Guided By Voices - Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996)

Revisiting the Lo-Fi Indie Rock Band's prolific first studio Album

If any group in the world has attention deficit disorder, it's got to be the Dayton, Ohio based Lo-Fi Indie Rock band - Guided By Voices (GBV). For they discover a great melody, play with it for a minute or two, then toss it aside and find a new one. Maybe main songwriter Robert Pollard gets bored easily. Or maybe he is always trying to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the man who has written the most songs. 

Either way, the 24 tracks on their ninth album (and their first real studio album) released in 1996 - Under the Bushes Under the Stars did keep Guided By Voices in place as the kings of the two-minute pop masterpiece. Guided By Voices meld the quirky with the familiar on this release, as the band take classic pop melodies and hide them inside discordant guitars, fuzzy drum sounds, and fragmented arrangements.

"Rhine Jive Click" is driven by a simple guitar-and-cowbell rhythm, with drums being added only during the refrain. Tripp Lamkins of the Grifters joins the band on "The Official Ironmen Rally Song," but the song is one of GBV's simplest and catchiest tunes. The Grifters' guitar noise only shows up during a brief solo. "No Sky" is a classic GBV two-minute power-pop offering, as Pollard repeats "Could you keep a secret from me?" On "Bright Paper Werewolves," Pollard drops the line "Anyone can scratch/ and anyone can win" with a voice that oozes sincerity. GBV cuts loose on "Your Name is Wild" and "Ghosts of a Different Dream," letting the guitars breathe a little bit as they tear through these rollicking rockers. "Look at Them" dabbles in psychedelia until a crunching guitar pops up in the chorus, while "Atom Eyes" could've been written by R.E.M. around the time of Reckoning with its Byrds-like guitar work and sing-along chorus. 

Under the Bushes Under the Stars contains some of the oddest song titles you'll ever hear ("Man Called Aerodynamics," "Redmen and Their Wives," "Lord of Overstock," and "To Remake the Young Flyer" to name a few). The songs bearing these unique monikers have lyrics that are just as intriguing, with Pollard spewing out lines in his casual pseudo-British voice. Interestingly, many of Pollard's lyrics and song titles have been cited to have come directly from his fourteen years of experience as an elementary school teacher. Believe it or not, the guy was 40 years old when this album was released. And he still fronts the band besides a successful solo career. So much for the notion that indie rock is a young man's game. If you have been a occasional GBV listener, this is a good album to start with.

Riddick (2013)

JohnnyTwoToes finds this 3rd installment of the Riddick series a weak rehash 

It has been nearly ten years since we last saw Vin Diesel as Riddick in action. When we first saw him in 2000, he was battling savage aliens with a group of shipwrecked survivors in Pitch Black. Then, in 2004's The Chronicles of Riddick we saw Riddick seek revenge against the Lord Marshall of the Necromongers, a group of Nazi like troops, who will lay waste to an entire planet. Now as Riddick opens we see him harried and harassed over the desert terrain of another alien planet. This is the opening of David Twohy's 2013 follow up to 2004's sequel. 

I have been a huge fan of this franchise and it has garnered a big cult following; both the character played by Vin Diesel and the films. I thought Pitch Black was terrific and The Chronicles of Riddick (although less successful) was a great sequel. The Chronicles of Riddick was something bold and daring. It did not follow the original film very much with the exception of two characters that were in the original. The Plot was something different entirely and I thought it worked well. Which is why I was somewhat disappointed with the latest film, Riddick. 

Riddick starts on a barren desert like planet as the title character is attacked nonstop for the first 15 minutes of the film by a series of CGI creatures; a wolf/dog like pack of carnivores, alien vultures and finally, a sea creature that seems to be able to survive on land as well as in the planet's toxic water basins. Wounded, hungry and thirsty, Riddick begins to piece how he came to the planet in the first place. 

A double crossing Vaako (Karl Urban) has tricked our hero onto this dust bowl. "Why is it the punch you never see coming is the one that takes you down?" muses Riddick as he finally settles in to get some rest under a fallen rock. As Riddick wakes, he befriends a puppy of the wolf/dog packs and the two become friendly. After about more minutes of Riddick playing Dr. Doolittle, he discovers a beacon of a crashed ship and activates it. All he needs is a ship to get off of this rock, so he can get back to civilization. 

Two mercenaries (mercs) groups arrive and neither one of them are interested in taking Riddick alive. It seems he is worth a lot of bounty dead or alive. One group is lead by Santana (Jordi Mollà) and he is a particularly nasty SOB who seems to be rather dumb in comparison to his fellow mercs in his group. The second group is led by Boss Johns (Matthew Nable) and his group, although more professional looking still seem undermatched for what Riddick can do. The rest of the film is a cat and mouse game with Riddick, the amphibious creatures and the two merc crews. 

David Twohy is a fine writer and director. So far the series of Riddick has been good and Twohy wrote and directed the classic, gothic horror film, Below (2002) about a doomed Word War II United States submarine. Those films were fresh, inventive fun that were well written and had interesting characters that you could get attached to. Riddick has no characters I could relate to or even care about. Twohy has simply rehashed his original film; aliens attack when the sun goes down or, in this case when the rainy season starts. 

Yet, Riddick is not an entirely bad film just not very interesting, Diesel is great as Riddick, as always. He is a fierce fighter but smart and crafty. The rest of the cast seems to follow the motif of going off by themselves only to meet with a horrible demise at the hands of any number of creatures on the planet. The fight sequences are decent but there is nothing in this film that you will remember they way you remember some of the characters from the first two films. There are a lot of good scenes but Riddick is so choppy and disjointed that after a while, I began to get a little tired of it. After almost ten years from the last film, you would think they could come up with some interesting characters and a fresher script. 

Still, Riddick has its moments but they come and go and aside from Diesel's performance as the stoic and misunderstood title character and Graeme Revell's sublime score for Riddick is all dressed up with nowhere to go. Sadly, at least for now there are no plans to even release the score, which is baffling. So, the fans of this iconic franchise are left with very little to enjoy. Riddick is now out on DVD and Blu Ray. Riddick-** out of 4

Prisoners (2013)

JohnnyTwoToes praises this dark, superbly acted crime thriller. 

Having worked in retail for the last eight years or so, I am always struck by how seemingly good parents and good people seem to lose sight of their children when they enter a store to do a little shopping. Sometimes the children wander off carelessly, yes, but I am amazed at how easily parents seem to get so entranced by the stuff on the shelves that they forget to keep their own children safe. Granted Prisoners (2013) tells the story differently than parents who shop.The idea is the same. Losing a child to an abductor, regardless of the situation is downright terrifying.

Prisoners is not for the squeamish and child abduction is not easy to handle. Trust me when I say this, you will want to hold your children close. Prisoners starts with the very first frame as a general sense of foreboding sets in as the camera slowly zooms in on a tree during a cold, rainy Thanksgiving day. 

The Dover family (Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello) and their children walk across the street for a nice Thanksgiving dinner with their dear friends, the Birches (Terence Howard and Viola Davis). After a filling meal the older children plant themselves in front of the television downstairs while the youngest two girls go look for one the girls lost whistle. After a period of time the two little girls have vanished without a trace. The only suspect is a young man (Paul Dano) who owns a camper the girls were seen playing on earlier until the older brother of one of the girls shoos them off. The cop investigating the disappearance of the two girls (one girl from the Dover family and one girl from the Birch family) is a Detective Loki (yes, Loki) played remarkably well by Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Loki is a determined man who has never failed on a case. Gyllenhaal plays Loki differently than others would have. He is a hero, no doubt but it is referenced in the film he has grown up as a ward of the state for a while in a boys home that was not to pleasant. He is smart but odd, sporting what seems to be prison tatts and facial tics that suggest he is a man dealing with his own pain in life. After, the suspect, Alex Jones (Dano) is released for lack of evidence, Keller Dover (Jackman) takes it upon himself to get Jones to tell him where the little girls are. 

I will not say anything more to ruin it, but let us just say that Dover will not rest until he gets what he needs out of Jones. I do not have kids, so I can't say I know how it would feel to have my child abducted. However, ANYBODY who has children who watches this film will never let their kids out of their sight. Jackman's Keller Dover is an accomplished man with his own contracting business, great family and tells his son, "Pray for the best. Prepare for the worst." Keller is a man who has his basement filled with supplies if the worst happens, except nothing he has could prepare him for what they endure. 

Jackman's performance is superb as a man who is usually in control of his destiny, but now teeters on the brink of despair, madness and of helplessness. He starts to drink, again and when he fills in Franklin to his plans for Jones, chaos seems to ensue. Hugh Jackman is now a established bonafide star, thanks to the X-men franchise, so it was only a matter of time before we saw him REALLY spread his acting chops and he shows it style with Prisoners. There is Oscar talk for him and deservedly so. 

Everyone has their own way of dealing with anguish is this film and the acting by everyone is fantastic. Nothing is oversold and the emotions of rage, anger and hopelessness ring true with each performance. Aaron Guzikowski's script is effectively simple. Mr. Guzikowski knows he does not need to push the material with pointless and gratuitous monologues. He is smart to keep the story as tangible to the viewer as possible, by simply implying this could happen to ANYBODY with children. 

Prisoners is also a very effective thriller as director Denis Villeneuve amps up the tension as the days go by without a single lead on the whereabouts of the girls. We know time is running out for them so for the viewer we too,feel the parents agony. Melissa Leo is chillingly effective as Alex's seemingly long suffering mother who has lost her own children and Johann Johannsson's score is quietly somber which adds to the sense of dread. 

This is a long film (about 2 and 35 minutes) but that will hardly matter, as you will be glued to the screen for every minute and you will be cemented to your seat even to the very last frame. Prisoners is a smart, atmospheric,and riveting film about appreciating who and what you have and how in the blink of an eye it can be taken from you. It does a good job of showing how it affects the relationships with your own family and friends and how it changes everything and everyone around you. It begs the question, "How far would go to get back someone you love?" Hopefully, none of us will ever have to ask that question.Prisoners-**** out of 4

2013 Best Score Oscar Musings - Saving Mr. Banks By Thomas Newman

JohnnyTwoToes tells us why this score by Thomas Newman deserves an Oscar

Not surprising, 2013's Oscars for Best Music are full of omissions and nominees that are curious, to say the least. For Best Original Score, Thomas Newman's wonderful score for Saving Mr. Banks is my pick for the best of the year, followed by Steven Price's terrific score for 2013's best film, Gravity. The other nominees are Alexandre Desplat's score for Philomena, William Butler and Owen Pallett for Her and John Williams with his 49th nomination (yes, you read that correctly) for The Book Thief. 

I read that Thomas Newman has been nominated, including this year for Saving Mr. Banks, twelve times. It is time for Mr. Newman to take home an Oscar. Saving Mr. Banks is a joyous and heartfelt score from Newman and has track after track of toe tappingly gorgeous music. The fact the the Academy could only find it in their "wisdom" to nominate the film for ONE Academy Award (score only) bodes well for Mr. Newman since the Academy likes to spread around the Oscars for an array of films. 

Steven Price is new and has many more great scores ahead of him, but if he should win that would be a good thing, too. The scores for Philomena, Her and The Book Thief are great scores, too but it is time for Newman's time in the sun. 

Saving Mr. Banks is the true story of a two week visit by P.L. Travers to see Uncle Walt Disney, who wanted to purchase the rights for Mary Poppins and make it into a film. The film takes place in 1961 as Ms. Travers book royalties are dwindling, she is coaxed to California to visit Uncle Walt. She is a prickly woman and as my research into her background has shown, she was a very troubled woman who dealt with her demons all of her life until her death in 1996. 

Thomas Newman - SAVING MR. BANKS (2013) Soundtrack Suite from Score Guy on Vimeo.

Newman's score is a scant thirty eight minutes but the album is a double disc collector's item with songs from the film of Mary Poppins included as they appeared in Saving Mr. Banks. Newman's score starts from the very first track with 'Traves Goff' and as soon as it starts your heart will soar. Newman repeats the piano motif later in 'Beverly Hills Hotel' and 'Ginty, My Love' but slight changes keep it fresh, every time. 'Walking Bus' and especially 'Mr. Disney' are tracks Uncle Walt would enjoy himself and have a Midwestern feel to them with strings and woodwinds floating about. 'Uncle Albert' is warm track from the floating to the sublime. 'Jollification' is old school Newman with mandolin and orchestra impeccably timed together. Since Saving Mr. Banks has some flashback scenes that recall P.L. Travers childhood with her father who was a loving father but an extremely heavy drinker, 'Celtic Soul' has the emotional sadness of longing for happier times; a beautiful track. 'A Foul Fowl' is Mr. Newman himself on piano and the orchestra playing back-up and 'Mrs. P. L. Travers' is a swanky track with more piano from Newman and a mix of guitars and horns. You can almost feel the culture shock as Ms. Travers first arrives as glitzy California overwhelms her country upbringing. 'Laying Eggs, 'Worn To Tissue' and 'Whiskey' are all pretty tracks with a full orchestra and Newman's wonderful piano peppered throughout. 

The remainder of the album is an eclectic mix of joy and sadness which nobody can do as well as Thomas Newman. From the bouncy 'Impertinant Man' to the subtle in 'To My Mother', 'Westerly Weather', 'Spit Spot', 'Penguins', 'Pears' , 'Maypole' 'Forgiveness' and 'The Magic Kingdom'. Newman rebounds with the joyous in 'Ginty, My Love' and the final end theme aptly titled, 'Saving Mr. Banks'. 

As I have stated, the other nominees have composed great scores and are deserving of nominations, but Thomas Newman seems to hit a home run with each score he does. His music is filled with good cheer and is composed by a man who, you can tell, loves what he does. His joy of composing permeates his music and HOPEFULLY this will be his year to take home the Oscar. He' s earned it.

Gorillaz - Gorillaz (2001)

Truly (indeed) One of the Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

According to their original press info, it read something on these lines "Gorillaz is a new band consisting of Murdoc (“a snaggle-toothed Svengali”), 2D (“a sweetheart with a blank sheet of paper where his mind should be”), Russel (“a hip-hop hard man from the US of A”) and Noodle (“a 10-year-old Asian axe princess”). This press kit along with their debut self titled album Gorillaz (2001) contained a publicity photo, but it was just a cartoon drawing of the so called band members.

In reality, this alternative trip hop virtual band (if you still don't know) was/is a side project from English Alternative Britpop band Blur’s frontman Damon Albarn. Joining Albarn were comic book artist Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl) , Miho Hatori (of the Shibuya-kei, indie rock Japanese band Cibo Matto),  rapper Del Tha Funky Homosapien, TinaWeymouth (of Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club), and acclaimed hip hop producer Daniel M. Nakamura better known as Dan the Automator (the man behind Dr. Octagon and Deltron 3030). This diverse group of musicians and artists hid behind the Gorillaz name and joined forces to make one of the 2001’s most interesting debut side projects that went to sell over ten million copies worldwide and earning them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band ever.

Their first single, the global super hit “Clint Eastwood” has to be one of the coolest songs that was released that year. In fact, Rolling Stone magazine still considers it one of the 100 best songs of the 2000s. This great track features a laid-back, electronic reggae-inspired piano-and-bass dub loop, Albarn’s sleepy vocals, and some colorful rapping from Del Tha Funky Homosapien complemented by Hewlett’s wonderful (and hugely popular) animated music video. Another highlight of this album is the smooth “Tomorrow Comes Today”, a sly track that combines hip-hop drums with an easy-going harmonica loop.

Not all of the songs on “Gorillaz” are as laid-back as these two singles (“Punk”, for example, is like a long-lost classic), but the overall vibe here is pretty mellow. Albarn handles the mellow angle pretty well, primarily because his British drawl makes him sound disinterested and detached even when he tries to sound aggressive.

Sadly, like most side projects and multi-artist collaborations, this one also suffers from several lackluster tracks and a few style combinations that just don’t work. Of the 15 tracks here (17 if you count the “hidden” remixes”) only a handful are worth repeated listens. As much filler as there is, though, the stronger tracks like their third single "Rock the house" make up for the weaker ones. Nonetheless, as a album listed in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", this album is a must for every audiophile if not a regular music fan!

The World's End (2013)

JohnnyTwoToes finds this to be the weakest of the Cornetto trilogy

Edgar Wright is a talented writer and director and with Simon Pegg as a co-writer of The World's End (TWE), one would think the final film of the Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright "The Three Flavors Cornetto" trilogy could do no wrong. After a very well done first and second act, the final act is a complete breakdown of an otherwise clever and funny film. 

Simon Pegg is Gary King, a 40ish adult who has never grown up and still laments the final boys night out in his hometown, in which he and his five best friends ran the table of twelve pubs on the Golden Mile; drinking ale in all the twelve pubs over a mile. Now, in present day, Gary, who is in what appears to be a rehab facility, still wants to go back and finish what they never did. Only problem now is the others are all grown up, mostly married with children and are career minded individuals; read responsible adults. 

Even Andy, (Nick Frost) has given up all alcoholic beverages. Still, King looks up all of the old buddies and somehow convinces them to meet back at their home town and finish the Golden Mile. None of them still thinks very highly of Gary but for the sake of the plot they all end up in Newton Haven for the pub crawl. About halfway through a discovery is made of the town which leaves our heroes fighting for survival.....and yes, this still tries to remain a comedy, for the most part. 

I loved Shaun Of The Dead and enjoyed Hot Fuzz even more and Simon Pegg has mega star written all over him. He was terrific in the first two films playing the button down, responsible adult to Nick Frost's simpler slacker alter ego. Now, the two have flipped personas and Gary is the mess and Andy (Frost) is the responsible one. Pegg was born to play Gary and I mean that in the best possible sense, too. 

Gary is a mess. Disheveled and unkempt, he has made a life of nothing but living to excess. Overindulged in drugs, alcohol and sex, King is still 18 at heart. He is vulgar, insensitive, selfishly narcissistic but determined that THIS night will be the best damn night EVER, or at least die trying. Dressed all in black and adorned with enough jewelry to start a pawn shop, Pegg nails it as Gary and should be considered for an Oscar. He starts the film out with some history behind he and his mates at a support group meeting and from there on Pegg is in full offence mode. Nothing is sacred and everything is fair game. Pegg chews up scene after scene, spitting, spewing and guzzling enough ale to sideline a horse as well as waxing on about how this is the life. 

He induces most of the laughs in TWE, but to be fair the rest of the cast in addition to Pegg and Frost, are terrific as well and the casting is PERFECT. You have Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman (both in at least one or both of the previously mention films of this trilogy) with Eddie Marsan and the positively gorgeous Rosamund Pike as Freeman's sister. They are all excellent and have some very funny lines as well. 

Where the film goes wrong is in the third act. The film's third act is not a question of the subject matter, rather how is was handled. The film loses a lot of the humor and settles into another chase picture churned out from the assembly line of predictable films institute. What started out as a refreshing and observant comedy about boys becoming men and life's responsibility turns out to be a breakdown of ideas and the final few scenes are so poorly done I was kind of angry. Angry that so much had been done right that to squander the end with bad writing and poor direction was really a buzz kill. Still, TWE has a great first two acts and Steven Price's score (hot off of composing the score to Gravity) are raucous fun. 

Is TWE worth watching; yes and no. I suppose there is enough here to garner a single viewing, but I have watched Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz numerous times and enjoy them every time. They are both THAT well written, directed and acted. TWE is maybe worth one and then done, as they say. The World's End will only make you want to re-watch the first two with fond regards. The World's End-**1/2 out of 4

Taking a Impromptu Break

Lost in Technical Difficulties

Its been a week since the last post. Its quite probable you suspect that the Websnacker Blog is somewhat suffering from a lack of interest by yours truly (or the contributors). You are wrong. If something is to blame, its been problems with Google Blogger, the blogging suite this blog runs on! After a week of intermittent logouts, missing drafts and other misadventures, it is back to normal or so it seems. Lets give it a day more and blog posts will start again.

In all honesty, the last 2 months have been physically, financially and emotionally taxing! With so many and varied interests (and commitments) - mainly to do with work, travel and family, the Websnacker has indeed been super busy. However, with a full new year (OK 11 months) ahead of us, rest assured that you can expect a lot more from the Websnacker and the blogging crew in the days to come! Thanks again for all the love and support! 

The Wolverine (2013)

JohnnyTwoToes complains that this was a movie half done

Hugh Jackman reprises his role as the title character in James Mangold's The Wolverine (2013), a decent if not great movie that suffers from far too much stuffing. I say stuffing as this is a film with way too many characters and not enough story behind them. Less would have been A LOT more.

The film picks up the Wolverine as he is in a hole about thirty feet under ground in a Japanese World War II POW camp, right when the Americans drop the Atomic bomb on Nagasaki. He saves one of the Japanese commanders, Yashida, from the blast and years later Yashida, now a billionaire business man wants to return the favor to the Wolverine. He offers a chance to make Wolverine human, again with out the steel bladed knuckles. Wolverine refuses, but then becomes involved with a series of contrived plot mechanisms that only seem to exist so there is plenty of Jackman snarling, growling, scowling and looking like he is ready to cough up a hairball. 

The Wolverine seems to have a lot going on with at least six different characters that are not very interesting and are not given a lot to do. There is the daughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto), the street urchin turned half daughter, Yukio (Rila Fukushima), the son, Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada), the nefarious assistant, Viper (Svetlana Khodachenkova), the Ninja assassin/protector Harada (Will Yun Lee) and Noburo (Brain Tee). I know I am forgetting at least one or two more characters that seem to come and go with little explanation or development. 

Of all of these characters I would have dropped all of them except Viper, Yukio and Yashida. I would even drop Yashida if it weren't for the fact that he is the main character behind most of the film's action. There are Ninjas, Yakuza and all matter of street thugs that seem to pop up only to be quickly dispatched. None of the characters seem to have a lot to say to each other and there are long periods where not much happens at all. 

I don't mind a film that has lots of characters as long as it makes good use of them. Here they seem to exist to simply slow the story down with contrived plot devices like an insipid fight on top of a bullet train in Japan. It looks cheaply done in a studio. I know people will burn up my e-mail saying that I need to go easy because this is based on a comic book and is not real, blah, blah, blah. I KNOW this is fantasy and all that but I still would like to see something rooted in reality and not look like it was slapped together. For me, that helps sell the story and gets me invested in the characters. 

Now, I will say some of the action is well done, and Jackman is a fine actor who sells it very well. But the script written by Mark Bomback and Scott Frank does very little with the lead and lets the rest languish with boring, underdeveloped characters and stale plot devices. Still, there is some fun to be had with some of the action and there are some humorous lines, mostly delivered with dead pan seriousness by Wolverine. Marco Beltrami's score ramps up the action and the cinematography is beautiful as it makes good use of the Japanese locations. But as a whole, The Wolverine is overloaded and seems to sputter along to an almost laughable climax. Some will say I have been too hard on this film but, I have to call it like I see it. Save your money and see another Hugh Jackman film which is one of 2013's best films, Prisoners. The Wolverine-**1/2 out of 4

Gravity (2013) - Reviewing 2013's Best Movies

JohnnyTwoToes praises the superlative Space Masterpiece by Alfonso Cuaron

Not since Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey and The Right Stuff has there been a more convincingly effective scifi film about space and the true dangers of space travel than in Alfonso Cuaron's masterpiece, Gravity. The film has been praised by just about everybody that has seen it, as one of, if not the very best film of 2013. It is definitely in the top five of my list. 

Gravity tells a rather simple story of a group of astronauts in space repairing their shuttle when to their horror a Russian satellite showers space debris on them while they are out of the shuttle (in space literally). The Russians have apparently shot one of their own satellites out of the cosmos because it has stopped working. Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) becomes unattached from the shuttle and the commander named Matt Kowlaski tries to get her back to the shuttle. There is more to the story but I will not ruin it for viewers who are yet to see this gem. So, the less you know the better. 

Gravity is told in real time at 90 minutes, because that is the amount of time it takes for the space station (shuttle) and the space debris to orbit the Earth. As most people know there is virtually no sound in space and, as the film opens we are told it can be as cold as minus 158 degrees below zero (or even worse). Most of the rest of the film for the most part is as scientifically accurate as director Cuaron can make it. Sound is muffled since there is virtually no sound in space (because there is noty oxygen). Some of the sounds in the film were added to give the film some scope, but VERY few. 

Cauron, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and visual effects supervisor Tim Webber have gone to great pains to make Gravity as authentic as possible and it shows. Gravity is a film that I watched with my mouth open through a great number of scenes. It is shockingly terrifying in its story and you will be stunned that anyone could make it through this scenario and keep their wits about them. Most of us (most definitely myself included) would be in panic mode. But Gravity shows that the astronauts are well trained and expect the very worst, but hope for the best. 

The script by Alfonso and his son Jonas Cuaron is a thoughtful one. The characters are not superheroes but real people and whatever issues they have within their own lives is played out very subtlety and is never overdone. The acting and writing are simpatico in Gravity which gives the story more potency and Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone gives an Oscar caliber performance. She is a strong woman but is not above showing her frailty, and George Clooney provides some swagger as the commander of the shuttle.

And this brings me to the fantastic score by Steven Price. English composer, Price provides an elegantly powerful score that is mostly electronic but it is one worthy of an Oscar. I put the "but" in there because the Academy seems to frown on scores that are mostly electronic opting for the big, sweeping Orchestral soundtracks (I love all kinds). The last score to win the Oscar was Vangelis for Chariots of Fire from 1981 (unless someone knows something different). Mr. Price is a relative newcomer to scoring big feature films but his score is simply beautiful. It is music that you can listen to even without the film and is worth purchasing from any retailer that has it. 

Gravity has generated a lot of Oscar buzz and with good reason. It is a fantastic film that will leave you in awe both technically and as entertainment. I spent most of the time with my hand over my mouth or wincing, seeing how far the film would push the viewer into watching and it is a literal, edge of your seat thriller. Hopefully, the Academy will see it the same way next March (Oscar night). Gravity-**** out of four

Friday Flashback - Hits from the 80s & 90s - Part 1

Forgotten Gems from the 80s and 90s

Its Friday and the first post for 2014. What better way than listening to some great forgotten pop rock tracks from the 80s and 90s featuring Bruce Cockburn, Del Amitri, Big Dish, Geneva and more!

This is also a fulfillment of a long pending promise (to many reader requests) to repost all deleted music blog posts. Its a start of sorts but this is a promise the Websnacker intends to completely fulfill! Now, lets get back to the music..

Bruce Cockburn - If I Had a Rocket Launcher (4:59) 

Big Dish - Miss America (3:56) 

Geneva - If You Have To Go (4:07)

Jimmy Davis & Junction - Kick The Wall (3:38) 

Eddie and the Tide - One in a Million (4:07) 

Eight Seconds - Kiss You (When It's Dangerous) (4:05) 

La Marca - Hold on Blue Eyes (The Wraith Soundtrack) (4:01)

Del Amitri - Buttons On My Clothes (4:05)

Friday Flashback - Hits from the 80s & 90s - Part 1 from Websnacker on 8tracks Radio.