phoenix

A.V. Club: Trailer Triumph

in: viewing room

My friend Olivia kept a really cool blog, SprocketShot, about movie trailers, and she inspired me to talk a bit about a few I’m particularly interested in. The movies slated for the coming months are inspiring delighted danceabilly. Movie madness!

I often find myself loving movie trailers more than the features themselves (Charlie St. Cloud comes immediately to mind), but I’m confident these won’t disappoint. Steel yourself for the onslaught of previews, and ready your eyes for something damn near pretty.

Easy A

DK would be infinitely angry at me for even deigning to include this. I think it’s on par with wearing yellow. Anyhow – Will Gluck’s Easy A appeals to me; Gluck co-created the hilarious sitcom The Loop and directed the gross-out com Fired Up!, which clearly didn’t get the attention it deserved – and he produced and wrote for Grosse Pointe, the positively brilliant Darren Star sitcom satire starring a young Kyle Howard. Regardless of that mouthful, Easy A is sure to be farcical fun in the way of the totally underrated Sydney White. Emma Stone is captivating, Penn Badgley is her love interest, the aforementioned Bynes is Queen B and Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci play her parents. Oh, and it’s an overt allusion to The Scarlet Letter. I’m sold. (Sept. 17)

Going the Distance

Adorable rom-com powerhouses abound in Nanette Burstein‘s Going the Distance! Long! Barrymore! Applegate! Gaffigan! Sudeikis! And then there’s Charlie! Plus, jokes about dry-humping, a bi-coastal relationship (not too close to home yet – maybe soon), a killer soundtrack and massive relationship awkwardness. Burstein directed The Kid Stays in the Picture and 2008’s dark horse documentary American Teen, so I have high hopes for this one. (Aug. 27)

The Romantics

This one makes me squeamish. Sure, it’s posed as a romantic comedy, and, well, shucks, it’s set at a wedding, and there’s a college reunion of sorts, but, by golly, this one looks as pretty as Evening! Director Galt Niederhoffer adapted her own 2008 novel The Romantics, and the cast list is stellar. This little trailer gem (and, I guess, eventual full length film) features Katie Holmes, Adam Brody, Malin Akerman, Elijah Wood, Anna Paquin and Josh Duhamel as college chums (and the last two as the bride and groom). Pretty looking and pre-nostalgia for me! (Sept. 10)

The Social Network

Mind. Effing. Blown. The trailer for (magnificent director and crazy/beautiful mind) David Fincher‘s The Social Network, written by Aaron Sorkin, accomplishes everything a trailer really ought to: It makes me want to fork over the $8.50 to see the film. Soon. Based on the founding of Facebook and featuring Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, the film will be good. But in case I had any doubts, this trailer solidified my desire to see the film. Jay-zeus. And, the use of the cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” performed by Belgian choir group Scala & Kolacny Brothers? Inspired. Consider my wallet emptied. (Oct. 1)

Somewhere

Alright, here’s the truth: I didn’t like Sofia Coppola‘s Marie Antoinette. I’m sorry. You can kick me out of the club, if you’d like, though I did particularly adore The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation (two cinematically lush films with gorgeous flowing soundtracks). Somewhere, though? I’m going to love Coppola’s Somewhere. Stephen Dorff is a hedonistic (from the looks of it washed-up) actor who is suddenly faced with the appearance of his free-spirited, long-locked 11-year-old daughter, played by Elle Fanning. Coppola’s cinematography appears, as usual, shining and plain ol’ pretty, and her boytoy, Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars, is producing much of the music for the soundtrack (did you know Phoenix is French? Where have I been?). I really hope this one doesn’t let me down. At least it doesn’t star Kirsten Dunst… (Dec. 22)

Your Highness

Still from "Your Highness" (2011)

I’m such a little tease. The official trailer hasn’t been released for David Gordon Green‘s Your Highness yet, but this film is like a cinematic wet dream. Metaphorically. Green made Pineapple Express, and he’s the name behind the still-untitled Colton Harris-Moore biography. Plus, James Franco, Zooey Deschanel, Natalie Portman and Danny McBride (KFuckingP to you, kids.) and Michael Clarke Duncan as a troll? It’s my fantasy film league, all rolled into a medieval comedy. This thing will be beautiful, no doubt, and hilarious. I think it may even be worth that six month delay, Universal. (April 8, 2011)

And, for good measure, a film in need of no introduction: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
 (Nov. 19)

Screamy-weemy-weeeeeeemy.

The Dunce Cap: May 3, 2010

in: heavy rotation

Image courtesy of brandonbird.com

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 6: On the carousel so around I spun (spun). (mix via 8tracks)

  1. “Bennie & the Jets” – Elton John
  2. “Elenore” – The Turtles
  3. “Someone I Can Be True With” – Sloan
  4. “Girlfriend” – Phoenix
  5. “House of Cards” – Butch Walker & the Black Widows
  6. “The Beach Song” – Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
  7. “Straw Dog” – Something Corporate
  8. “Nothing on You” – B.o.B.
  9. “Electric Feel” – MGMT
  10. “Lost in Yichang” – Hilotrons

Another Thursday, another mix!
As you all probably know, I’m a sucker for anything that can make my hips swing!, and I think this playlist is full of ’em. Not all of them are intentionally dance-a-billy, but they’ve got a great beat, and, hell, they make me wanna cha cha. The mix kicks off with two of my favorite throwbacks, Elton‘s classic “Bennie and the Jets” and The Turtles‘ “Elenore” (almost as good as “Happy Together*” and surely less sappy), and moves onto a slew of solid tracks from modern artists, including Phoenix, Butch Walker (playing H.O.B. Chicago Sunday!), SSLYBY, B.o.B. (who butchered “Build Me Up Buttercup” when he sampled it for his “Don’t Break My Heart“) and MGMT. And the Butch track, “House of Cards”? Total shades of The Cars. Digging the track and the new album.

“Nothing on You,” B.o.B.’s track which was recently used in an ode to Betty White, is a cheerily sweet dedication to a one n’ only. The video, featured below, is wonderfully simplistic, and I especially love the shout-out to my fair city (and the poor, tornado-maimed Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, where I had my senior prom). In a similar vein, I’ve definitely noticed a rebirth of the music video, an art form I have long appreciated. My family didn’t have cable as a kid, and I distinctly remember attempting to adjust the antenna to get a static-y music video station, and my earliest memories of music television were not of Carson Daly and MTV but of the edited version of Juvenile’s “Back That (Thang) Up.”


“Nothing On You” [The Adventures of Bobby Ray, 2010]

So check it out, and if you’re feeling a bit nostalgic, maybe even revisit “Bye Bye Bye,” one of my favorite music videos from youth. I’m thinking about making next week a “Best Music Videos” playlist, so keep an eye out for that.

As always, happy listening!

(*editor’s note: This video is so trippy. It’s astronauts in jumpsuits, 80s shoulder pads, psychedelia and general weirdness. Very amusing, definitely worth a watch, but bizarre.)