The Pop Culture Addict’s Blog

I knew that Roger Ebert was ill with thyroid cancer then salivary gland cancer and required surgical removal of part of his jaw. But still, I was in denial about him being off the air. I’ve hardly gotten over Gene Siskel’s passing 8 years ago and am only just beginning to accept Roeper as part of the show. I can’t stop thinking about the story I just saw of Roger Ebert with his wife on Access Hollywood. I felt completely verklempt the whole time I was watching it and still haven’t quite regained my composure. He is such a charismatic presence. I didn’t realize he currently does not have the use of his voice. He uses a computer to speak. He said he is cancer free. Also, he is planning on getting more surgeries to repair his vocal chords and reconstruct his jaw so he can regain his voice.Billy Bush wrote about the experience in his blog.

During the interview, Roger Ebert was typing at lightning speed trying to keep up with his thoughts. He showed his favorite movie Citizen Kane to Billy Bush. They played Roger Ebert’s commentary over the film reminding us of how much he loves movies, how much he knows and how much he loves to share his thoughts and knowledge and reminding us all of his voice.

His writing still sounds like him. I’ve been reading his reviews at http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/. You can also watch old clips of Siskel and Ebert as well as Ebert and Roeper here. Also, he put out a new book: Roger Ebert’s Four-Star Reviews: 1967-2007.

Read Roger Ebert’s introductory words to the archives and choke back those tears:

I’m back in action in the Chicago Sun-Times and at rogerebert.com, but not on the air; I watch from the other side of the camera. I still hope to reclaim that other seat eventually, but I need more surgery to restore my ability to speak. If I can return or not, I hope the show, now in its 32nd year, goes on and on and on. That was another thing Gene and I agreed on. [The other thing being that the old shows would be worth saving.]

All I can say is, Roger, you keep reviewing and we’ll keep reading and listening!

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I loved Felicity. I’ve seen every episode more than once on tv. I own the dvds and have watched them through all the way from ep 1 to ep whatever. Most recently, I saw Waitress and really liked it. I’m still saddened by the tragedy of Adrienne Shelly. I really loved Trust and The Unbelievable Truth for a time. I still think of them fondly but they struck particular chords when they first came out. But I digress. I’m a fan of Kerri Russell. So this is why I’m driven to see August Rush, a movie that has been called amorphous shlock, given D grades and just called horribly sappy. While I can only take a certain amount of sentimentality, I can take a lot. I mean, I have my limits but sometimes I need a double dose of it and August Rush looks like it might do the trick. I’m afraid I might hate it. But I must see it at some point. I’ve sort of downgraded from wanting to see it soon to whenever. But I still want to see it.

 

In the meantime, I’ve seen some more chat-worthy films of late. The best was The Red Balloon – the original 1956 French film shown in tandem with a movie called White Mane from 1953 also by Albert Lamorisse. I’d seen Red Balloon and had the book growing up. Beautiful shots of Paris. His son, Pascal Lamorisse, was adorable. The wild horse movie, White Mane, had some of the most beautiful shots I’ve ever seen. There’s one where the boy fisherman is with the horse and they are reflected in the sand which is just skimmed with water from the sea. Speaking of beauty, the two children in White Mane have got to be the most gorgeous children ever. There were a lot of kids at this screening and despite the somewhat bleak endings of both stories, the kids seemed to enjoy them. As we walked out the doors, the kids were offered helium filled red balloons which absolutely delighted everyone, including the surrounding adults. I did overhear a little girl say to her brother, “My balloon is rounder than yours;” to which he replied, “No, it’s not!” It was the green-eyed monster from the film live in action! Still, this did not take away from the charm of the whole experience.

I also just saw Southland Tales. Basically, if these buzz words/names spark your interest, this movie is for you. Otherwise, I’d stay away. Donnie Darko, The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Timberlake, Seann William Scott, Cheri Oteri, Jon Lovitz, pop culture/political satire, sci-fi, southern Cali. There was enough in it to keep my interest. I liked Sarah Michelle Gellar in it. The old SNL people all played against type – all bad guys. It was booed at Cannes, then re-cut with $1 million of editing/CGI added to it. Even Richard Kelly, creator of this and Donnie Darko, said it was experimental and some of it worked and some of it didn’t. I thought DD was all right but I didn’t join the DD cult. Still, he seems to be an adventurous guy so I admire that spirit in his film-making.

What else have I seen? Michael Clayton was decent. I always like George Clooney. Margot at the Wedding had some good stuff. The kids were all good. Jack Black was funny. Nicole Kidman’s role had potential but it was a little too superficial or something. I really wanted to like her and root for her but I didn’t quite get the hook. I liked Squid and the Whale better on the whole. It held together better all around.

I finally saw Transformers on dvd. Liked it. Also saw Live Free or Die Hard which was pretty decent although some of the lines seemed unnecessary. John McClane doesn’t have to be unenlightened. I mean, I know he’s supposed to be a hard-boiled NYPD detective/action hero. But he can be more liberated and progressive. Justin Long was great. I wasn’t sure if how he’d be in an action movie but he was really funny and his character was essential to the plot. I’m a sucker for hacker movies. I even find the dated-ness in older movies quaint like Sneakers, Hackers and of course Wargames. One last rental that was worth watching: This is England. An excellent semi-autobiographical movie by Shane Meadows starring a complete unknown child actor in his first role ever, the brilliant Thomas Turgoose. The whole cast was good especially Stephen Graham.

So I will end this by pointing out that dear Roger Ebert gave August Rush 3 stars. That’s high praise. I will let you know how it pans out and if the schmaltz factor overpowers me!

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Went to see Stevie Wonder perform at Madison Square Garden on 11/17/07. He was amazing. The music just flowed from his fingers and vocal cords and just overall being. Sure, he has his share of sappy love songs, but somehow, I can forgive him (like he needs my forgiveness especially considering I actually like Ebony and Ivory). He is admirable for his sincerity in his civil-mindedness and social consciousness and use of music as a means to unify people positively. To hear him perform Superstition, Living for the City, Higher Ground, I Wish and Boogie On Reggae Woman live was as incredible as I imagined. I’ve seen him perform on tv before but to see him live was really memorable. As you can tell, I favor songs from Original Musiquarium. I was pleasantly surprised to hear him sing Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours. His voice has barely aged since 1970. The only song I was waiting for but never got was Master Blaster (Jammin’). Who doesn’t love that song from the first time it hits your ears? EDIT: 11/26 I had delayed memory recall today. He did play Master Blaster. It was great. How could I forget? END EDIT He had a little duet with Tony Bennett on For Once in My Life. It was a tribute to his mother who recently passed away. Tony Bennett just turned 80 and his voice and stamina continue to impress me. I’ve seen him perform a few times and his fans are ardent. People were very excited to see him on stage. Then during Superstition, Stevie Wonder said, I know Prince is here tonight. Maybe he’ll come out and play guitar with us. And then Prince came out looking cool as a cucumber, picked up Stevie Wonder’s guitarist’s guitar and played through the song. He didn’t do anything too fancy except look dapper. At the end, he did a little showboating to appease the fans I think and to say a musical hello to Stevie. Prince just gets better and better. Seeing him made me think of how unforgettable he was at his Superbowl performance in 2007. Also, if you missed his guitar solo in While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, go to youtube and watch it. It’s the last two minutes of the performance. But I digress. Stevie Wonder is a star and I’m glad I got to see a living legend shine! (How’s that for a sappy but sincere?)

 

 

 

Next I had a desire to see Bright Eyes in concert so I went to see them at Radio City Music Hall on 11/19/07. I had understood that Bright Eyes and Conor Oberst were interchangeable like many bands and their founder/singer-songwriter/lead guitarist. But it seems he has made a clear distinction that alone, he is Conor Oberst and with his band, they are Bright Eyes. They were great. Really, really loud. A friend, who I thought would be the last person to point that out, had warned me that it was a loud show when he saw them in the Pacific northwest. You don’t think of a neo-folk rock band as being earblasting, but they were. Conor’s voice sounded the same but different. He didn’t use as much vibrato or whatever as I’ve heard him do but it was clear, musical and nice. He was very appealing. Very talented, interesting, earnest though jaded. He still believes in peace, love and understanding although he has been writing protest songs since infancy. He said he still believed in the unifying power of rock and roll. I’m glad I went. Thurston “Guitarist, vocalist, songwriter of seminal punk band Sonic Youth” Moore’s band, Leaky Lifeboats, was a supporting band and they sounded a lot like Sonic Youth. I’m sure this was due to combination of Thurston Moore’s influence and the fact that the drummer, Steve Shelley, was the Sonic Youth drummer. They were really good though. I had no complaints. Really tight, musically interesting. Sometimes there weren’t any vocals in the song, just instruments. He had a violinist which I thought might be distracting but it worked. He dedicated a song, “Friend,” to Kim G. Aw. Only fans of a certain age seemed to realize that was his wife. The kids in front of me were not into Leaky Lifeboats at all. They actually booed a little. They just didn’t get it. I guess I’ve been immune to supporting bands before so I’m not one to judge. But personally, I like Sonic Youth. I sat by all of them once at a movie they scored – demonlover by Olivier Assayas. They were very modest when given recognition. The other supporting group was also interesting – more like a Bright Eyes group – The Felice Brothers. I saw Bright Eyes on Austin City Limits last year and he is very into the hootenanny experience. M Ward played with him and other fellow musicians jumped on stage at random it seemed. But when they played, it all made sense. So Conor Oberst brought on one of the Felice Brothers for a song and another friend to do vocals on a couple of other songs. “It’s a hootenanny.” (I’m quoting the Replacements if you missed that reference.)

One last thought: Roger Ebert just put out his best of 2006. Worth the read.

 

 

 

 

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At the recommendation of a fellow PCA, I read Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Trilogy. I read them all (Uglies, Pretties and Specials) like they were Harry Potter books! I was totally enthralled by the story, characters and writing. I could not stop reading them! I do have a leaning towards some types of sci-fi and a definite lean towards YA. So the combo of a YA and sci-fi ended up working for me. I found it intriguing how the protagonist kept making mistakes and betraying her friends but we still sympathized with her plight and mission. I did not see the progression coming – that our protagonist would start as an Ugly and then become a Pretty and then a Special. I hope I didn’t ruin the surprise but I think it won’t deter you from wanting to keep reading once you start. So, enjoy! I got the soundtrack before I saw the movie. I even got the songs I already had just to be supportive of our dear Sondre Lerche’s efforts. First off, the movie was very cute and watchable. I wasn’t going to see it until I realized the soundtrack was by Sondre Lerche. As I started watching it, I was extremely distracted by the music. Then I gradually got involved in the story and was able to enjoy the movie and music together. I’m not sure if it is because I am hyper-aware of Sondre’s voice, playing and style, but I preferred the instrumental tunes to the actual songs within the context of the movie because once he started singing, it was hard to pay attention to the movie rather than his singing. However, there were some exceptions. “My Hands are Shaking” and “Human Hands” worked best I think. I also like the song he has been performing on talk shows – “To Be Surprised.” I did enjoy Steve Carrell’s performance of “Let My Love Open the Door” which SL coached him on.

Aliens in AmericaIf I haven’t said it already, or even if I have, it’s worth repeating that Aliens in America is one of my favorite new shows of the season. You can watch episodes at the CW site. The pilot is probably the best one but the “Small Paul” one is also good. Aw heck, so is the butterfly project one. Okay, all of them are worth watching. I’ve seen all the episodes at least twice so as not to miss anything and to be doubly entertained. And keep in mind, I have a very busy tv schedule (it takes work being a Pop Culture Addict!). I just get a lot of enjoyment out of this show. It is funny, warm, clever and the cast is very likable. Let’s just hope the WGA strike, which I support, gets resolved in time to keep Aliens in America going! In light of the strike, I probably shouldn’t be pushing you to watch eps online right now. So let me point out instead that the show airs on Mondays and repeats on Sundays on the CW.

Seen and heard before the strike on Broadway

I feel like I’ve seen a bunch of plays recently. Let’s see if I can recall… oh, I saw Cyrano de Bergerac starring Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner. I am an avid Alias fan so it was thrilling to stand in line next to Victor “I played Jennifer Garner’s tv dad” Garber and his actory entourage. During intermission, Victor was chatting it up with his old pal Martin Short. Oh, how was the play? The set was amazing. It blew me away how the stage was used and how the set was designed. Incredible detail to evoke period and mood. I thought my dear Jennifer Garner who I loved on Alias and in all of her movies, was a bit stiff and awkward on stage. She is still finding her bearings. But she looked fantastic. She does have a presence. Kevin Kline was strong and seemed to enjoy the role. That guy must be a workaholic. I feel like I just saw him in King Lear. Did he even take a break?

So after reading Tom Stoppard’s play Rock ‘n Roll one and a half times, I went and saw it on stage. I still barely understood it but appreciated what I got. It spans from 1968 to 1990 going between Cambridge and Prague following the socio-political and personal arcs of the times and characters. I liked Brian Cox the best. Sinead Cusack was also strong. Rufus Sewell was decent. I just wondered about his flittering accent. Sometimes he had one, sometimes he didn’t. Maybe it was a subtle thing. I guess when he was Prague speaking with his friends, he was supposed to be speaking Czech so technically, he would not have an accent. Anyway, Tom Stoppard seems to have gotten the rights to all the rock songs he wanted aside from this one Guns ‘n Roses song which he substituted Boys Don’t Cry by the Cure instead. He definitely had a thing for Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett. Perhaps he knew him from his Cambridge days. Anyway, the play was very interesting and definitely worth seeing. And I did have a Tom Stoppard sighting while waiting in line.

Almost worthy of US Weekly

I finally saw the rest of the Wooster Group’s rendition of Hamlet. You may recall, earlier this year, I left after the first half because the theater (St. Ann’s Warehouse) was hot and the seats were smashed on top of each other. I was extremely uncomfortable and sleepy. Anyway, it was great. They are so talented. They basically performed Hamlet in its entirety although they fast-forwarded through quite a bit of the Richard Burton movie they were working off of. Scott Shepherd was amazing. The whole cast and crew were good. The direction by Elizabeth LeCompte worked. Read the NYT review if you wish. And you can read an interesting article about Elizabeth LeCompte by Jane Kramer in the New Yorker here (for as long as the keep it up). Oh, I had a decent celebrity sighting: Ginnifer Goodwin from Big Love sat in front of me with an unidentified male companion (didn’t necessarily look like Chris Klein but maybe it was). She trained in Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art so I can see her interest. She stayed for the whole thing. No one bothered her but obviously, I did look at her to see what she was wearing and who she was with. Anyway, remembering how my sighting of Kristen Bell and Maggie Grace seated together no less at Dog Sees God was deemed not US-worthy, I didn’t even bother reporting my Ginnifer Goodwin sighting. But I got a kick out of it. My fellow PCA recognized her face but didn’t remember her name. I remember her from her “Ed” days. That was a cute show.

So I ended up seeing No Country for Old Men again. First of all, I’m glad I had a chance to see it at the NYFF this year in optimal viewing conditions, i.e., the seats were comfortable, the print was clear, the sound was clean and I was alert and open to the experience. This time around, the sound kept fluctuating and the also the crowd was disappointed. I was surprised by the crowd response. I feel like all the markers are there: if you read the book by Cormac McCarthy, you know it is a graphic, post-Western Western thriller and commentary on the historical nature of violence. If you’ve seen other movies by the Coen Brothers, you know they are known for their propensity for being particularly stylistic and for depicting violence in a graphic manner. If you’ve seen the trailer, I think you get that it is an art movie with slow pacing, odd characters and a Western setting. Also, you do get the impression there is a really bad bad guy in the story. Anyway, personally, I still thought it was a good movie but again, not for the feint of heart or little ones. I didn’t find Javier Bardem’s performance as stiff this time. I still liked Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin. And I still thought the Coen Brothers did a fine job with the setting and translation to the screen.

Other quick reviews: Fred Claus had an okay premise but no follow through; Bee Movie was very cute if you’re into that; American Gangster was good – Denzel Washington was good, Russell Crowe was good and Ridley Scott did a good job directing (and Brian Grazer did a good job producing). What else have I seen recently? I guess those are the highlights (aside from the completely forgettable Fred Claus. I know, what compelled me to see it? I really like Vince Vaughan. Also, the rest of the cast has a good history of being in decent movies. Anyway, it did not pan out this time.)

Let’s leave on a positive note. I am totally digging Chuck on NBC. It has flash and substance. I’m entertained, charmed and riveted by the premise, cast and storylines. You can watch full episodes online. So the bottom line of today’s entry is check out Aliens in America and Chuck. Also, I’m still watching The Hills. I wonder if it’s okay, I watch that show online. It is a reality show so really, there aren’t supposed to be any writers involved. But we all know there is some staging involved. Anyway, this week, Heidi and Lauren are having a sit-down. I’m gonna go with it’s okay to watch The Hills online during the writers’ strike.

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