Obligatory Third Post About The Oscars

I promised it, although now I'm not sure why. There's not much left to say. I will say that Hugo deserved the wins it got. Nothing upset/surprised me too much. Glad some Colorado filmmakers won best documentary short. The Artist is now officially "overrated" but I wish it no ill will. Good for it. Tree of Life will end up being one of those movies that, years down the line, people will say "really? Tree of Life won no awards?" or maybe not. I like to think it will be recognized as 2001: A Space Odyssey is now. But who knows.

I'm glad it's time to move on. It reminds me of the end of the year when I obsess about putting together my list of best albums and once I've done that I can finally listen to other stuff. I can now watch whatever the hell movies I feel like. Not that any of them were a chore (I should have seen The Descendants earlier, that's for sure!). I just feel liberated.

That is all. Thanks for playing.

Updated Oscar related things and thoughts!

I said I would do this so here it is. Now that I've seen most of the movies nominated for most things, here are some final thoughts about what I would like to see happen tomorrow on the TV screen which is oh so important.

Best Picture: Still Tree of Life, duh. But I can see The Artist taking everything for nothing more than nostalgic purposes. I didn't dislike The Artist and wish it no ill will, but it was simply "good."

Lead Actor: George Clooney will probably win and I now think he should. He was marvelous. I always think Clooney is overrated but I quite liked his performance here.

Lead Actress: Hopin' for Michelle Williams, who channeled the simple charm of Marilyn Monroe. The movie wasn't as good as I had hoped but the acting was great, particularly Ms. Williams. (Prediction is Glenn Close, just seeing the trailer I could tell that that's the type of role that wins Oscars)

Supporting Actor: Kenneth Branagh was also brilliant in My Week With Marilyn. So go him. I don't know who to predict so I decided Max Von Sydow despite the movie being (presumably) terrible. Mostly as a way to finally recognize his brilliance.

Supporting Actress: No interest in The Help but I can see someone from that movie winning. I half-heartedly endorse Bérénice Bejo from The Artist for her charm level, but none of these nominees particularly impressed me this year. Where's Carey Mulligan or Charlotte Gainsbourg?

Animated Feature: I saw none of these. I will blindly hope for A Cat In Paris because I imagine it is a lot of fun, and I will blindly predict Rango. What are we to do without a Pixar nominee?

Cinematography: I was surprised Moneyball wasn't nominated although Wally Pfister got recognized for his work in Inception. But that was probably my second favorite cinematography after Tree of Life. Predict The Artist because it's gonna take home a lot. Even though the lighting had lots of the faults of 40s (and earlier) black and white cinema with multiple shadows always on display. But maybe that was purposeful?

Directing: See above. Predict The Artist but Tree of Life really should take this one.

Editing: Hugo should win, again expecting The Artist...

Song: Go Bret McKenzie!

Adapted Screenplay: I believe The Descendants will and should win. Wonderful story, wonderful dialog, just well told. Moneyball's a distant second.

Original Screenplay: Predicting Midnight in Paris. I didn't see A Separation, but I'm going to hope for that one anyway. None of the nominees I saw impressed me all that much this year.

I sadly didn't see any documentaries, shorts, or the nominated foreign films this year. Other than seeing Time Freak randomly at a film festival. I can hope for Time Freak, but that's not really a fair way to judge it.


I will try to make my final entry about the oscars less list-y and more paragraphy. See you after that!


Oh, one final note. Alfred Hitchcock never won an oscar. Stanley Kubrick only won once for visual effects. The best movies are often not even nominated. Even with 10 nominations. So see Shame, Melancholia, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Drive, The Skin I Live In, King of Devil's Island, and many more. fyi.

of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks

I guess it's time to throw in my 15 cents about this new of Montreal album, eh?

Last year sometime I was reading an interview with Kevin Barnes that had a fairly surprising amount of time praising the Sufjan Stevens album The Age of Adz. It was about how the album was so under-appreciated and in retrospect people would see it as one of the great works of our time. I was happy to see someone defending it so fiercely because I happened to agree strongly with his assessment. Adz was such a massive personal statement into which Stevens threw his whole being, a radical departure from all of his past "mainstream" releases.

It appears that Mr. Barnes was quite influenced by this great work. He seems to have decided to make his own personal version. So what we get here isn't as quite as radical a departure as the one Sufjan Stevens made, but that's only because of Montreal has never shied away from the outrageous/layered/layered/layered/A.D.D.-esque sounds that can be found on this album. But something has changed.

Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? was my favorite album of 2007, a year that included oh so many great albums (Battles, LCD Soundsystem, Okkervil River, Jens Lekman, Animal Collective, Jay-Z, M.I.A., and many others absolutely killed it that year). I had to venture into the world of Myspace to find this, but here is what I wrote about Hissing Fauna in my 2007 summary:

of montreal - hissing fauna, are you the destroyer?/icons, abstract thee
not only my favorite album of the year, but quite possibly my favorite album of the last FEW years. such happy, uplifting music about depressing subject matter. WE JUST WANT TO EMOTE 'TIL WE'RE DEAD. such a perfect opening line to the greatest album i have heard in a really long time. it makes me dance, shed a tear, think, scratch my head, laugh, all while singing along. and i never ever wanted to write this song...

The way that album combined dizzying highs and depressing lyrics moved me in ways I still find troubling. Since then, of Montreal's music has been disappointing me to a degree. The last couple albums just found Barnes reveling in his Georgie Fruit alter-ego, creating a strange fusion of of Montreal and Prince, getting all sorts of funky. Nothing wrong with any of that, it just didn't seem as personal a work, and it was near impossible to relate to it on a personal level.

This new one is different though. He has finally moved on. The lyrics hit the same levels of depression as Fauna, but the music now has a darkness to match. The way they are sung retains what Destroyer did, and once you've spun this a few times, if you're like me you will find yourself singing along with just as much emotion as on Hissing. It's just instead of singing about wanting to "shave your head, have a drink, and be left alone (is that too much to ask?)" it's more about how "somehow I lost the thread of being human, wrapped in all this bitterness."

It's a trip into the depths of Barnes' psyche, it's his most personal work since at least Hissing Fauna, and it's easily the darkest record they have put out. If you can take it, and if you can give it the time and attention it requires, I highly recommend it.

Le Beau Serge

Latecomer: Le Beau Serge

This one hasn't been on my shelf too long. I think I got it last time Barnes & Noble did their whole 50% off all Criterion dealie.

I think this may be the first Chabrol movie I have seen. Fitting, I say, as it was his first film. Maybe I should visit his filmography entirely chronologically. Or maybe that would be too daunting. But with the level of skill and intuition on display in Le Beau Serge, I imagine his films were all very impressive.

Camera movement. That's the main thing I noticed in this film. Lots of long takes. Lots of scenes that took place in just one take. There was a lot going on but it was very easy to follow. This is certainly the work of a filmmaker who has spent a lot of time studying film. Perhaps he was a film critic who decided he would pick up a camera? He was? Cahiers du what now?

But anyway. I don't know what else to say here. It was inventive but not to the degree that other New Wave directors would take things. But he beat them to the punch, so maybe he continued to push and innovate as the 60s went on. I certainly can't wait to find out. If nothing else, I could watch lots of his movies just for the fact that the camera work is certain to be impressive and probably a big influence on later directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson and Martin Scorsese.

Highly recommended, although maybe not as highly as the early work of Truffaut or Godard. But that's just this one movie.

Thou Shalt Not Commit Adulthood

I was fortunate enough this weekend to witness a band I had finally started giving up thinking I'd be able to see. Despite coming of age as a punk rock kid in Fort Collins, my timing was just slightly off and I never got to see the great heroes of Fort Collins punk rock at home. Of course I'm talking about The Descendents.

Growing up I always imagined seeing them at the Starlight, a tiny venue of many punk shows in my day. Today, the Starlight is closed and I don't go back to Fort Collins very often.

So imagine my surprise when I found that The Descendents were playing a show in Denver, sort of a one-off thing, at The Fillmore, which is pretty much the opposite of The Starlight. I never thought they'd play a place like that.

Let me take a few sentences in the middle here to acknowledge the other band that played that night. Another band I missed seeing whenever they were in town despite being a fan about 10 years ago. Hot Water Music is currently working on their new album at Fort Collins' The Blasting Room so they got to play as well as another one-off show that's not part of a tour. They have a huge discography, and my time as a fan only spans a couple of their albums, so I only knew a few of the songs they played but they were still incredible. I may need to get back in touch with their music.

Now, when the great and powerful Descendents took the stage, the first thing I noticed was Milo's grey hair. For a band that prides itself on immaturity, it was quite striking.

But the music. Oh, the music. Every damn song was played with such a high energy level, such electricity and fervor, I almost forgot I was at a venue advertising a Creed concert in the coming weeks. For The Descendents' set, I know every word, every note and every chord was right, right on.

For the All-o-Gistics they brought a bunch of kids on stage. From my understanding, they are the band members' kids. They have kids? They have their own Descendents?? But the kids read off the All-o-Gistics. These kids are the future and if they live by these simple rules they don't have to worry about running out of energy and passion in their lifetime.

One strange thing happened. One of the biggest moments of excitement for much of the crowd was when they played "Nothing With You" off the strange second-reunion-album, 2004's Cool To Be You. It is probably one of the better songs off that album, but it's really got nothing on their 80s discography. I know a lot of kids probably got into the band with that album, but I certainly got into the band with their other strange reunion album, 1996's Everything Sucks but it didn't take me long to discover the beauty that is the band's 80s discography. So why people would particularly latch on to something from 2004 in 2012 when it's markedly inferior to the old stuff (this can't just be my opinion...right??) is a big mystery to me.

What other observations can I make? It was kind of funny when Milo sang "When I Get Old," and he even laughed a little bit at the beginning of the song, but I don't think he's really become his definition of old. Grey hair and whatever age number he has reached has nothing to do with that.

They played damn near every song on the classic Milo Goes to College and I went crazy screaming along to damn near every song they played. That's what's important. I finally got to see those local Fort Collins punk rock heroes live. It wasn't at a tiny, sweaty, smokey bar, but it was still everything else I would hope for. And soon I will be able to re-live the show (and you can see it too!) because it was being taped for some sort of video release. Can't wait!

One last thing. This whole post was about how they embrace immaturity, and how we love them for it, but there has always been one dark spot in one of their early songs, a song that is otherwise awesome and I still love, but it always makes me uncomfortable. "I'm Not A Loser" is a great anthem for punk rock types against jock types that will empower the outcasts of high schools for generations to come, but it happens to end with a bunch of homophobic slurs. These days, it is apparent which side of this ongoing battle of the outcasts vs the cool kids that homosexuals will tend to reside upon, and in this live rendition, this has been recognized, as the slurs were taken out of the song. Some things are worth growing up over, and I'm happy to see that they have become wise without losing their ability to declare "thou shalt not suppress flatulence." Amen to that.

Melancholia

The other one that got snubbed.

It's a good time for a movie dealing with the apocalypse. How would you deal with it? If it was actually happening?

One person just knows things. She knows we are alone in this universe, and she knows that it will end. But with such an innate understanding, you also see the bigger picture:

"The Earth is evil. We don't need to grieve for it."

But for the rest of us, it's all just a mass of confusion. Clinging to anyone that will give you answers, we don't know any better. We just want life to continue because we believe it is important. Especially if we are in fact alone. What is this universe without life, anyhow? Sure, it's beautiful but without life beauty does not matter. No one to perceive it as such. So we want to believe that the threat to all life on earth "looks friendly."

I don't know if this movie even should have been up for any Oscars. Maybe best picture, but the individual elements (acting, cinematography, writing, etc) were basically utilitarian. All just pieces of the bigger picture. Nothing individually stood out, yet the film itself has left a lasting impression on me. And I'm glad I caught it in the theater, particularly due to the final shot. I can't imagine it having nearly as great an effect watching on a TV with my version of surround sound.

So if it's still in theaters near you, definitely check it out. The first act is very uncomfortable, I should warn you, but it's part of what creates this lasting effect. I felt this movie for days after leaving the theater.

Oscars 2012 - Initial Thoughts on the Nominations

I will follow up once I've seen more and again after the ceremony. Follow along at home and comment and make your own predictions! Here's where they're posted.

Best Picture:

TREE OF LIFE TREE OF LIFE TREE OF LIFE. Unquestionably the best film of the year. I loved Hugo and I still have to see the others, but hands down, man!

Lead Actor:

I really need to see more films, I haven't seen any of these! But based on snippets and such, it appears that George Clooney was great in The Descendants...But really? No Michael Fassbender?

Lead Actress:

No Elizabeth Olsen? No Carey Mulligan? They will both get their due someday if they keep up the good work. I think Meryl Streep just has a permanent spot on the nominee list. I will be pullin' for Glenn Close, although I need to see more of these.

Supporting Actor:

I have no comment at this time, although I'm a little disappointed in the absence of Paul Giamatti & Philip Seymour Hoffman...but those two guys do get their share of credit so it's not a huge deal. Would have liked to see John C Reilly for Cedar Rapids, even though it seemed like such a joke role he did a great job fusing comedy with drama in this performance and what he still hasn't won an Oscar? Just because he mostly does comedy doesn't mean he's not one of the best actors working today...Or Carnage or We Need To Talk About Kevin (but I haven't seen those ones).

Supporting Actor:

Or maybe this is where Carey Mulligan should have been. Still not there though. Let's see. The Help just needs to shuuuut up. Melissa McCarthy was very funny in Bridesmaids but is that enough for an Oscar?

Animated Feature:

Seen none of these. What do you think Pixar is thinking now? They lost their perma-spot!

Cinematography:

TREEEEEE OF LIFFFFE. Disappointed to see no Roger Deakins this year. When will he be properly recognized? But it looks like the only movie he would have been possibly nominated for this year was In Time, so it makes sense that he wasn't on the list. Next year though. If nothing else, he's doing a Bond movie so it will probably look awesome...

Art Direction:

Hugo!

Costume:

Whatever...

Directing:

Great field of talent here but obviously I'm going to pull for Malick.

Not much else to say about the other categories. Except "only two songs?"

Oh wait, Writing is there at the bottom:

Adapted Screenplay:

Need to see more of these before I can say anything. Betting on The Descendants though, were I a betting man.

Original Screenplay:

I'm sick of saying nothing about The Artist, I really need to go see that one. Bridesmaids would be a good one to win though.

Neglected:

obviously I need to see more movies in general, but come on!

-The Skin I Live In

-Le Havre

-13 Assassins

-John C Reilly

-The King of Devil's Island

-Martha Marcy May Marlene

-Melancholia

-Shame

Fugitive Days

What a great, inspiring book.

I mean it.

I don't think I'll make it through all of the books in one year but the point is that I'll just keep reading them as long as it takes. Next up was Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist by one Bill Ayers. The whole reason I had so much interest in this book in the first place was the smear campaign in the 2008 election when ol' Sarah Palin would talk about Obama palling around with terrorists. I' was glad Obama got through that whole load of bullshit and managed to win the election, but I was concerned about Ayers' fate. I figured at least i could be part of any increase in book sales resulting in the publicity of the situation.

After reading this book, I now wish Obama had actually been influenced by Ayers' ideology, that they were actually close and his policies would reflect that. Maybe then we wouldn't be undergoing all this expansion/reinforcement of Bush's Patriot Act and wars. At least the wars are kind of winding down now...

In this book, Ayers repeatedly talks about his motivations, how it felt like even they didn't do enough. Is there anything that could have been done to stop the war? The Weather Underground is considered extremist but even they couldn't do enough. Although hearts-and-minds are theoretically the way to get things changed in this country as it is something resembling a democracy. And then when a president goes to war AGAINST the will of the people, what does that mean for democracy? Well, he managed to win hearts and minds enough to get a second term despite doing something that despicable.

I'm getting off track. What track are we even talking about?

Motivations. Obligations in an unjust world. Are we not obligated to do EVERYTHING WE CAN POSSIBLY DO when we see injustice? Is Occupy Wall Street winning hearts and minds? Are they shaping policy? To "get this country back" it seems like some big things have to be done. First, a constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people so elections are no longer run by corporations. Then maybe the real will of the people can come through. Maybe. At least then there is a chance. Which is kind of why I think Colbert is one of the most important figures in the political scene right now. He's doing everything he can with his stature to spread word and expose how ridiculous that Citizens United ruling has made our political system. Am I back on track? Is this just one long rant?

I keep just avoiding the topic I know I have to hit. I'm not doing anything really. I comment every once in awhile about stuff, I vote, I donate to HRC and other causes, but I don't really take action. I don't win hearts and minds to the cause. How are we supposed to affect change when a significant portion of the population repeatedly votes against its own best interest and seem to be in the pocket of corporate America? It seems so obvious but people are not easily swayed to the truth. Occupy is our chance. But people seem to prefer to turn a blind eye or focus on the idiots within the OWS movement rather than the now clear message it is sending.

This is the least focused entry I've ever posted, isn't it? Am I supposed to be talking about the book? Read the book. Try to figure out how it applies to today. Read Bill Ayers' blog. And do something. And get me to do something as well. Whatever can be done.

Two-Lane Blacktop

In addition to my stack of books to read, I have a "stack" of DVDs/Blu-Ray discs that I have not yet watched despite having enough interest to purchase them. Sure, some of them were purchased for $1 at library sales or Blockbusters going out of business, but still worth my attention. I am going to try watch at least one per week, I have 35 or so. I will write something or other about these as well. This is a series I will call Latecomer.

Latecomer: Two-Lane Blacktop.

I watched this last night. As I write this, the Criterion bonus features are playing in the background. Director Monte Hellman is having a conversation with Kris Kristofferson. They were talking about his song "Me & Bobby McGee" and its relation to the movie. Mostly the line "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." This is a line that has always stuck with me since the first time I heard that song. Giving up everything is the only way to truly be free. So this movie.

Non-actors James Taylor and Dennis Wilson starred in this film. And they were great. Warren Oats was great as well. Ummm.

I like movies where they don't give the main characters names. The Man With No Name trilogy. Last Year At Marienbad. While these characters are developed, full human beings with All Things Human Beings Possess, a high level of mystery is maintained. Where does this guy come from? It's not important. The writer knows, but he ain't talkin. There could be something dark, but it's up to the audience's imagination. What brought him here? Well he's here. This is what he does. He has reasons, and we know he has reasons but we don't necessarily know. He's livin' and that's life.

That's what we do.

Ides of March

Man, this is getting exhausting. Saw Ides of March today. I don't have a whole lot to say about it. It was fairly entertaining and kind of a pessimistic (but wholly accurate) view of politics in general. Great cast. I would have loved to see a nice confrontational scene between the rivals played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti (due to them being perhaps the greatest actors working today) but what can you do.

I guess that's all. Great actors but nothing that really stretched any of them.