I don’t quite know how to describe the movies that Kelly Reichardt makes. There are the highly reductive terms that were commonly used to describe her latest, Meek’s Cutoff: slow, small, understated. I can see how someone could decide each … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2011 — Number Three
8. “Wild Wild West” by The Escape Club Well, yuck. The divide between the Billboard chart and my memories of the fall of 1988 is no vaster than it is right here. Maybe it’s some sort of protective blackout in my brain, but I don’t remember the title cut from the goony British quartet’s sophomore release crossing our airwaves at all. It was surely everywhere else, though, going to very top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts, a pretty damning indictment of the state of Top 40 radio that fall, especially when the chart-toppers from before and after its one … Continue reading College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, 8 and 7
The first I had up at Spectrum Culture this week was a review of a new film starring Linda Cardellini. I’m particularly proud that I managed to avoid invoking Freaks and Geeks, which seems to be cited in every other review I’ve seen of the film. It certainly says something about the lingering brilliance of Paul Feig’s high school series that it remains the main touchstone for Cardellini despite the fact that she’s been a part of some notable films and spent several seasons as a central cast member of E.R., many of those years coinciding with the time that … Continue reading Spectrum Check
When I got my first job in commercial radio, it was at a “New Rock Alternative” station, which was terminology intended to convey that while we were going to play the biggest of the big when it came to college radio material, artists that sounded like Pearl Jam were going to have a far easier time muscling onto our playlist. My hope was that I’d be able to stay up on music through working there. After all, we were primarily playing the artists that college radio broke in the first place. How far behind could we be? The issue, as … Continue reading One for Friday: The Apples in Stereo, “Show the World”
In Certified Copy, written and directed by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, an English writer is in Italy on a book tour, promoting his latest work which examines the philosophical underpinnings of art itself, challenging the very notion of authenticity considering … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2011 — Number Four
#45 — Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (Jeff Margolis, 1979) I had an old friend who theorized that watching someone who is the best at what they do plying their trade is always an amazing experience, even if (or maybe … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 70s — Number Forty-Five
I remember watching Martin Scorsese’s excellent 2004 outing The Aviator and feeling certain that scenes that revolved around subject Howard Hughes operated as an obsessed director in old Hollywood represented a peak of personal filmmaking. For all the amazing work … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2011 — Number Five
There are human tragedies that are ultimately too enormous to be captured onscreen, but that, of course, doesn’t mean filmmakers should stop trying. Because sometimes, just often enough, they succeed in capturing some small slice of the unthinkable, some glimpse … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2011 — Number Six
10. “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)” by Information Society I’ll admit to having my own preferences that decisively inform my perspectives on different music eras in different regions. For example, Minneapolis in the nineteen-eighties is strictly the punk-influenced rock ‘n’ roll of Hüsker Dü and The Replacements for me. This is despite the fact that the biggest-selling artist to hail from the city during that decade had a very different sound indeed. So maybe it shouldn’t be that hard for me to wrap my head around the notion that Information Society and their dippy, skippy pop music started in … Continue reading College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, 10 and 9
I was all over the place at Spectrum Culture this week. First of all, I had a piece in the music section, reviewing something that was definitely outside of my usual range. The super-secret DVD backstory of this review is that I wrote it while flat in my back while suffering with an ailment that really needs not be elaborated upon. You should appreciate my discretion, believe me. I also reviewed the new film from director Ti West, which I actually made a point of requesting months in advance. For one thing, I have a marital obligation to get horror … Continue reading Spectrum Check
Coffee for Two 