"Night Train": A-. It is not often that I will listen to the latest record release by a music artist and subsequently decide to purchase all of that artist's previous records. After enjoying Jason Aldean's latest effort, Night Train, which was released in mid-October, I have decided to take the plunge. Right before the Quentin Chronicle was created in November 2011, I saw Aldean on a country music awards show and was impressed enough to buy his fourth album, My Kinda Party. There are a few songs on that record that have stuck with me over time, and I predict that at least a handful of tunes from Night Train will as well.
Common themes that one can find in Aldean's songs are: his love of small towns, including those he's left behind; riding in a truck or an old Ford through the countryside and headed for a favorite spot, usually with his girl snuggled next to him in the front seat; rivers and fields; putting in a hard day's work; and memories of his escapades as a teen. The lyrics evoke pictures in the listeners' minds. Who needs music video?
Aldean grew up in Macon, Georgia and moved to Nashville at the age of twenty-one to pursue his music career. He was not exactly an overnight sensation, but stuck with his dreams through the ups and downs. Three years later he married his high school sweetheart, Jessica, and four years after that released his debut self-titled album.
Some folks dislike country music because they view it as having too narrow a range of subjects, usually drinking, fighting or lost love. While you can find songs in the Aldean catalogue that fall into those categories, his repertoire is much broader than that, and so is the perspective from which he sings. For example, Wheels Rollin' is one of the better songs I've heard describing what it's like to live the road-weary life of a touring band. In Black Tears he laments the sad degrading situation facing a dancer at a strip club. In Water Tower, he personifies his home town's water tower, which has seen the town's major events unfold before it and has served "like a lighthouse in a storm" to guide the singer back home. Drink One For Me appears to be sung from the perspective of a soldier stationed overseas who is thinking about his friends back in his old stomping grounds.
My favorite song on the disc is the lead-off, This Nothin' Town. I always think it's wise to start an album with a song which would make a good live concert opener. Excellent choice by Aldean here, as this number has a rock n' roll feel but with country lyrics:
It might look a little laid back to ya
But it ain't all just porches and plows
But don't let that one red light fool ya
There's always something going down in this nothin' town.
The title track, Night Train, is memorable. He and his girl drive out to the country, then hop out and start running toward the hillside where they can camp and watch the freight train go by.
Hurry up girl I hear it comin'
Got a moon and a billion stars
Sound of steel and old boxcars...
Let's go listen to the night train.
Of course, as alluded to above, what would a country album be without a few love songs? These are the songs which best suit Aldean's sincere southern voice. Two of the best are Talk and Walking Away. In the first of the pair the singer tells his girl that he's tired of talking, now "I don't want to waste that moon." It's time to move on to something else. I wonder what he has in mind? The second song is a warning to a girl who's attracted to him. He tells her that if she's smart she will walk away as fast as she can. She can't "be the angel that could make me change." She is too good for him; he knows it but she doesn't.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Refusing To Sleep With The Enemy
In the world of sports, what if it would behoove your team to have your bitter rival win its next game against another opponent which poses a bigger threat to your team than does your rival? That is the exact situation faced by fans of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this coming weekend.
Under the current rules of the BCS (which stands for "Bowl Championship Series"), only the top two rated teams have an opportunity to play in the National Championship Game on January 7, 2013. There is no tournament like the NCAA has for basketball. The BCS ratings are calculated weekly using a somewhat complicated formula involving two polls (the Harris Interactive Poll and the USA Today Coaches' Poll) and six computer rankings. Each of the six computer rankings takes into account not only a team's won-loss record but also its strength of schedule (SOS). Thus, beating a team ranked, say, number 9 is worth more in the computer rankings than beating a team ranked number 19. (Incidentally, the BCS system for determining the national champion is going to be replaced by a four-team playoff, starting with the 2014 season.)
According to the BCS ratings which were released two days ago, the top four teams, in order, are Alabama, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon. All four of those teams are undefeated, and since they are not scheduled to play each other, there is a decent chance - - I would put it at about 80% for each team - - that their records will remain unblemished throughout the remainder of the regular season. Thus, the fans of each team will not only be cheering for that team; they will also be pulling for the other three top-rated teams to lose, thereby enhancing their own team's chances of getting into the National Championship Game. Right?
As former Indiana head coach and ABC analyst Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend!"
Consider this coming weekend's slate of games. Number 1 Alabama plays LSU. The Crimson Tide is a 9.5 point pick, even though the game is in Baton Rouge. ND fans will automatically hope the Tigers can pull the upset (even though the LSU head coach is a Michigan alum, the wacky Les Miles). Similarly, Irish fans won't hesitate to cheer against number 2 Kansas State, which is an 8 point pick this weekend over visiting Oklahoma State. However, it is the third battle, number 4 Oregon against Notre Dame's arch rival, Southern Cal, which is causing a division in the ranks of Irish boosters. For which team should we cheer?
At first blush this should be a no-brainer, at least for the casual observer. A win by Southern Cal, which is a seven point home dog, would deliver two immediate benefits to Notre Dame. First and most obviously, it would knock Oregon from the ranks of the unbeaten and give ND some BCS breathing room. (I am going out on a limb by predicting Notre Dame covers the seventeen point spread against Pitt in The Bend.) Secondly, a win by SC on Saturday would benefit Notre Dame's SOS if the Irish manage to beat the Trojans over Thankgiving weekend.
There is, however, one tiny problem in asking this Domer, and many other Domers, to cheer for a Southern Cal victory on Saturday over the Ducks. To wit, I would be cheering for Southern Cal! You can call me a fool or you can call me short-sighted. You can even call me Al. I am sorry, I just cannot bring myself to cheer for the Trojans.
When I think of Southern Cal I think of cheaters like former running back Reggie Bush, whose family accepted at least $200,000 in illegal benefits from SC boosters. I think of former head coach Pete Carroll, who got out of Dodge and fled to the Seattle Seahawks right before the NCAA lowered the boom with very tough sanctions, including drastic scholarship reductions and a two year bowl ban, against his program. I think of phantom penalties in the LA Coliseum, including the invisible holding penalty which cost ND a national championship in 1964, not to mention mysterious holding and clipping penalties throughout the years which never show up during a replay review. I think of athletic directors like Mike Garrett, who finally got fired for "looking the other way" when NCAA rules were being broken right under his nose. I think of their football practices being open to visits from Hollywood stars and rappers who have no connection to the school. I think of former quarterback Matt Leinart, who was enrolled in a single class, ballroom dancing, to keep his eligibility alive for his final season. I think of Southern Cal's current coach, Lane Kiffin, a Minnesota native who is such a horse's patootie he makes Jay Cutler look like Billy Graham. And of course, who can think of USC without recalling their most famous football player, stone cold killer OJ Simpson? Only a jury of his starstruck peers believed The Juice was innocent.
My theory is this: If Notre Dame keeps winning, things will work themselves out. If I'm wrong and it turns out that a perfect season by the Irish does not result in a chance to play in the National Championship Game, so be it. I will still be able to look in the mirror knowing that I didn't prostitute myself by rooting for an SC victory over the Ducks. As we used to cry out during SC Week back in the day, "Puncture the Trojans!"
Under the current rules of the BCS (which stands for "Bowl Championship Series"), only the top two rated teams have an opportunity to play in the National Championship Game on January 7, 2013. There is no tournament like the NCAA has for basketball. The BCS ratings are calculated weekly using a somewhat complicated formula involving two polls (the Harris Interactive Poll and the USA Today Coaches' Poll) and six computer rankings. Each of the six computer rankings takes into account not only a team's won-loss record but also its strength of schedule (SOS). Thus, beating a team ranked, say, number 9 is worth more in the computer rankings than beating a team ranked number 19. (Incidentally, the BCS system for determining the national champion is going to be replaced by a four-team playoff, starting with the 2014 season.)
According to the BCS ratings which were released two days ago, the top four teams, in order, are Alabama, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon. All four of those teams are undefeated, and since they are not scheduled to play each other, there is a decent chance - - I would put it at about 80% for each team - - that their records will remain unblemished throughout the remainder of the regular season. Thus, the fans of each team will not only be cheering for that team; they will also be pulling for the other three top-rated teams to lose, thereby enhancing their own team's chances of getting into the National Championship Game. Right?
As former Indiana head coach and ABC analyst Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend!"
Consider this coming weekend's slate of games. Number 1 Alabama plays LSU. The Crimson Tide is a 9.5 point pick, even though the game is in Baton Rouge. ND fans will automatically hope the Tigers can pull the upset (even though the LSU head coach is a Michigan alum, the wacky Les Miles). Similarly, Irish fans won't hesitate to cheer against number 2 Kansas State, which is an 8 point pick this weekend over visiting Oklahoma State. However, it is the third battle, number 4 Oregon against Notre Dame's arch rival, Southern Cal, which is causing a division in the ranks of Irish boosters. For which team should we cheer?
At first blush this should be a no-brainer, at least for the casual observer. A win by Southern Cal, which is a seven point home dog, would deliver two immediate benefits to Notre Dame. First and most obviously, it would knock Oregon from the ranks of the unbeaten and give ND some BCS breathing room. (I am going out on a limb by predicting Notre Dame covers the seventeen point spread against Pitt in The Bend.) Secondly, a win by SC on Saturday would benefit Notre Dame's SOS if the Irish manage to beat the Trojans over Thankgiving weekend.
There is, however, one tiny problem in asking this Domer, and many other Domers, to cheer for a Southern Cal victory on Saturday over the Ducks. To wit, I would be cheering for Southern Cal! You can call me a fool or you can call me short-sighted. You can even call me Al. I am sorry, I just cannot bring myself to cheer for the Trojans.
When I think of Southern Cal I think of cheaters like former running back Reggie Bush, whose family accepted at least $200,000 in illegal benefits from SC boosters. I think of former head coach Pete Carroll, who got out of Dodge and fled to the Seattle Seahawks right before the NCAA lowered the boom with very tough sanctions, including drastic scholarship reductions and a two year bowl ban, against his program. I think of phantom penalties in the LA Coliseum, including the invisible holding penalty which cost ND a national championship in 1964, not to mention mysterious holding and clipping penalties throughout the years which never show up during a replay review. I think of athletic directors like Mike Garrett, who finally got fired for "looking the other way" when NCAA rules were being broken right under his nose. I think of their football practices being open to visits from Hollywood stars and rappers who have no connection to the school. I think of former quarterback Matt Leinart, who was enrolled in a single class, ballroom dancing, to keep his eligibility alive for his final season. I think of Southern Cal's current coach, Lane Kiffin, a Minnesota native who is such a horse's patootie he makes Jay Cutler look like Billy Graham. And of course, who can think of USC without recalling their most famous football player, stone cold killer OJ Simpson? Only a jury of his starstruck peers believed The Juice was innocent.
My theory is this: If Notre Dame keeps winning, things will work themselves out. If I'm wrong and it turns out that a perfect season by the Irish does not result in a chance to play in the National Championship Game, so be it. I will still be able to look in the mirror knowing that I didn't prostitute myself by rooting for an SC victory over the Ducks. As we used to cry out during SC Week back in the day, "Puncture the Trojans!"
Friday, October 26, 2012
Movie Review: "Argo"
"Argo": B+. By 1979, the Shah of Iran had been ruling his country for over twenty-five years. He had come into power with the assistance of the United States, but the people hated his cruel style of leadership, which included Gestapo-style secret police and harsh punishment for his political foes. Finally, a student-led rebellion ousted the Shah and he fled, dying of cancer, to the US, where he was welcomed by our federal government. Back in Iran, anti-American sentiment fueled by the country's new revolutionary leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, resulted in the storming of the walled and barricaded American embassy in Tehran, where fifty-two US citizens were imprisoned and held captive. Moments before the siege, six Americans somehow managed to get out to the street, and covertly gained refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador a few miles away. This movie is the story of how the CIA attempted to rescue The Six before the Iranians realized that they were still in Tehran.
Ben Affleck plays Tony Mendez, a CIA troubleshooter who is picked by his boss, Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston), to devise a plan to get The Six out. They are working against the clock, because they correctly predict that the revolutionaries will be able to piece back together the shredded documents in the embassy office and determine that they are six prisoners short. Meanwhile, the Canadian ambassador and his wife are risking their own lives by hiding The Six in their home. If found out, they will be labeled as spies by the revolutionaries and probably summarily and publicly executed along with The Six.
The US Department Of State does not think much of Mendez' seemingly goofy plan to use a phony film project as a subterfuge to get The Six out. His idea is to create fake IDs for The Six, and then pass them off as part of a Canadian film crew which is scouting Tehran for locations for a futuristic sci-fi movie called Argo. (For reasons of clarity, I will call the sci-fi movie Fake Argo.) After discussing alternatives such as using bicycles (rejected due to too much snow and too great a distance from Tehran to the border) or having The Six pose as teachers (rejected because the English school in Tehran had been closed for eight months), one State Department honcho concedes to Mendez, "All of the rescue ideas are bad, but yours is the least bad."
In order to convince the Iranians that the film project is legit, Mendez enlists the support of Hollywood make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman), who in turn talks director Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) into signing on. As is usually the case with those two actors, they bring the story up a notch by supplying humor (among other things) to counterbalance the otherwise dramatic unfolding of the plot. Chambers and Siegel use their Hollywood connections to get story boards, posters, press releases and other film production paraphernalia created for Mendez to take with him to Tehran to give Fake Argo indices of authenticity and legitimacy.
The bulk of Argo shows how Mendez' steady hand and fearlessness gives The Six their chance to escape. None of The Six knows the first thing about filmmaking, and they aren't too sure that Mendez' plan won't be suicidal. Mendez convinces them that his plan is their only chance to get out of Iran alive, so they must learn their roles, not to mention their new fake identities and background bios as they appear on their phony Canadian passports. Affleck, who also directed this movie, does a credible job as Mister Cool, Calm & Collected, which was probably Mendez' demeanor in real life. The scenes shift from revolutionary headquarters to Washington, DC, to the hostages held captive in the US embassy, to the Canadian ambassador's home which is functioning as the hideout of The Six. The tension mounts and the clock is ticking, because the revolutionaries start to piece things together.
The denouement, unfortunately, is a little beyond the scope of reason and believability, but I chose not to let that interfere with my overall enjoyment of the movie. (It is the first movie I attended in almost a month!) Another minor irritation is that I enjoyed most of the songs, including tracks by Dire Straits and Van Halen, but too many of them did not relate to what was happening on the screen. It's almost as if the film's music director picked a few of his favorite classic rock gems at random. Finally, the sound bite spin by former President Jimmy Carter during the closing credits regarding the fifty-two hostages (who were held for 444 days and were not released until Carter's term as President expired) is both laughable and inaccurate. I guess the man could not face the truth.
Ironically, even though Fake Argo was a fictitious film, the concept of which was created soley as a ruse to rescue The Six, their story is based on fact. The taking of the US embassy occurred in 1979, but the details surrounding the story of The Six never came to light until they were de-classified by President Clinton in 1994. I have always admired the Canadian people. Now having watched Argo, I like them even more.
Ben Affleck plays Tony Mendez, a CIA troubleshooter who is picked by his boss, Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston), to devise a plan to get The Six out. They are working against the clock, because they correctly predict that the revolutionaries will be able to piece back together the shredded documents in the embassy office and determine that they are six prisoners short. Meanwhile, the Canadian ambassador and his wife are risking their own lives by hiding The Six in their home. If found out, they will be labeled as spies by the revolutionaries and probably summarily and publicly executed along with The Six.
The US Department Of State does not think much of Mendez' seemingly goofy plan to use a phony film project as a subterfuge to get The Six out. His idea is to create fake IDs for The Six, and then pass them off as part of a Canadian film crew which is scouting Tehran for locations for a futuristic sci-fi movie called Argo. (For reasons of clarity, I will call the sci-fi movie Fake Argo.) After discussing alternatives such as using bicycles (rejected due to too much snow and too great a distance from Tehran to the border) or having The Six pose as teachers (rejected because the English school in Tehran had been closed for eight months), one State Department honcho concedes to Mendez, "All of the rescue ideas are bad, but yours is the least bad."
In order to convince the Iranians that the film project is legit, Mendez enlists the support of Hollywood make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman), who in turn talks director Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) into signing on. As is usually the case with those two actors, they bring the story up a notch by supplying humor (among other things) to counterbalance the otherwise dramatic unfolding of the plot. Chambers and Siegel use their Hollywood connections to get story boards, posters, press releases and other film production paraphernalia created for Mendez to take with him to Tehran to give Fake Argo indices of authenticity and legitimacy.
The bulk of Argo shows how Mendez' steady hand and fearlessness gives The Six their chance to escape. None of The Six knows the first thing about filmmaking, and they aren't too sure that Mendez' plan won't be suicidal. Mendez convinces them that his plan is their only chance to get out of Iran alive, so they must learn their roles, not to mention their new fake identities and background bios as they appear on their phony Canadian passports. Affleck, who also directed this movie, does a credible job as Mister Cool, Calm & Collected, which was probably Mendez' demeanor in real life. The scenes shift from revolutionary headquarters to Washington, DC, to the hostages held captive in the US embassy, to the Canadian ambassador's home which is functioning as the hideout of The Six. The tension mounts and the clock is ticking, because the revolutionaries start to piece things together.
The denouement, unfortunately, is a little beyond the scope of reason and believability, but I chose not to let that interfere with my overall enjoyment of the movie. (It is the first movie I attended in almost a month!) Another minor irritation is that I enjoyed most of the songs, including tracks by Dire Straits and Van Halen, but too many of them did not relate to what was happening on the screen. It's almost as if the film's music director picked a few of his favorite classic rock gems at random. Finally, the sound bite spin by former President Jimmy Carter during the closing credits regarding the fifty-two hostages (who were held for 444 days and were not released until Carter's term as President expired) is both laughable and inaccurate. I guess the man could not face the truth.
Ironically, even though Fake Argo was a fictitious film, the concept of which was created soley as a ruse to rescue The Six, their story is based on fact. The taking of the US embassy occurred in 1979, but the details surrounding the story of The Six never came to light until they were de-classified by President Clinton in 1994. I have always admired the Canadian people. Now having watched Argo, I like them even more.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Album Review: "Tempest" - Bob Dylan
"Tempest": B+ It is not uncommon for a singer to get to the point in his life when he simply cannot reach the same vocal range that he was able to call upon in his younger days. Some decide to save face and concentrate more on writing, producing, managing or promoting other artists. Some, such as Paul McCartney, decide to battle on and more or less warble their way through some of the notes. Another tact is to speak some of the lyrics where once there was singing. Neil Diamond comes to mind. "It doesn't matter," their fans say, "we forgive you and we still love you." In Diamond's case, he is entitled to speak a few lines now and again because he is a great entertainer who gives a concert crowd their money's worth with every evening's performance. Not only that, the songs are his; he wrote them. In McCartney's case, not only is he the guy who penned the songs, he's a Beatle, for cryin' out loud! He don't need no stinkin' reason.
Now we come to Bob Dylan, whose first Top 40 song, Subterranean Homesick Blues, was released forty-seven years ago. Dylan just released his thirty-fifth studio album, Tempest, earlier this month. Dylan is another singer who talks his way through the songs. But unlike Diamond, who as a young man had excellent vocal chops, Dylan has used talking as his standard lyric delivery vehicle since he was in his twenties. Some early examples, all from 1965 and '66, include Positively Fourth Street, Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35, and Just Like A Woman. In my view, Dylan has always been foremost a poet. He is a poet who sings his poems, if you loosely define "sings." And so it is that when the Duluth-born Bobby D, at the age of 71, releases a new album, the evaluation should give the most weight to the poetry. We already know he can't sing worth a hoot.
Not to belabor the point, but this truth was brought home when I played the first track, Duquesne Whistle. It had been awhile since I'd listened to Dylan, so his raspiness kind of jolted me as he started to sing after a fifty-three second instrumental intro. I quickly adjusted. It turns out that Duquesne Whistle is one of the highlights of the ten song album, and for my money contains the best musicianship. The snare drums of George G. Receli definitely remind the listener of the clickety-clack you'd hear on a train. The whistle brings back memories, both good and bad, for the singer as the southbound train gets him closer to his home town.
Most of the songs occupying the middle of the album are dark, and all of them are mysterious. In Soon After Midnight, among the slowest tempos of the ten selections, he appears to be apologizing to a woman he wants to return to after disappointing flings with others. A similar tone is struck with Long And Wasted Years, where once again he is heard apologizing. In Scarlet Town the singer describes where he was born, switching between praise and damnation. Which is it? Pay In Blood is another song which, even after several listenings, is subject to a wide spectrum of interpretations. Is the singer sentenced to hard labor in a prison, or is he calling out the dishonest politicians and their graft?
The last three songs of the album will probably generate the most discussion among Dylan aficionados. Tin Angel is a thumping nine minute slow story about a king who gathers an army to go after his unfaithful wife who has been whisked away by a rival chieftain. The trick to understanding this song is to read the lyrics while listening, because the quotation marks on the lyric sheet enable the listener to figure out which of three characters is speaking. It is my favorite song on the menu, one that conjures up vivid pictures in my imagination. The title track, Tempest, is a fourteen minute ballad telling a partly fictionalized account of the Titanic tragedy. The song has an Irish folk vibe, which is appropriate since the last port of call on the voyage was Cobh (fka Queenstown), Ireland. The album closes with Roll On John, a tribute to the fallen Beatle, John Lennon, who was, in a lot of ways, the English Bob Dylan.
Even though the album is dark and moody, Dylan does have some fun with a handful of lyrics, including "Shake it up baby, twist and shout" from Long And Wasted Years, "Little boy blue come blow your horn" from Scarlet Town, and "I heard the news today, oh boy" from Roll On John.
I predict Tempest will go down as one of the best Dylan albums of the twenty-first century, yet I'm not sure it's deserving of a grade higher than B+. The poetry is outstanding, but the randomness of the lyrics and the simpleness and sameness of the melodies are the counter-balancing aspects that I can't overlook.
Now we come to Bob Dylan, whose first Top 40 song, Subterranean Homesick Blues, was released forty-seven years ago. Dylan just released his thirty-fifth studio album, Tempest, earlier this month. Dylan is another singer who talks his way through the songs. But unlike Diamond, who as a young man had excellent vocal chops, Dylan has used talking as his standard lyric delivery vehicle since he was in his twenties. Some early examples, all from 1965 and '66, include Positively Fourth Street, Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35, and Just Like A Woman. In my view, Dylan has always been foremost a poet. He is a poet who sings his poems, if you loosely define "sings." And so it is that when the Duluth-born Bobby D, at the age of 71, releases a new album, the evaluation should give the most weight to the poetry. We already know he can't sing worth a hoot.
Not to belabor the point, but this truth was brought home when I played the first track, Duquesne Whistle. It had been awhile since I'd listened to Dylan, so his raspiness kind of jolted me as he started to sing after a fifty-three second instrumental intro. I quickly adjusted. It turns out that Duquesne Whistle is one of the highlights of the ten song album, and for my money contains the best musicianship. The snare drums of George G. Receli definitely remind the listener of the clickety-clack you'd hear on a train. The whistle brings back memories, both good and bad, for the singer as the southbound train gets him closer to his home town.
Most of the songs occupying the middle of the album are dark, and all of them are mysterious. In Soon After Midnight, among the slowest tempos of the ten selections, he appears to be apologizing to a woman he wants to return to after disappointing flings with others. A similar tone is struck with Long And Wasted Years, where once again he is heard apologizing. In Scarlet Town the singer describes where he was born, switching between praise and damnation. Which is it? Pay In Blood is another song which, even after several listenings, is subject to a wide spectrum of interpretations. Is the singer sentenced to hard labor in a prison, or is he calling out the dishonest politicians and their graft?
The last three songs of the album will probably generate the most discussion among Dylan aficionados. Tin Angel is a thumping nine minute slow story about a king who gathers an army to go after his unfaithful wife who has been whisked away by a rival chieftain. The trick to understanding this song is to read the lyrics while listening, because the quotation marks on the lyric sheet enable the listener to figure out which of three characters is speaking. It is my favorite song on the menu, one that conjures up vivid pictures in my imagination. The title track, Tempest, is a fourteen minute ballad telling a partly fictionalized account of the Titanic tragedy. The song has an Irish folk vibe, which is appropriate since the last port of call on the voyage was Cobh (fka Queenstown), Ireland. The album closes with Roll On John, a tribute to the fallen Beatle, John Lennon, who was, in a lot of ways, the English Bob Dylan.
Even though the album is dark and moody, Dylan does have some fun with a handful of lyrics, including "Shake it up baby, twist and shout" from Long And Wasted Years, "Little boy blue come blow your horn" from Scarlet Town, and "I heard the news today, oh boy" from Roll On John.
I predict Tempest will go down as one of the best Dylan albums of the twenty-first century, yet I'm not sure it's deserving of a grade higher than B+. The poetry is outstanding, but the randomness of the lyrics and the simpleness and sameness of the melodies are the counter-balancing aspects that I can't overlook.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Movie Review: "To Rome With Love"
"To Rome With Love": B. I usually prefer Woody Allen movies in which he does not appear as an actor (e.g., Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) and Midnight In Paris (2011)), but relegates himself to directing only. However, I decided to take a chance on To Rome With Love for two reasons. First, Momma Cuandito and I will be in the Eternal City next week. Second, Woody only plays a supporting role in this picture, although as the script writer he does manage to reserve some of the best one-liners for his own character, Jerry.
Jerry and his wife Phyllis (Judy Davis) are the parents of a twenty-something year old daughter, Hayley (Alison Pil), who meets Michelangelo (Flavio Parenti, a native of Rome) when she asks him for directions to the Trevi Fountain. By the time they reach their destination on foot, they have become an item. They are but one of four twosomes whose stories are rotated in and out throughout this entertaining movie.
We also have Jack (Jesse Eisenberg) and Sally (Greta Gerwig), an engaged American couple living together in Trastevere, the Greenwich Village of Rome. Things get complicated in ways you might expect when Sally invites her friend Monica (Ellen Page) to stay with them for awhile. Before Monica's arrival, Sally describes her friend to Jack as someone who exudes a sexual vibe, yet Sally thinks nothing of leaving the two of them alone. Alec Baldwin shows up on a regular basis as a detached third party who functions as Jack's conscience. Sometimes it seems only Jack can see and hear him, but in other scenes Monica converses with him as well.
Then there's a newly married couple, Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and Milly (Allesandra Mastronardi), two country kids who've decided to make their way to the big city. Milly is nervous about meeting her man's parents for the first time, and scoots off from their hotel room to find a hair salon. In between the time Milly leaves the hotel and the arrival of the parents, a hooker, Anna (the voluptuous Penelope Cruz), arrives at the room, offering her pre-paid services to Antonio. It seems Antonio's friends have made the arrangements. Of course before he can get rid of her, his relatives show up, so he has to pretend that Anna is Milly. The fact that Anna's dress is short, low-cut, and appears to have been painted on her makes the pretense a hard sell. Meanwhile, the real Milly is having her own over-the-top adventure on her way to the salon.
Finally there is Leopoldo (the ever funny Roberto Benigni), a married father of two little kids. He is a middle aged office worker who, for reasons unexplained to himself and the viewers, becomes an overnight celebrity. He is dogged by the paparazzi and scandal mongers who follow him wherever he goes. The instant fame is fun at first, but soon he longs for the days when he was a mere functionary.
Some mini-stories are better than others, but director Allen does not dwell with any one of them for long before hopping off to the next. Some dialogue is spoken in English, with periodic Italian accompanied by subtitles, which I did not mind at all. Woody's character reminded me of Alvy Singer, the role Allen played in his 1977 film, Annie Hall. He is neurotic in a funny way, but begrudgingly relies on his stable wife to keep him in check. He does not hit it off with his daughter's new boyfriend, and is too persistent in coaxing the boyfriend's father to pursue a career as an opera singer. By the way, the actor cast in the role of the singing father is Fabio Armiliato, an internationally famous tenor. The few scenes including him are among the movie's best.
This film was shot entirely in Rome, although it could have taken place almost anywhere. I am not rating it as highly as Vicky Christina or Midnight, but I can now understand why it lasted so long in the first run theaters. If you are not a Woody Allen fan, this movie just might convert you.
Jerry and his wife Phyllis (Judy Davis) are the parents of a twenty-something year old daughter, Hayley (Alison Pil), who meets Michelangelo (Flavio Parenti, a native of Rome) when she asks him for directions to the Trevi Fountain. By the time they reach their destination on foot, they have become an item. They are but one of four twosomes whose stories are rotated in and out throughout this entertaining movie.
We also have Jack (Jesse Eisenberg) and Sally (Greta Gerwig), an engaged American couple living together in Trastevere, the Greenwich Village of Rome. Things get complicated in ways you might expect when Sally invites her friend Monica (Ellen Page) to stay with them for awhile. Before Monica's arrival, Sally describes her friend to Jack as someone who exudes a sexual vibe, yet Sally thinks nothing of leaving the two of them alone. Alec Baldwin shows up on a regular basis as a detached third party who functions as Jack's conscience. Sometimes it seems only Jack can see and hear him, but in other scenes Monica converses with him as well.
Then there's a newly married couple, Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and Milly (Allesandra Mastronardi), two country kids who've decided to make their way to the big city. Milly is nervous about meeting her man's parents for the first time, and scoots off from their hotel room to find a hair salon. In between the time Milly leaves the hotel and the arrival of the parents, a hooker, Anna (the voluptuous Penelope Cruz), arrives at the room, offering her pre-paid services to Antonio. It seems Antonio's friends have made the arrangements. Of course before he can get rid of her, his relatives show up, so he has to pretend that Anna is Milly. The fact that Anna's dress is short, low-cut, and appears to have been painted on her makes the pretense a hard sell. Meanwhile, the real Milly is having her own over-the-top adventure on her way to the salon.
Finally there is Leopoldo (the ever funny Roberto Benigni), a married father of two little kids. He is a middle aged office worker who, for reasons unexplained to himself and the viewers, becomes an overnight celebrity. He is dogged by the paparazzi and scandal mongers who follow him wherever he goes. The instant fame is fun at first, but soon he longs for the days when he was a mere functionary.
Some mini-stories are better than others, but director Allen does not dwell with any one of them for long before hopping off to the next. Some dialogue is spoken in English, with periodic Italian accompanied by subtitles, which I did not mind at all. Woody's character reminded me of Alvy Singer, the role Allen played in his 1977 film, Annie Hall. He is neurotic in a funny way, but begrudgingly relies on his stable wife to keep him in check. He does not hit it off with his daughter's new boyfriend, and is too persistent in coaxing the boyfriend's father to pursue a career as an opera singer. By the way, the actor cast in the role of the singing father is Fabio Armiliato, an internationally famous tenor. The few scenes including him are among the movie's best.
This film was shot entirely in Rome, although it could have taken place almost anywhere. I am not rating it as highly as Vicky Christina or Midnight, but I can now understand why it lasted so long in the first run theaters. If you are not a Woody Allen fan, this movie just might convert you.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Quarterly Cinema Scan - Volume IX
Here are the movies I've watched on the boob tube during the third quarter of 2012. I know Citizen Kane has been at the top of a number of Best Movie lists, but I can't jump on board that train. The two movies below which I've graded "A" (Bonnie & Clyde and The Sting) I have seen before, and still found them worthy, whereas Dark Passage and The Great Escape did not quite strike me as being as good as I recall from viewings long ago.
1. Bonnie & Clyde (1967 drama; Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway go on a bank robbing crime spree in the 1930s, becoming folk heroes even though they are murderers) A
2. Citizen Kane (1941 drama; Orson Welles is a multi-millionaire narcissist who owns an empire of newspapers) B
3. Dark Passage (1947 drama; Convicted killer Humphrey Bogart escapes from San Quentin, evades the cops with Lauren Bacall's help, undergoes facial plastic surgery, and works to find the real killer) B-
4. The Days Of Wine And Roses (1962 drama; Jack Lemon and Lee Remick can't lay off the booze, and that spells trouble) A-
5. The Great Escape (1963 war drama; Richard Attenborough masterminds an escape plan for dozens of Allied prisoners, including Steve McQueen and James Garner, from a POW camp in Germany) B
6. Lolita (1962 drama; college professor James Mason can't take his eyes off Sue Lyon, the daughter of his landlady, Shelly Winters) B-
7. The Magnificent Seven (1960 western; besieged Mexican villagers hire Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and five other gunmen to help them thwart the band of cutthroat marauders led by Eli Wallach) B
8. The Sting (1973 drama; Paul Newman and Robert Redford, two con artists extraordinaire, seek to avenge the loss of a good friend by pulling The Big Con on the gangster who killed him, Robert Blake) A
9. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968 drama; insurance investigator Faye Dunaway figures out that Steve McQueen is the head of a gang that stole $4 million in a bank heist, but will she let her heart get in the way of doing her job?) B+
10. Three Coins In The Fountain (1954 drama; Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters and Maggie McNamara are three secretaries working in Rome who have their hearts set on author Clifton Webb, prince Louis Jourdan and translator Rossano Brazzi, respectively) C+
11. To Have And Have Not (1944 drama; Humphrey Bogart is a professional fisherman on the island of Martinique, pre World War II, who romances singer Lauren Bacall while simultaneously (and reluctantly) agreeing to help the French patriots outsmart the Nazis) A-
12. The White Cliffs Of Dover (1944 drama; American Irene Dunne travels to London, marries English nobleman Alan Marshal who goes off to fight in WW I, and gives birth to a son who ends up fighting in WW II) B
1. Bonnie & Clyde (1967 drama; Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway go on a bank robbing crime spree in the 1930s, becoming folk heroes even though they are murderers) A
2. Citizen Kane (1941 drama; Orson Welles is a multi-millionaire narcissist who owns an empire of newspapers) B
3. Dark Passage (1947 drama; Convicted killer Humphrey Bogart escapes from San Quentin, evades the cops with Lauren Bacall's help, undergoes facial plastic surgery, and works to find the real killer) B-
4. The Days Of Wine And Roses (1962 drama; Jack Lemon and Lee Remick can't lay off the booze, and that spells trouble) A-
5. The Great Escape (1963 war drama; Richard Attenborough masterminds an escape plan for dozens of Allied prisoners, including Steve McQueen and James Garner, from a POW camp in Germany) B
6. Lolita (1962 drama; college professor James Mason can't take his eyes off Sue Lyon, the daughter of his landlady, Shelly Winters) B-
7. The Magnificent Seven (1960 western; besieged Mexican villagers hire Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and five other gunmen to help them thwart the band of cutthroat marauders led by Eli Wallach) B
8. The Sting (1973 drama; Paul Newman and Robert Redford, two con artists extraordinaire, seek to avenge the loss of a good friend by pulling The Big Con on the gangster who killed him, Robert Blake) A
9. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968 drama; insurance investigator Faye Dunaway figures out that Steve McQueen is the head of a gang that stole $4 million in a bank heist, but will she let her heart get in the way of doing her job?) B+
10. Three Coins In The Fountain (1954 drama; Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters and Maggie McNamara are three secretaries working in Rome who have their hearts set on author Clifton Webb, prince Louis Jourdan and translator Rossano Brazzi, respectively) C+
11. To Have And Have Not (1944 drama; Humphrey Bogart is a professional fisherman on the island of Martinique, pre World War II, who romances singer Lauren Bacall while simultaneously (and reluctantly) agreeing to help the French patriots outsmart the Nazis) A-
12. The White Cliffs Of Dover (1944 drama; American Irene Dunne travels to London, marries English nobleman Alan Marshal who goes off to fight in WW I, and gives birth to a son who ends up fighting in WW II) B
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Movie Review: "Trouble With The Curve"
"Trouble With The Curve": B-. The last two movies I saw starring Clint Eastwood were Million Dollar Baby and Gran Torino. In the former he plays a crotchety old boxing manager. In the latter he plays a crotchety old war veteran. In his new movie, Trouble With The Curve, which made its Twin Cities debut yesterday, Eastwood plays a crotchety old professional baseball scout, Gus Lobel. In real life, Eastwood is 82 years old. If he were actually a baseball scout instead of an actor, I'd guess he would be almost an exact replica of Gus. It makes one ponder this question: If you are playing a character who is more or less yourself, is it really acting? Eastwood has been around Hollywood long enough to have earned the right to play whatever characters he wants. Judging by his last three movies, he chooses to play Clint Eastwood.
Gus is an old school scout for the Atlanta Braves. There are only three months left to go until his employment contract expires, but he has no intention of retiring. Baseball is his life. His territory includes Georgia and the Carolinas. He doesn't believe scouting a player by researching voluminous statistical data on a computer can take the place of seeing a prospect in person. One of the other Braves' scouts, a younger know-it-all named Phillip (Matthew Lillard), scoffs at Gus' obsolete methods. Truth be told, Gus probably would not even know how to turn on a computer. Instead, he drives himself to amateur games in his rusted out car, and relies on the sounds of the ball hitting the mitt or the bat to determine a prospect's worth. His auditory senses are acute to compensate for his rapidly failing eyesight.
There is a fair share of baseball in Trouble With The Curve, but this is really more of a father-daughter movie. Gus' 33 year old daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), is a senior associate with a large Atlanta law firm. Mickey is named after Yankee Hall Of Famer Mickey Mantle, Gus' favorite player. She is up for partnership, but must first win the proverbial big case before the firm's partnership committee, a small group of middle-aged white guys, makes the decision whether to promote her or a male colleague, Neil (Clifton Guterman). Just as Mickey is in the throes of preparing for a huge presentation to an important client, she gets a visit from the Braves' scouting director, Pete Klein (the always solid John Goodman). Pete is Gus' boss in the team's chain of command, but moreso he is Gus' personal friend going back over thirty years. He has known Mickey forever. He tells Mickey that the Braves have the second pick in the upcoming draft and they are real interested in a kid named Bo Gentry who is playing amateur ball in North Carolina. Gus' job will be on the line if he makes the wrong recommendation on whether to pick Gentry. Pete suggests to Mickey that, because of Gus' macular degeneration, she should go to North Carolina to help her father scout Gentry. Mickey rejects Pete's entreaty, but as we know from the trailers we have seen, she changes her mind and surprises her father at the Carolina field. Her prospects for partnership are now in jeopardy. She has prioritized her father's situation over her professional obligations, although she assures her firm's partners that she won't let them down.
While they are in North Carolina Mickey tries a few times to have a heart-to-heart talk with her dad, but he always cuts it short. She wants to get some answers from her father about how he raised her and some decisions he made following her mother's death when Mickey was six years old. Gus does not want Mickey there in the first place, even though she knows as much about baseball as anybody, thanks to Gus. He certainly isn't interested in digging up the past. Meanwhile, a young scout named Johnny (Justin Timberlake) arrives on the scene to take a look at Gentry. Johnny is a former pitcher originally signed by Gus for the Braves several years before. Johnny developed arm trouble and eventually was traded to the Red Sox over Gus' objections. Johnny's career was cut short due to that injury, and now he is a Red Sox scout. Would you believe he is just about Mickey's age?
Will Gus make the right decision about whether to draft Gentry? Will Mickey get the answers she is seeking from her father? Will Johnny and Mickey end up as more than new friends who like to challenge each other with baseball trivia? Will Mickey make partner?
Trouble With The Curve is too cheesy and predictable to be considered a top notch baseball flick. Bull Durham is far and away the gold standard for that genre. The best parts of Trouble are the one line expletives uttered by Gus and his beyond-hope style of housekeeping, which includes stacks of sports pages all over his house and his inability to do something as simple as flipping a burger over the stove or backing his beater out of his garage. Amy Adams is miscast as Mickey. I might be able to see her as a big firm lawyer, but she doesn't have a tomboy bone in her body, a characteristic called for in the role. The characters of Neil (her fellow senior associate), Phillip (the know-it-all scout) and Bo Gentry (the hot amateur prospect) are one-dimensional horses' asses. The other guys on Gentry's team look like they should be playing chess instead of baseball. Pee-wee Herman must have been unavailable when the casting call went out.
Near the end of the movie there is a scene involving a pitcher's mound which just happens to be situated on the lawn next to the Carolina motel where Mickey is staying. How many motels have you stayed in where the accoutrements included a pitcher's mound? In order for the movie to have its over-the-top contrived happy ending, with nary a loose end, the motel pitcher's mound was necessary. I am surprised the story did not end with the Braves winning the World Series.
Gus is an old school scout for the Atlanta Braves. There are only three months left to go until his employment contract expires, but he has no intention of retiring. Baseball is his life. His territory includes Georgia and the Carolinas. He doesn't believe scouting a player by researching voluminous statistical data on a computer can take the place of seeing a prospect in person. One of the other Braves' scouts, a younger know-it-all named Phillip (Matthew Lillard), scoffs at Gus' obsolete methods. Truth be told, Gus probably would not even know how to turn on a computer. Instead, he drives himself to amateur games in his rusted out car, and relies on the sounds of the ball hitting the mitt or the bat to determine a prospect's worth. His auditory senses are acute to compensate for his rapidly failing eyesight.
There is a fair share of baseball in Trouble With The Curve, but this is really more of a father-daughter movie. Gus' 33 year old daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), is a senior associate with a large Atlanta law firm. Mickey is named after Yankee Hall Of Famer Mickey Mantle, Gus' favorite player. She is up for partnership, but must first win the proverbial big case before the firm's partnership committee, a small group of middle-aged white guys, makes the decision whether to promote her or a male colleague, Neil (Clifton Guterman). Just as Mickey is in the throes of preparing for a huge presentation to an important client, she gets a visit from the Braves' scouting director, Pete Klein (the always solid John Goodman). Pete is Gus' boss in the team's chain of command, but moreso he is Gus' personal friend going back over thirty years. He has known Mickey forever. He tells Mickey that the Braves have the second pick in the upcoming draft and they are real interested in a kid named Bo Gentry who is playing amateur ball in North Carolina. Gus' job will be on the line if he makes the wrong recommendation on whether to pick Gentry. Pete suggests to Mickey that, because of Gus' macular degeneration, she should go to North Carolina to help her father scout Gentry. Mickey rejects Pete's entreaty, but as we know from the trailers we have seen, she changes her mind and surprises her father at the Carolina field. Her prospects for partnership are now in jeopardy. She has prioritized her father's situation over her professional obligations, although she assures her firm's partners that she won't let them down.
While they are in North Carolina Mickey tries a few times to have a heart-to-heart talk with her dad, but he always cuts it short. She wants to get some answers from her father about how he raised her and some decisions he made following her mother's death when Mickey was six years old. Gus does not want Mickey there in the first place, even though she knows as much about baseball as anybody, thanks to Gus. He certainly isn't interested in digging up the past. Meanwhile, a young scout named Johnny (Justin Timberlake) arrives on the scene to take a look at Gentry. Johnny is a former pitcher originally signed by Gus for the Braves several years before. Johnny developed arm trouble and eventually was traded to the Red Sox over Gus' objections. Johnny's career was cut short due to that injury, and now he is a Red Sox scout. Would you believe he is just about Mickey's age?
Will Gus make the right decision about whether to draft Gentry? Will Mickey get the answers she is seeking from her father? Will Johnny and Mickey end up as more than new friends who like to challenge each other with baseball trivia? Will Mickey make partner?
Trouble With The Curve is too cheesy and predictable to be considered a top notch baseball flick. Bull Durham is far and away the gold standard for that genre. The best parts of Trouble are the one line expletives uttered by Gus and his beyond-hope style of housekeeping, which includes stacks of sports pages all over his house and his inability to do something as simple as flipping a burger over the stove or backing his beater out of his garage. Amy Adams is miscast as Mickey. I might be able to see her as a big firm lawyer, but she doesn't have a tomboy bone in her body, a characteristic called for in the role. The characters of Neil (her fellow senior associate), Phillip (the know-it-all scout) and Bo Gentry (the hot amateur prospect) are one-dimensional horses' asses. The other guys on Gentry's team look like they should be playing chess instead of baseball. Pee-wee Herman must have been unavailable when the casting call went out.
Near the end of the movie there is a scene involving a pitcher's mound which just happens to be situated on the lawn next to the Carolina motel where Mickey is staying. How many motels have you stayed in where the accoutrements included a pitcher's mound? In order for the movie to have its over-the-top contrived happy ending, with nary a loose end, the motel pitcher's mound was necessary. I am surprised the story did not end with the Braves winning the World Series.
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