Bridesmaids came out in May and stormed the box office making it one of the best box office and critical hits of the year. While easily marked as a “chick flick” it stands on its own as a comic movie that simply has a nearly all female cast. I don’t really see a need try to slight it or downplay it with a goofy sub-genre label.
Now I didn’t think it was nearly as funny as many made it out to be, it’s got plenty of laughs and is a solid movie from start to finish. Kristen Wiig continues her Hollywood streak to the top as Annie, who’s a bit down on her luck. Her start up bakery went out of business, she’s wallowing around in a crap relationship and then her best friend Lillian gets engaged which puts a huge strain on their long relationship. As the Maid of Honor, Annie is put up against some stressful planning, monetary commitments and a cat fight for Lillian’s Best Friend status. Annie basically hits her bottom with every relationship in her life and has to take control of her life again and realize everyone is fighting the same battles to be happy.
It’s not all about Wiig’s character though, the rest of Lillian’s bridal party (Melissa McCarthy in particular) really makes the movie. It becomes an ensemble movie as each milestone to the wedding day becomes a disaster. With a runtime of 2 hours being a bit much, the movie is well paced and moves along without hitting on any terrible cliches that would have bogged down the journey. Not the best comedy ever, but this will be looked on favorable for years to come.
It’s taken me far too long, but I’ve finally seen The Human Centipede. One of the most disturbing ideas for a horror movie, this one made some serious waves when it came out. A mad doctor surgically grafting 3 people anus to mouth for the sole purpose of making his dream lifeform become reality. See? That’s a hell of a sell right there for a horror movie.
Some smart decisions by writer/director Tom Six were made on this project. It must have been really tough to get financing to make this movie, the basic premise is enough to make people ask if you’re nuts. He got really lucky with casting the doctor, he completely makes the movie beliveable (the girls at the start are terrible). With that in mind, the movie isn’t graphic in the slightest. There’s nothing overtly gruesome, there are far more violent and gory films all over the place. Just the idea is enough to make people nervous and seeing the human centipede with bandages sells it completely to the audience. It’s an emotionally traumatic vibe being thrown out to you, it doesn’t need to show you everything. The surgery is done almost completely off screen and there is only one “feeding” scene that is much worse in your head than what’s on the screen. It reminds me a lot of the chainsaw in the bathroom scene of Scareface, where you don’t see the violence, just blood hitting the wall; the audio completely sells the horror to you. This makes the movie much easier to handle and greatly expands the audience who would be able to sit through it. The set up for the movie is a complete cliche, 2 girls get a flat tire in the middle of the woods and go looking for help and meet the wrong guy! But once they get to the house, you forget all about that piece you’ve seen a million times before and are totally on board for what happens.
I really didn’t like the end though. It just defied all sorts of logic for me as the sheer chance of revenge is right there but gets skirted for no reason than to set up a cliffhanger/bummer of a final shot. The brilliance was cut off right there in my view. I think any horror fan should see it, there aren’t that many pictures that successfully turn the genre on its ear like this.
I’ve kept my eye on this one since the first shots of Tom Cruise doing his “I love life!” thing on top of that giant building in Dubai came out. Plus it marks Brad Bird’s first live action directorial debut. He’s pretty awesome, so things were looking up for Mission Impossible 4. It turned out really well.
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team get set up for bombing the Kremlin and they’re cut loose from all their resources and are now number one of the terrorist list. With just a spare safehouse full of gear and money to help clear their names and save the world from nuclear attack, IMF pulls together on a run around the planet.
Ghost Protocol is the most fun action movie I’ve seen since Fast Five. Just a great cast, fun script and some interesting action set pieces with just a beautiful eye guiding the frame. The tech on display for the missions was some incredibly cool and inventive stuff, pulled off with awesome practical and CG effects. The chemistry and cooperation of the team really stands out and is pretty much what the whole movie relies on to work. It’s just a fun and (mostly) intelligent ride from start to finish. The movie is raking it in at the box office right now and for good reason. I highly recommend it.
December 21st was the official start of winter so that means a few things.
It’s that much closer to being over. Any cold weather is acceptable because it’s winter. The shortest day of the year has passed so we’re going to start getting more daylight, that is the right direction.
Now I can only hope we don’t get pounded by snow this year…it’s been unseasonably warm lately.
Ten albums! A milestone that few bands ever reach. That’s a real history in music, a large chunk of a group’s life is recorded and put on the road. The Path of Totality (POT from here on out) sees Korn changing their approach to their sound once more. Last years Korn III: Remember Who You Are was a return to their roots using their first producer and recording straight to 2″ tape. No click tracks for the drums, no Pro Tools until final mix and mastering. POT is the opposite, it’s brought in electronica producers with their computers in tow. What came out is the fusion of two genres to a great effect.
This project started out as an EP and went into a full album after Korn had about 4 songs done. They were having a great time and apparently the tracks were coming out really well, so they decided to just continue to make it full length. I was worried about this one when it was announced that dubstep producers were going to be involved. I love everything about Korn III. It’s everything I love about the band; loud, obnoxious, raw, with trade mark bass, vocals, drums and guitar. This electronic element wasn’t what I was looking for (I started to think of See You On The Other Side, my least favorite Korn album).
The result isn’t “dubKorn” or remixed Korn tracks. It’s different styles of electronic music fused with what Korn does. This is unmistakably a Korn album, just some of the elements sound different and were made differently. This was a passion project for Jonathan Davis. He was really strained doing KIII, producer Ross Robinson got behind him, put his hands on JD’s back and just shoved him through every wall, floor, window and closed emotional door that dared get in the way. The lyrics of that album are very personal and dark, it brought up a lot of old memories and emotions JD never wanted to see again and Ross pretty much made him wrestle with it bare knuckled. It made for an incredible album (imho of course) but it took it’s toll on the leader of Korn. Refusing to go through that again, Jonathan turned back to an old passion he was getting back into: DJing. It’s a very creative musical avenue. You create all the sounds, you arrange them yourself, you really mold every single sound of it.
The title of the album refers to an eclipse, when all the elements come together and line up just right.
Looking to do something new and exciting, JD introduced it the rest of the band and after some experimenting he got into contact with Skrillex (Sonny Moore). Skrillex is really blowing up now, just being nominated for a Grammy and selling out every venue he steps foot in. Sonny grew up listening to Korn and he jumped at the chance to work with one of his favorite bands. That led to Sonny calling up some of his electronica friends and the list of producers went on to include Datsik, Noisia, 12th Planet, Downlink, Excision, Flinch and Kill the Noise. All said, POT has elements of Untouchables, See You On The Other Side and Untitled sliced and infused with even more electronic elements.
That leads us to the songs themselves, I’ll break it all down track by track.
Chaos Lives in Everything- Awesome opener! Starts with a nod to Nine Inch Nails, one of the faster and heavier songs on the album. This one should be a single, really good example of the fusion they came up with. Really catchy, fun and fast beat, some great drops and a great chorus.
Kill Mercy Within- Sick opening riff with a beat that falls into the slower end. Interesting and head bobbing worthy track.
My Wall- Trademark slow and powerful Korn here. One of the better tracks, really love the airy breakdown near the end.
Narcissistic Cannibal- The latest single out now, this one was produced by Skrillex and shows of more of the classic dubstep elements (low wub wub type bass, screechy sound effects). Really like this one, sounds like it could have come from Untitled. More prominant drumming, another great chorus and a fun electro breakdown.
Illuminati- I keep going back and forth one on this one. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t. This one really sounds like a “SYOTOS” era song, with it’s slower pace. One of the more prominent electronic sounding tracks, I like some of the elements but there is much better on this album.
Burn the Obediant- Love this one. Faster paced, there is a sick beat on here with a lot of sound changes. One of the heavier songs, easy to jam out to.
Sanctuary- I just don’t like this song. I skip it almost every time. Nothing on it works for me, slow and boring. More irritating than anything although the chorus doesn’t make it a complete disaster.
Let’s Go- From the worst to one of my absolute favorites! Bump this as loud as I can, it’s so awesome. It’s a high energy, party kind of song. Moves right a long, awesome lyrics, just really wild production on this one. Awesome chorus, a great sing along and Fieldy’s trademark clicky bass is loud and clear for the break down. Super short song and I love every second of it.
Get Up- The first single they put out, another one with Skrillex that shows its dubstep sounds. Enjoyable song, but I’ve heard it since like June so I’m really used to it. Lots of cussing on this one but it’s one of the better tracks.
Way Too Far- Slow and powerful at work here, I really like the lyrics. The pacing changes a few times, this one also sounds a bit like the SYOTOS era. Really cool breakdown with a quieter outro.
Bleeding Out- One of my favorite Korn tracks ever made! Starts with a piano and has a beautiful build up into this pounding song. Fantastic work on this one. Sick Korn chug, great drum and bass and beautiful lyrics and vocals. Plus the return of the bag pipes which is easily the best JD has ever done. I can’t get enough of this beautiful melody he came up with.
Fuels the Comedy- A B side that if I’m not mistaken is just JD and Kill the Noise. A fun, goofy song in the same vein as “Y’all Want A Single”. Korn fans should get a kick out of it. Its got a wavey sound to it with a really tremendous breakdown.
Tension- Another B side that is just from JD and producers Excision, Datsik and Downlink. A club banger that I really love. Just thumpy and menacing with the return of JD scatting that works incredibly well with the drum and bass. Love the lyrics and vibe this one throws out.
POT really isn’t that big of a departure for Korn. All of their albums sound different, but still maintain they’re trademark sound. This isn’t a new genre, but it does sound new and fresh. As far as experimental albums go, I think they have a real winner on their hands. Munky stepped forward in his guitar work to establish the right tone and feel. Fieldy’s trademark bass is again different here (he’s much more prominent when playing this material live) and Ray had a very secondary roll on this album which is a huge bummer for me. The drum tracks were mostly formed without him, they even took away his snare and kick drum away (read interviews to find out why). His raw creativity isn’t on display here like it is on KIII, but he still rocks this out live (thank god). JD’s lyrics are also really good too, I haven’t heard anything that made me roll my eyes. There’s a lot of layering that he has liked to do in the past (Untouchables, Untitled). He flexes his entire range on this album which is always great to hear. Lastly, the soundscape on this album is huge, you want to get it on the best stereo you can. It’s really wide and expansive with some downright silly bass. I have a hard time not listening to it really loud. I don’t know if Korn will stick with this sound and method exactly (or if I would want them to), but their ambition and daring to move outside of the box has worked again.
On November 29th, Patrice O’neal passed away from complications of a stroke he suffered in late October. I heard of him from Opie and Anthony since his first appearance, which was something like 10 years ago. He was one of my favorite stand up comics and just an incredible personality. Anything he talked about was fascinating and hilarious, it’s a tremendous loss that he’s gone at the age of 41. He had so much left in him to say and his life being cut so short really sucks. This is the first comic passing that’s really bummed me out, I always looked forward to hearing him on the radio show where he was completely free to be himself. He was in almost every time Jim Norton was out on other business, he was just an amazing talent that can’t be replaced.
His last special, Elephant in the Room is easily his best. The Roast of Charlie Sheen in September finally put the spotlight on him after so much (stubborn) hard work. Tragic end to a brilliant person. Condolences to all the friends that knew him best and the loves of his life, his family.
