Music & Movies: 2012-02-07T17:47:47Z Copyright (c) 2012, Carla Nelson ExpressionEngine tag:thecornernews.com,2012:02:07 tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17430 2012-02-07T16:43:46Z 2012-02-07T17:47:47Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
That is the question to ponder while watching “Big Miracle,” a rousing, feel-good, family-friendly animal adventure which has the added benefit of being based on a true story. It’s a weird hodgepodge, mixing the large cast and the melodrama of a 1970s disaster movie with the small-town quirkiness of “Northern Exposure,” with just a touch of the big-haired ambition of “Broadcast News.”

At its center are three gray whales — a mother, father and baby — who found themselves trapped within the quickly forming Arctic ice near Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost point in the United States, in 1988. The effort to free them in the open water brought together a disparate alliance of environmental activists, oil executives, journalists, native people and even the Soviets toward the end of the Cold War, and it fascinated viewers worldwide. Director Ken Kwapis (“He’s Just Not That Into You,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) includes archival footage of the “Big Three” anchors in their heyday — Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings — reporting the story from the climate-controlled comfort of their New York studios.

Meanwhile, John Krasinski plays Adam, the boyishly enthusiastic local TV reporter who breaks the story. He’s been toiling away at the top of the world but would love to get down to “the lower 48,” and hopes this is his ticket out of town. He gets some help from an adorable little native boy (Ahmaogak Sweeney) who looks up to him as a big brother as well as from his idealistic ex-girlfriend, Greenpeace leader Rachel (Drew Barrymore).

But soon everyone’s invading this small, remote town for a piece of the action, which sets up all the fish-out-of-water scenarios you’d expect. The visitors are ill-equipped for the extreme weather, including Kristen Bell as a self-serious Los Angeles TV reporter who’s hoping these trapped whales will carry her to a network. Then there’s Ted Danson as an oil executive who wants to drill in the region but directs his considerable financial resources toward the effort in hopes of looking more Earth-friendly. And then there are Rob Riggle and James LeGros as a couple of bumbling buddies from Minneapolis who arrive with their homemade ice-melting contraption; LeGros in particular is doing his best William H. Macy from “Fargo.”

Every five minutes some other star shows up in a supporting role. Here’s John Michael Higgins as a pompous news anchor; there’s Dermot Mulroney as a no-nonsense National Guard colonel. And look: It’s Stephen Root playing the governor of Alaska. What makes these two-dimensional types tolerable is that the actors recognize that they’re playing two-dimensional types, and they have a little fun with that — not to the point of all-out parody, but enough to let us know that they’re in on the joke.

Meanwhile, the locals are consistently bemused by the cluelessness of their visitors. They also gouge them for hotel rooms and lunches at the lone restaurant in town.

Joking aside, though, Kwapis creates genuine suspense as the scores of volunteers struggle against time and the elements to free these creatures. Some moments feel hokey and wedged in, like the images of families around the world gathered in front of their televisions, watching with worry.

A couple of blossoming romances feel like afterthoughts (although one of them really happened).

Like a whale itself, “Big Miracle” is large and unwieldy — but it also has its moments of splendor.
]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17401 2012-02-03T15:24:58Z 2012-02-03T16:36:59Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
After taking a couple of years to care for her ailing mother in Texas, she became the darling of the Austin music scene, where she became a regular nominee at the Austin Music Awards, carrying away several awards over a period of years. Her 2009 album, “The Truth According to Ruthie Foster” earned her a Grammy nomination, and she's won both "Best Traditional" and "Best Contemporary Female Artist" in successive years at the Blues Music Association Awards.

Next week her latest album “Let It Burn” will appear in stores, and it's most definitely one you will want to pick up. Chock full of her signature style of blues, soul, rock, folk and gospel, the album boasts guest appearances by the Blind Boys of Alabama and soul legend William Bell, and, in addition to two new songs penned by Foster, her inimitable versions of songs by Adele, Black Keys, Los Lobos, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger, The Band, Crosby Stills Nash & Young and more. Add to this the fact that she's got one helluva band: the rhythm section from The Meters, bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Russell Batiste, the incomparable Ike Stubblefield (Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Eric Clapton) on Hammond B3 organ and piano, as well as guitarist Dave Easley and reknowned saxophonist James Rivers, and you've got one fine album of rockin', bluesy, folky soul music.

Foster's vocal performance is stellar and beautifully nuanced, and the novel arrangements of recognizable gems like “Ring of Fire,” “Long Time Gone,” “It Makes No Difference,” and “If I Had a Hammer” make them all uniquely her own. “Let It Burn” is a great album, worthy of another Grammy nomination at the very least.

Hear Wildman Steve’s Internet radio station, Internet radio for music lovers 24/7, at wildmansteve.com.
]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17309 2012-01-31T16:53:10Z 2012-01-31T17:57:11Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
But here he is again. After the thrillers "Taken" and "Unknown," Neeson, that burly Irishman of such rock-'em, sock `em films as "Kinsey" and "Schindler's List," is back in his new genre of choice, looking quite at home punching a wolf.

In "The Grey," Neeson plays John Ottway, a grizzled veteran of remote oil refineries, where his specialty is shooting, by sniper rifle, wild animals that attack rig workers. What Neeson has is a resilient weariness with hard Irish eyes that come alive when challenged, and boyishly soften around women.

But Ottway has tired of his rough life, an outcast — for undetermined reasons — from the woman he loves (Anne Openshaw), whom he recalls frequently in white visions of pillow-talk purity. The film, directed by Joe Carnahan ("The A-Team,""Narc"), opens with Ottway's lost musings: "I've stopped doing this world any good."

Outside the mean-spirited revelry of his fellow roughneck workers, he prepares to kill himself, only to be called back to the world by the howl of a wolf — something not unlike Jack London's "call of the wild."

En route to vacation in Anchorage, the workers — a rough crew of facial hair and flannel — pile into an airplane that hits a storm, crashes violently and leaves just seven alive in the middle of the snowy Alaskan tundra. Call it "Lost: The Winter Edition."

Ottway, well versed in both survival and death, takes charge. Their predicament, deathly cold and with little hope of rescue, becomes considerably worse when a pack of wolves announce themselves by their eerie, glowing eyes on the dark fringes of their campfire.

From there, "The Grey" is a survivalist thriller where the ever-dwindling band of survivors claw for safety, away from the relentless pursuit of the wolves.

The group includes the sensitive Henrick (Dallas Roberts) and the conscientious, religious father Talget (a bearded, bespectacled and nearly unrecognizable Dermot Mulroney). But easily the most notable among them is Diaz (Frank Grillo, memorable in a small role in last year's "Warrior"), a former convict who initially opposes Ottway's leadership.

Carnahan lays the alpha dog stuff on heavily, but there's real chemistry in the friction between Ottway and Diaz. In manly, fireside chats, they parse out existential ideas, talking God in a wintery void, faced with the uncompassionate brutality of nature.

But "The Grey" is not "Jaws" and it's certainly not "Moby-Dick." In the script by Carnahan and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, adapted from Jeffers' short story "Ghost Walker," the philosophical subtext is forced and obvious. At one point, God is shouted out at in the sky.

Visceral action has generally been Carnahan's specialty, ranging from the brainless "Smokin' Aces" to the good, gritty genre film "Narc." That talent is here, too, particularly in his sure handling of the violent plane crash. The wolves, a combination of animatronics, trained animals and CGI, are also impressively real.
With cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi, Carnahan drains the color of the raw British Columbia landscapes, standing in ably for Alaskan wilderness. But when the filmmakers try to let the outside world into the film — in conversation and flashback memories — all they can manage are cliché images that sap the movie of depth, and keep it lost in the woods.

"The Grey," which ambles toward an unconventional ending, deserves credit for looking for gravity in genre tropes. But, ultimately, the film feels less like a genuine existential thriller than a movie aping the conventions of one.

]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17243 2012-01-24T16:26:58Z 2012-01-24T17:32:59Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
In the years since, Rundgren has continued to be a maverick, exploring the fields of computer software, music video and Internet music delivery. Through all this, he has maintained a ferociously loyal cult following. That fan base was rewarded with his latest effort, “Todd Rundgren's Johnson,” a tribute to blues pioneer Robert Johnson, celebrating what would have been his 100th birthday. Recorded solo with bassist Kasim Sulton assisting, Rundgren does his best to turn each one of 12 Johnson songs on their side without completely deconstructing them.

The classic “Dust My Broom” opens the album with heavy guitars, pounding drums and a feel more like Black Sabbath than B.B. King. This heavy approach continues throughout the album, with scorching versions of Johnson standards like “Stop Breakin' Down,” “Walkin' Blues,” “Come Home In My Kitchen,” “Traveling Riverside Blues” and the uber-classic “Crossroad Blues.” Most significant is his take on the normally up-tempo “Sweet Home Chicago,” which he manages to effectively convert to a near funeral-like dirge.

In exposing his “Johnson,” Todd Rundgren once again shows that he is “A Wizard, A True Star.”

Hear Wildman Steve’s Internet radio station, Internet radio for music lovers 24/7, at wildmansteve.com.
]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17242 2012-01-24T16:23:38Z 2012-01-24T17:25:39Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
It's a revenge thriller like "The Limey" (and comes from the same screenwriter, Lem Dobbs). It features a color-coded palette scheme to correspond with each new location in this globe-trotting tale, like "Traffic." It has a '70s-style aesthetic sensibility reminiscent of "The Informant!" It boasts an all-star cast like Soderbergh's "Ocean's" movies, "Full Frontal" and, most recently, "Contagion." But at its center is an actress who'd never appeared in a major feature film before, like "The Girlfriend Experience" and "Bubble."

So since we're in the midst of making comparisons, we'll just say that "Haywire" feels like minor Soderbergh: zippy, hugely entertaining and well-crafted as always (since he once again serves as his own cinematographer and editor), but not one of his more important films in the broad scheme of things.

It does, however, mark the auspicious film debut of MMA superstar Gina Carano as special-ops bad-ass Mallory Kane. Carano had never acted before, and not only did she do all her own stunts, she had to do them in a way that she wouldn't injure her male co-stars, including Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender and Channing Tatum. Her dialogue delivery may seem a bit stiff — and she has acknowledged that Soderbergh made some tweaks to her voice in post-production — but she has tremendous presence: an intriguing mix of muscular power and eye-catching femininity.

Mallory works for a private contractor that performs secret missions for the U.S. government. Her latest required her and her team to rescue a Chinese journalist who'd been kidnapped and was being held captive in Barcelona. The mission itself (pretty much) went down as planned, but afterward she finds she's been set up. Now, her task is to figure out who's double-crossed her and why.

All of this takes place out of chronological order as it hops around between upstate New York, Barcelona, Washington, Dublin, the scrub-brushed buttes of New Mexico and a Mexican beach at sunset. (That last location is one of the most beautiful, with the warm, jagged rocks serving as a striking backdrop for one of the film's most intense fights.) Mallory tells her story to the poor schmo whose car she has to borrow (played by Michael Angarano) for escape; it's intentionally disorienting, but that's part of the fun.

Among the excellent cast, McGregor plays Mallory's obviously slimy boss, with whom she shares some sort of nebulous romantic history. Tatum is her partner on the Barcelona job, who may or may not be trustworthy. Fassbender is the British agent with whom she's asked to team up on a follow-up mission; their scenes smolder with an old-school James Bond sense of glamour and intrigue, as well as danger. Michael Douglas plays Mallory's government contact and the one person she seems to be able to trust aside from her father (Bill Paxton) who, like her, is a former Marine. And Antonio Banderas is her Spanish connection, a role he plays in almost as cartoonish a fashion as his "Puss in Boots" character.

Regardless of the setting, the opponent or their motives, Soderbergh is smart enough to emphasize Carano's strengths. He lets the elaborate fight scenes play out — lets us see every kick, punch and body slam — without a lot of needless edits and even without any music. The battles provide their own rhythm, and afterward you may feel as if you've been worked over as well. But in a good way.
]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17183 2012-01-18T18:21:00Z 2012-01-18T19:30:01Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
Still, this is a solid genre picture that knows exactly what it is, has no delusions of grandeur and carries out its task in entertaining and occasionally even suspenseful fashion. That probably sounds like an elaborate way of saying, "Hooray for mediocrity!" But it's January, and we'll take our thrills where we can get them.

Based on the 2008 Icelandic film "Reykjavik-Rotterdam" and directed by that film's star, Baltasar Kormakur, "Contraband" features Wahlberg as Chris Farraday, a one-time expert smuggler who's now living a quiet life as a security consultant in the New Orleans suburbs with his hairstylist wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), and their two young sons.

When Kate's younger brother (Caleb Landry Jones) botches a job for volatile local drug dealer Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi, tatted, high-pitched and squirrelly) while pulling into the Port of New Orleans, Chris must come out of retirement to make up the loss to this madman. His plan involves shipping down to Panama City to bring back millions in counterfeit bills; not only does this not go according to plan, it spins wildly out of control. Among the strong supporting cast, J.K. Simmons is the ship's uptight captain; Lukas Haas plays Chris' right-hand man.

Meanwhile, back in the bayou, Kate and the kids become targets of the drug dealer's increasing threats, even though they're supposed to be under the protection of Chris' best friend and former partner in crime, Sebastian (Ben Foster). Beckinsale is stuck in a bit of a thankless role as the victimized wife, but she does try to infuse a harder edge to the character. Besides, another "Underworld" movie is coming out next week, so you'll see her in full butt-kicking mode soon enough. Ribisi, by contrast, massively overdoes the crazy but at least it's a hoot to watch.

Kormakur relies too heavily on shaky-cam tricks and quick, needless zooms to pump up the tension, but some of his set pieces do play out in visceral fashion. An armored-car heist that Chris and his cohorts get roped into helping with at the last minute is one example; this sequence also has the daring to suggest that Wahlberg's character hasn't completely transformed himself into a nice — or even decent — guy after all. The "Contraband" script, written by Aaron Guzikowski, seems more interested in exploring the complexities of its characters' interior lives than a lot of action movies, which is commendable.

There's also an amusing subplot involving a stolen Jackson Pollock painting that's smartly played for some subtle laughs, one that just goes to show that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17164 2012-01-11T15:20:44Z 2012-01-11T16:26:45Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
BuzzUniverse came together when lead guitarist/frontman/songwriter Alex Garay and drummer Dave Migliore envisioned a power trio with horns. Enlisting the considerable talents of bassist Greg McLoughlin to round out the trio, the band found its voice with sax monster Brian Ciufo, violinist Meredith Rachel and vocalist Rose Lazroe. The band’s 2006 album “birdfishtree” was met with critical acclaim and the band won Relix Magazine's National Jamoff, garnering a nomination for “Best New Groove” at the 2008 Jammy Awards.

The band’s latest effort, “Living Breathing Magic,” underscores this band's determination to cast off labels and make the music it wants to make, regardless of genre. Columbian-born Garay displays his roots in “Caballo Viejo” and tips his hat to Buena Vista Social Club in the band's superb arrangement of “El Carretero.”

The band's prog roots are exhibited in “Catbootz” and “Jive,” while “Round and Round” and “(In the) Nighttime” reveal why the band won the Jamoff, and the band just rocks to its hearts content on “Another Way” and “You and Me” while “Evangeline” explores Americana via a cajun/country feel.

BuzzUniverse accomplishes great things on “Living Breathing Magic,” embracing a wide array of styles and melding it into something unique and highly satisfying.

Hear Wildman Steve’s Internet radio station, Internet radio for music lovers 24/7, at wildmansteve.com.
]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17161 2012-01-10T20:33:53Z 2012-01-10T21:37:54Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
We know to expect this ahead of time because "We Bought a Zoo" comes from Cameron Crowe, the writer-director of "Say Anything ...," "Jerry Maguire," "Almost Famous" and, more recently, the 2005 flop "Elizabethtown." We know there will be some poignantly phrased life lessons in store for this family as they struggle to reconnect after the mother's death.

The whole exercise could have been agonizingly mawkish, and/or filled with cheap, lazy animal-poop jokes. And yet, it's not. It's actually surprisingly charming and more emotionally understated than the material would suggest, and a lot of that has to do with Matt Damon's performance. He is an actor incapable of faking it, one who cannot mail it in, and so he brings great authenticity and gravitas to the role of Benjamin Mee, a widower and father of two. ("We Bought a Zoo," which Crowe co-wrote with Aline Brosh McKenna, is based on a true story with some tweaks.)

Six months after his wife died of cancer, Benjamin is struggling to move on. He's having trouble dedicating himself to his career as a Los Angeles newspaper columnist and finds himself squabbling with his troublemaking teenage son, Dylan (Colin Ford); meanwhile, his younger daughter, Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones), is an impossibly adorable angel.

Benjamin thinks a change of scenery might help, so he quits his job and moves the family to a rustic, rambling house on 18 acres outside the city. Seems perfect -- except for the fact that the land includes an animal park that has fallen into disrepair. Since Benjamin is a writer and not a zoologist, he has no idea what he's doing. He gets some help from the park's ragtag, hippie crew, led by Scarlett Johansson as the hottest zookeeper on the planet.

Moving to a zoo -- spoiler alert! -- eventually helps everyone reconcile. No big shocker there. And no, this does not occur through the mystical power of the animals radiating positive vibes to the universe. The lions and tigers and bears are mercifully free of cloying anthropomorphism. Basically, father and son are just stuck in the middle of nowhere and the necessity for teamwork thrusts them back together. Dylan also makes friends with the only other kid his age on the grounds, the ebullient Lily, played by Elle Fanning.

Yes, "We Bought a Zoo" is sentimental and overlong, and full of obligatory fish-out-of-water physical humor. But everyone is so good in it -- especially Damon, who brings real emotional truth to his character's grieving process -- that it's hard not to be won over. Johansson has a no-nonsense likability about her performance, and the suggested romance between her character and Damon's, while easy to predict, isn't milked for easy heart-tugging.

It's a beautiful film, too: Everything is bathed in this sort of magical sunlight, the work of cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto ("Brokeback Mountain," "Lust, Caution"), which enhances the sensation that anything is possible. This is the first feature from Crowe since the heavy-handed, overly quirky "Elizabethtown," and while it's not a complete return to form, it's close enough.
]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17070 2012-01-04T19:18:16Z 2012-01-04T20:21:18Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
With his band, Great American Taxi, he continues to blaze new trails in the world of Americana music, and the band’s new album, “Paradise Lost,” is a great example. After performing numerous shows backing critically-acclaimed songwriter Todd Snider and appearing on his latest live album, “The Storyteller,” GAT tapped him to produce its new album, with superb results.

Musically, “Paradise Lost” captures all the excitement of Taxi's upbeat country, bluegrass, rockin’, no-holds-barred Americana style. Songs like “Poor House,” “Gonna Make a Record,” “Radiation Blues” and “Swamp Song” are guaranteed to make you put on your boogie shoes and dance, but the real brilliance of the album is in its message. With a nod to folk icon Woody Guthrie, Great American Taxi tackles social and political issues deftly and with great clarity.

Important issues like mountaintop removal, poverty and a poor economy, nuclear energy and soldiers returning from war are just a few of the issues taken on by the band with great eloquence and passion. Add to this guest appearances by pedal-steel master Barry Sless, multi-instrumentalist Tim O'Brien, Elizabeth Cook and Todd Snider, plus a cover of Atlanta icon Ralph Roddenbery's “Maud Only Knows,” you've got one great album.

The performances are stellar, the ardor is palpable, the fun is through the roof. I'll take this Taxi anytime.

Hear Wildman Steve’s Internet radio station, Internet radio for music lovers 24/7, at wildmansteve.com.
]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2012:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17069 2012-01-04T19:04:00Z 2012-01-04T20:11:01Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
And yet it’s overlong, painfully earnest and sometimes even hokey. Clearly, Spielberg intended “War Horse’’ as a throwback, an homage to good, old-fashioned, heartrending storytelling, full of recognizable types and uplifting themes. The skies are so impossibly colorful in such a retro way, they look like hand-painted backdrops on a soundstage. And the dialogue is so frequently on-the-nose and repetitive, it might just make you cringe.

Yes, the horse is remarkable – of course he is – that’s why they made a movie about him. That should have been obvious to us through the action alone, yet the script (from Lee Hall and Richard Curtis) feels the need to tell us again and again that he is a “remarkable’’ horse.

The majestic Joey comes into the lives of a struggling British farming family just before World War I. The alcoholic father (Peter Mullan) buys him at auction, even though he knows he can’t afford him; the long-suffering mother (Emily Watson) insists he return him and get the family’s money back. But plucky teenager Albert (good-looking newcomer Jeremy Irvine) begs to keep him and promises to train him. Cue the montage.

Although Joey is clearly a spectacular creature, the father ends up selling him to the British cavalry because the family needs the money. Albert is devastated and swears they’ll meet again; the conscientious captain (Tom Hiddleston), who immediately recognizes Joey’s greatness and chooses him as his own mount, promises to take good care of him until then.

Joey, meanwhile, thrives once more in this new setting on the front lines. And these moments are some of the film’s best – the ones where the Spielberg of “Saving Private Ryan’’ comes shining through. An overhead shot of row after row of soldiers saddling up as one while hidden in a wheat field is especially stirring, as is their subsequent ambush on a German encampment.

The battle scenes are reliably visceral and well-staged, albeit in a sanitized way.

Even a race between Joey and the impressive horse belonging to the cocky major (Benedict Cumberbatch) provides a quick, thunderous thrill.

There’s a reason so many movies get made about horses: They’re beautiful, powerful creatures, and the pounding of hooves gets your heart pounding, as well.

But speaking of Joey and his new rival, their relationship represents one of the more cloying aspects of “War Horse’’: the incessant anthropomorphism of these animals. Would they really achieve a hard-won respect for each other and end up protecting one another in the thick of battle? Maybe. Maybe not.

But the human assumption that they would just for the sake of furthering the narrative is sort of obnoxious.

Eventually, Joey changes hands again and ends up living on a farm with an adorable but sickly French girl (Cecile Buckens) and her doting grandfather (Niels Arestrup). But then he’s captured once more – this time by the Germans – and forced to fight again.

This sets up the film’s best scene by far, in which a British soldier and a German soldier find Joey entangled in some barbed wire in no man’s land and work together to free him.

It’s a tense, quiet exchange that ultimately reveals some much-needed humanity, and it could have ended on just the right note – but then “War Horse’’ goes and ruins it by adding one line too many, just to remind us of how “remarkable’’ Joey is.

]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2011:index.php/music_n_movies/5.17058 2011-12-29T20:22:22Z 2011-12-29T21:27:23Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
From the very beginning, Cooke was the official musical voice of the church, and today is considered the most influential master of the pedal steel guitar in the Sacred Steel tradition. Like his distant cousin Sam Cooke, his protégé Robert Randolph took what he learned in gospel music and crossed over to popular music, introducing a style of pedal steel to a much wider audience and paving the way for the Lee Boys to follow suit, another family band born in the House of God who included the song “Tribute to Calvin Cooke” on their first album.

Though Cooke has been performing almost daily for over 50 years, he never recorded a major-label album until now. “Heaven,” out now on Dare Records, is produced by his former student Robert Randolph, and features long-time band mates as well as family performing with him, and Randolph contributing guitar, drums and pedal steel.

The album is an amazing collection of gospel, blues, funk, rock and some of the most amazing pedal steel mastery you'll ever hear. Unlike most Sacred Steel masters, Cooke sings even while playing, and with a soulful gospel voice that has the power to melt one's heart.

“Heaven” is obviously a real work coming from deep in his soul, as Cooke bares it all in song after song. Opening the album with the blazing “Christian Stand,” he continues with the very bluesy “Help Me Make It Through” before the achingly touching title cut. The track listing practically reads like a life story, finding solace in “Music,” going on the road with the “Motor City Preacher Man,” and closing the album with the urgent “Look at the People.”

Calvin Cooke should be a name recognized by every music lover. “Heaven” is good enough to make that happen.

Hear Wildman Steve’s Internet radio station, Internet radio for music lovers 24/7, at wildmansteve.com.
]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2011:index.php/music_n_movies/5.16998 2011-12-14T21:32:09Z 2011-12-14T22:35:11Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
She’s ranked #22 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and the Grammy Hall of Fame. Now, at the age of 73, James has released what may be one of her finest moments, “The Dreamer.” With the caveat that it will be her final album, Etta James has put her all into this record, reaching back to her deep rhythm and blues roots and pulling out all the stops. Covering classics from King Floyd, Otis Redding, Bobby Bland, Bob Montgomery, Ray Charles, Johnny Watson and James Milton Campbell, Jr., she breathes new life into many of these classics. Surprisingly, along with all these R&B greats, she throws us a loop in her cover of Guns ‘n’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” as only she could do it. James’ voice is as powerful and moving as ever, and the choice of material could not be more satisfying. Her sultry voice takes “Groove Me” to another level of excellence, and “Let Me Down Easy” could not be more expressive and emotional.

“The Dreamer” is a fine and apropos coda to the career of one of the greatest vocalists of all time, and will serve as a fitting epitaph to this beloved performer’s body of work.

Hear Wildman Steve’s Internet radio station, Internet radio for music lovers 24/7, at wildmansteve.com. ]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2011:index.php/music_n_movies/5.16915 2011-12-07T21:37:11Z 2011-12-07T22:43:13Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
Many of the elements are the same as they were for "Valentine's Day," just moved back on the calendar a few weeks, with the script again weaving together a dozen or so plot lines that crisscross a holiday prone to sentimentalizing.

If there is some kind of world record for schmaltz, this may have set it. Included here are first kisses, midnight rendezvous, dying fathers, newborn babies, husbands at war and trapped strangers. It's narcotic mawkishness, with notes played on heartstrings like a 12-string guitar.

Though it's pure, rosy fantasy on screen, this is cynical, paint-by-the-numbers entertainment, sold with a gaggle of stars spread across its movie poster like a telethon lineup.

The threads of romance emanate from — where else? — New York's Times Square. Hilary Swank plays a character running the ball drop festivities, at which a famous rocker (Jon Bon Jovi as "Jensen") is to perform, and where various police keep watch, including one played by Chris "Ludacris" Bridges.

Some of the footage from these scenes came from last year's New Year's in Times Square shot by cinematographer Charles Minsky. This, surely, is the film's biggest accomplishment: The atmosphere is very true to the Times Square celebration.

Katherine Heigl plays a chef catering a pre-party featuring Jensen, who happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Her sous chef is Sofia Vergara of "Modern Family."

Abigail Breslin, now a teenager, is hoping to join her friends in Times Square, but her mother (Sarah Jessica Parker) won't let her. Jessica Biel, with husband Seth Meyers, is going into labor, competing for the new year's first baby against a rival couple (Sarah Paulson, Til Schweiger).

Michelle Pfeiffer plays a meek office assistant who quits her job (John Lithgow plays her record-label executive boss, a good bit of casting that should have spawned laughs) and hires a courier (an ultra-confident Zac Efron) to help her accomplish a list of resolutions.

Ashton Kutcher, as a bearded grouch, gets stuck in an elevator for hours with backup singer Lea Michele. (I crossed my fingers that bathroom needs would spoil their budding romance, but alas.) Most incredulous, perhaps, is the pairing of nurse Halle Berry and dying Vietnam veteran Robert De Niro.

En route to love and new beginnings, the many characters run around familiar New York tourist attractions and pair off predictably.

Editor Michael Tronick deserves credit for stitching all of these corny story lines together smoothly. None of the characters are more than cardboard cliches, but the cast is likable and pretty enough (there are some rom-com pros here, including Heigl and Josh Duhamel) that most are able to swallow the pallid dialogue without causing inadvertent laughs.

The cameos keep coming until the end, with even Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropping by. After all, this is as much an ad for New York as it is a movie. And I'm pretty sure I spotted Knick Amare Stoudemire as the credits rolled. Obviously, the NBA lockout was very hard on players.

And it's during these lighthearted extras and outtakes at the end of "New Year's Eve" where the first and only honest moment of the film occurs. Carla Gugino, who plays the OB/GYN delivering the expected babies, hints at the crassness of the enterprise. In a gag, she emerges from between Biel's legs with not a child, but "Valentine's Day" DVDs.

Congratulations. It's dreck.







]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2011:index.php/music_n_movies/5.16858 2011-12-06T17:44:36Z 2011-12-06T18:46:37Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com Williams has taken that attitude to the extreme on his new trio of albums, “Ghost to A Ghost/Guttertown,” “Attention Deficit Domination,” and “3 Bar Ranch Cattle Callin'.” The first is a double album, actually two separate albums in one package, and is a wildly diverse collection of hard country, rock ‘n’ roll, Americana and Folk.

“Ghost to A Ghost” is an amazing collection of original (and future classic) country songs and rock tunes which serves to prove that calling Hank 3 strictly a “country” artist does great disservice to his artistry. Its diversity is inspiring, and the quality of writing, both musically and lyrically, is rare in these days of genre-specific, formulaic writing practiced by many artists. “Guttertown,” the second CD of this double set, may be the most fascinating single-artist expressions of ethnic folk music ever put on one album, interspersed with experimental pieces I can only describe as modern classical, using sounds, both found and created, to elicit an emotional or intellectual reaction. Some are disturbing, some humorous, some curious, but all accomplish the desired result. The folk music covers so many terrains—Zydeco, Polka, Celtic and many others are represented and expressed with a deep understanding and obvious embrace.

“Attention Deficit Domination,” is a startling collection of Hank 3’s metal side. “ADD” is styled more after old-school metal like Black Sabbath, but using guitar tones and voice manipulation that rings with today's metal aficionados. He uses twisted, yet viable and discernible vocal melodies, and the actual musical structure is not only sound, but for the most part, satisfying.

“3 Bar Ranch Cattle Callin'” is by far the most experimental of the three albums. A startling, almost shocking, combination of recorded cattle auctioneers backed by hard rock/death-metal-ish guitar riffing that results in frighteningly interesting, and equally disturbing, soundscapes that can only be described as experimental music. The rhythm and tonality of the auctioneers paired with the frenetic thrash metal works surprisingly well, although I wouldn’t expect anything on here to hit the Top 40 Chart.

All in all, these three albums without a doubt illustrate Hank 3’s enviable talents and insanely diverse artistry.
]]> tag:thecornernews.com,2011:index.php/music_n_movies/5.16857 2011-12-06T17:39:26Z 2011-12-06T18:42:27Z Carla Nelson cmerrill@thecornernews.com
Scorsese doesn't just tinker with this new-fangled technology, he embraces it fully. This is the most dazzling use of 3-D yet — more so than the vaunted "Avatar." Scorsese has completely realized the production with a third dimension in mind and maximized it for its immersive qualities, a joy to behold at a time when so many films are shot in 2-D and shoddily converted to 3-D after the fact. All the flawless production values you'd expect from a Scorsese film are in place, with the director reuniting with so many members of the creative team with which he's worked over the years, including editor Thelma Schoonmaker and production designer Dante Ferretti.

It's also awe-inspiring to consider that he has conveyed the importance of film preservation — a cause that's close to his heart — but done so in forward-thinking fashion, in the highest of high-tech ways. It takes a little while for the narrative to find its way in, though; the first half of John Logan's script feels like it meanders a bit as it establishes all its figures and lays out all its puzzle pieces.

Based on the Brian Selznick children's book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," ''Hugo" takes place at a train station in 1930s Paris, where the title character, a wide-eyed orphan played by Asa Butterfield, secretly lives in the walls and keeps all the clocks running on time. In a lengthy, beautifully fluid opening sequence reminiscent of his famous restaurant-entry tracking shot in "Goodfellas," Scorsese swoops through the hustle and bustle of the crowded station before soaring up and into a clock perched high above the action to reveal the boy's presence. He also pays detailed attention to the various grinding gears and hidden hallways that keep this cavernous place in constant motion.

Hugo is fascinated by machinery, a hobby he shared with his late father, played in flashbacks by Jude Law. The one item that still connects him with his beloved dad is a shiny metallic automaton the two were fixing together. As it turns out, this machine may also connect him with the mean old man who works at the train station toy shop, played with gruffness and grace — and a secret — by Ben Kingsley.

The boy gets some help in solving this mystery from the toy store owner's inquisitive goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz, who radiates vitality and does an impressive British accent). The two spend a lot of time snooping around, dreaming and trying to escape the clutches of the dastardly police inspector. He's played by Sacha Baron Cohen, who injects great comic relief but whose presence also feels a bit off.

Eventually, though, as "Hugo" morphs from a children's adventure into a (slightly repetitive and overlong) lesson in classic silent cinema, it finds its footing. Perhaps that's because it is a topic about which Scorsese himself is so passionate. You don't have to know who Georges Melies was or even be familiar with his famous 1902 sci-fi short "A Trip to the Moon," even though it provides a crucial plot point. You may recognize Harold Lloyd perilously dangling from the hands of a clock off the top of a building, but you don't have to know that he does so in a scene from 1923's "Safety Last!"

Such moments are germane to the movie's abundant love of the power of film; being a hardcore cinephile (like Scorsese) might add a layer of enjoyment, but it certainly isn't a prerequisite for walking in the door. A sense of wonder, however, is.
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