Good Review of A Bad Film — Cynthia Fuchs on ‘Step Brothers’

Posted on August 1, 2008 at 9:35 am

I often say that when movies are good, critics are very, very good, but when movies are bad, they’re better. It is a challenge sometimes to write an interesting, meaningful review of a dumb comedy like Step Brothers. One of my favorite critics, Cynthia Fuchs, did just that with her review. She did not ask the film to be more than it aspired to be but respected what it was enough to engage with its aspirations and implications within its own terms.
Unable to intervene, ever-pert Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) is, in fact, this spectacle’s ideal audience, the girl who can’t fathom the anti-nuances of masculine ritual. Watching her man-children clobber each other to sweaty, gasping pulps, she’s reduced to abject impropriety… Apparently the only possible punchline for this going-nowhere-slowly scene, Nancy’s exclamation also makes clear the fundamental logic of Step Brothers. Demonstrating (and occasionally exaggerating) the lewd, brutal routines that make up the lengthy, much celebrated transition from boy to man in U.S. consumer culture, the movie has plenty of ground to cover. The fact that it’s ground often traversed in Ferrell’s movies and more recently, in co-producer Judd Apatow’s movies, doesn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm or inanity. Rather, the repetition seems to up the ante: how much more can be said, showed, or countenanced? How low can it go?
I love the way she says that films like this “simultaneously to ridicule and celebrate masculinity” and her comment on the role that the female characters play helped me to understand my own reaction:
While they surely ensure that the boys, for all their homoerotic/homophobic rites, are emphatically heterosexual, the women also provide the film’s necessary internal audience. Appalled by manifestations of male insecurities and aggressions, they embody those social, domesticating judgments that make such manifestations seem so wild and crazy. That is, the boys are most plainly appalling when the girls are appalled.

Mistakes!

Posted on July 29, 2008 at 2:00 pm

I think one reason I became a critic is that I am fascinated by mistakes. I don’t mind seeing bad movies (most of the time) because I like to think about what it is that makes them so bad. And of course it is a lot of fun to find mistakes in movies. One of my favorites is the bunch of flowers that Katharine Hepburn carries in “Desk Set.” They are one color when she enters the elevator and another when she gets out! There are great compilation of movie mistakes on, Nitpickers.com, Movie Goofs, and, of course, movie mistakes.com.
Here are the top five from Moviemistakes.com. I’d love to hear your favorites:
1 Commando After chasing down Sully, the yellow Porsche is totally wrecked on the left side, until Arnie drives it away, and it’s fine.
2 Star Wars When the stormtroopers break into the control room, the stormtrooper on the right of the screen hits his head on the door frame. On the DVD release they’ve added a thump when he hits it.
3 The Rocky Horror Picture Show The criminologist describes the events of the movie as taking place “on a late November evening”. In the very next scene, Brad and Janet are driving in Brad’s car, and President Richard Nixon’s resignation speech is playing on the radio. Nixon resigned in August of 1974.
4 Charlie’s Angels When the Angels are fighting the “Creepy Thin Man,” right before Drew Barrymore lifts up Lucy Liu to spin her around and kick the thin man, to get Lucy’s attention, Drew hollers out “Lucy!” even though Lucy Liu’s character’s name is “Alex.”
5 Gladiator In the “Battle of Carthage” in the Colosseum, one of the chariots is turned over. Once the dust settles you can see a gas cylinder in the back of the chariot.
And don’t forget — anyone who finds 10 of my mistakes on this site gets a free copy of my book!

Interview with Robert Gotlin about Raising Fit Kids

Posted on July 24, 2008 at 8:00 am

Do kids today get less exercise than their parents did? Why?

If I told you kids are playing more sports than their parents did yet they are in worse shape and exercising less, you may look at me as if I have two heads. The truth is, kids are participating in more sport-hours than their parents did, however, the majority of the time spent, playing “team” sports, and is anything but a true “exercise workout.” Just see for yourself. Go and watch a Little league baseball practice…a lot of “standing around” out there. When our parents had free time, it wasn’t standing around and watching on a Little League practice field, rather, it was a trip to the park for a day of playing ALL sports with their friends, and there was not a coach anywhere to be found. The day was all about constant motion.

What are the biggest impediments kids and parents face that make it harder to adopt a healthy lifestyle?

Kids are faced with too many options. There’s the recreational basketball program, then there’s the CYO league, the travel program, the AAU. There are time management issues where everyday can be filled with another team practice, school work suffers, overuse injuries occur, and let’s not forget pressure from mom and/or dad, reminding everyone in an ear’s distance that “their” little six year old indeed is the next Derek Jeter. The pressures facing these young athletes can be overwhelming.

And couple this with many families who nowadays, have two working parents…possibly one parent with two or three different jobs. The family “together-time’ suffers. And when family time suffers, so does the healthy lifestyle concept suffer.

Should all kids play some kind of sport? What are the factors to consider in selecting the right sport for a child?

Every child need NOT play a sport. Every child needs to be physically active and every child needs to be placed in a situation where he/she can succeed. “Success breeds confidence and confidence breeds success.” When a child engages in an activity he/she cannot succeed in, the simple solution is to move on and try something else. Many sports or physical activities offer different benefits, whether it is the martial arts for the hyperactive child or football for the overweight child. And for the child who simply is not an athlete, the “back to the future” mentality works best; a family walk, a game of tag, or simply a day in the park will do fine. One of the key points to consider is whether your child fits best into the TEAM or INDIVIDUAL sport model. This decision needs to be an “unbiased” one and not driven by mom or dad’s own preference.

What do parents need to know to make their communications with coaches and PE teachers most effective?

Communication, communication, communication…I can’t emphasize this enough. Parents should be proactive in assuring the environment for their child is safe and secure. Parents, on the other hand, should not attend a child’s basketball practice to offer their on the court expert opinion. That’s why there is a coach.

The more experienced and more qualified coaches will deliver an outline of their coaching philosophies, expectations, and demands early in the process. This affords the opportunity for Q&A and can eliminate conflict down the road. Offering constructive advice almost always assures mom or dad a seat near the bench. This may be accomplished by organizing a team fund raiser, offering to assist with transportation, or merely letting the coach know you are available if he/she should require assistance with any operational issues.

What can we tell children to minimize injuries and speed recovery?

We can tell kids almost anything to help them minimize and recover from injury. Unfortunately, they only hear a fraction of that which we’ve told them. The most important preventative is to eliminate “horse-play.” In most, if not all, published studies on youth sports injuries, horse-play is the #1 culprit. Rules must be set and kids must understand the implications if the rules are broken.

How do particular foods help or impede optimal athletic performance?

The best advice a clinician, author, or educator can give with reference to food choice is to “eat a well-balanced” diet. Children rarely need to “be on a diet.” Children simply need to eat a well-balanced diet. It is fairly common knowledge that consumption of excessive “sugary” foods can lead to hyperactivity and obesity, an epidemic effecting 50% of today’s younger population.

What are the most important ways to encourage kids to participate in sports?
We really cannot “encourage” a child to participate in a any particular sport, unless there is a desire to do so on their part. This is why it is critical for parents and care-givers to select opportunities for the child for which he/she not only likes, but one in which they have a realistic chance to achieve success at. Understanding that sometimes one never knows the ability a child has at a given sport until he/she tries, the experience must always be viewed in a “positive” manner as the ultimate decision for participation will be the child’s.

What are the most common questions parents have about fitness for kids?
Interestingly, for many questions parents ask, they already know the answer. When a parent asks whether their child can return to play even though the ankle sprain is still causing a limp, their lead line is almost always, “it’s only a minor sprain, he should be ready to play today, don’t you think?”

Some of the other facts are:
Yes, children as young as seven or eight can weight-train so long as there is adult supervision.
Your child needs to drink approximately 2/3 glass of fluid for every one hour they engage in strenuous physical activity.
Yes, children DO need to stretch. Their growing bones tend to increase stress on the supportive ligaments so stretching is essential for a child, more so than for an adult.

What can parents do to encourage schools to promote fitness for kids?
Parents MUST get involved. Join the PTA, sit on committees, and volunteer to assist. Many schools are academically loaded and unfortunately, this has limited physical education classes to almost “none” in many regions. This is not acceptable. Study after study support greater academic success achieved in children who are more physically active and who exercise regularly. Parents must pressure the local school boards to maintain the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports recommendation for physical activity in young children to occur on “most” days of the week for at least 30-45 minutes/day.

How can kids with learning or physical disabilities get the most from fitness programs?

Learning disabilities should in no way alter or adversely influence a child’s potential for achieving optimal physical fitness. Programs simply need to be structured so that the “challenged” child is afforded an opportunity to achieve success.

What’s your favorite sports movie for families?

Two,
Rudy …everyone deserves a chance
Miracle …never say never

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Books Interview

‘Lord Save Us From Your Followers’

Posted on July 23, 2008 at 9:00 am

My good friend Brandon Fibbs has a characteristically thoughtful review in Christianity Today of a new documentary called Lord Save Us From Your Followers from writer-director Dan Merchant.

Merchant’s documentary turns on a deceptively simple question: Why is the gospel of love dividing America? Christianity, he contends, is far more interested in the “gospel of being right” than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fed up with the strident language and angry rhetoric that have come to define modern Christendom, Merchant, a veteran of the entertainment industry, set out to explore the flashpoint of faith and culture in America.
Fibbs says that
What makes the film so powerful is its intractable ability to embrace both the baby and the bathwater. This is a film made by a follower, and therein lies its unique musculature….”If the first half of the film is showing how we’re missing the mark,” Merchant says, “the second half is really an examination of who we’re trying to be. If (the world) wants to criticize (Christians) for the things we do wrong, we should accept it and apologize. But let’s also be honest that that is not the whole picture….” also reveals Christians acting in ways that bring honor to the God they serve, earning the respect of all those around them. Rather than using the Bible as a weapon, these believers use it as a salve, and the response is as simple as it is astonishing. Suddenly Christ and Christians are synonymous again. Says Merchant, “Let’s be so like Christ that others say, ‘You can always count on the Christians when they come around.’ I’d love for us to be that. That’s how Jesus did it.”
I was very touched by Fibbs’ description of Merchant’s open and honest communication and spiritual generosity and look forward to seeing the film.

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Spiritual films

Quotes of the Week: Dark Knight and Mamma Mia

Posted on July 23, 2008 at 8:00 am

The Dark Knight has inspired some very thoughtful reviews. Anonymous DC critic “J.J.” wrote that the film moved him to tears:
Perhaps it’s because the film has characters I grew to care about, scenes that soaked my heart in adrenaline and sociological themes that range from the unsettling to the horrifying. This movie moves beyond good and evil and enters into our world, which is much more complicated than comic books. This is the first film-with-terrorism-metaphor that our age of terrorism deserves. And it will stop your heart.
His description of Heath Ledger’s performance is one of the most astute I’ve seen:

Everything you hear about Heath Ledger is true. And we should’ve expected it. He was the best actor of his generation, and his ability to mash depravity and hilarity into something compulsively watchable…The Joker has never made more sense than he does here…As played by Ledger and as written by the Nolans, the Joker is walking anarchy, cackling sadism, crime for the sake of crime. He is a terrorist without a god to kill for. His actions are beyond random; they are perpetrated not in the name of something but solely for the consequences. And he is capable of understanding (and exploiting) our suppressed desires for this type of anarchy. Ledger makes you root for him, then, inexplicably, makes you feel utterly depraved for doing so.
The moment I saw Mamma Mia! I knew critics would not be able to resist one of my least favorite contemporary terms: “cougar,” used to describe a sexually active woman over 40, usually portrayed as desperate, predatory, and interested in much younger men.
Tanya in the movie, as portrayed by Christine Baranski, is a sexually active woman over 40, but she is far from desperate or predatory and has an entire musical number about resisting the advances of younger men. And yet, she was called a “cougar” by a number of critics including Bill Gibron of Pop Matters and Mike Russell of the Oregonian (who did not like the movie), James Ward of the Visalia Times-Delta (who did), and Chris Hewitt of the Twin Cities’ Pioneer Press (who liked it a lot, and who includes a nice assessment of ABBA’s tunes and lyrics).
If you must, use ABBA lyrics in your headlines. “Take a chance on this movie.” “This winner doesn’t take it all.” But let’s retire the word “cougar,” all right?

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Commentary Quote of the Week