2 BROKE GIRLS
I’ve not seen a single episode of this series, but I’m convinced that it’s Best Show on Television – because it pours the delectable Kat Demmings into that waitress outfit. Yeah, I’m a heel – so what of it?
MAD MONSTER PARTY
Dear Departed Diller and Boris Karloff have a bit of fun in the charming Rankin-Bass holiday classic that scarred Tim Burton as a child.
H.P. LOVECRAFT’S RE-ANIMATOR
Hmm…I’ve heard/read some not-so-great things about the transfer (though the PQ seems to be better than a lot of the transfers that Image has just kinda dropped to Blu with no special features…and the most basic of menus), but Stuart Gordon’s classic goony/gory shocker more than stands the test of time.
UMBERTO D. (Criterion)
BUY IT FROM AMAZON!
A few weeks ago, Criterion released Rosetta. They should have released this on the same day, as they’d make a great (and heart-wrenching) double feature. Like the Dardenne’s film, De Sica’s picture is about maintaining dignity in the face of socioeconomic despair, but Umberto D. is a bit more politicized and far more painful – and yet, DeSica (like many of his neorealist brethren) manages to also find the the heart-on-sleeve beauty in the struggle against moral (and fiscal) bankruptcy and an indifferent system. He seems to say that we may never win this fight, but that a few of us feel the fight in our hearts is one battle won.
2 Broke Girls: The Complete First Season
Arachnophobia – Oh look, it’s the pioneer of the “Thrillomedy” genre…boot my balls.
Bored to Death: The Complete Third Season
The Five-Year Engagement
Fringe: The Complete Fourth Season – Could this awesome show get any weirder?
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
Haven: The Complete Second Season
Hocus Pocus
Holy Flying Circus
How to Make It in America: The Complete Second Season
Hung: The Complete Third Season – They’ve been able to stretch Tom Jane’s dick for three season now?
Intrigue in the Bakumatsu: Irohanihoheto Collection 1
Korn: Path of Totality Tour Live at The Hollywood Palladium – People still listen to Korn? That can’t be true!
Mad Monster Party
Man On A Swing
Mother’s Day
My Sucky Teen Romance – Aren’t they all?
National Parks Exploration Series: Great Smoky Mountains Crown Jewel
National Parks Exploration Series: The Complete Collection
National Parks Exploration Series: Yellowstone The Worlds First National Park
The Navigator
A New Leaf
The Office: Season 8
Out Of Africa
Person of Interest: The Complete First Season
Piranha 3DD – I have the hots on for Danni Pannabaker and Katrina Bowden and I’m telling you not to waste your time.
Pursued
Quick
Re-Animator
Safe – I’ve heard decent word of mouth on this Statham vehicle, but I’m in that place where he needs to either stop making the same movie or start making ONLY CRANK SEQUELS.
The Secret Beyond The Door – Is this an Italian Exorcist rip-off? No? Nevermind.
Sleepwalkers – Hi Madchen Amick, I’m Jason. I like tacos and ’71 Cabernet. My favorite color is magenta…
Tarja Turunen: Act 1
Umberto D. (Criterion)
CAT POWER – SUN
The shearing of Chan Marshall’s long tresses, and her blankly-staring cover photo, might be taken, in other circumstances, as an extension of the dark, depressive, throughline of her last album of original material, 2006’s The Greatest (which, given that it was followed by bankruptcy and hospitalization, had all the justification it needed). Instead, it appears to be signaling a new infusion of energy, as Sun is by turns, peppy, provocative, pensive, personal, and good clean pop, from the heartfelt urgency of “Cherokee” to the punchy choruses of “Ruin” and the wickedly skewed “Silent Machine.” She’s done all the programming of the brightly burbling synths and snappy drum machines herself, and both the music and lyrics signal a newfound urgency to get on with life. If anything, the formerly introspective chanteuse’s new voice might be a bit too hectoring, as she lectures the listener to acknowledge just how good they actually have it: “Bitchin’, complainin,’ / When some people ain’t got shit to eat,” and to take ownership of their lives: “It’s up to you to be a superhero / It’s up to you to be like nobody.” I can think of other things she might have better spent eleven minutes on than the “Heroes”-like closer, “Nothing But Time,” with guest vocals from The Ig himself, but, then, Cat clearly doesn’t want to hear from me till I’ve got my own shit together anyway.
BOB MOULD – SILVER AGE
Beginning with 1989’s Workbook, maturity hasn’t set all that comfortably with Mould. The past few decades have seen a bifurcation of his artistic impulse, with the pop instincts of Sugar balanced with the howl of stuff like Black Sheets of Rain (whose “bonus track,” a live version of Richard Thompson’s “Shoot Out The Lights,” is probably the single most harrowing recording Mould has ever done). For those who prefer holistic Mould (so to speak), Silver Age melds the best of both sides; for better or worse, this could almost have been the followup to Warehouse: Songs and Stories. The layered acoustics and textured arrangements of Life and Times give way to a bracing set of high-energy songs employing your basic drums (Jon Wurster) / bass (Jason Narducy) / and lotsa guitars, with Mould’s vocals buried, Stipe-like, in the mix. Given the aural density, it probably helps to have read Mould’s recent memoir, See a Little Light: A Trail of Rage and Melody, to get the germination of cautionary sentiments of songs like “Star Machine” or “The Descent.” Silver Age brims with hooks and memorable guitar figures, on songs like “The Briefest Moment,” “Steam of Hercules,” “Fugue State,” and “Keep Believing,” the natural successor to “See A Little Light.” Mould’s not kidding when he says that he wanted to “…throw down a simple pop record,” but neither is he selling himself short: this album comes out on the 20th anniversary of the release of Sugar’s Copper Blue, and according to Mould, that album makes up a trio (along with Workbook and Husker Du’s Flip Your Wig) of his alltime favorites. Silver Age will fit very nicely on the same shelf.
OTHER NOTABLE 9/4 RELEASES:
Animal Collective – Centipede Hz
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – Rattle Them Bones
Kyle Cease – I Highly Recommend This
Chick Corea and Gary Burton – Hot House
Deerhoof – Breakup Song
Elbow – Dead in the Boot
Melissa Etheridge – 4th Street Feeling
The Fresh & Onlys – Long Slow Dance
Group 1 Crew – Fearless
Ian Hunter – When I’m President
Imagine Dragons – Night Visions
Judas Priest – Screaming For Vengeance: 30th Anniversary Edition
Lecrae – Gravity
Jens Lekman – Know What Love Isn’t
Matchbox Twenty – North
Mono – For My Parents
Gaby Moreno – Postales
Propagandhi – Failed States
Brian Setzer – Rockabilly Riot: Live From the Planet
The Sheepdogs – The Sheepdogs
Smash Mouth – Magic
Stars – The North
Dave Stewart – The Ringmaster General
Tanita Tikaram – Can’t Go Back
Tarja Turunen – Act 1
Two Door Cinema Club – Beacon
Two Gallants – The Bloom and the Blight
Various Artists – The Ramones Heard Them Here First
THE SIMS 3: SUPERNATURAL (PC)
This game does not let you sim Bobby Singer’s troubled home life, so it’s automatically a failure. What does do is let you be a vampire or add zombies to The Sims 3. Like I said – automatic failure.
And that’s all, folks. The gaming gods are giving us some time to play Guild Wars before Borderlands 2 drops.
There you have it. It’s a good thing there’s so little going in in music and gaming at the moment – because movies are about to bankrupt your ass. You’ll see…
FIN.