Because of circumstances beyond my control, I was forced to actually attend a showing of the finale of the Harry Potter film series. And then review it on the radio.
The reasons: 1) I went to another film on Friday afternoon, but a pressing family matter forced me to leave only 20 minutes in. 2) No other films opened this weekend.
So, HP and his final smackdown with Lord Voldemort it was. And, much to my surprise, I stayed awake for far more of the flick than I would have expected.
Anyhow, here’s the podcast of my review this morning on FPK 91.9. Note that I was doubleteamed by Those Darned Bickers Boys: father James, my usual nemesis, and his son, precocious son Miles, who had no trouble giving me grief. The acorn apparently falls not far from the tree . . . to coin a phrase.
Still going through withdrawal from ten days in New Orleans, I did see a couple of flicks over the weekend in hopes of easing the symptoms.
(Neko Case on Monday. And Paul Simon tomorrow (Thursday) at the Ryman have helped soften the landing.)
Wanted to hear Harry Shearer at the Village 8 on Monday talk about the situation with the levees and flood prevention in New Orleans, but Ms. Case prevailed. “The Big UnEasy” does present a different view of the situation than that propagated by the Army Corps of Engineers. It’s certainly worth seeing.
“Bridesmaids” is, as expected from a cast that includes Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy, funny.
For a more detailed analysis, listen below.
Do not be disturbed by my host’s analysis of my sartorial choices. He of the camo t-shirt knows not what of which he speaks.
Finally my deejay host James Bickers deigned it worthy to get the podcast of my weekly film reviews up online. As is it wasn’t part of his job description or anything like that. And that I should be eternally grateful for the effort it takes him to do it.
At any rate, I talk a little bit about “Water For Elephants,” which, if nothing else — and there really is little else — has the fact that it’s a big, broad Hollywoodland romance going for it. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing.
Then I talk about a rental, “Catfish,” a “documentary” that tells the real story of what Facebook has wrought. It is engrossing about an online relationship and its twists and turns. Really compelling cinema.
So, there ya have it. The brief intro. And you can listen right here:
Always ready to throw me a curve ball, my not so endearing host, James Bickers, surprised me on the air this a.m. with startling news: No more Stump the Culture Maven.
Guess he was tired of me winning this weekly battle of wills.
To top off a most strange episode of Tuesday Morning Culture Maven on Film at 91.9 (and wfpk.org streaming audio), I didn’t have any new movies to review.
Learn why by listening. But I also gave some great suggestions, should you be looking for a movie to watch instead of college basketball.
I saw four movies this past weekend, a feat of which I’m most proud. Since I also watched 139 hours of basketball.
The title of one of the movies has already escaped me. It’s the one where Topher Grace goes to a party and consummates some long term lust for his high school love objet. It’s not bad, but we’ve all been there, done that.
Another was “The Adjustment Bureau” in which Matt Damon yet again finds himself running running running from forces which think they are more powerful than The Matt. Silly them. It’s actually kind of a sci fi love story in which Damon and Emily Blunt display real on screen chemistry. I enjoyed it, but guess I’ll forget the title by the time March Madness tips off.
I reviewed neither of those movies on my weekly FPK gig. They only give me so much time for my unique palaver.
But I do review “Rango” and “Cedar Rapids,” both of which are worth a trip to see.
And, you can listen to it now, along with another one of those silly quizes James springs on me.
One of the tenets of membership in the Film Critics Society is the requirement that . . . well . . . let me quote it verbatim:
4.3.1 (c): Within 24 hours of completion of the annual telecast of the awards show presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (A/K/A “The Oscars”), scathing criticism of said show and the award recipients as well as show hosts and statuette presenters shall be written and/or voiced by publication through print or online media, telecast, webcast or broadcast.
So, it came as on surprise when, sitting in my email box this Tuesday morning, was a message from the sargent at arms for the Enforcement Committee of the FCS, advising me that I hadn’t yet complied. And that my membership was in jeopardy and would become probationary yet again if I did not immediately comply. Fortunately, I read it right before heading to the studio for my weekly Tuesday morning mano a mano with James Bickers.
Which is why today’s episode is devoid of the usual feature Stump the Culture Maven, but the time prior to my review is filled with banter about Sunday evening’s show.
Following that is my prescient review of “Hall Pass.”
The reviews of these three new films — “Unknown,” “Barney’s Version” & “The Company Men” — are just part of this week’s fun. Hear James Bickers give me grief about my sartorial choices, then yet again score Stump The Culture Maven in such an unfair fashion that the Marquis of Queensbury himself would be appalled.
And, hey, here’s even a spoiler.
The trio of movies should all be seen. And this review should be heard. Click Play Button below.
I sit here writing with a bemused smile on my face that will not go away.
How many times have I watched this incredibly funny satire? And, still, every time, can’t stop laughing.
“This Is Spinal Tap” is quite simply the greatest film ever made about rock & roll.
Period. I shall not argue with you.
And, is as clever and funny and penetrating a satire as I’ve ever seen. On film. In print. Or elsewhere.
Period. I shall not argue with you.
Let’s give credit where it’s due. Rob Reiner (Marty Dibergi), Christopher Plummer (Nigel Tufnel), Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins) and Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls). They all have writing credits, though much of the film, which includes lots of amazing cameos, was improvised.
Here’s a video with several clips:
It’s really silly for me to go into why this so good. So I shan’t. If you’ve seen it, you know. It’s time to watch it again. If you haven’t seen it, today is the time to go rent it, or download it, and let the humor cut through the gray and damp.
This is brilliance, the lyrics to “Stonehenge” for your approval.
Spoken Intro: In ancient times…/ Hundreds of years before the dawn of history/ Lived a strange race of people… the Druids/ No one knows who they were or what they were doing/ But their legacy remains/ Hewn into the living rock… Of Stonehenge
Stonehenge! Where the demons dwell/ Where the banshees live and they do live well/ Stonehenge! Where a man’s a man
And the children dance to the Pipes of Pan
Hey!
Stonehenge! ‘Tis a magic place/ Where the moon doth rise with a dragon’s face/ Stonehenge! Where the virgins lie
And the prayers of devils fill the midnight sky/ And you my love, won’t you take my hand?/ We’ll go back in time to that mystic land/ Where the dew drops cry and the cats meow/ I will take you there, I will show you how
Oh!
Spoken: And oh how they danced/ The little children of Stonehenge/ Beneath the haunted moon/ For fear that daybreak might come too soon
And where are they now?/ The little children of Stonehenge/ And what would they say to us?/ If we were here… tonight
Understand there is also a certain poignancy to the film that is beyond humor. There was tragedy too.
Only the most obsessive of pop musicologists probably even know who Tom Dowd was. You know who you are, the guys and gals who pour over album liner notes, who want to know the name of all the musicians, to see where and when an album was recorded, who crave the arcane minutiae of the songs that touched your souls.
If you’ve listened to rock or jazz or soul or rock & roll (It’s a different genre from just plain “rock,” but that’s another tome for another time.) since, oh, the 1950s, your life has been touched, possibly changed, by Tom Dowd.
Setting aside for a moment that he essentially invented 8 track recording. And the 8 track recorder. Or that, as a nuclear physics student at CCNY and Columbia, he was pulled out of school to join the army during WWII, during which stint he worked on the Manhattan Project.
Yes, that Manhattan Project. The one where they developed the atom bomb.
But his main everlasting contribution to popular culture came from behind the recording board as engineer on way too many songs to even try to list.
His first: “If I Knew You Were Coming, I’d Have Baked A Cake.”
The list includes Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife.”
And “Layla.”
The artists Dowd worked with include Ray Charles, The Drifters, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Aretha Franklin, Cream, Allman Brothers Band, Charlie Parker, Booker T & the MGs, Charles Mingus, Ruth Brown, etc, etc, etc.
Get the picture? The dude was there, man. And he’s one of the main reasons why so much of that tuneage is so important to us.
“What’d I Say” — Oh yeah, he was the engineer.
Anyhow, it’s all set out in this great 2003 documentary. Which film I first heard about, what, a year ago, five years ago? Who knows? What I do know is that I forgot about it.
Until my piano teacher Chris Bizianes mentioned it a couple of lessons ago, and happened to have a copy of the DVD, given to him by a friend. Which he lent me and I took home and immediately watched.
Those interviewed include Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, the Atlantic records guys he worked with, Eric Clapton and Greg Allman. There’s a great face to face with Dowd and Ray Charles.
In Barry Levinson’s flick “Diner,” there’s this exchange.
Shrevie (Daniel Stern): Ok, now ask me what’s on the flip side.
Beth (Ellen Barkin): Why?
Shrevie: Just, just ask me what’s on the flip side, OK?
Beth: What is on the flip side?
Shrevie: Hey, Hey, Hey, 1958. Specialty Records.
[Beth nods blankly]
Shrevie: See? You don’t ask me things like that, do you? No! You never ask me what’s on the flip side.
Beth: No! Because I don’t give a shit. Shrevie, who cares about what’s on the flip side about the record?
Shrevie: I do! Every one of my records means something! The label, the producer, the year it was made. Who was copying whose style… who’s expanding on that, don’t you understand? When I listen to my records they take me back to certain points in my life, OK? Just don’t touch my records, ever! You! The first time I met you? Modell’s sister’s high school graduation party, right? 1955. And Ain’t That A Shame was playing when I walked into the door!
I’m a Shrevie. Which is why this documentary — “Tom Dowd & The Language of Music” is the kind of stuff I live for.
Even if you’re not a Shrevie, this documentary will give you a new, fresh perspective on the recording of American music in the last half century.
I’m going to start courtside at the Lakers/ Celtics NBA Finals series. Trust me, this isn’t about sports.
It’s about an LA hoops fan so iconic in a town full of them that, when spotted in the crowdby TV cameras — not difficult, he always sits in the front row by the court — he’s identified by only his first name.
Jack.
Since he burst on the scene — in his 29th film — as George Hanson, the stoned lawyer in a football helmet who talked about the “Venutians” around the campfire with Fonda and Hopper in “Easy Rider,” Jack Nicholson has been all that and a bag o’ chips.
His cinematic portrayals have been among the best and most memorable of the last half century.
He was J.J. Gittes in my second favorite film of all time, “Chinatown.” Robert Dupea, who only wanted some wheat toast at the diner in “Five Easy Pieces.” Jonathan, the scoundrel in “Carnal Knowledge.” R.P. McMurphy in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” Not to mention the wacked, oh so blissfully Jack performance as Jack Torrence in “The Shining” — “Here’s Johnny!!!” – Jimmy Hoffa and the Joker, among many more.
As much as I love his portrayal of the private dick not as smart as he thought he was in Roman Polanski’s brilliant “Chinatown,” one guy’s opinion is his best performance ever was as retired police detective Jerry Black in Sean Penn’s “The Pledge.”
On the day of his retirement, Black, an honest, hard working cop, investigates the rape and murder of a young girl. He ends up pledging to her mother (Patricia Clarkson) that he’ll find the killer. It becomes his obsession, even after an addled Native American (Bencio del Toro) is suspected of the murder and kills himself during questioning by another detective (Aaron Eckhart).
The film is more character study than cop trying to solve a case potboiler. Yet it works as both. Nicholson, 57 when he made the film, is devoid of affectation here. His drive and demons and flaws and maturity reveal themselves subtly. He’s on to something in finding the serial killer. And such is his obsession that he’s driven to put those he loves in harm’s way to honor his commitment.
This is a movie full with anguish. But the nuance and intensity grow as the movie progresses to an unexpected finale.
Jaaaaack, the guy known for that lurid gleam in his eye that says he’s trouble, never appears in “The Pledge.” Jack Nicholson, the awrd winning actor worthy of his fame, does.
This is far from an easy film. But it’s well worth the watch.
So, if you’re a little younger, and wondering why all the fuss and nostalgia in the wake of Dennis Hopper’s passing, you’re just going to have to take our word for it.
Hopper’s an icon of the Baby Boomers. His loss hurts, confirms our mortality.
He was Billy in “Easy Rider” for chrissakes. There isn’t enough time and space here to explain what things were like in ’69. Or why this seat of the pants, making it up as they went along flick about a couple of guys, flush with cash from a drug deal, taking off across country on motorcycles, still resonates.
It both instilled the rebel in my generation, and certified why it was legit. There was a basis for our paranoia, things needed to change, and with a little help from our friends, human and chemical, we could get it done.
Or, as the movie so adroitly taught us, maybe not.
By the by, that is Phil Spector with whom they did that deal at the movie’s beginning. And Jaaaaaaaaack Nicholson as a lawyer on the lam, talking about “Venutians” around a campfire.
But, Hopper’s career didn’t start there. He was in “Rebel Without A Cause.” And “Giant.” He acted in over 200 movies. “Red Rock West” is one of my faves. You surely know him from “Hoosiers” and “Blue Velvet.” Or, maybe, “Apocalypse Now.”
Not a bad career for for an egocentric, out of control druggie. Which apparently Dennis Hopper was for a long time.
By the time I ran into him at Churchill’s Turf Club one Derby Day, he seemed sort of quiet and subdued. And short. He was supposedly sober by then.
Dennis Hopper also directed one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies, “The Hot Spot.” A noirish steamer, it features Don Johnson, and Virginia Madden and Charles Martin Smith and comely newcomer, Jennifer Connelly. Rent it some time, it’s a fun one.
It’s worth it, if only for the soundtrack. John Lee Hooker moanin’ and groanin’ over his guitar and Miles Davis’ horn. It smolders.
Dennis Hopper. You mighta been a rascal, but you done good, dude. R.I.P.
Because of circumstances beyond my control, I was forced to actually attend a showing of the finale of the Harry Potter film series. And then review it on the radio.
