REM is a big rock band, but this album suggests they’re at their best when the music isn’t led by big rock guitars. The best songs are the exceptions to the rule; the ones that take a more subtle approach in the way of sonics.
How The West Was Won wouldn’t sound out of place in a jazz lounge. E-Bow The Letter flirts with a country twang. Electrolite, which takes you up LA’s Mulholland Drive, is a thing of beauty. The heavier stuff can’t quite compare.
my rating : 3 of 5
1996
REM return from their trip Around The Sun at godspeed. The songs are faster, conceptually edgier and, thanks to the help of grunge producer Jacknife Lee, more rock-and-roll than anything they’ve released in the past several years. If those last few albums were polished down to a nice elegant sheen, this one is, right out the gate from the opening guitar riff, a throwback to the old dirty garage band days. While I have no problem with the relaxed post-party digression REM began once Bill Berry fell from the tree, there’s a certain nostalgic charm to this sudden return to form.
Lacking are the songs. In the way of sonics, the album sounds like vintage REM. The guitars are set louder in the mix, sometimes with a mild distortion effect to give them a hardcore rock vibe. Michael Stipe is still a wonderful, if ambiguous, wordsmith, but, even with Mills harmonizing softly in the background, there are few melodies to match. Until The Day Is Done stands as one of their best songs, the chorus on Man-Sized Wreath is fun and Sing For The Submarine is catchy, but, at a mere 34-minute stretch, the album doesn’t have enough melodic gas to go the distance.
my rating : 3 of 5
2008
I’m generally amused at the thought of a person being inconspicuously annoyed by another, especially when I’m around them being around each other. So this comedy; about a psychiatrist who meets what quickly becomes his most exasperating patient; is best during its first half when doctor Leo is still trying, on some level, to hide his contempt for Bob. The more obvious Leo is with his behavior and the more likeable Bob becomes to everyone other than Leo, including those of us watching the movie, the less funny it all is.
my rating : 3 of 5
1991
3 is better than 2. I’ll give it that. It’s about on-level with the movie that introduced this increasingly more unnecessary string of Blair ghost sequels. If they end it here, perhaps it will stand as a decent trilogy; notably better than, say, the Poltergeist series. But there’s almost a better chance of real ghosts and demons existing than that happening. This series; each entry of which is presented by a different director, though that fact isn’t obvious from watching them; will probably long overstay its welcome.
Let me just make it clear that I don’t like any of these movies. And I especially don’t like the way this one ends. Going to Grandma’s house was a bad idea for the plot. But the story before that point is thoroughly decent, which is surprising because, when it comes to movies, it seems part threes are rarely better than part twos. It’s another prequel; revolving around, or panning back and forth on, Katie and Kristi as little kids. Katie, I think, is about eight years old, so this is where their demonic hauntings begin.
my rating : 3 of 5
2011
video review : Paranormal Activity 4
video review : Paranormal Activity : The Marked Ones
video review : Paranormal Activity : The Ghost Dimension
video review : Paranormal Activity : Next Of Kin
A fictional video experiment presented as a real one, à la The Blair Witch Project, is only scary if you subscribe to its ideology. If you believe there really is a such thing as ghosts and demons, I imagine the realism of this movie; enhanced by improvised character dialogue and the fact that the perspective never leaves that of the camera that is supposed to be capturing it all; will create quite a creepy experience for you. If you don’t believe, the whole thing might seem sort of silly.
I don’t believe, but I don’t think that’s ever stopped me from enjoying a supernatural horror flick before. The difference here is that, stripped of traditional scare tactics or even non-diegetic background music, the flick relies on not much more than the notion that the underlyng concept is real in order to be effective. That leaves a lot of mere observation; watching the people interact while waiting for something truly uncanny to happen; where there should be dreadful tension.
The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs or a knock on the bedroom door when no one else should be in the house doesn’t do it for me. For all I know, that could be a human intruder trying to scare people. So I think the two main characters, and the “psychic” they call to help get rid of their problem, are too quick to jump to supernatural conclusions. Even when it becomes evident that something weird really is going on, you still can’t rule-out the two main characters as the culprit.
Their names are Micah S and Katie F. They are a girlfriend and boyfriend that are “engaged to be engaged”. They live together in a house in San Diego; a house that’s, for lack of a better term, haunted… because this “demon”, who Katie claims has been in her life since she was eight years old, supposedly follows her wherever she moves to. That skepticism goes a long way, becoming less and less so until the end, where things start to get really creepy. By then it’s a little too late.
my rating : 3 of 5
2007
video review : Paranormal Activity 2
video review : Paranormal Activity 3
video review : Paranormal Activity 4
video review : Paranormal Activity : The Marked Ones
video review : Paranormal Activity : The Ghost Dimension
video review : Paranormal Activity : Next Of Kin
There was some media chatter during Casey Anthony’s murder trial that suggested her physical appearance worked in her favor. I have my doubts about that. I think she’s sort of attractive, particularly in the face, but I don’t think she’s that attractive. The obvious flaw is the prominent puffs under her eyes. Aside from assuming she’d look better without than with them, it’s a flaw that doesn’t really bother me.
It’s the length of her face I have a problem with. It stretches out vertically pass the possibility of perfection. There’s some natural beauty there, but I think she would look cuter if her face were more rounded. There’s a little heap at the tip of her nose, but her mouth is just right and I like her little pop-up ears. As with any girl, I’d try not to get her pregnant, but she’s someone I certainly wouldn’t mind having sex with.
my rating : 3 of 5
2012
![audio review : My Life 2 [ The Journey Continues ] ( album ) ... Mary J Blige](https://marcellee.com/posts/4845.jpg)
“If you gon do it,” Puff says in regard to Mary J Blige talking to him about making a sequel to her My Life album, “You know you gotta come with it, girl.” He should know. He produced it. But that was back in 1994 and a lot has changed since then. It’s been seventeen years and Mary J Blige isn’t the “girl” she used to be.
That fact, of course, has little to do with this album, which, like part 1, revolves almost exclusively around “love”. Perhaps they should be titled My Love Life because even the most obsessive romantic has other things going on in life, especially if they happen to be one rich and famous enough to befriend Beyoncé.
Their duet, which teaches men how to Love A Woman, is a gag, but it goes down easier than the Chaka Khan cover. The music, provided by the hip-hop producers of the day; Diddy only talks on the Intro; sounds fresh enough. I’ll leave whether or not this sequel compares to the “classic” original up to the fans.
my rating : 3 of 5
2011
New Stevie Wonder albums feel epic these days because he’s an iconic song artist, yes, but also because they’re so far and few between. Conversation Peace was released a decade ago and, if you consider the Jungle Fever soundtrack too conceptual to be considered an official Stevie Wonder album, the previous one (Characters) was released almost a decade before that. At this rate, A Time To Love will have to hold fans for a long time. Is it up for such a challenge?
As far as music instruments go, most everything here sounds fresh and new. Hard to find are the poppy snares and cheesy synths his (uptempo) songs took on back in the 1980s and 1990s. Even the dance numbers; What The Fuss and Please Don’t Hurt My Baby, led by fuzzy Parliament-like basslines; sound hip. Neither do I notice any major deterioration in the quality of Stevie Wonder’s voice. It still has that signature whine, which sounds wonderful over a gorgeous melody.
The problem is that as classic as these studio-polished songs, the finale of which nears a full ten minutes, may try to be, they lack that signature Stevie Wonder magic. Moon Blue is romantic and Shelter In The Rain serves as a notable gospel hymn, but most aren’t quite good in contrast to past albums. Even the aforementioned Conversation Peace sounds a little better. There aren’t any standout duds here, but you probably won’t be falling in Love with this album neither.
my rating : 3 of 5
2005
The best part of this album happens during the first song. “I told you I’d love you forever,” Michael Stipe reminds a special someone. When the chorus comes back, with a layer of windswept harmony, it soars.
Around The Sun is mixed and mastered with a soft and pleasant finish; REM has never sounded so lush; but most of its songs are bland. This is evanescent music best played as a backdrop in an airport lobby.
my rating : 3 of 5
2004
From the looks of it, Lily is an adorable little girl. She’s perfectly cute in an odd-eyed space alien sort of way. It’s the high probability that she’s being neglected and possibly abused by her wacked-out parents that puts CPS worker Emily Jenkins into her life. But what starts as a psychological case study gets really eerie really quickly.
The way the movie switches to supernatural horror is actually quite jarring. And not in a good way. The tone is all over the place. So by the time demonic insects start flying out of a guy’s ears, you already know you’re watching something silly. But I like both Lily and Emily. It’s those two characters alone make the movie worth watching.
my rating : 3 of 5
2009
The tension may be high if it’s your first time watching and you don’t know what’s going to happen. Once you do, it seeps out, never to return again. That means this is a movie you can enjoy once or not at all. I enjoyed it once, despite the implausibility of the plot.
It’s about two girls, Marie and Alex, visiting the home of Alice’s family. They plan to stay for a few days, but it doesn’t take long for all heck to break loose in the form of what is presumably the local serial killer arriving at their front porch in the dead of the night.
2003
my rating : 3 of 5
![video review : The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [ The Beginning ]](https://marcellee.com/posts/3552-1.jpg)
In these days of prequels and more prequels, we’re given a chance to witness the birth of Leatherface. Soon helpless teens are running and screaming, trying to escape with their lives and limbs, after a car wreck takes them to his residence; the Hewitt house of horrors.
my rating : 3 of 5
2006