3+1 Short Paragraphs: Starbuck

2011, Ken Scott (Delivery Man) -- download

I am pretty much a softie these days. I wipe my eyes at coffee and iPhone commercials on a regular basis. I enjoy sentimental movies about lovey dovey stuff. OK, not these days. I was always like this. I was a sensitive 90s guy long before the 90s and will continue to be as it is no longer in vogue. I cannot apologize. And don't make fun of me, it will hurt my feelings.

Starbuck is a movie that made me continually smile and occasionally wipe my eyes. It is about a nice guy deciding to be a better man. It is about a guy with a supporting family who inherits an even larger extended family, basically over night. It is a movie all about familial love and responsibility and the rewards that come with it. It is unapologetically a movie for softies. I may not be a guy in touch with fatherhood but I could identify with the connection this man sought out. It was about choosing to love someone as that is your responsibility.

David Wozniak is a guy without much direction at the beginning of the movie. He works at his family butcher shop as a delivery guy, but not a very good one. He has a girlfriend but rarely seeks her out. His family is constantly upset at him ditching work and shirking responsibility. Then he discovers his serial sperm donating has sired hundreds of children, and 142 of them are suing the fertility clinic to know who their father is. This inspires David (known as Starbuck to the sperm bank) to find out who his kids are, and then to become their guardian angel and eventually their very very public father figure. He shifts his paradigm from only himself to the well-being of over a 100 young folks, and all without them really knowing who he is. Until the reveal.

Its not a really realistic movie. Wozniak's shift in attitude is literally over night. His capacity for love and understanding is mythic. That the kids just accept him, a random stranger who starts being nice to them, is a little unbelievable. But this is a movie for softies, where we love the interactions despite the lack of realism. Its also a very very enjoyable view of Montreal from the wrought iron stairs to the narrow, long apartments, reminding me of the ever so distinct character of that city. I wonder if they can keep the fresh, upbeat attitude in the English language / American remake of the movie, also directed by Scott, called Delivery Man?

3 Short Paragraphs: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

2012, Lorene Scafaria (wrote Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) -- download

"That was a sweet movie, " is something I am prone to say when a movie strikes my sentimental nerve. But to call this movie only a RomCom or ChickFlick is disingenuous. When a movie about the end of the world is actually about how two people meet each other, pigeon holing might be the thing you want to veer away from. But really, it was sweet, something that Steve Carell seems to be typecast in. Ever since The 40 Year Old Virgin, he has established himself as the middle-aged guy that people are supposed to root for.  Where the guy my age, lost in his middle-age actually comes ahead.

Keira Knightley is Penny, Dodge Petersen's neighbour. She is the dotty 20sumthin with a terrible boyfriend and a sleep disorder. On the night Dodge's wife runs away (literally) she has a fight with her boyfriend and ends up sleeping on Dodge's sofa. I should point out that the world is ending around them. This is Deep Impact if the space shuttle had not blown the big comet Wolf up. Civilization is falling apart around them but these two are more concerned with lost loves and the love of family then how it will all end. Both were a little lost in  their lives but find each other. "You were the love of my life, " Dodge whispers to Penny with days left.

I am rather fond of End of the World scenarios, since my days of playing Gamma World and imagining myself as the sole survivor having free pick of the mall bookstore and not having to deal with annoying people, i.e. everyone.  But this is not your average movie that highlights the comet and the ensuing disaster. While we do encounter other people's reaction to the End of the World: riots, orgies, parties where people try drugs they never considered before, baptisms, etc. the movie is rather calm and collected about it if occasionally farcical. What struck me was the quiet, as the two drive the countryside of New Jersey seeing a lot of people at ease with the events. And when it does end, it ends on the quietest and sweetest of moments. The survivalist mutants must come in the sequel.