976. Madness, One Step Beyond… (1979) The band Madness essentially began in 1976, as a group called the North London Invaders. There were lineup changes of the course of the next couple years — including the entrance, exit, and then … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #976 to #973
Since I recently lobbed a few ill words in the direction of Joe Wright’s latest Best Picture nominee in which the evacuation of Dunkirk figures into the plot, I’ll look back to a far more admiring assessment of an earlier effort from the director. Atonement was also a Best Picture nominee in which the evacuation of Dunkirk figures in the plot. How about that? And ten years ago, because of the same film, little Saoirse Ronan was also getting ready for her first trip to the Oscars. Atonement is a terrific book, so artfully taking advantage of the storytelling opportunities unique to … Continue reading From the Archive — Atonement
Yes, this strikes me as the sound of 1980. The Johnny Average Band was the result of the strangely communal Woodstock-based recording studio known as Bearsville. Founded and operated by Alber Grossman, best known as Bob Dylan’s manager through much … Continue reading One for Friday — The Johnny Average Band, “Ch Ch Cherie”
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association endure a significant amount of wholly deserved derision for the sometimes spurious reasoning employing in divvying films into the broad categories of “Drama” and “Comedy/Musical” every year (a practice, it’s worth noting, abetted by studios … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2017 — Number Three
Darkest Hour (Joe Wright, 2017). Director Joe Wright does his damnedest to pump up Darkest Hour with tricky visuals and little jolts of energy, but the stodginess of this drama is finally overwhelming. The film depicts the early tenure of … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Darkest Hour; The House; Dear Heart
There’s no doubt that Guillermo del Toro’s sympathies lie with the monsters. In that respect, The Shape of Water is no revelation. Instead it is — marvelously, beautifully — an expression of del Toro’s worldview so perfectly, precisely rendered that … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2017 — Number Four
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. I enjoy reading about … Continue reading Laughing Matters: The Simpsons, “We Are the Mediocre Presidents”
980. Iggy Pop, Party (1981) Arista Records executives held onto some bizarre ideas about which performers were likely to stride purposefully into sudden crossover commercial success. As I noted a couple weeks ago, the label badgered Lou Reed through the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #980 to #977
Last week, I dug out the old review for Clint Eastwood’s The Flags of Our Fathers. It’s time for his follow-up. Since I initially took the occasion of revisiting these reviews of Eastwood films to call into question some of the more overt veneration of his skills as a director, I now feel obligated to add that this effort nabbed a reasonably secure place on my top ten list for the year it was released. Well it’s a damn sight better than Flags of Our Fathers, I’ll say that. The companion to director Clint Eastwood’s earlier film about the battle of Iwo Jima … Continue reading From the Archive — Letters from Iwo Jima
Although I was present and aware during the time when the Go-Go’s dominated radio, MTV, and good chunk of pop culture as a full-on sensation, I don’t recall if there was any particular pressure to identify a favorite band member. … Continue reading One for Friday — Jane Wiedlin, “Rush Hour”
