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'Lincoln' Review: Riveting Tale Separates the Man from the Monument
By Alonso Duralde
November 7, 2012
There are few dramaturgical tasks as difficult or as thankless as telling the life story of a Great Man (or Woman), particularly when that historical figure has become the sort of legendary icon featured in national monuments and on currency.
And for you regular readers of the blog, what have I had written at the top of this blog since Day One? "Trust me when I tell you, this part of Florida is NOT the Land of Lincoln." -----
A few months ago after hearing that a new feature film called Green With Envy was coming out that featured an actor whose TV show I watch every week, Jason Segal of CBS-TV'sHow I met Your Mother, I looked for any teasers or trailers of it at the usual places.
I eventually found one, above, and discovered the female lead was someone I really liked, too -the radiant Amy Adams.
So far, so good.
The first 51 seconds or so seemed okay, but then... Muppets.
Smurfs, Bratz, Strawberry ShortcakeandMy Little Pony are just some of the toy world's diabolical offerings that have literally given me the creeps and made me shudder for as long as I can remember whenever I've walked thru a retail store like Target, Walmart, CVS, et al, and see something from their evil empire.
So banal, so uninspiring, so unambitiuous...
All I could think was that some poor kids were going to be stuck getting this junk when some confused older relative of theirs freaked-out as a birthday or Christmas approached and they realized they had nothing for seven-year old Britney, Brittany or Chloe, so rather than showing some originality, they panicked and simply let their fear take over and became one of the consumer lemmings who took the easy way out.
(When they were younger and not the ambitious college students they are now at Washington & Lee and UVA (University of Virginia), yours truly, in his doting uncle mode, bought his two oldest nieces stuff from the Smithsonian Museum shop on The Mall at the American Museum of History -my favorite!- or, The National Geographic Scociety store at their HQ on 17th Street, N.W., a few blocks north of The White House.)
Which is the predicate for understanding why, so far, the headline of the year, seven months in, comes from Sharon Waxman'sThe Wrap:
Alonso Duralde reviews 'Smurfs': "Cheesy Reboot Will Annoy & Disgust Audiences of All Ages. Obnoxious blue imps do for children’s entertainment what lead paint does for children’s toys."
I smiled when I saw that and knew immediately that I would have to share it with you here, so pleased was I to see anything like it.
TheWrap
'Smurfs': Cheesy Reboot Will Annoy & Disgust Audiences of All Ages
Published: July 28, 2011 @ 10:17 am
By Alonso Duralde
Call your Congressman and demand that Central Park be federally protected from Hollywood.
This cherished New York institution was already overrun by Jim Carrey and a gaggle of pooping seabirds in this summer’s “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” and now it’s being invaded by obnoxious blue imps in “The Smurfs,” a film that does for children’s entertainment what lead paint does for children’s toys.
See this gem involving the creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, whose books of cartoons I bought so many years ago at the Olsson's Books at Dupont Circle:
Fishbowl LA
eBay Gem: A Pre-Simpsons Matt Groening and His ‘Smurf House’
Mediabistro's Fishbowl LA -Click the icon to see what's new inside Hollywood U.S.A. and the Left Coast.
After lunch today, I came across this in my inbox, my daily Snowmail email from London and Channel 4 News, with Carl Dinnen writing the news preview today:
Carl Dinnen here and I'm looking at Smurfs.
Smurfette, Papa Smurf and Clumsy Smurf to be precise.
Someone at the New York Stock Exchange thought it would be a swell idea to have them ring their opening bell today. But just four days and a few hours before the US federal government runs out of money due to a political squabble between the White House and Congress, putting the Smurfs in charge on Wall Street looks somehow appropriate. President Obama has been speaking this afternoon and Sarah Smith will have the latest from Washington while Siobhan Kennedy will be here to explain what happens to your mortgage (or pension or savings) if the US can't get its act together by Tuesday.
Obama 'running out of time' to solve US Debt crisis
