Movie Review: The Watch

The Watch is slightly different from the rest of the comedies to be released this summer. It has a sc-fi theme (Which is being downplayed in a majority of the ad's outside of the theatrical trailer) and I'm willing to bet there is not a sci-fi comedy out there that is as raunchy as this. It centers around a neighborhood watch group (Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade) who are looking to rid the neighborhood of crime after a murder occurs at the Costco that Stiller's character runs. The group soon discovers that their town has been invaded by aliens and it's up to them to save the town from impending intergalactic doom. The Watch is exactly what I expected it to be. It's a solid comedy with a really talented cast that is a blast to watch together. It shows on screen just how much fun they had making this movie and playing off each other. It's vulgar as hell and the humor isn't exactly highbrow stuff, but that's all part of the fun. The laughs are pretty evenly distributed between Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade with Ben Stiller doing a good job in his straight-man role that he has perfected through most of his career. The improv between the four of them runs wild in the movie and it enhances the best moments of the film. While Still, Vaughn, and Hill are all established comedy veterans, Ayoade is a fresh face to American audiences and he shines in his American film debut. Hopefully his performance here leads to many more American film roles. I can see him gaining quite a following with American audiences given the right roles. I found The Watch to be a much better film than the professional critics made it out to be. It's a stupid, sci-fi comedy aimed at a male audience and it does its job well. It could of been a bit better considering the level of comedic talent involved, but The Watch serves it's purpose as a funny, entertaining summer comedy.

3.5/5 Stars

Movie Review: Wanderlust

There will be and already has been better comedies this year, but I can almost guarantee that none will be more abstract than Wanderlust. That abstract vibe is a big part of why Wanderlust was so damn funny to me. It's a half-satire/half-homage of hippies and their anti-consumerist lifestyle and writer/director David Wain pulls it off brilliantly. You rarely see a comedy with this many colorful characters in the same movie. Each character with the hippie commune has their own unique quirks make this movie all the more fun to watch. Joe Lo Trugilo as a nudist winemaker/author and Alan Alda as the elderly burnout founder of Elysium gleefully steal the show from the other kooky characters. Paul Rudd does his typical straightman act to perfection and maintains a solid chemistry with his on-screen wife Jennifer Aniston (who looks stunning as always). David Wain deserves the most credit here though. He is able to craft a vulgar, charming, and extremely funny film centered around a very unconventional concept. This is very much a "free love", "fuck the corporate fat cats" type of film which I normally don't respond well to, but Wain handles the topic with wit and charm that I glossed right over that. Wanderlust is about on par with Wain's earlier successes in Role Models and Wet Hot American Summer. The humor does not have a wide-spread appeal, but if you like strange, absurdest humor than Wanderlust is the movie for you.

4/5 Stars

Album Review: Nas-Life Is Good

Although Nas has been active for a little over twenty years now, Nas frequently falls under the radar in the hip-hop world. Unlike many of his peers from that era, he has mostly stuck to his guns throughout his career and has made some bold moves (such as making a collaboration album with reggae star Damian Marley) to separate him from the mainstream hip-hop crowd. Nas's new record Life Is Good is his finest work in years and continues the almost unmatched consistency Nas has achieved throughout most of his career.

Life Is Good shows 110% that Nas still has it. It has a very old-school Nas vibe and it sees him returning to what he does best: Telling stories. The approach Nas takes on this album is in the same vein of his classics Illmatic, It Was Written, and Stillmatic and it is beyond awesome that he has returned to this style. In addition to his return to telling stories with his rhymes, Life Is Good sees Nas going back to blending his conscious side with his hardcore side. Both sides of his style are highly successful with equal lyrical bite and great production to suit the different vibes of each song accordingly. Even with these tone shifts, the album never looses focus and the transitions seem very natural. Surprisingly I found myself enjoying the deeper, more emotional tracks than the in-your-face hardcore ones. The 50 and 60's jazz vibes on "Stay" and almost classical sounding beat on "A Queen's Story" combined with the emotional and heartfelt lyrics made for some of the most enjoyable tracks on the album. At the same time, the hardcore tracks are also top-notch. "Back When" and "The Don" are absolute bangers that shows he can still spit with a ton of intensity and passion. Nas is also able to make great use of guest artists. Every guest artist (with the exceptions of Swizz Beatz on the albums lone dud "Summer On Smash" and Rick Ross on the otherwise solid "Ancient Murderers" ) improves each song substantially. There are some great hooks by Mary J.Blidge, the late Amy Winehouse, and master of great, catchy hooks in hip-hop songs, Anthony Hamilton. Each of these guest spots really drive home the power of each song and Nas could not have done a better job choosing these singers to do the hooks on his album.

Life Is Good is Nas best record since Stillmatic in my humble opinion. He's back in his element telling stories and his lyrics are as sharp and emotional as ever. This is a much-needed throwback album with meaningful themes and emotional power in spades. It almost seems like it should have come out fifteen years ago, Hip-Hop like this is rare these days. Hip-hop needs an elder statesman like Nas. He's been doing his thing and not hoping on any trends his whole career. The fact that he is notably absent from any best rapper alive discussion is both sad and sickening. Life Is Good will hopefully expose a new generation of hip-hop fans to the brilliance of Nas's work. Hip-hop needs more mainstream rappers willing to be different like Nas. Kudos to Nas for making another excellent piece of work and showing once again why he is such an important part of the modern survival of hip-hop.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Stay
2.A Queens Story
3. The Don

Quick Movie Reviews: The Artist, Footloose, Insidious

Was able to get three more films out of the way for my ongoing goal to see as many 2011 films as possible. After seeing The Artist, Footloose, and Insidious, I have 27 wide releases left to watch as well as a select number of limited releases.

The Artist: I found this to be a decent watch, but nothing more. It starts off pretty compelling, but drags pretty hard in the second half when George (Jean Dujardin) fell from and Peppy (Bernice Bejo) became a star. The story isn't really anything special and it stays afloat on acting and charm alone. It does have an infectious enthusiasm for Hollywood and the magic of cinema which is a big reason why it was so well-received by critics. I don't think it deserved it's Best Picture win, but it's certaintly not a bad film in any way, shape, or form.

3/5 Stars

Footloose: I actually liked this more than The Artist (*dodges tomatoes being thrown in my direction*). Craig Brewer is able to capture the teenage spirit with a light, fun little movie. This film has a ton of energy, charm, likable characters and a simple yet effective story that made it a winner. Newcomer Kenny Wormald shows he has what it takes to be actor with his solid performance in the lead role as Ren MacCormack. Veteran actors Dennis Quaid, Ray McKinnon, and Andie MacDowell fill out the well-rounded cast with some decent performances in supporting roles.I have a feeling this would've been a disaster if it didn't have a excellent director like Brewer at the helm. Can't say how it compares to the 1984 original, but the remake of Footloose is definitely worth seeing.

3/5 Stars

Insidious: Better than expected, but still really average. It does have an interesting concept and it handles demonic possession unlike any film in recent memory, but it falls flat in the execution. Like many other critics before me, I agree the movie really falls apart in the last half-hour or so. The first half had some tension and was mildly intriguing. The second half it becomes really ridiculous and over-the-top out of nowhere. It almost seems like they brought in different screenwriters to finish the film. To top it all off the ending was incredibly obvious and downright stupid. It also doesn't help that that the demons in this film look like Darth Maul from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. I started laughing every time a demon appeared which often was during what was supposed to be the scariest moments of the film. Insidious is a valiant effort, but it ultimately comes up short due to it's ridiculous final act and poor demon design.

2.5/5 Stars

Concert Review: Vans Warped Tour-- Mansfield, MA-- July 19th, 2012

Warped Tour rolled through Massachusetts yesterday and it marked a great start to summer festival season for me. It provided the typical diverse lineup which sets it apart from other festival and was definitely the best Warped Tour out of the two I've been to.

I got there around 12 after getting stuck in traffic for a little bit. My friends and I got inside the Comcast Center really fast and we immediately b-lined to the dude selling schedules. After buying my schedule, I found out that the only bands we had missed were Motionless In White and Falling In Reverse, both of whom I did not care about seeing in the slightest. I also lucked out for the most part in terms of seeing all the bands I wanted with the exception of the conflict between Every Time I Die and A Loss For Words (I was pretty bummed because I really wanted to see A Loss For Words, but Every Time I Die was one of only two bands I was going to choose seeing over them). New Found Glory was the only other band I wanted to see that I didn't get the chance to see, but it wasn't that big of a deal because I am not a rabid fan of them.

The first band of the day I caught was Man Overboard and I wasn't really impressed at all. Just like their studio stuff, they were just alright. I think they are just too sappy, even for pop-punk. I will say they did sound exactly like their studio recordings, so if you're a fan of their music you will love their live show. Not bad, but I couldn't really into their set.

There was a small gap in between Man Overboard and Every Time I Die, so I watched a terrible local metal band (really bad metalcore/deathcore hybrid). After that I went around and looked at merch and the many other tents that Warped Tour has and I ended up buying a pretty sick Every Time I Die shirt. Before too long, Every Time I Die took the stage and killed it. They were just as good and energetic as they were at Warped two years ago the first time I saw them. They played a set consisting of songs off their new record Ex Lives and older favorites from Hot Damn! and Gutter Phenomenon (Surprisingly nothing off of New Junk Aesthetic though). The new stuff sounded great live (Stoked to see "I Suck (Blood)" in there and "Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space" is a perfect set opener) and the older songs were equally enjoyable. I really hope I get to see them headline at some point in time, I need to see them play for more than a half hour. Definitely a contender for best set of the day. Stupid, but awesome side note: Keith Buckley was wearing a Free Randy Blythe shirt.

I went and watched Yellowcard for shits and giggles after Every Time I Die. To my surprise, they were actually pretty good! They were having a great time on stage and their singer sounded much better than on disc. It was kind of surreal seeing a band I listened to when I was 12 or 13 years old years later. The place of course erupted during "Only One", "Lights and Sounds", and especially "Ocean Avenue". Their new stuff definitely sounded weaker than the older stuff and I'm sure that's case even though I haven't listened to any of their records outside of Ocean Avenue. I'm glad I checked out Yellowcard, they were way better than expected.

I went back to the Monster Stage and watched For Today. They were alright, but they are a tad bit generic for my liking. Way too many breakdowns, but they have a decent vocalist and some solid riffs from time to time. One thing that pissed me off about their set was the Christianity rant the singer went on. I know this bands message is to spread the word of Jesus, but this was just ridiculous. He basically yelled at the crowd for 3 minutes about how we were all going to face Jesus and have a path to follow and whatever. I have no problem with someone being religious, but forcing your religious beliefs on others is wrong in my eyes. Other than that their performance was inoffensive, but I doubt I will check out their studio stuff or go out of my way to see them again.

I ventured over to the amphitheater stage to see Miss May I. I missed the first few songs, but they put on a solid show. Levi Benton really knows how to work a crowd and his vocals sounded pretty spot-on as well (I talked to him briefly and he seems like a really nice guy too). They got a pretty ridiculous reception as well and there was a shitload of people there to see them. It blows my mind how big this band has gotten in only a few years. These guys are really young (Most of the members are only a year or two older than me) and they have a long career ahead of them. I thoroughly enjoyed their performance and they're without a doubt a better live band than a studio band

Right after Miss May I, I went back out to the side lot and watched Born of Osiris. They were only band of the band of the day that slightly disappointed me the whole day. They were still very good, but they were ten times better when I saw them at New England Metal and Hardcore Festival last year. Ronnie Canizaro's vocals have definitely taken a bit of a dip since the last time I saw them, but he got better as the set progressed. The new guitarist played Jason Richardson's parts on The Discovery songs well. Those are big shoes to fill when you lose a guitarist that is that good, but he was up to the challenge and did a amicable job. I will absolutely see them again and hopefully they will better than this time around.

After the Burial was on next and they mightily impressed. They were the band I was most excited to see on the day outside of Every Time I Die and they did not disappoint in the slightest. The band was tight as hell and Anthony Notarmaso did a spectacular job on vocals (His low screams were especially impressive). The set was heavy on Rarefrom material which was awesome because that's easily their best album in my opinion. "Berzerker" has to be one of the best live songs ever. The intro comes across even better live ( Rhythm guitarist Justin Lowe was playing his parts behind his head!)and the breakdown in the middle is still the best breakdown ever written. They tore up the tiny Kevin Says Stage and the pretty big crowd was super into their set. I can't wait for them to release a new album and for their next tour. A toss-up between them and Every Time I Die for best show of the day.

Once After the Burial wrapped up I caught the last four songs of A Loss for Words acoustic set in the Acoustic Basement tent. I was happy that I got to see them after missing their regular set earlier and I enjoyed their performance, but it didn't completely fulfill my craving to see them. The tent was packed and I couldn't hear them that well due to all the other stages bleeding in from time to time and people singing the lyrics really loud. It was still cool to see them play acoustically in a really intimate setting and will hold me over until I get to see them play a regular set in the (hopefully near) future.

I caught Transit afterward to pass the time and they were pretty good. Their performance was definitely comprable to their set at the Glamour Kills Tour in March. The band was really into their performance and the singer even dove into the crowd during the last song. Just like the last time I saw them, the hometown crowd was going nuts for them and that definitely added to the experience. Their studio stuff still does nothing for me and there definitely better pop punk bands out there, but they still put on a pretty good show.

Next came the biggest surprise of the day: Four Year Strong. Holy shit these guys were fucking great! I never got into their studio stuff, but their performance yesterday makes me want to revisit that. They had some pretty killer riffs and their pop punk/hardcore hybrid was just so too much damn fun live. They were having the time of their lives on stage and were so appreciative of the hometown crowd coming out and showing their support. I am going to be honest these guys had a similar vibe to A Day To Remember and if the quality of their live show is any indicator, they are a better band in my opinion. I still can't get over how good they were and they were definitely in the top tier of performances for the day.

The Ghost Inside closed out my day at Warped Tour and they were quite good. Their style of melodic hardcore/metalcore is made for a live setting. They kind of remind me of a tamer, more melodic version of Hatebreed. The energy from the band and the crowd was relentless and it made for an infectiously fun performance. They got a huge circle pit going around the sound booth during their second to last song which put the rest of the circle pits for the day to shame. The Ghost Inside may not be the most musically complex band on the planet, but they are great at what they do and they closed out Warped Tour on a high note with one of the stronger performances of the day. Warped Tour was a great fucking time and I hope next year has a good lineup so I can go again.

Scores:
Man Overboard 5/10
Unknown Shitty Local Metal Band 3/10
Every Time I Die 8.5/10
Yellowcard 7/10
For Today 5/10
Miss May I 7.5/10
Born of Osiris 8/10
After the Burial 8.5/10
A Loss For Words (acoustic) 7.5/10
Transit 7/10
Four Year Strong 8/10
The Ghost Inside 8/10

Setlists:
Man Overboard (jacked from setlist.fm, could be wrong):
Rare
Real Talk
Dead End Dreams
Something's Weird
Fantasy Girl
Atlas
World Favorite

Every Time I Die:
Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space
Holy Book of Dilemma
Floater
No Son of Mine
Kill the Music
Bored Stiff
We'rewolf
I Suck (Blood)
She's My Rushmore
Ebolarama

Yellowcard included:
Always Summer
Lights and Sounds
Only One
Ocean Avenue

For Today (jacked from setlist.fm, could be wrong):
Seraphim
Saul of Tarsus (The Messenger)
Under God
White Flag
Fearless
Devastator

Miss May I (partial):
Forgive and Forget
Our Kings
Hey Mister
Ballad of a Broken Man
Masses of a Dying Breed

Born of Osiris:
Follow The Signs
Ascension
Open Arms to Damnation
Empires Erased
Abstract Art
Bow Down
Recreate

After the Burial:
Fingers Like Daggers
Berzerker
Encased in Ice
Cursing Akhenaten
Aspiration

A Loss For Words (acoustic, partial):
Hold Your Breath
Wrightsville Beach
?
Mount St.Joesph

Transit:
All Your Heart
Listen and Forgive
Long Lost Friends
Please, Head North
Skipping Stone
Stay Home

Four Year Strong (not 100% on the order, but I know these songs were played):
Tonight We Feel Alive (On A Saturday)
Stuck in the Middle
What the Hell is a Giggawat?
Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die
Heaven Wasn't Built To Hold Me
Maniac (R.O.D)
It Must Really Suck to Be Four Year Strong Right Now
Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)

The Ghost Inside:
Unspoken
Faith or Forgiveness
Slipping Away
Chrono
Downbeat
Outlive
? (I don't believe they had played this song on the tour so far before yesterday)
Between the Lines

Album Review: The Contortonist-Intrinsic

Indiana's The Contortionist made quite the splash on the metal scene with their 2010 debut Exoplanet. It was a hell of a debut that showed off their talent as a band as well a progressive-based sound that was dynamic from most of their peers in the deathcore genre. Their sophomore album, Intrinsic, takes The Contortionist to new territories with their sound while still maintaining the same level of quality as Exoplanet.

Intrinsic sees The Contortionist making a pretty dramatic shift to a more straight-forward progressive metal sound while still retaining the death metal/deathcore sound they had in the past. It was refreshing to see a band change their sound while maintaining the quality of their previous music. The Contortionist definitely put an end to the trend of band's changing their sound while sacrificing making good music in the process (I'm looking at you Baroness). The Contortionist gets their most daring and experimental song to date out of the way first with "Holomovement". This song sees vocalist/ keyboardist Jonathan Carpenter capturing his inner Paul Masvidal as he showcases his much improved clean vocals over extremely melodic guitars and atmospheric keyboards. It will definitely immediately capture the listeners attention and sets the tone for the album. The Contortionist's trend with experimentation runs through the whole album. There is some great use of vocoders, synths, and even some jazz-fusion and post-rock melodies thrown in for good measure. Even with the all the experimentation going on during this album, The Contortionist doesn't forget what they best at: Combining progressive and death metal influences. The grooves/breakdowns and the melodic riffs on this album are top-notch. Almost every melody on this album is stunning (just like it was on Exoplanet) and the breakdowns hit pretty hard. "Causality" is the prime example of the two sides of The Contortionist coming together perfectly. It starts off with a heavy section full of groovy guitars with Carpenter screaming his lungs out and descends into a stunning melodic section with an incredible riff and great basswork paired with a couple of brief sections of clean/electronic vocals. "Causality" without a doubt rivals "Contact" off of Exoplanet for my favorite Contortionist song to date.

Intrinsic is the next logical step for The Contortionist as a band. They have matured and become a more progressive and experimental band with better songwriting, but they also not forgotten where they came from and that's what makes Intrinsic such a great record. They haven't lost the heavy/progressive edge they showed on Exoplanet and they have introduced a ton of new ideas for their sound with Intrinsic. This a band that is clearly going places and it's going to be exciting to watch where they go from here.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Casuality
2.Geocentric Confusion
3.Sequential Vision

Movie Review: Ted

Seth MacFarlane is a polarizing figure in comedy. I've always found Family Guy and American Dad to be extremely hit-or-miss. Thankfully he straightens out all the inconsistencies with his humor for his debut film Ted.

Ted is completely hilarious throughout. This is 100000x better than the best episode of Family Guy. MacFarlane has finally created a piece of work that is consistently funny and entertaining with absolutely no down time at all. He still uses his trademark blend of wide-appealing sexual and toilet humor with obscure pop culture references, it's just better than ever. I especially enjoy his pop culture references and I found myself to be the only one in the theater laughing at a lot of them. Personally, I don't think you can fully appreciate this film if you don't get at least half of the references. They elevate this film from being a great comedy to a landmark comedy. Besides the fact that almost everything that comes out of Ted's mouth is hilarious, the cast does a great job. MacFarlane surrounded himself with most of his cronies ( Mila Kunis, Patrick Warburton, Alex Borstein, Ralph German), but he also made some solid choices outside of his circle with Mark Wahlberg in the lead role (he never fails to impress in comedies) and Joel McHale as Milla Kunis's character's pervert boss. Perhaps the most impressive and surprising is the scene-stealing extended cameo from Sam Jones of Flash Gordon fame. I never expected to see Jones in another movie again and his appearance is absolutely priceless and provides some of the biggest laughs in the whole movie. The only thing that prevents this from being better than 21 Jump Street, this year's other landmark comedy, is the stupid subplot with Giovanni Ribsi, who plays a man obsessed with getting Ted for his son. It's completely unnecessary to have his character in the movie and the final third of the movie where his character is the most prominent is easily the worst part of the movie. Besides that tiny flaw, Ted is still an extremely enjoyable film. This is an elite comedy that holds up well on repeat viewings (I've already seen it twice) and it should be remembered for years to come.

4.5/5 Stars 

Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

When I first heard they were rebooting the Spider-Man franchise after only ten years I was highly skeptical. I am not This is the first time in my life where they have rebooted a franchise where I remember seeing the original installment.in theaters. Well now the reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man, has been released and my skepticism was warranted as this film couldn't even live up to my modest expectations.

The Amazing Spider-Man would've been more accurately titled The Frustratingly Average Spider-Man. With the exception of some good acting ( Andrew Garfield is a solid Spider-Man and Emma Stone steals the movie as Gwen Stacey) this is a mind-numbingly average reboot. It is more faithful to the comics than the original series and there are a lot of nice ideas on display here (Showing how strong he is/every scene where he is discovering his powers, Spider-Man's sarcasm, the relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey, Peter finding about his father, plenty more), these ideas are just poorly executed. The weak script really kills the whole movie. It tries to establish a dark, gritty tone (a la Christopher Nolan's Batman movies), but it's such a ridiculous movie that it completely cancels out the dark elements. It takes itself way too seriously (which Sam Rami's original franchise never did) and that is a huge drawback for this film. It also doesn't help that The Lizard is one of the worst villains in the history of superhero films. He has no motives or legitimate reasons behind his actions which makes the whole conflict between him and Spider-Man completely stupid and pointless. Good villains are a vital part of superhero films and without a menacing and/or memorable villain it makes it a lot less fun to watch and The Lizard sure as hell is not a good villain. The CGI is also pretty bad for a film with such a high budget. The Lizard is one of the stupidest and unrealistic looking CGI creations of the past decade. Hell even Green Lantern (which had pretty unimpressive CGI as well) had better CGI than this. Another huge drawback was the lackluster direction from Marc Webb. Webb is a talented director, but this is so far out of his comfort zone and his skills are not on display here at all. He has no idea how to handle action. The action scenes here are terribly shot and really mediocre. Webb was the complete wrong choice for this movie and hopefully he isn't asked to come back for the inveitble sequel.

The Amazing Spider-Man is a useless and underwhelming reboot. The filmmakers did put the effort in to try to make it a more faithful adaption of the comics, but it was all for not due to the poor screenwriting and directing. The actors really do try their best and they are the primary and pretty much sole reason this film is  even somewhat watchable. The Amazing Spider-Man is far inferior to any of Sam Rami's original franchise (yes even 3). Rami's films might not have 100% accurate to the comics, but at least they were well-written, engaging and fun films with great action scenes and excellent villains (save for the third one). The reboot has none of that and if this series continues (which is bound to happen) I hope they fix the giant mistakes that this film got bogged down with.

2.5/5 Stars

10 Most Underrated Superhero Movies

To celebrate the release of The Amazing Spider-Man and the release of The Dark Knight Rises on Friday, I figured I would throw together a list of the ten superhero films I feel are the most underrated. Keep in mind, this is not my ten favorite, just the ten that I feel are deserving of more respect than they get. Without further ado, here are my picks for the most underrated superhero movies of all-time.

 10.Superman II (1980)
 9.Blade (1998)
 8.Hellboy (2004)
 7.Super (2011)
 6.Hancock (2008)
 5.The Punisher (2004)
 4.The Green Hornet (2011)
 3.The Incredible Hulk (2008)
 2.X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
 1.Thor (2011)

Album Review: Baroness-Yellow & Green

Baroness has made it's name for itself as a dynamic progressive sludge metal band. Their first two full-lengths made waves critically and rightfully so, they were incredible albums that were amongst the best released in their respective years. Given how much I love Red Album and Blue Record naturally I was stoked for Baroness's first effort in three years, Yellow & Green. Much to my dismay Yellow and Green is a monumental disappointment that marks a incredible regression in Baroness's music.

The two halves, while somewhat different (Yellow is primarily psychedelic pop-rock, while Green is primarily indie folk), suffer from many of the same problems. The biggest issue is the lack of energy or uniqueness put into their songs. Almost every song bleeds into each other with a lack of interesting riffs or melodies that drove Baroness in the past. Giving guitarist Pete Adams so little to do is seriously a crime. He sits back playing boring-ass two-chord acoustic riffs while his excellent guitar playing is being completely underutilized. The few moments he gets to let loose ( end of "Little Things", "Cocanium", beginning of " The Line Between") are some of the best moments of the record, but they are far too few and far between to break up the monotony of this record. Vocalist/ rhythm guitarist John Baizley kind of drones through everything with none of the emotion that he had in the past. He becomes really monotonous and seems like he is just going through the motions the whole time. It also bothered me that neither half flowed together. In the past, the interludes and the like made Baroness's albums flow so much better and it gave them this really special and cool cohesive feeling. The fact that both albums lacked songs that tied together really bugged me. It was a trademark of Baroness and the fact that it's gone made me dislike the new material even more. The last thing that I really didn't like here was the Green half of the album. Not that I love Yellow, but at least that half had a few cool parts to it. Green is just straight-up awful. The style of folk that is played just fails on every level. The sound is 100% aimed at hipsters and I thought I was listening to The Antlers or the Fleet Foxes or another one of those too cool for school, ironic bands.  It makes me really sad that Baroness made something that sounded like this, it's honestly embarrassing ("Foolsong and "Collapse" especially). Baizley doesn't have the capacity as a vocalist to handle this type of stuff (The monotone stuff I mentioned earlier applies here even harder). The dude isn't Tommy Rodgers or Jesse Leach, he can't sing that well. His voice is best suited for progressive/sludge metal and it's not really that good if you take him out of his comfort zone and the Green half of this album hammers that point home. You don't see bands like Kylesa or Black Tusk trying to making folk songs and Baroness shouldn't either. The album's one redeeming track comes near the end of the Yellow half with "Sea Lungs". "Sea Lungs" is the only song that is good all the way through on the whole album and it sound like it could've have been either of the older albums. The riff is actually cool and Baizley's vocals are up to par unlike the rest of the album. It's a pity that is the only song I will find myself revisiting on a regular basis.

Yellow & Green is a bloated, lifeless double album that is about as interesting as watching paint dry. The  spark and creativity that ran rampant through the rest of their material is thrown to the wayside in favor of a sound that is done by dozens of hipster alt-rock/folk bands. It's fine they were done with metal and wanted to change their sound. I have no problem with bands changing their sound, Hell I actually enjoy it as long as the quality of the music stays in tact, but that's not the case at all with Baroness. It almost seems like they deliberately tried to write a non-metal album and kind of just threw it together with little to no effort in the songwriting department. There were many times during both albums where I felt like I wasn't hearing the finished product and this was just a early, bare-bones demo. It kills me to see a band that I've sung the praises of for so long make an album that I dislike so much. If this is the new permanent direction for Baroness, I'm done with them for good. What really gets me even more than the music especially is how ridiculous some Baroness fans have been treating fans that don't enjoy the new material. I went with an open mind and I just happen to really not like the record. I am not trashing Baroness for not being heavy anymore (They weren't that heavy to begin with), I am trashing them because they aren't making good music anymore. They went from being such a creative force to writing some of the most dull, uninspired music I've heard in years. Sorry Baroness, I just can't back your new sound. This kills me to say, but Yellow & Green is worst album I've heard so far in 2012 by far and is a colossal letdown that will probably not be matched any time soon.

Yellow: 2/5 Stars
Green: 1/5 Stars
Overall: 1.5/5 Stars

Standout Track
1.Sea Lungs 

Movie Review: Act of Valor

Act of Valor provides an interesting concept for a film. It centers around a group of Navy SEALS played by real life Navy SEALS attempting to thwart the plans of terrorist planning to strike the US on it's own soil.  Act of Valor is a film that I can appreciate the concept of and the amount of work that these real-life heroes put into it, but it's far from flawless. The acting and story are pretty flat. It wasn't so much the acting from the SEALS (clearly they're in the military and not professional actors), but the professional actors are completely awful. The two villains in particular provide two of the most laughable, overacted performances I've seen in years. The story was also incompetent as hell. The plot doesn't really go anywhere and seems like it was thrown together in a few hours on separate days by many different people who didn't communicate with each other. Thankfully, the real star of the movie is the action, and that is where Act of Valor delivers. The action scenes are great. They are loaded with real-life military tactics and a lot of first-person shots to make it that much more realistic. The action scenes are long and done on a grand scale which provides the film with its saving grace. This film is completely saved by the intensity and realism of the action. I pin-pointed Act of Valor months ago after seeing the trailer when I said the action would be great and everything else would be horrible. The action is good enough to make this a decent watch, but this could have been a much better film if they had hired good actors to play the non-SEAL parts and a screenwriter to write a serviceable story.

3/5 Stars

Movie Review: Savages

As much as I love movies, I have seen next to none of Oliver Stone's films. What I do know about his films is recently they haven't particularly well-received. Savages should put an end to the streak for his fans.

Savages puts Stone back in his comfort zone. This is a gritty crime drama that is much more in his wheelhouse than the only other Stone film I've seen (the terrible football drama Any Given Sunday). It's clear his touch as a director is much more suited towards this type of film than the other types of drama he's been churning out recently. He thrives off of pitch-black, seedy storytelling and Savages is full of just that. Savages deceives it's audience a bit with it's action-heavy trailer. While there is action in it, This is a definitely a pretty slow movie in the first half. It takes a while for the characters and the stakes of the situation to unfold, but it's worth the wait. Once the Mexican cartel is introduced and O (Blake Lively) is kidnapped the movie really gets going. It moves along at a steady pace from then on and is good throughout, until the last 20 minutes when it becomes great. The last 20 minutes are utterly fantastic. There are some interesting turns near and during the climax that makes this movie a lot better. For me the ending made the movie. It's completely unexpected and I really enjoyed that it was open-ended and didn't really explain much. A lot of people are going to be pissed off at the ending (I heard a few groans in my theater last night), but I liked that it wasn't what you expected for a movie like this and it made me enjoy the movie quite a bit more. The acting is scattered in terms of quality in this film with performances ranging from alright (Taylor Litsch, Blake Lively) to good (Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek) to excellent (John Travolta, and especially Benicio Del Toro who steals the show from everyone as the Mexican drug cartel's enforcer). Despite no one doing a poor job, the acting is simultaneously one of the films biggest drawbacks and strengths. Savages isn't perfect and it's a film that requires patience to be rewarded, but it's definitely worth the wait. It's able to blend a solid storyline with some standout acting, sequences of insanely graphic violence (There isn't that much violence in the movie overall, but when it happens it's very gruesome ) , and a fantastic ending that makes you think afterwards. Oliver Stone shouldn't stray from making these types of movies again, He's a natural when it comes to dark stories like this and his direction benefits this film a lot. Savages will no doubt polarize audiences (just like it did critics), but i found to be a great movie and I like it the more I think about.

4/5 Stars

Album Review: Periphery-Periphery II

Periphery has come a long way in two years. They've ridden a wave of popularity of their debut self-titled album, toured with a wide range of acts including Protest The Hero, Fair to Midland, and Fear Factory and even became the founding fathers of an imaginary genre (djent). Two short years later and Periphery is back with their second full-length album and it's an even greater success than their first album.

Peirphery II is a logical stepping stone for Periphery. It's not too different from their older material and it won't alienate old fans of the band, but there is a substantial amount of growth in all aspects of the band. The most substantial growth occurs in the songwriting department. The groove elements and electronic/ambient sections of their sound are still very much present, but there is enhanced focus on the progressive elements. The more melodic moments makes for some of the most effective, haunting, and just plain great songs of Periphery's career. "Luck as a Constant" and "Scarlet" are beautiful, soaring progressive metal songs with stunning melodies and the best use of Spencer Sotelo's vocals to date. These songs have so much depth yet at the same time are infectious as all hell and are bound to get stuck in your head while at the same time blow you away with the stunning musicianship exhibited by the whole band.  Periphery doesn't forget their heavier side either with shorter tracks like "Face Palm Mute" and "The Gods Must Be Crazy!". No matter which side of their sound they are going for going for Periphery nails it on this record. Another huge leap-forward for Periphery is the vocal work from Spencer Sotelo. It's clear he busted his ass doing vocals for this album and his hard work pays dividends for both styles of vocals he does. His cleans are better and more refined than ever and his screams are much, much improved (They're are actually pretty fucking brutal now). Sotelo was already in the top-teir of metal vocalists, but his performance on this record shoots him up even highter on that list. He is nothing short of an incredible vocalist.

Another cool thing Periphery did on this album is invite guest guitarists to do solos on the album. This is an idea that I wish more bands would do. It brings some different styles of playing to the music and I really admire what Periphery has done here with their wide-range of excellent guitarists. Jazz-fusion guitarist Guthrie Govan ("Have A Blast"),  progressive metal icon John Petrucci (and ironically Periphery guitarist Jake Bowen's uncle) of Dream Theater ("Erised") and new Faceless gutiarist Wes Hauch ("Mile Zero") unsurprisingly deliver fantastic solos. What did surprise me is the that best solo of the bunch was from Wes Hauch. No disrespect to Govan or Petrucci, they are two of the finest guitar players of all-time, but Hauch's solo blew my fucking mind. As a huge fan of The Faceless, I am absolutely elated to see what he will bring to the band on their new album (If it ever sees the light of day). Kudos to Periphery for being the first band in a long time to have multiple guest solos on one album and I hope more bands follow suite in the future.

Periphery II is another success for Periphery. They have continued to grow and mature as a band, while keeping their sound in tact. The whole band stepped their game up and it pays off big time. This album is sure to please old Periphery fans and more than likely win them some new ones as well. This seems like an album that will continue to get better over time and there are good odds that my rating will go up in the coming months. Job well done Periphery and I'm stoked to see them again at Summer Slaughter next month.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Luck as a Constant
2.Scarlet
3.Mile Zero

Album Review: Nile-At the Gate of Sethu

South Carolina tech-death masters Nile have almost always been at the top of the heap when it comes to technical death metal bands. They are responsible for some of the most complex, innovative, heavy, and flat-out amazing material that the genre has to offer. This high standard that they have set for themselves is exactly why I was incredibly letdown by their newest release At the Gate of Sethu.

Saying At the Gate of Sethu is a major letdown is an understatement. I straight-up did not expect something this stale-sounding from a band like Nile. At the Gate of Sethu is especially disappointing considering Nile is coming off arguably their best album in Those Whom the Gods Detest. From the minute the album started I knew it was going to be underwhelming in comparison to their other material. The riffs aren't as catchy, the vocals aren't as good, and the production is completely flat and sloppy. It completely threw me off at first and I didn't even think I was listening to a completed Nile album. It sounded like it was rushed and far from complete (Which is really odd considering Those Whom the Gods Detest came out three years ago and they had ample time to write this record.) As the album progressed it has it's fair share of ups and downs. On the downside, the Middle Eastern influences are almost completely absent and they have introduced these grating, obnoxious clean vocals on a few songs. The lack of Middle Eastern influence takes away a big part of what makes Nile so unique as a band. The Middle Eastern influences aren't even thrown into a forefront of song until the final track "The Chaining of the Inqitious", which is unsurprisingly the best track on the album. The clean vocals are an even a bigger problem than the lack of their Middle Eastern influences. The clean vocals were a nice thought to try add another element to their music, but they just don't work at all. I'm all for experimentation in music, but this was definitely a failed experiment by Nile. Really the only saving grace that lifts this album from the depths of mediocrity to being half-decent is Karl Sanders. Although the riffs are generally not as inspired as usual, he still throws in some great riffs sporadically throughout the album. More importantly his solos are still amazing. His solo work is primarily why this album isn't completely subpar.

At the Gate of Sethu is immensely disappointing. Although it's still a decent, listenable record, I expected much better from Nile. It may be a curse for them after releasing a completely awesome album they release a disappointing one (The same thing happened with Anhillation of the Wicked  and Ithyphallic). Nile is still an excellent technical death metal band, this is just them at their absolute worst. Without a doubt a contender for most disappointing album of the year.

3/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.The Chaining of the Inqitious
2.Supreme Humanism of Megalomania
3.The Inevitable Degradation of Flesh

2012 Mid-Year Report: Film

2012 has been an excellent year for movies so far. Almost everything to come out this year has been great and managed live up to the hype . It's been a strong year for all types of movies, but comedies have been particularly strong. 21 Jump Street and Ted are two of the funniest movies to come out in the past few years while American Reunion, The Dictator, and to a lesser extent That's My Boy also provided big laughs. Hopefully 2012 can keep up it's consistency in the last six months. Here is my full list of the movies I've seen this year from worst to best complete with ratings.
 

21.Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance(1.5/5)

20.This Means War (2.5/5)

19.Wrath of the Titans (3/5)

18.The Grey (3.5/5)

17.Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (3.5/5)

16.Man on a Ledge (3.5/5)

15.Underworld: Awakening (3.5/5)

14.Project X (4/5)

13.Piranha 3DD (4/5)

12.Goon (4/5)

11.Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (4/5)

10.That's My Boy (4/5)

9.Contraband (4/5)

8.Men In Black III (4/5)

7.Safe House (4/5)

6.Chronicle (4/5)

5.The Dictator(4/5)

4.American Reunion(4/5)

3.Ted(4.5/5)

2.The Avengers(4.5/5)

1.21 Jump Street (4.5/5)

2012 Mid-Year Report: Music

2012 has been a solid, but not amazing year for music at the moment. 2012 has to live in the shadow of 2011, which very well could have been the best year for music in my lifetime. So far quite a few bands have either exceeded (Job For A Cowboy, Every Time I Die, and especially Death Grips) lived up to (High on Fire, Periphery, Lamb of God) and fell beneath (Meshuggah and Nile released the two most disappointing not only of this year, but possibly in the past few years) my expectations for them. There is a lot of releases I'm excited for the second half of the year including Between the Buried and Me, Deftones, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Converge, Born of Osiris, The Contortionist, Testament, The Sword, Hatebreed, Devin Townsend,  After the Burial, Gaza, All That Remains, and hopefully/maybe even The Faceless (If their record ever comes out, It's like the progressive death metal version of Chinese Democracy at this point in time) so 2012 very well could live up to 2011 with the amount of great bands releasing potentially great album in the second half of the year. Without further ado, Here is my current list of all the album's and EP's I've heard this year from worst to best.

EP's

4.TesseracT-Persepective(2.5/5)

3.Hodgy Beats-Untitled EP(3.5/5)

2.T.R.A.M-Lingua Franca(3.5/5)

1.Brother Ali-The Bite-Marked Heart(3.5/5)

LP's

36.The Mars Volta-Noctourniquet(2/5)

35.Van Halen-A Different Kind of Truth(2.5/5)

34.Chiddy Bang-Breakfast(2.5/5)

33.Sleigh Bells-Reign of Terror(3/5)

32.Lacuna Coil-Dark Adrenaline(3/5)

31.Miss May I-At Heart(3/5)

30.Nile-At the Gate of Sethu(3/5)

29.Meshuggah-Koloss(3/5)

28.Psycroptic-The Inherited Repression(3.5/5)

27.Jack White-Blunderbuss(3.5/5)

26.The Ghost Inside-Get What You Give(3.5/5)

25.Eluveitie-Helvetios(3.5/5)

24.Aborted-Global Flatline(3.5/5)

23.Cancer Bats-Dead Set On Living(3.5/5)

22.Cannibal Corpse-Torture(3.5/5)

21.Municipal Waste-The Fatal Feast...Waste In Space(3.5/5)

20.Shadows Fall-Fire from the Sky(3.5/5)

19.War of Ages-Return to Life(3.5/5)

18.Cattle Decapitation-Monolith of Inhumanity(4/5)

17.Spawn of Possession-Incurso(4/5)

16.Whitechapel-Whitechapel(4/5)

15.Goatwhore-Blood for the Master(4/5)

14.Black Breath-Sentenced to Life(4/5)

13.Hour of Penance-Sedition(4/5)

12.3 Inches of Blood-Long Live Heavy Metal(4/5)

11.Overkill-The Electric Age(4/5)

10.Veil of Maya-Eclipse(4/5)

9.Job for A Cowboy-Demonoracy(4/5)

8.Gojira-L'enfant Sauvage(4/5)

7.Periphery-II: This Time It's Personal(4/5)

6.Dying Fetus-Reign Supreme(4/5)

5.Every Time I Die-Ex Lives(4/5)

4.God Forbid-Equilibrium(4.5/5)

3.Death Grips-The Money Store(4.5/5)

2.High on Fire-De Vermis Mysteriis(4.5/5)

1.Lamb of God-Resolution(5/5)

July In Film

July might prove to be the most successful box-office month of the summer with many huge releases on deck this month. Hopefully July can continue the trend of quality films this year (which shouldn't be too hard because July has a lot of films with potential). Here my thoughts on the entire slate of July films.

Films I want to see:
3.Savages (7/6)-I am not a big fan of Oliver Stone, but this movie looks to be entertaining as all hell. I love gritty, super-violent movies like this and it's been a while since Stone has done anything like this. Throw in the early postive reviews and a great cast including Aaron Johnson, Bencio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, John Travolta, and Blake Lively and we could have a gem on our hands here.

2.The Watch (7/27)-This movie looks to be incredibly hilarious. Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, and Vince Vaughn are all really funny and this movie was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who are one of the best writing pairs in Hollywood in my opinion. This very well could be one of the funniest films of 2012 if it's as good as I think it will be.

1.The Dark Knight Rises (7/20)-Even though The Dark Knight disappointed me (It was still excellent, I just didn't think it was the best thing ever like a lot of people did), I am still excited as hell for The Dark Knight Rises. Christopher Nolan can do almost nothing wrong and the additions of Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, and Joesph Gordon-Levitt to the cast make this even better. I have no doubt that Nolan will close out his Batman trilogy well, We'll just have to wait and see just how well.

Films I am not sure about:
The Amazing Spider-Man (7/3)-I am still against rebooting the Spider-Man franchise after only ten years. Even though Spider-Man is my favorite Marvel superhero, I just can't get really excited about The Amazing Spider-Man. The trailers are just alright and I don't really like the narrative direction they are following in this movie. My gut feeling is that it will be a decent, but ultimately unmemorable comic book film (Much like last year's Captain America: The First Avenger). I will still see it, but definitely not in theaters.

Ice Age: Continental Drift (7/13)-I haven't seen the full-length trailer for this movie and I didn't see the last one (The second installment Ice Age: The Meltdown I didn't like at all though), so I can't really say much too about it. From what I have seen, It doesn't look too bad, but I highly doubt I will ever see it.

Films I have zero interest in seeing:
Katy Perry: Part of Me (7/5)-I enjoy Katy Perry's music about as much I as I enjoy being waterboarded so this is an obvious pass for me.

Step Up: Revolution (7/27)-I can't even believe there is a fourth one of these movies. I will admit (shamefully) that I kind of liked the first one, but this is just getting stupid by now. There's only so much you can do with this concept and that has been long accomplished.