Newspaper Page Text
%
Wednesday
October 12,
2005
TOPTEN
Sponsqrfiil -Stnrp
Top Level, UCC
Top 10
In Theaters
1. Wallace & Gromit:
The Curse of the Were-
Kabbit (G) Peter Sallis
2. Flightplan
(PG-13) Jodie Foster
3. In her Shoes (PG-13)
Cameron Diaz
4. Two or the Money (R)
Matthew McConaughey,
A1 Pacino
5. The Gospel (PG)
Boris Kodjoe
6. Tim Burton’s Corpse
Bride (PG) Johnny Depp
7. Waiting (R) Ryan
Reynolds, Justin Long
8. A History of Violence
(R) Viggo Mortensen
9. Serenity (PG-13)
Nathan Fillion
lO.lnto the Blue (PG-13)
Jessica Alba, Paul Walker
Top 10 Songs
in America
1. Gold Digger - Kayne
West w/ Jamie Foxx
2. Shake it Off
Mariah Carey
3. Photograph -
Nickelback
4. Like You - Bow Wow
w/Ciara
5. My Humps - Black
Eyed Peas
6. Wake Me Up When
September Ends -
Green Day
7. Play - David Banner
8. Soul Survivor - Young
Jeezy w/ Akon
9. We Belong Together
- Mariah Carey
10. Sugar, We Going’
Down - Fall Out Boy
Top 10
Album Sales
1. All Jacked Up -
Gretchen Wilson
2. Wildflower -
Sheryl Crow
3. Most Known Un
known - Three Six Mafia
4. Libra - Toni Braxton
5. Late Registration -
Kayne West
6. The Naked Truth -
Lil’Kim
7. The THnity - Sean Paul
8. Ten Thousand Lets
-Disturbed
9. Have a Nice Day -
Bon Jovi
10. Monkey Business
- The Black Eyed Peas
(Top ten movie information is
according to Yahoo.com. Top
ten music information is ac
cording to Billboard.com.)
REEL
PEAL
with George Hawkins
“A History of Violence"
Running Time: 96 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Starring: Viggo Mortensen,
Maria Bello, Ed Harris,
and William Hurt
From the opening
scenes director David
Cronenburg’s “A History
of Violence” jumps off
the screen and efficiently
entices the audience.
However, it ultimately fails
to keep this momentum
throughout the film.
This flick is based
around the almost
premise that inside of
every human being, no
matter how docile they
may seem, lurks the ability
to take as many lives as
necessary to survive.
Tom Stall (Viggo
Mortensen) is your average
Mayberry-type character;
he lives in a small town
with a pretty wife named
Edie (Maria Bello) and
two kids, and owns a less
than successful diner. His
life in this town is like
the calm before a storm,
as the audience sees his
peaceful existence before
he encounters the unsavory
characters that provoke his
“history of violence.”
Tom becomes a
local hero when he kills,
without hesitation, two
men attempting to hold up
KilgoreTrout2o@aol.com
In 2001, as Florida
folk-o-phile Sam Beam (aka BA
Iron and Wine) was getting J
ready to lay down songs |HK^ / ))/{, ]%i,
for what would become his MjTIl/ffifr VH fn*7inK ÜBn
stunning debut album "The lv4'V'
Creek Drank the Cradle,” j^HnpP^
he considered taking on bß|
as his back-up band, a few
well established alt-country
Arizonans who called
themselves Calexico. pho '° courtesy ofbuuons.com
Though the two
groups’ plans never came
to fruition, they continued
to talk for years about a
possible collaboration.
Now, after four years of
deliberation, the two have
finally come together, from
the swamps of southern
Florida and the deserts of
Arizona, to release an EP of
seven original Beam tunes,
with pitch-perfect backing
from Calexico, called “In
the Reins.”
The result is a diverse
mish-mash of styles, from
sensitive folk tunes to
weepy country-western
ballads to swampy blues
rock jams, capable of
pleasing fans of either
band, and possibly even
fans of neither.
It’s rare that two
bands of such differing
backgrounds and tastes
can come together quite as
his diner and rape a female
employee. His heroism
grabs the attention of
disfigured mobster Carl
Fogerty (Ed Harris) and
his associates. When Carl
and his crew breeze into
town questions start to
arise about the identity of
Tom Stall.
According to Carl,
Tom bears a striking
resemblance to a former
associate of his from
Philadelphia. Even though
Tom denies, repeatedly,
being this man, Carl refuses
to give up.
The most telling line
of the film is when Carl
demands that Edie pose a
question to her husband.
“Why don’t you ask your
husband why he’s so good
at killing people?” he asks.
Tom seems genuinely
confused as to why these
men seem to be stalking
him and his family around
town. His confusion quickly
vanishes, however, when
Carl and his associates
kidnap his son to try to
persuade him to accompany
them to Philadelphia to
meet with “some people.”
In the second bloodbath
of the film, Tom quickly
disposes of the characters
on his front lawn.
At this point, everyone
knows that there is some
validity to the story of
seamlessly as ha ve Iron and
Wine and Calexico. The
last few years have seen
numerous such attempts
in the underground - from
Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s
“Superwolf’ to Isaac
Brock’s “Ugly Casanova”
-but few have managed
to gel as effortlessly as
Beam and company on
“In the Reins.”
The swell of
Calexico’s trademark
pedal steel, the sloppy
resonance of drummer
Jacob Valenzuela’s beats
and the interplay of
country-western and blues
guitar provide the perfect
backdrop for Beam’s
whispery melodies and
insightful balladeer lyrics.
As the title suggests,
the songs deal for the
most part with issues of
control, of captivity and
confinement. The first
Photo courtesy ofhistoryofviolence.com
Viggo Mortensen stars in "A History of Violence," which is out now.
Tom’s questionable past.
To keep his family from
falling apart, Tom makes
the long car trip to the
east coast to meet with
those people mentioned
earlier. What results is
more violence and a rather
unpleasant and uneventful
end sequence.
“A History of
Violence” is getting good
marks from some critics,
though some wonder
why. This movie is not
worth the time viewers
have to invest in it. The
writing is poor, as is
the acting. In addition,
Cronenburg attempts, in
several ways, to display
the mystery and angst of
his characters through
various seemingly daily
actions, but ultimately,
his techniques come off
as cheesy and poorly
thought out.
In many regards, the
movie is so utterly boring
track, “He Lays in the
Reins,” is Beam at his
songwriting best and is
entirely worthy of a slot
on any full-length Iron and
Wine album.
His trademark
sensibility for heart
rending interplay between
vocal melody and lyrics
vibrantly bring to life the
story of a weary traveler
caught, like his tethered
horse outside, in the
ambiguous reins of love,
“Tangled too tight and too
long to fight.” The addition
of opera singer Salvador
Duran’s sweeping Spanish
bridge is an interesting
way of emphasizing the
classic Western feel, but
ultimately just serves as
an unnecessary distraction
best ignored.
“Red Dust” is the
album’s token jam
track, a big messy
that the intermittent
scenes of graphic violence
and nudity/raw sex are a
welcome diversion from
the underwritten and
under-acted scenes that
preced them and remind
audiences what R-rated
movies should be (it’s
nice not to see a movie
cut just enough to claim a
PG-13 rating).
The sad and
unfortunate thing about
this movie is that it is
definitely a good premise.
Hidden pasts and a flawed
hero who is willing to
commit murder to protect
his loved ones are always
good fodder for a film.
However, Cronenburg
ultimately didn’t develop
his characters well
enough or take the movie
far enough...leaving the
audience hanging to draw
their own conclusions or
possibly even for a sequel.
With all of this said.
Photo courtesy of xardion.com
The band Calexico (left) and
Sam Beam (above) of Iron
and Wine combine their
sounds on their new EP
“In the Reins.”
blues riff with some
excellent improvisation
on the part of Calexico,
punctuated occasionally
with Beam’s and
Convertino’s outstanding
harmonies. “Sixteen,
Maybe Less” is another
fine accomplishment on
Beam’s part.
While it’s easy to
imagine this sleepy folk
ballad stripped down to
Beam’s characteristic
acoustic style, the addition
of some weepy pedal steel,
classic tex-mex tremolo
guitar and the gorgeous
harmonies of Natalie
Wyants add a welcome
new depth to Beam’s style,
yet never once threaten to
deprive the fragile ballad
of its intended subtlety.
“Dead Man's Will”
rounds the album out
nicely. A certain kind of
circuitousness is achieved
there are a few good
aspects of the film. The
action sequences are really
good with special effect
gore, rivaling that of
Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill
Bill” movies (although
a smaller amount). Even
though the rest of the cast
performs below par, the
acting of William Hurt,
who has a small role, is the
best that he has produced
in quite a while.
Cronenburg also does
a decent job of portraying
life in small town America,
from the main street to the
high school.
Overall, “A History
of Violence” can be
somewhat entertaining
but is not that great 9f a
movie. There are certainly
better in the genre; check
out 1971 ’s “Straw Dogs”
or the 1997 film “The End
of Violence.”
GRADE: C
between the distant piano
licks of “He Lays in the
Reins” and the beautiful
rolling vibraphones of this
last track. The speaker
of Beam’s story, a man
recently deceased, rolls
off a sort of Last Will and
Testament, bequeathing
a number of sentimental
objects from his youth (a
stone found “playing in the
barnyard,” a bone found
“hunting in the hills,” an
engagement ring never
given to its intended love)
to his family members.
The deep-fried
Southern gospel feel
lends the song exactly the
sort of pensive and dark
atmosphere of revelation
and regret for which Beam
is most celebrated. “Please
say it’s not too late,” Beam
sings, “now that I’m dead
and gone.”
It’s a shame that those
initial plansforcollaboration
fell through the cracks for
so long; otherwise music
fans would have certainly
by now heard a great
deal more from this most
impressive combination of
two outstanding talents.
Now that they’ve
finally been realized, and
in so unique a fashion, one
can safely assume we’ll be
hearing more from them in
the future. At the very least,
it wouldn’t be too surprising
to find names like Joey
Bums or John Convertino
- prominent members of
Calexico - on the next Iron
and Wine disc.