PCP Reviews

My Kid Could Paint That

4-year-old Marla Olmstead paints abstract pieces that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The fame and fortune brought on by these pieces turns into a whirlwind of press and an increase in sales.  When a 60 Minutes piece videotapes a piece from start to finish and compares it to off-camera pieces, however, suspicion arises as to the validity of the claim.  Did the girl REALLY do these pieces by herself?  Why do her off-camera, high-priced pieces look so polished and thought-out when compared to her on-camera pieces?  The family vehemently denies assisting her in any way, but the damage is done.  This film captures the rise and fall (and semi-rise again) of the girl and her family, and sheds light on the vulture that is modern media.  What starts as a “believe it or not” piece soon turns into a devil’s advocate, forcing the viewer to ultimately decide for themselves whom they believe.  Not for everyone, but a definite “check it out” if you’ve ever wondered why people pay so much for modern art.

RATING:

Darkon

Another documentary I watched (starting to notice a trend?), this one covers a subset of society that many either don’t know about or mock openly: Live Action Role-Players (LARP).  Yes, these are the people who dress up in homemade armor and fight each other on soccer fields with foam weapons, yelling “Point!” when they damage their opponent.  The film does an excellent job at treading the line between mocking and pity.  You get a sense of how much this hobby means to the people involved and how much it helps them survive their day-to-day hells.  To be honest, which of us DOESN’T have an escape, be it alcohol/drugs or reading/video games?  While several of the more diehard LARPers are pretty disturbing (Happy Fun Ball told me she was frightened several times during the movie), most of the subjects are pretty normal people with normal lives and jobs.  These interviews are intercut with the backstory of Darkon (a made-up kingdom where the different parties battle for pieces of land) and the war between two rival factions.  These scenes, done up in complete homage to Lord Of The Rings and/or Braveheart (complete with swooping aerial shots and on-the-ground battle scenes), are when the true ridiculousness of the hobby shines and does a lot to take away from the humanity the rest of the film tries to build.  All in all, a interesting (and scary) look into a much-maligned group.

RATING:

Cube

Wow.  What a brilliant concept utterly destroyed by horrible acting.  I’ve seen quite a few indie/low-budget movies before, but never one with so much scene-chewing and overacting as Cube.  The gist of the story is this: several people wake up in a six-sided room, with door seals on every face (ceiling/floor/walls).  Opening the doors leads to other sealed rooms, many of which are booby-trapped.  Choose the wrong room, die horribly.  As the characters begin to meet each other and team up to solve the mystery of the cube, the obvious lack of acting experience begins to surface.  The black cop is especially over-the-top, delivering his lines as if this movie would earn him an Oscar nomination.  There are more deaths, several instances of treachery, and an ending that never quite answers the questions raised in the film.  Amazingly, there have been two sequels (neither of which I’ll be renting anytime soon) and the overall reviews of the movie rank high.  I recommend it if you’re interested in a truly unique concept (for its time, as Saw has pretty much taken this and run with it) yet can stand god-awful acting and a lack of closure.

RATING:

3:10 To Yuma

A good western movie.  That’s about it.  It’s a remake, I haven’t seen the original, so I can’t compare the two.  I’m guessing this version is a bit more violent than the previous, as that’s how remakes tend to be these days.  The acting is solid, the cinematography is beautiful, and the action is pretty fucking awesome.  Nothing incredible to write home about, but a solid movie altogether.

RATING:

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

Holy balls, if Trent Steel ever wrote a book…Ellis is well-known in comic book circles for his twisted takes on staples like X-Men, as well as his independent books like Fell.  This is his first novel (more of a novella, as it’s pretty short), and it is pure Ellis through and through.  The story follows ?, a down-and-out private detective, as he is hired to track down the only copy of alternate Constitution Of The United States.  This alternate book, which allegedly has the power to revert anyone to 1950s-era normalcy upon hearing it, leads ? on a chase through the sordid underbelly of modern America: gay dudes pumping saline into their balls in Columbus, Ohio; transvestites in Las Vegas injecting inject their asses and other body parts in hopes of J-Lo-esque figures; and a warehouse full of cubicles where every fetish imaginable is streamed live to the web.  Ellis is no stranger to the weird fringe cultures of the world, but even this book is a fucking shocker.  Definitely an interesting twist on the hard-boiled detective noir of Chandler, but only for the strong of stomach and/or mind.

RATING:

FLUXX

I read about this online and immediately bought a deck of cards the next day.  This game is fucking FUN, man.  The rules of the game?  Draw a card, play a card.  That’s it.  Oh, except for the fact that the rules can be changed at any time with the playing of a rule card.  And there’s no way to win until someone plays a “Goal” card.  And the other cards you play may or may not help you in the long run.  This game constantly changes things up, with rules played on top of rules then discarded for a completely new set.  There is an element of strategy if you take the time to analyze your cards, but for the most part it’s a crazy time simply remembering the rules in front of you (one game, we had “draw 6, play your entire hand” as the main rules).  Most games are under 30 minutes, with several only last a few hands.  Fresh, innovative, and fun as hell at parties.

Oh, there’s different varieties of the game, including “Stoner Fluxx” for *ahem* some contributors…

RATING:

Ghosts I-IV – Nine Inch Nails

If you somehow haven’t heard/read yet, Trent Reznor has released the latest 2-disc NIN album as an internet-only download (for now), with a pricing structure set up that could possibly rock the current music distribution setup:  download the first 9 tracks (out of 36) for free, in DRM-free MP3s; or pay $5 and download the entire set in a variety of DRM-free formats (FLAC, Apple Lossless, etc.); OR pay $10 (with $7 for shipping) to have the CD delivered to you in April (while still downloading the album in multiple formats today); OR , for $75, get the slipcase-hardcover Deluxe Edition.  There was an uber-limited set of 2,500 that was going for $300 a pop.  They sold out.  That alone is $750,000, direct to Trent.  Sure, he’s going to have to cover duplication/mastering/processing fees (as well as new server costs, as the original ones crapped out due to overwhelming demand for downloads), but that’s a shit-ton of money for this kind of structure.

So, how does the actual music stack up?  Meh.  Honestly, I really dig it but it won’t appeal to a lot of people.  First off, it’s 36 tracks of complete ambient/instrumental music (think Brian Eno or Aphex Twin’s softer side).  I find it perfect to zone out to, as well as great background music while working.  That aside, is it worth the money?  It’s out on torrents right now for free, so check it out yourself.  That’s what I did, downloading a 320kbps MP3 version and rocking it for a couple of days.  Then, I went to the website and paid Trent my $5 to download a FLAC version (complete with extras like wallpaper, graphics, and a PDF).  Why pay when I already have it?  To support this concept.  Modern artists make as little as $0.16 per disc of the $15-$19 CDs they sell.  With this, I’m getting DRM-free, LOSSLESS versions of the songs for a cheap price and Trent’s getting my money directly.  No middleman, no mark-up.  Perfect fucking sense.

ALBUM RATING:

EXPERIMENT RATING:

I also ask that any fans check out the songs (either the 9-track sampler or via torrent downloads) and, if you dig it, support this experiment by ordering the version of your choice.

Friday Night Lights (NBC)

I wasn’t planning on digging a show about football.  Much like the movie from which this series gets both its title and original storyline, however, I found myself completely invested in just about every character.  Yes, the characters are originally broadly-written stereotypes: the reluctant second-string quarterback forced into the limelight when the star QB1 is injured; the loudmouth running back with NFL aspirations; the mysterious fullback with a drinking problem; the first-time coach with something to prove.  On paper, it sounds fucking ridiculous.  On the show, though, the writers/directors let these characters flesh out fully and believably: they grow, they interact, they change.  As the show progresses, the focus shifts quite a bit from the obligatory Friday night match (which inevitably is won at the LAST FUCKING MINUTE every time) towards the ongoing stories involving the characters off the field: the reluctant (now) QB1 dealing with his new-found fame while trying to take care of his elderly grandmother all by himself; the loudmouth running back dealing with racism in the small Texas town; the mysterious fullback’s love affair with his best friend’s girl.  More interesting and believable then the teenagers’ stories (and I’m only touching on a few) is the relationship the coach has with his wife and family.  I’ve never believed an onscreen couple were in love as much as these two, and that’s a complete testament to both the writing and the amazing performances by Kyle Chandler and the amazingly beautiful Connie Britton.  While there are several plotlines that are either completely unbelievable or utterly ridiculous over the show’s two-season run, they are quickly overshadowed by another more interesting plot.  That’s what makes this such a great series, and I’m glad that it recently got picked up for a third season (despite less than stellar ratings).

Oh, and lest I forget, SEVERAL of the high-school chicks are fucking smokin’. Just saying…

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