Aquarium Playlist, 12/13/22

By Jack Silbert on December 13, 2022

EPISODE #516: BEST NEW-TO-ME 2022 PT. 1

The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Oceanator — “Heartbeat”
Last Minet — “Don’t Hold Back”
Jug & the Bugs — “Car Starts To Shake”
Shinner — “Cowabunga Peppermill”
Sleepers Union — “Come On”
Chatham Rabbits — “Come Home”
Beams — “A Flower Blossomed”
Myriam Gendron — “La Jeune Fille en Pleurs”
Pussy Gillette — “Cabron”
Renee Maskin — ”We Won’t Lose It Now”
Sir Synthesis — “All Around Me”
High. — “Dead”
Al Olender — “Keith”
Ivan Julian — “Cut Me Loose”
Desert Sharks — “I Don’t Know How To Dress for the Apocalypse”
Surfbort — “Les Be in Love”
Abbie From Mars — “Following Your Lead”
Baba Ali — “Thought Leader”
Substitute — “Runaway”
Blood Lemon — “Leave the Gaslight On”
Church Girls — “Dune”
Country Westerns — “TV Light”
Yeah Baby — “No Video”
Phantom Handshakes — “No Better Plan”
Pigeon Pit — “Fire Escape”
Pierce Turner — “Set a Few Things Up”

Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.

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What I’ve Been Watching: Edition XXIII

By Jack Silbert on December 6, 2022

Not nearly as many new shows on the list this edition. Is it possible that I watched less TV?!? Perish the thought! Still, I’m not quite sure of the reason. Was I busier watching additional seasons of previous favorites? Or tuning in to more movies, specials, and one-off documentaries? Or just fewer compelling new series? Regardless, here’s my incredibly shrinking rundown of shows I’ve checked out since the summer.

LOVED

The Rehearsal (HBO) I’ve been a Nathan Fielder fan since Jon Benjamin Has a Van back in 2011, and The Rehearsal tops even Nathan For You for ingenuity. The basic conceit is worthy of a reality-TV smash: Role-playing stressful situations that you’ve been putting off. But Fielder blows the doors off the idea, hiring lookalikes, building ultra-realistic sets, and then becoming a main character in his own creation. I laughed and laughed and also watched with wide-eyed wonder at Nathan’s own multiverse.

The U.S. and The Holocaust (PBS) For a Jewish American raised on the promise of the Statue of Liberty and glorious tales of “The Greatest Generation,” this latest outstanding documentary series from Ken Burns is a disillusioning wake-up call. I had no idea how reluctant our country was to enter the War, to fight the Nazi scourge, and to accept desperate refugees fleeing certain death. We talk a good game but “Not in my backyard” seems to have always been the American way. This series is a gut punch that everyone needs to watch. Thankfully Burns also shines a spotlight on some better angels, such as John Pehle and Raoul Wallenberg, to show that there are always people willing to fight the good and necessary fight, even when it’s the unpopular fight.

LIKED A LOT

The Bear (Hulu) I eat in a lot of sandwich joints and I’d bet money that none of them are run like this (or with quite so many heartfelt speechifying). Still, the acting is so top-notch, the setting so fun, and the hustle-bustle and kitchen talk so exciting that I really enjoyed this show.

The Patient (Hulu) It seemed like a corny high concept for Analyze This 3: Patient kidnaps and chains up his therapist to have easy access to sessions. But the creators of The Americans used the idea to craft a truly compelling series ultimately about fathers and sons, but also dealing with nature vs. nurture, prejudice, trying to see the world through someone else’s eyes, and a rare mainstream look at Orthodox vs. reform Judaism. Domnhall Gleeson is unrecognizably brilliant and Steve Carrell nearly matches him throughout.

LIKED

I Love That For You (Showtime) I love Vanessa Bayer but I didn’t love this show for me.

SHOWS I HONESTLY THOUGHT I’D KEEP WATCHING AFTER ONE EPISODE, YET DIDN’T

Heartstopper (Netflix) Sweet gay British coming-of-age series but I made a hard stop after Heartstopper episode 1.

ONE AND DONE

Celebrity Jeopardy (ABC) Triple Jeopardy is an interesting concept but this should be a week of shows, not a regular series. At least they found something for Mayim Bialik to do.

The Watcher (Netflix) True creepy story set in New Jersey with a cool cast? Sign me up! But as episode 1 wound down and I was wondering “why did that feel so corny and phony?” I saw that it was a Ryan Murphy production and knew I would no longer be… a watcher.

YES, I STILL WATCH THE SIMPSONS

Two really strong episodes so far and the season is only half over!

THANK YOU AND GOODBYE

With so much lower-quality “content” populating HBO Max, the mothership was loco to cancel the hilarious, smart, wildly inventive Los Espookys. Over on NBC, Kenan and Mr. Mayor were both lightly enjoyable yet I’m not overly distraught that they won’t get third seasons either.

LOOKING FORWARD TO

Tim Burton is my boy so Wednesday will definitely get a look. Will be checking out Fleishman Is in Trouble soon. George & Tammy is up my alley. Fargo with Jon Hamm returning to his midwest roots, yes! New Curb filming as we speak. And someday we’ll see that Party Down reboot.

SHOWS I USED TO WATCH AND IN MANY CASES STILL DO

Links to Edition I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI, and XXII.

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Aquarium Playlist, 12/6/22

By Jack Silbert on December 6, 2022

EPISODE #515: 11TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (RADIO X)

The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Velvet Underground — “Rock & Roll”
Laura Cantrell — “Radio for Heartache”
Caroline No — “Anna’s on the Radio”
Matt Rendon of the Resonars — Radio Free Bakersfield ad
Squalls — “Elephant Radio” (live)
Hall & Oates — “Portable Radio”
Screaming Females — “On My Radio”
Spoon — “On the Radio”
Yo La Tengo feat. Jad Fair — “Ultra-Powerful Short Wave Radio Picks Up Music From Venus”
The Bangles — ”Rock & Roll Alternative” theme song
Hammerbrain — “Killer in Your Radio”
Dropkick Murphys — “Turn Up That Dial”
Autograph — “Turn Up the Radio”
Jan & Dean — KWFB Jan & Dean Day radio spot
Spiral Jetty — “Exactly How She Feels”
The Vines — “Don’t Listen to the Radio”
Fleetwood Mac — “Think About Me” r.i.p. Christine McVie

Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.

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Aquarium Playlist, 11/29/22

By Jack Silbert on November 29, 2022

EPISODE #514: TROUBLE

The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Frankie Rose — “Trouble”
Elliott Smith — “Trouble”
Bruce Springsteen — “Trouble River”
Tallies — “Trouble”
Duke Hunter — “Nose Trouble”
The Buff Medways — “Troubled Mind”
Aretha Franklin — “Trouble in Mind”
Lindsey Buckingham — “Trouble”
R.E.M. — “Tired of Singing Trouble”
Loretta Lynn — ”Trouble in Paradise”
The Bats — “Trouble in This Town”
Camera Obscura — “Troublemaker”
Marvin Gaye — “Trouble Man”
The Jayhawks — “Trouble”

Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.

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Movie Review: The Fabelmans

By Jack Silbert on November 28, 2022

5 stars out of 5

At some point in the near future I’ll likely dig into what’s real/what’s made up in this movie, but at the moment I honestly don’t care because I’ve just seen a basically perfect film and I want everybody to know! Based loosely on his own life, Steven Spielberg puts his all into this one — it’s his first screenplay credit since A.I. in 2001 — and it shows, and shines, in every frame of the film. There are no sharks, space aliens, or even the big easy heart-tugs which the heartless have critiqued him for. No, this time, Spielberg tackles the very stuff of American life itself with self-aware realism rather than a well-lit nostalgic glow. Will modern audiences flock to a mid-century Jewish-American family drama set in the western suburbs? Maybe not, but I’d guess Spielberg doesn’t really care at this point. It’s the story he needs to tell, and he does so with humor, compassion, humility, well-earned insight, and his undeniable mastery of filmmaking. And anyone who truly loves cinema will revel in peeking under the hood of one of its true geniuses, while recognizing a ton about growing up too.

Whew, that’s a doozy of a paragraph; thanks for hanging in there. Let’s talk nuts-and-bolts to lighten things up, eh? We meet very young Sammy Fabelman and his parents Burt and Mitzi, portrayed by Paul Dano and Michelle Williams. Dad’s 50s-era tech work relocates the family (which will eventually include 3 daughters), plus close pal “Uncle” Benny (Seth Rogen), all the way to Arizona. Sammy, meanwhile, has a growing love of making movies, first with his sisters, then with fellow scouts including the awesome Cheese from Reservation Dogs. Also Sammy wants to be Sam and is played the rest of the way by Gabriel LaBelle (no relation to Patti). Work advancement and family strife bring the Fabelmans to 1964 northern California where high-school Sam deals with bullies, anti-semitism, and girls, all the while toting that trusty movie camera.

We expect Michelle Williams to be great and she is, as the devoted wife and mom who tries to make room for her creative life and passions but still feels suffocated. And there’s a fairly subdued performance by Paul Dano (perhaps unwittingly modeling his character after my pal Phil?), as the hard-working, always smiling dad. Later he gets to show the strain of forever being the nice guy, and the toll it can take. But the revelation here is Gabriel LaBelle. Spielberg and co-writer Tony Kushner (Angels in America, and for Spielberg West Side Story, Lincoln, and Munich) really put Gabriel through the paces and he completely delivers. It’s a blend of supreme self-confidence and constant insecurity which is tough to capture but LaBelle does it. We believe him as Sam learns it’s easier to share his emotions via film rather than by talking, and we see his struggle to be an aware member of the family while increasingly living in his own head. But whatever the problems in his life, the camera is always his safe haven.

Rogen is reliably jokey-menschy, and I was very happy to see Judd Hirsch show up (and fun to see him depart) in a brief but key role as Mitzi’s brother, a fellow “creative” who makes a strong impression on Sam. Hirsch’s best performance, perhaps?

The tone of the film is consistently realistic all the way through until a final year-later time jump. Then a couple of pieces snap together a bit too easily… but only because Spielberg is setting us up for a genuinely fantastic ending. Right now this is easily the best movie of the year, and we’ll see if any late arrivals can even come close.

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Movie Review: The Menu

By Jack Silbert on November 27, 2022

3 stars out of 5

I’m loyal. I watch a lot of Seth Meyers, and one of his writers co-wrote The Menu. So I dutifully watched the trailer, which seemed darkly funny. Plus Anya Taylor-Joy-’sGot-Nuts-Mounds-Don’t was in it, and I’m a fan (despite not being impressed with Anya in her pre-Gambit gambit Thoroughbreds). All good enough for me.

And that’s what this movie ends up being: Good enough. The 2-minute trailer shows you that it will be a dark comedy/thriller skewering upper-class society (haven’t seen Triangle of Sadness but I think that treads similar waters?) while also poking the cult of personality around celebrity chefs. But the movie is 105 minutes longer than the trailer without delivering too much more.

Margot (Taylor-Joy), who represents us and the writers because we are down-to-earth and not like these stupid rich people, is on a date with Tyler (Nicholas Hoult, who was the boy in About a Boy; yes you is OLD deal with it!!!) who is a rich prick. Why are these two even together? Maybe it’ll be explained later in the movie! All you need to know now is they have reservations at an ultra-exclusive restaurant run by superchef Ralph Fiennes. It is also super-remote so don’t even think of summoning an Uber if you want to amscray in a hurry, ah but all that comes later too! Other diners include Judith Light (!) as a, you know, rich person, a tired-looking John Leguizamo playing a past-his-prime actor (too on-the-nose?), and mean Helen from Ozark. I did enjoy seeing Peter Grosz (Mike Pence on The President Show) as the sommelier.

And then things get cray-cray. I did kind of enjoy the movie — it’s clever, there are many laughs, and it does get pretty dark if you like that sort of thing (which I do). But, as with a too-small portion in a pricey restaurant, I was really hoping for greater fulfillment.

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Aquarium Playlist, 11/22/22

By Jack Silbert on November 22, 2022

EPISODE #513: THANKSGIVING 2022 (FRIENDS II)

Ray Davies — “Thanksgiving Day” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Jennifer O’Connor — “Another Day (My Friend)”
Boyracer — “Friend”
Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers — “The Friendship Song”
Pete Townshend — “A Friend Is a Friend”
Eels — “You’re My Friend”
Amy Allison — “No-Frills Friend”
Louis Jordan & his Tympani Five — “Friendship”
gobbinjr — “Friends”
John Hiatt — “My Old Friend”
Karyn Kuhl Band — ”Be Your Friend”
Rare Books — “You’re My Friend”
The Motifs — “Good Friends”
Beach Boys — “Friends”
Mary Gauthier — “Thanksgiving”

Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.

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Movie Review: The Banshees of Inisherin

By Jack Silbert on November 17, 2022

4.5 stars out of 5

Despite enjoying their previous work together In Bruges, I didn’t rush out to see this film. From the trailer, it seemed a little “diddlydee” as my Irish friend Patrick says. And with two old pals — Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson — comedically feuding, the whole thing looked like it might be a little one-note. Oh, and though most everybody loved writer/director Martin McDonagh’s most recent effort Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, I kind of didn’t.

Yet, it was $5 Tuesday, and instead of waiting an hour for Bardo, I decided to give The Banshees of Inisherin a try. The movie is indeed-deed-diddlydee, but in a very pleasing way. You feel like you’re there on the rural Irish island (I was immediately reminded of TV’s Father Ted), and the physical space plays as much a part in the story as Farrell and Gleeson do. There’s the rolling green hills with stone-bordered paths, the farm animals, the pub that’s the center of life, the traditional music, the church. Dare I say, it’s… charming. And lovely. And the script is quite funny.

The plot does in fact begin very simply. Pádraic (Farrell) can’t understand why Colm (Gleeson) doesn’t want to be his friend anymore. They’ve always been friends! Did Pádraic say something, did he do something? He can’t figure it out. It’s such a stripped-down story, it actually felt like a fable, an allegory.

Farrell is so very likable in this role; the character is described as “one of life’s good guys.” The actor effectively conveys the character’s confusion, persistence, and mounting frustration. Also delightful is Kerry Condon as Pádraic’s sister Siobhan; they live together and look after each other. She’s reserved and bookish with a big heart, but doesn’t take any guff. Also in the very likable colm I mean column is Barry Keoghan as sweet, dimwitted Dom. I’d been very impressed with Keoghan in The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which Farrell was also very good in, come to think of it.

But what about co-lead Gleeson? He gets to be gruff, stubborn, taciturn, imposing, and pensive. Oh and he plays the fiddle(deedee), and wrote and performs the title track!! Between this and The Patient, Brendan and Domhnall Gleeson are my Father & Son Actors of the Week!

It’s Gleeson’s character’s changed attitude that slowly pulls this film in a darker direction, along with the fact that it’s 1923 and the Irish Civil War is literally and figuratively in the background. What we end up with is an exploration of friendship, companionship, conflict, responsibility to others versus responsibility to ourselves, and nothing of short of the search for meaning in life itself. It all adds up to one of the better films I’ve seen this year.

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Movie Review: Decision to Leave

By Jack Silbert on November 16, 2022

4 stars out of 5

In the mid-aughts, I really meant to see Oldboy. Then in 2013, I missed Spike Lee’s remake of Oldboy. So, Decision to Leave is my first experience with the work of Korean writer/director Park Chan-wook. It took a while into this film but, I’m impressed.

The first big chunk of the movie is a well-done but fairly routine detective story/neo-noir. We have police detective Hae-joon — married, wears a suit, a little stiff, can’t sleep — and his young, single, casual partner Soo-wan. There’s even a bit of buddy comedy with these two. They investigate a death: accident or murder? Enter the femme fatale, Seo-rae, the dead man’s widow. Hae-joon becomes overly interested in her. Will his growing obsession taint the investigation and/or play havoc with his own marriage?

So the film is going along, good if not great, and I’m thinking, cut the guy a little slack, it’s been 20 years since Oldboy, maybe he’s lost half a step. The leads, Park Hae-il as the conflicted cop and Tang Wei as the widow, are both very good. She is quite alluring without the film over-sexualizing the character. (OK, she does hike up her skirt once.) And Tang Wei keeps us believably wondering: Is she a killer or just a confident, modern person? Meanwhile, Park Hae-il effectively conveys a tricky balance between morally upright professional and letting go to ones impulses, to potential happiness.

Before I realized it, the story continued to build and build (getting a bit convoluted for a stretch), and the emotional and psychological stakes kept spiraling higher and higher, until the film genuinely reminded me of Shakespearean tragedy. So I salute you, Park Chan-wook, and I promise once and for all to watch Oldboy.

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Aquarium Playlist, 11/15/22

By Jack Silbert on November 15, 2022

EPISODE #512: SOUL & SOULS

Fatboy Slim — “The Rockafeller Skank” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Bruce Springsteen feat. Sam Moore — “Soul Days”
Faith NYC — “Soul Secrets”
Guided by Voices — “It’s Like Soul Man”
The dB’s — “She Got Soul”
Life in a Blender — “Soul Deliverer”
Macrofone — “The Soul Won’t Know Its Part”
David Bowie — “Soul Love”
Glenn Morrow’s Cry for Help — “Soul Hold”
Swansea Sound — “I Sold My Soul on eBay”
The Gothic Archies — ”The Abandoned Castle of My Soul”
Spoon — “They Want My Soul”
Lucinda Williams — “Man Without a Soul”
Unrest — “She Makes Me Shake Like a Soul Machine”

Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.

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