Page 30 - AT

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 7 September 2018
Jennifer Garner seeks bloody revenge in 'Peppermint'

By LINDSEY BAHR identifies the three men
Associated Press with the face tattoos who
The insane revenge movie killed her husband and
"Peppermint " starts to make daughter. But a deeply
a lot more sense when you corrupt system lets them
realize that it was directed walk, and Riley goes rogue,
by the man who brought us disappearing for a few
"Taken" (Pierre Morel) and years to learn how to be a
written by one at least par- killer and return on the five-
tially responsible for "Lon- year anniversary of the in-
don Has Fallen" (Chad St. cident to execute all who
John). It's a movie in which wronged her. The movie
the central character, Riley doesn't show much, if any-
North (Jennifer Garner), is thing, of her training, which
called a "female vigilante" is summarized in exposi-
by a local news anchor, tion by an FBI agent (Annie
and a "soccer mom" by Los Ilonzeh), but just picks up
Angeles police. She uses a with her killing spree and
maxi pad as a makeshift her life operating out of a
bandage to sop up the skid row home base. It's a
blood from a gushing knife bit of whiplash, her transi-
wound and may have a tion from Laura Ashley to
higher body count than This cover image released by STXfilms shows Jennifer Garner in a scene from "Peppermint." Lara Croft, but you get
John Wick by the end of Associated Press used to the new Riley fairly
the film. quickly (and honestly there
Why, you might ask, all the lic fair. In slow motion. With Riley of course survives, a coma, gets a grief pixie wasn't a lot of the old one
bloodshed, mayhem and ice cream cones in hand. barely, and awakes from haircut and immediately to latch on to either).q
stereotypes? Riley is just a It's almost disappointing
responsibilities in a sensible cream next to her fallen Paul Simon re-visiting some
regular middle class mom that there's no shot of the
juggling a job and parental melting peppermint ice
es her husband and young say, a bloody handprint musical old friends
midi skirt and conservative family, but there are plenty
of silly ones to come (like,
sweater before she watch-
daughter get gunned on a tombstone that the
down by agents of power- police use as an indication rial was obscure for good replaced by a DJ. Most af-
ful Latin drug boss at a pub- that she's been there). reason, most of the second fecting is a rewritten con-
looks reward listeners. clusion to 2000's "Love,"
The revisits speak to the mu- which is both more specific
sical adventurousness that and more universal than
has marked Simon's later the original.
years. Many of the originals Simon's age (he's 76) gives
were at least grounded in the material a grace not al-
the folk-rock style he was ways present the first time.
primarily known for. Now A song like "Some Folks'
Simon moves beyond: Lives Roll Easy" now feels
Wynton Marsalis' trumpet lived in, not observed by
This cover image released by replaces the acoustic gui- a young reporter. "Darling
Legacy Recordings shows "In
the Blue Light," the latest re- tar on "How the Heart Ap- Lorraine," the fourth song re-
lease by Paul Simon. proaches What it Yearns" vamped from 2000's "You're
Associated Press and the 1970s electric the One" disc, is the new al-
piano gives way to Sulli- bum's centerpiece, in large
By DAVID BAUDER van Fortner's real thing on part because you can feel
Associated Press "Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy." the tenderness, comedy
Paul Simon, "In the Blue The jauntiness of "One and sadness more acutely
Light," (Legacy) Man's Ceiling Is Another through Simon's weathered
Weeks from the end of his Man's Floor" is smoothed voice. Simply being placed
farewell concert tour, Paul into a loping, jazz feel. With at the end of a disc where
Simon has released a disc Dixieland jazz, Spanish-style a central theme is the pas-
that feels like a valedictory guitar and orchestral ar- sage of time lends "Ques-
itself. rangements, the music is tions for the Angels" a poi-
The concept of "In the Blue worldly and complex. He's gnance missed when the
Light" is intriguing, with Si- not kicking down the cob- song came out in 2011.
mon re-recording and re- blestones. The idea here is so interest-
imagining 10 songs he origi- Simon rewrites some lyrics, ing that you'd love to see
nally released between some to subtly modernize. other artists try it, if only to
1973 and 2011. None were An iPhone is added to a know the overlooked songs
hits; they're songs he felt scene originally written be- that have stuck with them.
were overlooked as oddi- fore the device's invention, "In the Blue Light" is neither
ties, or that he didn't get and the blues band that nostalgia nor a rescue mis-
quite right the first time. appears by the riverbank in sion. It's a challenging new
While some of this mate- a lyric on "Can't Run But" is work.q