Billboard Hot Rock Songs – Week of August 26, 2017

August 18, 2017

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. I used to rank all 25, now I just rank the cream of the crop.

Original Version
1. Imagine Dragons – “Believer”
2. Portugal. The Man – “Feel It Still”
3. Imagine Dragons – “Thunder”
4. The Revivalists – “Wish I Knew You”
5. Linkin Park – “Numb”
6. Linkin Park – “In the End”
7. Linkin Park ft. Kiiara – “Heavy”
8. Judah & the Lion – “Take It All Back”
9. Lord Huron – “The Night We Met”
10. The Killers – “The Man”
11. Linkin Park – “What I’ve Done”
12. Linkin Park – “One More Light”
13. Zach Williams – “Old Church Choir”
14. Weezer – “Feels Like Summer”
15. Linkin Park – “Crawling”
16. NEEDTOBREATHE – “Hard Love”
17. Foo Fighters – “Run”
18. Arcade Fire – “Everything Now”
19. Linkin Park – “One Step Closer”
20. Imagine Dragons – “Whatever It Takes”
21. Linkin Park – “Somewhere I Belong”
22. Bleacers – “Don’t Take the Money”
23. B.E.R. – “The Night Begins to Shine”
24. Sir Sly – “High”
25. The Lumineers – “Angela”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. The Man
2. High
3. Feel It Still
4. Run
5. What I’ve Done
6. Hard Love
7. Everything Now
8. One Step Closer
9. Numb
10. Somewhere I Belong
11. In the End
12. Crawling
13. Feels Like Summer
14. Shadow of the Day

Billboard Hot 20 – Week of August 26, 2017

August 18, 2017

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. I used to rank all 20, now I just rank the cream of the crop.

Original Version
1. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber – “Despacito”
2. DJ Khaled ft. Rihanna and Bryson Tiller – “Wild Thoughts”
3. French Montana ft. Swae Lee – “Unforgettable”
4. Imagine Dragons – “Believer”
5. Charlie Puth – “Attention”
6. Shawn Mendes – “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back”
7. Bruno Mars – “That’s What I Like”
8. Cardi B – “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)”
9. Ed Sheeran – “Shape of You”
10. DJ Khaled ft. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Wayne – “I’m the One”
11. Sam Hunt – “Body Like a Back Road”
12. 21 Savage – “Bank Account”
13. Childish Gambino – “Redbone”
14. Post Malone ft. Quavo – “Congratulations”
15. Liam Payne ft. Quavo – “Strip That Down”
16. Kendrick Lamar – “Humble.”
17. Niall Horan – “Slow Hands”
18. Lil Uzi Vert – “XO Tour Llif3”
19. The Chainsmokers and Coldplay – “Something Just Like This”
20. Zedd and Alessia Cara – “Stay”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Redbone
2. Stay
3. Unforgettable
4. Humble.
5. Wild Thoughts

Orphan Black Season 5 Review

August 18, 2017

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I give Orphan Black Season 5 3.8 out of 5 Sestras: http://newscult.com/orphan-black-season-5-review-final-adventures-clone-club-start-off-little-slow-ultimately-immensely-satisfying/

This Is a Movie Review: Steven Soderbergh and the ‘Logan Lucky’ Crew Pull Off a Heist at the Biggest Race of the Year

August 18, 2017

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Credit: Claudette Barius / Fingerprint Releasing | Bleecker Street

This review was originally published on News Cult in August 2017.

Starring: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Daniel Craig, Katie Holmes, Dwight Yoakam, Seth MacFarlane, Jack Quaid, Brian Gleeson, Katherine Waterston, Hilary Swank

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Running Time: 119 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Improvised Explosives and Slapstick Violence, Often Involving a Prosthetic

Release Date: August 18, 2017

If you follow the sports world, you will have noticed lately the several examples of the wonders that taking significant time off does towards extending a career. Roger Federer and Serena Williams, perhaps the two greatest tennis players of all time, have taken months-long breaks and at ages 36 and 35, respectively (ancient by athletic standards), they are still somehow in the primes of their careers. The physicality of sports and filmmaking are not exactly the same, but both can be similarly taxing. So while it is right to question the accuracy of Steven Soderbergh’s claim that he was retiring from directing, it is not right to question the wisdom of what he was actually doing, i.e., taking a nice, long, relaxing break, as Logan Lucky is the type of film that you make only when you are bursting with energy.

Logan is Soderbergh’s first directorial effort since 2013’s Side Effects and the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, but in premise, it most obviously brings to mind his Ocean’s trilogy. Recently unemployed West Virginia coal miner Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) recruits his one-armed Iraq War vet bartender brother Clyde (Adam Driver) and hairdresser sister Mellie (Riley Keough), along with incarcerated bleached-blonde demolitions expert Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) and Joe’s supposed computer expert brothers Fish (Jack Quaid) and Sam (Brian Gleeson), to rob the cash deposits at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600, the longest annual race on the NASCAR calendar. So it is basically a hillbilly Ocean’s 11 (Logan’s 6, if you will), and that connection is referenced head-on with a sneakily well-timed joke. Now, don’t let that description fool you into thinking that this film looks down on the people that populate it. Its particular strength is how thoroughly and empathetically each character is rendered, despite their colorful personalities offering an easy temptation for stereotypes.

Accordingly, every actor is given plenty of opportunities to stretch, with Soderbergh guiding them along to their best instincts. Keough shines in her accounting of the West Virginia highway system, Driver is wholly convincing with his unassuming one-armed bartending prowess, Seth MacFarlane is Snidely Whiplash-levels ridiculous as a luxuriously coiffed, arrogant driver, Farrah Mackenzie (as Jimmy’s young daughter Sadie) charms enough to somehow make pageant culture a little less nauseating than usual, and when Special Agent Hilary Swank shows up, she makes an all-business demeanor just as much fun as criminality. But the biggest praise is rightfully reserved for Craig, who is delightfully unhinged in the friendliest way possible, as well as Dwight Yoakam, as a warden whose loss of control of his prison amazingly involves the most hilarious taking to task of George R.R. Martin I have ever witnessed.

The conflict of heist movies is such that their cool vibes always goad you into rooting for the criminals. While these robbers typically are not violent, and often target the most powerful and greediest, they are in fact still criminals. The fact that these are just movies should be enough to remove any feelings of moral crisis. But in case you want more than that, there is a Robin Hood-style resolution. Your mileage may vary on what that means in terms of ethical implications, but there is no doubt that it contributes to the good vibes.

Logan Lucky is Recommended If You Like: Heist Films, Southern-Fried Flavor, Feeling Pumped When You Walk Out of the Theater

Grade: 4 out of 5 Painted Cockroaches

This Is a Movie Review: ‘Patti Cake$’ Makes Tasty North Jersey Hip Hop Cake as Fast as It Can

August 16, 2017

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Photo courtesy of Jeong Park. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

This review was originally posted on News Cult in August 2017.

Starring: Danielle Macdonald, Bridget Everett, Siddharth Dhananjay, Mamoudou Athie, Cathy Moriarty

Director: Geremy Jasper

Running Time: 108 Minutes

Rating: R for Three Generations of Women Spouting Profanity, Showing Off Cleavage at Job Interviews

Release Date: August 18, 2017 (Limited)

Most rappers are still black and male, but the genre is such a permanent fixture in the culture at large that any deviation from the demographic norm is hardly surprising. So I appreciate that Patti Cake$ treats the race and gender of its protagonist as generally no big deal one way or the other. After all, she does live in the “Dirty Jersey” melting pot of Bergen County (right across Manhattan along the George Washington Bridge). Alas, while Patti Cake$ does spit to its own rhythm, it hews pretty closely to the beats of the struggling artist narrative. But what it lacks in structural ingenuity, it makes up for with the variety of seemingly disparate parts that complement each other in its collage.

Patricia Dombrowski (Australian newcomer Danielle Macdonald) is feisty enough on her own, but it is thanks to her collaborators that she really shines. The group they form is christened “PBNJ,” wherein P is Patti, J is her longtime best friend on the hooks Jheri (Siddharth Dhananjay), B is disaffected but sensitive anarchist beat-mixer Basterd, and N is Patti’s Nana (Cathy Moriarty), whose chainsmoke-ravaged rasp is adorably sampled and looped into the chorus. As far as rap goes, their tracks aren’t exactly mind-blowing, or game-changing, or groundbreaking, and the movie concedes as much. Still, they are plenty rousing. That relative lack of prowess holds it back from being an all-time great in the genre, but it is powerful enough, and the modesty is appreciated.

If Patti Cake$ sticks with you, it will most likely be because of how generously it lets you into Patti’s life. She is an upstanding young adult, putting just as much effort into into the money-making aspect of her hustle as she does the rhyming side. Her relationship with her mother Barb (Bridget Everett) is as affecting as it ought to be. Barb is not exactly supportive of Patti’s hip-hop ambitions, but it is not because she is unsupportive in general, far from it. Nor is it because she does not understand the life of an artist – in fact, she had a bit of a musical career herself as the lead singer of a lady metal band that was cut short just as they were on the edge of big-time success. It’s just that she’s old school, set in her own way, and just hasn’t seen any evidence that rap is a genre worth pursuing. That is why the final performance scene at an amateur showcase concert is so crucial. It wraps everything up thematically and unites every member of Patti’s family, putting her story squarely in the file of “crowd-pleaser.”

Patti Cake$ is Recommended If You Like: 8 Mile, Affectionately making fun of North Jersey, Mother-Daughter Bonding

Grade: 3 out of 5 Acronym Band Names

What Won TV? – August 6-August 12, 2017

August 13, 2017

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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.

Sunday – Rick and Morty
Monday – People of Earth
Tuesday – Difficult People and Danny Aiello have me surprisingly relaxed.
Wednesday – The Carmichael Show finishes up like it’s no big deal.
Thursday – The Chris Gethard Show
Friday – VICE
Saturday – Orphan Black (a great title by the way, even if they’re not black)

This Is a Movie Review: ‘Whose Streets?’ Asks the Most Urgent Questions for Ferguson, St. Louis, and All of America

August 11, 2017

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , Leave a comment

This review was originally posted on News Cult in August 2017.

Documentary

Director: Sabaah Folayan

Running Time: 103 Minutes

Rating: R for The Words People Say When They Are Justifiably Angry

Release Date: August 11, 2017 (Limited)

It is not hard to be mad enough to make a whole film about the recent police abuses in this country. It is practically its own subgenre at this point. But it can be challenging to channel that anger into something unique and focused. Whose Streets? cracks open the genre in a way that seeks to renew humanity to the dehumanized. Local law enforcement is trucking out in tanks on the streets of St. Louis and Ferguson as if their residents are militant insurgents. Whose streets are these really? That ought to be a rhetorical question, as the answer should be obvious. What we have here is a new angle getting at the same old overarching question: do we really have the rights that our country has promised us?

Taking that insurgency comparison further, at one point a Missouri resident muses how militants in countries like Iraq have been branded as insurgents, despite fighting in their homeland. It is the most salient point of the film, highlighting how one of the most skewed perspectives baked into American policy extends in every direction. It all amounts to shouting at a system that is nowhere near having the same conversation as you.

For some viewers, the correctness of Whose Streets?’s perspective will be enough to excuse the occasionally scattered approach that is a feature of most documentaries. And indeed, this doc is more righteously focused than most. Its lack of polish holds me back from a full endorsement, and I also wonder if Whose Streets? can really make any tangible difference in finding justice for the likes of Michael Brown and Vonderrit Myers. But I can’t deny the power, and continued need, to shout out these cries with fiery emotion.

Whose Streets? is Recommended If You Like: Social justice documentaries

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Riots

This Is a Movie Review: Robert Pattinson is a Low-Level Bank Robber and Devoted Brother in the Grainy, Queens-Set ‘Good Time’

August 9, 2017

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

This review was originally posted on News Cult in August 2017.

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Ben Safdie, Buddy Duress, Taliah Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Barkhad Abdi

Director: Ben and Josh Safdie

Running Time: 99 Minutes

Rating: R for the Vices of a Night in the City

Release Date: August 11, 2017 (Limited)

How far would you go for a better life for yourself and your brother? If said brother is mentally handicapped and you are the lead character in a crime-on-the-streets movie, then chances are the answer is “pretty far.” Ergo, there is no surprise about the general forces that pushes Good Time along, but the details are quite unpredictable.

The majority of the plot follows Connie Nikas (Robert Pattinson) in a desperate night through Queens as he attempts to correct his mistakes and bust his brother Nick (co-director Ben Safdie) out of jail following a botched bank robbery. He first attempts to cover the bail money by turning to a friend/lover (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is way too old for him and for her own lack of emotional maturity. But another snag pops up when it is revealed that Nick is under police supervision in the hospital. Connie plows forward with his improvisation, but it becomes more and more obvious that he is not going to pull off his scheme, what with law enforcement always nearby and the caprices of fate constantly messing with him. It all adds up to a night of drugs, mistaken identity, and an empty amusement park in a land where cliché need not apply.

The joys of Good Time – and its biggest weakness – are aesthetic. The Safdie brothers exclusively favor extreme close-ups for conversations and kinetic camera movement when characters go from here to there. The shot selection, combined with the grainy digital cinematography and bass-heavy synth score, create a sensorially overwhelming experience that too few films attempt. The photography does get into a bit of trouble whenever the action moves into especially dark corners, rendering it nearly impossible to make out anything that is happening. That is possibly intentional, but it is not advisable. But in a film with this much clarity and consistency of vision, that is only a minor quibble.

Good Time is Recommended If You Like: Robert Pattinson’s auteur collaborations, Miami Vice, The economic desperation of Don’t Breathe

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Dye Packs

Billboard Hot Rock Songs – Week of August 19, 2017

August 8, 2017

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. I used to rank all 25, now I just rank the cream of the crop.

Original Version
1. Imagine Dragons – “Believer”
2. Portugal. The Man – “Feel It Still”
3. Imagine Dragons – “Thunder”
4. Linkin Park – “Numb”
5. Linkin Park – “In the End”
6. The Revivalists – “Wish I Knew You”
7. Linkin Park ft. Kiiara – “Heavy”
8. Judah & the Lion – “Take It All Back”
9. Linkin Park – “What I’ve Done”
10. Lord Huron – “The Night We Met”
11. Linkin Park – “One More Light”
12. Linkin Park – “Crawling”
13. Arcade Fire – “Everything Now”
14. The Killers – “The Man”
15. Zach Williams – “Old Church Choir”
16. Linkin Park – “One Step Closer”
17. Linkin Park – “Somewhere I Belong”
18. Weezer – “Feels Like Summer”
19. Linkin Park – “Breaking the Habit”
20. Linkin Park – “Talking to Myself”
21. Foo Fighters – “Run”
22. The Killers – “Run for Cover”
23. Lana del Rey ft. The Weeknd – “Lust for Life”
24. NEEDTOBREATHE – “Hard Love”
25. Linkin Park – “Faint”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. The Man
2. Feel It Still
3. Run
4. Faint
5. What I’ve Done
6. Hard Love
7. Lust for Life
8. Everything Now
9. Breaking the Habit
10. One Step Closer
11. Numb
12. Somewhere I Belong
13. In the End
14. Crawling
15. Feels Like Summer
16. Run for Cover
17. Talking to Myself
18. Shadow of the Day

Billboard Hot 20 – Week of August 19, 2017

August 8, 2017

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. I used to rank all 20, now I just rank the cream of the crop.

Original Version
1. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber – “Despacito”
2. DJ Khaled ft. Rihanna and Bryson Tiller – “Wild Thoughts”
3. French Montana ft. Swae Lee – “Unforgettable”
4. Bruno Mars – “That’s What I Like”
5. Imagine Dragons – “Believer”
6. DJ Khaled ft. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Wayne – “I’m the One”
7. Charlie Puth – “Attention”
8. Shawn Mendes – “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back”
9. Ed Sheeran – “Shape of You”
10. Sam Hunt – “Body Like a Back Road”
11. Post Malone ft. Quavo – “Congratulations”
12. Childish Gambino – “Redbone”
13. Kendrick Lamar – “Humble.”
14. Cardi B – “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)”
15. Niall Horan – “Slow Hands”
16. Liam Payne ft. Quavo – “Strip That Down”
17. The Chainsmokers and Coldplay – “Something Just Like This”
18. 21 Savage – “Bank Account”
19. Zedd and Alessia Cara – “Stay”
20. Lil Uzi Vert – “XO Tour Llif3”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Redbone
2. Stay
3. Unforgettable
4. Humble.
5. Wild Thoughts

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