Two More Reviews... equals Ten!

Weezer – The Red Album
This is Weezer’s sixth studio album. After Maladroit and then Make Believe, both of which I think we’re good, I was eager to hear this one. A lot of people weren’t happy with Maladroit and Make Believe, but from what I’ve seen written on Weezer’s fan sites and forums, they’re pretty much never happy… the same with a lot of other bands I like – the ‘hardcore fans’ don’t like change – and need to get out more…. Anyway I digress…
I just want to say – this album, in my opinion, is awesome. The riffs are heavy, the lyrics are good, the structure of the songs are surprising and pleasing and overall, this is a brilliant album and one which most of the time gives a two fingered salute to the record companies. I say this as, apparently, Rivers had already written most of the album – and a lot were very diverse – when the record company said that it would be difficult to sell. Cue Rivers writing a load of poppy/rock/infectious songs – some with funny tongue in cheek lyrics – which eventually made the album as it, is now. The diverse songs have also been included in the deluxe edition. This is a very good album for the summer. The first track ‘Troublemaker’ is the perfect summer anthem almost, with tongue in cheek lyrics. The second track ‘The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn) is an almost 6 minute long Weezer version of Bohemian Rhapsody! It has so many different styles of music crammed into the 6 minutes. The other 9 songs are equally brilliant and include the single ‘Pork and Beans’ which Rivers wrote as the song which gives the two fingered salute to the looks/fame/celebrity obsessed media/society of today. The album also sees the band switch instruments and have other members, aside from Rivers, sing lead on them. This is a good departure from the previous albums, which saw Rivers sing lead on all of them. If you liked the Blue album, you’ll like this.
I have seen the comments from ‘hardcore fans’ on forums and other sites… and pretty much the same – they’re never happy… maybe this album is too happy for them, too light-hearted or too good for them? Well, I guess if you want more ‘depth and emotion’, go listen to Dashboard Confessional and have a good cry about how you don’t like the new Weezer album. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, then stop listening to it.

Cloverfield
A group of people throw a leaving party for a good friend. Everyone is having a good time until they hear rumblings and the walls shake. Assuming it’s an earthquake – or some kind of bombing/attack – they, like you do, go up to the rooftop to see what is going on. On arriving they see mayhem – explosions, buildings falling and shots/bombs being fired – all narrowingly missing them – oooh tense(!). Screaming and shouting as they make their way to the ground floor and outside, they see more buildings fall and then suddenly something hurtling towards them – turns out it’s the Statue Of Liberty’s head – and it crashes onto the street before them – unbelievable(!)
The whole film is shot with handheld cameras, to give it that realistic/oh my god it’s really happening/Blair Witch/could give you motion sickness feel to the film.
The rest of the film follows a group trying to get to safety, with one of the leads going to find his ‘true love’ – a girl he has liked since he was little and he was the one that was moving away, but with the whole terror happening, has to go and find her, save her, profess his love, etc.
This film felt like JJ Abrams (the guy that created Lost – which is probably helped draw attention to this film) got a lot of money and decided to make a big action movie, that seemed real (hand held camera effects) with aliens (oops gave it away if you haven’t seen it) and big explosions, but not be bothered to explain any of it – as how it starts, why and what really happens. Good effects and yeah, there were some exciting bits, but bad storyline.