floating heads

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Angel Orensanz Foundation 11/6/09

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:56:08 -0500

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Angel Orensanz Foundation 11/6/09

The Box

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:26:00 -0500

Falling somewhere inbetween the promising Donnie Darko and the disasterous Southland Tales, The Box is essentially a very stylish bad movie. After the epic failure of Southland Tales, writer/director Kelly needed to make a film that would appeal to a wide enough audience to rescue his career and it appeared that The Box would be it. After seeing it I can say it’s just as idiosyncratic as his previous work with many familiar science fiction elements popping up. Based on the short story “Button Button”, the film plays like an episode of The Twilight Zone (for which the story was previously adapted) as directed by Dario Argento. There was a lot to admire in this film, Frank Langella is great, as is his makeup, there are some genuine scares and paranoid creepiness but the film also captured a sort of 70’s cheese so accurately it was hard to take seriously (and the film wanted to be taken seriously.)

An Education

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:07:18 -0500

I’ve decided after a few days of mulling it over that I didn’t really like this movie but not because it wasn’t a good movie. I liked that the film seemed to have room to breathe absent from the generic romantic coming-of-age film suggested by the trailer. Carey Mulligan was great in the lead (though her character seems too wise for being 16), Peter Saarsgard’s casting instead of someone British was puzzling but he did well in the role. I actually really enjoyed the film until I realized that I had been swindled by a twist that I wont spoil. The film succeeded perfectly and it frustrated me.

Julian Casablancas - Out Of The Blue Even though 2006’s...

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:01:29 -0400

Julian Casablancas - Out Of The Blue

Even though 2006’s ‘First Impressions of Earth’ was a mixed bag, I still consider The Strokes to be one of my favorite bands. Singer Julian Casablancas has kept mostly quiet since then but has now reemerged with his solo debut. One might expect The Strokes redux, but it’s pretty amazing how many different musical styles are experimented with over the course of the 8 songs. The album is keyboard based which gives it an 80’s pop sheen that makes a country song like Ludlow Street sound anything but straightforward. Favorites are Out Of The Blue, Left & Right In The Dark and Tourist.

Fences - The Soft Pack I’m not usually a fan of remixes...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:45:00 -0400

Fences - The Soft Pack

I’m not usually a fan of remixes but I can’t stop listening to the Phoenix’s new Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Remix Collection). The album features 15 versions of the albums 9 songs remixed and covered by various artists including Passion Pit, Friendly Fires, Animal Collective and more. While a bit repetitive to hear 4 versions of Fences it shows how well the songs are crafted that they can be so malleable in their interpretation. This version by The Soft Pack reinvents Phoenix’s sleepy disco version into a 60’s garage rock nugget to amazing effect.

Zombieland | Paranormal Activity | Trick 'R Treat

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:03:20 -0400

This past weekend my dad came up to visit so we could watch as many horror films as we could in 72 hours. This year we saw 14: 6 in the theatre, 4 of which were double-features, and 8 on DVD, 3 of which were new releases each arriving with a wave of hype.

‘Zombieland’ is a zombie comedy starring Woody Harrelson & Jesse Eisenberg as the last survivors of a zombie apocalypse. It’s pretty hard to ignore the comparisons to ‘Shaun of the Dead’, which is unfortunate because that film was so brilliant that it becomes more apparent this film doesn’t have much to add. The opening credits are some of the most inventive and visually stunning I’ve ever seen but this is unfortunately the highlight of the film. The script has a some clever ideas, the “rules for survival”, for example are cute, but surprisingly for a film called ‘Zombieland’ the film manages to shortchange the zombies! The zombie deaths aren’t very interesting, no characters are ever put in danger and long stretches of film have no zombies present at all. When the characters arrive at the mansion 2/3 of the way through, the film begins to sag and never recovers. The film is fun but slight, especially after wading through the zombie films of the past decade and comparing this to the brilliant ‘Shaun of the Dead’.

‘Paranormal Activity’ is ‘The Blair Witch Project’ for kids who probably didn’t see that film a decade ago. Anyone who has seen that film, as I did once (only) during limited release, will know that this film is nothing new. The premise is that a couple sets up a camera in their bedroom to capture supernatural goings-on, which is supposed to build suspense as their situation worsens. The daytime scenes are repetitive and don’t seem to build in intensity, the nighttime scenes take too long for anything to happen and by the time it does it’s over! The audience I saw the film with was audibly disappointed when the film ended and I can’t blame them. The bottom line is that people wanted to be scared and they weren’t. The hype for this film was extremely out of control and we were all extremely disappointed.

‘Trick ‘R Treat’, a Halloween anthology originally scheduled for release 2 years ago, finally saw a direct-to-DVD release earlier this month. Direct-to-DVD generally means that the film is terrible but that’s not actually the case. The problem with most anthologies is that they are always so uneven, certain stories are great and some aren’t. ‘Trick ‘R Treat’ manages to avoid this by weaving all the stories together with a ‘Pulp Fiction’-style chronology that jumps backwards and forwards in time during the course of one Halloween night. The film is actually great fun, a smart fun horror film actually set at Halloween (which is rarer than you would think). I can see why a film like this didn’t get a theatrical release, nobody knew how to market it. At times it feels more like a great TV special than what most audiences have come to expect out of a horror film, but it’s worth seeking out and one of my favorite discoveries this year.

Bronson

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:48:00 -0400

After a great trailer, some Sundance buzz, and missing the BAM screening I had tickets to earlier this year, I was pretty excited to see this “Brilliant…Electrifying…Amazing” film. Unfortunately, with the exception of Tom Hardy’s magnetic performance the film is pretty much a dud. The film is hardly the fastpaced, stylized, hilarious true story it promises, instead a monotonous series of fights with no development or progression whatsoever.

The backstory shown in the trailer is pretty much all the insight you get as the film dives right into Bronson’s first prison sentence. We don’t know why this man would be possessed to do these things and we don’t ever see the perspective of the film change. Scenes are cut to pop or classical music without regard for their importance. Other than it looking cool why are we hearing this song while the prison guard walks down the hallway? When it’s all over we don’t know any more about this characters inexplicable violence than when we started. So what was it all for?

A Serious Man

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:29:00 -0400

As a longtime Coen Bros. fan, who has been deeply disappointed in their recent work (‘Intolerable Cruelty’, ‘The Ladykillers’ and ‘Burn After Reading’, their “Ugh Trilogy”), I was surprised at how much I was surprised by this film. Because I was out of town I wasn’t able to see the film until last weekend which makes ‘A Serious Man’ the first Coen film since ‘The Big Lebowski’ that I didn’t see on opening weekend. All of this worked to the films advantage.

‘A Serious Man’ is a black comedy set in 1967 about Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel. His wife wants a divorce, his kids only want his money or to adjust the television antenna, and a student attemps to bribe him as his tenure acceptance is called into question. The setup seems classic Coen, (or even John Hughes who also relished putting his characters in situations that get impossibly worse), but the film has a tone all it’s own.

The cast is unknowns who are familiar faces at best, (a fantastic change of pace from the star studded mugging of ‘Burn After Reading’), and only helps the believability of this world. Michael Stuhlbarg is great in the lead and you really feel for him every step of the way. The time and place is so specific (and so Jewish!) I wish I had known some of the more inside jokes, but I like that the film doesn’t stop to explain them. If you get it, great and if you don’t the film doesn’t care.

The film shows how absurd and futile religious institutions are and acts as a morality play. The ending is shocking and unexpected and the fact that it ends where it does makes me admire the film even more. Stacking this and ‘No Country For Old Men’ together gives me hope we still haven’t seen everything the Coens are capable of.

Animal Collective - In The Flowers I hate this band. But I...

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:33:37 -0400

Animal Collective - In The Flowers

I hate this band. But I love this song.

NYFF: Broken Embraces

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:43:56 -0400

Over the past few years I’ve come to appreciate Pedro Almodóvar. It helps to date someone who is obsessed with him, but it also helps to grow a little older and revisit his films from a different perspective. I can remember hearing about ‘Talk To Her’ everywhere for about 6 months when it was released. When I finally saw the film on DVD I couldn’t understand what the fuss had been about. I rented ‘All About My Mother’ and felt like I was missing something. I liked both films but didn’t understand why a cult had formed around either.

I saw a pre-release screening of ‘Bad Education’ and had a violent reaction against it, so it wasn’t until I was won over by the charms of ‘Volver’ that I began to appreciate him. I could now appreciate ‘Live Flesh’ or ‘Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’ because something had clicked. (Embarrassing to admit, I had a similar reaction to David Lynch having completely opposite reactions to his work before and after watching “Twin Peaks”.) While I’m not sure that his films will ever be my favorite, I can understand his appeal. His style is unmistakable, vibrant characters, genre-blurring plotlines, always tweaking and refining his obsessions.

‘Broken Embraces’ is about a blind screenwriter, a millionaire and their obsessions, in the center of which is Penelope Cruz as Lena, an aspiring actress. The film, which jumps between present day and the early 1990’s, is unmistakably Almodóvar and even directly references ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’. Many familiar actors are present through a twisty narrative that has dashes of humor, questions of identity and scenes so gorgeous looking you will want to eat the film. A montage to Cat Power’s “Werewolf” is beautiful, unexpected highlight.

One of the films weak spots, unfortunately is it’s characters. Penelope Cruz is fantastic in the film but her character isn’t given enough to do. She’s the object of desire instead of a character who we journey through the film with. The blind director (perhaps by design) doesn’t build much sympathy either. The biggest misstep in the film, however is the final act where characters do too much confessional secret spilling that is more predictable than it should be and wraps things up too neatly. Almodóvar said before he introduced the film that it plays better on the second viewing so I’ll have to trust him on that. I think he’s earned it.

NYFF: Mother

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:53:00 -0400

At film festivals sometimes you have to take a gamble. Especially when 90% of the films playing are not from the US you have to do your best at guessing what will be worthwhile. I don’t remember where but I had heard some good things about ‘Mother’, Bong Joon-Ho’s follow-up to ‘The Host’, Korea’s highest grossing film of all time. A genre-mashup of monster movie, environmental parable, and sci-fi family film(?), I liked ‘The Host’ but never felt like I completely understood it.

Watching ‘Mother’ I found myself similarly bewildered. The film opens with a loopy dance sequence, segues into a wacky comedy before turning left again into a dramatic murder mystery. Of the 3 films I saw at this years NYFF, (1 Austrian, 1 Korean, 1 Spanish), I felt the biggest cultural schism with this one. I didn’t hate the film but I never quite got a handle on the tone or whether characters sometimes inexplicable actions were because of the character or the culture.

NYFF: The White Ribbon

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:31:00 -0400

The very definition of the sort of film you’d expect to find at the New York Film Festival, ‘The White Ribbon’ is a 2 1/2 hour, black and white, subtitled film set in pre-WWI Germany helmed by a World Cinema auteur. The auteur in this case is provocateur Michael Haneke, responsible for ‘Funny Games’, ‘Cache’ and other feel-good films*. While his films aren’t exactly my taste I respect him as a filmmaker more than I do Lars Von Trier who mines similar territory more self consciously and less enjoyably.

This film takes place in a small German village and takes a look at the fractured lives of the families that live there. Because most of the cast is blonde children it took me quite a while to distinguish which characters were which and I’m not sure I ever figured it out. The subject matter is dark: suicides, rape, incest, and beating the retarded(!) are all touched upon though many of these are left ambiguous. Those looking for the film to be tied up will be frustrated as I was at the end of the film.

*His films will not make you feel good.

Capitalism: A Love Story | The Informant! | Bright Star

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:18:00 -0400

A few weeks ago I had an impromptu triple feature with my friend Anna to catch up on all the (possibly) great films that were out.

First up was ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’ the new Michael Moore film. I really loved ‘Bowling For Columbine’ but have found his subsequent films to have increasingly diminishing returns. A big problem I had with the film was Moore himself. Moore shows up outside a major bank with an empty sack for bailout money and can you believe they wont speak to him! ‘Sicko’ seemed to be a step in the right direction to take himself out of the film as much as possible but ‘Capitalism’ falls backwards as the movie wastes precious minutes on stunts that go absolutely nowhere. Not to say the film isn’t entertaining or interesting but you’ve seen this before and the effect is starting to wear off. The other problem I had with the film was that the subject: “capitalism” is too expansive to be covered in 2 hours. If Moore had focused in on the economy crashing, for example, he might’ve had a more focused and interesting film.

Next was ‘The Informant!’, Steven Soderbergh’s quasi-comedy about Mark Whitacre, real life VP turned FBI informant against his own corn manufacturing company. This could have been a terrible film handled by a more conventional director but with a 70’s cheese score, comedians in straight roles (Patton Oswalt, Paul F. Tompkins and Joel McHale all make appearances), and a tone you can’t quite pin down, Soderbergh makes this into something quite interesting. Matt Damon is great as Whitacre, playing him as a buffoon, genius and pathological liar. The story takes some twists that are pretty unbelievable, but the odd tone and unreliable narrator keep you from investing too much in what happens.

Lastly was ‘Bright Star’, Jane Campion’s romance about poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Generally I hate films set in this period, but recently I’ve seen a few that I’ve enjoyed including ‘Pride & Prejudice’, ‘Marie Antoinette’ and now ‘Bright Star’. The film moves at a measured pace (without the witty dialogue of Jane Austen), that can seem slow at times but ultimately creates a more romantic mood for the film. The film has many beautiful images and though a little long is rarely boring. Had the doomed romance not been historically accurate I would had been annoyed at how these two are torn apart but “it actually happened” is good enough to excuse why these two couldn’t have spent more time together. By a small bit this was my favorite film of the three.

Karen O and the Kids - Worried Shoes Upon first hearing this...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:52:00 -0400

Karen O and the Kids - Worried Shoes

Upon first hearing this soundtrack it seemed slight without context but the film brings these songs to life. Karen O and a gang of collaborators (incl. members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Deerhunter, The Dead Weather) work together to create these simple ramshackle songs but the result is something you can’t ignore in the film. It works so well (and often) because Jonze keeps the music in the foreground, not content to bury it under the scene. Worried Shoes is the melancholy heart of ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ and the only song not written for the film, (it’s actually a Daniel Johnston cover!)

Where The Wild Things Are

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:39:00 -0400

I was lucky enough to see this film tonight and it’s one I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up or dash them so I’ll say I didn’t love this movie totally but I did love parts of it. The opening of the film is especially fantastic. Everything that happens to Max in the beginning of the film feels so honest and true to what it’s like to be that age and feel that boredom, that mischeif, that hurt. The snowball fight is perfect. So perfect that I was a little disappointed when Max enters the world of the Wild Things.

There the film takes a steep departure both from the beginning of the film and from the book. In the book, Max leaves the real world after a fight and goes to this place where he can do whatever he wants, which seems great at first until he realizes this place too has problems and he misses his family and wants to return home. Instead the film misses these beats because when Max arrives the Wild Things world is already dangerous and Wild Things quite complicated with emotions. This lessens the impact of their good time falling apart because the contrast wasn’t there. While I loved the natural look to the real scenes I think had the Wild Things world been a bit more fantastic it might have helped further differentiate these two.

Putting those expectations aside I really did like the film. The lead Max Records is great in this. The special effects are good because you’re not thinking about them, you’re just reacting to the story. (Take notes, James Cameron!) The opening credits and title card are nice touches. The ending is unexpected. The soundtrack is also really good though I made the mistake of listening to it before I saw the film which made the music more noticeable throughout the film. Spike Jonze has said he wanted to make a movie that felt true to what it’s like to be a kid (rather than a kids movie) and he’s succeeded. It’s hard to say if kids will enjoy this but it’s really like no film I’ve ever seen, kids or otherwise.

Get With The Program, MoMA

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:54:00 -0400

I was originally going to call this “MoMA, You Suck” but thought it might be a big harsh. Still, lets get a few things straight: MoMA is the Museum of Modern Art, it is the year 2009 and I really want to see Where The Wild Things Are.

A little over a month ago MoMA announced it was doing a Spike Jonze retrospective, though nowhere in this program would be a screening of his new film. The highlight instead was a program called “In Cahoots: Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze” which was a 40 min documentary by Jonze about Where The Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak which would be punctuated with a Q&A with Jonze.

There was no announcement for when this would go onsale so I emailed MoMA but heard no response for weeks. I spent those weeks checking their site daily for updates knowing this event would surely sellout when they went onsale. Eventually the exhibition was listed on their site but no ticketing information. After much searching through their labyrinthine site I found that their policy for screenings is tickets would go onsale ONLY 1 week prior to the event and could ONLY be bought in person.

I marked my calendar, still checking occasionally for updates (in case they decided to ticket the event differently from a standard showing) and waited for today. When I arrived in person to MoMA around 2pm I was told the event was already sold out. They had only released 80 tickets and my only remaining option was I could go to the standby line that I would probably want to get there “really early” to have a chance.

But I don’t want to get there really early. I can’t take half a day off work for the chance to see a Q&A, (that’s why I’m not going to the Apple Store!) I just want to buy a ticket for a reasonable price (less than $75 preferrably?) in a way that makes sense (the internet?) and go to the event.

If MoMA anticipated this would be a popular event they could have alloted more tickets, or specified on their website that only small number of tickets would be available. They could have emailed me back right away instead of weeks later and they could have actually sold tickets online. I guess I could have tried going this morning before work instead of at lunch but that doesn’t change the fact that I wasted a lot of energy looking into this event because it was nearly impossible to find out any information on it. Had I been better informed I might’ve been able to get tickets. Oh well.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 9/29/09

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:01:25 -0400

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 9/29/09

The Flaming Lips - Silver Trembling Hands Previewed on their...

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:43:35 -0400

The Flaming Lips - Silver Trembling Hands

Previewed on their July EP, this is the first standout track from The Flaming Lips epic new double-LP Embryonic. Quite a change of direction from the studio polish of At War With The Mystics, the songs on Embryonic are not nearly as radio friendly as their predecessors. Most of the songs on the album buzz and rattle with distorted bass (like an engineer mistakenly left the levels too high). It will take a few more listens to decide how I feel about the album as a whole but for now Silver Trembling Hands stays on repeat.

Nick Cave with The Dirty Three @ Bowery Ballroom 9/13/09

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:05:00 -0400

Nick Cave with The Dirty Three @ Bowery Ballroom 9/13/09

Adventures In Customer Service: Aldo Shoes

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:05:00 -0400

Now that I am an old man, I have decided that when I am unhappy with a product or service I am going to write a letter of concern to the company responsible. My grandma did this when she found a piece of blue plastic in one of her Weaver chicken nuggets and she received a book of coupons! This is one such experience.

ALDO

Problem: I purchased my first pair of Aldo shoes, the Hagui Loafers, which tore holes in the front of both feet within 2 weeks of casual wear.

Experience: After 3 months of procrastination I decided that these holes are ridiculous and I ought to do something about it. I emailed Aldo expressing my disappointment in their shoes and waited several weeks for a response. Eventually I received an email from them.

Dear Cory:
Thank you for writing to aldoshoes.com.
We’re sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with one of our products, and we appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter.
Because we cannot see the merchandise, it is difficult for us to make a decision from Head Office.
We recommend that you go to the nearest store and one of our sales associates will be happy to help you. It will help a great deal if you can bring a copy of your receipt or a debit/credit card statement.
You can find your nearest store on our website.

Please let us know if we can assist you further.
Thank you for choosing ALDO.

Sincerely,
Daniel
ALDO Customer Service

After lazily attempting to email them a picture of the shoes instead of braving the store for customer service, I decided to stop by the store to try my luck.

I walked into the Aldo where I purchased the shoes, explained the problem by pointing to the giant holes in the shoes (I was wearing at the time) and showed them the email from Aldo customer service. They were helpful, said they didn’t carry that shoe anymore but I could pick out anything in the store for equal value to exchange. Since there weren’t any similar looking shoes I eventually found a pair of shoes that I liked, but they only cost $40 when the Hagui Loafers were worth $65. I asked if they would be able to order a different color of the Loafers to be shipped to me since they would be of equal value (and I liked the brown color I had seen online).

They said they could but I had to turn in the holy grey ones on my feet. I decided to purchase the new pair for $40 and wear them out of the store so the brown Hagui loafers could be shipped to me.

Outcome: 2 pairs of new shoes for $40.

This was almost the end.

Post-Script: Because I had emailed customer service the picture of my shoes weeks prior and forgotten about, I eventually received a reply from them:

Dear Cory:
Thank you for writing to aldoshoes.com.
We’re sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with one of our products, and we appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter.
As a company, we stand behind our products and we are willing to listen to every customer that has a concern so we can find a solution and/or measure to satisfy our clients with their products.
This being said, there is a difference between a manufacturer’s defect and an incident like the one you have described to us and unfortunately, we are not responsible for such an event.
Please let us know if we can assist you further.
Thank you for choosing ALDO.

Sincerely,
Melanie
ALDO Customer Service

Whoa, whoa. Melanie, are you really saying that the shoes were not defective and in fact wearing giant holes in the front within a few weeks of casual wear is actually a feature of the shoes! So I replied:

Melanie,
I’m going to choose to ignore this since in the absence of this email I took the shoes into the store and received a new pair. I will assume you don’t actually believe your shoes are supposed to tear holes in them within 2 weeks of casual wear. We will chalk this up to a miscommunication and I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.

Thanks!
Cory

To which SHE replied:

Dear Cory :
Thank you for writing to aldoshoes.com.
We’re sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with one of our products, and we appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter.
As a company, we stand behind our products and we are willing to listen to every customer that has a concern so we can find a solution and/or measure to satisfy our clients with their products.
This being said, there is a difference between a manufacturer’s defect and an incident like the one you have described to us and unfortunately, we are not responsible for such an event.
What we can suggest is to keep your shoes in a well-ventilated room or even outside for a little while, if the weather permits, and maybe the smell will go away.
Our shoes do not have a lifetime warranty. Unfortunately, after 2 years there is nothing we can do for you.
Please let us know if we can assist you further.
Thank you for choosing ALDO.

Sincerely,
Melanie
ALDO Customer Service

So it was clear she had no idea what I was talking about and had me confused with some deadbeat who tried to trade in his old pair of stinkshoes for something a little less odor causing. I sent one final reply to clear things up:

Melanie,
I think as I suspected there is a misunderstanding here. My shoes do not smell! There are holes in them. They were not purchased 2 years ago. They were purchased 3 months ago. But as I said, the issue has been resolved. Thanks for your time and your help.

Cory

Overall, it was not a bad experience. Their online dept. was mostly clueless and took forever to respond but the store was helpful and friendly. Though my fingers are crossed that the brown Loafers don’t tear identical holes in the front.