November 21, 2006

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Mini-Reviews

Music

• The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
  Not a revelation, but not at all disappointing. It's very good, and I can't wait to listen to it in crisper-quality. We have until January 23 to wait for the official release, thanks to Sub-Pop's marketing schedule, even though it's completely done now. On first listen, from the very first notes on the album, it feels so comfortable and pleasant returning to The Shins sound (and I'm not implying that it sounds stale or that it's just like the old stuff). They have such a distinctive sound. Some great bands grab one instantly, others take a while to insinuate themselves into one's musical pantheon. For me, The Shins were in the former category. I sat at my desk and listened to Chutes Too Narrow straight through twice when Jon Cooper first told me to download it. Nothing else going on, just listening. It was that good, that fresh. Would Wincing The Night Away have been the same, had I not already been familiar with The Shins? Maybe. Either way, it's a great album.
• Beck - The Information
  Good, but more of the same. Sea Change was amazing, then Guero went in a completely different direction--it was a very good album, but it was clearly lighter fare than Sea Change, and it recycled a lot of Beck's earlier sounds. The Information might as well be "Unreleased tracks from Guero." That isn't necessarily negative, but Beck is at his best when he tries new things. This album won't surprise anyone with its sound. Still, Beck album are like sex and pizza; even when they're bad, they're still pretty good.
• The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
  Great. The second track is a twelve-minute suite that is just awesome. This is the best album The Decemberists have put out, and I loved Picaresque and Castaways And Cutouts. And even though it's their major-label debut, this album is far less catchy than their previous ones. Twelve-minute songs don't make for easy radio play, even on college radio stations.

Movies

• Tideland
  Probably none of you saw this, but this is Gilliam's darkest film to date, and yet it retains Gilliam's beautiful spark: hope and survival through fantasy and imagination. This is not going to be a movie for everyone. It's like The Adventures of Baron Munchausen but here he keeps the fantasy inside the young girl's head. At times I rolled my eyes, because it has a couple of the typical, over the top Gilliam characters. It also made me uncomfortable at times, which is pretty tough to do. But overall, I think it's an excellent and fitting addition to his oeuvre, not like that last piece of crap.

• The Prestige
  Awesome movie. I really loved some movie from the first month or two of last year, but now I can't remember which one. Pending recovery of that memory, I will say with confidence that The Prestige is my favorite movie so far this year. It keeps up an impressive level of action and suspense, but still manages to satisfy the discerning film viewer with its wonderful acting, smart script, and beautiful cinematography, as well as the geeks with its reverence for both magic and science (is there any difference?). Definitely see this.
• The Departed
  I loved this all the way through, but then the ending left me with way too many unanswered questions. I got the feeling that this one was cut pretty heavily to avoid it being a four-hour NC-17 flick. I'll reserve judgment until I find out whether an Extended Edition is forthcoming. This had some of the best dialogue I've ever heard in a movie. The dialogue here was Glengarry Glen Ross, Pulp Fiction good.

Posted at November 21, 2006 11:33 PM | Comments (11)

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