Review: Napoleon Dynamite

Depending on who you ask, Jared Hess' 2004 comedy 'Napoleon Dynamite' was either hilarious or agonizing and I tend to agree with the former. The movies's story follow high schooler Napoleon (played hilariously by John Heder) throughout part of one of his school years. The movie starts with Napoleon finding out his grandmother has been put in hospital due to an accident while dune buggying and he has to be looked after by his weird uncle of which he very much so dislikes.  What follows is a very funny series of events that start with Napoleon meeting Pedro, a foreign student and deciding he should run for school president.  The plot pretty well based around Pedro's run for presidency, but most of the laughs come from Napoleon's terrible social skills and his off beat brother.  Not everyone will enjoy this movie, but if you do love the humor you'll find this movie a delight.

8/10

Tomm

Review: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Holocaust. A horific moment is the history of humanity. A time of death, despair and fear. Plus, it's a great topic for a movie.

Bruno (played by one of the greatest child actors of our time, Asa Butterfield) is the son of a Shutzstaffel officer whose family move from Berlin where his father, Ralf, is promoted to Commandant of a Nazi concentration camp. Bruno is told to keep away from the camp, from which he lives only a couple of miles, a rule that he disobeys. He befriends a young Jew named Shmuel through the barbed wire fence of the concentration camp. They meet there every day where Bruno brings his friend food and games to play through the fence. After building a strong friendship, Shmuel asks for Bruno's help in a plan to find his lost father inside the camp.

 Mark Herman has done a beautiful job bringing this book to the big screens. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is one of the best Holocaust films you could choose to see and the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel just shows you that nothing can stop friendship. An great movie.

9/10

The Awesominator

Review: Bluejuice - Company

I wasn't particularly excited anout Bluejuice's third record.  Don't get me wrong Jake and Stav from the band are hilarious and seem like nice people, but their songs are quite samey and struggle to have any real lasting impact.  Although 'Act Yr Age' is a good party starter and fun song but it just seems Bluejuice's whole aim was just to recreate those fun pop vibes.  Some of the better songs on 'Company' are 'The Recession' , 'Shock' and 'On My own', less memorable songs are 'You Haven't Changed', 'Aspen, New York' and 'Kindaevil' sounds like it came right out of a crappy nightclub. Bluejuice are like an iPhone game, fun to pick up and play occasionally but if you binge on them for too long you will cringe at the sight of them for the next few months.  Nothing is wrong with an upbeat pop song and these guys have nearly got it mastered.  If you aren't looking for much mental stimulation and just a bit of fun 'Company' will do you well.

7/10

Tomm

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