Tag: Sound
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Just Press Play: Hulu’s ‘High Fidelity’ (2020) is One Infinitely Good Playlist
“Making a playlist is a delicate art. It’s like writing a love letter, but better, in a way. You get to say what you wanna say without actually saying it. You get to use someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. And then there are the rules: It’s gotta be entertaining. You gotta tell…
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On the Rise: Jessie Buckley’s Star-Making Turn in ‘Wild Rose’
There are star-making turns, and then there are star-making turns. And as much as I loved Lady Gaga in that other movie, nothing beats Jessie Buckley’s unforgettable, BAFTA Scotland-winning performance as Rose-Lynn Harlan in the Tom Harper-helmed Wild Rose (2018). A decade into a post-Millennial boom in movie-musicals (one which arguably started with Baz Luhrmann’s…
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Rebel Yell: ‘Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl’ at DOCNYCFest 2019
Over the last decade or so, singer-songwriter-actress Kate Nash has developed a reputation (and obvious penchant) for defying others’ expectations. Filmed over five years as the British singer moved to Los Angeles and began writing and recording new music, Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl (which had its Stateside premiere last week at the DOC NYC…
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The Great Eleven O’Clock Number
As I previously wrote: “..none [of the songs] get us there quite like its eleven o’clock number, “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” does. It is La La Land’s most character-driven piece and undeniably its best song (despite being passed over by “City of Stars” for Best Song nominee at that year’s Oscars).” Featuring wonderfully-penned lyrics…
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Music to Move the Stars: Damien Chazelle’s ‘La La Land’ is a Dizzying Confection of Dreamy Nostalgia
For nearly the past twenty years or so, movie-musicals have seen a resurgence in the public consciousness. One such film that has done so, and with as much fanfare (or perhaps even more so), is none other than Damien Chazelle’s own ambitious take, La La Land (2016). Chazelle’s second attempt at a musical (after his…
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A Diamond in the Rough: Marina’s ‘Love + Fear’ Explores Multiple Facets of Human Nature
For singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis, it seems as if her identity has forever been inextricably linked with her music. When she arrived on the scene with her 2010 debut The Family Jewels she was known then as Marina and the Diamonds, a moniker which suggested the idea of a band — perhaps one similar to the…
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The Star Who Fell to Earth: Christine and the Queens Showcase Their Mettle at Brooklyn Steel
Many might claim Christine & the Queens’ frontwoman, Héloïse Letissier, as many things. She’s Jacques Brel and the Cocteau Twins, with a bit of David Bowie and Laurie Anderson thrown in for good measure. She’s Bob Fosse and Pina Bausch reincarnate — or better still, Michael Jackson and Beyonce’s long-lost, would-be French love-child (apologies to…
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Marina & the Diamonds, Revisited: Sampling the ‘Froots’ of Her Ouvre
Longtime followers of mine will know how long I’ve been a fan of Marina & the Diamonds, and perhaps it’s no wonder. Like the neon garden world of her last outing, fittingly titled Froot, Diamandis has managed to grow into her own as an artist. As a fellow fan phrased it: “You’re lucky to be…
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Twee and Twang: Stuart Murdoch’s ‘God Help the Girl’ is a Delightful Burst of Quirk
Some of you already know how much I love my movie-musicals — and recently, I’ve become very much obsessed with one in particular that I’ve been meaning to see for a while now: God Help the Girl (2014). The brainchild of Belle & Sebastian musician Stuart Murdoch, the film also happens to be the offshoot…
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Rise Up with Fists: Organs of State Packs a Punch with ‘Fighter’
What do you get when you take one part Super Mario Bros., another part Scott Pilgrim, combined with Mortal Kombat, and a little bit of The Last Airbender? You get all kinds of awesome, which is pretty much the only way to sum up the Fighter experience. Written, directed, and choreographed by Jose Perez IV,…
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