black swan

i walked away from black swan wondering if i liked it or not...i wasn't exactly sure...but the movie has stayed with me more than most i've seen recently, so i'm going to go with "liked it".

the trailers for the movie are pretty accurate: is this stalking / sabotage thing only in nina's (natalie portman) head, or are people around her really trying to psych her out? everytime the viewer thinks he has it figured out, suddenly it's turned all around again. this happens half a dozen times, at least.

a tad heavy on the black vs white theme in set decorating particularly with the ballet director's office, with random white and black props tossed in the background.

i also had a small quibble with how meek nina was in her "white" mode...could someone in this art form have gotten where she got, with no backbone? but, that made it all the more gratifying when the black swan emerges throughout the movie.

and the black swan "performance" is easily an emotional highlight of the movie...pretty awesome. it's reported that natalie portman studied ballet for a year in preparation for this role. i wonder what real ballet dancers think of her technical performance.

same director as the wrestler, and requiem for a dream, both of which i like a lot.

(note: the eyebrows made their appearance)

noted

mackintosh braun noted my comments...yay!

2010 albums

mackintosh braun

album of the year: a song from "where we are" pops up in my shuffle, and i'm compelled to stop and listen. more than any other album this year, "where we are" snags me every time.

spacy, but never drab and static; highly atmospheric, yet "pop"; and the processed vocals are still forefront with interesting lyrics. every track a winner. (while looking them up, take a gander at their previous album, the sound, which is sadly, no longer available on CD, but really impressive.)

also rans:


alphaville:catching rays on giant
terrific new album came out this year, catching rays on giant. who knows what that title means, but every track fits well, somewhere in alphaville's history.




brandon flowers: flamingo
early track of the year: "on the floor 2.0", flamingo. i adore this song, really wraps up an album that nicely encapsulates a man coming to terms with his inherited "faith", and the many disappointments therein. interesting concept coming from mr flowers.

daft punk: TRON

for another track of the year: "son of flynn". a minute and a half of 70's electronic nostalgia, which, when watching the (very good) movie, made me want to buy the album from my seat. (why don't theaters carry more merchandising for the "blockbuster" movies?) this album has made me reconsider my apathy toward movie soundtracks lately. starts out all moody synthesizer, and builds into big drumming action stuff. really, really good.

devo: something for everybody
they do what they do, don't they? something for everybody, a new album, released this year, and i had the chance to see them live again, so good to have them back on the list.

"fresh" is a real good single, too. how'd they luck out and get the spot to play this on NBC's olympic coverage?

the drums: the drums

you know how you can instantly spot a new order song by the bass line? the drums have something like that going on, and not in a copycat way. this is a great summer album...at first listen, it sounds all one-pattern, but continued listenings really bring out the teen angst among a warm and friendly collection of songs.




findlay brown: love will find you
came across "holding back the night" on a blog here or there, and loved the song...then i saw the album was out, so i ordered the CD. first listen, i was a little disappointed, because the songs didn't match "holding back" so much...but as each song comes up in a shuffle these days, i find myself checking my ipod to see what track is playing and who this artist is, emulating great voices of the past. i'm growing to like this album more and more and more.

i highly recommend the above.


hockey: mind chaos
an album i sincerely love, but have somehow avoided posting. this was going to be my "album of the year", but then mackintosh braun came along and stole my heart. still, hockey's album is quite good, running through various music styles in a few tracks, all tied together with the lead vocalist's gravel pit delivery (meant as a compliment).

i can't recommend this one enough. really, really wonderful.

hurts: happiness
probably my most anticipated album that actually came out this year, and definitely one of the most fulfilling. take songs by a-ha, give them the sheen of spandau ballet, performed by a duo with the charisma of pet shop boys, but attitude of depeche mode, and you have HURTS. definitely a plus that the first video for "wonderful life" was shockingly goofy; the second version a little too polished, but retaining that odd choreography style.


OMD: the history of modern
the 80's strike again, with a pioneering duo releasing new material that sounds very classic. thank you, plink-plink gods.


scissor sisters: night work
missed their live show, but love the album. i started listening to it, appreciative of their 70's pop radio leanings...but wondering, what of the 80's? and then in pop nods to devo, giorgio moroder, and even george michael.

the lead single, "fire with fire", is pretty gorgeous.

fabulous.

song posts

for those who have lost track, what follows is a list of the songs i posted and / or linked to during the past 12 months. (a lot more adam ant than i would have expected...but about as much from the 80's in general, as we all have come to expect.)

20100110: got a habit now, val emmich
20100106: universal daddy (aquarian dance mix), alphaville
20100107: pass this on, the knife
20100108: all in my mind, love and rockets
20100111: blood, tears & gold, hurts
20100114: screaming skin, blondie
20100118: moth's wings, passion pit
20100121: lust for life, girls
20100123: jealousy, pet shop boys
20100127: jaws 2: brody misunderstood, john williams
20100129: euroboy, pet shop boys
20100130: let's go surfing, the drums
20100131: you were on my mind, we five
20100201: symphonies, dan black
20100205: stranded on love, i am noxious
20100206: the resistance, muse
20100207: i won't say adieu, the inertia kiss
20100212: mad world, tears for fears
20100212: the ghost in you, the psychedelic furs
20100213: glorious, andreas johnson
20100213: english boys, blondie
20100221: nothing is real but the girl, blondie
20100221: no stars, figures on a beach
20100221: downtown, petula clark
20100222: fresh, devo
20100225: "if i loved you", from carousel
20100228: the certainty of chance, the divine comedy
20100301: home, engineers
20100309: lowiza, the lovely feathers
20100315: kick-ass, mika
20100322: not alone anymore, the traveling wilburys
20100324: miss thing, adam and the ants
20100331: fat-bottomed girls, queen
20100404: the more you live, the more you love, a flock of seagulls
20100408: something's jumping in my shirt, malcolm mclaren
20100411: don't stop (michael jackson cover), blondie
20100413: fear of drowning, mirrors
20100414: invisible light, scissor sisters
20100421: libertine, adam ant
20100421: who's a goofy bunny then, adam & the ants
20100422: song away, hockey
20100424: seven seas, echo and the bunnymen
20100427: get on with it, val emmich
20100427: E.S.T., val emmich
20100428: better than love, hurts
20100509: wouldn't it be good, nik kershaw
20100515: theme from "heaven can wait", david grusin
20100516: theme from "capricorn one", jerry goldsmith
20100517: that's good, devo
20100527: hold me now, thompson twins
20100529: good girls, a bigger splash
20100603: a sunday smile, beirut
20100610: forever & ever amen, the drums
20100611: lay your hands on me, thompson twins
20100612: i gotta feeling (black eyed peas cover), i am noxious
20100613: what i heard (live), blondie
20100617: no place like home, devo
20100620: neverest, hey champ
20100626: homo, goodbye july
20100626: waiting, my robot friend (featuring alison moyet)
20100626: rebel fleet/end title (star wars V), john williams
20100627: let me go, heaven 17
20100702: babopbyeya, janelle monae
20100703: bad boys, wham
20100711: blue, fine young cannibals
20100711: (keep feeling) fascination, the human league
20100813: if you want it, OMD
20100904: sleeping, rick astley
20100904: lights out, rick astley
20100911: i die for you today, alphaville
20101010: hide and seek, mirrors
20101023: love is the law, the suburbs
20101025: could it be, mackintosh braun
20101026: sister marie says, OMD
20101026: not in love, crystal castles (featuring robert smith)
20101031: it's not too late, wolfsheim
20101105: holding back the night, findlay brown
20101110: desperate but not serious, adam ant
20101122: night people, the human league
20101202: intervention, margaret cho (featuring tegan and sara)
20101205: what i heard (studio version), blondie
20101206: call me down, alphaville
20101209: made of money, adam ant
20101221: all you need is now, duran duran
20101226: all i want for christmas is new year's day, hurts

fwiw, most of the links in the original posts seem to be working, if you wanted to review.

The King's Speech

i love learning history from a movie, don't you? inspirational story of the man who would be king, but feels overwhelmingly intimidated by his own speech defect -- have we run out of underdogs, that we are left with empathizing with the priveleged?

who knows how much of this is fact, but an intriguing story, just the same.
i went in, wondering how much of a man stammering through public appearances i could bear to watch but 1) they portrayed a fairly small number of appearances and 2) colin firth's portrayal of the man was so enjoyabe to watch, that the stammering business wasn't bringing on any cringes at all.
(in fact, the movie showed plenty of other characters' cringing, so my own cringing wasn't necessary.)

the stories of "doctor and client" interaction and of "royal and commoner" interaction, by the same two characters, played well, and there were lots of interesting magazine-like photography tricks in the movie: positioning a solitary character in a third of the frame, wide angle shots in unexpected places, shifting focal points in extremely shallow fields, etc. kept my interest visually, as well.

definitely a recommendation.

shake weight 20101226

look what i got for xmas:

will keep you posted

TRON: Legacy

where the original TRON was likable for what it could have been, TRON: Legacy is likable for everything that it is.

the light cycle games are actually thrilling. and beautiful 3D photography throughout, imaginative futuristic imagery, with some very nicely composed shots here and there.

the story never gets too complicated (and not so reliant on knowing the original), but the parts that seem like they might get confusing, pass quickly enough.

jeff bridges's younger "flynn" incarnation is mostly convincing (moreso if you don't remember what he actually looked like 30 years ago), though in the early scenes with young son, he just looks and moves oddly. and flynn's reliance on 80's slang ("radical!") isn't so convincing, but forgivable: cut him some slack, man, he's been trapped in a computer for decades.

it's a rare movie that makes me want to go in a second time, but i am really, really looking forward to watching TRON: Legacy again.

(please note, i like 3D movies, but am not a sucker for them. evidence: i really disliked "avatar". that's not me in the row behind you going "oooooooooooh" when the 3D glasses come up on the movie screen.)

HURTS holiday

everybody waits for christmas…for me, it’s new year’s day

a holiday single from my favorite new band of the year. it bothers me that this single isn't available in the states, and that we USA'ers can't link to the video in our blog posts. stupid music companies.

done

before hollywood ran out of ideas

duran duran - all you need is now

hey, they're back again...



i saw duran duran in concert about 5 years ago (for their "astronaut" tour), and they were pretty good. admittedly, i got sooooo tired of them when they were overplayed ("the reflex"), but i'm rather okay with this new one.

equation

i used to bring my personal mail, which i always opened at home, to work so that i could shred it (ensuring my identity remains within my possession, yes). then i decided to bring the shredder from work, home (brilliant!).

since doing so, i've (unconsciously) stopped opening my mail at home, and open it at the office...and then take it home again to shred it.

looks like i kept that equation in balance.

angelina

found on postsecret:

i almost agree...a digitally madeover alien, perhaps.

the fourth kind

finally viewed the movie, the fourth kind (2009). i'm generally all into movies of this sort: quasi-documentary, science fictiony, aliens. but this one took itself so very seriously, and tried to pass itself off as authentic...all of which ended up seeming almost offensive to me.

kind of paranormal activity but with aliens. did it have some good (scary) parts? absolutely...freaky, even. but at the end, i was feeling a bit put off by the whole thing.

and how much of a kickback did chapman university get for having their name plastered over the "real" video footage of therapist and client video footage? (after a quick consultation with the google, i found out that the director graduated from chapman u, and it was a sort of homage to his alma mater; they were happy enough to see their name onscreen.)

not a recommendation.

monster

i post pictures of the monster almost everyday (not here, to my flickr). my flickr friends must hate me.

movies and trailers

movies and trailers for the week:

movie of the day

we saw the tourist today, mainly because we visited venice this year, and thought it looked interesting from a tourist point of view. it seemed to be jumping between stupid and ridiculous throughout the first half or three quarters, but then it settled on "contrived".

and did they really break for a pop song in the middle? yes, they really did.

angelina jolie looked like a horse from behind. literally, a horse. and both her and johnny depp's faces just looked odd throughout...like they had digital makeovers, or something.

trailers of the day

i am number four looked okay, like fugitive spies trying to blend into society. oh, and quinn from glee plays a high school girl who falls in love with the diary-snooping spy...but wait, no, he can make light shoot out of his fucking hands. suddenly, this is the dumbest trailer of the day.

the mechanic looks like yet another hitman / chase scenes / loud explosions movie. wonder what might make this one different...because the trailer gives no indication.

true grit looks decent, even before you see it's by the coen brothers. i wanna see this, based on the trailer alone.

the adjustment bureau: matt damon is a senatorial (?) candidate who falls in love with a strange girl (who turns out to be a ballet star, of course), before falling into the matrix and finding out he can't be in love with her or she will die, becaue this bureau didn't intend for them to fall in love (or simply because terence stamp says so). hopefully this is not as dumb a movie as the trailer wants us to believe.