Movie Review - "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere"

Bruce Springsteen is my favorite musician, and it's not particularly close between him and my next favorite band. (I'm not even sure who that would be, maybe Metallica?) He may not be the most technically skilled or the best singer, but he writes the best music, and his skill and energy when playing live is unmatched. 

The decision to set a biopic about Bruce Springsteen in 1982 during the Nebraska sessions is both unusual and quite smart. On the one hand, it pretty solidly goes against the biopic formula, which is often more about the long arc of a person's life, rather than one specific moment. On the other hand, Nebraska (and Born in the USA, which was created at basically the same time) represent Springsteen's arguable creative peak. Nebraska is such an unusual album for an arena rock star, and of course Born in the USA made him an international superstar. It's a great spot to dive into Springsteen's life. Also, Nebraska is my favorite Springsteen album, so I'm certainly not going to complain about having an entire movie about how that album was made.

Spoilers to follow. You've been warned.

I really enjoyed this movie for a few reasons, and the big one actually has little to do with Springsteen specifically. The artistic process is heavily highlighted throughout, and it does feel very genuine. Creating art is tough, and I do like how it emphasizes the role of research. Bruce Springsteen didn't birth the idea for Nebraska's title track from nowhere; he saw a movie about the character, got inspired, and went to the library to learn all he could from newspaper clippings about the Starkweather killings so he could craft a more authentic song. As a result, the song "Nebraska" has become the definitive story about that incident. How many people know about the movie these day? A lot less than the song, that's for sure. (It doesn't help that the movie is called Badlands, which is also the name of a famous Springsteen song.)

Also, as a movie about a musician, it would absolutely not do if the music was anything less than perfect. Fortunately, the music is excellent, which goes along with this corollary — Jeremy Allen White is an excellent choice for Bruce Springsteen. His most famous role is on The Bear, a Hulu TV show that I've actually watched (well, I've seen two of the four seasons); he plays a chef who actually feels a bit Springsteen-esque. Same punishing need for affection, same swagger mixed with darkness, same alienation and simultaneous loyalty toward his family. Springsteen was absolutely not a stretch for him, in terms of acting. And in terms of singing, he's able to do a remarkably good facsimile. All the Springsteen songs in the movie, even the ones in the soundtrack, were sung by White, and it is honestly difficult to tell sometimes that it isn't Springsteen himself singing. Some are better than others: Born in the USA is pretty clearly not Springsteen, but I'd have a tough time differentiating if you gave me the movie version of Nebraska and Atlantic City. And I've listened to those songs many, many times.

The Stone Pony is a big secondary setting for the movie, for good reason. Courtesy Acroterion

This is a small thing, but Atlantic City is my favorite song, period, and I really appreciated them saving the full thing for the end credits. It was able to play uninterrupted and without distraction, and it really wrapped up the movie in a fitting manner.

So, what about negatives? The biggest, I think, is length. The movie is nearly 2 hours long, which is too much for the story they're trying to tell. The biggest timesuck is Springsteen's relationship with Faye, a young woman who acts as an amalgamation of the various women Springsteen dated at this time. I understand why they included this, and it is authentic, but the thing about relationships that go nowhere is that ... they go nowhere. It's realistic, but including it in the movie isn't great storytelling. There's no real resolution to the relationship and it doesn't add much depth to Springsteen's character. Everything we get from his interactions with Faye we're able to glean elsewhere in the movie.

Another big thing that isn't necessarily a negative but is an odd choice for a Springsteen biopic is the lack of interaction with the E Street Band. Clarence Clemons, Steven van Zandt, etc are all physically present for the band scenes, but not one of them has a single spoken line. Now, this movie isn't actually about the making of Nebraska and Born in the USA; it's more about Springsteen's internal struggle as he grapples with an outward identity (budding rock superstar) that conflicts with his personal view of himself (just a kid from New Jersey). That story doesn't need the E Street Band. However, they're such a big part of the Springsteen story that keeping them on the sideline is a glaring omission. It's the complete opposite problem to the Faye relationship — that was authentic but bad storytelling, this was good storytelling but completely inauthentic.

So, where does that leave us? Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is not a perfect movie, but it delivers everything I wanted it to. The music is great, the primary story is worthwhile and affecting, and it provides a great look into the artistic process of one of music's greatest storytellers. I'll give it an 8 out of 10.

Godzilla Review

A theater nearby had a special showing of the new Godzilla movie at 7 this evening, so I went out and saw it.  This was a big deal for me, I've been watching Godzilla movies for a long time.  I saw the first American Godzilla movie back in 1998, and back when Blockbuster was still a thing, my family rented a bunch of the old Japanese movies.  They were cheesy, with bad acting, terrible plots, and at least until the 1980's reboot series, the monsters looked really dumb.  But that was part of their charm, and the fights were pretty good.  Of course, I've seen the original, which is actually a very good movie.  As for the 1998 Godzilla, well, let's just say the best thing that came out of that movie was the cartoon they followed it up with.  It was very Saturday morning, but the Godzilla in that actually did things, actually fought monsters, and didn't get killed by a couple of missiles after getting tangled in some cables.  Honestly, the bar for this Godzilla wasn't very high after our last attempt.  Even so, this was a big deal for me, I really, really wanted this movie to be good.

Fortunately, it was good.  The story wasn't the most compelling, but Godzilla movies have never been about that.  I don't go to a Godzilla movie to care about the human characters and whatever nonsense they get into.  Actually, I thought there was a little too much human action in the second half of the movie, and not enough monster action.  There was a thing with the nuclear bomb that needed deactivating, but it kind of detracted from the main attraction.  I suppose it was necessary for the main character to be there so that he could torch the eggs of the Massive Unknown Terrestrial Organism, or MUTO.  There won't be any more of those things running around.

Enough about the people though.  Some people might care about the actors and the acting, but I don't.  What I care about is the monsters.  We're introduced to the MUTO's first, and yes, there are two of them.  They're a male and female of the same species, the male flies from Japan to San Francisco by way of Hawaii, stopping there long enough to torch Honolulu, and the female, who was stored in Yucca Mountain with a bunch of nuclear waste, crosses the desert, runs right through Vegas, and to San Francisco.  When I heard there was a flying monster, I thought immediately that it was going to be Rodan, but I was wrong, and I'm glad I was.  If there are sequels, then maybe they can go to the old monsters, but I think it was good to bring in new ones for this movie.  I'm not sure I agree with the design, they were a bit weird, but they worked.

Godzilla is unamused by tiny monsters

And now to the main attraction.  It was almost exactly one hour into the movie when he first appears on screen, aside from a brief moment in the opening credits.  He looked good, very reminiscent of the Japanese Godzilla from the 80's and 90's.  For some reason, we seem to like giving our Godzillas a square head, but that was my only complaint.  He was big, and interestingly enough, not all that mean.  He wasn't really all that interested in humans, and he never actively destroyed anything.  I like that, I like that this Godzilla wasn't a bad guy, and I liked that the military didn't even try to fight him.  There was one scene where the Navy is following Godzilla to San Francisco, and they are right there next to him, not more than a couple hundred feet away.  They must be brave people, even if Godzilla wasn't trying to kill me, I would maintain a bit more distance than that.

With multiple monsters, a fight is inevitable.  Godzilla is presented as a balancing force, who is bent on destroying these new monsters, who are disrupting the order of the world.  So, he's the good guy.  The battle goes down in downtown San Francisco, and while I wish there was a bit more of it, the fight is very, very good.  This Godzilla fights like the Japanese version, which is to say, a bit dopey.  He forgets multiple times about the flying MUTO and is constantly being surprised by it.  He lets a building fall on him for no good reason.  I chuckled at that, because I don't know how many times I've seen that, and it's never worked once.  The entire fight is very well done, but there are several points of levity in there, especially if you know Godzilla.  Minor spoiler if you don't know how these movies work, but Godzilla finishes off the second monster with one of the greatest moves I've ever seen, in any movie, anywhere.  I won't tell you what it is, but it was amazing.

I guess I've come to the all important rating part of the review.  I'll give it an 8.5 out of 10.  When it was good, it was very good, but I got too much people stuff, and not enough monsters beating each other up.  That's a shame, because when we did get to that part, it was very impressive.  I would recommend watching it, and I'll probably go again.  And buy it on DVD when it comes out.  I do love me some Godzilla.

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