REVIEW: Jungle Cruise [2021]

Pause for dramatic effect. The first thing you hear at the start of Jaume Collet-Serra‘s Disney theme park ride film Jungle Cruise is the melody from Metallica‘s “Nothing Else Matters.” We hear it again later during a flashback as if composer James Newton Howard thought the hard rock ballad somehow perfectly encapsulated the age of conquistadors enough to recruit the band himself. That’s obviously not the case. Disney President Sean Bailey apparently always wanted to collaborate with them and thought this property would be the best fit regardless of the…

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REVIEW: Downloaded [2013]

“No one’s going to share an mp3” Can you believe Napster existed at full capacity for only one year? One year! As the men—nay, boys—behind the peer-to-peer music-sharing phenomenon tell it, the program was perfected by December 1999 and unplugged February 12, 2001 thanks to an injunction by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). While launching in May 1999 and eventually limping to bankruptcy June 3, 2002 after ill-fated attempts to eradicate its copyright infringement issues, the disruptive force that changed the face of the internet was a newborn…

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REVIEW: Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage [2010]

“Props to the nose” I don’t have any idea what made me buy Rush’s two-disc greatest hits Chronicles many years ago, but it definitely changed my outlook on music. Popping it in my CD player, the sound flooded over me, playing songs that either I had heard and never aligned with the band or just had that intrinsic feel of greatness and familiarity. My parents had a few LPs when I was growing up and, once CDs came into being, I do recall listening to Roll the Bones often—still admittedly…

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REVIEW: Get Him to the Greek [2010]

“Please press seven for fellatio” The glory that is Russell Brand’s character Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall stems from two words: supporting role. On paper, expanding the obnoxious and vain sexual deviant’s background part to head up his own vehicle seems like a slamdunk—and it is to some respect. Although it underperformed at the box office opening weekend, Get Him to the Greek appeals to its audience and makes them laugh hard. But does humor alone create a success? I’m undecided on whether I laughed or looked towards my…

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REVIEW: Anvil! The Story of Anvil [2009]

“The music lasts forever, and maybe the debt does too” Initially told that Anvil! The Story of Anvil was like a true life This is Spinal Tap!, it didn’t take long to discover the comparison misleading. Anvil is not a bunch of hacks that no one likes; they aren’t a joke of the metal industry. In fact, as told by many of their peers who have gone on to fame and fortune—Lars Ulrich, Slash, Lemmy, and Scott Ian—they were the real deal. It is unknown to everyone why the band…

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