After meeting and falling in love in Japan in 1955, American Alfred Hobbs and Danish artist Jakobine Schou impulsively married, with their mutually adventurous spirits taking them to Casablanca shortly thereafter. Here, the newlyweds purchased a beat-up London taxi built in 1934 and spent the next four years driving it on an epic global road trip, where the couple's passion for each other never waned and their exploits brought them minor celebrity. When their journey was over, Alfred and Jakobine (pronounced "Yauk-o-beena") set down roots in New York state. Not long after, Alfred unexpectedly walked out on Jakobine, leaving her shattered. The couple reconnected at a party a few years later, conceived a son, and Alfred soon exited Jakobine's life once again. 40 years later, an 84-year-old Alfred confronting his mortality decides to fix up that same taxi, travel across America with the son he's never really known, and surprise the woman who's heart he broke by offering her "one last ride", as he describes it.
Alfred & Jakobine directors Jonathan Howells and Tom Roberts are the benefactors of this rich source material and have produced a reflective and moving film about the beauty and pain of love. The filmmakers entwine the past and present with an effective balance of first-person recollections and visual aids (taken from the couple's archives made up of 3,000 photographs and numerous hours of their well-crafted 8 mm and 16 mm film footage), and the documenting of both the difficult restoration process of the taxi and the 2,400 mile trip in September 2009 that Alfred and his son Niels took in it from Taos, New Mexico to Jakobine's home in Oneida, New York. Adding to the intrigue encompassing the modern-day trip are the distant relationship between Niels and Alfred, the arduous toll of the trek upon their delicate vehicle, and the fact the unsuspecting Jakobine (who appears to have never gotten over Alfred) has been happily remarried for decades to a likeable chap named Rusty, who actually helped coordinate the reunion.
Alfred & Jakobine's only real fault is that it doesn't go deeply enough into the many fascinating layers of this story due to the all-too-brief 73-minute running time (presumably due to business considerations involving running times for theatrical screenings and television broadcast, not creative reasons). Specifically, Alfred's mysterious reason for leaving Jakobine never feels explained to satisfaction and the scenes involving the Taos-to-Oneida journey seem scant in comparison to the four weeks it took to complete the trip. Additionally, the lack of stories involving Alfred and Jakobine's adventures in the 50s is disappointing. The film's press kit references one story not included in the documentary that found them "captured by armed guerrillas in (Africa's) Atlas Mountains and being thrown into a desert prison, where they thought they would most certainly die". It's a testament to Alfred & Jakobine's core appeal, however, that a compelling narrative such as this could end up excised from the final cut and the film still has plenty of proverbial meat on the bone. Hopefully, the documentary's future DVD/Blu-ray release allows for a more in-depth presentation. Brevity aside, Alfred & Jakobine proves to be a touching charmer.
Rating: A
In 1999, Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts founded the Women on Waves organization, who are dedicated to providing abortion services to women in countries where abortions are illegal. The latest statistics from the World Health Organization estimate that 21.6 million women worldwide experience unsafe abortions every year, with 47,000 of those women dying from the procedure. Vessel is the result of first-time director Diana Whitten spending seven years documenting Gomperts' noble and dangerous crusade.
Following her time spent as a doctor aboard one of Greenpeace's vessels, where she was troubled by the lack of adequate birth control healthcare for women internationally, Gomperts cleverly devised a method to skirt the abortion laws of various countries. Using vessels outfitted with shipping containers converted into medical clinics, Women on Waves sails into different ports (the film shows us stops in Poland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco), picks up the women in need of help, and travels far enough offshore into international waters where the only abortion laws applicable are those of the country the ship is registered in (in this case it's the Netherlands, where abortion is legal). Once they're in legally safe territory, the organization doesn't perform surgical abortions, but facilitates pharmaceutical abortions that involve patients self-administering a pill that causes an early miscarriage, as well as providing counselling. Vessel also explores the expansion of Women on Waves into a global network via the launch of Women on Web, who also provide reproductive health information and support.
Despite efficient use of animated sequences delivering sobering statistics and the implementation of even more sobering calls and emails from distressed women in need of help, Gomperts' inspiring passion for her cause, as well as a charged subject matter that leads to some tense scenes involving the activist and her crew facing packs of aggressive media, police and military blockades, and angry demonstrators in the ports they visit, Vessel frustratingly fails to leave the impact it aspires to. The film doesn't really go down any unexpected paths and lacks the impartiality and weight of a superior documentary on the abortion issue I took in at Hot Docs in 2010, 12th & Delaware (read my review here).
Rating: C+
Released theatrically in February
George Clooney's fifth directorial effort, The Monuments Men, squanders both its rich concept (loosely based on the 2010 book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves And The Greatest Treasure Hunt In History by Robert Edsel) and a fine ensemble cast comprised of Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, and Hugh Bonneville. The men play the real-life MFAA (Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives) unit made up of arts-loving civilians tasked near the end of World War II with recovering artworks stolen by the Nazis and returning them to their rightful owners. Adding a sense of urgency to the multinational group's mission is Hitler's plan to destroy the art pieces should the Nazis be defeated, in addition to the Russian military's intent to keep all the art they find as compensation for the casualties they've incurred.
The script, written by Clooney and his co-producer Grant Heslov, presents an intriguing central question for the viewer's consideration: are the lives of men worth sacrificing in order to save history's greatest artistic works? Unfortunately, the lofty ideal isn't partnered with a substantial enough execution of almost all of The Monuments Men's other components (one of the exceptions being the film's impressive visuals and period detail). The chemistry between the cast members never seems to fully click, largely because the characters all feel so disappointingly underwritten. Blanchett's Claire Simone character, a crucial ally in the Men's mission, has the foundation to be an interesting figure, but never seems to become fully realized, even for a secondary character (a misguided seduction story between her and Damon's James Granger character doesn't help, either). Attempts at goofy humour repeatedly fall flat, as evidenced during one of the film's surprisingly few lively scenes involving Goodman's and Dujardin's characters, a scene where Granger has to extricate himself from a land mine he's stepped on, the mangled French spoken by Granger, and the unfunny exchanges between the at-odds characters played by Balaban and a predictably deadpan Murray. Many of the moments where the film adopts a more solemn tone (this is war, after all) tend to come up short, too, such as one where Murray's character receives a musical gift from home (the scene felt tainted by its manipulativeness) and another where Clooney's character has a conversation with a captured Nazi senior officer (the scene curiously doesn't pack the dramatic oomph it aspires to).
It's surprising that a true story as unlikely as this one took so long to make it to the big screen. Regrettably, Clooney's plodding tribute to the brave individuals who were inspired by such a noble cause never finds its footing and comes up well short in doing their remarkable exploits cinematic justice.
Rating: C
Hot Docs is North America's largest documentary film festival, with this year's fest receiving 2,400 submissions that has been narrowed down to the 197 titles from 43 countries set to screen at 10 different venues across Toronto next month. Here's what I'll be seeing at the 21st edition of the festival (film summaries, some of which I've edited, are taken from Hot Docs' website):
Vessel - Under grave threat from hostile governments and
violent protestors, Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts and her crew navigate
treacherous waters to offer safe abortions to women around the world. Exploiting maritime legal loopholes, their Dutch ship floats
in international waters 12 miles off the coast of countries where their
services are desperately needed. Vessel is a galvanizing look at people who take the fight for
reproductive rights to where it’s needed most.
The Notorious Mr. Bout - Immortalized by Nicolas Cage in the action-thriller Lord
of War, Viktor Bout claims he’s just a businessman. True, he built his empire
selling weapons to some of the world’s most violent regimes, but as this
amazingly intimate exposé reveals, the infamous arms dealer is more of an
amateur filmmaker than a cold-hearted opportunist. Award-winning filmmakers Tony Gerber (Full Battle Rattle) and Maxim Pozdorovkin
(Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer) chip away at the Bout mythology, as this revealing portrait
navigates the muddy waters of profit and personal responsibility.
Alfred & Jakobine - In the summer of 1955, Alfred and Jakobine were
crazy for adventure and each other. Jakobine was
certain they’d last forever, but without warning, Alfred left, breaking her
heart. 40 years later, their son Niels takes up their story when Alfred decides to head across America to
see Jakobine one more time. Thoroughly engaging, Alfred And Jakobine is a beautifully crafted love letter to four decades of heartache,
two unforgettable characters and one extraordinary past.
Whitey: United States of America v. James J.Bulger - Oscar-nominated director Joe
Berlinger (best known for the Paradise Lost trilogy and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) strips away the myths surrounding Boston ex-mobster and FBI informant
James “Whitey” Bulger, getting past his mystique as the Robin Hood of South
Boston. With this past summer’s explosive trial as a backdrop, Berlinger uses his unprecedented access to FBI agents,
Massachusetts state police, victims, lawyers, gangsters, journalists, and federal
prosecutors to uncover shocking new allegations about Whitey’s criminal empire.
Come Worry With Us! - Violinist Jessica Moss and singer/guitarist
Efrim Menuck, founding member of the Montreal post-rock group Godspeed You!
Black Emperor, had it all figured out...or at least some of it. Partners in
love and art, they were making music and a modest living touring their band,
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, but when their son Ezra is born,
everything changes. In the age of the digital download, constant touring is
synonymous with economic survival. But is the road a place for a toddler?
Jessica and Efrim bring Ezra on tour and the film follows the band from tour
bus to concert venue as they try to juggle making music at night with a charming
bundle of energy tearing up and down the aisles of the bus at dawn. This
dynamic, sometimes funny film asks if parents who work in the arts - specifically
mothers - can have it all.
Nelson Mandela: The Myth & Me - Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the
prestigious International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in November,
celebrated South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane’s latest film takes an
unflinching look at the most celebrated individual of our time. Matabane’s
mosaic framework is anchored by his personal letter to Mandela, interwoven
throughout the film and presented alongside spectacular imagery and interviews
with world leaders, intellectuals, and ordinary South Africans. The conflicting
sentiments range wildly from idolatry and veneration to disappointment and
critical re-evaluation of some of Mandela’s landmark decisions. These divergent
points of view are mirrored by the filmmaker as he reflects on Mandela’s
post-sainthood legacy, the process of forgiveness and reconciliation, and the
elusive promise of freedom, justice, and a better life for all South Africans.
Released in January
Jennifer Nettles, one half of country-pop-rock duo Sugarland, goes it alone on her new release, That Girl, although the "debut solo album" tag that's been attached to it is a little misleading (prior to joining Sugarland, the singer fronted The Jennifer Nettles Band for three unmemorable independently released albums). The diverse styles on That Girl shouldn't come as too much of a jolt to her fans, given Nettles' varied musical background. Her self-titled band were an alt-folk outfit and Sugarland have always experimented with different sounds, as well as tackled songs in their live shows from a wide range of artists like Beyoncé, Kings Of Leon, The B-52s, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Madonna, and 80s one-hit-wonder acts like Dexy's Midnight Runners and The Dream Academy.
Strong opening track "Falling" is the lone number on That Girl written by Nettles without any collaborators, establishing the 70s-rooted organic sound that flows throughout the album's following ten songs (not including the two tracks included on the deluxe edition). It also showcases Nettles' talent for crafting affecting lyrics that evocatively set a scene for her compositions: "I stood out on the road and I watched as you were leaving/The leaves were dancing oranges and reds/And they circled all around me like confetti on fire/They were nothing when compared to the burning in my head". The soothing "Thank You", "Me Without You", and "This Angel" pay homage to the influence of 70s singer-songwriter folk-pop on the singer. The standout songs are stripped down to mostly just Nettles' powerful voice and an acoustic guitar, with some light string touches added on the latter two as the songs build. The upbeat "Moneyball" incorporates reggae elements, but the end result is rather average, while That Girl's most ambitious number, "Know You Wanna Know", only fares moderately better. Nettles co-wrote the track about the ugliness of celebrity idolatry culture with 80s pop balladeer Richard Marx, which is partially why the full-on big band swing style of the song comes as such a surprise. Nettles also pushes herself further outside the confines of Sugarland's core sound on the Latin music-inspired catchy title track and the buoyant "Jealousy". She co-wrote "That Girl" with producer/musician Butch Walker, a fellow Atlantan, and the song offers an interesting spin on "the other woman" theme from Dolly Parton's "Jolene" by taking the perspective of the woman who unknowingly has become a mistress: "A friend gave me your number to tell you watch your lover's tracks/See, I always kind of liked you so I wanna have your back/There's a good chance by the time you hear this the story's gonna say/That I came on to him, but it was never quite that way/I don't want to be that girl/With your guy/To fool you/Make you cry/Wreck it all/For one night/To be with him when he should be with you". Nettles' genre hopscotching continues with the torchy love song "This One's For You" (co-written with singer Sara Bareilles) and a couple of deeply soulful numbers in "Good Time To Cry" and a winning cover of Bob Seger's "Like A Rock". Strangely, two of the best tracks from That Girl's recording sessions aren't even included on the regular album, appearing only on the deluxe edition: "His Hands" delivers potently in both its music and domestic abuse-themed lyrics (and was likely omitted because it sounded too Sugarland-like) and the feel-good "Every Little Thing", with its bouncy ragtime piano, certainly deserved to be heard by a wider audience.
That Girl producer Rick Rubin had all the songs cut live in the studio with a group of session veterans (including Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith) and the looseness that environment created for everyone involved is one of the album's core strengths. Nettles' already-established rep as one of this generation's finest vocal talents takes on even wider dimensions on this earthy and stylistically broad set that's dominated by retro influences. And while about half of That Girl's material admittedly wouldn't feel out of place on a Sugarland album, it's an indication of Nettles' bigger musical aspirations that she bravely steers away from the big arena country-rock anthems that her and Sugarland partner Kristian Bush do so adeptly.
Rating: A-
Released in November
Stryper proved that there was still gas in their creative tank in 2009 with the first-rate Murder By Pride album (I reviewed it here), which was followed up by two types of releases that are seemingly a late-in-their-career requirement for every 80s hard rock band: the covers album (2011's The Covering, an album head and shoulders above any covers collection I'd ever heard from a band, although it was saddled with embarrassingly amateurish cover artwork) and an album of the act's classic songs that've been re-recorded (early 2013's Second Coming, reconfirming the artistic pointlessness of a group reproducing faithful versions of earlier songs that will always take a distant backseat to the originals. This one was done for the same business reason that most of these kinds of albums are done, though - because the band wasn't making any money from sales of their back catalog due to a bad record deal). No More Hell To Pay marks the first time Stryper's original lineup of lead vocalist/guitarist Michael Sweet, guitarist Oz Fox, drummer Robert Sweet, and bassist Tim Gaines have put out a collection of new music since 1990's Against The Law album. [Any future references to "Sweet" in this review will be referring to Michael, the band's leader, main songwriter, and No More Hell To Pay's producer].
Rather than mellowing with age, Stryper seem to get heavier. They've always been heavy, mind you...their handful of late 80s pop-metal radio and video hits has always tended to obscure that fact, however. There's certainly nothing poppy about album opener "Revelation", with its ominous riffage and bleak Book of Revelation-referencing lyrics warning that "Sin is counted and the fee is tolled" and "Blood will run and turn the waters red". It's followed by the title track, which drops down the tempo from its predecessor, while losing none of the beefy presence of Robert Sweet's percussion and Gaines' bass, nor the six-string crunch and signature dual lead guitar harmonies of Fox and Sweet. As Sweet discusses in this recent interview, Stryper's newest album draws inspiration in its title, heaviness, and eye-catching album artwork from the band's best-known release, 1986's To Hell With The Devil. The foursome ratchets up the heavy level yet again with the rapid-fire delivery of "Saved By Love" (where Sweet's ridiculously broad vocal range hits intense levels that sound downright violent during parts of the choruses), "Legacy" (where the singer conversely shows one of his rare vocal limitations by unconvincingly pulling off the snarled lyrics during the verses), the fiery "Te Amo" (meaning "I love you" in Spanish), and album closer "Renewed", a track that reflects the strong influence of Judas Priest on the Christian outfit. The fitting "Jesus Is Just Alright", originally recorded by The Art Reynolds Singers in 1965 and later popularized by The Doobie Brothers, further demonstrates Stryper's knack for adding their own engaging spin on classic rock favourites. "The One" is No More Hell To Pay's lone subdued number, a solid guitar power ballad that inventively recycles the falsetto vocal melody from the song "Blue Bleeds Through" off Sweet's 2000 solo album, Truth. "Sticks & Stones", "Water Into Wine", and "Sympathy" adhere more to Stryper's melodic hard rock side, with the latter track dipping back into the sound of the band's Sunset Strip early days on the guitar, bass, and drum parts during the intro and verses, before smoothly transitioning into a memorable chorus that feels much more contemporary.
Sterling musicianship, great production, and just one weak track amongst its 12 songs ("Marching Into Battle") add up to No More Hell To Pay being the best hard rock or metal album I heard in 2013, maintaining the high standard reestablished on Murder By Pride. It arguably stands as Stryper's strongest album yet, an inspiring feat for a band that celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. Sweet's 2014 looks to be very busy - in conjunction with a Stryper tour, he's also releasing both a new solo album and autobiography in May.
Rating: A
Released theatrically in January
The last time playwright Tracy Letts adapted a screenplay from his own work, it was for 2011's Killer Joe (which I reviewed here), a disturbing film that featured one hard-to-forget scene involving (*uncomfortable cough*) chicken being used as a rough sex toy. Letts' newest screenplay is for the poultry-free August: Osage County, which is based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2007 play and directed by John Wells of ER and The West Wing fame. Winnowed down to two hours from the rural Oklahoma-set play's running time of three-and-a-half hours, the film abounds with powerhouse performances from an impressive cast that inhabit some exceptionally dysfunctional characters exploring the film's rather unpredictable storylines.
Meryl Streep leads the way as the foul-mouthed Violet Weston, whose husband (played by an always-solid Sam Shepard) has taken his own life shortly after the film begins, thereby setting up an unexpected family reunion as the Weston clan returns home for the funeral. Streep, in a bravely unglamorous performance, plays a character ravaged by the tolls of both a painkiller addiction and mouth cancer, although the latter is a bit of a heavy-handed metaphorical touch from Letts. Violet reveals her toxic personality in August: Osage County's first scene and the character scarcely lets up her vitriol dispensation for the remainder of the movie. The congregation of her immediate and extended family under one roof (where most of the film takes place) presents Violet with ample opportunities to carve into just about everyone who crosses her path with a measured, almost predator-like approach. The nastiest venom is saved for her three daughters: Barbara (played by Julia Roberts, who really shines playing her most meaty and least likable character yet) returns with her sullen 14-year-old daughter (played by Abigail Breslin) and estranged husband (played by Ewan McGregor); the flighty Karen (played by the reliably flighty Juliette Lewis) shows up with her slimy sugar daddy fiancé (played by an also typecast Dermot Mulroney); and Ivy, the middle daughter who never moved away or married (admirably played by Julianne Nicholson with an understated approach). As great as Streep and Roberts are, and as standout as the film's centrepiece scene featuring a lengthy dinner involving all of the principal actors is, it's the scene between Chris Cooper (playing Violet's brother-in-law) and Margo Martindale (playing his wife) that emerges as August: Osage County's strongest, as Cooper's character gives a stern tongue-lashing to his wife for her constant berating of their bumbling son (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) and the exhausting hatefulness that is the defining trait of the Weston family. The scene is relatively brief, but packs the greatest emotional heft I've seen in a movie in recent years.
Surprisingly, August: Osage County only rates a 58 score on Metacritic, indicating that what some considered substantial performances from actors armed with sharp dialogue exploring complex characters within a fractious family dynamic, others apparently deemed bombastic scenery chewing from a cast dominated by deeply unhappy and unpleasant characters. I understand the latter viewpoint (this is not a movie that's exactly light on both showy acting performances or unsympathetic characters), but fail to agree with it. Heed my advice and spend a couple of hours with this highly dysfunctional lot.
Rating: A-
Released February 2nd
U2, in typically unsubtle fashion, debuted "Invisible" during Sunday's Super Bowl game with a flashy one minute teaser commercial for the track that directed fans to iTunes to download the song for free for the next 24 hours. Every download during that period resulted in $1 being donated by Bank of America to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is affiliated with (RED), U2 singer Bono's charity. Over $3 million was raised, surpassing Bank of America's original commitment of up to $2 million, with a million downloads coming in the first hour alone after the commercial aired. As much as I was initially quite uncomfortable with my favourite band aligning themselves with a company from an industry as crooked as the U.S. banking industry, the highly worthwhile end result of the pair's venture helps ease that discomfort. A little.
"Invisible" is not a radical departure for the band: there's the familiar electronic elements (a keyboard refrain, electronic drums, and a strobing percussive beat not dissimilar to the one from "Beautiful Day"), The Edge's power chords and chiming guitars, and a fine vocal performance conveying Bono's defiant and uplifting lyrics (inspired by the band's early days as they struggled to find their identity and stand out in the musical crowd). As fairly "safe" as the song may be for the quartet, it's still damn good and inspires strong optimism for the rest of their highly anticipated new album, which is being finished up and is slated for a late spring/early summer release. It's certainly far better than the song they released late last year for the film Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, "Ordinary Love".
Unorthodoxly, "Invisible" is not the album's first official single, just a sneak preview of things to come (and was chosen because "it's the first one we finished", Bono jokingly told USA Today in a recent interview). In another interview with the BBC following the release of "Invisible", he also revealed that the band wanted to return to smaller venues for their next tour and interestingly questioned the accessibility of "Invisible", as well as U2's relevance today. That the biggest band on the planet doesn't appear to be feeling complacent and sounds hungry to prove that the disappointing critical and commercial reception of their last release, 2009's first-rate No Line On The Horizon, was not the beginning of U2's downward spiral also bodes well for the upcoming album. All I know is that seeing the group in full-on performance mode once again in the commercial, complete with Bono doing a cocksure strut on stage that surely must add fuel to the fire for his many haters (and makes us fans love him even more), has me mightily jacked up for U2 in 2014.
Rating: A
(February 12th edit: I replaced the one minute "Invisible" clip/commercial with the full official video that was released yesterday)
Related Mediaboy Musings posts: my September 2009 review of U2's Toronto show on their 360 Tour, June 2010 review of U2's 360° At The Rose Bowl Blu-ray, July 2011 review of U2's Toronto show on their 360 Tour, and October 2011 review of the band's From The Sky Down documentary
Released January 14th
Advance notice of High Hopes, Bruce Springsteen's 18th studio album, being an "odds and ends" collection of songs reined in my expectations for it. Really, how many of these kinds of "stopgap" albums made up of covers, unreleased material, and reworked versions of previously released songs from any artist ever stand out as memorable? Very few. That being said, the late November announcement of the album still managed to get me a little giddy, as us hardcore Springsteen fans continue to enjoy one of the most prolific periods of the man's 40 year career. High Hopes, which bizarrely was accidentally put on sale by Amazon on December 28th two-and-a-half weeks before its official release date (and then widely circulated on file sharing networks), is Springsteen's sixth studio album to come out since 2005's Devils & Dust.
The cover songs: Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who has made numerous live guest appearances with Springsteen since 2008 and was temporarily filling in for E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt during Springsteen's 2013 Australian tour, suggested the rockabilly-style number for their live set that would become the album's title track and lead single (note: although a more stripped-down version of the song was first released by Springsteen in 1996 on his obscure Blood Brothers EP, I'm still categorizing it as a cover). Here, the full force of the E Street Band (expanded to a whopping 19 members now, including Morello) adds significantly more layers to the track with the contributions of Morello's trademark unconventional guitar style, backup singers, and horns that inject needed life into a mediocre bit of songwriting, which was originally recorded by L.A. band The Havelinas. Appearing on three-quarters of High Hopes' 12 tracks, Morello's surprisingly heavy presence on the album reflects the substantial inspiration that Springsteen has gotten from the guitarist in recent years. A satisfying cover of Australian punk act The Saints' "Just Like Fire Would" is the most obvious song on High Hopes that adheres closest to the "classic Springsteen" sound, with Max Weinberg's powerful drumming, walls of guitars, plenty of keyboards, and counter-harmony vocals from Van Zandt. "Dream Baby Dream", originally recorded by 70s punk band Suicide, closes the album on a lyrically optimistic note, but the song's repetitive structure doesn't make it a terribly memorable addition to Springsteen's catalog.
The reworked songs: Like "Land Of Hope And Dreams", which also debuted on Springsteen's turn-of-the-millenium reunion tour and took many years to finally make it onto a studio album (2012's Wrecking Ball), the sombre "American Skin (41 Shots)" stands as one of Springsteen's finest works. Written about the 1999 killing of an unarmed immigrant named Amadou Diallo by the NYPD, the song took on new relevance and was returned to Springsteen's live set following the February 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida. This updated version, while still excellent and bolstered by a soulful Morello solo, for me doesn't quite retain the power of the lengthy live version featuring solo vocal contributions from some of the E Street Band members that was first released on 2001's Live In New York City album/DVD. The title track from 1995's folky The Ghost Of Tom Joad album (one of the few decent songs from perhaps my least favourite Springsteen release) faithfully recreates the live jam-heavy full-band version that Morello has frequently guested on, as well as covered on Rage Against The Machine's Renegades album. It's on this tenth track where Morello seems to have overstayed his welcome, however, with a solo vocal turn on one of the verses (his voice is decidedly bland) and excessive guitar wankery. It's a real uphill climb past the record scratching sounds he pulls out of his guitar at the six-and-a-half minute mark of the arduously seven-and-a-half minute song.
The previously unreleased songs: The seven songs unheard by all but the most diehard Springsteen disciples via bootlegs present a rather mixed bag. Most notable are the songs from the early 2000s written for The Rising album: the profanity-laced "Harry's Place" effectively sets the scene of a grungy crime world ruled by the titular character and is anchored by an E Street Band groove, along with the welcome, yet bittersweet sounds of the late Clarence Clemons' saxophone; the subdued "Down In The Hole" feels like a close relative of Springsteen's "I'm On Fire" and also keeps the spirit of another deceased E Streeter alive with the inclusion of a solo from organist Danny Federici, who died in 2008; Federici's organ sings again on the beautiful "The Wall", High Hopes' best track that was written by Springsteen after visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Somewhere in the middle in terms of quality rests "Frankie Fell In Love", and pulling up the rear are filler tracks "Hunter Of Invisible Game", the grating "Heaven's Wall" (featuring mumbled Springsteen vocals and more Morello guitar excess), and the forgettable "This Is Your Sword".
There are some gems to be found amongst the disparate material that makes up the middling High Hopes and that's better than nothing for a lot of us Springsteen fans. After all, this is an artist who had a stretch between 1987 and 2002 where he only released five studio albums, so we'll take just about whatever we can get out of The Boss now during the home stretch of his career.
Rating: C+
Related Mediaboy Musings posts: my August 2012 review of Springsteen's Toronto stop on his Wrecking Ball Tour, March 2012 review of Springsteen's Wrecking Ball album, June 2011 tribute to Clarence Clemons, and November 2010 review of Springsteen's London Calling: Live In Hyde Park Blu-ray
All 15 episodes from season four released in May on Netflix
The resurrection of Arrested Development for a fourth season easily ranks as the most disappointing television viewing experience this reviewer has ever had. The fast-paced and edgy comedy, which I had considered the funniest TV show I'd ever seen next to Seinfeld, premiered on Fox in 2003 and received huge critical acclaim, but garnered anemic ratings and was cancelled after three seasons. Fox's mismanagement of the show didn't help matters - they infamously burned off the final four episodes of it opposite the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics. A loyal post-cancellation following cultivated by DVD sales and streaming services gave show creator Mitchell Hurwitz the traction to bring back all of the original cast members for 15 new episodes, which were released simultaneously in May on Netflix. Sadly, season four falls astonishingly short of the admittedly ridiculously high bar that was established during Arrested Development's initial run.
Freed up from network TV constraints, Hurwitz and his writers take the unconventional approach of structuring each episode around one principal character, with each episode running longer than the traditional 22 minute format at anywhere from 28 to 37 minutes (commercial free, of course). I'm the first to bemoan the dumbing down of TV these days, but the ambitious and unorthodox story structure utilized here, while an intriguing idea, simply fails to work. And those extended running times just make the whole thing not work for that much longer. Arrested Development's previous biggest strength was the interplay and chemistry between its outstanding large ensemble cast (which is second-to-none in TV comedy history, in my opinion) and although everyone may be back, that crucial element is drastically cut back during season four. Main characters Michael Bluth (played by Jason Bateman), his son George Michael (played by Michael Cera), his mother Lucille (played by Jessica Walter), his father George Sr. (played by Jeffrey Tambor), his brothers Buster (played by Tony Hale) and Gob (played by Will Arnett), his sister Lindsay (played by Portia de Rossi), Lindsay's husband Tobias (played by David Cross), and their daughter Maeby (played by Alia Shawkat) don't get nearly enough interaction with each other. Long stretches pass with distracting absences from some of the main actors, with the storylines relying far too much instead on contributions from lame new characters like Kristen Wiig and Seth Rogen as a younger George Sr. and Lucille, comedian Maria Bamford as an addict, Isla Fisher as the object of Michael's affection, and Chris Diamantopoulos as a character with a facial recognition disorder. There's also an overreliance on a number of returning supporting players, including characters played by Liza Minnelli, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller, James Lipton, Carl Weathers, and Henry Winkler. Ron Howard, one of the show's executive producers and its narrator, is also overused in appearances playing himself as a producer on a film about the Bluth family, one of the many storylines that never achieve liftoff. Other main plots involving a shady land deal orchestrated by George Sr., the marital strife between Lucille and George Sr., the mounting of a Fantastic Four musical, and an app designed by George Michael are even more labyrinthian and complex than the elaborate storylines used during seasons 1-3, but it all just feels far too convoluted and doesn't deliver a satisfying payoff when the plotlines eventually intersect and provide some much-needed clarity.
Fresh off a repeat marathon viewing of all 53 episodes from Arrested Development's brilliant first three seasons on DVD prior to watching season four, it was probably inevitable that a letdown with the revived show was to follow. Even with lowered expectations, though, I was completely unprepared for just how much of its mojo the show would lose. At one point during season four, I was conscious that I had laughed maybe twice over the entirety of three episodes, and I'd be hard-pressed to find a single episode from seasons 1-3 that didn't have me laughing at least a half dozen times. By the midway point of the latest season, as it became clearer and clearer that the comedy was not going to right itself from its protracted stumble, I resigned myself to the fact that the show's sterling legacy had been tainted. I continued watching right through the 15th episode, but more out of sheer fanboy obligation than anything else. Frankly, I couldn't wait for the last car in this trainwreck to finally come to a merciful stop.
Rating: D
