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.
Attack the Block is SO MUCH FUN I had to use caps to describe it. The folks across the pond have been ripping things up lately and Attack the Block is now one of my favorite movies of the year.
It’s an average night in south London when a group of teens are out running ammock in their neighborhood. From the sky an alien invasion begins, with the group of friends confronting and killing the first visitor. The rest of the night the kids defend the block, and the world, from these not so friendly monsters!
First, the cast of kids rule. Every single one of them is believable and funny. Most of them have little to no credits to their name, but it never shows. John Boyega plays the main character, Moses, and I hope this is just the start of a long career. I was really impressed with his work. Moses is a dick, but he’s fiercely loyal, brave as hell and can admit when he’s wrong. Strong characters are always the best to watch. I can’t recall ever thinking “Don’t do that you idiot!” It avoids a lot of bad horror traps while relishing in great set ups that lead into great moments of suspense. The pace is quick, the direction very sharp and clear. Excellent use of CG, audio cues and camera tricks. It moves a long with a great beginning, middle and end. The movie is just really well made, every dime of the estimated $13 million budget can be seen om screen. I love the creature design that harkens back to a few 80’s creature flicks with a cool modern technical spin. I’d say more but I think seeing them for the first time makes the greatest impact.
Some great set pieces, fantastic and smart uses of gore that I can only sing praise to. So many smart decisions in this movie. I really loved everything about Attack the Block, I wish I helped make it.
From the creators of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz comes Paul! A fun story of 2 best mates from England on holiday to nerd it out at the San Diego Comic Con and road trip across the mid-west to visit more nerdy places. After leaving Comic Con, the guys meet Paul, an space alien on the run. Joining his cause, Graeme and Clive work to get Paul back home with the feds hot on their trail.
I heard a lot of mixed things on this one, mostly negative because most thought it didn’t live up to the standards of SotD and Hot Fuzz. While not as funny, I still enjoyed the ride. A great cast (there’s a lot of star power in here) with really fantastic CG work (Paul looks real, the composting of CG into live action is some of the best around) pull this movie along nicely. Sure there are some lazy and predictable jokes with some more than necessary cursing, but I think these are minor quibbles. Straight forward story telling with a nice little tweak at the end to keep things interesting. I’d recommended it as a solid rental. Is it me or is Bill Hader in every movie these days?
This story has absolutely blown up this week and is just hard to believe grown men in a position of power and leadership could be so fucking stupid.
Now all the facts aren’t out, the path of what happened in the passed 15 years (!) on this alleged creep, Jerry Sandusky, aren’t entirely known. It’s safe to say that the complete story is going to come out in the next few months and is going to be much worse and even more mindboggling.
This has nothing to do with football.
Without rambling on too much (there is a ton to this) and to get to my real point, how did this not stop at Mike Mcqueary’s shower sodomy discovery? There’s a hierarchy at that school and mental path that I can’t wrap my head around. From what I’ve read, Sandusky had the heat turned on him for some similar shady allegations in the late 90’s that ended up fizzling out with the authorities. It was about a year later that he retired. 3 years later is when Mcqueary caught him violating the boy. Mcqueary then calls his dad and LEAVES? He does nothing to help the kid? The next day he tells head coach JoePa (and I’m not sure what kind of detail he went into with Joe). Joe goes up a level in the school administration, which ends up going to the president of UPenn. At no time were the cops called. The “punishment” for Sandusky was that he could not bring kids on campus anymore. What? This monster was skipping around campus as of last week! Somewhere in that chain of events and executive decision some things really went wrong.
I absolutely agree that the men who did nothing to stomp this monster out of the public and into a jail cell should be shown the door. For some reason it looks like the media is focusing mostly on JoePa, which I don’t agree with. Let’s point the brunt of the burners on Sandusky (how the hell did this guy get BAIL? He’s not a risk to the public?!) Mcqueary is a dumb son of a bitch as far as I can tell. UPenn is suppossed to have the utmost pride and ethic code around, it’s insane this happened.
Why did Mcqueary think that his bosses were the authority on a heinous crime? Was he afraid of losing his job for outing a pedophile? At the very least couldn’t he have made an annomous 911 (or campus security) call to get the cops to come and investigate? How did he do NOTHING to help the boy? This just just makes him an accomplice along with the rest of the administration that was told and did nothing.
I don’t understand what the end game of their thinking was. How could not going to the cops and getting Sandusky locked up be bad? They thought this would never come out and be a million times worse? This is Freddy Krueger territory! There are 8 known victims as of now, possibly reaching into other states! They could easily have just oust Sandusky and say they had no clue what he was hiding for all these years. THAT is how you protect your industry, school, reputation, faculty, staff and students. We found out and acted immediately to one of the biggest crimes in society. He doesn’t represent the school, we cooperate with the cops to get all this under control etc. It becomes a story of one heinous individual who got caught and stopped by sane human beings and not a napalm bomb years later. Each on of the men with their heads on the chopping block would a)not be arrested and/or b) fired! JoePa could coach for as long as his heart desired and not have his legacy ruined in a trainwreck of national and world news coverage. Sandusky went on to hurt more kids!
James “Munky” Shaffer- guitar/KoRn
Billy Gould- Bass/Faith No More
Brooks Wackerman- Drums/Bad Religon
Leopold Ross- guitar, programming
Steve Krolikowski- Vocals/Repeater
Zach Baird- keyboards/Korn
About 3 years since it’s inception, FATNS debut album is finally here. While Korn was recording Remember Who You Are in 2009, producer Ross Robinson introduced Munky to the singer he had been looking for. Krolikowski was the last piece to join the band, with the music all but finished, he gave the band its final voice.
The more I listen, the more I like this album. I’m having a hard time describing what they sound like. A Perfect Circle comes to mind first, Black Light Burns is another, with a little bit of Marilyn Manson. It’s alt rock, very different from Korns’ sound. It’s very moody, brooding and atmospheric, a touch of industrial in the mix. Krolikowski has a very distinct voice which I always look for in a singer, he really brings something out in the music. He’s a powerful singer and a great lyrisist. Even though he’s been in Repeater for some time, I think this is just the the start for him. He’s yet to make a name for himself, but FATNS could really put the spot light on any project he’s in if people hear him on this album. I’d really like to hear what he would do and had he been recording with FATNS as a complete band. I ‘ll have Repeaters newest CD this month I think, I like what I’ve heard there too.
I really just have to say you need to listen to it to get the sound they make. Out of 12 tracks, I’m all about 9 of them. The opening track, “Hell” is an intro that really doesn’t do anything for me. “Triggers” sounds like it wasn’t mixed right, there is so much layering and reverb that overlaps so much it’s almost impossible to make out the lyrics. “Dissolve” is the final track I don’t like, just one of those songs that don’t click with me. “Ambien” is abptly named, I seemed to go back and forth on how much I dig it. The rest is some really unique and powerful compositions. “No Secrets” is a perfect example of what the band is like. A catchy, simple riff that builds into a thumping vibration of energy. “Choking Victim” is the most standard rock like, it’s got a typical structure and thump to it. It’s the first song that was released and it made me really hopeful for the album. Turns out that it’s not even close to the best track. My top picks are, “Chosen Ones”, “No Secrets” and “Jaguar” running right behind. “Beautiful Side” is far and away my favorite, it just takes me over everytime I hear it. I actually wake up to it a lot in my head, it’s like it’s found a spot in my mind to hang out in. I
With no CD release, you can find Fear and The Nervous System on Amazon.com and itunes. With no label these guys just put it out there into the stream, so please check it out! Give it a listen, you may find a new sound you didn’t know you were missing.
It’s always fun to see something new and with the way Hollywood has been working the passed few years, that’s getting harded to get these days. In Time presents us with a world where a life is the currency. Humans are genetically engineered to grow until age 25. At that birthday, your death clock (which is a bio-lumen clock on your left forearm) begins to tick down it’s final year. You can earn more time by working, gambling, taking loans and even stealing from others. It’s a very simple exchange, a slightly modified handshake motion and you can take and give from your own clock. In the case of banks, the time is held in a devise that looks a bit like a bar code reader. Hold it to your wrist and time is taken or given away. Now, once that timer hit zero, you drop dead (sickness and injuries are still a threat). It’s a constant fight for live for most, where “Many must die for a few to live forever,” is the motto of the rich.
In the current economical climate this premise seems all the more fitting. The “top 1%” that is constantly beratted in the headlines these days are well accounted for here. The main character, Will (played by Justin Timberlake) helps someone out who has a lot of time on his hands. He’s gifted more than a century of life, which immediately makes him a target. No one in the ghetto gets that much time with out stealing it, according to those who know “best.” The rest of the movie is an attempt at balancing the scales between the rich and the poor. There’s plenty of money to go around, the rich are just hoarding what they are ultimately stealing.
Timberlake does a fine job, it’s hard not to see him as anything but JT, but a lot of actors have that problem so I can’t really hold that against him. There’s a good cast around him too, I always like Cillian Murphy, Amanda Seyfried makes a great love interest and partner in crime. Very little is explained, no real geographic location is given, no year, how and why the life currency system began (it’s been in effect for around 100 years from what I could put together). That all works for me as the social ramifications are really what is on display here. The threat is always the clock so that made any chase scenes seem a little less daring. There are many times when Will could have and probably should have been shot and killed, but I guess the time he holds through the movie is worth more than a shot to the head.
I liked it for the most part. There’s some silly dialog here and there and the plight of the poor is always the most important. Some fleshing out of the world could have been a plus, but the movie works pretty well as is. I’d call it a good rental.
When I was really into comic books, Thor never looked interesting so I never picked up any of his stories. So going into the movie, I arrived with zero expectations. It’s a fun, if slightly dull movie.
It does everything well. The cast is good, along with the acting. A simple story that gets through the origin of Thor over with quickly. In fact, the movie is really well paced. Thor is a bit of a blow hard at the start and when he’s banished to Earth for his over zealous antics, he goes on a personal transformation. When Earth is threatened by Thor’s own brother, Loki, Thor steps up as Earth’s protector. What action scenes there are, are all done well. Nothing that exciting though, for some reason that feeling stuck with me through the whole movie. I can’t really pin down why, I guess because I don’t really care for Thor. The movie actually made me thing more of him, so in that respect it worked. He’s a part of The Avengers movie that comes out next year, so this is good warm up (rental) to get on board next summer’s tentpole release. Until Batman shows up to embarrass all other super hero movies at least.
I missed October completely, which I really didn’t want to do. Had a bunch of stuff lined up to write but then the Fall Storm of 2011 donkey punched a good portion of the Tri-state area. The most damage my town has ever seen in it’s history went down on the 29th. I left work at my normal 5:30pm time thinking the “storm” was going to be a load of “nothing” and I was completely “wrong.” An extra half hour to my commute and 2 near death experiences made for a interesting trip. Had power all Saturday as the wet stuff came down (I think we got about 6″ here), but branches and trees were snapping all over the place. Took out who knows how many power lines with many places still without power. We went Sunday from 1pm to 7am Monday in the dark. Then Monday from 1pm-630pm when it’s been back for good. It’s easy to kill an hour or so without electricity, but this was ridiculous. How did the pioneers do it? It’s so awful and boring! Freezing in the house, you can only really manage to find stuff to do when the sun is up, night is just depressing. We’re getting so soft with all the tech we rely on. Local restaurants made a fortune though, many had power while a lot of residents didn’t.
