In Theatres, PG, 153 minutes
At the point when most film series are running on fumes, the sixth in the Potter series slams into high with Half-Blood Prince. Director David Yates’ second turn at the helm (2007’s Order of the Phoenix was his first) finds him more comfortable trusting the characters and story and less interested in dazzling with CGI. That’s all to the best since the three leads—Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Rupert Grint as Ron, and Emma Watson as Hermione—have grown into actors that can hold their own with the stellar cast of English stage actors which have hitherto done the bulk of the heavy lifting. Grint shows his chops at physical humor and the year or two on the stage have really paid off for Radcliffe who seems for the first time fully in charge of his character. Emily Watson has meanwhile developed into a stunning young women who still seems to be the best and smartest wizard of the bunch. Of the supporting cast Alan Rickman as Snape continues to be a standout. His droll line delivery has never been better. Helena Bonham Carter is also spectacular fun as the evil/destructive Beatrix Lestrange. Finally, the addition of Jim Broadbent as the name-dropping potions professor Horace Slughorn is providential. He brings significant emotional depth to the film and works to round out our understanding of Harry’s mother, Lily.
In the three months that have passed since Voldemort’s re-emergence at the end of The Order of the Phoenix, his death-eaters have become more brazen, openly attacking non-wizard muggles in London. Hogwart’s re-convening is filled with fear and talk of open warfare between the dark and white wizards. With violence on the rise, Dumbledore has taken to leaving for long periods searching for clues to Voldemort’s past and potential weakness. If that doesn’t seem like much of a plot, it isn’t. The film serves primarily to bridge the first five with the final, decisive battle of the last two (based on one book).
The magic in this film is that, for the first time, this film manages to catch one of my favorite aspects of the books: life at Hogwarts. The pace this time is decidedly slower, with all extraneous sub-plots removed, leaving time for meetings in the library, discussions about snogging, moments of heartbreak, dinner parties, and consultations with professors. The real terrain of the film is relationships, especially those of the romantic nature between the young cast as Hermione pines for Ron while he’s exploring other options and Ginny Weasley dates around waiting for Harry to make his move.
The weaknesses of the film include Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley who is simply too young to fit in with Harry and his crew and lacks anything near the dynamic spark we assume would be necessary to woo The Chosen One. Furthermore, there isn’t any indication that awful things are going on outside Hogwart’s or that it would be particularly difficult to wage an assault on her, making the final scene a little difficult to comprehend. But these are small trifles in a sly film that is the most comic and most poignant in the series. A-
Friday, July 17, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince A-
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Jack White's Dead Weather New Video Up
News that Jack White is involved in yet another side project is so common place it barely illicits a yawn, so, when I heard he'd formed ANOTHER super group The Dead Weather, I was hardly ecstatic. But first single "Treat Me Like Your Mother" is greatness and the corresponding video, looking like something Tarantino might have shot, is the coolest I've seen in forever. The girl is Kills lead singer (and oh-so-hot) Alison Mosshart, who provides lead vocals for most songs on the album.
The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother
The entire album (Horehound) is streaming here.
Emmy Nominations
I typically do not care about the Emmys, but this year has lots of love for DLP fave Flight of the Conchords. Click here for the full list of nominations.
Continue reading this postWednesday, July 15, 2009
Summer Movie Releases - 7/15-17/09
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I thought this was the 5th entry in the series, but it's the 6th. Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix merged in my head. I've heard good things about the costumes and cinematography, but I didn't see the first 5 in the theater and I'm not starting now just because Emma Watson is finally legal. At least Daniel Radcliffe is not making it with a horse in this one - I hope. Google "Equus" for help with that.
500 Days of Summer
The trailer was OK, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel trying to make young, modern love work. Deschanel is finally starting to work for me and Gordon-Levitt is a talent, despite his recent perf in Killshot. Priest has called this and I look forward to his thoughts.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Whatever Works - C
In theaters. Rated R, 92 minutes. Trailer.
Writer/Director Woody Allen has been on a commercial and critical hot streak of late, with Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Match Point (B+) both faring well in both arenas. Whatever Works will end the streak on both fronts, despite starring one of my favorite people, Larry David as Allen's stand-in (the closest you can possibly get to Allen himself). David is Boris Yelnikov, a brilliant but negative older New Yorker with an EXTREMELY pessimistic worldview with a history of suicide attempts. Click below for more on WW:
The film follows a normal Allen arc - older male meets, enlightens and falls in love with a much younger naive but beautiful woman who ultimately disappoints and leaves him. David is spot on in the role, which is essentially a more cerebral and less likeable version of his Curb Your Enthusiasm character. He spouts off lots of different takes on his view of the world (not entirely unfamiliar to this writer) involving chaos theory and a dim view of religion. Those parts worked, but the film lacks an interesting plot or enough interesting characters. Patricia Clarkson is great in her role as the mother of Evan Rachel Wood's character that goes WAY off the deep end in New York.
Allen's thesis is the ultimate in moral relativism, basically the opposite of any religious teaching - that is, whatever works to make you happy and to fulfill yourself is what you should do, and that religion and 'southern' values only serve to repress your true self. Uh, okay, that works for all of the different wealthy, unmarried and childless adults in New York City, but not for the continuation of the species and a meaningful society. The final scene of the film sees each character happy and all of the southern rubes having been transformed by the NYC relativism pixie dust into happy adults, each relationship representing a worldview. But Allen doesn't include anyone that is in a normal, moral relationship and that is the most glaring problem with the film.
Monday, July 13, 2009
HBO Sunday Night - 7/12/09
Entourage: Season 6, Episode 1: Drive
The last couple of seasons have worn thin with stories of Vince struggling over and over and over again. So it was a nice turn at the end of last season when Vince was cast in Martin Scorsese’s version of The Great Gatsby. This season picks up several months later with the premiere of that film coming up. Vince’s hot streak continues as he gets his driver’s license to prepare for an Enzo Ferrari movie. Eric is having the most success of his life with women, Turtle is still dating Jamie-Lynn Sigler (yeah-right), and Drama is still successful on his TV show. The show is called “Entourage” but everyone seems to be going their own ways . . .
It’s nice to see Vince succeeding again – the show works much better as a comedy with flashes of drama than vice versa. Vince returning home to an empty house at the end with The Verve’s “Lucky Man” was the best ending of any episode in recent memory. After his troubles last fall with mercury and what-not, you’d think Jeremy Piven would show some shame or retreat, but thankfully does neither - his Ari Gold is still one of the best supporting characters in all of TV – maybe best of the decade since he gives a jolt of electricity every time he’s on screen. His relationship with his gay assistant Lloyd has made the show watchable the past couple of seasons. In this episode, his deal to promote Lloyd (providing Lloyd does everything he says for 100 days) sets up the season for possible greatness. With the economy the way it is (and shout-outs to Leno’s Tonight Show and the cancelled My Name is Earl), the show feels dated. It’s strange to see the guys behaving as if it’s 2005, spending money they don’t have on stuff they don’t need. But they are growing up and going their separate ways, which is an improvement over the redundancy over the past couple of seasons. B+
Unlike the guys in Entourage, the writers of Hung (Episode 2 – “Great Sausage or Can I Call You Dick”) know the economy is a wreck. Teachers are getting fired and our hero Ray (Thomas Jane) needs money so badly, he’s turned to prostitution (He need Bret McKenzie to sing him a song). The second episode has Ray taking on (screwing) his first real client – to mixed success. Jane’s reactions and awkwardness dealing with the situations are great but Anne Heche’s reach-out to their kids is boring. 
The relationship between Ray and Tanya (Jane Adams), his pimp, is working in spades – for now. Phallic jokes never last – and this show needs another character or more inspired storylines if it’s gonna make it. So far, not even actors as terrifically talented Jane and Adams can save writing that has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the balls. B
DVD and Blu-ray Releases 7/14/09
The Edge of Love - #
For All Mankind (Criterion) - #, *
Grey Gardens
The Haunting in Connecticut
Horsemen
Mad Men: Season Two - #
Click below for this week's Blu-Ray releases
The Black Crowes: Warpaint Live
Cheap Trick: Every Trick in the Book
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon/Curse of the Golden Flower/House of Flying Daggers - *
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
Jose Feliciano: The Paris Concert
The Towering Inferno (1974)
# - also on Blu-ray
* - Doctor approved
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Weekend Box Office - 7/12/09
Bruno made a ton of money ($14 mil) Friday night but fell precipitously throughout the weekend. Word of mouth must have been horrible. Transformers 2 is now #16 all-time.
Weekend total / % Change / Cumulative total
1. Bruno: 30.4 mil / (-) / 30.4 mil
2. Ice Age 3: 28.5 mil / (-32%) / 121 mil
3. Transformers 2: 24.2 mil / (-43%) / 339 mil
4. Public Enemies: 14.1 mil / (-44%) / 67 mil
5. The Proposal: 10.5 mil / (-18%) / 114 mil
6. The Hangover: 9.9 mil / (-12%) / 222 mil
7. I Love You Beth Cooper: 5 mil / (-) / 5 mil
8. Up: 4.7 mil / (-29%) / 274 mil
9. My Sister’s Keeper: 4.2 mil / (-28%) / 36 mil
10. The Taking of Pelham 123: 1.6 mil / (-37%) / 61.5 mil
Friday, July 10, 2009
Bruno - C-
In theaters. Rated R!, 87 minutes. Trailer.
I really liked Borat (B+) and enjoy pretty much all of Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy. I found the Bruno sketches that were part of the Ali G Show to be some of my favorite. But with the film version of Bruno, SBC has blown it. Whereas Borat was somewhat realistic and was used to prod multiple cultural issues in a semi-intelligent manner, Bruno is a dumbed down and raunchy for-the-sake-of-it bomb. Click below for more from a disappointed Lawyer:
Maybe I'm overly sympathetic to folks who aren't comfortable with homosexuality or just southerners in general, but 90% of the film just doesn't resonate or produce any laughs or worthwhile social commentary. The other 10% is pretty funny, and I laughed out loud during the military scenes (HELLO!), the baby model parent 
interviews, the charity interviews with the twins and the cage fight at the end. The film is overly reliant on nudity and raunchiness for laughs and is doesn't work. I almost left 30 minutes in because it was so boring and uninteresting. To the right is the flyer that baited the people in Fort Smith, Arkansas to come to the cage fight. Boo-hissssssss.
Saturday update: Anthony Lane at the New Yorker comes to the same conclusion much more eloquently here.
Pearl Jam Tour
Not exactly geographically friendly, though. Dates below:
Ben Harper and Relentless 7 will open all dates, except for the Spectrum Theater shows.
September 21, 22 - Seattle, WA Key Arena
September 30, October 1, 6, 7 - Los Angeles, CA Gibson Amphitheater
October 9 - San Diego, CA Viejas Arena
October 28, 30 - Philadelphia, PA
Thursday, July 9, 2009
More Odds and Ends
1. I rewatched Harold and Maude recently. Count me as a huge late breaking Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam - he wrote the songs for the film and was essentially an additional character. "Trouble", which plays over the closing scene, is exactly what I need during my "spells" of distress during the day (lyrics after the jump). Here's an excellent cover of the song by Eddie Vedder. Here's Elliot Smith's version. Here's a write-up of Yusuf's performance from Cameron Crowe of the recent tribute to HM director Hal Ashby.
2. I like Garrison Keillor...here's his take on state fairs (including Texas') for National Geographic.
3. Life Magazine recently put their entire archives online in a great searchable database. A vast number of the photos have never been published. Beautiful pictures and lots of great gift ideas.
4. Can't wait for the new Ken Burns series: The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Reminds me of Wyoming. Great preview here (forward to when there are 19:50 minutes left (the start of the Episode 4 preview) for the Tetons portion). Watch out for John Muir quotes.
Trouble
Oh trouble set me free
I have seen your face
And it's too much too much for me
Trouble
Oh trouble can't you see
You're eating my heart away
And there's nothing much left of me
I've drunk your wine
You have made your world mine
So won't you be fair
So won't you be fair
I don't want no more of you
So won't you be kind to me
Just let me go where
I'll have to go there
Trouble
Oh trouble move away
I have seen your face
and it's too much for me today
Trouble
Oh trouble can't you see
You have made me a wreck
Now won't you leave me in my misery
I've seen your eyes
and I can see death's disguise
Hangin' on me
Hangin' on me
I'm beat, I'm torn
Shattered and tossed and worn
Too shocking to see
Too shocking to see
Trouble
Oh trouble move from me
I have paid my debt
Now won't you leave me in my misery
Trouble
Oh trouble please be kind
I don't want no fight
And I haven't got a lot of time
Summer Movie Releases - 7/9/09
Bruno
Sascha Baron Cohen takes another character from his Ali G Show to the big screen, this time the gay Austrian fashionista. Borat made us take a hard look as racial stereotypes; maybe this will do the same for gay ones. But something tells me that this won’t be the smash success that Borat was – people are just not that comfortable with really, really gay people in their personal space.
I Love You, Beth Cooper
A nerdy valedictorian professes his love for Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere) while he’s giving his graduation day speech. He’s surprised when she later shows up at his door for a date. All kinds of worthless and horrible high school shenanigans are sure to follow. Pass.
Humpday
2 old college friends meet up a decade later and somehow dare each other into making an amateur gay porno with each other. This is supposedly the best of the “mumblecore” movies - whatever that means (cheap, poorly acted, bad lighting, etc.). With that set-up, I don’t care what the reviews are – I’m out.
Hung
A new HBO series premiered last night starring Thomas Jane as Ray, a former high school and college sports star ruined by an injury whose hard times have continued to increase. His wife left him for a dermatologist, his son is in the goth scene, and his daughter is dating someone named Hammer. He teaches gym at the local high school and his uninsured house just burned down. In desperation, he decides to go to a seminar to unlock his inner entrepreneur. He comes to realize his only “tool” for success in this world is, well, look at the name of the series.
Jane is believable and portrays the inner struggles and difficult decisions well. This is a pretty good move for him - his film career was stuck with crappy scripts since he probably insisted on being the lead. (No one will ever take away his genius turn in Boogie Nights, however). His seminar co-attendee and occasional lover Tanya (Jane Adams – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is terrific as a self-proclaimed poet and future pimp with a knack for marketing. Likewise, a fiery Anne Heche and a slick Eddie Jemison are great in short scenes as his ex-wife and her new man.
This pilot episode was directed by Alexander Payne, whose last feature film was the excellent Sideways. He keeps things interesting with abrupt changes in mood, but mostly lets the actors and writers do their thing. There are some nice flashbacks and voice-over narration. It’s a good set-up for the series and it will be interesting to see where it goes. B
Programming note: Entourage returns next Sunday July 12
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Odds and Ends
A thought-provoking and funny case for Ghostbusters being the best movie ever is made here.
As if http://www.hulu.com/ couldn't get any better, ABC has joined.
It looks like Will Forte's SNL spoof character MacGruber may get his own movie. Hopefully, this is a joke.
Monday, July 6, 2009
DVD and Blu-ray Releases 7/7/09
Clipping Adam
Coco Chanel
Five Fingers
Flying By
Knowing - #
Push - #
The Unborn - #
Click below for this week's Blu-ray releases
The Deep
Grumpy Old Men
Torchwood – 2nd Season
The Universe – 2nd Season
# - also on Blu-Ray
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Weekend Box Office - 7/5/09
Ice Age 3 and Transformers 2 ended in an estimated tie for the top spot. Transformers 2 has fallen off $46 million off of The Dark Knight at the same time during its run but still has a good chance at 400 mil. Public Enemies did well but critics and word of mouth are mixed.
Weekend total / % Change / Cumulative total
Ice Age 3: 42.5 mil / (-) / 67.5 mil
Transformers 2: 42.5 mil / (-61%) / 293 mil
Public Enemies: 26.2 mil / (-) / 41 mil
The Proposal: 12.8 mil / (-31%)/ 94 mil
The Hangover: 10.4 mil / (-39%) / 204 mil
Up: 6.6 mil / (-49%) / 264 mil
My Sister’s Keeper: 5.3 mil / (-58%) / 26 mil
The Taking of Pelham 123: 2.5 mil / (-54%) / 58.4 mil
Night at the Museum: BotS: 2.1 mil / (-42%) / 168 mil
Year One: 2.1 mil / (-65%) / 38 mil
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Public Enemies A-
In Theatres, 140 minutes, Rated R
You’ve never seen a period piece that looks anything like Public Enemies. Technically, that’s because the film is shot 100% on digital cameras, with a good chunk appearing to be handhelds. Thematically, it’s because director Michael Mann isn’t interested in wowing with gorgeous reproductions of yesteryear, a la The Untouchable. He’s interested in immediacy and shooting a universal story like something I might put together on my Mac. He uses the look to shrink the distance between the audience and Dilinger’s America. To emphasize the dirt, the grain, the flash of gunfire, the crimson black of blood, the unflattering hard light and the lines on the face and forehead it betrays. In so doing, he tells again his favorite story—of two men on a crash course with the other, each attempting to be true to himself and his code in a society bent on destroying both. In this case the two men are bank robber John Dilinger (Johnny Depp) and FBI man Melvin Pervis (Christian Bale). And, as is the case with Mann, there’s a woman that ties them together—that keeps Dilinger from walking away from the society that would un-make him, allowing Pervis to reel him in—and what a woman. Marion Cotillard (Oscar for La Vie en Rose) burns as Dilinger’s love Billie Frechette. She and Depp bring an intensity to their brief romance that makes sense of the risks the take. If the American movie-going mind only has room for one French actress at a time, Audrey Tautou’s time is over (as Juliette Binoche’s was before her).
The plot is straight-forward simple. During the Depression, Dilinger and his ilk (Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson) steal from the banks that are themselves acquiring swaths of treasure through foreclosure, making them folk favorites. After busting his gang out of prison, Dilinger sets to hitting as many banks as possible, meanwhile falling for the half-French/half-Indian Frechette. J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) names him public enemy number one in an attempt to squeeze funding from congress and sets his favorite bulldog Pervis on his scent. History sealed the outcome long ago, but Frechette new from the beginning how the story would play out, even as she loved John all the more for his blindness. But the plot’s beside the point. Who gets to determine right and wrong? Is it better to be a man of principles acting outside the law or a man without inside? Do you live life by your rules or kowtow to society’s? And, in the case of Billie, do you love a man who’s completely alive today knowing there’s hell to pay tomorrow?
Some are complaining about Depp, but he hits it perfect. This is no psycho-analysis; it’s a man who knows what he wants, takes it, and isn’t thinking too much about tomorrow. He’s a little too cocksure, but he’d have to be to think he could keep hitting banks, and has the perfect charismatic veneer over an intellect that’s not quite as strong as he thinks. Bale is solid as a basically decent G-man not interested in asking existential questions while he hunts his man. The supporting cast is excellent, with Giovanni Rabisi turning in a solid minutes. The digital shooting makes the gunfights explode, as it did in Mann's Miami Vice, with Mann keeping the cameras a little closer to everything than we’d like. Mann continues to wrestle with what it means to be a man, the violence that seems inherent in the search, and situational ethics. If he’s asking the same questions over and over again, it’s because no one is providing convincing answers. A-
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Major Trailers
1. Couples Retreat. Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau and Jason Bateman star. Do you need to know anything else?
2. The Informant. Corporate comedy from Director Steven Soderbergh starring Matt Damon, The Soup's Joel McHale, and Buster Bluth. Maybe - looks Coen-y.
3. The Invention of Lying. Ricky Gervais, Christopher Guest, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and Jeffrey Tambor star in this comedy about a man that invents lying (Gervais). Written, directed and starring Gervais means its compulsory.
4. The Box. Concept/Horror film from writer/director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) starring Cameron Diaz. A family receives a box with a button - if they push it, someone dies and they get a million dollars.
5. Amelia. Biopic of the famed aviatrix starring Hilary Swank. Looks pretty. Maybe.
6. The Last Airbender. New film from M. Night Shyamalan. Not my bag.
7. 500 Days of Summer. Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star in this Gen Y romcom that actually looks pretty good. Priest alert.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Eddie Vedder - Atlanta - June 24th, 2009
[Guest Review - Dentist]
Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre; Concert Date: 6/24/09
Though he’s not quite as universally revered as Bob Dylan or Neil Young, Eddie Vedder rivals or exceeds both pound for pound in terms of vocal tonality and delivery. The chance to see him sans Ament, Gossard, McCready and Cameron in an acoustic setting was one that I jumped at. The location was the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, a 2,700-seat capacity venue in Atlanta, GA , that was the perfect intimate setting for Vedder’s haunting vocals and sometimes hilarious commentary. Click below for more Vedder:
At 8:45 the curtain was drawn and Eddie came onto the stage in a very unassuming manner, clad in jeans and a cool Dickies-esque jacket and took his position center stage with an acoustic in hand. After a generous round of applause he very matter-of factly said “So, I think we should all just let it all f**king hang out!”and his set began with a trio of covers from Cat Stevens to Floyd and a brilliant version of Girl From the North Country. One of the highlights for me was a stunning version of Betterman played on a smaller guitar/ukulele that Vedder introduced by saying “this might be one that some of you recognize”. The night would not have been complete without the requisite douche-bag, drunken frat-guys heckling Eddie song after song until he finally stopped, called them out and said “I barely heard what you said, but f**k you. I came here in a good mood and I’m not going to let you ruin it. I don’t come to Kinko’s and tell you how to do your f**king job”, which was met with thunderous cheers.
Best of the show for me was the cover of I Won’t Back Down, complete with Eddie going into the higher register on the chorus and the show closer Hard Sun, performed with the house lights on and Liam Finn with supporting vocals (close second was an absolutely stunning version of Bobby Jean, apparently an extremely rare cover, that Priest would have salivated over). It’s worth noting that for a frontman of a rock band, Eddie Vedder is the exception to the rule in that he can absolutely play a guitar about as well as anyone I’ve seen. This talent was one that I was not formerly aware of and really struck me as particularly exceptional. As I alluded to before, as good as Vedder’s voice is layered over full rock band armamentarium, it is phenomenal in this setting. As bad as he sounded on Conan a few weeks ago, the timbre and vibrato that have defined his sound were on perfect, glorious display here. He was talkative, very laid back, and delivered a varied set that had something for hard-core PJ fans and neophytes alike. Do yourself a favor and see Eddie or Pearl Jam if at all humanly possible. In the meantime, buy this.
Set list: Don't Be Shy (Cat Stevens), Brain Damage (Pink Floyd)/Sometimes, Girl From the North Country (Bob Dylan), Betterman (Lullabye Version), Untitled->Gone, No Ceiling, Rise, Far Behind, Guaranteed, Driftin', Millworker (James Taylor), You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (Beatles), I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty), Bobby Jean (Bruce Springsteen), Small Town, Wishlist, Porch
1st encore: Society (Jerry Hannan, w/ Liam Finn), Throw Your Arms Around Me (Hunters And Collectors, w/ Liam Finn), 'Till the Rivers All Run Dry (Don Williams, w/ Liam Finn), The Golden State (John Doe, w/ Eliza-Jane Barnes), The End (New Song)
2nd encore: Hard Sun (Indio, w/Liam Finn & Eliza-Jane Barnes)