Bands I'm Hooked on Right Now

Sigur Ros
Strangely, hearing Hoppipolla (one of their best songs) constantly due to all the 'Earth' trailers led me to Sigur Ros. They're pretty great, really. At times, very happy, hopeful music, but at other times sorrowful. Ah, and some of the songs would fit seamlessly into a movie. This one I'm going to embed, Saeglopur, is amazing. And, yes, I had to find a website that gave pronunciations on all the crazy Polish words featured in the song names. Foolishly, I had thought they were pronounced SUGAR ROSS, which is retarded (I'm such an ignorant American), but really it's pronouned more like si-yur rose. So now I use every opportunity I can to correctly say "Sigur Ros"



Ween
They're very weird, and almost surreal. My brother is a huge fan and has been to one of their concerts. I never thought I liked them, but I heard a few of their songs and now I'm kinda hooked. And I just learned from the band's Wiki that the two founders are named Gene and Dean Ween. That's almost the coolest thing ever. But I love their lo-fi, experimental tone. This song, Mutilated Lips, is straaange. It's not a question of "if" LSD was used when recording this song, but "how much" LSD was in effect.



311
Oh my god, they are great. I randomly have their greatest hits stored away on my iPod and I can't get enough. Their songs stick in your head forever. They have a really cool, almost reggae-ish (it has to be cool) sound and the lead singers' voices are great. I feel like a cool kid when I listen to them. This song is Flowing and is all kinds of amazing.



MGMT
Yeah, they're God's gift to Earth, in a way. Very cliche lyrics and that's why I love them. The instrumentals are orgasmic and their videos are crazy. It's all sorta psycodelic and amazing. No explanation is needed for the song below. Mhm.

What am I doing? I'm quietly judging you.

Thoughts on Synecdoche, New York

I was slightly afraid I was going to be disappointed with Synecdoche, just because it's been so critically divisive. But it's just my kind of film, really. Quirky and mind-bending while never sacrificing beautiful drama to just be a mindf--ker

Okay, Charlie Kaufman can now do no wrong whatsoever. He is brilliant, from the direction to the screenplay. He creates Caden Cotard (played brilliantly by PSH) and a plethora of female characters. Cotard rivals The Joker as the best character of the year. He's neurotic as hell and so caught up in his neurosis, which is a strange emotion. He's also a hypochondriac, as he thinks he's dying if he was an itch or a slightly yellow shit. And he is so narcissistic. Caden Cotard is obsessed with Caden Cotard. So much so, that he uses his MacArthur grant to stage a play about his life and all of the stuff that happens in it.

Then it's trademark Kaufman. Who's acting as whom? Is she an actor? Is he real? It's the type of movie that occasionally you have to pause the DVD (from Netflix, by the way. I lost my Netflix virginity) and think about what the hell is happening. Such a smart and endearingly confusing film.

So, on instinct, I logged onto IMDb to see the reception of the film on the boards. It was all quite interesting, as everyone was trying to dissect every little part of the film. And I say, why? Why is it necessary? Art like this shouldn't be made so logical. To me, the explanation isn't important. I watched a character study of a messed-up guy and the people around him. And I loved it. But these people are trying to find the further meaning in it. I find that so exhausting. The lesson of the film? Don't be like Caden.

One theory on the film, though, that I found interesting [the following paragraph could be perceived as spoilers] was that, perhaps, Caden was dead the whole time. The evidence seems totally there. And that's why, if Caden was in heaven (or in some ways, hell), a thousand people would "realistically" follow this tortured director (Caden) for seventeen friggin' years to make a play that no one will ever see. I mean, something like that couldn't happen in real life, right?

Anyway, Synecdoche is a must-see. Total brilliance. A (By the way, the quote on the sidebar is from the film and I found it to be so effective of the film's meaning. And life's meaning)

To Grade or Not to Grade...

For years now, I've consistently used the Four Star System of Movie Grading, that of most newspapers in America. It just became a habit, and I never thought to change this rating system. Yet now I find myself torn. The system of rating out of four stars has gotten tired, as I feel I'm not giving a variety of different grades. It's all like three stars, and I'm feeling the grades are becoming too definite. With an A, B, C, etc. grading system, there are more potential grades, providing a more varied analysis of a movie. Or maybe I'm taking this all too seriously. Maybe I just want a shaking-up. So from now on:

A + : a stunning, masterpiece, one of the best films I've ever seen (very rare)

A : a great, great film (basically four stars)

A - : a really well-done film that's on the cusp of greatness

B+ : A very good movie

B : A good movie; wouldn't be too enthused about watching it again, though

B- : An average movie, with good parts and bad parts

C+ : A below-average effort

C : A bad movie

C- : A really bad movie

Anything lower just plain sucks.

Update

Okay, I'm not dead, in case you were wondering. I just had a major case of busy-ness (business?), laziness, and loss of interest. But I'm back, hopefully for a long while. You see, any other blogger knows it's hard to come up with ideas for posts on a consistent basis. And over the past few weeks I just haven't been up for putting in the thought for posts that not only are stimulating to read, but more importantly for me to write. I also want to focus on movies more on this blog. I got a little distracted with other things, and I want to once again spotlight my true love, film.

Speaking of which, I fah-inally got Netflix and I am so obsessed. I keep randomly logging into the site just to look at my queue list. Just to admire it. It's as if I think something happened to the DVD's I've ordered. I got the $8.99 deal, so I get one DVD at a time. And, Christ, I am like an obese kid in a bakery. Within minutes I had already put 40 DVD's in my queue. It's crazy. Almost like a dream come true. It is so fun. Here's how my queue looks right now:

(Note: Just as I went to look at my queue so I could talk about some of the titles in this post (below), I noticed there's a new number one on my queue. That means Synecdoche, New York is shipping! Exciting!)

Some of the titles include: Magnolia, Let the Right One In, Donnie Darko, Memento, Reservoir Dogs, You Can Count On Me, Big Night, The Sea Inside, Frost/Nixon, Wendy and Lucy, The Fountain, Pi, Interiors, Brick, Dancer In The Dark, Sunshine, Bubble, Transiberrean, Tell No One, Rosemary's Baby, The Godfather (!), The Science of Sleep, Sky Captain..., Speak, The Station Agent and about a dozen more. I'm so pumped.

Look for many more reviews and many more posts hopefully. I really do love blogging, it can just be a drag from time to time.

A Shock