A Little Sex
Lest we let an unsung hero skate by unsung, I offer a hearty thanks to U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, who last Friday granted a temporary restraining order against TMZ for posting a sex tape starring “Mini-Me” himself, Verne Troyer.
Gutierrez, perhaps sensing the chilling effect that such an explicit video could have for procreation of the human race, ruled that Troyer’s attorneys “demonstrated that he will suffer irreparable harm to his reputation” if the homemade video were distributed.
OK, fair enough. But if that is the criteria, one wonders why not slap an injunction against the producers and distributors of “The Love Guru“? Mike Myers’ ferociously unfunny comedy features the diminutive Troyer, evidently for the sole purpose of deriding little people. Troyer, who plays the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is asked to do little more than belch, toot and get punched in the privates. Oh, and let’s not forget his big scene: Getting shocked with defibrillator paddles.
Seems to me that a little on-camera nookie pales in comparison.
– Chase
Random 10 for June 30, 2008
1. Jackie DeShannon, “Bette Davis Eyes”
2. Mott the Hoople, “Hymn for the Dudes”
3. Hank Williams, “A Mansion on the Hill”
4. Patton Oswalt, “Here We Go”
5. Guster, “C’mon”
6. Wilco, “Heavy Metal Drummer” This clip, from the Wilco documentary, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” highlights Jeff Tweedy at his best. There is a fine line between genius and impenetrable, and Tweedy occasionally crosses it. Not here, though.
7. The Who, “Eminence Front” Needless to say, my iPod has its Eighties flashbacks.
8. Faith No More, “Easy” I can say without reservation this might be the best Commodores cover ever. Granted, the competition is about that of a Russian election, but still …
9. Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet, “Who Do You Think You Are?”
10. Johnny Cash, “Hurt”
– Chase
Pixar: The Winning Streak Continues
It was a banner weekend for summer movies. Pixar’s latest, “Wall-E,” took home the box-office honors, earning nearly $63 million in its first three days, tying 2001’s ”Monsters Inc” for the studio’s third all-time best opening. Coming in a respectable second was “Wanted,” a hypercaffeinated shoot-’em-up-slice-’em-up-blow-’em-up-my-that-Angelina-is-smokin’-hot action pic directed by Russian filmmaker Timor Bekmambetov.
Can Pixar do any wrong? While I can’t personally testify to the worth of “Wall-E,” its enthusastic critical reception tends to reinforce my belief that Pixar creative honcho John Lasseter, like ol’ Robert Johnson, wasn’t the only cat at the crossroads selling his soul for some supernatural talent.
As the father of two rugrats who has weathered his fair share of repeated viewings of Pixar pictures, I can attest to the films’ amazing durability. “Toy Story 2,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” are timeless classics, and they are generally absent a mean-spiritedness — to say nothing of some nagging racism and sexiasm – that mars some of Disney’s masterpieces of yesteryear.
– Chase
Music Review: Sam Phillips, “Don’t Do Anything” (Nonesuch)
Rating: 84
Two decades after abdicating her Contemporary Christian career as Leslie Phillips to become a high priestess of alternative pop, Sam Phillips still mesmerizes with melodic beauty and lyrical bite. As the female equivalent to Elvis Costello, Phillips can lacerate with her words while those honeyed melodies soothe, and her seventh secular disc, “Don’t Do Anything,” is full of such events — it is the first disc since her divorce from longtime producer T-Bone Burnett.
But while there are hints at anger, especially in the first words heard on “No Explanations” (“I thought if he understood, he wouldn’t treat me this way”) and the ghostly “Another Song” (“Did you ever love me?”), spite is not the overarching theme. But she’s clearly looking back at the wreckage: in “My Career in Chemistry,” Phillips sings “You’re the chemical that never did wear off” before a lyrical sigh: “Some experiment.”
Self-producing for the first time, Phillips gives “Don’t Do Anything” an elegant avant-pop sound that splits the difference between the baroque Beatleisms of “Martinis and Bikinis” and the pared-down “Fan Dance.” She reclaims “Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us,” the jangler she contributed to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Burnett-produced “Raising Sand,” delivering it with more bounce and less humid dread than the golden god and goddess displayed. Phillips is a widely unknown national treasure, but “Don’t Do Anything” delivers what her cheeky, cut-and-paste liner notes promise: “moods and diversions of a natural star,” and “a high degree of male hanky-panky.”
– GL
Movie Review: “Mongol”
Tadanobu Asano in “Mongol.”
Rating: 81
Never assume that historical dramas must be dry and ponderous — Sergei Bodrov’s “Mongol” is a thrilling, blood-and-guts action film about the early life of Genghis Khan. Between the awe-inspiring imagery and nearly endless series of power challenges and visceral splatter, “Mongol” delivers a fascinating story of how a 13th century warlord came to be.
“Mongol” begins by introducing 9-year-old Temudgin (Odnyam Odsuren), the son of Mongol king Egusei (Ba Sen). Egusei tells Temudgin to pick a mate from a group of tribal girls, instructing him on Mongolian feminine virtues, and in a decision that would repeatedly serve him well, the lad picks Borte (Bavertsetseg Erdenebat). She proves to be a strong, decisive bride who patiently waits for Temudgin after he is abducted and spends a decade in slavery.
Temudgin (played as an adult by Tadanobu Asano) grows strong and inherits Egusei’s rule as well as his enemies — Borte (Khulan Chuluun) is kidnapped by a rival tribe, and by the time he rescues her, she is third-trimester pregnant. She becomes indispensable to Temudgin, following the man who would become Genghis Khan into battle after battle — war scenes in which bloody mist is the prevailing image.
Many filmmakers have attempted to bring the story of Genghis Khan to the screen over the years, but the results generally range from mediocre to outright horrible. The most notorious was 1956’s laughable “The Conqueror,” starring John Wayne as Temudgin/Genghis Khan and Susan Hayward as Borte, and even as late as 1965, non-Asian actors such as Omar Sharif were taking on the Khan.
In contrast, Bodrov’s film has the ring of truth. Bodrov shot “Mongol” in China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, often in the steppes surrounding the Onon River where Genghis Khan was born, and the cast is uniformly excellent. “Mongol” is designed to be the first in a trilogy, and if this first film is any indication, the next two installments, in which Genghis Khan takes over the continent, should be absolutely stunning — a film franchise for the history books.
– GL
A Special Announcement
Chase McInerney
Starting on Monday, I’ll be taking vacation, but Staticblog will be kept alive and fit through the fine, diligent, perfect-posture typing of comments section master scribe Chase McInerney.
McInerney and I met when we were both members of the Hollywood Foreign Press, covering the dissolution of the marriage of Carrie and Eddie Fisher at hands of that homewrecker, Montgomery Clift. Well, everyone else thinks it was Liz Taylor, but Chase knew the real story, and it can all be read in his extraordinary autobiography, My Life Under the Casting Couch: Lifting the Lingerie Curtain on the Real Hollywood.
Enjoy Chase’s wit and grammar while I’m gone — He’s a true gentleman to keep this blog going while I’m knocking back Sidecars in Monte Carlo. I’ll see you when I return, and I’ll bring you back some chips and maybe a refrigerator magnet.
Cheers,
George Lang
Rose Goes Gonzo With Wenner, Carter and Gibney
Charlie Rose leads a discussion of Hunter S. Thompson with Jann Wenner, Graydon Carter and Alex Gibney, the great documentary director (”Taxi To the Dark Side,” “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”) who helmed “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.” As Idolator points out, Rose drops in a bizarre reference to alleged plans by Conde Nast to acquire Rolling Stone, and it looked like, for a moment, Wenner lost his tan.
Random 10 for June 27, 2008
1. Maria Taylor, “A Good Start.” The former half of Azure Ray continues to make exquisite saddo music on her latest, Lynn Teeter Flower. Like many artists in the listenable quadrant of indie pop, she’s benefitted greatly from the patronage of Alexandra Patsavas.
2. Beck, “Movie Theme.”
3. Papas Fritas, “Holiday.”
4. Kunek, “Coma.”
5. M.I.A., “Paper Planes.” Maya makes eloquent comment on her visa problems and perception of immigrants, and does it all while referencing The Clash’ “Straight to Hell and Wreckx ‘N Effect.
6. Malajube, “Etienne D’Aout.”
7. Was (Not Was), “Hello Dad, I’m In Jail.”
8. Art Brut, “Late Sunday.”
9. The Essex Green, “The Boo Hoo Boy.”
10. World Famous Supreme Team, “Hey DJ.” A semi-obscure B-boy classic, “Hey DJ” had the distinction of being almost entirely a product of Malcolm McLaren’s co-option of hip-hop. As usual, McLaren’s contribution beyond ringmaster is ephemeral at best — beyond the rapping, the heavy lifting was being done by Trevor Horn and his comrades in The Art of Noise. And yes, Mariah Carey sampled it to diminishing returns for “Honey.”
Video of the Day: The Death Set, “Around the World”
From Baltimore, the center of the nerdcore universe, comes puppets with exploding heads and anthropomorphic tigers shooting lightning from their eyes. Yay!
Courtesy: Pitchfork.tv
Random 10 for June 26, 2008
1. The New Pornographers, “Myriad Harbour.” A great and possibly the greatest Dan Bejar song by the Neo Pornos, and a spectacular hard-line animation to boot — looks like the ’70s Saturday morning work of Filmmation, only far cooler.
2. Mew, “The Zookeeper’s Boy.”
3. Hot Chip, “Bendable Poseable.”
4. Alice Smith, “Do I.”
5. Belle and Sebastian, “Step Into My Office, Baby.” Choosing Trevor Horn to produce was a tad controversial among the cult, but it went swimmingly, and this clip filled with double entendres and bad English fashion is beyond boss.
6. Elliott Smith, “In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost.”
7. Eric Matthews, “Angels For Crime.”
8. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, “Tell Me.”
9. Thee Hydrogen Terrors, “Plate In My Head.”
10. Flight of the Conchords, “Hiphopopotamus Vs. Rhymenocerous.” They call me the Hiphopopotamus, my lyrics are bottomless…
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There ain’t no party like my Nana’s tea partay!
