Whatcha Doing? Mini-Reviews for Feb. 22 - 28, 2016

More reviews! A pretty nice haul this time—not a single dud among the bunch. It's Oscar week, but given that I haven't seen a good portion of the nominees (drive-by opinion: Mad Max should win Best Picture), I can't comment much on that. Still, not to let the occasion pass me by, I've reviewed the very first Best Picture winner, if anyone's interested. Let me know if you have any Oscar preferences yourselves. Let me know if you have any opinions on any of these movies or albums. Let me know if you feel anything. At all. Human connection is so fleeting (sorry, y'all. Watched a lot of foreign malaise this week).

Movies

Blue Is the Warmest Color (La Vie d'Adèle) (2013)
If you've been reading my movie thoughts for any length of time, you'll know that it's rare for a three-hour movie to convince me that it couldn't have been improved by about forty minutes of cuts, but Blue Is the Warmest Color comes close. Scenes feel spacious in a way that allows for everyday actions to culminate over ten minutes or more until they suddenly crest in moments of profound character insight, and that wouldn't have been possible if the movie had been a more traditional 90 minutes. The exceptions (and the reasons why this movie's only "close" to justifying its runtime) are the sex scenes, which are so artless, interminable, leering, and boring that they threaten to topple the whole undertaking. They're pretty bad. But the rest of the movie is pretty good. Grade: B+

Stalker (Сталкер) (1979)
Probably the biggest change in my movie-viewing temperament as I've grown older is a dwindling desire for movies to make sense. Enter Stalker: Russian, sci-fi, hushed, languidly paced, purposefully baffling—you've probably already figured out whether you should see yourself to the door. It's one of those films where it's unclear if this will come together on repeat viewings or if it's just plain nonsense, but I guess don't care which it is anymore. It's beautiful stuff in a very cock-eyed way, both bleak and whimsical: for example, the alternating color and sepia cinematography at once evokes a grim, grimy future and a twisted tribute to The Wizard of Oz. That's not even mentioning its beautiful, compassionate depiction of what it's like to be religious in the modern world, and man, if I'm not a sucker for that.  Grade: A

Wings (1927)
So the first Best Picture winner is among the best, huh? Didn't see that coming. Silent comedy is much more within my wheelhouse than silent drama, so it's no surprise that my favorite part of the film is the extended section where the soldiers are on leave in Paris, which is very much the whimsical, bittersweet comedy you've always wanted to see in a WWI movie (complete with animated bubbles). But seriously, even the more straight-faced moments (and there are many—the Academy started its love affair with serious dramas of social import early) are great. The battle scenes, especially the final one, are impressively staged (and surprisingly violent; watch out for that tank, dude!), the acting is affecting, and perhaps most surprisingly, the central romance is sweet and believable. Grade: A-

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Music

The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Rope (1978)
It's got nothing on the group's savage, quintessential debut, but that's like saying that lasagna isn't as good as spaghetti—what is? And anyway, what's the point of complaining when you're living in a world that has not one but two purely punk Clash records? There's just something so satisfying about hearing this band in full-on three-chords-and-a-sneer mode, a last hurrah of sorts before the genre blender of London Calling and Sandinista! There are a few missteps here and there (I'm sorry, but the only thing I hear when I listen to "English Civil War" is "The Ants Go Marching"), but that's alongside some of the band's most satisfying moments. Grade: A-

Randy Newman - Good Old Boys (1974)
One of the biggest pop culture shocks for someone (like me) of the Pixar generation is the realization that Randy Newman is a lot more like your cranky uncle than your cuddly grandpa. This is an album full of ferocious satires and sardonic character portraits, and it's lots of fun. Occasionally mean, but fun. Also, is that Buddy Garrity on the cover? Grade: B+

Whatcha Doing? Mini-Reviews for Feb. 15 - 21, 2016

Another post of mini-reviews for the pop culture I've run into over the past several days! It's Week Two, and I'm having fun with this project. As always, let me know down in the comments, on Facebook, in person, wherever, what you think about any or all of this; I'm always up for some friendly discussions about movies, books, TV, and music! (Note: I'm publishing this a day early because I already know I'm not going to get to anything else tomorrow. Normally my plan is to release these posts on Sunday afternoons.)

Movies

Blazing Saddles (1974)
Maybe it's time to admit that I just don't like Mel Brooks all that much. But wait! I like The Producers and Young Frankenstein quite a bit! Alas, no such luck with Blazing Saddles, though. The central satire here is pretty great—land-grabbers try to evacuate an all-white town by appointing a black sheriff; I'm all for revising the western to acknowledge the racism of both 19th century America and classical Hollywood. But the execution leaves a lot to be desired. It's not just the casual '70s-style meanness (we probably could have gone without a mentally handicapped villain and at least a few of those "faggot" jokes); it's how that's coupled to a sloppiness approaching the lazy winks of post-prime Brooks like Spaceballs. At least we still get that shot of Alex Karras KO'ing the horse. Grade: C+

The Imposter (2012)
Riveting documentary about the craziest scam/case of mistaken identity you've ever heard. I know it's real life, but seriously, The Imposter is probably best experienced slack-jawed and shocked. If it weren't for the leaden re-enactments, this film would be absolutely top-shelf. Look, I know Errol Morris made re-enactments cool and all that, but I'm really not a fan here, especially when the re-enacted shots are used to as self-conscious and as literary effect as they are here. Looking at you, final shot. Grade: B+

Fantastic Planet (La Planète sauvage) (1973)
What I imagine would happen if the Borrowers dropped acid. To be clear, this is a good thing. The plot just kind of sits there (until it jumps to a conclusion in the rushed finale), but the real allures here are the avant-garde score (compliments of Alain Goraguer) and the surreal, inventive animation that fleshes out the flora and fauna of the titular planet. There are some truly delectable creatures created here. The whole thing is definitely one of those "mileage may vary" experiences, depending on your tolerance for post-'60s psychedelia, but I had a ball.    Grade: A-

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Even among its class—the '70s gritty urban crime thriller—this movie is remarkable for how stripped down it is. Honestly, it's more of an atmosphere than a full-on action film: by my count, there are somewhere around fifteen minutes of action spread out over the 90-minute runtime. The rest is mostly grim setup and spare (but precise) characterizations of our stiff-lipped heroes, which is all good fun but mighty meditative for a movie that's acquired the reputation as one of the greatest action films ever. Typical of John Carpenter, there's a great score and some gorgeous nighttime cinematography, and the whole thing is put together solidly, so to complain that it doesn't quite reach the heights of The Thing or Halloween seems a little unfair. But... well, I guess that's my complaint. Grade: B+

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Books

David Foster Wallace - Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999)
After fully embracing my mid-20s-with-a-liberal-arts-degree masculinity last summer with Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, I thought I'd go ahead and plunge into his short fiction. DFW's exceptionally clever, but that's leaving me cooler and cooler. After 1100 pages of IJ, you'd think I'd have already gotten this sorted out by now: what's so exciting about Wallace is his ability to riff on personalities. He's able to take just slightly left-of-center characters and the smallest of premises and play out all the fascinating permutations of thought that run through those characters' brains in the most riveting and human ways. So I'll take the Interviews, "On His Deathbed...," "The Depressed Person," "Forever Overhead." I'll say "no thanks" to the stories about writing stories. Grade: B+

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Television

You're the Worst, Season 1 (2014)
The whole "terrible people struggle to cope with their flaws until they become sad enough to be sorta sympathetic" conceit has seen a lot of play recently, and I can't say that You're the Worst adds anything new to that formula other than a few fresh faces and a colorful (albeit improbably whitewashed? Non-Cali resident speaking here) east-L.A. setting. Still, the writing is sharp—at times scathingly, hilariously so—and that covers a multitude of banalities. Grade: B

Whatcha Doing?: Mini-Reviews for Feb. 8 - 14, 2016

Hi, everybody. You know what I don't like? That I let this blog sit dormant for so long during the school semesters. So, an idea: I'm going to try to leave weekly posts with mini-reviews of the various pop culture that I've watched/listened to/read that week. I need to emphasize the word try, since it's altogether likely that I won't be able to keep this up. But let's hope for the best, shall we?

What I'll actually be reviewing will depend on what I end up getting to in a given week. The bulk of that's going to end up being movies, since movies are the culture that I interact with most consistently: they take at-most three hours a piece, and with stuff like Netflix and the library, they're easy to get in large quantities at little cost. Those reviews will probably be adaptations (or straight-up copy-paste affairs) of my blurbs from my Letterboxd account, where I usually log my watching. You're welcome to peruse that profile; what I'll be doing here is curating what I think are my most interesting encounters. As for the rest of the media, I'll still be reading books, listening to albums, watching TV, etc., but since those generally take me longer to process than a movie, they probably won't crop up as frequently. Case-in-point: this first week, which has four movie reviews, one album review, and nothing else.

Anyway, I don't anticipate any of these reviews being amazing or mind-blowing or life-changing. It's just my way of getting some writing done on this blog every week. Guess we'll see what happens. As always, please don't hesitate to share your opinions about anything here! Onward!

Movies

Sicario (2015)
It at first seems like the boring wannabe version of Zero Dark Thirty before becoming a subversion of the boring wannabe version of Zero Dark Thirty. Honestly, I probably need to give it another viewing--the last forty-ish minutes add so much interesting texture to the psychology and philosophy of the film that it might prompt a reevaluation of that opening 2/3. But for now, I'm calling this only 1/3 of a good film, though it's a darn good 1/3. Grade: B

Hail, Caesar! (2016)
The Coens' most religious film since A Serious Man, which is a very, very good thing. Although the ending makes an attempt at waving away the metaphysics as so much existential ephemera, there's such an emotional depth to Josh Brolin's lead performance (the best of his career, I'd say) that I'd say the overall take on religion is less the smart-alecky sneer you might expect and more of a melancholy "would that it were so simple." But don't come for the religion—it's really just one flavor to relish in what is also in turns a deft political farce, a hysterical screwball comedy, and an excited recreation of classical Hollywood fluff. It really is funny, I promise. Grade: A-

The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)
There are moments here that are some of the most well-observed in recent coming-of-age movie history. And then there are some moments that are absolutely horrifying—call me a prude, but I'm dubious of the premise that teen cocaine habits and a series of terrible hookups are so simply boiled down to stepping stones on the path to becoming a better person. Still, kudos on this film for the forthright, compassionate take on teenaged female sexuality, not to mention how Bel Powley delivers what is without a doubt one of the finest performances of 2015. So overall, I'll call it a win. Grade: B

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (少林三十六房) (1978)
This movie is like 75 percent training montage, which means that it's at least 75 percent awesome. I'll admit to finding the opening act a little tedious, but once you get to Shaolin, it's all gravy. Plus, you can't argue too much with a film in which the villain meets his demise via headbutt to the groin. Grade: A-







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Music

Savages - Adore Life (2016)
Outside of the vicious opener and best-in-show song "The Answer," the songwriting is not quite as punchy as this post-punk band's exciting debut. In return, though, the band is exploring some of the more interesting corners of their sound, delving deep into the noisier, even metal fringes that made their debut a bit more interesting than your garden-variety post-punk revival. This sophomore release is a slower, stranger, more meditative record, and that's cool. I like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sunn O))) in about equal measure, meaning that I'm only familiar with one album of theirs apiece. Good stuff. Grade: B+