Born in 1964, Adam Yauch (MCA) had reportedly been suffering from cancer for three years before he passed away yesterday, May 4th. Yauch was a founding member of the Beastie Boys back in 1981.
Paving the way for a whole new genre of music, the Beastie Boys began their career in 1981. Since then, they have had their fair share of impressive musical milestones. The most recent, last month, the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yauch was not there, leaving Mike D and Adrock to read the acceptance speech. The Beastie Boys have had four #1 albums. One of those four, Licensed To Ill, was the first hip hop album ever to top the Billboard 200. The 1986 hit album won three Grammys, and the MTV Video Vanguard Lifetime Achievement award.
Adam Yauch was an extremely talented person. Along with teaching himself to play the bass guitar, he directed famous music videos for the Beastie Boys such as “So Whatcha Want” and “Intergalactic“. He did this under an alias- Nathanial Hörnblowér.
“Fight for Your Right – Revisited” was directed by Yauch under his own name, which included several hilarious celebrity cameos.
The music world was a better place for having Adam Yauch. Although his life was cut far too short, he managed to make a giant impact on the world in his 47 years. Between his musical influence, his directing abilities, and his non-profit organizations and events, he made the world a better place.
Well, it’s that time of Spring again. We’ve gotten three full trailers for The Dark Knight Rises, and now we’ve got our third and final trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man, which officially seals the deal for all the biggest trailers of the summer. An extremely anticipated day it is, which is why I’m happy to say, with a large sigh of relief, that the newest Spidey trailer is also the best. Much like The Dark Knight Rises, this latest web-crawling preview shows both the humane and rather hilarious side of a hero that we all know and love.
British actor Andrew Garfield, who plays the title character, has pretty much perfected his American accent at this point, and the little New York touch he adds to the character’s voice is pretty perfect. Take THAT, Tobey Maguire! But all Maguire bashing aside, the trailer is CGI-heavy, which means that the film itself will probably be CGI-heavy, something I can handle if it at least looks somewhat realistic. Granted, the movie’s about a flying kid in tights, but I’m not asking for too much, am I?
I’ve mentioned it before, but by golly I’ll say it again. I love the premise for this damn flick. You might be saying, “But, Joey! It’s the same premise as the original film! Young boy is bitten by a spider, turns into a human spider, and decides to use his powers for good.” Sure, if you want to talk semantics, same plot. But, the idea that Peter Parker is looking for the true identity of his birth parents is something I’ve been waiting to see on film for a long time.
Now, you may or may not have heard about the rumors regarding Sony’s absolute hatred for this film. I say screw them. The director, stars, and story for this film all seem to be top notch, and I see no reason why this can’t be a blockbuster with a brain. Watch this trailer and think what you will, but I can’t wait to see the web-crawler go back into action.
The “Dream Team” was thrown around a lot after the 1992 Olympic US Men’s Basketball team gathered Jordan, Magic, Bird and a gaggle of other superior stars to take on the world. These vastly superior athletes were able to put their egos aside for one goal: to conquer the world. It has come and gone throughout the last few decades ranging from the US Women’s World Cup team in 1999 to even the underwhelming 2011 Philadelphia Eagles when Vince Young destroyed his team’s hopes by raising the expectations. It can apply to movies too, like Christopher Nolan and his Batman team. Scorcese and DeNiro. Heck, Scorcese and Leo. It only seems fitting to talk about Marvel’s The Avengers in the dream team concept. However, in this awesomely epic buddy action film, I think the real Dream Team lies behind the scenes: Joss Whedon and Marvel.
This all started with the first Iron Man where RDJ took to the screen and carried the movie with his charisma and stage presence overcoming flaws, but it was an entertaining movie that set the stage for the Incredible Hulk, then the fart noise inducing Iron Man 2. What followed were vastly underrated Thor and a solid Captain America: The First Avenger last year, which set the stage for The Avengers movie. An artifact originating in Thor, called the Tesseract, has been taken by Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and he is harnessing its enormous power to set the stage for the conquest of Earth. Giant wormhole portals ensue and that means the big guns must be called in. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) heads up S.H.I.E.L.D., a covert agency charged with taking back what may or may not be rightfully theirs and since puny humans failed to protect the artifact the first time around, it is time to call in the big guns. So Iron Man (RDJ), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) must form the dream team and solve some issues. Did I forget to mention they really have a lot issues to be worked out internally too?
Turns out Iron Man is a narcissist non-follower, Cap has no team to follow his gung ho lead, Thor is just amused at these white boy problems, the Dr. Banner just wants some peace and quiet. But we all knew these things because of the previous movies. Director/Co-Writer Whedon does an amazing job in creating winks and nudges for the geeks that did watch the previous movies, yet remains accessible enough to where new people can follow the adventure. The danger here was incorporating several ideals from five different movies with seven different heroes to make them mesh as well as show off their individual spark that got them their own movies to begin with. Everyone gets their time in the spotlight, especially the Big Four (Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor) to establish their own paths and how they, for just this one movie and eventual sequels, have their paths intertwine into a solid team. The audience is treated to the banter and the battles with each other before they all come together with their common goal.
The beginning of the movie does feel like exposition and even felt dangerously close to voiceover narrative territory in trying to set up the plot before the fun begins. The dialogue shines from the Zak Penn and Whedon script which feels like a love letter to Marvel fans as well as accessible to the every man with the humor and levity that spills out of the actors’ mouths. None of it feels forced or unoriginal and really shows off the chemistry between these superheroes that could just turned into a giant awful bomb of apathy. RDJ owns as Iron Man and really should because this is not at all possible without what he has brought to the table with the earlier movies and the personality that exudes confidence and sarcasm. Chris Evans conveys his sense of duty in what would be the corniest role this side of Cyclops but develops his want to belong yet remain strong and self-assured as the leader. Hemsworth continues to impress with his observations and sly humor as the demigod and as the third Hulk actor, Ruffalo just enjoys the moment to stay out of fire long enough to steal scenes as his CGI counterpart. Hiddleston continues his great work from Thor and makes his villain memorable. Plus he just loves to chew scenery and you can tell he is just having a blast going against his heroic counterparts. Nick Fury finally gets his time to shine a bit as the hardass leader that brings them all together. Johansson and Renner do not have the same screen time as their super counterparts and feel a bit shoved in there but that might have more to do with the byproduct of dealing with the Big Four as opposed to whether they belong or not because let us face it, they are equal part of this movie.
The last thirty minutes is a spectacular assault on the senses in visual effects. Nothing seems too terribly out of place and that is a testament to not only Whedon, but Marvel Studios themselves. They have carefully ushered these characters into this movie and making sure that every part meshes together to create a fantastic experience for the audience. Whedon had many critics going into this movie on whether he could handle the scope and vast enormity of the movie but he has proved he can handle this mega franchise. This is the perfect movie to start off the summer movie season with because it’s simply pure fun. No one expects a Dark Knight Rises social commentary, this is strictly a boys being boys type of movie where you want to bash Hulk Hands against the toy Captain America shield you bought at the toy store after leaving the movie theater.
It does not take itself too seriously and nor should it. You will walk out amazed and wonder how the almost two and a half hours went by so fast. Again, credit should go to the dream team of actors that had the right chemistry and ego to make this an enjoyable experience but it was Whedon and Marvel Studios that came in with the cape to save us from boredom.
There are a lot of haters out there for The Expendables, which I don’t understand. Out of any movie franchise out there right now, it clearly knows what kind of movie it wants to make, and packs it full of the actors who are going to do that well. It was a star-studded action movie that provided action and stars. Great success. So believe me when I tell you how excited I am for the second one. The cast list has expanded to include almost every possible action star from the 80’s on including some new faces and a hell of a lot more action.
It seems like only 8 years ago, people were watching and being disappointed by the movie Van Helsing, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. Now if you’re thinking to yourself, “Man, isn’t it time they remake that film?” then I have to ask, what the hell is wrong with you? But according to the boys over at FilmDrunk, that’s exactly what is happening. Ait get’s better folks, Tom Cruise is said to be attached to this remake.
The annual San Diego Comic-Con is one of the most popular and most attended events in the world. Boasting more celebrities than the Oscars, what used to be a place for aspiring artists and vendors has now become home to the most valuable press in the world; grass-roots marketing. By packing all these movie stars in one place, promoting a franchise, and getting the masses to attend, Comic-Con has found a way to garner even more buzz for a film than what was originally thought possible.
Grizzly Bomb 