HBAndy

Summer songs...awesome, I would warn you to expect some crap from yours truly.

To begin with, a song which I first heard and fell in love with during a school trip to Wales in 2002...

Athlete - You Got the Style

That Teenagers track is awesome. They sound Scandinavian or something (is there even reference to Facebook?!), I've got quite a lot similar in style to it and will upload in due course. Great way to kick it off Seven.

Here's a couple of tracks that sound similar to The Teenagers...

Strip Squad - Pervert/Expert

I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona

Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (album, zipped)

Another ATP song, this, from what I rate as probably the best performance of the weekend by Two Gallants. Again, I was already fairly familiar with their stuff but they really took me by surprise by being awesome live. I'm not too sure how to describe them, they're a Californian two-piece and sound somewhere between Western, er, outlaw rock(?) and Pogues-esque Irish folk. There's also a bit of Decemberists about them with the very literary slant to the lyrics. There were also a lot of punks in the audience for some reason, so I think they've got a bit of crossover appeal there as well....Two Gallants - Steady Rollin'

I really like Two Gallants and am quite jealous of your ATP experience. My mate went and said Explosions in the Sky and The Books were the best, I really want to accompany him next year.Oh, and Las Cruces Jail is an amazing song.

Hell yeah, I almost posted that but went for Steady Rollin' instead. Both great songs.I was pretty devastated by Explosions in the Sky cancelling, I think your mate must have been hallucinating them (and good on him!) as they certainly weren't there... You should definitely check ATP out though it's quite unlike any other festival I've been to. I don't know what other fest you can break up a day of waterslides and crazy golf with a spot of avant garde post-rock.Here's one from another band that rocked my ATP, Okkervil River. Quite a jaunty little number this, for a song that appears to be about wanting to rip the guts out of your girlfriend's rapist father. Still, if you can't dance about these things...Okkervil River - Black

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2862093Homeschooled spelling bee champ being obnoxious on the news.And on Kimmel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSojmWBwwnk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6iwD4PI47cHe does a spelling too, brilliant stuff.

Another ATP song, this, from what I rate as probably the best performance of the weekend by Two Gallants. Again, I was already fairly familiar with their stuff but they really took me by surprise by being awesome live. I'm not too sure how to describe them, they're a Californian two-piece and sound somewhere between Western, er, outlaw rock(?) and Pogues-esque Irish folk. There's also a bit of Decemberists about them with the very literary slant to the lyrics. There were also a lot of punks in the audience for some reason, so I think they've got a bit of crossover appeal there as well....Two Gallants - Steady Rollin'

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2862093Homeschooled spelling bee champ being obnoxious on the news.And on Kimmel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSojmWBwwnk

Strip Squad - Unreliable Narrator

This is a song by Swedish pop maestros, Strip Squad, its about masturbation and its great. Download it.

I'm well into Swedish pop at the moment, but this is one of my favourites.

Over the last couple of days I've watched...Home AloneOne of the most fun Christmas films ever, pure family entertainment thanks to the adorable McCauley Culkin who makes the film and the fun and japes in the final half hour is joyously entertaining with the necessary family reunion and the message of family at christmas. We've all seen it and we've all enjoyed it.Home Alone 2Same as the above, but set in New York. The only difference being the setting of the abandoned house and the pigeon woman instead of the weird snow shuffling guy. That's where the film lacks compared to the first one - we are meant to believe it happens to Kevin AGAIN and the house of fun is not as fun as the first one.Match PointCompletely dislikeable characters but a very interesting film full of manipulation and deceit and I loved it. Without knowing I would never have guessed this was a Woody Allen film, but I must argue against the choice of Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the lead actor who plays an ex-tennis pro who finds his way into an extremely rich London family by going out with the family's daughter but he begins an affair with her brother's fiancee (Scarlett Johansen) and they continue their affair throughout the movie. It's not about human relationships and other Allen traits but that's what made it quite interesting to me.The Last KissI loved this. About the breakdown of relationships amongst varying ages of people and varying types of relationship and people. It showed the weaknesses of the strongest relationships and how scary each of these things can be. Zach Braff extends himself beyond Garden State and this isn't just Garden State plus 3 years. It's written by Paul Haggis (writer of Crash and Million Dollar Baby) so that gives you some idea of how well this is writen and how the guy can handle characters and relationships. Not a romantic comedy as advertised but more of a drama which shouldn't put you off giving this a go.

dopper, could you make an order of who's done the most reviews in the thread? A lot of work I know but I'm sure there will be some boring office hours coming up...

Clerks 2Rubbish. I'm a Kevin Smith fan and this felt nothing like a Kevin Smith movie. Clerks 1 had some semblance of realism attached with it, and you could relate to the characters (despite the rubbish acting) and appreciate their thoughts, whilst Clerks 2 was just a thrown together hastily written, poorly directed, poorly acted piece of fluff with no idea of characters and realism.Kevin Smith has fallen since Dogma, and this proved it in full vivid technicolour.

Are you trying out for Sight And Sound?

yeah, chill it out a bit ukedge87 will ya?

If you don't want to read my reviews then don't. But don't tell me how to write them.Heres how you would want my review of Heat to go:"Heat is well good, coz its got the one of out of Godfather in it and the one of out of Meet The Parents too! It has loads of gun and fights which is really fun to watch. The good guy is well clever, but so is the bad guy, like in Lethal Weapon. I like it.

yeah, chill it out a bit ukedge87 will ya?

Surprisingly Pan's Labrynth is playing in Portsmouth, I'll try and catch it before it disappears forever.

Watched Munich again and my opinions have completely changed. In terms of Avner's characterisation, the look and feel of the film and how the story was told and its ultimate climax it may be Spielberg's best.Everything about it was fantastic and Eric Bana as the tortured Avner was one of the best performances of recent times in my humble opinion. It still had all the traces of a Spielberg film (the search for family and a home) but I'd take Munich as the best told example of his common themes from all of his work.My eyes were opened to Munich this time and I'm really pleased they were. Fantastic.

I've got a screening of Munich tomorrow, anyone got any thoughts on it that they may want to bring up for a bit of discussion and whatnot?Spielberg - Auteur, yay or nay?

Exactly how I saw it too on a second viewing, BUT, I still came away being involved in everything and caring about everything. Sometimes, you just can't help bypassing the technicalities of quality and immersing yourself in what you enjoy.

Walk the LineGiving this a second viewing after a mammoth Johnny Cash weekend has made me see the film for what it is...a simple, average love story. But, the subject in question and the music and what it means to me makes it better than 90% of the films I've seen. Not a great film, great acting, yes, but film wise as a stand alone story-piece, it's nothing interesting. FUCK IT THOUGH. I LOVED IT.

I remember my English teacher telling me something similar, that 'nice' should never be used because it doesn't mean anything.

Watched Annie Hall again before I went to bed last night, it gets better every time I watch it.

Nothing like that it wasn't an interview but we got to ask him a bunch of questions, but if there's one film you see this year, see Pan's Labrynth, so he says.

Just had that Q&A with Mark Kermode, it was really fascinating and fuck Johnny Vaughn.

Good Will HuntingWatched this again over the weekend and the script and acting is just superb. I think in the grand scheme of things it's underrated (ie not being in IMDB's top 250) and it had real, well developed characters and made the implausible-ness of the story seem very likely and possible and real. It's probably a bit too talky and script based but it's all worth it.

I never liked South Park The Movie, I remember watching it on Box Office way back when and being intensely bored. I tried to force myself to laugh but, alas.I did make an effort with Munich, I really tried because I really wanted to enjoy it, but everything just seemed to get muddled up. I was so confused when I came out of the cinema. Who was that guy? Why did he do such and such? What was that about? And just being an idiot.The good doctor will cure me though.

For one of my assignments I've got to review Munich...Here's what I thought of Munich when I saw it at the cinemaMunichI was very excited about seeing this film but unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations, I didn't quite understand what was going on. I wasn't up on the whole Munich thing before I watched the film and I thought that it would be explained during the film without sacrifice to story (being Spielberg) but it wasn't and I was bored throughout a lot of the film. I think I'd like it a lot more if I was more clued up on the subject but for right now, not for me.5/10I need to do some reading for this one.PLUS, Mark Kermode next week! I'll just ask him some questions about Munich.

I'm a fan of disaster movies. Deep Impact and Armageddon are essentially exactly the same film but they just seem to work really easily.I enjoyed Day After Tomorrow too. I like the hugeness of them I think.

Almost FamousThe subject matter of a 15 year old music enthusiast going on the road with one of the biggest bands in America in the 70s to do a piece for Rolling Stone which will be a huge story may sound a little far fetched. Until you look at the director and writer of this piece - Cameron Crowe, who did practically everything in the film.I enjoyed every aspect of this film. Billy Crudup as the troubled rock star (troubled with love and not drugs or booze) was excellent (as was Frances McDormand) and I am now intrigued to see more of his films. The script was very good and the whole story and mystery behind rock stars was dealt with in a real if predictable way, but I threw myself into it and loved it.It's funny, it's a love story and a coming-of-age drama that works all in one.