Bones Brigade: An Autobiography

I just got done watching the Bones Brigade documentary.

I really liked this flick. It's almost 2 hours long but it moves along w/ great pacing and it could have easily been 2.5 hours without boring me. Maybe they stopped it just at the right time. Leave the punters wanting more...

Skateboarding's never been my forte. I've always been friends with skaters, been somewhat involved with the culture, but never skated. But I can dig a good documentary about just about anything. I've never fucked a super expensive hooker (or a cheap one, or ANY hooker for the record) but Client 9 was an amazing documentary that I could definitely get into. Back to Bone Brigade...

It's created by Stacy Peralta; one half of the seminal skateboarding company Powell Peralta. He's a film-maker now, and evidently a pretty good one. This doc is well-edited, well-paced, it's got a good soundtrack, good interviews, good historical content, it really covers all the bases you want in a fine documentary film. It gives an overview of the back story, inception, rise, and eventual dissolution of his partnership with Powell while they backed the fabled Bones Brigade. It spans the years from 80–90.

I really dug the interview footage with the Bones Brigade as they are now. Dudes close to 50 in some cases. Real cool guys with a great story. They come across very humble. I loved it.

This is streaming on Netflix. I fully back it.

the Hot Angel

Marie thought it sounded like a porno title.

The Hot Angel is an early biker flick. 1958 to be exact. It's sort of like if Happy Days was a biker flick, and obviously that's not a good thing. Women wear super pointy bras, and the dudes are pansies.

I watched it because I'll literally watch ANY biker flick. If there's even a rumor of a bike, I'll give it a watch. This wasn't worth your time. It's alright. You can see a boom mic drop in accidentally at one point if that gives you any indication about what we're dealing with here. Crappy plot exposition. Archetypical characters. All round not really a work of art. Generic in every way.

It WAS streaming on Netflix but they were removing it on the 15th of the month. I highly doubt they'll be renewing the license to stream it. Don't lose any sleep over that, though.

Next...

Cashback

I've had Cashback in my Netflix queue for years, because I heard it was good, but I didn't know anything about this film. With a poster like this:

and such a lame title, I was sure the movie was going to be something like this.

But I was way off. This is a must watch movie...but I can't really tell you why. Not because I don't want to reveal a surprise ending or ruin your experience. It's nothing like that. With a movie like this, I just don't know where to start. Cashback is a film that's sort of all over the place. It's a drama, it's romantic, funny, there's a sci-fi (ish) element, and there was the potential to add a thriller element as well. If I'm critical of this film, which is quite honestly easy to do, it's that Cashback doesn't really know what it wants to be. Certain segments of Cashback feel like it could be it's own short film and don't really fit in the with the rest of the movie.

While watching the film it's hard not to notice it's pitfalls, and the fact that it doesn't seem to know where it wants to go, but it's easy to overlook these foibles because the plot is so unique and charming. At best, this film shows the potential skills of a budding writer/director Sean Ellis, at worst it's fun movie with some beautiful moments. With all that said, I really liked this film and so did my wife. It's fun, capricious, and I'm really glad it was made.

Moonrise Kingdom

I thought this looked mediocre based on the trailer. Turns out the trailer was pretty accurate.

I like Wes Anderson, I'm definitely not a Wes Anderson fanboy, but I like his movies. Some more than others. Anyway, I thought this was alright. I'm sure you've seen it. I think it's been reviewed on here before.

The last half hour was good. The first sixty minutes was meh. I wasn't really hooked on any of the characters. But I did find Suzy intriguing right off the bat. The intro was similar to the Life Aquatic, wasn't it? Seemed like I'd seen it before.

Colors and cinematography were great. Editing was good. Obviously it was really dry, but I felt like it was missing some the dynamism that Owen Wilson normally brings to Anderson's flicks. Like it didn't quite have the yin to balance the yang.

I don't have a ton to say about it. It was alright. You could do a lot worse.

Word.

Savages.

Ian Curtis anyone?

This past May has been a ridiculously good month for new music from established bands. Say what you will about them but, the new Vampire Weekend is great, the new Daft Punk is, hate it or love it, the NEW Daft Punk, and in my humble opinion , the National's new album is infinitely better than their last.  Having said that, the release that I have been super into, and listening to the most is Savages. They are a new English post punk group with a French singer who's style amalgamates the best parts of Siouxsie Sioux with a little bit of Karen O, combined with some of the verbiage that's reminiscent of Ian Svenonius. This is a band I'm really excited about. If I'm honest, the sexist part of me wonders how great they could be if they were technically better (read: male) musicians. But for what they lack in skill (full disclosure: I have no musical talent to speak of) they make up with raw intensity. I'm truly stoked about these girls.