CD Review: Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (2007)

If you don't like Animal Collective already, chances are you are going to be a fan of their newest cd, Strawberry Jam. However, if you can appreciate their unique sound, then you will absolutely love it.

The Baltimore, Maryland band (hometown represent!) return here on their eighth cd with full force. Not only does Strawberry Jam have all the old Animal Collective-isms on it (fuzzy guitars, loud unidentifiable noises, spirit voices, etc) but they also seem to have incorporated a sort of "pop" sound to them. Now, don't get me wrong, this cd is no where near pop. But songs like first single "Peacebone" and Jack the Ripper-themed "Unsolved Mysteries" seem to incorporate catchy hooks and rythms that haven't been very common on their previous albums.

Don't worry though, they haven't changed their formula too much. This is still and animal collective album, and it's quite clear with songs like "#1" and "Chores", which pretty much dare you to classify them.

So, if you are already a fan, or can appreciate a very different style of music, go pick this up now!

Black Kids

First of all, before I say anything, I want to point out what an amazing band name "Black Kids" is. Just think about it. And when you consider that only two of the band members are black, it sounds even cooler.

Anyway, if you don't know Black Kids, here is the low down. They formed about a year ago in Jacksonville, Florida. They played the opening gig for a lot of bands before recently releasing the EP "The Wizard of Ahhhs" on their myspace for free download in August 2007. And the EP is amazing.

All four songs are full of fun, peppy music with shout along chorus, low-fi sound, and scratchy, dirty guitars. Everything about these songs just makes me want to stand up and dance, and the fact that I can even admit that is just a testment to the power of these songs. Do yourself a favor and go download this now!

http://www.myspace.com/blackkidsrock

Dammit...

So, I was in the theater yesterday watching the previews before Saw 4, which were much better than the actual film. One preview came on which had me particularly excited. I'm speaking of course about Rambo 4. I'm particularly excited about this film because I'm a fan of the others and also because I saw the screener footage that was on the internet a while ago, where Rambo climbs into a gun turret on the back of a jeep, turns it to the evil driver, and blasts him away. Fun stuff. Anyway, this all leads up to what happened while I was watching the trailer. Just as it ended, with the release date on the screen and all, someone behind me went "Rambo's back."

....

FUCK YOU! Goddammit I hate when people make stupid comments like this. Okay, I know the trailer is good and gets your pumped to see the movie, but come on! You're not the trailer guy, and your not adding anything to the movie and you sound stupid as hell. I know I seem like i'm getting bent way out of shape about this, but this type of thing happens all the time. I remember watching Grindhouse a while back, and during the "Planet Terror" segment, when Rose McGowan's character gets the gun for a leg for the first time, someone behind me goes "Now they're gunna pay!" ....shut up! You are not the character and you are not cool. What if I was watching "The Passion of the Christ" and just as Jesus was being whipped for the hundreth time, I stood up and went "Ow bitch, stop whipping me, it stings!" Actually that would be quite funny, but still stupid.

Anyway, next time you feel you have some great thing to say during a trailer or film, please, unless it is a cure for aids, keep it to yourself.

Film Review: 30 Days Of Night (2007)

Hell yeah! This movie is awesome. I hadn't heard a lot of good things about this film, so I approached it with some caution (also I had just seen the garbage that is Saw 4). However, I was pleasantly suprised about how good this movie really was.

The plot itself is quite original. In Barrow, Alaska, there is a time every year where the sun goes down and stays down for thirty days. Sucks, right? Well, not only is it dark and cold, but now vampires have decided that this would be the perfect place to feed, seeing as no sunlight means they are free to roam and kill as the please. And they do just that.

I think what really caught my I about this film was the cinematography. David Slade knows how to use his colors and take advantage of his settings. From the lush lanscape shots of Alaska (actually, it was New Zealand pretending to be Alaska, but it still worked) to the disturbing yet eye-pleasing shots of red against white (blood against snow), this movie is quite beautiful.

The actors are all top notch as well. Josh Hartnett stars as Eben, the lead sheriff in town who finds out its his job to save his estranged wife (Melissa George) and the rest of the surviving townsfolk from the crazy vamps that have run amuck. All actors are convincing and realistic,and I found myself caring about them, even the ones who were clearly there just to be killed later by the vampires. Speaking of which, they are terriying. The way they talk (high-pitched screams and echoes) and their weird eye slanted, jagged mouth appearance made them probably some of the best vampires i've seen since Nosferatu (I'm not a fan of the normal looking ones).

Any complaints? Well, it did seem to drag at some places. Not like, to the point where I was bored, but sometimes it seemed as if they could have cut some stuff out. But that's just a small nitpick.

Overall, I had a great time at this film and will be picking it up on dvd for sure when it comes out.

8/10

Review: Saw 4 (2007)

I'm not going to make this long, because I don't believe this movie deserves it. It was that bad. Let's just say that if you are a die-hard saw fan...well, that sucks for you, because this will still piss you off. A terrible script, huge plot-holes, and stupid quick-camera techniques all make this quite a bad film.

Is there anything good about it? Well....no not really. There are a few creative kills done...but not creative enough to see the movie.

3/10

A summary of the film:

Film Review: High Tension

First of all, let me say that I am a fan of horror films and that when it comes to horror, if you know that you already don't like the genre, then ignore this review.

I had heard and read a lot about High Tension before actually seeing it. In fact, I remember hearing about it when it was still called Switchblade Romance, which I still think is a better title. The story concerns two girls on school vacation to one of their parent's homes. While there, a mysterious man breaks in and starts to kill everyone, including the little boy in the cowboy suit (awesome). When he kidnaps one of the girls, the other decides to follow him secretly. Oh, right, she's a lesbian and has a crush on the other girl. Anyway, from here on out, there is a weird cat and mouse game that plays out.

I remember people comparing this film to Hitchcock, only with more blood. Awesome, I thought. How could this go wrong?Well, there are a few ways. One is to do a terrible job of dubbing (the film is originally in French). It sounds like the filmmakers went to the streets and asked the first , but they even changed the plot by making one of the characters American...why? I'm not sure.

However, these are all minor things. How about the actual film? Well, the first 90 percent of the film is really good. The art direction is amazing, the characters are engaging, and the suspense was great. However, there is a twist at the end of the movie that ruins the entire film. Why? Well, without giving it away, let's just say that once you know it, everything you saw before it doesn't make sense. It's illogical.

It's sad, because if the twist hadn't been included, this movie would have been awesome. But sadly, one director's creative twist ends up being the all 5 nails in the coffin.

5/10

CD Review: Dntel - Dumb Luck (2007)

Many people don't know James Tamborello, but they do know The Postal Service, which he is one half of. He does most of the glitch-trance that you hear on that cd, and here, under the guise of Dntel, he does it again, on his second cd. And it's quite good. If you are still waiting for the new Postal Service album, this should hold you over, with guests like Jenny Lewis and Connor Oberst filling in for the shoes of Ben Gibbard.


7/10

Music Review: New Wave - Against Me! (2007)

I remember the first time I was really introduced to punk music. It was 7th grade and my friend had just gotten a cd from his older brother by a band called "The Ramones". His brother had told him that they were "classic" and not like any of the "new shitty pop-punk bands out now". Well, they definately were not. The Ramones are classic. They are raw energy and power mixed with catchy hooks that had my friend and I rocking out for life. I wanted to get into more punk and was introduced as I got older to more "classic" bands like The Clash, Sex Pistols, and The Misfits, as well as newer bands such as NOFX, Less Than Jake, Bouncing Souls and more. All of this was great, but after a while, it started to get old to me. Sure, some bands like The Offspring started to do new things, but most of these bands stuck to the same repetitive drums and 3 chord guitars. Many of my friends seemed to love it, but I thought it was kida...sucky. Now I'm older and wiser, and realized that it wasn't that some punk was good and some wasn't, but that a lot of it was just awful. Sorry, but it was.

All this is to lead up to say that the new Against Me album is amazing. See, Against Me was one of the "new" bands that my friends thought were cool until they "sold out" with there 2005 album "Searching for a Former Clarity", an album I thought was actually pretty good. I thought this because unlike, say, NOFX, who have at least 10 cds under their belt and still sound the same as when they started, Against Me have shown a large amount of growth and experimentation, not afraid to stray from their harcore roots.

The self-titled track that opens the cd kicks in with a blast of energy that is hard to describe. Tom Gabel's voice roars like the tiger on the front of the cover and makes his....you know what? This is turning into a review that would rival Pitchfork Media in it's self-indulgence. How about this? The album is extremely fucking cool. Each song has it's own sort of intense joy to it, if that makes sense. Even on a song like "Thrash Unreal", which tells the tale of a girl lost to drugs and her mother's realization of this still has an upbeat flow to it, complete with a "bum-bum-ba" chorus to boot.

My only complaint? I'm a bit tired of hearing how the goverment sucks. You can only make so many cd's about that subject till there is nothing really left to say.

This isn't a very good review, but I'm just starting this whole blog thing so forgive me. Oh, and go pick up this cd now.

8/10

Live Review: World Inferno Friendship Society 10/15/07

Let me start by saying that if you have never seen a World Inferno Friendship Society show before, then you don't really know the definition of the word "fun". Because, that's what all of their shows are made up of.

The one that I am reviewing is no different. Last night, the Brooklyn-based group through a "secret" show at the Rebel club in New York. I'm not really sure what they were throwing it for, perhaps to warm up for their tour with Bouncing Souls later this month, but whatever the reason was, the show was free, so I was there. And I'm glad I was. Opening up with "Tattoo's Fade", they were truly at their best that night. You could feel the excitement and energy explode as kids dived from the stage and the ladders that were nearby. At one point, lead singer Jack Terricloth climbed on to the shoulders of a rather large man next to me and did half of a song in that spot. Unfortunately, there were no riots to the streets or ripped up floor boards that people have come to expect from an Inferno show, and the set was rather short (only an hour? Blasphemy!). Still, it was great show and if you haven't seen them yet, go now!''

The tour with the Bouncing Souls starts tomorrow!

Lead singer Jack Terricloth being....Jack.

Review: Margot at the Wedding (2007)

First of all, let me just say that I have never seen Noah Baumbach's other film The Squid and the Whale. I've been meaning to, but have just never gotten around to it. Having said that however, I must say that I really enjoyed his second and latest film, Margot at the Wedding. that I saw the premeire of last sunday at the New York Film festival.
The film stars Nicole Kidman as Margot, a neurotic author and mother of one who returns with her son (Zane Pais) to her parents home for the wedding of her sister, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, to a Malcolm, played by Jack Black. From here, we watch as Margot deals with the chaos that comes from the trip, as well as her own inner problems.
I'm generally not a fan of films that deal with "real issues". You know, they type where everyone seems depressed and it seems like everything goes wrong, and then eventually someone either dies, cheats, or goes crazy. However, I am happy to say that while Margot at the Wedding is technically one of these films, it is able to escape the regular cliches that appear in those types of films by using something different: humour.
I'm not saying that Margot at the Wedding is a straight up comedy by any means, but during the film, even at the most dramatic and serious scenes, the film keeps a smile on your face. It also doesn't hurt that the characters are extremely likeable, even the ones that aren't supposed to be, and are easy to identify with.
Of course, the film still does suffer from some of the cliche's of the films of it's type. I couldn't forgive some of the pretentious shots that I felt the film didn't need (I guess the masturbation scene was supposed to help us understand Margot as a character, but I felt it went on for way too long). Also, when the film ends, you can't help but feel that nothing has been resolved. The screen just sort of goes blank. But perhaps this is the point? That life never really has a general conclusion? Or not...

7/10

That's Nicole Kidman on the far right. Although from the quality of this picture, it could be a blotch on the picture and you wouldn't notice a difference.

Getting Started...

So, this is my first post. We've been assigned to do it for Crit/Viz, to "increase our web presence". Woo. I am going to focus on film and music, since that's we are supposed to write about what we are interested in. Also, it's easy.


Yup.