DVD/CD/GRAPHIC NOVELS: SHORT AMAZON REVIEWS

3* "Same old, same old."

This is the fifth trade paperback I've bought of DC's The New 52 and it doesn't match up to the standard of the previous four -those being Justice League, Batman, Catwoman (all 5*) and Animal Man (4*). There's just nothing really special about it, though it's reasonably competent. What it doesn't do is pull any surprises. Booster Gold, Guy Gardner (the usual bolshy I'm the greatest), Rocket Red, Batman, and Vixen all behave as you'd expect them to. Only Godiva and August General In Iron have anything interesting or new(ish) about them. Godiva feels outmatched and outpowered (she has super-hair and has only fought ordinary criminals until now) and overcompensates by trying to pull Booster. August General In Iron, when not arguing with Rocket Red (who's interchangeable with all previous Rocket Reds), is more sensitive than you'd expect. Also he's not DC's Chinese answer to Iron Man but to a very different major Marvel hero (who's been in at least one movie, and that's the only hint you're getting).

The most boring part is that they're up against a villain almost as powerful as Darkseid but even less interesting.

It you want a bog-standard DC superhero group then you'll probably like this. It's just not in the same (and I'm sorry for using this word) league as the other titles I've read. 

 4* "Not easy to watch"

This isn't a thriller or an action movie or a police procedural. Instead it's a portrayal of a cop in LA slowly drowning in a mess of his own making.

Never mind the excellent support from Ned Beatty, Anne Heche, Robin Wright, Cynthia Nixon, Ice Cube, Sigourney Weaver (and what a cast that is) and others, at the heart is an astonishing performance from Woody Harrelson as Dave 'Date Rape' Brown (the nickname coming from the widespread, and probably accurate, belief that he once murdered a serial date rapist), an equal opportunity bigot who hates everyone. Living with two ex-wives (who are sisters) and a daughter from each wife and despite trying to keep his family together, he's a compulsive womaniser. When he's not doing that or smoking heavily, he can be found beating suspects to extract information. But when he's caught on camera giving a vicious beating to someone who rammed his car and ran for it it, things start to really go downhill. This is made worse by his own stubbornness and a knack for making the wrong decision, despite a basic sharp intelligence.

This isn't a film to like, though it will certainly have its admirers of which I am (an uncertain) one. Also a lot of people will hate the end. The script was co-written by director Oren Moverman with cult crime novelist James Ellroy who can both be found talking about the film in the reasonably substantial making of. Whether or not it ultimately succeeds in what it was attempting, there's no doubting the ambitiousness of the project.  

3* "Oh, here's another one."

Unauthorised live albums by Neil Young and (sometimes credited, sometimes not) Crazy Horse seem to be crawling out of the woodwork this year. This single hour-long disc is from the same tour as the much better Cow Palace 1986, along with its barking dog and phone calls. Apart from an acoustic Needle & The Damage Done, it's a high octane electric collection with several standards like Mr Soul, Cortez the Killer, and if you think you know what the others are, apart from Opera Star, you're probably right.

It's not bad and the sound quality is acceptable, but unless you can't live without every note Neil's ever played, then this is nothing you haven't heard before. If you haven't got an unauthorised live Young album then go for Cow Palace. You can safely skip this one. 

 5* "Best Catwoman yet."

This is the fourth trade collection of DC's new universe The New 52 that I've bought and it maintains the high standard.

The character of Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is complicated. She has depths and a past which she thought she'd left behind. Sure, she's a criminal, a thrill-seeker, and sexually active -wait till you see what she and Batman get up to at the end of the first chapter, a scene which raised the roof when the original comic appeared- but she suffers from strong feelings of guilt which is no surprise when you see what happens to one of her friends.

But okay, the story. She goes up against the Russian Mob, mean Gotham ganglords, a super-powered villainess, has a complicated relationship with a protective Batman and, even worse, accidentally takes on some corrupt Gotham cops which really gets her in trouble. The dialogue is sharp, the art is sexy with low cut dresses and bright red lipstick. This is great stuff from the writer/artist team of Judd Winick and Guillem March.

Not to be missed. 

Note.

It was suggested by a friend of mine that the goggles actually look like a bra, which is true. However, on an uncoloured copy inside  they are clearly goggles. Just poor colouring then.

DVD/CD REVIEWS

Here we have the protagonists from the Swedish film The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which I watched last night. Like several people before me, I prefer the original title of the novel which translates as the far more appropriate The Men Who Hate Women. I've also read the novel, all three of the trilogy in fact, only a few months ago so they are relatively fresh in my mind which meant there weren't any real surprises for me in the film. More a case of: ah this where such and such happens.

It's a faithful, albeit relatively filleted, version of the book, excising major subplots such as the protagonist's complicated private life and numerous supporting characters, making it a two-hander and also a showcase for actor Noomi Rapace as the complicated and not a little disturbed Lisbeth Salander the genius computer hacker. Rapace is now poised as a breakout international movie star.

It's well-made with some lovely photography of the wintery Swedish countryside, the pace is sedate and action sequences are few and far between. I started watching the dubbed version because I thought I'd need to follow the plot quite closely without an added layer of distraction but quickly switched to Swedish with subtitles as I found the American accents just too irritating.

Like Let The Right One In (the brilliant Swedish vampire movie), it's currently being remade in America. Unlike that one, however, the location is staying the same which makes this remake even more redundant than the other.

This is the cover to Neil Young's Trans, one of his most critically derided albums, and one of my favourites of his. By 1982, no-one was sure what he'd come up next except that it would either be a rocker or a more acoustic folksy set or maybe a little of both. What no-one expected was a mostly synthesiser-vocoder dominated set which not only transformed Young's voice into something unrecognisable but also his guitar albeit less so. There are a couple of more standard Young songs such as the final Cortez the Killer style workout on the excellent nine-minute Like An Inca and the opening jaunty number Little Thing Called Love.

But after the deceptive opening we get Computer Age with terrifically Trans-formed vocals and nifty guitar work. After that we get a series of songs about transformational (computer) technology and what also seems to be a look into the soul of the machine. I think it works brilliantly and the songs are all of a high standard. I love it.

Oh, and the reason I'm reviewing it here and now is because I've only just bought the CD two decades after getting rid of all my vinyl albums. It's as good as I remember and hasn't dated at all which you might think it would bearing in mind that it's 28 years old. Young singing, while altered drastically, is still recognisable. I love it.

I GOT IT TODAY: 8

DVD: Jekyll (BBC 2007)
I missed this 6-part series when it was shown on TV but people who did catch it told me enough to think I'd probably like it. I'm halfway through and it's terrific. I waited until I could get it for less than a fiver though.

DVD: Zombie Strippers (2008)
Another one I waited until it was really cheap -less than four quid. Just hope it's better than a similar-themed thing I saw on Zone Horror recently.

CD: Neil Young - Fork In The Road (2009)
His latest, getting good reviews and the samples on Amazon sounded interesting. Played it once and think it'll grow on me very quickly. Incidentally, I've decided that the Neil Young album I enjoy the most is the much-maligned Re.ac.tor

GRAPHIC STORY: Manhunter -Forgotten (DC 2009)
Last, and weakest, in a highly regarded but poor selling series.

GRAPHIC STORY: Asterios Polyp written/drawn by David Mazzucchelli (Pantheon 2009)
Tipped as being the graphic novel of the year, it's a lengthy, clearly told, but very subtle and philosophical story that's going to take me a while and several readings to fully appreciate; but I like it.

Post Script

Don't take 'I Got It Today' literally, though it did start out like that.

I've now played the Neil Young CD a couple of more times and put it up on my Amazon marketplace list along with the Manhunter GN. I'm not sure if it's me or if he's finally lost it. I've also just sold the Archives box set for £53.86 less than two days after putting it on.

Odd coincidence here. This morning I went to pick up and pay for a packet from the parcels office which didn't have enough (actually no) postage on it (which turned out to be a DVD that had gone missing and I'd been refunded for), and a non-delivered packet for Susan's mother -the card had been laying around the house for weeks. That packet contained a box full of the super efficient lightbulbs which are sent out free to pensioners (we've got loads). The box actually turned out to be the perfect size and shape to fit the Neil Young Archives. Kismet!

Or should that be Synchronicity! Or what's that word I remembered a moment ago but have now forgotten but might resemble Catweazle!

Fades into incoherence...



















Serendipity!

CD: Simon & Garfunkel The Collection

Back in 1967 I was about to buy my first record, my first vinyl album, and it was going to be one of two. One of the choices was Simon & Garfunkel's 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme' which, like my other choice, I'd heard at the college in Lancashire I'd started attending the previous year. Money being tight, I wanted to make the right choice. In the end I chose the other one and, several weeks later, bought my second choice. It seems as if this choice has dictated my musical taste for the rest of my life because the first album I bought was John Mayall, Eric Clapton Bluesbreakers, the seminal, electric guitar dominated, piece of British Blues. And ever since, I've always preferred the rawer end of the musical spectrum, though there has always been a place for the tasteful side.

Just look at my two latest purchases: Neil Young Archives vol.1 (see previous entry) and this one. The period both cover is almost identical. Spooky.

The Collection, however, is simply a remastered collection of their five studio albums with a number of additional bonus tracks, some 'new' songs, some alternative versions; though there is the bonus of a live DVD of the 1981 reunion concert. And it cost me a staggering £8.95. No, I didn't miss a 0 after the 8 or put the decimal point in the wrong place. It cost a tenth of the going UK rate for Young's Archives and was an impulse buy when I saw it in a shop in Newcastle yesterday. (Turns out even Amazon is selling it for £4.00 more. Sweet.)

Yes, but is it any good?

Well, of course it is, though it's decades since I last heard any of it and as such I find I have a different perspective on it. The first three albums in particular are a young man's music, full of romance, cynicism, disillusionment, hope, and social awareness with a wistfulness of touch and an almost unknowing naivety. They are the story of Paul Simon discovering his voice and learning about music and that it's possible to utilize rock instrumentation in the service of folk without abandoning, as Dylan did around the same time, the folk elements.

This, by today's standards, is low key music, beautifully played and gorgeously quietly sung so that you have to strain to hear the exquisite harmonies. I'd forgotten just how wonderful Art Garfunkel's voice was.

Songs I haven't heard for years come back vividly, surprising me with their delicacy and brevity and how appropriate that is, like a glass of chilled fresh lemonade on a blisteringly hot summer's day. This is music that was part of my youth but nearly forgotten in the sonic assault of the countless loud heavy and blues guitar solos I've listened to since. But it isn't a part of today. No matter how beautiful it can be it brings back a part of my past, of times long gone, suffused with nostalgia.

But that's okay too.

CD: Neil Young Archives Vol. 1

There's a lot of wonderful music on here but there's a fair bit that isn't.

The earliest tracks are basically juvenilia. Neil isn't even trying to find his voice, though he does manage to find Hank Marvin's. But no-one with any sense expected it to be otherwise; they are an historical curio and that's about it. Once we get past those and the Buffalo Springfield material we start to find the real Neil Young even then there are a number of so-so songs. But then there are also a lot of the great ones too. I suppose the big disappointment is that there are no unheard of unreleased gems. Bruce Springsteen could issue a massive box set of unreleased brilliant material but not, it would appear, our Neil.

However, my biggest grouch, my only real one to be honest, isn't the music, it's the presentation and the cost.

Basically it's a disgustingly shoddy package for the price.

A long box which folds into two to reveal four discs in each compartment. Anyone care to guess how long it will be before the hinge splits and we're left with two smaller boxes? Mine is starting to tear already.

Then's there's bits of adhesive from the binding which has got onto the discs themselves. (I got my copy from the States, if the UK box wasn't produced there, you may not find this.) It doesn't stop the CDs from playing perfectly but it doesn't look very good. But then neither do the cheapo individual CD cases themselves -a bit cardboard with just the disc and nothing to protect it.

As for documentation, there's this pointless long sheet of paper with a handwritten list of titles on the top of files. The booklet is cramped and difficult to read, consisting purely of text about track details, just hard factual details. The most clear list of contents, which provides basic useful track details, is on the cellophane wrapper and I nearly threw that away. Even then it omits running times which is something I always like to see.

There is no biographical material at all.

For this we're expected to pay around £90.00? And just to add insult to injury, as other reviewers have pointed out, the set includes two previously released live CDs which anyone remotely interested in this box set will already have. So effectively we're only getting 6 CDs for our money.

At even half the price this would be overpriced. Still, the music remains mostly pretty damned good. I just wish I didn't have this sour taste in my mouth.

Post Script

A slightly different version of this review was submitted to Amazon.

MUSIC: The High Cost of Neil Young

I'm a big fan of Neil Young and have been for 35 years (give or take). For several (indeed several several) years, I and thousands of Young fans have been patiently awaiting the release of the first of Neil's Archive volumes which purportedly contained masses of new unreleased material.

Well, the first one is finally out and while the music is apparently excellent, the lack of new material falls far short of what was expected. Nevertheless I still I wanted a copy. However, the cheapest price I could find was Amazon for around £86.00. Bugger that for a game of soldiers. Nearly ninety quid for eight CDs!

Then I had a brainwave -not unusual for me, I admit, but still... I'd check the Amazon USA price. Aaaand, when I converted dollars to pounds, then, including the postage, it worked out at around £46.00. Sold! It's on its way to me now. And if (unlikely as it seems) I don't like it, then I can always sell it on Amazon Marketplace and still make a small profit. I checked just before writing this and the current cheapest price is £57.00. But the highest-

The highest price is £160.07 and it's available for this tidy sum from -and you are going to love this- CHEAPCDSDVDS!

POST SCRIPT

I've noticed that for expensive items, it's often cheaper to buy from Amazon USA than UK. Also winging their way to me are Gilbert Hernandez' epic graphic story Luba, True Blood the complete first season and it hasn't even aired in the UK yet*, and Woodstock the super duper Blu Ray, enhanced with bucket loads of extras DVD (see Harry Knowles review on Aint it cool news). Come soon, come soon.

* I'm taking a chance here as I've only seen a brief clip but I've read some of the books and the reviews make it sound great.