Hey, you like movies? Yes! Great, I guess we can be friends AKA you can read EVERYTHING I write. Enjoy! And instead of more on me, I figured I'd just leave you with some helpful advice that always keeps me going, "life's a dirty game, you gotta play dirty to win it".
We all know the chaotic day of November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was shot in his motorcade. The new film Parkland looks to add, instead of retread, the knowledge most already have on the events, and by the looks of the trailer, it does just that. The film recounts the memorable day from multiple perspectives, including the hospital that the President was rushed to, for which the title is taken from.
The film is the directorial debut of Peter Landesman and stars an ensemble cast of familiar faces including Zac Efron (High School Musical), Paul Giamatti (Sideways), Billy Bob Thornton (Armageddon), Tom Welling (Smallville), and Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook). The films look to be a unique take on an infamous day that could bring about a new perspective. Check out the trailer:
Parkland weaves multiple stories into its narrative in a Crash-esque way, but centered around the assassination of JFK. The plot includes the hospital the president was rushed to, the man behind theZapruder film , the FBI agents responsible for tracking down Lee Harvey Oswald, the brother of Oswald, and the Presidents security detail trying to piece their stories together. All in all, the trailer didn’t quite sell me because of the somewhat overly dramatic tone it carries as it leads up to the moment we know is coming, but as it puts it, “The story you know/the people you don’t”, The cast is pretty solid, so hopefully they don’t go to waste, and the film is capable of bypassing the common flaw in these ensemble pics, which is to balance the pacing of each story. Oh yeah, and it can’t hurt that Tom Hanks is a producer.
The film is due out September 20th, two days before the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination.
Most know the story of the infamous Beltway Sniper Attacks, but here’s a refresher; During three weeks in October 2002, two men drove a blue Chevrolet Caprice through Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, stopping in public areas where they would then randomly shoot people from a sniper rifle positioned in the trunk of the car. Their toll was 10 killed and 3 injured. The perpetrators were an older gentleman, John Allen Muhammad, and a minor, Lee Boyd Malvo. That is the set up for the film, Blue Caprice, directed by Alexandre Moors, marking his debut feature film. Starring Isaiah Washington (Grey’s Anatomy) as Muhammad, and another TV alum in his first starring feature film role, Tequan Richmond (Everybody Hates Chris) as Malvo. Rounding out the cast is Joey Lauren Adams (Chasing Amy), and Leo Fitzpatrick (Kids). The trailer is great, showing that the film is more about the psyche of the men leading up to the events, than a sensationalizing of the shootings. It look spot on tonally for something of this nature. Check it out:
Premiering at Sundance, the buzz for this film was unanimously positive, most praising the lead performances. The thing that excites me the most has to be the point of view the film is told from. Instead of being investigators trying to stop these shootings, or something of that effect, we’re given the anti-hero story in the POV of the perpetrators, and their father/son relationship. This allows for a unique look into their minds that could give us a different perspective on the horrific events. The cinematography is also worth mentioning as the muted colors and grainy shots remind me a lot of the recent, based on a true story pic, Fruitvale Station, which had a very similar tone to what the trailers selling.
The film is due out September 13th in theaters, and September 17th on VOD.
After getting rave reviews at Sundance, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is finally getting released to theaters and we have the trailer. Written and Directed by David Lowery, who’s prior works consists of two low-budget features, St. Nick and Deadroom, and recently the editing of the tantalizing Upstream Color. This seems to be his first film with a well-known cast in Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Ben Foster (The Mechanic, and the upcoming Lone Survivor). The story for his newest flick is as follows; Affleck plays an outlaw who is sentenced to prison for 25 years for an act his wife, Mara, committed, but escapes in hope of reuniting with his her and their now born child. Sounds interesting enough, and if that doesn’t entice you enough, check out the trailer for the gorgeous cinematography and score.
The reviews for this have been mostly positive, and one conclusion I can draw is this looks film looks great visually. Winning the Special Jury Prize for Cinematography at Sundance, the shots in the trailer feel reminiscent of the type of shots in Mallick’s The Tree of Life, very surreal and up close to the actors. Some of the complaints at Sundance were the film being overly long, which makes it good news that the cut being released to theaters is about 15 minutes shorter. Also, I can’t forget the score in the trailer that I hope is a precursor to what the film is like, cause it works tremendously in the trailer with its soft, mellow, yet dramatic violins.
For more on the film, below’s an excellent quick interview with David Lowery where he talks about the story and how it differs from other films in the genre, check it out:
The film was released on August 16th in NYC and LA, and is coming to VOD August 23rd.
Peter Berg didn’t have much luck with his massive box office flop, Battleship, but that could change with his newest army flick. Lone Survivor is based on a the true story of a SEAL Team 10’s failed mission to capture an infamous Taliban leader during the War in Afghanistan. The story sounds somewhat basic, but the cast is killer, including Mark Whalberg (Pain & Gain), Ben Foster (Contraband), Eric Bana (Munich), Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild), and Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights). The cast is great mix of young, and older action stars which could make for a kick-ass flick. Check out the trailer below.
Based on the book, Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell, the man played by Whalberg in the film, the story goes as follows: In 2005, while hiding out in Afghanistan, SEAL Team 10 encountered a group of young boys, voting whether to let them live or not, they decided to let them go. Hours later, the group of four was surround by 100’s of Taliban fighters. The outcome of the story is out there if you really want, but I’ll obviously forgo posting that here. The story on paper sounds pretty good, but when I heard it was a true story, my excitement shot up because the outcome isn’t going to be some insane action movie trope, it’s going to be something realistic. My only fear is Peter Berg, who championed the deep thought he put into his former flick Battleship, but ended up giving us a watered down, dumb big budget action flick. Hopefully that doesn’t happen here.
After a somewhat ludicrous, albeit awesome, season 2 finale, we’ve all have been wondering how Homeland was going to stretch the somewhat short premise for another season. Well, the trailer does a damn good job of hinting at it, while staying somewhat far away from spoiler territory. The basic gist seems to be that Brody (Damian Lewis) is on the run from a global manhunt by the US Government, meanwhile an internal investigation is going on in the US, possibly retreading the past years, thus involving Saul (Mandy Patinkin), the new Director of the CIA, and Carrie (Claire Danes). Check out the trailer below.
This premise is the only logically place the show could’ve gone following last season, but with this concept we lose the up close tension of Brody on US soil and whether he has a mastermind terrorist plan in his mind at any moment. Also, the family dynamic, which has been somewhat hammered into the ground, can’t be as big a part to Brody as he’s not with them. That said, the trailer does a great job of setting up the dire tone that is needed following, SEASON 2 SPOILER, a terrorist bombing killing hundreds of US officials that may or may not have been done by the shows main character. Yeah, not exactly a time for big hugs and kisses. Lastly, that final shot between Carrie and Saul was tremendous, the framing of her head turned around as she’s about to tear up, Saul right up beside her, AHHHH, it was perfect, and it’s moments like that make me more and more excited for what’s to come in the third season of Homeland.
A record setting 300,000 people over 3 days, watching a variety of over 140 bands from every genre of music on 8 separate stages in the iconic Grant Park of Chicago is an experience unlike any. Despite many knocking this year off as lacking compared to 2011’s heavy hitters like Eminem and Coldplay, or even last years Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Black Keys, I still enjoyed the hell out of the experience. This year to me wasn’t lacking as much as it was more about bringing in another genre of music (EDM) to the forefront, while sticking with the Lolla roots of the indie rock bands.
This was my first year in attendance, and I’m already booking my hotel for next. Again, Lolla to me is more about the experience of being there than who you’re actually seeing. Of course, it’s always awesome to see major headliners like Kendrick Lamar, but my point to be made is don’t write off weaker year line-ups immediately. Clearly the attendance didn’t show it, but a lot of people I talked to didn’t attend because they disliked the line-up, and I think it’s an easy mistake to make. That said, here is my quasi-review of Lollapalooza 2013. Obviously I wasn’t able to catch everybody, hence the reason I’m not giving a flat number rating, but instead, I’m going to do short reviews of particular acts by categories. Here we go…
Biggest Surprise: Robert Delong
I’m only starting with this category because I want to talk about this guy so damn much. It’s also pretty fitting that he’s the first guy I saw at Lollapalooza 2013. Original and talented are the only two words to come to mind when you watch him play. Whether you’re into his electronic/rock style, witnessing him live is a true site to see. Robert Delong is a one-man band that consists of him looping a variety of noises live on stage, then adding in vocals and drums to make songs. Added to the mix is his original programs that he created for his computer that allow him to incorporate unique items such as a computer flight simulator joystick to control the dub step in his songs, or smashing on a Gameboy controller to produce electronic sounds. On top of all this is his rock band drummer roots that he displays prominently when he sits down to bang away on his kit. The small crowd he performed to ate it up, and all in all, it was a great way to start off the weekend. Knowing nothing about this guy is why I have given him the title of Biggest Surprise. Check out the video of him below.
Biggest Disappointment: Chance The Rapper
Writing about this one kills me because Chance was by far one of my most anticipated, and the minimal amount of rappers on the lineup meant he really had to stick out from the obvious bigger name, Kendrick Lamar. Headlining the BMI stage in his hometown of Chicago, the 19-year-old rapper had some hefty expectations. I highly doubt Lolla was ready for this guy to blow up the way he did when his second mix tape dropped, thus placing him on a somewhat smaller stage, because it was packed to the fences. The concert started off with a cool mix by the DJ, from Kanye West’s new “Bound 2” all the way to House of Pain’s “Jump Around”. But the concert went mostly down hill from there. The rapper seemed out of his element when he began performing with the background instrumental, leaving some to speculate there were technical difficulties. He played his hits that got the crowd going, but half way through “NaNa”, the track flipped into an odd dub step type beat that seemed like a mistake on the DJ’s behalf. Chance went with it for a second before walking off stage, leaving the crowd to believe that he was done after about 20 minutes, and making about a third of the crowd scurry out of the area. Then a band took the stage, began playing, and Chance got back up and rocked the hell out of the rest the show. The only problem is the ‘rest of the show’ was basically 2 or 3 more songs. That’s where this guy has potential. Between his enthusiastic dance moves, and his emotional delivery of lyrics, this guy can be the heavy hitter that Kendrick Lamar is in the coming years. That said, the first part of his performance really levied the rest, and for that, he retains my title of Biggest Disappointment.
Best of Show (Rap): Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick really killed it, and simply said, was the best rapper of the show. Playing to a gigantic crowd on the gigantic Bud Light Stage, Kendrick delivered. Killing it with his “Recipe”, the original version of the overplayed “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”, and even delivering calmer hits like “Poetic Justice”. Kendrick was in his zone, and set the bar for following rappers in the coming years. A side note, cool story from the show, is during “M.A.A.D city”, the crowd began to lift up people in wheel chairs. Even getting Kendrick’s attention at one point, that prompted him to let the guy in the chair over the barricade, and sit directly in front of him as the crowd topped off the “Ya! Ya! Ya!” in the song as the beat dropped. I could keep on going with a multitude of stories from this show, and continue the praise, but I’ll keep it simple with he delivered.
Best of Show (Rock): Two Door Cinema Club
I didn’t get a chance to see The Killers or Postal Service, who I heard were incredible in both their sets, but out of the rock bands I saw, Two Door Cinema Club has to take the top title. Knowing nothing about these guys, I felt like a loner beside my friends and the huge crowd who knew every word to their entire set. Their soft style of rock really appealed to me, and the loose feeling of the huge crowd at the Bud Light stage made for a great show. I don’t know the exact names of the songs played, but I enjoyed them all for the most part, and it was a good calmer from the constant electronic music.
Best of Show (EDM): Steve Aoki
The toughest category to pick from, as there were so many killer EDM performances all done mostly on the infamous Perry’s stage, is going to have to go to the Friday night headliner Steve Aoki. Starting off the show by telling the audience he’s going to play mostly new stuff began what could only be described as a wild set of electronic music, and surprises. The first of the latter was the appearance of Li’l Jon, who may possibly be one of the greatest hype men you can find. For the most part forgoing rapping, he instead opted for loud shouts to get the crowd going, and by damn, it worked perfectly. From there, the show just kept getting better and better as he debuted new songs with Flux Pavilion, who also got on stage at one point as a special guest, and finished with new collaborations with Knife Party. Add in the insane lights, the caking (throwing cakes at the audience when the beat drops), and the crazy crowd surfing, Steve Aoki set a bar the first night that simply couldn’t be topped. Oh yeah, and I can’t forgot the odd, but always welcomed, appearance of Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) at the end of his set.
Notable Mentions
Dog Blood:
Surprisingly, this was the most under the radar group that contained possibly the most well known guy in the EDM music genre: Skrillex. This is a side project with Boys Noize that most people going in knew nothing about. Their unique style, and red tinted screen projections made for an awesome concert. Sadly, this also featured probably the worst crowd, which I can’t blame the group for, but come on people, are mosh pits really that much fun? Besides that, this was high up there on top performances.
Twenty One Pilots:
These guys know how to put on a show, and while some may see their theatrics as simply them trying too hard, such as the drummer doing a backflip off the piano, I got to say that it all worked. Their style of rock songs with catchy chants really lends its self to live performances. “Holding onto You” really got the crowd going, but the song “Trees” is what got me into it as the catchy electronic chorus makes for an insane crowd experience.
Damn you Steve Aoki! If it weren’t for your performance the previous night, this guy would’ve taken the top spot. His unique mix of pyro techniques and dub step beats lends itself to live sets. Playing a mix of samples and original stuff, he made for the second best performance I saw at Lolla 2013, right behind the other Steve.
Acts that I missed
The only unfortunate part of Lollapalooza is when they stack various great acts on top of one another leading you to make tough decisions on who to see. Some of the acts I missed that I wish I could’ve seen are as follows:
Phoenix, Mumford & Sons, Vampire Weekend, Nine Inch Nails, 2 Chainz (guilty pleasure), Queens of the Stone Age, The Lumineers, Matt & Kim, Atlas Genius, and one of the acts I was most looking forward to, Imagine Dragons, but the picture below explains why I missed them…
Conclusion
If you are around the area of Chicago next year towards the beginning of August I highly recommend going, and promise, regardless of the line up, you’ll have a fun and unique experience. Not only that, all ages are just about acceptable for this, well, maybe if you have young kids don’t bring them by Perry’s, but the rest is totally accessible to everyone.
Grizzly Bomb 