"A Christmas Miracle"

From the movie Scrooged (1988)

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert - Khruangbin

Khruangbin

Being Alive (from the musical "Company")

by: Dean Jones

Just leaving behind one of my favorite Youtube comments about this performance:

Mark Richards:
That, ladies and gents, is what I would call giving yourself 100% to something but then digging even a little deeper. It's an amazing performance.

"Marriage Story" and "Parasite"

 

2019 has been a remarkable year when it comes to cinema... so much so that making my "Top 10 movies of the year" has been probably the most challenging since I started my blog.

This week has been yet another reminder of that... Just in the last couple of days I've seen two movies that have have transcended just getting into the top 10, but actually make - easily - my top 3.

Marriage Story and Parasite.

Both offer very different things to the table, but having said that, there's a lot of sharable trades.

Marriage Story has taken me to places that I never thought I would go in a million years.

It desperately begged me to look into myself, my past relationships and my anxieties looking into the future. It also made me examine the human core, with the good and bad that lies within. 

None of this would be possible if not for the superb directing and writing from Noah Baumbach, the true craftsman of this success, that both offer sweet and lighthearted moments, as well as painfully heartbreaking ones.

Baumbach was well aided in his quest with a wonderful cast led by sensational leading performances from Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. Both are poised to get Oscar nominations, with Driver most likely to be in a two-horse race against Joaquin Phoenix's Joker (2019).

The supporting cast does well to keep up within the realms of their roles. Laura Dern, Ray Liotta and Alan Alda are all wonderful and unique in their own way. 

The finish product feels authentic, real, raw... most people will likely find the subject tangible and I'm certain it will bring out personal and interesting reactions out of each and every viewer. They will likely differ, but an intimite experience is most likely in the cards.

Parasite, which won the top prize at Cannes Film Festival, also looks into the human core, with a particular astute eye on the social components that make South Korea's society - which in all truth, could be applied in almost equal measure to a lot of places around the world.

It never feels light, despite the use of dark comedy to lift the audience from a grim reality check. There's very little about the movie title, poster or even the trailer that gives away the plot. That should remain as it is.

As the the director Bong Joon-ho says: this movie is best served cold (not a direct quote, just FYI).

I believe that anyone that has watched it, will stick to this principal. The less you know, the more you will enjoy.

Weirdly enough the movie, currently leading the top award-winning list this year, has been released in Asia and parts of Europe ages ago, but for some reason it is only getting released in the UK in February of 2020. Fortunately enough, I was able to get access to a special screening in London just in time to include Parasite in the discussion for my "Top movies"

After being introduced onto the stage, Joon-ho made his way with a translator to greet the crowd and set up the film. As expected, the introduction was short and sweet, used mainly to reitorate that the audience should do its best to keep spoilers from spreading so people could enjoy the film as intended.

He then went on to say the film was appropriate for all families, as it didn't contain any blood, sex or any sort of violence. Joon-Ho left the stage under applause and cue the PG-15 slate staating the movie contained strong bloody violence, language, sex, sex references. The crowd bursted into laughter.

All I will say is that the movie delivered some laughter and plenty of tense, unexpected moments. The pacing was always right, the acting great, but similiary like Marriage Story, it was the writing and story-telling techniques that really delivered what I believe ot be the best movie of the year...

... and with a few highly acclaimed motion-pictures still left to watch (I'm looking at you Uncut Gems, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Honey Boy, Little Women and 1917) it will be a colossal task to try and bring this one down.

Crazy Love, Vol II

by: Paul Simon

Tomb

by: Angelo de Augustine

Angelo de Augustine has been my revelation of 2019. 

Found him totally by chance and I can say it was love at first sight, or rather, love at first hearing. 

Its been a while since I last listened to a song that had immediate impact. As of late, tunes require two or three times listening to grasp my full admiration, but Augustine's Tomb swept me away literally within the first couple of cords... and when his vocals hit for the first time, its absolute bliss. 

I knew it was something special and immediately it made its way to my top songs of 2019. His album, also named Tomb, followed suit. 

In my ears, his music was where Elliot Smith and Sufjan Stevens met.

The two are among my favorite singer/songwriters, so you can imagine how Augustine is so appealing to me right from the get go. 

Both the musicians to whom I compare Augustine to, have this graceful ability to keep things incredibly minimalist, with a sense of genuine storytelling that appeals to your heart and soul. 

For instance, if the song is about heartbreak, it will shatter your heart.

It's no surprise the man from Thousand Oaks, California, is currently signed with Asthmatic Kitty Records, the same label Sufjan.

I hope you can enjoy his music as much as I have.

Oxford Comma

by: Vampire Weekend

The Irishman (2019)

What do you get when you join a master director with three legendary actors?

Chances are... a masterpiece!

The Irishman (2019) is Martin Scorsese's latest motion picture and boy oh boy, does it live to the hype.

Based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses, this Netflix production teams up Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci (the latter coming out of a very long "unofficial retirement"),

The movie revolves around Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a war veteran working as a truck driver, who gets involved with mafioso Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and soon after becomes a hitman for his crime family.

Through his association with the mob, Sheeran ends up meeting unionist icon and Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino) with whom he develops a close relationship, even going as far as becoming his bodyguard.

Hoffa, as pointed out in the film, is a name that young generations might recognize but not know his story and the weight his name carried - specially - during the 50s.

As much as Hoffa is central to the film, his background story isn't told, so some reading and/or viewings* are recommended for some context before watching this film.

Through De Niro's character point of view, The Irishman depicts Sheeran's life in sequences of flashbacks leading to Hoffa's final years all the way up to his "mysterious" disappearance.

With a running time of three and half hours, there's a lot to pack-in... but even though there's always an argument to be made about movies that go that long, it never feels like a minute is wasted or a scene is unnecessary.

Scorsese shows he's still at the top of his game and I only hope he gets to deliver more of these gems in years to come.

De Niro and Pacino deliver exceptional roles, despite making quite a lot of questionable decisions over the last few years... but hey, they are entitled do it. They have nothing to prove and from time to time, they waltz around reminding everyone why they are revered as two of the best actors of all-time. Both delivered stellar performances.

My biggest shout-out, however, goes to Joe Pesci.

Pesci made a career for himself working under Scorsese and alongside De Niro.  

Raging Bull (1980) got his first Oscar nomination and Goodfellas (1990) delivered his first win in the supporting role category for one of the most iconic roles in movie history.

Five years later, Pesci took a similar role in Casino (1995), another critically acclaimed movie that once again teamed him up with Scorsese and De Niro.
 
In between, there's multiple crossovers into comedy and drama... some as leading man, others in a supporting role... Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Home Alone (1990), My Cousin Vinny (1992), With Honors (1994) are just some of the standout examples. 

In 1998, after the release of Lethal Weapon 4, Pesci started taking less roles eventually stepping out of the limelight and dedicating his time to other things, such as a music career.

In just about over twenty years, the man has made three movie appearances, all of which with a few years in between...

With this in mind, you can imagine that the idea of a comeback for a movie that reunited him with Scorsese and De Niro... and added Pacino (making it the first time they work together) was - in my opinion - the biggest headline.

It surpassed even my own expectations.

"Is acting like riding a bike?", I wonder. Because Pesci certainly made it look like it!

All and all, I can say this is one of Scorsese's finest in many years,  marking a pleasant return to a genre he made so popular.

And while 3h30m may be a struggle for some in a cinema room, my personal recommendation is that you see it in the big screen. It's just an unbeatable forum, particularly for films of this caliber.

Limited Theatrical release from November 8th. Netflix release November 27th

* There's a 1992 film Hoffa directed by Danny DeVito and starring Jack Nicholson that might shed some light.

Still Got The Blues (Live)

by: Gary Moore

This is one of those tunes that really embodies the true meaning of blues.

One of the most powerful rock / blues ballads out there, this tune was written by master guitar player Gary Moore and rumor has it it was inspired on his ex-wife, although I haven't found anything to substantiate that story.

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019)

 ROTTEN TOMATOES: 94%

IMDB: 7.3 

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019) is the new documentary on one of the most popular and ground-breaking musicians of all-time.

Taking its title from one of Davis's most acclaimed albums, the documentary is directed by Emmy Award-winner Stanley Nelson (Freedom Riders and The Murder of Emmett Till), the film faced the enormous challenge of conveying aspects about Miles Davis’s life that haven’t been done before.

How do you make a documentary on someone that has been studied and explored in different mediums over so many years? How do you tell something new?

Well, in Nelson’s effort lies the answer.

The documentary isn’t ground-breaking as its subject, but it does offer some new perspective and access to footage that jazz fans – and in particular Miles’s fan-base – will come to greatly appreciate.

And its for those fans that the documentary really resonates the most. It’s not a deep insightful film on his life for viewers coming in fresh, but instead, it offers you short glimpses into parts of is life and career, making the best of new archive footage, as well as access to some of Davis’s personal manuscripts, voiced by actor Carl Lumbly “a la Miles style”.

We hear from people from all walks of Miles’s life. Childhood friends, musicians who have shared stage and studio and his family.

Naturally, I felt I was gravitating more towards the musicians…

Wayne Shorter, Jimmy Cobbs, Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock (to name a few)…

… but its Miles’s first wife, Francis Taylor, that really steals the show.

Bubbly and filled with confidence, Francis Taylor - who passed away nearly a year ago - really pushes the documentary’s tempo. Her sheer charisma and appealing personality help to bring to life some truly interesting stories.. some entertaining, others tragic.

Even when Taylor talks about some her darkest times near a man who was consumed by the effects of jealously, his ego and drug abuse… even then, you can feel how much she still loved him.

This and much more make for a quick – and sometimes rushed - two hour journey through Davis's different transformative phases, but the “nuggets” I came out with are magnificent.

Here’s an example of personal relevance:

At one point we hear a part of Miles’s manuscripts talking about his trip to Paris with the aim to expand his creative musical thinking. Davis would later come back to the States with a reinvigorated and more sentimental approach to his music, going on to write ballads. In this section, the narration and sit-down interviews are undergoing with It Never Entered My Mind being played in the background.  

This is a track of huge importance to me… Most likely my favorite Miles Davis song and one of the few I remember where I was, how I came across it and how it made me feel.

Roughly three years ago, I was in my Mom’s car which had an old K7 player and in it an old mix-tape. I heard the pound of the first piano notes followed by Miles’s trumpet. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!

As a jazz lover and a Miles fan, how did I only now come across this? I was shook. I was in love. I was raw. For a moment, it felt like I wasn’t there driving the car, but rather lost somewhere on those turbulent notes. It was a sensational experience for me, one that will always make me think of my Mom.

The experience only got better, as the following track was his cover of Disney classic Someday My Prince Will Come which I was also hearing for the first time.

Long story short, this documentary gave me really interesting insight into those two tracks… stuff that I had never heard before.

I’ve discovered much more throughout, leaving the cinema feeling that I had learned quite a bit.

The documentary does scrape the barrel a little bit, stretching the material as much as possible to avoid the “talking-head” taking custody of a lot of the air-time, something that critics have pointed out.

“So what”? (See what I did there?)

As a viewer who is into jazz, I always felt gripped by an interesting line-up of people who had something to say, particularly the ones who had been intimate – in one way or another - with Miles Davis.

As much as Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool won't change your life, it can still be appealing for anyone, regardless of your interest in jazz and how much you think you know Miles Davis.

So go watch it… enjoy the intimate access, the testimonials and most of all… enjoy the music!

Oh, and on that note, good luck trying to keep yourself from tapping your foot, swigging your arm, scatting or just screeching  somehow with sounds of pure joy and delight. That was my biggest battle throughout. 

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (Soundtrack on Spotify)
https://spoti.fi/2NBjvxA

Joker (2019)

(Quick note: Had written a post on this ages ago but an unfortunate accident made me lose my entire draft. Eventually found 70% of a previous one, but took me a while to find the courage to write it again).

After months in anticipation, I finally got to see the Joker, probably the most hyped film of 2019.

The project brought together a set of peculiar elements that from its genesis created a tremendous amount of curiosity from fans and critics all around the world.

The idea of having a standalone movie of a DC villain to begin with, was something never seen before and this was no ordinary villain.

The Joker has been brought to life by iconic actors such as Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, the latter even going on to win an Oscar for his portrayal in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008).

This is already enough to create a lot of buzz, but it doesn't end there.

Director Todd Phillips, with a resume made purely of comedies such as The Hangover (2009), was brought to helm this project with Joaquin Phoenix as his leading man.

Phoenix, a well respected actor in Hollywood with three Oscar nominations to his name, suddenly took this "origins" movie to a whole new level. Even with a unproved director in this genre, people knew that for Phoenix to be involved, the film would likely be bound to a certain quality standard.

The buzz kept growing and growing... so much so that, once the first trailer was released,  people were already talking about the Oscars before the Joker even came out.

Fans expressed their excitement by going to iMDB and giving top marks without having watched the film. This and much more gave away the impression that a big campaign was set in motion to promote and create a massive hype around it. And it worked.

People - including myself - could not wait to see this movie in the big screens, hoping to get answers to some burning questions...

How would Phillips fare in this film? 
How dark and method would Phoenix go to deliver this character? 
Which directions was this movie taking? 
Would we see a lot of DC "Easter eggs"? 
How much of Martin Scorsese's - one of Philips biggest influences and once tipped to be a exec producer in this film - work inspired this film? 
Would the movie take inspiration from some of the graphic novel's biggest and most popular issues?

And more importantly...

Would it live up to the hype?

Well, I can say that the movie is very good...

... But it doesn't match the hype...

... and it certainly doesn't match the obscene 8.8/10 score on iMDB.

I even watched the movie for a second time, which was enough to clear some of the doubts on my mind about the character's transformation and it helped me to get rid of the shackles that kept me tied to my own views of the "Clown Prince of Crime".

Having seen so many different incarnations of the character, I admit it was difficult to start fresh and let go of the preconceptions that stopped me to feel any empathy towards Arthur Fleck, the protagonist of this film.

I did, however, benefit from the second viewing and gained a total different appreciation, but even with that, the Joker still doesn't rank among the film elite.

Sure, it gave us a fresh approach into the comic book genre, opening up a series of different possibilities when it comes to exploring new and more compelling narratives... and yes, the fact that it is now the highest grossing R-Rated film in history does provide the movie a memorable milestone...

... but even with that in mind, I don't believe this is a film people will be talking about in years to come, like some of the timeless masterpieces which this particular movie drew inspiration from.

Having said that though, I also don't side with the critics who had very mixed feelings about it, leading to a 69% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Philips convincingly breaks away from the comedy genre into the darker realms of an obsessive character study, drawing inspiration from Scorsese's movies such as Taxi Driver (1976) and The King of Comedy (1982), as well as the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke.

The Joker, created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, had its debut in 1940 without ever really having a backstory to his name. His origins have always remained a mystery... strong with ambiguity and many alternative suggestions as to why he is who he is and how he came about.

In reality, this was always seen by many as a blank canvas for artists to explore different narratives.

Alan Moore did exactly that in 1988 when he wrote The Killing Joke, and so did Philips with his latest cinematic effort.

The movie paints a grim picture of the world, with little to no room for kindness, in an exaggerated attempt to hold a mirror to the viewers face as it to make us question our daily actions and how they are impacting people around us on a daily basis.

For this film, Gotham City was inspired in New York of the early 80s. Through its fast pace and NY attitude, it aimed to convey something relatable to the audience... and here is where I had a hard time accepting a place that truly had no compassion or sympathy towards its fellow citizens. Nothing good ever happens to Fleck and it is within those lines that we start seeing a lot of "cause and effect".

One of the striking points of the Joker is the its mission to lead the audience into thinking of their own tolerance and empathy towards others. What may well be a thoughtless and somewhat meaningless reaction on our part, can instigate serious repercussions.

Phoenix's portrayal of Arthur shows us a glimpse of such repercussions through the eyes of a character who suffers from acute mental illness and a particular condition that makes him laugh uncontrollably in situations of high stress.

Being a a misunderstood misfit, the lack of acceptance and empathy bring Arthur to a breaking point.

In fact, Arthur's downward spiral into madness - escalated by his first taste of violence and later by his decision to stop taking high doses of prescribed medication, is reminiscent of a recurrent theme to the Joker's canon.

Heath Ledger's version tackled it in The Dark Knight:

Madness is like gravity. All it takes is a little push

This seemingly also takes inspiration of Batman: The Killing Joke most iconic and infamous monologue, that truly defines the existence of the Batman and the Joker:

All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. 

That's how far the world is from where I am. 

Just one bad day.

It is this concept that bonds both these characters. Despite their roles as hero and villain, both characters are consequence of "one bad day" that brought them on the edge of madness, altering forever their core and leading them to become the men they are... It is the exploration of trauma and its consequences that have made their dynamics so interesting and appealing to a global audience.

In the film however, the traumatic experience is told through the eyes of someone who's facing different demons that are not under his grasp, shining a spotlight on mental illness as the biggest theme. The subject, which has been targeted by many viewers, health experts and movie critics - It is brought to life in some heavy strokes, masterfully applied by a Joaquin Phoenix who - so far - has probably the best leading performance of the year.

This is not his finest, however.

If Phoenix goes on to win an Oscar for this role - a high possibility - it wouldn't be for his best career performance. I would say that you still have ahead The Master (2012) and You Were Never Really Here (2017). The latter is the more subtle out of the films, but maybe the most difficult. It is a character that has very limited body language, hardly no spoken lines, ticks or mannerisms. You compare it to the Joker and you are reaching for the opposite end.

Joker is filled with ticks, flamboyant body language, facial expressions... his laughter, his mental illness condition and most notably his body transformation, which grabs the attention of the audience.

I mean, how do you ignore it?

The man survived on a diet of just 500 calories a day, reportedly losing 24 kilos in the process to obtain the look demanded by the director. It certainly lead to more than just the look of the actor, also contributing to his unbalanced mindset for the character.

With regards to his body transformation though, I have one of my other pet peeves against this film.

It felt like there were a group of scenes purposelessly choreographed in a way to exploit Phoenix's look, almost as if his performance was "screaming" for attention.

We all know the Academy and audiences worldwide "love a body transformation" in order to provide as real of a performance as possible... and as much as I can appreciate that, I felt that in the Joker it was totally overboard. No longer was I seeing it as a full commitment to the character, but rather a gimmick.

Having said that though, it us still just a slight note on what is truly a magnificent rendition of the Joker, which should get Phoenix recognition in next year's award season.

In general, is it an all-round great film, - one of the year's best so far - with beautiful cinematography, good use of (understated) music, fabulous acting ("The Joaquin Phoenix show") and plenty of food for thought on today's society and its dealings with the mentally ill and the marginalized and de-franchised.

It isn't what everyone is making it to be though.

Papyrus

One of my favorite Saturday Night Lives sketches

feat. Ryan Gosling

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)

It’s been six long years since Breaking Bad last aired, leaving millions of die-hard fans around the world mourning for what is considered by many to be one of the best TV shows of all-time.

Boasting a 9.5 (out of 10) on iMDB and 95% good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the show was a delight to both fans and critics, who praised its cinematic look, the cleaver and fast paced storytelling, the character development, acting and directing.

One could almost claim Breaking Bad is near perfection that has built a legacy next to other iconic shows such as The Wire and The Sopranos.

When the last episode aired on September 29 of 2013, fans were sad to see the show go, but incredibly satisfied with how it came to an end. This, as we all know, is a crucial landmark for any series legacy.

For many, it could be a “make or break” scenario, like we’ve seen in recent times with HBO’s Game of Thrones. For many years it seemed the fantasy TV series was on its way to join the top elite of cable shows, but two very average seasons and a dreadful ending have stained its name and ruined its credibility as one of the “greats”.

Breaking Bad however, started in glorious fashion and ended with a bang. People didn’t feel like the story needed anything to be added… it had delivered everything that it had promised over those five years and then some.

Since then, a (very) successful spin-off working as a prequel has been created and a show reunion has been teased on numerous occasions…  All of this leading up to the announcement of a Breaking Bad motion picture released by Netflix, starting Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman, the character that brought Paul three Emmy wins, along with other several nominations.

On October 11^th, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie came out to  rave reviews (94% RT and 7.7 iMDB) and after seeing it this morning, it is easy to see why.

It takes a lot of guts to take a near perfect TV show and make a movie that picks up where the series left off… but the brilliant mind of Vince Gilligan, the show creator, and his team, managed the impossible and delivered a two-hour film that offered absolute closure, while emphasizing on the nostalgia/sentimental value attached to an array of rich content and characters that we now have a chance of revisiting.

All of this in a flawless cinematic style, told through a brilliant script brought to life by Aaron Paul’s “tour de force” as the leading man.

This isn’t rocket SCIENCE, B**TCH! (See what I did there?)

If you are a Breaking Bad fan, this movie is for you!

Note:

I would also like to mention actor Robert Forster, who plays Saul Goodman's "disappearer" Ed Galbraith in the show and movie.

Forster, once nominated for an Oscar in Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997), passed away at the age of 78 on the day the film was released on Netflix. Felt weirdly poetic to have him one last time on-screen for this particular project. It wouldn't make sense without him.