Random Review #55: the movie "Hancock."

Directed by Peter Berg
Starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron
Release date: July 2, 2008
Rated PG-13

This summer is hands-down the summer of superheroes. With Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Dark Night, and Hellboy II: the Golden Army all being released within a four-month period, it was only a matter of time before a studio would attempt at creating their own superhero. Hancock has been floating around Hollywood since 1996, and I think the studios saw this summer as the perfect opportunity to dust it off and give it proper cinematic treatment.
Will Smith, the owner of the 4th of July box office, stars as John Hancock, a drunken superhuman who is the only one of his kind. He lives in Los Angeles, and "helps" out the local police while costing millions in property damage. Hancock is hated by most of the public, only because they have to pay for his uncaring attitude. He then runs into Ray Embrey, a down-on-his-luck personal relations consultant, who tries to change Hancock's image into a positive one. Of course, a lot more happens in this film, but I'm definitely not one to give it away. It has a semi-suprising twist about halfway through, that completely blindsides you.
Hancock was a decent movie. It kept me entertained, Smith's acting was definitely good (as usual), and like I said, it has a decent twist halfway through. But this movie could have been one of the best of the summer if they wouldn't have edited the shit out of it. This movie was originally rated a "hard R," meaning that the MPAA (the people who rate movies) didn't even get through the first half of the movie before calling it. The distribution company, Columbia Pictures sent it back two times before the MPAA was okay with giving it the PG-13 it has now. Don't think I'm saying that a movie needs to be rated R to be good, but I think the storyline would have been much more improved if Peter Berg was free to do whatever he wanted with the movie. Hancock would have been a bigger douchebag, and the movie wouldn't have seemed so damn short.
That's just my opinion, though. I'm going to go ahead and say that this movie was my biggest disappointment of the summer 2008 movie season so far, only because I expected a lot better.

Random Review #54: the album "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" by Coldplay

Like I said in my last Coldplay review, I've really been liking them a lot lately. I acutally bought this album, strangely. It was at Wal-Mart for $10, and at Best Buy for $14. I don't really understand this, because the only difference was the cases. The cheaper one has a standard jewel case, while the more expensive one has a paper case. I'm not sure what the other one has, but I'd definitely prefer the cheaper one (especially since I can spend $10 on iTunes, so in a way, I save money).

Track 1-"Life in Technicolor": This definitely reminds me of Sigur Ros. Chris Martin has said in numerous interviews that they are a huge influence on him, especially their album ( ). This sounds like Sigur Ros if they grew up with English influences. I hear a bit of The Cure in this too. Purely instrumental.

Track 2-"Cemeteries of London": This is a VERY Coldplay-ish song. I like the near-military-sounding drums. The “lalalalalala” gets a bit annoying though. Overall, this isn’t a bad song. I don’t think it’s very radio-friendly though.

Track 3-"Lost!": His vocals are perfect with that drum beat and clapping in the background. It’s kind of the exact same song all the way through, though. It doesn’t really change all that much, except for the guitar solo 2 minutes from the end. Eh.

Track 4-"42": Okay, I’m going to pause the music and tell you what I hope for this song. I really hope this is a song that alludes to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book series by Douglas Adams. These are my favorite books of all time, and I know for a fact that Chris Martin is a Douglas Adams fan (he had a song a few years ago called “Don’t Panic,” which was another reference). Okay, I hit play. Ooh, it’s slow. I love the songs where Martin utilizes his piano prowess. “Those who are dead are not dead they’re just living in my head.” Can you say favorite lyric so far? Part of me wants to believe this song is about Douglas, who died in 2001. Shit, this song just picked up tempo, and it sounds really cool. This is probably my favorite song on the album so far.

Track 5-"Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love": This song is almost 7 minutes long. Ugh. I have a short attention span. I do like that old-sounding twang at the opening, followed by a ragtime-y piano. This definitely isn't a bad song. He just mentioned an "osaka sun," which is that famous red and white Japanese sun design. Cool. It just faded into what I can only assume is "Reign of Love." I'm not a fan of dual songs like this. Plus, this song is really, really boring. I like the "Lovers in Japan" part, not "Reign of Love." It ruins the song.

Track 6-"Yes": He sounds like he's trying too hard to make his voice go low, like he's pushing it. I like the frantic string instruments though (maybe viola?). I also like the chorus of this song. Martin sure does write about God a lot. Shit, I just realized this song is 7 minutes long. Woah, it just completely changed tempo. Fuck, this is another two-part song. At least this one is decent-sounding so far. Despite the fact that it is pretty much the same all the way through, I kinda like the second part.

Track 7-"Viva La Vida": There is controversy surrounding this song. This allegedly sounds like a song by the crappy band Creaky Boards called "The Songs I Didn't Write." I seriously doubt Chris Martin needs to steal music from these shitheads. They are just trying to make a quick buck. The video is here.
Anyways, I love this song. I love the orchestra, I love the lyrics, I love Chris' voice, and I love the bass drum beat. This replaces "42" as my favorite song on this album. I wonder if he is so pompus as to actually think he "ruled the world" at one point in time. Sure, they are one of the biggest bands in the world, but that's a bit much. I actually think this song is about something historical. EDIT: Yep, it's about the Crusades.

Track 8-"Violet Hill": Just read my review here.

Track 9-"Strawberry Swing": Every time I see "strawberry" in a song title, I'm reminded of the Beatles. This is kind of a slow song, but it isn't bad. It seems like something that would be on a soundtrack for a movie, and would play at a part where a person finds something out about themselves, or has to make a big decision.

Track 10-"Death and All His Friends": The slow songs on this album far outweigh the fast. I'm a fan of fast Coldplay. This song definitely picks up a little bit through though. It sounds like they have an entire chorus. Oh wow, another two-parter. This seems to be exactly what the album opened with. Eh. They stole that idea from Sigur Ros.

Overall: I think "A Rush of Blood to the Head" is way better, but this is definitely their second-best album. Some of the songs were needlessly long, but alright anyways. I think this is the sort of album that will grow on me.