Tag: spectrum review

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

The 4th of July holiday meant a little bit light week at Spectrum Culture, but I still had a few words go up. On the film side, I reviewed the new film from André Téchiné, the acclaimed French director of Wild Reeds and several others. It always feels a little uncomfortable to take shots at a director with a highly valued history, but the movie was plainly lacking. It was a labor to get through. I also wrote about Fiona Apple for the second straight week, offering up a brief assessment of her new outing in our survey of the … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Everything ElseLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

This week my writerly paw prints were in a few different corners of Spectrum Culture. First, I had a music review of a new reunion album, which I openly acknowledged that I was selecting because I’m one of the older guys on the staff. I usually approach such releases with a hearty dose of skepticism, although I’ve been pleasantly surprised in the past. Not this time around, as my honest assessment was fairly dire, an especially unpleasant scenario given that the band in question has at least one true classic to their credit. On the film side, I reviewed the … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Film, MusicLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

I had a few contributions up at Spectrum Culture this week, including one more than I originally anticipated. The first thing that posted was a review of the new album from Lemonade, which I actually forgot landed in my iTunes because I was supposed to write about it. So while I’ve been listening to it a fair amount since I got it, I hadn’t been thinking about what to say about it until the official deadline crossed my inbox. I think I pulled it together fine, but it was a little more of a scramble than it needed to be. … Continue reading Spectrum Check

MusicLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

I wasn’t too busy for Spectrum Culture this week, and, atypically, all my writing had to do with music. The one longer piece I wrote was a review of the new Patti Smith album. It felt quite glum about giving the record a middling assessment, but it did sadly strike me as one of the weakest original efforts since she reemerged with the wondrous Gone Again back in 1996. I also contributed to our regular List Inconsequential feature, selecting the Pipettes for my “One Album Wonder,” in part because I’ll take any opportunity I’m given to revisit the song “Pull … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Film, MusicLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

I had a fairly busy week with Spectrum Culture. Because of the shifting vagaries of release schedules, I wound up with the rare instance of two new film reviews in one week. First off was my take on a gloomy extra-natural drama about a musician who starts hearing a low tone that no one else can, and the ways in which it drives him crazy (thanks in no small part to a conspiracy-minded brother-in-law). This is the sort of film I always feel a little bad beating up on. It’s so clearly a labor of love for the chief creators … Continue reading Spectrum Check

FilmLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

While I’m falling a little behind in my music reviews, I still had two new film pieces go up at Spectrum Culture this past week. First there was a review of a new documentary that uses one man’s personal experience, documented with a series of video cameras, to illuminate the ongoing challenges of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. While its homemade origins instill some humility into the film, it was also fairly complex and required a certain amount of deftness to detail its strengths and weaknesses. It was a nice challenge to write the review. I also wrote on … Continue reading Spectrum Check

FilmLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

  This week for Spectrum Culture, I reviewed a new film that fell into the category of earnest attempts sadly lacking in real chops in the execution. This is the sort of offering that I suspect plays like gangbusters at the smaller festivals on the circuit. I also contributed a short piece for our weekly List Inconsequential feature, because I simply will not pass up a chance to write about “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s finest film performance. Sorry, friends, but his turn for director John Carpenter ranks second in my book. Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

This week at Spectrum Culture, I started with a piece on the music review side. I’ve previous written on Vivian Girls and La Sera, so it only seemed logical to me that I should continue weighing in on all the groups bobbing across that shared orbit. That meant writing on the second Best Coast album, not really knowing when I claimed it that the band was on the receiving end of enormous antipathy. That at least gave me an angle with which to start the review. I also had my regular contribution on the film side, writing about the new … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Everything ElseLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

It can be frustrating writing reviews from my relatively remote outpost (of course, there are greater frustrations here these days than that minor inconvenience). I’m reliant on studios that are willing to send out DVD screeners, and that’s a little harder to come by in the day of prolific online piracy. There are often weeks when the film I’m most interested (or best equipped) to review flatly isn’t available to me. And then there are weeks like this one. I tried and tried and tried to select a film from the limited release offerings that might have a screener and … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Film, MusicLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

The vast majority of the time, the reviewers at Spectrum Culture choose the material we write on, which means we sometimes build our own trends as writers. For example, I’ve already regularly claimed Vivian Girls and associated acts (including writing about the new Best Coast soon). Turns out I’ve also inadvertently developed a specialty for writing about movies centered on French prostitutes. Last fall, extremely positive festival buzz led me to ask for Bertrand Bonello’s House of Pleasures. Now my willingness to follow Juliette Binoche just about anywhere led to a more modern exploration of that particular European subculture. The … Continue reading Spectrum Check