May Favorites

"Love Never Felt So Good," Michael Jackson: I am so glad I happened to be out of the city and riding around in a car on the first weekend of the month because I'm not sure if I would have made the effort to listen to this song on a blog or elsewhere on the interwebs, but it was hard to miss it on the radio. Turns out that even the version with Justin Timberlake is pretty fantastic, and while nearly every track on Chromeo's new album could be my top contender for song of the summer, so far Michael is holding fast with a close runner-up.

Southfork Ranch: Ever since I started watching the Dallas reboot a couple of years ago and then found out that Southfork is open to the public for visits, I've wanted to go there. It's only about half an hour from my grandparents' house in, um, Dallas, so when I was down there visiting along with my mom earlier this month, I persuaded her to drive me up there one afternoon. It was a glorious, warm (but not humid) Texas spring afternoon and the ranch was gorgeous. The house was a lot smaller than I expected (they've never filmed inside the house, and all the people that are supposed to live in it on the show could never fit in the real thing), but it looked every inch the icon. The ranch buildings were also closer and more compact than I thought they would be, but it was still fun to see the barn and Elena's cottage (which they do film on location, both inside and out). However, the best part of the ranch for me were the live oaks lining the "main" drive: a beautiful, shady, cool tunnel of green separating the original house from the new event facility, and totally Texas down to the core.

Belle: It's been a while since I've seen a truly good costume drama, and Belle fills that void rather nicely. Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, and Sam Reid give especially fine, nuanced performances. They bring such life, emotion, and conviction to their characters that bits of the film kept flashing in my mind for a few weeks after I saw it. Of course, the supporting cast is also quite excellent, and the story itself is one filled with gravity and a sense of immediacy. Unlike Downton Abbey (another period piece concerned with bringing young ladies out in London during The Season), Belle has a strong position on the role race plays in British society of yore, and the film makes its characters and their views completely believable.

The German Doctor: My gosh this film is creepy and menacing! For some reason, I almost didn't go see this film, but I'm very glad that some unknown force changed my mind because it is excellent -- everything from the acting to the scenery to the score is perfectly executed and well balanced. The story is a fictionalized account of a family in Argentina during the time of Mengele's exile in South America. While Mengele's identity isn't revealed to the family until the end of the film, his menace and creepiness is evident throughout. Also creepy throughout: all the "perfect" dolls with empty stares or vacant eye sockets! It's almost a horror movie, yet the horror is completely human and hyper-real. The whole film has a carefully cultivated unsettledness to it; nothing is ever quite right, and there is such a difference between the characters who realize that and those who don't or won't recognize it.

Cher Dressed to Kill Tour at Barclay's: Cyndi Lauper was the opener, which was amazing anyway. But then Cyndi had to go and bring Rosie O'Donell on stage for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." And then Rosie had to point out that Liza Minnelli was in the audience, so Liza clearly had to come up on stage as well. And before you know it, there are Cyndi Lauper, Rosie O'Donell and Liza Minnelli singing a totally classic song. This is why, no matter how much I love Vegas and Dallas, I just can't leave New York. It could be problematic that the opening act could have been a perfectly good stand-alone show, but this is Cher we've come to see after all, and she didn't disappoint one little bit. Her show is one of the most spectacular I've ever seen. Other people trying to do fancy stage shows with a costume/wig change for each song should just give up, because I'm pretty sure no one will ever be better than Cher.

Costume highlights include a floor-length head-dress for "Half Breed," a sheer body suit that no other 68 year old (and very few people younger than that, when it comes right down to it) could pull off for "If I Could Turn Back Time," and a platinum blond and hot pink wig for "Believe." Meanwhile, one of the most surprising numbers of the set, and one of my favorites, was an excellent cover of "Walking In Memphis" as part of a tribute to Elvis. Cher brought a whole new depth to an already soulful song. If this really is Cher's last tour, then she has gone out with a bang that can never be equaled.

Chef: I am in love with the aesthetic of this movie -- the vibrancy of the LA and Miami settings -- so much so that it inspired me to buy fabric bunting/flags and Mexican blankets to decorate my apartment. It is such a great feeling to come out of a movie feeling creatively inspired, and even more so because it doesn't happen very often. Sure the food styling is amazing, but the whole ethos of the film is where it's really at: an order of infectious optimism with a side of sly humor? Yes, please! Swingers is of course one of my all-time favorites, so it's great to see Jon Favreau back in indie form. Chef has just as much joy and enthusiasm as Swingers, but is accordingly more grown up. Of course Favreau doesn't make the magic happen all on his own. He gets powerful assists from the always welcome John Leguizamo and a radiant Sofia Vergara, plus a cute kid and Oliver Platt playing a restaurant critic (brother Adam reviews restaurants for New York Magazine, so I found this bit of casting especially delightful, even if the character didn't actually work so well). And also like Swingers, the soundtrack is killer -- who doesn't need some Latin beats to spice up their summer?

Palo Alto: I was kind of worried about this film, what with that whole Coppola, Franco combo going on, but Palo Alto (the book) is one of the few products of Franco's more recent efforts that I actually enjoyed. The film is quite successful, though more in creating nostalgia for my generation than staking a claim as a teen manifesto for the current generation of High Schoolers. Palo Alto mostly reminded me of Risky Business (synthy soundtrack, suburban teen ennui) with a dash of Fast Times at Ridgemont High (which can be seen on a TV in one scene and which was also originally a book). Nat Wolf and Jack Kilmer (Val's son) are both very good, Emma Roberts has a few moments, and James Franco is (unsurprisingly) just creepy. I don't remember the book in great detail at this point, but I do remember that it had a definite mood that ran though all the stories, and the film too imparts an aimless malaise that is nonetheless captivating in its vacancy. Gia Coppola's reliance on dreamy, gauzy indie movie shots to convey this mood not only work extremely well, but also make perfect sense. This film could not have been shot in any other way and been as effective in capturing the world as its characters perceive it.

Million Dollar Arm: Jon Hamm + Baseball = Win. Meanwhile, this film reinforces my complete lack of desire to ever visit any part of India.

Chromeo Come Alive Tour at Terminal 5 (and White Women): Chromeo has had me floating on a cloud since the 12th (when my iTunes pre-order of White Women downloaded) and positively levitating since the 17th, when I saw them live in all their funktastic glory. I haven't been this euphoric over and in love with an artist (okay, mostly just Dave1) since Calvin Harris circa 2007-2011, and it feels so damn good!

The live show was completely aaaahhh-mazing, even though it was at Terminal 5, my least favorite venue in all of New York City. However, there are a few bands (Phoenix, LCD Soundsystem) that can really make this space work for them, and Chromeo is certainly one of those bands. Of course it greatly helped that I got there super early and was able, for the first time ever, to secure a good spot on the second floor side-balcony. Being above the fray was definitely worth it, and I still got plenty of swoon-worthy shots of Dave1. As much as I loved Cher's show for the spectacle, this Chromeo show was just as good in a totally different way.

Meanwhile, let's talk about White Women. I've already told you how much I love "Sexy Socialite," "Jealous (I Ain't With It)," and "Come Alive," and while those are all still completely fabulous, the real gem of this album is "Old 45's." (Fun fact I learned while stalking Chromeo's Instagram in an attempt to get caught up on all the time I wasted missing out on these guys for years: "Old 45's" almost didn't make it to the album.) Other highly enjoyable songs songs are "Fall Back 2U," "Play the Fool," "Lost on the Way Home," "Somethingood," and "Frequent Flyer." That is pretty much the whole album, and the few songs I didn't mention are also good. The only one I wouldn't really miss is "Ezra's Interlude;" it just doesn't do it for me. It is not only the funk filled tunes that are driving my love for this album, but also the clever, often tongue-in-cheek, lyrics. The year and a half Dave and Pee spent working on this album was definitely time well spent. I am not sure music can get anymore perfect than this... until their next album, that is.

A Short History of Decay: Remember when Bryan Greenberg was Uma Thurman's boy toy in Prime? I was in college when that came out and we all thought he was cute and I liked that he was Jewish, and then he sort of went away and wasn't in much (I don't count that HBO show he was in because I barely watch TV and certainly not premium cable - though now I'm thinking I should add it to my massive DVD queue). But I digress. I saw a trailer for this movie and it piqued my interest because it looked like an interesting, decent movie and because there was Bryan Greenberg front and center, and I said to myself, "Oh, him! I liked him way back when." Then I saw that the film had gotten some good reviews and actually did sound like my kind of thing. I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie since it starts out with a struggling writer in Brooklyn, but once that character and the action shift down to Florida, everything goes in a much different direction. A Short History of Decay is a very thoughtful film that makes the most of small, everyday moments without being twee. Additionally, the characters are well realized; it's not a stretch to imagine that they could be real people just trying to deal with what life throws at them. The story of a son dealing with his aging parents while still trying to put his own life together is not an unfamiliar one, but Greenberg brings a wonderful level of nuance and depth to his performance, with a nice sibling dynamic and a couple of meet-cutes to keep things interesting. Greenberg's character must juggle many aspects of his life, yet all these elements weave together flawlessly into one solid narrative. Just like real life, it's all about the little things.

Careless Love, Peter Guralnick: Elvis was a messed up dude, y'all. The amphetamines he started taking while in the Army were but a gateway drug to all sorts of uppers and downers. Couple that with insomnia/fear of the dark, nobody who can put him in his place, and a total unwillingness to take responsibility for anything, and you have a recipe for a guy who lives in a bubble and is headed for disaster. Elvis had so many drugs in his regimen and in his system when he died (the cause of death was polypharmacy), it's almost unbelievable that he made it as long as he did. Guralnick's book is so objective, I often found myself longing for commentary on Elvis's slow spiral out of control. But then it hit me that the explanation is right there between the lines. Looking back on it after the fact, it's easy to see the patterns and the bad decisions, but in the moment it probably wasn't as obvious. Not that plenty of people didn't try to protect Elvis from himself, it's just that in Elvis's mind he could do no wrong and didn't feel the need to listen to any admonishments or bad news. Not that it was all drugs and weird spiritualism, there was some good Vegas trivia too -- like Kirk Kerkorian building the International (which then became the Las Vegas Hilton) and then signing Elvis to a twice yearly residency (continued once ownership transferred to Hilton), a deal that included lavish suites for both Elvis and his manager Colonel Tom Parker. Of course, Elvis's fondness for Vegas (and Palm Springs) goes back to his time before the Army when he was working on movies in Hollywood. What better place for a group of young men to spend their weekends than a city that was gonna set their souls on fire? However, there is no denying the glaring differences between the eager young entertainer of those early days and the bloated striker of karate poses that could barely make it to the stage toward the end. It's no wonder that one of Elvis's oldest and closest friends wrote a book called Elvis: What Happened? I'm sure his whole entourage was asking themselves that very question for years both before and after his death.

"Deep End," Coucheron feat. Eastside & Mayer Hawthorne: Mayer Hawthorne is killing it with the guest vocal spots on tracks with chilled out vibes this year (see also: "64 Ways," by Detroit Swindle, and let's not forget his side project Jaded Inc.). As the cover art for the single suggests, "Deep End" is perfect for just kicking back or for helping you forget you're on a packed subway with a bunch of sweaty people. Summer really is right around the corner and I'm gonna need all the chilled out I can get.