Some Movie Reviews and New Music Overload

So how do you guys like what I've done with the place?

Movie Reviews:
I've ended up going to a bunch of movies lately and have thusly become bitter towards the movie industry. I need to get these off my chest, two of these I've seen within the past week and one i rented (guess which one) in the hopes of cleansing my pallet with great success).

The Hangover - 5/10
I had heard a lot of good things about this movie (granted I didn't read any actual reviews) and I was somewhat disappointed. The movie itself was decent, but typical of Todd Phillips. I guess it could be that I'm getting older and gimmicks like "Whoa dude there's a tiger in our hotel room, we must have been wasted last night!" just don't work like they used to on me. Or it could just be that those gimmicks are just old and played out. I'm not going to recap the plot too much because it doesn't bear much recapping. Basically take the plot of "Dude Where's My Car" and set it at a bachelors party in Las Vegas and replace the car with the groom-to-be. (If you haven't seen "Dude, Where's My Car" read the title and imagine it being said by Ashton Kutcher and Stifler from American Pie over the course of 90 minutes and also bang your head against a wall). Anyway, the formula is good for a few laughs, but nothing worth seeing again and definitely nothing worth paying $10 to see. Ed Helms (of The Office and formerly The Daily Show) plays the straight-laced nerd and is annoying throughout the movie. Zach Galifianakis (who I've never seen in anything before) plays the weird/crazy step-brother who does stupid shit basically to advance the plot and get the occasional cheap laugh. Bradley Cooper plays the cool/good-looking alpha male of the group and actually comes off as the most likeable character of the movie. He's suave, but also an asshole... and he achieves a high degree of likeablility. Geoffry Tambor (Arrested Development) makes a bried appearance and is hilarious as always, but doesn't get enough play... too bad. Overall, it's a decent movie and Phillip's best since his crowning achievement Old School. It's worth a watch, if only for some cheap laughs.
*note: Mike Tyson plays a somewhat significant role in this film and a 5/10 is the highest rating a film in which Mike Tyson plays a significant role can achieve (unless the film is a documentary about how crazy Mike Tyson is)

Transformers 2: some ridiculous subtitle - 1/10
Considering this movie is a) based on an 80's line of action figures b) a sequel c) a sequel to a bad movie d) directed by Michael Bay and e) starring Shya LaBuf (or however you spell it) this movie was still a disappointment. While this movie has already been shredded by movie critics (0 stars...haha), I'll hop on the bandwagon while the gettin' is good. It's not really worth it to break down all of the ways that this movie is impressively bad so I'll give you an analogy instead. Watching this movie is like eating a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts, then going to White Castle and eating 10 cheeseburgers and chasing it with a 2 liter of Coke, then spending $50 at Wal-Mart on shit you don't need...with all the brand logos prominently displayed. While you're doing it you get a vague sense of sensory satisfaction, but after you're done you just want to throw up and take a shower. The other thing about this movie that I feel isn't being as widely publicized as it should be is the fairly blatant racism present in two of the films characters. While the movie is offensive to pretty much everybody except white males (women, asians, intelligent people) there is an unignorable racist undertone in two of the robots who talk in Ebonics, admit they can't read, have big ears and gold bucked teeth, wrestle at every chance they get, and contribute absolutely nothing meaningful to the plot... as if the stunningly obvious commercial plugs weren't bad enough.

With that said, I wouldn't say "don't see this movie" because, as with many things, there are still things that can be learned from it. What I took from it is the sad reality that a movie like this will make $100s of millions of dollars, and the majority of fans will leave saying it was "a good movie." This is not a good movie in any way, but I think the more aware moviegoer will be able to take this sad reality away from seeing the movie and the fan reaction that follows.

Fright Night - 6.5/10
Yeah I know this movie came out in the 80's (so did I), but I needed to find the most unTransformers movie I can find. I probably could have tracked down some indie flick about a forbidden romance between two war torn lovers, but I wanted something that also had neon green vomit and vampires in it. Anyway, this movie scratched that itch in a way that only a cheesy 80's horror movie can. All the staples were there... protagonist suburban white kid trying to do the right thing, cockblocking girlfriend turned murderous vampire seductress, semi-retarded friend turned wolfman, old guy who everybody underestimates helping save the day. All these lame/hilarious things were there, but what makes this movie worth watching (and probably one of the reasons it remains a cult classic) is the vampire, played by Chris Sarandon (who bizarely enough played Al Pacino's gay love interest in A Dog Day's Afternoon). He combines sauve 80's good looks, with the mystery and evil a good vampire should have. I was actually rooting for him to kill everybody and ride out in his sweet 80's ride... but no luck. The special effects were actually pretty gross/cool in a charming 80's way. In all, going back to a movie like this was refreshing and enjoyable. Even seeing this in the wake of the shitfest of a flick in Transformers. While it's no Creepshow, this was an above average movie definitely worth watching again... even if it's just to laugh at how hilariously 80's the movie is.

New Music:
I've gone new music binging and I'll try to spread it out over a couple posts. This excites me so much, and I might actually buy it. The keyboard/vocalist/producer from Vampire Weekend combining on a side project Ra Ra Riot's lead vocalist on an electro/pop album... holy shit! Pitchfork's album announcement article sums it excellently.






If that's not enough new music, here's a video from critic darling Grizzly Bear. I don't see all the hype for these guys, but I'm also not heavy into twee chamber-pop so go figure... This song, however, is fantastic.