A Movie Review: Brave

Brave. Okay, first off, Stonehenge is in England not Scotland.  That is only one example of the issues I had with this movie.  A second issue was that the accents were so "authentic" (I'm putting that in air quotes as Scots might disagree, who knows) that I actually had a hard time understanding what was being said on occasion.

The basic story is that Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) is a red headed princess who has a tomboy attitude towards life.  Her father Fergus (voiced by Billy Connolly) is the chosen king of the four clans.  The queen is Elinor (voiced by Emma Thompson).  The queen is a traditionalist (in terms of the role of women) and wants Merida to act like a lady.  Her father is more accepting of Merida's desires, but defers to his wife.

A day arrives that destroys the family.  The three clans are sending suitors for Merida's hand.  Well, she'll have none of it.  Merida is so upset that with the help of a witch, she casts an evil spell on her mother.

Maybe I'm just getting old and can't take cartoons anymore, but the movie just didn't do it for me.  And then when Merida goes to her mother and says something like, "You were always there for me," I almost gagged.  The mother wasn't evil or anything like that but I'd hardly call her someone who was always there for Merida.  Maybe the mother was there in terms of always wanting to squash Merida's dreams.

A Movie Review: The Campaign

The Campaign. This would seem like a funny film with Will Ferrell (Cam Brady) and Zach Galifianakis (Marty Huggins) going at it during an election. Brady is perhaps described as a Blue Dog Democrat while Huggins is a blend between East Coast Republican with a streak of libertarian values. It even has a couple billionaires in the mix, trying for the Trading Places duo of Randolph and Mortimer Duke. My problem with the movie starts with the political shenanigans. Making ill advised campaign mistakes and exaggerating them is one thing, but having Brady seduce Huggins’ wife is a totally different issue. And also the two billionaires don’t even rank anywhere near the fun of Randolph and Mortimer Duke. This is a No Vote movie.

A Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises. Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) is damaged both emotionally and physically. With a relatively peaceful Gotham, Batman is allowed to go into seclusion – also aided by the fact that he is accused of murder. This seclusion lasts for a number of years, but evil arises in the form of Bane (Tom Hardy), a muscle man with a desire to destroy Gotham. This is an enjoyable film – helped along by the most beautiful Anne Hathaway. It runs about 2 hours and 45 minutes so make sure you hit the bathroom first, but it didn’t feel like a long movie.

Though I loved The Dark Knight and actually believe it to be the superior movie, I felt it had too my climatic moments. This movie just builds and builds until the end. The reason I feel The Dark Knight is a better movie isn’t so much because it is the Joker vs. Bane. I felt that this current movie just has too many holes in it. Now the following might be considered spoilers; so be warned . . . 1. We learn that Bane destroys Bruce Wayne’s fortune by making fraudulent futures contracts. Why wouldn’t Bruce Wayne go after his money? I know that perhaps money isn’t his main concern and Fox (Morgan Freeman) does make brief mention that the money can probably be returned, but Bruce Wayne seems to just wave him off. So maybe he isn’t concerned about money, but there is another side to the trade and he probably just made Bane a very rich man. 2. I think the timeline simply doesn’t work well. The best example being Wayne’s injured back. Admittedly, “24” had the same timing problems and “24” – excluding a couple seasons – was one of the best action series in TV history, but it still irked.

Is this one of the better summer popcorn movies? Yes, but I just feel a little bit more care to the details was needed.

A Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man. I really wanted to love this movie.  Andrew Garfield does a wonderful job as Spider-Man/Peter Parker, giving Peter Parker a social awkwardness that is endearing while Emma Stone gives Gwen Stacy a sassy flair.  However, I felt there were one too many cheesy moments.  Like Spider-Man telling Gwen Stacy he was going to toss her out the window or crane operators helping out Spider-Man or reptiles heading off to their apparent new leader, The Lizard.  I couldn't help rolling my eyes.  I would say see this movie because of the talented two young actors, but I suspect you might just roll your eyes like I did.

Cults and Lord Huron at MOCA

I headed off to MOCA over a week ago to catch Lord Huron and Cults. This is a rather delayed post due to the fact that I took off on vacation the next day.

Quote of the night (Lord Huron) after there was clapping in the audience after announcing that they were playing their final song:  Is that joy I hear, because this is our last song?

Cults gave a magical performance.  The crowd wanted more, but they reminded us that we'd all have to deal with a massive fine if they went past 10 p.m.

At this point, I think Cults ranks as a Los Angeles band versus a New York band, especially when Madeline's brother lives out here.  Their Facebook page still lists New York as their current location, but I think that needs to get switched over.

Lord Huron

Cults

Francisco the Man and LA Font at Satellite

It was a good night to head off to Satellite with LA Font backing residency band Francisco the Man. LA Font is described as a garage band.  They gave a 30 minute set with the lead singer hitting notes with precision.  Then came Francisco the Man, which has a more laid back attitude.  The sounds are meant to linger and the words are meant for you to think.

LA Font

Francisco the Man

The Child at El Cid

It was off to El Cid to catch The Child. Along the way, I ran into my friend Jodie, from The Shakers.  Hey, this was going to be a good night.

Interestingly, this was my third weekday night out last week (Monday at Bootleg, Wednesday at The Roxy).  I blog on music, but I do try to limit how many times I go out each week.  It isn't exactly easy to head off to bed after midnight and then go to work the next day.  And on this topic, I had two different conversations with friends where I said that I have recently tried to limit my weekday outings to only once or twice a week.  Of course, this past week was so filled with solid bands that I had to break that self-limiting pledge. 

The Child had a solid crowd at El Cid and responded with a solid set though folks tended to stay away from the front of the stage even though both Lauren and Holly asked for folks to come closer.   I don't know what's up with their friends.

Maybe I'm making this up, but does the individual in the below photo (Holly) look just a tad like Keira Knightley?

honeyhoney, Shana Halligan and Monsters Calling Home at The Roxy

It was off to The Roxy to catch Shana Halligan, Monsters Calling Home and honeyhoney.

I got a last minute text from a friend about my interest in heading off to see honeyhoney at The Roxy. It wasn’t a very difficult decision to make. I was there.

First up was Shana Halligan. Her set had a tinge of jazz inspiration. She had a back-up band for this set though she mentioned that she usually has a more electronic sound.

Monsters Calling Home filled the second spot. They have a Silver Lake/Echo Park sound and so I’m sure I’ll run across them one of these days soon at The Satellite or Bootleg.

To close out the night was honeyhoney giving us a near one hour set. Cutest moments of the night: a father brought his two daughters along and they were perhaps the biggest cheerleaders during the last two songs. Honeyhoney did run into banjo technical issues, but it didn’t matter.   We, the fans, love them no matter what.  An encore was demanded and provided.

I usually bring my DSLR to shows, but Roxy does require you to get permission from a band. Due to the short notice, I just brought along my point and shoot versus trying to contact a band. I will eventually post "poorer" than normal quality photos, but currently my Internet connection at home is down.

Update with my point and shoot camera:

Shana Halligan


Monsters Calling Home


honeyhoney


And honeyhoney comment of the night:  We're dealing with a slight banjo casualty.

A Movie Review: Ted

Ted.   John Bennett (Mark Wahlbert) grows up with no friends.  Even the Jewish kid who is getting beat up tells John Bennett to go away.  His parents give him a teddy bear for Christmas.  He makes a wish and would you know, Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) his bear, comes to life.  Years past and Ted and John are still best friends who waste their time smoking pot.  Somehow John has the hottest girlfriend, Lori Collins (Mila Kunis), who works as a vice president at a PR firm.  Now why exactly does a woman who has two amazing advantages in life (she's beautiful and has a great job) live with a boyfriend who:  is always smoking weed (I could be wrong, but Lori does not smoke weed in the movie), makes perhaps $20,000 a year and has his best friend living with them?  I have no clue, but who cares, this movie will have you laughing. And there are also awesome bit roles played by the likes of Norah Johes, Tom Skerritt and Sam J. Jones.

Army Navy, Tribes and Meg Myers at Bootleg

It was off to the Bootleg to catch Army Navy, Tribes and Meg Myers. I only caught a portion of Army Navy.  Loved the songs I heard.  I ran into a fellow photographer who was there only to shot Army Navy.  I was actually:  hey, why aren't you staying for the other bands.  One reason I was thinking that is because Tribes was in town from the UK.  How often are you going to have a chance to catch them?  (I'm not saying you should go to every show that features an out of town band, I'm just saying if you're at a venue and they're playing at the reasonable hour of 10 p.m. . . . )  They gave a solid set and then Meg Myers went on stage, the residency singer:  deep Southern vocals. 

Army Navy



Tribes



Meg Myers

Dudes Night, Pu$$y Cow, Young Turks and Red City Radio at Blue Star

It was a night away from my normal Silver Lake/Echo Park music grounds to catch Dudes Night, Pu$$y Cow, Young Turks and Red City Radio.  One key note is that this was the first show for Tu$hy-Hor$e (Pu$$y Cow) in around seven months. All these bands put on stage shows that you seldom see at a Silver Lake/Echo Park venue (I love the music, but let's be honest . . . . Grouplove excluded from this brief commentary as they definitely know how to put on a show).  Young Turks shined on that score.  Red City Radio came in from Oklahoma.  Were they cheering on Kevin Durant during the Olympics?  Dudes Night is a regular out in VLHS, Pomona -- a place that has to be considered one of the great DIY locations in SoCal. 

Dudes Night



Pu$$y Cow

Young Turks

Red City Radio

The Deep Sea Goes and East of the River at Silverlake Lounge

It was off to Silverlake Lounge to catch The Deepsea Goes and East of the River.  I say this was a night of length of time.  The Deepsea Goes is a two piece band that speeds through their songs and also sped through their set.  I'm sure they only played twenty minutes.  East of the River slowed it down just slightly in terms of music, but they started their set about 5 minutes early and then nearly stopped after 20 minutes.  Luckily, the sound guy told them they could keep on going.  They played another 4 songs.

Though both bands didn't seem to want to play their full 30 minute allotment, it was still a great night of music.

The Deepsea Goes

East of the River

Time Magazine highlights 3 Los Angeles bands

From Time Magazine ((Melissa Locker, 6 August 2012, 11 Great Bands You Don’t Know (But Should)), we have three Los Angeles bands highlighted:  NO, Haim, Hands.

Awesome cool.