Cinemension: The Monkees

Showing posts with label The Monkees. Show all posts

3/15/10

The Monkees' Head

I've never seen the full film of Head, but I've heard that it's the rare thing that was made by The Monkees that critics did not, and do not, savagely rip.

Yes, I know the band were dubbed The Pre-Fab Four (ala The Beatles), and most of their best songs they did not write. And, yes, only Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith were 'real' musicians. But, the end result is what counts, and at their best The Monkees' best music is on par with the best of any pop band of the 1960s. After all, with folks like Neil Diamond and Carole King writing songs for you, that's a great plus. And given today's American Idol craze, it's kind of silly to think how much vitriol the band engendered over their pre-fab roots.

I grew up watching reruns of their tv show, and it was head and shoulders above the puerility of the films put out by The Beatles, for these guys were actors, and music videos were their real, a decade and a half before MTV.

Yes, I'll be looking for this film online to review. If you beat me to it, let me know your thoughts.

1/25/10

Monkees Music Video Parody

3/11/09

The Beatles- Help!

I'd never seen this full movie, but watched it this afternoon. I've always felt the boys were overrated as a pop quartet, but still an essential band in rock history. I've seen A Hard Day's Night a few times and never thought much of it. This film is not as good. In fact, having grown up watching reruns of The Monkees tv show, I can say that while The Beatles made better music, The Monkees were far better comedians and actors. They could actually mix physical and verbal comedy along the lines of The Marx Bros.- the comedy team The Beatles are most compared to. The acting in this film, especially by the boys, is atrocious. There's no tale and no real reason for the film, save being a 90 minute commercial for the album.

The visuals of the film are superb but, in essence, this is the birth of the music video a generation before MTV (1965). I'll write a full review soon, but any positives you read about this film are likely just fans, not serious cineastes. The good thing is that two #2s from the great 1967 Patrick McGoohan tv series, The Prisoner, star in the film: Leo McKern and Patrick Cargill.

Here is one of their great tunes, though:

Praise for Dan Schneider

His analysis is referenced in the PBS series POV's brochure (p.26) on The Up Series. His writing and criticism has been lauded in the mainstream and alternative press, nationally and internationally, in the Far East and the U.K, by diverse arts and film blogs and websites, as well as by America's most powerful critic, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times and several television film review shows.

Roger Ebert praises Dan Schneider's Film Criticism and Website: Ebert calls Dan Schneider 'a considerable critic....'' that Dan Schneider (in regards to Ebert's writings) 'may well be correct in some aspects. What his analysis gives me is a renewed respect and curiosity about his own work....'; he states, 'Dan Schneider is observant, smart, and makes every effort to be fair.' He states, 'I conclude he is more analytical and less visceral that I am,' Ebert ends his praise, stating, 'What is remarkable about these many words is that Schneider keeps an open mind, approaches each film afresh, and doesn't always repeat the same judgments. An ideal critic tries to start over again with every review.' -12/9/09, from 'Who do you read? Good Roger or Bad Roger?', by Roger Ebert

....helpful criticisms regarding his fellow poets and reviewers. If you were looking for someone willing to call T. S. Eliot '1 of the most grossly overrated writers in the history of the world, & the English language,' Schneider is your man. His site includes similarly jolly commentary on a large number of contemporary writers.- The New York Times

Schneider is a fervent, naturally agitated character, and he seems possessed of a boundless curiosity that stretches from the most obscure backwaters of science and history to the dimmest and most short-lived pop-culture comets….Schneider's peculiar temperament has more in common with unregenerate early punk rockers like Lou Reed and John Lydon….It's surprising how many of Schneider's poems reveal a frequently poignant strain of sentimentality and nostalgia, a continued fascination with the lost pop culture of his childhood. He is also an obsessive sonneteer, and can write tight, carefully crafted short poems that demonstrate the emotional sensitivity that many of his admirers suspect he doesn't entirely trust.- Dan Schneider vs. The Rest Of The World, City Pages

....for a clearly anti-establishment take on the academic poetry scene, as well as fearless, brilliant assessments of many poets, including the famous, with which you may or may not agree (again, it's informed debate that spurs our progress)- try Dan Schneider's www.cosmoetica.com. -page 192 of On Writing Poetry, by Al Rocheleau, Shantih Press, © 2010, published 2011

www.Cosmoetica.com.... the most visited, unaffiliated literary website online. He [Dan Schneider] is a poet, critic, essayist and fiction writer first profiled in City Pages in 1999. He is known for his trenchant, outspoken views, peerless criticism, and writerly excellence. Schneider is also known for championing Neglected Poets, stands against bad writing, academia, Political Correctness, and for his ‘re-discovery’ of expatriate African-American poet James A. Emanuel. Cosmoetica has served as the launching pad for a number of other promising writers, and has grown in popularity due to its popular essays....- Nationmaster.com

Cosmoetica is also home to The Dan Schneider Interviews....(b)elieve me, you won’t find more in-depth and high-minded discussions this side of a MENSA jamboree....You’ll especially love Dan Schneider if you’re tired of the same old crap that Hollywood has been pumping out in recent years....This is one moviegoer who really knows what he’s talking about....In fact, you could say that he’s relentless when it comes to getting his point across. On the other hand, every thought is backed up by sentence after sentence of explanation, and those looking for an in-depth movie review or film interview will have plenty to feast upon. And he’s even got the respect of Roger Ebert. - Only Good Movies

I think it is high time every lover of contemporary poetry reads Dan Schneider’s essays on www.cosmoetica.com. Why? For starters, he is goddamn refreshing in his unashamed way of putting just about any critically-acclaimed or seriously up-and-coming poet in his or her place by making us see just how overrated he believes so many of them are....you may just be unable to help yourself but want to agree with Schneider in any case. He is that fun to read, as well as potentially edifying. - 'Dan Schneider Connects The Dots', Quarterly Literary Review Singapore

(Dan Schneider) hates bullshit, he feels passionately about his subject, and is not afraid to speak his mind. He reads stuff in great detail, thinks about it hard, and is totally undeterred by PC. All of these, in my book, are virtues.- 'Even grumpier than me!'- Grumpy Old Bookman