Popcorn and Headphones:Movies and Music stuff this week.
Last week, I watched the movie “Thank You For Not Smoking”. I highly recommend it, particularly if you like snarky humor with a solid story. It’s going to be one of my personal favorites for this year’s crop of movies. It may not win any awards, but it will find an intelligent audience.
I also sat down and watched “Brokeback Mountain”. I can see why the actors and actresses got nominated for Academy Awards, but I’m so glad it didn’t win best picture. I put it in a category of a movie like, say, “Ray. It’s a good movie with excellent performances by the actors. It’s not a great movie, just a pretty good one.
I would have to say I enjoyed “Inside Man” as well. It’s not what you would expect from a Spike Lee movie, and I think that’s a good thing. It appears Spike has grown up some and learned to play nice with Hollywood. I believe he’s much more talented than his box office reports have said about him as a director and movie maker and this movie only proves that point. “Inside Man” is not a great movie. It’s a fun movie. It’s as close to a popcorn movie as it will get for Mr. Lee. What made this one so worthwhile is the excellent cast and the wonderful direction. Mr. Washington (Denzel) is doing what he always does, make movies better than they truly are and Clive Owen proves he’s just as worthy standing opposite Dezel. Throw in a Jodie Foster (who has obviously been working out) and you have a strong cast who raise a mediocre script into a must see movie.
Hmmm, some songs that have been doing it for me lately:
“You’re Beautiful” - James Blunt : This song is being worn out by the radio and for good reason. It has that “IT” quality written all over it. Girls will love it and guys will dedicate it to their current love. I don’t think it helps that the video is interesting as well.
“Rip Out the Wings of A Butterfly” - H.I.M. (His Infernal Majesty): Some Finnish group I believe with a wonderful rock hit I’ve heard more and more recently. It can see this song plastered all over the backgrounds of movie trailers within the next six months. I don’t think the band looks like I pictured them to.
“Dance, Dance” - Fall Out Boy : By all rights, I should HATE this band. Everything about them screams loathing. They are a pop/rock band in every sense of the word. And yet, they are fun. Their stuff isn’t unique by any means but it works well and you have to appreciate their sense of humor. This song is no different, it’s just a lot of fun and you don’t often find a rock song you can actually dance around to.
"Hysteria" - Muse: I LOVE the album this song comes from, "Absolution". In fact, I love just about everything this band does. Their music is a breath of fresh air to the average. Is it's totally Rock, is it something else? You can't totally pigeonhole them and I love that. And speaking of Muse. . .
"Time Is Running Out" - Muse: It starts out as a hushed whisper and morphs into a tour de force of alt-rock bliss. I wish thses guys were American because I'm sure they don't tour the US very much.
I also sat down and watched “Brokeback Mountain”. I can see why the actors and actresses got nominated for Academy Awards, but I’m so glad it didn’t win best picture. I put it in a category of a movie like, say, “Ray. It’s a good movie with excellent performances by the actors. It’s not a great movie, just a pretty good one.
I would have to say I enjoyed “Inside Man” as well. It’s not what you would expect from a Spike Lee movie, and I think that’s a good thing. It appears Spike has grown up some and learned to play nice with Hollywood. I believe he’s much more talented than his box office reports have said about him as a director and movie maker and this movie only proves that point. “Inside Man” is not a great movie. It’s a fun movie. It’s as close to a popcorn movie as it will get for Mr. Lee. What made this one so worthwhile is the excellent cast and the wonderful direction. Mr. Washington (Denzel) is doing what he always does, make movies better than they truly are and Clive Owen proves he’s just as worthy standing opposite Dezel. Throw in a Jodie Foster (who has obviously been working out) and you have a strong cast who raise a mediocre script into a must see movie.
Hmmm, some songs that have been doing it for me lately:
“You’re Beautiful” - James Blunt : This song is being worn out by the radio and for good reason. It has that “IT” quality written all over it. Girls will love it and guys will dedicate it to their current love. I don’t think it helps that the video is interesting as well.
“Rip Out the Wings of A Butterfly” - H.I.M. (His Infernal Majesty): Some Finnish group I believe with a wonderful rock hit I’ve heard more and more recently. It can see this song plastered all over the backgrounds of movie trailers within the next six months. I don’t think the band looks like I pictured them to.
“Dance, Dance” - Fall Out Boy : By all rights, I should HATE this band. Everything about them screams loathing. They are a pop/rock band in every sense of the word. And yet, they are fun. Their stuff isn’t unique by any means but it works well and you have to appreciate their sense of humor. This song is no different, it’s just a lot of fun and you don’t often find a rock song you can actually dance around to.
"Hysteria" - Muse: I LOVE the album this song comes from, "Absolution". In fact, I love just about everything this band does. Their music is a breath of fresh air to the average. Is it's totally Rock, is it something else? You can't totally pigeonhole them and I love that. And speaking of Muse. . .
"Time Is Running Out" - Muse: It starts out as a hushed whisper and morphs into a tour de force of alt-rock bliss. I wish thses guys were American because I'm sure they don't tour the US very much.