Time Is a Lion Friday, October 05, 2007

Three months! I guess I should start calling this a quarterly report. How about some new reviews?

Usually, when a beloved artist starts putting out a record a year, it says a number of things, the most important being: I cannot edit myself. So the new Josh Ritter record is a striking surprise. Coming a year after his big mainstream breakout album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter sounds just as polished and assured as the last effort. Like all of Ritter's work, it's witty and literate and heartfelt, with thunderously catchy production. Maybe the best of the year.

Nick Lowe and Teddy Thompson, meanwhile, proved to be pleasant surprises, turning out low-key but irresistible disks. Both of them country, both of them smart and heartfelt. Highest recommendation.

How much do I dig Joe Henry? Let me put it this way: The world would be a much better place if he started putting out a record a year and Ron Sexsmith put out a record every five. Henry's latest is a breathtaker--startling imagery underpinned by cranky Tom Waitish melodies. Maybe the best of the year.

I even got out to a live concert recently: Thomas Dolby at B.B. King's. Dolby's a cult favorite of mine (thanks to pal and recent daddy Rob L.), and the show was a lot of fun. Dolby comes across as the ur-I.T. guy: polo shirt and Dockers and shaved head; quiet and polite and overwhelmingly adept with all his fiddly gimcracks. The music is still stunning: Imagine a Brian Eno if Brian Eno never had any world-beating ideas like ambient and just kept getting poppier and poppier. And Dolby's got a new disk on the way! Fifteen years is long enough to wait.

B.B. King's, meanwhile, is a den of thieves and usurers. Thirty-eight scoots for a bottle of water and a plateful of cheese that smelled like a Bosnian Foot Locker and tasted like Dran-O. Be wary, kids, be wary.

Moviewise, I finally got around to The Departed. Exceptional acting from a bunch of guys I ordinarily hate, and a great overall effect. But the story took lots of shortcuts that diminished the film. Plus, it sank to some of the worst cop-movie cliches around in some absolute throwaway scenes. For a cherry on top, Scorsese's "I am going to show you how much I've researched the Boston Irish" schtick gets old within the first couple minutes. What, exactly, do the busing riots and Church scandals have to do with the cops and robbers? For all that, highly recommended.

Ditto Primer. A no-budget sci-fi flick about time travel whose deadpan characters are like something out of Office Space. I dug the no-apologies technical language and refusal to spoon-feed story points. But, from what I could make out, there were some astonishing plot holes that keep this from being an A-plus.

I promised my buddy OTD that I would write up a review of Space: 1999, or at least the couple of episodes he gave me. I can appreciate the show: It's got a smart, dignified vibe despite the Seventies trappings. Everybody takes the proceedings seriously and doesn't ham it up too much. (I should say, everybody in the regular cast--the "aliens" sometimes go over the top.) Even the effects seem a cut above Hollywood standard; The ships are, of course, iconic and the sets can be eye-popping at times. Just compare the matte paintings with the usual styrofoam rocks on Star Trek or even the digital mishegas of today's shows. In general, it feels like a cheap-but-clever British sci-fi show (Doctor Who or Blake's Seven) instead of a pricey-but-goofy American one. Thank Gerry Anderson et al for that.

That said, the stories didn't click for me a hundred percent. Like most shows of the time, Space: 1999 has a pretty slow pace by today's standards, and it lacks the apocalyptic zigs and zags of, say, Battlestar Galactica. I would love to see a cast and crew that strong working today. Maybe the best you'd end up with is Battlestar; maybe you'd get something that wasn't quite so grim or self-satisfied. At any rate: Viva Moonbase Alpha!

@ 4:52:00 AM,

2 Comments:

At 2:27 PM, Blogger Cowboy the Cat said...

Hello! Navigated to you via Big Trouble in Little China, and wanted to make a comment (is that like making a poop? In my case, possibly). I felt about like you about The Departed. I usually don't like either Matt Damon or Leonardo DiCaprio (I just can't stop seeing him as Gilbert Grapes retarded brother), but I thought both guys were brilliant! Especially Leo. He really seems to have grown up in this film. The scenes one-on-one with the sexy bird whos name I forgot were his best. I also agree that the movie needed to get over itself but never did. This seems to be a Scorsese staple, though. All and all, a good flick. Even Marky-Mark was good.

I do have to disagree with you on Primer, however.... What can I say? maybe I'm just dumb, but I watched it twice and I still didn't get it. I even watched the freaking director commentary... There's six hours I'll never get back.

Nice Blog!

CTC

 
At 10:56 AM, Anonymous Tim said...

Hey WTJ,

Good to see you back up and running. It's a tough slog in Morningside Heights, but I'm getting used to it. Hope you're doing well. -Tim

 

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