DVD Review – “Click” / Sandler & Beckinsale

Here in the bunker of Underground Reviews we will focus primarily on Independent Films, hard hitting dramas, and releases just off the radar. But, from time to time we will be obliged to review a blockbuster or a comedy just to keep things interesting.

To that end, I wanted to review ‘Click’ the most recent Adam Sandler effort where our boy is an overworked father of two who doesn’t have time to balance work, family and the rest of his daily chaos. That is until he decides a universal remote control (not where I would start restructuring things…but there you have it) can somehow make life 75% easier.

Thus, he visits Bed Bath and Beyond – while there he chances upon a back room where he meets a curious inventor/employee (?) ‘Morty’ (Christopher Walken) who provides him with a state of the art universal controller that will change his life. Turns out the remote can do essentially anything – pause/fast forward/mute/replay every moment of your life. Thereby the story follows Newman (Sandler’s) obsession with his new toy.

The film is overall quite a strong effort – Kate Beckinsale plays Sandler’s ever-patient wife – and offers a pretty impressive (if a tad proper) Brooklyn accent. My favourite aspect of the film was the casting of the supporting cast. Walken, who is under rated in comedic roles, adds a certain nuance of oddity and danger to his role. Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner (Marge Simpson) play Sandler’s parents with great subtlety. The two lesser characters that actually made the film for me were Sean Astin – who has his own designs on Sandler’s wife and David Hasselhoff as his career obsessed boss.

The picture has some great visual gags – and makes you wonder what you might do with the same remote control that Newman now owns. Too much swearing might ruin it for your pre-teens – but otherwise nothing to shy away from. The film at times tries to cram far too much into 107 minutes, which is my only major criticism. Not the world’s biggest Adam Sandler fan but I enjoyed the supporting cast enough to say this is an above average comedy – really pretty good. Best moments were when Sandler uses the remote’s SAP foreign language button to learn that his prospective Japanese clients (he’s an Architect – a la Mike Brady?) really want to leave the swanky restaurant he is trying to impress them with and just hit a TGI Fridays and drink some shots.

Anyway – a busy comedy – lots of special effects – and finally it may remind you of people who spend so much time working that they’ve forgotten why they work. If you are one of those…watch it.

Violent Femmes/Hallowed Ground (1984) : Revisiting great cds, 1st in a series of many –

Lat night I had the opportunity to listen to the Violent Femmes 2nd release ‘Hallowed Ground’ originally released in 1984. All those years ago I was rather fanatical about this record but haven’t truly listened to it in full now for 16 or 17 years. Probably as a result of 20 years plus of overkill hearing (whether by choice or not – as many so called indie kids felt “Blister in the Sun” is somehow their personal anthem) of tracks from the first eponymous album I had neglected this disc, which then as now is not only vastly different to their first record but perhaps even superior.

Three observations during listening struck me – and resonated throughout.

1. What a dark record they made – the themes of death, deceit, religion, rejection and sorrow were realised and explored with so much more clarity and innovation than the debut.

2. The instrumentation was extremely folk(sy) in its arrangements and sound. Though a warning flag for some – trust me …it works here.

3. Gordon Gano’s fury and frustration in his voice.

The disc is well sequenced and opens with the dark and haunting ‘Country Death Song’ a track so morbid and self recriminating that you almost feel guilty enjoying it. The full instrumentation throughout the record is aided by great use of Banjo and led (as always) by Brian Ritchie’s work on bass guitar. Credits show he used Mariachi Bass/Electric Bass/Slide Bass/Celeste/Marimba in the sessions. The album ranges from the eerie chants of “I hear the rain” to the Velvet Underground like lullabies of “I know it’s true but I’m sorry to say”. Instrumentation reaches it’s crescendo during the manic length of “Black Girls” but the experimentation doesn’t detract from the album it galvanizes it. My favourite track to hear again after all these years was “Hallowed Ground” which ensures we all share the guilts that Gano writes of to a piano driven march.

One of the rare records from the first wave of American Indie Rock with a country/folk twang (early REM, Guadalcanal Diary, The Long Ryders) that actually sounds better now than it did then to these ears. I’d guess most people with limited Violent

Femmes in their collections own the debut and perhaps the singles collection, but as the definitive

article I would suggest Hallowed Ground should at least be heard and ideally owned.

Click to buy Violent Femmes/Hallowed Ground

Coachella…why?

Do the organizers of this corporate indie fest really think that the average Jesus and Mary Chain fan is earning a lawyer’s salary? $250 for a 3 day pass and $8 beers? 3 days of sweltering in the California desert surrounded by lawyers could cost you $700 without really going overboard.

I for one would love to go, but, will need to content myself with seeing drunken clips on You Tube the following week. Or perhaps I can buy the DVD at Christmas only to find it has the same drunken clips that were on You Tube.

In addition, as diverse as I am, there are alot of bands that I would question have they earned 6% of the $700 I spent. Why don’t some of these acts include a tour which captures some of the less obvious markets scattered between Empire Polo Grounds and Plymouth Rock.

If this sounds bitter, think of me with my refrigerator, warm shower and air conditioning as you spend $10 per hour over the 3 days. Maybe next year, Terry Hall will support The Wedding Present on the newly added 4th day, which is free.

http://www.coachella.com/

http://youtube.com/

http://www.scopitones.co.uk/