Showing posts with label best of the year 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label best of the year 2008. Show all posts

Friday, January 9, 2009

Best of the Year 2008: Films

Annually StevePrutz.com reviews some pop culture and ranks a best in categories like film, music and television. This year is expanded to include critiques. This.... is.... 2008!

I was very disappointed in the Indiana Jones blockbuster this year, and it really rattled my expectations for film franchises. So, here's to some new film ideas with (hopefully) some sense not to churn out sequels. OK, maybe Iron Man can make a spinoff or two. They have my permission.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
If Superbad was the essential 2000-era comedy about adolescence, this is the one for adulthood. The cast of characters are relative newcomers, but that's what makes watching it great. It's a level playing ground for hilarity, and the guys and girls all have their different takes on the whole "Sarah situation". Unlike the past decade's comedies, Sarah Marshall really commits to the storyline and doesn't just tack it on at the end.

WALL-E
I haven't kept up with all of the new CGI-cartoony children's movies, but this Pixar joint is one for the ages. From the get-go, the tranquility of this film is what sells it. I don't think a word is spoken in the first 30 minutes, and it's just soothing for a kid or an adult who often are punched in the face with cute dialogue. Peter Gabriel also has a song during the ending credits!

Tropic Thunder
I expected this to be funny, and it is exactly met my expectations. RDJ scores another hit in his "sober years streak", and injects some buffoonery to the often-too-dramatic Vietnam War pseudo-era. Ben Stiller is actually funny, too. I wonder if he's apologized about the retard jokes.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
David Fincher has been taking ambitious stabs at portraying a time in history, last time with Zodiac. In this one, he chronicles New Olreans from the Depression to Hurrican Katrina with stunning accuracy, expanding a short-short story into a 3-hour adventure. Ben Button will probably win a score of Oscars--cinematography, art design, makeup. But, there's something un-emotional about this that makes it just a silver medalist.

Iron Man
Yes, I know this is a superhero movie, and Robert Downey is Tony Stark. And I know director Jon Favreau isn't the toast of the town. But seriously it's the gold standard for comic book adaptations, and a slam-dunk for producers with sequel money in their eyesights. Comedy and a surreal attitude are a big deal for comics, and unlike the Dark Knight, this one is neatly packaged for consumption.
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Best of the Year 2008: Albums

Annually StevePrutz.com reviews some pop culture and ranks a best in categories like film, music and television. This year is expanded to include critiques. This.... is.... 2008!

The notion of an "album" is to make something bigger than just a group of songs--"the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts". And although some may think the album is a dead format, it isn't. It's not going to disappear. I can walk over and touch my albums, because they do exist. Hell, vinyl still exists. There's not much more intimate a thing to do than listen to a weird non-single by a band.

MGMT: Oracular Spectacular
"Time to Pretend" is an anthem for all those people who ignore the politics and the tragedy of being American, and instead look to the horizon with a positive vibe. Just watch their music videos if you're depressed. "Kids" reminds me of children's programming from the 70s, where utopian life once existed.

Guns N' Roses: Chinese Democracy
I had to include this for fear of the wrath of Axl. Who knew that a band without Slash, Duff, Izzy and Matt Sorum had legs...

Nine Inch Nails: The Slip
Although a booming intro and a radio-friendly middle give this release a name, the soul of the album really exists in the latter tracks. "Lights in the Sky" and "The Four of Us Are Dying" break new ground for a 20-year career of big beats mixed with piano tinklings. Every Halo that Reznor puts out is worth its weight in gold. Ghosts I-IV is the only real exception to the rule.

***** 2008 BEST ALBUM *****
TV on the Radio: Dear Science,
It's energetic but at the same time soothing to hear while in a bathtub. Every track could be a single on the college radio, and yet they all seem to blend together. I can't really describe the sound of the album.

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Thursday, January 1, 2009

Best of the Year 2008: TV Shows

Annually StevePrutz.com reviews some pop culture and ranks a best in categories like film, music and television. This year is expanded to include critiques. This.... is.... 2008!

When the writers' strike happened in late 2007, the television world held its breath. It was in the middle of filming some of the biggest scripted shows for the next year, and if it didn't get something on camera soon, the big networks were going to all-reality programming (dear god).

I know it's somewhat stupid to pick a "best" in at the end of the year when show seasons end in May, but there is logic to my purpose. Using the end of the year, I can see the end-of-season cliffhanger and also see the conclusion in the premiere. A very effective way to see if a show rebounds.

Destination Truth (Sci Fi)
Anyone who has seen an episode can understand how hilarious it really is. From getting lost in the middle of a lake (yes, really) to being scared of a creepy statue-dog, this show is like one big gift basket of standup material. Oh, and there is a token blond on the team who is afraid of the dark. Studying cryptozoology was never so fun!

Lost (ABC)
If you're not on the Lost locomotive yet, see the second half of season 1 and buckle up. This show is still top-notch. To recap season 4 (only still 90 days on the island): the rescue ship is actually a Kill-Ben-Linus mission, Michael returns as a spy, Locke is in a casket, Sun becomes evil, Sayid becomes an awesome vigilante, the island disappears and Ben wakes up in a desert and throws up.

Superjail (Cartoon Network)
More than a year after the pilot broadcast, the first season of the ultra-violent (and hilariously drawn) sci-fi jail and its inhabitants finally satisfied the Adult Swim masses. Just remember it's a cartoon, and there is no Jailbot destroying all in his path.

***** 2008 BEST SHOW *****
The Office (NBC)
The year 2008 saw late entries from the second half of the Office. But "Dinner Party" was totally worth the wait. So was Jan's pregnancy, Jim pretending to propose to Pam 80 times, Toby's fence jump and the new HR employee Holly Flax (I already miss her!) Later Pam went to art school in NYC, and I seriously thought the show was going to axe the Jim-Pam romance. I know better now (fans would be outraged).

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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Best of the Year 2008: Songs

Annually StevePrutz.com reviews some pop culture and ranks a best in categories like film, music and television. This year is expanded to include critiques. This.... is.... 2008!
(2007 songs)


Beck: "Orphans"
Danger Mouse's beatnik vibe introduces Modern Guilt with this little tune about meeting your maker, complete with acoustic strums, piano twinkles, xylophone accents and ambient sounds. It's the only one on the disc that doesn't sound like an outtake or B-side.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: "Wicked Wanda"
Feedback fuzz, echo choruses and crawling guitar solos just work here. Combined with Malkmus' weirdo lyrics, they create an indie oasis that quenches a thirst for some beautiful noise. The intro makes me think I'm playing the opening of Metroid.

Nine Inch Nails: "Echoplex"
This is track is the centerpiece of an album thrown together, as an eventual means to put on one juggernaut of a tour. Sounds of an erratic 80's drum machine perfectly compliment Reznor's imagining of studio claustrophobia (and the industry's agoraphobia of free music). The instrumental outro (especially in concert) shows how plex these sounds can be.

TV on the Radio: "Stork and Owl"
What was lacking from TVOTR's Dear Science was the gloom and glum of their previous album. The industrial-strength coldness of Cookie Mountain showed the world how this Brooklyn band could channel solemn times in America. "Stork and Owl" comes closest to that high water mark, via quivering spoken lines and howls to the moon.

Coldplay: "Yes/Chinese Sleep Chant"
"Where's an Arabic violin break when you need one?" Will Hermes said it best when he compared this song's bridge to the rest of the bunch from the predictable Viva la Vida. The guitar and drums hypnotize in the verses, and the lyrics on consenting make the chorus internationally arousing. The hidden ending of a sleep chant is just cool... I don't know what's so Chinese about it.

***** 2008 BEST SONG *****
Guns N' Roses: "Catcher in the Rye"
Many people forget they've had to wait LONGER for albums to shape up: the music world had to wait 24 years for the Who to release an album; and Peter Gabriel's Big Blue Ball project took 15 years from recording to release. So, give Axl some slack. Maybe he was busy! I'd like to think that the last few years of the Chinese Democracy journey were spent crafting and executing this (relatively short for GNR) song about insanity and assassins. Of all the goodies on the album, this one symbolizes Axl's id and the current band (are they the same thing?)

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Thursday, December 11, 2008

Best of the Year 2008: Music Videos

Annually StevePrutz.com reviews some pop culture and ranks a best in categories like film, music and television. This year is expanded to include critiques. This.... is.... 2008!

Last year was rich with artistic and unique music videos, many by new contestants. But in 2008, the perennial favorites have come back. With the launch of mtvmusic.com, there is a sense of nostalgia in the air. Old bands that make good video art are back for one more round. And, it seems that Grindhouse is more inspirational than critics originally thought! No Rickrolls here!


Coldplay: "Viva la Vida" (Version 2) [dir. Anton Corbijn]
If you don't know already, this is a tribute to the original video of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence", a concept that that band hated. But, Corbijn's idea of a "king who is looking for a quiet place to sit" was brilliant. Instead of a beach chair this time around, the King is toting a painting and a sad expression.
Killer scene: Now he's got a boombox??? (1:53)
Yawn moment: I don't want to see the band ooh-ing the outro. (3:53)



Beck: "Youthless" [dir. Kris Moyes]
This music video shows that there are about 100 ways to depict Beck Hansen's head using art. We get stop-motion animation of stuff that looks like it came from the Neverending Story or Nightmare Before Christmas. All interesting.
Killer scene: Leatherface Beck! (2:08)
Yawn moment: That ghost looks nothing like him! (2:11)



Santogold: "LES Artistes" [dir. Nima Nourizadeh]
This is some surreal blood and guts. Basically this is all the violence an American could hope for, with no real bloodshed. The opening shot of the video (pictured) is just marvelous.
Killer scene: Stomping the melon-head (2:06)
Yawn moment: Stop crying that you're wet! More violence! (2:37)



MGMT: "Time to Pretend" [dir. Ray Tintori]
Every new band should wish for a video like this: something that perfectly describes their sound and theme. The special effects here are cheap, but do their job. Psychedelic!
Killer scene: The zebra feast. (1:33)
Yawn moment: Does the dolphin explosion really need to be in this vid? (3:40)


***** 2008 BEST VIDEO *****

Metallica: "All Nightmare Long" [dir. Roboshobo]
Twelve years after their last notable video, the old guard of speed metal return with a Soviet-zombie documentary. In metal, there are lots of music videos that try to mix horror and cool imagery with a song, but only Metallica has the budget to pull it off right.

The band is missing from the set (thank god) and replaced by a Russian scientist recalling the (oft-discussed-in-paranormal-circles) Tunguska event in Siberia. In this alternate history, it seems the Soviets have found something that could help them destroy capitalism once and for all. Animation and live action both help the plot. There's also this excerpt about chemtrails from a man in Stamps, Arkansas, which is pointless but intriguing.
Killer scene: at the crescendo of the song, the Commie robots appear! (7:08)
Yawn moment: the bad cat CGI (3:12)


****HONORABLE MENTIONS****
Bjork: "Wanderlust" [dir. Encyclopedia Pictura]
This took 9 months of post-production to get the special effects just right. The water is cool, but I wouldn't ride a buffalo down it with a haunted backpack.

Oasis: "Shock of the Lightning" [dir. Julian House and Julian Gibbs]
This stock footage interspersed with album art video is surprisingly good.

Sammy Hagar: "Cosmic Universal Fashion" [dir. Todd Gallopo and Zan Passante]
Trying to re-capitalize on 1992's "Right Now" video, Hagar gives viewers updates on current affairs and new (but cheap looking) stock footage.

Yeasayer: "Wait for the Summer" [dir. Mixtape Club]
The effects are super, but why such an obsession with the apple?

The Blizzards: "The Reason" [dir. Chris Sayer and Jason Arber]
Reminiscent of the effects of Muse's "Invincible", the story is about a 90-ft-tall female monster babe and the man who can't take his eyes off her.

ANJ: "Gorbachov" [dir. Tom Stern]
This international entry comes from Mother Russia (and it took me a few viewings to realize it was sung in English). But, the song is secondary to the video, which depicts buxom babes being attacked by undead communists! The protagonist, a shirtless, axe-wielding Mikhail Gorbachev runs in to save the day, just like in real life!

Flying Lotus: "Parisian Goldfish" [dir. Eric Wareheim]
Simple, tasteless; flashing lights.

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Moving some posts to Medium and elsewhere

There may be some video game or gardening posts here, but many of my blog and non-blog posts will be visible elsewhere, mostly likely my per...