Friday, 30 January 2009

just wanted to ppoint this one out for anyone who stumbles across this page



Dark Water [2003]

Dark Water [2003]
Dvd ~ Hitomi Kuroki



1 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars oh dear, 8 Aug 2007
dull,bland,unispired,plodding,slow,boring,repetitive.
pick any of the above to describe this film. the acting is terrible,the direction is average and repetitive and also very cliched. there is nothing new on display here.the first half,well make that 3/4 of the film sets the basic story and is very,very dull, the key to these types of horror are that they are atmospheric and creepy,this film is neither of those things.
the special effects are terrible and i wish i had never seen the damm thing.
the basic story is about a mother and a daughter and the mysterious diappearance of another young girl in the same building.
somehow it takes the director just over an hour to tell us that!!!!
utter nonsense,vastly overrated and not even at all scary in any shape or form.
if you want to see a good example of this type of asian horror watch "ring" its much,much better.
avoid this pile of s*** at all costs.





Live

Live
Alice in Chains



4.0 out of 5 stars good stuff, 7 Aug 2007
here we have a lazy best of made up of the bands greatest hits all from live recordings across the bands career.
for the completist its essential for the passer by its not.
it is a good live album as the sound quality is pretty good through out with only a couple of songs suffering from a slight dip in quality.
the obvious choices are here in the form of "dirt" "them bones" and "man in the box" and they all sound brilliant and then on the plus side they throw in the odd "queen of the rodeo" in to convince you to part with your cash!!! sly goats, but its worth it.





High Anxiety

High Anxiety
Therapy?



4.0 out of 5 stars nice one, 7 Aug 2007
this album rocks. its that simple. the boys are back with a bigger and thicker sound.the songs are all pretty dammed good and the better songs on show here are excellent like the mighty opener "hey satan you rock" and the exceptionally catchy ""if it kills me".
the pace is faster than the previous couple of albums and the punk element if firmly in place and they even manage to include a ska sounding bouncy number aswell.
it isnt quite upto "toublegum" and "nurse" standards but is a hell of alot better than "semi detatched" and the vastly overated "suicide pact" albums and is a return to the glory days where the humour was almost as important as the riff!
well done boys its good to have you back.




Pinkerton

Pinkerton
Weezer



1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars approach with caution, 7 Aug 2007
so then what to do after selling millions of your debut? personally i would have tried to write another one!!! weezer on the other hand went the other way and made this....a much darker and nastier peice of work.
the change in style is evident from the very first few seconds, the guitar sound is much beefier and rougher around the edges,the drums sound thicker and really pucnh at your body.then there are the lyrics which sound that little bit more sinister especially on "across the sea".
but is it actually any good? i would say absolutely. its a brilliant album with fantastic songs my personal standouts being the crazy funk/rock of "el scortcho" and the punky rock of "getchoo",nad probably the only song that feels like first album territory "the good life".
the real change is how everything sounds,it just feels rougher and rivers puts his voice through alot more on this one.
if you are a fan and you havent got this one yet then do buy it but approach with caution as this is the angry child of the litter and isnt to everyones taste!!!




Weezer

Weezer
Weezer



5.0 out of 5 stars woo hoo, 7 Aug 2007
ok so the comparisons to all the other work is inevitable, so how does it do?
well i would say very well. its instantly accessable and very,very,very catchy. the songs tear past at a frantic pace, riffs flying and melodies all over the place. ok so this isnt exactly complicated song writing but it is very effective as the songs will keep you humming the choruses for days.
plus the variety of song on display is as random as ever from straight up rockers like "hash pipe" and "photograph" to slightly more odd pop rock indie songs like "island in the sun".
this for me is easily one of the most brilliant summer listening albums ever made.
its no where as noisy as pinkerton and yes it is very short but they do say the best things come in small packages and this album proves that point perfectly.





Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains



0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars disappointing, 2 Aug 2007
with their best work behind them and laynes drug problems getting worse they recorded this album and it sounds very messy.
the songs just ooze a sludgy and droney style...there is little to no pace about this album and it drags you kicking and screaming through the mud.
personally like it but the downside is the songs just arent very good. yeah sure there are some very good highlights like "heaven beside you" and "brush away" and "again" and "grind".....but the rest of the album sort of blends into one long dull song.
maybe that is the main problem,alot of the songs are too long for their own good and also a bit odd. "sludge factory" starts off well enough but it just doesnt ever seem to end,the same is true of the just downright wierd "frogs?"
it feels like a very arty album and as such lost me about halfway through.
also its very weak in comparison to "dirt" and the songs on this album sound alot better when they are stripped down on the MTV unplugged album that would follow this one.
a shame that this is how the best of all the grunge bands had to bow out.




Independent's Day

Independent's Day
Twiztd



5.0 out of 5 stars ha ha they be back, 1 Aug 2007
madrox and monoxide are back and they have brought their friends with them and they all sound like they are having the time of their lives.
easily the heaviest sound they have produced so far!!! the beats are slower but fuller and really thump you in the middle of your chest.
madrox for me rules this album,he is on fine form...that said monoxide aint to far behind!!!
the guest for this album really help to show the variety in the sound and scope of twiztid's work from the usual suspects of blaze and ICP through to more straight up hip hop like tech n9ne and from the metal world HED(pe)'s jahred shows up and rips the place up.
the subject matter is the same as ever so no fears about them evolving too much, the songs about bodies,drinking blood,banging girls and smoking trees are in place as ever and at times the lyrics will give you the giggles!!
the only really old sounding song is the eerie and groovy "monsters ball" with ICP yet again highlighting how much twiztid have now moved on and that ICP havent, its a good song but ICP are now slipping behind their peers as both twixtid and blaze are now dropping more vital albums....this of which is one of those!!
if you are a fan grab this badboy sharpish as it is very,very good!
we are in "green book" territory here!!





1 Less G in the Hood: Deluxe Edition

1 Less G in the Hood: Deluxe Edition
Blaze Ya Dead Homie



5.0 out of 5 stars woo hoo, 1 Aug 2007
so then blaze is dead and he wants to tell us what its like!!! so then typical pschopathic lunacy here then!
blaze has a much more straight forward hip hop feel to his music in comparison to ICP and twiztid...the rock element is there on a few songs but the majority is just damm funky hip hop beats and rythms.
as a vocalist he is gruffer than the rest of the family and quite stopstarty but it fits the music exceptionally well.
the best bits on the album are however when the guest vocalists show up!!!
jamie madrox rips the place to pieces oj his various guest spots....the same can be said for ABK,who i wasnt too sure about before hearing him tear this place up on this album. i think that is more to my taste as i like the way 2 MCs play off against each other,which blaze cant really do with himself!!!
overall this is a cracking album...full of beats,awesome guest spots and some crazy fraky lyrics!!
if you is a juggalo you need this bad boy





City

City
Strapping Young Lad



1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars oh my god it hurts, 1 Aug 2007
this album is the noise equivalent of putting your head inside a furnace and turning it up to 10.
this album is harsh to say the least...easily one of the heaviest album ever released...the drums thunder and the guitars surround you and then devin sreams at you and before you know it you are pinned against the wall unable to move.
so then what does it sound like? i would personally say this is the logical extreme of industrial metal pushed to its very most aggressive point.
it sets out it stall very early with the initial wall of guitars that great you in "velvetkevorkian"...but the the real beast hits you in "all hail the new flesh"...but the secret to this album is that although the songs are amazing and very heavy with riffs to die for...they all have a worrying knack of layering in some very catchy melody riffs into the breakdowns and into the chrus...witness the breakdown at the end of "all hail the new flesh" combined with what would become devins trademark of layering his choral style vocals.
there is also a odd level of bouncy factor for an album so heavy witness "A.A.A" and "detox"...though these songs are very heavy they still bounce and groove...that is the secret to this album, yes it is very,very,very heavy but it has a softer edge to let you in and suckerpunch you!
i love it and believe it to be one of the best albums ever released and easily the best thing SYL have put out and only second in devins career to his own work in ocean machine.
please if you want to see what all the fuss is about this is where it all started!





The New Black: Limited Edition

The New Black: Limited Edition
Strapping Young Lad



4.0 out of 5 stars what a way to go, 1 Aug 2007
the final album from strapping young lad is quite a swansong to say the least
the sheer size of the sound on this album dwarfs almost any band!!! as you would expect the production is ridiculously perfect!!
everything sounds so...huge and so crisp. the music itself is mind blowing....i wish i could write songs a tenth as good as this.
the songs are a hell of alot better than alien...which personally i found a tad boring...this one on the other hand wraps you up and doesnt let go.
there is a distinctive chance of pace...as its quite slow by SYL standards and alot groovier...it almost feels like a proper heavy metal record with solos popping up here and there....which in comparison to the rest of the material is pretty much unheard of.
the vocals are alot more melodic and the songs hook into your brain....the critisism of the line between SYL and the devin townsend band blurring is also quite fair to be pointed at this album as the melodies of devins solo work is creeping into this album. but that said its not a bad thing as this album feels stronger for it as alien had little to no melody at all and it just blurred into one long blob of noise.
if you are new to SYL this would be a good place to start as it breaks you in gently and it shows every side to the band.
if you want to go for the deep end start with the masterpeice that is "city"


Polythene

Polythene
Feeder



5.0 out of 5 stars ha ha this is the ****!!!!!!, 29 Aug 2007
so then this where it all began then really(not including the mini album).
and i for one think this is the best,and the most consistent,the other albums are all very impressive but they all have a track here or there that i want to skip and this one doesnt have that holding it back, every song is fantastic in all their different ways.
from the quirky pop rock of polythene girl and cement through to the heavy grungy rock of stereo world and tangerine to the just epic and majestic radiation and descent.
the real secret is that although a bit noisier than the later output the songs were still held together buy grant nicholas's fantastic voice and introspective lyrics.
these form the main hooks of all the songs!!!! proof is int ehpudding and my perfect day will be stuck in your head for days!!!!!
absolutley brilliant.....but i would say if you have discovered feeder through pushing the senses approach this one delicately as it quite a different beast to what they are now!





Picture of Perfect Youth

Picture of Perfect Youth
Feeder



0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars oh the memories, 28 Aug 2007
this is a cracking album.
1 because of the sheer size of the thing and the value offered because of that and 2 because of the quality of the songs on display.
feeder were always on eof those bands that would put out 3 versions of their singles and every version had different songs on it and because of that it lead to there being a hell of alot of songs out there by them.
at their most prolific these songs were consistently great,in the early days that is and that is where the majority of these songs are picked from.
it display expertly how the band have evolved even better than the singles collection in my eyes!!!
the downside being that a few of my faves are missing but on the plus side my fave feeder song of all time "undivided" is here for the rest of the world to finally see!!!!
a great collectio well worth checking out!!!





Tim Burton's Corpse Bride [2005]

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride [2005]
Dvd ~ Johnny Depp



1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars masterpeice, 27 Aug 2007
this film is absolutely stunning in every last detail.
the script is great, very funny and the voice casting is perfect and the actors really breathe some life into the script.
unsurprisingly it looks amazing,even slightly slicker than the nightmare before christmas and the songs are phenominally catchy!!!!
danny elfman for a knighthood soon i hope.
the story then....ok victor is going to his arranged marriage but keeps getting his vows wrong and goes out into the woods to pratice, he says them to what he thinks i s a tree stump and ends up married to a dead girl!!!
i know it sounds odd but it all makes sense at the time!
but he then has to make the decision as to whether stay in the afterlife when he finds out that it is actually quite good fun down ther or to go back to his dreary existence in the realm of the living!!!
and somehow all of this is crammed into a little over 70 minutes of film!!!
so you dont need much of an attention span for it!!! and it is cute enough that most children will be able to watch it alongside the adults
utter genius from start to finish!!





Respectable [2006]

Respectable [2006]
Dvd ~ Jodi Albert



2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars a pleasant surprise, 26 Aug 2007
this is a great little show and im glad the dvd has arrived.
i fisrt watched it on channel 5 if im honest purely for the prospect of jodi albert in a small outfit.
that happens....alot...but on the plus side it was also very,very,very funny with some cracking lines that give a good giggle and atleast one huge laugh out loud moment per show.
the acting is top rate and the humour is surprisingly older in style...almost carry on in style at times.
well worth a look if you dont expect a cheap sustitute for soft core porn!!





Doom (Extended Edition) [2006]

Doom (Extended Edition) [2006]
Dvd ~ Lorenzo di Bonaventura



3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars oh dear, 26 Aug 2007
this film is poor.
the direction is sub standard,the fx are ok but not great, the acting is boneheaded rubbish from a pretty poor script and what little plot there is is mauled by the terrible editing.
the standard lost contact with a distant outpost thing that needs saving type thingy forms the basis of the plot.
instead of the beasties being hell spawn like the game they are mutants!!!!
rubbish.
the only saving grace is that there is a really well done sequence at the end where it goes full on first person shooter and its awesome.
but then it just reverts back to guff!!!!
avoid...or just play the game for like 2 hours and you will have the same...no sorry a better effect





The Descent [2005]

The Descent [2005]
Dvd ~ Shauna Macdonald



0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars hell yes, 26 Aug 2007
right then another nice cheap brit horror filck!!!
but the difference being that this one is pretty dammed good!!!
the basic story is there only to put the characters in a spot where creepy things can happen!!! so all the better for it then!!
the story is about a group of adrenaline junky women who go caving in an incharted set of caves and get trapped.
once they are trapped they find some strange cannibal things who unsurpisingly try to eat them....cue much splatter.
this film works really well if you dont like tight spaces as the caving scenes are really uncomfortable and then it satisfies the gore hounds at the end.
so in short it ticks all the boxes.
the direction is fantastic and the soundtrack ooozes atmosphere, the acting is just above standard horror fare so score another there too.
the script is the standard horror guff but the film just rips along at a frantic pace so you never get a chance to be bored.
check it out its well worth a try.





Violent Demise - the Last Days

Violent Demise - the Last Days
Bodycount



4.0 out of 5 stars i feel what you are doing..., 26 Aug 2007
ok then first things first....if you are easily offended do not buy this album....if you dont like harsh language by the truck load do not buy this album.
if on the other hand you answer no to the above grab this album sharpish as its great.
the best bit about this is the fact that although the vocalist is the mighty ice-t he is very firmly of the mind of the rocker and does very little in the way of rap and to be fair is a pretty good rock/metal vocalist.
the guitar work is fantastic, a much beefier sound in comparison to the previous albums.
the songs are great, veering from the downright silly and very funny "strippers" to the slightly more serious "i used to love her" and the title track where ice tells us how it is, and the worst bit is i know that he's right.
in short perfect proof that rock and hip hop artists coming together can create brilliant music.





Family Guy - Season 1 [1999]

Family Guy - Season 1 [1999]
Dvd ~ Seth MacFarlane



1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars giggedy giggedy, 20 Aug 2007
so here is where it all began!!!!
and yes this is very,very,very funny.
the animation is a bit clunkier and the scripts are a bit softer in comparison to what would come later.
the main focus in these early episodes are pretty much peter and stewie, witha little bit of time for brian, the rest of the family just seem to be there to fill up the screen and as such this feels a little one dimensional in comparison to what would come later.
the support characters too suffer in the fact that there is again very little time for them.
but that said the jokes come thick and fast and the shows just fly past.





Family Guy Season 5

Family Guy Season 5
Dvd ~ Seth MacFarlane



1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars good but have done better, 20 Aug 2007
ok then this isnt the best season of family guy but it is still very,very funny.
yes ok the humour has drifted slightly towards a cruder level but it is still funny and the best bit is that it isnt repeating itself.
each episode is unique and the support characters are really starting to stake a claim in the stories.
there is less of the family and more of stewie and brian....which for me works just fine!!!!
the main highlight being stewie beating the hell out of brian!!!! that for me will never get old!!!!





Passenger

Passenger
Mnemic



1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars tredding water, 8 Aug 2007
mnemic are,sorry were a fantastic band the expertly blended the electronic elements of fear factory with the noisy thrash of meshuggah.
a quite unique and effective sound. it would appear that now they have abbandoned the noisy element and have gone for a slightly harsher sounding fear factory feel to their music.
unsurprising really considering christian olde wolbers produced this album!
so ok the songs are ok,they arent great and they arent bad,they just feel very,very samey,and not even half as unique as they did.
the new vocalist fills the shoes of michael very well but the cold harshness in their sound that made them sound alot heavier than most and gave them a cold sharp egde has now gone.
"in the nothingness black" and "psykorgasm" are great songs but the rest just blur into one with little varity and pace,style,structure or difference for want of a better word!
a shame really considering how much better the other albums are