The Dark Knight

Never been a big Batman guy.

I don't know if there is something missing from my DNA that makes me indifferent toward the caped crusader or what. I've always been more of a Punisher kind of guy when it comes to dark and troubled vigilantes.

But I'm clearly in the minority there.

What's great about the new Christopher Nolan Batman films is that they disregard the previous 4 films, most of which were campy fun, and treat Batman as a character that exists in the real world.

The original Batman Begins was a step in the right direction, but I still felt that it lacked that extra something that would have launched it into the upper echelon of superhero movies.

Whatever Batman Begins lacked, The Dark Knight makes up for it in spades. Quite simply, TDK is the best superhero movie of all time, and features one of the most haunting portrayals of a villain in Heath Ledger's Joker. Not only is it a superhero movie, it's a crime drama along the same vein of The Departed and dare I say, Heat. Don't get me wrong... TDK is not quite on that level of film, despite what the fools over at IMDb think. They've currently got it rated #1 on the IMDb's top 250 movies of all time, ahead of The Godfather and Citizen Kane.

The Dark Knight is good, guys. But not that good. We'll see how long that lasts.

Really though, TDK is excellent. The realism, the labyrinthine-like plot, and the performances... boy are the performances good... make TDK an all-around success story.

First, there is always going to be an elephant in the room when discussing TDK, and that is Heath Ledger, who died a few months before the film was released. His role as the Joker was his last finished role on film, and he sure went out with a bang.

Ledger transforms, more like mutates into the Joker and with slathered-on make-up, almost becomes a horror movie villain. His Joker dominates the film with tension, and puts the viewer on edge, making them think the Joker can show up at any moment in the film. It's unclear whether the Academy will allow themselves to be forced to nominate Ledger for this role, since that's what the general public is screaming for, but if he is in deed nominated, it will be well deserved. Ledger's turn as the Joker pretty much makes this film.

Next up is Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, Gotham's doomed District Attorney. Eckhart creates a sympathetic character who we expect to turn bad at some point before he becomes Two-Face, but never does. He's a guy who wants to do the right thing, and does, but ultimately falls victim to the Joker's mind games. Dent represents what the Joker can do -- take good people and make them turn bad. By the time Eckhart becomes Two-Face, he loses some of the spark he had earlier in the film, but does manage to be a solid second fiddle to Ledger's Joker.

As Bruce Wayne, Bale is great as the showboating millionaire, but as Batman, he's almost laughable. His deep, gruffled voice really took me out of the film and made me wonder why he was talking like that. However, Bale was the straight man here, just a foil for Ledger and Eckhart to overshadow. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are solid as always as Wayne's go-to guys. And Maggie Gyllenhaal fills in nicely for Katie Holmes, creating a less-whiny love-interest for both Wayne and Dent.

Finally, the person who really needs to be credited for TDK is the man behind the curtain -- or camera -- Christopher Nolan. His Batman-as-real approach has worked wonders for this franchise whereas other superhero movies appear more like cartoons than anything resembling reality. Nolan, along with Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro, has established himself as one of the next-gen directors who will revolutionize filmmaking the way Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas did in the 1970's

Without Nolan at the helm, I really wonder if the new Batman franchise has the legs to keep going after TDK.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see if he answers the Bat-signal.

FILM SCORE: ***1/2 (out of ****)
BEST SCENE: Any scene with the Joker.
FILM STATUS: Best superhero movie ever.

The Walkmen

The Walkmen are hard to pin down.

They debuted with a low-key album called Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone, which was a critical success, but failed to launch the band into the spotlight the way that debut albums from bands like Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes and Vampire Weekend have. Other than "We've Been Had" being featured in a Saturn car commercial, I'm not sure anyone knew the album existed. Regardless, EWPTLMIG was drenched in wintry jingle bells and whip-fast distorted guitars with Hamilton Leithauser's Dylanesque vocals connecting the sparse dots of the album together. On EWPTLMIG, one thing was clear, The Walkmen had a big and unique sound that was going to make or break them.

The Walkmen did eventually get on the map with their sophomore album, Bows + Arrows, and even landed a gig on the Fox show, The O.C. More of a single-oriented album, Bows + Arrows featured tracks like "The Rat", "Little House of Savages", "The North Pole" and "Thinking of a Dream" that set themselves apart from the rest of the album. And while the Rolling Stone initially dissed it, pretty much ever other musical critic with a brain praised it as one of the best albums of 2004 and the high-water mark for the band thus far, and rightfully so. With B+A, the Walkmen had arrived and everyone took notice.

After B+A, the Walkmen knew they needed to make a change to their sound to avoid becoming redundant the way that The Strokes keep seeming to make the same record with each album. So on 2006's A Hundred Miles Off, band members shuffled instruments and added some horns to their sonic portfolio. The result was a mixed bag of hits and misses. The first single, "Louisiana", could be their best single yet, and other tracks like "All Hands and the Cook" and "Good's for You is Good for Me" rose above a somewhat middling third album featuring loud and unorganized punk melodies and somewhat uninspired lyrics. Still a decent album by today's indie-standards, but The Walkmen have the highest of standards. So A Hundred Miles Off was like a straight-A student handing in a C+ paper. You just knew they could have done better.

Later that year, The Walkmen released a track-by-track cover of the John Lennon/Harry Nilsson Pussycats album, which raised even more questions about the band. While their signature sound allowed them to feel right at home covering songs like The Drifters' "Save the Last Dance", the rest of the album meandered much like the original Pussycats album, and left fans collectively scratching their heads. Were the Walkmen losing their creative drive and becoming a glorified cover band? Or were they trying to kick-start a process that had worn a little thin by going back to simple melodies and lyrics?

The band continued touring in between albums, although their live shows had become tedious and noisy. I've seen them three different times, and each time the band seemed to get lazier with short and messy sets becoming a common occurrence. The last Walkmen show I attended sounded like an orchestra warming up more than anything else. The opening act was White Rabbits, and they blew them off the stage with more energy and a clearer goal of what they wanted to do. And as I left that show I wondered, will the Walkmen be able to come back from this? I had my doubts.

About a year later, the band announced the release of their fifth album (fourth original). With a title like You & Me, it sounded more intimate and more focused than anything else they've done, as previous album titles have been vague at best. Their press releases also told of a desire to return to classic melodies and vocals. They mentioned Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. So it was clear they were setting the bar high for themselves.

After getting my hands on an advance copy of You & Me, I can tell you, The Walkmen have rediscovered what works for them and Y&M is their most focused, if not best album, yet. The album, as the title suggests, covers your standard-issue relationship blues, and is sure to be the soundtrack to many a break-up this summer and fall. A sample of some of the lyrics featured on the album are "You are the morning/I am the night", "I kissed her by the window/she covered her face", and "I miss you/I miss you there's no one else/I do... I do."

There are great singles, such as the gradually roaring "In the New Year" and and the waltzy and somber "Red Moon" where Leithauser moans "You shine/Like the steel/On my knife." Deeper tracks like Canadian Girl show off Leithauser's 60's era R&B chops. And while there is clearly a nostalgic feel to You & Me, the signature Walkmen "sound" is still dominant... fuzzy/jangly guitars and drums take up a lot of the soundscape, but the jingle bells seem to have been replaced by horns. No complaints here.

So the lofty press release was spot on. The Walkmen met and surpassed the high goals they set for themselves. Many songs hearken back to 60's rock with simple melodies, vocals, paint brush drums, echoes of calypso music and booming bass lines. I think the band has spent as much time watching Walk the Line as I have, and are determined to bring back the Rock-A-Billy sound with a vengeance. It's because of this old-is-new approach, You & Me returns The Walkmen to the forefront of today's indie scene.

Once again, the Walkmen know who they are and what they want to do, and people will be forced to take notice.

ALBUM SCORE: **** (out of ****)
BEST TRACK(S): Red Moon, Canadian Girl, In the New Year
SEE THEM LIVE?: They seem to have found some easy-to-play melodies, so their concerts shouldn't be disorganized anymore. Hell to the yes!

Ours - Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy)

I discovered Ours while working long hours at BWI Airport. I was able to listen to WRNR, an independent radio station out of Annapolis, that luckily for me, played music not heard on commercially-owned radio stations.

I instantly fell in love with the acoustic version of "Sometimes" that they occasionally played, and after doing some searching on the web, I was able to find out the name of the band.

The next day, I bought the album, called Distorted Lullabies, off the strength of that one song, and after skipping through the rest of the CD, I was proud of myself for discovering a little-known band that kicked the living shit out of most bands played on commercial radio.

Jimmy Gnecco's voice was an instrument all it's own, and at the risk of sounding pretentious, it ripped through my soul and spoke to me in a way that few bands did. Maybe it was the connection I had with them, since I felt like I had discovered them, and I recommended them to friends whenever I had the chance.

But then again, maybe it was just because they were an excellent band, and Gnecco's lyrics were moody, depressing, and dark -- and that's usually the kind of music I like.

After relentlessly spinning the album for months, I grew tired of it, and hung it up to dry.

Then September 11th happened.

And it the midst of doing some serious soul-searching during the aftermath of that horrible day, I found myself listening to Lullabies again, and was amazed at how much the album spoke to the current times, despite being released almost a year before 9/11. Songs and lyrics took on different meanings, and it really opened up another window for me to discover this band and this album.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to wait long for their follow-up to Distorted Lullabies, as the band released their sophomore album, Precious, in the fall of 2002.

At that time, I had just gotten married, and was beginning a life on my own, free of my parents house and their authority. Precious was there for me at another important time in my life, and it will always be special to me because of that, even though it was a lacking album in many ways.

In listening to Precious, you could tell the band was being pushed in directions they didn't really want to go. Still, Gnecco's influence was able to shine through on certain songs, and his voice and lyrics were as strong and haunting as ever.

But when I listened to their flat cover of "Femme Fatal" by Velvet Underground, I had a feeling that Gnecco had compromised himself in a way that would change him and the way he dealt with his music in the future.

Boy was I right.

It is now 2008, a full five and a half years since Ours has released an album. It has been delayed numerous times, survived a record label dispute and label change, and even more delays.

Luckily, Ours toured frequently in-between albums, and kept promising his small but extremely loyal fan-base that a new album was forthcoming. Their live shows featured the newly written songs that Gnecco hoped to get recorded, and they were great songs, which made the wait that much more frustrating.

I saw the band for the first time in August of 2004 at Fletcher's in Fells Point, Baltimore. It's a small upstairs venue and the crowd was sparse but energetic. The band had sound problems and the show started an hour later than scheduled.

To make up for the delay, Gnecco played a 2+ hour long set, and when the band took breaks, he remained on stage, playing acoustic versions of previously recorded songs, as well as new ones.

After the electric set was finished, my wife and I headed for the exit, but when I heard Gnecco come on stage again, I immediately raced back into the club and listened as Gnecco played another acoustic set which lasted another half an hour and pushed his strained voice to the breaking point.

Gnecco is known for his fan appreciation and has been known to play short acoustic sets in the parking lot after shows for the few remaining fans. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for me.

Over the years, without a new album to look forward to, Ours disappeared from my radar. I discovered new bands like Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade and The Walkmen. But I always looked forward to a new Ours album, and hoped that someday it would find a release date.

And finally, on April, 15th, Ours will release their third album entitled, Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy), and one thing is for sure despite the long break in-between album releases -- this is the album Gnecco wanted to make.

He teamed up with super-producer Rick Rubin, who signed the band to his American label, a sub-genre offshoot of Columbia. It's the same label Johnny Cash was on late in his career. But whereas Precious producer Ethan Johns suffocated the band in forced trendiness, Rick Rubin guided Gnecco, giving him advice when needed, and allowed Gnecco to do what he wanted to do.

At first listen, Mercy is very much an Ours album. The soaring vocals of Gnecco are still there, but it's much more focused than Precious, and hearkens back to the epic moodiness of Distorted Lullabies. The glimmers of U2, Radiohead and Jeff Buckley are all still there and in full effect.

I'm still in the beginning stages of listening to this album, and I've barely touched the second half, but I can say this, Mercy is Gnecco's album and it's the one he wanted to make. So far, so good.

It was well worth the wait.

ALBUM SCORE: *** (out of ****)
BEST SONG: I Ran Away To Tell The World
SEE THEM LIVE: Yes! Expect to be there at least 2 hours.

2007 Oscar Nominations

OK, so I finally got around to seeing all of the nominated films for Best Picture. Here are my thoughts on...

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

I think it's safe to say that NCFOM and TWBB are the two best films of the nominees for Best Picture. NCFOM was a tense thriller involving engaging and terrifying characters forced into situations that would make normal men crumble. It's without a doubt one of, if not, the best film the Coen brothers have ever made. However, I think the last half an hour of NCFOM was a bit weak, a downer to an exciting film up to that point. And for that reason, I don't think it should beat out the year's best film, There Will Be Blood.

TWBB is a character study from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a corrupt oil tycoon in turn of the century Texas. Day-Lewis' portrayal of Plainview is downright gripping, and in my opinion one of the best performances I've ever seen, right up there with Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone in The Godfather, and Robert Duval's Apostle E.F. in The Apostle. It's a performance full of depth and discussion points. People will no doubt be talking about Daniel Plainview well into the future. Oh and by the way, Day-Lewis' performance isn't the only great thing about TWBB. Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine) gives a solid performance as Plainview's rival, false prophet Eli Sunday. Kevin J. O'Conner, Stephen Sommers' (The Mummy) comedic go-to-guy, shines in a small amount of screen-time as a drifter claiming to be Daniel's brother, and Johnny Greenwood's (Radiohead) score is haunting. It brings me deep regret to inform you that his score was unfortunately disqualified for Best Score because a portion of it was not written for the film. And like Day-Lewis' performance being one of the best I've ever seen, Greenwood's score is one of the best I've ever heard. Meanwhile, Paul Thomas Anderson has cemented his status as one of the most focused and intriguing directors working today and deserves the statue for Best Director. There Will Be Blood is quite possibly the best film of the decade thus far.

The rest of the field is filled with solid films in their own right, but none of them can match the intensity and complexity that TWBB and NCFOM bring to the table. Atonement does everything well, but does nothing great. It's lead actors (James McAvoy and Keira Knightly) manage to portray heartbreaking young lovers who are torn apart by a deceitful lie in a limited amount of screen time, but the shift in the film's focus is jarring, albeit necessary. However, this causes Atonement to be two different films in one, neither of which are grandiose enough to steal the Oscar from TWBB or NCFOM.

Michael Clayton is an engaging corporate and legal thriller, and George Clooney shines as the title character, a down on his luck legal "janitor" who gets caught up in crisis of morals when one of his colleagues stops taking his medication and suffers a breakdown of conscience in the middle of a high-profile corporate case. Clooney is essentially himself in every role, but here he manages to inject the right amount of desperation into Clayton, and manages to keep his cool at the same time. In the end, MC is another corporate scandal movie, and at least half a dozen of these potboilers are released each year. The only difference here is Clooney's performance and sure-handed script and direction from Tony Gilroy.

Rounding up the year's Best Picture nominees is the general public's darling film, Juno. Ellen Page gives a great performance full of sarcasm and wit, but first-timer Diablo Cody's hip dialog is forced at times and the film wears its art-house movie heart on its sleeve. There are at least 5 movies that deserve to be nominated over Juno, but that's not to say it's a bad film. Just overrated. And since it's so popular, Juno stands a good chance to take home the trophy. It just doesn't deserve to.

Of the films that were slighted, Zodiac is the biggest tragedy. David Fincher's workmanlike study of the terrifying Zodiac serial killer case is a two and a half hour Unsolved Mysteries episode in the vein of All the President's Men. There is a lot of talking, but Jake Gyllehaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo all make their characters interesting. But the star of the movie is the Zodiac case itself, which lends itself well to today's age of media blitz events like the Beltway Sniper.

Sean Penn's Into the Wild was another movie that deserved more recognition. Emile Hirsch plays the troubled Christopher McCandless, a rich-kid who decides to trek across the country when he graduates college instead of follow in his parents footsteps. This allows him to meet some fascinating supporting characters such as Hal Holbrook's mournful turn as a lonely old man seeking to adopt McCandless, knowing that Chris headed toward trouble in Alaska. Hirsch, like Ben Foster and Ryan Gosling, is one of young Hollywood's best actors and this is his movie, and he doesn't disappoint. He brings the right amount of angst and humility to a man who didn't know what he wanted, but not knowing what he wanted was the exact thing he did want.

And finally, the other film that deserved more recognition this Oscar season was the non-traditional musical, Once. Instead of being another tedious dialog-as-song musical, Once is actually about music and musicians, not demon barbers or jailed songbirds. Once tells the story of a starving artist songwriter who meets and eventually falls for a piano-playing Czech girl in modern-day Dublin. The two record an album together while mending each other's broken hearts. But it doesn't turn out like you think it would. After all, this isn't the Hugh Grant/Drew Berrymore rom-com, Music and Lyrics. At any rate, the music in Once is great, but sadly, the film was practically shut out, earning only one nomination for Best Song when all five nominations for Best Song could have easily come from this film. Shockingly, the Disney film Enchanted earned three for Best Song alone. And if that's not a crime, then I don't know what is.

So this Oscar season is no different from any other. A lot of films do get the recognition they deserve, but a lot of other films don't. And while many people dismiss the Academy Awards for its pretentiousness, they still do a good job selecting the year's best films. At any rate it gives us something to talk about.

Vampire Weekend

Every so often, a band comes along with so much hype, that their actual music is lost in the shuffle. Hype inspires backlash before one single note is even heard. So when a band like The Strokes, The Arctic Monkeys or Arcade Fire is crowned a legendary act before they even release a debut album, I try my hardest to wait until I hear a song before I state my opinion.

Vampire Weekend appears to be the next band victimized by the hype machine. Hailing from New York City, and bringing with them a unique sound, they've been labeled everything from the next Strokes to the saviors of ska music.

Easy there, fella.

After listening to their self-titled debut the entire way through for the first time, I couldn't help but feel let down. First off, the entire album clocks in at about 30 minutes, so there isn't much time to hold onto a certain song or image before the song ends and the next one starts. I initially thought that VW seemed more like a ska-influenced Weezer, with lead-signer Ezra Koenig intent to become the next Rivers Cuomo, penning two and a half minute ditties designed to get toes tapping. The band's tongue in cheek videos don't hurt either.

But after repeat listens, I was able to get beyond the hype and the brevity of the songs to appreciate what is there, and it is dominated by some damn fine instrumentation. The guitar work on this album is worth the price of admission alone. The opener, "Mansard Roof", begins with some puffs of an organ before erupting into a stringy volcano of deliciousness during the refrain.

"Oxford Comma" keeps the organ puffs but manages to be more drum-driven, which helps accentuate the lyrics which show off Koenig's witty wordplay. Then comes "A-Punk", a highway speed chase of a song, with more of the warp-speed guitar work heard on "MansardRoof". It's probably the albums most accessible song, and the music video is a perfect fit.

The second half of the album drags a bit as the band struggles to stretch their ska-influenced sound over an entire album, but there some standouts such as "Campus" and "Walcott".

Vampire Weekend is probably going to become a popular band, and that might instantly turn off some fans who "liked them first" and/or rebel against anything "commercial". But VW is a fun band. They're not going to force you to examine the world today like Arcade Fire or reinvent modern rock like the Strokes, but they will make you smile, and sometimes that's all you need.

ALBUM SCORE: *** (out of ****)
BEST SONG: A-Punk
SEE THEM LIVE?: Yes

3:10 to Yuma

Ah, the Western.

What was once a staple in Hollywood has now been relegated to generic western entries such as American Outlaws and Texas Rangers. That isn't to say there haven't been some solid westerns of late, namely Open Range and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

So when the overly positive reviews for 3:10 to Yuma popped up upon its release, I took one look at the cast and said "I want to see that."

I didn't get to see it in theaters but I did manage to catch it on DVD recently. And the buzz was spot-on. This was a great neo-western film.

On paper, the recipe for success is all there. First, get James Mangold, director of Walk the Line, to direct another stellar cast made up of Christian Bale (who is arguably the hottest actor working today, and no I don't mean by looks), Russell Crowe (who's had a bit of a downturn in his career lately but seems to be bouncing back nicely) and Ben Foster (a young actor who is right there with Shia LaBeouf and Ryan Gosling as the next big thing).

Bale plays Dan Evans, a beaten down Civil War soldier with an artificial leg. The railroad wants his land, and the man who owns it is intending to sell, regardless of what Dan thinks. His son thinks his father is yella, and his wife secretly doubts his ability to stand up for his family as well.

Even worse, Dan's livestock has escaped their holding cell and have wandered half-way across the state. While he tries to round them up, Dan and his sons stumble across Ben Wade (Crowe) and his gang, including second-in-command, Charlie Prince (Foster), who've just knocked off a armored wagon filled with Uncle Sam's money. Wade is the kind of guy who will make you famous, but also seems to have morals, as loose as they may be. So he lets Dan and his sons go, but relieves them of their horses so Dan won't go running back to town, shouting about Wade's newfound riches.

Eventually, Ben and his crew wind up in Dan's town anyway, and Ben goes and gets himself caught when he shacks up with a bar maid. And when the law needs volunteers to get Ben Wade to the 3:10 train to Yuma prison, Dan volunteers, in need of the money that's being offered.

Along the way, Dan and Ben realize that they are each other's equal when it comes to values and morals, and even though Ben repeatedly admits to being no good, stating "doing good deeds would be contagious so I never did any". Meanwhile, Dan thinks that there might be something worth while in Ben and things get even worse when Dan's older son tags along, and appears to respect Ben Wade more than his dear old dad.

Eventually, Ben's gang catches up with Dan, and are hellbent in rescuing him. And although the script is vague with this notion, we begin to wonder where Charlie's desire to free Ben comes from. Is he secretly in love with Ben? Does he just look up to him as a father? Or is he just evil enough to believe that no one in their gang should be locked up, regardless of the crimes they've committed?

Up until the ending, 3:10 to Yuma manages to be slightly above average, and somewhat of a disappointment considering the talent involved with the film. Bale, one of my favorite actors, fails to inject Dan with anything that resonates with the viewer, besides just being a shade above pathetic. Crowe manages to create a nice balance of pathos and decency in Ben, but it's Foster who again steals the show with his psychotic portrayal of Charlie. Sadly, his screen time is limited.

However, the ending is tense and extended, which heightens the suspense even more. It's like the shootout in Heat, but at the end of the film where it should have been all along. And when the final frames roll, we're blown away with what we've just witnessed, asking ourselves if the heavy decision a character makes is believable. And the more one thinks about it, the more realistic it becomes.

3:10 to Yuma knows it has a good hand, holds it until the perfect moment, and then slaps it down on the table to the dismay of the rest of the players. The ending is a stunner, and makes the somewhat average proceedings all the worthwhile.

FILM SCORE: ***1/2 (out of ****)
BEST SCENE: Film's extended climax.
FILM STATUS: A classic neo-western that should help the genre's resurgence.