Notes from a Genius

"Savages" starring: Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Benicio Del Toro, Selma Hayek, John Travolta directed by: Oliver Stone I wanted to like and enjoy "Savages" because it seemed like Oliver Stone was attempting to get back to a style of filmmaking that made him famous and infamous in the 1990s, but ultimately the writing is not done well enough to really hold the film together. The voiceover of the girl, O (Blake Lively) becomes annoying pretty much right off the bat. I'm not a fan of voiceovers, to begin with, and here it seemed contrived and quite unnecessary. And then, there's the ending of the film, which I won't spoil here, but it's almost like Oliver Stone is being self-indulgent and just cannot seem to snip and cut pieces of his own film, like he wants us to see everything he films, but this particular ending just comes off rather insulting to the audience. But, I think the major fault in this film lies within Stone...

"Only God Forgive" starring: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Yayaying Rhatha Phongam, Tom Burk written and directed by: Nicholas Winding Refn Writer/Director Nicholas Winding Refn certainly knows how to polarize his viewers. You either love him and his films; or you hate them, perhaps despise is a better word. Or maybe you just don't "get" him. I've seen and enjoyed "Drive," his first collaboration with Ryan Gosling, which was a art-house kind of film, where the soundtrack really helped "drive" the film, pun intended. There wasn't much dialogue, only what was necessary to move the story along, as well as help explain the characters and their actions. Gosling was excellent in that film and Refn obviously saw something in him because he made "Only God Forgives" for his star. This is another beautifully crafted artsy film with savagery and gruesomeness, terrible, not-safe-for-children language. T...

"All Cheerleaders Die" starring: Caitlin Stasey, Sianoa Smit-McPhee, Brooke Butler, Tom Williamson, Amanda Grace Cooper, Reanin Johannink, Nicholas S. Morrison, Sidney Allison written and directed by: Lucky McKee and Chris Siverston Here is a horror film that reminded me of the terrible Megan Fox vehicle for objectification called "Jennifer's Body." Like that film, this one is trying to be so much more with so little and it jumps around in several different horror sub genres even with the brief amount of running time given to the story, which itself takes a long time to develop and get going. It's disappointing at every turn. It's basically about a teenage boy who finally loses his virginity to his high school girlfriend, much to the delight of his other high school jock friends. These football players have some kind of unwarranted "beef" with the cheerleading squad, made up of stereotypical "mean" girls. Tragedy strikes one ni...

My girlfriend and I went to see Band of Horses the other night at the State Theatre here in Portland. They played the same venue a couple of years ago, but I regretfully missed that show. This time around I knew I couldn't miss them, having seen them several years ago open for Pearl Jam at the Boston Garden. As a headliner, the band was incredible. Factory   Knock Knock   Is There a Ghost   The First Song   Blue Beard   Compliments   Cigarettes, Wedding Bands   St. Augustine   Thirteen Days   ( J.J. Cale  cover) For Annabelle   Laredo   The Great Salt Lake   Weed Party   Everything's Gonna Be Undone   No One's Gonna Love You   Islands on the Coast   NW Apt.   Ode to LRC   The Funeral   Encore: Detlef Schrempf   Powderfinger   ( Neil Young  cover) The General Specifi...