Wednesday, July 26, 2024
Genius in Our Midst
What a week for pop culture!
Last night, the Dixie Chicks appeared on PBS, thus confirming that they've made a complete career switch from Red State country-babes to Blue State crossover paragons of feminine beauty. So does their new, all-in-black look....
Dixie Chicks: From right to left....
Yesterday reclusive genius Green Gartside, better known as Scritti Politti, released his fourth album in the last twenty years, White Bread Black Beer, and it is typically crafted, perfectionist, beautiful music. To some derision—this is the sweetest pop music you'll ever hear, and it would probably make Ross Douthat deeply uncomfortable—I've been a fan since the late '80s. Others are finally coming around. The New York Times loves the new record, calling it "remarkably beautiful," "subtle and exacting," marked by "the precision of the phrasing and the sweetness of the melody."
Well...yes.
Green Gartside. Quite weird.
And on Friday comes the release of Michael Mann's Miami Vice, the movie version of his famed '80s TV show, which my college roommates and I used to watch on Friday nights before going out and getting silly drunk. (It put one in the mood.) Mann is another genius—as perfectionist and exacting as Gartside is, though slightly more prolific. His films include Collateral, Heat, The Insider, Last of the Mohicans, the much-underrated Manhunter, Ali, and Thief. They're typified by stunning visuals, gritty screenwriting, and the ability to obtain great performances from his actors, like Val Kilmer's in Heat, Will Smith's in Ali, and Tom Cruise (!) in Collateral. He also writes the best parts for women in modern film.
Miami Vice has been surrounded by bad buzz, mostly because the filming of it was an incredible saga. Colin Farrell got addicted to drugs and separated a rib from his sternum, not necessarily in that order; shooting (of the film) was interrupted by shooting (of bullets); Jamie Foxx refused to film in Brasil; Mann banned the color red from appearing in the film; and so on.
I can't wait....
Michael Mann:
Cinematic god.
Last night, the Dixie Chicks appeared on PBS, thus confirming that they've made a complete career switch from Red State country-babes to Blue State crossover paragons of feminine beauty. So does their new, all-in-black look....
Dixie Chicks: From right to left....
Yesterday reclusive genius Green Gartside, better known as Scritti Politti, released his fourth album in the last twenty years, White Bread Black Beer, and it is typically crafted, perfectionist, beautiful music. To some derision—this is the sweetest pop music you'll ever hear, and it would probably make Ross Douthat deeply uncomfortable—I've been a fan since the late '80s. Others are finally coming around. The New York Times loves the new record, calling it "remarkably beautiful," "subtle and exacting," marked by "the precision of the phrasing and the sweetness of the melody."
Well...yes.
Green Gartside. Quite weird.
And on Friday comes the release of Michael Mann's Miami Vice, the movie version of his famed '80s TV show, which my college roommates and I used to watch on Friday nights before going out and getting silly drunk. (It put one in the mood.) Mann is another genius—as perfectionist and exacting as Gartside is, though slightly more prolific. His films include Collateral, Heat, The Insider, Last of the Mohicans, the much-underrated Manhunter, Ali, and Thief. They're typified by stunning visuals, gritty screenwriting, and the ability to obtain great performances from his actors, like Val Kilmer's in Heat, Will Smith's in Ali, and Tom Cruise (!) in Collateral. He also writes the best parts for women in modern film.
Miami Vice has been surrounded by bad buzz, mostly because the filming of it was an incredible saga. Colin Farrell got addicted to drugs and separated a rib from his sternum, not necessarily in that order; shooting (of the film) was interrupted by shooting (of bullets); Jamie Foxx refused to film in Brasil; Mann banned the color red from appearing in the film; and so on.
I can't wait....
Michael Mann:
Cinematic god.
Comments:
<< Home
The Dixie Chicks look wrong in black. Admmittedly they're a hefty cut above the average country pop group, but authentic they ain't, and my sense of the new songs (from the little I've heard) is that they aren't terribly cutting edge. They may be blue state, but they're not Manhattan yet.
Post a Comment
<< Home
