Check It Out: Music Edition 2

Check Out:
Paolo Nutini ~ Last Request (song)
Rooney ~ When Did Your Heart Go Missing, All In Your Head (songs)
Earlimart ~ Mentor Tormentor (album)

*If you like these, you might also like
Mika
Feist

The Bourne Ultimatum (Short)

director: Paul Greengrass
writer: Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, George Nolfi

My name is Jason Bourne.
Or not.
Who needs a name when you can kick ass and look hot doing it?

rating: ****/***** (a fun flick)

recommendations: The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, Casino Royale (2006)

Check It Out: Music Edition 1

Introducing a new section - I will occasionally list things (artists, songs, shows, sites, etc.) I think are worth checking out.

And in this entry - music.
Now, I'm no music reviewer (in truth, I'm not all that qualified to be a movie reviewer besides the fact that I watch movies, so in that respect, I listen to music) but I like to think I have some taste in it. So...

Check Out:
The Perishers ~ Let There Be Morning (album)
Shout Out Louds ~ Howl Howl Gaff Gaff (album)
Oppenheimer ~ Oppenheimer (album)

*If you like these, you might also like
Kings of Convenience
Ok Go
The Blow
The Submarines

Hot Rod

director: Akiva Schaffer
writer: Pam Brady

Remember when Nacho Libre was supposed to be the next Napoleon Dynamite, but really it turned out to be a Wes Anderson film-wannabe?
Well, here's the next candidate - Hot Rod (which contains a scene that's Wes Andersonian, in contrast to the whole film).
Hot Rod is like Napoleon Dynamite meets an SNL Digital Short, or should I say SNL Digital Long?
Popular SNL Digital Shorts include Lazy Sunday (about Chronic-What?-cles of Narnia and Magnolia Bakery's cupcakes) and Justin Timberlake's Dick in a Box. And if you still have no idea what these are, then you obviously don't have too much time on your hands.
The SNL Digital Short comparison is inevitable since the movie features several SNL cast/crewmates (current Andy Samberg and Bill Hader, former Chris Parnell, writer Jorma Taccone, writer Akiva Schaffer as director, and even Lorne Michaels as producer).

Whereas Napoleon Dynamite was a comedy about serious characters, Team Hot Rod makes you suspect that deep down they know how uncool they are but are proud nonetheless - which makes them kinda cool.

rating: ***1/2/***** (a fun flick)

recommendations: Napoleon Dynamite, Bottle Rocket, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Wet Hot American Summer

1 Show, 5 Days/Nights, 43+ Hours, 130+ Episodes... My stint as Naruto's Bitch

Ah, Naruto, my tenacious, nine-tailed friend.
I took you on, got beaten down, but ultimately survived. And so goes most of the fights on the show.

Naruto, a popular anime (Japanese animation), started in 2002 and was originally a manga (Japanese comic book). Currently there are 10 seasons of 220 episodes. A continuation or Naruto: Shippūden starts a couple years after the story leaves off when the characters are a bit more mature.

Ninjas are the way of life. And we follow young Naruto and his friends as they become more accomplished ninjas through various, episode-intensive fights.

Do not underestimate the addictability of this show because it is a cartoon. There's a reason for its popularity - amongst children and nerds, yes, but many, many people nonetheless.
Warming: Do not attempt unless willing to sacrifice part of your social life/image.

recommendations: Bleach, One Piece, Dragonball

Conversations with Other Women DVD (Short)

director: Hans Camosa
writer: Gabrielle Zevin

A work in split screen makes for unique view of a couple with more to them than it first seems.

Special features include audio commentary, interviews, and technical featurettes.

rating: ***1/2/***** (interesting indie)

recommendations: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Sliding Doors

Sherrybaby DVD (Short)

director: Laurie Collyer
writer: Laurie Collyer

Happy endings are good for films (or at least for box offices).
But sometimes people need to know that things just don't end with people becoming better - sometimes the best we can do is to hope to change because sometimes we can't change at all. Those are just circumstances, that's just life.
People are very flawed - don't expect them to be unflawed by the end.

There are no special features.

rating: ***1/2/***** (an indie find)

recommendations: Secretary, Thirteen, Mysterious Skin, The Station Agent

Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) (Short)

director: Guillermo del Toro
writer: Guillermo del Toro

Touted as an "adult fairytale," this dark and violent Spanish film lives up to its description.

rating: ****/***** (a definite-see)

recommendations: Finding Neverland, The Devil's Backbone, MirrorMask, Grave of the Fireflies

Children of Men

director: Alfonso Cuarón
writer: Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton

What would the world be without the sound of children? Quiet, perhaps, at first. But people would not go down without a fight. And fight they do.

Twenty years in the future, women are infertile from no discernible cause. Whatever the reason, mankind has lost hope. The world looks bleak and apocalyptic.

And it's all up to Clive Owen to save humanity. I can believe that, and I say this without a smidge of sarcasm. It is up to him to deliver a miraculously pregnant woman to the Human Project. Although the specifics of this clandestine and perhaps mythological organization is never revealed, it and the girl are the last vestige of a continuing future.

This surprisingly action filled film rightly never dwells too long on the implications of a childless world. Instead, it shows the chaotic remains of mass hopelessness, and the incredible human spirit and will to survive.

rating: ****1/2/***** (a must-see)

recommendations: Black Hawk Down, Gattaca, Saving Private Ryan, Code 46