The past several days I have clocked quite a few hours of studying, as I have three exams that I have to take this week (and it's not even finals yet!). But the upside to this is that since I often listen to music when I study, I've discovered a lot of rad new music lately. Basically what happens is I get listening to a song on YouTube, and the new autoplay feature will automatically start a new song. It's usually a track that I've never heard before, so I have managed to stumble across quite a few new songs in the last few days that I've been listening to a lot lately. None of these songs are all that mainstream, so I figured I would share them here on my blog for you all to listen to. Go give these artists some love, enjoy the tunes, and let me know what some of your current favorite songs are!
Years & Years - Worship:
Tei Shi - Bassically:
Mai Kino - Burn:
Grimes - Go:
Glass Animals - Holiest:
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Childhood Movies
I'm sure that every one of us has specific movies that we remember fondly from our childhood, and every time we re-watch them nostalgic memories will come flooding back. Anyway, I though that I would compile a relatively short list comprising the most memorable movies from when I was younger. These movies aren't neccesarily favorite movies of mine; they're simply the ones that really stand out in my memory from when I watched them as a child. I do want to note though that as I am still a fairly young person, these movies may seem pretty recent in the eyes of many people reading this list. If any of you want to share your own "favorite childhood movies" list, don't hesitate to leave a comment. But without further ado, here is my list of the most memorable movies from my childhood:
The Pacifier
The Pacifier was a movie that I loved when I was younger, and I remember watching it numerous times. In all honesty, this film would probably be a hit with just about any kid simply because it's directly marketed for a younger audience. I actually just recently looked this film up on Rotten Tomatoes, and was pretty shocked to see that it only had a 20% rating. I know The Pacifier isn't an amazing movie, but it certainly delivers on providing a pretty good family film that clearly resonated with my childhood self.
National Treasure
I think it's safe to say that National Treasure was probably my favorite movie growing up, and actually still remains one of mine today. This adventure movie clearly appealed to my 8-year-old self, as I remember watching National Treasure many times with my family and truly loving it. Much like the previous film on this list, it has a fairly low rating of 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, but this just goes to show that movie critic reviews clearly have no impact on the mind of a child. Kids just like what they like!
The Core
As a child, I thought The Core was the most epic movie ever. After recently re-watching it, I can truly say that it's probably one of the cheesiest sci-fi movies ever. That's not to say that I don't like it anymore; on the contrary, it's probably my favorite "bad movie." I know that there are so many elements of The Core that make it truly ridiculous, but I can still watch it today and really enjoy it probably because I liked this movie so much as a kid.
The Last Samurai
Okay, now I can fully acknowledge that The Last Samurai is probably a fairly unconventional movie for a young child to watch (it is rated R, after all). But I honestly don't remember being bothered by any of the scenes in this movie when I watched it as a kid. In fact, I remember really enjoying it as a film, and in retrospect this seems a little strange. The Last Samurai is certainly not a film that attempts to appeal to young kids, but for some reason I loved it as a child and still enjoy it today as well.
Left Behind
I don't know where to start with this film. Perhaps the first thing that I should acknowledge is the fact that my childhood memory of watching Left Behind is that my family had it on a VHS tape, and we actually had to rewind it when we finished the movie! I know, right? I'm truly from the age of the dinosaurs. But anyway, in terms of the movie itself I cannot say that I enjoyed it as a child, but it's probably one of the most memorable. When I first saw this movie as a kid, I remember thinking it was a bit strange and really funny. Now, I haven't seen Left Behind in years, but if my memory serves me correctly than I don't want to re-watch it. As an innocent child it seemed like a comedy to me, but today I realize that this film is truly messed up in a number of ways. Left Behind is certainly a memorable movie from my childhood, but maybe that's not a good thing...
The Pacifier
The Pacifier was a movie that I loved when I was younger, and I remember watching it numerous times. In all honesty, this film would probably be a hit with just about any kid simply because it's directly marketed for a younger audience. I actually just recently looked this film up on Rotten Tomatoes, and was pretty shocked to see that it only had a 20% rating. I know The Pacifier isn't an amazing movie, but it certainly delivers on providing a pretty good family film that clearly resonated with my childhood self.
National Treasure
The Core
The Last Samurai
Left Behind
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Movie Review: It Follows
I made the very hesitant decision to go see the 2015 horror flick It Follows a few nights ago. Although I don't consider myself a huge fan of horror movies in general, every now and again they can surprise me and so I decided to give this one a chance. And overall, I can come to the conclusion that it did indeed deliver on this promise.
The film It Follows focuses on the character of Jay, who after sleeping with her boyfriend Hugh is informed by him that she is now haunted by a curse where she will constantly be followed by people who are trying to kill her. She is told that in order to stop herself from being cursed, she must sleep with someone else and pass it along to them. Although shaken from the experience, it's only until Jay starts to notice strange people walking slowly towards her that she starts to believe Hugh. She confides in her sister and friends, who all agree to help her try and put an end to the curse.
My overall impression of It Follows was a good one, and I was thoroughly entertained through the entirety of the movie. I do want to note that for me personally, this movie builds. After the opening scene of the film I was sitting in the theater rolling my eyes at the absurdity of it, but the movie markedly improved as time went on and the plot progressed. But despite the many positive elements that I thought this movie delivered on, it had its fair share of shortfalls as well.
Wanting to end this movie review on a positive note, I'm going to start by explaining what did not work well in It Follows. First, I feel that the overall plot of this movie fell a bit short. Although It Follows certainly delivers on presenting a unique plot that I haven't seen any other horror movie have, it could have been executed much better. Just the fact that this movie is entirely based on a curse that's spread by sex seems ridiculous, almost a bit juvenile. In my opinion it takes this movie down to a slightly lower level than what it had the potential to achieve. Another element of this movie that may be perceived as a negative to some is that It Follows was not scary at all. To me, I would almost classify it as a thriller instead of a horror movie for this reason. To me, a horror movie should make your skin crawl, and give you scares that will make you jump out of your seat. This was not at all the case for me watching It Follows. Although it had an eerie quality to it and could maybe pass for creepy, this movie is nowhere near the level needed to be scary.
Okay, now onto the positives, because there are actually a lot in It Follows. First up, I did appreciate that the plot was refreshingly different from other horror films. Although I think it could have been tweaked a bit to make a better movie, to a degree the unique storyline is a positive element of It Follows. Also, all of the actors were above par in the film, and I especially thought that the lead actress who plays Jay did a good job portraying the uneasiness and fear that her character has throughout the film. But without a doubt, my favorite elements of It Follows are both the visuals and the music. The whole movie has an awesome old fashioned vibe to it, and this adds a really unique filter to the film that somehow makes it seem a bit creepier. Adding to this, I think the decision to film It Follows in Detroit was a great choice. The establishing shots of the dilapidated neighborhoods that are rampant in the area just suited the whole feel of the movie perfectly. One last positive element of It Follows that I want to emphasize is the soundtrack. This was probably my favorite part of the whole movie, just because I've never seen a movie use music in the manner that It Follows does. The music, composed by Rich Vreeland, makes up a huge part of this film. It gets to the point where the soundtrack is in-your-face loud during certain scenes of the movie, but it works well. The music also carries a distinct 80's vibe to it, which perfectly suits the visuals of It Follows.
Ultimately, this movie would not be nearly as effective of a film without its soundtrack.
So to conclude, although I personally enjoyed It Follows I wouldn't recommend it to everybody. However, if you are a thriller/horror movie fan or are just looking to see a movie that's a bit different from most today, I would highly suggest you give it a watch. If nothing else, just go listen to its soundtrack.
The film It Follows focuses on the character of Jay, who after sleeping with her boyfriend Hugh is informed by him that she is now haunted by a curse where she will constantly be followed by people who are trying to kill her. She is told that in order to stop herself from being cursed, she must sleep with someone else and pass it along to them. Although shaken from the experience, it's only until Jay starts to notice strange people walking slowly towards her that she starts to believe Hugh. She confides in her sister and friends, who all agree to help her try and put an end to the curse.
My overall impression of It Follows was a good one, and I was thoroughly entertained through the entirety of the movie. I do want to note that for me personally, this movie builds. After the opening scene of the film I was sitting in the theater rolling my eyes at the absurdity of it, but the movie markedly improved as time went on and the plot progressed. But despite the many positive elements that I thought this movie delivered on, it had its fair share of shortfalls as well.
Wanting to end this movie review on a positive note, I'm going to start by explaining what did not work well in It Follows. First, I feel that the overall plot of this movie fell a bit short. Although It Follows certainly delivers on presenting a unique plot that I haven't seen any other horror movie have, it could have been executed much better. Just the fact that this movie is entirely based on a curse that's spread by sex seems ridiculous, almost a bit juvenile. In my opinion it takes this movie down to a slightly lower level than what it had the potential to achieve. Another element of this movie that may be perceived as a negative to some is that It Follows was not scary at all. To me, I would almost classify it as a thriller instead of a horror movie for this reason. To me, a horror movie should make your skin crawl, and give you scares that will make you jump out of your seat. This was not at all the case for me watching It Follows. Although it had an eerie quality to it and could maybe pass for creepy, this movie is nowhere near the level needed to be scary.
Okay, now onto the positives, because there are actually a lot in It Follows. First up, I did appreciate that the plot was refreshingly different from other horror films. Although I think it could have been tweaked a bit to make a better movie, to a degree the unique storyline is a positive element of It Follows. Also, all of the actors were above par in the film, and I especially thought that the lead actress who plays Jay did a good job portraying the uneasiness and fear that her character has throughout the film. But without a doubt, my favorite elements of It Follows are both the visuals and the music. The whole movie has an awesome old fashioned vibe to it, and this adds a really unique filter to the film that somehow makes it seem a bit creepier. Adding to this, I think the decision to film It Follows in Detroit was a great choice. The establishing shots of the dilapidated neighborhoods that are rampant in the area just suited the whole feel of the movie perfectly. One last positive element of It Follows that I want to emphasize is the soundtrack. This was probably my favorite part of the whole movie, just because I've never seen a movie use music in the manner that It Follows does. The music, composed by Rich Vreeland, makes up a huge part of this film. It gets to the point where the soundtrack is in-your-face loud during certain scenes of the movie, but it works well. The music also carries a distinct 80's vibe to it, which perfectly suits the visuals of It Follows.
Ultimately, this movie would not be nearly as effective of a film without its soundtrack.
So to conclude, although I personally enjoyed It Follows I wouldn't recommend it to everybody. However, if you are a thriller/horror movie fan or are just looking to see a movie that's a bit different from most today, I would highly suggest you give it a watch. If nothing else, just go listen to its soundtrack.
Rating: R
Genre: Horror/suspense
Run Time: 100 minutes
Release Date: March 13, 2015
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
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