutes, we document it all, so it manages to reach a pretty vast spectrum of people.

P+P: Do you find that your events are leaning more towards Obama-themed gatherings for Obama supporters or that you are drawing crowds that are legitimately on the fence on these states?
JL: Its been pretty random. We find that the crowds are self selecting, Obama supporters love it and tend to stick around. People who are open or on the fence are drawn in by the inspiring vibe. The show is completely positive—we don’t spend any airtime slamming McCain, so its not about “us and them.” It’s just about the issues and all the cool inspiring art being made in support of Obama. A few people might shout “McCain!” as they walk by, or simply resist engaging with us. People are  surprised by the spectacle and often want to know if it’s being paid for by the Obama campaign. When everyone (Obama supporters included) finds out that it’s paid for solely by us and by kind donations from supporters, they are more inspired because of that. That was our hope in taking this on the road indie style—we wanted other people to get creative too, see all the different creative things people are doing and go do their own thing to help.

P+P: What do you make of the overwhelming support for Obama in the American artistic community?
JL: What’s unique in our eyes is that in the midst of what may be the most fear oriented period in decades, people are hungry for vision. Obama inspires people, he’s a mix of Kennedy, MLK and every visionary that has been lost to the world in the recent past. Artists from all over the world are making positive art about Obama. It’s not just American—that’s what is so amazing —this is affecting the entire world. It’s a positive movement, it’s not Anti-Bush or McCain. For instance, there’s one piece that is a montage of art made for the Manifest Hope show in Denver hosted by Shapard Fairey. In that montage there is just a minute or less of some pieces that are Anti-Bush and Anti-McCain/ Palin, and we had our most vocal negative feedback of the entire trip, but it was from two Obama supporters telling us how they thought we shouldn’t stoop to showing anything negative about the other side. They are the ones that gave us the “No Hate in ‘08″ line we use in the blog. What makes Obama’s campaign radical is that it is boldly positive, intelligently optimistic, and takes the high road. People want that right now because they are actually sick of the cynicism and fear that’s been jamming the airwaves since 9/11.

P+P: Do you think that this support has been successful before you started the tour?
JL: Absolutely, the Will I Am video inspired millions of people, that speech will go down in history, and he was a genius to make it into a song. We felt we were simply responding to a wave of incredible work being done by artists, our artistic contribution is Cultural Engineering, taking it to the streets, catalyzing spontaneous connections between real people in real time.

P+P: How has the tour enhanced its success?
JL: In this election every VOTE counts, literally. We hope we’ve inspired a few people to vote and to get involved. I think we’re doing that.

P+P: Have you been contacted by any of the artists whose work you are displaying?
JL: Yes, we have. We are doing a performance with MC Yogi at an election night event we recently got invited to in Mountain View, CA. We met him through mutual friends in our initial call to artists for content. We’ve had a few things sent to us and everyone that is aware of our efforts seems very thrilled and grateful.

P+P: The Obama campaign?
JL: I was trained as a Deputy Field Organizer by the Obama campaign and it was that training that got me inspired because they wanted us to get out there and do something, anything to get people inspired and make genuine connections. I’d never heard a political group talk that way before and I’ve done events for Clinton several times in the past. So NO we are not affiliated in the way of being funded by the campaign but we are definitely in alignment. We stop at Obama campaign offices and do shows for volunteers whenever we can, too. There are thousands of volunteers working all throughout the swing states right now, so we’ve had a good time “inspiring the base” as well.

P+P: What did they say?
JL: Our best nod of appreciation was being asked a week into our tour to come play for the Mountain View/Bay Area election night party. We hooked them up with MC Yogi as well, thought it would make a killer show.

P+P: Do people outside of the 18-29 demographic who are attending your events “get” the content?
JL: The message of is trans-generational. It’s about a psycho graphic not a demographic, so yes there are people of all ages that get it for sure. Thats one of our favorite things about this tour, there is such a wide diversity of material so we can shift the playlist to rock the kids with hip hop, funk or dance music, or make it more mellow for different audiences. We have an all-Spanish playlist that we showed in Denver outside of a Latin night at a night club and entertained the crowds waiting to get in. The Will.i.am video almost always brings people to tears, regardless of age, almost every time we play it. (It still brings us to tears every time!)

P+P: Have you encountered any heated opposition from McCain supporters who happen upon your events?
JL: Last night in Albuquerque was the most heated opposition we’ve encountered, but it was just some loud comments on one guy’s part mostly to be heard over the music. When he realized it wasn’t resonating enough with anyone around him, and that he couldn’t instigate any kind of interruption, he just walked off.

P+P: Had they already seen the content, or was that their first time?
JL: He seemed unaware of the content, but was clearly annoyed at its popularity. The more people had fun the more he seemed pissed. It was funny to watch, he hung out for a while before complaining and when he did he was surprisingly childish about it.

P+P: Any interference from local authorities?
JL: We’ve been asked to either leave or turn down the volume on the sound system by police and security in response to noise complaints. There are laws about amplified sound, so it’s hard to tell if it’s politically motivated. The cops are usually pretty cool, and we just move to the next location. The weirdest incident was when a guy in a black suit showed up on the roof of a parking garage in Reno saying quickly that he was an Obama “delegate” and warning us that security guards from Fitzgerald’s Casino were on the way. We were pretty much done, so we left without ever seeing these guards.

P+P: Do you think it was at all politically motivated?
JL: Hard to say, possibly in the case of the man with the black suit, and a security guard last night that we talk about in the blog. For the most part its been surprisingly mellow on that front.

P+P: What is your general sense for each of the states you have visited and how they are going to lean on election day?
JL: Nevada—turning Obama. People seemed very positive in Reno, thousands of volunteers, very successful early voting campaign, lots of great feedback on our shows. Utah—very positive feedback, Obama folks say the country will be surprised with the Democratic turn out, lots of Republicans voting for Obama. Supposed to be a lot closer than people expect. Colorado—Denver had that massive rally. Everyone feels strongly that Obama is taking CO, the early vote network there has been very successful as well. New Mexico—45K showed up for Obama and 1500 showed up for McCain, ‘nough said.

You can't tell me that a musical, starring this guy, is aimed solely at children.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the top five movies of this weekend were, in order:

—High School Musical 3: Senior Year ($42 million)

—Saw 5 ($30.5 million)

—Max Payne ($7.6 million)

—Beverly Hills Chihuahua ($6.9 million, and AAAARRRGGGG!!!!)

and,

—Pride and Glory ($6.3 million)

You got it: a silver screen blockbuster for preteens and gay men so Disney-fied that the major conflict revolves around whether or not to take early acceptance at Stanford; the umpteenth regurgitation of a slasher film; a live-action VIDEO GAME, fer chrissakes; an ohmygodican’tbelievepeoplearestillwatchingit live-action  chihuahua love story; and a star-studded blue-line drama that, frankly, got terrible reviews.

We deserve everything we’re getting in the financial crisis. As Rev. Wright would say, our chickens are coming home to roost.

Now that I have that out of my system, on to the newsy-news (close cousin to the dancy-dance! We’re inane! We love it! No, really. I love the dancy-dance. Shut up.):

SAG has apparently learned nothing from the mistakes of others, and/or hasn’t gotten the memo that everyone is cutting back, anyway, and probably wouldn’t mind not paying some people for a few months. They hired the mediator the writers used last year. ‘Cause that worked out so well. Oh, Thespians. You’re as bright as your reputation suggests.

But, yay: Netflicks has its eye on all those cutie-pie Mac lovers out there. They have begun testing their new video-streaming program. Movies: coming soon to a lap near you!

Tim Burton is doing a weirdo version of Alice (as in, Wonderland) and CRISPIN GLOVER has signed on! And Depp, and Bonham Carter… Once again, my hopes rise for Burton. He better not disappoint like he did with the last one.

One more yay: because I love all of you, I have taken the trouble to bring you the vrry, vrry new international trailer for Harry Potter, part one thousand. (Jk, we all know it’s seven. Except me. Because I haven’t read any of them and have only seen the movie by Cuaron. Tee hee hee):

An exterior wall at the Montalban Theater seems fitting for a movie about everyone.

Charlie Kaufman wasn’t at the reception for his new film, Synecdoche, New York, on Tuesday night. Instead, actor Tom Noonan, one of the stars of the film, stepped in.

Noonan appeared on stage with producer Spike Jonze to present the film, both men backlit by a projected green screen in the posh, but acoustically challenged, Montalban Theater in Hollywood. Noonan, who has won acclaim (and awards) for screenplays and films of his own but who has stuck in my mind mostly for his comedic portrayal of Frankenstein in the 1987 flick The Monster Squad, towered over the producer.

“Charlie Kaufman can’t make it tonight,” Jonze said, “so we’ve asked Tom Noonan to play him instead.”

Noonan went along with the gag (which he later told me was unplanned), stepping forward to the microphone and muttering nonsense under his breath. Then he tapped the mike a few times and said softly but directly, “Thanks for coming.” Then they rolled the film.

The setup was fitting for a movie in which actors portray other actors and theater crews build stages representing other stages representing the real New York City.

If Kaufman had failed, his new film would have been about nothing—that’s generally what you get when you try to tell a story about everything and everyone. But through some clever plot devices and storytelling, he pulled it off. The content of the film seems to spill out into the world and encompass the viewer, the viewer’s neighbor, sisters, brothers, cousins, friends, colleagues, Kaufman himself, the guy overseas who handles your customer service call, you know, everyone.

Spike Jonze asks actor Tom Noonan to channel Charlie Kaufman as they present Kaufman's new film.

Kaufman’s growing reputation rests on a knack for penning painfully honest, oddball comedies (or are they tragedies?), such as Being John Malkovich or Adaptation, but Synecdoche put him in the director’s chair for the first time. As it were, the film played well for both audiences and critics when it premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, and he certainly seems to have nailed this one.

Not everyone will like it, since it tries to be about so much that some will walk away thinking it wasn’t about anything at all. After the show, one person told me it was the worst Kaufman film to date and that he didn’t empathize with or care about any of the characters. Another person called it “masturbatory, pretentious and self-important.” But others generally liked it, even if they said they found it confusing and needed to watch it again.

Kaufman’s main plot trick was simple in concept, tricky in execution. The central character, Caden Cotard (played unsurprisingly well by Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a theater director bent on creating the ultimate director’s cut, something true and honest and real. To do so, he builds an ever more elaborate set that comes to fill a hangar-sized theater with a replica of several New York City blocks. He directs his actors to play out the minute-by-minute minutiae of their characters’ lives, day after day, in a production that spans the remainder of Caden’s life (and that of virtually everyone else in the film). As the play evolves, Caden finds that to be truthful he must tell stories about real people, so he hires actors to play himself and everyone he knows. But he soon recognizes that the actors playing the real people are real people, themselves, and that he must hire other actors to play them.

At one point, Caden voices some of the anxiety which propels him through this increasingly mad and dreamlike production. “There are no extras in life,” he says, and that’s part of the problem. Theater (or film, for that matter) is limited by time and space to telling a finite story about a handful of characters. Caden wants to tell the story of everyone, but life is too ungainly to capture—the idea of trying to make a play about everything is patently absurd. And really, Caden fails, because no matter how large his stage or how many players he brings into the hangar, it is still a mockup of real life, and it can never faithfully portray everyone’s pain and joy and love and all they do and all that happens to them.

But where Caden fails, Kaufman succeeds. Consider the title. Synecdoche is actually a literary device in which a part represents its whole, or one thing represents a class of things, or the other way around. We say we pay $3.50 a gallon at the pump when we mean at the gas station, or we say Hollywood when we mean the entire film industry, or we say beast when we mean tiger. The characters in this film represent all of us, just as the warehouse-sized theater represents all of New York. Watching the film is like standing between two mirrors and seeing infinity. In one of many allusions to this mirror play (or Russian Nesting dolls, if you prefer), a character holds a card with a picture of the warehouse-theater. They open a little window flap on the card that reveals a tiny picture of another warehouse inside. And all of this is taking place inside the actual warehouse. It requires the slightest shift in perspective—a glance over the shoulder, even—to see the reality reflected in these infinite mirrors, and you realize the movie is about you.

I spoke with Tom Noonan after the movie was over about his experience playing an actor playing a director (he played Sammy Barnathan, who plays director Caden Cotard, who arguably represents real-life director Charlie Kaufman) and about the meaning behind this movie.

Actor Tom Noonan played Sammy Barnathan, an actor who has shadowed Caden Cotard for 20 years.

“That’s all you’re doing, too (is acting),” he said. “You’re imitating your father who’s imitating his father who imitated his uncle or someone else. Isn’t that what we all do?” he said.

I could buy that.

But Noonan also said that people go to movies just “to be reminded of what it’s like to be alive, to realize something about yourself,” and that for Kaufman there wasn’t really any intended meaning to the movie. I didn’t buy that.

Self-realization is absolutely part of the movie-going experience, but this film draws you in as a character and tells you who you are. It makes a blatant point. You’re Caden, you’re the cleaning lady, you’re the priest and Caden’s first wife and second wife and both daughters and his parents. You’re everyone, and so is everyone else.

In a poignant and heartrending speech that Kaufman reportedly wrote the night before they shot the scene, a priest tells all those assembled at a funeral (which is being reenacted after the real funeral has already occurred) that they are missing opportunities to live their lives, to make their own paths, because they are too afraid and too lonely to make choices. He’s talking to everyone, including me and the other people watching the movie at the Montalban Theater in Hollywood. You’re all waiting for someone else to come along and change your life, he’s saying; you’re waiting for something to happen to you, rather than making something happen. And in so doing, you’re ignoring everyone else around you who’s going through the same thing. It’s the human condition in a few short lines, and it’s consistent with what has been happening to Caden’s character throughout the movie, as he loses his autonomic functions (i.e. muscle control, salivation) and ultimately loses his ability to move without being directed how to move. He becomes a puppet, an extreme and literal manifestation of the condition described by the priest.

Reportedly Spike Jonze originally wanted Kaufman to do a horror script, and certainly some of that horror remains in the unsettling music and the terrible way in which nightmares and absurdities are part of the fabric of the film’s reality. Not being able to control your own body, losing control of your life, living inside a burning house (yes, a burning house). But the project morphed gradually into something entirely different than either Jonze or Kaufman had intended (if you have the gall to say that Kaufman intended anything). But that’s all just part of the creative process. Even if the film evolved haphazardly, with Kaufman throwing in the burning house for fun and writing that speech last-minute, there’s a carefully controlled order to the finished product that suggests a fully realized and incredibly complex and layered version of an idea Shakespeare summed up in a few lines:

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

Did Kaufman succeed in showing us that theater is a metaphor for all of life? Yes. I’m still ambivalent about what it means to have made a film like this. When I finally finished reading James Joyce’s Ulysses, I immediately concluded it was a book that needed to be written and now that it was done nothing like it should ever be attempted again. Like Synecdoche, Joyce’s book wasn’t so much about the characters as it was about what it means to be human, to be thinking almost simultaneously about the quality of that morning’s sex and the day’s to-do list while purchasing groceries and noticing the booger hanging from the clerk’s nose hair. Fine, I get it—our minds are mysterious and life is really just a stream of occurrences both mundane and extraordinary, and we’re all the same in the end. Synecdoche may be the film medium’s equivalent of that.

But since the movie’s really about everything in life, I’d have to write multiple reviews cataloguing how Kaufman treated the stories of Caden’s successive wives and lovers (all played by stellar actresses), or the relationship with his estranged daughter, or the identity-bending relationship Caden has with the actress (played by Dianne Wiest) who steps in at the end to take over the play. There’s so much else going on in this film that I can’t possibly cover it all. Instead I’ll have to let this particular review stand for all the reviews I might ever write about Synecdoche, New York.

The Montalban Theater is hip, cool and a bit strange.

As part of the Montalban Theater's Cinema Tuesdays series, the reception featured a gallery of miniature paintings by Adele Lack, a character in the film.

One of the miniature paintings, entitled "Konschin."

Another miniature painting, entitled "Panic."

A meaningful glimpse into the racism that haunted the prejudicial times of the 1960s manages to permeate the sticky sweet The Secret Life of Bees. Adapted from Sue Monk Kidd’s 2002 bestselling novel of the same name, the film transports the viewer to South Carolina in 1964, only days before the Civil Rights Act was passed.

The movie begins with 14-year-old Lily, played by Dakota Fanning, awakening from a flashback memory of accidentally shooting her mother. Lily’s life is pretty dismal. She lives with her abusive father, T. Ray (Paul Bettany), and her only real friend is the hired help (read: mammy), Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson).

The Secret Life of Bees is a story about self-discovery and the complicated nature of love. Tired of being abused and seeking answers about her dead mother, Lily with mammy-in-tow, heads to Tiburon, South Carolina, to locate clues about her mother’s past.

In the small Southern town, Lily and Rosaleen uncover information about Lily’s mom and discover the world of three beekeeping sisters, August (Queen Latifah), May (Sophie Okonedo) and June (Alicia Keys) Boatwright. It’s a world that Rosaleen later described as where “the outside don’t come in.”

Safe from her abusive father, Lily finds comfort and love with August and the other Boatwright sisters. Lily says, “I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be.” The somewhat idealized matriarch, August, gives Lily her heart and a couple of lessons on life, love and beekeeping. She tells Lily: “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be an idiot. Don’t swat the bees. And to send the bees love because everything wants to be loved.”

The need to be loved and the power of self-discovery are strong themes throughout the movie and encapsulate Lily’s story. “After bringing the outside in,” several characters, even Rosaleen, undergo transformation through self-discovery and the love of others.

The honey-sweet plot  isn’t completely predictable and provides a look into the racism and prejudice of the 1960s. While many of the movie’s problematic racial incidents were solved a little too easily, Bees aptly showcases the complicated relationships between blacks and whites, the help and the helped.

Dakota Fanning’s performance as Lily is captivating—bringing to life a character that is simultaneously endearing, sad, hopeful, openhearted and a bit naïve. Fanning’s portrayal of Lily has the audience rooting for her character to solve the “mother puzzle” and get some love. Queen Latifah, as August, uses her best and most believable Southern accent.  Yet, as a matriarch, she’s almost too perfect. Alicia Keys, playing a stubborn woman who almost let love slip away, and Sophie Okonedo, portraying the most challenging sister, May, whose big heart causes her to suffers emotionally are both stellar.

As the title reveals, Lily discovers herself, love and life’s stings. And while uncovering the love of her dead birth mother, she gains the love of three mothers in the Boatwright sisters.

Although the movie is a little “honey” sweet at times, it outshined its sappiness with great acting, heartwarming scenes, memorable writing and an vantage point into the troubled times of the 1960s.

Variety is reporting that Medusa, Silvio Berlusconi’s production company has inked a co-production deal with Cuba. They are calling it an “Italo-Cuban co-production treaty,” and I’m calling it the restoration of Italians to the vanguard of film.

Madonna’s directorial debut, Filth and Wisdom came out in the U.S. this weekend to decidedly mixed reviews. In a malicious twist of scheduling, Rockandrolla, Guy Ritchie’s new film, is also now out. The New Yorker does us the pleasure of reviewing the movies side by side. Unfortunately for Guy, although he seems to have roundly trumped the soon-to-be-ex-Mrs. Ritchie, no one seems to think he’s lived up to his status as an actual, um, director.

This could be causing problems for Rockandrolla’s Joel Silver, Sharon Waxman notes. Apparently, the producer’s Midas touch in the 80s and 90s (Predator, Lethal Weapon(s), The Matrix) has tarnished some, with a string of expensive flicks that aren’t giving back to the studio, including Speed Racer, The Brave One, and a whole bunch of other movies you probably didn’t see. But, fear not, Silver fans, as Waxman cynically notes that, “Hollywood is a big old boy’s club, and Joel Silver is a big old member of it. Protected by his mogul friends, with whom he shares vacations and cruises and weddings in Venice, Silver continues to keep his deal at Warner Brothers…”

Lakeshore Entertainment and MGM are remaking Fame! Kevin Tancharoen, director of Britney’s “Toxic”, will helm. On that basis alone, I vote “yea.” 

And, BO numbers:

If you’ve been wondering why Mark Wahlberg has been wandering around the set of SNL this week, you might notice that he stars in Max Payne, an adaptation of the video game of the same name. The best review of it is probably this one, from Spy the Plumber, on IMDB. Extra-special credit for using the line, “There isn’t as much depth to her in the film as there was in the game.”

Payne made off with the weekend, with that god-awful chihuahua nipping at its heels.

Dakota Fanning and Queen Latifah came up $100,000 behind the animated rat-dog with The Secret Life of Bees, another adaptation, this one of a book that everyone and my mother told me to read, but I still haven’t gotten around to. Despite the suggestion in the title that it’s saccharine-sweet, the book, and the flick, have gotten solid reviews.

Oliver Stone’s much-anticipated W came in a respectable, but not great number four. Maybe we’re just dealing with a little bit of political overload?

And, finally, Eagle Eye held tough at number five.

Blonde bombshell, Tony Award winner, and all around awesome gal, Edie Adams passed away this week at the age of 81.

Adams attended Juliard and Columbia, and debuted on the Milton Berle show after the “Miss U.S. Television” beauty contest. During her long career, Adams appeared on television in the final episode of I Love Lucy, on Broadway in L’il Abner and on the silver screen in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Here she is in the role that made her famous: cigar girl for Muriel Cigars.

RIP, Mrs. Adams.