You probably all know how much I loved the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot right? Well, we’re about a month and a half away from the premiere and Marvel and ABC have graciously decided to feed us more teases from the Joss Whedon led series. The first promo involves the always lovable Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) as he introduces us to his team.
Just a very minor introduction, basically just so you can further question how Agent Coulson still lives and breathes and is able to lead a team into the dangerous world the Marvel Universe is now. We are also treated to another promo dealing with Skye, a hacker who catches the attention of the aforementioned Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and we get a small spotlight into her, as well as a few scenes from the pilot.
I will say she has a great interrogation scene in the pilot. I just remember the room breaking out and cheering during that part. Anyways, below are some more promos to tell get you pumped for the first episode on September 24th. Enjoy my friends.
A record setting 300,000 people over 3 days, watching a variety of over 140 bands from every genre of music on 8 separate stages in the iconic Grant Park of Chicago is an experience unlike any. Despite many knocking this year off as lacking compared to 2011’s heavy hitters like Eminem and Coldplay, or even last years Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Black Keys, I still enjoyed the hell out of the experience. This year to me wasn’t lacking as much as it was more about bringing in another genre of music (EDM) to the forefront, while sticking with the Lolla roots of the indie rock bands.
This was my first year in attendance, and I’m already booking my hotel for next. Again, Lolla to me is more about the experience of being there than who you’re actually seeing. Of course, it’s always awesome to see major headliners like Kendrick Lamar, but my point to be made is don’t write off weaker year line-ups immediately. Clearly the attendance didn’t show it, but a lot of people I talked to didn’t attend because they disliked the line-up, and I think it’s an easy mistake to make. That said, here is my quasi-review of Lollapalooza 2013. Obviously I wasn’t able to catch everybody, hence the reason I’m not giving a flat number rating, but instead, I’m going to do short reviews of particular acts by categories. Here we go…
Biggest Surprise: Robert Delong
I’m only starting with this category because I want to talk about this guy so damn much. It’s also pretty fitting that he’s the first guy I saw at Lollapalooza 2013. Original and talented are the only two words to come to mind when you watch him play. Whether you’re into his electronic/rock style, witnessing him live is a true site to see. Robert Delong is a one-man band that consists of him looping a variety of noises live on stage, then adding in vocals and drums to make songs. Added to the mix is his original programs that he created for his computer that allow him to incorporate unique items such as a computer flight simulator joystick to control the dub step in his songs, or smashing on a Gameboy controller to produce electronic sounds. On top of all this is his rock band drummer roots that he displays prominently when he sits down to bang away on his kit. The small crowd he performed to ate it up, and all in all, it was a great way to start off the weekend. Knowing nothing about this guy is why I have given him the title of Biggest Surprise. Check out the video of him below.
Biggest Disappointment: Chance The Rapper
Writing about this one kills me because Chance was by far one of my most anticipated, and the minimal amount of rappers on the lineup meant he really had to stick out from the obvious bigger name, Kendrick Lamar. Headlining the BMI stage in his hometown of Chicago, the 19-year-old rapper had some hefty expectations. I highly doubt Lolla was ready for this guy to blow up the way he did when his second mix tape dropped, thus placing him on a somewhat smaller stage, because it was packed to the fences. The concert started off with a cool mix by the DJ, from Kanye West’s new “Bound 2” all the way to House of Pain’s “Jump Around”. But the concert went mostly down hill from there. The rapper seemed out of his element when he began performing with the background instrumental, leaving some to speculate there were technical difficulties. He played his hits that got the crowd going, but half way through “NaNa”, the track flipped into an odd dub step type beat that seemed like a mistake on the DJ’s behalf. Chance went with it for a second before walking off stage, leaving the crowd to believe that he was done after about 20 minutes, and making about a third of the crowd scurry out of the area. Then a band took the stage, began playing, and Chance got back up and rocked the hell out of the rest the show. The only problem is the ‘rest of the show’ was basically 2 or 3 more songs. That’s where this guy has potential. Between his enthusiastic dance moves, and his emotional delivery of lyrics, this guy can be the heavy hitter that Kendrick Lamar is in the coming years. That said, the first part of his performance really levied the rest, and for that, he retains my title of Biggest Disappointment.
Best of Show (Rap): Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick really killed it, and simply said, was the best rapper of the show. Playing to a gigantic crowd on the gigantic Bud Light Stage, Kendrick delivered. Killing it with his “Recipe”, the original version of the overplayed “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”, and even delivering calmer hits like “Poetic Justice”. Kendrick was in his zone, and set the bar for following rappers in the coming years. A side note, cool story from the show, is during “M.A.A.D city”, the crowd began to lift up people in wheel chairs. Even getting Kendrick’s attention at one point, that prompted him to let the guy in the chair over the barricade, and sit directly in front of him as the crowd topped off the “Ya! Ya! Ya!” in the song as the beat dropped. I could keep on going with a multitude of stories from this show, and continue the praise, but I’ll keep it simple with he delivered.
Best of Show (Rock): Two Door Cinema Club
I didn’t get a chance to see The Killers or Postal Service, who I heard were incredible in both their sets, but out of the rock bands I saw, Two Door Cinema Club has to take the top title. Knowing nothing about these guys, I felt like a loner beside my friends and the huge crowd who knew every word to their entire set. Their soft style of rock really appealed to me, and the loose feeling of the huge crowd at the Bud Light stage made for a great show. I don’t know the exact names of the songs played, but I enjoyed them all for the most part, and it was a good calmer from the constant electronic music.
Best of Show (EDM): Steve Aoki
The toughest category to pick from, as there were so many killer EDM performances all done mostly on the infamous Perry’s stage, is going to have to go to the Friday night headliner Steve Aoki. Starting off the show by telling the audience he’s going to play mostly new stuff began what could only be described as a wild set of electronic music, and surprises. The first of the latter was the appearance of Li’l Jon, who may possibly be one of the greatest hype men you can find. For the most part forgoing rapping, he instead opted for loud shouts to get the crowd going, and by damn, it worked perfectly. From there, the show just kept getting better and better as he debuted new songs with Flux Pavilion, who also got on stage at one point as a special guest, and finished with new collaborations with Knife Party. Add in the insane lights, the caking (throwing cakes at the audience when the beat drops), and the crazy crowd surfing, Steve Aoki set a bar the first night that simply couldn’t be topped. Oh yeah, and I can’t forgot the odd, but always welcomed, appearance of Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) at the end of his set.
Notable Mentions
Dog Blood:
Surprisingly, this was the most under the radar group that contained possibly the most well known guy in the EDM music genre: Skrillex. This is a side project with Boys Noize that most people going in knew nothing about. Their unique style, and red tinted screen projections made for an awesome concert. Sadly, this also featured probably the worst crowd, which I can’t blame the group for, but come on people, are mosh pits really that much fun? Besides that, this was high up there on top performances.
Twenty One Pilots:
These guys know how to put on a show, and while some may see their theatrics as simply them trying too hard, such as the drummer doing a backflip off the piano, I got to say that it all worked. Their style of rock songs with catchy chants really lends its self to live performances. “Holding onto You” really got the crowd going, but the song “Trees” is what got me into it as the catchy electronic chorus makes for an insane crowd experience.
Damn you Steve Aoki! If it weren’t for your performance the previous night, this guy would’ve taken the top spot. His unique mix of pyro techniques and dub step beats lends itself to live sets. Playing a mix of samples and original stuff, he made for the second best performance I saw at Lolla 2013, right behind the other Steve.
Acts that I missed
The only unfortunate part of Lollapalooza is when they stack various great acts on top of one another leading you to make tough decisions on who to see. Some of the acts I missed that I wish I could’ve seen are as follows:
Phoenix, Mumford & Sons, Vampire Weekend, Nine Inch Nails, 2 Chainz (guilty pleasure), Queens of the Stone Age, The Lumineers, Matt & Kim, Atlas Genius, and one of the acts I was most looking forward to, Imagine Dragons, but the picture below explains why I missed them…
Conclusion
If you are around the area of Chicago next year towards the beginning of August I highly recommend going, and promise, regardless of the line up, you’ll have a fun and unique experience. Not only that, all ages are just about acceptable for this, well, maybe if you have young kids don’t bring them by Perry’s, but the rest is totally accessible to everyone.
Shark movie fans have never had it better, with more films than you can ever conceive of watching in your life time readily available in DVD or digital format. With the success of Sharknado fans are crying out for even more, so it is with great pleasure we take the shark movie back to its roots with Sharktopus Vs Mermantula, a sequel to the fantastical tongue in cheek Sharktopus.
Sharktopus was certainly not the first shark movie out there, but it was one of the first to employ the mash-up technique (just throw anything together and hope that it sticks) and with this sequel they have gone all out to entertain. It comes to us from Roger Corman, who is widely considered a genius in the low-budget movie industry, and it is hard to argue with that when he comes up with classics like this. Here is the sequels plot synopsis curtsey of Shock Till You Drop.
[box_dark]In order to take down Sharktopus, Ray Brady, a former basketball player is injected with a transformation serum that alters his genetic make-up to become part man, part piranha and part tarantula. Though, unsuccessful at his first attempt to bring down Sharktopus, Ray injects himself with a growth hormone, increasing his strength tenfold and has a final showdown with Sharktopus in a baseball stadium.[/box_dark]
Roger Corman also released some very short clips which can be seen below:
Now this news will have you either jumping up with joy or banging your head against your computer screen. For me, it’s the best news ever! Say what you will about these flicks, at least they are never dull and they have some of the most inventive plot devices you can possibly think of. If you are still not sold then how about the super casting of Casper Van Dien and Catherine Oxenberg! Okay, forget I mentioned it!
Still not impressed? How about yet another Sharktopus sequel! Dread Central proudly shared the news, h and we have a short description:
[box_dark]Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda – Sharktopus’ offspring goes toe-to-toe with the latest science experiment “Pteracuda” in a battle for supremacy.[/box_dark]
This time we have David Carradine’s brother Robert Carradine popping up as the mandatory star, with both films airing on SyFy. Both movies are directed by Kevin O’Neill (not the comic artist) who is a dab hand at these types of film, with Dinoshark and Dinocroc under his belt, as well as the amazingly titled and soon to be released Dracano, which is basically about a volcano that shoots out dragons.
To top it off, if you still need your shark fix here is a clip of Tara Reid (star of Sharknado) giving her interesting take on sharks. It is a work of genius.
Oh, and because this particular reviewer loves shark movies so much here is Cinemassacre‘s top 40 shark movies ( yes that is the Angry VideoGame Nerd James Rolfe, before you ask) which should be used as a wish list for all shark fans. Enjoy.
While promoting her upcoming CBS comedy with Robin Williams (which you can check out the trailer for among the 37 new TV trailers we’ve gathered) someone asked Sarah Michelle Gellar if she’d be on board for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. That in and of itself isn’t newsworthy. Given the huge success the Veronica Mars Movie has found via Kickstarter, you have to imagine that everyone that has ever been part of a fan favorite TV show has been fielding questions about the possibility of a film adaptation.
The nice part is that Gellar didn’t give a total throw away answer. She could have easily laughed it off but instead she only half laughed it off:
[box_light]“If there ever was the right story, we would do it, but the thing with Buffy is that Buffy was a movie, and it ultimately didn’t work as a film, the story works better over time.”
At this point, the stake would be my walker and I would be hobbling in.”[/box_light]
So obviously not the green light Buffy fans would hope for, but it’s nice to know that Gellar and creator Joss Whedon have discussed it. Of course the biggest problem with a Buffy film would be getting the old cast back together. David Borneaz, for whatever reason, rarely talks about either Buffy or Angel. James Marsters believed he was too old in the first place to play Spike. Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof are off being their busy adorable married selves. Unfortunately Anthony Head’s pilot for The CW (The Selection) wasn’t picked up so he’d possibly be available.
Will there ever be a Buffy movie? Unlikely. But no harm in dreaming right? To soothe ourselves, let’s take a look back at Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Spike Jonze is back in the spotlight after about four years of no feature films, with his new flick Her. The story is about a heartbroken man who finds solace in an A.I computer that acts as his girlfriend, and it looks to be a cool blend of Sci-Fi over the basic falling in love storyline. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as the loner, who on paper sounds similar to his previous character in The Master as he looks to be disconnected and awkward in society. However, the portrayal in the trailer seems to be totally different, which goes to show Phoenix’s tremendous range. Accompanying him is a killer cast including Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers) as the computer voice Sarah, Rooney Mara (The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo), Amy Adams (The Master), Olivia Wilde (The Change Up), and Chris Pratt (Parks and Rec.). Check out the Her trailer below.
The film looks great, and it’s sure to be one in contention for awards later this year. What most excites me is the Sci-Fi Romance tone that Jonze seems to be getting at, akin to Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Keeping the heart, and using the Sci-fi as simply a mechanism is what makes me excited for this.
Also, a neat note, this is Spike Jonze’s first solo screenwriting credit on a film, which hopefully proves to be a good thing as Sci-Fi is done best with a clear vision from start to finish.
Her opens November 20, just two days before the major blockbuster which is bound to make big bucks, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Hailing from Los Angeles, California, the Butcher Babies have seemingly grabbed the Metal world by the throat in 2013, with no intentions of letting go. A hard-hitting Metal five piece, fronted by female duo Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd, the Butcher Babies have spent the first half of this year touring with some of the biggest names Metal has to offer, while making quite a name for themselves along the way. On July 9th, in midst of what had already been a monstrous year, the California natives released their much-anticipated first full-length album Goliath. We here at Grizzly Bomb recently caught up with Heidi and Henry from the Butcher Babies to discuss the first half of what has unarguably been a huge year for them!
Grizzly Bomb 