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Sky Captain, Election, and System of a Down
Tuesday Jan 24, 2006 - Link to Entry
With netflix I'm getting caught up three classics or busts at a time. This week's feature, Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow.
Since the film was universally panned I had little to no expectations. Upon viewing I see that the critics vantage point had some validity but this film was not as far off the mark as they would have had you believe. Sure the visual effects were mostly unmotivated and actually obscured their technical mastery, but there was a decent story and some charming performances mixed in.
While it is clear that they did miss the boat and might have had a series on their hands if the execution and script had been better, this film was entertaining and reminded me of a 90's film, The Rocketeer. Perhaps that is because both films involve post war German people and inventions still trying to take over the world. Not a bad bag of popcorn on the couch flick.
Speaking of Flick, Carla and I watched Payne's (Director/Writer of Sideways) breakthrough film Election. While I had seen this many years ago, it was infinitely more disturbing seeing it further into my adult years and after my stint in education.
Like Sideways, this film features very real and characters with tangible pain and a comedy of errors and lies that elevate the conflicts and internal qualms. The most interesting aspect of this film is that despite the fact that Mr. McCalister (Matthew Broderick) has the most screentime, several characters are given first person voice over narration suggesting that perhaps no one is our protagonist. He opens the door for you as a viewer to pick which side you'd like to be on instead of steering your opinion. If you haven't seen this one, I fully recommend it as long as you are prepared for some disturbing things.
And last but not least I'd like to talk about the band System of a Down. I do not have a ton of familiarity with their work but for the second time in as many weeks I heard a song on the radio that was unlike anything I had ever heard before and felt it meritted some commentary and further exposure.
It would seem to me that S.O.A.D., a metal-band, blends Beatle-esque harmonies with simplistic but multi-layered melodies. They take these vocal refrains and pass them through several different genres of music, typically beginning with metal, and passing through alt and pop rock, polka, Eastern European-Jewish traditional sounding, theatrical, Eastern-Asian, and back again.
Though I myself do not like the screaming parts of these songs, their artistic merit and accomplishment cannot be denied and so I may be purchasing their entire body of work. Also like Radiohead it seems that they have a tremendous amout of output as I see several albums completed over just the past two years.
In summation: Sky Captain - ehh but entertaining, Election - Awesome but disturbing, and System of a Down - Scary but beautiful.
Night at the Roxy
Friday Jan 13, 2006 - Link to Entry
Last night I found myself out with the DHS - Los Angeles Branch to see fellow '98 alumnus Pres Maxson and his three-piece piano rock band The BoDukes.
I showed up a little early and found that the crowd there was quite young, and not 21 young, but high school young. I wasn't left wondering why that was the case for long. A young and impressive act The Messies soon took the stage. Though their faces said these guys are seventeen, tops, their music and performance said, the guys are pro's!
Only four times in my life have I gone to a show and been so floored by an act I'd never heard before. First there was Jump, Little Children who opened for Ben Folds Five and with whom which I instantly fell in love with. Then there was Eoin Harrington who played the Red Devil Lounge before me and his performance absolutely shook me and unfortunately I was so wowed I kind of messed up my show.
The final time was before Guster in San Francisco a little band called Maroon 5 and impressed all of us thoroughly although we thought the lead singer sounded a bit too much like Justin Timberlake and thought a little too much of himself.
Well The Messies were equally impressive and I urge you to catch a show of theirs or think about picking up some of their music, although I bet seeing this band is a better experience than listening to the recordings.
On to The BoDukes. Pres and the crew really got this group together in the past few months. They had fun material last time I heard them but this time they were fresh out of the studio and had written new parts and frankly sounded awesome. Check out their work on their myspace site (linked above) and look forward to their new release this spring.
What can I say, I'm a sucker for tunage. Out to San Francisco, see you next week and GO BEARS.
The Fan(s)
Thursday Jan 12, 2006 - Link to Entry
When Cari and I moved into our new place in Santa Monica (Cari is my sister, I do not live with my girlfriend) we loved so much about good old unit 4. It is spaceous, the location is unbeatable in a quiet area near the ocean and a ton of restaurants, and its very affordable for all that it offers.
We however didn't love one thing at all. Above the dining room table hung a brown chandelier adorned with yellowish/orange light holders. While the light omitted was warm and welcoming the thing remained an ancient eye sore.
Since places near the ocean are not equipped with air conditioning especially when they have windows on both sides of the unit (like ours), I decided I'd purchase a ceiling fan/lighting unit to replace the decaying piece. So I did and it sat semi-assembled for about 2 months . . . That is until this past Sunday.
On Sunday I found myself feeling ambitious in the wake of a horrible poker losing streak. I found myself standing on a step stool with a screwdriver attempting to wire and hang a freshly assembled fan from the ceiling.
4 hours, 3 band-aids, 2 gallons of water, and a large pepperoni pizza later, a correctly wired fan spun silently from the ceiling shedding its beautiful clean light over the dining room table and into the kitchen.
So no matter what you consider yourself, I know that my biggest fan remains attached, securely i might add, to the ceiling in my apartment.
Turn the Page . . .
Wednesday Jan 11, 2006 - Link to Entry
No Annual Jayro's for '05? Well not for music... And though it is premature to do so I am prepared to evaluate the movies of the past year but I will not crown a best picture, merely the best picture I have seen so far.
I will refrain from ranking the music of last year as I was not exposed to a ton of new stuff. In fact I spent most of the year reinforcing parts of my collection and adding artists that have been around for a long time or aren't even around anymore. Highlights include the complete work of Elliott Smith, as well as albums by Michael Penn, Aimee Mann, and Ryan Adams.
If Weezer's new release was last year, add that to the list. Oh and that song by System of A Down, Hypnotize, is well worth checking out. A rocked out sort of Eastern European tune. Very interesting.
To the movies. Just to note, I have yet to see the critically acclaimed Brokeback Mountain, Match Point, Munich, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Constant Gardner and Walk the Line. Also as a disclaimer some movies may have been released in late '04 but I viewed them this year and will review them this year.
Movies you missed but you should see . . .
Millions - My favorite movie of the year so far. A great story of a train robbery gone wrong the week before the British convert to the Euro. The bag of missing pounds is discovered by a young boy who shares the secret only with his theoretically money savy older brother. While the older brother just wants to invest it, the discoverer just wants to use it to do good and to help others in the wake of his mother's recent passing. An absolutely wonderful film!!
Heights - Are all films multi-character dramas these days? Heights is the story of 6 new yorkers. They struggle with monogomy, sexuality, career, identity, you know the usual. Caught this one as a screener and it will make a great rental. Pick it up.
Broken Flowers - Was this a classic or even one of Bill Murray's best performances? No. But, it is a very interesting look at the life of a player who is over the hill and left with nothing but a nosy neighbor who encourages Murray (Don Johnson - Don Juan) to investigate a note he receives claiming he is a father. While he turns up empty handed he comes to realize that with the life of running away he's lead, anyone could be his son. A very interesting tale.
Films you've heard of that lived up to the hype . . .
Syriana - Though gorier and more violent than I ever imagined, the perfomances and intertwined storylines are very well crafted and make this film one of the best of the last year. Matt Damon was especially good as an oversea's energy consultant who starts to favor work over family after a tragedy leads him to be more invested and committed to the future of Iran. The only problem with films like this is ignorant folk like myself take much of its story as truth. Its important to remember that even factual fiction remains Fiction. Great film though!
Harry Potter IV: The Goblet of Fire-
I'm not messing with you. This film was really well done. After Chris Columbus recked the first two (and Rent this year as well) I thought the series would simply not translate properly to the big screen. Well Warner Bros., thanks for going out and changing my mind. These last two films and this one especially didn't feel the need to try to recreate the episodic nature of Rowlings writing but instead focused on capturing the character and color of her great books and the result was magnificent.
Cinderella Man-
I snubbed this film when it was released figuring if a film took itself seriously for Oscar contention it wouldn't be in theatres in the summertime. Well I cheated myself out of a great theatrical experience as the visuals on my TV were still quite engaging and so the action on the big screen must have been really great. This is a wonderful story with strong performances all around. Crowe and Giomatti are a great team in this Depression era tale. This film achieves everything King Kong failed to.
Batman Begins -
Wow. What a great movie. From start to finish I loved the world created in this latest of the franchise. Lets face it, after the Arnold Schwartzennager sequel we all though Batman was dead. Well hold your horses. The Gothem of this prequel is a much darker and deadlier world. It reminded me of the oft legendized Roaring Chicago. The filmmakers must have agreed with my thoughts on this as they filmed a bunch of the exteriors in the land of the defending world champions. If you somehow missed this movie, get that on your netflix queue, yo.
The 40-year-old Virgin -
Everyone has seen this by now so all I'll say is that I was lucky enough to see this at work months before it hit the theatres and really got to see the film take shape. The writing and performances are unparalleled by Virgin's comedic peers and this film is probably the best of the genre since Swingers.
Sin City -
I don't remember much about this film anymore, but I do remember being really impressed with the world it created. I also remember thinking that if you didn't see this in the theatre you wouldn't get 1/8th of the experience. Here's to hoping you made it in time.
Movies worth seeing but not worth acclaim: Robots, Coach Carter, March of The Penguins, Sky High, Crash, Kicking and Screaming, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Fever Pitch, Rent, Elizabethtown, Hustle and Flow, War of the Worlds, the 2005 World Series DVD, and The Wedding Crasher's.
Can I get my money back? -
Goodnight and Goodluck - Okay maybe its not fair to put this down here as this was an okay film . . . BUT THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN AMAZING FILM. It had the ingredients to be something that I would love and ended up lacking character and focusing purely on historical recreation and smoking as symbolism. Sorry Clooney, I think you missed the boat with this one.
King Kong - The first 45 minutes of this film are great. And then Jurrassic Park and Apocolypse Now hopped in a blender and created a horrific thrill ride that got completely away from the ideas and themes of the beginning of the story. Yes this is worth seeing for the spectacle, but No this is not a good movie.
Revenge of the Sith - I don't think I hate anything more than I hate this movie. The acting - BAD. The story - BAD. Jedi's being killed like ants under a child's shoe? A senator sitting around crying all day . . . Well I guess that part is believable. Due to work I've probably seen this film over 6 times and . . . Let's just stop talking about it.
The Wedding Date - We rented this from Blockbuster and I really believe that they lost the script while shooting and location and realized since no one had read the damn thing to begin with they'd just wing it. Nothing, not a damn thing was good about this movie.
The Longest Yard - Speaking of lost scripts and horrible movies . . . How did they screw this up? I don't know but they really really really screwed this up. Not worth watching, not even for a minute. Don't be seduced by the cast or the promise of the original's humor. This film is a mirage of a good comedy. You get there and you bite in only to get a mouth full of sand. Lets just say this made the writers on The Wedding Date look accomplished and clever. Sam and I think they most likely just let 100 people write a page each.
Also horrible: Stealth, Bad News Bears, Bewitched, Sahara.
Welcome to 2006 folks.