December Movie and CD of the Month: Children of Men and My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade
Why must I always be so late?!?!? Busy busy busy, I guess. Oh well.
Anyway, I've got my Year-End Wrap-Up coming up very soon, as in, hopefully in the next few days. PLUS! The Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow so my yearly Oscar predictions will also be coming up, probably closer to the end of the week. One thing that sucks is one of the key movies I really wanted to see in time for these posts, I will not end up getting a chance to check out, and that is Little Children. Since it was never released in my neck of the woods, I was really pulling for it to come out on DVD early enough, but it that release was just announced for the END of April. How lame is that? Anyway, on with the show...
Movie of the Month: Children of Men
As is typical, I saw lots of December movies (including Blood Diamond (awesome), The Holiday (pretty good), The Pursuit of Happyness (very good), Eragon (pretty bad), The Good Shepherd (excellent), and Dreamgirls (pretty good)). Movies that I've yet to see, but still intend to include Curse of the Golden Flower, The Painted Veil, and Pan's Labyrinth. The film above all films though is certainly Children of Men. Upon viewing, this film shot straight to the top of my yearly list, and is certainly among the best movies I've seen in years and has become one of my all-time favorites. Alfonso Cuaron has created an incredibly dark, visceral, and believable future in which anarchy reigns throughout the world in light of the fact that no baby has been born for 18 years. Man has lost all sense of hope and meaning. War rules, and only a fascist government in England is able to keep that country plugging along, fighting a constant battle against a tide of immigrants seeking refuge. So what is an everyday man like Clive Owen to do when he's sucked into a corrupt underground movement who just happen to have in their possession the first pregnant women in 18 years? This movie takes you on this pair's journey through hell right on down to the light at the end of the tunnel. Go see this movie and be moved and stimulated in ways you weren't sure possible.
CD of the Month: My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade
Did this album come out in December? No, it came out in October. But it is too damn amazing and has taken over my life far too much for it to go unacknowledged. Like many of you, in the past I either disregarded MCR as annoying, emo garbage or just ignored them all together. But this albums is truly a masterpiece from beginning to end. Every track adds more and more emotional depth to the overall concept of a cancer patient lying in the hospital and watching their life parade past them. Each song has layer upon layer of compositional brilliance, vastly beyond any "typical pop, punk, etc..." that many people write them off as. I defy anyone to listen to the song Mama and not recognize the talent and songwriting skills that are prevalent here. From the beautiful guitar solo in "I Don't Love you," to the soaring harmonies of "The Sharpest Lives," to the layered guitar work of "Sleep," to the stripped beauty of "Cancer," and the flat-out rock of "House of Wolves." It's all here. It's all amazing. Every track. Perfection. Buy it.
And that's that. It's gonna be about an hour and a half before my next post, due to HEROES! But rest assured, it's coming. Peace out!
Anyway, I've got my Year-End Wrap-Up coming up very soon, as in, hopefully in the next few days. PLUS! The Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow so my yearly Oscar predictions will also be coming up, probably closer to the end of the week. One thing that sucks is one of the key movies I really wanted to see in time for these posts, I will not end up getting a chance to check out, and that is Little Children. Since it was never released in my neck of the woods, I was really pulling for it to come out on DVD early enough, but it that release was just announced for the END of April. How lame is that? Anyway, on with the show...
Movie of the Month: Children of Men
As is typical, I saw lots of December movies (including Blood Diamond (awesome), The Holiday (pretty good), The Pursuit of Happyness (very good), Eragon (pretty bad), The Good Shepherd (excellent), and Dreamgirls (pretty good)). Movies that I've yet to see, but still intend to include Curse of the Golden Flower, The Painted Veil, and Pan's Labyrinth. The film above all films though is certainly Children of Men. Upon viewing, this film shot straight to the top of my yearly list, and is certainly among the best movies I've seen in years and has become one of my all-time favorites. Alfonso Cuaron has created an incredibly dark, visceral, and believable future in which anarchy reigns throughout the world in light of the fact that no baby has been born for 18 years. Man has lost all sense of hope and meaning. War rules, and only a fascist government in England is able to keep that country plugging along, fighting a constant battle against a tide of immigrants seeking refuge. So what is an everyday man like Clive Owen to do when he's sucked into a corrupt underground movement who just happen to have in their possession the first pregnant women in 18 years? This movie takes you on this pair's journey through hell right on down to the light at the end of the tunnel. Go see this movie and be moved and stimulated in ways you weren't sure possible.
CD of the Month: My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade
Did this album come out in December? No, it came out in October. But it is too damn amazing and has taken over my life far too much for it to go unacknowledged. Like many of you, in the past I either disregarded MCR as annoying, emo garbage or just ignored them all together. But this albums is truly a masterpiece from beginning to end. Every track adds more and more emotional depth to the overall concept of a cancer patient lying in the hospital and watching their life parade past them. Each song has layer upon layer of compositional brilliance, vastly beyond any "typical pop, punk, etc..." that many people write them off as. I defy anyone to listen to the song Mama and not recognize the talent and songwriting skills that are prevalent here. From the beautiful guitar solo in "I Don't Love you," to the soaring harmonies of "The Sharpest Lives," to the layered guitar work of "Sleep," to the stripped beauty of "Cancer," and the flat-out rock of "House of Wolves." It's all here. It's all amazing. Every track. Perfection. Buy it.
And that's that. It's gonna be about an hour and a half before my next post, due to HEROES! But rest assured, it's coming. Peace out!