King Kong
"I`m a king kong man, I`m a voodoo man, I am an apeman." This is a quote from a song entitled "Apeman" by "The Kinks". It has little to do with the brand new film by Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings") but since I like this song very much I can`t stop myself from referring to it right now. "King Kong" is a classic, ofcourse. I may haven`t seen neither the original 1933 film, nor the remake from 1970s but even I had at least some idea about the story. You know, a huge ape running around carrying a blonde and fighting off T-Rex`es, that kind of stuff. This new film features a strong cast including Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Jack Black (from "Tenacious-D") and some others that I don`t know, a huge budget providing terrific special effects and a touch of humanism. What the film had a little too much of was length. I am familiar with P.Jackson`s inability to make short films but I still found some of the fighting scenes too long. At least I have to admit that I was waiting for the ending quite a lot, which is no wonder, considering that we had seets in the second row and that the film started at fifteen past eleven, PM. By the way - if you`re in the right state of mind don`t even consider sitting that close to the screen! It sucks completely - the video quality seems to be worse than that of a screener, your eyes will ache all the time, you`ll be surrounded by ape-men and ape-women and you`re gonna find it quite hard to enjoy the best of films created by man. I can appreciate what Peter Jackson did to the King Kong story and I agree that it was cleverly done (apart from lots of little logical errors) but I can`t agree that this was the best film of 2005. On the other hand I doubt that I have already seen the best one yet.
The Celestine Prophecy
Es tā īsti nevaru saprast - cik daudz ir vēlams par filmu uzzināt, pirms to skatīties? No vienas puses, pārmērīgi daudz informācijas var tev traucēt filmu izbaudīt, no otras puses - neliela papētīšana un es, iespējams, nebūtu izlēmis skatīties "The Celestine Prophecy", kas būtu noteikti bijis prātīgs lēmums.
Sid Vicious - Sings
Ierakstu, kas būtu līdzīgi vienīgajam Sida Višesa solo albūmam, noteikti pasaulē ir daudz. Tikai parasti tādi ir ļoti zemas kvalitātes underground grupām un netiek oficiāli izdoti. Pat, ja tavas grupas nosaukums ir, teiksim "Pankiem desu", tu oficiāli parasti izdod albūmu, kura dziesmas ierakstītas vai nu studijā vai koncertā ar kaut cik normālu aprīkojumu, tu arī padomā par to, lai šis ieraksts neizklausītos pēc zemākās kvalitātes pirātu ieraksta.
The Yes Men
This is a documentary that certainly can challenge Michael Moore`s latest output "Fahrenheit 9/11" in terms of poor quality. Of course, the budget of this film isn`t particulary impressive, but it`s not a problem. The Yes men are people impersonating members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and participating in this way at different conferences. It`s funny to watch how serious people watch the Yes men make fun of them without realizing that what they`re hearing may be true but it most surely isn`t what the WTO would say. For example, when the Yes Men offer to sell in the third world countries at McDonalds recycled products - recycled through the sewage system from the American and European bathrooms, it isn`t just a joke, there`s much truth in it. And so it`s about the words that slavery wasn`t as efficient as keeping the slaves in their native Africa and forcing them work for peanuts there. But a gigantic inflatable phallus attached to a manager suit and equiped with a monitor still is a good laugh. It may not be a film for the big screen (it`s where I saw it) but it`s a film worth watching.
Silvio Vigliaturo - Glass Alchemist
I`m becoming smart, you know. It`s only the beginning of February, but it`s the fourth exhibition I`ve already been to this year! And it goes either into the first or the second place. Of course, before this exhibition the name of Silvio Vigliaturo wasn`t known to me - as you probably know I`m not a big expert of modern art (or of classical art for that matters). How can I describe what the exhibition had? Well, the basic thing was glass and forms made of it. And these forms were coloured in a somewhat weird manner - with paint, not coloured glass, that`s for sure. Most of the works depicted either lovers, rock`n`roll musicians (not certain musicians but musicians as such) or amazones. As it was written on the wall - Vigliaturo`s inspiration comes mostly from Picasso, Matisse and Marc Shagal. About the first and the third one I guess I could have guessed. It`s a lot of abstraction, of course, but an interesting abstraction for sure. I`m not gonna say that this exhibition made me think or something like that - it was just beautiful, and I don`t ask for nothing more.
Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
If I knew anything about music I`d probably call "I`m a bird now" one of the best records (if not THE best) of 2005. And there`s no wonder why - this is music for intellectuals and not just some shlock for the average Joe. The lyrics are incredibly deep and emotional, the production is very accurate and full of pain and helplesness. But there`s one thing bothering me about this album - I don`t like it. Despite what THEY tell you I can`t find this disc particulary catchy. What is interesting is the feeling that this Antony is a 70 years old black man although in fact he`s neither black nor old. But his gospel-soul music isn`t exactly what I would want to find under the Christmas tree. He may be smart, he may be talented, he may be whatever he is but it`s still that old time rocknroll I want to hear and not his religiously sounding wailings.
Casanova
Droši vien, šī nav visu laiku patiesākā un/vai precīzākā filma par slavenā Kazanovas dzīvi. Protams, mākslas filmas vispār nav gluži tas veids, kā iegūt faktoloģisku informāciju, bet šī filma pat kino žanrā nebūtu uzskatāma par diez ko biogrāfisku.
Kino - Gruppa krovi
Klausoties kārtējo "Kino" albūmu, varu saskatīt vienu izteiktu šīs grupas plusu un mīnusu. Pluss ir tās diezgan lipīgās melodijas. Mīnuss ir šausmīgā vienveidība. Šķiet, ka Viktora Coja balss tembrs un dziedāšanas maniere varētu būt pie vainas - viņš visas dziesmas izpilda gandrīz vienādi.
U.K. - K.U.
Despite the name this band hasn`t a lot to do with United Kingdom, instead you should understand the name U.K. as a short form for "Udriitis" "K." - I`m not sure what the name of the second member of the due is. The former is quite a popular musician in Latvia as the singer for the band "Hobos" which is even mentioned somewhere on this factoid. On "K.U." he leaves behind his usual language of singing - English - and switches to his native Latvian. What this album has a lot of is pretty arrangements - what it doesn`t have is a lot of interesting songs - in terms of melodies there`s not too much to get from this album. "Tirgus" has a very resonant chorus in the language of the roman people. "It`s cold in Beijin" is by far the most catchy song on the album and it`s no wonder it became the first single of the record. "Gljuk" which is sung in Russian reminds of a Russian band DDT which is neither a plus nor a minus. Overall if you listen to this record a lot of times in a row you probably can find it quite a nice thing to listen to but once you`ve pressed the stop button on your cd player "U.K." ceases to exist for you.
Employee of the Month
Jau otro filmu pēc kārtas konstatēju, ka neesmu bijis pietiekoši labi informēts. Kā es varēju palaist garām faktu, ka šajā filmā galveno sieviešu lomu atveido Džesika Simpsone, es patiešām nesaprotu. Tikpat labi tur varētu būt piedalījusies Britnija, un arī to es nebūtu piefiksējis. Vienreiz Simpsoni filmā jau esmu redzējis - pilnīgi idiotiskajā "Dukes of Hazzard" un tur viņa bija fenomenāli slikta. Šeit viņa nebija labāka. Vienīgais glābiņš - filmas veidotāji droši vien paši saprata, ko viņi ir izdarījuši, tāpēc daudz iespēju runāt Džesikai šai filmā nebija. Vairāk viņai bija iespēju rādīt pupus, kuri neapšaubāmi ir daudz talantīgāki par Džesiku Simpsoni kopumā.
