Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)

The latest H&K gives George W. Bush a better treatment in the eyes of young Americans than Karl Rove ever could have dreamt up. He's a weed-smoking (read: fun-loving), empathetic, father-hating 'regular guy' who just wants to be left alone.

But that's okay. The movie was funny and dispenses with most references to reality early on. The movie spends most of its time dealing with stereotypes. It risks losing its plot, so a little refresher about halfway through clues you back in. I'm not used to the superfast cuts and dialogue, but maybe the ApatowIAN types will be hipper to it.

No watch checks. i can't believe people brought dates to that movie. the best scene by far is the Neil Patrick Harris-led trip to the whorehouse. NPH brands a hooker with his initials, then dies. H&K get emo with the ladies, two of whom TOTALLY MAKE OUT OMG. After the whole scene ended, it got an extra clap/wow moment from the mostly male audience I saw it with. And be sure to stay for the NPH extra feature after all the credits are through.

Self promotion: I interviewed John Cho. FUNNY.

Stars of the Lid - Lakeshore Theater, Chicago, 4/26/08

I was really looking forward to this show so it pains me to come out of it with a negative opinion. Doubly painful since, according to one of the two members of the duo who served as indie-mumblicious emcee, they hadn't played Chicago in six years and his family (including his grandmother who had never seen him play!) was in the audience.

The place was packed. The two official guys in SotL played across from each other at opposite ends of the stage, with a string trio in the middle. One guy was on tabletop electronics and the other moved between that and guitar atmospheres. Lighting was provided by a video projection, not unlike many an Actually Records show I've attended.

They started around 11 and I drifted into sleep within ten minutes. After a bit of a nap I stayed up through the rest of the show and the encore. It was truly odd, that despite the material from their new album And Their Refinement Of The Decline having elements of melody (and other live instruments, such as trumpet), these were almost entirely forsaken for drone and the trio doing whole-note chord progressions. There was a lot less timbral variety as well - it more or less sounded like real strings playing on top of synthesized strings. I was perplexed that even the brief glimpses of melody that punctuate the otherwise monolithic drones were nowhere to be found, leaving the SotL live experience with dark shadows of faces, lights on music stands, and an Impressionist painting of a video as backdrop. If the aim was to engulf us in meticulous texture, the venue might have let the sonics down a bit, as parts of the roof rattled when the bass swelled and made me think of subs in a tricked-out car stereo.

I did like how the talking guy ended the encore song with a "Good" to himself before saying "Good night."

West 32nd (2008)

Oh, I wanted to like this film. Michael Kang's first film 'The Motel' was unsatisfying but still promising, and the casting of John Cho and Grace Park certainly peaked my interest in this one. But lord, I just didn't find it compelling whatsoever. Reflecting on exactly why it didn't do it for me though, I realized that 90% of the reasons are what frustrate me about AsAm, and frankly, indie cinema in general...

1) All Mood, No Plot - 'West 32nd' looks great. There it is. The opening DePalma shot was well executed and definitely set up the impending mood of intrigue and urban menace quite well. And that's it. The story was without any foundation, the relationships between certain characters were completely unresolved and lord, the lapses in logic were just glaring.

*warning: spoilers*

For example, why exactly did Mike find it necessary to take out the owner of the Room Salon after Lila had warned him of Suki's testimony? Killing Suki I understand but how did the owners of the Salon affect his involvement in the initial crime to begin with? And why establish that there were security cameras in the facility and then have the gratuitous and hilariously cliched shot of Mike taking off his mask, in full view of pretty much everyone? And wouldn't the Korean mob be entirely pissed that one of their upstarts just decided to murder anyone who was in their way? Wouldn't that actually alarm them? Isn't hierarchal order an essential component to effective criminality?

*end spoilers*

But really, these were the thoughts going through my head *while* I was watching the film, which is never a good sign.

2) The Acting

Seriously now, was it just me or were none of the actors actually acting? Outside of the scene where John Cho has a gun pointed at his face, he did about as much emoting as Paul Walker in 'Into the Blue'. The greatest thing about watching outstanding acting is that you can actually feel the characters move through their development (ie anything Tony Leung is in) rather than having it telegraphed to you via

3) The Pedestrian Dialogue

I mean, really, it's always a bummer when everyone in a film basically speaks the same way. Outside of the comedic relief, you get such zingers as: 'I never should have trusted you.' or 'Stay out of Queens'.

4) Trying to be Ruthless but never going far enough.

How about we all stop trying to be post-modern and knowing about plot and get back to some ol Greek tragedy happenings like 'A Simple Plan'? Now, that film shook me up...

*spoilers again*

The ending. Come on now. Who gave a crap if Suki died? And that's what sent John into the cynical end of the pool? Please. It would have made more dramatic sense, in establishing the cold ending, if Lila had died, or something like that. Then, the weight would have been felt rather than telegraphed?

And how is that Mike didn't have a smatter of blood on him after he whipped Suki to death?

*end spoilers*

Sigh.

Pretty much, what was most glaring to me is that the character of Mike, who should've exploded off the screen (ie Gary Oldman in 'State of Grace') was pretty milquetoast and bleah.

I'm determined now to do something about this. Jon, I'll be bugging you soon so best be prepared to avoid my impending pitch at all costs.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Saw this opening night. It's REALLY good Apatow-ian guy-friendly romantic comedy stuff, more unexpected laughs from realistic interactions between people. Lots of naked Jason Segel, you could make the case he wrote the movie to get himself naked in front of starlets.

My favorite parts: The show-scoring scene, and the Muppets Theme scene. Both short, but both perfect.

No watch checks. It's that fungood.

NPR:National Public Radio (2008)

In the past week or few I've noticed that NPR has put a tremendous amount of attention into what I once thought to be contemporary culture.
I've heard at least two stories about Gnarls Barkley's new album. Both were on music related shows or segments, however that music seems inherently new. (yes a new album, but new not classical). Have I become NPR's demographic?
In a story about web networking sites— Facebook, MySpace, The Pizza Show—they discussed the challenge of commodification of such sites that are not inherently set up to sell anything. Such sites are meant for communicating with friends or making business connections. The simile they used was from South Park. SOUTH PARK!?
NPR is using The Underpants Gnomes to explain economic theory.
Step 1: Collect underpants.
Step 2: (Shoulders shrug)
Step 3: Profit.
Am I getting that old?
Are reporters getting that lazy that they have to resort to TV for making the news accessible to their audience?
Is that analogy really that good?
Yes. A conceded yes.

À l'intérieur (2007)

All I can say about this right now, having just watched it, is that I'm going to be having horrible horrible nightmares.

Plot, in a nutshell: Pregnant woman is trapped in house with crazy woman who wants her baby.

I mean, holy hades, talk about a transgressive horror film. And holy blood and gore.

I actually feel traumatized.

Chalk it up there along with 'Calvaire' for sheer nihilism.

I mean, CHRIST, I don't think I've ever seen a more disturbing slasher film.

Having said all that, I would definitely recommend you rent it.

Ha!

Autechre / Massonix / Rob Hall @ Abbey Pub, 4.11.08

Compendium of observations on the night:

- Rob Hall DJed before and after both Massonix and Autechre, lengthening the junk out of the night. Show started at 9, Autechre went on at 11:45.
- Surprisingly, there were women.
- The show sold out and was PACKED. We went to the second level to find a place to sit and ended up at a table on the front left, close enough to barely get a glimpse of the total lack of onstage activity (Rob Hall looking at his laptop). Nevertheless, mostly blocking our view of the stage were a trio of dudes who literally had their faces pressed up against the rail, STARING at the stage. Gear-spotting, we concluded. After about a half hour, one of them moved in his seat.
- Massonix (Graham Massey from 808 State) was NOT hot. It sounded like what might happen if I went through my Reason sessions directory and played all the 16-bar beats I hadn't made songs out of, then whanged on a guitar real loud, then opened another directory of sessions and played those. It was slightly better than that only because they sounded distinctly like Graham Massey's unfinished 808 State songs, which says something about how quickly you can identify some electronic artists by their choice of colors/timbres.
- Autechre appeared in their infamous total darkness and immediately destroyed for an hour. We stood in front of a subwoofer (*excellent* decision) and I felt like I was being given a sonic body shower.
- The gearspotting continued when I overheard someone ask his friend, "Are they using Tablet PCs?" given the distinct lack of visible laptop lids.
- There were beats! People were *dancing*! *Girls* were *dancing*! Not at all what I expected. The dark-haired one (I'm not sure who's Booth and who's Brown) was convulsing his head in time to the music! I don't think these guys are screwing around.
- I got stuck right behind this raver and a guy doing a robot-runningman-climber-pogo hybrid routine. A hilarious someone in front of me kept trying to take flash pictures of the duo and getting an outline of a shoulder. I think I'm in some of his photos.
- I hope a bootleg comes out of this show, although I wonder if it'll sound as good even off the soundboard, compared to lose-control-of-your-body in-your-face loud. Funny thing about this show compared to a rock show, we were able to listen to the whole thing without earplugs and come away without even temporary hearing impairment. I think all of the rocking was in the bowel range, and not the shriek range.

Roadhouse (1989)

You have to admit it: Patrick Swayze is a great actor. I don't mean "great actor" like Inside the Actor's Studio great, a lot of those actors actually suck. I mean someone who can make what would be a totally non-descript studio movie and inject something intersting and unexpected into it. Patrick Swayze did that a number of times, not least in Roadhouse.

The plot of Roadhouse is classic Western: a new sheriff comes to town and has to take care of the amoral asshole who's put himself above the law. But rather than a frontier town, Roadhouse is set in a small southern town, and rather than being a sheriff, Swayze is the head bouncer at, you guessed it, a roadhouse.

There are no surprises in store for you (except perhaps for Patrick Swayze RIPPING A MAN'S THROAT OUT... whoops i gave it away) unless you've forgotten that back in the 80's action movies did what they did unapologetically. Nowadays you'll rarely see an action movie that doesn't make some kind of claim, however feeble, to relevancy by referencing world events or politics. And what's with all the PG-13 action movies? Jason Bourne, i'm looking at you. We're not wasting any time with that kinda stuff here. It's all violence, cursing, and ridiculously plastic blonde women frolicking naked with Swayze (also naked.) Times sure have changed, but it's nice to look back.

As i alluded to above, this could be a pretty awful experience if not for some good acting, not only by Swayze, but also Sam Elliott and Ben Gazara. And the roadhouse's band plays a string of classic rock covers that sound just about as good as the originals. Some ridiculous plotting and a kinda goofy final scene aside, this is one of the forgotten greats.

Man Push Cart (2005)

A study in minimalism, much of this film takes place in the dark. At 3 in the morning, Ahmed, a former Pakistani rock star turned street cart coffee seller, pushes his cart to its Manhattan corner. He doesn't get back to Brooklyn til late.

The film's inspiration was Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus", according to Roger Ebert, who friggin loved it. Man rolls rock up hill, it rolls down; repeat. The guy seems depressed. He lets a cute love interest fade away, then shoves his only chance to make it on the entertainment scene. He doesn't really try to do anything but see his kid, sell his food, and play a little music. But he might be on the right track, not letting a bunch of distractions get in the way. 

Somehow, Ahmed speaks perfect English. It seems like he would have more opportunities with that skill, but the film paints a life with little time to find better work. 

It reminded me of buying tea from a cart person in Manhattan when I interned at Spin magazine. I could've ended up in the movie -- it used hidden cameras. That helps explain how it was made cheaply. I can't see San Francisco allowing for much budget moviemaking without some subterfuge involved.

So anyway it's pretty good as a movie. Don't expect much to happen, and you won't be disappointed. There's also a Mac cameo. You wonder if Apple pays for those placements, which I see pretty much everywhere I look.

Inner City - Live at Hard Rock Cafe, Boston (2007)

Guitar hero Marc Flury and one of his Boston bro's form Inner City, a drifty, dreamy rock music making spectacle. Click on their name above to enjoy their performance on the occasion of the release of the multiplayer video game Rock Band. Flury programs for Harmonix, the outfit that made Rock Band and its predecessor Guitar Hero 2. In both you get to pretend you're a rock star. In the former, you've got drums and bass and vocals added to the guitar playing experience. It's better.

But it's no Inner City. The most magical part of the band's Hard Rock Cafe performance, other than asking the restaurant to turn down the house music, comes about 10- 1/2 minutes into the affair. Flurtron plugs in the video game's plastic guitar to play crazy mind-bending noises through his onstage and software set up. It's art imitating video games imitating art. 10,000 points.

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV (2008)

The first CD of this 4-disc set is available for free; the whole thing can be downloaded for $5. I went ahead and paid up in the interest of supporting new music distribution models, same as I did with In Rainbows; although Trent Reznor's sour grapes about Radiohead beating him to the punch are offputting at best, I won't count it against him.

The main reason I'm willing to cut him some slack is because I like this material so much...but I must admit to a heavy bias. Ghosts is clearly inspired by, and is a direct descendant of, Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol. II, which is ingrained into my subconscious as I use it to put myself to sleep in unfamiliar environments. The resemblance isn't surprising, as Aphex has contributed remixes to past NIN releases. The two also share a maverick sensibility and a fondness for exploiting the dichotomy between reflective melancholy and abrasive industrial timbres.

Ghosts echoes SAWII in every way, from its being a multi-disc release of instrumentals to the conceit of tracks titled only by accompanying pictures. However, while the Aphex Twin album, true to the genre stereotypes implied by its name, remains contemplative--i.e. beatless--as it shifts between moods of discontent, placidity, and dread, Ghosts is more immediate and driving, lurching from song to song with jarring non-transitions.

Accusations by fans of NIN's more accessible material that Ghosts amounts to a series of half-baked ideas for fully fleshed-out (pop) songs are understandable, but irrelevant. While "Closer," the big hit off 1994's The Downward Spiral, remains a case study in how abhorrent lyrical content can be sneaked into the mainstream by combining it with excellently catchy hooks, by and large Reznor's vocals in NIN only serve to bludgeon the listener with his comically nihilistic perspective, instead of leaving the music open to multiple interpretations. Ghosts' strength lies in its avoidance of those staid tropes.

Doomsday (2008)

What if Scotland had a viral epidemic and none of the circus punks or medieval historical recreationists died? That is the question that Doomsday boldy sets out to answer. And also this one: what would Resident Evil be like if Mill Jovovich could pull her eye out and use it like a remote camera?

In the "hot chick mows down wave after wave of bad guys while showing little or no personality" genre, this movie has it all: decapitations, recapitations, explosions, cannibalism, the Fine Young Cannibals, car crashes, and more decapitations. Oh yeah, and Doctor Bashir from Deep Space Nine.

It starts out pretty poorly, in fact, with a cliche-ridden introduction showing Scotland consumed by this killer disease, followed by yet another cliched police operation sequence (the kind every cop movie in the 90's started with) introducing the tough-ass protagonist. Really things only start getting good once the movie stops doing everything you expect it to, and let's the crazyness blossom. Right around the time that the circus punk cannibals start rocking out to "Good Thing," actually. And you realize that there's no way the irony of cannibals listening to Cannibals is just coincidental.

It's a pretty wild ride from there, but most of the actors unfortunately lack the comic flair to really make the most of things. Unfortunately, once the movie really starts playing with your expectations and proves itself capable of giving you a nice jolt, it's almost too late. Things are set up for a sequel near the end, as expected, but it's unlikely that Doomsday will get another shot, given how poorly it seemed to do at the box office. A half worthy attempt that only brings the goods in the second half.

Overclocked by Cory Doctorow (2007)

I previously reviewed one of the short stories from this, a compilation of them by Doctorow. I can't say that any of the other stories were as page-turningly gripping as that one, possibly because I didn't identify as immediately with sentient rowboats or tweener girls as with an overworked systems administrator. That being said, I also didn't find any of the stories hard to read or less than worth finishing. Of particular note is "After the Siege," very nearly as good as "Sysadmins," about said tweener girl who lives through a future-war version of the Siege of Leningrad. (The story was inspired by accounts from Doctorow's grandmother, who lived through the Siege.)

My only overriding gripe with the collection as a whole is that too many of the stories end on the happy side. With my most recent point of reference being the unremittingly dark Blindsight, I would have liked for some of these tales to end more grimly. But I can understand falling in love with characters, especially one based on your grandmother.