movie review: Cowboys And Aliens

          Wow, I am still confused by this movie after a whole day. It is a western with aliens, Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Jon Favreau(the director of Iron Man) directing it. It may only amaze me because it's a modern movie that's completely original, and that's a rarity. Though Daniel Craig is still the same character he is in every movie, it works. The basic story is that he wakes up in the middle of nowhere knowing little more than how to speak. He also finds a strange metal bracelet on his wrist. He makes it to a town only to be arrested for crimes he can't even remember doing. Though before he can be shipped out of the town, aliens attack and kidnap half the town. The plot continues in a surprisingly unique fashion, a few surprises, and little to none "I saw that coming moments". The action was great and the acting was good. Whats not to like.

          This was without a doubt the best movie of the summer, and even the year. Maybe even as much as the decade. We will just have to wait and see. The movie is like The Expendables, but with a story and good acting. Though that may seem easy to understand, the movie itself is so unlike anything I've ever seen, which makes it hard to rate, so I'll just have to go with a
                                   10.5/10

movie review: Highlander

          This is a very typical 80s movie. There's a under informed hero, a dark lord-like villain, the love interest, and Sean Connery. The basic jist of the plot is that every few years or so, a sword fighter is seemingly chosen at random to be immortal. The catch? THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!! As Victor Kruger(played by Clancy Brown) explained. The main character, Connor McLeod(played by Christopher Lambert), is told by an even older swordsman than himself, Juan Ramirez(played by Sean Connery), that every so often, two Highlanders(the immortal swordsman if you haven't guessed) are drawn together to battle, but the only way to kill a highlander is to chop off his head. Then the victor absorbs his energy or something like that, but what really matters in this plot is that whoever is the last one left gets unimaginable powers. Most of what I just told you was explained in the movie via flashbacks which are about half of the movie's length and mostly take place in old Scotland, though one did take place a bit farther ahead in World War II. The rest of the movie is in New York, where all the final highlanders have come to battle to the end.

           Overall, this is a good movie to just sit down and enjoy, not really to take seriously. The highlights are the sword fighting (which are awesome) and the Queen music sprinkled throughout since strangely, the movies own music doesn't fit nearly as well. Let me just leave you by once again saying, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE...movie. I've only heard the sequels plot and it makes me sick to the stomach. I don't want to potentially taint any experiences, (though I haven't actually and don't plan to watch any of it's sequels) so I'll just say, aliens. Though from what I've heard the TV show was quite good. Before I even forget what this review was about, my final verdict for this piece of classic 80s action is:

movie review: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimention

           The title is sure a mouthfull, but you haven't seen anything yet, because this movie is a brainful. This 1984 classic is about Buckaroo Banzai, played by Peter Weller aka Robocop, is a neurosurgeon, rocketscientist, rockstar, and action hero. The movie begins with him performing surgery, then being taken to his rocket car via helicopter, breaking the sound barrier, traveling through a different dimension in a mountain, and obtaining an alien life form attached to his car. If you were wondering how he traveled through the mountain, he did it through the help of a device called the oscillation overthruster. It is a device created by Buckaroo's, friend's, ex associate who is a German scientist who was turned into an alien from planet 10 from the 8th dimension. One thing leads to another and he has to save the world from immanent doom.

           This is another one of my favorite movies of all time, right there with The Invention Of Lying. There's a amazingly 80's story, subtle humor that makes you question it's existence, great acting, and "awesome" special effects. The movie makes it seem like there was going to be a sequel, or a TV show, or something, but there isn't, just this movie and apparently some comics that I assume aren't popular whatsoever. This is an amazing movie and deserve it's sequel. It gets a:

 

music review: Vapor Trails, by Rush

          This is a heavily debated album, probably the most debated Rush album. That's why I'll be giving my opinion. Let me just begin by saying, I like this album, so if you are for some reason really offended by someone liking this album, then you should probably stop reading. It's not a perfect album by any means, but what is? It begins with an awesome little drum solo in the song One Little Victory. This is definitely one of their showcase songs not only because it's the first song on the album, but because the extra work put into it is apparent. I wont go through every song, but i will cover a great deal of them. This is obviously an experimental album, most of the songs are very different in style and sound. For example, Earthshine is their heavy rock side with the constant sound of gritty guitar strings throughout the song similar to the Working Man sound. On the other hand, How It Is is closer to Between Sun And Moon with a more upbeat sound. Though the most unique sound in my opinion is Ghost Rider, I can't think of any song similar to it, and it's a great sound too. So that all seems positive right? Though that's not what so many people have focused on, the biggest(and only) complaint I can think of is the sound quality. Though keep in mind that they had been gone for 5 years, so they don't have as big of budgets as their previous albums, but the quality isn't even that bad.

          This is a very good album, even if  the sound quality isn't that great, the songs make up for it, even some of the later songs which aren't as standout are good. This album gets a:

movie review: Robot Monster

          This movie is just dumb, I really don't know what else to say about it. This is a 1953 classic, just like Plan 9 From Outer Space is classic. It's like watching all of those old before-movie serials back to back. Though they do change things up, instead of one proffesors, there's two, and instead of one annoying kid, there's two! Then you'd expect there to be a hero, well there's not. Thats right, no "Commander Codys" in this movie, not even the guy who seems to fit the description really accomplishes much. Though the best part has to be the villan, it's a monkey, it's a spaceman, no, it's Ro-Man!!! Ro-Man is a follower of Great Guidance, the leader of an alien race who through a forgettable and breifly explained series of events, ended the world by having the countrys launch missels at each other. Instead of foucousing on the large cities who were attacked, the movie focouses on a group of people who live in caves apparently. Also, Ro-Man(the alien sent down searching for the last surviving humans) has his base set up to where the main characters are hiding. As the movie progresses, the story gets dumber, two charecters get married and go on a honey moon, Ro-Man pulls a King Kong, dinosaurs fight, and the script pulls a Wizard of Oz.

           I've seen both the original and the Mystery Science Thearter 3000 versions, and obviously I recommend the later, not only is it the only way to make it bearable, but it's also definitely one of their funniest episodes. Don't get me wrong, it was definately an amusing movie that I think everyone should see for a good laugh, but compared to almost any other movie of that time, it gets a:

music review:Rush Time Machine Tour

          Rush is amazing, nearly 40 years of awesome unique music and they are still going just as strong as they were when they first started. Still constantly releasing albums and they are almost always performing somewhere in the world. This is the first concert I've seen them in and is what got me hooked. It was especially cool that it was the day of my birthday too(match made in heaven?). While not the longest of the past few tours, it without a doubt featured great songs not often heard live, and the best intro videos of any of their tours. This is the first tour to feature the Moving Pictures album in it's entirety. There is a great variety of songs ranging from their first album to their upcoming album. You heard correctly, not only did we get a single of caravan and bu2b early, but we also get to hear it live early. Though my favorite part of the tour has to either be the steampunkish theme with the time machines and whatnot, or how they changed up so many well known songs to sound a bit more modern. There are also nearly all of my favorite songs featured in this tour including limelight, marathon, time stand still, ect, pretty much every song. I don't care if the whole looking back in time thing is similar to the R30 tour because it's really just another Rush concert and I'm pretty sure no one can complain with that.

          There's not much I can base my rating on besides that they played great, sounded great, the song selection was great, so my rating has to be:

Yeah I know, relax, next review will be of something truly terrible. Stay tuned!

movie review: The Invention of Lying

          Let me begin by saying, this is one of the greatest movies I've ever seen, so it was a clear choice as my first movie to review. If you've ever seen an independent film before, you know how unique and entertaining they can be. This one is no exception especially with the inclusion of comedy genius Ricky Gervais who not only stars in this film, but also directed and wrote it. The movie begins with him explaining the world in which the movie takes place. Ricky Gevais explains that in this world, people tell only the truth, all the time. Not only that but everyone says anything that's on their mind. This obviously leads to comedy every step of the way. For example, a waiter telling you he sampled your food, a casino telling you that their machines are rigged. Though my favorite has to be the advertisements.
"Pepsi, for when there is no coca cola"
Though the movie gets real good when the main character, Mark Bellison(played by Mr.Gervais), learns how to lie, and because everyone tells the truth, he can say anything and it might as well be true since there is never a doubt in anyones mind that he would say anything that wasn't true. This is where the movie gets really good.

The plot obviously gets a 10/10
The acting is obviously great with such a good list of actors (Imdb's list of casting) 10/10
The soundtrack is amazing, I would recommend getting the Cd for this movie or downloading it from iTunes to anyone 10/10

          This is in my personal top five movies of all time, and what i will compare any other movie i see to along with the other four movies. I have literally watched this movie 3 times in a row, and probably could've watched it another 20 times!  It is a great look on how much people either lie about or hide on a daily basis, its pure genius.

Overall this movie gets a :