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ryanmeft · 5 years

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Ranking the Marvel Cinematic Universe, part 3

Part 1: https://ryanmeft.tumblr.com/post/183962601514/ranking-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-part-1 Part 2: https://ryanmeft.tumblr.com/post/184208179827/ranking-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-part-2

10. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Yes, the third act goes on way too long, and is uninspired and even a bit dull. It deserves the criticism it gets. Thing is, that’s pretty much all this one deserves criticism for. Right up until that final showdown, everything in the movie clicked. It starts right off with the Avengers already a team, in a semi-cold open where every member just works. Throughout the movie, Joss Whedon proves he deserves his reputation for snappy dialogue, as nearly every exchange between every character zings. The additions of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver may not feel like the most vital parts of the formula, but they work every bit as well as they need to, and the defeated Avengers retreating to an off-the-grid hideout to hash out their issues is still among the franchises’ best sequences, more than worth the silly Ragnarok tie-in Whedon had to trade for it.

It also has a great, underrated villain. While it does seem that no one really planned in advance to have Ultron in the MCU, he works perfectly, backed up by the voice and personality of James Spader. He never comes across as a robot, but rather as artificial life, dropped into a supremely messed up world and taking---well, can we really say the wrong interpretation? Skewed, perhaps, but driven by the very true reality of mankind’s brutal nature. It seems obvious Whedon got tired by the end of the film, but everything prior to that is gold. Unless you’re one of those people who watches the original on repeat, it’s now hard to deny that the sequel tops it.

9. Iron Man 3

Fanboy cries of “they didn’t do the Mandarin right” have unfairly dogged this one since release. I don’t read the comics regularly anymore, and I find that after more than a decade outside of regular readership I have the glorious freedom of judging a movie apart from whether it matches the comics’ often-contradictory and confusing continuity. So, with that out of the way: Iron Man 3 is genuinely good. Recovering from the train wreck that was Iron Man 2 with new director Shane Black and co-writer Drew Pearce, this one decided to de-glamorize the hard-party aspect of the character and let his frat-boy nature lead him to near-ruin, getting his home destroyed and his suit crippled by a mad terrorist. That led to an excellent middle act in which Tony has to make a go of things without his vaunted suits to help him, against a mysterious villain. When the nature of that villain is revealed, it’s actually quite clever (while also being a way to avoid massively ticking off the all-important Asian box office). The new supporting cast, especially Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce, add a lot, while returning favorites get actual development. The third act goes on a little too long, but the device of having Tony manipulate multiple suits of armor at once is a clever twist on the usual Marvel shtick of an army of bad guys vs. one hero. As Marvel’s first post-Avengers movie, this one needed to prove the MCU concept still had gas in it even though the big event it had been building to was come and gone. It succeeded.

8. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Which Guardians is better? They’re both some of the more pure fun movies in the MCU, kind of like Suicide Squad, but not shitty, and in space. Some people prefer the first one for sheer irreverence and comedic chemistry, while others appreciate the more personal story and stakes in the sequel. I had a raging debate with myself on this (there were injuries) but ultimately, more personal won out. The first movie has a bunch of misfits who get together to stop a generic cosmic evil baddie bad guy seemingly for no other reason than the heck of it. The second gives them actual reasons to be together, with a truly interesting threat to fight. Peter Quill’s dad Ego, played with just the right amount of swagger and just the right gleam in his eye by Kurt Russell, is the lightning this team needed to really live. There’s a lot of “Oh, come on, stop pretending he’s not the bad guy” in movies, but in this case you really don’t want him to be; he’s the kind of guy you’d like to have a beer with, and you get the sense he really cares for his son in his own twisted way. That’s villain gold.

The family themes don’t end there, with Gamora and Nebula working out their differences and Rocket learning to be (slightly less of) a little shit and appreciating his adoptive family more. And, of course, there’s Yondu’s emotional death. In fact, one of the more interesting takes I read casts the movie in the light of overcoming abusive relationships. That may seem a little grand for a superhero popcorn flick, but tilt your head a bit and you can see it. The greater amount of heart on display in this entry makes up for some occasionally ramshackle plotting, and provides a worthy sequel.

7. Black Panther

One of the few superhero movies that genuinely created a believable world, the land of Wakanda comes to vivid and incredible life, a more visually varied, colorful and detailed setting than anything in the MCU or even the Marvel catalogue; there’s nothing else like it in the genre. Ritual battles for the throne are fought amid towering waterfalls, while light speed trains blast by beneath the rural African facade. The action in this amazing setting is driven by two great characters. Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa is a doubtful king, unsure of his country’s place in the world or even his own necessity to his country. Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger is a radical with a reason; his motivations feel genuine and his rage earned.

Ultimately, the supporting cast decided this one’s ranking. Other than fan favorite Shuri, the secondary players in this one are…well, dull. Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett and Danai Gurira are given minimal-if-any character development, and it’s impossible to ignore the fact that in the age of MeToo, all of the women here are subservient to a man. The third act devolves into an obligatory battle scene, when it could have been so much more given what it had to work with. By any measure, it’s an excellent tights flick, but we’re going to have to wait for the sequel to see what the setting is really capable of.

6. Captain America: The First Avenger

Just in case you were wondering if this list were biased, here’s my personal favorite MCU movie, down here at #6. One of the few films in the studio’s catalog that feels it was made entirely by humans with visions and not a marketing committee, Joe Johnston lends this one a feel that is a distinct mix of genuine World War II and the boys magazine vibe that originally birthed Cap. The result is a superhero film that stands as unique in the genre. Actual scenes of warfare are mostly avoided due to that PG-13 rating, but the costs of war are seen in relatively realistic depictions of refugee soldiers returning from a doomed mission, or the jaded responses of hardened troops to Cap’s USO-style shows. Light elements of camp come in with the deliciously over-the-top performance of Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull and that wonderfully hammy montage of Cap selling war bonds. The whole thing is tied together by Chris Evans playing the MCU’s most naturally likable protagonist, who gets a last line that, for my money, easily tops “I am Iron Man”.

5. Thor: Ragnarok

It may not be the weightiest film in the MCU, and the apocalyptic, full-stakes tone of the Asgardian story occasionally clashes strangely with the full-comedic tone of the Planet Hulk-inspired material, but Ragnarok was nonetheless the tonic we all needed in a world where blockbusters often don’t know how to relax. Sure, there’s plenty of humor in other MCU films, but it can occasionally feel as though a committee of people is sitting around with a page of one-liners and a stamp. Taika Waititi’s material does not feel like that. From the banter between Loki and everyone else to the fact that Hemsworth is finally allowed to tap into his comedic abilities, it feels like kids having fun, which we need more of. Cate Blanchett completely devours her role as Hela, while Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster is a preening drunk who gets some of the best lines. It pretty much erases the previous Thor continuity---including the only clever bit of plotting from Dark World---but what we lose is more than made up for by the fun we gain in the process. Oh, and visually, it may be the only MCU film other than Doctor Strange which fully taps into that wonderfully bizarre 60’s Marvel vibe.

4. Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man’s long-awaited starring debut in the MCU may not have been quite as earth-shattering as some hoped, but then, it wasn’t supposed to be. Of all the heroes in Marvel’s vast catalog, Spidey is the most like us. He has girl troubles, he can’t pay the rent, his boss is a jerk, and there’s always someone in the bathroom when he really needs to go (probably). Many of the hallmarks of the classic character didn’t make the transition, but the spirit is alive. Peter comes across as a hyperactive, overconfident millennial, which is what he’d be these days, and his classmates are updated from a rotating roster of stock characters straight out of 1950’s pamphlets on The Modern Teenager to a varied group of personalities that connect with today’s kids. Most crucial of all, though, is the Vulture, widely regarded at the time as the best MCU villain to date (and still this writer’s favorite). He doesn’t want to rule the world, he just wants to make a living, and that makes him the perfect opponent for Peter. Michael Keaton was the ideal choice for his casting. This is a case where a pretty darn good movie is bumped several slots simply because of how great the villain is. Sure, Downey seems to be phoning in his support role at times, and some great comedic actors are relegated to tiny roles, but these are flyspecks on the movie that redeemed the Spider-Man name after a decade of cinematic missteps.

3. Iron Man

The original and…still the best? Not quite, but it’s up there. At the time Iron Man released, it seemed flawless in part because of the odds against it. It’s hard to imagine a time now when Shellhead wasn’t a household name, but when Marvel decided to launch their new line of films with him, he was second-tier at best. The success of the movie and, crucially, Robert Downey Jr.’s casting elevated him to essential. The impact was so great that if you go and read a modern Marvel comic, you’ll find them pretending he was always front and center. It all started here, and it started because the movie was so good. It not only rehabilitated Downey’s image, it cast the great Jeff Bridges as a villain who seems to plausibly believe his version of events, and a pre-Goop Gwyneth Paltrow as an effective romantic foil for Tony. The humor, the action, the pathos all clicked. Looking back now, the decision to have Stane go completely evil by the end of the film cheapens it a bit, especially compared to truly complex villains like The Vulture and Loki, and the character himself has evolved beyond these beginnings---despite his moral conflicts, he still revels in being an irresponsible playboy here. These are incredibly minor quibbles, but ten years later, they stand out just enough to cost it a couple rungs on the ladder.

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The popular favorite for the best MCU movie slides in at #2, and before you hit me, it’s all because of Marvel’s need to insert cookie cutter, blockbuster endings in their movies, regardless of what kind of movie it is. They’ve gotten better as time goes on, but the giant ships over the city, flaming and falling from the sky while superpeople jump on, in, over and around them was incongruous with the slower, more measured spy stuff of the rest of the movie, and felt obligatory, causing this to lose the top spot. Still, it had to have ranked second for a reason. The plot up until the third act may be the tightest and most tense of any MCU film, with genuine mysteries unfolding and an unexpected payoff when we get to the what’s-really-going-on-here moment. New additions Anthony Mackie and Robert Redford fit well, while Black Widow is such a perfect compliment to Cap that it’s a crime they didn’t team up more often without all those other hangers-on (and there’s an unexplored romantic chemistry that seems much more apt than that between Cap and Sharon Carter). The first two acts of this one define what the MCU is capable of.

1. Captain America: Civil War

Civil War plays like one of those old Marvel Annuals, with the double-sized page count and the promises of things you wouldn’t normally see. Unlike those annuals, the movie isn’t padded out with recycled material, either. It gives audiences exactly what they’re expecting: the answer to what would happen if the good guys turned on each other.

That answer, of course, is: one hell of a fight. The airport battle in particular shows off the powers of every available hero, including the newly introduced Black Panther and Spider-Man, and the Russos (with their small army of effects people) come up with every trick and use of the hero’s powers they can for this lengthy sequence. In many ways, it’s the best of the Avengers movies.

Yet despite some wags who say it isn’t really a Captain America movie, it is. The story heavily involves both him and Winter Soldier, and Rogers ends up being the one whose decisions shape the outcome. The stakes may involve everyone at first, but they eventually come down to a very personal battle between Iron Man and Cap, after a highly clever fake-out by Daniel Bruhl’s Zemo. The ads may have promised fireworks, but just like the other Cap movies, it’s the personal stuff that makes this one work so well.

#Avengers #marvel #robert downey jr.#black panther #spider-man #guardians of the galaxy #Chris Evans #thor #tom hiddleston #captain america #movies

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glenngaylord · 5 years

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ICE QUEEN - My Review of WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE (3 1/2 Stars)

[Excerpted from https://thequeerreview.com/ ]

Richard Linklater, one of the most humanistic filmmakers working today, has often explored such themes as time, aging, or the benchmarks in ones lives, such as the last day of High School (Dazed And Confused), a first date (Before Sunrise), or the entire breadth of a child’s life (Boyhood). His films often feel unstructured, laid back and unforced. It’s strange then to see him play in the James L. Brooks/Cameron Crowe sandbox with his adaptation of Maria Semple’s epistolary novel, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, but that’s not automatically a bad thing. Co-written with Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo Jr., Linklater seems out of his element with this part-sitcom, part psycho-drama about a stifled genius. Still, he manages to deliver a moving experience helped immeasurably by Cate Blanchett’s fantastic title performance.

Bernadette lives in a dilapidated Seattle mansion with her Microsoft tech genius husband Elgie (Billy Crudup) and their adorable teenage daughter Bee (Emma Nelson). As a reward to Bee for a successful report card, they agree to take her on a family trip to Antarctica. Trouble is, over the years, Bernadette, a once famous architect, has transformed into a shut-in who hates people, especially taking it out on her next door neighbor, Audrey (Kristen Wiig). Deeply troubled, Bernadette spends most of her time barking orders at Manjula, her virtual assistant in India, who arranges for everything to come to her door in package after package. Getting her out of the house and to the most remote place on earth seems unlikely.

It takes quite a while for the themes to coalesce, with the first act focusing on her feud with Audrey. Wiig excels with her tightly wound Mean Girl character and works well with Blanchett. I wondered, however, what this had to do with Antarctica and why we were spending so much time on this wayward plot strand. The story, however, slowly reveals itself to be about what becomes of an artist who no longer creates. She acts out, makes bad decisions, and directs her anger at everyone.

For a while, you laugh along with Bernadette as she takes out some easy targets. It culminates in a great scene in which Bernadette and Bee gang up on Audrey to take her down a peg. A lesser film would have left it at that, leaving a bad taste in my mouth to see women hurting each other. It wisely chooses to move beyond that scene and give these three women more dimensions than presented at first. Crudup also impressed me with his long-suffering husband character. He could have easily played Elgie as an entitled husband who wants his wife to “behave”, but instead he offers a soulful person who loves his wife yet can’t figure out how to navigate her towards happiness. Emma Nelson also excels as the kind of incredibly cool daughter you’d want to hang with as friends, but who also clearly needs a more solid foundation in which to grow.

Unlike the somewhat goofy trailer, the film has a much more somber tone in keeping with its rainy, Pacific Northwest setting. Disappointingly, it’s Linklater’s least flashy directing job of his career. The closest film this resembles is Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, another story about a character drowning in self-loathing. Whereas Stiller went for intense visual flourishes, Linklater merely delivers coverage. Still, I felt something here, despite a certain flatness and a ridiculous series of events involving such disparate things as penguins, FBI investigations, mudslides, kayaks, online scams, and potential office affairs. It’s a LOT to take in, but Blanchett anchors it with someone cold, nihilistic, yet relatable. It may all come off as champagne problems, (“Oh darn, should we go to Antarctica?” “Did I order too many vests from the catalogue?” “That flood ruined my expensive oak floors!”) but Blanchett makes you care just the same.

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greensparty · 5 years

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Movie Review: Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows that I am a hardcore Richard Linklater fan. I have been a fan of his since I saw Dazed and Confused in the movie theater opening night in 1993 and I’ve studied all of his work since. He is without a doubt one of the greatest filmmakers working today. His ability to work is a variety of genres, indie and studios, originals and adaptations, yet have his own unique stamp on everything he does is unlike anyone else working today. Even when he’s made films that didn’t quite connect with audiences or critics, there has always been something interesting within them. I think his most personal and best films have been the ones he wrote himself (Slacker, D&C, the Before trilogy and Boyhood), but there have been some exciting moments in his filmography that involved him directing an adaptation of a book or story. Some have underwhelmed (i.e. The Newton Boys, which was high on energy but lacking in the story) or had moments of greatness but tried to shoe-horn too big a book into a movie (i.e. Fast Food Nation), but others have pushed Linklater is very exciting directions like the animated adaption of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly or his love letter to theater in Me and Orson Welles or the true crime story Bernie or the criminally underrated Last Flag Flying (read my 2107 review here). Now Linklater has reunited with Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo Jr. (his co-writers on Me and Orson Welles) to adapt Maria Semple’s bestseller Where’d You Go, Bernadette.

theatrical movie poster

I never read the book, but I could tell this is not an easy book to adapt to film (or market or fit into a soundbite for that matter). There are definitely going to be some detractors from this film since it is taking on some cerebral themes and fitting it into a populist family dramedy. While it is uneven at times, I do think it was quite beautiful at its core! Let me explain...

The always excellent Cate Blanchett

The always fantastic Cate Blanchett anchors this film as a once-famous architect who hasn’t designed anything in twenty years and is now in Seattle with her Microsoft husband and teenage daughter. She is anti-social and agoraphobic among many other things. Then one day she disappears. Casting Billy Crudup as the husband is interesting casting given that he had played a husband and father who disappears in World Traveler. I had some serious issues with (SPOILER ALERT) the intervention that involves the FBI. There were plenty of things they could of committed her for, but internet fraud seemed like something anyone could’ve been taken for a ride on.

“ People like you must create.

If you don’t, you become a menace to society.”

- Laurence Fishburne as Paul Jellinek

So what did I find beautiful about this (and yes, I did cry at one point)? The core of this movie is about someone who needs to create and is unsure of what to do with her life when she isn’t. But it takes her on quite a journey all the way to Antarctica to get back to that thing that lights a fire under her. As a creative spirit myself I’ve definitely felt uncertain of myself when I haven’t been creating. This is not something that people talk much about, much less make movies about. I commend Linklater and Blanchette for tapping into that. They touch upon the defeated experience she had that caused her to not design in decades and one could look at it as getting back on the horse and overcoming that setback. But in the end (SPOILER ALERT) its the family that helps her get back on track and supports her, flaws and all. Even if this story is tonally uneven and borderline sitcom at times, it has something intriguing in it.

Blanchett and Linklater on set

What also needs to be said is that Linklater, now in his late 50s, is making films about the experience of parenthood, i.e. Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke as the divorced parents in Boyhood, Steve Carrell in Last Flags Flying, and now Blanchett with the great newcomer Emma Nelson as Bee. These are the kind of films and themes he might not have made in his early days, but he’s tapping into it now. Linklater once said he would only want to direct a film that “could only be made by me”. Its true. Even when its a remake of The Bad News Bears, it still feels like your in the hands of Linklater. His trademark artistry is on display as is Blanchett’s lived-in performance.

Annapurna Pictures (who also released Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!) is releasing Where’d You Go, Bernadette theatrically today. For more info: https://www.bernadette.film/

3.5 out of 5 stars

#where'd you go bernadette #richard linklater #movie review #film geek

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twfilms · 7 years

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Review: Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003, USA) Directed by Jim Jarmusch | Starring Roberto Benigni, Stephen Wright, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett Rated R | Available on Blu-ray/DVD, VOD, Hulu

Since his earliest films of the 1980s, Jim Jarmusch has made his mark as one of the most unique and daring independent filmmakers working today, so it should come as no surprise that his 2003 anthology film, Coffee and Cigarettes, is an out-of-the-ordinary quirky collection of vignettes that, at the surface, seem randomly stitched with only tenuous ties holding them together. Upon closer inspection, however, one will find that the collection of short films share a deceptive thematic depth that make the film one of surprising philosophical resonance.

Consisting of 11 black-and-white vignettes and featuring a number of high profile actors and musicians (including the likes of Roberto Benigni, Stephen Wright, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett, the White Stripes, Alfred Molina, Steve Coogan, GZA and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, and Bill Murray), Coffee and Cigarettes was actually conceived as a short film back in 1986, starring Benigni and Wright, and continued with two other shorts in 1989 and 1993, before Jarmusch decided to embark on the feature-length project in 2003. This trio of short films makes up the first three vignettes of the anthology piece, and what follow are 8 new shorts that continue the themes of the original films, but each of which tell their own completely unrelated story. Despite this apparent narrative disconnect between all of the segments, they all feature characters sharing coffee and cigarettes, are all shot in black-and-white, and all center around at least two characters who are at odds with each other. There are also mentions of cousins, industrial music, Nikola Tesla, and health in multiple segments. And on the surface, this is where the similarities between the vignettes end.

Where Coffee and Cigarettes excels, though, is in the more subtle themes that permeate between the individual segments, tying them together with a thematic thread that only really becomes apparent at the end of the film. The decision to shoot all of the vignettes in black-and-white is more than just a visual motif that ties the film together, it also highlights the contrast between the characters in each segment, accenting the fact that despite sharing a table and a pot of coffee, each set of people have arrived at a fundamental difference in opinion. The film is also a musing on how fame affects interpersonal relationships between family, friends, and complete strangers; in most cases, the actors play fictionalized versions of themselves, and many of them seem distant with each other in varying degrees and in different ways. Jarmusch does an excellent job of introducing these more philosophical themes subtly, allowing them to poke through the more obvious superficial thematic elements in a way that builds until the end of the film, leaving the viewer to piece it all together as the end credits play.

Aside from the philosophical depth present through the film, Coffee and Cigarettes is also a very funny collection of shorts, thanks in no small part to the actors themselves. The awkward tension between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits in “Somewhere in California” is hilarious, and Pop’s reactions throughout the scene will make the viewer wish that he acted more often. In “Cousins”, the always stunning Cate Blanchett gives a tour de force double performance as both herself and her fictional cousin Shelly, and the contrast between the two characters being played by the same actress on the screen is laugh-out-loud funny. And the funniest segment of all, “Cousins?”, finds Alfred Molina informing Steve Coogan (who he was has never met) that they are second cousins, and Coogan does everything that he can to avoid ever having to speak to Molina again. The chemistry between these two renowned actors is palpable, and makes “Cousins?” the best of all of the vignettes included in the film.

Not all of the segments maintain this level of quality, though, which is the main pitfall of Coffee and Cigarettes. The segment featuring Jack and Meg White is more bizarre than anything, and “Renée” lacks any narrative of interest. Some of the other segments lack the wit of the best vignettes, and not all of the non-actors featured in the film light up the screen with their presence. As a result, the shared elements in these segments seem more redundant than theme-building, and really seem to slow down the pace of the film, which moves like a speeding train through the better parts of the film. The film could have consisted of just the eight or so best segments and ended up being a better overall piece because of it.

At the end of the day, though, Coffee and Cigarettes is an interesting, quirky collection of shorts that possesses the kind of subtle thematic depth that seems to elude so many of the other films that strive for it. While it may be true that some of the segments included in the film outshine some of the others, the piece works as a whole because it is crafted by one of the best independent filmmakers of his generation. Anybody who considers themselves a fan of independent cinema would be wise to add Coffee and Cigarettes to their watchlist.

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hollenius · 4 years

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The Sonny Rollins piece on art in The NY Times today was good enough that it doesn’t deserve to get hidden behind a paywall.

THE BIG IDEAS: WHY DOES ART STILL MATTER?

Sonny Rollins: Art Never Dies

It outlives the contentious political veneer that we cast over everything.

By Sonny Rollins

Mr. Rollins is a musician.

May 18, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET

This is the first essay in The Big Ideas, a special section of The Times’s philosophy series, The Stone. Over the next two weeks, more than a dozen artists, writers and thinkers — including Mieko Kawakami, Cate Blanchett and others — will answer the question, “Why does art still matter?”

When people talk about art, they tend toward a specific type of question. Who was the first to play a tune? Who owns a specific style? Who can judge when borrowing crosses the line? Those are questions for a political, technological world. In my mind, debates about black versus white — whether a guy can make $100 a year or $1 million a year from his art — are just dead ends. And technology, as Aldous Huxley said, is just a faster way of doing ignorant things.

Technology is no savior. We can eat, sleep, look at screens, make money — all aspects of our physical existence — but that doesn’t mean anything. Art is the exact opposite. It’s infinite, and without it, the world wouldn’t exist as it does. It represents the immaterial soul: intuition, that which we feel in our hearts. Art matters today more than ever because it outlives the contentious political veneer that is cast over everything.

In art, we can find a humbling sort of wisdom. We see themes and ideas repeat over many lifetimes. Those ideas don’t belong to any one person, and as they evolve, disappear and reappear, they remind us that regardless of what’s happening now, our lives on this earth will always be part of something bigger. Any astronomer can tell you that what we know about the universe makes up a fraction of what there is to be discovered. Art, in the same way, both inspires us to go out and find something new and highlights what we don’t know.

Music is slightly removed from this, but it’s similar. There’s an axiom that says there is no such thing as “original” music. After what we could consider to be the first sound, from a spiritual perspective — “om” to some, “amen” to others — it’s all the same. Musicians borrow different parts and make them their own, but there’s nothing really new, nothing that hasn’t been done before. Claude Debussy and Johann Sebastian Bach may sound different, but what they did was all there already, in a sense.

When I was young, growing up in Harlem, I heard Fats Waller perform. His playing struck me, and I realized that jazz would be my path in this life. Jazz being the great interpretive music that it is, of course, I didn’t have to sound like Waller. But regardless of who I sounded like, the difference between us would never be more than surface-level, because behind one guy’s personal style is something else.

In jazz, we don’t consciously borrow in the same way that other artists might. The beauty of improvisation is that it lets you do anything. I don’t know what I’m going to play — that’s where intuition, and art, comes in.

If I want to improvise during “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” for example, first I memorize it. That’s because when I’m performing onstage, I want to let my mind be completely free. “Mary Had a Little Lamb” is there, and I can come back to it if I want, but what I’m creating is greater than the sum of the parts — technical ability, notes, themes — I’ve collected along the way. The song is in the back of my brain where many other things are stored, and in that way, it becomes just another item that I can call upon when I’m playing. The spirit of art shines through in a performance when I stop thinking — when I let the music play itself, not just the one song that I’ve memorized, but all of the songs and experiences I have in my mind. And as things come to me, unplanned, I surprise even myself.

I believe in reincarnation, which means that a person playing music has got a lot of things in his mind that he’s heard already. He puts them together and that comes out in his style. So you might recognize Louis Armstrong’s style, but it’s still derivative of every kind of music that exists. Any experiences that he’s had, or things that he’s played, he takes and folds into himself, and they become something new. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane — their styles are ultimately made up of many lives, spanning back to that first sound. And that material is there for all musicians and artists to access. It’s an accumulation of wisdom, the context art gives us that puts life into perspective.

When I go to the museum and I look at a piece of art, I’m transported. I don’t know how, or where, but I know that it’s not a part of the material world. It’s beyond modern culture’s political, technological soul. We’re not here to live forever. Humans and materialism die. But there’s no dying in art.

As told to Ian Carlino.

Next in the series: A short tale by Mieko Kawakami.

Sonny Rollins is a Grammy Award-winning saxophonist, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the 2010 National Medal of Arts.

#sonny rollins #art #music #jazz

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jaeame-blog · 6 years

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The all | Oceans 8

Matt Damon has seen some serious backlash over his remarks about sexual assault in Hollywood. The all-female ensemble cast is witty, diverse, and badass. The trailer for Ocean's 8 is here and it looks, unsurprisingly, awesome. Rihanna becomes Nine Ball in the first trailer for Ocean's 8.

Warner Bros. unveiled the highly anticipated official trailer for Ocean's 8 on Wednesday morning. Move over Danny Ocean, your sister is ready to steal more than the spotlight. Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson and Awkwafina star.Share on Twitter · Share on Facebook. The trailer for Ocean's 8 has been eagerly awaited for months now, and with a little bit of news here and there, the majority of the setup has remained fairly mysterious.

Now that the first Ocean's 8 trailer featuring Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett has been released, fans are in an uproar over the actor's cameo. The ladies of Ocean's 8 have arrived.The movie's cast list is completely stacked, featuring everyone from Rihanna to Anne Hathaway to Mindy Kaling to Helena Bonham Carter. The first glimpse of the all-female version of the heist franchise is here- and it's looking pretty cool. Sandra Bullock leads an all-female cast in Ocean's 8 and it will follow the same themes of its three predecessors. Now, anxious fans have something more to hold them over until the movie's June 8 release date. I know, I know, that may come as a surprise. The first official Ocean's 8 trailer is here, and it looks like everything we hoped it would be. The highly anticipated trailer for next year's all-female re-boot of "Oceans 8" is finally here and it's better than we could have dreamed. The comedy, a spin-off of the "Ocean's" trilogy, centers on the estranged sister of Danny Ocean, who is attempting to pull off the heist of the century at New York's annual Met Gala. WHY? Because it sure looks like Danny Ocean is dead in the new Ocean's film, Ocean's 8. Bad news for everyone, because the original con member from the Ocean family can't come to the phone. At long last, the full first trailer for Ocean's 8 has arrived in all its women-centric splendor. The trailer for "Ocean's 8" dropped today.

#Oceans 8

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brotherhood-of-okay-reviews-blog · 6 years

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Movie Review

Chris' Movie Review

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Thor: Ragnarok

Rating: 8/10 (Good)

Recommendation: Pay The 8

I hated the trailers. Everything screamed "Cheesy. Filler. Disappointment." And while it follows the lines of the first two, it doesn't disappoint in the least.... Okay in some areas it does.

Thor: Ragnarok stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Cate Blanchett (Hela), Idris Elba (Heimdall), and Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie).

Plot Summary

Thor has returned home and is doing his best to protect Asgard. After his father's death, his sister Hela, returns to destroy Asgard and to take over the other worlds.

Thor is now in a race against time to not only protect Asgard but to also protect the rest of the universe.

Review

Thor: Ragnarok is the best of all the Thor movies. There's really no competition here. It's just good. Unlike the others where you can argue that they really aren't.

For starters, this film is very funny. There are jokes everywhere. Nothing about this movie feels threatening (Which is a downfall as well), and the film flows nicely from scene to scene. The cast is just having fun and that's something that seemed to be missing from the first two installments of this series.

The acting is great. Chris, Tom, Cate, Mark, Idris, Tessa just knock it out of the park. They are fully engaged with each scene and they make them work with their comedic timing and presence on screen. They use their self awarness to their advantage and bring out the best in each character. It's possibly one of the best acted films in all of Marvel. And speaking of acting, Cate Blanchett, come on down. You're a good villain.

When it comes to Marvel, we all know the villains leave a ton left to be desired. But Cate actually leaves an impression. Now look, she's not going to overly wow you but she is going to leave some kind of mark with you. Cate really gives this character a lot of personality and charism. Which, when you have a villain that's the God of Death, you need someone to give a strong performance with that type of role and Cate fulfills that need.

The CGI is wonderful. With today's technology and Marvel's unlimited funds, it would be a crime if these films didn't look good but they could easily go sideways very quickly. But not here. The scenery is very colorful, fun, and has an 80's presence throughout. Which, again, fits the theme of this movie. It's here to have fun.... But that does also hinder some aspects.

For one, this film is just a filler. I'm sure there's some Marvel fan who will tell me otherwise but this didn't seem like it really advanced the overall story all that much. Yes, Thor loses his hammer and then he learns to use lightning without it, but that's something that could've been done off screen as well. And you can argue "Well he found the Hulk." But I could also say that he could've shown up randomly with the Avengers and there could've been a quick flashback thrown as well.

Again, I'm not saying this film isn't totally unnecessary but when you look at it as a whole, it's not really needed either. (But I guess you could say that about some of the other movies as well.)

There are some slow scenes in this film. After Thor is casted from Asgard, the movie sort of stalls for a bit. Yes, there are jokes to keep the mood light but it just feels slower than the rest of the film. It takes time for the movie to pick up it's pace and get back into the real fun aspects. Again, it's not bad but it's also not the greatest at keeping the flow going.

Lastly, this film might feel a little too cheesy at times. To me, this adds to the charm, but to some, this could wain on someone after awhile. Again the movie is very self aware but if you're looking for something a little bit more serious, then you will end up feeling slightly disappointed. Depending on how serious you wanted your film to begin with.

Overall

Thor: Ragnarok is a fun movie. If I had to rank it, on my list of Marvel films, it would close in on the top 5. I think I need to see it again before I make that decision but it's really close.

Sometimes the movie is too cheesy. There are some slower scenes throughout. And the film feels like "Filler." But the villain is actually good. The jokes are great. And the acting is top notch.

Someday, when I go back to watch this movie, I hope my mind doesn't change too much about it. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy it and relish in how much better this film was than what I thought it was going to be.

As usual, thanks for reading!

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