500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer (2009) **½
I recently sat down with Astrid, Calisto, and Dave to watch the much-acclaimed 2009 indie romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer, staring Zooey Deshanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Knowing that I already liked the casting and the concept (the story of a doomed Gen-Y relationship told, Memento style, chrono-illogical) I set my expectations-meter to about medium, figuring that I'd enjoy it, but it wouldn't quite live up to all the hype. I'm sad to report that the hype is indeed way wrong. What it's got going for it: engaging performances by both leads and a story predicated on the self-determination of a free-spirited woman, at least, until she loses her self-determination. What it's got against it is cliché-heavy dialogue and a plot that succumbs to rom-com conventionality where it ought to have broken with tradition in order to convey any shred of emotional truth in the end. The fairy-tale conclusion fits in with the film's pretty set design and cinematography, producing a contemporary Los Angeles so white and white-washed it looks like Harvard Square in the '50s.

What's that star rating mean, anyway?

Super Bowl 2010 Commercial Wrap-Up

This year the theme of the Super Bowl commercial spots seemed to be: "Men need to reinscribe our dudeliness because women are threatening our masculinity."

Example 1: A Dodge Charger commercial in which a blank-expressioned (almost lifeless) man lists off the ways in which he compromises himself (presumably for his woman), i.e. "I will take off my socks before bed, I will clean the sink after I shave, I will listen to your opinions of my friends, I will listen to your friends' opinions of my friends, I will put the seat down," etc. as long as this allows him to (animated, forceful language) "drive the car I want to drive!"

Example 2: A FloTV commercial tag line: "Change out of that skirt, Jason" after suggesting that his girlfriend has "removed his spine" !!

Example 3: In the Dockers commercial, a huge group of men are wandering around in their underwear proclaiming, in unison, "I wear no pants!" Then the ad copy and announcer command men to "Wear the pants" again. This was a very tame version of the revolting print ad component of this campaign, which implores men to "step away from the salad bars" and from their lattés, blaming our "genderless society" for the broken state of our civilization. (Click the ad for a larger image.)

The most politically incindiary of the bunch, of course, was the much-publicized spot from the right-wing Christian advocacy group Focus on the Family featuring NFL player Tim Tebow and his mother sweetly recounting the difficulty she had in pregnancy and the "miracle" of his birth, insideously reinforcing the organization's anti-choice stance.




Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood's response to the Tebow ad wasn't funded enough to air during the big game, but it's nicely done, and you can check it out right here, all you miracle children!



What alarms me most about the Tebow ad, and also about the counter ad by Planned Parenthood, is that the word "abortion" is never mentioned. It reminds me of the confusingly tame ads against Prop 8 that didn't discuss the concept of "gay marriage" or "same-sex marriage," only referred vaguely to "equality." The American public needs to be challenged to talk honestly about issues. We don't need to be fucking spoon-fed euphemistic pablum. This is the same sort of short-sighted politicking that allows the "debate" about health care to be hijacked by people who liken a nationalized health plan to Nazism.

PS - I hope Tim Tebow comes out.