To be honest, this as much of an Audioslave posting as a chance to gush over the new James Bond flick, for which Chris Cornell provided the theme song. As you may have discerned, my media form of choice is decidedly more audio than cinematic, but it is quite therapeutic to lose oneself in the Hollywood-produced haze occasionally. As with music, I try to take the hype with a grain of salt, particularly when personal taste is, as always, more relevant (case and point: Ys).
However, I'm inclined to go with the predominant opinion on this on: Casino Royale is some good. Which is to say, it accomplishes the goals of your standard fare action movie, as the plethora of special effects and disarmingly attractive population are all present and accounted for. What distinguishes this film is the injection of actual depth of characterization, particularly by the title character. It seems that all the naysayers have been silenced by Daniel Craig's performance, blond hair and all. Casino was satisfying for its visceral appeal, but also for its intellectual capacity, bolstered by many instances of genuinely funny dialogue.
So, we've got broad strokes of action, tempered with literary complexity...sounds very much like a good rock band. Indeed, Audioslave is a collection of stars, a legitimate supergroup, able to fill arenas and, as shown below, able to draw upon a hefty historical catalogue. That's not to say that I'm completely enthralled. As I've said, I seem to have developed an aversion to standard rock groups, and I haven't heard any of their new Revelations, but I still appreciate some nostalgia.
This show was recorded at KROQ's Weenie Roast on May 21st, 2005, the same day as that Interpol set from way back.
Enjoy:
1. Your Time Has Come
2. Set It Off
3. Like A Stone
4. Spoonman (Soundgarden "Cover")
5. Be Yourself
6. Bulls On Parade
7. Sleep Now In The Fire (Rage Against the Machine "Cover")
8. Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden "Cover")
9. Show Me How To Live
10. Killing In The Name (Rage Against the Machine "Cover")
11. Cochise
Freedom Is Slavery: Here
In other news...
Speaking of criticism, I'd like to welcome my friend Arivia on board. Look for some sort of weekly, dual album reviewing in the near future.
Speaking of multimedia experiences, Pitchfork has a very interesting article describing Snapp Radio, which is essentially a fusion of Last.fm, Flickr and OCD.
Jaromir Jagr became the 16th player in NHL history to tally 600 goals, as the Ranger got a much needed 4-1 win over the Lightning. I'll be attending the game against the Thrashers next Tuesday, and I might be inclined to jump on the N train after class tomorrow...
2 comments:
I absolutely loved Casino Royale. I wasn't really skeptical going in with Craig - more curious to see how he would acquit himself. It became clear even before the title scene that he was going to hold is own and then some.
The few tiny problems I had with the movie were the fact that they broke with tradition on silly things (no sexy ladies in the credits, no Q, no Moneypenny). John Cleese could totally have had a 2 second cameo and the filmmakers could still have refrained from the overthetop special effects they they wanted to stay away from. Other than that I had no complaints about it.
I really like the fact that you saw Bond becoming Bond - some of the best parts are his less than gracefull jumps and falling down the stairs - not quite so debonair yet.
So, to sum up. I agree with you. At least on the Bond front. Audioslave I can take or leave (Cornell's theme song was decent).
Hey, thanks for stopping by again. I'm not really much of a Bond historian (a couple views of Goldfinger and Goldeneye, more or less), so I'm pretty ignorant to the bulk of tradition. But I appreciated the added grit as well. A particularly memorable scene was the construction site at the beginning of the film. Bond's chasing a guy who's outpacing him considerably, and at one point the guy leaps through an narrow opening at the top of a wall, while Bond simply crashes through. And then there's that frequently referenced exchange: "Shaken or stirred?" / "Do I look like I give a damn?" Talk about a new era.
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