November Movie and CD of the Month: Stranger Than Fiction and Incubus' Light Grenades
Wicked late! As usual! So sue me! Anyway, here you go...
Movie of the Month: Stranger Than Fiction
I just flat-out fell in love with this film. I've been intrigued with it from the beginning, being a fan of Ferrell's, Maggie Gyllenhaal's, and the director Marc Forster's, so I had a good idea that I would at least enjoy it. It also had a really interesting premise (that of a character's actions being narrated by fiction-writer coexisting in the same world as him). A plot like this hasn't caught my attention since Jim Carrey in The Truman Show (one of my all-time favorite films). What I wasn't expecting was what I said in my opening sentence: to fall in love. This is a film (like Clerks 2 earlier this year and my favorite film Garden State), that embodies everything I look for in a great movie. It has believable and heartfelt performances, it reaches out emotionally, mentally, and (for lack of a better word) spiritually, and is utterly original. Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick to perfection (anybody pegging him as a one-trick comedy pony needs to be drug out into the street and shot), beautifully portraying the character's by-the-numbers lifestyle up through his logical and emotional reawakening in the final moments. What's truly amazing is how Crick doesn't even realize his life is hollow as the film starts. He isn't some typical moping, depressed figure that we've become used to seeing. He is who he is, but we follow him on his journey, with the second glorious turn of the year from Gyllenhaal (after World Trade Center) to reaching out to his full-potential and embracing that which is most important: happiness. See this movie.
CD of the Month: Incubus' Light Grenades
Incubus wins the this month's title be default since I didn't get any other November albums, however, I can't say that it isn't deserving. I would have liked to have gotten the new Spock's Beard but the stars just haven't aligned yet for that so here we are. Light Grenades is a pretty solid release. It's got some really great rockin' tunes like the title track, Anna Molly, A Kiss to Send Us Off, and Rogues. A couple great slower tunes like Dig and (one of my personal favorites) Paper Shoes. And then two just kick-ass tunes in Oil and Water and Pendulous Threads. Sadly, I feel the album lacks the overall consistency of their prior release, A Crow Left of the Murder (which happens to be my fav. of their catalog) and Science. Songs like Quicksand, the two Earth to Bellas, and Diamonds and Coal drag the album down a bit. Those first couple I mentioned are just slow and kill the momentum for me, and D and C I just don't like as a song. I find it to be a poor attempt at 80s nostalgia which just doesn't work. All in all, a very decent release which firmly plants itself in the middle of the band's efforts, containing more creativity I know they're capable of than on Make Yourself and Morning View, but lacking the consistency of Science and ACLotM. That's my 2 Cents.
And there you have it. I know it's already January, but you'll have to wait a bit more for the December picks as I'm way behind in going to the movies (which I plant to really start rectifying in the next week or two). In the meantime, I can tell you right now that the CD of the Month (even though it came out in October) will be The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. Don't bother waiting for my post. Just go buy it now. Easily one of the best rock albums in years. This coming from a former MCR basher. I ate my words, now eat yours.
Movie of the Month: Stranger Than Fiction
I just flat-out fell in love with this film. I've been intrigued with it from the beginning, being a fan of Ferrell's, Maggie Gyllenhaal's, and the director Marc Forster's, so I had a good idea that I would at least enjoy it. It also had a really interesting premise (that of a character's actions being narrated by fiction-writer coexisting in the same world as him). A plot like this hasn't caught my attention since Jim Carrey in The Truman Show (one of my all-time favorite films). What I wasn't expecting was what I said in my opening sentence: to fall in love. This is a film (like Clerks 2 earlier this year and my favorite film Garden State), that embodies everything I look for in a great movie. It has believable and heartfelt performances, it reaches out emotionally, mentally, and (for lack of a better word) spiritually, and is utterly original. Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick to perfection (anybody pegging him as a one-trick comedy pony needs to be drug out into the street and shot), beautifully portraying the character's by-the-numbers lifestyle up through his logical and emotional reawakening in the final moments. What's truly amazing is how Crick doesn't even realize his life is hollow as the film starts. He isn't some typical moping, depressed figure that we've become used to seeing. He is who he is, but we follow him on his journey, with the second glorious turn of the year from Gyllenhaal (after World Trade Center) to reaching out to his full-potential and embracing that which is most important: happiness. See this movie.
CD of the Month: Incubus' Light Grenades
Incubus wins the this month's title be default since I didn't get any other November albums, however, I can't say that it isn't deserving. I would have liked to have gotten the new Spock's Beard but the stars just haven't aligned yet for that so here we are. Light Grenades is a pretty solid release. It's got some really great rockin' tunes like the title track, Anna Molly, A Kiss to Send Us Off, and Rogues. A couple great slower tunes like Dig and (one of my personal favorites) Paper Shoes. And then two just kick-ass tunes in Oil and Water and Pendulous Threads. Sadly, I feel the album lacks the overall consistency of their prior release, A Crow Left of the Murder (which happens to be my fav. of their catalog) and Science. Songs like Quicksand, the two Earth to Bellas, and Diamonds and Coal drag the album down a bit. Those first couple I mentioned are just slow and kill the momentum for me, and D and C I just don't like as a song. I find it to be a poor attempt at 80s nostalgia which just doesn't work. All in all, a very decent release which firmly plants itself in the middle of the band's efforts, containing more creativity I know they're capable of than on Make Yourself and Morning View, but lacking the consistency of Science and ACLotM. That's my 2 Cents.
And there you have it. I know it's already January, but you'll have to wait a bit more for the December picks as I'm way behind in going to the movies (which I plant to really start rectifying in the next week or two). In the meantime, I can tell you right now that the CD of the Month (even though it came out in October) will be The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. Don't bother waiting for my post. Just go buy it now. Easily one of the best rock albums in years. This coming from a former MCR basher. I ate my words, now eat yours.