We Are Marshall (2006)

How many more football movies can you make? I saw the DVD box, and figured We Are Marshall was Remember the Titans one more time. While that wouldn't be a bad thing, per se, what I ended up getting was a film with some more depth than the usual winning touchdown pass that characterizes such films of the football genre.

The story focuses on the aftermath of a plane crash involving the football team of Marshall University. This school, in Huntington, West Virginia is the prototypical college town where weekends in the Fall the whole town lives, eats, and breathes football. One tragic November day in 1970, a plane crash kills almost the entire football team, as well as most of the coaches, and some of the biggest fans. There were 75 killed in all, as the plane attempted to land under foggy conditions.

While such a loss of life is totally tragic, what makes it even more tragic is that the entire town, so previously focused on football, gets stuck on this, and can't move on. They even decide to disband their beloved football, and not to field a team for the upcoming season. The real story of We Are Marshall is the triumph of the human spirit in the face of such overwhelming tragedy.

Matthew McConaughey plays Jack Lengyel, the deceptively simple coach that takes on the coaching job, that no one else would even touch, to rebuild Marshall University's Herd. He fields his team with Freshman (which required a waiver from the NCAA), the very few remaining players, and athletes from other sports. He is realistic, and knows that while winning is everything to some, at least for this town, at this time, just playing the game will be enough of a start.

I enjoyed We Are Marshall, and think it should appeal to more than just football fans. It also features "The Unit's" Robert Patrick as the former head coach, and "Lost's" Matthew Fox as the assistant coach which both turn out decent performances. While it's more of a downer than a stand up and cheer, this tale of death, and rebirth is one that should not be forgotten.

Overall Grade: B+

Reviewed by Jonas

A Fine Frenzy, One Cell in the Sea (Virgin Records, 2007)

A Fine Frenzy is a one-woman band consisting of singer/pianist Alison Sudol. Only 22, Sudol shows considerable promise as a songwriter with a strong sense of melody on A Fine Frenzy's debut CD One Cell in the Sea. I suppose the combination of the piano and the red hair will draw comparisons, among those who are older than Sudol, to Tori Amos. But while A Fine Frenzy has been marketed towards the indie rock audience, Sudol's writing style reminds me more of the pop sensibilities of Carole King than any recent or contemporary alternative music.

On One Cell in the Sea, Sudol mixes soft ballads in with mid-tempo rockers. Ironically, given her choice of a musical name, she doesn't get particularly frenzied at any point on the record. While Sudol's piano is the instrumental focus on most tracks, there is plenty of orchestration and programming as well, along with the standard rock band accompaniment. Sudol's lyrics deal with love, loss, and the broad spectrum of emotions that go with them. The heartbreak in the single "Almost Lover" is a bit obvious, but Sudol more than makes up for it with the joyously upbeat "You Picked Me." This is the kind of love song that will even win over people who generally hate love songs. Another highlight is the song "Rangers," about the need to find a quiet space with your lover where the outside world won't find you.

Stylistically, One Cell in the Sea is not the kind of album I normally buy, being a little quiet on the whole. The fact that it contains a few songs that grabbed my attention, then, serves as testament to Alison Sudol's talent as a songwriter. Hopefully she'll be given plenty of opportunity to refine her craft even further.

Overall grade: B

reviewed by Scott

Dobet Gnahoré, Na Afriki (Cumbancha, 2007)

Dobet Gnahoré grew up in an artist colony in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast. Colin Laroche de Féline was a sixteen-year-old French kid with just a guitar and a backpack when he showed up at the colony in 1996. He and Gnahoré quickly began a musical and romantic partnership that continues today. Although the album Na Afriki is credited specifically to the singer Gnahoré, de Féline co-wrote all the songs and plays guitar on most of them.

The music on Na Afriki covers a fairly broad range of styles, from soft, simple ballads to heavily percussive dance numbers. Gnahoré's deeply emotional voice is flexible enough to handle the different volumes and tempos. She sings in a number of different West African languages and addresses a lot of issues plaguing the African continent today, from war and poverty to incest and polygamy. De Féline's playing clearly owes a debt to the Malian guitarists like Habib Koité and Ali Farka Touré, but he can hold his own in that esteemed company.

The quieter songs worked best for me on the whole, most notably the ballad "Issa." I think I would have preferred a bit more of an edge on at least a few of these tracks, though. I got the overwhelming sense that Gnahoré, de Féline, and their backing band could have cut loose more than they did. Still, Na Afriki is a creditable effort from a very talented young performer who has a lot of good things to say and seems fully capable of taking her music to a higher level in the future.

Overall grade: B

reviewed by Scott

Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong (2004)

Dime Store Magic is not a bad book. If that sounds like damning with faint praise, it is. The book isn't bad, it's just not very good. The fault, I think, lies mostly in the setting. It may seem like an odd word to apply to a work of fiction, but the setting feels artificial, forced somehow. In fact, it feels more like the setting for a Role Playing Game than a novel. For an RPG it would probably be a lot of fun, unfortunately a lot of the stuff that makes an RPG fun and work, is counterproductive for a novel.

The book is part of the "Otherworld" series, and at first glance it seems promising although certainly going over well-trod ground. The idea is that there are all sorts of supernatural critters living in and among human society, with their own ideas and purposes. This sort of setting has provided grist for many a mill, but here it just doesn't seem to gell. There is much discussion of "half-demons" and how their (extremely specific) powers are transmitted or not transmitted to their offspring; the distinction between "witches" and "sorcerors" (women and men, naturally); and so on, with specific jargon for each variation. The end result reads like a description of character races and types for a Dungeons and Dragons game, or even more aptly, a slightly askew game of Vampire: The Masquerade. Everything has an artificial quantification, in a way that one doesn't see in the real world. In this novel, the characters discuss "third level spells" or a spell that is "elemental, fire, class 3." One expects them to start talking about "4th level quarterbacks," "sixth level 'C' programs," or "9th level blogs." (Like this one, of course:-)

The plot is pretty basic, although there are some nice twists. The narrator, Paige Winterbourne, is a young witch who has been left in charge of a 13 year old witch (presumed to be an orphan) with scary strong powers and a poor moral compass. Powerful bad-guys, including the girl's father show up and want custody. To convince Paige to relinquish Savannah, the girl, they go out of their way to ruin her life. There's a pretty traditional romantic subplot, some magic and even a car chase or two. All in all pretty routine stuff here.

That said, there are some good points. The set pieces are fun, particularly one set in a funeral home. The writing itself is solid if unexceptional. The pacing is actually quite good. The characterization is uneven, with some nice bits and some that fall flat. Ultimately, though, the book doesn't quite work. If you are going to work in ground like this, that has been worked over before many times, you need to really bring something exciting to the party. Dime Store Magic is just a fairly generic urban fantasy. If you are an "Urban Fantasy" completist or specialist, by all means check out this book. If you aren't, but if the setting or idea sounds interesting, then I'd suggest checking out the works of, say Neil Gaiman or some of the works of Tim Powers that are set in the modern age.

Overall Grade: C-

Lord Demon - Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold (1999)

Roger Zelazny is one of the towering greats in the speculative fiction arena, and while Lord Demon is not his finest work (most folks would vote for Amber or maybe Lord of Light) it is nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary, in it the old master shows that he was on top of his game up until his death in 1995.

Yes, he died before the book was released. It was a collaboration completed by Jane Lindskold, as was another Zelazny book, Donnerjack and it is a high compliment that it is difficult if not impossible to identify which parts are Zelazny and which Lindskold. (Except for one internal reference to Amber which I'd guess was Lindskold.)

The setting and plot are classic Zelazny. Our hero, Kai Wren, a demon of the Chinese style is beset by unknown enemies for unknown reasons and must adventure across varied fantastic landscapes trying to discover who is trying to do what and why. This is a paranoid setup familiar to Zelazny readers. Once again, though, he manages to craft a phenomenally engrossing story with an inviting background and delightful characters. He weaves Chinese history and mythology into a science-fictional/fantasy setting in a way that seems perfectly natural and, in context, believable and rational. The invention that Zelazny brought to his work apparently came from an inexhaustable source. There are throwaway ideas in this book that others would try to stretch to novel length. In the hands of most writers, this would be a trilogy, and it is a tribute to Zelazny's skill that one almost wishes it was. The world of Kai Wren, Lord Demon, is compelling enough to make you want to spend more time in it.

Overall Grade: A-

2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

This Tuesday (or December 4th, if you're reading this after then) marks the return of one of television's more unusual events: The 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. This now-annual event is interesting for several reasons beyond prurpeience (though let's be honest: that's why most of us who will watch it will tune in).

First, the VSFS pretty much nukes the whole "too much sex on television" debate. This show is an hour of virtually nothing but gorgeous women strutting their stuff in extremely revealing underwear. And it's on a major network -- one usually considered more conservative -- after the "family hour" but well before late night. There are always people and groups that protest, but these attempts at protest don't amount to much -- these have aired for several years now -- and most coverage tends to be more positive. So if you want less sex on television, know while this is airing you're on the losing side of that debate.

Second,the VSFS is a COMMERCIAL. I know some companies sponsor movies (Hallmark has its Hall of Fame movies); some companies pay to have their products featured, or digitally added to, television shows; and some programs have their overt ulterior motives (American Idol is both a talent show and a launching pad for the record label to create their next hopeful best sellers). But there's a impetus to these programs, some level of plot or conflict. The VSFS has nothing even remotely approaching this: no plot, no contest, no examination of how fashions are designed -- the only non-lingerie element is the inclusion of guest singers (this year, Seal (hubbie of VS star Heidi Klum), Will.i.am, and the Spice Girls reunion). I suppose there's something to be said for honesty, but this is brazen product promotion, like a show parading IBM computers or different flavors of Pepsi across the screen for an hour. Then again, those shows would get far fewer viewers...

Third, and arguably most important, the VSFS may very well be the most honest special on television. There are lots of crime shows that seem to revel in gruesome or sadistic sensationalism while claiming it's part of the drama, plenty of "news" shows or specials lure viewers with the promise of t&a while pretending they're offering news, and shows from the moronic (Baywatch) to the creative (Alias, Charmed) always find a way to work in situations where their female stars are nearly nekkid'. When you tune in to the VSFS, you know exactly what you're getting -- models wearing Victoria's Secret fashions -- and you'll get it from start to finish. Wouldn't it be great if more shows promised what they delivered? Or had Victoria's Secret models?

Of course, one must wonder why the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show actually airs commercials for Victoria's Secret during its own show. I'll ponder that while I watch.

Jim Lynch

Recent Visitors

It's always neat to check on where our traffic is coming from. Welcome visitors from Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, and yes, that's Singapore off to the right. Cool!

--Jonas

Brooklyn Rules (2007)

Now that "The Sopranos" is really off the air, and we can all ponder what that ending really meant (if anything), Sopranos veteran writer, Terrence Winter, turns attention to writing a mob movie. Brooklyn Rules tries to combine a coming of age story for three Bay Ridge young men against the backdrop of the mid-80's New York mob scene. While plenty of reviewers dismissed this film for the limited use of its only star, Alec Baldwin, I really don't like his work (or how he treats his daughter), so that was fine by me.

A trio of Brooklyn early twenty year olds are struggling to find their place in the world. The local tough guy in their neighborhood, Caesar Manganaro (Baldwin) seems all powerful, and runs the area for the mob. The kids look up to him, and one pathway leads to becoming one of his crew, and one of the kids goes this route. For another, he decides to go to Columbia University where he is pre-law, and wants to get out of the ol' neighborhood, although getting out is never easy. Finally, for the third, he takes a pathway all of his own.

As Brooklyn Rules proceeds, it starts to feel like a lot of other mob movies, notably, A Bronx Tale, which is indisputably the stronger film. Still, there haven't been too many mob movies lately, and Brooklyn Rules can stand on its own. While many of the one liners between the characters are cliches and sophomoric, it does develop the relationship between them, and we do understand where they're all coming from.

One of the strengths of this film is the setting of New York City, and how they effectively used it in the film. The Verrazano Bridge is seen in the background of many shots, and they make the trip to a Brooklyn hotspot of the Spumoni Gardens. They also show Columbia University, and the scene in Manhattan's diamond district is quite hilarious.

With the disclaimer that Brooklyn Rules doesn't break any new ground, than I'm going to recommend it as just an enjoyable coming of age story in Brooklyn. Alec Baldwin fans can look elsewhere. Also of note is that among the 80's soundtrack for this film is Dire Straits' "Walk of Life."

Overall Grade: B

Reviewed by Jonas

Catch and Release (2006)

Catch and Release is one of those films that defies a neat category. While at times it resembles a romantic comedy, there are plenty of moments that are too dramatic for the typical romantic comedy. No, this film straddles the categories, and maybe this is why it had only a lukewarm reception at the box office.
I read the back of the DVD box, and I wondered how much of a downer Catch and Release was going to be. The plot is based around Gray, ably played by Jennifer Garner showing us that she can do a more serious role than 13 Going On 30 that doesn't involve kicking bad guys like in her show "Alias." Anyway, we open the film with Gray attending a funeral. You see, her fiancé ends up dying while going away for his bachelor weekend right before the wedding. However, this film doesn't focus on the death; this is really a film about picking up the pieces of life, and moving on from tragedy.

As Catch and Release proceeds, we start to wonder how much she really knew about her fiancé. As Gray cleans up her fiancé's things to prepare to move on, she starts to discover things she never knew about him. You know, little details like he was a millionaire, and that he had another woman and a child on the West coast. You know, just a few things he didn't get around to telling her.

Thankfully, Gray is not alone in her quest. Her fiance's friends come to her aid including Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), Dennis (Sam Jaeger), and Sam (Kevin Smith). Sam is an interesting character as he is especially hard hit by the loss, and he continually spouts for the wisdom from the back of Celestial Seasonings tea boxes that he is employed doing (although he misses so much work you start to wonder how he could still have a job). Together, they comfort each other in the tragedy, and keep each other out of trouble as they move on.

I must say that the fiancé's mother, Mrs. Douglas played by Fiona Shaw seems rather unbelievable. I think she would have had much more anger towards Gray, and would never really accept the illegitimate child in light of what she finds out. Also, I doubt that she would have let Gray keep the engagement ring and acted so civilly when she asked for it to be returned.

Overall, I did enjoy this film. Catch and Release was not what I expected, and that is a good thing. It doesn't fit into a neat genre, but it tells a real story. After all, life is a combination of comedy and drama, and this is a film that successfully mirrors it. I also enjoyed the scenery in the film from its setting in Boulder, Colorado.

Overall Grade: B+

Reviewed by Jonas

The Plutonium Blonde - John Zakour & Lawrence Ganem (2001)

This is not a great book. That said, it's a pretty good book and a lot of fun. The Plutonium Blonde (and the sequel, The Doomsday Brunette) follow the adventures of hard-boiled 21st century detective Zachary Nixon Johnson, the last last licensed PI on Earth. That, and the title, should tell you if you are going to like this book.

The style is light and breezy; it's pun-laced sci-fi comedy, with nods to classic noir and pulp, and occasional bits of sly social commentary (such as the predilection of the current administration to label everything with "New", causing confusion when talking about "New Mexico." Or does one mean "New New Mexico?") The characters are fun, if not particularly deep. The plot is not terribly complex but has a number of cliffhangers appropriate to a pulp serial, and a momentum that keeps one reading rapidly to the end.

Ultimately, it's not the kind of book that will change your life or stick with you for years and years. It is, however, exactly the kind of book that one reads and enjoys over a Thanksgiving Holiday when one wants to relax and doesn't want anything too deep.

Overall Grade: B

TripleA

I know that at least a few folks that read this site will recall the study breaks in the honors lounge at our alma mater. Being a bunch of geeks, we didn't have that beer keg hidden in the back, and we certainly weren't inhaling anything (except the fumes of the organic chemistry lab). Rather, there were two popular board games that entertained us for years. One was Risk, and the more complicated one was Axis & Allies.

While both were fun, the downside was that the setup and clean up was a job in itself. Also, there were lots of little plastic pieces that were easy to lose, never to be found again (they're probably in between some sofa cushions somewhere). Anyway, it always seemed like the perfect game to put onto a computer adaptation. Not only that, but I recently stumbled upon it, and it's multiplatform for Windoze, Apple, and even Linux, and it's open source freeware. Cool!

You can jump over here for some more details and a screenshot, and where there is a link for download as well. I'm debating starting an email game, so feel free to weigh in on the comments either way. Hey, it's still an entertaining way to kill some time...

Overall Grade: B+

Reviewed by Jonas

The Ice Limit (2000)

I always enjoy the writing duo of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Together, they are masters of the technothriller, and also incorporate the timeless theme of man versus nature. Time after time, they can tell a great story of man taking on some project, planning it to the nth degree, and it all turning to junk as the characters couldn't plan for every eventuality.

While many of their novels focus of Agent Pendergrast, The Ice Limit is an earlier one, and really has none of their recurring characters (although they always manage to sneak in some reference to another novel's character somewhere in their ever expanding universe; see here for details).

In The Ice Limit, the task centers around the retrieval of a meteorite. While it seems simple at first, the level of difficulty grows as the details emerge: it's on an island near the Drake Passage, it will be the heaviest object ever moved by man, it's winter, the Chilean government would block expedition if they knew about it, it's of an unknown substance that's harder than anything on the Moh's scale, and the list goes on and on, including one more little detail: if you touch it you'll die instantly from the energy contained within. Yeah, this should be an easy day's work, right?

Billionaire Palmer Lloyd wants this rock at his new museum in the Hudson Valley to be his centerpiece exhibit. What's a rich guy with tons of money to do? He enlists the aid of an engineering consulting firm, Effective Engineering Solutions, who agree to take on the job for an exorbitant price. In order to move the meteorite they even refit an oil supertanker for the task, but need to hire a skipper with a checkered past for this most unusual moving job.

As the novel proceeds, it gets more and more interesting. The title refers to the place down by Antarctica where it's so cold that there is always ice on the ocean. Needless to say, at some point they end up down there, and it's a great ride for the reader as we follow the twists and turns of this awesome technothriller. While some of the science is literally out of this world, I could find no fault with any of it.

My only criticism of this book is that at the conclusion, it kind of has an unsettling feeling, and not a real resolution. While the authors originally intended it as such, they did take things a little further and wrote a web only epilogue to The Ice Limit. While that adds a little to the overall story, reportedly they do have a sequel planned, but no word when that might be out. In the meantime, for a science minded individual seeking some great fiction, it's hard to top the writing of Preston & Childs.

Overall Grade: A

Reviewed by Jonas

Addendum: The day I put up this review, I find this story about a ship down in the area of the ice limit.

Galactic, From the Corner to the Block (Anti, 2007)

The New Orleans band Galactic have incorporated many of the sounds of their home city into their style, from jazz to funk to rock to hip-hop. While they have worked primarily as an instrumental act, they decided to bring in a bunch of different rappers and local artists to contribute vocals for their new album From the Corner to the Block. The album had a few delays in its completion due to a major stumbling block that went by the name of Katrina, but Galactic persevered and the result is a breath of fresh musical air.

To be fair, the idea of combining rap with the sound of a full backing band is hardly new. I'm really very surprised it hasn't been done more often, given that it has generally worked. Run-D.M.C. brought a rock edge to their raps that culminated with their hugely successful 1986 cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" -- a hit that, ironically, catapulted Aerosmith all the way back from the abyss to the pinnacle of arena rock without helping Run-D.M.C.'s longevity much at all. MTV Unplugged had one show featuring an assortment of rappers performing with a full band backing them up; LL Cool J doing "Mama Said Knock You Out" during this concert was the best performance the program ever aired. So Galactic has basically put their own spin on a tried and true concept.

Despite the large number of guests on From the Corner to the Block, Galactic are clearly in charge of the proceedings, and the album generally works because they back up the raps with an ideal combination of groove and muscle. This combination is best embodied in the opening song and single "What You Need," a clever and funny rap about a shady but strangely endearing street vendor by San Francisco's Lyrics Born. The similarly aggressive "Hustle Up," with vocals from Boots Riley, is another highlight. The title track, featuring local rapper Juvenile and the Soul Rebels Brass Band, adds plenty of New Orleans flavor to the mix as well.

From the Corner to the Block is a fun and energetic mixture of a wide range of musical styles. With the music industry doing its best to categorize its "product" into easily discernible sub-genres, it's always refreshing to hear a band like Galactic stand against that trend and do their own thing.

Overall grade: B+

reviewed by Scott

Evan Almighty (2007)

It always takes some work to build a sequel that is better than the original (but few are even as good as in the end). The goal of Evan Almighty was to further the story of Bruce Almighty, and the original title of this film was Bruce Almighty 2. While Morgan Freeman reprises his role as God, the comedy of the original was mostly provided by Jim Carrey, who does not return for this sophomore effort of the Almighty franchise. Instead, Steve Carrell, who was only a minor player in Bruce Almighty, is the comedic engine this time out, and it's pretty clear that he's more than a few cylinders short of Jim Carrey's V10 comedic power.

The premise is actually pretty clever. Carrell is Evan Baxter, a family man who arrives in Washington DC as a newly elected congressman with the self appointed manifesto of changing the world. His wife Joan is ably portrayed by Lauren Graham, although she wasted her time with this film. One day, Evan is given the task by God to build an ark in his Virginia housing development. Reprising the Biblical story of Noah, at first he resists, then he reluctantly proceeds as his family and neighbors look on at someone in need of psychiatric inpatient therapy. You know, the whole prophet not believed in his own time thing. His family eventually comes on board as the animals line up two by two, and the onlookers heckle even louder. This modern twist on a well known ancient tale should have proven fertile ground for plenty of comedy and plot.

Instead, Evan Almighty injects another superficial story on top of this timeless tale. They put Goodman in as crooked Congressman Chuck Long who attempts to get the freshman Evan to sponsor his bill that caters to big business. This turns into an utter sideshow as the attempts at humor are summer campish with doses of bird droppings and groin trauma are way overutilized, and not even funny in the end. Add in characters, that aside from Evan, are fairly unidimensional, and you can see why this film was made for ten year olds only.

While considerable effort and expense went into building a 450 foot ark in a Virginia housing development under construction, this is all undone by subpar special effects once the ark is underway. It's always a challenge to do waves and water with computer animation, but a decade after Titanic, and how many generations later of computer hardware and software, I would expect something to look a lot more convincing than Super Nintendo level graphics.

While there were a few details, like the Ark Building For Dummies book, that could have almost redeemed this film, in the end, they don't. There's too many cliche's, not enough depth, and you can see everything that's going to happen from a mile away. Unfortunately, the acting talent was wasted on Evan Almighty, and I really wish that it was simply a totally different film.

Overall Grade: C+

Reviewed by Jonas

Stephanie Daley (2006)

Tilda Swinton and Amber Tamblyn star in Stephanie Daley, an introspective look at the disastrous result of a teenage pregnancy. In short, while the theme of a teenage pregnancy ending in the child murdering the baby has been done umpteen times before, this movie offers nothing new, nor breaks any new ground. Read on if you need to hear more, although at this point, I wouldn't blame to if you wanted to skip on to the next review...

Tamblyn plays Stephanie Daley, the Church going model of a sixteen year old. She heads on over to a party, and a chance encounter with a departing soldier (it was somewhat coerced), results in a nine month problem. Faster than you can say "family planning," Stephanie heads into the bathroom stall, has the child, and we have a dead infant. Just like in plenty of other films, it becomes a question of stillborn infant, or murdered newborn.

Sorting out this mess is forensic psychologist Lydie Crane (Swinton). She is going through her own crisis as well as she is pregnant. This is the first of several parallels between the two of them, as well as their love of cats.

This film is an unmitigated disaster. It starts out that the pace is glacially slow, and not the chunks of ice that are melting in Greenland of late. Contributing to the confusion is that the story is told simultaneously as the base story of Stephanie conceiving and her subsequent pregnancy, and then the subsequent sorting out is superimposed on top of it. This type of storytelling works well in a film like Momento (where it creatively simulates the short term memory issue the protagonist is experiencing), but in very few other films. I think the film could have held my attention better with more of a straight through plot as this one had me hitting the INFO button on the DVD remote every few minutes to figure out when it would end.

While the performances of the two women were decent, neither is a standout. Combine that with a confusing screenplay, and you can confidently take Stephanie Daley off of the NetFlix queue. This movie feels like an overgrown ABC After School Special, and that's where this film should have stayed.

Overall Grade: D

Reviewed by Jonas