Three films deep into Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond, and the reboot of the character that started with 2006’s Casino Royale is totally complete. In Skyfall there are hints of the character as he was previously conceived–in the brief … Continue reading Buy the sky and sell the sky and bleed the sky and tell the sky
As I noted last week, I had several more pieces go up at Spectrum Culture in my second full week back, in part because of some backlogged music releases. That effectively describes the first thing I had go up this week, a review of the sophomore effort from the U.K. band the Vaccines. My unimpressed assessment proved to be the appropriate kick-off to a week of bad reviews. On the film side, I offered an evaluation of the new documentary about the late Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame. Especially given the life being drawn upon, the film is shockingly … Continue reading Spectrum Check
It has been twelve long years since Robert Zemeckis directed a film that had real live actors in it. He would undoubtedly take umbrage with that characterization, noting that the stop-motion animation efforts he’s toiled on during those dozen years … Continue reading Turn this crazy bird around, I shouldn’t have got on this flight tonight
Sometimes a movie can be too clever for its own good. Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s sophomore directorial effort, Seven Psychopaths, settles snugly into this category. On one level, it’s a black comedy that builds its humor out of the bullet-blasting … Continue reading You’re talkin’ a lot, but you’re not sayin’ anything
When Ben Affleck made his directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone in 2007, there were a few qualities that merited special praise which have since grown into genuine strengths he has as a filmmaker. There’s a laudable focus, a pronounced … Continue reading In Hollywood where all the lights are low, and truth’s as rare as the winter snow
I had another fairly typical week at Spectrum Culture with one full contribution apiece on the film and music sides. For the former, I reviewed a new documentary focused on the heated immigration issue in the United States. Unfortunately, it falls into one of the pitfalls common to modern documentaries: straining to do far too much. As for music, I reviewed a new compilation of classic, obscure soul music from the generally excellent Now-Again label. As usual, the crate-digger depths of discovery are impressive in the tracks selected, but the intensive focus on ballad-driven, so-called “sweet soul” winds up giving … Continue reading Spectrum Check
I greatly admire the construction of Rian Johnson’s screenplay for Looper. It’s not that he took on the daunting task of building a story around time travel and emerged with something that doesn’t collapse under unsolvable conundrums of logic, an … Continue reading Oh, you’re drivin’ me out of my mind
So I had a busy week at Spectrum Culture. Almost too busy. I’m not sure anyone needs that many of my words. It started with my latest contribution to the Revisit series over on the film side, a consideration of Wayne Wang’s Smoke. I recently confessed to the site’s editor-in-chief that this is the toughest feature for me to crack, trying to find something freshly pertinent to write about films that I know well. And I want to write about something that’s a somewhat unique selection, not simply celebrate films that have no shortage of advocates. I think I did … Continue reading Spectrum Check
Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master has the look, feel and tone of a masterpiece. It has a distinct anti-narrative structure that allows even the moments that falter to feel organically right, refutations of the supposed need for everything in a … Continue reading I want your picture but not your words, you know they want it, but there’s no verse
This week at Spectrum Culture, the significant mound of assignments I’ve picked up lately started to catch up with me (though not at the level of the next crazy few days). It was one of those rare weeks when I had two new film reviews up. As it turns out, both were documentaries and both were at least somewhat disappointing. First, I offered an assessment of the new film from Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. I selected it because I figured its subject matter–baseball knuckleballers–made me a little more qualified to review it than many of my cohorts at the … Continue reading Spectrum Check
Coffee for Two 