1. Local Natives: Gorilla Manor
2. Suckers: Wild Smile
3. The National: High Violet
4. Shearwater: The Golden Archipelago
5. Frightened Rabbit: The Winter of Mixed Drinks
6. The Tallest Man on Earth: The Wild Hunt
7. Spoon: Transference
8. Broken Bells: Broken Bells
9. Blitzen Trapper: Destroyer of the Void
10. Band of Horses: Infinite Arms
Honorable Mention: The Morning Benders, Titus Andronicus, Janelle Monae, Big Boi, The Roots, Avi Buffalo, Sleigh Bells, Josh Ritter
Friday, July 23, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Inception Review
Masterpiece. Incredible. Amazing. Easily the best film of 2010. These are just a few of the words I would use to describe Inception. For those of you that don't know Inception is the new film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the same director that made Memento and The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan apparently started writing this film when he was 16 and then spent the better part of the past 10 years perfecting it and perfecting it he did.
I should probably start with a little rundown of what the film is about, which may be hard to do without giving away to many details. Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, a man who is an expert at accessing peoples dreams and extracting information for them. Cobb is hired by Saito, played by Ken Watanabe, to go beyond extracting information by trying to implant information instead. This is known as Inception and it is something that has never really been tried before. Cobb must construct a team that will help him complete this task. Cobb recruits his usual partner, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), along with Eames (Tom Hardy), Ariadne (Ellen Page), and Yusuf (Dileep Rao). The man whose mind they are to enter is Robert Fischer Jr (Cillian Murphy), he is the son and heir of a company that rivals Saito's. This is where I should stop with the plot synopsis.
Once Cobb and his team enters Fischer's mind, that is where the fun begins. This is when the mind boggling special effects start coming at you one after another. One of the best scenes in the movie is one you may recall from the trailers. This is where Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Arthur, is in a hotel hallway and he encounters some security guards and the hallway begins to rotate. Arthur and the security guards are chasing each other while climbing on the walls, ceiling and floor. It's pretty hard to describe but when you see it, you can't help but be blown away. This is just one of many scenes throughout Inception where you just shake your head and wonder how they did that. I look forward to the DVD so I can watch the making of featurettes for these scenes.
I remember seeing The Dark Knight opening night and being blown away and feeling that it was absolutely incredible. Once again that is how I walked out after seeing Inception. When trying to decide which one I enjoyed more I have to say Inception. With Inception there was not one single dull moment, I was never bored. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and kept being blown away with the special effects. And after the movie you can't help but want to sit down and discuss it. If you are like me you will immediately want to see it again.
Inception is by far the best movie of 2010. It's got the action of a big summer blockbuster and a great original story that you don't see anymore in this age of remakes and sequels. Go see Inception and be blown away. You will want to see it multiple times and will have many highly entertaining discussions about it. Stop reading this and go see it NOW!!!
I should probably start with a little rundown of what the film is about, which may be hard to do without giving away to many details. Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, a man who is an expert at accessing peoples dreams and extracting information for them. Cobb is hired by Saito, played by Ken Watanabe, to go beyond extracting information by trying to implant information instead. This is known as Inception and it is something that has never really been tried before. Cobb must construct a team that will help him complete this task. Cobb recruits his usual partner, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), along with Eames (Tom Hardy), Ariadne (Ellen Page), and Yusuf (Dileep Rao). The man whose mind they are to enter is Robert Fischer Jr (Cillian Murphy), he is the son and heir of a company that rivals Saito's. This is where I should stop with the plot synopsis.
Once Cobb and his team enters Fischer's mind, that is where the fun begins. This is when the mind boggling special effects start coming at you one after another. One of the best scenes in the movie is one you may recall from the trailers. This is where Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Arthur, is in a hotel hallway and he encounters some security guards and the hallway begins to rotate. Arthur and the security guards are chasing each other while climbing on the walls, ceiling and floor. It's pretty hard to describe but when you see it, you can't help but be blown away. This is just one of many scenes throughout Inception where you just shake your head and wonder how they did that. I look forward to the DVD so I can watch the making of featurettes for these scenes.
I remember seeing The Dark Knight opening night and being blown away and feeling that it was absolutely incredible. Once again that is how I walked out after seeing Inception. When trying to decide which one I enjoyed more I have to say Inception. With Inception there was not one single dull moment, I was never bored. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and kept being blown away with the special effects. And after the movie you can't help but want to sit down and discuss it. If you are like me you will immediately want to see it again.
Inception is by far the best movie of 2010. It's got the action of a big summer blockbuster and a great original story that you don't see anymore in this age of remakes and sequels. Go see Inception and be blown away. You will want to see it multiple times and will have many highly entertaining discussions about it. Stop reading this and go see it NOW!!!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Inception Preview
Today is the release day for the new Christopher Nolan film called Inception. This is Nolan's first film since The Dark Knight which set box office records all over the place. Inception has an incredible cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Caine.
Inception is a film that has been on my radar for quite sometime now, initially because I have enjoyed all of Christopher Nolan's films and lately because of how incredible the cast is and how original the story is. One of my very first encounters with this film was a teaser website that was created that contained only a spinning top. When I came across this website, I loved it. It appeared that this movie would have the same viral marketing campaign that The Dark Knight had. Thats also when I decided I wasn't going to engulf myself in the viral marketing like I did with The Dark Knight. I decided that I was going to try and stay in the dark when it came to Inception. I wasn't going to read any articles about it, watch any featurettes about it and learn to much about it's plot. Inception just seems like the type of film where going in knowing nothing will make it more of an experience.
As the release date has gotten closer and closer it's been a lot harder to not find out too much about Inception. One thing I have decided to let myself know is the reviews the film has been getting. I haven't been reading the reviews word for word to prevent any major plot details and scene breakdowns but I have been reading the summaries to see if the reviews are positive or not. Not surprisingly a majority of the reviews have been extremely positive. Many of the reviews are calling Inception the best film of the year and Nolan's masterpiece. They say that this could be the film that gives Christopher Nolan the Best Director Oscar nomination he so rightly deserves and a great chance to win the Best Picture award at the Oscars. Not all the reviews have been positive. A few of the negative reviews say that the film lacks emotion and can be quite confusing. But given the strong nature of the positive reviews, I have extremely high expectations for this film.
Tonight I will be seeing Inception at the IMAX so stay tuned for a review. I look forward to being blown away from this film like I was with The Dark Knight.
Inception is a film that has been on my radar for quite sometime now, initially because I have enjoyed all of Christopher Nolan's films and lately because of how incredible the cast is and how original the story is. One of my very first encounters with this film was a teaser website that was created that contained only a spinning top. When I came across this website, I loved it. It appeared that this movie would have the same viral marketing campaign that The Dark Knight had. Thats also when I decided I wasn't going to engulf myself in the viral marketing like I did with The Dark Knight. I decided that I was going to try and stay in the dark when it came to Inception. I wasn't going to read any articles about it, watch any featurettes about it and learn to much about it's plot. Inception just seems like the type of film where going in knowing nothing will make it more of an experience.
As the release date has gotten closer and closer it's been a lot harder to not find out too much about Inception. One thing I have decided to let myself know is the reviews the film has been getting. I haven't been reading the reviews word for word to prevent any major plot details and scene breakdowns but I have been reading the summaries to see if the reviews are positive or not. Not surprisingly a majority of the reviews have been extremely positive. Many of the reviews are calling Inception the best film of the year and Nolan's masterpiece. They say that this could be the film that gives Christopher Nolan the Best Director Oscar nomination he so rightly deserves and a great chance to win the Best Picture award at the Oscars. Not all the reviews have been positive. A few of the negative reviews say that the film lacks emotion and can be quite confusing. But given the strong nature of the positive reviews, I have extremely high expectations for this film.
Tonight I will be seeing Inception at the IMAX so stay tuned for a review. I look forward to being blown away from this film like I was with The Dark Knight.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
World Cup Final
Ladies and gentlemen, today is the day we have been waiting for, the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final. For the past month the best soccer the world has to over has been on display in South Africa. Today it all comes down to a historic match between the Netherlands and Spain. Neither team has one the World Cup before.
To reach the finals, the Netherlands had to win Group E, then beat Slovakia (2-1), Brazil (2-1) and Uruguay (3-2). All games were close and extremely enjoyable to watch. The Brazil game wasn't 100% watchable since I wanted Brazil to win, but as a soccer fan it was a good game to watch. The leading scorer for the Netherlands is Wesley Sneijder who currently has 5 goals, putting him in a tie for the Golden Boot, which goes to the leading goal scorer throughout the entire World Cup.
For Spain to reach the finals, they had to win Group H, then beat Portugal (1-0), Paraguay (1-0), and Germany (1-0). Looking at that road to the final, you can tell they had a tough road. Portugal was ranked the 3rd best team in the world and Germany was probably the hottest team in the World Cup. Spain also has a player on their team that is tied in the lead for the Golden Boot, David Villa. Villa has actually scored 5 of the teams 7 goals.
When you look at both teams, it's hard to determine which one will win the game. Spain has been winning low scoring games showing that they are strong defensively. Netherlands has been showing that they are strong offensively by winning high scoring games. So which style of play will win when it all matters? I put my money on Spain, I mean they do always say defense wins championships. But I also feel that Spain has the quality of players with David Villa and Fernando Torres to score plenty of goals to win the game. I have a feeling this game will be a classic and go down as one of the greatest World Cup games ever. No matter who you want to win, enjoy the last game in what has been a great month of soccer.
To reach the finals, the Netherlands had to win Group E, then beat Slovakia (2-1), Brazil (2-1) and Uruguay (3-2). All games were close and extremely enjoyable to watch. The Brazil game wasn't 100% watchable since I wanted Brazil to win, but as a soccer fan it was a good game to watch. The leading scorer for the Netherlands is Wesley Sneijder who currently has 5 goals, putting him in a tie for the Golden Boot, which goes to the leading goal scorer throughout the entire World Cup.
For Spain to reach the finals, they had to win Group H, then beat Portugal (1-0), Paraguay (1-0), and Germany (1-0). Looking at that road to the final, you can tell they had a tough road. Portugal was ranked the 3rd best team in the world and Germany was probably the hottest team in the World Cup. Spain also has a player on their team that is tied in the lead for the Golden Boot, David Villa. Villa has actually scored 5 of the teams 7 goals.
When you look at both teams, it's hard to determine which one will win the game. Spain has been winning low scoring games showing that they are strong defensively. Netherlands has been showing that they are strong offensively by winning high scoring games. So which style of play will win when it all matters? I put my money on Spain, I mean they do always say defense wins championships. But I also feel that Spain has the quality of players with David Villa and Fernando Torres to score plenty of goals to win the game. I have a feeling this game will be a classic and go down as one of the greatest World Cup games ever. No matter who you want to win, enjoy the last game in what has been a great month of soccer.
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