OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger’s Movie is a different kind of “head trip” film: one that puts the audience in the mind of its subject and co-director, Bud Clayman, a middle-aged man inflicted with all the maladies that make up the unwieldy title. Those like him and those who care for people […]
buy
Posted inMusic
Mind the Fox — Songs for the Needy
The 11-track effort has the feel of a product made for and formulated in a dingy basement with dusty floral couches, shag carpet and tacky wood wall paneling … and I mean that in the best of ways. It’s something of a time capsule uncovered from four or five decades back, neither updated nor refurbished […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Painting the town Greg
The rare detail in this specific print is that, on the building, you can spot a campaign sign for the late David Hood’s unsuccessful congressional bid in 1980. The inclusion of Hood’s sign was once a puzzling detail: “David who?” These days, it’s the name on the milk bottle that might inspire confusion: “Shouldn’t that […]
Posted inMusic
Locked and loaded
UK rock band Young Guns didn’t have the biggest expectations for its first substantial trek across the pond. “We were kind of thinking, ‘We are first ones on, from England, and no one is going to give a shit,’” singer Gustav Woods said. “It’s been fantastic, though. We were hungry. It’s so great to come […]
Posted inArts & Culture
General Education
Then again, it might not. Levi Collins (Chris Sheffield, Transformers: Dark of the Moon) is a Rushmore-esque high school senior so smart-ass, he has a sidekick. He also has a full college scholarship for tennis, but that’s in danger when he flunks science. In order to save it, he has to attend summer school without […]
Posted inMusic
The Five Man Army
The multiculti cast is led by Peter Graves as The Dutchman. For someone who grew up on multiple viewings of Airplane!, seeing Graves as a badass outlaw is something of a trip. At the time, he was about midway through his run on TV’s Mission: Impossible, and like that long-running series, Five Man Army finds […]
Posted inMusic
G.O.O.D. Music — Cruel Summer
With outstanding talent like Kanye, John Legend, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Common and Mos Def on the G.O.O.D. label, there’s no reason that Cruel Summer shouldn’t be near-perfect, but that is far from the case. Too much input from 2 Chainz and Big Sean — each of whom has his bright points, but often comes […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Revenant
I was reminded of this by the trailer for The Revenant, which touts the zombie comedy as coming from “visionary filmmaker” Kerry Prior. If he’s so visionary, why wasn’t his film given a wide theatrical rollout? Why did it take three years for the 2009 production to hit video? And why does it bear so […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Tall Man
In just under two hours, a 36-hour ordeal is told, focusing on Julia (Jessica Biel, Total Recall), a free-clinic nurse turned supermom when her Chucky doll-looking son is kidnapped by The Tall Man. He drives a rusty van that practically screams “child molester.” I’ll give the film by writer/director Pascal Laugier (Martyrs) this: It throws […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Sitting Target
Oh, and she’s preggo. It’s not his. That revelation causes Harry to bust through the glass that separates them so he can get his paws around her neck. It’s an indication that this not-so-ordinary crime tale intends to do the same to audiences. In its day, I’m sure it did, being the first British film […]