Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Cahiers du Meh

So I saw Tim Burton's Dark Shadows feature the other day; let's just say that as much as I adore Johnny Depp and all his works, the thing is pretty much a mess. The short version being that nobody involved with it seems to have decided whether it's a gothic horror flick or a parody of same, and as a result it doesn't work as either.

That said, one of many other annoying aspects of the film is that the closing credits feature a truly crappy version of The Raspberries' sublime power pop classic "Go All the Way." In this case by The Killers, a band, if anybody asked me, that is incapable of performing somebody else's song without air quotes around it.

Meanwhile, and perhaps coincidentally, a younger band heretofore unknown to me -- Surfer Blood -- has done a somewhat more interesting cover.

Hey, I said somewhat more interesting. I didn't say it was actually any good.

9 comments:

buzzbabyjesus said...

The trailer looks terrible.
Surfer Blood's version has a great intro and then.......

steves said...

I've got to say...just going by the commercials alone, it looks like Tim Burton's worst movie ever.

I guess it's kind of fortunate then that the guy who played Barnabus Collins on the TV series checked out just before the trainwreck opened.

Shriner said...

So, I saw it this weekend as well -- I enjoyed it. I saw it as a love letter to the soap (so it was more parody than horror/action.) It's by no means perfect, but was another good Tim Burton flick. Not a *great* Tim Burton movie, but not "Planet of the Apes" bad, either.


The cover of Go All The Way over the credits threw me considering how much other period music they used during it. I love that song too much to find very many cover versions of it to be crap.

steve simels said...

It's not Planet of the Apes bad, and it's less obnoxious than ALICE IN WONDERLAND WARRIOR PRINCESS.

There's actually a lot of amusing stuff in it, but the whole third act is a disaster. Of course, even Tim Burton's best films tend to have weak third acts. ED WOOD and SLEEPY HOLLOW (with reservations) excepted.

Brooklyn Girl said...

Agree on both the movie and the Killers. Both weaker than the originals.

Anonymous said...

I always felt Eric Carmen was the Jay Black of the 1970's!

ROTP(lumber)

matthew said...

At long last, have they no decency?!
I made through 30 seconds worth, but life's shorter than it used to be, and I could've used the time listening to another round of "Nixon's The One."

For a truly worthy cover of "Go All The Way," I highly recommend the Raspberries own version from 2005's "Live On The Sunset Strip." Balls to the wall and irony free.

DB said...

I'm with Matthew.

Screw the remakes. Find Raspberries' live album and feel the energy they must have felt when the music was new. The song was primal and a real inducement to get naked, fast.

There's no energy in The Killers' version. It sounds like something they tossed off right before lunch to fill a contractual obligation. No heart, no soul, no passion.

Who'd wanna fuck those guys?

Anonymous said...

Geez, kinda makes you think Morrissey could've done a better job than these two versions.