By Jack Silbert on January 4, 2020
3.5 stars out of 5
I’d been trying to see Parasite for a few weeks, but it seemed like the world was trying to prevent me: illness, bad weather, general exhaustion. Finally on December 31 I made a concerted effort, $7 Tuesday not even in effect on account of the holiday (note: popcorn was still bargain price), and Parasite became my final movie of calendar year 2019.
It was good! Perhaps a little overhyped? Perhaps.
The trailer hadn’t given me a strong sense of what to expect, and I guess that would’ve been difficult anyway, as it’s an odd little film. We’re in Korea, and we meet a family straight out of Married With Children. Low-rent, constantly bickering with each other. The tone is light and comedic — and this part goes on for an hour. I started thinking, if this was a Hollywood film, with such unlikable main characters, we’d find it stupid. But I think sometimes we cut foreign films a bit too much slack.
Without giving a lot away — I believe Parasite begins streaming on January 20 — the family subtly “invades” an upper-class family’s home. And the mood slowly gets a lot darker, though still maintaining a satiric edge.
So, the message here is, well, something about the class struggle? Except normally I’d be rooting for the poor… but did I mention they’re incredibly unlikable? (I pictured Jane Lynch watching this movie, nodding in agreement.) I enjoyed that it was weird, and that it was dark, but I just couldn’t get 100% behind Parasite.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 10s movies
By Jack Silbert on January 4, 2020
3 stars out of 5
During this whole relationship-crumbling story, the one thought that kept going throug my head was, “Wait, do I still have a chance with Greta Gerwig?” But I guess, if anything, this flick would’ve been inspired by Noah Baumbach’s marriage and divorce with Jennifer Jason Leigh. Bummer.
So, this is a tricky one. It is a good movie, perhaps a very good one, but, I did not like it. It’s pretty well written — although as hard as he tries, Baumbach will never be as good as Woody Allen at writing light upper-class comedy. And it is skillfully directed. The cast and their performances are first-rate: Adam Driver (I love a scene where he’s cut himself badly but won’t admit it); Scarlett Johansson with a strong end of year, this and Jojo Rabbit; Alan Alda is a delight, as is our old pal Julie Hagerty; Laura Dern and Ray Liotta are likably unlikable. Kudos to Azhy Robertson, one of the more realistic child actors, as the child. And nicely cast in small roles: Robert Smigel, Wallace Shawn, Rich Fulcher, Martha from Baskets, my former costar Tunde Adebimpe, and from the Baumbach repertory company, Dean Wareham.
But, as a true-to-life portrayal of a marriage falling apart, it’s also TWO HOURS OF PEOPLE YELLING AT EACH OTHER. CAPS LOCK INTENTIONAL! And that was driving me bananas. Talky talky talky, yelly yelly yelly. I did think it ended well, with heart, but alas, too little, too late. Work out your issues on your own time, Baumbach!
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 10s movies, Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, Scarlett Johannson
By Jack Silbert on January 4, 2020
4.5 star wars out of 5
I was 8 when the first Star Wars came out, so for better and worse, this has been my life, with an awful lot of time and mental energy invested. But, not like, nerd level. So if there are some plot and character inconsistencies from film to film, I honestly don’t care or, more likely, don’t even remember. It’s Star Wars, baby.
So when the trailer for this new flick first arrived, and concluded with the sinister laughter of Emperor Palpatine, I wasn’t all “hey wait, Darth Vader threw him down a shaft in Return of the Jedi.” No, it sent frickin’ chills down my spine. Palpatine’s back, bitches — the baddest mama jama in the galaxy!
Which totally fits in this trilogy, that has depended on the past and present melding together. The 8-year-old me and the 400-year-old me. When I was a kid, the battle of good versus evil was everything. Obviously, as I’ve matured, I’ve learned to understand that there are grey areas, life is grey, the worst people aren’t all bad, the best people aren’t all good. It’s pretty complicated. But at the end of the day, I still want to believe in Good v. Bad. And Rise of Skywalker gives it to us in spades. With some grey tossed in for good measure.
Plus we get cool action (fights and chases and even raging seas), many big laughs (C-3PO really steps up his game), and genuine emotion. I had tears in my eyes the last 30–40 minutes of the movie! J.J. Abrams had a lot of ground to cover, but neatly put all the pieces together in a very satisfying way. A joyous farewell to dear friends.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged 10s movies, J.J. Abrams, Star Wars
By Jack Silbert on December 31, 2019
EPISODE #363: NEW TO ME IN 2019, PT. 2
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Jacques Le Coque — “Crush”
Ringo Deathstarr — “Big Bopper”
Sooner — “Breathing”
Tallies — “Mother”
Queue — “More”
Tuff Sunshine — “We Seal Every Deal With a Kiss”
UV-TV — “Hide”
Michael Beach — “A Vision of Modern Love”
Lorelei K — “Radiating”
John Cozz — “Braincation”
steve. — “Gansett”
The Elevator Operators — “On the Ground”
The Poor Man’s Opera — “Little Venus Au Go Go”
Brower — “You May Know Me As the Kind of Guy Who”
Poppies — “Pink Hum Punch Out”
The Skullers — “She Denies Herself the Things She Loves”
Mal Blum — “Better Go”
The Woolly Bushmen — “Dense”
Morus Alba — “Salvia Micah”
Televisionaries — “Over and Out”
The Fox Sisters — “Right Hip Pocket”
Honey Cutt — “Weather Girl”
Honey Radar — “Coughing Cop”
Erotica — “Pulp Free”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Brower, Elevator Operators, Erotica, Honey Cutt, Honey Radar, Jacques Le Coque, John Cozz, Lorelei K, Mal Blum, Michael Beach, Morus Alba, Poppies, Queue, Ringo Deathstarr, Sooner, steve., Tallies, Televisionaries, The Fox Sisters, The Skullers, Tuff Sunshine, UV-TV, Woolly Bushmen
By Jack Silbert on December 31, 2019
1. For Halloween, dress up as Hugh Downs and/or Barbara Walters.
2. Now that I’ve solved Rubik’s Cube, resolve to re-solve.
3. Next time someone concludes a sassy “hot take” by saying “Prove me wrong!” go into an extended, Beautiful Mind-wall-diagram, meticulous point-by-point refutation of their supposed theory until everybody in the room gets really, really uncomfortable.
4. Launch my visiting-physician Airbnb service, Doctors Without Boarders.
5. Exorcise more.
6. Live every day like it’s my second-to-last, which is sooo much less pressure.
7. Whenever someone reveals the results of their ancestry test, ask, “Are you relatively sure?”
8. Reinvent wheel. Just spitballing, but maybe… oval?
9. Withhold cephalopod mollusk strap-on camera from Ukraine until they investigate my political rivals, but insist there was no quid pro quo for the Squid Go Pro.
10. Let bygones be bygones. Wait… what the fuck else would they be?
• My resolutions for 2019
• My resolutions for 2018
• My resolutions for 2017
• My resolutions for 2016
• My resolutions for 2015
• My resolutions for 2014
• My resolutions for 2013
• My resolutions for 2012
Posted in satire | Tagged 2020, New Year's resolutions
By Jack Silbert on December 24, 2019
EPISODE #362: NEW TO ME IN 2019, PT. 1
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Reese McHenry — “Detroit”
Algebra II — “Swim House”
Pynkie — “LooneyTune”
Sidney Gish — “Mouth Log”
Potty Mouth — “Do It Again”
Heather Cook — “Dover” (home demo)
Weird Skin — “2 Weird 4 Luv”
Dog Date — “Rope Burn”
Control Top — “Straight Jackets”
Metalleg — “Hit of the Week”
Robert Kimbrough Sr. — “Can’t Hardly Breathe”
Rebecca Turner — “Tom Tom”
Drunken Prayer — “Rubble and Dust”
Rikki Will — “Gone”
Jenny Genius — “Slow Going”
Special Moves — “9th and Pine”
Washer — “This Land”
Skylar Pocket — “Fifteen”
Anna Altman — “Season Premiere”
The Schizophonics — “Battle Line”
Beach Bod — “Let Me Go”
Dan Melchior — “I Can’t Convince Myself That I Really Care”
Thigh Master — “Exodus”
Jeanines — “Either Way”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Algebra II, Anna Altman, Beach Bod, Control Top, Dan Melchior, Dog Date, Drunken Prayer, Heather Cook, Jeanines, Jenny Genius, Pynkie, Rebecca Turner, Reese McHenry, Rikki Will, Robert Kimbrough Sr., Schizophonics, Sidney Gish, Skylar Pocket, Special Moves, Thigh Master, Washer
By Jack Silbert on December 23, 2019
4.5 stars out of 5
Sometimes a movie is good for you rather than enjoyable. Think Spielberg’s Lincoln as opposed to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. This one is very good for you, is a little exhausting, but really packs a punch.
I did have to convince myself to see it. Sure, I love Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway, but watching a real-life environmental lawsuit play out? I never did see that Damon/Krasinski one. But then I was reminded that freaking Todd Haynes is the director here, and he is The Man. Sign me up. Ruffalo is lawyer Robert Bilott who, spoiler alert, belongs on Mount Rushmore. He is an American hero. Bilott defends chemical companies but then, in the late 1990s, a different case comes his way: DuPont waste materials have been poisoning cows in West Virginia. And maybe poisoning people too.
Bill Camp plays the farmer who brings this to Bilott’s attention. Initially I found Camp’s performance to be pleasingly raw, but it wears some over the duration. The dude is (understandably) a grumpy Gus.
As David battles Goliath, and the case drags on and on and on, it of course affects Bilott’s family life; wife Hathaway gets a decent monologue or two. His boss Tim Robbins tries to be supportive (he delivers a stirring speech too), but he has a firm to run. Just when the film is feeling a little tiring, Bill Pullman shows up as a local attorney, and he energizes the proceedings.
The ending really got me emotionally — it certainly helped that I didn’t know the details of this case. Ultimately it’s a classic story of, can the little guy ever win? Perhaps speaking to our troubled times, this important film tells us that we can never stop fighting.
Posted in movie reviews | Tagged Anne Hathaway, DuPont, Mark Ruffalo, Todd Haynes
By Jack Silbert on December 17, 2019
EPISODE #361: THE 2019 HOLIDAY SPECIAL
Darlene Love — “Christmas Baby (Please Come Home)” [ALTERNATE THEME]
The Hives and Cyndi Lauper — “A Christmas Duel”
Jack Black — “Oh Hanukkah”
Yo La Tengo — “Eight Candles”
The Swingin’ Neckbreakers — “Santa Claus Ain’t Comin’ This Year”
Jennifer O’Connor — “Merry 4 Christmas”
The Effettes — “Jingle Joy”
Macrofone — “2.8 GPA for Xmas”
The New Mendicants — “A Very Sorry Christmas”
Aw Fudge — “It’s Christmas Time Again (So Leave Me Alone)”
Wyldlife — “Peppermint Schnapps”
The Cucumbers — “Love and Joy”
The School — “Happy Christmas (Don’t Tell Me It’s Over)”
Tracyanne & Danny — “Santa, Don’t Say No”
The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl — “Fairytale of New York”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Aw Fudge, Camera Obscura, Cyndi Lauper, Effettes, Jack Black, Jennifer O'Connor, Kirsty MacColl, Macrofone, New Mendicants, Pogues, Swingin' Neckbreakers, The Cucumbers, The Hives, The School, Tracyanne & Danny, Wyldlife, Yo La Tengo
By Jack Silbert on December 12, 2019
Hoboken’s historian in residence, Holly Metz, has written a fascinating new book, The Untold Life of Peter Lee, about a man born into slavery for the prominent Stevens family. I had the honor of interviewing Ms. Metz for hMAG.
Posted in shameless self-promotion | Tagged hMAG, Hoboken, Hoboken Historical Museum, Holly Metz, Peter Lee, Stevens Institute of Technology
By Jack Silbert on December 10, 2019
EPISODE #360: LIVE HIGHLIGHTS 2019
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Original Sins — “She’s on my Side”
Electric Light Orchestra — “Hold on Tight”
The Church — “Under the Milky Way”
Squeeze — “Up the Junction”
They Might Be Giants — “Ana Ng”
The Minus 5 — “Hotel Senator”
Mates of State — “Proofs”
The Ladybug Transistor — “Meadowport Arch”
Peter Holsapple — “Commonplace”
The Mountain Goats — “Golden Boy”
Juliana Hatfield Three — “Spin the Bottle”
Liz Phair — “6’1″”
The Go-Betweens — “Surfing Magazines”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Posted in internet radio playlists | Tagged Electric Light Orchestra, Juliana Hatfield, Ladybug Transistor, Liz Phair, Mates of State, Mountain Goats, Original Sins, Peter Holsapple, Squeeze, The Church, The Go-Betweens, The Minus 5, They Might Be Giants
Jack Silbert, curator