The Filtered Excellence: May 23, 2013

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Bob Geldof once asked us, “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Here are this weeks picks of what to WATCH, what to DO what to TRY what to READ what to LISTEN TO and more:

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WATCH THIS:

Arrested Development on Netflix. It’s the finaaal countdown! It’s almost time… At 3:01 AM (in the East) on Sunday morning, fifteen new episodes of Arrested Development will be finally released on Netflix. One of TV’s funniest comedies of all time will find the Bluth’s seven years later; each half hour episode will catch us up on that not-knowing-hot-to-make-a-chicken-noise clan. The Bluth’s return will likely be rife with running jokes and new ridiculously hilarious situations, brilliant lines, and just everything you’ve been missing about this dysfunctional lot. If you haven’t been acquainted with this show yet, you should be sitting there thinking, “I’ve made a huge mistake.”

Before Midnight. In theaters May 24th, limited. They’ve come a long way since meeting on that train to Vienna. Nine years later, the ever-engaging love story of Jesse and Celine continues. Before Midnight is the sequel to Before Sunrise (1995), and Before Sunset (2004). As with its cinematic precursors, the film was finds the couple in an alluring location as a backdrop to their smart dialogue, humor, heartbreak, and romance. Hawke and Delpy offer real, true, excellent performances in these roles that they wear like second skin. Before Midnight is beautifully directed by Richard Linklater, who shares writing credits in this film with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.

Francis Ha.  Starring Greta Grewig. Directed by Noah Baumbach. The latest from writer-director Noah Baumbach (Kicking And Screaming, The Squid And The Whale, Margot At The Wedding) stars Grewig (who co-wrote the script and is Baumbach’s real life girlfriend) as Francis, an aspiring dancer who has to re-invent herself after her best friend and roommate moves out to live with her boyfriend. What makes this process so daunting is that even though she’s 27, Francis realizes that she isn’t ‘a real person yet’ (real job, apartment, significant other, etc). The process of becoming that ‘real person’ is the heart of the film. Grewig is fantastic in the title role – she lives up to all of the promise that the ‘it girl’ title carries with it. It’s also a turning point for Baumbach, who, in a clear tribute to Woody Allen’s Manhattan, uses black and white to make the borough look magical, even when it’s at its most unforgiving. His relationship on and off screen with Grewig has also had a strong effect: anger and cynicism – benchmarks his previous works – has been replaced with a sense of playfulness that is refreshing. In a season that’s loaded with CGI and special effects driven movies, Francis Ha has all of the makings of being the sleeper hit of the summer. Francis Ha is in theaters in NYC and LA now and will be opening nationwide starting May 24th.

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself. George Plimpton did it all. He hung out with Presidents. Played quarterback for the Detroit Lions. Played goalie for the Boston Bruins. Successfully retired Willie Mays in an exhibition game. Did a photo shoot with Playboy models. Played the triangle for the New York Philarmonic. Got punched out by John Wayne in a film. Sparred with former champion Archie Moore. He’s been a clown, a trapeze artist, and a lion tamer. He also founded and editor The Paris Review, considered by many to be the most influential literal magazine in history. But who is the real George Plimpton? That is the heart of this terrific new documentary by Tom Bean and Luke Poling. Armed with scores of interviews and a ton of footage – most of which has never been seen – Bean and Poling remarkably has Plimpton narrates the film and is joined by family, friends and his contemporaries to give a joyous look at one of the most celebrated and interesting men in popular culture. Plimpton! opens this weekend in New York.

Behind the Candelabra. Academy Award winner Michael Douglas stars in the HBO movie about the flamboyant piano virtuoso Liberace. Matt Damon co-stars as his lover Scott Thorson. It’s produced by Jerry Weintraub and directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film debuted at Cannes and received rave reviews from the film festival critics. “Behind The Candelabra” premieres on HBO, Sunday, May 26 at 9pm Eastern.

 

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READ THIS:

The Friedkin Connection: A Memoir by William Friedkin. Whenever there’s a discussion of the seminal films of the 1970’s and the impact it had (and continues to have) on Hollywood, the familiar names always come up: Coppola, Scorsece, Spielberg, etc. But the director who really helped crashed the gates down forever was William Friedkin. He was the first of the ‘new Hollywood’ class to win the Best Director Oscar and have back to back blockbusters with The French Connection and The Exorcist. He was also the first from the class to have the first major bomb (the sadly underappreciated Sorercer). Now for the first time, Friedkin gets to tell his story about the making of these films and the behind the scenes battles to get them made. He also tells about growing up as the son of Russian immigrants in Chicago, his formative years working TV (first on live TV, then later directing documentaries and one of the last episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour) and his slow transition into feature films. Friedkin also reflects on how the numerous chance encounters and missed opportunities led to unexpected results. For example, he turned down a chance to direct a big screen version of the TV series Peter Gunn (and insulting series creator Blake Edwards in the process), but out of that he would meet William Peter Blatty, who would later write The Exorcist. The book is laced with regret and ‘what if’ scenarios such as the time he turned a chance to own the Boston Celtics, ignoring a request by an up and coming artist named Prince to direct his video and throwing out a thank you note and drawings by a fan named Jean-Michel Basquiat. Told in a straight forward, no-BS style, The Friedkin Connection is the definitive look at one of the important directors in cinema. The Friedkin Connection is available in stores now.

Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny and The American Dream by Deepak Chopra and Sanjeev Chopra.  This was Deepak and Sanjeev’s first collaboration as authors and tells their stories of their unique life paths, recounting childhood stories of growing up in postwar India, their respective immigrations to the United States and their obstacles and successes in pursing the American dream.  A fascinating and inspiration story of the journeys of two brothers.

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LISTEN TO THIS:

Wrote a Song for Everyone by John Fogerty.  This latest album from one of the greatest singer songwriters of our lifetime is a masterpiece.  With some new songs and some old ones, and some great collaborations, this album belongs in every collection.   Some of the songs will be familiar to Fogerty fans, some are brand new, and even the familiar tunes sound as if you’re hearing them for the first time. Among the 16 guest collaborators are The Foo Fighters, Tom Morello, and Bob Segar.  There’s a reason other songwriters fight to collaborate with Fogerty.  Available everywhere.

Random Access Memories by Daft Punk. With EDM enjoying a commercial and critical renaissance, you would think that the latest effort from Daft Punk – their first studio album in 8 years – would just be piling onto a vibrant and thriving scene. Wrong. Instead, the French duo flip the script, ditch the computers (for the most part), and go back to the future. working with many of the musicians who made the EDM responsible in the first place. Yes, that’s Nile Rodgers’ trademark funky rhythm guitar that light up ‘Get Lucky’ and ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’. Yes, that’s EDM pioneer Giorgio Moroder – the producer behind the monster hits by Donna Summer, Blondie and David Bowie – on the track named appropriately enough, ‘Giorgio By Moroder’. Yes, that fusion great Omar Hakim (Weather Report, Sting) and session great John ‘JR’ Robinson (Michael Jackson, Barbara Streisand, Steve Winwood, Madonna, just to name a few) playing drums used with drumsticks on the epic prog-rock based closer ‘Contact’. Then there’s the curveballs: The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas going to a galaxy far, far away on ‘Instant Crush’ and 70’s singer-songwriter Paul Williams – writer for hits by Barbara Streisand, Three Dog Night and The Carpenters – sounding wonderfully vulnerable and human on ‘Touch’. Current electronic heroes Todd Edwards and Panda Bear make appearances as does Pharrell Williams (who’s getting his MJ on with the killer first single ‘Get Lucky’) but make no mistake about it: Daft Punk are the stars of this prog-rock, 70’s disco, fusion, sci-fi soul show. Yes, it’s all over the place, but that’s why it works so well. Definitely worth the wait.

False Idols by Tricky. For his 10th studio album (and his first on his own label also called False Idols), Tricky goes back to what made his an international superstar: Dark, probing lyrics with a sexy female voice on top to counter it. Francesca Belmonte has the tall order of replacing Martina Topley-Bird as Tricky’s main foil, but on tracks like ‘Nothing’s Changed’ ‘Tribal Drums’ and the lead single ‘Does It’, she more than holds her own. Other tracks are sly updates on classics: ‘Somebody’s Sins’ uses the legendary Patti Smith line as its hook and ‘Valentine’ is a haunting update on the jazz-pop standard. The otherworldly vocals of Antlers frontman Peter Siberman lights up the jagged trip hop rocker ‘Parenthesis’. For fans who wanted Tricky to return to the sound of his classic album Maxinquaye, this is a solid return to form. False Idols will be available May 28th on Itunes, Amazon and all digital music outlets. You can go to www.trickysite.com for more information and a full rundown of tour dates.

The Low Highway by Steve Earle. Steve Earle is a true American storyteller and his new album, “The Low Highway”, is exactly what what he does best.  They call it Outlaw country, and it’s some of the best American music that you can hear today.   Earle described his album about basically what he was seeing outside the window– the state of the life in America today.  As always, his lyrics are poignant and hit the heart of what really matters today. Standout tracks include the title track “The Low Highway” and “Invisible”.  In stores now.

Sports by Huey Lewis and the News (The 30th Anniversary Edition). Released in the fall of 1983, this was the album that turned this Bay Area-based group from blue collar bar band to international superstars, selling over 10 million copies in the U.S. alone. All of the monster hits are here: ‘The Heart Of Rock n Roll’, ‘If This Is It’, ‘Heart & Soul’ and ‘I Want A New Drug’. Lewis personally oversaw the digital remastering of the album, which also contains a bonus disc of the live versions of the entire album, most of which have never been released. Sports captures the band at their commercial and artistic zenith and will make you long for the days when MTV actually played videos. Sports (The 30th Anniversary Edition) is available now through Amazon, Itunes and all major music retailers.

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DO THIS:

Indio, California: Gregg Allman. The American Rock and Blues icon Gregg Allman will be headlining at the Fantasy Springs Resort on Saturday, May 25th. Gregg will be performing his classic songs from the Allman Brothers Band and music from his 2011 album “Low Country Blues” which was produced by T-Bone Burnett. Gregg will be appearing in the Special Events Center this Saturday at 8pm.

 

Dallas, Texas: Deepak Chopra, The Alternative Life. Healer, teacher and author Deepak Chopra will be speaking at the AT&T Performing Arts Center on the theme “You Won’t Know What Your Brain Can Do, Until You Test Its Limits”. Dr. Chopra will be discussing how new research and breakthroughs in neuroscience can be used to help with not only health, but also spiritual well-being. Deepak Chopra will be at the Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, May 29th at 7:30pm.

 

New York City: The World Science Festival. It’s a 4 day event sponsored by the Science Festival Foundation that brings together scientific innovation with arts and culture. The festival begins on Wednesday, May 29th and this year features appearances by Brian Greene doing a presentation on quantum physics and Alan Alda hosting a panel on neuroscience, which asks how brain imaging could affect court cases in the future. Locations and times for the different events vary.

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The Editor