Purple Drank

So this is the third time that I have given The Temper Trap and their live shows a shot! The first two times were mainly due to the fact that they were part of an all inclusive package in the forms of ACL and SXSW; so why not go see what they're all about. Sadly both times I left mid show and was angry at myself for walking in the heat to hear such weakness. The third time was because I was tricked! This girl I was dating at the time purposely wore a low cut dress when she asked me to go to the show with her. So naturally I was dreaming about motorboats and breast milk instead of what she was actually asking me at the time. And the worst part is we stopped seeing each other a few weeks before the show, so I had to go solo because I'm too lazy to scalp a ticket. Aah the mammeries err memories; as my friend put it.

Believe it or not, I actually like Trap and I think their music sounds amazing recorded. From start to finish the album is tight and has a nice mix of beauty and power. But live it sounds and feels like you're at a Michael Bolton show in the 80's. Only they dont have the fresh hair Bolton has! Mandagi's falsetto singing works great when mixed in nicely in the studio with the other instruments but live its accentuated and you can hear how fruity some of his lyrics are. Im not an ex frat head but that doesnt mean I want to be at a show rocking out to some dude yelling "I need you now! I need your love right now!" while sounding like Adam Lambert who finally sneaked into the Yankees clubhouse after a game. But aside from the fact that he sounds a little fruity, their music just doesnt sound like it can be reproduced live. Which is strange because they dont use that many instruments. It's just not as loud and alive as it is on their cd and something always seems off. So you just get a flat performance and you're standing there bored out of your mind. Meanwhile laughing at other dudes who are drinking way to much to get through the show while also looking at their watches just waiting for the sound ordinance time to arrive so they can go home with their girls and get what they really went to the show for. Then there were the dudes that clearly had not been out of the house in months because they live in the suburbs with their 8 children. So they were way too into the show and were white man dancing fools. Dancing way off beat and in a circle for some reason while also trying to pump up others that were around them. Honestly it couldve been The Muppets playing on stage and they wouldve thrown their lighters up in the air.

It also doesnt help matters that Trap's new album is not that good and that they played alot of it. I lost track of how many songs off the new record were played but only about 2 of them sounded decent. Aah the curse of the instant success indie band continues. Great initial album but then the rushed and nowhere near as good follow up is made.  I talked to so many people that were leaving trying to convince themselves that it was a good show. "yeah well the last three songs was where it really took off" or "for the most part it was good". Not really rousing reviews for a sold out show. Ladies please dont torture your men by making them attend this. And guys, do yourself a favor and just take your girl to a romantic comedy instead. It may still be 90 minutes of pain but maybe you'll get a boob shot or two on screen. Overall this show was really WEAK and I suggest avoiding it! Oh well, I'm off to go listen to my Guy album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EBACpHEqFk

But before I do there was also an opening act, the Crocodiles. When I listened to my first croc's song ever I was actually pretty impressed. Musically it sounded like Jesus and Mary Chain, so I was instantly down with it. But then I played more of their songs which, musically anyway, sounded good but I started to notice the lyrics. Oh why why why couldnt they just be an instrumental band? These lyrics sounded like they were written by a 13 year old Chris Gaines (Garth Brooks alter ego). Just nonsense that tries way too hard to be edgy. Check them out for yourselves, maybe you'll find a connection with them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn7GYXii0FU

Oh and why is this titled Purple Drank? Towards the end of the show, my friends and I were standing on the steps near the bar because at this point we didnt care about the performance. There was literally noone around us and this big security guy came up to us and told us we have to move because "cant nobody get no dranks with us standing there". If they were serving purple drank up in there, I could see it but since they werent...

Moonrise Kingdom

Before I go off on how great my brother Wes Anderson is, do yourself a favor and see Bottle Rocket if you haven't already. This is when Luke Wilson was actually skinny and before Kate Hudson, the career killer, met Owen Wilson. This movie is the sole reason why the Wilsons took Hollywood by storm for so long. But it's also the perfect introduction into the world of Wes Anderson who is able to capture the dysfunctional family and the unusual and sometimes unhealthy love story like no other. But because all of his movies are so similar in tone, you kind of have to be in the mood to see his films, otherwise they can come off as old hat. I, to this day believe this is why I never liked The Darjeeling Limited. Well that and the fact that Jason Schwartzman had an extended role in it. I'm sorry, but unless he's in a movie where they say the word hand job every five seconds his douchiness is too much for me.

But on to Moonrise Kingdom. From the opening shot of the film Anderson sets the tone for his quirky take on the Bishop family and our latest hero Sam Shakusky. The movie takes place in 1960's New England and focuses on Sam who has escaped his khaki scout camp run by Ed Norton to be with the love of his life Suzy. From that point on, the movie is about Norton's scout camp and Suzy's family putting together a rescue party to find them while Sam and Suzy try desperately to stay together. Sounds simple enough but as with all of Anderson's films that's not all to the story. It seems like with every one of his movies there is a character or a situation that everyone can identify with and this film is no different. Sam is an orphan and it seems as though he cant fit in anywhere due to his social status and the emotional damage he's incurred from losing his parents. Meanwhile Suzy apparently has emotional issues and loses her temper quite easily which has caused her to be distant around her family and gets her in trouble in school. And this isnt helped by the fact that she has become aware of the fact that her mom is having an affair with the local sheriff played by Bruce Willis.  And let's be honest, although John McClane is cool, who really wants him banging their mom? Anyway, the movie is full of great moments between Sam and Suzy; from them bonding due to each other's social ineptitude to them sharing their first intimate moments with each other. And who doesn't remember the first time they got to second base? The entire movie the new couple is not only running from the rescue party but also unknowingly trying to escape before the biggest the storm to ever hit New England arrives. Not to mention the fact that Sam's foster home no longer wants him so they  send Social Services after him to send him to a group home. And I love the fact that they only refer to Tilda Swinton's character as Social Services. It just further makes that whole institution seem so cold and disconnected.

While this may seem like heavy stuff, Anderson has a way of making light of the serious everyday issues we come across. This is yet another reason to love his films, because he makes us laugh at ourselves, our problems, and our dysfunctional families. It's like a cheap form of therapy. There are a couple of great scenes that I dont want to ruin for you but one involves the stand off between Suzy and Sam and the scouts who are sent to bring them in. And the other is when Bill Murray(Suzy's dad) discovers the couple in their tent one morning. Sadly something similar to this happened to me in college, yes college, when some girl's dad stormed his way into my apartment looking for his daughter who was late for her first day of work. Needless to say, he never invited me over for dinner again but that's another story for another time. The point is, we all have our own stories that can relate to what the characters are going through in this movie.  Oh and one thing that shouldn't get lost in this review is how great Ed Norton is in this movie. He plays Scout Master Ward perfectly as the sad little math teacher who secretly never really wanted to give up being a kid in the scouts and takes his job way too seriously but at the same time truly loves the kids. I rate this movie as pretty TIGHT and would definitely suggest seeing it in the theater.

What Time IS It?

So I work for a company in a small country suburb of Austin and suffice it to say that most of the employees there arent really up on the new bands that are out right now unless their 8 year olds clue them in. So then I get random questions like "Why is the band Foster the People talking about shooting kids with pump shoes?" "Or why is Gotye pronounced Gauthier?" which is actually a pretty legitimate question. I mean really, Gauthier???? Just call me Key from now on, the two L's in Kelly are silent! Anyway, I send my fellow music nerd an IM with some randon Bear in Heaven lyrics.
http://onlyfreshness.blogspot.com/2012/04/bears-bells-yachts-football.html
Something to the tune of "I feel myself running to you but my legs wont move...dance with me dance with me" and about 30 minutes later she sends a reply stating that she was in the middle of a presentation when that IM popped up and everyone in the room saw it. Um...oops! And after she explained what it meant she tried to talk to them about Daft Punk and they looked back at her with blank stares. Finally one of them gets the courage to ask "Wasn't Daft Punk a Russian astronaut?". This, is why I started this blog. Speaking of, the last random Daft Punk dance party I went to, I think I was the only person in there who was actually alive when their first cd came out.

The reason I bring all of this up is, I thought I was only hanging out with old people until I walked into the No Age and Ceremony show. When I first walked in, I noticed that the place was actually pretty close to capacity but there was no line at the bar. So I take the fool's gold and happily get my drink with no wait in line. I start to get in place for Ceremony and I hear this kid scream, "I just realized that as of 6 hours ago, I'm no longer in high school!!". And his friends high five him!!! Geez, where am I??? So I had to get myself ready for another level. I'm used to punk shows but not teenage punk shows. Those kids can bring it! Well if you have never heard of Ceremony, theyre a hard core punk band from California. Quite a few punk bands have a specific formula and stick to it throughout their album but not these guys. They are not quite Deftones who can sound like Morrissey or Depeche Mode at one point and then hard core metal the next but they do have range. They literally rock your socks off with Cross Them Out or Throwing Bricks or they can sound like Black Flag with Talking on the Telephone, their most accessible song. This show is not for the light hearted who want to watch from afar because literally everyone is going nuts including the lead who looks like he's having fits on stage while he screams "the modern world is surrounding me" over and over and his Johnny Rotten look alike guitarist is jumping from speaker to speaker. Kids are going nuts jumping from the stage and grabbing his mic and screaming lyrics while the bassist who looks like a pirate watches in total bliss. If you're up for a crazy show and some traditional punk, definitely go check these guys out who I would rate as FRESH!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx-qd20t_Mo&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Next up was No Age.

http://onlyfreshness.blogspot.com/2012/05/is-this-it.html

So the night already felt like a win because of the Ceremony performance but I also got to meet Dean the drummer for No Age as I bought my t shirt. I managed not to embarrass myself as I did with Japandroids but thats only because I kept my responses to 2 to 3 words max. And by now everyone knows about my previous No Age experience and this was no different. I didnt learn my lesson. I was right next to the speaker again, this time with my new found fresh out of high school buddies. But by this point of the night it was about half capacity because I'm pretty sure most of the crowd still had a curfew.  And sadly,  the rest of the people that stayed were too old to mosh but that didnt stop me and the high school kids from going nuts as they ripped through Teen Creeps. Dean and Randy dont appear to be slowing down one bit as their sound was as loud and energetic as ever. The really cool thing about their show is that typically when a setlist is new song heavy, you're for the most part bored and just waiting to hear the old stuff. But honestly their new material was the highlight of the night. You can tell they write their songs for live performances and it sounded as tight and as bratty as ever.; which is promising for their upcoming album. Do yourself a favor and check these FRESH guys out. Also check out the link I provided for my review of them to get a better feel for the band as a whole.

Prometheus

It's been so long since we've had decent sci fi movies. The only good ones that come to mind since The Matrix are two low budget indie films, Moon and Another Earth. Both of which are great and two of my personal favorites, but sometimes you want giant aliens destroying space ships or a large duck having sex with Lea Thompson like in Howard the Duck. This was bad sci fi at it's freshest but I still have a soft spot for that flick. When I look back, I think the 80's ruined sci fi forever because you had such classics in The Terminator, Blade Runner, Alien, the Star Wars sequels, and My Stepmother Is An Alien; just to name a few. But due to the success of these films and more advanced fx becoming available , Hollywood gave birth to Roland Emmerich. From that point on it was all downhill. The story quickly became irrelevant and all that was needed was an excuse to blow up a building or have Will Smith yell "Aww hell nah!!" as he punched an alien. All special effects and no soul. So now when sci fi comes along, we dont recognize it and you get mixed reviews for something like Prometheus.

Now why it took Ridley Scott so long to make this prequel, who knows. I've heard a number of reasons but my guess is that after working with Tom Cruise on Legend, you'd want to get as far away from science fiction as humanly possible too! I'm sure that Cruise spent most of his downtime on set floating above ground in his Xenu state striking random extras with his hydrogen bombs. But the point is, Scott is back doing what he does best in my opinion. I dont want to give away too much of the story but basically the movie starts off with some alien (we assume) who looks like a cross between Powder and Stone Cold Steve Austin drinking some substance which not only kills him but disintegrates his body, followed by a spacecraft leaving him. Next they shoot over to Earth in the distant future where we see Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover yet another cave painting that points to what they believe is the origin of mankind on Earth. And once they discover another solar system that is similar to ours and a planet that can sustain human life, they head there believing that they will find  our creators to answer the numerous questions they have about why they created us and how we got here. But once the crew gets to this planet, they discover that there are all sorts of hidden dangers there and that this planet may not be what they initially thought it was. Plus it appears that everyone that is a part of the crew has their own agenda. David, who is played wonderfully by Michael Fassbender, is the robot created by Waylend(the money behind the expedition) to help them in communicating with the aliens. However the entire movie he is creepy and calculating and you never quite know who's side he's on and whether he is aiding in the hell that is about to break loose or if he indeed is trying to help find the answers they came looking for. David is by far the most interesting character and is basically a modern day version of  HAL. Again, I dont want to give away too much of  the story but just know that this is indeed a prequel to Alien and by the way the story is written it works well not only in that regard but it's a movie that can really stand on it's own. Plus they dont pull a Spielberg. And by that I mean they don't spell everything out for you. Not everything is wrapped up in a nice and neat little package and you end up having to figure out for yourself what really happened and why. Scott and the writers take their time telling the story to help you get a feel for the characters and setting up the creepy mood and tone of the film.

In the end, it's just refreshing to see a sci fi flick with so much thought put into it.  And to actually have the backing of Hollywood to put good writers, directing , and acting in it. Do yourself a favor and pay the 3D money to see it, there are quite a few scenes in it that just wouldn't be nearly as cool in 2D. I definitely rate this movie as kind of TIGHT and would suggest that you go see it as soon as possible before the weekend of idiotfest is upon us in Rock of Ages and That's My Boy.

Headhunters

No this is not a piece about the the tiny music venue off of Red River or even a porn starring Misty Rain or Bettina. Instead this is a review of a Norwegian thriller based off the book by Jo Nesbo. Typically when foreign films get alot of hype over here its usually well deserved because they know we lazy Americans dont like to read (subtitles or anything really). And we certainly wont pay ten bucks to do so; especially when on the right night we can pay the same amount to get a pair of fake C cups in our face for 5 minutes. I wouldn't know from personal experience but I have some buddies who have partaken from time to time. But beware of the hype machine, sometimes you get gems like The White Ribbon or in my opinion last year's best film A Separation and then you get stinkers like Nightwatch or any post Madonna Guy Ritchie film. I'm counting those as foreign because I cant understand a word of what they say. RocknRolla was decent however.

Headhunters comes pretty close to living up to the hype; and I only say this because it got a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. 90% is alot to live up to.The story starts off simple and intriguing enough. It's about Roger Brown, who is a 5'6" inch corporate headhunter who is actually really good at his job but feels the need to overcompensate for his lack of height by not owning a lifted truck with 32 inch tires but by stealing high end art and replacing them with forgeries. He steals art so that he can have all of the things that he believes men should want in life. He is living well above his means even with the thefts by owning this multi million dollar mansion, doing everything possible to please his supermodel esque wife, wearing top designer suits, and driving high end cars.  He cleverly uses the job interviews he conducts to see who owns nice art pieces and to do some reconnaissance work on his next job. At first, everything seems to be going great until his wife introduces him to Clas Greve, played by Game of Thrones's Jaime Lannister. Clas informs Roger's wife that he's inherited a pretty valuable German painting that his grandmother obtained in WWII and wants her to evaluate it for him. Well once she tells Roger that it's worth upwards of 100 million, it's game on! Roger of course sees this as an escape from his financial problems and proceeds to attempt to steal the painting. Little does he know that while attempting to steal the painting he is about to unravel a mystery that will leave you guessing and literally on the edge of your seat the entire movie.

The great thing about this movie is just when you think you have figured out the main twist, the story takes it up yet another notch; sometimes to borderline absurd levels but not quite crossing that line. It is well acted and the movie doesnt waste time with any overly sapping dramatic moments. Instead the story is written so well that you can get a feel for the relationships between the characters with subtle glances or uncomfortable silences. And not like the 30 minute long glances that Brad Pitt has with Claire Forlani in Meet Joe Black. That movie really is only 40 minutes long when edit out all of the longing stares. But as for Headhunters,  I give it a rating of pretty FRESH, so definitely go see it!

Men in Black 3

Yes they made this movie for the sole purpose to make money and not to entertain. Yes Tommy Lee Jones looks 105 years old. And yes I was dumb enough to pay 3D money to see this movie. It's sad really; because Will Smith refuses to take chances. I read an article, in Time magazine I think, that broke down Big Willy's strategy to selecting what movies to make or star in. Basically he looked at the top 10 grossing movies of  all time and they all either had special effects, special effects with creatures, or special effects with creatures and a love story. So he sticks to making only these types of movies or some variation of them. Which is ok since he's open and honest about why he makes movies, and thats to make money. But again its at my expense because I like movies with fx and creatures. And  I also learned how to play drums to the DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince album, so I cant help but support Willy, but man, even I have my limits. It's not like Smith is that great of an actor but when he tries he's actually pretty good, see Pursuit of Happyness or Hancock (kidding).  So its a shame he refuses to step out of his comfort zone every now and then because it's not like he's struggling for money. Or maybe Xenu has taken most of it by now, who knows. But just look at his IMDB page and look at what he has coming up; I, Robot 2, Bad Boys 3 and yes even Hancock 2!!! While you're at it, why not just do Seven Pounds 2; "even in heaven Will Smith gives parts of his body to save others FROM HELL!!!! " Actually now that I think about it, if all he does for the rest of his career is sequels and or prequels to his previous efforts, that really kind of tight. But moving on...

Men in Black 3 starts off with the struggling relationship between Agent J (Smith) and Agent K(Jones).  J doesnt feel like he really knows anything about K and K doesnt really care to let him in. Then all of a sudden this strange alien Boris the Animal shows up (played by Flight of the Chonchords Jemaine) trying to kill K  because K took his arm back in the day when he arrested him. He is unsuccessful so he decides to go back in time to do so and that's where the movie takes off. The script is actually a fairly decent one written by Ethan Cohen and no NOT Ethan Coen of the Coen brothers. There's enough decent backstory to keep you interested. Plus it helps that Josh Brolin nails his Tommy Lee Jones impression. Honestly, when I first saw the trailer I thought it was a voice over but it actually turns out to be Brolin. Who by the way still looks the same as he did when he was in Goonies. Which is both good and bad; good that he still looks about 35 but bad that he looked 35 at age 17. Which is in part why I thought Goonies was funny in the first place. But anyway, Jermaine is a waste as Boris because none of his comedic talent is allowed to shine in this character. He is just a basic boring mean alien. Nothing really memorable about him except for his gross hand. Jones is hardly in it because he's too old to do action movies and the first 20 minutes is full of recycled jokes from the first 2 MIB movies, complete with awful Will Smith stand up jokes. All that was missing was a Will Smith MIB rap song; which might have made this movie fresh but instead it just ended up being pretty WEAK. If youre bored and having a netflix night, it might beworth a look with a few beers but nothing more.

Snow White and the Huntsman

So who would have ever thought that there would be two Snow White movies released within a matter of months of each other and neither Danny Devito or Jonah Hill was cast as one of the dwarfs? Seriously how is that possible? It's not as if they are both that busy right now. And if Hill hadn't lost all of that weight it could have been a passing of the torch from one real life pseudo dwarf to the other. And then Hill could have starred in the new Romancing the Stone starring Seth Rogen and Anna Faris.While I am kidding, there is a very real chance of this actually happening one day followed by me laughing in hysterics as I jump from a burning UT building!!! Please Hollywood, just actually start trying again at some point!

So even I skipped Mirror Mirror, which is saying something. But I was kind of excited to see Huntsmen. The previews made it look like there would be enough action and Charlize Theron in it to make up for the awful casting of Kristen Stewart. And just a quick note on Stewart; while she has never been a good actress or even all that cute, she reaches new lows in this unique take on the classic fairy tale. It's like she is forever stuck in the apathetic rebellious teenager phase that most of us get over by age 17. Or some of us make a career out of, see Cobain ( I kid, I kid, I love Kurt). But Snow White is supposed to be the most beautiful woman on Earth, not some detached brat that looks awkward when they smile and has an A cup. I really dont hate Stewart; I cant blame her for playing the game of Hollywood by riding her undserved fame all the way to the bank. It's just this movie could have been a thousand times better with an attrative young actress who can actually act. HBO has no problems finding young talented bruenettes, why couldnt this studio do the same? It's just hard to believe that the Huntsman (Hemsworth), the seven dwarves, and an entire nation would change their ways and risk his lives for this basically invisible character. Hemsworth does what he can for the role and does a decent job of destroying warriors made of black glass. And Theron is as beautiful as ever and delivers a commanding performance. Some would say she over acted a bit, but having been around a few crazy women in my time, I'd say she nailed the crazy evil witch. And she even had a brother who for some reason looked like an albino drummer for The Monkees.I wont waste your time explaining the plot. It's basically Theron wanting to stay the young, beautiful, and evil queen forever and there is only one threat to her plan and that's the new most beautiful woman in the land, Snow White. So she makes every attempt possible to kill her. And for some reason the Huntsman and the dwarfs fall for her beauty and "personality" and decide to help Snow White take down the queen. That's essentially it.

So for the most part, the story was good, the acting was good, and the fx were awesome. Some pretty cool visuals throughout and the glass shattering warriors made up for the lack of blood. It's just that Stewart's acting makes this fairy tale even more unbelievable and takes you right out of the experience. While this movie isnt completely awful, I will still give it a rating of really WEAK.