January 15-21, 2013
Film
10. MAMA (Director, 2013) (35mm) (Arena Grand) (January 18)
In
short time Jessica Chastain has become one of the best working
actresses. It’s surprising to check her filmography and find little
there prior to her breakout 2011. Granted, she amassed several projects
that all happened to see the light of day in the same year, but her
emergence felt like it occurred overnight even if it didn’t. While she
won’t be winning any awards for MAMA, she’s very good in this
contemporary fairy tale by way of a horror movie. This kind of film can
often feel like it comes off the assembly line, but MAMA displays some
thoughtfulness and visual flair to set it apart. (Review)
Grade: B-/63
11. BROKEN CITY (Allen Hughes, 2013) (35mm) (Arena Grand) (January 18)
Forget
it Mark Wahlberg, it’s the Big Apple. Allen Hughes tries to make New
York City’s version of CHINATOWN. He has the look and feel down, but
the intricate twists and turns in Brian Tucker’s screenplay lack much in
the way of surprises.
The
more interesting elements tend to be in the margins. The girlfriend of
Wahlberg’s character is an aspiring actress, and they attend the
premiere of her independent film. What we see of it are pretty
terrible--intentionally so--and hysterically funny. This section
provides a more incisive and witty look below the surface of official
public statements than the political scenes. I also liked Alona Tal as
Wahlberg’s administrative assistant. Her give-and-take with the boss
snaps.
Grade: C/47
12. THE LAST STAND (Kim Jee-woon, 2013) (2K DCP) (Rave Polaris) (January 19)
I
elected to keep these observations out of my review, but this seems
like the right space for them. Can THE LAST STAND be read as a
conservative fantasy? The hero is jaded about life in the big city and
gives it up for peace and quiet in quintessential small town America.
The feds are either corrupt or unsuccessful at their job. It falls
upon the local officials to get the job done properly. The good guys
even require a citizen’s private arsenal to fight back. The hero and
villain chase and duel with American-made cars. Or maybe it’s just the
form and this is all reading more into it than is intended? (Review)
Grade: B-/60
13. BEVERLY HILLS COP (Martin Brest, 1984) (HD stream) (January 20)
A
by-the-numbers crime story drags down this would-be comedy. As the
fast-talking and ingratiating prankster policeman, Eddie Murphy shows
why he’s a star even though his films are, by and large, not very good.
He’s very appealing in BEVERLY HILLS COP as he orders room service for
the officers staking him out and stuffs bananas in their tailpipes to
shake them, but Murphy’s personality isn’t enough to carry a film more
devoted to the boilerplate TV procedural plot. There’s literally zero
mystery in the investigation. The tepid fish-out-of-water humor fails
to mine the comedy in a streetwise Detroit detective visiting swanky
California. And hey, there’s Jonathan Banks as a bad guy! There’s
nothing remarkable about what he does here, but for anyone who’s seen
him on BREAKING BAD, it goes to show the talent that often goes
unnoticed in disposable parts like this one.
Grade: C/46
14. ZERO DARK THIRTY (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012) (35mm) (Arena Grand) (January 21)
Just as riveted seeing it a second time. And what I said about Chastain in MAMA? That goes double or triple for her here. (Review)
Grade: A/90
Shorts
9s. REJECTED (Don Hertzfeldt, 2000) (YouTube) (January 16)
“My
anus is bleeding!” Proof that I don’t always need humor to be
sophisticated. I laughed myself silly when I saw this in THE ANIMATION
SHOW and did so again when showing it to some students the day after
taping a show in which we reviewed IT’S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY.
Grade: A/90
Literature
1. GONE GIRL (Gillian Flynn, 2012)
Through
a conventional mystery Gillian Flynn dissects a troubled marriage and
explores what we think we know about the people we see, be it in
everyday life or in the media. She alternates chapters of the husband’s
thoughts when his wife goes missing on their anniversary and her diary
entries. It’s an ingenious way of studying how individuals construct
the selves they reveal to others and the assumptions society makes based
on available information, especially in sensational news stories. GONE
GIRL can be very cynical about how men and women relate to one another
and how people use others for their own purposes, but it’s a fascinating
and often thrilling read.
While
reading the novel, I felt like it could be best translated as a short
order TV series, maybe two or three seasons. After I finished GONE
GIRL, it was announced that David Fincher may direct the film adaptation. He’s a sensible choice. Reportedly Reese Witherspoon may
play the lead female role. This should be a whale of a part. The only
thing of note she’s done in recent years is HOW DO YOU KNOW, so it would
be nice to have her return with something worthy of her talent.
Music
10. Van Halen THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS (2004)
Other
than excluding “Ice Cream Man”, this 2-CD greatest hits set includes
pretty much all the album-oriented rock radio staples by one of the
biggest rock bands of the 1970s, ‘80s, and early ‘90s. A collection
like this would be hard to mess up, yet the sequencing has to be among
the worst of any band’s best-of compilation. The listener can fix this
in the MP3 era, but if you pop this into a car CD player, as I did this
week, the order is maddening.
The
first disk begins with “Eruption”, inexplicably separated from their
cover of “You Really Got Me”, and three mediocre-to-bad new songs. From
then the set lurches between eras, alternating between songs with David
Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar as lead singer. The only consecutive Roth-era
songs are tracks 13 and 14 on the second CD, and they’re promptly
followed by three live cuts with Hagar plowing through Diamond Dave
classics. Clearly the sequencing is a middle finger from the band to
Roth, but they’re also insulting fans and making themselves look bad.
If anything, the stark contrast makes the Hagar-era songs pale in
comparison to when Roth was the front man.
I
used to prefer the so-called Van Hagar lineup, probably because those
songs were more melody-inclined, but put me down now as recognizing that
the group was far superior when Roth was in the band. His goofball
persona used to be what put me off, but listening now I can hear how
he’s a better fit, especially at selling the double entendre-laden
lyrics. Hagar sounds too earnest in comparison.
Key
tracks: “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”, “And the Cradle Will Rock...”,
“Unchained”, “Panama”, I’ll Wait”, and “Runnin’ with the Devil”
11. The Walkmen HEAVEN (2012)
At
this point when Spoon puts out yet another great album, it’s taken for
granted. Quietly The Walkmen are in the process of doing the same
thing. I’m slowly trying to put together a favorite albums of 2012
list, so I popped their latest in and was reminded (and kind of stunned)
how great it is. Maybe I should have gone down to campus this week to
see them in concert again. (I caught them in Cincinnati opening for The
New Pornographers in 2011 and was suitably impressed.)
Key tracks: “We Can’t Be Beat”, “Love is Luck”, “The Witch”, and “The Love You Love”
TV
-BUNHEADS (ABC Family)
Also
file under Unfortunately Named Television Series. I’m clearly not the
target audience for a program about a Las Vegas showgirl reassessing her
life while instructing ballerinas in small town California. I’ve never
watched anything on ABC Family or an episode of creator Amy
Sherman-Palladino’s GILMORE GIRLS. Nevertheless, I don’t know if
there’s another current show that leaves me feeling as good after an
episode as this one. Delightful repartee, appealing characters, and
inventive dance numbers make it the complete drama-comedy package.
I
don’t dance and possess little understanding of the art, but over the
years I’ve noticed that I really enjoy dance films. THE RED SHOES is an
all-time favorite. I also like the Japanese original and American
remake SHALL WE DANCE?, THE COMPANY, STEP UP 2: THE STREETS,.and CENTER
STAGE, among others. There’s just something about communicating feeling
through motion that moves me immensely. For example, Jeanine Mason
gets a beautiful single shot solo in the third episode of the first
season’s second half that is unspeakably light and charming, which says
everything about the idealized character she plays. Julia Goldani
Telles caps that BUNHEADS episode with an emotional piece expressing her
character’s fear. For a series so reliant on fast-flung words, the
dance scenes can be the most revealing and powerful.
I
can’t write about BUNHEADS and not mention Sutton Foster, who I first
saw in ANYTHING GOES on Broadway in 2011. She has the old-fashioned
entertainer qualities that surely would have made her a film superstar
in the screwball era. Her comic timing is aces, and she looks
effortless in her dancing.
Live sports
1. Detroit Red Wings at Columbus Blue Jackets (Nationwide Arena - Columbus, Ohio) (January 21)
During
the NHL lockout I was ambivalent about the season being saved. The
Columbus Blue Jackets were likely in for another bad season, and I was
busy enough with other things that its absence in the fall didn’t stand
out. I was a little disappointed to miss out on attending the All-Star
skills competition, but once the lockout reached deep enough into the
original schedule, it was all for the better. What fun would All-Star
game activities be they were being performed as a duty in a compromised
season?
Nevertheless,
when the lockout ended and a revised 48-game schedule was released, I
found myself ramped up for hockey’s return. I even bought a ticket for
opening night. Deals were plentiful because the CBJ had a week to sell
tickets for the first game and needed to make overtures to fans angry
about the lockout. As a quarter season package owner, I was offered
lower bowl seats for $25 through February. Ticketmaster fees were even
waived for the first week. They got me.
Opening
night in Columbus, the team’s second game, was a lot of fun. The place
was sold out, no doubt due to the ticket bargains and the opponent, the
hated Red Wings. The mammoth new scoreboard is a beauty and was
utilized better in terms of showing replays and keeping the “fan
experience” stuff (kiss cam, movie clips to prod enthusiasm) to a
minimum. The crowd was as energetic as I’d experienced it in some time,
perhaps since the first (and only) year the Blue Jackets made the
playoffs. The team played hard and almost pulled out a win. Losing 4-3
in a shootout was not the preferred outcome, but it was an entertaining
game that suggests maybe this team will be a fun one to watch.
Realistically, that’s what I’d like.
January 8-14, 2013
Second
week in and already it’s a challenge to keep up with this. I’ll blame
it on coming down with the crud that’s going around, writing for the TV
show, and consuming quite a bit. Better late than never, right?
Film
5. IT’S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY (Don Hertzfeldt, 2012) (DVD) (January 8)
At
the end of last year the champions of this animated feature came out of
the woodwork and for good reason. Don Hertzfeldt made a funny,
achingly sad, and empathetic movie that defies expectations. (Review)
Grade: B+/75
6. GANGSTER SQUAD (Ruben Fleischer, 2013) (35mm) (Arena Grand) (January 11)
Everyone
I’d tell that this was no good kept saying, “But that cast!” True, an
impressive cast is assembled, but they’re not credible because Ruben
Fleischer applies the comic book team-up film aesthetic (ie., MARVEL’S
THE AVENGERS) to a period gangster picture that provides scant
characterization. The tongue-in-cheek humor doesn’t mix well with the
off-the-books (but totally OK because they’re cops) violence. Ryan
Gosling does something weird with his voice, at least in his first
scene. The Chinatown sequence is put together nicely enough--is this
the replacement scene for the section removed after the Aurora, Colorado
movie theater shootings--and the final stand-off isn’t too shabby
either. Ultimately, though, it feels like everyone’s playing dress-up
as hard-boiled heroes and villains.
Grade: C-/45
7. BARBARA (Christian Petzold, 2012) (2K DCP) (Gateway Film Center) (January 11)
Although
BARBARA is, in part, a thriller and a melodrama, it resists feeling
anything at all until the protagonist must make a crucial decision.
Nina Hoss is inscrutable but intriguing as the title character, a
doctor banished to the countryside in 1980 East Germany. The film
supplies few details about her and is all the better for it as the
larger picture of who she is comes into focus. BARBARA’s strength is
not knowing which direction it may lead us at any moment.
Grade: B/70
8. DJANGO UNCHAINED (Quentin Tarantino, 2012) (35mm) (AMC Dublin Village) (January 12)
The
second time seeing DJANGO UNCHAINED was the charm for me. I liked it
during my first viewing but wasn’t entirely sure that it was complete.
It opened up on a repeat visit, proving to be much deeper and more
controlled than I gave it credit. My favorite films of 2012 tended to
require being seen multiple times, which I’ll choose to characterize as a
sign of their richness and not my deficiency as a viewer. (Review)
Grade: A/92
9. THE IMPOSSIBLE (Juan Antonio Bayona, 2012) (DVD) (January 13)
The
tsunami sequence is suitably impressive, and the period in which mother
and son, played by Naomi Watts and Tom Holland, must try to get to
safety is ripe with drama. Then they receive some help, and all the air
seems to go out of the film. My NOW PLAYING co-host respectfully
disagrees with that point, but the effort to reunite the family, if
everyone survived, felt perfunctory to me more often than not. (Review)
Grade: C+/58
Shorts
AVANT-GARDE MASTERS: A DECADE OF PRESERVATION (Wexner Center for the Arts) (January 10)
I’ll
be the first to admit that I don’t have much familiarity with
experimental cinema, and sometimes what little I’ve seen completely
baffles me as to its appeal. Still, I try to remain open to
appreciating the work being done off the beaten path. I’m acquainted
with the person who introduced this particular program, so I thought I’d
show support and check it out. I also feel it’s important to support
the Wexner Center’s Film/Video department, as the folks there do an
excellent job of providing chances to see films like these on celluloid.
As it turned out, I enjoyed this particular restored shorts program
overall and noted how some of these have had clear influences on music
videos.
For accounting purposes in this journal, I’m counting shorts separately from features.
1s. COSMIC RAY (Bruce Conner, 1961) (16mm)
Most
of the energetic COSMIC RAY features a nude woman dancing to Ray
Charles’s “What’d I Say”. If this have never been projected in the
background at a Flaming Lips concert, someone let Wayne Coyne know about
it. It’s exactly the sort of thing that I could see playing behind the
band.
2s. RABBIT’S MOON (Kenneth Anger, 1950-70) (35mm)
The
only other Kenneth Anger film I’ve seen is LUCIFER RISING, which played
on a bill with Olivier Assayas’s DEMONLOVER and David Cronenberg’s
VIDEODROME. I found that Anger film to be pretty silly, although I did
see it ten years ago, an eternity in cinema literacy terms. Still...
RABBIT’S
MOON, on the other hand, is a lovely tragedy about a clown’s romance
with the moon. There’s some revelatory matching of the doo-wop
soundtrack with the images on screen. The print shown was outstanding.
3s. VELVET UNDERGROUND IN BOSTON (Andy Warhol, 1967) (16mm)
The
longest short in the program was also the most trying. Andy Warhol’s
document of a Velvet Underground concert has its moments, mainly in
revealing details with archival/historical interest, but at 33 minutes I
found it to be a real slog. It’s composed of whatever happened to
interest Warhol during the show, making it kind of like his version of a
Frederick Wiseman documentary.
4s. PIXILLATION (Lillian Schwartz, 1970) (16mm)
5s. OLYMPIAD (Lillian Schwartz, 1971) (16mm) (3D)
6s. ENIGMA (Lillian Schwartz, 1972) (16mm) (3D)
Sensory
overload with colors and shapes rendered in early computer animation
set to electronic music proved to be the program’s most visually
stimulating segments. My favorite was ENIGMA, the most aggressive of
the three.
7s. PREFACES (Abigail Child, 1981) (16mm)
The
sound collage is impressive, even if I couldn’t always follow it very
well. Chalk this one up to appreciating the technique but not being
grabbed by it much otherwise.
8s. AMERICA IS WAITING (Bruce Conner, 1981) (16mm)
Conner’s
montage of what I presume is stock footage is set to the music of David
Byrne and Brian Eno, again making his influence on music videos seem
apparent to me. I want to say something by Ministry resembles this
short, but who knows if that’s right. It feels like something I’ve seen
mimicked a lot.
Literature
Still working (slowly) on GONE GIRL and THE ONE YEAR BIBLE (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION).
Music
8. David Bowie STATION TO STATION (1976)
Not much to say other than what a weird, wonderful album. I look forward to the new album he’ll be releasing this year.
Key tracks: “Golden Years”, “Word on a Wing”, and “TVC 15” (although I should just put the whole album here)
9. Kylie Minogue X (2007)
-Kylie Minogue FEVER
Kylie
Minogue’s tenth studio album is more of the same. No complaints here.
These two albums--I wrote a little about FEVER last week--kept me
moving at the gym this week.
Key tracks: “2 Hearts”, “In My Arms”, “Speakerphone”, and “Sensitized”
Live music
1. Jeff Mangum (Opening acts: The Briars of North America and Tall Firs) (Southern Theatre - Columbus, Ohio) (January 14)
Because
of the near-unanimous praise for Neutral Milk Hotel’s IN THE AEROPLANE
OVER THE SEA on a Guided by Voices LISTSERV I was subscribed to in 1998,
I bought the album unheard. So what if the band’s name was weird and I
had no idea what the album would sound like. Once I got my hands on
it, I thought it was as great as it had been touted. Little did I
expect this album to attain the modern classic status it enjoys. It
seemed more like an underground secret.
Fifteen
years later, including a period where it seemed like no one knew what
Jeff Mangum was doing or what happened to him, I finally got to see him
perform songs from IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA. I didn’t really have
any expectations. Even if I had, they would have been exceeded. I
pretty much had the chills through his entire set. Except for when a
member of The Briars of North America came out to add French horn or
trumpet, it was just him on stage playing an acoustic guitar and belting
out his songs with a voice like a brass instrument. If I had a weaker
constitution, I might have cried through the whole show. From the
opener “Oh Comely” to the encore “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”, it was
so painfully beautiful.
That
reaction may sound like hyperbole, but this was a concert where the
normal rules were thrown out. After the first song Mangum invited
people to come closer and sing along. The Southern Theatre isn’t really set up for a standing room crowd, yet a good number
of folks surged forward. Fourteen rows back I could still see him and,
like some other rear orchestra stragglers, had the row almost to myself.
The concert was still very intense and had a worshipful air. (The
discomfort I did feel was for Mangum when people would shout out extreme
praise at him, which was fairly common between songs. As I understand
it, part of the reason he went “missing” was because he couldn’t handle
his previous success.)
As
for the opening acts, The Briars of North America played an enjoyable
set of folk/chamber pop while the duo Tall Firs plodded through one
mid-tempo song about death after another.
TV
-DON’T TRUST THE B---- IN APARTMENT 23 (ABC)
File
under Unfortunately Named Television Series. It’s not in the top tier
of current TV comedies, but it’s finding its legs during the second
season and deserves a chance to develop. Too bad the way it’s being
aired--leftover season one episodes that break continuity scattered
among season two shows--indicates it isn’t long for this world.
DON’T
TRUST THE B---- IN APARTMENT 23 can push the limits on TV’s standards
and practices--note the title--but the raunchy humor here has the
cleverness that seems to be missing in pop culture free to be as nasty
as it wants to be. I’ll concede that I’m not crazy about excessively
vulgar humor, so this show may hit the sweet spot for me of challenging
boundaries but being restrained from obliterating them. The
obstructions require creativity to work around them.
The
push and pull between Krysten Ritter’s cheerful wickedness and Dreama
Walker’s idealistic stodginess is balanced quite nicely. There’s room
for both characters to be who they are without casting judgments on
their opposite personalities and worldviews. I’ve grown weary of the
washed-up celebrity playing himself/herself for easy laughs in movies
and TV shows, but James Van Der Beek is very funny playing James Van Der
Beek. The series has given him something to do rather than just stand
around debasing himself as has-been for our amusement. Ray Ford steals
scenes as JVDB’s loyal assistant.
-THE 70TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS (NBC)
I
couldn’t care less who wins the Golden Globes, but this year’s ceremony
was entertaining by awards show standards. Or it was worth paying
attention to while following the comments of a significant portion of my
Twitter stream. It’s too bad that hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
didn’t get to do much beyond a solid opening monologue, but that’s how
these programs usually go. (Loved the DOG PRESIDENT nominees, though.)
Funny how there’s such a fuss about who’s hosting when they don’t get
much time.
By
now I’m resigned to the fact that I simply won’t and can’t be able to
write about everything in my pop culture diet. Rather than letting some
of my thoughts spin around my head and then disappear (or occasionally
emerge on Twitter and slip away from memory), I’ve decided to follow the
lead of Nick Hornby’s THE BELIEVER column about what he’s reading and a friend’s weekly log of artistic consumption. This way there’s no
pressure to write in full about these works, yet I can still scratch
down a few things that might be of interest. Maybe it will be of more
value to you than to me, but I hope this will be a worthwhile read.Tracking
films watched and books read will be easy enough. For the sake of
practicality and keeping this log a reasonable length I won’t list every
TV episode I watch or song I listen to. (Note: this first entry turned
out to be much longer than intended. So much for keeping it short.)
With TV I’ll write about whatever grabs me; with music I’ll indicate
the albums I spun and the individual songs that stood out.
January 1-7, 2013
Film1. ROSETTA (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, 1999) (Blu-ray) (January 1)I’m
quite fond of the Dardenne brothers’ films and now only have LA
PROMESSE to see of those that brought them international attention and
acclaim. (Never mind the nearly two decades of hard-to-see
documentaries and narrative features preceding it.) ROSETTA won the
1999 Palme d’Or, so surely it’s another brilliant work on par with their
other films, right?ROSETTA
provides a relentless and visually narrow look at the daily realities
of poverty and trying to break free from it. The camera’s point of
view, the enveloping sound design, the charismatic but unsentimental
lead performance (a feral Emilie Dequenne), and narrative urgency are
equal to any of their films, yet this one didn’t grab me as much. I
suspect that seeing Gabriela Pichler’s excellent ROSETTA-influenced
docudrama EAT SLEEP DIE (ÄTA SOVA DÖ) at TIFF 2012 took some of the
shine off its inspiration for me. ROSETTA is another good effort by the
Belgian brothers and one that I hope to appreciate more whenever I
watch it again. Grade: B/692. HEAVEN’S GATE (Michael Cimino, 1980) (2K DCP) (Wexner Center for the Arts) (January 4)The
critical reevaluation of this notorious flop has brought newfound and
renewed appreciation for a film that’s been pop culture shorthand for
Hollywood folly. I tried watching it years ago on DVD and never
finished it. I think I bailed around the time Kris Kristofferson goes
into the general store, so not even a third of the way into the running
time of the director’s cut. I’m glad I didn’t complete it then because
seeing it in 4x3 letterbox would not have been the best introduction to a
shaggy but stunning epic.To
a degree HEAVEN’S GATE is an ancestor of THERE WILL BE BLOOD in how it
delineates business and government in America. (I’m passingly familiar
with the TV series DEADWOOD, which plays like another potential
descendant.) Thematically it feels as contemporary as anything being
made now, and stylistically it’s just as fresh. If this film marked the
last hurrah of 1970s studio adventurousness, what a bold and lively way
to go out.The
visual scope is enough to sell me on the film’s value. Widescreen
shots of location shoots with hundreds of extras are crammed with detail
and natural beauty. The clattering sound design, especially in the
action-packed climax, builds the sense of bigness and chaos. Sure, the
energy flags at times, but Cimino fulfills his ambition. Although the
violence isn’t particularly realistic to today’s eyes, it’s still as
disturbing as the exaggerated bloodshed in DJANGO UNCHAINED.Random
observations: I was surprised to discover Terry O’Quinn in a small role
delivering dialogue that would be comfortable coming from his LOST
character. And isn’t that Tom Noonan? (Yes.) Mickey Rourke gets a
funny lesson about biting from a trapper played by Geoffrey Lewis. Jeff
Bridges has to have one of the most interesting filmographies of actors
in his generation. It’s always great to see Kristofferson and Isabelle
Huppert. I feel like people tend to treat Christopher Walken as a
caricature of the oddballs he’s played, but he’s quite good in this.
I’ve never seen Sam Waterston play a character as cold-blooded as he
does here.As
for the 2K DCP presentation, HEAVEN’S GATE’s transfer is remarkably
film-like most of the time. I feel safe in saying that it doesn’t look
as good as a 70mm print would, but since that is not an option, this was
a worthy alternative. Preserving the grain and softness goes a long
way in making it look like celluloid. Grade: A-/823. OBSESSION (Brian De Palma, 1976) (DVD) (January 6)De
Palma’s VERTIGO homage pales in comparison to Hitchcock’s
masterpiece--how could it not?--but he throws enough curves for it to be
trashy fun anyway. (Vague spoiler for a 37-year-old film follows.) I
guessed one of the major turns using the cinematic laws of economy of
characters and the persistence of hairstyles, but other surprises were
still in store. OBSESSION overlaps nicely with the director’s PASSION,
and an enterprising programmer would do well to pair them in a double
feature when the latter is released this year.Grade: B-/654. TEXAS CHAINSAW (John Luessenhop, 2013) (2K DCP in 3D) (Gateway Film Center) (January 7)I
strive to keep an open mind before whatever I’m seeing, but I’d be
lying if I said I expected much from the seventh film in THE TEXAS
CHAINSAW MASSACRE series. I liked the 2003 remake, unpopular as that
opinion may be, but I held little hope for this functional sequel to
Tobe Hooper’s 1974 original. TEXAS CHAINSAW isn’t good, but give it
credit for trying to be a little substantive and not piling on the
visual murk favored by many of today’s horror films.In
the new film’s prologue, which picks up where the original film ends,
the angry townsfolk initiate a shootout with the warped Sawyer family
and then burn the farmhouse to the ground, presumably killing everyone
inside except for the baby girl one of the mob takes to raise as his own
with his wife. Twenty-odd years later the baby returns to Texas to
claim the mansion from a grandmother she never knew and gets a hard
lesson in her biological family’s history with the locals.None
of TEXAS CHAINSAW is particularly scary or disturbing. Seeing it in 3D
adds no benefit, although the shots expressly acknowledging the format
are worth a laugh or two since they border on parody. Still, the film
can’t be dismissed entirely because of the thematic question that
emerges. Is it right to treat figurative monsters with monstrous
behavior rather than letting the justice system handle them? TEXAS
CHAINSAW doesn’t aspire to be a political allegory like Hooper’s film,
nor is it equipped to provide a thoughtful response to the question it
poses. Still, it deserves a few points for attempting to be about
something.Grade: D+/36 Literature1. Gillian Flynn GONE GIRL (2012)I
don’t read novels as often as I’d like, but December travel jumpstarted
my desire to pick up books again. I needed a physical book so I could
keep reading when my flights required turning off my Kindle. I selected
GONE GIRL because praise for it popped up time and again in my Twitter
feed. I tore through the first hundred pages pretty quickly, but I’ll
reserve comments for when I’ve finished it.2. THE ONE YEAR BIBLE (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)A
few times I’ve made a New Year’s resolution to read the Bible in full
but haven’t been able to keep up with the daily readings. With the
beginning of another year, here goes another attempt.
Music1. Kylie Minogue LIGHT YEARS (2000)2. Kylie Minogue APHRODITE (2010) 3. Kylie Minogue KYLIE MINOGUE (1994)4. Kylie Minogue FEVER (2002)Never
let it be said that a small role in an art film won’t sell albums.
After seeing Kylie Minogue in HOLY MOTORS and being reminded of her
terrific 2002 single “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”, I decided to seek
out some of her music. I never expected to be quite so taken with what
I’ve heard, especially since I don’t regularly listen to electronic
dance pop. I
started with FEVER and LIGHT YEARS and have been working through
her catalog in both directions. The disco-inflected LIGHT YEARS has
provided the template for what’s followed: a seemingly endless supply of
irresistible hooks and workout-maximized beats per minute. (Her albums
soundtracked most of my runs during my time out of town during the
holidays.) Considering how successful this formula has been almost
everywhere, I’m amazed she’s struggled to make much of a dent in the
United States. Is her lack of popularity here the reason why she’s yet
to record a James Bond theme song? Otherwise she’d seem to be a
shoo-in.KYLIE
MINOGUE reveals an artist trying to transition from teen sensation to
serious artist. At least on first listen the album seems more reliant
on adult contemporary ballads and textures than I prefer (or than her
subsequent albums feature), but it’s still a solid collection of songs.
With its seamless blend of styles LIGHT YEARS competes with FEVER’s
all-out disco for the top spot among her albums that I’ve heard. APHRODITE is pretty much more of what you’d expect: lots of good
melodies married to up-tempo rhythms.
Key
tracks: “Spinning Around”, “On a Night Like This”, and “Please Stay”
(LIGHT YEARS); “Get Outta My Way” and “Aphrodite” (APHRODITE); “Confide
in Me” (KYLIE MINOGUE), “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”, “Come Into My
World”, and “In Your Eyes” (FEVER)5. Paul McCartney RAM (1971)Catching
up with the Paul McCartney solo and Wings reissues and seeing him in
concert in 2011 reminded me of how many great songs he’s written even if
his whole time in The Beatles is ignored. His early solo work is a lot
weirder and rougher than I realized.Key tracks: “Dear Boy”, “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”, “Monkberry Moon Delight”6. Kat Edmonson WAY DOWN LOW (2012)I
suppose WAY DOWN LOW should be classified as a vocal jazz album,
although it’s what would have passed for a pop record until rock ‘n’
roll came onto the scene. (The snarky might tag it as Starbucks/NPR
music, even if such a classification is sort of spot on.) Edmonson’s
voice possesses that jazz chanteuse timbre familiar to the genre--you
know it when you hear it--yet the quality isn’t so pronounced as to
sound affected or precious. On
this spotlessly recorded and performed set Edmonson demonstrates that
she’s a talented singer and interpreter. The slowed down cover of The
Beach Boys’ “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” works beautifully.
Upbeat and downbeat versions of “I Don’t Know” bring out different
shadings in her voice and the lyrics. Lyle Lovett drops by for a
playful duet. This is nothing earth-shaking, but innovation for its own
sake can overrated. Plus, in the age of AutoTune it’s a pleasure to
hear a talented singer doing her thing.Key tracks: “I Don’t Know”, “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times”7. Japandroids CELEBRATION ROCK (2012)Front
to back one of last year’s much-praised rock records still sounds samey
to my ears, but then again, I had a similar issue with The Hold Steady
until something clicked. Lots of energy here, no doubt, and I’m not
immune to it. Just waiting to be won over completely. Key tracks: “Fire’s Highway” and “The House That Heaven Built”TV-College and professional football (ABC, CBS, ESPN, FOX, NBC)More
women are involved in sports media than used to be, but isn’t there
something kind of insulting to them and to the audience in literally
putting them on the sidelines? The woman in the booth for football
games is rare--I vaguely recall coming across one calling a college
game--yet you’ll see women reporting from the sidelines at most
televised football games now. Regardless of if it’s a man or woman on
the field, the sideline reporter strikes me as one of the least
essential parts of game productions, especially when he or she is
sticking a mic in the face of a coach or player running to the locker
room. Is this progress when there’s a sense that having female sideline
reporters is just a way for the producers to add pretty faces to
telecasts? The boys club atmosphere of televised sports exists and
reared its ugly head when Brent Musberger ogled the Alabama
quarterback’s girlfriend during the BCS Championship. Random observation: Is there a reason why the Pepsi commercial with Drew Brees and One Direction was produced in 4x3?-666 PARK AVENUE (2012) (ABC)The
series has been canceled--the final four episodes are apparently airing
in the summer--and the show never really worked. So why did I watch
the two post-Thanksgiving episodes on my DVR? It’s likely I would have
eventually bailed on 666 PARK AVENUE, even if it had been renewed. At
this point I feel like riding it out the rest of the way to see how they
close it out and provide some answers that have been frustratingly
absent.. The
supernatural, soapy fun hinted at in early episodes never amounted to
much as the series delivered halfhearted stand-alone entries and
mythology building. Not all of the answers needed to be provided by
episode #9, but a sense of the rules and a master plan would have helped
immensely. The series played okay when sticking to Rachael Taylor’s
unsettling experiences in the hotel and Terry O’Quinn’s machinations to
get her in his debt. Instead it seemed like 666 PARK AVENUE was doing
too much and not enough with subplots including the boyfriend’s
unbelievably rapid ascent in New York City politics, the professional
and personal pickles a Broadway writer got into, the psychic teenager,
the mystery around the death of the hotel owners’ daughter, the red box,
the basement.-FINAL CUT: THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF HEAVEN’S GATE (2004) (YouTube)I
was curious for more information about the brouhaha around HEAVEN’S
GATE and was pointed toward this documentary, which isn’t included in
the Criterion Blu-ray/DVD set.
