Written by Pop Culture Omnivore Amy Lordan | Film Reviews by Jon Tripp
One of last year’s more remarkable collaborations came from Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and Canadian pianist Chilly Gonzales. Their Room 29 was released on the consummate classical label Deutsche Grammophon. Cocker’s witty and droll lyrics were inspired by room 29 at the infamous Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.
The following video is a live recording of one of my favorite tracks from the album. To dive deep into the lyrics, check out this Chilly Gonzales fan site.
{Me after the first 4 1/2 minutes} “Oh my god this movie is 100% montage and it’s going to be GREAT!” Sadly the montage only lasted another 60 seconds(!), but the film as a whole was still a blast. After the bonkers opening, the story settles into somewhat standard cops-vs.-Yakuza fare, but with plenty of Miike’s depraved flourishes to remind you where you are. (Remind me to leave any nightclub with a kiddie pool on the premises.)
This middle portion (aka the plot) will inevitably be given short shrift in capsule reviews because it can’t possibly live up to the hype of the first 10 minutes without the audience’s hearts exploding. But it does have plenty to offer even if you have seen every other east-Asian gangster picture to cross the Pacific.
That said, the crime drama in Dead Or Alive is pretty much like the love story in Audition: you’re going to forget all about it once it pays off with the final set piece. The last ten minutes are so hilariously over the top, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard at bloody violence since Meet The Feebles. I hope one day to see this in a theater full of people who don’t know what’s coming.
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Rudd was excellent, as was his mustache. Theroux was also good, and it made me wish the entire film was about the two of them. Skarsgård was adequate, though it really could have been pretty much anyone in the role; an actor with no lines needs to convey his character physically, and I don’t think he quite pulled it off. Sheehan was terrible. I cringed with every line reading.
All in all the redeeming qualities of the movie were Paul Rudd and the word “tech-tard”, but that’s not enough to recommend.
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“Every frame a painting,” indeed. An absolute feast for art-lovers and animation enthusiasts alike. Some reviewers have complained that the story is too slight, but I found it to be compelling enough. O’Dowd’s performance was particularly moving; however, I found Ronan’s segment to be lackluster (possibly because she was hiding her natural voice that I enjoy so much?).
Between this and The Breadwinner … If Boss Baby wins Best Animated Feature I’m burning AMPAS to the ground.
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Late last week, BOOM! Studios announced the forthcoming publication of About Betty’s Boob by Véro Cazot and Julie Rocheleau. According to a press release, this original graphic novel promises “an affecting and inspired examination of one woman’s painful, surreal, and oddly humorous journey following a mastectomy.”
As someone who had cervical cancer and currently has a benign [though very painful] fibroadenoma, I am very intrigued by this book. I am hopeful that it will pair well with Marisa Acocella Marchetto’s stellar Cancer Vixen.
About Betty’s Boob is slated for release in June 2018 through BOOM! Studios’ Archaia imprint.
I really, really hope that They Made Me Watch This, by Scarlett and David Hayman, becomes a series.
The standoff at the Algiers hotel is as tense as anything in The Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty; the team of Boal & Bigelow knows how to ratchet up the tension (and how to get the best performances out of Anthony Mackie). That said, the scenes before and after the cops control the motel just seem to drag. First I thought I wouldn’t like it, then I loved it, then I was wondering how long until it’s over. Shave ten minutes off each end, and this would be a great movie.
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