I decided to catch Fish Tank on IFC On Demand months after its initial theatrical release, right as it is to be removed, because I've just read so many things that make it sound wonderful. I avoided it at first, as I had no special love for Andrea Arnold's previous directorial effort Red Road. But the good reviews combined with my appreciation for her Academy Award winning short Wasp finally got me to sit down and watch.
Well, Fish Tank is not, as its Metacritic score would have you believe, wonderful. It is good, with moments that really stand out, and it also features some seriously powerhouse performances. It's also much more Wasp than Red Road.
Katie Jarvis, in her debut role, astounds as a teenager in the slums of Essex, living with her single mom and her latest boyfriend, an often shirtless Michael Fassbender. Jarvis dreams of getting out of her bleak surroundings and becoming a hip-hop dancer. She and Fassbender eventually form a relationship of sorts, where he does things like give her money to get wasted and give her a camera to film her dancing for a contest entry. Then things go awry, as plots are wont to do.
Fish Tank moves leisurely through its story, letting the audience enjoy its more rambling moments of a teenager trying to gain comfort with her budding sexuality. It's when Arnold's script tries to get a real plot moving that I have problems. The increasing melodrama present in the second half of the film really works against the realistic style established in the beginning. Arnold also seems to be hung up on symbolism that too obviously hammers the impossible disconnect between Jarvis' feelings of being stuck and her dreams of dancing and getting away. Things with balloons, horses, and music videos.
But I did get to come away from this movie loving Michael Fassbender. His performance in 2008's Hunger, and I was really hoping it was not a fluke. I'm ecstatic to say he is clearly an actor capable of broad range.
I'm going back to number ratings.
Fish Tank: 7.3
Friday, April 9, 2010
Anderson's Mr. Fox
I finally got around to watching indie-auteur Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox last night. I must say that, while most of my friends were a good bit more enthusiastic about it, I really enjoyed it.
George Clooney is the voice of the titular fox pining for the life of crime he left behind to please his pregnant wife (Meryl Streep). His son, a hilarious Jason Schwartzman, is athletically inept and generally unpleasant, which his father only helps to encourage. When Clooney moves his family to luxurious new tree hole next to the three most feared farmers this side of the river, he immediately rises to the challenge by stealing a lot of of chickens and cider. Evil farmers quickly band together to kill the fox, soon trapping the whole, angry critter community deep underground without food or water.
The animation. It's wonderful. The real fur that was apparently a pain in the ass for animators really pays off. The world rendered is breathtaking and full of life. The performances are uniformly excellent. Jason Schwartzman has a particular way of elevating Anderson's (I imagine intentionally) on the nose dialogue to seriously moving heights. Roald Dahl's classic children's novel could not have asked for a better adaptation.
But about the style? The whole story is told through Anderson's trademark curt and witty dialogue, and meticulously choreographed tracking shots. It is here that my praise slows down a bit. As enjoyable as this film is, it's still very much a Wes Anderson film made in the same way as all his others. Prior to Fox, I admit, I was beginning to slip off the Wes wagon. I found Darjeeling Limited to be a sorry rehash of all of Anderson's common themes placed into an exotic location. I'm now not so worried about his future films. The animation and source material add a much needed spark. I like that the daddy issues are dialed back in favor of the greater story here. But in the end, there aren't many deviations from his past films. I can't see anybody who disliked Rushmore or The Royal Tennenbaums finding anything new to enjoy in Fantastic Mr. Fox.
George Clooney is the voice of the titular fox pining for the life of crime he left behind to please his pregnant wife (Meryl Streep). His son, a hilarious Jason Schwartzman, is athletically inept and generally unpleasant, which his father only helps to encourage. When Clooney moves his family to luxurious new tree hole next to the three most feared farmers this side of the river, he immediately rises to the challenge by stealing a lot of of chickens and cider. Evil farmers quickly band together to kill the fox, soon trapping the whole, angry critter community deep underground without food or water.
The animation. It's wonderful. The real fur that was apparently a pain in the ass for animators really pays off. The world rendered is breathtaking and full of life. The performances are uniformly excellent. Jason Schwartzman has a particular way of elevating Anderson's (I imagine intentionally) on the nose dialogue to seriously moving heights. Roald Dahl's classic children's novel could not have asked for a better adaptation.
But about the style? The whole story is told through Anderson's trademark curt and witty dialogue, and meticulously choreographed tracking shots. It is here that my praise slows down a bit. As enjoyable as this film is, it's still very much a Wes Anderson film made in the same way as all his others. Prior to Fox, I admit, I was beginning to slip off the Wes wagon. I found Darjeeling Limited to be a sorry rehash of all of Anderson's common themes placed into an exotic location. I'm now not so worried about his future films. The animation and source material add a much needed spark. I like that the daddy issues are dialed back in favor of the greater story here. But in the end, there aren't many deviations from his past films. I can't see anybody who disliked Rushmore or The Royal Tennenbaums finding anything new to enjoy in Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Centauri Agent
A quick note:
One of my absolute favorite bands, Natural Snow Buildings, released an online only, free LP a few weeks ago. I've mentioned this band here before, putting two of their albums in my best of the decade list, and another in my top albums of 2009.
They play beautiful ambient droney music, using a lot of folk instruments. I can't recommend them enough, and this new album, The Centauri Agent, is a great place to start. I'd call it their most accessible work, given that it' a relatively brief (for them) 1 hour and 40 minutes, and it's on the internet. Usually these albums go out of print in about a week, it seems.
The writer of the fantastic music blog A Future in Noise has it up for free.
the link:
http://www.afutureinnoise.com/2010/03/natural-snow-buildings-centauri-agent.html
One of my absolute favorite bands, Natural Snow Buildings, released an online only, free LP a few weeks ago. I've mentioned this band here before, putting two of their albums in my best of the decade list, and another in my top albums of 2009.
They play beautiful ambient droney music, using a lot of folk instruments. I can't recommend them enough, and this new album, The Centauri Agent, is a great place to start. I'd call it their most accessible work, given that it' a relatively brief (for them) 1 hour and 40 minutes, and it's on the internet. Usually these albums go out of print in about a week, it seems.
The writer of the fantastic music blog A Future in Noise has it up for free.
the link:
http://www.afutureinnoise.com/2010/03/natural-snow-buildings-centauri-agent.html
Back
After suffering a string of devastating blows such as a broken lap top, a terrible slump in my movie watching, and then a bout of crippling laziness, I am finally back to this land of blog.
So I'm going to try something new. I'll be writing a little something about every movie I watch. Whether it be something new in the theater, or my favorite movie I've seen a million times, I'll write at least something. Cuz I feel like it.
I'll start with what I watched last night: Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders, 2009)
A magnificently hilarious movie from opening to closing frames. I watched this late at night, in the dark, by myself, and yet still could not contain my constant bursts of laughter. I know the spoofing of B-movies is nothing remotely new, but Black Dynamite hits every note so perfectly. Even the easy moments such as when a boom mic slowly creeps into the shot work much better than they should. The filmmakers really go above and beyond just spoofing a blaxsploitation film here. An absurdly over long scene where Black Dynamite and his gang figure out what the villains are planning by tracing similar sounding words, acronyms, and Greek mythology to end up at the word Kansas is particularly inspired.
The dvd featured a trailer for for Blood and Bone a serious movie also starring Michael Jai White that looks like it is exactly what Black Dynamite was spoofing. Drunk viewing, anybody?
And so writing just happened. That's what's up.
So I'm going to try something new. I'll be writing a little something about every movie I watch. Whether it be something new in the theater, or my favorite movie I've seen a million times, I'll write at least something. Cuz I feel like it.
I'll start with what I watched last night: Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders, 2009)
A magnificently hilarious movie from opening to closing frames. I watched this late at night, in the dark, by myself, and yet still could not contain my constant bursts of laughter. I know the spoofing of B-movies is nothing remotely new, but Black Dynamite hits every note so perfectly. Even the easy moments such as when a boom mic slowly creeps into the shot work much better than they should. The filmmakers really go above and beyond just spoofing a blaxsploitation film here. An absurdly over long scene where Black Dynamite and his gang figure out what the villains are planning by tracing similar sounding words, acronyms, and Greek mythology to end up at the word Kansas is particularly inspired.
The dvd featured a trailer for for Blood and Bone a serious movie also starring Michael Jai White that looks like it is exactly what Black Dynamite was spoofing. Drunk viewing, anybody?
And so writing just happened. That's what's up.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Odd Blood
Before some other hipster asshole gets to tell you any different, I'll jump the gun and inform everyone that the new Yeasayer album, Odd Blood, is really cool. Especially cool when compared to their last release, which I kind of hated. This new one is a crazy psychedelic disco pop record straight out of the '80s. It's fucking weird, but so groovy and fresh, it's hard to sit still.
The Animal Collective comparisons are inevitable. Don't get hung up on them. They both have the psychedelic thing going on, but take their inspirations from different decades and play radically different styles of pop.
Bonnaroo announcements today. I doubt I'll care much about the lineup, but I am enjoying this totally absurd announcement system of refreshing their myspace page every six minutes with one new band.
Oh, and although it's still a month a way, there's a chance that the new Titus Andronicus disc might be one of the greatest things you'll hear all year.
The Animal Collective comparisons are inevitable. Don't get hung up on them. They both have the psychedelic thing going on, but take their inspirations from different decades and play radically different styles of pop.
Bonnaroo announcements today. I doubt I'll care much about the lineup, but I am enjoying this totally absurd announcement system of refreshing their myspace page every six minutes with one new band.
Oh, and although it's still a month a way, there's a chance that the new Titus Andronicus disc might be one of the greatest things you'll hear all year.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Superbowl party!
I'd be lying if I said last night's New Orleans Saints victory over Peyton Manning wasn't one of the most exciting nights of my life. Holy fuck, it was awesome.
Besides partying all weekend in preparation of the biggest event in television history, I also found the time to catch up with one of the movies I missed out on last year.
Hong Sang-soo's Night and Day was a film just barely released, and mostly ignored, last year by IFC, which seems to be sadly becoming a tradition in the U.S. (His wonderful Woman on the Beach got a similar release and lack of reaction late 2008). Night and Day is a hilarious story of a buffoonish Korean man, Kim, who flees to Paris when he might be arrested for smoking marijuana. He entangles himself in various relationships with other Korean girls in Paris, trying to get rid of his long gestating sexual frustration, while having emotional phone conversations with his wife back home almost every night.
The whole thing is sublimely ridiculous. Not one character appears to be emotionally stable. The conversations Kim has with each of these girls is borerline desperate, and his little quirks, such as carrying his belongings in different colored, little plastic bags everywhere he goes, are so unnerving and strange that they become laugh out loud funny.
The extremely long comedy is mostly about the sexual id of a fish out of water type, but Sang-soo makes every conversation and moment feel necessary. He gets a lot out of his richly observed and detailed characters. This and Woman on the Beach have firmly established Sang-soo as a great director of human emotions in my book.
His newest film Like You Know it All has been playing festivals for almost a year already, and was a favorite at Cannes and Toronto. I'm really hoping it finds its way to a theatrical release and gets Hong Sang-soo the attention he clearly deserves.
Who Dat!
Besides partying all weekend in preparation of the biggest event in television history, I also found the time to catch up with one of the movies I missed out on last year.
Hong Sang-soo's Night and Day was a film just barely released, and mostly ignored, last year by IFC, which seems to be sadly becoming a tradition in the U.S. (His wonderful Woman on the Beach got a similar release and lack of reaction late 2008). Night and Day is a hilarious story of a buffoonish Korean man, Kim, who flees to Paris when he might be arrested for smoking marijuana. He entangles himself in various relationships with other Korean girls in Paris, trying to get rid of his long gestating sexual frustration, while having emotional phone conversations with his wife back home almost every night.
The whole thing is sublimely ridiculous. Not one character appears to be emotionally stable. The conversations Kim has with each of these girls is borerline desperate, and his little quirks, such as carrying his belongings in different colored, little plastic bags everywhere he goes, are so unnerving and strange that they become laugh out loud funny.
The extremely long comedy is mostly about the sexual id of a fish out of water type, but Sang-soo makes every conversation and moment feel necessary. He gets a lot out of his richly observed and detailed characters. This and Woman on the Beach have firmly established Sang-soo as a great director of human emotions in my book.
His newest film Like You Know it All has been playing festivals for almost a year already, and was a favorite at Cannes and Toronto. I'm really hoping it finds its way to a theatrical release and gets Hong Sang-soo the attention he clearly deserves.
Who Dat!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I have finally finished all of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its equally great spin-off "Angel".
It took a long while, but it was damn worth it.
I watched everything in the order it aired on television, so I ended with a whole season of "Angel". It has to be one of the greatest endings/wrap-ups of a whole universe that I've ever had the pleasure of viewing.
It took a long while, but it was damn worth it.
I watched everything in the order it aired on television, so I ended with a whole season of "Angel". It has to be one of the greatest endings/wrap-ups of a whole universe that I've ever had the pleasure of viewing.
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