Month: March 2018

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Loveless

Like a lot of people who follow political news way too closely, I’ve been thinking a lot about Russia lately. I’ve found myself regarding the country’s broken democracy as a kind of collateral damage from the Cold War. When the Soviet Union’s politically repressive system disintegrated, it was replaced with a system of economic repression that only vaguely resembled capitalism as its most fervent adherents describe it. Under the rule of former KGB agent Vladimir Putin, it has become essentially a mafia state run by and for the benefit of oligarchs. Putin’s interest in installing Trump in the American presidency is his version of “promoting democracy”. His goal is to extend the rule of oligarchs indebted to him to our hemisphere. In other words, its our turn to experience Cold War collateral damage.

Maryana Spivak as Zhenya

In Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless, collateral damage looms large and spreads wide. The person most damaged is Alexy (Matvey Novikov), son of Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and Boris (Aleksey Rozin). The Leningrad couple is in the midst of one of the most bitter onscreen divorces since Kramer vs Kramer. We first meet Alexy in a long, symmetrical shot of the front door of his school. Kids run free at the dismissal bell past a Russian flag hanging limply from its pole. Friends chatter and conspire excitedly, but Alexy walks home alone through the winter woods, past a frigid pond. When he finds a discarded streamer in the leaves, he is at peace for a few precious moments between the torture of school and the emotional black hole at home.

Boris, who has a well-paying sales job in an anonymous cube farm has a new, pregnant girlfriend named Masha (Marina Vasilyeva). Zhenya has a new, rich boyfriend named Anton (Andris Keiss). Neither one of them seem to care much about Alexy. Zhenya mentions casually to Boris that, once she sells the couple’s apartment, she plans to ship the boy off to boarding school and then the army. “He’s starting to smell like his father,” she tells her stylist as she’s getting waxed.

Aleksey Rozin as Boris

When Alexy goes missing, no one notices for two days. When the police get involved, they’re not much better. The chief inspector in the case says “the little dolt is probably hiding in a mall somewhere.”

But, he’s not. The bitterly bickering couple is reluctantly pressed together again to look for a son they don’t even really like, aided by cops who seem put out that they have to do their job. The search for Alexy gives viewers a tragic tour of contemporary Russia, from ruined Soviet facilities that wear their socialist optimism like a tattered old coat to the countryside where Zhenya’s bitter mother (“She’s a mixture of God and the Devil”) clings to vodka and fundamentalist Christianity. For a Western audience, there are moments of stunning recognition (“Look! Russians have bad sex just like we do!”) alternating with moments of profound alienation and sadness.

Zvyagintsev’s clearly an acolyte of Kubrick and the giant of late twentieth century Russian film Andre Tarkovsky. He knows when to use Kubrickian symmetry, and when to get up in someone’s face—one shot of Alexy crying bitter tears while hiding from his mom behind a door will stay with me for a long time.

Matvey Novikov as Alexy

This is a gut wrenching human story, but it’s also clear that Zvyagintsev and his frequent collaborator, writer Oleg Negin, see this film in political terms as well. The action takes place against a backdrop of propaganda barely disguised as news broadcasts that will be chillingly familiar to anyone who has listened to right wing talk radio or watched Fox News. I am sure that there are many sly moments of cultural commentary that flew completely over my head, but would land for a Russian audience.

Loveless, won the Cannes jury prize and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar. It’s a wrenching, deeply thoughtful film that, once it casts its spell, makes it impossible to turn away.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Twin Releases by John Paul Keith and Motel Mirrors Celebrated at Railgarten

CREDIT: Jamie Harmon

Jamie Harmon

Motel Mirrors

Today marks the long-awaited release of twin records by both John Paul Keith (Heart Shaped Shadow) and Motel Mirrors (In the Meantime), the latter being Keith’s side project with Amy Lavere and Will Sexton. The latter group’s record features the lovely blend of harmonies between Keith and Lavere, tending toward the country side of life, love and loss, though with dips into rock ‘n’ roll, country/folk rock and the New Orleans groove. Keith’s new record is even more eclectic, venturing into all of the above as well as soul and the Bakersfield sound. More than ever, his voice has matured into a nuanced instrument with rich hints of a young Roy Orbison. It’s been ages since we’ve heard new material from either group, so fans of their shared take on classic roots sounds should turn out in force at their dual record release party tonight at Railgarten. I spoke with John Paul Keith a bit about how these records came together and the way they changed his approach to songwriting.

Memphis Flyer: It seems like you’ve had the songs from your new album in your live set for about a year.

John Paul Keith: Yeah, the record’s been in the can for almost a year. It just takes insane amounts of time to get product released. I don’t have management and it’s just moving a boulder uphill by yourself, all the time. And I paid for it all myself, when I had a little bit of extra money where I could afford to go in the studio. We broke it up into two tracking sessions, and then two or three mix sessions, just whenever I had a little money, you know? On the cheap.

Are these self-released?

No, they’re both coming out on Last Chance Records out of Little Rock.

Is there anything new in your approach, compared to your earlier records?

Well, this is the first one I’ve made without the 145’s, Al Gamble, Mark Stuart and John Argroves. My other three records were with those guys. So this one I wanted to do a little differently. At that point, none of those guys were in my live rotation anymore. Just by circumstance. And at that point, Shawn Zorn was playing in my live band most of the time. He started out as the Mirrors’ drummer, and ended up being my drummer, too. So I thought since I had a bunch of different guys I was playing live with, I would just shake it up and do it differently. And just do different guys for different songs. So it was different that way.

And the Mirrors record was kind of a creative breakthrough with me. I hadn’t had a record in five years, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I started making the Mirrors record with Amy & Will, and it’s the first time I’d really worked with Will, or written songs with Will, or been in the studio with him. And that was kind of a creative breakthrough for me, where it broke this creative logjam I had. I had written a batch of songs that weren’t very good, and that had delayed my next record. I just didn’t know where I was going, musically. And then we did the Mirrors record and I felt like I knew what to do next.

So I asked Will to produce my record and we just kinda kept going. We did both in Scott Bomar’s studio, and it’s a very similar group of people. Will is on most of it, Shawn is on most of it, Amy plays bass on a couple songs on my record. One of the songs on my record was going to be on the Mirrors record. We cut it on those sessions, and then ended up shuffling it to my record. So it was kinda like one long session in a way, broken up over a two year period.

I take it that you wrote all the stuff on your record. Is the Mirrors record very collaborative?

Basically, because Amy & Will had a really busy tour schedule, we only had a week to get material together and a week to track it. We’d already booked the time. So when they got off the road we realized we only had a short time to get the material together. So I would just go over to their house every evening, and we’d sit in their kitchen. They had two or three that they had been writing, and I had two or three that I had been writing, but we didn’t have enough. So we wrote a few things together and just pulled it together. I’d say it’s about half separate compositions and then half collaborations of some kind. And then there’s one cover on there, “The Man Who Comes Around,” an old Western Swing tune.

Oh, I wondered about the reference to the Fuller Brush man, who “comes around to sell a brush.”

Yeah, and the ice! The ice delivery is mentioned in that song. Pre-refrigeration, that song!

So one of those nights while we were writing, we got the text that our friend Josh Benton had died. That’s where the song “Funerals in New Orleans” came from. And we ended up dedicating the record to him. He and I were born two days apart. My birthday’s July 1st, his is July 3rd, and we both turned 40 that year. He was having a birthday party on the 1st at Bar DKDC, which happened to be my birthday, and he asked me if I’d play, and that’s where that line, “You’re party spilled into my show” came from. I wasn’t going play on my birthday, but he asked me to, and we said, “Okay, we’ll make it into a double birthday party for us both.” So we did it, and then he was dead about two weeks later. I ended up playing his wake in the same bar, about three weeks after I played our fortieth birthday party.

So it kinda did a number on my psyche.
Matt White

John Paul Keith

It was that whole period…I got divorced in the middle of making my last record, Memphis Circa 3 am, and one of the reasons I haven’t been able to get a record out in all this time is that I was going through a personal crisis during all that time. And with Josh dying right in the middle of making the Mirrors record, that was kind of the lowest point, honestly. And so once we got through the Mirrors record, I knew exactly what I needed to do. I knew what kind of songs I should be writing and how to express things more fearlessly and to trust in the stuff that’s hard to say sometimes. Sometimes the stuff you don’t really wanna reveal is the stuff that, as an artist, you need to be revealing.

Now, time’s have changed in the time it’s taken me to get this record out, you know? From the writing to the release of this record, there have been these big cultural changes. I thought Hillary Clinton was gonna be president when we started these records. Trump won after all of it was written and a lot of it was recorded. The Mirrors was completely in the can. So I have no topical songs or anything. And I don’t really write topical songs either. That’s just not my forte. That’s never something I’ve been successful at. But I’d like to be better at it. I think we’re all gonna have to be better at it if we wanna be artists who create work of worth.

But that vulnerability is timeless. Reaching into yourself more… “Blue on Blue,” from the Motel Mirrors record, for instance.

That was a song Will and I wrote together. And that song was a total surprise. I remember very clearly writing in the van with Amy, years ago. I remember having this conversation about how I try not to use the word “love” in songs. It’s just something I try not to do. I try to say it another way, or veil it in metaphor, or whatever. It’s because I was coming from a place where I was afraid to reveal things. I had been in an unhappy marriage for a long time, and it’s kinda like the John Lennon “Norwegian Wood” thing: you don’t wanna write things that upset your spouse or that cause problems in your personal life. Or I’d try to be clever, and witty, and it’s kinda cynical to do that.

And the thing I got out of the Motel Mirrors record was that Will and Amy put a stop to that. With the songs they were bringing, they were expressing stuff that was very vulnerable. And deeply personal, like the title track, and everything Will writes is that way. So when we were sitting down to write, I’d bring certain things in that I felt strong about, and they were like, “Nah!” And eventually I’d show ’em something I wasn’t very confident about and they’d go, “That’s the best thing you brought!” Like “Let Me be Sweet to You,” where I didn’t even know if that was good enough to be on a record, and now that we’ve done it it’s one of my favorite ones on there. But I was afraid to reveal that. I was afraid to express that and for people to see that side of me. Working with Will and Amy made me understand, that’s what I’m supposed to do as a writer. Like the old tune says, “You’ve Got to Live the Life You Sing About in Your Song.”

So that gave me the clarity and the direction and the confidence I needed for the next record. Making the Mirrors record was what got me through the dark period I was going through, but it also got my writing to where I feel like it needed to be. Now I already have enough material for another record, written from that time. And I’m always writing, and I feel good about the future and how writing songs is what I do, it’s how I get through life.

And now I don’t plan on ever taking that long between records again. I want to put out a record every year, every 18 months, as much as I can. That’s just what I wanna do with my life, period.

To circle back, now I use “love” all the time. I was totally wrong when we had that conversation in the van. Now I’m writing all love songs and not hiding anything, just laying it all out there. I also really took to heart this Ernest Hemingway quote about writing. He said, “Write hard and clear about what hurts.” And I have that on a Post-it above my desk, I see it all the time, and I always keep it in mind when I’m writing now.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

2018 NBA Draft: Who Should the Grizzlies Pick?

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace

Editor’s Note: I’ve always been a fan of Andrew Ford‘s work scouting players, even all the way back to my Straight Outta Vancouver SB Nation days. He’s got a great basketball mind—he’s been on college staffs before—and he’s a good writer, and I wanted to give him an opportunity to talk about who the Grizzlies should draft after this horror-show of a season ends. He did not disappoint.

Assuming the Memphis Grizzlies don’t blow a serious tank job with barely more than a handful of games left to play, they will end the season as one of the worst three teams in the league. With any blessing at all from the lottery gods, a poor finish will translate into a top three draft pick in June. That would leave the Grizzlies with their pick of the draft litter.

All the draft options the Grizzlies will be presented with might seem a little overwhelming, but the great thing about the current state of the roster is that it’s extremely moldable. I would posit that the Grizzlies are closer to gaining an all new identity than they are to regaining their long-standing, beloved Grit and Grind identity. That might fire up those who love Grit and Grind a little, but the Grizzlies have clearly been trying to move away from playing in the mud ever since they allowed Zach Randolph, Tony Allen, and Vince Carter to walk in order to develop younger guys for the future. Lack of identity is generally seen as a bad thing in the NBA, but a roster containing very few pieces positioned to play a long-term role places the Grizzlies in an ideal position to be able to choose any number of players in this year’s draft without having to be extremely concerned about how the player fits with current roster pieces.

[jump]

Luka Doncic

🇸🇮vs🇸🇮…🏀😜

A post shared by Luka Doncic (@lukadoncic) on

2018 NBA Draft: Who Should the Grizzlies Pick?

This existing roster flexibility makes Luka Doncic the ideal pick. A 6’7” guard out of Slovenia, Doncic is already playing a significant role as a teenager for Real Madrid, one of the best teams in Europe. Doncic is a mature player for his age, and his versatility as a guard with exceptional size makes him ideal to build around. Offensively, he can slot in anywhere from the 1 to the 4. The Grizzlies have been looking for more versatile lineups for several seasons, hence the Chandler Parsons pickup two summers ago. If everything goes right, Doncic could be what Grizzlies fans hoped Parsons would be and then some. He’s capable of playing as a lead guard, but he’s also capable of playing as a secondary ball handler on the wing ready to attack when Mike Conley finds him open.

On the ball, Doncic is adept at running the pick-and-roll, albeit in a more old-fashioned way than the point guards who get most of the attention in today’s game. More finesse than brute force, Doncic doubles back over screens until he finds just enough of a pocket of space to fire off a shot with excellent form. Although he lacks elite athleticism, Doncic’s change of pace allows him to shake off defenders just enough on drives to the rim. His size alone makes his shot difficult to block for guards and smaller forwards, but his shot becomes nearly unblockable when you couple his size with the change of pace and impeccable footwork once he’s picked up his dribble. He leans heavily on his jump stop to get defenders to grasp at air before stepping through into a leaning shot that he often makes with seeming effortlessness.

[pullquote-3]

While Doncic has proven that he can compensate for his lack of athleticism at a high level already, his lack of an explosive first step is concerning for his prospects as a creator on the ball at the NBA level. NBA teams might be able to find ways to keep him from turning the corner and wreaking havoc in the heart of the defense by giving the assignment to guard him to a player both physically imposing and quick, but his saving grace on the ball might be his phenomenal passing ability. If a team chooses to blitz Doncic or high hedge and recover in the pick-and-roll, he can easily fling a pass over or around a defender to an open wing across the court or a wide-open big on a short roll to the rim. If a team chooses to sink the big into the paint in wait, Doncic will kill them with a pull-up jumper. The most adept wings at fighting over screens might be able to stick with Doncic, but most guys in the NBA are going to be riding his hip playing catch up which is a dangerous place to be against a sharpshooter like him.

Off the ball, Doncic has unlimited range from beyond the arc. He has a quick, fluid stroke, and the shot always looks good leaving his hand. His catch and shoot ability makes him an ideal secondary ball handler since defenders will be closing out so hard to prevent him from launching a three. Doncic is exactly the type of player who is capable of breaking the string of a defense then exploiting the tangled ball of yarn in a number of ways.

Defense is more of a concern for Doncic, as his lateral quickness and length are both suspect. He probably won’t ever become an elite defender, but his size theoretically allows him to guard at least three positions on any given night.

The beauty of Doncic is that he can slot in and instantly give you something if you believe the Grizzlies can still compete in the playoffs every year, or he can be an excellent, versatile piece to begin building around if you believe the Grizzlies are going to be bad for another several years. Wallace, or whoever is calling the shots, wouldn’t have to go out and find specific players with a narrow skill set to fit around Doncic. The idea is that he can be fully functional around any combo of guards, forwards, and bigs. In the short term, a Conley – Doncic – Parsons – Green – Gasol lineup would be really fun if healthy.

Deandre Ayton

College was just the preview… #BullySeason ➡️ NBA 👀 Coming soon…

A post shared by Deandre Ayton (@deandreayton) on

2018 NBA Draft: Who Should the Grizzlies Pick? (2)

If for some reason Doncic is off the board when the Grizzlies pick, it makes sense to turn to possibly the most physically gifted player in the draft in Deandre Ayton. The Bahamas native has Dwight Howard’s shoulders and ability to seal off any man in the post while maintaining the ability to step out and deftly stroke midrange jumpers and threes.

Offensively, there’s no denying Ayton’s skill. When he wanted to at Arizona, he could score as easy as anyone in the country. His face up game is fluid for a big man, and his touch is soft from midrange. He can play with finesse and shoot over the defense if the situation calls for it, or he can bully his way to the rim off the bounce. Ayton’s explosiveness makes him dangerous around the rim. Often before his man knows what’s going on, Ayton has bodied him under the rim and is on his way up to slam it home.

On the other end of the court, Ayton looks like a lost puppy. His pick-and-roll defense is weak as he has not mastered the timing on high hedges, and his defensive counting stats are slightly less exciting than you would think you could get from a guy of Ayton’s physical stature. However, the aforementioned physicality is the reason I would take a chance on Ayton despite his suspect defense. He has all the physical tools to be great on defense as long as he can get everything squared away between his ears that an NBA coach will attempt to instill.

[pullquote-2]

Ayton’s disappearance in Arizona’s NCAA Tournament game has made it trendy to question his ability to perform under pressure, but his entire body of work speaks for itself. There are rightful concerns about effort though. Whether the lack of effort is related to conditioning or makeup is an important distinction to make before I’d feel comfortable pulling the trigger on Ayton.

While Marc Gasol is the incumbent center with a hefty contract, he can’t be the reason the Grizzlies don’t pull the trigger on Ayton. At 33 years old, Gasol won’t be able to play at an all-star level forever. While I don’t think of Ayton as a generational talent like some who have compared him to Hakeem Olajuwon or Shaquille O’Neal do, I do believe he has the potential to be an annual NBA All-Star. If the Grizzlies believe that, they should grab Ayton and secondarily worry about how to play him next to Gasol.

I have Ayton higher on my board than any other big in the draft because I think he has the least to work on to become elite and the easiest path to becoming a franchise cornerstone among all the highly-rated bigs including Marvin Bagley III, Mohamed Bamba, and Jaren Jackson Jr.

Marvin Bagley III

Gameday😈🔵⚪️…#JREAM

A post shared by Marvin Bagley III (@mb3five) on

2018 NBA Draft: Who Should the Grizzlies Pick? (3)

After factoring in a drop off in potential after Doncic and Ayton, Marvin Bagley III is the next guy on my list. I have a tremendous amount of belief in Bagley to become a good NBA player, but it seems more likely that he will become a really nice role player than a perennial all-star. He slots into the lineup with Gasol easier than Ayton on paper, but there’s a lot of work to do offensively for Bagley in order for him to come close to matching his college production numbers.

At this point in Bagley’s development, he’s excellent around the rim if he’s able to establish solid post position. The problem is that he’s not always able to do so due to his slim frame. Bagley must work on sealing his man deep and keeping the defender on his back in order to be able to dominate the way he did at Duke. If he can learn to consistently establish good low post position, it will be difficult to stop him given his ability to catch anything thrown in his vicinity coupled with his uncanny ability to knock down shots with his left hand over his right shoulder.

While Bagley is dominant in the post with his left, he struggles to create offense for himself off the bounce because he’s so lefty-dependent. His lack of a right leads to defenders taking away his left, rendering him dangerous off the bounce only when he can attack a closeout.

[pullquote-1]

Bagley projects to be a solid fit next to Gasol given his ability to play both on the perimeter as well as with the paint monsters. The Grizzlies killed teams with a high-low attack between Gasol and Zach Randolph for many years, and Bagley is capable of playing either role. Down low, he’s good at ducking in for a quick bucket, but he’s equally solid at delivering a touch pass to a fellow big from the elbow. Duke leaned on high-low actions between Bagley and Wendell Carter Jr. a great deal this season, so Bagley is well-versed in the timing it takes to execute the action successfully.

In the pick-and-roll, Bagley has the tools to succeed, but he needs to improve on setting screens. He often slips or rolls too early, hanging the ball-handler out to dry. It’ll be interesting to see how he fares in an NBA offense that’s pick-and-roll heavy. His slender frame will take a bruising once he learns to better create contact on screens, which will necessitate him adding some muscle early in his career. Early on, he projects to be a better cutter than a screener or a standstill shooter. To reach his full potential offensively, he will have to round out his offensive game and become less dependent on his left.

Defensively, there are justified concerns about Bagley’s ability to protect the rim. He’s often late on rotations, and he won’t be the first rookie in the league to ball watch in excess. Physicality could hurt him on defense much like it limits him on offense. While the game is almost completely played in a pace and space way at this point, Bagley will still be forced to bang down low if he’s going to be able to stay in games and expedite his development as a rookie.

While Bagley has more weaknesses than either Doncic or Ayton, Bagley is scary because he’s the type of player who notches a double-double in the first half before the other team even realizes he’s killing them. He’s quietly an excellent player whose game needs some enhancements, but he will make the leap just fine if his work ethic on the court at Duke is any indication.

The Rest

If for some reason the Grizzlies draft pick falls out of the top three, first just curl up in the fetal position for twenty-four hours. After mourning for a period of time, there are two options to mull over. Does the team want to go the safe route, or do they still want to swing for the fences with a second-tier guy who has all-star potential but worse odds on becoming such a player?

It makes sense to go the safe route and select someone like Jaren Jackson Jr. or Mikal Bridges rather than swing for the fences with a guy like Michael Porter Jr. who is both a concern because of health and because you have no idea what he might be able to become due to lack of time to scout him while healthy. Jackson Jr. might not be as good on offense as Ayton or Bagley, but he’s far better on defense and much more well-rounded already than both of those guys.

The reason Jackson is not in my top three is because I see a higher floor for him but a lower ceiling than Ayton and Bagley. For a franchise looking for a complete, quick turnaround, the Grizzlies are hoping for more than a stable NBA player. Because Jackson Jr. can do a little bit of everything though, I think that limits the potential of a flame out. Much like Jackson Jr., Bridges provides the same type of stability. He’s fundamentally sound in every area, and we’ve seen plenty of guys in recent years i.e. Draymond Green and Josh Richardson come in and play huge roles on their teams because of their ability to be able to play above-average basketball in almost every area. Of course, Green and Richardson are best-case scenarios.

If everything goes as planned, the Grizzlies will be positioned nicely to take whoever they want. With Gasol and Conley both aging and with various degrees of an injury history, the Grizzlies should look more towards the future than towards next season alone. Rookies don’t often turn the tide for their respective teams, so the Grizzlies should be patient no matter who they draft. No matter who is chosen, the franchise couldn’t ask for a better tandem than Conley and Gasol to usher the pick along into the next era of Memphis basketball.

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

Calling B.S.

In the wake of the tragic shootings at Parkland, Fla., student Emma Gonzales famously called B.S. on some of the evasive pseudo-solutions to gun violence being talked about. So did this week’s Flyer editorial about the absence of serious proposals on the subject from a debate for GOP County Mayor candidates. Go here to read.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Pacific Rim: Uprising

Right now, the app getting the biggest workout on my Apple TV is Filmstruck. The cinephile-focused streaming service’s deep catalogue includes practically the entire Criterion Collection, and recently added films from the Turner Classic Movie vaults. Alongside the Bergman, the Agnès Varda deep cuts, and the works of experimental documentarian Bill Morrison are selections from Toho, the Japanese studio who first introduced the world to kaiju. Toho’s greatest artist was Ishiro Honda, creator of Godzilla. Honda’s tokusatsu work spanned more than 20 years, from 1953’s Gojira through Rodan, The Mysterians, Mothra, King Kong vs. Godzilla, and Destroy All Monsters, before he retired in 1975 with Terror of Mechagodzilla.

Honda’s films were full of homegrown special effects shots. His speciality was putting a guy named Haruo Nakajima in a lizard suit and filming him tearing down cardboard cities. In the black and white Gojira, which is at its heart a deadly serious fantasy of the firebombing of Tokyo, it’s chillingly effective. Later, when color was added, and there were a couple of guys in suits wrestling each other on scale model Monster Island, it descended into self-parody.

John Boyega (above) stars in Pacific Rim: Uprising as the war between humankind and giant monsters continues.

In 2013, Guillermo del Toro dedicated Pacific Rim to Honda. The film, set in a shiny future where much of the world’s GDP is devoted to building giant robots call jaegers to fight giant, monstrous invaders from another dimension, is right out of the Honda playbook. It was a modest success in the United States, and a huge hit in Asia. For the sequel, freshly minted Best Director del Toro turned over the reigns of his new franchise to veteran TV director Steven S. DeKnight, and brought on a mostly new cast, made necessary by the last film’s high body count for giant robot pilots. The biggest missing piece is Idris Elba as Stacker Pentacost, who was last seen detonating an atomic bomb on the floor of the ocean to seal up the interdimensional rift allowing the kaiju to travel to Earth. Ten years after his world-saving sacrifice, his son Jake (John Boyega) struggles in the shadow of his memory. Where Stacker was a soldier, Jake is a playboy, making a good but illegal living selling stolen jaeger technology. But when a misadventure with fellow jaeger hacker Amara (Cailee Spaeny) goes bad, the two are caught and pressed into service by the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps, led by Jake’s adoptive sister Mako (Rinko Kikuchi). There, they struggle under the command of Jake’s frenemy Nate (Scott Eastwood), until an attack by a mysterious giant robot named Obsidian Fury signals the beginning of another round of world-threatening attacks by, variously, giant cyborgs, drones, kaiju, and grotesque meta-mega-kaiju.

At this point, I figure you’re either the kind of person who is liable to be entertained by giant robots fighting giant monsters, or you’re not. If you’re the former, or if you’re giant-robot-curious, this is the movie for you. If you’re the latter, you should give this one a pass, because Pacific Rim: Uprising is pretty much just giant robots doing stuff.

As I sat in the theater nodding while John Boyega led his giant robots into battle on (where else) the slopes of Mt. Fuji, I wondered: Why does Pacific Rim work when our other major Giant Robots Doing Stuff franchise, Transformers, fails so utterly and so predictably? I think it’s because the folks behind Pacific Rim don’t hate their audience, their jobs, and themselves. Boyega, for example, has bonhomie to spare and knows exactly how serious to take the material. In order to make the dizzying action scenes work, he has to sell the fact that driving a giant battle robot is extremely dangerous, while also subtly winking to audience that, yeah, this is a movie about giant battle robots. He’s trying, while his Transformers counterpart Mark Wahlberg just looks like he’s been rousted out of bed and forced to play each scene before he’s had his coffee.

Maybe that also explains the continuing appeal of Honda’s kaiju movies. Even with something as bloated and silly as 1969’s All Monsters Attack, you get the sense that this is a product of a bunch of artists having fun. Pacific Rim: Uprising is big and dumb, but at least it’s having fun.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Theirs for the Taking

CREDIT: Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

And these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds … are immune to your consultations. They’re quite aware of what they’re going through.

— “Changes,” David Bowie

Turn and face the change.

And change is coming, if our democracy can sustain itself through Donald Trump’s Tilt-a-Whirl presidency, however long it may last. And I believe the country, as it always has, will inevitably begin to reflect the beliefs and mores of the population that is coming of age. Frankly, the country is theirs for the taking, if they will only take it. And by take it, I mean, vote for the change they want to enact. Historically, young people have done a lousy job of that.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 46 percent of those aged 18 to 29 voted in the 2016 election. Meanwhile, the aging Boomers — 65 and older — voted at a 71 percent rate.

Older voters, for the most part, are more socially conservative, more traditionally religious, and more likely to vote Republican. If more than 70 percent of them vote, it’s little wonder our country’s political institutions reflect their views to an inordinate degree. And that’s been the case for decades: The voting rate for the oldest demographic has skewed higher than the population as a whole.

Meanwhile, the pattern for younger voters — who tend to be much more progressive, especially when it comes to gay rights, immigration reform, pot legalization, and gun laws— has been one of persistently low participation for decades. The younger age group just doesn’t vote in the kinds of numbers that can turn an election around.

For example, since 1980, according to U.S. Census numbers, the 18-29 age group has only voted at a (barely) 50 percent rate twice — in 1992 and 2008, when Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were first elected. The average turnout for the youngest demographic is around 42 percent. In mid-term elections, when total turnout drops, young voters sit out at even higher rates.

Obviously, 2018 is a mid-term election year, which bodes poorly for young-voter turnout, unless they walk the talk — as they did around the country last weekend — and take it into a voting booth. Otherwise, it’s just more reality television, another blip in the chaotic Whack-A-Mole news-cycle we’re stuck in with the current administration.

But I give the young folks who’ve been motivated by the Parkland shooting full credit for their perseverance so far — and for their fearlessness in calling out the NRA and its apologists. That’s bold stuff and long overdue. The NRA has been getting away with its bullying tactics for decades. It is currently an organization that its founders wouldn’t recognize: tax-exempt, resistant to any form of firearm regulation, and responsible for pouring $54 million into the 2016 election cycle, $30 million of it going to Donald Trump. It’s even managed to bully Congress into banning research on causes of gun violence. The NRA is out of touch and out of sync with most of the country.

As evidence, I offer a Fox News(!) poll conducted last week, in which 91 percent of Americans surveyed favored universal background checks; 72 percent favored mental-health screening for gun buyers; and 60 percent favored banning “assault weapons.”

The NRA claims five million members, but most recent estimates put that number at around three million. That’s less than one percent of the U.S. population. Even if all those NRA members opposed common-sense gun regulations, which is unlikely, that one percent of the population should not be setting the nation’s gun policies. If the country’s youngest citizens can mobilize and turn this issue around at the voting booth, they will have accomplished all we could ask of any generation. Their legacy will be secure. A hopeful nation awaits.

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Rox: Gym Brings Rock Climbing to Soulsville

CREDIT: Memphis Rox - Facebook

Memphis Rox – Facebook

Memphis Rox Climbing + Community opened its doors earlier this month in the heart of Soulsville.
It’s the first of many projects planned for the area by Tom Shadyac, the Hollywood filmmaker with family and community ties to Memphis.

Shadyac, through his One Family Memphis nonprofit organization, built Memphis Rox, a 30,000-foot climbing gym with walls up to 45 feet high.

It’s the first phase of a One Family campus in the area. The next phase will include Mountaintop Media, a film studio and school.

Gym leaders Zack Rogers and Jon Hawk told us about climbing, the gym’s impact on the neighborhood, and what’s next for One Family. — Toby Sells

Memphis Flyer: Why a climbing gym?


Zack Rogers: When Tom first entertained the idea of building a gym, he started by taking kids from the community on trips to Nashville and Colorado to climb so he could get feedback.

For the most part, rock climbing has been inaccessible to Memphians, but the response was really positive.

Rock climbing — at its core — is a sport that promotes cooperation and connectivity as opposed to competition. It’s a lot like mentorship in that you’re able to learn from your past experiences and failures and impart that knowledge onto others.

But in order to reach that ultimate goal of the summit, you must be completely in the present moment, only thinking about the next move you should take. Such is life.

MF: Is it a hard sport/activity to break into?

Jon Hawk: There are routes and wall angles available for all ages and abilities. What makes rock climbing special is that there’s not one age or build that is needed to be a proficient climber.

MF: What’s the end goal of the gym on a broader, community standpoint?

ZR: At Memphis Rox, there are no economic barriers. First and foremost, we’re a family institution that shows up as a climbing gym. No one is turned away, regardless of ability to pay.

Our suggested membership dues range from $55 a month to $10 to $12 for a day pass with annual options as well. But we’re reimagining currency on our campus.

It’s energy, it’s whatever you can provide. Five hours of community engagement over four weeks can be exchanged for a monthly membership. Volunteer hours can be spent in Memphis Rox as well as any nonprofit organization in Memphis.

It goes back to our mission — to build a family, connecting people to people, where we lift each other up.

MF: The gym is the first of many things you have planned there. What’s next and when is it coming?

ZR: Last year ushered in the first steps of phase two with Tom’s next film, Brian Banks.

A group of 30 students, 15 from LeMoyne-Owen and 15 from University of Memphis, shadowed industry professionals through the entire production.

Memphis Rox is our immediate meeting point, complete with a juice bar, workout and cardio equipment, and flex space for yoga and meditation.

Soon we’ll build a timeline for phase two, including a ‘pay-it-forward’ restaurant, production studio, and art school.

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Pets of the Week (March 29-April 4)

Each week, the Flyer will feature adoptable dogs and cats from Memphis Animal Services. All photos are credited to Memphis Pets Alive. More pictures can be found on the Memphis Pets Alive Facebook page.

[slideshow-1]

Categories
News News Blog

TWRA: Tennesseans ‘Must Learn’ To Live With Alligators

CREDIT: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

Grainy, shaky footage shows a seven-foot alligator that state officials said was spotted on the Wolf River in Fayette County.

Alligators in local rivers stepped out of urban myth and into reality this week with a video (see below) that showed a seven-footer in a Fayette-County section of the Wolf River.

The short, grainy video easily steps beyond hoax territory, too. It was shot and posted on Facebook by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA).

The alligator probably didn’t get lost and just meander up this way, like ”Manny” the manatee that accidentally swam 720 miles from its natural habitat to Memphis a decade ago. 

TWRA officials said “this latest sighting is one of several confirmed sightings of alligators in Southwest Tennessee.”

“Alligators are naturally expanding their range into Tennessee from the southern border states,” TWRA said in a FAcebook post last week. “TWRA has not stocked any alligators in Tennessee. Alligators expanding into Tennessee is just another species that we must learn to coexist with like many of the other Southern states.”

Some reacted to the Facebook post with surprise and no surprise whatsoever. Some suggested an alligator hunting season. Facebooker Bill Warren, told his friends, “Duck season is about to get more dangerous.”
[pullquote-1] TWRA said alligators feed on fish, turtles, snakes, frogs, and waterfowl and will, occasionally, eat larger animals like opossums, raccoon, and deer.

As for surviving Tennessee’s winters, TWRA said alligators can slip into a “hibernation-like dormancy” called brumation. Adding a bit of nightmare fuel, TWRA said alligators can even survive in the ice “by sticking their snout out of the water before it freezes which allows them to continue breathing.”

If you see one, don’t poke it, TWRA suggested.

“TWRA would like to remind everyone that alligators are a protected species and catching or shooting one is a violation of the law,” the agency said. “If you come across one while exploring the outdoors in West Tennessee, leave it alone and enjoy Tennessee’s unique biodiversity.”

See it here:

TWRA: Tennesseans ‘Must Learn’ To Live With Alligators

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Hattie B’s at Wiseacre

Hattie B’s, the Nashville-based hot chicken restaurant, is set to open next month on Cooper.

For those who want to know what the fuss is about should head to Wiseacre Saturday, March 31st, 3-9 p.m., where the Hattie B’s airstream will be selling its tenders in all heat levels (Southern, mild, medium, hot, damn hot, and shut the cluck up!).

An order of chicken tenders (3) with fries will cost $10.

Jeff the Brotherhood, along will Crystal Shrine, will perform at 7 p.m.