The Great Debaters

Starring and directed by Denzel Washington, "The Great Debaters" is based on the true story of an underdog debate team from a small, black college that wins a national championship in the segregated 1930's.
The debate team is from tiny Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. The debate coach is Melvin Tolson (Washington), who demands the highest performance from his students. Tolson is something of an enigma. He has a secret life as a political organizer; he is trying to unionize the poor whites and blacks. This has major plot ramifications, even though he keeps his political views out of the classroom and the debates themselves.
Each of the debates we see in the movie are on social justice themes. The first major engagement Wiley College had against an "Anglo Saxon" college was on the subject of "Civil Disobedience," for example. The Wiley debaters always got the desirable position; they never had to debate in favor of something distasteful. It would have been interesting to see them forced to take the difficult position "Resolved: Civil Disobedience is Immoral."
The emotional climax of the film comes when the team is on a road trip to a debate and they come upon a lynch mob. As black people in the south in the 1930's, every day life for them was full of racism, but this event changed each of them. Each of the debates that followed this horrible scene drew on it, in ways both subtle and sledge-hammerlike.
On one level, the movie is your basic "sports movie" about a team that overcomes great adversity with a great coach and goes on to beat the big bad team to win the big championship. I'm not a fan of those movies because they're so predictable. This movie has that basic plot, but it's only the coathanger upon which the important stuff hangs. "The Great Debaters" is really about how education and self-respect are the keys to defeating racism and discrimination.
My only negative on this movie is that it was a bit overly long and a little preachy.
B+

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Otherwise known as National Treasure 2, this big-budget action flick has a mega big-name cast. Returning as intrepid historian / treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates is Nicolas Cage, of course. The supporting cast includes Jon Voight, Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel, and Helen Mirren. Seriously. WHAT THE HELL WAS HELEN MIRREN THINKING?

This is an entertaining movie, a good way to wile away an afternoon, but not a "good" movie or anybody's idea of an Oscar winner. I guarantee you will remember very little about this movie fifteen minutes after you walk out of the theater. This is the movie equivalent of Cool Whip.

Instead of a substantive review, I'll give you a few three-word summaries of this movie.

• Overly white teeth. Seriously, Nic, lay off the tooth whiteners.
• Indiana Jones ripoff.
• Physics rules disregarded.
• Lincoln is assassinated.
• President unusually handsome.
• Lots of chasing.
• Ferrari gets towed.
• Mercedes gets crashed.
• Cibola is golden.
• Lots of water.
• Secret book exists.
• Sidekick hacks computers.
• Silly popcorn movie.

C+

Banished Words

Lake Superior State University has recently published its 33rd annual List of Words Banished From the Queen's English for "misuse, overuse, or general uselessness."

The winners / losers are:

PERFECT STORM – for overuse. The pundits on TV show say "perfect storm" when they mean just about any coincidence. I agree with this one. Stop using book titles in a way that indicates that you haven't even read the book.

WEBINAR – a made-up word. A seminar on the web about any number of topics.
I'd have to disagree with this one. I haven't heard it used that much. Yet. I think there are a number of more deserving candidates.

WATERBOARDING – "Let's banish 'waterboarding' to the beach, where it belongs with boogie boards and surfboards." – Patrick K. Egan, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. I have mixed emotions on this one. It was probably used most during 2007 by Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, and I love my Daily Show.

ORGANIC – Overused and misused to describe not only food, but computer products or human behavior, and often used when describing something as "natural," says Crystal Giordano of Brooklyn, New York. I'd like to add the word "green" to the list as well, for the same reasons.

WORDSMITH / WORDSMITHING – "I've never read anything created by a wordsmith - or via wordsmithing - that was pleasant to read." – Emily Kissane, St. Paul, Minnesota. What the heck is wrong with "editor"?

AUTHOR / AUTHORED – "In one of former TV commentator Edwin Newman's books, he wonders if it would be correct to say that someone 'paintered' a picture?" – Dorothy Betzweiser, Cincinnati, Ohio. What the heck is wrong with "writer"?

POST 9/11 – "'Our post-9/11 world,' is used now, and probably used more, than AD, BC, or Y2K, time references. You'd think the United States didn't have jet fighters, nuclear bombs, and secret agents, let alone electricity, 'pre-9/11.'" – Chazz Miner, Midland, Michigan. Agreed. So overused.

SURGE – "'Surge' has become a reference to a military build-up. Give me the old days, when it referenced storms and electrical power." – Michael F. Raczko, Swanton, Ohio. I disagree with this; it's an important part of the news. I suppose they could say "military build-up" but in our 10-second news bite culture, that takes too long to say.

GIVE BACK – "Various media have been featuring a large number of people who 'just want to give back.' Give back to whom? For what?" – Curtis Cooper, Hazel Park, Michigan. I have a problem with this one, too. What is wrong with people wanting to do community service? This entry confuses me.

'BLANK' is the new 'BLANK' or 'X' is the new 'Y' – "Believed to have come into use in the 1960s, but it is getting tired. The comparisons have become absurd." – Geoff Steinhart, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This ridiculous phrase was spoofed in the musical Wicked when a character scoffs "Black is the new pink."

BLACK FRIDAY – "The day after Thanksgiving that retailers use to keep themselves out of the 'red' for the year. (And then followed by "Cyber-Monday.") This is counter to the start of the Great Depression's use of the term 'Black Tuesday,' which signaled the crash of the stock market that sent the economy into a tailspin. – Carl Marschner, Melvindale, Michigan. I agree, so overused.

BACK IN THE DAY – "Back in the day, we used 'back-in-the-day' to mean something really historical. Now you hear ridiculous statements such as 'Back in the day, people used Blackberries without Blue Tooth.'" – Liz Jameson, Tallahassee, Florida. This phrase is so old that it was overused back in the day.

RANDOM – "Overuse on a massive scale by my fellow youth. Every event, activity and person can be 'sooo random' as of late. Banish it before I go vigilante." – Ben Martin, Adelaide, South Australia. This phrase has been overused for at least 10 years. Why banish it now?

SWEET – "Too many sweets will make you sick. It became popular with the advent of the television show 'South Park.'It is annoying when young children use it and have no idea why, but it really sounds stupid coming from the mouths of adults." – Wayne Braver, Manistique, Michigan Yikes. I'm guilty of this one myself.

DECIMATE – "'Decimate' has been turned upside down. It means 'to destroy one tenth,' but people are using it to mean 'to destroy nine tenths.' – David Welch, Venice, Florida. Thank you! This has been a pet peeve of mine for years! This has got to be one of the most misused words in the English language.

EMOTIONAL – "Reporters, short on vocabulary, often describe a scene as 'emotional.' Well sure, but which emotion? For a radio reporter to gravely announce, 'There was an emotional send off to Joe Blow' tells me nothing, other than the reporter perceived that the participants acted in an emotional way. For instance: I had an emotional day today. I started out feeling tired and a bit grumpy until I had my coffee. I was distraught over a cat killing a bird on the other side of the street. I was bemused by my reaction to the way nature works. I was intrigued this evening to add a word or two to your suggestions. I was happy to see the words that others had posted. Gosh, this has been an emotional day for me." – Brendan Kennedy, Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada. Wow, Brendan is certainly emotional.

POP – "On every single one of the 45,000 decorating shows on cable TV (of which I watch many) there is at LEAST one obligatory use of a phrase such as ... 'the addition of the red really makes it POP.' You know when it's coming ... you mouth it along with the decorator. There must be some other way of describing the addition of an interesting detail." – Barbara, Arlington, Texas. Don't forget, "And this will be a wonderful place to sit and read a book."

IT IS WHAT IT IS – "This pointless phrase, uttered initially by athletes on the losing side of a contest, is making its way into general use. It accomplishes the dual feat of adding nothing to the conversation while also being phonetically and thematically redundant." – Jeffrey Skrenes, St. Paul, Minnesota. One of the worst time wasters ever.

UNDER THE BUS – "For overuse. I frequently hear this in the cliché-filled sports world, where it's used to describe misplaced blame – i.e. 'After Sunday's loss, the fans threw T.O. under the bus." – Mark R. Hinkston, Racine, Wisconsin. Oops. I guess I'd better stop saying this one ...

What words or phrases do you think should be banned for misuse, overuse, or general uselessness?

Juno

Juno MacGuff, played by Ellen Page in her first major role, is a very sarcastic highschool student. On a whim, she decides to have sex with her friend Paulie Bleeker. Juno turns up pregnant. Rainn Wilson has a hilarious cameo as the pharmacist where she buys her pregnancy test, as she attempts to shake away the positive result: "That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet."

Which brings me to the writing. The screenplay by Diablo Cody is simply brilliant. She captures not so much the actual language of teens - which, let's face it, I'm no expert at - but the cadence of it. Every other movie with teens in it sounds stilted now. Teens talk fast, overlapping, finishing each others' sentences, in fact speaking not in whole sentences most of the time. Diablo Cody caught that perfectly. I've read reviews that complained just the opposite, saying that Juno didn't talk like a real kid. For example, in one scene she calls an abortion clinic, saying "I'm calling to procure a hasty abortion." That's exactly what a teen like Juno would say. It's straightforward and sarcastic at the same time. It's her trying to sound adult without trying too hard. It's perfect. I find it incredibly ironic that the strike by the Writer's Guild may prevent the Academy Awards from airing this year, thereby preventing the amazing writing in this movie from being recognized.

The acting in the movie is top-notch all around. With so much attention paid to Ellen Page as Juno, it's easy to forget about other characters, but that would be a big mistake. Michael Cera as Paulie Bleeker, the father of Juno's baby, is achingly sweet, and does wonders with relatively few lines. The couple Juno arranges to adopt her baby, played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman, are fantastic as well. Garner is especially adept with her role, which could easily have become a cartoon of the shrewish wife but did not in her hands.

A+

Charlie Wilson's War

Based on a true story, Charlie Wilson's War is the best movie I have seen in a long time. It stars Tom Hanks as Congressman Charlie Wilson, Julia Roberts as Texas socialite Joanne Herring, and a nearly unrecognisable Philip Seymour Hoffman as CIA agent Gust Avrakotos. Directed by Mike Nichols, the screenplay crackles with Aaron Sorkin's dialog. I have long been a fan of Sorkin's work; his credits include Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The West Wing, and the gone but very much not forgotten Sports Night.

Charlie Wilson's War opens with the Congressman receiving a medal for his work in Afghanistan. Tom Hanks is truly a great actor, because here he manages to look pleased and disappointed at the same time. I was thinking that he was upset because the ceremony was being held in front of only a couple of hundred people at some military base, but that's not the reason. We find out at the end of the movie.

The rest of the movie is told in flashback. It tells the story of Wilson's involvement in the U.S.'s covert operations in Afghanistan in the 1980's, and how he literally changed the course of history. This is not some somber documentary, however. The movie is funny as hell, drops the f-bomb like candy, and has some nudity and drug references. So don't be an idiot and take your 8-year old child to see it like the people sitting in front of me.

Charlie Wilson had life on Capitol Hill figured out. He had a bevy of beautiful assistants who answer to the name "jailbait," he attended hot tubbing parties with sleazy promoters where drugs, booze, and strippers were plentiful, and gave and dispensed favors right and left. Tom Hanks plays his playboy role for all it's worth but does not chew the scenery like so many other actors would do. He plays it wry, sarcastic, and amused. Perfect. When called upon to be awed and appalled (such as when visiting an Afghan refugee camp), he hits those notes perfectly as well.


While hot tubbing with said strippers, he sees Dan Rather on TV wearing a turban while visiting an Afghan refugee camp. He figures that had to be important. Shortly after that, he receives a call from Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), who wants to eradicate the Godless Soviets from Afghanistan. She has an agenda, like everyone else in the movie (and in the real world), but she's intelligent, knowledgeable, and she brings Charlie to the realization that he can use his contacts in Congress to do something good. Roberts plays her role perfectly as well.

I'm not going to detail the entire plot of the movie because I don't want to ruin it for you. Go see it. I give the movie a great big A