Seven Psychopaths

From the director of In Bruges comes the tale of seven psychopaths fighting over a Shih Tzu. In the comedic vein of Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers, Seven Psychopaths relies on the cringe/dark  side of humor for many of the biggest laughs. And it nails it! The writing is what makes this movie. It's a movie about a struggling writer (Colin Farrell) and his struggles to write his new screenplay entitled Seven Psychopaths. 

When watching this movie, or any movie for that matter, if it ends up involving a movie within a movie (show within a show works as well), be ready for meta jokes and intertextuality. With Seven Psychopaths this is done extremely well. So well that it's hard to even pick up on a lot of them. Obviously the main jokes come from the stories of different psychopaths, but it's done in a Quentin Tarantino-esque way that pulls us into the universe of these characters. The references then, do not detract from the film, but rather make it much more enjoyable.

With somewhat predictable turns the story is laid out for viewers during the one hour and fifty minute runtime, this movie is incredibly entertaining. And while the humor is dark, it allows us to unleash our inner psychopath, whether you think you have one or not. The darkness of the humor does not skimp on gore either. Whether it's body parts flying, gunshot wounds, or blood spatter, the laughs do not stop coming.

The acting on all accounts is good. All the stock characters (read psychopaths) are present, but never have they all been together in one movie. An alcoholic in denial, a mob boss, a man out for revenge, plus four more and you get an outstanding final project. Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, and Sam Rockwell create incredible supporting characters to Colin Farrell's character. And the women, Olga Kurylenko and Abbie Cornish are great as well (despite their limited amount of screen time).

That being said, it's definitely more of a writer's movie. If you enjoy good writing you'll really love this movie. The way the plot keeps the screenplay in the movie central to the overall plot and continually references it makes this seemingly unbelievable story just a little more believable. The characters all have some traits that everybody can identify with.

Take the gore with the humor, release your inner psychopath, and sit back and enjoy this humorous take on a violent kidnapping plot. Make a night of it and watch In Bruges as well. You may be surprised with the things you find yourself laughing at.

8.5/10

Live Music

There are few things in life that I enjoy more than live music and this week I had the opportunity to see three of my favorite artists.

First was William Elliott Whitmore again. (third time in a year and a half I think) He was absolutely outstanding. It's hard to believe that someone can sound as good as he does live. I think my favorite part of his shows is how he doesn't make a setlist, but rather relies on his audience's knowledge of his music. When he finished one, the Majestic theater would erupt with calls of different songs. He spent a large time of this last show playing songs from Animals in the Dark and it was amazing. I can't wait for him to come back.

Finding new artists that I love and want to see live is always fun, but sometimes you need a little nostalgia in your life. Taking Back Sunday and Bayside touring together was that for me. And it made me realize some interesting trends of the people who attend these shows.

"Back in the day" (aka about eight years ago) seeing rock shows was an interesting experience. Kids would show up to a venue ready to look like an individual and lo and behold everyone looked the same. The same swooping hair, often died black with blonde streak, placing me in a sea of skunk-headed people. And that's just the start of the similarities, the tall lanky guys (guilty as charged) were everywhere at these shows, Vans and Chuck Taylors on your feet, and god-forbid you would wear a shirt of the band you were seeing.

Not only were clothes and hair an identity, but so was knowing the opening band. If I heard a band I liked was touring near me I would either immediately research and download the openers or I would look at who the headliner was to see if it was worth going. If you didn't know the opening band you were not going to fit in with the "scene kids." (which looking back, why would you want to?) They always thought they were better than everyone else because they knew the opener and that they knew the band before they were popular.

Going to see Taking Back Sunday now (possibly the seventh time maybe more I've seen them) was an even more interesting experience this time around. First of all they were going to play their first album Tell All Your Friends from beginning to end, something we as fans have been wanting to hear for a long time. This time around instead of lanky guys and "skunky" hair the crowd was (mostly) diverse. There were still the "scene kids" and of course the hipsters, but there were "bros" in flat-brimmed hats, the tall lanky guys "filled out" (read as got fat), and then there were the regular people wearing clothes that fit and just having a great time.

Not only were the people different, but their attitudes were different as well. Instead of being jerks pushing and shoving through the crowd, everyone was polite and said excuse me. It was confusing at first, but then I thought about it a little more and realized that we all used to have to deal with jerk-fans who would push through and step on your feet and just not care. So somewhere along the line of aging we, as a whole, learned to be nice to each other and just enjoy the music.

And enjoy the music I did. Seeing the passion in the singer's face and body language as he yelped out those lyrics from songs written when he was just out of high school. The hatred he had for a girl back then has now become hatred for some of his lyrics. It was cool to see that he outgrew the meaning of the lyrics just like many of us as fans did.

Some things never change. The mosh pits, the screaming every word of every song, and the feeling of compression in your chest from other fans pushing behind you; all the things I've always loved about this kind of show. I never considered a show to be fun for me unless I walked out drenched from head to toe in sweat. Both mine and everyone else's around me. It may sound disgusting, but it's not everyday you get to be within the first five rows of a mosh pit. Not one person this close minds the pushing and shoving here because we're all there to hear the music. It seems that when the band starts playing their set the audience goes into his or her own world and we're brought back only when the last chord of the last song is played and the band leaves the stage.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

For those of you who haven't heard of the new white rapper this post will be a huge favor for you, assuming you enjoy rap and hip-hop. I know quite a few people who still oppose it because it's vile, vulgar, and inappropriate.

However Macklemore's lyrics on his debut album The Heist are some of the smartest and often most inspirational lyrics I've ever heard. And combining these lyrics with production from Ryan Lewis and you'll have a hit album for awhile. Every song is fun to listen to and has intriguing lyrics.

Some I will definitely have to pick up on after a few more listens due to the speed of his rhymes. Most college students have probably already heard one of the first singles: "Thrift Shop." It's about exactly what it sounds like and it pokes fun at people who need to buy designer clothes when many people go to secondhand stores and find their own style through different "come-ups." But it's so catchy that you'll be singing it all the time.

The next song many have heard is "Same Love." This is a great song for the time it is written in. It is preaching that love is love is love, no matter who it's with. And not only that, but it draws out other problems in our society.

One of my favorite things about Macklemore's songs are that oftentimes the backing instruments sound like samples from other songs, in "Same Love" it sounds like "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer and in one of his older songs "Vipassana" it is "Empire State of Mind." Whether these are intentional or not, the different genres of backing instrumentation makes this a versatile yet cohesive album.

If you're a fan of intelligent lyrics over catchy beats and instruments you'll enjoy this album a lot. Check it out when you can! Also check out my favorite song (not from The Heist) "Contradiction" here.

9/10

Looper

Have you ever had that movie experience where your mind is completely blown? Like Memento or Inception or even The Dark Knight (Heath Ledger's performance, whew!)? Would you like to have your mind blown again? Well look no further this year, for in the realm of science fiction, one movie reigns supreme: Looper. (My apologies to Christopher Nolan for not supplying pop culture with a mind destroying film this year)

Before this movie I could only fathom what seeing Blade Runner for the first time in theaters could have done to someone. It would have been mindjarring (my personal combination of mind blowing and bottling). As was my experience with this film. Rian Johnson has done what he did to film noir with Brick (2005): flipped it on it's head.

I thought I knew sci-fi movies and knew the kind of movie that Looper was, but whatever thoughts I had in my mind were changed because of this movie. The story begins with us following the life of Joe played by Joseph Gordon Levitt. His narration draws us in slowly and gently, but ever so subtly and we are transported to another world (or dimension depending on how you look at it). And after that we are given the conundrum: "if you were to meet your future self, should you kill him or her if you were a looper? "The sci-fi genre has not seen the likes of this movie since Alien or the aforementioned Blade Runner. The script is written so beautifully with subtle mentions of different topics that we never get a full explanation of, but have to fill in with our minds, and keeps reminding you that Bruce Willis is from the future. (Most of the movie I had to remind myself that he was)

But nobody likes a good story without a great ending. And Looper does NOT disappoint. Four little words in the film are all it took to blow my mind this time around. I walked out of the movie, drove home, and immediately asked my roommates if they wanted to see it tonight. The acting is incredible for the genre. And the special effects/make-up used to make Joseph Gordon-Levitt look different are unbelievable. He is transformed into a younger Bruce Willis with no visible changes at all. I could barely believe my eyes.

Whether you like sci-fi movies or not this is an absolute must-see. (Do you like Christopher Nolan movies? Yes? GO SEE THIS MOVIE TOMORROW!)<--Said in your Billy Mayes voice. This is a movie that could turn non-fans into die-hards (no pun intended Mr. Willis).

9/10