Sigur Ros: ( )

After having been recommended to me many times, I finally gave up my last 10 bucks and just bought a Sigur Ros album. The one I had heard about the most was simply titled "( )", so I chose that as my first listen.

Wow. Wow.

I am blown away.

This is without a doubt one of the most powerful albums I've ever listened to. Not since "The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place" by Explosions in the Sky (which came out after ( ), I just hadn't heard it yet) have I had such a reaction to music that is mostly done through instrumentals.

The vocals are excellently weird. As far as I could tell they weren't in English, but I don't even know if this is any language...either way, emotion is universal and this album has plenty of it.

Each song is simply titled "Track 1," "Track 2," and so on, and starts off with a quietly haunting melody. Throughout the album, the tension and power builds until to reach the final song which is so forceful and explosive that it just blew me away.

As you can guess by my reuse of words throughout this review, words really can't describe this CD. It's an intense experience from start to finish, and one that should be experienced as such. Don't listen to a few songs and get back to them later; this needs to be listened to in one sitting the first go around. You won't regret it.

Once: The Best Movie You've Never Seen

Words cannot express how much I love this film, but I'm going to attempt anyway. It's got great performances, a simple yet emotional story, and some of the best music I've ever heard. If anyone who knows me is reading this, they already know what movie I'm talking about. It's my favorite movie. You will discover that you will only find a film that is this good...

Once.

How cheesy was that? Oh well. Once is an incredibly simple story. Basically, it follows the story of a struggling musician who works as a hoover repairman and is currently dealing with a nasty break-up. One day while performing on the street, he meets a girl: a fellow musician with--you guessed it--a broken vacuum. Discovering each other's musical skills, the movie follows the course of a few days where they write, record, and perform songs together that may just have more meaning than they first expected.

While this may sound like a cheesy Hollywood chick flick, it's pretty much the opposite. Instead of big name actors, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are assigned to the respective roles of the guy and the girl, and they do a fantastic job at not only portraying emotion during songs, but also during dialogue. For first time actors, they play the parts incredibly naturally---to the point where it feels like you are watching a documentary instead of a low budget Irish film.

The music is simply incredible. From the Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly that is beautiful in its simplicity (much like the film), to the slowly-building explosion of sound that is When Your Mind's Made Up, to the pure cry of pain that is Say It To Me Now, each and every song carries such emotion that you won't see it coming until it sneaks up and takes you along for the ride.

I really can't recommend this film enough. It's the best movie I've ever seen. From the hilarious opening to the absolutely pitch-perfect final frame (seriously, it's probably the best ending I've ever seen in a film), I just don't know how someone couldn't have enjoyed this film. It's got so much pure heart and emotion and such excellent music that you need to go out and rent this--no, BUY this---right now. For film's sake: see this movie. At least once.

Trailer:

Wanted: Woah.

If Wall-E was one of the most brilliant movies I've ever seen, Wanted is one of the coolest. It's not high-art, it's not meant to be taken seriously, and it's one of the most adrenaline-pumping action movies I've seen. What a summer for movies!

From the opening action sequence where a man literally jumps from one sky scraper to another, the movie lets you know its not exactly following the laws of physics. The story follows lowlife Wesley Gibson, a guy whose girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend, a guy who lets his boss rip into him constantly, and basically a guy that just lets the world trample all over him. Enter Fox: a seductive assassin who tells Wesley that his father was one of the greatest assassins in the world, and that he was killed. Almost seconds after she reveals this, she reveals that the man who killed him not only wants to kill him, but is standing right behind him. After yet another high-powered action sequence, Fox brings him to the Fraternity: an assassin's bureau that eliminates evil. From here on Wesley starts on a quest to train and become an assassin that can fight and kill the man who killed his father.

If this all seems rather cliche, that's because it is. The story does have a few surprising twists that you may or may not see coming, but really, it's just an excuse to have some of the most explosively over-the-top and creative action sequences to hit the silver screen since The Matrix. You've got bullets curving, colliding, and taking out so many people that the bullets pretty much become their own character in the story. A sequence with a shootout on a high-speed train is the most thrilling scene I've seen in ages, and you'll be gasping at the pure awesomeness of the climax.

The cast is surprisingly great, featuring James McAvoy (with convincing American accent), Angelina Jolie, and Morgan Freeman as the head of the Fraternity. You also get to hear Freeman spout off TWO of the funniest lines I've heard this year.

Really, this movie isn't about Oscars or trying to send a message: it's about blowing up and taking out as many people as possible and doing it in the most entertaining way possible. If you were disappointed by the lack of action in this year's summer blockbusters, go see Wanted immediately. It has more action than all of those movies combined, and WAY more style.

Trailer:

Haha.

I love my absolutely atrocious handwriting in my title.

It has a certain charm to it, eh?

I'll fix that later. Hopefully.

Wall-E: Brilliant.

So, Pixar has released yet another movie and, as to be expected, it has received rave reviews. Does it live up to the hype?

Yeah.

In all honesty, this is probably one of the most brilliant films I've had the pleasure of viewing. It's hilarious, it has great social commentary, and it is probably the best love story I've ever watched.

What's that? The best love story in an animated film? Blasphemy! Madness! Sparta! Overplayed jokes! Seriously, Wall-E is probably the most touching movie I've watched since Amelie.

I've got to be honest. I haven't cried in three years. I didn't cry at the last funeral I went to (am I a terrible person?). I ALMOST cried during Wall-E at about three different parts. The characters, although they are robots, are more human and real than most of the actors working in Hollywood today. In a movie like Atonement, you feel bad that the lovers are separated and give those longing looks at each other. In Wall-E, Eve and the titular character call out to each other with such emotion that I couldn't help but be won over by them.

Not to mention the movie is incredibly dark for a G-rated film. I mean we are technically talking about the first post-apocalyptic family film here. Kids probably won't notice, but for teens and adults they will be getting a much stronger message out of this film than the youngans.

I have currently seen this film twice, and without a doubt it is the best animated film of the year, the best Pixar movie to date, and the best movie of the year so far.

Here's a trailer for you uninformed people out there:

I Can't Believe I Just Made A Blog

Stick me in a Starbucks with a college hoodie on and call me "indie." I feel so cliche about this whole thing, but I'm bored (as you may have guessed from the title of the blog...), Myspace bothers me, and Facebook doesn't really have a blog feature.

Therefore, I have just created a blog :-\

Ooh, it saves as you type? That's cool.

Wow, this is extremely uninteresting. Anyway, I plan to just add some cool videos and some pictures I find and stuff to show to apparently absolutely no one, unless of course they stumble upon this blog.

Well, there ya go. I'm thinking I'll make some movie review posts, since that's basically one thing I do a lot: go to movies.

Fare thee well, whoever may read this.