Cibo Matto in Concert and More Films in Summer
A couple of weeks ago (now) I got to see one of my old favorite bands, you know back from my high school days, oh the 1990s. Cibo Matto! A couple of Japanese imported girls who found themselves living in New York City in the 90s and fell in with the right music crowd, which included Sean Lennonn (who was in the band in its early inception). I saw Cibo Matto open for the alternative rock band Live in University of Maine, Orono back in like 1999 with my sister, who loved Cibo Matto and I was more into Live, but Cibo Matto's performance, even way back then has always stuck with me, so when I saw that they where off their 11 year hiatus AND coming to Portland, Maine, I knew I had to see them again. And they still had it!
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"National Treasure"
starring: Nicholas Cage, Diane Kruger, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean
directed by: Jon Turtletaub
Listen, right from the start, this isn't necessarily a great film or even a good film by typical standards, but it's definitely a film that audiences looking for an escape from reality will definitely enjoy. I guess that's why we have to hand it to Jerry Bruckheimer as a producer and Michael Bay as a director. They certainly know how to make these blockbuster-type of films. "National Treasure" is filled with spirit and velocity (not intense). It is severely miscast because for what ever reason Nicholas Cage has been capable of getting work in films consistently over the past couple of decades (perhaps thanks in large part to his job well done in "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Raising Arizona"). Diane Kruger is also in this film as a potential love interest, for whatever reason, because clearly a film about a treasure hunt isn't enough- that only gets guys to see it, but add the girl and now you have a female audience as well.
This is a very relaxed film, which you can escape into. It's very family-friendly, with just a hint of potential violence. The threat is there, but it's ultimately about the hunt. Nicholas Cage seems to float effortlessly through each scene, from clue to clue and mishap to mishap.
The film starts with Nicholas Cage in mid-adventure looking for a long lost and long forgotten U.S. ship called the Carolina. Once he finds this, with his paid-for crew, he discovers it only leads to another clue to a long-lost American treasure. The trouble is, there's a treasure map on the back of the original Declaration of Independence; and it's invisible; and it needs to be stolen, of course, for the good of the country. More trouble includes the fact that it is heavily guarded and encased in bulletproof glass.
There's a part of me that always thoroughly enjoys this film and its sequel, but I'm not exactly sure I can explain why, nor should I have to.
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"Napoleon Dynamite"
starring: Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Diedrich Bader, Tina Marjorino Sandy Martin, Haylie Duff
written and directed by: Jared Hess (with Jerusha Hess)
This is an incredible film, one that came out of nowhere and knocked everyone's socks off and I can happily say I was one of the few in the small crowd that saw it when it was initially released with very little buzz. I went down to Boston to visit my sister one time back in 2004 and we headed to this film with her friends. I literally laughed out loud throughout most of the film because it's just downright hilarious. Each deadpan joke delivered perfectly. The acting is phenomenal, thanks in large part to Jon Heder, a brand new actor). The writing is fantastic, if you like broken stories with no real story to tell other than vignettes that somehow find their way to piece themselves together by the end. It was directed and written by a married couple, graduates of BYU- Jared and Jerusha Hess. And they seem to write and show things they know about, coming from the small-town environment of Idaho- the very fact that there really isn't anything going on, nothing exciting, but the people (the 5 main characters) certainly seem to make their on stories. It's filmmaking in a unique way. The film is almost anti-cinematic, but yet it still grabs you and your attention, demands that you trust where it's going and follow it through to the end. And it's a blessing when you do.
Napoleon is well-known, but rejected by the "cool kids" because he's just plain weird. Although Pedro is a minority in his school, he somehow manages to be as inconspicuous as a piece of furniture, and is excluded from the in-crowd in large part because they don't know he actually exists. Naturally, Napoleon is the only one the principal can find to show Pedro around on his first day of school. Somehow, they intuitively know that this friendship is probably as good as it's going to get for either of them, and find some common bonding ground. (In their case, it's Pedro's sweet bike.) It's all very natural and non-Hollywood; even though the relationship doesn't develop in a traditionally dramatic way, in the end it just feels better than a traditionally scripted friendship.
This is a great film and you should definitely do yourself a favor and jump on the bandwagon 11 years later, if you still haven't seen this film, but I have to question whether or not you lived under a rock for as many years.
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"Mystic River"
starring: Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, Laura Linney, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Kevin Chapman, Tom Guiry, Emmy Rossum
directed by: Clint Eastwood
written by: Brian Helgeland and Dennis Lehane (novel)
Clint Eastwood has directed some incredible films:
Unforgiven
A Perfect World (I remember this one from my childhood)
Blood Work
Million Dollar Baby
Flags of Our Fathers
Hereafter
Gran Torino
J. Edgar
American Sniper
and Mystic River, although, I feel like this one was built around a lot of hype because it was a Clint Eastwood film. I kind of feel like it's the kind of story that's been done before (re: "Sleepers"). I remember seeing it in the theatre when it first came out in 2003. I liked it then. But, I've seen it several times since then and it doesn't really hold up as well for multiple viewings, mostly because it's a tiring and upsetting story. It's about formative friendships, bonds we make in childhood and how they can sometimes snake their way back into our lives, due in large part to some kind of tragedy. It especially helps if you all grew up in a small, close-knit city or part of the city (in this case a suburb on the outskirts of Boston).
Jimmy (Sean Penn), Dave (Tim Robbins) and Sean (Kevin Bacon) still live in the same working-class Boston neighborhood where they grew up. But they have drifted, each haunted by the memory of Dave's abduction by child molesters 25 years before as his two friends watched, helpless. They're thrown together again as adults by the slaying of Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter.
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"The Mysteries of Pittsburgh"
starring: Jon Foster, Sienna Miller, Peter Sarsgaard, Nick Nolte, Mena Suvari
written and directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber (novel by: Michael Chabon)
I haven't read the Michael Chabon novel, which was his debut, but I have read other work by him; after seeing this film, which has apparently been loosely translated into a 95 minute adaptation, I'm intrigued to read the book, because I think it reads better than it is seen.
The story follows Art (Foster) who is an Economics major studying for the exam required in order to become a Wall Street broker. He is working for minimum wage in a bookstore/warehouse, because he doesn't want to necessarily use much brainpower while studying for the exam. He takes up/shacks up/has sex with his very attractive, yet oddly possessive boss, the manager of the Book Barn, Phlox (played by Mena Suvari). Art believes this is a no-strings-attached arrangement between two consenting adults, only to realize that Phlox believes it's a commitment.
It's a rather slow-burning film and I really think, in this case, the book is better.
Note: Songs are in the wrong order.
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"National Treasure"
starring: Nicholas Cage, Diane Kruger, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean
directed by: Jon Turtletaub
Listen, right from the start, this isn't necessarily a great film or even a good film by typical standards, but it's definitely a film that audiences looking for an escape from reality will definitely enjoy. I guess that's why we have to hand it to Jerry Bruckheimer as a producer and Michael Bay as a director. They certainly know how to make these blockbuster-type of films. "National Treasure" is filled with spirit and velocity (not intense). It is severely miscast because for what ever reason Nicholas Cage has been capable of getting work in films consistently over the past couple of decades (perhaps thanks in large part to his job well done in "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Raising Arizona"). Diane Kruger is also in this film as a potential love interest, for whatever reason, because clearly a film about a treasure hunt isn't enough- that only gets guys to see it, but add the girl and now you have a female audience as well.
This is a very relaxed film, which you can escape into. It's very family-friendly, with just a hint of potential violence. The threat is there, but it's ultimately about the hunt. Nicholas Cage seems to float effortlessly through each scene, from clue to clue and mishap to mishap.
The film starts with Nicholas Cage in mid-adventure looking for a long lost and long forgotten U.S. ship called the Carolina. Once he finds this, with his paid-for crew, he discovers it only leads to another clue to a long-lost American treasure. The trouble is, there's a treasure map on the back of the original Declaration of Independence; and it's invisible; and it needs to be stolen, of course, for the good of the country. More trouble includes the fact that it is heavily guarded and encased in bulletproof glass.
In these early minutes, "National Treasure" introduces a shrewd narrative strategy that buoys the film nicely all the way to the finish. The story could simply have been about one man's effort to steal the Declaration. Instead it's about two men's competing efforts. A member of Gates' crew, Howe (Sean Bean), turns rogue and decides to steal the Declaration, despite Gates' objections. And so Gates has no choice but to try to steal the Declaration himself in order to protect it. He has to get there before Howe gets there. The result of this nifty turn is double the fun, double the suspense and double the tension -- with Gates getting to do bad-guy things while maintaining his good-guy identity.
The action follows the characters over the course of their various adventures, none of which will be described here, since a movie like this is all about surprise. Clues lead to other clues, each more improbable, but if the characters are willing to put up with this hectic pace, the least we can do is watch. About midway, it crosses the mind that what "National Treasure" really needs is for Harvey Keitel to show up, and so he does, on cue, as a sardonic FBI agent who has a sly way of saying, "Somebody's got to go to jail. "
There's a part of me that always thoroughly enjoys this film and its sequel, but I'm not exactly sure I can explain why, nor should I have to.
.......................................................................................
"Napoleon Dynamite"
starring: Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Diedrich Bader, Tina Marjorino Sandy Martin, Haylie Duff
written and directed by: Jared Hess (with Jerusha Hess)
This is an incredible film, one that came out of nowhere and knocked everyone's socks off and I can happily say I was one of the few in the small crowd that saw it when it was initially released with very little buzz. I went down to Boston to visit my sister one time back in 2004 and we headed to this film with her friends. I literally laughed out loud throughout most of the film because it's just downright hilarious. Each deadpan joke delivered perfectly. The acting is phenomenal, thanks in large part to Jon Heder, a brand new actor). The writing is fantastic, if you like broken stories with no real story to tell other than vignettes that somehow find their way to piece themselves together by the end. It was directed and written by a married couple, graduates of BYU- Jared and Jerusha Hess. And they seem to write and show things they know about, coming from the small-town environment of Idaho- the very fact that there really isn't anything going on, nothing exciting, but the people (the 5 main characters) certainly seem to make their on stories. It's filmmaking in a unique way. The film is almost anti-cinematic, but yet it still grabs you and your attention, demands that you trust where it's going and follow it through to the end. And it's a blessing when you do.
"Napoleon Dynamite" drops you straight into the world of its protagonist without much fanfare. Napoleon (Jon Heder) is a high school student who lives in a modest ranch house with his brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) and their grandmother, Grandma (Sandy Martin). Kip, who looks to be in his early 30s, spends most of his day online "chatting with hot babes" and "training to be a cage fighter."
When Grandma has to take a trip (to go ATV-riding—she's a wild one, that Grandma), the boys' Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) leaves his trailer to come to the house and watch them for a few days. He quickly develops a plan to make himself rich by selling Tupperware-like plasticware sets; Kip soon joins him, seeking to earn money to buy a plane ticket to Idaho for his online girlfriend LaFawnduh (Shondrella Avery).
Meanwhile, at school, Napoleon has befriended the new kid, a Latino boy named Pedro Sanchez (Efren Ramirez). Pedro is as much of an outcast as Napoleon, so they get along just fine. The two form an odd alliance, one that is eventually augmented by another outcast, Deb (Tina Majorino), a quiet wallflower who also doubles as a studio photographer.
When the time for the school dance comes around, Napoleon assists Pedro in his pursuit of the local Hot Chick, Summer (Haylie Duff), for his date. Rebuffed, Pedro winds up going with Deb, while Napoleon (with some unexpected help from Uncle Rico) unexpectedly scores Summer's friend Trisha (Emily Kennard) as his date. Things don't go well. But Pedro hatches an idea about how to get back at Summer—he'll run against her for class president. Can Pedro score an upset victory with Napoleon's assistance? Will Kip ever find true love? Have you ever taken that bike off any sweet jumps?
Audience seem to fall into two specific categories: You either absolutely LOVE this film, based solely on its unique timing of the jokes and the tonality of the film. Or, you absolutely HATE or LOATHE this film. Everything is rather almost-too-realistic in this film, and the actors seem to play their parts with ease.Napoleon is well-known, but rejected by the "cool kids" because he's just plain weird. Although Pedro is a minority in his school, he somehow manages to be as inconspicuous as a piece of furniture, and is excluded from the in-crowd in large part because they don't know he actually exists. Naturally, Napoleon is the only one the principal can find to show Pedro around on his first day of school. Somehow, they intuitively know that this friendship is probably as good as it's going to get for either of them, and find some common bonding ground. (In their case, it's Pedro's sweet bike.) It's all very natural and non-Hollywood; even though the relationship doesn't develop in a traditionally dramatic way, in the end it just feels better than a traditionally scripted friendship.
This is a great film and you should definitely do yourself a favor and jump on the bandwagon 11 years later, if you still haven't seen this film, but I have to question whether or not you lived under a rock for as many years.
..........................................................................................................
"Mystic River"
starring: Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, Laura Linney, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Kevin Chapman, Tom Guiry, Emmy Rossum
directed by: Clint Eastwood
written by: Brian Helgeland and Dennis Lehane (novel)
Clint Eastwood has directed some incredible films:
Unforgiven
A Perfect World (I remember this one from my childhood)
Blood Work
Million Dollar Baby
Flags of Our Fathers
Hereafter
Gran Torino
J. Edgar
American Sniper
and Mystic River, although, I feel like this one was built around a lot of hype because it was a Clint Eastwood film. I kind of feel like it's the kind of story that's been done before (re: "Sleepers"). I remember seeing it in the theatre when it first came out in 2003. I liked it then. But, I've seen it several times since then and it doesn't really hold up as well for multiple viewings, mostly because it's a tiring and upsetting story. It's about formative friendships, bonds we make in childhood and how they can sometimes snake their way back into our lives, due in large part to some kind of tragedy. It especially helps if you all grew up in a small, close-knit city or part of the city (in this case a suburb on the outskirts of Boston).
Jimmy (Sean Penn), Dave (Tim Robbins) and Sean (Kevin Bacon) still live in the same working-class Boston neighborhood where they grew up. But they have drifted, each haunted by the memory of Dave's abduction by child molesters 25 years before as his two friends watched, helpless. They're thrown together again as adults by the slaying of Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter.
Eastwood lets the resulting murder investigation unfold less as a thriller than as an intricately observed character study. At nearly 2 1/2 hours, "Mystic River" proves that a mystery need not be taut to be riveting. Screenwriter Brian Helgeland and novelist Dennis Lehane deserve plenty of credit, but the triumph is Eastwood's. He orchestrates pitch-perfect performances down to the tiniest role, as each grace note inches the story forward.
At ease in the realm of the criminal mind, Eastwood enlisted two fellow actor-directors of similar sensibility to lead the cast. It's no surprise that Penn and his "Dead Man Walking" director Robbins deliver the film's most powerful moments in their scenes together. Married to cousins, Jimmy and Dave reunite for the funeral of Jimmy's daughter. Yet, the actors are so gifted at subtext that Penn's grieving father seems to also be comforting the friend he turned his back on. A tacit apology has been offered and accepted.
Dave shows the most outward signs of trouble, as Robbins adopts the slack jaw and downcast gaze of a man frozen in his worst moment. Jimmy's response to the boys' childhood trauma can be inferred from his reaction to his present one. A tattooed and flinty ex-con, Penn's Jimmy swallows his despair in favor of a stony determination to hunt down his daughter's killer.
The third boy, Bacon's Sean, has become another sort of enforcer -- a homicide detective reluctantly assigned to the murder case. The presence of Bacon evokes the similarly themed but inferior 1996 film "Sleepers," in which he played tormentor to a group of boys who grew up to avenge themselves. He's a good guy here, but as Bacon's calibrated tenseness reveals, just as conflicted as his two friends. So emotionally removed that his pregnant wife has left him, he's wary of reinvolving himself with the old gang, especially for the occasion of another sad event.
The film is about 3 childhood boy friends, but there are some incredible and powerful performances by the females in this film as well that seem to get lost in the shuffle. First, Emmy Rossum (in one of her first "big" roles is given a chance to not just be a device for the film's story to progress, instead, Clint Eastwood gives her character enough screen time for Rossum to flesh her out). And then there's Laura Linney as Penn's wife and the mother of the deceased 19 year old girl. When she's on screen she demands your attention. She's a hard Boston woman who stands by her husband, but also demands action from him as well. But, it is really Marcia Gay Harden's performance that sticks with enough. She plays Dave's wife as a wary, skittish, and grieving wife. She is a victim in this story, from being the wife of a man who was abused as a child, all the way through to the ending tragedy, which I won't necessarily give away, but I'm pretty sure you can see coming for yourself......................................................................................................
"The Mysteries of Pittsburgh"
starring: Jon Foster, Sienna Miller, Peter Sarsgaard, Nick Nolte, Mena Suvari
written and directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber (novel by: Michael Chabon)
I haven't read the Michael Chabon novel, which was his debut, but I have read other work by him; after seeing this film, which has apparently been loosely translated into a 95 minute adaptation, I'm intrigued to read the book, because I think it reads better than it is seen.
The story follows Art (Foster) who is an Economics major studying for the exam required in order to become a Wall Street broker. He is working for minimum wage in a bookstore/warehouse, because he doesn't want to necessarily use much brainpower while studying for the exam. He takes up/shacks up/has sex with his very attractive, yet oddly possessive boss, the manager of the Book Barn, Phlox (played by Mena Suvari). Art believes this is a no-strings-attached arrangement between two consenting adults, only to realize that Phlox believes it's a commitment.
Things start to change when erstwhile freshman roommate Mohammed (Omid Abtahi) hauls Art to a party where he meets the beauteous Jane (Sienna Miller), an aspiring concert violinist. She’s quick to point out she has a boyfriend — yet invites Art out for late-night pie.
The next day, a motorcycle-helmeted figure shows up at the Book Barn and ominously insists Art join him for a “ride.” The young man assumes this is tied to dad’s gangland world, preparing for the worst. But the abductor turns out to be Cleveland (Peter Sarsgaard), Jane’s older boyfriend. He enjoys fooling Art into thinking he’s due for a jealous beatdown, then simply sweeps the kid into the couple’s manic-thrill-seeking lifestyle.
While undeniably attracted to Jane, Art is no less intrigued by the mercurial, charismatic, somewhat mysterious Cleveland, who has apparent underworld ties of his own and a very flexible sexual identity. The trio have some giddy times together (prompting hell-hath-no-fury response from the shut-out Phlox), punctuated by unexpected erotic tensions, the hetero couple’s frequent fights, and, eventually, danger brought about by Cleveland’s gambling debts. Art’s attempt to fix the latter by begging help from dad triggers the tale’s suspenseful final lap.
Jon Foster lacks the luster and character traits that I think Art really needs to be the lead in the story. Sienna Miller sort of comes off as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl for Art. The film really belongs to Peter Sarsgaard as the volatile and crazy man. He does a great job with this carefree man who seems to just enjoy living life from thrill to thrill, not really caring the trouble he gets himself into. He is the anti-hero to Art's calculated man.It's a rather slow-burning film and I really think, in this case, the book is better.
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