Sunday, December 01, 2013

December Reviews

These are the 
reviews and 
other pieces 
I'm working 
on this month.













Amazon Theatrical: August: Osage County

Line Out: No Chance of Smog: Mick Turner and Bill Callahan at
Neumos
, Mutual Benefit's Debut Album, Love's Crushing Dia-
mond
, Is a Low-Key Gem
, The New La Luz Video for "Big Big Blood" Has Creepy Fun with Horror Movies, Step into the Static with TV Ghost, Seattle Musicians and Authors Pay Tribute to Lou Reed and Sub Pop on Two Separate Evenings, Jack Name Takes His Glam Rock to Outer Space, Bay Area Trio Terry Malts Go Minimalist in the Stark, Black & White Video for "I Was Not There," Mutual Ben-
efit's New Video Takes Inspiration from Danish Bad-News Classic The Celebration
, Magik Markers Invite You to Surrender to the Fantasy, The Gourds: A Film, a Song, and a Few Thoughts, Burger Records' (Mostly) Painless Holiday Mix, One-Man Band Morgan Delt Brings Undiluted Psychedelia to His Debut, Nasimiyu Murum-
ba Lights Up the "Dark,"
and Spartan Poster of the Week Contender.



Video Librarian: Black Label Society - Unblackened [Blu], It's
a Girl, Trash Dance, James Morrison - The Wizard from Oz, Anti-
gone 34 [three-disc set], Move Me Brightly, Springsteen & I [Blu]Buying Sex, All the Labor, Dream Theater - Live at Luna Park.
 
Endnote: Image from Other Music Recording Co.

Sunday, November 03, 2013

November Reviews

Adèle Exarchopoulos in Blue Is the Warmest Color

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.









Amazon Theatricals: Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warm-
est Color (with Léa Seydoux), Alex Gibney's The Armstrong Lie, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (with Jennifer Lawrence).

Still playing (or yet to open):
Blue Jasmine, The Mortal Instru-
ments - City of Bones, The Way, Way Back, and We're the Millers.


 

Line Out: Doc Pomus: Writer, Raconteur, Humanitarian, The Great Cate (Le Bon) Abandons Wales, Embraces the U.S., and Falls in with a Bunch of Yanks, Morgan Delt's Album Preview, "Beneath the Black and Purple," Will Take Your Mind for a Ride, Wot's Up with Mike Donovan's Debut, A Transformative Night at the North-
west Film Forum in Tribute to Loud Reed
, Quilt Gets Back to Na-
ture in "Arctic Shark" Video
, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me Is a Heartbreaker, Hear Mmoss's David Tuttle Get His Neil Young On, Barbara Trentalange's "Same Illusion" Is a Moody Thing (with a Haunting Video), Limiñanas' Irresistible Costa Blanca, and RSD's Black Friday Includes T-Shirts, Too, Like This Big Star Model

SIFFBlog:
Claire Denis's Bastards.

Video Librarian:
The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones, On the Riviera, Alfredo's Fire, The Genius of Marian, Here One Day, The 
Hill, More Than Honey, The Price of Sand, Caro Emerald in Con-
cert
[Blu-ray], Drug War [Blu-ray], Stuck in Love, and Kindred -
The Embraced: The Complete Vampire Collection
[three-disc set].

 
Endnote:
Blue Is the Warmest Color image from IFC.  

Monday, September 30, 2013

October Reviews

Claudia Lennear (Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour)
These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon 
Theat-
ricals: Haute Cuisine (with Catherine Frot) and Romeo and Juliet (with Douglas Booth).

Still playing (or yet to open): Blue Jasmine, Jobs, The Mortal Instruments -
City of Bones
, The Spectacular Now, The Way, Way Back, and We're the Millers.
 

Easy Street Blog: Line Out review of the new Dirtbombs.

 

Line Out: Bill Callahan, Circuit des Yeux's Haley Fohr, and
the Art of Selecting an Opening Act
, The New Limiñanas Song,
"My Black Sabbath," Recreates the World of the Swinging Sixties Jetsetter
, David Novick's Lovely, Hazy "Undo the Knot," Jacco Gardner Releases a New Song and Video ("The End of August") and Hits the Road, Claudia Lennear's Lone Solo Record, Phew!, Rocks Hard, Defies Expectations, New Quilt Song: Anything but Cold or Dangerous, Jacco Gardner: Bringer of Grace and Charm, Dirty Three Guitarist Mick Turner's New Bag of Tricks Includes a Veteran Australian Vocalist, Alex Cuervo Trades the Garage for More Treacherous Spaces on Spooky New Project, Jason Pierce Returns to Spacemen 3 Roots on Reworking of Cut Copy's "Free Your Mind," Cate Le Bon Guests on Kevin Morby Song, Bella Musica from Italian Duo Satelliti, Boardwalk's Debut: A Mixed Success, Grass Widow Bassist Hannah Lew Is Cold Beat,
and Tim Presley's White Fence Gets "Filthy" for a Friend

Video Librarian: Where Heaven Meets Hell, Santana & Mc-
Laughlin – Invitation to Illumination: Live at Montreux 2011 [Blu-ray], Willy DeVille - Live in the Lowlands [Blu], Portnoy Sheehan Macalpine Sherinian - Live in Tokyo [Blu], UB40 - Live at Montreux 2002 [Blu], Bob and the Monster, Awkward - Seasons 1 & 2 [four-disc set], Stuck in Love, and Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me.

Endnote: Image from tour photographer Linda Wolf.  

Thursday, September 05, 2013

September Reviews

These are the reviews 
and other pieces I'm 
working on this month.

Amazon 
DVDs and
Theatricals:
None. 

Still playing (or yet 
to open): Before Midnight, Blue Jasmine, Jobs, The Mortal Instruments - City
of Bones
, The Spectacular Now, Turbo, The Way, Way Back, We're the Millers.


Line Out: His Electro Blue Voice: These Italians Do It Better--and a Lot Louder, Tough Age's New Single Will Wake the Dead, MORE from Alexis Georgopoulos's Arp, The Dirtbombs Recreate the Bubblegum Era with Ooey Gooey Chewy Ka-Blooey!, Sun Getting You Down? Unlikely, but Just in Case: The New HSY EP Will Cure What Ails You, The Julie Ruin: A Super-Sized Sundae with Chocolate Sauce, Brazilian Quartet Boogarins Release Summery, Sunlit Video for "Lucifernandis," On Nobody knows., Willis Earl Beal Trades the Studio Apartment for the Recording Studio, Photographer Jamel Shabazz Captures (and Continues to Capture) New York Cool, "Living for the Future," the Spooky New Video from One-Man Factory Revival Band Vex Ruffin, In the First Single off Their New Album, Tim Heidecker and Davin Wood Ask, "What Else Is New?," CAVE's Ghostly "Shikaakwa" Video In-
tegrates Vector Rescanning and Raster Manipulation.  

Video Librarian: Shameless - Seasons 1 & 2 [four-disc set], 
Ain't In It for My Health - A Film About Levon Helm, Change,  
Carbon for Water, Ethiopia Dances for Joy!, How to Lose Your Virginity, Love Hate Love, Our Fires Still Burn - The Native Am-
erican Experience, Price of Gold, Enlightened – The Complete 
Second Season [two-disc set], Grey’s Anatomy - The Complete 
Ninth Season [six-disc set], and The Idolmaker [Blu-ray].  

Endnote: Arp image from Smalltown Supersound.

Thursday, August 01, 2013

August Reviews

These are the 
reviews and 
other pieces 
I'm working 
on this 
month.





Amazon Theatricals: Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen directs
Cate Blanchett), We're the Millers (with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis), Jobs (with Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs), and The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones (with Lily Collins).  

Still playing (or yet to open): The Bling Ring, Girl Most Likely, Much 
 Ado About Nothing, The Spectacular Now, Turbo, and The Way, Way Back.  

Line Out: Boogarins' Decidedly Undemonic "Luficernandis,"
Mike Donovan Ends Sic Alps, Releases New Single, and Hits the Road with Ty Segall, On Ty Segall's New Project, Fuzz, and the Unrelenting Pace of His Production, Gap Dream's Goofy Video for "Chill Spot," Lonnie Holley: In the Studio and On Tour with Bradford Cox, Cole Alexander, and Bill Callahan, The Blow Returns with "Make It Up," As Enchanting as Ever: Juana Molina's "Eras," Vex Ruffin's New "No Escape" EP Is Pretty Great and Totally Free, Scout Niblett Dresses Like Snow White to Spread the Joy of "Gun," Scout Niblett at Barboza: Short Report, Cass McCombs, Karen Black, and His New Album, Cate Le Bon + Perfume Genius = A Lovely Duet, and The Growlers' B-Movie Video for "One Million Lovers" Is a Black & White Delight.



Pitch Perfect PR quotes me in the one-sheet for the new RocketNumberNine video: 
"An album that makes me want to dance, to get to work, 
and to read the novels of Philip K. Dick." --The Stranger
 
Video Librarian: Boardwalk Empire - The Complete Third Season [five-disc set], Boy, Cloudburst, Dio - Finding the Sacred Heart: Live in Philly 1986 [Blu-ray], Garbage - One Mile High...
Live [Blu], Bob Milne in Concert - Vol. 1, Solomon Burke - Live at Montreux 2006, The LA Complex - The Complete Series [three-
disc set], Saige Paints the Sky, I Killed My Mother, Violeta Went to Heaven, The Wall, Aerosmith - Rock for the Rising Sun [Blu].

Endnote: Cate Blanchett image from Sony Pictures Classics. 

Wednesday, July 03, 2013

July Reviews

Heliotropes - A Constant Sea
These are the reviews and other 
pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: None.  

Amazon Theatricals: Turbo (animated feature with the voices of Paul Giamatti and Ryan Reynolds) and Girl Most Likely (with Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening).

Still playing (or yet to open): Before Midnight, The Bling Ring, Much 
Ado About Nothing, The Spectacular Now, and The Way, Way Back.  

Hot Splice: Family History or Why I Support the NWFF

Line Out: Sic Alps: Three Videos for Three Songs, Having a Sab-
bath with Heliotropes
, Hannah Lew Directs the Mantles' "Hello" Video, Pony Time In-Store at Everyday Music, Reading and Dreaming with Bitchin Bajas, New Terry Malts Music: Fun with Negative Nouns, KCMU 40th Anniversary Party at the Sunset, King Tuff and More at the Jubilee, Shintaro Sakamoto's Skeleton-Dancing Video, "From the Dead," The Psychedelic Tears of Jacco Gardner, Food Pyramid's Music from Other Worlds, Wayne Coyne to Introduce Flaming Lips Documentary at the Northwest Film Forum, Arp's 1970s-Saturated "High-Heeled Clouds," Wayne Coyne: Fearless Freak on Film, Assessment of Venom P. Stinger



SIFFBlog: Berberian Sound Studio.  

Video Librarian: A Portrait of James Dean - Joshua Tree 
1951, Dirt Road to Psychedelia: Austin, Texas During the 
1960s, Flower in Otomi, La Source, Nova Rex - Ain't Easy 
Being Cheesy, Of Two Minds, Paper Mirror, Frank Zappa - 
A Token of His Extreme, Call the Midwife - Season Two  
[three-disc set], Neil Cowley Trio - Live at Montreux  
[Blu-ray], Drop Dead Diva - The Complete Fourth 
Season [three-disc set], and Ring of Fire.

Endnote: Cover art image from Manimal Vinyl.

Sunday, June 02, 2013

June Reviews

Self-portrait by Seattle photographer Jini Dellaccio
These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.











Amazon Theatricals: The Spectacular Now (with Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley), Before Midnight (Richard Linklater directs Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy), Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, The Bling Ring (Sofia Coppola directs Emma Watson and Leslie Mann), The Way, Way Back (Steve Carell and Toni Collette).

Line Out: Music and Photography Trailblazers at SIFF: Her Aim Is True and A Band Called Death, The Mantles' Paisley Throwback Track "Hello," Rick Springfield's Affair of the Heart: Flattering, Yet Strangely Compelling, Jenny Hval's Splendidly Schizophrenic "I Called," Parquet Court and Lil Bub: On the Road to Win Your Heart, John Grant: The Greatest Motherfucker You're Ever Gonna Meet, King Khan & the Shrines - "Born to Die," Sub Pop Signs Ominous Italian Noise Trio His Electro Blue Voice, Colleen Weighs Her Heart on New Album, The Latest from Saturday Looks Good to Me: Same Song, Different Singers, Chad VanGaalen and METZ Pay Tribute to Heavy Metal in New Video, The Self-Titled Debut from Tim Presley's White Fence: A Magnificent Mess.



A Pitch Perfect PR one-sheet about their "Mean Maybe" video quotes from 
me on Yellowbirds' Songs from the Vanished Frontier, "I hoped for the best 
from the band's second full-length, and Cohen and company have delivered." 

SIFFBlog: Blurry Pictures of Dynamic Directors, Pt. 3.

The Stranger: I praise Pony Time in this collective effort.

Video Librarian: OMD Live - Architecture & Morality & More 
[Blu-ray], Steel Magnolias, An Affair of the Heart, A Tribute to 
Ron Asheton, Wine, Women & Friends, Chandelier Status: 
Sommore, Mosquita & Mari, and Of Two Minds.

 
Endnote: For more about Her Aim Is True, visit the official site

Sunday, May 05, 2013

May Reviews

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVD: Women in Love (with Rosamund Pike and Rachael Stirling).

Amazon Theatricals: Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundament-
alist
(with Riz Ahmed), Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha (with Greta Gerwig), Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's (documentary with Gior-
gio Armani, Marc Jacobs, etc.), and Scot McGehee and David Sie-
gel's What Maisie Knew (with Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan).

Still playing: Admission, Disconnect, Life of Pi, Quartet, and The Sapphires.

Line Out: The Phoenix Foundation Goes Deep, Scout Niblett: No
Wigs, No Scrubs
, Psych-Glam Band the Burnt Ones' "Web" and You'll Never Walk Alone, UV Race and Life Stinks at Barboza, Sic Alps' Top-of-the-Pop-Tart Jam "Biz Bag" Is Rocking My World, King Khan Signs to Merge Records, Issues Statement Filled with Movie References, Shannon & the Clams' Newish Single "In a Dream" Is Dreamy, Black Moth Super Rainbow Live on KEXP, RocketNumberNine's Productive, Sci-Fi Post-Post-Punk Will Make You Move, Ernest Greene's Washed Out Gets Kaleidoscopic and Paracosmic in New Album Trailer, Two Documentary Stars at This Year's SIFF: a Punk Singer and a Freeze-Dried Pomeranian, Vanished Frontier.  

 

Drag City quotes my Scout Niblett review in the "Gun" press release: 
"Her emotions lie just below the surface, threatening to escape in full, 
spilling out all over the place, incinerating everything in their vicinity. 
It's as if her instrumental restraint keeps them in check." - The Stranger
 

Pitch Perfect PR quotes my RN9 review in the "Deadly Buzz" press release:  
"This percussion extravaganza from the London duo RocketNumberNine (brothers Tom and Ben Page) gets my vote for the best song of the week. No vocals to get in the way, lots of drums to clear your head...The forward momentum makes me want to work, and I mean that as a compliment." 

Video Librarian: 110%, Face 2 Face, Flirting with Danger - 
Power & Choice in Heterosexual Relationships, It Was Rape, 
Love, Hate and Everything in Between, Saving Face, Still Around,
Wonder Women! - The Untold Story of American Superheroines
, 
Paul Anka - Live in Switzerland [Blu-ray], and Save the Date. 



Endnote: Frances Ha still from IFC (opens in Seattle on 5/24). 

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

April Reviews

These are 
the reviews 
and other 
pieces I'm 
working on 
this month. 

Amazon 
DVDs: A Late Quartet [Blu-ray] (Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Cath-
erine Keener), Weeds - Season Eight: The Final Season [two-disc 
set], and Parade's End (with Judi Dench and Ronald Hines).

Amazon Theatrical: Disconnect (Alexander Skarsgård).

Still playing (or yet to open): Admission, Amour, Beyond the Hills, 
The Guilt Trip, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Quartet, and The Sapphires.

Line Out: Herbcraft's Fantastic Voyage, Ellen Alien Composed
a Score for You
, New Video and Song: The Cyclist's "Bones in Motion," King Tuff: Bad Words and Classic Beats, New Dark Dark Dark Song: "What I Needed," Colleen Green Makes Pure Pop for Now People, The Burnt Ones Are on Your Side, Carmen Villain's Video Focuses on Faces, Angel Olsen's New Record & Tour, A Trip to the Past with Dead Ghosts, Angel Olsen's Stunning Set at Barboza, New Helado Negro Video: "Relatives," It Came from Toronto: Odonis Odonis, Bobby Whitlock: Rock & Roll Survivor.



Video Librarian: Barbie in the Pink Shoes [Blu-ray], Sousa on the Rez - Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum, I’m Now - The Story of Mudhoney, Spirit of the Church, Vol. 1, Miles Davis with Quincy Jones & the Gil Evans Orchestra - Live at Montreux 1991 [Blu-ray], GLOW - The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrest-
ling, Michael Jackson - Moscow Case 1993 - When the 
King of Pop Met the Soviets, and Future Weather.

Endnote: Herbcraft image from Woodsist.  

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

March Reviews

Still from Beware of Mr. Baker
These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month. 

Amazon DVDs: The Sessions [Blu-ray] (with John Hawkes and Helen Hunt) and Secrets of Highclere Castle.

Amazon Theatricals: The Sapphires, Admission (with Tina Fey and Paul Rudd), At Any Price (Dennis Quaid and Zac Ephron), and Cristian
Mungiu's Beyond the Hills.  

Still playing (or yet to open): Amour, Bless Me, Ultima, The Guilt
Trip
, Life of Pi, Lincoln, The Master, Quartet, and Rust and Bone.


Line Out: The Asshole Glory of Ginger Baker, Cellist Julia Kent Has Character, Yellowbirds - "Young Men of Promise," Helado Negro - Calm Cool, and Collected, The Music and Movies of the L.A. Rebellion, Web of Sunsets - "Fool's Melodies," Odonis Odonis's "Better" Brings Me Back, Julian Lynch's Psych-Jazz-Folk Lines, Carmen Villain: Model, Musician, Dreamer, RocketNumberNine's Get-to-Work Music, METZ and Master's Freddie Quell: "Wasted."  

Video Librarian: The Big Picture - Rethinking Dyslexia, Lost and Sound, The World Before Her, No Way Out But One, Phineas and Ferb - Animal Agents, Starlet, and Wuthering Heights.



Endnote: Ginger Baker image from Snag Films.  

Thursday, January 31, 2013

February Reviews

Paul Williams (Paul Williams: Still Alive) at the Egyptian on 5/12
These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month. 

Amazon DVDs: Downton Abbey -Season Three [two-disc set] and Boardwalk Empire - The Complete Third Season [five-disc set].

Amazon Theatricals: Carl Franklin's Bless Me, Ultima

Still playing (or yet to open): Amour, Anna Karen-
ina
, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Quartet, and Rust and Bone.


Line Out: Feeding People's Island Universe, Yo La Tengo - Steadfast and True, Sleepwalking in Space with Psychic Twin, Julian Lynch's Lovely "Carios kelleyi I," Mouse on Mars Are on the Move, Pony Time - "What If You Caught Me," White Fence's Fuzztastic "Pink Gorilla," Sonny Smith Contains MultitudesAnika Covers Chromatics on New EP, Mouse on Mars, Matmos, and Horse Lords, "Bitter Buddha" Eddie Pepitone at NWFF, Barren Girls - "She-Devil," Melt Yourself Down's Life-Fixer.



Video Librarian: Chicken with Plums, Color Me Obsessed -
A Film about the Replacements
, Gossip Girl - The Complete
Sixth and Final Season
[three-disc set], 28 Hotel Rooms, Face-
book Follies, Loving a Stranger, Paul Williams - Still Alive,
Sext Up Kids - How Children Are Becoming Hypersexualiz-
ed, and Transgender Tuesdays - A Clinic in the Tenderloin.

Endnote: Image from my personal collection. 

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

January Reviews

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: The Life & Times of Tim - The Complete Third Season [2-disc set], The Hour - Season Two [2-Blu set], Scarecrow and Mrs. King - The 4th and Final Season [5-disc set]

Amazon Theatricals: Amour (Michael Hanecke
directs Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva) and Quartet (Dustin Hoffman directs Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay).

Still playing (or yet to open): Anna Karenina, The Guilt Trip,  
Life of Pi, Lincoln, Playing for Keeps, and Rust and Bone

Line Out: Raw Balls and Bad Eggs: The Ballad of UV Race, Listen to Broadcast's Semi-Final LP, Girls Names - "Hypnotic Regression," New Year's Greetings from Michel Gondry, Nick Cave Knows Who You Are, Woodsist Signs Eat Skull, the Woolen Men, The Return of Camper Van Beethoven, Back from the Grave with Segall and Cronin, Surf Party with the Traditional Fools, LISm: Ellen Allien's Headphone Dance Score, Haunting New Videos from Angel Olsen, Lonnie Holley: Before Music, Outside Time, On Her New Single, Colleen Green Has All the Time in the World, Julia Kent's Dramatic Tourbillon, and Herbcraft's Flute-Saturated Stunner.



Video Librarian: (A)Sexual  - A Minority No Longer Silent, 
Jason Becker - Not Dead Yet, The Boy Game, From Dust to 
Dreams - Opening Night at the Smith, Grrrl Love and Revolution - 
Riot Grrrl NYC, The Light in Her Eyes, Mama C - Urban Warrior in the African Bush, Patti Smith - Live at Montreux 2005 [Blu-ray], Strong!, World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements, Ike & Tina - On the Road: 1971-72, Lady Antebellum - Own the Night: World Tour, Let the Music Play - Story of the Doobie Bros., Joan Rivers - Don’t Start with Me, Playing for Keeps, Rust and Bone.

Endnote: British poster image from Artificial Eye.