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Beck – Modern Guilt

Throughout his impressive career, Beck has explored many, many paths — dabbling in funk, rap, tropicalia, metal, folk and psychedlia, just to name a few. He’s released albums I can dance to and albums that make me want to cry in my beer (ok, my Coke). What he hasn’t done, until now, is bore me.

Modern Guilt is not a bad album, by any means. I’ll go so far as to say it’s a good one. But it’s the first Beck album that hasn’t hit me as something brand new. Most of the tracks feel like B-sides to his earlier, better material.

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Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Date: July 12
Location: AMC Sunset Place

Setting aside Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (possibly my favorite movie ever), there is no film in the past ten years that I find more moving, powerful or perfectly realized than Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. It is the ultimate blend of high art and extravagant fantasy, and a singular vision that on its own puts Del Toro among the ranks of the finest filmmakers working today.

Now, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is no Pan’s Labyrinth. But it’s clear in every frame of this carnival ride of a film that the same extraordinary imagination is working the levers. Del Toro skips between art house fare such as The Devil’s Backbone and Labyrinth and mainstream action flicks such as Mimic and the Hellboy films, but it’s obvious that he throws himself into both with equal fervor. You can sense his love of cinematic storytelling in every sweeping camera move, not to mention the visual delights filling every frame.

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Coldplay — Viva La Vida

On their first few albums, Coldplay was a band that sounded like Radiohead (pre-OK Computer) but wanted to be U2. On Viva La Vida, Coldplay is a band that sounds like U2 but wants to be Radiohead (post-OK Computer).

Though they have a proven knack for emotionally resonant arena rock, they’ve opted to get “artistic” instead. And by artistic, I mean they’ve largely thrown aside such quaint concepts as melodies, choruses and intelligible vocals.

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Get Smart

Date: July 5
Location: Regal – The Falls

This is one of those movies that you forget almost immediately after seeing it. The jokes are funny enough, the action scenes are clever enough, but that’s about it. And don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that — sometimes a simple diversion is all you want.

Steve Carell does his usual solid deadpan work, delivering laughs and pathos in equal measure. I hope he someday gets a big screen role as good as The Office‘s Michael Scott. Little Miss Sunshine and Dan in Real Life were a good start. Get Smart is something he could do in his sleep, though to his credit he never treats it that way. Anne Hathaway is lovely as his partner, Agent 99 — she’s really quite gorgeous, either despite or because of her giant mouth (I can’t decide which).

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Hancock

Date: July 4, 2008
Location: Regal Oakwood Plaza, Hollywood

There are plenty of problems with Hancock, to be sure.

My primary complaint is that the film is too short — the ending, in particular, feels rushed, and I would have liked several more scenes exploring each character’s reactions to the climactic events. The villain, too, is lacking — though, in a way, he is supposed to be. But I wanted a stronger setup to his role in the third act. There’s an extended action sequence following the film’s big reveal that feels wrong in its details, and I would have preferred to see its context explored through a mix of dialogue and action as opposed to a big budget set piece.

I’m being vague here because there is also a whole lot that’s very right about Hancock, and discussing most of it means getting into spoiler territory. So, that’s what I’ll do… follow to the jump if you’ve seen the film or don’t plan to.

Otherwise, see it before checking back.
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