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How Blue Can You Get?
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco Apparently, if you listen to the blues and snap your fingers exaggeratedly in order to “feel the music,” it means you’re living in the ’30s. Or so the actors of Dark Streets would have you believe. Nearly everything in this “noir musical fantasy” is reduced to cliches and generalizations, from the overacting to the colorless plot, making my on-a-whim decision to see this over Let the Right One In all the more painful. While Dark Streets tries to push its tagline ...

Friday Night Lights on Saturday: Episode 3.1, "I Knew You When"
The House Next Door — By Jonathan Pacheco [In memory of Andrew Johnston whose Friday Night Lights: Season 2 recaps can be found here.] When we last left Friday Night Lights, it was episode 15 of what was supposed to be a 22 episode season. Stories, plots, and relationships were left hanging with uncertainty when the WGA strike ended the season prematurely. But Season 3 picks up where episode 22 would have left off, and as a result, those missing episodes form a sort of "lost" mini-season. Friday Night Lights now must ...

Friday Night Lights on Saturday: Episode 3.2, "Tami Knows Best"
The House Next Door — By Jonathan Pacheco It took me a while to pinpoint what it was about this episode that rubbed me the wrong way, but I finally did. Watching the events unfold in "Tami Knows Best," too much of it seemed contrived. The writers knew where they wanted to end up and they manufactured ways to get there. The problem is, instead of polishing and reworking those scenes, they just left them at that. The moments they did focus on were fantastic; they were emotionally genuine and true to each character. The journey it took to get there just ...

This Beautiful Mess
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco In my book, an imperfect ambitious film far outweighs a perfectly executed “safer” film. Even if it stumbles along its way, I appreciate and admire the aspirations of a movie that tests me. That reasoning has me favoring films like I’m Not There over No Country For Old Men, or A.I.: Artificial Intelligence over almost everything else from that year. Synecdoche, New York has ambitions that, unlike many other 2008 films, go way beyond Oscar. An enigma of a film, it ...

Friday Night Lights on Saturday: Episode 3.3, "How the Other Half Live"
The House Next Door — By Jonathan Pacheco Tami’s an intelligent woman, but she also carries a bit of innocence, a trait that has aided her in her quest to help others, specifically as a guidance counselor. When the jaded people of Dillon deem someone to be a hopeless case, Tami has been the one to step in and have faith in that someone. Her belief in the good of others makes her a very trusting figure, which, in turn, enables others to trust her. But if she’s not careful, someone with Tami’s inherent trust can get herself into trouble by placing that ...

Friday Night Lights on Saturday (on Sunday): Episode 3.4, "Hello, Goodbye"
The House Next Door — By Jonathan Pacheco Last week, after a rough evening, Eric asked his wife, “You know who I miss? I miss the coach’s wife.” Tami returns with another question: “Do you know who I can’t wait to meet? The principal’s husband.” “Touché,” the coach says. This week, we get to see both the return of the coach’s wife and the debut of the principal’s husband in some of the strongest scenes Friday Night Lights has yet had this year. Roughly a third of the way through the third season, “Hello, Goodbye” marks a shift in the ...

Plots Without Regard
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco Youth Without Youth blipped briefly on my radar when it premiered; the return of Francis Ford Coppola excited me, but negative reviews quelled most of my enthusiasm. All I knew about the film was that it involved a man growing rapidly younger while his lover raced in the other direction. When the movie showed up on Netflix’s online streaming service, it once again aroused my interest, almost as an alternative to last year’s Benjamin Button. I soon found out that not only did Coppola’s film resemble ...

Friday Night Lights on Saturday: Episode 3.5, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"
The House Next Door — By Jonathan Pacheco It was bound to happen. The writing on the wall was there for several episodes, and in “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” Matt Saracen was finally demoted to backup quarterback as J.D. McCoy was crowned QB1. Coach Taylor has finally chose talent over experience and potential over the status quo. As I mentioned last week, a quarterback carousel will only work for a few games, and this team needs to look towards the future. As far as the coaching staff is concerned, J.D. is that future. Eric deals with the situation as ...

Friday Night Lights on Saturday (on Sunday): Ep. 3.8, "New York, New York"
The House Next Door — By Jonathan Pacheco Whenever a character makes the trek from a small country town to the Big Apple, you know something important’s going to happen. Jason Street and Tim Riggins seem to realize this as well. While celebrating the success of their house-flipping project, Jason reveals his intentions to go to New York, get a job as a sports agent, and win back his gal and son. “Why would you want to leave Texas?” Tim asks. “Because it’s not about Texas anymore. It’s about Erin and Noah.” “New York, New York” is Jason’s right of passage. He’s ...

All Around the World
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco Apparently, I'm a bit of a Tom Tykwer fan and never knew it. His name sounded familiar to me, and it was only when I looked up his credentials that I realized why: he's made some darn good films. The director is responsible for the uber-hip Run Lola Run, The Princess and the Warrior, Heaven (a part of Kieslowski's final, somewhat posthumous trilogy), and most importantly to me, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Tykwer has a little bit of an identity as a certain type of filmmaker, so I was a bit surprised ...

SXSW review: TRIMPIN: The Sound of Invention
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco If you’ve ever been to the Seattle Experience Music Project, you may have seen this impressive display: a 60-foot-tall tornado of electric guitars, which all just happen to be playing themselves. The mastermind behind the ambitious project goes by his last name only, Trimpin. The German native is a...well, it’s hard to decide how to classify the artist. Is he a composer? Yes. Is he an inventor? Yes. Is he a sculptor? You could say so. The man’s work spans so many different media that it’s almost confounding. TRIMPIN: The Sound of ...

Coming to it Cold: Watchmen
The House Next Door — By Jonathan Pacheco So much of the criticism and praise of Watchmen centers on the dilemma of adapting the acclaimed source material. Many deem the original graphic novel "unfilmable," others disagree. Theaters are overstuffed with the baggage that everyone brings to the film's viewing experience: Can it live up to my expectations? What will be different? Why did Snyder choose to ignore this element? After years of near-shame for having never read Watchmen, I'm now almost proud of the fact because I don't have to deal with the ...

Only Girls Are Allowed in Jazz
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco It’s Chicago, 1929. The Dodgers are still in Brooklyn and Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks are still married. Two almost unemployed musicians, Jerry (Jack Lemmon) and Joe (Tony Curtis), find work and money hard to come by; it doesn’t help that they bet what little money they have on race dogs that don’t come through. One evening they witness a group of mobsters whip out some Tommy Guns and mow down a row of enemies. The musicians bolt and take a gig with an all-girl jazz band on their way to Florida. In order to hide from the mob ...

Friday Night Lights on Saturday (on Sunday): Ep. 3.12, "Underdogs"
The House Next Door — By Jonathan Pacheco I’ve been wanting to write about this episode for months. “Underdogs” is the kind of hour of television that defines shows like Friday Night Lights, taking old ideas and making them better, making them new. There’s a passion in this episode that shines through in every scene. There’s a quiet wisdom, almost atmospheric in its presence. And there’s emotion—oh, is there emotion—that brings life to each situation, that makes every conflict relatable. “Underdogs” isn’t a season finale, but it sure has the strength and care of ...

Friday Night Lights on Saturday (on Sunday): Ep. 3.13, "Tomorrow Blues"
The House Next Door — By Jonathan Pacheco With a show about high school football players, you would think there would only be a few finale-worthy situations to facilitate the inevitable decisions and events that will either propel the show to the next season or fittingly end its run. State championships, prom, or, of course, graduation all seem tried-and-true, however “Tomorrow Blues” uses the Billy Riggins/Mindy Collette wedding as the episode’s gathering point. It still seems a little bit convenient and cliched, but I’m okay with it, as they’ve been talking about this wedding ...

Rhapsody in Black and White
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco Many describe Manhattan as more of a love story between a man and his city than a traditional love story between a man and a woman. I disagree with that, as I feel the plot of Isaac and Mary and Tracy really is the story being told. However, I do interpret the film itself, and the way it was made, not as Isaac’s relationship with Manhattan, but the director’s. Even the less-than-stellar Woody Allen films feature beautiful cinematography (I first noticed it in Small Time Crooks), but Manhattan ...

CSD: Crime Scene Disinfectors
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco Sunshine Cleaning gets its emotions and characters right, but feels the need to force them into specific situations. It leaves long stretches of story untouched, allowing the characters to be, exist, and reveal, only to intervene at somewhat critical points to steer the story in the direction it planned on going. This results in the audience member yelling at the film, “Get out of the way!” The idea of the plot intrigues -- two sisters, Rose and Norah (Amy Adams and Emily Blunt), decide to go into ...

Two Fists, One Body
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco It’s been widely reported that on his first date with his eventual wife, President Barack Obama took Michelle to see Spike Lee’s electrifying film, Do the Right Thing. It’s not only possible, but likely that the thought-provoking movie affected the thinking of the man who would become this country’s first black president some twenty years later. Many may not admit it, but there was an unconscious Utopian consensus that the beginning of the Obama Era represented a devastating blow to racism in America. While it marks a ...

A Laugh an Inch
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco Probably the most famous thing about Woody Allen’s 1980 film Stardust Memories is the self-referential recurring joke of fans telling a filmmaker that they prefer his “earlier, funnier movies” to his more artistic efforts. Take the Money and Run is Allen’s directorial debut (after he virtually disowned What’s Up, Tiger Lily?), and serves as the epitome of the comic’s “earlier, funnier” era. The film is a parade of pure silliness, utilizing the type of humor I find endearing in the ...

A One-Note Shtick
Edward Copeland on Film — By Jonathan Pacheco The initial draft of this review spent 850+ words droning on about the mockumentary aesthetic of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, going back and forth on whether or not to fault the film for abandoning said aesthetic halfway through the film. When I gave the draft to my friend and unofficial editor, her notes boiled down to this: “Why am I reading this?” My review of District 9 had no hook, no real reason to be read. I realized that my friend didn’t care about what I had to say because I didn’t care ...

Grandpa Carl’s Flying House: Up and Howl's Moving Castle
The House Next Door — by Jonathan Pacheco (Part of Pixar Week) If you read interviews or Wikipedia pages regarding director Pete Docter’s inspirations for Up, you’ll find an emphasis on lovable, grumpy actors, childhood fantasies, and real-life grandfather figures. I have no doubt that these all helped shape Docter’s vision for Pixar’s latest film, but I feel a particularly strong influence has been relegated to a footnote or an afterthought. Pixar garners comparisons to director Hayao Miyazaki with every new film, and I notice that ...