Title: Breaking Away Release Date: July 13, 1979 Director: Peter Yates Production Company: 20th Century Fox Summary/Review:
Breaking Away was a movie that my mom liked when I was a child and we would end up watching any time it was on tv. The last time I watched this movie was in 1999 when I was participating in the Boston to New York AIDSRide. Because of a hurricane we spent a night in the New Haven Coliseum and as a treat showed Breaking Away on the jumbotron, because it’s probably one of the best of the few bicycle-themed movies.
Set in Bloomington, Indiana, the movie focuses on Dave Stohler (Dennis Christopher), a recent high school graduate who loves bicycle racing and has adopted an Italian identity since he believes Italians are the best cyclists. When not cycling, Dave hangs out with his friends Mike (Dennis Quaid), Cyril (Daniel Stern), and Moocher (Jackie Earle Hale). Quaid and Stern are very young at the time this was made and I’ve never before realized that it was them in this film. The prosperous students at University of Indiana refer to locals like Dave and his friends at “cutters” due to Bloomington’s historical industry of limestone quarrying and stone cutting.
The movie deals with several issues including town vs. gown conflicts, the feeling of directionlessness that comes with being a young adult, and Dave’s conflict with his father Ray (a hilarious performance by Paul Dooley), a used car dealer who disapproves of Dave’s Italian obsession. Dave also poses as an Italian exchange student to impress an IU student, Katherine (Robyn Douglass). Oh and there are some bicycle races, too, but it doesn’t really feel like a sports movie.
It’s hard to describe this movie without it sounding corny. It’s inspiring but not in the “TV Movie of the Week” kind of way. It’s funny and sweet but also true to life. Most of all, it’s disarmingly sincere, right up to the proud onscreen statement that ends the film declaring it was filmed on location in Bloomington. It’s a unique movie and remains one of my all-time favorites.
Title: Spartacus Release Date: October 6, 1960 Director: Stanley Kubrick Production Company: Bryna Productions Summary/Review:
I first saw Spartacus in 1991 when it was restored and re-released in theaters with previously censored scenes spliced back in. Most notable is the scene where Crassus (Laurence Olivier) attempts to seduce Antoninus (Tony Curtis) with an extended metaphor about oysters and snails to imply he is bisexual. This scene was too racy for the production code in 1960 although it would have probably been unnecessarily subtle in Ancient Rome. The other part of the movie I remember well is the gladiatorial training scenes where instructor Marcellus (Charles McGraw) has a comically gravelly voice that appears to dubbed over the film. For months after seeing this movie, my sister and I would imitate that voice saying “Kill, me Spartacus! Come on, kill me!”
I was surprised that most of what I remember of the film happens pretty early on (except, of course, the famous “I’m Spartacus!” scene near the end). Kirk Douglas stars as Spartacus, an enslaved man from Thrace who is brought to a gladiatorial training school in Capua and rebels after a series of indignities. This prompts a broader revolt of which Spartacus is chosen as leader and many successful battles against the Roman military as the freed people attempt to leave the Italian peninsula. Spartacus also forms a romance with a former enslaved woman Varinia (Jean Simmons), although I find their scenes together to not be very convincing.
It comes as no surprise that director Stanley Kubrick was more interested in focusing on the Romans as it is in their scenes that the film is strongest. The story of the corrupt Roman aristocracy plays as a sharp satire much as I read Gone With the Wind as a satire of the slavocracy of the Old South, or to be more relevant to Kubrick, a progenitor of Dr. Strangelove. Crassus is the aristocrat who outwardly stands for the greater esteem of Roman identity while privately plotting to take dictatorial power. Against him stands Gracchus (Charles Laughton), the populist who stirs up “the rabble” to his own ends. The movie even suggest the rise to power of Julius Caesar (John Gavin) is brought about by the events of this film, although Caesar himself plays only a small part in the story. Stealing scenes from everyone is Peter Ustinov as Batiatus, the unctuous slave trader and owner of the gladiatorial school.
The production of this film was a legendary mess with a cadre of strong-willed men of assholic temperament at loggerheads with each other. Nevertheless, it turns out as a very good if not great film despite the fact that it’s too long and uneven due to Kubrick’s disinterest in actually telling the story of Spartacus. It was fun to revisit Spartacus, and while it won’t end up on my list of greatest films ever, it has earned a memorable spot in Hollywood history.
Title: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Release Date: November 19, 2021 Director: Jason Reitman Production Company: Columbia Pictures | Bron Creative | Ghost Corps | The Montecito Picture Company Right of Way Films Summary/Review:
The long awaited sequel to the original Ghostbusters franchise picks up in the present day. Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis) has abandoned his friends and family to invest himself in a paranormal manifestation on a remote farm in Oklahoma. After his death, his daughter Callie (Carrie Coon), who never knew her father and is dealing with abandonment issues, inherits the creepy farmhouse and moves there with her two children. Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) is a scientifically-literate but socially awkward preteen while Trevor is good with cars and eager to have a girlfriend. Soon enough they each uncover bits of pieces of their mysterious grandfather’s past and begin to figure out how to carry his final project.
The great thing about this movie is that it is stylistically not at all much like the original Ghostbusters. It feels a lot like a Spielberg/Amblin 80s family adventure complete with unsupervised children getting into very dangerous situations. It’s also very efficient in moving the film along without spending too much time dwelling on the various discoveries or the inevitable callbacks. The final act is probably the most “derivative” of the original Ghostbusters movie, although as the plot centers on loose ends from that movie it makes sense.
There are some great performances in this movie, especially Grace as Phoebe. The cast is boosted by newcomer Logan Kim as Phoebe’s nerdy friend Podcast, Celeste O’Connor as Trevor’s co-worker and love interest Lucky, and Paul Rudd as Gary, a lazy summer school teacher and scientist who loves the Ghostbusters, who also becomes a love interest for Callie. And it should be no big spoiler that the original cast of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts all return as their original characters, although not as much as you might expect. It’s a great family/adventure/comedy movie and a loving tribute to the original film.
I also loved the 2016 Ghostbustersreboot, which I think was bigger on laughs, but Ghostbusters: Afterlife is bigger on heart. Both are light years better than the awful Ghostbusters II which seems to have been ignored by the Afterlife filmmakers. Now, of course, we need a multiverse where the casts of both films as well as Filmation’s Ghostbusters come together to fight the biggest threat yet! (No, that would been awful idea, so if you’re a Hollywood producer looking for concepts to work with just pretend you didn’t see this).
Title: The Wild Bunch Release Date: June 18, 1969 Director: Sam Peckinpah Production Company: Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Summary/Review:
The Wild Bunch tells one of the most familiar stories in film history. A group of aging outlaws lead by Pike Bishop (William Holden) and his sidekick Dutch Engstrom (Ernest Borgnine) try for one last score with a heist of silver from the railroad. The heist is a bust and soon the surviving members of the Wild Bunch find themselves on the run over the border into Mexico pursued by Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), a former member of the gang now deputized by the railroad company as a bounty hunter.
The big difference between The Wild Bunch and earlier Westerns is that in 1969 the production code is no more. Expletives are shouted, womens’ breasts are bared, and every bullet shot hits its target with an explosion of flesh and blood. (Previously all I knew about Sam Peckinpaugh was from a Monty Python sketch which I thought was exaggerating the blood and gore, but now I know better). A bigger change from earlier Hollywood is that all moral certitude is gone as the gang of anti-heroes does what they need to do to survive.
The Wild Bunch is essentially the template followed by action-adventure films for the ensuing 50 years. It feels like an oddball among the other movies on the AFI 100 list but I can see it deserving a shot for being an influence. And while this isn’t a movie I particularly enjoyed, it was worth watching it once.
I apparently am not alone in remembering the awe I felt at the introductory theme song that preceded feature presentations on HBO in the 1990s. Here is how it was made.
I just discovered this podcast although it started back in 2018. Like the title says, each episode breaks down an important song in the history of rock music going back to the genre’s roots in the 1930s.
Running Tally of Podcast of the Week Awards for 2021
In September 2020, Rolling Stone magazine released their most recent list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which includes a greater variety of artists and genres than previous lists. Looking through the list, there were many albums I’d never listened to before and a few I’d never even heard of. In fact, counting it up, I found that I’d only listened to 140 of the albums, although I’d heard songs from many more. So I’ve decided my project for 2021 is to listen to 10 albums each week and write up some thoughts about each one.
Artist: Jay-Z Album: The Blueprint Year: 2001 Label: Roc-A-Fella Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: No Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“The Ruler’s Back”
“Takeover”
“Hola’ Hovito”
“Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)”
“Never Change”
Thoughts: This album is full of bops (that’s what the kids say these days, right?). If you’ve been reading this series you are well aware that I hadn’t listened to much Jay-Z before I started this experiment. But this album is clearly great, even if it took me 20 years to listen to it. Of course, it helps that the samples come from classic R&B artists like Bobby Byrd, Bobby Blue Bland, and David Ruffin.
Artist: Outkast Album: Aquemini Year: 1998 Label: LaFace Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: No Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Rosa Parks”
“Synthesizer” (featuring George Clinton)
“Mamacita”
“SpottieOttieDopaliscious”
“Chonkyfire”
Thoughts: This Outkast album, on the other hand, is okay, but I don’t like it as much as Stankonia, but it has it’s high points. Bonus points for a member of an Atlanta-based outfit wearing a Mets jacket in the video.
Artist: Bob Marley and The Wailers Album: Legend Year: 1984 Label: Island Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
All of them!
Thoughts: This is the highest-ranking compilation/greatest hits album on the RS500, and for once I won’t argue with the selection. When I was in college, Legend was one of two albums that almost every student had in their collections regardless of their taste in music. (The other one was Squeeze’s Singles 45’s and Under, which was slighted by Rolling Stone). The legacy of Legend endures in that at the time I’m writing this, it is ranked #98 on the Billboard 200, 37 years after it’s release. I suspect I could still find this in college students’ music collections to this day.
Artist: Ramones Album: Ramones Year: 1976 Label: Sire Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Blitzkrieg Bop”
“Beat on the Brat”
“Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue”
“53rd & 3rd”
“Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World”
Thoughts: The Ramones debut album is 14 tracks of pure raging pop music in 30 minutes! I’m a little sad that the Ramones only made it on this list twice, but loving what I’m hearing.
Artist: Paul Simon Album: Graceland Year: 1986 Label: Columbia Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“The Boy in the Bubble”
“Graceland”
“I Know What I Know” (with General MD Shirinda and The Gaza Sisters)
“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” (with Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
“You Can Call Me Al”
“Homeless” (with Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
Thoughts: Graceland had an effect on my life as it prompted a lifelong interest in what is awkwardly called “world music.” Musically, the songs on this album sounded nothing like the popular music of the 80s. And it was a fresh sound for an artist whose songs from the 60s & 70s were already being played on Oldies stations. The album is marred by the fact that Paul Simon is a documented asshole who allegedly stole the credit for some of these songs from his collaborators. But clearly he stole from the best!
Artist: Prince Album: Sign O’ the Times Year: 1987 Label: Paisley Park/Warner Bros. Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Sign o’ the Times”
“The Ballad of Dorothy Parker”
“Starfish and Coffee”
“Slow Love”
“Hot Thing”
“U Got the Look” (feat. Sheena Easton)
“If I Was Your Girlfriend”
“I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man”
“It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night”
Thoughts: Prince was so prolific in the mid-to-late 1980s that almost seems unfair that he was still able to put out a double album that is uniformly excellent with songs representing a variety of musical genres from rock to funk to soul to dance pop, and beyond. I also love that song with the lyric “boy versus girl in the World Series of Love” was a hit in the same year that Prince’s hometown team, the Minnesota Twins, won the World Series of Baseball.
Artist: Nas Album: Illmatic Year: 1994 Label: Columbia Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: No Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“N.Y. State of Mind”
“The World Is Yours”
“Halftime”
“It Ain’t Hard To Tell”
Thoughts: Another brilliant album that I missed the first time around. Hip hop can be a lot of things but Illmatic is kind of like the Platonic ideal of hip hop against which all else is measured.
Artist: A Tribe Called Quest Album: The Low End Theory Year: 1991 Label: Jive Have I Listened to This Album Before?: No Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Favorite Tracks:
“Verses from the Abstract”
“Show Business”
“Vibes and Stuff”
“Check the Rime”
“Jazz (We Got)”
“Scenario”
Thoughts: Jazz was the first widespread African American popular music but by the end of the 20th century it had been elevated to art music. A Tribe Called Quest used hip hop, the newest African American popular music, to revive jazz. I remember this album being big when I was in my first year at college and I’m kicking myself for not getting my own copy, but albums were expensive, and I made some poor choices regarding which ones to acquire or not.
Artist: Radiohead Album: OK Computer Year: 1997 Label: Capitol Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Paranoid Android”
“Exit Music (For a Film)”
“Let Down”
“Karma Police”
“No Surprises”
Thoughts: I came to Radiohead a little bit late, at the time they released Hail to the Thief (an underrated album, imo) in 2003, but quickly made sure to get their earlier works, which weren’t all too old at the time. OK Computer was and is the best, so I’m not surprised to see it ranked so highly on the RS 500.
Artist: Rolling Stones Album: Let It Bleed Year: 1969 Label: ABKCO Have I Listened to This Album Before?: Yes Am I Familiar With This Artist/Songs from This Album?: Yes Would I Listen to this Album Again?: Yes Favorite Tracks:
“Gimme Shelter”
“Let It Bleed”
“Midnight Rambler”
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
Thoughts: The artistic peak for Rolling Stones came with a string of four albums released from 1968 to 1972. Let it Bleed was the second of these four albums, and probably my least favorite, but it is nevertheless a terrific Blues rock collection. The Stones are lyrically grim and bawdy, which makes the album a bit unsettling but the songs are also reflective of the time.
Running List of Albums I’d Listen to Again
500. Arcade Fire, Funeral
498. Suicide, Suicide
497. Various Artists, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto
494. The Ronettes, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes
489. A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector from Phil Spector and Various Artists, Back to Mono (1958-1969)
487. Black Flag, Damaged
485. Richard and Linda Thompson, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
483. Muddy Waters, The Anthology
482. The Pharcyde, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
481. Belle and Sebastian, If You’re Feeling Sinister
478. The Kinks, Something Else by the Kinks
477. Howlin’ Wolf, Moanin’ in the Moonlight
469.Manu Chao, Clandestino
465. King Sunny Adé, The Best of the Classic Years
464. The Isley Brothers, 3 + 3
462. The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin
459. Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day
457. Sinéad O’Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got
456. Al Green, Greatest Hits
455. Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley/Go Bo Diddley
453. Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine
452. Diana Ross and the Supremes, Anthology
451. Roberta Flack, First Take
448. Otis Redding, Dictionary of Soul
446. Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidanada
444. Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine
443. David Bowie, Scary Monsters
440. Loretta Lynn, Coal Miner’s Daughter
439. James Brown, Sex Machine
438. Blur, Parklife
437. Primal Scream, Screamadelica
435. Pet Shop Boys, Actually
433. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
431. Los Lobos, How Will the Wolf Survive?
430. Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True
429. The Four Tops, Reach Out
428. Hüsker Dü, New Day Rising
427. Al Green, Call Me
426. Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams
425. Paul Simon, Paul Simon
424. Beck, Odelay
423. Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One
Title: Hello, Dolly! Release Date: December 16, 1969 Director: Gene Kelly Production Company: Chenault Productions Summary/Review:
Hello, Dolly! is the type of exorbitant, technicolor song & dance musical that I think was already old fashioned at the time of its release in 1969. It may be the last musical of the classic style because in the 1970s, adaptations of Broadway musicals like Cabaretand Greasehad a very different feel to them. Hello, Dolly! has a long pedigree, going back to 1938 when Thornton Wilder wrote The Merchant of Yonkers, itself based on a century-old story. Wilder rewrote the play as The Matchmaker in 1955, and in 1963 it was adapted once again as a Broadway musical starring Carol Channing.
In the film, Barbra Streisand stars as Dolly Levi, a widow who works as a matchmaker in New York City and is, as the kids these days say, so very extra! Dolly sets forth with an elaborate plan to convince the prosperous but cranky Yonkers’ merchant Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau) to marry her. She also convinces Horace’s hardworking store clerks, Cornelius (Michael Crawford) and Barnaby (Danny Lockin) to enjoy a day in New York with the milliners Irene (Marianne McAndrew) and Minnie (E. J. Peaker). Chaos ensues. The movie also features a cameo by Louis Armstrong in his last movie role before his death. He sings the title song with Streisand, a song that he got to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964, knocking The Beatles out of the top slot, because pop charts are weird and wonderful that way.
Hello, Dolly! is rather corny, and often very horny, and a lot of it doesn’t really make much sense. (What does Dolly see in Horace, anyway?) But on pure spectacle, it’s a lot of fun with some great song and dance, so it’s worth a watch.
Author: Kelefa Sanneh Title: Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres Narrator: Kelefa Sanneh Publication Info: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group Summary/Review:
Kelefa Sanneh, a former music critic for the New York Times, and writer for the New Yorker, revisists the history of popular music from the 1970s to today in a series of essays focusing on genres. These genres include the venerable traditions of Rock, R&B, and Country as well as the upstarts Punk, Hip-Hop, and Dance. The final essay focuses on the amorphous genre of Pop.
Sanneh is a fan of all these types of music so he brings in his personal experience when discussing them. I find that appropriate since music is such a personal thing. Sanneh does a great job at summarizing the history and the struggles of artists within these genres to remain true to their style. He also notes that over the past 50 years that each of these genres is converging to create a new “pop” music even at a time when streaming music platforms should allow greater splits.
This was a fun an informative book for a music fan.
Title: The Social Network Release Date: October 1, 2010 Director: David Fincher Production Company: Columbia Pictures | Relativity Media | Scott Rudin Productions | Michael De Luca Productions | Trigger Street Productions Summary/Review:
The Social Network asks the question, can a person unable to create bonds with other human beings make a billion dollar business based on friendship? The movie is a dramatization of how Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) created Facebook while a sophomore at Harvard University in 2003. The movie is framed by legal depositions where Zuckerberg faces off against Eduardo Severin (Andrew Garfield), his friend and Facebook CFO who claims his shares of Facebook were unfairly diluted. He also faces a legal battle with Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) who claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea.
I typically don’t like Aaron Sorkin scripts because his dialogue makes everyone sound insufferably smug, but that actually suits the film. The historical facts of Facebook’s creation are played with loosely, probably because the reality was much more boring, but I feel that it was just as douchey as portrayed here. Women don’t get much to do in this film except be kind of a decorative wallpaper to activities of the men, but given the dudebros ethos of the film it feels suiting. The most significant women character in the movie is played by Rooney Mara, who plays a fictional ex-girlfriend of Zuckerberg’s who is supposed to be his inspiration for creating Facebook.
As a connoisseur of movies set in the Boston area, I enjoyed spotting the scenes that were filmed on location. Poor Jesse Eisenberg had to do a lot of running in this movie, from the streets of real Cambridge all the way to Maryland where there is a dorm building that coincidentally has the same name as his dorm at Harvard. I also used to frequent The Thirsty Scholar pub in Somerville circa 2003, so maybe I was there when Zuckerberg broke up with his fictional girlfriend.
Album: Things Take Time, Take Time Artist: Courtney Barnett Release Date: November 12, 2021 Label: Mom & Pop Favorite Tracks:
“Rae Street”
“Here’s the Thing”
“If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight”
Thoughts: I’ve long been a fan of Australian artist Courtney Barnett, so I’m always excited about a new release. On this album, the tempo shifts to slower than previous works and Barnett’s singing sounds a bit tired, thematically appropriate to the lyrics that speak of a sense of resignation. My first sense is that I don’t like this sound as much as Barnett’s earlier albums, but it is still high-quality music worth listening to. Rating: ***
Panorama of the Mountains 