Archive for January 2009
[interview]: Taking Back Sunday
Cross-posted at: Tulsa Today
“So what’s going on?”
“Well, I woke up this morning, and brushed my teeth.”
“Great.”
“Yeah, now I’m driving to Dallas.”
That would explain why the cell phone reception is so lousy. I’m trying to interview Adam Lazzara, lead singer of Taking Back Sunday, the emo/alt-rock band playing Cain’s Tuesday night. Lazzara, however, is known as the member of the group who tends toward manic-depressive — and I clearly caught him in a manic moment.
[review]: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
United States, 2008
Directed By: Andrew Adamson
Written By: Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely; from the novel by C.S. Lewis
Starring: Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Liam Neeson, Eddie Izzard
Running Time: 144 minutes
Rated PG for epic battle action and violence
4.5 out of 5 stars
Those who are of the opinion that C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia as an allegory designed to convert children to Christianity (I’m looking at you, Phillip Pullman) would be well advised to check out Prince Caspian, the latest entry in the eponymous film series (by the way, they should also look up the word “allegory”—but I digress). Make no mistake about it—Lewis, as a former atheist, wrote just as much out of doubt as he did out of faith, and his books were no mere morality plays. Caspian in particular is a dark meditation on the coming of age—the story of children realizing that fairytales simply aren’t true. At the center of it all is the question of what humanity can do when its God has left it alone on the earth. In other words, this ain’t kid stuff; nor is it particularly “religious.”
But it is truth. Read the rest of this entry »
[review]: The X-Files: I Want to Believe
United States, 2008
Directed By: Chris Carter
Written By: Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz
Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Bill Connolly, Xzibit
Running Time: 104 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violent and disturbing content and thematic material
3.5 out of 5 stars
Movies based on television shows generally fall into one of two categories: either they’re direct continuations of the show that wind up in theaters shortly after the show is cancelled, or even while it’s still on the air (The Man Called Flintstone), or they’re what might be called “re-imaginings,” released decades after the show ends, in a cynical attempt to cash in on the nostalgia of past fans (The Flintstones). Then there’s that nebulous third sort, like The Nude Bomb (sorry, I ran out of Flintstones examples) — the sort that come out within a decade of the show’s end, having given the show’s fans enough time to forget about it, but not enough time to wax nostalgic. Even for those who root for them, it’s hard not to admit the timing is strange, if not downright bad. This can easily color perceptions of the film, and, as you might expect, the new X-Files flick is no exception to this.
But if you’re worried about that, I’m your man, as I guarantee I was the most ignorant person in the audience at the screening I attended of The X-Files: I Want to Believe. I never got around to watching more than a few minutes of the TV series (what can I say, except that it was on TV during the 1990’s — which all took place within the first 15 years of my life, and were arguably a golden age of TV cartoons?). I never even attempted to watch the first movie. I hadn’t even read any reviews of the new film. In other words, my thoughts are the least biased you’re likely to hear. Read the rest of this entry »
[review]: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
United Kingdom, 2008
Directed By: Mark Herman
Written By: Mark Herman, from the book by John Boyne
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Amber Beattie, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga
Running Time: 95 minutes
Rated PG-13 for some thematic marterial involving the Holocaust
3 out of 5 stars
Making a World War II-themed film is a prospect fraught with peril, in no small part because filmmakers have been churning them out since the moment World War II began. It’s hard to imagine that there’s really that much left to say about the conflict, and while the occasional film (Saving Private Ryan and Life is Beautiful come to mind) proves me wrong in this respect, most ultimately fail. Compounding the problem is the fact that the war is one of the few moments in history that is seen by most in stark shades of black and white. The Holocaust, along with other atrocities committed by the Axis powers, was a purely evil thing, and regardless of whatever failings can be ascribed to the Allies, it’s hard not to love them for putting an end to it. In other words, it’s not a very nuanced time of history, unless you’re ready to say that mass genocide can sometimes be justified (and five bucks says you’re not). Read the rest of this entry »
Metallica @ BOk Center
Cross-posted at: Tulsa Today
Anyone who reads my stuff regularly knows that I usually find it hard to look at heavy metal with anything other than amusement. That a style of music can be so obsessed with death and yet survive for so many decades is, at the very least, ironic (and probably even kind of funny). And I don’t think it’s a secret that t-shirts covered in skulls with band names in jagged fonts ran out of shock value sometime in 1984. It would be fine if it were a joke, but for every hip metal act that’s being ironic about it, there are always ten bands who think said hip acts are serious and adopt the pose with a completely straight face.
[review]: Bolt
United States, 2008Directed By: Chris Williams, Byron Howard
Written By: Chris Williams, Dan Fogelman; from a story idea by Chris Sanders
Starring: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Mark Walton, Susie Essman
Running Time: 96 minutes
Rated PG for some mild action and peril
5 out of 5 stars
There was a time when Disney was on top of American animation. Heck, they were American animation (at least on the big screen) until about 1966, when Walt died. Then they began to lose their way and lost market share to Don Bluth (who left Disney with a bit of a chip on his shoulder), Dreamworks and Jeffrey Katzenberg (who left Disney with an enormous chip on his shoulder) and Pixar (who almost left Disney with big chips on their shoulders). And despite a very brief (and very over-heralded) renaissance in the late 80’s and early 90’s, they’ve found themselves scraping the bottom of the barrel in recent years, churning out the obligatory Talking-CGI-Animals-with-Celebrity-Voices movies that are just as bad as those of their countless imitators. Read the rest of this entry »
[review]: Nerdcore Rising
United States, 2008
Directed By: Negin Farsad, with Kim Gatewood
Written By: Negin Farsad
Starring: MC Frontalot, G Minor 7, Blak Lotus, Sturgenious, MC Chris, Optimus Rhyme, MC Lars, NurseHella “Weird Al” Yankovic, Prince Paul, Brian Posehn
Running Time: 80 minutes
Not Rated
3 out of 5 stars
Music is a fickle thing, and every time a band innovates, someone is there to invent a new word for their “genre.” This is especially true with genres that people like to describe with the word “hardcore,” a word which lends itself well to portmanteaus. Hardcore punk that incorporates metal and industrial influences becomes “grindcore”; emotional hardcore punk is “emocore” (or emo, for those who are truly phonetically lazy); hardcore rap with slasher-film-inspired lyrics is “horrorcore”; and bizarrely, the fusion of hardcore rap and heavy metal is somehow “rapcore.”
Well, say hello to yet another. Read the rest of this entry »
Plain White T’s & Dropkick Murphys @ Cain’s Ballroom
Dave Trio, Plain White T's
Cross-posted at: Tulsa Today
There’s an old story about one record company executive who passed up the chance to introduce the Beatles to the American public, saying “Guitar bands are dead.” It’s probably not true (I looked and can’t find confirmation of it anywhere), but of course it’s a good story. The irony should be obvious: the Beatles were the band that almost single-handedly extended the shelf life of guitar bands for decades to come, and established that particular combo as the bread and butter of Western (and even worldwide) popular music. Real or imagined, this particular executive represents everything we all hope we’re not: believing that we’re on the cusp of the future, while we’re actually hopelessly stuck in the past.
Of course it’s been nearly half a century since the Beatles formed as a band, and guitar bands are very much alive (though once a decade or so, there’s always a pompous music critic who comes forward to exaggerate rumors of their demise), due in no small part to the Fab Four’s exponential expansion of the medium. And while numerous guitar bands have attempted to drag rock and roll in numerous labyrinthine directions, every decade or two there’s always a new crop of bands clinging to British Invasion-style pop rock and its simple harmonies and bouncy guitars. Read the rest of this entry »
Buckethead & That 1 Guy @ Cain’s Ballroom
Cross-posted at: Tulsa Today
Buckethead
As the Eagles were recently playing their second show this year at the BOk Center, a slightly different concert was taking place at Cain’s Ballroom for those of us who like our music a little more offbeat.
The two acts that played that night were Buckethead and That 1 Guy—a couple of avant-garde experimenters who are just as gifted musically as they are reticent about their identities (actually, their real names are Brian Carroll and Mike Silverman, respectively, for anyone dying to know), and who both had the crowd laughing and scratching their heads with their transcendently bizarre performances.
Atmosphere @ Cain’s Ballroom
Cross-posted at: Tulsa Today
“I know this is a red state,” Atmosphere emcee Slug said from the main stage of Cain’s Ballroom, “but are you guys happy with the results [of the presidential election]?”
The crowd went wild.
This was the vibe in the air when Slug and his deejay Ant took the stage Friday night November 7, 2008. It wasn’t a question of politics, although those might have influenced it to a certain extent; the point was that the country was entering a new era — one of racial harmony, with the electoral victory of Barack Obama simply serving as more proof.
