Waiting for sunrise

Fake Palindromes - Andrew Bird

Irene - Caribou

Skeleton Man - Evangelicals

Bye Bye Bye - Plants and Animals

Like Foxes Through Fences - The American Analog Set

In Places, Empty Spaces - The Most Serene Republic

Please Visit Your National Parks - Oxford Collapse

Only Yesterday - Taken By Trees

I Know It’s Coming Someday - Longwave

Noah’s Ark - CocoRosie

Left Ring - The Colorful Quiet

Dear Darcy - Joshua James

Arrive Like a Whisper - Patrick Park

Heroes and villains

The long-awaited return of NBC’s Heroes is probably one of the most anticipated in the fall TV line-up. Still recovering from a lackluster season 2 that suffered from a bout of the Nikki and Paulo (as I like to call it when new characters are introduced during the middle of a show and then fail miserably), Heroeswent to Comic-Con this year and debuted the first episode of Volume 3: Villains to rabid fans who foamed at the mouth at the sight of Milo Ventimiglia. Tim Kring, creator of the show, proudly held up the disc that housed all the answers to the WTFs we had from last season. Did it do its job? Did the first episode of the wildly anticipated Villains blow me away? Yes, but not in a good way.

SPOILER ALERT - If you do not want to be spoiled, please go away. There will be extensive Heroes revelations in the post below.

Tim Kring, creator of Heroes, holds up the disc for the first episode of Volume III: Villains

Volume III: Villains opens with Peter Petrelli running for his life in a dark street. He has a scar on his face, which gives viewers a clue that this scene is from the future. He stumbles hurriedly into a dimly lit room and slams the door shut, staring at it with a frightened look on his face. “Hello, Peter.” It is Claire, standing behind Peter with a gun pointed at him. Hayden Panettiere is clad in some very dominatrix-ish gear in this scene. “I always loved you, Peter.” She says coldly. Bang! I won’t give away what happens next, but just to recap last season, we had Nathan Petrelli standing on a podium in front of a mass of reporters, about to reveal that people with “special” powers exist and that he is one of them. Out of the blue, we hear a gunshot and Nathan is down on the ground. Peter scans the crowd for the shooter, yet no sign of him. He was not able to get a good look. The season finale ends with everyone wondering who the hell shot Nathan Petrelli.

Villains reveals who shoots Nathan, and I am ecstatic to find out that I was right all along. I had guessed that future Peter had shot Nathan, only because I couldn’t think of anyone else who would have the motive to do it and at the same time could somehow foresee that whatever Nathan was going to do was going to be detrimental in the future. So yes, if you want confirmation, future Peter shot Nathan. I had wanted Claire’s Superman boyfriend to shoot Nathan, only because he definitely has the motive (he doesn’t want to be exposed) and it would cause considerable friction between him and Claire, and would actually be good because this would make the guy more interesting. But it was future Peter. Anyhoo, moving on. Don’t worry, more spoilers are on the way.

So I thought Nathan was dead. Gone. Kaput. But nooooo, apparently when you get killed off in Heroes, you can always come back. Wouldn’t it be nice if Lost was the same way? Wait, let me think about that for a second. No, it wouldn’t be nice at all. In fact, I thought it was lame that they didn’t follow through with that season finale. First off, the season finale with Nathan getting shot was by far one of the most shocking finales ever. I mean, everyone on the web was buzzing about a character who would get killed off, but no one ever expected it to be Nathan. I would have been very at peace with his death, even though I really liked his character, but the fact that the writers decided to bring him back makes absolutely no sense to me.

So guess what. Apart from Nathan being alive and

returning as some kind of Jesus freak, guess who miraculously cures him. Linderman. Yes, Linderman. Linderman who had been killed in season 1 by Leonard [D L Hawkins], the dude who could walk through walls. Now Linderman is alive, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how the writers are planning to explain this. See, here’s the thing about bringing back dead characters. There should always be a decent explanation that has nothing to do with whether they have powers or not. For instance, Charlie from Lost. Towards the end of season 1, when Ethan hangs Charlie up in the trees and leaves him to die while he kidnaps Claire, I thought he was a goner right then and there. But they had brought him back (sort of, because he didn’t really die, he merely lost consciousness and was brought back in the same episode, so it’s not really the same), and for a purpose. Charlie would configure into the later seasons in climactic episodes, particularly the finale for season 3. Anyway, the bottom line is that when you are brought back, you should be brought back for storyline reasons, and not for popularity or for lack of another way out. Linderman was better off dead, and I don’t see any reason why he would matter in the future of Heroes.

But whatever. It’s lame, I know. But moving on, we find out that Angela Petrelli can see the future. Lame. But whatever. I am happy, however, that Cristine Rose, who plays Angela, will be a series regular from here on out, which is awesome, because she’s a great actress. There are some interesting parts of this new season, such as, of course, Hiro Nakamura’s storyline. I felt like last season, he spent way too much time in feudal Japan and the big picture was missed. Although I really enjoyed David Anders (who played Takezo Kensei and Adam Monroe) in the feudal Japan arc,  I feel like he is the villain that deserves to be highlighted this season, and not Linderman. Back to Hiro, though, he is now head of his father’s company, but he is lacking purpose, so he watches a video left for him by his father that tells him about how the Nakamura men have been guardians of a secret and that Hiro needs to carry on this guarding of the secret. Anyway, it’s vague as to what the secret is exactly, but we are immediately introduced to a character who is a “Speedster”; basically she can counter Hiro’s power. He can control time, but she can speed up, so they kind of repel each other. Anyway, she steals whatever Hiro needs to guard and so he now has a mission: to find this chick and retrieve the “secret”.

Other interesting things that happened: Sylar finally gets Claire’s power. I thought this was one of the better parts of the episode, and I am glad Sylar’s power is finally complete. I mean, if there’s a badass villain, it’s Sylar. We also find out that Claire cannot die. Apparently she’s got Linderman’s ability as well or something. And another thing, sadly Maya is still alive and appears to be a mainstay, which is annoying, because I hate her character. She is now paired up with Suresh and they are both working together to find a cure for her amazing-black-eyes-that-kill-people power. Want anothe shockingly major disappointment? Suresh gets powers. Yes, he gets powers. Apparently he injects himself with whatever mutant DNA that he gets from Maya and he gets superhuman strength. LAME. So fucking lame. At this point I was really pissed off, only because I actually liked that Suresh was the only one in the whole show that didn’t have powers. It made him unique, you know? But now he’s just like everybody else, and the power they gave him is LAME!

Another shocker: Surprise! Jessica/Nikki is back, but in another form of course. I still don’t know what the fuck this chick’s powers are about, so i’m not even going to go into detail about it. All I know is, they killed off a bunch of people last season, but don’t worry, they were just punking you. Apparently killing people off on this show means absolutely nothing.

Here’s what I want to know: Where the hell is Elle? I mean, she [Kristen Bell] was the saving grace of last season, and yet they did not bring her back for the premiere episode. I thought they should have. Another thing I wanted to see was David Anders/Takezo Kensei/Adam Monroe! He was an awesome villain from last season, so what the hell? Another spoiler that I think is kind of lame as well: Ando fucking gets powers too! After getting his safeguarded secret stolen, Hiro travels to the future to see what will happen as a result of the loss of this secret that he’s supposed to guard. Utter destruction apparently, but in this future, Ando gets powers that resemble Gokou from Dragon Ball or Ryu from Street Fighter or some shit. It’s LAME! I always liked Ando for not having powers too. The fact that everyone’s getting powers now is just positively lame.

So yeah, that’s it. Villains, episode one, in a nutshell. This is all info from Comic-Con. Here’s some pics from the panel:

The cast of Heroes: Adrian Pasdar, Dania Ramirez, Zachary Quinto and Ali Larter, standing up to applaud the fans.

Hayden Panettiere and Milo Ventimiglia

Attack of the blog! Joss Whedon strikes again!

If you haven’t seen Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog yet, where have you been and what have you been doing with your online time? Joss Whedon returns with a vengeance, but on the net, with Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and other awesome cast members with a musical that showcases some serious comedic timing, entertaining musical sequences and of course, would it be Joss Whedon without lines packed with sexual innuendo it’s hard to stay in your seat? The success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “Once More With Feeling” musical episode was so huge that Whedonesque.com hosts a Buffy sing-a-long to the episode during Comic-Con and there is a NY-based theater group or something that screens the episode in theaters, along with little prompts and props for more audience interaction. So it’s not exactly a secret that Joss Whedon is good at this. With the help of his two brothers Zack and Jed, Joss came up with the perfect answer to the Hollywood machine that is the studio: bring the power back to the people! Web domination!

And sure enough, any person with internet access when Dr. Horrible went live, answered this cry for revolution. Only a few minutes after the show had been online, so many people were trying to get on to see it again or for the first time that the site crashed! A week later, the show is still one of the most downloaded ones on iTunes, and damn it, that Freeze Ray song is catchy!

Neil Patrick Harris as the adorable yet scheming Dr. Horrible, blogging his evil deeds in hopes that the Evil League of Evil takes notice.

There are a great deal of memorable scenes in the whole show, especially the ones where Dr. Horrible [Neil Patrick Harris] is blogging and it’s just such a dead-on impression of how people do video blogs that I am absolutely amazed at how on-point Harris is, and the writing is. The opening “mwahahaha” part is particularly hilarious, and I think that NPH is absolutely brilliant as the evil-wannabe Dr. Horrible, who broadcasts his evil deeds on a blog in an attempt to prove himself worthy of membership to the Evil League of Evil, headed by a “dude” (you’ll see, you’ll see) by the name of Bad Horse, whose letters pop up as three mustashioed cowboys singing the actual note. The lines for this show are also pretty classic Joss, such as this one:

“It’s not about making money, it’s about taking money. Destroying the status quo. Because the status is not…quo. The world is a mess and I just need to rule it.” - Dr. Horrible

Since the show is mostly a musical, it has to be mentioned that the cast does some excellent singing. My personal favorites are Neil Patrick Harris’ numbers, such as the aforementioned Freeze Ray song (known to bloggers as Laundry Day, which Joss and the panel at Comic-Con have denounced as the wrong title) and the Nathan Fillion/Felicia Day/NPH collaboration “A Man’s Gotta Do What a Man’s Gotta Do”. In this number, Nathan Fillion absolutely blows my mind. He just encapsulates Captain Hammer, and I feel like the character was written with him specifically in mind.

At the Comic-Con panel, Joss and co. confirmed that there will be more Dr. Horrible, which is awesome, and I am sure everyone is psyched for more Captain Hammer goodness. There is also a DVD in the works, so that one will be something we can look forward to. In the meantime, you can view Dr. Horrible for free on www.drhorrible.com or download it on iTunes.

Curses, gambling and a bank job

Jim Sturgess plays by the numbers in "21"

Okay, okay, so Kevin Spacey insists that what Jim Sturgess’ character is doing in 21 is not gambling, it’s Math. Well, I always sucked at Math, that’s probably why I didn’t really appreciate this film. I’ve never been a fan of casino movies, only because I’ve personally never gambled and don’t see the thrill of it. Yes, you can make easy money if you’re lucky. But I’ve never seen the bright side of depending on luck, so I’ve never been drawn to these types of movies. Kevin Spacey, as per usual, is Kevin Spacey - the cool teacher act is not unfamiliar to him; he’s done it in The Life of David Gale. He employs the same smooth, cocky demeanor reminiscent of his Lex Luthor in Superman Returns. I feel like Kevin Spacey has hit a plateau, though. Like, I think his best performance was in Seven or in American Beauty. After that, I feel like he’s just…Kevin Spacey.

Other performances in 21 aren’t exactly that memorable. I mean, to begin with the story of this poor but brilliant kid attending an Ivy League school and who gets into all sorts of trouble because he doesn’t have the money to pay for college? I mean, come on. Unoriginal much? 50 Pills has done that story, and that was a pretty decent film. I just didn’t see what was so interesting about this movie. I only saw it because I like Jim Sturgess. He’s kind of like in the same boat as James McAvoy and Jamie Bell, I think, and he might be the next big thing. He was great in Across the Universe, and his singing voice is not bad, so we know he can do musicals. Other than that, he wasn’t really anything spectacular in 21. His character did undergo a bit of an evolution, but not so much that I was completely blown away. Kate Bosworth…nothing special. This girl hasn’t exactly proven herself as an actress. I mean, when you say Kate Bosworth the only thing that comes to mind is Blue Crush and Win a Date With Tad Hamilton, both movies which tanked, if I’m not mistaken. In this film, I feel like she was just another actress slated for arm candy. Like, they could have replaced her with a different blonde bombshell and it could have easily been the same movie. In a nutshell, 21 isn’t really a good movie. It’s just another casino movie. Only this time, they insist, it’s not gambling, it’s Math. Sure, and I’m uninterested.

James McAvoy plays one of Penelope's suitors

Moving on to Penelope. I can’t quite make up my mind about this movie yet. I like the premise. I think it’s clever and I like the twist in this movie. I thought the twist was really interesting because I didn’t expect it from a feelgood Beauty and the Beast kind of story. Basically, Christina Ricci plays Penelope, a girl cursed with the nose of a pig. The only way that she can make it go away is if she is accepted by someone of the same nobility, so her family tries to set up marriages for her. Enter James McAvoy, who is a charming but down-and-out fellow paid by reporters to get inside Penelope’s house and take pictures of her (because she’s hidden away by her family that no one really knows what she looks like). I love the atmosphere of the film. It feels like The Addams Family, but with the soundtrack of a Tim Burton film. I like how the backdrop is London, or somewhere in England at least, but the people are from everywhere. Like for instance, James McAvoy’s character has an American accent while the rest of the characters are British. It’s very strange, but I like how the sets are elaborate and surreal, and how exaggerated the story is. On the other hand, I though it was a very short film. I would have liked a bit more depth, and a bit more character development. I thought it was funny, though. I’d probably buy this film on DVD, only because James McAvoy is so dashing in it, but other than that, I think it has the same feel as Enchanted. It’s not too deep–it’s just a feelgood movie with interesting characters and quirky acting, but with a typical yet somewhat unexpected ending (you’ll get it if you see the movie).

The team that's up for The Bank Job: starring Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows

So I figured, why not another Jason Statham movie? I mean, there can’t be anything worse than The Transporter 2 or In the Name of the King, right? This guy, honestly, I like him. He was great in The Italian Job and in the Guy Ritchie movies, and let’s admit that he’s kind of a hunk. However, he is kind of like the British Chuck Norris. He’s done a lot of B movies and his upcoming one, Death Race, looks to be another one. But I don’t doubt this guy’s talent. I mean, he’s a serious action star. In The Bank Job, he kind of employs the same kind of demeanor as his character in The Italian Job. He doesn’t do as much action in this film as he’s done in The Transporter, but it’s still a heist movie, and come on. I’m sure there are other actors, right? Anyway, he was pretty good in this movie. The film is based on a real life 1971 bank robbery called the Baker Street robbery, in which the details were never really found out at the time that it occurred because a gag order was requested by the government to protect a member of the British royal family. The story is pretty elaborate, and I thought it was interesting. The heist itself? Not so much. It wasn’t exactly the most ingenious bank robbery ever, but maybe that’s the beauty of it. The acting was fine, I didn’t think it was mind-blowing, but it was still more entertaining than 21.

Del Toro sees “Red” in Hellboy II

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is like the product of a little kid left alone at a candy store : it’s wild, imaginative, chaotic and full of things flying everywhere. Guillermo del Toro has struck again! The genius behind the critically acclaimed Pan’s Labyrinth has given us a sequel that seems to exceed expectations…at least in the visuals department. I came into the film not really expecting much, except for the fact that it was going to look good, because del Toro is known for his captivating scenery and sweeping visual effects. I got what I expected.

I was never really a fan of Hellboy to begin with. I had never picked up the comics, and I didn’t particularly find the first film exceptional. Yes, I have it on DVD and it’s good to watch when you’re bored and want some mindless entertainment, but it doesn’t excel in the hero movie department for me, only because I feel like it’s too light and airy. What I mean by this is that the movies never seem to have that gripping, oh-my-god-is-the-hero-going-to-survive moment when the audience is almost on their knees, wondering whether their beloved hero will emerge unscathed. The Hellboy movies are served kid-friendly, with pedestrian humor and of course, a major romantic plot line. Oh, and did I mention there was some singing? The first movie was blah, and the second movie was a little bit better, but I still don’t get that overwhelming urge to rush to the nearest Borders when the DVD hits stores to buy it.

Abe Sapien/Blue (played by Doug Jones) trying to sense the enemies about

I found myself getting sleepy somewhere in the middle of the movie. I felt that there wasn’t that much of a focus on the script and that the delivery was a bit disjointed. There was this one part where new character Johann Krauss (who is essentially a mass of gas that can only inflict damage if it takes the shape of some container of sorts) tells Hellboy that he knows what his fatal flaw is: his temper. I thought they would expound on this and use it as some sort of plot line towards the end when Hellboy and Prince Nuada would finally face off, but it seemed like they just mentioned it and forgot about it along the way. What a shame, because I felt like it would have been a better movie had that been explored.

On the upside, the movie is overall like a work of art. The visuals are absolutely stunning. The make-up department in particular should be commended for pulling off such intricate and believable work on these quirky characters. The fight scenes were better choreographed this time around and the props were so detailed and believable. I also liked the performance of Doug Jones, who plays Abe Sapien (Blue), and Luke Goss, who played the indomitable Prince Nuada, hellbent on destroying the human race with an unstoppable Golden Army of what appeared to be hulking robot-like things running on molten lava. Del Toro also seems to call on the same inspiration that he had from Pan’s Labyrinth to create this awesome demon:

Brothers from another mother, perhaps? One of del Toro's memorable creations from Pan's Labyrinth has an uncanny resemblance to another creature in Hellboy II

And this guy:

This guy terrorized our little heroine in Pan's Labyrinth.

Overall, it was a good movie in that it succeeded where no other superhero sequel (except maybe for the new Batman franchise or the newest Hulk movie) has succeeded: it was better than the original. The visuals were stunning, the fight scenes were sharp and precise, and the props and costumes were commendable. Other than that, all I can say is, it’s light and airy fun.

Lessons in badass

I think it’s been said way too many times on this blog that I absolutely adore James McAvoy, so I won’t say it, although I will imply it zillions of times in the post to come. I think this guy is the next big movie star, if he isn’t already. After Wanted, he’s now probably the most wanted actor in the biz. He’s shown himself to be extremely versatile, jumping from drama to action to romantic comedy effortlessly and with no compromises. He seems to be the kind of actor who wouldn’t take a role for the star power but for the substance. His performance in The Last King of Scotland was absolutely brilliant, and he was so moving in Becoming Jane. In Wanted, he was able to tap into the action star in him and unleash a totally different character: Wesley Gibson - an office nobody who hates his job, knows his best friend is sleeping with his girlfriend, and is being plagued by anxiety attacks. He’s the quintessential action hero in that he’s the unlikely hero that we all know and love - a staple in action hero movies like The Matrix wherein a nobody who is completely dissatisfied with his life is suddenly “chosen” to save the world. McAvoy is great as the blubbering, self-loathing Wesley and it was fun to watch him get into that character.

James McAvoy is chosen as an assassin for The Fraternity

Based on the graphic novel of the same name, the movie is basically about a group of assassins who call themselves The Fraternity - individuals who have been tasked to eliminate people who are predicted by some kind of magical loom to pose a threat in the future; kind of like Minority Report. Wesley is plucked out of his mundane existence by Angelina Jolie’s character, Fox, and recruited into The Fraternity, where he is trained and beaten the crap out of in order for him to become one of them.

Angelina Jolie puts on her game face as the fearless Fox

Wanted is a good movie if you want something thrilling and action-packed. It definitely aims to elicit oohs and aahs from an audience and throws the word “fuck” around a lot (although never as much as Pulp Fiction or that Limp Bizkit song), which is fine except it almost sounds redundant in some of Wesley’s lines. Angelina Jolie was pretty awesome in a role she probably feels at home with. Her character, Fox, is a woman with a tragic past and who is in The Fraternity because she believes it is the right thing to do, and she does not question it. Jolie steals every scene she is in and looks absolutely amazing toting guns and knocking over cars. She is riveting and you can’t keep your eyes off her, even though I did come to the theater for McAvoy.

Another star of the movie was Morgan Freeman, who didn’t really portray anything else other than, well, Morgan Freeman. The movie never had a dull moment, which is a plus, but it was lacking substance and depth in character. It was all testosterone and nothing cerebral. Sure, the premise is definitely a brain-scratcher. Would you kill someone if you knew they were going to do something evil in the future? Would you stamp out the embers before it became a raging fire? It’s a good question to pose, but isn’t exactly explored in detail in the film. There are a few moments where Wesley doubts if he is doing the right thing, but not enough, in my opinion, for a guy who was just plucked out of an ordinary existence.

Wanted is a good movie in that it fulfills our escapist fantasies as an audience. You completely forget that you’ve been sitting in the theater for a little under two hours, and you are constantly smirking everytime Wesley whines and moans about his life. It does try to step into the same shoes that The Matrix once owned, because the special effects department tries to incorporate the same slo-mo wow-I’m-shooting-everyone-by-myself-but-they-can’t-hit-me-at-all-because-I’m-the-chosen-one tactics that The Matrix employed in 1999. The fact is, there can’t be another movie like The Matrix. The Matrix came at a time when sci-fi was comprised of spaceships and light sabers and not gravity-defying jumps and bullet-evading back bends. But if you’re looking for badass, then Wanted definitely has it.

Hulk mad! Hulk smash!

This review is a little late, but bear with me, since I have been a bit busy. So I had been waiting all summer to see the new Hulk movie starring Ed Norton and although I enjoyed the film, I have to say my expectations were not exactly met. Initially I had thought that they would be retelling the whole Hulk story, and that it was not planned as a sequel. It was only until I had sat down in the theater that I realized that it was a sequel. Did it matter? No. So why wasn’t it kickass?

Ed Norton as Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk

Yes, there was some awesome action. Things were blowing up, the action sequences were intense and amazing. The acting was great from both Norton and Tim Roth, so what was missing? I can’t exactly pinpoint one thing. I think it was a whole slew of things, really. For one, the script did not blow me away. When I first heard that the script would be a collaborative effort between Norton and another person, I thought, well, how can this go wrong? I heard how passionately Norton had spoken about getting involved with this project back at Comic-Con 2007 and I felt like he would do the film justice. Sadly, Marvel remains to be in it for the big bucks, and of course, they made some decisions that ultimately, I felt, took away from the depth and character of the movie. Apparently the film was supposed to be a lot darker and a lot moodier. For instance, there were rumors that the film was intended to open somewhere in the Arctic, where Bruce Banner is trying to kill himself. He has finally figured that he can’t get rid of the demon inside him, so he might as well just kill himself. He has injured the woman he loves, he has become a hunted man, and he has lost all will and reason to live. This, I think, is an awesome starter. It is totally believable, totally script-worthy, and I would pay to see just this one scene! But of course, the head honchos at Marvel intervened. They felt that the whole suicide thing was a bit too dark for their intended family-friendly audience. PG-13, right? That means no superhero-gone-suicidal. They need to bring in the little kiddies to make a buck. I mean, come on. It’s Hollywood. What do you expect? So the film was lacking in the depth and the overall script wasn’t that outstanding,

Ommmmm...Ed Norton's Bruce Banner, working on his anger management

But the performances can always save a bad script, right? Ah, only by so much, I think. Norton was great, sure, and I loved how he turned Bruce Banner into somewhat of a Jason Bourne character–leading FBI agents half across a foreign country in intense narrow-alley chases. And Tim Roth was delightfully villainous in this role as the power-hungry military officer who wants to be a Hulk himself. Liv Tyler wasn’t really even in the movie, I thought. All she did was scream “No!” a lot and pout her famous Steven Tyler-inherited lips and that was it. There was no depth to her character either. She was just arm candy, in my opinion, which I hate to say, because she’s a very talented actress.

Another thing that didn’t bode well for the movie was its lack of humor. And no, I don’t think it’s a contradiction to ask for a movie that is both dark yet funny. I feel like this movie had absolutely no humor. Where it did try to have a little fun, it didn’t exactly hit the jackpot. I don’t feel like there was enough character development, but this is mostly explained by the fact that it is a sequel and that it doesn’t bother to reintroduce characters.

Overall, I still think it’s a better movie than the original Ang Lee version, but I feel like it could have been much better. Not a disappointment, but definitely not a favorite.

Summer nights soundtrack

1. Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper

2. Tilly and the Wall - Falling Without Knowing

3. The Watson Twins - Waves

4. The Futureheads - Worry About It Later

5. Art Brut - Soundtrack of the Summer

6. The Kooks - Do You Wanna

7. Arctic Monkeys - 505

8. Arcade Fire - Keep the Car Running

9. We Barbarians - War Clouds

10. Youth Group - Forever Young

11. Pinback - Shag

12. The Rakes - We Danced Together

Tell me the world isn’t ending

1. Film School - On & On

2. Earlimart - It’s Okay to Think About Ending

3. Stellastarr* - When I Disappear

4. Hotel Creeps - Moonboots

5. Hello Tokyo - Hands to Hold

6. Kasabian - Empire

7. Editors - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors

8. Youth Group - Two Sides

9. Rambo and Leroy - Oceans

10.  The Thrills - Nothing Changes Around Here

11. MGMT - Weekend Wars

12. Boards of Canada - A Moment of Clarity

Robots you want to bring home to mom

I’m gonna say it: Wall-E is the best animated movie I have ever seen.

Yes, I know, it’s the kiss of death–swearing by a movie before opening weekend is officially over. But to be honest, I have never been so enamored and captivated by an animated film as I was with this one. Disney/Pixar definitely outdid themselves this time around. Not only was the film ingenious, unique and innovative, but it had all the elements of what older animated films had: humor, adventure, excitement, and of course, that moral at the end of the story.

WALL-E and EVE, enjoying a beautiful sunset. Well, more like WALL-E enjoying a beautiful sunset.

I remember seeing the preview for this film back at Comic-Con and I was so intrigued by the concept. Wall-E is short for Waste Allocation Load-Lifter Earth class–basically a robot tasked to clean up Earth after the human race has properly polluted it to the point of it not being sustainable for life. He is basically alone on a planet littered with waste, and after 700 years by himself, he’s seemed to develop quite a personality, and consequently, has grown quite lonely. Wall-E is like E.T. in a way; curious, quirky and so adorable you just wanna bring him home.

Previous animated films have relied heavily on the written script and character voices to get the humor across and to liven up the scenes, but Wall-E proves you don’t need witty dialogue to hold a film together. I felt like I was watching a mime performance, in that the visuals were so stunning yet elaborate and so detailed. Even without talking, Wall-E is so endearing that you just can’t help but grow fond of him in the next hour and a half. The whole story has minimal dialogue, but is so packed with meaning and message that it totally blew my mind how Disney/Pixar was even able to pull this off!

It looks like we're not the only ones who are perplexed by the Rubik's cube.

Of course, we have to get down to the moral of the story, which is a staple of Disney films. Wall-E covered all the bases! It was like a social commentary from an animated point of view: From environmental awareness to the growing problem of obesity in America, over-reliance on appliances and technology to get by, as well as commenting on social issues like how the quirky and the offbeat are somewhat condemned in society and how the sleek, clean and upright ones are worshipped. Wall-E is not just a quirky robot; you could say he’s a robot with a lot of heart, which sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s true. He’s heroic, selfless, and he follows his heart, even when it gets him into all sorts of trouble. He reminds me of Charlie Bartlett, a character I just saw from the film of the same title. Charlie Bartlett likes to extend his hand out to every single person he meets, regardless of whether they are the “right” kind or not, and always introduces himself. Wall-E is the same thing, only more adorable.

This movie has so much heart! I have never cried watching an animated movie, and this one was so touching I couldn’t help but tear up! It was heartwarming and interesting, but wasn’t over-the-top with the physical comedy like other animated films. What I’m particularly proud of this movie for is the fact that it makes yout think. Right when we emerged from the theater, one of my sisters said “So that’s what the future will be like if we don’t take care of the environment!” I was pleased, because not only was the message relayed to the audience, but it was relayed in a way that makes you enjoy it, yet at the same time fully realize the gravity of the situation it may be implying. But in the end, despite all the intelligent messages and the ingenuity, the film still needs to be entertaining and fun for any person regardless of age. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I saw the film with my two younger sisters and they had a blast. I was also surveying the crowd and the theater was packed with people of all ages. Parents with their kids, teenagers, twentysomethings, grandparents, it was a film for everyone. I think this film will set the standard for the future of animation.