Movie Review: MacGruber

Saturday Night Live is still one of the funniest shows on television. The current cast is the best they have had in years and almost every episode is brillant. SNL had not made a film out of any it's characters since 2000's "The Ladies Man" (which I found to be hillarious). Hopefully after MacGruber SNL starts making a lot more movies because this film lives to up the SNL name and then some.

The SNL skit MacGruber is an obvious spoof on the 80's cult classic "MacGyver". The skit is pretty much the same joke every time. The joke is that MacGruber always has some form of hillarious distraction to prevent him from defusing the bomb in time. The skits on SNL though it is a one joke premise are still always funny. Thankfully the film goes past the one joke and really becomes one for the ages.

The MacGruber movie focuses on MacGruber (Will Forte) being brought out of seclusion by the government. MacGruber has been chosen to stop the man that killed his wife Diether Von Cunth(Val Kilmer) from unleashing a nuclear warhead on Washington D.C. MacGruber assembles a team consisting of Vickie St.Elmo(Kristen Wiig) and Lt.Dixon Piper(Ryan Phillipe) to go after Cunth. With MacGruber's extensive milltary background and knack for making homemade explosives out of household materials,St.Elmo's mastery of disguise and Piper's intelligence they go after Cunth.

MacGruber is one of the funniest films I have seen in the last few years. Forte owns this character and his outlandishness/crudness is part of the reason this film is so damn funny. The humor is pretty stupid at time but that is just the nature of the film. Another big surprise was how funny Phillipe and Kilmer were. They actually both know to how to pull off comedy very well. They should both be in comedies more often now.

Bottom line is if you want to laugh your ass go see MacGurber. Sure the humor is sometimes stupid but it is still hillarious. This film is crude,rude and packed with gut busting hillarity. MacGruber is the single best SNL movie ever made along with being one of the funniest films of the year.

4/5 Stars

Album Review: As I Lay Dying-The Powerless Rise

It has been 3 long years since As I Lay Dying released their last record An Ocean Between Us. That record showcased a new side of As I Lay Dying. Faster riffs, more precise vocals and just overall more complex music. The Powerless Rise builds on the sound introduced on An Ocean Between Us and takes it to the next level.

This album is such an impressive feat. I was pretty much floored once I listened to this album for first time. The thing that stood out to me the most on The Powerless Rise is the guitarwork. The riffs are spectacular. They range from slow and catchy to quick and face melting. The solos are just flat-out amazing. Guitarist Nick Hipa has really upped the ante from their previous works. From the thrash-influenced album standout "Without Conclusion" to the melodic soloing of "Vacancy" Hipa shows a range that he has not shown before. Tim Lambesis also adds a lot in the vocal department. Lambesis has quite the range and shows why he is without a doubt one of the best vocalist in the genre.

If there is any negative at all it would be that in certain parts of the album the clean vocals by bassist Josh Gilbert are a little bit whiny. On tracks such as "Paralells" and "Upside Down Kingdom" they take away a little bit from the song. For the most part Gilbert is great especially his vocal lines on "Anodyne Sea" and "Anger and Apathy".

As I Lay Dying proves with The Powerless Rise that they are one of metalcore's elite bands. They are always consistent and just make flat out great music. I know they are rather popular and have a lot of haters because of their faith. Get over their beliefs and they fact they are quite popular and just listen to the music. As I Lay Dying keeps hitting home runs with their records and this album is pretty much a lock for my Top 5 of the year.

4.5/5 Stars

Standout Tracks

1.Without Conclusion

2.The Plague

3.Anger and Apathy

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

Comic book sequels are always a crapshoot. Some have been better than the original (Spider-Man 2,X2:X-Men United and obiviously The Dark Knight) and some have completely crashed and burned (Fantastic Four:Rise Of The Silver Surfer and Batman and Robin). Iron Man 2 actually avoids doing both of those. It is not as good as the original but its also no where near awful.

The new chapter in the Iron Man franchise picks up 6 months after the end of the first Iron Man. Tony Stark(again played by Robert Downey Jr.) has been basking in glory at the fact that Iron Man is a true hero. Crime is at all an all-time low and Stark is the leading force behind. The government wants Stark to turn over the Iron Man weapon. Stark ends up winning the court case. Despite winning the court case Stark's problem aren't even close to over. Russian Ivan Vanko(Mickey Rourke) has constructed his own suit and wants Stark dead. Stark's heart is giving out on him and his life-long rival Justin Hammer(Same Rockwell) also wants on in on the glory of the Iron Man suit.

Iron Man 2 is pretty much the epitome of a summer blockbuster. It gets the job in the entertainment department. The action sequences are top-notch and defintley help the film balance out with some of its weaker elements. Despite introducing a ton of new characters none of them really feel forced. The script succeeds in giving all the new characters reveleance and they aren't just there chewing up screen time. Acting wise Downey Jr. is great as usual. His charisma and the way he approaches the roles makes Tony Stark/Iron Man one of the most memorable superheroes ever. Don Cheadle also does quite a good job replacing Terrence Howard as Col.James Rhodes/War Machine. Cheadle I think overall is a better fit for the role then Howard was. Rockwell plays Justin Hammer quite well. I think he was a great casting choice as a villian and despite Hammer being a very old man in the comic I think the writers made a good choice making the character younger and having Rockwell play him.

This film does have its shortcomings though. Mickey Rourke was a good choice to play Whiplash but his Russian accent seems kind of phony. I mean it didn't bug me that much but should have gotten a better grasp on the accent. The biggest problem this film has though is that the story is just no where near as engaging as the first one. The first one was pretty much flawless in the pacing and direction of the story. This installment drags in some places and just isn't nearly as enthralling of a story.

Iron Man 2 is a worthwhile sequel and a solid entry to the Iron Man franchise. It is not on the same level as the first one and It is a bit disappointing but it does what it was supposed to. Hopefully Iron Man 3 has a better plot and they give Samuel L.Jackson (Nick Fury) a bigger role because he needed more screen time. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment and I hope this franchise will end up with Spider-Man and X-Men as one of the elite Marvel comic franchises.

4/5 Stars

Album Review: Bullet For My Valentine-Fever

Bullet For My Valentine has never really been one of my favorite metal acts. I mean don't get me wrong I always thought they were pretty good. I enjoyed their prior two records 2005's The Poison and 2008's Scream Aim Fire but on their new release Fever they take a step back for sure.

This album is all over the place for one. They really can't decide what direction they want to go in. This works very well for some bands but it is a mixed bag for Bullet. There are some definite solid tracks that is just as good as their older material("The Last Fight" and "Alone") as well as some utter trash ("Pleasure and Pain","Bittersweet Memories") but mainly there is a lot of mediocrity on this album. I think can this can be attributed to attemping to make a more mainstream accessible record. I mean its not too different from their past material but it defintley has more of a "fuck it lets try to sell the most records possible and not care what our old fans think!" vibe to it.

Overall I think Bullet should go back to more of the heavier stuff on Scream,Aim,Fire. With this record the clean vocals are way too promient and more harsh vocals would have been a nice touch. I thought they were going to step it up to the next level and become a great band. Clearly Bullet went more for what is popular then the music they actually wanted to make. There is still the great guitarwork from past records present here but the songs overall are just weaker than they were in the past. This is just another run-of the mill metal record. Better luck next time Bullet.

2.5/5 Stars

Album Review: Veil Of Maya- (id)

Chicago's Veil Of Maya is a band to watch. Their 3rd full length (id) solidfys them as the real deal. Unlike many of their deathcore peers they break the mold. Veil of Maya has a niche for proggy,interesting and just plain awesome riffs. They have a lot of profiency in the guitar department and that is proably the main reason this band is something special. They keep their riffs interesting and they actually know how to use breakdowns effectivly and not go one breakdown-overload like some bands of this genre do.

This album defintley has a brisk pace to it clocking in it at a mere 30 minutes. Though it is quick it is also pretty memorable. Veil of Maya throws a very good amount of curveballs on this record. Such as the spectacularly well-placed instrumental tracks such as "Martyrs" to the space like trippiness of "Namaste" Veil Of Maya has all the bases covered. The production from Michael Keene(guitarist for The Faceless) is also top-notch and the record sounds sharp throughout. This album is proably in the top 10 records of the year so far for me and is just another great stepping stone for an up and coming band like Veil Of Maya. Kudos to them for putting together another very good release and I would proably say this is their best yet.

4/5 Stars

Standout Tracks

1.Mowgli

2.Namaste

3.Circle

Movie Review:Death At A Funeral

In 2007 the British film Death At A Funeral set the dark comedy world ablaze. It was quite well recieved by the limited audience that saw in here in the States. 3 short years later the film has been remade for the American audience with almost entirely new cast. Most fans of the orginal were very upset about a potentially watered-down, trash version of the British film. Fans of the British version can sleep easy now because The American does its job.


For those who haven't seen the original The story focuses on Aaron Barnes(Chris Rock) and the many problems that occur on the day of his father's funeral. First they end up with the wrong body. Then upon his arrival Aaron's highly sucessful author brother Ryan (Martin Lawerence) does absolutley nothing to help with the funeral. Then to make matters even worse an unexpected guest (Peter Dinklage,the only actor to return from the original) threatens to reveal a secret about the Barnes's father that could bring the entire funeral to a screeching halt.


In terms of remakes go this is one of the better ones I have seen. That is proably due to the fact that is has the same writer and the spectacular ensemble cast. The cast is absoultey the best thing in the whole film. Watching Rock,Lawerence, Tracy Morgan, Danny Glover and Luke Wilson on the same screen is just pure comic gold. The real surprise though is James Mardsen. Mardsen's plays Zoe Saldana's character's boyfriend who mistakenly takes drugs and is one of the many,many things that go wrong during the funeral.


This film is defintley hillarious and is completley worth checking out.Avoid the naysayers and the negative feedback that has been said my some simply out of rage that the filmakers made a remake so soon. A lot of laughs thoroughout and it is for sure on the same level as its British counterpart

4/5 Stars

Welcome!

Hi, I'm Chris Maitland. I am the writer of this blog. I am new to this whole "blog" business but I think it is going to be a lot of fun! You can except a plethora of movie and music reviews as well as me rambling on about sports,entertainment and all sorts of other subjects. Hope you enjoy and subscribe. I will start posting some reviews of some films that I have seen and album I have listened to in the past few months shortly!