Category Archives: Entertainment

Easy A – Movie Review

Easy A. The best comedy of the year, aka the best teen comedy in a long, long time.

The movie tells the story of Olive Penderghast, a high school girl who’s as off the radar as you can go. A rumor starts that she lost her virginity and soon enough, she becomes the most popular girl in school. Inspired by the novel “The Scarlet Letter” from where the letter “A” in the title comes from, it shows how the precocious teenager in Olive got turned due to word-of-mouth alone into something as close to a harlot as you can get – without the sex.

Her fictional one-night with her fictional college boyfriend soon becomes the introduction of many guys asking her to fake sleep with them to improve their reputation. A gay classmate comes up to her and in one hilarious scene, they fake sleeping with each other so well that your ribs would almost crack from laughing. But as with all comedies, soon enough Olive’s world will come crashing down as it all becomes unbearable and things she hasn’t even pretended to do are affixed to her…

Olive’s parents, played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, are hilarious. They excel at being the hippies, carefree parents. You can’t help but laugh everytime one of them tries to console or give guidance to Olive. They are so out of place that I thought Olive was adopted at first. They are still so taken by their long-ago sexual and chemical experimentation that they don’t even care about all the turmoil in their daughter’s life. Their advice: Oh but it’s fun! You can’t help but laugh.

You might think the plot is cliched and whatnot – after all, most high school comedies are. But what elevates this movie is the outstanding performance by Emma Stone, who, in my opinion, should have won her category at the Golden Globes. There is no other one who deserved the best actress in a comedy as she did. She spun this movie out of her likeability alone and made it into what it is. Like or hate the movie, you can’t but like her character. She shows such promising talent that how she was a relative unknown before this is mind-boggling.

The movie also stars Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgley as Olive’s love interest. Amanda Bynes returns into the movie business as the overzealous Christian who wants to stop all the “sinning” going on in her school. She is really good as well, especially when she’s in one of her prayer sessions.

Easy A may not be groundbreaking. But for once in a long while, Hollywood gives you a comedy that is refreshing, breezy and likeable without going into the comedy of shock-value. And for that, I love it.

 

 

 

Born This Way – Lady Gaga


Listen to Lady Gaga’s new single here:

Lady Gaga – Born This Way by gagadaily

Get the song on iTunes now.

My thoughts on the song:

After a few listens, it catches on. But that’s how it’s always been with me and Gaga’s songs. The only instantaneous ones were “Poker Face” and “Bad Romance”.

The lyrics are pretty great. I do not agree with those saying that this is a gay anthem. Sure, some parts of the lyrics can be interpreted that way but they can also symbolize any struggling person. The song is an empowering anthem to everyone who has ever felt teased or bullied, regardless of race or sexual orientation.

I understand that Lady Gaga is considered an icon for the gay community. But this doesn’t mean that a song about embracing who you are is directed at that community, exclusively. Many people struggle with their identity in this world where the media paints a certain identity that we should all follow. This song tells us that whoever we are is just enough because that’s the way God made us. The beauty of music in general is that it transcends cultural boundaries. I am Lebanese and find that the part where she references me describes what my country and I go through on almost daily basis.

Now, leaving the philosophical interpretations alone, I have to say that I actually felt that a slower tempo would have given the song more justice. After reading the lyrics, and regardless of what had been said that this would be an uptempo, I thought the best way to represent those lyrics would be on a piano. Lady Gaga does very good renditions of her songs acoustically so maybe she’ll start off her Grammy performance like that on Sunday?

Regardless of what I personally think of the song, it has already hit #1 in the iTunes store of 23 countries. It has broken Britney Spears’ record for first-day radio spins in the United States. The only thing that’s sure is that Lady Gaga is nowhere near done. You might like it, you might hate it… either way, you are living with it.

Open Letter to the ACMs

Dear ACMs,

(and other Country Award shows)

According to Country Aircheck, the ACMs have opted out of the eight nominees for the category “Entertainer Of The Year” because they “felt that, on TV, it got to be too cumbersome. It took a long time in the monologue to address eight artists and required more time when the category was mentioned during the show.”

I understand that your show has time constraints. After all, it’s admittedly difficult to run a three hour long broadcast and not exceed times, especially when you cannot account for the emotional reactions that could be exhibited on stage. But do time constraints mean that you do not honor one of your most deserving artists?

I understand that this particular artist, Carrie Underwood, does not really feel the need for all the awards she’s been getting. She’s been having consistent sales, chart topping singles and, the least you could say, a devoted fan-base that will never accept see injustice happen to her. And this is precisely what this post is about.

As a follow-up to my heavily viewed previous post about a possible reason for the snub, which can be viewed here, I have been asked by many people to provide links and proof to my claims. And here it goes.

For those who doubted the critical-acclaim Carrie Underwood’s Play On Tour has gotten, these are a few excerpts from the many glowing reviews that her sold-out shows have received.

The Oakland Tribune:

More musical mediocrity has been spawned by TV’s “American Idol” than from any other single entity in history.
The biggest exception continues to be Carrie Underwood, the 2005 “A.I.” champ that has totaled 10 No. 1 country singles, three platinum-plus-selling albums and numerous music awards during her relatively short career.
Her one weakness has traditionally been her live show, but now that has become a strength as well.

The Orange County Register:

It usually takes a mighty big voice to fill a big place like the Hollywood Bowl, but Carrie Underwood was definitely up to the task: the third American Idol champ and her band, accompanied by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, made a highly satisfying debut at the famous venue Saturday night.

AZ Central:

The sounds of fireworks that kicked off Carrie Underwood’s Play On Tour at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale Sunday, Oct. 3, held the promise of a night filled with interesting sets, sparkling costumes and larger-than-life vocal acrobatics. And the show delivered all

Kansas City:

With no apologies to Taylor Swift, we can now crown Carrie Underwood the reigning queen of country music.
She can also claim the title of the most successful “American Idol” contestant ever.
Saturday night, Underwood headlines a sold-out show at the Sprint Center. Yes, she is sold-out-arena caliber these days, and not just in places close to her Oklahoma hometown, like Kansas City. Earlier this month, she sold out the Hollywood Bowl, where more than 17,000 fans came to see her.

CMT:

Without a hitch — or a drop of sweat or a hair out of place — Underwood brought Music City two hours of dynamic set and wardrobe changes to her performance. Throughout the entire evening, she managed to tastefully and effectively intertwine love, lust, nostalgia and vengeance along with a passionate dose of spirituality.

This is only but a fragment of the accolades Carrie has gotten for her Play On Tour. And as this fragment clearly illustrates, the tour was a resounding success. She goes over the crowds on a blue truck… if that’s not enough for an award, what is?

Now I won’t compare these reviews with those of other nominated Country starts, but I will ask this: how could a tour of this magnitude, having played for over 1 million fans across the United States and Canada not have the artist responsible nominated for it?

After all, isn’t the award “Entertainer Of The Year” supposed to be given those who have showed excellence in the field of entertainment?

And if concerts aren’t enough for the ACMs (and other Country Award shows for that matter), Carrie has even tried her hand at some acting.

Her debut movie, Soul Surfer, comes out this April. It’s a movie about the power of faith and love. This artist decides to break into Hollywood and the first movie she decides to undertake is not one of those commercial blockbuster flicks that are sure to bring her buzz, but a subtle role in a movie about the healing power of faith… isn’t that what country music preaches? Belief in God, in yourself and in others?

Moreover, Carrie’s “Play On” album has been recently certified 2x Platinum. Out of all the current Entertainer Of The Year nominees, only Taylor Swift has surpassed Carrie’s sales. But Taylor isn’t even a cornerstone for comparison: she has outsold everyone in the music industry today, which makes Carrie’s total even more remarkable.

In addition, Carrie has shown remarkable faithfulness to the country genre, having refused to remix all of her songs to cater to other radio formats. Even her smash hit “Before He Cheats” was not remixed, which goes to show how much this artist really cares about the overall improvement of her genre, not some passing moment of multi-platform success. Of course, we, the fans, want to see another Carrie single crossover, and we feel that some of her songs are able to do just that if only the label were to help.

I’ve also come across people saying that Carrie not winning or being nominated is only natural as other female artists have had this happen to them when Carrie came to the country scene. My only reply to them is: those female country artists were not having a fragment of the success Carrie has been having since the moment she set foot in the country music industry. How many of those female artists can boast that they have had a 12 #1 streak on country radio, including an astonishing 6-week run with their debut single? How many of them can boast of having sold over 7 million copies of their debut album and how many of them can say that they are the only female country artists that have won Entertainer of the year twice?

So for all matters and purposes, Carrie was deserving of every award she got. Sure, her label might have helped her a little bit here and there but can you imagine the response had Carrie not won those awards?

Dear ACMs, you shunning out Carrie Underwood is a disgrace. Not only is she the most deserving artist of the bunch, but to give her only one nomination that she will most probably not win is really shameful…

To other Carrie Fans I say, Carrie will always be a winner in our hearts. We might have thought a win this year is a lock, but the politics of country music have proven even more barbaric than allow the most deserving to be recognized. We cannot do anything regarding that except make our voices heard. And this is me making my voice heard. Now it’s time to make yours.

Sincerely,

A disgruntled Country Music fan.

The Social Network – Movie Review

Who hasn’t heard of this movie? Or at least what the movie’s about?

Facebook.

A movie about Facebook could easily have been boring. After all, many of Facebook’s users are boring: useless status updates, posey-pictures, pointless comments…

But get an interesting topic, a director who has already given a cult-hit (Fight Club) and a very, very strong screenplay and the result is riveting.

The movie tells the story of Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and how he made Facebook, the details of his invention, all the “dirt” that we don’t know about, the enemies he made along the way and his ingenuity.

It’s ironic that the person who made Facebook – the most active and important social network today – is really, not a douchebag as the movie portrayed him in some instances to be, but mostly socially awkward.

The movie’s screenplay, written by Aaron Sorkin, is snappy, smart, fast and really engaging. The first few moments of the movie: a conversation between Mark and his girlfriend is purely based on that: dialogue. It’s such an intense dialogue that those few minutes draw you in and from there forward, there’s no dull moment. The movie is mainly talk-driven. And it doesn’t get unbearable.

The movie jumps around time periods. It does not follow the order of how everything happened chronologically but it’s very easy to understand what’s happening. I mean, this is David Fincher, the guy who brought the world Fight Club we’re talking about.

Even though, as I said earlier, Zuckerberg is not portrayed in the best of fashions, he makes up for a riveting character portrayed very well by Jesse Eisenberg. This is his breakthrough role no doubt.

And for those who thought Justin Timberlake was not capable of serious acting performances, this movie will prove you somewhat wrong. He’s not brilliant but not atrocious either.

Andrew Garfield, portraying Zuckerberg’s best friend Eduardo, does an immense job at that. The contrast between his character and Einsenberg’s is so obvious that it’s difficult to think how the characters are friends in the first place.

The soundtrack is hypnotic. Not my favorite soundtrack of the year but a pretty great one no doubt by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Several songs in the movie are not featured in the soundtrack, the main one being the song played in the California night club scene. So if you’ve been searching for it, it’s Sound of Violence by Dennis De Laat. The soundtrack has already won the Golden Globe.

The Social Network is up for 8 Academy Awards, including best picture. It has already won the Golden Globe for best motion picture – drama. It’s one of my favorite movies of the year – and it’s a must watch for every Facebook user.

Harry Potter To Be Honored at the BAFTAs

Harry Potter fans, rejoice!

The movies based on our favorite books are – finally – beginning to get the recognition they deserve!

The BAFTAs are honoring the Harry Potter movie series with an award for “Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema”.

For those who don’t know, or don’t want to know, the Harry Potter movies are the highest grossing movie series ever, with total revenues upward of $6 billion. The books are one of the best selling books of all time, with the last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, selling over 11 million copies in the United States on the first day alone. Yes, sorry Twilight!

The latest movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part I, has already grossed over $950 million and is nominated for two Academy Awards.

The Harry Potter series has never won an academy award and many people have been wondering why.

Rumor has it that Warner Bros is preparing a full-blown award-season campaign for the last movie of the series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part II.

Producers are already hyping up the summer 2011 release by saying that the already brilliant part 1 was nothing but a “road-movie”. Part 2 will be a full-blown battle.

Leaked pictures from part 2 show the trio and other characters battered and beaten. And honestly, I cannot wait to watch it!

The DVD for Part 1, available starting April 15th, 2011, will apparently include the opening scene of Part 2.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part II will be released on July 15th, 2011.