By Jack Silbert on November 14, 2019
4.5 stars out of 5
Marty got the band back together, and for many of us that is reason enough to celebrate. De Niro! Pesci! Keitel! Original music by Robbie Robertson, fer crissakes. That he was then able to deliver such a tremendous piece of filmmaking, on a truly grand scale, is… well, not at all surprising. Because he’s Martin Freaking Scorsese. And who the hell are you?
The titular Irishman is Frank Sheeran, apparently a Zelig-esque character of the 1950s–70s Teamsters and organized crime scene. Tasked with playing him over several decades is Robert De Niro, i.e. one of the greatest American actors of all time. However, in the past 20+ years, we’ve only seen occasional glimmers of that brilliance. Has he gone after less challenging roles in lesser movies? A little bit, little bit. Here, his old friend Scorsese brings Bobby back to the well, and it is impressive to watch.
Due to the wide time span covered in the screenplay, Scorsese employs digital de-aging, and while not perfect, it’s pretty good. De Niro looks like a younger De Niro who maybe has had very good results from Proactiv. Most importantly it’s not distracting.
We’re deftly bouncing between three time periods: 1950s, 1970s, 2000s. But we’re primarily in that first time period as it slowly catches up with the second. Those early days are Scorsese’s sweet spot, and nobody does it better. This is Goodfellas territory: the dark restaurants, the suits, the hits. Hey, there’s Joe Pesci (whose mafia character becomes Sheeran’s lifelong mentor). Oh hello Harvey Keitel, boss of bosses. For a little new spice in the Sunday gravy, let’s mix in Bobby Cannavale (who more than passed the Scorsese audition in Boardwalk Empire). I am not here to shit on Motherless Brooklyn except to say: You look at that movie and think “oh they’re making it look old-timey.” Scorsese and crew, on the other hand, absolutely transport you to the time period. You are there.
For those of us who enjoy such a thing, this would be movie enough. But then we get Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa. Oh goodness. You mean before, that was just the appetizer, and now we’re getting the main course? Pacino — also on the shortlist of all-time greats — is a delight, trying out a flat midwestern accent, gesticulating, shifting volume and tempo. Hoo-ah!! Sheeran becomes Hoffa’s trusted soldier, so we get De Niro and Pacino playing off each other — the first time that’s ever happened in a quality film. Which is a treat.
We also get a very solid Ray Romano (as the Teamsters lawyer), an explosive performance by Boardwalk Empire’s Al Capone (as Hoffa rival Tony Pro), Herc from The Wire in a fat suit (or did De Niro raging-bully him into gaining weight?), Landry from Friday Night Lights, Anna Paquin in a small but key role as Sheeran’s grown-up daughter, and that comic Sebastian Maniscalco who Jerry Seinfeld had coffee with in a nice turn as Crazy Joe Gallo.
Top screenwriter Steve Zailian (Schindler’s List, The Night Of, etc.) skillfully weaves an epic tale of power, pride, politics, corruption, family, loyalty, prejudice, and more. There are laughs but they’re balanced by frequent reminders from Scorsese that the violent life isn’t a glamorous one — it takes a deep personal toll, and haunts you always. This is America, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Is this a true story? These are real characters, and we know the outcome. There are seemingly countless competing versions of how that outcome was reached, and we may never know the reality. But for a compelling, thrilling, expertly-crafted, and thought-provoking take on the events, I’m sticking with Scorsese.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 10s movies, Al Pacino, Jimmy Hoffa, mafia, Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, teamsters
By Jack Silbert on November 13, 2019
3 stars out of 5
I’ve read one Jonathan Lethem novel, Fortress of Solitude, and my reaction was, “Eh, it’s OK.” Now I’ve also seen one movie based on a different Lethem novel, and I’m feeling the same way.
I did hear that Edward Norton took many liberties with the book, so those guys can share the blame if they like. Norton has always seemed like a good dude to me, kind of an intellectual Andrew McCarthy, and a very strong actor. But this is clearly a passion project for him and that is often a real red flag. Norton wrote, directed, and stars in this film. He’s only directed once before (the likably lightweight Keeping the Faith back in 2000) and this is his first screenplay. The sweet fella seems a bit out of his depth.
Ah, but he plays the lead role, a 1950s gumshoe with Tourette’s. Norton does a solid job and doesn’t go “full R” but I couldn’t shake the suspicion that, with all that twitching and blurting, he’s ultimately just Oscar-chasing. I guess Norton called in some favors and cast quality actors Alec Baldwin (a character based on real-life power-mad NYC commissioner Robert Moses, and in case you didn’t get that, his name here is Moses Randolph — clever!!), Bruce Willis, Bobby Cannavale, Willem Dafoe, and the reliably great Cherry Jones. Then his favors ran out so we also get the brother from My Name Is Earl, Omar from The Wire, and Fisher Stevens (!) with a performance so wussified I honestly thought it was Mike Birbiglia. The female lead is Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who does good work here and her name is really fun to say.
But let’s take Baldwin as a case study. I saw a promotional interview in which Norton gushed about getting to see Baldwin in a dramatic role again. Ah, but here’s the rub: Norton doesn’t have the directorial chops to coax a truly powerful performance out of Baldwin. And this unfortunately carries over to the rest of the film: It’s a noir gangster genre exercise — power, corruption, REVENGE — looks suitably old-timey, and it’s competent but not much more. It feels like they’re playing dress-up. And I’m not even going to mention the scene where Norton compares Tourette’s to jazz.
I just wish a more experienced director with a stronger cast could make a period-piece crime epic to show Edward Norton how it’s truly done. Oh wait a minute….
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 10s movies, Edward Norton
By Jack Silbert on November 12, 2019
EPISODE #356: MODES OF TRANSPORT
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Dionne Warwick — “Trains and Boats and Planes”
C.W. McCall — “Convoy”
Laura Cantrell — “Roll Truck Roll”
Lightnin’ Hopkins — “Automobile”
Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers — “The Airplane Song”
Flowers — “Boat Song”
Colin Clary — “She’s a Motorcycle”
Eternal Summers — “Pogo”
Grandaddy — “Skateboarding Saves Me Twice”
Pink Floyd — “Bike”
The Replacements — “Kiss Me on the Bus”
Descendents — “Van”
Guided by Voices — “Everywhere With Helicopter”
The Pastels — “Get ‘Round Town”
Frankie Cosmos — “Bus Bus Train Train”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Against Me!, C.W. McCall, Colin Clary, Descendents, Dionne Warwick, Eternal Summers, Flowers, Frankie Cosmos, Grandaddy, Guided by Voices, Laura Cantrell, Laura Jane Grace, Lightnin' Hopkins, Pink Floyd, Smittens, The Pastels, The Replacements
By Jack Silbert on November 7, 2019
4 stars out of 5
You know I really want to see a movie if it’s $7 Tuesday but instead of going to a Bow Tie theater I go to AMC where I don’t even have a rewards card and drop $21-and-change for the Dolby Atmos with the reclining seats.
I dig the Boss.
If you do as well, and have a chance to see Western Stars on the big screen, go do it soon. This will be fine to watch on your big TV at home, but there was something extra special about watching in the cinema with some fellow Bruce fans around. You’re basically being invited to a private concert in the hayloft of Bruce’s barn in Colts Neck, New Jersey. It’s done up as a club, with a small bar off to the side, and warm lighting. There are other friends and family invited but co-directors Springsteen and his very sympathetic collaborator Thom Zimny wisely don’t focus much on the crowd. He came for you, you, Bruce came for you. Will you heed his urgency?
The setlist is the recent Springsteen album Western Stars. As he mentions in the bonus footage at the end, Bruce was temporarily a little bored with writing rock and roll songs, so he tried on a different style: western-tinged singer/songwriter material in the vein of Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell. There aren’t too many songwriters who could switch genres so successfully, especially quite deep in a career. But Springsteen has been fascinated with the West since his early records, and has certainly done folkier tunes in the past. The result here, to my ears, is his most consistently strong album since Magic from 2007.
In the barn he’s gathered a band of old friends and new players, plus a prominent 30-piece orchestra. Yet it remains a very homey feel. I fought the urge to clap at the end of each song, and the assembled cineplex audience did applaud at the end of the film. We Jerseyans are cute like that.
In a bit of a throwback to his old concerts (and to his Broadway show), Bruce introduces each song with a little story or the motivation for writing it. But instead of speaking to the barn crowd, Zimny takes Bruce out to the actual West for these interstitial segments. There’s plenty of gorgeous footage: horses and plains, wide open skies, wide open roads.
The 70-year-old Springsteen has a lot of hard-won wisdom to share, and a ready willingness to admit his failings. The overarching theme here is a fairly basic concept, but I don’t recall ever hearing it so plainly stated: As humans we have an ingrained desire to vanish, explore, to be alone, to express our independence. We’re born to run. But we also have a lust for togetherness, love, family, community. Responsibility. The young person may be more driven by that mad quest for freedom and the self, while the older among us focus more on the home and the needs of others. But these twin impulses are always there, fighting against each other. These songs and this film capture that idea beautifully.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 10s movies, Bruce Springsteen
By Jack Silbert on November 5, 2019
EPISODE #355: DEDICATIONS
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Ambivalent Brothers — “All Grown Up” [dedicated to Ed Seifert]
Michael Stipe — “Your Capricious Soul” [to Jimmmmmmmmy!]
R.E.M. — “Maps and Legends” [to the Mapman]
R.E.M. — “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville” [to Listener Allison]
R.E.M. — “Country Feedback” [to Listener Audrey]
HEHFU — “Thirty” [to Max]
Quarterbacks — “Schmictionary” [to Listener Shmuel]
The Ergs! — “180 Emotional Ollie” [to Listener Sarah]
Boozoo Chavis — “Who Stole My Monkey?” [to Listener Deb]
Little My — “X’s for Eyes” [to Frequent Listener David]
Big Audio Dynamite — “I Turned Out a Punk” [to Listener Charlie]
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers — “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” [in loving memory of Mary Jane Thurston]
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Big Audio Dynamite, Boozoo Chavis, Ed Seifert, HEHFU, Little My, Michael Stipe, Quarterbacks, R.E.M., The Ambivalent Brothers, The Ergs, Tom Petty
By Jack Silbert on October 29, 2019
EPISODE #354: HALLOWEEN 2019
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Stumpy Joe — “Halloween Song”
Long Neck — “Halloween Parade” (demo)
Graveface Records & Curiosities — “The Occurrence at the Omni Park Inn”
The Pogues — “Haunted”
King Khan & the Shrines — “Shivers Down My Spine”
Roky Erickson & the Aliens — “I Walked With a Zombie”
Antsy Pants — “Vampire”
Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair — “Frankenstein Conquers the World”
Betty & the Werewolves — “Werewolves”
Elvis Costello & the Attractions — “Ghost Train”
Renegades — “Ghost Train”
The Ramones — “Pet Sematary”
Ministry — “Every Day Is Halloween”
Lou Reed — “Halloween Parade”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Antsy Pants, Betty and the Werewolves, Daniel Johnston, Elvis Costello, Graveface Records, Halloween, Jad Fair, Kimya Dawson, King Khan & his Shrines, Long Neck, Lou Reed, Ministry, Pogues, Ramones, Renegades, Roky Erickson, Stumpy Joe
By Jack Silbert on October 22, 2019
EPISODE #353: THE FALL
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Veronica Falls — “Falling Out”
The Schramms — “Won’t Fall Down”
Cold Beat — “Falling Skyline”
Neil Young — “Falling Off the Face of the Earth”
Amy Rigby with Todd Snider — “Til the Wheels Fall Off”
Dennis Diken With Bell Sound — “Fall Into Your Arms”
Crowded House — “Fall at Your Feet”
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks — “Fall Away”
R.E.M. — “Fall on Me”
Seapony — “Fall Apart”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart — “Falling Apart So Slow”
Stephen Chopek — “Falling Apart Again”
Patsy Cline — “I Fall to Pieces”
The Smittens — “We’re Gonna Fall”
Beat Happening — “The Fall”
Tom Petty — “Free Fallin'”
Bruce Springsteen — “If I Should Fall Behind”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Amy Rigby, Bruce Springsteen, Cold Beat, Crowded House, Dennis Diken, Neil Young, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Patsy Cline, R.E.M., Seapony, Smittens, Stephen Chopek, Stephen Malkmus, the Schramms, Todd Snider, Veronica Falls
By Jack Silbert on October 16, 2019
3 stars out of 5
Joker is not your daddy’s superhero movie. It’s a gritty, artsy, psychological exploration for people who wouldn’t know a gritty, artsy, psychological exploration if it bit them on the ass. I served with Marty Scorsese. I knew Marty Scorsese. Marty Scorsese was a friend of mine. Todd Phillips, you’re no Marty Scorsese.
OK, OK, Martin Scorsese doesn’t know me from a hole in the ground, but he’s clearly a major inspiration here: Taxi Driver, sure (“someday a real rain will come…”), but overwhelmingly King of Comedy, right down to casting Rupert Pupkin hisself in the Jerry Lewis-as-Johnny Carson role.
As Pupkin, I mean Pleck, Joaquin Phoenix is reliably unhinged. He lost an awful lot of weight for the role, reminiscent of DeNiro gaining weight for…OH GODDAMNIT. Anyway, Phoenix is fun to watch, though it is not as dynamic a performance as he has delivered in the past, in The Master for example. Perhaps we can blame director Phillips, who wasn’t tasked with coercing such wrenching dramatic portrayals from the cast of the Hangover trilogy.
There are others actors in this film. DeNiro enjoys himself — I laughed aloud when we first see him — but, coincidentally, he has also done better work. Frances Conroy shows up as Joker’s mommy and is convincing as someone who isn’t young. Quality actors Shea Whigham and Bill Camp (police detectives) and Brian Tyree Henry (hospital clerk) are wasted in meaningless parts. Marc Maron shows up for 8 seconds in a role that you — yes, you! — could’ve played just as easily.
Plot-wise, there really isn’t one. It’s an origin story, and those are more often than not quite dull. Especially if stretched to feature length. (I’m looking at you, Daredevil.) A million years ago I went to see Kurt Vonnegut speak, and he advised that if you write a book, carefully compose that first chapter, telling us every single thing we need to know — and then throw that chapter in the garbage. Get right to the meat, to the action.
And one more thing. Without really spoiling anything, mental illness seems to be at the root of the Joker’s behavior. So doesn’t this kind of ruin every future appearance of the character, especially in our enlightened day and age? How can we joyfully root for the Batman to kick Joker’s tail? Shouldn’t be treated compassionately, and with dignity? Not BAM, POW, ZOWEE.
I should’ve picked State Capitals.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 10s movies, Batman, Joaquin Phoenix, Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro
By Jack Silbert on October 15, 2019
EPISODE #352: DREAMS III
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Marshall Crenshaw — “What Do You Dream Of?”
Blushing — “Dream Merchants”
Slim Harpo — “What a Dream”
Elva — “Dreaming With Our Feet”
The Ballet — “Am I Dreaming?”
Elk City — “Dream on Tip Toe”
Trøn & DVD — “Dreameater”
Sunshine & the Rain — “In a Dream”
Overlord — “Give Up Your Dreams”
Tom Barrett — “You Were a Dream”
The Original Sins — “I Never Dreamed”
Louise Distras — “Dreams From the Factory Floor” (spoken word)
Rogue’s March — “I Must Be Dreaming”
Karyn Kuhl — “Cherry Dream”
Todd Rundgren — “A Dream Goes on Forever”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Blushing, Elk City, Elva, Karyn Kuhl Band, Louise Distras, Marshall Crenshaw, Original Sins, Overlord, Rogue's March, Slim Harpo, Sunshine & the Rain, The Ballet, Todd Rundgren, Tom Barrett, Trøn & DVD
By Jack Silbert on October 8, 2019
EPISODE #351: WANNA
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Soft Boys — “I Wanna Destroy You”
The Ramones — “I Wanna Be Sedated”
Colleen Green — “I Wanna Be Degraded”
Prince — “I Wanna Be Your Lover”
Tom Waits — “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”
Best Coast — “I Wanna Know”
Papercuts — “Do You Really Wanna Know”
The Raspberries — “I Wanna Be With You”
The Rubinoos — “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”
The Stone Roses — “I Wanna Be Adored”
Tony Bennett — “I Wanna Be Around”
Grandaddy — “I Don’t Wanna Live Here Anymore”
Mammoth Penguins — “I Wanna”
The Coolies — “Uh Oh!” (r.i.p. Kim Shattuck)
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Best Coast, Colleen Green, Grandaddy, Kim Shattuck, Mammoth Penguins, Papercuts, Prince, Ramones, Rubinoos, Soft Boys, Stone Roses, The Coolies, The Raspberries, Tom Waits, Tony Bennett
Jack Silbert, curator