I'm a strange one...

I often find myself reading some of the most bizarre things, and not for any reason, per say. I was not assigned these readings bey a teacher or professor, nor am I required to read things for work. No, I genuinely enjoy reading some of the most "boring" things on Wikepedia. For instance, I just finished reading the - in my opinion quite interesting - entry on the International Civil Aviation Organization's airport and aircraft identification and naming conventions.

I genuinely find these types of things interesting! Am I weird? Perhaps. But I think we all have interests that are a bit off the beaten path, existing on the fringes of what might be considered "normal" or "mainstream" and I think that that is wonderful. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading,

- Dave

Review: Imitation Game (2014)

Breaking the unbreakable German code in World War II might seem like an impossible feat, but Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) is up for the challenge. Playing a socially awkward and misunderstood incarnation of the real man, Cumberbatch leads the cast of stellar characters that make up this film. While being predictable at times, the film still managed to throw me some twists that I didn't see coming, and entertained me through the entire movie.

The Imitation Game is about the life and work of British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, and follows his journey of attempting to break the "unbreakable" German code during World War II. The film explores his childhood, as well as the events after the war, and also looks at the personal relationships Turing built while building a machine that he hoped would be able to crack the code.

Turing's machine is considered to be the first mechanical computational device, and as such he is considered to be "the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence." (Beavers, Anthony 2013)

The film is a period piece, of course, and the sets and costume design was beautiful and, from what I can discern, fairly accurate. In addition, the overall production design was well done, and I really believed that the action was unfolding in mid 20th century England.

The acting was superb. By far the best part of the film, in my opinion, and Benedict Cumberbatch truly did an amazing job - not to over shadow the other actors in the film, however. Keira Knightly did a fantastic job as well, as did really the whole primary cast.

While the shining moments of the film are the highlight of the film, there were a few things that I was not as thrilled with, like the somewhat predictable plot (though some parts of the film did catch me by surprise) and the decent (but not amazing) score detracted a bit from the film, but not enough to prevent my recommendation.

Is it, as some have said, the "best British film of 2014?" Maybe, I'll be honest, I haven't seen that many British films this year. But is it good? Yes, yes it is. I would say that, despite the minor issues, and they are minor, this is well worth the watch.

The verdict?
7 out of 10 - Heartily Recomend

Merry Christmas!

I am not one for celebrating the holidays, but there is something about this time of year that is just very exciting. And, since it IS December 25, 2014, I thought I would make a quick post to say, happy holidays, merry Christmas, and I hope you all have an amazing holiday season! Here is a Christmas song I am a little
hooked on right now.



Talk soon,
- Dave

Chvrches

It is almost shameful that I have not written about this band before, as they are currently one of my favorite bands and well worth a post here on my blog. Chvrches, and yes, that is spelled correctly, is a Scottish electronic band that I have fallen in love with over the past few months. The band consists of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, and Martin Doherty and currently have 1 studio album, The Bones of What You Believe which was released in 2013.

For some reason, Chvrches is a band that manages to check off just about every item on my list of what makes a great band. Their music is great, they are good live (according to my extensive YouTube research) and they seem to just be really cool people, (again, YouTube research!)

So why them over so many others? Because they are different. I honestly don't think there is another band with quite such a unique sound. Sure, artists like Owl City and Lights have an electronic slanted pop sound, and artists like M83, David Guetta and Madeon lean heavily towards an electronic sound. However, there is not, to my knowledge, another artist or band that really blends the two (vocal/pop and electronic) quite so seamlessly and in such a beautiful way.

The other reason that I like the band is because they seem very down to earth, recording their music in a basement studio in Glasgow, as well as being active on social media and proactively interacting with fans.

Also, did I mention that their music is really good!?!?

Enough chatter, here is some of their music for you to enjoy!

 



Thanks so much for reading, and I will talk to you soon.

- Dave

Review Info

I often do film, music and TV reviews here, and as such have decided to create this post to explain my process. First, I will look at 1 main thing in whatever it might be I am reviewing. Did I personally, enjoy it. Yes, as with all reviews, the verdict will inevitably be based on my own taste and knowledge, however I do my best to explain my reasoning for those who care.

I also use a rating system that is a scale of 1 to 10, however I will almost never give anything a 1 or a 10. I will never give anything a 1 because no matter how I feel about something, someone put a lot of time and effort into creating it, and as such I do not believe it is really worth so little.

I will almost never give a 10 because I believe that everything can be improved upon and even the best art can someday lead to even better art. If you see me give something a 10, GO BUY/WATCH/LISTEN to that thing IMMEDIATELY!!!

One note is that, to keep myself from going insane and to make everything a little more even, I will only give whole number scores. No 6.5 or 7.3 bullshit. Basically, I will give something a score of 2 through 9 and rarely, very rarely, a 10.

Scoring is as such:

2 to 4 = Not Worth It

5 to 6 = Average / Worth Experiencing

7 to 8 = Pretty damn good / Recommend Heartily

9 to 10 = Amazing / Must Experience ASAP

As with all my posts, feel free to comment with any questions you might have.

My Review of Forev (2013 Film)

Forev is a film that was released more than a year ago, but for me, it recently came across my radar. I have been aware of, and a fan of Noel Wells since she was a cast member of Saturday Night Live for the 39th season. However I was not fully aware of her non-SNL work until recently. After finding out about this film, and then discovering that she was the lead character, I just had to watch it!

All things being considered, I feel like this was an all around good film. Not great, but not bad either. The story was good, and while introducing some original ideas and concepts, at its core I feel like it was a rather typical love story. Was it unique enough to keep me watching? Absolutely. But I could not help thinking about how I felt like I had seem much of it before, in one form or another. That is not, however, to say the story was bad. In fact, I found it quite charming, especially when combined with the acting, which I will get to in a moment.

The main concept is that a guy and a girl find themselves engaged after only a few hours as they embark on a road trip through Arizona. I will not go into detail here, both to avoid spoilers and to preserve the overall story for those of you who decide to watch the film after reading this, and also to prevent those of you who have already seen it from becoming bored or disinterested. Suffice it to say that the story was engaging enough to keep me interested, but was also generic enough that I saw just about every turn coming, and clearly at that.

Now for either the best or worst part, depending on your own taste; the acting. I found it charming and, for lack of a better word, "real," however I could also see it coming across as either fake or forced, as there were certain characters who were a little hard to believe.

That being said, I found the interaction between Sophie and Pete to be charming, believable and, at times, extremely funny. I think that all three leads, Noel Wells, Matt Mider, and Amanda Bauer all did fantastic jobs, and I cannot think of a better casting selection for this film, as all three worked so well together on screen, and their characters were believable and endearing.

On a more technical note, I think the editing, cinematography and production design were spot on. I have lived in Arizona, and I can appreciate the production team creating the look and feel of that area of the world. Granted, the likely filmed much of it on location in such areas as these, but still, well done. I also enjoyed the editing style and the overall atmosphere of the film. At times a tad loos in the editing, but for the film it worked, as a faster cut would have come across much more urgent than the film was.

And, it's an independent feature, which for me is a bonus. I find myself more and more enjoying films made independently of a major studio, and while such films can be a tad difficult to get your hands on, they are often well worth it, as in my experience, independent films are often the incubators for major changes and developments in the industry as a whole, and as such deserve and need our support so that filmmakers can continue to make advancements in an industry that is currently so focused on solely making money.

So what is the verdict on the film? That depends on you. For me, I liked it a lot. While there were flaws, such as a somewhat generic love story and a few missed opportunities for experimenting a little more, the film, as a whole, worked well, and told a story well, which is really all one can ask of a movie.

Was it the best film ever, no. It was a good attempt at a new approach to a love story that just fell a little short. I do recommend it, however, as a good film that tells a good story, with good acting and good production design and execution. Get my general feel for the film yet? Yah, it was good. Simple as that.

At the end of the day, all one can really ask of a film is that it tells a story in an entertaining and engaging way, and Forev does just that. It is an overall well made film that kept me watching throughout, even if I could often tell what was about to happen.

The verdict?
Pretty damn good / Recommend Heartily

7 out of 10