Festival Fever

Who needs Jay-Z? At ACL, Kanye West is king of the Throne

Photo by John Sallans
Photo by John Sallans
Photo by John Sallans

I'm not sure what all the fuss was about with Kanye West headlining the Austin City Limits Music Festival this year.

Though some might take offense to his oft-lofty attitude, many might agree that he is the most forward-thinking man in American music today. So it seemed only just for the king to take his rightful place on the throne: The main stage at the biggest music festival in the Live Music Capital. And King Kanye does it in grand style, without the much-anticipated help of Viceroy Jay-Z.

In this, West is exceptional; while he and his dancers were acting, nobody in the crowd was thinking. They were just feeling, and the range of feelings he can bring about in a crowd are unmatched—the mark of a true artist.

As the show began, choreographer Yemi Akinyemi’s dancers took the stage—you might recognize them as some of those exotic ballerinas from last year's avant-garde "Runaway" video—while West was covertly toted into the middle of a crowd inside of a giant red trunk. With the crowd’s attention diverted to the angels on stage, he was hoisted onto an electric platform and rose above the crowd, waiting expectantly for his dancers to bow to their leader.

Eventually, along with the rest of the crowd, they did. And the set that followed was less like a traditional hip-hop performance and more like a Daft Punk or Justice show, with DJ Million Dollar Mano at the decks re-mixing and interweaving songs from all four of Kanye West’s solo studio albums to create a larger narrative.

West entered the stage through the crowd and began his performance—a three-act show that casts him as a hero figure—autotune crooning "Pinnochio Story/Heartless" with an exuberance of emotion, dancing with excitement to songs like "Stronger" and "Flashing Lights" and, eventually, exciting the crowd with his second (and final) extended-version freestyle performance of "Runaway."

In this, he is exceptional; while he and his dancers were acting, nobody in the crowd was thinking. They were just feeling, and the range of feelings he can bring about in a crowd are unmatched—the mark of a true artist (and probably America’s only truly unpredictable artist left in this muddled playground of 21^stcentury social promotion). And it’s this ability which has allowed him to surpass “business, man” and branding genius Jay-Z to become the most influential hip-hop artist today.

Watching the evolution of the two men (culminating in their recent collaboration) has been like seeing a modern day, real-life version of the story of Narcissus and Goldmund unfold—it is amazing that two egos as big as West’s and Carter’s were able to come together on one album.

And regardless of what you may feel about it, Watch the Throne turned out to be the only thing that it could: a collab based on the reality of an outstretched American Dream, of two unlikely heroes with two very different personas rapping about their luxury goods and rich-boy problems.

But if West would have turned Friday night’s ACL show into an extension of the Watch the Throne tour, I’m afraid it would not have been as much of a fanatical performance, but instead more like an arena-rock show with less melodrama and more swagger. And I suppose if that’s what festival-goers were really looking for, they would have walked across the lawn to see Coldplay.

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Movie Review

Supergirl fails to take flight in a movie weighed down by grief

Photo courtesy of DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures

Milly Alcock in Supergirl.

Last year's Superman reboot brought a renewed sense of optimism for, if not the concept of the comic book movie, then at least the DC Comics universe. After more than a decade of DC films that felt mostly creatively bankrupt, the leadership of James Gunn gave the story a sense of fun. That included the brief introduction of Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, who’s now getting her own showcase in, naturally, Supergirl.

When we first met her in Superman, Supergirl was in rough shape, arriving at the Fortress of Solitude visibly inebriated. Nothing has changed at the beginning of this film, save for her aimlessly traveling around the universe with her rambunctious dog, Krypto. One of her random stops puts her in the same bar as Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who is looking for help tracking down Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a group known as the Brigands after they brutally murdered her family.

Kara is initially loath to offer aid, but when Krem shoots a poison dart into Krypto while escaping, her motivation goes way up, especially since Krem holds the antidote. Kara, with Ruthye doggedly following her, uses every means available to her to find Krem, a journey that is hampered by galaxies having different colored suns than the one that gives her powers, the yellow sun.

Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, the film is a big step back in the fun category, not least because Supergirl is deep in her feelings for much of the film. Her personal trauma, which is detailed in occasional flashbacks, gives a reason for her depression, but fails to land fully. The story seems to want everyone to be sad, as it includes a child trafficking ring and multiple instances of families being murdered.

Milly Alcock and Krypto in Supergirl.Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

To try to counteract that downer material, the filmmakers give Supergirl many opportunities to show off her fighting skills. While still CGI-heavy, the action scenes contain enough of a semblance of reality that they feel exciting. Unfortunately, this is undercut by the inclusion of several slow-motion sequences, giving the impression that the filmmakers didn’t trust the actors to deliver the goods on a consistent basis.

Superman (David Corenswet) makes a handful of appearances in the film, and while his presence is welcome given how well the character came across in the previous movie, it also doesn’t allow Supergirl to become her own person. Almost everything she does is colored by either her cousin or her parents, and since her powers are identical to those of Superman, there is very little that makes her story unique aside from how she’s dealing with the fallout.

Alcock (House of the Dragon, Sirens) gives an appealing performance despite her character being drunk and/or moody most of the time. She definitely sells what Supergirl is going through, so if given a better story in a future film, she’s proven her capability. Schoenaerts makes for a pretty good villain, although he’s aided by a look that includes a face full of studs. Jason Momoa has a memorable supporting role as the bounty hunter Lobo, even if his character doesn’t add much to the story.

While not a full-on disaster, Supergirl does not continue the momentum that Superman started. With a story that’s more concerned with showing audiences death scenes than a hero saving people, the film doesn’t seem to understand the appeal of a character like Supergirl or how to make her someone audiences will return to over and over again.

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Supergirl is now playing in theaters.

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