RETRO REVIEW: BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY (1988)

Ever hit the video store on a Friday night and have a hard time finding some forgotten gem for your weekend viewing pleasure?

Once Again I present, THE FRIDAY RETRO REVIEW!

For this weeks Retro review I decided to head back to the 80's for the seminal coke ride that is Bright Lights, Big City.

The film, based on the book by Jay McInerney, follows Jamie Conway (Micheal J. Fox) as his entire world begins to fall apart over the course of a few days. His wife (Phobe Cates) has left him, he is about to get fired from his job at a major magazine and he is becoming ever addicted to Cocaine. The impending one year anniversary of his mother's death doesn't do much to help matters either.

This was Fox's second of three consecutive forays into dramatic film (preceeded by the Rock n Roll road movie Light of Day with Joan Jett, and just before Casulties of War, the Brian Depalma directed Vietnam thriller with Sean Penn). Fox is fantastic in the flick, it really makes you wonder where his career could have gone if he didn't get sick. (That and his awesome guest spot on Rescue Me this year).

The movie also features strong performances from Keifer Sutherland as Tad (how about that for an 80's name) as Fox's overbearing cokehead pal and a great flashback scene with Dianne Wiest as Jamie's dying mother. That said, it's not with out it's bit of retro silliness.

Highlights:

• The opening 30 seconds is the eightiesist thing that ever eightied!
• A dream sequence at 30min in, featuring Fox talking to his zygote self in a glass womb. The scene makes you seriously wonder if it isn't something OTHER than blow they are all doing.
• Tracy Pollan (Fox's Family Ties costar and future wife) as Vicki, the woman who Conway finds solace in, briefly.
• Fox following two hot, big haired New York Debs into a Women's room to do coke, only to turn down a threesome with them. (One of the debs is played by Kelly Lynch, the future Mrs. Swayze)
  

I had never seen this movie before today, and one thing struck me as odd. At the time this movie came out the big buzz was about ALEX P KEATON IN A DRUG MOVIE! But you only actually see cocaine in the movie two, MAYBE three times. It really shows you how things have changed as far as what shocks the heartland these days.

Overall, the movie is a nice little ride with strong performances and a decent story. Definatly worth checking out if you wanna re-live a little slice of the ME decade.

FUN FACT: The lead role of Jamie Conway was originally offered to Tom Cruise, but he turned it down because he didn't want to be portrayed taking drugs. The Movie he did instead? RainMan.

FUN FACT 2: The book/film was the basis for a stage musical in 1999 (Bonus Video below)

TRAILER:


AND THE MUSICAL!!!! (It's as bad as might expect):


If you have an idea for a RETRO REVIEW you would like to see, hit me up at matthewlindley1@gmail.com or at the Glorious Noise Facebook page.

BREAKING NEWS PART 2!: JIMMY KIMMEL PWNS LENO AGAIN!

So Jay "Big Jaw" Leno went on Oprah yesterday to tell his story about the whole late night fiasco. Now, I am one who frequently criticizes the Queen of all Media for her softball interviews, but I really must say she took Jay to task. At one point, Oprah brought up the mini-feud with Jimmy Kimmel and chin boy made a sad attempt to throw Kimmel under the bus, saying he had been "Suckerpunched" by Jimmy when he appeared on Leno's 10@10 segment.

Perhaps Jay was egomanical or just plain dumb enough to think that Jimmy wouldn't respond.

But Respond he did:



So great. After Jimmy asks the audience if they want to hear the real story you can almost hear the voice from the old Mortal Kombat game saying FINISH HIM!

At this point Leno should just stay on his Island with what viewing audience he will have left, tell his tired jokes about the Gosselins or Judge Ito, and stop attempting to take on foes that are much stronger and talented than him.

BREAKING NEWS: The Gay Dating Super Bowl Ad, So That You Can Get The Hell Over It!

So here is the proposed Super Bowl ad for MANCRUNCH, a gay dating site, that has some folks all up in a lather. And surprise! It's really unimpressive:



So there ya go, see what I mean.

As of yet this ad has not been approved for air during the big game, even though the Tim Tebow Pro-Life spot apparently has.

Personally, I hope they air both ads for two reasons:

1. I am confident that the Tebow ad will prove to be as ultimately benign as the advert above.

2. Airing both ads will ensure that both Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann have something to lose thier collective sh*t about come Monday the 8th.

REVIEW: Crazy Heart

I knew the same thing leaving this film that I suspected walking in. This is a great film, but it is great because it succeeds where it certainly and easily could have failed.

The film tells the story of "Bad" Blake (the brilliant Jeff Bridges), a one time famous and now washed up Country singer who has fallen into an unending world of dive bar gigs and cheap booze. Bridges deals with a failing career, addiction and watching his former protege Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell) become king of the world as he falls into obscurity. All while trying to perhaps find redemption in the arms of a newspaper reporter. (Maggie Gyllenhall)

As I said before, there are so many things this movie could have done wrong but didn't. First-time director Scott Cooper is trying so hard to avoid cliche that you can almost hear it, and what his efforts bring is a wonderfully realistic character study. The perfectly cast film sucks you in and has you caring so hard about the extremely flawed anti-hero.

You find yourself at many moments of the film expecting the usual Hollywood silliness to slap you in the face, and at points that hand is most certainly cocked back and ready, but the strike never comes.

Finally, in a world where the Award crowd always seems to hand awards to actors who perform in the oh so tiresome "Played against type" or "Like you've never seen them" category. Jeff Bridges shows how to do it right and deserves any accolade he recieves for this fantastic performance.

1919-2010

Author J.D. Salinger dies yesterday at the age of 91, according to his son. Salinger was one of the most important writers of the last 100 years, penning the classic Catcher in the Rye. He also released Franky and Zooey and numerous short stories before becoming a recluse in the mid 60's.

Unfortunately, for many, he is better known as said recluse or for the fact that Catcher was the "inspiration" for Mark David Chapman's murder of John Lennon. But for anyone who ever read his work, they know his place in the history of American art will be hard-pressed to be matched.

Rolling Stone had the following quote from Salinger's agent:

“He was not in any pain before or at the time of his death,” the agency said in a statement. “Salinger had remarked that he was in this world but not of it. His body is gone but the family hopes that he is still with those he loves, whether they are religious or historical figures, personal friends or fictional characters.”

TRAILER: Green Zone

Here's the trailer for GREENZONE.

It stars Matt Damon and is directed by Paul Greengrass (United 93 and the last two Bourne flicks)

In this one Damon is a rogue agent in Iraq, and the suspense ensues!

Enjoy!

BREAKING NEWS: Pro Wrestlers get drunk and Hit People!

Shocking news out of Kentucky (which I just found out is actually a state!). WWE Pro Wrestlers Greg Helms and Chris Jericho were arrested last night at a Kentucky gas station for public intoxication.

As the story goes Helms and Jericho were in a cab with a woman and another man when helms decided to get all slappy-facey on his three cab mates. Both wrestlers were charged with public drunkenness, and it remains to be scene if the other two passengers will press charges for assault.

Jericho is a bonified star in the world of rasslin and also has a crappy metal band (Fozzy) and recently hosted yet another list show for VH1. Helms is the wrestling equivalent of the retarded cousin the added to the last season of The Brady Bunch. Perhaps his three party partners brought up that fact, and in turn caused him to show them that while his ring skills are lacking, his PIMP HAND IS STRONNNNG!

CONAN FTW!

Trying my damndest to avoid hyperbole, I would have to say that Friday's Conan farewell was the most important and well put together piece of late night television since the Carson farewell. And it most certainly succeeded in every possible place that Leno's schlocky, ham handed goodbye failed 10 months ago.

Steve Carell's exit interview was fantastic and Tom Hanks was a perfect final guest, especially the fact that he acknowledged Conan's wonderful writing work on SNL. (You know, back when the show was actually good.) Neil Young pulled off a brilliant "Long May You Run".

And, finally, Conan's farewell speech was so beautiful, classy and inspiring that despite his plea for "No Cynicism" you couldn't help but be more enraged that NBC has treated this genius so poorly.

Here is the entire speech.



And finally FREEEEEEBIRD!

You have to watch the enitre episode to get to it, (Or click forward) but it is totally worth.

Godspeed you brilliant ginger bastard, we will see you in September!

WEEKEND WRAP UP

Hope for Haiti Telethon- Very good broadcast and they ended up raising over 50 million. Highlights: Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris doing a cover of Hallelujah that FINALLY didn't rip directly from Jeff Buckley's verison, also Stevie Wonder, Shakira and suprisingly Madonna were quite impressive. Lowlight: Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow and Keith Urban (need I say more) doing a version of "Lean on Me" that was the biggest bowl of suck that ever sucked.

Avatar- By the end of business today it will be the highest grossing movie of all time. FML

Joaquin Phoenix- Apparently his "Look-I'm-Effing-Up-My-Career" documentary is in post-production. I cant wa....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Scorpions- Announced they are disbanding after thief latest album comes out in March. I could make a "Winds of Changes" joke here but I'm much more sophisticated than that. Instead I will say that THEY WILL NO LONGER ROCK US LIKE A HURRICANE...I hate myself.

RETRO REVIEW: DEEP COVER

Ever hit the video store on a Friday night and have a hard time finding some forgotten gem for your weekend viewing pleasure? Well now I bring you the Friday Feature: RETRO REVIEW.

Sometimes the review will be some little known critically acclaimed classic, other times a nugget of cheesy brilliance. Today's is most certainly the latter.

DEEP COVER (1992) Stars Lawrence Fishburne as Russell Stevens/John Hull a Cop turned DEA agent undercover in the LA drug scene. The movie follows "Hull" as he imerses himself in the cocaine culture to work his way up the ladder and take down the big whigs bringing the powder into the country. The movie also features Jeff Goldblum as the Lawyer/Aspring Drug Kingpin that Hull teams up with.

Highlights:

• Fishburne's strange street poetry that weaves it's way into the soundtrack of the film. The only reason it sounds so cool is because Larry is saying it.
• Jeff Goldblum (after a career of wimpy charecters) talking street throughout the picture and trying his best to act all badass.
• The Mayor's secretary from SPIN CITY playing the Fishburne's money laundering love interest.
  
• Some of the greatest over the top death scenes ever.
  
• One fantastic action sequence involving a showdown inside a limo during a police chase

At the end of the day, the flick is cheesy goodness. However, if you were a fan of the early ninties "Urban Crime" genre, this is most definately a must see.

FUN FACT: For you hip-hop fans, the theme song of the film, entitled "Deep Cover", was the first ever solo single from DR. Dre and features an as of yet unknown Snoop Doggy Dogg. So basically the little known track is the birth of the poppier era of Gangsta Rap.

Trailer and video for the theme song below:

TV: Oh Conan, We hardly knew yee

So we are mere hours away from the final Tonight Show with Conan O' Brien. I'm not going to go on a rant here about NBC's brainless decision making in the matter, because there is nothing I can say that hasn't been said better. But I will say that tonight could be one of the greatest nights in late night TV history, if only because Conan has to top every other brilliant show he's done this week.

Case in point, his "Crazy Expensive" sketch from last night:



And of course, a few channels over, Kimmel knocked it out of the park with his Ken Burnsian take on the late night war:



So here we are folks, Conan gets his buyout and we will almost certainly see him bring his edgy, smart and creative brand of late night fair to somewhere when his non-compete is up in September. Jay Leno with continue bumbling around the stage like a "ruh-tard" spewing his pointless unfunny one-liners that make old, bland people giggle.

I can hope that NBC will continue to fail after this impressive display of Assholery, but I'm not sure how confident I am.

MUSIC: Prince dooms the Vikings

Apologies to my pals from the twin cities, but there is now officially NO WAY Minnesota will beat the Saints on Sunday in the NFC Championship game.

First we had Grandpa singing "Pants on the Ground" in the locker last weekend, and now The Purple One has delivered the SINGLE WORST FIGHT SONG EVER!

Sorry Minny fans, your boys are screwed.

Experience the awfulness for yourself.

RED BAND TRAILER: Hot Tub Time Machine

I can't decide if this movie is going to be amazing or terrible, but I am confident there will be no grey area in the matter.

The premise is basically explained in the title, four dudes find a hot tub that doubles as...wait for it... A TIME MACHINE!

What we do know going in is that it features John Cusack, Craig Robinson from The Office, Rob Corrdry and a cameo by Chevy Chase. And that combination way to strange to not be excited about giving this flick a run up the flag pole.

NSFW Trailer Below:

BREAKING: CONAN, LETTERMAN STILL AWESOME.

I have to admit, that while I have been glued to Conan this week, his last on the Tonight Show, I find myself running to the Interwebs the next morning to see what Letterman had to say about the situation the night before as well. And last night very well may have been the best yet. First off, Norm McDonald's suprise opinion on Conan was fantastic and I can't wait for the Conan .6 Anniversary Special ("either tonight or tomorrow depending on the lawyers). But the best moment of the night may have came a few channel over, where Letterman absolutely destroyed Leno and NBC.







Thanks to What Would Tlyer Durden Do. http://www.wwtdd.com/2010/01/things-are-getting-nasty/

MUSIC: A Bummer of a news wrap-up

Kate McGarrigle, Folk Singer and mother of Rufus and Martha Wainwright, has died at 63 after a battle with cancer.

Rufus released this statement on his website: “There is never enough time and she, my amazing mother with whom everyone fell in love, went out there and bloody did it.”








Outlaw Country-boy, Devil beating fiddler and recent Geico Pitchman Charlie Daniels suffered a stroke recently while snomobiling in Colorado.

The 73-year-old doesn't expect to miss any tour dates.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Glorious Noisemaker (see what I did there) Sean O'malley checks in with this review of Heath Ledger's swan song:

I went into this film with low expectations. I had a sneaking suspicion that the movie would not live up to the hype caused by Heath Ledger’s death during filming of “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus“. However, I had a morbid curiosity to see how they would manage to piece together something resembling a coherent film given the circumstances.
The film starts by immediately sucking you into the strange world of a traveling sideshow attraction. Terry Gilliam goes back to the Monte Python well and fishes out a surreal 3-dimensional world of 2-dimensional objects. It ma have been an old trick, but Gilliam created one of the most visually interesting worlds since “Big Fish”. The simple fact that he not only was able to finish the film, but was able to do-so without leaving huge holes in the story or plot deserves some mention.
Gilliam is the true strength of the film as most of the performances are pedestrian at best. Even the mega-stars that filled in for (Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Ferrell) do a decent job, but pale in comparison to the character created by Ledger. The constant changing of actors works from to storytelling standpoint, but creates an overall character that lacks logical character progression.
However, the performances of Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger and Tom Waits are so phenomenal that you can almost excuse the acting of Vern Troyer. I found myself wishing that someone would just step on him and save the audience from the worst line delivery I have ever seen in my life. If he were a foot taller, nobody would know his name.
Lily Cole is anther bright spot of this film. It’s not often that a model can make the jump to actress without sucking with the power of a thousand red hot suns (see Angie Everhart, Cindy Crawford, Gisele Bundchen or Tyra Banks). The cherubic Cole proves that she can actually act, though I must admit that several scenes made it difficult for me to concentrate on a word she was saying. Which begs the question…if an actress looks 12, is it wrong for e to search out the pictorial she did for French Playboy?
But, I digress. I truly believe tat had Ledger survived to finish his work his performance would have eclipsed his role as the Joker. The continuity of his character, and the dramatic build it would have given the climax, is the only thing keeping this film from critical success. I’d say it was well worth the price of admission.

FESTIVAL UPDATE 2: Reunited PAVEMENT to headline Sasquatch

Yes folks. All your early 90's indie dreams are about to come true. PAVEMENT is reuniting this summer and now they are one of the Headliners for the Memorial Day SASQUATCH FESTIVAL at The Gorge in George, WA.

The rest of the lineup will be announced on Feb. 16th, but this is enough to make me wanna go.

FESTIVAL UPDATE: Coachella Lineup Announced

From Rolling Stone.com:

Jay-Z, Muse and Gorillaz will serve as headliners at the 2010 Coachella Music and Arts Festival, taking place in Indio, California, April 16th to 18th. Reunions and supergroups highlight the lineup, as Pavement, the Specials, Sly & The Family Stone and Faith No More are all set to perform at the festival, as well as Them Crooked Vultures and the Dead Weather. Other notables on the bill include a solo set by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, LCD Soundsystem, Gary Numan, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Grizzly Bear, Devo, Phoenix, Spoon, Julian Casablancas and more.

Sounds like yet another stellar line-up for the California fest!

MUSIC; News Wrap-up and New Releases

- Elvis Costello and Steve Earle have both signed on to guest on the upcoming HBO show TREME. Created by David Simon (a little show called THE WIRE), this one is going to focus on musicians in Post-Katrina New Orleans and should be amazing.

-Lady Gaga collapsed and had to cancel shows over the weekend, I guess its exhausting to be THAT MEDIOCRE!

- Guitar God Slash has announced a release date for his upcoming solo album. The as-of-yet nameless record will drop on April 6th

- Speaking of new releases, here are some new records out today:

SPOON- TRANSFERENCE

COLD WAR KIDS- BEHAVE YOURSELF (EP)

MISSY ELLIOT- BLOCK PARTY (wait, she's still alive?)

RECAP: Golden Globes 2010

So the first BIG EVENT RECAP on the site and it’s The Golden Globes, the “American Music Awards” of Movies and Television. The Busch Light to the Budweiser that is the Oscars.

First off Ricky Gervais was adequate as host, the only real big funny moment of the night was his dig at Mel Gibson (“I like drink as much as the next man, unless that next man is Mel Gibson”).

Surprisingly the funniest joke of the night came from Robert DeNiro and his riff about the secret “Martin Scorsese on Reel of Film” sex tape. Honorable Mention to Sir Paul McCartney, saying that animated films were made for children and people on drugs.

Now to the awards:

MOVIES

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS- MOTION PICTURE: MONIQUE for PRECIOUS

Haven’t been able to catch this flick yet. But it is always interesting to see a person who’s career has been filled with mostly forgettable work (see bad sitcoms in Monique’s case) receive a major award. Far and away the best acceptance speech of the night.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR- MOTION PICTURE: CHRISTOPH WALTZ for INGLORIOUS BASTERDS

Would have been a great disservice if he didn’t win. Amazing performance. May even be a more deserving Best Supporting than Javier Bardem. And another great speech.

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY OR MUSICAL: MERYL STREEP for JULIE and JULIA.

Does this chick ever get tired of winning? You really can’t help but kinda love Meryl Streep. I kinda wish she was my aunt or something. She’s so warm and caring and she would probably give great gifts at Christmas

BEST ACTOR- COMEDY OR MUSICAL: ROBERT DOWNEY JR. for SHERLOCK HOLMES

And the comeback from being known as a washed up smack fiend is just about complete.

BEST ACTRESS- MOVIE DRAMA: SANDRA BULLOCK for THE BLINDSIDE

Her great parts (Time to Kill) have been overshadowed by her terrible ones (The Net) so it’s nice to see her get some kudos.

BEST ACTOR DRAMA: JEFF BRIDGES for CRAZY HEART

Probably the second best speech of the night. Can’t help but root for The Dude!

BEST MOTION PICTURE- COMEDY OR MUSICAL: THE HANGOVER!

This is definitely a situation where the Golden Globes serve a very important purpose, because a brilliant piece of low-brow comedy like this will receive little or no recognition at the Oscars.

BEST MOTION PICTURE-DRAMA: AVATAR

I continue to have a hard time with movies with little to know tangible story winner Best Picture type awards. Lord of The Rings: Return of the King had both the story and the big pretty things to look at, but Avatar seemingly falls short on the former. James Cameron’s speech was all the usual pretention you’d expect.

TELEVISION

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS- TV SERIES, TV MOVIE or MINI SERIES:

CHLOE SEVIGNY from BIG LOVE

Still one of the strangest women in Hollywood

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR-TV SHOW or MINISERIES: JOHN LITHGOW for DEXTER.

I am a huge Lithgow fan, so it is nice to see him win again. On the other hand, I am not to season 4 of Dexter yet so even his introduction was a spoiler F-YOU HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS!

BEST ACTRESS-TV SHOW COMEDY or MUSICAL: TONI COLLETTE for UNITED STATES OF TARA.

I as of yet have not seen of episode of Tara, but I love Toni Collette, so kudos to her.

BEST ACTOR- TV SERIES: ALEC BALDWIN 30 ROCK

Kinda was rooting for David Duchovny or Thomas Jane but I’m biased

BEST ACTRESS- TV DRAMA: JULIANA MARGUILES for THE GOOD WIFE

What is this show you speak of? I have honestly never heard of it. Margulies thanks Les Moonves at CBS for “Believing in the 10 o clock Drama”. And there at 38 minutes in is our first official smack at NBC! Subtle but nice.

BEST ACTOR- TV DRAMA: MICHAEL C HALL for DEXTER.

This guy is the actor that most people don’t know about because he has only done Broadway and two Brilliant cable shows. But this is a guy who is gonna be around for a long time. Also thought it took humongous balls to show up rocking the head wrap only a few days of revealing his fight with cancer.

BEST TV SERIES- COMEDY or MUSICAL: GLEE

Meh.

BEST TV DRAMA: MAD MEN

Yet again.

Well Hello There!

Welcome to Glorious Noise!

I decided that this year that I wanted to start a media project that was REALLY original. So I started an entertainment blog. But seriously, the topics of Film, Music and TV are deeply important to me and I am here just to offer the comings and goings as well as my take on the news of the day.

Look for many things to come in the future as hopefully this site will evolve in to more and more as time goes on.

Enjoy!