Recent Media Consumption - 03/06/207
Read Exile on Main St.: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones by Robert Greenfield, and what a freakin' waste of time. Only the third section called "Aftermath" has anything worthwhile, even though in the first or second paragraph Greenfield sniffs that anyone expecting an examination of the actual music on the album itself needs to look elsewhere to "lesser" music writing. Christ, what a prig. So, if you're a fan, read the first few pages of the last section while standing in the book store.
Finally saw Little Miss Sunshine and to be honest was expecting it to be a slog. I mean if you have a drug-addict grandpa, the obligatory gay character, and square boorish dad trying to make it in the world in a can-do indie film, it doesn't bode well. But this little sucker was kinda funny. And for once it made the gay character a person and not a cipher. MILD SPOILER: I was shocked that the ending was directly lifted from the much better About a Boy, and not once review I read mentioned that.
We tried to watch Man of the Year with Robin Williams, but none of us could summon the interest to continue after the first 15 minutes.
I watched Miami Vice by myself because I'd read a lot of "on second thought this is a decent film" kinda recommendations. I was not really impressed. It had the tone of the TV show, except it was darker (and no I'm not talking about the pastel clothes in the original), and of course has more splashy violence and sex. Meh. The show was still better. The romance was completely unbelievable.
A friend lent me a copy of an old Boz Scaggs album that's out of print called "Dig", and I kinda wondered why. It wasn't necessarily something that represented his tastes, and Boz Scaggs? Yeah, I love "Lido Shuffle" and think the guitar solo on "Breakdown Dead Ahead" is still one of the best ever. I was just kinda stumped until I gave it a listen. Every song on it is at least good. If you were or are a fan, this is one of those that got away, so give it a listen.
All the good Electric Light Orchestra albums are now remastered. Thank you, cosmos. (A New World Record, Time, Face the Music, and Out of the Blue) Yes, they sound great.
Finally, I am a total an unrepentant slut when it comes to good bubblegum powerpop (think "Mickey" by Toni Basil and "Trouble" by Pink), and holy cow has Avril Lavigne concocted an irresistible nugget of fun. Check it out: "Girlfriend"
2 comments:
Re: Little Miss Sunshine, I suspect no-one mentioned the similarities to About A Boy (just how did Toni Collette wind up in both?!) because the latter's superior insight and entertainment value would have made any enjoyment of the former look pale. Still and all, I did enjoy LMS. The van was a terrific comic setpiece, and everyone involved was clearly intent on enjoying the experience as well as delivering the film's central conceit.
Re: Miami Vice, the audience I saw it with actually hooted with laughter when Colin Farrell said, "It was too good to last." Eef. I think Michael Mann actually possesses some insight as to why impossibly beautiful women tend to fall for sleek, duplicitous monsters, but he put none of it to use in this film. Which gets me wondering: what drew him back to this material? What was he hoping to play with and stretch out? Clearly this was a project that spun out of control, but when you compare it to the MM projects that work (Heat, Collateral) you have to wonder what might have been if he'd got what he wanted.
I was going to say "for the money" but a quick check on imdb.com shows that's not the issue. Yes, it's a mystery.
Post a Comment