Movie Review: It Might Get Loud

When I was about 10 or 11, my brother (who was ten years older) took me to a movie. I remember him being very fired up about this movie and saying I needed to see it because I liked music and guitar so much.

The theater was really far away and the drive took forever. On the way he told me about this new band he thought I would like. It had two kind of cool guys in it, and two sort of nerdy guys – it was Cheap Trick and he was right, I did like them. I also really liked KISS at the time and was getting way into The Beatles. I was still a year or so away from The Stones, Who, Tubes and Police. And puberty.

But he was about to blow my tiny little mind away by taking me to see The Song Remains The Same.

Whoh, mission accomplished, as GWB would have hung in the theater on a big banner. The place was packed. People were smoking dope and being really loud. It was very overwhelming and exciting and my brother turned to me about every three minutes and said, “are you doing OK?”

Of course the main event was on the screen. What a way to be introduced to Zeppelin. Everything about it was huge. The theater sound system was cranked, and I could only imagine why that bearded guy (manager Peter Grant) blew all those card playing dudes (music industry people) away with a machine gun at the beginning of the movie, and that one dude’s head fell off as colored streams of paint fountained out his neck. Huh!?

The music was of course a lot to take in -- 25 minute Dazed and Confused with violin bow solo and Jimmy Page scaling a mountain to meet a wizard-like version of himself, only to be thrown backwards in time back into the womb? Check. Creepy horse-riding highwayman causing general havoc and then returning home to a lovely dinner in his mansion with his family? Check. Insanely long drum solo? Check. Dragon pants? Check. Golden God? Check. Needless to say, I was never the same again.

Thanks, Johnny.

In the same spirit, I took my 10 and 12 year old boys to see It Might Get Loud this weekend. Not to freak them out on some 70s pseudo devil soundtrack, but to celebrate what I have loved and played for more than 30 years – the electric guitar.

The movie was billed as Jimmy Page (there is that name again), The Edge and Jack White getting together to pretty much talk shop and share stories and observations about the electric guitar.

And we got that. But we got more. A lot more.

The movie tracked Page, White and Edge and how they got into the guitar, what was going on in their lives at the time (all three have great stories of struggle and how music helped them respond), and how they have approached the instrument.

I learned a lot from all three but the one guy I didn’t know at all was Jack White. He is a very interesting dude. Youngest of 10 kids, raised in Detroit in a shitty neighborhood. Likes to make things hard on himself for a challenge, to keep things real. Such as, “If the keyboard is three feet away from me onstage, move it to four feet so I have to run over to play it.” I like that. Complacency is not his deal.

Edge’s story is a bit better known but the background on what was going on in the music industry and in Dublin (lots of strife) when U2 started was fairly eye opening.

Interspersed between the individual stories was footage of the three hanging out on a soundstage, talking about guitars and playing each other riffs. Some pretty cool little jams between all three as well.

Some of the cool scenes:

--Page touring us through the mansion where LZ 4 was recorded and showing the room the drums for When The Levee Breaks were recorded, and how he miked them (from the upper balcony)
--Edge showing how he uses his various effects and pedals – a gear geek’s wet dream
--White writing and recording a song out of the blue on a reel to reel for the movie
--The look on Edge and White’s faces as Page breaks into the Whole Lotta Love riff
--The three jamming on In My Time of Dying, trading slide solos

Anyway, I highly suggest seeing this film is you are a guitar player. It’s a must see, actually. Not sure it changed my kids’ lives or anything, but they really enjoyed it as well and asked when my next gig was. Gotta love that…

If you haven’t seen it yet, the trailer is pretty representative of the movie:

Movie Review – Tropic Thunder

Caught the new Ben Stiller movie Tropic Thunder over the weekend. I had read a review in Rolling Stone and it sounded like it would be hilarious. And it was.

In a nutshell, the movie is about a film company trying to make a Rambo-style war movie but the director runs into issues with the actors and their egos. So the decision is made to plop the actors down into the middle of the jungle, where the movie would be filmed more “Blair Witch” style but it goes horribly wrong immediately, and the actors (some of who believe they are still acting) quickly have to assimilate to a real-life wartime situation with a drug cartel.

The cast is all-star. Stiller, Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Cruise and Nick Nolte. But hands down the movie was stolen by Robert Downey Jr., who plays an Australian Oscar-winning actor who is playing Sgt. Lincoln Osiris, an African American. To get into the part, Downey’s character has dyed his skin dark and refuses to break character from Osiris ever, even when it is obvious they are not acting for the movie anymore.

This character is one of the funniest I have seen in a long time. I was laughing just looking at Downey. Some of his facial expressions speak pages, and his lines will be quoted a la Caddyshack for years to come.

I do have to say that the first few minutes contain some pretty graphic mock violence that I thought was a little unnecessary. After that, though, the movie is one big laugh. And Tom Cruise comes in with a career changing hilarious/weird cameo that is so over the top that you'll laugh even if you hate Tom Cruise.

Also notable is the cinematography and special effects, which are of the quality of a big budget war movie and made the movie a pleasure to watch in addition to laugh at.

Here is a mashup of the trailer that shows some good Robert Downey Jr. stuff. It does not do the movie justice, though - go see it.

Movie Review: The U.S. vs. John Lennon

VH1 Classic ran the 2006 movie The U.S. vs. John Lennon, and I watched it last week with astounded fascination.

The two hour film documents how Lennon and Yoko Ono became vocal peace activists in the late 60s and early 70s, and by aligning themselves with radical revolutionary figures, drew the attention of the Nixon Administration.

Outside of his Ghandi-esque "Give Peace A Chance" efforts, Lennon met with and provided support and money to radicals Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Black Panther Party founder Bobby Seale, and this made Nixon and his cronies ramp up their paranoia towards Lennon and Ono.

They began to harass him - tapping his phone, following him, etc. The loudest shoe dropped when they revoked his temporary Visa and began motions to deport him.

A courageous lawyer took Lennon and Ono's case on and was able to string it out until the Nixon administration crumbled and they were finally granted permanent residence status in the mid 70s.

Not to get deep into politics on this blog, but the parallels between the power mongering and fear of freedom of speech between the Nixon administration and the current regime in the U.S. is shocking.

Movie Review - Once

So, to kick off my family vacation in Ireland this week, I thought I'd post a recommendation of this pretty cool movie I saw last month, called Once. It's set in Ireland (hence the connection) and revolves around a busker singer songwriter guy who falls for this girl. It's basically a romantic movie - no Jedi warriors or drunk dudes screaming "Fill it AGAIN!"

But it's a really unique film and it stayed with me after I saw it. This was because of the way it was filmed and put together, pretty much. That plus the music.

Very much a low budget, indie film, the thing was shot in two weeks with a crew of six who all agreed to work for free after the funding fell though. The actors are not really actors at all, but are friends of the director. It makes the whole thing feel very organic and home grown, which is my favorite type of movie after big budget over the top weirdo movies like Brazil.

Anyway, the other thing is that there is a lot of music in it. I would almost call it a "musical" but it's not. However, when the lead character, played by Glen Hansard (from the Irish rock band the Frames) breaks into a song on his beat to shit guitar on the street corner, you hear the whole song. All 3 or 4 four minutes of it. Good thing he's talented as hell because there are six or seven songs throughout the movie.

This makes for a slower pace, so be ready for that.

But this is also a musician's movie. For example, when the character played by Hansard (we never learn his or anyone else's name), finally pieces a band together and hits the studio, it's very realistic. The way the musicians interact, the way the for-hire producer is totally blase until he realizes that the band is good...it's all very true to life.

The main woman character, played by newcomer Marketa Irglova, is also very believable. She has a great spirit and really drives the Hansard character to realize his potential. It made sense when I found out afterwards that the two knew each other before agreeing to the project. It's almost like the movie captured their budding relationship.

The songs are great too - they are a departure from what I usually blog about, but I got the soundtrack afterwards and they hold up. These songs are sung from the soul. This guy has music pouring out of him. He's incredible. But again be warned - even the upbeat ones are pretty melancholy.

Go to the movie's MySpace page and check out the song "When Your Mind's Made Up" and you will see what I mean. Make sure you listen to the whole song, past where it picks up. I wish I was uninhibited enough to sing a song like this.

Hansard and Irglova are also in a band called The Swell Season, on tour playing songs from the movie, plus others. They are playing in Portland in November and I am going to try my best to make that show.

Not sure if Once is on video yet but if you want something earnest, heartfelt and different, check it out and let me know what you think.