// Category Archive for: Movies

Assemblog: August 17, 2012

Cold Blooded, 2012
Still from Bloody Disgusting

New this week on Popshifter: Chelsea describes the main mystery man of documentary Searching For Sugar Man as a “kind of rock and roll Harry Lime”; Cait assures us that Ignition—the new album from Shoes—proves “they’re still as fresh, vital, and engaging as they were when Jimmy Carter was swatting at swamp rabbits” and extols the virtues of the “gorgeous, melodic” tunes on Bad Lucy’s self-titled EP.

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Searching For Sugar Man

By Chelsea Spear

Who is, or was, Sixto Diaz Rodriguez? A lifelong resident of Detroit, and the son of Mexican immigrants who moved to the Midwest to work for Ford. A “prophet, “a wise man”, and a “wandering spirit” in the eyes of his coworkers on construction crews. A social activist who ran for office in his hometown, and who brought his five daughters to protests. A man of modest means who lives an ascetic life.

For a brief period in the 1970s, Rodriguez was a solo artist who released two remarkable albums—Cold Fact and Coming From Reality—that reached an audience so small, the cliché “cult hero” would overestimate it. While the albums sold an estimated six copies in America and quickly lapsed out of print, Cold Fact made it to South Africa not long after it came out here. Rodriguez’s anti-establishment lyrics, combined with his driving melodies and funky arrangements, made him a folk hero to South Africans bristling under apartheid. That Rodriguez was rumored to have committed a grisly suicide before a live audience only deepened his legend.

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Assemblog: August 10, 2012

Kim Novak in Vertigo, 1958

New this week on Popshifter: Part Four in Paul’s album-by-album articles on THE BAND appraises Cahoots; my (sorta) objective, glowing review of Redd Kross’s first album in 15 years, Researching The Blues; Paul reviews Paul Thorn’s What The Hell Is Goin’ On? using the phrase “smo’ chicken”; Cait provides a brief history of The Tubes in her review of the reissues of their albums Young & Rich and Now; Chelsea wants to like Jezzy & The Belles’ Compasses & Maps but is unable to; and Lisa has mixed feelings about Thor and Loki: Blood Brothers on DVD.

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Thor and Loki: Blood Brothers

By Lisa Anderson

I have a confession to make: Until the movie Thor came out last summer, I didn’t know that Marvel comics had characters based (somewhat loosely) on Norse mythology. Like many people, I enjoyed Chris Hemsworth’s endearing portrayal of Thor, god of thunder, and Tom Hiddleston’s mesmerizing take on Thor’s brother Loki, the god of mischief. Their painful family history also added a layer of complexity to this summer’s Avengers, even if Loki was far less sympathetic the second time around.

Recently, I had the opportunity to see another interpretation of these characters. I watched Thor and Loki: Blood Brothers, a four-episode motion comic from Marvel Knights Animation. (For those who may not know, a motion comic is a slightly different style of animation, where the background is more static and the movements are less fluid.) It’s based on a 2004 storyline with no connection to the Marvel films.

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The Killer Inside Me

By Paul Casey

All art should be able to cover bad thoughts and bad people, as they exist, or could exist, without having to make these things pay back society in some sense. After reading Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me and watching Michael Winterbottom’s 2010 adaptation, it seems that many critics demand moral payback. Taking Lou Ford and making him a cautionary tale, or something for upstanding society to feel superior to, would make a lot more people comfortable.

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The Entity

By Less Lee Moore

As The Entity begins, we watch a single mother named Carla Moran waiting for her shift as a receptionist to end. Then, she rushes off to night school and enters her typing class after it has already begun. Frustrated, she makes a few errors on the machine. Much later, she comes home to her modest house in the suburbs, where the lights are out. There are dirty dishes on the table, which she proceeds to wash. Her younger daughters are already asleep, but she argues with her teenaged son about the mess. Soon she is getting ready for bed. A mundane start to a horror movie? Perhaps, until we soon realize that we are not the only ones watching Carla Moran.

The unseen voyeur makes itself known with a slap to Carla’s face. Stunned by the blood and the pain, she is soon shoved onto her bed, pillow over her face, and sexually violated by this malevolent, invisible being.

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Assemblog: July 27, 2012

Jack and Diane, 2012

New this week on Popshifter: Jemiah explains why Laetitia Sadier’s Silencio is worth your time; I take critics to task on The Dark Knight Rises (again!); Chelsea chats with Glenn di Benedetto of Boston’s Parlour Bells; and Paul recommends The Very Best of Wes Montgomery. (more…)

Metacritical Mass, Part Two: Plot Holes and A-holes

By Less Lee Moore

Last week, I criticized criticism (as well as criticized the criticism of criticism), discussed how critics enjoy movies, and disapproved of Kevin Smith’s anti-critic campaign. This was all uppermost in my mind after the early reviews of The Dark Knight Rises provoked some rather unsavory behavior.

It’s okay, Selina. I’m afraid of them, too.

In the interim, I have actually seen The Dark Knight Rises (twice) and read the original reviews that caused such a stir. I’ve also endured an absolutely soul-crushing onslaught of “reviews” of The Dark Knight Rises passing themselves off as criticism. And I’ve come to question whether I even want to be considered as a film critic anymore.

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Assemblog: July 20, 2012

New this week on Popshifter: our latest installment of the excellent series from Paul Casey on The Band’s discography: Stage Fright; a balanced review of the Cure For Pain doc on Morphine’s Mark Sandman by Chelsea; high praise from Cait on Joe Jackson’s tribute to Duke Ellington called (what else?) The Duke; Lisa provides her thoughts on the ways we watch TV shows now; I weigh in on the fanboy shenanigans erupting around early reviews of The Dark Knight Rises and Kevin Smith’s blowhard tendencies; plus I review The Dark Knight Rises (NO SPOILERS).

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The Dark Knight Rises

By Less Lee Moore

Photo © Warner Bros. via ScreenCrush

Let’s be honest: The Dark Knight Rises doesn’t need my review. People are going to see it anyway. But I need to write a review. After the midnight showing I felt overwhelmed, exuberant, humbled. I couldn’t stop talking and thinking about the movie. I got home after 3 a.m., exhausted but unable to sleep. That hasn’t happened since the first night I saw Fight Club in 1999. Before that, it was in 1998, because of the movie Velvet Goldmine, with none other than Christian Bale—but I’m getting ahead of (behind?) myself. You want to know about The Dark Knight Rises.

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