Movie Review: G.I Joe: Retaliation

The G.I Joe's are back hoo-rah! Much like the 2009 original, G.I Joe Retaliation offers up plenty of cheap kinetic thrills. This installment sees almost a complete overhaul of the cast with only Channing Tatum, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce and Byung-Hun Lee returning from the first film. The new additions to the cast make the film's high-octane absurdity flow a lot better. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a lot more convincing and just plain better of a hero than Tatum was in the original. Johnson is one of the torchbearers for modern action stars. He just understands what it takes to drive an action movie and always elevates what ever material is thrown at him. The new additions to the supporting cast including Adrianne Palecki, D.J Catrona and of course, Bruce Willis all pull their respective weight. Willis especially kills it as the namesake for the G.I Joe squad, who is now retired. Willis has his signature smirk and wise-ass one-liners out in full force and the time he is on screen are amongst the most enjoyable of the whole film. His 20 minutes of screen time here is substantially more enjoyable than the entirety of Willis's last big screen appearance last month in the monumental letdown otherwise known as A Good Day to Die Hard. Of course the most important element to a movie like G.I Joe Retaliation is the action and it delivers the goods in that department. You got everything from giant shootouts in Washington D.C to ninja sword battles on the side of mountains in the Himalayas all captured with unapologetically absurd glee. Director Jon Chu does an excellent job executing the big and bold action scenes with a nice combination of slo-mo and fast-paced action sequences. This is the first action film he's ever done and he has a good feel for the large-scale set pieces blockbuster action films offer up. So with the improved cast and great action sequences you would think you would have an improvement over its predecessor? Not exactly. The one knock I have on Retaliation is how seriously it takes itself sometimes. Rise of the Cobra did not have one serious bone in it's explosion-filled body, it was just ridiculous fun for two hours. Don't get me wrong Retaliation is also plenty of fun, there are just times where it takes itself way too seriously when offering up bad dialogue and overly-dramatic situations (mostly the scenes with just the villains talking amongst themselves and the cringe-inducing sequences with RZA as ninja prophet Blind Master suffer from this problem.) It's a G.I Joe movie, don't try to overact and take away from the mindless fun the rest of the film offers up. G.I Joe Retaliation is a competent action flick with a strong cast that brings summer thrills a few months early.

3.5/5 Stars

Summer Slaughter 2013 Lineup

In case you haven't heard yet, Summer Slaughter unveiled the 2013 edition last Friday. The lineup is as follows:
The Dillinger Escape Plan
Animals as Leaders
Periphery
Norma Jean
Cattle Decapitation
The Ocean
Revocation
Aeon

There are allegedly two more bands (which may or may not include the opener) that will be announced in the coming weeks. Like the past two years, the fans get to vote on who the opening band is. This year's options for openers are:
Abiotic
My Bitter End 
Erra
Howl
Last Chance to Reason
Fit For An Autopsy
Rings of Saturn
Thy Art is Murder
Vektor
Nekrogoblin
Intervals
Soreption
King Conquer
Dark Sermon
Today I Caught the Plague
Into the Flood
As They Burn
Syqem
(Rings of Saturn and Thy Art is Murder are currently tied for the lead. My vote was for Last Chance to Reason, but they are pretty far behind the leaders. I really hope Thy Art is Murder pulls it out because Rings of Saturn is one of the worst bands in metal in my eyes.)

This lineup is getting a lot of shit from the metal elitists due to the lack of death metal compared to other years (Almost half the lineup is still death metal so they really need to stop bitching,) but I find this lineup to be badass. I don't really care that there isn't as much as death metal as usual because all of these bands (save for Norma Jean) are great. You have everything from death/thrash (Revocation) to prog/sludge (The Ocean) to instrumental (Animals as Leaders) bands on the same bill. It's also fitting for Dillinger Escape Plan to be headlining this since they have one of the most chaotic live shows in all of metal. I have to praise the organizers for putting together another diverse and excellent lineup for this tour and I'm crossing my fingers that the rumor of Gojira being added to the bill is true. Regardless of who gets added, I can't wait for Summer Slaughter yet again this year.

Album Review: Intronaut-Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)

California prog/sludge titans Intronaut has picked up quite a following over the past few years through major tours supporting such iconic bands as Mastodon, Cynic and Meshuggah and creating some of the best records this genre has seen recently in Prehistorcisms and Valley of Smoke. Their latest Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones) is another intriguing dose of progressive metal from one of the genre's best bands.

Habitual Levitations sees Intronaut expanding upon the more progressive sound they introduced on their last record Valley of Smoke. This is easily the most melodic material Intronaut has produced in their career thus far. While there are still sludge elements to the music, there are virtually no harsh vocals and more of an overall focus on melody. Intronaut are brilliant at composing music at both ends of the spectrum so the transition to a more progressive-based sound is pretty seamless for them. The melodic sections are appropriately dark and create a really gloomy, interesting landscape that the album centers around. Helping emphasize the power of the album's landscape is the contrasting presence of heavy riffs and Intronaut's secret weapon: bassist Joe Lester and drummer Danny Walker. The heavy sections perfectly complement and accentuate the murky power of the melodic sections. The transitions between both ends of Intronaut's sound are well-executed throughout (the best of the bunch though is on album closer "The Way Down") and they never cease to be able to get the most of every section of music they create. The rhythmic section of Lester and Walker is a big reason why Intronaut's music is so effective. Few bands in the metal world (or music in general for that matter) use bass and drums as prominently as Intronaut, which gives the band a really unique dynamic. The rhythmic compositions they come up with are just outstanding. I wish more bands would put an emphasis on having such a strong and well-utilized rhythm section. Lester and Walker never fail to impress me on every record and that will never change as long as Intronaut continues to make music.

The one issue I had with Habitual Levitations was that it does drag at times. Most of the tracks are haunting and atmospheric, but "Harmonocon" and "Eventual" are just stagnant and don't really go anywhere. They break up the flow after the first five excellent tracks and didn't really strike me like a majority of the record did. It's only a small blemish on a primarily great record, but it did knock down the overall quality a bit.

Habitutal Levitations is another well-crafted record from Intronaut. I do miss the harsh vocals of their previous material, but Intronaut are excellent musicians and the more progressive sound suites them well as a band. The melodies are stunning for a majority of a record and the heavy parts have amazing riffs ("The Welding" has one of the best riffs they've ever written.) Intronaut are one of the most important bands in the world of progressive metal at the moment as far as I am concerned and while it doesn't quite reach the highs of Prehistoricisms and Valley of Smoke, Habitual Levitations is still an essential listen for fans of the band or the genre.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.The Welding
2.The Way Down
3.Sore Sight for Eyes 

Movie Review: Spring Breakers

Despite the fact that I hadn't previously seen any of his work, I had heard a lot about the abstract wackiness of the films of writer/director Harmony Korine. He's made a name for himself on the independent film circuit as a polarizing director whose films leave viewers on either side of the spectrum with absolutely no in-between. After gaining my first exposure to his work with Spring Breakers, I can confirm everything I'd heard about Korine's films was correct.

Spring Breakers is a fucking trip to watch. The film just puts you in a brain-melting trance for an hour and a half. Parts of it are brilliant, parts of it are awful, all of it is captivating. This is a movie all about the excess of the party culture in the United States. Gratuitous nudity, sex, drugs, and violence are all on display behind a pumping electronic soundtrack from composer Cliff Martinez (Drive) and dubstep artist Skrillex are on all display, but don't let that fool you: this is a serious piece of social commentary. It's not always the easiest film to watch (one scene in particular involving Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens, James Franco and two pistols will haunt me for the rest of my life,) but that's exactly what Korine intended. Korine wants to overwhelm the viewer with shocking images, non-linear storytelling and repeated dialogue all while brilliantly skewering the attitudes and behavior of young adults in America. Save for the crazy shootout finale (which is a fitting, over-the-top ending to a film that is all about excess,) just about everything is scarily dead-on about the attitude of young adults in this country. I'm almost 21 myself and while I don't share the love of exorbitant partying that is portrayed in this film, but a lot of people my age absolutely do. It's genuinely terrifying and though this film seems like its ridiculous at times, it's largely rooted in truth. Plenty of people put the hard-partying lifestyle of heavy drinking, lethal drug use, and other reckless behavior ahead of everything else and this film captures just how wrong and dangerous that attitude is. A lot of audiences are going to write this film off as just as a pointless film with no story that borderlines on porn or be disappointed that it portrays partying in such an unglamorous light, but there's far more to Spring Breakers than meets the eye. For the most part the abstract nature and intensity of the film overshadows the actors, but James Franco's role as rapper/drug mogul Alien is nothing short of priceless. When Alien shows up, the film escalates from slightly crazy to absolutely bonkers. Franco hits all the right notes and matches the over-the-top tone of the film perfectly. I'm still trying to fully process Spring Breakers (it will probably take multiple viewings for me to form a firm opinion on it) due to how visceral and strange it was. One thing is for sure though, no matter what your opinion is on Spring Breakers, no film this year will garner strong reactions from audiences. Spring Breakers is far from perfect, but it's a hypnotic film that will be embedded deep in my brain for a long time.

3/5 Stars

Best/Worst Moves of NFL Free Agency So Far

It's been nine days since the free agency period opened in the NFL and there has been a vast amount of moves made already and there is still plenty of talent available on the market. Here is my roundup of the best and worst moves so far as well who I believe are the best players still on the market.

Best Player Move: Wes Welker to the Broncos
There are only a few teams in the league outside of the New England Patriots where Wes Welker could be incredibly effective and Denver is one of them. Welker gives the already potent Broncos receiving corps another proven weapon to torment defenses with. On top of his skills in the slot, Welker also gives young star wideouts Demariyus Thomas and Eric Decker a veteran leader and mentor who has played at a high level for a long time to look up to which only makes the already great Thomas and Decker that much better. I don't think Peyton Manning could be any happier now that he has the three-headed beast of Thomas, Decker and Welker anchoring his receiving corps (not to mention the talented tight end duo of Joel Dressen and Jacob Tamme.) Welker's addition to the Broncos is an absolutely brilliant move that makes Denver even more of an instant championship contender.
 Honorable Mention: Percy Harvin to the Seahawks, Anquan Boldin to the 49ers, Steven Jackson to the Falcons

Worst Player Move: Dannell Ellerbe to the Dolphins
There is no question that Dannell Ellerbe had a great run in the playoffs with the Ravens this past season. The question is a guy that has only played in 46 games in his five-year career and only seen significant playing time for one season worth a five-year/$35 million contract? If Ellerbe plays at as high of a level as he did during the playoffs then this signing will be worth it. The problem is that Ellerbe only has one season of substantial playing time under his belt and has never been expected to lead a linebacking corps before. The Dolphins are hoping Ellerbe is their middle linebacker of the future, I'm just not so sure he is given his overall lack of experience in a starting/leadership role in the league.
Dishonorable Mention: Ricky Jean Francois to the Colts, Danny Woodhead to the Chargers, Drew Stanton to the Cardinals

Best Re-Signing: Dwayne Bowe returning to the Chiefs
Prior to acquiring quarterback Alex Smith from San Fransisco, The Chiefs made sure they brought back number one wideout Dwayne Bowe so they could have a trusted, true top option for Smith to throw to. Bowe is an immense talent that will benefit greatly from having someone that should actually be able to get him the ball for the next five seasons after having the worst year of his career with Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn under center last season. I expect the Chiefs bringing back Bowe to pay dividends for the franchise moving forward.
Honorable Mentions:Tony Gonzalez returning to the Falcons, Henry Melton returning to the Bears, Brian Hartline returning to the Dolphins

Worst Re-Signing: Kyle Arrington returning to the Patriots
I honestly laughed out loud when I heard this. Kyle Arrington is just a downright terrible corner. He may be versatile, but his coverage skills are nonexistent no matter where he lines up. The kicker is the Patriots locked him down for four years/$16 million when more talented guys like Sean Smith and Carey Williams were available for around the same price. Given Arrington's laughably bad play and who was available on the market, this move makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  
Dishonorable Mentions: Jerome Simpson returning to the Vikings, Leodis McKelvin returning to the Bills, LeGarette Blount returning to the Buccaneers

Most Underrated Player Move: Reggie Bush to the Lions
I'll be the first to admit that Reggie Bush hasn't been the most consistent player in his career. That being said, He is still a player who can impact games if utilized properly and I think Detroit will do just that. Bush is most effective when being utilized as a dual threat in the rushing and passing game (which coach Tony Sparano did with the Dolphins in 2011, the best season of Bush's career and exactly what Joe Philbin did not do in 2012, hence Bush's dropoff.) Integration of running backs into the passing game is right in head coach Jim Schwartz and offensive coordinator's Scott Linehan's wheelhouse and they have never had someone as talented as Bush in the backfield. Bush should be in paradise in the Lions' frantic offense, which perfectly suites his style as a player. With his playing style and the coaching style of Schwartz, Bush seems like a godsend to this Detroit offense and gives this already insanely productive offense yet another weapon to utilize on opposing defenses.
Honorable Mentions: Danny Amendola to the Patriots, Dashon Goldson to the Buccaneers, Shonn Greene to the Titans

Most Overrated Player Move: Greg Jennings to the Vikings
This isn't a knock on Greg Jennings, who I felt was the best player to hit the free agent market this year, it's just his team choice. For such an elite talent as Greg Jennings to go to a team with such a poor, unproven quarterback in Christian Ponder really doesn't make much sense to me. Jennings isn't really too great in the short passing game, which is where Ponder does most of his passing, and Ponder doesn't have the arm strength to be effective in the moderate/deep passing where Jennings does his best work. It's an extreme mismatch of styles between quarterback and receiver and  I honestly don't think the Jennings/Vikings relationship will work out.
Dishonorable Mentions: Aqib Talib returning to the Patriots, Cliff Avril to the Seahawks, Glover Quin to the Lions

Best Overall Team in Free Agency: Kansas City Chiefs
After a dismal 2-14 season in 2012, The Chiefs are making a ton of moves this offseason and a majority of them have been great. This is a team that is setting itself up for success with the amount of depth and talent they are adding to their roster. The biggest moves for them were of course the trade for quarterback Alex Smith as well as the re-signings of wide receiver Dwayne Bowe and tackle Brandon Albert. Smith gives the Chiefs a much more stable option at quarterback than Matt Cassel while Bowe and Albert are two of the most underrated players in the league that respectively give Smith a top-notch receiver and run/pass blocker to work with. The Chiefs also got a new pair of corners in Sean Smith and Dunta Robinson and added veteran role players like wide receiver Donnie Avery and tight end Anthony Fasano to give the team reliable and consistent options to help fix their offensive woes from a year ago. The Chiefs got both quantity and quality with their signings, which puts them firmly at the top in term of the league's free agent hauls.
Honorable Mentions: Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, San Fransisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans

Worst Overall Team in Free Agency: Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals have made nothing but head-scratching moves throughout free agency. First off, they pick up unproven, career backup Drew Stanton to be the starter next season while simultaneously keeping all three of the quarterbacks (Brian Hoyer, John Skeleton, Ryan Lindley) who threw for a combined 3 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in the final 10 games last season and releasing Kevin Kolb, who played very well and lead them to a 4-1 record before a rib injury knocked out for the season in Week 6 against the Bills. Secondly, they bring in the inconsistent Rashard Mendenhall to be the new starting running back. Mendenhall was absolutely horrendous last year and  had a slew of off-the-field and health problems as well. Most importantly, The Cardinals have done nothing to address their offensive line woes that plagued them last season. Clearly the draft hasn't happened yet and they have the number 7 pick in the first round, but the 2013 Cardinals don't seem to be headed in the right direction with their weak free agency moves.
Dishonorable Mentions: Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills

Best Player Still Available on the Market : Ahmad Bradshaw (running back)
I honestly can't believe Ahmad Bradshaw is still on the market. He has had some injury problems, but he still managed to have a 1,000-yard season last year and at only 27, he has plenty of years ahead of him. A team like the Steelers, Packers or Jets could desperately use a bruising, workhorse back like Bradshaw. I believe that Bradshaw is fully worth his injury risk because of his work ethic and ability to run hard consistently.
Honorable Mentions: Sebastian Vollmer (tackle), Elvis Dumervil (outside linebacker/defensive end), Nnadmi Ashomuga (cornerback), Brent Grimes (cornerback), Brandon Lloyd (wide receiver), Bryant McKinnie (tackle), Charles Woodson (safety), Fred Davis (tight end), Eric Winston (tackle) 

Album Review: Suffocation-Pinnacle of Bedlam

The Suffocation of old is back people!

 Pinnacle of Bedlam sees the brutal death metal legends unleashing their most vicious attack in years. I don't know what caused this sudden re-ignition of fury in Suffocation's music, I'm just glad that it has returned. It's not that Suffocation's last few records were bad or not heavy, they were just missing the savage edge that their 90's releases had. The fire has undeniably returned and Suffocation wastes little time proving that point with the opening track "Cycles of Suffering". The guitars are chunky and loud, the drums are roaring and Frank Mullen is screaming his lungs out, every second of it is glorious. "Cycles of Suffering" is just the start of the brutal death metal master class that is Pinnacle of Bedlam. There are a boatload of memorable, uncompromising riffs, pounding blast beats from new drummer Dave Culross (who does a great job replacing legendary founding drummer Mike Smith,) and of course, Frank Mullen's legendary pig squeals/low screams areon full display. There are even tracks like "Sullen Days" where they go out of their comfort zone and throw some melody into their songs. I never thought I'd see the day where one of the most relentlessly heavy bands of all-time puts melody into their music, but I must say it works well. It's not prominent enough to make Suffocation's music any less intense, but it does make for a nice brief diversion from the sledgehammer-esque heaviness that consumes most of the album.

Pinnacle of Bedlam is hands down the best Suffocation release since 1998's Despise the Sun. The grizzled death metal vets have finally released a record that is in the vicinity of the quality of their older material. This is some crushing material with a bit of new found melody to change things up a little bit without sacrificing any of the record's brutality. With Pinnacle of Bedlam, Suffocation can now proudly join fellow old-school brutal death metal torchbearers Dying Fetus as a band that is still making quality, in-your-face brutal death metal well into their second decades as a band. Hopefully Suffocation can continue to pump out records as good as Pinnacle of Bedlam for the rest of their career.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Cycles of Suffering
2.Eminent Wrath
3.Sullen Days
 

Movie Review: The Man with the Iron Fists

Leave it to a kung-fu obsessed rapper to make the first quality film the genre has produced in years. Unlike the other recent American attempt to pay tribute to the Asian martial arts genre of yesteryear (I'm looking at you Ninja Assassin,) The Man with the Iron Fists is the perfect martial arts film with almost unfathomable amounts of gore and cheese that is a more than worthy tribute to the world of Asian kung-fu films. The Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, who directs, writes, and stars here, understands the spirit of old-school martial arts films and applies that fully to The Man with the Iron Fists along with an undeniably cool style. While not nearly as polished or clever as his pal and filmmaking mentor Quentin Tarantino, RZA applies the same manic enthusiasm and love for his material that Tarantino demonstrates. The script from RZA and Hostel director Eli Roth is appropriately bonkers with a ridiculous plot and an overlying theme of revenge. In other words, characters betray other characters in a Chinese town know as Jungle Village and the blood starts spilling amongst rival clans and that's really all that matters about this film. The action sequences are the essence of kung-fu movies and The Man with the Iron Fists delivers big time in that area. The fight scenes are heavy on slo-mo to showcase the copious amounts of gore and are consistently very entertaining and well-choreographed. On top of quality action and a passionate directing effort from RZA, The cast is completely game for the zaniness this film has to offer. I still can't believe Russell Crowe agreed to do this film and even though he looks confused throughout, he gives an excellent over-the-top performance as an opium-smoking, knife-wielding British solider known as Jack Knife, who is one of the many colorful assassins who takes up residence in Jungle Village amidst this deadly war between clans. The Man with the Iron Fists is not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a bloody fun ride if you don't mind unapologetic, full-blown cheesiness.

3.5/5 Stars