Friday, June 28, 2002
Today started with a bleary, sleep deprived Benway cycling into town with the intention of doing all the things he was supposed to do there yesterday. Haha, yeah right.I was so addled, I did the job centre thing, and then decided screw the bills and bank, they could wait till Monday… or Tuesday… or...
Wandering round aimlessly, I by chance stumbled into my favourite music/video store, and then stumbled back out 15 minutes later with a copy of A.I. on DVD and David Bowie’s new album Heathen in a limited edition double CD pack.
So tell us what they’re like, I hear you ask. (Actually, I don’t, but I’m gonna tell you anyway… so there.)
A.I. rocks.
There. Wanna know more? No? Tough… I’m gonna tell you anyway…hehe.
The acting is excellent all round. Haley Joel Osment is without a doubt the best child actor I’ve ever seen, utterly stomping all over other puke/cringe inducing, too cute to live child actors I could mention, while Jude Law never ceases to impress with every new movie he makes.
The visuals are utterly stunning. It really has reached a point now where movies can do anything and convincingly too. The quality off effects over the past couple of years seem to have made a massive leap, to the point where if you can imagine a thing, they can put it on the screen and make you believe it. Can you see the strings? Heck no.
A number of reviews I read/saw about this film suggested it had something of an identity crisis, with the dark edgy feel of Stanley Kubrick’s original material struggling to make it’s presence felt through Spielberg’s cutesy treatment. I’m not convinced by this argument, as to me the whole thing seemed to hang together very well as a whole, with only the ending feeling tacked on. Maybe I’m just a miserable git and don’t like happy endings though, cynic that I am.
Bowie’s Heathen album… interesting.
After Outside and Earthling, both utterly awesome albums, he seemed to drop the ball a little with Hours, it seeming somewhat uninspired. Heathen then, comes as a pleasant return to form.
It’s an odd album though, not at all easy to pin down and know where it’s coming from… with an edgy feeling, reminiscent of his East German trilogy Low/Heroes/Lodger, but with elements of his earlier, almost cabaret style heard in Diamond Dogs and even Ziggy Stardust. The production values though are bang up to date. Definitely odd. I like it. Of course, anything odd is good in my book.
I’m not actually sure if I’ve heard the whole album yet though, as I was so tired that after watching A.I., I kept drifting in and out of sleep while the album played on repeat for a few hours.
Something I’ve noticed about the music he’s released over the past few years… he doesn’t make songs you can sing along to anymore. This isn’t a criticism as such, but I’m sure it must affect his record sales, there having been no tracks like Ashes To Ashes, Modern Love, etc that you’d find yourself humming on the way to wherever. I wonder if this is to do with what must surely be a reduced vocal range, ‘cause lets face it, at 50 something, his voice is starting to sound just a little strained. Not a criticism, just an observation. He still rocks, and as a musician, will always be my hero.
Steve 8:33 PM [+]
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