July 2013 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. 

Seattle Film Blog: 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, The 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.

Cover art image from Manimal Vinyl.

June 2013 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." 

Seattle Film Blog: 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, Sommore: Chandelier Status, Mosquita & Mari, and Of Two Minds.

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

May 2013 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. 


Frances Ha opens in Seattle on May 24. Still from IFC.

April 2013 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 Catherine 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.

Herbcraft image from Woodsist.  

March 2013 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.



Ginger Baker image from Snag Films.  

February 2013 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 Karenina, 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 Multitudes, Anika 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.

Image from my personal collection. 

January 2013 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.

British poster image from Artificial Eye.