Gone Baby Gone

Watched a couple weeks ago. Not bad, I liked the gritty heroism, the honesty. My biggest problem with this movie, other than its general weak impact on my life, was its reliance on moral dilemma in what for me was an obvious decision. To me, it never sold the option of leaving the kidnapped with the kidnapper. I'm not even sure that was a conflict for the protagonist. Yet it seemed the movie hinged a lot of its drama on that dilemma. It needed the tension of that plot twist, which was severely underwhelming given how straightforward the protagonist reacted, and how easy it was for me get on his bandwagon. Some movies are angled toward the ending the whole time. That works, if the ending delivers. Gone Baby Gone just didn't deliver the crushing cognitive dissonance it needed toward the end. I had zero problem dumping Michelle Monaghan.

Soul

Watched a few weeks ago. I'm privileged, being particularly interested in jazz, abstract things, black culture, and examining death, so this was about as interesting as family movies get for me. Soul bounced confusingly between these identities. It could have just been the jazz Pixar movie, or the death Pixar movie, or the first black Pixar movie. It juggles all three, which keeps it engaging yet shallow. Nothing was fully explored. That's okay, for progressing things like racial diversity in animated movies, or jazz's popularity -- you don't have to pay so much attention to them that they become abnormal -- but the intrinsic impact of the movie blunts.

It was more engaging for me than most family movies, due to its subject matter. But it's still a family movie, which, apparently, can't do much for me.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

I'm still assessing, but here were some quick notes.

First listen (5/17/22)

I liked it a lot. I was initially disappointed by more gimmicky repetitive stuff, and he does continue that trend, but there's also a lot of good stuff here -- possibly more than DAMN. DAMN was kind of his foray into basic rap, plus some classic Kendrick here and there. MMBS harmonizes both, I think, plus big doses of personal and spiritual.

I had no idea what to expect, after five years. Hearing the new "The Heart" was surprising -- it was more familiar than I expected, after all this time, from an increasingly outlandish artist. Skyrocketing artistry and fame often drive a grounded GOAT off a cliff. I was worried about Kendrick. But he's as competent as ever. He hasn't lost a technical step, and he still has a lot to say. I remember worrying, a few years ago, that he'd run out of things to say. He seems to have improbably retained his technique and voice. He mixes in new flavors now, some of which I love, some of which disappoint me, but it's still Kendrick. Which is delightful.

I'm skeptical I could like this as much as To Pimp a Butterfly. For me that's the pinnacle of all rap. I could use more of its jazz here. Some of MMBS was almost downright trap; some was kind of electro; on average it wasn't as flavorful as TPAB, I think. GKMC was the street album, TPAB was the jazz album, DAMN was the basic easy one... MMBS is an evolution, I think, but I'm not yet sure how to classify it. It did feel more personal and spiritual. This may be an overgeneralization, but I wonder whether the pandemic accounts for that. I think he also started having kids after DAMN. So starting a family and enduring quarantine may have caught him in centripetal orbit; pair that with vast social reckoning and burgeoning vulnerability and maybe it makes sense Kendrick is unearthing old trauma, reflecting on broader social issues microcosm-ed in his childhood, and speaking more to his audience's personal pain now than their political conscience.

I'm not sure what DAMN was about.

Chelanga's favorite moment of TPAB was a non-moment -- it was when Kendrick didn't repeat "in the presence of your chico, ah", didn't repeat the form of that line at all. He only did it once. Chelanga called out the "restraint" to have an idea, execute, and let it be. Most rappers are beating dead horses for a living. I wonder what Chelanga would think of the last two albums. Certainly a lot of droning -- call it tired or lazy. That "restraint" endeared me to Kendrick. It takes energy to hold back. He had that during the making of his masterpiece. Now, sometimes he sounds tired. He's expanded his work marvelously, but lost a little of the old energy and precision.

But I'm surprised how good this was. My expectations weren't very high. DAMN was a little disappointing, and it's been five years. It's been seven since his peak, and five without a peep. Black Panther happened, some of which I really liked, but it didn't encourage me regarding his trajectory. It was very gimmicky and tired. I didn't expect he could hold his level so high all this time, especially given the family. I must look at my favorite rapper in a new light. He endured when I didn't expect him to. He matured and held his level. Elite rap must just be in him. Even the early records are elite, and he's pushed the game's artistry ever since without sacrificing his world-class fundamentals. It's really impressive. Even if he never makes a greater album, as long as he puts out music roughly this good, he's constantly cementing his superiority.

I'm sure there are other rappers roughly at his level out there -- but I haven't heard them. I've never heard anything at his level. I haven't heard Flower Boy in a while, but I remember being very impressed by that. I'm sure there's lots of cutting-edge underground stuff occurring. But Kendrick is doubtless the best I've personally heard. This album doesn't chip his legacy, nor advance it too much; it helps cement it.

Second listen (5/30/22)

Before DAMN I didn't know he could do mindless melodic mumbling. Now it's convincing me further of his superiority. He can do almost anything -- a couple rap masterpieces into a career he jumps on the mindless melodic mumble wagon and instantly excels. His versatility is incredible. MMBS scans most styles, some unexplored in his previous albums. One example is Graduation-like stadium synths. So Kendrick can even do Kanye. Look, not everything is perfect -- he might trade some of Kanye's old charisma for intellection. It's not like I can't think of other rappers' strengths in his light. There's some extroverted levity to those first few Kanye albums that Kendrick's obsessive introspection can't quite touch. Hearing Kendrick rap over beats Kanye may have produced back then is an interesting juxtaposition. I found myself missing Kanye in a way, and Kendrick almost felt like an impostor -- too cerebral. I don't believe his mindless stuff, sandwiched in the most mental rap I've heard. But they're still good songs. These are all good songs.

I don't know where to rank MMBS in his discography. I get the sense I'll prefer it to DAMN and not to TPAB, but I can't really hear the latter anew, so that will be difficult. I get the sense this is a great album. It has so much, across such a wide spectrum, all of substantial quality. But I don't think it's ecstatic. I think I mentioned after my first listen the declining energy after he shook the earth in 2015. He still has more energy than any rapper I've heard, and most of them sound heavily medicated at all times. Kendrick is always the sharpest rapper alive, as far as I know. But I still feel there's something missing -- maybe the need to prove himself. Maybe the desire to create the greatest rap album ever. He's done both already as far as I'm concerned. No one can sustain that drive for so many years. Bob Dylan put out at least five of the greatest albums in rock history in sequence, but that was in only three or four years. While unrepeatable, it's a different thing to sustain that drive for many years, even significantly less prolific years, and Kendrick has now been at it a while. If you examine Dylan's career, he always did a bunch of dogshit in between greatness (except in those 3-4 shooting-star years). Kendrick has been less prolific (his quality bar is pretty high), but you still can't change the world every single time for 10 years. MMBS feels like a great album, and I think it advances the game. But will Kendrick be able to reinvent himself? That was one of Dylan's boons -- he could morph into a new artist and define new styles by shedding his old identity. For Kendrick to change the world again, wouldn't he need to shed his skin? We know this idea of Kendrick at this point -- wouldn't he have to decimate it? And for that, wouldn't he have to decimate himself? What's that line from Descartes' Meditations about slowly dismantling all of his opinions?

There's a lot of room for me to learn the thematic content better. I've done zero research on this album, its background, its public and critical reception, even its lyrics. I could learn a lot just by looking up the lyrics. But I still think there's something noble about an uninformed, unadulterated play-through. All I have are my artistic sensibilities and my relationship with his past work. Mostly, I'm a musician who grew up loving rap. I can tell you the chord progressions to the songs, and I can tell you it's better than all the rap I listened to growing up. I don't know everything he's talking about, I don't know everything going on in his life, I don't understand every slang word, or reference. But this is more engaging and interesting than other rap.

Musically, though -- what's it worth to me? I like keeping up my relationship with rap, and I legitimately enjoy the genre. But it's not as musically satisfying as stuff I can find in more formal forms. I can find pieces of jazz, classical, or traditional music that are ecstatic to me. I have no regrets keeping up with Kendrick, and I think a core part of me is connected to this music. But it doesn't contain the musical ecstasy and purity I'd typically seek. Especially since I've known Kendrick for seven years now, and he hasn't changed enough to renew the ecstasy for me. But familiarity with such a musician is a joy. I'll always have these songs. They're the best manifestation of this genre I love that I've ever heard. I'll always have the old songs from childhood, especially the Kanyes, and I'll always have my GOAT, and all the experiences I associate with him. Association with Kendrick's music is and has been a joy. It's not the purity and elation I seek in other forms, but it connects to a core part of myself, and I'm proud of it.

As It Was (Harry Styles)

My first time hearing this reminded me of my reaction to my first time hearing Meghan Trainor years ago: production mimicking a decades-old style doesn't make a good song. Most styles of music throughout history require good melodies; skillful production isn't enough. I don't like the present song's melody. I especially noticed how it stalls on the fa over the I chord, after the descent (do ti la sol fa...), which betrays the I chord's identity more than any other note in the major scale. Also the droning "as it was, as it was,..." : "sol re re" wasn't impressive. I don't remember why else I didn't like the melody. But if I don't like a melody, I can scarcely like the song, besides in a few select styles. The mix and orchestration and beat can't save it. I'm especially bitter, perhaps biased, by the principle of robbing another decade's style without serving it good honest songwriting. As mentioned with Meghan Trainor, and many others, I-iv-IV-V doowop (or maybe more accurately, blue-eyed soul) had a renaissance lately, more likely in popularity than quality. It irritated me a little. I just thought it was lazy -- the songwriting wasn't actually good, and seemed to assume one could trick listeners with old-fashioned style and none of the principles of good songwriting. I could ignore this, but it threatens to devalue the actually-good songs of yore. I don't mind pop culture circling back to roots, but let's respect the roots enough to acquaint deeply with them, not just appropriate their cheapest qualities. If the trend turned out good songs, I wouldn't complain moralistically -- but in my opinion the trend hasn't even been effective.

"As It Was" feels like another grasp back at old styles to try and feel new, without putting in the effort of genuine songwriting.

Did I mention the Weeknd?

DAMN

From the first time I heard it to the most recent, I've always found DAMN noticeably inferior to his earlier two major albums. It reflects the trend of gimmick-driven rap -- I don't know what to call it -- that has infected pop, Kanye, and even Bon Iver. I think it aligns with "melodic rap", trap, and Post Malone. It's a string of gimmicks rather than a continuous creative flow. I remember my disappointment that Bill Evans' "Peri's Scope" solo felt like a string of discontinuous templates, rather than a flow of inspiration. Rap is doing this to an agonizing degree, even the most creative of them. It feels really lazy and usually dumb. That's okay, maybe Kendrick deserves a little laziness -- but it got the Pulitzer, and seemingly vast praise, which I don't really understand, though I love the album in a personal way. Musicians (and likely their audiences) seem incapable of sustaining inspiration, or even attention, so they smash random ideas together and then repeat each ten times to equal a 2.5-minute song. I miss verses that are a couple minutes long and have no identifiable patterns or structure, just rap. I just miss rap.

The Eiger Sanction

I think I saw this in January 2017 (not my idea, which is probably why I never blogged). I think I remember it being a big old load of dookie. Art history professor, world-class mountaineer, and the most dangerous man in the world... this is like a farther-fetched James Bond. This is like James Bond, but he's also a world-class mountaineer, and an art history professor. There's also an albino Nazi, the most evil and most gay gay person of all time, and a black seductress named Jemima Brown... Actually, what could go wrong?

I haven't seen the Connery Bonds in a long time, but maybe The Eiger Sanction ages like those, and like Enter the Dragon: poorly, but you can imagine their original thrill.

The Godfather

I've read a good deal of the novel. It's actually kind of stunning Coppola made the movie as subtle as it is. I've heard of unsubtle adaptations, but how often is the adaptation subtler than the source? The Shining?

The novel is almost pulp. The Godfather is the greatest man who ever lived. Sonny is the manliest man who ever lived. The sex is always absolute ecstasy. The sphincter always opens at the moment of death. It's all graphically descriptive. It's quite entertaining, but nothing like experiencing the film. The novel stays cranked to 11, but the film stays relatively subdued. Brando mumbles softly; one mournful trumpet sings in the distance.

I'm not sure I can call it low-brow though. I haven't read enough of that kind of thing. It's nothing like "classic literature", but it seems well-crafted and intelligent. I don't think it's despicable, it's just not very subtle. It's one of the more entertaining novels I've read.

It's just interesting that the filmmakers read between the lines and saw the potential for a far more subdued yet massively popular film. I think Puzo helped write the film, and its sequel, which is even drier, if I remember right. I guess this is what I've asked of superhero films lately. I like the foundation of superhero stories, but the execution is never subtle, at least not in film. The filmmakers made The Godfather subtle and mature. The vision to do such a thing is interesting. I guess I try to do the same in playing pop songs on the piano. I want to extract the sensational elements of pop and age them to something more complex. I aim to put pop in oak barrels -- the flavors are there but they're mellowed and surrounded by new mellow variations.

The Godfather, The Shining, stripped versions of pop songs, lots of modern art,... artists often try to interpret lower-brow culture, it's just surprising to see it from novel to film, since film is intrinsically more sensational. Things usually get less subtle in that direction.

Wit

3/24/22, accidentally unpublished:

Watched a week and a half ago

I liked Wit. I like poetry, and language, and grappling with the idea of death, so I was advantaged as a viewer. Maybe it should have stayed a play; I'm guessing it was only made a movie to reach new audience, not because it was destined by nature to be a movie. It's probably better as a play. But the trade-off is interesting: the film dedicates considerable surface area to Emma Thompson's micro-expressions, which wouldn't succeed so well on a large stage; yet the stilted, literary feel doesn't work as well in an essentially escapist medium, so ultimately I'd rather see it on the stage. Her micro-acting, however legendary, doesn't feel quite authentic anyway in this script. Least authentic is the poetry talk -- it's informed, but unrealistic. Maybe it wouldn't matter so much onstage. It frustrated me a little. It's like the physics talk in Interstellar -- it's exciting for me to hear, and the writers' research shows, but it's also a little annoying and unrealistic.

I liked the movie. I liked the literary and morbid themes. And I liked her performance, though it doesn't align with my typical interest. Without the social justification behind this viewing, I don't think I ever would have watched it. It's quite a ways from my standard criteria. But it's not so far from my affection and appreciation.