At first I thought someone had pulled a "I'm Still Here"/"This Is Spinal Tap" on me, laughing at the amazingly over-the-top pretense of the Brian Jonestown Massacre's front flame-out Anton Newcombe (not to mention the antics of the rest of the band), and the dead-pan enthusiastically reverent BJ that all of their hipster critics gave the BJM throughout the film (yeah, that means you too, Courtney-Courtney)... Then it got sad with poor Anton's family BIOGRAPHY, and then got a little better with the revelation that Anton is STILL (as of '04) kicking ass-- despite his history of treating his band mates like fertilizer; and yet the ever wonderful Portland, Oregon's Indie darlings The Dandy Warhols just keep chugging along, charming the world. Overall review? Meh. Brian Jonestown Massacre are/were a retro piece of merde, wanna-be psyche band (newsflash-- THE GAL-DERN SIXTIES ARE O-VER)... meanwhile, I still kinda dig the Dandys (hey, I'm from Portland-- and have gotta support the home team even tho' they do not decimate PDX venues).
Reviews
2 Reviews
Ghosts
(1996)
"The gLoved One" hires some big guns to send a "video bullet" straight to his critics hearts.
30 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I first saw "Ghosts" while staying up late one night, terminally bored and channel surfing during October of 2001. Then I stumbled upon what at first glance seemed to be an old horror movie-- I was about fifteen seconds into Michael Jackson's Ghosts. I sat transfixed for a little over a half hour, and marveled at what a lovely little gem it was.
Almost eight years later, and just moments after the announcement of Michael's death, I hunted down a copy of this film on DVD.
Seeing it now-- after M.J.'s passing-- I still love it, however it gives me the creeps in a different way.
First off, the DVD copy I have was released by "Kingdom Entertainment"-- whether this was Jacko's own company is hearsay, but it certainly would explain how the film was produced. Jackson also brought on board Stan Winston (director) and Stephen King (co-idea with Jackson, as well as screenplay).
For thirty-eight minutes, we see Michael Jackson redo "Thriller" (albeit with ghosts instead of zombies), tell his critics to f*ck off, and prove to the world that he still loves children.
Jackson's dancing is as usual superb, and the SFX are state of the art; sadly his songs are so-so, and his acting as The Maestro is truly horrifying-- matched only by the extras hired to play the townspeople and their children, accompanying the Mayor be part of the mob to oust "The Maestro" from town (ala "Frankenstein").
It was simply delicious to see M.J. as the fat old white Mayor calling "The Maestro" (Jackson) a "freak." Also wonderful is how hard The Maestro tries (but fails) to be such a bad-ass, and scare the Mayor from his mansion--and by films end he does, of course.
The part that chills--then and now--is after the Mayor has left a Mayor-sized hole in one of The Maestro's stain-glassed windows while exiting the mansion. The Maestro asks the families "Did I scare ya?," the townsfolk kiss-up by blathering on about how "frightened" they were. When this appeases The Maestro, he then asks "Did we have a good time here?" There is a pause, followed by an irritated "HELLO!" from The Maestro, then more peals of nervous butt-kissing a moment later.
Also unnerving is how it now seems a bit like The Crow: Jackson plays many roles in this film, namely a dancing skeleton entertaining his "audience" from beyond the grave; and Lee playing The Crow, sent to avenge two heinous murders from beyond the grave. Now that both are dead, they still entertain us from the hereafter playing characters from the great beyond.
Almost eight years later, and just moments after the announcement of Michael's death, I hunted down a copy of this film on DVD.
Seeing it now-- after M.J.'s passing-- I still love it, however it gives me the creeps in a different way.
First off, the DVD copy I have was released by "Kingdom Entertainment"-- whether this was Jacko's own company is hearsay, but it certainly would explain how the film was produced. Jackson also brought on board Stan Winston (director) and Stephen King (co-idea with Jackson, as well as screenplay).
For thirty-eight minutes, we see Michael Jackson redo "Thriller" (albeit with ghosts instead of zombies), tell his critics to f*ck off, and prove to the world that he still loves children.
Jackson's dancing is as usual superb, and the SFX are state of the art; sadly his songs are so-so, and his acting as The Maestro is truly horrifying-- matched only by the extras hired to play the townspeople and their children, accompanying the Mayor be part of the mob to oust "The Maestro" from town (ala "Frankenstein").
It was simply delicious to see M.J. as the fat old white Mayor calling "The Maestro" (Jackson) a "freak." Also wonderful is how hard The Maestro tries (but fails) to be such a bad-ass, and scare the Mayor from his mansion--and by films end he does, of course.
The part that chills--then and now--is after the Mayor has left a Mayor-sized hole in one of The Maestro's stain-glassed windows while exiting the mansion. The Maestro asks the families "Did I scare ya?," the townsfolk kiss-up by blathering on about how "frightened" they were. When this appeases The Maestro, he then asks "Did we have a good time here?" There is a pause, followed by an irritated "HELLO!" from The Maestro, then more peals of nervous butt-kissing a moment later.
Also unnerving is how it now seems a bit like The Crow: Jackson plays many roles in this film, namely a dancing skeleton entertaining his "audience" from beyond the grave; and Lee playing The Crow, sent to avenge two heinous murders from beyond the grave. Now that both are dead, they still entertain us from the hereafter playing characters from the great beyond.
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