Monday, December 24, 2007
Just checking in. I don't know where the time has gone. Maybe I am crashing. Time is speeding up and slowing down. Two gigs and two films in two days. Late nights and early starts. Definitely not enough sleep and definitely not eating properly. I will remedy that later. I am going nowhere else today.
So, where was I? This might be a bit all over the place, chronologically.
"We Own The Night".
My Brother claims that he fell asleep four times during "We Own The Night" because it was so slow. That's not good. He also claims that the latter parts of the film were good and that it had a strong climax. That is good. I would definitely call that a mixed review.
There have been a lot of mixed reviews of "We Own The Night" in the UK. The general gist of the seems to have been that "We Own The Night" compares badly to other recent crime dramas like "The Departed". Well, I have never seen "The Departed", and obviously cannot comment, but I didn't think that "We Own The Night" was bad at all, and I certainly didn't fall asleep.
Joaquin Phoenix is successful night club manager Bobby Green. At heart he is a decent guy, but he exists on fringes of the Russian underworld, and knows too many of the wrong people. His father Bert (Robert Duvall) is a dedicated and honest career policeman, a path destined to be taken by his brother Joe (Mark Wahlberg), recently promoted within the force to fight the kind of crime associated with Bobby's friends. Bobby has kept his family background quiet, even going so far as to change his last name. Family loyalty is tested when a request for help is rejected and somebody is hurt. Bobby then finds himself in danger and his life starts to unravel.
I thought that "We Own The Night" was a good film, with Joaquin Phoenix being particularly impressive as Bobby, centre stage and onscreen for almost the entire movie. During the latter stages his sense of dread, hopelessness and stress are almost palpable. Add to this great supporting turns from a serious and rigid Mark Wahlberg (be aware he has much less screen time than you might think), a smoking hot Eva Mendes and an aged and powerful Robert Duvall, and you have something really worth seeing.
Ocean Colour Scene at the Carling Academy.
I have seen Ocean Colour Scene live three times.
The first time was at the tail end of Britpop (1997?) where they played at the full sized NIA and Paul Weller guested on a couple of tracks. They were OK, but the venue was too big for them.
The second time was in 2002, again at the full sized NIA. They were supporting Oasis. Frankly they blew a bored and disinterested Oasis off the stage. Just brilliant. A fantastic set of all of their best songs.
The third time was last night.
I cannot in all honesty say that they were as fantastic as they were in 2002, but they were better than in 1997, and as pre-Christmas hometown gigs go it was pretty good. True, I was as pissed as a skunk, my Brother and I having been in the Square Peg for a couple of hours. So much for my Brother acting as a break on my drinking too much.
This is a new one. I have a set list. I nabbed it from one of the sound engineers as the gig ended.
"The Riverboat Song"
"Man In The Middle"
"The Circle"
"Get Blown Away"
"You Got It Bad"
"I Just Need Myself"
"It's My Shadow"
"Robin Hood"
"I Won't Get Grazed"
"Foxy Folked Faced"
"This Day Should Last Forever"
"100 Mile High City"
"Just Got Over You"
"July"
"Profit In Peace"
"One For The Road"
"Travellers Tune"
"Got To Sea Boy"
"Get Away"
"Better Day"
"The Day We Caught The Train"
"Day Tripper"
Now, that was a pretty good set. Mad crowd. Lot's of dancing. Lot's of singing along, in between the drinking. Not bad for a band who are still very tied into a specific point in British music, as are the much more successful Oasis, truth be told. I would go to see Ocean Colour Scene again and I won't leave it 5 years next time.
Here is one of their absolute classics. "We are, we are, we are the Mods!"
At the gig I ran into a guy who used to work at The Corporation and from the way I was greeted you would have thought that I was his best friend ever. I wasn't. In fact he was a miserable shit who made Lorraine's job very difficult. She danced around without her bra on when he finally left. (At home, not at work, more's the pity.) Christmas bonhomie. We shook hands. We chewed the fat. We had drinks. We embraced at the end and he fucked off into the crowd. Sometimes you just have to hold your tongue, don't you?
I am feeling a little dizzy. Probably a good time to stop and eat something. Back later.
So, where was I? This might be a bit all over the place, chronologically.
"We Own The Night".
My Brother claims that he fell asleep four times during "We Own The Night" because it was so slow. That's not good. He also claims that the latter parts of the film were good and that it had a strong climax. That is good. I would definitely call that a mixed review.
There have been a lot of mixed reviews of "We Own The Night" in the UK. The general gist of the seems to have been that "We Own The Night" compares badly to other recent crime dramas like "The Departed". Well, I have never seen "The Departed", and obviously cannot comment, but I didn't think that "We Own The Night" was bad at all, and I certainly didn't fall asleep.
Joaquin Phoenix is successful night club manager Bobby Green. At heart he is a decent guy, but he exists on fringes of the Russian underworld, and knows too many of the wrong people. His father Bert (Robert Duvall) is a dedicated and honest career policeman, a path destined to be taken by his brother Joe (Mark Wahlberg), recently promoted within the force to fight the kind of crime associated with Bobby's friends. Bobby has kept his family background quiet, even going so far as to change his last name. Family loyalty is tested when a request for help is rejected and somebody is hurt. Bobby then finds himself in danger and his life starts to unravel.
I thought that "We Own The Night" was a good film, with Joaquin Phoenix being particularly impressive as Bobby, centre stage and onscreen for almost the entire movie. During the latter stages his sense of dread, hopelessness and stress are almost palpable. Add to this great supporting turns from a serious and rigid Mark Wahlberg (be aware he has much less screen time than you might think), a smoking hot Eva Mendes and an aged and powerful Robert Duvall, and you have something really worth seeing.
Ocean Colour Scene at the Carling Academy.
I have seen Ocean Colour Scene live three times.
The first time was at the tail end of Britpop (1997?) where they played at the full sized NIA and Paul Weller guested on a couple of tracks. They were OK, but the venue was too big for them.
The second time was in 2002, again at the full sized NIA. They were supporting Oasis. Frankly they blew a bored and disinterested Oasis off the stage. Just brilliant. A fantastic set of all of their best songs.
The third time was last night.
I cannot in all honesty say that they were as fantastic as they were in 2002, but they were better than in 1997, and as pre-Christmas hometown gigs go it was pretty good. True, I was as pissed as a skunk, my Brother and I having been in the Square Peg for a couple of hours. So much for my Brother acting as a break on my drinking too much.
This is a new one. I have a set list. I nabbed it from one of the sound engineers as the gig ended.
"The Riverboat Song"
"Man In The Middle"
"The Circle"
"Get Blown Away"
"You Got It Bad"
"I Just Need Myself"
"It's My Shadow"
"Robin Hood"
"I Won't Get Grazed"
"Foxy Folked Faced"
"This Day Should Last Forever"
"100 Mile High City"
"Just Got Over You"
"July"
"Profit In Peace"
"One For The Road"
"Travellers Tune"
"Got To Sea Boy"
"Get Away"
"Better Day"
"The Day We Caught The Train"
"Day Tripper"
Now, that was a pretty good set. Mad crowd. Lot's of dancing. Lot's of singing along, in between the drinking. Not bad for a band who are still very tied into a specific point in British music, as are the much more successful Oasis, truth be told. I would go to see Ocean Colour Scene again and I won't leave it 5 years next time.
Here is one of their absolute classics. "We are, we are, we are the Mods!"
At the gig I ran into a guy who used to work at The Corporation and from the way I was greeted you would have thought that I was his best friend ever. I wasn't. In fact he was a miserable shit who made Lorraine's job very difficult. She danced around without her bra on when he finally left. (At home, not at work, more's the pity.) Christmas bonhomie. We shook hands. We chewed the fat. We had drinks. We embraced at the end and he fucked off into the crowd. Sometimes you just have to hold your tongue, don't you?
I am feeling a little dizzy. Probably a good time to stop and eat something. Back later.
Labels: Christmas, Gigs, Movies
# posted by Pynchon @ 2:12 pm 
