Away We Go (2009)

The story of an intellectual but quirky couple (Jim from the Office and Maya Rudolph from SNL) in their early thirties who live in a trailer in the woods. They find out in quick secession that they are expecting a child, and that Jims parents are moving abroad. So they decide that they want to start fresh somewhere new….ROADTRIP! They head out on the American road to discover what “home” means to them.

Yeah, that corny. But this isn’t a total waste of time.

Their relationship is realistic and cute and you really root for them to be happy. The couples they meet along the way (some old friends and acquaintances) are really funny and perfectly cast. Maggie Gyllenhaal is hilarious as the new-age earth mother, Allison Janney and Jim Gaffigan are awesome as the boozed out dysfunctional family, Jeff Daniels and Margret O’Hara as Jims Parents-very funny. There is good stuff in here, but it just never soars, and the subject matter really demands that it does or it just kinda falls flat and feels dull (and even worse: predictable).

The soundtrack is spotty too, Velvets, George Harrison and then some dude that sounds like Nick Drake was just too expensive. Also, if they live in a trailer with no heat, how do they afford to fly around the country at the drop of a hat? Also, I was feeling very target marketed by this one. If you’ve ever touched a copy of “The Believer” this one is all up in your grill.

It’s a perfectly adequate rom-com for the Juno fans out there, but no rush.

The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (2006)

Documentary covering the extensive, drugged out career of psych-folk freaks The Holy Modal Rounders (a full band, but centered around the duo of Steve Weber and Peter Stampfel). Over the span of about 45 years they fight, fall out, take drugs, ignore each other, one cleans up (in a kinda burned out hippy way) the other stays “freaky” and eventually shoot for a reunion. How legit is their hippy cred? They were on the Easy Rider Soundtrack and signed to ESP-Disk (home to Sun Ra, the Fugs and other travelers of the interplanetary expressways).

This is why I’ll never watch “A Mighty Wind”: these men are beyond anything Christopher Guest could ever pull off. If one of these guys walked in you would think it was way too over the top (both in song and behavior). Their particular brand of freak-folk spiked with passive-aggressive confrontational whimsy isn’t quite my cup of tea, but whatever.

Really these two guys have the classic love/hate artistic collaboration. Volatile and neither seems to recognize the power of being the others foil. Watching them bicker isn’t much fun.

I found myself wanting to know more about the people on the sidelines, dudes from the Fugs, long suffering band members, and strange acquaintances that show up at gigs. This longing may have come from realizing that I was being made uncomfortable with the duos dynamic. Neither is squeaky clean, but Weber just seems like a guy you would Hate to be in a band with. Wasted, bored, bitter, showboater, egomaniac who thinks he’s hilarious. Like your Fathers buddy you wish would go home.

That said, I would recommend this for Holy Modal Rounders, Christopher Guest and “Some Kind of Monster” fans. That’s most people, I guess.

I Love You To Death (1990)

This should really work, a capable director (L. Kasdan of Big Chill and Body Heat), top notch cast (Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, River Phonenix, William Hurt, Joan Plowright, Keeanu, Heather Graham and on and on), but it just all kinda falls apart. Mostly in the hamfisted hands of Kevin Klines horrible “Eh-tall-ian!” accent. Embarrassing.

The plot is that he is a terrible cheater and when his wife finds out she tries to kill him, and then her friend tries, and her Mother tries, then some drugged out dudes try. And no one succeeds. But he learns a lesson!

Filmed in Tacoma, with the druggie would-be assassins (William Hurt and Keeanu) hanging out in the Teapot.

It’s not without its moments of charm, but this is what wasted potential looks like. Too bad.

Until The Light Takes Us (2008)

A documentary on the infamous Scandinavian Black Metal Scene of the early 90’s. If you’ve read Lords Of Chaos (recommended), you know the score and if you haven’t (I don’t know why you’d be seeing this, but!) here’s the deal: A group of angry men form bands, put on King Diamond/KISS make-up (“Corpse Paint”), hang out in basements, commit murder, suicide, arson and occasionally put out records of some brutally caustic sounds.

The inevitable infighting of such a volatile group of people means that of the main three bands of this scene (Mayhem, Burzum and Dark Throne), you have three men in jail for murder and arson, two dead and one functioning band still active. Their nihilistic ideology involve Norse Paganism, Nationalism, Homophobia, and Anti-Semitism. None of this is questioned or criticised in this film, it is simply put in front of the viewer without comment (and is therefore complicit). There is almost nothing about the 2nd and 3rd (or whatever) waves of Black Metals bands that have come since these seminal groups, instead focusing on the innercircle looking back at what happened and why and the media explosion that followed.

We mostly follow the leader of Dark Throne (who is not in jail) around Scandinavia while he complains that Black Metal is now a fad and full up with poseurs.

It is occasionally funny, but mostly interesting from a anthropological standpoint. The filmmakers passive approval of the shady politics (and the complete lack of any mention of the harsh racism inherent in the scene) made this kind of a bummer. This was made by and for fans, it is fairly well made, but not necessarily recommended. I appreciate that this is a sound that completely embodies its environment, the way that Stax/ Volt sounds like Memphis, the way that the Melvins sound like the Pacific Northwest, or Fela Kuti sounds like Lagos.

Blast of Silence (1961)

Dark low budget Noir from the early 60’s. Mostly narrated (brilliant and poetic) it follows an assassin as he goes about starting a job at Christmas time in NYC. He slowly begins to lose his nerve and decides this job will be his last.

As the title clearly states this film is about silence: firstly he is looking for a handgun with a silencer to use in the killing. Secondly the narrator is heavily used as our protagonist doesn’t talk much. There is plenty happening below the surface, but he only speaks when spoken to for most of the film. He follows his target (a mob underboss), he haggles with the gun dealer (who collects rats) and falls for a girl he knew from the orphanage.

Real bleak, tight and moves quickly. Short too, like 70mins or something. I like a movie that doesn’t fuck around.  You get the strong impression that Coppola and Scorsese both saw this in film school (echos in “the Conversation” and “Taxi Driver” are glaring).

heres the first minute and a half, check out this narration! Bonkers.

McQ (1974)

It seems the idea here was to have John Wayne be a Dirty Harry type character in Seattle instead of San Francisco. From the lack of sequels you can guess at how the results turned out.

Here McQ is a kind of super-cop who gets ears deep in a drug stealing/smuggling deal and the force isn’t approving of his no bullshit style of police work. He slaps and kicks hippies, is out for revenge for his slain partner, kinda wants to bone his partners widow, kills on sight, drives fast, trades “skag” for information, gets kicked off the force and goes to work for a detective agency, and on and on. 1970’s cop cliches abound. Muscle car, highballs of scotch, snitching pimps, the works.

It is way, way too long. But it is shot in Seattle, so I was easily distracted by sightseeing. You feel bad for John Wayne when he has to run, thats a drawback for an action film. And he’s clearly drunk in many scenes. Seriously, dude was 67 years old when this shit came out and only a few years off from dying of cancer. I mean, fuck.

John Wayne always make me think of this: