Arcturus - Crystal Antlers - Crystal Antlers EP - 2008

For a person who majored in film, I have seen a shockingly low number of films in the theater this year. Easily less than 10...probably less than 5. On some level I can blame what is almost universally regarded as a bad year in film...but I must also say that I feel as if movies are not made for me anymore. By and large they are made for children or middle aged women or protracted adolescents, and at least 2 of those I am not.

But having said that, I've actually been to the movies twice in the last week (The Wrestler and Gran Torino) and have to say that both films were absolute home runs...but then I have to think about why I connected to them. Both are about men out of their time...who look at the present day and niether understand it, nor particularly like it. This is helped by two performances by lead actors whose heydays were in other and far different time periods...and good as Mickey Rourke was, I can't help but be more touched by Eastwood's performance.

Eastwood (the actor) has been an institution longer than I've been alive by a decade. I'm niether a hater nor his biggest fan. None of his films would make my top ten (though Unforgiven would probably make top 20)...but there is the fact that Eastwood really is our last real cowboy. Other actors have ridden horses and worn hats since Eastwood first played the man with no name...but none have been so unquestionably identified with the genre like Clint. Even his other most famous role, as Dirty Harry, is something of a cowboy's role. And none of those other actors acted in a time when the Western was a real force in cinema. Sure they still make them, but the days of Stagecoach, Rio Bravo, The Searchers, and The Good The Bad and The Ugly are well behind us, and have been for my entire life.

And here was Clint, playing this man from another era facing a very modern and ignoble Detroit. If the rumors are true, and this is his last role...then I can hardly think of a better one. It allows him to be funnier than I've ever seen him, and ultimately more touching. To briefly enter spoiler territory, when Walt goes to his final showdown...he can't help but have the ghosts of THe Man With No Name, Dirty Harry, Josey Wales, and William Muny at his shoulder...which is why when the showdown goes the way it does, it couldn't be anymore beautiful. Sure, there is the obvious Christ metaphor at play (Which niether Clint, nor the exceptionally Catholic screenplay shys away from), but hasn't he earned it? Both in his career and in this film?

Also, I have to give the film credit for having a priest that was a decent man. Sure, the priest was presented as callow and niave, a charge that he himself does not deny, but he was above all else decent. And when was the last time you could say that about a priest in a modern movie that was neither about molestation nor exorcisms?

Anyway, I loved the movie and Clint's performance...

As for the song, these guys seem to be mining similar territory to Single Frame: A little spazzy, a little space rocky and a little punk/noise rock infused. They do it well enough, but Single Frame made it work with better songwriting than these guys muster here. Their full length is due this year, maybe they'll actually sharpen their chops for that.