THE RUINS

Jena Malone (Saved; Into The Wild) and Johnathan Tucker (Pulse; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003) star in this vacation-gone-very-very-wrong tale.

We meet Jeff (Tucker), Amy (Malone), Eric, and Stacy – four amigos enjoying a nice little vacation in South America – as they are poolside and hungover. Looks pretty good to me. Why would you want to go on an adventure at this point, kids? You’ve only got two days left.

Unfortunately, the damn German shows up and everyone starts making bad decisions. Mathias mentions something about meeting his brother at a “VIP” excavation of an off-the-map Mayan temple.

Hmmm. Stay by the pool, sunning yourself and sipping el pelo del perro? Or take an itchy, buggy, sweaty hike through a jungle in your flip-flops?

Well, I guess I just don’t understand today’s youth.

So they get to this Mayan temple, and right away all hell breaks loose. Some dude rides up on a horse, shouting some damn thing or another, and Amy won’t stop taking pictures! These are supposed to be college kids, here. Hell, I went to a community college and even I know sometimes third-world locals aren’t too fond of the camera.

And then the shouting dude’s friends start showing up and everybody’s got bows and arrows and guns and whatnot and it’s just SO not a relaxing vacation anymore.

But the locals aren’t the only problem. Our amigos quickly find themselves treed with no escape atop this temple where something evil -- and strangely intelligent -- has evolved in this ancient, isolated place of blood sacrifice. And that something is waiting to feast on their flesh.

What to do? I can tell you one thing; you kids should have brought more tequila.
____________________________________________

Redeeming Elements:

- The particular way that the “evil thing” seems to mock the victims.
- Realistic gore, and not really over-the-top considering the situations.

The Basics:

- Nipples: one, briefly, accompanied with nudie-butt
- Pop-up-scares: I wouldn’t define them as “pop-up-scares” more like…well, a series of unfortunate events. Unfortunate, painful, bloody events.
- Drugs/Alcohol/Premarital Sex: Tequila. It’s your friend.
- Shout-outs to other horror movies: I can’t say for sure, but I know that my friend Jordy Verrill was stuck in a somewhat similar situation back in ’82…

RATING: 4 out of 6 chicken wings


(Angie F.)

Speaking of Weezer...

You can listen to 30 seconds of "Pork and Beans" from Weezer's new Red Album HERE.

Man. 30 seconds isn't much, but it totally brings back some good memories.

Apparently, the song was written by Cuomo as a reaction to a meeting with Geffen, where the band was told it needed to record more commercial material. The single should be released next week on Amazon.

(Aaron H.)

New Albums (Coldplay and Weezer)

Coldplay has released track names for their new album (which will be released in the US on June 17th of this year).

The record will be called Viva La Vida (Or Death and All His Friends), which I think is a GREAT album title... And to top it off, it is produced by Brian Eno. Awesome. Just when I thought they were taking a big break.

Here are the track titles:

"Life in Technicolor"
"Cemeteries of London"
"Lost!"
"42"
"Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love"
"Yes"
"Viva la Vida"
"Violet Hill"
"Strawberry Swing"
"Death and All His Friends"
_____________________________________


Weezer's new album is supposed to be coming out in June, as well. Tentatively.
Rumors have spread that it will be another self-titled "color" album, and it is possibly going to be RED...

Weezer needs to stop letting me down and put out another "Blue Album"... C'mon, guys. Even another Pinkerton would be sufficient!

More details soon...

(Aaron H.)

REM - Accelerate

“All your sad and lost apostles hum my name and flare their nostrils…
Choking on the bones you toss to them.
Well I'm not one to sit and spin,
'Cause living well's the best revenge!”
(From "Living Well’s The Best Revenge")

Indeed, R.E.M. is out to prove to us all that they are living well in 2008. After suffering years of tough reviews from critics who longed for the days when the band still featured all four original members (Drummer Bill Berry left in 1997 citing exhaustion after years of touring and a very serious brain aneurysm that nearly killed him), the band was determined to “rock” once again as a four piece. They officially hired Bill Rieflin, who comes from industrial mainstay Ministry, to be their session drummer, and they chipped away at the notion that they’re too old to make a real R.E.M. record. The result is one of the most exciting recordings of the band’s career, and one that will certainly introduce them to an entirely new generation of listeners.

Stipe wrote a strong slate of songs here about love, revenge, and the weight of the modern world. He’s clearly not afraid to embrace the jangle-pop sound that made R.E.M. such a hit with the college crowd throughout the Reagan Administration. However, the band finally sounds full and complete for the first time since New Adventures In Hi-Fi back in 1996. They’ve got the guitars cranked, and the mix definitely creates a full stereo sound for the listener. The great news, though, is that the melodies are not washed away in the wall of sound, as Mike Mills’ background vocals are still allowed their time to shine. This is crucial, because timeless melodies and vocal harmonies are such a cornerstone in the band’s Hall-Of-Fame career. Tracks like “Mr. Richard” absolutely challenge the listener, defying them not to nod their head in approval.

Who knows how much longer we’ll have these guys around? They even seem to admit that inherently with the title of the album, “Accelerate”. Things are moving so fast anymore- sometimes people don’t even have the time to sit and enjoy a full length album like they used to. But I can assure you that listeners who do just that with this particular release will be richly rewarded. The songs are strong, the band sounds great, the lyrics have plenty of depth and meaning (well, except for “I’m Gonna DJ”, though that song is intended to just be a high-energy-release-at-the-end-of-the-album type track)….and that’s why I recommend this release to anyone who has a respect for rock music.

“The vista I see now is changing
Uncertainty is suffocating
Our hope has never felt so great”
(From “Accelerate”)

Rating:

5.5 out of 6 Jack Black Heads

(Chris J.)

Stan Lee and Disney

Comic book legend Stan Lee has set up three projects at Disney, which houses his production shingle POW! Entertainment. The projects have attracted Oscar nominee Richard LaGravenese, scribe Gary Goldman and Robert Teitel and George Tillman Jr. of State Street Pictures.

The projects are based on stories and ideas from Lee, who will executive produce with his POW! partner Gill Champion.

Lee and Champion said the projects are intended to be tentpoles with franchise potential, with the first installments intended to serve as an origin story that lays out the mythology of the plot and characters.

"I only hope Disney will have room at the theme park once they become the tentpole franchises that we envision them to be," Lee joked.

LaGravenese is attached to write and direct Nick Ratchet, revolving around the exploits of a private eye. Sonny Grosso and Larry Jacobson are in talks to produce.

LaGravenese, repped by CAA, last wrote and directed P.S. I Love You. He was nominated for an Oscar for writing The Fisher King.

The action-adventure project Blaze is being written by Goldman (Next), who is repped by APA.

(Aaron H.) - via IMDB.

Just Jazzin'

Ben Gibbard wins the prize for this year's best April Fool's Day joke, in my book...

It's even better than my co-worker taping a 3M post-it under my mouse, and another co-worker switching the bathroom signs-- believe it or not...

Today Gibbard unveiled his new jazzy vibraphone side project, JUST JAZZIN'

"....There's this side of me and my music that desires a lack of structure and Just Jazzin' does that for me because I am allowed to just play whatever note comes into my head."



(Aaron H.)

Cloverfield 2....

Although it hasn't been officially announced in the trades, I've received a scoop that J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot production company is currently filming the sequel to their big monster movie, Cloverfield 2: Smoke in a location very different than that movie's New York... Hawaii! Apparently, the story this time around concerns a movie crew filming on a remote island that finds themselves besieged by a mysterious giant monster seemingly made out of black smoke. Like Cloverfield, the movie will be the found footage after the fact, filmed by the cast and crew during the carnage. Raven-haired action star Kate Beckinsale, chubby Latino funny man Horatio Sans, Harold and Kumar star John Cho and Devon Aoki from Sin City are possibl stars. As well as Billy Boyd (Pippin from the Lord of the Rings movies), Scott Wolf (Party of Five), Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up), Eamonn Walker (Oz), Victor Garber (Alias), Laura Innes (E.R.), Tobin Bell (Saw) and Joseph D. Kucan (the Command and Conquer computer games). It sounds like the success of Cloverfield gave Abrams enough clout and a budget to go with a bigger cast this time around, though I can't quite wrap my mind around this smoke monster thing. Expect Cloverfield 2: Smoke to premiere sometime in February, 2009. Sounds like LOST the movie to me.

Hmmm...

(Aaron H.) - via RottenTomatoes again.

The Shining 2?!?

Continuing their remaking spree that includes plans for horror classics like Rosemary's Baby and The Birds, Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company is reportedly finalizing acquisition to the rights to remake Stanley Kubrick's chilling masterwork, The Shining (itself based on a novel by Stephen King, although with notable changes). This time around, the focus will not be on a struggling writer, but a young "extreme sports" enthusiast who is lured to handle the winter maintenance of the foreboding Overlook Hotel with the bait of being able to have all of the surrounding slopes for his own, exclusive snowboarding, skiing, etc. enjoyment. Platinum Dunes reportedly has their sights on "The Mac Guy" (and costar of Live Free or Die Hard), Justin Long, with Mila Kunis (That 70s Show) a possibility to play his girlfriend Wendy. The character of Danny who was the couple's son in the original movie, will now be aged a bit to become Wendy's quirky teen brother, with Platinum Dunes still scanning shows on the Disney Channel for possible casting choices. The next two bits of casting news reveal that the movie is also not entirely a remake, but a sequel of sorts, as Christian Slater is being eyed to play the ghost of Jack Torrance, Jack Nicholson's character from the 1980 classic, and Bernie Mac might sign on to play the Overlook's current chef, the son of Scatman Crothers' character. In addition to the other obnoxious changes you would expect Platinum Dunes to plaster one of their remakes with, "look forward" to the film's big action-packed finale, which will involve Long chasing his family on a skateboard through a maze of bushes growing on a nearby mountainside, while himself being chased by giant topiary trees (an element actually, sort of, found in the original novel). The movie is expected to have a soundtrack of mostly late '70s disco tracks, to remind us of when the original movie was made, and also as background music for the scenes involving the Jack Torrance ghost.

Oh God! This is so stupid!

(Aaron H.) - a repost from RottenTomatoes

Lazy Friday Work Playlist

So, Fridays ALWAYS go way too slow for me when I'm at work. If I wasn't allowed an iPod at work, I would lose my gourd.

Maybe you're in the same shoes... Here's my Lazy Friday Work Playlist (thanks to the "Shuffle" feature on the iPod), if you're interested:

Yeasayer - 2080
Kunek - A Sign Of Life
Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know What I Can Save You From
The New Frontiers - Mirrors
Ryan Lindsey - An Introspective Personality
Bon Iver - Re: Stacks
Shout Out Louds - Impossible
Earlimart - Nothing Is True
The Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society
Elvis Costello - Watching The Detectives

(Sorry you're not able to download them... Maybe later...)

(Aaron H.)

Entertainment Weekly's "Indie Rock 25" -

EW recently released a year by year list of "the adventurous artists and albums that defined each year from 1984 to the present outside the major label sphere."

But in order to narrow down hundreds of hours of incredible musical output from the last two and a half decades, we had to apply some ... well, rules:

1. Only one album may represent each year (hence the inclusion, in some cases, of
too-hard-to-dismiss runners-up, and a number of difficult compromises we had to make).

2. All the bands had to have been signed to an independent label for the given album (ergo, the absence of Nirvana and the Flaming Lips, whose true genius didn't manifest itself until they graduated to the big leagues, but the inclusion of My Bloody Valentine and the Pixies, who originally signed to small labels in the U.K.).

3. The term ''band'' must be taken literally (thus eliminating otherwise unimpeachable artists like Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens, and Cat Power).

Okay, so...

Here it is...

From past to present:

1984: The Replacements - Let It Be
1985: The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
1986: R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant
1987: Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me
1988: Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
1989: The Pixies - Doolittle
1990: Fugazi - Repeater
1991: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
1992: Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
1993: Built To Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers
1994: Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
1995: Archers Of Loaf - Vee Vee
1996: Belle And Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
1997: Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West
1998: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
1999: Sleater-Kinney - The Hot Rock
2000: Yo La Tengo - And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
2001: The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
2002: Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
2003: The White Stripes - Elephant
2004: Arcade Fire- Funeral
2005: Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
2006: The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
2007: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2008: Radiohead - In Rainbows

How do you feel about that?

(Aaron H.)