The Academy Awards are less than a week away and I still have 4 Best Picture nominees to see. The next 5 days are going to be like cramming for an exam. Tonight, I kicked off my extended movie marathon with The Artist. Was it cute? Yes. Was it unlike any movie I have ever seen? Yes. Do I think this uniqueness will be rewarded with the Best Picture Academy Award? Yes. Was it my favorite film of the year? Not so much.
Sure it put a smile on my face but the story was on the simple and predictable side. Who said silent films need to be uninspired? Just because there are no words doesn’t mean you can’t give us a meatier story. I get the whole paying homage to silent film and the history of cinema but compared to the creativity and thoughtfulness behind Hugo, which paid a similar homage, I thought The Artist was a bit dull.
Haywire is a new spy thriller by one of my favorite directors, Stephen Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Solaris). As is the case with the Ocean’s trio of movies and his other recent film Contagion, Haywire features a rock star cast including Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum (yum), Bill Paxton and Michael Angarano. Ok, maybe you’ve never heard of Michael Angarano, but if you were a fan of Will & Grace you will remember him as Jack’s son on a handful of episodes.
The real star of the movie however is Gina Carano. You’ve probably never heard of her either, but she’s a retired mixed martial arts fighter and full of kick ass. (She was also “Crush” in the revival of American Gladiators.) In Haywire she’s basically the only female cast member and spends most of her time whooping butt. I found the movie slightly hard to follow for the first 45 minutes (lots of twists and turns), but eventually explanations unfolded and by the end it was clear what was going on.
This move is a heck of a lot of fun, especially the fighting scenes, most of which are comprised of long sustained shots without a lot of editing. These scenes go from calm to violent in a shockingly quick instant. There were a bunch of moments where I couldn’t help but blurt out “daaamn,” like when Gina’s character suffocated a guy with her thighs and when she shot a guy in the face (covered by a pillow) point blank.
I definitely recommend this violently enjoyable and easily digestible 90 minute movie!
This weekend I returned from a 10 day trip to Hawai’i. I went mostly off the grid, solo, independent and ready to be resourceful. I got to know a handful of really interesting people and saw some beautiful sights. As inspiration for this post, I listened heavily (while driving more than 1,000 miles on the Big Island) to four albums released over the last few months. I picked these albums for a variety of reasons which I explain below and also because the artists are all slated to play at Coachella this year.
Here are my thoughts and favorite songs from my Hawai’i soundtrack:
Florence and the Machine, Ceremonials
What’s great about this album? It’s better than their first album, which was pretty damn good. What’s cool about this album? It was recorded in Abbey Road Studios.
I saw Florence and the Machine perform live at the Greek Theater in Berkeley last summer (the day after I finished the AIDS Lifecycle). She is an amazing, powerful singer and her band is a very talented group of musicians. I think all of that becomes quite obvious on this new album. There isn’t a song on the album I don’t like, and knowing how great they were live, I would love to see them on tour this summer. I highly recommend this album.
Here’s my favorite song, Spectrum, being performed live (in dramatic Florence fashion) on an episode of the X Factor.
Florence and the Machine will be playing in Davis, CA at the Mondavi Center on Wednesday, April 18.
Gotye, Making Mirrors
I first heard Gotye from my friend Lukasz. He is obsessed with KCRW which I haven’t had a chance to listen to much, but he insists features a lot of great up-and-coming music acts. He shared a Gotye song with me, Somebody That I Used To Know, back in November, which was long before the video garnered 55 million views on YouTube. It’s a great song if you haven’t heard it.
As for the rest of the album, it’s good and it definitely features what I deduced to be three different sounding sets of songs. I loved songs #1-5 and thought these defined his style best. These songs sound the most current, are a tiny bit alternative, and feature meaningful lyrics. The second set of songs have an upbeat vibe but more to the tune of Michael McDonald or Taylor Hicks. The final set of songs are a bit darker and more electronic.
My favorite song from the album is called Eyes Wide Open (#4), which I must have listened to 50 times during my trip. Here’s a really great movie he released on YouTube with the song.
Gotye will be performing at The Independent in SF on Thursday, April 12.
Girls, Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Yes I like Girls because they are a San Francisco group. And yes I have great respect for Girls because their lead singer speaks open and honestly about drug abuse. Their new album, which I chose based on a sky-high review from Pitchfork (they gave it a 9.3), is good, but made less of an impression on me than the other three albums. Music snobs would probably say I didn’t get it. Maybe not. I definitely think they’re original (albeit retro) but perhaps just not for me.
It’s not like they don’t have a rabid following. It’s already been highlighted on their Wikipedia page that they recently sold out Terminal 5 in New York City. (That’s a sign they’ve made it right?)
My favorite song is probably their second single from the album, Honey Bunny, because it’s light and fun, and because it takes me to the 1950s, when Buddy Holly might have been playing a concert in Santa Cruz.
Girls will be performing in Santa Cruz on March 1 at the Coconut Grove Ballroom.
The Black Keys, El Camino
I have to be honest, I’ve been pretty oblivious to The Black Keys. I picked this album because I knew nothing about it, yet it was on the top 10 most popular album list in iTunes before I left and because they’re headling Coachella, for crying out loud.
Boy have I been missing out. The Black Keys are a talented band and likely enjoy appeal from a wide variety of fans. I know plenty of friends with good music taste that have liked them for some time (but never pushed them on me apparently) and I know plenty of different people that would appreciate this album to. Like my dad, or my sister and her fiance, for example. (Congrats again Jaime!) It’s good music and it feels good to listen to it.
Stop Stop isn’t necessarily my favorite song from the album but it stands out most for me. I had it stuck in my head throughout several points on the trip and I think it gives a good sampling of the album’s overall sound.
The Black Keys will be performing big at Oracle Arena on May 5. I don’t doubt they will put on a great show leading the marquee on Friday night at Coachella.
I had to be slightly persuaded (over my choice Carnage), but tonight I finally saw A Dangerous Method. And let me tell you ladies and gentleman, we got a hot one. The acting by the trio led by Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortenson and Michael Fassbender was top notch. Viggo was the only one to get a Golden Globe nomination and I’m not sure who will, if any, get Oscar nods, but they all deserve them, in my opinion. I never really liked Keira before this movie. She was to me to Natalie Portman, as Glenn Close is to Merryl Streep. But she proved to be quite the talented actress in this film.
The movie is based on truth, and focuses on the relationship between two of the most prolific pyschologists ever, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and the crazy-but-turns-out-to-be-pretty-brilliant woman that comes between them. in not necessarily the way you think.
I loved this movie and the connection I felt to it in many ways. From the topics of sex to pyschotherapy, it had my interest from start to finish.
Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy is a spy “thriller” set in the 70s and follows a handful of officers and leaders within the Britain Intelligence agency as they try to uncover the truth behind rumors that there is a double agent within. I put the word thriller in quotation marks because I use that word loosely. It is certainly how the film is being marketed and probably an accurate word given the genre, but the pace of the move is slow as molasses and I think there has to be a certain speed at which a movie keeps up and maintain the thrills. My movie mate described it, “like watching a spy thriller on dial up,” which I think was perfectly fitting.
He also described it as “confusing, beautiful and boring,” if that tells you anything.
Overall it was a great ensemble performance of a mostly male cast. There were a lot of great actors in the film including Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch (who is going to be the villain in the new Star Trek) and Tom Hardy (yum, who is going to be in the new Batman). But at the end of the day I didn’t really ever feel very invested in this movie, was never really on the edge of my seat, and kind of knew what was going to happen in the end. There were a handful of gay-curious innuendos and/or undertones which were kind of interesting but in the end it just made the movie a little more confusing.
I think this movie could be saved for rental or a plane ride.
The Academy Awards are less than a week away and I still have 4 Best Picture nominees to see. The next 5 days are going to be like cramming for an exam. Tonight, I kicked off my extended movie marathon with The Artist. Was it cute? Yes. Was it unlike any movie I have ever seen? Yes. Do I think this uniqueness will be rewarded with the Best Picture Academy Award? Yes. Was it my favorite film of the year? Not so much.
What’s great about this album? It’s better than their first album, which was pretty damn good. What’s cool about this album? It was recorded in Abbey Road Studios.
I first heard Gotye from my friend Lukasz. He is obsessed with 
Yes I like Girls because they are a San Francisco group. And yes I have great respect for Girls because their lead singer speaks 
I have to be honest, I’ve been pretty oblivious to The Black Keys. I picked this album because I knew nothing about it, yet it was on the top 10 most popular album list in iTunes before I left and because they’re headling Coachella, for crying out loud.
Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy is a spy “thriller” set in the 70s and follows a handful of officers and leaders within the Britain Intelligence agency as they try to uncover the truth behind rumors that there is a double agent within. I put the word thriller in quotation marks because I use that word loosely. It is certainly how the film is being marketed and probably an accurate word given the genre, but the pace of the move is slow as molasses and I think there has to be a certain speed at which a movie keeps up and maintain the thrills. My movie mate described it, “like watching a spy thriller on dial up,” which I think was perfectly fitting.
A Dangerous Method
The movie is based on truth, and focuses on the relationship between two of the most prolific pyschologists ever, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and the crazy-but-turns-out-to-be-pretty-brilliant woman that comes between them. in not necessarily the way you think.
I loved this movie and the connection I felt to it in many ways. From the topics of sex to pyschotherapy, it had my interest from start to finish.
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Posted in Commentary, Movie
Tagged movies, my review, psychology