THE DISHMASTER

Written by: Dan O’Connell, Guest Contributor

Let’s party like it’s 2002: Wimpy high-schooler Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), is bitten by a radioactive spider, giving him the ability to sling webs and fly about the city, but putting his burgeoning relationship with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) at risk, while battling Gwen’s police chief dad (Denis Leary) and the nefarious Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), who has the ability to morph into a giant lizard and release clouds of noxious gas over NYC.

Many said this “reboot” came along too soon, only 10 years after Sam Raimi’s original, and I’m among them. Too much focus is put on the relationship between Pete and Gwen, and the movie spends much too much time setting up Spidey’s origin and doesn’t introduce the bad guy until over an hour into the film. There’s nothing here that wasn’t done better before. Every story element is almost exactly the same, and – although I never thought I’d see myself writing this – Tobey Maguire’s goofiness easily trumps Garfield’s introspective angst. The effects are solid, the 3D is well employed, and as a whole it isn’t bad, but it’s unnecessary, and smacks more of a cash grab than a legitimate attempt to revitalize a floundering franchise.

Overall Rating: 2.5 Dishes

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. When you’re a Hollywood A-lister, you have a responsibility to maintain your mystique. When you start to make too many appearances and make poor professional choices, you ruin your brand, and you border on becoming an accessible reality star. Such is the case with Jim Carrey. Watch below.

I saw ‘The Help,’ and I loved it. Then I told a friend, who quickly explained the controversy surrounding the film. Upon reading the reviews, and then revisiting my memory of the film, my opinion has changed — but not by much. So what is all the fuss about exactly? To quote Roger Ebert, it’s a “story that deals with pain but doesn’t care to be that painful.”

The film is based on Kathryn Scott’s novel, and it follows Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), who are maids in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 60′s. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone) is a recent college graduate and aspiring writer, who hopes to expose the way “the help” is treated in Mississippi by publishing a book with first-hand accounts. To accomplish this, she must interview the maids in town, who take the huge risk of getting caught.

The movie is gaining so much criticism primarily because it downplays racism. Most of the racism in the film involves using segregated bathrooms and verbal disrespect. In fact, there are only two scenes of violence throughout the entire movie. The first involves a verbal recounting of Aibileen’s son who was murdered, and the second involves a maid who stole a ring from her boss so that she could pay for her child’s education. When she’s arrested for the theft, a police officer beats her, but the camera cuts away before you see the completed act. So is this film just a Disney version of racism?

It’s no secret that Hollywood is financially driven, and an increase in violence leads to a decrease in ticket sales. Unfettered truth is difficult to watch on screen. For example, I might be the only Jewish person that hasn’t seen ‘Schindler’s List.’ Why? Because I can’t handle it, and because movies are a safe haven for me that I use to take me out of reality — not to smack me in the face with it. One critic suggested that when Aibileen recounts her son’s murder, there should have been flashbacks of the act. I disagree. There’s a way to imply violence without physically showing it. Remember the famous shower scene in ‘Psycho?’ Hitchcock implied the stabbing without showing the act itself. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem with this film is not that the violence isn’t shown, it’s that it’s barely even discussed. It borders on rewriting history, and there’s a danger in that.

Though there are certainly problems with watered-down recounting of history, the film is still one of the most enjoyable movies I’ve watched in a long time. Emma Stone is proving to be a formidable acting force, having quickly tossed away her high-school-girl persona from ‘Easy A’ into much more demanding roles. And Viola Davis is outstanding. Her relationship with the young white girl she cares for had me in tears throughout most of the film. It’s worth watching — flaws and all. OVERALL RATING: 4/5 DISHES

Love is crazy. And it’s also stupid. And only the acting prowess of Julianne Moore, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone, could properly show why anyone in their right mind would engage in such an emotionally tumultuous activity. At the opening of this film, Cal (Steve Carell) gets dumped by his long-time wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), and in an effort to avoid her apologetic monologue, he literally jumps out of their moving car. She had an affair, and she leaves their marriage because it’s “broken.” Cal subsequently spends an inordinate amount of time lamenting to a bartender. It’s during these rants that Cal meets Jacob (Ryan Gosling), who can only be defined as a “pick-up artist.” Jacob takes an interest in Cal, and gives him a makeover to “get his manhood back.” The transformation becomes both external and internal, and the emotionally vapid Jacob unsuspectingly adopts some of Cal’s love-struck ideology in the process. There are some enjoyable sub-plots in this movie, which I won’t ruin, but let’s just say that Cal learns a thing or two about soul-mates from his un-jaded son. This movie proves that you don’t need a high-concept gimmick to keep a film afloat. When you have great actors who execute what is often thought of as ‘cheesy’ material, then you get an enjoyable movie that doesn’t feel like a chick-flick. My favorite line of this film came from Cal, who said, “I’ve loved her even when I hated her.” If you’ve ever been cursed and blessed with being in love — then I’m sure you can relate. OVERALL RATING: DISHTASTIC