DVD review: If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise"

Toiling largely in the shadows of popular culture, Spike Lee is nonetheless doing some of his most important, insightful and yes, entertaining work in telling the story of New Orleans, as he first did with "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" and now with "If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise," coming to DVD on April 19.

Lee returns to the city five years after it was thoroughly savaged by Hurricane Katrina, framing his story with ecstasy and then agony, starting with the Saints' victory in the Super Bowl and wrapping things up (four hours later) with an examination of the BP oil spill. And, through interviews with people who have either stuck it out there, managed to return or simply moved on, he tries, in the early segments, to get at the psyche of the Crescent City. It is, as several people note, a city with both a serious inferiority complex and schizophrenia, where, as one woman states, it's a "blessing and a privilege" to live, even as the disasters keep coming.

As he does with his best works of fiction ("Bamboozled" and "Get on the Bus" in my book), Lee lays out the city's dilemma in words and images that are equally striking. It's hard to argue when you hear residents describe the shackling of housing projects as "ethnic cleansing" or later when the term "dispersants" is used for much more than something to spread out spilled oil. It's with images, however, that Lee makes his most penetrating points, as when he uses the stone steps that are often all that remain to introduce a segment about the devastated Lower Ninth Ward, but much less subtly or successfully as the bodies simply start to pile up at the end.

The meat of Lee's story this time out is pretty much the rebuilding of the city from the ground up, or in effect as one resident puts it, "nation building." As he examines the services we all take for granted - from policing to health care - there are at least as many failures as successes, from the still-closed Charity Hospital to the Dr. King Charter School of Excellence, which was reopened and reborn through the sheer will of the people who depend on it.

What makes this all go down a lot smoother is that it's peppered throughout with interviews with a wide variety of New Orleans residents whose lives are very engaging, along with both heroes and goats who have had an impact on the city. In the latter categories are retired Lt. Gen. Russell Honoré, who was sent to take charge in the wake of Katrina and has evolved into a local hero, and on the opposite end, former FEMA chief Mike Brown, who to his credit submits to an interview and even has the nerve to refer to himself now as an "emergency management consultant" with a straight face.

And it's humor like that in these dire circumstances that makes Lee's movie so watchable, even if he of course could have used an editor brave enough to question its length. The funniest point in Lee's second New Orleans documentary comes early as a man who's been dispersed to Houston explains, with his wife sitting beside him, how he was looking for "a churchgoing woman with a house," and since he admittedly has a foot fetish, how their coming together was a matter of "fate, and probably feet."

In the closing credits, the many personalities reintroduce themselves holding picture frames, which just reinforces what makes what is ultimately a four-hour civics lesson as entertaining and often riveting as it is important: The people. And they are what make Spike Lee's "If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise" worth checking out on DVD.

Down in the "Treme," it's me ...

Yep, that's what happens when I get four days off in a row - my head not only gets filled with crazy ideas, but I also act on them.

Yesterday's was that, having just made it through all of Spike Lee's sensational "If God is Willin' and Da Creek Don't Rise," his second opus about New Orleans and its people, and also having thoroughly enjoyed the first season of David Simon's "Treme," perhaps I should go to the city myself.

And so, if you happen to be there in the third week of November, you just might run into me (staying at something called the "Rathbone Mansion" - I've never stayed in a mansion before, but at $60 a night, I wasn't about to turn that down.)

And in New Orleans news that might just matter to someone besides, well, me, the track listing is out for the collection (you'll see soon why I didn't say "CD") "Treme: Music from the HBO Series, Season 1," and the music itself will be coming very soon too (and will certainly find its way into my digital downloads.)

If you watched the slow-moving but engrossing show (and if you didn't, why the heck not?), you know the music played not just a key role in it, but really set the pace and feel for the whole operation. Musicians from up-and-comer Trombone Shorty (whose "Backatown" I'm listening to right now - excellent) to legends like Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas all popped up at various spots (and watching Irma Thomas play poker is a surreally entertaining sight.)

Thankfully, they also all make appearances in the music collection for season 1, which will be available for digital download Sept. 28 - with a CD to come at some undisclosed future date. Man, I gotta say, for someone who still doesn't and probably never will own a cell phone, the modes of delivery for entertainment continue to surprise and often confound me (stick around for more on that after the track listing.) Here are the 19 songs you'll find when this comes out:

TREME: MUSIC FROM THE HBO ORIGINAL SERIES, SEASON 1

1. "Treme Song (Main Title Version") - John Boutté
2. "Feel Like Funkin' It Up (Live Street Mix)" - Rebirth Brass Band
3. "I Hope You're Comin' Back to New Orleans" - The New Orleans Jazz Vipers
4. "Skokiaan" - Kermit Ruffins & The Barbecue Swingers
5. "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" - Trombone Shorty & James Andrews
6. "Drinka Little Poison (4 U Die)" - Soul Rebels Brass Band & John Mooney
7. "We Made It Through That Water" - Free Agents Brass Band
8. "Shame Shame Shame" - Steve Zahn & Friends
9. "My Indian Red" - Dr. John
10. "At the Foot of Canal Street" - John Boutté, Paul Sanchez, Glen David Andrews & New Birth Brass Band
11. "Buona Sera" - Louis Prima
12. "New Orleans Blues" - Tom McDermott & Lucia Micarelli
13. "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" - Michiel Huisman, Lucia Micarelli & Wendell Pierce
14. "Indian Red (Wild Man Memorial)" - Mardi Gras Indians
15. "Indian Red" - Donald Harrison
16. "Time Is On My Side" - Irma Thomas & Allen Toussaint
17. "This City" - Steve Earle
18. "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" - Treme Brass Band
19. "My Darlin' New Orleans" - Leigh "Li'l Queenie" Harris

All I have after that today is a cache of clips, but the first one comes with a bit of news. Though "Freakanomics," the documentary based on the best-selling book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, isn't coming to at least a few theaters until Oct. 1, it's apparently available for at least rental now on Video On Demand, iTunes, Amazon On Demand, PlayStation Network and Xbox Marketplace. I say apparently because, although it was listed for a $3.99 rental at iTunes, it only said "this item is being modified" and wouldn't work when I tried it, and there's no way in the world I'm going to pay a whopping $9.99 for it at Amazon On Demand. As for the movie itself, with six portions directed by Alex Gibney ("Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," "Casino Jack and the United States of Money"), Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing ("Jesus Camp"), Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me"), Eugene Jarecki ("Why We Fight") and Seth Gordon ("The King of Kong"), I'm certainly going to watch it as soon as I figure out exactly how to find it, perhaps as soon as tonight. Here's the latest TV spot. Enjoy.



OK, if I really ever did have a wall of resistance to Matt Reeves' upcoming "Let Me In," I have to admit now that it's just about completely washed away. It certainly should still be there, since it's a thoroughly unnecessary English-language remake of "Let the Right One In," my single favorite movie of 2008 and easily the best horror movie I've seen in many years, but with each clip they release, it's getting lower and lower. The cast - Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-Mcphee and the simply fantastic Richard Jenkins - is perfect, and if you've seen "Cloverfield," you know Reeves is a solid director. And from this first actual footage from the movie, you can see that they at least got right that Jenkins' character, though charged with finding fresh blood for the "young" vampire Eli (renamed Abby in the remake and played by Moretz), he's pretty spectacularly bad at it. Keep an eye out for the movie, also due out in actual theaters Oct. 1, if, like me, you've decided to give in and see it, and enjoy the clip.



In case anyone's wondering, I am very well aware that I'm too old to be watching a bunch of high school-age kids (or probably slightly older) lip-synch their way through incredibly cheesy musical numbers each week on Fox, but I'm also aware that "Glee" is a wickedly funny and very addictive show, so I guess you can call me a "Gleek." The show itself thankfully comes back soon (Sept. 21), and Fox has released this promo clip in which the kids put their spin on Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind," and though that will and should make all hip-hop fans cringe, I like it. Enjoy.



And finally today, in something just perfect for a Friday morning, "Zach Galifianakis' brother" interviews a game Sean Penn in the latest Between the Ferns segment. It's not all funny, but when it is, it really works, especially the thought of Galifianakis, Penn and Jack Nicholson hitting the town to eat at Long John Silver's. Enjoy the clip and have a great weekend, which for me will include at least two movies, "The American" and "Machete." Peace out.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Sean Penn from Between Two Ferns

Yep, in case you had any doubts, Treme is gonna rock

No time for anything even beginning to approach a full post today because my neighbors were having a massive party last night. And though, after being woken up, I did stop by for a while, did it really have to go until 4 a.m.?

Well, I suppose that fits the spirit of New Orleans, and as you'll see from this extended promo clip, it certainly seems that David Simon's new HBO show "Treme" will too. Along with seeing all the stars of this (and you can certainly tell it's gonna be a broad saga, assuming they get the time they want to tell it), you get a real sense of how the music is going to drive the rhythm of this, and if you'll pardon the pun, it just has me completely jazzed to see the premiere next Sunday (April 11). Enjoy, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

"Do You Wanna" Clip Trailer: Day

David Simon's "Treme" will be a "Wire" family reunion

Even with the simply sublime "Mad Men" back on the air and clearly still in top form and a slew of pretty great shows ("Pushing Daisies" would have to be the one I'm most jazzed about) finally set to return for hopefully full seasons, the end of HBO's "The Wire" has just left a huge void.

Luckily for us viewers, "Wire" mastermind David Simon is a man who likes to work and HBO is smart enough to hold on to its best talents. "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball will be back Sept. 7 with what should be a satisfying vampire series in "True Blood" with Anna Paquin, and in even better news, Simon is getting back into the game too in a big way - and with a lot of familiar faces.

For what is so far only a pilot (though it surely won't end up that way), Simon has moved his sights from Charm City to another American city in distress, New Orleans, where there's at least as much crime and corruption to work with as there was (and still is) in Baltimore.

"Treme," which takes its name from a historic African-American neighborhood in the Crescent City, will take a look at the lives of musicians and others struggling to get by in what Hurricane Katrina left them to deal with. "Wire" creative folks Eric Overmyer and Nina Noble are on board as executive producers and, in even better news (I know I'm burying the lead here), "Wire" cops Bunk and Lester and "The Corner" resident Fran Boyd are all set to star! (And though I try to use them sparingly, that's certainly worthy of an exclamation point.)

Wendell Pierce will play Antoine Batiste, an accomplished jazz trombonist who is now scratching for gigs, trying to support a live-in girlfriend and a new baby. Khandi Alexander, who after playing Fran on "The Corner" went on to star on "CSI: Miami" for seven years (though I can't say I've ever tuned in for an episode), will play Ladonna Batiste, the mother of Antoine's other two children, who is single-handedly keeping her bar afloat.

Clarke Peters, a k a superdetective Lester Freamon, will play Albert Lambreaux, a big chief of the White Feather Nation trying to bring the (Mardi Gras Indian, I assume) tribe's members home.

As you can probably tell from those few details alone, Simon's ready for this and should deliver something great. As he did with Baltimore on "The Wire," Simon told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that "Treme" would reach beyond the music scene to explore political corruption, the public housing controversy, the crippled criminal-justice system, clashes between police and Mardi Gras Indians, and the struggle to regain the tourism industry after the storm.

"It's basically a post-Katrina history of the city. It will be rooted in events that everybody knows," Simon told the paper. "What it's not going to be is a happy stroll through David Simon's record collection. It should not be a tourism slide show. If we do it right, it (will be) about why New Orleans matters."

All I can say is a resounding bring it on, ASAP!

AMC moving from '60s to '70s

Among the many charms of AMC's "Mad Men" (and man was that second episode of season two great) is the attention to detail it pays in reconstructing the world of early '60s New York City and its ad men.

Now, in its search for more original programming, the cable channel is looking to the '70s to turn Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" into a serial series.

Writers Christopher McQuarrie ("The Usual Suspects" and upcoming "Valkyrie") and Erik Jendresen ("Band of Brothers") have been hired to develop the project, which like the flick will be set in the early '70s. No word yet on who will attempt to fill the shoes of Gene Hackman as electronic surveillance expert Harry Caul, but given the dangers to privacy we deal with now the show could turn out be both timely and very entertaining.

Just as HBO passed on "Mad Men" (and then fired all the folks who made that rather astoundingly bad decision), ABC passed on this idea from the same team a few years ago. Even more interestingly, before that - way back in 1995 - producer Tony Krantz also tried to pitch it to NBC with Kyle MacLachlan in the lead. Talk about persistence!

Great TV news all around, but now I have to go to my actual paying job. Peace out.