Billboard Hot Rock Songs – Week of December 31, 2016

December 20, 2016

jmunney Billboard Charts, Billboard Hot Rock Songs, Music , Leave a comment

Each week, I check out the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart, and then I rearrange the top 25 based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. twenty one pilots – “Heathens”
2. X Ambassadors – “Unsteady”
3. twenty one pilots – “Ride”
4. Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, & Imagine Dragons with Logic, Ty Dolla $ign ft. X Ambassadors – “Sucker for Pain”
5. Fitz and the Tantrums – “HandClap”
6. Coldplay – “Hymn for the Weekend”
7. The Lumineers – “Ophelia”
8. Kaleo – “Way Down We Go”
9. OK Go – “The One Moment”
10. The 1975 – “Somebody Else”
11. John Mayer – “Love on the Weekend”
12. Kings of Leon – “Waste a Moment”
13. Judah & the Lion – “Take It All Back”
14. Highly Suspect – “My Name is Human”
15. The Lumineers – “Cleopatra”
16. Green Day – “Still Breathing”
17. The xx – “On Hold”
18. Zach Williams – “Chain Breaker”
19. Bastille – “Good Grief”
20. blink-182 – “She’s Out of Her Mind”
21. The Lumineers – “Sleep on the Floor”
22. Five Finger Death Punch – “I Apologize”
23. Florence + the Machine – “Stand by Me”
24. Empire of the Sun – “High and Low”
25. Alex da Kid ft. X Ambassadors, Elle King, & Wiz Khalifa – “Not Easy”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. My Name is Human
2. Way Down We Go
3. Unsteady
4. Stand by Me
5. High and Low
6. Somebody Else
7. On Hold
8. Ride
9. Good Grief
10. The One Moment
11. Ophelia
12. Heathens
13. Waste a Moment
14. Cleopatra
15. Take It All Back
16. Hymn for the Weekend
17. I Apologize
18. Still Breathing
19. HandClap
20. Sleep on the Floor
21. She’s Out of Her Mind
22. Love on the Weekend
23. Sucker for Pain
24. Not Easy
25. Chain Breaker

Billboard Hot 20 – Week of December 31, 2016

December 20, 2016

jmunney Billboard Charts, Billboard Hot 100, Music , , , Leave a comment

Each week, I check out the Billboard Hot 100, and then I rearrange the top 20 based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Rae Sremmurd ft. Gucci Mane – “Black Beatles”
2. The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk – “Starboy”
3. The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – “Closer”
4. Bruno Mars – “24K Magic”
5. Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj – “Side to Side”
6. Zayn and Taylor Swift – “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)”
7. J. Cole – “Deja Vu”
8. Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall – “Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)”
9. DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber – “Let Me Love You”
10. Maroon 5 ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Don’t Wanna Know”
11. J. Cole – “Immortal”
12. Drake – “Fake Love”
13. J. Cole – “Neighbors”
14. Machine Gun Kelly x Camila Cabello – “Bad Things”
15. twenty one pilots – “Heathens”
16. Aminé – “Caroline”
17. D.R.A.M. ft. Lil Yachty – “Broccoli”
18. Alessia Cara – “Scars to Your Beautiful”
19. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey ft. Zedd – “Starving”
20. Mariah Carey – “All I Want for Christmas is You”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Scars to Your Beautiful
2. Starboy
3. Black Beatles
4. Side to Side
5. Broccoli
6. Closer
7. Immortal
8. Neighbors
9. Deja Vu
10. 24K Magic
11. Heathens
12. Starving
13. All I Want for Christmas is You
14. I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)
15. Bad Things
16. Let Me Love You
17. Caroline
18. Fake Love
19. Don’t Wanna Know
20. Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)

This Is a Movie Review: Patriots Day

December 20, 2016

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

040616_PATRIOTSDAY_KB_462.CR2

This review was originally published on News Cult in December 2016.

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan

Director: Peter Berg

Running Time: 133 Minutes

Rating: R for a Graphic Recreation and the Explicit Language Reacting to It

Release Date: December 21, 2016 (Limited)/Expands Nationwide January 13, 2017

Films about real-life terrorist attacks are tough beasts. Even with the best of intentions, the results can be sensationalistic. And even if the end product is as respectful as possible, survivors and witnesses may be too traumatized to relive that day in any capacity, which begs the question: is it even worth it? It is a conundrum whose scope goes beyond any simple answer, but it is important to keep in mind.

Then on pure storytelling terms, there is the matter of where to even place the focus. Patriots Day, which retells the story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent capture of its perpetrators, chooses to spread its character reach far and wide, which works surprisingly well. The implications and motivations behind a terrorist act can be too massive to capture completely, but this particular event actually lends itself well to the real-life recreations that director Peter Berg (Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon) has recently excelled at.

A frequently reiterated theme is that Bostonians have each others’ backs, and that is borne out through how interlinked the main characters are to each other. That connection is heightened through crisis, but the glue is already there. Even the terrorists themselves (chillingly and matter-of-factly played by Themo Melikidze and Alex Wolff), classmates and neighbors to many, are part of the Boston milieu.

Following the bombing, Patriots Day turns into a chase movie, with the urgency of the best of that genre already baked in. Armed forces, intelligence agencies, and civilians join together for an inspiring display of coordinated decision-making and action. The actors playing them summon their best reserves of basic decency to pull it off. The entire cinematic effort makes for a mix of emotions, often uncomfortable, frequently awe-inspiring, never without honor, even through the cathartic bursts of laughter.

Patriots Day is Recommended If You Like: Lone Survivor, World Trade Center, Credits Scenes with the Real-Life People Portrayed in the Movie

Grade: 4 out of 5 Acts of Bravery

This Is a Movie Review: Passengers

December 19, 2016

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , Leave a comment

passengers-jen-looks-sad

This review was originally published on News Cult in December 2016.

Starring: Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen

Director: Morten Tyldum

Running Time: 116 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Pratt Butt and J-Law Sideboob

Release Date: December 21, 2016

WARNING: This review is SPOILER-heavy.

The first 30 minutes or so of Passengers is not exactly what you have seen advertised in the trailers. That is surely on purpose, because it is not the sort of thing that pops in whizbang mainstream cinema. The ads might lead you to believe that Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) and Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) wake up simultaneously 90 years too soon from their faulty hibernation pods, but in fact, Jim is all by his lonesome for about a year. Thus the film kicks off with Pratt knocking about in Homeless Lumberjack Chic.

Personally, I would be happy to watch 2 hours of this. There is plenty of hilarity in Jim’s interactions with a spaceship programmed to promise a bright future, which play like a horror satire of cultish weekend resorts. Jim however turns to despair, with only Android Bartender Michael Sheen keeping him from sliding into complete insanity. Robot companions make so many things bearable.

This particular robot companion, however, is not built to solve Jim’s dilemma. So when he discovers Aurora, he believes he has found the human connection to shake him back to life … this despite really only having her looks to establish an attraction. But I get it – sometimes a photo of a rando has struck my fancy, leading me to wonder, “What is the mystery behind this person?” The film also tries to suggest that Jim is won over by Aurora’s writing, but the words of hers we are privy to are rather banal – that nagging movie shortcoming in which a supposed expert’s works are not particularly impressive.

The more pressing issue is the ethical quandary regarding the appropriateness of Jim waking Aurora up. While his motives are presented as primarily selfish, they are not without justification. The ship is critically malfunctioning, and he does not have access to any of the areas that would allow him to fix it. Nor can he wake up any crew members, as he does not have access to their hibernation pods either. But from Aurora’s perspective, this is a huge violation of her agency. There is a chance to play this as a horror movie about the loss of control, and Lawrence is all ready to go to that vein of darkness, but she is granted precious little time to do so.

Passengers climaxes as Titanic in Space, which is to say: those who made the spaceship had the hubris to claim that there is no way it can possibly fail. The A.I. running the ship is categorically unable to process any malfunction. This is at least the third promising premise this film has at its disposal but also the least interestingly executed. The action moves along briskly, but it is overly methodical and flavorless, too concerned with just getting from Point A to Point B.

Despite its shortcomings, I generally enjoyed Passengers. Part of that is surely due to the magnetism of Pratt and Lawrence (and the slyness of Sheen). But even moreso, I am amused by the off-kilter dialogue, in which absurdly large numbers like “8 quadrillion dollars” are bandied about like they’re nothing. (Why are there such big numbers? Because, it’s THE FUTURE!) Then there are the indelible neologisms like “Ultimate Geographical Suicide.” The flaws of Passengers are unavoidable, but so are its irrepressible bursts of personality.

Passengers is Recommended If You Like: Titanic minus all the extras and supporting cast crossed with the post-apocalypse

The First 30 Minutes of Passengers Are Recommended If You Like: The pilot episode of The Last Man on Earth

Grade: 3 out of 5 Space Basketball Pickup Games

This Is a Movie Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

December 19, 2016

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , Leave a comment

star-wars-rogue-one-rebels

I like the prologue (little Jyn is a great cinematic runner), and the last 10 minutes burn with the fiery passion of “gotta get this done.” The acting is great, but I don’t really care about any of the characters.

I give Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 4-6 Cameos out of 6-9 Transmissions.

(For more of my thoughts on Rogue One, click here: http://newscult.com/why-cant-rogue-one-be-a-half-hour-shorter/)

Why Can’t ‘Rogue One’ Be a Half Hour Shorter?

December 19, 2016

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot

This article was originally posted on News Cult in December 2016.

SPOILER WARNING – This article discusses major plot points from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

After seeing The Force Awakens, my initial feeling was one of gratitude that a new Star Wars movie could actually be good. After seeing Rogue One, my initial feeling was a desire to trim the fat. I generally do not get too hung up on the “right” running time for a movie. Sure, I’ll have an opinion about pacing, but there are usually more significant issues to discuss. And in this case, the running time is not my hangup so much as it is the hangup of the whole blockbuster template.

The best part of Rogue One is the last ten minutes, when the Rebels manage to transmit the Death Star plans expressly to Princess Leia (thus leading directly into A New Hope). The pace of this sequence is electric, which is as it should be in a heist film, which is indeed what Rogue One is. The driving purpose of such a film is a plot with a very specific purpose. The most obvious, and usually most effective, way for the audience to feel the urgency essential to this genre is by compressing the runtime.

So what could be lost in a hypothetical shorter Rogue One? The character work is uniformly unimpressive. Plenty of time is spent examining whether or not Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is a true rebel and if the others are willing to accept her into the fold. But that conflict is never all that interesting, nor does it especially matter. This story is not a hero’s journey, like the rest of the Star Wars saga.

But perhaps there are some viewers who appreciate the time given to Jyn’s arc, or all the time spent with Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) that does not really affect the ultimate direction of the plot. (I can certainly understand the latter, thanks to Whitaker’s off-kilter performance.) It is not an absolute requirement that heist flicks must be on the short end of feature running times. If the character work of Rogue One were more impressive, I could very well be singing a different tune.

My real issue, though, is the implicitly accepted, rarely examined convention that big-budget action blockbusters must hit that sweet spot between 110 and 140 minutes. That standard holds true across all the numbered Star Wars episodes as well as Rogue One, and nobody has ever really stopped to ask, “Why?” One might suggest the old saw of “getting your money’s worth,” but a film’s value decreases when it has 30 minutes of padding.

Rogue One is just one example. My larger point is that major franchise films should be more adventurous. Star Wars does appear to be interested in such variability. The one-off nature of this film and the upcoming Han Solo prequel are evidence of that. As for other franchises, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done an admirable job of exploring various genres within its own overarching template. But diversity of running time has hitherto been neglected in this approach towards diverse filmmaking. And I am not just arguing for kinetic short blasts. Three-hour plus, Godfather-esque generational sagas are also welcome!

The point is, this is not TV. There is no categorical need to fit within a strict temporal box. In a series that can travel long distances at the speed of light, I see plenty of yet explored possibilities.

SNL Review December 17, 2016: Casey Affleck/Chance the Rapper

December 18, 2016

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- "Casey Affleck" Episode 1714 -- Pictured: Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton during the "Hillary Actually" sketch on December 17, 2016 -- (Photo by: Becky Vu/NBC)

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — “Casey Affleck” Episode 1714 — Pictured: Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton during the “Hillary Actually” sketch on December 17, 2016 — (Photo by: Becky Vu/NBC)

This review was originally published on News Cult in December 2016.

News Cult Entertainment Editor Jeffrey Malone watches every new episode of Saturday Night Live and then organizes the sketches into the following categories: “Love It” (potentially Best of the Season-worthy), “Keep It” (perfectly adequate), or “Leave It” (in need of a rewrite, to say the least). Then he concludes with assessments of the host and musical guest.

Love It

Hillary Actually – I generally cut SNL slack for not having the sharpest political satire around, but I do encourage more adventurous ideas, and this is exactly what I am talking about. Using a movie parody to make sense of the current twist in the election is what SNL is uniquely equipped to do. Hillary wooing an elector in the style of Love Actually’s cue cards scene may be over-the-top, but it rings through and through with essential truth.

I love the hacky comedy in the nativity play covered by New York Now and wish it had lasted even longer and gotten even more ridiculous…At Frankie’s Ale House, it is not just the guys looking to score who are deploying faux shyness: it’s also the bouncer, the guy calling 911, the EMT, and even God.

More

What Won TV? – December 11-December 17, 2016

December 18, 2016

jmunney Television, What Won TV? , , , , , , Leave a comment

In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.

rectify-series-finale

Sunday – Son of Zorn
Monday – People of Earth
Tuesday – New Girl
Wednesday – Farewell, Rectify.
Thursday – Jeopardy!
Friday – Jeopardy!
Saturday – I’m sorry to say this, this is really embarrassing, but SNL with Casey Affleck was pretty good.

Billboard Hot Rock Songs – Week of December 24, 2016

December 13, 2016

jmunney Billboard Charts, Billboard Hot Rock Songs, Music , , , Leave a comment

Each week, I check out the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart, and then I rearrange the top 25 based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. twenty one pilots – “Heathens”
2. X Ambassadors – “Unsteady”
3. twenty one pilots – “Ride”
4. Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, & Imagine Dragons with Logic, Ty Dolla $ign ft. X Ambassadors – “Sucker for Pain”
5. Fitz and the Tantrums – “HandClap”
6. Coldplay – “Hymn for the Weekend”
7. The xx – “On Hold”
8. The Lumineers – “Ophelia”
9. John Mayer – “Love on the Weekend”
10. Kings of Leon – “Waste a Moment”
11. OK Go – “The One Moment”
12. Highly Suspect – “My Name is Human”
13. Judah & the Lion – “Take It All Back”
14. The Lumineers – “Cleopatra”
15. Florence + the Machine – “Stand by Me”
16. The Head and the Heart – “All We Ever Knew”
17. Zach Williams – “Chain Breaker”
18. Green Day – “Still Breathing”
19. Imagine Dragons – “Levitate”
20. Rolling Stones – “Ride ‘Em on Down”
21. Bastille – “Good Grief”
22. Brendan Fletcher – “Angel”
23. The Lumineers – “Sleep on the Floor”
24. blink-182 – “She’s Out of Her Mind”
25. Five Finger Death Punch – “I Apologize”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. My Name is Human
2. Unsteady
3. Stand by Me
4. On Hold
5. Ride
6. Ride ‘Em on Down
7. Good Grief
8. The One Moment
9. Ophelia
10. Heathens
11. Waste a Moment
12. Cleopatra
13. Take It All Back
14. Hymn for the Weekend
15. I Apologize
16. Levitate
17. All We Ever Knew
18. Still Breathing
19. HandClap
20. Sleep on the Floor
21. She’s Out of Her Mind
22. Love on the Weekend
23. Sucker for Pain
24. Chain Breaker
25. Angel

Billboard Hot 20 – Week of December 24, 2016

December 13, 2016

jmunney Billboard Charts, Billboard Hot 100, Music , , , Leave a comment

Each week, I check out the Billboard Hot 100, and then I rearrange the top 20 based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Rae Sremmurd ft. Gucci Mane – “Black Beatles”
2. The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk – “Starboy”
3. The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – “Closer”
4. Bruno Mars – “24K Magic”
5. Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj – “Side to Side”
6. Zay Hilfilgerrr and Zayion McCall – “Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)”
7. Maroon 5 ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Don’t Wanna Know”
8. DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber – “Let Me Love You”
9. twenty one pilots – “Heathens”
10. Machine Gun Kelly x Camila Cabello – “Bad Things”
11. Drake – “Fake Love”
12. D.R.A.M. ft. Lil Yachty – “Broccoli”
13. Alessia Cara – “Scars to Your Beautiful”
14. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey ft. Zedd – “Starving”
15. Aminé – “Caroline”
16. gnash ft. Olivia O’Brien – “i hate u, i love u”
17. Mariah Carey – “All I Want for Christmas is You”
18. Sia ft. Kendrick Lamar – “The Greatest”
19. Shawn Mendes – “Treat You Better”
20. Rihanna – “Love on the Brain”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. The Greatest
2. Starboy
3. Scars to Your Beautiful
4. Black Beatles
5. Side to Side
6. Broccoli
7. Love on the Brain
8. Closer
9. 24K Magic
10. Heathens
11. Starving
12. All I Want for Christmas is You
13. i hate u, i love u
14. Bad Things
15. Let Me Love You
16. Caroline
17. Fake Love
18. Don’t Wanna Know
19. Treat You Better
20. Juju on That Beat (TZ Anthem)

Older Entries Newer Entries