Why do Bad Shows do Well?

While truly great cinema and television fail to make it? This is today's question. A question that comes in the wake of:

• The massive Twilight opening
• The biggest Bond film ever
• The impressive showing for Lincoln

Of the three movies listed above we attended two of the premieres. We won't attend the third (Twilight) on principle - the first Twilight movie was Ok, the follow-ons have gotten sillier and seem to represent an opportunity to see the main characters again in a sort of teen worship scenario. The other movies listed above seemed very promising from the initial reviews and trailers yet we walked out of both highly disappointed. 

If these three were ugly, how many teens would go to watch their movie?

Lincoln, which we just saw on Friday was a relatively lifeless and unimaginative take on Lincoln which chose to suck in every oddball piece of Lincoln mythology developed over the past 150 years. Skyfall was a movie that didn't seem to know where it was going for more than half of the picture with a James Bond who seemed as though he was doing his best to get out of his contract by turning in the most apathetic Bond performance in a generation  Yet both films have done exceptionally well. On the other, Cloud Atlas, which was remarkable on many levels, fell flat in the box office (at least here in the US, it did much better internationally).

Now, there are exceptions where great shows are actually recognized as being great these days, although most of that is coming from television cable networks. The best example of this is AMC who have developed and stuck by Mad Men, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad in just the past 5 years. Other great television shows over the years haven't fared so well with comedies like Outsourced being cut, shows like Firefly being ditched and so on. Often times, truly great shows need time to build up audience or need at least not to be pitted against top-rated nonsense like American Idol. 

Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Twilight - Kid's books and Comic Books now dominate Hollywood

Before Twilight, the last big hit at the theaters was the Hunger Games. It was perhaps even sillier than the Twilight saga and worse yet had stolen its entire concept from a Japanese movie called "Battle Royale" (a film which turned out to be more entertaining by far than hunger games - it's on Netflix). 

The book "Hunger Games" was a Ripoff Royale

So, this brings us back to our original question? Why do so many crap movies or shows do well while truly remarkable cinema and television get ignored? Here's our thoughts:

1. More and more decisions on what gets produced (and how it is produced) is being based on demographics rather than story. 
2. We have a precious few really talented writers these days in Hollywood. 
3. People respond to trailers - and most of these trailers represent false advertising. Lincoln is a good example - it includes fully half of the most dramatic scenes of its entire 2 hours and 29 minutes in the two minute preview. Instead of watching the 2 hours of riveting cinema we expected there was maybe 5 minutes of real drama in the whole movie.
4. People respond to brand and are afraid to try new things. Hunger Games is a brand, Twilight is a brand - they were both brands before they were movies. Lincoln is a brand as well - sort of. 
5. People going to movies don't like to think too hard - or so Hollywood assumes. Sequels, brand franchises, re-tellings of the same old stories represent perhaps 2/3 of all Hollywood revenue. During Looper, which in fact wasn't even that complicated, we personally witnessed people acting as though their heads were about to explode.
6. When people come to the movies expecting it will be good, often they're unwilling to admit that it wasn't. That's real loyalty - but it doesn't help guarantee that future movies will be made with any skill if you reward films that are flimsy and un-entertaining. 
7. There seems to be lowered expectations for film quality these days. In this regard, cinema and politics seem to be competing with one another to see how dumbed-down they can get. Contrary to popular belief, however, the United States doesn't operate at a sixth grade level. 

There is nothing worse than going to a movie expecting to enjoy oneself and end up being stuck for two hours wishing you were somewhere else. We're grateful for gems like the Cloud Atlas when they do occur, but we think it's about time that Hollywood started raising the bar again in general on their major releases. Stephen Spielberg is a genius, we credited him with the best movie of all time, yet in Lincoln he makes the high point of the movie a bathroom - sorry - wash closet joke. 

That's just sad.  

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Lincoln doesn't Secede

We apologize for the titular pun, but the reality is that Stephen Spielberg's Lincoln has provided us with the second massive disappointment in a week or so. The other one was Skyfall. We weren't sure what we were expecting with Lincoln, but we certainly didn't get it. Spielberg managed to take the most fascinating character in American history during the most tumultuous period in our history and actually make a dull and inaccurate movie. How could this have happened?

The real... Abraham Lincoln

Here's our explanation as to what went wrong with this movie:

1. Spielberg choose to focus on a tiny sliver of Civil War history (and an even smaller part of Lincoln's life) - the passage of the 13th amended to the constitution (e.g. the permanent abolition of slavery).
2. The story of the passage of that amendment drifted from being a morality epic into a buffonish process study into the workings of the Congress of 1865. 
3. The portrayal of Lincoln (while done very well by Daniel Day Lewis) is a continuation of slew of Lincoln myths - when taken together they greatly diminish the true historical character of Lincoln. Worse than that though, the film was sprinkled with awkward and often inappropriate humor, dedicating serious amounts of time to James Spader and his pals as wacky lobbyists intent on buying votes through patronage jobs. 
4. There is almost no action in the film - this is the Civil War and no action, a 4 year period wherein we fought more than in every other war in history combined.
5. The big issues were "wonkified" - at times it seemed as though we were watching the 1865 version of "Meet the Press." (BTW - this is how you take great and important issues and make them seem boring).

Daniel Day Lewis will get an Oscar nod for this role, but the script was lame

We were referring to the fact that this film perpetuated a number of Lincoln myths; here are the ones we're referring to:

• That Lincoln was a relatively comic figure with all his homilies, jokes and such. Nothing was further from the truth - Lincoln was perhaps the most astute politician in this nation's history. While he did often use anecdotes to make his point, he wasn't all anecdotes - as depicted in this and many other films. If you want to know what Lincoln really sounded like, how he actually made his cases and crafted his rhetoric, there's ample examples to go by. Here's an example that is entirely consistent with Lincoln's true style of communication:

It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our national Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens, have, in succession, administered the executive branch of the government. They have conducted it through many perils; and, generally, with great success. Yet, with all this scope for [of] precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years, under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.

I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper, ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will endure forever -- it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. (first inaugural address - 1861)

• That Lincoln sounded like Mark Twain (e.g. whiny, squeaky). Lincoln was perhaps the most successful debater and best public speaker in our history -he did not speak with a crackly voice. 
• That Lincoln expressed himself in simple terms more often than not. This is absolutely not true. No president in this nation's history was more eloquent. 
• That Lincoln was a broken man before he was assassinated, burdened by remorse over the war and the burden of being married to Mary Todd. The story-line of this movie even seems to contradict itself on this point as we see Lincoln the politician fighting to win a crucial victory while looking beaten at the same time. The fact that Lincoln was out celebrating at a theater when he was shot ought to indicate that maybe he wasn't as bad off as everyone seems to have wanted him to be. He was in fact squarely focused on the remainder of his second term and reconstruction of the nation.

We don't need to humanize Lincoln in cinema through continued reliance on these misunderstandings. Lincoln's actions and words did more than enough to humanize him for us and the ages. The real story that begs to be told about Lincoln is how this man rose to greatness; how he stood by his principles both in terms of saving the union and ending slavery and almost single-handedly held the United States through its most severe test together through sheer force of will. This movie only gives us fleeting glimpses of that and despite several remarkable performances (by Lewis and Sally Field in particular) falls flat in helping to know the real Lincoln or better understand an America that was perfectly willing to destroy itself in a bloodbath of unimaginable proportions.   

The Civil War was no joking matter

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Retro Attack - A Raving Playlist

Music defines an age and that age defines the people who become adults during that time. It's true that musical tastes expand and change as one grows older but those memories from high school when you began to experience the world through your own eyes for the first time always stays with you. Many of us came of age during the 1980's - we thought we had the best of all worlds, being able to choose from hits across three decades of cool rock tunes. It was also the beginning of Alternative rock and the launch of M-TV. Now those times with the big hair and Members Only jackets seem hopelessly Retro - yet the music still resonates. For those who still appreciate what the real Freaks & Geeks was like or those who'd like to travel back in time and find out why their parents are so weird - we present to you a Retro tribute. Of course back then we didn't have playlists, we used to record songs on cassette tapes and write the names down on the labels.

As usual, this playlist is available on Spotify as well.

What we like about the Romantics...

Retro Attack

The Romantics – What I Like About You
Tommy Tutone – 867-5309 / Jenny
Gary Numan – Cars (Live 1984)
Timbuk 3 – The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades
Rick Springfield – Jessie's Girl
Robert Palmer – Addicted To Love
Ready For The World – Oh Sheila
Bow Wow Wow – I Want Candy
Paul Davis – '65 Love Affair
Gregory Abbott – Shake You Down
Mr. Mister – Broken Wings
Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun
The Romantics – Talking In Your Sleep
Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing
Robert Palmer – Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)
Philip Bailey Duet with Phil Collins – Easy Lover
Rick James – Super Freak
Paul Young – Every Time You Go Away - Single Version
Soft Cell – Tainted Love
Scandal – Goodbye To You featuring Patty Smyth
The Fixx – One Thing Leads To Another
Tears For Fears – Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Dexys Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
DeBarge – Rhythm Of The Night
The Temptations – Treat Her Like A Lady
Rick Springfield – I've Done Everything For You
Eddie Money – Take Me Home Tonight
Devo – Whip It
Robert Palmer – I Didn't Mean To Turn You On
Eddie Money – Think I'm In Love
Information Society – What's On Your Mind - Pure Energy   Album Version
The Escape Club – Wild Wild West
INXS – What You Need - Single/LP Version
Howard Jones – No One Is To Blame
Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds - Elvis Live version
Todd Rundgren – Hello It's Me
Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Jackie Blue
The Tokens – The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)
The Champs – Tequila (Original)
Badfinger – Come And Get It
Juice Newton – Queen Of Hearts
Anita Ward – Ring My Bell
The Troggs – Wild Thing
Orleans – Still The One
Heatwave – Boogie Nights
Belinda Carlisle – Heaven Is A Place On Earth - `80s Weight Loss Workout Mix
Atlanta Rhythm Section – So Into You
Dusty Springfield – Spooky
Billy Paul – Me And Mrs. Jones
The Go-Go's – We Got The Beat (Single Mix)
Alice Cooper – No More Mr. Nice Guy
Bay City Rollers – Saturday Night
Kansas – Carry On Wayward Son
Elvis Presley – Viva Las Vegas
Abba – Dancing Queen
The Animals – House Of The Rising Sun
The Go-Go's – Our Lips Are Sealed
Kim Wilde – Kids in America
Three Dog Night – Mama Told Me Not To Come
Missing Persons – Destination Unknown
Rick Derringer – Rock N' Roll Hoochie Koo
The Miracles – Love Machine (Re-Recorded / Remastered)
Commodores – Brick House
B.J. Thomas – Hooked On A Feeling
Looking Glass – BRANDY
The Numb Ones – Space and Time
Robby Krieger (The Doors) – Across The Universe
Exile – Kiss You All Over
Peter, Paul and Mary – Leaving On A Jet Plane
Nazareth – Love Hurts
Kool & The Gang – Celebration
The Smithereens – Behind The Wall Of Sleep
Steely Dan – My Old School
The Guess Who – American Woman
Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town
The Tubes – She's A Beauty
Wolfmother – Joker And The Thief
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas – Nowhere To Run - Single Version (Mono)
Sonny & Cher – I Got You Babe - LP/Single Version
The Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody
Thin Lizzy – Whiskey In The Jar - Full Length Version
The Hollies – Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)
The Spencer Davis Group – Gimme Some Lovin'
Sweet – Little Willy
Janis Joplin – Piece Of My Heart
Diana Ross & The Supremes – Someday We'll Be Together
The Romantics – One In A Million
Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)?
Lenny Kravitz – It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over
Spandau Ballet – True
The Jesus – Head On
The Animals – Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Abba – Dancing Queen
Steely Dan – Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Harry Belafonte – Day-O - Banana Boat
Steely Dan – Peg
Ray Charles – What'd I Say
Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl
Rick Springfield – Love Somebody
Wang Chung – Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean - Single Version
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean - Single Version
Foreigner – Juke Box Hero
The Seventies – Alone Again
The Fixx – One Thing Leads To Another
Journey – Stone In Love

Journey helped to define rock in the early 1980's

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

How many of you are old enough to remember the Dating Game, or the original Newlywed Game or perhaps even, the Gong Show? There was one man behind this wave of insanity that hit the airwaves starting in the 1960's - his name was Chuck Barris. In fact, most of what we now consider Reality Television was born in his twisted imagination well before it earned the title we now use to refer to it. Why do we say twisted though? Well, if you haven't seen the Gong Show you might well not have gotten a true glimpse in Mr. Barris. The program was more or less a very cruel version of American Idol - with awful acts paraded in front of merciless judges only to be Gonged off of the stage in humiliation

Chuck Barris, producer, host, professional killer

But that of course was only the beginning of Mr. Barris's strange story. That story became truly bizarre after most of his hit TV shows were cancelled in the early 1980's. Then he wrote a book titled: "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and exposed his big secret - that the producer of the Gong Show was in fact a hitman for the CIA. He wrote a sequel to the book as well, providing more details about the 33 or so assassinations he allegedly performed while working as a TV Producer.

Sam Rockwell proved again in this film that he's one of the best actors in Hollywood today

In 2002, actor-producer George Clooney took the two books and combined them into a movie adaptation of Mr. Barris's strange story and named the film after the title of the first book. The movie at least seems to take the claim of Barris' double life as a professional killer somewhat seriously. To date, no one has either confirmed or denied the claims (well, the CIA did say he hadn't worked for them but then again Barris clearly states in the book and the movie that he as an independent contractor).

We missed the movie when it came out in 2003, an easy thing to do given the nature of the subject matter and lack of promotion. This movie was never destined to become a box office hit, but now that it is both on cable and Netflix it certainly is worth seeing. Why is it noteworthy? Here's our rationale:

1. The story is entertaining.
2. Clooney did a good job both as a director and one of the key players in the film (he portrays Barris' CIA handler).
3. The Chuck Barris story is so bizarre anyway, that even without the CIA twist it is interesting to watch - with the hitman fantasy it becomes truly fascinating.
4. There's a great extended cameo by Julia Roberts.
5. Because we've still never fully recovered from seeing the Gong Show...

Marcia Brady on the Dating Game - pop-culture cross promotion at its cheesiest

The big question you may be asking yourself is - could Chuck Barris have actually been a CIA killer? In the movie, they explain that often times on the Dating Game the contestants would be given vacations to strange locations so Barris could chaperone the couples and then steal away to conduct hits. In fact, the movie presents the idea that the CIA handler (Clooney) gave Barris the idea for the trips as a cover for his nefarious moonlighting. Who knows what really happened - most people have written off the hitman portion of the story as fantasy. Whether the story was real or imagined though, the movie is certainly entertaining. Perhaps Barris was the real James Bond?

The Gong Show pioneered bad taste on television 

Movie Reference	Ratings & Reviews	How to Watch
Chuck Barris on Wikipedia	Rotten Tomatoes Review	On Netflix
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind on IMDB	Roger Ebert's review	From Amazon.com

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

The Lone Gunmen Predicted 9/11

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction - or is it? In March, 2001 a TV series pilot aired on Fox television that depicted of all things, an airliner being flown into the World Trade Center (albeit with a different set of culprits and motives than the actual event). Keep in mind that this was nearly 6 months before 9/11 occurred. The show was called The Lone Gunmen and was a spin-off of the wildly popular  X-files. In the X-files series, the characters known as the Lone Gunmen served as a sort of 3 man cheap-laffs team. They ran a little read-conspiracy theory newsletter and helped Mulder and Scully out of any number of scrapes.

The DVD cover for the Lone Gunmen

As the X-files was finally winding down in 2001, the producers looked to the Gunmen to provide a spin-off into the next generation of X-files like paranoia. The show looked promising when it was first aired - the pilot followed in the best tradition of the x-files and the characters seemed to be able to stand alone w/o help from Fox Mulder. But then 9/11 happened and the show wasn't picked up for a new season. The show would have likely been cancelled anyway given the low ratings, which was partly due to its time-slot and off-season start. In fact, one has to wonder whether or not 9/11 would have happened at all if this show had been a hit. The initial response to the attacks on 9/11 included quite a number of statements by officials that just such an event could not have been foreseen or otherwise planned for. But as the pilot proved, the main idea of the attack had clearly been foreseen - by Hollywood anyway.

After 9/11, the government did actually enlist creative talent from Hollywood to help envision various types of scenarios not unlike those from the Lone Gunmen

It is fascinating to see the relationships between fiction and non-fiction, between popular culture and historical events. The strange case of The Lone Gunmen stands as one of the more profound examples of that - one that most people aren't even aware of...

This is the opening sequence from the Lone Gunmen pilot episode

Topic Reference	Ratings & Reviews	How to Watch
Lone Gunmen - Wikipedia	Lone Gunmen on Rotten Tomatoes	From Netflix
Lone Gunmen - IMDB	DVD Verdict	From Amazon

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Freedom - A Raving Playlist

What is Freedom, what does it really mean? Is it the absence of tyranny? Is Freedom the ability to do what you want, go where you want and be yourself? Or is it perhaps the ability to express your opinions and worship how you want to without being forced to think and behave the way someone else wants you to? These are all deep questions - questions that have relatively little to do with this playlist that we happened to name "Freedom." There is one thing that we're certain of though, you can listen to these tunes while you're pondering those great questions and chances are you will determine what Freedom means to you - and after all - that's the only thing that really matters isn't it?

As usual you can find this list on Spotify - and guess what - that's free too (if you don't mind the ads)!

John, when he was Cougar not Mellencamp - sporting some 80's hair

Minutes to Memories is Mellencamp's best song from his best Album - scarecrow

Freedom:
John Mellencamp – Minutes To Memories
Vangelis – Theme From Antarctica
10000 Maniacs – Across The Fields
The Black Crowes – Remedy
Audioslave – Be Yourself
Journey – Be Good To Yourself
The B-52's – Roam
Nirvana – Lithium
Vangelis – Blade Runner (End Titles)
The Black Crowes – Been A Long Time (Waiting on Love)
The Black Crowes – Hard To Handle
Three Dog Night – Never Been To Spain
Matchbox Twenty – 3 am
America – A Horse with No Name
Vangelis – Closing Titles From "Mutiny On The Bounty"
George Harrison – What Is Life - 2001 Digital Remaster
The Black Crowes – She Talks To Angels
Sister Hazel – All For You
The Allman Brothers Band – In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed - 1971/Live At The Fillmore East
Nirvana – Something In The Way
Orleans – Dance With Me
Boston – Don't Look Back
3 Doors Down – It's Not My Time
Vangelis – The Tao Of Love
The Cranberries – Linger
Santana – Maria Maria - Radio Mix
The Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider
Vangelis – Memories Of Green
Naked Eyes – Always Something There To Remind Me
Vangelis – L'Enfant
The Killers – All These Things That I've Done
Genesis – Land Of Confusion - 2007 Remastered Album Version
The Black Crowes – Jealous Again
Grand Funk Railroad – I'm Your Captain/Closer To Home (Medley)
John Mellencamp – Our Country - Rock Version
Vangelis – La Petite Fille De La Mer
Todd Rundgren – I Saw The Light
R.E.M. – Losing My Religion
Supertramp – Take The Long Way Home - Remastered Version/2010
Spandau Ballet – True
Jack Johnson – Better Together
George Michael – Freedom! '90
The Cranberries – Dreams
Vangelis – Love Theme From " Bladerunner"
U2 – Heartland
John Mellencamp – Authority Song
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird
Tom Petty – Free Fallin'
Eric Clapton – After Midnight
Dave Matthews Band – Funny the Way It Is
Counting Crows – American Girls
Santana – Samba Pa' Ti
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Learning To Fly
Pink Floyd – Run Like Hell
Bruce Springsteen – Born In The U.S.A.
Roxy Music – More Than This
Billy Ocean – Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car
Foo Fighters – My Hero
Sara Bareilles – Love Song
Anberlin – Breathe
Plain White T's – Hey There Delilah
Heather Masse – I Don’t Wanna Wake Up Today
INXS – Need You Tonight
Foo Fighters – My Hero
Steve Winwood – Back In The High Life Again
Neil Young – Rockin' In The Free World
Lenny Kravitz – Supersoulfighter
U2 – Sweetest Thing - The Single Mix
Dave Matthews Band – American Baby
Peter Gabriel – Red Rain - Live In London/2011
Adam Gussow – Freedom For My People - Excerpt
Everclear – Santa Monica
The Animals – House Of The Rising Sun
David Bowie – Blue Jean
Franz Ferdinand – What She Came For

Well, their songs have little to do with Freedom, but we still like them anyway

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

10 Signs the End is Near

There were a lot of people who were fairly disappointed when the planet didn't vaporize on May 21st, 2011, especially those poor bastards who gave away everything they owned in anticipation of the joyous event. Never fear though, because Apocalypse 2.0 is coming to a planet near you this year on December 21st! (the date of the 13th Mayan Bactune). Yes, that's right - we're pretty sure this time that the end is truly near. All of the signs are here - all the planets are lining up and those Mayans are going to get their revenge after all (or so we've been told by some of their descendants who now work in a Corona Cerveza factory). We may even have to come up with a new set of Apocalypse Party Tips as the last one may have already been used in Apocalypse 1.0 parties and probably wouldn't be as fun a second time.

How can we a prediction like this with such certainty? Well - because we researched this through a painstaking processes of Internet browsing that lasted for hours. The Mayans were in contact with the Chariots of the God's Aliens who by the way are a lot nicer and not at all related to the X-Files aliens or the Alien alien or even the Predator alien. Anyway, these nicer ones told the Mayans what was up to give us a chance to build our own escape ships and go somewhere else but maybe they should have told the Spanish because the Spanish or Aztecs or someone wiped out all of the Mayans and thus we're all screwed. Still not convinced? Well, we've also been given many, many signs that the end is near and we've include the top 10 below.

Could people with hats like these be wrong? We seriously doubt it

The Top 10 Apocalyptic Omens:

1. The Fiscal Cliff will lead to tax increases for millionaires which will of course signify the end of the world.
2. Tim Tebow can't win any games - so God has forsaken us.
3. Saturday Night Live isn't funny anymore - wait that's happened like 6 times before - oh it's the 7th time - got it.
4. George Lucas gave away Star Wars.
5. Obama won a second term and now all those dozens of books and movies telling us how bad the second term will be have to come true, right?
6. Windows 8 has been launched and Breaking Dawn part 2 will be the biggest debut in movie history, yuk!
7. We've run out of ideas for new Zombie movies or TV shows.
8. Real-life Zombies are eating people's faces - how gross is that? (so maybe there's one more idea left)
9. The weather is so bad that even Locusts refuse to go outdoors.
10. Aliens have placed detour signs around Earth which is why we've witnessed a big slowdown in alien abductions and UFO sightings.

It turns out that the Nazca lines in Peru were in fact the Nascar lines - a particularly difficult track for alien pod racers. Another recent theory posits that this is in fact a sign wherein one group of irate aliens were flipping the bird to another. We may never know for sure as we're all going to die on December 21st. 

We told you Corona Beer was involved, didn't we, huh, huh...

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

War & Peace - The Playlist

Well, in case you're worried - we don't have the 1812 Overture on here but we must admit that this week's release of Anna Karenina did inspire us somewhat in coming up with our theme. War is a unique part of the human condition, but then again so is peace. Hopefully one day we can have the latter without the former - in meantime we'll need to make music about why we do the things we do. A decade of wars doesn't mean we'll always be at war - we ain't no fortunate sons...

As usual this list is on available on Spotify.

John Fogerty and the rest of Creedence - born on the Bayou...

 

War & Peace - The Playlist:
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son
U2 – Bullet The Blue Sky
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World
Genesis – Land Of Confusion - 2007 Remastered Album Version
Billy Joel – Only The Good Die Young - Single Version
U2 – Until The End Of The World
Fatboy Slim – Weapon Of Choice
The Black Crowes – Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution
John Mellencamp – Crumblin' Down
Jon Bon Jovi – Blaze Of Glory
David Bowie – Heroes - Single Version;2002 Digital Remaster
Dave Matthews Band – When The World Ends
The Black Crowes – She Talks To Angels
Guns N' Roses – Civil War
Billy Joel – We Didn't Start The Fire
Black Sabbath – War Pigs
Alice In Chains – Rooster
Chris Cornell – You Know My Name
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Run Through The Jungle
Cat Stevens – Peace Train
Green Day – 21 Guns
Rob Zombie – War Zone
Dave Matthews Band – The Space Between
Sting – Russians
U2 – Mothers Of The Disappeared
Dave Matthews Band – Time Bomb
Bob Dylan – Blowin' in the Wind
The Wailers – I Shot The Sheriff
Joe Cocker – Shelter Me (Single Edit)
Boston – Peace Of Mind
Shinedown – Heroes
Jack Johnson – Crying Shame
Buffalo Springfield – Everybody's Wrong
Vangelis – Main Theme From "Missing"
Jimi Hendrix – Machine Gun (Live)
Kansas – Dust In The Wind
The Doors – The End
Creed – My Sacrifice
U2 – Pride (In The Name Of Love) - Live - Rattle & Hum Version
John Mellencamp – Our Country - Rock Version
White Zombie – Black Sunshine
Weezer – Say It Ain't So
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World - MTV Unplugged
Iron Maiden – The Evil That Men Do
U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
Enya – Fallen Embers
Hoobastank – Crawling In The Dark
Echo And The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
R.E.M. – It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (Edit)
Talking Heads – Psycho Killer - 2005 Remastered Album Version
Bad Company – Burning Sky
Yes – Starship Trooper
Queen – Another One Bites The Dust
The Smashing Pumpkins – Disarm
Robert Rodriguez's CHINGON – 1-800-HITMAN (Bonus Track)
Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas
10000 Maniacs – Love Among The Ruins
Elvis Costello – Less Than Zero
U2 – All Along The Watchtower - Live - Rattle & Hum Version
Blue Oyster Cult – Godzilla
John Lennon – Imagine
AC/DC – Highway to Hell
The Decemberists – This Is Why We Fight
The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky
Lenny Kravitz – Supersoulfighter
Metallica – For Whom The Bell Tolls
Warren Zevon – Lawyers, Guns And Money
John Fogerty – Gunslinger
Eric Clapton – Change The World
3 Doors Down – Citizen/Soldier
Bryan Adams – Can't Stop This Thing We Started
Talking Heads – Life During Wartime - Remastered LP Version
Dire Straits – Heavy Fuel
U2 – Peace On Earth
Warren Zevon – Frank And Jesse James
22-20s – Shoot Your Gun
Cracker – Don't Fuck Me Up (With Peace And Love)
New Politics – Dignity
New Politics – Nuclear War
22-20s – Shoot Your Gun

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Top 10 Best Movies of All Time

Not too long ago we presented our list of the 10 Dumbest Movies of All time; today we're taking a 'glass half full' view of the world and focusing on the positive. Determining what movies qualify to be among the top 10 is no easy matter though.

Midnight Cowboy

There are quite a few truly great films out there to choose from - so we applied the following criteria to help make our picks:

1. Each film on this list had to be a classic film (which we've defined before). 
2. Each film had to be a profound story - something out of the ordinary that sticks with you and effects you at an emotional level.
3. Each film had to be cinematically innovative. This could take a variety of forms from introduction of special effects to the cinematography itself and of course the story-line.
4. Each film had to have more than one scene that is remembered as being historic (like the baseball scene from the Untouchables although that film didn't make this list because while a classic the story-line was a just to thin).
5. To be on our list usually also involved having a very good musical score as well.

What we didn't do was base our list of critics' determination of what ought to be considered 'the greatest of all time.'  This is why movies like Citizen Kane does not appear on our list.  

Orson Welles was always over-rated, especially by himself 

So here's our list of the Top 10 Best Movies of All Time:

# 1 Best Movie of All Time -  Schindler's List: Why did this film top the list? There were several reasons; first because this version of the Holocaust tale was different than those that had gone before it. Spielberg made it seem more real. Perhaps it was the use of Black and White or perhaps it was the fascinating character studies provided by Ben Kingsley, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes - and each of those actors turned in what was probably the performance of their careers. Second, this film was about both horror and hope and how the human spirit can overcome the lesser angels of our nature. Third, perhaps it was the timing of it - while this film debuted a new genocide was just beginning in Europe in Bosnia. NATO intervened to stop that war and the Genocide in 1995 - it seems to us that this film may have played a role in helping to remind the world about the human face of Genocide. It's a lesson that will likely need to be learned over and over again in the future - and now we have this film to help teach that lesson.

Schindler's List was Best Picture in 1993

# 2 Best Movie of All Time -  Dr. Strangelove: Some might find the selection of "Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" as an odd choice for the second best film of all time. We think the rank is well-deserved. First, this stands as the most profound and biting political satire on film - ever (second place is Chaplin's "The Great Dictator"). Second, this movie provided the most damning critique of the Arms Race ever produced. Third, Peter Sellers gave the performance/s of his career (playing at least 3 characters). We will never forget his insane parody of Henry Kissinger as Strangelove.

Peter Sellers as Strangleove

# 3 Best Movie of All Time -  The Godfather: What can we say - this movie had everything; a soundtrack that we can never forget; one hell of a story and some of the best acting ever. Al Pacino will probably always be remembered for his role as Michael Corleone - seeing him become the new Godfather at the end of the movie is one of those cinematic moments we'll never forget. In fact, the entire movie is chocked full of iconic scenes.

Michael becomes, the Godfather...

# 4 Best Movie of All Time -  Blade Runner:  We reviewed this film some time ago and we have to admit - we just keep liking it better and better as time goes by. Blade Runner brings together a fantastic Science Fiction story by Philip K Dick ( Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), unbelievable cinematic vision from Director Ridley Scott and some truly memorable performances by a huge and wildly talented ensemble cast. This film set its own standard in terms of creating a unique universe all its own - it's LA Noir with flying cars and genetically engineered super-humans. We're hoping the rumors of a sequel are true but it is unlikely that any follow-on movie will match this original. The soundtrack by Vangelis is perhaps the best movie score ever.

The FX from Blade Runner inspired a generation of Hollywood film-makers and animators

# 5 Best Movie of All Time -  The Matrix: This movie still retains the title of Coolest Movie of All Time. The Matrix combined a powerful critique of the human experience with state of the art visuals and special effects. The result is nothing short of breathtaking. Even though the follow-ons in the trilogy didn't live up to the original - the first Matrix still stands the test of time. We recommend that you take the red pill. 

# 6 Best Movie of All Time - Midnight Cowboy: Not a Western at all, with the absolute best theme song from any movie - ever. If this film doesn't tug at your heart - you're probably a Zombie. Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of Ratso Rizzo is one of the truly great performance s in cinema history.

# 7 Best Movie of All Time -  Dr. Zhivago: This movie still stands of the most beautiful pieces of cinema ever produced. It represents the best of the epic films from the 50's to 70's and tells the story of one man's struggle to survive amidst the chaos of the Russian Revolution. It also stands as one of the greatest love stories on film. Julie Christie gave the performance of her life in this movie as did Rod Steiger. Sir Alec Guinness, Geraldine Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin's daughter) and Omar Sharif rounded off the stellar cast. The Zhivago soundtrack is the second best in the history of cinema. There were some truly great lines in this film - like Zhivago's brother stating "I did admire him; but I didn't think he was a better man. Besides, I've executed better men than me with a small pistol."

# 8 Best Movie of All Time -  JFK: This movie is a bit controversial, just like it's topic - the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Director Oliver Stone assembled a huge cast of the best talent in Hollywood headed by Kevin Costner in what is probably the best performance of his career. This movie represents the ultimate courtroom drama in cinema history as Stone pieces together the real story while exposing the gaps in the Warren Commission's finding. The movie was so powerful that it led to the passage of President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. This means that many documents that haven't already been released will be in 2017. While still late, the truth may finally be known after all these years. It's a movie that literally made history.

JFK was awesome, we rest our case

# 9 Best Movie of All Time -  AI: Artificial Intelligence was Stanley Kubrick's last project. Before he died he handed it over to Stephen Spielberg to complete. The result was truly stunning. AI tells the story of a boy named David who isn't actually a boy - he's a Cyber Pinocchio. But David is more than that - he is the first artificial being who can dream and can love. This movie was meant to take HAL to the next step and fully humanize him. It succeeds with an entertaining story, stunning visual imagery and one of the best performances by a child actor - Haley Joel Osment - ever.

Welcome to Rouge City

# 10 Best Movie of All Time -  One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest: While this isn't a happy tale, it is inspirational. This movie marks the zenith of Jack Nicholson's career. It provides us some truly memorable characters who've all come together under less than ideal circumstances. Cuckoo's Nest follows in the same foot-steps as Midnight Cowboy in creating a story that is totally character-driven and painfully realistic.

Honorable Mentions:

• The Graduate - This movie helped to define a generation with a soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkle no less.

• 2001 Space Odyssey - We loved it, but the characters we're a little thin for this category.

• Apocalypse Now - A great movie, but a bit too uneven to make the top 10.  

• Scarface - "Say hello to my little friend." Al Pacino's over the top Cuban gangster became one of the all-time most memorable characters in cinema in this film (no chance of sequels either).

• The Shining - A masterpiece that came very close to getting on the list. Kubrick and Jack Nicholson together - wow.

• High Noon - One of our few older films in contention. This movie stood as the ultimate Western - at least until The Unforgiven came along.

• Gone with The Wind: This movie defined the Hollywood epic for the next 75 years. While the racial stereotypes depicted in the film are insensitive to say the least - they also stand as testimony to how far we've come in just a couple generations. What would Clark Gable thought of President Obama? 

• Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin was a genius, end of story. Cinema wouldn't be what it is today without him. He was also a brilliant social critic and one of the few people on earth in the 1930's to take on Hitler. The little tramp had some big cojones. 

Chaplin takes on the Industrial Revolution single-handedly

• Ben Hur - Star Wars episode 1 was largely a tribute to this movie - how cool is that?
• Lawrence of Arabia - David Lean took a very odd (yet true) story from history and turned it into a legend. Lean also directed Zhivago.

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Should Zombies be Animated?

Perhaps this is a confusing question as we know that all Zombies are by nature already reanimated - what we're referring to in today's question is whether Zombies in film or Television ought to be analog or digital - human (sort of) or CG effect. Why are we asking this question? Well, there's lot's of reasons:

• We're bored
• We like Zombies
• We're concerned about the over-commercialization of Zombies (it's getting almost as bad as Christmas)
• We saw a trailer for the new Brad Pitt film World War Z. (Z for Zombie, get it).

Here's the preview:

These zombies look like bugs - what's up with that?

They don't provide us a lot of close ups on the Zombies themselves but we can tell from the clip that there's some serious CG going on with all those Zombies piling up more or less like ants. This does not mean we won't go see the movie - there is no doubt that we will. However, we do have concerns. Do any of you recall Will Smith's I am Legend from a few years back? We were pretty excited about that movie until we got in there and started watching the 100% CG Zombie things doing just a lot of ridiculous crap. Those special effects ruined what might have otherwise been a decent movie (not great one, but a least decent one).

There's nothing like the real thang, baby...

Now it just may be that in a couple of years computer animation software may become sophisticated enough to fully mimic the look and feel of real-life human extras made up to be undead Zombies.  The question is - what do we lose when this happens? Can we have truly great Zombie flicks without that personal touch we've all come to know and love? We don't want to sound like Luddites here - but we're not buying it. We'd like to start the keep Zombies human movement and we'll kick off our crusade with our ten reasons why Zombies should not be computer animated.

Please take an animated breath-mint

10 Reasons to keep Zombies Human

1. Unemployment is bad enough, we don't want to put all of those extras out of work - think of their families and the little Zombies at home!
2. Zombie makeovers could become a lost art or at least might become prohibitively expensive.
3. Zombies should not be behaving like werewolves, sparkly vampires or other video-game like creatures that can crawl up walls and do backflips and other such nonsense. These guys are dead - they can't be in better shape after they croak, right?
4. We need Human Zombies so we can train new generations of haunted house temps.
5. An animated Zombie will never have the same pathos and motivation as a human zombie - longing for brains and flesh as well as their past lives.
6. We should always be able to outrun the average Zombie - this is a long-standing rule broken by films like I am Legend and 28 Days Later. Fast Zombies are a bit like Lance Armstrong taking drugs and transfusing blood during a race - no fair - time out!
7. Zombie extras (and all their friends and family) buy tickets to see themselves in the show (or tune in to TV and boost ratings) - the loss of this Zombie viewership would be devastating to Hollywood. 
8. Playing a Zombie is an inalienable American right - we read that somewhere - perhaps in the West Virginia state constitution. Doesn't matter where we saw it - and we will fight for that right. 
9. Because Zombie acting proves that there's life after death - well, sort of (maybe it's life after your career dies, we're not sure).
10. And finally because Zombie(ness) is the final stage in human evolution and we shall not be denied (a preview of) our destiny. 

We've hoped that we've convinced you of the righteousness of our cause... We are a nation of the Zombies, For the Zombies and By the Zombies - etc. etc. 

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More