“The Oranges” – Movie Review

 

This weekend, my movie class had its second bonus screening with the comedy–drama, “The Oranges” featuring an ensemble cast which includes Hugh Laurie, Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Allison Janney, Alia Shawkat and Leighton Meester.

 

Synopsis

When New Jersey neighbors have their friendship threatened after the daughter of one couple breaks up the marriage of the other, will they forever remain enemies or can they somehow manage to find a way to forgive and forget?

 

Story

David & Paige Walling (Laurie & Keener) refuse to allow their moribund marriage to interfere with their long – time friendship with West Orange, New Jersey neighbors Terry & Carol Ostroff (Platt & Janney).  Living right across the street from each other, they spend holidays together and celebrate birthdays and anniversaries as if they were family.  In fact, The Ostroffs’ grown – up daughter Nina (Meester) was once close friends with The Wallings’ daughter, Vanessa (Shawkat) until the adventurous Nina decided to travel the world, where she eventually met Ethan, whom she announces she intends to marry and skip returning home for the holidays – both proclamations causing much consternation with her parents. 

Shortly before Thanksgiving, however, Nina surprises everyone by showing up at home suddenly and confesses that she has broken off her engagement with Ethan because she caught him cheating on her.  Settling in, she is dismayed to learn that Carol wants to set her up with The Wallings’ responsible adult son in the hope that she will finally settle down and start taking life a bit more seriously.  But when Nina discovers that David is estranged from Paige, she sets out to flirt with him relentlessly until he eventually succumbs to her charms. 

Ultimately, Carol discovers their secret affair, which not only breaks up The Walling family, but also, causes an unavoidable schism between the neighboring families.   Wallowing in remorse, David informs Nina that their affair must end, but she convinces him otherwise and they wind up a couple, further infuriating an already embarrassed Vanessa, who now sees Nina as her mortal enemy.  But when Ethan shocks everyone by unexpectedly showing up at their home around Christmastime, will he be able to win back Nina or will she stay with David?   

 

Review

This ensemble cast is a sheer pleasure to watch – with two of my favorite actresses (Keener & Janney) leading the pack.  While I characterized “The Oranges” as a comedy – drama, I found that while certain scenes were most definitely played for laughs, it felt more like a drama than a comedy – in fact, more like a tragedy than a mere drama.  Another reason why I say this is because despite the fact that this cast includes many actors quite adept – if not known for – their comedy skills, some of the jokes fell a bit flat, especially against the backdrop of this rather unpleasant story. 

Prior to the screening, our instructor described this film as something of an anti-holiday movie – instead of one of those traditionally warm and fuzzy feel-good family flicks, “The Oranges” tended to focus on the dark side of holiday get-togethers with button-pushing family members and friends.  While that’s definitely true, and there might be something of a black comedy element to the motion picture, I would have preferred to have seen it played as a straight drama.  That said, however, I would quickly add that the filmmakers did an excellent job of playing all characters even-handedly – that is to say, not making any one of them out to be either a total villain or a goody-two-shoes. 

Following the screening, our instructor interviewed the film’s producer, Anthony Bregman.  While the title of producer may often be rather amorphous – if not entirely ambiguous at times – Bregman said that he had a rather clear and specific idea of what his role was on almost any given production.  Bregman said that he considered himself responsible for overseeing the entire process, whether it was acquiring the financing, assembling the cast, making budget decisions or supervising the post – production.  Bregman’s interview was excellent in that it not merely focused on producing, but also a wide-ranging discussion on the filmmaking process in general.    

 

“Butter” – Movie Review

 

This weekend, the bonus screenings in my movie class resumed with “Butter”, a comedy with a large cast of well-known names, including Jennifer Garner, Ty Burrell, Olivia Wilde, Rob Corddry, Alicia Silverstone and Hugh Jackman. 

Synopsis

When a well-known woman in a small town decides to enter a butter carving contest, an obscure little girl with superior skills challenges her for the state title – but can the woman somehow find a way to win by cheating?

Story

In Iowa City, Iowa, Laura & Bob Pickler (Garner & Burrell) are considered royalty.  Bob is a champion butter carver who has gained increasing notoriety over the years having won contest after contest.  Laura has been a supportive wife and has managed to leverage her husband’s success into a small degree of fame for herself.  But when Bob agrees to retire from the competition at the behest of the judging committee, Laura is infuriated – without the gleam of the spotlight shining upon her, she fears loss of her self – esteem. 

Berating Bob for backing down, Laura drives him from their home where he hooks up with Brooke (Wilde), a dancer at a strip club.  But once she feels cheated out of money owed for services rendered, Brooke stalks The Picklers in the hope that she will eventually get paid.  Amidst all of this, Laura decides that the best way to keep positive attention on her is to enter the butter carving contest herself, even though she has no experience either carving butter or being in competitions such as this. 

Meanwhile, a 10 year old girl named Destiny (Yara Shahidi), who has been shuttled from one set of foster parents to another for most of her life, suddenly finds that she may have an artistic talent of her own when she is sent to live with Ethan & Julie (Corddry & Silverstone).  Realizing that she might be able to win the butter carving championship herself, she enters the competition, pitting herself directly against Laura.  But when Laura convinces her old high school flame (Jackman) to help her in defeating Destiny, will her evil plan succeed or will Destiny be able to beat the odds and win the butter carving contest? 

 

Review

Prior to the screening, our instructor discussed that the movie we were about to see was a satire.  To me, a satire is something that picks a big subject, then pokes a huge hole in it to deflate it for the purpose of targeting something that takes itself very seriously and trivializing it by making it look completely foolish.  Perhaps an excellent example of this to illustrate my point would be Chaplin’s film, “The Great Dictator”, which rather effectively lampooned Adolph Hitler. 

That is where I think the motion picture “Butter” seems to fail.  For me, it starts out being a bit on the mean spirited side by sending up a group of people who aren’t all that worthy of being made fun of – Midwesterners who lead a simple, uncomplicated lifestyle either by choice or by chance.  Many times over the years, we have heard political accusations by the right wing accusing a blatantly biased liberal media -- which does not represent their perspective or values -- of skewing the information they disseminate in order to serve their own hidden agenda.  Regardless of whether or not that accusation has any merit, the film does manage to unintentionally make villains of the intellectual liberals of Hollywood by making them look superior to less sophisticated people who work hard, who may or may not have limited opportunities and who can’t relate to the value system that pseudo-intellectuals of the media seem to hold quite dear. 

There are, however, a number of bright spots to “Butter” – with such a terrific cast, there are a great many fine performances, not the least of which being the little girl who challenges Garner’s character throughout the film.  Also, there are some good jokes that pop up occasionally – but not frequently enough for me.  Last but not least, there is Olivia Wilde as a stripper.  What more do I need to say?  Oh, yeah – she has a lesbian scene. 

 

“Adeline” – Movie Review

 

“Adeline” from Riva Nova Films is a short film that was recently selected to play at The 9th Annual Big Apple Film Festival in New York City screening at the Tribeca Cinemas in late 2012; the film was brought to my attention by its director Joseph Arnone , who collaborated on the piece with its actress, Daniella Alma , who portrays the title character.  The eight minute film may either be viewed below or on Vimeo, where you may also leave comments.  The filmmaker describes his effort as follows: 

The story opens up to reveal a poet’s life or death circumstances. Played by Daniella Alma, the character Adeline decides to literally dig up her past with shovel in hand, reaching deep into the ground to reconnect with a book of her most personal writings. Over the course of this short film we experience the inner battle that Adeline encounters with her darker self.

According to its post on Vimeo, the film “Adeline” is supposed to resonate the following quote from the British writer Virginia Woolf:

'It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality...Had I not killed her she would have killed me.'

Review:

The choice of music for this piece was excellent; the film was scored well as it defines an appropriate mood to set up the story we were about to be told – very dark, very foreboding.  Additionally, the filmmaker’s decision to use establishing shots showed some rather solid technique.  Generally, the film was well-shot and maintained a quite professional and elegant look to it all throughout in terms of technical attributes of composition and shot selection.  “Adeline” showed a wise use of its modest resources, as far as its production values are concerned. 

All of that said, however, I must add that stylistically, I found “Adeline” to be Bergmanesque to a fault.  Add Death playing a game of chess with the film’s title character, and it would be complete.  Also, I felt that its attempts at symbolism and allegory were artistically heavy-handed, especially in a short film, where less would have been more.  One note about this film that was otherwise shot rather well is the fact that the lighting was a little too dim at times; while I believe this was to keep with the overall dark mood of the story, it made things a bit challenging to watch at times. 

While I haven’t yet seen any other works by this aspiring director, I would say that based solely on my viewing of “Adeline”, he has a good career as a cinematographer lying ahead.  As a director, however, I found this film to be somewhat lacking in its clarity, narrative and overall story-telling ability.  Alternating between color and black and white was rather confusing; were the black and white scenes supposed to be dream sequences or flashbacks?  Difficult to tell from what I saw. 

What do you think?  Feel free to leave a comment here or on Vimeo (from the link above). 

 

Mystery Whiskies

 

As summer ends and the air gets a bit of a chill, I am suddenly reminded that the spirit of choice for the new season will once again be whisk(e)y.  For me, summer is a time to give whiskies a bit of a vacation so I can allow my tongue a few months to cool off.  But with the autumnal equinox upon us, it’s time to get back on that sturdy brown pony for yet another ride.  And what better way to re-train your palate than with a tasting of various whiskies that are new to me – if not new to the market altogether?  That’s why I recently attended a tasting called “The Best Whiskies You’ve Never Had” at The Astor Center of New York City. 

A mixture of bourbons and scotches, the tasting featured some familiar brands offering new expressions as well as a few brands previously unknown to me. 

By far the best bourbon I had the entire day was 1792 Ridgemont Reserve.  Although I had heard of 1792 before, this was the first time I can recall ever having a taste.  For those of you who are similarly unfamiliar with the brand, 1792 is based in Kentucky – in fact, their home is where their name comes from.  Kentucky was made the 15th state of the United States in the year 1792 – so, as a proud reminder of that landmark, they decided to name the company after the year Kentucky earned its statehood. 

Its 93 proof Ridgemont Reserve is just about as smooth as a bourbon can get; with 51% corn, its smoothness comes from a high concentration of rye in its recipe (the manufacturer keeps its recipe something of a secret, but it is believed that some degree of hops and barley are also included among its ingredients).  During its eight year aging process, the company keeps its spirit in the same barrel all throughout, but interestingly, moves the barrel to different locations in its warehouse during that period of time.  The reason for this is due to the fact that they discovered as much as a 20 degree difference in temperature variations in various parts of the warehouse, which has an impact on the bourbon.  In warmer temperatures, the wood from the barrel tends to absorb more of the spirit, imparting greater flavor; in cooler temperatures, the barrel tends to deflect the bourbon, allowing it to instead just sit untouched in the barrel.  They found that moving the barrel throughout its aging impacts the taste of the bourbon in a way that somewhat evens it out prior to bottling. 

As far as Scotches are concerned, my recommendation from this tasting is the Dun Bheagan Laphroaig 10 year Sherry Cask.  At this point some of you might be scared off by the mention of Laphroaig, given its notoriously smoky taste (“Feels like I’m drinking an ashtray”, as I heard one man describe the sensation).  But do make sure to give this one a chance because it’s quite different from the 10 year old Laphroaig most of us are used to. 

The reason for the difference is due to the fact that it is finished in sherry casks for the last six to eight months of its aging process; this slight change winds up having an enormous impact on its flavor.  Just a relatively short time in the sherry casks imparts a degree of sweetness to the scotch, making the smokiness from the peat considerably less harsh to the taste – but make no mistake about it, you can most definitely still taste that peat!   

 

“Arbitrage”–Movie Review

 

This weekend, the bonus screenings for the Fall Semester of  my movie class began with the drama “Arbitrage”, starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Tim Roth.

Synopsis

When the billionaire owner of a major investment firm involves himself in cover-ups in both his personal and professional life, will he lose his family and his business as a result?

 

Story

At the age of 60, Robert Miller (Gere) is proud of both his family and the wildly successful investment company he spent a lifetime building.  But despite this achievement – or perhaps because of it –  he is a man with many dark secrets, both professionally and personally.  In his private life, he has a mistress – Julie (Laetitia Casta), a beautiful young French woman who aspires to become a renowned art gallery owner.  Miller is maintaining ultimate discretion so that his wife Ellen (Sarandon) and daughter Brooke (Brit Marling) remain in the dark.  Professionally, he is hiding his company’s loss of hundreds of millions of dollars so as not to ruin the potential sale of his business – and since Brooke is his Chief Investment Officer, he must keep this a secret from her, too. 

The lies increase by many orders of magnitude when Miller crashes his car while taking Julie out of town for a brief getaway.  As a result of the accident, Julie perishes and he is seriously injured.  Realizing he can’t be connected to this, Miller decides to find a pay phone where he can call for help rather than use his cell phone, which would be traceable.  Making his way down the road, the wrecked car explodes, causing Julie’s body to be burned beyond recognition.  Finding a gas station, Miller calls Jimmy (Nate Parker), the son of a deceased business colleague.  Jimmy drives out to pick up Miller, who hasn’t reported the incident to the police. 

It is at this point that police Detective Michael Bryer (Roth) becomes involved.  Investigating what appears to be a manslaughter case, he interviews Miller and becomes suspicious; despite frequent attempts to talk with Ellen as well, she rebuffs him at every turn.  Convinced that he has enough evidence to tie Jimmy to the case, Bryer has him brought before a grand jury, where Jimmy might perjure himself.  All the while, Miller’s business deal looks like it’s going to fall through even though his company has somehow managed to pass an independent audit.  Will Miller be able to untangle himself from possible criminal charges while simultaneously close the deal on selling his business? 

 

Review

The term “arbitrage” refers to the purchase of securities in one market in order to sell them in another market where a profit may be made due to a more favorable price.  I mention this not to insult your intelligence, but rather because I honestly didn’t know what it was and I had to look it up since I’m no financial wizard.  Which brings me to my first point about the movie “Arbitrage” – as an outsider to this world, I feel as though it would’ve been helpful to explain to viewers who were ignorant about such matters what exactly the term “arbitrage” refers to so they could better understand the business dealings here – and also make the title much more meaningful. 

My other gripe with this film has to do with its ending, which I will call a bit abrupt, to say the least.  The story is progressing at a rather good clip and it feels as though the filmmaker suddenly slammed on the brakes because he didn’t quite know how to end the movie.  This was rather frustrating; once the end titles start to appear on screen, I found myself reacting, “Huh?  What?  You mean it’s over?  Really?”.  So after all of that, I was left feeling deeply unsatisfied by the ending of “Arbitrage” because I didn’t get a sense as though the story had been completely wrapped up.  Too bad, since this was an otherwise interesting and suspenseful story.  Tim Roth’s performance alone makes it worth seeing.

Following the screening, our class had a brief discussion of the movie.  While the majority of the class seemed to like “Arbitrage”, our instructor also pointed out the weakness of the ending and expressed a similar disappointment that there were way too many loose threads left dangling.  He mentioned that this was the first directorial effort of Nicholas Jarecki, who also wrote the screenplay.  The instructor pointed out many excellent technical devices Jarecki used in directing the movie, including and especially the use of music to highlight a sense of impending danger, particularly leading up to the car crash. 

 

“Mortality” – Book Review

 

Death and Christopher Hitchens:  ah, at last, two of the topics I find most compelling contained in a single book!  When the author left us far too early at the end of 2011 after succumbing to esophageal cancer, the question begged to be asked next was whether or not we had seen the last of Hitchens’ writings compiled in book form?  As it turns out, “Mortality”, a collection of essays on his illness written for the magazine Vanity Fair, was recently published for eager fans hungry to scarf down whatever few crumbs might remain from the author’s extensive and impressive oeuvre.  

“Mortality” is a book of eight chapters, sandwiched in between a Foreword by Hitchens’ former Vanity Fair colleague, Graydon Carter, and an Afterword by Hitchens’ widow, Carol Blue.  Of the eight chapters, the first seven were written by Hitchens exclusively for Vanity Fair following his diagnosis of cancer; the last chapter is essentially a mélange of sundry jottings by the author, many of which were used as the seed of an idea for a subsequent article.  

In June of 2011, shortly after commencing a tour to promote his latest book, the autobiography “Hitch-22”, the author was struck with extreme chest pains upon rising one morning.  Not unreasonably assuming he was in the throes of a possibly fatal heart attack, he immediately called the hotel’s doctor and told him he was having an emergency; Hitchens wound up being taken to the hospital and upon further examination, a biopsy was scheduled on the suspicion of cancer.  Unfortunately, as we all now know, the suspicions were well-founded and Hitchens’ time on this planet would only wind up lasting another year and a half after the dreaded diagnosis. 

Despite his illness being exacerbated by seemingly endless rounds of debilitating chemotherapy treatments, Hitchens insisted on pressing on with his work not only by composing these essays for his magazine, but also by continuing with the promotional tour for “Hitch-22”, so as not to disappoint either his publisher or others depending on him.  Yet somehow, he also managed to squeeze out another book, “Arguably”, a massive collection of essays on a wide variety of topics. 

Spending over 18 months living in what the author frequently refers to in this book as “Tumortown”, Hitchens proves that he was as capable of dying just as gracefully as he lived.  The obvious question was whether he would recant his extensively-documented atheistic philosophy in the end as death drew ever nearer; he answered this question resoundingly in “Mortality”, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that a sudden turnabout would simply not be in the cards, unless the cancer had completely eaten away at his brain and bestowed upon him an extra-large dose of dementia in his end-stages. 

One criticism I have of the book – and believe me, it’s a slight one – is the inclusion of the eighth chapter; ultimately, we probably could’ve done without this because of its disjointed ramblings of a writer’s notes likely never intended by its author to see the light of day in that form.  Presumably, the publisher chose to include it in order to justify the $23 price of this hardcover because the book is already pretty short; at just over 100 pages, not including the Foreword, and set in large type, this is most certainly a quick read – in spite of being a slow reader, I was able to conquer this mini-tome within a single weekend. 

Not only was Hitchens scholarly and thorough in the research of his topics, he was also dedicated and often courageous, which doubtlessly added to the palpable authenticity of his writing.  Perhaps no better example of this was the personal peril he risked when investigating waterboarding used as a torture device by the American government at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.  Below is a video of his own experience being waterboarded by “experts” in the field. 

 

 

“Gone Bamboo” – Book Review

 

Recently, I read “Gone Bamboo”, a novel by Anthony Bourdain.

Story

Henry is a CIA-trained assassin who was hired to take out Charlie, a mobster on the verge of giving it all up to the Feds.  But when Charlie survives the attempted hit, Henry and his wife Frances go into semi-retirement on a Caribbean island where they live in a hotel and spend their days drinking on the sun-drenched beach.  After Charlie recovers and flips to the FBI, he is then placed in the Federal Government’s Witness relocation program and ultimately winds up on the same island as Henry and Frances.  Once a transvestite mob boss discovers where they’re both located, he sets out to have them whacked – but can Henry and Charlie put their past behind them in order to team up to escape the murder attempt and exact revenge on the mob?

 

Review

Chef, television personality and author Anthony Bourdain has long had an affinity for The Mafia – doubtless due to the fact that some of the restaurants where he used to work were likely mob-owned and run.  His recent hosting gig on AMC’s Mob Week attests to his affection for these stories, as do some of his novels -- “Gone Bamboo” being one of them (previously reviewed here), “Bone In The Throat” being another.  He writes with great verve and humor in general as well as throughout this book in particular.  As dangerous as these characters are, he somehow manages to imbue them with humanity and wit. 

Given the fact that the book is such a quick read (I breezed through the first 21 of its 46 chapters in an entire afternoon), it is perfect for either a vacation read or for the beach in these waning days of summer.  Between its story’s strong forward momentum, the author’s writing style and his unique sense of humor, “Gone Bamboo” is ultimately quite entertaining mind candy that can be consumed in rather short order.  Also, given the fact that much of the action takes place on a Caribbean island (likely Saint Martin), this makes it an ideal beach or vacation read as well. 

A couple of months ago, it was announced that Bourdain’s “Bone In The Throat” would finally be made into a movie; exactly what took so long is hard to say since the book was published a number of years ago – in all likelihood, it probably wound up optioned many times, each instance of which resulting in the Hollywood Hell of turnaround on each and every occasion.  Regardless, I would hope that this will motivate a studio executive to want to produce a motion picture version of “Gone Bamboo” as this would almost certainly make an excellent film as well – especially if Bourdain himself was hired to write its screenplay.   

“The Bourne Legacy”–Movie Review

 

This weekend, my movie class had the summer’s final bonus screening with “The Bourne Legacy” starring Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz.

 

Synopsis

When leaders of a Special Operations Team of the CIA decide to terminate their group for security reasons, agents on that team suddenly start turning up dead around the world – but can the one agent who survived somehow manage to keep himself alive against all odds?

 

Story

Special Operations Agent Aaron Cross (Renner) is on a training mission somewhere in Alaska when he discovers that someone is out to get him – little does he know, however, that this someone is the head of the team for which he works.  Oblivious to the fact that his colleagues are perishing all around the globe, Cross nevertheless suspects that this sudden assassination attempt may have something to do with a secretive scientific experiment in which he – and the other agents on his team – took part.  Cross then decides to return to Maryland, where the lab conducting the tests is located.

Meanwhile, back at this lab, Dr. Marta Shearing (Weisz) – one of the scientists conducting these experiments – barely manages to escape an attempt on her life when a trusted co-worker goes rogue and murders several of her colleagues before committing suicide. Following this incident, agents are sent to Shearing’s home to ensure that she is coping with this trauma – but when it turns out that their true mission is to finish the job started by the rogue co-worker, she struggles to save herself.  It is at this point Cross intercedes and rescues Shearing – but not before getting some questions answered. 

Shearing explains that Cross and the other agents have been part of an experiment seeking to strengthen the team both physically and mentally by plying them with a virus that may have unknown side effects.  Informing him that removing the virus from his system will require travelling to The Philippines to obtain a serum that may also have its own dangerous side effects, the two set out on the excursion with the leaders of the Special Ops team tracking them all the way.  But when a Bangkok assassin is sent to kill both Cross and Shearing, can the two escape before he catches up with them?

 

Review

A movie such as “The Bourne Legacy” is an unusual one for my class to screen.  For one thing, it’s a major Hollywood studio release that has a potential for big box office even without any word of mouth from our group.  Another reason why it’s unusual is due to the fact that it’s an action-adventure film, which is something that is rarely selected for us.  Regardless, I would say that while “The Bourne Legacy” is in no way short on fist fights, gunplay and chase scenes – things for which the franchise has long been known – it comes up short in terms of plot. 

While I made a stab at trying to provide a story description above, I have to admit that very little of “The Bourne Legacy” made sense to me.  I found its story convoluted, difficult to follow and essentially incomprehensible.  Although major characters from previous films in this series are alluded to in one way or another, one still is left rather puzzled trying to figure out exactly what the connection is supposed to be with Jason Bourne.  Based on what I’ve seen in “The Bourne Legacy” it would appear that this franchise has completely jumped the shark and its creators have simply run out of ideas. 

Following the screening, our class had a brief discussion about “The Bourne Legacy”.  I was greatly relieved to learn that I was not the only one left utterly befuddled by this film. Our instructor confessed that he was perplexed as well and he asked the class if anyone else was similarly confused; a great majority of the students admitted to scratching their head over this flick.  Should you see “The Bourne Legacy”?  Well, if you are willing to plunk down your cash to totally turn off your brain and just sit back and watch a couple of hours of mindless violence, then by all means, go for it; on the other hand, if you are hoping for a movie with an engaging, coherent story, then you may want to consider passing on this one.  

 

“Hello I Must Be Going” – Movie Review

 

This week in the final session of my movie class, we saw the romantic comedy that opened the Sundance Film Festival,  “Hello I Must Be Going”, starring Melanie Lynskey and Christopher Abbott.

Synopsis

When a recently divorced woman moves in with her parents, friction with her mother develops – but when she meets a much younger man, will he help mend her broken heart or only serve to complicate matters further?

Story

Amy (Lynskey) is going through a pretty tough time right about now – in the process of a divorce, she has returned home to live with her parents in their expansive Connecticut house. In the throes of a massive depression due to her current situation, she has been sleeping late, not dressing and refusing to leave the house. At the urging of her mother (Blythe Danner), Amy makes an effort to re-integrate herself into society by going shopping and trying to make new friends, as painful as this may be for her. Attending a dinner party thrown by her parents, Amy meets Jeremy (Abbott), a much younger man who is pursuing an acting career.

Despite feeling uneasy over the age difference, Amy nevertheless permits herself to engage in a torrid affair with Jeremy. However, since he also lives in the nearby house of his parents and is the son of someone with whom her lawyer father has to do business, they both must keep their romance a secret. Further necessitating the secrecy is the fact that Jeremy’s mother is incorrectly convinced that her son is gay – not entirely sure how she drew that conclusion, Jeremy nevertheless decides to allow her to continue her fantasy merely because it seems to please her for some reason. Meanwhile, Amy’s brother and his wife attempt to fix her up with a friend who’s also divorced.

Eventually, it comes out that Jeremy and Amy have a friendship, but it is believed to be platonic. As the business deal of Amy’s father appears nearing a crescendo, she and Jeremy find that they are increasingly reliant on each other. Fearing that the intensity of their relationship may negatively influence her father’s business deal, she breaks it off with Jeremy, only to later realize that their feelings for each other are genuine. With Jeremy now trying to move on with his life, can Amy somehow manage to win him back – and in so doing, prevent any problems from ruining her father’s lucrative business deal?

Review

If you are a Marx Brothers fan as I am, then you know exactly what the title of this movie is referencing; in fact, at various points throughout the film, the character of Amy is seen viewing various Marx Brothers classics as a sort of emotional comfort food. While “Hello I Must Be Going” has a well-constructed script with a realistic ending that makes perfect sense, the movie as a whole doesn’t stand up very well. At times, it seems a little on the bland side, perhaps because I sensed very little chemistry between the two leads; it was hard to understand why Jeremy would be interested in Amy since she came across as such a sad sack and dressed in a rather dowdy manner, in addition to exuding a vibe that suggested she simply didn’t want to be bothered.

I think the character of Amy is what bothered me most about the movie because I felt that she was just dug so deeply into her depression that I found it to be difficult to root for her. In some ways, she seemed self-sabotaging and unwilling to actively participate in essentially what amounted to saving her own life – it almost appeared that she was awaiting some Act Of God to salvage her. To a degree, that was what happened when Jeremy fell into her lap, but she still spent an inordinate amount of time feeling sorry for herself. Does that accurately portray the way a person suffering from clinical depression truly behaves? Maybe, but if so, then she doesn’t exactly make for a terribly sympathetic character.

Following the screening, our instructor interviewed the movie’s two stars, Melanie Lynskey and Christopher Abbott. Abbott talked about his experiences auditioning and his background coming from Connecticut to seek an acting career in New York City. He was asked about his work on the HBO show “Girls” and said that the strong reaction to the program took him somewhat by surprise; recently, he has been shooting episodes for its second season and maintains that the cast and crew seem unfazed by its popularity. Lynskey, who is originally from New Zealand, talked a little bit about the time she spent working on the CBS sit-com “Two And A Half Men”. Contrary to the behavior Charlie Sheen exhibited last year, she said that Sheen was very normal during the time that the two worked together – he always showed up on time, never missed a day and knew his lines as well as any other actor on the set.

 

 

The Gin & Tonic Invitational

 

Recently, I attended one of my favorite summer tasting events at Union Square Wines & Spirits – The Gin & Tonic Invitational! 

While many of the gins were indeed served with tonic water, some were served on their own and a few even offered in different types of cocktails altogether. 

Can you wrap your head around a brown-colored gin?  That was the offering from Ransom this year with their Old Tom Gin.  Aged in American Oak barrels that previously held Pinot Noir, this is something of a unique Old Tom Gin in the sense that they do not add sugar.  Instead, the sweetness comes from the Pinot Noir that remains in the barrels in which it was aged.  Traditionally, Old Tom Gin was made by adding sugar to kill the taste of the bad home – made bathtub gin done during Prohibition which necessitated an amateur distillation process. 

It’s hard for me to remain completely objective about The New York Distilling Company, especially since they are located in my very own Brooklyn neighborhood.  But they have a very unique gin that I wound up purchasing after the tasting – it’s called The Dorothy Parker American Gin.  At 88 proof, it contains a total of eight botanicals, including Juniper Berries, Lemon Peel, Orange Peel, Coriander, Cardamom Pods, Sweet Cinnamon, Elderberries and Dried Hibiscus Petals; the Juniper is 12:1 to Elderberry and 26:1 to Hibiscus Petals.  This combination of botanicals results in an unusually pungent gin that would go well in a Negroni. 

Another Brooklyn-based gin manufacturer is a company called The Greenhook Ginsmiths, located a short distance north of my own neighborhood in that borough.  Their name comes from Greenpoint, the area in Brooklyn where they are headquartered; the original Dutch name for that section was Greenhook, so that is how they came to name their company.  Having only been around since February of this year, they have only two products on the market – one a gin (The American Dry Gin) and the other a gin-based liqueur (The Beach Plum).   

Hayman’s is a London gin producing company I’m familiar with, having enjoyed their Old Tom Gin for quite some time now.  They now have a new product on the market – in fact, it’s only been around for a couple of months.  It’s called The Royal Dock Navy Strength Gin and is some mighty powerful stuff at 114 (or 57% alcohol, for those of you keeping score at home). Made with a total of nine botanicals, it has a distinctively sharp taste but a very subtle nose.   The reason for the name comes from the high level of alcohol in the spirit.

Basically, the British government discouraged their sailors from drinking, but knew this would be an unrealistic goal to achieve.  So instead, they set a requirement that whatever gin that was on board ship had to have an unusually high alcohol content.  The reason for this was due to the fact that the gunpowder used to fire their cannonballs would sometimes get wet and as a result, would not ignite when the cannon’s fuse was lit; the Navy eventually determined that if a spirit was, at a minimum, 57% alcohol, then it would not have a deleterious impact on the gunpowder – it would still light, even when wet, and they would be able to shoot their cannonballs successfully.