Movie review: ‘Margin Call’
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. 3 1/4 of 4 stars.
Movie review: ‘Margin Call’
Writer-director J.C. Chandor’s makes his feature film debut with a taut, compelling indie that boasts an A-levesl cast, including Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, Stanley Tucci and Zachary Quinto.
Writer-director J.C. Chandor makes a sterling feature film debut with the Wall Street thriller “Margin Call,” a worthy fictional counterpart to the Charles Ferguson’s Oscar-winning documentary “Inside Job,” which also delves into the 2008 financial meltdown.
Chandor’s taut, compelling indie boasts an A-level cast, including Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, Stanley Tucci and Zachary Quinto, who simply refuse to make the traders, risk analysts and executives at a nameless investment bank mustache-twirling villains. Instead, the film highlights the mindset of unbridled arrogance and avarice that led to the continuing economic crisis — and not all the bad guys are wearing Armani suits.
“Margin Call” is showing at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive. For more information, call 236-3100 or go to www.okcmoa.com.
The boardroom potboiler takes place in one grueling 36-hour period on the cusp of the fiscal calamity, and it starts with a bleak sign of the things to come: A human resources team sweeps through the bank (loosely based on Lehman Brothers) conducting mass layoffs. Keep in mind the crisis has not truly struck yet, hinting at the soullessness at play here.
Despite his 19-year tenure with the firm, risk manager Eric Dale (Tucci) is among the axed employees. His protests that he is working on something important fall on deaf ears, and he is unceremoniously escorted out the door, his company cell phone and email immediately switched off.
Before he leaves, Eric passes a flash drive containing the unfinished business to his protégé, rocket-scientist-turned-junior-risk-analyst Peter Sullivan (Quinto) with a warning to “be careful.”
After hours, Peter crunches Eric’s unfinished numbers and makes a stunning discovery: The firm has taken on too many risks and too many toxic assets, particularly of the subprime mortgage variety, and it teeters on the brink of a full-blown collapse.
Peter quickly dials up fellow junior analyst Seth Bregman (Penn Badgley), a callow youth obsessed with how much money people make, and demands he retrieve their boss, slick Brit Will Emerson (Bettany), from a nearby bar.
Once Emerson arrives back at the office and checks Peter’s math, he begins to sound alarms, first calling in sardonic sales manager Sam Rogers (Spacey), who passes the bad news further up the chain of command.
By 2 a.m., smugly icy head of securities Jared Cohen (Simon Baker) and brittlely contained head of risk Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore) have grimly assessed the situation. By 4, charmingly reptilian CEO John Tuld (Irons) has literally swooped in to suss out the damage.
In keeping with the theme that those higher up the chain make more money but are less familiar with the firm’s complex trading strategies, Tuld asks Peter to “speak to me as you would a small boy or a golden retriever.”
But it’s clear that Tuld was already prepared for Peter’s discovery, as he swiftly reveals his coldblooded solution: a fire sale in which the firm will sell off its worthless toxic assets before anyone catches wind of its dilemma. The morally problematic move will betray the firm’s clients, force its traders to destroy their own jobs and tank the market in an effort to save the bank, or at least the upper managers’ fortunes.
Irons has made a career of playing shady characters with casual ease, and his Tuld is more utterly corrupt than wholly evil, arguing that he never cheats but showing a ruthless disregard for anyone’s affairs but his own.
Spacey’s Sam becomes the moral compass of the film. While he seems too distracted by his dog’s fatal illness to care much about the layoffs, he is appalled at Tuld’s fire sale idea and torn between his personal stake in the firm and the ethical implications of the scheme.
But Bettany gets the best speech as his callous but likeable trader scathingly predicts that “normal people” will crucify Wall Street for being too reckless after years of enjoying houses and cars they couldn’t really afford.
“Margin Call” will receive the Robert Altman Award, given to a film’s director, casting director and ensemble of actors, at next month’s Film Independent’s Spirit Awards.
Chandor, whose father worked for 30 years at Merrill Lynch, brings a savvy ability to keep even boardroom scenes interesting, a sharply written script and a well-placed faith in his cast to his first feature. He doesn’t even show the crisis-inducing numbers, instead depending on the actors’ horror-struck reactions to convey the direness of the situation. The auteur explains the financial scenario in plain but incomplete fashion; for instance, he never bothers to explain the film’s title for those who may be unfamiliar with the term.
Still, “Margin Call” ranks among the top dramas ever made about Wall Street.
— BAM
Blu-ray review: ‘Serendipity’
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Serendipity”
One of my all-time favorite romantic comedies, the 2001 hit “Serendipity” finally gets gift-wrapped in high-definition with its long-awaited Blu-ray release.
Filmed largely on location in New York City, including famed landmarks like Central Park, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the Serendipity 3 restaurant, “Serendipity” is an uncommonly beautiful rom-com. Well worth the Blu-ray treatment, the film looks as crisp and warm as the seasonal festivities that open the twisty tale.
Although I’m not generally a fan of the genre, “Serendipity” is the rare rom-com that is both unabashedly romantic and uproariously funny. It ponders big questions about the interaction of fate and free will but with a light, lively touch. Most importantly, the film sparkles with great chemistry, particularly between pre-“2012” cinematic apocalypse John Cusack and pre-“Underworld” vampire warrior Kate Beckinsale.
A few days before Christmas, affable Jonathan (Cusack) and fetching Sara (Beckinsale) meet cute when they reach for the same pair of gloves at Bloomingdale’s. Although they are both involved with other people, the strangers feel an instant connection and spend a magical Manhattan evening together.
At the end of the night, Jonathan wants to exchange phone numbers or at least last names, but Sara decides to leave their budding relationship to destiny. He writes his full name and phone number on a $5 bill that she promptly spends, and she writes her contact info in a copy of “Love in the Time of Cholera” that she promptly sells to a used bookstore. If they’re meant to be together, she reasons, they will find the clues and reunite.
Years later, Jonathan has given up his dream of becoming a documentary filmmaker in favor of working as a producer for ESPN, and he is engaged to the sweet but vanilla Halley (Bridget Moynahan). Sara, who has moved to San Francisco, soured on fate and become a pragmatic psychiatrist-in-training, has just become betrothed to Lars (John Corbett), a romantic but career-obsessed New Age musician.
In the days before his wedding, Jonathan ropes his faithful best friend Dean (Jeremy Piven), a witty obituary writer for the New York Times, into a last-ditch effort to find Sara, which entangles them with a smarmy Bloomingdale’s salesman (Eugene Levy). Under the guise of a girls’ weekend, Sara drags her loyal BFF Eve (Molly Shannon), a cynical New Age store owner, to NYC in a desperate attempt to track down Jonathan. The colorful characters, near misses and crazy coincidences on their parallel quests make the expected happy ending even sweeter.
The Blu-ray doesn’t come with any new bonus material, although it does include all the special features from the 2002 DVD release, including director Peter Chelsom’s commentary and production diary. The deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurette and storyboard comparisons are presented in standard definition, showing just how much better the movie looks after its Blu-ray upgrade.
—BAM
BAM’s all-Oklahoma top 10 albums of 2011
A version of this column appears in Wednesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
BAM’s top 10 albums of 2011
Column: Oklahoma recording artists from across the musical spectrum made beautiful music and reached impressive milestones in the year just past.
For fans of Oklahoma music, it’s hard to imagine a more exciting year than 2011.
Tulsa Sound pioneer Leon Russell finally made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then the Songwriters Hall of Fame for good measure, Owasso-based country star Garth Brooks joined Uncle Leon in the songwriters’ club, and Chockie ranch girl Reba McEntire and Pauls Valley native Jean Shepard were ushered into country’s hallowed hall.
Tishomingo denizens Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert squeezed in their wedding between his reality TV breakout on NBC’s “The Voice” and the release of his latest LP and her launch of side project Pistol Annies and work on not one but two albums. On the red dirt scene, Cody Canada & The Departed arrived to soothe those saddened by the breakup of Cross Canadian Ragweed, while The Great Divide reunited after more than eight years after the original lineup split.
Maud native and rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson teamed with White Stripe Jack White to make a barn burner of a comeback record, former Tulsan Ronnie Dunn made his solo debut after two decades with country duo Brooks & Dunn, and teenage Internet sensation Greyson Chance of Edmond and country duo Thompson Square, featuring Miami, OK, native Keifer Thompson, released splashy debut albums.
Oklahoma City-based rock ’n’ roll mad scientists the Flaming Lips experimented the year away, recording six- and 24-hour-long songs; releasing music on USB drives encased in gummy fetuses, $5,000 real human skulls and strobe-light gizmos; and finally inviting Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon to ring in 2012 at their fifth annual New Year’s Eve Freakout.
With all those milestones, the decision to make my top 10 albums list of 2011 an all-Okie affair was easy. Figuring out who would make the final cut, now that was hard.
1. Miranda Lambert “Four the Record” (RCA Nashville) and Pistol Annies “Hell on Heels” (Columbia Nashville)
The Texas native not only fired off a fourth solo album even better than its Grammy-winning, game-changing predecessor (2009’s “Revolution”) but also lit the fuse on a doozy of a side project with her all-girl trio Pistol Annies. Between the two albums, she wrote or co-wrote 14 songs and cut a total of two-dozen, matching her impressive output with prodigious quality.
On “Four the Record,” she confidently covers a wide range of topics, emotions and musical styles, from the blazing bad-girl anthem “Fastest Girl in Town” and the galloping breakup freakout “Mama’s Broken Heart” to the affectionate celebration of diversity “All Kinds of Kinds” to the gorgeous ode to her adopted home state “Oklahoma Sky.”
With their first effort as the Pistol Annies, Lambert and fellow singer-songwriters Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley ignited the country charts with their old-school sound, sharp songsmithing and take-no-prisoners attitude. They’re pretty, they’re smart, and they’re going to say and do whatever they want. And they’re coming for you.
2. Cody Canada & The Departed “This Is Indian Land” (Underground Sound/Apex Nashville)
I can’t think of a better entrance for a new band so rooted in Oklahoma’s red dirt scene than this homage to the state’s songwriting greats. The Departed — former Cross Canadian Ragweed singer/songwriter/guitarist Canada, ex-Ragweed bassist/singer Jeremy Plato, Texas guitarist Seth James, Tulsa keyboardist/organist Steve Littleton and Yukon drummer David Bowen — tunefully pay tribute to the finely crafted story-songs of Tom Skinner, Bob Childers, Greg Jacobs and more with a debut that leaves you eager for more.
3. Wanda Jackson “The Party Ain’t Over (Nonesuch/ Third Man Records)
As he did with Loretta Lynn on her 2004 album, “Van Lear Rose,” producer/guitarist Jack White — the rocker best known for fronting The White Stripes — again demonstrates his masterful knack for celebrating a veteran performer’s storied past while still pushing her out of her comfort zone. This “Party” celebrates Jackson’s rock ’n’ roll trailblazing with smoking covers of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates’ “Shakin’ All Over” and Bob Dylan’s “Thunder on the Mountain” and recalls her country and gospel days with a funked-up version of “Dust on the Bible” and a stripped-down rendition of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Blue Yodel #6.” At 74, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is still “the sweet lady with the nasty voice.”
4. The Damn Quails “Down the Hatch” (598 Recordings)
After just two years of making music as a duo, Norman-based singer-songwriters Bryon White and Gabriel Marshall earned national and international acclaim with their debut album, which features a rootsy sound both distinctly Oklahoman and uniquely their own. As each of the 14 earthy tracks comes “Down the Hatch,” it becomes increasingly clear the fertile Oklahoma music scene has nurtured a pair of exceptionally talented country-folk performers. Get the binoculars; you’re going to want to watch these birds.
5. Broncho “Can’t Get Past the Lips” (self released)
Here’s what I love about Oklahoma music: It turns out The Damn Quails weren’t the only Norman-based upstarts who released a standout debut record in the year just past. Broncho, the side project for Starlight Mints keyboardist Ryan Lindsey, forcefully declared that punk was not dead with its brawny, frenetic “Can’t Get Past the Lips.” As a bonus, the manic standout track “Try Me Out Sometime” deservedly made NPR’s list of five garage rock favorites from 2011.
6. Stoney LaRue “Velvet” (B Side Music Group)
Warm, smooth and surprisingly mellow, the red dirt star’s long-awaited second studio album fulfilled the promise of its luxurious title. The follow-up to “The Red Dirt Album,” the Edmond resident’s 2005 debut studio effort, “Velvet” was more than worth the wait, showcasing a more mature, finely crafted sound that maintains its rootsy authenticity.
7. Other Lives “Tamer Animals” (TBD Records)
After 14 months of painstakingly sculpting their sophomore album in their Stillwater studio space, the orchestral pop-rockers were richly rewarded for the elegantly lovely fruits of their labor: The band toured with Bon Iver in 2011, and they are joining none other than Radiohead on the road in February. Catch them in concert Jan. 26 at Tulsa’s Fassler Hall or Jan. 27 at Oklahoma City’s Blue Note Lounge because we will soon be forced to love Other Lives and their evocative music from afar.
8. Colourmusic “My __ is Pink” (Memphis Industries)
Like Other Lives, experimental rock quartet Colourmusic spent months in its Stillwater recording lab conjuring up its second album. With “Pink,” the neo-psychedelic wizards tried out a distinctively different sonic formula from their fantastic 2008 debut “F, Monday, Orange, February, Venus, Lunatic, 1 or 13.” Although their sophomore effort featured a much tougher and more aggressive sound, it maintained those beautifully mesmerizing melodies. I still get goose bumps on my goose bumps hearing their 10-minute epic “The Little Death (In Five Parts).”
9. Vince Gill “Guitar Slinger” (MCA Nashville)
The Country Music Hall of Famer was never going to match the scope and audacity of his four-disc, 43-track box set “These Days,” which won the 2006 Grammy for best country album and earned an overall album of the year nomination. But the Norman-born, Oklahoma City-bred singer/songwriter/guitarist didn’t disappoint with his 12-track follow-up, which channeled Motown with “Tell Me Fool,” memorialized Billie Holiday on “When the Lady Sings the Blues” and passionately pondered life and mortality on the Grammy-nominated first single “Threaten Me With Heaven.”
10. St. Vincent “Strange Mercy” (4AD)
The Tulsa-born singer/songwriter/guitarist also known as Annie Clark continues to make music reminiscent of a diamond-bladed scalpel: The otherworldly vocals and lush melodies possess a delicate beauty, but St. Vincent’s pointed lyrics and finely honed guitar hooks will cut you open as ruthlessly as the “Surgeon” she pleads with on her third album.
-BAM
Blu-ray review: “Kung Fu Panda 2”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Kung Fu Panda 2 Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy
With “Kung Fu Panda 2,” one of DreamWorks Animation’s most winning adventures gains a nimble successor as well as a canny setup for a third film.
As expected, the sequel to the 2008 blockbuster lands a strong one-two punch with its fists-of-fury action and uproarious if sometimes over-the-top comedy. Surprisingly, “Kung Fu Panda 2” also happens to be far more visually striking than it has to be. Director Jennifer Yuh and her talented team effectively transport viewers to ancient China and deftly use various animation styles to tell different parts of the storytelling.
In his second cinematic outing, loveable Po the panda (voiced by Jack Black, who reaffirms that he was perfectly cast) has achieved his dream of joining the Furious Five — Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Mantis (Seth Rogen) and Crane (David Cross) — the famed kung fu-fighting protectors of the Valley of Peace. Although he is now a skilled warrior and leader of the band, Po is still a bit like the Five’s awkward younger brother with his pudgy physique, cuddly goofiness and hero-worshipping enthusiasm.
Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), who instructs Po and the Five, informs the panda that he won’t be a true kung fu master until he achieves inner peace, which for Po means delving into his mysterious origins. After all, his restaurateur dad, Mr. Ping (James Hong), is a goose who has been less than willing to discuss how he came to father a panda.
The secrets of Po’s puzzling past are painfully revealed when the villainous Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), a crafty albino peacock, reemerges from exile leading a pack of vicious wolves and wielding a devastating secret weapon that threatens the very existence of kung fu.
“Kung Fu Panda 2” ups the ante in many ways, bringing Michelle Yeoh, Dennis Haysbert and Jean-Claude Van Damme to the A-list voice cast, boosting the intensity of the fight sequences and adding even bigger action set pieces. But the sequel makes its greatest strides artistically: The realism of the computer-animated action contrasts effectively with the clever flashbacks, which are done in a hand-drawn style, and the gorgeous prologue, which calls to mind ancient Chinese shadow puppets.
The best of the Blu-ray features is an interactive “animation inspiration” map that shows how different locales in the movie were inspired by actual Chinese landmarks. The Blu-ray also offers the options of playing the movie with a trivia track or “The Animators’ Corner,” which incorporates behind-the-scenes interviews and drawings.
Other bonus features include the fun new animated short “Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters,” an episode of the Nickelodeon series “Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness,” filmmakers commentary, deleted scenes, cast interviews, games and a Mandarin Chinese language lesson.
— BAM
CD review: The Beach Boys “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Holiday
The Beach Boys “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album” (Capitol)
The notion of merging The Beach Boys’ surf rock sound with seasonal carols undoubtedly seemed incongruous back in 1964. But nearly five decades later, Gen Xers like me have grown up with the rollicking “Little Saint Nick,” the bopping “The Man with All the Toys” and the toe-tapping tale of youth disillusionment “Santa’s Beard” and couldn’t imagine the holidays without “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album.”
Capitol Records has once again reissued the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ perennially popular Christmas effort. This year’s edition has been digitally remastered, making the sun-kissed merriment sound better than ever, but it also has been restored to its original 12-song tracklist. Other reissues have included various bonus tracks, and without the extra songs, the CD runs less than half and hour.
The album opens with five original songs, including a spirited tribute to “Christmas Day,” which features Al Jardine’s first recorded solo as a Beach Boy, and the drab seasonal breakup ballad “Merry Christmas, Baby.”
Brian Wilson did the vocal arrangements for the album’s seven holiday standards, which beautifully showcase the group’s tight vocal harmonies. Backed by a 40-piece orchestra, the quintet offers a fittingly bouncy rendition of “Frosty the Snowman,” an appropriately reverent reading of “We Three Kings of Orient Are” and a playfully jazzy cover of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.” The band’s California sun-and-fun vibe gives “White Christmas” an extra layer of longing.
Between the original 1964 album artwork and the late Dennis Wilson’s earnest holiday greeting during “Auld Lang Syne,” the reissue has a high nostalgia factor, but “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album” really deserves to be a part of any rock fan’s holiday collection.
— BAM
Blu-ray review: “Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray Edition”
A version of this review appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray Edition”
The always kaleidoscopic science-fiction series “Farscape” gets even more colorful and otherworldly with a high-definition upgrade well worth the wait and the premium price.
All too often, revisiting a late, great sci-fi show becomes a bit of a laughing matter when storytelling and special effects are revealed as less extraordinary than viewers’ memories of them. With “Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray Edition,” the series’ famously loyal fans won’t be disappointed: The space opera with its complicated characters, eye-popping special effects and mind-bending plotlines looks light-years more beautiful and bizarre than it did during its 1999-2003 run on cable television or on the previous standard DVD box set.
Arguably the most vivid, daring and imaginative sci-fi series ever to air on TV, the cult favorite follows the wild adventures of astronaut/scientist John Crichton (Ben Browder), who gets caught up in a wormhole while making a space flight in an experimental craft of his own design. The wormhole flings him into a distant galaxy, and he emerges in the middle of a prison break aboard a vast living ship, or Leviathan, named Moya.
The inmates — temperamental Luxan warrior Ka D’Argo (Anthony Simcoe), bright blue Delvian high priestess and empath Zhaan (Virginia Hey) and arrogant deposed royal Dominar Rygel (a Jim Henson Co. puppet voiced by Jonathan Hardy) — and Moya’s wise, multi-armed Pilot (another puppet voiced by Lani Tupu) bring Crichton on board but are as distrustful of him as they are of each other. They are joined by the fierce Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), a humanoid Sebacean and former member of the mercenary Peacekeepers, and later by mercurial Nebari thief Chiana (Gigi Edgley) and the unstable Stark (Paul Goddard), a Stykera with the ability to ease the pain of those passing to another realm.
While Crichton is determined to find a way back home, he is pursued by vengeful Peacekeeper Capt. Crais (Tupu again), whose brother the earthling accidentally killed when coming out of the wormhole. Later, ruthless scientist Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) hunts Crichton in the hopes of tapping the astronaut’s knowledge of wormholes.
Like any long-running sci-fi series, “Farscape” has its convoluted and hokey moments. But it remains consistently innovative, cleverly blending dynamic live action, state-of-the-art puppetry, impressive makeup and prosthetics and ahead-of-its-time computer-generated images.
Must-see episodes include the thought-provoking “A Human Reaction,” the dark fan favorite “Crackers Don’t Matter” and the Looney Tunes-inspired “Revenging Angel.”
To the outrage of fans, the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) abruptly canceled “Farscape,” ending it with a cliffhanger at the close of the fourth season. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray box set doesn’t include 2004 miniseries “Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars” that tied up the show’s storyline.
But the complete Blu-ray edition does include 15 hours of bonus features, which includes all the deleted scenes, commentaries and interviews from the 2009 DVD box set plus the new documentary “Memories of Moya: An Epic Journey Explored.”
— BAM
DVD review: “Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour Live CD+DVD”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour Live CD+DVD”
Two-time Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Taylor Swift again proves that such accolades are warranted with her “Speak Now World Tour Live CD+DVD,” which chronicles her second blockbuster headlining tour.
The DVD and CD feature different highlights from several of her shows smoothly edited together. As with her 2009-10 “Fearless” trek, Swift, who turned 22 this week, devised an eye-popping spectacle to accompany her confessional songs for her “Speak Now World Tour.” The teen-pleasing theatrics start with the opening number “Sparks Fly,” with Swift strutting from one end of the massive stage to the other in a fringed golden dress while aerialists dangle from the rafters and wave sparklers.
Backup dancers, costume changes, playacting and glitter cannons are all part of the show, which made fall stops in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Decked out in vintage clothing, a tap dancer pulls a switch that launches Swift high into the air from under the stage. Dressed in a lacy frock with her hair braided, the star plays the ganjo — a banjo with a guitar neck — on her recent hit “Mean” and fan favorite “Our Song.”
In sharp contrast to the dancer playing a snotty bride in a puffy gown, the singer-songwriter dons a royal blue halter dress, bouncy ponytail and short white gloves to crash the wedding in “Speak Now,” the title track of her third album. The lyrics about running away give Swift the perfect opportunity to take one of her trademark trips through her concert crowd.
After pausing for many high-fives and hugs, She emerges in the midst of the throng, where she sits under a glowing tree on a small platform to strum a ukulele to a medley of her “Fearless,” Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” and Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister.” She switches to acoustic guitar to play her heartbroken ballad “Last Kiss,” revisit Train with her cover of the band’s Grammy-winning “Drops of Jupiter” and start off her 2009 smash “You Belong With Me” before heading back to the main stage for more big musical set pieces.
Ballet dancers and ball gowns augment the fairytale “Enchanted,” and Swift literally rings the bell on the dramatic “Haunted.” She closes her set with the earnest fan tribute “Long Live” but returns for a glittery, high-flying encore of “Fifteen” and “Love Story.”
The CD includes fun covers of Kim Carnes 1981 chart-topper “Bette Davis Eyes” and The Jackson Five’s classic “I Want You Back,” along with a disappointingly flat rendition of Swift’s new single “Ours,” which won’t endear her to detractors who criticize her pop-country sound or uneven vocal performances.
DVD features: Home movie clips and tour rehearsal footage.
— BAM
CD review: Chicago “Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Holiday
Chicago “Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three” (Chicago Records II)
Venerable jazz-rockers Chicago serve up mostly smooth-as-eggnog renditions of seasonal standards on “Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three.”
Still, the band spikes its 33rd album and third holiday record with surprising guest stars and unexpected musical styles that sometimes enrich the album but occasionally leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
“O Christmas Three” marks the group’s first album since longtime singer/songwriter/keyboardist Bill Champlin departed in 2009. Still, Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, James Pankow and Walt Parazaider, who helped found Chicago back in 1967, remain with the group, with singer/bass guitarist Jason Scheff, lead guitarist Keith Howland, drummer Tris Imboden and new singer/keyboardist Lou Pardini joining them in the musical merrymaking.
Unfortunately, the band seems determined to please everyone that might stop by the party, unnecessarily muddling “O Christmas Three.” The album opens with a cover of “Wonderful Christmas Time” featuring Dolly Parton, but the Country Music Hall of Famer only drawls a few lines of the horn-centric rendition of the Paul McCartney favorite. BeBe Winans is a more likely match for the Chicago sound, but both the gospel crooner and the band’s signature horns sound uninspired rather than mellow on The Carpenters hit “Merry Christmas, Darling.”
But Chicago partners with fellow classic rockers America for a tunefully joyous version of the traditional carol “I Saw Three Ships,” and guitar great Steve Cropper helps make the playful R&B original “Rockin’ and Rollin’ on Christmas Day” an album highlight. The band cranks up the guitars along with the brass on a rollicking cover of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
The group’s calypso-inspired reinterpretation of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” may never supplant Andy Williams’ original classic, but the steel drum flourishes are irresistibly fun. The same can’t be said for the incongruous Brazilian jazz rendition of “My Favorite Things,” which attempts to match frenetic Latin beats with the show tune’s cozy imagery.
— BAM
DVD review: “Spongebob Squarepants: The Complete Seventh Season”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Spongebob Squarepants: The Complete Seventh Season”
The long-running adventures of a certain energetic, pineapple-dwelling sea creature wackily continue with “SpongeBob Squarepants: The Complete Seventh Season.”
The four-DVD set includes all 50 cartoons from the 26 episodes that aired from July 19, 2009, to Feb 26, 2011. It adds up to more than nine hours of the perpetually cheerful sponge’s eccentric bubble-blowing, jelly-fishing exploits, although several episodes already have been released on assorted DVD compilations.
Since Nickelodeon aired about 4 ½ hours of “SpongeBob SquarePants” in a single recent day, parents who feel like they and their children already get more than the recommended daily allowance of madcap deep-sea antics might be reluctant to add “The Complete Seventh Season” to their DVD collection.
But Fanatic followers of the yellow hero’s escapades will rejoice that the new collection marks the first time in years that an entire season of the show has been gathered in a single set rather than released in volumes.
The start of the seventh season coincided with the wildly popular cartoon’s 10th anniversary, and like many venerable shows, “SpongeBob” seems to have become more inconsistent with age. Some installments effervesce with the cartoon’s trademark off-kilter hilarity, including the double-episode “SpongeBob’s Last Stand,” in which SpongeBob (voice of Tom Kenny) and his starfish pal Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) channel the protest songs of the ‘60s to try to stop the construction of a super-highway that will destroy their beloved Jellyfish Fields.
In a clever play on the title character’s dual nature, SpongeBob literally gets an “Abrasive Side” when he wants to learn to say no to his friends, and my favorite characters, elderly superheroes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy (Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway) get starring roles in a pair of uproarious time-bending adventures.
But “SpongeBob” is scraping Bikini Bottom with clunker cartoons like “Big Sister Sam,” with Patrick’s even more dim-witted sibling paying a visit and causing chaos with her bullying ways, and “Trenchbillies,” which is just another tired outlet for mocking drawling, snaggle-toothed Southern stereotypes.
Bonus features: Several 30- to 90-second animated shorts based on the episodes “Back to the Past,” “Legends of Bikini Bottom,” “The Great Patty Caper” and “SpongeBob’s Last Stand.”
— BAM
CD review: David Nail “The Sound of a Million Dreams”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Country
David Nail “The Sound of a Million Dreams” (MCA Nashville)
The details make the difference on “The Sound of a Million Dreams,” the sophomore album from singer-songwriter David Nail.
With his 2009 debut effort, “I’m About to Come Alive,” Nail, 32, earned a Grammy nomination for best male country performance for “Turning Home” and an Academy of Country Music Award nod for single of the year for “Red Light.” Fans who made those previous singles top 20 hits should enjoy the follow-up album as Nail, who considers Glen Campbell one of his musical heroes, explores a modern-day take on the Countrypolitan sound.
Like most contemporary country artists, Nail’s music merges country storytelling with arena rock, pop and even R&B influences. Yes, his songs bear more obvious sonic resemblance to Fleetwood Mac, the Black Crowes and even Elton John than, say, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, but with his butter-rich vocals, the Missouri native is never going to be mistaken for gritty.
Once again, Nail proves that his strength is using that soulful voice to transport listeners into the songs and the places, feelings and stories in them. The album opener “Grandpa’s Farm,” includes many of the same lyrical ingredients as the glut of sloppy Southern-fried rural anthems on the country charts: honeysuckle, fishing and even dirt streets. But Nail makes you feel the sticky heat and see the sheets flapping on the clothesline as he woos a city girl visiting her country relatives to the tune of a funky country-blues groove complete with big-voiced gospel backup singers and playful piano flourishes.
He makes apparent his allegiances to multiple musical genres with the title track, a nostalgic piano ballad that references Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen and Haggard and conjures up memories of youthful follies and regrets.
Nail doesn’t sound like anyone else in mainstream contemporary country, but apparently, fans of the format are ready for his country-soul fusion. Lead-off single “Let It Rain,” a heart-piercing portrait of a man accepting the consequences of cheating on his wife and one of the three tracks Nail wrote or co-wrote, already has reached No. 9 on the Billboard country songs chart and is gaining ground.
— BAM
