HBO's John Adams

I'm looking forward to watching HBO tonight for the first episode of their 7-part mini-series, John Adams, a biopic of the 2nd President and the story of the first fifty years of the United States.

HBO has made a bunch of great historical films: Band of Brothers, From the Earth to the Moon, and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. This one looks good too. It'll probably be more informative than anything you learned about John Adams from school. They could probably show this movie in 6th grade and skip history class for the rest of the year.

Paul Giamatti plays John Adams and Laura Linney plays his wife Abigail.

It should be cool seeing all the other characters from history too, like Benjamin Franklin (played by the great Tom Wilkinson).

If you don't know who invented something, or you wonder who said some famous quote, you should always assume it's Ben Franklin. The next time you're playing your glass harmonica during a thunderstorm, thank Ben that the lightning rod on your house will protect you from electricity shooting right up your urinary catheter.

Samuel Adams is in this movie too. You know, the guy who invented beer . Oh wait, that was probably Ben Franklin.

More Movies

I watched Fracture with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling this week. It's sure nice to see Hopkins step out of his evil murderer role - oh wait, he plays an evil murderer in this movie too!

When Ted Crawford discovers that his beautiful younger wife, Jennifer, is having an affair, he plans her murder--the perfect murder. Among the cops arriving at the crime scene is hostage negotiator Detective Rob Nunally, the only officer permitted entry to the house. Surprisingly, Crawford readily admits to shooting his wife, but Nunally is too stunned to pay close attention when he recognizes his lover, whose true identity he never knew, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Although Jennifer was shot at point blank range, Nunally realizes she isn't dead. Crawford is immediately arrested and arraigned after confessing--a seemingly slam-dunk case for hot shot assistant district attorney Willy Beachum, who has one foot out the door of the District Attorney's office on his way to a lucrative job in high-stakes corporate law. But nothing is as simple as it seems, including this case. Will the lure of power and a love affair with a sexy, ambitious attorney at his new firm overpower Willy's fierce drive to win, or worse, quash his code of ethics? In a tense duel of intellect and strategy, Crawford and Willy both learn that a "fracture" can be found in every ostensibly perfect facade.

I like Anthony Hopkins in most of his roles and he's always great playing an evil person. I found myself rooting for him to escape instead of being brought to justice. I also like Ryan Gosling from watching Lars and the Real Girl but he wasn't any spectacular in this movie. Still, I enjoyed the film and I recommend it.

I had recorded A Scanner Darkly from HBO awhile back and finally watched it this weekend. I knew a little bit about this movie and I like Robert Downey Jr. as an actor, so I was interested in it.

The movie is based on a Philip K. Dick novel. Dick wrote many other science fiction stories, several that have been made into films after his death (Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report).

To give the film a distinct look, the movie was filmed digitally and then animated using interpolated rotoscope over the original footage. To me, it looks kind of like a very-smooth cartoon, which was a perfect way of showing the drug-induced views of the characters in the movie.

Set in a future world where America has lost the war on drugs, an undercover cop, Fred, is one of many agents hooked on the popular drug Substance D, which causes its users to develop split personalities. Fred, for instance, is also Bob, a notorious drug dealer. Along with his superior officers, Fred sets up an elaborate scheme to catch Bob and tear down his operation.

Also starring in this film are Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Woody Harrelson. I enjoyed the animation and the acting, although the story was fairly complex and I had to pay close attention to make sure I knew what was going on. But you're rewarded with thoughtful and uncommon plot that makes it worth watching.

Michael Scott and the Real Girl

I watched two decent movies this week.

Lars and the Real Girl is the story of Lars Lindstrom, a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his brother Gus and his wife Karen and they are stunned. They don't know what to say to Lars or Bianca--because she is a life-size doll, not a real person and he is treating her as though she is alive. They consult the family doctor Dagmar who explains this is a delusion he's created--for what reason she doesn't yet know but they should all go along with it. What follows is an emotional journey for Lars and the people around him.

This movie was surprisingly good - and touching - despite the fact that Lars's girlfriend is a doll. It's a smart comedy with a lot of tender moments. I was impressed and I think the movie is definitely worth watching.

Dan in Real Life stars Steve Carell from The Office in his typical role. Advice columnist Dan Burns is an expert on relationships, but somehow struggles to succeed as a brother, a son and a single parent.

Juliette Binoche is the love interest but she didn't seem quite right for the role - maybe a little too old. Comedian Dane Cook also stars in this movie and I'm not a big fan of his. The movie is also pretty predictable, but I still enjoyed it. Steve Carell does a great job and makes the movie fun to watch.

The Hunting Party

I just finished another movie - The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere and Terrence Howard. I hadn't heard much about this movie but I saw Richard Gere on The Late Show and he seemed pretty enthusiastic about this film, so I gave it a shot.

Based on an article that was published in Esquire Magazine, The Hunting Party tells the story of three journalists who take it upon themselves to find the most wanted war criminal in the world, Bosnia's "The Fox".

I liked it; well worth a rental, especially if you are a Richard Gere fan. If anything it's a different story than the ones we're used to seeing. I'm not sure why it didn't get a lot of attention in the press. It scored a 7.1/10 on IMDB and 6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes.

Movies and the new iPic Theater

I watched a few new movies:

We Own the Night starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall.

Brooklyn, 1988. Crime is rife, especially drugs and drug violence. A Russian thug is building his heroin trade, while everyone laughs at the cops.

Brothers have chosen different paths: Joe has followed his father Bert into New York's Finest; he's a rising star. Bobby, who uses his mother's maiden name, manages a club. Bobby too is on the rise: he has a new girlfriend and a green-light to develop a Manhattan club.

Joe and Bert ask him to help with intelligence gathering; he declines. Then, Joe raids Bobby's club to arrest the Russian. From there, things spiral out of control: the Russian puts out a hit on Joe, personal losses mount, and Bobby's loyalties face the test.

This was a good action flick, but nothing you'll remember a year from now. Worth a rental.


Blue State starring Anna Paquin, Breckin Meyer (where do you know him from? Maybe from one episode of The Wonder Years in 1988) and George W. Bush. Blue State is a romantic comedy about a disgruntled Democrat who actually follows through on a drunken campaign promise to move to Canada if George "Dubya" Bush gets re-elected.

I thought this might be funny, but it was amateurish and not very good. I would skip it, even if you're a Bush-basher.


I went to the new high-end iPic movie theater at Bayshore Town Center to see the chick-flick Definitely, Maybe.

The theater is really cool - we had reserved seats that an usher escorted us to. The $9 seats ($6 for the matinee show plus $3 for VIP seats) included a large popcorn for each of us and you can add your own butter-flavored topping and various powders like barbecue flavoring, parmesan cheese, and salt.

The VIP seats are probably most comfortable movie seats I've experienced. They are giant high-backed love seats with an armrest that you can move out of the way and each side can rock back independently of the other side. The seats are also really spaced out so there's only like 10 people in each row.

The theater was immaculate and the sound and screen were excellent. I think the higher prices might keep out the riffraff too, like the damn rich kids I ran into at Marcus North Shore last December.

The theater also has a restaurant, a bowling alley, and a bar (you can bring your drinks into the movie and micro-beer prices are $5, not bad for movie theater prices). I was impressed with the theater and I'll definitely be back, even if the prices are slightly higher than at Marcus theaters.

Here's a free tip for you. On Tuesday nights you can get a half-pound hamburger from Bar Louie at Bayshore for just $1. And if you go before 7:00pm, all beer taps are just $2, including all sorts of microbrews like Lindemans Framboise and Delirium Tremens. So for $5 you can get two great beers and a decent burger; there's your cheap date before a movie.

Definitely, Maybe was OK. It starred Ryan Reynolds, who I think plays generic roles that could be played by any young, male actor. He was decent in this, but reminded me too much of comedian Dane Cook.

In this movie, a political consultant tries to explain his impending divorce and past relationships to his 11-year-old daughter. There are a lot of Madison, Wisconsin, references in the movie, although none of the movie is filmed there.

I was entertained by this romantic comedy, but probably could have waited for the DVD.

More Oscar nominated movies

On my continuing quest to watch all of the Academy Award nominated films of 2007, I watched two good movies this week:


Michael Clayton is an in-house "fixer" at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor, Clayton takes care of Kenner, Bach & Ledeen's dirtiest work at the behest of the firm's co-founder Marty Bach. Though burned out and hardly content with his job as a fixer, his divorce, a failed business venture and mounting debt have left Clayton inextricably tied to the firm. At U/North, meanwhile, the career of litigator Karen Crowder rests on the multi-million dollar settlement of a class action suit that Clayton's firm is leading to a seemingly successful conclusion. But when Kenner Bach's brilliant and guilt-ridden attorney Arthur Edens sabotages the U/North case, Clayton faces the biggest challenge of his career and his life.

This movie, starring George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson gets special props from me for its references to Milwaukee. This movie has 7 Oscar nominations.

Into the Wild: Freshly graduated from college with a promising future, 22 year-old Christopher McCandless instead walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people. Was Christopher McCandless a heroic adventurer or a naive idealist, a rebellious 1990s Thoreau or another lost American son, a fearless risk-taker or a tragic figure who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature? McCandless' quest took him from the wheat fields of South Dakota to a renegade trip down the Colorado River to the non-conformists' refuge of Slab City, California, and beyond. Along the way, he encountered a series of colorful characters at the very edges of American society who shaped his understanding of life and whose lives he, in turn, changed. In the end, he tested himself by heading alone into the wilds of the great North, where everything he had seen and learned and felt came to a head in ways he never could have expected.

This movie stars Emile Hirsch (only known by me from an episode of NYPD Blue) and is directed by Sean Penn. I didn't know anything about it before watching it and I really enjoyed the story. This movie has 2 Oscar nominations.

Movies (including the best movie of 2007)

I saw the best movie of 2007 this week: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

An action western surrounding the private life and public exploits of America's most notorious outlaw, Jesse James. As the charismatic and unpredictable outlaw plans his next great robbery, he wages war on his enemies, who are trying to collect the reward money--and the glory--that is riding on his capture. However, the greatest threat to Jesse's life may ultimately come from those he trusts the most.

I'm avoiding watching A Mighty Heart, the story of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's kidnapping and murder in Pakistan, because I already know so much about that story and I don't want to have to relive that disturbing story.

But even though I knew that the Assassination of Jesse James will have an ultimately disturbing ending, the story drew me in and the anticipation of the assassination was what kept me interested and on the edge of my seat. The movies 160 minutes long but the story is tight and moves quickly.

Brad Pitt is excellent is his role as a tired-eyed, mentally-unstable Jesse James. Casey Affleck was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Robert Ford. There are other good actors in this film as well, like Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, and Mary-Louise Parker.

I was excited to see Nick Cave, from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, playing a saloon singer near the end of the film. He sang The Ballad of Jesse James, which I had first heard on Bruce Springsteen's album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. I know now that it's a traditional song that many artists have recorded, including Van Morrison.

Anyway, the movie was great and is the best I saw that was made in 2007.


Another film I watched this week was Across the Universe, a musical based on interpretations of classic Beatles songs. I thought there were some obvious similarities to Moulin Rouge!, which undoubtedly inspired this film.

A romantic musical told mainly through numerous Beatles songs performed by the characters. A young man from Liverpool comes to America during the Vietnam War to find his father. He winds up in Greenwich Village, where he falls in love with an American girl who has grown up sheltered in the suburbs. Together they experience the sweeping changes of America in the late 60's.

The main character is a Moulin Rouge! rip off of Ewan McGregor, named Jude (of course), played by Jim Sturgess.

The heroine in the film is Evan Rachel Wood. I really like her as an actress and I just watched in the film King of California with Michael Douglas. I first saw in the TV series Once and Again years ago. She apparently sings her own songs in this movie and sounds great.

Bono from U2 also has a small role in the film and sings a couple songs.

I'm not a huge Beatles fan but I really liked Moulin Rouge!, and I thought this film worked and is worth watching. If you're a big Bealtes or musical fan, you'll probably love it.


The final film from this week was Rendition.

A thriller that centers on Isabella El-Ibrahimi, the American wife of Egyptian-born chemical engineer Anwar El-Ibrahimi, who disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington. Isabella desperately tries to track her husband down, while a CIA analyst at a secret detention facility outside the U.S. is forced to question his assignment as he becomes party to the man's unorthodox interrogation.

I wasn't expecting too much of this film, but it was decent. The story avoids being predictable for the most part and thankfully puts limits on the torture scenes that, in a film like this, are mandatory.

Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal play the good Americans in this film. This is also the first time I saw Peter Sarsgaard play a non-bad guy. The evil people are J.K. Simmons (the great actor from Law & Order and everything else these days) and Meryl Streep, along with miscellaneous Muslim terrorists.

And guess what? This film teaches us a lesson: not all Muslims are terrorists. Thank you film industry, we get it. You can stop making movies about it now.

Movies

I watched He Was a Quiet Man last night. I hadn't heard of it before but it had a 80% rating on Rotton Tomatoes, so I gave it a chance.

It was bad.

Christian Slater (from nothing good lately) was main star and it also featured William H. Macy (from many great roles) and Elisha Cuthbert (from "24" on TV).

I thought it had some very interesting camera work and special effects, but they seemed cheesy after awhile and seemed more appropriate for a funky short. The acting was predictable and the story was weak - I thought there a major plot fault as well. I wouldn't recommend it.


I also finally saw No Country for Old Men with Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem.

Just as everything I've read about it and like everyone else I've talked to, I thought it was great.

Although I'm pretty sure that while I understood the ending, I didn't like it. Maybe I just wasn't satisfied by it. I didn't want to be taught a lesson about good and evil in that way.

More Good Movies

I saw two more movies this week. Both of them were quite good.

Atonement
Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's (Keira Knightley) lover (James McAvoy) of a crime he did not commit. Based on the British romance novel by Ian McEwan.

With a little romance and a little war, this movie has something for everyone! I hadn't heard of the book, but it was very popular and the story is great.

But I have a hard team understanding spoken British in movies, so if you're like me, you may want to wait for the DVD so you can turn on the English subtitles.


Charlie Wilson's War
A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects. Starring Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Julia Roberts.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is in pretty much every movie these days, but he's a terrific actor and is great in this film. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts pretty much play the same role they play in all movies - themselves (but this time with Texas accents)!

But the story is what makes this film good and it's an interesting 'true' story that I hadn't heard in this way before. There are many parallels to the war we are currently fighting in Afghanistan, which I'm sure was one of the producers main points.

There's even a reference in the movie to the killing of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Pakistan, which seemed very eerie to me because his daughter Benazir Bhutto was killed in Pakistan a few days before I watched this film.

Year-end movie reviews

I watched a few movies over the holiday break. Some were really good. Here's the rundown.

Gone Baby Gone

Directed by Ben Affleck. Starring his brother Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman.

Based on the Dennis Lehane novel (he also wrote Mystic River) about two Boston area detectives investigating a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.

I thought this was a good movie that didn't follow the usual predictable story line for the most part. Casey Affleck does a great job playing a believable character and I like any movie with Ed Harris playing a bad-ass. Michelle Monaghan does OK in her role. She also played Tom Cruise's wife in Mission: Impossible 3. I recommend this movie.


Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, and Marisa Tomei.

When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents' jewelery store, the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that sends them, their father and one brother's wife hurtling towards a shattering climax.

This was one of my favorite films of the year. It's a great Fargo-like family crime story where nothing goes right. I like Philip Seymour Hoffman and he plays a great role in this film. I recommend this movie.



Once

I hadn't heard of this movie until I read about it on a couple of lists of best movies of 2007. It stars Glen Hansard from the Irish rock band The Frames and Markéta Irglová as struggling musicians. Hansard and/or Irglová composed and performed all but one of the original songs in the movie.

It's described as a modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story.

The film was shot for only $160,000 received the World Cinema Audience Award for a dramatic film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. I liked it a lot and thought is was interesting and unpredictable. I recommend it.


I am Legend

Staring Will Smith. Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.

I thought this movie was entertaining, although it wasn't great. I thought 28 Days Later... did a much better job telling the same story and was much more frightening. The computer animated zombies definitely detracted from I am Legend. I preferred normal actors playing the zombies in 28 Days Later. Real people wanting to kill you is much scarier than computer monsters, in my opinion.

I did like the movie though, and it's worth watching. Maybe wait for the DVD.


I'm Not There

This is the biographical film inspired by the life of musician Bob Dylan. I was eagerly anticipating watching it, but I was disappointed with the result. The storyline was too disjointed and difficult to follow for me to enjoy the film.

I'm Not There depicts the Dylan through seven distinct stages of his life by using six different actors (Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, and Cate Blanchett).

Wikipedia says the film tells its story using non-traditional techniques, similar to the poetic narrative style of Dylan's songwriting. It takes its name from the Dylan outtake "I'm Not There", which was never officially released until being included on the film's official soundtrack album.

I guess the poetic narrative didn't work for me. The acting was very good and the music was fantastic, but the story was weird and didn't flow and I lost patience trying to keep track of what was happening after the first hour.

I read several very positive reviews of this film (one that called this the best movie of 2007) and I had high expectations for it. Even though I am a big Bob Dylan fan, I don't recommend this movie, unless you just want to enjoy the music.

I did get the two disc soundtrack after watching the film and it's great. Eddie Vedder, Sonic Youth, Richie Havens, John Doe, Yo La Tengo, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jack Johnson, and Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (from the movie Once) all perform on it.


Juno

Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman.

Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.

I read several positive reviews of this film and I agreed with them. This movie is funny and touching and very entertaining. The lead actress Ellen Page played her role perfectly and I think she is likely to win an award for her acting. I recommend this movie.

I saw this movie at the Marcus North Shore theater in Mequon on a Friday night and that was probably a mistake. Half of the theater was filled with spoiled North Shore teens with their Ugg boots and North Face jackets who constantly opened their mobile phones throughout the movie to check for text messages. The kids were also chatting during parts of the movie and their bright phone screens in the darkness annoyed and distracted me and also reminded me that I'm now a grumpy old man. It's just another reason why I prefer watching movies at home.

Apocalyptolicious!

I finally saw Apocalypto. If you like Mel Gibson (director) and violent human sacrifices, this movie is for you!

Actually, it was pretty good.

As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw, a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate.



I also saw Waitress, starring Felicity. If you like romantic comedies and pie, this movie is for you!

It was actually better than I expected, especially if you like pie. Heather gives it an 8 out of 10. I give it something slightly lower than that.

Jenna is a pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep south. She meets a newcomer to her town and falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness.

Eastern Promises & Futurama

Two more movie recommendations from this week:

Eastern Promises
The film follows the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), who is tied to one of London's most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is jarred when he crosses paths with Anna (Naomi Watts), an innocent midwife trying to right a wrong, who accidentally uncovers potential evidence against the family. Now Nikolai must put into motion a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution.

I could tell this was going to be a pretty violent movie just by reading the plot keywords from IMDB for this film: Stabbed In The Eye, Nude Fight Scene, Frozen Corpse, Severed Finger. Surprisingly, there are 39 movies listed as having nude fight scenes, and most of them I haven't seen yet. I guess I have some catching up to do.

If you enjoyed A History of Violence, you'll enjoy this film, especially because it's from the same director (David Cronenberg) and again stars Viggo Mortensen. The story is fairly simple and told in an unusually straightforward manner, but the characters are complex and interesting, and they're the focus of the movie.


Futurama: Bender's Big Score!
Planet Express sees a hostile takeover and Bender falls into the hands of criminals where he is used to fulfill their schemes.

I've been excitedly anticipating this direct-to-DVD movie since I read about it this summer. It's a very satisfying movie for Futurama fans as they address the show's cancellation from FOX two years ago and tie up other loose ends.

All your favorite Futurama characters are back, including Robot Santa, KwanzaBot, Chanukah Zombie, and Al Gore.

They are planning to release 3 more DVD movies and then they will chop them all up into 16 episodes to air on Comedy Central along with new episodes.


I also watched a bad movie called I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry which I assume is offensive to gay people everywhere. It's also offensive to straight people everywhere, since the story is so stupid. I don't think it contains a single joke that you haven't heard elsewhere, like every gay joke you heard in 6th grade.

Jessica Biel is pretty though.

Movies

I recently saw two movies that I recommend.



King of California

Michael Douglas and Evan Rachel Wood

An unstable dad who after getting out of a mental institution tries to convince his daughter that there's Spanish gold buried somewhere under suburbia.






American Gangster

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe

In 1970s America, a detective works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling the drug into the country in the coffins of soldiers returning from the Vietnam War.

Here are the ones I saw that I don't recommend:

Tom Petty documentary

A four hour documentary movie called Runnin' Down A Dream: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will be released in October .

The film, by Peter Bogdanovich, features interviews with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, and the circle of musicians, friends, and collaborators who came into the band's orbit over the years.

I looked on imdb.com and the movie is titled slightly different there: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Running Down a Dream (notice the runnin' vs running). But Best Buy's picture of the box clearly shows it written as in the first paragraph above.

There's a lot of stars in the film, apparently taking parts in interviews: Kevin Costner, Brittany Murphy, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks, Roy Orbison, Rick Rubin, Jeff Lynne, and more.

Here's the trailer:


On October 16, a 4-disc box set of the film will be released for sale only at Best Buy, which includes the the 2-DVD, 4 hour Bogdanovich film. It also includes a DVD of the 2006 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 30th Anniversary Concert in Gainesville, FL and a soundtrack CD of rarities and previously unreleased tracks from the film.



Here's the tracklist, from Bestbuy.com:

Disc 1:

Gainesville 2006
Elvis
What's In A Name
Mike
Benmont
B.Y.O.F (Build Your Own Festival)
Fast Forward
Deals
A Broken Bond
Ron & Stan
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Third
Fuel
Howie
Poet

Disc 2:

Bob Dylan
Strange Coincidences
Scott
The Bottom Line
Steve
John
Round Trip
Rock & Roll Heaven
Runnin' Down a Dream (End credits)
One 30th Anniversary Concert

Disc 3:

Listen To Her Heart
Mary Jane's Last Dance
I Won't Back Down
Free Fallin'
Saving Grace
I'm A Man
Oh Well
Handle With Care
Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (with Stevie Nicks)
I Need To Know (with Stevie Nicks)
It's Good To Be King
Down South
Southern Accents
Insider (with Stevie Nicks)
Learning To Fly
Don't Come Around Here No More
Runnin' Down A Dream
You Wreck Me
Mystic Eyes
American Girl

Bonus Soundtrack CD

Disc 4:

Breakdown
Anything That's Rock and Roll
Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)
American Girl
Shadow of A Doubt (A Complex Kid)
Stories We Could Tell
Keeping Me Alive
Honey Bee
Lost Highway

Tom Hanks, JFK, and Band of Brothers

I read on Yahoo! that Tom Hanks is producing a new 10-part miniseries for HBO on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

It's based on Vincent Bugliosi's Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy which disclaims many conspiracy theories and contends that Lee Harvey Oswald
was the sole party behind the 1963 Kennedy assassination.

I don't buy it, and apparently 75% of the American public agrees with me. And you should, unless you somehow fell asleep during the 206 minute movie JFK. Impossible! Supposedly this miniseries will reverse that trend and we'll all believe the Warren Report.

Tom Hanks' production company is called Playtone and they've worked with HBO before on the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Band of Brothers, and the upcoming John Adams and The Pacific.

Band of Brothers is one of the best movies I have ever seen, especially about war, and The Pacific is its successor.

Whereas Band of Brothers focused on US involvement in the European Theater of Operations, the new series will be about the Pacific Theater of Operations.

The Pacific will not be associated with any of the characters from Band of Brothers and is to be based primarily on two memoirs by US Marines: With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge and Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie.

The series will tell the stories of the two authors and Marine John Basilone, as the war against Japan rages.

Production of the series started in August 2007, in Australia. I'm really looking forward to The Pacific, but it won't be finished until sometime in 2009.

Half-million bees invade home

Weather.com has a video of a guy that has to try to clear 500,000 bees from the side of someone's home. Even though he's wearing that suit, he keeps getting stung. It's not a job I would enjoy.

Bob Dylan action this fall

There are a lot of Bob Dylan projects coming this fall. This is mostly compiled from USAToday:

On the road: A 25-date U.S. fall tour of mostly colleges and universities starts September 16. Elvis Costello will open most shows. There aren't any Wisconsin dates listed yet. Elvis Costello does a fantastic live show. I saw him at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee two years ago.

On CD: On October 2, a three disc CD set named Dylan will be released, a retrospective spanning four decades of studio recordings, many selected as a result of fan lobbying at Dylan's label website. Two other versions also will be available: a single-disc 18-track sampler and a deluxe cloth-bound limited edition with an extended booklet, rare photos, vintage packaging and 10 postcards.

More on CD: Producer Mark Ronson's dance retooling of Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) will be released Oct. 1 only in the U.K. as a bonus disc with the 18-track Dylan. It's also available at iTunes in the U.K. It marks the first time Dylan has permitted a remix. The song and video can be seen at dylan07.com.

In museums: The Drawn Blank Series, the first museum exhibit of Dylan's visual artwork, starts its three-month run Oct. 28 at Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz in Chemnitz, Germany. More than 200 photo-lithographs, reworked in watercolor and gouache, are collected from his 1994 book of drawings, Drawn Blank.

On the air: Launching with the topic "Hello," Dylan hosts the second season of XM Radio's Theme Time Radio Hour on September 19. Future shows themes are "Young & Old," "California," "Dreams," "Fruit," "Something," "Nothing," "Streets," "Parties" and "Mail," with guests to include Luke Wilson, Amy Sedaris, Jack White and John Cusack. The satellite radio program draws nearly 2 million listeners weekly. These shows are generally available for download from torrent sites and newsgroups. I've heard a few from the first season and they are very good.

On screen: I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' biopic interpreting Dylan's life through such actors as Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Richard Gere, opens November 21.

A two-disc, 34-song soundtrack is out October 30 with new covers by various artists. It also features Dylan's previously unreleased 1967 outtake of I'm Not There.

The soundtrack looks interesting - lots of good bands here. Here's a list of songs as reported on Vinyl Fever:

All Along The Watchtower --Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers
As I Went Out One Morning--Mira Billotte
Ballad Of A Thin Man--Stephen Malkmus & The Million Dollar Bashers
Billy--Los Lobos
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window--The Hold Steady (this is a great band)
Can't Leave Her Behind--Stephen Malkmus & Lee Ranaldo
Cold Irons Bound--Tom Verlaine & The Million Dollar Bashers
Dark Eyes--Iron & Wine & Calexico
Fourth Time Around--Yo La Tengo
Goin' To Acapulco--Jim James & Calexico
Highway 61 Revisited--Karen O & The Million Dollar Bashers
I Wanna Be Your Lover--Yo La Tengo
I'm Not There--Bob Dylan
I'm Not There--Sonic Youth
Just Like A Woman--Charlotte Gainsbourg & Calexico
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues--Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Knockin' On Heaven's Door--Antony & The Johnsons
The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll--Mason Jennings
Maggie's Farm--Stephen Malkmus & The Million Dollar Bashers
Mama You've Been On My Mind--Jack Johnson
The Man In The Long Black Coat--Mark Lanegan
Moonshiner--Bob Forrest
One More Cup Of Coffee--Roger McGuinn & Calexico
Pressing On--John Doe
Ring Them Bells--Sufjan Stevens (a great artist from Detroit)
Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)--Willie Nelson & Calexico
Simple Twist Of Fate--Jeff Tweedy
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With Memphis Blues Again--Cat Power
The Times They Are A Changin'--Mason Jennings
Tombstone Blues--Richie Havens
When The Ship Comes In--Marcus Carl Franklin
Wicked Messenger--The Black Keys
You Ain't Goin 'Nowhere--Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová

I'm Not There movie trailer

I'm Not There is a film on the ruminations on the life of Bob Dylan, where seven characters embody a different aspect of the musician's life and work. I like the giraffe.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and Bob Dylan

I recently watched the DVD of "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer."

Users on The Internet Movie Database give it a 7.6 out of 10 rating and I agree that it's a great film. I thought this was truly a story that I hadn't heard before, and movies like that don't come along very often.

The movie was based on the novel Perfume by Patrick Süskind. The book was the source of inspiration for the Nirvana song "Scentless Apprentice." Kurt Cobain claimed to carry the book in his pocket and said he identified with the lead character's alienation.

Here is the movie's plot outline from imdb: Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of eighteenth century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.

The film has received mixed reviews by critics. Reuters described the movie as "visually lush, fast-moving story," stating as well that the director "has a sure sense of spectacle, and despite its faults the movie maintains its queasy grip."

Rottentomatoes.com gave it a 56% freshness rating and wrote, "A visual feast with an antihero that's impossible to feel sympathy for." I disagree with this statement - I found it easy to feel compassion for Grenouille despite his actions.

More from Wikipedia: The movie was an incredible success in Europe making over $100 million worldwide. It was deemed unmarketable for American audience and released in very limited number of theaters in North America where it took a modest $2,208,939.

There was a lot of violence and nudity in the film, although I read that the novel was much more graphic. It's rated R for aberrant behavior involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images. Rent it today!

Actors appearing in this film include Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman (from the Harry Potter movies and many others).

The movie's lead actor is Ben Whishaw, who's appeared in nothing I've seen before. He'll be in the upcoming movie about Bob Dylan called I'm Not There, which I'm really looking forward to.

In that movie six performers play Dylan, including Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Richard Gere. "I'm Not There" is the first dramatic portrayal of his life Dylan had ever approved.