Away We Go

So I just watched the latest Sam Mendes film Away We Go. It was a pleasant surprise to not have the normal 3 year wait between works from Mendes, but kind of a drag to just see him drawing from the same relationship theme he uses in almost all of his films.

The film is about Burt Farlander (John Krasinski, The Office) and Verona de Tessant (Maya Rudolph, SNL) trying to figure out how to live in this crazy world. Verona's pregnant and the couple had been hoping to have the help of Burt's parents with raising the kid. But get this! Burt's parents are moving to Antwerp, leaving Burt and Verona in the dust to raise the baby on their own. But there is a light, this seemingly horrible situation allows our protagonists to relocate to wherever they may please. What follows is a sleugh of incredibly well written supporting roles and looks into each characters pre-each other past.

With a hilarious and down right adorable script by Dave Eggers and his wife Vendela Vida, this film touches up on the reality that many couples are facing in the current economy. It contains characters that the majority of the population could relate to, but sadly these characters are only in the film for about 10 minutes tops. I guess my major gripe with the film was the fact that all my favorite characters were supporting roles. Jeff Daniels, who plays Burt's father, is hilarious and plays his role as a dad perfectly. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a Wisconsin New Ager so perfectly that I found myself hating her but constantly wanting more. And it's not that John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are bad in the film, they play their roles almost perfectly. John plays a slightly more perverted version of his character in The Office, constantly reassuring the fact that Verona will still have boobs after the baby. And Maya Rudolph plays the gentle soul of the relationship, constantly looking for Burt's love. On their own, their performances are great. The thing that I had a hard time believing is their love for each other. They kept saying how in love they were, but the emotions weren't backing it up. This allowed for me to constantly forget that they were together not because Verona was pregnant, but because they were madly in love with each other. And if it weren't for the constant "I Love You"s, I may have thought they were just childhood friends.

All in all, the script is very funny and the performances are excellent. And Sam Mendes' typical film style is clear throughout (especially in the final 15 minutes where there may be only 4 sentences of dialogue [see The Road to Perdition]). I give this film a 4 out of 5.

Spank Rock and Benny Blanco are... "Bangers & Cash"

Alright, first up is this EP between Spank Rock and Benny Blanco entitled "Bangers & Cash". I should get out of the way that Spank Rock's "YoYoYoYoYo" was one of my favorite albums of 2006, so I was incredibly excited for this to come out in 2007. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find it until last week.

The album is a clear tribute to 2 Live Crew. A rap duo that caused quite a bit of controversy in the late 80's and early 90's. And a group that Spank Rock has often sampled, so it is no surprise that they would create this album in homage to them. The EP contains catchy beats from Benny Blanco, sick flows from Spank Rock, samples from 2 Live Crew (duh) & NWA and collabs by friends Santogold, Sylvia Gordon and Amanda Blank (schwing!).

Overall, the EP stands at a short 5-song, 17 minutes and I am fine with that. Spank Rock is heard rapping about fucking bitches and eating pussy on every track and it almost feels like he just has a bunch of shit written and doesn't care what the beat sounds like. Never once does he slow his flow to match what Benny produced or change up the lyrical content. This doesn't mean it isn't good though! Spank is GREAT at what he does and it is more than fitting for this album, it's just bittersweet. The middle songs especially shine, containing an unexpected rap from Santogold on "B-O-O-T-A-Y" and the always spectacular Amanda Blank on "Loose." But the last song ("Bitch!") feels like a G-Unit beat and the rhyme is less than good. It is also the only song which doesn't include a sample from 2 Live Crew and instead uses NWA. But seeing as how there are only 5 tracks, I would have hoped for something a little more memorable. I will give this EP a mediocre 7 out of 10.

Scoring System

Okay so I guess I should explain the system. I am going to have different scoring systems: one for music, one for shows and one for movies.

Music will be scored as follows:

• They will be on a scale of 1-10; the higher, the better.
• Examples of a 10 would be Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation" or Wu-Tang Clan's "36 Chambers." These are albums I can listen to in entirety and never get sick of.
• Thankfully, I have never come across anything atrocious enough to deserve a 1. It would have to be something that was so awful that I wouldn't even be able to stand listening to one song.
  
• I was going to write about what it will be scored based on but that seems just dumb considering each genre is different...

Shows will be scored:

• based on crowd banter
• based on light show
• based on whether or not the band is actually into it
• based on what songs are played (yeah, I know)
• based on presence
• In a scale of 1-5. I will rate each band playing in the night and then an overall score for the show. THIS WILL NOT BE AN AVERAGE.
  

Movies will be evaluated based on:

• Acting
• Screenplay
• Cinematography
• Soundtrack
• Editing
• And in a 1-5. I will take into account each main category and give an appropriate rating. THIS WILL NOT BE AN AVERAGE.
  

Opening Statement

Okay, first reviews will probably start popping up tomorrow. I just feel like I need an obligatory first post. So, here it is.