Switching From Stars to Letters

I've made the decision to switch from the star rating to a letter grading system. Some things just aren't worthy and it's getting too hard to decide. Plus, Entertainment Weekly uses letters, so I might as well get used to it.

Beck is Back and Just Okay

I was a little excited for Beck's new album Modern Guilt's release. And the other day I finally gave it a listen. I adore the cover art by the way, but it's so unlike his usual technicolored ones.

What I did like was how "Beck-y" (that's a hell of an adjective, I know) it sounds; he stayed very true to himself. All the songs have his signature calm-coolness and light melodrama stamped on them, but even with that, most aren't too eventful.

It's certainly easy listening music, per usual, but of course, none will ever live up to "Loser"s amazingness. I liked the opening track "Orphan" and a few others, but found the title song "Modern Guilt" strangely aggressive.

I won't be purchasing this one, but if you're a fan, by all means, give it a listen.

Out of the Box Office

Surprise, surprise...I totally saw this coming (note to self: gotta start betting). Anyway, The Dark Knight reigned supreme yet again with another whopper of a weekend (the last movie to come in #1 two weeks in a row was 21), leaving it's competition in the dust. But what's even more of a surprise is that The X Files did bad, man. And who actually went to see Step Brothers? Shame on you, there's way better options out there- Brideshead Revisited will go to wide release next weekend- yippee!

For the Weekend of July 25th - 27th.

1. The Dark Knight...$75 mil
2. Step Brothers........$30 mil
3. Mama Mia!............$17 mil
4. The X Files.............$10 mil
5. Journey/Earth.......$9 mil

A Great Night with The Dark Knight

I know I should have written this earlier (of course I saw it opening weekend), but I just couldn't decide how to go about it.

Superhero, comic book-esque films aren't (typically) much to my liking, but this one has certainly redefined the genre.

I doubt, and am nearly sure, there has never been such a well-acted and beautifully crafted adaption of this type. The film is perfectly rounded (just how I like my movies; when you, the audience, are gracefully brought from point A to point B) and easily holds the audiences attention; not to mention, it's very beautiful to look at, with glorious special effects. Director Chris Nolan was able to pull off a dark, deceptive, and natural tale between the characters, without making it look forced or overdone.

I obviously have to speak of Heath's performance which was simply glorious. To me, an Oscar-worthy performance is when the viewer cannot separate the actor from the character; this is what his performance was, whole-heatedly- pure acting in it's most simple and complex forms. And it may or may not have caused his downfall.

Overall, I'd recommend it to anyone and would be eager to see it again.

You're a Film Buff If...

...You automatically associate the name "Harvey" with Harvey Weinstein.

{Harvey with his gorgeous wife Georgina Chapman, co-designer of one of my favorite line's Marchesa}

I'm In Love With a...Boston Cream Pie

Mmmm... I finally tasted the delectable goodness of it this weekend.

And I looked it up on wiki and the first thing it says is:

"The Boston cream pie is a cake, not a pie."

DVDing Tuesday

I am so very excited to rent [and possibly buy] this week. Jim Sturgess cast his spell upon me with last year's Across the Universe (my 2nd favorite movie of 2007), so I naturally had to see him in his follow-up starring role in 21 (just two quick notes- it was number 1 at the box office for 2 straight weeks; I saw it opening weekend). And some of my favorite cinema alums- Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne- top off the great and quite gorgeous cast of Vegas moneymakers and losers.

But other than 21, there's nothing else worth spending time sitting on your couch at home this week, so get a job, fool!