In what is not exactly a normal blog follow-up I'll start off by mentioning something from my last blog, that I literally had a tear when I first saw the trailer for The Blind Side, a movie about a book about the true story of Michael Oher, who went from having nothing to being a professional football player. I love good sports movies and this looks like it will be a good one, something that major reviews have indicated, except that of Melissa Anderson from The Village Voice who gave the movie a zero-point-zero. At the time of posting there are 5 comments on Miss Anderson's review, 3 sane and 2 demented. Here's a summary for those who don't want to dive into the BS article:
A link to the whole drivel, for the brave:http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-11-17/film/saintly-white-people-do-the-saving-in-the-blind-side/#Comments
Here are the comments as of my screenshot:
I now put forward this challenge to anyone who agrees with Ms. Dunce, form a logical, intelligent argument defending her position, if not her article. There is no reason to drag racism into this when it clearly wasn't intended, and if you do want to make it an issue, why pretend that the issues that you bring up aren't true?
Melissa Anderson should be discredited as a writer and her review not taken into account of the metascore. Not that I judge a piece of entertainment by its reviews, but I do like to see people's opinions and ones such as this should not be put on a pedestalabove that of any other user.
It has actually been a very mediocre year for movies, but not really a bad year, so I'll just quickly list the ones I liked the most and why.
The Good
Movie of the Year: District 9: See it if you haven't. One of my top movies all-time. That good.
Comedy of the Year: The Invention of Lying: A surprisingly original under-the-radar movie.
Best Action Movie No One Saw: The Tournament: Not perfect, but the best action movie of the year (exception of D9)
Homer Movie of the Year: Underworld-Rise of the Lycans: More than made up for Evolution in my eyes, plenty of other people still hate it.
Adequacy Award: Taken: See it if you haven't. Nothing exceptional, but nothing to criticize really.
Best Comedy No One Saw: Lesbian Vampire Killers: If you love edgy British humor this is a must-see.
Most Overrated Good Movie: Zombieland: I think we all know enough about this one.
Homer Pick #2: Saw VI: Just like Underworld, not for everyone, but my only complaint is how preachy it gets.
The Bad
The I-Tried-to-Like-It Award: Coraline: The only good part was Ian McShane as the cat.
Most Overrated Bad Movie: Watchmen: There was some stuff to like in it, but I just found it boring and disinteresting.
The Ugly
G.I. Joe-Rise of the Cobra: So tempted to put it in Bad, but it is a good, mindless, family-oriented action movie.
Wolverine: So tempted to put it in good, but the failure to utilize good characters puts up too many marks against it.
Terminator Salvation: Not as bad as people say (they get their expectations too high), defines 'average' for action.
Night at the Museum 2: A good family movie, but not much else.
Transformers-Revenge of the Fallen: Want to put it in bad, but it was somewhat enjoyable.
The Unseen (probably good)
Inglorious Bassturds: Tarantino is so hit-and-miss with me I'll always wait for DVD.
Up: Waiting to watch it with family.
Ice Age 3: When I have nothing better to do.
Public Enemies: It's on the list.
The Men Who Stare at Goats: Next on the list.
The Unseen (probably bad)
Push: Heard too much bad for it to be goo,d but have to see it myself.
Knowing: ^^^
Gamer: ^^^
The Unseen (probably ugly)
State of Play: Looks interesting, probably won't get around to it.
Star Trek: Not a Star Trek fan (exception of Next Generation), so might skip.
The Code: There's probably a reason it wasn't popular at all.
Surrogates: Looks good, but I still have doubts.
The Box: On my list, but I just can't take Cameron Diaz seriously.
Outlander:See how this quasi-indy project goes.
Law Abiding Citizen: Lots of mixed noise about this one, have to see it eventually.
I know there are many other "major" releases this year, but I don't have any real interest in them. Come to think of it why did I put Start Trek on the list, I don't want to see it at all. Anyway, movies I'm looking forward to include:
Bad Lieutenant: Watching it if only because of its star power.
The Blind Side: I cried during the trailer. Opening day tickets for me.
Solomon Kane: The name alone sounds so awesome.
Sherlock Holmes: Looks a little over the top, but otherwise good.
Centurian: Shot in the dark.
Also, in case you didn't notice only Underworld and Saw (my 2 dubius picks) were sequels in my top movies. 4 out of the 5 on my bad list were sequels. Hint-hint Hollywood.
So now Lynyrd Skynyrd's God + Guns has been out for a while and I just keep listening to it and the more I listen to it the more I like it. But I started thinking, where is the fanfare? Here are the reasons why this whould be a big release:
-It's their first studio album in 6 years.
-It's their first studio album since being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
-Two of the original band members died this year.
-This is their first (and all signs indicate not last) release with their new label, Roadrunner Records.
-Out of the over 100 new songs that were written, only 15 were hand picked for the record.
-They're coming off a successful world tour.
-They brought in John 5 and Rob Zombie to do some tracks with.
This album has a lot going for it. Yet it was never heavily advertised, nor has it been reviewed. At all. Not by any major review source. No scores for Metacritic to even tally. It doesn't even show up. Not to offend anyone over my ignorance, but Metacritic has reviews for the bands: Baroness, Bad Lieutenant, Costanets, No Age, Kurt Vile, and Mission of Burma. They also have reviews for classic rockers KISS and The Flaming Lips. Why is it that a R & R HoF band and leader of the influencial Southern Rock movement gets no respect at all from the music community? You can say what you want like 'they've changed' or 'its old music' but the fact is that they have had too much success to be cast aside like a wet towel, the aformentioned KISS as well as Bob Dylan and Pearl Jam prove that older bands can thrive off of memory, and yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd has changed, but the changes have broadened their appeal into the Rock and Country spectrums. And lets not forget that Roadrunner is the company that made Nickelback famous, so its not like the studio doesn't have the capability (sorry, Nickelback, as much as I like you there is no reason for you rise to the top of rock).
For this album to be looked over by every trusted music source and not even dent the US rock charts, much less overall charts, is a flat out shame. At least Finland appreciates good music.
