by Le Anne Lindsay (Tinsel & Tine)

PFS and 102.9 WMGK continued their Rockin’ Reels at the Piazza series last night with Live at Budokan. For anyone unfamiliar, the band Cheap Trick recorded this footage at their 1978 concert in Japan; the release of which really put the band on the map. The Live at Budokan album is number 430 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.

Because Cheap Trick is currently on tour to promote their newest release “The Latest” – available on CD, vinyl and 8-track, WMGK was able to get Rick Nielsen & Tom Petersson to come for a signing. Thus the reason PFS changed the scheduled screening of Shine a Light to Live at Budokan.

As I’ve stated before, I’m careful making commentary on screenings that require a background or knowledge of a subject to which I’m unfamliar. Although “I Want You To Want Me” is one of my favorite party songs, I didn’t know until last night who sang it (shameful, I know) but not a problem, it gave me the opportunity to chat up the attendees!

This couple turned out to be with other sponsors Mitsubishi Philadelphia,  they were actually getting albums signed for others back at the office. The dog is named Loki and yes, she really is pink, poor thing has mange. She had just rescued it from the shelter and is hoping to find her a good home.  I think that’s sweet and commendable, but as a germophobe, I didn’t care for the fact that Loki kept trying to stick her mangy head under my skirt!

This adorable father/daughter share musical tastes, he took her to a Cheap Trick concert last summer and she got hooked! She’s also big into Def Leppard and Poison.

Then I came upon this Cheap Trick enthusiast who had the following to say about the Live at Budokan concert and Cheap Trick in general:

“I Want You To Want Me” sounds completely different on the studio version, almost has a country sound. The energy of the fans is a big part of this live performance at Budokan; the release of the live album really put everything into a whole different dimension for the group. There are so many bands that idolize Cheap Trick, but they’ve always been an underrated band. They are really a band’s band and Rick Neilson is a musician’s musician, he played with John Lennon and so many others over the years, but again, this Live at Budokan recording really transformed them into a fun band- Devon Mercer.

And later during the film I sat in front of these two gentlemen, from their comments I could tell they were really familiar with the music.  On the right is Robert, he has a masters in music composition. On the left  is Derrick, he’s a musician that still plays quite a bit.   And here’s their take on Cheap Trick:

The band is one of the greatest power pop bands of all time, power pop is a genre that sort of the psychic continuation of the Beatles if you will, with heavier guitars, into the 70’s and 80’s. In fact, we were in a power pop band called Wunderband in NYC in the late 80’s & 90’s and were very often compared to Cheap Trick. Subconsciously we must have digested some of their sound, but we weren’t deliberately trying to sound like them. But they are idols of many bands, they don’t get nearly enough credit for what they’ve done. It’s an outrage that they haven’t been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. By now they should have been recognized for their longevity and influence on so many other musicians; they gig over 200 days a year and they were the first to do a double live album. When you hear hipster bands say “We’re big in Japan”, it’s a reference to these guys. They made recording at Budokan significant. In fact, their hit “Surrender” was first recorded and released as a studio album, but it shot through the roof, once they released the Live at Budokan version. They are a real rock and roll band that puts on a great show! Hey, you should call this piece  – “The Last String Bender” – Robert Fanelli and Derrick  Ayers.

Summer outdoor movie fun is not over yet; PFS has even added a new screening venue and new partners -The Clay Studio and Elfreth’s Alley — In the Mind of the Artist. All films will be projected at dusk onto the side of  The Clay Studio from Flagpole Park (on the south side of the gallery).  First screening is July 29th Mel Brooks’ comedy classic, The Young Frankenstein, which I’ve never seen.

I have been looking forward to seeing The Kids Are Alright, with Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. Bening and Moore are a lesbian couple who each had a child by the same sperm donor (Ruffalo) and the kids decide they want to find this anonymous father.  PFS members (Director Level and above) and me as blogger! Get to see a sneak preview of this film next Tuesday (7/20).

The DVD Swap at Triumph Brewery has been postponed. New date to be announced soon.

One last thing, I just got back from Vegas, baby!  If you’d like to read my post on Tinsel & Tine  click HERE.

Beginning with a musical number featuring How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris and an American Idol-esque lineup of the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees, last night’s 2010 Academy Awards ceremony was off to a strange start from which it never quite recovered.

In an effort to perhaps attract a new audience and increase ratings for the proceedings in light of a decade-long slump, this year featured ten Best Picture nominees and not one, but two hosts (Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin). Looking back from today, this strategy seems to have worked (initial reports say that the broadcast moved up beyond 40 million viewers for the second time in 5 years), but ceremony itself left much to be desired. ABC’s marketing team must be very pleased with itself.

As I said before, last night was strange. Martin (an Oscar hosting veteran) and Baldwin, a combination which on paper seems like it can’t fail, were forced to deliver many stilted, awkward jokes of the “Oh hey it’s [insert nominee here], he/she is [punchline]” variety. While these would have been more tolerable with one emcee, having the two read off a teleprompter accentuated all the awkward pauses for laughter and brought the show to a halt within the first 20 minutes. Thankfully beyond the monologue Martin and Baldwin more or less switched off between nominees (Two presenters that actually had amazingly funny banter were the always-funny Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. Couldn’t they just host the show next year?).

Presenters this year included the usual combination of old and new Hollywood (with some “why are you here?” added in via a seriously out of place “Tribute to Horror” presented by Twilight’s Kristen Stewart and Amanda Seyfried from Jennifer’s Body). Each of the ten Best Picture nominees got their own short montages sprinkled throughout. Acting categories also used montages to highlight performances for the first time I can remember. Best Actor and Actress categories returned to the format from last year where each nominee was presented by someone who worked with them in the past. It’s a nice idea, but it ultimately slows the show down far too much with explaining to us why the people nominated for THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE are talented. There’s a rude word I want to use here to describe this but I won’t. A highlight of the night came from Ben Stiller’s full Na’vi makeup for the makeup category which eventually went to Star Trek, marking a first for that franchise. 11^th time’s the charm!

Perhaps the biggest question mark from last night was the removal of the Best Song nominees’ performances in lieu of a weird interpretive dance to the Best Original Score selections. Wouldn’t it have been more fun and exciting to see the likes of Randy Newman, Dr. John, and eventual winner for Crazy Heart Ryan Bingham show off their talents? In Crazy Heart’s case we could’ve even had Jeff Bridges get up there with a guitar and join in! One can dream.

I will give the ceremony points for their Animated Feature introductory videos. They were very entertaining to see, especially with all the different kinds of animation used in what is probably that category’s strongest year since its induction in 2000. Likewise, kudos to the broadcast for taking the time to explain the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

I’ve almost hit 500 words without mentioning the actual awards themselves. To be honest, there’s not much to say, especially on the negative side. The Hurt Locker dominated with 6 statues, including Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow (the first for a woman) and Best Picture. The most successful movie of all time, James Cameron’s AVATAR, secured 3 awards including Best Art Direction, Cinematography, and (in the biggest shocker of the night) Visual Effects. Surprises included Precious’ win for Best Adapted Screenplay (making Geoffrey Fletcher the first African-American to win a screenplay Oscar), and The Secret in their Eyes from Argentina took home Best Foreign Language Film despite nearly all predictions pointing at The White Ribbon. Sandra Bullock took home Best Actress for The Blind Side, overcoming healthy competition in the form of Meryl Streep. Jeff Bridges finally received Best Actor for Crazy Heart after multiple nominations in the past and a career stretching back nearly 50 years. Inglourious Basterds’ Christophe Waltz and Precious’ Mo’Nique won in the Supporting categories in a race that even Nostradamus probably predicted centuries ago. A full list of winners can be found at http://oscar.go.com

All in all this year’s Academy Awards made some baffling structural changes in order to drum up more public support which ultimately worked, but most likely at the expense of the perceived importance of the awards themselves. I also wonder if this means that the “big 10” will be considered a success and what this means for the entire season itself. I guess we’ll have to wait for next year!

-          Andrew Webb

Nominees seen through the PFS this year (winners in bold): Ajami, A Single Man, The Hurt Locker, Crazy Heart, Invictus, The Messenger, Precious, Julie & Julia, Nine, The Princess and the Frog, Up, Star Trek, The Young Victoria, A Serious Man

Can a movie be perfect? Probably not. But if your expectations are to just have a good, dumb laugh, then Hot Tub Time Machine might be as close to perfect as you can get. Three titans of comedy, a couple up-and-comers, and plenty of self-referential 80s jokes gives us the first epic comedy of the year. I was excited to see how veteran of the “guy-meets-girl comedy” John Cusack (2012, High Fidelity…almost everything) would hold up with upstarts like Craig Robinson (The Office, Pineapple Express) and Rob Cordry (The Daily Show, What Happens in Vegas.) And let me tell you: they, along with Clark Duke (Sex Drive, Kick-Ass), come together perfectly. Perhaps too perfectly. And once Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls, Party Down) show up, forget it. I was in love with the whole thing.

This film is weird, and fairly stupid, but decent character stories and an awareness of said stupidity gives it all the ammo it needs to have you laughing for nearly the entire run time. Even if it teaches a terrible moral while trying to teach an important one, Hot Tub Time Machine has what you need even if Doc Brown wouldn’t endorse it.