My Amazon Reviews: Graham Parker "Imaginary Television"

Channel Changers
3 Out Of 5 Stars

It's been over 20 years since Graham Parker has managed to chart an album on the American top 200, yet the man has been building a steady and sturdy body of work now since "Struck By Lightning" squeaked onto the charts in 1991. Like many of his fellow pub rockers from the period, like Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, Parker has mellowed with age, but not gone dull. "Imaginary Television" finds Parker playing a game where he invents his own Television network and writes themes for the shows he dreams up. Instead of a lyric sheet, Parker comes up with a synopsis of each show and tart mini-reviews.

The music? Parker can still turn as clever a phrase as ever, but his music now is more folk-rock than pub-rock. His voice is still hardy and gruff, suiting the temper of his selections. "Weather Report" is the closest thing to an electric song here, and one of many character sketches Parker places through the album. Best of the bunch is the sardonic "It's My Party (But I Won't Cry)," which both nods to Leslie Gore and Parker's longevity as an artist. Even the lone cover, of Johnny Nash's "More Questions Than Answers," lopes along on an easy reggae groove.

I'm also partial to the album's closer, "First Responder," about a Dad who tells his kid that Pops'll be there no matter what. Even if the kid's gonna get a 'box your ears till your head comes loose' comeuppance from the old man. It's a fun song and actually has a sweet center, despite the lyrical twists. It's just one more reason why, to his loyal legion of fans that have been picking up the occasional Parker CD since he went independent (on the terrific "12 Haunted Episodes" in 1995), you'll never walk away with a let-down.

   

My Amazon DVD Reviews: The Adjustment Bureau"

Maladjustment
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are star crossed lovers. While that may sound like a set up for a romantic movie, in "The Adjustment Bureau," it could destroy the world as 'The Chairman' has planned. As loosely based on a story by Phillip K Dick, the adjusters come to Earth at the orders of the Chairman to quietly make little tweaks so the world runs just as it should. Trouble is, Damon and Blunt are not supposed to be in the plan.

In Dick's story, Damon's Dick Norris is not a rising polition, but some grey suit in an office who stumbles into the adjusters, who happen to be dogs. In the story, the dog is supposed to bark and delay Damon. In this case, the adjusters are given human form and magic fedoras that make John Slattery look like he just crossed the street from shooting Mad Men, but in the movie give them the power to navigate strange portals (a store door that opens to Yankee Stadium, for example) and make things work as the Chairman sees fit.

Religious Allegory much? While that is never mentioned, Chairman = God gets obvious and tiresome as the movie stretches out. While Dick's original story was deeply misogynistic, at least Blunt is given a woman who could conceivably be the strong character Damon would fall for. Ultimately, the faith versus fate versus freewill argument consumes the movie and the holes begin taking up more space than the magic doors. Blunt and Damon have good chemistry, Terrence Stamp is a menacing adjuster, but the movie can't maintain a steady pace. "Inception" this isn't.