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(06/04/08 8:17pm)
As far as screamo metal bands go, Underoath has to be considered the most popular around. Their last two albums, They’re Only Chasing Safety and Define The Great Line, have allowed them to achieve sizable popularity in both the mainstream and with the diehard Warped Tour concert goers. And even after some controversy as to whether or not they were going to even stay together as a band, Underoath has weathered the storm and recorded a new album that will be released this fall. But until then, a new live album, Survive, Kaleidoscope, should keep their biggest fans interested.
(06/04/08 7:47pm)
In the emo music scene, acts featuring female vocals – whether in a lead or dueling form – are becoming more and more prevalent recently. Paramore seemingly opened up the whiny boys club that is emo to the fairer sex, and other bands are following suit. Acts like Straylight Run, The Hush Sound, Automatic Loveletter, are just a few of the more popular ones. And although Chicago’s 1997 isn’t as well known as their peers, their new album On The Run is an attempt to change all that.
(05/28/08 10:30pm)
A lot has been made recently of author Buzz Bissinger’s explosion of anger, hatred and saliva during Bob Costas’ HBO show on the state of the sports media earlier this month, where he made an attempt to destroy the operator of the most famous sports blog out there, Deadspin. There, Bissinger went on to say most blogs were trash because they did no real reporting of their own and were solely a platform for anonymous users to post whatever they wanted about important world figures. \nAfter the show aired, many of the traditional mainstream media outlets (read: newspapers, TV stations) have aired interviews with Bissinger where he has apologized for his attitude, but not for what he said. That’s nice and all, but it’s too bad Bissinger is still very, very wrong.\nRight now, it’s getting to the point where blogs are becoming more and more important in certain news arenas (sports and politics, primarily) that it is too difficult to deny their power. Loads of people read blogs, and it’s not just weirdos in their basements. Sports blogs such as Deadspin and The Big Lead have readerships that seem to grow by the day. \nThese types of snarky blogs seemingly give a voice to a younger generation that doesn’t take everything as seriously as people like Bissinger do. We like to dab a little dry humor and sexual innuendo into our sports and social commentary. Not to mention, quality blogs give off the “everyman” feel that allows anyone to read them and feel like they’re just chatting with their buddies. \nAnd really, is there such a divide between bloggers voicing their opinion and celebrated print columinsts? Both are just people giving their views on something. Sure, a big-time newspaper columnist might have more connections and a hint of inside information, but an opinion is just an opinion; everyone has one.\nHowever, there are certain things that Buzz and blog-haters do have correct, on some level. There are blogs that focus too much on the social exploits of athletes, politicians and the like, and the comment sections can get out of control. Whether this happens solely for more page views or not, it’s not as though newspapers or news stations aren’t doing anything to make money in their fledging industries. \nIt seems like ramblings by people such as Bissinger are part of the reason that some, let’s say, “older” people don’t appreciate a good blog. It’s unclear whether or not this hubbub from old-school writers is out of true concern over the written prose, or if they’re all just scared for their jobs. \nBlogs might be new and sometimes a little too raw, but the blogosphere is working out its kinks. They’re not going anywhere, and if old-timers want to have a real discussion about how they will affect the mainstream media – which absolutely needs to happen – they should probably stop sounding like crazy people yelling at the neighbor kids to get off their lawn.
(05/28/08 9:07pm)
\nAfter Fall Out Boy blew up into the mainstream, the Chicago music scene that birthed them has been swimming with potential breakout stars. In the past few years, Chicago scenesters such as The Academy Is…, Plain White T’s, and The Audition have piggybacked on FOB’s success and all had their brushes with the mainstream. Yet one of the area’s biggest bands, 2*Sweet, has chosen to remain without a record label, but has still been named one of the top unsigned acts in the country. The band is now looking to extend their success with their self-released debut Sleep Without Dreams.
(05/28/08 8:59pm)
\nAfter Green Day released the uber popular American Idiot in 2004, fans have been eagerly awaiting the band’s next project. For a while, the band said they were working on a new record, but nothing ever came of it. Then, in December 2007, the band Foxboro Hot Tubs popped up on the Internet with songs including vocals that sounded eerily like those of Green Day’s vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong. Eventually, the cat got out of the bag, and it was announced that Foxboro Hot Tubs was the new side project of the band. They've since released their debut Stop Drop and Roll!!
(05/21/08 11:41pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the past few years, the Michigan-based post-hardcore Chiodos have taken the emo world by storm with their unique combination of hardcore screaming, orchestral sounds, and explosive live performances. And although they’ve set the world on fire during high-profile punk tours like the Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour and Warped Tour, die-hard fans have been patiently awaiting a legitimate release from the pop-oriented side project of lead vocalist Craig Owens and keyboardist Bradley Bell, Cinematic Sunrise. They have to wait no longer. Cinematic Sunrise’s debut, A Coloring Storybook And Long-Playing Record sees Owens and Bell explore their pop sensibilities, armed with more piano keys, soaring hooks, and charm. And for a couple guys that spend their day jo
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bs writing songs with titles like “Is It Progression If a Cannibal Uses a Fork?” (from Chiodos’ newest album, Bone Palace Ballet), the change is damn near seamless. The EP’s opener, “Pulling A Piano From A Pond,” features a sprawling piano and a somewhat aggressive guitar riff while Owens’ vocals shriek and soar to the unparalleled heights he always seems to reach. The lyrics he spews are more uplifting and maybe even a smidge better than anything heard from Chiodos: “I’m ready to just come out and say it/I try to reason with myself /To think of all that life could be/If we could only capture what we’ve seen.” “The Wordless” brings twinkling guitars and driving drums into the fold to create a quicker pace than any other tracks on the EP. But the bridge is where things really pick up, as Owens’ vocals start as nothing more than a soft whisper and then detonate into a soaring performance that’s more true-blue than his typical shriek. The EP closes in tremendous fashion with “You Told Me You Loved Me,” a low-maintenance power ballad that includes only Owens and the ivory keys for three-fourths of the song until pounding drums overtake it near the end. A Coloring Storybook And Long-Playing Record is a solid emo pop album, especially considering the source. If explored further, Cinematic Sunrise could be even bigger than Chiodos. The other guys in that band better hope that doesn’t happen.
(05/21/08 11:24pm)
Last week was a big week for television networks. Throughout the week, the five major networks debuted their fall 2008 schedules for advertisers. But the schedules also serve another purpose: to let people hypothesize what will be the crucial shows next season. The following are reports for each network.\nABC – The alphabet network has the most solid nightly lineup, so it’s no surprise that they only have five new shows, the biggest of which isn’t even a new one. “Scrubs,” which has always been produced by ABC studios, will make the move to ABC midseason for its final season after being dragged through the mud by NBC for too long. The other new program getting some buzz is “Life On Mars,” a BBC remake where a cop gets in an accident and wakes up in 1973. The British version was widely popular, but when we yanks redo their shows, it seems to be hit or miss.\nCBS – The eyeball had a rough year. Only one of its 2007-08 newbies made it to season two and a couple of other shows, “Jericho” and “Shark,” failed miserably in their second seasons. Sadly for CBS, the network’s new shows don’t inspire much confidence. Its two new comedies, “Project Gary” and “Worst Week,” look dreadful, and the high-profile drama “The Mentalist” is a blatant rip-off of “Psych.” Moving ratings stud “Without a Trace” to Tuesday could give the network another huge night.\nNBC – NBC never seems to know what it’s doing, and it looks like nothing has changed. It cancelled “Journeyman,” and gave “Friday Night Lights” a shoddy deal with DirectTV. Moreover, the new shows look like a range of bad and worse: “Merlin,” a before-they-were-heroes program about Arthur and his crazy old friend; the awful “Knight Rider” remake; a spin-off of “The Office”; and “Crusoe,” about a guy trapped on an island by himself. At least they kept “Chuck” around.\nFOX – This should be a huge year for Fox. They have the two most-buzzed-about new shows: “Fringe,” an “X-Files” style show from J.J. Abrams, and “Dollhouse” from Joss Whedon. Both “Fringe” and “Dollhouse” will attract massive viewers no matter how good they are, and the announcement that they will have only five minutes of commercials has excited more. On the animated front, they have “Sit Down, Shut Up” from “Arrested Development” producer Mitchell Hurwitz and the “Family Guy” spin-off “Cleveland,” which should be big as well.\nThe CW – With their ratings deep in the toilet, The CW has decided to target only young girls, by producing two new shows that are almost identical to their supposed hit “Gossip Girl.” They’re hoping the “90210” redo and “How To Survive the Filthy Rich” bring the texting crowd in, but it’s risky when no one is watching. Kudos to them for keeping the awesome “Reaper” around, though.\nNext year’s TV slate isn’t that impressive, but expect FOX and CBS to have the most success with their new shows. And if we’re lucky, The CW will just fold and go away.
(05/21/08 11:00pm)
Check out the six summer movies expected to be blockbuster hits
(05/21/08 10:31pm)
\nAfter bursting onto the mainstream music scene in 2003 with his major label debut album Waiting For My Rocket To Come and hit single "The Remedy (I Won’t Worry)," Jason Mraz blew up into the big time. He seemed to be thrown in with a lot of similar artists that fit the singer/songwriter niche, like John Mayer and Gavin DeGraw. However, because his second album, Mr. A-Z, wasn’t as successful, he’s fallen off the map a bit - until now.
(05/18/08 10:03pm)
With Memorial Day just around the corner, the season of summer is almost upon us. And aside from scorching heat waves, one of the best things about the summer months is the tremendous tours and festivals that cross the United States. Although not all of them roll through our neck of the woods, the following are going to be some of the summer’s hottest tickets. Get your sunscreen and bottled water ready.\nVans Warped Tour (June 20 – Aug. 17) – The annual rodeo for acts that fall into the emo/punk/whatever-they’re-calling-it-nowadays genre is now in its 14th year. No other tour this year will feature as many acts as Warped Tour – 60 in total will move in and out of the lineup throughout the summer, including rising scene stars Forever The Sickest Kids, All Time Low, and Mayday Parade, as well as high-profile acts such as Gym Class Heroes and Jack’s Mannequin. Let’s not forget all the sideline stuff at Warped – the free Monster Energy Drinks and condoms, the skate ramp – that make it one of the best tours around.\nRothbury Music Festival (July 3-July 6) – Although it’s brand new this summer, the Rothbury Festival in Rothbury, Mich., is shaping up to be something really special, due to their emphasis on more than just the music. Sure, big time acts like Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Modest Mouse and Snoop Dogg are performing throughout its four-day run. However, also included will be “The Think Tank,” which will delve into issues of energy independence. Even if the music isn’t for you, Rothbury might be the most interesting festival.\nRocklahoma (July 10 – July 13) – If Rothbury is out to change the future, Rocklahoma is dead-set on teasing out the past with as much hair spray and ’80s power ballads as possible. This four-day event in Pryor Creek, Okla., will see performances from hair-metal gods such as Bret Michaels, Night Ranger, Extreme and Warrant, among others. Chances are there will be loads of dirt-cheap tequila, bleached jeans and topless women--and it may not get any better than that. The outrageous events of Rocklahoma will probably deserve a “Behind The Music” episode of their very own.\nLollapalooza (August 1 – August 3) – After falling apart in the late 1990s, Lollapalooza has made a huge comeback in recent years by digging its heels into just one three-day festival in Chicago instead of a nationwide tour. And this year’s lineup might be the best yet in Lolla’s comeback. Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against The Machine are set to headline, while Gnarls Barkley, Kanye West and Wilco fill out the roster of star-studded acts. This year is really a music snob’s dream.\nEven though there may be other tours that include more diverse or better acts, the above shows look to be showstoppers that will garner some major headlines this summer, for better or worse. Now if only Whitesnake was playing Rocklahoma, we’d be in business.
(05/15/08 1:39am)
Not many other bands have personified the emo kid stereotypes as much as From First To Last. The young band has had many arguments that led to members leaving and new ones being found via MySpace. Meanwhile, their heavy use of guyliner, black T-shirts and lyrics about love lost have made them stars in the minds of those who learn about new music from Hot Topic. Now they’re back, armed with a new self-titled album and yet another new vocalist.
(05/15/08 1:34am)
Ever since he was named the runner-up on season two of "American Idol," Clay Aiken has showed that he deserved to win. He’s one of the most successful former idols: he’s sold a boat load of albums and even performed on Broadway. Although his sexuality has gotten more attention than his skills, it doesn’t take a 40-year-old soccer mom to realize that the guy has one of the best voices around. His sophomore album (and the first batch of new tracks since his 2003 debut), On My Way Here, proves that yet again.
(05/14/08 10:41pm)
Spoiler alert: People may finally be over spoilers. \nAs all well-versed members of various online communities and Web sites for the entertainment industry know, spoilers are simply the norm. These places online are swarming with inside information about upcoming projects that may or may not be true, and some Web sites exist solely as smorgasbords of spoilers.\nIn concurrence with the explosion of the Internet, it began to seem that there was such a need for these spoilery nuggets over the last five years. People seemingly wanted to know all they could about stuff, whether it is because they just enjoyed knowing or because it gave them a sense of superiority over others.\nBut now it’s as if a switch went off in the collective heads of the online communities, and now everyone is at least a bit spoiler-phobic. This new spoiler-phobia is also changing the way users are interacting on Web sites. \nWith just a quick browsing of some well-known pop-culture Web sites, chances are that you’ll notice a user or two complaining about a piece being “too spoilery,” even if it covered something that already happened. Even worse, those interested in the comments section need to be more weary because it seems like more and more unscrupulous users have decided to spoil entire plots there. \nAll in all, it’s getting to the point where it’s smart to stay away from a site until a few days after a film comes out or an episode of your favorite show airs. Some would argue that this is a dystopian view of the Internet’s broad reach. If people are afraid to access their favorite Web pages due to fear of finding out things they didn’t want to know, this information overload doesn’t work.\n In the end, however, people should realize that a more spoiler-frightened audience will only lead to bigger and better things for the TV and film industry. With the constant worries about large portions of the audience watching their products online illegally – which clearly hurts the industries in advertising dollars and box office numbers – a shrinking number of viewers due to everyone already knowing what happens is only going to make things worse. The public’s refusal to know details about upcoming projects should lead to a stronger desire to see them when they premiere, and of course, lead to more revenue for the big studios. \nMoreover, this could be the end of a truly awful trend. It really never made sense that people would want to know major details of something before they watched it, even for someone like myself who is a recovering spoiler addict. From personal experience. I can tell you that knowing chunks of info about a program can completely destroy the viewing experience, and it’s simply not worth it just to say “I know what’s coming next.” \nThe de-mystification of spoilers is great for Internet-savvy entertainment consumers because we will all get to enjoy our favorite shows and films that much more. And that’s a fact that doesn’t need to be hidden by invisiotext.
(05/08/08 1:54pm)
In television, we all know the only thing that matters is the ratings. No matter whether a program is critically acclaimed, if it doesn’t meet the right demographic numbers for its network, it’s a goner. But now, it seems all of the major networks are seeing their heavy-hitting shows take major dips in the ratings, and the networks are scrambling to figure out what in the world is going on.\nBut maybe they know plenty – they just don’t want to admit it. The four-month Writer’s Guild of America strike really disenfranchised people; we’ve realized that we can survive without our favorite TV shows. \nThis isn’t just a random blip or a problem with a few semimajor shows; these ratings issues are hampering the major programs on TV. Just last week, ABC’s Thursday night post-strike lineup of “Ugly Betty,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “LOST” all aired to their lowest ratings ever. Even worse, ABC still won the ratings war for the evening, meaning all the other shows did that much worse.\nI’m guessing these events have left the networks a bit terrified, especially with the “up-fronts” – where networks debut new shows for fall so the advertisers can buy time on them – only a week away. But this has also highlighted the major problems with how the network system operates. \nNo one in the industry is willing to accept that these low ratings are due to the WGA strike and not the fault of producers. Instead of producers realizing it’s a blessing to even see new episodes air this time of year, the talk about ratings is going to continue. However, chances are that when all the shows return full-steam in the fall, the ratings will stabilize a bit more. \nMoreover, maybe this ratings slump will finally force the TV power players to realize their system is utterly flawed. We all know the Nielsen ratings are determined by a small number of homes that are supposed to represent a sampling of the audience that “probably” watched similar programming.\nAnd let’s not forget that in today’s day and age, more and more people are watching shows online (whether legally or illegally), watching them days later on TiVO or simply waiting for the DVD to be released. For some shows, like “LOST,” that audience of so-called alternative viewers adds more than 3 million additional points. \nIt’s flabbergasting that a medium as important as television can rely on such a worthless system to decide everything, especially when they’re so confused about what that system measures. Sure, live ratings might be down, and that’s probably because the strike really angered people. But people love their television shows – they’ll be back. It’s the medium itself that needs to figure out how to assure the fans that their favorites will also be there.
(05/07/08 11:52pm)
In the past few years, MySpace has done one other important thing aside from become a haven for sex predators: It has been a huge outlet for both inspiring musicians and major stars to pimp themselves as much as possible. And obviously, this has led to MySpace being utilized as some barometer of success for up-and-coming musicians and even high-profile stars. \nAn integral portion of MySpace music pages are the play counts on the artists’ profiles, which allow the general public to see how many times a song has been played. The play counter seemed like a great way for us to see how popular a song or artist was; there was no malarkey or misinformation thrown out by a record company or publicist.\nUntil recently.\nNow it seems that there are products out there that artificially bump the number of plays of an artist’s play counter just so they appear to be much more popular than they actual are. TuneBoom Pro is able to increase the play count of a song for an artist as many times as the artist wants. \nThis all comes for a price, of course. The product charges the aspiring cheater prices that aren’t too lofty: $147 for a 1,000 play bump, $417 for 5,000 more, and $747 for a 300,000 jump. Even for a poor, down-on-their-luck musician, that’s a fairly cheap price, especially when it comes to increasing their chances of making it big. And if that’s too pricey, there are reportedly at least 40 other products that do exactly the same thing.\nSome might say this is not a big deal because MySpace does not rule the music industry by any means. But its influence is much more overarching than people think. We’re all aware of the ridiculous numbers of users the social-networking giant has, but the site is becoming the go-to tool for A&R people to find the next big things. \nTherefore, this revelation is extremely disenchanting when it comes to thinking about the credibility of the music industry. Sure, it’s safe to assume seedy people in the industry are willing to do anything to get their hands on more money, but I truly never thought it would come to this. \nWhen logging on to MySpace, you expect that all the artists’ groupies or friends have juiced up their play counts, but for major record labels to stoop this low is despicable. As creepy as it is, MySpace is supposed to be a place where anyone can discover new talents and make a call about them without having the filter of mainstream propaganda. This development proves MySpace isn’t any different than MTV or your local pop-music radio station. The industry people believe that we should hear whatever they see fit and bumping up play counts that lead to artists climbing “Most Popular” lists is exactly that. \nIf record companies are willing to corrupt something as seemingly unimportant as MySpace play counts, it completely proves any cynical view about them. What’s worse is that their influence is so strong now that most people won’t ever hear about this, or frankly even care. Next thing you know it’s going to come out that record labels control what songs play on the radio. Thankfully, it hasn’t yet come to that.
(05/07/08 9:46pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When he’s not busy getting Ashlee Simpson pregnant or playing bass in Fall Out Boy, Pete Wentz finds time to add new acts to his label, Decaydance. And he’s done a pretty damn good job of it. Three of the biggest breakout stars in the emo-pop scene - Panic At The Disco, Gym Class Heroes and Cobra Starship - are all Wentz disciples. His newest find, Las Vegas’ The Cab, are primed to be the biggest of them all with their debut, Whisper War.Unlike their labelmates who claim to be something more than just pop music, The Cab fully embrace their slickly produced sound. Whisper War is chock-full of soaring, sugar-rush choruses that may be so sweet they’ll rot your teeth, but they definitely won’t leave your head for days.Vocalist Alex Deleon is the star of the show due to his high-pitched croon matching perfectly with the band’s sound. Deleon sounds a lot like former *NSYNC boybander J.C. Chasez, and a lot of the tracks seem like those that Chasez should have made. The re-recorded version of the song that got The Cab signed, “I’ll Run,” still stands out just as it did while getting over 600,000 plays on MySpace. The rest of the band does their best to catch your attention, especially pianist Alex Marshall, but Deleon’s voice overpowers it all as he sings about reinvigorating love. “Risky Business” presents the band at their best, with a more soulful and sexy sound than you’d expect from a band in the scene. The lyrics aren’t anything special, but Deleon’s great vocal runs while he sings “Baby you should put your heart where your mouth is / Stop asking and keep dancing” gloss over it all.Whisper War was released at the perfect time: It’s meant to be listened to with the windows down on a sunny day. Although the latter half of the album isn’t as impressive as the first, The Cab may have pioneered a new sub-genre: boyband emo.
(04/24/08 2:31am)
The Writers Guild of America strike is still screwing up our lives, even though it’s been over for two months and our favorite shows are almost all back. The strike might have cut “Lost” fans the deepest. \nOur favorite time-bending island mystery only planned on having 16 episodes this season anyway, but the strike cut that number to an even smaller 13. As “Lost” fans know, less is never more, even if executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse promised the story would just be more accelerated. Much worse, the show was scheduled to only receive a one-hour finale. One-hour finales aren’t something “Lost” does. \nThankfully, ABC has stepped in to solve some of these woes and to prove yet again why it’s the best major network, regardless of ratings or revenue. “Lost” has been given an extra episode so the season finale can be just as it should – two hours (or three, if you count the episode before, which is reportedly strongly connected). \nThis was a tremendous decision for many reasons. First of all, it gives the producers an opportunity to flesh out the story for this year a bit further and bring it closer to the original plan that would have covered 16 hours. No qualms would have arisen about the plot moving at a rapid-fire pace, but it’s good to know that we won’t have to wait until next season for a few points to be revealed. And obviously, this is excellent news for fans, who will be able to enjoy one more hour of the best show on television.\nBut maybe more importantly, this choice speaks to how aware ABC and company president Steve McPherson are of their product and its fans. This move is being made because the producers of the show realized the story wouldn’t be given its proper due, and they were gutsy enough to ask for more for the fans and themselves. No production staff is more in tune with the thoughts and needs of its audience, and that’s why the show continues to get better. \nAnd the brass at the alphabet network obviously aren’t doing this for any sort of monetary reason. Sure, “Lost” brings in a good amount of advertising revenue, but the two-hour finale won’t even air until after Memorial Day, when the too-crucial sweeps period is over. You wouldn’t see nearly worthless networks like NBC do this with any of their \ntop-tier shows.\nInstead, ABC understands that even with somewhat disappointing Nielsen ratings – but easily the most improving ratings for DVR views – this season of “Lost” depicts the show at its creative height, and things are only going to get better from here. The network has so much pride and confidence in the show because it is darn good, not necessarily because it’s the most popular. \nThe lesson here is that “Lost” continues to revolutionize TV, not just by what’s put out there on the airwaves.
(04/23/08 1:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Judd Apatow has been on quite a roll the past four years as a director, writer and producer. “Anchorman,” “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “Talladega Nights,” “Knocked Up” and “Superbad” were all Apatow productions. Now that Apatow has found extreme success, he’s letting more of his friends from his days of lesser success – producing great-but-cancelled TV shows “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared” – have their time in the limelight. Now it’s Jason Segel’s turn with “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”The film centers on Peter Bretter, a man without initiative. Bretter does the score for a cheesy TV show, “Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime,” but he secretly dreams of writing a musical about Dracula. All Peter looks forward to is his time with girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), the star of “Crime Scene.” But one day Peter’s world finally comes crashing down when Sarah leaves him. To cheer himself up, Peter heads to a high-class resort in Hawaii, only to find Sarah there with rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). After sulking around for too long, Peter finds intrigue in the hotel desk girl Rachel (Mila Kunis). Like all the Apatow-related films, “Sarah Marshall” includes a lot of big laughs, but it also has many heartwarming moments. The film is hilarious, but it falls short of its brethren because Jason Segel cannot carry the film like Seth Rogen can. Segel, who also wrote the script, is solid, but he’s more of a straight man that the comedy bounces off of than a catalyst.Bell and Kunis are also capable, but they don’t have a lot of comedic power either. Instead, they drive the film’s emotional scenes. Of the cast, Russell Brand stands out the most as the hedonistic rock star, which he plays with more intelligence and subtlety than expected; almost all of his lines are golden.Even though the film is really funny, it has almost too many quiet moments. It’s not that the dramatic scenes were bad, it’s just that they didn’t seem to have the heart that similar ones did in “Knocked Up” or “The 40 Year Old Virgin.” Moreover, the last 20 minutes are too typical; you know exactly where the character arcs are going. This is probably the case with the other Apatow films as well, but their higher quality doesn’t let you think about it.“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is definitely the funniest film so far this year and probably still will be by the year’s end. However, the comparisons with its brother films are going to be made, and it falls just short of their greatness. But hey, at least Jason Segel got to show his penis on the big screen.
(04/16/08 4:40pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>According to the back cover of their new album Attack, Dead Child has created “a metal Frankenstein made from the strongest limbs of all heavy music ... (that) has been turbo-charged with lightning from the sky of a doomed world.” Clearly, any band with such an amazing profile has to be stupendous, right? Well, not quite. Attack is nothing more than your typical run-of-the-mill metal album, which means it’s downright awful. There are tons of chugging guitar solos that go on far too long, shrieking vocals and handfuls of lyrics about doom and gloom. Nothing on the album allows it to stand out at all. By the midpoint of Attack, it’s hard to determine where one track ends and another begins. It’s not that the members are bad at what they do; it’s just that what they do isn’t very good.The opening track, “Sweet Chariot” might be the best on the album, but probably only because it’s short and the boredom hasn’t kicked in just yet. The track features predictable guitar work, but it’s the lyrics that really put the song over the top (read: by making the listener laugh very hard). If lines likes “Can’t you hear the horses running? / Just say my name and you’ll hear me coming / I’m coming around so give me all I need / Death, fire, speed” don’t get you jacked to watch your creepy uncle’s old VHS tapes of “Headbangers Ball” episodes, nothing ever will.Even more painful, Dead Child decides it’d be best if they let a couple tracks move past the seven minute mark. And while “The Coldest Hands” and “Black Halo Rider” are glorious song titles, the tracks themselves just can’t meet the expectations. Both see the band trying to create some different sounds within the song, but it all sounds the same.Aside from their amazing song titles – “Rattlesnake Chalice” and “Wasp Riot” are a few other classics – Dead Child doesn’t offer anything new to metal. Anyone with ears that doesn’t still wear their Anthrax concert T-shirt from 1986 should probably avoid this.
(04/16/08 4:11pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It used to be that if a viewer wanted to see a gritty police story, they’d turn to the silver screen. But in recent years, non-network television has provided some of the best police storytelling ever with shows like “The Shield” and “The Wire,” making it extremely difficult for film to produce anything groundbreaking. And although “Street Kings” was directed by “Training Day” writer David Ayer, it falls short of anything tremendous.“Street Kings” follows Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), a man whose justice-by-any-means-necessary attitude has him under constant watch from Captain Biggs (Hugh Laurie). Luckily for Ludlow, Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker) uses his inside connections to make certain he’s always protected. That’s until Ludlow becomes wrapped up in one conspiracy after another while trying to find the killers of his former partner. “Street Kings” is a good enough film, but it fails to bring anything new to the table. The plot features so many twists and turns in the final 25 minutes that by film’s end, everyone’s screwed everyone else over at least twice. That’s not to say “Street Kings” isn’t without its great elements. The story seems as real and gritty as can be, and the use of police and procedural lingo works well rather than as a distraction. Moreover, there are a couple of well-crafted shoot-outs and action sequences, without the use of any hokey special effects or slow motion. For the most part, the star-studded cast lives up to its billing. Reeves has taken lots of flak over the years, but he’s always best when playing someone who doesn’t know what the hell is going on: Tom Ludlow is that man. It took a few minutes to get used to Laurie as someone other than Dr. House, and Whitaker seemed to be around just for the post-Oscar paycheck, as in “Vantage Point.” However, Chris Evans’ performance is strong, mostly due to his chemistry with Reeves.“Street Kings” doesn’t light the world on fire with any new ideas, but it’s great for what it is – a testosterone-fueled pissing contest with lots of violence and swearing. And it doesn’t get much better than that.