Thursday, May 16 2013
Robert Olmstead’s Korean War Novel, ‘The Coldest Night’, Succeeds on Many Levels
With a reserved, laconic style that relies heavily on simple declarative sentences and striking imagery, Olmstead's voice is at times reminiscent of fellow superstar Cormac McCarthy, although somewhat less bleak.
pacificUV: After the Dream You Are Awake
Just a year after its last studio LP, pacificUV ups its game in an impressive way, giving some real bite to its dreamy sound.
Patty Griffin: American Kid
Patty Griffin's songs reveal multiple sides of a complicated, conflicted man.
Peace: In Love
Young audiences will love it, free and ignorant maybe, of the influences so apparent in Peace’s music, whilst others, those a bit more long in the tooth, will fail to understand the fuss and hype and will be tempted to dismiss the album and the band as a one off, devoid of originality.
Rotting Christ: Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy
If you didn't know a thing about Rotting Christ, you'd be forgiven for presuming it indulged in lo-fidelity, blasphemous nastiness--which is only partly true.
Wednesday, May 15 2013
‘Never Forget To Lie’: Child Survivors of the Holocaust
Looking back on the lies now, the lies that saved lives, this film presents them in the fragments they must remain, appreciates gaps between them, frames images as they allude to losses.
The Power in Nightmares: “Batman: the Dark Knight #19”
As an issue that comes just prior to the culmination of the current arc, and on laced with artist Symon Kudranski's beautifully neonoir chiaroscuro, Batman: the Dark Knight #19, "the Pool of Tears," comes with the highest praise…
The ‘Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Complete Collection’ Offers Pleasant Escapism
Wimsey’s world, of posh city clubs and grand country houses, is a pleasant place to escape to for a few hours, without any need to worry too much about whether it bears more than a passing resemblance to any historical reality.
Growing Pains and Gains: Coming of Age ‘‘On Sal Mal Lane’
War is not just fought between armies, as the characters on Sal Mal Lane choose to believe, but it's fought in the home, at school, and at work. In fact, every character here is at war with himself or herself in some way.
Eador: Masters of the Broken World
Eador's design is functional, but flawed, and the troubling subtext can feel alienating. However, there aren’t many games that fill its niche, so it’s worth a look at the very least.
Old Crimes. Old Cops. New Tricks. ‘The Best of New Tricks’
If there's a subtext to New Tricks, it's that modern policing is too cautious, too sterile to handle the rough and tumble of proper police work. To really nail the bad guys, coppers need to be free to be themselves, unencumbered by the constraints of political correctness.
R.E.M.: Green (25th Anniversary Edition)
R.E.M.'s major label debut found the group confronting the realization that it was becoming kind of a big deal, and the impulses to either carry on like normal or address the situation head-on proved to be equally enticing.
Pistol Annies: Annie Up
What they might lose in flair, they gain in severity, perspective, focus and the strength of their connection to the well of deep sadness at the center of the country-music tradition.
What, Exactly, Is Defiant in ‘Defiant Brides’?
This text is more about the history of Peggy (Benedict Arnold) and Lucy (Henry Knox) in concurrence with their husbands, rather than focusing on the women’s autonomous identities.
Daniel Menche: Vilké
Vilké may well be a conceptual work, but there's nothing theoretical about Daniel Menche's latest album. Its impact and resonance evoke a primal and deep-set response.
A Hawk and a Hacksaw: You Have Already Gone to the Other World
Albuquerque Europhiles A Hawk and a Hacksaw have recorded an imagined soundtrack to Sergei Parajanov's classic film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, with intoxicating and challenging results.
The Black Crowes: Wiser for the Time
A massive live set from one of the 1990s' most successful rock acts chronicles a band that might be unparalleled in its resiliency.
Youngblood Hawke: Wake Up
Youngblood Hawke's first full length shows promise -- uneven in parts, but a sign of [possibly] good things to come.
Tuesday, May 14 2013
‘Venus and Serena’: Sisters First and Always
Venus and Serena shows how a complex constellation of expectations and presumptions follows these tennis stars sisters throughout their lives and careers.
SFIFF Spotlight: Documentary Cinema
The best documentaries create empathy without leaving the audience to believe that the problems or issues presented have been 'fixed' by the cathartic act of viewing. PopMatters picks five documentaries that engendered empathy in the very best way at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival.
