AndMoreAgain

June Reviews

2013-06-02T17:32:00.000-07:00

Self-portrait by Seattle photographer Jini Dellaccio.

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: Titles to come.

Amazon Theat-
ricals:
The Spectacular Now (with Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley), Before Midnight (Richard Linklater directs Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy), Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, The Bling Ring (Sofia Coppola directs Emma Watson), and Turbo (animated feature with the voices of Paul Giamatti and Ryan Reynolds).

Line Out: Music and Photography Trailblazers at SIFF: Her Aim Is True and A Band Called Death, The Mantles' Paisley Throwback Track "Hello," Rick Springfield's Affair of the Heart: Flattering, Yet Strangely Compelling, Jenny Hval's Splendidly Schizophrenic "I Called," Parquet Court and Lil Bub: On the Road to Win Your Heart, John Grant: Greatest Motherfucker You're Ever Gonna Meet, King Khan & the Shrines - "Born to Die," Sub Pop Signs Italian Noise Trio His Electro Blue Voice, Colleen Weighs Her Heart on New Album.

A Pitch Perfect PR press release about their latest video ("Mean Maybe") quotes from my post about Yellowbirds' Songs from the Vanished Frontier, "I hoped for the best from the band's second full-length, and Cohen and company have delivered."

SIFFBlog: Blurry Pictures of Dynamic Directors, Pt. 3.

Video Librarian: OMD Live - Architecture & Morality & More [Blu-ray], Steel Magnolias, An Affair of the Heart, A Tribute to Ron Asheton, Wine, Women & Friends, Chandelier Status: Sommore, Mosquita & Mari, A Portrait of James Dean - Joshua Tree, 1951, Dio - Finding the Sacred Heart: Live in Philly 1986 [Blu-ray], Dirt Road to Psychedelia: Austin, Texas During the 1960s, Flower in Otomi, Garbage - One Mile High...Live [Blu-ray], La Source, Bob Milne - In Concert, Nova Rex - Ain't Easy Being Cheesy, Of Two Minds, Paper Mirror, Frank Zappa - A Token of His Extreme, Call the Midwife – Season Two [3-disc set], Neil Cowley Trio - Live at Montreux '12 [Blu], Drop Dead Diva - Complete Fourth Season [3-disc set], Ring of Fire.

Endnote: For more about Her Aim Is True, visit the official site.

May Reviews

2013-05-05T22:46:00.002-07:00

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVD: Women in Love (with Rosamund Pike and Rachael Stirling).

Amazon Theatricals: Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundament-
alist (with Riz Ahmed), Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha (with Greta Gerwig), Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's (documentary with Giorgio Armani, Marc Jacobs, etc.), and Scot McGehee and David Siegel's
What Maisie Knew (with Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan).

Still playing: Admission, Disconnect, Life of Pi, Quartet, and The Sapphires.

Line Out: The Phoenix Foundation Goes Deep, Scout Niblett: No
Wigs, No Scrubs, Psych-Glam Band the Burnt Ones' "Web" and You'll Never Walk Alone, UV Race and Life Stinks at Barboza, Sic Alps' Top-of-the-Pop-Tart Jam "Biz Bag" Is Rocking My World, King Khan Signs to Merge Records, Issues Statement Filled with Movie Refer-
ences, Shannon & the Clams' Newish Single "In a Dream" Is Dreamy, Black Moth Super Rainbow Live on KEXP, RocketNumberNine's Productive, Sci-Fi Post-Post-Punk Will Make You Move, Ernest Greene's Washed Out Gets Kaleidoscopic and Paracosmic in New Album Trailer, Two Documentary Stars at This Year's SIFF: a Punk Singer and a Freeze-Dried Pomeranian, and The Vanished Frontier.

Drag City quotes my Scout Niblett review in the "Gun" press release:
"Her emotions lie just below the surface, threatening to escape in full,
spilling out all over the place, incinerating everything in their vicinity.
It's as if her instrumental restraint keeps them in check." - The Stranger

Pitch Perfect PR quotes my RN9 review in the "Deadly Buzz" press release:

"This percussion extravaganza from the London duo RocketNumberNine (brothers Tom and Ben Page) gets my vote for the best song of the week. No vocals to get in the way, lots of drums to clear your head...The forward momentum makes me want to work, and I mean that as a compliment."

Video Librarian: 110%, Face 2 Face, Flirting with Danger -
Power & Choice in Heterosexual Relationships, It Was Rape,
Love, Hate and Everything in Between, Saving Face, Still Around,
Wonder Women! - The Untold Story of American Superheroines,
Paul Anka - Live in Switzerland [Blu-ray], and Save the Date.

Endnote: Frances Ha still from IFC (opens in Seattle on 5/24).

April Reviews

2013-04-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

These are
the reviews
and other
pieces I'm
working on
this month.

Amazon
DVDs: A Late Quartet [Blu-ray] (Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Cath-
erine Keener), Weeds - Season Eight: The Final Season [two-disc set], and Parade's End (Judi Dench).

Amazon Theatrical: Disconnect (Alexander Skarsgård).

Still playing (or yet to open): Admission, Amour, Beyond the Hills,
The Guilt Trip, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Quartet, and The Sapphires.

Line Out: Herbcraft's Fantastic Voyage, Ellen Alien Composed
a Score for You, New Video and Song: The Cyclist's "Bones in Motion," King Tuff: Bad Words and Classic Beats, New Dark Dark Dark Song: "What I Needed," Colleen Green Makes Pure Pop for Now People, The Burnt Ones Are on Your Side, Carmen Villain's Video Focuses on Faces, Angel Olsen's New Record & Tour, A Trip to the Past with Dead Ghosts, Angel Olsen's Stunning Set at Barboza, New Helado Negro Video: "Relatives," It Came from Toronto: Odonis Odonis, Bobby Whitlock: Rock & Roll Survivor.

Video Librarian: Barbie in the Pink Shoes [Blu-ray], Sousa on the Rez - Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum, I’m Now - The Story of Mudhoney, Spirit of the Church, Vol. 1, Miles Davis with Quincy Jones & the Gil Evans Orchestra - Live at Montreux 1991 [Blu-ray], GLOW - The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, Michael Jackson - Moscow Case 1993 - When the King
of Pop Met the Soviets, and Future Weather.

Amazon.com Widgets

Endnote: Herbcraft image from Woodsist.

March Reviews

2013-03-05T09:34:00.002-08:00

Still from Beware of Mr. Baker.

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: The Sessions [Blu-ray] (with John Hawkes and Helen Hunt) and Secrets of Highclere Castle.

Amazon Theatricals: The Sapphires, Admission (with Tina Fey and Paul Rudd), At Any Price (Dennis Quaid and Zac Ephron), and Cristian
Mungiu's Beyond the Hills.

Still playing (or yet to open): Amour, Bless Me, Ultima, The Guilt
Trip, Life of Pi, Lincoln, The Master, Quartet, and Rust and Bone.

Line Out: The Asshole Glory of Ginger Baker, Cellist Julia Kent Has Character, Yellowbirds - "Young Men of Promise," Helado Negro - Calm Cool, and Collected, The Music and Movies of the L.A. Rebellion, Web of Sunsets - "Fool's Melodies," Odonis Odonis's "Better" Brings Me Back, Julian Lynch's Psych-Jazz-Folk Lines, Carmen Villain: Model, Musician, Dreamer, RocketNumberNine's Get-to-Work Music, METZ and Master's Freddie Quell: "Wasted."

Video Librarian: The Big Picture - Rethinking Dyslexia, Lost and Sound, The World Before Her, No Way Out But One, Phineas and Ferb - Animal Agents, Starlet, and Wuthering Heights.

Endnote: Ginger Baker image from Snag Films.

February Reviews

2013-01-31T23:39:00.002-08:00

Paul Williams (Paul Williams: Still Alive) at the Egyptian on 5/12.

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: Downton Abbey -Season Three [two-disc set] and Boardwalk Empire - The Complete Third Season [five-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals: Bless Me, Ultima.

Still playing (or yet to open): Amour, Anna Karen-
ina, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Quartet, and Rust and Bone.

Line Out: Feeding People's Island Universe, Yo La Tengo - Steadfast and True, Sleepwalking in Space with Psychic Twin, Julian Lynch's Lovely "Carios kelleyi I," Mouse on Mars Are on
the Move, Pony Time - "What If You Caught Me," White Fence's Fuzztastic "Pink Gorilla," Sonny Smith Contains Multitudes,
Anika Covers Chromatics on New EP, Mouse on Mars, Mat-
mos, and Horse Lords, "Bitter Buddha" Eddie Pepitone at NW-
FF, Barren Girls - "She-Devil," Melt Yourself Down's Life-Fixer.

Video Librarian: Chicken with Plums, Color Me Obsessed -
A Film about the Replacements, Gossip Girl - The Complete
Sixth and Final Season [three-disc set], 28 Hotel Rooms, Face-
book Follies, Loving a Stranger, Paul Williams - Still Alive,
Sext Up Kids - How Children Are Becoming Hypersexualiz-
ed, and Transgender Tuesdays - A Clinic in the Tenderloin.

Amazon.com Widgets

Endnote: Image from my personal collection.

January Reviews

2013-01-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: The Life & Times of Tim - The Complete Third Season [2-disc set], The Hour - Season Two [2-Blu set], Scarecrow and Mrs. King - The 4th and Final Season [5-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals: Amour (Michael Hanecke
directs Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva) and Quartet (Dustin Hoffman directs Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay).

Still playing (or yet to open): Anna Karenina, The Guilt Trip,
Life of Pi, Lincoln, Playing for Keeps, and Rust and Bone.

Line Out: Raw Balls and Bad Eggs: The Ballad of UV Race, Listen to Broadcast's Semi-Final LP, Girls Names - "Hypnotic Regression," New Year's Greetings from Michel Gondry, Nick Cave Knows Who You Are, Woodsist Signs Eat Skull, the Woolen Men, The Return of Camper Van Beethoven, Back from the Grave with Segall and Cronin, Surf Party with the Traditional Fools, LISm: Ellen Allien's Headphone Dance Score, Haunting New Videos from Angel Olsen, Lonnie Holley: Before Music, Outside Time, On Her New Single, Colleen Green Has All the Time in the World, Julia Kent's Dramatic Tourbillon, and Herbcraft's Flute-Saturated Stunner.

Video Librarian: (A)Sexual - A Minority No Longer Silent,
Jason Becker - Not Dead Yet, The Boy Game, From Dust to
Dreams - Opening Night at the Smith, Grrrl Love and Revolution -
Riot Grrrl NYC, The Light in Her Eyes, Mama C - Urban Warrior in the African Bush, Patti Smith - Live at Montreux 2005 [Blu-ray], Strong!, World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements, Ike & Tina - On the Road: 1971-72, Lady Antebellum - Own the Night: World Tour, Let the Music Play - Story of the Doobie Bros., Joan Rivers - Don’t Start with Me, Playing for Keeps, Rust and Bone.

Amazon.com Widgets

Endnote: British poster image from Artificial Eye.

Songs for Cineastes: 2012 Edition

2012-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

Cate Le Bon (The Control Group)

Click here for the 2011 edition.

Rather than a list of film scores or soundtracks, the following represents an assortment of music recommended for movie lovers such as myself. Some independent film fans prefer mainstream movie fare. Similarly, some art house aficionados prefer major-label music. There's nothing wrong with that; I just can't relate to it (and try to avoid giving the Man my money whenever possible). If you share my taste in movies, there's a good chance you might share my taste in music. Links lead to reviews and previews for Line Out.

The Tops:
1. Cate Le Bon - CYRK (The Control Group)
2. Julia Holter - Ekstasis (RVNG Intl.)
3. Tie: Neneh Cherry - The Cherry Thing
    and The Cherry Thing Remixed (Smalltown Supersound)
4. Niobe - The Cclose Calll (Tomlab)
5. Tie: Ty Segall - Twins and Ty Segall
    and White Fence - Hair (Drag City)
6. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Cobra Juicy (Rad Cult)
7. FRKWYS Vol.9: Sun Araw & M. Geddes Gengras
    Meet the Congos - Icon Give Thank (RVNG Intl.)
8. METZ - METZ (Sub Pop)
9. Django Django - Django Django (Ribbon Music)
10. Melody's Echo Chamber - Melody's Echo Chamber (Fat Possum)

Runners-up:
1. Air - Le Voyage dans le Lune (Astralwerks-EMI)
2. Black Bananas - Rad Times Xpress IV (Drag City)
3. Frankie Rose - Interstellar (Slumberland)
4. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch (4AD)
5. Tie: Field Music - Plumb (Memphis Industries)
    and Play the Hits... limited ed. EP (Field Music)
6. Sic Alps - Sic Alps ( Drag City)
7. Soft Moon - Zeros (Captured Tracks)
8. Six Organs of Admittance - Ascent (Drag City)
9. Chrome Canyon - Elemental Themes (Stones Throw)
10. Redd Kross - Rehearsing the Blues (Merge)

Second runners-up:
1. Cat Power - Sun (Matador)
2. Shintaro Sakamoto - How to Live with a Phantom
    (Other Music Recording Co.)
3. Moon Duo - Circles (Sacred Bones)
4. Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man in the Universe
    (XL Recordings)
5. Blues Control - Valley Tangents (Drag City)
6. Holly Herndon - Movement (RVNG Intl.)
7. Matmos - The Ganzfeld EP (Thrill Jockey)
8. Beak> - >> (Invada)
9. Tyvek - On Triple Beams (In the Red)
10. Lavender Diamond - Incorruptible Heart (Paracadute)

Amazon.com Widgets

Also worthy of note: Willis Earl Beal - Acousmatic Sorcery (XL Recordings), the Babies - Our House on the Hill (Woodsist), Erik Blood - Touch Screens (self-released), Ceremony - Zoo (Matador), Deep Time - Deep Time (Hardly Art), Dirty Three - Toward the Low Sun (Drag City), Martin Eden - Dedicate Function (Lefse), Elephant and Castle - Transitions (Plug Research), ESP - ESP EP (self-released), Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio (Blue Note-EMI), La Sera - Sees the Light (Hardly Art), Shawn Lee - Synthesizers in Space (ESL Music), Levek - Look a Little Closer (Lefse), Dent May - Do Things (Paw Tracks), Marisa Monte - O Que Você Quer Saber De Verdade (Blue Note-EMI), MV and EE - Space Homestead (Woodsist), Nude Beach - Nude Beach II (Other Music Recording Co.), Onuinu - Mirror Gazer (Bladen County-Bad Cop Bad Cop), Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (Dull Tools), Robust Worlds - Emotional Planet (De Stijl), Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse (In the Red), Mariee Sioux - Gift for the End (Almost Musique-Whale Watch), Standard Fare - Out of Sight, Out of Town (Melodic), Terry Malts - Killing Time (Slumberland), THEESatisfaction - AweNatural (Sub Pop), Tomten - Wednesday's Children (Flat Field), the Unthanks - Diversions Vol. 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons (Rough Trade), UV Race - Racism (In the Red), Various Artists - FAC. Dance 02 (Strut) Various Artists - We Are the Works in Progress (Asa Wa Kuru), Vex Ruffin - Same Thing Tomorrow (Stones Throw) [cassette], White Fence - Family Perfume Vol. 1 & 2 (Woodsist), Andre Williams - Hoods and Shades (Bloodshot), Woods & Amps for Christ split LP (Shrimper), and Young Magic - Melt (Carpark).

Amazon.com Widgets

Love what I heard (need to hear more): A Place to Bury
Strangers - Onwards to the Wall (Dead Oceans), Flying Lotus -
Until the Quiet Comes (Warp), Royal Baths - Better Luck
Next Life (Kanine), Andy Stott - Luxury Problems (Mod-
ern Love), and Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II (In the Red).

Top Reissues and Archival Material:
1. Various Artists - Listen Whitey! Sounds
of Black Power 1967-74 (Light in the Attic)
2. Sensations Fix - Music Is Painting in the Air (RVNG Intl.)
3. feedtime - The Aberrant Years ( Sub Pop)
4. Royal Trux - Accelerator (Drag City)
5. Golden Calves - Collection (Woodsist)

Note: Can's Lost Tapes box set set is on my wish list.

Love what I heard (need to hear more): Francis Bebey -
African Electronic Music: 1975-82 (Born Bad), Michael Chap-
man - Rainmaker (Light in the Attic), Alex Chilton - Free Again:
The 1970 Sessions (Omnivore), Franco Falsini - Cold Nose
(Spectrum Spools), Lee Hazlewood - The LHI Years: Singles
Nudes & Backsides: 1968-71 (Light in the Attic), Patrice
Sciortino - Chronoradial (Omni Recording Co.), Various Artists -
Beat Frauleins: Female Pop in Germany 1964-68 (Grosse
Freiheit), and Leslie Winer - Leslie Winer &c. (Wormhole).

Songs I didn't hate...at all: Maroon 5 - "Moves Like Jagger" and Gotye - "Someone That I Used to Know." A great melody is a great melody is a great melody. I don't care where it comes from.

Endnote: A work in progress. More sounds and images to come.

2012-12-31T18:53:00.000-08:00

Movies for Music Lovers: 2012 Edition

Click here for the 2011 edition.

Some of these films premiered in the US in 2011, but didn't arrive in Seattle until 2012, in which case I deferred to local release dates. Some missed the city altogether, in which case I caught up via DVD. I wrote about many for Amazon, Line Out, The Seattle International Film Festival, SIFFBlog, and Video Librarian (the links lead to reviews, though Rust and Bone and Amour haven't been posted yet, since they don't open here until January).

The Tops:
1. Patience (After Sebald) (Grant Gee)

In his haunting profile of an author's defining novel, Gee created a true work of art.

2. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr)
3. Shame (Steve McQueen)
5. Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard)
6. The Master (P.T. Anderson)
7. Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine)
8. Killing Them Softly (Andrew Dominick)
9. Hello I Must Be Going (Todd Louiso)
10. The Source (Maria Doumopolis and Jody Wille)

Runners-up:
1. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson)

Love the adults, couldn't stand the kids.

2. Compliance (Craig Zobel)
3. Skyfall (Sam Mendes)
4. Bernie (Richard Linklater)
5. Amour (Michael Hanecke)
6. Miss Bala (Gerardo Naranja)

If Laura comes at the trade from a different angle, Miss Bala serves as an inside-out response to Maria Full of Grace, which also centered on a sympathetic mule (and featured a strong central performance from another virtual unknown). From start to finish, Laura is neither action heroine nor passive victim, but rather stoic survivor.

7. House of Pleasures (Bertrand Bonello)
8. Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell)
9. Dark Horse (Todd Solondz)
10. Lincoln (Steven Spielberg)

Second runners-up:
1. Tie: The Avengers (Joss Whedon) and
Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard)
2. The Sessions (Ben Lewin)
3. Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
4. Looper (Rian Johnson)

Mostly for the boy from StephenKingLand.

5. Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg)
6. Flight (Robert Zemeckis)
7. For a Good Time, Call... (Jamie Travis)
8. Life of Pi (Ang Lee)
9. Chicken with Plums (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud)
10. Magic Mike (Steven Soderbergh)

Also worthy of note: Anna Karenina, Before Your Eyes (Min
Dit: The Children of Diyarbakir), Bonsái, Bullhead, Cirkus Col-
umbia, Cloud Atlas, Coriolanus, The Dark Knight Rises, The Do-
Deca-Pentathlon, Eden, Eye of the Storm, Goodbye (Bé Omid E Didar), The Hunger Games, In Darkness (W Ciemności), The Iron Lady, Policeman (Ha-shoter), Post Mortem, Rampart, Rebellion (L’Ordre et la Morale), Rent-a-Cat (Rentaneko), Roadie, Seven Psychopaths, Snowtown Murders, Sound of My Voice, The Slut, Summer Holiday (Boogie), Turn Me on Dammit! (Få Meg På, for Faen), V/H/S, We Need to Talk about Kevin, Your Sister's Sister.

Missed (or haven't seen yet): Arbitrage, Barbara*, Bestiaire,
Chronicle, The Color Wheel, Consuming Spirits, Damsels in Dis-
tress, The Day He Arrives (Book Chon Bang Hyang), The Deep Blue Sea, Footnote (Hearat Shulayim), Goodbye First Love (Un Amour de Jeunesse), The Grey, In Another Country (Da-reun Na-ra-e-seo), Keep the Lights On, The Kid With a Bike (Le Gamin au Vélo), Late Quartet, Les Misérables, The Loneliest Planet, Middle of Nowhere, Neighboring Sounds (O Som ao Redor), Oslo, August 31st, A Royal Affair (En Kongelig Affære), A Simple Life (Tao Jie), Sister (L'Enfant d'en Haut), Starlet, Zero Dark Thirty.

Television notables: Boardwalk Empire - Season Two, Downton Abbey - Season Two, Game Change, The Good Wife - Season Four, Revenge - Season Two, and Vegas - Season One.

* I caught a screening on Jan. 5. Adding to my Best of 2013 list.

They've done better: Andrea Arnold (Wuthering Heights), Bobby and Peter Farrelly (The Three Stooges), William Friedkin (Killer Joe), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), and Woody Allen (To Rome with Love...which I enjoyed in spite of myself).

Top documentaries:

Caught few of the big non-fiction films, but saw the small ones most others missed.

1. 5 Broken Cameras (Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi)
2. The Chilean Building (Macarena Aguiló)
3. The Boxing Girls of Kabul (Ariel Nasr)
4. Taken by Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson
and Hipgnosis (Roddy Bogawa)
5. Paul Williams: I'm Still Here (Stephen Kessler)
6. Pink Ribbons, Inc. (Léa Pool)
7. Girl Model (David Redmon and Ashley Sabin)
8. Marley (Kevin Macdonald)
9. Bad Brains: A Band in DC (Benjamen Logan)
10. Chely Wright: Wish Me Away (Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf)

Also worthy of note: Barbershop Punk, Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, Dish: Women, Waitressing and the Art of Service, Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, Family Portrait in Black and White, Better Than Something: Jay Reatard, Last Days Here, Last Fast Ride: The Life, Love and Death of a Punk Goddess, Made in India, Step up to the Plate, Tales of the Waria, and Winter Nomads (Hiver Nomade).

Missed (or haven't seen yet): Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Beware of Mr. Baker, Brooklyn Castle, Bully, The Central Park Five, Detropia, The Gatekeepers, The House I Live In, How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, The Queen of Versailles, Searching for Sugar Man, This Is Not a Film, and Under African Skies.

Reissues and rediscoveries:
1. World on a Wire / Welt am Draht (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
2. A Man Vanishes / Ningen Jôhatsu (Shohei Imamura)
3. Tie: The Connection and Ornette Made in America (Shirley Clarke)
4. Movie Orgy (Joe Dante)
5. La Vampire Nue / The Nude Vampire (Jean Rollin)

With live Demdike Stare score at this year's Decibel Festival.

Yes, I did see: Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Endnote: A work in progress. More sounds and images to come.

December Reviews

2012-12-01T18:32:00.002-08:00

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: Psych - The Complete Sixth Season [four-disc set], Call the Midwife - Season One [two-disc set], and Eastbound & Down - The Complete Third Season [two-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals:
Playing for Keeps (with
Gerard Butler and Jessica
Biel), Rust and Bone (Jac-
ques Audiard directs Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts), and The Guilt Trip (with Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand).

Line Out: Mikal Cronin Signs to Merge Records, METZ Digital Single: "Dirty Shirt," Vex Ruffin: Getting Wiggy in Chino, The Haunting Sounds of Holly Herndon, Django Django: Video, Remix, and Tour Date, Chrome Canyon's "Pluze" and the Season of Lists, Blues Control Takes Their Show on the Road, More KCMU Schwag from Way Back When, NYC Duo's Sampledelic Dream Sequence, Sun Araw Reunites with the Congos, and Trux's Accelerator.

Video Librarian: Call the Midwife - Season One [two-disc set],
Delete - The Art of Forgetting, Just Around the Corner, Produced
by George Martin [Blu-ray], Liberal Arts, Freddie Mercury - The
Great Pretender [Blu], Gary Moore - Blues for Jimi [Blu], Sky-
dancer, Words of Witness, I Am - SM Town Live World Tour in Madison Square Garden, So - Peter Gabriel [Blu], Chely Wright - Wish Me Away, Children Who Chase Lost Voices, John Cage - Journeys in Sound [Blu], Greg Allman - I'm No Angel, Paco de Lucía and Group - Live at the Germeringer Jazztage, Half the Sky - Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

Amazon.com Widgets

Endnote: Rust and Bone image from Sony Pictures Classics.

November Reviews

2012-11-04T13:22:00.005-08:00

Technological remnant of the 1980s

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: Parenthood - The Complete 3rd Season [five-disc set], Last of the Summer Wine - Vintage 1995 Sum-
mer Reserve [two-disc set], Upstairs Downstairs - Season 2 [two-disc set], and Ancient Aliens - Season 4 [two-Blu-ray set]

Amazon Theatricals: Ang Lee's Life of Pi, Joe Wright's Anna Karenina, and Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (with Daniel Day-Lewis).

Line Out: Matmos Gets Literal in New Video, Dual Form, Cyclist, and Cassette Culture, There Are Still Careers in Combat, My Son, Remixing Neneh Cherry and The Thing, Big Star and the Ballad of the Rock Doc, Stones Throw Doc on the Way, Just Say Yeah, Yeah, Yeah to Tyvek, Tweeting Scott Walker's Bish Bosch, Lola, the Boombox Cat, The Ghost of Karen Carpenter Lives On, Pearl Necklace, Arp, Double Entendres, Helado Negro's "Dance Ghost".

Video Librarian: The Kathy Griffin Collection [two-disc set], 5
Broken Cameras, Groundhogs - Live at Astoria, Mariachi High.

Amazon.com Widgets

Endnote: Image from my personal collection.

2012-09-30T20:49:00.003-07:00

Sic Alps photo by David Waldman

October Reviews

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: Burn Notice - Season Five [four-disc set],
Kingdom - Season One (with Stephen Fry) [two-disc set], and
The Ice House (with Daniel Craig and Corin Redgrave).

Amazon Theatrical: Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights.

Line Out: Niobe's Close Call, What Goes On with Sic Alps, Robust Worlds - "Best Wishes," Chrome Canyon's Elemental Themes, Six Organs of Admittance at the Crocodile, Generationals - "Sale City," Throbbing Gristle, Genesis, and Nico, Martin Eden's Dedicate(d) Function, Rangda's Desert Trip, Field Music Play(s) the Hits, Black Moth and the Return of the Rad Cult, Shirley Clarke's The Connec-
tion, Girls Names - "The New Life," Angel from Chicago (by Way of
Missouri), Holly Herndon's Fabulous "Fade," Soft Moon's Zeros.

SIFFBlog: The 2012 Stranger Genius Awards.

Video Librarian: Turn Me On, Dammit!, 17 Girls, Fela Kuti
Double Feature - Documentary and Concert: Teacher Don't Teach
Me Nonsense / Berliner Jazztage '78 [two-disc set], Ben Lee -
Catch My Disease, Sushi - Global Catch, Salt of Life, Hung - The
Complete Third Season [two-disc set], Grey’s Anatomy - The Com-
plete Eighth Season [six-disc set], Etta James - Live at Montreux
[Blu], Happy Endings - The Complete Second Season [2-disc set].

Amazon.com Widgets

Endnote: Mike Donovan image from Drag City.

September Reviews

2012-08-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

These are
the reviews
and other
pieces I'm
working on
this month.

Amazon DVDs: Leverage - The 4th Season [4-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals: Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paron-
naud's Chicken with Plums (with Mathieu Amalric), Liberal Arts (with Elizabeth Olsen), and P.T. Anderson's The Master (with Joaquin Phoenix, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams).

Still playing (or yet to open): For a Good Time, Call..., Hello I Must
Be Going, The Hunger Games, Old Goats, Sparkle, and The Words.

Amazon.com Widgets

Line Out: Apocalypse - A Bill Callahan Tour Film, Norwood Fisher at the NWFF, Inside Melody's Echo Chamber, Switched on by Chrome Canyon, Redd Kross at Chop Suey, Laetitia Sadier - "The Rule of the Game," Striking Sparks with Ben Chasny, Sing Along with the Fall, Teen Daze Teams Up with Frankie Rose, Get Physical with Moon Duo and King Khan, Fac. Dance 02: Global Groove Machine, Cat Power's Triumphant Sun, METZ: More Noise Please, The Best Tom Waits Song...This Week, Terra Treasures from Levek, The Raveonettes and Melody's Echo Chamber, Dem-
dike Stare and Director Jean Rollin, Bad Books - "Forest Whitak-
er," Drag City's Crazy Commercials, Julianna Barwick and Maria Minerva (at the Triple Door), and Niobe's Cclose Calll.

Video Librarian: Mike and Molly - The Complete Second Season [three-disc set], Autumn de Forest, The Boxing Girls of Kabul, A Drummer's Dream, How to Make a Book with Steidl, The Klez-
matics - On Holy Ground, Master Qi and the Monkey King, Our Summer in Tehran, Reflections on Media Ethics, The Witches of Gambaga, Staind - Live from Mohegan Sun [Blu-ray], and Sparkle.

Amazon.com Widgets

Endnote: Bill Callahan image from his Apocalypse Kickstarter.

August Reviews

2012-08-02T11:04:00.003-07:00

These are the reviews and other
pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: Going for the Gold - The '48 Games, Misfits - Season One [two-disc set], Mighty Morphin Powers Rangers - Season 1, Vol. 1 [three-disc set], and Judge John Deed - Season Six [two-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals: Old Goats, The Words (with Bradley
Cooper and Zoë Saldana), and Sparkle (with Whitney Houston).

Still playing (or yet to open): For a Good Time Call..., Hello I Must Be
Going, The Hunger Games, Neil Young Journeys, and To Rome with Love.

Line Out: Frankie Rose Takes a Trip to the 1980s, Psychic Ills-Moon Duo Split Single, Redd Kross's Welcome Return, Black Moth Super Rainbow Conquers Kickstarter, Releases New Single, Eats Your Face, Levek's Lovely "French Lessons", Franco Falsini's Cosmic Saudade, BURN!, Moon Duo - "Sleepwalker," Melody's Echo Chamber Meets UMO, Django Django's Intergalactic Show-
down, The Presets - "Youth in Trouble," Soft Moon - "Die Life," Onuinu's Shimmering Mirror Gazer, Redd Kross - "Stay Away from Downtown," Catching up with Matthew Cooper, The Dream of the '80s Is Alive in Greenpoint, Nude Beach: Video and Tour Dates, ESP EP and ESP-Disk, Moon Duo and Lumerians at Octopus Fest, Mouse on Mars - "They Know Your Name," Sic Alps - "Glyphs," Ty Segall - "The Hill," Matmos - "Very Large Green Triangles."

East Portland Blog: My pics are in this piece.

Siffblog: Your Sister's Sister (holdover from SIFF '12).

Video Librarian: Changing Your Mind, Coping to Excelling, The Chilean Building, Eating Baba Yaga - An Evening with Brian Rohr, Family Portrait in Black and White, Hit So Hard - The Life and Near Death Story of Drummer Patty Schemel, Shakespeare High, Tales of the Waria, Water Children, John Gorka - The Gypsy Life [Blu-ray], Kasabian Live [Blu-ray], Rockwell - A Night of Legendary Collaborations, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, 4.3.2.1, Parenthood - Season 3 [4-disc set], Raspberry Magic, Slipknot: (sic)nesses—Live at Download, Tonight You’re Mine, Leave It on the Floor, Pink Ribbons, Inc., The Slut, Going for the Gold, Boardwalk Empire - Complete 2nd Season [5-disc set].

Amazon.com Widgets

Endnote: Researching the Blues image from Merge Records.

2012-07-02T13:21:00.003-07:00

July Reviews

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: Super WHY!: Around the World Adventure, Art: 21 - Art in the Twenty-First Century, Season Six, Birdsong, Great Expectations, and Secrets of the Manor House.

Amazon Theatricals: Jonathan Demme's Neil
Young Journeys and
For a Good Time, Call...

Still playing (or yet to open): 21 Jump Street, Hello I Must Be Going, The Hunger Games, The Lucky One, Salmon Fishing in Yemen, The Three Stooges, To Rome with Love.

Line Out: YouTube to Upgrade Comment System, Blues Control's Valley Tangents, Deep Time Album Teaser and Stream, ESG and the Factory Dance Archives, The Comet Gets a New Mural, Shin-
taro Sakamoto Makes Me Feel Fine, Black Bananas - "Foxy Play-
ground," Brits Keep the Flame of Krautrock Alive, Washington Post Pummels Twin Shadow, Pre-Decibel Orbital Mega-Post, Dirty Three - "Rising Below," Girls Names - "A Troubled See," ByDesign: Music Films and Events, A Million Miles Away with Nude Beach, I Want My Name Back, Love Rock Revolution at Elliot Bay Book Co., Thee Oh Sees Rock AllSaints, Estonian Brings Hazed Beats to Town, XTC: Melt the Guns (and the Thugs), Taken by Storm at the NWFF, Tame Impala: New Keyboards, Old Producer, Stream New Shawn Lee Album, More Weird and Creepy Imagery from BEAK>.

Video Librarian: Drop Dead Diva – The Complete Third Season [3-disc set], Love Never Dies [Blu-ray], Chicago in Chicago, The FP, Girl Model, Gone - The Disappearance of Aeryn Gillern, Good Deeds [Blu], Marley, From the Back of the Room, Pink Floyd - The Story of Wish You Were Here [Blu], and Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones - Checkerboard Lounge: Live Chicago 1981.

Endnote: Neil Young poster image from Sony Classics

2012-06-03T13:34:00.001-07:00

Abbott and Lynskey in Hello I Must Be Going

June

Reviews

These are
the reviews
and other
pieces I'm
working on
this month

Amazon DVDs: Albert Nobbs [Blu-ray] and Emmanuelle.

Amazon Theatricals: Hello I Must Be Going (with
Melanie Lynskey) and Woody Allen's To Rome with Love.

Still playing (or yet to open): 21 Jump Street, The Hunger Games,
The Lucky One, Salmon Fishing in Yemen, and The Three Stooges.

KCTS 9: Speaker at this month's History Café on Seattle Rock.

Line Out: The Womack - on the Screen and in the Studio, Julia
Holter, Naomi Yang, and Sigur Ros, Lee Hazlewood and Martin Newell, Blues Control - "Love's a Rondo," "You Are Not a Curator, You Are Actually Just a Filthy Blogger", What Is the Summer MixTape Festival?, I Faced the Music (and Survived), Deep Time - "Clouds," Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13, and The Source, Bruce Spring-
steen and the Ties That Bind, Cate Le Bon Announces Cyrk II EP, Doom Metal Pioneer Rises from the Grave, Neneh Cherry Meets The Thing, Sub Pop Signs METZ, I've Done a Lot of Foolish Things, "It's a rip off!," Ty Segall Band's Slaughterhouse, The Night I Met METZ, Getting a Fix on Franco Falsini, New Laetitia Sadier Track.

Siffblog: Blurry Pictures of Dynamic Directors.

Video Librarian: Menopause in an Hour [two-disc set],
Quadrangle, Bonsái, Chick Corea and Friedrich Gulda -
The Meeting: Live Recording from the Muncher Klaviersom-
mer '82, Girl Fight, Here, John Mellencamp - It’s About You
[Blu-ray], Queen of Hearts, The Raconteurs - Live at Mont-
reux 2008 [Blu-ray], Simply Red - Live at Montreux 20-
03 [Blu-ray], and Ultrasuede - In Search of Halston.

Kate Winslet and Lynskey in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures

Endnote: Hello I Must Be Going image from Indiewire via Oscilloscope Laboratories, Heavenly Creatures from Miramax.

2012-05-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

May Reviews

These are the reviews and other
pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVD: Weeds - Season Seven [three-disc set] (click here for six).

Amazon Theatricals:
Sound of My Voice (with
Another Earth writer-
actress Brit Marling).

Still playing (or yet to open): 21 Jump Street, The Hunger Games,
The Lucky One, Salmon Fishing in Yemen, and The Three Stooges.

Line Out: Seun Kuti - From Africa with Fury, Prins Thomas Remixes Dent May, Happy Trails with MV and EE, Willis Earl
Beal - One-Man Band at Barboza, Ty Segall and White Fence at Chop Suey, Beak > Returns to Bedevil Your Text, Melody's Echo Chamber - "Crystallized," Live Music + 35mm Classics at the NWFF, On Musical Perpetual-Motion Machines, Pickled Pig's Feet and Corn Liquor (Standing in the Shadows of Motown), A Band Called Death: The Documentary, Dent May Does Things His Own Way, Alpine Party Rock with Thee Oh Sees, Young Magic Remix and Mixtape, "Don't Fuck with the Fat Kid," Bad Brains: A Band in DC, Shintaro Sakamoto - "In a Phantom Mood," Julia Holter and
Jib Kidder at Barboza, Redd Kross Research the Blues, Paul Williams at the Egyptian, Roll the Dice's Canadian Mixtape,
The Soft Moon and John Foxx, and Blouse - "Time Travel."

SIFF (notes for the 2012 guide): Finding North, Rebellion, Step
up to the Plate, Goodbye, Winter Nomads, A Checkout Girl's Big Adventures, The Crown Jewels, The Fourth State, The Blindfold, L’Afrance, Free Throw, The Details, and The Intouchables.

Siffblog: SIFF Dispatch #1, SIFF Dispatch #2, SIFF Dispatch #3.

Video Librarian: Legends of Folk - The Village Scene, Sleep-
ing Beauty, The Man on the Train, The Best of Bluegrass Un-
derground, The Fat Body (In)Visible, The Jeff Healey Band -
Live in Belgium, Leaving Home, Me Facing Life - Cyntoia's
Story, One Alcoholic to Another - Demystifying AA, Wild Life -
Une Vie Sauvage, Dawn of the Dead - The Grateful Dead and
the Rise of the San Francisco Underground, Led Zeppelin -
Dazed and Confused, and When the Drum Is Beating.

Endnote: Image from Fox Searchlight Pictures.

2012-04-01T08:36:00.063-07:00

April Reviews

These are
the reviews
and other
pieces I'm
working on
this month.

Amazon DVD: Eight Is Enough - The Complete First Season [three-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals: Peter and Bobby Farrelly's The Three
Stooges, The Lucky One (with Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling).

Still playing (or yet to open): 21 Jump Street,
Hugo, The Hunger Games, The Iron Lady, A Separation,
Salmon Fishing in Yemen, and We Bought a Zoo.

Line Out: Sophie Madeleine Covers "Spooky," Tony Visconti
Remembers Thin Lizzy, White Fence - Family Perfume, Vol.
1, Julia Holter - New Video and Tour, Branden Daniel & the
Chics - "Mor Yay," Mr. Little Jeans - "Runaway," Bat Urin-
ates in Eye of Florida Rocker, Taking the Back Roads with
Mariee Sioux, Tim Cohen's Latest Magic Trick, Neneh
Cherry's New Thing, MV & EE - "Too Far to See," Ty
Segall, White Fence, & the Animated Egg, The Long,
Strange Saga of Fishbone, Cats Rule...in Orbital's
New Video, In Bloom with Beach House, Nio-
be's Walk the Walk!, Ty Segall and Tim Presley -
Easy Riders, The Heart and Soul of Texas Funk,
AU's Watercolor Explosion of a Video, Fuck
You, We're From Detroit, When Sun Araw
Met the Congos, Bring on the Rabbitheads!

SIFF: Thirteen notes or blurbs for the annual program guide.

Video Librarian: Aggression in Young Children [two-disc
set], HD Yoga [four-disc set], Al Di Meola - Morocco Fantasia
[Blu-ray], Songs Along a Stony Road, The Richard Thompson
Band - Live at Celtic Connections [Blu-ray], Valentino's Ghost,
World on a Wire - Criterion Collection [two-disc set], Echo-
tone, Lovelorn, Attenberg, Goon, Miss Bala, Paraíso, Ro-
mantics Anonymous, Lula, Son of Brazil, The Hedgehog.

Endnote: World on a Wire image from MoMA.

2012-03-01T15:34:00.069-08:00

March Reviews

These are the reviews and other
pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVD: The BBC/BBC Amer-
ica's Come Fly with Me [two-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals: 21 Jump Street (with Channing
Tatum and Jonah Hill) and The Hunger Games (Jenni-
fer Lawrence, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, etc.).

Still playing (or yet to open): Coriolanus, The Des-
cendants, Hugo, In Darkness, The Iron Lady, A Separa-
tion, Salmon Fishing in Yemen, and We Bought a Zoo.

Line Out: Ace T-shirt for Lincoln Lovers, Teen Irritates the
Fuck out of Colin Newman, David Vincent Reep's Place in the Sun, Beloved Promo Item Turns 21, Robert Glasper's Neosoul Cool, Calvin Johnson and Friends at the NWFF, UMO - "Strangers Are Strange," Time to Get Low...with Low Times, Freewheelin' Like Bob Dylan, There Can Only Be One - Carol Channing, Broken Promo Item Turns 21, Teen Daze - New Song, Remix, and More, La Sera Lets the Sunshine In, So I Sing a Song of Love to..., The Magni-
ficent Music of Dent May, The Semi-Forgotten Fruit of Apple Records, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound - Want More, Wash-
ed Out on TV and on Tour, Woods & Amps for Christ - Split
LP, Segall and Presley's S.F. Sorrow, and Former Band-
mates Release New Videos (Dee Dee, La Sera, Rose).

Still playing: Jay Reatard - Better Than Something.

Video Librarian: Memphis - The Original Broadway Production
[Blu-ray], Everyday Sunshine - The Story of Fishbone, The Love
We Make [Blu], The Opportunity to Succeed - Inclusion in Music
Education, Outside In, Resilience, Cirkus Columbia, Domaine,
Roadie, Strange Fruit - Beatles’ Apple Records, Before Your Eyes.

Endnote: Carol Channing image from Otto Preminger's Skidoo.

2012-02-01T20:34:00.021-08:00

February Reviews

Amazon DVDs: Glee - The Concert [two-disc set] and Board-
walk Empire - The Complete Second Season [multi-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals: Salmon Fishing in Yemen (Lasse
Hallström directs Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt), Dec-
laration of War, and Agnieszka Holland's In Darkness.

Still playing (or yet to open): Coriolanus, The Descendants, Drive, Hugo, Into the Abyss, The Iron Lady, A Separation, and We Bought a Zoo.

Line Out: Music Films at the NWFF: Spring 2012, Benefit Al-
bum with Broadcast, Four Tet, La Sera - "Please Be My Third Eye,"
Marisa Monte's Popular Brazilian Music, Field Music's Pop, Prog,
and Pomp, Teen Daze - "Brooklyn Sunburn," Lux Covers Black
Tambourine, Two New Punk Docs Ponder Authority: The Other
F Word and Last Fast Ride - The Life, Love & Death of a Punk
Goddess, A Trip to the Moon with Air, Out of Sight with Fran-
kie Rose, New Pack a.d. Tour and Video, Belltown Watch: This
Time It's Chic, The Ordinary People of Ceremony, Cate Le
Bon: On Air, Stage, Street, Soul Brother in Heaven and
Hell, Girls and Boys in Bars and Stores, Revival: Black
Tambourine and Chickfactor, Sleigh Bells/Black Ban-
anas at the Showbox, The Lost Sounds of Jay Rea-
tard, and The Wedding Present's Valentina.

Video Librarian: Janie Jones, Jess + Moss, The Doors - Mr.
Mojo Risin’ [Blu-ray], Queen - Days of Our Lives [Blu-ray], Trou-
badour Blues, Last Fast Ride - The Life, Love and Death of a Punk
Goddess, The Other F Word, Charlotte Rampling - The Look,
The Love We Make [Blu], The Mighty Macs, Summer Holiday.

Endnote: Illustration by Heidi Estey from Have You Ever
Had a Beard? The film plays the Northwest Film Forum on Mon.,
3/5. The directors (Kathy Wolf and Pat Thomas) and participants
(Calvin Johnson and Chris Estey) will be in attendance.

2012-01-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

January
Reviews

These are
the reviews
and other
pieces I'm
working on
this month.

Amazon Theatrical: Angelina Jolie's In the Land of Blood and Honey, The Iron Lady (with Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent), and Coriolanus (with director Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain).

Still playing (or yet to open): Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Trav-
els of a Tribe Called Quest, Bill Cunningham New York, Cave of For-
gotten Dreams, The Descendants, Drive, Hugo, Into the Abyss, Mel-
ancholia, A Separation, The Skin I Live In, and We Bought a Zoo.

Line Out: Another Reason to Love or Hate Bon Iver, My Fav-
orite Music of 2003, the Pack a.d. Announce Tour Dates, The
Fresh & Onlys: On the Move, Sweet on the Sweet, Something
about...Terry Malts, Memories of the Walkabouts, The Sound
of Brisbane Share Houses, La Sera Sees the Light, Rad Times
with Black Bananas, Belltown Gettin' Irie, Speaking of Jen-
nifer Herrema..., Cry Along with the Babies, Made in Shef-
field: Standard Fare, The Unthanks Sing Robert and An-
tony, Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "Thought Ballune,"
Terry Malts: No Plans for Heaven, The Pack a.d. at
the Tractor Tavern, Golden Calves: Collection,
Todd Terje Remixes Roxy Music, Bird House:
Limited-Edition Jad Fair EP, I Like Tapes,
Conjuring up an Imaginary Past, and
Scented Candles, Velvet Pillows.

Video Librarian: Green Guys, Bad Actress, Pearl Jam Twenty,
Trigger, Tyrannosaur, Twisted Sister - From the Bars to the Stars
[five-disc set], Usher OMG Tour - Live from London [Blu-ray], The
Women on the 6th Floor, Barbershop Punk, Dish - Women, Wait-
ressing and the Art of Service, Fingerplays! Hands That Tell a
Story, Going Blind, The Great Race, Made in India, Mutant-
es, People in White, Ready, Set, Bag!, The Shaman & Ay-
ahuasca - Journeys to Sacred Realms, The Fat Boy
Chronicles, Special Treatment, and Thunder Soul.

Endnote: Image from Artificial Eye.

2011-12-31T13:51:00.000-08:00

Movies
for Music
Lovers:
2011
Edition

Click here
for the
2010
edition

Some of these films premiered in the US in 2010, but didn't make
their way to Seattle until this year, in which case I deferred to lo-
cal release dates. Some missed the city altogether, in which case I
caught up via DVD, Blu-ray, or download. Altogether, I saw over
250 titles, and wrote about most of them for Amazon, Siffblog,
Line Out, and Video Librarian (the links lead to my reviews).

Just as my 2011 music list revolves around post-punk, a post-
punk vibe runs through many of these films. Animals also a-
bound, as do animalistic human beings, like Ryan Gosling's
Driver with his scorpion jacket (a clue to his true nature).

The Tops:
1. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)
2. Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
3. Hugo (Martin Scorsese)
4. Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki)
5. Jane Eyre (Cary Fukunaga)
6. Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)
7. The Skin I Live In / La Piel Que Habito (Pedro Almodóvar)
8. Project Nim (James Marsh)
9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Rupert Wyatt)
10. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives /
Loong Boonmee Raleuk Chat (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Runners-up:
1. The Descendants (Alexander Payne)
2. Attack the Block (Joe Cornish)
3. A Screaming Man / Un Homme
Qui Crie (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
4. The Help (Tate Taylor)
5. Beginners (Mike Mills)
6. Weekend (Alexander Haigh)
7. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
8. Le Quattro Volte (Michelangelo Frammartino)
9. Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin)
10. The Time That Remains (Elia Suleiman)

Note: I enjoyed The Help. I realize I'm supposed to hate it, but
I can't stand it when people do my thinking for me or assume that
I don't know anything about African or African American cinema.

I can like The Help and I can like A Screaming Man, too. The thing
is: Tate Taylor's mainstream movie got to me in a way Mahamat-Saleh
Haroun's art house entry didn't. Which doesn't make it the superior
picture; just one that had more personal resonance. I live for '50s-style
melodramas about ordinary women, especially those who triumph
over their small-minded oppressors, whether they're white, black, or
red-eyed space aliens. The critical opprobrium heaped on this film
carried a trace of misogyny that made me deeply uncomfortable.

Apparently, I'm not supposed to like The Artist either, in part because
Harvey Weinstein produced it. But he didn't direct it, and the story
centers on a man who refuses to compromise or to impose his will on
others--un-Harvey-like qualities. In the film, he triumphs over adver-
sity. In real life, it doesn't always work that way, but The Artist and
Hugo are movies about movies and their makers. Not their producers.

Second Runners-up:
1. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
2. Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
3. The Princess of Montpensier (Bertrand Tavernier)
4. Norwegian Wood (Tran Anh Hung)
5. Hanna (Joe Wright)
6. Melancholia (Lars Von Trier)
7. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
8. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)
9. The Yellow Sea (Na Hong-jin)
10. Winnie the Pooh (Don Hall and Stephen J. Anderson)

Openings: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens at the Metro Cinemas
(and other theaters) on 1/6 and A Separation on 2/3 (venue TBA).

Worthy of note: 50/50 (Jonathan Levine), The Arbor (Clio
Barnard), Aurora (Cristi Puiu), Bellflower (Evan Glodell), Car-
ancho (Pablo Trapero), Circumstance (Maryam Keshavarz),
Contagion (Steven Soderbergh), Curling (Denis Côté), Gods / Dioses (Josué Méndez), The Guard (John Michael McDonagh),
Henry's Crime (Malcolm Venville), The Girl / Flickan (Fredrik
Edfeldt), Hideaway / Le Refuge (François Ozon), The Ides of
March (George Clooney), Kaboom (Gregg Araki), The Piano in
a Factory (Zhang Meng), Putty Hill (Matt Porterfield), The Rum Diary (Bruce Robinson), Submarine (Richard Ayoade), Toast
(S.J. Clarkson), The Tree (Julie Bertuccelli), Vampire*, Vanishing
on 7th Street (Brad Anderson), The War Horse (Steven Spielberg), Warrior (Gavin O'Connor), Win Win (Tom McCarthy), X-Men: First Class (Matthew Vaughn), and Young Adult (Jason Reitman).

* I left out the director and don't want to reformat the whole paragraph. Vampire
is the first English-language effort from All About Lily Chou Chou's Shunji Iwai.

They've done better: A Dangerous Method (David Cron-
enberg), The Future (Miranda July), My Week with Marilyn
(Richard Curtis), The Sleeping Beauty (Catherine Breillat), Take
Shelter (Jeff Nichols), and The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick).

Top documentaries:
1. Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of
a Tribe Called Quest (Michael Rapaport)
2. How to Die in Oregon (Peter D. Richardson)
3. Tabloid (Errol Morris)
4. Page One: Inside the New York Times (Andrew Rossi)
5. Tie: Cave of Forgotten Dreams
and Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog)
6. The Woodmans (C. Scott Willis)
7. Ne Chien Range (Pedro Costa)
8. Nénette (Nicolas Philibert)
9. Public Speaking (Martin Scorsese)
10. Bobby Fischer Against the World (Liz Garbus)

Worthy of note: Bill Cunningham New York (Richard Press),
Broken Doors (Goro Toshima), Color Me Obsessed (Gorman Be-
chard), Crooked Beauty (Ken Paul Rosenthal), Girls on the Wall
(Heather Ross), (POM Wonderful Presents) The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (Morgan Spurlock), Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today (Stuart Schulberg), Pearl Jam Twenty (Cameron Crowe), Rachel
(Simone Bitton), Silver Girls / Frauenzimmer (Saara Alia Waas-
ner), Sin by Silence (Olivia Klaus), Still Bill (Damani Baker and
Alex Vlack), The Weird World of Blowfly (Jonathan Furmanski).

Reissues and Rediscoveries:
1. Kuroneko - The Criterion Collection (Kaneto Shindo)
2. Cronos - The Criterion Collection (Guillermo del Toro)
3. Videodrome - Criterion Collection (David Cronenberg)
4. Raging Bull - 30th Anniversary Edition (Martin Scorsese)
5. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
6. Kes - The Criterion Collection (Ken Loach)
7. Prowler (Joseph Losey)
8. The Soft Skin (François Truffaut)
9. Four Nights with Anna (Jerzy Skolimowski)
10. Little Red Riding Hood and Other Stories (David Kaplan)

Odds and Sods: Bal /Honey (Semih Kaplanoğlu), Boardwalk
Empire - The Complete First Season, The Double Life of Véron-
ique - The Criterion Collection (Krzysztof Kieslowski), Master-
piece Classic - Downton Abbey, Hamilton (Matt Porterfield),
The Hour, Season One, and Mildred Pierce (Todd Haynes).

Missed (or haven't seen yet): 13 Assassins (Takashi Miike), A
Brighter Summer Day / Gu Ling Jie Shao Nian Sha Ren Shi Jian
(Edward Yang), The Adventures of Tintin (Steven Spielberg), Cap-
tain America (Joe Johnston), Carnage (Roman Polanski), Cedar
Rapids (Miguel Arteta), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David
Fincher), Incendies (Denis Villeneuve), The Interrupters (Steve
James), J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood), Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan),
Margin Call (J.C. Chandor), The Muppets (James Frawley), Mys-
teries of Lisbon (Raul Ruiz), Nostalgia for the Light / Nostalgia de
la Luz (Patricio Guzmán), Shame (Steve McQueen), Source Code
(Duncan Jones), Sucker Punch (Zack Snyder), Terri (Azazel Jac-
obs), Tomboy (Céline Sciamma), The Trip (Michael Winterbot-
tom), and We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay).

Note: Tomboy, which played the 2011 Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, opens at SIFF Cinema on 1/6. Certified Copy, Nostalgia for the Light, and Of Gods and Men made my 2010 "missed" list...and I still haven't caught up with any of them yet. Looking forward to it.

Yes, I did see...Bridesmaids. And I sure didn't laugh much, but I'm glad that Jill Clayburgh, perfectly cast as Kristin Wiig's mother, went out with a hit. Clayburgh's daughter (with David Rabe), Lily Rabe, who also got her start on the stage, proves her own mettle in Christopher Munch's Letters from the Big Man, an animal-oriented film almost as strange as Uncle Boonmee.

A final thought: Shame on The New Yorker's David Denby
for breaking the review embargo regarding Fincher's The Girl
with the Dragon Tattoo--but more so for his spoiler regard-
ing The Skin I Live In. And shame on his colleague, Richard
Brody, for spreading the disease by quoting from Denby's Skin
review (though I still enjoyed Brody's comments about Tom
Cruise in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol). Critics!

Endnote: A work in progress. Drive image from Collider.

2011-12-31T09:55:00.000-08:00

Songs for Cineastes: 2011 Edition

Click here for the 2010 edition.

To clear up
any confu-
sion: This
isn't a list
of film
scores or
soundtracks. It's a list of music recommended for movie lovers
such as myself. Some independent film fans prefer mainstream
movie fare. Similarly, some art house aficionados prefer major-la-
bel music. There's nothing wrong with that; I just can't relate to it
(and try to avoid giving the Man my money whenever possible).

If you share my taste in movies, there's a good chance you might
share my taste in music. And to further clarify matters, I've drop-
ped Swingin' from the title of these posts, i.e. Songs for Swing-
in' Cineastes. I thought it was funny, and I can't resist a Frank
Sinatra reference, but I think I'm gonna make 2012 about par-
ing things down and eliminating some of the gobbledegook.

Links lead to my reviews for AndMoreAgain and Line Out.

The Tops:
1. Total Control - Henge Beat (Iron Lung)
2. Moon Duo - Mazes (Sacred Bones)
3. The Dirtbombs - Party Store (In the Red)
4. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up (Sub Pop)
5. Tie: Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread (Drag
City) and Singles 2007-2010 (Goner)
6. Soft Moon - Total Decay EP (Captured Tracks)
7. Psychic Ills - Hazed Dream (Sacred Bones)
8. Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls (Slumberland)
9. Widowspeak - Widowspeak (Captured Tracks)
10. Meg Baird - Seasons on Earth (Drag City)

Note: I review Total Control live here.

Runners-up:
1. Girls Names - Dead to Me (Tough Love/Slumberland)
2. La Sera - La Sera (Hardly Art)
3. Sonny & the Sunsets - Hit After Hit (Fat Possum)
4. AM & Shawn Lee - Celestial Electric
(Eighteenth Street Lounge/Fontana)
5. Keren Ann - 101 (Blue Note/EMI)
6. Still Corners - Creatures of an Hour (Sub Pop)
7. Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/Dream (In the Red)
8. Swiftumz - Don't Trip (Holy Mountain)
9. Cave - Neverendless (Drag City)
10. The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This
World (History Always Favours the Winners)

Note: listen to the entirety of An Empty Bliss here.

Worthy of note: Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams (Sub Pop),
the Fresh & Onlys - Secret Walls (Sacred Bones), Iceage - New
Brigade (What's Your Rupture), Jacuzzi Boys - Glazin' (Hardly
Art), Jeffrey Lewis - A Turn in the Dream-Songs (Rough Trade),
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (Sub Pop),
James Pants - self-titled (Stones Throw), The Strange Boys - Live Music (Rough Trade), Times New Viking - Dancer Equired (Merge),
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo (Matador), Vivian Girls -
Share the Joy (Polyvinyl Record Co.), Rusty Willoughby - Cobirds Unite (Local 638), and Wooden Shjips - West (Thrill Jockey).

Love what I heard (need to hear more): Alvarius B - Baroque Primitiva (Abduction), Charles Bradley - I Believe in Your Love (Daptone), Dirty Beaches - Badlands (Zoo Music), Kaleidoscope - self-titled (Shadoks), King Midas Sound - Without You (Hyperdub), The Men - Leave Home (Sacred Bones), Moon Wiring Club - A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding (Gecophonic), Nouvelle Vague - Couleurs Sur Paris (Kwaidan), Peaking Lights - 936 (Not Not Fun), Roll the Dice - In Dust (Leaf), Sea Pinks - Dead Seas (CF/Recs), Various Artists - Those Shocking Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk 19-
70-1978 (Now-Again), Various Artists - Fac. Dance: Factory Records 12" Mixes & Rarities 1980-87 (Strut), and Various Ar-
tists - Wallahi Le Zein! Wezin Jakwar & Guitar (Latitudes).

Top reissues:
1. El Rego - El Rego (Daptone)
2. Various Artists - C'est Chic: French
Girl Singers of the 1960s (Ace International)
3. The Fabulous Three - Best of... (Truth & Soul)
4. Melvin Davis - Detroit Soul Ambassador (Vampi Soul)
5. Index - Black Album + Red Album + Yesterday & Today (Lion)

On my list: Can - Tago Mago: 40th Anniversary (Mute), The
Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace: Omnibus Edition (Beggars Ban-
quet), Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - The 1st Album (Ana-
log Africa), Brenda Ray - Walatta (EM Japan), The Red Crayola -
God Bless the Red Krayola and Parable of Arable Land (Snapper-
Charly), ROB - Funky Rob Way (Analog Africa), Talk Talk -
Laughing Stock (Ba Da Bing), Vagrants - I Can't Make a Friend
(LitA), and Willie Wright - Telling the Truth (Numero Group).

Top singles (I like pop, too):
1. Adele - "Rolling in the Deep" (Columbia)
2. Lady Gaga - "Born This Way" (Interscope)
3. James Blake - Tie: "A Limit to Your Love"
and "The Wilhelm Scream" (Atlas/A&M)
4. The Horrors - "Still Life" (XL Recordings)
5. TV on the Radio - "Caffeinated Consciousness" (Interscope)
6. Tie: Spoek Mathambo - "She's Lost Control" (Sub
Pop) and Luis & the Wildfires - "Digital" (Wild/Norton)
7. The Pack a.d. - "Haunt You" (Mint)
8. Radiohead - “Lotus Flower” (TBD)
9. Bill Callahan - "America" (Drag City)
10. Cate Le Bon - "It Puts Me to Work" (The Control Group)

Worthy of note: Black Bananas with Kurt Vile - "Before They
Make Me Run" (Drag City), Field Music - "(I Keep Thinking about)
A New Thing" (Memphis Industries), Lykke Li - "Youth Knows No
Pain" (Atlantic), Neverever - "Wedding Day" (Slumberland), and
Young Magic - Tie: "Sparkly" and "Slip Time" (Carpark Records).

Labels of the year: Sacred Bones, Slumberland, and Sub Pop.

Bonus: Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad (paperback edition). Some of the music biz details ring true, some don't, but Egan is a brilliant structuralist, who ties all the disparate stories and eras together in an ingenious manner.

Rest in peace: Trish Keenan of Broadcast. Too fucking soon.

Endnote: The usual disclaimer applies. This list doesn't represent
the best music of the year, but the best of the music I heard (I'm
primarily a film writer, and my movie list provides a more accur-
ate snapshot of my taste). Given unlimited time, financial resour-
ces, and industry connections--which I have in the smallest of
quantities--it might look different. Except for Henge Beat.

Image: My pic of Total Control's Dan Stewart at the Crocodile.

2011-12-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

December
Reviews

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: Griff the Invisible (with Ryan Kwanten), No Strings Attached (with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher),
and Wayne Wang's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan [Blu-ray].

Amazon Theatricals: Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo and
A Separation (from the director of Fireworks Wednesday).

Still playing (or yet to open): 50/50, Contagion, The Descendants,
Drive, The Help, Hugo, Into the Abyss, Melancholia, The Skin I Live In.

Armchair Commentary: Best Art House & International.

KCTS 9: on-line original interview ("Grunge: Mem-
ories of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney").

Line Out: More Treasures from the Factory Archives,
This Is for Kelly O, California Dreamin' with Neverever,
Still Corners - "Into the Trees," Reading & Performance
with Bill See, Frankie Rose's Interstellar Overdrive, The
Fabric of Our Lives, Ain't Sweet No More: Remember-
ing Grunge, The Truth About Year-End Music Lists,
Too Sexy for Their Computers, Just in Time for the
Holidaze - More Merch, Riffing with David, Eugene,
and Chris, El Rego's Beautiful Life, Young Magic -
"Sparkly," Home Alive Documentary, The Men
Announce New Album, Top CD Stacks of 2011,
What I Didn't Get for Christmas, Cate Le Bon-
"Fold the Cloth," My Sunshine: A Segall Set.

Siffblog: Hipsters / Stilyagi (at the Egyptian).

Video Librarian: CD Highway [six-disc set], Eastern
Voices, I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive, The Piano in a Fac-
tory, Boardwalk Empire - The Complete First Season [5-
disc set], Mildred Pierce [two-disc set], Putty Hill - Col-
lector's Edition [two-disc set], When Strangers Click,
Placebo - We Come in Pieces [Blu-ray], God Bless
Ozzy Osbourne [Blu-ray], Daddy Longlegs, and
Deep Purple with Orchestra [Blu-ray].

Endnote: ACR image from Amazon/SoundUnwound.

2011-11-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

November
Reviews

These are
the reviews
and other
pieces I'm
working on
this month.

Amazon DVD: The Tree (with Charlotte Gainsbourg).

Amazon Theatricals: Werner Herzog's Into the Abyss,
Alexander Payne's The Descendants (with George Cloon-
ey), and Martin Scorsese's Hugo (with Asa Butterfield).

Still playing (or yet to open): 50/50, Contagion, Drive, The Help,
Melancholia, The Rum Diary, The Skin I Live In, and Weekend.

Line Out: Graveyard Smash: Thee Cormans - "Open
the Gates," The Darkest of Waves: Soft Moon - Total De-
cay, Fucked Forever: SpokAnarchy!, Back for the Attack
with Black Bananas, In the Blue TV Screen Light: James
Blake vs. Joni Mitchell, German-Engineered to Fit Your
Life: Rheingold, Tasseomancy - "Heavy Sleep," Hungry
Like the Wolf: Cate Le Bon, Turning on the Charm with
Brian and Bob, A New Thing from Field Music, Don't
Ever Fade Away, Exotic Sounds of Young Magic &
Martin Denny, Life Lessons with Mark E. Smith,
They've Lost Control, Music Films at the NWFF:
Winter 2011-12, Fleet Foxes - "Shrine / An Ar-
gument," Two Weeks Barbershop: They Cut
Heads, U Daft Piece of Slack Shit, Trish Kee-
nan Tribute Album, Blowfly's On-Screen
Freak Party, Air, Scorsese, Méliès, and
the Moon, Let's Get Small, Y'all, and
Total Control in Total Control.

SIFF: Love Crime and My Afternoons with Marguerite.

Video Librarian: From Trash to Tunes, Girls on the Wall, Pink
Saris, Queen of the Sun - What Are the Bees Telling Us?, Riot Acts -
Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance, Silver Girls,
Women in the Dirt, Yogiños - Yoga for Youth: Vishnu's OHMazing
Journeys, Fambul Tok, Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power Live,
Mr. Nice, Out Late, A Passionate Woman [2-disc set], The Tree.

Endnote: Image from Wikipedia (screen grab from
video taken at the Soft Moon show on Feb. 6th, 2011).

2011-10-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

October Reviews

These are
the reviews
and other
pieces I'm
working on
this month.

Amazon DVD: Smurfs Holiday Celebration, Bedlam - Sea-
son 1 [two-disc set], and Whitechapel - The Ripper Returns.

Amazon Theatricals: Lars Von Trier's Melancholia (with
Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg), Pedro Almodóvar's
The Skin I Live In, and The Rum Diary (with Johnny Depp).

Still playing (or yet to open): 50/50, Contagion,
Drive, The Help, Sarah's Key, Warrior, and Weekend.

Line Out: Les Bonnes Femmes - C'est Chic: French Girl Singers
of the 1960s (including Anna Karina), Cats & Dogs - Jacuzzi Boys vs. Superchunk, Why Bowie Is the Best, Running up That Hill: Kathryn Calder - Bright and Vivid, No Escaping the Seeds of Cabaret Voltaire, Cult Boyfriend: Jeffrey Lewis - A Turn in the Dream-Songs, Licensed to Ill: Psychic Ills - Hazed Dream, Her Name Is Earl: Shelby Earl - Burn the Boats, Wayne Coyne's Christmas Tip, Havin' a Ball with Marie Osmond, Pictures at an Exhibition, She Hit Me and I Was Glad: Anika Live, Nice and Sleazy: The Strange Boys - Live Music, New Sounds & Visions
from AM & Lee, Wade in the Water: Seattle Music on PBS, Shit
Hits the Fans in New Replacements Doc, We Are (Not) Invisible: Mannequin Men - Mannequin Men, They Hang Brightly...Again, Change Nothing II: Earshot Jazz, and The Pack a.d. - "Haunt You."

Video Librarian: Desperate Housewives - The Complete
Seventh Season [five-disc set], Bal, Carmel, Dum Maaro Dum,
Happy Endings - The Complete First Season [2-disc set], Grey's
Anatomy - The Complete Seventh Season [six-disc set], Little
Sparrows, Raising Hope - Season One [three-disc set], Rejoice
& Shout, Sleeping Beauty, Taylor Swift - Journey to Fearless.

Endnote: Image (Karina in 1967's Anna) from Fouchtra!