Everybody's trying to get in on the parkour craze - the French sport of "free running" is in movies, video games and more. But you know how they say "don't try this at home?" These dummies didn't listen.
Showing posts with label AOL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AOL. Show all posts
Monday, 14 March 2011
Saturday, 12 March 2011
World of Cheap Thrills
What's scarier than a haunted house? TWO HAUNTED HOUSES!
Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their three young children have just moved into a big, old home. He's a teacher and she doesn't work, so immediately I assumed there was some deal with the devil to make the down payment, but this was just my mind playing tricks. The young baby does nothing but cry and one night the eldest sees something, makes a spooky face, then goes to sleep and NEVER WAKES UP.
He's not in a coma, he's just. . .in limbo. Rather than making the cover of the New England Journal of Medicine with this indescribable condition, they just send the kid home. And then the craziness starts.
I can't lie, the first few scares got my heart rate up. There are demonic sounds on the baby monitor and, even though I was thinking "here comes the scary part, here comes the scary part" when something finally jumped out, I yelped like a frightened puppy.
I can't recall seeing a movie that relied as heavily on loud, dissonant piano notes on the sound track as much as Insidious. Director James Wan (the first Saw movie and follow-up garbage he'd rather you not remember) either doesn't trust us or doesn't have the chops to allow creative framing or tense perspective shots to deliver the scares. Either way, I found I did most of my crying-out not because anything truly frightening was happening on screen, but because something REALLY LOUD JUST CRASHED IN MY EAR.
I certainly wasn't involved in the plot in any way, which is a shame, because I think a comotose, house-bound child is fertile soil from which a genuine horror film can grow. After Byrne sees enough weird visions she gets the family to relocate. The scares keep coming in house two, making us all wonder what the hell kind of realtor they're using.
There's a twist, of course, and a too-late attempt at humor in the form of some goofy ghost hunters. Once the "truth" is revealed, however, only the audience members willing to suspend their disbelief to the point they could wrap it around the circumference of Jupiter will keep from checking out.
So this is what's in store for you in Insidious: a real moronic supernatural horror film that exploitatively uses startling tactics to get in four or five decent jump scares. If you are a high school kid on a date, go see Insidious. If not, go take a run or finish that Dostoyevsky novel you keep putting off.
World of Cheap Thrills
What's scarier than a haunted house? TWO HAUNTED HOUSES!
Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their three young children have just moved into a big, old home. He's a teacher and she doesn't work, so immediately I assumed there was some deal with the devil to make the down payment, but this was just my mind playing tricks. The young baby does nothing but cry and one night the eldest sees something, makes a spooky face, then goes to sleep and NEVER WAKES UP.
He's not in a coma, he's just. . .in limbo. Rather than making the cover of the New England Journal of Medicine with this indescribable condition, they just send the kid home. And then the craziness starts.
I can't lie, the first few scares got my heart rate up. There are demonic sounds on the baby monitor and, even though I was thinking "here comes the scary part, here comes the scary part" when something finally jumped out, I yelped like a frightened puppy.
I can't recall seeing a movie that relied as heavily on loud, dissonant piano notes on the sound track as much as Insidious. Director James Wan (the first Saw movie and follow-up garbage he'd rather you not remember) either doesn't trust us or doesn't have the chops to allow creative framing or tense perspective shots to deliver the scares. Either way, I found I did most of my crying-out not because anything truly frightening was happening on screen, but because something REALLY LOUD JUST CRASHED IN MY EAR.
I certainly wasn't involved in the plot in any way, which is a shame, because I think a comotose, house-bound child is fertile soil from which a genuine horror film can grow. After Byrne sees enough weird visions she gets the family to relocate. The scares keep coming in house two, making us all wonder what the hell kind of realtor they're using.
There's a twist, of course, and a too-late attempt at humor in the form of some goofy ghost hunters. Once the "truth" is revealed, however, only the audience members willing to suspend their disbelief to the point they could wrap it around the circumference of Jupiter will keep from checking out.
So this is what's in store for you in Insidious: a real moronic supernatural horror film that exploitatively uses startling tactics to get in four or five decent jump scares. If you are a high school kid on a date, go see Insidious. If not, go take a run or finish that Dostoyevsky novel you keep putting off.
World of Cheap Thrills
What's scarier than a haunted house? TWO HAUNTED HOUSES!
Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their three young children have just moved into a big, old home. He's a teacher and she doesn't work, so immediately I assumed there was some deal with the devil to make the down payment, but this was just my mind playing tricks. The young baby does nothing but cry and one night the eldest sees something, makes a spooky face, then goes to sleep and NEVER WAKES UP.
He's not in a coma, he's just. . .in limbo. Rather than making the cover of the New England Journal of Medicine with this indescribable condition, they just send the kid home. And then the craziness starts.
I can't lie, the first few scares got my heart rate up. There are demonic sounds on the baby monitor and, even though I was thinking "here comes the scary part, here comes the scary part" when something finally jumped out, I yelped like a frightened puppy.
I can't recall seeing a movie that relied as heavily on loud, dissonant piano notes on the sound track as much as Insidious. Director James Wan (the first Saw movie and follow-up garbage he'd rather you not remember) either doesn't trust us or doesn't have the chops to allow creative framing or tense perspective shots to deliver the scares. Either way, I found I did most of my crying-out not because anything truly frightening was happening on screen, but because something REALLY LOUD JUST CRASHED IN MY EAR.
I certainly wasn't involved in the plot in any way, which is a shame, because I think a comotose, house-bound child is fertile soil from which a genuine horror film can grow. After Byrne sees enough weird visions she gets the family to relocate. The scares keep coming in house two, making us all wonder what the hell kind of realtor they're using.
There's a twist, of course, and a too-late attempt at humor in the form of some goofy ghost hunters. Once the "truth" is revealed, however, only the audience members willing to suspend their disbelief to the point they could wrap it around the circumference of Jupiter will keep from checking out.
So this is what's in store for you in Insidious: a real moronic supernatural horror film that exploitatively uses startling tactics to get in four or five decent jump scares. If you are a high school kid on a date, go see Insidious. If not, go take a run or finish that Dostoyevsky novel you keep putting off.
Monday, 28 February 2011
Deleted Scene From Mega mind Lays on the Guilt
Tina Fey socks it to Will Ferrell in this deleted scene from Dream works Animation's Mega mind.
This sequence from Megamind shows TV reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) really sockin' it to Will Ferrell's Megamind for slaying Brad Pitt's Metro Man.
I won't lie and call this a laugh riot, or even all that visually appealing, but for we obssessive completests out there, you need to watch this or you'll know, for the rest of your life, there's a part of Megamind you didn't see and it will drive you crazy.
Deleted Scene From Mega mind Lays on the Guilt
Tina Fey socks it to Will Ferrell in this deleted scene from Dream works Animation's Mega mind.
This sequence from Megamind shows TV reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) really sockin' it to Will Ferrell's Megamind for slaying Brad Pitt's Metro Man.
I won't lie and call this a laugh riot, or even all that visually appealing, but for we obssessive completests out there, you need to watch this or you'll know, for the rest of your life, there's a part of Megamind you didn't see and it will drive you crazy.
Deleted Scene From Mega mind Lays on the Guilt
Tina Fey socks it to Will Ferrell in this deleted scene from Dream works Animation's Mega mind.
This sequence from Megamind shows TV reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) really sockin' it to Will Ferrell's Megamind for slaying Brad Pitt's Metro Man.
I won't lie and call this a laugh riot, or even all that visually appealing, but for we obssessive completests out there, you need to watch this or you'll know, for the rest of your life, there's a part of Megamind you didn't see and it will drive you crazy.
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Best Songs of 2010
Of course, the unprintable title was the launch pad for Cee-Lo Green's overnight summer hit, its blunt message the righteous punch line to his fuming realization that finance has trumped romance. A nimble, infectious pop-soul arrangement and deft lyrics that are as witty as they are rude give Cee-Lo room to romp in a joyfully unbridled performance of comic exaggeration that inverts R&B machismo outright. The true test of the song may be its family-friendly version: It turns out that even with its expletives deleted and with a new title, "Forget You," it's delightful.
Few artists have mapped out a modern country style as accessible, yet as authentic and personalized, as Miranda Lambert: The outsized persona she carves with combustible rockers never loses her Texas accent, while the take-no-prisoners ferocity of vengeful anthems such as "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," "Gunpowder & Lead" and last year's "White Liar" are matched evenly by her skill with tender, vulnerable ballads. On her CMA-winning and Grammy-nominated "The House That Built Me," she again touches on how family and community shape identity. It's an affecting meditation on innocence and a moving reassurance that she may have conquered Nashville but she's not about to go Hollywood.
3. Eminem (Featuring Rihanna): "Love the Way You Lie" (Aftermath)
Eminem's personal life and musical identity have long grappled with sexual rage erupting in cruel misogyny, giving this defining hit from his "Recovery" album undeniable power. Confronting the power struggles behind domestic violence, he turns the table on his own worst past rants. Recruiting Rihanna, whose own tabloid nightmare remains forever rooted in the issue, is both brave and brilliant, making this one of the year's most unflinching pop dramas.
4. Die Antwoord: "Enter the Ninja" (Cherrytree/Interscope)
The jury may be out for Die Antwoord's potential to launch an unexpected hip-hop variant straight outta Cape Town, but "Enter the Ninja," the breakout viral hit for this South African trio spearheaded by the self-appointed Ninja (born Watkin Tudor Jones), is a galvanic, splenetic burst of cultural references run through a blender. Together with his cryptic blonde foil Yo-Landi Vi$$er, the gaunt rapper unleashes a funny, furious and casually obscene diatribe rooted in the underdog, self-consciously vulgar Zef subculture. Die Antwoord means "The Answer" in Afrikaans, but for most Western listeners "Enter the Ninja" is more provocative for the questions it raises. As "singles" go, this one never got near Top 40 and never will.
5. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: "I Should Have Known It" (Reprise)
High Orthodox Rock fans looking for proof that the style will endure need look no further than Tom Petty, who began his career being parsed for his stylistic debts to '60s icons, then graduated to play alongside them, whether touring with the Dead or traveling with the Wilburys. After three decades, the Heartbreakers are lethally powerful players, as exploited by the mostly live performances tracked for "Mojo" and exemplified by the tight midtempo strut of this classic rocker.
6. LCD Soundsystem: "Drunk Girls" (Virgin)
LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy has made hipster ridicule a keystone in his crafty spin on rock-edged dance music, a ploy nearly perfected on the first single from this year's "This Is Happening" album. A hell-bent pace and the jubilant title chorus provide the party-hearty momentum even as Murphy captures the contradictions of a revved-up crowd and the woozy chemistry lessons of dance floor hookups.
7. Robyn: "Dancing on My Own" (Konichiwa/Interscope)
Trading early teen pop stardom for independence, Sweden's Robyn has spent the last decade forging her own kinetic dance sound as a singer, songwriter and producer with growing confidence and a willingness to collaborate. This year a series of EPs sharing the "Body Talk" title wound up yielding a potent full-length already studded with hits. None is more mesmerizing than this propulsive anthem that unfolds "under a black sky" looming over its tableau of partying abandon and abject heartbreak.
8. Broken Bells: "The High Road" (Columbia)
For ambitious contemporary musicians, multitasking and collaboration are strategic givens. In Broken Bells, Shins singer and principal songwriter James Mercer partners with producer Brian Burton, better known as Danger Mouse, to create indelible pop-rock songs as musically accessible as they are lyrically elusive. Their calling card was this hypnotic, mysterious anthem: Against an implacable midtempo march and seemingly accidental yet melodic electronic bleeps, the duo builds a vignette as puzzling as it is engaging, modulating from the menacing midnight imagery of its verses to a beautiful (but mystifying) coda. We can only guess at its meaning, but we keep hitting "play."
9. Far East Movement: "Like a G6" (Interscope)
East Los Angeles' Far East Movement broke out with this futurist tweak of club music, weaving hip-hop cadences, a shrewd Dev sample and electronic textures into a fizzy pulse that takes its title simile from a Gulfstream corporate jet. With its origins in the Korea Town community, Far East Movement augurs a next wave of pop's multicultural reinvention: "Like a G6" proved a massive hit with formidable chart credentials buoyed by digital sales.
Their home base is Nashville, but Lady Antebellum's blueprint sounds closer to L.A. in its canny vocal partnership between Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott and the crisp acoustic decorations of multi-instrumentalist Dave Haywood. The title track of the platinum trio's second album powers its yearning after-hours confessions of unresolved passion with a surging chorus and a keening slide guitar that sounds equidistant from Laurel Canyon and Music Row, which helps explain its multiformat success and a mantel full of CMA, ACMA and CMT Awards. With four of their seven pending Grammy nominations propelled by the song, they may need a bigger mantel.
Best Songs of 2010
Of course, the unprintable title was the launch pad for Cee-Lo Green's overnight summer hit, its blunt message the righteous punch line to his fuming realization that finance has trumped romance. A nimble, infectious pop-soul arrangement and deft lyrics that are as witty as they are rude give Cee-Lo room to romp in a joyfully unbridled performance of comic exaggeration that inverts R&B machismo outright. The true test of the song may be its family-friendly version: It turns out that even with its expletives deleted and with a new title, "Forget You," it's delightful.
Few artists have mapped out a modern country style as accessible, yet as authentic and personalized, as Miranda Lambert: The outsized persona she carves with combustible rockers never loses her Texas accent, while the take-no-prisoners ferocity of vengeful anthems such as "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," "Gunpowder & Lead" and last year's "White Liar" are matched evenly by her skill with tender, vulnerable ballads. On her CMA-winning and Grammy-nominated "The House That Built Me," she again touches on how family and community shape identity. It's an affecting meditation on innocence and a moving reassurance that she may have conquered Nashville but she's not about to go Hollywood.
3. Eminem (Featuring Rihanna): "Love the Way You Lie" (Aftermath)
Eminem's personal life and musical identity have long grappled with sexual rage erupting in cruel misogyny, giving this defining hit from his "Recovery" album undeniable power. Confronting the power struggles behind domestic violence, he turns the table on his own worst past rants. Recruiting Rihanna, whose own tabloid nightmare remains forever rooted in the issue, is both brave and brilliant, making this one of the year's most unflinching pop dramas.
4. Die Antwoord: "Enter the Ninja" (Cherrytree/Interscope)
The jury may be out for Die Antwoord's potential to launch an unexpected hip-hop variant straight outta Cape Town, but "Enter the Ninja," the breakout viral hit for this South African trio spearheaded by the self-appointed Ninja (born Watkin Tudor Jones), is a galvanic, splenetic burst of cultural references run through a blender. Together with his cryptic blonde foil Yo-Landi Vi$$er, the gaunt rapper unleashes a funny, furious and casually obscene diatribe rooted in the underdog, self-consciously vulgar Zef subculture. Die Antwoord means "The Answer" in Afrikaans, but for most Western listeners "Enter the Ninja" is more provocative for the questions it raises. As "singles" go, this one never got near Top 40 and never will.
5. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: "I Should Have Known It" (Reprise)
High Orthodox Rock fans looking for proof that the style will endure need look no further than Tom Petty, who began his career being parsed for his stylistic debts to '60s icons, then graduated to play alongside them, whether touring with the Dead or traveling with the Wilburys. After three decades, the Heartbreakers are lethally powerful players, as exploited by the mostly live performances tracked for "Mojo" and exemplified by the tight midtempo strut of this classic rocker.
6. LCD Soundsystem: "Drunk Girls" (Virgin)
LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy has made hipster ridicule a keystone in his crafty spin on rock-edged dance music, a ploy nearly perfected on the first single from this year's "This Is Happening" album. A hell-bent pace and the jubilant title chorus provide the party-hearty momentum even as Murphy captures the contradictions of a revved-up crowd and the woozy chemistry lessons of dance floor hookups.
7. Robyn: "Dancing on My Own" (Konichiwa/Interscope)
Trading early teen pop stardom for independence, Sweden's Robyn has spent the last decade forging her own kinetic dance sound as a singer, songwriter and producer with growing confidence and a willingness to collaborate. This year a series of EPs sharing the "Body Talk" title wound up yielding a potent full-length already studded with hits. None is more mesmerizing than this propulsive anthem that unfolds "under a black sky" looming over its tableau of partying abandon and abject heartbreak.
8. Broken Bells: "The High Road" (Columbia)
For ambitious contemporary musicians, multitasking and collaboration are strategic givens. In Broken Bells, Shins singer and principal songwriter James Mercer partners with producer Brian Burton, better known as Danger Mouse, to create indelible pop-rock songs as musically accessible as they are lyrically elusive. Their calling card was this hypnotic, mysterious anthem: Against an implacable midtempo march and seemingly accidental yet melodic electronic bleeps, the duo builds a vignette as puzzling as it is engaging, modulating from the menacing midnight imagery of its verses to a beautiful (but mystifying) coda. We can only guess at its meaning, but we keep hitting "play."
9. Far East Movement: "Like a G6" (Interscope)
East Los Angeles' Far East Movement broke out with this futurist tweak of club music, weaving hip-hop cadences, a shrewd Dev sample and electronic textures into a fizzy pulse that takes its title simile from a Gulfstream corporate jet. With its origins in the Korea Town community, Far East Movement augurs a next wave of pop's multicultural reinvention: "Like a G6" proved a massive hit with formidable chart credentials buoyed by digital sales.
Their home base is Nashville, but Lady Antebellum's blueprint sounds closer to L.A. in its canny vocal partnership between Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott and the crisp acoustic decorations of multi-instrumentalist Dave Haywood. The title track of the platinum trio's second album powers its yearning after-hours confessions of unresolved passion with a surging chorus and a keening slide guitar that sounds equidistant from Laurel Canyon and Music Row, which helps explain its multiformat success and a mantel full of CMA, ACMA and CMT Awards. With four of their seven pending Grammy nominations propelled by the song, they may need a bigger mantel.
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