TV Review: Broad City S3 E01, “Two Chainz”
Published on February 22nd, 2016 in: Comedy, Current Faves, Feminism, Reviews, TV, TV Reviews |
It takes approximately zero minutes for the third season premiere of Broad City to scream, with all the unhinged joy of a Kelly Ripa girls night, that BFFs Abbi and Ilana haven’t missed a beat and that the shit is on.
Music Review: Golden Daze, Golden Daze
Published on February 22nd, 2016 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |By Tim Murr
Shoegaze or Dream Pop was a genre I always liked in theory, but was never really able to embrace back in the early 1990s. So I don’t have a terribly wide frame of reference for reviewing Golden Daze’s self-titled debut, but leaving the album on hours-long loops has been a very enjoyable experience. Does this mean I like shoegaze and dream pop now? I guess so!
Music Review: Emitt Rhodes, Rainbow Ends
Published on February 19th, 2016 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |
Where do we begin with Emitt Rhodes? He began gaining notoriety as the leader of 1960s band the Merry Go Round, who had the hits “Live” and “You’re A Very Lovely Woman.” In 1971, he released his critically acclaimed eponymous debut and the reputation as a “one-man Beatles,” so pure were his power pop hooks (and the fact that he wrote, produced, and recorded his album in his studio). He released Farewell To Paradise in 1973 and then… radio silence. Bad deals, shady contracts, it’s not a new story.
Music Review: Santigold, 99¢
Published on February 18th, 2016 in: Current Faves, Feminism, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |
Santigold’s follow up to 2012s dark Master Of My Make-Believe, is 99¢, a brighter, single-packed outing. She’s joined by a passel of new collaborators, including Rostam Batmanglij, Zeds Dead, Haze Banga, and Sam Dew. Her new tracks are inventive and fresh, exploring the current commercial nature of our culture. “We have no illusion that we don’t live in this world where everything is packaged. People’s lives, persona, everything, is deliberate, and mediated. It can be dark and haunting and tricky, and freak us out, but it can be also be silly and fun and we can learn to play with it,” she says.
TV Review: The X-Files Episode 5, “Babylon”
Published on February 17th, 2016 in: Current Faves, Reviews, Science Fiction, TV Reviews, We Miss The Nineties |
This week’s episode of The X-Files: The College Years gives us hope, but in the totally wrong way, leaving the viewer just as confused about the diretion and meaning of the entire series as Mulder and Scully are about the existence of God. Where the hell did this brilliant episode come from? Compared with everything else we’ve gotten from the reboot, this episode is as unexpected as hearing your toddler recite the Iliad in the original Latin while loading her diaper up during Yom Kippur.
Blu-Ray Review: Pieces
Published on February 17th, 2016 in: Blu-Ray, Current Faves, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Horror, Movie Reviews, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |
Horror fans have known for decades that there is no other movie quite as delightfully crazy banana-pants as Pieces. With the infamous tagline, “You don’t have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre,” Pieces honestly attempts to be a straight-ahead horror film. It’s not.
TV Review: Outsiders S1 E02, “Doomsayer”
Published on February 17th, 2016 in: Current Faves, Reviews, TV, TV Reviews |
The second episode of Outsiders, “Doomsayer,” continues to lay the groundwork for what we know will escalate into the violence and bloodshed we’ve come to expect from those living on the fringe butting heads with law enforcement agencies. Art imitates life after all. This episode has several points of interest, including our first look at the Circle of Elders, a “pitfight,” the beginnings of a love triangle, racism masquerading as innocence, corporate scheming, evidence tampering, and what appeared to be an oath of revenge.
Music Review: The Westies, Six On The Out
Published on February 16th, 2016 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |By Tyler Hodg
The Westies’ sophomore album, Six on the Out, eclipses their previous work to set a new precedent, which prior to its release, seemed impossible. The Chicago husband and wife duo builds off of their folk-rock sound and successfully balances a grounded, yet expansive style–both musically and lyrically.
TV Review: Outsiders, S1 E01, “Farrell Wine”
Published on February 12th, 2016 in: Current Faves, Reviews, TV, TV Reviews |
We live in a world where the volume of movies and TV shows based on books or graphic novels–or remakes of movies we loved the first time around–has reached almost epic proportions. So when a new show comes along that is completely original, we should latch on and ride that bull until it stops bucking.
Blu-Ray Review: Jack’s Back
Published on February 12th, 2016 in: Blu-Ray, Current Faves, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |
In 1986, I fell in love with James Spader. Sure, I was 15 and he was 25; and he was an actor and I didn’t actually know him; but it was real to me, damn it. I’d seen him on the big screen in Pretty In Pink, but he reminded me too much of the rich, preppy jackasses I knew in real life for me to develop anything but antagonism for him in reel life. (And what was up with his feathered, John Taylor-in-“The Wild Boys”-video hair, anyway?)
Serendipity intervened shortly thereafter: Tuff Turf was on HBO one night when I was at a friend’s house and that’s when it hit me: this James Spader guy was all right. Better than all right, in fact. As Morgan in Tuff Turf, he was perfect (and woe unto all the guys who didn’t measure up). Thus began my lifelong quest of watching every James Spader movie ever. That’s how I found out about Jack’s Back, released in 1988.