Until Midnight (& Sometimes Later)

Saturday night we traveled down to Port Washington, New York to see Blue Oyster Cult perform their first all acoustic show ever. Wearing black shirts and blazers, they looked liked a jazz band, but they sounded like anything but.

The current lineup of Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma, Richie Castellano, Jules Radino and Kasim Sulton were joined by additional percussionist Andy Ascolese. I could swear I’ve seen Andy before–working backstage in May at the Howard Theater concert . . .

They opened with “This Ain’t the Summer of Love” and the energy never slacked. Eric was in a talkative mood, telling the tales behind the songs, giving the performance a very coffeehouse feel, and making it very . . . up close and personal. Although I’m not sure I really wanted to know the story behind “Before the Kiss, a Recap” and the events in Conry’s Bar.

High points included the prettiest version I’ve ever heard of “Burnin’ for You”, Richie playing some rockin’ harmonica on “Before the Kiss” and some awesome piano on “Dancin’ in the Ruins” (we were on the far left–I could see Richie pretty clearly). Hearing “Divine Wind” which was written about the Iran Hostage Crisis after researching same to do a review of Argo. Finally hearing “I Love the Night” live (it’s one of my favorite BOC songs, and I’ve seen them dozens of times, yet I’ve never heard them do it live before). Buck telling the story behind “The Vigil”, which was originally named “The Devil’s Nail” (and was much more provocative. Eric responding to a request by explaining that they’d tried out songs acoustically, some didn’t work, and they were going to play “What was on the list.” The fantastic encore: “In Thee” absolutely sounds better acoustically.

Highest point: my dh actually appreciated the concert.

It was also great to see Richie using a tablet computer (iPad or equivalent) on the piano for either last minute reminders or his setlist. Technology is everywhere!

Set list:
This Ain’t the Summer of Love (Agents of Fortune)
Before the Kiss, a Recap (Blue Oyster Cult)
Divine Wind (Cultosaurus Erectus)
Burnin’ for You (Fire of Unknown Origin)
O.D.’d on Life Itself (Tyranny and Mutation) — this translated a little oddly to the acoustic setup
Dancin’ in the Ruins (Club Ninja)
I Love the Night (Spectres)
Career of Evil (Secret Treaties)
Astronomy (Secret Treaties)
The Vigil (Mirrors)
Harvester of Eyes (Secret Treaties)
Don’t Fear the Reaper (Agents of Fortune)
~~~Encore~~~
In Thee (Mirrors)
Gil Blanco County (Soft White Underbelly St. Cecilia)
ME262 (Secret Treaties)

There was no cowbell.

I’m rested up after Albacon–kudos to the ConCom. Albacon is a very small convention (~150 attendees), but the panels were well-attended, the discussion was lively, the parties were fun, the con suite well-stocked, and the overall experience first rate.

I enjoyed all of the panels I was on, especially moderating “Best Summer Movies”–I should have guessed that doing movie reviews would lead to really enjoying panels about them. I also got to expound about small press, editing anthologies, and funny SF.

Visits to the huckster’s room were tempting, and in some cases, books were purchased. All the panels were tons of fun to listen to, especially Keith DeCandido’s reading (he read from his Leverage tie-in novel The Zoo Job, and from “The Ballad of Big Charlie,” his contribution to V-Wars, an anthology edited by Jonathan Maberry.

And for the first time ever I made it to the green room. The pumpkin soup was amazing.

Argo Director: Ben Affleck Writers: Chris Terrio, Joshuah Bearman (article) Stars: Bean Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Victor Garber I remember when Ted Koppel was on TV for half-an-hour every night giving updates on the Iranian hostage crises: that would in due time become Nightline, a show he would host for twenty-five years. During the almost fifteen months Americans were held hostage, it seemed things would never be back to “normal.” It’s been over thirty years. Argo brought it all back.

Argo opens with a great historical montage and voiceover describing the critical events leading to the hostage crises. It gives you a great sense of both realism and history, despite the fact that the story has been fictionalized. (For more of the real details, the Wired article that Argo was partially based on can be found here.

Obviously, any “plot holes” have to be forgiven because that was just the way it happened. The idea of legitimizing something by putting ads in Variety, etc.–how could it not be real? The details were simply amazing: that they actually had to option the script, set up an office, etc.

The oddest piece for me was the priority put on incinerating the classified material–didn’t they have shredders? Then later, other documents are shredded. Still later, teams of carpet weavers (some of them children) worked to reassemble the shredded document pieces. I would have called this totally improbable if it hadn’t happened in real life–which can often be stranger than fiction.

Occasional clips of the shah, Ayatollah Khomeini, and President Carter, as well as general stock footage, really keeps this grounded in the period. Kudos to the makeup and costume folks for outstanding work, as well as set design, props, locations–the feel is spot on.

What makes this film stand out is the excellent pacing. It’s a scary time–the “houseguests” were in fear for their lives, and there is a genuine sense of urgency–you practically want to cheer. A good script and fine directing by Ben Affleck clearly come into play here.

There are also some great performances, particularly Affleck as Tony Mendez, and John Goodman and Alan Arkin representing Hollywood as makeup man John Chambers and producer Lester Siegel.

But honestly, how did we live without cell phones back then? It was plain weird seeing spies getting phone calls at someone’s house.

Geek fact: the actual script used was an adaption of Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light . . .

Argo f** yourself.

Tim Burton’s black and white stop-motion animation Frankenweenie is certainly fun, but might have some trouble finding the right audience. The lack of color might be off-putting to the kids who using flock to animated films, and it is scary in places. It’s a must see for Tim Burton fans. My full review is at buzzymag.

An excerpt:
You already know the story: Victor Frankenstein, science nerd, amateur film-maker, beloved dog-owner tragically loses his beloved dog Sparky, and brings him back in a homage to the classic Mary Shelley tale.

Taken 2 Director: Olivier Megaton Writers: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen Stars: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Rade Serbedzija I’ll say it up front and get it out of the way: I’m a major fan of Liam Neeson movies, especially when he kicks ass and takes names. We’re all entitled to a few guilty pleasures. The first movie I reviewed on my blog was The Grey. I was at an advance screening and I was awed by the combination of nature, violence, and philosophy. And Liam Neeson, of course. Fighting wolves (even if they were animatronic). With his bare hands.

A few months later, when I started reviewing movies for buzzymag, it was the weekend Battleship opened–fun enough, but more Liam Neeson sure would have helped . . . .

Now we come ’round to Taken 2, follow up to the 2008 surprise hit (Taken).

I so wanted this to be awesome. I wanted it to be a go-see-it-more-than-once-while-it’s-still-in-the-theater kind of film. It’s fun enough, but the missed details messed things up. And watering down the violence for the PG-13 rating really hurt it. I like my violent revenge shoot-’em-up thrillers, well, violent. Maybe the dvd version will be better . . . ?

I really like the concept of justice versus revenge that was touched on briefly. And how the cycle will never end until someone consciously stops it.

I had some concerns when the opening credits ran and they were choppy and hard to watch. Those concerns were well founded, as much of the rest of the film followed the same pattern, especially the fight scenes and the car chases–fast camera cuts leaving you wondering what the heck is going on. Exactly where did that last punch land? Did it land? I admit this was a touch compounded by my insistence on sitting right up front–I’ve always found the movie-going experience more immersive that way, and lately I’ve also found it helps with taking notes during the films–there’s a touch more light down there.

Spoilers follow. You have been warned.

In Taken, the filmmakers were happy to admit that they were in a foreign country, and sometimes the people spoke in French or Albanian. This was even a plot point in figuring out where the bad guys were from–yet in Taken 2, Albanians in Albania speak English . . . this is trying too hard to be a big Hollywood film.

The plot was sloppy: one stated deadline is to get things done before Bryan Mills goes to Istanbul. This seems kind of lame when you find out he’s only going for three days. Couldn’t he just come back home and do stuff? I don’t know about you, but I go away for three-day weekends all the time.

Bryan’s daughter Kim drives damn well for someone without a driver’s license. Even if she is close to passing the driving test, her lack of road experience makes the sequences of her driving through Istanbul at breakneck speed even less likely than, say, Dr. Martin Harris (Unknown) pulling the same stunt in Berlin. Is Kim secretly an assassin?

The first movie was absolutely relentless in its pacing–that’s one of the things that made it so awesome. Taken 2 keeps faltering as it tries to build in more relationships and family bonding–for whatever reason, this just interrupts the flow. Despite the danger, the movie lacks a sense of urgency in what’s going on. It’s almost two different movies that got crammed together: a fast-paced action thriller, and a family drama–they keep interfering with one another.

The setup that shows the Albanians driving into Istanbul makes it look like Bryan Mills has a limited number of targets–three SUVs worth–it’s just a war of attrition. The first movie came right out and said that the Paris authorities had no idea how many sex-traffickers there were in town, just that it started with a few and now there were a ton of them. A semi-infinite number of bad guys for him to plow through. Will Taken 3 be Bryan Mills takes on three guys on bicycles with a dog?

Of course, I’d probably go see it anyway, as long as Liam Neeson was in it . . . .

Here’s my final schedule for Albacon. I hope to see you’all there!

Here’s where you can find me:

FRIDAY, 19 October
9:00am
Durand
What Editors/Publishers Want
[Panelists: Crowley, Rothman, Hammond, Arthen]

3:30pm
Cole/Church
Small Press vs. Large Press
[Panelists: Arthen, Hammond, Valerie, Crowley]

4:45pm
Cole/Church
The Gathering of the Missing Pages
[All Workshop Participants]

8:00pm
Cole/Church
Ice Cream Social
[All]

SATURDAY, 20 October
9:00am
Telecom
How do Readers find New Books?
[Panelists: Palmatier (M), Frederick, Hollmer, Laity, Hammond]
The systems readers used to rely on to discover books are either disappearing (traditional book reviews, book stores) or are being gamed by marketers, con artists and spammers so they’re useless (user reviews, keywords, subject searches, Internet ads).

12:00noon
Telecom
Best summer movies of 2012
[Panelists: Hammond (M), B. Prellwitz, Palmatier, Lievan, Silber]
Make your case

5:00pm
Telecom
Putting together an anthology
[Panelists: DeCandido (M), Sargent, Palmatier, Hammond]
Editors and authors speak

7:00pm
Cole/Church
Are remakes as good as the original?
[Panelists: Lievan (M), Drummond, Silber, Sargent, Hammond, Keener]
If not, why not? Who did it successfully? Who tried honorably and faild? Who never
really got the original?

SUNDAY, 21 October
2:00pm
Cole/Church
What happened to funny SF?
[Panelists: Strock (M), Lay, Laity, Hammond, Rothman]
It’s rare you see humorous SF, especially novel-length these days. Are we so serious?

Hotel Transylvania Director: Genndy Tartakovsky Writers: Peter Baynham (screenplay), Robert Smigel (screenplay), Todd Durham (story), Dan Hageman (story), Kevin Hageman (story) Stars: Adam Sandler (voice), Andy Samberg (voice), Selena Gomez (voice), Kevin James (voice), Fran Drescher (voice)

In 1895, the birth of his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) makes it clear to Dracula (Adam Sandler) that he must do something about the horrible danger that humans pose to the monster community. So he builds a haven, a safe place . . . Hotel Transylvania.

Surrounded by four hundred acres of haunted forest, it has become the vacation destination of choice for non-humans. Dracula has become a surprisingly good hotelier, handling the day-to-day crises that having such interesting guests would inevitably result in.

As the hotel goes up, we see Mavis growing up. She learns to turn into a bat and fly (with a helmet!–too cute). Dracula is a delightfully overprotective father, keeping her safe from all the usual things that fathers worry about (boys!) as well as those frightful humans.

This is a wonderfully funny take on all of the classic monsters–not just Dracula and Frankenstein, werewolves and zombies–everyone is in this one. From giant spiders to yetis, from a whirling dervish to Quasimodo, even the invisible man puts in an appearance (or seems to) in this family-friendly homage to everything we love about monster movies. There’s a zombie mariachi band playing for the guests on their arrival to the hotel, and even the “Do Not Disturb” signs are inventive–individual shrunken heads. With attitude.

The joy of showing what someone would do if they had magic in their everyday life is priceless: Dracula does things effortlessly (he’s been at it for centuries) and inventively. But it’s not fun anymore. Enter Jonny (Andy Samberg), a human hiker who inadvertently finds his way to the hotel. He not only shows Dracula and all the old monsters how to find joy again, he introduces Mavis to a whole new raft of possibilities, and someone that she could see the world with.

This is far and away the most fun I’ve ever had at an Adam Sandler film–he make a terrific Dracula. Selena Gomez is just petulant enough as Mavis to be tremendous fun, and Andy Samberg is wonderfully clueless as Jonny, the hapless human who wanders in.

Hotel Transylvania ends with a group partying and rapping–it reminded me of a live FuMP show.

Certainly a fun afternoon’s entertainment. With monsters, even.

Rian Johnson really has a corker in Looper, a time travel tale told from the point of view of someone who doesn’t travel in time. In fact, the mechanics of time travel take a back seat to the characters. The film works amazing well. My full review is up at buzzymag.

An excerpt:
Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), like other young men with limited education, was recruited to be a looper–a lucrative job that deliberately requires no special skills and a distinct lack of morals. He lives like a rock star, with a hard partying life-style. One who occasionally kills people.

A well-crafted, engaging film–The Master will really get you thinking. It’s got some amazing performances–I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t come up at Oscar time. See my full review at buzzymag.

An excerpt:
I was really looking forward to The Master. Why was I so interested? Word was out that the movie was loosely based on L. Ron Hubbard and the origins of Scientology, and I’ve read a lot about Hubbard–Robert Heinlein and John Campbell talked about him and his theories a lot in their correspondence.

End of Watch is a straight up, nose-to-the-grindstone glimpse into the day to day life of beat cops in LA. It’s touch and real as you watch two good friends deal with the violence in their lives with bad jokes, and by clinging to their relationships when things really get bad. It’s well worth seeing–my full review is at buzzmag.

An excerpt:
As the credits rolled, a friend watching the film said “That didn’t seem like fiction.” I agree. Let me tell you why.