Bob's Movie Report for 2009 02/06/2010
—THE BEST (in order of preference) The Hurt Locker—Rather than take sides on the Iraq issue, Kathryn Bigelow’s great film simply puts you in the place of an American demolition expert who is charged with defusing bombs, whether they are hidden in a car or strapped to a suicide martyr. The result is a look at the tension of battle and the effect of that tension takes us places we’ve never been in a movie. Oscar choice for best picture and best director. Up in the Air—In this timely, mini-masterpiece Jason Reitman gives us a look at the issues of loneliness versus community in the era of corporate downsizing. The film is witty, sophisticated, thoughtful and deeply poignant. George Clooney’s performance is virtually perfect. Inglourious Basterds—There is plenty of the quirky Tarantino shock-ism at work here, but the best parts of the film grow out of his gifts as a director (the tension in the farm house interrogation and in the basement café meeting are superbly framed and spectacularly tense). Oscar choice: Christoph Waltz, male supporting actor. A Single Man—Colin Firth is brilliant as a college professor who thinks his world has ended when his lover and their two dogs are killed in a car crash and he slowly, methodically plans to end it all himself. In his debut as a film director, Tom Ford shows a remarkable feel for creating his own cinematic universe—a dream-like adventure that moves at a deliberate pace in which nothing is rushed. Stylish in every way. Oscar choice: Colin Firth, best actor. An Education-- This is a deceptively complex film about youthful awakening that changes directions frequently but never at the risk of mood or believability. Oscar choice: Carey Mulligan, best actress. THE NEXT BEST: A Woman in Berlin—The film is set in Berlin in 1945 just after Soviet Union troops arrive and the soldiers’ treatment of women is so savage that you may wince even though you know the women believed in a Nazi regime that killed millions at home and abroad. The story is filled with conflicting questions of honor, surrender, duty, expedience and sacrifice. District 9-- Yes, yes, there are lots of socio-political messages at work here (from corporate madness to human intolerance) and there may be a few times in the nearly 2-hour film when things seem a touch sluggish, but there’s no denying this is a sci-fi classic that will be a favorite of revival house audiences for years to come. Baader Meinhof Complex” --“The Baader Meinhof Complex” deals with a complex subject—politically-minded terrorism—without forcing a particular point of view on the audience. --ALSO RECOMMENDED (500) Days of Summer It Might Get Loud Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Two Lovers Duplicity Everlasting Memories The Maid The Damned United Summer Hours The Hangover The Informant Up Away We Go (Untitled) A Serious Man Crazy Heart (excellent performance by Jeff Bridges) RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS (no particular order) Youth Revolt Avatar Michael Jackson’s This Is It Public Enemies The Headless Woman Whatever Works The Girl from Monaco Extract Funny People Broken Embraces Sherlock Holmes CAUTION FLAG Bright Star Lorna’s Silence State of Play Julie & Julia Star Trek The Proposal Everybody’s Fine The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 The International Invictus Taken AVOID The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard Drag Me to Hell Surrogates Bruno Hotel for Dogs The Invention of Lying Bob's Favorite Albums of 2009* 01/21/2010
(I put an asterisk by the title because I probably only heard 10% as many albums this year as I did the years I was a pop critic at the Los Angeles Times. (One thing I’ve learned during the last three years is how hard it is to keep in touch with what is going on in the pop world. I used to make fun of friends who had lost touch of rock ‘n’ roll as they aged, but I realize the reason I was able to keep in touch was because I had 24 hours a day to monitor the scene. (Without that luxury, I focused mainly this year on old favorites and then tried to use reviews and the advice of friends to find new favorites. In reading reviews, I wasn’t just looking for glowing words, but for artists who seemed to be sharing the qualities I respect most about pop and rock musicians.) The year’s best album U2, “No Line on the Horizon” (Interscope) 2009 – Much of the strength of U2 is that it doesn’t look back musically. Where so many bands lean on signature sounds and themes, U2 is determined to open new doors. The music and themes in “No Line” continue to move forward, combining overwhelming seriousness and joy. The music is as personal as a prayer and as majestic as midnight mass as U2 explores complexities of the heart and soul in ways that are increasingly revealing. Returnees (Artists who were on Top 10 lists from previous years. The list is alphabetical.) Amadou & Mariam, “Welcome to Mali” (Because/Nonesuch) – This couple from Mali continues to make music that feels as pure and cleansing as an ocean breeze. It’s pretty much irresistible. Roseanne Cash, “The List” (Manhattan) – With husband-producer/arranger John Leventhal, Rosanne gives us intimate, wonderfully tailored renditions of country tunes recommended to her years ago by her celebrated dad—songs by such varied artists as Bob Dylan (“Girl From the North Country”) to Jimmie Rodgers (“Miss the Mississippi and You”). Enchanting. The Dead Weather, “Horehound” (Third Man) --I was already a fan of Alison Mosshart from her work with the Kills, a much underappreciated British duo, and it was easy to see why Jack White would want to work with her. She and the band combine here raw desire and torment in ways that cast a spell that feels equal parts Howlin’ Wolf and P.J. Harvey. White may step from guitar to drums (his first musical love), but his vision remains front and center. Bob Dylan, “Together Through Life” (Columbia) – This tuneful delight continues the winning streak that Dylan has been on since his dramatic return to form with “Time Out of Mind.” One of the reasons these albums have been so rewarding is they carry the sound of a man having fun with music. Kris Kristofferson, “Closer to the Bone” (New West) – Even if you didn’t know anything about “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help It Make It through the Night” and the other great songs Kristofferson has written over the years, this new album would convince you that you were in the hands of a wonderful songwriter—someone able to capture intimate emotions with remarkable openness and truth. Monsters of Folk, “Monsters of Folk” (Shangri-La) – Here Conor Oberst teams with some talented pals (Jim Jarvis, M. Ward and Mike Mogis) in a series of inspired tunes about searching for love, faith or, maybe, just some sanity in a time when society’s values are in transition. The First Timers (on one of my “best of” lists): Animal Collective, “Merriweather Post Pavillion” (Domino) and Dirty Projectors, “Bitte Orga” (Domino) – In the broadest of terms, these two bands, along with Arcade Fire and others, are trying to rethink the sonic boundaries of rock ‘n’ roll in the smart, passionate way Talking Heads did in the 1970s and 1980s. The Collective, the more aggressive of the two groups, deals most impressively with the instrumental textures, bouncing off influences ranging from psychedelic to punk in the process. Dave Longstreth, the visionary behind the Projectors, finds the most stimulation in the human voice, which give the Projectors’ sound a more ethereal edge. Avett Brothers, “I and Love and You” (American) – The best parts in this Rick Rubin-produced album remind you of the richness and depth of the Band’s softest moments. The title song’s opening lines invite you on a journey that touches on the kind of youthful awakening that has been at the heart of best bands, from the Band to Bright Eyes: “Load the car and write your note / Grab your bag and grab your coat / tell the ones that need to know/ We are headed north. The xx’s “The xx” (Young Turks) . There’s something quite magical in this dreamy, but penetrating and sharp debut album from a London group that has spent time listening to lots of marvelous influences, from the Velvet Underground to New Order to Radiohead (to cite the most obvious), and then gone on to give us a sound that doesn’t owe allegiance to any one of them. This is a group whose whispery mix of male and female vocals and icy, yet seductive instrumental touches demand that you pay attention or it can all slip by. But they not only reward your interest, but make you look eagerly for more. My favorite song is “VCR,” which makes more convincing and original use of the Velvets’ sound than anything the Strokes ever gave us: “When I go out on the pier, gonna die and have no fear / Because you, you just know, you just do.” Bob's Favorite Albums of the Decade 01/05/2010
(Note: Only one album per artist in the top 12 and listed chronologically.) Eminem, “The Marshall Mathers LP” (Aftermath/Interscope) 2000 – Filled with both self-loathing and self-affirmation, this album doesn’t inspire in the uplifting way much of the best music does, but it is a remarkable portrait of the dark, troubling influences and attitudes that many young people seemed to wrestle with at the turn of the century. Bob Dylan, “Love and Theft” (Columbia) 2001 – This is the first time since “Highway 61 Revisited” that the music in a Dylan album is likely to catch your attention before the words. The arrangements are filled with various pre-rock strains, including country, blues, folk and even supper-club pop. Not that Dylan has ignored the words. The lyrics serve as a wondrous, deceptively casual jigsaw puzzle of wit and wisdom that sometimes teases, but more often jabs. Beck, “Sea Change” (DGC) 2002 – The folk-flavored singer-songwriter gives us an album about the break-up of a relationship that is so poignant and naked that it ranks with such haunting emotional exorcisms as Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” and Neil Young’s “Tonight’s the Night.” OutKast, “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” (Arista) 2003 – Big Boi’s half of this double album is an exuberant, funk-driven work in the grand, eccentric tradition of James Brown, George Clinton and Prince. Andre 3000’s half mixes OutKast daring with R&B, jazz and rock influences in a set of loosely autobiographical songs about having trouble finding, or believing in, a lasting relationship. Kanye West, “The College Dropout” (Roc-A-Fella) 2004 – In this explosive debut, West establishes himself as the new creative leader in rap. Fusing hip-hop and pop influences in a bold and exciting way, he looks at life’s temptations and consequences in ways that provoke as well as entertain. Arcade Fire, “Funeral” (Merge) 2004 – When I first heard this debut, the Canadian band’s artful, richly imaginative music reminded me of Talking Heads, but I soon began to see that it reached into a deeper emotional territory that is haunting and original. There is a spirit to the band that is as joyous in places as U2. The songs are about longing and loss, but they also address finding (and holding onto) values in an anxious age. Loretta Lynn, “Van Lear Rose” (Interscope) 2004 – In producing this album for the veteran country star, Jack White aimed for the classic country sensibility that would enable it to fit on a honky-tonk jukebox alongside records by Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell—and it ended up exactly that. The best country album of the decade. Bright Eyes, “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” (Saddle Creek) 2005 – It’s not Conor Oberst’s intention necessarily, but it’s hard for followers of Bob Dylan not to see a parallel between what Oberst is doing in albums like “Lifted…” and “I’m Wide Awake” and what was laid down in Dylan’s landmark 1960s albums: examining the political and cultural landscape with unusual insight and eloquence. This is Oberst at his most commanding. White Stripes, “Get Behind Me Satan” (Third Man/V2) 2005 – Jack White was the rock ‘n’ roll newcomer of the decade and each of his White Stripes albums was a marvel, but “Satan” is the duo’s boldest work. Not only did White add layers of imagination and depth to what was already a thrilling sound, but he also gave us more personal subject matter: anxious, even desperate looks at conflicts between innocence and morality on one side and compromise and betrayal on the other. Bruce Springsteen, “Devils & Dust” (Columbia) 2005 – This is the Alternative Bruce of “Nebraska” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad”—the singer-songwriter who steps away from the superhero “Boss” persona of the E Street Band spectacle to examine the gritty, dimly lit world of characters who have been pushed to society’s extremes. The tales here range from the Iraq battlefield—where fear can “take your God-filled soul and fill it with devils and dust” to migrant workers in the Southwest, where devils and dust of a different kind can be equally threatening. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, “Raising Sand” (Rounder) 2007 – The idea of the voice of Zeppelin meeting the queen of bluegrass/country seemed an unlikely mix, but it turned out to be a spectacular combination of beauty and brawn, exotic blues and pristine country. It’s a bold, brave, passionate work in which Plant and Krauss put their talent and faith into the hands of producer T Bone Burnett and he rewarded the trust with a mini-masterpiece. As with OutKast, the Grammy voters got it right when they named it the album of the year. U2, “No Line on the Horizon” (Interscope) 2009 – Much of the strength of U2 is that it doesn’t look back musically. Where so many bands lean on signature sounds and themes, U2 seems determined to open new doors. This has filled each of the band’s albums this year with both overwhelming seriousness and joy. The music is as personal as a prayer and as majestic as midnight mass as they explore complexities of the heart and soul in ways that are increasingly trailblazing in popular music. Honorable Mentions: (Note: Alphabetical by year.) 2000 D’Angelo, “Voodoo” (Virgin) PJ Harvey, “Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea” (Island) Shelby Lynne, “I Am Shelby Lynne” (Island) U2, “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” (Island) 2001 Alicia Keys, “Songs in A Minor” (J) Angie Stone, “Mahogany Soul” (J) White Stripes, “White Blood Cells” (Sympathy for the Record Industry) Lucinda Williams, “Essence” (Lost Highway) 2002 Ryan Adams, “Demolition” (Lost Highway) Bright Eyes, “Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground” (Saddle Creek) Eminem, “The Eminem Show” (Interscope/Aftermath/Shady) Norah Jones, “Come Away with Me” (Blue Note) The Roots, “Phrenology” (MCA) Bruce Springsteen, “The Rising” (Columbia) Wilco, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” (Nonesuch) 2003 Alicia Keys, “The Diary of Alicia Keys” (J) Rufus Wainwright, “Want One” (DreamWorks) White Stripes, “Elephant” (Third Man/V2) Lucinda Williams, “World Without Tears” (Lost Highway) Neil Young & Crazy Horse, “Greendale” (Reprise) 2004: Franz Ferdinand, “Franz Ferdinand” (Domino/Epic) PJ Harvey, “Uh Huh Her” (Island) U2, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” (Interscope) Rufus Wainwright, “Want Two” (Geffen) Wilco, “A Ghost Is Born” (Nonesuch 2005 Anthony and the Johnsons, “I Am a Bird” (Secretly Canadian) The Kills, "No Wow" Rough Trade/RCA LCD Soundsystem, "LCD Soundsystem" DFA/Capitol M.I.A., “Arular” (XL) Kanye West, “Late Registration” (Roc-A-Fella) 2006 Artic Monkeys, “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” (Domino) Bob Dylan, “Modern Times” (Columbia) Gnarls Barkley, “St. Elsewhere” (Downtown/Atlantic) The Hold Steady, “Boys and Girls in America” (Vagrant) 2007 Arcade Fire, “Neon Bible” (Merge) M.I.A., “Kala” (XL/Interscope) Radiohead, “In Rainbows” (Radiohead) 2008 Bob Dylan, “The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs” (Columbia) Fleet Foxes, “Fleet Foxes” (Sub Pop) Conor Oberst, “Conor Oberst” (Merge) 2009 Animal Collective, “Merriweather Post Pavillion” (Domino) Avett Brothers, “I and Love and You” (American) The Dead Weather, “Horehound” (Third Man) Bob Dylan, “Together Through Life” (Columbia) Monsters of Folk, “Monsters of Folk” (Shangri-La) Up in the Air 12/30/2009
UP IN THE AIR George Clooney is so perfect as a modern “hired gun”—he’s brought in by corporations around the country to fire employees to spare the corporation’s own bosses from the chore—that it makes it easy at times to look past director Jason Reitman’s marvelous handling of the actor and the movie’s theme. Clooney is so distanced from the concept of family and friends that he’s the opposite of the normal traveler who can’t wait to get home. Clooney dreads the 40 or so days when he’s not traveling somewhere. Reitman and Clooney give us a look at loneliness versus community that is witty, sophisticated, thoughtful and deeply poignant. A mini-masterpiece that belongs with “Hurt Locker” at the top of any list of best films of 2009. Broken Embraces and Crazy Heart 12/28/2009
BROKEN EMBRACES Undernourished Penelope Cruz is more gorgeous than ever, but is that really enough reason to see Pedro Almodovar’s latest film? The story is as slippery as an eel, but a lot of that misdirection and redirection is wasted on a very familiar device: the movie within the movie. The director is in love with his actress whose film is financed by the actress’s lover. Where does it end? Nothing really matters, the message seems to be, as long as the film gets made. Two problems: the telling is too slow and, in for much of the way, a bit too obvious. It’s all diverting, but a little empty. CRAZY HEART You gotta see it. Saying you gotta see it is different from saying this is a great film, which it is not—by a long shot. The tale of the faded country music singer traveling the back roads circuit of bowling alleys and seedy motels has been told better, but no one has matched Jeff Bridges’ brilliant performance as the singer. He captures every nuance of the bruised ego, immense vulnerability and still lingering dreams of the country music star who has run out of hits and luck, and he captures them so well that you wish he had a little bit more material to work with. But Bridges—along with the music by T Bone Burnett and others—are what you “gotta” see. “Crazy Heart.” It isn’t just the performance of the year; it’s one of the performances of the decade. Everybody's Fine and Invictus 12/19/2009
EVERYBODY’S FINE Not this moviegoer The easiest way to think of this film is that it’s Robert DeNiro’s version of Jack Nicholson’s “About Schmidt” and the problem is nothing here works as well as “About Schmidt.” DeNiro has his best role in ages, but he has almost no help in making you care about his role as a widower trying to reconnect with his adult sons and daughters. Pass. INVICTUS Too conventional This latest from Clint Eastwood reminds me of the old historical films from the 1940s and 1950s…the kind where all the energy was put in simply telling a story, assuming that it alone was enough. The history lesson here touches a lot of bases, including leadership, courage and forgiveness—both on the rugby field and in the halls of government. Morgan Freeman is convincing as Nelson Mandela, the South African statesman, and Matt Damon does all he can with a cardboard role, but there was simply too little drama or tension to keep me in the theater for more than the first of the two hours. BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS 11/30/2009
BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS √ Bob Certified Director Werner Herzog’s latest film mixes some of the classic cinematic storytelling punch of “Chinatown” with the dark, street-level social disorder of HBO’s “The Wire” in this dark, but wildly funny and entertaining work. Nicolas Cage delivers an Oscar worthy performance as a rogue cop who has enough of a moral compass left to be outraged by the savagery of the drug kingpins even when he is so far along the path to his own drug-influenced breakdown that he thinks nothing of violating his own code. It’s even more fun the second time you see it. The Maid 11/19/2009
THE MAID √ Bob Certified Be careful not to read too much about this gem from (Untitled) and The Invention of Lying 11/13/2009
(UNTITLED) √ Bob Certified The story about the tension between radical avant-garde art and commercially accepted art (and other things) doesn’t really break new ground, but the script (by director Jonathan Parker and Catherine di Napoli) is witty and fast-paced, and the acting is exceptionally winning—especially Adam Goldberg as a self-absorbed musician, Marley Shelton as a gallery owner with such craving for the extreme that she refused to let her best-selling artist hang his paintings in the gallery and Ptolemy Slocum in a show-stopping turn as a neurotic conceptual artist who feeds Shelton’s lust for the for the novel. THE INVENTION OF LYING Woeful How can a movie that has three such reliable comedy figures as Ricky Gravais, Tina Fey and Jeffrey Tambor in the opening scenes end up so humorless? It’s just one of the mysteries of this disappointing clunker. Enough said. MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT Has some warm, wonderful moments.
A SERIOUS MAN Hilarious at times. The latest from the Coen Brothers is presented (in previews and elsewhere) as so deeply buried in Jewish angst that I thought it required a Bar Mitzvah to appreciate it. But, as a first communion kid, I found it quite easy to enjoy—if that word can be applied to a tale so bleak. A physics professor at a Midwestern university can whiz write the most complicated physics formulas on the blackboard, but he has a difficult time trying to figure out God’s will—and the movie is the funniest when he turns to rabbis for help. They speak in what are, to him, riddles that underscore the difficulty of trying to substitute reason for faith. If you want a rock ‘n’ roll equivalent, check out Bruce Springsteen’s stirring “Reason to Believe,” the closing song on his stark, classic “ |  Robert Hilburn I was pop music critic and pop music editor of the Los Angeles Times from 1970 through 2005, and am now writing books. A memoir, "Corn Flakes with John Lennon" will be published on Oct. 13. Advance orders now at the usual places. Click on the book cover for links.  ArchivesFebruary 2010 Categories  |
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