My Personal Academy Awards for 2013

The 86th Annual Academy Awards to honor the best of cinema in 2013 will be held on Sunday. No matter whom the winners end up being; film buffs across the world are bound to be aggravated with at least some of the winners. With the inevitable disappointment of the Academy Awards right around the corner, I figured it would be fun to live out every film geek’s fantasy and hand out my own personal film awards for 2013. So pour yourself a glass of Cabernet, throw together an elegant cheese platter, and (hopefully) enjoy this fictional awards ceremony.

Best Picture: Nominees: “American Hustle”, “Blue Jasmine”, “Fruitvale Station” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”, “Iron Man 3”, “Pain & Gain”, “Short Term 12”, “The Spectacular Now”, “This is the End”

And The Winner Is...: “Frutivale Station”

 In a year full of deep and brilliant films, “Fruitvale Station”was far and away the most complete film of 2013. It brings the story of Oscar Grant to the masses with jaw-dropping authenticity and excellent acting while also serving as a thought-provoking reflection on the racial issues that plague our society in the modern day.

Best Actor: Nominees: Christian Bale, “American Hustle”, Hugh Jackman, “Prisoners”, Michael B. Jordan, “Fruitvale Station”, Joaquin Phoenix, “Her”, Miles Teller, “The Spectacular Now”

And the Winner Is...: Michael B. Jordan, “Fruitvale Station” 

Michael B. Jordan’s work in “Fruitvale Station” is the type of performance that turns a young actor into a bonafide star. Jordan becomes Oscar Grant and explores him with an incredible depth that exposes every single side of his character. From Grant’s introduction as a newly released convict trying to not fall back into his old ways to support his daughter to the final moments before he is gunned down; Jordan is simply mesmerizing to watch as he brings Grant back to life on screen. There was not a single performance in 2013 that came close to being as emotionally affecting and profound as Jordan’s work in “Fruitvale Station”.

Best Actress: Nominees: Amy Adams, “American Hustle”, Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”, Brie Larson “Short Term 12”, Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”, Shailene Woodley, “The Spectacular Now”

And the Winner Is...: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”

This is a virtual tie between Blanchett and Amy Adams’s spellbinding performance in “American Hustle”, but Blanchett’s work as the mentally unstable title character in “Blue Jasmine” gets the slight edge. Blanchett nails the desperation, insanity and manipulative antics of a woman that can’t acclimate back to the real world after being pampered in high society for so long.

Best Supporting Actor: Nominees: Daniel Bruhl, “Rush”, Bradley Cooper, “American Hustle”, James Franco, “Spring Breakers”, Dwayne Johnson, “Pain & Gain”, Jeremy Renner, “American Hustle”

And the Winner is...: Jeremy Renner, American Hustle

It’s shocking to me that the other four top-billed actors in “American Hustle” were given a plethora of award nominations while Renner was snubbed by every major award ceremony. Renner’s Carmine Polito is the most sympathetic and lone good-hearted person in a set of characters that thrive off taking advantage of other people. Renner hasn’t been this dialed into a role since “The Town” and he manages to steal the show in a film that was chock full of show-stopping performances.

Best Supporting Actress: Nominees: Kaitlyn Dever, “Short Term 12”, Melonie Diaz, “Fruitvale Station”, Scarlett Johannson, “Her”, Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”, Octavia Spencer, “Frutivale Station” 
And the Winner Is...: Octavia Spencer, “Fruitvale Station”

Octavia Spencer managed to top her excellent Academy Award-winning performance in “The Help” as Oscar Grant’s mother in “Fruitvale Station”. The final 10 minutes after Grant passes are some of the most heartbreaking scenes ever put on film and Spencer’s commanding performance as his grief-stricken and utterly shocked mother is at the forefront of it.

Best Director: Nominees: Joel and Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis”, Ron Howard, “Rush”, David O. Russell, “American Hustle”, Guillermo Del Toro, “Pacific Rim”

And the Winner Is...: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station 

In his directorial debut, Ryan Coogler proved that he has a better grasp on filmmaking than most directors that have been making movies for decades. Coogler makes “Fruitvale Station” so convincing that it seems like the events of the film are unfolding in real time. At only age 27, Coogler has a very bright career and hopefully numerous real awards ahead of him.

2013 in Film From Worst to Best (From the Prespective of 21 Year Old Men)

Over the course of 2013, six of my friends were kind enough to appease my nerdy blogger request to give a numerical rating (1-10, .5 scores were allowed, no 0's or .25/.75 scores allowed) of every single movie they saw for the year. This little experiment netted some pretty interesting and surprising results. With the Academy Awards being right around the corner,  I figured now would be a good time to unveil the results from this project. Without further ado, here are the rankings of 60 films from 2013 from worst to best according to a group of seven 21 year old males from suburban Massachusetts.

60.Evil Dead Avg: 1.7

59.The Purge Avg: 4.3

58.Identity Thief Avg: 4.5

57.47 Ronin Avg: 4.8

56.After Earth Avg: 5.0

54.21 and Over/The Counselor Avg: 5.5

53.The Incredible Burt Wonderstone Avg: 5.8

52.A Good Day to Die Hard Avg: 6.0

51.Oz: The Great and Powerful Avg: 6.1

50.Grown Ups 2 Avg: 6.2

49.Oblivion Avg: 6.5

47.The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug/Machete Kills Avg: 6.8

46.White House Down Avg: 6.9

44.Don Jon/Riddick Avg: 7.0

43.Man of Steel Avg: 7.1

42.G.I Joe: Retaliation Avg: 7.2

40.Olympus Has Fallen/World War Z Avg: 7.3

39.The Hangover Part III Avg: 7.4

33.Bullet to the Head/Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters/Metallica: Through the Never/R.I.P.D./Spring Breakers/The Wolverine Avg: 7.5

31.Ender's Game/Mud Avg: 7.6

30.Side Effects Avg: 7.7

29.Now You See Me Avg: 7.8

28.Red 2 Avg: 7.9

25.Gangster Squad/The Last Stand/The World's End Avg: 8.0

23.Trance/You're Next Avg: 8.2

20.Kick-Ass 2/Pacific Rim/Pain & Gain Avg: 8.3

18.2 Guns/Thor: The Dark World Avg: 8.4

16.The Hunger Games: Catching Fire/The Wolf of Wall Street Avg 8.5

13.Monsters University/Star Trek Into Darkness/We're the Millers Avg: 8.6

12.42 Avg: 8.7

10.Lone Survivor/Prisoners Avg: 8.8

6.American Hustle/Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues/Iron Man 3/The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Avg: 8.9

5.Inside Llewyn Davis Avg: 9.0

4.Elysium Avg: 9.1

2.Fast and Furious 6/This is the End Avg: 9.3

1.Fruitvale Station Avg: 9.7

Overall Average: 7.5
Average by Person:

Dave: 8.3

D.J.: 8.3

Matt: 8.1

Steve: 8.1

Nick: 7.7

Chris: 7.2

Justin: 7.2

Films excluded because they were only seen by one member of the group:

A Band Called Death

Aftershock

Black Rock

Blackfish

Blue Jasmine

Broken City

Captain Phillips

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2

Dallas Buyers Club

Despicable Me 2

Frozen

Her

Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa

Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain

Last Vegas

Lee Daniels' The Butler

Lovelace

Movie 43

Nebraska

Only God Forgives

Parker

Rush

Short Term 12

Snitch

Texas Chainsaw 3D

The Conjuring

The Croods

The Heat

The Internship

The Kings of Summer

The Lone Ranger

The Place Beyond the Pines

The Spectacular Now

The To Do List

The Way Way Back

Warm Bodies

What Maisie Knew

Concert Review: Between the Buried and Me-- Boston, MA-- February 23th, 2014

There really is nothing quite like watching one of your all-time favorite bands put on an incredible performance. I got that feeling of bliss for the ninth time last night as Between the Buried and Me performed at the Royale in Boston.

The night got started with Canadian progressive metal act The Kindred (formerly known as Today I Caught the Plague), who had one of the most up-and-down live sets I've ever witnessed. At first, the vocals of Dave Journeaux were kind of off-putting for me and took away from their solid and unique instrumentation. It wasn't so much his voice in general, but certain harmonies and notes were just really grating. However, the last few songs took a turn for the better and I ended up enjoying their set on the whole. "Wolvish" and "Heritage" are catchy as hell with some excellent drumming and keys to sweeten the deal. The Kindred certainly wasn't perfect, but they ultimately made a positive impression on me after a rough start. I'll give their new record, Life in Lucidity, a spin in the near future.

California prog sludge titans Intronaut took the stage next. Being the only other band besides Between the Buried and Me on the bill that I'm a fan of, I was pretty stoked for their set. Like the previous two times I've seen them, Intronaut wholly impressed. Their 30-minute set served as a nice sampler off the two sides of their sound; starting off with older, heavier cuts from their 2008 record Prehistoricisms and 2010's Valley of Smoke before transitioning to the more laid-back material material from their newest record Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones). The highlight of Intronaut's live performance is seeing their rhythm section of bassist Joe Lester and drummer Danny Walker at work. There are very few people in the entire realm of metal that are as good at their respective instruments as Lester and Walker. In addition to their incredible skill level, these guys have an unrivaled cohesion as a unit that just makes them an absolute blast to watch. The only downside to their set this time around was the poor vocal mix on Dave Timnick's mic. Intronaut's dual-vocal attack is one of their most dynamic elements as a band and when one of their vocalists is border inaudible, it takes away from some of the power of their performance. Sound problems aside, Intronaut put on another great show. I would love to see them play a longer set in the near future.

Deafheaven was up next. These guys released one of the most critically-acclaimed metal releases of the past decade in 2013's Sunbather. I was one of the few people that seemed to dislike Sunbather and Deafheaven in general and my disdain for their music only grew after their performance last night. Their approximately 50-minute set was absolutely tortuous to sit through. Each and every song sounds exactly the same with 5-6 minutes of black metal vocals and blast beats over mid-paced artsy riffing, followed by a 2-3 minute interlude of ambient shoegaze riffing, then a return back to black metal elements of the start of the song. The two vastly contrasting sides of their music just don't gel at all. The transitions are awkward and pretty much only exist to appease the hipster crowd who would never listen to traditional black metal. The jarring transitions aren't the number one thing that irks me about them though; that dubious honor goes to the vocals of George Clarke. In all my years of listening to metal, I can't think of another artist who makes a sloppier attempt at black metal vocals than Clarke. His shrieks are absolutely ear-piercing and reduce me to a combination of laughter and facepalms every time I hear them. Clarke is such a disgrace to black metal vocals that I'm surprised Varg hasn't boarded a plane to the US and attempted to stab him to death. I will admit that there are nice melodies in the ambient parts of their music from time to time, and Clarke is an energetic frontman, but that wasn't even close to enough to save their performance from the depths of unfathomable monotony. I should note that aside from myself and these two dudes standing directly next to me, a majority of the crowd was eating up their performance. So just like with Sunbather, I'm in the vast minority when it comes to the quality of Deafheaven's music. I sincerely don't understand the heaps of praise thrown upon Deafheaven. For my money, they are the most overrated band in modern metal by leaps and bounds, a country mile or any other measure that can be used to express a wide margin.

After Deafheaven wrapped up their seemingly endless set, Between the Buried and Me stormed onto the stage and quickly brought be back to life after being nearly asleep for the past hour. Between the Buried and Me has that rare ability to consistently put on perfect performances every time they take the stage. Their level of musical precision and diversity of the setlists have kept me excited to see them for all these years and last night was no exception. "Foam Born A+B" sent the room into a frenzy right out of the gate with the stirring piano-driven sing-a-long of "The Backtrack" before quickly transferring into the crushing second portion "The Decade of Statues". Out of all the opening tracks I've seen BTBAM play over the years: "Foam Born A+B" is easily my favorite. Following that breathtaking opener, they ripped through a combination of old favorites like "Obfuscation" and "Selkies: The Endless Obsession" as well as material from their latest full length, The Parallax II: Future Sequence, such as "Astral Body" and "Lay Your Ghosts to Rest" (the transition from "Astral Body" into "Lay Your Ghosts to Rest" is absolutely epic live). The two highlights of the show for me however were "Bloom" and "Swim to the Moon". I missed The Parallax II tour in the fall where they played the album in its entirety, so the inclusion of "Bloom" in the set elated me. Just like on record, "Bloom" is beautiful chaos live. At only three and a half minutes long, it's one of the craziest tempo roller-coaster rides in their catalog. "Swim to the Moon" had me equally excited as it's a deep cut from my favorite album of theirs, The Great Misdirect. Though they only a played about eight minutes of the nearly 18-minute long song; they still captured the grand scope and beauty of the track. Unfortunately, I had to leave a bit early in order to catch the bus back home, so I missed the encore of "Sun of Nothing" and most of "Silent Flight Parliament". Aside from having to leave early and this being not amongst the stronger support packages they've toured with over the years, this was one of the strongest performances I've seen from Between the Buried and Me to-date. They're probably due to make a new record soon so I'm glad I relished this final opportunity to see them on this touring cycle for Parallax II and await the release of their new material with bated breath. Thank you Between the Buried and Me for another mind-blowing performance and reminding me once again why heavy metal is my absolute favorite music in the world.

Scores:
The Kindred 7/10
Intronaut 8/10
Deafheaven 3/10
Between the Buried and Me 10/10


Setlists:
The Kindred included:
Wolvish
Everbound
Heritage

Intronaut:
The Literal Black Cloud
Vernon
Harmonomicon
Milk Leg
The Welding

Deafheaven:
Sleepytime Tea
Take Me to the nearest Sleepy's, I need a Temperpedic
Musical Nyquil
Drowsy is My Favorite Pokemon

Between the Buried and Me:
Foam Born A: The Backtrack
Foam Born B: The Decade of Statues
Obfuscation
Astral Body
Lay Your Ghosts to Rest
(Autumn)
Selkies: The Endless Obsession
Bloom
Swim to the Moon (2nd half of the song only)
Silent Flight Parliament (left during this song, assuming the last 2 songs were the same as the rest of the tour)

Album Review: Behemoth-The Satanist

The whole metal world was shocked and concerned in August 2010 when Behemoth frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski was diagnosed with stage 3 leukemia. Given how far along the disease was, it was entirely possible that Nergal wasn't going to survive. In early 2011, Nergal had a successful bone marrow transplant, and shortly after was in remission from the horrible illness. After kicking cancer's ass- it was going to be pretty simple to kick the listener's ass again- and Nergal and his brothers in Behemoth do just that on their epic comeback record The Satanist.

Nergal's brush with death has reawakened Behemoth's black metal side of yesteryear. Not since 1999's Satanica, has Behemoth made a record that is as full of dread and pure evil as The Satanist. The Satanist is based more on atmosphere than the pummeling fury of their death metal based records of the past decade. The use of more subtle guitarwork, strings, wind instruments and spoken-word pieces create this aura that is every bit as intoxicating as it is haunting. The minute you press play on The Satanist; you're entering a menacing world of relentless evil and gloom for 45 minutes. 

Album opener and lead single "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" made it immediately clear that this was a different Behemoth than we've grown accustomed to of late. Drummer Inferno's signature blast beats are still there, but the guitars are subdued and Nergal's vocals have a bit more of an emotional edge than usual. Behemoth's change in sound is somewhat surprising, but it's refreshingly effective. While records like Demigod and Evangelion are punishing, excellent death metal records, they were all rooted in similar territory. The Satanist sees Behemoth taking their sounds in different directions while also not losing the edge and cohesion that made Demigod and Evangelion so special.

After taking a bit of detour back to their traditional sound in the middle of the record, Behemoth's more grandiose sound really hits its stride on the second half of the album. The title track and "Ben Sahar" achieve a level of sinister beauty that I didn't previously think was possible while "In the Absence Ov Light" and "O Father! O Satan! O Sun!" are sweeping epics that make the best use of the album's orchestral elements. This portion of the album is some of the most focused and epic material Behemoth has ever crafted. The use of melody makes their typically straightforward furious sound more dynamic and unpredictable. Additionally these tracks give Nergal an opportunity to write the most nuanced, interesting guitar solos of his career on the aforementioned title track and "O Father! O Satan! O Sun!. Nergal has always been a criminally underrated guitar player and I hope the solowork on this record will finally give him the respect he deserves.

The Satanist is a glorious return for Behemoth. Nergal channels his victory over leukemia into crafting the most wide-spanning and moody record of Behemoth's career thus far. Well I've loved a vast majority of their albums; it was awesome to see them expand their influences and create an album that is more driven on melody than brutality. The Satanist appears to be starting the next chapter for Behemoth and with Nergal fortunately escaping death, I'm very thankful that there is another chapter in their career.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.O Father! O Satan! O Sun!
2.In the Absence Ov Light
3.Ben Sahar    

Movie Review: The Lego Movie

    

Who would've thought the first real cinematic triumph of 2014 would be a film based on a toy series?

Writer/director team Phil Lord and Christopher Miller build off the previous success they had on Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street to craft a film that not only manages to avoid being a long-winded advertisement for Lego products, but is one of the most engrossing, heartfelt and amusing animated films to grace the screen since the dawn of the new millennium. 

Like the animated classics of yesteryear, Lord and Miller beautifully combine humor that is aimed at children and adults. For every silly gag aimed at the younger audience, there is a pop culture reference or observation that only the older crowd would understand. There's a certain oddball sophistication to Lord and Miller's style of comedy that just makes their films so unique and gives them the ability to pander to audiences of all ages.

Lord and Miller make their rapid-fire comedy really pop with a voice cast chock full of comedy talent. What looks like a dream team of modern TV sitcom scene stealers Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation), Allison Brie (Community), Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philladelphia), feed off each other like it was a live action project. Even if it's just their voices, it's great to see so many standout actors from some of the finest television comedies of the moment share the screen together. Non-comic actors like Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson also get to let loose and add to camaraderie of the project. Freeman and Nesson deliver tongue-in-cheek rifts on their recent role choices (Freeman as the old wise character with the distinctive, much-lauded voice, Nesson's sudden transformation into ass-kicking action hero) with good spirits and a willingness to poke fun at themselves.

What really makes The Lego Movie stand out from a majority of recent animated fare is just how genuine its heart is. The film's message of being yourself and not suppressing your creativity is a potent one that really resonated with me. Creativity is not celebrated nearly enough in children's films and hopefully this film will inspire younger viewers to develop their own unique ideas and use their imaginations to explore the unknown. The Lego Movie dares the audience to create and think outside the box; which is exactly what the film itself did to become the newest animated classic. It's going to be damn near impossible for any other animated film released this year to be as funny, poignant, entertaining or visually-striking as The Lego Movie.

4/5 Stars       

Early 2014 NFL Mock Draft

I'm still mildly in denial that football season is over so I might as well look ahead to the always exciting and unpredictable NFL Draft. This weekend's scouting combine will no doubt shift the value of these players significantly depending on the individual performances, but I felt it was important to share my initial thoughts on this rookie class before we get a better look at them at the combine and their respective individual workouts in the next couple months.. Here is the first of my many mock drafts before the draft starts on May 8th.

1.Houston Texans: Blake Bortles, quarterback (Central Florida)
2.St. Louis Rams: Greg Robinson, tackle (Auburn)
3.Jacksonville Jaguars: Jadeveon Clowney, defensive end (South Carolina)
4.Cleveland Browns: Johnny Manziel, quarterback (Texas A&M)
5.Oakland Raiders: Sammy Watkins, wide receiver (Clemson)
6.Atlanta Falcons: Jake Matthews, tackle (Texas A&M)
7.Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Anthony Barr, outside linebacker (UCLA)
8.Minnesota Vikings: Teddy Bridgewater, quarterback (Louisville)
9.Buffalo Bills: Khalil Mack, outside linebacker (Buffalo)
10.Detroit Lions: Justin Gilbert, cornerback (Oklahoma State)
11.Tennessee Titans: C.J. Mosley, inside linebacker (Alabama)
12.New York Giants: Taylor Lewan, tackle (Michigan)
13.St. Louis Rams: Marquise Lee, wide receiver (USC)
14.Chicago Bears: Timmy Jernigan, defensive tackle (Florida State)
15.Pittsburgh Steelers: Kelvin Benjamin, wide receiver (Florida State)
16.Baltimore Ravens: Mike Evans, wide receiver (Texas A&M)
17.Dallas Cowboys: Calvin Pryor, free safety (Louisville)
18.New York Jets: Eric Ebron, tight end (North Carolina)
19.Miami Dolphins: Zach Martin, tackle (Notre Dame)
20.Arizona Cardinals: Cyrus Kouandijo, tackle (Alabama)
21.Green Bay Packers: Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, free safety (Alabama)
22.Philadelphia Eagles: Darqueze Dennard, cornerback (Michigan State)
23.Kansas City Chiefs: Odell Beckham, wide receiver (LSU)
24.Cincinnati Bengals: Kony Ealy, defensive end (Missouri)
25.San Diego Chargers: Louis Nix III, defensive tackle (Notre Dame)
26.Cleveland Browns: Brandin Cooks, wide receiver (Oregon State)
27.New Orleans Saints: Stephen Tuitt, defensive end (Notre Dame)
28.Carolina Panthers: Jarvis Landry, wide receiver (LSU)
29.New England Patriots: Ra'Shede Hagman, defensive tackle (Minnesota)
30.San Fransisco 49ers: Aaron Donald, defensive tackle (Pittsburgh)
31.Denver Broncos: Bradley Roby, cornerback (Ohio State)
32.Seattle Seahawks: Jace Amaro, tight end (Texas Tech)

Movie Review: The Monuments Men

George Clooney assembled a collection of some of his most talented friends in the business including Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Cate Blanchett for his latest directorial project The Monuments Men. With all the talent involved with this project, it's really disappointing that The Monuments Men doesn't even come close to reaching its sky high potential.

The Monuments Men is the fact-based story of a group of civilian art experts that were dispatched by the United States government to save stolen artwork from the Nazi regime and return the pieces to rightful owners near the end of World War II. This group became known as the "Monuments Men" and miraculously recovered thousands of pieces of art that were hidden in various salt mines across Germany and France. Though there were bigger victories in World War II, these men were able to salvage priceless works of art that would've gone forever had it not been for their courage and resilience to recover them from Hitler's grasp. 

You have to commend Clooney because he tried so hard to make an excellent film, it just didn't come to fruition. The real-life story behind this film is fascinating and Clooney has such a genuine enthusiasm for the material, but that enthusiasm doesn't fix the pacing and story problems that hold this film back. The film doesn't even clock in it at two hours yet it still has trouble remaining compelling. There's an almost 45 minute-stretch in the middle of the film that is almost entirely pointless. You get ample scenes with Damon failing to get any answers from Blanchett's French curator as to where the stolen art could be because she doesn't trust Americans, Murray and Bob Balaban bitching at each other with really feeble attempts at humor and Clooney sitting back at the base talking to the other members of a team on a radio. Some of that may sound entertaining in principle, but none of it was even remotely interesting to watch and did next to nothing to advance the story.

Despite possessing a cast with numerous Academy Award-winners, The actors don't really do much to elevate the material. Outside of Clooney himself, the rest of the cast kind of just coasts through their roles. It almost seems like they only committed to this project to help out their pal Clooney get his project off the ground. Damon and Blanchett haven't looked this bored on screen since Stuck on You and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull respectively. Not even the always lively Murray and Goodman seemed to put much effort into their performances. I don't know if was the scattered script that didn't allow any of the actors to have a significant amount of screen time or they were just burnt out from their other recent roles, but many of this cast full of talented actors were not in their zones for The Monuments Men.

Clooney's infectious passion for the subject matter and a pretty engaging beginning and ending make The Monuments Men somewhat worth the watch. It's so frustrating that this film isn't something special given the amount of talented veteran actors that were involved in this project. I hope this story gets retold in a future film. This piece of relatively unknown and amazing history deserves a more thoughtful, entertaining and fluid telling than it gets in The Monuments Men.

3/5 Stars    

Seattle Seahawks: The Disrespected Champions

They can't win on the road. They have no offense. They're too young. They have no experience in big games. These were just some of the knocks against the Seattle Seahawks this season and they shattered every single one of them on their way to a victory in Super Bowl XLVIII.

In my lifetime, I have not seen a Super Bowl champion with as many detractors as the 2013 Seattle Seahawks. They plowed through three of the toughest teams in the league in the Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos to get the Lombardi Trophy yet they're still getting snubbed by the fans and a majority of the league. Their success can't be argued, so why is next to no one giving them credit they deserve as champions?

For the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, the internet and the media just unloaded on the Seahawks. The Richard Sherman postgame rant heard 'round the world led to a series of angry, often racially-charged rants on social media and sports talk radio. Sherman was accused of being a "thug" and "a bully" and it seemed everyone outside of Seattle was condemning him and wanted the team to fail. Seahawks haters further attacked their legitmatcy because of their lack of a Super Bowl title  and accused of them having a bandwagon-hoping fanbase that only started caring about the team in 2012 when they started to win games.

Then gameday came. An unusually warm day in New Jersey in February became even more unusual when Peyton Manning and center Manny Ramirez had a miscue on the first play of the game, leading to a fumble and safety for the Seahawks a mere 12 seconds into the game. The opening play was just the start of a long evening for the Broncos. The Seahawks absolutely crippled the Broncos high-powered offense, forcing Peyton Manning to throws 2 INT's including the 69-yard pick six that earned Malcolm Smith Super Bowl MVP. The Seahawks caused even more defensive havoc by shutting down the Broncos trademark short-passing game by all but eliminating yards after the catch for any of their receivers. Offensively, the Seahawks captialized off their defenses' takeaways and made every single play they needed to put points on the board. The Broncos couldn't even catch a break on special teams when Percy Harvin returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown and buried any chance the Broncos had at a comeback along with it.

Even after the final whistle blew and the confetti rained down on the Seahawks after their 43-8 victory, seemingly everyone was quick to discredit the Seahawks accomplishment. Claims like "Peyton Manning blew it" and "The Seahawks are lucky that Peyton Manning sucks" were lighting up the Twittersphere. Did anyone actually stop and think that the reason Manning wasn't in top form was because the Seahawks defense was so relentless with pressure and consisently made plays? Did anyone look at the stat line and see that Manning completed 69% of his passes and almost threw for 300 yards? The Seahawks simply prepared well for the game and ruined the flow that the Broncos typically get into.

Aside from the Kam Chancellor interception on a poorly-thrown ball, Manning was still very much on his game. His guys were open and mostly catching their passes, the Seahawks just prevented anything from coming out of a majority of those plays. If your getting the ball there and your guys are running their routes properly yet you're still get stopped; that's the work of a stingy defense, not a poor offense.
There hasn't been a defense as relentlessly physical and dominant as the 2013 Seahawks since the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, and there was not a single pocket-passing quarterback in the league that could've beat them. The Seahawks hammered Manning, they hammered Drew Brees twice, and they would've hammered Tom Brady too if the Patriots had advanced to the Super Bowl over the Broncos. The blame needs to stop being put on Manning's shoulders. The Seahawks defense came in and made one of the best offenses of all-time look disorganized and weak. This is a defense that is a force to be reckoned with and there was nothing the Broncos could've done to stop that.

What the detractors fail to realize is the level of disrespect was the driving force behind the Seahawks title run. Every step of the way, they were criticized and this just put more of a fire under them to succeed. Even after they won it all, no respect was earned. You can hate the Seahawks as much as you want, but the way in which they won and the amount of pure talent on this roster demands respect from everyone around the league. My message to the rest of the league is watch out for the next season because the Seahawks reign is just getting started and their critics are the catalyst behind it.

American Horror Story: Coven: Spoiler-Free Season Review

FX anthology series American Horror Story wrapped up its third season Coven on Wednesday January 29^th with a satisfying climax to another insane, unpredictable season.

Coven focuses on a group of witches based in New Orleans with roots that date back to the original Salem witches of 1692. Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson) runs a school for young witches as a sanctuary for them to hone their skills away from the struggles of normal society. Cordelia’s world comes crashing down around her as her estranged mother and leader of the coven Fiona (Jessica Lange) to scout out the schools’ young witches and kill anyone who threatens her title of Supreme. Further complicating matters is the end of a long-standing truce between the coven and an immortal voodoo priestess (Angela Bassett), a group of witch hunters threatening to take out this dying breed of witches once and for all and Fiona's declining health making the emergence of a new Supreme inevitable.

The most dynamic aspect of Coven compared to the previous seasons was the implantation of dark humor into the fold. The previous season, Asylum, was stone-serious in tone and with subject matter that included the Holocaust and corruption in the Catholic Church; there clearly wasn’t any room for comedy. Coven is completely different as the atmosphere of a witch coven allows ample opportunities for dark comedy. Between the use of magic, the in-fighting between witches and Fiona’s perpetually miserable nature, laughs regularly seep their way into the plot. The humor of Coven serves as a nice departure from the typical onslaught of brutality and eeriness this show offers up.

Not all of the barrage of story arcs worked this season, but the acting was so consistently great that it overshadowed the sometimes sloppy narratives. Creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck have a knack to find actors that are extremely committed to their roles and are game for anything that unfolds on the show. Series regulars including Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe and Frances Conroy are now very familiar with the way things work and have the chops to dive into whatever character Murphy and Falchuck throw their way. Lange serves as the focal point once again as Fiona Goode, the devious Supreme of the coven. It would be great to see Lange branch out and play a character you can sympathize with, but when you play evil as well as she does, it’s completely understandable that she’s continuously given parts of despicable people that make it a priority to wreck as many lives as possible.

On the other hand, Rabe and Conroy, are allowed to have fun with their roles after playing such solemn characters in past seasons. Rabe is wickedly funny as Misty Day- a hippie witch obsessed with Stevie Nicks-while Conroy gives the best performance of the season as Myrtle Snow, an eccentric elder witch in the coven who serves as the lifelong rival to Fiona and mother figure to Cordelia. It truly is a shame that both Rabe and Conroy were secondary characters; Coven was at its most entertaining when the two of them were on-screen.

The returning actors aren’t the only ones who shine as newcomers to the series as Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett and Emma Roberts all delivered the goods in their initial “American Horror Story” outings. The quality performances of accomplished actresses like Bates and Bassett is to be expected, but the work of Roberts here as Madison Montgomery, former Hollywood actress and antagonist amongst the young witches, was a delightful surprise. Between her work here and the 2013 film We’re the Millers, Roberts has shown true talent as both a comedic and dramatic actor.

I haven’t the slightest clue what the setting, time period or subject matter of the fourth season will be, but I have full faith that Murphy and Falchuck will keep up the quality you’ve come to expect with American Horror Story. The anthology format really allows for a lot of experimentation in terms of tone and story arcs and that keeps this show consistently fresh and exciting. With Murphy and Falchuck 's other television series Glee ending its run in May, I would not be at all surprised if the next American Horror Story outing was the most focused, complex and satisfying entry to-date.

The Rondo Factor

By Andy Cardenas

Ladies and Gentlemen, this year, we have been treated to a Celtics team that is most unlike those of the past decade. The days of lonesome Pierce and showboating Walker are long gone. The memory of The Big Ticket will forever resonate, but only in reminiscence. However, the Celtics faithful may be sitting on a goldmine, unbeknownst to the common spectator. What we have, for the most part, is a motley crew of no-body’s. A ragtag bunch that Mark Blount and Ricky Davis would fit right in with. First thoughts? Ouch. Regardless, with the return of Rondo, one might think the season will feature an abrupt turnaround. That The Green might make the 8^th seed, and heck, maybe even break .500 in the pitiful Eastern Conference. I’m here to tell you that that’s exactly not what’s going to happen. Yes, you heard me correctly.

Well then, what’s all this about the return of Rondo? This is the treat: We get to watch a great franchise and a somewhat decent group of players find themselves and make the most of their young careers. Having Rondo back on the parquet is a blessing everyone is aware of this. But what is more important than a winning season is the chemistry, the functionality and understanding that is developed at the core. We can assume that Ainge and the man upstairs want Rondo around for the long term, despite the frequent rumors. I mean, when trade talk comes up, is there a functional piece that is able to make an immediate impact with equal or greater value? Let alone one that is willing to leave to come to Boston? That could be somewhat debated, but Rondo’s our hometown man, and he wants to stay. Raising the wreck from the cellar will be his claim to fame, his calling card for years to come. With Rondo at the core, there is hope lurking in the immediate future.

With Rondo at the helm, the immediate topic to scrutinize is his chemistry with Sully, Green, and the K-Bar (otherwise know as Kelly Olynyk). Let's take a step back to pre-ACL injury; Rondo had minimal meaningful collaboration with Green. He had Pierce and KG to look for. Yes, we all are mad at Green for his almost comical, night and day appearances, but the fact still stands that he sometimes does floor it and go off. If Rondo can help his development (lets not forget Green missed a whole season) he might be able to solidify his role as a dependable 18-points a night, minus the ups and downs. If he does this, his confidence will help other areas of his game such as rebounding and defense. 

 

The Young Guns: Sully and Kelly. What we have here is an interesting one-two (potentially a) knockout punch at power forward. Let's remember that Sully sat out the latter half of last year with the nagging back; this took away his chance at summer conditioning and general NBA ball skills. He has been phenomenal this year considering this. Stick him with a fully recovered Rondo and this is what you get; You’ve got a guy who can shoot from the elbow, knock down that 15-17 footer and maybe even hit the classic Pierce fadeaway. Rondo can dish it to him here, or toss him that behind-the-back pass in the paint. Sully’s hands will get better, as will his ability to jump, though this will remain limited because of his back. And then you’ve got Olynyk. Where will he be as he becomes a more polished, well rounded, and consistent frontcourt presence? Despite the looks, he’ll never be the next German Assassin, but his ceiling may be higher than several analysts assess. The upside is the fact that this Celtics team is young and that playing time is not impossible to come by. This will facilitate his development when coupled with Rondo. Yes, the K-Bar is going to take some time to learn Rondo’s game and when to look for the pass that’s already on the way, but this will come. Stevens is happy with Kelly thus far, and Ainge certainly has made no mistake in acquiring him.

There are many uncertainties on this team, and many factors potentially subject to change with the trade deadline lurking nearby. Regardless, Rondo’s presence will help Stevens ‘sure-up’ the roster in his role as distributor. The C’s are not yet on the path to having a contending team, but they are definitely making constructive progress. Lastly, let's take a step back, people; this is Boston. We’ve been so spoiled that we have forgotten what it’s like to enjoy the ride. The up’s always come with down’s, and the hometown boys always prevail, in this season or the next.

A New Era of Maitland's Madness

Hello all,
I've ran this blog since I graduated from high school in May 2010. I've had a great time doing this and grown a lot as a writer since I started. While I've loved running doing this on my own, I want to branch out and expand my site to have additional voices heard. I've had a few people that I know personally that were kind enough to agree to contribute content to the site and the first of these posts will be up later today. If you are a reader of this site and want to contribute any entertainment-related content, send me an email at c_maitland @salemstate.edu. I hope this expansion will bring more diverse and interesting entertainment content and make for a more satisfying experience for the reader. I'm excited to see what the future brings for me as a writer and I hope these new contributors will ultimately lead to my goal of crafting a bigger, better site in the near future. Thank you all for visiting this site, it means more to me than you will ever know.

Chris Maitland

Quick Movie Reviews: Lee Daniels' The Butler, Captain Phillips, Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa, Short Term 12, Blue Jasmine

Lee Daniels' The Butler: Competent yet completely unspectacular filmmaking. Screenwriter Danny Strong and director Lee Daniels were far too ambitious in trying to capture so many time periods in such a short period of time. The story is far too scattered and contains about 12,000 subplots that don't really go anywhere. The fact that this film also carries "a based on true story" label yet contains pretty much no actual truth in it is a pretty big buzzkill for its quality. The film essentially inserts Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) into the background of every single major moment in American politics from the late 50's to the early 80's. It makes for a nice story in theory, but everyone know that the real-life butler that served for 7 presidents was not on-hand for every single major decision that the likes of Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Ronald Regan ever made in office. The depiction of the civil rights movement further detracts from the film's message. I can not think of another film that offers up a more watered-down take on the civil rights movement than this. Even with Gaines's son (David Oyelowo) being involved with the Black Panthers, the film glosses over so many horrors of the discrimination African-Americans faced in the 50's and 60's that it just doesn't feel real. When authenticity is thrown out the window, so is empathy and lack of empathy in a film like this kills the potential to impact you emotionally after the credits roll.  Despite its flaws, there are enough good performances and a handful of genuinely powerful scenes to make this worth watching. Though it's not the awards-caliber film it was advertised to be, Lee Daniels' The Butler is a crowd-pleasing film that displays the talent of a number of the finest actors working today.
3/5 Stars

Captain Phillips: Captain Phillips is a tense and well-made thriller anchored by a strong performance by Tom Hanks.The initial sequence where the pirates board the ship and the finale are nail-bitingly intense. The suspense is heightened by director Paul Greengrass's use of shaky cam and interesting camera angles to capture the claustrophobic setting of being trapped at sea in a tiny lifeboat with a group of armed men that could kill you at any moment. The Somali Pirates (Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Barkhad Abdirahmen and Academy Award-nominee Barkhad Abdi) make for appropriately menacing villains that you also sympathize for at times. The fact that that all of the men that portrayed the pirates had no prior experience in acting is absolutely incredible. They possess a natural talent and feel for acting and have the skills to continue on in Hollywood. As others have said before me, Hanks is what makes this film special. He hasn't been this dialed into a performance since at least Cast Away, maybe even The Green Mile. His character is completely selfless, putting his own life in danger to protect his crew and the final scene is so powerful that it will be permanently embedded in my brain. Captain Phillips wouldn't get my vote for any major Oscar category, but it certainly is worthy of its nominations.
4/5 Stars

Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa: Johnny Knoxville proudly continues the Jackass legacy with Bad Grandpa, a film solely focused on the Irving Zisman character Knoxville has played over the years. The traditional Jackass stunts are thrown to the side in favor of Borat-esque hidden camera pranking with an actual plot holding the film together. For the most part, this formula works swimmingly. The stunts are consistently amusing with a few (the scenes at the bingo hall, male strip club and diner) that left me in tears from laughing so hard. Amidst all the low-brow humor, there is actually a fair amount of heart thanks to the storyline between Zisman and his 8-year old grandson Billy (Jackson Nicol, who perfectly compliments Knoxville with his comedic timing and ability to make it through every insane scenario with a straight face). I don't think anyone expected even a single heartfelt scene in a film with the Jackass brand attached to it, but against all odds, it has happened. It just goes to show that even a guy like Knoxville is starting to soften up now that he's in his 40's. Bad Grandpa is another fitting showcase for Knoxville as one of the most gifted comedians of his generation and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing another chapter of this hard-drinking, horndog geriatric's misadventures in the near future.
4/5 Stars  

Short Term 12: Short Term 12 is the epitome of an under-appreciated gem. I had heard not even an ounce of buzz about this film until a couple of weeks ago and I decided to give it a whirl based on the insanely positive reception it had: I'm beyond glad that I did. Short Term 12 takes what could've been a heavy-handed melodrama with its storyline involving a short-term foster home and the people who work/live there and makes it one of the emotionally-challenging films of the year thanks to a multi-layered script by newcomer Destin Cretton and powerhouse performances from Brie Larson and Kaitlyn Dever. Stories that deal with mental illness and abuse without diving head-on into Lifetime Original Movie levels of overacting and schmaltz are rare, which makes Short Term 12 that much more of an accomplishment. The raw emotional impact sticks with you.
4.5/5 Stars

Blue Jasmine: Woody Allen's character may be questionable at the moment amidst his accusations of molestation by his estranged daughter. What's not questionable is his ability to make a movie. After almost 50 years of directing films, Allen hasn't a lost touch of his ambition or knack for storytelling. Blue Jasmine is an enthralling character study about wealth and the toll it takes on a person when they lose everything. Cate Blanchett portrays Jasmine, an uptown New York yuppie housewife who is forced to move in with her sister (Sally Hawkins) in San Fransisco after her husband (Alec Baldwin) is indicted for fraud and loses all his money and possessions. Blanchett give the performance of her career as the delusional Jasmine. Jasmine has a full-blown mental breakdown when the money goes away. She yearns for her old life and simply can not assimilate back to the real world after being catered to in high society for so long. Blanchett perfectly captures the desperation, deception and insanity of a character that is completely lost in the real world. Allen's screenplay only amplifies the scope of Jasmine's insanity. Allen's technique of using words and situations in Jasmine's present to trigger a memory from past was brilliantly implored and gives another layer of depth to this already wildly complex character. Allen also deserves a lot of credit for the bold casting choices he made with the supporting roles here. Sally Hawkins successfully goes against type as Jasmine's trashy but good-intentioned sister Ginger who gets caught up in Jasmine's web of psychosis and Andrew Dice Clay rises from the realms of obscurity to give an incredibly powerful performance in brief screen time as Ginger's ex-husband who got screwed over by Jasmine's ex-husband. It's beyond me how Blue Jasmine didn't pick up more than 3 Oscar nominations. This is one of the most daring, original and effective pieces of cinema to grace the screen in 2013 and it deserves the proper recognition.
4.5/5 Stars  

Top 50 Songs of 2013

I know this is about a month late, but hey better late than never. As I profiled in my 2013 year-end recap, there was a lot of excellent music to be released in 2013. This list is to recognize the 50 individual  songs that stood out to me the most out of the god knows how many songs I heard in 2013. I'm usually a big fan of ranking things in order, but this time around I'm just going to list the songs in no particular order so they can get equal recognition for their quality. Here are my picks for the top 50 songs of 2013 in all their glory:
A$AP Ferg-Shabba (feat. A$AP Rocky) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keD38A9OQfA
Action Bronson-Silverado http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=choJ0s3pqj4
After the Burial-Nine Summers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM32llGYhoE
Anciients-Falling in Line http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3zLsk3tq98
August Burns Red-Count It All As Lost http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_l_rgv1z4
Battlecross-Never Coming Back http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THgoKxbrNm4
Battlecross-Wage a War (no YouTube link available)
Clutch-D.C. Sound Attack! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZsrkVS-P1c
Coheed and Cambria-Key Entity Extraction V: Sentry the Defiant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya2JgAWPqHg
Danny Brown-25 Bucks (feat. Purity Ring) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkytRz29bE0
Death Grips-You Might Think He Loves You For Your Money but I Know What He Really Loves You For It's Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-oxm8UzYCc
Fallujah-The Dead Sea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I2_b6K_2_Y
Fallujah-Venom Upon the Blade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WpQ8MlOoX0
Hatebreed-The Language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC_MsLoLYDw
Heaven Shall Burn-Godiva http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQNkAAIDnA
Hope for the Dying-Acceptance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdXlntsUMzc
Intronaut-The Way Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyJf_ETczec
Kanye West-Black Skinhead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F__5hCMt8s4
Kanye West-Blood on the Leaves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Pcr-pw_F4
Kanye West-On Sight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnrLXDYnS6c
Killswitch Engage-A Tribute to the Fallen (no YouTube link available)
Killswitch Engage-Always http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcZIwXABBKA
Killswitch Engage-Beyond the Flames http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZEJMTM4aIA
Killswitch Engage-The Hell in Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FnxhEvczJs
Letlive.-Banshee (Ghost Fame) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wnxFJUZtp4
Misery Signals-Two Solitudes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKiLA-uztmo
Protest the Hero-Drumhead Trial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMPd_WEMrLM
Protest the Hero-Plato's Tripartite (no YouTube link available)
Protest the Hero-Tilting Against Windmills (no YouTube available)
Protest the Hero-Without Prejudice (no YouTube link available)
Protest the Hero-Yellow Teeth (no YouTube link available)
Revocation-Archfiend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN8uoSBfwOU
Revocation-Fracked http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2iZYuvKtfs
Revocation-Invidious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pcmzz8Bl2Y
Revocation-Numbing Agents http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5QKg7wZRtU
Revocation-The Gift You Gave http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRFHsReWLSw
Rotting Out-The Wrong Way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc-0Yiovipk
Run the Jewels-Get It http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jzfq35S5hs
Run the Jewels-Sea Legs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GAIkESrQr0
Skeletonwitch-Burned from Bone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ldAksH34l8
Skeletonwitch-From A Cloudless Sky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8nmzQLMBvQ
Soilwork-Tongue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al6nNu7ei74
The Black Dahlia Murder-Every Rope a Noose (warning: The video is graphic) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-hN16rHSWo
The Black Dahlia Murder-Map of Scars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UukGiwLmuo
The Dillinger Escape Plan-Crossburner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO79jXRgYoc
The Dillinger Escape Plan-Magic That I Held You Prisoner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZvn5gSzgCg
The Dillinger Escape Plan-One of Us is the Killer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgcUiM7queQ
The Dillinger Escape Plan-Paranoia Shields http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHF553uUT08
The Ocean-Bathylpelagic I-III: Impasses, The Wish in Dreams,Disequilibriated http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO3DXRzcxiE
The Ocean-Mesopelgaic: Into the Uncanny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba7y1ZYFODw

Concert Review: Amon Amarth-- Boston, MA-- February 1st, 2014

My 2014 concert-attending got off to a furious start with Swedish viking death metal thunder gods Amon Amarth at the House of Blues in Boston last night.

Skeletonwitch opened up the festivities bright and early at 6:00. This marked my seventh time seeing them and once again, they destroyed. I've said before it and I'll say again: the consistency of Skeletonwitch's live performances is something to be marveled. It doesn't matter if they are the first opener playing to a scare crowd who doesn't know them or they are headlining to a room full of diehard fans, they absolutely bring it every time they take the stage. This set was cool because they played a ton of stuff off their latest record, Serpents Unleashed, which I absolutely love. They played nothing but the absolute best material from that record ("From A Cloudless Sky", "Beneath Dead Leaves", "I Am of Death (Hell Has Arrived") and the fact that they swapped out "Serpents Unleashed" for "Burned from Bone" for this show was awesome. All of the material from Serpents Unleashed sounds spectacular live and will hopefully become fixtures in the set for years to come. Of course, it wouldn't be a Skeletonwitch show without their signature closing track "Within My Blood", which still makes me giddy with excitement after all these times seeing them. Skeletonwitch are the epitome of road warriors and they are without question one of the best live acts in all of metal.

Norwegian black/progressive metal act Enslaved took the stage next. Enslaved has been around forever and on paper, I should love this band, they just have never really clicked with me. Their live performance was certainly solid, but didn't really do much to sway my overall opinion of them. The vocal mix was kind of off and what I did hear of the screaming vocals didn't really impress me too much. The use of clean vocals did give them a nice touch for a band that is so heavily rooted in black metal and there were some riffs on "RITTIR" and "Allafor Ooin" that were absolutely killer. Honestly the best part of their set to me was watching the kid next to me lose his shit for the entire set. He had this one move that looked like a cross between a mime roping someone in and Lil B's cooking dance and it was just hilarious to watch. Enslaved has a good stage presence and the two of sides their music mix together very well, but ultimately they didn't impress me that much.

After a decently long wait, Amon Amarth closed out the evening with a bang. While I saw them last summer on a huge stage at Mayhem Fest, I had been waiting see to them in a club since the first time I saw them back in 2010 and they did not disappoint in the slightest. Their over 90-minute set was perfect for the club setting with just the right amount of elaborate backgrounds and lights to match their Norse mythology epics. With this being their first headlining tour since their newest record, Deceiver of the Gods, was released, the set was focused on that material. Save for the "Warriors of the North" which is just too long and dull for me to enjoy, the new stuff sounded better live than on disc. "Shape Shifter" and "Deceiver of the Gods" are fast and appropriately headbang worthy while "As Loke Falls" and "Father of the Wolf" make for typical grand-scale Amon Amarth tracks with beautiful melodies to balance out the intensity of Johan Hegg's vocals. With such a long set time, they had plenty of time to breakout their old live staples on top of the new stuff. "Cry of the Black Birds" made me feel like I was in the middle of a viking battle with the most intense pits of the entire show and "Guardians of Asgard" had an almost party-esque vibe with people jumping around and chanting for the entirety of the song. The encore of "Twilight of the Thunder God" and "The Pursuit of Vikings" was one of the most fun encores I've ever seen as Hegg got the crowd to do a sing-a-long to the finale of "The Pursuit of Vikings". "It's death metal, no one will know if you're getting the words wrong" Hegg said. Amon Amarth quite simply thrives in a club setting and is easily one of the most pure fun live metal acts I've had the pleasure of seeing.

Scores:
Skeletonwitch 9.5/10
Ensalved 7/10
Amon Amarth 9/10

Setlists:
Skeletonwitch:
This Horrifying Force (The Desire to Kill)
I Am of Death (Hell Has Arrived)
Burned from Bone
Sacrifice for the Slaughtergod
From A Cloudless Sky
Beyond the Permafrost
Crushed Beyond Dust
Beneath Dead Leaves
Within My Blood

Enslaved:
Death in the Eyes of Dawn
Ruun
Ethica Ordini
RIITIIR
Alafor Odinn
Isa

Amon Amarth:
Father of the Wolf
Deceiver of the Gods
Death in Fire
Free Will Sacrifice
As Loke Falls
We Shall Destroy
Runes to My Memory
Varyags of Mikalagaard
The Last Stand of Frej
Guardians of Asgaard
Shape Shifter
Warriors of the North
Destroyer of the Universe
Cry of the Black Birds
War of the Gods

Encore:
Twlight of the Thunder God
The Pursuit of Vikings

Super Bowl XLVIII Prediction

Conference Championship Week Record: 1-1 (Correct: Seahawks Incorrect: Patriots)
Overall Record: 5-5

Seattle Seahawks over Denver Broncos: Seahawks/Broncos was the dream Super Bowl matchup that a majority of football fans wanted and predicted all year long. That matchup is becoming a reality tonight and I fully expect it to live up to the hype as one of the most Super Bowl battles of all-time. When you have the top-ranked offense in the Broncos and the top-ranked defense in the Seahawks squaring off, sparks are going to fly and the results are probably not going to be pretty. Despite all the firepower and experience of the Broncos, I like the Seahawks in this matchup. The Seahawks defense brings a level of physicality that the Broncos aren't really used to. The Colts secondary were able to disrupt the Broncos wideouts with physical play and jamming them off the line of scrimmage earlier this year and the Seahawks' Legion of Boom does that better than anyone in the league. On the other side of the ball, I think Russell Wilson will use this major stage to shine. Wilson hasn't put up big numbers in the playoffs, but has made the big throws when he needed to. The Broncos are without a doubt going to focus on stopping Marshawn Lynch and this should give Wilson the ability to make some more plays in the passing game (If Percy Harvin can stay healthy for the entire game, he could be a huge X factor.) The Seahawks lack of experience has also come into question for the entirety of the past two weeks and I think this status as an underdog will light a serious fire under them. This is a young squad that plays with a maturity and intensity that is well beyond their years and that will pay dividends against a battle-tested and incredibly talented Broncos team. As long as the Broncos don't go ahead by a large margin early and Peyton Manning is contained, the Seahawks should be able to hoist the Lombardi Trophy and silence their legions of doubters in the process.

February in Film

February marks the middle of the transitional period between the Oscar fare of December and the spring tentpoles of March. Despite the month being riddled with mostly drivel, there are a few films that look to have some promise. Here are my thoughts on the all of the February releases. 

Films I want to see:
4.Welcome to Yesterday (2/28): Welcome to Yesterday kind of looks like Chronicle with time travel. Even if it doesn't match Chronicle in terms of quality, the concept of a group of teenagers discovering the ability of time travel is a cool enough concept to warrant a watch.

3.The Monuments Men (2/7): The Monuments Men was originally set for a December 2013 release date, which could potentially speak of its quality. The cast including Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett and George Clooney, who also directs, is wildly talented and the story seems like it could be a unique approach to a war film. The Monuments Men has serious potential to be an early-year gem.

2.Non-Stop (2/28):Liam Nesson kicking ass on an airplane? Sign me up! The trailer is excellent and I'm just hoping Nesson can make up for the disaster that was Taken 2 with this.

1.Robocop (2/12): My excitement for Robocop is based more in principle than on any of the footage or trailers that I've seen. The original Robocop is the holy grail of 80's B-movies in my eyes so naturally I'm going to be intrigued by the remake. The PG-13 rating doesn't really throw me off too much, I'm just hoping that the film ends up being better than the trailers are making it out to be.

Films I'm not sure on:
The Lego Movie (2/7): I seem to be the only person not stoked on this one. I guess the fact that I never really played with Legos when I was kid doesn't give me any nostalgia towards this and the trailers/commercials I've seen have been just alright. Morgan Freeman playing some god-esque character and the 21 Jump Street team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being behind this does give me some hope though.

3 Days to Kill (2/21): I don't really buy Kevin Costner as an action hero, but this does look like it could be an alright movie.

Films I have zero interest in:
Vampire Academy (2/7): Next attempt at launching a female-oriented fantasy/horror book series into the next Twilight mega-hit film franchise? I'll pass.

About Last Night (2/14):I love Kevin Hart, but this looks like an incredibly dumb and generic romantic comedy.

Endless Love (2/14): I could've sworn this was a Nicolas Sparks adaption, but it's actually a remake of a 1981 film and book that I've never heard of. I will say this does look a bit better than your typical sappy romantic drama, but that isn't nearly enough for me to even consider seeing it.

Winter's Tale (2/14): Another sappy fantasy romantic drama. Even the presence of Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connolly doesn't sell me on this one.

Pompeii (2/21): John Snow in a cheap-looking disaster flick about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from the director of the Resident Evil franchise doesn't seem like a good time at the movies to me.

Sons of God (2/28): Nothing beats religious propaganda movies getting a wide release. I'll wait till Noah in March to get my religious movie fix.