Dallas Buyers Club

It has recently come to my attention that I don’t incorporate enough buzz words or catch phrases in my movie reviews. How else am I going to get Onlyfreshness on the map if they can’t flash something with my site’s name in small print during the middle of a trailer when trying to hype up an obviously terrible movie? I should say things like “This movie blew! Like the girl that blew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club while giving him AIDS!” Or “This movie made people come together like butt cheeks!” Ok, so maybe I need a little work on these but it was my first attempt.

I know that I have written this before but is there anyone hotter in Hollywood right now than Matthew McConaughey? Ever since Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past, it seemed like a light went off in his head and he decided that he needed to actually try again. Here’s what he’s done since then : Lincoln Lawyer, Killer Joe, Mud, Magic Mike, and now he has movies with Scorsese and Chris Nolan coming out. He was one movie away from turning into Cuba Gooding Jr and now he’s sure to be nominated for an Oscar.

In his latest effort Dallas Buyers Club, he plays Ron Woodroof who is your typical Dallas Texan in 1985; he works on an oil rig and rides in the rodeo while banging everything in site (with or without a condom), drinks heavily, does blow, and is a homophobic racist. Quite honestly, not much has changed in Dallas in the past 28 years. The problem is that this lifestyle has finally caught up with him and after an accident on the job site one day, it is discovered that he has HIV and the doctors give him 30 days to live. After initially being in denial, he finally accepts that he is dying and goes on a mission to do anything he can to save his life. After AZT fails to improve his health, he heads down to Mexico and runs into a doctor that utilizes alternative drugs (mainly vitamins) that actually improve his health and his way of life. The FDA hasn’t approved these healthy alternatives due to corporations having the money to fast track their drugs to the market first. While people are dying and not improving at all, Woodroof sees an opportunity to cash in on these alternatives and eventually forms the Dallas Buyers Club where if you pay $40 a month you have access to as many of these drugs as you need.

As you can imagine, he faces opposition from doctors who believe that AZT can work if given the proper run through the trials, the FDA who refuses to allow any alternative treatments to patients, and of course the DEA. Along the way he overcomes his homophobia when he is basically forced into friendship with the transvestite Rayon, in what is a career defining role for 30 Seconds to Mars aka Jared Leto. As he learns more about his disease and the red tape that goes into getting drugs approved, his mission turns from simply saving his life and making money in the process to actually helping those that need it.

If you didn’t grow up in the era when AIDS first hit the scene, not much was known about it, the stereotype was that only gay men got it. People also thought you could catch it from casual contact or even breathing the same air as the person that had it. So seeing the interactions that take place is pretty fascinating. What is also noteworthy is the physical transformation that Mcconaughey undertakes for this role; he lost a ton of weight to play Woodroof. He also steps outside of his typical smiling southern charmer type cast and adds a few layers to his character. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a Texas boy through and through but he’s nothing like David in Dazed and Confused. He’s a shoe in for an Oscar nom. Wait, I’m sorry; MATTHEW McConaughey is a Shoe In for an Oscar Nomination!!! See, I told you I’d get better at it! As is Jared Leto who is a little too comfortable playing a man who is only a couple thousand dollars short from being a transsexual. The sad thing is he looked just like this hipster girl I always hang out with, who I actually think is kind of cute. Um…what’s happening right now? Moving on…

Despite the fact that every sex scene in the movie was a complete turn off because you were aware of what was actually happening during the fluid transfer, I rate this movie as FRESH! And yes, I’m aware that’s an ironic term to use when describing a movie about AIDS but it was! With that said, I am not having sex for 600 days! Goodnight! 

The Hunger Games : Catching Fire

I used to make fun of tweens for getting online and buying tickets super early for movies like Twilight, Harry Potter, and now The Hunger Games. But ever since I was biking back from Fun Fun Fun Fest and saw a girl who looked like any ordinary hipster walking and talking to herself, my outlook has changed. Why, you ask? Because this girl was tweaking and yelling “Where’s the crack at? Where’s the crack at?” I honestly thought she was joking until I rode by her and she freaked out; exposing her cracky eyes. She then yelled that I scared the crap out of her (I hope she wasn’t being literal) and proceeded to go off on social issues using crackhead logic. For example “Question! Question! Why come when the President gives a speech, his mic cant be made out of crack? That’d be tight right?” Ok, so maybe I made that example up but everything else is true.  The point is, maybe it’s not such a bad idea to encourage these kids or recently former kids to fill their heads with dreams of falling in love with metro sexual vampires or gingers who suck at magic. It has to be better than letting them reach the point of this poor future Miley Cyrus. I’m sure Miley’s giving some black guy head for mali at this point but moving on.

The first Hunger Games wasn’t all that fresh mainly because Gary Ross sucks at directing action movies and the cgi looked like the first Techmo Bowl video game. But the franchise did itself a huge favor by signing Francis Lawrence to do the next three; and while he didn’t quite incorporate my idea of having regenerative milky bath scenes for Jennifer Lawrence, he did step it up.

This one picks up around a year after the 74^th Hunger Games and it’s almost time for Katniss and Peeta to go on their district to district victory tour. At this point it is painfully clear that Katniss doesn’t have any feelings for Peeta and that her heart really belongs to Gale. Why do the guys all have girl’s names? Just because you’re hungry doesn’t mean you have to take away your kid’s manhood too. Anyway, President Snow (Sutherland)senses that because Katniss was able to circumvent the system by saving both hers and Peeta’s lives, that the districts now have hope and that a possible rebellion might be on the horizon. So he brings in Plutarch (Seymour Hoffman) to be the new head of games and is counting on him to add in new wrinkles to not only crush and deflate the poor that are living in the districts but to find a way to possible kill Katniss.

The first 30 minutes of this movie is really boring as it’s more teen drama and a lack of chemistry between Lawrence and her two male counterparts in Hemsworth and Hutcherson. Have they seen how hot she is? How can you not make it more believable that you’d do anything to get with her? Thankfully Woody Harrelson (Haymitch) and Elizabeth Banks (Effie) provide enough laughs to carry you through this slow start. And that’s one thing I wanted to point out, this movie actually had me laughing out loud quite a bit, so props to writers for getting someone who walked in wanting to hate this movie to walk out loving it. I may be overstating it a bit by using that word love but once the action picked up, that’s when I really got into the movie.

While I Am legend and Constantine weren’t classics, they were both solid movies that had good action sets in them. And thankfully Francis Lawrence brings that same magic here. While it’s still pg-13 violence, he pushes the envelope enough to satisfy someone who is as blood thirsty as I am, and he utilizes cgi to enhance the scenarios that come up rather than taking you out of the experience with stupid dogs that look like moving blobs. Overall the acting is pretty wooden in it but Jena Malone shows up and almost steals every scene she’s in. She really makes you wish this movie was rated R, once you see it you’ll know why.

The only real complaint I have is that they didn’t play Alicia Key’s Girl on Fire every time Katniss spoke; or that Amanda Plummer didn’t yell “If any of you move, I’ll execute every motherfucking one of you!” But outside of that, I will give this movie a rating of FRESH! 

Fun Fun Fun Fest Review

As the festival season comes to an end, I have finally accepted the fact that I am old. My body and mind have been completely drained of anything useful and I now even have trouble writing Facebook updates that are grammatically correct or that even make any kind of sense, let alone write a coherent review of any movie or festival. I desperately need someone to invent a Cialis for the brain because lately when I speak I sound like Bill Cosby when he went to the dentist. “Obie kaybee! You bant be to spaybee???” Who knows, maybe I’m having the slowest moving stroke ever known to man! Well while I still a few functional motor skills, here are my thoughts on Fun Fun Fun Fest.

FRIDAY

Best Moment

This was tough as No Age absolutely destroyed their set! They were a breath of fresh air on a day that had a slow start to it with a lot of mellow and fruity acts in the mid afternoon that nearly put me to sleep. There was nothing flashy about their performance but as my friend said, they were doing things that he’s never seen a two piece band do live before. Opting to forgo any of their atmospheric numbers for all bone crushing anthems, they had me jumping up and down like an idiot while contemplating attacking my little rocker friend who was jumping right beside me! And by attacking I mean pulling out the claw and making out with her; but alas, the Walkmen were waiting for me so I had to bounce. Which leads me to the worst moment of the day…

Worst Moment

This belongs to the amateurs who were running sound on the Orange stage. Actually horrible sound was a running theme on every stage for all three days but the act I was most excited to see was The Walkmen. The sound was ok at best for everyone else but the second my boys from New York came on stage it all went to absolute shit! Hamilton’s voice was completely muffled, you could only hear the kick drum, and only part of the piano. I felt awful as we left the booty shaking Big Freedia (sorry, not a fan of dudes twerkin) to see them as I was hyping them up all day to my buddy who had never heard The Walkmen before. They never fixed the sound and they ended up cutting their set short which pissed the band off because they flew 5 hours to get here. Which leads to one of the unnecessary moments of the day…

Unnecessary Moment

Let me preface this by saying, Ghostface Killah reviewed Lupe Fiasco’s latest album and he said that he could actually see flowers coming out his speakers while listening to it. So yes, Lupe has been battling his record company for creative control over his music for the past few years but dude is still really talented and he can really bring it live. That was until it started lightly drizzling and they made him take down his screen which provided his light show and backing graphics. He clearly wasn’t happy as the stage was completely covered and the “rain” actually stopped 5 minutes later, so there was no need for this action. And then apparently some stage hand kept coming on stage during his performance which led him to threaten them with a beat down if they persisted. Finally after two more songs, he finished Superstar, said that that was a good place to end it, threw down the mic, and walked off stage with 30 minutes left to go in his set. Why does Fun Fun Fun feel the need to piss off every artist that comes to the festival? See Danzig (although that was his fault), De La Soul, and pretty much any artist that had sound trouble this year which would include Ceremony, Television, Unlocking the Truth, etc etc etc

SATURDAY

Best Moment

This was by far the biggest surprise of the weekend for me simply because Ice-T has become such a caricature of himself with all of his CSI Guadalajara appearances. “You mean to tell me they don’t sell fish tacos down here? Those sick bastards man!” First off, Body Count came out and proved to those who had never seen them before that they weren't simply black dudes who were trying to play metal but that they can actually hold their own with the best of them. Every song shredded, even the new ones; and Ice-T showed why he’s been in the entertainment industry for the past 25 years by being the consummate old front man.

Worst Moment

This could have gone to how low the sound was for Television and Simian Mobile Disco but I will instead give this award to The Underachievers and their underwhelming performance in the wee hours of the night at Holy Mountain. Their recorded material has promise as they bring that New York swag to the mic with some ill beats but live they simply came off as rookies who just got laid for the first time. You could tell that they were surprised by the fact that people actually knew their songs but tried to play it off like it happens all of the time. They told some ridiculous lie about being on tour and always performing in front of a thousand people a night but that they refer small crowds like this. Riiiiiiight, and I’m sure that you lasted longer than two pumps and didn’t blow your load before getting the condoms on too. They had no stage presence and were clearly out shined by the more creative and engaging Ratking who went on before them.

Unnecessary Moment

This goes to all of the weird, secluded, and secretive “smoking lounges” that were scattered about. I know that cigarettes are supposed to make you relax but these people looked a little too relaxed when they walked out. You couldn’t see what was actually happening in these tents or trailers and all weekend I joked with my friend that they were really having Eyes Wide Shut orgies back there. So one day I decided to find out for myself what was going on but as I approached they asked me for everything short of a blood sample. My address, my phone number, my email address, and a copy of my driver’s license just to name a few; it was at this point that I threw my mask with the elongated beak at the doorman and stormed off! Ok, so I made the part about the mask up but everything else was true. Who knows what was happening in those dens of iniquity but I will find out one day!

SUNDAY

Best Moment

I would normally say that this belongs to the fact that I left after the first MGMT song was played  but I will instead give it to The Men. They, along with The Hunters the night before, had me moshing like I was a 14 year old kid. This was straight forward old school hard core rock and they brought a lot of energy to the stage. Well done sirs.

Worst Moment

This belongs to everyone in the comedy tent for staring at me to see if it was ok to laugh when Sarah Silverman made a joke about wearing black face. I mean, she made jokes about televised pedophilia and THIS was the joke that caused you to pause before laughing? Come on people, I look nothing like the angry black militant.

Unnecessary Moment

This belongs to the festival for only selling Shiner as their beer option. I asked the lady if Shiner was the only choice and she replied that they had four different types of Shiner. That led to my rebuttal of “Let’s be honest, they all taste the same”. She wasn’t amused, so I paid my $7 for my 12oz and walked off. Good riddance Fun Fun Fun, good riddance! 

Thor : The Dark World

Damn you Wu Tang for all your relentless and clever references to the Marvel comic book characters. If it weren’t for you, I probably would’ve never wasted money on the first Thor movie! Ok, well we all know that isn’t true but at least I wouldn’t have listened to Raekwon's rhymes beforehand to get me hyped. In the end that movie sucked and not even a smoking hot Natalie Portman was able to save it. Well if you fast forward to today there are a ton of reasons in place for you to avoid seeing part 2 : Raekwon is now 83 years old, the studios have stopped caring about even attempting to make good Marvel movies, and Portman has been tainted by a dirty Frenchie! Forever unclean!!!The sad thing is, even with all of these solid reasons to avoid seeing it, there I was opening night with a medium popcorn in hand, laced with cyanide, eager as all get out to torture and kill myself. So if you think about it, that would mean you are either reading my suicide note or that I actually survived this film, guess you’ll have to finish reading this to find out.

To be honest with you, I have already forgotten most of the plot but the movie starts out with Thor fighting to restore order to the 9 realms. He shows up whipping his mighty hammer around (why does this sound like a porn already) and grandstanding as he does it. And I won’t lie, this immediately made me like the movie. I’ve always felt like the superheroes needed more swagger, similar to what Downey Jr. brought to the Ironman character. They should give them all fresh little dances to do after they make a big kill, similar to the touchdown dances you see in the NFL.

Anyway, you are introduced to a new evil as the leader of the dark elves, who failed in his first attempt to rule and cover the universe in darkness with his weapon Aether, is back as the Aether has somehow resurfaced and attached itself to Natalie Portman. This is made possible when Portman lucks upon a portal that links the realms together and mistakenly falls in while researching it. Thor returns to Earth to save her from the dark elf who plans to take back his weapon and start another war. Along the way, lives are taken and the battle becomes personal; so much so that Thor has to bury the hatchet with his brother Loki and enlist him for his help.

I already mentioned the swag that Thor brings to this movie is a plus but it also helped that for the first time Loki didn’t simply come off as Euro trash! His intelligence and ambition wasn’t presented in a cheesy manner like it was in the first Thor and in The Avengers. Instead director Alan Taylor brings his Sopranos and Game of Thrones flavor to this movie and portrays Loki in a manner that makes you want to root for him whether he ends up turning the corner and doing good or if he remains the bad guy. Similar to when Macho Man Randy Savage was having his issues with Queen Elizabeth. Also the dark elf was a solid villain and an admirable foe for Thor. The cgi was cool and the best and most interesting part of the movie comes at the end when all of the rules of physics, dimensions, laws, and whatever else you can think of are out of whack and thrown out the window. It makes for some interesting fight scenes.

Rene Russo of all people has a cool fight scene, Kat Dennings is annoying every time she opens her mouth but her hotness makes up for it, and somehow Portman is so beautiful that she temporarily makes you forget about the French taint! Kind of like Scarlett Johansson and her herpes.

I rate this movie as FRESH and I definitely suggest that you check it out.

12 Years A Slave

When I first heard that Steve Mcqueen was directing the interesting slave drama 12 Years a Slave, my initial thought was “Oh great, this will be the most erotic story of slavery ever told!” I was expecting there to be Eyes Wide Shut late night parties back in the slave quarters hosted by Michael Fassbender. This was always my fantasy/nightmare; if I was a slave I’d do everything within my power to be a house slave simply for the fact that I’d have easier access to white women. You know they had to get lonely out there on those plantations with only family members and dumb slave handlers to keep them company! Meanwhile the only two black women out there that actually read this blog are seething after reading that but I mean come on, it’s like Chappelle’s Tyrone said on Fear Factor “You gotta play to win baby!”

If you haven’t seen McQueen’s film Shame with Fassbender, it’s a no holds barred take on a sex addict living in New York. He takes you deep into his world and doesn’t sugarcoat anything about his lifestyle or his encounters. Well he brings that same style to Slave with his brutal approach, brutal honesty, and brutal presentation of the treatment of slaves in early America. It starts off with the abduction of Solomon Northup (Ejiofor), a free black man who was living New York until he was brought to Washington D.C. under false pretenses. Next thing he knows, he’s in chains and is being beaten mercilessly in an attempt to convince him that his previous life is over and that a life of slavery is all that lies ahead for him.

You see the humiliation of the slaves as they are literally treated like livestock while the cold hearted trader (played by Paul Giamatti) auctions them off to the highest bidder. They get little to no sympathy from their new owners who could care less if they are separated from their children and would instantly beat or kill them if they found out they were educated. This last part was particularly tough for Solomon as he was slow to learn that no matter how educated, well read or traveled he was, all it did was act as more fuel for the anger and hatred that existed in the South.

You slowly see him accept what has become his life, especially after he meets Fassbender’s favorite slave Patsey. She is by far the most interesting character in the movie and is played wonderfully by Lupita Nyong’o. There is a weird relationship that exists between her and her owner and it is one that is solely beneficial to Fassbender. She has the movie’s most chilling and depressing line as she asks Solomon to do something that is both unforgivable yet somewhat merciful considering the conditions.

Outside of Fassbender forgetting his Southern accent at times and Brad Pitt just enjoying his time away from his 1500 kids, there really isn’t a bad performance in this entire movie. I wouldn’t be surprised by any Oscar nominations that come from this and to this point this is probably the best film I have seen this  year. It is as brutal and memorable as Roots was and the score, while used sparingly, drives home whatever point McQueen is trying to make at the time. This movie will make you angry, sad, and depressed as you witness what kind of people we can become. Ejiofor completely owns his role and Fassbender is as evil as any slave owner I have seen and that includes Dicaprio’s role in Django. By the way, if you thought the scenes in that movie were brutal, and they were, then you may want to close your eyes during parts of Mcqueen’s take on slavery as he takes it up a notch.

I rate this movie as TIGHT as it was nearly flawless. And if you are white and there are black people in the theater with you, I suggest you do what the white people did in my theater; jumped up and speed walk your way out the second the credits start rolling. Because the second they stop crying, angry black women will start looking around trying to find someone to give the stink eye to. Heck, even I had to walk out of the theater sagging my pants while walking with a pimp limp just so I wasn’t confused for a half breed!

Enders Game

When I was a kid I remember watching the movie Cloak and Dagger and how that inspired me to be more like that little kid; running from spies and outwitting evil old people with their dentures. Then of course there was The Last Starfighter; I felt like I had so much in common with Alex Rogan, his being stuck in a small town, his love for video games, and his love for busty brunettes. So naturally I was hoping for an alien that looked like Louis Gossett Jr to come down and recruit me to fight in an intergalactic battle to save the Earth! But alas none of this actually happened with the exception of me not trusting old people. Oh well, I’m still holding out hope that one day I’ll ride off into the sunset (actually it was morning)to Tears for Fears, with my hot new girlfriend, in my brand new Winnebago, that I won by cheating a potato chips contest. If you haven’t seen real Genius, do yourself a favor and do so.

As I have grown older, my heroes have changed quite a bit. Now I want be scrawny hipsters who chain smoke, moan in a mic on stage, and bang busty brunettes who are covered in tattoos. This does nothing to refute my theory that children are actually smarter than adults. So with that said, I saw that they were finally making an Enders Game movie and I immediately dismissed it because I have no desire to be a pre teen kid who plays video games to save the world. Again, I realize that with each line I type, I make myself seem dumber and dumber. But whatever, pre-teens have curfews and pre mature sexting issues; I don’t want any part of that!

I never actually got around to reading the book but apparently it holds true to it with the exception of getting a few of the events jumbled around. Enders Game is about the International Military and its training of young adults to help them in the battle against the ant people, an alien species that attacked the Earth a few years earlier in an attempt to colonize. They test the skills of these kids based upon their strategy  in combat video games, mind teasers, and actual combat with fellow students. Ender seems to be head and shoulders above any other student that they’ve ever seen and Harrison Ford has him on the fast track to be the leader of his army to help save our race.

The story itself is fine, it’s just that you can only watch so many training sequences before you start rolling your eyes and wondering if the child actor will actually hit puberty before the movie ends. I kept waiting for his voice to crack as he was training with his female friend who he clearly had a crush on. The live combat trainings where the kids fight in zero gravity was easily the best part of the movie; it looked like they were playing a cooler version of Quittage. But honestly, what doesn’t look cooler than that? The second best part of the movie belonged to Enders nemesis Bonzo. I loved how he walked around calling everyone a  pendejo. How did they get away with this? Was the kid ad-libbing or did some white guys really write this for the Spanish character?

In the end I have to rate this movie as pretty WEAK mainly because the director sucks. It was far from inspirational, all of the acting was sub par to ok at best, and there weren’t any cool one liners. Why not wait for J.J. Abrams to become available and recruit some real actors. I know Harrison Ford used to be cool but at this point he’s basically a talking head on a donor’s body. 

Fun Fun Fun fest Day 2 Preview

How do I get myself prepared for FFF Fest you ask? Well I’m going to pretend like you asked anyway; I dress up as DMC from Run DMC and run around hipster land singing the King of Rock. Sadly everyone told me that I looked like LL Cool J instead. But I was ok with this as apparently I look like him on a normal day and girls kept asking me to lick my lips like he always does. It drove them nuts! Why can’t every day be like this for me??? Well things got weird as the night went on because after a while dudes started asking me to lick my lips. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. So I proceeded to get really hammered and my night ended up with me eating fish sticks from Whole Foods and passing out with my laptop on top of my head! On to the bands…

I will be hungover and a late arrival to day 2 of FFF Fest mainly due to the fact that you can get a beer and a shot for 10 bucks out there; damn you and your tasty tequila! But if you are tougher than I am, go see Unlocking the Truth on the Black Stage at 12:50. My buddy sent me a link to these three black kids performing their hard core metal on the streets of Manhattan a few months ago and let me tell you that this is not a gimmick. These kids can rock out and they are serious about it. Please support them so they don’t turn into the annoying breakdancing pop lockers you see in Times Square spinning on their heads with lame wristbands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjMfdzjbl_Q

Next up is Retox, a punk band that has a lead singer screaming at the top of his lungs. Consider This Scab Already Picked mixes it up mid song and turns into a fairly traditional hard rock song showing off their versatility. But for the most part this is the type of in your face punk that you want from the Black Stage. They come on at 1:40.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp8ce0MZ5kU

I will probably skip them to head on over to the Blue Stage so I can check out a band that had one of the best descriptions from a fan that I have read in a while “When aliens land their UFO’s on Earth and make music, Big Black Delta happens!” I can’t really beat that but I will add that this is synth heavy white boy soul music. You can’t help but dance to it, especially when listening to the hip gyrating inducing beats of Side of the Road and Huggin and Kissin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqXkA1_bcDk

 I don’t understand the Flatbush Zombies; to me they sound like a slightly more serious version of the awful Afroman. I have previewed them before for SXSW and I still feel the same way about these clowns. One of them actually has skills and can rap while the other is simply playing the annoying comic relief sidekick that you find in a buddy cop movie. They do have some ok beats though and if you’re looking to get hot boxed, this is definitely the stage for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-y435Bpj4Q&list=PL87BDCEB2EEEC2F5C

Before they come on the Blue Stage, do yourself a favor and check out The Underachievers. They are also from Flatbush but they have sicker beats and even sicker flows. It looks like they really do have the full package as they bring that New York bravado to the mic but I do have to say that they look like an 18 year old Snoop in their videos; afraid to make eye contact with the camera for fear that they’ll end up on Cops or something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TU5rXXG7r8&list=PLxb73NC6m1H0IxovmcCqgGodPhceo2T3q

If you like Sonic Youth, then you may want to check out Thurston Moore’s Chelsea Light Moving as it sounds like a slightly more punk version of that band. It’s still tinged with the grunge guitars that you would expect from Thurston though and will certainly have you rocking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgmjsTo7esQ

The rest of the day at the festival is really a toss up as it’s full of disco acts, the overrated Ice-T, and a band that I respect but don’t really get in Television. I might pop in on the Chromatics for a second but it’s really just boring disco that’s next of Twin Shadow. I kind of feel like taking the worst songs off of the new Daft Punk album, and if you’re being honest with yourself some of those are pretty bad; and listening to those instead. But who knows, this might be something cool to sway to. They come on at 4:15.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgv88ZLi6LY&list=PL47A0622539DB3FAB

Deerhunter is trippy indie rock that is sometimes a modern take of psychedelia, sometimes hard rock, and sometimes atmospheric. I can’t ever really put a finger on them or label them with one specific sound because honestly each song is different from the other. All I do know is that even if their music isn’t for you, you will not be bored by their performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDoC5C_jv-I

To end the night, I’ll let you decide between the old punk band the Descendants or if you want to leave dancing, the Simian Mobile Disco. I’ll probably be passed out under a tree or fighting for space around the barrel full of fire with the local homeless at this point.

Enjoy.

Wadjda

The fact that Wadjda was even made is almost a miracle. I read somewhere that this is the first feature film that was shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, a country that bans cinemas because they are considered a waste of time and corrupt. I guess they saw one too many M. Night Shamamalagan movies! First time director Haifaa Al-Mansour pulled off this feat in a place where women aren’t allowed to vote or even drive. In fact, if they show their face in public or even speak too loudly they are considered loose women. A Texas girl would have NO shot living there. So I figured that when I walked into this film there would be a ton of women there, probably foreign, to celebrate this achievement. And that they would all look at me with lust in their eyes because I was bold enough to see it by myself. Ha! This movie got the same reception that I’m sure it got in Saudi Arabia, an empty theater. Even the Mexican cleaning lady shook her head at me as I walked in because she knew what I was up to. Well everyone else missed out on a treat and I'm not talking about the fact that I tried to get the cleaning lady’s phone number after the show.

Wadjda is the story of a hustling little girl who is basically a fish out of water in this Islamic country. She wears Chuck Taylors, sells her homemade jewelry to classmates, plays video games, and listens to indie music (Grouplove); so essentially she’s a Muslim hipster. You get the feeling right off the bat that this girl is a representation of Al-Mansour and the experiences she had growing up as she is spunky, cute, and charming, similar to Al-Mansour. Her best friend happens to be a boy whose uncle has political power within country. As she is hanging out with him, she decides that she wants a bike like him and his friends have but in this country girls don’t ride bikes; it looked down upon. This doesn’t stop her as she begins to save up for it but quickly realizes that in order to realistically reach her goal, she must enter a Koran recital contest. At this point the movie becomes a slightly more serious version of Billy Madison. Ok, well maybe only at the end during the contest but it would’ve been awesome if they had a drinking penguin in the movie.

What’s great about this movie is, AL-Mansour simply tells the story of Wadjda and her day to day experiences in this country. From every interaction that she has with her principal, to the way her mom is treated by her father and even her driver, down to the disrespectful comments made by construction men, you can judge for yourself if this is simply a difference in cultures that should be accepted or if there is something fundamentally wrong over there. You instantly fall in love with Wadjda and wish the entire time that someone would just give the poor girl a damn Huffy! You will have plenty of moments when you laugh, cheer, and maybe even cry as this movie takes you through the full gamut of emotions.

I rate this movie as FRESH and suggest that you try and get laid after seeing it. If nothing else, do it to give poor Al-Mansour some money as I am sure the government has put a religious hit out on her after this film’s release (my friend’s joke).