Billboard Hot 20 – Week of December 23, 2017

December 12, 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. Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé – “Perfect”
2. Post Malone ft. 21 Savage – “Rockstar”
3. Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug – “Havana”
4. Lil Pump – “Gucci Gang”
5. Imagine Dragons – “Thunder”
6. Sam Smith – “Too Good at Goodbyes”
7. G-Eazy ft. A$AP Rocky and Cardi B – “No Limit”
8. Halsey – “Bad at Love”
9. Cardi B – “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)”
10. Maroon 5 ft. SZA – “What Lovers Do”
11. Mariah Carey – “All I Want for Christmas is You”
12. Portugal. The Man – “Feel It Still”
13. 6ix9ine – “Gummo”
14. Gucci Mane ft. Migos – “I Get the Bag”
15. Migos, Nicki Minaj, and Cardi B – “MotorSport”
16. Demi Lovato – “Sorry Not Sorry”
17. Dua Lipa – “New Rules”
18. J. Balvin and Willy William ft. Beyoncé – “Mi Gente”
19. Logic ft. Alessia Cara and Khalid – “1-800-273-8255”
20. Selena Gomez and Marshmello – “Wolves”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. New Rules
2. Feel It Still
3. Havana
4. Mi Gente
5. Wolves

SNL Review December 9, 2017: James Franco/SZA

December 10, 2017

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Will Heath/NBC

My letter grades for each sketch and segment is below. My in-depth review is on NewsCult: http://newscult.com/snl-love-itkeep-itleave-james-francosza/

Mall Santa – B-

James Franco’s Monologue – C-

Office Sexual Harassment Apologies – C+

Gift Wrapping – C

Scrudge – B

Iowa City All-District Spelling Bee – B

SZA performs “The Weekend” – B

Weekend Update
The Jokes – B-
Cathy Anne – B+
A White Woman Named Gretchen – B

Courtroom aka ‘Za (BEST OF THE NIGHT) – B+

Christmas Charity – B

SZA performs “Love Galore” – B

Franco Family Reunion – B-

Billboard Hot Rock Songs – Week of December 16, 2017

December 5, 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 – “Thunder”
2. Portugal. The Man – “Feel It Still”
3. Imagine Dragons – “Believer”
4. The Revivalists – “Wish I Knew You”
5. Walk the Moon – “One Foot”
6. Theory of a Deadman – “Rx (Medicate)”
7. 30 Seconds to Mars – “Walk on Water”
8. AC/DC – “Thunderstruck”
9. Imagine Dragons – “Whatever It Takes”
10. The Lumineers – “Angela”
11. Gary Clark, Jr. – “Come Together”
12. Alice Merton – “No Roots”
13. Led Zeppelin – “Immigrant Song”
14. Foo Fighters – “The Sky is a Neighborhood”
15. Beck – “Up All Night”
16. AC/DC – “Back in Black”
17. Vance Joy – “Lay It on Me”
18. U2 – “You’re the Best Thing About Me”
19. AC/DC – “You Shook Me All Night Long”
20. Linkin Park – “One More Light”
21. AC/DC – “Highway to Hell”
22. Foster the People – “Sit Next to Me”
23. Fall Out Boy – “Hold Me Tight or Don’t”
24. Nothing More – “Go to War”
25. The Killers – “The Man”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Immigrant Song
2. Back in Black
3. No Roots
4. Up All Night
5. Feel It Still
6. Highway to Hell
7. Thunderstruck
8. The Sky is a Neighborhood
9. The Man
10. You’re the Best Thing About Me
11. Come Together
12. Lay It on Me

Billboard Hot 20 – Week of December 16, 2017

December 5, 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. Post Malone ft. 21 Savage – “Rockstar”
2. Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug – “Havana”
3. Ed Sheeran – “Perfect”
4. Lil Pump – “Gucci Gang”
5. Imagine Dragons – “Thunder”
6. Sam Smith – “Too Good at Goodbyes”
7. Cardi B – “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)”
8. G-Eazy ft. A$AP Rocky and Cardi B – “No Limit”
9. Maroon 5 ft. SZA – “What Lovers Do”
10. Portugal. The Man – “Feel It Still”
11. Halsey – “Bad at Love”
12. Demi Lovato – “Sorry Not Love”
13. J. Balvin and Willy William ft. Beyoncé – “Mi Gente”
14. Logic ft. Alessia Cara and Khalid – “1-800-273-8255”
15. Dua Lipa – “New Rules”
16. Gucci Mane ft. Migos – “I Get the Bag”
17. Migos, Nicki Minaj, and Cardi B – “MotorSport”
18. 21 Savage – “Bank Account”
19. Post Malone – “I Fall Apart”
20. Selena Gomez and Marshmello – “Wolves”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. New Rules
2. Feel It Still
3. Havana
4. Mi Gente
5. Wolves

This Is a Movie Review: ‘I, Tonya,’ You, Enthralled Audience

December 5, 2017

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

CREDIT: Neon

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

Starring: Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan, Julianne Nicholson, Paul Walter Hauser, Bobby Canavale

Director: Craig Gillespie

Running Time: 121 Minutes

Rating: R for Rinkside Potty Mouth and Redneck-Style Violence

Release Date: December 8, 2017 (Limited)

Every story needs a villain, but that’s not always how life works. Even when somebody gets clubbed in the knee leading up to the Olympics, separating the good guys from the bad guys is not always so clear-cut. This is all to say, Tonya Harding has lived a very colorful life, and some pretty illuminating details often get left out in the telling, so she deserves for us to hear her out. It would help, though, if all the parties involved could actually agree on what happened. Nevertheless, I, Tonya, the spirited biopic pieced together by director Craig Gillespie is a record of fantastically entertaining recent tabloid history that is can’t-look-away tawdry but also fair-minded and humanizing.

Harding is one of the all-time greats in American figure skating, but her reputation has forever been marked by the attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan in the lead-up to the 1994 Olympics. In the popular imagination (and in a gleefully sadistic fantasy scene in the film), Harding was the assailant herself, but it was actually some guy hired by her ex-husband and her bodyguard, and it is questionable how much she ever knew about it in the first place. All of I, Tonya is building up to “The Incident,” but it takes up a relatively small portion of the runtime. After all, Harding’s life was enough of a whirlwind before then for her to already be the wild child in the public eye.

Betting that his big hook is conflicting testimonies and fluffing of image, Gillespie frames the film as a mockumentary consisting of interviews with the principal actors in character, disputing the accounts of the others as they see fit. This is a recipe for raucous storytelling, as every character is oozing with personality to spare. Margot Robbie is dangerously feisty and undeniably winning as she absolutely gives Tonya a chance to redeem herself and just let her voice be heard. Her mother LaVona (Allison Janney), accompanied with a parrot on her shoulder (credited as “LaVona’s Sixth Husband”), is a piece of work, egging her daughter on with profanity-laced tirades and motivational negging. Ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) has mellowed a bit in the present day, but his fiery, mustachioed presence of yore gets a lot of mileage. And an unnamed producer (Bobby Canavale) of the ’90s tabloid news show Hard Copy fills in the blanks with maximum slickness. Not interviewed, but looming large, is Paul Walter Hauser as Shawn Eckhardt, Jeff’s close friend and Tonya’s supposed bodyguard, who earns the biggest laughs of the film, occasionally by just repeating verbatim some of Eckhardt’s most ridiculous claims (like how he is an expert in counterterrorism).

According to Tonya’s telling, there is one big constant: nothing is ever her fault. And certainly she has been a major victim, suffering at the hands of an abusive mother, an abusive husband, and a father who left her. Plus, there is the figure skating establishment that never accepted her, that would never hold up a white trash girl who performed to ZZ Top as their crown jewel. But for all the ways she has been wronged, it is so clear that she needs to shoulder some responsibility herself (as does anyone who wants to have peace). Yes, her ex beat her up, but she also pulled a shotgun on him (though she disputes that part). And sure, the stuffy figure skating establishment probably never gave her a fair chance, but she was intimidating and probably scared a few judges away from reasonability. Ultimately, Tonya implicates everyone watching in creating the monster she has come to be. To which I say: I don’t think you’re a monster! If Margot Robbie has portrayed you accurately, then I like you, Tonya! Chances are I won’t be the only one, as we all get to see the human within this crazy delicious mess.

I, Tonya is Recommended If You Like: The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, Tyson, Thelma & Louise

Grade: 4.5 out of 5 Triple Axels

SNL Review December 2, 2017: Saoirse Ronan/U2

December 3, 2017

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Alison Hale/NBC

This post was originally published on News Cult in December 2017.

Love It

The Race – Office culture really does turn on the most insignificant of dimes that look completely nonsensical from the outside. So why not ramp that up to 11? An eighties-by-way-of-algorithm aesthetic, confident jerkoffs running off together in unison, traumatic holes in pants – it’s all just so left of pastiche that it hits that surreal sweet spot that is Beck and Kyle’s forte so sweetly. A few touches that could be going overboard with the weird – Lindsay (Ronan) being a ghost (and its matter-of-fact acknowledgement), Mac from Mac and Me, a cameoing Greta Gerwig doing the old elevator gag – somehow work when in unison.

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