girl about town

The Runaways, directed by Floria Sigismondi (Released: March 2010)

Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart), Cherie Curry (Dakota Fanning), Robin (Alia Shawkat) 

In the beginning of the new The Runaways movie, you witness Cherie Currie (played by Dakota Fanning) starting her first period. This scene asserts itself to remind you of how all of the girls in this all-female group are not only young: but coming of age. In many ways the movie should be considered not just another chapter in The Runaways story, but for the group; a defining time. These are the girls whose music and marketing bent gender lines, parental/moral values, and for the first time, but not the last: brought ego and esteem to its own skewed level for ones so young, and most uniquely female. These are girls that became a product and collective muse of their much older manager, Kim Fowley (down-played, believe it or not, by Michael Shannon), and for each other (their own peers) all too soon. But hey, that's rock n' roll, right?   

As a film that plays homage with a story that is mostly a solid split between the band's two main figures; lead vocalist Cherie Currie and rhythm guitarist Joan Jett, we are left with the conclusion that these were the only two figures of note. As fans, we know that The Runaways spawned Sandy West (drummer) and Lita Ford (lead guitarist) also--as well as numerous bass players, although they are nowhere to be found here but in the singularly named "Robin" played by Alia Shawkat. The movie's timeline is also less 'documentary social' than something of a cautionary tale: so if you are looking for a starting point, the movie could spark your interest in finding out more about the group--but is by no means the full biography. 

The Runaways movie; the band at their label signing to Mercury Records

This isn't a quintessential movie, but it is as we say--another chapter and another look into a group that fell apart due to bruised egos and mixed emotion. A lot to deal with when you're 21, let alone just turning 16 or 17... After the girl's first Japanese tour, the experience of recording together brings the story to its fateful end: and how easily it disintegrates on film. Although even this point is compact, and set in a confusing fast-forward, we are aware that it is set to climax the movie.   

The movie does have its great moments between the actors singing, acting, and the music--there is a rawness, and definite youth in this. We don't want to give away everything: but in a pivotal scene with Fowley having some neighborhood boys throw empty cans, garbage and yes, dog poop, at the girls to prepare them for their first live show (which takes place at an illegal house party). The girls are finally prepared and deflecting the thrown items from the rowdy crowd. The police arrive, and as the girls run out of the house with their gear, in a moment of clarity, and hilarity--Kim Fowley yells, "Scatter...!". And it is in small moments such as these that the memories built inside of a larger heart will carry this film and a band that ultimately did scatter...each story another point of view imparted for new and old fans alike. 

The Runaways movie - web site 

Noah Baumbach's Greenberg: New film with Stiller, Leigh, Ifans... James Murphy does music.

Is this what it's like to realize that your life is mirroring that of the characters in "Reality Bites"? Indie director favorite Noah Baumbach (Margot at the Wedding, Kicking and Screaming, Squid and the Whale) rolls out the pre-screen footage and featurette for his new film "Greenberg". Starring Ben Stiller as Roger Greenberg, the story is centered around Greenberg, who housesits for his brother in L.A. As an unsuccessful musician who is trying to get past the low points, Greenberg is taking some time off to figure out his next steps in life when newcomer Greta Gerwig's character steps in. Gerwig plays Florence, an assistant to Greenberg's brother who begins checking in on the family dog while they are away, but ends up becoming endeared to Greenberg. Roger Greenberg seems to be a familiar personality in this day and age where careers and school form on an arc, versus a path, to follow straight from high or middle-school and for a lot of artistic and creative minds; end in a mid-thirty or forties slump. A bit lost in the world, Greenberg's attempts to fit in and fulfill his time equate to funny bits that we'll look forward to the result of in the full-length. The movie also stars an interesting supporting cast with Jennifer Jason Leigh as a former flame (seen in Baumbach's Margot, also) and a lovably punch-drunk Rhys Ifans as a friend to Greenberg.

For LCD Soundsystem fans, James Murphy was chosen as the composer for the film's soundtrack (a first for Murphy), and the results are cut to the featurette and trailers if you are hoping to get a sneak listen. Tracks by Galaxie 500, Duran Duran, Albert Hammond and The Sonics are also featured. LCD Soundsystem's latest album has been so far set for a mid-May release. Check for more tour dates in mid to late July for upcoming summer festivals like Pitchfork and Camp Bisco 9 to see LCD live. Here's a snippet of what Baumbach thought about while listening to the track "All My Friends", and using James as the main composer on the film:

“James Murphy’s observations of New York City and about getting older felt to me like another version of Greenberg,” Baumbach says, “and I listened to it a lot while I was writing. I made a mental note at the time to look into this band when I start thinking about the score for the movie.”

LCD Soundsystem from Pop Tube Media on Vimeo.

The release date for the film is March 26th, 2010.

Ladies and Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains - Directed by Lou Adler

Diane Lane. Laura Dern. Ray Winstone. Paul Simenon. Steve Jones, Paul Cook. Barry Ford. Ladies and Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains is a cult movie classic that came out in the early '80s to a very limited release and now Rhino has carefully and wonderfully repackaged the classic to release it as a DVD, the story of which feels as though it's filled with even more relevance today. Its story has inspired everyone from Tobi Vail of Bikini Kill to Courtney Love and L7. The film follows three wayward pre-adolescent girls who form a girl group (played by a fifteen year old Diane Lane, Marin Kant, and then thirteen year old Laura Dern, who plays the cousin to the two sisters played by Lane and Kant). The cleverly named and righteous girl group name themselves "The Stains", and as they head out on tour they try to escape the death of their mother, and life in a down-and-out Johnstown, PA. That's right; even though most of the film was shot on location in Vancouver, the actual story of where these girls are from takes place in Pennsylvania! On the night that Lane's character, Corinne "Third Degree" Burns, comes across lead singer Billy's band "The Looters" (played by Ray Winstone on lead vox, Paul Simenon of The Clash on bass, and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of The 'Pistols on guitar and drums) in a club, you see the impact that punk has on the young and impressionable teen Corinne. Reggae, roots, and rock composer for the film, Barry Ford, created a great accenting score and plays "Lawn Boy": the tour manager of a band called The Metal Corpses (led by The Tubes' Fee Waybill). Ford's character immediately takes the girls under his wing, getting The Stains to join the tour in support of The Looters and The Metal Corpses, even supplying them late-70s leather jumpsuits, á la The Runaways. The girls begin as a timid group, but Lane's character Corinne completely steals the show when she takes the stage with her balls-y virgin attitude. Shouting "We don't put out!", Corinne calls attention to her fierce individualism by becoming a peer to girls across the country who begin calling themselves "Skunks" after Corinne's punk rock, bleach-streaked hairstyle. Corinne's angry individualism eventually gives way to PR, branding, merchandising, and band politics that eventually lead to a breaking point between The Looters and The Stains (including a rather steamy punk rock romance), showing not only the groups meteoric rise to fame, but also a struggle to keep it real. It's a plot with punch and effect, a call-out to the tough girls who are trying to make it in a rough boy's world--and that never gets old!

Ladies and Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains - movie site / myspace

Across The Universe - Directed by Julie Taymor

In The Beatles' song "Across The Universe," the chorus relates to us: "Nothing's gonna change my world". In the verses, everything seems to be swaying and moving, (words are flying/endless rain/drifting through/restless wind/limitless, etc.). Julie Taymor's 2nd big direction film (her first being the movie "Frida"), is about the world changing also. Changing around its characters, and in a big way. Depicting another Vietnam-era epic fictionalizing a storyline sadly paralleling our own generation's current events --and possibly making this picture just a little more poignant in the process for its timing, even if it is a romanticized version using Broadway-esque Beatles' songs to tell the story.

Each scene in the film is practically bridged together by song, which is one of a few negative things that I will note about Across The Universe. The storyline seems abrupt, and bumpy at times, fed to us song by song, as if they had glued a huge music video together to make a movie out of it, which is --I'm assuming, in making a movie using all Beatles' songs --how I imagine they envisioned it (perhaps). A scene about The Detroit Riots, although matching the time period, seems pulled out of nowhere, and added in simply to make more use of a song, because the film's story mostly takes place in NYC.

Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen, Running With Scissors) and newcomer Jim Sturgess (UK TV sitcom and series mostly) play "Lucy" and "Jude"; two star-crossed kids who fall in love. Jim, fresh off the boat from Ireland, and Lucy (whose boyfriend *spoiler alert* gets killed earlier on in the film during a tour of duty in Vietnam), who plays the pat younger doe-eyed sister of big brother "Max" --incidentally new best-friend to Jude, are stuck between the politics of war, and the youthfulness of being in love in a turbulent time (sounds cheesy, right?). Like Jude and Lucy, most characters in the film do have a Beatles-related name: Sadie (sexy modern cougar/singer/landlady), JoJo (sexy guitarist/Jimi Hendrix-type character), Prudence (yes, they sing "Dear Prudence" to Prudence), Dr. Robert (played oddly by Bono; weirdest quote award 'masturbating crocodile tears' or something of the sort) and UK comedian Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite - which is actually one of the more interesting parts of the film beside the major scene where Lucy's brother Max is inducted into the army to the tune of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

Laid somewhere between Pink Floyd's The Wall and Romeo + Juliet, this movie isn't for kids, although after seeing someone take a one-year old into Rob Zombie's incredibly embarrassing remake of "Halloween" nothing would surprise me. It's about love, and about war, some of the scenes are really devastating and of course really dramatized, and Evan Rachel Wood showed some serious arty breast, which I was *not* expecting. Anyway, it is a movie that should be seen on the big screen, simply because of the way it was filmed mixing animation with action - it shows a lot of definition, originality, artistry and color; in the story and in the visualization. I'm not saying that it was as fantastic as Moulin Rouge, or cool like the gun scene at the gas station in that version of Romeo + Juliet (that come to think of it, probably started this whole thing). But, it is interesting nonetheless.

Obviously, no one can do The Beatles' songs better than The Beatles themselves, but when you get past that fact, you might actually find the movie interesting --or you might just shudder to think.

On a side note: NYCs The Secret Machines (originally based out of Dallas, TX) play on the soundtrack and in the film, which incidentally is like a page out of High School Musical with all of the cast singing the songs from the movie. The Secret Machines also back Bono on the song "I Am The Walrus" --possibly the most distasteful and annoying scene in the entire film.

So, who's going? Beatles karaoke anyone?

Radio On – directed by Chris Petit

It’s 1979 in bleak post-punk England, where world-weary characters make their way through this cinematic masterpiece that explores existential angst within an empty industrial urban context. Directed by Chris Petit and filmed in black and white, this film originally debuted in the UK and is only now seeing the light of day via its DVD release. The film features dramatic cinematography by Martin Schaefer, who worked with German director Wim Wenders, and a soundtrack that includes Kraftwerk, Lene Lovitch, Ian Dury, Devo, Wreckless Eric, David Bowie, and Robert Fripp. The images and music are what create the temperament of the film, which is one of disillusionment, alienation, and decline. The loose and minimal plot has the protagonist (played by David Beames) going from London to Bristol on a road trip to investigate the situation of his brother’s death, potentially a suicide. He comes across other lost souls along the way, including a cameo by Sting, who plays a guitar-playing auto mechanic stuck in nostalgia. Unclear about the present and more unclear about the future, Petit brilliantly captures modern man’s sense of desperation in a time when the world felt like it was on a precipice. One scene shows our protagonist looking out at Bristol’s nighttime vista from a high rise window, with Robert Fripp’s “Urban Landscape” playing, and this sentiment couldn’t be more evident. The opening of the film uses Bowie’s “Heroes”, albeit the German version “Helden”, while panning around the apartment of the recently deceased brother, finally focusing on a manifesto of sorts by Kraftwerk: “We are the children of Fritz Lang and Werner von Braun. We are the link between the 20’s and the 80’s. All change in society passes through a sympathetic collaboration with tape recorders, synthesizers, and telephones. Our reality is an electronic reality.” That the music is so crucial to this film’s message is a testament to the relationship between art and politics, and how the latter feeds the former. With the flourish of music and art that came out of the pre Thatcher era, this film documents that time with detached coolness and sophistication while demonstrating the devastating effects on its citizens who longed for something more.

This Is England – Directed by Shane Meadows

British film-maker Shane Meadows tells the poignant tale of 12 year old Shaun (played by Thomas Turgoose), the son of a fallen soldier in Margaret Thatcher’s 1983 Falklands crisis.  Shaun has suffered a terrible loss of innocence with the death of his father, but an even greater one is around the corner with the befriending of a group of local skinheads.  The gang of skins feels sorry for Shaun and takes him under their wing, enveloping him in their culture of ska music, rube boy fashion, and co-ed camaraderie.  This new family works wonders for his morale and self esteem until an ex-con comes back into town to shake up the core of the group with his beliefs of hate and racism.  The group of interracial friends becomes divided, and Shaun is stuck in the middle between the kind mentor of Woody who first befriended him and Combo (Stephen Graham), the neo Nazi that has swayed Shaun with his National Front rhetoric and promise of a father figure.  Shaun is muddling through his relationships with very little guidance from his mother, who is depressed and world-weary.  She wants the best for her son but doesn’t know how to reach him, and this leaves Shaun trying to sort things out for himself. The plot is extremely engaging, often suspenseful, definitely moving, and very heartfelt (word has it that the film is autobiographical for Meadows, but proves to be more brutally honest than nostalgic). The soundtrack is excellent for setting the time in context (you’ll hear Toots and the Maytals, The Upsetters, Dexy’s, Soft Cell, The Specials, and UK Subs among others). The performances of the cast (a mix of professional actors and newcomers) are superb and engrossing, especially during some of the more violent scenes. The film portrays a powerful look at working class Britain in the early 80s, but more crucially portrays a coming-of-age tale that will leave you emotionally spent while speaking to issues that are still prevalent today.