“Don’t Let Me Down”
(title of a song from The Beatles’ 1970 album and doc film Let It Be [Michael Lindsay-Hogg])
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): As noted in my previous posting (November 25, 2021), I took last week off because I devoted my usual weekly-cinema-watching-time to the almost-8-hrs. of The Beatles: Get Back (Peter Jackson), released over the 3 days of the Thanksgiving weekend on Disney+ streaming (even if you’re not a subscriber you can sign up for $8 for just 1 month in order to see it) but didn’t offer a review because—while it’s a wonderful experience for a longtime-Beatles-fan like me—it’s mostly just an immersion into the creative process of songwriting juxtaposed with the inevitable tensions of talented musicians who each had their perspectives on what that January 1969 project heading for a rare live show was all about.* (Ultimately resulting in their final group album and movie noted above; even though the original intention of writing these tunes was to play them for an audience after just a few weeks composing/rehearsal sessions; that concert never happened, although it did eventually provide the band with their final public show, on the roof of their recording studio, climaxing Jackson’s edited version of over 50 hours of footage shot in that long-ago-period.)
Admittedly, you might find the process a bit tedious as song after song slowly takes shape (with the only real drama being George Harrison’s quitting the group for a few days in frustration with how time was ticking away), but just to see how difficult it is to craft even successful pop art out of thin air, then watching the culmination with a few of those tunes done live in that rooftop concert (recorded for the eventual album: “Don’t Let Me Down” and “I’ve Got a Feeling” are done twice, “Get Back” 3 times) made for a successful payoff for me. If you don’t care to devote that much time to it, you can get a good sense of the whole experience by watching about the first hour of Part I (gives the sense of how disjointed this whole concept was at the very beginning, tensions easily manifesting among the group), then watch the last hour of Part III which shows them now working more successfully together to put on the live show (that part runs about 35 min.) helped by the joyful presence of Billy Preston who joined them on keyboards for these later sessions. Also, for another excursion into successful mainstream music I watched One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga on CBS TV (11/28/21), an hour distillation of their 2 concerts at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall last August, celebrating Bennett’s 95th birthday, with this emerging as his last public performance because his health continues to deteriorate (available on Paramount+, normally $9.99 monthly but they’re offering a free trial right now). OK, so that’s what I was doing rather than seeing cinema to review, but I’m back in saddle again (so to speak, given what I’m about to comment on below), gladly addressing one of the best films of 2021, a great collaboration by another group of prominent artists.
*Chris Willman of Variety, however, has opinions on why it may be the best rock documentary ever made (I'd say Woodstock [Michael Wadleigh, 1970]), as others are calling it among 2021's best films.
First, though, let me note, before I return to cinematic topics, last weekend I also found something else to distract me from projected imagery in a rare return to live drama (with some wry comedy included) by attending the Berkeley (CA) Repertory Theatre’s presentation of Wintertime (Charles L. Mee, 2002) which mixes aspects of farce, Theatre of the Absurd, and insightful explorations into how we can let romantic unions deteriorate due to poor communication, baseless assumptions, pent-up anger, etc. as 4 couples (and 2 additional characters) weave their way through embraces, shocks, realizations, and a lot of door-slamming in attempting to make sense of who they are, what they want, how to achieve it (truly the "winter of [their] discontent," to steal a line from Shakespeare's Richard III [c. 1592-1594]), so if a production of this play should make its way into your area at any point I’d encourage attendance. (Depending, of course, on the latest COVID-19 situation; we all had to be fully vaccinated, wore masks the entire time, had good distance from our fellow patrons. If any [or all] of that might keep you away—assuming you even have a chance to see it in the first place—I can also offer you here the script, although you’ll have to fully fire up your imagination to fill in the visualization, just as directors, cinematographers, set designers, etc. must do with their screenplays.)
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
At long last, I’ll finally talk about films with you, especially because of the haunting experience of The Power of the Dog, which runs in a limited number of theaters but is easily available to Netflix streaming subscribers. Benedict Cumberbatch plays one of the least-likeable-characters you could ever imagine, constantly full of himself as a macho Montana rancher in 1925 with little respect shown to his brother (Jesse Plemons), the partner of their successful enterprise; yet, that level of contempt is minor compared to what he dishes out on his new sister-in-law (Kirsten Dunst) and her somewhat-effeminate-son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as tensions build, shift, surprise us in the flow of this powerful story. Also, in the Short Takes section I’ll offer suggestions for some choices on the Turner Classic Movies channel (but too much extra text for line-justified-layout like you see here [Related Links stuff at each posting’s end is similarly-ragged], at least to be done by this burned-out-BlogSpot-drone—oh, ye tedious software!) along with my standard dose of industry-related-trivia.
But … just one more thing before this long-delayed review finally arrives: As of December 12, 2021 Film Reviews from Two Guys in the Dark will have been in operation for 10 years, with 502 postings, containing reviews of 851 of either films (the artier stuff) or movies (more commercial fare), plus the listings of my Top 10 of each year since 2012 and predictions/winners of Academy Awards since 2012. Thanks again to everyone who’s ever read even a part of just 1 of these postings.
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: This story (adapted from the 1967 Thomas Savage novel of the same name; screenplay by Campion) takes place in 1925 Montana where modern devices such as automobiles and electricity exist but what we mostly see here could have taken place 50 years earlier in the same rugged, relatively-isolated countryside where near-autocratic-badass-rancher-mogul Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch, in the least-appealing-but-still-commanding-role I’ve yet to see him in on-screen)—the muscle of the family—runs his mini-empire (the huge family home in the seemingly-middle-of-nowhere reminds me of the Reata ranch mansion in Giant [George Stevens, 1956]) along with his brother, George (Jesse Plemons)—who handles the enterprise’s finances—while Phil dishes out daily insults (calls his sibling “fatso” often) along with browbeating his workers, about a dozen ranchhands. As this group drives some of their herd to a nearby-almost-town they eat a fried chicken dinner in an inn run by Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst), whose only helper is her lanky teenage son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee)—her husband, John, committed suicide some time ago—who’s gone to the effort of creating paper flowers to decorate the long table for the diners. When Phil finds out it was Peter who made the flowers, rather than some girl, he insults him for being too effeminate which hurts Rose to the quick, although she bottles up her grief until the men leave, then retires to the kitchen to sob inconsolably (Phil also chases away some fellow-singing-diners and their piano-playing-friend so he can enjoy his meal in silence, with anyone else be damned who gets in his way).
George finds Rose weeping, tries to comfort her, then takes it upon himself to make contacts again as he's clearly attracted to her. Phil insults George over his interest in Rose but is taken aback shortly thereafter when George announces they’ve just married. Rose soon moves in to find Phil calling her a “cheap schemer,” assuming all she wants is George’s money to send Peter to medical school (which she does, but a scene of the newlyweds dancing out on the prairie when she helps him learn some steps verifies they truly care for each other). George even buys a baby grand piano for his new wife, which she quickly worries is too much for her meager talents (though she used to accompany local silent movies with spontaneous tunes for hours earlier in her life), especially when George plans a dinner party for his parents, the governor and his wife, at which she’s expected to play; she tries to practice, but Phil, from his upstairs bedroom, intimidates her by playing along on his banjo; he's a better musician than Rose, frustrating her futile efforts, putting a stop to any practicing.
When the dinner night arrives Phil doesn’t attend (he refuses to bathe, something he rarely does, in imitation of his late roughneck mentor, “Bronco” Henry, who taught Phil the cowboy life, putting him at odds with more-refined-George, even though he didn’t finish college while Phil studied Classics at Yale, made Phi Beta Kappa [!]). Peter then comes to the ranch for the summer break from his studies, freaks out one of the servants when he dissects a rabbit in his bedroom in order to keep up his education, and faces never-ending-insults from Phil (whose buddies often join in the glee). Yet, wandering around in the woods one day Peter stumbles upon a hidden-tentlike-enclosure with magazines that belonged to Bronco Henry, filled with photos of nude men; meanwhile, we’ve seen Phil’s also in the area, masturbating using Bronco’s old yellow kerchief, now is swimming in the lake, nude himself with the kerchief around his neck. Peter happens upon Phil, but quickly is told to leave.
Suddenly, though, Phil starts being nicer to Peter, giving Rose even more reason to feel isolated (George has been off on business for awhile) so she increases her clandestine drinking, even as Phil forces Peter to ride off into the wilderness to improve his horse-handling-skills, with the men laughing at him when he first falls off but remounts. On his journey, Peter comes across a diseased, dead cow, then cuts off some of its hide. Cowhides factor in back at the ranch too, as Rose is furious Phil’s been burning extra hides he can’t sell so she unloads the remaining ones to local Natives in exchange for a pair of work gloves. ⇒Later, out on a dual ride, Phil and Peter come upon a rabbit trying to escape into a pile of logs, but when they bring it out they see it’s injured so they kill it, although Phil cuts his hand in the process. Upon returning home, Phil’s furious about the lost hides because he needed them to finish braiding a long rope he’s making for Peter so the kid offers the hide he has (not telling Phil about the dead cow it came from); in the barn that night Phil finishes the rope, tells Peter how "Bronco" saved his life from freezing on a cold winter night by huddling together, though when Peter asks if they were nude he gets no answer. (Whatever else might have happened that night we don’t know, but the Brokeback Mountain [Ang Lee, 2005]-vibe’s strongly in the air by now). Next morning George finds Phil is quite sick, takes him to a doctor, but he’s soon dead, seemingly from anthrax, puzzling George because Phil stayed away from sick cattle. Peter doesn’t attend the funeral but at home reads from the Old Testament Psalms 22:20: “Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog"—an enigmatic reference, but you can get interpretations about it at this site (9:26) as well as this one; Peter, with the gloves from Mom, puts the deadly rope under his bed, then is happy to see George and Rose returning to the ranch, after apparently (or coincidentally) finding a useful strategy for removing Phil from his new-found-family.⇐
So What? If you decide to simply read my Spoiler material before—or rather than—seeing this film you might be able to follow the crucial happenings better than if you just watch it like I did. (During a nice dinner and a couple of cocktails; oh, wait, a glass of wine was in there too—you know, this mostly streaming at home for nearly the last 2 years rather than eating after a late-afternoon-matinee [with refreshments at best being popcorn and soda] does have greater culinary advantages even if I have to depend on Wikipedia sometimes to remind me what I saw in the last ½ hour of whatever I’ve watched, all of which is another advantage of seeing films/writing reviews the way I’ve done for these last 10 years rather than getting paid for the process but having to travel many miles to a critics’ screening, then rushing home to type up some voyage into non-Spoiler-commentary to meet a deadline, finally having a nightcap; in retrospect, mine's not a bad process at all!) Campion purposely keeps crucial aspects of the narrative ambiguous (more so than in the novel, as some reviewers have indicated), especially any overt elements about homosexuality (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that”—to cite an old NBC TV Seinfeld episode [entire series now on Netflix streaming]—at least in much of our world, although a 1925 Montana cattle ranch’s occupants would likely present an entirely different response, genuine or not) or what drives anyone such as Phil to wall himself off so fiercely from everyone around him when he has so much going for him regarding financial security, intelligence, artistic talent, and full command of the profession that he’s chosen. (By comparison, Peter's so out of place in this environment he apparently grew up in that he doesn't even know he's supposed to wash his new-off-the-shelf-jeans in the nearby creek, thereby further distancing himself [although inadvertently] from men around him, save for George who accepts him.)
The cinema-critical-establishment’s (those poor suckers I mentioned just above who have to be so erudite about what they write while I just ramble on with no editor looking over my shoulder—oh, you figured that out already, did you?) very supportive of The Power of the Dog (more on that soon) while awards might easily be a consideration as various groups mull over the merits of 2021 releases (see this detailed site for more specifics about this film) but, where prestige is concerned, Campion's already won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival (... the Dog also nominated for the Golden Lion as Best Film) along with the New York Film Critics Circle awards for Best Director, Actor (Cumberbatch), and Supporting Actor (Smit-McPhee). Further, in a related arena of recognitions cinematographer Ari Wegner’s getting some proper recognition too for her marvelous work here in capturing the sprawling beauty of the one-time-Old West, now transforming its rugged aspects into the new world of the 20th century (a bit evocative of Days of Heaven [Terrence Malick, 1978] and its Oscar-winning-cinematography [Néstor Almendros got the statuette but due to scheduling problems the shooting was finished by Haskell Wexler]) even though … The Dog’s shot in New Zealand where it does a fine job of standing in for Montana with its illusion of a dog’s shadow in the hills around Phil’s ranch, an image only he and Peter seem to be able to see; there are powerful closeup shots here also, especially of faces and hands. The soundtrack, too, has a haunting beauty of its own as discussed in this article about Campion and Jonny Greenwood (he reveals, for example, how he overdubbed a plucked cello to replace the natural sound of Phil’s banjo to create something seemingly-familiar-yet-not-fully-recognizable). All in all, this film's a fascinating, mesmerizing experience highly recommended by me, so what else could you ask for in its support?
Bottom Line Final Comments: OK, one useful thing I can cite to support my insightful-accolades (well, at least I'm still reviewing after 10 years; that ought to count for something [?]) is the CCAL’s heavily in support of The Power of the Dog, with Rotten Tomatoes reviewers providing 96% positive reviews while the usually-more-restrained folks at Metacritic give it an 88% average score, one of the absolutely-highest-results of anything both they and I have reviewed of 2021 releases (more details on each of these critics-accumulation-sites in Related Links very far below where you’ll also find the 2021 version of Metacritic’s compilation of end-of-the-year critics’ Top 10 lists and various successes with awards or nominations where The Power of the Dog is doing quite well thus far), so, with the understanding that you should always take my advice (but it helps when these underpaid, overworked critics agree with me), I encourage you to get thee to an opportunity to see Campion’s latest success (only 7 women have been nominated for Oscar's Best Director; she’s the 2nd to do so, for The Piano [1993], which won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival [also gained her an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay]—of this small group, only Kathryn Bigelow and Chloé Zhao have won that Oscar, for The Hurt Locker [2008] and Nomadland [2020] respectively), but unless you live in The Netherlands or South Korea (combined for $160,994 gross so far) you likely won’t find … The Dog in a theater, so turn instead to the ease of Netflix streaming.
While you’re getting around to that, though, you might want to take a listen to my usual-end-of-the-review-tactic of a Musical Metaphor, set to speak in a final, aural voice to what’s been discussed previously, although it took me several days to come up with something even semi-reasonable for this film (with its mysterious-parting-Biblical-implications) so I finally settled on the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (from their 1969 Let It Bleed album) at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=2f_3bdoyF_U (I used this performance due to Nina and me being there to see it) because in its odd manner (with lyrics about London’s sad drug culture, although you could easily parallel that to the dysfunctional-toxicity at … The Dog’s ranch) it evokes to me the difficulties all these main characters face in trying to overcome their personal traumas (maybe George is the least of the oppressed here, even as he constantly must turn aside snotty remarks from his headstrong brother), with death as the only escape in at least one case. Also, while the song wouldn’t be appropriate for the soundtrack of this film at the funeral that does occur (no Spoiler here; see the blue text farther above if you must), the irony is I have been to a funeral where it was played, apparently at the then-living-request of the now-deceased, a close friend of Nina's, so whether dearly-departed Marlene Zamora chose this song as something unintended as such but became ironic commentary (because she was later killed by a relative) or was just leaving us with another example of her wicked humor it’s hard to say (maybe she just heard it at the opening funeral in The Big Chill [Lawrence Kasdan, 1983] where it was intended as a sly joke, wanted it for herself too), but in the context of The Power of the Dog I’d say there’s a constant need to realize, embrace “You can’t always get what you want But if you try sometime, you just might find You get what you need”; at least some on that cursed ranch might agree where they need each other in many ways just to survive in some manner, calling on each other as in my opening title to "Don't Let Me Down."
SHORT TAKES
Suggestions for TCM cablecasts
At least until the pandemic subsides Two Guys also want to encourage you to consider movies you might be interested in that don’t require subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, similar Internet platforms (we may well be stuck inside for longer than those 30-day-free-initial-offers), or premium-tier-cable-TV-fees. While there are a good number of video networks offering movies of various sorts (mostly broken up by commercials), one dependable source of fine cinematic programming is Turner Classic Movies (available in lots of basic-cable-packages) so I’ll be offering suggestions of possible choices for you running from Thursday afternoon of the current week (I usually get this blog posted by early Thursday mornings) on through Thursday morning of the following week. All times are for U.S. Pacific zone so if you see something of interest please verify actual show time in your area for the day listed. These recommendations are my particular favorites (no matter when they’re on, although some of those early-day-ones might need to be recorded, watched later), but there’s considerably more to pick from you might like even better; feel free to explore their entire schedule here. You can also click the down arrow at the right of each listing for additional, useful info.
I’ll bet if you checked that entire schedule link just above you’d find other options of interest, but these are the only ones grabbing my attention at present. Please dig in further for other possibilities.
(Yes, I know, I get more carried away with some of these descriptions than I do with others but, trust me, they’re all well worth your consideration, for those various reasons that I’ve noted or elaborated.)
Friday December 10, 2021
5:00 PM West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961) One of the best musicals ever, adapted from a successful 1957 Broadway play, itself adapted from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1597), the rival families now being rival NYC street gangs as Jets Tony (Richard Beymer)
falls for Sharks’ relative Maria (Natalie Wood) but the entrenched rivalries (various Whites vs.
Puerto Ricans) lead to tragedy. Huge Oscar winner: Best Picture, Director(s), Supporting Actor (George Chakiris), Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno), Film Editing, Scoring for a Musical, Sound,
Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design (last 3 all for color films), Honorary Award to Robbins for his marvelous choreography, also highest grosser of ’61 (Pauline Kael hated it, one of the few). You might want to see this original version prior to the Spielberg remake, opening today.
8:00 PM The King and I (Walter Lang, 1956) Cinematic adaptation of famous Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II Broadway musical (1951), itself adapted from Margaret Landon’s novel, Anna and the King of Siam (1944), starring Yul Brenner as King Mongkut, Deborah Kerr as teacher Anna Leonowens (Marni Nixon dubbed her singing, as she did for Natalie Wood in West Side Story), brought to this far-away country for the king’s many children (Rita Moreno is Tuptim, a concubine—as with the many non-Latinx in West Side Story [excepting Moreno] few in this cast are of any Asian descent with additional problems involving a ballet about Uncle Tom’s Cabin which is anti-slavery but still references the ridiculous stereotypes of the novel). Not as easy to watch today as back then, despite the many famous songs, but won the Oscars for Best Actor (Brenner), Art Direction – Color, Costume Design – Color, Scoring of a Musical Picture, Sound Recording; nominated for 4 others.
Monday December 13, 2021
11:15 AM The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) Adapted from the novel of the same name by Raymond Chandler (1939) by 3 screenwriters (including William Faulkner), this story concerns an L.A. detective (Humphrey Bogart) who gets involved with a family that includes a very intriguing, mysterious daughter (Lauren Bacall); lots of lies and deaths here, along with plot confusion because the studio demanded a re-edit which highlighted the 2 stars more but left many details in ambiguity, yet this is truly a detective genre classic, also a showcase for married-couple Bogart and Bacall.
5:00 PM Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939) Brought the genre up to a more adult level with themes of East vs. West values, letter vs. spirit of the law, a story elevating John Wayne to the realm of major star (but Claire Trevor, as Dallas the prostitute, got top billing). Wayne’s an escaped (framed) jailbird out to avenge dishonor to his family (Indians aren’t treated well here either). Also stars Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell (Oscar, Best Supporting Actor); Oscar for Best Music Scoring.
7:00 PM North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) One of Hitch’s top successes (that’s saying a lot) about a case of mistaken-identity gone terribly wrong as smug ad executive Roger Thornhill (Gary Grant) is thought to be a U.S. spy, hunted by thugs working for an evil foreign agent (James Mason). Marvelous collage of great scenes including crop-duster-in-the-cornfield attack; also stars Eve Marie Saint, Leo G. Carroll, Martin Landau. Great overall combination of tension and laughs.
If you’d like your own PDF of the rating/summary of this week's review, suggestions for TCM cablecasts, links to Two Guys info click this link to access then save, print, or whatever you need.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: Extra items: (1) Debuts of Encanto and House of Gucci did well at the box-office but still show a concerning trend; (2 If nominated for her role in the West Side Story remake, Rita Moreno could break some Oscar records; (3) Early thoughts on the best films of 2021; (4) 2022 Golden Globes broadcast (whoever will carry it) will focus on philanthropy. As usual for now I’ll close out this section with Joni Mitchell’s "Big Yellow Taxi" (from her 1970 Ladies of the Canyon album)—because “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”—and a reminder that you can search streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts.* Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage. If you’d like to Like us on Facebook please visit our Facebook page. We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it!
*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.
AND … at least until the Oscars for 2020’s releases have been awarded on Sunday, March 27, 2022 we’re also going to include reminders in each posting of very informative links where you can get updated tallies of which films have been nominated for and/or received various awards and which ones made various individual critic’s Top 10 lists. You may find the diversity among the various awards competitions and the various critics hard to reconcile at times—not to mention the often-significant-gap between critics’ choices and competitive-award-winners (which pales when they’re compared to the even-more-noticeable-gap between specific award winners and big box-office-grosses you might want to monitor here—but as that less-than-enthusiastic-patron-of-the-arts, Plato, noted in The Symposium (385-380 BC)—roughly translated, depending on how accurate you wish the actual quote to be—“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” so your choices for success are as valid as any of these others, especially if you offer some rationale for your decisions (unlike many of the awards voters who simply fill out ballots, sometimes—damn it!—for films they’ve never seen).
Here’s more information about The Power of the Dog:
https://www.netflix.com/title/81127997
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CgPUPEe15E (50:05 interview with director-screenwriter Jane Campion, actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and cinematograpner Ari Wegner)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_power_of_the_dog
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-power-of-the-dog
Please note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post. You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow connect
with us at that site in order to do it (most FB procedures are still a bit of a mystery to us old farts).
If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work. (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)
If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20th century, not so much the contemporary world. I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.
By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact). Ken
P.S. Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker. But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion, lover, and wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"
—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest,
a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes and wanes over the months/years to come. But, just as we can raunchy at times (in private of course) Neil and his backing band, Promise of the Real, on that same night also did a lengthy, fantastic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand"
(19:06) which I’d also like to commit to this blog’s always-ending-tunes; I never get tired of listening to it, then and now (one of my idle dreams is to play guitar even half this good).
But, while I’m at it, I should also include another of my top favorites, from the night before
at Desert Trip, the Rolling Stones’ "Gimme Shelter" (Wow!), a song always “just a shot
away” in my memory (along with my memory of the great drummer, Charlie Watts; RIP).
OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.
Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 20,415 (as always, we thank all of you for your ongoing support with our hopes you’ll continue to be regular readers); below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week (with appreciation for the unspecified “Others” also visiting Two Guys’ site):
No comments:
Post a Comment