Wednesday, June 22, 2022

KEITH RICHARDS: UNDER THE INFLUENCE dir. Morgan Freeman

Truth: I would rather listen to the people Robert Johnson has inspired than listen to the man himself. Also true: Keith Richards makes me want to dust off Johnson and give him another listen. I saw Under The Influence on Netflix

"Rock and Roll had nothing on these guys" -- Keith Richards on American Country Music in general and Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins in particular. 

Yeah , but there was a time when The Rolling Stones were particularly scary. Read Sway for some idea. And Keef is big on going straight to the source. Robert Johnson didn't record much, so The Centennial Collection should do you. Plus you get a spiffy essay by Jimmy Page. If you can find it I recommend The Sun Years by Howlin' Wolf. And I recommend the recently rebuffed Damn Right, I've Got The Blues by Buddy Guy -- the album that turned everything around (for Buddy Guy, of course). 

Saturday, June 11, 2022

STAR TREK: STRANGE, NEW WORLDS and ENTERPRISE: various directors and show-runners

 Most of this is from my other blog here. But it pertains

Somebody please explain SF hair to me. In the meantime I will enjoy Star Trek: Strange, New Worlds on Crave TV and Enterprise on Netflix. 

Star Trek always worked best as television. Enterprise is better than I remember, thanks chiefly to this list and Netflix's "skip credits"option. Leave all "Rod Stewart" jokes in the comments. 

As for Strange, New Worlds the jury is still out. Kirk, Spock and Uhura are present and accounted for but they are almost an afterthought kind of a big deal. Anson Mount as Christopher Pike is lots of fun. But please won't somebody explain SF hair to me. 

Wednesday, June 08, 2022

DON'T LOOK UP dir Adam McKay

I don't know how you look past your shoes and not see climate change. I should be an ideal audience. But Don't Look Up is a lousy movie. 

There is no tension, first and foremost. The script would never make it in the classroom. See Terminator 2 if you must. Or watch Adaptation. Either way you'll get some idea what I'm talking about.

You will have to look up Adaptation.  The other two are on Netflix.