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Category Archive: Movie Review
Thrice has gradually become one of my favorite bands. Everything they put out is just astounding. You can hear an inner evolution between the members with each new song. I am quick to recommend them to any new friend, or whenever someone asks “I can’t figure out what to listen to.” I can’t say enough great things about this band.
Unfortunately for them, their new album that doesn’t come out for another three months, entitled “Beggars” has leaked online. Now, I am not one to promote illegal downloading, especially when it comes to bands that deserve every penny that goes their way. I did grab a copy of this watermarked promotional piece, and I am here to tell you that I am going to review each song as I listen to it for the first time. However, I have to strongly contest that I plan on buying a copy of it when it comes out, regardless if it’s good or bad. Here it goes:
“All The World Is Mad” – fantastic. You can already tell with the quality of the production that this is possibly their most stripped album to date. No special effects, no over produced studio nonsense. It honestly sounds like the whole band played together in one take. The song is great, the lyrics are catchy, and this is a great opening to what I’m hoping is an amazing album.
“The Weight” – It starts off with what sounds like a blues jam, and quickly turns into a rock blast with feels of funk and soul. Not their greatest, but still very good. Don’t ever think when I say something about this band like “not their greatest,” that it’s bad. I’ve honestly never heard a bad song from this band. Ever.
“Circles” – This is more of their ambient side that was very heavy in The Alchemy Indexalbums. A very slow, gradually moving song with a very cool percussion during the chorus made by what seems like shakers and finger snaps. If you listen carefully, you can actually hear the squeaks from the high-hat pedal, which I think is amazing. Very much a calming experience.
“Doublespeak” – A very cool song, with a chorus thats unexpected and rough as hell. By rough, I mean beautifully dirty. This accompanied by the hard-hitting piano chords in the verses make this the favorite of the album so far, followed closely by “All The World Is Mad.”
“In Exile” – A good throwback to The Alchemy Index, immediately reminding you of “Daedalus” but quickly moving into something new. This is definitely something I haven’t heard from Thrice before, and I’m a little unsure. This is probably one that will have to grow on me. It’s has more of a pop feel to it, with a drum beat I feel is a tad too repetitive. It would make sense to release this as a single, though I feel it certainly isn’t catchy enough to be one. Now that I’m in the end, it’s sounding much better, as the drums are going crazy and the song is sounding more Thrice authentic. It is a little disappointing I had to wait through all of that to get to it.
“At The Last” – A heavier song, but I’ve noticed on this album so far that there are no screams, which is a little odd but not too surprising. A very cool song, very different guitar riffs, certainly new directions.
“Wood & Wire” – Once again, sounding much like they are all jamming at once, with random studio talk in the background at the very beginning. For some reason, I absolutely love when bands do this. It makes me feel like I have more of a personal connection to the recording. This song is definitely in the ambient, slow feel that they love to touch on several times in an album. I am digging this one much more than I was “Circles” though. Pretty amazing.
“Talking Through Glass” – Great start with distorted drums moving quickly into distorted guitars and yelling. Fast paced and definitely interesting. Two-thirds of the way through changes into acoustic guitar and soft hums. Very nice, but will definitely need to get used to it.
“The Great Exchange” – Yet another soft ambient track. The third so far on the album, which is a good balance. Normally, bands will have too much of the loud or too much of the soft, or even with a dead balance, and it just won’t be comfortable. Thrice has always seemed to do this very well. Whether it be a majority of soft or loud, it always seems just right. Great song.
“Beggars” – Title track and final track. It moves slowly and gradually, with amazing lyrics and calming melody. The end of the song evolves into a beautifully noisy orchestra of guitar and distorted drums. Certainly an interesting way to close the album.
All in all, I think its an amazing album. Possibly the best album of the year so far (challenged with Swoon from Silversun Pickups). Thrice proves once again how overly musically talented they are. And right now I’m really hoping that I don’t get sued for this review. I’m not sure how I could be, but still. I encourage each of you to BUY a copy of this album when it comes out, because it is certainly worth the money. Thrice fans will have some getting-use-to when it comes to this, but I’m sure they will find it absolutely gratifying. I am giving this album a 5 out of 5.
Let’s face it. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are probably the two most sought-after actors in Hollywood these days, and the idea of them pinned against each other in a 1930′s gangster flick is an idea worthy of a very appreciative orgasm. Especially one about John Dillinger. Personally, I wasn’t so excited that it was two of the greatest actors of this generation, but because it was about John Dillinger. If you’ve heard of a metal band named The Dillinger Escape Plan, you’re automatically interested because the movie is, literally, about John Dillinger Escaping. I was highly interested in seeing the movie based on the guy that one of my all-time favorite metal bands based their name on (did’ja follow?).
The movie was…confusing. Not the story-line, but the overall production. Especially coming from such the guy that directed The Aviator. The movie progressed particularly slowly, and it lasted probably a good hour too long. The cinematography is amazing at times, and others looks absolutely terrible. The audio quality of the gunshots are loud and blasting one second, and then another gun will go off and it seems muffled and shapeless. The reasons being that Michael Mann made the bold move of filming half the movie with film, the other half digitally with a handheld HD camcorder. He did this to give a more authentic feel to the movie so that it gives the audience a more personal feel. However, this was to his fault.
The movie through the HD camcorder, though impressively sharp, makes the movie look like a direct-to-dvd skinflick. It’s shaky, there’s no depth in the imagery, and it makes the make-up on the actor’s uncomfortably noticeable. Christian Bale looked like a wax figure of himself. I don’t want to pay ten bucks for a movie that looks like I could have used cameras within my own budget.
The acting, on the other hand, was absolutely superb. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, though in the same scene together such a few number of times, work incredibly well together. Every actor in this movie did an amazing job (not counting the interrogation scene between a police officer and Dillinger’s girlfriend played by Marion Cotillard, what the fuck accent is she using in that scene?). Not only was the acting amazing in this movie, but the costumes and scenery made you believe they flew back in time and filmed it in the actual time period. It was astounding.
Obviously, I have very mixed feelings about this movie. So much of it was good, yet so much of it was utterly frustrating. Hence, the 3 out of 5. It’s not literally in the middle, but 3 is usually my middle-ground rating. I recommend this movie when it comes out on DVD and/or Blu-Ray, because it’s certainly an interesting watch. But, when it comes down to it, you’ll more than likely only watch it one time just to say you watched it. This is definitely not a movie you’ll be raving about and wanting to see on multiple occasions (unless it’s on HBO and Starz is playing absolute shit).
This movie was so close to being a 5 out of 5. If you have seen this movie, keep reading and I will tell you why. If you have not seen this movie, do yourself a favor and see it, and then proceed to finish reading this review. This does contain spoilers. I am so bothered by one certain aspect of the movie that I am going to get straight to the point without any preceding babble about the rivalry between Pixar and Dreamworks and me choosing which I like better (Pixar) by weighing out their top movies (Ratatouille and Wall-E beat the shit out of Shrek and Kung-Fu Panda). This is a straight-to-the-point review because I saw it last night and I have to vent.
First off, the movie is amazing. It really is. Especially in 3D. It’s visually incredible, the voice acting is top-notch, and the story will have you balling your eyes out at times and laughing your ass off at others. Once again, if you haven’t seen it, GO SEE IT. There is, however, one major plot hole that I can’t get around. Here it goes:
Ok, so remember when Carl and the kid first meet Charles Muntz on Paradise Falls? It was a pretty awesome moment. They get to go into Muntz’s blimp and check out all the findings from his adventures and Charles gets to eat a meal with his childhood hero. Muntz’s reason for being on Paradise Falls for so long was that he was hunting a giant bird that everyone accused him of fabricating tales about (oddly enough, Carl and the kid were able to find the bird without any hunting experience or training whatsoever. Funny how that happens, right?). So Muntz is in the middle of telling the story about how he plans on capturing the bird and bringing it back to the United States after decades of searching so he can finally clear his name and let people know that he wasn’t lying. He actually stated that he wanted to bring it back alive; that he had no plans of actually killing or harming the bird. Then, for reasons of simply creating conflict for the storyline, Carl attempts to keep the fact that he and the kid already had befriended the bird a secret, as if Muntz’s plan was to capture the bird, kill it, and exploit it in the United States. Up to this point in the story, Muntz is seen as a good guy; an explorer who was wrongly accused of lying and is desperate to rightfully clear his name. Suddenly, the plot instantly points the finger at Muntz as the bad guy and a poacher of some sort. The story then continues with Muntz vs. Carl and the kid, the winning prize being the bird, whether it would be set free or taken to the United States.
This is what bothered me about the movie so damn much. Muntz was not a bad guy. The reason he was trying to sabotage Carl and the kid was because he was under the impression they were out to capture the bird and bring it back and claim credit for it themselves, ignoring the decades of work put in by Muntz. So not only was Muntz misunderstood and completely under the wrong impression of Carl and the kid, but he even dies at the end.
I know what the Pixar writers are capable of doing. Did you see Ratatouille? Did you see Wall-E? Those are possibly the greatest animated movies of all-time. Their story lines were perfect. The fact that the writers made such a huge mistake almost ruined the entire movie for me. True, it’s hard for me to complain about such fiction when it’s about an old man who ties a shitload of balloons to his house and successfully floats all the way to South America, where there are communicative dogs and a villain who according to his timeline, was probably close to, if not older than, 100 years of age. But in every fictional film there is still a realm of fictional reality, and if the plot crosses the boundary of that fictional reality, it bothers the shit out of me. The fact that later in the movie, the dogs even fly planes and have swooping attacks on the house, that doesn’t even bother me as much.
If the storyline stayed within the realm of fictional reality set up by the plot, the movie would have been over very quickly without any major conflict. After hearing Muntz’s story, Carl should have said, “Holy shit! Really? I totally just captured the bird by accident! Let’s go clear your name! I mean, I’d like to set my house down at the Falls so I can fulfill my promise to my dead wife, but that could just be a stop on the way! We can finally clear your name and then I can come back and live the rest of my peaceful life! Yay!” Even with that, they could have still had a great conflict. Muntz told Carl that there had been explorers there before that have tried to hunt the bird and take credit. Let’s say that a pack of about half a dozen explorers come that want to kill the bird and it’s species to make a dress out of the feathers for some random queen or something. Like if poachers came and they were the bad guys. There is just so much that they could have done to fix this plot hole, but instead they just continued almost as if it was due to laziness.
I know this review was long, and I apologize profusely to your newly-exhausted eyes. Reviews shouldn’t be this long and whiny. I just had to vent. And I know it sounds like the movie was ruined for me, but I still give it a 4 out of 5. It really is a fantastic movie. If you can look past this plot hole, then you will certainly fall in love with the film. I am going to now take a deep breath and maybe have a beer. Until next time, thanks for reading.
-The Dune Review
Green Day, prior to American Idiot, was never taken too seriously as songwriters and proficient lyricists. They were the ones that made punk cross into the pop-genre. And don’t give me that The Clash excuse, yeah they crossed over into the pop market a bit but they were never a pop version of punk. Neither was Blondie or The Ramones. Green Day paved the way for pop-punk sensations like Blink 182 and New Found Glory. Someone actually told me recently that Green Day was punk for “kids who haven’t heard of The Descendants yet.” With American Idiot, they set themselves in stone as the epitome and perfection of the pop-punk genre. It was powerful, political, and comparable to what many consider as one of the greatest albums to come out of the 90′s: Dookie.
What came out this past Tuesday was their follow up to the 12 times platinum American Idiot. Obviously, it is a hard album to follow, and though commercially the album has some potential hits, it will in no way be as much of a success. However, it certainly isn’t from a lack of trying. Much of this album is highly over-produced, much like Idiot, but on this it seems like they tried unnecessarily hard. If you enjoyed American Idiot, then you’ll more than likely enjoy this as well. The songwriting is similar, the songs are bigger, and the lyrics are still very dominantly anti-Bush.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of it. If I was A&R I’d absolutely love it, but I’m not, so I don’t. Green Day is certainly grown up, and though I respect them fully for evolving so well as artists (let’s not forget that this powerhouse group started as three kids having a slang term for a day where they do nothing but smoke pot), I just feel that the over-production and opus-like themes lessen their authenticity and take them further away from what punk is. If you gave this album to anyone from CBGB’s in the 70′s, telling them “this is actually a form of punk in the future,” they would more than likely take their close-pins from their and continue to stab themselves in the trachea.
If you read other reviews like I do (nothing wrong and seeing what other people have to say to get a good perspective), then you’d read that many people think this has good throwbacks to the 70′s and early punk. My reaction is this: “Where?” The only old-school throwback on the album is done through effects on the intro track and the beginning of another. In terms of song-writing, there is absolutely nothing resembling the 70′s or any other genre outside the late 90′s. Goddamnit I hate Rolling Stone.
Here’s the breakdown for Breakdown: the guitars are simple, the songs are huge, the effort is tiring, and the single sucks. ”Know Your Enemy” (the single in question) is an annoying three-chord repetition that makes you want to puncture your ear drums with a prison shank. Ironically, if you read TDR a couple weeks ago, a track was leaked called “Hearts Collide” which we actually enjoyed, but sadly isn’t on the album at all. There was also a song which was not seen on TDR called “Lights Out” which sounds straight from Dookie. What happened to these tracks?
Aside from the non-existent b-sides “Hearts Collide” and “Lights Out,” the tracks actually on the album that you should pay attention to are “Before The Lobotomy” and “Horseshoes and Handgrenades.” The Dune Review gives 21st Century Breakdown a 3 out of 5.
And you know what? FUCK IT. We are going to give you both “Hearts Collide” and “Lights Out” cause we think those two songs alone are better than the entire album. If you loved the old Green Day and not sure about the new stuff, don’t even bother with the new album. Simply right-click the following links to “save as” and proceed to put these songs on repeat. You’re welcome.
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