Best Motion Pictures of 2018... So Far

The 2019 Academy Awards are only a month away, and we've been informed of Oscar nominations, for better or for worse. For me - as far as the stuff I've seen goes - 2018 was not a great year for movies. I mean, on my own list of favourites, I've got a friggin' Star Wars movie and a comic book movie. That says it all. Not about my taste in movies, but about the depth of the field. Mind you, I still haven't seen some of the most notable films of the past year.

The actual Oscar nominees for best picture are: Vice, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Roma, Black Panther, and A Star is Born. 

Yes, Black Panther. A comic book movie. Sure, it's better than most (I saw it and quite liked it), but still. I've only seen two of these eight nominated pictures, so I'd better get cracking. Or not.

Sunny Suljic deserves a nod for his work in mid90's

So whenever I get around to seeing the flicks I've missed, maybe I'll bump something off my somewhat trashy list in favour of something more Oscar-worthy. Not that I care a whole lot about this political game that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences plays every year. It's just sort of fun to do my own Top Movies list, and maybe compare that to the real nominees and winners. Not that I'll even watch the Oscars... I never do, but I'll check the results the day after, and moan about the state of the film industry.

Here are what I feel are the best of 2018, based on what I've seen, not in any particular order:

Heavy Trip - quite possibly my favourite of the year, the comedic story of a Finnish metal band as they struggle to make a career happen. Corpse paint, meat grinder guitars, projectile vomiting. A jolly good time!

Christopher Robin - a heart-tugging nostalgic trip starring the impeccably animated creatures of the Hundred Acre Wood, and a nice turn by Ewen McGregor. It's up for Best Visual Effects... that's all?

Eighth Grade - follows a girl through her final week of eighth grade, as she struggles with social anxiety. Intelligent, funny, dramatic... so why no love in the run for the Oscars?

mid90s - so steeped in realism that it feels like a documentary, this com-dram coming-of-age story is about a 13-year-old who joins a group of older, more street-wise skateboarding kids in 90's L.A. Smartly shot and naturally acted, this deserves attention at the Oscars.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - an omnibus of sometimes light, sometimes darkly funny tales of the Old West. Only a little uneven, this is highly entertaining... hey, it's the Coen brothers.

Annihilation - a dark scif-fi story with an all-star cast, great production all around, and addresses very real human themes rather than dazzling you with tons of distracting special effects

Roma - a beautiful production from top to bottom, start to finish. Superior acting, direction and camera-work bring to life the compelling story of a girl housekeeper in Mexico City during the 1970's. By all rights, this should win Best Picture. I won't hold my breath. 

These are "honorable" mentions, or simply cool movies that I liked but don't really feel belong in the same league as something like Roma. 

Black Panther
Hold the Dark
Mission Impossible: Fallout
Solo: A Star Wars Story
The Beyond
Winchester

Ladies Night

No, I'm not talking about that old disco song by Kool and The Gang. Well, it is catchy. What I would like to discuss today are some of my favourite female music artists. I had to put some real thought into this, even just locating albums I own by female musicians. I guess it's an indication of just how male-dominated the industry has been for so many decades. Thankfully, that has changed significantly, though maybe not as much as it 'ought to have. Still, there are a lot of terrific women performers out there, and here I'll mention a handful of the ones I like the best.

First up is (brace yourselves, you may wince) Australian singer Kylie Minogue. Yeah, most people immediately think of her late 80's bubblegum pop hits I Should Be So Lucky, and her cover of The Loco-motion. The latter was the highest-selling single in Australia in the whole of the 1980's. It also went to the top, or near the top, of the charts in the UK, the US, and Canada. Sugary-sweet tunes that actually made me gag back in the day. But I don't mind them so much now, though I prefer Minogue's music of the 90's and beyond.

Fast forward to the 1990's, when Kylie re-worked both her image and her music. She released a string of internationally successful and critically acclaimed albums, most notably Fever and Lightyears. Her music often shifted gears from one album to the next, sometimes using a full backup band for a rock or 70's disco feel, and other times relying more on electronics for a modern club vibe. 

Minogue has a distinctive vocal quality - light, breathy, and sweet - varying her approach at times. She can switch with ease from soft and breezy to operatic and dramatic, thanks to her ability in the soprano range. I find her style very elegant and easy on the ears, unlike a lot of other dance-pop artists out there.

To be honest, I could go on forever about Kylie, but for the sake of brevity I'll just say that she's made her mark on the music world. In my opinion, she's a classier version of Madonna. And you can't argue with the numbers that prove that the Princess of Pop is the highest-selling Australian artist of all time. And if I were to recommend some of her music, I'd say start with the Aphrodite album, then move on to X, and then Fever (which contains massive hit Can't Get You Out of My Head, which everyone around the world would at least recognize... right? Beware of earworm.)

Okay, so Kylie's number one. But I can't really rank the rest. I like them all a lot, to varying degrees, but I just don't want to try to compare apples and oranges. You know. So the rest here are in no particular order. 

About five or so years ago, I discovered the magical music  of Emmylou Harris. She's got an amazing voice, like that of an angel (in good company with Kylie). Mind you, you've got to appreciate some twang in her music. Harris is one of the few country (sometimes folky) artists I really like, though I'm still discovering her tunes in a haphazard manner. She surrounds herself with the best musicians and songwriters in the industry, so she can focus on her interpretations of great songs. Check out her shimmering Pancho and Lefty. 

Next up is Christine McVie, the other lady of Fleetwood Mac. I prefer McVie's vocals to those of Stevie Nicks. Far more musical to my ears, her voice is delicate, warm and emotional. Not so cigarette-worn, like Stevie. Most of Mac's best songs, which happen to be my favourites, were written by McVie - like The Chain, Dreams, Rhiannon, and Go Your Own Way. 

Then there's Shirley Manson of American band Garbage. Manson herself is Scottish, and that's just fine. She is a force to reckon with - check out her sometimes sweet, sometimes snarling vocal delivery in tunes like Cherry Lips and #1 Crush. The band's electro-pop-rock sound is timeless; even their 90's songs feel at home here in the 2010's. And I give her extra props for being part of the James Bond world - Garbage performed the theme song for the Bond film The World is Not Enough. Very cool track... one of their best.

I couldn't do such a list without mentioning the little powerhouse named Pat Benatar. Pat's opera-singing mother inspired her to nearly follow that same path, but instead she went the rock route. In the 80's she opened the doors for female artists at a time when men dominated the music biz. Benatar established herself as a versatile vocalist and songwriter at a time when swaggering male singers were the norm in rock. She was rewarded with several platinum albums, number one singles, and a few Grammy awards, to boot. I think her second and third albums are her best, Crimes of Passion and Precious Time, respectively. Benatar's biggest successes off those releases were Treat Me Right, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and Promises in the Dark. 

Then there's Belinda Carlisle, the lead singer of girl group The Go-Go's back in the 80's. I can enjoy some Go-Go's tunes, but I think it's Carlisle's solo work that I admire much more. Her unique vocal vibrato set her apart from the rest, and she could transform her sultry tone into a full-on belt when she wanted to. That quality and talent suited the melodic pop songs that she made so famous: Circle in the Sand, Heaven is a Place on Earth, and I Get Weak. 

Sophie Ellis-Bextor may not be a household name, but boy, can she sing. Sophie's sophisticated UK-bred electro-dance-pop is, in my opinion, superior to the stuff over this side of the Atlantic (in North America). Sure, it's often light-weight on the surface, but just pay attention to the detailed instrumentation and out-of-the-ordinary songwriting. There is something so classy about her delivery, and about her songs in general. She just seems to be in a whole other league than Britney, Ariana, Beyonce, and Nicki. Try out Bittersweet, and tell me that's not an improvement on US pop.

There are other notable female artists I'd like to mention, but I can't spend all day on this. Maybe I'll do another instalment of Ladies Night sometime. For now, maybe check out some of the links above to hear what I'm talking about. There are lot of amazing women singers, musicians, and songwriters out there.

The Listening Booth and New Records

I've picked up a few new albums lately, all gently used vinyl LP records, all original pressings. It was the Sunday morning following the Boxing Week sales and I still had time to take advantage of deals at the local record shops. So I high-tailed it downtown and spent hours flipping through the bins.

There were a few times when I held in my hands a brand new re-issue, but after some deliberation, I decided against buying it. There was a nice copy of the 1974 debut album by Kiss, which I've had on my shopping list for ages. But when it came right down to it, even with the discounted price, I felt I wouldn't play it often enough to warrant a purchase right then. I had a spending budget for the day and just that one record would have taken a big chunk out of it. The same for the Dark Side of the Moon (by Pink Floyd, duh) re-issue, which I hemmed and hawed over. I figured I'd listened to both of these albums so many hundreds of times LONG ago that I couldn't see myself playing them much now. Both great albums, of course, but just not high on my list of priorities right now. I can get these another day if or when I feel I'm ready for them again. After all, I do own them on CD. 

What I settled on were a handful of used records that I know I'll spin fairly regularly for a while, all by cool bands. Only one of them was on my shopping list... and that was Spitfire, by Jefferson Starship. Just a few posts ago, I reviewed J. Starship's 1979 album Freedom at Point Zero. At that time, I checked out some of their other 70's releases on Youtube. I discovered that I quite liked their '76 release, Spitfire. So I jotted that down, and while out record shopping, lo and behold... there it was, a nice clean original pressing. 

There's a distinctly 70's sound to Spitfire, and in a good way. A really smooth, funky vibe greets the listener on opening track Cruisin'. Fluid drums and thumping bass set the tone while guitars lay down tasty rhythms and licks. Piano and saxophone add further colour to the mix on other tracks, like Dance With the Dragon. I'd hardly ever heard Grace Slick's singing over the years... only if Somebody to Love or White Rabbit (with precursor Jefferson Airplane) appeared in a movie or something. But on Spitfire, I could finally absorb her completely rock'n'roll vocals and attitude. Slick is really on fire on Hot Water, a track with a jam session feel to it. I've gathered that St. Charles is the highlight of the album, and I'd have to agree... I get chills at several points in the song, when vocal harmonies and instrumentals meet in bliss. Far out, man. I suppose my one criticism of Spitfire is what sounds like too many voices (multi-tracked?) delivering too many lyrics. Here and there would be fine, but it felt like overkill sometimes. 

I also happened upon Clutching At Straws, by 80's UK progressive rockers Marillion. For several years in the 90's and early 2000's, I was deep into their music, at least their first half dozen albums - I much prefer Marillion's work with singer Fish at the microphone. Clutching at Straws is an introspective album that exhibits some characteristics of a concept album, though it may not seem an overt example of that. Accomplished musicians all, and Fish's lyrics and vocals work perfectly on this set of songs. More accessible than some of Marillion's earlier, more progressive music, Clutching At Straws contains some rocking tunes (like Incommunicado) and some quieter ones (Going Under). Gone are the prog-rock song-suites, though there's a common thread of mood and theme between tracks. A more sophisticated and polished album. Favourite tracks are Warm Wet Circles and Sugar Mice

I recently started reading Roger Daltrey's new book, his autobiography, titled Thanks a Lot Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story. The Who's longtime singer lays it all out in colourful, fun and revealing chapters of rock star hijinks and mishaps. Anyway, reading about the making of classic Who songs and albums put me in the mood for their music. I've got a decent amount of their stuff on vinyl and CD, yet I'm still lacking some key albums. As I flipped through the shop record bins, I found none of the big albums like Tommy or Who's Next, but did land on two of the band's post-Keith Moon releases Face Dances and It's Hard. I think I had both of these on cassette tape back in the 80's but after dropping that format, I never got around to replacing them with CDs. So it's been a long, long time since I last heard either of these Who discs.

Though they are considered minor Who albums, I think they are still pretty good. Face Dances appeals to me most, with great catchy songs in You Better You Bet and Another Tricky Day. The remainder of the tracks are nearly as strong, very listenable, and resplendent with Townshend's (near?) genius composition and lyrics. Half a dozen of the songs cracked the UK and US top ten charts in 1981, and the album hit numbers 1, 2, and 4 in Canada, UK, and the US, respectively. My gently-used vinyl copy sounds clean and bursts with Who power. 

It's Hard is no slouch, either, though the lack of Keith Moon on drums is ever evident. Replacement Kenny Jones was capable, but he lacked that wild energetic style that characterized Moon and the best of The Who. It's Hard didn't fare as well on the album charts, but it did spawn a few mildly successful singles, Athena, It's Hard, and Eminence Front (one of my all-time fave Who songs). I'll need to revisit the album several more times to figure out my feelings about it. On the surface, though, it's good... hey, it's The Who. 

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The Listening Booth:

I've also been checking out the odd other thing on Youtube. A fellow music fan suggested I try out 80's indie-ish band Miracle Legion. Very strummy guitars, and a charismatic frontman. Interesting, and probably somewhat successful back in the day, but I can't get too excited about them now. 

In my quest for ideas for future vinyl record purchases, I tried out some old Aerosmith after decades of ignoring them. I sort of wrote them off after they went totally radio in the 80's, yet their 70's work is still a piece of rock history. Long ago, I had their greatest hits (the red and white cover) but my interest waned over time. Anyway, it was cool to re-discover the gritty authority of tunes like Train Kept A-Rollin' and Sweet Emotion.

I also hauled out some records and CDs that I haven't listened to in months, including the 2018 metal surprise, Firepower, by Judas Priest. What a complete set of fiery tunes, by one of the pioneers of the genre. Still pumping out great songs.

During late nights recently, I needed some quieter music, and put on my Lost In Translation soundtrack CD. There are a variety of artists on there, though Kevin Shields contributed the most songs. Mostly indie, dream pop and rock, there are also electronics blended in for mood. The appearance of Air reminded me that I had a couple of their albums on CD (funny how you forget what's in your collection when it gets too large to manage), so I dug those out, too. Moon Safari was the one I settled on and stuck with for several days. 

Great Sci-Fi Songs

My appreciation for music is pretty much equalled by my love for movies... especially science-fiction movies. I've been a fan of both of these art forms ever since I can remember. As a kid, I was nuts about the music of Kiss, The Monkees and Beatles (no sci-fi there, sorry)... and I raved about TV's Star Trek and Space:1999, and classic films like The Thing and The Day the Earth Stood Still. 

Now throw those two seemingly disparate forms together and what have you got? Mostly some of the most imaginative songs of all time, I'd say. A while back, I posted a list of great "robot songs", which you can read here, but I won't borrow too much from that for this more all-encompassing Sci-Fi Songs playlist.

Flights of fancy, or fantasy, in music can involve future worlds both utopian and dystopian, outer space adventures, time and dimensional travel, alien beings, cybernetic/robotic creations, and more. The Canadian progressive rock trio Rush is definitely the most famous contributor in this department, having dedicated many songs, song suites, and even (almost) whole albums to science fiction storytelling. Fellow Canuck headbangers Voivod also have a reputation as sci-fi songwriters, though these boys focus more heavily on post-apocalyptic themes. Dark, weird and wonderful, Voivod are also - perhaps even more so than Rush - more prolific in this sphere. 

Off the top of my head, I can come up with some biggies, though my list is far from comprehensive. These are sci-fi songs that I am most familiar with... enjoy!

2112 Suite, by Rush (essential to any such list, Rush did this song genre best)

Cygnus X-1, by Rush

Twilight Zone, by Rush

... loads more by Rush (like Red Barchetta, Natural Science, and so on)

Space Oddity, by David Bowie

Ziggy Stardust, by David Bowie

Starman, again by Bowie

Starship Trooper, by Yes

Calling Occupants (of Interplanetary Craft), by The Carpenters

Iron Man, by Black Sabbath

Time Machine, Black Sabbath

Electric Eye, by Judas Priest (about a futuristic world of surveillance of the masses)

Rocket Man, by Elton John

Psychotron, by Megadeth

Hangar 18, by Megadeth

Walking on the Moon, The Police

I Robot, Alan Parsons Project (based on the Isaac Asimov short story collection)

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, Pink Floyd

Astronomy Domine, Pink Floyd

Space Truckin', Deep Purple

Mr. Roboto, by Styx

Stranger in a Strange Land, Iron Maiden (based on the Heinlein novel of the same title)

To Tame a Land, Iron Maiden (based on the Frank Herbert classic novel Dune)

Nothingface, and Killing Technology, and Cosmic Drama, and many others... by Voivod