Glenn Walker is a writer who knows pop culture. He loves, hates, and lives pop culture. He knows too freaking much about pop culture, and here's where he talks about it all: movies, music, comics, television, and the rest... Welcome to Hell.
Kansas: Miracles Out of Nowhere ~ I stumbled across this documentary the other night on one of the MTV channels, and it brought back some great memories. The doc tells the story of the band Kansas from its beginnings to their commercial success through individual interviews with the original six members.
I remember hearing Kansas on the FM AOR radio, mostly WMMR and WYSP in the mid-seventies, and thinking they were okay. I wouldn't change the station if they were on, basically, but I didn't really appreciate their music or their artistry until I heard them played in a neighbor's basement that had a killer stereo system. That brought Kansas to life for me.
I also remember a trip to the Ocean City boardwalk and a busker who refused to play "Dust in the Wind" because it was 'the hardest song ever to play properly,' and he 'didn't want his fingers to bleed.' He got booed by both those who requested it and wanted to hear it. True or not, it gave me added awe for the tune.
My favorite Kansas song was "People of the South Wind" from the album Monolith, a song and an album both considered failures, but its content pulled at me. Native Americans shoved aside by the white man, and wearing space helmets on the cover of the album drew me just like the fantastical elements of the cover of Point of Know Return. It's still one of my favorite songs from that time.
The doc is compelling, and tells stories of their early days, composition of songs, dealing with Don Kirshner, fighting with Steven Tyler, and the internal struggles of the band. This is one of the better rock docs I've seen, cool for Kansas fans old, new, or fans not at all. Check it out.
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau ~ A friend had recommended this documentary to me, and realizing this writer/director's body of work consisted of a movie I remembered loving, and two I had not seen, I did a bit of homework first. Hardware stood the test of time. Dust Devil was very pretty, but unwatchable. And The Island of Dr. Moreau was, wow, just terrible.
Now it was time to take a journey into the madness of the man's movie-making. There is a solid Jodorowsky's Dune vibe going on throughout. Stanley had/has a big vision powered principally by the source material of the original novel. He felt there had never been a faithful adaptation, but weirdly enough he took the tact of modernizing it, bringing it into the present day. That was one thing I disliked about the finished product. Stanley's ideas and storyboards are stunning however, and might have convinced me otherwise.
One thing I was happy that was brought up, and something I talked about in my review of The Island of Dr. Moreau, was the similarity to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Stanley wanted to pay homage to the connection rather than shy away from it, pulling characters and situations from Conrad and putting them into Moreau. Of course casting Marlon Brando, who played Kurtz and would play Moreau, brought it all home.
Of course that's not what this documentary is really about though. As the film moved into pre-production, we watch the revolving door of the lead actors, the make-up process, and the gradual isolation and edging out of the project of Richard Stanley. The writer/director wasn't all that together either. His belief in witchcraft and superstition made it clear, to him at least, that forces were aligned against him.
Stanley, in the best of possibilities, was in over his head with this film. Everyone on the set knew it. He had a problem communicating with the cast, didn't attend meetings, and was getting more paranoid by the moment. There was a death in Brando's family, and the set was hit by a hurricane. What else could go wrong?
Richard Stanley was fired as director, probably had a bit of a mental breakdown, and was put on a plane off location. John Frankenheimer was brought in, contemptuous of what came before, and basically just got the job done - no vision, just get it done. No one was happy, especially in the end, the audience.
The last third of the doc chronicles the film as a Frankenheimer production, the dueling egos of Brando and Val Kilmer, the parties of the crew and extras, and the eventual destruction of what could have been at least an interesting movie. The ironic part is that apparently Richard Stanley has found his way back to the set as an extra, a perfect end to the doc.
I really dig this, an incisive look at how Hollywood works, how it doesn't work, and how it destroys people and ideas. Definitely worth seeing.
Shadow People ~ As I've mentioned in this blog many times before, I'm a big Art Bell fan, or at least I was when he was the host of Coast to Coast AM. If I'm being honest, neither entity has done all that well separately and on their own, which is a damn shame. I blame George Noory, but that's a fight for another day. One of the things I used to love about Art on Coast is when he would talk about Shadow People, those nights would creep me out.
I'm already afraid of the dark so listening to Art talk about malevolent living shadows with the lights out was always a bad idea, but a lot of people have encountered them and believe in them. So when I first heard of this flick called Shadow People, also known as The Door, involving a talk radio host, I had to track it down and watch it.
What's really weird about this flick is that everything about it seems like it stepped out of an Art Bell episode of Coast to Coast AM. It's based on a viral video, seen here, that may or may not be real. Sleep Study GR 16 was supposedly a real thing and caught shadow creatures on video, maybe. Right.
The movie is also very social media conscious and features a late night radio talk show host, Charlie Crowe, who's like an old school cross between Art and Joe Frank, with just a touch of Morning Zoo as well. A paranoid caller, claiming to be pursued by shadow people, sends Charlie photos and files from the Sleep Study, and we're off.
Half documentary, half thriller, Shadow People is interspersed with interviews, sort of a poor man's Blair Witch Project. Because of this, it's really hard for the movie to find its flow and rhythm. Just when I started to care about a character, 'real' footage or interviews would take me right out of it.
The movie is of course all fake. This is neither documentary nor thriller, it's just a horror movie, and not a very well executed one either. Shadow creatures that come when you fall asleep could be pretty frightening, but this movie can't quite seem to mine the material. Nowhere near as good as I wanted it to be.
I admit it, it snuck up on me. I like documentaries and used to groove on CourtTV when it was still around, but I didn't think I could be this obsessed or compelled as I am by HBO's "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst."
The gist is this: Robert Durst, millionaire real estate heir has been accused of at least three murders in his life, yet been convicted of none. His sketchy low mild calm and emotionless tones infuriate prosecutors and interrogators alike. He appears to be a monster albeit with Teflon skin. And he has always shunned the press.
After seeing a movie made of his infamous adventures, All Good Things..., Durst sought out the director, Andrew Jarecki, who also had a crime documentary background. With Jarecki, Durst consented to be interviewed. The sequences with Durst and Jarecki are the highlight of this six-part documentary series.
I recently had a chance to see the movie All Good Things..., with names changed but much of the voiceover narration taken from court transcripts, and Ryan Gosling starring as the thinly renamed Durst. The film also stars Kirsten Dunst as his doomed wife and Kristen Wiig in a rare but brief serious role. Gosling captures realistically (or as real as can be believed) Durst's odd behavior patterns and tics.
The film features excellent performances all around, vastly superior to the average Lifetime movie it resembles at first glance. When you get right down to it, this is an unbelievable story, which is what makes the fact it's based on real events all the more chilling. This also makes the documentary even scarier, because it's real. This creepy guy got away with at least three murders.
When you see the real Robert Durst on "The Jinx," not realizing the camera is still running and his mike is still live, practicing and rehearsing his answers out loud - that's the core of this national obsession with the show. Here we have a mild mannered twitchy monster who has done unspeakable things, and continues to get away with it and lie about it.
Yes, I'm rushing to judgment. Yes, I'm forming opinion on circumstantial evidence. And yes, I'm basing it all on a TV show and a movie. But that's all part of the game, is it not? That's what they want us to do, and in inviting this documentary, it's what Robert Durst and Andrew Jarecki want us to do as well.
One of the more emotional moments in this series is when Durst's late first wife's mother expressed hope that this documentary will produce evidence to put away her daughter's murderer. I'm with her. "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" concludes this Sunday evening on HBO.
Quiet Riot: Well Now You're Here, There's No Way Back ~ At first glance one might think this is just another rock documentary, but it's not. This is a very personal story of friendship and loss, and heavy metal. Yes, it does serve well as a history of the band Quiet Riot and the heavy metal scene of the 1980s and beyond, but it's also about friendship of lead singer Kevin DuBrow and drummer Frankie Banali.
Some of us purists don't like to believe it, because they had such a huge, if momentary, pop success, but Quiet Riot opened the floodgates for metal in the 1980s. Without "Cum On Feel the Noize" and "Metal Health (Bang Your Head)" one might go so far as to say it might have been longer before the mainstream public heard bands like Motley Crue, Whitesnake, and Guns N' Roses. They opened the doors, like it or not, by having the first American metal album on the pop charts.
The documentary, a long time in coming, was produced and directed by Banali's fiancée, and not only tells the story of the band, its ups and downs, but also the drummer's journey after the loss of his best friend. This is much better than a Quiet Riot doc deserves to be, check it out.
Genesis - Sum of the Parts ~ I have always been a solo Peter Gabriel fan (probably because of the Kate Bush connection), and while I was aware of his bizarre progressive art rock past with Genesis, I didn't get into them until after they had become purposefully more commercial, sometime around Duke I would suppose.
This documentary, done almost the opposite of the Eagles doc I reviewed some time ago, has interviews with the band together and separately. It's intriguing that while there was conflict within the band, much like the Eagles, no one really hates each other here. Phil Collins, frequently rumored to be difficult in all areas of his life, appears to be the odd man out though, acting the cantankerous old man, while other members seem to still have a passion for the music.
The interviews, together and separately, with Gabriel, Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Steve Hackett, and others, paint quite a vivid history of the band, from its early days to the art rock days of costumes and props to the pop music video days, and beyond. This fascinating and revealing documentary is well worth watching.
History of the Eagles ~ The Eagles have always been in the background of my life, and that's saying something for a boy from the South Jersey suburbs. The Eagles were FM radio, they were California, they were marijuana, they were the seventies. "Hotel California" was one of the first rock 45s I bought and their last album, The Long Run, was one of the first albums I bought. I was never a huge fan, oh I had favorites like "On the Border" and "The Disco Strangler," but they were just always there.
This two-part documentary takes it from the beginning as back up for Linda Ronstadt to their big hit years to the solo years to the never-ending reunion tour. Interviews are done individually with members and associates covering in the first volume such topics as Jackson Browne's songwriting technique to the early production of Glynn Johns to the Eagles' own songwriting styles to trashing hotels with Joe Walsh to the wild after parties of the 'third encore.'
We watch as membership changed in the band, and differences emerge. They spend almost thirty minutes on Hotel California without ever saying what the title track is actually about. Eventually it becomes clear as to why the interviews are all separate, they can't stand each other. During the making of the album the band members realize they were all alphas fighting for supremacy, and the breaking up began there.
As work on The Long Run began, they were already effectively shattered, mentally, physically, and socially. Drugs and drink only accelerated the process at that point. During and after one apocalyptic concert, tensions were so hot that the band was over. As they say, the Eagles went out with a whimper not a bang.
Part two of the documentary picks up the solo careers of the separate Eagles, leading up to the reunion tour fourteen years later. I was intrigued that getting Joe Walsh into rehab was partially behind the reunion. Rivalries aside, it kinda proves they were for the most part still friends. Or should I say, selectively still friends.
The second half mostly covers the recording of Hell Freezes Over and the reunion tour. There's still some tension, and money got in the way, eventually squeezing Don Felder out. Other than that, it's just the tour. This is sad as it comes off as little more than an average rockumentary without the context of the first part.
History of the Eagles is very long at just over three hours, which is probably why it was cut in two parts. After watching it I had had enough of the Eagles for a while, and that's just the opposite effect that such a film should have. Interesting stuff, but just a bit too much, for me at least, and I'm an Eagles fan.
Trollhunter ~ When I was a little kid I had a children's picture book called "Trolls." I remember two things about it. The title letters were formed by trolls, kind of leading into the idea that trolls could become anything they wanted to. Within the book I saw that trolls could be disguised as trees, hills, rocks, even mountains. That kind of scared the crap out of me, especially being a little kid that was afraid of the dark at the time. I would go outside and I would spend a really unhealthy amount of time trying to figure out if the trees were really trees, and not some shadowy monster lying in ambush.
That's kind of why Trollhunter has languished unwatched in my Netflix feed for so long. Yeah, I admit it, I was a little scared still. Of course the idea that it was a found footage film (which could be very good or very bad, for the most part, I hate found footage flicks), subtitled from the Norwegian, and a bit of a mockumentary, all kind of diluted any fear I might have had. I had some downtime at the end of the year, so I finally hit play on this sucker.
The film begins seeming to follow college students as they try to interview a notorious bear poacher. It turns out he doesn't hunt bears at all, but is part of a government financed plan to keep trolls from populated areas. The students ask to follow the hunter on his rounds and the adventure begins. Not that this is a travelogue, but the Norwegian scenery is beautiful and breathtaking when we get it, and visuals only get cooler when the trolls finally show up.
Trollhunter compares favorably to The Blair Witch Project, and it's perhaps even better because the language barrier prevents the characters from becoming truly annoying, and of course in this film, we actually get to see the monsters. There are legitimate scares, but for the most part, this is a lot of fun. I would definitely recommend it to folks who dig this kind of thing.
Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart ~ Before CourtTV, before O.J. Simpson, this was the trial that in the age of tabloid television started it all. There's To Die For, Anatomy of a Murder, and my favorite with Helen Hunt and Chad Allen, Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Smart Story. At least three films before this, numerous books, and dozens of TV shows - Pamela Smart is the godmother of television murder trials, and one could say it was almost by design.
Pamela Smart was a media teacher at her local high school, who conned her fifteen year old student boyfriend to murder her husband of less than a year. When the media storm started, before she was a suspect, Smart was the fashionable victim, always looking good for the camera, sometimes even directing the interviews. She was a natural, until she was caught, and then for the camera at least, she went from predator to prey. The media devoured her.
This is the aspect that filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar takes on in his HBO documentary Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart, how the media covered this super tabloid circus, and how it reflects on us today. He also contends that the sensationalism of the coverage decided the trial's outcome in the public eye no matter what occurred in the courtroom. This is done with the help of interviews with many involved, including Pamela Smart.
This is not a bad documentary, very watchable for folks who both know the story and those who weren't around when it was happening. My only complaint is that Zagar drives home his thesis like jackhammer in the early morning. It gets old and annoying very quickly. I don't think there's any doubt that Pamela Smart had her husband murdered, or that she was given a fair trial, but there you go.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon ~ The best part of this movie is the premise put forth by the preview - that the reason we stopped going to the moon was that we discovered an alien base there full of evil Decepticons. The problem is of course, you see all that in the preview, why see the movie? The movie is not good, even the special effects are blurry in places. And I still can't tell the good robots from the bad robots. And if I can't tell, how can the characters in the movie? Give this sequel a miss.
Admission ~ I am not really sure what this movie is beside a vehicle for Tina Fey that apparently didn't work. Is it a romantic comedy that isn't funny or touching? Is it a drama that isn't compelling but hollow when it attempts a laugh? Tina is okay in this, but another thing it is, as much as I love her, is proof Tina Fey can't carry a movie alone. Seriously, it is not a good sign when one of the best things in a movie is Lily Tomlin.
Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth ~ Unlike James Toback's documentary, Spike Lee's filmed one man show of Mike Tyson talking about his life, childhood, and career seems rehearsed and practiced. It's almost as if Lee wanted to create a counterpoint to the unintentionally disturbing doc that looked like a couch confession of a sociopath. In the end, while engaging and entertaining, I didn't believe it. Still, worth watching.
Jack Reacher ~ This is the first film, whether it's the last or not is still up in the air, adapting Lee Childs' Jack Reacher character to the big screen. Tom Cruise unfortunately takes on the title role in this film version of the Childs novel "One Shot." His portrayal is wooden, monotone, and quietly robotic. Cruise succeeds in making a enjoyable though one-dimensional character into a laughable cartoon character incapable of interacting with the rest if the serious past. Please no sequel.
Blackfish ~ What seems to be an examination of the killer whale named Tilikum that unofficially was involved in the deaths of at least three individuals is actually an accusation against the captivity of such animals.
The documentary, which purports the orcas have culture and society and language, live longer and behave differently in their natural habitat, is an indictment of SeaWorld, and their practices and claims. Interviewed are many former SeaWorld trainers, and footage of orca hostility is featured. Notably SeaWorld refused to cooperate with the filming and has called it inaccurate, misleading, and exploitive.
Blackfish may be true, or it may be one-sided, but no matter how you take this controversial film, it will make you think, and definitely think twice about how killer whales are treated in captivity. Compelling and recommended.
Family Band: The Cowsills Story ~ I would wager most of the folks reading this have zero idea who the Cowsills are, and I also think those that do know, only know the footnote.
The Cowsills did "Hair," the title track from the Broadway show, the theme to "Love American Style," and oh yeah, they were the inspiration for the Partridge Family - literally the real thing. Again, just a footnote. That's pretty much all I knew as well until I watched this great documentary on Showtime.
The doc, done through interviews with the Cowsills, and their contemporaries, as well as footage of the time, tells the tale of the family band's meteoric rise and eventual fall into oblivion. There's a tragic side in the form of the manipulative and abusive father. It doesn't end well, probably why you don't remember them, but you should.
Duck and Cover ~ Everyone knows about the classic civil defense film from 1951, but how many of us have actually seen it? I admit that while I have seen huge chunks of this thirty-two minute documentary, I don't think I had seen it in its entirety until recently.
At the beginning of the Cold War, our greatest fear was nuclear attack from the Russians. This was a short subject shown in theaters to teach folks what to do in case the unthinkable happened - they dropped The Atomic Bomb. Talk about hysteria! They'd never do anything like today, it might upset someone's sensibilities. Thank goodness for political correctness. Sarcasm mode off.
It's got some great animation with Bert the Turtle, a very cautious (and very hysterically paranoid) fellow very good at ducking and covering. Very good at it, because, well, he's a turtle. The thrust is if you heard the air raid sirens, you should duck and cover. This film urged school kids to crawl under their desks and cover their heads in case of attack. We did know what atomic bombs were capable of, right? That's not going to keep anyone from being vaporized.
This instructional film is definitely a product of its time, so filled with paranoia and hysteria that it probably was a self-fulfilling prophecy, causing as much paranoia and hysteria as it itself was filled with. Probably the scariest thing for me was how scared the kids in this film looked. Both an entertaining and frightening time capsule.
Paul Williams Still Alive ~ I saw this great little documentary on Showtime one night when I couldn't get to sleep, and I'm glad I did. I remember Paul Williams. He was everywhere in the 1970s on TV and movies. I knew he was a singer, and more importantly, a songwriter. A serious songwriter. If you listened to the radio in the early seventies, you heard dozens of Paul Williams songs. In a way, he was the seventies.
What immediately pulled me in about this documentary was that the narrator seems to think that as well. As a matter of fact, his perspective and sense of time and space were mine. That commonality made this doc somehow more personal.
By the time the documentarian is actually accepted by Paul Williams, I was hooked and in for the whole ride. Really I would have watched anything at this point, but man, what a treat that it was really good. Writer/director Stephen Kessler is that good, I would have watched a doc about squid if that's what it became.
The actual doc subject however is Paul Williams. The thing is, this isn't just a bio of an amazing songwriter, singer, and pop culture icon - it's also a tale of his fall and redemption. At the time if this doc, Williams was not only on tour, but also twenty years sober and a licensed drug rehab counselor. And it's also the story of the friendship between the filmmaker and his subject.
Whether you watch it as a Paul Williams fan, as a time capsule of the 1970s, or just as a darned good documentary, Paul Williams Still Alive is definitely worth watching. Check it out.
Tyson ~ This 2008 documentary about prize fighter Mike Tyson is something of a phenomenon. Much of it is culled from over thirty hours of interview footage with the champ, giving a rather disturbing, and possibly unintentional, picture of the undisputed world's heavyweight champion.
The director James Toback might be better known for his films like Bugsy and The Pick-Up Artist. One wonders how he got involved in this documentary. At times this film shows us a side of Mike Tyson rarely seen, not that of a modern gladiator and media star, but one of a mad monster to be both pitied and feared.
Toback films Tyson's bizarre monotone monologues in such a way that they appear to be almost confessional, as if from a patient lying on an analyst's couch. It is a fascinating and disturbing experience all at once. A study in psychosis worth watching.
Paul McCartney Really Is Dead ~ This one has the also just as intriguing subtitle of "The Last Testament of George Harrison." It comes from the gist of this documentary being tapes discovered by George Harrison disclosing the horrible secret that has burdened the Beatles for decades - that Paul really is dead. The tapes are George's confession. Yeah, if you smell the Blair Witch, don't worry, I do too.
Apparently all that nonsense, all those hints about the hoax that Paul was dead - it was all true. As suspected, Paul dies in a car crash. MI6 has a double, William Campbell, after cosmetic surgery, join the band as Paul. The remaining Beatles, under penalty of death keep quiet, while still leaving clues on their albums and in their music as to what really happened.
Supposedly, the voice of George narrates a somewhat skewed history of the Beatles and thereafter, with these new facts inserted, creating a new truth. All the usual stuff is in here, along with some shocking new bits. One truly bizarre addition indicates that 'Lovely Rita,' who witnessed Paul's death, is actually, wait for it, Heather Mills.
As a kid, it was always fun to find the clues, but come on, we all knew it was a hoax. I gotta give the producers props for trying at least. It gives new meaning to many lyrics previously thought indecipherable, a nice touch. A fun, if at times, rather sinister, faux documentary/conspiracy theory.
God Bless Ozzy Osbourne ~ This documentary produced by his son Jack explores the life, career, and addiction of the prince of darkness of the rock and roll world, Ozzy Osbourne. His early years, his time with Black Sabbath, his solo career, his reality television show, and of course, his addictions. Family, friends, bandmates and other musicians are interviewed in the in-depth, incisive, and surprising bio. Recommended.
Cedar Rapids ~ This overlooked film is a screwball slob comedy about an insurance sales convention in, where else? Cedar Rapids. While I prefer both John C. Reilly and Anne Heche in more serious roles, they shine here. Ed Helms stars as a naïve salesman whose job is in jeopardy as he attends the convention. Circumstances convince him to take chances and live life. Fun and mostly harmless, worth watching.
6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park ~ This intriguing documentary takes a look at the frantic rush to put together a new "South Park" episode each week, make it timely, make it funny, and make sure it gets on the air. It also explores the working relationship of creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and their recent success with "The Book of Mormon." Fascinating viewing for fans of the show and even those who are not.
Alex in Wonderland ~ I saw this madcap 1940 one-reeler recently on TCM. Part of the "Broadway Brevities" series that seems to take a lot of its technique from the Three Stooges shorts, this one stars Walter Catlett and Eddie Foy Jr. as feuding brothers-in-law who end up at a upper class masquerade party where mistaken identity and pie-throwing ensue. Fun.
Lucky Girl ~ Sometimes the cosmos drops opportunities and coincidences in your lap. This is one of those times. Just a few days after discovering the work of Jacqui Naylor on my own, the producers of a documentary about the San Francisco-based jazz singer/songwriter approached me about reviewing that new film. I jumped at the chance.
Lucky Girl, subtitled A Portrait of Jacqui Naylor, follows "Naylor and her band for two years on the road and in the studio while they prepared new music for her eighth album, also titled Lucky Girl. The documentary chronicles Naylor on tour to several jazz clubs including Seattle’s Jazz Alley, San Francisco’s Rrazz Room, and the Istanbul Jazz Center in Turkey. Replete with performances, songwriting sessions, and behind- the-scene moments, the film transports the viewer through a series of musical montages and local flavors. Interviews with long-time band members and others close to Naylor give an intimate look at the life of this respected jazz artist who is also a practicing Buddhist and long-time San Francisco resident." That's the official press release talking there, and it pretty much tells the tale, but now it's my turn.
As I said, I came across Ms. Naylor on my own, before I ever heard of Lucky Girl. My musical tastes are very eclectic. I'm crazy all over the board, from eighties metal to seventies story songs to old school rap to funk to new wave to punk to soundtracks to nerdcore - I love it all, but what I really love most are covers. I am a sucker for a good cover tune. That's how I found Jacqui Naylor, through her covers. She does wonderful jazzy covers of, among others, the Stones, Talking Heads, the Kinks and even Rod Stewart. I absolutely love her mash up of "My Funny Valentine" with AC/DC's "Back in Black" behind it. And then there's her version of REM's "Losing My Religion."
Killer, isn't it? That's why I immediately agreed to review the documentary. I already knew Jacqui Naylor was something special. And almost like a gateway drug, the doc opens with the song in all its quiet thunder. Welcome to her world.
In Lucky Girl, we have the usual musical origin stories here, the how it happeneds, and the behind the scenes workings of artistic collaboration - all presented as an experience rather than just a documentary. But there is also Jacqui putting her own spin on things as well. She does what she calls 'acoustic smashing,' the technique referenced above with "My Funny Valentine" that has become her trademark. She feels if she has to do the jazz standards, she should make them her own. I love it. The effect is especially fierce on Jacqui's Christmas album, Smashed for the Holidays.
The doc is unlike most music documentaries. I mean, the structure is the same. There are interviews interspersed with the music and performances, but there seems to be a more heartfelt and almost celebratory atmosphere. The musicians and crew Jacqui works with are her family. Her husband Art Khu is also a musician and collaborator and 'real' family. There is much love here. We see Jacqui in her home, in the studio, on the road, and there is always love and passion.
This really is a must see documentary. If you don't know Jacqui Naylor, you will. If you don't like jazz, you will. It will sneak by and hug you lovingly. I guarantee you'll end up doing what I did as I watched Lucky Girl - hitting pause, and going to iTunes to purchase the great music you're hearing. This is sooo recommended. The DVD drops on Tuesday, and if you get the chance, go see her on tour.
Beats, Rhyme & Life ~ One of the misnomers I hate most is the term 'one hit wonder,' mostly because it's rarely true. It's one of the reasons I started the sub-blog here called "Lost Hits of the New Wave," because things were not as we are currently told they were. For instance if I was to mention to you A Tribe Called Quest, most folks, and a great majority who were not around when they were happening will use that term 'one hit wonder' and say they love "Can I Kick It." Just not true.
The truth is however that I came to the Tribe later than most folks. I loved "Can I Kick It" but I also began to notice that every time I heard a song by the group, I dug it. When I realized this, I got into them. As I said, later than most folks, but I love them, and let me assure you, A Tribe Called Quest is no 'one hit wonder.' The documentary Beats, Rhyme & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest directed by actor Michael Rapaport is a testament to that legacy.
Through interviews and of course music the film documents the group's beginnings in Queens and we get to know Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White as they came up and became stars in the hip hop music world. Like a cool extended episode of "Behind the Music," we get the lowdown on why they looked like they did and especially how Q-Tip was sampling before samplers and melded jazz into hip hop. It also takes the group to the end of the road as well.
This documentary is the real thing, it's about friendship, music, culture, and passion - and the evolution that all of it goes through over the years. Check it out, recommended.
Best Worst Movie ~ What's the worst movie ever? That's a question of much debate. For myself, I immediately discount stuff like Plan 9 from Outer Space and Glen or Glenda? because however cheaply made or haphazardly written, these are still hilarious and entertaining, no matter if it 's unintentional. In the same way, anything that falls into the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" category doesn't count either, as it's interactively entertaining.
That said, I would put MST3K alum Manos: Hands of Fate up for worst film ever. It's intolerable to sit through. I would also throw in Barfly and 1989's Blue Steel up on the butcher block as well. And don't get me started on The Dark Knight or Moulin Rouge!. This documentary makes a case for the infamous Troll 2. Written and directed by one of the childhood stars of Troll 2, Michael Stephenson, this is an examination of the cult classic status of the flick as the worst movie ever. He interviews one of his co-stars, a dentist-turned-actor, and the Italian filmmaker that made the flick possible, among others. This documentary is a fun romp for fans of film and fans of bad camp horror movies alike. Check it out.
I also remember a trip to the Ocean City boardwalk and a busker who refused to play "Dust in the Wind" because it was 'the hardest song ever to play properly,' and he 'didn't want his fingers to bleed.' He got booed by both those who requested it and wanted to hear it. True or not, it gave me added awe for the tune.
My favorite Kansas song was "People of the South Wind" from the album Monolith, a song and an album both considered failures, but its content pulled at me. Native Americans shoved aside by the white man, and wearing space helmets on the cover of the album drew me just like the fantastical elements of the cover of Point of Know Return. It's still one of my favorite songs from that time.
