Some of the best cover songs

1. Kris Allen – Heartless (by Kanye West) + Gangster’s Paradise (by Coolio)

Pocket Idol impresses at this Live at the Vineyard gig in Napa Valley, CA with a mash-up of the famed “Heartless” and “Gangster’s Paradise”. It was a pretty genius move and the mash-up was so seamless that it really felt like one song.

2. The Kooks – Kids (MGMT)

Being fans of both The Kooks and MGMT, I was pleasantly surprised to find this cover floating around Youtube. This is an excellent cover. The melody is still recognizable, but the delivery is distinctly The Kooks.

3. Kasabian – Sweet Escape (Gwen Stefani)

I love Kasabian and this cover is so much fun to watch. It definitely brings out the Beatles vibe in the song.

4. White Lies – Love Lockdown (Kanye West)

It seems like everyone who covers a Kanye West song seems to sing it better than he does. Hmm.

5. Boyce Avenue – Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis)

This is such a cool cover!

6. Mandy Moore – Umbrella (Rihanna)

Mandy Moore’s voice is breathy and brooding and I love her spin on this song.

7. Kris Allen – Falling Slowly (The Swell Season) + With or Without You (U2)

Our brand new American Idol is the king of mash-ups, and this is one of his best ones. So heartfelt and perfectly executed, and it helps that Cale is harmonizing perfectly along with Kris. I love the “oh oh oh” ending. You can almost hear a pin drop in the room because the audience is so captivated by the performance!

8. Ray LaMontagne – Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)

Ray LaMontagne has one of the best voices out there, in my opinion and he breathes fresh air into this song.

9. Damien Rice – “Hallelujah” (Jeff Buckley)

Awesome cover. I love Damien’s voice. His voice fills the entire room even when he’s so quiet.

10. Jason Mraz – “At Last” (Etta James)

The geeks shall inherit the earth

…or at least, inherit just San Diego, for about a week. I haven’t blogged about a lot of things in a while, so to start with, let me just talk about Comic-Con. Yes, part of the reason I haven’t been blogging is because July was packed with a ton of exciting (and not so exciting) events – like the biggest geek-out fest of every year, San Diego Comic-Con International, held on July 22-26. I went to all four days, but I got into an accident on July 23rd, and well, it sort of ruined the rest of my Comic-Con experience. Anyway, I’m going to skip that part because I don’t really feel like going into the gory details, but let me start with the previews of shows I saw at the Con.

Let me start with the new ABC show V, which premieres this fall. The show is a remake of the 1984 TV series of the same name, which in summary is pretty much just about an alien invasion, the human resistance, etc. The show stars Firefly‘s Morena Baccarin, Lost‘s Elizabeth Mitchell, Party of Five‘s Scott Wolf and The 4400‘s Joel Gretsch. I watched the pilot, and although there were some interesting parts (such as an appearance by Firefly‘s Alan Tudyk), I felt like the show didn’t really bring anything new or interesting to the table. Morena Baccarin plays Anna, the leader of the “aliens” who are called “visitors” (hence the title ‘V’), while Elizabeth Mitchell plays FBI officer Erica Evans, who is trying to find out the truth about the visitors. The pilot jumped into the thick of it right away, and didn’t really spend any time introducing the characters. Actually, it starts right when the aliens invade (or more like, park their mothership on top of NYC) and you just have to sympathize for the characters from there. I felt like they could’ve done a much better job. For those of us who weren’t familiar with the 1984 series, a little build-up would probably have helped. It just seemed rushed and so it became tough to sympathize with characters who were strangers to you as the viewer. I’m going to give this show a chance, since I love Elizabeth Mitchell and of course, duh, there’s Morena Baccarin, but I don’t really see this show taking off. It’s nice to see Scott Wolf back in business, though.

Another new show which premieres this fall is The Vampire Diaries. Now, I’m not really qualified to talk about this because I left about 5 minutes after the pilot was shown (it was that bad), but I feel like speaking out about it. Dear Hollywood, enough with the fucking vampires. Seriously. What is this sudden fascination with vampires? And don’t even get me started about Twilight, because it’s nothing special. But let’s not get into a full-blown rant on Twilight, because I’ve reserved that for my next post (mwahahaha!). The Vampire Diaries is pretty much Twilight on TV. The only reason I stayed to watch the first few minutes of it was because I knew Ian Somerhalder [who played Boone on Lost] was going to be in it. Alas, Ian Somerhalder did not appear in those first 5 minutes I stayed. The bottom line: it [The Vampire Diaries] is nothing but teenage sap, akin to 90210. I’m sure the Twihards will love it.

On to the only vampires I can tolerate in HBO’s True Blood panel. This show kept me sane throughout this sweltering summer. I was committed to getting into this panel, so I waited in line for about 2 hours. No pain, no gain, right? Anyway, the panel consisted of Stephen Moyer (Bill), Ana Paquin (Sookie), Alan Ball (creator), Charlaine Harris (writer of the books), Rutina Wesley (Tara), Michelle Forbes (Mary Ann), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), Sam Trammell (Sam), Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica) and Alexander Skarsgard (Eric). Two people were clear standouts on this panel; Alexander and Nelsan, whose characters seemed to be the most well-received (and for good reason). Alexander was a clear favorite – he drew applause and shrieks from female hordes left and right. Poor Stephen Moyer, who plays vampire Bill Compton and Sookie’s lover, had to endure numerous questions about when Eric and Sookie would finally hook up. Alan Ball was the life of the panel; he has been known to be witty and engaging at these things and he defintiely proved that point at the panel. Michelle Forbes came off as a tad full of herself. She’s a tremendous actress, but she just had this haughty look on her face during the entire panel and didn’t seem quite that interested in what the fans had to ask her. What I learned from the panel was that Evan Rachel Wood was going to be joining the TB gang as the Vampire Queen. Should make for a fun season.

The Lost panel was one of the most fun panels I’ve ever been to. They [the powers that be, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse) always know how to put on an excellent show, and since it was the last hurrah (Lost’s final season returns in January of 2010), it made sense that they closed the season with a bang. The panel started off with Damon and Carlton taking questions from the fans, when all of a sudden Jorge Garcia (Hurley) shows up at the microphone with questions, much to the delight and surprise of the entire fanbase at Hall H. Shortly thereafter, Michael Emerson (Ben) shows up, to an eruption of cheers from the audience. Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert) filmed this hilarious short making fun of his eyelashes/eyeliner and also showed up at the panel. And then, for the ultimate surprise that pretty much drew the most applause, Josh Holloway showed up, causing a downright riot in Hall H. After a montage of fallen Lost characters that ended with the most heart-wrenching “death” of the series, Charlie Pace’s demise, voila! Dominic Monaghan appeared onstage. It truly was a fun experience, and what I learned from the panel was essentially something I had expected, which is that season 6 will be sort of a “reset” season. According to Darlton, season 6 will be very similar to season 1, and I read that clue as that the stories of the characters would reset back to that of season 1. Kate as a fugitive, Jack having issues with his father, Charlie still on drugs, etc. except the difference  is perhaps in the details. For instance, it is revealed (through an America’s Most Wanted video) that in season 6, Kate, instead of running from the authorities after murdering her father, actually murders the wrong guy. So that’s a storyline we can wait to see unfold. Overall, the Lost panel was a real success and everyone came out of that amped and excited for the new season.

Other panels I went to: Sherlock Holmes from Warner Bros., which was a blast. Robert Downey Jr. commanded the room with such presence, and it was apparent he took his cue from the success of Iron Man during last year’s Comic-Con. Rachel McAdams and Joel Silver were present as well. The Disney panel was also fabulous. They premiered clips from the still unfinished new Disney movie The Princess and the Frog, which is the first time we’ve seen hand-drawn animation in a few years since the advent of 3D and Pixar. A surprise guest at the Disney panel was the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. I was so overwhelmed with surprise when I found out he was making an appearance. The crowd at Hall H was at its feet to welcome one of animation’s biggest icons, the man behind My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, etc.

Although I did feel that there was something a bit lacking at Comic-Con this year, I still thought it was a lot of fun. I would have liked to have been able to see James Cameron’s Avatar panel, but alas, one can only wait in line under the San Diego sun for so long. I will post pictures when I get the chance.

Stuff I’m listening to right now

1. MGMT – Weekend Wars
2. SANTOGOLD – L.E.S. Artistes
3. TV on the RADIO – Love Dog
4. OF MONTREAL – The Past is a Grotesque Animal
5. THE WRENS – I’ve Made Enough Friends
6. THIS DANCEFLOOR! – Night Walking
7. THE PANICS – Don’t Fight It

Kris Allen, because of you I have carpal tunnel

I had never before voted for anyone on American Idol…until Kris Allen. I’ve always considered it a crappy show geared for the Celine Dion wannabes and the occasional aspiring Michael Boltons and never really thought an overproduced show like it could discover any form of talent. I tuned in last year when David Cook won, and I was pleased, mostly because David Cook just didn’t resemble the typical American Idol winner and so I had placed my bet on David Archuleta. When Cook won, I was happy because it showed that America, despite the judges’ pushing and shoving for a clear favorite (Archuleta) decided they wanted to hear someone else on the radio as their American Idol.

This year, I watched AI not expecting anything, and was immediately drawn to Kris Allen. Honestly, I did think he was cute when he sang “Man in the Mirror”, but I also thought Adam Lambert was cute, so there. What I am trying to say is that cute can only get so far. Talent gets you further. And this season of American Idol was pretty good in terms of talent. Matt Giraud and Allison Iraheta were my early favorites, but during the top 13 they seemed to falter sometimes and weren’t consistent. Kris Allen and Adam Lambert seemed like the only two performers who knew exactly who they were and what music they wanted to do. I had willed the finale to be between them because it would really be a showdown. But alas, the AI machine had other plans. They wanted a Lambert-Danny Gokey finale, just to showcase a storyline of good versus evil. Well, too bad, but Danny Gokey went home, and good riddance or it would have been a pretty pathetic finale. But the producers still tried to go with the same storyline – playing up Allen’s boy-next-door qualities and red state origins and emphasizing Lambert’s flamboyance and affinity for fog machines and guyliner.

Tonight was part one of the season 8 finale, and it was sort of a major letdown primarily because the coronation song, written by judge Kara DioGuardi, was pure and absolute drivel that it was simply unsingable. I don’t care if you are David Bowie or Mariah Carey – “No Boundaries” is an awful song. It had a cheesy melody, strange lyrics, and frankly, it wasn’t epic enough to be a coronation song. My 9-year-old sister could write better lyrics than that. But let’s start from the beginning.

Adam Lambert started off the show with “Mad World”, a repeat performance of his that was so good, the normally belligerent Simon Cowell rose to his feet and gave Lambert a standing ovation. Lambert was much more subdued in this finale performance, and I liked that he didn’t attempt to shriek out his high notes as he normally does. I liked the performance – it was pretty haunting, with the dry ice and silvery blue lights. It didn’t blow me away, but it was still decent. Kris Allen picked “Ain’t No Sunshine” as his repeat performance – a song that I had loved when he performed it during Motown week. To me, his second rendition of it seemed a bit strained; he wasn’t hitting the same notes he did when he performed it the first time, and he had more fire in his voice the first time around. Allen appeared like he was exhausted – maybe he was saving his voice for later, who knows? It was still a good performance, and I like that he switched up the arrangement a little bit from the original performance he did.

The second round was AI creator Simon Fuller’s picks. Lambert got “A Change is Gonna Come”, a classic Sam Cooke song which has been sung to death during Idol auditions. It was an interesting pick for Lambert, and probably a metaphorical one too. He started off pretty well, remarkably subdued and classic – and then came the high notes and the performance went downhill from there. Normally for a song you have a beginning, middle, bridge and then the end. For Lambert it was a beginning and a bridge. Lambert doesn’t know how to reign in his voice. He just unleashes it during the high notes and really pretty much butchered the song. I couldn’t stand listening to it – had to put it on mute. Too bad, as he had started off pretty well with that song.

Kris Allen was given “What’s Going On”, another classic song from the great Marvin Gaye. I was nervous at first, because the song is very bluesy, R&B-ish and Motown, but I rememered that Kris can pretty much take on songs that aren’t typically his genre [see: Heartless] and when the song started, he was barely into the first verse and already I wanted to do cartwheels. His rendition of “What’s Going On” was phenomenal. It wasn’t as exciting as “Heartless”, but it was pretty close. It was an almost bossa nova/Latin salsa version of “What’s Going On” and I am telling you, I love this song to death, and I almost wanted to cry because of how much justice Kris brought to singing it. It was the best performance of the night, primarily because it was the most original, and he had made the song fresh. I can’t wait to download it on iTunes tomorrow!

And now we come to the coronation song, “No Boundaries”. I won’t even dignify it with a review, except I thought Adam Lambert made it sound so dated – like a horrible 80s song. Kris, on the other hand, made it a bit contemporary, but the notes were far too high for him, and he was really straining himself in order to hit those notes. Luckily for him, the timbre of his voice allows him to sound relevant and not like he was stuck in the 80s like Lambert was. Though I can say that both of them sang the song poorly, mostly because it was a horribly-written song to begin with, I thought Kris did a much better, albeit more bearable version than Lambert.

So with all that in mind, I decided to text my fingers off for Kris tonight. It was absolutely exhausting having to do that for four hours straight, but I did it. I worked three cellphones and I think I may have pulled 2000 votes or something. It was crazy. Whatever happens tomorrow night, Kris Allen has a bright future ahead of him, because he is a very relevant, record-ready artist who knows exactly what he wants to put out as a record. I hope he wins, because he deserves it, after all the hard work he has put into his performances and how he has dealt with the AI machine, even after they preordained their winner 13 contestants beforehand. No matter what happens, Kris Allen is my American Idol – and the first and last finalist on that horrible show that I ever vote for.

How to destroy a comic book movie

Pretty badass poster, right? I judged the movie by its poster, to my detriment.

I feel like a complete fool having ever been convinced that Marvel would be able to churn out another faithful and enjoyable comic book movie with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I mean, I’m embarrassed that I didn’t see it coming. When Hugh Jackman was the surprise guest at Comic-Con 2008, having flown all the way from Australia just to show a roomful of geeks footage of his new Wolverine flick, I was ecstatic. I thought, here we’d finally get a decent Sabretooth story (and the Liev Schreiber casting was pretty clever, and probably the only good decision made in this movie), and then we’d finally be able to see one of the most beloved comic book characters of all time, Gambit a.k.a. Remy LeBeau.

I was in the theater watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and I felt like I was going to have a seizure. Not only was it packed with sentimental fluff, but the little action that was in the movie was just choreographed bullshit. The film attempted to tell Wolverine’s origin story, but it failed from the get-go. It wasn’t faithful to the actual comic book story, and they took tremendous liberties with the characters that should be considered a crime. The movie got a C+ from most critics, but I feel like that is way too generous for a movie failure of epic proportions.

The first ten minutes of Origins was cool. Flashy superhero antics featuring the always delightful Deadpool [played by Ryan Reynolds], slo-mo history scenes of Jimmy/Logan growing up with Victor and both of them going off to fight wars. It was all good for the first ten minutes. I even like Danny Huston as a young William Stryker. But then they went into the romance story between Silverfox and Wolverine, and it only went downhill from there. Not only was the romance poorly constructed, the audience didn’t really have enough time to empathize with their relationship. The two characters just appeared to be thrust at each other and the audience was just supposed to accept it as an epic love story. And then the mindless killing starts when ex-members of the unit Stryker led in Africa start getting murdered. There really is no reason for this, and it’s funny how the movie barrels along regardless of how lame the plot is.

Liev Schreiber was the only convincing person in the movie. He played his role very well, and he was the best Sabretooth that we comic book fans would probably ever have. Unfortunately, a good actor can only do so much with poor direction and a horrible script. Schreiber’s great acting wasn’t enough to hold up the entire film. Hugh Jackman, as per usual, was charming and extremely hot without his shirt on (and at one point, actually buck naked, but I think that may have been a body double – ah well, a girl can dream), but alas, he wasn’t any good either. Yes, we’ve gotten used to him living in Wolverine’s skin for what – four years now? So he is Wolverine. The problem is, there was no depth to his character. He seemed like a bumbling bonehead, and even though the revenge angle was pseudo-workable, the writing was just absolutely terrible.

I was actually excited to finally see Dominic Monaghan doing something after his character, Charlie, got killed off on Lost, and when I heard he was going to be in Origins, I was enthused. Sadly, though, Monaghan was probably in the movie for a total of 5 minutes. It was actually kind of pathetic. Monaghan had stated in an interview right before he left Lost that he wanted to do other things, and he was thankful to Lost for getting his face out there and giving him exposure, but now he had wanted to do more than that and do movies, etc. Little did we know that he was only good enough for something like a five minute cameo of a character who has absolutely no endearing qualities and a pretty stupid way of activating his powers, actually.

Which brings me to Gambit. Gambit was the most anticipated appearance in the entire movie. I had heard that Taylor Kitsch [Friday Night Lights] was picked to play the part, and this was cool because he definitely looks the part of the flirtatious Cajun bad boy. However, Kitsch’s Gambit was lukewarm, clumsy and unimportant. The movie could have gone on without him, and frankly, the only reason I can think of why Gambit was inserted into the movie was for show. He wasn’t relevant; the scenes he was in were terrible and ridiculously shot. The fight scenes were abysmal. So in short: the long-awaited premiere of Gambit was a major let-down.

Ryan Reynolds, who played Deadpool, was one of the best in the movie, but alas, the way the writers completely butchered his character is beyond forgivable. Deadpool is one of the most endearing charactes in comic book history, mostly because of his talkative nature and his skill with weapons. They were able to demonstrate these endearing qualities early on in the movie, which pretty much constituted those ten minutes of bearable fluff I was talking about in the beginning of the film. However, the movie eventually reveals that Stryker was working on a program called Weapon XI (don’t even get me started on that one) and that he had made Deadpool the new Weapon XI – a super mutant with powers from different characters. They even brought in a young Scott Summers to take his powers! I’m telling you, what the writers did to Deadpool was absolutely fucked up. Quite possibly the most fucked up thing you could do to a comic book character, actually, which is why it can only boggle the mind why the hell Marvel would ever give their blessing for something as absurd as Deadpool being a supermutant who can have his head hacked off and yet survive.

I bet you Bryan Singer is as pissed off as I am. Anyway, X-Men Origins was a complete waste of time and money. The acting was so horribly cheesy, almost bordering on telenovella-esque, and the writing was downright abusive towards the characters. There was really nothing good about this movie at all, except for a few naked Hugh Jackman scenes that particularly interested those in the audience who were of the female persuasion. I give this movie an F. I would never see it again. Why? I’m not a masochist.

Swedes are creepy

I remember when I watched Let the Right One In. I was sitting in front of my computer and I had a pillow in front of me, for when it gets really creepy and I can use it for cover. Let the Right One In was an interesting film. And no, by ‘interesting’, I don’t mean bad. It wasn’t exactly awesome, but it was surprisingly simple and melancholic. It was a bit gory in parts, but it wasn’t in-your-face Hostel-gross. Once the movie started, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I don’t know what it is about vampires or monsters or whatever that are represented by foreign films. They just seem way scarier. The vampires in 30 Days of Night were frightening, and they were speaking a fictional language developed by a Linguistics professor to convey primal ideas.

Anyway, back to Let the Right One In. The film turned out to be less scary than I had expected it to be. It was rather sentimental (and this isn’t a negative thing) and focused, which was surprising. You don’t really expect a lot of horror movies to have that sort of approach. The plot was interesting, but it could have used more meat to fill in the story. I would recommend it to those who appreciate foreign films as well as scary films. This movie excelled in establishing a haunting atmosphere – one which a lot of American horror movies are lacking in. Overall, you come away from the movie with a sense of melancholy, and a greater appreciation for Swedes – because they can be extra creepy if they want to.

Idol worship

I’ve never been a die-hard American Idol fan. I’ve always thought that the contestants who did really well on Idol were usually Star Search material, or beauty pageant intermission-special. Kelly Clarkson started off in that manner after she won the first season, but eventually found her own zone and developed a marketable career. Who the hell knows if Ruben Studdard is even alive? Fantasia Barrino has been flitting in and out of the spotlight, and Katherine McPhee is apparently doing movies now. Carrie Underwood seems to be the most successful of the bunch – while doing touring, recording new albums, getting inducted into the Grand Ole Opry and doing commercials, ads and winning awards, she seems the be the only American Idol who has had real all-around success. I never liked her, though. I rooted for Bo Bice when their season was on. As for Jordin Sparks, I don’t care for her at all, and the same goes for David Cook, although I was shocked when he won last year, considering how Simon Cowell practically crowned David Archuleta the winner the night before the results were revealed.

So in a nutshell, although I am not a diehard Idol fan, I do know the Idols, and I’m familiar with how the show is run. Lately, I’ve been growing impressed with the show, because I’ve noticed that this show has really made some major breakthroughs, ratings-wise, drama-wise, talent-wise and society-wise. Let me elaborate. Ratings-wise, American Idol is a monster. If you’re a struggling new show trying to find a niche audience, you don’t wanna go up against something like American Idol. Lost producers winced when they found out that their move to the Wednesday slot at 9pm would pitt their show against AI. With the growing popularity of reality TV because of shows like The Bachelor, Real World and The Hills (although in that aspect let’s call it “reality” TV), the success of American Idol is not unfounded. But despite being sucessful in the ratings department, a show that has been going on for 8 seasons now needs a revamping, and they have revamped the show, for good and bad.

For one, there is the addition of a new judge: singer/songwriter/producer Kara DioGuardi. I personally think she’s a better judge than Paula Abdul, only because she actually makes sense when she opens her mouth, but for some reason she has rubbed American Idol fans the wrong way. All over the internet are pronouncements of disdain over the addition of her to the show. People felt it was unnecessary, but perhaps they fail to understand that maybe this was a preemptive move in the event Simon Cowell would eventually leave the hit show. There have been rumors swirling around that Cowell simply found it too difficult to do two shows during the same week (American Idol and Britain’s Got Talent) and was going to have to choose one of the two to continue on. Since his contract with American Idol is up after this season (8), he is free to do whatever he wants, so he could very well choose to stick with BGT.

Another addition to the show was the Judges Save – meant to be used to redeem a contestant who the judges feel didn’t receive the right number of votes in order to be safe. Because of what we like to call the “Chris Daughty Effect”, which is when somene who appears to be a frontrunner in the competition goes home because their fans got cocky and didn’t bother to call or text to keep their favorite safe. I have to say that I like this idea, only because you have to admit that America fucked up pretty badly with Chris Daughtry, so might as well incorporate it so that no one who’s worth anything is sent home by mistake.

Adam Lambert, who most assumed was going to be a shoo-in for the finale, landed in the bottom on Wednesday night.

This year’s contestants are the most diverse and original that I’ve ever seen on the show. We are down to the final four, and all four contestants bring something different to the table. You have the clear frontrunner (although after last Wednesday’s shocking results show, we’re not so sure anymore) Adam Lambert, who brings his own brand of glam rock/theater chic into the fray; Allison Iraheta, the youngest of the bunch at 17 and who has a very unique voice and a nice edge to her performances; Danny Gokey, who has  a compelling story and a soulful, raspy voice and a good range; and Kris Allen, a laid-back, singer-songwriter type who is rarely ever seen without an instrument of choice on stage, may it be a guitar or a keyboard.

All of the contestants are stylistically different, with Kris and Adam on opposite sides of the spectrum. I am betting that when it comes down to the wire, it will be an Adam-Kris finale, which I personally am very excited to see. I think that Adam and Kris balance each other out; one puts on a good show and is crazy, exciting and a great performer, while the other is heartfelt, melodic, genuine and easy to listen to. Either one could nab the top spot, in my opinion, although I personally prefer Kris Allen to win the title.

I think that Adam Lambert is exciting to watch and he definitely gives you a performance to remember, but it’s mostly not because of his singing, but rather, his theatrics. Lambert has a background in theater, and so he can not only belt out notes that could easily shatter a piece of glass, but he also is very exaggerated with his facial expressions, costumes, make-up, etc. He’s like Prince or Cher, maybe even Britney Spears, in that the music is exciting, probably up-tempo and crazy, but you really only come to the show to see what he will do next. The reason Lambert has many fans is because he is an Idol first; he’s the first Idol who people are actually excited to see what he does next, and the first Idol who has pretty much destroyed arrangements (like that horrible rendition of “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash) and yet escaped with nothing but a few “I didn’t understand that performance” comments from Simon. He’s also the first openly gay contestant on American Idol. Lambert performs to shock an audience, and so people flock to him like he’s this bright and shiny object. I’m not sure where he will be in 10 years, of course, considering that someone who thrives on the exciting and the shock factor can only do it for a few years before it eventually gets old.

Kris Allen sings "She Works Hard for the Money" during Disco Week, and gets rave reviews.

Kris Allen, on the other hand, is someone who could have a lasting career. His voice sounds like a cross between Jason Mraz and Landon Pigg, both singer-songwriters known for their easy charisma and melodic music. Allen is the complete polar opposite to Lambert. He isn’t one for the spotlight, which doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to win the competition, it just means he has a different approach to his performances. Rather than deliver shocking performances and crazy vocal gymnastics, Allen’s best asset is the fact that he can arrange a song and make it his own – even a hit. His arrangement of the classic “Ain’t No Sunshine” was impeccable and original and made the song seem like it had only been released on the airwaves. His performances are very down-to-earth, and you can see that when he sings, he really does love making music. Allen is very earnest on stage and even though he has been consistently good during the course of the show, it was really only recently that he finally got the praise that he deserves.

The other two contestants are extremely predictable, which is why I am not going to be surprised if either one of them leaves in the weeks to come. Iraheta has a rock edge to her voice, but her arrangements are not original. The same can be said of Gokey, who has a nice tone to his voice and is a big belter, but who not only doesn’t arrange music personally, but has the personality of a rock. He also is the very American Idol-esque contestant on the show. He never really excites you when you are watching him. He just sings well. Iraheta has the same effect; not exciting, but she has a great voice.

I am rooting for Allen because he seems like the most genuine of the bunch. By genuine, I mean that he doesn’t seem to be in it for the fame, whereas Lambert seems to come off as such. I believe that Lambert is more suited for Broadway. He has the stage presence and the talent to be a big success on Broadway. I don’t think his voice is suited for making music. I’ve never had any desire to purchase any of his songs on iTunes, simply because I don’t feel the need to be shrieked at for 3 and a half minutes. I would go see Adam Lambert live, but I would go out and buy Allen’s album and see him live as well. I think Allen has the potential to have a long career in making music, and even Jamie Foxx has said he would want to make an album with Allen. I think that if Allen wins, he will be a first in American Idol history, because we’ve never had an Idol quite like him. The same is applicable to Adam Lambert. If Lambert wins, which is very likely (although I have by no means written off Allen), he will also make good of the American Idol title. I am just rooting for Allen because he is the underdog, and it’s about time that nice, talented guys who don’t live on hype finished first.

Pride and pretense

I had been putting off watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona because I’m not the biggest fan of Scarlett Johansson and I didn’t feel an overwhelming desire to watch her for an hour and a half. I’m not going to waste your time by going over the details of why I’m not a ScarJo fan, but I will tell you this: Penelope Cruz’s  Oscar is well-deserved. I haven’t seen Volver yet, but I am sure she is equally as intense in that movie as she is in this one. 

The movie revolves around two best friends, Vicky and Cristina, American women who go to Barcelona for the summer and fall for the same guy, an artist played by Javier Bardem. Vicky and Cristina are apparently polar opposites, and yet supposedly best friends. Quite unconvincing, considering how much disdain Vicky has for Cristina’s lifestyle, and how disapproving Cristina is of Vicky’s uptight demeanor. Anyway, Vicky is the more practical one; all common sense, no spontaneity. She is in Barcelona for educational purposes, as she is doing a thesis on Catalan identity. Cristina, on the other hand, is more of a caricature of the hipster folk we see these days. I say that she is a caricature because she isn’t a person, but more of an idea. The idea is that this woman has no qualms about anything, no hesitations about making spontaneous decisions, and is in love with the idea of being impulsive and unequivocal with her life, so she does everything in her power to enforce this idea. I had absolutely no patience for her character, and the movie actually does address that her character is pretentious, which I was a little surprised by (in a good way).

Javier Bardem plays Juan Antonio, an artist who seduces the two friends and makes a proposition to sleep with them both. The offer, although probably intended by Woody Allen (who wrote and directed the film) to come off as sexy and endearing, felt contrived at best. I feel like Bardem’s character was too much of a cliche. It was as if Allen thought of all the things “real artists” say during normal conversations and came up with the most insanely off-base portrayal of one.

Penelope Cruz was the breath of fresh air that the movie badly needed. The film started off in a very pretentious manner, with a voice-over that grew really annoying as the movie progressed, so it really needed one kind of haphazard element that made the movie look gritty and undeliberate. Cruz was absolutely fabulous as the aggressively beautiful Maria Elena, Juan Antonio’s crazed ex-wife who occasionally threatens to kill herself or the other people around her in a vicious act of passion. I totally understand why she won the Academy Award for this movie.  She was just brilliant, and she proves time and time again that she is more than just a pretty face.

Overall, the movie was a little painful to sit through. Normally, I’m pretty good with Woody Allen movies. I loved Annie Hall, and enjoyed Sleeper. I didn’t particularly care for Match Point, but considering all the hot guys who were in that movie, I couldn’t resist. But Vicky Cristina Barcelona was just the movie I didn’t need to see after The Go-Getter completely didn’t agree with me. Some people might like the movie because they think that when people go to Spain they want to live the life of the passionate artist or whatever, but that is just Allen capitalizing on people’s romantic ideals of European travel. It’s a very true romantic ideal – to want to be swept away by some tall, dark, handsome brooding painter who spouts philosophy on a regular basis while on vacation in one of the most sensual countries in Europe – but when you package it in the way Allen has done in Vicky Cristina Barcelona,  the ideal is no longer romantic and it becomes a reflection of the increasingly mainstream hipster crowd we are getting these days. The Diablo Codys and Chuck Klostermans of the world can gush about the genius of Vicky Cristina Barcelona all they like, but I sure don’t see what the fuss is about.

Nothing is what it seems

Some movies can surprise you. The one thing you learn about Hollywood after years of watching is that when you come in with high expectations, you’re more likely to be disappointed than to be wowed. Take for instance, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I had made an event of this premiere and was about ready to crawl out of my skin from utter excitement. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know how I feel about this film, so I won’t bother with the gory details. The short story: I absolutely hated it. I felt so robbed of my 1o dollars and faith in the movie that I felt like crying. No joke. I know it seems melodramatic to the lot of you, but when you’ve been a fan of the Narnia books since when you were a kid, you would understand how important a movie adaptation is.

And then there’s a film like The Go-Getter. I like Lou Taylor Pucci; most of his films I’ve enjoyed, like Fifty Pills and Thumbsucker. So I came in expecting a good time. What I got in the first ten minutes of the film was absolute drivel. I remember thinking, at the time I watched the movie, what pretentious garbage it was. The beginning was catchy; a hipster quote about Huckleberry Finn. Can’t go wrong with that. But as the movie progressed, it came off like a group of fresh-out-of-film-school students decided to come together, apply all their knowledge about the indie movie, and make a film about a guy who goes on a road trip for some random reason. Don’t get me wrong; I love indie films. I do, however, from my frequent watching of them, know exactly what is an indie film and what isn’t. A good old indie film doesn’t feel like it has to have all the elements of an indie film. An indie film doesn’t classify itself as an indie film. An indie film becomes an indie film because the story is small but the message is big and most often insightful. An indie film is a small package with a memorable surprise. In The Go-Getter, whatever genius message it was that was being communicated by the scriptwriters was lost amid the pretentious crap they were trying to pull. From the empty, fluffy language of the film up to the over-the-top indie music that was being played all throughout the film, I felt like I was about to throw up any second as I was watching it. What irks me more than any other film in the world is a film that tries too hard to be something. I appreciate films that are at least honest about how stupid they are, like Paul Blart: Mall Cop, for instance. I would take that film over The Go-Getter anytime, only because the former is filmed with a clear view of what it wants to be: a mindless comedy with people flying around in the screens. The Go-Getter aspired to be this one transcendent film, filled with clever anecdotes that no one in real life really says, and filled with music that would give the impression of coolness. It was like watching a fucking Chuck Klosterman book unfold.

So like I said before, some movies disappoint you when you least expect it to. On the other hand, if you come in with no expectations, you’re most likely to be pleasantly surprised. Like for instance, the movie Happy-Go-Lucky, starring award-winning actress Sally Hawkins. I had come in not expecting much from the movie, because I had seen the previews and didn’t think it was anything more than a glorified Bridget Jones’s Diary. It was quirkier than I expected, and not in a good way. I found myself in awe of how silly of a character Poppy Montgomery is, but at the same time, found her lack of self-consciousness quite fascinating and bordering on the endearing. She grows on you, this Poppy Montogomery. I thought the film started out a bit slow, but picked up towards the end. The best parts were the ones involving the driving lessons she was having with a complete psycho who referred to the rearview mirror as “Enraha”, the “all-seeing eye”. Absolutely ridiculous. Anyway, I see why Sally Hawkins won the award for Best Actress in a Comedy, and it is well-deserved. The film will probably not be liked by everybody, but it’s an endearing film, and Poppy’s happy-go-lucky attitude does rub off on you a little bit.

And then there’s 17 Again. I admit that even a toxic movie nitpicker like me has some weaknesses. That weakness would be a deliriously cute boy like Zac Efron. I don’t care if I’m made fun of, YES, I went to see 17 Again because Zac Efron is cute as a button and I had nothing better to do on a Saturday night. So sue me. I had expected nothing but fluffy drivel, but it wasn’t at all. It was entertaining fluffy drivel, with a cute boy in the midst of it. Zac Efron was his usual charismatic, gorgeous self, and although he was pretty much playing the self-assured heartbreaker he usually plays in all of his films, he did however surprise me towards the end, when he has a dramatic scene in a court room as his character tries to win back his wife, who is filing for divorce. So I still have hope for him that he will someday break out of his teen heartthrob status and become a more refined actor. The movie had its unfunny, cliched parts, but it also had its moments, such as a painfully gush-worthy scene involving Efron, a leather jacket, a hot car, and Spoon’s “The Underdog” playing in the background. Speaking of which, this movie had some pretty good songs in its soundtrack; songs from Cat Power and The Kooks among some of them.

Soldiering on

I’m a big fan of Rachel McAdams, and I think she’s a terrific actress and could be the next Jodi Foster, if she plays her cards right. So when I heard about The Lucky Ones, I immediately rented it from Netflix. The Lucky Ones is a story about three soldiers who get back home from doing tours in the US army, and they’ve gotten so used to being in the military that they don’t seem to know what to do with themselves when they get back out into the real world.

 The story starts when Tim Robbins’ character, Fred Cheaver, is the only one with the rental car and Rachel McAdams and Michael Peña’s characters tag along for the ride. T.K. Poole (Peñ) wants to go to Las Vegas because he was sent home from Iraq after some shrapnel got into his thigh, resulting in him having erection problems. The trip to Vegas is to see if a bunch of strippers can get him aroused enough to remedy the situation. Rachel McAdams plays Colee Dunn, a Southern sweetheart whose earnest demeanor can charm, but also irritate. Her character goes on a road trip with T.K. and Cheaver in order for her to return a guitar to the family of a fallen comrade in Iraq.

The story seems comedic at first, but it’s really emotional too. The writing is funny, and the message is very clever. It’s sort of like recidivism for the military, is what is being explored in this movie.  So the three soldiers get out of war expecting all these things from the world they come back to, thinking that because they fought for America they expect the world to be a little bit different, a little bit better, and instead, it’s not so much. And they don’t know how to function in this strange society, so they go back into the army even if they vowed they would never go back. This movie is a pretty good watch. It’s not a stellar movie, but it’s one of those movies that makes you go “huh.”