Sometimes I like to punish myself by laboring through movies I have no interest in, just to see what the general movie going populous seems to enjoy. I feel it’s a valuable trait in a reviewer to not only review stuff you are expecting to enjoy, but to review stuff you might not be as excited about. However, these usually seem to be self-fulfilling prophecies when it comes to movies because Couples Retreat is freaking terrible.
The premise is as paper thin as paper thin it gets. A group of friends go to an island resort to investigate their relationships. There is the couple on the verge of divorce, the couple that is happy on the surface, the high school sweethearts who now loathe each other, and the recent divorcee and his young girlfriend. Stereotypical relationships to be sure, but with good writing those stereotypes would at the least be humorous (which I’m guessing was the intent). Continue reading
One of the sheer and utter blisses of being young is that you have all kinds of energy bottled up. You can literally run, climb, swing, and jump for hours at a time. And you aren’t doing this specifically for your health, you do it because it’s fun. But then adolescence sets in, and it gets a little bit harder to workout. Your feet are disproportionately sized for you body, and you’re dreadfully skinny. This is when you start noticing that after a few minutes of intense workout that you experience this thing you never did as a child: you’re out of breath.
In this day of the internet and the public’s insatiable appetite for that which is not yet universally available, I was recently able to preview MGMT’s second full length album Congratulations via their website. The album is scheduled for a physical release on April 13th, 2010, and I am lucky to get a couple of weeks head start listening the Hell out of this thing, thanks in part because the whole record leaked and they were cool enough to just make it available to fans early.
Maturity is a scary thing. When you start to grow up people tend to expect certain, more traditional things out of you. Things like: get a full-time job, stop drinking so much, start a family. These expectations tend to crush any mortal soul on Earth who craves their own independence, but this is not all that maturity brings. No, maturity is more about developing, gaining something from your experiences. Collectively putting things together, and being able to look back on them with a special fondness because they helped craft the soul you’ve developed into. It’s about being able to articulate yourself as your point of view on life changes. Romance is Boring is not your typical sophomore full length album, but then again there is nothing typical about Brit pop/punk rockers Los Campesinos.