Finding Neverland

Roger and Ebert said "Finding Neverland is, finally, surprisingly moving".... "joyfully unexpected film" said the Times. Well unfortunately all those remarks are a huge understatement. In Marc Forster's Finding Neverland, Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Freddie Highmore and Kelly MacDonald give the most stunning performances that I have ever seen. This movie tells the tale of a man named Sir James Matthew Barrie (The author of Peter Pan) and how threw death and love finds a tale of unbelievable proportion. This movie not only has good acting, but also features a grade A crew. A shot in particular in a theater, was the of the best shots ever.Although this movie focuses on a guy who wrote for children, the movie can and will seem a tad bit to boring for even the most mature child.This movie has a good beginning, a good middle, and most important of all a good end.

Running Time: 106 min

Rating:PG

Quote: JM Berrie: "Those boys should never be sent to bed... they always wake up a day older."

The Fateful Promise

The Fateful Promise is a relatively new band from Madison, Wisconsin. They have only been playing gigs since April 2nd and already have a nice following of fans. With a bunch of original songs, this self-professed emo/post punk band is well on it way to being the next big thing from Madtown.

I caught one of their live performances last Friday (April 22). It was in a coffee shop basement. There were about 30 to 40 people attending. The room was humid with sweat and smelled of body odor thanks to the craziness brought from the hardcore/screamo band that had just played. The Fateful Promise was headlining. The set was amazing. TFP puts on a great live performance. They have a dynamic stage presence and their music isn't compromised by their vivacity. In fact, TFP is a very tight group.

Rob Garekis is the front man. He plays guitar, sings lead vocals, and writes all of their songs. He is a friendly chum and loves to have a good time. Eric Pedersen is the bassist and does backup vocals. Travis Smith is the drummer. He is the one who turned me onto the band. I have been friends with him since before high school and we've kept up. The three attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Travis and Rob lived across the hall from each other last year and that is how the band got started.

"We had just gotten to school," Travis tells the story of the band's beginnings, "and the last band I was in, was Tripping Over Chairs. I saw a sign on rob's door that said 'punk drummer wanted'. I was the furthest thing from a punk drummer, but I thought I would go check it out anyway. He played his songs for me and I liked them enough to start practicing with him." It took Travis a while to get into the whole punk scene, but once in, he was hooked. Travis and Rob started looking for a bass player. They had two or three prospectives and a bunch of tryouts. But, after about ten months found Eric. They started practicing as a band in January and their first show was April 2nd.

I asked both Rob and Travis why they decided to be or wanted to be in a band. Both replied with relatively the same answer. They couldn't imagine not making music. "I decided to start a band because I have an intense desire to create and perform music...it's enjoyable, but it's more than that-it's almost a necessity for me." Rob shared with me "and I have come to realize that even if this band never played a show, I would want to practice and write and play and create just as much."

If The Fateful Promise took off and required more time than school, the band would be willing to put school on hold, but it wouldn't be an easy decision. "It would be hard on me, because I believe that school is really important and interesting, and my parents would flip," Rob Said.

Some of the band's influences are Gatsby's American Dream, Further Seems Forever, and Alkaline Trio. The Fateful Promise's name is from Rob's spirituality and his personal faith. Some of TFP's older music was written about relationships with girls and friends. But the newer music is about having a positive outlook on life and for people to just love each other. "...instead of me complaining and bashing people in lyrics, I want to inspire and lift up- or at least let them know that that's what I really want- that's reflected well in our new song-'Love is there'" Rob explains his lyrical decisions.

The Fateful Promise has many opportunities coming up for you to see them live. As travis puts it,"it's such a rewarding experience, to play well and to have other people enjoy it"

The Fateful Promise at Myspace

Ocean's Twelve

When their past catches up with them, Danny Ocean and his crew are forced to pull more jobs. Unfortuantly they are too "hot" to work in the US. So they leave the country and head to Europe, not knowing what lies ahead. When they get to Amsterdam they get jobs, money, and more suprises than they can handle.

So since I am a huge fan of Ocean's Eleven, watching Ocean's twelve was more like a rule that a wish. The entire movie seems more Steven Spielberg that Steven Soberberg. The close friend I watched the movie with remarked "it seem like a completely different director. I couldn't even tell it was him." Maybe it was becuase it was written by a completely different screenplay writer. Mostly I like the movie. But it was a tad bit too confusing. And the way the plot keeps changing is enough to make anyone go mad. The feel of the movie was more or less like The Italian Job than Ocean's Eleven. But for a sequel, it was good. And what they make Julia Roberts dress up as is enough to make your dad cry. I'm still freaking out about it...

The movie grossed over $184 million in it's entire box-office run.

trailer at apple.com (Quicktime)

Casshern

After fifty years of bitter warfare between Eastern Federation and Europa, chemical, biological, and nuclear war have poisoned the land and left the exhausted population with newly mutated diseases. To save teh endangered humanity, Dr. Azuma proposes a "neo-cell" treatment that can rejuvenate the body and regenerate humankind. But an accident occers during the "neo-cell" closing experiment, unleashing a race of mutant human beings upon the world.

Casshern is the debut feature film of popular japanese music video director Kazuaki Kiriya. This film uses the popular new cinema technique of a "digital backlot". This means that most of the acting takes place in front of a huge greenscreen with a minor amount of props or set. Then, the background is added in later digitally. This technique is used in the new Star Wars films and films like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Sin City. The technique was incorporated really well. The CGI in the film looked like a fmv out of a final fantasy video game. They weren't spectacular compared to Hollywood's standards, but they were amazingly detailed and quite believable. The robots and machines in the movie look really cool.

The cinematography is really great in the movie. Also, the use of colors is very very good. Depending on were the scene took place... the background changed accordingly. I really enjoyed that aspect.

The movie is based off of an old anime television series called Shinzo Ningen Casshan. The story is good, but one part struck me as funny, because they started shooting at these "neo-sapians" before they even tried talking to them or anything. Other then that, I enjoyed the story very much. The fight scene are good and done in the japanese fighting style. The action sequences are intense and engaging. Overall, very well shot.

The music was also very good. I thought that the score was fitting at all the appropiate times. A blend of a classical score and some electronic beats make for just the right mix of emotions.

The acting is good and the characters are fascinating. The moral or theme of the movie seems kind of hard to decipher, but I think it is that humans don't really care about anything but themselves. Usually movies have a redeeming character that changes their ways, but this one doesn't seem to, but it is a different culture and the film is quite awesome. I would suggest Casshern to anyone who likes a good action movie.

Trailer at Apple.co.jp
Casshern.com Official Site
Official U.S. Casshern Site

Fight Club

Ok, I know what most of you are thinking "good movie... Brad Pitt." Well what about the book? Although I have not yet enjoyed the movie, I had the pleasure of reading Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club.

Although Jim Carreys's Me, Mine self, and Irene takes a comical look at split personalities, Fight Club gives you a deep, serious, and surreal look at the extreme differences in people. This book has 208 pages and small font. For those of you who like psycho, silly, sassy and sophisticated reading, this book is for you.

Fight Club

Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Pages: 208
Publisher: Norton
Quote from book: "I want you to hit me as hard as you can." Tyler Durden
look inside

The House of the Scorpion

What if the whole purpose of your life was to extend the life of another? But luckily no one would tell you this until you were needed to give up your heart, or lung, or kidney. In the book The House of the Scorpion, Matteo Alacrán had to do just that. Born when cut out of a cow, Matt has to go though a bunch of tough trials until he is wanted for a new heart. This book is only 379 pages long and has rather large font.

The book was given three awards including: National Book Award, a Newbery Honor award, and the Michael L. Printza Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. This book has rather large font and is only 379 pages long. It took me only three days to finish The House of the Scorpion.

To view inside this book: click here

Josh Aran

So, I found this new artist thru my endevour to find as many new artists as possible. His name is Josh Aran. He is from the Twin Cities and does most of his shows around there. I was lucky enough to catch him here at UW-Oshkosh, but I was unluckily late to the concert so I only caught the last 5 songs of his show. At this concert it was just him and his guitar, but he has a band that plays other shows with him. Five songs was enough to convince me to buy his album.

I would classify Aran as alternative folk music. It is calming and not in your face, but still plastered with meaning and emotion. His songs are catchy and easy listening. He has an obvious sense of music and easily finds good riffs and even better harmonies to fill them. In his stage performance he used a loop station like a pro. This is a device that allows a musician to record something and immediately playback that recording and loop it on stage. The musician then has the options to record more on top of that and loop it more or to just solo with it. Josh Aran did a fantastic job of making a full sound come from his guitar by using the loop station. Overall, I would recomment Josh Aran for anyone who likes Weezer's softer music or just a nice easy guitar chill.

Listen: Josh Aran - High Like Atmosphere
Website: josharan.com

Shattercell

Last Week I made a decision to see as many free concerts as possible to open my eyes to new music and different things. The first band to be graced by my new vow is Shattercell. The are a local band to the Oshkosh area. They previously were in Seattle. I would classify the band as eletronic. They described themselves and advertised around campus as sounding like Radiohead or Coldplay. I would agree in the sense that they are electronic, but I was pleased not to hear a Radiohead or Coldplay rip-off. Shattercell's sound is unique and not quite as britpop as some electronic music tends to be. Shattercell hopes to get a chance to go to Europe, namely the UK, where electronic music is huge in the club scenes and all over the country.

I arrived at the concert about a half hour late and was skeptical walking toward the concert venue and hearing what sounded like bad television commercial music and a thunder storm. But I went and had a seat. The set up was really unique. Two people; a girl behind a huge keyboard (barely touching it except a few times to chance a beat here and there. ) and guy with nothing but a microphone. So my first impression was no band... no real instuments... basically just prerecorded melodies and beats and a lone vocalist.

It only took a few grooves into the first songs I heard for me to realize this was much more than just a beat machine and a singer. Someone spent alot of time recording all of the back up music and writing powerful songs.

The vocalist (Adam) was an energetic guy who talked between singing about different happenings, had people go to the front to do cartwheels, and let the audience listen to him drink water. I really appreciated that. A friendly front man is a must for any band and this guy took the cake. Adam was fun and funny, which seemed odd set against the somewhat somber music that they performed. Later, they also had some trippy handycam video piped onto the stage. You could tell that Adam really believed what he was singing. The emotion put into his performance was spectacular. All in all the stage presents was very good.

The music:
The music was quite impressive. The tracks were very well mixed and thought out and the mix wasn't just repeated through the whole song, which tends to be a problem with some electronic bands. I got a chance to talk to the girl (Shanna) behind the keyboard. "Adam can play everything you hear in real time, we've looked for other people to play the lines, but nobody can yet." I shouldn't compare bands, but I kept thinking in my head during the set the music sounded like something off of a Bjork album and the vocals sounded like Dave Matthews. So, if you can imagine those two things together you have a pretty good idea of what Shattercell sounds like. At first, I was ultimately unimpressed by the lyrics. They seemed repeated a bit much. I dismissed them all to fast. It was hard to understand what Adam was saying, due to his singing style; much like it is sometime hard to understand Thom Yorke or Billy Corgan. The lyrics are quite profound and important to any artist. Shanna added "The lyrics are our motivation to create music like this. That alone adds power to it."

Overall, I really enjoyed Shattercell's performance. I bought their album and cherish it. I think they are an amazing group and could very well end up becoming well known. If you are looking for a new group with a great sound. Check out Shattercell.

Listen: Shattercell - Start a War