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Archives for May 2010
The Bachelor starring Chris O’Donnell and Renée Zellweger
The opening credits start in wide open land with lots of horses running wild. Our narrator/lead character
Jimmy Shannon (Chris O’Donnell) starts his story by telling us that every man (in America) is Mustang (the horse, not the car) at heart. He is too. He is also a happy bachelor who loves dating a variety of women without having to think about getting married. One day he meets Anne (Renée Zellweger) and even though he is still not even dreaming about marriage, he is happy just being with that one women. After a year of bliss, his luck starts to change. All his friends have been getting married inevitably Anne uses the ever-dreaded word “future”. He is the only single guy left in his circle. He decides to do the inevitable and screws up big time. But then something even more dreadful happens- his grandfather dies and leaves him a $100 million. What’s dreadful about it? Jimmy needs to be married in a certain time frame, be married for at least 10 years and have 10 children. What the ****? “Poor” Jimmy proposes to Anne again, screwing up more time. Anne leaves town to visit her folks and Jimmy has no choice but visiting all his exes one by one, a highly diverse list of women who include a feminist, an over-bearing one, a cop, one who is all business, a stockbroker, an opera singer…
So Jimmy spends a lot of time proposing to one wrong woman after another and failing to be engaged, until his friend comes with a “brilliant” idea that’s very entertaining for us the audience and a total nightmare for Jimmy….
The Bachelor is a typical romantic comedy but I am saying it with love and affection. I really do like this movie. I love the idea, the actors, the scenes and the dialogue. Sure, as a modern woman I resent the idea of all men being portrayed as commitment-phobic and women crazy about marriage. I resent the idea that all women see marriage as bliss but men as a nightmare. It might be true for a lot of cases but hey times are changing a little. But who cares? The casting is perfect. If any other guy was giving you all the talk about Mustangs, a girl might be pissed. But hey, it is Chris O’ Donnell. One of the cutest and prettiest actors to date, he lights up the screen and even in his desperate moments, he doesn’t annoy you. He makes you laugh. Put an average guy in there and you would say “Oh, screw you, who would want to marry you, anyway?”. This is a romantic comedy meaning it is (unfortunately) targeted mostly at women and I am being honest.
Brooke Shields and Mariah Carey make very fun appearances. Even though I don’t like Mariah Carey at all, she was the perfect choice as the over-the-top opera singer.
It is a fun romcom with all the regular amount of cheesiness. But the funny bits are really funny and the romantic part is romantic. So if you like the genre, suspend your cynicism for the duration of the film and have fun.
Other Chris O’Donnell Posts
The Three Musketeers starring Chris O’Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland Charlie Sheen
NCIS Los Angeles starring Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J.
Mad Love starring Drew Barrymore and Chris O’Donnell
All Posts on Renée Zellweger
11 Actors, 11 Drastic Weight Changes for Roles: With Christian Bale, Jared Leto, Renee Zellweger
4 Good Movies with Awesome Soundtracks: Shoot ‘em up, Jerry Maguire, Reality Bites and Vanilla Sky
Year of The Black Rainbow by Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock/metal band that recently released its 5th album; Year of the Black Rainbow. It is not uncommon for progressive bands to have an album revolving around one big “theme”/story (Dream Theater, anyone? ) and Coheed and Cambria have made no exceptions here. Frontman Claudio Sanchez has been writing comic books series called The Amory Wars and the albums have always been related to the comics. This last album serves as prequel to the story.
Don’t worry, even if you are not a loyal Coheed and Cambria fan or you’re not into the comic series, you can still enjoy the songs. The album consists of 12 solid songs -15 in the album’s deluxe edition. The first track one is a non-lyrical simple intro and is followed by the energetic The Broken. Labeling the album or the band as simply progressive will be over-simplifying things. Listening to the tracks, you will find elements from progressive rock/metal, hard rock and heavy metal. Some extra electronic touches are especially felt in the song Guns of Summer. Just like any decent metal album, you are offered a few slower tracks to let you catch your breath from all the head-banging, singing along and air-drumming you’re bound to do.
The slower songs are by no means entirely slow. Nor are they boring. These two are called Far and The Black Rainbow. And how slow can a metal song really get? Exactly. You’ll be finding outbursts and fine electric-guitar solos in these two as well.
Far is the 5th track and after that the comic book theme is felt more heavily. While the lyrics make sense even if you don’t know the entire history and the comics, you will no doubt identify more if you have an idea about Sanchez’ The Amory Wars. The deluxe edition comes with the novel so you can catch up.
Fans of the progressive genre will probably appreciate the whole album. If you are more inclined towards hard rock or heavy metal, you might find the first half of the album more engaging and satisfactory. There are no brutal vocals and singer Sanchez knows how to adjust his voice according to the soul of the lyrics. It is overall a fine concept album.
It is also worth noting that the band’s official site has made a good job of engaging the fans with available concert tickets and polls about favorite songs.
Album Review: Alice Cooper, Trash (1989)
I knew about and liked Alice Cooper for a long time before I found the album Thrash. When something is really fun, I remember everything about it. That’s the way my memory works. I bought Trash in 2005, in Norway. As much as I enjoy all of Alice’s songs, this album was made for me- with its perfect guitar riffs and solos and the fun lyrics, with the right cool vocals to match. You can dance to this album and if you can catch up with the songs, I guarantee you’ll be down at least a couple of pounds down once the tracks finish playing. Since I love each and every one of the songs, I described evewry one of them seperately and included a part of the lyrics. Enjoy!
1) Poison: Any rock fan has to know the song Poison surely? It is how us late rock boomers (meaning those who were born in the late 80s and had to discover rock on their own. Thanks to VH1 and later the internet) Cooper. Great Karaoke song and a great way to see how long that breath of yours can last.
“One look could kill
My pain, your thrill
I want to love you, but I better not touch (Don’t touch)
I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too much (Too much)
I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison
You’re poison runnin’thru my veins
You’re poison, I don’t want to break these chains”
2) Spark in the Dark: This is just sexy, saucy, naughty and just fun.
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwGsM_XKDUc[/pro-player]
“Come around midnight
We’ll be crawlin’on the floor
Burnin’with the fever
And yellin’out for more
But don’t you write it in your diary, baby
Don’t blab it on the phone
Cuz if your mom and dad find out
They’ll skin me to the bone
Now we don’t need instructions, baby
Don’t you be afraid
It takes a little friction
That’s how our love is made
From a little spark in the dark”
3) House of Fire: passion, passion and more passion. Hell, yeah!
“House of fire
House of fire, yeah
Let’s build a house of fire, baby
Not one of wood or stone
Walk thru my door of desire, baby
Come on in and make it your home
Don’t need a window to watch you, baby
Don’t need no roof overhead
Don’t need no key to unlock ya, baby
I’ll use my lovin’instead
I won’t tire
Take me higher
Building a house of fire, baby
Buildin’it with our love
We are buildin’a house of fire every time we touch
House of fire”
4) Why Trust You: mistrust, spite and anger. They have never been more entertaining. Boy, Alice Cooper rocks. More than ever.
“You come to me all teary-eyed
With your big tall tale way up to the sky
Begging on your knees for another chance
But everybody knows that’s a song and a dance
There used to be a time when you were the best
You had the fastest tongue in the west
Ya gave a look and a line like nobody else
You’d try to sell the Bible to the devil, Himself
You sadistic little liar
You’re walking on the wire you’re bluffin’up with nothin’
And the bills are gettin’higher
Why trust you”
5) Only My Hart Talkin’: Funny how our groupie-loving bad boys can go romantic better than other genre singers. Screw pop. I mean really. Why would you need a supposedly tear-jerking song when Alice can sing you an electric ballad? Slow in the right places. And faster in all the right ones too.
“Anybody’s dream can fall apart
Anybody’s mask can break
Couldn’t tell you how I wanted you
Enough to make you want to stay
I never said the words out loud
I guess I couldn’t get’em straight
Baby, give me one more chance
Before you walk away
It’s only, only, only my heart talkin’ “
6) Bed of Nails: And romance is over and passion,lust and mischief are back. “No one else gets that deep inside you, As I do, baby”. I am just quoting. Love this song.
“Yeah, we’re gonna fight
We do it every night
Baby, when you scratch
You know I’m gonna bite
You can make me die
I can make you cry
Opposites attract
That’s the reason why
No one else could make you feel
Like I do, I do, I do
No one else gets that deep inside you
As I do, baby
Our love is a bed of nails
Love hurts good on a bed of nails
I’ll lay you down and when all else fails
I’ll drive you like hammer on the bed of nails”
7) This Maniac’s In Love With You: I am totally in love with this album. I adore every single track in it. But I just adore some songs more than the other. This is one of them. Perfect for dancing your butt off to and so cute too. It is so much better when a guy knows what an s.o.b. he is. I am just kidding. But if he is calling himself a maniac, he probably is.
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsDPIYHRfYU&feature=related[/pro-player]
“I used to be so in control
But reality is losing its hold
Now I don’t know where to begin
Just look at the state that I’m in
My mind is in total decay
I’m coming to take you away
There’s nothing more that I can do
This maniac’s in love with you
Your biggest fear has just come true
This maniac’s in love with you
This maniac’s in love with you”
8 ) Trash: And the cute guy is again replaced by the dirty-chick loving regular Joe. Trash is the girl that all guys fantasize about. I wouldn’t get all thrash for Cooper but for some specific rockers, I just might. Below is the audio track.
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wca1aKR8G6Y[/pro-player]
” It ain’t the way you crawl across the Cathouse floor
It ain’t the way you curse me when you slam the bedroom door
It ain’t the way you sweat me for a handful of easy cash
It’s just the way you love me when you turn to trash
Trash
It’s not the way you dress when you socialize, oh those eyes
It ain’t the diamond rock or that Rolls you drive
You can walk the streets with all your uptown flash
But when you hit the sheets you just turn trash
You’re such trash”
9) Hell Is Living Without You: It was time we got romantic once again. One of my favorite slowish rock songs. Well, it is slower than the other songs…right until Alice feels the need to express himself more loudly and passionately. Just terrific. Who gives a crap about Always (Bon Jovi- I love that band-my favorite band actually- but Always is The most overrated Bon Jovi song ever) when there is this song?
“Hell is living without your love
Ain’t nothing without your
Touch me
Heaven would be like hell
Is living without you
Nights get longer and colder
I’m down begging to hold ya
On my own and I feel like hell”
10) I am your gun: And the naughty rocker is back. Another hard-rock song to boogie to. Love this song. Yeah, if any of you is a teenager, don’t listen to this song while your parents are around.
“And if you see me on the street
And you’re burnin’from the heat
There’s a fire down below
You be the target on the bed
I’ll be shooting hot lead
Let me take control
You’re scared little girl in this big, bad town
So easy to sink, so easy to drown
Pull my trigger, I get bigger
Then I’m lots of fun
I’m your gun
I’m your gun, gun, gun
Bite my bullet
Push and pull it
Tell me I’m the one
I’m your gun
I’m your gun, gun, gun”
10 /10. As perfect as glam+hard rock get. If you are a fan of great electric riffs and an ultra-energizing 10-song-album with only 2 songs that barely give you a time to rest, this album is THE ONE. Long live Alice Cooper!
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