New Crap Tuesdays 3/27/07

DVD

Children of Men

Clive Owen stars as a burned-out activist in a hopeless future plagues by infertility and the spiritual devastation of a world with now future in Alfonso Cuarón's gripping adaptation of the P.D James novel. When his long-estranged wife (Julianne Moore), now the leader of an underground revolutionary group, enlists him for a mission, he finds hope and responsibility again when he is trusted to save the first pregnant woman (Clare-Hope Ashitey) in almost twenty years. Nominated for three Academy Awards, including one for Emmanuel Lubezki's magnificent cinematography, it co-stars Michael Caine an aging hippie hiding out in the forest, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Danny Huston, and Peter Mullan. Details: Color, 110 mins, Universal, Widescreen anamorphic, 1.85:1. Supplements: Deleted Scenes; Featurette: The Possibility of Hope; Featurette: Under Attack; "Children of Men" Comments by Slavoj Zizek; Theo & Julian; Futuristic Design; Visual Effects: Creating the Baby. Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1) and Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1). Optional Spanish, French and English subtitles.

I'm considering owning this. I watched it twice in the theaters and I enjoyed it both times. Lots of goodies on this release...

Forget the trailer, watch these scenes and then tell me you don't wanna see this movie... Safe for work these clips are not...

The Pursuit of Happyness

Will Smith earned an Academy Award nomination starring opposite his real-life son (Jaden Christopher Syre Smith) in this drama inspired by the true story of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman and single father who endures eviction and homeless shelters to complete a competitive unpaid internship for a long-shot at a big paying career. Directed by Gabriele Muccino, it co-stars Thandie Newton, James Karen, Dan Castellaneta, and Kurt Fuller. Details: Color, 117 mins, Sony Pictures, Widescreen anamorphic. Supplements: Father and Son: Onscreen and Off ; The Man Behind the Movie: A Conversation with Chris Gardner; Making Pursuit: An Italian Take on the American Dream ; Inside the Rubik's Cube ; "I Can" Song (audio only) ; Audio commentary with director Gabriele Muccino . Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1) and French (Dolby Digital 5.1). Optional Spanish, French and English subtitles.

Rent this one, it's worth a watch but dear lord don't waste your money owning it.

Curse of the Golden Flower

(China) Chow Yun-fat is steely as a scheming Emperor and Gong Li fiercely determined as the Empress he's slowly poisoning in Zhang Yimou's spectacle of court intrigue, royal assassinations, and private wars in the 10th century. As the conspiracies develop, the loyal sons become forced to choose sides. Yimou directs it more like a lavish theatrical pageant than action movie, though the martial arts scenes are impressive. Jay Chou, Liu Ye, and Chen Jin co-star. Details: Color, 114 mins, Sony Pictures, Widescreen anamorphic, 2.35:1. Supplements: "Secrets Within" behind-the-scenes featurette; Los Angeles Premiere. Audio: Mandarin (Dolby Digital 5.1) and English (Dolby Digital 5.1). Optional French and English subtitles.

I came into this movie expecting a movie with lots of action. There is a small amount of action but what this movie ended up being was "Marie Antoinette" with ninjas. Awesome use of color and damn good cinematography all around. Zhang Yimou directed "Hero" FYI. I recommend everyone watch this once...

Ha ha Chinese "rap metal" video with a song that is not in the movie but has footage...



Proper trailer...



MUSIC

J Dilla: Ruff Draft

I Haven't heard this one yet, but for those who don't know who J Dilla was, he was a very respected producer in the hip-hop community and he died recently. This is his third post humus release. Apparently there is a really rare ep of the same name and this is a VERY expanded version.

Adult. : Why Bother?

Sassy electro. I don't really like it. Sorry...

New Crap Tuesdays 3/20/07

Disclaimer... bl;ogger is being weird and I can't figure out why my post looks so funny...

Good week for music, not so much for DVD...

DVD

Blood Diamond:

I watched this movie in a sneak preview at my theater, it was pretty good. A lot of people were turned off by Leo DiCaprio's accent but I thought he nailed it. Plenty of action and blood plus plenty of downtime for the ladies. Some people called it heavy handed, I call it a good rent if you've seen evrything else.

Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave

Ha ha another ROTLD, the 5th in the series, I'm not sure if this is strait to video or what but I'm sure it'll suck... In a good way... Here is a crappy homemade trailer...

Music

I'll Sleep When You're Dead by El-P

By far the best Hip-Hop album so far this year. Lots of unconventional guests like cat power and trent reznor. Cop this one for sure...

Drums And Guns by Low

Pretty good stuff, these guys are pretty consistent and I have listened to it a bunch...


We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse
Well, I'm sure everyone knows by Jhonny Marr of the Smiths fame is an official member of the band lending his guitar and songwriting talents. I personally haven't liked this and the last record but if you are a fan of "good news" then you will love this one...

Living With The Living by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

I didn't like it... I think I already deleted my advance copy.

New Crap Tuesdays 3/13/07

Not too much coming out this week in the world of film or music...

DVD


Short Bus 64(metacritic)

John Cameron Mitchell follows up his debut feature, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with an erotic drama about criss-crossing characters - male and female, straight and gay - who live in New York City and converge at a weekly underground salon called "Shortbus," a celebration of art, music, politics, and polysexual carnality.

This does look promising and maybe even something to watch just to say you have seen it. Was Hedwig very sexual? I never watched it cause everyone I knew that liked it was kinda strange.

Casino Royale 80(metacritic)

A critical and commercial success, this reinvention of the James Bond franchise introduced Daniel Craig as a gritter, tougher 007.

I watched it, I talked to my girlfriend the whole time. The movie was ok.

Harsh Times 56 (metacritic)

Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez star in a drama about an ex-Army Ranger who falls into a life of crime when he returns home to Los Angeles.

I wanted to watch this but I never got around to it. Doesn't seem like the type of role bale would do but w/e...

Music


Sound of Silver
Artist: LCD Soundsystem

I'm going to download this and review it cause I don't like it, but might so as a service I'm putting it down anyways...

Inhuman Rampage [CD/DVD]
Artist: Dragonforce

Ha ha powermetal is funny for a track or 2. Tons of talent in the guitar dept... Just watch the video and ignore the album...





Making Love
Artist: Shiner

Apparently all live tracks, I like the band but I haven't been able to secure a copy of it...

New crap tuesdays 3/6/07

Dvd

Borat: If you haven't seen this movie and you aren't easily offended, rent it now...

Fast Food Nation: Worth a rent if not only for the fact that bruce willis is in it. It's very heavy handed but worth a view regardless.

Let's Go to Prison: Bob Odenkirk's directorial debut. I was a lil dissapointed, but still worth a watch.

Southpark Season 9: has the Ginger Kids episode... If you must own a southpark season, this one was pretty solid.

Music

Well it looks like I put the wrong week into the billboard website and I reviewed this week last week, so it looks like I am going to just cover some stuff I didn't last week...

Air:Pocket Symphony

Revolting Cocks: Cocktailmixxx

RJD2: Third Hand

White Flight:White Flight I listen to this one a lot.

Television Maquee Moon Re-Released

5 Depeche Mode albums are getting re-released

A couple Magazine albums are being re-released

2 Stooges albums re-released

Total Chaos: 17 Years Of Chaos

new crap tuesday 2/27/07

Music

"Explosions In the Sky" "All of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone": More of the same instrumental crap that sounds good when I'm stoned, not so much when I'm not. I think there are enough instrumental bands out there and this one kinda get lost in the fold. No radio singles here(which is a good thing mind you). Try it out, maybe you'll fall in love.

!!!"Myth Takes": !!!(chick chick chick) is a band I have ignored for quite some time, mainly cause of the fans. I didn't realize they were a dance band(hey I can't keep track of every group). I was pleasntly surprised when I played it for the first time. They sound like a more dancy version of gang of four. Yes they play the forbidden drumbeat(un tiss un tiss un tiss un tiss) but they do some good things with it unlike the other bands that rely on it. Lots of multi-instrumentalization is present. The strangest track to me is "Must be the moon"...

Green Day "1039/smoothed out slappy hours": Good old fashioned pop punk from before green day was a huge successfull band selling out stadiums and stuff.

Ladytron "604": Haven't actually checked this one out yet, though I'm sure it's more of the same... For the uninitated, Ladytron plays electronic pop stuff...

Sisters of Mercy "A mecifull release": Well that was all the information given at billboard.com. I'm guessing it's a re-release of an old album. Check out the wiki for more info


Arcade Fire "Neon Bible" Yaaaaaawwwwwnnnnnn.... I tried it, I want my bandwidth back...

DVD


stranger than fiction: This movie did poorly in the theaters. Good for a movie theater employee, bad for the business. This film could have been so much more. I did laugh out loud more than once and overall I think it deserves a rent.




Well, I'm already behind so hopefully next weeks one cometogether better...

Literature-Map and listal.

I have a del.icio.us account for letting people know about websites and stuff. But every once in awhile there is something so amazing that I'll have to post about it. Here is one of them.

Listal is a catalouging website/social network. Yes, social network ala myspace. While I won't go on a full scale tirade about how much myspace sucks I will say that I secretly wish my friends would all migrate over to listal. You can keep track of all the books, dvds and cd's you own and also the movies you watch. You can also see other members collections which is always fun and it can help you keep track of what you loan to people.. It has a ton of features like groups and voting/rating of stuff. Everyone should join up.

The next site is http://www.literature-map.com/ . It's just a neat lil recomendation site for authours. Just check it out. It's unique.

[MUSIC] Champion too release a dvd of their final show.

Champion was a really awesome hardcore band from seattle. Very traditional sounding and super damn good and very positive. While hardcore may not be very technical compared to metal, I find that metal is often very negative with their lyrics and it's nice to hear uplifting music with high energy.

Apparently they have a dvd of their last show coming out, you know I'll be copping it.