I'm A Reviewing Fool

The Hard Lessons
@Lit Lounge
New York, NY – September 19. 2005

I unfortunately did not catch Detroit’s the Hard Lessons wrap up the night at Trash Bar two nights before and I certainly regret it. The phrase “rock their hearts out” doesn’t come close to explaining the enthusiasm and intensity emitted by this band. The band generally played fast and furious rock n roll, sometimes bordering on hardcore punk, but they also dished out blues and pop tunes (including an excellently well-crafted original called “Milk and Sugar”) as guitarist Auggie and keyboardist Ko Ko traded vocals that ranged from gritty fun to gorgeously on-key. Ko Ko can especially belt it out, reminding one of Janis Joplin. Auggie is an exceptional garage guitar maniac, and his playing antics (running into the crowd, playing on a bench, bending his back over while on his knees) only liven up the scene. All the while, drummer The Anvil pounds out a steady rhythmic beat that matches the ranges of the tunes (these 3 also have real names, check them out on the album). My worries of bands from Detroit drying up have officially been abated. Here we go again.

Lord of War
A few brief words on this film: Nicolas Cage aptly plays a successful gunrunner in this rough, biting, but rather smooth and slick drama (and yes this is Good Oscar Cage, not Action Bruckheimer Cage). The movie is a bit preachy by the end - aw hell it is quite preachy - but this is a real issue to be preachy about. I am sure it will get the Hollywood-Sucks treatment from the patriotic Right Wingers (not just for the film's attack on American policy and on violence-as-resolution, but also for the nice jibe at the 2000 election thrown in) and the great typical ignoring from the American populace.
Writer-Director Andrew Niccol does make a compelling drama out of the ethical stance of the film but there are a few setbacks: The dialogue jumps from bland to overly witty and back, some of the acting is sub-par (though the performance of Eamonn Walker as Liberian dictator Andre Baptiste is powerful without being hammy), and I am sorry but I refuse to accept Cage as a Ukrainian-born Brooklyn-raised character when he's still speaking in his native surfer dude voice. After we get passed that snafu, however, Cage is quite good.