Movie Review: Cyrus

This quietly surreal comedy provides a refreshing alternative to scatological grossfests.

The film’s story is contained to the disruption of an insular relationship between a single mom (Marisa Tomei) and her son (Jonah Hill) by Tomei’s new lover (John C. Reilly.) Social misfit Hill, unaccustomed to sharing his mother’s time with an outsider, attempts a variety of covert strategies to oust the clueless Reilly from their lives.

The movie’s tension and comedy derive from the disconcertingly awkward situations that its cast manages to foment. The story motors along well with its weird, elusive sort of discomfort—far more vague than The Office’s routine of bumbling social mix-ups, but still somehow familiar. It’s a spare enough premise that its success follows entirely from the talents of the cast. Reilly and Hill are veteran outcast character actors and their interplay is unsurprisingly very convincing. And Tomei, cast once again as the ageless beauty paired with a creep, somehow manages to effectively enter their bizarre little world.

Cyrus is a rare film that manages to be genuinely quirky without being cutesy. Recommended.

-Review by Megan

The World in 2050 by Laurence C. Smith

In forty years, the world will be a very different than it is now: the population will be about 50% greater, climate change will be in full swing, and the increasing prosperity of Asia and Africa will create voracious markets for natural resources. So, given the turbulence ahead, what kind of world is likely to emerge? Smith, a UCLA geography professor, uses the latest research and computer models to attempt to answer this question.

He focuses particularly on what he refers to as the NORCs (Northern Rim Countries) – Scandinavia, Canada, the Northern U.S. and Russia. Climate change could actually open up these areas to greater settlement and resource extraction, thus causing them to become much more important geopolitically. Smith envisions a world where swarms of ships crisscross the Arctic Ocean as it turns ice free every summer. He envisions huge cities sprouting up north of the Arctic Circle. He imagines immense pipelines shipping northern water resources to an increasingly thirsty south.

It is impossible to be certain how many of these predictions will come true. But Smith always supports his theories with plenty of figures and footnotes, and he also makes sure to always keep things highly readable and engaging.

-Eric

The Paris Review's Interview Archive

The Paris Review''s storied interview archive is now available online! You'll find uncommonly candid, sometimes controversial, and often surprising thoughts from the likes of Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, Vladimir Nabokov, Joan Didion, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Martin Amis, and R. Crumb. The archive is available here , with some choice excerpts below.

Dorothy Parker, 1956

INTERVIEWER

Do you think Hollywood destroys the artist’s talent?

PARKER

No, no, no. I think nobody on earth writes down. Garbage though they turn out, Hollywood writers aren’t writing down. That is their best. If you’re going to write, don’t pretend to write down. It’s going to be the best you can do, and it’s the fact that it’s the best you can do that kills you. I want so much to write well, though I know I don’t, and that I didn’t make it. But during and at the end of my life, I will adore those who have.

T.C. Boyle, 2000

INTERVIEWER

When did you first begin writing?

T. C. BOYLE

In a class in college. As a junior I walked into an elective class that consisted of all the lame, halt, and disaffected crazies on campus, one of whom was a reincarnated Egyptian princess and had the tattoo on her ankle to prove it. Hallelujah, I thought, this is just where I belong.

Stephen King, 2006

INTERVIEWER

Is there really much of a difference, then, between serious popular fiction and literary fiction?

KING

The real breaking point comes when you ask whether a book engages you on an emotional level. And once those levers start to get pushed, many of the serious critics start to shake their heads and say, No. To me, it all goes back to this idea held by a lot of people who analyze literature for a living, who say, If we let the rabble in, then they’ll see that anybody can do this, that it’s accessible to anyone. And then what are we doing here?

Mary Karr, 2009

People who didn’t live pre-Internet can’t grasp how devoid of ideas life in my hometown was. I stopped in the middle of the SAT to memorize a poem, because I thought, This is a great work of art and I’ll never see it again.

-Megan

The Ultimate List of Lists of the Best Books of 2010

We're more than halfway through January already, but it's still not too late to check out the best books of last year. And a perfect way to do this is through the website Largehearted Boy. He has compiled every "Best of 2010" list he could find online. This turns out to be several hundred lists!

You can find all the standard lists from major publications such as the New York Times and Publishers Weeklyyou can also find some interesting specialized lists. Want to read the best Golf books of the year, or the top Cryptozoology titles of 2010? These lists have got you covered!

So here it is: Online "Best of 2010" Book Lists from Largehearted Boy.

-Eric