BrainSkip 5 – The Kids Are All Right…(Aren’t they?)
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. (AREN’T THEY??)
Last week saw the release of perhaps the finest mainstream Sperm-donor/love triangle/Modern lesbian mother’s drama of all time. OK, you’re right, it may be the only film of its kind…
With a cast that screams “Oscars, Over here”, the film stars Annette Benning, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo (How can such a good actor have a name that rhymes with Gruffalo??) and Mia Wasikowska(the girl from Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland), none of whom miss a beat for the entire film with a script that has to be one of the wittiest and warmest of the year.
It’s hard to explain just how well Moore and Benning convey the sense and insensibility of being two Moms to two kids, who look to find their biological father, and the chaos their successful search brings in the form of future Incredible Hulk, Mark Ruffalo. So far a hero of the indie scene, Ruffalo brings every cool Californian nuance to a performance so relaxed that it makes it hard to figure how he’s going to turn into the “Don’t make me angry, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” comic book Avenger. But you wouldn’t put money against him outshining Eric Bana and Ed Norton’s efforts so far.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdDSqgZ87fM
It’s definitely one of a kind. Funny, Mature, Adult and American!!!. Who would have thought it? Which brings me nicely to a guilty pleasure, the exact opposite of all these things…
THE JACKASSES ARE ALL RIGHT
I know exactly what you’re thinking, surely, these guys killed themselves in a mysterious accident involving goats and glue and a cannon years ago. But no… Johnny Knoxville returns this week in JackAss in glorious gutwrenching 3D. When they appeared on our screens over ten years ago, with their distinctive introduction music as well as their distinctive ways of self-abusing their bodies, we were initially appalled, shocked, and unable to watch them through our fingers as they electrocuted, pierced and broke every appendage available. Now, they have been celebrated by the curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of a long line of artists who allow us to revel in the misery of others.
Whatever! When was the last time a French philosopher skateboarded into a truck.
Here’s the best bits of JackAss 2D.
THE STUDENTS ARE ALL RIGHT
The Kids kicked off in Dublin this week with protests against Student fee’s being raised, and were doing a good job of representing themselves and their interests, until they were hijacked by a bunch of anarchists and somebody dressed as a TellyTubby. I mean, really??? Even if it was Spongebob Square Pants, you’d have more political capital in relation to sitting down and talking seriously about your issues, but a TellyTubby,….get out of my government lobby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz6ddQK6Vlw&feature=related
THE POLITICS ARE ALL RIGHT
In the US midterms, Barack Obama received a “shellacking”, as he phrased it, sounding like a 19th Century Marquis de Sade. He’s got a fight on his hands for the remaining two years, but someone who doesn’t want anything inappropriate in your hands ever is Tea Party hero Christine O’Donnell, who campaigned that masturbation is a sin, when just a fledgling politico. Here’s the clips from the original MTV campaign, which quite frankly looks like the lead in to a really bad Movie of the Week.
THE BOOKS ARE ALL RIGHT
Several years after the horror of the Columbine massacre, Lionel Shriver’s We need to talk about Kevin attempted to tell the fictional story of a similar massacre from the point of view of the mother of one of the assailants. Extraordinarily unexpectedly unsentimental in any way, it’s a brutal, almost noir-ish view of a modern mothers unique and almost disdainful love for a violent offspring. It would have been unsurprising if it had been a graphic novel, but totally unsettling as a narration where you genuinely feel trapped by a narrators coldness. So, yes, it is a perfect Mothers Day gift.
THE MOBY DICKS ARE ALL RIGHT
Call me Ishmael but there is no way to explain why I thought this game needed to be here this week, but I couldn’t believe someone had come up with a game based on Moby Dick, but here it is. Perfect way to end a Friday.
http://armorgames.com/play/7199/moby-dick-the-video-game