Dirty Sexy Politics by Meghan McCain

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Nick Burrows

I am a die hard liberal.  I’m not a registered Democrat in Idaho, because my area is so conservative, my vote is irrelevant.  So, it may be surprising that I listened to the audio book of John McCain’s daughter.  In the summary, I saw that Meghan McCain is critical of the direction the Republican party is headed, and so I thought I’d give the book a listen to see what she had to say.  Ultimately, the book had three themes: 1) Problems with the Republican Party, 2) Meghan’s story about the campaign and how she disliked many of her dad’s advisors, 3) Meghan McCain idolizes her dad.

The book is essentially a memoir of the two years following Meghan’s graduation from Columbia with an Art History degree.  Essentially, she graduated from Columbia in 2007 and immediately started working on her dad’s presidential campaign.  She had the idea to create a blog to try to reach young Republican and moderate voters.  She was granted access, provided she financed the entire project.  During her times, her youth and lack of media savvy got her into a lot of trouble with her dad’s advisors.

The first thing I will say is that this book probably would have read better than it was as a listen.  Meghan McCain’s voice sounds, well, stupid.  Part of the reason for this because the tone of her voice, primarily due to youth, sounded like a valley girl.  The other reason, though, is because she mispronounces a ton of words.  I’m sorry, an Ivy League graduate who cannot properly pronounce the word “tyranny” should give her degree back.

At the start of the book, I actually agreed with a lot of what Meghan was saying about the Republican party.  She describes the party as an insider’s club and very exclusive.  She starts to describe the exclusions based on philosophy.  However, after listening to the book, I think her bigger concerns are with the fact that she is viewed as an outsider because of her appearance.  The only ideological issue that she challenges is Gay Marriage, but that’s because of the gay friends she probably made in New York.  Other than that, she really seems to tout the party line.

Ultimately, the book was interesting, but it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as I had hoped it would be.  In the end, it reminded me why I am a Democrat.

3/5

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Oscar Predictions

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Nick Burrows

I am a huge movie fan.  So, as much as I am upset about the Oscar nominations this year, I can’t help but think about them.  I probably won’t watch them, because we don’t have cable, but I will probably follow them throughout the night.  In my opinion, these are my thoughts on the most “important” awards.

Animated Feature Film

I want How to Train Your Dragon to win.  I thought this was the most entertaining animated film of the year.  I also thought it was a great adaptation of a book.  However, because it came out early in the year and Pixar owns this award, Toy Story 3 will win this award.

Adapted Screenplay

Alright, most people don’t give a rat’s ass about the writing awards.  However, I am officially predicting that Aaron Sorkin will win this award for The Social Network.  I just want to give Aaron Sorkin the credit he deserves.

Directing

I don’t care at all.  How the Academy can ignore the Director of the most original and complex film since Memento is beyond me.  Especially since the movie was incredibly well made.  Should win – Christopher Nolan for Inception.  Will win, the Director of the Best Picture winner – so either David Fincher for The Social Network or Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech.

Supporting Actress

I don’t really have a horse in this race, but I haven’t seen The Fighter (but I REALLY REALLY want to).  Melissa Leo won the SAG and Golden Globe, so I don’t see why she won’t win the Oscar as well.

Supporting Actor

Like the Supporting Actress category, I think Christian Bale will win for The Fighter, largely because he won the Golden Globe and the SAG awards.  However, I really was impressed with Jeremy Renner in The Town (and The Hurt Locker last year), so until I see The Fighter, I want Jeremy Renner to win.

Actress

Natalie Portman seems to have this award locked up.  I have no interest in seeing Black Swan, so I don’t have much to add about this award.

Actor

I haven’t seen The King’s Speech yet, but I hear it’s incredible.  I think Colin Firth will probably run away with this award, both for merit of the role and because of his career.  However, I would much rather see Jesse Eisenberg win this award for The Social Network.

Best Picture

This is the hardest for me.  The winner of this award will probably be either The Social Network or The King’s Speech.  I haven’t seen The King’s Speech yet, so I can’t fairly identify one over the other.  However, I really want Inception to win, only because Christopher Nolan was flat out robbed in the Best Director category.  However, Hollywood won’t vote for Inception.  Part of me is honestly surprised it even got nominated.

If I see The King’s Speech and/or The Fighter between now and the Oscars I will update this.  I wonder how well I did.

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Red

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Nick Burrows

I love Bruce Willis flicks.  My all time favorite action movie is Die Hard.  In fact, Die Hard is easily one of my favorite movies, period.  The great thing about Bruce Willis is that as he has gotten older, he still remains very bad ass.  That’s why I really wanted to see the movie about Bruce Willis as a retired CIA agent, Red.

Retired Extremely Dangerous.  That is the story behind Red.  Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) lives a boring life.  He tears up his pension checks so he has an excuse to talk to Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) who works at the pension office.  They flirt on the phone and that’s all it really is.  Until people try to kill Frank.  He then realizes that people must have been listening to his phone calls and Sarah will be targeted next.  He shows up at her house and saves her from being killed.  After seeking advice and help from former colleagues Joe (Morgan Freeman) and Marvin (John Malkovich), Frank and Sarah find themselves on the run across the country from the CIA.  The film also features Helen Mirren and Karl Urban.

First of all, if you read my review of The Kids Are All Right, you know that I am bitter that the Golden Globes considered that movie a comedy.  Unlike The Kids Are All Right, Red is very funny and deserved to be nominated for the Best Musical or Comedy.

I love the movie.  Bruce Willis is a rare breed.  He is a convincing action hero and he is HILARIOUS.  The same charge that made Die Hard work makes Red work.  On top of that, John Malkovich is brilliant as the paranoid Marvin.  The movie is very slick and, in short, highly entertaining.  Additionally, the idea, to me, is very fresh.  The concept of retired intelligence operatives working together to evade a group of current operatives seems like an unfair fight.  However, these retired operatives kick major ass.

I would recommend this movie to anyone.  There is clearly a lot of explosions and inherent violence.  However, other than that, the movie is very benign.  There isn’t overt sex.  I don’t remember excess language.  It is just good old fashioned (pun intended) action entertainment.  I highly recommend this movie.

5/5

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Buried

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Nick Burrows

I’m going to keep this review very short.  Buried is about a guy (Ryan Reynolds) who wakes up to find he has been buried alive.  He has a functional cell phone and the only other characters in the film are the voices of people he calls.  Literally, every second of this film takes place in the coffin.  There is no back story or epilogue.  Just the inside of a coffin.  Ryan Reynolds is convincing and the film making keeps an edge of suspense.  Buried is a great concept.  And then it ends.  The movie leaves you feeling, for lack of a better word, defeated.  You invest so much energy into the protagonist, because that’s all you have, and it ends…well…you can probably guess.  Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend the movie, unless you are an emotional masochist.

2/5

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The Kids Are All Right

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Nick Burrows

Let me ask you a question.  What do you expect from a film that wins the Best Musical or Comedy Golden Globe Award?  I expect either singing and dancing, or something FUNNY.  I got none of the above from The Kids Are All Right.

The movie is about Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and Joni (Mia Wasikowska).  Laser and Joni are half-siblings.  They have been raised by their moms Nic (Annette Bening), Joni’s biological mother, and Jules (Julianne Moore), Laser’s biological mother.  Genetically, they share a biological father.  After Joni turns 18, she contacts the sperm bank because Laser wants to meet their father.  Once the sperm bank contacts their father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo), he consents to his information being shared and on goes a budding relationship in which Paul is almost inserted into the family dynamics, much to Nic’s chagrin.  While the concept seems like it could be comedy material, the concepts of infidelity, marital stress, and separation are all prevalent in this film.  Furthermore, aside from Laser accidentally stealing his moms’ gay porno, there really isn’t anything funny about the film.

So, The Kids Are All Right wasn’t a comedy, but was lauded as the best comedy of the year at the Golden Globes.  Who cares?  I don’t really.  The reality is, this was one of those movies that I think is important.  It demonstrates a long-term lesbian relationship.  The relationship spawns two children who are raised in a stable household.  I suspect that it may, very well, be a future anthem for the gay marriage movement.  Furthermore, the characters are all flawed and are strikingly real.  The film is very well written and well constructed.

However, in my opinion, the movie will probably suffer from a Life of David Gale complex in my eyes.  While important, it wasn’t entertaining.  I would recommend this movie to anyone, provided they aren’t turned completely off by scenes that take lesbian sex beyond innuendo.  However, I will recommend it, I will also warn people that they probably won’t love the movie.  But they will appreciate it.

4/5

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