Band of Horses Concert and Two Excellent Box-Office Films
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.
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"Wish I Was Here"
starring: Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, Joey King
written and directed by: Zach Braff
Let's forget for the moment that Zach Braff seems to be one of the most despised young writers/directors of my generation, who took it upon himself to fund this movie through www.kickstarter.com (which is a website designed to helped much lesser known and common folk with their creative projects). Sure, that created quite a backlash from the beginning of this film's background story. And let us also not forget that Zach Braff's first directorial/written film "Garden State" was viewed as a pretentious piece of hipster art. Nevermind that "Garden State" is one of my top 5 films of all-time (right up there with "Good Will Hunting" and "America History X" and "The Virgin Suicides"). I love Zach Braff's second film even though it is rote with the same cliches, almost, as his first film. "Garden State" came out 10 years ago and with "Wish I was Here" it's almost like we are getting a glimpse of what life would have turned out to be like for that character as well as Natalie Portman's Manic-Pixie Dream Girl character (Braff sure knows how to write them) if we were to look into the future, 10 years later. I don't really care though, because I loved both films. And I got emotional from both of them.
"Wish I was Here" is very bit as sincere, funny (at times), thoughtful, slightly spiritual and poignant as it needs to be for the story it is telling (much like "Garden State"). It's an existential crisis, just like his first film, and maybe that's just an easy subject for people my age.
The plot is as follows:
Aidan Bloom (Zach Braff), is a harried and harassed father of two kids, an unemployed actor, still auditioning for bit parts on series on the SyFy channel. Aidan’s wife Sarah (Kate Hudson) works for the L.A. Water Department, and endures sexual harassment from her cubicle-mate, but she is the bread-winner in the family, and can’t quit. Their lives have been set up to support Aidan’s dream, a dream that is slowly dying, but Aidan can’t let go of it. And Sarah is losing patience with the entire situation.
The pressure cooker of the Bloom domestic drama is intensified by the presence of Aidan’s father Gabe (Mandy Patinkin), who has learned he is dying of cancer. Aidan’s father raised his two sons Aidan and Noah (Josh Gad) in the Jewish faith, only to see them both fall away from it. Aidan has married a “half-Jew,” protests Gabe at one point, and Gabe is mortified that Aidan isn’t even man enough to support his own family. And Noah, who was thought to be a genius when he was a child, has now dropped off the grid, and lives in a trailer on the cliffs by the beach, dreaming about “becoming a blogger.”
Gabe finances the education of Aidan’s children, Grace (played beautifully by Joey King) and Tucker (Pierce Gagnon), paying the tuition at an extremely conservative private Jewish school. The children have embraced their Jewish identity to such a degree that Grace is looking forward to shaving her head one day and putting on a wig. Aidan refers to his children as “brainwashed matzah balls.” Grace rolls her eyes. When Gabe can no longer pay the tuition because he needs the money for his cancer treatment, the kids are pulled out of their beloved school and Aidan begins a disastrous course of home-schooling.
There are some great scenes that beg of the existential crisis.
Aidan and Sarah sit at a lifeguard station on the beach at night, talking about their lives, trying to re-connect as a couple. Sarah, who has always had a wary relationship with her judgmental father-in-law, has a killer scene with him in the hospital, where she tells him, in no uncertain terms, what his two adult sons need from him. Both Hudson and Patinkin are incredible in that scene. There are amazing scenes between Aidan and his kids, especially his daughter. He is baffled by Grace, and wants to be there for her, and doesn't know what she needs.
The script is quite funny, with some casually tossed-off one liners that don’t feel too-clever or like punch lines, but feel the way people actually talk when they are exasperated and at their wits’ end. Aidan’s backyard pool is empty and weed-ridden. Braff has a really good eye and ear for this stuff—character-based and character-driven strangeness and singularity.
This is a film to see if you are in your twenties and/or thirties, but I think anyone older might not "get it" or perhaps might simply get pissed off at Braff's approach to storytelling. He is a bit one of a kind. You either love him or hate him. I happen to love him, as a filmmaker. I was I had contributed to his campaign, to be able to say i had a hand in making the film.
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"Guardians of the Galaxy"
starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro
written and directed by: James Gunn
I never really felt like this was a typical superhero movie, even though it came as the brainchild of the Marvel Comics Universe. These heroes are misfits, castaways and they all work so well together in their own universe, a bit distant from all other Marvel superheroes. And even still, this is by far my favorite and I think, the best Marvel comic-turned-film ever. I absolutely loved every single minute of this film. It's everything from a prison saga (and how to break out included), a space opera, a swashbuckling adventure, a bit of a western and even a self-aware piece of parody. This is entertainment, of the summer-blockbuster sort, in every sense of the word.
Chris Pratt (of "Parks and Rec" Andy fame) plays the hero, Peter Quill (and he actually dropped 60 pounds while putting on muscle, for the role) who is abducted as a kid almost immediately after his mother passes away. We catch up with him 26 years later.
Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord, is on the planet to steal a celestial orb, a McGuffin typical of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in that it's a magic rock that either destroys those who wield it or grants them godlike powers. It's soon apparent that the orb is also being sought by Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), an alien zealot united in genocidal intent with all-powerful cosmic entity Thanos (Josh Brolin). Initially motivated by the promise of untold wealth and, later, by a budding conscience, Quill assembles a motley crew of intergalactic undesirables to help him safeguard the Orb, including a green-skinned assassin named Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket the anthropomorphic raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a sentient tree called Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), and Drax the Destroyer, a vengeful warrior played with a surprisingly deft comedic touch by pro wrestler Dave Bautista.
The results from a script filled with great one-liners ("I am Groot" in particular, might be the best acting Vin Diesel has ever done) and joke after joke. There's definitely a human aspect to the characters, even with a sass-crass Rocket Raccoon, who basically almost steals the film every time he talks.
I loved this film and I know you will too. Give it a chance, even if you don't like Comic Book films. This isn't your typical comic book movie.
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(J.J. Cale cover)
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- Encore:
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(Neil Young cover)
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"Wish I Was Here"
starring: Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, Joey King
written and directed by: Zach Braff
Let's forget for the moment that Zach Braff seems to be one of the most despised young writers/directors of my generation, who took it upon himself to fund this movie through www.kickstarter.com (which is a website designed to helped much lesser known and common folk with their creative projects). Sure, that created quite a backlash from the beginning of this film's background story. And let us also not forget that Zach Braff's first directorial/written film "Garden State" was viewed as a pretentious piece of hipster art. Nevermind that "Garden State" is one of my top 5 films of all-time (right up there with "Good Will Hunting" and "America History X" and "The Virgin Suicides"). I love Zach Braff's second film even though it is rote with the same cliches, almost, as his first film. "Garden State" came out 10 years ago and with "Wish I was Here" it's almost like we are getting a glimpse of what life would have turned out to be like for that character as well as Natalie Portman's Manic-Pixie Dream Girl character (Braff sure knows how to write them) if we were to look into the future, 10 years later. I don't really care though, because I loved both films. And I got emotional from both of them.
"Wish I was Here" is very bit as sincere, funny (at times), thoughtful, slightly spiritual and poignant as it needs to be for the story it is telling (much like "Garden State"). It's an existential crisis, just like his first film, and maybe that's just an easy subject for people my age.
The plot is as follows:
Aidan Bloom (Zach Braff), is a harried and harassed father of two kids, an unemployed actor, still auditioning for bit parts on series on the SyFy channel. Aidan’s wife Sarah (Kate Hudson) works for the L.A. Water Department, and endures sexual harassment from her cubicle-mate, but she is the bread-winner in the family, and can’t quit. Their lives have been set up to support Aidan’s dream, a dream that is slowly dying, but Aidan can’t let go of it. And Sarah is losing patience with the entire situation.
The pressure cooker of the Bloom domestic drama is intensified by the presence of Aidan’s father Gabe (Mandy Patinkin), who has learned he is dying of cancer. Aidan’s father raised his two sons Aidan and Noah (Josh Gad) in the Jewish faith, only to see them both fall away from it. Aidan has married a “half-Jew,” protests Gabe at one point, and Gabe is mortified that Aidan isn’t even man enough to support his own family. And Noah, who was thought to be a genius when he was a child, has now dropped off the grid, and lives in a trailer on the cliffs by the beach, dreaming about “becoming a blogger.”
Gabe finances the education of Aidan’s children, Grace (played beautifully by Joey King) and Tucker (Pierce Gagnon), paying the tuition at an extremely conservative private Jewish school. The children have embraced their Jewish identity to such a degree that Grace is looking forward to shaving her head one day and putting on a wig. Aidan refers to his children as “brainwashed matzah balls.” Grace rolls her eyes. When Gabe can no longer pay the tuition because he needs the money for his cancer treatment, the kids are pulled out of their beloved school and Aidan begins a disastrous course of home-schooling.
There are some great scenes that beg of the existential crisis.
Aidan and Sarah sit at a lifeguard station on the beach at night, talking about their lives, trying to re-connect as a couple. Sarah, who has always had a wary relationship with her judgmental father-in-law, has a killer scene with him in the hospital, where she tells him, in no uncertain terms, what his two adult sons need from him. Both Hudson and Patinkin are incredible in that scene. There are amazing scenes between Aidan and his kids, especially his daughter. He is baffled by Grace, and wants to be there for her, and doesn't know what she needs.
The script is quite funny, with some casually tossed-off one liners that don’t feel too-clever or like punch lines, but feel the way people actually talk when they are exasperated and at their wits’ end. Aidan’s backyard pool is empty and weed-ridden. Braff has a really good eye and ear for this stuff—character-based and character-driven strangeness and singularity.
This is a film to see if you are in your twenties and/or thirties, but I think anyone older might not "get it" or perhaps might simply get pissed off at Braff's approach to storytelling. He is a bit one of a kind. You either love him or hate him. I happen to love him, as a filmmaker. I was I had contributed to his campaign, to be able to say i had a hand in making the film.
.......................................................................................
"Guardians of the Galaxy"
starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro
written and directed by: James Gunn
I never really felt like this was a typical superhero movie, even though it came as the brainchild of the Marvel Comics Universe. These heroes are misfits, castaways and they all work so well together in their own universe, a bit distant from all other Marvel superheroes. And even still, this is by far my favorite and I think, the best Marvel comic-turned-film ever. I absolutely loved every single minute of this film. It's everything from a prison saga (and how to break out included), a space opera, a swashbuckling adventure, a bit of a western and even a self-aware piece of parody. This is entertainment, of the summer-blockbuster sort, in every sense of the word.
Chris Pratt (of "Parks and Rec" Andy fame) plays the hero, Peter Quill (and he actually dropped 60 pounds while putting on muscle, for the role) who is abducted as a kid almost immediately after his mother passes away. We catch up with him 26 years later.
Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord, is on the planet to steal a celestial orb, a McGuffin typical of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in that it's a magic rock that either destroys those who wield it or grants them godlike powers. It's soon apparent that the orb is also being sought by Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), an alien zealot united in genocidal intent with all-powerful cosmic entity Thanos (Josh Brolin). Initially motivated by the promise of untold wealth and, later, by a budding conscience, Quill assembles a motley crew of intergalactic undesirables to help him safeguard the Orb, including a green-skinned assassin named Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket the anthropomorphic raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a sentient tree called Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), and Drax the Destroyer, a vengeful warrior played with a surprisingly deft comedic touch by pro wrestler Dave Bautista.
The results from a script filled with great one-liners ("I am Groot" in particular, might be the best acting Vin Diesel has ever done) and joke after joke. There's definitely a human aspect to the characters, even with a sass-crass Rocket Raccoon, who basically almost steals the film every time he talks.
I loved this film and I know you will too. Give it a chance, even if you don't like Comic Book films. This isn't your typical comic book movie.
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