King Kong (2005)****

Directed by: Peter Jackson

Written by: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson

Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Andy Serkis, Evan Parke, Jamie Bell, John Summer and Kyle Chandler

“It was beauty that killed the beast…”

I’m sick and tired of hearing the same lame excuse for not making King Kong a part of your movie experience, especially because they were the same reasons I had. Yes I know, the story of King Kong has never really interested you…but you know what? That’s the magic of the movies.

If ever there was an example of sheer greatness, of true vision and a most definite salvation of the action/adventure genre then Peter Jackson’s latest masterpiece is it and deserves your full attention. He has taken a beautiful story and made it amazing. I know what you might be thinking: A beautiful story? Well isn’t love what makes a beautiful story? This unique love story takes us to a world of peril and beauty, clearly illustrating the price we pay when we decide not to follow the age-old adage: some things really are better left just as they are.

In the midst of the great depression, the stunning yet unemployed Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is cast as the lead actress in Carl Denham’s (Jack Black) new action adventure picture to be set in the Orient, or so he says. Managing to avoid the New York authorities, the director, his cast and crew board the S.S. Venture in search of a lost island. After he is intentionally left onboard, playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) begins to write what is to become a script for an unforgettable motion picture, in the process falling head over heels for his lead actress.

As the cast and crew continue to search for the unknown, Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann) fights to save his ship from certain danger. Finally arriving on the shores of the Island, the cast and crew are greeted by not so friendly natives that take Ann hostage to be offered as a sacrifice to the great Kong. From this point on Peter Jackson takes us on a nail biting, non-stop adventure ride to save Ann from an unknown fate with the great ape. At the same time, the rescue party faces prehistoric peril at every turn.

Will Carl the director finish his film? Can Kong be tamed long enough to rescue Ann? The last chapter in this story brings us back to New York, right after Kong has been captured and brought to the stage for everyone to see. This will be the set up for the all too famous last scenes on top of the Empire State building. Their story ends like all tragic love stories must but this time with a larger than screen feel, because Kong was larger than all of us. Peter Jackson creates a whole new way to experience King Kong, infusing it with the emotion, mystery and adventure that he felt as a kid and miraculously, causing us to feel the same, even now, as adults. This is truly movie magic.

- Juan Marcos Percy, Importer/Exporter

Munich ****

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Written by: Tony Kushner

Starring: Eric Bana, Matthew Kassovitz, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds and Geoffrey Rush.

Much has been made over what Steven Spielberg is trying to say with his latest masterpiece, Munich, the story of what happened after the kidnapping and eventual slaughter of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic games at the hands of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. Is Munich pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian? Which side is Spielberg on? If only it really were that simple.

Author Simon Reeve writes in his book One Day in September: the story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and Israeli revenge operation, that the Munich massacre “thrust the Palestinian cause into the world spotlight, set the tone for decades of conflict in the Middle East, and launched a new era of international terrorism.” Reeve’s belief is essentially the driving force behind Munich, and was the film to have a particular “message” it would have to be this one.

The film begins with images of the kidnapping, providing the backdrop for the events that will unfold while also acting as emotional touchstones for the viewers, reminding us of where we began, what happened and is happening, and where we are going. We follow the lives of four men, members of the Israeli Intelligence Agency Mossad, as they travel throughout Europe, on a mission (known as the Operation Wrath of God) to murder 11 key members of Black September who were involved in the Munich Massacre (or so they are told).

The film maintains a heightened level of suspense, which later develops into paranoia, throughout and we see the world and the lives of these four men slowly begin to come undone. I cannot say that I was surprised at the tension that Spielberg was able to weave throughout his film, after all, this is the man who brought us Jaws and Jurassic Park, but I have to admit that I was shocked to find violence and sex (let alone nudity) in Munich. I can’t remember the last Spielberg film that contained either one (save for Schindler’s List, which was also his last film to have an R-rating) and Munich feels unlike any film that he has ever done. Sex and violence are juxtaposed in one particular scene and these two intertwined animalistic acts serve as a reminder of both what drives us and what we are capable of as human beings, and just how close to animals we really are.

As I write this I am still completely bowled over by Munich, and although it may seem rather silly to say, I find myself growing prouder and prouder by the day of Spielberg and what he has accomplished with this film. Ghandi once famously said (a million bumper stickers can’t be wrong), “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” It goes without saying that if history has shown us only one thing with any constancy it is that violence always begets violence. Spielberg’s film ends with a shot of the WTC Towers looming in the background. Munich is undoubtedly Spielberg’s “Imagine.”

- Lily Percy, Editor

Capote ****

Directed by: Bennett Miller

Written by: Dan Futterman

Starring: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins, Jr., Chris Cooper

The buzz surrounding Capote has been almost entirely about Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s Golden-Globe nominated (soon to be Oscar nominated) performance as the legendary writer. While it is well-deserved, Hoffman’s Capote is indeed mesmerizing and perfect, little has been made about just how good the film actually is, how suspenseful and true to the spirit and mood of Capote’s In Cold Blood, and that is truly a crime.

Director Bennett Miller and screenwriter Dan Futterman weave a tail that is both unnerving and beautiful, ripe with scenes that explode with emotional intensity, particularly those between Hoffman and Collins, Jr., all the while creating a tension on-screen that is best served by the ill-used phrase “edge-of-your-seat.”

Murder, lies, fame, love, betrayal, these are all at play in the film and in the lives of the main characters that we see. But what makes the film brilliant (one could argue the same for Capote himself) is its naked portrayal of both Capote and Perry: as in Capote’s novel, there are no clearly defined heroes nor villains in this story, all are guilty, all are to blame in one manipulation or another, and this makes for an often uncomfortable albeit entirely electric unfolding of events.

“More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones,” Capote once famously wrote. This is a phrase that undoubtedly marked his life, just as the murder of both Perry Smith and his victims, the Clutter family, haunted him as well. Capote was never the same after writing his masterpiece and the film does an excellent job of portraying the madness and pain that this American genius carried inside.

- Lily Percy, Editor

Walk the Line ***1/2

Directed by: James Mangold

Written by: Gil Dennis and James Mangold

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Dallas Roberts

A friend of mine recently remarked, upon seeing Walk the Line, “Once you’ve seen one Biopic, you’ve seen them all.” They all tend to take two routes, he pointed out, either choosing to show a depressing portrait of their subject (and then calling it “realistic”) or an inspirational one. I can’t say that I disagree. It’s rare that these types of films ever really break new ground, and I have to admit that I too was struck by the countless similarities that this Johnny Cash portrait had in common with a certain Oscar-winning film released in 2004.

That being said, Mangold’s Walk the Line is no Ray. Not just because Johnny Cash is, well, Johnny Cash, but rather because Mangold’s depiction of “the man in black,” (which, unlike Taylor Hackford’s Ray, includes a cast of actors who were actually allowed to sing on screen thus adding a level of intensity to the film that wouldn’t be there were they simply lip-synching,) is blistering and sad and funny in all of the ways that Hackford’s film isn’t.

Joaquin Phoenix and his uncanny portrayal of Johnny Cash undoubtedly drive Walk the Line. If you’ve ever heard Cash sing then you know just how low his voice can go; it is therefore all the more remarkable that Phoenix was able to not only match Cash’s timbres, but also to capture the essence that made Cash the legend, singer, sinner, believer, and husband that he was. It is no small feat and I for one am glad that people everywhere are finally starting to take note of an actor whose career has been filled with interesting and challenging roles, time and time again.

Although many will argue that this film is essentially ‘the Joaquin Phoenix show,’ I have to say that it is Reese Witherspoon who provides the only true breakout performance. Comedy is without a doubt one of the most difficult genres for any actor to convincingly accomplish, more so than drama; the fact that an actress known mostly for her roles in romantic comedies such as Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama (and the terrific Freeway), has the ability to portray June Carter Cash with such tenderness and grace demonstrates a range that is both surprising and seemingly limitless.

Unless you were a fan of Johnny Cash when you came into the theater you probably weren’t aware that he would never have been “Johnny Cash” were it not for June. Mangold obviously understood this and he does a brilliant job of telling this astonishing love story—one that is unmatched in its power and ability to heal. In this way, Mangold raises Walk the Line out of the standard trappings of the Biopic genre. It is the ultimate tribute to a man and woman who marked our world, and music, forever.

- Lily Percy, Editor

DVD'S:

Long Way Round ****

Directed by: David Alexanian and Russ Malkin

Starring: Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman

I’ll never forget how I felt last year, the first time that I saw Walter Salles’ stirring The Motorcycle Diaries or the time soon after that when I read Che’s own account of his travels through our beloved South America. It was more than just excitement or a rousing sense of understanding; it was jealousy, plain and simple.

So when I first heard that one of my favorite actors, Ewan ‘the schlong-is-long’ McGregor was traveling across the world on his motorcycle with one of his best friends, actor Charlie Boorman, I was bursting with envy for the countless adventures and cultures that they would encounter along the way. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the massive scope that the trip entailed and was even more baffled by the prospect of a documentary series that chronicled their three-½ month journey across the world.

And yet they managed to do the impossible, filming every second of their journey, keeping a daily video diary and journal (there is a companion book out as well), and consequently letting us, the viewers, in on their travels. It is exhilarating and ultimately unifying, watching these two explorers test themselves both physically, mentally and emotionally, and more importantly, watching as they discover that the world, and the various cultures that inhabit it, share more in common than any one of us could have ever imagined.

- Lily Percy, Editor

Legally Blonde ***

Directed by: Robert Kinetic

Written by: Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Mathew Davis, Victor Garber and Jennifer Coolidge.

There are some movies that you casually dismiss upon that initial viewing—then you catch them playing (on a seemingly never ending loop) on a basic cable channel, say TBS for example, and all of a sudden you find yourself enthralled, reconsidering what could have very well been a hasty first judgment.

Yes, I am talking about the film Legally Blonde, whose tagline was the deeply inspiring and thought provoking, “This summer go blonde!” Ever since I saw Walk the Line I have been carrying around this baggage of guilt on my shoulders over my previous dismissive relationship with the actress whom some have been known to call “Greasy Resse.” I say guilt because I underestimated her, often cruelly, and in Walk the Line, my sins were forced to the surface, as she is brilliant and dazzling and completely deserving of every line of praise that has been written and said about her.

This guilt led me to watch Legally Blonde four times in a row this past weekend, but I dare not say that it is guilt that makes me write this. For somewhere between that last third and fourth viewing, I came across a true gem: the ultimate feminist film. The idea of the “smart” sorority girl or even blonde for that matter is a stereotype that I have admittedly often fought for and against, and that is indeed the greatest thing about this film: its belief that no one is as simple as they look. It should come as no surprise then that it took Reese Witherspoon, whose Elle Woods’ is endearing, hilarious and inspired, a brief moment to realize what has taken me several years of failed female relationships and four TBS viewings to understand. For this bravery and wisdom, I applaud her.

- Lily Percy, Editor

BOOKS:

Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham

Author Michael Cunningham is probably best known for his novel The Hours in which three women in different eras are connected through Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.  So when one discovers that his latest book, Specimen Days, consists of three stories, with a running thread of Walt Whitman references, one might wonder if he’s found a formula to stick to. Thankfully, these worries are unnecessary.

Yes, the poetry of Whitman is prominent in each storyline and yes, there are a trio of characters, a man, a woman and a boy, in each. Even New York City is a character in the stories. However, the seamstress, the machinist, the alien, the terrorist and the mad prophet, are all involved in stories that are utterly engaging.

The turn of the century tale, “In the Machine,” follows Lucas, working in a factory among machines that seem to be singing to him. The story set in the future, “Like Beauty,” takes us to a surprisingly familiar New York City in a very different world, where refugee aliens live among us. The second story, though, is the one that stays with me the most. “The Children’s Crusade” takes place here and now, in post 9/11 New York City. Terrorism is still a frightening possibility and the story plays on that fear: America has only just realized (or remembered) that you never know what can happen or who could be a threat. It’s a strongly compelling story that will hook you and then haunt you long after you’ve read it. Especially the last page.

- Rick Sayre, Pop-Culture Critic

MUSIC:

Mary J. Blige – The Breakthrough

On her most recent studio record The Breakthrough, Mary J. Blige revives the spirit of her classic sound while pushing forward both artistically and personally.  Breakthrough is an intimate album that effortlessly balances itself between recurring themes in Blige’s music: love, life, and the need to free yourself from all that has been holding you down.

Blige bares her soul on songs like “Baggage,” where she apologizes to her man for the baggage that she’s brought into their relationship; on “Good Woman Down,” an inspiring song that tells young women to be strong during their battles with adversity; and on “Take Me As I Am,” when looking at her life, Blige asks listeners to put judgment aside and accept her for who she is.

The album also features much of the classic balladry that has kept fans coming back for more.  Blige knows how to get inside of a song.  She’s not afraid of being vulnerable or wearing her heart on her sleeve.  On songs like “I Found My Everything” with Raphael Saadiq, “Father In You,” “Enough Cryin’” and “One” with U2, it’s her realness, her conviction and her passion that continues to draw listeners in.  It also wouldn’t be a Mary J. Blige record without songs to make you dance such as “Gonna Breakthrough,” “No One Will Do” and “Can’t Hide From Luv” featuring Jay-Z.   

Anyone thinking Blige had fallen off in recent years will certainly put those thoughts to rest after hearing this record.  Like My Life and Mary, Breakthrough is a classic.  This album showcases who Blige was, who she is now, and who she is going to be.  From the sounds of it, we have plenty to look forward to.  All hail to the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul!

~ Markell Williams, Music Critic

Jamie Foxx – Unpredictable

Jamie Foxx returns to his first love on his sophomore release, Unpredictable.  It’s a record that manages to build upon the momentum created from his recent success as a featured artist on Twista’s “Slow Jamz” and Kanye West’s “Gold Digger.” 

Unpredictable is full of intimate, mid-tempo, hip-hop soul tracks geared for the bedroom.  Songs such as “Warm Bed,” “With You” featuring Snoop Dogg and The Game, “Can I Take You Home” and “Three Letter Word,” showcase his playful yet forward sensual side.  If Foxx’s mission was to get listeners in the mood, he does so successfully with the smooth grooves of “Storm (Forecass),”  “Unpredictable” featuring Ludacris and “Do What It Do” (which uses a sample of the infamous quote from the movie Ray).              

Unpredictable leaves no doubt that Foxx is a talented singer, musician and songwriter.    The only pet peeve here however is that his style gets lost in the contemporary sounds of the day.  You may be left wanting Foxx to reveal more of his individual style (musically and lyrically) like he does on the beautiful, inspirational tunes “Heaven” and “Wish You Were Here.” 

Keep in mind that this is only his second record.  Unpredictable is merely a peek into the intricacies of Foxx’s soul.  It’s plausible that Foxx will reveal more of himself on future releases. Thankfully, his music is getting the attention it rightly deserves.  Judging the from the current response, many will be following Foxx as he continues on his artistic journey.          

~ Markell Williams, Music Critic

Bic Runga - Birds

The third studio album by New Zealand’s singer/songwriter Bic Runga (say after me: Beck Run-ga) is quite simply, stunning. On her last album, “Beautiful Collision,” Runga perfected the art of writing romantic pop songs, songs we haven’t heard much since the heyday of The Carpenters. At least not here in America, where Bic is barely known, despite being one of New Zealand’s best selling artists.

However, while “Beautiful Collision” was a wildly romantic affair, “Birds” seems for the most part like the end of one. Beginning with the single “Winning Arrow,” an upbeat pop treat, the album takes some unexpected twists and moody turns. “Say After Me” first appeared on the exquisite album “Bic Runga Live with Christchurch Symphony,” and the song is one of several on “Birds” that wears it’s sadness on it’s sleeve. The title track is the most haunting song on the album and would have been right at home on the live disc, filled with dramatic strings. During that tour, Bic covered Nick Cave’s “And No More Shall We Part;” here she performs her own composition, “Ruby Night,” a song that would be right at home on one of Cave’s albums. It’s quite a surprise coming from Runga, as is the following song, a bare bones backwoods ballad called “No Crying No More.”

The second half of the album kicks off with a song that seems to be inspired by Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” style, with backing vocalists singing “Dubba dubba dub’s” on “If I Had You,” making it seem as though you’re listening to the most melancholy girl group of the ‘60s. In fact, the album brings to mind the soundtrack to Allison Anders’ great film Grace of My Heart, on which classic Brill Building songwriters teamed with modern day artists to create a wonderful combination of pop music from two eras.

The album ends with “It’s Over,” a song featuring Bic singing about trying, punctuated by the backing vocalists sighing and anyone who had a heart crying. A heartbreaking song about the end of a relationship, it’s probably one of her best songs ever. Simply put, “Birds” is a gorgeous, breathtaking album by an underappreciated artist.

Artist Link: http://www.bicrunga.com

- Rick Sayre, Pop-Culture Critic

Cyndi Lauper - The Body Acoustic

After releasing the great EP, “Shine,” on her own label, Cyndi Lauper went back to Epic to release “At Last,” her recording of popular standards. Following that up with “Live At Last,” truly one of the best concert videos I’ve seen, Cyndi seemed to be on a roll. Now, with “The Body Acoustic,” she’s re-recorded her greatest hits, as well as a handful of new songs.

Teaming up with artists like Sarah McLachlan, Ani DiFranco and Shaggy, Lauper revisits her old hits and makes them sound… not very different. Yes, “She Bop” is a ballad, which is, well, odd. It’s a quiet, contemplative ballad about masturbation. Most of the other songs just feel like random mash-ups. Shaggy doing a reggae bit in “All Through the Night” is just out of place. Sarah McLachlan trading verses on “Time After Time,” Puffy Yumi Ami adding their fun-loving bit to “Girls Just Wanna Have Friends” and Ani DiFranco singing along to “Sisters of Avalon” aren’t bad, they just don’t add anything amazingly new.

The new arrangement of “Money Changes Everything” is fun; it’s nice to hear “Fearless” off of the “Shine” ep again, and of the new songs, “Above the Clouds” is a keeper. Perhaps if there had been some bold new arrangements, “The Body Acoustic” would have been more exciting. It’s a good album, yes, but not very different from what we’ve heard before.

- Rick Sayre, Pop-Culture Critic

John Mayer Trio - TRY! John Mayer Trio Live in Concert

If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery then, somewhere in guitar-god heaven stand a beaming Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vauhn. John Mayer’s latest foray into the world of blues, something that, as any Mayer fan (and concert-goer) can attest to, is a natural progression from his last album, the Grammy award-winning Heavier Things (indeed, two of the albums tracks, “Something’s Missing” and “Daughters,” appear here live).

Along with seasoned musicians Steve Jordan (who also served as Springsteen’s drummer on Devils & Dust) and Pino Palladino, a former bassist for The Who, Mayer cooks up a sound that is unmistakable. The albums opener, “Who do you think I was,” along with covers of Hendrix’s classic “Wait Until Tomorrow” and the latest Kanye West hit, Ray Charles “I got a Woman,” set the mood for the album, as do the pitch-perfect wailing guitar solos on “Out of my mind” and “Try.”

“Gravity is working against me,” Mayer croons in the soulful “Gravity.” While this may definitely be the case by some critic circles (not to mention hipster tribes’) standards, there is nothing but good old-fashioned blues to back Mayer’s lyric here. You really get a sense of just how deep his love affair with the blues reaches on this live album (as if his infamous guitar-faces weren’t already enough of an indication); lets hope, for our sake, that the flame never dies down.

- Lily Percy, Editor

SPOTLIGHT:

“I dream for a living…”
 

Steven Spielberg

“The most expensive habit in the world is celluloid, not heroin, and I need a fix every few years.” – Steven Spielberg


There aren’t many directors who, 30+ years into an extremely successful, both commercially and often more than not, critically, career, can throw a filmmaking curve ball your way. But then again, there aren’t many directors like Steven Spielberg.

Along with the Marx Brothers, Hitchcock, Capra and Biblical epics, Spielberg films were the most common rentals in my house growing up. He was also the only director who warranted an outing to the movie theater in my father’s book—I can’t remember there being a single Spielberg film that the Percy clan didn’t see in the theater (save Schindler’s List, the latter I wasn’t allowed to see, being all of 11 at the time). That’s how highly regarded he was to all of us.

And still is. This past Christmas the four of us went to see Munich together, 5 days after it opened. I still get chills when I think of the film, and I cannot seem to get over how devastating and effective a story it tells. This is the first Spielberg film in years that critics have wholly embraced, deeming it to be ‘un-Spielberg-esque indeed, and while I see their point completely, I also have to disagree. They have branded it as ‘something entirely new’ from an old overly sensitive director, when the truth is, it is exactly what Spielberg always delivers: innovation, masterful storytelling and humanity.

He has the capacity to terrify us (he is the closest thing that we have to Hitchcock), as is the case with Jaws, the film that invented the summer blockbuster, and Jurassic Park; win us over, as he does so elegantly in Catch Me if You Can and The Terminal; entertain us and take us on adventures, as he does in the Indy trilogy. But what Spielberg does best is remind us of our humanity.  Schindler’s List, Empire of the Sun, Saving Private Ryan, and now, Munich, all serve as reminders of the importance of life, and of peace.

Hitchcock may always be synonymous with suspense, but Spielberg will always be the Master of the human heart.

- Lily Percy, Editor

FILMS

Munich (2005)
War of the Worlds (2005)
The Terminal (20004)
Catch me if you can (2002)
Minority Report (2002)
Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Amistad (1997)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Hook (1991)
Always (1989)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
The Color Purple (1985)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
1941 (1979)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Jaws (19756)
The Sugarland Express (1974)