DiG!: The Film Babble Blog Review

Now in limited release at a art house near you:

DiG! (Dir. Ondi Timoner, 2004)

This is the story of two bands, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols.

Both came to the LA scene in the mid '90s offering a retro '60s alternative to the grunge and manufactured pop of the day. Both flirted with major record label deals and came dangerously close to getting the “next big thing” title. Neither achieved more than modest cult success.

So, why the movie you ask? Because Director Timoner was there from the beginning filming both these bands from being friends jamming on stage together to backstage humiliations to personal disses and questionable behavior of all kinds.

If any roc doc can make a claim to be considered the “real-life Spinal Tap” it’s this one. BJM front-man Anton Newcombe is the source of much of the tension and exaggerated rivalry. Newcombe dominates the footage with paranoid rants and pretentious pontificating about his “revolutionary” songwriting.

Meanwhile, Courtney Taylor of the Dandy Warhols has exalted praise for Newcombe yet more than a little concern about the competitive stalking of sorts.

Taylor can also comes across a bit big-headed: “I sneeze, and out come hits” he tells a record company executive when being told their album was being shelved. “Well, if that's the case I'm sure Capitol will finance your handkerchiefs” was their response.

That Taylor narrates this movie works fine for me, but others (including Newcombe) have criticized this for being a biased tactic. I’m sure most people reading this are not familiar with these bands, Brian Jonestown or the Warhols, and I myself knew precious little going in so the good news is that you don't need to know anything beforehand.

It’ll inform you enough to have a good tuneful time at the movies that’s as funny and involving as most dramas. I dug DiG! I bet folks who are into rockumentaries at all will too.

More later...

10 Election Year Poli-Docs That Are Just About To Become Irrelevant

For no other reason than that election day is five days away, and these movies will lose their relevance almost immediately afterwards here's a list of 10 anti-George W. Bush/anti-Iraq War documentaries that are just about to lose their luster.

I'm hoping they had, or will have, an impact on voters, but, from from the polls I'm seeing it's not looking so good. Regardless, watch 'em while they still have some meaning:

1. FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (Dir. Michael Moore, 2004)

The leader of the pack. Newly released on DVD, this powerful if wildly uneven call for the ousting of George W. Bush from the White House sure makes a convincing case. But, yes, it's a strong case of preaching to the choir. 

2. GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY (Dir. George Butler, 2004) 

This is being considered a last ditch effort to clarify how Kerry's Naval tour of duty in Vietnam and his activism to ending that war really went down, but it's a solid well-made and moving documentary that ideally should help get out the vote. Yeah, I know, dream on.

3. OUTFOXED: RUPERT MURDOCH’S WAR ON JOURNALISM (Dir. Robert Greenwald, 2004) Compelling and funny but in an unnerving way. Part of Greenwald’s series of "UN" poli-docs (either as Director or Producer), the others being:

4. UNCOVERED: THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAQ (Dir. Robert Greenwald, 2004)

5. UNCONSTITUTIONAL: THE WAR ON OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES (Dir. Nonny de la Peña, 2004)

6. UNPRECEDENTED: THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (Dir. Richard Ray Perez & Joan Sekler, 2002)

7. BUSH’S BRAIN (Dir. Joseph Mealey & Michael Shoob, 2004)

8. BUSH FAMILY FORTUNES: THE BEST DEMOCRACY ONEY CAN BUY (Dir. Steve Grandison, 2004)

9. HORNS AND HALOS (Dir. Michael Galinsky & Suki Hawley, 2002)

10. BREAKING THE SILENCE: TRUTH AND LIES IN THE WAR ON TERROR (Dir. Steve Connelly & John Pilger, 2003)

More later...

I ♥ HUCKABEES = WTF?

Now playing at an art house near you:

I ♥ HUCKABEES

(Dir. David O. Russell, 2004)

This is the ultimate WTF? movie. It's been a few days since I've seen it and I'm still trying to process. Many critics don't even try to describe the plot or premise, but I'd just say it's about a poet activist (Jason Schartzman) who hires a married couple played by Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin who bill themselves as existential detectives to sort out problems with his soul.

Oh yeah, there's an overly slick spokesperson (Jude Law) for a Target/Wall Mart type chain and his flighty model wife (Naomi Watts), as well as Mark Wahlberg as a fireman who hates petroleum so much that he rides his bike to fight fires. That's as good as I can do.

The characters all run around spouting lines like "There's no such thing as nothing," and "Nobody sits like this rock sits. You rock rock. The rock just sits and is. You show us how to just sit here and that's what we need."

Some of this is fun, some of it is strained, some of it is just purely baffling. I mean at the end I was more confused than I was by the MATRIX sequels. I mean, now what am I see supposed to be reality and what isn't?

It also doesn't help that HUCKABEES seems stitched together from other movie's styles. The soundtrack by Jon Brion and the color scheme recall the work of Paul Thomas Anderson (MAGNOLIA, PUNCH DRUNK LOVE). The other Anderson, Wes Anderson, comes to mind of course from the casting of Schwartzman (RUSHMORE) and the eccentrically quirky tone.

Also, the screenplay appears to be heavily suggested by the work of Charlie Kaufman (ADAPTATION, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND). So did I like it? I didn't hate it. That's the best I can do.

More later...