The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/author/bounces406cornellsun-com/)
This week Cornell Cinema will be screening Medicine for Melancholy, a film by relative newcomer Barry Jenkins. An IFC production, the movie follows Micah and Jo — two 20-somethings in San Francisco — after their one night stand (which by the end of the movie is more like a one-night-and-one day-stand). As they day goes on, they explore the city together, debating and discussing issues of race, gender, identity, gentrification and art.
In Search Of A Midnight Kiss is a date movie. Or rather, it’s a movie about a date. It’s also been described as a romantic comedy, though it is, by design, hardly romantic and only sometimes funny.
Our hero is a twenty-something misanthrope named Wilson (Scoot McNairy), a melancholic aspiring screenwriter recently transplanted to Los Angeles with few friends and fewer prospects. He spends most of his time in the apartment he shares with his friend Jacob (Brian McGuire) and Jacob’s girlfriend, Min (Kathleen Luong), whining about his loneliness and apathy. His self-imposed hermitage is ended when Jacob stumbles upon him in flagrante delicto with a particularly embarrassing image, and forces Wilson to place a personal ad on — where else — Craigslist for a New Year’s date.
It’s that time of year once again. A special, even sacred day of celebration for many of us. Not Passover or Easter but something far better than both combined. Entourage is back on TV, and everybody’s celebrating. The show that had dudes everywhere asking each other to “hug it out” will once more fill our lives with joy, hope and a few new ribald jokes. Make no mistake: this is not hyperbole. Fans of the show are legions and we are vociferous in admiration of its magnificence. In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I am a member of this legion. Furthermore, this may be a sad admission to make, but few things have had an impact on my life and atttitude as large as Entourage did when it first premiered. Aside from being one of the funniest shows on television, it is both well-conceived and well-executed. Moreover, it serves a higher purpose, giving guys everywhere of a certain age a sense of direction. It’s our lodestar, our guiding light. As children, we wanted to be astronauts or fireman, now we aspire to be Vincent Chase (or if we’re more realistic, E).