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DVD Reviews

Chad Benefield — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:47:53 GMT

April 29th

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (Miramax)

Julian Schnabel nearly made himself a household name in the United States by directing this French film. He was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to the Coen brothers (No Country For Old Men). If you ask me, the Academy got it wrong. But what’s new? The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is simply one of the most unbelievable stories I have ever witnessed. What makes it more unbelievable is the fact that it is true. The film tells the story of French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, at the age of 42, suffers a massive and immobilizing stroke. Physicians determine he has Locked-In Syndrome. He can hear and comprehend; he just cannot move or communicate. That is until his speech therapist, Henriette, guides him through the tedious and exhausting process of communicating with his left eye, the only body part he can move. He can blink it so she wants him to use it. Basically, Henriette recites the letters of the alphabet and Jean-Dominique blinks when she gets to the next letter in the word he’s trying to convey. I know what you’re thinking. That would require insane amounts of patience. Well, consider this . . . Bauby blinked out his entire autobiography, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and his assistant, Claude, transcribed the whole manuscript. Look! This is amazing. Schnabel shoots much of the movie from Jean-Do’s point of view from his one good eye. The direction is ingenious, the performances are sensational and the film is inspirational. This is a rare MUST SEE! GRADE: B+

April 29th

The Golden Compass (New Line Cinema)

This mystical, and sometimes magical adventure flick is written and directed by Chris Weitz, who gave us 2002’s comedy-drama About a Boy. This endeavor is a far more elaborate undertaking than that Hugh Grant vehicle. In fact, it’s a trilogy that its stars, Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman, committed to before the first installment ever wrapped. The Golden Compass is a Lord-of-the-Rings/Narnia-type effort that achieves only half the results. It’s like Rachel Ray making a meal in 35 or 40 minutes. It slightly disappoints. Lord of the Rings had me hooked. When Part One of that trilogy ended, I couldn’t wait for the next eleven months to zip by so I could see Part Two. (You know a film is a success if it makes you will your life away so you can hurry up and get to the sequel). Excuse the following pun, I didn’t get that same “reading” from The Golden Compass. This story, about a strange phenomenon called “Dust” and a bizarre cult called “The Magisterium” is so complex and weird, I’m just not sure I care what happens next. GRADE: B-

May 6th

Over Her Dead Body (New Line)

What a great idea! Her dead body! Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria stars as Kate, a woman crushed on her wedding day by a gigantic and tacky ice sculpture! Now, don’t feel too badly. She got on my nerves and deserved it. In fact, if I was at the wedding and the ice sculpture hit her, then broke into a thousand bits on the pavement, I would have been the first to scream, “No harm done! Get some fruit flavoring and we’ll make slushies!” Over Her Dead Body is full of juvenile, slapstick comedy and is chock-full of one-trick ponies (Hey! There’s your obligatory Kentucky Derby reference! It is News 4U‘s May edition after all!) Eva Longoria proves that Gabrielle Solis is the only character she can play. Paul Rudd does his tired, one-expression (smug) routine. Lake Bell (whoever the hell that is) is as mechanical as C-3PO. And Jason Biggs reminds us that the only time he was funny was when he was deflowering his mother’s apple pie. Will anyone I know rent this? Over my dead body! GRADE: F

May 20th

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Buena Vista)

The 2007 holiday movie season was full of disappointments. Sweeney Todd made me want shave my face off and Charlie Wilson’s War made me want to strap explosives to my body like an Afghan rebel. If you had tried to convince me that National Treasure was going to be one of the surprises of December, I would have called the white coats and had you carted off for some electroshock therapy. I didn’t care for 2004’s National Treasure at all and I was dreading the sequel like a hernia test. But Book of Secrets is an action-packed delight. Sometimes a good old-fashioned popcorn flick is just what the doctor (or Orville Redenbacher) ordered. And I must mention the glorious Helen Mirren, who stars as Ben Gates’ (Nicolas Cage) mother. Even in a rollicking action flick, she proves she is The Queen. GRADE: B-

Film Previews

Chad Benefield — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:17:37 GMT

May 9th

Speed Racer (Warner Brothers)

Confession time. Have I ever told you that I vomited during The Blair Witch Project? I did. I got horrid motion sickness and had to run out of the theatre to puke. Only, I didn’t make it. I threw up in a trash receptacle inside Theatre 13! Do you know how loud Dr. Pepper is when it hits a trash can full of hollow paper cups? It sounded like a performance of STOMP. I’ll be honest again. I’ve seen the trailers for Speed Racer and they make me nauseous. There’s a disturbing trend in modern cinema and that trend includes hand-held cameras and frenetic action and animated sequences. I loved the Bourne trilogy, but had to keep turning away from the screen so I wouldn’t projectile-vomit like Linda Blair. I liked Cloverfield, but had to pull my hoodie up over my head in case I wretched. Speed Racer looks stylish and ambitious, sports a cast that includes Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon and Matthew Fox, and is written and directed by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix). Those are normally reasons to race and see a movie. I just hope I can watch this one.

May 16th

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Buena Vista)

I cannot wait! I am as excited as a fraternity boy at a toga party! Talk about pitching a tent! Movie-going hasn’t been the same since The Lord of The Rings: Return of the King exited theatres in early 2004. For me, nothing has achieved that level of fantasy and special effects mastery. There is only one Peter Jackson. But Andrew Adamson is hot on his heels. Adamson directed The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, a solid fantasy full of magical lands, enchanting creatures and seamless special effects. The good news . . . Adamson has returned for the sequel and brought with him the original cast, a cast that includes huge names like Liam Neeson and Tilda Swinton. But that list also includes Georgie Henley, who, as young Lucy Pevensie, gives this movie franchise its wide-eyed wonder.

May 23rd

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount)

I cannot wait! I am as excited as a fraternity boy on keg and funnel night! Can you believe it’s been nearly 20 years since Indiana Jones went on his Last Crusade. Well, he’s taken a Geritol and a couple of swigs from a can of Ensure and he’s back for another. Yes, Harrison Ford, now 65-years-old, suits back up as everyone’s favorite archeologist and whip-wielding college professor. Steven Spielberg directs. Check! Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf and John Hurt are along for the ride. Check, check, check! And they even saved a spot for Karen Allen! Say goodbye to the powdered milk, girl! You’re back in the game! So is Indy. This is going to be a HUGE hit!

May 30th

Sex and the City: The Movie (New Line Cinema)

I cannot wait! I am as excited as Samantha Jones when she sees a UPS guy with a big package! I was a huge fan of the HBO original series about four sassy and sexy women looking for love in New York City. Hail! Hail! The gang’s all here for the big screen edition! And there’s even more good news! Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, who defined sassy in Dreamgirls, joins the cast to play the assistant to relationship columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). If you’ve been watching the watered-down Sex on TBS, you’ve missed all the fun. You’ve been having safe Sex. See, HBO gave these girls the license to be themselves. They are beautiful, successful, stylish, witty, bawdy and horny. The big screen is going to give already well-established characters even more definition. I personally can’t wait to get me a bladder buster and a box of Butterfinger bites. I’m in the mood for Sex.

CD Reviews

People Who See Sound — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:59:23 GMT

Autistic Daughters
Uneasy Flowers CD (Kranky)

Drifty and sparse, yet melodic indie rock kinda sounds from New Zealand guitarist/vocalist Dean Roberts and his band. Uneasy Flowers blurs the lines between your standard guitar/bass/drums/vocal kinda setup and more bare-bones minimalist construction, much like the wonderful Low and their mellow, shimmering moodiness. Similarly, Roberts' vocals and lyrics are somber and soft-spoken, yet more prominent and focused than in his past work. Uneasy Flowers is a thematic album, with all tracks linked together lyrically. The subject is a character called Rehana, whose path is traced and described as a nomadic and ragged figure with a sort of tragic outlook. Looking for something a little on the sad and lonely side? Autistic Daughters provides the soundtrack, with a nicely subtle air and plenty of rich, gauzy textures.

- Todd Zachritz (3 Stars)

Autechre
Quaristice CD (Warp)

There's plenty of electronic-based acts that attempt to 'humanize' their machines, to coax real emotion from their gadgetry. Well, influential British duo Autechre are not of this mindset, whatsoever. For 15 years now, Rob Brown and Sean Booth have subverted and pushed the limits of (what some would call) 'techno' music into far-out abstractions, damaged beats, and alien soundscapes. Now, after confounding their audiences with the impenetrable algorithmic programming and skittering beats of their 2005 LP Untitled, they return to more, umm, listenable forms of electronica on the 20-track Quaristice. From proto-ambient pieces (the desolate yet lovely--and almost melodic-- 'Notwo') to industrial-like cutups ('Fol3') to blippy, mutant hip-hop ( 'fwzE' ), they cover a lot of ground on this 73-minute monsterpiece. In fact, most of these pieces are relatively short, and all seem to be individual sketches of textures put into sound format. Autechre create and inhabit entirely foreign worlds within their machinery, and this imaginative and quirky blend of styles and disorienting moods is both fun and evocative.

- Todd Zachritz (3 Stars)

Alan Vega –
Station CD (Blast First/Mute)

Wow, the legendary vocalist for NYC hellraisers Suicide is back with a scalding, scathing, and fiery album of fearsome grooves and sharp commentary on his homeland's social and political condition. The ominous knife on the cover says it all. Personally, I think Vega's work with Finnish minimalist electro-noise-sculptors Pan Sonic has been an inspiring move, as tracks like '13 Crosses 16 Blazin' Skulls' (my favorite cut here) are surgically-precise blasts of gut-level analogue rhythms boxes and blistering digital noise, with Vega's invective commentary legibly spoken/shouted on top. This is also a logical and faithful continuation of Vega's classic mid-70's work with Martin Rev as Suicide, all unhinged analogue electronics and madman yelps. In 'Devastated', Vega's proclamation of 'How's the future gonna play out for our kids!' is intense and proves that not all of us turn mellow and wishy-washy with age. 'Psychopatha' is a disturbingly funky urban nightmare set to industrial drums and hypnotic noise. Pretty intense and paranoia-inducing stuff, complete with Vega's raving maniac shouts and mutterings. As dangerous and experimental as anything in Vega's impressive 30-year back catalogue, 'Station' is tuned to the frequency of America circa 2008 A.D., on the edge of socio-economic collapse and growing consumer distrust. Vega's never been so necessary or relevant.

-Todd Zachritz (5 Stars)

Howlin Rain
Magnificent Fiend CD (Birdman/American)

Ethan Miller's other band, Comets On Fire, is pretty well-known in freaky folksy psychedelic circles for their overdriven lysergic space rock. But rather than mine one classic rock avenue, Miller chooses to branch out a bit with his other group, Howlin Rain. Here, he gets to tighten up and write straightforward organic (some would say hydroponic, even) rock "hits" (pun intended), inspired more by late-60's/early 70's-style stoner rock. You know, the kind they used to make before everything went 'metal' or 'punk'. Tight and bluesy, Magnificent Fiend brings to mind a bright Summer day, with the top down, rollin' (hmm, another pun) around town with nothin' better to do. 'Lord Have Mercy' is so groovy it would make the Black Crowes jealous. Yes, this is the real thing. Longhair rock isn't dead, it just went back underground. Howlin Rain are bringing it back up!

- Todd Zachritz (2 Stars)

DVD Reviews

Chad Benefield — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:27:13 GMT

April 1st

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (DreamWorks)

I’ll admit it. I have never been a Tim Burton fan. For my taste, everything he does is just too darn dark, thematically and aesthetically. That said, I couldn’t wait to see his take on the classic Stephen Sondheim musical because Sweeney Todd demands a morbid vision. Unfortunately for Burton, it also demands highly-skilled vocalists and no one in his cast can sing. It is beyond my comprehension why any director would cast a musical with actors and actresses who aren’t musical. Johnny Depp, as Benjamin Barker/Sweeney Todd, gets away with a modest voice because he makes up for it with ferocious psychosis. Helena Bonham Carter gives Mrs. Lovett an ample speaking voice, but doesn’t have the training to supply the character’s delicious singing voice. And Alan Rickman, as the evil Judge Turpin, musters his trademark growl, but ends up sounding, in song, like a Barry White-wannabe. GRADE: C

April 8th

Lions For Lambs (MGM)

Selling movies about the war in the Middle East is about as difficult as selling used underwear. No one’s buying. I actually appreciate the fact that folks in Hollywood have something to say about the current state of affairs and I’ll grab my notebook and go listen. And that’s precisely what you have to do in director Robert Redford’s esoteric Lions For Lambs. You have to listen. In his screenplay for the offensively one-sided The Kingdom, writer Matthew Michael Carnahan was content to just blow things up! Here, he trades explosions for rhetoric and Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Redford are on hand to spew it and argue sides. My only problem with this film is that it’s just to clinical, textbook and scholastic. Whether you agree or disagree with its message, Lions For Lambs has a lot to say. Unfortunately, there’s just not a lot to feel.
GRADE: B-

April 15th

There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage)

Go to Dairy Queen. Buy a milkshake. Stick a straw in it. Then, with all the strength in your jaws, suck it dry. If you perform this simple task, you will achieve two things. Number one, you will understand the film’s underlying metaphor about drilling for oil and pipelining the crude out of the communities that supply it, thereby leaving them bankrupt morally and financially. Number two, you’ll have brain freeze and you’ll be exhausted. The kudos for this project have left me nonplussed. Every single thing about Paul Thomas Anderson’s update of Upton Sinclair’s Oil! is over-the-top. The biggest culprit is the Oscar winner. Daniel Day-Lewis chews the scenery like a hyena gutting a gazelle carcass. I will never understand how that man walked away with an Academy Award for this movie! Oh, wait. The Academy gave one to Halle Berry for Monster’s Ball, didn’t it? Nevermind!
GRADE: C

April 15^th

Juno (Fox Searchlight)

Simply put! The best comedy of 2007 and, for me, the 6^th best movie of last year. Ellen Page shines as Juno, a derisively witty 16-year-old who accidentally gets pregnant by her geeky best friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Sure, Juno did something stupid and careless, but she handles the crisis with all the aplomb of a practical, rational adult woman. Stripper-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody snagged an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Juno and deserved every ounce of Oscar gold. Juno is insanely clever, laugh-out-loud funny and, ultimately, touching. Let’s hear it for unplanned parenthood!
GRADE: A-

April 15th

In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (Freestyle)

Jason Statham has been in a really good movie this year. THIS ISN‘T IT! Here, he stars as a man named Farmer, who, following the murder of his young son, teams with King Konreid to battle an evil army of Krugs. Now, cue the laugh track! King Konreid is played by Burt Reynolds! Oh my god!! Is my side hurting because I’m laughing so hard or did my appendix just rupture? Wait! I’m not being fair to Burt. If it’s any consolation, the rest of the cast (Claire Forlani, Leelee Sobieski, Matthew Lillard) sucks eggs too. In fact, as the villain Gallian, Ray Liotta (more laugh track, please) utters some of the most ridiculous dialogue I have ever heard. Actually, this movie is a little sad. It’s one of those films that makes you feel pity on the celebrities in it. And, yes, I purposely used the word “celebrities” instead of the word “actors.” There IS a difference and sometimes it’s painfully apparent.
GRADE: F

Film Previews

Chad Benefield — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:25:36 GMT

April 4th

Leatherheads (Universal)

George Clooney has been on a roll lately. In 2006, he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Syriana. The same year he was nominated for directing and screenwriting Oscars for the brilliant Good Night and Good Luck. This year, he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his work in the modern-day morality play Michael Clayton. Remember, folks! This man used to be on The Facts of Life! Ask yourself, “What has Lisa Whelchel or Mindy Cohn done lately?” Clooney has truly metamorphosed into Mr. Hollywood. But I think Mr. Hollywood’s hot streak is in jeopardy with his latest directorial effort Leatherheads. Clooney stars as Dodge Connolly, a 1920’s professional football captain whose team drafts Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski), a former college star and WWI hero. As opposed to winning games, Dodge and Carter battle to win the affections of a feisty journalist (Renee Zellweger). By the time this movie is projected onto a screen near you, it will have been delayed nearly six months. Trust me! If the name George Clooney appears in the credits and the movie was delayed about a half the year, there are likely major flags on the play!

April 4th

Shine A Light (Paramount Vantage)

I’m not sure what I think of the concert movie trend. Young girls and boys forced their parents into the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour movie. It grossed MILLIONS!! Ah, commerce! I get it. Then again, even rabid U2 fans resisted the urge to throw on those blue and red-paneled glasses for U2: 3D. At press time, that exercise in the bizarre has grossed just over six million dollars. The latest entry is Shine A Light, which features footage from The Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang tour. The Stones will likely outshine U2 because of one name. Yes, Oscar winner and legendary director Martin Scorsese filmed the project at New York City‘s Beacon Theater. Let’s just pray that we won’t have to look at Mick Jagger’s lips in 3D. I mean, I’ve seen Little Shop of Horrors once. I’m hauling ass if Mick opens those big flappers and screams, “Feed me, Seymour!”

April 11th

Prom Night (Sony Pictures)

Someone, quick! Pour a bucket of pig’s blood on me now! Yes, Carrie had more fun at her prom than Jamie Lee Curtis (as Prom Night’s Kim Hammond) had at hers. Kim got all gussied up for the big dance then had to watch her friends get systematically picked off by a psychopath. At least, Carrie got to set the gym on fire telepathically and bolt the doors closed with her eyes. I have a feeling that I’ll be wishing for similar powers of telepathy when I watch Brittany Snow (Hairspray, John Tucker Must Die) step into Curtis’ role. Look! Prom Night was a bust in 1980. In fact, I didn’t see it, ironically, until my own prom night in 1989. Yes, at my high school’s after-prom party, we didn’t run from deranged killers. We watched slasher films, Jell-O wrestled and played Black Jack for Monopoly money. Because today’s Hollywood screenwriters apparently can’t come up with their own ideas, they continue to rob from the existing canon of thrillers. But the remakes never work! Yes, I sat through the new versions of Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Fog, The Amityville Horror and Hitcher. I don’t find it mentally healthy to sit in a stadium seat and wish I was the horny teenager on the chopping block!

April 11th

Street Kings (Fox Searchlight)

In 2002, I reluctantly entered the movie theater to watch Dark Blue, Kurt Russell’s gritty, corrupt-cop drama set against the backdrop of the Rodney King beating. I left the theater just as reluctantly because I had been blown away. In fact, Dark Blue nearly made my Top Ten list that year and was easily an honorable mention. The film was penned by screenwriter David Ayer, who also scribed 2001’s gritty, corrupt-cop drama Training Day, which also blew me away. It’s David Ayer who makes Street Kings such an appealing prospect. Here, he directs and Keanu Reeves stars as Tom Ludlow, an LAPD officer who battles corruption within the force. I suppose that the suggestion of a corrupt LAPD officer is a cliché these days. We have Mark Fuhrman (of O.J. Simpson fame) to thank for that. But movies about them work. Russell was sensational in Dark Blue. Denzel Washington won an Oscar playing a corrupt LAPD narcotics detective in Training Day. David Ayer makes magic with this subject matter. For my money, he is the Street King!

April 25th

Baby Mama (Universal)

Bottom line here, gang! This could be a successful delivery or a back-alley abortion. Tina Fey stars as Kate Holbrook, a successful and single career woman who decides that her biological clock is just a couple of ticks away from the double-doors opening to reveal that squawking cuckoo bird! Yep! It’s time to put the career on hold and have a baby! Unfortunately, Myrtle isn’t very fertile. So, she hires a working class surrogate from South Philly (played by Amy Poehler), who eventually shows up at Kate’s doorstep with no place to live. Baby Mama is written and directed by Michael McCullers, the former Saturday Night Live scribe responsible for the Austin Powers franchise. Juno just tackled the surrogate mother storyline seamlessly and hilariously (see DVD reviews). It did so with a gifted, comic cast. Baby Mama doesn’t have that luxury. Fey CAN be funny. Poehler never has been. On the big screen, Amy Poehler’s Achilles heel is forever on display. She’s a sketch comedy actress who always looks like she’s floundering in an aimless SNL skit.

Music Review

People that See Sound — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:09:18 GMT

Ministry

Cover Up

(13^th Planet)

Being a bit of a conspiracy (i.e. sad but true reality) buff myself, I was disappointed to learn that Al Jourgensen may be permanently abandoning his 28-year-long, New-World-Order-exposing pet project, Ministry, for the greener pastures of producing, collaborating, and running his “13^th Planet” record label. If this is true, and he doesn’t decide to go on one of those permanent “farewell” tours, then Cover Up, a collection of cover tunes spanning the 8-track and vinyl era, may end up being Ministry’s swan song. Kind of a sour note to go out on, in my humble opinion – banging out a series of cramped and muddled tracks like a monkey on a gong. If this were the final exam on in a rudimentary music production course it might, might be excusable, but for someone pretending to be a rock star, it’s pretty sorry .

I must admit that I’ve never been much of a fan of industrial music, mainly because I actually like the sound of real people playing a set of skins over some sampler that throws kick drums at an inhuman, hundred-thousand beats-per-minute, and I know what compression is for, and I understand the importance of an interesting bassline that doesn’t just blubber over the track to fill space, but even by that standard, I can safely say that for my money there is almost nothing redeemable about this collection other than track 69, a novelty cover of “What a Wonderful World,” which signals the end of the CD. Too bad this is his last album, Jourgensen can’t redeem himself. –Brad Linzy

Rating:5

Amelia

A Long, Lovely List of Repairs

(Slow Down)

Amelia is a Portland-based quartet whose third offering, A Long, Lovely List of Repairs, is a breath of fresh air in the dim, smoky speakeasy of contemporary music. One of the first indications for me that this might be a record worth more than a passing listen is the short list of instruments played. Besides all the usual suspects, guitar, bass, and drums, this stunning record also features bass harmonica, glockenspiel, marxaphone, upright bass, autoharp, pump organ, celeste, timpani, violin, trumpet violin, and clarinet. With languid, lumbering tempos, a moody sense of melody, and blues/jazz ruminations that bind the ears with a soft spell of Americana, Amelia drag the limbless listener by the collar through cabaret corridors and dingy country saloons to a place where the wood of acoustic instruments resonates with stunning realness and beauty, and the resulting aural portrait cannot be pasted with labels like “jazz,” “blues,” or “country” without the simple but enlightened townsfolk scoffing at them as completely meaningless.

Much like the sultry-voiced Norah Jones, the vocals of Teisha Helgerson are warm and angelic, vaguely sensual, but wholly innocent and longing. The instrumentation is tasteful and in-the-pocket. No unnecessary solos or gaudy, show-off vocals on this record, just pure, soulful tunes that sound like distilled poetry. In closing, this is an album to be absorbed and digested while you long for a simpler time when a good song still meant something. One of the best of 2008 so far. – Brad Linzy

Rating: 5

Rachel Taylor Brown

Half Hours with the Lower Creatures

(Cutthroat Pop)

The album opens with the ringing of telephones and the sparse sound of humming female voices. Wind chimes and a lonely oboe softly converse in the background. The track drones on and on for an almost unbearable 7 minutes, anesthetizing the mind, prepping it for a surgical assault of the senses that is to come. Shards of song hurdle toward us like soft shrapnel as we take a Beatlesque mystery tour into a highly creative musical mind. Snarling guitars snake atop billowy beds of piano and orchestration in a labyrinth of shape-shifting musical parcels that circulate in search of a home. Recalling the experimental cut-and-paste style of Brian Wilson’s Smiley Smile the album bobs and weaves about like a kite in a stiff breeze, alternately diving and soaring before building into an explosive orgy of sound. Who says a verse or a chorus is necessary in songwriting? Certainly not Rachel Taylor Brown. Many of the songs on Lower Creatures are stream of consciousness, moseying along in this direction or that upon a whim. It is as if Brown says to herself, “I wonder what’s over here…” and then records the discovery on tape for posterity.

Much of the lyrical content pokes sardonic fun at the absurdity of human logic, particularly our penchant for hurting the things we most love. In “Abraham and Issac” Brown wonders if Abraham must have told Issac, “I couldn’t have a better son. I love you, so I‘m killing you today. You always hurt the one you love, and I love you, so I’m killing you today.”

Less of a political statement than a sorrowful lament on the cyclic stupidity of the human animal, “Another Dead Soldier in Fallujah” paints a heartbreaking portrait of a mother whose son has been lost in battle. With just a solo piano and vocal Brown gives us a voyeur’s glimpse of how empty it must make a mother feel deep down to lose her boy in this way.

In “Vireo,” a 6+ minute xanax pill of a song, the album starts to lumber toward its obscure conclusion. Like a child who discovers a sound she likes, Brown immerses herself and the listener in a seemingly unending loop of chords and melody as if to create a musical cocoon in which to hide away from a world too ugly to bear. This record will definitely see more spins in my CD player. – Brad Linzy

Rating:3

CD Reviews

People that See Sound — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:56:16 GMT

Doug Hoekstra – Blooming Roses

(WingDing)

Rating: 2

The interesting thing about pretense is that even an effort not to be pretentious can seem pretentious if not handled with genuine carelessness. I guess what I’m trying to say is that sometimes making something seem effortless is not a good thing. The lazy, slightly out of tune vocals on Doug Hoekstra’s Blooming Roses album can hearken remembrances of all those great lo-fi underground records you were too ashamed to tell your metal friends you liked, and to be sure, the introduction track “Acquired Taste” seems to set the stage for something interesting, a-la The Eels or Adam Green, but the comparison soon dies on the operating table as a series of very well produced, but pointless, tracks trudge toward you out of the speakers as if to say, “Don’t ask me why the hell I exist. I have no idea.”

That is not to say that Blooming Roses is without its good points. The lyrics, in large part, seem interesting enough to warrant further exploration and the instrumentation and arrangements are well balanced. Introducing accordions, cellos, mellotrons, lap steels, ukuleles, and toy pianos to any mix is usually sure to help keep your music out of the stale bread line and add some crucial elements of mood, but it’s just not enough to keep this bobbing cork afloat. In the end, a couple more takes and a little less laziness in front of the microphone would have done wonders for Doug’s final product here.

The Sparrowses – Lost Love: Songs of Murder and Trouble

(www.chestnuttreerecords.com)

Rating: 3

This is the debut album by husband and wife duo and Greene County, IN, natives, The Sparrowses. It features a mix of old timey folk murder ballad classics and originals. As can be ascertained from the incorrect plurality of their name, the music has an element of playfulness and genuine spontaneity that separates it from other music that litters the airwaves these days. Of course, most of the music written nowadays has less than half the depth and staying power of the tracks covered here, which read like a “what’s what” of the folk ballad era and would have made Harry Smith proud.

What makes this collection of songs all the more interesting are the lyrical interpretations of the songs. Often, lyrical passages will be added to and removed from folk songs, but once made famous by one artist or another; the lyrics tend to solidify into something more concrete. That is not the case here. Obviously, The Sparrowses have listened to multiple interpretations of such old classics as “Banks of the Ohio” and “Willow Garden” and decided to draw a little from each, adding their own touches, in true folk fashion. Bright spots on the album are the heartfelt and simple “All By My Lonesome” and the strange interpretation of “Long Black Veil”. The female vocals sound straight off the grooves of an old Decca, and the plain, straightforward autoharp and guitar instrumentation is true to period recordings of these songs. Worth checking out for any alt-country/folk music fanatic.

Fall Out Boy – Infinity on High

(Def Jam/Island)

Rating: 2

So much of music is a subjective experience. If I were a 16-year-old girl who painted my nails black, wore glitter above my eyes, and heard this album while experiencing my first kiss, maybe it would hold a special place on the mantle of my memory right beside my favorite dead pets, but as is, I am a 30-year-old man who has not only outgrown the kind of candy-coated pseudo-aggression on this Fall Out Boy release, but also the impulse to spend too much time berating it for being shamelessly what it is – commercial music by capable and talented musicians aimed at a specific (CD-buying) demographic.

So to recap: if you’re below the legal drinking age with a few of daddy’s bucks to blow…why not. But if you are anything like me and you’re just looking for something a little more creative and gritty out of music, you might want to download a few tracks before you splurge on this entire disc.

Mike Patton – A Perfect Place

(Ipecac)

Rating: 4

It is often the case that true genius is only recognized upon an artist’s death. Not if I have anything to say about it… For those in the know about the living legend of Mike Patton – former frontman of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More, currently of Tomahawk, Lovage, Fantômas, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Peeping Tom, etc. – the excitement of hearing about a new album should be near overbearing. Though his auditory vision has often been described as so esoteric and genre-bending that only a handful of the most keen-eared of musicians would understand its true significance and place in the ongoing story of modern music, that story is still being written and Patton’s place is already well reserved. Call me crazy, but this writer feels that Patton is quite possibly one of the most important composers of this generation, and his influence on the world of music has yet to be fully realized.

His latest work, a CD/DVD combo release on his own Ipecac Recordings and Fantoma Films label entitled A Perfect Place. The CD is a 15-track sound odyssey that meanders, in classic Patton fashion, through oft-neglected musical avenues like ragtime, Italian opera, and freeform jazz as effortlessly as a rubber chicken through a stained glass window. The comparison is more accurate than your might think. Try it if you don’t believe me.

The DVD part of the release is a 25-minute black and white vignette directed by newcomer Derrick Scocchera, for which Patton provides the musical score. It centers around a couple of poker-playing losers trying to dispose of a corpse, and while it presents itself as an interesting, albeit student-esque, film project with some laugh-out-loud moments, the real show-stopper here is Patton’s score, which comprises the CD part of the release and is actually longer than the film itself by about 10 minutes. To explain this discrepancy Patton says, “I got excited.” Interestingly, the credits roll to a song by the recently deceased Lee Hazelwood (1929–2007) called "We All Make the Flowers Grow.” Hazelwood is best remembered for his work with Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s, particularly for his song “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” His final album, released in 2006 shortly before his fatal cancer diagnosis, was named Cake or Death after a comedy bit by another living legend, Eddie Izzard. And as we all know, Eddie Izzard is the distant cousin of actor Kevin Bacon. Just kidding. A Perfect Place is set to hit stores March 11^th.

Flipper – Live Targetvideo77 1980-81" DVD

(MVD Visual)

Rating: 3

Flipper were an essential anomaly in the early American punk scene. Nihilistic and dirgey, their noise-damaged music anticipated the hardcore scene, predated grunge, and even could be seen as a starting point for (some) industrial rock. This classic video, finally reissued in digital format, presents Flipper in all their sloppy, drunken, and chaotic glory. Taken from a pair of shows, this rough (but more than watchable) document shows both a more spunky side (a headlining gig from Berkeley) as well as a more cathartic and intense side (their 1981 Frisco show opening for Throbbing Gristle). Vocalist/bassist Will Shatter mumbles and grunts his way through fan favorites like 'Sex Bomb' or (my favorite) 'Life', while his band tumbles headfirst into characteristically messy, nearly-tuneless abandon. Flipper took punk and turned it upside down, and in the process inspired too many bands to list. This is the real deal.

-Todd Zachritz

Christopher Bissonnette – In Between Words

(Kranky)

Rating: 4

Sweeping, cinematic urban ambience from this Canadian composer, 'In Between Words' utilizes field recordings (including bits of orchestral work) and electronic processing to dazzling effect. Initially inspired by both visual sound and the legendary Detroit electronica scene, Bissonnette's compositions effectively synthesize these influences into floaty, glacial seas of static, drone, and pulse. ‘The Colonnade’ is an especially effective track, plunging into a dark swath of melodic strings both sad and strident. The closer, 'Jour Et Nuit' sounds like a late-night cityscape re-tooled into chunks of tonal ambient sound. Beautiful and wonderful work here, tailor-made for unobtrusive reading or solitary reflection.

-Todd Zachritz

Meshuggah – Obzen

(Nuclear Blast America)

Rating: 5

Continuing their evolution into one of hardcore metal's smartest and most imitated bands, Sweden's innovative Meshuggah here takes a sort of sidestep, yet still remain light years ahead of their contemporaries. Their last effort, 2005's amazing 'Catch Thirty Three', was a massive-scale, multi-movement prog-metal assault, with complex changes, wicked tunings, and throat-shredding vocals by Jens Kidman. 'Obzen' sort of keeps it close, eschewing the long-form pieces for more 'song-oriented' waters, but sounding much the same. Their almost mechanical crush-grind is tempered by stop-on-a-dime transitions and riffs that slice like a Ginsu. 'Bleed' is a personal favorite, with furious breakneck speed thrash that would make (2008 tour mates) Ministry proud. 'Obzen' eats other supposed 'hardcore' or death metal acts for breakfast. I am in awe of these guys. Highest praise indeed.

- Todd Zachritz

Six Organs Of Admittance – Shelter From The Ash

(Drag City)

Rating: 5

Six Organs' Ben Chasny is a very busy fellow indeed. In between his gigs as guitarist in psychedelic-rock-mavens Comets On Fire, and his work with such folksters as Current 93, he records solo under the nom-de-plume Six Organs Of Admittance. Taking elements from 60's hippie psyche-folk, avante-garde guitarists like John Fahey, and freeform noise, this project sums up Chasny's headspace better than any of his other involvements. 'Shelter From The Ash' is his 10th studio LP, and it seems to inch a mite closer to actual songs than his past, more experimental offerings. Tracks like 'Strangled Road' or 'Jade Like Wine' are very accessable pop/folk songs with sinister/spooky twists, whereas 'Coming To Get You' is a focused and dynamic assault that grinds and churns with restrained animosity.

Overall, this may be Chasny's most satisfying recording to date, and it's already gotten multiple spins on my CD player. So far, one of my top picks of the last year.

- Todd Zachritz

DVD Reviews & Film Previews

Chad Benefield — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:41:39 GMT

DVD REVIEWS

March 4th

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (Image Entertainment)

I’ve seen a lot of movies. I’ve seen just about everything imaginable in those movies. However, nothing prepared me for the opening frames of this film, which contained images of a naked, coital and thrusting Philip Seymour Hoffman. Suffice it to say that I’ve never astral-projected to my happy place faster. Luckily, I worked through my post-traumatic stress (by jabbing my eyes out with my ink pen) and stuck with the film. Hoffman and Ethan Hawke star as brothers who conspire to rob their parents’ jewelry store. It’s supposed to be the perfect, victimless crime. They rob the store and get rich, no one gets hurt, their parents collect the insurance money and everyone wins, right? Well, wrong! The perfect crime is ultimately imperfect and lives are unexpectedly lost. What makes this film interesting is the manner in which director Sidney Lumet shows us the major players at various times in relation to the robbery of Hanson Jewelers. From different perspectives, he shows us the prep work, the crime and, most importantly, the robbery’s aftermath. While there are some annoying loose ends, the film is still worth a rental because of Lumet’s storytelling and fine performances by Hoffman and Albert Finney, who stars as papa Charles Hanson. By the way, Lumet is in his eighties and is still working. When I’m eighty, I hope I can still chew solids. That’s the extent of my goals. GRADE: B-

March 4^th

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (Fox Walden)

Written and directed by Zach Helm (Stranger Than Fiction), Mr. Magorium is a rare children’s movie that’s not based on a pre-existing story. Helm actually created this tale, of a charmed toy store, for the big screen. Dustin Hoffman stars as Mr. Magorium, who, after working in it for some 200 years, has decided it’s finally time to die and will his toy store to his devoted assistant Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman). Though she doesn’t see it in herself, Magorium sees magic in Molly. See, Molly’s not feeling very “magical” these days because she cannot finish a piano composition she’s been laboring over. However, Magorium believes she’s destined for even greater things. GRADE: C

March 18^th

Love In The Time Of Cholera (New Line Cinema)

I did some research and discovered that the last outbreak of cholera in the United States was in 1911. So, I’m guessing we could have called this Love Around The Time of 1911. Doesn’t have the same ring, does it? Now, a little info for you about cholera, in case you were born after 1911 and have never suffered from it. Cholera is essentially an awful intestinal disease. It’s basically the runs. So, I’m guessing we could have called this Love In The Time Of Massive, Watery Diarrhea. Now, that has a peculiar, tasty ring to it, doesn’t it? There’s a lot of talk about cholera in this movie, but it doesn’t seem that anyone really has the disease. I suppose we should be thankful because that wouldn’t be much fun to watch. But, then again, this movie wasn’t either. Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men, Before Night Falls) stars as the lovelorn Florentino Ariza, who has hundreds of affairs after being cast aside by the love of his life, Fermina (played by Giovanna Mezzogiorno). What else can you say about a movie that sports this line, “I would have been in terrible trouble if I lost my parasol?” Somebody pass the Pepto Bismol! GRADE: C-

March 18th

Enchanted (Buena Vista)

The reason to watch this tale of a beautiful, animated princess who is banished from her magical and musical kingdom and forced to live in real-life Manhattan can be summed up in just two words: Amy Adams. If a Walt Disney princess could actually spring to life from an animated film, she would be Amy Adams, who delivers an inspired and refreshing comic performance. Her Giselle absorbs everything the Manhattan hustle and bustle throws at her with the wide-eyed wonder of a teenaged girl on the precipice of becoming a woman. To quote The Police, “Every little thing she does is magic.” Whether she’s summoning rats and cockroaches to clean an apartment, destroying upholstery to make herself new dresses or launching into lavish musical numbers in Central Park, Adams brews with vitality and charm. As Giselle, she allows us to know exactly what it’s like to have a fairy-tale life . . . only to have that life totally rewritten. Adams is a joy to watch and I sat in the theatre truly enchanted. GRADE: B

March 25th

The Mist (MGM)

Let me tell you something about Stephen King stories turned into movies. They stopped working in the early 1980’s. The only exceptions to that rule are the two King stories adapted for the big screen by Frank Darabont, the genius who wrote and directed The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, one of the best movies of the 1990’s. Darabont is back and he’s armed with more source material from King. In The Mist, residents of a small, coastal town find themselves trapped in a supermarket when a strange mist engulfs the landscape and reduces visibility to zero. It also houses more than just pesky condensation. That mist is home to overgrown insects and hungry pterodactyl-like birds of prey. But the dangers outside become secondary to the dangers inside The Food House. Panic is building and the townspeople just aren’t emotionally equipped to deal with it. Bottom line: Stephen King has a great imagination, but his story would be more effective if he gave our imaginations more credit. The suggestion of what could be lurking in The Mist is far more terrifying that what truly is. And, as far as what’s going on with the village idiots inside the supermarket, clean up on aisle five! GRADE: D+

FILM PREVIEWS

March 7th

10,000 B.C. (Warner Brothers)

Writer/director Roland Emmerich’s latest endeavor is rather prehistoric. It tells the tale of a young mammoth hunter who battles to protect the future of his tribal people. See, way back in 10,000 B.C. it was politically correct to hunt mammoth. Poaching was so totally cool! Spears were like the Rubik’s Cube in the 80‘s A.D.! Everyone had one. Bottom line here . . . don’t expect to recognize cast members. Emmerich apparently used his money on special effects and not talent. The cast list sports names like Camilla Belle, Steven Strait, Tim Barlow, and Reece Ritchie. I know. You’re trying to find some underthings for them to autograph. Emmerich has made good films though. 2000’s The Patriot did for Heath Ledger’s reputation as an actor what 10 Things I Hate About You couldn’t. The only problem with Roland’s directing style is that he tends to go for broke with the special effects and the storytelling suffers. 2004’s The Day After Tomorrow was as disastrous as its subject matter. And, though it was a box office smash, 1996’s Independence Day contained a glaring oversight. We were nearly annihilated by a race of aliens who built and piloted aircraft without opposable thumbs. If that was possible, my schnauzers would be hijacking my Blazer and smashing it into Pet Food Center!

March 14th

Horton Hears A Who! (20^th Century Fox)

Since its Monsters, Inc., Shrek, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Finding Nemo glory days, the animated film genre has been flopping around like a Nemo out of water. In the last five years, animated films have continued to look amazing. Yes, they are impeccably drawn but they’re poorly written. The lone studio able to produce a product both well-drawn and well-written is 20^th Century Fox, which gave us the superbly funny and original Ice Age movies. It’s 20^th Century Fox that gives us Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who!, which tells the story of an elephant named Horton (voiced by Jim Carrey), who seems to be the only pachyderm with ears big enough to hear the microscopic villagers of Whoville. Horton is co-directed by Jimmy Hayward, a former animation department wizard with Nemo and Monsters to his credit. That’s a plus. Another plus . . . voice work by the likes of Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Isla Fisher and more. But, stop the presses!! Oh, dear lord! We’ve hit a wall. Horton Hears A Who! is written by the screenwriting team of Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul. They gave us 2001’s Bubble Boy and March 7^th’s College Road Trip. Apparently, I’m not praying enough! Does anyone know of a good tent revival? Some place I can handle rattlesnakes?

March 21st

Shutter (20^th Century Fox)

From the producers of The Grudge and The Ring comes yet another movie that will play out just like The Grudge and The Ring. Filmmakers in Asia are geniuses. They have basically perfected the ancient art of recycling. They make the same movie over and over and over. But you cannot fault them because their audiences bite and so does Hollywood! That’s why we have been saddled with this exhausting rash of imitations of The Ring. If you’ve seen one of these movies, you have seen them

all . . . Dark Water, The Eye, etc. This time out, Hollywood power couple Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor (Google them, if you care) star as Benjamin and Jane Shaw, a newly married couple who capture ghostly, paranormal images in their photographs. What? Did they happen to catch a glimpse of Oprah without her makeup? That would actually make for an entertaining film because it would be original. Originality is something Asian filmmakers have begrudged.

March 28th

Stop Loss (Paramount)

Finally! A movie in March that looks like it’s worth a damn! Ryan Phillippe (Crash, Breach) stars as Brandon King, an Iraq War hero who returns to his Texas hometown and tries to once again adapt to civilian life. His efforts to do so are abruptly thwarted when the Army calls him back for another tour of duty in the Middle East. Stop Loss is written for the screen and directed by bold filmmaker Kimberly Peirce. Peirce directed Hillary Swank to her first Oscar win in 1999’s controversial and hard-to-watch Boys Don’t Cry. No subject matter these days is more polarizing than that of the War in Iraq. It takes big cojones to tackle that subject matter and Kimberly Peirce has a bigger set than most.

February 29th

Superhero Movie (Dimension Films)

It was 1980 that Airplane! took off down the runway and flew itself right into cinematic history as one of the funniest (if not the funniest) movies of all time. It was a brilliant spoof of those ridiculous “plane-in-peril” movies that were everywhere in the 1970‘s. Twenty-eight years later, Hollywood is still milking that cow and, trust me, that Holstein is all dried up. The recent attempts at spoof humor are just pathetic. In fact, if you try and sit through movies like Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet The Spartans, you’ll quickly be reminded just how inspired Airplane! was. Considering that Superhero Movie is written and directed by Scary Movie 3 and 4 scribe Craig Mazin, I’m not holding out much hope for it. It reportedly spoofs every superhero film from Batman Begins to Fantastic Four. Therein lies the problem. Airplane! didn’t spoof specific movies. It spoofed a way many movies were made. Its jokes were based in generalities, not specifics . . . and everyone in the audience got them! Superhero Movie, like its companion pieces of this decade, will tell its jokes and leave too many audience members in the dark.

Tangled Web

M. Parker — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:08:34 GMT

For such a short month, February sure is heterogeneous. First we have the wiliness of Leap Year. What other month requires you to do math to figure how long it is? Then, on the one hand it is a month of emotions, a wistful teenaged girly collection of days with one singled out and dedicated to the pageantry and mystique of fairy tale true love, called Valentine’s Day. Presents NOT optional guys. Preferably chocolate AND a present. On the other hand it is a rather somber and serious scholarly quad of weeks dedicated to our edification on the subject of Black History. With no presents. Or even cards. (Hallmark somehow draws a blank here? Seriously? They got nothing?) How to marry the two main, and so seemingly disparate facets of the same 28, but sometimes 29, day period in order to come up with a unifying theme for a sampling of websites? Well, that’s why I get paid the big bucks folks. (If this wasn’t a family ‘zine, it would have been a lot easier.) Witness a prime example of why I madly LOVE the infranet. Dig the unmedicated schizop hrenic goodness that turned up when I simply Googled the word “BLACK”. See how love + black= good, (mostly) clean, entertainment goodness?

http://bsa.od.nih.gov

In a perfect world this website would not have to exist. Every scientist would be afforded the same level of respect regardless of race, gender, or yes, even level of sanity. But this is the real, decidedly imperfect world and thus we have the National Health Institute’s Black Scientist’s Association website; a nifty resource for black scientists who want to thrive in research and advance professionally. It contains tons of info about training programs, grants, contracts, job opportunities, and minority health issues in general.

www.blackmetal.com

Your black metal headquarters! And, interestingly, perhaps even intriguingly, this one has nothing to do with race. Think soul-crushing iconoclastic aural nightmares delivered at ridiculous volumes by dudes that look like ladies in make-up and tight pants. This e-store has a huge selection of this sometimes difficult to find genre of “music,” and even boasts its own record label. Sign up for the newsletter, peruse their picks of the week, and shop ‘til you drop!

www.blackbearjamboree.com

Still digesting this one. Burp! A little came back up. Okay, we have a concept restaurant in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (Of Dollywood fame!) wherein a SUPER cheesy Broadway-esque show is put on while you dine, in order to “tempt the bears,” which in this case are furry animatronic critters who are also part of the act. Tempt them to what, I can’t say. Go beserk with rage and savagely maul everyone in the house maybe? View clips of the extravaganza that features among so many other things, “…250 mind blowing costumes and special effects...” here, or check the menu, make reservations, or even apply for a job theater geeks. This is the type of quality entertainment previously only available in Branson folks.

www.blackhat.com

A site chronicling the vendor neutral Black Hat Briefings, which, “…are a series of highly technical information security conferences that bring together leaders…from the corporate and government sectors to the academic and even underground researchers (read: hackers).” In this day and age, the importance of savvy digital self defense and reliable information security can hardly be overstated. Learn more than you ever thought you wanted to know in their extensive and free multimedia archives or hook-up with their RSS to keep up with all the latest news in the battle to keep the really smart bad guys from screwing everything up for the rest of us.

www.blacksbeach.org

What happens when a man with crippling OCD and an aversion to wearing pants in public learns to build a website? This. Lloyd loves Black’s Beach in San Diego California and apparently spends more time than 5 or 6 full time minimum wage workers spend actually working per week trying to promote and retain the clothing optional status of this beach. An affiliate of The Naturist Society, this site is chock-full of pictures (a few are definitely NSFW), trip reports, etiquette rules, warnings, and general content that really say a lot about Lloyd’s mental state. Perhaps most amusingly, you can even buy t-shirts in their merchandise section.