(Heads up note: I am in a cursing mood today. Blog is now officially rated R)
Woo, fall TV is upon us. And shit, son, things have gotten very real very quickly. Such a strong start to the season, with a lot of good new shows. I'm sure some of these will fall off over time, but right now I am stretched to the max. It's exciting! And it's a good thing I'm unemployed. So much TV time.
Monday
How I Met Your Mother - Y'all, I missed this show so much. And it came back pretty strong. It's weird how I can love a show and yet hate the characters involved so much. Ted's pretension and Lily's overbearing-ness is completely in character and utterly frustrating, but it's organic and natural. I feel like maybe there could be a break coming for me (when I can't deal with it anymore) but for now, it's like old friends who have annoying tics, but you still love hanging out with them because they're so much fun. Also: NPH was robbed at the Emmys. For real. How good was he doing the hosting? RAGE.
Accidentally on Purpose - Wow, we're going to give it a couple of episodes because it was a pilot and I do like Jenna Elfman, but seriously, not good at all. Cliched in the worst kind of way, and I'm sorry, but there were straight up problems with line delivery and landing punchlines. Very bush-league stuff starting out.
The Big Bang Theory - Most underwhelming return, as I had super high hopes, but still solid. A total waste of Laurie Metcalf (who is usually great), and what I thought was a terrible mis-read of character for Leonard. I mean, yes we know that Sheldon can be handful, but seriously: you sabotage a university grant and make a huge setback to your best friend's career and all you can do is try to get laid? Yes, yes, sitcom, I know. But still - we watch these shows for the characters, not the situations, dammit. Ugh, I'm over-complaining. It was actually pretty funny. Red cowboy hat, woo.
Castle - Trying out the second season. Kinda not-to-bad. We'll see how it goes. Damn, I love me some Nathan Fillion. Mostly forgettable, though. People tell me it grows on you.
Tuesday
Hells Kitchen - I get that it's basically a joke of a show, but it's strangely compelling. Editing is for shit, and they can really step on their own storylines without seeming to give a single damn, but I still tune in regardless. It reminds me of some of those mid-early seasons of Survivor, where nothing really happened episode to episode, but the seasons on the whole were compelling. Also, I'm a sucker for food shows lately.
Biggest Loser - Man, this show sucks me in so quickly. I'm already over the crying and the sob stories, which I am pretty sure will burn me out on the show before we hid mid-season, but the drama of the weight loss is higher than ever (mostly because these are some big folks they've got going this time round). Still - two hours every week? Overkill.
Wednesday
So You Think You Can Dance - That summer season was a delight. So far, all I'm coming away with from the fall is that I absolutely cannot watch the audition episodes of this show. They're a million times worse for me than the American Idol equivalents, and I hate those with a passion. I'll get back to you when they set the field.
Glee - I was on the fence for episode two (contrived, too quickly paced, and I wasn't on board with the music yet), but this last episode has me on the train for a while. I didn't mind the pace rush (it's a style), the jokes were solid, and the music was awesome. I'm not a huge fan of the direction the drama is taking, but I'll give it some space. Also, really impressed with some of the acting bits. Weird, considering I thought that was going to be the weak link, based on the pilot.
Modern Family - I was ready to write it off as good, but not appointment level TV, and then The Lion King bit happened. I laughed so hard that I think I pulled something. Seriously, that hit me out of nowhere and I went on one of those insane laughing jags that I sometimes get. Maybe it was just a one-time thing, but it's getting them a lot of goodwill. Also, setting an appointment to shoot your child: hilarious. "Sorry buddy, it's on the calendar."
Cougar Town - Okay, yes, it sounds terrible. But I really, really, really enjoyed it. Possibly the most out of all the sitcoms this week. I KNOW! Courtney Cox is a little shrill and overplaying a bit, but the supporting cast is so solid, particularly Busy Phillips(!) and the kid who plays her son. I'm definitely looking to see what the show has up its sleeve, and if it can keep up what seems like a weak premise.
Thursday
Flash Forward - As usual, I don't pick up a lot of new dramas, but this one definitely has me hooked. I like the acting a whole lot, I like the premise, and I love the immediate way they rolled into the real story. None of that "it's impossible" garbage - we are on the track and moving. Of course, it helps that they're doing that whole predestination/knowledge-of-the-future-to-change-it angle, which is something that I eat up with a spoon. I've got high, high hopes. Also, Dominic Monaghan!
Survivor - Wow, I don't think I've had that level of whiplash in a single episode in forever. Such an amazingly promising start (blind leader picking! blind task picking!) that almost immediately devolved into the Russell Show of Terribleness. I'm so over him that I didn't even need to make the hard DVR choice this week - Survivor got cut. I might pick it up occasionally to see how things go, but for now: OUT
Parks and Recreation - Y'all, they are keeping it up! That's three straight great episodes. Finding a real tone for Amy Poehler that isn't just a Michael Scott retread. Actual, hilarious jokes. Bright joining the main cast! That young people relationship explanation! I am so stoked for this show now.
The Office - A great opening episode (maybe the most I've laughed in a single episode since season 3) followed by a near tone-deaf second episode. So strange. Still always on board (I'm not going to doubt them anymore after the last season they worked up) but I'm a little wary. Andy has been the real highlight both episodes thus far though. That's weird.
Community - I've told most people I know: probably my favorite pilot I've seen in about 5 years. Second episode wasn't as great - they're obviously still trying to set a tone for the actress who plays Britta and Joel McHale to work with, but still very solid. I'm loving Thursdays this year. (Also, the kid who plays Abed is rapidly approaching a treasured status for me.)
Project Runway - Ah, my old friend. It's about damn time. Doesn't seem to have suffered much at all with the TV and production company change. And they've got a good cast this year. So far though, it's been kinda rough, because the judging has been all over the map. On occasion I have disagreed with the exact winner and loser, but I've straight up thought that the winning piece should have gone home a couple of times this season. Also, very little Michael Koors and Nina Garcia, which I didn't think I needed until they weren't there. Still great TV, just weird.
(Awards span two weeks this one time)
Best Episode of the Week:
The Office - Gossip
(And Lord help me) Cougar Town - Pilot
Best Line of the Week:
Parks and Recreation - April (explaining her relationship): "Derek is gay but he's straight for me but he's gay for Ben and Ben's really gay for Derek. And I hate Ben. It's not that complicated"
Runner Up:
The Office - Michael: "If somebody doesn't tell me, I'm going to start screaming."
Best Moment of the Week:
Modern Family - The Lion King baby reveal
Most Disappointing:
The Big Bang Theory - Why an asshole, Leonard?
Most Anticipated:
Amazing Race season premiere on Sunday!
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Harry Potter And The Teenage Angst Monster
(Long and SPOILER filled, for both the 6th movie and the 7th book so watch the heck out)
It's a tricky thing, adapting a book into a movie. Particularly one that's been read, analyzed, dissected, fought over, and devoured millions of times over. You keep it too tightly to the book and it would no doubt be long and dry. Go too far off base and you hear the unending outcry of an angry horde of rabid fans from across the globe. It's basically a no-win situation, if you discount the huge piles of money that you're being paid.
I think that overall, though, I'm in the camp that likes it when things are switched up. My favorite of the Harry Potter movies is Alfonso Cuarón's take on Prisoner of Azkaban, and I think it's mostly because the movie doesn't try to copy over the book word for word (like it seemed the first two tried to) and it didn't just try to get all the set pieces of the story in (like the 4th seemed to). There was a story that was told, and even though the denouement exposition scene was probably too much, it felt like a standalone decent film.
David Yates is obviously taking a long-term approach with parts 5 through 7A & 7B that doesn't really fit any classification. He's taking a sort of half-and-half approach to adaptation that you can only try when you know you're going to have the continuity of the films in place. Because just like 5, 6 really doesn't stand on it's own as a great film. Don't get me wrong, it's almost endlessly entertaining. For a movie that runs over two and half hours, keeping my attention that high and engrossed throughout is a great triumph. But he's obviously taking the long view on the series as a whole, and is okay with making the 6th installment fun, but ultimately incomplete. And if the currently leaked plans for the first movie of the seventh book are accurate, this will continue to the end.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing (cohesion rarely is), but it's not what I would have done. We'll get into that later, but let's for now have a small discussion on how much I enjoyed this one.
My primary joy in this movie was the strength of acting, which is the highest it's been in an HP movie thus far. Particularly Emma Watson and Tom Felton, who brought up the level of their games significantly from Part 5. I could spend a few hours gushing over Watson, but mostly because I was terrified that after that Order of the Phoenix disaster, that she would drag this movie straight down, as Hermione has such an arc to get through in Half Blood Prince. But she pulls it off with room to spare. Felton adds some umph to Draco's story, and the decision to reveal a lot more about the vanishing cabinet directly was a very smart decision.
Plus, Michael Gambon as Dumbledore finally puts it all together for this movie, and just in time as he could have easily been the make or break piece of the puzzle. (This was sidestepped by the directing decisions, but we'll get to that). I wasn't on board with his acting style for part 4 at all, but by 5 I could come around to it, and in 6 he has real pathos - he obviously cares for Harry, and is doing a delicate balancing act that is nicely highlighted in some of the more subtle bits of his acting.
I also greatly enjoyed the little liberties that were taken with the book - I loved getting rid of the tedium of the Dursleys and instead getting the off-beat diner scene instead. That's the exact kind of thing I'm looking for in a movie adaptation - reverence to the spirit of the book, but not slavish devotion to the recreation of the text. I was less pleased with the added attack on the Weasleys' house, but that's more the plot nerd coming out in me than an actual complaint. The scene itself is incredibly well-done, it just raises so many canon questions that my brain starts flailing internally.
And just like for the last movie, lets stop and take a paragraph to revel in the glory that is Luna Lovegood. It's such a perfect bit of casting, and she's played so delightfully, I want an entire movie just about her and Harry having little adventures together. I loved the way she was integrated into the movie even better than in the book - her finding Harry on the train was economical and well thought-out, and she gets some great lines floating in and out of her various scenes. I can't say enough good things.
My last bit of gushing comes for the Horcrux reveal scene - which seems crazy, as it's something that I kind of hated in the book. Textually, when Harry gets the Slughorn memory, all it does is confirm Dumbledore's expectation of what is going on (basically the sum reveal is that he's expecting 7 horcruxes). This is similar to the movie, but Gambon is able to ham it up a little, and give it some gravitas. And then the bit that I didn't expect - the really nice foreshadowing for Book 7 - Dumbledore's explanation of how the dark magic leaves its traces, only to have Harry himself get hit with a bolt Voldemort when he touches the ring. Because he's got the dark traces inside himself, right? Since he's a horcrux too. And while they're a little overdone, I love the ambiguity of Dumbledore's lines that follow, about how he can't destroy the horcrux himself, and again he's going to have to ask too much of Harry. Because he doesn't really say which horcrux he's talking about, does he? Whatever, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but let me have my delusions, I think it's amazingly well done.
-------------------------
But back to the idea of adaptation. I understand what the director is doing here - he's going for the larger picture. The fifth movie sets the adult portion of the Harry Potter arc in motion - introduces the main characters and themes, but doesn't resolve much of anything. The sixth movie carries that through, raising the stakes by staying so close to the character-study side of things, rather than getting bogged into the deepening past plot. The opposite sides weighing in - the normal teenage life beset on all sides by the darkness - it makes sense when you're building to the overall conflict that will be Harry, Ron, and Hermione cutting ties to complete their mission in the next movie, and then the eventual grand conclusion where everything comes back together in the final one.
So taking this into account, I can see why the cuts were made where they were, and why the additions were necessary. It's a four movie payoff, nothing too immediate. See: Mrs. Weasley's long tear-stained reaction shot to Bellatrix burning down The Burrow. Can't even imagine what that might be leading up to a few movies down the road, no?
Or the cutting of all the other Voldemort memories: While it's all great backstory, it ultimately has little to do with the matters at hand in the story they're telling. How they'll nail down the horcruxes in the next parts is irrelevant to the set up the Half-Blood Prince is setting up. And for that matter, keeping the fight for Hogwarts at the end of HBP would introduce and remove the threat too quickly and too hollowly for the theme to continue (unless they re-added Bill and Fleur, which would be just too much.)
The only part I don't necessarily understand is the removal of the funeral, and the astronomy tower discussion put in its place. The new scene fits the theme well, but then so would the funeral. And had they carried the funeral to the expected conclusion, having Harry do his little homage to Spider-Man and dumping Ginny at the end would complete the natural arc of story nicely, and provides the ramp into the next movie. Instead we get a sort of soft fade out on the reflections of how the kids have grown up.
These are all things I can rail against, but don't see the need. It's a great entry into the series, and as a whole I think they'll acquit themselves nicely, particularly when viewed in the series as a whole.
It's a tricky thing, adapting a book into a movie. Particularly one that's been read, analyzed, dissected, fought over, and devoured millions of times over. You keep it too tightly to the book and it would no doubt be long and dry. Go too far off base and you hear the unending outcry of an angry horde of rabid fans from across the globe. It's basically a no-win situation, if you discount the huge piles of money that you're being paid.
I think that overall, though, I'm in the camp that likes it when things are switched up. My favorite of the Harry Potter movies is Alfonso Cuarón's take on Prisoner of Azkaban, and I think it's mostly because the movie doesn't try to copy over the book word for word (like it seemed the first two tried to) and it didn't just try to get all the set pieces of the story in (like the 4th seemed to). There was a story that was told, and even though the denouement exposition scene was probably too much, it felt like a standalone decent film.
David Yates is obviously taking a long-term approach with parts 5 through 7A & 7B that doesn't really fit any classification. He's taking a sort of half-and-half approach to adaptation that you can only try when you know you're going to have the continuity of the films in place. Because just like 5, 6 really doesn't stand on it's own as a great film. Don't get me wrong, it's almost endlessly entertaining. For a movie that runs over two and half hours, keeping my attention that high and engrossed throughout is a great triumph. But he's obviously taking the long view on the series as a whole, and is okay with making the 6th installment fun, but ultimately incomplete. And if the currently leaked plans for the first movie of the seventh book are accurate, this will continue to the end.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing (cohesion rarely is), but it's not what I would have done. We'll get into that later, but let's for now have a small discussion on how much I enjoyed this one.
My primary joy in this movie was the strength of acting, which is the highest it's been in an HP movie thus far. Particularly Emma Watson and Tom Felton, who brought up the level of their games significantly from Part 5. I could spend a few hours gushing over Watson, but mostly because I was terrified that after that Order of the Phoenix disaster, that she would drag this movie straight down, as Hermione has such an arc to get through in Half Blood Prince. But she pulls it off with room to spare. Felton adds some umph to Draco's story, and the decision to reveal a lot more about the vanishing cabinet directly was a very smart decision.
Plus, Michael Gambon as Dumbledore finally puts it all together for this movie, and just in time as he could have easily been the make or break piece of the puzzle. (This was sidestepped by the directing decisions, but we'll get to that). I wasn't on board with his acting style for part 4 at all, but by 5 I could come around to it, and in 6 he has real pathos - he obviously cares for Harry, and is doing a delicate balancing act that is nicely highlighted in some of the more subtle bits of his acting.
I also greatly enjoyed the little liberties that were taken with the book - I loved getting rid of the tedium of the Dursleys and instead getting the off-beat diner scene instead. That's the exact kind of thing I'm looking for in a movie adaptation - reverence to the spirit of the book, but not slavish devotion to the recreation of the text. I was less pleased with the added attack on the Weasleys' house, but that's more the plot nerd coming out in me than an actual complaint. The scene itself is incredibly well-done, it just raises so many canon questions that my brain starts flailing internally.
And just like for the last movie, lets stop and take a paragraph to revel in the glory that is Luna Lovegood. It's such a perfect bit of casting, and she's played so delightfully, I want an entire movie just about her and Harry having little adventures together. I loved the way she was integrated into the movie even better than in the book - her finding Harry on the train was economical and well thought-out, and she gets some great lines floating in and out of her various scenes. I can't say enough good things.
My last bit of gushing comes for the Horcrux reveal scene - which seems crazy, as it's something that I kind of hated in the book. Textually, when Harry gets the Slughorn memory, all it does is confirm Dumbledore's expectation of what is going on (basically the sum reveal is that he's expecting 7 horcruxes). This is similar to the movie, but Gambon is able to ham it up a little, and give it some gravitas. And then the bit that I didn't expect - the really nice foreshadowing for Book 7 - Dumbledore's explanation of how the dark magic leaves its traces, only to have Harry himself get hit with a bolt Voldemort when he touches the ring. Because he's got the dark traces inside himself, right? Since he's a horcrux too. And while they're a little overdone, I love the ambiguity of Dumbledore's lines that follow, about how he can't destroy the horcrux himself, and again he's going to have to ask too much of Harry. Because he doesn't really say which horcrux he's talking about, does he? Whatever, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but let me have my delusions, I think it's amazingly well done.
-------------------------
But back to the idea of adaptation. I understand what the director is doing here - he's going for the larger picture. The fifth movie sets the adult portion of the Harry Potter arc in motion - introduces the main characters and themes, but doesn't resolve much of anything. The sixth movie carries that through, raising the stakes by staying so close to the character-study side of things, rather than getting bogged into the deepening past plot. The opposite sides weighing in - the normal teenage life beset on all sides by the darkness - it makes sense when you're building to the overall conflict that will be Harry, Ron, and Hermione cutting ties to complete their mission in the next movie, and then the eventual grand conclusion where everything comes back together in the final one.
So taking this into account, I can see why the cuts were made where they were, and why the additions were necessary. It's a four movie payoff, nothing too immediate. See: Mrs. Weasley's long tear-stained reaction shot to Bellatrix burning down The Burrow. Can't even imagine what that might be leading up to a few movies down the road, no?
Or the cutting of all the other Voldemort memories: While it's all great backstory, it ultimately has little to do with the matters at hand in the story they're telling. How they'll nail down the horcruxes in the next parts is irrelevant to the set up the Half-Blood Prince is setting up. And for that matter, keeping the fight for Hogwarts at the end of HBP would introduce and remove the threat too quickly and too hollowly for the theme to continue (unless they re-added Bill and Fleur, which would be just too much.)
The only part I don't necessarily understand is the removal of the funeral, and the astronomy tower discussion put in its place. The new scene fits the theme well, but then so would the funeral. And had they carried the funeral to the expected conclusion, having Harry do his little homage to Spider-Man and dumping Ginny at the end would complete the natural arc of story nicely, and provides the ramp into the next movie. Instead we get a sort of soft fade out on the reflections of how the kids have grown up.
These are all things I can rail against, but don't see the need. It's a great entry into the series, and as a whole I think they'll acquit themselves nicely, particularly when viewed in the series as a whole.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Music Review Monday - Spektor, Jonas, et al
Been in a music buying frenzy lately, and thought I'd do a public service announcement on what to buy and what to ignore. Because I definitely know what I'm talking about when it comes to music. (Please note: I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I do like to type a lot.)
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Far, Regina Spektor - I cannot give an unbiased review of this album. It includes the songs "One More Time With Feeling" (my old favorite Regina song) and "Dance Anthem of the 80's" (the song that I heard live back in '06 which started my terrifying fan obsession), so I have no objectivity.
That said, even attempting to pretend impartiality, I think it's a very, very good album. It opens brilliantly with the catchy songs "The Calculation" and "Eet" (which I think are the two standout songs on the record). It get you hooked before you know it and the album slides on with a nice pace, alternating the slower, deeper songs with the more upbeat ones, making a nice layering effect to the thematic idea of the album. The only thing I find out of place is "The Wallet," which is a great song and one of my favorite things she sings live, but it feels jarringly trifling at the end of such a strong album.
As with Begin to Hope, I think the same unfair criticism will be leveled at Far - it's more commercially viable (read: mainstream), more produced, resulting in less original flavor Regina. I agree with the viability and the production, but if anything, this album has more personality Begin to Hope and a couple of the songs rival what we saw on Soviet Kitch. Undoubtedly there are more mainstream things here: "Laughing With" is generic enough for radio play, I sincerely believe "Eet" will end up as the "Better" of this album, and "The Calculation" and "Dance Anthem" both scream commercial to me.
But right at the same time you've got "Folding Chair," which is the quintessential Regina quirk song (there are dolphin noises involved), and "Blue Lips", which is insanely lyrically dense. Basically, I can never figure out what people are on about, but I assume it's cool hate on the popular and say you knew them when, and it was so much better, and lalala. Whatever, it's good stuff.
(Note: As much as I prefer buying music from Amazon over iTunes, get it off iTunes if possible, since the bonus tracks are amazing. While it's short, "Riot Gear" is my favorite song on the whole album.)
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Lines, Vines, and Trying Times, The Jonas Brothers - I don't even know what to say to this album. It's so varied - the theme is obviously the Trying Times part of the title - but musically it's all over the map; you've got country, rock, pop, even a little rap. Despite many of the songs not being my cup of musical tea ("What Did I Do To Your Heart" sounds like a 90's Shania Twain reject, and "Don't Charge Me For The Crime" is gangsta-rap-ultra-lite) I think it's a good album, but it's nothing that you need to go out of your way to hear.
I was shocked how much I liked their last album - it was slickly produced and unbelievably catchy without being too Disney Teen Bop, or only a little bit so (plus some of the songs were just plain good). This album continues that theme in some ways for the better - this is a more mature sounding and better produced album in almost every regard, and it actually has some real-world playable music on it (as long as you never reveal that to anyone that it is the Jonas Brothers who are singing).
Some of it is a little juvenile, though: after listening to "Fly With Me", I sincerely wonder if they've forgotten that Peter Pan sort of doesn't have a happy ending (which seemingly negates the message of the song). And while I enjoy a good Taylor Swift smackdown as much as the next person, I really could have done without the eternally lame "Much Better" ("I'm done with superstars/and all the tears on her guitar, I'm not bitter") Uh, yeah, good luck with that.
On the whole, it's around 6.5 out of 10. Maybe more, depending on how long this "Paranoid" single remains lodged in my brain (seriously, it's really good).
--------------------
Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future, The Bird and The Bee - Such a nice album. I've become sort of an electro-pop glutton lately (Bitter:Sweet, Animal Collective, Lykke Li, Imogen Heap...) so I like to think that I'm starting to be able to tell the difference between something that's just catchy and something that's genuinely good, as electronica goes. This is a really great mixture of the two - standout catchy tunes like "My Love" and "Polite Dance Party," and then some songs that some measure of real interest hiding in them like "Meteor" and "Love Letter to Japan."
Not world-breaking, but a delight nonetheless.
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Beautiful Lie, Ed Harcourt - Get your music snob on. UK release from 2006 that got a US distribution in 2008 to little recognition. This album and Matt Alber's Hide Nothing are my go-to joys for obscure but amazing male singer/songwriters this year. To steal a line, this album is hauntingly beautiful. Goes a little too far on a couple of tracks, particularly "You Only Call Me When You're Drunk" which starts brilliant but then keeps spiraling upwards to a messy and terrible crash, but mostly it's a stunning achievement and kind of makes my heart hurt at times.
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Transmitter Failure, Jenny Owen Youngs -Another one of those biased reviews. Her last album, Batten the Hatches, is my favorite thing that came out of 2007 and I have an irrational love for the way she writes her songs. There's a cynical but reasoned edge to almost every song on that album that really speaks to me.
The new album is a little more driving and a little happier, but the edge is still definitely in place. Her uptempo stuff is just brilliant, with "Last Person" and "Clean Break" as my standout favorites. I'm less in love with a couple of the fragile songs ("Here is a Heart" is a little too cloying and "Nighty Night," while catchy, is off-putting to me), but that's just because I compare them to things like "Woodcut" or "Voice on Tape" from the last album and see missed potential. Make no mistake, it's a wonderful album, maybe my favorite of the whole year so far.
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Far, Regina Spektor - I cannot give an unbiased review of this album. It includes the songs "One More Time With Feeling" (my old favorite Regina song) and "Dance Anthem of the 80's" (the song that I heard live back in '06 which started my terrifying fan obsession), so I have no objectivity.
That said, even attempting to pretend impartiality, I think it's a very, very good album. It opens brilliantly with the catchy songs "The Calculation" and "Eet" (which I think are the two standout songs on the record). It get you hooked before you know it and the album slides on with a nice pace, alternating the slower, deeper songs with the more upbeat ones, making a nice layering effect to the thematic idea of the album. The only thing I find out of place is "The Wallet," which is a great song and one of my favorite things she sings live, but it feels jarringly trifling at the end of such a strong album.
As with Begin to Hope, I think the same unfair criticism will be leveled at Far - it's more commercially viable (read: mainstream), more produced, resulting in less original flavor Regina. I agree with the viability and the production, but if anything, this album has more personality Begin to Hope and a couple of the songs rival what we saw on Soviet Kitch. Undoubtedly there are more mainstream things here: "Laughing With" is generic enough for radio play, I sincerely believe "Eet" will end up as the "Better" of this album, and "The Calculation" and "Dance Anthem" both scream commercial to me.
But right at the same time you've got "Folding Chair," which is the quintessential Regina quirk song (there are dolphin noises involved), and "Blue Lips", which is insanely lyrically dense. Basically, I can never figure out what people are on about, but I assume it's cool hate on the popular and say you knew them when, and it was so much better, and lalala. Whatever, it's good stuff.
(Note: As much as I prefer buying music from Amazon over iTunes, get it off iTunes if possible, since the bonus tracks are amazing. While it's short, "Riot Gear" is my favorite song on the whole album.)
------------------
Lines, Vines, and Trying Times, The Jonas Brothers - I don't even know what to say to this album. It's so varied - the theme is obviously the Trying Times part of the title - but musically it's all over the map; you've got country, rock, pop, even a little rap. Despite many of the songs not being my cup of musical tea ("What Did I Do To Your Heart" sounds like a 90's Shania Twain reject, and "Don't Charge Me For The Crime" is gangsta-rap-ultra-lite) I think it's a good album, but it's nothing that you need to go out of your way to hear.
I was shocked how much I liked their last album - it was slickly produced and unbelievably catchy without being too Disney Teen Bop, or only a little bit so (plus some of the songs were just plain good). This album continues that theme in some ways for the better - this is a more mature sounding and better produced album in almost every regard, and it actually has some real-world playable music on it (as long as you never reveal that to anyone that it is the Jonas Brothers who are singing).
Some of it is a little juvenile, though: after listening to "Fly With Me", I sincerely wonder if they've forgotten that Peter Pan sort of doesn't have a happy ending (which seemingly negates the message of the song). And while I enjoy a good Taylor Swift smackdown as much as the next person, I really could have done without the eternally lame "Much Better" ("I'm done with superstars/and all the tears on her guitar, I'm not bitter") Uh, yeah, good luck with that.
On the whole, it's around 6.5 out of 10. Maybe more, depending on how long this "Paranoid" single remains lodged in my brain (seriously, it's really good).
--------------------
Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future, The Bird and The Bee - Such a nice album. I've become sort of an electro-pop glutton lately (Bitter:Sweet, Animal Collective, Lykke Li, Imogen Heap...) so I like to think that I'm starting to be able to tell the difference between something that's just catchy and something that's genuinely good, as electronica goes. This is a really great mixture of the two - standout catchy tunes like "My Love" and "Polite Dance Party," and then some songs that some measure of real interest hiding in them like "Meteor" and "Love Letter to Japan."
Not world-breaking, but a delight nonetheless.
------------------
Beautiful Lie, Ed Harcourt - Get your music snob on. UK release from 2006 that got a US distribution in 2008 to little recognition. This album and Matt Alber's Hide Nothing are my go-to joys for obscure but amazing male singer/songwriters this year. To steal a line, this album is hauntingly beautiful. Goes a little too far on a couple of tracks, particularly "You Only Call Me When You're Drunk" which starts brilliant but then keeps spiraling upwards to a messy and terrible crash, but mostly it's a stunning achievement and kind of makes my heart hurt at times.
------------------
Transmitter Failure, Jenny Owen Youngs -Another one of those biased reviews. Her last album, Batten the Hatches, is my favorite thing that came out of 2007 and I have an irrational love for the way she writes her songs. There's a cynical but reasoned edge to almost every song on that album that really speaks to me.
The new album is a little more driving and a little happier, but the edge is still definitely in place. Her uptempo stuff is just brilliant, with "Last Person" and "Clean Break" as my standout favorites. I'm less in love with a couple of the fragile songs ("Here is a Heart" is a little too cloying and "Nighty Night," while catchy, is off-putting to me), but that's just because I compare them to things like "Woodcut" or "Voice on Tape" from the last album and see missed potential. Make no mistake, it's a wonderful album, maybe my favorite of the whole year so far.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Transformers - Robots in Disg-THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD
My review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which was so bad that my hate-review spilled over the character limit on the sidebar.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - I told myself as I was walking out of the theater that I wouldn't write up this review for at least a couple of days. "The pain will be too fresh in your mind, and you will say things that you regret."
But you know what? Screw it - This was the worst movie I have ever paid money to go see. And I went to both the remake of Prom Night last year, and I saw The Fog on its opening weekend. Terrible in every way imaginable, and then terrible again in ways that you couldn't even guess. Boring, long, insulting, misogynistic, borderline racist, loud, overly long, annoying, poorly acted, unforgivably dumb, confusing, way too long, illogical, ugly, vaguely nauseating, and (oh did I mention) TOO DAMN LONG. One of my friends complained that when he went to see it, someone pulled the fire alarm at the 2 hour mark and they had to evacuate the theater and he missed the end. Rather than complain, I would have gladly given whoever pulled the fire alarm a hug and maybe a kiss on the mouth. Another friend said she would have had more fun sleeping than watching the movie - I said I would have had more fun hitting myself on the hand with a large, sharp rock for TWO AND ONE HALF HOURS.
The plot is nonsensical to the point that you wonder why they even decided they needed a script at all - just give in to inertia and just go from set-action-piece to set-action-piece without any explanation if your rationalizations are going to be that lame. (Which they did at one point, I might mention. They literally had the cast gather in a circle in the middle of a field outside of the Smithsonian and then magically teleported themselves to a desert in Egypt.)
And then even the action sequences are so poorly shot (or rendered in most cases) that you don't even know what's going on. There are two formulas available:
#1:
#2:
I will credit the movie for making me laugh on three separate occasions (Rainn Wilson, I absolve you for being in this movie) but that doesn't make up for the damage done to my soul. We were trapped in that theater for 150 minutes of my life. Just a terrible, terrible, horrible, unconscionably bad movie.
And I haven't even talked about that part at the end where (SPOILER FOR THE ENDING OF WORST MOVIE IN THE WORLD) the boy dies and goes to Transformers Limbo where he is praised by the spirits of dead robots and is turned into Keanu Reeves from The Matrix except even more lame (because of his robot loyalty he's now The One? After he only started trying to save a robot because he felt guilty for abandoning him earlier and causing said robot's death?). But then he comes back to life because of the power of either Megan Fox's love, or a magically reassembling tiara. Had I been holding anything in my hands at the time, I might very well have chunked it at the screen. I mean, I can enjoy mindless comedy or I can enjoy mindless action, but this was neither. It was just loud, nonsensical, boring and hate Hate HATE HATEHATEHATEHA--- Okay, I'm out.
Jesus.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - I told myself as I was walking out of the theater that I wouldn't write up this review for at least a couple of days. "The pain will be too fresh in your mind, and you will say things that you regret."
But you know what? Screw it - This was the worst movie I have ever paid money to go see. And I went to both the remake of Prom Night last year, and I saw The Fog on its opening weekend. Terrible in every way imaginable, and then terrible again in ways that you couldn't even guess. Boring, long, insulting, misogynistic, borderline racist, loud, overly long, annoying, poorly acted, unforgivably dumb, confusing, way too long, illogical, ugly, vaguely nauseating, and (oh did I mention) TOO DAMN LONG. One of my friends complained that when he went to see it, someone pulled the fire alarm at the 2 hour mark and they had to evacuate the theater and he missed the end. Rather than complain, I would have gladly given whoever pulled the fire alarm a hug and maybe a kiss on the mouth. Another friend said she would have had more fun sleeping than watching the movie - I said I would have had more fun hitting myself on the hand with a large, sharp rock for TWO AND ONE HALF HOURS.
The plot is nonsensical to the point that you wonder why they even decided they needed a script at all - just give in to inertia and just go from set-action-piece to set-action-piece without any explanation if your rationalizations are going to be that lame. (Which they did at one point, I might mention. They literally had the cast gather in a circle in the middle of a field outside of the Smithsonian and then magically teleported themselves to a desert in Egypt.)
And then even the action sequences are so poorly shot (or rendered in most cases) that you don't even know what's going on. There are two formulas available:
#1:
- Two large collections of bits of metal go flying at each other from opposite sides of the screen
- There is a terribly loud screeching noise and some little bits fly off
- The camera then spins around the metal mass about 5 times
- Sometimes then one of the robots will "die," sometimes they won't. Sometimes there is a terrible robot-related quip by the victorious robot.
#2:
- An airplane fires a missile at a robot
OR - An airplane drops a bomb on a robot
(Note: Neither of these things will have any effect on the robot, but explosions = cool, apparently)
I will credit the movie for making me laugh on three separate occasions (Rainn Wilson, I absolve you for being in this movie) but that doesn't make up for the damage done to my soul. We were trapped in that theater for 150 minutes of my life. Just a terrible, terrible, horrible, unconscionably bad movie.
And I haven't even talked about that part at the end where (SPOILER FOR THE ENDING OF WORST MOVIE IN THE WORLD) the boy dies and goes to Transformers Limbo where he is praised by the spirits of dead robots and is turned into Keanu Reeves from The Matrix except even more lame (because of his robot loyalty he's now The One? After he only started trying to save a robot because he felt guilty for abandoning him earlier and causing said robot's death?). But then he comes back to life because of the power of either Megan Fox's love, or a magically reassembling tiara. Had I been holding anything in my hands at the time, I might very well have chunked it at the screen. I mean, I can enjoy mindless comedy or I can enjoy mindless action, but this was neither. It was just loud, nonsensical, boring and hate Hate HATE HATEHATEHATEHA--- Okay, I'm out.
Jesus.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Spring Forward into Television (Week the Last)
So that whole blog hiatus really put a damper on my TV week recaps, huh? Though it definitely didn't slow my TV watching (see the previous post about the new TV and the corresponding rise to infinity of my viewing habits). So rather than try to catch back up, I'm going to zero everything out to coincide with the the summer season finales. And then none of us will have to worry about my TV rants until the Fall. Everyone wins (especially you, the reader)!
Monday
The Big Bang Theory - I'm still shocked that this show has grown on me so much. Particularly because when the first episode aired, I distinctly remember calling it one of the worst atrocities I'd ever seen committed on the airwaves. But they've really done something with nothing. Mostly by realizing the strengths of the show - the character of Sheldon and the comedic timing of the actress who plays Penny - and milking the hell out of it. They still have some glaring issues, mostly revolving around the Leonard character who they can't seem to properly pin down, and the protracted romance issues which just are not that compelling. But by really compartmentalizing each episode (the continuity is there, it's just very subtle) they avoid the worst traps, and just focus on the humor, which I'm a big fan of. Color me shocked, but I'm really looking forward to this show coming back.
How I Met Your Mother - A lackluster season finale, but a strong continuation of the series this season, despite some huge off-screen challenges. When both of your lead actresses get pregnant in the same season (and neither is ready for pregnancy in the series), I'm willing to grant some allowances for how you deal with it. HIMYM did extraordinarily well in that regard - hiding Lily and making up jokes for her large belly and then eventually writing her out of a few episodes. To be fair, the ones that she was gone for were some of the weakest in a long time (as much trouble as I have with her character as a person, she really rounds out the cast perfectly), but overall they did good things with a bad situation. The show has definitely fallen from my favorite thing on TV, but it's still great viewing. And NPH is still a national treasure.
Tuesday
The Biggest Loser - Y'all, I always feel like I should qualify every reality TV review that I do with some kind of blanket apology for liking it, but I don't even have a defense anymore. How good (but way too bloated) was this season? I mean, mostly I watch it for the awesomeness that is Jillian the Brutal Trainer (who is a cross between a lunatic and the best person in the world), but for possibly the first time ever, this show had a real level of drama to it. Usually it's about product placement and contrived inspiration (in that order), but this year there was an extra helping of strategery (by the father/son duo) that actually mattered and wasn't trumped up by the producers later. And the end results were seriously crazy - how hot (and overly tanned) were the son and former model by the season finale? And then at the end, my favorite (the crazy old lady) won the whole thing! I don't know, it was all very satisfying, which is something I don't usually associate with The Biggest Loser. What is happening to me?
American Idol - I don't want to talk about this show. But I watched it a lot this year. It was better than usual, but only because my favorites actually lasted until the end for once. And that's all I have to say about that.
Wednesday
Better Off Ted - I don't think I did a single post while this show was airing, but it might have actually jumped up to #1 or #2 on my list of favorite things on TV right now. And that was with the knowledge hanging over my head that it was surely going to get canceled, which makes it a doubly huge feat, since I try my very best not to get attached to doomed things. But then they went and renewed it for a second season, despite the fact that there were only three of us actually watching (I assume).
In any case, this show is so good. I will watch Portia de Rossi in anything, and she absolutely kills with her character - so weird and quirky, but wholly realized and not overacted. Plus the lab duo of Lem and Phil provide some of the most simple and perfect comedy I've seen in ages. I need to stop talking at this point, before I get into individual episodes and this becomes a real essay (but seriously - the one where the company assigns each of the cubical workers one of 4 different personalities and they become rival cliques is so funny that I sort of greyed out from laughing so much. Oh, and the one with the motion detectors... No, no, I will stop).
Lost - How, how, how is this show still on the air and popular? I mean, don't get me wrong - I basically love it like a member of my family, but this is not mainstream television. This is hard-core sci-fi/metaphor shit going down, with so much backstory and episode retention required that I don't understand how people consistently keep watching. Anyways, great, great stuff, even though they (no joke) killed off all three of my remaining favorite characters this season. It got to the point where I was afraid to reclassify my new favorite in my mind, because the next week they would totally end up dead. But I appreciate the progress the show had made, and the strides they are taking to come to a real resolution.
I say all these nice things upfront because I'm about to rage against the show though: It's all about Kate? Really? REALLY? Jack's entire motivation in the season finale? Despite the fact that Juliette is approximately 20 times the better and more interesting character? Despite the fact that there is zero chemistry there? Despite the fact that it makes zero logical sense (if you change everything, Kate is back handcuffed next to an air marshall on plane and you don't know her!). God, I hated that with the power of a million flaming suns.
South Park - one of the weakest half seasons in a while - I laughed at the Jonas Bros episode, and the finale with the pirates was really well done, but everything else added up to absolutely nothing. No wait, I sort of liked the fish sticks episode, a tiny bit. Overall, though, sort of a downer season.
Thursday
I stopped watching Ugly Betty (too repetitive and insulting), Survivor (boring), and Grey's Anatomy (manipulative tripe).
Parks and Recreation - I hated, hated, hated the first couple of episodes (a ripoff of The Office so complete and terrible I felt physically affronted) but I kept watching because there was something interesting hiding there in the characters. They weren't all just stock profiles - Rashida Jones and Chris Pratt (or Bright from Everwood as he will always be in my heart) as the standouts, but a huge nod also to Paul Schneider as the weird womanizer/sort of good guy/sort of terrible person. And the season finale finally delivered on the promise - a funny, no - super funny, and touching episode. After that I'm actively interested in this show, and practically begging that they keep that feeling going.
The Office - Best stretch of episodes in a long, long while. The MSPC thing was amazing - a pretend game-changer that shook up everything, while in the end keeping everything the same. The new receptionist is a surprisingly well done addition, and the non-office relationship stuff was perfectly downplayed while still being interesting.
30 Rock - Still probably my favorite thing on TV. Almost every single line is quotable, to a ridiculous degree. Jane Krakowski needs an Emmy, like, right now.
Southland - Am I crazy, or is this a really good show? I can't tell. That slow-burn reveal on the 'is he gay or straight' cop seemed to me like some of the best ambiguous writing I've seen in a long while.
Friday - None
Saturday - None
Sunday
The Amazing Race - Despite the heavy favoritism at the end (wasn't that three straight legs in China, one of which was a double leg? And wasn't the eventual winner the brother/sister team who could speak Mandarin?) it was a very solid season, Excellent tasks, good teams, and for once there was some actual restraint in over-hyping the tension at the end of a leg.
Monday
The Big Bang Theory - I'm still shocked that this show has grown on me so much. Particularly because when the first episode aired, I distinctly remember calling it one of the worst atrocities I'd ever seen committed on the airwaves. But they've really done something with nothing. Mostly by realizing the strengths of the show - the character of Sheldon and the comedic timing of the actress who plays Penny - and milking the hell out of it. They still have some glaring issues, mostly revolving around the Leonard character who they can't seem to properly pin down, and the protracted romance issues which just are not that compelling. But by really compartmentalizing each episode (the continuity is there, it's just very subtle) they avoid the worst traps, and just focus on the humor, which I'm a big fan of. Color me shocked, but I'm really looking forward to this show coming back.
How I Met Your Mother - A lackluster season finale, but a strong continuation of the series this season, despite some huge off-screen challenges. When both of your lead actresses get pregnant in the same season (and neither is ready for pregnancy in the series), I'm willing to grant some allowances for how you deal with it. HIMYM did extraordinarily well in that regard - hiding Lily and making up jokes for her large belly and then eventually writing her out of a few episodes. To be fair, the ones that she was gone for were some of the weakest in a long time (as much trouble as I have with her character as a person, she really rounds out the cast perfectly), but overall they did good things with a bad situation. The show has definitely fallen from my favorite thing on TV, but it's still great viewing. And NPH is still a national treasure.
Tuesday
The Biggest Loser - Y'all, I always feel like I should qualify every reality TV review that I do with some kind of blanket apology for liking it, but I don't even have a defense anymore. How good (but way too bloated) was this season? I mean, mostly I watch it for the awesomeness that is Jillian the Brutal Trainer (who is a cross between a lunatic and the best person in the world), but for possibly the first time ever, this show had a real level of drama to it. Usually it's about product placement and contrived inspiration (in that order), but this year there was an extra helping of strategery (by the father/son duo) that actually mattered and wasn't trumped up by the producers later. And the end results were seriously crazy - how hot (and overly tanned) were the son and former model by the season finale? And then at the end, my favorite (the crazy old lady) won the whole thing! I don't know, it was all very satisfying, which is something I don't usually associate with The Biggest Loser. What is happening to me?
American Idol - I don't want to talk about this show. But I watched it a lot this year. It was better than usual, but only because my favorites actually lasted until the end for once. And that's all I have to say about that.
Wednesday
Better Off Ted - I don't think I did a single post while this show was airing, but it might have actually jumped up to #1 or #2 on my list of favorite things on TV right now. And that was with the knowledge hanging over my head that it was surely going to get canceled, which makes it a doubly huge feat, since I try my very best not to get attached to doomed things. But then they went and renewed it for a second season, despite the fact that there were only three of us actually watching (I assume).
In any case, this show is so good. I will watch Portia de Rossi in anything, and she absolutely kills with her character - so weird and quirky, but wholly realized and not overacted. Plus the lab duo of Lem and Phil provide some of the most simple and perfect comedy I've seen in ages. I need to stop talking at this point, before I get into individual episodes and this becomes a real essay (but seriously - the one where the company assigns each of the cubical workers one of 4 different personalities and they become rival cliques is so funny that I sort of greyed out from laughing so much. Oh, and the one with the motion detectors... No, no, I will stop).
Lost - How, how, how is this show still on the air and popular? I mean, don't get me wrong - I basically love it like a member of my family, but this is not mainstream television. This is hard-core sci-fi/metaphor shit going down, with so much backstory and episode retention required that I don't understand how people consistently keep watching. Anyways, great, great stuff, even though they (no joke) killed off all three of my remaining favorite characters this season. It got to the point where I was afraid to reclassify my new favorite in my mind, because the next week they would totally end up dead. But I appreciate the progress the show had made, and the strides they are taking to come to a real resolution.
I say all these nice things upfront because I'm about to rage against the show though: It's all about Kate? Really? REALLY? Jack's entire motivation in the season finale? Despite the fact that Juliette is approximately 20 times the better and more interesting character? Despite the fact that there is zero chemistry there? Despite the fact that it makes zero logical sense (if you change everything, Kate is back handcuffed next to an air marshall on plane and you don't know her!). God, I hated that with the power of a million flaming suns.
South Park - one of the weakest half seasons in a while - I laughed at the Jonas Bros episode, and the finale with the pirates was really well done, but everything else added up to absolutely nothing. No wait, I sort of liked the fish sticks episode, a tiny bit. Overall, though, sort of a downer season.
Thursday
I stopped watching Ugly Betty (too repetitive and insulting), Survivor (boring), and Grey's Anatomy (manipulative tripe).
Parks and Recreation - I hated, hated, hated the first couple of episodes (a ripoff of The Office so complete and terrible I felt physically affronted) but I kept watching because there was something interesting hiding there in the characters. They weren't all just stock profiles - Rashida Jones and Chris Pratt (or Bright from Everwood as he will always be in my heart) as the standouts, but a huge nod also to Paul Schneider as the weird womanizer/sort of good guy/sort of terrible person. And the season finale finally delivered on the promise - a funny, no - super funny, and touching episode. After that I'm actively interested in this show, and practically begging that they keep that feeling going.
The Office - Best stretch of episodes in a long, long while. The MSPC thing was amazing - a pretend game-changer that shook up everything, while in the end keeping everything the same. The new receptionist is a surprisingly well done addition, and the non-office relationship stuff was perfectly downplayed while still being interesting.
30 Rock - Still probably my favorite thing on TV. Almost every single line is quotable, to a ridiculous degree. Jane Krakowski needs an Emmy, like, right now.
Southland - Am I crazy, or is this a really good show? I can't tell. That slow-burn reveal on the 'is he gay or straight' cop seemed to me like some of the best ambiguous writing I've seen in a long while.
Friday - None
Saturday - None
Sunday
The Amazing Race - Despite the heavy favoritism at the end (wasn't that three straight legs in China, one of which was a double leg? And wasn't the eventual winner the brother/sister team who could speak Mandarin?) it was a very solid season, Excellent tasks, good teams, and for once there was some actual restraint in over-hyping the tension at the end of a leg.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wherein a Jukebox Weekend Happens
How long was I waiting in dramatic anticipation of the Jenny Owen Youngs/ Jukebox the Ghost show last Friday? Because of the advent of Twitter, I can pinpoint it down to the minute: 5:43pm on March 18th. I'm not sure if I like that level of documentation on my mental state, but it is handy for times like this.Anyways, it's been a while. And especially since there's been a dearth of good live music in Dallas, with that level of focused waiting I was pretty worried that it wouldn't live up to the hype in my mind. But it totally did! And not just for a couple of reasons. More like 16 reasons. Starting from the top:
Jenny Owen Youngs is awesome. No, seriously, so awesome. Even with the terrible sound system at the Prophet Bar (which is so, so terrible, you guys. I have yet to go to a show there that didn't have major sound problems) she rocked the house. Not only did she open with my favorite song of hers in the whole world (Voice on Tape), she played the three best tracks off her new album and still had time for 'Drinking Song.' Plus, she dealt with that absolutely bizarre crowd (more on that later) with aplomb.
Jukebox the Ghost is really impressive live. I'd totally like to lie and pretend that I knew who they were before the show was booked, but let's keep the blog honest. I bought the tickets just because of Youngs and didn't have a clue who they were. Instead, I had to play internet catch-up on their MySpace page to at least hear some of their music before I went to the show so I wouldn't be completely out of the loop, since they were joint-headlining.
But in cool twist of luck, they're firmly in my musical taste wheelhouse: Piano, drums, and guitar with a lot of quirky lyrics and hooks thrown about liberally. Think Ben Folds, only with a more electronic and grandious sound. Plus, lots of talk about the apocalypse and the Antichrist. I actually ended up buying their album before the show, it's so catchy.
And they're even better live - they've got that sort of jam-band type of feel that makes them 100 times cooler in person because the product is similar to what you expect, but they really dig in to every song. They're excellent performers - I'd put them right up there with Regina Spektor and Steel Train in terms of musicians I've seen who are way better live vs. their recorded album.
Oh man, and can I talk for a second about the complete insanity that was the audience? This is broken down into many parts. One: the crowd was way smaller than I expected (which meant we could get an awesome view of the stage despite sitting back at the bar during the opening bands). Two: even though the crowd was small, there were two genuinely crazy people in the audience - a strange man who was full-out dancing right in front of the stage during Jenny's set (doing a modified version of The Twist, even during the slower songs), and a similarly excited girl who shouted during a lull between songs "I love your prose!" Which is one of the stranger things I've heard as far as audience-to-live-band compliments go.
Three: I'm almost sure we were the oldest people in the audience who were there for the show itself, and not there as chaperon/ride home for some of the kids up front. In fact, a pretty thorough examination of the people around us yielded only 6 people who had wristbands allowing them to drink. This in-and-of itself is not crazy, but I'm guessing the lowered age-level removed some of the jaded concert-fiend feel to the show, because these kids were rocking out. I mean, at one point during the combined bands portion of the show, Jenny said something like "Now this is a dance song, so you guys need to be dancing," and oh-my-sweet-lord how they took up that challenge with vigor. I love an audience that does more than just stand there and one that actively dances around crazily is like concentrated joy.
Other things that were very cool:
- That I got to say hi to Jenny Owen Youngs
- That I got to buy a tour poster and a vinyl album from her with recordings of the two combined songs that she and Jukebox did together (the best part of the show)
- That she and her band came out and danced along with the audience during the last couple of Jukebox songs
- That the two supporting guitarists with Jenny did an interpretive tambourine dance during the Jukebox/Jenny combined song (Highlight of the night)
- That the bartender interpreted "SoCo and Coke" to mean "A glassfull of SoCo with a tiny splash of Coke"
- That Devon (the friend I conned into coming with me) managed to endure the crazy dancing guy's awkwardness without having to leave the room
Other things that were not cool:
- (Again) the soundboard at the bar (the worst)
Yeah, so: totally awesome show.
-------------------
The rest of the weekend was consumed by a graduation party for the boyfriend's best friend, followed by a whole lot of sleeping. Which was pretty sweet itself, but involved little that was noteworthy. So definitely a good couple of days.
Friday, February 06, 2009
A Music Post for No One's Benefit
Aw man, I totally didn't do an end of the year round-up of my favorite new music for 2008. And now that it's February, that boat has obviously sailed.
So instead, we're going to do a round up entitled Music That I'm Listening to Right Now, Which Suspiciously Looks Like a List of My Top Ten Favorite Albums of 2008, But Whatever, You Can't Prove Anything, Direct All Questions to My Attorney.
It's a pretty good list.
My Top Ten Albums Right Now, All of Which Coincidentally Came Out in 2008
#10 Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
: What a strange CD this is. I'm a self-acknowledged bandwagon jumper here - I was never a Ben Gibbard fan except in the Postal Service sort of way until all the hype swung me over about 2 years ago, so I can't pretend to have some deep understanding of the band. But I liked Transatlanticism approximately 500% more than this album. That said though, it still ranks easily as one of the better things released last year. Sort of haunting and sad, with just the right amount of, um, is bitter-wistfulness even a thing? Whatever, a good-to-great album.
#9 Lykke Li - Youth Novels
: Talk about coming out of nowhere - this is one of those albums that someone sort of offhandedly suggested that I might like to try, and now suddenly I cannot stop listening to it. Mostly for the one single, Little Bit, which is inspired and and ungodly amount of catchy. But the whole album is shockingly good too, so long as you ignore the spoken word sections. Try it out.
#8 The 88 - Not Only... But Also
: So The 88 album Over and Over is probably the single CD that I've listened to more times in the last two years than anything else. It's endlessly entertaining and so so catchy. Their follow-up is also their first major release and it's... I guess 'really good' is the cheap phrase I'm looking for. It's more refined than Over and Over, but it's also more processed, more commercial, and not as super amazing. Never more evident than when they took one of the songs from Over and Over (Coming Home) and re-recorded it by processing the hell out of it and making it 50% worse than before. But overall, it's a great CD, and has one of my favorite songs of all 2008 on it: No One Here.
#7 Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
: I'm pretty sure there has never been a band that has so quickly risen to popularity and then crashed down under the backlash as fast as Vampire Weekend. They were the hip new thing back in the Fall of 2007, before their album ever came out, and by the time it actually hit stores in January '08, they were so overplayed and oversaturated that everyone hated their guts. Me, I still can't get enough of this CD. The crazy vocals, the awesome catchy baselines, the fact that their most famous lyric is "who gives a fuck about an oxford comma," all of it. Why will no one else love this album but me?
#6 Adele - 19
: If this were actually a list of best albums from 2008, I would most certainly be making a comment right here about how it's hard to remember that this CD came out this year, because it feels like I've been listening to this album for half my life now. Seriously, it's so so so good, that it makes my teeth hurt. (Also, here's link to JD, who I begrudgingly acknowledge pointed me to the album. Doesn't it just kill you when someone else finds the best music of the year before you?). By far, the best debut album I've heard in the last couple of years. So polished and smart-sounding, without any of the current standby tricks of new artists. Recommended so hard.
#5 Ben Folds - Way to Normal
: Now this is a good way for an iconic band to behave (take note Weezer down there). Despite the fact that it's a very experimental and different sound, it's wholly Ben Folds, and very well done, if wildly uneven. Some of it sounds like old Ben Folds Five stuff, one song sounds like an outtake from Rocking the Suburbs, but overall it still has that grown up feel of Songs for Silverman, all while trying something new. The problems with hte album all stem from the fact that some of the songs are just... (and I don't want to sound mean here but) they're bad. Errant Dog is kinda dumb on its face, and The Frown song is terribly out of place on this album. They're jarring, and mar what is otherwise absolutely brilliant. Not that that really matters to me, because let's be honest: it has a song wherein Regina Spektor and Ben Folds duet. When your two favorite artists in the entire world do a song together, that means you love the CD as if it's your child. It's like a rule.
#4 The Hush Sound - Goodbye Blues
: I know I've said it before and I'll continue to say it - I am always shocked that The Hush Sound isn't as popular as I think they should be. I don't get it. Their songs are incredibly catchy, and almost tailor-made for radio airtime. They have two smoking hot lead singers (one girl and one guy to appeal to all demographics). And both of their last two albums have been brilliant and complete, with maybe two bad songs across three CDs. But whatever, Goodbye Blues is excellent, smarter than your average album, and varied enough to constantly keep you guessing. My only complaint is that Robert Morris (the guy lead singer) doesn't get a song until all the way to the middle of CD, which initially scared the crap out of me because the songs he fronts are invariably my favorites.
#3 Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down
: Sweet baby Jesus, this album is inhabiting my soul lately. I dunno, usually I am immune to that sort of hippie, melody, ukulele-and-trumpet-included massive troupe band archetype (i.e. Arcade Fire, Polyphonic Spree) but this one not only stuck with me, it won't go away. It's so good, and a little sad, and a little hilarious, then really happy and love-sickening, and then back around to sad again. What I'm saying is that I can't describe how or why, but I love this album.
#2 Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
: So it took more than 4 different attempts at getting through this CD before I even came close to liking it. And now it's, no joke my 2nd favorite album that came out in 2008. I don't know where the turnaround came from, but it sticks with me now. I think it must have to do with the lead singer's voice, which I tend to liken now to 'sex of the eardrum variety.' If you can tell, I'm a little bit excited about this band nowadays.
#1 Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer
: I know I'm an inveterate over-promoter of music. When something I love gets to me, I become the prophet who won't stop talking about it. But this is totally different - you need this CD. It's amazing, passionate, real, and a little jagged. I will heap mounds of praise on this CD to the ends of the earth.
Also, 5 Runner Up Albums That Barely Missed the List
#11 Jonas Brothers - A Little Bit Longer
: How about y'all just leave me alone, okay. I love this CD. At first I thought I did so in a cool, campy-ironic sort of way, and then I realized that, yeah, not so much. Sure, most of it is pop trash, but it's great pop trash. Whatever! At least I didn't put it in the Top 10. Don't look at me like that. Why must you be so hateful?
#12 Dresden Dolls - No, Virginia...
: The least hyped CD in the history of CD's - enough so that I didn't know it had come out until a full 3 months after release and I happened to be wandering through the Youtubes and found a mention of a studio-produced version of a song I had only heard live before. It's good, but no where near as cohesive as Yes, Virginia, the companion album from last year.
#13 Weezer - Weezer (Red Album)
: This album should not be this low, but because I have such terribly high standards for Weezer these days, and nothing they could do would live up to it, it's graded as such. Also, because I hate Rivers Cuomo's new facial hair with a fiery passion. But there are things here that are great, and catchy, just not as iconic as they once were. That's not a crime, just a little disappointing.
#14 She and Him - Volume One
: This one I've been on the fence with since I bought it. On one hand it's a little simplistic. Pretty much as bare-bones accompaniment as possible and nothing but Zooey Deschanel's voice to go on. On the other hand, her voice is pretty much awesome beyond description. I guess the fact that I have had it on my iPod rotation nonstop since I bought it means that I fall on the good side of the fence.
#15 The Cab - Whisper War
: Dude, I know, I'm as surprised as you. Chalk it up to my weakness for NSYNC type boybands, or to these two ridiculously catchy singles Bounce and I'll Run. But it's a good CD, and at the end of the year day, they're one my big time new bands to watch.
So instead, we're going to do a round up entitled Music That I'm Listening to Right Now, Which Suspiciously Looks Like a List of My Top Ten Favorite Albums of 2008, But Whatever, You Can't Prove Anything, Direct All Questions to My Attorney.
It's a pretty good list.
My Top Ten Albums Right Now, All of Which Coincidentally Came Out in 2008
#10 Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
: What a strange CD this is. I'm a self-acknowledged bandwagon jumper here - I was never a Ben Gibbard fan except in the Postal Service sort of way until all the hype swung me over about 2 years ago, so I can't pretend to have some deep understanding of the band. But I liked Transatlanticism approximately 500% more than this album. That said though, it still ranks easily as one of the better things released last year. Sort of haunting and sad, with just the right amount of, um, is bitter-wistfulness even a thing? Whatever, a good-to-great album.#9 Lykke Li - Youth Novels
: Talk about coming out of nowhere - this is one of those albums that someone sort of offhandedly suggested that I might like to try, and now suddenly I cannot stop listening to it. Mostly for the one single, Little Bit, which is inspired and and ungodly amount of catchy. But the whole album is shockingly good too, so long as you ignore the spoken word sections. Try it out.#8 The 88 - Not Only... But Also
: So The 88 album Over and Over is probably the single CD that I've listened to more times in the last two years than anything else. It's endlessly entertaining and so so catchy. Their follow-up is also their first major release and it's... I guess 'really good' is the cheap phrase I'm looking for. It's more refined than Over and Over, but it's also more processed, more commercial, and not as super amazing. Never more evident than when they took one of the songs from Over and Over (Coming Home) and re-recorded it by processing the hell out of it and making it 50% worse than before. But overall, it's a great CD, and has one of my favorite songs of all 2008 on it: No One Here.#7 Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
: I'm pretty sure there has never been a band that has so quickly risen to popularity and then crashed down under the backlash as fast as Vampire Weekend. They were the hip new thing back in the Fall of 2007, before their album ever came out, and by the time it actually hit stores in January '08, they were so overplayed and oversaturated that everyone hated their guts. Me, I still can't get enough of this CD. The crazy vocals, the awesome catchy baselines, the fact that their most famous lyric is "who gives a fuck about an oxford comma," all of it. Why will no one else love this album but me?#6 Adele - 19
: If this were actually a list of best albums from 2008, I would most certainly be making a comment right here about how it's hard to remember that this CD came out this year, because it feels like I've been listening to this album for half my life now. Seriously, it's so so so good, that it makes my teeth hurt. (Also, here's link to JD, who I begrudgingly acknowledge pointed me to the album. Doesn't it just kill you when someone else finds the best music of the year before you?). By far, the best debut album I've heard in the last couple of years. So polished and smart-sounding, without any of the current standby tricks of new artists. Recommended so hard.#5 Ben Folds - Way to Normal
: Now this is a good way for an iconic band to behave (take note Weezer down there). Despite the fact that it's a very experimental and different sound, it's wholly Ben Folds, and very well done, if wildly uneven. Some of it sounds like old Ben Folds Five stuff, one song sounds like an outtake from Rocking the Suburbs, but overall it still has that grown up feel of Songs for Silverman, all while trying something new. The problems with hte album all stem from the fact that some of the songs are just... (and I don't want to sound mean here but) they're bad. Errant Dog is kinda dumb on its face, and The Frown song is terribly out of place on this album. They're jarring, and mar what is otherwise absolutely brilliant. Not that that really matters to me, because let's be honest: it has a song wherein Regina Spektor and Ben Folds duet. When your two favorite artists in the entire world do a song together, that means you love the CD as if it's your child. It's like a rule.#4 The Hush Sound - Goodbye Blues
: I know I've said it before and I'll continue to say it - I am always shocked that The Hush Sound isn't as popular as I think they should be. I don't get it. Their songs are incredibly catchy, and almost tailor-made for radio airtime. They have two smoking hot lead singers (one girl and one guy to appeal to all demographics). And both of their last two albums have been brilliant and complete, with maybe two bad songs across three CDs. But whatever, Goodbye Blues is excellent, smarter than your average album, and varied enough to constantly keep you guessing. My only complaint is that Robert Morris (the guy lead singer) doesn't get a song until all the way to the middle of CD, which initially scared the crap out of me because the songs he fronts are invariably my favorites.#3 Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down
: Sweet baby Jesus, this album is inhabiting my soul lately. I dunno, usually I am immune to that sort of hippie, melody, ukulele-and-trumpet-included massive troupe band archetype (i.e. Arcade Fire, Polyphonic Spree) but this one not only stuck with me, it won't go away. It's so good, and a little sad, and a little hilarious, then really happy and love-sickening, and then back around to sad again. What I'm saying is that I can't describe how or why, but I love this album.#2 Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
: So it took more than 4 different attempts at getting through this CD before I even came close to liking it. And now it's, no joke my 2nd favorite album that came out in 2008. I don't know where the turnaround came from, but it sticks with me now. I think it must have to do with the lead singer's voice, which I tend to liken now to 'sex of the eardrum variety.' If you can tell, I'm a little bit excited about this band nowadays.#1 Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer
: I know I'm an inveterate over-promoter of music. When something I love gets to me, I become the prophet who won't stop talking about it. But this is totally different - you need this CD. It's amazing, passionate, real, and a little jagged. I will heap mounds of praise on this CD to the ends of the earth.Also, 5 Runner Up Albums That Barely Missed the List
#11 Jonas Brothers - A Little Bit Longer
: How about y'all just leave me alone, okay. I love this CD. At first I thought I did so in a cool, campy-ironic sort of way, and then I realized that, yeah, not so much. Sure, most of it is pop trash, but it's great pop trash. Whatever! At least I didn't put it in the Top 10. Don't look at me like that. Why must you be so hateful?#12 Dresden Dolls - No, Virginia...
: The least hyped CD in the history of CD's - enough so that I didn't know it had come out until a full 3 months after release and I happened to be wandering through the Youtubes and found a mention of a studio-produced version of a song I had only heard live before. It's good, but no where near as cohesive as Yes, Virginia, the companion album from last year.#13 Weezer - Weezer (Red Album)
: This album should not be this low, but because I have such terribly high standards for Weezer these days, and nothing they could do would live up to it, it's graded as such. Also, because I hate Rivers Cuomo's new facial hair with a fiery passion. But there are things here that are great, and catchy, just not as iconic as they once were. That's not a crime, just a little disappointing.#14 She and Him - Volume One
: This one I've been on the fence with since I bought it. On one hand it's a little simplistic. Pretty much as bare-bones accompaniment as possible and nothing but Zooey Deschanel's voice to go on. On the other hand, her voice is pretty much awesome beyond description. I guess the fact that I have had it on my iPod rotation nonstop since I bought it means that I fall on the good side of the fence.#15 The Cab - Whisper War
: Dude, I know, I'm as surprised as you. Chalk it up to my weakness for NSYNC type boybands, or to these two ridiculously catchy singles Bounce and I'll Run. But it's a good CD, and at the end of the Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Big Honking Movie List 2008
Woo for annual traditions. As always, this is the list of every new movie I saw that was technically released in 2008. The list is then sorted by order of preference and divided into 5 categories: Hate, Dislike, Eh, Good, and Great. Theoretically this helps me sort out my feelings as we enter into serious awards time, but as usual it's mostly just an arbitrary mish-mash of conflicting emotions. (Which is better Stop-Loss, or Baby Mama? Of course there is a right answer!)
And also, wow, my movie consumption is way, way down this year. Mostly due to the removal of the Blockbuster membership, but really that's no excuse. My pop culture knowledge is at an all time low.
Anyways, on with the listing!
Movies that I Actively Hated
32. Prom Night
31. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Movies that I Just Disliked
30. Appaloosa (Man, I just do not like Renee Zellweger's squinty face anymore, apparently)
29. Mad Money (Oh, Queen Latifah. How the cast of Chicago has fallen.)
28. Hancock
27. Leatherheads (see: notes for #29 and #30. Confidential to John K - Don't take it personal, I still love you. But seriously, make better movies.)
Movies that I am Basically Ambivalent Towards
26. Charlie Bartlett (wins the award for movie I was certain had come out at least two years ago)
25. Ghost Town
24. Wanted (huge downgrade from my initial impression, but now all I focus on is the Loom of Fate. I can't even remember what James McAvoy looked like minus a shirt. So sad.)
23. Semi-Pro
Movies that were "Good," on a Very Loose Scale that Tightens as We Move Up
22. 27 Dresses (*sigh* the things I do for James Marsden)
21. The Spiderwick Chronicles
20. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
19. The Incredible Hulk (gets a huge bump down on the list because I forgot that it even came out this year, but was still very good)
18. Definitely, Maybe
17. Get Smart
16. Baby Mama
15. Stop Loss (gets a huge bump for being the movie I remember the most that I didn't really like this year)
14. Pineapple Express
13. Hamlet 2 (time has also been very kind to this movie. All I remember is Rock Me Sexy Jesus at this point)
12. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
11. Twilight (DON'T JUDGE ME)
10. Brideshead Revisited (gets the award for most moved around on the list, because I can't decide how much I liked it)
Movies That Were Excellent
9. Frost/Nixon
8. Iron Man
7. Tropic Thunder
6. The Dark Knight
5. Doubt
4. Cloverfield
3. Rachel Getting Married
2. WALL-E
1. Milk
Some specific notes on the top of the list:
And also, wow, my movie consumption is way, way down this year. Mostly due to the removal of the Blockbuster membership, but really that's no excuse. My pop culture knowledge is at an all time low.
Anyways, on with the listing!
Movies that I Actively Hated
32. Prom Night
31. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Movies that I Just Disliked
30. Appaloosa (Man, I just do not like Renee Zellweger's squinty face anymore, apparently)
29. Mad Money (Oh, Queen Latifah. How the cast of Chicago has fallen.)
28. Hancock
27. Leatherheads (see: notes for #29 and #30. Confidential to John K - Don't take it personal, I still love you. But seriously, make better movies.)
Movies that I am Basically Ambivalent Towards
26. Charlie Bartlett (wins the award for movie I was certain had come out at least two years ago)
25. Ghost Town
24. Wanted (huge downgrade from my initial impression, but now all I focus on is the Loom of Fate. I can't even remember what James McAvoy looked like minus a shirt. So sad.)
23. Semi-Pro
Movies that were "Good," on a Very Loose Scale that Tightens as We Move Up
22. 27 Dresses (*sigh* the things I do for James Marsden)
21. The Spiderwick Chronicles
20. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
19. The Incredible Hulk (gets a huge bump down on the list because I forgot that it even came out this year, but was still very good)
18. Definitely, Maybe
17. Get Smart
16. Baby Mama
15. Stop Loss (gets a huge bump for being the movie I remember the most that I didn't really like this year)
14. Pineapple Express
13. Hamlet 2 (time has also been very kind to this movie. All I remember is Rock Me Sexy Jesus at this point)
12. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
11. Twilight (DON'T JUDGE ME)
10. Brideshead Revisited (gets the award for most moved around on the list, because I can't decide how much I liked it)
Movies That Were Excellent
9. Frost/Nixon
8. Iron Man
7. Tropic Thunder
6. The Dark Knight
5. Doubt
4. Cloverfield
3. Rachel Getting Married
2. WALL-E
1. Milk
Some specific notes on the top of the list:
- Gigantic downgrade to Frost/Nixon, as when I started this list I had it around #3, but realized that I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I thought on first consideration.
- 6, 7, & 8 are all basically subtitled 'Summer fare that was far better than summer fare has any right to be.' No lie, I spent 15 minutes rearranging their three positions in sequence. I cannot pick between them. In the end, I put DK first because of Heath Ledger's acting, Tropic Thunder second because of Robert Downey Jr's acting, and Iron Man third because of Robert Downey Jr's acting. (Wait...)
- I feel like Doubt is in the right place now, because I place acting above direction in terms of importance. I could very easily see it dropping down below Frost/Nixon though, once the dust settles in my mind.
- Cloverfield is the wild card - probably the movie I enjoyed the most this year, even though empirically it's pretty bad. In other words, it's this years She's The Man.
- The top three are a toss-up. Rachel is probably the best acted movie of the year, and the most affecting, but it has serious pacing issues and rambles off topic too easily. Wall-E is the most enjoyable of the three, but has moralizing issues that keep it down. Milk is an amalgam of the strengths and weaknesses of the other two, but I think in the end it is the most complete and important of them all.
- By far the fewest movies in a year since I graduated college.
- Very few movies I hated this year (I'm stretching with Madagascar, which truth be told was not as horrible as I expected)
- There was just a glut of middling-ly good comedies this year, weren't there? And I didn't even see a bunch of them that I meant to (Zach & Miri, Nick & Nora, etc.)
- Things that I still plan on seeing before the end of the year: Slumdog Millionaire, Repo! The Genetic Opera, and The Reader/Revolutionary Road (so I can get my Kate Winslet fix)
Monday, December 22, 2008
Short-form Reviews Turned Long: Doubt, Frost/Nixon
(So I was trying to write up both these movies for the side panel, and they ended up being so long that they bumped everything else off the main page. Thus, we try alternate text layouts.)
Anyways, as is my regular custom, the last two weeks of the year are easily the busiest I get as far as movies are concerned. The combination of freezing cold, Oscar contenders, and wild shopping stress make for the perfect time to hide for hours at a time in a darkened theater.
This last week I saw Frost/Nixon and Doubt on back to back nights. Their number of similarities are stunning, and they make for a good pair to review in tandem. It also doesn't hurt that both are near the top of my list of best movies this year (which totally isn't getting posted until January this year, because I am extraordinarily lazy right now).
The short-form reviews first:
Frost/Nixon - Tight, powerfully written and acted. The direction is... I guess competent is the word. Good, not great, and I take issue with a couple the devices that frame the whole movie (primarily the use of the documentary-style interviews to intercut tense in-the-moment scenes of action). Frank Langella is in the fight of the year in my mind right now for Best Actor with Sean Penn. Crazy, crazy good performance. Really, everyone brought it to this movie. Sam Rockwell was particularly great despite some tough, almost caricature-level lines to work with. I'd have to say the weakest link in the whole cast was Kevin Bacon, and that was more a failing of the script than the acting, since he had so few lines to develop a ton of character, and it just didn't come through.
Actually that's the only real quibble I have with the whole movie (besides the documentary interview thing - seriously that bugged me) - the way every character that was not Frost or Nixon basically was given a three line summary as characterization and then basically acted as a cardboard cutout through the rest of the movie. I understand that the movie needs focus, and it really is only about them, but I wish there could have been more depth on the sides.
Still, an excellent movie over all. Funny, dramatic, and interesting from start to finish.
Doubt - Grabs you early and never lets go. It's surprising, because the plot description doesn't sound like it would be that compelling. Head nun at a Catholic school suspects an inappropriate relationship between a boy and the local priest (who she already really dislikes). Frankly, it sounds like it would lead to nothing but scene after scene of religious moralizing and speechifying, which is the opposite of what I'm looking for in a movie. But the screenplay avoids almost all of that. Instead we get a real inspection of the nature of doubt and certainty, as played through three complex character-studies. It's unexpectedly enthralling.
I'll try not to gush too much on the acting, but yeah, it's ridiculous. Meryl Streep knocking down the stereotype of stereotypes as the head nun, evening out a characature into a person, by sheer will of personality, basically. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the one who does all the heavy lifting - making sure that everything stays in doubt throughout the whole movie, jumping from guilty to innocent just by the change of an expression. Without him, the movie could have been ruined. And even Amy Adams, who gets an absolute clunker of a character (she is officially type-cast and the naive optimistic one, after Junebug, Enchanted, and now this), manages to steal a few moments to shine, digging into the tiny allowances her part gives her to keep it from being as one-note as it might be.
And I haven't even gotten to Viola Davis, who gets two scenes and like 10 minutes of the movie, but owns the entire thing. Really, it's just unbelievable. I can't do it justice.
I'll go ahead and rail against the film for a while though - it's by no means a great movie. The direction is terrible. Terrible. Shots taken at an angle for no real reason, except to be arty. Heavy handed literal metaphors every other second. I can't stress that part enough - if you were able to go on the merits of acting and script, I would rate this among the best movies ever. As is, with the ham-fisted imagery and shot selection, it's going to drop so far down my list, I have a hard time keeping it in my top 5 this year without wincing. That's just unendingly depressing.
Still, possibly the most worthwhile viewing experience of this entire year (provided you have already gone to see Milk).
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Okay, so that was a complete lie, those reviews were like the opposite of short-form. But they get the individual parts out of the way so I can ramble on about their similarities. Both come from Tony winning plays, and it's very easy to see their roots. Frost/Nixon has the ultra powerful phone call scene, Doubt has both the rainstorm confrontation and the mother vs. nun revelation scene - all amazing things that are done without a spec of action, and are basically nothing but monologues or huge intercut speeches. Not that this is a bad thing (I love great theater) but sometimes it can take you out of the natural moment of the movie. Example: Nixon's phone call soliloquy is brilliant, but even in the character of Nixon (who is prone to rambling eloquence) it seems calculated. Langella gives it his all, for sure, and it comes very close, but you could tell the audience was drawn away from immediacy of the moment, and was instead stuck on the speech. It certainly did not help that Frost's response it basically the same as ours - slack-jawed astonishment.
The whole things is uniformly better handled in Doubt, although Hoffman comes very close to blowing it with all of his yelling at the high points of conflict. The speechy-ness is mostly relegated to natural moments (obviously you're supposed to speechify in a sermon) and the real tough stage-level moments are handled brilliantly (see: Viola Davis' revelations, and one flawless tiny moment by Amy Adams and a student). Keeping stage characters is shockingly difficult (see: any high school production of Shakespeare ever) but when it's handled well, it can give you shivers.
Allow me a small moment for a digression - one of my favorite movies in the entire world is The History Boys, something that fits right into the exact same category as these two movies: brilliant plays adapted to the screen with minimal changes. Just like Frost/Nixon they even kept the original cast intact. But where these two mostly succeeded in avoiding the speech and soliloquy trap that a play naturally entails, The History Boys seemed to revel in it. Just straight-up 'let's stop for a moment because I feel like giving a speech.' And it destroys the rhythm and sense of the movie. Which kills me, because even as-is I find it a completely brilliant, funny, and real experience. Massaged and worked on long enough, it might have been an amazing film on its own right. Instead, it's terrific writing and great scenes, that combine to form a clunky, wheezing machine of a movie.
Okay, diversion mostly over.
The real question that I was trying to get to was: which movie succeeds more? Or which one was better? Yeah, I'm still not sure which question I'm trying to answer. I think in the end, Frost/Nixon is more accomplished, but less important, so it wins on both of those counts, even if it loses the battle for the one that is most compelling.
Obviously, I have issues with the direction of Doubt, which lowers it in my mind, especially in terms of success. But I also take issue with the lack of real accomplishment in Frost/Nixon. Yes, the story is endlessly interesting, but mostly because it's a retelling of a real life event. It has its drama provided for it. I can't help but think that it enjoys far too much of a built in advantage, particularly when there is no real revelation in the execution - even the brilliance that Langella teases out of Nixon isn't unexpected, just interesting. Frost and his cohorts follow the lines, fulfill their underdog role, and the movie winds down. Similarly, this is why I'm so hard on Milk as far as the movie's greatness goes - the story is so fascinating that you wonder if the movie is getting a pass because the plot it's given is enough to carry you along.
Doubt is technically the lesser movie, but has better acting, and makes you think more. I'm not sure how to rate these things into a quantifiable scale. Eh, in the end I still don't have any good answers, but I still have time to mull it over before I come to any hard conclusions. I mean, the Oscars don't happen until like March, right? Plenty of time.
Anyways, as is my regular custom, the last two weeks of the year are easily the busiest I get as far as movies are concerned. The combination of freezing cold, Oscar contenders, and wild shopping stress make for the perfect time to hide for hours at a time in a darkened theater.
This last week I saw Frost/Nixon and Doubt on back to back nights. Their number of similarities are stunning, and they make for a good pair to review in tandem. It also doesn't hurt that both are near the top of my list of best movies this year (which totally isn't getting posted until January this year, because I am extraordinarily lazy right now).
The short-form reviews first:
Frost/Nixon - Tight, powerfully written and acted. The direction is... I guess competent is the word. Good, not great, and I take issue with a couple the devices that frame the whole movie (primarily the use of the documentary-style interviews to intercut tense in-the-moment scenes of action). Frank Langella is in the fight of the year in my mind right now for Best Actor with Sean Penn. Crazy, crazy good performance. Really, everyone brought it to this movie. Sam Rockwell was particularly great despite some tough, almost caricature-level lines to work with. I'd have to say the weakest link in the whole cast was Kevin Bacon, and that was more a failing of the script than the acting, since he had so few lines to develop a ton of character, and it just didn't come through.
Actually that's the only real quibble I have with the whole movie (besides the documentary interview thing - seriously that bugged me) - the way every character that was not Frost or Nixon basically was given a three line summary as characterization and then basically acted as a cardboard cutout through the rest of the movie. I understand that the movie needs focus, and it really is only about them, but I wish there could have been more depth on the sides.
Still, an excellent movie over all. Funny, dramatic, and interesting from start to finish.
Doubt - Grabs you early and never lets go. It's surprising, because the plot description doesn't sound like it would be that compelling. Head nun at a Catholic school suspects an inappropriate relationship between a boy and the local priest (who she already really dislikes). Frankly, it sounds like it would lead to nothing but scene after scene of religious moralizing and speechifying, which is the opposite of what I'm looking for in a movie. But the screenplay avoids almost all of that. Instead we get a real inspection of the nature of doubt and certainty, as played through three complex character-studies. It's unexpectedly enthralling.
I'll try not to gush too much on the acting, but yeah, it's ridiculous. Meryl Streep knocking down the stereotype of stereotypes as the head nun, evening out a characature into a person, by sheer will of personality, basically. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the one who does all the heavy lifting - making sure that everything stays in doubt throughout the whole movie, jumping from guilty to innocent just by the change of an expression. Without him, the movie could have been ruined. And even Amy Adams, who gets an absolute clunker of a character (she is officially type-cast and the naive optimistic one, after Junebug, Enchanted, and now this), manages to steal a few moments to shine, digging into the tiny allowances her part gives her to keep it from being as one-note as it might be.
And I haven't even gotten to Viola Davis, who gets two scenes and like 10 minutes of the movie, but owns the entire thing. Really, it's just unbelievable. I can't do it justice.
I'll go ahead and rail against the film for a while though - it's by no means a great movie. The direction is terrible. Terrible. Shots taken at an angle for no real reason, except to be arty. Heavy handed literal metaphors every other second. I can't stress that part enough - if you were able to go on the merits of acting and script, I would rate this among the best movies ever. As is, with the ham-fisted imagery and shot selection, it's going to drop so far down my list, I have a hard time keeping it in my top 5 this year without wincing. That's just unendingly depressing.
Still, possibly the most worthwhile viewing experience of this entire year (provided you have already gone to see Milk).
---------------
Okay, so that was a complete lie, those reviews were like the opposite of short-form. But they get the individual parts out of the way so I can ramble on about their similarities. Both come from Tony winning plays, and it's very easy to see their roots. Frost/Nixon has the ultra powerful phone call scene, Doubt has both the rainstorm confrontation and the mother vs. nun revelation scene - all amazing things that are done without a spec of action, and are basically nothing but monologues or huge intercut speeches. Not that this is a bad thing (I love great theater) but sometimes it can take you out of the natural moment of the movie. Example: Nixon's phone call soliloquy is brilliant, but even in the character of Nixon (who is prone to rambling eloquence) it seems calculated. Langella gives it his all, for sure, and it comes very close, but you could tell the audience was drawn away from immediacy of the moment, and was instead stuck on the speech. It certainly did not help that Frost's response it basically the same as ours - slack-jawed astonishment.
The whole things is uniformly better handled in Doubt, although Hoffman comes very close to blowing it with all of his yelling at the high points of conflict. The speechy-ness is mostly relegated to natural moments (obviously you're supposed to speechify in a sermon) and the real tough stage-level moments are handled brilliantly (see: Viola Davis' revelations, and one flawless tiny moment by Amy Adams and a student). Keeping stage characters is shockingly difficult (see: any high school production of Shakespeare ever) but when it's handled well, it can give you shivers.
Allow me a small moment for a digression - one of my favorite movies in the entire world is The History Boys, something that fits right into the exact same category as these two movies: brilliant plays adapted to the screen with minimal changes. Just like Frost/Nixon they even kept the original cast intact. But where these two mostly succeeded in avoiding the speech and soliloquy trap that a play naturally entails, The History Boys seemed to revel in it. Just straight-up 'let's stop for a moment because I feel like giving a speech.' And it destroys the rhythm and sense of the movie. Which kills me, because even as-is I find it a completely brilliant, funny, and real experience. Massaged and worked on long enough, it might have been an amazing film on its own right. Instead, it's terrific writing and great scenes, that combine to form a clunky, wheezing machine of a movie.
Okay, diversion mostly over.
The real question that I was trying to get to was: which movie succeeds more? Or which one was better? Yeah, I'm still not sure which question I'm trying to answer. I think in the end, Frost/Nixon is more accomplished, but less important, so it wins on both of those counts, even if it loses the battle for the one that is most compelling.
Obviously, I have issues with the direction of Doubt, which lowers it in my mind, especially in terms of success. But I also take issue with the lack of real accomplishment in Frost/Nixon. Yes, the story is endlessly interesting, but mostly because it's a retelling of a real life event. It has its drama provided for it. I can't help but think that it enjoys far too much of a built in advantage, particularly when there is no real revelation in the execution - even the brilliance that Langella teases out of Nixon isn't unexpected, just interesting. Frost and his cohorts follow the lines, fulfill their underdog role, and the movie winds down. Similarly, this is why I'm so hard on Milk as far as the movie's greatness goes - the story is so fascinating that you wonder if the movie is getting a pass because the plot it's given is enough to carry you along.
Doubt is technically the lesser movie, but has better acting, and makes you think more. I'm not sure how to rate these things into a quantifiable scale. Eh, in the end I still don't have any good answers, but I still have time to mull it over before I come to any hard conclusions. I mean, the Oscars don't happen until like March, right? Plenty of time.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Your Consumer Whore Report for September
Have a huge pile of disposable income that you need to get rid of really fast?
If so, today's your lucky day because I just happen to have a huge pile of things that you should really want to buy. I know that I do.
But don't let that stop you. Shop, my peoples, shop!
If so, today's your lucky day because I just happen to have a huge pile of things that you should really want to buy. I know that I do.
- Who Killed Amanda Palmer - Absolutely awesome new album from Amanda Palmer, i.e. the voice of The Dresden Dolls. When you buy the preorder right now, you get a free electronic download of the whole CD and a couple of bonus tracks, so there's instant gratification for your purchase that will come later in the month. It's like two purchases in one! It also helps that I love the entire album with reckless abandon, now that I've had a couple of days to listen to it a few times. It's weird that I picked up The Dresden Dolls because of Amanda's association with Regina Spektor, since I can't think of two more opposite types of piano girl singers. There's no polish with Palmer, but the emotion she packs into her songs overcomes any limitation you might expect.
- Zoe's Tale, John Scalzi - I'm pretty sure I've gone over (at length) my love for the Old Man's War series, and for that matter my general love of Scalzi's writing (see Elsewhere links for his blog). This latest installment is more of the same, following a parallel storyline to the last book in the series (Last Colony) that fills in a lot of the blanks from that book, while telling a compelling story on its own. I have my list of quibbles with the book, almost all centering around Scalzi's skirting of some serious action scenes towards the end of the novel, but on the whole it's a great companion to the series, with an entirely unique voice. I dug it a lot. Now I just wish I had hard cover copies of the original trilogy, because now my collection looks a little lopsided on the bookshelf.
- Dallas is about to receive an embarrassment of riches in terms of live music this fall. Just off the top of my head in the next two months: The Swell Season (AKA:the girl and the guy from that awesome movie Once), The Fratellis (my absolute favorite new band I heard this year), Ben Folds (on his new album tour), A new Hotel Cafe Tour (with Ingrid Michaelson again AND Meiko), Sara Bareilles (doing her own show this time), and Kings of Leon (with We Are Scientists(!!), the real reason I want to go to that show).
I can't even fathom how much money it would take to see even half the shows I want to. And this is after Steel Train cancelled their Dallas stop. - In the video game world, Spore came out this week, and it's taking every willpower molecule in my body to not run to the store right now. I have spent far, far, far too much of my freetime just playing with their creature creator (which you can download for free. Because the first hit is always a giveaway. Then when you're hooked, that's where they get you. It's like cocaine, in a way). I'm dreadfully afraid that owning the full game would ensure I didn't see the light of day for until November.
But don't let that stop you. Shop, my peoples, shop!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A Product Placed Cola Shame
(NOTE: After I wrote this ridiculously long thing up, I decided that it was too dorky even for me to put up. Then I realized that I have no shame and really need blog filler. So it's going up about a week late. I'm sorry. Not for the lateness. For the content. So sorry.)
You guys, I was so sure I had gotten over it. After my brief flirtation with joining the seething masses of teenage girls and Frnak, I had made it an entire year without succumbing to the American Idol machine. Sure I would still watch, but it was only because I had a fake TV crush on that one guy from last year. I never even came close to picking up a telephone, and I would estimate that I only watched about every other episode. Even my crush wasn't that strong - I mean the boy made sound effects for a living. It would never have worked between us.
I assumed it was all just a fad, a scary Coca-Cola induced fad, and I had grown past the creepy devotion and Pavlovian phone dialing.
And then this season happened. With the whole writers' strike and the absence of any other new shows on TV, guarantying that I wouldn't have anything else to take up my time, I've been dragged straight down into the swirling vortex. As usual, the audition episodes were literally unwatchable (I think the longest I made it through was 8 consecutive minutes before something horrifying made me wince so hard that I changed the channel without touching the remote. All I needed was my brain waves and the immense shame powering them) but oh my, how addictive the Hollywood pare-down audtions are. It's like a fantastic car crash that you can't look away from, because more and more cars just keep barreling into the flaming wreckage, completely ignoring the fact that there is a huge pileup already there.
And now those are over, and today is officially the best day: The first day the initial bio pages are released for the top 24 contestants. I don't know why I love them so much, but they really, really speak to me. Particularly the part of me that likes to mock people. Because seriously, if you've never read them before, you have no idea what's in store.
Come along, as I recap the most intriguing parts of the different bios. Even with the reduced information this year (usually they're chock full of snark, this year they've learned their lesson and pared down the scary), there's still a trove of hidden gems. I also will make my entirely superficial judgments about them all, since as per usual we haven't seen more than 10 of the 24 sing at all. It's like they want to make this a popularity contest or something. The nerve.
Anyways, Lord help me, they're all below the cut, so as to hide most of my shame.
(Note: While I am a horrible person, I'll try to be a least a little bit sensitive to the fact that some of these contestants are approximately 9 years old, and cannot necessarily be faulted for what they say. Just thinking about a scenario in which I would be interviewed for a national TV program when I was 16 causes me physical pain.)
Alaina Whitaker - The fact that her bio and personal interview is so perfectly normal makes me hate her on principle. Plus, what's the deal with that last line about being "pretty good at shopping."? Is she making a joke? You would think so, but this is American Idol. One should never assume. Tentatively, though, she is not horrible. Sigh. What a way to start.
Alexandrea Lushington - Two for two with the inoffensive pages. Actually, I secretly like her most of all the girls, so I'm thrilled that she didn't have a terrifying bio. Also, she has the best quote of all the contestants.
Amanda Overmyer - Independent of the fact that she looks like a cross between Booberella from The Simpsons and an American Girl doll, she can actually sort of sing. That doesn't sway me though, when you factor in the Harley riding too. There's only so much (note the quotes) "rock-n-roll" I can take, and she's way over the line.
Amy Jean Davis - I think the correct word is ukelele, Amy Jean. Oh. Right, "a little guitar." I see what you were trying to say. Yeah, misplaced modifiers are no one's friend. An enemy of grammar is an enemy of mine.
Asia'h Epperson - Yeah, we can see your picture right there, Unnecessary Apostrophe Girl. You aren't allowed to claim make-up as a talent, unless we're talking clown make-up.
Brooke White - Y'all, I loved her before I read this bio. Now? "Beautifying"? The stupidest quote of the 24 (which is saying so much)? I'm just gonna pretend this whole page doesn't really exist. I love me a dramatic cryer on this show.
Carly Smithson - Oh, you're a crafty one. With your whole "Irish" thing, and your "perfect pint." It's not gonna work on me. I will remain strong. Probably for at least 2 weeks. And then you'll sing an awesome angry indie chick song that I love and I'll fall into your robotic spell. Damn you in advance, Irish temptress.
Chikezie Eze - Other talents: None. Niiiiice. Awesome name, though.
Colton David Berry - Sweet monkey damn, someone save me from all the jailbait this season. I'll refrain from comment, other than to say he was in a mortal lock with Brooke for the worst quote ever attempted, and just barely lost out. Oh, and "since I was young"? He's lucky he isn't within my slapping distance. Embryos aren't allowed to reminisce about when they were young.
Danny Norriega - A relevant conversation:
David Cook - Quotes Road House and manages to ogle Mandy Moore through text. Then he gets the best joke line of all the contestants with his Other Talents. Means I think he's awesome and will thus be gone by end of February.
David Hernandez - I really think this guy might actually be a robot in human disguise, and he's taken on the tiniest accent to hide his not-complete mastery of speech. Also, his roving eyebrows are the scariest facial feature of any of the contestants, including the white shock of hair on the one girl, and the plethora of other piercings on everyone else.
Garrett Haley - Looks a little crazy/alien, and his eyes seem to be strangely oriented on his face. Also, I wouldn't put it past him for that thing on head to actually be a wig. Plus - way to narrow down the timeline of when you started singing to 3 full years. Wildly informative. (I'm being overly mean, I actually like this one.)
Jason Castro - White-boy dreads. I utterly refuse.
Jason Yeager - Seems completely un-hateable, except for the fact that he seems to be suffering from the same hair coloring disease that's affecting the Overmyer girl. Also, old man is old. I hope he does well.
Joanne Borgella - Girl, I love DAUGHTRY too. Sometimes we can't help it. But we will have issues if you keep bringing up the plus-sized girl thing all season long. I get my zaftig discussion fix from ANTM, I am here to see cute gay boys dance around on stage.
Kady Alexis Malloy - The fact that you qualified Freddy Mercury "of Queen" makes me hate you for no understandable reason. I'm sorry dear, sometimes these things happen.
Kristy Lee Cook - Even though I don't like her, she totally wins the award for best bio page. There is so much nuance she's packed in to such a tiny space. Qualifying that she only likes Young LeAnn Rimes (totally implied: not the older, whorish Coyote Ugly LeAnn Rimes), the word cowgirl as a verb, a subtle dropping of her "pro" singing career at 13, and a casual mention of cage fighting in Talents. This girl has it all. Watch the fuck out for this one.
Luke Menard - If by "29" you mean "36," yeah okay. But whatever, we don't discriminate against The Hotness here at Belligerent and Numerous. You come right in.
Michael Johns - Even older than the 36 year old we just went through, but is totally going to crush the one, since he's got A) the accent and B) all the face-time during the auditions. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, though. Not that hot.
What? You heard me.
Ramiele Macrowon Malubay - Best name, worrying quote. Means she's totally been taking notes from Sanjaya. Bonus points for being the first person to correctly modify her limited talents at musical instruments without butchering the English language too much. Minus points for having 40 favorite artists. This girl is just all over the map.
Robbie Carrico - I can't get past the hair to formulate any other thoughts. My only emotion towards him is the overwhelming urge to drench him with a fire hose.
Syesha Mercado - See, this one did not count hair or make-up as one of her strong points, so I just think she got on the bad side of the photographer's assistant. Anyways, nothing else to say, she's another one of my favorites.
My Top Three Boys Before Hearing Anyone Sing: Colton (with the Gay Hair), David Cook (with the Ugly Face but Good Bio), and Garrett (the Alien Looking One).
My Top Three Girls Before Hearing Anyone Sing: Alexandrea (with the Military Garb), Brooke (who's Bio Doesn't Exist in my Mind), and Syesha (with the Hair and Makeup from a Forgotten Age of Clowns).
You guys, I was so sure I had gotten over it. After my brief flirtation with joining the seething masses of teenage girls and Frnak, I had made it an entire year without succumbing to the American Idol machine. Sure I would still watch, but it was only because I had a fake TV crush on that one guy from last year. I never even came close to picking up a telephone, and I would estimate that I only watched about every other episode. Even my crush wasn't that strong - I mean the boy made sound effects for a living. It would never have worked between us.
I assumed it was all just a fad, a scary Coca-Cola induced fad, and I had grown past the creepy devotion and Pavlovian phone dialing.
And then this season happened. With the whole writers' strike and the absence of any other new shows on TV, guarantying that I wouldn't have anything else to take up my time, I've been dragged straight down into the swirling vortex. As usual, the audition episodes were literally unwatchable (I think the longest I made it through was 8 consecutive minutes before something horrifying made me wince so hard that I changed the channel without touching the remote. All I needed was my brain waves and the immense shame powering them) but oh my, how addictive the Hollywood pare-down audtions are. It's like a fantastic car crash that you can't look away from, because more and more cars just keep barreling into the flaming wreckage, completely ignoring the fact that there is a huge pileup already there.
And now those are over, and today is officially the best day: The first day the initial bio pages are released for the top 24 contestants. I don't know why I love them so much, but they really, really speak to me. Particularly the part of me that likes to mock people. Because seriously, if you've never read them before, you have no idea what's in store.
Come along, as I recap the most intriguing parts of the different bios. Even with the reduced information this year (usually they're chock full of snark, this year they've learned their lesson and pared down the scary), there's still a trove of hidden gems. I also will make my entirely superficial judgments about them all, since as per usual we haven't seen more than 10 of the 24 sing at all. It's like they want to make this a popularity contest or something. The nerve.
Anyways, Lord help me, they're all below the cut, so as to hide most of my shame.
(Note: While I am a horrible person, I'll try to be a least a little bit sensitive to the fact that some of these contestants are approximately 9 years old, and cannot necessarily be faulted for what they say. Just thinking about a scenario in which I would be interviewed for a national TV program when I was 16 causes me physical pain.)
Alaina Whitaker - The fact that her bio and personal interview is so perfectly normal makes me hate her on principle. Plus, what's the deal with that last line about being "pretty good at shopping."? Is she making a joke? You would think so, but this is American Idol. One should never assume. Tentatively, though, she is not horrible. Sigh. What a way to start.
Alexandrea Lushington - Two for two with the inoffensive pages. Actually, I secretly like her most of all the girls, so I'm thrilled that she didn't have a terrifying bio. Also, she has the best quote of all the contestants.
Amanda Overmyer - Independent of the fact that she looks like a cross between Booberella from The Simpsons and an American Girl doll, she can actually sort of sing. That doesn't sway me though, when you factor in the Harley riding too. There's only so much (note the quotes) "rock-n-roll" I can take, and she's way over the line.
Amy Jean Davis - I think the correct word is ukelele, Amy Jean. Oh. Right, "a little guitar." I see what you were trying to say. Yeah, misplaced modifiers are no one's friend. An enemy of grammar is an enemy of mine.
Asia'h Epperson - Yeah, we can see your picture right there, Unnecessary Apostrophe Girl. You aren't allowed to claim make-up as a talent, unless we're talking clown make-up.
Brooke White - Y'all, I loved her before I read this bio. Now? "Beautifying"? The stupidest quote of the 24 (which is saying so much)? I'm just gonna pretend this whole page doesn't really exist. I love me a dramatic cryer on this show.
Carly Smithson - Oh, you're a crafty one. With your whole "Irish" thing, and your "perfect pint." It's not gonna work on me. I will remain strong. Probably for at least 2 weeks. And then you'll sing an awesome angry indie chick song that I love and I'll fall into your robotic spell. Damn you in advance, Irish temptress.
Chikezie Eze - Other talents: None. Niiiiice. Awesome name, though.
Colton David Berry - Sweet monkey damn, someone save me from all the jailbait this season. I'll refrain from comment, other than to say he was in a mortal lock with Brooke for the worst quote ever attempted, and just barely lost out. Oh, and "since I was young"? He's lucky he isn't within my slapping distance. Embryos aren't allowed to reminisce about when they were young.
Danny Norriega - A relevant conversation:
Him: "He's the gay one."David Archuleta - Again with the tiny instruments. Sigh. This one, I think, is the force to be reckoned with. Although I also thought the same thing about Will Makar, and we all know how that turned out. *sniff*
Her: "ONE?"
David Cook - Quotes Road House and manages to ogle Mandy Moore through text. Then he gets the best joke line of all the contestants with his Other Talents. Means I think he's awesome and will thus be gone by end of February.
David Hernandez - I really think this guy might actually be a robot in human disguise, and he's taken on the tiniest accent to hide his not-complete mastery of speech. Also, his roving eyebrows are the scariest facial feature of any of the contestants, including the white shock of hair on the one girl, and the plethora of other piercings on everyone else.
Garrett Haley - Looks a little crazy/alien, and his eyes seem to be strangely oriented on his face. Also, I wouldn't put it past him for that thing on head to actually be a wig. Plus - way to narrow down the timeline of when you started singing to 3 full years. Wildly informative. (I'm being overly mean, I actually like this one.)
Jason Castro - White-boy dreads. I utterly refuse.
Jason Yeager - Seems completely un-hateable, except for the fact that he seems to be suffering from the same hair coloring disease that's affecting the Overmyer girl. Also, old man is old. I hope he does well.
Joanne Borgella - Girl, I love DAUGHTRY too. Sometimes we can't help it. But we will have issues if you keep bringing up the plus-sized girl thing all season long. I get my zaftig discussion fix from ANTM, I am here to see cute gay boys dance around on stage.
Kady Alexis Malloy - The fact that you qualified Freddy Mercury "of Queen" makes me hate you for no understandable reason. I'm sorry dear, sometimes these things happen.
Kristy Lee Cook - Even though I don't like her, she totally wins the award for best bio page. There is so much nuance she's packed in to such a tiny space. Qualifying that she only likes Young LeAnn Rimes (totally implied: not the older, whorish Coyote Ugly LeAnn Rimes), the word cowgirl as a verb, a subtle dropping of her "pro" singing career at 13, and a casual mention of cage fighting in Talents. This girl has it all. Watch the fuck out for this one.
Luke Menard - If by "29" you mean "36," yeah okay. But whatever, we don't discriminate against The Hotness here at Belligerent and Numerous. You come right in.
Michael Johns - Even older than the 36 year old we just went through, but is totally going to crush the one, since he's got A) the accent and B) all the face-time during the auditions. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, though. Not that hot.
What? You heard me.
Ramiele Macrowon Malubay - Best name, worrying quote. Means she's totally been taking notes from Sanjaya. Bonus points for being the first person to correctly modify her limited talents at musical instruments without butchering the English language too much. Minus points for having 40 favorite artists. This girl is just all over the map.
Robbie Carrico - I can't get past the hair to formulate any other thoughts. My only emotion towards him is the overwhelming urge to drench him with a fire hose.
Syesha Mercado - See, this one did not count hair or make-up as one of her strong points, so I just think she got on the bad side of the photographer's assistant. Anyways, nothing else to say, she's another one of my favorites.
My Top Three Boys Before Hearing Anyone Sing: Colton (with the Gay Hair), David Cook (with the Ugly Face but Good Bio), and Garrett (the Alien Looking One).
My Top Three Girls Before Hearing Anyone Sing: Alexandrea (with the Military Garb), Brooke (who's Bio Doesn't Exist in my Mind), and Syesha (with the Hair and Makeup from a Forgotten Age of Clowns).
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Of Course there are more Year End Lists!
So I made it through the entire last 4 months of the year with exactly 3 days of illness, right up to New Year's Eve, when I was suddenly, unbelievably, violently ill. So rather than at a party with friends, I spent the last moments of the year freezing in my bathroom. I have absolutely the worst luck.
Anyways, I'm mostly recovered now. So what do we do? We write more year end lists!
First up: Critical Movie List!
Now that I've seen all the movies I plan on for 2007, I can hand out the imaginary awards in my mind. I missed several of the big award movies this year (noticeably - American Gangster, No Country for Old Men, and Charlie Wilson's War) but that doesn't slow me down a bit. Everything gets 5 nomination slots, one winner.
Best Motion Picture
Juno
Atonement
Michael Clayton
Lars and the Real Girl
Sweeney Todd
Notes: In my mind it's a three way race for #1 (Juno, Atonement, and Todd), and it was ridiculously hard to pick out the two lesser movies that made the cut on the best list. I eventually gave the bump up to the two movies with the most impressive acting. Also, it kills me that Zodiac couldn't make the cut.
Winner: In an utter battle royale, I give the win to Atonement, for sheer longlasting value. It's just amazing and it will stand the test of time, whereas I think Juno won't age quite as well, even if I would much prefer to watch Juno multiple times currently.
Best Director - Motion Picture
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
David Fincher - Zodiac
Neil Jordan - The Brave One
Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd
Joe Wright - Atonement
Notes: Jordan gets in by sheer lack of impressive candidates, since I didn't see any of the big director movies this year (American Gangster, No Country, and Into the Wild). This one is more a foregone conclusion than most, although I want to go on record as saying that Joe Wright did amazing things with Atonement, particularly the long shot at Dunkirk, which in any other year would have won him the award in a heartbeat.
Winner: But I was enthralled by Sweeney Todd, and almost entirely due to the direction. Tim Burton wins in a walk, for using his style without apology in a way that utterly enhances a story that is a perfect fit for it. Almost a stacked deck, in my opinion, but it's a textbook rendition of excellent direction.
Best Actor - Motion Picture
James McAvoy - Atonement
Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - The Lookout
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Notes: I'm allowed my vices - Joseph Gordon-Levitt was flawless in that movie and I will not hear a word against him. And I atone for the preferential treatment of him by putting Clooney in there, even though I don't like him. I recognize a good performance when I see it. But man, seriously, I really don't like him.
Winner: McAvoy appeared at the end and gave him a run for his money, but Ryan Gosling still takes it. An amazing job - I swear, the movie would have been horrible had anyone else in the world had his part.
Best Actress - Motion Picture
Kiera Knightley - Atonement
Ellen Page - Juno
Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd
Kerri Russel - Waitress
Jodie Foster - The Brave One
Notes: This was the year for women's performances I loved. I would have no problem giving this to any one of the five without a second thought. Even Kerri Russel, who seems like the odd-woman-out up there until you think about her performance in Waitress and realize that she carried a complex movie on her shoulders without making it look like work. It nearly kills me to pick just one.
Winner: Helena Bonham Carter. I can't in good conscience give it to anyone else, although Page and Knightley are so close here that they can taste it. Just an uncommonly great year. But Knightley gets a lot of help in her movie from McAvoy and all the actresses who play Briony in Atonement, so she has a lesser degree of difficultly. And Page is just the opposite - she has the toughest job of all, since her character is written with such hard to swallow dialogue that her performance is elevated just because of what she had to work with. But Carter plays her role so perfectly - she gets Depp to work against, but also has to run the gamut of emotion, humor, and singing. I feel good with her as the big winner.
Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Jeremy Sisto - Waitress
Paul Schneider - Lars and the Real Girl
Alan Rickman - Sweeney Todd
Chris Cooper - Breach
Notes: Another tough one, as there are so many options (let's all take a moment to mourn Robert Downey Jr.'s exclusion for Zodiac). Sisto gets a nod for bringing untold levels of menace and character to a role that is so confusingly written, while Schneider gets one for having to play the straight man in the least comedic comedy in a long while. Both are hard roles, but for me it's a straight up dead heat between Chris Cooper and and Tom Wilkinson. Both had difficult parts that could make or break their respective movies...
Winner: But Chris Cooper gets the win in my mind, for elevating his movie from good to great based solely on his performance (Michael Clayton could stand on its own, as we'll soon see). Breach isn't winning a ton of awards by any measure, but he makes what could be an incredibly dull movie riveting, just in the character he creates.
Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Jennifer Garner - Juno
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Emily Mortimer - Lars and the Real Girl
Romola Garai - Atonement
Notes: How much did I love Briony in Atonement? Yeah, two perfect performances there, by two different people. We're just lucky Vanessa Redgrave was only onscreen for, like, 5 minutes or we would have serious issues. A quick word of sadness that Emily Mortimer won't get a second of recognition for her great work in Lars, despite how perfect she was.
Winner: Because this is a knockdown, drag-out fight between Garner and Swinton, who are both the actual best things about both of their movies. But I give it to Swinton, hands down. She just has so little to work with, but is flawless throughout the whole movie. I love her so much in this part. (Garner gets a ton of help from the screenplay in her role, just because it gives her so much to work with.)
Other Quick Ones:
Best Screenplay - A fierce but short battle between Juno and Atonement, with Juno taking it by a hair. Even though I think the dialogue is trying at times, it's hard to do comedy and characters well, and the writing there really is great. I'm glad there will be two categories at the Oscars, though, so they can both win there.
Best Original Score - Atonement. Full stop. Just great.
Best Animated Feature - Ratatouille (I mean, come on.)
Whew. Now I'm exhausted, and I haven't even gotten to TV. This list making thing really takes it out of you. We'll see if we can't get more out later on.
Anyways, I'm mostly recovered now. So what do we do? We write more year end lists!
First up: Critical Movie List!
Now that I've seen all the movies I plan on for 2007, I can hand out the imaginary awards in my mind. I missed several of the big award movies this year (noticeably - American Gangster, No Country for Old Men, and Charlie Wilson's War) but that doesn't slow me down a bit. Everything gets 5 nomination slots, one winner.
Best Motion Picture
Juno
Atonement
Michael Clayton
Lars and the Real Girl
Sweeney Todd
Notes: In my mind it's a three way race for #1 (Juno, Atonement, and Todd), and it was ridiculously hard to pick out the two lesser movies that made the cut on the best list. I eventually gave the bump up to the two movies with the most impressive acting. Also, it kills me that Zodiac couldn't make the cut.
Winner: In an utter battle royale, I give the win to Atonement, for sheer longlasting value. It's just amazing and it will stand the test of time, whereas I think Juno won't age quite as well, even if I would much prefer to watch Juno multiple times currently.
Best Director - Motion Picture
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
David Fincher - Zodiac
Neil Jordan - The Brave One
Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd
Joe Wright - Atonement
Notes: Jordan gets in by sheer lack of impressive candidates, since I didn't see any of the big director movies this year (American Gangster, No Country, and Into the Wild). This one is more a foregone conclusion than most, although I want to go on record as saying that Joe Wright did amazing things with Atonement, particularly the long shot at Dunkirk, which in any other year would have won him the award in a heartbeat.
Winner: But I was enthralled by Sweeney Todd, and almost entirely due to the direction. Tim Burton wins in a walk, for using his style without apology in a way that utterly enhances a story that is a perfect fit for it. Almost a stacked deck, in my opinion, but it's a textbook rendition of excellent direction.
Best Actor - Motion Picture
James McAvoy - Atonement
Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - The Lookout
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Notes: I'm allowed my vices - Joseph Gordon-Levitt was flawless in that movie and I will not hear a word against him. And I atone for the preferential treatment of him by putting Clooney in there, even though I don't like him. I recognize a good performance when I see it. But man, seriously, I really don't like him.
Winner: McAvoy appeared at the end and gave him a run for his money, but Ryan Gosling still takes it. An amazing job - I swear, the movie would have been horrible had anyone else in the world had his part.
Best Actress - Motion Picture
Kiera Knightley - Atonement
Ellen Page - Juno
Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd
Kerri Russel - Waitress
Jodie Foster - The Brave One
Notes: This was the year for women's performances I loved. I would have no problem giving this to any one of the five without a second thought. Even Kerri Russel, who seems like the odd-woman-out up there until you think about her performance in Waitress and realize that she carried a complex movie on her shoulders without making it look like work. It nearly kills me to pick just one.
Winner: Helena Bonham Carter. I can't in good conscience give it to anyone else, although Page and Knightley are so close here that they can taste it. Just an uncommonly great year. But Knightley gets a lot of help in her movie from McAvoy and all the actresses who play Briony in Atonement, so she has a lesser degree of difficultly. And Page is just the opposite - she has the toughest job of all, since her character is written with such hard to swallow dialogue that her performance is elevated just because of what she had to work with. But Carter plays her role so perfectly - she gets Depp to work against, but also has to run the gamut of emotion, humor, and singing. I feel good with her as the big winner.
Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Jeremy Sisto - Waitress
Paul Schneider - Lars and the Real Girl
Alan Rickman - Sweeney Todd
Chris Cooper - Breach
Notes: Another tough one, as there are so many options (let's all take a moment to mourn Robert Downey Jr.'s exclusion for Zodiac). Sisto gets a nod for bringing untold levels of menace and character to a role that is so confusingly written, while Schneider gets one for having to play the straight man in the least comedic comedy in a long while. Both are hard roles, but for me it's a straight up dead heat between Chris Cooper and and Tom Wilkinson. Both had difficult parts that could make or break their respective movies...
Winner: But Chris Cooper gets the win in my mind, for elevating his movie from good to great based solely on his performance (Michael Clayton could stand on its own, as we'll soon see). Breach isn't winning a ton of awards by any measure, but he makes what could be an incredibly dull movie riveting, just in the character he creates.
Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Jennifer Garner - Juno
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Emily Mortimer - Lars and the Real Girl
Romola Garai - Atonement
Notes: How much did I love Briony in Atonement? Yeah, two perfect performances there, by two different people. We're just lucky Vanessa Redgrave was only onscreen for, like, 5 minutes or we would have serious issues. A quick word of sadness that Emily Mortimer won't get a second of recognition for her great work in Lars, despite how perfect she was.
Winner: Because this is a knockdown, drag-out fight between Garner and Swinton, who are both the actual best things about both of their movies. But I give it to Swinton, hands down. She just has so little to work with, but is flawless throughout the whole movie. I love her so much in this part. (Garner gets a ton of help from the screenplay in her role, just because it gives her so much to work with.)
Other Quick Ones:
Best Screenplay - A fierce but short battle between Juno and Atonement, with Juno taking it by a hair. Even though I think the dialogue is trying at times, it's hard to do comedy and characters well, and the writing there really is great. I'm glad there will be two categories at the Oscars, though, so they can both win there.
Best Original Score - Atonement. Full stop. Just great.
Best Animated Feature - Ratatouille (I mean, come on.)
Whew. Now I'm exhausted, and I haven't even gotten to TV. This list making thing really takes it out of you. We'll see if we can't get more out later on.
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