To commemorate the Darklands blog’s first anniversary, João Rodrigues honoured me with the invitation to take the helm of the Song of the Day institution for the next week. He challenged me to come up with an original theme to run through the 7 day posts, so I picked what historically been a controversial subject matter: Christianity in Metal.
While religion and art has always been a matter of heated debate, I would risk saying that the perceived contrast between both has never been so stark as it was in the 80’s when a growing number of bands started expressing their faith and including Christian overtones (or outright evangelism) on their hard driving music, an area that had always been associated with the excesses of sex, drugs and occultism. This obviously sparked heated debate on both sides of the fence and the bands ended up getting flack from everywhere. Not for the faint of heart.
As a teenager I followed the emergence of this fairly subversive counter-culture so, when João spoke to me, I could not think of a better theme for this series than the Top 7 Christian Metal bands of the 80’s. Of course when you pick an arbitrary number of bands from a big list, you always leave out obvious (and better) choices for other people. In fact it pains me to not include a few bands myself. In my selection process I tried to find a balance between how good the band was, how early it appeared and how influential it ultimately was to the scene. But ultimately, my personal taste also had a huge impact so your mileage may vary! Also, don’t read too much on the order in which the bands are presented: it is neither chronological nor related to overall rating… it’s just, you know, "some" order.
Wanna know what my picks are? Just head over tothe Darklands Blogfrom July 31 to August 6 and see for yourself!
As we go through the ebb and flow of life, we accumulate memories, images and feeling. Some are good and hopeful and we strive to cling to them. But some are bad and hopeless and we find that, try as we might, sometimes we can't let them go. But the fact of the matter is that they are all part of our growth process: they permeate you and I and make us who we are.
So you wouldn't be YOU without that flunked year in school, that dream job you lost, that loved one that has died or that special person that broke your heart. What you need to do to not go insane is occasionally exhaust the hurt part out of your system and keep only the inner growth part... and do so in one of the many creative ways available to you.
Today I felt the urge to do some soul purging of my own in a way I haven't done for a good 18 years (well, since writing lyrics for a rock band!)... by writing some (bad) poetry:
Director: Jodie Foster Writer: Kyle Killen Stars: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and Anton Yelchin
Things are really looking black in the eyes Walter Black (Mel Gibson). Though he in affluent company owner, married to a loving wife and has two healthy kids, midlife crisis has really set in and everything around him seems to have lost its sheen. As he keeps receding deeper into depression and apathy, his long-suffering wife (Jodie Foster) breaks the proverbial camel's back by kicking him out of the family house (much to the applause of the eldest son).
As he tries to take his life in the sole company of a hand puppet he pulled out of a dumpster (the eponymous Beaver), a freak accident occurs and Walker wakes up to find that the puppet he holds, may in turn hold the answer to his problems. You see, talking through this puppet (who, unlike him, speaks in a broad cockney accent) Walter becomes a very balanced individual, with humour and love for his family, vision for his company and general spunk for life.
Gibson has been talked about a lot in recent years for all the wrong reasons related to his personal life. If you factor in that he has been directing more than actually facing the cameras as of late, it is easy to forget that he has been first and foremost an actor for over 30 years.
I'll put this simply: while many feel he overacts at times, Mel Gibson puts in a downright masterful and passionate performance on this movie. You just won't be indifferent as he roller-coasts from the light-hearted premise of the film into the murky depths of finding out you can only be your best self, when you are not yourself. Gibson is aided, of course, by a strong performance by Jodie Foster who, for a change, plays a humane and tender role in stark contrast with her usual hard-boiled self.
Having said that, let me stress this: don't go into this film thinking it's a romantic comedy because it is not. It really is (especially towards the end) a dramatic display of the games people play and the tolls they have to pay to get by in life.
I'm sure this film will mostly go unnoticed by critics and film goers alike. And while this will not be the movie of the year by any means, there is still a lot here to like and I'm sure I won't be the only person that can really relate a lot with Black's plight.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Director: Rob Marshall Writers: Ted Elliott et al Stars: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz and Ian McShane
X-Men: First Class Director: Matthew Vaughn Writers: Bryan Singer, Ashley Miller et al Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence
They say the best things come in pairs so this time I opted to do something different and actually review and face-off a couple of films in one go. The reason is two-fold: I watched both films within a couple days of each other and it just so happens that they do have a lot in common.
You see, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (from here on simply referred to as "Pirates") and X-Men: First Class ("X-Men") are sequels. In fact, they are both part IV, following trilogy enders that were noticeably weaker than the first two, and at the same time both represent a reboot of sorts on their respective franchises.
I believe the Pirates movie makers opted to go for a more "back to basics" approach. Certainly the special effects seemed to be a bit more subdued and the story feels a lot more classic maritime fare and less outrageous. Fellow Johnny Depp fans will be happy to hear that he once again steals the show but this is due, in equal parts, to his quality as an actor and the perfunctory nature of just about everyone that has surrounded Jack Sparrow from the beginning of the saga (like Keira Knightley and Penélope Cruz characters). Speaking of Jack, though his shenanigans are still enjoyable it has to be said that his quirks have by now lost a lot of their freshness and will begin to grate some people.
The matter isn't helped by the fact that the story and quest as a whole is not really that interesting, making the film follow a sequence of fairly generic set pieces the only really exciting section of it being the capture of the mermaid. On the character front things aren't much better, I'm sorry to say, what with the relationships between the main characters ranging from ambiguous to downright inscrutable: even now I haven't figured out where Jack and Penélope Cruz' Angelica stood, romantically speaking!
Talk of relationships leads us nicely to the X-Menmovie, as character development is probably the strongest differentiator between the two. Those familiar with the initial trilogy know already that Professor X and his long time nemesis Magneto (originally played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen) aren't outright enemies, they simply do not share each other's approach to defending the Mutant cause. The new X-Men: First Class film sets out to establish not only the origin of the X-Men team but, above all, these two characters uneasy relation. Like any superhero movie, acting is patchy across the veritable menagerie of heroes (some of the kid X-Men are particular hokum) but James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender really do a great and at times heartfelt job as the young adult versions of the two mutant leaders. When these two are onscreen the film rating goes up a notch.
The screenplay itself will not set the world on fire, the action sequences are never as exciting as on the X2 movie, but the way the story interweaves Sebastian Shaw's (the fairly generic main baddie, slightly overplayed by Kevin Bacon) mad plan with real life events like World War II and the Cuban Missile Crisis is smart and worthy of note.
From all this it's easy to see that neither film is a classic and, particularly in the action stakes, they both could have done a bit better. They both are better than the previous instalment and not up to the best in their respective series.
Having said that, I firmly believe X-Men: First Class is the better film because you get two strong characters (rather than just Jack Sparrow) living through a fairly well concocted "what if" alternate historic scenario. If for nothing else, these things will make you remember the mutant saga for a much longer time.
Can a mix of Thrash, Progressive, Melodeath and Metalcore over 73 minutes be too much, musically speaking? You can read my review of Sylosis' "Edge of the Earth" album in the Darklands blog by clicking the picture above or following this link. Enjoy!
Director: Terrence Malick Writer: Terrence Malick Stars: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain
Some films are clearly designed to be experienced and felt rather than watched.
The difficulty with this approach is that, while you can lull people's opinion and warm them to your film by using classical narrative and flow, when you give them an "experience" you're effectively splitting the crowd into those that have a predisposition to "get it and love it" and those who are completely bewildered by it.
The Tree of Life, which I'm sure will be one of the least consensual films this year, is one such case. You see, what writer/director Terrence Malick treats us to here is a sequence of more or less disjoint pictures of a family's life. Without giving too much away, the film starts with an event that ruthlessly throws a family into disarray and doubt. The editing is stylish, there's not much in the way of dialog and the image is suitably washed out and grainy, all making for a promissory start.
But then the film plunges into an half hour over-indulgent montage of nature scenes showing the Earth's evolution since the dawn of Creation that make you wonder if you've been switched over to a National Geographic omnibus. These are admittedly breathtaking images and they purport to meaningfully show how minute a human's cares are in the grand scheme of things, but they just brought the whole film to a screeching halt and literally sent a good dozen people running to the door and out of the theatre. Not good.
The film then comes back to show earlier stages of the family's life and how their inter-relations played out. It has to be said that both Jessica Chastain and Bradd Pitt do a convincingly good job as the the loving mother and the stern yet ultimately well-meaning father, as does newcomer Hunter McCracken who plays Sean Penn's angst-ridden teenage version. Incidentally, if you plan to watch the film because of the Mr. Penn, don't bother because he gets precious little screen time (and no real dialog) and does nothing more than longingly look at the sky.
While the strength of the cast and ultimately of the characters means you eventually do get to care for them, the whole thing is presented in such a fractured form that the story never wins you back, as proven by the fact that people's attention in the theatre drifted as the movie progressed, leading to occasional chatter and giggling. In the end it was unsurprising that, after 2 and a half long hours of film, people actually cheered when it was finally over...
I'm sure the artsy crowd is going to lap it up and I did draw some enjoyment from experiencing it, but it's not something I would ever bother watching again.
