Daily Archives: February 8, 2007

Big Screen: Catch and Release

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One of those little “we’re suddenly turning into adults and WTF do we do now” movies. So: Not nearly as good as Garden State. But not nearly as fuckinghorriblybad as Last Kiss. Yes, the valley between those two is my latest measuring stick for this kind of movie. Which means it was pretty “middling”. Some nice moments. Some funny moments. Not just a story about one chick; really about how four (or more) different people are all dealing with the same person’s death, and finding out how each of them actually knew him in a very different way.

I realize Jennifer Garner was pregnant during filming but it seemed they went a little overboard on how dumpy they had her dressed. Give her some better clothes and my opinion would have gone up a few points, which might sound weird but if you’ve seen it I think you know what I mean. Kinda odd to have the random boys wearing cuter clothes than the only “normal” girl in a film!

Enjoyable. But not a GREAT flick.

p.s. Kevin Smith basically plays himself. And he’s pretty hilarious.

In Concert: Camera Obscura and The Essex Green

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Opening band The Essex Green was great: boppy, male/female vocal switches, goofy lyrics, really filling the room with fun, albeit from an almost folky perspective.

Camera Obscura sounded pretty, but man what a downer. Played (literally) only three upbeat songs. The very first one (Let’s get out of this country…) and the very last two. Midway through, the lead commented “Hmmm, didn’t quite realize when we were writing up the set list that we were playing all our slowest songs back to back…” Gee, that would’ve been a great time to call an audible and rock one out, but no such luck. Perhaps it wasn’t an intimate-enough venue for them; I imagine this would have been a great show to listen to somewhere like, for example, Joe’s Pub. But in a standing-only BIG drafty venue full of people looking for something to bring them up (or in out of the cold) it wasn’t great.

Note to self: Logan Square Auditorium: no easy transit options to get home and not easy to find a cab afterward. Maybe don’t go there when it’s below zero out next time!!!

Alison liked them better at the show she saw, if you want to read a more positive review, and FYI they did the same ‘you can call me Al’ stuff at the show I was at.