Creationism, violence and Bogart… OH MY!

Ah creationists...

I always love going to see my grandparents, mixed in with the casual racism and creationism they do say some lovely little nostalgic things like,

“Oh, in my day movies weren’t all sex, violence and other bad things! They were wholesome fun!”

The movie that they keep referring to as great is Casablanca because there is no violence and it’s a love story. Yeah, a story of a woman having an affair with a guy who manages to keep it all a secret by lying to his husband is obviously a wholesome story for all the family. It’s about someone disobeying their marriage vows! Then, even though she is in love with the man that she’s having an affair with, she leaves him standing there because he told her to go.

While I do disagree that movies where more wholesome, they were a lot better thought out and a lot less insulting to viewers. Hollywood in the early 20^th century didn’t have the technology or the budget to create the special effects that we see today. This meant that they relied on the best special effects generator in the world, the human imagination. Directors had respect for their audience, and rather than giving them second rate special effects, they decided to have certain parts of the story occur off camera. Sometimes, you really don’t need to have something spelled out for you. I’ll give you examples:

Heeeere's Alfred!

1)      In Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” when the girl gets stabbed to death in the shower, we don’t actually see anything other than shadows and something doing a stabbing motion towards the camera. Our minds fill in the blanks and create one of the more violent ways for you to lose your life.

2)      Sex scenes used to be non-existent in moves, mostly due to not really being suitable for the silver screen in the early 20^th century. A shot of the couple staring lovingly into each other’s eyes faded into the next scene of them lying in bed looking pleased with themselves lets the audience know that they had a round of bed-skiing and quite enjoyed it.

I know there are only two examples there, but this is all you really need for the moment to show the effectiveness of the human imagination as an effects generator. That is, unless we look at the 2007 film, “Funny Games”.

This is a film which I found to not be scary, but unnerving on a number of levels. The plot is simple; two men take a family hostage and proceed to spend a night playing sadistic games with them. Quite a good premise for a good thriller or horror movie eh?

Is it really?

This film makes a point of providing you with a thriller/horror movie where the director seems to climb into your head and mess around with everything in there. At no point in this movie is violence of any kind shown, yet it is a very violent movie. Why? Just as something violent is about to happen, the camera cuts away, you hear a sound and your mind automatically fills in the blanks. You find yourself creating the violence in your head and that’s only the beginning. As the movie progresses, the forth wall is broken on several occasions asking you questions like,

“What do you think? Think they stand a chance?” You find yourself really questioning your motives when watching movies. I found myself sitting there asking myself, do I want the family to be ok, or do I want them to be killed? They’re being held hostage, that’s a horrible situation to be in! I can’t stop wondering how they’re going to die!

This movie proves to me that Hollywood has lost all faith in the human imagination. Violence in movies has increased because it’s more convenient to have it spelled out for you than have to use your brain! It’s why comedy movies over the last 5 years are completely witless and practically tell you when to laugh instead of telling an amusing. It’s why horror movies are more along the lines of, look at this violent thing happen, instead of telling a scary story.

I’ve always felt that movies over the last while have just gotten plain stupid. Major blockbusters are based around poor attempts at remakes. We’ve reached a point where almost every movie in the theatre is a remake of a previously released film or else is a film adaption of a book. Why can’t every director think like the folks at Pixar and tell amazing stories from outside the box? Seriously, a story about toys that come to life when you’re not looking, a robot that’s been left behind to clean up the world who falls in love with a more modern robot, an old man who flies his house to South America by attaching a load of balloons to it. THIS IS WHAT CINEMA IS ABOUT! Imagination and creativity, taking a simple concept and turning it into something that will make you laugh, cry and sit on the edge of your seat.

I can’t recommend enough that you watch Funny Games. It is definitely a movie that will make you realise just how much wool has been pulled over your eyes. You’ll see how little of your imagination you were using when watching other films and will really see the effect of a good story being told properly without the use of visual aids.

So that’s everything for now…

Have something to say? Then be sure to leave a comment, ask me a question on formspring or on twitter.

Too much work and melted brain make Felix go see The A-Team.

So for the last while I have spent the majority of my time trying to complete a thesis for college. Doing a thesis is font 12, Times New Roman destruction of the soul! The length of time the destruction of your soul takes greatly depends on how interested in the subject you’re writing about; the more you like a subject the longer this process takes, but mark my words your soul gets destroyed.

This is quickly followed by a complete meltdown of the brain, where simple tasks suddenly become gargantuan. Why? Because you start to use your research process in everyday tasks resulting in something that would normally take 5 minutes suddenly taking about an hour to complete! I’ll give you an example:

After 12 months of research, I found myself, only 2 days ago, suffering from the effects of a brain meltdown. I decided that it would be nice to make some cookies, so I downloaded a recipe. I then sat down and read through it once, then read it again making notes, I read it a third time and researched alternative ingredients e.g. finding out if brown sugar could be used instead of regular sugar. Finally I made a shopping list and went to the supermarket where I spent about an hour reading the backs of everything I bought, making notes in my head about possibly related products to check out the next time I was here. I finally arrived back, went to the kitchen with my notes and the recipe itself and proceeded to make cookies paying so much attention to what I was doing that my flatmate apparently walked into the kitchen, made dinner, ate it and left!

This is not normal! Today I completed my thesis! I have decided that my brain needs a holiday so I went to see The A-Team. This film, as I’m sure you are well aware, is adaptation of the original TV series of the same name. I will admit I was looking forward to seeing how this movie panned out!

When I arrived, the people going to see the movie were… How should I say this? With the exception of a few, they were the typical idiots you’d find waiting in line for a brainless comedy movie, one where the jokes are always (and I mean always) in your face and just short of having a guy with a sign standing in front of the screen that read,

“You see, it’s funny because he said poop!”

Did this deter me? NO! NAY! NON! NEIN! NEVER! This was exactly where I needed to be. I needed a movie that didn’t require a brain to be able to watch it and The A-Team most certainly delivered! With a wonderful display of schoolboy humour and big explosions this film could only be described as the best cure for a brain meltdown EVER!

I really don’t need to tell you about the plot, but for the sake of it here it is. The four lads, Murdock, Faceman, BA (aka Bosco) and Hannibal, wind up being framed for a crime they didn’t commit. So they take some time to seek revenge on those who framed them getting into a whole load of sticky situations along the way. In essence, it’s a film about how The A-Team became The A-Team.

What more can I say? Go and see this movie if you need to just not use your brain for a while. You won’t be disappointed.

Have fun!

Felix

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Twilight Saga: Eclipse – I regret even writing this review let alone watching this movie…

So during the week my girlfriend and I went to see Twilight. Wow, that makes it sound like I went willingly… So let me rephrase it, my girlfriend went to see Twilight and dragged me along. I’d like to say that I’m violently against twilight, but in fact I really just don’t care.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, is the third instalment in the latest fad to hit tweens and mothers who think they’re hip to the groove and such like. What can I say? It’s a pretty well known franchise.

So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. I decided to watch the two previous movies just to get an impression of what I was dealing with. I couldn’t stick either of them for longer than 40 minutes each without having a break to stop my brain from melting from the poor acting and distinct lack of plot. On several occasions I kept saying myself,

“What’s romantic about Edward and Bella’s relationship? He follows her around everywhere and controls almost every part of her life! Edward is an asshole!”

In state of pure dread, I went into the cinema knowing full well that I was going to see every minute pass by like an hour…

Now before I tear this film to shreds, I shall first state that I really did enjoy the sound-track. However, aside from that I’m afraid my enjoyment was minimal…

The best way to take care of this review is to take the main characters and deal with them individually:

1)      Bella:

There is a wonderful line that she uses that describes her character in full,

“I am Switzerland!” For those of you who are unaware, she is referring to a country famous for its complete neutrality. Bella is neutral in every sense of the word, she doesn’t display any emotion at all, her character doesn’t develop it remains in this constant state of beige. In every scene she looks bored, as if even the actress herself can’t stand how boring her assigned character is! Bella is shit! Just look at the poster (link) she looks so bored!

2)      Edward:

I’m going to move on from the “Vampires don’t sparkle” nonsense. Edward constantly sounds like she’s about to cry, and I have to admit, for an immortal and semi-invincible being with super-powers you’d expect him to have a bit more backbone. Even when he’s threatening Jacob he still has that wimpy crying voice. MAN UP EDWARD!

While I’m at it, he creeps me out to no end. He’s constantly following Bella around, never leaving her alone for a second. Sure, they’re a perfect match because neither character seems to have a personality. He follows her around the place, at one point wrecks her car so she won’t go and see Jacob! This guy is a creep! Yet I still can’t convince any of these twilight fans that Edward isn’t the ideal boyfriend, he’s an ideal stalker!

3)      Jacob:

While I don’t buy into this Team [insert name] crap, I must admit that I’m pretty much pro-Jacob. For one thing, he is the only character in the entire movie series that shows any signs of being remotely interesting. He’s also a werewolf, well not really a werewolf; an animagus (a term from Harry Potter meaning someone who can shape-shift into a particular animal) is a more appropriate term. The fact is, he is the only character that displays any form of emotion and doesn’t sound like he’s about to cry or just plain wander off in a state of sheer boredom.

Bits that annoyed me:

There were a load of them, too many to mention but here are a few:

Edward, by my calculations, is about 100 years old and he started going out with Bella when she was 16 if I have my facts straight. So that means that both Bella and Edward are perverts, Edward for going after jailbait and Bella for being a necrophile!

There is no romance in the movie at all, just a very inappropriate amount of kissing. Seriously, what’s romantic about having a boyfriend who follows you everywhere and watches everything that you’re doing?

There’s no proper reason as to why Bella is being hunted. Sure you have that girl Victoria, but the explanation isn’t given until near the end of the movie. So for the majority of it, you’re wondering why everything is happening, and not because you’re interest, you’re asking because Edward keeps saying over and over that Bella is better off not knowing because he’s “protecting” her. BULLSHIT! That’s called being controlling! It’s also called an inconsistent plot rendering everything that happens up until the point where Edward actually explains to Victoria why Victoria is doing what she’s doing pointless. Good god! Stephanie, if you ever read this blog, please for the love of all that is awesome, think of the basic plot outline BEFORE you start writing the book instead of doing it on the fly!

The overall plot suggests that love conquers all, but in reality it suggests something sinister. If you’re a vampire, and follow a girl around the place for long enough, watching her every move and generally making sure that she doesn’t hang around with anyone but you then you will have a great loving relationship. That’s just wrong…

This movie sucks, it really does, and it’s not even visually appealing. Don’t go to see it, you will be bored!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading this at least,

Felix

Leave a comment and let us know what you think of this movie. What did you like? What did you hate? Did you manage to stay in the cinema till the end?

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How one poster ruined an entire movie for me…

Look at this picture… You look at this picture and what do you see? You see what is obviously the protagonist holding the head of Medusa. This is what was displayed in the local cinema when this film came out… THIS! Is what ruined an entire film for me! Now you sit there reading this blog laughing to yourself saying,

“Felix, you’re being silly. That poster doesn’t ruin anything!”

YES IT DOES! I’ll explain why!

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Before you continue reading, please click on the picture above!

So in the beginning we meet Perseus who is adopted by a fisherman after being found in a coffin floating about the sea. Everyone’s grown up and he and his family witness the destruction of a statue of Zeus and wind up being attacked by Hades. It’s all sad, and to be honest, I was enjoying the film, the character developement so far has been excellent! The plot has kepted a steady pace and the effects have been minimal, I had nothing to complain about. That is, until the announcement that a Kraken would be unleashed unless Andromeda was sacrificed. At this point, a little spark flickered in the back of my mind. I couldn’t let the spark fizzle away, this was obviously a memory, so after about 2 minutes I suddenly found a complete recall of the poster that I saw outside the screen.

PERSEUS HOLDING THE HEAD OF MEDUSA!

You see the picture? Look at it, that was the ad! So after a visit from Io, the women who never ages, he suddenly gets the motivation to save humanity and go and work out a way to kill the Kraken. So from the poster, I can assume that our pal Perseus uses the head of Medusa to get the Kraken. So even before the witches tell him to go and get Medusa’s head, I know he’s going to be going to get it. So the scenes involving the scorpions and those ent-like creatures was utterly pointless because they go away after everyone speaks to the witches. The other lads who went on to Medusa are pointless because they all die, even Io dies. We already know from the Poster that he gets the head of Medusa so the trip to Medusa really shouldn’t be that significant, and the battle with the Kracken should be the leadup to the battle with Hades.

After 40 minutes or so of cursing a poster, I then needed something to bring me back from the brink. I needed something to save this movie for me, but no Perseus deals with Hades in under a minute. I mean seriously, the Kracken is destroyed after 40 minutes of pointless filler and all Hades gets is a quick quip from Perseus and then BAM! Hades is flung back to the underworld, and I am left completely underwhelmed.

So what’s the moral of the story? Well, film producers should give better consideration to what they advertise keeping in mind that what they display may in fact ruin the entire film, much like what happened here.

So I’m going to end this now, because just thinking about this infuriates me!

Felix

Leave a comment and let us know if you came across this problem. Follow me on twitter and be sure to take a look around the website.

DVD Review: Exam

Right so this film is about a year old and to be honest, if it wasn’t for the fact that someone gave me a copy of it, I would probably have never seen it. The actual release is up for debate because it’s been premiered in various locations. However the DVD was only released in the last month or so. This film is quite obscure anyway, in fact, I probably wouldn’t have come across it if it wasn’t for the fact that a certain online shop decided to send me the wrong DVD. Rather than send an angry email upon discovering the mistake, I decided that I’d watch it and based on my opinion of it, I’d submit a complaint. The name of the film in question is Exam.

The plot of this movie is quite simple, and therefore doesn’t actually do the film any justice. 8 talented candidates are involved in the final stage of the interview process for a very lucrative job in a powerful and mysterious company. The final test is quite simple; there is one question and one answer, however all of their papers appear blank. So the main objective becomes trying to figure out what the question is.

Now with such a simple test, there has to be rules. The rules are also simple:

1)      Don’t spoil your exam paper

2)      Don’t talk to the invigilator or the guard

3)      Don’t leave the room

The main thing to take from what I’ve said so far is that when the test and the rules are both simple, people will make everything complicated. Guess what happens? THEY MAKE EVERYTHING COMPLICATED!

This movie is very good in that you wind up getting involved in the test yourself. Trying to figure out what the question is, figure out where the question might be or even if there is a question. You try and figure out who the winner will be and everything!

This movie will make the smartest person in the world feel like an idiot by the end of it. In fact I’ve shown this movie to friends of mine and none of them could figure out the question until the very end. However, this is also the movies major downfall. Once you’ve watched it, it’s got no replay value that I can see. Why? Well you know the question and the answer. They explain everything by the end credits so the only question that remains is, what happens next? To be honest, I don’t see the point in a sequel at all, and rightly so.

So do I recommend this movie? I have to admit, this is a great movie, but you have to be in the right mood to watch it. If you want a brainless movie, then please leave this one alone; you won’t enjoy it. If however you want to melt your brain trying to figure out what’s happening the entire time, then find a copy of this and watch it!

So have you seen this movie? Leave a comment letting us know what you thought. Remember to follow me on twitter and if you have any suggestions be sure to send an email to felixbarry@rocketmail.com

Enjoy

Felix

CD Review: Divine Comedy – Bang Goes The Knighthood

I find an awful lot that people are listening to two kinds of music:

1)      Music with threatening lyrics

2)      Music with nonsensical lyrics

I’m serious, next time you listen to the radio listen to just the lyrics and you’ll find that the person singing is either talking a load of crap or else threatening someone. It really has become a situation where the majority of songs are popular due to shock value rather than just being entertaining and pleasant to listen to.

In the late 60’s when rock was in its prime we found powerful music, music techniques that would makes your head explode, it was literally about the music. Nowadays however, music seems to simply be about sounding like everyone else, but either saying something aggressive or stupid, sometimes both! So when I came across “Bang Goes the Knighthood” by The Divine Comedy, I really didn’t have much expectations for it.

I’m going to be honest here; I was never a major fan of The Divine Comedy. I’ll admit that it was my own fault because Neil Hannon et al are very capable musicians and top-rank entertainers. I will admit that the first time I came across them was their single, “Generation Sex” from the 1998 album, Fin de Siècle. Keep in mind, I was 12 years old that year, and to be honest being the mild-mannered little darling that I was, I listened to it purely because it had the word sex in it and didn’t really appreciate the song. As time went by, the next song of theirs that crossed my path was “National Express” from the same album. Now this one I wasn’t too fond of for a number of reasons… It, like so many good songs, received too much airplay. MTV kept playing it repeatedly, radios would blast it every hour or so, you couldn’t get away from it. So again, I wasn’t attracted to the band purely because I was unable to appreciate what they had to offer.

2010 rolls along and I find myself in the possession of their 10^th studio album. A friend of mine presented me with it, one of those friends whose taste in music is as questionable as their personal hygiene. However, I hadn’t sat down and listened to anything new in a long time so I gave it a chance. I put the CD player, plugged in my headphones, turned on the Hi-fi amp and sat back. The first time around I will admit I was apprehensive, I had never actually given this band a chance remember, and had somewhat of a tarnished opinion of them. The final track, “I Like”, finished and I was unsure; so I played the entire thing again! This time around I started to become a major fan!

There are too many good songs on this album, and picking favourites would pretty much be reciting the entire track list, but I’ll give it a go. Track 2, “The Complete Banker”, is a lovely little jazzy number about the credit crunch; I was listening to this song while looking over some bills and I have to admit the song made me happy! Track 3, “Neapolitan Girl” is a wonderful walking song, again, I found myself smiling the entire time it played. Track 4, “Bang Goes the Knighthood”, is a wonderfully dramatic song, I stopped dead in my tracks halfway through this as the choir and organ started playing. Track 5, “At the Indie Disco”, was a wonderfully nostalgic song that made me remember my final year of secondary school when I spent a lot of my time in a place called Doyle’s in Dublin. Track 7, “Assume the Perpendicular” is the best walking song I’ve heard from the last 5 years. I don’t know how they do it, but listening to this song puts a sense of determination in my step that nothing else could. Finally, Track 11, “Can You Stand upon One Leg”, is a great song that I just had to learn the moment I finished listening to it. It’s strange to find a great song for kids within an album that’s most certainly geared towards adults. Nonetheless, I managed to entertain the younger members of my family with this number and I have Mr. Hannon to thank for that.

I really don’t know what more to say, this is a brilliant album and you should definitely get it. Why? You won’t find a more entertaining album out there at the moment, and it’ll put you in such a good mood that you’ll be smiling for days playing the entire thing on repeat!

GET THIS ALBUM NOW!

Felix

PS.

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10 Films EVERY college student must see

This isn’t one of them stupid lists of obscure films that no one has heard of. I’m going to give you a list of films that EVERY college student simply has to see! This is going to be done along the lines of High Fidelity, where the stuff mentioned isn’t in ascending or descending order, it’s simply a list of 10 things I consider important for this topic which is:

10 Films EVERY college student must see!

1) High Fidelity (2000)

I couldn’t mention this in the intro and not mention it in this list. This film is famous among students for the “Top 5″ lists and it encourages it. This film is the most wonderful film in the world to watch when you’re trying to get to know someone, in fact I’d go as far as saying that it’s a great “first date” movie. This film has everything, it has good tunes, good jokes, and an excellent storyline. It’s got John Cusack, a guy who I’ve yet to find a lady who doesn’t like. It can even be classed as a romantic comedy, but if you’re trying to get a guy-friend to like it, don’t tell him about that part. Anyway, to give you an idea of the movie, here’s a clip:

If that hasn’t gotten you interested, especially the fact that Drake Bell (from Drake and Josh) can be spotted in it, take a look at this:

2) Lord Of The Rings (The full trilogy)

Do I really need to mention this? The Lord Of The Rings marathon is something that EVERY college student must try at least once. It involves playing all 3 extended version DVD’s of this series back to back. Very few have made it out the other side without falling asleep because lets face it, at nearly 3.5 hours for each film, you’re going to be worn out by the end. I’m not going to bother posting videos, everyone knows what I’m talking about. With ground-breaking special effects and absolutely flawless casting, Peter Jackson has a lot to be proud of.

Ah feck it, lets put in a clip! THEY’RE TAKING THE HOBBITS TO ISENGARD!

3) The Big Lebowski (1998)

This film is one that will strike a chord with absolutely everyone! Jeffrey Lebowski gets caught up in a whole massive situation all because he shares his name with a big-time rich guy. What starts off as an innocent attempt at getting his rug cleaned after 2 guys come into his house, put his head in a toilet and urinate on his rug; turns into a completely off the wall story about just how messed up life can get! The moral of the story is of course that everything will be okay in the end. This film made a little drink known as the “White Russian” famous! Everyone who has seen this film is also aware of the wonderful drinking game where you have a White Russian whenever The Dude has one. CLIP!

4) Withnail and I (1987)

This film is certainly one for those of you who have been on a really bad holiday! Where everything seems to go haywire for you but everyone else seems to be having a great time. This film follows two out of work actors in London during the late 1960′s, who are beginning to discover that they aren’t exactly fond of their somewhat unkempt lifestyle in their dingy little Camden flat. They decide amongst themselves that they are going to go for an idyllic holiday in the country to refresh themselves, but in the end it shows them just the kind of person each of them are. I found it to be an alternative coming of age film where all the characters find their lives going in different directions by the end of the film. Wonderfully humorous, it teaches college students a much-needed lesson. Eventually you have to leave college… There are those who are perfectly happy where they are and will never leave, those who spend most of their time on drugs, those who stayed too long and wind up spending their time awash in a sea of memory and those who stayed long enough to realise that they need to go somewhere new before they became like the other three. I watch this film at least every 2 weeks, I quite enjoy it. Lets have a clip eh?

5) This is Spinal Tap (1984)

Again we have another comedy, and this time it takes the form of a “rock-unemtary” if you will. Spinal Tap are the world’s loudest band! Marty DeBergi follows the band as they do an American comeback tour and winds up filming them as the band goes through a complete crisis. Interspersed with some absolutely amazing tunes, this film would provide endless entertainment. It’s been referenced millions of times by many comedy shows, too many to mention in fact, the most famous quote being when they take a look at the album cover for “Smell The Glove” and it turns out to be all black and Nigel Tufnel says,

“It’s like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none… None more black…”

Anyway, to get you in the mood, here’s a clip:

6) Monty Python – The Holy Grail (1975) and The Life of Brian (1979)

These two films have to be mentioned side by side. The two films are almost frighteningly famous! If I think of films that people have to see, I always think of these two. Monty Python is a group of comedians famous for their surreal humour but also for their quite imaginative songs. I really don’t think I could do it any justice, by describing them any further, so here is a song from each:

7) Almost Famous (2000)

Every college student adores the idea of the rock-star lifestyle. This film is one that keeps on giving, you’ve got a great plot, great casting, great sound-track, and above all else the movie’s ending leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It follows the journey of William Miller, a budding journalist who winds up following a band called “Still Water” and documents the progress of the tour. Along the way, you see just how crap it can be “living the dream”… It reveals how success can bring out the worst in people, how no one can ever truly escape the real world and ultimately it shows you that even when the excrement hits the fan, you can still get through it and succeed. It’s a good feeling movie that shows the viewer that everyone has to work hard, and that everyone winds up in a rut, but that things always have a way of working themselves out. CLIPPITY CLIP CLIP!

8) Children of Men (2006)

When a movie is good, it has ways of proving this to you in the subtlest of ways and always within the first 10 minutes of the film. This is certainly one of them, and you can tell from the start that you are going to be glued to your seat with an expression of a mix of joy, horror and sheer amazement. This film shows a very dystopian view of the future, humanity has become infertile, people are simply living just to wind up dying. The world is in chaos, the American empire is over, Britain is now run by an extremely fascist government and in general things just aren’t that great. The movie keeps good momentum all the way though and you’ll find yourself in a state of constant cinematic satisfaction because every time you wind up saying to yourself,

“Oh it’d be great if…. SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP! IT JUST HAPPENED!”

So here’s a clip, well it’s a trailer, but you’ll love it:

9) Fight Club (1999)

This movie is certainly one worth seeing again and again, in fact you’ll more than likely wind up watching it over and over anyway. It’s centred around a character played by Edward Norton (who remains nameless) who needs a way to vent his frustrations in life. His frustration causes insomnia and so his doctor tells him to go to a support group for people with testicular cancer. He feels good after every session and realises that it helps him sleep, he winds up faking illnesses so that he can go to these meetings and vent his frustrations through crying. Eventually he meets Tyler Durden who introduces him to the idea of venting his frustrations and aggression through fighting, and the two of them wind up creating the Fight Club. This of course is not the end of the escalation of these issues and the fight club eventually becomes the anarchist group known as “Project Mayhem”. It’s all a load of fun, and really quite an interesting watch. I highly recommend it! Although, unlike High Fidelity, this wouldn’t be a film I’d recommend watching on a first date… Everyone will wind up seeing this film at some point in their lives, but there is no better time than during college, here’s the trailer:

10) Pulp Fiction (1994)

This is most definitely one of the greatest films from the last 20 years. It’s got the dry humour that’s always present in Tarantino films. It’s got the almost casual inclusion of violence. In fact, casual is the exact word that I would use to describe this film. Even when Jules’ speech towards the beginning of the movie is done in such a casual way that it scares you, you’re glad that you’re not the guy he’s talking to. Again, the sound track is amazing, the casting is amazing and the whole film just works! WATCH IT!

Honorable mentions:

The Last Waltz (1978) – Good for the tunes!

A Clockwork Orange (1971) – Good for the ultraviolence!

A Scanner Darkly (2006) – Just plain good!

L4yer Cake (2004) – Good for those who like a good gangster movie, sorry, I meant businessmen… Yes, coke-dealing businessmen…

Hope you guys enjoyed this wee list of mine, be sure to leave a comment if you think I left anything out. Also, be sure to follow me on twitter (@Felix_Barry). Check out the rest of the site while you’re at it too!

Have fun

Felix

DVD Review: Ed Byrne’s Different Class

Yup, there he is...

Sometimes I wonder what the academic requirements are to become a meteorologist. These people study clouds, and all kinds of things to predict the weather. Oh it’s very complicated, all kinds of satellites, radar, long division and all kinds of other things that the ordinary person would probably fall asleep trying to operate out of sheer boredom. I’ve figured out that in order to qualify as a meteorologist, you need to be wrong ALL THE TIME! You have to be wrong so often that your only option is to quite simply try and get by by pointing out the obvious. I’m amazed these people can dress themselves in the morning! Good god! I put on RTE 1 and nearly died from the level of idiocy being spewed at me by the weather person.

“A rain cloud is passing over Ireland which will mean showers in the Eastern areas of the country” Really? Seriously, you’ve got a really impressive looking science degree, years of experience and all kinds of fancy gadgets and you managed to do a weather prediction that could be compared to my grandfather sipping a cup of tea, looking out the window and saying,

“Oh! Looks like its gonna rain today! Big grey clouds in the sky!”

Sorry, I’m just annoyed that there are people in this world who are paid to point out the bloody obvious and yet manage to make a living out of it. Coincidentally, that’s exactly what I’m here to tell you about. A guy who has managed to forge a career by pointing out the obvious, Ed Byrne. This guy baffles me, I’m not saying that he is a bad comedian, I’m saying that he is an okay comedian. His latest DVD “Different Class” is what I’m here to talk about and I reckon that this DVD highlights just how middling he is. This DVD of his has gotten rave reviews and to be honest, I can’t understand why, it really is middle-of-the-road stuff.

This review is going to be short, purely because there really isn’t much to say. If you want a summary of the entire DVD, it’s this joke,

“Isn’t it funny how middle class people and working class people are different?” This is then quickly followed by an explanation as to how he’s neither working nor middle class. Now that being said, it’s still entertaining, I will admit to enjoying watching it. However while it is entertaining, it’s not worthy of a second watch. In fact, having watched it once I have no compulsion to watch it again whatsoever!

While new material is present, it is presented in a way that harks back to the Pedantic and Whimsical days. When a performer starts trying to be what they were instead of who they are now you wind up with a performance that’s washed out and faded. Pedantic and Whimsical was a great DVD, and I regularly watch it, it’s a video where I can genuinely identify with Mr. Byrne and everything he talked about. Different Class on the other hand was more difficult to identify with and as such wound up leaving me slightly disappointed.

So what should you do? Should you buy this DVD? Yes, but don’t expect anything amazing. Will you watch it again? You might, although in all honesty, you probably won’t. More than likely, this DVD will be played once and then forgotten about until Ed Byrne decides to make another video or turns up in another UK TV show.

Anyway, that’s all from me for the moment. Leave a comment and let us know what you think of the DVD. Also, follow me on twitter, it’s good for the mini-blogging!

Felix.

DVD Review: Dylan Moran – What it is

Comedy to me has always had to have a certain sarcastic whimsicallity to it. I’m always fascinated by comedians who have hilarious battles with reality in order to explain their point and Dylan Moran has to been one of those comedians that I’ve always been a fan of for that reason. I’ve got three of his DVD’s to date and as far as the first two are concerned, they are hilarious.

Monster to me defined Dylan Moran’s style as a comedian. In fact it showed the Bernard Black was pretty much the embodiment of his distaste towards the everyone’s ability to simply slot in to place and follow the norm. Bernard Black is the kind of character that a lot of Irish people wind up emulating, and I myself have found myself growing more and more like Bernard everyday. Then “What it is” came along…

As a fan of Dylan Moran I couldn’t get to HMV fast enough to get the DVD. His last two DVD’s (Monster and Like Totally) were amazingly blunt with regards to current events, social trends and alcohol. I practically skipped home with joy, I could hardly wait to crack open a bottle of wine and watch as my favourite comedian doled out some new material… But he didn’t…

How do I put this? It was like someone diluted him. The material was different, but the delivery of the material and even his charisma on stage was completely washed out. He wasn’t doing or saying anything that could be classed as risky, it was all very neutral comedy. The kind of comedy you grow to expect at a pantomime, jokes the likes of which you’ve heard several times before but because it’s a person on a stage you still find them amusing. THERE WE GO! Dylan Moran in this DVD stops being hilarious and becomes simply someone who is amusing.

I’ll tell you this, if I saw this on the TV I would gladly watch it if there was nothing else on. Why? Well it’s not the worst way to waste just over an hour. You’ll be kept amused for a little while, but there’s nothing there that would make you laugh. The most I managed to muster up was a very short guffaw, lasting about 3 seconds. There were points that were made by Moran that people clapped at, but that was only because they agreed and an audience saying,

“Yes, I agree with that!” in unison would be scary!

So what should you do? Should you get this DVD? Yes, get it by all means, but you won’t find yourself watching it more than once. Will you enjoy it? Yes, but you won’t find yourself laughing for extended periods of time, you’ll just laugh for 3 seconds in a “Well, that was amusing” sort of way.

Score? 6 out of 10. Dylan really didn’t bring the funny like he used to. Perhaps he needs to rethink his style? I don’t know, but he’ll need to do something because I know I’m not the only one disappointed with the quality of material in this DVD.

Gig Review: KISS – Sonic Boom Over Europe

The lads themselves

Friday night I decided to head down to the Point to see one of those bands that I always meant to listen to but never got around to it, Kiss. Now for starters, those of you out there reading this will probably say,

“Felix, it’s called the O2 now you idiot!” to you I say this,

“Go away! It’s called the Point! Just because the people providing the funding decided to name it after themselves doesn’t change the fact that it’s the Point!”. The only change I can see is that they moved the stage around for easier access for standing people, but aside from that, it’s the Point!

Speaking of the Point, I’m going to get to mine… Telling you about the gig! It was a momentous occasion seeing Kiss play live. The four lads are legends among musicians, I may not have listened to much of their stuff, but I knew exactly who they were and the effect they had on Rock. Now before you start scoffing and saying that I can’t possibly review them without prior knowledge of their work, I am reviewing the gig as a performance. Kiss are the masters of good old-fashioned cheesy rock, their shows are famous the world over and the amount of references to them in various media is insane. You’d be surprised to find how many songs you already knew but never actually associated with them too. I was amazed to find that I was able to sing along to 90% of the set list.

So anyway, lets start at the beginning with the supporting act. There’s something that amazed me, rather than having 2 or 3 supporting bands, they simply had one. Usually concerts are a complete chore to sit through as you’re trying to remain remotely sane while waiting for when the band you paid to see arrives on stage. Not at this gig, NO SIR! You got one support band, a lovely little band from Las Vegas called Taking Dawn.

Taking Dawn were an interesting band for me. If I could describe them in any way it would be as “a very flamboyant Megadeth”. Their only flaw was that their music offered nothing individual, they are most definitely a band that is still in the process of creating their sound. Oh and every now and then, there was a low pound that shook everyone in the audience. I’m really not sure if this was their artistic intention or a bass-drum farting but whatever it was it annoyed me somewhat and stopped me from enjoying the gig as much as I could. For what it’s worth, their presence on stage was great! They knew how to play the crowd and really looked like they were enjoying themselves, which is always good to see.

I’d rate their performance as 7 out of 10. I don’t mean the kind of 7 out of 10 that other reviews give where it actually means that they were an average band, they put on a show but 2 points were removed for the low thud and another point was removed for not exactly having an original sound. Congratulations to them though because they were most certainly the best support act that I’ve seen in a long time.

And now the lads themselves! KISS! Catchy tune after catchy tune was played from across the entire career. The stage show was phenomenal, and all 4 lads are in my mind gods among men. I understood from the beginning that they aren’t exactly young, but the only person out of the lot of them who seemed to lose energy was Gene Simmons. By the end of the show his stage presence had become almost nothing, his constant tongue waggling had gone from awesome to slightly disgusting within the first half an hour. Paul Stanley deserves a medal in my mind. This guy was running up and down the stage, he was unstoppable! He constantly engaged with the audience, he joked around (even played Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin just to see how willing everyone was to sing) he really did tie the show together. Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer both provided their own dynamic as well. In fact I have to admire Eric as he was the only member of the band who didn’t leave the stage for the entire gig, he was involved in absolutely everything!

So now that I’ve got all of the sweet things said and done, here’s on to the music. Personally I loved being in the same room as these legends, but I felt the music itself was somewhat lacking in energy. How do I explain this? If you closed your eyes and listened to what was being played, they played like they were bored out of their minds. This to me was a little bit disappointing, maybe it was down to the fact that none of them are young anymore, I don’t know, but the music seemed to be pushed along rather than played with passion. They relied an awful lot on the energy of the crowd to boost the energy of what they were playing an awful lot and in all honesty that really got to me. Visually they had it, but the music they were playing was running on low battery.

What can I say? I’m certainly a newly converted member of the KISS army, but there are others who were hardcore fans who left at the end feeling let down. I can’t be too hard on them though, their songs are good, their skills as musicians can’t be argued with, but this performance just lacked something. I don’t know what it is, maybe you can help me out on this one, but the music just didn’t have as much energy as the visual performance.

Score for KISS: 8 out of 10. They were good but for whatever reason they weren’t performing at 100% and as such I can’t give them 100%.

So anyway, what did you think? Leave a comment below.