Movie Review: “I Served the King of England”
Ivan Barnev and Julia Jentsch in “I Served the King of England.”
Rating: 76
Those who seek out “I Served the King of England” will be wined and dined by Jiri Menzel’s epic Czech tale of a man made rich by circumstance and laid low by political naivete. But while all that might sound intimidating, there’s also cutting satire and choreography worthy of Busby Berkeley — thick helpings of farce that help illustrate an everyman’s odd and exhilarating life.
When Jan Dite is first introduced, he is a gray, bent man just released from serving 15 years in a Czech prison for making too much money, and is exiled to an area near the border where Sudeten Germans once lived. Played after his ordeal by Oldrich Kaiser, Dite is trying to make a life in a deserted area where dissidents and social misfits are deposited, and he looks back on a life ruled by adventure, sex and money — all of which he seemed to stumble into as a diminutive young man (Ivan Barnev), Zelig-style.
Dite climbs society’s ladder, starting as a hotdog vendor and moving upward as a waiter, maitre d’ and hotelier through his remarkable ability to make money constantly and be in the right place at the right time. It takes him through a long line of beautiful women before he meets Liza (Julia Jentsch), a German Nazi who helps him amass enough cash to own a posh hotel frequented by world leaders. But under Hitler, that hotel goes through odd phases: first it becomes a breeding place for the “master race,” and in the waning days of World War II, an army hospital filled with amputees and the horrors of war.
“I Served the King of England” is based on a novel by Bohumil Hrabal, the Czech novelist whose work formed the basis for Menzel’s 1967 Oscar winner, “Closely Watched Trains.” After the Soviet tanks rolled through Prague in 1968, Menzel’s work was banned during much of those last 20 years of Eastern Bloc communism, and his message of political awareness comes through clearly. Along the way, he takes viewers through a sumptuous tale of carnal exploits, high style and one man’s stumble from ignominy to the good life and back.
Music Review: “Yo Gabba Gabba”
Rating: 65
Parents go through the gauntlet on children’s entertainment, and after a few years of separating the educational food pyramid of options from the sugar-coated fat bombs, a few things become clear. If it looks and sounds condescending, skip it. If it seems designed to indoctrinate your toddler into the malevolent maelstrom of modern marketing, hang on to your wallet. And if it makes parents jump out of their skin every time it lands in the music player or on television, it’s probably the equivalent of un-reading a book.
The first song collection from Nick Jr.’s “Yo Gabba Gabba!” doesn’t reach the level of They Might Be Giants’ “Here Come the 123′s,” a must-have for adults and children, but the ingredients are there. The show is a great place to see first-rate indie-pop bands playing for the small set: The Shins, the Postmarks, Shiny Toy Guns and Cornelius all appeared recently. This disc features a ton of filler from DJ Lance Rock and show’s various fuzzy creatures, but a few glimmers of goodness lie therein.
The Roots’ sweetly soulful “Lovely, Love My Family” and Tahiti 80′s “Train Ride” will show up on adults’ iPod playlists, and Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters delivers a “Bedtime Lullaby” that is almost preternaturally beautiful. Hip-hop clown prince Biz Markie hits with “Biz’s Beat of the Day,” but while the Ting Tings turn in an energetic cover of Altered Images’ “Happy Birthday,” the original is vastly superior. A mixed bag, but as the lead track from Lance Rock implies, “Yo Gabba Gabba!” is more “Party in My Tummy” than stomachache.
Movie Review: “Max Payne”
Mark Wahlberg says hi to your mother with Mila Kunis in “Max Payne.”
Rating: 51
Measured against the low bar set by video game adaptations, “Max Payne” serves as a minor victory, boasting a discernable story, solid supporting performances and an aesthetic that owes just as much to film noir as it does to cut-rate “Matrix” effects. Yes, someone cared enough to make an actual movie based on a “third-person shooter” instead of just a series of slow-motion spinning bullet shots.
Detective Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) snapped and got shuffled down to the cold case repository after his wife and newborn son were killed in a home invasion. Max spends his off-duty hours scouring for clues and shaking down junkies addicted to virulent new street drug in a New York City where the ’90s renaissance never happened, a real hellhole.
The murder of party girl Natasha Sax (Olga Kurylenko) puts Max under immediate police scrutiny — his wallet was found on the body — and he finds an unlikely partner in her sister Mona (Mila Kunis), a mobbed-up hitwoman. Max soon finds himself wrapped in a conspiracy involving his wife’s former employer, a pharmaceutical company, and a shadowy figure named Lupino (Amaury Nolasco) with wing tattoos on his face.
Such plot points suggest that “Max Payne” is so hard-boiled it could shatter, and that’s not far off the mark: director John Moore (2006′s “Omen” remake) incorporates visual elements of German Expressionism and the film noir it birthed. And there are just enough good plot points and solid supporting performances from Kunis, Beau Bridges and Donal Logue to make “Max Payne” resemble a decent graphic novel adaptation instead of a video game cash-in.
But Wahlberg is a bit too hard-boiled, even for a two-dimensional hero. He has just enough lines to not qualify as mute, and he seems to have taken one joking criticism of the video game version of Max to heart: he almost always looks vaguely constipated. But the film moves along with surprising detail for such an enterprise and only sporadically devolves into a bullet storm, making “Max Payne” surprisingly painless.
— George Lang
Dressed to Kill
Mr. Blackwell, whose chief job in life was ridiculing the clothing styles of celebrities, has died at the age of 86.
A nation mourns.
– Chase
Random 10 for Oct. 20, 2008
1. Ween, “Don’t S*** Where You Eat”
2. The Pernice Brothers, “Somerville”
3. The Rolling Stones, “She’s a Rainbow”
One of the more eclectic songs from the Rolling Stones’ Sixties catalog, “She’s a Rainbow” forgoes blues for puffy-shirted psychedelia, complete with a tinkling piano line and a twee string section arranged by future Led Zeppeliner John Paul Jones. Here, the bad boys perform the 1967 single on “Top of the Pops.”
4. The Young Fresh Fellows, “Do the Fonzie”
5. The Flaming Lips, “Buggin’”
6. Loretta Lynn with Jack White, “Portland, Oregon”
The coal miner’s daughter 2004 comeback album produced by the White Stripes’ Jack White, Van Lear Rose, proved to be an astounding marriage of two incredible, seemingly disparate talents. “Portland, Oregon” isn’t my favorite track on the record, but it’s still mighty fine.
7. Tom Petty, “Don’t Do Me Like That”
8. Woody Guthrie, “Dusty Old Dust (So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You)”
Being on the brink of worldwide economic collapse, maybe it’s time to brush up on our Woody Guthrie folks ballads and boxcar etiquette. I’m not sure where this musical montage came from, but I like it.
9. Hadacal, “Being with You”
10. Willie Mabon, “I Don’t Know”
– Chase
Random 10 For October 17, 2008: The Improbable All-Female List
1. April March, “Mingnonette.” We love our French singers here at Staticblog, and Elinor Blake, the California-bred former “Ren & Stimpy” animator who records as April March, is an excellent simulation.
2. Gemma Hayes, “Let a Good Thing Go.”
3. Bikini Kill, “Sugar.”
4. The Like, “June Gloom.” When I interviewed Elizabeth “Z” Berg a couple of years ago and asked her about whether fans of her band knew who their dads were — producer and music executive Tony Berg, producer Mitchell Froom and Attractions/Imposters drummer Pete Thomas. She said no — just old-fart rock critics like me. She didn’t say it like that, but…
5. The Brunettes, “Obligatory Road Song.”
6. Eisley, “Go Away.”
7. Dntel featuring Jenny Lewis, “Roll On.”
8. Ashby, “Serene Smile.”
9. Lavender Diamond, “Oh No.”
10. Kelis, “Milkshake.” After he watched this clip, my friend Preston Jones, now at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, used to say in his best confused sixth-grader voice, “That made me feel funny.” So, by the end of this list, I’m left thinking of how few female artists get played on rock radio these days, and how amazing it was that Podsie pulled 10 strong women for today’s Random. I should go play PowerBall.
Video of the Day: Passion Pit, “Sleepyhead”
Passion Pit seduces with an infectious piece of psychedelic electro accompanied by refreshing animation techniques. Enjoy thoroughly!
No Spin, No Doody Doody
With a hat tip to Funnyordie.com, we offer you this cute-as-a-colonic take on Lil’ Bill O’Reilly.
– Chase
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!
As the entire world now knows, Marcia Brady went through a pretty rough coke-whore period. Maureen McCormick, better-known as ”The Brady Bunch”‘s Marcia Brady, admits in a new tell-all book that she was so addicted to cocaine, she traded sex for the white stuff.
What strikes me is the snarky reaction of Eve Plumb, who portrayed poor-put-upon middle-sister Jan — you remember, the one who always resented her too-perfect older sister.
From AP:
“When asked if she had ever noticed McCormick’s downward spiral, Plumb flashed a smile and refused to answer…”
Ouch. Jan Brady: Little Miss Schaedenfreud
– Chase
Random 10 for Oct. 16, 2008
1. The Bangles, “If She Knew What She Wants”
Boy, that Susanna Hoffs sure was cute.
2. The Stills, “Helicopters”
3. Nirvana, “Dumb”
4. The Beatles, “I Am the Walrus”
Coo-coo-ka-choo. The Fab Four (well Lennon, really) being inscrutable, psychedelic and totally stupendous.
5. Mudhoney, “Let It Slide”
6. Liz Phair, “F*** and Run”
7. The Arctic Monkeys, “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”
This 2005 smash single rocketed to the top of the British charts, and for good reason: it’s a freakin’ rocket.
8. Duke Ellington, “Ko-Ko”
9. The Fleshtones, “The World Has Changed”
10. Django Reinhardt, “Limehouse Blues”
– Chase
