10.18.2007 = JAYPLAY
reviews
UNDER THE BLACKLIGHT Rilo Kiley
Rile Kiley's previous three albums have all been five-star affairs, but unfortunately their latest Under The Blacklight, is the affair you probably want to forget.
The album start out well enough with "Silver Lining," which shows some of the things you come to expect from Rilo Kiley: smart and edgy lyrics from Jenny Lewis and an alt-country sound with an experimental edge. "Close Call" follows that up with a mid-tempo pop rock song. But after that the album slips into bad lyrics and cheesy music.
First is "The Moneymaker," a sleazy tale about porn stars that is boring and lacks any real substance. And besides, as fans have pointed out, the music sounds
eerily similar to The Muppet Show theme song or "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven.
Other embarrassing tracks include "Dejalo," the latin-inspired song that even your crazy Aunt Joan would be too embarrassed to try at karake. "15"sounds lazy, sloppy and not fit for a Smash Mouth B-side album. And then there's the album closer, "Give It A Little Love," which sounds like something Gwen Stefani would attempt.
The album comes afloat at times with decent tracks like "Dreamworld" and "Under The Blacklight," but they simply pale in comparison to other Rilo Kiley songs and do little to save Rilo Kiley's most disappointing release to date.
Chris Brower
INTO THE WILD
★★
It is one thing to quote Thoreau in a graduation speech, but another to live by his words. That is what Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) does in the *Inlet* the actor and occasional writer-director Sean Penn's paenth to youthful rebellion.
Based on the non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer, the film shows McCandles' journey from his cushioned life in D.C. suburb to a self-sustained existence in Alaska, following other like-minded writers and propelled by his own disdain towards materialism. After
sity. Christopher donates his $24,000 of life savings to charity, burns all forms of identification, and adopts a new name: Alexander Supertramp.
*Into the Wild does more than just show Supertram's two-year odyssey across America. The filmmakers attempt to account for his motives from narration from his sister, his letters and journals, and unnerving home-movies of his parents. It is this search for reason that creates some of the films' best moments and elevates it from the road-movie conventions it could have easily succumbed to, to a film of extreme sensitivity and incivilities.*
The journey itself is filled with scenes that are hilarious, sweet, terrifying, and beautiful. Of course he meets a variety of people, becoming a part of a pseudo-family with a hippie couple, the surrogate son of an old man afraid to live life, and working for a blue-collar homogend as a grain harvester.
The film, though, suffers from too many stylistic flourishes and a slightly disorganized narrative. For a film about space the liberal use of split screens constricts the frame. These things, perhaps nit-pick, keep into the Wild from being the flat-out masterpiece it could have been. Nevertheless it is a great film with many moments that stay with you long after it is over.
★★★★
Chance Dibben
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