Something's Missing

I still got some movies left to review from the 2011 Nantucket Film Festival (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing). “The Lie” is a (relatively) new movie from writer-director Joshua Leonard (who you might know from “The Blair Witch Project”) and co-stars Mark Webber (who you might also know from “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”) and Jess Weixler (who you will know from “Free Samples” which comes out later this year). It’s a story that we all know, a man tells a lie to get out of work for the day and his life dramatically changes as a result.

It is by no means a bad movie, but equally it is by no means a great one either. At times the film does seem a little slow, but that isn’t what holds it back. The acting is decent and a surprise cameo from Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) made my day. In fact, Leonard who participated in a Q&A afterwards really loves the project and it shows. Technically it is a good film, but the whole time it is just missing something that stops it from being great. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it is one of those movies that feel like if you could change one thing about it, it would be a festival and indie standout.

And speaking of the Q&A afterwards, Leonard did a great job and seemed to have a lot of fun with this movie, but I don’t know if it’s just Nantucket or film festivals as a whole, but the majority of those in attendance are the kind of people that want to be movie buffs and think they are, but are too thick and pretentious to ever be. Yes, I know how incredibly stupid and pretentious I sound, now, by saying that, but it’s true! Seriously, I apologize to Joshua Leonard for some of the questions he had to endure (including some that weren’t questions at all, just criticisms of the movie and what they would change about it). And I think I speak for Leonard and myself when I say, if they think they could make a better movie, go out and do it! But I don’t think they can.

Stole Me Away

The 2011 Nantucket Film Festival has come to a close, but it was a good week while it lasted. Standouts included “Cars 2”, “Being Elmo” and of course the All-Star Comedy Round Table presented by Ben Stiller with Seth Meyers, Jerry Seinfeld, Colin Quinn and Aziz Ansari. One film that managed to slip under the radar was the astonishingly beautiful “Thief”, a short film about a boy who meets Saddam Hussein in 1959 and then once again forty years later when the two are old men.

The short is directed by Julian A. Higgins and written by Higgins and Matthew Wieland. No other film had me as deeply involved as this the entire festival. During the climax of the short (again, the climax of the short) I could barely breathe with excitement over the intensity of the film. A product of the American Film Institute, Higgins is a skilled filmmaker with only one feature length film and one other short to his name before tackling this project. Higgins handles tension in film with great aplomb and the sense of urgency and tension created in the climax of “Thief” reminded me of the feeling felt at times in Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” (coincidentally, both films take place in Iraq).

If you are attending a festival where “Thief” is screening or have the opportunity to view it, do so. It is a gem of a film and I cannot wait for more from Mr. Julian A. Higgins.

The Name's Mater, Tow Mater

Pixar is back (as they are every summer now) with their sequel to the highly successful and critically lauded “Cars”. The whole gang is back with a few additions. Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy return as Lightning McQueen and Mater, respectively, and Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer and Eddie Izzard have been added to the impressive cast. Here’s the deal, Lightning McQueen is about to take the summer off racing and return to Radiator Springs when he’s challenged to a “World Grand Prix” by a flashy Italian racecar. Lightning and Mater (with a few other Radiator Springs residents in tow) jet off to Japan, Italy and England to take part in the race. While in Japan, however, Mater is mistaken for a world-class secret agent by Finn McMissile (voiced by Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (voiced by Emily Mortimer). Without giving too much away, it becomes more of a spy movie with races in the background and a buddy movie between Lightning and Mater.

One of my favorite parts of this movie is the ability to explore the Cars world much more than we did in the original. The artists at Pixar did a tremendous job of creating real world locations in their digital format. It is fun to see how all the Cars inventions work, whether it is the bathrooms, the restaurants, the hotels, the planes because honestly, I was wondering how they did so much without hands in the first one. (Also, speaking of the Pixar world, during the Paris scene, keep a lookout for a shout out to another Pixar movie.)

It’s being released in 3D and IMAX, but I’m not sure how much more that will add to the movie. It was good enough in plain old 2D, but I could see the 3D depth technique that Pixar has perfected adding to the numerous racing and chase sequences. Either way, it’s Pixar so of course it’s good, and it’s definitely worth a trip to the theater to see it.

I was lucky enough to catch "Cars 2" at a screening at the the Nantucket Film Festival with Ben Queen, the screenwriter, in attendance. In a Q&A afterwards he really demonstrated the love that went into this movie and the immense attention to detail on the project. Illuminating on the pixar process he said that they do not focus on writing a movie towards children or adults, that thought does not even cross their mind while making the movie. What they do is make the movie they want to see. And that's awesome.

The Tourism Industry Is Suffering

Usually when a movie is bad it’s easiest to blame the studio for whatever reason; they didn’t allow the director creative control, the budget was too small. Unfortunately for writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck this is simply not the case (on a side note, I think von Donnersmarck also wins the award for worst name in Hollywood). I was really excited about this movie, Angelina Jolie at one point or another was a respected actress and who doesn’t love Johnny Depp? It was a big let down when I finally watched it and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, it’s pretty bad.

The direction is terrible, I mean, it takes something special to make Johnny Depp look like a bad actor and von Donnersmarck has it. Set in Venice, it is clear that von Donnersmarck has seen "The Italian Job" and tries to imitate several sequences but he really did not capitalize on shooting his movie in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. But forget von Donnersmarck, every so often there is a writer-director that tries to be artsy but in reality is just supremely awful but somehow continues to make movies (Dito Montiel comes to mind as well) and there's nothing we can do about them. The real question is why Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie agreed ot be in this movie. Sometimes the paycheck is just that big, but generally Depp picks excellent movies and even his not so great choices (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory) turn out okay. Angelina Jolie I don't get. How can Brad Pitt be choosing movies as good as "The Tree of Life" and the forthcoming "Moneyball" while Jolie is starring in "The Tourist" and "Wanted"? Well, whatever I say isn't going to change her decisions, so let's just forget it. And let's just forget this movie ever happened, I think it's the best decision at this point.

A Big Movie

Terrence Malick has a made a big movie with “The Tree of Life”. It’s big in its imagery, themes, performances; even the little details are big. But what else is to be expected from a movie that is about the creation of the world?

Some critics will argue that the majority of the opening is a glorified program that would be better placed on the Discovery Channel than in a movie theater. What these critics have wrong is that the Discovery Channel has never produced something as beautiful and as well done as this movie, which could be considered as Terrence Malick’s masterpiece. The problem with stating your opinion on this movie is that it is the type that if you like it, people will call you a pompous and pretentious asshole, but if you do not like it then you are an idiot and just did not “get it.” So what am I? Well, I guess you would have to say that I’m a pretentious asshole because I loved it. “The Tree of Life” is a gorgeous, wonderful film that despite containing the grandest themes of love and life is anchored into personal and human connections through the riveting performances of Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain.

I know that it’s not in too many theaters (I made an hour commute into Boston to watch it in the only theater that’s screening it in Massachusetts, and likely New England) but if it is at all possible make sure you see it while it is in theaters. There is something magical about this movie and it is simply awe-inspiring to see it on the big screen. It is movies like this that make me so angry that James Cameron’s “Avatar” was as successful as it was. “The Tree of Life” will make a fraction of what “Avatar” made at the box office, but the true value of the film is infinitely greater.

Kristen Wiig, I love You, But..

Disclaimer: I love Kristen Wiig. Yes, I ma now groan when I see Target Lady or Penelope, but the first six or seven times they did those skits I fell off the couch laughing every time. I'm the kid who watches "Saturday Night Live" when it airs and then gets annoyed when my friends bring up the sketches three weeks later. On paper, I should love "Bridesmaids". But I don't. And here's two reasons why:

1. I'm not a girl. I think this is the main issue for me and personally I feel that this movie was important for the same reason. Women needed to prove they're funny again. Tin Fey is the only one people ever think about with Ellen DeGeneres stuck in daytime television and Amy Poehler hidden in the underrated "Parks and Recreation". Just like women needed someone to stand behind in comedy they also needed some bit of toilet humor that it was socially acceptable to laugh at. At least, that's the only reason I can think of including the scene at the dress fitters.

2. I could barely sit through all two hours with this movie and watch Kristen Wiig's character self-destruct like she does. Some may argue that that didn't worry them because it's a comedy and therefore there's no reason to worry, everything was guaranteed to turn out well. Well, I disagree, her character was so self-destructive I honestly couldn't believe her character was real anymore and that everything would turn out all right.

Yes, it has some funny parts and I really, really wanted to like it. I just couldn't.

X-Men from the 60s

I really suck at posting on a regular basis and I'm making a serious effort now of turning that around. I've seen a s*** ton of movies the past week so hopefully that will help!

Let's start with the most recent superhero movie (and I'm not counting Green Lantern, because well-to be completely honest, it looks awful and a movie entirely done with CGI is not my cup of tea) so I'm obviously talking about X-Men: First Class. I, myself, am not a big superhero/comic book kind of guy, but the current crop of Superhero movies usually draw one or two big names (Iron Man, The Dark Knight, etc.) and that's enough to get me to watch it (plus they're generally pretty kick ass. The X-Men trilogy marathon on FX last week, my newfound love for Jennifer Lawrence, combined with my admiration for James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender was enough to get me to see it opening night.

X-Men: First Class is perfect for the average movie goer and even better for anyone who has seen the other X-Men movies. I'm not entirely familiar with the mythology of the characters so any references to other parts of the franchise I completely eat up. In fact, Wolverine's cameo had my brother laughing for a whole five minutes after it happened. Not to mention, it's a pretty movie (and the 1960s is just a fun time to place a movie). But I'm not going to waste your time with my mediocre opinion on the superhero aspect, instead just read this (incredible) article from Darren Franich over at Entertainment Weekly.

I will leave with one last thought of why this movie works so well at this current period we live in and why it connects with so many audiences today, despite it taking place in the 1960s. Everything about this movie is a flawless combination of 1960s culture and culture in the 2000s. The wardrobe, technology, even characters habits find the even ground between the two and at the same time create a nostalgia for that time that we can all understand from our vantage point in the present.

Every Teardop Is A Waterfall

I just can't help myself from loving this song.

And by this song I mean "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall" by Coldplay. It is the lead single from their new album (but there is some debate over that.. there's a possibility it's just a one off for the festivals this summer). It's got single written all over it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. ETIAW is the perfect song to be blasting in your car with the windows rolled down this summer and that's fully what I expect to happen.

But everything about this song on paper means that I shouldn't like it. Do the lyrics really make much sense? No, not really. The title sure doesn't fit the song at all. There are a whopping total of two (yes, two) chords for the entire song (Dsus2 and A, if I'm not mistaken). The only redeeming value that this song has is that crazy guitar riff, but even that can only take it so far.

So why do I love it? It's infectious and happy, and who couldn't use some more of that in their lives? It's definitely going to be an anthem for the summer, just like "Viva La Vida" was back in 2008. But more than anything: it's Coldplay.

Why Hype Sucks

I love movies. There I said it, and I doubt that it comes as much of a surprise. The first thing I do when I go on my computer is head to IMDb and check out any new news or trailers that they've posted. So naturally, I get sucked up into all the hype and even create some of it with my own friends. But I need to stop.

After the whole "Sucker Punch" fiasco, where I totally blew the whole movie out of proportion, I really have to slow down my endorsement and excitement over movies. With "X-Men: First Class" coming out on Friday and "Cowboys & Aliens" later this summer my willpower is going to be pushed to the test. In order to do that I just have to remind myself how useless and even negative hype can be.

First, for myself, I know that I'm going to see the movie and there's no need to convince myself that it's going to be amazing and I need to see it, I know I'll see it anyways. But the more important fact that I need to remind myself of is that when I build movies up, there's no way that it will meet expectations. When I'm watching the movie I'm only thinking about how I need to like the movie or all the reasons why from the advertising and hype that I should like the movie. And it doesn't matter what the movie is actually like, it's a completely mental and psychological game at that point.

I don't know, sorry if you had to read all this. I'm just thinking out loud.

No Hangover This Time Around

By now we've all read plenty of reviews of "The Hangover: Part II" saying it's a repeat of the first, so I don't need to mention the stars (Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms) and I don't need to include that it made over $100 million dollars in the domestic box office by Sunday ($137.4 million to be precise). It's still a great movie in its own right, and the characters are equally defined and hilarious in this installment.

What I will do instead is wonder aloud about the numerous Billy Joel references in the movie

1. Above Alan's bed is a giant poster of the cover art to Billy Joel's 1980 album "Glass Houses"
2. During one of the landscape montages, Billy Joel's 1989 song "The Downeaster Alexa" plays (the irony about this, is that I was watching it in a theater on Nantucket, one of the places in the song, but unfortunately no one else in the theater picked up on that)
3. Stu's song in this movie is "Alan Town" a clever play on Billy Joel's 1982 song "Allentown"

I'm sure there are more references that I didn't pick up on, but it's cool that Todd Phillips threw them in there. I'm sure I'll be watching it again, so I can pick up more of the references and I can actually try and hear all of the jokes over every laughing this time.

SPICYYYYYY

Super delicious awesome tasty awesomesauce sandwich from The Dancing Pickle for lunch today. I went back to an old favorite for me: the Chicken Finger Wrap. This sandwich has everything: boneless chicken strips, lettuce, tomato, bell peppers and chipotle mayo. I'd rather not dissect the sandwich too much, as I might ruin the magic behind it, but if you're on Nantucket this weekend for the Figawi Race, stop in and check it out.

Interestingly enough, for the second day in a row, I have had a spicy sandwich with chipotle mayo. It's delicious and I'm not 100% sure why I'm so into it this week, but this might have something to do with it.

Smoked Ham & Swiss

Pardon the lack of a catchy title for this little post, but I just finished the sandwich and I haven't had time to come up with one. Maybe I'll come back and change it when I think of it, but I highly doubt that will happen.

First, the sandwich. Smoked ham (obviously), swiss cheese (again, obviously), lettuce (less obvious), red onions, and chipotle mayo on portuguese bread. Fantastic combination from all the above, and it might have been a little too spicy if not for the lettuce. Accompanied by a cool "Big Cranberry" Nantucket Nectars, this tasty sandwich was worth every cent of the $8.75 I spent on it.

Secondly, and almost more importantly, the location. "Provisions" is a little sandwich shop tucked away on a wharf on Nantucket Island and is unfortunately overlooked by most people because of the Gazebo (a popular watering hole) that day trippers flock to and get schwastey at. But if you're not a drunken idiot you can appreciate it. "Provisions" makes up one third of "The Big Three" (my three favorite sandwich shops on Nantucket, stay tuned for the other two) and it was a perfect place to start my summer.

Captain Jack's Back!

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" sailed into theaters this weekend to tumultuous applause from pirate fans and lukewarm reviews from critics. Personally, I loved it. And now that we're closing in on 24 hours from viewing time, I'm still of the opinion that it is as good or even better than the first.

Jack Sparrow is up to his old tricks and I'll save you all a plot summary, because if you're reading this now, you most definitely already know it. The only real differences we have between "On Stranger Tides" and "The Curse Of The Black Pearl" is instead of Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom we have Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane and instead of the beloved Black Pearl we have the terrifying Queen Anne's Revenge as our flagship.

The actors and director Rob Marshall have been claiming in all their press runs that they've done something new and fresh, which is rather debatable. But it's not a bad thing at all, because I for one just love watching Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow getting in and out of trouble and am perfectly content watching that for two hours. Like all the advertisements say it is "the perfect summer movie", it won't be winning awards but it's awesome good fun. I love it and I'm sure others will feel the same way after seeing it. Well, Michael Bolton will at least feel that way....

PBJT (Peanut Butter Jelly Time)

Well, it's certainly been a while since my last post. Blame it on the rain, college, some other stuff, but mostly me. Now I'm back and I promise that this little blog o' mine is going to be better than ever before.

It occurs to me that despite the title of this blog being "Movies and Sandwiches" I have yet to do a post on sandwiches. That ends now. For the past week, everyday I have had two (yes, two) peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Lay's Potato Chips and a glass of Snapple Iced Tea. Most people think that PB&J is a super unoriginal sandwich, and they may be right. You can't add anything to it and it's always the same two ingredients, that's never going to change.

It may be unoriginal, but it is delicious and after a week of two a day, I'm still not bored. Which is why PB&J gets my vote for "Most Underrated Sandwich." Keep on the lookout and follow this blog to get more of my personal "Sandwich Awards."

Meet The Parents (And Cats)

Yesterday I got in on the classic argument of cats vs. dogs and which one is better, smarter, faster stronger, etc. I am a cat person at heart (mainly due to being terrorized by the dalmatian next door for most of my childhood) and I do not understand why people prefer dogs. I mean you have to walk them, you can't ever leave them at home, and they drool all over the place. Most people I come across are ardent supporters of dogs and so it's nice to come across someone who is on my side of this issue.

And who better to have on your side of an argument than Robert De Niro? I don't know about you, but I would never want to disagree with that man. In my personal opinion he shares one of the best pro-feline arguments that I have ever heard in the 2000 comedy "Meet The Parents."

"So you need that assurance do you? You prefer an emotionally shallow animal? You see Greg, when you yell at a dog, his tail will go between his legs and cover his genitals, his ears will go down. A dog is very easy to break, but cats make you work for their affection, they don't sell out the way dogs do."

I cannot agree more with De Niro on this one. Since you have to work for the cat's affection it means that much more when you get it. The bond is stronger and it's something that you can't achieve with an animal that you can hit repeatedly and will keep coming back. The best relationships are those based on mutual respect, which is something a dog will never have, but something a cat needs.

"A Hard Day's Night"

Sorry for the absence of posts everyone! I'm just getting back into the swing of things here at college and it's hard to try and find time to keep up with the blog. Last night I watched The Beatles in "A Hard Day's Night" for my College Writing class and my professor told us to think about whether this movie was still relevant in 2011 or if it had become "dated" over the years. And it's been a while since I've reviewed a movie so below I've included my response to this prompt. Enjoy.

Despite being made in black and white over forty-five years ago, The Beatles shine in “A Hard Day’s Night” and the core of the movie is still understandable and true today. The film has hardly “dated” at all, there is little that we do not understand because we are living in such a different time period. There are several reasons for this. The first reason is the legend of The Beatles has lasted this long and this movie is part of the legend of The Beatles. If you ask people today, a large majority will praise The Beatles as the greatest band of all time. A band is only as good as its music and we still know and listen to The Beatles music all the time today (especially with their full catalogue now available on iTunes). Since this movie is first and foremost about the music of The Beatles and they are performing for most of the movie it is easy for us to understand and enjoy all the scenes of them performing their songs. Second, when The Beatles are not performing they are generally being chased around by their adoring fans, which are mostly comprised of screaming teenage girls. This phenomenon is familiar with us today, for a variety of acts ranging from rock (Coldplay) to rap (Kanye West) to pop (Jonas Brothers). In fact, the Jonas Brothers even stole the idea of being chased down the street by fans for the opening scene of their movie “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.” Finally, the goal of the movie when it was released (other than making tons of money) was to foster the idea that The Beatles were just four normal (very talented) guys from Liverpool. They want to have fun, go out at night, avoid work and in the end they are only human. This works just as well today as it did in 1964. We all grow up with the idea that The Beatles are some sort of music gods; even Lennon declared that The Beatles “are bigger than Jesus.” Coupled with his assassination in 1980 Lennon has become this mystical figure that generations after him hardly understand. “A Hard Day’s Night” shows us a little into the personality of Lennon that is never seen anymore. But overall, The Beatles are just regular guys, they crack jokes, they look for the fun in everything and they want to go out and meet girls. In 1964 this was the first time many had seen The Beatles (other than The Ed Sullivan Show) and it was their primary base of knowledge about the band. For people now in 2011 with biographies and YouTube and countless documentaries we know (or think we know) quite a bit about The Beatles. This movie has not dated at all and if anything improves our knowledge and appreciation of The Beatles more than it did for the people watching it in 1964.

Karaoke

This past weekend I went to a karaoke bar over in Chinatown. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of fun, but it's surprising how few words people actually know to songs (and how fewer still they know when they aren't sober). After particularly bad versions of "Ice Ice Baby" and "Yellow Submarine" a thought struck me. People often talk about their "Go-to" karaoke songs but no one really ever has one. This needs to change. Everyone needs a song that they know all the words to and at least sort of know the melody. The song need not be indicative of your personality, but the song does have to fit you. My song of preference is "When You Were Young" by The Killers. It's not too long and I can easily get in the rock star mode with it, even if my version is terrible. It's serious, but not too serious and enough people know it to make it worth singing.

You should also try and keep in mind songs that work well for a group, last night for instance, "Hey Jude" and "Livin' On A Prayer" were the biggest hits, so it definitely wouldn't hurt to brush up on your classic rock anthems. Finally, we cannot forget the best karaoke song of all time "Don't Stop Believing." For some reason, the place I went did not have it, but there is literally no song better for karaoke than that. It works great either as an opener to get everybody warmed up or as a closer to bring the house down before everyone leaves.

In conclusion, karaoke is fun and bad singing is hilarious in this situation, but what isn't fun is when people just mumble the words on the screen because they don't know them or the tune. So pick your "Go-to" song and just rock out with it.

Comedy Night Done Right

Yesterday NBC pulled out all of the stops for their Thursday night comedy lineup, six shows across three hours. First thoughts, three hours is much too long to be watching television all in a row and NBC needs to realize that having all six of their major comedy programs in a row on the same night is just a bad idea. Anyways, I thought it would be fun to rank the shows from worst-to-best of the night. Here goes:

Dis-honourable mention: Outsourced

I've forced myself to watch this show a couple times so far but I just couldn't do it last night. So it might have been a good episode last night, but after seeing previews that featured a Ku Klux Klan joke about five times through the night I just couldn't do it. My only question is when is NBC going to cancel this awful show?

#5: Perfect Couples

Why? Because NBC wants another "Friends" and as Jack Donaghy put it they want to "make it 1997 again either through science or magic." Overall the show delivered a couple laughs but they were few and far between. The characters are supposed to be cute and we're supposed to sympathize with them, but it's not possible when they're this two-dimensional. There's still time to save this show but it does not look too good for the "Perfect Couples." Oh, and it also wins the award for "Worst House Wrecking Montage Of All Time."

#4: 30 Rock

Don't think of it as 4th place, it's more of a tie with The Office for third, but my biases go to The Office. As far as the episode goes, nothing too memorable and it doesn't help when I have to use Google to understand the best joke of the night. FYI it was when Kenneth asked if being a buffer was anything like a being a fluffer. To keep the integrity of this blog I'll let you look up what a "fluffer" really is on your own time.

#3: The Office

For some reason I just do not like Holly Flax this time around. She was great earlier in the show and for "Company Picnic" but now I'm just not getting it. Michael's Happy and Sad boxes were terrific and I loved the videos he recorded for himself. Unfortunately what kept this episode from being great was Kevin's cringe-worthy vegetable scene. I'm taking this moment to tell NBC something very important: STOP TREATING KEVIN LIKE HE'S RETARDED. IT'S NOT FUNNY. Please, please go back to the way Kevin acted in Seasons 1-3, it is so much better and believable. Although I do have to thank him for the best line of the show: "Not all of us are Michael Freaking Scott."

UPDATE: I want to thank my Dynamic Duo partner Connor Maher for his inspiration of the comment on the new version of Kevin Malone's character.

#2: Community

Most underrated show on TV. There I said it. I love Community and it manages to be consistent and hilarious every week without fail. Joel McHale is so funny and whenever he gets to do his lawyer-type speeches he shines. Also, can NBC replace the fourth hour of the Today show with "Troy And Abed In The Morning"?

#1: Parks and Recreation

The surprising winner for the night, the fall hiatus served the show well as it came back with the freshest material out of all the shows tonight. I forgot in the time off just how lovable all the characters are and two thumbs way up for Rob Lowe. He had me laughing the most out of all of the shows last night and I'm left wondering why NBC waited until January to put these guys back on the air.

So Right

Lately I've been really into the song "So Right" by Dave Matthews Band. There's no way you've ever heard it, and if you have then I'm very impressed. It's just this random album track from 2001's Everyday. In DMB circles, Everyday is second only to 2005's Stand Up for worst DMB album. I've never fully understood this because in my opinion, Everyday has some pretty catchy tunes on it and is a neat direction that Dave takes his songwriting.

The chorus especially on "So Right" has a strong melody and is almost 'poppy'. Maybe that's why people don't generally like it. Another reason is that, at least for the studio recording, the band are fully present and it doesn't capture the live feel of DMB like songs on Crash and Before These Crowded Streets. Then I found a live version of the song recorded at Folsom Field and I don't know about the whole band, but it sure looks like Dave and Stefan are having a pretty good time playing this song and Carter has a big smile on his face by the end. Plus, LeRoi's solo at the end is nothing to scoff at. I think it's arguable that "So Right" is one of DMB's most underrated songs and it's a shame that people don't like it or don't know about it. So, give it a listen and maybe pass it on and this song will gain a little popularity, who knows? Enjoy.

Top Gun and Quentin Tarantino

I was watching Top Gun a few weeks back and it's not a bad movie by any stretch. There are some really quotable lines and it has Tom Cruise before he got all crazy. But it struck me that between the slow motion sex scenes and the small love story between Goose and his wife, there's some pretty homoerotic stuff in this movie, which I found kind of ironic considering Top Gun being known and recognized as a macho, masculine, hunky film. So I hit the internet to see if anyone else had thoughts on the matter.

Turns out people did, there are a bunch of blog posts and articles all about this. But no one has an opinion stronger (or funnier) than Quentin Tarantino. I should probably mention at this point that I am a huge QT fan, just so you know. Anyways, in this random and otherwise forgettable movie Sleep With Me, QT has this small cameo that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie where he goes through Top Gun scene by scene and exposes it for what it really is. Instead of butchering this epic telling, I'll just stop here and so you can see it for yourself (check out the video below). Enjoy.

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

I just watched Psycho for the first time and while it is a pretty darn good movie it doesn't really live up to the hype that it's been getting all these years. That's the problem with these classic movies, I go in with these ridiculous expectations and there's no way I can truly enjoy the movie. Whenever there's a 'infamous' scene in the movie (such as the shower scene in this one) it always lets me down and I don't think it's actually all that great. The only exception to this that I've found is the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs. And don't get me wrong, Alfred Hitchcock is legendary, but he's still no Quentin Tarantino.

Anyways, about the movie. It's good. Anthony Perkins is amazing and Alfred Hitchcock is just a terrific director. Hitchcock is a master of suspense and this movie relys on the suspense and the surprises around every corner. And that's another problem with reviewing Psycho, I really can't give away anything or else I'll ruin the movie for you! I'll just end it here so I don't give away anything else, and you can just go watch it whenever you get the chance. Enjoy.

Welcome!

This is the first inaugural post of my "Movies and Sandwiches" blog. You might ask me why I've decided to start a blog. Well, here's your answer! Twitter only lets me use 140 characters and I'm stubborn and bored so here I am sharing my thoughts with the Internet. I suppose the main point(s) of this is to just get my thoughts on different movies and different sandwiches out there, but I'll also throw in other stuff too, a new television episode, a song that's been stuck in my head all day, a conversation I overheard in the elevator, just random stuff like that. So read it if you like, I'm not going to force you to. It's just something to occupy my time with and maybe it will be something that you can occupy yours with too. Hey, if you just read it once and get a chuckle or I can get you to think about something (but that's probably unlikely) then I've done my job as an amateur blogger. Enjoy.