Review: The Rocker

I had high hopes going into “The Rocker”. I mentioned my excitement to Tomm and he thought the movie would be terrible and my excitement wouldn’t live long. I will admit that did put doubt in my mind, but I wasn’t disappointed.

Robert “Fish” Fishman is the drummer in the biggest up-and-coming band of the time, Vesuveus, but when Matchbook Records offer a contract, it states that Fish is to be replaced by the head of Matchbook’s nephew. The rest of the band reluctantly agrees and that sends Fish spiralling into a life of normal and boring. When Fish’s nephew’s band, A.D.D, needs a new drummer for a gig in two days, Fish agrees to play with them. The first gig is a bit of a dud and Fish is kicked out. But he offers a … If he gets the band a gig, he can stay. He has trouble finding this gig and when he does, It’s on the other side of the country (I presume). So sets off a chain of events that ends in a video of Fish drumming to one of A.D.D’s songs naked becoming viral. Matchbook Records see the video, hear the song and sign A.D.D to record an album, make a music video and open for Vesuveus.

I think Rainn Wilson did a great job depicting Fish, the immature middle-aged party animal, pulling out great one-liners like “Get out of here Moby…Dick” and “Some people carry lucky charms. I like to rock a pocket of puke.” There are also well played supporting roles from Emma Stone, Christina Applegate and a pre-Hangover Bradley Cooper. All-in-all, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Even though the ending is a clichéd high school music movie ending, it is very funny.

7/10

The Awesominator

Review: Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

Chris Martin said he wanted to take  Coldplay's fifth album to different places and different avenues, but this really sounds a lot like a traditional Coldplay album to me, full of dull synth pop ballads aimed at commercial radio.  The album opens with the suitably dreamy title track that flows into 'Hurts Like Heaven' an alright boppy little pop tune.  Then we hear the album highlight 'Paradise' a nice uplifting track with just the right amount of strings to go with it.  The rest of this album is really quite bland with nothing really that striking on it. The next single 'Charlie Brown' is a just a whole lotta 'meh' that's made for the charts.  Overall this is just another average Coldplay album that shouldn't belong on your Christmas wishlist.

5.5/10

Tomm

triple j's Hottest 100 of 2011

The songs I voted for were:

Lana Del Raye - Video Games
M83 - Midnight City
My Morning Jacket - Holding Onto Black Metal
Neon Indian - Polish Girl
Real Estate - It's Real
SBTRKT - Pharaohs (ft. Roses Gabor)
Seeker Lover Keeper - Even Though I'm A Woman
Snakadaktal - Air
TV On The Radio - Will Do

and my favourite song of 2011 is...

Slow Club - Two Cousins

Tomm

triple j's Hottest 100 of 2011

It's that time of year again. Voting has opened for triple j's Hottest 100 of 2011 and these are the songs I voted for. Tomm will also post his votes later.

-MuteMath - Blood Pressure
-Architecture in Helsinki - Contact High
-Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra)
-Gotye - State of the Art
-Big Scary - Gladiator
-Snakadactal - Air
-The Wombats - Jump Into the Fog
-The Wombats - 1996
-Emma Louise - Jungle

And my number 1 song of 2011 is...

Midnight City by M83

The Awesominator

Review: Rango

Rango follows a pet chameleon (voiced excellently by Johnny Depp) who loses his owner in the desert. He is on a quest for water when he comes across the town of Dirt, where he assumes the name and builds the legend of Rango. After telling heroic stories and accidently killing a hawk with one bullet, he is appointed the position of town sheriff by the mayor. the water in Dirt is being taken and it's up to Sheriff Rango and his posy of weird and wonderful characters to find the culprit and bring back the water.
This film is smart, witty and utterly hilarious. The awkward silences and awkward actions of Rango are just too funny. It is animated beautifully and has perfect sound effects. Even though this flick is rated PG, it is definitely aimed at an older audience, but will still be enjoyed by the young ones. All the adult-oriented jokes are completely harmless and hilarious. You could say this movie is predictable, but the journey to the predicted end makes this movie a piece of brilliance.

8/10

The Awesominator

Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You

Going into ‘I’m With You’ I didn’t really have high hopes.  I have never really been that much of a Chili Peppers fan, but I was somewhat surprised.  It opens with the okay ‘Monarchy of Roses’ but it picks up with my album highlight ‘Brendan’s Death Song’.  Some other album highlights along the way were the first single ‘The Adventures of Raindance Maggie’, ‘Annie Wants a Baby’ and ‘Dance, Dance, Dance’.   Some of the best things about this album are Flea’s chaotic bass lines and there is one in just about every song. This is first album to have new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer on board and I think he fits in well, though sometimes he does like to hang back in the shadows.  Overall this is a pretty good album but what holds it back is its familiarity, it just sounds too common and I think if the Chili Peppers still want to remain relevant they will have to try something different for their next record, but still, this is a good effort.

7/10  

Tomm

Review: Batman: Under the Red Hood

Batman: Under The Red Hood is the best animated movie I have ever seen. It follows Batman who, as usual, is cleaning up the streets of Gotham City with the help of former counterpart Nightwing. This is being made difficult by lunatic The Joker and crime boss The Black Mask. But there is someone else; The Red Hood. He is taking down the goons and the bad guys in Gotham City, but not in a very humane way. Who is he? Is he good? Is he bad? All these questions are answered in the film and it makes for an excellent journey.

As I said, this is a great movie. The story, the characters, the voicing: all superb. I especially admired the quirkiness of the Joker (as in all Batman movies). It also has one of the best closing scenes I have ever seen.

Batman is one of my favourite superheroes and I can’t get enough of the darkness and mysteriousness of Gotham City. This keeps the bar for animated superhero movies oh-so high. A must see for any superhero buff.

8/10

The Awesominator

Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium

The Red Hot Chili Peppers' HUGE 28 song long double album "Stadium Arcadium" is full of classic Chili Peppers components: Anthony Kiedis' distinctive vocals, Flea's pumping bass, John Frusciate's creative riffs and awesome backing vocals. All these make up this masterpiece. Songs like"Dani California", "Snow (Hey Oh)", "Stadium Arcadium", "Desecration Smile", "Tell Me Baby" and many others make this one of their best. Even the record's more ridiculous songs like "Hump de Bump", "Charlie", and "Storm is a Teacup" are just so catchy. There are sad songs, hard songs and funky songs and the diversity makes it great.

8.5/10

The Awesominator

Review: Tron

The 1982 film Tron is great. I loved it's corny dialogue and special effects.  Tron is about a computer programmer (Jeff Bridges) who goes inside a computer generated world to try and stop the MCU and retrieve the rights to all the games he created, none of which he has been paid any royalties.  The tail of Flynn is a very enjoyable one with him meeting various inhabitants of the computer generated world of which he is stuck in.  This was the first movie to feature fully computer generated environments and you can definitely see that here.  Though Tron's special effects are half it's charm.  Overall Tron is a great movie.

8/10

Tomm

Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Scott Pilgrim vs. The world is pure awesome, Edgar Wright's adaptation of the much loved graphic novel is great.  It follows Scott Pilgrim (Micheal Cera) who leads a normal life and is in a relationship with a highschooler, then he meets delivery girl Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and starts dating her, but he learns in order to keep doing so he must defeat all seven of her evil exes.  This is where the awesomeness starts with each of Ramona's exes being wackier than the next and some of the best choreographed fight scenes ever, This turn of events is amazing to the eyes.  Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin), Scott's gay roommate is one of the stars of this show with all of his remarks being witty and hilarious, but all of the characters in this film churn out a plethora of memorable lines.  Edgar Wright has really outdone himself here, I believe this was the best film of 2010.

9.5/10

Tomm

Review: Gotye - Making Mirrors

Wally De Backer is a musical genius. After watching the DVD in the deluxe edition of Making Mirrors, I realise just how hard that sort of stuff would be. He'd sample old records he finds at the op shop and record with ancient and foreign instruments... It just seems so complex. The instrumentals on this record are great, so original and catchy. But I found that he didn't use his vocal abilities like he could have. With a voice likened to Sting's, it seems he mumbles half the album and relies solely on the hits to get it to the top. Saying that, there are some hit-worthy songs on this album. The smash hit "Somebody That I Used to Know" featuring Kimbra is destined for No. 1 on the triple j's Hottest 100 of 2011 countdown. Songs like "In Your Light" and "I Feel Better" both had a gospel feel to me, but they were no less enjoyable and I just can't go passed "State of the Art", which has the best instrumental parts on the album and would nearlly be my favourite on there. So to conclude, "Making Mirrors" is a good album but was a little over-rated.

7.5/10

The Awesominator

Review: Kasabian - Velociraptor

Kasabian's epic fourth album has to be one of my favorite albums of the year, It goes from heartfelt melodies (Goodbye Kiss) to downright bad assery 'Re-Wired, 'Switchblade Smiles'.  The Awesominator pointed out that the chorus of Days are Forgotten would be perfect for a Bond theme and the more I listen to it the more I have to agree. The psychedelic trip it takes about one third of the way through is great 'Le Fee Verte' and so is the epic Acid Turkish Bath. In summary this album is one of the best of 2011 and definitely deserves a listen.

9/10

Tomm

Review: Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch had potential. Directed by Zack Snyder (director of Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen), Sucker Punch is about a teenage girl who is sent to Lennox House for the Mentally Insane by her sexually-abusive step-father after being framed for her sister's death. The mental asylum feeds their girls to a brothel, where she finds out that she has a special talent. To suddenly appear in a war-zone surrounded by her friends dressed in tight leather and stockings. All while she dances. As I said: it had potential, but I feel it wasn't used.

5/10

The Awesominator

Review: The Wombats - This Modern Glitch

I have been looking forward to this review since Tomm and I made this blog, and now it's finally here. Liverpool trio The Wombats were back earlier this year with This Modern Glitch, after releasing the first single, Tokyo, to a good reception. It scored No. 8 position on triple j's Hottest 100 of 2010, beating the likes of Mark Ronson and Art vs. Science. Back to the album - I absolutely LOVE this album. It is the best album I have ever bought and any chance i got, I listened to it. The songs are written about a number of things including singer Matthew Murphy's addiction to antidepressant. It is a lot more electronic than A Guide to Love,  Loss and Desparation and there is not as much guitar but it is definitely a step up. The songs on this record seem to have a better...structure. I'm just running out of ways to describe how awesome this album is. The songs that make it awesome are 1996, Jump Into the Fog, Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves), Anti-D, Techno Fan, Walking Disasters, Our Perfect Disease plus i didn't mind a bit of Girls/Fast Cars. In case you were wondering, that's all but two songs on the album. Again, This is a wonderful album and is very enjoyable to listen to.

9/10

The Awesominator

Nirvana - Nevermind

Nirvana's seminal follow up to 1989's 'Bleach' turned 20 this year, and in that time if anything it has gotten better.  It starts with the one of the best album openers of all time 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and finishes with the chilling 'Something in  the Way', And along the way we get one of the best rock albums ever.  Cobain's intense lyrics and sick riffs are littered through out. It's no wonder why this album ushered in grunge to commercial music with great tracks like 'In Bloom', 'Come as You Are' and 'Lithium', but all of the tunes on the album are superb.

9.5/10

Tomm

ReviewThe Wombats - A Guide to Love, Loss and Desparation

Liverpool trio The Wombats' debut album, A Guide to Love, Loss and Desparation, was released in 2007. It, in my opinion, and I stress my opinion, is a great album full of fun songs about lead singer Matthew Murphy's troubles, funny stories and just life in general. The songs on there are pretty well written and produced but the recording gets a bit fuzzy when the songs have thick bits and in some songs I just find the riffs unoriginal and ... just not the best. But the good ones like 'Let's Dance to Joy Division', 'Kill the Director' and 'Moving to New York' make up for it. The other good songs on there include 'My First Wedding' and 'Party in a Forest'. This is a very enjoyable album and gets...

7.5 / 10

The Awesominator

Review: Toy Story 3

To put it simply, Toy Story 3 is the best animated film of all time.  The 3rd installment in one of Pixar's best franchises is the studio's best.  It's charming hilarious and has one one of the most touching sequences ever.  This effort has great voice acting, the animation is perfect and it was one of the best movies of 2010.

9/10

Tomm

Review: Architecture in Helsinki - Moment Bends

Moment Bends is the fourth album from aussie indie pop band Architecture in Helsinki. This album is full of boppy songs that you can't help but enjoy (with the odd exception). The outstanding songs for me on this album are Contact High, Escapee and Sleep Talkin' (which includes a killer synth/guitar solo). The harmonies of Cameron Bird and Kellie Sutherland really work on this record and this is a nicely made album but isn't spot on.

7/10

The Awesominator

X-Men: First Class - Second Opinion

Yes, I agree with Tomm. There are a few corny scenes in this movie that you can expect from an X-Men movie but all in all, this is a great movie and definitely one of the best action movies of the year.

8/10

The Awesominator

Review: X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class is a great movie from talented director Mathew Vaughn (Kick Ass).  It has awesome action scenes great acting and the coolest submarine scene ever! Although when the mutants pick their names its very corny.  But all in all this is one of the best action blockbusters of the year and definitely deserves your time.

8/10

Tomm

Welcome!

Hello bloggers, The Awesominator and I, Tomm have created a blog dedicated to giving you reviews of music and movies, new and old. And to kick us off I will be reviewing X Men: First Class...