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(01/26/06 5:00am)
Few films truly exemplify life in 'small town' America, and very seldom do films do the miraculous task of showing the thin line between city folk and small town folk. Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" tried hard to master this feat, but ultimately was lost in a sea of incoherent plots and sappy, melodramatic songs. Enter "Junebug," an indie sleeper from 2005 that works not only as a wonderful character study, but also a fascinating and complex examination of small town life, clashing with big city social politics.\nEmbeth Davidtz ("Schindler's List") stars as Madeline, a successful art dealer with British charm and a knack for seeking out bizarre modern art for her bourgeois Chicago art gallery. When Madeline discovers a radical small time artist in a rural North Carolina town, coincidently close to her husband George's (Allesandro Nivola) family home and birth place, the two newly weds decide to drive down South and meet the family.\nWhile this 'meet the parents' premise appears to be the focus of the film at first, with Madeline being the apparent star, "Junebug" slowly unfolds as a sophisticated look at a broken family reconnecting with their eldest son and learning to cope with their own internal issues. \nMadeline is greeted with loving arms by the sister-in-law Ashley (a wonderfully moving Amy Adams,) scoffed at by George's depressed brother Johnny ("O.C's" Benjamin McKenzie,) and is quietly shunned by the mother Peg (Celia Weston). Tensions eventually arise and we watch as Madeline desperately tries to fit in but fails because of her own selfishness and utter disinterest for the meaning of the word family. \nThe film's DVD is bare-boned, featuring some fairly mundane deleted scenes, a semi interesting 'making of' featurette and a commentary track from selected cast members and Morrison. \n"Junebug" is quiet and slow film featuring a wonderful script, unique cinematography, and stellar performances, especially from Adams, who devours her role as the innocent, hopeful and naïve Ashley. The film is a brilliant character study that explores and questions the complex responsibilities of a family in small town America.
(01/26/06 12:54am)
Few films truly exemplify life in 'small town' America, and very seldom do films do the miraculous task of showing the thin line between city folk and small town folk. Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" tried hard to master this feat, but ultimately was lost in a sea of incoherent plots and sappy, melodramatic songs. Enter "Junebug," an indie sleeper from 2005 that works not only as a wonderful character study, but also a fascinating and complex examination of small town life, clashing with big city social politics.\nEmbeth Davidtz ("Schindler's List") stars as Madeline, a successful art dealer with British charm and a knack for seeking out bizarre modern art for her bourgeois Chicago art gallery. When Madeline discovers a radical small time artist in a rural North Carolina town, coincidently close to her husband George's (Allesandro Nivola) family home and birth place, the two newly weds decide to drive down South and meet the family.\nWhile this 'meet the parents' premise appears to be the focus of the film at first, with Madeline being the apparent star, "Junebug" slowly unfolds as a sophisticated look at a broken family reconnecting with their eldest son and learning to cope with their own internal issues. \nMadeline is greeted with loving arms by the sister-in-law Ashley (a wonderfully moving Amy Adams,) scoffed at by George's depressed brother Johnny ("O.C's" Benjamin McKenzie,) and is quietly shunned by the mother Peg (Celia Weston). Tensions eventually arise and we watch as Madeline desperately tries to fit in but fails because of her own selfishness and utter disinterest for the meaning of the word family. \nThe film's DVD is bare-boned, featuring some fairly mundane deleted scenes, a semi interesting 'making of' featurette and a commentary track from selected cast members and Morrison. \n"Junebug" is quiet and slow film featuring a wonderful script, unique cinematography, and stellar performances, especially from Adams, who devours her role as the innocent, hopeful and naïve Ashley. The film is a brilliant character study that explores and questions the complex responsibilities of a family in small town America.
(12/08/05 5:00am)
"The Ice Harvest" is the most recent film to take on the genre of dark holiday comedy. Following in the footsteps of successes such as Ted Demme's "The Ref" or Terry Zwigoff's "Bad Santa," "Harvest" sets out to show the obscure, and often realistic, side of the holiday season, but somehow manages to fall short.\n"Harvest" was directed by comedy veteran Harold Ramis, the man behind such comedy classics as "Ghostbusters," "Animal House" and "Groundhog Day," which is often said to be the perfect film in some circles. With "Harvest" it is evident that Ramis was looking for a different style of comedy, toying with elements of sleazy humor, noir style crime drama, and even men in mid-life crises. The problem is the film can't seem to decide on one particular overall theme; instead we are left with snippets of what could be three different movies.\nJohn Cusack stars as Charlie Arglist, a fairly average and unhappy lawyer from Wichita, Kan., who yearns for a way out of his fairly mundane life. To do this, Charlie and his friend Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) decide to rip off his key employer Bill Guerrard (Randy Quaid,) a Midwest mob boss in the strip club business, and grab a stake of $2 million. The plan appears to be flawless initially, but of course becomes more complicated as the story unravels. \nWhile this is the general storyline, making this film appear to be yet another twisty heist film, the money and the getaway plan really don't play that an important role in the film. Instead Ramis tries desperately to focus on his characters' troubles.\nCharlie and Vic both have serious issues with their family, everyone in the film seems to be an alcoholic and the notion that money can't buy you happiness is thrown into the film during almost every scene.\nNow while there is nothing wrong with taking time to analyze the characters of a film like this, "Harvest" can't seem to find a focus and instead jumps from story to story,\nThe acting is decent enough with some funny moments, although both Thornton and Cusack are fairly boring, perhaps because of a mediocre script. The real winner in the film is Oliver Platt who plays one of the funniest and most obnoxious drunks seen on screen in a long time. While his role is fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, Platt manages to steal every scene he's in. \n"The Ice Harvest" has some funny moments and could have been a very strong and different look at the anti-family holiday film, however it just can't seem to find solid ground. The film juggles to many different genres, under uses most of its actors, and in the end comes across as a film that probably won't be remembered as one of Ramis' greats.
(12/08/05 5:00am)
Director Akira Kurosawa made "Ran" in 1985 after a strong renowned career in the '50s and '60s, followed by a slump in the 1970s. While the film isn't his final contribution to the world of cinema, it's safe to say that "Ran" is his final masterpiece.\nThe title "Ran" translates as 'chaos' in English and perfectly describes the world that Akira Kurosawa presents to us. The film is loosely based on William Shakespeare's King Lear and is set during medieval war plagued Japan. Similarly to Lear, "Ran" focuses around the old lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Kurosawa regular Tatsuya Nakadai) as he slowly enters a world of madness and remorse.\nLord Hidetora has a dream about his past and future and decides to hand his power and reign over to his sons, the eldest son Taro claiming full control over the families most valuable castle. His decision comes as a shock to his sons, especially the youngest Taburo who pleads with his father to reconsider, voicing his discontent with his older brothers whom he feels are greedy and power driven. What follows after the initial shift of powers is an intricate web of lies and betrayal that the old lord watches with eyes wide open.\n "Ran" is not Kurosawa's first cross-cultural adaptation of a work by Shakespeare (1957's "Throne of Blood" took the tragedy of Macbeth to medieval Japan) and isn't his first tackling of medieval Japan, however, it's one of his darkest and more pensive films. The film deals with the destruction of life, both physically (through violent battle scenes) and mentally (through ones road to madness) and the chaos that erupts in this once prosperous family.\nUnlike previous Kurosawa films like "The Seven Samurai" or the "Yojimbo/Sanjuro" series, "Ran" doesn't feature any heroes or moments of victory. Kurosawa instead decides to tackle themes dealing with lust for power, greed, revenge, betrayal and reflection of a life not as successful as it seems.\n"Ran" marks the Criterion Collection's thirteenth Kurosawa release and is given their usual detailed treatment. The film features a brand new digitally restored high definition transfer and an interesting commentary track by Kurosawa historian Stephen Prince who discusses in great detail the cinematography, Kurosawa's use of highly saturated and brilliant color and the films use of cultural and historical motifs. \nDisc two features a number of detailed documentaries on the making of "Ran," Kurosawa as a director and a wonderful feature on the epic collection of paintings that Kurosawa created to storyboard "Ran."\nWhile "Ran" might not be as important as Kurosawa's undisputed masterpiece "Rashomon" or even "The Seven Samurai," it's definitely one of Kurosawa's finest contributions. The film is visually stunning, has tremendous acting performances all around and shows a level of maturity and beauty unlike anything Kurosawa has ever done.
(12/08/05 5:00am)
On the surface, "March of the Penguins" is a simple documentary about Antarctic Emperor penguins, in the style of just about everything shown on Animal Planet and The Discovery Channel. After viewing, however, this film comes across more as a touching story about love, survival, and the harsh road these simple creatures take to create a family.\n"March of the Penguins" was the indie hit of this summer, hitting big at the box office, receiving critical acclaim, and ultimately becoming the second highest grossing theatrical documentary of all time, second only to "Fahrenheit 9/11" according www.imdb.com.\nThe film documents the arduous passage endured by a large group of penguins out to mate, lay their eggs and ultimately survive. The film opens during the warm summer season where we see the penguins hunt for food, swim, and slide around on the ice, much like something from a Chilly Willy cartoon. This charming behavior changes, however, when the penguins set out on their remarkable journey to mate that lasts most of the year, including the bitter Antarctic winter. \nIn a single file, the penguins walk roughly 70 miles to a common destination where they find a mate and spend the winter together. Eventually we see them mate, lay their eggs, make a number of other long trips back to the waters edge to feed and then manage to survive one of the bleakest and most unforgiving winters imaginable, with temperatures reaching negative 50 degrees F.\n "March of the Penguins" was filmed by French newcomer Luc Jacquet and his team of brave cameramen who spent almost an entire year gathering the amazing footage of these penguins. The detailed and intimate cinematography, combined with the simplistic beauty of Antarctica, makes this film a visual masterpiece, and Morgan Freeman's soothing narration provides us with an inside look at the life of these creatures. \nThe DVD release of this film features a fascinating, and equally visually pleasing, documentary on how the film was made, showing the filmmaker's own difficult march. There is also a National Geographic feature on Emperor Penguins with some more insight on their lifestyles, and a fairly silly and pointless classic Bugs Bunny cartoon featuring a penguin, which serves no real purpose except being kid friendly.\n"March of the Penguins" was one of the best films released this year and should not be missed. Similar to successful nature documentaries like 2001's "Winged Migration," "Penguins" takes a fairly misunderstood creature and shows their beauty and way of life, while also telling one incredible story.
(12/08/05 2:42am)
On the surface, "March of the Penguins" is a simple documentary about Antarctic Emperor penguins, in the style of just about everything shown on Animal Planet and The Discovery Channel. After viewing, however, this film comes across more as a touching story about love, survival, and the harsh road these simple creatures take to create a family.\n"March of the Penguins" was the indie hit of this summer, hitting big at the box office, receiving critical acclaim, and ultimately becoming the second highest grossing theatrical documentary of all time, second only to "Fahrenheit 9/11" according www.imdb.com.\nThe film documents the arduous passage endured by a large group of penguins out to mate, lay their eggs and ultimately survive. The film opens during the warm summer season where we see the penguins hunt for food, swim, and slide around on the ice, much like something from a Chilly Willy cartoon. This charming behavior changes, however, when the penguins set out on their remarkable journey to mate that lasts most of the year, including the bitter Antarctic winter. \nIn a single file, the penguins walk roughly 70 miles to a common destination where they find a mate and spend the winter together. Eventually we see them mate, lay their eggs, make a number of other long trips back to the waters edge to feed and then manage to survive one of the bleakest and most unforgiving winters imaginable, with temperatures reaching negative 50 degrees F.\n "March of the Penguins" was filmed by French newcomer Luc Jacquet and his team of brave cameramen who spent almost an entire year gathering the amazing footage of these penguins. The detailed and intimate cinematography, combined with the simplistic beauty of Antarctica, makes this film a visual masterpiece, and Morgan Freeman's soothing narration provides us with an inside look at the life of these creatures. \nThe DVD release of this film features a fascinating, and equally visually pleasing, documentary on how the film was made, showing the filmmaker's own difficult march. There is also a National Geographic feature on Emperor Penguins with some more insight on their lifestyles, and a fairly silly and pointless classic Bugs Bunny cartoon featuring a penguin, which serves no real purpose except being kid friendly.\n"March of the Penguins" was one of the best films released this year and should not be missed. Similar to successful nature documentaries like 2001's "Winged Migration," "Penguins" takes a fairly misunderstood creature and shows their beauty and way of life, while also telling one incredible story.
(12/08/05 2:35am)
Director Akira Kurosawa made "Ran" in 1985 after a strong renowned career in the '50s and '60s, followed by a slump in the 1970s. While the film isn't his final contribution to the world of cinema, it's safe to say that "Ran" is his final masterpiece.\nThe title "Ran" translates as 'chaos' in English and perfectly describes the world that Akira Kurosawa presents to us. The film is loosely based on William Shakespeare's King Lear and is set during medieval war plagued Japan. Similarly to Lear, "Ran" focuses around the old lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Kurosawa regular Tatsuya Nakadai) as he slowly enters a world of madness and remorse.\nLord Hidetora has a dream about his past and future and decides to hand his power and reign over to his sons, the eldest son Taro claiming full control over the families most valuable castle. His decision comes as a shock to his sons, especially the youngest Taburo who pleads with his father to reconsider, voicing his discontent with his older brothers whom he feels are greedy and power driven. What follows after the initial shift of powers is an intricate web of lies and betrayal that the old lord watches with eyes wide open.\n "Ran" is not Kurosawa's first cross-cultural adaptation of a work by Shakespeare (1957's "Throne of Blood" took the tragedy of Macbeth to medieval Japan) and isn't his first tackling of medieval Japan, however, it's one of his darkest and more pensive films. The film deals with the destruction of life, both physically (through violent battle scenes) and mentally (through ones road to madness) and the chaos that erupts in this once prosperous family.\nUnlike previous Kurosawa films like "The Seven Samurai" or the "Yojimbo/Sanjuro" series, "Ran" doesn't feature any heroes or moments of victory. Kurosawa instead decides to tackle themes dealing with lust for power, greed, revenge, betrayal and reflection of a life not as successful as it seems.\n"Ran" marks the Criterion Collection's thirteenth Kurosawa release and is given their usual detailed treatment. The film features a brand new digitally restored high definition transfer and an interesting commentary track by Kurosawa historian Stephen Prince who discusses in great detail the cinematography, Kurosawa's use of highly saturated and brilliant color and the films use of cultural and historical motifs. \nDisc two features a number of detailed documentaries on the making of "Ran," Kurosawa as a director and a wonderful feature on the epic collection of paintings that Kurosawa created to storyboard "Ran."\nWhile "Ran" might not be as important as Kurosawa's undisputed masterpiece "Rashomon" or even "The Seven Samurai," it's definitely one of Kurosawa's finest contributions. The film is visually stunning, has tremendous acting performances all around and shows a level of maturity and beauty unlike anything Kurosawa has ever done.
(12/08/05 2:19am)
"The Ice Harvest" is the most recent film to take on the genre of dark holiday comedy. Following in the footsteps of successes such as Ted Demme's "The Ref" or Terry Zwigoff's "Bad Santa," "Harvest" sets out to show the obscure, and often realistic, side of the holiday season, but somehow manages to fall short.\n"Harvest" was directed by comedy veteran Harold Ramis, the man behind such comedy classics as "Ghostbusters," "Animal House" and "Groundhog Day," which is often said to be the perfect film in some circles. With "Harvest" it is evident that Ramis was looking for a different style of comedy, toying with elements of sleazy humor, noir style crime drama, and even men in mid-life crises. The problem is the film can't seem to decide on one particular overall theme; instead we are left with snippets of what could be three different movies.\nJohn Cusack stars as Charlie Arglist, a fairly average and unhappy lawyer from Wichita, Kan., who yearns for a way out of his fairly mundane life. To do this, Charlie and his friend Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) decide to rip off his key employer Bill Guerrard (Randy Quaid,) a Midwest mob boss in the strip club business, and grab a stake of $2 million. The plan appears to be flawless initially, but of course becomes more complicated as the story unravels. \nWhile this is the general storyline, making this film appear to be yet another twisty heist film, the money and the getaway plan really don't play that an important role in the film. Instead Ramis tries desperately to focus on his characters' troubles.\nCharlie and Vic both have serious issues with their family, everyone in the film seems to be an alcoholic and the notion that money can't buy you happiness is thrown into the film during almost every scene.\nNow while there is nothing wrong with taking time to analyze the characters of a film like this, "Harvest" can't seem to find a focus and instead jumps from story to story,\nThe acting is decent enough with some funny moments, although both Thornton and Cusack are fairly boring, perhaps because of a mediocre script. The real winner in the film is Oliver Platt who plays one of the funniest and most obnoxious drunks seen on screen in a long time. While his role is fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, Platt manages to steal every scene he's in. \n"The Ice Harvest" has some funny moments and could have been a very strong and different look at the anti-family holiday film, however it just can't seem to find solid ground. The film juggles to many different genres, under uses most of its actors, and in the end comes across as a film that probably won't be remembered as one of Ramis' greats.
(11/17/05 8:10pm)
During a weekend back home this time last year, a group of what I like to call Evanston street thugs burglarized my small Japanese economy sedan. The aftermath of the heist, although not terribly severe, was upsetting to say the least. The crooks got away with a handful of change from my ashtray, helped themselves to the $40 VCR in my trunk and even indulged in a pack of Orbitz Winterfresh gum. The horror. While the losses were minimal and no damage was done to the car (thankfully the radio was left untouched), it was what the thieves decided not to take that really angered me. Consider this column an open letter to the culprits: \nAs a music junkie who generally refuses to listen to the radio, my car is usually filled with heaps of CDs. On the evening of what I like to call the "Sentra assault of 2004" the most valuable item in my car was in fact my music. Now, before going on, I must add that the crooks did manage to run off with two of my Roots albums and the soundtrack to the film appropriately titled "Baadasssss," but overall they seemed to browse my collection instead of just taking the lot. \nIs my taste in music really that bad? Did the crooks have a moral hatred against bands like Radiohead or Ben Harper? Were they not familiar with the musical styling of Rufus Wainwright or Bob Dylan? All these questions crossed my mind as I surveyed the damage the morning after. \nThe fact is these hooligans suffer from what I like to call musical exclusivity. They could have easily sold any of the discs in my car but instead decided to only take what they fancied at the time. My question to them, and the purpose of this column, is to ask why people close themselves off from different styles of music? Why do we stick to niche genres instead of exploring the diverse world of music? Why didn't the bandits try out a little British rock by lifting my Radiohead collection? The answer, I believe, is they judged the disc by its cover, so to speak.\nNow don't get me wrong. I do understand how easy it is for people to judge things before trying them. Trying things that are different or unfamiliar takes a lot of courage, and some people like the comfort of what is familiar to them. After all, we listen to music because it makes us happy, enabling us to escape from our surroundings, if not only for three to four minutes. This said, I do believe that sometimes the musical comfort levels we create can make us forget about other styles available. \nI will say right away that I am by no means completely innocent of being close-minded; however, since coming to college, I have tried to expand my horizons when it comes to everything, including my tastes in music. Before coming to IU, I wouldn't touch a rap CD unless Lauryn Hill was on the cover, but after a friend freshman year played some Notorious B.I.G. and later exposed me to the 36 Chambers of the Wu Tang Clan, I found myself filling my iPod with all sorts of rap and hip-hop music just waiting to be discovered.\nThe same thing happened more recently with a friend from California, who, after telling me he listened exclusively to metal bands, caught my attention and ended up giving me a crash course in the music he loved. Flash forward a couple of months, and you can sometimes find me rocking out to songs like Pantera's "Domination" (much to my roommate's dismay) while doing trivial things like folding my laundry or doing my ethics homework. \nIn my opinion, we are extremely fortunate to live in a world with such musical diversity. I like that over the years I went from being the kid who used to bug my parents with nothing but alternative and grunge rock, only dabbling slightly in anything considered "classic," to an avid fan of jazz, classical, blues, hip hop, techno, you name it. \nIt isn't my intention to throw my musical tastes on anyone, even though sometimes I want to. After all, a band like Pantera or an artist like Frank Zappa (someone I have just recently started to delve into) isn't going to be for everyone; however, I think it's important to at least try new things and explore what the world has to offer. So, to the culprits who ransacked my automobile: if you still spend your autumn evenings breaking into cars, don't be so selective with what you lift. Try expanding your musical tastes. You might be surprised of what you find.
(11/17/05 8:08pm)
For anyone familiar with Rob Zombie, the ex-front man of rock band White Zombie, you will know that he is a devout fan of horror movies. His music videos always had a creepy style to them, his stage presence was always elaborate and his 2003 directed horror film "House of a 1000 Corpses" was packed with personal odes to the genre he loves. His recent opus, "The Devil's Rejects" is a continuation of "Corpses"' vicious story. But does this already mediocre story really need a follow up?\nWhile it's safe to say that "Corpses" was a direct homage to 1974's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Rejects" seems to be Zombie's homage to 70s horror/revenge films and is quite different to its predecessor. \nThe film opens with a police raid on the Firefly (murdering family) home, which ends with a bloody shoot out. The leader of the raid, a disgruntled religious sheriff named Wydell (a surprisingly good William Forsythe) sets out on a revenge-driven mission to find the remaining family members who murdered his brother.\nWhile on the run the family encounters more victims to kill and eventually end up at a whorehouse in the middle of the desert where they party. Of course this leads to a showdown. \nThere are a number of visually horrifying scenes in "Rejects," which are highly stylized, and are more believable and realistic than "Corpses," however, they're all pretty random. We are never given a clear motive for what drives the killers, besides the fact that the family is insane, and really, the characters show zero emotion during the mayhem they cause.\nThe cast of this film, like "Corpses," is full of cult heroes from 70s and 80s horror films. Bill Moseley ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre II") is effective as crazy brother Otis, and there are a number of smaller roles by actors like Ken Foree (original "Dawn of the Dead") and the creepy Michael Berryman ("The Hills Have Eyes"). \nThe two-disc DVD is actually a nice package, featuring tons of extras to dive into. There are some fun deleted scenes, two different commentary tracks from Zombie and the cast and an extremely interesting and detailed day-by-day documentary on the making of the film, which in many ways is superior to the film itself.\nThe bottom line is "Devil's Rejects" shows slight maturity in Zombie, who has potential to be a master horror filmmaker, and will no doubt please fans of the genre; however, ultimately, like "Corpses," the film relies too heavily on visuals and less on story and character development.
(11/17/05 5:00am)
For anyone familiar with Rob Zombie, the ex-front man of rock band White Zombie, you will know that he is a devout fan of horror movies. His music videos always had a creepy style to them, his stage presence was always elaborate and his 2003 directed horror film "House of a 1000 Corpses" was packed with personal odes to the genre he loves. His recent opus, "The Devil's Rejects" is a continuation of "Corpses"' vicious story. But does this already mediocre story really need a follow up?\nWhile it's safe to say that "Corpses" was a direct homage to 1974's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Rejects" seems to be Zombie's homage to 70s horror/revenge films and is quite different to its predecessor. \nThe film opens with a police raid on the Firefly (murdering family) home, which ends with a bloody shoot out. The leader of the raid, a disgruntled religious sheriff named Wydell (a surprisingly good William Forsythe) sets out on a revenge-driven mission to find the remaining family members who murdered his brother.\nWhile on the run the family encounters more victims to kill and eventually end up at a whorehouse in the middle of the desert where they party. Of course this leads to a showdown. \nThere are a number of visually horrifying scenes in "Rejects," which are highly stylized, and are more believable and realistic than "Corpses," however, they're all pretty random. We are never given a clear motive for what drives the killers, besides the fact that the family is insane, and really, the characters show zero emotion during the mayhem they cause.\nThe cast of this film, like "Corpses," is full of cult heroes from 70s and 80s horror films. Bill Moseley ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre II") is effective as crazy brother Otis, and there are a number of smaller roles by actors like Ken Foree (original "Dawn of the Dead") and the creepy Michael Berryman ("The Hills Have Eyes"). \nThe two-disc DVD is actually a nice package, featuring tons of extras to dive into. There are some fun deleted scenes, two different commentary tracks from Zombie and the cast and an extremely interesting and detailed day-by-day documentary on the making of the film, which in many ways is superior to the film itself.\nThe bottom line is "Devil's Rejects" shows slight maturity in Zombie, who has potential to be a master horror filmmaker, and will no doubt please fans of the genre; however, ultimately, like "Corpses," the film relies too heavily on visuals and less on story and character development.
(11/17/05 5:00am)
During a weekend back home this time last year, a group of what I like to call Evanston street thugs burglarized my small Japanese economy sedan. The aftermath of the heist, although not terribly severe, was upsetting to say the least. The crooks got away with a handful of change from my ashtray, helped themselves to the $40 VCR in my trunk and even indulged in a pack of Orbitz Winterfresh gum. The horror. While the losses were minimal and no damage was done to the car (thankfully the radio was left untouched), it was what the thieves decided not to take that really angered me. Consider this column an open letter to the culprits: \nAs a music junkie who generally refuses to listen to the radio, my car is usually filled with heaps of CDs. On the evening of what I like to call the "Sentra assault of 2004" the most valuable item in my car was in fact my music. Now, before going on, I must add that the crooks did manage to run off with two of my Roots albums and the soundtrack to the film appropriately titled "Baadasssss," but overall they seemed to browse my collection instead of just taking the lot. \nIs my taste in music really that bad? Did the crooks have a moral hatred against bands like Radiohead or Ben Harper? Were they not familiar with the musical styling of Rufus Wainwright or Bob Dylan? All these questions crossed my mind as I surveyed the damage the morning after. \nThe fact is these hooligans suffer from what I like to call musical exclusivity. They could have easily sold any of the discs in my car but instead decided to only take what they fancied at the time. My question to them, and the purpose of this column, is to ask why people close themselves off from different styles of music? Why do we stick to niche genres instead of exploring the diverse world of music? Why didn't the bandits try out a little British rock by lifting my Radiohead collection? The answer, I believe, is they judged the disc by its cover, so to speak.\nNow don't get me wrong. I do understand how easy it is for people to judge things before trying them. Trying things that are different or unfamiliar takes a lot of courage, and some people like the comfort of what is familiar to them. After all, we listen to music because it makes us happy, enabling us to escape from our surroundings, if not only for three to four minutes. This said, I do believe that sometimes the musical comfort levels we create can make us forget about other styles available. \nI will say right away that I am by no means completely innocent of being close-minded; however, since coming to college, I have tried to expand my horizons when it comes to everything, including my tastes in music. Before coming to IU, I wouldn't touch a rap CD unless Lauryn Hill was on the cover, but after a friend freshman year played some Notorious B.I.G. and later exposed me to the 36 Chambers of the Wu Tang Clan, I found myself filling my iPod with all sorts of rap and hip-hop music just waiting to be discovered.\nThe same thing happened more recently with a friend from California, who, after telling me he listened exclusively to metal bands, caught my attention and ended up giving me a crash course in the music he loved. Flash forward a couple of months, and you can sometimes find me rocking out to songs like Pantera's "Domination" (much to my roommate's dismay) while doing trivial things like folding my laundry or doing my ethics homework. \nIn my opinion, we are extremely fortunate to live in a world with such musical diversity. I like that over the years I went from being the kid who used to bug my parents with nothing but alternative and grunge rock, only dabbling slightly in anything considered "classic," to an avid fan of jazz, classical, blues, hip hop, techno, you name it. \nIt isn't my intention to throw my musical tastes on anyone, even though sometimes I want to. After all, a band like Pantera or an artist like Frank Zappa (someone I have just recently started to delve into) isn't going to be for everyone; however, I think it's important to at least try new things and explore what the world has to offer. So, to the culprits who ransacked my automobile: if you still spend your autumn evenings breaking into cars, don't be so selective with what you lift. Try expanding your musical tastes. You might be surprised of what you find.
(11/10/05 5:00am)
"Millions" is one of those films that leave you feeling good when the end credits begin to role. It's disguised as a simple family film with the same generic ethical issues you might find in an after-school special, however, as the movie progresses and the plot unfolds, we are presented with something much more important and meaningful.\nThe film tells the story of two brothers Damian (Alex Atel) and Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon) who, after moving to a new housing development with their father after their mother passes away, come across a bag filled with roughly 250,000 British pounds. With time running out before "E-Day" where the U.K. drops the pound and switches over to the euro (fictional of course), the boys have to decide what to do with the fortune. Anthony (the more materialistic brother) wants to hide the discovery from their father and spend the money, while the more spiritual Damian believes the money should be used to help people, particularly the poor. \nWhile at first this premise sounds like a simple ode to 1994's "child finds money, child spends money" family comedy "Blank Check," "Millions" sets out to do much more. Damian believes in saints, religion and living a good life and seems to have his own set of morals, which normally in a movie like this would have to be taught to him. \nDamian finds interesting ways to help people with his newfound fortune, never once deciding to use it for himself. Eventually, though, the original owners/thieves come searching for the loot.\n"Millions" is well-acted (Alex Etel makes the kid in "Finding Neverland" look like an amateur), has a great soundtrack and is visually stunning. It was directed by Danny Boyle, who seems an odd choice considering his past films dealt with issues such as drug addiction ("Trainspotting"), murder ("Shallow Grave") and zombies ("28 Days Later"). This fact, however, shows just how versatile Boyle is as a director.\nThe DVD for this film features a number of nice special features, some better than others. There are a handful of deleted scenes, some quite nice, others worthy of the cut. Boyle and screenwriter Frank Boyce give an interesting commentary track, and there are a few behind-the-scenes featurettes. Overall "Millions" is a wonderful family film that sets out to be much more than simply that, and ultimately succeeds.
(11/10/05 1:52am)
"Millions" is one of those films that leave you feeling good when the end credits begin to role. It's disguised as a simple family film with the same generic ethical issues you might find in an after-school special, however, as the movie progresses and the plot unfolds, we are presented with something much more important and meaningful.\nThe film tells the story of two brothers Damian (Alex Atel) and Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon) who, after moving to a new housing development with their father after their mother passes away, come across a bag filled with roughly 250,000 British pounds. With time running out before "E-Day" where the U.K. drops the pound and switches over to the euro (fictional of course), the boys have to decide what to do with the fortune. Anthony (the more materialistic brother) wants to hide the discovery from their father and spend the money, while the more spiritual Damian believes the money should be used to help people, particularly the poor. \nWhile at first this premise sounds like a simple ode to 1994's "child finds money, child spends money" family comedy "Blank Check," "Millions" sets out to do much more. Damian believes in saints, religion and living a good life and seems to have his own set of morals, which normally in a movie like this would have to be taught to him. \nDamian finds interesting ways to help people with his newfound fortune, never once deciding to use it for himself. Eventually, though, the original owners/thieves come searching for the loot.\n"Millions" is well-acted (Alex Etel makes the kid in "Finding Neverland" look like an amateur), has a great soundtrack and is visually stunning. It was directed by Danny Boyle, who seems an odd choice considering his past films dealt with issues such as drug addiction ("Trainspotting"), murder ("Shallow Grave") and zombies ("28 Days Later"). This fact, however, shows just how versatile Boyle is as a director.\nThe DVD for this film features a number of nice special features, some better than others. There are a handful of deleted scenes, some quite nice, others worthy of the cut. Boyle and screenwriter Frank Boyce give an interesting commentary track, and there are a few behind-the-scenes featurettes. Overall "Millions" is a wonderful family film that sets out to be much more than simply that, and ultimately succeeds.
(11/03/05 5:00am)
"Oh yes, there will be blood." These few words, spoken by John, aka The Jig Saw Killer (Tobin Bell), pretty much sums up what the "Saw" films are all about. "Saw II" follows in the footsteps of tons of similar crime/horror films of the past, as being a vehicle for gruesome scenes of blood and gore. However, unlike so many horror movies that focus merely on shock value, "Saw II" also features a fairly clever plot, which in many ways is equal yet different to its predecessor. \nLike the first film in the series, "Saw II" revolves around the premise of cops and detectives searching for the maniacal killer. However the twist here is they find him right away, interrogate him and instead spend the rest of the film searching for the killer's last victims, who he has locked in a house full of toxic gas. The victims have two hours to be found or they will die.\nThis tricky scenario is all part of the killer's plan to teach his victims to embrace the life they have by forcing them to fight for their survival. This, if you remember, was the basic premise of "Saw" and again works well as a motive for the killer, something that is often forgotten about in the typical horror movie script. \nDetective Eric Mason (a fairly emotionless Donnie Wahlberg), to his dismay, is summoned to the case by his ex-partner, but is suddenly brought into the killer's twisted puzzle when he finds out his son Daniel (Erik Knudsen) is one of the victims trapped in the house. \nMeanwhile in the eerie house/prison Daniel and seven other people must sort through clues and fight booby traps in order to beat "the game" and earn their survival. \n"Saw II" is not a perfect horror film by any means, but is more clever and entertaining than most films in the same genre being released today. The acting is sub-par at that, and some plot points are vague, but overall the movie is a good time, especially if you enjoy the occasional horror flick. \nThe film offers a lot of creativity, especially in the elaborate death sequences (one word: syringes) and enough blood and gore to fill a number of films. Stomachs: you've been warned.
(11/03/05 3:20am)
"Oh yes, there will be blood." These few words, spoken by John, aka The Jig Saw Killer (Tobin Bell), pretty much sums up what the "Saw" films are all about. "Saw II" follows in the footsteps of tons of similar crime/horror films of the past, as being a vehicle for gruesome scenes of blood and gore. However, unlike so many horror movies that focus merely on shock value, "Saw II" also features a fairly clever plot, which in many ways is equal yet different to its predecessor. \nLike the first film in the series, "Saw II" revolves around the premise of cops and detectives searching for the maniacal killer. However the twist here is they find him right away, interrogate him and instead spend the rest of the film searching for the killer's last victims, who he has locked in a house full of toxic gas. The victims have two hours to be found or they will die.\nThis tricky scenario is all part of the killer's plan to teach his victims to embrace the life they have by forcing them to fight for their survival. This, if you remember, was the basic premise of "Saw" and again works well as a motive for the killer, something that is often forgotten about in the typical horror movie script. \nDetective Eric Mason (a fairly emotionless Donnie Wahlberg), to his dismay, is summoned to the case by his ex-partner, but is suddenly brought into the killer's twisted puzzle when he finds out his son Daniel (Erik Knudsen) is one of the victims trapped in the house. \nMeanwhile in the eerie house/prison Daniel and seven other people must sort through clues and fight booby traps in order to beat "the game" and earn their survival. \n"Saw II" is not a perfect horror film by any means, but is more clever and entertaining than most films in the same genre being released today. The acting is sub-par at that, and some plot points are vague, but overall the movie is a good time, especially if you enjoy the occasional horror flick. \nThe film offers a lot of creativity, especially in the elaborate death sequences (one word: syringes) and enough blood and gore to fill a number of films. Stomachs: you've been warned.
(10/27/05 4:00am)
Cameron Crowe is the kind of director who values music almost as importantly as the acting, script and cinematography in film. In an interview about the choice of music in his films from the "Elizabethtown" Web site (www.elizabethtown.com) Crowe said, "There is nothing more powerful than when the right piece of music marries with the right piece of film." \nLike other music-savvy filmmakers (Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson) Crowe seems to have a knack for using music and songs to help project the mood of his films. \n"Elizabethtown" is Crowe's sixth film to date and, like his others, features a soundtrack that not only embodies the feeling of the film but also Crowe's apparent love of music. \nIn the past, Crowe employed a certain flavor in his soundtracks. With "Almost Famous" he took on his love of classic rock. In "Singles" he tapped the 90's alternative and Seattle grunge rock scene, while "Say Anything" focused on the power of a great love song. With "Elizabethtown," country music seems to be his weapon of choice.\nThe "Elizabethtown" soundtrack features fifteen wonderfully diverse songs that manage to work seemingly well with the overall feeling of his new film opus. The opening song to the disc is by Crowe's musical muse/wife Nancy Wilson, who provides yet another wonderful instrumental piece (not to mention a second soundtrack disc devoted solely to her film score). \nOther notable tracks come from Elton John's "My Father's Gun" which makes numerous appearances in the film, an interesting piece from Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and a nice little closing track by relatively new country rock group I Nine. There are also a couple fun country tracks from The Hombres and Patty Griffin.\nTom Petty's "It'll All Work Out," and Helen Stellar's "io (This Time Around)" were the most memorable tracks from the film and are definitely the two strongest songs on the soundtrack.\n"Elizabethtown" is a solid soundtrack with very agreeable songs, however, it isn't Crowe's best compilation to date. There are a couple songs that seem to be out of place or just lacking excitement (Ryan Adams' sleepy song "Come Pick Me Up" seems to drone on in monotonous drag for five minutes too long.) However, for those Crowe fans out there, this soundtrack will no doubt be a must-have, especially if you appreciate and love music as much as Crowe does.
(10/27/05 1:54am)
Cameron Crowe is the kind of director who values music almost as importantly as the acting, script and cinematography in film. In an interview about the choice of music in his films from the "Elizabethtown" Web site (www.elizabethtown.com) Crowe said, "There is nothing more powerful than when the right piece of music marries with the right piece of film." \nLike other music-savvy filmmakers (Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson) Crowe seems to have a knack for using music and songs to help project the mood of his films. \n"Elizabethtown" is Crowe's sixth film to date and, like his others, features a soundtrack that not only embodies the feeling of the film but also Crowe's apparent love of music. \nIn the past, Crowe employed a certain flavor in his soundtracks. With "Almost Famous" he took on his love of classic rock. In "Singles" he tapped the 90's alternative and Seattle grunge rock scene, while "Say Anything" focused on the power of a great love song. With "Elizabethtown," country music seems to be his weapon of choice.\nThe "Elizabethtown" soundtrack features fifteen wonderfully diverse songs that manage to work seemingly well with the overall feeling of his new film opus. The opening song to the disc is by Crowe's musical muse/wife Nancy Wilson, who provides yet another wonderful instrumental piece (not to mention a second soundtrack disc devoted solely to her film score). \nOther notable tracks come from Elton John's "My Father's Gun" which makes numerous appearances in the film, an interesting piece from Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and a nice little closing track by relatively new country rock group I Nine. There are also a couple fun country tracks from The Hombres and Patty Griffin.\nTom Petty's "It'll All Work Out," and Helen Stellar's "io (This Time Around)" were the most memorable tracks from the film and are definitely the two strongest songs on the soundtrack.\n"Elizabethtown" is a solid soundtrack with very agreeable songs, however, it isn't Crowe's best compilation to date. There are a couple songs that seem to be out of place or just lacking excitement (Ryan Adams' sleepy song "Come Pick Me Up" seems to drone on in monotonous drag for five minutes too long.) However, for those Crowe fans out there, this soundtrack will no doubt be a must-have, especially if you appreciate and love music as much as Crowe does.
(10/20/05 4:00am)
What do you get when you combine a dysfunctional family, a magician named Gob, a Private Eye named Gene Parmesan, a blue-painted David Cross, Saddam Hussein, a bounty hunter/caterer called Ice, Liza Minnelli, a carnivorous seal, Henry Winkler, a one-armed man, Ron Howard, the Motherboy competition and lots of frozen bananas? The answer of course is season two of the brilliant television anti-sitcom "Arrested Development."\nFor those unfamiliar with all that, "Arrested Development" first premiered in 2003 to critical acclaim, but received low ratings and a lack of a following. Eventually it was renewed for a second season, won a number of Emmys, including outstanding comedy series, and is now currently in its third season. It caught the eye of critics alike due to its brilliant writing, wonderfully funny cast and its knack for social commentary. \nSeason two picks up right where season one ended. George senior (Jeffrey Tambor) escapes from prison only to flee to Mexico, Michael (Jason Bateman) tries to release his son George Michael (Michael Cera) from the talons of his dysfunctional family by attempting a move to Phoenix, Tobias (David Cross) continues his hopeless search for work as an actor, Gob (Will Arnett) becomes president of the Bluth company and Buster (Tony Hale) is, well, Buster.\nLike always the Bluth company battles to stay afloat by searching for new business ventures. Buster is enlisted in the army by his mother Lucille (Jessica Walter) after a Michael Moore look-a-like asks her if she would enlist her son, Tobias and Lindsay Fünke try to save their marriage by having an open relationship and George Michael has his first girlfriend, the overly religious Anne or as his father Michael likes to call her, "Egg." \nSimilar to its predecessor, season two also features a number of wonderful extra characters including Liza Minnelli's hilarious portrayal of Lucille Austero, or Lucille 2, who not only tries to gain back Buster's love but also has a two-episode relationship with Gob. There's also the family's equally dysfunctional lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler), Rob Corddry ("The Daily Show") as a TV cop show actor named Moses Taylor, small cameos by comedians Andy Richter and Ben Stiller, the return of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' ("Seinfeld's" Elaine) pathological liar/lawyer Maggie Lizer and of course the always funny Carl Weathers ("Rocky"), who plays himself. \nNow to say that season two is superior to one would be unfair because both are, honestly, equally as rewarding. The overall level of chaos and humor that the Bluth family brings episode after episode is as evident in this season as it was in the first. It could be said that season two does feature more celebrity cameos, probably due to the show's growing popularity, and that at times the storylines are more over-the-top than before (take the hand-eating, bowtie-wearing seal), but this by no means makes it anything less than what great comedy should be. \nThe three-disc DVD set features all 18 episodes, commentary tracks on three different episodes by the cast and creators, some funny deleted scenes, a season one recap and some blooper reels. Bottom line: season two is continuing proof that "Arrested Development" is the best show on television since "Seinfeld," and will hopefully have a successful life and avoid becoming a lost cult classic.
(10/20/05 3:06am)
What do you get when you combine a dysfunctional family, a magician named Gob, a Private Eye named Gene Parmesan, a blue-painted David Cross, Saddam Hussein, a bounty hunter/caterer called Ice, Liza Minnelli, a carnivorous seal, Henry Winkler, a one-armed man, Ron Howard, the Motherboy competition and lots of frozen bananas? The answer of course is season two of the brilliant television anti-sitcom "Arrested Development."\nFor those unfamiliar with all that, "Arrested Development" first premiered in 2003 to critical acclaim, but received low ratings and a lack of a following. Eventually it was renewed for a second season, won a number of Emmys, including outstanding comedy series, and is now currently in its third season. It caught the eye of critics alike due to its brilliant writing, wonderfully funny cast and its knack for social commentary. \nSeason two picks up right where season one ended. George senior (Jeffrey Tambor) escapes from prison only to flee to Mexico, Michael (Jason Bateman) tries to release his son George Michael (Michael Cera) from the talons of his dysfunctional family by attempting a move to Phoenix, Tobias (David Cross) continues his hopeless search for work as an actor, Gob (Will Arnett) becomes president of the Bluth company and Buster (Tony Hale) is, well, Buster.\nLike always the Bluth company battles to stay afloat by searching for new business ventures. Buster is enlisted in the army by his mother Lucille (Jessica Walter) after a Michael Moore look-a-like asks her if she would enlist her son, Tobias and Lindsay Fünke try to save their marriage by having an open relationship and George Michael has his first girlfriend, the overly religious Anne or as his father Michael likes to call her, "Egg." \nSimilar to its predecessor, season two also features a number of wonderful extra characters including Liza Minnelli's hilarious portrayal of Lucille Austero, or Lucille 2, who not only tries to gain back Buster's love but also has a two-episode relationship with Gob. There's also the family's equally dysfunctional lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler), Rob Corddry ("The Daily Show") as a TV cop show actor named Moses Taylor, small cameos by comedians Andy Richter and Ben Stiller, the return of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' ("Seinfeld's" Elaine) pathological liar/lawyer Maggie Lizer and of course the always funny Carl Weathers ("Rocky"), who plays himself. \nNow to say that season two is superior to one would be unfair because both are, honestly, equally as rewarding. The overall level of chaos and humor that the Bluth family brings episode after episode is as evident in this season as it was in the first. It could be said that season two does feature more celebrity cameos, probably due to the show's growing popularity, and that at times the storylines are more over-the-top than before (take the hand-eating, bowtie-wearing seal), but this by no means makes it anything less than what great comedy should be. \nThe three-disc DVD set features all 18 episodes, commentary tracks on three different episodes by the cast and creators, some funny deleted scenes, a season one recap and some blooper reels. Bottom line: season two is continuing proof that "Arrested Development" is the best show on television since "Seinfeld," and will hopefully have a successful life and avoid becoming a lost cult classic.
