Adventureland Movie- Review

Adventureland 2009

PopCorn Quotient: 5 of 10 Appreciation Quotient: 9 of 10

Last Word: Excellent

Adventureland is a warm, different, fresh film. It’s a meandering look inside the 80s & masticates on the juices of youth/adolescence experiences in that era. It has the entire sex, drugs & rock-n-roll wrapped around it without it hindering the story telling. The entire experience of ‘coming of age’ movies has been done to death with every possible angle covered. This is where Adventureland excelled the most. It kind of tricks you in the beginning letting you feel this is going to be another movie about how the main character ‘James Brennan’ goes about it. That’s where the freshness of the concept compels you to stay past the initial 20 minutes of the film.

The movie begins with James being dumped by his ‘current girlfriend’ within the first 10 seconds of the movie. Rapidly moves on to show us that James is grade A student on his was to Columbia University & planning to go to Europe over the summer to get the ‘Old World’ experience. Late 80s economy & his Dad’s transfer forces a change of plans. He has to earn money to sustain him at the university. This has him land a job at theme park called Adventureland run by Paulette & Bobby (Bill Heder). Paulette is his loving wife/partner. Adventureland is a world of its own. Its ‘Rides’ people and their difference from its ‘Game’ people is interesting satire in itself. James begins to get settled in finding new friends Joel who, looks like a total loser, & Emily (played by Kristen Stewart) who ‘saves him from being jacknifed’. Emily ‘s dealing with the death of her mother & her father‘s re-marriage. Add to this lot Connell (played by Ryan Reynolds) the maintenance guy who is also a musician on the side. His claim to fame that he once jammed with the Lou Reed. Then there is the catholic ‘Prom Queen’, Lisa P. The catholic part comes to play later.

*** Spoilers Alert/ The Lamb’s Tale*** Select Text Below to see

James is a straight arrow with an intellectual side not averse to drugs or drinking. The former causes him problems with the opposite sex as he insists on being honest & upfront, as Connell puts it to him ‘don’t lay all your cards on the table’. Emily is a complicated girl, confused & angry. Still she is attracted to James. But she is involved in extra marital affair with Connell. Connell & James strike a friendship as James gets popular cos he has a stash of ‘Ganja’. Connell, who gets wind of the Emily’s relationship with James, begins to play the serpent to him. Subtly corrupts James nudging him to towards Lisa P. James confides in him that he is in love with Emily; Connell uses that information to guilt Emily. She in turn tells James to take it slow. Lisa P who has taken an interest in James ends up asking him out. James goes out with her & they end up making out. Then in an incident involving some hallucinogenic cookies J James ends up defending Emily. This makes Emily realise how much he cares about her. Meanwhile Joel sets James straight on two timing Emily with Lisa P. The straight arrow comes clean to Emily & apologises. She gets befuddled & feels worse about her affair with Connell. She goes to break up with Connell, through convoluted circumstances James finds out & confronts her outside. He ends up on another date with Lisa P where he confides Emily’s affair with Connell swearing her to secrecy. Next day the whole park knows about it, Emily quits. James finds out, confronts Lisa P and again ends up defending Emily. He ends up drink & driving crashes his mother’s car. He loses all the money he earned & is faced with the real possibility of not being able to go to college. Whether he reaches his goal & Emily, I reckon you will have to watch the movie to know.

***End Spoilers***

The fact that we get to know every character gradually as small traits are exposed & the grey areas within their character surface makes for the excellent drama. The script teases out flaws within each & every character. Like the confusion of Emily’s feelings & her guarded nature come to us slowly. She is no Lisa P but she has the depth, the need & the flaws that perfectly in sync with James ‘s neurosis. Kirsten Stewart’s plays the part well. Thought at times there is a feel that she is still in hangover from her Twilight role but the intensity of her emotions as, a troubled teenager, in the important scenes come across naturally. Ryan Reynolds’s, Connell as a duplicitous, flawed, older man preying on pretty young things is very convincing. Reynolds acting talent always comes as a surprise. It’s definitely good to know that he has the edge for darker roles. Lisa P’s character is the one that tricks you the most. You start off with thinking of her as the queen bitch/tramp. Simply cos she is good looking , popular and loves attention . Then in her interactions with James’ we realize that she is very religious not a bad person. Connell even surprises James by telling him a surprising fact about her, which tells us more about Connell then Lisa P. Her character also brings out the ethos of the time where it was considered to be a woman’s fault if she had an affair with a married guy. So truly 80s. Bill Heder’s , Bobby is a bit insane like an old school teacher trying to get his students enthusiastic about studying. Bobby truly is enthusiastic about his business & is a total penny pincher. Yet surprisingly he is very protective of his employees. Bill Heder’s oddball roles in offbeat comedies like this one add to his repertoire of making small roles very memorable. (see Pineapple Express). Joel who, looks like a loser, turns out to be a budding philosopher with a very deep thinking eventually setting James on the right path. Last but not the least the titular James played by Jesse Eisenberg is very convincing in his awkward teenager, budding intellectual & average Joe portrayal. For obvious reasons he reminds me of Michael Cera in ….well anything but does a far more convincing job.

The movie has so many layers its fantastic. It’s about the coming of age, James Brennan & Emily’s. It’s about the 80s , the hedonism of the age, the drugs n alcohol abuse, the music. There is a mention of Judas Priest and some truly classic rock soundtrack. My favourite track from the movie, which is new to me, is Unsatisfied by The Replacements (http://www.playlist.com/searchbeta/tracks#unsatisfied%2C%20the%20replacements).

My Take

Adventureland takes us on a slow, enjoyable ride; the drama-love-comedy quotient is balanced. But a movie worth seeing if for nothing else re-living the 80s. I reckon the 1980s will soon be seen as a unique decade of the 1900s for the culture it spawned is alive & kicking with us today. There is scene where Emily flips in a cassette in her car deck that had me all nostalgic. Also the sheer intensity of the emotion which the main characters portray touches you. It has you rooting for the relationship to work as you see them going through the pitfalls. Every single dialogue between the characters comes across as genuine and more importantly believable. The director’s (Greg Mottola) ability to convey metaphors and inter weaving them so many themes effortlessly is worthy of applaud. One scene in particular where James & Joel discuss Herman Melville they are sitting on a hillside. Towards conclusion of the conversation the camera shows them sitting on the hillside with nothing but the sky a sort of subtle hint towards the the future is what you make it to be, it’s an open sky. Last but not the least the Adventureland itself , talking about adventures we have at that age. They are just adventures not good or bad, adventures in a journey. It talks about that awkward clumsy age which is forever bewildering, bewitching & beguiling. For even when James reaches an important 'milestone' the director chooses not to focus on it seeing it as a part of the journey and not the ultimate destination. I highly recommend watching this movie … whenever it reaches our shores. This movie has all the makings of a cult classic. This movie perhaps is one you need to sit and watch alone or mebbe with your gf/bf.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1091722/

Kolad -Waking, Driving, Rafting, Drowning, Drying, Walking, Drinking, Search for Food & Fuel, Mangoes, - All in a Day!!

On Friday last, (22^nd May 09) Mandy (Mandar) called me sometime in the afternoon asking me if I was doing anything on Saturday. I told him nothing in particular. So he suggested I go ‘White Water Rafting’ with his mates to Kolad. He might as well have asked me to go riding on sharks (and Mandy would!!). I love water but am not comfortable with large water bodies. Besides we all had a function to go to in the evening which Mandy had invited us to. We knew it was gonna end late. So I told him I would call him back. I googled Kolad and got some interesting results. Unable to come to a conclusion & for Funzies I decide to try an online magic 8 ball (decision making tools..:P http://www.tridelphia.net/) I think it said ‘As I see it, No’ . So I called Mandy & said yes…. Naturally

Come evening when I finally went to sleep at about half twelve at night from the function (Hridayasth - Dr. Alka Mandke: Nitu's 6th Memorial Program), I forgot to put the alarm on. I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. Twas about half six in the morning already, we were supposed to leave by 6 to reach this place by 8:30am. He told me to get ready real fast. I put the phone down & had second thoughts! Called Mandy again who told me to just get ready! So I rapidly proceeded to the 3 Ss of the morning. (Shit, shower n shave to the untrained :D & not necessarily in that order). Did my morning ablutions chose floaters instead of my sports shoes which were wet (strangely). Quickly caught a Rick and met up with people on the highway.

Rushmi was in Mandy’s car & Hitu , Nandini n Jeevat were in Hitu’s . (All these lovely folks are Mandy’s friends… therefore my ‘cousin friends’…. He he) When we started out it was already about half seven (mostly thanks to me ..hmm). We were supposed to reach there by 8:30am even with Mandy’s driving there was no way we were gonna make it. It’s finally in the car that Mandy, Rushmi & I started discussing ‘The Plan’ that I learnt this river we were supposed to raft on was a dam controlled river. And the rafting depending on how much water was release by the Tata Power folks. The reason to ask us there so early was cause that’s when the water was released. So were already resigned to not being able to do the rafting part. But still a drive in the countryside on a Saturday seemed like a good idea if nothing else. It was supposed to be around a two and half drive. Rushmi was lost in LA LA land.... We reached Kolad which is just off the Mumbai-Goa highway around 9:30ish. Just after, we took the left for the village of Vile. This led us to a wonderfully winding road which, as we all agreed, was more suited for World Rally Championships. Hitu who had arranged the whole shindig tried to get in touch with the folks at this camp to get some directions, of course civilization and cell towers both were a little way away. So we stopped someplace & got direction and I think a landline to call these guys. After a couple of wrong turns we came to a random left in the road which said something about ‘Z-back’. So, we took it. Mandy took this opportunity to inform us that we were low on fuel. Checking with our counterparts in the other car we learned that their situ was not dissimilar to ours. The back seat drivers felt very reassured :P

Just as we all were to conclude that we had taken another wrong turn we chanced upon a huge chalk letters announcing Rafting. It was about 10ish by then. At the same time, a massive Air Siren rang out. I joked that would be the signal for the water to be released (prophetically?). There was no water in sight.. yet! We all hunkered out of the cars and stretched our legs. Parked the cars along what looked like a giant canal which was about half full. Some folks from the camp came in welcomed us & got some forms for us to sign. Guess we were signing our lives away. Then we quickly (yeah right) gathered inside around a dude who introduced himself as Abbu. He went on to demonstrate the safety procedures telling us about the kayakers who would be around in case we fell off the boats. How not to drown them whilst being rescued etc all very heartwarming stuff (not!). Later he hooked us up with the life jackets , helmets & paddles. So we all looked like the Clones from Star Wars. Which quickly led to Jedi styled combat with the paddles & finding several more amusing uses for the umm, paddle. Very disappointingly we were requested to keep our cameras in the car as would more than likely hit water. So we did our photo session right then & there in the gear.

View Larger Map

The river is called ‘Kundalika’. The stretch we were going to do was abt 12-15 kms long. The rapids have each been given names by the instructors like Rajdhani Express etc . If I remember correctly there were about 7-8 rapids. I took another look at the canal and this time it was nearly full. We were told that today 2 Sluice gates had been opened so the force would be good. We proceeded towards it & towards a nice inflatable dinghy. Since it was 6+1 boat we could all sit in together. The dinghy had holes at the bottom which is designed to throw out the water that comes in. Wonderful! Sitting in there actually seeing this river swirling in front of us, felt a bit surreal. Abbu who was our instructor made us go through a nice little drill of what we should do when he gave commands. (I had a few flashes of the River Wild with Meryl Streep instructing Bacon & Reilly). So with the seriousness of the task at hand amped up we were all revved and eager to go. This is when all the water splashing began and we were all wet before even getting into the river. With that the first rapid started to loom in front of us. I for some bizarre reason had been chosen to sit in the front with Hitu. (reckon it was a weight thing…) So it was kind of like sitting in the front part of the roller coaster with you being the first one to find out if this ride actually is safe or not. And your sort of scared out of your mind and the other half macabrely wants to find out … Well is it , safe? He he

With that we went into the rapid all screaming, shouting and paddling. That’s when the first bit of water came in. That was totally exhilarating. Nice cold water. Now we were all really getting into it. When Abbu gave us orders to move forward we really put our ass into the paddling part. I had a different problem once I started I could not stop cos mostly could not hear Abbu say stop over the noise of the water. We were all getting really into it. Also I realized that integral part of the rafting was actually going into the rapid and not as I had assumed avoiding them. Still even I was having fun. Mandy , Hitu , Rushmi & Nandini were the swimmers among us. I can’t remember who but the all started clamouring to get into the river and swim for a bit. Which I thought was INSANE! Anyways, Abbu agreed to let them swim. I think there was a stretch between the third & the fourth rapid which Is long. When we got there Mandy, Hitu jumped in and goaded me into coming. Its at this point that a certain unnamed party decided to push me in!!!!

This would be my third drowning incident. Luckily, the life jacket kicked in just as I had swallowed some water & I think a fish. After the initial rush I could not help laughing. The water was cool. I was floating in a river and I do love water. We all held on to the boat and were being carried by the current. This was totally awesome…. All of us held on to the boat with Abbu herding us. In the melee my glasses has drowned. Though the floaters held up very well , the sports shoes would have been a bad idea. Kismet, eh ? . Just as the next rapid began to appear on our radar we all got in. Getting back into a rubber boat is not as easy as it seems. I reckon we all pretty much had to be manhandled and brought into the boat.. he he.. and not soon after it was back to positions and ‘move forward’ , ‘back paddle’ .. Nice:D

Just before the last set of rapids we stopped for a 15 minute break to rejuvenate ourselves. Where Hitu n Mandy decided to try the ancient game of pushing on unstable ground ( robin n hood n little john met this way I think). In the end both ended up in water. The stopping point also caught us up with the other rafters and village kids who had come for a dip. It was odd us wearing all this gear like space aliens and these kids swimming like fishes right next to us… ha ha. We finally began to get antsy and Abbu jumped back in. And off we went to do the last set. Yippee. These were quite big compared to the ones we had done previously and Abbu had warned us that we are going to have to put our back into paddling. Our paddling power had by now gone down to sporadic thrusts from all of us. I gotta say it kills after a while and you begin to feel and find muscles you never had. And more, cramps in places you would never expect.. he he..

We did the first rapid and due to popular demand from all of us went back for a second time. (yeah I know , it IS possible)Totally fun. The next rapids also went fantastically! And we finally got back into the water. Everyone got into the river Mandy, Rushmi,Hitu , Nandini, Jeevat & I. Since the last rapid and the point where you get off the river is quite a bit away we were all floating in the river for about 5 kms . This was terrific! This led to sporadic singing from some of us ‘Sex On Fire’ by the Kings of Leon became a hit of sorts ;-). Having come to the grips with the fact that I probably would not drown if I left the boat I too decided to do a ‘Jesus’ pose and float down the river. We even floated below a couple of bridges. Talk as it inevitably does also turned to coming back during the monsoon. Abbu was quick to inform us that they tend to open 6 sluice gates then, this would make it considerably swifter & cooler. So Impromptu plans of coming back for August have been made. interesting to see how these will turn out..

The hot sun, the cool water, the aching muscles & the rumble of our stomachs gave the whole atmosphere a different feel. This led to a rapid discussion of our plans for lunch. It became apparent that part of the rafting package and ‘The Plan’ was lunch. Awesome! We got back into the boat one by one. It became apparent Ants had somehow made it on board! Of course I sat on them for a while before Hitu enlightened me that there were Ants around. Poor Nandu had been bitten by quite a few. On the bright side we were one step closer to food & dry land.

We helped haul the boat up a small incline. We then proceeded to the top of hillock. By the time we had reached the top (2 minutes??) quite a bit of our clothes had dried. The camp guys had hired a Tum Tum to get us back to camp. So the boat atop the Tum Tum, we started back for camp. About 15 minutes later we passed a sign that announced beverage of the alcoholic kind. We made a quick stop and loaded up a couple of bottles of Carlsberg & some edible crispies J . Such a fantastic relief to have a nice cool beer on a warm sunny day .. aha! We got back to camp in a few minutes. Where everyone proceeded to change clothes or stretch legs. I decided to catch some sleep in the car. By this time almost all our clothes had dried… almost ;) Finally, got up when Hitu woke me up to take a pic. And we all had another photo session. It was weird seeing all of us quite reddish tinge all over our faces (sunburnt… like bits of bacon :D) would be interesting to see the pics (Nandini if you are reading this please send them!). By the time we left it was already quarter past two.

In the meantime Hitu had called and found out the place we were supposed to get chow was some place called ‘Sanskriti’ which was on the highway back to Kolad. So we started back towards Kolad. Getting back in the care reminded us that we were low on fuel. Luckily, there was a nice cool breeze so we did not the A/c. All the same, Could not help but stare at the fuel gauge most of the time and keep looking for a petrol station. Having lost my Glasses reading was not easy or fun! The radio & singing along to 107.1 FM (thank you DJ) kept things pretty lively. We finally got to Kolad and found petrol!!! Except we needed diesel. So Hitu fuelled his horse(s) whilst we waited in our carriage. Fuel for man & machine both was now driving us. Afew Kms down ,Mandy espied the sign for Sanskriti except it pointed to inside a field. So we insisted it must be coming up ahead. About half km Mandy decided to do a U and drive back to the sign. We proceeded in to a road that was very very narrow & for additional enjoyment a truck came from the opposite direction. We managed to cross without any magic transpiring but plenty of reverse gear. This brought us into a field without a restaurant in sight. Hitu and Nandini found a guy who then guided us beyond the fields, behind giant trees to what can be best described as a Farm house in its true sense. It was a grandly shaded place with palm trees, a few hammocks between them, some nice khatiyas put out for people to sleep on and nice covered area with a few tables and chairs . It had a warm ‘Gharguti’ (homely) feel to it which was perfect. We got nice chicken curry, egg curry, rotis, dal n rice. Totally awesome!!

The hammocks looked very inviting post lunch but seeing as the clock was already nearing 3pm we decided to get back in the car & head back home. Hitu & Nandini decided to head towards Murudh Janjira. So , Rushmi, Jeevat, Mandy & I headed back towards Mumbai if we could make it. About 8 kms down we found a Petrol station. This one had run out of Diesel too. So I suggested to Mandy that we stop somewhere & get some diesel from folks who used them for generators. He told me not to panic just yet. Good Advice !! Another 5 kms later , the speaking voice of his car informed us that we are running low on gas and should get some fuel (his car talks, no its not the Knight Rider.. yet). Thanks for the update pal!!! It did this a few times before , I started to wonder if we should panic. Finally near Pen we found a Gas Station that had Diesel!! We got straight back on the road. Stopping only for me to indulge in some Mango shopping:D. Rushmi helped pick the mangoes and sternly informed me that I had been ripped off.. Mangoes are mangoes (wink , wink ;)

Reckon we got to Mandy’s place at about half six.Dropped off Rushmi to her home & Jeevat took a rick.. All of us pretty tired from the day’s exhaustion(s) and looking forward to some well earned sleep & the IPL semi-final. We had made tentative plans of watching it in a pub. These plans made a swift disappearance with onset of those muscles aches that only come from a long hard day’s work or is it play.. I forget which. All in all an excellent day! Which in my case might have almost not been. Had the feeling that my butt had broken for the next 24 hrs though the sleep was wonderfully dreamless. Rafting was quite an experience as unexpected as it was exhilarating. You gotta love it when ordinary days turn extraordinary.

Peace Out! :)

Goodbye Scrubs :'( 

 

 

I finally did watch the last episode of Scrubs! I kept putting off watching it for as long as possible… Classic Denial. Did not want to acknowledge that it was ending. And that’s where the episode mirrored my own feelings.

The episode was called ‘My Finale‘. It started out with JD reviewing in his mind  a few classic moments of the past 8 years of his life at Sacred Heart. This at once forced you to acknowledge that this is the end, this is the last, this is it. I already knew most of these scenes by (sacred) heart. Within a minute JD is already at Sacred Heart & Turk has given him a hell of a goodbye!!! And you get all what the what !!??? Its only 5 minutes into the last episode & major characters have already said Goodbye???? Whats going on here?

But from that moment on the whole episode changes, it then becomes all about getting answers to the questions we have all wanted answers to. Will Dr. Cox ever hug JD? What is the Janitor’s real name?? What is going to happen to JD & Turk’s friendship now? But the focus then turns to all the mundane & banal business of the hospital. New patients , new diseases, interesting relatives, helping colleagues, Dr. Kelso , the usual and not so usual stuff. Everyone almost purposefully seems to be ignoring JD’s big final day. JD turns into mirror of our concern that this is his big send off and no one else seems to be interested. More than anything else we need the validation that these characters are going to be fine. That we spend so many hours of lives watching their fake lives that it is important for us for them to make progress with theirs.

JD gets completely engrossed on the quest to make Dr. Cox feel something about his leaving. Or to have that one last moment of closure that would make all of his years at Sacred Heart with Dr Cox seem worthwhile. From giving him books about all his insane rants to tricking him into hugging him. He tries hard and we get suckered into this Quest & ride. This ends up giving us some genuine moments of closure which when they do come, are a wonderful surprise.  And still he keeps trying to force the big moments to come ‘The last file’. I guess telling himself that this is a big deal. Whereas everyone else seems to regard it as no big deal that he is leaving. A Randon Dr he passes by just says ‘Adios’ and that’s it. The truth begins to hit JD that his leaving is not going to change anything in a hospital. Patients will still be there. People will still be there. Most of these people will not change. The great ‘switch off the light’ moment does not exist (he actually imagines it :P). People won’t stop existing because he is not around….

Just as soon as he is certain of this, things change. We do finally get to see his effect on people within the hospital, over the years. We also get a glimpse into the future of what might be through JD’s wonderfully dream-adled eyes. And it does play your heart strings…

 

Bill Lawrence does not end it there he also gives you a glimpse into the making of this monumental last episode. That truly is satisfying.

 

There are not too many diehard fans of this fabulous series in India. But for me it was about people of a similar age with similar thoughts, dreams, virtues, problems & insecurities too. I was skeptical when someone had recommended I watch this series. I watched it on –off for a while. Till one week I had to stay home and work & ABC kept showing it all day. I watched the complete 2 seasons and was hooked. The best season remains season 5 with such classic episodes as ‘My Way Home’ which Zach Braff himself directed (I think was nominated for Emmy)and ‘My Five Stages’ dealing with the death of a loved one. Of course they did a Musical episode in Season 6 aptly titled ‘My Musical’ which was crazy and grand.

So goodbye Sacred Heart, JD , Carla, Turk, Elliot, Dr Cox, Jordan, Ted, Janitor, Todd , Bill Lawrence & the wonderful gang. Thanks for making our lives richer J

The Musical- Yes it’s the poop song :D

Classic Moment- Dr Cox on Things he does not care about J

Peace Out

Deathly Hallows - First Impressions

Well

I loved the book. But that’s cos like I said, it means something a lot different to me. I know I pre empted myself before even reading the book that it would be perfect. But I guess that is exactly how I see it, it was perfect. She did not make a Martyr of him (Harry) instead gave him the toughest task of all. Fulfilling people's expectations and living as an ordinary person thereafter. I find that satisfying. In life it is not only important to be extraordinary but also be ordinary. That Harry comes through all of this very human, that is the triumph. Wizard or no wizard.

I think the hardest part for me was all the deaths, yes. But Snape’s death in the end was hardest I had a feeling it was coming. Also had the feeling that he was going to end up being the true martyr. Of course the Pensive thereafter proved me right and made it all the more cringeworthy. He had to be a certain way all his life because that is what people thought of him. Regardless of whether he did right or wrong. So he gave up caring and acted on what people expected of him. He was no Umbridge yet he was always considered evil. In the end people see what they want to see. Dumbledore's own remark to him "sometime we sort too early" and Harry confirms it himself to Albus Severus "you are named after two hogwarts headmasters and he was the bravest man I knew". He hated Snape but finally saw what a lifetime of bitterness and rejection did to him.

Dumbledore essentially becomes the major part of the book. He is humanised to an extent where we realise that he was not perfect but that does not matter. That past actions have no bearing on the direction he took in the future. His ideas were not that far away from Tom Riddles yet somehow along the way they made different choices in their life. That made all the difference.

Last but not the least the entire play between Ron, Hermione and Harry finally brings out their differences and their strengths of being together. Harry grows emotionally stronger and his last showdown with TOM RIDDLE shows he has picked up his mentor's ability to appear cool and composed perhaps even garner that little twinkle in his eye.

I guess that was my first impression of the book. I am sure in the years to come I will chew on this more. As and when I return to the books I will probably learn and understand something new.

- I wrote this a few days after reading the final book sometime in 2007 . Those who know me know my passion for these books. So I thought this would make an apt first post.