Genre Spotlight (Secret Santa): Super High Me

Most discussion of documentaries, like that of a historical/period biopic, seems centered more around the subject matter than the movies themselves. A lot of documentary filmmakers have gotten away with building entire careers on this fact – one in particular (whose name I won’t mention) has managed to create and popularize his own subgenre of shrill, “ambush”-style comedy-documentary, which has dominated the industry for over two decades now, based on the fact that people only discuss him in terms of the ideas he sets forth, not on the quality of movie he actually makes (and don’t even get me started on what I think of him as a human being). Me, I enjoy a good documentary as much as the next guy, but much prefer the interview-only or fly on the wall types to the ones with lots of voiceovers, Powerpoints, and “wacky” infographics, all of which I find a bit obvious, reductive and…well, cheesy.

Young Adult

The “young adult” market, in case you don’t know, refers to that segment of the reading audience that is perhaps too old for Dr. Seuss and Winnie the Pooh, but not quite ready for Faulkner or Fitzgerald. Late grade school thru junior high, roughly – the “tween” years. Though these books are written for 11 and 12 year olds, the subject of the books themselves is, more often than not, high school – a time just far enough away to seem glamorous and even magical, while not so far away as to be inconceivable. Funnily enough, that’s basically how nostalgia works as well -  the “young adult(s)” of Jason Reitman’s Young Adult refers to people well into their 30s, arrested in and obsessively replaying their glory days, generally trying their best to look, act, and feel like they did back in high school. We’ve all been there. Haven’t we?

Devil’s DVD Advocacy: Big Fan

Before you read this article, I want you to know that Big Fan is in no way a comedy. Forget the fact that the movie stars my favorite comedian for the last 5 years or so, Patton Oswalt, or that it was written/directed by Robert Siegel, the former editor-in-chief of The Onion. It is a dramatic character study, through and through. So instead, try to keep in mind that Oswalt has done serious work recently in Dollhouse and United States of Tara, and Siegel wrote The Wrestler last year, another film in the same vein of a sports movie without sappy messages. Also featuring Kevin Corrigan and Michael Rapaport, Big Fan paints a sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes frustrating, but always sincere portrait of a man so dominated by his love of football that even a personal trauma exacted by his hero may not be enough to set him free. But while it may not lift your heart, it will absolutely win you over with its inspired acting and passionate direction; believe me, this one is GOOD! 

Big Fan

Before you read this article, I want you to know that Big Fan is in no way a comedy. Forget the fact that the movie stars my favorite comedian for the last 5 years or so, Patton Oswalt, or that it was written/directed by Robert Siegel, the former editor-in-chief of The Onion. It is a dramatic character study, through and through. So instead, try to keep in mind that Oswalt has done serious work recently in Dollhouse and United States of Tara, and Siegel wrote The Wrestler last year, another film in the same vein of a sports movie without sappy messages. Also featuring Kevin Corrigan and Michael Rapaport, Big Fan paints a sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes frustrating, but always sincere portrait of a man so dominated by his love of football that even a personal trauma exacted by his hero may not be enough to set him free. But while it may not lift your heart, it will absolutely win you over with its inspired acting and passionate direction; believe me, this one is GOOD!