New York City Cops, They Ain’t Too Smart

The Other Guys

When Will Ferrell teams up with director Adam McKay, hilarity usually tends to ensue. Even with their last effort, the somewhat overly dumbed-down Step Brothers, these two know how to make people laugh. The duo’s newest film, The Other Guys, which is not very new at all at this point definitely delivers in the laughs department in a summer that probably could of used a few more comedies like this.

The Other Guys starts off by showing us Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, two NYC cops relegated to filling out paperwork while living in the shadow of the irresponsibly badass cops Dansen and Highsmith (Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson). Those two then die in what has got to be the funniest death scene of the year, and the rest of the cops on the force attempt to rise to the occasion of bringing down a high profile Wall Street kingpin (Steve Coogan). There’s a surprising amount of plot crammed in to this movie, but that’s not really what makes it worth seeing.

What does make it worth seeing is the absurd little comedic riffs peppered throughout the movie, especially between Ferrell and Wahlberg. For the first time in a while, Will Ferrell actually plays a somewhat different take on the character he usually plays, and as usual gets in plenty of amusing one-liners. Wahlberg also shows that he can be pretty funny when he wants to be, while also serving as a respectable straightman. As for the rest of the cast, Michael Keaton makes for a pretty hilarious police captain, Steve Coogan is somewhat underutilized as usual, and Eva Mendes is just kind of there to look attractive and not much else.

Towards the end of the film, The Other Guys gets a little bogged down in its cop-movie action sequences, but by then I was already pretty satisfied by the amounts of belly-laughs the film provides. So basically this movie is pretty much what’d you’d expect out of an Adam McKay-Will Ferrell spin on the buddy cop genre. I know they aren’t exactly creating high art with their comedies, but as long they keep turning out collaborations, I’ll probably be willing to fork out a few bucks for their signature brand of low-brow humor.

Great Scott!

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz if you were to ask me Brit filmmaker Edgar Wright has already solidified himself as one of the edgiest and most inventive comedy directors working today. Jam packed films of eye popping visuals, endless jokes (both clever and well “broad”) and homages and tributes to the pop culture that he loves so dear. Edgar Wright is one of my current favs and although Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is probably his weakest film there’s still a lot to like in this frenetic teen comedy battle royale.

Based off of Canadian cartoonist Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel of the same name, Scott Pilgrim is about an awkward 20 something (enter Michael Cera) who plays bass in a garage rock trio “Sex Bob-Omb” and pines over hip chick Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) though to say she has some baggage is an understatement. In order to date Ramona, Scott must rumble with Ramona’s “7 Evil Ex-Boyfriends” for some reason, I don’t know I guess if they can’t date Ramona no one can? What follows is a teenage ADD orgy of 16 bit style madness and video game like glory, wrapped up with a punchy garage rock soundtrack and topped off with more visual gags than you could wave a controller at. Let us descend into this ridiculous free-for-all.

Where to begin exactly? there’s a lot going on here which in a way is one of it’s downfalls. Scott’s epic battles against Ramona’s exes are always entertaining but “7”? This film is so jam packed it sometimes struggles under the weight of it’s bloated cast, length and silly story. Don’t get me wrong though, I loved a lot of the characters in this action/comedy of sorts. I know a lot of people have become annoyed by Michael Cera’s stream of oddly familiar roles but I don’t think anyone can play the awkward teen quite like him in this day and age. Other standouts were the members of Scott’s band, Scott’s gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin), Scott’s obsessive ex high schooler girlfriend Knives (Ellen Wong) and my personal favorite Chris Evans as the evil ex #2 a macho movie star that oozes delightful cheese… Not literally. Though I was annoyed by Ramona I wouldn’t blame Mary Elizabeth Winstead though it’s not he fault her character was a bitch, Anna Kendrick didn’t seem to have much to do and Aubrey Plaza was surprisingly flat but there’s so much going on it’s easily overshadowed.

Despite the amount of fun I was having I have to say the plot is even to ridiculous for me. It hardly makes any sense and sometimes all the attempts it makes at being hip almost make me cringe. “Hipster Demons”? “The Vegan Police”? Some of those jokes are just plain weak, but I think those flaws mostly lie in the source material. From what I’ve read of the graphic novel it really is just juvenile, with so-so writing at best. Though Edgar Wright is an immensely funny writer/director there’s only so much off his own spin he can put on the original material. I think the root of the problem is the graphic novel just isn’t really that good and were lucky this was somehow produced. So yes I enjoyed it, it has it’s flaws but it’s inventive and dumb fun. Compared to most other summer blockbusters I think it’s safe to say Scott Pilgrim is a K.O.

The Force is with Blu in 2011

Apparently some Star Wars event called Celebration V is going on right now, and George Lucas just made an appearance. What did he have to say? That the hexalogy would finally be coming to Blu Ray next year. Lucas promised the series would appear in the highest visual and audio quality, but didn’t mention if this would be the 3D release he promised a long time ago. He also made it clear that the special edition cuts of the movies would be the only ones making this generational leap, blaming the expense of up-converting the original trilogy. Because it’s not like Star Wars has made a lot of money or anything.

Tons of exciting special features were promised, including never-before-seen deleted scenes. Like this one:

C.A.T: Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1

The Traveling WIlburys – Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 (1988)
Who would of imagined that a friendly get together between a group of rock music legends would lead to one of the most memorable supergroups of it’s time? What began as a friendly session to record a b-side for a George Harrison single would only grow into the joyous album I speak of today. Composed of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne, The Traveling Wilburys combined catchy melodies, with strong lyrics and tied it all together with an army of guitars to create a bright and upbeat album that’s just as much fun as ever.

Every Wilbury has their moment in the sun but it’s on songs like “End of the Line” and the classic “Handle With Care” that they share the mic and really shine. Paying tribute from everything from 50’s rockabilly “Rattled'” to reggae on “Last Night” it’s an album that never skips a beat nor wastes any opportunities. You’d just be greedy to ask for any more from these guys, I mean Bob Dylan and George Harrison singing alongside the legendary Roy Orbison? What more could you ask for?

The production is slick and polished not unlike other album’s produced by Jeff Lynne around the same period these including; George Harrison’s Cloud Nine, Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever and Roy Orbison’s Mystery Girl. Here he’s aided by co-producer/unofficial Wilbury leader George Harrison to create a rock romp that’s rarely dated by it’s late 80s packaging.

It’s almost impossible to pick a favorite track but I’m quite partial to the Dylan-heavy numbers and Tom Petty tracks, as this was arguably his most prolific and creative period. Lynne and Harrison feel to be a bit more in the background most of the time but still have standout moments. Artistically it didn’t break any groud or musical barriers but it’s still an enjoyable chronicling of some of rock’s greatest songwriters coming together to have fun and do what they do best.

Favorite Tracks: “End of the Line”, “Handle With Care”, “Last Night”

I Am Out to Do Crime

Transformers: War for Cybertron

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of giant robots. Transformers is a big reason why I’m like that. The franchise has always seemed remarkably counter-intuitive when given any back story beyond the toys, but, damnit, Optimus Prime is a Hell of a guy. It’s a shame he’s not American, or I’d vote for him for president. Sadly the Transformers fiction has gone in all sorts of directions, hitting its low point with cinematic disaster Revenge of the Fallen. I wish I could say the video games were better, but even the best of those wasn’t great. Despite being awesome toys and a great first cartoon, it’s always seemed that Transformers couldn’t make the transition to another medium. Until a little-known publisher called Activision got High Moon Studios, the guys who made a Jason Bourne game I forgot existed, to take a stab at a new origin for our shapeshifting heroes.

Set during the final days of the war between Autobots and Decepticons on their home world, War for Cybertron‘s singleplayer campaign is split in two parts. The first half lets you play as the Decepticons as they turn the tide of the war. The second half shows how Optimus rose to become a Prime and how the Transformers had to leave their home and bring their war to a new planet. It’s an interesting prologue that captures the spirit of the original show, while providing the apparently necessary video game darker tone and metal music. Peter Cullen steps in as Optimus Prime once again, and makes him as awesome as he should be. Conversely, Megatron is presented as a real dick, which is the way it should be. The rest of the cast does a great job of creating that late-Eighties feel. They even got Stan Bush to do a new song. My only problem with the story is that since the Transformers have never been to earth, they don’t transform into man-made vehicles. That’s not that big a deal, but making them transform into vaguely sci fi’ed version of our vehicles just seems weird. So they already basically had cars, tanks and planes before they came to Earth? That’s weird.

War for Cyberton is an old-school third-person shooter. There’s no cover mechanic to be found here, which is kind of jarring in 2010. But this is a deliberate choice, instead of forcing you to hide and whittle down your enemies, you’re free to run around, firing at everything that moves and transforming between forms rapidly. The combat is fast, loose and chaotic. It’s different from the kind of games I’ve been playing lately, and what makes this game worth investigating even if you’re not that big on Transformers.

There’s a surprisingly substantial multiplayer side to accompany the slightly short singleplayer. Following the Call of Duty formula, you can design your bot and outfit him or her with your favorite guns, powers and a number of perks. The game packs all the staples you’d expect, team deathmatch, conquest, even a horde mode called “Escalation.” It’s totally competent, although expect to have to look a little harder for a game if you don’t have the DLC, since there didn’t seem to be a way to filter that content out. But if you dig the singleplayer, the multiplayer will keep you going for awhile and makes that game that much more compelling.

This is a good game. What saves it is its excellent use of the Transformers license. It elevates the title, making it a must-play to any long-time fan of the franchise. In the world of video games, I don’t get to say that very often. So good job, High Moon Studios. Now make a sequel set on Earth featuring the classic designs for the Transformers. That would be legen – wait for it – dary.

Rockin’ The Suburbs

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

When Arcade Fire’s last album, Neon Bible came out I didn’t really care. I knew they weren’t gonna be able to top Funeral, so I don’t think I ended up giving Neon Bible the chance it deserved until earlier this year. My anticipation towards The Suburbs was a little more open-minded, probably because I’ve come to accept that anything less than Funeral could potentially still be quite good, which this album is.

I think Arcade Fire also realize they’ll never be able to capture the same lightning in a bottle that they did with Funeral, so they’ve definitely been going in a much more polished direction since. The emotions aren’t as relentless or unabashed, but there’s still plenty to latch on to on The Suburbs. The album is certainly the Arcade Fire’s longest album at around 60 minutes, but the scope of it doesn’t see them trying a bunch of new things, or concocting some grand narrative, but instead they’ve simply recorded very clear concise songs that have that bittersweet quality that only the Arcade Fire could deliver.

It’s kind of hard to say this is a more mature record from the Arcade Fire when their debut was essentially about death, but it does seem like they settled into a sound that’s a little more content with the responsibilities of growing older. But the album is called The Suburbs after all, and it’s still got plenty of nostalgic lyrics that help the album feel like a sort of homecoming for the band. I also thought I should say that I usually find myself more drawn to the songs sung by Win Butler than Regine Chassagne, but Chassagne delivers what I would say is the album’s stand-out track in “Sprawl II (Mountains Without Mountains)”.

So whether Arcade Fire ever matches the ambitious grandiosity of Funeral is pretty beside the point, I mean it’s not like Bruce Springsteen was ever gonna top Born To Run, but he’s still carved out a pretty good career for himself. I’m not saying Arcade Fire are the next Springsteen, or that they’re even remotely comparable, but my point is that the Arcade Fire are a good band and I never should have doubted them.

Favorite Tracks: “Modern Man”, “City With No Children”, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”

Best In Show

Best Coast – Crazy For You

I didn’t want this to be the first one post week ever, so I guess I’ll take a look at some of the tunes I’ve been listening to lately. The first is a charming little debut from L.A. trio Best Coast. Basically I’m a sucker for albums like this, as last year I found myself falling for the wistfully optimistic sounds of Girls’ debut album, and now Crazy For You is having a similar effect on me. In fact, the opening lyrics of both these albums are suspiciously similar.

This is an album taylor-made for this time of year, I mean just look at that cover. This is a summer album tried and true. There’s also a certain amount of surf rock inflected on this album’s that’s chocked full of simple lo-fi pop songs that usually come in at about 2 minutes in length. There isn’t really a whole lot going on here, just a whole bunch of catchy songs delivered in hopelessly romantic fashion by lead singer/songwriter Bethany Cosentino.

I guess the one thing that’s easy to harp on about this album is Cosentino’s almost naively simplistic lyrics. Lines like “Drive me crazy but I love you/make me lazy but I love you” aren’t exactly Shakespeare, but when the music is so damn heartfelt it’s pretty easy to just go with it. I mean it’s the same kind of stuff you found in early Beach Boys songs, and this has that same endearing simplicity to it.

I almost want to give this album a higher rating, because I’m pretty darn charmed by it. But deep inside I know this isn’t the first album of this sort that I’ve heard and it probably won’t be the last, but that won’t keep me from enjoying every minute of it.

Favorite Tracks: “Goodbye”, “When The Sun Don’t Shine”, “Bratty B”