Movie & Music

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

2008-07-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

When a female FBI agent goes missing in mysterious circumstances, the Agency calls on the very retired and reticent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) - through his ex Agency partner, the now busy and committed physician, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). She has her own problems, trying to save the life of a young boy with serious brain disease. But she convinces Mulder, who is soon intrigued by convicted pedophile priest Father Joe (Billy Connolly) whose apparent psychic powers lead the FBI to their first grisly clue. As another woman goes missing, the urgency intensifies but Mulder's willingness to believe is shaken and those around him, even Scully, draw back from the inexplicable.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
It's complicated - but not too much so. And I'm referring to the revived old relationship between Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) - as well as the plot. The fans will lap up this thrilling new feature that has gestated in the belly of the hugely popular series for years. From its no holds barred start to its heartfelt finish, the film is compelling entertainment, thanks in part to a great script and in part to the top performances.

Mature in every way, the film and its characters lead us scene by scene through a maze of clues and scares as the story elements start to converge. I don't want to spoil the revelations by saying more about that, except that it's clever and credible. The writers have woven a rich and complex story in which the characters move with great dramatic payoffs.

Duchovny and Anderson bring a maturity to their characters, infused with a well worked subtext about their relationship, which sustains throughout, without relying on gimmicks or stretches of credibility. Both actors bring depth and emotion to the film, as does the wonderful Billy Connolly, who clearly responded to the challenge of playing Father Joe, a repentant pedophile with a psychic gift - or is it just fantasy? Connolly is superbly in command of his character and shows us a level of complexity that elevates his support role to a higher plane.

Great support from Amanda Peet and Alvin Xzibit Joiner as FBI agents, the former very matter of fact and let's get the job done, the latter dismissive of Mulder and his openness to the psychic.

The film's great achievement is that even within the bounds of its genre as a supernatural thriller, it generates a much deeper resonance about a range of issues, from God and faith to the mysteries of daily life.

Review by Louise Keller:
The white of snow provides the setting for this dark tale in which the unexplained provides the most provocative questions. It's hard to believe it has been ten years since the highly popular X-Files TV series finally found its way to the screen, but it's no surprise that the chemistry between David Duchovney's Mulder and Gillian Anderson's Scully remains as binding as ever. Nothing is simple: from the tense plot involving severed body parts and animal tranquilisers to Billy Connolly's remorseful pedophile priest whose psychic visions are punctuated by tears of blood. And not least is the complexity of Mulder and Scully's multi-layered relationship, beginning with their personal bond before ricocheting into areas of their fundamental individual differences. Superbly made with an edge of the seat tension that lingers, X-Files fans will be more than satisfied as the credible and incredible sit side by side in an explosive melee.

There's something eerie about the opening snow-covered sequence in Somerset West Virginia, when Billy Connolly's grey, messy haired psychic is flanked by an army of FBI agents, as he uses his talents to locate frozen body parts buried in the snow. Connolly himself is buried as deeply inside his tortured character as is the arm wrapped in black plastic beneath the snow, as he delivers a ghost of a man whose sins have stripped him of a soul. Amanda Peet and Xzibit join the cast as agents on the case, but all the warmth and humanity belong to Mulder and Scully, who both reveal the scars from their past as well as the unshakeable bond that keeps them together. Mulder has become a recluse, while Scully questions her right as a doctor to make decisions for her young patient. As they unwittingly become involved in this new case involving a missing FBI agent, their involvement becomes deeper and deeper, like footprints in the snow.

The Return of Space CowBoy

2008-07-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

Jamiroquai's sophomore record had all the slinky grooves and great musicianship of the debut, but it also offered a better set of songs and more ambitious musical themes. As with Emergency on Planet Earth, Jason Kay's dead-on impression of Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone drives the group's blend of acid jazz and funky R&B.

"Space Cowboy" and "Light Years" were hits all over the world, and made the band stars in Europe and Japan, while substantial clubplay earned them a degree of recognition for American audiences. But Jamiroquai refused to be known as simply a party band; the group takes on social issues such as homelessness and Native Americans' rights.

Batman: Dark Knight looks like it's happening on the streets and not in a computer.

2008-07-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

Our comic-book-movie culture is 30 years old (it kicked off in 1978, with the Christopher Reeve Superman), and in those three decades of speed and light and destruction, of well-coiffed demigods in bodysuits zipping through the air and shimmying up walls, comic-book films have yielded more than their share of spectacle and thrills yet virtually nothing in the way of mystery. But in The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan's ominously labyrinthine and exciting sequel to Batman Begins, good and evil aren't just separate forces — at times, they're a whisper away from each other — and the movie exudes a predatory glamour that makes the comic-book films that have come before it look all the more like kid stuff. The Dark Knight is jammed with thorny underworld conspiracies, obscenely oversize tank-cars, and action scenes that teeter madly out of control, all blanketed by the psycho-anarchic musings of a villain so warped he turns crime into a contest of Can you top this? At two hours and 32 minutes, this is almost too much movie, but it has a malicious, careening zest all its own. It's a ride for the gut and the brain.

Batman (Christian Bale), that snake-hiss-voiced vigilante who plays out the vengeful fantasies that Bruce Wayne can only dream about, has now gone a good way toward cleaning up Gotham City; he has even inspired copycat Batmans. Then why so serious? Our hero is regularly referred to as ''the Batman'' (a phrase lifted from Frank Miller's graphic novel), with that the suggesting he's less a superhero than a sinister urban creature — just one among many. The woman Bruce loves, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), has been driven away by his moonlight escapades; she's now the squeeze of the lantern-jawed, shining-knight DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). What's more, thanks to Batman's crime-fighting spree — which the honorable lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) winks at under the table — a void has opened up. Into that space steps the Joker (Heath Ledger), a sick puppy in smeary clown makeup who wants to make the world feel his pain.

Bale, all steely reserve, once again captivates as the haunted caped crusader who must shed morality to beat the devil at his game. But just as Tim Burton's 1989 Batman was anchored by the joy-buzzer glee of Jack Nicholson's party-down Joker, The Dark Knight takes its cue from its Joker and his deadly circus of chaos. Heath Ledger's mesmerizing, scary-funny performance begins with the creepiness of his image: the greasy long hair, the makeup that looks as if he'd drawn it on with crayons, then messed it with tears. That ghostly rotting paint job covers his scarred smile (explained by a backstory that gives you the willies, even if he just made it up), and the disturbing thing is that when Ledger's Joker talks, with those ''Ehhh, what's up, Doc?'' vowels that make him sound like Al Franken crossed with a nerdish pedophile, you realize that the icky sloshing sound you hear is him sucking on his cheeks; he uses his attachment to those scars to fuel his sadistic (and masochistic) whims. This Joker may be a torture freak, but he also has a lost quality, a melancholy hidden within those black-circled eyes. He turns slaughter into a punchline; he's a homicidal comedian with an audience of one — himself. In this, the last performance he completed before his death, Ledger had a maniacal gusto inspired enough to suggest that he might have lived to be as audacious an actor as Marlon Brando, and maybe as great.

The Joker organizes the riffraff mobsters of Gotham City, but only to use them as bait, creating a whirlpool of corruption that sucks everyone down. He's an improv maniac, with no grand plan; his ultimate joke is to show that nobility won't hold in a world of disorder. At moments, the film's center doesn't hold. The deranged twist of what happens to Harvey Dent, for instance, seems at once too much and not enough. Mostly, though, that's because the movie didn't need it. Bale's seething, demon-saint Batman, locked in his dance of death with the Joker (''You complete me!'' says the villain, and for once he isn't kidding), is already an indelible figure of good battling it out with the darkness, right there in his own heart.

Yellow

2008-07-14T21:43:00.001-07:00

by:Coldplay

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.
I came along,
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called "Yellow".
So then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have done,
And it was all "Yellow."
Your skin,
Oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into something beautiful,
You know, you know I love you so,
You know I love you so.
I swam across,
I jumped across for you,
Oh what a thing to do.
Cos you were all "Yellow",
I drew a line,
I drew a line for you,
Oh what a thing to do,
And it was all "Yellow."
Your skin,
Oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into something beautiful,
And you know,
For you I bleed myself dry,
For you I bleed myself dry.
It's true,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine.
Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And all the things that you do.

ColdPlay: The London foursome

2008-07-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

The London foursome Coldplay are constant critic's darlings in the band's native U.K., showcasing melodic pop in a slew of EP releases and constant live shows since the spark of the new millennium. Not as heavy as Radiohead or snobbish as Oasis, Coldplay is a band of young musicians who are still honing their sweet harmonies on the debut release Parachutes.

Combining bits of distorted guitar riffs and swishing percussion, Parachutes is a delightful introduction and also quickly indicates the reason why this album earned Coldplay a Mercury Music Prize nomination in fall 2000. Frontman Chris Martin's lyrical wordplay is feministic in the manner of Geneva's Andrew Montgomery, but far more withered. The imagery captured on Parachutes is exquisitely dark and artistically abrasive, and the entire composition is tractable thanks to gauzy acoustics and airy percussion.

Coldplay's indie rock inclinations are also obvious, especially on songs such as "Don't Panic" and "Shiver," but it's the dream pop soundscapes captured on "High Speed" and "We Never Change" that illustrate the band's dynamic passion. This basic pop is surely a refreshing effort in the face of big productions like the Spice Girls and Westlife. Parachutes deserves the accolades it has received because it follows the general rule when introducing decent pop songs: keep the emotion genuine and real. And Coldplay has done that without hesitation.

Sex and the City: The Movie: loses steam in the transition to the big screen

2008-07-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

Fans of "Sex and the City" will find everything they loved about the TV series in the movie of the same name: four catty, chatty, fashion-forward women talking about the problems with the men in their lives, including copious amounts of shopping, dining, drinking and, yes, sex.
If, like me, you're not one of those fans, you may plan to steer clear of this movie. But if you are dragged to a screening by the "Sex and the City" fan in your life, the good news is that you will survive the experience - and maybe even have fun.
After a spirited opening-credits sequence in which he summarizes the series for novices, writer-director Michael Patrick King throws us back into the New York social swirl of newspaper columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her gal-pals: brittle Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), wide-eyed Charlotte York-Goldenblatt (Kristen Davis) and, winging in frequently from L.A., sexually voracious Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall).
All four are paired up with men, though the relationships are not without problems: Miranda and her bartender husband, Steve (David Eigenberg), are in a sexual dry spell, while Samantha feels tied down to her actor-model boyfriend, Smith (Jason Lewis). Carrie's life with Mr. Big (Chris Noth), the source of much of her romantic angst during the series, is going along smoothly - until they decide, in an oddly businesslike manner, to get married.
What begins as a small wedding mushrooms into a Vogue-bankrolled circus (complete with a Vivienne Westwood wedding dress that has higher billing than half the cast). Without divulging major plot points, know that things unravel, leading to more commiseration, which for these women means more shopping, dining and drinking.
Fans of the show will lap up this stuff like a well-mixed cosmopolitan, while nonfans will get some hearty laughs, especially from Davis' dizzy Charlotte. But I couldn't help but wonder (as Carrie always says) how fans will avoid some nagging questions, such as:
- Why couldn't King make more of "Dreamgirls' " Jennifer Hudson, Carrie's can-do assistant and plus-size version of Carrie's younger self, than just a Human Plot Device?
- Why is product placement for Coca-Cola and Doritos considered whorish and tacky in other movies, but here the slathering of luxury brand names - Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Oscar de le Renta, Dior, Gucci, etc. - is considered classy?
- Why is Carrie allowed to sport a look - wearing a bra with backless dresses - that would get you laughed out of most redneck bars?
- Why is this movie so darn long?
- Finally, was this bonbon to the show's fans, four years after the "happily ever after" series finale, really necessary?

Rock ‘n’ roll star

2008-07-11T21:14:00.001-07:00

by:Oasis

Live my life in the city
There’s no easy way out
The day’s moving just too fast for me
Need some time in the sunshine
Gotta slow it right down
The day’s moving just too fast for me

I live my life for the stars that shine
People say it’s just a waste of time
When they said I should feed my head
That to me was just a day in bed
I’ll take my car and drive real far
To where they’re not concerned about the way we are
Cos in my mind my dreams are real
Are you concerned about the way I feel

Tonight I’m a rock n roll star

Live my life in the city
There’s no easy way out
The day’s moving just too fast for me
Need some time in the sunshine
Gotta slow it right down
The day’s moving just too fast for me

Tonight I’m a rock n roll star

Oasis: a delicious mix of talented men

2008-07-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

Sound: The band itself is comprised of a delicious mix of talented men, who pour their heart and souls into there songs. Though most of the songs sound similar to eachother, they all sound great. This band was the band that inspired my own music, that I play. They are a great influence on any musician. They have a not so uniqueness about them, sometimes sounding a bit like Lapush, the Verve, or maybe even Coldplay at times, except for on a few songs. This CD is a great CD to listen to if you enjoy that type of music. Never going overboard, they create just the right tone, and sound.

Lyrics and Singing: All of the lyrics on this CD are all very meainingful, and can only have been written by someone who has experienced what has been sung in the songs. If you listen carefully, you can eassily decipher a deeper meaning to some of the songs, such as "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel." A great song, with a deep meaning. The music fits the lyrics like a blove on a hand, and meshes perfectly with the bands musical style. No matter what, they sound great.

Impression: I would rate this music most highly, and recomend it to anyone who crosses my path. If someone stole it, I would find them and make them give it back or buy a new one. It's worth the money, for such an excelent music! I love the fact that all of the songs sound alike, but each have there own changes that make them sound not-so-alike. I love in "Let There Be love" how the singing switches from Noel to Liam in a perfect blend that makes the song work. I do think the band should experiment with a little more different styles, just to keep them fresh, but other than that, it's a first class CD, that should be in everyones CD collection.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull : An iconic film character deserved a better story than this

2008-07-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

What was so urgent?

Why did Steven Spielberg have to get Indiana Jones' famed fedora out of the Smithsonian and revive a movie franchise that first appeared 27 years ago?

Why all the hype and mystery?

True, this was a chance to bring back a character ardent fans from the not-too-distant past thought was gone forever. Yes, this was a chance to bring back the man who seemed an almost impossible combination of prodigious intellect, academic accomplishment and cowboy swagger.

But if this is one of the iconic figures in film history, certainly he deserved a better vehicle.

There is not much to distinguish this story from the very first one because both follow practically the same path. It goes something like, Jones is given a treasure to find. But he must do it before some sort of evil empire gets their hands on it because this treasure yields some sort of otherworldly power that humanity can't afford to let fall into the wrong hands.

Substitute the Nazis in the first film with Cold War Russians (circa 1957) this time. Cate Blanchett plays KGB agent Irina Spalko who wants to get her hands on a crystal skull belonging to an ancient Peruvian society because it may give her the power to read others minds.

Of course there are big military applications for such power; The ease with which to interrogate enemies, knowing their moves ahead of time during combat. Probably not the best bet to place during the Cold War to establish one's superiority. But this is the movies.

Yet, KGB agents aren't archaeologists, so they force Jones into helping.

It also helps that one of Jones' colleagues, Harold Oxley (John Hurt) is captured while looking for the skull himself and if Jones doesn't help, Oxley will die.

Shia LeBeouf plays Mutt Williams, whose mother is being held with Oxley. So he and Jones start to work together.

Make no mistake, this is an action film. There is just enough set up to justify motorcycle chases, fistfights and secret antechambers with moving walls within ruins thousands of years old. And each temple, again, has some sort of maniacal Rube Goldberg device meant to kill all who attempt to find it's treasure.

Everything here resembles the first film and that's the gist of my complaint. Didn't Indy deserve something more than a mere retread of his first movie? Or did Spielberg not trust audiences to flock to the box office if he gave them something too different, too fresh?

And as much as I liked seeing Karen Allen again, was this an attempt to bring back a forgotten actress or a lame attempt to hearken back to the first movie?

Whatever the reason for this revival is, it all looks too familiar. There is nothing new to embrace, nothing new to discover. There isn't the same kind of excitement brought on by the first film. That is unless we think LeBoeuf's character, which is more Arthur Fonzarelli than Indiana Jones, is going to take over.

Make no mistake, with all the money the two National Treasure movies have made, they look utterly silly in comparison. And this is the model for them, no doubt.

But either it's time to infuse Jones next movie with more writing talent, if there is to be another. Or it might be time to send the whip and the hat back to the museum.

It's Gonna Rain

2008-07-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

by: Bonnie Pink

ashidori mo karuku shite CHAO CHAO
torumono mo toriaezu CHAO CHAO
RAION ga unaru mitaina raimei ga
taisan wo unagashiteiru dou naru no ?
sou... mousugu ame
daikiraii ame nanka CHAO CHAO
mou sukoshi itai no ni CHAO CHAO
kaikan ga kansai ni kawaru shunkan wo
RAION ga isogaseta no wa
meihaku no! meiwaku
It's gonna rain!
ame wa mou ARIBAI wo kesu no?
kare wa mou wasureteshimau no?
futari wa mou korekiri ni naru no?
subete wa ame no sei tte koto ni shiteokou
kare kara no renraku wa
Nothing Nothing
ame ni yoru kyoukun mo Nothing nothing
kanjou mo IGIRISU no tenki mitai ni
utsurigi dattara totemo
raku nanoni... gyaku nano
It's gonna rain!
ame ga netsu wo yomigaeraseta
kare mo futo watashi wo omoidashita
futari wa ima koko ni michibikareta
subete wa ame no sei uun okage nano
ame wa hito wo yondari keshitari
dare yori mo tegowa MAGISHAN ne
futari wa itsumo damasarete bakari
subete wa ame de hajimarun deshou...
It's gonna rain!...

Bonnie Pink: Japan's strongest female rock singer/songwriters

2008-07-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

Kaori Asada, better known as Bonnie Pink, is currently one of Japan's strongest female rock singer/songwriters in a country not known for such a thing. Blessed with a keen ear for melody and a voice that hints at Suzanne Vega, Chrissy Hynde, and Alanis Morissette but ultimately remains her own, Bonnie Pink has gone on to attract worldwide acclaim and the attention of producers including Tore Johhansen (the Cardigans) and Mitchell Froom (Suzanne Vega).

Born in Kyoto, Japan, she snagged her first recording contract while still attending college. Adopting her stage name Bonnie Pink to match her electric pink Beatle-cut hair and to give a nod to the Western artists who influenced her, she released her first mini album, Blue Jam, in 1995 on Pony Canyon, containing eight cuts of '70s-tinged soulful rock.

It was enough to attract the attention of Tore Johhanson, who brought her to Sweden to record her breakthrough debut, Heaven's Kitchen, in 1997, which resulted in three high-charting singles. Her popularity garnered her a spot on the Japanese version of George Martin's ill-fated In My Life album, singing "Blackbird." Evil and Flowers appeared in 1998, her last album for Pony Canyon (two best-of compilations, Bonnie's Kitchen number one and number two, soon followed). Switching to Warner Bros. subsidiary East West, she first released a single "Sleeping Child" that featured remixes by Stereolab and the High Llamas, then followed up with an album Let Go in 2000. She has yet to find Western distribution, but surely has paid her dues to deserve it.

Amayadori

2008-07-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

by:Mayumi Itsuwa

Eki no humo de mikaketa
Anata wa mukashi no koibito
sono, natsukashi yokogao
Omowazu koe o kaketa watashi

Anata wa odoroita yo o ni
Tabako o otoshite shimatta
Kudake chitta hoo no hibi ga
Tsuka no mani, yomigaeri
Mitsume au,
doo shiteru ima wa
Arekara kimi wa,
Genki ni shiteru wa
Itsu datte watashi,
Ocha demo nomou
Sukoshi no jikan,
Densha wa
Toori sugite yuku
Anata wa koohi kaku ni
Kakkusatoo futatsu irete
Ima no boku wa,
konna mono sato
Warai nagara
Kami o kaki ageta
Soo dakedo fushigi ne
Anohi wakareta koto mo
Tada amari ni wakasugita dakedato futari
Tagai ni yurushi aeru

Aishita wa, watashi
Anata no koto o
ima wa betsu betsu no
Yume o ou kedo
Meguri aiwa
Sutekina koto ne
Amayadori suru yoo ni futari

Aishita wa, watashi
Anata no koto o
ima wa betsu betsu no
Yume o ou kedo
Meguri aiwa
Sutekina koto ne
Amayadori suru yoo ni futari

"Meet Dave" is harmless sci-fi summer fare

2008-07-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

This unremarkable sci-fi gagfest begins with a bang, when a spaceship in the form of Eddie Murphy smashes face-first into New York's Liberty Island. Inside the mechanical body is a crew of micro-size humanoids whose commander also looks like Eddie Murphy.

The Eddie ship and the Eddie captain are on a mission to deploy a tiny orb into Earth's ocean so that their home planet can be saved from extinction (they need the salt). What follows is in the service of vignettes that let Murphy do some signature mugging in the context of a family-friendly story about discovering that things work out pretty well if everybody just helps each other.

The sight of Murphy strutting stiffly around Manhattan in a spotless white suit makes for a few laughs (the aliens' concept of fashion comes from intercepted broadcasts of Ricardo Montalban in "Fantasy Island"). But the typical grinning and goofing that made Murphy who he is don't get enough backbone of spirit to keep the goof running for long. The same goes for the other Murphy character, the Lilliputian ship's captain, who gets hardly any gags of his own.

Scenes inside the spaceship, which depict the crew furiously working out Earth culture and the proper ways to manipulate their vehicle, are integrated nicely into the real-world action. Unfortunately, the banter sometimes comes off like a rehash of "Herman's Head." There's a good ensemble cast filling typical spaceship roles. Gabrielle Union is especially appealing as the captain's junior officer, foil and co-conspirator as the entire crew learns about humanity.

Spaceship Eddie also gets sidekick shtick from Gina (Elizabeth Banks) and her son, Josh (Austin Lynd Myers), who has the orb. They make an agreeable if fairly saccharin trio who inhabit a fantasy version of New York City.

The movie packs a fair amount of visual pizazz, from the squeaky-clean cityscapes to the understated special effects. Families who take an evening to "Meet Dave" could do worse in the risky world of innocuous summer fun.

Every Morning

2008-07-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

by:Sugar Ray

Every morning there's a halo hangin'
From the corner of my girlfriend's four post bed
I know it's not mine but I'll see if I can use it for
The weekend or a one-night stand

Couldn't understand how to work it out
Once again as predicted
Left my broken heart open
And you ripped it out

Something's got me reeling
Stopped me from believing
Turn me around again
Said that we can do it
You know I wanna do it again

Sugar ray say, every morning
Every morning when I wake up
Shut the door baby, don't say a word
She always rights wrongs
She always rights, she always rights
Shut the door baby, shut the door baby

Every morning there's a heartache hanging
From the corner of my girlfriend's four-post bed
I know it's not mine and I know she thinks she loves me
But I never can believe what she said

Something so deceiving
When you stop believing
Turn me around again
Said we couldn't do it
You know I wanna do it again

Every morning, every morning when I wake up
Shut the door baby, don't say a word
Every morning, every morning when I wake up
Shut the door baby, shut the door baby
She always rights the wrongs for me, baby
She always rights the wrongs for me

Every morning there's a halo hanging
From the corner of my girlfriends four-post bed
I know it's not mine but I'll see if I can use it for
The weekend or a one-night stand
Shut the door baby, don't say a word

Every morning, every morning when I wake up
Shut the door baby, shut the door baby
Every morning, every morning
Shut the door baby, don't say a word
Every morning, every morning when I wake up
Every morning, shut the door baby

Sugar Ray :a little self-conscious and jokey

2008-07-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

By their fourth album, Sugar Ray had developed a real ease to their music. Starting with "Fly," they no longer tried so hard to rock -- they no longer tried to ape the Red Hot Chili Peppers -- and began relaxing into a sun-kissed, laid-back groove, the kind of music where even the fast numbers powered by distorted guitars don't necessarily sound heavy.

This came to the forefront on 14:59, but it blossoms on that album's follow-up, Sugar Ray. Where 14:59 was a little self-conscious and jokey (culminating in a cover of Steve Miller's "Abracadabra"), Sugar Ray feels easy and natural, so it's easy to smile at the reference to Run-D.M.C.instead of cringing. And that'sthe key to the record -- it's relaxed, utterly without pretension, and often charmingly melodic. Sure, there are some cuts that fall flat, but this record is more consistent than any of their previous albums, thanks not only to a stronger set of material, but the fact that the band is gelling as a band, which makes even the missteps easier to listen to.

Best of all, the band never runs from their past, adding another great summer single to their arsenal with "When It's Over" (easily the equal of "Fly" and "Every Morning"), while even sampling "Every Morning" on "Ours." All this doesn't make Sugar Ray seem new, but there's charm to their performances, which make the album seen fresh, all the same. For a supposed one-hit wonder, it's remarkable that they've released their best album four records into their career.

Journey to the Center of the Earth :It's mostly for videogame fans who wish movies were more like videogames.

2008-07-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

If you can see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D, go for it! It’s a very straight forward, sometimes Disney-esque silly movie, but one worth your time if you can see it the way it was intended to be viewed by audiences (with stuff flying off the screen at your head!), but they missed out when we weren’t given a theme song by Steve Perry (I'll never stop believing).

Brendan Fraser stars as Trevor – a college professor who studies volcanoes, just like his brother, who disappeared several years ago. While the brother’s son, Sean (Josh Hutcherson), is staying with Trevor for a few days, our volcanologist discovers an old copy of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth complete with all sorts of notes made in the margins by his brother (Detective Bookman better not find out about that link to IMDB page). Trevor assumes this could be the key to finding his missing sibling, because the classic Verne story could be true, and his brother went off to find this mysterious, legendary passage way to the center of the Earth.

Can Trevor and Sean follow the book and find the center of the Earth?

Is that a good idea?

Journey to the Center of the Earth is the first movie to be filmed in digital 3D, which has some great benefits and pitfalls for the movie on several levels. First, this is the wave of the future. Theaters across America and worldwide are starting to convert to a new digital format that will lead to all sorts of benefits for moviemakers and studios, but you don’t care about them. What does it mean for you when you buy a $9 ticket to a movie?

In the case of Journey to the Center of the Earth, it means a film with a continuous 3D look adding depth to every set and situation (visual depth, not emotional or intellectual depth, but more about that later), some cool special effects, but some other scenes where director Eric Brevig is trying too hard to use the 3D effect to wow the audience. In one scene, a yo-yo flies out at the audience, and, in another, balls spill out and bounce around the screen. Both scenes feel forced to show off the 3D effect, but other scenes, where the action already is enthralling are enhanced by the 3D view (floating magnetic rocks and center of the earth piranhas!).

The four person writing team doesn’t make Journey to the Center of the Earth very challenging for the audience, because it relies on the tried, true, typical and trite plotlines, which leads to a kid friendly action movie with lots of theme park ride-type moments. However, Journey to the Center of the Earth is a great example of the kind of movie visuals we can expect in the future.

Summertime

2008-07-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

by:Sublime

Summertime and the livin's easy
Bradley's on the microphone with Ras-MG
All the people in the dance will agree that
we're well qualified to
represent
the LBC

Me and Louie we're gunna run to the party and dance till the rhythm it
gets
harder

Ba da ba bye bye
Ba da ba bye bye

Me and my girl we got this relationship
I love her so bad, but she trats me like shhh
All locked down like a penitentiary
She spreads her lovin all over
and when she gets home
there's none left for me

Summertime and the livin's easy
Bradley's on the microphone with Ras-MG
All the people in the dance will agree that we're well qualified to
represent
the LBC

Me and Louie we're gunna run to the party
and dance till the rhythm it gets
harder

Ba da ba bye bye
Ba da ba bye bye
Ba da ba bye bye
ba da ba bye bye

So take this veil from off my eyes
My burning sun will some day rise
And what am I gunna be doin for a wife
I said I'm gunna play with myself
Show them now we've come off the self
Summertime and the livin easy
Bradley's on the microphone with Ras-MG
All the people in the dance will agree that we're well qualified to
represent
the LBC

Me and Louie we're gunna run to the party
and dance till the rhythm it
gets
harder

Evil
Evil
Tension
Tension
Hold her
Water

Evil come to tell you that she's evil
most definitrly
Evil, horny scandalous and evil
most definitely

The tension is growing hotter
I'd like to hold her head underwater

Summertime and the livin's easy
Bradley's on the microphone with RAS-MG
All the people in the dance will agree that we're well qualified to
represent
the
LBC

Me and Louie everybody run to the party
and dance till the rhythm it gets
harder

Sublime: traditionalist fusion of Californian hardcore punk

2008-07-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Sublime's eponymous major-label debut arrived a few months after the band's leader, Brad Nowell, died tragically of a heroin overdose. As a show of sympathy, the album tended to be slightly overrated in some critical quarters, who claimed that Nowell was an exceptionally gifted lyricist and musical hybridist, but Sublime doesn't quite support those claims.

The trio does have a surprising grace in its unabashedly traditionalist fusion of Californian hardcore punk, light hip-hop, and reggae. Switching between bracing hardcore and slow, sexy reggae numbers, Sublime display supple, muscular versatility and, on occasion, a gift for ingratiatingly catchy hooks, as on the hit single "What I Got." What they don't have is the vision -- either lyrical or musical -- to maintain interest throughout the course of the entire album. Sublime sags when the band delves too deeply into their dub aspirations or when their lyrics slide into smirking humor.

The low moments don't arrive that often -- by and large, the album is quite engaging -- but they happen frequently enough to make the record a demonstration of the band's blossoming ability, but not the fulfillment of their full potential. Of course, Nowell's death gives the record a certain pathos, but that doesn't make the album any stronger.

Hellboy II:Poetic, funny, darkly romantic and beautifully structured.

2008-07-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

With a signature blend of action, humor and character-based spectacle, the saga of the world's toughest, kitten-loving hero from Hell continues to unfold in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Bigger muscle, badder weapons and more ungodly villains arrive in an epic vision of imagination from Oscar®-nominated director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy).

After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it's up to the planet's toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless dictator and his marauders. He may be red. He may be horned. He may be misunderstood.

But when you need the job done right, it's time to call in Hellboy (Ron Perlman). Along with his expanding team in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development--pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair), aquatic empath Abe (Doug Jones) and protoplasmic mystic Johann--the BPRD will travel between the surface strata and the unseen magical one, where creatures of fantasy become corporeal. And Hellboy, a creature of two worlds who's accepted by neither, must choose between the life he knows and an unknown destiny that beckons him.

Evanescence: a dissipation or disappearance like vapor

2008-07-11T00:51:00.000-07:00

Twenty-year-old Amy Lee is up to something. The singer for Little Rock, Arkansas's Evanescence (which means "a dissipation or disappearance like vapor") could be the next generation’s Goth queen if she’d go gently into the full moon-werewolf night.

But while her own influences could be Kate Bush, Tori Amos and any member of the Cocteau Twins, she's backed by co-collaborator guitarist Ben Moody who could emerge over time as the guy single-handedly responsible for bringing back progressive rock with his heavy emphasis on atmosphere and Meat Loaf-meets-Rush pomp and circumstance.

Here's hoping the band (considered two guitars and drums--but fleshed out with bass and multiple layers of keyboards) lock themselves into the studio and deliver on the NIN-Pink Floyd grandiosity of "Going Under" and don't devolve into a solid generator of weepy piano ballads ("My Immortal"). If the name Phil Collins means nothing to you, consider this an early distant warning.

Imaginary

2008-07-11T00:46:00.000-07:00

by:Evanescence

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, paper flowers) [X2]

I linger in the doorway
Of alarm clock screaming
Monsters calling my name
Let me stay
Where the wind will whisper to me
Where the raindrops, as they’re falling, tell a story

[Chorus:]
In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby (flowers)
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me (flowers)

Don’t say I’m out of touch
With this rampant chaos - your reality
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge
The nightmare I built my own world to escape

[Chorus]

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights
Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming
The goddess of imaginary light

[Chorus]

(Paper flowers)

Not so Marvel-ous

2008-07-11T00:25:00.000-07:00

When Bruce Banner gets angry enough to morph into the huge green creature, he's little more than a wild animal driven by the survival instinct against whoever torments him.

There seems to be very little semblance of rationality in anything the Hulk does, and he strikes back driven by blind rage.

Director Louis Leterrier establishes that quite early and very clearly.

As the U.S. Army zeroes in on the fugitive Banner, they awaken the Hulk and all he does is strike back at those who make him change.

As the story unfolds, Banner is in Brazil to find a cure for his affliction and to escape Gen. Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt).

Ross wants Banner back so the government can refine the procedure that affected him and weaponize it into a super soldier.

As characters inspired by comics go, there really isn't a whole lot to have to understand here. This is a chase movie, pure and simple.

The government wants something from Banner, and it is going to hunt him down until the government gets what it wants.

Just as we're understanding the rules, though, they are changed for the worse.

A soldier meant to bring Banner in has a similar treatment so he can fight the vagaries of advancing age and to combat the Hulk on a more level playing field.

This soldier, played by Tim Roth, becomes a more sinister threatening creature.

Banner then takes it upon himself to do battle with this new creature and somehow is able to channel a sense of right and wrong and carry that through his metamorphosis into the Hulk.

But where or how did this happen?

How was it that the Hulk, who was once pure brute force without reason, suddenly developed the ability to apply such force toward more constructive purposes?

There is the suggestion that a botched experimental procedure was the reason, but I'm not buying it.

This film is meant to be enjoyed on a very basic level, where everything is very clearly mapped out. Why would the director become so vague at one point?

This is a rather unsettling change, one that lacks sufficient explanation. And I imagine it will leave more than a few audience members scratching their heads as they leave the theaters.

Marvel Studios really has done well with the Spider-Man franchise and hit a home run in May with the release of "Iron Man."

The Hulk is one of the comic company's least developed characters, and the story that it's packaged with is about as basic and unsophisticated as the creature itself.

What made "Iron Man a huge success was screenwriting that could hold its own against the beautiful special effects. You don't get that here.

After the first film, the disappointing "Hulk" by Ang Lee, I'm not sure why this franchise had to be resurrected. And I'm not convinced there needs to be any more attempts.

Round Round

2008-07-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

By: Sugababes

Round, round baby round, round
Spend the night on me
I don't need no man
Got my kicks for free
Realise the vibe gonna be down low
I don't need nobody got my honeys
When I go round, baby round round
Spend the night on me
I don't need no man
Got my kicks for free
(Free free free free)

When your still in my face
You're messing with my brain
If you're trying to resist me
Then you better think again
If you move to my music
The music's got to give
If I'm too complicated
That's the way I want to live

If you hate me
I will show you
How to brain me
Into something new
If you want me
Run away now
If you stop me
Then I'll hit the ground
(Can we go, here we go)

Round, round baby round, round
Spend the night on me
I don't need no man
Got my kicks for free
Realise the vibe gonna be down low
I don't need nobody got my honeys
When I go

Explainations - no you don't need one
Having a good time
Getting down to the fun
And it's your time
Just tonight he'll be mine
And he's gone
Yeah

People moving, bodies grooving
Never ending
Place is moving
(Don't you worry 'bout a thing all you need is off your sting)
All my girls are here with me
Worry now they've got their need
(Do you feel me, do you feel me, do you feel me, do you feel me)

Woo

Round, round baby round, round
Spend the night on me
I don't need no man
Got my kicks for free
Realise the vibe gonna be down low
I don't need nobody got my honeys
When I go round baby round round
Spend the night on me
I don't need no man
Got my kicks for free
Realise the vibe gonna be down low
I don't need nobody but my honeys
When I go

Ooh
Does it hurt, when you see
How I've done
Without you
Thought that I could belong
Never thought that you could be so cruel
All you need is some friends
Won't be by yourself
Let's go round and round and round and round and r-o-u-nd

Round, round baby round, round
Spend the night on me
I don't need no man
Got my kicks for free
Realise the vibe gonna be down low
I don't need nobody got my honeys
When I go round baby round round
Spend the night on me
I don't need no man
Got my kicks for free
Realise the vibe gonna be down low
I don't need nobody but my honeys
When I go

Round, baby when I go
When I go
(When I go)
When I go
(When I go)
When I go
When I go round baby
(When I go)
When I go
(When I go)
When I go
(When I go)
When I go
When I go

Sugababes: Angels With Dirty Faces

2008-07-11T00:02:00.000-07:00

One of the best pop albums of 2002 wasn't released in the U.S. If that's not dropping the ball, then what is? An assured and durable follow-up to 2001's formative One Touch, which still packed a number of singles that gave the group a great deal of success overseas, Angels With Dirty Faces is a thoroughly convincing amalgamation of the artists they've been weaned on -- from Madonna to TLC to Aaliyah -- with a strong foothold in contemporary trends.

A bootleg mash-up of Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me" and Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric" led to the group's own spin on the trick, and it landed them the top spot on the U.K. chart. Using a beefed-up arrangement of Numan's robotic new-wave tune, the Sugababes lift Howard's forthright lyrics -- somewhat sheepishly, the "pump pump" that precedes "all through the night" is subsumed in the mix -- and weave the two elements together for a powerful and immensely catchy opening to the album. At no point during the remainder of the first half does the album lose steam.

The verses of "Blue" are backed by jutting electronic beats that stutter and twist, while the chorus unwraps a tempo shift carrying an unexpectedly strummy quality. "Round Round," another hit that put the group on Top of the Pops, is something Garbage would no doubt love to have in their own catalog. Apart from a couple bum moments during the second half of the album -- see "Shape," a misguided re-configuration of Sting's "Shape of My Heart," replete with a literally patched-on appearance from the man himself -- this is a pop album that offers much more depth and excitement beyond the singles.

Kung Fu Panda : the pleasing mix of humor, swift martial arts action, and colorful animation

2008-07-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

IT'S easy to imagine the pitch that sold Dreamworks on the notion of an animated comedy called Kung Fu Panda. The title says it all. Round, cuddly, slow-moving animal turns into the unlikeliest of heroes by getting hooked on the sharp and pointy disciplines of Chinese martial arts.

Since kung fu movies are reliable crowd-pleasers, all that remained was to join the dots. Yet the idea languished for quite a while before the studio eventually got down to business. The clincher turned out to be the casting of Jack Black, the rotund comic who is now first port of call for any director in search of a star who can deliver geeky loveableness with wisecracks and pratfalls.

While Black was hired only to give voice to the panda, Dreamworks' animators have inevitably been inspired by his body language in coming up with their bumbling hero's particular brand of bounce and bravado.

In publicity for the picture, there has been a lot of talk about maintaining respect for Chinese history and culture. The film's elaborate website features a potted summary of relevant kung fu moves and rituals, and the word "timeless" has been bandied about in describing its story. We're meant to see it as a departure from the Dreamworks house style, which was established seven years ago when Shrek became such a hit by spoofing the Disney breed of animated fairytale. The studio's animation has leaned heavily on jokes about pop culture ever since. In contrast, its rival, Pixar, has taken a less glib approach. For a quick take on their differences in sensibility, compare Dreamworks' Shark Tale with Pixar's Finding Nemo. Dreamworks' aquatic adventure was a Mafia movie with Robert De Niro voicing the shark as an underwater Godfather. In contrast, Pixar came up with a story that echoed the Disney classics Bambi and Pinocchio. Finding Nemo was a story about the complications of parenthood, loss, grief and survival in hostile circumstances. These tough truths were lit with laughter but implicit in the film was the fact that the world is a tricky place and its creatures are endowed with complexities that need to be accommodated if a film is going to take you anywhere you haven't been before.

So when Dreamworks says that it's laying off the parody to give you a story that is "timeless", you're entitled to expect the unexpected.

And the film does look great. Its designers have have taken their cues from Chinese art and architecture, and its directors, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, have ensured the animation is a delight. Stevenson, who began as a puppeteer with Jim Henson, has since worked for all the major animation companies and Osborne has made innovative short films and music videos. They know how to marry the beauty of hand-drawn images with the scale and impact of CGI.

Don't Speak

2008-07-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

by:No Doubt

You and me

We used to be together

Everyday together always

I really feel

That I'm losing my best friend

I can't believe

This could be the end

It looks as though you're letting go

And if it's real

Well I don't want to know

Don't speak

I know just what you're saying

So please stop explaining

Don't tell me cause it hurts

Don't speak

I know what you're thinking

I don't need your reasons

Don't tell me cause it hurts

Our memories

Well, they can be inviting

But some are altogether

Mighty frightening

As we die, both you and I

With my head in my hands

I sit and cry

Don't speak

I know just what you're saying

So please stop explaining

Don't tell me cause it hurts (no, no, no)

Don't speak

I know what you're thinking

I don't need your reasons

Don't tell me cause it hurts

It's all ending

I gotta stop pretending who we are...

You and me I can see us dying...are we?

Don't speak

I know just what you're saying

So please stop explaining

Don't tell me cause it hurts (no, no, no)

Don't speak

I know what you're thinking

I don't need your reasons

Don't tell me cause it hurts

Don't tell me cause it hurts!

I know what you're saying

So please stop explaining

Don't speak,

don't speak,

don't speak,

oh I know what you're thinking

And I don't need your reasons

I know you're good,

I know you're good,

I know you're real good

Oh, la la la la la la La la la la la la

Don't, Don't, uh-huh Hush, hush darlin'

Hush, hush darlin' Hush, hush

don't tell me tell me cause it hurts

Hush, hush darlin' Hush, hush darlin'

Hush, hush don't tell me tell me cause it hurts

No Doubt: straddles the line between '90s punk, third-wave ska, and pop sensibility

2008-07-10T23:36:00.000-07:00

Led by the infectious, pseudo-new wave single "Just a Girl," No Doubt's major-label debut, Tragic Kingdom, straddles the line between '90s punk, third-wave ska, and pop sensibility. The record was produced by Matthew Wilder, the auteur behind "Break My Stride" -- a clever mainstream co-opting of new wave quirkiness, and, as such, an ideal pairing.

Wilder kept his production lean and accessible, accentuating No Doubt's appealing mix of new wave melodicism, post-grunge rock, and West Coast sunshine. Even though the band isn't always able to fuse its edgy energy with pop melodies, the combination worked far better than anyone could have hoped. When everything does click, the record is pure fun, even if some of the album makes you wish they could sustain that energy throughout the record.

Tragic Kingdom might not have made much of an impact upon its initial release in late 1995, but throughout 1996 "Just a Girl" and "Spiderwebs" positively ruled the airwaves, both alternative and mainstream, and in 1997 No Doubt cemented their cross-generational appeal with the ballad hit "Don't Speak."

SMART: ordinary Summer comedy

2008-07-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

It‘s 1965. You could catch “Goldfinger” at second-run drive-ins. “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” was in its second season. Four years earlier a superpower dust-up over Cuba threatened nuclear devastation. You can imagine, in short, what gave two 30-something writers the idea that a sitcom about a bumbling spy might strike a chord with the American people. That the two writers happened to be Mel Brooks and Buck Henry certainly didn’t hurt. But without the Cold War context, “Get Smart,” the five-season television show, would have been inconceivable.

Now comes the puzzlingly timed “Get Smart,” the summer comedy-action blockbuster, and a Steve Carell vehicle to boot. Forty-three years from the début of the small-screen original, we certainly have our own set of problems related to botched intelligence. But given the public’s revulsion with foreign affairs, topicality is not on the menu for any movie with nine-figure box-office ambitions. (Consequently, it’s now quite clear that “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” may have a higher integrity quotient than any other current Hollywood response to our present calamities.)

What we have, then, is a satire determined to stay well clear of its natural targets. In place of barbed humor, we get a ton of generic explosions, hairbreadth escapes, bombs in concert halls and other action mainstays that don’t really gel with the classic camp comedy worldview. There’s nothing to despise here, certainly, but over the appealing performances and kinetic frenzy hangs an air of flailing pointlessness.

The weak link in the chain, naturally enough, is the script, concocted by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, the team responsible for the feeble rom-com “Failure to Launch” (2006). To be sure, they should be given credit for trying to reconceive Maxwell Smart, who in Carell’s incarnation isn’t a button-down nitwit, but rather a crack analyst whose difficulties in the field have more to do with inexperience than ingrained stupidity.

But the film’s sometimes beguiling special effects — a slickly updated CGI take on the irredeemably bug-prone Cone of Silence, for example — can’t offset the sheer unevenness of the gags, few of which rise to the level of those on a typical episode of “The Office,” still the prime source of Carellana. Brief hints of inspiration, such as a wan Bill Murray as Agent 13, doomed to live out his life disguised as a tree on the banks of the Tidal Basin, only heighten our disappointment when the movie settles back into its blow-to-the-groin mode.

Agent 99, Max’s alluring partner in the field, has been given a weird back story to explain why she looks so young, in spite of being a highly seasoned operative. That’s because she’s played by a pretty, bland 25-year-old Anne Hathaway (“The Devil Wears Prada”). Doubtless the idea of casting a contemporary of Carell in the role was dismissed out of hand. After all, who would pay to see a 45-year-old woman in a summer hit? (Plenty of people, it turns out, as “Sex and the City” has taught us.) Hathaway, however, an ingénue to her polished fingertips, never establishes 99 as the rock-solid professional she’s supposed to be. If Carell had had someone of sterner stuff to play off of, the script’s lackluster repartee might have been given a lift.

The movie’s episodic riffs on spookdom are loosely strung together with a plot that resuscitates the shadowy criminal empire of KAOS and its evil mastermind, Siegfried (the venerable Terence Stamp), along with his portly sidekick Shtarker (Ken Davitian, best known as Borat’s helpmate). As Max’s long-suffering Chief, Alan Arkin injects a bracing dose of spleen into the proceedings, a task that has become something of a specialty for him in his welcome, late-career blossoming. And Dwayne Johnson (The Rock no more) provides the requisite muscle.

Occasionally the film makes glancing allusions to our real-world predicaments. In Max and 99’s intercontinental peregrinations they stumble onto a stash of yellowcake. The vice president is referred to as a belligerent jerk. The briefly appearing president (James Caan) is a boorish clown. All told, these elements probably account for less than three minutes. The rest of the time “Get Smart” just pages through the summer movie playbook, selecting this or that until an acceptable run time has been reached. Another pop-culture icon lazily mined for ready cash. Mission accomplished.

All The Small Things lyrics

2008-07-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

by: Blink 182

All the , small things
True care, truth brings
I'll take, one lift
Your ride, best trip
Always, I know
You'll be at my show
Watching, waiting, commiserating
Say it ain't so, I will not go, turn the lights off, carry me home
Na, na·
Late night, come home
Work sucks, I know
She left me roses by the stairs, surprises let me know she cares
Say it ain't so, I will not go, turn the lights off, carry me home
Na, na·
Say it ain't so, I will not go, turn the lights off, carry me home
Keep your head still, I'll be your thrill, the night will go on, my little windmill
Say it ain't so, I will not go, turn the lights off, carry me home
Keep your head still, I'll be your thrill, the night will go on, my little windmill

Blink 182 :San Diego punk-pop band

2008-07-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

Blink-182's protracted adolescence has finally ended. There is nary a goofy moment on the San Diego punk-pop band's fifth album, which is more experimental and harder-hitting than anything else it has done.

On "I Miss You," the trio toys with electronic drumbeats, acoustic guitars, string parts and a gentle piano melody. "Violence" opens with a shriek of buzz-saw guitar, switches to the group's revved-up punk throttle and then calms down for verses that are spoken rather than sung: "You speak and make time stand still," says guitarist Tom DeLonge, "And each time, you walk on by."

Blink-182 don't skimp on catchy hooks -- on "Feeling This," "Asthenia" and "Go" -- and their lyrics are still unsophisticated and lovelorn, but even the poppiest tunes prove artful. Maturity suits these guys: Five albums into their career, it sounds like they're just getting warmed up.

10.000 BC: Did they speak in English at those times?

2008-07-06T20:59:00.000-07:00

For the average movie goer 10,000 BC will probably have them shrugging at the film being just okay. But for anyone looking closer at the film, at its actual filmmaking, they will see the bad film it really is.

Set, yes you guessed it, in the year 10,000 BC the film tells the story of a young, brave mammoth hunter and his journey through uncharted territories to save his people.

The film is at an immediate disadvantage with me as I am not a fan of action/adventure films involving huge creatures, fantasy or otherwise, that people have to battle. It’s purely a thing of personal taste and not a thing I can hold against the film for the general public. I can, however, hold the sub-par action, historical inaccuracy and boring and plodding plot against it. You feel every minute of the film’s near two hour runtime, all the time aching for something exciting and attention grabbing to happen on-screen. Instead you get action scenes we have scene a million times before, not-so-special-special effects and unconvincing actors that look like they’ve just walked off a soap opera set. It’s all very hap-hazardly done in favour of what the makers think are stunning set pieces and visuals.

The special effects within the film would have been impressive a few years ago. But CGI has moved on this since then, and after such showcasing like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the recent bringing to life of the Transformers, and thus 10,000 BC’s aren’t bad in any way but just are nothing we haven’t seen before.

The film, above most other things, is blatantly historically inaccurate. Correct me if I’m wrong but people didn’t speak English as we speak it now back in those times. They attempt to tackle this by having the characters speak in broken, not fully formed English when actually it comes off as a foreigner trying to speak our language so that we, the audience, can understand. Obviously if the film was in the appropriate language, with accompanying subtitles, then it wouldn’t draw in the masses, which is a sad thing indeed. And also correct me if I’m wrong but they didn’t have good dental plans and make-up in those days either. So outwith the boring story and same-old action sequences we also have implausibility’s and inaccurate details that made me countless times roll my eyes in disbelief.

The acting in the film leaves something to be sorely desired. Apart from the actors being unconvincing that they would actually be in this time period and not in 21st century Los Angeles, their mannerisms, look, and actions are what irked me the most. Like I said, if I’m not mistaken, they didn’t speak English in those days and they also didn’t have the morals, values and ways of looking at things like we do now. It’s not only totally unconvincing on the actors parts but at points really embarrassing.

Despite my general less than enthusiastic interest in battle scenes involving huge fantastical creatures I was at least clinging onto that to carry away with me a vague sense of enjoyment. But those action sequences are not only the kind we have seen plenty of times before but they are also short lived. There is more boring dialogue and concentration on the plodding storyline than there is action and visuals.

10,000 BC is a disaster on virtually every intended level. The acting is bad, the special effects not so special, it’s very historically inaccurate and to top it all off I can’t even recommend it on a pure action-oriented level as it’s nothing we haven’t seen a million times before. It all amounts to a film you should completely avoid.

Iron Man-Narcism Super Hero

2008-07-06T20:56:00.001-07:00

Tony Stark has the world on a string - gorgeous women, a Malibu mansion to die for, and more money than any one man should ever be allowed to accumulate. Oh yeah, life’s sunny on Stark’s side of the street. But karma is a bitch and Tony’s ticket is almost punched when he visits the US troops in Afghanistan and his convoy comes under enemy fire. Pulled barely alive from the wreckage, Stark is taken to a hillside hideaway and tortured into building his most powerful weapon – the Jericho missile - for a brutal batch of terrorists.

Kept alive only by a special battery-powered electromagnetic device which keeps metal fragments from piercing his heart, Tony and his fellow captor, interpreter Yinsen (Shaun Toub), decide to create their own little Shock and Awe moment. Instead of building the Jericho missile, Stark and Yinsen design an iron suit. This special suit can withstand pretty much anything shot at it and is loaded down with an arsenal of weapons capable of annihilating the terrorist camp and its inhabitants.

After destroying the terrorists’ supply of Stark Industry manufactured weapons, Tony’s new suit shoots him skyward, safely out of the camp and into the inhospitable desert. With his suit destroyed on impact, Tony gets a lift home to America courtesy of his close friend and military liaison Jim ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes (Terrence Howard) who never stopped searching for Tony during all the time he was held hostage.

Once back in the States, Tony holds a press conference to announce he’s done with providing the means for men to blow up cities and kill innocent people. This new direction for the company doesn’t sit well with Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Stark Industries second-in-command and a guy who values money over innocent lives. While Tony shifts direction and works on upgrading his specially designed red and gold Iron Man suit of armor, the company he believes he’s in charge of continues about the business of arming terrorists. But when he gets wind of these backdoor deals, Tony vows to reverse the damage done by the company his father founded decades before.

Walk The Line : the hard fighting/drinking/loving story of country icon

2008-07-06T20:54:00.000-07:00

A real legend is...well, the stuff of legends. But much harder to reproduce on film, because of the depths of human expression that tend to get lost in the business of making it on time, on budget, and on a subject the public will "buy". Which means 2005's "Walk The Line" is that rarest of movies, one that dug deep into the story, put it up as it really unfolded, and managed to bag actors that could carry it off.

"Walk The Line" is the hard fighting/drinking/loving story of country icon, Johnny Cash and his love affair with wife June Carter. It lays the foundation for the movie's focus, and Cash's real life, by detailing his boyhood in Arkansas, the early death of a brother, and impulsive first marriage that ended in disaster. All of that contributes to the way Cash's life was already drifting when he sang for Sam Phillips of Sun Records, where he brushed shoulders with another newcomer, Elvis Presley. Chastised for offering a hymn, Joaquin Phoenix rips off a version of Folsom Prison Blues that snags him the prized contract, and sets his foot on a path that will lead him to depths he never dreamed of, and the woman who would pull him out of then, June Carter.

Both Phoenix, and Reese Witherspoon who plays June Carter, did their own vocals, which added immeasurably to the reality of their performances. Witherspoon at times was perhaps a tad too ebullient, but also managed to reach inside herself to pull out both the feminine side of Carter, and her fury at Cash's moral and physical deterioration as their relationship progressed from an initial backstage meeting to the final, enduring chapter written at the Folsom Prison concert.

Not strictly a love story, "Walk the Line" is nonetheless a sometimes moving, infuriating, and emotionally charged tale of two people both struggling towards the same goal- to be with each other.

Becoming Jane: The Ironic Life of Jane Austen

2008-07-04T20:40:00.001-07:00

Becoming Jane marvelously chronicles a supposed biographical sketch of the one, the only, Jane Austen. What a poignant message it tells of the power writing has in bearing the soul of the writer and how the true values of a person are revealed in their actions. Sadly, this story shows that by choosing certain values, one must make count the cost and at times the cost is painful, changing the course of one’s life forever. Becoming Jane reminds us, the viewers, of a phrase we’ve heard and come to believe in: It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved before.

Austen’s life was not as glorious as the witty, romantic tales described in her novels Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. Instead, her life was as realistic as could be. As an avid reader of her books, I have always been encouraged with the hopeful endings that Austen left her readers with at the end of each novel. Does not a peaceful, easy feeling come to those who read that despite all odds, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy end up together in the end? And how about Miss Dashwood hooking up with Edward Ferrars in spite of many misunderstandings and bumps in their road to fulfillment and love?

What one finds after viewing Becoming Jane is the reality of the webs we weave for ourselves. The power of our lives comes from the choices we make each day. Though Jane Austen did not perhaps live out her hopes, dreams, and unfulfilled desires, she left behind hope for new generations of women to live out their hopes and dreams, that we may fulfill our desires and live lives true to ourselves and our souls.

Know this, an hour and a half of your life will not be wasted if you choose to watch Becoming Jane with this disclaimer: pick up one of Austen’s renowned novels and read. Then and only then, watch the author’s life come to life on screen. The background information you gain from reading at least one of Austen’s novels will be of much worth in what you gain from the cinematic feature.

Interstate Love Song

2008-07-04T20:38:00.001-07:00

by Stone Temple Pilots

waiting on a Sunday afternoon
for what I read between the lines,
your lies.
feelin' like a hand in rusted shame
so do you laugh or does it cry?
reply?

leavin' on a southern train
only yesterday you lied,
promises of what I seemed to be
only watched the time go by,
all of these things you said to me.

breathing is the hardest thing
to do. with all I've said and
all that's dead for you,
you lied - good bye

leavin' on a southern train
only yesterday you lied
promises of what I seemed to be
only watched the time go by,
all of these things I said to you.

Stone Temple Pilots: Once of my Fave Rock Band!

2008-07-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

Since the moment they appeared on the scene in the early 90's, Stone Temple Pilots dominated the decade from start to finish, racking up 15 singles on the Billboard Top Ten, winning a "Best Hard Rock Performance" GRAMMY in 1994 for for "Plush," and having their five albums sell more than 35 million copies worldwide. Of all their peers, STP alone had sustained commercial success, earning greater critical acclaim with each release, building a body of work that remains popular and its enduring acclaim has only highlighted the absence of the band, who quietly went their separate ways after the turn-of the millennium release of Shangri-La Dee Da. Despite the presence of the greatest hits album Thank You in 2003, there has been a generation that has never witnessed the live power of the vocalist Scott Weiland, guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz live in concert, a situation that will be remedied this summer when the band reunites for a long-awaited and highly anticipated tour.

A dominant force in rock music since their inception, the group's impressively extensive and top-selling music has cemented their standing as one of the most successful rock groups of all time. Scott Weiland and Robert DeLeo met at a Black Flag concert in Long Beach, California, discovering in the course of their conversation that the two were dating the same girl. Instead of sparking a rivalry, this common ground was the foundation of a friendship, with the pair moving into the girl's apartment after she left town. Weiland and DeLeo formed a band called Mighty Joe Young, with drummer Eric Kretz joining the lineup soon afterward, with Robert's brother Dean coming aboard not long after that. Soon, the group established themselves as a draw in San Diego, eventually gaining the attention of Atlantic Records who signed them in 1991. After hearing that there was a blues singer calling himself Mighty Joe Young, the group changed their name to Stone Temple Pilots during the recording of their 1992 debut album, Core.

Core was bracing blend of grunge guitars, classic rock moves and big pop hooks. At first, the ironic swagger of "Sex Type Thing" brought them onto MTV and radio, but it was "Plush" that blew the doors wide open for the band, establishing them as multi-platinum act in 1993. A pair of subsequent singles were released from Core -- "Wicked Garden" and the spooky, acoustic "Creep" -- before they delivered Purple in 1994. A large, eager fan base snatched Purple up upon its opening week, sending it to # 1 but Purple wasn't a one-week wonder, it grew as the record spun off hit after hit: first there was the majestic, cryptic "Big Empty," taken from The Crow soundtrack, then there was "Vasoline," which was followed by the modern rock classic "Interstate Love Song," a radio smash that stayed on the top of Billboard's Album Rock charts for 15 weeks, besting the record set by the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up. "

Not content to continue to replicate the heavy hooks of their first two albums, Stone Temple Pilots dug deep into glam and Beatleseque psychedelia on their third album, 1996's Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, which produced hits in the stomping "Big Bang Baby," tightly-wound "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" and beautiful "Lady Picture Show." The band then regrouped for 1999's tough, muscular No. 4, a hard rock album that nevertheless had a wistful highlight in "Sour Girl," which turned into one of STP's biggest hits. Two years later, the group released Shangri-La Dee Da, which achieved a perfect blend of their thick riffs and candy melodies, typified by the hit "Days of the Week."

Stone Temple Pilots went their separate ways after Shangri-La Dee Da, leaving the question of a reunion hanging in the air. A greatest hits album called Thank You in 2003 only reminded fans that all great bands have a certain magic that is attained when the original lineup comes together to play, something Stone Temple Pilots will prove that this summer when they reunite for this long-awaited tour.

In Spring 2008 STP officially revealed that the band will be reuniting and will launch a massive 2008 concert tour encompassing over 65 dates and hitting all corners of North America. Marking the first national tour for Stone Temple Pilots in almost eight years, the 65 date stretch will bring the iconic band’s charismatic musicianship and exhilarating live shows to amphitheatres across North America.

Disturbia: disturbance in a suburban environment.

2008-07-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

A recent thriller film entitled “Disturbia” starring Shia LaBeouf, who was also the lead character in the Transformers movie, has topped the movie charts. The title “Disturbia” is a portmanteau (or morpheme) that means disturbance in a suburban environment.

This 2007 movie revolves around Kale, a character portrayed by Shia LaBeouf, and how his spying led to a confrontation with a serial killer. The story began in a car accident scene that showed how Kale lost his father. A year after the car accident, Kale was still haunted by the death of his father. In one scene, Kale was caught sleeping in class by a Spanish language teacher. To humiliate Kale, the teacher made comments about how Kale's father would be disappointed about his behavior in school. Angered by his teacher's statement, Kale stood up and punched his insensitive Spanish language instructor.

After he was hailed to court, Kale was sentenced to three months of house arrest. The house arrest included the attachment of an ankle monitor with a proximity sensor that stopped him from going away from the house. To prevent boredom, he watched TV, played video games, and surfed the Internet. But when his mother canceled these services including his subscriptions to Xbox live and i-Tunes, Kale turned to voyeurism to escape boredom. Using a pair of binoculars, Kale began spying on his neighbors and found amusement as a Peeping Tom. One night, while spying, he became suspicious of his next door neighbor, Robert Turner. Mr. Turner returned home driving an old Ford Mustang with a dented fender, perfectly describing a serial killer from Austin, Texas that had been all over the news.

Filled with fear and anxiety, he called up his best friend Ronnie and let him know about this suspicious neighbor. In one of their spying sessions, they saw a pretty girl who just moved into their neighborhood. Being typical teenagers, they spied on her while she was dressing up and when she was swimming. The girl named Ashley eventually found out that she was being spied upon and eventually joined Kale and Ronnie in their spying activities. Mr. Turner also finds out that they have been spying on him. Eventually, Mr. Turner warned the teenagers about their spying. Teenagers were filled with fear and anxiety about the threat made on them by Mr. Turner. As the story ends, the thrill intensifies when the boys found out that Mr. Turner really is a serial killer. Even with all his fear and anxiety, Kale managed to save his mother and Ashley who were abducted.

Here’s Where The Story Ends

2008-07-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

by:The Sundays
People I know, places I go, make me feel tongue-tied
I can see how people look down, theyre on the inside
Heres where the story ends
People I see, weary of me showing my good side
I can see how people look down
Im on the outside
Heres where the story ends
Ooh heres where the story ends

Its that little souvenir of a terrible year
Which makes my eyes feel sore
Oh I never should have said, the books that you read
Were all I loved you for
Its that little souvenir of a terrible year
Which makes me wonder why
And its the memories of your shed that make me turn red
Surprise, surprise, surprise

Crazy I know, places I go
Make me feel so tired
I can see how people look down
Im on the outside
Oh heres where the story ends
Ooh heres where the story ends

Its that little souvenir of a terrible year
Which makes my eyes feel sore
And who ever wouldve thought the books that you brought
Were all I loved you for
Oh the devil in me said, go down to the shed
I know where I belong
But the only thing I ever really wanted to say
Was wrong, was wrong, was wrong

Its that little souvenir of a colourful year
Which makes me smile inside
So I cynically, cynically say, the world is that way
Surprise, surprise, surprise, surprise, surprise
Heres where the story ends
Ooh heres where the story ends

The Sundays: a wonderful band

2008-07-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Sundays are a wonderful band hailing out of Manchester, England.
The quartet was originally a duo; David and Harriet met while at university in Bristol.
"Staying up late, talking a complete load of bullocks, it was great" says Harriet.
Both began writing songs while at university and continued after graduating.

The two brought friends Paul Brindley, bassist, and drummer Patrick Hannan on board, and the Sundays were born.
By just their second show, critics and industry insiders had labeled the band the "next big thing" and the Sundays found themselves deluged with record offers.
They eventually signed with Rough Trade records, home of indie legends The Smiths.

Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic was released in 1989 to critical and commercial success.
The album was an exquisite texture of gilded guitar work blended with Wheeler's atmospheric vocals.
Comparisons were made to Cocteau Twins, 10,000 Maniacs, and Lush. The band established a loyal fan base in England and abroad.
They followed the album with a tour of the states as well as Japan and UK opening for Belly.

Following their 1990-91 tour, the band stayed very quiet until late 1992 with their sophomore release Blind.
Somewhat darker and more serious than Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, the album ventured to explore the unseen side of life.

Unfortunately for fans, the band disappeared for 5 years during which there has been a dearth of information. Harriet and David, who have been together for over 10 years, recently had a child and built their a music studio in their own home.
They finally broke the silence with a new album in 1997 aptly named Static & Silence.
The Sundays followed up a brief tour of the US and England in Fall 1997.
At this time, further tour plans and releases are not known.
The Sundays completed a US tour in the fall of 1997 in support of "Static & Silence".

During that tour, the band stated that they planned to do a European tour in '98 and perhaps another round in the US.

The Bourne Ultimatum: interesting chronological tie

2008-07-04T20:20:00.001-07:00

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is taking no prisoners and he’s determined to uncover the truth about his identity. Talk about building up to a climax in a movie series, this roller coaster saved the best for last. What a ride!

The story picks up near the end of the second one, The Bourne Supremacy, where Jason is limping around Moscow trying to escape the authorities, and of course he does. He later finds an article that seems to have a lot of information about him so he pursues that reporter to then pursue the reporter’s source. The CIA, however, was doing the exact same thing. The CIA and Jason stumble upon each other and so continues the hunt. But it won’t stop Jason from obtaining that which he wants more than anything: his memory and the secrets about his life.

“This is Jason Bourne, the toughest target that you have ever tracked.” Indeed he is and Matt Damon IS Jason Bourne as much as Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones, Arnold Schwarzenegger IS the Terminator, and Johnny Depp IS Jack Sparrow, sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow. He masters the role and leaves nothing to envy from any other of the blockbuster actions stars, past or present. He has made the character so real that even though some of the action in the film pushes the envelope on realism, he keeps Jason well grounded. You will want to be there fighting right beside him. Joan Allen is back as Pamela Landy and she gave a solid performance demonstrating how she can play with the big boys. Julia Stiles is also back as Nicky Parsons and brings an unexpected twist to the story. The new wave of agent/assassin Bourne hunters, like Edgar Ramirez, were just as professionally cold-blooded as the ones from the first two pictures.

If you consider the storyline of this movie by itself, there really isn’t much there. It does need to remain in context with the full story which would include the other two releases. There is actually a very interesting chronological tie between the second movie and this one that I don’t think I’ve ever seen done before. The Bourne series is like a fireworks show and The Bourne Ultimatum is the grand finale. It doesn’t say a whole lot, but there sure are a lot of fireworks. This movie is one of those cases where the action outweighs and outdoes the story. It is fast, constant and mature. It is difficult to look away. Even in the “slow” scenes when there was actual dialogue, I was still tense and anxious. Priscilla held her need to go to the restroom for a good hour until the movie ended so as not to miss anything. The icing on this cake are all the fascinating locations where the story develops. James Bond ain’t got nothing on Jason Bourne when it comes to world travel . . . except maybe a bit more frequent flyer miles.

Need To Be Next To You

2008-07-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

by:Sixpence None The Richer

Been runnig from these feelings for so long
telling my heart I didn't need it
pretending I was better off alone
but I know that it's just a lie
so afraid to take a chance again
so afraid of what I feel inside

but I need to be next to you (need to be next to you)
oh I, oh I
I need to share every breath with you (share every breath with you)
oh I, oh I
I need to know I can see you smile each morning
look into your eyes each night
for the rest of my life

here with you, near with you
oh I
I need to be next to you
need to be – next to you

right here with you is right where I belong
I'd lose my mind if I didn't see you
without you there is nothing in this life
that would make life worth living for
I can't bear the thought of you not here
I can't fight what I feel anymore

'cause I need to be next to you (need to be next to you)
oh I, oh I
I need to share every breath with you (share every breath with you)
oh I, oh I
I need to know I can see you smiling each morning
look into your eyes each night
for the rest of my life

here with you, near with you
oh I
I need to be next to you

I need to have your heart next to mine
for all the time
hold you for all my life
I need to be next to you

I need to be next to you (to be next to you)
oh I, oh I
need to be, need to be next to you
share every breath with you
oh, oh I
I need to feel you in my arms, babe (oh...)
in my arms, babe (oh I...)
I need to be next to you
oh I, oh I
(oh I...)

The Best Of Sixpence None The Richer: a wonderful finale for fans

2008-07-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

The end of the road can be a be a bittersweet place. For fans of Sixpence None the Richer, a band that has had a whirlwind career, suffering plenty of industry setbacks, the end of the road has produced their final project, The Best Of Sixpence None The Richer. Best Of includes three brand new songs previously unreleased to fans as well as six songs exclusively only available on other compilations, as well as other hits spanning their career. So while this record has an abundance of treats, it may call itself The Best Of Sixpence None The Richer a little too earnestly.

The three new songs of The Best Of are must-haves for Sixpence fans while the other bonuses are just wonderful rare treats to behold. The album opens with new song "Loser Like Me," a piano-driven upbeat pop track that follows more of the Divine Discontent vibe and is followed by the pop/rock tune "Us." Although considered a new song here, "Us" actually first appeared on a 2000 compilation entitled Today Presents: The Best Of The Summer Concert Series. This is the first time, however, it's ever been made available on a Sixpence record. "Too Far Gone" is probably the best of the new tracks. Also piano-driven, an electronic beat and 6p's signature melancholy delivery make this a perfect addition. The song builds from its paced beginning til it reaches its fantastic instrumental rocked-out conclusion.

The remaining record is a mix of compilation contributions, rarities, and a few favorites from their albums. So the question arises, if this is a "best of" record, shouldn't it have more fan favorites from their original records? For a band who's had five records in a span of a decade, to only include one song off their memorable debut The Fatherless And The Widow and a mere two songs from This Beautiful Mess, just seems almost criminal. Where's "Field Of Flowers?" "Meaningless?" "Love, Salvation, The Fear Of Death?" What could have been the perfect Sixpence "best of" collection - perhaps a 2-Disc set with the rarities and more fan favorites together on two CD's - is somewhat just a jumbled mix.

Despite missing some key songs for such a project, The Best Of Sixpence None The Richer is still a worthy release. Compiling such songs as "Dancing Queen," The Ground You Shook," "I Need Love," "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times," "Breathe," and "Brighten My Heart" all onto one Sixpence record is a great accomplishment. To have these songs any other way, you would have to purchase each individual soundtrack and compilation. The record ends with a real interesting rarity - a version of "Kiss Me" where Leigh Nash sings most of the song in Japanese, originally available on a Japanese commercial single.

More of a hits record with a hefty helping of rarities, The Best Of Sixpence None The Richer is a wonderful finale for fans, even if it could have benefited from a little more thought and planning.

American Pie Presents the Naked Mile

2008-07-04T20:07:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure exactl when American Pie became a cultural juggernaut, but I do know when it started to suck: Right after the second movie came out. Now in its fifth installment, the once cheeky Pie has become about as funny as a late-stage Porky's sequel, just biding time until the producers can no longer find girls willing to spend 90 minutes topless and kids willing to pay $20 to watch them.

This installment of the American Pie universe offers a Stifler cousin named Erik (John White), who's in his third year of a sex-free relationship with girlfriend Tracy (Jessy Schram). Generous to a fault, she finally gives Erik a "free pass" for one weekend, and he and his friends decide to go visit another Stifler cousin at his college, where a "naked mile" is being run. (You know, drunk students running across campus in the buff.) Erik meets a girl there. Will he go for it?

You can see all that coming, and you can probably see the midgets (a major side plot), the Viagra mishap, and the scenes of bodily fluids flying. None of this is altogether funny, but it's mightily vulgar. Be advised this is not one to expose the kiddies to.

Most difficult is actually keeping track of the four male leads. One has darker hair than the other three. Aside from that, I actually had a lot of trouble keeping track of who was who. I never thought I'd believe that the characters in American Pie were rich and nuanced, but compared to the disjointed, half-written affair here, they may as well be from Shakespeare.

It's sad that George Lucas in Love wunderkind Joe Nussbaum has already been relegated to this kind of material. His sole released-in-theaters directorial experience was the not-terrible Sleepover, and now he's makin' pie. Oh, the humanity.

Carnival

2008-07-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

by:The Cardigans

I will never know
cause you will never show
come on and love me now
come on and love me now

I will never know
cause you will never show
come on and love me now
come on and love me now

come on and love me now

Carnival came by my town today
bright lights from giantwheel
fall on the alleyways
and I'm here
by my door
waiting for you

I will never know
cause you will never show
come on and love me now
come on and love me now

I will never know
cause you will never show
come on and love me now
come on and love me now

come on and love me now

I hear sounds of lovers
barrel organs, mothers
I would like to take you
down there
just to make you mine
in a merry-go-round

I will never know
cause you will never show
come on and love me now
come on and love me now

The Cardigans: conventional pop band

2008-07-04T20:01:00.001-07:00

For listeners who had caught up with the Cardigans on their breakout album, Life, the group's third album was a confusing pastiche which included several conventional pop songs, but also added tracks with left-field arrangements and some (comparatively) disturbing lyrics.

In reality, however, the group had simply returned to the mood and feel of their debut album. On Emmerdale, the melancholy was personal and solitary in nature, but here depression is focused on unfaithful lovers -- in both the songs which vocalist Nina Persson helped out with lyrics and those written by the rest of the band ("Choke," "Step on Me," "The Great Divide").

Even the single, "Lovefool," is a depressing lament of unrequited affection, and the presence of another Black Sabbath cover ("Iron Man") certainly isn't an immediate upper. Still, First Band on the Moon is saved by the Cardigans' core strengths: Persson's vocals and Svensson's arrangements.

300: The huge fights

2008-07-04T00:48:00.001-07:00

Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 takes over the screen like an invading horde. With all the gushing blood of a horror movie and the scope of a classic epic, the second film from Zack Snyder (who helmed the 2004 remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD) is an impressive visual spectacle. Gerard Butler (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) plays Leonidas, the king of ancient Sparta. The city is famous for its warrior philosophy, and Leonidas won't kneel to the demands of Persia's King Xerxes (LOST's Rodrigo Santoro).

Instead, Leonidas leads his 300-strong army against Xerxes's army of millions. Meanwhile, his wife (Lena Headley, THE BROTHERS GRIMM) campaigns in Sparta for the city to send reinforcements as she butts heads with the treacherous Theron (Dominic West, THE WIRE). With its gore and scale, 300 marks director Snyder as a possible successor to Peter Jackson's throne. Jackson also got his start in horror with BAD TASTE and DEAD ALIVE, and the two men share a penchant for ambitious battle scenes. The huge fights in 300 rival Jackson's efforts in the LORD OF THE RINGS films. David Wenham, who starred in two of the Tolkien-based films, plays Dilios, one of the Spartan soldiers.

Though the cast doesn't boast any A-list stars, the actors ably fill their larger-than-life roles. In a film filled with men, Headley stands out as Queen Gorgo. She matches her warrior husband in strength, while showing love toward Leonidas and their son. Though there are scenes that demonstrate the humanity of the characters, 300 is undeniably about bravery and blood, and it succeeds because of the stylish depictions of both.

How Do I

2008-07-04T00:44:00.001-07:00

by:Leann Rimes

How do I,
Get through one night without you?
If I had to live without you,
What kind of life would that be?
Oh, I need....
I need you in my arms, need you to hold,
You're my world, my heart, my soul,
If you ever leave,
Baby you would take away everything good in my life,
And tell me now
How do I live without you?
I want to know,
How do I breathe without you?
If you ever go,
How do I ever, ever survive?
How do I, how do I, oh how do I live?
Without you,
There'd be no sun in my sky,
There would be no love in my life,
There'd be no world left for me.
And I,
Baby I don't know what I would do,
I'd be lost if I lost you,
If you ever leave,
Baby you would take away everything real in my life,
And tell me now,
How do I live without you?
I want to know,
How do I breathe without you?
If you ever go,
How do I ever, ever survive?
How do I, how do I, oh how do I live?
Please tell me baby,
How do I go on?
If you ever leave,
Baby you would take away everything,
I need you with me,
Baby don't you know that you're everything,
Real in my life?
And tell me now,
How do I live without you,
I want to know,
How do I breathe without you?
If you ever go,
How do I ever, ever survive?
How do I, how do I, oh how do I live?
How do I live without you?
How do I live without you baby?

leann Rimes-One Big Pop CrossOver

2008-07-04T00:41:00.000-07:00

By the time Rimes turned twenty-one, she had a slew of country hits ("Blue"), one big pop crossover ("How Do I Live") and the weirdest Christian-porn version of "Purple Rain" ever. Now twenty-five, she scores with a fantasy of the footloose youth she never had ("Nothin' Better to Do") and a Tanya Tucker-style tale of childhood strife ("Family"). The songs are uneven, but the peak is a duet with Mr. Nashville himself, Jon Bon Jovi.

There are heroes… there are superheroes… and then there’s Hancock

2008-07-04T00:28:00.001-07:00

There are heroes… there are superheroes… and then there’s Hancock (Will Smith). With great power comes great responsibility – everyone knows that – everyone, that is, but Hancock. Edgy, conflicted, sarcastic, and misunderstood, Hancock’s well-intentioned heroics might get the job done and save countless lives, but always seem to leave jaw-dropping damage in their wake.

The public has finally had enough – as grateful as they are to have their local hero, the good citizens of Los Angeles are wondering what they ever did to deserve this guy. Hancock isn’t the kind of man who cares what other people think – until the day that he saves the life of PR executive Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), and the sardonic superhero begins to realize that he may have a vulnerable side after all. Facing that will be Hancock’s greatest challenge yet – and a task that may prove impossible as Ray’s wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), insists that he’s a lost cause.

What's Up

2008-07-04T00:25:00.001-07:00

by: 4 Non Blondes

25 years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination

I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means

And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed
Just to get it all out, what's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar

And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What's goin' on?

And I say hey, hey
I said hey, what's goin' on?
And I say hey, hey
I said hey, what's goin' on?

And I try, oh my God do I try
I try all the time
In this institution

And I pray, oh my God do I pray
I pray every single day
For a revolution

And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in my bed
Just to get it all out, what's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar

And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What's goin' on?

And I say hey, hey
I said hey, what's goin' on?
And I say hey, hey
I said hey, what's goin' on?

And I say hey, hey
I said hey, what's goin' on?
And I say hey, hey
I said hey, what's goin' on?

25 years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination

4 Non Blondes: Bigger, Better, Faster, More!

2008-07-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

San Francisco's 4 Non Blondes burst onto the national scene with their massive, neo-hippie anthem "What's Up" from their debut Bigger, Better, Faster, More? Although they failed to recreate the single's success, the album, as a whole, is a fairly engaging mix of alternative rock, quasi-funk, and blues.

The focal point is on lead singer Linda Perry who also plays guitar and was the primary writer of the material. Perry has a powerful set of pipes akin to Johnette Napolitano, but, unfortunately, she tends to cut loose when a little more restraint would benefit the proceedings. However, "Superfly" is a feel good, funky number and "Spaceman"'s yearning lyrics are delivered over a quiet, martial drum rhythm. A solid debut that got lost in the wake of its mammoth hit.

Wall-E: Filled with surprises

2008-07-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off?

Academy Award®-winning writer-director Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”) and the inventive storytellers and technical geniuses at Pixar Animation Studios (“The Incredibles,” “Cars,” “Ratatouille”) transport moviegoers to a galaxy not so very far away for a new computer-animated cosmic comedy about a determined robot named WALL•E.

After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL•E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen.

Joining WALL•E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

Connection

2008-07-04T00:16:00.001-07:00

by:Elastica

Riding on any wave
There is the luck you crave
They don't believe it now,
They just think it's stupid
So got anything ?
Anyone could have done
Who would've cared at all, not you

Another heart has made the trade
Forget it, forget it, forget it
I don't understand how a heart is a spade
But somehow the vital connection is made

Riding on anything
Anything's good enough
Who would've thought it of someone like you
Just as they brought me round
Now that they brought you down
Roundabout and roundabout
Who wants a life anyone ?

Another heart has made the grade
Forget it, forget it, forget it
I don't understand how the last card is played
But somehow the vital connection is made

Elastica: Brittpop Modern Group

2008-07-04T00:13:00.001-07:00

Released in 1995, when the 57th Britpop Movement was swaying the United States of Britannia with the releases of Blur’s The Great Escape, Oasis’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, the debut album of Supergrass and countless others, Elastica debuted with an album that may very well be my favorite of them all. Spikier and tougher than both Blur and Oasis and easily as energetic as Supergrass, Elastica is an album that combines the best of its influences into a convincing modern album.

When you take a look at the cover, you’ll have to admit that it looks at least 15 years older than its actual age, right? The album does sound retro-ish, but the band makes up for it (if that would be necessary) with great songwriting. As for the influences, the pop hooks and coarse guitars of The Buzzcocks and Wire’s cold angularity are the most obvious, while the lyrics, vocal delivery and attitude of the band reflect the self-confidence and sexuality of Chrissie Hynde and Debbie Harry.

The album was spearheaded by a handful of excellent singles (“Stutter,” “Line Up,” “Connection,” “Waking Up”), but the album is crammed with first-class tracks, several of which could have been used as singles as well. One of the most riveting things about this album, apart from the great overall-package, is the interplay of the band, and especially between Justine Frischmann and Donna Matthews, both trading off hooky and jerky guitar riffs, while Annie Holland (bass) and Justin Welch (drums, man) keep things going as well.

“Line Up” immediately introduces that terrific noisy guitar interplay, both guitar players complementing each other with their spiky slashes during the verses. Of note are also the song’s lyrics, that are – like a large part of the album – concerned with kinky sex, in this case a groupie’s adventures (“Drivel head knows all the stars, loves to suck their shining guitars, they’ve all been right up her stairs, do you care?”). “Stutter,” the album’s first single is even better, a fast song with great hooks and lyrics (dealing with impotence this time: “Well it isn’t a problem, nothing we can’t keep between the sheets, tell me you’re mine, love, and I will not wait for other bed-time treats”), and one of the best British singles of the past twenty years (yes, I’m serious).

The third single, “Connection,” caused some commotion because it’s an almost exact copy of Wire’s “Three Girl Rhumba” (from Pink Flag), and led to a dispute that was eventually settled out of court. I really don’t care either way, because the band does turn it into a great song of its own. Granted, they could have acknowledged it in the liner notes. Several songs also feature some keyboards played by Dan Abnormal, which is, of course (you figured that one out for yourself, didn’t you?) an anagram of Damon Albarn, Frischmann’s partner at the time. The album’s fourth and last (?) single was “Waking Up,” perhaps the most retro-ish new wave-track on the album, one that takes you back to the heyday of bands such as Magazine and Echo & The Bunnymen.Besides the four singles, the album contains some more damn good wave tracks such as “Car Song,” the most infectious song about car sex ever (with the possible exception of AC/DC’s “Girl’s Got Rhythm”), with horny outspokenness (“I hardly know you, but I think I’m going to, let’s go siesta in your Ford Fiesta”), and one of my favorite lines: “In every little Honda, there may lurk a Peter Fonda.” Also “S.O.F.T.” and “Never Here,” two lengthier tracks (only four out of 16 cross the 3-minute border), have some excitingly strutting guitar work, nice vocal harmonies and style galore.

While “Stutter” may be the best punk song on the album, several others are worthy contenders: “Blue” and “All-Nighter” are more fun than the entire Blink-182-catalogue (those hooks, those exalted moans in the latter!), while the trio of “Annie,” “Smile” and “Vaseline” all clock in under 1:40 and will get your ass numb for the rest of the day.The album’s not an entire triumph, though. “Hold Me Now” isn’t very exciting, although it deals with intercourse, and the eastern-tinged “Indian Song,” with percussion very similar to that in The Beatles’ “Within You, Without You,” is as exciting as watching a game of cricket on a Sunday afternoon with a hangover. However, despite these details, Elastica is still an album that seems to rush by in 20 minutes, thanks to the excellent song sequencing (and 16 songs in 40 minutes isn’t bad either), loads of memorable hooks, melodies, lyrics and (gotta admit it) the irresistible sexiness of Justine Frischmann’s delivery and playing.

Wanted: a fast-paced, crackling thrill ride tailor-made for the Summer audience

2008-07-04T00:10:00.000-07:00

Based upon Mark Millar’s explosive graphic novel series and helmed by stunning visualist director Timur Bekmambetov—creator of the most successful Russian film franchise in history, the Night Watch series—Wanted tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice.

In 2008, the world will be introduced to a hero for a new generation: Wesley Gibson. 25-year-old Wes (James McAvoy) was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he met a woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie).

After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad’s death by unlocking his dormant powers. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: carry out the death orders given by fate itself. With wickedly brilliant tutors—including the Fraternity’s enigmatic leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman)—Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye. And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes will come to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny.