When the final credits roll, my reaction to a movie is ultimately adrenal. I felt it, or I didn’t. I laughed, or I didn’t. I was moved by the characters and the story, or I wasn’t.

Kimberly and I went to see Gran Torino last night, and I felt it. To my amazement, Kimberly liked it at least as much as I did. 

This is an odd thing to say about a Clint Eastwood production — or any movie, come to think of it — but it’s the most spiritual film I’ve ever seen about an atheist. Clint’s character, Walt Kowalski, comes to embody the Catholicism of my Swedish and Norwegian ancestors, even if he doesn’t actually believe in any of it.

The reviews I read touched on the hot-button aspects of the movie: racial bigotry, the difficulty of assimilation for immigrants, violence and the urge…

Tags: Tags: clint eastwood, entertainment, movies

Doing some mindless channel-surfing yesterday, I came across A History of Violence on one of the cable channels.

I saw it on DVD whenever it first came out — early 2006, I think — and thought what everybody thought: damned good fight scenes, one great sex scene, some good dialogue, and some domestic scenes that don’t work quite as well as the rough bits. (The kid who plays Viggo Mortensen’s teenage son seems miscast.)

All that matched my memory of the movie from three years ago (except for the fact they couldn’t show the sex scene on basic cable). What I’d completely forgotten about is the over-the-top genius of William Hurt as gangster Richie Cusack.

Quick plot summary: Mortensen plays a small-town restaurant owner who calls himself Tom Stall. He lives in the middle of nowhere with his incredibly hot wife, annoying teenage son, and…

Tags: Tags: entertainment, Mental Health, movies

When I started this blog, at the original louschuler.com, I gave an annual summary of my favorite books, movies, and events. (Or, in 2006, my favorite book.)

And from time to time, I would write about movies and books without any reason other than to note a trend I’d spotted. I particularly enjoyed writing this summary of recent biographical films. (Important lessons: If your brother dies when you’re young, you will become addicted to drugs. But if you’re not addicted to alcohol or drugs, no one will make a movie about your life, because you aren’t interesting.)

This year, as usual, I haven’t seen most of the movies that show up on the critics’ top 10 lists. All I’ve seen are what’s available on DVD. And, because of the Olympics and the election, I spent way too much time watching TV, and way too little…

Tags: Tags: books, entertainment, movies, Politics, sports

Has anyone else noticed that Tom Cruise is linked to just about every major political scandal of the past three years?

This morning I was reading a recap of the Scooter Libby trial, written by one of the jurors, when I saw this reference:

Cruise’s upcoming visit to the Office of the VP to discuss Scientologists in Germany was one of the 27 items in the June 14, 2003 briefing [Craig] Schmall gave to Libby. The more important item was a note on that day’s table of contents. “The Amb told this was a VP office question?” “Joe Wilson” “Valerie Wilson.” The note was written by Schmall, who said his practice was to make note of topics introduced by Libby for possible follow up at the CIA. That testimony would indicate Libby was aware of Valerie Wilson nearly a month before he claims to have first heard her name from Tim…

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Tags: Tags: entertainment

I just finished reading The Wheelman, a crime novel written by Duane Swierczynski, a former colleague at Men’s Health.

If you like reading crime novels, this one is worth a look. It’s faster, funnier, and more twisted than anything I can recall. I’m by no means up to speed on the genre, but I’m certain I’ve never read anything quite like this. The only book that comes close is The Death and Life of Bobby Z, which Duane lists here as one of his favorites. It’s like literary speed metal, if that makes any sense.

For the record, this makes two former colleagues from my early days at MH who’re now acclaimed novelists. Jennifer Haigh‘s second novel, Baker Towers, made the New York Times bestseller list, and her first, Mrs. Kimble, won a major award.

And hey, I knew ‘em back when they were just ridiculously…

Tags: Tags: entertainment

Actually, I would like to kick the Academy in the buttocks, and keep kicking until they make a rule that every Oscar-nominated film is automatically released on DVD. Every movie geek should have a chance to see everything nominated before the telecast.

As it stands, I’ve seen just a handful of the movies on the list of nominees announced today:

* Little Miss Sunshine (Best Picture, plus several others; it inspired this post last month);

* An Inconvenient Truth (Best Documentary and Best Song, believe it or not; I can’t even remember it having a song);

* Cars and Monster House (Best Animated Feature);

* The Illusionist (Best Cinematography).

My wife and I should be able to get a few more from Netflix before the hardware is distributed February 25, but we still won’t get to see most of the major-award nominees.

I have to think that’s just bad marketing on the part of the…

Tags: Tags: entertainment

Traditionally, when all the critics and bloggers are putting together their end-of-year best-whatever lists, I try to weigh in. I don’t believe for second that anyone cares what I think the best books or movies might be. I just like to get into the conversation.

This year is a bit different, in that most of the movies on the top-10 lists aren’t yet on DVD, and I haven’t read most of the books getting accolades. I wanted to read quite a few of them, but ended up devoting my reading time to older books, or books that didn’t make the critics’ lists. I’ll confess one reason why I avoided new ones: I realized I was reading too much about politics, and the disconnect between the facts I was learning and the way politics is covered was starting to drive me around the bend. I think this is the first time in…

Tags: Tags: entertainment

Good news — science has figured out what facial features are ideal for comedians:

They said soft and feminine features, typified by Ricky Gervais, were more likely to make people laugh. …

Researcher Dr. Anthony Little, a psychologist, whose work was commissioned by Jongleurs comedy clubs, showed faces with a range of different features to volunteers, and asked them to rate how funny they thought the person was.

He said: “The features most likely to mark male comedians out for success are predominantly soft and feminine. The face is a strong indication of character, and today’s study appears to explain why comedians of a certain appearance would have been drawn to their career.

“The characteristics of a feminine face imply that the person may be agreeable and co-operative, which can be causal in our first impressions of comedians as being friendly and funny.”

I love Ricky Gervais’ reaction:

“All these years I assumed my…

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Tags: Tags: entertainment

I don’t often get into the public-figure part of my life on this blog. There’s not much to it, beyond my books and occasional appearances at fitness events. But, because I have a lot of material out there (I’m up to 269,000 hits on Google), I’m occasionally confronted with the unpleasant truth that I really piss some people off.

I’m not talking about people who disagree with me or raise legitimate questions about my work; those debates are invigorating and necessary. They keep me honest.

It’s the crazy shit that throws me off. I don’t get a lot of it — I’m not prominent enough for that — but when I do, it’s unnerving, especially if it involves a review of one of my books.

Take a recent Amazon reader review of Book of Muscle, for example. The reviewer gives it one star, headlines his review “Are You Kidding?”, and then…

Tags: Tags: entertainment

Because I’m just not in a serious mood today …

Keith Richards says he has finally given up drugs — because they don’t give him satisfaction any more. The Rolling Stones guitarist complained dealers and chemists have reduced the power of his favourite narcotics.

And he doesn’t like modern drugs like ecstasy because they “mess with the brain”. Former heroin addict Keith, 62, moaned: “I really think the quality’s gone down. All they do is try and take the high out of everything. I don’t like the way they’re working on the brain area instead of just through the blood system.

“That’s why I don’t take any of them any more. And you’re talking to a person who knows his drugs.”

…

Tags: Tags: entertainment