Wanted

So, here's a confession that likely won't shock anyone. . . I never really liked the Matrix. The first film, sure, it had that distopian, bleak, yet highly evolved view of the future that's interesting to contemplate. Plus it was sleek. But sleek is nothing compared to the fact that Wanted is both sleek AND sexy. It is both post-modern and contemporary. It has a formalist edge that made Fight Club sexy as fuck; and carries the signature gloss that Timur Bekmambetov brought to Night Watch and Day Watch (two Russian horror/action films that MUST be watched).

Wanted appealed to me on so many more levels than I ever expected it would. It begins as a cubicle rat named Wesley (my beloved James McAvoy) goes about his daily life. This is Jack from Fight Club multiplied, bleached of sarcasm, and 3 times as grim. This is what Jack would have been without a Tyler Durden. His girlfriend is a bitch who is gleefully fucking his phony as hell best friend. His boss is an evil fat cow who wields her Swingline stapler in a manner Office Space's Milton would consider a wet dream. Wesley is a nobody, who is not satisfied to be as such, but has no initiative to change it.

Until he meets Fox.

She, very aptly named, is played by Angelina Jolie, who might have been just slightly too skinny in this role, but is otherwise her typical hot as hell self. She approaches Wesley in the pharmacy one day and tells him his father (whom he never knew) is dead. This propels them both into one hell of a shoot out/car chase scene between a Dodge Viper and bread truck. Pretty slick stuff, really, with poor Wesley squirming and wailing the whole time.

Turns out Wesley was born to be one of a brotherhood of assassins known as The Fraternity. His father was among them, and now he must kill them man who murdered his father. He is rigorously trained, gets his comeuppance against those who wronged him in his boring days, and participates in some pretty amazing action sequences.

Plus, Anton from Night Watch is in it! (small cheer from the Russian fandom section)

Basically, if for no other reason, this film is worth it for the final shoot out action sequence, which rivals and surpasses most anything I have seen in recent memory.

**** out of *****
4 out of 5

PS -
For the Danny Elfman sung "The Little Things" which plays over the end credits, a solid 5 out of 5. Man needs to put out a rock album.

One Foot in the Grave

It's sometimes nice to be in the particular position of being able to read more than one book in a series back to back. It's the reason I've held off on reading The Night Watch and Twilight series' all the way through, because I really wanted to read them ALL the way through.

When I started reading the Cat Crawfield series, there were only two books available, and after reading half of the first, I bought the second, and read them back to back. Where the first novel left off, Cat had abandoned Bones to protect him, and had gone to work for the FBI as a special agent in charge of hunting vampires in top secret cases.

Yea, it's basically as silly as it sounds.

And of course, Bones shows up. . . as a surprise groomsman no less (a subplot with Cat's friend, Denise, and Denise's impromptu fiancee was left a little bare and I thought it could have been developed into something a little better.) Furthermore, if Cat views any of Bones' ex lovers and "voluptuous" with "bouncing" breasts, I'm going to heave.

The one major sex scene in the book was a little bit overboard as well, and Frost has begun to dip into the unnecessary bisexual overtones, with Cat being flirted with and manhandled by a female vampire.

It was decent, but didn't live up to either the tone or expectation of the first. The third comes out today, and will hopefully regain some momentum.

**.5 out of *****
2.5 out of 5

Halfway to the Grave

There's no secret. . . I love paranormal romance novels. I'm writing a paranormal romance novel. I understand they are silly, cheesy, and implausible. I know that most of them (I'm looking at you, Laurell K. Hamilton) fall off the edge into the abyss of bad taste. That's why I like to look for new, fledgling series, where they haven't had time to jump the shark (or perhaps, I should coin a new term, like "fuck the swan king.")

Anyway, since Anita Blake fucked the swan king a long way back, I decided to try out Jeanine Frost's Cat Crawfield series. In the first book, you definitely need to grimace your way past the first several chapters, where the writing and heroine leave a lot to be desired. Cat in naive, and hardheaded. She's a half-vampire, who is taking out her rage on those of her kind by hunting and killing male vampires who believe she's make an easy meal. Cat, needless to say, has some Daddy issues.

And Jeanine Frost clearly has a literary hard on for Spike from Buffy, because her main male character IS Spike. A lean, fiercely jaw boned, British, platinum blonde vampire named Bones. It's both irritating and distracting that she couldn't even disguise the character in the slightest.

Once you make your way past the first few painful chapters, though, you can get into the book a little better. Cat is fighting herself not to fall in love with a creature she was raised to hate, and she also learns how to better combat those very creatures. It's a fun, frivolous book that doesn't overdo it on the sex scenes (though there's a relatively well written one that brought a flush to my cheeks on the bus).

It takes a lot of the annoyance out of reading the Anita Blake series, while maintaining the simpler aspects of the action and the romance. As the book draws to a close you even find yourself hard pressed to put it down.

*** out of *****
3 out of 5

The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is one of those debut albums that gets the music nerds really, really excited. Before "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" made it big as a single, a friend sent me a version of "Red Light Indicates Doors are Secured" and I was a little bit hooked.

When the album came out in 2006, it was came during a point in North America when UK bands were on an upswing again and as a result is was something of a hit.

Much like my love of The Strokes' Is This It, I almost feel guilty for liking the Arctic Monkeys simply because they represent a phase of sheer popularity of a genre for no good reason. And it's not their fault, because they deserve their success. Whatever People Say I Am is a solid, upbeat, pop-rock album with Cockney attitude thrown in for flavour. It would be great to hear in a small club atmosphere, and certain songs would be equally welcome on a dancefloor.

Standout tracks: "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," "Red Light Indicates Doors are Secured" and "Perhaps Vampires is a bit Strong, but. . ." (they also followed the trend of ridiculous and unnecessarily long song titles that was abundant in that era).

***.5 out of *****
3.5 out of 5

Spaced (The Complete Series)

I love Simon Pegg.

Before watching Spaced, in its entirety in about 4 days (no small feat when you work 7 days a week and spend a total of about 8 hours at home in any given day, 6 of which should ideally be spent sleeping), I really, really liked Pegg.

Now I kind of want to move to England and birth his children.

Pegg is probably best known for his role as Shaun in the hit rom-zom-com Shaun of the Dead (a film which is on my Perfect Movies list). He was also fantastic in the follow-up action parody, Hot Fuzz. Pegg, and his regular sidekick/co-star Nick Frost, both have a knack for fully embracing the genre which they are satirizing, so you end up with a movie that could just as easily join the ranks of it's source material, as much as is could be considered a comedy twist.

With Spaced, we see Pegg's comedic starts, and you can certainly see where the clever, hilarious, pop-culture steeped roots of his later films began. Pegg partners with Jessica Stevenson, a slightly pudgy "everywoman" type, who just happens to be a gifted comedic writer and a great actress as well, and together they play Tim & Daisy.

Tim has just been chucked by his live in girlfriend, and Daisy is at her wit's end living with her stoner flatmates. They meet at a coffee shop, and over the course of several weeks of failed searching for apartments, they agree to pose as a couple in order to secure the perfect flat. Thus is the premise of Spaced established.

The supporting cast is made up of Tim and Daisy's respective best mates Mike (a weapon's expert, played by the hilarious Nick Frost) and Twist, a ditsy, rude blonde who works in fashion (aka a laundromat). In their new flat they meet Marsha, their middle-aged, alcoholic landlady (Julia Deakin is fabulous in this role), and the fidgety, socially awkward artist Brian, who lives below them (Mark Heap, as Brian, has created one of my absolute favorite supporting characters of all time).

As the two 8 episode seasons unfold, so to do the multitude of movie and television references, and more than that, the relationships between the characters deepen and become exponentially more real. Tim and Daisy are versions of people we all know, they are versions of ourselves.

The show has many strengths, but I primarily appreciated their sense of continuity. When Daisy gets Collin, her dog, it is not a one episode gag. Collin sticks around for the long haul, and become a slight character unto himself. Marsha's nearly invisible daughter Amber is never seen as more than a pair of legs running away. Mike and Tim's troubled past is always documented through a flashback sequence to two children together, one with Mike's signature mustache, before being interrupted; and by season 2 you know exactly what to expect when someone asks what Brian paints (anger. . . sadness. . . rage)

The show is witty, charming, and abundantly fun. My only complaint was that the series finale lacked the conclusion I was hoping for, and that it didn't last nearly long enough (where's the movie like we got with Extras or the Office?)

Keep your eyes peeled for the Ricky Gervais cameo in season 2.

**** out of *****
4 out of 5

Jens Lekman - "When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog"

In a chat conversation while listening to Jens Lekman for the first time, I made the following comments:

""you are the light" is like a smiths song covered by a lounge singer"

"if richard cheese had a better voice and played for indie kids, and covered the smiths, that would be jens lekman."

And while, as the album progresses, it becomes apparent that Lekman has more in common with the Smiths themselves than a Richard Cheese (especially on tracks like the haunting "Silvia" and the moody melancholy of "The Cold Swedish Winter"). Lekman sort of sneaks up on you. The second track on the album almost sweeps by before you realize he's singing "Happy Birthday," and then "You Are the Light" is a surprisingly upbeat tune about getting arrested.

It's entirely refreshing to hear an artist who is more than just what they seem like on the surface.

**** out of *****
4 out of 5

Matt Mays - Matt Mays

If I'm going to be honest, there are two very specific reasons why I like Matt Mays (and additionally Matt Mays & El Torpedo):

1.) Matt Mays reminds me of Ryan Adams (and, additionally, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals)
2.) Matt Mays is the kind of music you would listen to on a night highway when you are in a car driving away from something important towards something new.

Neither of these two reasons should take away from the fact that Matt Mays is a talented and very impressive artist. The guitar riffs are solid, the lyrics are decent cowboy-poetry. It is Marlboro Man indie rock. It's music sung by the disheveled looking guy in a plaid shirt drinking herbal tea at Starbucks but scoffing the "Establishment." He will drink straight whiskey in concert, but take home a girl who shops at American Apparel.

Standout tracks, "Your Heart" which might as well be a Ryan Adams b-side from the recording of Jacksonville City Nights, and "Where Am I Going?"

Matt Mays' self-titled album lacks the rock quality of an album like Terminal Romance, but it certainly has its own quality to offer. It's a quality indie-rock album that turns into a quality alt-country album by the end. It's a little ADD, but a lot of good music.

***.5 out of *****
3.5 out of 5

Duffy - Rockferry

Duffy belongs to a category I refer to as "The Sober Winehouses." The other singer that gets this classification is the lovely and adorable Adele. Both of the UK singers have a similar sultry jazz style to Amy Winehouse, but neither suffers from the media spotlight that goes with being a raging alcoholic/drug addict.

Rockferry is potentially one of the best albums of 2008. It is slow, smooth and sexy. But at a turn it can be upbeat and danceable. Duffy's voice is smokey and perfectly suited to the material she is recording. I don't know if it's because she's Welsh and English is her second language, but there is something very different and alluring about the sound of her voice.

Duffy is the kind of singer you put on the stereo when you're with someone who you have dangerously conflicting motives towards. You want to hold their hand and share a milkshake, but you'd also like to rip off all their clothes and know them in a carnal capacity. That's what listening to Duffy is like, because either way, the soundtrack fits.

Standout tracks will obviously include the megahit "Mercy" which, yes, is now stuck in your head; as well as the titular "Rockferry" and, well. . . the whole damned record is standout.

****.5 out of *****
4.5 out of 5

Upcoming Reviews for the Week of December 1

Halfway in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Dark Horse by Nickelback (a song by song review)

Spaced (the Complete Series)

Twilight (film)

My public opinion of Stephanie Meyer's novel "Twilight" never made it to this page, as it fell during the lazy 10 months I was not updating this blog. The bonus of not having a book review to reflect upon while reviewing the film adaptation is that I am not going to be made to look silly by my previous statements. However, I will admit, I did enjoy Twilight the novel a great deal, and when I re-read the series from book 1-4 as I intend to do either this month or come January, I doubt my opinion will have changed much.

The thing I liked the most about Twilight, both the book and the film, is that they satisfy a part of me that craves more innocent fare. It's the part that thinks Taylor Swift is a swell kid, and believes that "Lovebug" by the Jonas Brothers is a sweet, unabashed puppy-love anthem. That part of me that would rather read the November Glamour article "70 ways to restore your faith in love" rather than Cosmo's "70 sex positions to blow his mind." Twilight, much like the Harry Potter series before it, is a "literary" serial intended for tweens, that has embraced by a much wider audience.

Without treading too much on the strengths and weaknesses of the book, as that is for a different review, I will say that Twilight lacked the deeper complexities of the Potter books. It was a simple, fun read. It was an epic love story for the 14 and under set. Buffy and Angel for a new generation, only the heroine was significantly less kick ass. Not bad. . . but, you know, not exactly a masterpiece (which I genuinely believe that the Harry Potter series is. . . Chronicles of Narnia for the aughts.)

Twilight, the film, is a very true adaptation of the book. In fact, I very rarely see film adaptations so close to the source material. I'm sure die-hard Twilighters will scoff. They will point out that Bella's blood related pass out in Biology was missing; that they added murders not present in the novel to make the the plot a little tighter; and that the dialogue was not precise.

Oddly, my first annoyance was that the high school in Forks was presented as one solid building, rather than a compound of smaller ones. So I guess, deep down, there's a bit of a Twilighter in all of us.

The story, if you've been living under a rock, revolves around selfless, accident prone Bella Swan. I say selfless and accident prone, because these are Bella's ONLY character traits. They, along with her devotion to Edward, are the only things to define her, and it's one of my biggest annoyances with the books. And the movie. Although, I will say, Kristen Stewart brings a level of charm and likeability to Bella that is simply absent from her written counterpart. Furthermore, she is simply beautiful. She is not Bella as Bella sees herself, but she is exact to Bella as I imagined Edward would perceive her.

Ah, yes. Edward. Edward Cullen. Edward is the character Stephanie Meyer created in order to attempt her hand at our generations Angel meets Mr. Darcy. He is complicated, he is broody, he is arrogant and demanding. Often I also find him overbearing and stalkerish. However, hundreds of thousands of women aged 13-53 would expose their jugular to this imaginary man in a heartbeat, so perhaps Meyer was a success.

Edward, played by Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory in the HP films, so the lad has his hands in many an epic series), wasn't quite what I had anticipated. At first, he was not PRETTY enough, his hair not red enough, blah blah blah. But I was drawn in by Pattinson, and ultimately found his performance more than acceptable, and in fact was definitely "Team Edward" by the time the credits rolled.

The casting director, for their part, did an excellent job. I found myself saying "That's Mike" "That's Jessica" before they were formally introduced. My only wtf moment was "Wait. . . Eric's Asian?" But honestly, the supporting cast barely matters, as this is, and always will be, the Edward and Bella show. (Though props to Billy Burke who made me like Bella's dad about 200x more)

The film is often preposterously silly. I found myself giggling hysterically at the most inappropriate moments (most notably the scene where Edward shows his glittery skin for the first time). But, honestly, the book was pretty eye-roll inducing at times too. And toward the end of the film, I found both giggles and eye-rolling to become reduced, and that I was actually drawn into the love story, and the 15 year old girl inside me was a little exposed.

Sure, it left me behaving like a 15 year old for several hours after, but it was sort of worth it.

With all 4 books now optioned, and production under way on the sequel "New Moon" I don't see this fad fading any time soon.

*** out of *****
3 out of 5

Amy Winehouse - Frank

Today, while playing Amy Winehouse's Frank in my store, an older gentleman inquired as to who was singing. He'd never heard of Amy Winehouse, knew nothing about her rocky marriage or her consuming addictions to drugs and alcohol. All he knew was that she was "fabulous."

And listening to Frank, you realize that he's absolutely correct. Before all the bullshit, and the media frenzy, and the world watching to see just when Winehouse would go too far, there was a young women with the voice of a 60 year old jazz singer.

There are no songs on this album to recall the catchy pop of "Rehab" or "You Know That I'm No Good" from her sophomore release Back to Black. Frank is just an old school jazz voice over electronic beats. It's such a simple concept, and it's wildly effective. Frank is an exceedingly listenable album because it DOESN'T get stuck in your head. It swims through and leaves you nodding unintentionally, and longing to listen again, but it doesn't stick.

It's not to say that Frank lacks for single material. Songs like "You Sent Me Flying," "Fuck Me Pumps," and "What is it About Men" are all excellent stand-outs. But this is not an album about songs, it is an album that is most effective as a whole, and is certainly worth listening to as such.

***.5 out of *****
3.5 out of 5