Excision (2012)

Excision trailer

Genre: Drama, Horror

Starring: AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, Malcolm McDowell

Director: Richard Bates Jr.

IMDB Rating: 6.1/10

My Rating: 6.7/10

Runtime: 1hr 33mins

Synopsis: Described as 'a disturbed and delusional high school student with aspirations of a career in medicine goes to extremes to earn the approval of her controlling mother' it sounded like a fairly standard premise and a story we've seen many times before in films. However, Excision is possibly one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen, making A Clockwork Orange (nod to Mr.McDowell) seem like Ice Age 2. The film instantly opens with a very grotesque scene of the brilliant AnnaLynne McCord who plays main character Pauline in a dream sequence in which see sits opposite a double of herself who is profusely vomiting blood, set in a bizarrely sanitised and bright, tiled room. The film dips in and out of these dreams, each equally disturbing but visually powerful nonetheless. 

There is plenty of dark humour and the dysfunction of the family worsens as the film proceeds, although Pauline does maintain a good relationship with her younger sister, Grace, throughout. As Pauline's behaviour becomes more erratic her conservative, straight-laced mother, also played excellently by Traci Lords, goes to greater, and more humiliating measures to reign her daughter in, but to no avail, resulting in the harrowing conclusion of the film. Excision is a must see for fans of films with psychotic main characters (I don't know what that says about them!), but it is definitely not for the squeamish or those easily shocked. Great performances from the main characters and intriguing visuals make it worth the watch for everyone else.

1959 Champion Jack Dupree - Blues From The Gutter

Info: From my own viewpoint I can see that the Blues only really became mainstream in the late 1950's, and the album, Blues From The Gutter, is the perfect introduction, slow, moody and amazing piano playing. There is no confirmation of William Thomas Dupree's true date of birth, 1908, 1909 or 1910, however, he passed away on 21st January 1992 in Niedersachsen, Germany, interestingly, he asks at the beginning of the above video (1971) 'Where will I be in 1999!?'. Dupree came from an intriguing background, his father was from the Belgian Congo, and his mother was part Native American, at the age of two, he was sent to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, an orphanage, which was also the alma mater of Louis Armstrong. During his time in the home, he learned the piano, from his mentor Tuts Washington, who taught him how to play Junker's Blues (above video). His career was put on hold when he joined the U.S. Navy as a cook during the Second World War, he would go on to spend two years as a prisoner of war in Japanese camps. In the 1960's he migrated to Europe, where he spent time in Switzerland, Denmark, England, Sweden and Germany (where he eventually died of cancer).  My favourites on this album are tracks 1-4, but personally I love "TB Blues", track 2, and "Bad Blood", track 7, and "Goin' Down Slow" for blues guitar heaven, it really is an album that can be listened from start to finish as one.

Track Listing:

1. Strollin'

2. T.B. Blues

3. Can't Kick The Habit

4. Evil Woman

5. Nasty Boogie

6. Junker's Blues

7. Bad Blood

8. Goin' Down Slow

9. Frankie and Johnny

10. Stack-O-Lee

This review is my final of the 1950's, and in some way I'm relieved due to my ignorance of the decade, but I would like to add some albums from the 1950's that I think are very good and necessary listening;

1) Clifford Brown & Max Roach - Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954)

2) Kenny Dorham - Afro-Cuban (1955) *

3) Louis Prima - The Wildest! (1956)

4) Thelonius Monk - Brilliant Corners (1957)

5) Billie Holiday - Lady In Satin (1958)

6) Marty Robbins - Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs (1959) *

7) Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

8) Art Blakey - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (1959)

9) The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out (1959) *

10) Chet Baker - Chet (1959)

* best of the rest

1958 Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else

Info: Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley was born in Tampa, Florida, in 1928, he was a jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of jazz in the late 50's and early 60's, and would indeed become a major influence on famous jazz players such as those mentioned on the above album cover, mainly Miles Davis (who drew on Adderley's style for his 1970 album, Bitches Brew) and Art Blakey. Adderley moved from Florida to New York in the mid-50's, with his performance name, Cannonball, originating from his high-school nickname of cannibal, as a result of his ability to eat large amounts of food in one sitting, purely for spectacle. Adderley and his brother Nat, who composed many of his songs, also both worked with Ray Charles in the 1940's when he was in Tallahassee, Florida, and in 1957 he joined the Miles Davis Sextet, 3 months before John Coltrane's return, and played on arguably Davis' most famous album, Kind of Blue. My own introduction to Cannonball Adderley came from the 1966 album, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Live At The Club), however, the above album is probably his finest solo recording, rated #2 on RYM for 1958. Key tracks for me are the first track, "Autumn Leaves", probably the best on the album, but followed closely by "Dancing In The Dark" (which is not a Bruce Springsteen cover). As an absolute jazz novice, and admittedly having had very little interest in the genre up until about 5 years ago, I would place this album as my favourite jazz album, I hope you get a chance to check it out.

Track Listing:

1. Autumn Leaves

2. Love For Sale

3. Somethin' Else

4. One for Daddy-O

5. Dancing In The Dark