8 posts tagged “reviews”
So, this passed Saturday I found myself on a train to the lower east side (I think) to see Deerhunter. Honestly, I'm not even the biggest Deerhunter fan in the world, but I like a bunch of their songs, and the tickets were $15 (not including Ticketmaster's pimp tax), so it wasn't that tough of a decision. Plus, the person I'd be going with was someone I don't get to see that much, so that was the point moreso than actually being in love with Deerhunter.
Long story short, I was pretty much wasted by 8 oclock. Knowing I wouldn't be able to afford le inebriacion at the Bowery's prices, I made a couple of Gatorade/vodka/empty-stomach conconctions that worked maybe a little too well, for by the time I was inside the Bowery's lounge, I was pretty much in no shape to call myself a gentleman, although I guess I sort of acted the part, unless I was alienating people without knowing it. A couple weeks prior, I had seen the Kills in Wiliamsburg, and I got so drunk there that I ended sining bad karaoke, sleeping at a stranger's apartment, and puking in a coffee shop DISCREETLY; I told myself that it would NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. The thing is, I don't drink as much as I did in college, so when I finally do imbibe on the sauce, I go full-drunkard. This happens rarely, but when it does, the next day is filled with anxiety and regret, which is an awful couplet--or maybe just an awful couple, whatever. The point is, Times New Viking are noticeably less dissonance-y live, which I guess I sort of saw coming. They were also charming and unpretentious and I dug that. I made devil-horns maybe?
By the time Deerhunter hit the stage, I was in another place entirely. Meaning, I was well on my way to not knowing what the eff was going on, but I remember they played Cryptograms, and it was awesome. Deerhunter is also a cool-looking band live, especially considering they don't really pose as much as some others (I know that, many times, posing is all a part of the act; I'm just saying). Long story short, I don't remember leaving the place, which is kind of not cool in my book, but it happened. I mean to ask my companion how I wrangled me out of there, got me into a subway car, and back to New Jersey with all of my teeth and limbs still where I left them. Hopefully the story isn't too damaging to my psyche, so that when I ask, I can actually handle the truth. Point being, I recommend the Bowery as a concert venue (I saw the YYYs there in 2004 and they owned) as the sound is kind of great and the people are nice.
AFTER-THOUGHTS:
1) I saw Bradford Cox outside before the show (first with some dude, then by himself) and he is less freakishly tall than I was expecting. Sadly, I geeked, saying to my friend "hey, that's the lead singer," which I added to my list of how I am lame.
2) The Bowery is surrounded by Chinese restaurants. If you're hungry, and want to grab a cheap snack before a show, I hope you like Chinese, because that's all you're going to get. Though, to be fair, there was this pastry shop that had a good coissant; it was my first coissant, ever, that wasn't housing a sausage egg and cheese between its layers.
3) If you want a kibob on the street, and reek of deperate hunger, be prepared to pay, like, $8 for it.
4) There was a second opening band, (the Vivian Girls maybe?) but I partied through them, as I am wont to do. Bless their hearts, though.
5) I have to work fifty hours this week. I will be investigating drugs that will make this simpler for me.
Okay, that's it!
Okay, I first heard of Crows Zero from...imdb I guess? Whatever, it's directed by Takashi Miike (Audition and Gozu are two of my favorite movies of the last few years, people are probably over this) and it's got an actual budget as compared to something like Gozu, which, I believe, was like straight to DVD type of thing back in Japan, or like a TV movie (the DVD one is more likely). THis was released in theaters and did pretty well, well enough that a sequel is currently in production with Miike doing the same job (directing, remember?). In an ongoing quest to waste what little money I have, I sought out and bought a copy of this film--I watched it Sunday afternoon.
Basically, there's a high school where all the dudes fight each other, and one kid rules the school, while the new kid wants to take his place, to be the boss hog of the school. It's about honor and "being a man" and fulfilling your potential, and it's kind of great, sating my J-film fan needs and my hollywood spectacle ones as will, albeit, on a pretty small scale. There are no giant set-peices like a Die Hard or anything, it's more along the lines of Kill Bill, or maybe even the first Matrix (without the wire-work of either of those two). The action is filmed and staged convincingly; this isn't Ong-Bak style fists of fury martial arts cinema--this is about a bunch of thugs beating the shit out of each other. Their world is also hyper-reality to a pretty decent extent, and that's the first hurtle of the movies: it is not always self-conscious. I basically groaned through the first few establishing scenes. But the film owned me by the time the plot was established. Basically Miike wanted this shit to look badass, and it does. I fully bought that these kids were cooler than me, but while there is posture, there is also (sniffles) heart and an obvious desire to create a satisfying movie on many levels, including humor, cheesy relationship stuff, introspection, and face-pounding.
So whatever, as i mentioned the budget before, all of that basically went into making the production look professional, and it helps. Miike has said that directing is basically the easiest job on the set, but directing hand-to-hand fight scenes (sometimes featuring a gaggle of extras) this well is not in everyone's range. Rent it, lower your expectations and let it warm up to you, it's worth it.
Four stars.
I complained about my roommate keeping me up the other day--it was no different this Monday night, but instead of being a victim, I decided to say fuck it and make the time useful, so I joined some people on a trip to see Pineapple Express. There was only my exhaustion and a crying baby to distract me, but, otherwise, I think I got the gyst.
Pretty much I watched and read very little promotion for this, so besides seeing the trailer and reading about movies everyday, only really went in knowing there would be action involved, yet what I was going to be dealing with was a 'stoner comedy', and that's the level on which it worked. Not on the 'classic' level of a Half-Baked, but as Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow dipping their foot into the genre and seeing what they'd come up with. Or something. The point is, the movie is funny because it's silly, although the opening sequence, in black and white, didn't really lure me in. By the time the characters were around for a bit, however, I was on board. The thing about these guys, James Franco included (but also counting the peripheral players in the movie, who contribue significantly) know how to come across as essentially likeable onscreen. One of my least favorite comic actors, Adam Sandler, has never really been able to do that for me--'that', being charm me. Even when the Pineapple Express characters are doing something stupid, as a result of a stupid/plot-contrived line of reasoning, the characters make you like them and it's as if they like you too.
So whatever, what the movie doesn't do is charm you into thinking it's awesome. And by you I obviously mean me. It's funny, yeah, and it is so pretty consistently, but, wholly, it reminds me of one of those 80s movies. Something like that movie when the kid becomes a cop? Or even something like Kindergarten Cop, or Beverly Hils Cop III, where the plot is stupid and pre-determined, so the characters just folly along until they get to the end, somehow outwit these criminals who had to have been planning this for a long time, long enough to be able to avoid a hilarious capturing...I dunno. But this is like that--stuff happens because it's in the script. Character come to conclusions as if they just saw what happened in the last scene--any attempt at realism is eschewed for the joke, logic tossed away in lieu of stoner-comedy-ness. Which is fine because the comedy-ness is good. If the comedy was bad, this movie would suck so much dick, and not in a good way.
But, yeah, the random actors in it, most of which have been seen in other Apatow productions, most notably Superbad and Knocked Up, all help keep this one going, especially Craig Robinson, who played the bouncer in Knocked Up, and Joe Lo Truglio, who's the guy in Superbad who hits Jonah Hill with his car then goes to that party. Also the actor Danny R McBride who plays a character called Red (the "thug life" guy from the commercial) steals a moment or two away from the two leads. That said, James Franco plays his character very well, is funny throughout, and Seth Rogen plays himself very well (zing!)
Whatever, the directing was super standard, as was the 'look' of the movie. The music was pretty good. Three and a half stars (I round up, btw).
Since I haven't jumped back into using Netflix, like I'm supposed to be doing, and, for some reason, don't cotton to the idea of using the Blockbuster version of it, I sometimes just drop by my local Blockbuster and pick up a movie like people did in Victorian times. Today's pickup was almost The Ruins, which I plan on watching at some point. For a while now, they have had a Joy Division documentary called Joy Division, but today was the first time I noticed they had Control, so that's what I went with.
I liked it. The concert footage is pretty good and, watching it the second time, I realized that I missed them, that I was watching it the way I would watch a live DVD by a real-life band. I say "real" and "life" because the actors played the music in the movie themselves, and it is noticeable, though none of them really knew how to play their instruments when they got the parts. And for a movie made for just over €4 million, that speaks to how much effort put into these parts, because the guys play the songs reeeally well. Their versions of "Dead Souls", "She's Lost Control" and whatever the first song they play is (I have no idea) are all great. In some biopics (Walk the Line, for one) I would sometimes get annoyed when they go into playing songs (my aversion to Reese Witherspoon could be related), but here, I always got pumped.
The acting was decent--nobody sucked. The actress playing Deborah Curtis, Ian's wife, was emotionally right for every beat she had to get, and Riley was good too, most notably for his embodiement of Curtis as a live performer, but for his depiction of Curtis as someone just sort of lost, even though his life was pretty much structured (with a band, a wife, a kid). Toby Kebbel, a British actor playing their manager, also managed to steal scenes.
Most other reviews will probably point out that the cinematography is up there, and it is. Anton Corbijn, the director, is a famous photographer, and, though he downplays is photog instincts on the commentary track, it pretty much looks like a movie directed by photographer, which is a good thing (Gus Van Sant's last few movies are that same way). The music is mostly Joy Division stuff, but there's some Bowie and Sex Pistols in there as well, if you're into that kind of thing. The movie sustains a low key (some may say downbeat or cerebral) vibe the whole time, which works with the black and white visuals, and the ultimate, tragic nature of how the story will inevitably end. This is pretty much the best biopic I've seen, and I'm not into that kind of thing, not really, so take that with some salt. Four stars.
What I did was, I saw a midnight screening of the Dark Knight in Elizabeth, NJ. People who don't live in the ghetto and never will, sometimes refer to Elizabeth as the ghetto, and, while I get the reference, it's sort of a misnomer. When you live in the part of Jersey I do, you're pretty much outnumbered by "ghetto" areas anyway, so, my point is, the theater there is pretty good, but I had to argue to get that to be the first choice. The last movie I saw there was Iron Man, and the crowd was respectful except for one little kid. This time, the crowd was pretty much great.
At the end of the day: It's worth the money. The film is edited as a crowd pleaser--there are no fun character asides, not really. Everything that happens is relevant to the plot, whether you notice or not, and the action is great and seems necessary to what is happening in the world they have created (I might see this in IMAX as well, since much of the action was filmed that way). The movie is pretty violent, some of it implied, some it blowing up everywhere and getting shot out of nowhere (there is a scene involving a pencil that got the crowd in the mood, making it awesome). The acting works, especially you know who, and it ends on a note that I'm sure it would have whether Mr. Ledger was alive or not--you'll see, but (spoiler) I will say that I'm glad they chose to do it this way, but it makes me long even worse for what might have been, and also afraid of what Warner Brothers might try to do, especially if this movie makes money. Four Stars.
Because I am easily influenced, and if i read a bad review, I can't always assure myself that I won't let it affect my judgment. This is why I can't read Dark Knight anythings, because I have an active imagination, and it ruins my regular life; I can't let it ruin my artistic experiential life. I used to bury myself in reviews before seeing a movie, and I called it research, and, sometimes it helped, sometimes it hindered. At this point, I don't even ask my friends what they think of movies before I see them, because I have become one with my own opinion. Previously though, I was an opinion sponge. This also effects my regular life; the last movie I saw that suffered from this, though, was Transformers.
There is a scene in (inhales) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward (exhales, inhales) Robert Ford, when Casey Affleck (Ford) walks into his bedroom to find his older brother and another member of James' gang going through his secret shoe box of Jesse James books and stalkery memorobelia, and Affleck freaks in a panicked, teary way. The job he does here acting is incredible--you want to ask him if he's going to be okay, with his eyes tearing, and his voice cracking, and his body just slightly shaking with helpless anger. You realize why he was nominated for this by the Academy and not for Gone Baby Gone.
The first time I watched it, the only other thing that really stuck out for me was how the movie looked, and, no shit, the cinematography also happened to be nominated, so I'm obviously not the only one (I never am). But the second time, other thing stood, like Sam Rockwell's performance, which switches from dimwitted lackey to guilt-stricken double-crosser through the course of the movie, much like Affleck's goes from obsessive and puppy-crush afflicted apprentice to emotionally cold, unstable wreck. He wants so bad to be like James (Brad Pitt) that it's almost pathetic, and this was surely done on purpose, much like the shy, awkward glances he sends James' way over the course of the first half or so of the movie, glances that James notices, and seems to figure he can use, because he knows his man-crush isn't gonna fuck 'im over, and he can't say the same for almost anybody else in the movie.
The mood is paranoia and obsession and it works well. Everybody (writers) talks about Brad Pitt's performance being really great, but I didn't dig it until the second time--I had just watched Ocean's 13 recently, so I just kept seeing Rusty. The music here is okay (the color pallete is similar to There Will Be Blood, but that movie's music was a lot better, although both were done by rock musicians; here Nick Cave, there Jonny Greenwood).
Once James is killed, the movie takes it's time winding down, but most of the good stuff is gone by then. The movie isn't perfect, but it doesn't suck by any stretch, and the acting is better than most movies and elevates this one A LOT. That means I liked it. Three and a half stars.
When I was a freshman in high school, there was this goth girl, who was actually kind of nice, and seemed more or less well-rounded. She used to rock Marilyn Manson shirts, though, and one of my friends asked me if I ever saw one of his videos. I was going to go on a long diatribe about how my family is sort of racist against white people and white music, and so I have to pretend to only like black stuff, but I just said no, and he told me to catch some MTV when I got home, and I would see some weird shit by Mr. Manson.
So, I watched it, and I was immediately infatuated/intrigued. I like scary shit. I like scary-sounding classical music, rock music...I like horror movies, even shitty ones. I like scary paintings, books. So this was not scary to me, but entertaining. America, on the other hand, was over it.
So time passed and it became necessary for me to think on my own. This was ushered along by the split of my blahparentsblah. So I had to look at everything in the world in a different context, which involved me evaluating what I hated and why I hated it, and if I really did. I was a sponge and acted like whatever I thought I was supposed to--whatever would make me not be left out or not stand out in a bad way. I got over it because I was angry as fuck, because I was a teenager, and teenagers have hormones and think they are the first people to notice that things are fucked up, if they're lucky. Some people never notice this. I wanted to, and thought about how to.
Then this guy. Okay, so, sonically, musically, this is the best shit this motherfucker has ever done. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is all over this record, and for the better. It's loud, it's scary, and most of all, it doest give a fuck.
It wasn't the Beatles, but I didn't know shit about the Beatles back then. But these guys all did, and so who gives a fuck? Paul, John, Ringo, and George went through the same thing!
My point is, I learned that people will talk shit about stuff they do not understand from this record, and that the joke isn't always obvious, and that just because people agree with you, doesn;t mean you're right, and so it's tits to me.
