June 23, 2012
Movie week, days 4, 5, and 6
Love Crime [ 3/5 | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes ]
Quiet film of psychological torture and murder. Even though you see where everything is going, it's a well-structured revenge film.
Fantastic Mr. Fox [ 5/5 | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes ]
Like I said, ads for Moonrise Kingdom was prompting me to re-watch this. Not on On Demand or Netflix, but Amazon had it for rent. The creativity in this film makes me jealous. In chase or dance scenes, their wiry forms dance across the screen like script. The hand motions the characters use while talking are sometimes interpretable as natural gestures but just as often as made-up animal corollaries.
Good Will Hunting [ 4/5 | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes ]
As with Monday's Shawshank Redemption, I'm probably the last person in the world to see this film. The Hobo Genius can be a tired trope, but the writing for the relationships rose above it. It's a movie of pairs, most involving Will but one--professor and psychiatrist--notably external.
June 20, 2012
Movie week, days 1, 2, and 3
Cinema Paradiso [ 5/5 | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes ]
Saturday morning at Lefont in Sandy Springs, Lisa discovered that they show classic and newer independents approximately every other Saturday. Lefont has a long and storied history in Atlanta. BITD, we would go to flix at Lefont Garden Hills on Peachtree in Buckhead. And I didn't know they used to run Tara and even The Plaza on Ponce. Anyways, outstanding film from 1988. Sweet story of an Italian boy growing up around a theater's films and patrons.
Moonrise Kingdom [ 5/5 | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes ]
Sunday at Landmark. The kids' performances were the typically quirky-yet-sincere that Wes Anderson seems to be able to pull off. A wealth of very short, perfect scenes. Nice on their own and building the whole of the film.
This has put me in the mood for more Wes Anderson, so I've been digging around for a legitimate stream of The Fantastic Mr. Fox to watch later in the week. Coincidentally, ABC Family broadcast it this weekend after my search had begun.
Shawshank Redemption [ 5/5 | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes ]
Monday. I've been holding off to watch my DVD of this and avoiding spoilers and any TV-cuts (another coincidence, broadcast this weekend). Am I the last person in the world to see this film? Probably.
June 14, 2012
Year of music
Including our regular Atlanta Symphony concerts, this year's live music experiences have been more varied than usual. All of it reveling in older bands or bands of our past. Sorry, new guys.
-
Rammstein at Philips Area on 23 April was a ridiculously odd and entertaining show. The fireworks, the flamethrowers attached to their faces, the 40-foot-wide fiery wings (see below), and the skit where the keyboard player--exchanging his mirrored body-suit for leather--was cooked alive in an over-sized cauldron by the lead singer. Memorable.
- Glass's Einstein on the Beach in London in the middle of May!
-
The Beastie Boys tribute band Ill Communication at Vinyl at the end of May. Could have been cheesy. Was instead awesome. Over the past year or so, I've been meaning to listen to the canonical hip hop albums that I should-know-but-don't. Coincidentally, Matt turned me on to A.V. Club's recent series reviewing 90s rap. Timely.
-
Roger Waters performed The Wall at Phillips Arena last night. Tremendous show even though, at times, a little over-angsty for my post-teen psyche. It was also extremely political but moving. It's been years and years since a full listening, so the tracks were both unexpected and familiar. Oddly, the hits from the album that I liked less at the time the album came out shined through for me during the show. "Mother" was acoustic with video of Waters performing the song in 1980 projected behind him. I still love the quiet pair of songs "Nobody Home" and "Vera". I was reminded of the musical and structural parallels between the first and second album and realized (with the prompting of an inflatable pig) that "Run Like Hell" could have been an unreleased track from Animals. Well known trivia: the Animals tour was when Waters came up with the idea for The Wall.
Up next: Yes at Verizon Amphitheater at the end of July. Peter Gabriel in Chicago at the end of September. If I could just get Genesis and King Crimson in there, I'd have my teen years pinned down.
June 4, 2012
The Kickpuncher comic book that comes with the Community DVDs
Copied here for posterity...
Continue reading "The Kickpuncher comic book that comes with the Community DVDs"The transit of Venus
I watched it when the San Francisco Exploratorium streamed it almost eight years ago. Tomorrow, it will be happening here at around 6 p.m., so viewing is out for me for the rest of my life. Next transit is 2117.