Nightcap 5/14/17: Taking a break, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL.2, Groundhog Day The Musical and Randi'slinks

Subculture - Teaser Trailer - A film by Jason Kartalian from Jason Kartalian on Vimeo.
You won’t notice it, but I’m going on walkabout for a bit.

The short version is that because of a combination of things in the real world and over doing it with Unseen I’ve hit a wall…and then the wall fell on me. The upshot of which is I’m not feeling it. If the mood hits me I can write like the dickens but if not it’s like pulling teeth and I've been pulling a lot of teeth. The practical upshot is I’m not happy a lot of what I’ve been turning out. Some of the films, deserved better from me.

This doesn’t have anything to do with the flood of Tribeca coverage-I was on the slide before that- and frankly some of  the films thre inspired me to do some of the few recent reviews I am happy with.

This is something else.

I am going to try and work it out over the next few weeks and see what happens.

Until I sort out what I want to do I am going to take it easy and try and piece my love of life, film and writing about it back together.

I'm going to pick and choose more. If it doesn’t call to me I’m not going to bother. I’ve been starting to do that recently but I’m going to be doing it more. I'm also not going to write up any film that is going to be too much work to write up.

It hit me last weekend when I saw a terrible film that riffs on Annie Hall. I realized that I disliked it so much that I was going to spend three or four hours writing an epic destruction of the film. I suddenly couldn’t understand why I was going to spend most of a day picking on a film that needed to just disappear back into obscurity when I could be outside doing something more productive. I emailed the PR people ,apologized and then took the dog for a walk and felt better.

For now I’m going to just try and become one with something or other. I’ll still be giving you a film a day for a while-Unseen programed into August.  I’ve got some new stuff coming, I have some reposts of films that are getting released soon and I have reposts of reviews I did for IMDB and elsewhere coming...  And Lincoln Center Open Road Italian film series coming,. Human Rights Watch is coming... New York Asian, Japan Cuts and Scary Movies are coming,  so I’ve got plans... which will hopefully bring me back to the fold...
----
I saw GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 2 when it opened last week. I suspect that everyone will see it so my little bit won't matter but I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

I like it I don't love it. The problem is the first half bickering is wildly out of character with where we left off after the last film ao as a result the film is half over before it starts to work. The music is fine, but the use of Cat Steve's Father and Son is crushing and gives the film an ungodly weight the film never truly earns.

Its James Gunn at his best and worst- often in alternating sequences.
----
I Saw the musical version GROUNDHOG DAY on Broadway this week.

The stage is a version of Bill Murray film and it's not bad. Its a beautifully staged show with some real magic in how it's done. Andy Karl is great as the Bill Murray character but at the same time he's such a dick the play is almost over until we begin to like him.

While Danny Rubin is listed as writing the book, it's kind of misleading since the film is almost all music and lyrics from comedian and rock star Tim Minchin.

The problem with the film is that the plot gets lost at times. We know what is supposed to happen do the show goes for a lot of jokes. Sadly that means that any one other than Andy Karl's  character is short changed with the result the romance never quite works. Except at the very end.

Minchin's score doesn't sound like anything he's done before- thats good and bad- its good because we see how broad his range is but it's bad because some of the songs are poor. Worse the there are three songs in the show that belong elsewhere since they add absolutely nothing to the show but fill time- They are songs that "flesh out" nonentity characters that mean nothing to the show. They are probably the best songs in the show but they need a better show around them

And as much as I can and have pulled the show apart the last five minutes left me teary- from the dance in the snow to the curtain I was deeply moved. While I will never say the show truly earns the tears I can not deny I got misty.

Reservations aside definitely worth a look
-----
And Now Randi's links

Animals were Harmed (the email)
advertsing fails
Out houses of Gowanus
replacing dead actors
Virgin Fibre
Chaplin
Do you know this song
'Hey Duggee' Creator Grant Orchard On Creating An Unconventional Preschool Show
Tale of two Gordons
chasing Amy 20 years on
Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers fire safety
Specsavers Fawlty Car, featuring John Cleese
Samsung ostrich 
Good Night Groot
Good Night Groot take 2
Vin Diesel recording Groot
When Albums ruled the world
Kung Fu