Extract

Memphis has been amazing. This is mostly due to my friend Greg's hospitality here on Mud Island. It has been a truly awesome way to be introduced to this wonderful city. I definitely will be coming back in the near future.

Of course I've made it a priority to see some movies while I've been here, not only to catch up with the releases, but also to explore Memphis through its cinema establishments. The only downside of this is that there are no theaters here in the downtown area where Greg lives, just north of the Pyramid. You have to go a couple miles to the nearest one, and in most cases, out to the eastern suburbs. That's about the only negative thing about Memphis I've experienced, and it is hardly that negative, since the drives having given me a chance to see more of the city.

The first movie I saw was Extract, which was playing at the Malco Studio on the Square (map). Malco is the big chain in this area of the south, and almost all the cinemas in Memphis are part of this chain. The Studio on the Square has four screens, and is the only cinema in the central. It is located in the trendy nice park district and is what passes as an art theater. When I got there on a weekday night, the parking lot was full from the cars of patrons attending a special screening of an independent movie.

I was looking forward to Extract. Having spent the 1990s in Austin, I came to like Mike Judge as a local guy made good. I like his stuff. Always have. His stuff may not be epically profound, but it is usually entertaining and funny.

The movie didn't disappoint me. I laughed plenty of times and had fun. It wasn't terribly deep, but I didn't care. That's not what I was looking for. Instead it created fun and interested characters that I cared about. The concept and the story were original enough while playing on some universal themes. I reminded me of some of the light comedies of the 1930s. It could have been Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, or Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, doing the lead roles by Jason Bateman and Mila Kunis.

It was well cast. In addition to the aforementioned principals, there was the ubiquitous J.K. Simmons, and a splendid charater role by Gene Simmons as a creepy tort lawyer. Perfect casting. And lots of fun.

One of the things I like about Judge is that his works can explore some of the baser parts of the Postmodern condition without reveling in it, or glorying the gutter instincts of humanity. He draws humor out of the gutter while pointing the way towards the higher ground of human nature.

All in all, it was not bad for an introduction to marvelous Memphis.