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A Tribute To The “King Of Pop”

June 30, 2009

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past couple days, you most likely know about Michael Jackson’s untimely death Thursday at the age of 50. I thought it would be an appropriate time to pay the superstar his due reverence with a top 10 favorite song list, but any list wouldn’t be complete without a Jackson joke; after all, its become a pop culture necessity for several years - well before he named his youngest child, Blanket.

So here’s one courtesy of Late Night host Jimmy Kimmel: “He was an extremely powerful symbol: a black performer whites could relate to and then later in life, a white performer who blacks could relate to.” Well done, Jimmy. And on that note I bring to you my top 10 Michael Jackson playlist.

10) Remember the Time

9) Rock With You

8) Who Is It?

7) Black or White

6) Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’

5) The Way You Make Me Feel

4) Beat It

3) Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough

2) Man in the Mirror

1) Billie Jean (Quite simply the most timeless, brilliant pop song ever recorded. Pretty cool video too.)

As you probably noticed, Thriller is conspicuously missing from my list. The reason being that I always considered it a far better video than song. But that’s just me and everyone’s got their own personal Jackson faves.

R.I.P. Michael

Written by Kris McKusick · Filed Under Entertainment News, Michael Jackson | Leave a Comment 

Positively Movie Review - The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

June 30, 2009

Life derails for Walter Garber, a NYC transit worker, when a former prisoner hijacks a subway train, takes hostages, demands money and demands only to talk with Garber. Tony Scott’s version of the 1974 film with the same title, “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” is full of action and passionate performances.

Both Denzel Washington (Garber) and John Travolta (Ryder) are full of energy throughout the film. The movie also stars Luis Guzmán, John Turturro, James Gandolfini, Alex Kaluzhsky, and Gbenga Akinnagbe. “Pelham” won’t be nominated for any awards, but it’s a captivating movie and a terrific opportunity to finally see these veteran actors, Washington and Travolta, acting together.


 The Good:
- Denzel Washington – Going from playing an obnoxious crime boss to an inspirational debate teacher – Washington’s “Garber” adds “everyday man” to his recent resume. But Garber isn’t perfect, which makes the character even more appealing. Only Washington could give this character the sincerity needed to not come off as hammy. Would we expect anything else from the classy actor?
 
- John Travolta – I think the last time Travolta was this fuming in a movie was in “Face/Off” (or was that Nicholas Cage?). Covered in tattoos as “Ryder,” Travolta plays the wisecracking, angry-at-the-world subway hijacker impressively. It’s great to see Travolta and his acting talents back on movie screens (only this time without a dress).

- The Movie’s Pace – The story’s timing is well done - it’s not too long or too short. The plot progresses steadily and doesn’t get caught up with irrelevant details. “Pelham” gets to the point, and sticks to the point - and I like that in a movie.

- It’s An Action Movie Too – “Pelham” isn’t all talk - it’s not continuous negotiations or argument with Ryder, it’s not solely “what can they say next to make him stop.” Those theatrical elements are covered, but Scott has also offered audiences great action sequences complete with flipping cars, cop shoot outs, and a standoff!

The Bad:
- Background Characters – Roger Ebert makes a great point, “This version occupies a denatured action-movie landscape, with no time for local color and a transit system control room that humbles Mission Control. That also may explain the film’s lack of time to establish the supporting characters, even Travolta’s partners.” I agree because, the lack of focus on the secondary characters establishes a lack of caring for them. However, putting more emphasis on them may have interrupted the film’s pacing and if that’s the case then I’ll pass – keep the movie the way it is.

- Slightly Over the Top – The cars flipping during collisions are a little dramatic, but it sure does make for an entertaining movie.
 
In The End:
“The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” will definitely keep audiences’ attention. But now that it’s competing with “Transformers 2” I think we’ll see it disappearing from theaters soon. However, make sure to catch it on DVD because Washington and Travolta’s performances shouldn’t be missed!

Written by Diana Richardson · Filed Under Denzel Washington, James Gandolfini, John Travolta, Kristen Aldridge, Luis Guzman, Movies, Tony Scott | Leave a Comment 

Positively Movie Review – Blindness

June 30, 2009

“Blindness” is kind of a scary movie depicting the outbreak of a seemingly contagious illness that renders people blind. Understandably, the worst of humanity comes out. Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, Danny Glover, Alice Braga, and Gael García Bernal are some of the actors that make up a group of quarantined individuals living in a vacant mental institution where, literally, the blind are leading the blind, with one exception, a Doctor’s wife who lies about being sick in order to stay with her husband (who is sick). 

“Blindness” is a unique epidemic film that can be admired for its take on the genre, the acting, as well as its views of humanity during such desperate times.
 
The Good:
 - Terrific Acting – One sign of a great actor is when they can make audiences hate them, love them, sympathize with them, etc.  “Blindness” features actors capable of bringing viewers into their world so much so that it’s impossible to sit back and submissively watch this movie.

- A Different Take on the “Disease” Film Genre – Within the portfolio of “disease contaminating society” films out there “Blindness” is special. The characters don’t actually die from the “white blindness” disease.  The illness in this movie doesn’t mean death, life as a zombie or other tragic fate – the illness isn’t necessarily the “bad guy.”

- The Tempo – “Blindness’” plot progresses at a nice pace. The audience learns about the disease and how the world is dealing with it at the same pace as the characters in the movie. The pacing is so that the deterioration of society and desperation are sincere - viewers aren’t thrown into chaos and expected to buy into it.

The Bad:
- Not a Happy Movie – About 15 minutes of “Blindness” are happy and worthy of a smile, I could have used a little more.

- It’s Pretty Darn Realistic! – Unlike zombie or alien attack movies, “Blindness” is slightly more plausible, making it that much scarier. Seeing how people change and the terrible things they do in the movie makes me cross my fingers that something like this will never happen.

In The End:
“Blindness” is a quality film in regards to the acting and plot, but won’t leave audiences with a warm and tingly feeling once it’s over.

Written by Diana Richardson · Filed Under Alice Braga, Gael Garcia Bernal, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Movies, danny glover | Leave a Comment 

TERMINATOR IV

June 17, 2009

The year is 2009.  Terminator: Salvation has been released.  The film itself…is not so black and white.

Not even shady gray. Yet, more like gleaming silver. Gleaming silver pistons of death ignited by the fiery optic pulse of powerhouse structures of machinery called Terminators. I digress…ah yes, the film.

In the film, the element of time is held to an astral plane; not immediately comprehensible in the context of the story. What’s defied is the linear logic of time, man and his offspring.

(Enters the realm of the machines).

The year is 2018. The lethal and exacting machine regime is at hand and presenting a dystopian state for the misnomered “resistance”:human extinction.

Written by Rohan Raj · Filed Under Movies | Leave a Comment 

Nine Inch Nails Performs Last U.S. Concert

June 17, 2009

Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor has announced that their performance Sunday at the Bonnaroo Music Festival was their last in the United States. For those unaware, Bonnaroo is a popular music festival in Manchester, Tennessee which has been dubbed as “The New Woodstock.”

The industrial rock group performed their last set in the early morning hours Sunday, shortly after Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band wrapped up. “It just dawned on me that this is our last show ever in the United States,” Reznor said during his band’s set. “Don’t be sad. I’ll keep going. But I think I’m going to lose my … mind if I keep doing this, and I have to stop.”

NIN just completed a U.S. tour with Jane’s Addiction. Their summer tour continues in Europe and Asia. The tour is entitled “Wave Goodbye” and was conceived as a farewell tour to mark the 20th anniversary of their debut album, “Pretty Hate Machine.”

Best wishes, Trent. It’s been an impressive journey.

Written by Kris McKusick · Filed Under Bruce Springsteen, Jane's Addiction, Music, Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor | Leave a Comment 

The Weapon X Initiative

June 1, 2009

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released in May in succession to the first three X-Men films and in prelude to the highly-anticipated Avengers film, which will be released in 2012.

As a kid, watching the show X-Men on T.V. to see Wolverine and my other favorites was a Saturday morning ritual. Now, to see his cinematic portrayal come to fruition indulges nostalgia.

The film’s opening credits coincide with a sequence that introduces Logan and his brother Victor, who we come to know as Wolverine and Sabertooth, respectively. The setting is 1840s Canada and the two young brothers flee their home and become professional soldiers, fighting in many wars such as the Civil War, WWI, WWII, and Vietnam. One could immediately detect the maudlin disposition of these two feathering pansies in the first twenty minutes.

After surviving an execution in one of the virtuous wars they so bestially fought in, Logan (Hugh Jackman) and his brother (Liev Schreiber) are approached by Colonel Stryker, who understands what they are. Stryker (Danny Huston) makes them an offer they can’t refuse; well they could refuse it, but that wouldn’t make for a very interesting story, would it? They agree to Stryker’s proposition and join his team. They do not realize that their agreement to help Stryker is a facade for a plan that will ultimately have relative consequence in the events that occur in the preceding X-Men films: the Weapon X program.

Logan and Victor fight alongside other mutants for Stryker’s cause before one day Logan decides that he no longer wants to be a part of the annihilation of innocent people. So he quits the team, much to the dismay of his manicure-needing older brother.

Logan escapes to the mountains of Canada, where he becomes a Brawny man-looking lumberjack and gains the love of a comely schoolteacher named Kayla (Lynn Collins), who licks his figurative wounds. Get it? Cause’ he regenerates. Through his intimate relationship with Kayla, he gains the inspiration for the moniker that is eventually dubbed to him.

However, his quiet life with the schoolteacher is vehemently interrupted when Sabertooth returns and Logan finds Kayla slain in his trail. Feeling the pain of love lost and enraged to avenge his fallen lover, he seeks answers from Stryker. Stryker explains to vindictive Logan that the only way to defeat Sabertooth is to work with him. After Logan agrees, he befalls the insidious will of Stryker and undergoes a procedure that renders his claws adamantium, making him virtually indestructible. The plot thickens…and from a pool of comatose recollections emerges….Wolverine.

Throughout the film, Wolverine and Sabertooth tussle in several scenes, some of which are charmingly graced by the presence of highly anticipated X-men favorites like Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds). Although Gambit is a tough character to portray well, Kitsch does it with aplomb. Ryan Reynolds integrates the comical charm of Van Wilder and the graceful swordsmanship seen in Blade: Trinity to do likewise. Liev Schreiber plays a ferocious Sabertooth, and appropriately portrays a formidable opponent for Hugh Jackman.

His performance is more memorable than that of that one dude’s from the first X-men films. And although it probably wouldn’t fit into the story, I would have liked to see Omega Red face off against his arch nemesis. Hugh Jackman is ultra jacked for the film. However, I don’t think the gruff machismo of Wolverine would approve of tanning. But aside from his spray-on tan and impotent howling, Jackman seems to pull it off.

Most people reviewed X-Men Origins: Wolverine unfavorably and said it has a dull storyline, and doesn’t compare to other superhero movies like Iron Man or The Dark Knight. While I agree the storyline is not strong, to compare it to other superhero films unrelated to the X-Men story is naive and presumptuous. The film sits comfortably in the company of the other X-Men films and its acts supersede many of the portrayals in the first three films. The action sequences are grippingly fun and flashy. If you’re an X-Men fan, see the movie…bub.

Written by Rohan Raj · Filed Under Hugh Jackman, Movies | Leave a Comment 

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