Thriller - 25th Anniversary Edition

25 years ago Michael Jackson’s Thriller became such a cultural phenomenon that people kind of skipped past the fact that it was a really good album but not a really great album.

We all remember the highpoints…the silky, ominous throb of the amazing “Billie Jean”, the propulsive energy of “Wanna Be Startin’ Something”, the smooth and pleasing pop sheen of “Human Nature”, the paradoxically goofy and funky title track (major props to the late, great Vincent Price for his “rap”), and the snarling rock and roll marriage of Jackson’s voice and Eddie Van Halen’s guitar on the still-potent “Beat It”…with abiding (and well-deserved) fondness.

A lot of what made those songs even more indelible is not only that they were great tracks but also that most of them had interesting videos that were in heavy rotation on MTV (back when MTV…you know…played videos during most of the day and night.)

The rest of Thriller is, truth to be told, mostly just okay. “The Girl is Mine”, the duet with Paul McCartney, was and is a harmless pop trifle, “Baby Be Mine” was and is a generic Quincy Jones pop/soul mid-tempo jam, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” was and is silly and annoying (yeah, I know it was a hit…I don’t care…it’s still silly and annoying), and “The Lady in my Life” (yes another “hit”) was and is a limp, unconvincing love ballad.

For the 25^th anniversary edition CD, the original album is supplemented with two outtakes and four remixes. None of this stuff adds much to the record. The best of the lot is an amusing 24-second clip from Vincent Price’s voiceover track work for “Thriller”. The other outtake is “For All Time”, a pleasant enough (though ultimately forgettable) love song that might have been left out because the melody sounds more than a bit like “Human Nature”.

None of the remixes comes close to improving on the originals. “Billie Jean 2008” featuring Kanye West (whose vocal contributions consist mainly of throwing in the odd “yeah, yeah” here and there) slows the tempo down and buries the track’s strongest feature, that tight bass line, in the mix while Akon adds nothing interesting to “Wanna Be Startin’ Something 2008”. “P.Y.T. 2008” is only made even more silly and annoying with the addition of will.i.am and the idea of turning “Beat It” into a duet between Jackson and Fergie may have seemed like a good one on paper (though I find that hard to believe) but it was a bad idea when executed.

Thriller is, flaws and all, still a remarkable pop record even if this anniversary edition really doesn’t add anything good to its legacy.

The 80th Annual Academy Awards

A big night for the Coen brothers…three Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director(s), Best Adapted Screenplay)…and their movie, No Country for Old Men, on a sedate, kind of uninspired Academy Awards night.

The show itself was okay…Jon Stewart was pretty good (not great but he had a few nice moments) as the host…with decent enough musical numbers, relatively brief acceptance speeches, and perhaps a few too many montages (I’m guessing they put them together in case the writers’ strike was still going on and they needed to fill a lot of time and decided to go on and use them anyway.)

Everything about the 80^th Academy Awards show was…okay…nothing particularly memorable but nothing especially bad either. And hey they got it done in less than 3 ½ hours…gotta give ‘em credit for that :-)

American Idol 7: Semi-Final Round

Oh my. The shtick really has calcified hasn’t it? The principals on American Idol really are phoning it in and they’re not even bothering to pretend that they’re not.

Let’s see now: Ryan Seacrest as the preening ass who thinks he’s much wittier than he is? Check.

Randy Jackson as the goofy over-aged “hipster” who hasn’t a clue how far removed he is from being as cool as he imagines he is? Check.

Paula Abdul playing the role of the den mother desperately trying to organize her sunny comments into something coherent but failing at that more often than not? Check.

And Simon Cowell…so bored with the proceedings that he spends his time playing bratty brother to Abdul and then trotting out the same old tired put-downs? Check.

Add to that the fact that they made the singers do songs from the sixties (except for the one kid who did “Jailhouse Rock” which no one seemed to notice was a hit in 1957) and then had the judges (mostly Cowell) whine about the fact that the songs were not “relevant to today”.

They keep telling us that the top 24 talent this year is the best ever but none of the performances proved that out (they were mostly bland, inoffensive, and, yes Simon, forgettable...hopefully the women will show something more) and the rote interactions between the judges and the host have gone past annoying right into utterly predictable and completely boring.

Perhaps this season’s Idol will pick up steam as it moves along…maybe they’ll, as Randy would doubtlessly say, “work it out”… but at this point I wouldn’t bet the farm on it, dawg.

* * * * *

2/21 addendum:

The ladies were a little better as a group than the guys were the night before...but nobody thus far has jumped out as someone who would put out a CD that I would be rushing out to buy. We'll chalk it up to first week jitters and hope that the contestants will start living up to Seacrest's incessant claim that they are the best Idol semi-finalists ever. We shall see.

Just a Little Lovin'

Shelby Lynne is a soul survivor…an extremely talented singer and songwriter who won a “Best New Artist” Grammy years after she had started putting out records…a restless, creative spirit with a beautiful, sultry voice…and so the idea of her making a disc of covers of songs made famous by the amazing Dusty Springfield seems like a no-brainer. And, even more importantly, it made for one damn fine CD.

Springfield approached these songs like the big R&B/pop diva (that word used in the most affectionate and admiring way) she is…she inhabited songs with soul, passion, and verve. Lynne has those same qualities but she approaches the songs with a cooler, supper club vibe…subtle playing and, especially, nuanced singing…that breathes interesting, jazzy new life into some very familiar tunes (including sweet and smoky readings of “The Look of Love”, “I Only Want to Be with You” [see below], and “How Can I Be Sure”.)

The title track sets the mood with an evocative stroll and that is immediately followed by a beautifully yearning take on “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and a powerfully understated version of the often bombastic “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” that seals the deal on this collection’s greatness. Lynne’s wistful, self-penned “Pretend” fits like a glove with the 9 covers here.

The music…a quartet of keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums on most cuts…is masterfully played but it’s Lynne’s rich, compelling voice that effortlessly…and rightfully…holds the center and righteously carries the day on all 10 tracks here; she once again proves that great singers and great songs are in no need of vocal gymnastics to make them soar and shine soulfully.

This is music for slow dancing…or snuggling…with someone you have a serious thing for…unabashedly passionate and romantic music that isn’t the slightest bit cloying…great music, a tribute from one great artist to another, that is achingly heartfelt and wonderfully entertaining from the first track to the last.

The 50th Annual Grammy Awards

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences realized that when it comes to the Grammy awards…especially the 50^th anniversary awards…it’s the music that counts. There are only so many laundry lists of record executives and shout outs to God that the audience wants to sit through so, again, they kept the number of awards they handed out on the prime time broadcast to a minimum and concentrated on presenting an eclectic array of performances. For the most part it worked to make for an entertaining show.

As far as the awards went the Academy went against the prevailing wisdom that Amy Winehouse’s train wreck of a personal life would preclude them from honoring her by giving her 5 Grammys…including plum prizes for Best New Artist, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year (the latter two for the ironic but undeniably funky “Rehab”.) Winehouse (above with her Mom), originally denied a visa to come to the ceremonies, performed in a small venue in London before an enthusiastic audience. Her performances of “You Know I’m No Good” and “Rehab” were a bit ragged but potent nevertheless. She seems genuinely shocked by her Record of the Year win, which announced just after her performance.

Winehouse lost the coveted Album of the Year to a surprise winner: Herbie Hancock’s (below) lovely River: The Joni Letters (only the second jazz album to win the prize following the 1965 award to Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto.) Kanye West lost out on this one for the third time (both Vince Gill and Usher took playful jabs at West’s petulant behavior during previous awards shows.)

The show itself was a celebration of Grammy’s 50 years with lots of Grammy favorites among those presenting awards or introducing performances. Among the very familiar faces were Quincy Jones (27 Grammy wins), Stevie Wonder (25), Cher, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, and Ringo Starr.

Alicia Keys opened the show with a duet with the youthful ghost of Frank Sinatra on “Learning the Blues” (Keys would return later for a rousing version of “No One” with some help from John Mayer) followed by Carrie Underwood romping through “Before He Cheats” backed up by a phalanx of percussionists.

Some of the performances that followed were rousing: Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang’s soaring take of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, Beyonce and the immortal Tina Turner shimmying through “Proud Mary”, Aretha Franklin and BeBe Winans leading a gospel medley, young Timothy Mitchum and Carol Woods (from the movie Across the Universe) with an amazing gospel version of the Beatles’ “Let it Be”, Kanye West’s heartfelt “Hey Mama”, Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban’s majestic “The Prayer”.

Others were fun…the reunited Time teaming up with Rhianna, Foo Fighters blazing through “The Pretender” with an orchestra conducted by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and a violin solo by this year’s “My Grammy Moment” winner, West and Daft Punk’s otherworldly performance of “Stronger”, John Fogerty teaming up with rock and roll fathers Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, Feist’s understated version of “1234”.

(A couple were….um…a bit more problematic: will.i.am’s rap was lame and the duet on “That Old Black Magic” between veteran Keely Smith…still in fine voice…and Kid Rock…not exactly Louis Prima… was a bit awkward. And there was a bit too much Cirque du Soleil for my taste.)

All in all, Grammy didn’t embarrass itself during its golden anniversary show and that was all good.

Eli Stone

Eli Stone , ABC's new Thursday night "dramedy", tries hard to achieve a state of profound whimsy…there’s a definite Ally McBeal vibe (complete with random production numbers and quick cuts to exotic locales in dreams) to the proceedings…and sometimes it reaches that state.

But the word that too often encapsulates the show is cute. I haven’t decided if that’s a good thing.

The titular character is an ambitious shark of a corporate lawyer…he is successful and engaged to his boss’ daughter…who finds a new direction in life due to an inoperable brain aneurysm which causes him to have vivid (and, yes, whimsical) hallucinations which show him the way to do the right thing. There is some stuff about Eli perhaps being a “prophet” though one would hope that modern prophets aren’t seeing George Michael dancing and singing “Faith” :-)

The show is visually remarkable and the cast…led by Jonny Lee Miller as Stone and featuring the always wonderful Loretta Devine and Victor Garber…is solid but the pilot still wasn’t engaging enough to turn me into a fan. I’ll give it another viewing or two to see if it grabs my interest.

The Moment of Truth

The Moment of Truth, Fox’s new game show where people answer increasingly personal questions for a chance to make increasing amounts of money, is not the end of the world. It’s far too dull and far too shallow for that.

The lengths that people will go through to win money and/or be on television are well documented and this show is, sadly, no worse than many of the others where people are wiling to act the fool or reveal intimate details about themselves in front of millions of their fellow citizens.

After relentless hyping the show debuted Wednesday night after American Idol and it just sort of sat there without sparking any real interest (prurient or otherwise.) The game features answering up to 21 questions (culled from 50+ questions answered before the show while strapped to a lie detector) and moving forward as long as the answer given on the air is considered to match the veracity of the answer given while being examined by the lie detector.

It sounds more scandalous in theory than it turns out to be in reality. The show is filled with hokum…portentous music, supposedly “suspenseful” pauses before revealing if the answers are true, “candid” reaction shots from family members and friends onstage, oh-so-empathetic host (Mark L. Walberg...see above)…and while some of the questions are probing the contestants grin, grimace, and preen through the proceedings to the extent that you feel no connection to them. In the end, it all adds up to not much at all.

I will admit that morbid curiosity led me to watch the first episode but nothing I saw makes me all that interested in watching any others.

US 3 - Cantaloop

A cool blast from the past.

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger, the 28-year-old Australian actor perhaps best known for his star-making turn in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, has died in Manhattan. He was found dead in his apartment (some reports cite possible drug causes.) Ledger is going to be seen as The Joker in the upcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight (see below).

Breaking Bad

When we first meet Walter White he’s driving a Winnebago through the desert like a bat out of hell. He’s wearing a gas mask. He’s not wearing pants. In the seat next to him is an unconscious man who is also wearing a gas mask. Behind him two other men flop around lifelessly. And in the distance, there are sirens. In his panic, Walter gets the mobile home stuck in a ravine and he hops out, throws off the mask, and uses a camcorder to send a message to his family. Leaving his ID by the camera Walter, in an apron and jockey shorts, stands in the road pointing a big gun in the direction of the approaching sirens.

And then we flash back three weeks to find out how he got to that fateful juncture in his life.

This then is the way that Breaking Bad, an intriguing new series from American Movie Classics (AMC), begins.

Bryan Cranston (perhaps best known as Hal, the amorous, hapless Dad on Malcolm in the Middle) stars as Walter, a sad sack High School Chemistry teacher who has to work a second job in a car wash to try to make ends meet for his family. Walter’s wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn) is loving (she celebrates his 50^th birthday morning by writing out the number 50 is veggie bacon on top of his scrambled eggs) but disappointed with where they are financially and his son Walter Jr. (RJ Mitte) has cerebral palsy and a sarcastic tongue.

A dire medical diagnosis causes Walter to “wake up” (his words) and take his life into darker realms in order to try to make a more stable financial future for his wife and son in the shadow of his impending demise. The path Walter chooses is to apply his knowledge of chemistry to cook up high grade crystal meth in partnership with a former student of his, drug dealer Jesse (Aaron Paul). They use the aforementioned Winnebago as a rolling drug lab.

Breaking Bad blends drama and comedy to nice effect and it leaves you in the strange position of kinda rooting for a guy looking to make a fortune by making and selling illegal drugs. Cranston’s bravura performance…a potent combination of resignation, disappointment, and, after his life is given an impending end date, cunning, new purpose, and a new sense of fatalistic fearlessness…he’s wonderfully appealing in the role. The other actors have their moments (especially Paul, whose Jesse finds himself in the perplexing situation of being in partnership with a teacher who failed him) but the pilot is carried by Cranston.

Like Mad Men before it, Breaking Bad is another well-written, well-acted gem for AMC (which seems determined to break out of the box of just showing old movies) and I am really looking forward to seeing where this one will take us.

Duets...Friends and Legends

There are a few ways that pop stars who were popular in the 60’s or 70’s (or even 80’s) can make a bit of splash on the scene long after radio has relegated them to the oldies stations; one of them is to gather together some famous friends and fans and take a trip through the old songbook with a collection of duets.

Anne Murray’s voice is not as supple as it was 30 years ago (but then whose is?) but it still has beguiling warmth that caresses the lyrics and brings a smile to jaded ears. On this disc, Murray (aided and abetted by legendary producer Phil Ramone) and her friends (all women) remake some of her old hits to very fine effect.

Murray’s creamy voice blends sweetly with her still potent contemporaries including the great Dusty Springfield (a charming take on “I Just Fall in Love Again”), the always-amazing Emmylou Harris (the sweetly plaintive “Another Pot o’ Tea”), Olivia Newton-John (the lovely, bittersweet “Cotton Jenny”), and Carole King (the wistful “Time Don’t Run Out on Me”).

She also holds her own with younger singers: Shelby Lynne (the feisty “You Won’t See Me”), Martina McBride (a grand take on “Danny’s Song”), the Indigo Girls (the hopeful “A Little Good News”), the ever-remarkable k.d. lang (a very beguiling version of “A Love Song”), Amy Grant (a luminous “Could I Have This Dance”), Sarah Brightman (a neat remake of Murray’s first big hit “Snowbird”), Shania Twain (“You Needed Me”), Celine Dion (a charming live duet on “When I Fall in Love”...see below), Celtic Woman (“Song for the Mira”), Nelly Furtado (“Daydream Believer”), Jann Arden (“Somebody’s Always Saying Goodbye”), Dawn Langstroth (who is Murray’s daughter, on a lovely spin through “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do”), and Isabelle Boulay (on a stately French version of “If Ever I See You Again”).

17 fine duets… as comfortable and soothing as a warm summer’s day…coming together to make a very fine CD.

American Idol 7

It’s back.... It’s been a mixed bag for American Idol alumni over the past year…some have had extraordinary success on the charts (Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood), one became an Oscar winner (Jennifer Hudson), another made a big splash on Broadway (Fantasia) while, on the other hand, others have had relatively tepid sales of their newest CDs (Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Katherine McPhee, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis with Studdard, McPhee, and Hicks all losing their major label contracts)…but with the ongoing writers’ strike crippling television production, the return of the show itself is a godsend for both fans and the Fox TV network.

Idol began its 7^th cycle with “been there, done that” efficiency…Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Ryan Seacrest (see above) could phone in their opening round comments and expressions now (and in the 2-hour season premiere that’s basically what they did)…and the early episode parade of would be William Hungs is also extremely familiar (though, that said, the two Star Wars geeks…um, I mean “fans”… and the guy who sang the song about stalking were especially sad and disturbing…is being on TV really so important to some people that they are willing to willfully make themselves the butt of jokes in front of millions of viewers? Apparently so…)

Some of the people who got the “Welcome to Hollywood!” shout showed promise but, as usual, most of the folks who make the final cut before fans start voting will probably not get much (if any) screen time until the Hollywood round begins in earnest.

Idol remains a television juggernaut despite a mildly disappointing 6^th season (producers swear that this cycle there will be less emphasis on mentors and guest performers and more emphasis on the contestants which is a good thing) and with the strike it seems poised to be an bigger player on the small screen this year (even if no one picks up the mantle of Sanjaya :-)

Once they get through the freak show rounds, things will doubtlessly pick up and Idol will carry us through the spring in an entertaining fashion.

U2 - Pride (In The Name Of Love) (Rattle and Hum)

"...for the Reverend Martin Luther King, everybody sing..."

Cashmere Mafia

I don’t know if Cashmere Mafia executive producer Darren Star cares if people think of the new show as Sex and the City (another production of his) with more high-powered jobs and less nudity but in any case that’s what it is.

Mafia is fast-paced (sometimes the cuts are quick enough to give a guy whiplash), often amusing, soapy, and full of fabulous clothes being worn by consistently good looking folks who always ready with a sharp bon mot. The leads…Lucy Liu, Frances O’Connor, Miranda Otto, and Bonnie Somerville…are all in fine fettle in their roles.

Two episodes in (I think that ABC has seven in the can) and the subplots are flying fast and furiously (one of the principals has a cheating husband, another is exploring lesbianism, another has gotten the job of her dreams but lost her fiancée in the process, while the fourth is juggling a demanding career, demanding kids, demanding nannies, and a husband who feels neglected) but these ladies with their hectic, demanding work lives still manage to find time to lunch together (sort of like the way the Sex ladies always managed to find time to go clubbing together.)

And it’s all good. In these writing strike hobbled times, Mafia is frothy and fun…everything a good prime time soap should be…and a reasonably entertaining alternative to the glut of “reality” shows hurtling down the pike.

The 2007 Twenty

Neverending Rainbow's 3rd annual rundown of our 20 favorite reasons to have owned a CD player. These are the best CDs of 2007...or more to the point, given the daunting number of recordings released each year...the best CDs that we heard over the course of the year. Your mileage may (and doubtlessly will) vary. In any case, the picks (in alphabetical order by album title):

Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
(At once retro and utterly modern, as fine a soul record as you could ever hope for)

Children Running Through – Patti Griffin
(Passionate, evocative, utterly compelling, an amazing collection of songs and performances)

Finding Forever – Common
(Sly and sassy, romantic and randy, acerbic and hopeful, a seamless album featuring stellar guest turns by Lily Allen and Kanye West and held together by Common’s smooth, peerless flow)

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga – Spoon
(Urbane pop-rock…delightfully melodic with tight playing and solid vocals…that soars and shimmers from beginning to end)

High Steppin’ – The Pimps of Joytime
(A really fine…really funky, really soulful, really rockin’, really jammin’, enormously entertaining…CD.

In Rainbows – Radiohead
(Challenging and accessible in the same moment, an utterly remarkable rock and roll record)

Live in Dublin – Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band
(A grand, accomplished, enormously entertaining 2-disc live set combining traditional songs with reworked Springsteen tunes)

Magic – Bruce Springsteen
(The Boss and the E Street Band on a set of rock solid, earnest, cranky, and soaring rock and roll ruminations)

Neon Bible – Arcade Fire
(Ominously haunting and undeniably rousing at the same time, the full bodied baroque rock and roll of this CD effortlessly gets under your skin and into your head and stays in both places and man is that a cool thing)

100 Days, 100 Nights – Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
(As gritty and old school funky as it wants to be, this CD grooves, growls, and bites with soulful fury as the righteous, gutbucket beauty of Ms. Jones’ voice is ably supported by the sterling musicianship of the Kings)

Raising Sand – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

(What seemed a strange match on paper became a magical, compelling, and heartfelt collaboration when they came together in song trading stunning leads and sharing remarkable harmonies)

River: The Joni Letters – Herbie Hancock
(A graceful and tasty tribute to Joni Mitchell featuring an excellent band and some nice guest vocal turns)

Teknochek Collision – Slavic Soul Party!
(This 9-member ensemble claims to be the “#1 brass band for Balkan-soul-gypsy-funk” and the music…joyous, worldly, full-bodied and, yes, brassy, soulful, and funky…proves the point with potent, irresistible charm)

The Hottest State – Movie Soundtrack
(Judging by critical response, the movie wasn’t so hot but the soundtrack…with songs by Jesse Harris and sublime performances by, among others, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Cat Power, Feist, and Norah Jones…is a cool, evocative gem)

The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster – Ruthie Foster
(An evocative, rocking, soulful CD that more than lives up to its grandiose title)

The Reminder – Feist
(A smart, sparkling collection of slightly offbeat pop tunes)

The Spiritual Kind – Terri Hendrix
(Witty, whimsical, insightful, heartfelt, delightful…a grand country record with all of the soul and twang and none of the glossy pop that too often passes for country music these days)

Under the Blacklight – Rilo Kiley
(Jenny Lewis and the guys embrace their funky edge to very fine effect)

Version – Mark Ronson
(The celebrated DJ and producer serves up a groovy party record filled with covers of British hits sung with gusto by, among others, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and Robbie Williams)

We’ll Never Turn Back – Mavis Staples

(Righteously soulful and soulfully righteous, a collection of compelling standards delivered by one of the most incomparable voices in pop, soul, and spiritual music)

2007 : The "Singles"

In these days of music downloading "singles" are kind of an anachronistic concept but that doesn't deter us here at the Rainbow from once again presenting our favorite tracks of the year. We make no claims that these are the "best" tracks that came out during year but they are the ones that that greatly entertained and/or inspired us (why am I using the imperial "we/us" when it's just me here? I dunno...just be a pal and indulge the hubris and let it go :-)

ANYWAY (he do go on sometimes, don't he? Sheesh...) here are Neverending Rainbow's 10 favorite tracks of 2007 (links to video and/or audio on each track...make with the clickety-click on the titles):

1) "Silver Lining" Rilo Kiley
(A rueful tale of love lost told with an irresistible catchy beat and a great Jenny Lewis vocal)

2) "You Know I'm No Good" Amy Winehouse
(Backed by the mighty Dap-Kings, the redoubtable Ms. Winehouse...who seems likely to actually survive '07 despite herself...throws down an soul jam as sweaty and funky as can be..."Rehab" [see below] was also mighty fine but her antics this year turned that song from being cheekily defiant to being creepily self-destructive.)

3) "Are You Alright?" Lucinda Williams
(A haunting, bittersweet plea for reconnection)

4) "Hey Eugene" Pink Martini
(A witty, sultry shout out to a guy who didn't call after a seemingly great time had at a party)

5) "Jigsaw Falling into Place" Radiohead
(A throbbing, utterly engaging rock and roll song)

6) "Heal Yourself" Ruthie Foster
(A wonderfully soulful tune of self-affirmation set to a driving beat)

7) "1234" Feist
(Yeah, the iPod commercial was ubiquitous but the song is still very cool)

8) "The People" Common
(While Kanye and 50 were having their over-hyped pissing contest, Common was quietly presenting the most engaging and inspirational hip hop of the year)

9) "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" Miranda Lambert
(The Nashville Star 1st season runner-up makes a solid case for being one of the more interesting stars to come from a TV competition with this feisty and funny warning to her ex and his new love.)

10) "Radio Nowhere" Bruce Springsteen
(The Boss rants about the woeful state of pop radio over a tight, propulsive rock groove.)

Superbad/Hot Fuzz

As the holiday season wound down, the packages were wrapped and mailed, the cards were sent and received, and a bit of melancholy (for reasons I won’t bore you with here) was coming upon me and so, of course, comedy was in order.

My good friends at Netflix delivered two movies which had received great notices so I looked forward to just sitting back and being mightily entertained. And even though neither movie was as consistently knee-slapping hilarious as had often been reported both provided some cathartic laughter.

Superbad is both crudely raunchy and sincerely sweet…the young actors (Michael Cera and Jonah Hill) at the center of the story are consistently amusing with an easy rapport (that they are too profane by half is a personal quibble…I’m not adverse to swearing but the sheer amount of profanity in the movie is more tiresome than funny after awhile.) Scenes are consistently stolen by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who makes his film debut as the nerd-tastic “McLovin”, and Bill Hader and Seth Rogen as the world’s most irresponsible cops.

Superbad, for all of its seeming preoccupation with sex and drinking and partying, is at its heart a story of the bond between two friends on the brink of adulthood and that reveals a tender heart underneath the crass shenanigans of the movie.

Hot Fuzz, on the other hand, has no such tender heart but it is briskly funny in an acerbic way…presenting the story of straight-laced, ultra-effective supercop (Simon Pegg) who was “promoted” from the London police department to a seemingly bucolic village…at least until the final reel when the spoof of American action movies (with pointed, affectionate references to Bad Boys 2 and Point Break and sly winks to other films such as Chinatown) becomes what it was spoofing, an over-the-top, violent action cartoon shoot-‘em-up (if this was supposed to be ironic, the irony was lost on me…it just got louder and sillier as the climax rolled on…and on...and on…)

Neither of these movies would be on my list of all-time favorite comedies but both had just enough laughs to make me smile and when it came to curing some Christmas blues that was just what the doctor ordered :-)

Merry Christmas Baby

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band bringing the Xmas joy on the Conan O'Brien Show.

A Christmas Story

Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (with James Stewart and Donna Reed) is, by according to many, THE classic Christmas movie. There were times when the movie, which fell into public domain, seemed to being shown almost constantly between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And yes it’s a fine movie…kind of dark along the way (Stewart’s George Bailey is seconds away from committing suicide at one point after all) and a bit saccharine at the end but fine…but for my money there are two Christmas themed motion pictures that are much better. One is the 1947 version of Miracle on 34^th Street (filmed in glorious black and white) with the incomparable Edmund Gwenn in his Oscar winning turn as Kris Kringle and the young Natalie Wood as Susan, a girl who rediscovers the wonders of childhood (the 1994 color version…with Richard Attenborough and Mara Wilson…is okay I guess but it pales by comparison to the original.)

But for my money the most engaging Christmas movie is 1983’s A Christmas Story…the whimsical (and sweetly comical), sardonic (but not snarky), nostalgic (but not overly sentimental) tale of Ralphie (played with guileless spunk by Peter Billingsley), his earnest quest to get a bb gun for Christmas (the story is set in the 40’s when bb guns were an uncontroversial present for a boy), and his interaction with his somewhat dysfunctional parents (his blustery father played with manic aplomb by Darren McGavin and his fluttery mother played with ditzy grace by Melinda Dillon.) The story is tied together and moved along by the breathlessly arch narration by Jean Shepard, the author of the semi-autobiographical story.

It’s not a deep or complicated story but it is charming and funny and touching (with just enough slapstick to keep things lively) and it never fails to make me smile. What more could you want from a Christmas movie? :-)

(The original theatrical trailer is below.)

Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams' very cool smooth jazz version of "What Child is This?"