My Amazon DVD Reviews: The Master

Worthy of The Cause
3 Out Of 5 Stars

A troubled young soul in need of redemption comes to a charismatic philosopher who claims to have the answers. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd, who is obviously loosely based on L Ron Hubbard and his cult of Scientology. When Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a World War II veteran who can't adjust to civilian life stumbles aboard Dodd's yacht party, the two find a sort of common bond with each other. Freddie has a need to find answers, The Master claims he has them. For the next two hours, the 2 men circle each other in a sort of tragic dance.

"The Master" explores the bond between Hoffman and Phoenix and it is a difficult bond to watch. Freddie has issues the run so deep that even Hoffman's "processing" can't draw them out. The two men metaphorically explore what it is like to be a cult follower in a cult leader. Hoffman in particular exudes charisma even when other characters point out that "The Cause" seems like it is being made up as they go along. At the same time Freddie is so desirous of a father figure/guiding light not only is he willing to follow "The Cause," he is willing to fight off anyone who dares question the Master's divinity.

The movie does a great job in showing what willing followers will do in search of the ultimate answer. Phoenix, as the troubled young Freddie, runs through the movie like a powder keg just waiting to explode. Even in the end, as the two men try to mend their differences, Phoenix can't hide that he is wound up tighter than a watch spring even as Hoffman attempts to console him one last time. "The Master" is not an easy movie to watch. Phoenix burns so darkly and with such intensity that it is hard to wonder if he is redeemable. He earned his Oscar nomination, as does Hoffman, who for the bulk of the movie remains unflappable in the faith of his beliefs. Dodd desperately wants his protege to follow his leadership while Freddie struggles between his love of Dodd and the leash that The Master keeps his followers on.

"The Master" doesn't explode. It is a slow burn of a film that reveals its greatnesses the hard way.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Green Day "Tre!"

I'm beginning to recall why artists will record 30 to 40 songs and whittle down to 12.
3 Out Of 5 Stars

"Tre!" wraps up the three album rocket ride in Green Day's ambitious experiment. Ambition doesn't always yield greatness, and while Uno! felt like a great start, Dos! and Tre! were let downs. "Tre!" in particular starts off with a batch of soggy songs that just don't have any kick to them. You really don't get to the good stuff until "X-Kid" starts blowing down some doors. Then you get a teenage anthem in "Sex, Drugs & Violence" (which chooses to rhyme with "English Math and Science"). The best thing here is the segmented "Dirty Rotten Bastards," which has a feel more like "American Idiot" than the other albums in the trilogy plus has the added feature of some really nifty bass runs from Mike Dirnt. Finally, there's a Beatlesque string drenched power ballad, "The Forgotten." Which isn't bad, but not amazing.

There's a key line in "X-Kid" that's sort of telling.
"You're not so young,
but you're still dumb.
You're an X-Kid
and you never even got started again."

Is this how the band feels about itself? After two of the more successful albums of the past decade, "Uno," "Dos" and "Tre" feel a lot like the band treading through past glory (and maybe they're waiting for Billy Joe to get out of rehab so they can take these songs out and road rock them), but it feels like the Sandinista Clash. Three albums of sprawl that could have made one condensed kicking single disc, maybe even a double. What they stand as now is a case of overkill.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Jewel "Greatest Hits"

Gems by Jewel
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Jewel's story could be an album unto itself. She started out in Alaska, came to California when her parents divorced, then began living out of a van and playing wherever she could find a gig. It made her debut, "Pieces of You," a huge album in 1995, with collegiate poetry and sensitive soulful singing, That kicked off a near two decade career that fills this first Greatest Hits with everything from singer-songwriter folk to Nashville country, from children's albums to a flirtation with dance pop.

Her sincerity carries each twist of her career and makes the songs sound legitimate, even if the stylistic contortions may have occasionally let her fans feel bewildered. But Jewel was the kind of artist who would dabble in whatever tickled her fancy, including writing books of poetry and issuing a spoken word album to accompany them. Like Tori Amos and Natalie Merchant from roughly the same period, Jewel would follow wherever her muse took her.

So you get the earnest "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "Foolish Games" from the debut, setting the template for much of her career. Clear and pure vocals over pleading lyrics, which was much of what "Pieces of You" was made of, and propelled it to over 10 Million in sales. While that album was a rough, unpolished recording, Jewel got better fast and the slicker but still true to her roots on "Spirit," using Madonna's producer Patrick Leonard. Despite that slickness, "Hands" and "Down So Long" became substantial hits. "This Way" followed in the same footsteps, yielding "Standing Still."

Then came the big U-Turn of "0304." Appears Jewel also had a thing for Brittany Spears, as the techy dance pop of "Intuition" shows in all its big beat glory. It was a move that didn't last long, because the next record was the autobiographical concept album, "Goodbye Alice In Wonderland." The sensitive singer songwriter confessions were back with "Good Day." And as so many of the 80's and 90's female folk singers were wont to do, Jewel also discovered country on "Perfectly Clear" (repped here by "Stronger Woman"). basically, it still sounded like the same Jewel, but this time with steel guitars. She also recorded the more folk than country "Sweet and Wild," which felt more like a folk record but still held some of the twang. However, her first album of Children's music gives this collection its only dud, a recording of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."

Finally, there are the bonus tracks. Taking obvious aim at both contemporary pop and modern country, Jewel takes tow of her best known songs and recreates them. First the Pistol Annies add some countrified harmonies to an elongated "You Were Meant for Me." Then she gets Kelly Clarkson to add some windpower on "Foolish Games." The duet doesn't really better the original, but given the time expended between the first and the current version, it isn't a stretch to think they might get another go-around on their respectively aimed formats. Plus one brand new song, "Two Hearts Breaking," which has her smooth voice over a contemporary beat but is still very much Jewel.

Collected together, you can follow a path that is decidedly oddball but most certainly commercial. Jewel's "Greatest Hits" is a perfect summary of 80's and 90's sensitive singer songwriters wrapped into one very succinct CD and captures just about all the biggest songs in a career that still took on its share of left turns along the way.