ADEN DREAMS OF PAVEMENT

I'm Moving to Tumblr

2015-01-02T14:39:00.004-08:00

I'm officially moving this blog to Tumblr after experiencing multiple log-in problems with Blogger/Blogspot. I've attempted to contact Google/Blogger/Blogspot regarding these issues, and have yet to receive a response.

My blog can now be found at adendreamsof.tumblr.com .

Thanks to those of you who have kept up with my blog. I plan on interacting with more of you via Tumblr and other social media.

Best,
Aden

RIP Elizabeth Pena

2014-10-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind in reporting on the passing of Cuban-American actress Elizabeth Pena, who died last week at age fifty-five. She was a versatile actress, adept at both comedy and drama. Her body of work is interesting for genre variety alone: Transamerica (2005), The Incredibles (2004), Rush Hour (1998), and a good deal of TV including Modern Family.

The one to remember her by is John Sayles's Lone Star (1996). It's a film full of flawless performances by Chris Cooper, Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey, Joe Morton, and Frances McDormand, and Pena more than held her own with the remarkable cast. While Kristofferson and McConaughey certainly had some big, explosive scenes to play, both Pena and Cooper have to convey a lot between each other without any over-the-top dialogue. Their final scene together is both bittersweet and a great example of nuanced performance.

Upcoming Record Releases

2014-02-21T19:32:00.000-08:00

Beck will release a new album, Morning Phase, next Tuesday. The advance word is that it's a throw back to Sea Change.

Jazz musician extraordinaire Brad Mehldau has a new album out next week as well. Taming the Dragon will be released under the name, Mehliana, which is fitting because Mehldau made the album with drummer Mark Guiliana.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

2014-02-03T11:56:00.003-08:00

Yesterday's passing of beloved actor Philip Seymour Hoffman came as sad news for his many fans and admirers. Hoffman's versatility was unique, and his career spanned a wide range of roles and genres. He could portray viciousness (Hard Eight, Punch-Drunk Love, The Talented Mr. Ripley) as plausibly as he could play feebleness (Boogie Nights, 25th Hour). Throughout his career, Hoffman seemed as invested in serious roles (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Savages) as he was in silly ones (Along Came Polly, The Big Lebowski). He leaves behind a significant body of work that will be studied and remembered.

Rest In Peace Andrew Goodwin, Music and Media Scholar and Professor

2013-09-15T09:40:00.001-07:00

This week’s passing of University of San Francisco’s media studies scholar Andrew Goodwin is a tragic loss to both the field he worked in and the USF community. Goodwin was a tenured professor at USF, and had been one of the founders of its Media Studies department. He was a brilliant and respected scholar who had written an influential book on music videos and popular culture (Dancing in the Distraction Factory) and co-edited a popular academic anthology of music essays (On Record). An enthusiastic follower of art and culture, Goodwin’s scholarly interests and personal hobbies were wide-ranging and included film, literature, soccer, philosophy, and psychology. His great passion and academic focus was on music, and he vocally asserted that it was time that canonical record albums be accorded the same degree of respect and intellectual scrutiny as books, plays, and fine art.

In addition to being a brilliant scholar of the popular arts, Goodwin was also a caring, supportive, and sincere human being who fought hard not to compromise his integrity. In one of the courses I had with him, one of the students was developmentally disabled and Goodwin showed the student patience and respect without being condescending. Goodwin was always more concerned about his students than winning scholarly awards or playing the petty politics of academia. He once engaged in an epic verbal argument with one of the school’s deans for allowing loud, distracting construction work to take place outside of his students’ classes. Professor Goodwin felt that the students at USF were paying enormous sums of tuition and at the very least deserved to not have to struggle to hear their lectures. While many professors in the academic elite reward students for becoming yes men and sycophants, Goodwin always warned his students to never compromise their own personal opinions just to please a boss or professor. For him, honesty was essential for people to work together and do great things. He was very open about his life, including difficulties he had with insomnia and depression.

While I was fortunate to have a few great professors when I attended USF, Andrew was very much a mentor to me and we kept in touch after I graduated. What I realize now is that Andrew always walked the walk of a generous and earnest person without ever needing to talk the talk and call attention to his integrity. Out of the many things I learned from him this might stay with me the longest: that our actions speak louder than our words.

A Pre-'Homeland' Damian Lewis on 'Life'

2013-07-08T15:21:00.002-07:00

Broadcast between 2007 and 2009 on NBC, Life is one of network television’s most under-seen crime procedurals. The show features Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews, a Los Angeles police officer wrongly imprisoned for twelve years for a double homicide he didn’t commit. When new DNA evidence exonerates him, Crews is released from prison and wins a $50 million settlement after suing the LAPD (and the show feels oddly prescient after the recent Christopher Dorner events). Crews is also reinstated back into the LAPD as a detective as part of his settlement, and he is partnered with Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi), a former undercover narcotics agent and now recovering addict who admires Crews even though her superiors pressure her into once again finding a way to harm his reputation (this is not a show that portrays the LAPD in the best light). Back in the real world after unjustly serving time in prison, Crews exhibits a peaceful Zen attitude to the outside world while below his calm exterior lies a painful desire to find the person or persons who framed him for murder.

Life only lasted two seasons, and its serial-within-procedural narrative may have been too ahead of its time: the structure is now pervasive on many other crime shows including Justified, Longmire, and Hannibal. Crews and Reese solve crimes while on the job, and then Crews goes home and tries to piece together the conspiracy that led to his wrongful conviction. The conspiracy spans both seasons, and seems to have influenced later conspiracy-related shows including Terriers and Lewis’s own Homeland.

The near high-concept premise works thanks to smart writing and an excellent cast, and several members of the show went on to bigger projects. Lewis is now very recognizable as soldier-turned-terrorist Sgt. Brody on Homeland. Shahi has yet to make it big, but she is so sharp and sympathetic as Reese that she probably will at some point. Brent Sexton, who plays Charlie’s former partner Bobby, played Rosie Larsen’s father on the first two seasons of The Killing. Christina Hendricks, who plays Charlie’s roommate’s love interest, is now a big star thanks to her role as Joan Harris on Mad Men. After playing the main villain on Life, Garrett Dillahunt would become the good guy goofy dad on Raising Hope. Lastly, Michael Cudlitz had a brief run on Life as a convict and then played beat cop John Cooper for five seasons on the recently cancelled Southland.

Life is available for streaming on both Netflix and Hulu.

Wyoming Law and Order: A&E's 'Longmire'

2013-06-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Longmire, Monday nights on A&E

Now in its second season, A&E’s drama Longmire has proven to be one of the best procedurals currently on television. Robert Taylor stars as Walt Longmire, a laconic sheriff in a Wyoming small town. He investigates crimes in his town, some of which lead him to wary confrontation with the local Native American reservation’s police department. Many of the local Native Americans don’t trust Walt because he represents government authority. In his dealings with their community, Walt is aided by his best friend and tie to ‘the res', Henry (an excellent Lou Diamond Philips). On the surface, Walt seems to be a tough, old-fashioned sheriff not given to much emotion or introspection. As the first season concluded, it was revealed that Walt’s late wife, a supposed cancer victim, had actually been murdered by a methhead and that Walt may have had something to do with the methhead also being killed.

There are two main reasons to watch Longmire. The first is the acting. Taylor, largely unknown except for playing one of the agents in The Matrix, gives a breakthrough performance as Walt. Playing a man of few words, Taylor does a first-rate job of conveying the emotions of anger and confusion that hide under the surface of a terse, soft-spoken figure. Lou Diamond Philips is also stellar as Henry. The character of Henry may sound like the clichéd stereotype of the wise, spiritual and nature-resourceful Indian side-kick, but Henry is no Tonto. He has a life outside of assisting Walt (he owns and runs a bar), a sexual identity (he has a girlfriend), and he is not second to Walt, who often gets put in his place by Henry for his lack of emotional self-awareness.

The second reason to watch the show is that Longmire is joining the company of other smart procedurals including Justified and Hannibal, where the procedural narrative structure works in tandem with a larger serial narrative. In both seasons of the show so far, Walt has had weekly episodic cases to solve, but they are subsumed within the bigger plot about Walt’s wife’s murder and if he killed the man who killed his wife. A&E has had a very consistent program on their hands so far, and could given them more clout in original programming if they keep it up. Longmire is the cop show to watch this summer.

Brief Thoughts on Sam Peckinpah's 'The Wild Bunch'

2013-06-27T15:19:00.000-07:00

I think everything that needs to be said about Sam Peckinpah's 1969 western The Wild Bunch has already been said by critics smarter than I am. That being said, I did have the good fortune to watch the director's cut of the film today and had a few remarks.

I. There were rumors recently that Will Smith was in talks to do a remake of The Wild Bunch. I checked IMDB today and saw that the potential remake is not included on Smith's upcoming list of projects. Thank goodness. I'd assume that if the film ever did get remade with Smith, he'd be cast in the lead role of Pike Bishop. William Holden played Bishop, and his soulful performance is possibly the star's best work. Holden played an aging cowboy in the film, and throughout the movie he looks ill, uncomfortable, and jaundiced. It's the type of performance that the pampered and healthy-looking Smith couldn't pull off today. The truth is that today's Hollywood doesn't have a Holden. Doesn't come close to having one. Our movie stars look they spend most of their time at the gym, health food restaurants, and day spas.

II. Only seven years passed between Edmond O'Brien acted as Mr. Peabody in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance in 1962 and then played old Sykes in The Wild Bunch, and yet O'Brien looks over a decade older in the later picture. Maybe he had aged quickly like Holden, or maybe it was just a combination of Liberty Valance being shot in black and white while Wild Bunch is in color and that feral beard O'Brien sports as Sykes.

III. While The Wild Bunch deserves to be regarded as the work of art that it is for its remarkable cast (in addition to Holden and O'Brien, there's Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, and Warren Oates), complex sense of morality, and visual artistry (the groundbreaking, squib-heavy final thirteen minutes belong in an art gallery), I personally prefer Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) because I think its slightly shorter duration and faintly less linear structure both add a remarkable enigmatic quality to the movie.

Thom Yorke and Friends Debut as Atoms for Peace

2013-05-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

Music Review in Brief by Aden Jordan

Expectations were unreasonably high for Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's side band Atoms for Peace. In addition to Yorke, the group also features Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Radiohead fans seem to be largely disappointed in Atoms' debut album Amok, but this is most likely based on an unreasonable assumption that Amok would be as groundbreaking as Radiohead classics like OK Computer or Kid A. While Amok might lack the ambition of those records, it's still a solid piece of electronics-heavy rock.

'Before Your Very Eyes...' is a catchy start to the album, and contains many of the elements that appear throughout the record included Yorke's multi-tracked vocals, repetitive basslines courtesy of Flea, drumming that could pass for human or drum machine, and thick, modulating electronic tones. The lyrics throughout the album could pass for a possessive stranger stalking an object of desire. Yorke sings, 'I'm always before you/Come what may' on 'Ingenue'. On 'Stuck Together Pieces', he says, 'You don't get away so easily/ You don't get away'. Even with the ominous lyrics, Amok feels more upbeat than most Radiohead albums and even Yorke's solo album The Eraser. The music on Amok is much looser-limbed than anything Yorke has released before, and he wears his new hat well.

Grade: B+

Start of Summer MixTape

2013-05-21T16:48:00.001-07:00

'You're a Wolf' by Sea Wolf from Leaves in the River
'Stuck Together Pieces' by Atoms for Peace from Amok
'Ophelia' by Matt Costa from Matt Costa
'Baby Get Worse' by Divine Fits from A Thing Called Divine Fits
'Mothra' by John Cale from Shifty Adventures in NookieWood
'Miracle Mile' by Cold War Kids from Dear Miss Lonelyhearts
'For Your Heart' by Divine Fits from A Thing Called Divine Fits
'Suffer Little Children' by The Smiths from The Smiths
'Tear It Up' by Delta Spirit from Delta Spirit
'Default' by Atoms for Peace from Amoke
'Spirit of the Stairs' by The Deadly Syndrome from All in Time
'Breakers' by Local Natives from Hummingbird

The Definitive Biography of The Smiths

2013-05-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

A Light that Never Goes Out by Tony Fletcher

Book Review by Aden Jordan

Released near the end of last year, Tony Fletcher’s A Light that Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of The Smiths seems to have come out an opportune time for Smiths fans. Earlier this year, Smiths co-founder Johnny Marr released his first official solo album, The Messenger. The group’s singer Morrissey has frequently been in the press recently for his ill health, his inability to secure a new record label to release his last completed album, and his harsh words against Margaret Thatcher after her death. There was also the recent The Smiths: Complete box set, which included all of the band’s studio releases on CD or vinyl. The title and subtitle of Fletcher’s book are apt: the legacy of the Smiths continues to live on.

Fletcher’s book starts off slowly. He dedicates almost 200 pages of his 698-page book to painting a portrait of the rough and desperate city in England the group came from, Manchester. At first, it seems like Fletcher is spending an excessive amount of time describing the band’s hometown, but his method gradually becomes apparent. Manchester was a dangerous and harsh place during the time that the members of the Smiths were growing up, full of unemployment and poverty-stricken families. The city seems to have shaped the dark and heavy nature of the band’s music as much as it impacted the band members personally. Fletcher’s in-depth exploration of the city also makes the meeting of Morrissey and Marr and subsequent band-forming seem all the more mythic and rewarding.

In tracing the band from their initial forming to their bitter break up, Fletcher seems to aim for a fair depiction of the group’s time together. Marr and Smiths bassist Andy Rourke provided interviews with Fletcher while Morrissey and Smiths drummer Mike Joyce declined to participate. Of the four Smiths, Morrissey comes off the worst: arrogant, entitled, and cruel. He famously demanded to be paid more than the other members of the band, and was distrusting of all of the band’s temporary managers. Morrissey also fired Rourke by leaving a postcard on his car windshield informing him that he was no longer in the band. Marr and Rourke don’t appear to have an axe to grind with the singer in their quotes, but most of the people involved with the group have choice words for Morrissey including their short-term manager Ken Friedman who expressed, “Morrissey is lazy. Morrissey doesn’t deal in reality. He won’t deal with the fact that you should pay people, or if you say you’re going to do it, you should do it” (611). While Fletcher’s description seems to mainly be going off other people’s negative assessment of Morrissey, the book definitely won’t win the Pope of Mope any new fans.

While the book does go into certain detail about the band’s various internal dramas, it also covers the group’s extensive studio achievements. Fletcher has done exhaustive research on who was in what studio for which single, and possesses the acute technical knowledge that will reward fans interested in the production skills of Marr and various producers including New Order’s Stephen Street. For Smiths fans, the book is a must, and for new Smiths converts the book might be even more essential because we all know how wonderfully obsessive Smiths fans already are. If you do read Fletcher’s excellent biography, make sure to listen to the group’s music while you do and turn it up loud.

Grade: A

Happy Photos for a Sad Time

2013-04-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

My prayers go out to the victims and families of yesterday's senseless and evil attack on the good people of Boston. After the difficult start to this week, I wanted to post some happy pictures.

Local Natives and the Sophomore Slow

2013-04-06T12:15:00.001-07:00

Local Natives, Hummingbird

Record Review by Aden Jordan

Los Angeles via Orange County band Local Natives burst onto the indie scene in 2010 with their impressive debut Gorilla Manor. That first album was an eclectic hot pot of influences that recalled the folk rock of Fleet Foxes, the experimental pop of Grizzly Bear, and the global music rhythm and drumming of Remain in Light-era Talking Heads.

In contrast to all of the ways that Gorilla Manor was catchy and rallying, the group’s sophomore album Hummingbird is far more somber, darker, and sparser in sound. On the song ‘Ceilings’, the vocals and lyrics clearly present a desire for better times as the group sings, “Thinking of what we’d give to have one more day of sun/One more day of sun”. The piano playing on ‘Three Months’ is particularly downbeat as the vocals allude to giving up and moving on.

None of this is meant to suggest that Hummingbird is a bummer album. The songs ‘Breakers’ and particularly ‘Wooly Mammoth’ return to the infectious guitar playing and primal drumming more prominently displayed on Gorilla Manor. My only major complaint about the record is the decision to end the album on two very similar-sounding, back-to-back slow and mournful album closers (Colombia and Bowery) when one would have sufficed.

Grade: B+

Hannibal Kills It On NBC

2013-04-06T09:44:00.001-07:00

Television Review by Aden Jordan

When I learned a few months ago that NBC was developing a new crime drama series about the early days of the weirdly beloved fictional character Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ Lecter, my reaction was a mixture of both surprise and exasperation. My surprise came from the fact that the last Hannibal Lecter installment, the film Hannibal Rising, was a commercial and critical failure. It seemed like an unwise move on NBC’s part to develop a series based on a franchise that seemed to have lost its connection with fans of the previous Lecter-related movies Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and (the Manhunter remake) Red Dragon. My exasperation came from knowing that NBC’s Hannibal would be coming out in the same year of other franchise reboots and prequels on television including A&E’s Psycho prequel series Bates Motel. Needless to say, I went into this week’s pilot premiere of Hannibal with low expectations.

I’m pleased to report that Hannibal is surprisingly smart, stylish, and entertaining despite its existence as yet another Hollywood reboot. The show’s biggest strength is the excellent trio of actors who anchor the pilot. Laurence Fishburne, a former lead on CSI, plays Jack Crawford, the stern but decent F.B.I. superior formerly played by Scott Glenn in The Silence of the Lambs, Dennis Farina in Manhunter, and Harvey Keitel in Red Dragon. In the pilot, Crawford is searching for an unidentified serial killer who is killing young girls and leaving their bodies in grotesque, artistic poses. In need of profiling assistance, Crawford seeks out Will Graham, an F.B.I. agent played by Hugh Dancy who specializes in tracking serial killers and has left the field to teach at the F.B.I. academy. Graham’s form of autism helps him to feel empathy for sociopaths and psychopaths. This makes him skilled at understanding and finding serial killers, but leaves him unable to function in basic social situations. When Crawford becomes unsure if being back in the field is too much for the vulnerable and unstable Graham, he contacts the Baltimore psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter, played by Mads Mikkelsen, to both help with the serial killer profile and also psychoanalyze Graham.

As previously mentioned, the cast is excellent. When I learned that Dancy would be playing Graham as an autistic character, I assumed that this decision would be just a way to distinguish Graham from all the other broken and neurotic crime-solving geniuses on television (which on a very short list would include House, Lie to Me, The Mentalist, Sherlock, and Elementary) and also build off Dancy’s portrayal of a young man with aspergers in Adam. The characterization works plausibly, and also makes Dancy’s take on Graham very distinct from William Peterson’s very good work as the character in Manhunter (though Dancy still wears the beard Peterson sported in the film) and Edward Norton’s rather dull take on Graham in Red Dragon. Fisburne, now looking heavier than ever, frequently seems to be in projects that are undeserving of his intelligence (including CSI), but he makes Crawford a more complicated figure than he has been in past Lector installments. In the pilot, Crawford moves between fulfilling his own best interests to use Graham and a more altruistic desire to help the socially isolated Graham be part of the world. Fishburne is very good on the show at keeping these attractive and unattractive qualities present in all of his scenes. Lastly, the casting of Mads Mikkelsen as Lecter is a home run on so many fronts. Anthony Hopkins immortalized Lector through his equally complex and hammy performance in The Silence of the Lambs and Brian Cox was also very strong as a flamboyant Lecter in Manhunter, and Mikkelsen’s decision to play Lecter in a far more interior and understated manner is an intelligent decision that a less thoughtful actor wouldn’t have considered. Fortunately, Mikkelsen is a subtle actor who can hold his own in both independent foreign dramas (After the Wedding) and big-budget Hollywood spectacle (Casino Royale, Clash of the Titans). I’m oddly excited to see what these three solid actors do with their characters, and hopefully the show fulfills the potential of the pilot.

Roger Ebert

2013-04-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's passing of well-known film critic Roger Ebert is saddening, but Ebert's achievements are so significant that we were lucky to ever have him at all. Through his long-running television program At the Movies, he and fellow film critic Gene Siskel were able to both popularize American film criticism and bring greater public attention to documentaries, foreign films, and independent cinema. After Siskel's passing, Ebert kept the show going: first with guests and then with the younger critic Richard Roeper. Ebert's body of film writing is staggering: decades of weekly reviews at The Chicago Sun-Times, multiple books, and his frequently updated website. As a keen observer of trends in the film industry and movie criticism, Ebert was smart and open-minded enough to embrace criticism on the Internet instead of limiting his work to print and television. He was ill for many years, and set a good example by never giving up on his career or life despite his health problems and the surgeries that left him disfigured and unable to speak. For many of us who write about film, he was an inspiration.

A is for Avoid!: 'The ABCs of Death'

2013-03-17T10:20:00.002-07:00

Film Review in Brief by Aden Jordan

The ABCs of Death

What happened to the anthology horror film? They used to have a sense of wonder and creepiness (The Twilight Zone Movie) or at least play things out with a tongue planted firmly in cheek and an eye for genre references (Grindhouse and Tales From the Hood). Now the subgenre seems to only revel in misogyny and torture porn sadism.

This trend was very obvious in last year’s V/H/S, and is front and center in the new anthology horror picture The ABCs of Death. The film is structured as twenty-six shorts, each about three minutes long, directed by twenty-six different directors. Most of the shorts are unoriginal, aesthetically unattractive, and morally reprehensible.

Women get the worst treatment in the film. There is a fat girl who slices all of her fat off in an effort to be thin, and this terrible act is presented as being funny. Another woman is tortured in a bathtub, and females are generally presented as victims or evil.

Misogyny is not enough for the filmmakers so animal abuse and pedophilia also pop up frequently. There is a short about dogfighting and a horrific and pointless short about the purely evil act of animal crushing (if you don’t know what that is, you’re better off not knowing). In another short, a grown man has intercourse with a young boy as two other men masturbate to the act. I think you get the picture of how morally repugnant this film is.

I’ve probably given this worthless “film” more attention than it deserves by even writing this negative review so I’ll stop while I’m ahead. This is the worst film of the year so far, and exactly the type of movie that contributes nothing original, beautiful, or relevant to the world.

Grade: F

Some Seventies Flicks

2013-03-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

Fat City (1971)

Filmed on location in Stockton, Fat City is a gritty, everyday life downer about two boxers. One boxer is a young man played by Jeff Bridges. He has no training or experience, but he’s a natural in the ring and starts to make a name for himself when he finds a committed trainer. The other boxer is an older, washed up alcoholic played by Stacey Keach. Fat City follows the young boxer as he climbs his way up in the boxing world, and we also track the older boxer as he self-destructs with alcohol and a supremely selfish and manipulative girlfriend. It’s not a feel-good sports movie, but Fat City is realistic, human, and observant. Bridges and especially Keach are excellent in the film, and the ending came to director John Huston while he was asleep on set!

Emperor of the North (1973)

Also made in the ‘70s, Robert Aldrich’s Emperor of the North pits locomotive train guard Ernest Borgnine against train-hopping hobos Lee Marvin and Keith Carradine. The story takes place in the 1920’s Depression, and paints a misanthropic picture of corrupt, murderous authority in the form of Borgnine and a lack of honor in Carradine’s back-stabbing young hobo. Marvin is the film’s hero: a lone hobo with wits and a conscience. Borgnine passed away recently, and Emperor is must-see viewing for anyone looking to experience the late actor’s commanding intensity.

'Argo' See It

2013-02-09T18:43:00.000-08:00

I was very late to seeing Argo so I don’t feel a complete review is necessary or relevant. The film is about as a good as Affleck’s last movie The Town even though the subject matter is different and broader. While The Town and Affleck’s debut Gone Baby Gone were both Boston crime movies taken from paperback novels, Argo tackles the ‘based on a true story’ events of the C.I.A. trying to get six U.S. embassy workers out of Iran during the Iranian hostage crisis. Affleck does an admirable job of maintaining a tone that moves smoothly between humor and suspense. The strongest section of the film is the funny and believable first third of the story where Affleck’s character, C.I.A. operative Tony Mendez, goes to Burbank to work with some Old Hollywood pros played by John Goodman and Alan Arkin on the fake movie they’re creating as a means of passing the embassy workers off as a film crew.

The last two thirds of the movie feel contrived at moments, and none of the characters are given much development, even the lead protagonist Mendez. Due to the thin character development, some of the relationships between the hostages feel forced or superficial. Flaws aside, this movie has an incredible cast of mostly male performers. In addition to Affleck, Goodman, and Arkin, there is Bryan Cranston, Chris Messina, Kyle Chandler (also recently in Zero Dark Thirty), Philip Baker Hall, Bob Gunton, Scott McNairy, Tate Donovan, Victor Garber, and Clea Duvall.

Non-Independents Day: Not Another Will Smith Movie

2013-02-08T12:56:00.001-08:00

Over the past two or three months, I’ve watched the trailer for the new Will Smith movie After Earth before almost every mainstream movie currently playing in theaters. The movie appears to be about Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith being astronauts of some kind in the future who crash land on a de-populated Earth where the only inhabitants are animals evolved to kill humans. After Earth looks stupid and lazy especially because Tom Cruise has an upcoming sci-fi movie (Oblivion), which has a similar premise about a de-populated future Earth. Smith’s continued efforts to create genetic (and generic) entertainment spin-offs or sequels with his son are also kind of sad and off-putting. What makes me think After Earth will be especially awful is that the film is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the “auteur” who hasn’t made a decent movie in over a decade.

During the fourth or fifth time I had to watch the After Earth trailer during coming attractions, it dawned on me that despite all the fame and fortune Smith has made off the sci-fi genre he’s done nothing to support indie sci-fi. No other A-list actor living today or possibly ever living has made a career so dependent on science fiction (and no, Patrick Stewart doesn’t count because he’s not in the A-list). Smith has made major bank off Independence Day, Men in Black, Wild Wild West, Men in Black II, I Robot, I Am Legend, Hancock, Men in Black III, and soon After Earth. Despite owing most of his career success to appearing in sci-fi flicks, Smith has never lent his name to an independent sci-fi production. He’s been a producer and an executive producer on some of his movies and stuff his wife and kids have been in, but he’s never given back to directors and writers struggling to mount an independent sci-fi project.

I don’t know Smith personally or even know much about him, but to me this reeks of ingratitude. My suspicion is that Smith could care less about science fiction. He just knows that he’s made money doing sci-fi movies, and that people will give him money to be Will Smith in sci-fi movies. If Smith really wanted to show gratitude to his sci-fi fans and the genre as a whole, he’d throw a few bones to the Britt Marlings or Don Cascarellis of the indie world to make low-budget sci-fi pictures. Until he does that, he really just seems like another ungrateful, undeserving A-list actor not giving back to the genre communities that have made his pockets fat.

What's On The Talking Box

2013-02-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

Currently on Television

The Following, Monday nights on FOX. There have only been two episodes so far of Kevin Williamson's serial killer thriller-drama. Kevin Bacon has been strong as usual as the broken former FBI agent tracking the cult following of serial killer Joe Carroll (played by James Purefoy). So far the show's strengths have been its creepiness and a few moments of genuine suspense. The weaknesses are far greater: Carroll is not a convincing cult leader. He doesn't come across as charming or nurturing enough to manipulate his followers into killing innocent people for him. The character is far less convincing that the recent big screen cult leaders played by John Hawkes in Martha Marcy May Marlene and Britt Marling in Sound of My Voice. The show's constant use of dark alternative rock from the 1990's is also very uninspired: so far we've been treated to tracks by Marilyn Manson (so obvious), the Deftones, and Massive Attack.

Justified, Tuesday nights on FX. Smart, pulpy, and macho as ever. 'Nuff said.

Workaholics, Wednesday nights on Comedy Central. The new season so far has been funny, and has already sported two memorable cameos by great character actors (Daniel Stern and Robert Englund). R.I.P. Jet 'Mutha-F***ing' Set.

Kroll Show, Wednesday nights on Comedy Central. Nick Kroll's sketch comedy program is hit or miss, but so far there has been at least one stand-out skit in each episode. In the pilot, it was the quotable, accurate Degrassi spoof (Wheels, Ontario) and in last week's episode it was the nearly believable Jersey Shore meets Ghost Hunters parody (Ghost Bouncers).

The Office, Thursday nights on ABC. In its final season, the writing on The Office has been braver and more inventive than it may have ever been. The terminally boring Jim and Pam have some domestic drama for once in their predictable relationship, and the fallout of Oscar's betrayal towards Angela has been genuinely moving.

Spoiler Alert: "John Dies at the End"

2013-02-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

Film Review by Aden Jordan

The early months of the year are usually rough-going for new film releases because the studios like to dump the films they don’t deem worthy for summer and fall releases into theaters at this time. This sad truth makes Don Cascarelli’s new independent horror comedy John Dies at the End all the more welcome and remarkable. The film is an adaptation of David Wong’s novel of the same name about two young slackers named Dave and John who encounter sinister and otherworldly forces after consuming a perception-altering drug called Soy Sauce. Synthesizing high-gore horror and creepiness with absurd, tongue-in-cheek humor, John Dies at the End is incredibly original, fun, and a major gift to fans of genre filmmaking.

John Dies at the End mostly unfolds in flashbacks as Dave (played by the impressive newcomer Chase Williamson) tells his adventures with John and the Soy Sauce to the skeptical feature reporter Arnie (Paul Giamatti, also an executive producer for the film and clearly loving the weird project). At first, Dave is an unreliable narrator to Arnie both because he’s testing the reporter’s suspicion, and because Dave is on the mind-tripping Soy Sauce as he tells his story. Part of the film’s intrigue comes from often not knowing from scene to scene what is really happening and what is not. In Dave’s convoluted story, he and his best friend John (Rob Mayes) cross paths with a campy spiritual mentalist (Clancy Brown, sporting an awesomely and purposefully bad European accent), a no-nonsense homicide detective (Glynn Turman, who gives a remarkably deep monologue about the similarities between demonic evil and country radio), and a group of topless women from another dimension led by Daniel Roebuck in a cartoon mask.

The first two-thirds of JDATE are genuinely startling and creepy, and the last third of the movie is more comedic. Overall, Cascarelli is able to sustain a tone that is both menacing and funny throughout the entire story. Williamson’s performance anchors as the film as the movie and the character of Dave move between horror and comedy, reality and insanity, seriousness and over-the-top, and (no joke) time and space. He and Mayes are more than ably assisted by old pros Giamatti, Brown, Turman, and Roebuck. For fans of weird and inventive genre filmmaking, there is nothing in theaters (and On Demand) right now that comes close to Cascarelli’s strange brew.

Grade: B+

John Dies at the End is currently available for purchase On Demand and playing in select theaters.

The Deadly Syndrome Break Up

2013-01-26T15:35:00.000-08:00

Last night as I was checking the websites of various indie bands I follow and admire, I was shocked to see a long farewell letter on The Deadly Syndrome's website saying that the band was no more. This announcement was made over two and a half weeks ago on the band's website and on their Twitter and Facebook accounts, but I hadn't checked the group's website in several weeks so I missed this sad news.

This information came as a huge shock to me for several reasons. First, The Deadly Syndrome had just released their third and best studio album, All In Time, last summer. It's the group's best work, and the album that I thought for sure would get the band more of the attention and acclaim that they deserve. Secondly, some of the band's songs had appeared in films (World's Greatest Dad, Jackass 3.5) and on television (Catfish) in the past few years. The group seemed busy and posed to do more good work.

In the farewell letter on their website, The Deadly Syndrome give no definite reason for why they're no longer going to be a band. On their Twitter and Facebook accounts, they've also declined to discuss why they're done with the gig. While myself and the band's other fans are undoubtedly curious why TDS is calling it quits, the group doesn't owe it to anyone to say why they're done. They stressed in their letter that they are grateful for all the support they received from fans over the seven years they recorded and played music professionally. Their farewell letter is classy and full of the gratitude that bands too often neglect to show the people who attend their shows, buy their merch, and spread the necessary word of mouth to gain any following.

I don't want to make this post about me. Doing so would be disrespectful towards a grateful, hardworking indie band that will be missed if their retiring is permanent. That being said, this group and their music meant a lot to me, just as they have to their other fans who are also bummed about this break up. I had the good fortune to see The Deadly Syndrome twice: once at the Slide Bar in Fullerton where they headlined a concert put on by the radio station KROQ and another time at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa where they opened for The Dodos. The band members were remarkably present at both shows. They clearly took their music and performing seriously, and they put a lot of heart and energy into each of their songs. Some bands show up to their own shows just to get a paycheck, and they don't care how they come across. The Deadly Syndrome did not seem like that type of band. They worked hard and they respected their fans.

In this very different concert climate where bands can make more money off reunion concerts than regular touring, the possibility of The Deadly Syndrome reuniting in the future seems possible. Then again, the group existed for seven years and never made it big despite creating three solid records. While they may not have reached the big time, The Deadly Syndrome made some damn good albums, and us fans were fortunate to hear any of them.

To band members William Etling, Jesse Hoy, Michael Hughes, and Christopher Richard, thank you for the music and memories.

For the farewell letter, see here.

‘The Following’ Falls In Pilot

2013-01-22T16:42:00.000-08:00

Television Review by Aden Jordan

FOX’s new serial killer drama The Following premiered last night after several months of heavy promotion by the network and some more recent controversy resulting from the tragic public gun massacres in Colorado and Connecticut. This controversy has stemmed from the fact that The Following is a very violent show. In the pilot alone, several prison guards are slashed to death, a woman voluntarily stabs herself in the eye with an ice pick, and an innocent young woman is killed after having her eyes pulled out by each nerve. There’s also some off-screen violence towards dogs and puppies, which will probably have animal lovers changing channels before the pilot ends. The recent public gun massacres in Colorado and Connecticut have brought more attention to the debate on the possible ill effects of TV violence on unstable minds, and The Following has become an easy target for people concerned that media violence inspires real-life violence.

The show is about a former Virginia college literature professor turned serial killer named Joe Carroll. Played by James Purefoy, Carroll is an obvious and clichéd role ripped right out of the pages of a Hannibal Lecter novel. It’s not enough for Carroll to be an educated and articulate professor, he also has to have a thick European accent and an obsession with Edgar Allen Poe. The pilot episode opens with Carroll, a convicted killer on death row, busting out of prison. Carroll has a cult following on the Internet of disturbed souls who are willing to assist Carroll to freedom even if it means killing themselves or killing other people. There’s only one man up to the task of bringing in Carroll: a burned out FBI agent named Ryan Hardy. The thoughtful, subtle, and always watchable Kevin Bacon plays Hardy, and while Bacon is good as usual, Hardy is also a clichéd character. He’s the barely-holding-it-together cop who drinks vodka for breakfast and can’t help but bring the job home with him. In the pilot, Maggie Grace plays one of Carroll’s surviving victims, and Natalie Zea is Carroll’s ex-wife and Hardy’s former lover (the serial killer, serial killer's wife, and cop love triangle does not sound promising).

The Following is unrelentingly bleak and grisly, which makes it unique for network television but far from entertaining. The show takes violence seriously which separates it from all the other murder procedurals on the network channels that compensate for homicide with wacky supporting characters and weekly comic relief. There’s no levity on The Following, not even one wise-cracking backup character. The show’s severity could make more for interesting programming if it weren’t for the clichéd nature of the two lead characters, and their obsessive, deeply linked arch-enemy connection (which again screams of Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, Patrick Jane and Red John…should I go on?). Ultimately, The Following is as obvious and unpleasant as the Marilyn Manson song that bookends the pilot.

Grade: C+

Currently On TV

2013-01-21T11:02:00.001-08:00

Monday

FOX's new serial killer drama The Following premieres tonight at 9 p.m. The series focuses on a retired FBI agent played by Kevin Bacon forced back into the line of duty after a notorious serial killer played by James Purefoy breaks out of prison and gains a following of fans willing to kill for their murderous leader. The Following has received a lot of negative attention after the recent school massacre in Connecticut has revived the debate on the ill effects of violence on television (which was also very prevalent after last year's Colorado mass shooting). Personally, I'm going to give the show a shot tonight because Kevin Bacon has been so consistently strong in everything he does for so long that he alone is a worthy draw to the program.

Tuesday

Justified has returned to FX for the show's fourth season, and has been pulpy fun during the new season's first two episodes. Especially after last week's episode I've been eager to have many questions posed by the show answered. What's the big deal over the bag Raylan found in Arlo's house? Is Joe Mazzello's scruffy young preacher a genuine man of God or a backwoods charlatan? Who is the bare-knuckle fighter and why is he bugging Raylan's bartender girlfriend? I'm looking forward to the answers.

Wednesday

Some of my friends have complained that Nick Kroll's new sketch comedy show Kroll Show on Comedy Central is distractingly inconsistent. I agree with them, but that's also the nature of sketch comedy. The pilot episode had an impressively accurate DeGrassi parody titled Wheels, Ontario and an uproarious Bravo/E! mockfest about two blonde PR tools both named Liz (pubLIZity). The rest of the material was forgettable and went on too long.

The King On Writing

2013-01-18T12:45:00.002-08:00

Stephen King’s 2000 nonfiction book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft was written during a physically and emotionally trying period of the famous author’s life. Throughout the period he worked on the book, King was plagued with doubts that he was creating something that would be helpful for other fiction authors. It was during the process of constructing On Writing that King was struck by a driver along a Maine road. The car accident was nearly fatal and was widely covered in the news. King spent a significant amount of time in the hospital, then in a wheelchair, and could barely bring himself to write because sitting caused him severe pain. Fortunately for King, his family, and readers, the beloved author pulled through his injuries and finished his book on writing.

On Writing is meant to be a practical writing guide for fiction authors, and a lot of King’s advice is also useful for nonfiction authors. He began writing the book as a practical advice guide on writing after a discussion with fellow author Amy Tan left King with the impression that most ‘how to’ books on writing were more about the process than the language itself. With this in mind, King set out to write a book on writing that offered practical advice both on the writing process and terminology.

Some of his most helpful tips include:

-Write the first draft of a book with the door closed, shutting out the outside world. For the second draft, write with the door open and be open to feedback.

-Avoid adverbs. King includes a memorable section explaining why he finds adverbs to be distracting.

-Keep to a schedule. For King, his work ethic is ten pages a day no matter what.

-Focus on the story first, themes second. King believes that strong themes follow naturally from a strong story.

I won’t list any more of King’s pragmatic advice from the book. If you’re a writer and haven’t read On Writing yet, you definitely should even if you’re not a fan of King’s famous fiction work. It’s one of the best books about writing out there.