Hopefully, "This" isn't the place

Sean Penn was in the two worst films of 2011.  Although at least in the laughably pretentious Tree of Life Penn only played a pissed-off adult version of one of the children abused by the father played by Brad Pitt.  In This Must Be The Place, Penn bares the brunt of the responsibility himself—at least in front of the lens.  Much has been made of Penn’s collaboration with director Paolo Sorrentino, who wrote the script specifically with Penn in mind. 

Penn plays retired rock star Cheyenne a raven-tressed ‘80’s holdover hunting a Nazi prison guard camp who imprisoned Cheyenne’s recently deceased father during the Holocaust.  Yes, boys and girls, it’s an indie-Holocaust themed movie, ain’t that whacky?!    

Cheyenne as portrayed by Penn is the most self-conscious character in cinematic history—or maybe he’s the least self-conscious, but either way he’s strictly an artistic caricature, there’s nothing flesh and blood about him.  And his mumbling affected pattern of speech is a distraction that does nothing but remind the viewer she’s watching a film.  Jeff Spicoli would crack up and blow bong hits right into Cheyenne’s stupid monkey face.

Conceptually, this film might have been brilliant and totally original if executed properly, but the film’s plodding pace, the annoying and boring characters and Sorrentino’s “Hey, if you need me I’m in the next room” directorial style eventually drags the viewer down into a bottomless pit of thrift-store aesthetics.  And what David Byrne is doing playing himself in this mess is beyond the ken of mortal man.

This weekend, please be any place but in front of this film. 

Reevew: Superman vrs The Elite

SVTE is a soon to be released straight to DVD DC animated feature and we got a sneak peak here at ReeVewz, intriguing beginning with a kiddie cartoon of Supes that suggests this will be a serious deconstruction of the Man of Steel..and it is to a degree, examining how Superman fits into a post-9/11 world where his brand of justice may be too antiquated when Supes is confronted by a new team of multi-dimensional traveling heroes ("The Elite") who have no problem with killing the baddies. SVTE is also an attempt to create an edgier Superman animated feature with not-so-veiled references to sex and use of preteen naughty words like “suck” and “ass”. But in the end it’s just another Superman versus villains outcome, where black and white convention is promoted over gray ambiguity. It could have been much more interesting if Superman was forced to co-exist with The Elite instead of the final showdown against them with predictable results. SVTE worth a one-time watch or rental, but not something you'll want to revisit.

2012 Academy Award predictions

Best Picture--The Artist

Best Director--Michel Hazanavicius

Best Actor--George Clooney

Best Actress-Viola Davis

Supporting Actor--Jonah Hill

Supporting Actress--Berenice Bejo

Original Screenplay--Midnight in Paris

Adapted Screenplay--Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Original Score--The Artist

Cinematography--The Artist

Editing--The Artist

Top 11 Albums of 2011

Hey, Mark Miller here, contributing writer and music critic for High Times.  Since 11 is one of my lucky numbers, figure I'd rank the top 11 albums of 2011, instead of the usual top 10 list.  This isn't the High Times list, just my personal rankings.  Here goes everything...

(* = reviewed by me in the pages of High Times)

*1. SMiLE...Beach Boys  It may be over 40 years old, but it's still the best album of this or any other year.

2.  Dead Roots Stirring...Elder  It's got the expected metal and stoner elements but also contains riffs that could be from lost classic 70's albums. Most surprising album of '11.

3.  Tomboy...Panda Bear...Not as earth-shattering as 2007's Person Pitch, but still contains some of the year's strongest vocals and music, the title track is a powerhouse.   While I didn't review Tomboy for HT, I did interview Panda, link is here: http://hightimes.com/lounge/mmiller/7078

4.  Vaccine...Younger Brother...Electronica album of the year.  Album cover of the year.  "Shine" was the best song of the year. That enough?

*5. The Local Fuzz...Atomic Bitchwax...A 42 minute song with just about that many distinct riffs.  An always inventive album, like the soundtrack to the world's longest comic book.

*6. A Godlike Inferno...Ancient VVisdom....Satanic folk rock provided some of the year's best sing-alongs

*7.  Gotta Get Up Now....Roger Miret and the Disasters....The Agnostic Front frontman delivered the best hardcore punk album of the year with some interesting twists and managed to put out a new album with Agnostic as well. 

8. 7 Skies H3....Flaming Lips...If Bitchwax' 42 minute album/song wasn't good enough, how about 24 hours straight of the Lips?  Though this album was polarizing for some, it was certainly ambitious, trippy and musically successful enough to make the list

9.  Death by Stereo...Umphrey's McGee...They deliver the best jamband album of the year by departing from the usual formula and opting for an 80's sound that comes off refreshing.  Kris Myers' drumming on "Domino Theory" is the year's best percussion. 

10. Mirador...Sungrazer...Straight outta Holland comes this post-prog trio whose sounds go hand in hand with the best buds the Dutch coffee shops have to offer. 

11. Green Naugahyde....Primus...Not as good as their glory year albums, but still worthy of inclusion on the list as original/new drummer Jay Lane helps deliver their best LP in 15 years

Honorable mention:

thecontrollersphere...Of Montreal...Best EP of 2011, and "Holiday Call" is the epic of the year


Into Bass and Time...Ancient Astronauts...Best rap album of the year

The Night the Sun Came Up...Dev...Best pop dance album of the year.  Where Gaga is pretentious, Dev is inventive

Parallax...Atlas Sound...Most melodic album of the year

Ranking the Top 5 Holidays

1. Halloween

2. New Years Eve>Day

3. X-Mas

4th of July

5. St. Paddy's Day

Review of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2011

http://hightimes.com/entertainment/mmiller/7329

Moneyball

Finally, a baseball movie for baseball fans. Plus you find out early on what an "ugly girlfriend" is in baseball lexicon. Yes, much has been made about the historical inaccuracies of Moneyball along with the fact the film ignores the contributions of Barry Zito (Cy Young) and Miguel Tejada (MVP) to the 2002 A's, but it's still that rare baseball film that actually gets into the nuts and bolts of the game instead of the surface dressing and symbolism of baseball. ("The Natural" has as much to do with real baseball as does "Harry Potter").  It touches on scouting, trade negotiations and the manager/general manager dynamic you won't see in many if any baseball flicks.

Brad Pitt's portrayal of Beane isn't quite Tyler Durden meets Theo Epstein, but there are occasional glimpses of Pitt's career-defining performance as Durden in his performance of the A's single-minded GM. I appreciated that Pitt didn't play the role sympathetically and made Beane an abrupt, brooding loner. Jonah Hill's venture into drama is more hit-or-miss, he's funny but the humor is mainly derived from his reactions to others, his character of Peter Brand (based on Paul Depodesta, who ironically is now with the Mets, the team Beane first played for the in majors) could have had a bit more personality and still not clashed with Pitt. Philip Seymour Hoffman is better as A's skipper Art Howe than he's getting credit for and the conflicts between him and Pitt were some of the best character interaction in the film and provided rare dramatic tension. That struggle for power between Howe and Beane could have been further developed when the media started crediting Howe for the 2002 A's record-setting winning streak, but the film bypasses that with just a passing reference.    

Never thought I'd see a major motion picture from Sony focusing on...Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt), including visiting the Hatteberg home on New Year's Eve. But 'Hatty' becomes a sort of an emblem of the Moneyball philosophy and it all ties together when Hatteberg hits the game-winning homer that seals the A's 20th consecutive victory in 2002, the 'high water mark' for Beane's 2000-03 Moneyball run, a team that lost 4 straight postseason series (although the 2006 A's did actually win the first round of the playoffs).

The flashbacks to Beane's early years as a high school phenom and later bust for the Mets/Twins/A's in the 1980's as the worst player on a lot of great teams are effective and give the film a larger and yet more personal context than just focusing on the 2002 A's payroll. Pitt's relationship with his daughter Casey (Kerris Dorsey) works, and we even see the musical bond between them (in real life, Billy and Casey have gone to punk rock shows together, though the only nod to punk in the film is a Clash poster in Billy's office).

Director Bennett Miller has made a solid baseball movie with genuine emotions, though neither the suspense of the game or Beane's persona/inner demons overwhelm the viewer, but at least you know to avoid drafting a prospective player with an "ugly girlfriend".  Give Moneyball 4 out of 5 Alvin Dark baseball gloves.