In which I plug my other, film-only gig.
I reviewed Battle: Los Angeles for the newish website 225alive.com, a site focusing on film production in Louisiana.
Like every critic in the country, I did not care for it.
Check out that review and the rest of the site. It features a ton of industry news and other fun stuff.
I also reviewed Drive Angry 3D, Secretariat, and Welcome to the Rileys here
Monday, March 14, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
RateYourMusic's Top Albums of All Time: Introduction and 1-3
I have spent most of my life listening to one type of music. Thanks a lot, cool older cousin, for introducing me to Homegrown and NOFX. You inadvertently guided me down a punk rock path that kept getting heavier and heavier. Punk and pop punk led to heavier punk and '90s emo, then hardcore and metalcore, then screamo.
Then the road just ended. There were detours, but they always came from the same from the main road. I discovered post-rock bands through screamo. I listened to some indie, but it was usually of the upbeat variety with clear roots in punk. I had only heard of Wilco because of something I'd read on AbsolutePunk.net.
I think most people do something similar to this. Music genres aren't like movies. People will watch any movie if it's supposed to be good. There are the always the people that don't like horror films or reading subtitles. I know I'll watch anything, and I have my favorites in all the big film genres. But music is somehow different. It would seem that most people know whether or not they'll like a hardcore band before they hear them. They don't like heavy and fast guitars, or they don't like the screaming and yelling. Most seek out music in the genres they know and love, not curious about all the other music out there.
This is fine. I certainly did it for 21 years. Most people certainly don't need to listen to screamy music. But I can't do it anymore.
I got sick of listening to instrumental post-rock bands that sound the same. I was listening to a large amount of post-rock. Long, slow builds. Epic songs of epic length. It's still a genre I love, but I think I burned myself out. I was still listening to screamo and a bunch of indie bands, but I wasn't interested in regressing. I turned to the popular music reviews of Pitchfork.com and AVClub.com; places I could discover all kinds of indie bands (and the occasional outlier). I didn't like this very much. I wasn't loving what they loved, and there wasn't enough musical variety amongst the good reviews.
One day, a new hire to the AVClub did a giant "primer" on metal, a genre I'd never had any interest in even though I'd liked metalcore (they really are often barely related, though lines are always being blurred by new bands). I checked out the primer, got a hold of some Black Sabbath and other bands, and found that I absolutely loved it. It was time to explore. A website I'd heard of and long forgotten came back into my life: rateyourmusic.com. It's the IMDB.com of music sites (user voted, user uploaded info for bands), but it held worlds of music I'd never been exposed to before.
Fast forward a year or so. I've explored many of the avenues heavy metal has to offer, but that's just the tip of the musical iceberg. I have a desire to consume all genres I've never had before. It's time to tackle.....The List.
Rateyourmusic.com has a 5,000 album list of the highest voted albums of all time. I've never given jazz a chance. I haven't listened to anything from earlier than 1991. I loved punk but didn't care about hearing The Ramones or The Clash. This is inexcusable as a music fan. Being user voted, that means the list includes lots of popular music, lots of stuff I've always ignored, and lots of stuff I've never heard of. That also means, like IMDB's Top 250, the list will be updated every month. Things will go up and down, new albums will appear.
I plan on covering these albums here, in brief (anywhere from 5-500 words), as I go. I'll never make it through 5,000 albums, and I don't intend to try. I'll just slog through this while I have some free time, hopefully expanding my musical tastes.
Now on to the top three albums of all time.
They're painfully boring choices in their obviousness, but I imagine they're also many people's favorites. In the past 3 months each of has rotated into and out of the top spot. So it's really like a tie for number one. Currently they are:
1. The Beatles - Revolver
2. Radiohead - OK Computer
3. The Beatles - Abbey Road
Abbey Road is so easily the best here. It's the first Beatles album I've ever listened to in full, and it remains my favorite. It's full of Beatles classics like "Octopus' Garden", "Here Comes the Sun", and "Come Together"; and includes Paul McCartney's greatest accomplishment with The Beatles, "Oh! Darling". Revolver is also great, but not nearly at the level of mastery as the later Abbey Road. Not every song is great, but most are.
I know I spent a good deal of time telling everybody I knew that I didn't care about this band. To my friends, I'm sorry. You'll still never hear me say they're the greatest of all time (I don't even think Abbey Road is the best album of 1969), but I've learned I was mistaken. Please one day forgive me.
Which leads me to Radiohead. I've been judged quite harshly in my days as a man unable to get into Radiohead. After giving OK Computer (always my favorite of theirs) a fresh listen, my critics will not be pleased. I still don't care. It's pretty good. It does not emotionally involve me at all. Sorry guys.
Up next: Dylan, Floyd, lots of jazz, and everything I ever told you I didn't like in high school.
Then the road just ended. There were detours, but they always came from the same from the main road. I discovered post-rock bands through screamo. I listened to some indie, but it was usually of the upbeat variety with clear roots in punk. I had only heard of Wilco because of something I'd read on AbsolutePunk.net.
I think most people do something similar to this. Music genres aren't like movies. People will watch any movie if it's supposed to be good. There are the always the people that don't like horror films or reading subtitles. I know I'll watch anything, and I have my favorites in all the big film genres. But music is somehow different. It would seem that most people know whether or not they'll like a hardcore band before they hear them. They don't like heavy and fast guitars, or they don't like the screaming and yelling. Most seek out music in the genres they know and love, not curious about all the other music out there.
This is fine. I certainly did it for 21 years. Most people certainly don't need to listen to screamy music. But I can't do it anymore.
I got sick of listening to instrumental post-rock bands that sound the same. I was listening to a large amount of post-rock. Long, slow builds. Epic songs of epic length. It's still a genre I love, but I think I burned myself out. I was still listening to screamo and a bunch of indie bands, but I wasn't interested in regressing. I turned to the popular music reviews of Pitchfork.com and AVClub.com; places I could discover all kinds of indie bands (and the occasional outlier). I didn't like this very much. I wasn't loving what they loved, and there wasn't enough musical variety amongst the good reviews.
One day, a new hire to the AVClub did a giant "primer" on metal, a genre I'd never had any interest in even though I'd liked metalcore (they really are often barely related, though lines are always being blurred by new bands). I checked out the primer, got a hold of some Black Sabbath and other bands, and found that I absolutely loved it. It was time to explore. A website I'd heard of and long forgotten came back into my life: rateyourmusic.com. It's the IMDB.com of music sites (user voted, user uploaded info for bands), but it held worlds of music I'd never been exposed to before.
Fast forward a year or so. I've explored many of the avenues heavy metal has to offer, but that's just the tip of the musical iceberg. I have a desire to consume all genres I've never had before. It's time to tackle.....The List.
Rateyourmusic.com has a 5,000 album list of the highest voted albums of all time. I've never given jazz a chance. I haven't listened to anything from earlier than 1991. I loved punk but didn't care about hearing The Ramones or The Clash. This is inexcusable as a music fan. Being user voted, that means the list includes lots of popular music, lots of stuff I've always ignored, and lots of stuff I've never heard of. That also means, like IMDB's Top 250, the list will be updated every month. Things will go up and down, new albums will appear.
I plan on covering these albums here, in brief (anywhere from 5-500 words), as I go. I'll never make it through 5,000 albums, and I don't intend to try. I'll just slog through this while I have some free time, hopefully expanding my musical tastes.
Now on to the top three albums of all time.
They're painfully boring choices in their obviousness, but I imagine they're also many people's favorites. In the past 3 months each of has rotated into and out of the top spot. So it's really like a tie for number one. Currently they are:
1. The Beatles - Revolver
2. Radiohead - OK Computer
3. The Beatles - Abbey Road
Abbey Road is so easily the best here. It's the first Beatles album I've ever listened to in full, and it remains my favorite. It's full of Beatles classics like "Octopus' Garden", "Here Comes the Sun", and "Come Together"; and includes Paul McCartney's greatest accomplishment with The Beatles, "Oh! Darling". Revolver is also great, but not nearly at the level of mastery as the later Abbey Road. Not every song is great, but most are.
I know I spent a good deal of time telling everybody I knew that I didn't care about this band. To my friends, I'm sorry. You'll still never hear me say they're the greatest of all time (I don't even think Abbey Road is the best album of 1969), but I've learned I was mistaken. Please one day forgive me.
Which leads me to Radiohead. I've been judged quite harshly in my days as a man unable to get into Radiohead. After giving OK Computer (always my favorite of theirs) a fresh listen, my critics will not be pleased. I still don't care. It's pretty good. It does not emotionally involve me at all. Sorry guys.
Up next: Dylan, Floyd, lots of jazz, and everything I ever told you I didn't like in high school.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
2010 Round Up
I'm Back!
Due to life and other things, I've been gone since September, 2010. Now I'm back, 5 months later, for who knows how long.
2011 is moving full steam ahead, and I'm about to get left in the dust. It's time to let go of all things 2010 by doing the only thing I know how: breaking down everything with lists!
Film!
Top 15: (I'm going by U.S. theatrical release dates)
15. Carlos - Edgar Ramirez kicks your ass.
14. The Fighter - Christian Bale only has a sense of humor when he's mentally deranged.
13. Let Me In - Everybody yell at John for liking this more than the original Swedish version.
12. The Red Riding Trilogy - Andrew Garfield's best performance (of 3) this year.
11. Tangled - Classic Disney is always going to get me.
10. The Way Back - Peter Weir reminds us all of how awesome he is by turning a by-the-numbers epic into a near-masterpiece.
9. Black Swan - Natalie Portman convinces the world she's an adult by playing a young woman who still lives at home and acts like a child.
8. White Material - Claire Denis' hot streak continues.
7. Valhalla Rising - The most captivating 20 minute foggy ocean scene you'll see all year.
6. The Social Network - I don't think many people have heard of this movie...
5. Blue Valentine - I hate love now.
4. Rabbit Hole - Thank God I hate love now, so I'll never get married and have children.
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - I still love video games and comics. They'll never leave me...
2. Enter the Void - ...Unless a cop shoots me. The most visually mesmerizing head trip I've ever taken.
1. Mother - If you'd told me this time last year that a film about a mother trying to clear her mentally handicapped son's name (that also includes a strange dance sequence) would become one of my favorite films of all time, I'd have laughed at you and said you can't predict the future for shit.
A number of great documentaries, or "documentaries" came out as well. Cowboys herded sheep one last time in the year's best Sweetgrass. Documentary is in quotes above because of Exit Through the Gift Shop and Catfish, both very exciting and exceptionally crafted films that reward multiple viewings. If you can follow The Art of the Steal's convoluted web of thieves, you'll find a greatly entertaining story of corruption and bureaucracy gone awry in an unexpected place. Lastly, Steven Soderbergh got scared that people would forget him if he went a whole year without releasing a movie. Fortunately he gave us a loving portrait of an interesting man in ...And Everything is Going Fine.
The worst movie I saw, by far, was the child murdering Grown Ups. Goddamn you, inescapable airline entertainment.
Television!
I've spent very little time on my television opinions on this blog, but believe you me, I've got 'em. I've dropped a few shows (The Office, 30 Rock, Glee) because I was spending too much time watching them. 30 Rock is still funny, but I've moved on. Now there's Archer. The best spy satire/office comedy mash up currently on TV. FX has been pumping out the greatness, giving us the 2 best new dramas of 2010: the late, missed Terriers, and the ass-kicking, cowboy hat-sporting Justified. Also, Caprica happened. I loved it, but I'm the only person who watched that show.
For the significant improvement in 2010 award, I'll point you to The League, an already funny show that really figured its characters and formula out in its 2nd season. And as my friends know and hate, I am a huge fan of ABC's Cougartown. The only comedy on TV with almost as much interesting character development/laugh until you cry ratio as Community.
The greatest thing to happen to my TV experience was the casting of Matt Smith as the 11th doctor of Doctor Who, and the brilliant 5th season it had under the new management of Stephan Moffat. I felt no one could ever take my heart like David Tenant, but Smith might be the doctor to do it.
Music!
I lost my top albums of 2010 list, so I'm going to wing it a bit.
Frightened Rabbit and Titus Andronicus put out amazing records. Janelle Monae made a mostly great record and backed it up with a doozy of a live show. Big Boi owned hip hop in 2010. Sufjan Stevens reminded me why I don't care about him anymore. The Sword and Slough Feg released albums further promoting why they're just as good as in 1970s heavy metal band. Envy is the only band holding it down for screamo. Oh, and Menomena is still awesome.
I know I'm forgetting all kinds of things. They'll come to me.
What I haven't mentioned yet are the three masterpieces released this past year. All three bands have excellent bodies of work that they somehow topped in 2010. These are my top 3 albums:
3. The National - High Violet
The formula hasn't changed much, but these New york rockers have never sounded better. Their low key anthems for the average Joe are enough to make me tear up/sing along/rock out every time I hear them. "Bloodbuzz, Ohio" and "Lemonworld" are my standout tracks on the disc. "Lemonworld" offers an especially bittersweet tale of one lost soul's night of clarity at his friend's house. It's so simple, yet few can hit these emotional chords like The National do.
2. Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
This was my favorite release all the way from January to last November. In a year where most indie music failed to register with me, this release really stood out. Los Campesinos! have a certain punk energy that really clicks with me. All of their albums have been good, but this feels like the full realization of potential. Extremely playful and complicated instrumentation, great dueling vocals and harmonies, and clever and sarcastic lyrics. These elements might sound familiar, but they present them in a unique way. Rarely does sarcasm come in this intense a package, while also successfully resonating emotion. A great example is "i just sighed. i just sighed, just so you know". Here, the band shows a mastery of the loud-soft-loud structure that makes so much music work, utilizing horns and synths and pounding drums, all while lead singer Gareth Campesinos! (seriously) yells and wails of a dead romance with lyrics so specific they make you feel like you're a part of the relationship.
1. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
It's a shame that Agalloch has to be labeled as a metal band. While their harsh vocals and occasional dips into black metal instrumentation make the genre tag unavoidable, but it does a grave disservice to the band's huge, varied sound. They have the harsh vocals, but just as much clean singing and chanting (they're into European folk). They play some black metal, but they play just as much post rock, folk, and post-punk. These elements have always existed in Agalloch's music, but Marrow of the Spirit is their finest achievement. It sacrifices none of what makes Agalloch a great band, while also being their most accessible work. I don't usually care for "accessible", but this is a rare instance where it implies something good. Marrow offers a journey through nature. From the dark woods to a mysterious lake. It's simultaneously tribal and poppy. the 17 minute "Black Lake Nidstang" follows a 3 minute bridge of ambient key boards and synths with a rock out ending featuring Aesop Dekker's infinitely brutal drumming. This segues immediately into the poppy, post-punk intro "Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires", a song you'd never know was by a metal band until almost the end. I know I'm not going to win anybody over here, but I really do believe Agalloch represents the best the metal world has to offer.
When I come back, I take on a huge project I'll never be able to finish
Due to life and other things, I've been gone since September, 2010. Now I'm back, 5 months later, for who knows how long.
2011 is moving full steam ahead, and I'm about to get left in the dust. It's time to let go of all things 2010 by doing the only thing I know how: breaking down everything with lists!
Film!
Top 15: (I'm going by U.S. theatrical release dates)
15. Carlos - Edgar Ramirez kicks your ass.
14. The Fighter - Christian Bale only has a sense of humor when he's mentally deranged.
13. Let Me In - Everybody yell at John for liking this more than the original Swedish version.
12. The Red Riding Trilogy - Andrew Garfield's best performance (of 3) this year.
11. Tangled - Classic Disney is always going to get me.
10. The Way Back - Peter Weir reminds us all of how awesome he is by turning a by-the-numbers epic into a near-masterpiece.
9. Black Swan - Natalie Portman convinces the world she's an adult by playing a young woman who still lives at home and acts like a child.
8. White Material - Claire Denis' hot streak continues.
7. Valhalla Rising - The most captivating 20 minute foggy ocean scene you'll see all year.
6. The Social Network - I don't think many people have heard of this movie...
5. Blue Valentine - I hate love now.
4. Rabbit Hole - Thank God I hate love now, so I'll never get married and have children.
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - I still love video games and comics. They'll never leave me...
2. Enter the Void - ...Unless a cop shoots me. The most visually mesmerizing head trip I've ever taken.
1. Mother - If you'd told me this time last year that a film about a mother trying to clear her mentally handicapped son's name (that also includes a strange dance sequence) would become one of my favorite films of all time, I'd have laughed at you and said you can't predict the future for shit.
A number of great documentaries, or "documentaries" came out as well. Cowboys herded sheep one last time in the year's best Sweetgrass. Documentary is in quotes above because of Exit Through the Gift Shop and Catfish, both very exciting and exceptionally crafted films that reward multiple viewings. If you can follow The Art of the Steal's convoluted web of thieves, you'll find a greatly entertaining story of corruption and bureaucracy gone awry in an unexpected place. Lastly, Steven Soderbergh got scared that people would forget him if he went a whole year without releasing a movie. Fortunately he gave us a loving portrait of an interesting man in ...And Everything is Going Fine.
The worst movie I saw, by far, was the child murdering Grown Ups. Goddamn you, inescapable airline entertainment.
Television!
I've spent very little time on my television opinions on this blog, but believe you me, I've got 'em. I've dropped a few shows (The Office, 30 Rock, Glee) because I was spending too much time watching them. 30 Rock is still funny, but I've moved on. Now there's Archer. The best spy satire/office comedy mash up currently on TV. FX has been pumping out the greatness, giving us the 2 best new dramas of 2010: the late, missed Terriers, and the ass-kicking, cowboy hat-sporting Justified. Also, Caprica happened. I loved it, but I'm the only person who watched that show.
For the significant improvement in 2010 award, I'll point you to The League, an already funny show that really figured its characters and formula out in its 2nd season. And as my friends know and hate, I am a huge fan of ABC's Cougartown. The only comedy on TV with almost as much interesting character development/laugh until you cry ratio as Community.
The greatest thing to happen to my TV experience was the casting of Matt Smith as the 11th doctor of Doctor Who, and the brilliant 5th season it had under the new management of Stephan Moffat. I felt no one could ever take my heart like David Tenant, but Smith might be the doctor to do it.
Music!
I lost my top albums of 2010 list, so I'm going to wing it a bit.
Frightened Rabbit and Titus Andronicus put out amazing records. Janelle Monae made a mostly great record and backed it up with a doozy of a live show. Big Boi owned hip hop in 2010. Sufjan Stevens reminded me why I don't care about him anymore. The Sword and Slough Feg released albums further promoting why they're just as good as in 1970s heavy metal band. Envy is the only band holding it down for screamo. Oh, and Menomena is still awesome.
I know I'm forgetting all kinds of things. They'll come to me.
What I haven't mentioned yet are the three masterpieces released this past year. All three bands have excellent bodies of work that they somehow topped in 2010. These are my top 3 albums:
3. The National - High Violet
The formula hasn't changed much, but these New york rockers have never sounded better. Their low key anthems for the average Joe are enough to make me tear up/sing along/rock out every time I hear them. "Bloodbuzz, Ohio" and "Lemonworld" are my standout tracks on the disc. "Lemonworld" offers an especially bittersweet tale of one lost soul's night of clarity at his friend's house. It's so simple, yet few can hit these emotional chords like The National do.
2. Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
This was my favorite release all the way from January to last November. In a year where most indie music failed to register with me, this release really stood out. Los Campesinos! have a certain punk energy that really clicks with me. All of their albums have been good, but this feels like the full realization of potential. Extremely playful and complicated instrumentation, great dueling vocals and harmonies, and clever and sarcastic lyrics. These elements might sound familiar, but they present them in a unique way. Rarely does sarcasm come in this intense a package, while also successfully resonating emotion. A great example is "i just sighed. i just sighed, just so you know". Here, the band shows a mastery of the loud-soft-loud structure that makes so much music work, utilizing horns and synths and pounding drums, all while lead singer Gareth Campesinos! (seriously) yells and wails of a dead romance with lyrics so specific they make you feel like you're a part of the relationship.
1. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
It's a shame that Agalloch has to be labeled as a metal band. While their harsh vocals and occasional dips into black metal instrumentation make the genre tag unavoidable, but it does a grave disservice to the band's huge, varied sound. They have the harsh vocals, but just as much clean singing and chanting (they're into European folk). They play some black metal, but they play just as much post rock, folk, and post-punk. These elements have always existed in Agalloch's music, but Marrow of the Spirit is their finest achievement. It sacrifices none of what makes Agalloch a great band, while also being their most accessible work. I don't usually care for "accessible", but this is a rare instance where it implies something good. Marrow offers a journey through nature. From the dark woods to a mysterious lake. It's simultaneously tribal and poppy. the 17 minute "Black Lake Nidstang" follows a 3 minute bridge of ambient key boards and synths with a rock out ending featuring Aesop Dekker's infinitely brutal drumming. This segues immediately into the poppy, post-punk intro "Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires", a song you'd never know was by a metal band until almost the end. I know I'm not going to win anybody over here, but I really do believe Agalloch represents the best the metal world has to offer.
When I come back, I take on a huge project I'll never be able to finish
Monday, September 20, 2010
A
Advertisements and plot synopses I read online told me that Will Gluck's new high school-set comedy Easy A is a modern take on Nathaniel Hawthorne's English class staple The Scarlet Letter. Having enjoyed both the book and the film, I'm wondering in what ways they are similar at all, apart from each work's respective protagonist donning the crimson "A". In The Scarlet Letter, the "A" stood for "adulteress"; In Easy A, I have no idea what the fuck Emma Stone is wearing it for, except as a way of showing that she feels ostracized. This "A" ended up being more of a problem for me than maybe it should have been. She's clearly wearing a huge, red "A" on her chest to school everyday. No one finds this odd, or even seems to notice, except for the tragically hip English teacher responsible for the reading assignment (Thomas Hayden Church).
Surprisingly, this is one of my two major problems with an otherwise very witty, and funny movie; I'll get to the other one in a moment. Emma Stone is particularly great as socially invisible highschooler, Olive Penderghast, who suddenly finds notoriety as a "slut" after she fibs to her best friend (Ally Michalka, currently on CW's "Hellcats") about losing her virginity to a college boy while Christian do-gooder Amanda Bynes eavesdrops in the girls' room. She uses this notoriety to fake sleep with other socially inept males in exchange for gift cards, thinking no one will get hurt, all the while waiting for long-time crush Penn Badgley to make a move.
The initial premise is a bit too much "only in the movies" for me, but the film goes way out of its way to stress its connections with the '80s high school classics of John Hughes to almost justify it. The best friend arc is eerily similar to the one shared by Lindsay Lohan and Lizzy Caplan in Mean Girls, but feels forced, as though the writer didn't know what to do with Michalka's character after the intitial set-up. Stone's relationship with her parents (Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson) is always a delight, but the characters straddle a thin line between charmingly funny, and bat-shit quirky. The only other important adult is Church's guidance counselor wife, Lisa Kudrow, who acts way more Phoebe from "Friends" than her serious arc could handle.
On the plus side, Will Gluck proves he can actually direct. I was worried Fired Up! was just a weird fluke of stupidity that somehow was very enjoyable. Nope. He even has some nice tricks that exaggerate the immediacy and fickle nature of adolescent emotions. I think it is no accident that the events can seem long-developing and epic, but all take place within a time-span of two weeks. That revelation felt almost brilliant to me. And again, I can't stress enough how great the whole cast was. Thomas Hayden Church's deadpan cracked me up every time he opened his mouth; Amanda Bynes takes on the Mandy Moore role in Saved and more than makes it her own; and Emma Stone owns every second of the movie with her wise-cracking, steely demeanor. She has given what is easily one of my favorite performances of 2010.
But here's the real issue with the film; why it can't be a teen movie classic. It brings up serious high school issues like gender dynamics and double standards, hypocrisies found in any given high school, and then it abandons them. It merely skirts the surface of the real world problems it wants you to think it's addressing. And it doesn't avoid its issues with more humor or general levity. Instead it takes a dark turn towards the serious; a move that almost kills the whole experience. Serious is fine, but this twist, involving infidelity and venereal disease, felt like it was from a different universe. It also became just another subject that writer Ben V. Royal felt the need to quickly get out of. It's a shame,too, given that other components of Easy A really hit right on the money.
Easy A: 7.3/10
Also, one serious character oversight. Emma Stone's Olive is very familiar with Victor Sjostrom's 127 version of The Scarlet Letter, one of the most beautifully filmed silent films I've ever seen, but when one of the boys gives her a giftcard to the local foreign theater, she scoffs at the idea of foreign cinema.
Silly
Surprisingly, this is one of my two major problems with an otherwise very witty, and funny movie; I'll get to the other one in a moment. Emma Stone is particularly great as socially invisible highschooler, Olive Penderghast, who suddenly finds notoriety as a "slut" after she fibs to her best friend (Ally Michalka, currently on CW's "Hellcats") about losing her virginity to a college boy while Christian do-gooder Amanda Bynes eavesdrops in the girls' room. She uses this notoriety to fake sleep with other socially inept males in exchange for gift cards, thinking no one will get hurt, all the while waiting for long-time crush Penn Badgley to make a move.
The initial premise is a bit too much "only in the movies" for me, but the film goes way out of its way to stress its connections with the '80s high school classics of John Hughes to almost justify it. The best friend arc is eerily similar to the one shared by Lindsay Lohan and Lizzy Caplan in Mean Girls, but feels forced, as though the writer didn't know what to do with Michalka's character after the intitial set-up. Stone's relationship with her parents (Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson) is always a delight, but the characters straddle a thin line between charmingly funny, and bat-shit quirky. The only other important adult is Church's guidance counselor wife, Lisa Kudrow, who acts way more Phoebe from "Friends" than her serious arc could handle.
On the plus side, Will Gluck proves he can actually direct. I was worried Fired Up! was just a weird fluke of stupidity that somehow was very enjoyable. Nope. He even has some nice tricks that exaggerate the immediacy and fickle nature of adolescent emotions. I think it is no accident that the events can seem long-developing and epic, but all take place within a time-span of two weeks. That revelation felt almost brilliant to me. And again, I can't stress enough how great the whole cast was. Thomas Hayden Church's deadpan cracked me up every time he opened his mouth; Amanda Bynes takes on the Mandy Moore role in Saved and more than makes it her own; and Emma Stone owns every second of the movie with her wise-cracking, steely demeanor. She has given what is easily one of my favorite performances of 2010.
But here's the real issue with the film; why it can't be a teen movie classic. It brings up serious high school issues like gender dynamics and double standards, hypocrisies found in any given high school, and then it abandons them. It merely skirts the surface of the real world problems it wants you to think it's addressing. And it doesn't avoid its issues with more humor or general levity. Instead it takes a dark turn towards the serious; a move that almost kills the whole experience. Serious is fine, but this twist, involving infidelity and venereal disease, felt like it was from a different universe. It also became just another subject that writer Ben V. Royal felt the need to quickly get out of. It's a shame,too, given that other components of Easy A really hit right on the money.
Easy A: 7.3/10
Also, one serious character oversight. Emma Stone's Olive is very familiar with Victor Sjostrom's 127 version of The Scarlet Letter, one of the most beautifully filmed silent films I've ever seen, but when one of the boys gives her a giftcard to the local foreign theater, she scoffs at the idea of foreign cinema.
Silly
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Quiz time
You ain't nobody in the film blogosphere until you take one of Dennis for The Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. This year it's not 95 questions, so I decided to be somebody.
1) Classic film you most want to experience that has so far eluded you.
If this is in reference to any classic films I just haven't got around to yet, well, there are just too many to name. Most of Eric Rohmer's filmography, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad, many film noir classics. If instead this is to be taken as a classic film loved by critics and audiences that I haven't enjoyed nearly as much, then I'd have to say Stayajit Ray's Pather Panchali. I watched this very recently and enjoyed its humble slice of life India, but I thought the heaviness toward the end of the film was just too much.
2) Greatest Criterion DVD/Blu-ray release ever
Either Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows, because the film is so great and it had some great extras; or their "Eisenstein: The Sound Years", featuring Ivan the Terrible, Parts 1 and 2 and Alexander Nevsky. 2 of the most visually arresting films ever made from one of the greatest of all directors, all packed into one, cool looking box? It's almost too much
3) The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon?
The Big Sleep is the better novel, but The Maltese Falcon wins the movie battle. Marlowe is funnier than Spade.
4) Jason Bateman or Paul Rudd?
Both are so funny. Both appear in some terrible films. Rudd was in Knocked Up, Clueless, and a surprise guest appearance in "Veronica Mars." The guy knows what's up.
5) Best mother/child (male or female) movie star combo
Ummmm.... Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson. Am I right, or what?
6) Who are the Robert Mitchums and Ida Lupinos among working movie actors? Do modern parallels to such masculine and no-nonsense feminine stars even exist? If not, why not?
I'm not the film historian it takes to explain why, but they definitely do not exist today.
7) Favorite Preston Sturges movie
The Lady Eve. Sullivan's Travels is a close second.
8) Odette Yustman or Mary Elizabeth Winstead?
Winstead is just so darn purdy.
9) Is there a movie that if you found out a partner or love interest loved (or didn't love) would qualify as a Relationship Deal Breaker?
Personally, I believe we're all entitled to our own opinions, and whether someone is a good person or not does not, in any way, hinge on whether or not they like In The Mood for Love or not. Not all of my girlfriends have felt the same way....
10) Favorite DVD commentary
This might be a surprising pick, but I love Joe Wright's thoughts on his own Pride and Prejudice. He openly criticizes his flawed film, acknowledging choices that would have helped the film, and bringing a wonderful sense of humor to the proceedings that makes it incredibly enjoyable.
11) Movies most recently seen on DVD, Blu-ray and theatrically
DVD - Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard's Pygmalion; Blu-ray - Friday the 13th; Theatically - Winter's Bone.
12) Dirk Bogarde or Alan Bates?
Bates
13) Favorite DVD extra
Usually anything on a Criterion disc.
14) Brian De Palma’s Scarface— yes or no?
Holy fucking God, no.
15) Best comic moment from a horror film that is not a horror comedy (Young Frankenstein, Love At First Bite, et al.)
Anytime Jackie Earle Hailey says anything in The Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
16) Jane Birkin or Edwige Fenech?
Gotta go with Jane Birkin here. Not an easy decision.
17) Favorite Wong Kar-wai movie
In the Mood for Love. Always.
18) Best horrific moment from a comedy that is not a horror comedy
Anything Jackie Earle Hailey says in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
19) From 2010, a specific example of what movies are doing right…
Mother is the only perfectly told film I've seen this year, so not story. Inception and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World make a case for a new era of visual excellence.
20) Ryan Reynolds or Chris Evans?
Chris Evans showed some serious chops in Sunshine, and some crack comic abilities in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
21) Speculate about the future of online film writing. What’s next?
It will continue. It will become increasingly less knowledgeable and grammatically incorrect. Am I the future of film writing?
22) Roger Livesey or David Farrar?
Neither. Sorry.
23) Best father/child (male or female) movie star combo
Kirk and Michael Douglas
24) Favorite Freddie Francis movie (as Director)
25) Bringing Up Baby or The Awful Truth?
Bringing Up Baby
26) Tina Fey or Kristen Wiig?
Wiig is proving annoying on SNL. Fey wins.
27) Name a stylistically important director and the best film that would have never been made without his/her influence.
Hitchcock. In the Mood for Love.
28) Movie you’d most enjoy seeing remade and transplanted to a different culture (i.e. Yimou Zhang’s A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop.)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
29) Link to a picture/frame grab of a movie image that for you best illustrates bliss. Elaborate.
Speak of the devil....
There's a reason you see this so much.
I like to take out Ruffalo and put myself in his place.
30) With a tip of that hat to Glenn Kenny, think of a just-slightly-inadequate alternate title for a famous movie. (Examples from GK: Fan Fiction; Boudu Relieved From Cramping; The Mild Imprecation of the Cat People)
I'm no Glenn Kenny, or funny person, but I'll try. In the Mood for Sex. Neighborhood of God. Peeping John.
The END!
1) Classic film you most want to experience that has so far eluded you.
If this is in reference to any classic films I just haven't got around to yet, well, there are just too many to name. Most of Eric Rohmer's filmography, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad, many film noir classics. If instead this is to be taken as a classic film loved by critics and audiences that I haven't enjoyed nearly as much, then I'd have to say Stayajit Ray's Pather Panchali. I watched this very recently and enjoyed its humble slice of life India, but I thought the heaviness toward the end of the film was just too much.
2) Greatest Criterion DVD/Blu-ray release ever
Either Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows, because the film is so great and it had some great extras; or their "Eisenstein: The Sound Years", featuring Ivan the Terrible, Parts 1 and 2 and Alexander Nevsky. 2 of the most visually arresting films ever made from one of the greatest of all directors, all packed into one, cool looking box? It's almost too much
3) The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon?
The Big Sleep is the better novel, but The Maltese Falcon wins the movie battle. Marlowe is funnier than Spade.
4) Jason Bateman or Paul Rudd?
Both are so funny. Both appear in some terrible films. Rudd was in Knocked Up, Clueless, and a surprise guest appearance in "Veronica Mars." The guy knows what's up.
5) Best mother/child (male or female) movie star combo
Ummmm.... Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson. Am I right, or what?
6) Who are the Robert Mitchums and Ida Lupinos among working movie actors? Do modern parallels to such masculine and no-nonsense feminine stars even exist? If not, why not?
I'm not the film historian it takes to explain why, but they definitely do not exist today.
7) Favorite Preston Sturges movie
The Lady Eve. Sullivan's Travels is a close second.
8) Odette Yustman or Mary Elizabeth Winstead?
Winstead is just so darn purdy.
9) Is there a movie that if you found out a partner or love interest loved (or didn't love) would qualify as a Relationship Deal Breaker?
Personally, I believe we're all entitled to our own opinions, and whether someone is a good person or not does not, in any way, hinge on whether or not they like In The Mood for Love or not. Not all of my girlfriends have felt the same way....
10) Favorite DVD commentary
This might be a surprising pick, but I love Joe Wright's thoughts on his own Pride and Prejudice. He openly criticizes his flawed film, acknowledging choices that would have helped the film, and bringing a wonderful sense of humor to the proceedings that makes it incredibly enjoyable.
11) Movies most recently seen on DVD, Blu-ray and theatrically
DVD - Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard's Pygmalion; Blu-ray - Friday the 13th; Theatically - Winter's Bone.
12) Dirk Bogarde or Alan Bates?
Bates
13) Favorite DVD extra
Usually anything on a Criterion disc.
14) Brian De Palma’s Scarface— yes or no?
Holy fucking God, no.
15) Best comic moment from a horror film that is not a horror comedy (Young Frankenstein, Love At First Bite, et al.)
Anytime Jackie Earle Hailey says anything in The Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
16) Jane Birkin or Edwige Fenech?
Gotta go with Jane Birkin here. Not an easy decision.
17) Favorite Wong Kar-wai movie
In the Mood for Love. Always.
18) Best horrific moment from a comedy that is not a horror comedy
Anything Jackie Earle Hailey says in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
19) From 2010, a specific example of what movies are doing right…
Mother is the only perfectly told film I've seen this year, so not story. Inception and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World make a case for a new era of visual excellence.
20) Ryan Reynolds or Chris Evans?
Chris Evans showed some serious chops in Sunshine, and some crack comic abilities in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
21) Speculate about the future of online film writing. What’s next?
It will continue. It will become increasingly less knowledgeable and grammatically incorrect. Am I the future of film writing?
22) Roger Livesey or David Farrar?
Neither. Sorry.
23) Best father/child (male or female) movie star combo
Kirk and Michael Douglas
24) Favorite Freddie Francis movie (as Director)
25) Bringing Up Baby or The Awful Truth?
Bringing Up Baby
26) Tina Fey or Kristen Wiig?
Wiig is proving annoying on SNL. Fey wins.
27) Name a stylistically important director and the best film that would have never been made without his/her influence.
Hitchcock. In the Mood for Love.
28) Movie you’d most enjoy seeing remade and transplanted to a different culture (i.e. Yimou Zhang’s A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop.)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
29) Link to a picture/frame grab of a movie image that for you best illustrates bliss. Elaborate.
Speak of the devil....
There's a reason you see this so much.
I like to take out Ruffalo and put myself in his place.
30) With a tip of that hat to Glenn Kenny, think of a just-slightly-inadequate alternate title for a famous movie. (Examples from GK: Fan Fiction; Boudu Relieved From Cramping; The Mild Imprecation of the Cat People)
I'm no Glenn Kenny, or funny person, but I'll try. In the Mood for Sex. Neighborhood of God. Peeping John.
The END!
Friday, September 10, 2010
catch up
Busy!
The Great:
It Rains in My Village (Aleksandar Petrovic, 1968)
City of Pirates (Raul Ruiz, 1983)
Jigoku (Nobuo Nakagawa, 1960, Criterion)
Neighbours (Norman Maclaren, 1952, short)
The Good:
The Devil (Andrzej Zulawski, 1972)
The Seventh Horse of the Sun (Shayam Benegal, 1993)
My Childhood (Bill Douglas, 1972)
Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004)
Teorema (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968)
The Scarlet Letter (Victor Sjostrom, 1926)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev, 2010)
L'argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)
Pygmalion (Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard, 1938, Criterion)
Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
The Decent:
The Misfits (John Huston, 1961)
From the Clouds to the Resistance (Straub-Huillet, 1979)
Trees Without Leaves (Kaneto Shindo, 1986)
Centurion (Neil Marshall, 2010)
The Dark Wind (Errol Morris, 1991)
The Bad:
Little Monsters (Richard Greenberg, 1989)
Komodo vs. Cobra (Jim Wynorski aka Jay Andrews, 2005)
Next up is the summer television moratorium, along with the fall predictions
The Great:
It Rains in My Village (Aleksandar Petrovic, 1968)
City of Pirates (Raul Ruiz, 1983)
Jigoku (Nobuo Nakagawa, 1960, Criterion)
Neighbours (Norman Maclaren, 1952, short)
The Good:
The Devil (Andrzej Zulawski, 1972)
The Seventh Horse of the Sun (Shayam Benegal, 1993)
My Childhood (Bill Douglas, 1972)
Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004)
Teorema (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968)
The Scarlet Letter (Victor Sjostrom, 1926)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev, 2010)
L'argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)
Pygmalion (Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard, 1938, Criterion)
Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
The Decent:
The Misfits (John Huston, 1961)
From the Clouds to the Resistance (Straub-Huillet, 1979)
Trees Without Leaves (Kaneto Shindo, 1986)
Centurion (Neil Marshall, 2010)
The Dark Wind (Errol Morris, 1991)
The Bad:
Little Monsters (Richard Greenberg, 1989)
Komodo vs. Cobra (Jim Wynorski aka Jay Andrews, 2005)
Next up is the summer television moratorium, along with the fall predictions
Monday, August 30, 2010
World Cup
Super pretentious and always amazing film website MUBI is currently a Directors' World Cup on its forums. 128 directors representing healthy variety of nations and cultures. And of course, with all those serious film buffs nominating and managing the directors and each of their films used in a round, I haven't seen the majority. I missed all of Round 1 due to all sorts of reasons, not the least of which being the hugely intimidating amount of films I'd need to see to keep up. Round 2 began late Saturday with Terrence Malick's mostly perfect (and future Criterion DVD) The Thin Red Line facing off against Šarūnas Bartas' quiet and frustrating Few of Us. Bartas displays clearly a talent for beautifully composed shots and landscapes. Both films feature mainly internal conflicts, but Malick's use of silence is much more effective. The voting has just a few hours left with the films running neck and neck.
Match #2 features another Criterion film against a frustrating and slow, personal epic. Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7 vs. Victor Erice's The Quince Tree Sun. Varda's film is universally considered a groundbreaking classic, which is why I was so surprised when I found myself defending it against my friends whom found it boring, monotonous, and empty. Silly kids. I found parts purposefully empty, but always giving insight into "Cleo's" tortured mindset. The final twenty minutes work amazingly to provide the viewer with a whole new perspective on the seemingly self-obsessed protagonist. Varda's cinematography is stunning, moving through several different techniques successfully and organically, including handheld and long, smooth tracking shots. The Quince Tree Sun documents a painter working to finish his masterpiece. It's a long and detailed look into the creative process. It would most likely be a cinema formalist's wet dream with all of its long, static shots and apathy towards any sort of plot development. It never worked enough emotionally for me. It looks like Varda has a steady lead currently, but anything can happen in the day or so of voting it has left.
Today's Match #3 is Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law (CRITERION! WTF!) vs. Stan Brakhage's The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (Seriously, Criterion. This ends after this match). This is no contest, whatsoever. I love Jarmusch, I hate TAOSWOOE (as I like to call it).
MUBI.com is what's up. I guarantee that you'll at least find out about films and directors you've never heard of before. Outside of the forum's, great critics, such as Glenn Kenny, publish articles there; and I've had the chance to see several films through the site long before they were released in theaters (Revanche, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's A Letter to Uncle Boonmee).
I know that sounds a little too much like a paid endorsement, but I legitimately love the site. And I'll be writing up on a lot of movies that are competing in the Cup. I haven't the time for every film of every match of every round or anything, but I'm trying to get through a bunch.
I also watched two aggresively stupid films: Ken Russel's Tommy and John Stahl's Magnificent Obsession. Tommy was at least fun, and visually stimulating. I wouldn't even call it a bad movie; it's just a stupid one. Magnificent Obsession, on the other hand, was pretty terrible. I mean, if you're going to be the source material for a Douglas Sirk melodrama made 20 years later, couldn't you try a little bit harder to put one single iota of rational or credible emotion into your film? Geez.
It's too early for sinus buildups, but I got 'em anyway. Maybe tomorrow I'll breath comfortably again? If not, it's another day of couching it up, this time with Ingmar Bergman's television cut of Fanny and Alexander. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Match #2 features another Criterion film against a frustrating and slow, personal epic. Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7 vs. Victor Erice's The Quince Tree Sun. Varda's film is universally considered a groundbreaking classic, which is why I was so surprised when I found myself defending it against my friends whom found it boring, monotonous, and empty. Silly kids. I found parts purposefully empty, but always giving insight into "Cleo's" tortured mindset. The final twenty minutes work amazingly to provide the viewer with a whole new perspective on the seemingly self-obsessed protagonist. Varda's cinematography is stunning, moving through several different techniques successfully and organically, including handheld and long, smooth tracking shots. The Quince Tree Sun documents a painter working to finish his masterpiece. It's a long and detailed look into the creative process. It would most likely be a cinema formalist's wet dream with all of its long, static shots and apathy towards any sort of plot development. It never worked enough emotionally for me. It looks like Varda has a steady lead currently, but anything can happen in the day or so of voting it has left.
Today's Match #3 is Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law (CRITERION! WTF!) vs. Stan Brakhage's The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (Seriously, Criterion. This ends after this match). This is no contest, whatsoever. I love Jarmusch, I hate TAOSWOOE (as I like to call it).
MUBI.com is what's up. I guarantee that you'll at least find out about films and directors you've never heard of before. Outside of the forum's, great critics, such as Glenn Kenny, publish articles there; and I've had the chance to see several films through the site long before they were released in theaters (Revanche, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's A Letter to Uncle Boonmee).
I know that sounds a little too much like a paid endorsement, but I legitimately love the site. And I'll be writing up on a lot of movies that are competing in the Cup. I haven't the time for every film of every match of every round or anything, but I'm trying to get through a bunch.
I also watched two aggresively stupid films: Ken Russel's Tommy and John Stahl's Magnificent Obsession. Tommy was at least fun, and visually stimulating. I wouldn't even call it a bad movie; it's just a stupid one. Magnificent Obsession, on the other hand, was pretty terrible. I mean, if you're going to be the source material for a Douglas Sirk melodrama made 20 years later, couldn't you try a little bit harder to put one single iota of rational or credible emotion into your film? Geez.
It's too early for sinus buildups, but I got 'em anyway. Maybe tomorrow I'll breath comfortably again? If not, it's another day of couching it up, this time with Ingmar Bergman's television cut of Fanny and Alexander. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
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