This week the Stream Police grade the Ryan Phillippe (not even gonna spell check that), Anna Paquin “indie” project Straight A’s. Michael and John also talk about some of the best tune of 2014 and some of the not so best.
Episode Breakdown
2:08 – 2014 Tune Talk
13:47 – 48: 20 – Straight A’s Review
48:35 – John and Michael Recommend
54: 45 – Netflix Randomizer
Let me tell you about a man named James Gunn. Once a hired “gun” for cult shlock studio Troma Entertainment, Gunn rose to prominence as a sharp-witted screenwriter penning such “classics” as Scooby Doo and Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. After a few years of trudging through studio-driven dreck, Gunn was eventually given the opportunity to take the reigns as a full-fledged director. Gunn took this opportunity and made the B-flicks Slither and Super both to notable cult fervor. Gunn’s star had started to shine, but as we all know by now his star would only continue to shine brighter.
I don’t know how it happened, but someone at Marvel had the cojones to get James Gunn for their next big Marvel property. What did they see in Gunn? Was it his dark humor? Was it his ability to tell character driven stories surrounded by the absurd? Or maybe it wasn’t a gamble at all considering no one knew how big Guardians of the Galaxy could be, but big it has become. To think that a man with a background in B-movies could launch the summer of 2014’s biggest blockbuster by making a $170 million B-movie. It all goes to show that if given a serving, a truly hungry filmmaker can feast on greatness. Before I get mixed up by my own food related metaphors let’s shoot for the stars with a few words about Guardians of the Galaxy
I bought a copy of They Want My Soul today. Yes, you heard me a “copy” as in an actual CD. There’s not a lot of bands I’d do that for but Spoon? Spoon is special. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is my favorite album of the 2000s and one of the defining albums of my life. If anyone ever made a movie about me (starring Liam Hemsworth), Spoon would be the soundtrack. The reasons I love Spoon are simple; great songwriting, great vocals, and fearlessness.
Spoon has had their brushes with big success with songs like “I Turn My Camera On” and “The Underdog”, but neither of those songs changed how they go about writing and recording music. Spoon is poppy when they want to be and experimental when they want to be. This is a band that plays by their own rules and don’t give a shit about nuffin’ else. So many bands I liked before I became a cynical adult have either gone on to playing in ginormous stadiums or sunk into obscurity. Spoon has remained consistently good. No, not good, great. In honor of their eighth release, I’ve decided to put together a retrospective. Now open wide for a spoonful of greatness.
Weirdly enough, this might be the album I had to wrestle with the most so far. The problem was, I kept asking myself the futile question “Who Is Steve Miller?” and not really being able to find any definite answers. But nonetheless, here’s what I managed to come up with…
Album: Greatest Hits 1974-78
Artist: The Steve Miller Band
Release Date: November 1978
Copies Sold In The U.S.: 13 Million
Fists are flying in this review of Jackie Chan’s Kung Fu cult classic, Project A 2. Additionally, Michael and John gab (mostly complain) about the geektacular phenomenon that is the San Diego Comic Con.
Here’s the breakdown
San Diego Comic Con: 3:26 – 10:08
Project A 2 Review: 10:11 – 36:40
Michael and John Recommend: 36:42 – 41:13
Netflix Randomizer: 41:14
I can think of about two things wrong with the title of this post. If you haven’t heard from me in awhile it’s because I’ve spent the last few weeks on a journey of self-discovery aka eating chips and spending too much time on Cracked, but I’m back with a vengeance and a new mission. Like Marky Mark in Shooter, “Yesterday was about honor. Today is about Justice”. That being said, I’m going to take this moment to touch on some of 2014’s various theatrical offerings
