4.5 stars out of 5
I first heard of Julio Torres as an SNL writer, but it was with the series Los Espookys that I truly appreciated his unique, surreal, gentle brand of comic ingenuity. MAX’s penny-pinching new ownership canceled The Spookies after two seasons, but the very bright side is this motion picture written and directed by — and starring — Julio Torres.
As Los Espookys had Fred Armisen to garner more attention, Problemista co-stars the quirkily wonderful Tilda Swinton who will hopefully draw in a few more ticket buyers. The pretty straightforward plot is loosely based on Torres’s own life: Alejandro (Torres) emigrates from El Salvador to New York with dreams of being a toy designer. First, though, he needs a work visa. Alejandro interns for art-world dame Elizabeth (Swinton) who, if pleased with his efforts, will sign off as his visa sponsor.
Throughout the story, Torres points out injustices and catch-22s in the system. For example, an immigrant needs to pay to apply for a work visa — but you’re not allowed to be paid for work until you have the visa. He also shines a spotlight on forgotten corners of modern life, such as FileMaker Pro and a hilarious personification of craigslist.
Interestingly, in a feature-length debut from an SNL vet, Torres doesn’t load up the movie with comedy cameos. Instead we get RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan doing a very nice job as Elizabeth’s late ex, a would-be art star. And linking Torres’s film to Lynch, Letterman, and cinematic history, there’s the sublime choice of Isabella Rossellini as the narrator.
Though we get touches of Torres’s offbeat magical realism, this is ultimately a fairly by-the-book, follow-your-dreams tale on a small scale. I rounded up my rating to 4 stars based on a certain sweetness permeating the film, and Torres’s brilliant potential to sit among Michel Gondry/Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman/etc. when he allows his imagination to explode all over the screen. And then, Problemista’s final chapter fell together so perfectly that I awarded another half star, and I was left with happy tears in my eyes.
Movie Review: Problemista
Aquarium Playlist, 3/26/24
EPISODE #583: 55
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Sensational Happy Travelers — “March Theme”
Freezing Hands — between-song banter, Live at the Tap ’n Bottle, Tucson, AZ, 2/22/24
Sammy Hagar — “I Can’t Drive 55”
The Ladybug Transistor — “95 Miles Per Hour”
The Sadies — “120 Miles Per Hour”
Stef Chura — “Speeding Ticket”
Devo — “Speed Racer”
Liz Phair — “Speed Racer”
Vic Chesnutt — ”Speed Racer”
theme from Speed Racer
Jug & the Bugs — “Pick My Speed”
Straitjacket Fits — “She Speeds”
The Go-Go’s — “Speeding”
Darren Hayman & the Secondary Modern — “Drive Too Fast”
Tom Waits — “Ol’ 55”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 3/19/24
EPISODE #582: WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH 2024
France Gall — “Bloody Jack” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Stone Poneys — “Different Drum”
Pizzicato Five — “I”
Keeley — “The Glitter and the Glue”
Deanie Parker — “I’ve Got No Time To Lose”
Sally Timms — “Sweetheart Waltz”
The Gentle Waves — “Solace for Pain”
Eszter Balint — “Motherbear”
Finishing School — “Destination Girl”
Donna Summer — ”I Feel Love”
Snail Mail — “Ben Franklin”
Kitty Craft — “Find Out”
Mirah — “Murphy Bed”
Bachelor — “Stay in the Car”
Who Is She? — “Top 8”
Big Lake — “I Never Left”
Bully — “Ms. America”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: Imaginary
1 star out of 5
I wanted to see a movie to clear my head, and I probably should’ve chosen the Dune sequel, as I’d been waiting for it, and it had been well reviewed, but… it just seemed like too much work. So I rolled the dice with Imaginary. And I crapped out.
The trailer hadn’t looked good. It is from the producers of M3GAN but is totally different because it’s about a stuffed bear instead of a talking doll. Also we learn in the trailer that the little kid has an imaginary friend except they keep showing the stuffed bear and aren’t imaginary friends, like, imaginary?
DeWanda Wise is the star; she was the pilot in Jurassic World: Dominion which I liked a lot yet didn’t mention her in my review. Still, she’s the main attraction here, showing some spunk, trying to liven up a movie that has precious little else going for it. DeWanda plays Jessica, stepmom to an eye-rolling teen and an extremely annoying young sister, the type that exists in bad movies but not real life. Jessica is having bad dreams so they do the most logical thing: They move into her childhood home. There, younger daughter finds a stuffed bear and I wish it was Ted because I’d been seeing commercials for the Ted TV series and though I haven’t seen either Ted movie and had no interest in the TV show, that bear seemed a lot more interesting than this one.
Bad things start happening but not the sort of scary bad things that would make the movie compelling/watchable. Poor Betty Buckley shows up and she’s absolutely slumming, must’ve needed to pay off an in-ground pool or make a parking-lot fender bender “go away” — anyway, here she’s an old-lady neighbor who used to babysit Jessica and she’s an expert in imaginary friends I think. I don’t know, I saw this a couple of weeks ago and it’s all a blur.
The movie is rated PG-13; I wish I’d noticed that before deciding to see Imaginary because there’s no real horror here. In fact, the film seems to aim even younger, with a whole stupid “world of imagination, but a child’s imagination is the most powerful gift of all” extended scene.
I gave the movie a half star more than it really deserved (a full star on IMDb!) because there’s a decent little bit very late in the film.
Is Dune 2 still playing?
Aquarium Playlist, 3/12/24
EPISODE #581: ST. PATRICK’S DAY 2024
tribute to Joe Hurley’s All-Star Irish Rock Revue
Rogue’s March — “I’m in Love — But Not With You” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Carlton Smith — “We’re All We Got”
Lianne Smith — “The Gift”
King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) — “When She Closed Her Eyes”
Faith NYC — “Shadowman”
Bruce Springsteen — “My Oklahoma Home”
Cracker — “Something You Ain’t Got”
The Cure — “Let’s Go to Bed”
Mary Lee’s Corvette — “The Sound of the Sea”
Ivan Julian — ”Can’t Help Myself”
Deni Bonet — “Light This Candle”
Slyboots — “Blindsided”
World Party — “Way Down Now” r.i.p. Karl Wallinger
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 3/5/24
EPISODE #580: RIGHT AND WRONG
Joe Jackson — “Right and Wrong” [ALTERNATE THEME]
James Mastro — “Right Words, Wrong Song”
Travis Ramin — “Right Hot Dog, Wrong Bun”
Dr. John — “Right Place, Wrong Time”
Dum Dum Girls — “Wrong Feels Right”
Dolly Parton — “It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right”
Percy Sledge — “It’s All Wrong, But It’s Alright”
The Rubs — “Wrong/Right Girl”
Mary Wells — “Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right”
Homer Banks — ”(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right”
Long Ryders — “You Don’t Know What’s Right, You Don’t Know What’s Wrong”
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers — “Nothin’ Feels Right But Doin’ Wrong”
Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey — “Haven’t Got the Right (To Treat Me Wrong)”
Sloan — “Right or Wrong”
The Sweet — “Done Me Wrong All Right”
Son House — “Am I Right or Wrong”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: Drive-Away Dolls
3.5 stars out of 5
“Does anybody remember laughter?” as Mr. Plant once asked. The comedy film, once a reliable staple of the multiplex, has become nearly extinct. Sure, there are humorous elements in the increasingly crummy Marvel movies, and there are rom-coms but they more rom than com. For those of us who truly crave the funny, it’s become slim pickings.
So sure, one Coen brother is better than none.
And that’s what we get in Drive-Away Dolls, written by Ethan Coen and his spouse Tricia Cooke, and directed by Ethan. While brother Joel and his wife Frances McDormand went the high-brow route with the superb Tragedy of MacBeth, Ethan sets his sights on goofy fun… and succeeds.
The plot is (blood) simple: Jamie (the ever delightful Margaret Qualley) and her uptight pal Marian (a very good Geraldine Viswanathan) take a drive-away car (one-way free rental) from Philly to Tallahassee, just for a head-clearing road trip. Trouble is, two goons were supposed to take that same car to Tallahassee, due to an initially-MacGuffin suitcase in the trunk. So the goons set off in hot pursuit, meanwhile Jamie and Marian discover the shocking contents of their trunk, and zany hijinks ensue.
There is not much more to this movie and that is OK — because it’s a comedy! And there are some very big laughs along the way. It’s a lesbian story (title was intended to be Drive-Away Dykes) but not for any heavy political reasons; it just helps along the liberals-in-a-conservative-setting scenario. Joey Slotnick is especially funny as the more sensitive of the two goons. Beanie Feldstein gets some solid scenes as Jamie’s resentful ex. Bill Camp, owner of the drive-away business, is a classic Coen character. And you can’t go wrong with a Matt Damon cameo.
Word on the street is that the Coen brothers are working together again soon, and of course I look forward to that. In the meantime, Drive-Away Dolls is a fun, funny, sexy road movie that will keep you smiling for an hour and a half.
Aquarium Playlist, 2/27/24
EPISODE #579: LEAP YEAR 2024
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Cecil Gant — “Jump Jack Jump”
Sebadoh — “Leap Year”
Torres — “Big Leap”
Clive Gregson — “February 29th”
Johnny Paycheck — “11 Months and 29 Days”
Chuck Willis — “Let’s Jump Tonight”
Good Grief — “Dimension Jump”
Grass Jaw — “Jump”
David Bowie — ”Jump They Say”
Ben Vaughn Combo — “Grasshopper”
Collins Kids — “Hop, Skip, and Jump”
Logan Ledger — “Skip a Rope”
Bruce Springsteen — “Highway 29”
The Magnificent Seven — “The Leap Frog”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 2/20/24
EPISODE #578: RETURN TO ARIZONA
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Ennio Morricone — “Once Upon a Time in the West”
Cub — “Vacation”
Howe Gelb — “Vex (Tucson)”
Sarah Dougher — “Everywhere West”
Peter Perrett — “How the West Was Won”
No Man — “How the West Was Won”
R.E.M. — “How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us”
Vehicle Flips — “Trouble on the Western Survey”
Bruce Springsteen — ”Tucson Train”
Screaming Females — “Desert Train”
Paper Bee — “Tucson”
Dear Nora — “I Was Born in Arizona”
Freezing Hands — “Wax Cups”
Melted Wires — “Ballad of the Tucson 2”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Jack Silbert, curator