Capsule Reviews

Time for small reviews. I heart small reviews.

Monster House (2006, dir. Kenan) - At first I felt that Monster House was really strange. The animation looked really odd, like Flushed Away with it's CGI-made-to-look-like-claymation but not as, er, claymayey (wtf?) And it was obvious that this was meant to be 3D, what with crazy things flying at the screen (which reminds me, I promise to get a Cinema of the Absurd entry up soon!!!) But after a while I got into the vibe. The characters were great. Maggie Gyllenhaal does great voice work, y'all. And there were some great setpieces in there, it felt like a cousin of Toy Story. Nice stuff all round and that makes it a year where I really like all three Best Animated Feature nominees. B+

Friends with Money (2006, dir. Holofcener) - Okay, so here's something I don't admit to very often, but I sort of really dislike Fellinni's La Dolce Vita. I think it's a terribly boring exercise in showing how wonderful being rich is. Friends with Money is sort of similar, in that it just shows rich being rich except this time one of their friends IS POOR! *gasp* She gets samples from makeup counters instead of spending $75 on a proper jar of useless crap. There's some nice stuff there, but ultimately it doesn't have enough to say and that point is proven by the fact that the film isn't even 80 minutes long. It never lifts off. Catherine Keener is great though. C+

Shut Up & Sing (2006, dir. Koppel & Peck) - Y'all know my affection for Dixie Chicks leadsinger Natalie Maines. It makes me sad to know that this fabulous documentary was ignored for the most part. I suppose people like to think they can reduce the temperature of Earth. Either way, Shut Up & Sing is a great great film. Those idiotic redneck assholes still don't get it, and while it's not exactly fun seeing the war in Iraq descent into lunacy, watching this film just can't help but put a cheshire car grin on my face. Natalie For President, indeed. A-


Lastly, I'm not sure how many of you guys read the delightful six things while it was in service, but the writer of that blog, a chap by the name of par3128 who is a fellow Victorian, sent me a copy of Shut Up & Sing and, well, it made my week. Thank you Par! You're awesome. It was in my DVD player five minutes after I retrieved it from the letterbox. I exploded on the inside.

Natalie Maines Is My Hero

Seriously. And the Dixie Chicks are truly one of the best bands in music today. I'm so glad we have them in this world. Why didn't you guys (er, the Americans who had access to it - stupid Weinstein brothers!) go see Shut Up & Sing? I know it shouldn't surprise me that a movie such as An Inconvenient Truth, what with it's sledgehammer subtlety and oh-so-hip social message, should become the left winger's flag waving token (some people wear it as a badge that they saw that movie and act as if they're actually changing the world), and then something like Shut Up & Sing gets pushed aside, which is just as politically and socially important. Someone should rerelease it now that the Chicks have all this attention. That way people can go see it and realise that Natalie Maines should be worshipped (cause, ya know, she's also a kickarse singer and she's married to the flying politician on Heroes).

Natalie, You're my hero. Bless ya! I think I'm gonna purchase Shut Up & Sing on DVD from America considering the only country outside of America that even has a tentative release date is The Netherlands. Ugh.

Here's some more Dixie Chick/Grammy clips for your viewing pleasure. DIXIE CHICKS FOREVER!


Who is that next to Seal? And that weird stage-in-the-audience thing reminds me of the Oscars when they made people accept their award in the aisles.


Owen Wilson? Huh? HA-HA. I love you Natalie.


What's Quentin Tarantino doing with Tony Bennett? LOL. These presenters are so bizarre. Tony's all class though.


And this clip continues to beg the question... why was Scarlett Johansson even at the Grammys let alone presenting the biggest award of the night? And why can't she stand closer to the mic? Crazy. Is she really recording an album? I don't get why all these people were presenting awards.

Congratulations Dixie Chicks! (and some others too)

The Grammys haven't aired here yet, but I'm going to make an effort to watch them when they do because, omg, The Dixie Chicks kicked arse! Way to go girls! Love them. As you may recall, Taking the Long Way was my #2 Album of 2006 (beaten only by Robbie Williams' Rudebox). So glad that the Chicks won Album, Song and Record of the year (the rare trifecta), the latter two for "Not Ready to Make Nice" (my #5 Song of 2006). It was also totally excellent to read that Wolfmother won Best Hard Rock Performance (Single) for the ace "Woman" ("She's a woman / You know what I mean?"). If you like rock music GET THAT ALBUM NOW! And also Madonna won Best Dance Recording (Album) for Confessions on a Dance Floor.

Can someone release Shut Up & Sing down here please?! It's not like they're not popular here. They're quite popular, actually.

In a movie-themed segway, T-Bone Burnett's soundtrack to Walk the Line won for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media beating Brokeback Mountain, Little Miss Sunshine, Cars and the second volume of Grey's Anatomy.

John Williams' Memoirs of a Geisha score beat Harry Gregson-William for Narnia, Hans Zimmer for The DaVinci Code AND Pirates of the Caribbean 2 as well as Williams himself for Munich (the much much better score, I might add).

"Our Town" by Randy Newman and performed by James Taylor won Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media from the film Cars. It's nominated for the Oscar against the Grammy-nominated "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth and three songs from Dreamgirls (which wasn't released in the eligibility period). At the Grammy's they fought against Imogen Heap's Narnia track "Can't Take It In", "There's Nothing Like a Show On Broadway" by Mel Brooks from The Producers and the 2006 Oscar nominee "Travelin' Thru" by Dolly Parton, from Transamerica.

While John Williams' Memoirs score won, the Best Instrumental Composition went to Williams for "A Prayer for Peace" from the, as I said, much better Munich score. The only other film nominated in that category was Williams' Memoirs track "Sayuri's Theme and End Credits".

For you theatrically minded people, the cast recording of Jersey Boys won (surprise, surprise) for Best Musical Show Album beating the cast recordings of The Color Purple, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Pajama Game and Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

I choose to ignore the fact that "My Humps" (one of the worst songs ever created) won a Grammy. I just ignore it. See! *ignores*

I knew the Grammy's winners roster were too good to be true.

The Best {and worst} of 2006 - Music Edition

So, I'm nowhere near being able to do a film roundup for 2006 (although I'm gonna do an Australian film edition soon cause I actually can do that), so I figured I'd do a music one. There was some really great stuff this year. There was also some really bad stuff. I've decided to do some fun categories too (Best Cameo!) so let's proceed. (I must say though, that I obviously haven't heard every album released this year, so it's not exactly a science here - I'm also probably missing a bunch from the start of the year).

edit: Wait, was Wolfmother's album released in 2006 or 2005. I hope it was 2005 because then I don't have to go through and change everything. Ugh.

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2006
Honourable Mentions: All Saints (Studio 1), Pink (I'm Not Dead), Shiny Toy Guns (We Are Pilots), Indie.Arie (Testimony Vol. 1: Life and Relationships), Regina Spektor (Begin to Hope), Sugardaddy (It's Good to Get High With the Wife), Snow Patrol (Eyes Open), The Killers (Sam's Town - somebody's been listening to Bruce Springsteen), Jamelia (Walk With Me)


10. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Bombastic and loud, with mixes of electronica thrown in.
Favourite Track: "Take a Bow"


9. Scissor Sisters - Ta-dah
Uber-fun and light as a feather with a dark edge, but not as great as their first - that would have been damn hard. Here's hoping their next is as radical as the first.
Favourite Track: "Paul McCartney"


8. Sarah Blasko - What the Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have
Contender for most likely to rise as time goes by. Ethereal and beautiful. Like the Scissor Sisters, it can't match her previous album which was a masterpiece, but it's damn good nevertheless.
Favourite Track: "{explain}"


7. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds
Slick, but also sweaty and dirty, just like dance music should be. It wasn't the revolutionary never-heard-before sound that Justin promised, but it was a great album. The first five tracks are just stunning.
Favourite Track: "FutureSex/LoveSound"


6. Nelly Furtado - Loose
I never thought I'd use the term "effervescent" for an album, but this is it. Nelly's "Folklore" is in the top 5 albums of the last decade, so it impossible to beat, but at least she didn't embarass herself (hi Jewel!) and she managed to keep her cultural backbone.
Favourite Track: "Maneater"


5. Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics
I liked this album more when it mixed Aguilera's big giant voice with the sounds of the carnival, but the entire thing is a great platform for Aguilera to strut her stuff like nobody else is doing at the moment.
Favourite Track: "Welcome" / "Hurt" (It's my belief that these two should be merged into one triumphant collosal marvel)


4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
Bigger and better than "Fever to Tell", this album raises the room and lets the insane asylum loose.
Favourite Track: "Cheated Hearts"


3. Pet Shop Boys - Fundamental
Their best album since 1987's Actually, so this was an exciting listen. Eclectic and sonically interesting, but also brilliant with trademark wit.
Favourite Track: "I'm With Stupid"


2. Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way
How do you get back at the braindead morons who slagged you off and threatened to kill you and who burnt piles of your albums? By making one of the gosh darn best albums of the year - that's how! Lyrically honest and musically diverse. Stunning.
Favourite Track: "Not Ready to Make Nice" or "The Long Way Around"


1. Robbie Williams - Rudebox
Probably the year's most polarising album is my #1. For an album with 16 tracks there is very little "bad" (and the worst is a bonus track!) It's Robbie as we've never heard him and he sounds rejuvenated as if he knows he's making something he wants to make and doesn't give two hoots about what all the horny girls who bought his other albums think. Shockingly simple in ideas, but complex in performance - Rudebox is Robbie's best work ever and all those who got their panties in a twist over his new direction can go masturbate to post-Robbie Take That - now there is an artist who are stagnant in musical direction.
Favourite Track: "Kiss Me" or "We're the Pet Shop Boys"

Honourary Placement: Best Ofs!
For a change this Christmas we actually got some decent best ofs. The two finest singles acts of this decade so far, Sugababes and Girls Aloud, released singles collections and if I allowed them onto my Top 10 they'd be tied for #1 alongside George Michael's TwentyFive, which included George's Wham! days. How awesome is that? There were some others, but those were the main three (U2's 18 Singles was a joke though, in all honesty)

BEST ALBUM THAT I THOUGHT WOULD BE BAD
All Saints - Studio 1
Cassie - Cassie
Indie.Arie - Testimony, Vol. 1 - Life and Relationships
LeToya - LeToya
Paris - Paris

WINNER: All Saints - Studio 1

BEST CAMEO IN A SONG
Akon - "I Am Not My Hair" by Indie.Arie
Erykah Badu - "That Heat" by Sergio Mendes and Will.i.Am
Liza Minnelli - "Mama" by My Chemical Romance
T.I. - "My Love" by Justin Timberlake
Timbaland - "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado

WINNER: Liza Minnelli - "Mama" by My Chemical Romance

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SINGER ON A DANCE TRACK BY ANOTHER ARTIST
Debbie Harry - "New York, New York" by Moby
Brittany Murphy - "Faster Kill Pussycat" by Paul Oakenfold
Shena - "Friday Night" by Sex Machine
Barbra Streisand - "STFU"
Katie Underwood - "Get Together" by T-Funk

WINNER: Debbie Harry - "New York, New York" by Moby

BEST CONCERT ALBUM: Pet Shop Boys - Concrete: Live at the Mermaid Theatre


BEST SOUNDTRACK
The Devil Wears Prada
Happy Feet
Marie Antoinette
Miami Vice
A Prairie Home Companion

WINNER: Marie Antoinette



BEST COMPILATION ALBUM
(excludes film soundtracks)
100% PopJustice
Late Night Tales: Air
Ministry of Sound: The 2007 Annual
Ministry of Sound: Wild Weekends
She Will Have Her Way: The Songs of Tim and Neil Finn

WINNER: Late Night Tales: Air

BEST SINGLE FROM A BAD ALBUM
Christina Milian - "Twisted"
Evanescence - "Call Me When You're Sober"
JoJo - "Too Little Too Late"
Paul Oakenfold feat. Brittany Murphy - "Faster Kill Pussycat"
Rihanna - "SOS"
Take That - "Patience"

WINNER: Rihanna - "SOS"

BEST SINGLE FROM A 2005 ALBUM
Madonna - "Get Together"
Madonna - "Sorry"
Rogue Traders - "In Love Again"
Sugababes - "Red Dress"
The Veronicas - "Everything I'm Not"

WINNER: Madonna - "Get Together"

BEST ALBUM COVER
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Sarah Blasko - What the Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have
Concord Dawn - Chaos By Design
Panic! At the Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds

WINNER: Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds

WORST ALBUM COVER
All Saints - Studio 1
Beyonce - B'Day
Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape
Cradlebait JoJo - The High Road
Sugababes - Overloaded: The Singles Collection

Winner: {tie}
Beyonce - B'Day
Gwen - The Sweet Escape

MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUM
Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio
Beyonce - B'Day
Paulini - Superwoman
Rihanna - A Girl Like Me
Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape
(I would nominate Janet Jackson's 20-YO but I fail to be merely disappointed anymore cause I don't expect anything)

WINNER: Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio

WORST SINGLE CHOICE
(not necessary worst single in general, just the ones that boggle my mind that they were released over other tracks)
Beyonce - "Deja Vu"
Pink - "Nobody Knows"
Robbie Williams - "Rudebox"
Rogue Traders - "We're Coming Home"
Gwen Stefani - "Wind it Up"

WINNER: Beyonce - "Deja Vu"
("Deja Vu" also takes the prize for Worst Video)

WORST SINGLE
(excluding stuff like David Hasslehoff and Crazy Frog, which aren't technically even songs in my mind)
Akon - "Lonely"
Beyonce - "Deja Vu"
JoJo - "How To Touch A Girl"
Lady Sovereign - "Hoodie"
Shannon Noll & Natalie Bassingthwaite - "Don't Give Up"
Nickelback - "Far Away" or Whatever other song they released this year
Katie Price & Peter Andre - "A Whole New World"
Sandi Thom - "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)"
Shakira - "Hips Don't Lie"

WINNER: EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM!!!!

WORST ALBUM
(I didn't listen to the entire albums by Nickelback, Ciara, Thom or Noll not to mention K.Fed, Jessica, etc)
JoJo - The High Road
Christina Milian - So Amazin'
Evanescence - The Open Door
Paul Oakenfold - A Lively Mind
Sean Paul - The Trinity

WINNER: JoJo - The High Road

Here is where I gotta say something though. Paul Oakenfold's album is a disaster of epic proportions so I really wanted to give it this prize. Just truly bad in every single area apart from one song ("Faster Kill Pussycat"). Not a smidge of redeemability anywhere. BUT I need to discuss JoJo's album. It was worrysome. I was really quite disturbed by her album The High Road. JoJo is fifteen years old yet she's singing songs such as "The Way You Do Me" (lyric: "Why you gotta be so good when you give it to me"), "I Can Take You There" and the worst-of-the-worst "How to Touch a Girl". I'd be less scared if she then didn't put on a song called "Note to God" where she thanks God for all her good graces and how swell her life is. This girl disgusts and repulses me. She's a filthy little paedophile target if ever I saw one. If it weren't for "Too Little Too Late" and a left-field sample of Toto's "Africa" The High Road would indeed be a contender for worst album ever made.

WORST MUSICAL MOMENT OF THE YEAR
Hearing Beyonce's "Deja Vu" for the first time and almost instantly thinking she has lost all musical talent.
Listening to the 15-year-old JoJo sing "The Way You Do Me" and "How To Touch a Girl".
Madonna deciding not to tour Australia.
Nickelback, just cause.
Sandi Thom's "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker..." staying at #1 for over 10 weeks.

WINNER: {tie}
Madonna for being a selfish lying filthy bitch and I hope that she's satisfied with breaking promises to her fans. I still love her though. It's alright for me to call her a selfish lying filthy backstabbing bitch. Oh, I just threw in "backstabbing" then cause I just thought of it.

And, ya know, the whole JoJo debacle.

WORST "ARTIST"
Akon
Ciara
JoJo
Nickelback
Sandi Thom

WINNER: Nickelback... still

As much as I hated JoJo, Nickelback are just a steaming pile of, pardon me, horse shit. As a reward, I thought I'd give Nickelback an honourary award for their efforts:

WORST BAND IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC!!!!!

Way to go, guys! You deserved it!

BEST NET-ONLY SONG
Siobhan Donaghy - "Ghosts"
Belinda Emmett - "Less Than Perfect"
Kelly Rowland feat. Yung Texas - "In Love Wit My Ex"
Revolucian - "STFU"
Tracey Thorn - "It's All True"

WINNER: Siobhan Donaghy - "Ghosts"

FAVOURITE REMIX
Beyonce - "Ring the Alarm [Freemason's Mix]"
Madonna - "Sorry [Pet Shop Boys Maxi-Mix]"
Madonna vs Gwen Stefani - "What You Hung Up For"
Christian Falk feat. Robyn & Ola Salo - "Dream On [Supreme Court Remix]
Rogue Traders - "Voodoo Child [Tom Neville Remix]"

WINNER:
Beyonce - "Ring the Alarm [Freemason's Mix]"

BEST AUSTRALIAN RELEASE
Augie March - "One Crowded Hour"
Sarah Blasko - What the Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have
Monique Brumby - "Daisy Chain"
Josh Pyke - Feeding the Wolves
Sneaky Sound System - "I Love It"

WINNER: Sarah Blasko - What the Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have


BEST NEW ARTIST
Gnarls Barkley
Joan as Policewoman
Josh Pyke
Shiny Toy Guns
Sugardaddy

WINNER: Shiny Toy Guns



BEST VIDEO
Christina Aguilera - "Hurt"
Sarah Blasko - "{explain}"
Fergie - "Fergalicious"
Scissor Sisters - "Land of a Thousand Words"
Justin Timberlake - "SexyBack"

WINNER: Fergie - "Fergalicious"



Honourary Mention: Beyonce - Irreplacable
The video isn't that remarkable, but at least it's a video that's relevant to the song, unlike "Deja Vu", which was just Beyonce convulsing around the planet in ugly outfits. But I love the "Irreplacable" clip because after kicking her cheating lover's arse to the curb and after putting her hair in curlers and after filing her nails a lot she then suddenly joins a girl band. But not just any girl back - the biggest girl band in the history of music. Take a look at the clip. At the end she's singing her song along with a band that consists of a drummer, an electronic drummer, an acoustic guitarist, two electric guitarists, a keyboard player, two saxophone players, a tamborine player and some backup singers despite "Irreplacable" needing none of them. It's sort of the funniest video clip of the year and for that it gets this honourary award.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Christina Aguilera - For the album Back to Basics and her collaboration with P. Diddy "Tell Me"
Nelly Furtado - For her album Loose and her version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy"
Pet Shop Boys - For the album Fundamental, the live album Concrete and remixes for Madonna
Justin Timberlake - For the album FutureSex/LoveSounds and (it must be acknowledged) "Dick in a Box"
Robbie Williams - For the album Rudebox and performing "Jealousy" on the Pet Shop Boys' Concrete

WINNER: Pet Shop Boys

And lastly...

TOP 35 SINGLES OF THE YEAR
(I deemed album tracks inneligible as well as remixes and such, Beyonce's "Ring the Alarm [Freemason's Mix]" would probably be top 5 otherwise)

35. Camera Obscura - "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken"
34. Moby feat. Debbie Harry - "New York, New York"
33. Justin Timberlake feat. TI - "My Love"
32. Pet Shop Boys - "Integral"
31. Monique Brumby - "Daisy Chain"
30. The Killers - "When You Were Young"

29. Peter, Bjorn and John - "Young Folks"
28. Regina Spektor - "Samson"
27. Shiny Toy Guns - "Rainy Monday"

-The best song in donkey's years about thinking you're over someone when you're really not.

26. Gnarls Barkley - "Smiley Faces"
25. Robyn - "Who's That Girl?"

-Was technically a 2005 release, but it was only released to western counties in 2006, so it places. Plus, it's too good to not put on there.

24. Paris Hilton - "I Want You"

-Sampling Grease was the best thing somebody ever did for Paris

23. Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy"
22. Sarah Blasko - "{explain}"
21. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Cheated Hearts"
20. Rihanna - "SOS"

-For a brief moment in 2006 Rihanna was beyond excellent. And then she released the second single and all went back to it's rightful place.

19. Fergie - "Fergalicious"

-Sampling JJ Fad's ace "Supersonic" (or merely stealing it) was probably the best thing Fergie's ever done.

18. Joan As Policewoman - "Eternal Flame"
17. Josh Pyke - "Memories & Dust"

-When I was a hatchling... this song just makes me so happy.

16. Christina Aguilera - "Hurt"
15. Girls Aloud - "Something Kinda Ooh"

-Overtaking the Sugababes as the best pop group out there.

14. Muse - "Take a Bow"
13. Justin Timberlake - "SexyBack"

-Subsersive pop/dance/funk that's equal parts brilliance and absurdity - which makes it ever better than it has a right to be.

12. Sugababes - "Red Dress"

-Girls Aloud stole their crown, but they had the better single in 2006. This was from their "Taller in More Ways" album though. As I already mentioned, the single from their end of year Best Of was sorta blah.

11. Pet Shop Boys - "I'm With Stupid"

-A love story for the ages (Bush + Blair) turned into a brilliant dance track. The album was their best in nearly 2 decades, too.

10. Beyonce - "Irreplacable"

-After the dire near career-halting "Deja Vu" she countered with this stunner and gained credibility and album sales. And, for a change, she didn't feel the need to rope in some ubiquitous rapper for a cameo.

9. Madonna - "Sorry"

-More brilliant pop from the woman whose job it is to make brilliant pop. The remixes were almost as good as the original, too.

8. Snow Patrol feat. Martha Wainwright - "Set the Fire to the Third Bar"
7. Jamelia - "Beware of the Dog"

-Oh Jamelia. You made a stunning pop song (sampling Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus") and nobody noticed except those who actually like pop music.

6. Pink - "U + UR Hand"

-Silly title-spelling aside, the track was a definite WOW moment. Pink will probably never better herself. Although it's kind of an awkward song to sing along to if you're around other people.

5. Dixie Chicks - "Not Ready to Make Nice"
4. Madonna - "Get Together"
3. Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"

-I only heard this song for the first time last week and it's already #3, so take that as you will, but know this... the song is phenomenal and if there was any god in the music world, it would be #1 for months on end. "They tried to make me go to rehab/I said 'No! No! No!'"

2. Nelly Furtado - "Maneater" [Album Version]

-ALBUM VERSION!!!! Let's not confuse the album and the radio/tv version. The latter castrates the end of the song by getting rid of the killer club moment when the volume goes all the way down and then slowly climbs back up before going into the big finale. The only minor quibble? Since I first heard it I always thought it'd be better if at the end she changed the lyrics to "You'll wish you never ever met me at all" cause that'd be nifty.

1. Christian Falk feat. Robyn & Ola Salo - "Dream On"
-The most soul-lifting life-affirming and passionate song of the year came in the form of this dance track. It just makes me feel good while also making me wanna dance at the same time. It's amazing. And if this wasn't enough the Supreme Court Remix would be a worthy #1 too.

That's it folks. I could do more, but I can't be buggared.