[Album review] “Mirrorball” – Def Leppard
Album Title: Mirrorball: Live & More
Artist: Def Leppard
Year: 2011
Track listing: [Disc 1] 1 Rock Rock Til You Drop; 2 Rocket; 3 Animal; 4 C’mon C’mon; 5 Make Love Like a Man; 6 Too Late for Love; 7 Foolin’; 8 Nine Lives; 9 Love Bites; 10 Rock On [Disc 2] 1 Two Steps Behind; 2 Bringin’ On the Heartbreak; 3 Switch 625; 4 Hysteria; 5 Armageddon It; 6 Photograph; 7 Pour Some Sugar on Me; 8 Rock of Ages; 9 Let’s Get Rocked; 10 Action; 11 Bad Actress; 12 Undefeated; 13 Kings of the World; 14 It’s All About Believin’
Hard to believe that the Sheffield rockers have managed to make it over 30 years without releasing a live album. But here it is, a two-disc collection of their greatest hits along with three new studio tracks (and a bonus live DVD featuring four live performances and two music videos) to give those completists a reason to buy.
The recordings are taken from various shows on their 2008/9 “Songs from the Sparkle Lounge Tour”. This means that we get three tracks from that album, two of which are rather good (“Nine Lives’ and “C’mon C’mon”) with the only throwaway live recording on the entire record being the awful “Bad Actress”.
But the band don’t ignore their early days. Five classics are included from 1983′s diamond-selling album “Pyromania” and – possibly the stand-out performance on the entire album – “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak” from 1981′s “High N’ Dry”.
Their world-domination period is almost without omission. ”Rocket” and “Animal” are out of the starting blocks early-on, both sounding as energised as they did almost a quarter of a century ago, with “Love Bites” and “Hysteria” providing some respite before the frenzied guitar licks of “Armageddon It” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me”. Their nineties hits “Let’s Get Rocked” and “Makin’ Love Like a Man” – overshadowed at the time by grunge’s emergence – are concert mainstays, and both are great fun.
Considering that you’re getting 21 live tracks for $12 (exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club right now) the three new studio tracks can be considered a bonus. And it’s probably a good thing. While US radio chart #1 “Undefeated” is a nailed on late-era Def Lep rocker, “Kings of the World” and “It’s All About Believin’” are forgettable pop songs.
But whatever way you look at it this long-overdue live album is a must-buy for even the most casual fan.
[Album review] “This is Gonna Hurt” – Sixx:A.M.
Album Title: This is Gonna Hurt
Artist: Sixx:A.M.
Year: 2011
Track listing: 1 This is Gonna Hurt; 2 Lies of the Beautiful People; 3 Are You With Me?; 4 Live Forever; 5 Sure Feels Right; 6 Deadlihood; 7 Smile; 8 Help is on the Way; 9 Oh My God; 10 Goodbye my Friends; 11 Skin
Many side projects don’t create more than a ripple on the musical landscape so when Sixx:A.M. (lead singer James Michael, Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx, and guitarist DJ Ashba) sold almost 350,000 copies of their 2007 debut album “The Heroin Diaries”, many people (most notably record executives I’m sure) sat up and took notice.
The record served as a “soundtrack” to Sixx’s New York Times Best-Selling book of the same name – a memoir chronicling Sixx’s addiction to cocaine and heroin in the mid-80s. And, just like the debut, new album “This is Gonna Hurt” follows the same template. The new book of the same name has reached #4 on the NYT list while the album debuted at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“The Heroin Diaries” was a fascinating project. It mixed powerful rock tunes (“Life is Beautiful”, “Pray for Me”, “Courtesy Call”, “Heart Failure”) with more mid-tempo rockers and ballads (“Tomorrow”, “Accidents can Happen”) and punctuated it with semi-spoken-track numbers that acted as an album narration (“X-Mas in Hell”, “Intermission”, “Life After Death”). “This is Gonna Hurt” is a more conventional record.
This is Gonna Hurt
The title track draws on Sixx’s own experience with being down and out (“Feels like your life is over/Feels like all hope is gone”) but offers a message of hope (“Rise against your fate/Nothing’s gonna keep you down/Even if it’s killing you”) and, ultimately, redemption (“There’s a devil in the church/Got a bullet in the chamber/And this is gonna hurt…Keep your secrets in the shadows and you’ll be sorry”). Fast, crunching guitars meet irrepressible melody.
Rating: ****
Lies of the Beautiful People
The lead single and #2 mainstream rock hit takes a not-at-all-thinly-veiled swipe at those who think “real beauty’s on the outside”. Inspired by one of his photo subjects – Amy Purdy, an athlete who lost her legs at 19 – Sixx rails against the media-driven obsession with glamour and external beauty. Lead singer Michael laments how many of us are “outside the velvet rope/standing there all alone”, are “grotesque and ashamed” and insists that the beauty we are force-fed (by the likes of People Magazine’s “100 Most Beautiful People”) is “a far cry from the truth”.
Rating: ****
Are You With Me?
It might be doing a disservice to “Are You With Me?” to suggest that this could be mistaken for a Daughtry track. The singer recounts the early days of a relationship (“Laughing like we’re crazy/Nothing mattered, nothing fazed me/We were younger then”) but acknowledges that things are not what they were (“have I judged a book by how its bound/am I lost or am I found/and are you with me?”). He encourages his partner to “come back from the dead/you’ve been inside your head for too long…Find the places that scare you/Come on I dare you”. Yes, it’s radio-friendly and familiar but it works.
Rating: ***1/2
Live Forever
Sticking with the subject of relationships, “Live Forever” compares the carefree early days (“You and I never really gave a damn/We spent our lives running through the wastelands”) to how the protagonist feels now (“Now, you’re the only thing left worth dying for/You give me a reason I can’t ignore/And make me wanna live forever”). From being “so independent, so high on ill intentions” to being “everything I’ve been waiting for/for all these years and a thousand more”). “Live Forever” is an exceptional rocker with a soaring chorus.
Rating: *****
Sure Feels Right
“Sure Feels Right” takes it down a notch, a pseudo-country ballad with reflective lyrics (“The traffic’s backed up on the 405/And the smog’s so thick you could cut it with a knife/But it gives me time to think about my life”). With snappy references to diverse subjects like Sunset Boulevard, Sex Pistols, Jesus and Hollywood vampires. Nothing wrong with this whatever.
Rating: ***1/2
Deadlihood
So just who is the “you” in “Deadlihood”: “I swear you told me, that you’d be my life support/Guess I misunderstood, you were my deadlihood”. Maybe it’s not a you – maybe it’s an “it”. Maybe it’s heroin. It could be the “insanity” that’s driving him insane and now its “star is burned out for good/Somewhere in Hollywood”. Sonically dramatic, convincingly powerful, this is another fine track.
Rating: ****
Smile
A gentle acoustic ballad that wonders “What’s an angel like you/Ever do with a devil like me”. Michael shines on vocals (as he does throughout the album) and it’s punctuated by a sweet guitar solo by DJ Ashba.
Rating: ***
Help is On the Way
If “Smile” is anything it is perfectly placed on the album as a buffer between “Deadlihood” and the rocking “Help is On the Way”. The hand-clap intro, ‘do do doo do’ refrain and soothing bridge give the track something a little different. The singer talks about troubled times – like when he feels he is “a paralyzed soul” and “a left out only child” who is “so unaware that my heart’s about to stop”. But he says we’re all the same and that “everybody cracks and bleeds/So hit your knees and pray/That help is on the way”.
Rating: ****
Oh My God
After lashing out at the “beautiful people”, Sixx and Co take aim at society as a whole with the socially conscious “Oh My God”. Using the street birth of a baby (presumably to a homeless, teenage mother) as a symbol, the band underline our apathy towards such reality (“the truth is that we’ll never know her name/’Cos as long as we can fill our glasses up, we’ll look the other way”) while also addressing major global events (“it’s not far from here to New Orleans/Where the seemingly forgotten people are still foreclosen on their dreams”). The song reaches a stadium-anthem level crescendo (think U2 or Bon Jovi) with the chorus of “Oh my God, this is insane/How’d it get like this?/Or has it always been this way?”. Epic.
Rating: ****1/2
Goodbye My Friends
The piano intro suggests a halcyon ballad might be on the way but a thrusting riff and dramatic, brooding verse (very reminiscent of Muse) carry us to the hard-hitting bridge (“Isn’t life lived right at the edge/And when it’s not that’s when you’re dead”). The subject, seemingly in his final moments of life with “friends and lovers” gathered around him and “piles of roses” at his feet, tells us that there’s no need for be mournful (“Goodbye my friends/To hell with the sorrow/We have made amends…by this time tomorrow/It will be the end”). Fantastic arrangement, great guitar work again from Ashba – another winner.
Rating: ****
Skin
“Skin” is a beautiful piano ballad. For those scared to be themselves, afraid of what others think, Michael suggests that you should “paint yourself a picture/of what you wish you looked like” and urges the fearful to “come in to focus/step out of the shadows…kill them with your kindness/Ignorance is blindest”. “You are not your skin”, he sings as the final chords close out the album.
Rating: ****
Summary
If “This is Gonna Hurt” doesn’t find itself in the mix at Grammy time, I’m a monkey’s uncle. Sixx:A.M. are an act that are comfortable in their material, tight and focused as a band and, quite simply, write excellent rock songs. There will be trolling I’m sure about how the social justice and anti-A-List stuff is all just populist fakery from Sixx. But this would be a distraction and an irrelevance. A great record is a great record and this is one of the best in my collection.
[Movie Review] Stepfather III
Starring: Robert Wightman, Priscilla Barnes, Season Hubley, David Tom, John Ingle
Director: Guy Magar
Genre: Thriller/Horror
Cert: 18
Released: 1992
Terry O’Quinn received much acclaim for his performances in the first two “Stepfather” movies where he played a disturbed sociopath, dedicated to creating and being part of the perfect family unit. While the first film was an outstanding cult chiller, the second one was more campy, notable only for O’Quinn’s turn. The talented actor (who found international fame as John Locke in “Lost”) was – one would assume for either artistic or financial reasons – not involved in this direct-to-video second sequel in 1992. So in steps Robert Wightman (briefly John-Boy Walton in The Waltons) as the maniacal titular character.
Changing the actor while not changing the character means that there needs to be some form of explanation as to why he looks different (unless it’s the Donna Reed/Barbara Bel Geddes switcheroo I suppose). Director Guy Magar’s explanation, while being a reach, makes sense: The Stepfather (aka Henry Morrison, Jerry Blake, Bill Hodgkins, Gene Clifford) has escaped (again) from a maximum-security mental hospital. Having been featured on every news broadcast around the country he decides to have plastic surgery so as to evade capture and continue his search for the perfect family.
The movie opens with a hooded man being operated on by a backstreet plastic surgeon who promises that’s he’s “the best there is” while he cuts and slices his patient without any anesthetic and with a bottle of whiskey nearby. Some days later the bandages come off and The Stepfather is back … almost looking like a different person altogether.
We cut to a small Californian town where local gardener Keith Grant (Wightman) dresses as the Easter bunny and hands out eggs to the local community’s children at the urging of local priest Father Brennan (John Ingle – TV’s “General Hospital”, “Days of Our Lives”). His unassuming charm interests single mother Christine Davis (Priscilla Barnes – TV’s “Three’s Company”, “Licence to Kill”, “Mallrats”, “The Devil’s Rejects”) and before long the two are involved in a whirlwind romance that leads to marriage in what seems about 4 days.
Her wheelchair-bound son Andy (David Tom – “Stay Tuned”, “Pleasantville”) is less impressed though, telling Father Brennan that there’s something not quite right about his new stepfather, who had no friends or family at the wedding and seems to change his back-story frequently. No matter how hard Keith tries, he can’t make that connection with the crime-obsessed Andy who already suspects that Keith could be the escaped “step father” that he has seen on a TV news report. The youngster uses his computer expertise (using the Internet and Photoshopping before they were common) to investigate Keith’s background.
Becoming disillusioned with his already-disintegrating relationship with his new family, Keith lines up Jennifer, a single mother who he has just rented his old cottage to. But with Andy digging deeper and Father Brennan increasingly suspicious with Keith’s behaviour, time is running out for The Stepfather to make everything right.
“Stepfather III” came in for a bit of a battering at the time of release as one might expect. Certainly when I first viewed it almost two decades ago I wasn’t that impressed. But, on second viewing, the film – in the context of the franchise – has stood the test of time quite well. I mean, come on, “The Stepfather”, quality film though it was, was a B-movie – shorn of gloss and rough around the edges. And that’s what the third movie is – hampered slightly by a less-engaging lead man, admittedly.
In fairness to Robert Wightman he puts up a good fight in the role where O’Quinn set such a high watermark. His syrupy, southern-accented, nice guy act is a little clunky but when required to go a bit mental, he pulls it off very well. His facial mannerisms and general appearance is close enough to O’Quinn that you can almost buy in to the storyline that this is O’Quinn with a different face.
He’s in good company on set though. David Tom does a convincing job as Andy and Priscilla Barnes was a good choice as The Stepfather’s lover (as were Shelley Hack and Meg Foster in the previous movies).
The violent scenes are not as hard-hitting as some of the ones we have seen previously and the entire film is undermined by the fact that we’ve seen it all before – and better. But for a largely-disregarded, low budget thriller, “Stepfather III” is no embarrassment and worth a watch.
[Movie Review] Saw VII
Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Cary Elwes, Sean Patrick Flanery, Chad Donella, Gina Holden
Director: Kevin Greutert
Genre: Horror
Cert: 18
Released: 2010
Note: Some storylines from earlier films are spoiled in this review.
I don’t know why I do it to myself. For the seventh – and hopefully final time – I endured the blood fest that is the Saw franchise.
“Saw VII” – or “Saw 3D” – or “Saw: The Final Chapter” – or “I’m Sure I Saw This One Before” – brings the popular but increasingly-jaded horror series to a blood-splattered end.
The first movie introduced us to Jigsaw, a sociopathic killer who punishes people he considers morally bankrupt by putting them in elaborate death traps which he calls “games”. Their only chance of survival is to make some form of sacrifice in order to escape, allowing them to have a second chance at a life that he considers they have taken for granted. And the first movie is really, really good.
Of course when you produce what is largely the same film six more times, it’s going to run out of steam eventually. Add to that – and unfortunately it’s necessary to spoil the story arc somewhat to properly review this seventh installment – the fact that Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) dies half way through the series, the most compelling reason to watch died with him.
This is Billy. Hello, Billy.
“Saw VII” opens with a flashback to the closing scenes of the first movie before cutting to a gathering crowd at a shop-front window. In the window, two young men are strapped to opposite ends of a bench with buzz saws and a woman is suspended over a large saw in the middle. Jigsaw’s messenger puppet Billy (pictured) cycles in to view and instructs the men that the woman is a harlot who has been playing them against each other. Their choice is to try to kill each other in the next sixty seconds and save her – or let her slowly descend on to a saw. And so sets the tone for another series of depraved and hard-to-watch death scenes that are admirable in some cases for their invention, but, equally, seem to feel just a little played-out at this point.
Outside of the slicing through and chopping off of body parts is a semblance of storyline. Jigsaw’s work is carried on by Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) who survived his attempted murder by Jigsaw’s widow Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell) in the sixth movie. Tuck goes to internal affairs detective Matt Gibson (Chad Donella) and promises to testify against Hoffman if she is granted immunity. He pops her in a safe house and heads off to apprehend Hoffman, a man he has history with.
Meanwhile, Hoffman is kicking off Jigsaw’s next game. He kidnaps Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery – “The Boondock Saints”), a man who has amassed wealth and fame by falsely claiming to have survived a Jigsaw game. Bobby awakens in an abandoned building and is instructed by the helpful Billy that he must navigate a series of obstacles in sixty minutes to save his wife’s life. Along the way he’ll encounter and have to save the lives of his best friend, his lawyer and his PR person – all complicit in his lies according to Jigsaw.
If you’ve seen the previous “Saw” movies then this one won’t do much for you. In fact the main storyline of VII – where the protagonist has to pass a series of tests in sixty minutes – is far too similar to the storyline of VI. And VI was marginally better.
The cast of the “Saw” movies are never going to win any awards (the best performer was always Tobin Bell and he shines when he’s briefly on screen here (despite his death he makes appearances in all the movies)). But in the context of a gore-filled horror movie nobody is expecting Academy Award-level turns anyway. The whole production is slick, fast-moving and well-directed. The dialogue is polished and coherent. But yet “Saw” is less than the sum of its parts.
However it’s an artistically-limping franchise that has pulled in just south of a billion dollars worldwide gross. So that’s probably the only sum that matters at this point.
[Movie Review] The Final Destination
Starring: Bobby Campo, Krista Allen, Andrew Fiscella, Shantel VanSanten, Mykelti Williamson, Haley Webb, Nick Zano
Director: David R Ellis
Genre: Horror
Cert: 15
Released: 2009
Will someone make it stop?
Seemingly not. 2006′s “Final Destination 3″ was to be the last in the horror series only for the advent of 3D to prompt director David R Ellis to bring it back. The definite article in the title indicates that part four was again planned as the final outing but news has emerged that number five is on its way.
So what do we get for our money? Much the same as we’ve seen on three previous occasions is the answer. A group of young, attractive people are taking in some action at the local speedway arena when Nick (Campo) has a premonition of a fatal accident that will take the lives of him, his friends and many fellow spectators. Panicking, he convinces his friends that they need to get out and in the commotion a number of other people follow them. The accident occurs and they survive while dozens die. But – as is the central theme of the entire series – Death’s design is written in stone and the Grim Reaper (as such) will continue to pursue those who cheated death.
I had little praise for the first movie almost a decade ago but it’s fair to say that the second and third instalments were better without being memorable in any way (outside of a brilliant elevator-related death scene in number two).
And I have to say I’m undecided over “The Final Destination”. I’m undecided as to whether the series has run out of steam and jaded me or if it’s just a dreadful film.
Perhaps the scriptwriters and director lost their focus because of the 3D angle (a gimmick that leads to some oddly-shot scenes) or perhaps they are just lazy. There’s no attempt to introduce new plot devices or add any depth to the narrative that they explored insufficiently in the first movie. And this might be slightly subjective but it does seem that the gore quotient has been upped significantly in this episode; usually an indicator that fresh ideas are thin on the ground.
I have no idea whether the cast have any talent or not as they ham it up within the limited boundaries of their stereotypical characters. It’s a very predictable non-event and, above all, extremely boring.
[Book review] Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir
Title: Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir
Authors: Dave Mustaine and Joe Layden
Published: 2010
After almost 30 years of bickering, therapy, and lyrical jabs, the feud between Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine and his former band mates in Metallica had reached that point where it almost become theater.
In reality the barbs and general ire usually came from the direction of Mustaine, still bitter at the way he was booted from the band just before their first record “Kill ‘Em All” was released in 1983. On the back of the sacking he formed his own heavy metal monster, Megadeth, who in spite of selling tens of millions of albums worldwide, were still dwarfed by the unique arena metal appeal of his former band.
To Mustaine’s credit he goes in to fairly forthright detail about this anger and animosity in his auto-biography, “Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir”, even though the vulnerability he projects is in stark contrast to the confidence and cool emanating throughout the rest of his story. It’s a subject that in itself he could have written an entire book about but thankfully he finds time to cover his childhood, family life, recording career and many (many) other feuds in the 368 pages.
Despite that, there’s still a merry-go-round feeling about the narrative. Mustaine’s revolving-door relationship with rehab (“seventeen times, give or take”) is surpassed only by the number of musicians that have been members of his Grammy-nominated four-piece (until a few months ago he was the only founding member left in the band – bassist Dave “Junior” Ellefson recently rejoined despite having attempted to sue Mustaine).
Mustaine pulls no punches with the fact that he was not (is not?) a very nice person, was an alcoholic and drug-abuser, and tended to need very little encouragement to get in to a fight. Because of his (admitted) arrogance, sociopathic behaviour and monster ego, Mustaine often attributes blame for his behaviour on others. And when he does accept the blame for events that went down it’s usually with a caveat. That’s the nature of the man.
Putting aside the feuds and fallouts, I was probably more interested in reading about the music. Mustaine is the musical brains behind some of the great heavy metal songs of the 80s and 90s such as “Peace Sells”, “In My Darkest Hour”, “Holy Wars” and “Symphony of Destruction”. Even in recent years Megadeth records have been above average long after Mustaine’s career was supposed to be over after suffering a compressed nerve in his bicep while in rehab.
But if you are looking for an in-depth look at how he conceived some of his great songs then you’re going to be disappointed. He does talk amusingly about how he was denied a #1 record in 1992 when “Countdown to Extinction” was kept off the top of the Billboard charts by Billy Ray Cyrus and laments his weakness when he allowed his management to talk him in to developing a radio friendly sound on their final two records of the nineties (one miscalculation he does more or less take the blame for).
But we don’t hear about his songwriting technique, we don’t hear much about how he chose which songs to include on his records or much detail about shooting videos and choosing directors (with the exception of early work with Penelope Spheeris).
He also delves in to his conversion to Christianity, reaffirming his belief in God (contrary to the misconception that he leaned more towards Satanism than God-fearing) and detailing how he accepted Jesus as his saviour when at his lowest ebb. Whatever works for you, buddy.
Overall “Mustaine” is an entertaining read for anyone remotely interested in heavy metal. No doubt Metallica fans will pour scorn on the elements of the book that belittle the band (“Without my songs and my solos — without my energy — I don’t know that Metallica ever would have become the band that it was.”) or demonise Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. But in light of the news that the Megadeth/Metallica feud seems to be over for now, maybe everyone will down their weapons and listen to what Mustaine has to say. Given the number of people he’s upset over the years I’m sure there will be some interesting counter-strikes.
[Movie Review] Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus
Starring: Deborah Gibson, Lorenzo Lamas, Sean Lawlor, Dean Kreyling
Director: Jack Perez
Genre: Sci-Fi
Cert: 15
Released: 2009
The Asylum are some collection of chancers. The film studio are famous for taking current blockbusters and cranking out their own version; or “mockbusters” as they have been dubbed. ”Transmorphers“, “Snakes on a Train“, “The Terminators“, “I Am Omega” and “2012 Doomsday” can all be easily reconciled with recent movies, even by those with only a passing interest in cinema. A relatively small budget – probably considerably less than a million dollars – means that no one should expect to see familiar faces, quality writing or editing, or mind-blowing special effects. But it matters not – it’s said that three months after release (occasionally in theatres but typically on DVD and cable) the movies usually break even.
“Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus” generated more buzz than usual, partly because of its unsubtle title and partly because of its viral trailer which sees a very big shark jump 30,000 feet in the air and chew on a passenger jet. You have to admit – that’s genius.
On face value that’s probably as far as the genius goes. The plot is fairly standard stuff. Marine scientist Emma (80s cutie Debbie Gibson) is filming underwater when she gets caught up in a military experiment that inadvertently frees two prehistoric creatures – a megalodon and a very big octopus - frozen in a glacier. Some time later an off-shore oil drilling facility is destroyed by the octopus, bringing it to the attention of the government who bring Emma, her old college professor Lamar Sanders (Lawlor) and Japanese scientist Dr. Seiji Shimada (Vic Chao) in to assist with capturing the creature. They reveal a videotape (filmed by Emma) to government official Allan Baxter (Lamas) that shows the two creatures swimming away from the glacier and, together with the military team, they set about trying to find a way to capture the dangerous sea creatures before they kill a lot of people.
There are two ways that low-budget special-effect driven movies can go: they can ham it up for laughs or they can take themselves seriously. The Asylum usually go for the latter.
It is of course an abomination in just about every respect. The sequences involving the shark and octopus (it’s not a squid, repeat, it’s not a squid) are – I would suspect for budget reasons – deliberately short and make no attempt to generate any drama. The script and direction (from Jack Perez, director of the well-received “La Cucaracha“) is insipid and flat respectively although he is not helped by the atrocious editing. The acting is mainly awful although there is something likeable about Gibson who is the most competent on show. Lorenzo Lamas (looking well for a man in his fifties) is more wooden than I remember him from “Renegade” and my fellow countryman Sean Lawlor (sort of a cross between Colm Meaney and Dennis Hopper) swings from being fine (when shouting) to dreadful (when not shouting).
In spite of all that I have certainly seen worse movies than this. For all their shortfalls (and they do spit these movies out in a few months from conception to wrap) The Asylum have got the production fundamentals down and if they can get their hands on a good script they can probably produce some good direct-do-DVD movies. This, obviously, is not one.
[Movie Review] Mirrors
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Amy Smart
Director: Alexandre Aja
Genre: Horror
Cert: 15
Released: 2008
I don’t know the reason for Kiefer Sutherland’s fairly low-profile cinema career in the last decade. Since “24″ launched in 2001 only “Phone Booth” and “The Sentinel” have showed up on my radar and much of his earnings outside of his smash TV series seem to come from voice acting in the likes of “The Land Before Time X” (Ten? Really??), “The Wild” and “Dragonlance”. Perhaps he is too busy to throw himself in to a major movie role but with “24″ possibly finishing up this year we may see more frequent big screen appearances from Sutherland again.
This is my roundabout way of saying that it’s good to see him back on screen in “Mirrors”, a high-concept, psychological horror movie that’s loosely based on Korean horror, “Into the Mirror“. ”The Hills Have Eyes” director Alexandre Aja – who is behind the camera – largely re-wrote the original script for the Hollywood adaptation.
Ben Carson (Sutherland) is an NYPD cop, suspended for an unspecified incident in which he shot someone dead. He’s hit hard times; estranged from his wife Amy (Patton) and kids, living with his sister Angela (Smart) and trying to stay sober.
To help him try to get his life back together he gets a new job as a security guard at a former department store, the Mayflower, that was burnt down years previous. During his first few nights he experiences strange occurrences – hand prints on the mirrors, a cracking mirror that seems to repair itself after causing a laceration on his hand, visions of screaming, burning bodies, and a vivid hallucination where Ben himself has caught fire.
When he receives a package from the Mayflower’s former security guard – a man we’ve seen killed in the movie’s opening scenes and whose wallet Ben found – he begins to believe that there is more to the events than hallucination. Although his wife thinks that his prescribed drugs are causing the visions, Ben realises that the presence in the mirrors is following him and might even endanger his family’s lives.
Not having seen “The Hills Have Eyes” I can’t comment on director Alexandre Aja’s previous work but online forums and blogs hold him in high esteem. I can see why on the basis of “Mirrors”, a visually impressive film which makes the most of its inventive concept. The idea of the menace lurking in a reflection lends itself to some striking scenes none more so than the opening salvo and latter scenes involving Ben’s family.
Smart and Patton don’t have too much to get their teeth in to but that’s okay as the movie is really all about Sutherland. He brings a vulnerable intensity to the role, portraying a man battling his own demons as well as encountering ones that he really has no business with. Tension is built through a combination of Sutherland’s driven but demented character and Aja’s stylish techniques.
The movie is hampered by a lumbering plot line that seems to outstay its welcome during an over-long second act, a hangover that is then felt in the final part. Ben’s investigation to uncover the source of the evil that inhabits the mirrors irks a little and so it’s with a feeling of near-exhaustion that you face the final act of the film.
In spite of this Aja has banked enough credit up till this point and has sufficient tricks up his sleeve to rescue the story. This could become an interesting little franchise if the second movie does some business.
Poll: a-ha – the final song of the final show of the final tour
After 25 years in the industry, a-ha will sign off on December 4th 2010 with their final ever show. The Oslo gig – which sold out within two hours – will be attended by fans from all over the world and promises to be a very emotional occasion for both fans and the band.
So, with that in mind, what song would you like to hear Morten, Magne and Paul sign off with? Feel free to discuss further in the comments section below.
The right time for a-ha to say goodbye
What you will unanimously learn and can safely take as fact is that the Norwegians have decided to retire as a band in 2010, marking the 25th anniversary of the release of their first album “Hunting High and Low”.
There are a significant number of people raising their eyebrows pondering how it is that the day they find out a-ha are still together is the day they find out that they’re splitting up.
But for many who stuck with a-ha through the last 25 years this announcement will have come as a shock. Didn’t they always reason that the band would split when they stopped selling records and people stopped coming to see them? Why would a band who have just claimed their highest charting UK album in over two decades, a succession of #1 albums in Europe and a stream of long-overdue critical acclaim from the media and – more importantly - their peers, pack it in?
Well those achievements are exactly why this is the right time to say goodbye.
In the brilliant rockumentary, “The Making of Pump“, Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford says of the recording process: “You can record with 48 tracks, 96 tracks, you can start tying tape machines together. You got to know when to stop.”
The music industry is full of acts that didn’t know when to stop. A-ha made that mistake before, rendered irrelevant by the grunge explosion of the early nineties just at the same time they were growing their hair and growing up. They endured dwindling sales, smaller live venues and bruised egos, and went one album too far with 1993′s (admittedly excellent) “Memorial Beach” before splitting to work on solo projects.
Their 2000 return was a huge success in mainland Europe and they scored their first UK top ten hit single for 18 years in 2005 with “Analogue“. Yes, they recorded a big hit album this year but that accomplishment almost seems incidental compared to the reaction they received.
Looking at their positive demeanour in interviews and on stage it seems that the genuine warmth they’ve experienced from the media, the public and the many acts of today who have publicly heralded their influence, has completed the circle for the band.
What else is there to achieve? Where else can they go? If respect and appreciation was measured in record sales then a-ha have just had their biggest hit in 25 years. And shouldn’t everyone quit when they’re on top?
Personal addendum
I opened the Google News email alert for “a-ha” that arrived in my inbox and kind of squinted at it.
It didn’t make any sense to me initially. And even after I clicked on it my mind was calculating that somehow I had received some old news story from the mid 90s. Although I’ve no time for overt obsession with something as relatively meaningless as a musical act, I felt my chest tighten as the news started to sink in.
I grew up with a-ha; the soundtrack of my formative years. I’ve probably mentioned it somewhere on the site – and I’m sure there are hundreds of similar stories out there somewhere – but when you’re 12 and unsure of yourself, songs like “Here I Stand and Face the Rain” articulate what you’re feeling when you are too young to understand.
“The Blue Sky“, from their debut record, resonated with this insecurity: “I find it hard to breathe as life just eats away…The lady at my table doesn’t want me here/I just want to talk to her/But would she laugh at my accent and make fun of me?…Though i’m older than my looks and older than my years/I’m too young to take on my deepest fears“.
So here we are almost 25 years later and I’m not sure that I would have the level of understanding and self-awareness that I do if it wasn’t for a-ha’s influence (alongside John Hughes movies and Nirvana). I’m trying to avoid being mawkish in closing but the fact that their music has endured with such meaning for so many people, means that Morten, Magne and Paul can stand in the doorway of the darkened studio for the final time, look around, smile and say “our work is done here”.
Edit: Please see Karen’s blog on the same subject. Some very personal memories from their mid 80s touring.