Shades of GrayThere should be no irony; you are invited by the movie to be total-ly empathe-tic with the people in it. We would never talk down to or be condescending to them.-- The thinking behind Two Lovers***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****My introduction to James Gray came through his second fea-ture, The Yards, which screened at the 2000 Toronto Interna-tional Film Festival with Gray and actors Mark Wahlberg andJoaquin Phoenix in attendance (the film also stars James Caan,Faye Dunaway, and an unrecognizably brunette Charlize Theron).Gray was a little nervous about presenting such a personal film—the title refers to the Queens ra

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ThoseSocksHaveSecretsKen Flagg, The End of Suf-fering, Incur-able Eclectic Records [11/3/09]Morning quivers like a Theremin.-- Ken Flagg, "Those Socks Have Secrets"On his 2006 debut, San Francisco multi-instrumentalist Ken Flagg was mired in Paralysis and Denial. Now he seeks The End of Suffering. On first track "Pieces," the sinking feelingsets in that Flagg is yet another in a long line of sensitive sing-er/songwriters, but then he rocks the hell out of "MountainGirl," and the feeling passes (I've just spent too much timewith heart-on-sleeve balladeers more interested in makingladies swoon than in doing any serious emotional excavation).Flagg contin

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It Might Get Wiggy: Part TwoClick here for Part One: Theremin: An Electronic OdysseyBRIAN WILSON: I JUST WASN'T MADE FOR THESE TIMES [***](Don Was, US, 1995, 70 mins.)"I think he stayed in bed for two years."-- His mother on her son's lost weekendLike PBS pledge perennial Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night (1988), this tune-filled television documen-tary was shot in grainy B&W and looks artier than you mightexpect from big-league composer/producer Don Was.Was interviews a few surprisingly iconoclastic artists, as well,such as the Velvet Underground's John Cale and Sonic Youth'sThurston Moore, as well as the expected hitmakers: Tom Pe

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It Might Get WiggyEvery year, I review dozens and dozens of music doc-umentar-ies. Most focus on a particular artist or genre, but every once in awhile a film arrives to focus on a specific instrument. Davis Guggenheim's upcoming It Might Get Loud, for instance, celebrates the electric guitar from the perspective of Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2), and Jack White (the White Stripes). In honor of Guggenheim's follow-up to the Oscar-winning An Inconven-ient Truth, this seems like the ideal time to post a review of the follow-ing, one of the better music documentaries to play the Seattle Interna-tional Film Festival—and SIFF screens a lot of mus

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Pacino in the '90s: Part TwoClick here for part oneOne of my favorite actors in the 1970s (The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon), Al Pacino started to slip in the '80s (Author! Author!, Revolution), but then regained his footing in the '90s (Glengarry Glen Ross, Heat), only to lose it again in the '00s (88 Minut-es, Righteous Kill). Here's a look back at two of his fin-est '90s performances, one widely celebrated, the oth-er unjustly maligned. This review has been slightly revised from the original 1997 text and was never previously published.THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE [***](Taylor Hackford, US, 1997, 144 mins.)Vanity is definitely my favorite sin.-- John Milto

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Pacino in the '90s: Part OneOne of my favorite actors in the 1970s (The God-father, Dog Day After-noon), Al Pacino started to slip in the '80s (Author! Author!, Revolution), but then regained his footing in the '90s (Glengarry Glen Ross, Heat), only to lose it again in the '00s (88 Minutes, Righteous Kill). Here's a look back at two of his finest '90s performances, one widely celebrated, the oth-er unjustly maligned. This review has been slightly revised fromthe original 1997 text and was never previously published. DONNIE BRASCO [****](Mike Newell, US, 1997, 127 mins.)After directing one of the most successful British films of all time,Four Weddings

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Chaos Ensues: Part TwoClick here for part oneFrom time to time, I'll be excavat-ing reviews that aren't otherwise available online. Before I started freelancing for Amazon, I us-ed to contribute customer reviews. In 2000, I reviewed Jesus' Son. Since then, the DVD has gone in and out of print. On the off-chance it disappears from the site altogether, this review also lives here.JESUS' SON(Alison Maclean, US, 1999, 107 mins.)It's hard to believe Drugstore Cowboy first made its debut 20years ago. Just as 1996's Trainspotting has sometimes been de-scribed as a "Drugstore Cowboy for the '90s," it's tempting todescribe Jesus' Son as a "Drugstore Cowboy for

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Movie of the Month: Part NineI recently reviewed the follow-ing film for Video Lib-rarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.GLOBAL METAL [***](Sam Dunn & Scot McFadyen, Canada, 2008, 93 mins.)In their follow-up to Metal - A Headbanger's Journey, co-directors Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen explore the effects ofglobalization on heavy metal. Simply put: why is a genre withroots in the working-class West so popular around the world?They find that it has a lot to do with the newfound freedom toexpress oneself and to live a life unencumbered by tradition.The duo starts in Brazil, where Dunn visits a metal mall, looksback at the Rock in Rio Festiv

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Transcendence in Mind"Possibly the greatest Brit-pop band to ever come out of Seattle."-- Devil in the WoodsThe Purrs, Amused, Confused, & More Bad News, Big Damn Deal MusicFormed in Seattle in 2000, the Purrs sound more like Britishshoegazers from the 1980s or '90s, such as House of Love or theVerve. Then again, paisley-patterned rock once ruled the EmeraldCity, too, as embodied by Pure Joy, Room Nine, and Ron Nine'sSub Pop spin-off Love Battery, but the Northwest variant neverbroke as big as the UK or West Coast models, i.e. Rain Parade, theThree O'Clock, and the Plimsouls (Jason Milne's guitar-playingon "Baby I Want You Back" recalls "A Million

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August ReviewsThese are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.Amazon DVDs: Echelon Conspiracy with Shane West, Ed Burns, and Ving Rhames, Psych - The Complete Season Three [two-disc set] (click here for a review of Season Two), and This American Life - Season Two (click here for Season One). Amazon Profile: James Garner for Armchair Commentary.Still playing: Chéri, Cold Souls, Food, Inc., Public Enemies, State of Play, The Stoning of Soraya M., Summer Hours, and Sunshine Cleaning.Siffblog: Tony Manero and the conclusion of a chat withBarry Jenkins. I also fixed the links for The Bridesmaid,Innocence, Tales of the Rat Fink, and You're

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