Review: Transformers

Hasbro's classic battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons had a cinematic reboot with the release of Transformers in 2007. The Transformers' home planet of Cybertron is destroyed by a war that broke out between the Autobots and the Decepticons, who once lived in peace. Both sides are looking for the All Spark, the Autobots to end the war and rebuild Cybertron, and the Decepticons to destroy the Autobots and take over the universe. The war is taken to Earth, where a highschool student named Sam WitWicky holds the coordinates to the All Spark without knowing (the coordinates are microscopically engraved into his great-great grandfather's glasses). Sam buys a Camaro (Bumblebee) and Bumblebee leads the Autobots to Sam and he helps tham find the All Spark.
Transformers is visually great. The use of CGI is perfect. The story is not too bad and the acting also not too bad. So all-in-all, this is a movie that isn't great but it is worth seeing.

7/10

The Awesominator

Review: Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

In 2010 American duo Sleigh Bells had created a new sound with their debut 'Treats' that consisted of Alexis Krauss' sweet teen pop vocals over Derek Miller's thrashing heavy metal guitar riffs, and their follow up 'Reign of Terror' builds on that.  Sophomore albums can be hard to pull off, but I think Sleigh Bell's may have done it, although a lot of territory they covered on their debut is present 'Reign of Terror' still sounds quite fresh.  It opens with 'True Shred Guitar' a nice little live intro to the beast of an album that follows.  It is not all the same here Sleigh Bells do delve into some new territory like the power waltz 'End of the Line', another of my picks would be 'Demons' which is probably one of the heavier things Sleigh Bells has ever created. Some of my other highlights were the singles 'Born To Lose' and 'Comeback Kid'.  But If Sleigh Bells are still to remain relevant for their third album they probably should try and do something different, maybe even getting a real drummer instead of a machine.  Although most of 'Reign of Terror' is familiar territory  it's still very fun noise-pop.

7.5/10

Tomm

Review: M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

M83 spawn across many almost unheard of genres, including Electropop, Indietronica, Dream Pop and Shoegaze. Honeslty, I have no idea what some of these mean, but they've got to be good because Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is absolutely outstanding.
M83 never really impacted the music scene until the release of Midnight City, in my opinion the best song of the year, and coming in No. 5 spot in triple j's Hottest 100. They followed the single with this album, a piece of synth-y awesomeness.
Opening with the appropriately named Intro, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming takes you on a mystical journey with some of the best songs of the year, in the forms of Midnight City, Steve Macqueen and Reunion. I will admit, Anthony Gonzalez' bold vocals can get a bit irritating, but the rest of the instrumentals cover it up perfectly. And how can I go past the sax solo in Midnight City... What a song.
Somehow, M83 has the ability to make me want to dance... and I hate dancing.

9/10

The Awesominator

Review: The Descendants

The Descendants has been getting a lot of award nods of late and I think it deserves.  Alexander Payne's new film is a very likable one, It follows the story of Matt King (George Clooney) and all of his family woes.  It starts off with his wife falling into a coma and him having to step up and look after the kids. On top of all this he has to decide what to do with the family estate in Hawaii.  All of this creates great tension between him and kids and him and his relatives. Seeing as it is shot in Hawaii, the scenery is just breathtaking and the Hawaiian music was a nice touch as well.  The acting is very good all round especially from Amara Miller who plays Matt's youngest foul mouthed daughter. All in all this movie is great.

8/10

Tomm

Review: Black Sabbath - Paranoid

I was lucky enough to hear Paranoid on vinyl ... what a treat. Only Back Sabbath's second LP and they couldn't get this more right.
Paranoid opens with "War Pigs" and continues on with argueably some of the best metal music created. With heavy, distorted guitar riffs, disturbed lyrics sung by a disturbed lead singer (what all heavy metal bands are missing these days), this album is the epitome of Metal music. With songs such as "War Pigs", "Paranoid", "Iron Man" and I also like "Planet Caravan", which has a very psychadelic feel which I just loved. Classic 70s Metal that just can't be beaten.

9/10

The Awesominator

Review: The Muppets

The Muppets is the long awaited reboot of the popular children's TV show of the same name.  I think James Bobin (best known for Flight of the Conchords) has done very well in his feature debut. It follows the story of Walter and his quest to be a muppet. After a rather funny intro Walter, his brother James (Jason Segel) and his girlfriend (Amy Adams) head off to LA. But when Walter finds out the Muppet's Studio is going to be demolished by an evil oil baron (Chris Cooper) he finds Kermit and they go on a quest to reunite the Muppets, save the studio and make as many self referential jokes as possible.  Although the story isn't that creative, that isn't what the Muppets are about.  They're about going back to your early childhood memories and reliving what is great. Most of the cameos are good and Bret McKenzie has done a great job with the music.

8/10

Tomm

Review: Boy & Bear - Moonfire

Moonfire is Sydney five-piece Boy & Bear's debut LP and won five of the seven ARIAs it was nominated for, including Group of the Year and Album of the Year. It opens strongly, with numbers such as Lordy May, Feeding Line (which came number four spot in triple j's Hottest 100 of 2012) and Milk & Sticks. But it really drops quality from there. Not that the songs are terrible, they just don't follow the strong opening through. But I did like the rocking they did in Big Man, which is about the heaviest they ever got. Moonfire also came in number 3 spot in triple j Album Poll of 2011.
A lot of the songs also have the same feeling to me. It's not a bad album, but I think there were more places to go then where they went.

6.5/10

The Awesominator