Best album of 2005

This is 2006, the year after 2005. Last year we had a terrible musical year. The charts kept pumping the dreadful corny mass marketed pseudo-rap and hip-hop. Rock died several times last year. From the angry pointless junk served as hot rock to the deadly empty void of artistry, we, music lovers, suffered yet another stupid year.

But, after cleaning the attic from the junk and corporate rhythms you notice a diamond laying around and its name is "Rebel, Sweetheart".

The most overlooked band of all times proves once again that getting no airplay, no sales and no distribution in Portugal is actually a good thing. I am a proud owner of a US copy someone sent me (and a gratitude I cannot hope to properly express).

This is the best album of 2005, no questions about it. It is also the best Wallflowers album which, itself, says a lot.

If you live in Portugal, good luck trying to get hold of it. If you live anywhere else and don't own it yet you are either stupid or deaf. 

Riding the bullet (2004)

Riding the bullet (2004)
Directed by Mick Garris
Writing credits Stephen King (novel), Mick Harris (screenplay)
IMDb link

MY RATING: **

Saturday night after a tiresome week that, day by day led to a release of joy for the desired weekend. Blockbuster trip in between a ham roll and beer and pizza. If this is your typical weekend then you know why I rented Riding the bullet.
The problem is that, well, it doesn't really work as a movie. Stephen King may be a brilliant writer but, nevertheless, he is still a bag of clichés. There's no subtle message here - it's all over the place. There are no real characters, everybody seems a cardboard cliché of a character.
The "life is a rollercoaster" idea has been beaten to death but here, it lives again through an almost meaningless metaphore which, despite the dark comedy factor of the movie, still moves into a pulp of confusion and far fetched philosophical ideals for a chewing gum generation. This is not to say it doesn't move well. It can be tiresome but, it is good for what it aims to. And that is, filling the void of a well deserved beer and pizza visual background.

Caché (2005)

Caché (2005)
Directed by Michael Haneke
Writing Credits Michael Haneke (screenplay)
IMDb Link

MY RATING: *****

Caché is a work of art disguised as a thriller. This is the only possible way to explore the web of emotions that arise when the voyeur becomes voyeured. Western civilization sees through a television screen what it doesn't feel from reality. Reality and fiction are not easy to discern and, here, they are intermingled in its most realistic fashion. Television and reality can become such good pals that, sometimes, the only way to observe the truth is through a TV screen. Does anything happen at all if it's not seen through our TV screens? Does reality conforms to a cinematic process or does this process itself is a lie in order to conform to suggestion of reality we prefer instead of the whole truth? Michael Haneke took the subject of his early films and perfected it until nothing else remains except the questions themselves. It is not an easy film. It may leave a lot of moviegoers frustrated. But, is that frustration from not understanding this masterpiece or, even scarier, frustration from understanding it?