Review: G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra, (500) Days of Summer

Cobra Commander can't handle Summer

First, I'll start with G.I. Joe. There are some real fun action sequences and tech stuff, and G.I. Joe back in the day was always about the tech. Stephen Sommers, the guy who brought us the ridiculously terrible The Mummy franchise and Van Helsing (a blemish on Hugh Jackman's career) manages to not do anything too terribly stupid this time around, and made a G.I. Joe live action cartoon for grown ups (or the sort of grown up), which is saying a lot.

I had to laugh, though, at Sienna Miller's Baronness and her bursting chesticles and super high heels - it turns out Cobra Commander programmed his own sister to dress like a killer slut. Anyway, Miller is one of those performers that I think is incredibly beautiful and charming in a very natural way, but she is totally miscast here and she doesn't even get to use her own British accent, which is funny because the Baronness in the cartoon was British. Go figure what these chowderheads in Hollywood are up to with that, maybe shades of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

The beefcake who plays Duke is a non-starter in every possible way, and add a Wayans brother as his sidekick, and you have a major snoozefest with the two leads. The best characters here are Scarlett and Stormshadow. They really try to get you to invest in the Snake Eyes/Stormshadow subplot, which all Joe nerds are obsessed with, but I never cared and continue to not care. Their fights were cool, though.

500 Days of Summer is a guy version of the chick flick, about a dude who gets played by the new office girl, and a role-reversal ensues which results in a lot of misery for the guy, a change of heart for the girl (just not with him), and a hopeful ending. Deschanel is charming as always, although her character is so selfish that she is unlikeable and perhaps that is the point - the outside is attractive, but it's what is on the inside that counts. Not to mention, her character warns the guy up front about her non-committal ways, and he does not heed her warning and pretty much brings it upon himself by thinking that more or less he will change her mind or it will all work itself out. She does change her mind, but then moves right on to the next guy. A cautionary tell for all modern metrosexuals.

Which brings me to the guy, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock From The Sun, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), a sort of angrier and creepier version of Keanu Reeves. His performance is as a nice guy doormat who you feel sympathy for, and at one moment the pain of loss and betrayal in his face is so great, that I almost shed a tear. The film is very well directed by Marc Webb and features a likeable supporting cast. Not to mention a great soundtrack, but then it's one of those indie films.

Recent Vintage Finds in Oklahoma

Oklahoma is very green and lush right now. They are not having a drought like Central Texas.

Okay, this is a total Summer of Love shirt, in poly, which I normally do not do (yuk!). But, I had to make an exception, because the detail was so Tory Burch, and also because I love the fringe!!! I look like a hip Indian maiden when I wear it, or like I escaped from the episode of Star Trek were Kirk got a concussion and found a bride on the alien paradise where everyone looked like Native Americans. Did I mention the label is: Right On! ?

These Pink Elephants on Parade appear to be some kind of mid-century party-tastic drinking glasses with an ice bucket. They were just so adorable my mom had to pick them up.

70s Daisy Kitchen Canisters which will soon be joining my younger sister's very thrifted apartment in Katy, TX. Cute!

Natural Beauty Secrets by Deborah Rutledge. I've included one of the illustrations, but it basically goes into inexpensive beauty treatments that have been around forever, in that special 60s housewife way. The writing is light, engaging and subtlety humorous - it was too retro to pass up. (I'm trying one of them as I type this.)

This Weenie Dog planter was scored at a Goodwill in Austin, TX, but I threw it in for good measure. My mom is a fan of them and Tucker dog is her #1 fan.

We also stepped across the border to Kansas. Kansas, to me, is the home of Superman and the Wizard of Oz. Needless to say, do not eat Mexican food in Kansas.

Review: Julie and Julia

Butter. Yummy...

This is a charming movie that on the surface is about food and romance, but beneath, it's really about where we draw our passion in life from and where we place our priorities. The answer the movie suggests is: love. Joy from being loved, living a life well-loved, and finding a way to pour this into what we do and why we do it.



It's a very powerful message at a time when people are driven by self-serving personal ambition and heartily encouraged to do so in the culture. Julia Child is inspiring simply for her determination to succeed but the movie suggests it's never at the expense of others, rather on her own merits and that she was known for being warm and congenial even in difficult situations (something Ackroyd picked up on in his famous SNL sketch which is briefly shown).

It's also a beautiful love story: gigantic Julia Child (played to perfection by Meryl Streep) and her much shorter husband, Paul (Stanley Tucci), delight in each other - yes, it's a bit of a chick-flick, but it goes enough against the typical formula that it deserves special commendation. And it makes you very, very hungry. I am already a burgeoning foodie, so this was foodie movie heaven for me.

Amy Adams (so fun in Enchanted) is always fun to watch perform, but Streep and Tucci are really the stars here. Streep really is wonderful, but I'm sure she won't get an award simply because she's not grilling priests or dealing with Terribly Shocking Subject Matter. I'm not one of those people that runs out to see a movie just because she is in it, but Streep admits in interviews she "ate" her way through this role, so I hope she enjoyed using the Method for once.

I get my Dior from Goodwill!

Here are some recent thrift store finds:

Joseph A. Banks cloth belt from the 80s - $3 from Goodwill. Looks great over a white dress or a silk top with jeans or skirts.

I've been seeing a lot of vintage Gap and Old Navy at the thrift stores lately. The older stuff is of a better quality than the newer items. This silk jacket has some lovely detail and for the hot Texas weather it was a great deal for $5.

This incredible peplum dress from Goodwill ($10) is a Christian Dior silk dress which also carries a Neiman's label. Looks like it was produced in the '80s, is in excellent condition, with very little wear or pulling. The print at first was a little "grandma", but when I tried it on I fell in love with the peplum (so well made!) and the fit. It reminds me a little of the Balenciaga dresses that have been popping up this year.

This is a signed and numbered piece of china which is going to be a present for my visit to Grandma this week! So sweet.

An adorable Dooney and Bourke that crosses the body with one of my favorite things: tassels! It has the styling of a penny loafer on the sides and was $12 from Goodwill in excellent condition.

Rant: Judd Apatow & Co.

By movie's end, sort of sweet Seth Rogan's character, Ira, kisses the Lisa Cardinelli Velma from Scooby Doo cute -girl-comedian-next-door-character after learning she's had sex with his ego maniacal and vapid actor roommate, who looks and acts a bit like a girl. Shouldn't Ira be concerned she will leave him for a really funny lesbian comedianne sometime in the near future? This is a happy ending in Apatow-land.

Judd Apatow has his formula down now: take a lovable comedian able to pull off the sensitive and non-threatening everyman, dump them into a crass and sex-or drug-fueled world where we sort of learn something sort of meaningful, once you dig for a really, really long time (2 hours, really?) beneath all of the sex and drug jokes.

There were some funny moments in Funny People, where you laughed even though you know you shouldn't. There were some sort of great moments of vulnerability from Sandler (who I've enjoyed greatly in his previous serious roles due to said vulnerability), and at one point I thought that maybe Apatow was trying to make some meaningful commentary on fame and had a game Sandler to go along with it taking the mirror to his own career. But, nope. Just scratched the surface of that, and instead favors plenty of jokes about getting laid and penis size.

Apatow & Co. want to have it both ways. They give lip service to traditional values, but then regularly discard them in favor of the 'ol comedy tropes of getting laid and living happily ever after.

Apatow does get cudos for accurately portraying the misery and emptiness of the comedy and fame circuit in Los Angeles and for throughly mocking the personality types that gravitate to this industry.

While Eric Bana is very nice to look at, he can't seem to get a break with roles these days which don't seem to showcase his natural charm or talent (Star Trek), but hire him as the misplaced beefcake who seems to be acting in a more serious movie than the one he's actually in.

Reading: The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

A ghost that has been haunting an English manor for hundreds of years has finally met his match when an American family moves in and takes over.

As a satirist, Oscar Wilde can do no wrong in my book. He's so sharp and droll that I can literally pick up anything he's written and I'm guaranteed amusement.

The Canterville Ghost is a short story that is essentially a critique of American views at the time of its writing - crass commercialism and the refusal to acknowledge the supernatural (despite largely identifying as Christians of some sort or another). Very appropriate for our times, I think!

It's filled with wit and humor and worth checking out if you have a couple of hours to kill.

Movie Review: Moon

Moon stars Sam Rockwell (who I love) and was made for the hefty price tag of $5 million dollars. That's a joke, because today $5M is beans for a science fiction movie. It received a lot of good reviews, but I have to say it was a little on the thin side story-wise.

On the one hand, while I appreciate the stripping away of a lot of the sci-fi fakery that goes on nowadays in movies calling themselves sci-fi, in the end I just felt that although the premise was very interesting it was executed in a mundane way. Had it explored it on a slightly more thoughtful level, they might have pulled it off, but in my opinion the script was just not up to it.

Not to say that it's not worth seeing for people who are interested in film, but not for that price and not on the big screen. Maybe more is being made of it than should for the fact that it's directed by Duncan Jones (who is David Bowie's son) and was made for so little.