Sunday 16 June 2013

It's Just a Curl of the Burl

Dry Bone Valley

It has been over a month since my last post so in this one I'm going to write a few reviews of some films I've watched and an awesome gig I went to. Just in case some of you decide not to read this blog because you think it's just going to be about a metal band then I will start with my film reviews.

Octopus Has No Friends

The Amazing Spider-Man

 

 

 "Amazing" isn't a word I would use to describe this film. "Waste", "Of" and "Time". They're more like the ones I would use and they're already in the right order.  I can't say I'm a fan of Spider-Man in the first place. I used to love the '90's cartoon but the recent films have just made Spider-Man seem like a complete tool. How can someone so uncool get awesome powers and still remain uncool. All while spouting some hackneyed one-liners that would make '80's Arnie want to "let off some steam." Avoid it if you can. And if you can't, at least the two hour run time seems to go by quick enough.

 

A Fantastic Fear of Everything

 

 

 Simon Pegg plays a writer who becomes afraid of his surroundings while writing a TV series based on murderers. I found it a little hard to get into at the start. Maybe it was down to the slight over-use of narration  but after a while it picks up. It's at this point that it becomes quite unpredictable which only adds to the humour and turns what was probably a half decent film into an enjoyably great movie.

 

Prometheus

 

 

 I hadn't watched Prometheus since last year when I saw it in the cinema. And I have to say I could have waited longer. It's still a big mess of a movie that leaves you yelling at the idiots on screen when they can't do anything right. "You're scientists! You shouldn't be so stupid." I guess judging from the youth of today it was only inevitable that future scientists would only get dumber. There's already enough stuff online about how it doesn't make sense and how the characters are all terribly written so I won't add to that. My only question is: If all future intelligence is as bad as this film makes it seem, how did they invent a spaceship?

 

Moonrise Kingdom

 



I'm shocked that I waited so long to watch this film again. I wrote about this in my Top 10 Cinema Films of 2012. So if you bothered to read that Facebook post of mine then you'll already know my feelings on it. So in the interest of fairness, and laziness, I'm just gonna copy and paste what i said. JOURNALISM. 
Bill Murray. Two words that should make you want to see this. Bill Murray and a shoe. There's five and you're still here? Wes Anderson can make a dysfunctional family or group of people seem real. No matter how over the top it becomes you still find it believable.

Blood & Thunder

MASTODON

 

 Not to be confused with a Mammoth

Gigs, and music for that matter, don't get much better than Mastodon. This was my third time seeing Mastodon live and as good as the first two were this one was much better. I credit it to the fact that they now have so much more music to pick from. Considering their last album was a masterpiece it's no surprise that they played ten out of the thirteen songs off it. But you could say that all their albums are masterpieces, at least until a new one of theirs come out. Rarely do you witness a band's fans sing along to the new songs as  fervently as they do to the classics. (I mean who wants to hear new AC/DC? It sounds the same as the old stuff anyway. Just play Highway to Hell and the opening riff to Thunderstruck and everyone will be happy) The proof of this was during Curl of the Burl when Brent Hind's guitar decided to give up and yet he was still able to walk away from the mic and get a new guitar while everyone in the place sang the lyrics for him.

To witness Brann Dailor play drums is something else. The man never stops. I would be surprised if there was one piece of his drum kit that he didn't hit during every song. That's why I never trust drummers with only one tom drum. What's wrong with you? Are you afraid of actually playing it? Brann can play like he has six arms AND sing at the same time. Unbelievable drummer.



Bill Kelliher is somewhat the opposite of Brent on guitar. Both are fantastic guitarists but Bill tends to be more laid back while playing. Unfortunately he was the opposite side of the stage from where I was so I didn't get to watch him shred as much as I would have liked.

And yes Michelle, Troy Sanders was there too. He was pretty much the focal point of the band. When he wasn't singing he was bouncing around the stage. At least this time he had the room to move not like when they played in Belfast the last time.

I got this shirt

If you happen to not like good music then at least you had Robbie Williams and Bon Jovi to go see this week. You just happened to make the wrong life choice and I hope you feel bad. But as Mastodon sing in the song "Blasteroid": If you are sad/ and need to cry/ then turn around and go outside.


Aishling got this one



Stargasm

I suppose that's enough gushing over Mastodon and enough belittling of your choice in music. Now it's just time to leave you with my movie recommendation.
Robot & Frank
This film was out last year and I don't know what made me think of it recently but I'm glad I did. Where nowadays some indie movies try too hard to "feel" indie (usually by putting mopey teens in it), this one actually succeeds by just being plain good.

That's it for now. All I need is a sign off. Someone come up with a groovy catchphrase for me to end my blogs on. There may be a prize in it for you. But most likely not. Bye-bye.

1 comment: