Weekend Update

Technically it's not the weekend, but there's a bunch of random issues to address, so I shall cover them here.

Upcoming Concerts

Luckily, a bunch of interesting concerts are happening while I'm on break. On March 3rd, I'm going to see The Scissor Sisters at MSG. I've heard they're great live, and I'm a huge fan of both albums, so it should be cool. Then on March 10th and 12th I'm going to see The Raveonettes. I saw them back at Across the Narrows in October 2005 and they stole the show. While I'm less than thrilled with the prospect of a duo show, with no drummer, the chance to see them in a venue as small as Mercury Lounge is pretty lucky. The new songs on their MySpace are great, but I'm really looking forward to hearing stuff off Pretty in Black. And, I'm also hoping to get tickets to The Pipettes at Bowery Ballroom on March 13th. Those are going for a lot on Craigslist, but I feel like I can probably grab one at some point. After that, on March 20th, I'll probably go see Explosions in the Sky.

Oscar Race

I'm not too excited by this year's Oscar race, the acting categories are pretty much a foregone conclusion, and I just feel like we've had these same Best Picture candidates for months now. While I did love The Departed and Babel, I don't feel like I've got the personal stake in those films that I did in some others this year. When a movie is less successful, you can make it more your own. In the case of Miami Vice, I feel like it's been a personal mission to rehibilitate the film's reputation, you don't need to do that with Babel. I'm just hoping that Little Miss Sunshine doesn't win Best Picture, while it's an alright movie, it's just nowhere near The Departed or Babel.

Pan's Labyrinth

I finally saw this the other day and while I liked it, I think I saw it much too late in the hype cycle. With a movie, expectations play a huge role, after months of critical praise, I was expecting something so overwhelmingly good, I would leave the theater in awe. While the film was good, it just didn't come close to its reputation, not the 98% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes nor the #68 all time ranking on the IMDB Top 250. If I had seen it before the hype, I probably would have enjoyed it more, but at this point, it just didn't match the expectations. It's similar to the experience I had with Children of Men, a film that, while good, couldn't quite live up to the hype. Note, this is a different hype than studio press, this is the critical and internet buzz that is more likely to indicate an actual great movie. But, I think they overplayed it with these two. Of the 'Three Amigos' films, I would consider Babel easily the best.

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