Good times

Memories of the '80s: A conversation with Flock of Seagulls, Information Society& When in Rome

When I heard When in Rome, A Flock of Seagulls, Information Society, and Animotion were coming to Stereo Live, I reached for my hairspray and black eyeliner and hit the door running.

Upon meeting with When in Rome (now When in Rome UK with Rob Juarez and original members Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann), Christopher Anton of Information Society (the lead singer from 2006-2008 and from 2009-present) and Mike Score of A Flock of Seagulls, the first thing I noticed was that they are a group of laid back and accessible guys — the type with whom you want to kick up your feet, have a few beers, and shoot the breeze.

Score has a great sense of humor, so it is easy to see why Flock of Seagulls’ hits like “I Ran” and “Space Age Love Song” are so fun. His personality shines through in the music.

The second thing I noticed was, the backcombed big hair of the '80s is long gone. I was bummed because I was looking forward to seeing Score's Flock of Seagulls waterfall coif that is almost as famous as the band itself. Score is now balding and a long blond pony tail in back is all that remains of his once signature look. CultureMap caught up with the band members backstage before their concert a couple of weeks ago.

CultureMap: Welcome to Houston! Have you spent much time here? Any favorite memories?

Andrew Mann (When in Rome): The first time we toured we got on a plane, did a sound check, and didn’t have much of a chance to see it. But now that we’re back, we had a bit of a chance today so we’ve had a look around and we love Houston!

Christopher Anton: I live in Houston now. My wife is from Texas and we got married a few years ago. She was running an independent booking agency and we met at one of my shows.

Mike Score: Walking away with the money! No, but to me personally, doing shows anywhere as long as it’s a good show, works and you don’t have particular memories unless it’s a historical gig or it’s the biggest gig you’ve ever done.

CM: Is there anything you're looking forward to seeing or eating?

AM (WIR): We went downtown and saw all the shops and had brisket and sausage.

Rob Juarez (WIR): And the Tex Mex here – it is insane!

MS: My bed, the television and the stage (laughing).

CM: What are some of your favorite new bands? What's on your iPod?

Clive Farrington (WIR): Janelle Monae. She is a soul sort of singer with a stage presence very similar to Prince.

MS: A Flock of Seagulls!

CM: Do you have any advice for the aspiring musicians out there?

AM (WIR): You have to keep working at it. You might not think it is going to be a hit record, but keep working on it. It will come eventually. We were in the studio 24 hours a day until we got the hit, "The Promise." So it all comes down to work, really.

CA: You have to have a love for it and you have to want to do this because you have to be willing to put up with a lot of sacrifices.

MS: Stick with it, but have a good time with it because you never know if it’s going to take off or not, so why don’t you just enjoy it? True success comes from that.

CM: Has a company ever approached you to use a song for an advertisement that you thought was an odd request or that was noteworthy?

AM (WIR): It is always used before we’ve been told. While on vacation in Greece once, there was a peach ad (on television) and “The Promise” was playing in the background. The company was promising to deliver the peach on time.

RJ (WIR): A lot of times they (the companies) just do it and then you get the publishing check. It is like, what’s this check from? Oh, Sears used “The Promise” for a lawnmower ad – “I Promise” your lawn will be clean. And then of course, there is Napoleon Dynamite. “The Promise” played in the closing scene. Now that was fantastic!

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Movie Review

Action-packed Kraven the Hunter showcases gritty Marvel antihero

Photo by Jay Maidment

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Kraven the Hunter.

One of the oddest things about the blockbuster era we live in is that while Disney owns the rights to the majority of Marvel comic book characters, Sony Pictures owns the rights to Spider-Man and any affiliated characters. Since they’re sharing Spider-Man himself with Disney, Sony has been trying to capitalize on those rights by making stand-alone films using niche characters that only comic book fanatics would know.

Having exhausted Venom and whiffed on attempts with Morbius and Madame Web, they’re trying again with Kraven the Hunter. Also known as Sergei Kravinoff, Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a self-styled vigilante who, as the film tells it, travels the world exacting vengeance on the truly bad people of the world. He’s the son of Nikolai (Russell Crowe), a hard-edged Russian oligarch, and brother to Dmitri (Fred Hechinger), who is relatively weak compared to the rest of his family.

The origin story has Kraven gaining his animal-like powers - including super-strength, speed, and jumping abilities - as a teenager from a mysterious serum given to him by a girl named Calypso (played as an adult by Ariana DeBose) after he was mauled by a lion. The two maintain a tenuous partnership as adults, with Calypso helping him hunt down other villains like Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) and The Foreigner (Christopher Abbott).

Directed by J.C. Chandor and written by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway, the film looks and feels enormously lazy, something made merely to hold on to potentially valuable intellectual property. Other than the tense family dynamic between the Kravinovs, little makes sense in the story. Kraven has an indecipherable moral code that has him going after poachers - because he’s part lion? - in addition to other high-powered criminals, with no clear goal except to … get back at his father?

The laziness extends to the action scenes, which feature Kraven being mostly impervious to any damage, whether it’s hand-to-hand combat, knives, or guns. The CGI-heavy scenes don’t even allow moviegoers to enjoy an R-rated bloody free-for-all, as all of the blood splatter is computer-generated, too. Since apparently one Spider-Man villain is not enough, three others make appearances with abilities that are under-explained and CGI that is poorly done.

That’s not even counting Calypso, another Spider-Man villain whose purpose in this film is nebulous at best. Her early connection with Kraven is so coincidental as to be laughable, and her continued reasons for helping him as an adult strain credulity as well. The only saving grace of her presence is that the filmmakers don’t try to shoehorn romance into the plot; perhaps they’re saving that for the (inevitable?) sequel.

Taylor-Johnson has had one of the most prolific-yet-anonymous careers in modern Hollywood, with appearances in big films like The Fall Guy, Bullet Train, and Tenet that have made very little impact. Even as the star here, he fails to hold your attention, with the story and visuals doing him no favors. DeBose has followed up her Oscar win for West Side Story with schlock like I.S.S., Argylle, and this, which doesn’t bode well for her career. At least Crowe gets to chew the scenery.

With a contractual inability to mention the name “Spider-Man,” movies like Kraven the Hunter exist in a weird area that forces filmmakers to make up stories for characters to which most people have no attachment. And just like Sony’s previous efforts, it is a very poor way to spend two hours in a movie theater; avoid at all costs.

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Kraven the Hunter opens in theaters on December 13.

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