The album of the week this time is...

THE COCTEAU TWINS- HEAVEN OR LAS VEGAS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WybSSagVvoU&feature=related

The Cocteau twins are one of my favorite bands. Their music creates beautiful, and dreamy sounds of sonic nirvana that combines the catchy melody of a pop song with one you can lose yourself in. In a way it's as if Pink Floyd, and My Bloody Valentine merged. All their albums are worth getting, but this is their most popular and the easiest one to get into. It's the kind of music that you put on so it can just flow over you like a tidal wave of bliss. Their lead singer has a fantastic voice that mixes perfectly with the songs. If you want to listen to one of the best bands I can think of, then I highly recommend checking out The Cocteau twins.

The film of the week this time is MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085933/

This is one of the first films that made me almost cry when I was younger. Watching it now it is a bit dated, but the emotional resonance of the story still engrosses me. The story involves a Japanese prison camp which is run by Yonoi who is a firm believer in honor, and discipline. He thinks the allied prisoners are cowards for choosing to surrender instead of commiting suicide. The rest of the film follows four main characters at the camp, Yonoi, Jack Celliers, John Lawrence, and Sergeant Hara and their relationships are the most important parts of the film.

There is a lot of homoerotic tension as Yonoi starts becoming more and more interested in Celliers. What makes this film so interesting is culture clash aspect, and how traditional values and beliefs can be forgotten when tragedy strikes. David Bowie is surprisingly good, but it's the actor who plays Yonoi who stands out. If you want to see one of the most underrated war films I highly recommend this. Some parts of it don't have the brutal realism of later war films, but it is worth seeing despite that.

The album of the week this time is....

THE LEVELLERS- LEVELLING THE LAND

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XScq7NLRnYU

The Levellers are one of the many bands I used to listen to when I was growing up in England. They were around when groups like The Pogues, and Stiff Little Fingers were combining Punk music with traditional English/ Irish folk music. Stiff little fingers to a lesser extent, but The Pogues, and The Levellers were the ones to take it farther. Some people I know who love punk music dismiss them as being too soft, which is a bit silly but hey it's their opinion. I personally dont like much punk music. If you like songs with somewhat intelligant, and political lyrics and dont mind folk music then I highly recommend The Levellers.

The film of the week this time is THE LAST DETAIL.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070290/

This is one of my favorite comedy films. It may not be the funniest, but it combines some great laughs with some genuine heart and touching moments. It is about two officers who have to escort a young man to a prison near Boston for a small offense. Along the way they do various wacky things like get the kid drunk for the first time, and start a fight with Marines. What makes this film special though is that you actually care about the fate of the characters. They start off a bit cold but they more they interact the closer their friendship gets. Jack Nicholson, and Randy Quaid are fantastic in their roles. If you want to see one of the best and most touching comedies then I highly recommend this. The same director made the great dark comedy Harold and maude.

The album of the week this time is....

FRANK ZAPPA- HOT RATS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS-QT49oL0A

Frank zappa is one of the few rock musicians I would call unique. There has never been anyone like him in rock except maybe Mike Patton. They are both equally eccentric, and innovative though Zappa did it before Patton. What makes Zappa unique other than eveything is his sense humor. Some musicians have some funny songs, but a lot of Zappa's material is very goofy and silly. Many people didn't take him seriouslly because of this, but behind the humor he was a very talented musician.

There is no way to describe his music other than insane. It has influences of Jazz since a lot of it is improvised, Prog rock, and blues among many other things. Heck the song I posted here "Willie The Pimp" should give you a good idea of what Zappa is about. A lot of absurd lyrics mixed in with some great instrumentals. Heck he worked with some of the best musicians around like Steve Vai, and Terry Bozzio. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants something different in their music. Someone who doesnt mind some lunacy.

The film of the week this time is PRINCESS MONONOKE

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119698/

I have been doing this for a while, so instead of only doing obscure and weird films I decided to do one that is a bit more popular. Well popular to anime fans at least. I am not really an anime fan. Heck most of it I watch is terrible. I know many will disagree, but there is a blandness to most anime I see where every character looks the same and all the stories blur into each other. What makes Princess mononoke stand out is it's depth. It mixes some themes that have been done before in films like demons, and other such typical anime stories. However the imagination, and sense of awe is what makes me love this film. All Miyazaki's films are worth seeing, but this is easily his best. He is fantastic at creating interesting female characters. The hero in Princess mononoke is a bit of a cliche, but him being an archetype works well. I like how there really isn't a villain in this film.

One of the characters may appear evil at first, but she has just as much depth as the others. I have to applaud disney for how they have dubbed Miyazaki's films. With the exception of Kiki's delivery service, they have all been great. I actually prefer the dubbed version of Princess mononoke, and thay never happens. Minnie Driver, Billy Crudup, and Claire Danes are brilliant. I like the original Japanese language version too, but for some reason the English voices fit better to me. This film has a pretty obvious moral message about the importance of nature, but unlike a lot of films the message never becomes too preachy. The wolf clan are the guardians of the forest, and the people of Iron town fear them because they get attacked by them sometimes. There is a lot more to it than that, but you will have to see the film for yourself.

The album of the week this time is....

WINTERSLEEP- WELCOME TO THE NIGHT SKY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw8IGgBqIio&feature=related

Canada sure has some great bands. I just got into this band recently and so far I quite like them. Their music is heavy, with a post punk influence but never sounds like metal. Imagine a mix of Explosions in the sky, Joy Division, The Church, and Broken Social scene. The problem with a lot of indie music these days is that whenether an indie band becomes somewhat well known, a lot of other bands come around and try and sound like the popular band.

After a while all indie music blurs into a vague blur of sound where everybody tries to be the next Killers, or Arcade fire. Wintersleep manage to overcome being compared to other Canadian indie bands because their music is heavy, and their lyrics are introspective enough without being too brooding to stand out from the crowd. This is the album of theirs that won them a Juno aware, which apparently is a big deal. Their new album New Inheritors is fantastic too, but much lighter, and more accessible.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440728/

I think The American will annoy a lot of people expecting an action film. The trailers probably fooled a lot of people into thinking they were about to see a cool action flick with George Clooney being as handsome as usual. While Clooney is still a glorious man, this film is a lot slower paced than most will want. To me though that is a good thing. There are too many action films that are shot in that annoying fast paced ADD way where the camera shakes around. No offense to dumb action films, I liked The Expendables but this is a great change of pace. In The American, George Clooney plays Jack who at the start of the film gets in trouble with the wrong people during a job. After this he decides to hide in Italy for one last job. The first thing I noticed about this film is how beautiful it looks. The Italian countryside is amazing to look at, especially the small town Clooney spends most of his time. After the first scene there is not a lot of action.

Heck most people found this film too arty since a lot of the time it just shows Clooney doing his usual routine of exercise, looking through binoculars, and sometimes going to the local cafe. One of the most interesting parts of the film to me are the scenes where Jack has to assemble certain items. For example the scene where he puts together his rifle is oddly fascinating to me. That is probably because I have always liked the idea of someone creating one thing from many smaller items. The one major problem some people have with this film is how innaccurate the gun talk is.There is a lot of dialogue where Jack explains how certain guns work, and according to gun experts, a lot of what he says is wrong. Now I am not a gun expert so that doesn't bother me much. However i can understand why it would since there is a fair amount of time spent talking about how guns work. Another part of the film I really liked was how it doesn't tell you much about it's main character.

A lot of people didn't like that since it didn't give them enough reason to care about what happens to Jack, but to me it made him more interesting as a character. We understand certain things about him by his actions. We know he likes anything mechanical, and that he is trying to hide who he really is to avoid getting to close to people. The only relationship he had from what we see ends with tragedy at the start of the film. Now he only spends time with a local prostitute Clara who he ends up falling for. This feels like a film that was made in the 70's. A bit like The Conversation, or Day of the jackal in how it is all about the small things. Jack is paranoid that he is going to be killed, and knows he can't trust anyone. All these plot elements could have been cliche and generic if they were directed by someone like Tony Scott, but under the direction of Anton Corbijn it becomes something special. A beautiful film that you will either love or hate. Don't see this if you want an action flick that spoon feeds you everything. I have always liked George Clooney, but here he shows a more restrained, and emotional side to him I have never seen him pull off before. I highly recommend this film.

I give it a 9 out of 10.

The film of the week this time is HOPE AND GLORY.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093209/

I remember watching this as a kid and finding it fascinating. Now as an adult I consider it one of my favorite films. Not only does it do something with WW2 that is totally unique, but it has a beautiful warmth to it that most war films lack. This isn't about the horror of war, though that does factor into the film eventually. It is more about how life was for kids who grew up in that time. It is partially based on the director John Boorman's own childhood. He is an interesting director. He does brilliant films like this, but then he does crazy weird crap like Zardoz, and The Exorcist 2. What makes this film so great is how it views war through a child's eyes.

Some films have done this before, like Steven Spielberg's famous film Empire of the sun. This film is more about the life of a child and his family living through the constant threat of destruction from Germany. There is paranoia, but there is also a sense of adventure that the kids get from the experience. There are many serious parts to this film, but the way the children interact and how the war affects them are what make this film so great. I highly recommend it.

The album of the week this time is....

SPACE- SPIDERS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE8ER2bobIc

The 90's were a very interesting time for music. While America was going through the Grunge movement, the U.K were more into Brit pop. I don't like to use that phrase though because it labels many bands, and most of them other than Oasis failed outside the U.K. I think I am going to do a month of British rock of the 90's instead of Grunge because I was much more into that music than Grunge. This band Space released their debut album Spiders around the time that Blur and Oasis were going through their stupid rivalry. Even though their album was pretty popular, they never did very well outside Europe.

Their second album was much more of a pop album while this one is a lot more interesting both musically, and lyrically. They have a very obvious 60's influence and a bit of hip hop. Despite the cheesy video I posted they were actually quite a talented band. For some reason they remind me of the Kinks. which is probably why I like them so much. That and the Nostalgia I have for bands like them when I was growing up in England in the 90's. Good times indeed.