Capsule Reviews

Ready for some hott critique action? Well let's go!

V for Vendetta: Too much goddamn talking, and not even in the service of any original ideas.

Inside Man: Heist movies are clearly not Spike Lee's thing, and the movie seemed to go on for days, but the performances are great and Clive Owen is possibly the coolest man alive (King Arthur notwithstanding).

2006 Whitney Biennial: Day for Night: First off, too much bad installation art. Everyone's going to get sick of me saying this, but I have one rule about art... If you have to read an explanation or analysis of a piece before you can appreciate it on any level, then it's shitty art. This is in no way a bow to philistinism or even a call for "traditionalism." Far from it. I love conceptual art when it communicates an actual concept. Good art tends to be either intellectualy or aesthetically engaging. Great art is often both. Crappy art requires wall text, an audio guide, and/or a catalogue essay in order to be appreciated. Anyway, lots of crappy art, but there was some great stuff by Paul Chan, Rodney Graham, Hanna Liden, Florian Maier-Aichen, T. Kelly Mason and Diana Thater, Marilyn Minter, Jim O'Rourke, Francesco Vezzoli, Christopher Williams, and especially JP Munro and Anne Collier. Collier's photographs are amazing and I wish I could afford one. Also, in the interest of balance, the review in The Village Voice raved about the show.

Arctic Monkeys @ Webster Hall: Absolutely believe the hype. Just an amazing show, even if it was way too short. They're on a short list of current bands (including the Futureheads and the Walkmen) who are even better live than on record. I can barely get my mind around the fact that these guys are like 19 years old. Anyhoo, Brooklyn Vegan has the usual amazing pictures from the show, along with links to reviews.

Okay, enough unsolicited opinionificatin'.

Some sad news: Buck Owens passed away over the weekend. That's a bummer. He wrote and recorded one of my favorite songs, "Act Naturally." (Also, the Beatles' cover of that song is my all-time favorite Ringo Starr performance.) As always, I'm sure the New York Times has a good obit. The great Stanislaw Lem died too. Assuming the law of threes holds up, we've got another famous stiff comin' down the pike shortly. Unless these two are the tail end of the Don Knotts cycle.

FINALMENTE...

I am ashamed to admit that I have utterly neglected to plug Toby's amazing Live from the WB podcast. It took some other blogger doing it first for me to realize the oversight. Anyway, it's a funny, Billyburg-tastic romp through my favorite neighborhood that I don't technically live in anymore. Because I live in Bushwick now. There, I said it. I live in Bushwick, not "East Williamsburg." And I'm okay with that. Really. (Also, please donate to their AIDS Walk New York team.)