The Filtered Excellence: December 12: 2020
Bob Geldof once asked us, “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Once a week we take a break from comedy to bring you this week’s picks of the best things to watch, the most interesting things to do, great things to try, the best picks to read, our favorite things to listen to and more.
WATCH THIS
Love, Weddings And Other Disasters. The odd paths to finding love is at the heart of this new comedy from writer/director Dennis Dugan. Set in Boston, it starts Maggie Grace as Jessie, a wedding planner who gets unexpected fame when an ill-fated skydive wrecks a wedding and ends her relationship. Despite this, she gets a chance to plan the wedding of mayoral hopeful Robert Barton (Dennis Staroskelsky), and seeks assistance from top planner Lawrence Phillips (Jeremy Irons). The demanding and ultra meticulous Lawrence gets fixed up on a blind date with the visually impaired Sara (Diane Keaton). Meanwhile, Barton’s brother Jimmy (Andy Goldenberg) goes on a dating reality show to pay off gambling debts and is paired up – actually chained up – with Olga (Melinda Hill), a Russian stripper who dances at a mob owned club. Finally, city tour guide Captain Richie (Andrew Bachelor) is a lovelorn Prince Charming, searching the city to find the Cinderella with a distinctive tattoo that he met – and lost – on one of his tours. Maggie Grace delivers a great performance at the slightly klutzy Jessie, trying to move on after a major embarrassment to pull off the biggest wedding of her career. Irons and Keaton are also in great form as the mismatched couple who find late life love. With singer-songwriter Elle King providing a great musical bridge between stories, it’s the kind of fun diversion that we need to get us through dark days. Love, Weddings And Other Disasters is available now on Amazon Prime.
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart. The Bee Gees are best defined by their work on Saturday Night Fever, but, as this HBO Max documentary points out, there were many layers and textures to their musical output. Directed by Frank Marshall, it shows how three brothers from Australia, wrote over 1,000 songs that fused incredible vocal harmonies and acute pop sensibility to score 20 #1 hits and anchored one of the biggest selling albums of all time. A trove of archival footage also shows how their relentless work ethic and their ability to musically shape shift kept them on the charts for over five decades. Marshall also goes in depth behind some of their darker periods, including the group’s 1969 breakup, the tragic death of younger brother Andy Gibb, and bearing the full brunt of the ‘Disco Sucks’ campaign of the late 1970s. But at its heart, it’s about how a family’s love for the music – and each other – has earned them a respect by musicians and fans alike. With new interviews with surviving member Barry Gibb, family, friends and long time collaborators, it’s a well deserved look back at an all-time great group. The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart is available now on HBO Max.
LISTEN TO THIS
No One Sings Like You Anymore, Vol 1 by Chris Cornell. A year before his shocking death, Chris Cornell got together with producer Brendan O’Brien to record cover versions of some of his favorite songs. Volume 1 of these sessions includes his wrenching cover of Prince’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’; ‘Patience’ by Guns ‘N’ Roses; Harry Nilsson’s ‘Jump Into The Fire’, ‘Watching The Wheels’ by John Lennon and ELO’s ‘Showdown’. But its takes on the R&B chestnuts ‘Get It While You Can’ (written by Howard Tate and made famous by Janis Joplin), ‘Stay With Me Baby’ and ‘You Don’t Know Nothing About Love’ that really makes wonder what a full on soul album would’ve sounded like. Playing covers wasn’t foreign to Cornell, but to hear him take some of his favorite songs and make them his own, you marvel at his range, his talent, and how much we miss him. No One Sings Like You Anymore, Vol 1 by Chris Cornell is available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all major streaming services.
READ THIS
Get On The Bus by Henry Rollins. Originally published in 1994, Henry Rollins unflinching, brutally honest tales of life on the road with Black Flag is now regarded as a classic. Rollins would re-issue a second edition in 2004, with never before seen photographs, a new forward, and updates on some of the people mentioned in the book. After briefly being out of print, Rollins’ publishing company 2.13.61 has just re-issuing a new paperback version. His less than glamorous takes on abusive cops, painful all-night rides, substance abuse, poverty, and alienation displays a much darker road to stardom that’s rarely written about. There’s also a section devoted to Joe Cole, Rollins’ long time friend and former Black Flag roadie who was tragically killed during an armed robbery. Rollins has published a series of books chronicling his life travels, but this is the must-have. Get On The Bus by Henry Rollins is available now at www.twothirteensixtyone.com.
Black Futures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham. What does it mean to be Black and alive? The answers serves at the impetus of this new book by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham. They fuse memes and Instagram posts, with paintings and vital data, lyrics with prose, along with conversations with activists and scholars to tell how Black creators are raising the bar and pushing the needle forward. All of these narratives leap off the page, presenting the joy – and its results – behind the struggle. A terrific late year literary entry. Black Futures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham is available now through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all major book retailers.
DO THIS
Wear A Mask.
Practice Social Distancing.
Wash Your Hands.
Stay Safe.
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