Beltmann

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9td_3P3w1S4 City of Life and Death / dir. Lu Chuan / China / 2009 City of Life and Death is Lu Chuan’s unflinching historical drama about the Japanese siege of Nanjing in 1937. As a powerful, black-and-white chronicle of war crimes—the army butchered an estimated 300,000 residents and raped thousands of women, sins compounded by decades of official denial—the movie is within spitting distance of Schindler’s List, another film about the value of collective memory. Like Spielberg, Lu commits to a dynamic, stylized realism fueled by the tension between the un

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoyKe-HxmFk Into Eternity / dir. Michael Madsen / Denmark-Finland-Sweden / 2009 Conscience, albeit on a grand scale, is at the core of Michael Madsen’s otherworldly documentary Into Eternity, which wonders how far into the future our consumer society will have consequences. Madsen invites viewers on a philosophical, gliding tour through the caverns of Onkala, an underground superstructure in Finland being built to bury a fraction of the world’s quarter-million tons of lethal nuclear waste. Scandinavian scientists appear spooked when describing their design

You're the best, Wendy.

I like to stand at concerts, but I'm fairly certain that is not evidence of a superior outlook on life.

Excellent. i wasn't even going to check... thanks for the heads-up.

Refn is definitely a talent to watch. Drive is on my priority list, but I probably won't have a chance to see it anytime soon. Tomorrow night the Milwaukee Film Festival opens, so I'll be consumed by that for 11 days, and then recuperating for some time after (and trying to find time to crank out my write-up).

Got two for Milwaukee! Makes me feel better about having to miss the Madison show.

Glad to see you liked The American as much as I did. I didn't want it to end.

This discussion about the squeak reminds me of a discussion we had on here years ago about the little boing sound in "Far, Far Away" at the 2:39 mark. Ever since, I've never been able to hear that song without listening for it.

I don't hear it. Perhaps that awesome squeak at 1:57 drowns it out? (Seriously, I've loved that sonic burp since the first time I heard the song.)

Mumbai Diaries is the old college try: It's an "indie" alternative to the usual Bollywood films that dominate the world's most prolific film industry, tries to offer a candid look at Mumbai city life, and builds up some goodwill, but it doesn't quite come off. The script is too often creaky, the acting too often amateurish.

I haven't seen it, either! (I'm a mild Malle fan.)

For reasons unrelated to the impending release of TWL, I've spent a lot of time over the last month revisiting all of the previous albums, and it has been a remarkable journey. The differences are so stark that it's difficult to rank the albums against one another. I'm thankful that I enjoy nearly all sides of Wilco--for me, that seems to be the clearest common thread between the different eras and lineups.

No kiddin'. I was talking with a colleague this afternoon about the album and observed that OSM is twelve minutes but feels like four.

Yeah, but 800 of those were just me.

I was happy to see your screen name again!

I loved reading every word of this. Thanks for sharing!

I've been listening for the last six hours. Can't stop.

Welcome to VC! Nice first post--and I'm totally with you regarding "Born Alone." I think it's one of best power pop songs in the Wilco catalog. Love it.

Yes. That song has sucked me in, perhaps because I have a father similar to the one described.

I thought of Yo La Tengo while listening as well.

Me too.

Which return to form has been more surprising today? Wilco, or TheMaker?