Tuesday, December 31, 2002

 

Well, 2003 is just hours away. So, to anyone reading this, just wanted to wish you a happy New Year! Seeya in '03!


 

Saw Gangs of New York last week. It sure was nice to see a new Scorcese movie. He'd been working on this one for years and I was starting to wonder if it would ever come out. I don't usually care for "period" films, but this was no Merchant/Ivory number. It takes place in New York City's "Five Points" section in the 1800's. Between the various gangs (mostly the people who were born in America v.s. the immigrants, when you got down to it), and the corrupt politicians, New York back then was very close to being a total anarchy.


Those were vicious times. And in Gangs of New York, the most brutal aspects of the period are personified by Bill "the Butcher" Cutting, played by the amazing Daniel Day-Lewis. This guy never ceases to amaze me, turning in yet another great performance. He is totally believable as this character.


On the surface, this is a movie about a man (Leonardo DiCaprio) who's come back to get revenge on the man who killed his father (Day-Lewis's character is the killer). But it's so much more than that. It's a window into another time, another world. And there are several scenes that really bring home how great a director Martin Scorcese is.


But there's one flaw. It's too damn long. At 3 hours, it really seems like there's a lot of fat that could have been trimmed away. I know Scorcese is a genius and all, I wouldn't trade him for a barrel of Spielbergs and Lucas's, but even he needs to do a little better job of editing this time around. It could have been tighter, trimmer. That would have made it an even better movie.


With something like Lord of the Rings, you can forgive the 3-hour length. Peter Jackson had to condense some massive books into movies, and as it is he still had to cut out a lot. But Gangs of New York really would have benefitted from some trimming.


That complaint aside, Gangs of New York is definitely worth seeking out, and is a really amazing film. The time period seems really authentic and the performances are great. Even DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, two people who don't really come to mind when I think of great actors, do a really good job here. Daniel Day-Lewis totally blows them off the screen, but for what they need to do, they're just fine. But then, a great director can get good performances out of anyone. And Scorcese is one of the best we've got.


One real pleasure about this movie, too, is that it is R-Rated. The violence is realistic and bloody as hell. You really feel like you're there. This is a breath of fresh air in a time when every movie that comes out, from action films to sex comedies, has the PG-13 rating. Whatever happened to movies made for adults anyway? I know it's all marketing - kids spend the most money on movie tickets, and they want a rating that will guarantee the biggest box office. But why does everything have to be made for kids? True art isn't about marketing and box office. It's about authenticity. And it's nice to see Scorcese didn't compromise his vision for a more cash-friendly rating.


Does Gangs of New York have flaws? Sure. But is it one of the best movies of 2002? Without a doubt. And Daniel-Day Lewis really would deserve a Best Actor Oscar.


 

Well, Joe Strummer died last week, on Christmas Eve. He was only 50, and died of a heart attack. I have to admit, when I saw the story on the evening news that night, it threw me through a loop. This was totally unexpected.


For those of you who don't know who Strummer was, he was the lead singer and guitarist in The Clash, one of the most important bands in the punk rock movement of the mid-70's. Fellow Clash member Mick Jones sang on some songs as well, but on any given Clash album, Strummer sang the majority of the tunes. To give you an idea of their voices, Jones sang on their hit "Should I Stay or Should I Go" and Strummer sang on a majority of all the other hits, from "London Calling" to "Rock the Casbah." In a lot of ways, Jones and Strummer were considered the Lennon/McCartney of punk. The Clash stood out from most of the bands at that time because they were overtly political, and exceedingly intelligent in their lyrics. This was a band that didn't talk down to you. To give you an idea how political they were, they once put out a three-record set (back when they actually had vinyl records) called Sandinista!


Back in high school, I listened almost exclusively to three bands. The Clash (mostly their amazing first album, simply called THE CLASH, and the album that got me hooked on all this stuff, LONDON CALLING), The Sex Pistols (NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS), and The Jam (especially SETTING SONS). These three bands were at the pinnacle of British punk at the time, and up until then I had always liked music but never really was fanatical about it. Punk rock changed all that. Suddenly, here was a music I could really connect with on a lot of levels, and it sounded great. The California hardcore scene (Black Flag, X, etc.) wouldn't happen until I'd gone to college, but if not for the British punk movement, it probably never would have happened.


I must have listened to LONDON CALLING over a thousand times back then, and I knew every song by heart. And Strummer's gravelly and expressive voice was the lead on at least 90% of the songs.


The Clash stuck around a lot longer than most of their peers at the time. They even had some mainstream radio hits with songs like "Should I Stay or Should I Go" and "Rock the Casbah." Punk is just another label, but when you got right down to it, The Clash was a solid rock n' roll band, through and through. There was a lot of talk about a Clash reunion in recent years. For some reason Jones and Strummer had had a falling out, and it was tough to get them back together again. They'd gone off and started other bands - Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite that was one of the first bands to use loops and samples in their work, and Strummer pretty much became a solo artist, with a string of interesting backing bands. Now, the reunion will never happen.


Strangely, the only time I ever saw Strummer live wasn't at a Clash concert. It was after the Clash had disbanded and he was touring with the Pogues, an Irish punk band, led back then by the volatile Shane McGowan, another incredibly talented guy. Strummer opened the show with his solo stuff and joined the Pogues on some Pogue songs, and even a Clash number. Strummer really seemed to be enjoying himself that night. I hadn't known he was going to be on the bill, and it was a really pleasant surprise.


It was a great loss to music when Strummer died. The Clash influenced tons of bands over the years and stood out as one of the most important bands of all time. For a time there, several music critics even dubbed them "the world's greatest rock band." And for a few albums, they were probably right.


Thursday, December 19, 2002

 

BEST OF 2002: As mentioned previously, I was going to post my Best Of lists this week for movies and cd's. Then I realized that there's still some stuff I want to see (especially Scorcese's Gangs of New York). And I want time to listen to some of the albums released this year to decide which ones I really liked best. So I'm going to postpone the lists a couple of weeks. Sorry about that - I know everyone can't wait (Ha Ha).


I'll be taking next week off because of the holidays. So there's a good chance when next you read something new here, it might just be 2003. So happy holidays and happy new year to you all. Yeah - all three of you who actually read this blog. (LOL).


Infernally Yours,


L. L.


Wednesday, December 18, 2002

 

Well, I saw the second Lord of the Rings movie, The Two Towers. And I had about the same reaction to it as I did to the first one. A good movie, but a little too long for my taste. But it’s amazing that I even liked it at all. I was never much of a Tolkien fan. What I’ve read of his stuff was well written, but the storyline left me a bit cold. I find it really hard to get into stories about elves and hobbits for some reason.


The fact that the movies are so good is a testament to Peter Jackson. The guy’s got talent. I’ve been following his career for awhile now. From the early days of Meet the Feebles (nasty muppets is an interesting idea, but it wasn’t really all that funny), up through Dead Alive (an amazingly entertaining zombie movie, which still might be my favorite Jackson film so far. And it’s gory as all hell), through Heavenly Creatures, his first big art house hit about two girls who kill one of their mothers. Based on a true story, no less, and another terrific movie. I even sat through The Frighteners, a mediocre movie about ghosts for hire starring Michael J. Fox, because Jackson directed it. It certainly wasn’t the best thing he ever did, but at least it had Jeffrey Combs (most famous for being Herbert West in Re-Animator) as the bad guy.


When I’d heard that Jackson was going to make the Tolkien movies, I knew at least that he’d do it right. And he sure does. The Lord of the Rings movies are epics – big and colorful and amazing to look at. He certainly gives them a sense of grandeur. I can’t imagine fans of the books being too disappointed by this royal treatment.


I liked the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, but, as I said, found it to be a bit dull in spots. Of course, it being the first of the trilogy, it had to introduce the characters and set things up. A lot of exposition. Once the members of the “fellowship” made it to caves/mines, things got really interesting, for me anyway. The whole sequence in the caves, up to Gandalf’s falling into the abyss, is my favorite part of the film. The early battle between Gandalf and Saruman, where Sir Ian McKellan squares off with the legendary Christopher Lee, is pretty damn cool, too.


The best thing in the new film, The Two Towers, just might be the CGI character of Gollum. I know what you’re saying, the last time we got a completely computer-generated character in a film, it was Jar Jar Binks. But Peter Jackson isn’t George Lucas. And the Lord of the Rings movies, to me anyway, are a lot more satisfying than the Star Wars movies. Where the recent Star Wars films seem geared to kids, Jackson’s movies are definitely “real” films, made for adults. They aren’t dumbed down and they aren’t compromised. Sure, kids would like the Lord of the Rings films too, but they’re made with a more mature audience in mind. There’s violence, and there are characters that could be considered frightening.


Gollum isn’t exactly cute. With his mouthful of twisted teeth and ghoulish appearance, he’s not exactly warm and cuddly. There’s also the fact that he really is quite insane, having long conversations with himself about whether he should follow Frodo Baggins, or kill him for the almighty ring that Gollum refers to as “his precious.” I won’t go too much into Gollum’s story here. If you’re not already familiar with him from the books, then you’ll be filled in when you see the movie. But the effects that create him are so good, and his personality is so fleshed out, that you pretty much forget that he’s not a real person fairly early on, and readily accept him as a legitimate character. Just one more example of Peter Jackson’s genius.


Just one problem, I found Gollum’s voice a bit hard to understand some of the time. You have to really listen closely, and I found that a bit annoying. The same goes for "Treebeard the Ent," a giant walking tree, who is also an amazing character, but who also has a bit of trouble when it comes to speaking clearly.


Otherwise, the usual suspects are all here. Elijah Wood as a very effective Frodo. Ian McKellen as Gandalf (although there’s not enough of him this time around) and Viggo Mortensen as the human warrior Aragorn (I recently found out that he was once married to singer Exene Cervenka of the band X, something I’d never known before), among others. And the New Zealand locations are breath-taking.


The Two Towers is another spectacular epic from Mr. Jackson & Company, and definitely worth checking out, despite the slow parts. But throughout the three hours of film, you get the impression that this, the middle film of the trilogy, is mostly just pulling us along toward the big payoff of Part 3, The Return of the King. That that’s where the real fireworks will be. And I’m happy to go along for the journey when Part 3 comes out next December. Peter Jackson has been doing a fine job so far, and I don’t doubt he’ll dazzle us when the story of the Lord of the Rings comes to an end.



Wednesday, December 11, 2002

 

PUNK'S BACK. BUT WHERE'S ITS TEETH?


I haven’t been as excited about the whole “new garage band” movement in music these days as a lot of other people have. I’m talking about bands like The Strokes, the White Stripes, the Vines, etc. There’s this whole new wave (pardon the pun) of bands, mostly out of NY, but also a few from places like Sweden (The Hives) and Australia (the Vines), that is mostly retread stuff, recycling the past. Yeah, it’s cool that these bands were inspired by The Velvet Underground and the Stooges and early NY and British punk. But do we really need to keep cannibalizing the past?


What the fuck ever happened to trying to do something new?


To be honest, I really haven’t been all that impressed so far. Maybe I’m jaded. Maybe I was spoiled by growing up at a time when the real punk acts that originated all this shit were alive and kicking. Or maybe it’s just that the state of music today is so fucking boring that these new bands are catching on only because everything else sucks so much. There’s nothing remarkable about bands like the Strokes or the White Stripes. They’re just guitar bands. And they wear their influences on their sleeves. In the White Stripes’ new album, for example, you can hear songs influenced by the Kinks, by the MC5, by VU, even the Beatles. It’s almost like a game of “spot the musical references.”


I can see how some people would consider this as a breath of fresh air in a market mostly dominated by teen pop bands and “nu metal” bands that have really started to all sound the same (of course, there are always exceptions to every rule, Disturbed and the Deftones coming instantly to mind). Everything, especially music, comes in cycles, and it was only a matter of time before punk became something new again. We’ve seen it all before. From Nirvana and the grunge acts (Nirvana at least put their own spin on this stuff), to the So-Cal bands like Green Day and Offspring, and now it’s the Strokes and the Vines, there’s always once or twice a decade when punk is new again.


History sure does love to repeat itself in the music business.


And, of course, there’s always at least one band in every movement that stands out a bit from the pack. And as far as the latest guitar band trend, I’ve finally found the one band that piques my interest at all so far. They’re called Interpol, and the new cd is called Turn on the Bright Lights. They aren’t much more innovative than the other new bands I’ve mentioned. There are some (very) obvious influences here – Joy Division, Echo and the Bunneymen, the Smiths, the Psychadelic Furs. But for some reason – they connect with me on a level the other new bands just don’t. It started with the new single, PDA, which I really dig, and extends throughout most of their new album. This isn't a masterpiece, but I'm enjoying it, and it will fill the gap until something better comes along.


But as for the other bands. Well, the Vines at least have the right energy level to pull off good punk. I’m suspecting there’s a chance that I’ll warm up to them over time. But the Strokes and the White Stripes just don’t do it for me. They just sound kind of stale to my ears. Kind of like the milk you just bought that has already expired, and tastes a bit sour.


There’s lots of other like-minded bands waiting in the wings, though, like OK Go and Liars, to name just two. You know there will be dozens more. Will any of them stand out enough to be worth a listen? We’ll see. But I’m not holding my breath.


Next time: For anyone who gives a rat’s ass, I’ll post my lists of the best cd’s and movies of the year.....


Tuesday, December 10, 2002

 

For those who are interested, my new story, Second Chances, is currently up on Gothic.Net. I'm especially proud of this one. And it introduces everyone to Blue Clay, Massachusetts, a city which might just reappear in some future stories.


Right now, I've got two stories up on Gothic.Net. Second Chances, and my story from last year, Little Black Dress. And Little Black Dress is still the "most read piece in Horror fiction" on the site. A distinction its had for just about a year now. Not bad at all.



Thursday, December 05, 2002

 

Not much news this week. It's been kind of quiet. I'll have more to say next week.


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