At the start of Crazy, Stupid, Love, I was nervous. I was really looking forward to the movie and the first act has some very odd, almost plodding pacing. And, to be honest, the film never does get the pacing down quite right but I'm happy to say that that (and one questionable decision at the end) the film is pretty great. It was refreshing to have a movie that, after watching it, had me talking about all the great moments rather than all of the problems.

Two of the strengths of the movie are that it is not a standard rom-com by any means (It's almost more about Steve Carrell's characters mid-life crisis than anything else) and the film never takes itself too seriously. One of the early establishing shots of Ryan Gosling at the Century City Mall sums up the film perfectly. It's the standard glamour shot that movie studs often get but, at the same time, it's at a mall and Gosling's eating a piece of pizza, two things which undercut his character's supposed air of superiority. On top of that, the casting is great with Liza Lapira (right) stealing all of her scenes. Liza seems like she might be typecast in the best friend role but it would be nice to see her get a shot at a bigger role.

This is the first film this year that I would give a blanket Go See It! recommendation. I don't want to say too much about it because I think the less one knows, the more of a pleasant surprise it is but it's a film that I am actually considering going to see again in the theaters. Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the film is that the studio released it on a busy weekend and on the heels of Friends with Benefits so it didn't do big business this opening weekend. I feel like if they had waited a couple of weeks, it could have found a much bigger audience. But I still expect the word of mouth to really help this film and I don't expect much of a drop in the box office next week.

Posted by SoulHonky at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

The last Morning Music was Bon Iver's Skinny Love and now I have a different song of lost love in my head. Not sure why these songs are getting stuck since it's not like I've had a bad breakup lately but maybe it's just because they're great songs. Anyway, here's Foxy Shazam's "The Only Way to My Heart".

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:56 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Another great trailer for another Ryan Gosling movie. I swear, if he doesn't make it to the A List after this year, then there is probably something seriously wrong going on in the movie business.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

I'm very interested in the Pearl Jam doc but part of me feels like Cameron Crowe is too close to the band and I'm afraid that it might not be as in depth and hard hitting as it could be. Also, I kind of feel like a doc about the entire 90's Seattle grunge scene (the rise of PJ, the fall of Nirvana, the struggles in Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, Mudhoney never reaching the level of the others, etc.) would be more interesting. Anyway, it's a cool trailer and I'm definitely in for this one.

Pearl Jam Twenty from Pearl Jam on Vimeo.

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I went in with low-to-middling expectations for Captain America from The Rocketeer director Joe Johnston and I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I enjoyed the movie very much for what it is. Of any comic book film out there, this felt like what comic books were originally thought of: fun, silly, hokey, disposable. There's nothing great about the film (Well, besides maybe Tommy Lee Jones and Dominic Cooper) and the fight scenes don't even seem like they are attempting to be groundbreaking or remotely memorable but the film works because of the quick pace and the peppy dialogue. The film also was bolstered by not having to set up the Avengers movie as much as Thor and Iron Man 2 had to. This film is allowed to move right along with its simple WWII story. Basically, it's a mediocre movie but it's capably made and doesn't make the mistakes that a similarly fun but forgettable film like Fast Five made (for instance, Fast Five has a lengthy training sequence that ends up being completely pointless since they don't actually do what they'd been training for.) Captain America doesn't make mistakes but that's because it doesn't really take any risks. It aims for cheesy mediocrity and succeeds (if achieving that can be called a success.)

If you're expecting The Dark Knight, prepare to be let down. The closest comparison might be the first Spiderman film although this film is earnest in its hokeyness rather than knowingly cheesy ala Sam Raimi. The people I saw it with weren't wowed but I enjoyed myself. So head in with optimism but measured expectations for what is probably the closest thing to a kids movie that Marvel's put out so far. In essence, it's a comic book movie made for the people who SHOULD be watching comic book movies.

In the end, the big question seems to be: when will Dominic Cooper get his starring shot? He does a nice job as Howard Stark and he's supposedly amazing in The Devil's Double. Part of me feels like he's going to get stuck in the Sam Rockwell space of being a great co-star but never truly making it into leading man territory outside of the indie realm.
Oh, yeah, and there are at least two scenes in which Hayley Atwell's breasts are downright distracting. Apparently they were kept under wraps for most of the film but in a couple spots, it's like she has her own Just One of the Guys moment (albeit fully clothed) or something.

Posted by SoulHonky at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I think people in Hollywood have been waiting for years for Ryan Gosling to finally become a legit movie star. Gosling has had a Depp-like career in that he started off on TV but then seemed to work hard to lose his past pedigree (in Depp's case: 21 Jumpstreet Heartthrob; for Gosling: the Mickey Mouse Club). Indie films both good and bad followed but with this year's "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "Drive" looking like hits, he might finally break into the A-List.

"Drive" has been getting hyped up for months and it Best Director at Cannes so I've been looking forward to it but part of me is wishing I had just kept looking forward and not paused to see this trailer. It's a great one but I feel like it gives away a bunch of moments and I might have been better off just waiting for the movie to come out.

So if you REALLY want to see the film already, I'd say skip this trailer. If you want to see what all the hype is about, take a gander.

Posted by SoulHonky at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

This song popped in my head while I was sitting at work this early morning. Not sure why it did but I thought I might as well make it today's Morning Music.

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:31 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I'm going to listen to filmschoolrejects.com and not read, watch, or listen to anything else about the film "Kill List". A very intriguing trailer is enough. Admittedly, I'm a fan of realistic hit man movies so this is up my alley but I feel (as FSR did) that this trailer shows enough to tease the film but doesn't give away the entire thing.
No release date has been announced but supposedly IFC Midnight will be releasing it later this year.

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

The trailer for Marc Webb's "The Amazing Spiderman" is out and, well, yeah. I'm not sure we really need another take on the origin story, although this one looks a little different from Sam Raimi's. The part that killed it for me was the first person shooter-esque portion. It looked like a trailer for a video game not a film. Hopefully that was just for the trailer. Still, I like Andrew Garfield, love Emma Stone, and thought (500) Days of Summer was interesting enough so I'll still hold out hope for this flick but after this trailer, the anticipation level has dropped.

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Spin is offering on Facebook a free download of covers of Nirvana's Nevermind. Dubbed Newermind, the album features the likes of the Meat Puppets, Foxy Shazam, Menahan Street Band, the Vaselines, Surfer Blood, and some other bands that most people probably haven't heard of.
Which, of course, leads to the question - is it worth the download?

The snarky answer is, of course, it's free. But for a more serious answer, well, it might be better to just nevermind Newermind.

1. The Meat Puppets' acoustic version of Smells Like Teen Spirit is basically a carbon copy of the original with a weaker singer.
2. Butch Walker and the Black Widows funks up "In Bloom" a bit but in doing so makes it the kind of song that you could see the Nirvana from the video (a dressed up Ed Sullivan era boy band) playing. It's not bad but this version comes off as more tongue in cheek than defiant.
3. Midnight Juggernauts' version of Come As You Are seems like something that Cobain would probably have utterly despised. Tinny electronica with somewhat random autotune.
4. Titus Adronicus brings the rock back to the proceedings but, like "Smells Like Teen Spirit", it's a carbon copy that makes you want to hear the original song. Hearing this in concert would be a ton of fun but when you're at home and have the original at your fingertips, I'm not sure why you'd opt for this version.
5. Amanda Palmer's version of Polly is interesting enough but the same complain remains. Why?
6. Surfer Blood offers another worse copy that would be cool in concert but not necessary for a record collection.
7. Foxy Shazam makes "Drain You" their own but it's the newer "their" which is more glam. I would have preferred the harder edge of their earlier work (in other words, more rock.)
8. I don't know how Jessica Lee Mayfield is but I really can't believe their wasn't a better option for this album. The rocker Lounge Act becomes boring in her hands.
9. Charles Bradley and Menahan Street Band probably score the best song with their funky version of Stay Away. At first I thought it was kind of a poor song choice for them but they did a great job with it. Did it improve on the original? No. Is it a song I'll probably want to listen to on its own? Probably not. But it's an interesting tune.
10. Telekinesis sounds like a local high school garage band covering "On a Plain". 11. Jeff the Brotherhood offers another copy of Nirvana, this time "Something in the Way" although I can honestly say that I probably wouldn't even want to hear this one in concert.
12. EMA finishes it off with another carbon copy of the Nevermind's hidden track.

Posted by SoulHonky at 07:12 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

And so the end begins.

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

The AFI theater in Silver Spring has a Coen Brothers program running this month so I decided to check out one of the few Coen films I haven't seen yet, A Serious Man. And while I can say with full confidence that I didn't quite grasp what was going on (something to do with The Book of Job, apparently), it was an entertaining film and featured one of my new favorite scenes of all time. The Coens did a perfect job exhibiting the struggle blind belief vs. struggling with faith, (and, in the end, the flaws many with blind belief have). A great example of how the people without faith need to ask less, while the people with more faith often need to ask more, if just of themselves. It's also a great example of the Coen Brothers strength; teaming insight up with humor. Just a great, great scene.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:57 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Sophia Bush is one of the many actresses in Hollywood that I'm surprised hasn't been able to find the right role to push her into phase 2 of her career. At this point, I'm thinking she might be in the Tiffani Amber-Thiessin mold - she could slide in mid-run of an established show and then settle in as playing the wife in decent TV shows. It also should be notes that taking part in a horror remake probably isn't the best way to the top; not sure anyone has used one of those films to jumpstart a career. Bush in The Hitcher, Jessica Alba in The Eye, Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Grudge, etc.) The one person who has gone on to bigger things is Jessica Biel but they haven't necessarily been better. She's one of those actresses who seems to keep failing upwards; getting more roles because of her tabloid celebrity than actual box office performance.

Anyway, this is all a long winded and pretty off point way to lead into Sophia Bush's latest project that she teamed up with The Sopranos' Drea De Matteo and others to do: a funny spoof of Mob Wives.

And as an added bonus, here's a Katt Williams bit that came up at work this week.

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:43 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I found this on Stereogum as well and they pointed out that the actor who plays the role of the stalker in this video about a stalker is an actual stalker. He stalked both Tiffany and Alyssa Milano. I don't know. It weirds me out. The fact that chocha is Spanish slang for vagina just makes this video all the creepier (and the lyrics, admittedly, funnier. Stuff like "I know I'm hard to diddle with but you're always open to my suggestions" takes on a different meaning when you know the title's translation.)

Teddybears (Feat. Cee Lo & The B-52s) - "Cho-Cha" from stereogum on Vimeo.

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I actually still haven't even bought this album or listened to it but here's a live version of King of Limbs that I found over at stereogum.com. The recording comes from the From the Basement video that the band filmed a while back. Enjoy!

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have to say that the first trailer for the "The Thing" has left me completely disinterested in seeing the film. Apparently, "The Thing" haunting all of these characters is expository dialogue.
One thing that made the first film (or the first remake) great was that it just dropped you into the madness and you were trying to figure things out along with the characters. The fact that this film starts with the main character flying out to check out a "discovery" is the first step in the wrong direction. It seems like people know what they are getting themselves into. There was really no reason to change it up, besides finding a reason why Mary Elizabeth Winstead would be out there in Antartica. Thinking it over, this seems better suited as a prequel than a remake.

EDIT: Well, apparently it is a prequel. But with so many things still being the same, it's almost like a premakequel. And that word is as awkward as making a prequel that essentially seems like a remake of the original film. (Thanks for screenrant.com; I read their piece on the trailer and learned the error of my remake ways.)

More disappointing is the fact that this film probably won't be the movie that gets Winstead and Joel Edgerton some bigger roles. (And as much as I loved Eric Christian Olson in "Fired Up", I can't take him seriously in dramatic roles He should stick to comedy; he could really make a niche for himself.)

The John Carpenter version of "The Thing" is available on Netflix Instant and really holds up well. I recommend people check it out.

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

John Carter (formerly John Carter of Mars) is about a Civil War soldier who is mysteriously transported to Mars and then... does stuff... and fights... or something. I already think that "Cowboys & Aliens" is a risky proposition but this seems almost like a surefire box office disappointment. (And this almost seems like a companion piece. Instead of aliens invading Earth, one earthling goes to Mars.) Maybe if it was a Disney animated feature for kids, I'd have more faith but as it is I'm not sure who is really going to be fired up about this. Sadly, I don't even think the quality of the film matters; it just strikes me as a film that, even if it is good, will immediately become an overlooked gem.

I'm also starting to question whether Taylor Kitsch (aka Friday Night Lights' Tim Riggins) has what it takes to be a leading man. He seems more like a second star or 1C in an ensemble type player. We shall see.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I have no idea why I woke up with this song in my head. (Also, I'm really not sure how it made Aerosmith's first Greatest Hits album.)

And for good measure, here's the original.

Posted by SoulHonky at 04:37 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Here are a few links that I"ve been forgetting to post here.

The first two links are some classic hip hop mixes. Very Short List posted up Classic Material, a site with some quality and creative mixes. While there are straight up mixes, most of them have themes including one that goes chronologically through the early hits of hip hop.
My friend Darcy C. hooked me up with the other link, which is to We Funk, a Montreal radio mix show. Always a good listen.

As for the "Music Future" referenced in the title, that could be Spotify, a music service that is all the rage overseas. It'll probably face a tough launch since so many people are in love with Pandora but I've heard nothing but good things about this service and that it could quickly become the online music destination for us yankees.

As for this morning's music, I was trying to find a way to embed the opening scene of Belly, which I was thinking about randomly yesterday, but nobody allows embedding on their youtube videos so the best I could do is the Soul II Soul song that plays during it.

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:11 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Kudos to recent Tryout Joy Formidable for getting a shout out from the AV Club. The band was one of the sites Five Albums We Missed and You Shouldn't for this year. And I have to thank the Onion as well because I hadn't actually followed through and bought the album and I am now very happy that I have remedied that mistake. They are now near the top of new bands that I want to see perform live (especially since they are opening for one of my favorite bands Foo Fighters) but, sadly, they aren't coming to DC any time soon.
Anyway, here's what the AV Club said about them.

And here's a quickie from the band.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Right after the release of The Dark Knight Rises teaser poster (and some descriptions and frame grabs of the upcoming teaser trailer) probably isn't the best time to release a trailer but Warner Bros. decided to step into their own shadow and release the trailer for "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows". The trailer is action packed (some might say insanely so for the Sherlock Holmes movie) but I have to say that it won me over. Hopefully, this film will be better than the first go around for Guy Ritchie, who basically leaned on hsi stars to carry a rather lackluster howdunnit.

But since I am the guy who got suckered into seeing Transformers: Dark Side of the Mooon, you can rest assured that this trailer did the trick and I'll probably be sitting in the theater with my 3D glasses on on opening weekend.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

The interweb is buzzing with the release of the new teaser poster for "The Dark Knight Rises" and I have to say that it's a pretty kick-ass post. Head over to Slash Film for a bigger version of the poster.

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Is Stray Dogg the next big thing? Does the Serbian group stand out from the crowd? No. Not really. But it's some solid folksy music and, better yet, their album is available for free download.

It's some nice indie folk music that I think could make some inroads since the lyrics are simple and accessible to even the teeniest of boppers. Also, the songs are concise and radio friend, most clocking in at only about two minutes and change. The first song "Drunk" has a bit of a Jeff Buckley feel but overall I'd say it's closer to Paolo Nutini's first album. It's a nice debut for an indie band and I'll definitely be keeping an ear out for their next release. Anyway, check out the album for yourself.

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:24 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Not sure if another one of those days or yesterday's day just bled into today.

Posted by SoulHonky at 05:35 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Already feels like one of those deals. Sadly, I'm more like the girl in the hole than Buffalo Bill. And yes, it is weird that I'm regretting not being the transvestite serial killer. Like I said, one of those day. Already.

Posted by SoulHonky at 06:01 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Here's a quick take on Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Unfinished but honestly I don't feel the need to put more thought into my review than Bay and Ehren Krueger put into the script.

While I was watching the last 40 minutes or so of Transformers, I couldn't help but think two things. 1. That these were some unbelievable special effects and 2. I wish they could have been part of a good movie.
Dark of the Moon has the same problems as the previous Transformers movies, the main being a blah script and only the main characters/robots have any real dimensions to them. The robots all seem the same (this time they gave one an Italian accent to make him seem distinct) and the side characters only have personality because the actors all chew the scenery and overact. (Although Alan Tudyk did a nice job overacting and making his character someone I was always happy to see on screen.)

But I just can't get past the fact that, script-wise, this film is so average yet they didn't even manage to do a good job pulling it off. The biggest problem is that the cool factor of the moon landing stuff is negated by the fact that it makes the opening of the film nothing but painful exposition. I'm sorry but if you're a huge budgeted summer blockbuster and the coolest thing in the first act of your movie is a cameo from Buzz Aldrin, you're doing something wrong.

Basically, the Transformers series essentially took scripts/ideas of mediocre 80's action movies and added robots and tons of effects to them. They aren't good movies but they'll entertain more people than not (and probably will be summarily dismissed by most critics.) But to be fair, I actually don't know how you make a Transformers film with a strong human element that is all that great. In the comics, the humans were always useless side characters. In the end, the one thing I would have done was pare down some of the story so the film weren't so long; there's no reason for these movies to be two and a half hours long.

Posted by SoulHonky at 07:16 AM | Permalink | Comments ()