3.5 stars out of 5
Two generations of Swintons? Count me in! Tilda has a relatively small role in this, but it’s all about her daughter Honor Swinton Byrne. She plays 24-year-old Julie who wants to make films. Ah, but not about her relatively comfortable existence; she’d rather focus on a boy in the northern industrial town of Sunderland.
Julie likes discussing her ideas with Anthony (a very good Tom Burke, who I think I’ve only seen before in the 2003 British crime miniseries State of Play). He’s posh with pin-striped suits and that worldliness is part of his appeal. He’s also married but that doesn’t stop them from beginning a romance. Early on it’s rather charming but becomes less and less so, and that’s the crux of this story.
There’s an interesting subtext of identity politics here. Middle-class Julie is actually from an upper-class family, while fancy lad Anthony comes from a working-class background. (Crikey, he’s even got kin in those shipyards she fancies so much!) Meanwhile, in film school, professors insist that you have to reveal something of yourself in your art.
The film school scenes don’t quite jibe with the rest of the movie. (Beware films about filmmaking.) But overall there’s a pleasing realism here. Setting the tale in the 1980s reminds us how much more organic life was without computers and smartphones everywhere. Music is very well deployed: Images of rundown shipyards summon Robert Wyatt’s “Shipbuilding.” When Julie is falling for Anthony, we’re tipped off by Graham Maby’s iconic bassline from Joe Jackson’s “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” Later, Julie switches off stuffy Anthony’s opera and slips in a hiphop cassette.
In her debut lead role, Honor Swinton Byrne does indeed honor thy mother. She’s innocent and soft where the Tilda we usually see is knowing and angular — but they share a certain boyishness. The arc of the plot tests Julie’s pleasant demeanor, so Honor gets to test out confusion, fatigue, disappointment, and anger. Tilda steps up late in the game, exuding motherly love. It’s the role she was born to play!
At the end of the credits, we learn that The Souvenir: Part II is coming soon. Huh! I don’t think I’ve seen a dramatic sequel since the early 90s Blue/White/Red trilogy which introduced me to Juliette Binoche. I do wish Souvenir: Part I was a little stronger, but writer/director Joanna Hogg and the Swintons have hooked me enough for the next installment, provided there’s no Thanos.
Movie Review: The Souvenir
Aquarium, 5/28/19
EPISODE #332: CIGARETTES
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Benny Spellman — “Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)”
Karyn Kuhl — “Cigarette Song”
Karl Hendricks Trio — “Some Girls Like Cigarettes”
Spoon — “My Little Japanese Cigarette Case”
The Insomniacs — “The Long Cigarette”
Hefner — “The Hymn for the Cigarettes”
My Bloody Valentine — “Cigarette in Your Bed”
The Minus 5 — “Cigarettes Coffee and Booze”
Son Volt — “Highways and Cigarettes”
Rufus Wainwright — “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk”
The Smithereens — “Cigarette”
Benji Cossa — “Hearts and Cigarettes”
Withered Hand — “No Cigarettes”
Patsy Cline — “Three Cigarettes in the Ashtray”
Dramarama — “Last Cigarette”
Yo La Tengo — “Buckner’s Boner” [BONUS TRACK] r.i.p. Bill Buckner
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: Asbury Park—Riot, Redemption, Rock ‘n Roll
4 stars out of 5
The story goes that, a couple of years ago, Mr. Bruce Springsteen saw a rough cut of this documentary and said, “I should be in this.” His ample included commentary in the finished version certainly lends the film some legitimacy and authority, but the story presented here is worth telling regardless.
We learn of Asbury Park’s creation in the late 19th century, carved out between wild Long Branch and reserved Ocean Grove. (To compete with Long Branch as a resort destination, Asbury got a little wilder itself, and the reputation became set: You went to Ocean Grove to pray, and Asbury Park to play.)
Segregation enters this tale early, whites on the east side of town and blacks on the west side (and love on the wrong side, and darkness on the edge?). Both areas thrived, music providing the heartbeat, and Asbury became a required tour stop for the major white and black artists of the mid 20th century. (Some of the most impressive footage here is of the Rolling Stones and the Doors performing at Convention Hall in the mid-1960s.) The concept that music has the unique power to bring people of different backgrounds together is stressed repeatedly.
The film spends a lot of time on the founding of the Upstage club, a veritable petri dish for E Street (another successful interracial example). This is where Bruce-o-philes such as myself get their ticket price’s worth. In addition to the Boss, interviews include Little Steven (often carrying his little doggy), Garry Tallent, Max Weinberg, David Sancious, Ernest “Boom” Carter, and Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez, as well as Southside Johnny.
Indeed, just when it seems like the movie is becoming another Springsteen biography, the riot mentioned in the title comes into play. It was 1970, and the racial inequality that had exploded elsewhere in the country — Detroit, Newark, etc. — hit Asbury and hit it hard. I’ve been in New Jersey a long time and never knew this history.
I appreciated that the filmmakers give credit and significant screen time to the LGBTQI community and its major role in the slow but certain revitalization of Asbury. However, I was annoyed that the film didn’t also shine a spotlight on the local indie music scene, centered around the original Asbury Lanes, that has played such a key part in drawing a younger, artsier demographic to town. To represent the next generation, I would’ve loved to see Dentist or Algebra II on the big screen, instead of just the little-kid musicians that the movie spends way too much on. Eh, but it’s hard to get too upset about a movie where one of the producers is Jersey Mike’s.
Click here to find a screening near you.
In Real Life w/ Kimzilla & Emily: Happy Jack
What an honor to be interviewed on the great WFMU program In Real Life about my disability, recovery, and more. An extended podcast version is available here.
Aquarium Playlist, 5/21/19
EPISODE #331: ABORTION RIGHTS
The A’s — “A Woman’s Got the Power” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five — “I’m Alabama Bound”
Warren Zevon — “Play It All Night Long”
Neil Young — “Southern Man”
Screaming Females — “My Body”
Nick Lowe — “Born a Woman”
Alice Cooper — “Only Women Bleed”
Sleater-Kinney — “Call the Doctor”
Cinema Cinema — “Lady Abortion”
Monty Python — “Every Sperm Is Sacred”
Heavenly — “Sperm Meets Egg, So What?”
Louise Distras — “Stand Strong Together”
The Hive Dwellers — “Montgomery Hammer”
Patti Smith — “People Have the Power”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Rest Ashore at the Hoboken Arts & Music Festival
I wrote this preview article for hMAG of the exciting young Hoboken-based band Rest Ashore’s appearance at the Spring Arts & Music Festival. The piece also serves as a review of their recent EP Annihilation.
Aquarium Playlist, 5/14/19
EPISODE #330: HATE
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Beths — “Future Me Hates Me”
Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers — “I Hate Chicago”
Ballboy — “I Hate Scotland”
Wilco — “I Hate It Here”
The Vaselines — “I Hate the 80s”
Thee Headcoats — “(We Hate the Fuckin’) NME”
Mudhoney — “Hate the Police”
The Lemonheads — “Hate Your Friends”
The Gotobeds — “I Hate My School”
Sloan — “I Hate My Generation”
Hank Williams — “My Love For You (Has Turned to Hate)”
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts — “I Hate Myself for Loving You”
The Posies — “I May Hate You Sometimes”
Les Brown & his Orchestra featuring Doris Day — “Celery Stalks at Midnight” (r.i.p. Doris Day)
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: Avengers — Endgame
3.5 stars out of 5
OMG it’s the final final final — don’t be a sucker, it’s not the final anything. Sure, maybe some actors’ contracts are up and besides, nobody wants superheroes who are too long in the tooth, so… “Endgame.”
This is a mostly very enjoyable movie but by no means whatsoever is it a great movie. (The tag-team directing Russo brothers are certainly not the Coen brothers.) I imagine it’s best for an audience — and admittedly it’s a sizable one — who has watched every single movie in the “Marvel Universe” (a registered trademark of Walt Disney Inc.), and perhaps multiple viewings. A really nice aspect of the previous Avengers flicks was that they caught up us casual viewers on key details from any movies we’d missed. But in Endgame, it feels like many moments would only resonate for those who’ve been paying overly close attention lo these many years. When a female character threatens bad-guy Thanos, he replies, “I don’t even know who you are,” and I was thinking, “Right there with you, brother.”
What works? The comic-book action stuff. Zap! Blammo! Fighting and flying and exploding and teamwork, vengeance, good vs. evil, and saving the universe. Another thumbs-up goes to much of the humor, especially when Paul Rudd and/or Chris Hemsworth are onscreen. Less successful are the “dramatic” scenes, which I’ll blame on the mediocre-to-shoddy writing. It’s the sort of screenplay with hack lines such as “Uh, am I the only one seeing this?”
Individual things that annoyed me: Is Audi the official car manufacturer of the Avengers? And did we need a lingering shot on a Ben & Jerry’s container, as well? Also, hey, it’s pouring rain, so this might be a real good time for Hawkeye to take off his hood. Later, in a big battle, there’s a “girl power” moment that struck me as tacked-on and pandering, and I even felt a twinge of racism when Black Panther is basically used as Walter Payton.
As the movie reaches its climax, I was feeling better about it… but then the plot keeps going… and then going some more (with some late lapses of logic tossed in for good measure). That’s the problem with having 18 storylines; you don’t know where to conclude. As a result, we non-mega-fanboys have to sit there for three freaking hours. End this game, fer crissakes! Ah well, see you all in a year, year and a half for Avengers: A New Beginning.
Aquarium Playlist, 5/7/19
EPISODE #329: TALKING
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Run-D.M.C. — “You Talk Too Much”
Betty Hutton — “Can’t Stop Talking”
Cheap Trick — “You’re All Talk” (early version)
Wild Flag — “Endless Talk”
The Music Machine — “Talk Talk”
Jackie Wilson — “Talk That Talk”
Bruce Springsteen — “Talk to Me”
Jean DuShon — “Talk to Me, Talk to Me”
Harry Nilsson — “Everybody’s Talkin'”
The Beach Boys — “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on my Shoulder)”
The Yardbirds — “I’m Not Talking”
Rogue’s March — “Shut Up and Drink”
David Berkeley — “Love’s the Only Thing That Shuts Me Up”
Portishead — “Silence”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 4/30/19
EPISODE #328: MY 2019 WFMU RECORD FAIR DJ SET
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Fleshtones — “Destination Greenpoint”
The Incredible Casuals — “Records Go Round”
Big Eyes — “Back From the Moon”
Pinact — “Seams”
The Fastbacks — “Everything I Don’t Need”
Liquid Liquid — “Optimo”
Pylon Reenactment Society — “Messenger”
Stag — “The Bedazzler”
Sunshine & the Rain — “It’s All in Your Mind”
Joy Cleaner — “My Psychic Dent (Is Acting Up Again)”
Resounding No — “Hexed Pet”
The Mice — “More Than I Can Talk About”
Heavenly — “Sperm Meets Egg, So What?”
Bruce Springsteen — “Where the Bands Are”
Jack’s Aquarium podcast is proudly recorded in Hoboken, NJ.
Jack Silbert, curator