Reviews by MikeMaroon

MikeMaroon says "Up, Up and Away My Beautiful, My Beautiful Balloons." about Up

MikeMaroon — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:40:13 GMT

Pixar Animation Studios' UP is one of the reasons I bought a Blu-Ray player. The lastest, greatest visual feast cooked up by Pixar's animators dazzles with it's rich, layered textures that are as bright as the balloons carrying Carl's house to South America.

If you don't know by now that quality and Pixar are virtual synonyms, then you just haven't been paying attention. For, while the new animation is detailed and breath taking, they really take a back seat to the story.

UP, opens with a young Carl Fredrickson(voiced by Lou Grant, er Ed Asner) watching a MovieTone news real (excellently crafted by the animators to make us wonder if it's real footage at first) featuring his hero and all around explorer Charles F. Muntz (Christopher Plummer). The reel is significant to our story as it dipicts Muntz being disgraced when scientists examining his latest find deem it a fake. Muntz vows to return to the place he got the skeleton and come back with the real thing, to vindicate himself. ...

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MikeMaroon says "You WISH Your High School Glee Club Sounded this Good" about Glee: The Music Vol. 1 [11/3] by Original TV Soundtrack

MikeMaroon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:51:57 GMT

One of the unexpected and exciting things that happened just after the debut of the new Fox TV series "Glee", was the songs performed on the show immediately shot to the top of th ITunes sales charts. It's easy to see why. While an album of covers by the cast of a sitcom could have easily been a karaoke CD, these performers are much too talented to let that happen.

Glee: The Music, Volume 1 features performances from the show by the cast members. And those cast member got some pipes. In case you don't know the TV show, and you should, I reviewed that earlier, that Glee. It's one of the best new shows of the season, in large part because of the excellent musical numbers performed by the cast, who include Broadway vets Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison. This first in a series of albums of music from the show is an immediate Top 10 hit on the ITunes album chart, and for good reason. This is an eclectic bunch of songs representing a lot of genres from classic rock to pop to hip...

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MikeMaroon says "Finding Hope in The Worst Kind of Personal Tragedy." about Steven Curtis Chapman - Beauty Will Rise

MikeMaroon — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:21:39 GMT

May 21, 2008 was to be a special day at the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Steven Curtis and Mary Beth were about to celebrate both their daughter's engagement and the high school graduation of their eldest son. Then, something horrible happened. As one of their sons pulled into the driveway he didn't see his little 5-year old sister Maria. His vehicle struck and killed her, leaving Christian music's most successful singer/songwriter to cope with unspeakable pain, the loss of one child and to father another through heart-numbing guilt. I myself have a 5-year-old little girl and the thought of such a thing is something I cannot bear.

Beauty Will Rise is Mr Chapman's love letter to his lost little girl and a raw look at him working through his pain. With sparse arraignments and acoustic guitar, he publicly wrestles with pain only a father who has lost a child can experience.

He said that, after he lost Maria, he honestly...

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MikeMaroon says "Play On, Carrie, Play On." about Play On [11/3] * by Carrie Underwood

MikeMaroon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:26:01 GMT

It is my belief Carrie Underwood is the best singer to graduate from American Idol. She has an almost perfect voice and the range of Celine Dion. Loves ya Kelly. Respects ya Adam. But Carrie, she da man, er, woman. She really showcases those gorgeous pipes of hers on Play On, her third and definitely most pop-leaning album yet. Shania, watch your back.

And Ms Underwood went to the studio determined to hit a massive homerun this time. She very nearly succeeds. Bringing in the the ringers, like producers Mike Elizondo and Max Martin along with writers Brett James, Tom Shapiro, and Paul Overstreet, Carrie presents us with an eclectic group of songs that sometimes feels like pandering but mostly feels like a nice variety.

Kicking things off with her already huge radio hit, Cowboy Casanova, Elizondo imparts a juiced-up dance hall flavor that sounds like an attempt to bring back line-dancing. With Underwood's booming vocals, this "warning" song is sure to have urban cowboys...

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MikeMaroon says "It's a Great Day for America Everybody! Ferguson Wrote a Book!" about American On Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot

MikeMaroon — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:48:27 GMT

I like biographies. Always have. One of the first ones I remember reading was about Hammerin' Hank Aaron. Don't remember the title, but if you don't know who he is, you must not be American. But Craig Ferguson is, and he's proud of it. American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot is the story of how a young man born in Glasgow, Scotland realized a dream he formulated very early in life, to come to America. See he had, and apparently still has, a view of this county only someone who wasn't raised here can have. That it's the best place in the world to be living. Unlike an awful lot of us, he considers himself lucky to be an American.

Telling us right in the preface that, "This is not journalism. This is just my story.", Mr Ferguson proceeds to craft a fine piece of writing that spares us the self-indulgent "pat-my-own-back" mentality found in a lot of Hollywood memoirs. What we get, instead is the man who became famous as Mr. Wick on the Drew...

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MikeMaroon says "Zombies- the new Kings of Comedy" about Zombieland

MikeMaroon — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:47:35 GMT

Zombieland sounds like some sort of twisted amusement park and it kinda is. It's also a major motion picture of the horror-comedy variety. "What?!?", you say? That's right. You can now say to the missus or mr., "Let's go see us a funny zombie movie! That thar Zombieland!" and not be drunk when you say it! See, the world caught a virus and it turned most everyone into the modern zombie type. You know, the ones from 28 Days Later who aren't undead, but are, instead, the worst most unimaginable sort of insane. Not only are they insane flesh eaters, but they are fast! And in Zombieland they are simply served up as splatter fodder to help move the story along.

Zombieland is really about a road trip. And it all starts with a character played by Jesse Eisenberg, who also narrates the film. See, he's somehow survived this zombie apocolypse, and he tells us how he did that as he pulls into a gas station in Texas to find a bathroom. In fact, he's compiled a "Zombie Survival...

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MikeMaroon says "Elton Transforms from Singer-Song Writer to Pop Superstar" about Elton John - Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

MikeMaroon — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:41:48 GMT

Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player doesn't often appear on anyone's list of Elton John's top five albums. It is, however one of his strongest works and, in 1973, its release marked an important turning point in his career. Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player was his sixth studio release and second number one album in the U.S. (his previous release, Honky Chateau, was the first). More importantly, though, while Honky Chateau made EJ a superstar, this is the one revealing Elton as a true POP superstar.

Now, people like to knock pop music and often rightfully so. But, some pop music is very well done. John was a huge star in the mid 1970's largely because his pop melodies were so well-crafted. What's really amazing is, he and lyricist Bernie Taupin almost always (and still do) work from different locations with Taupin sending him the lyric and Elton putting a melody to it, often in less than a half hour, yet the music almost always seems a perfect fit to the words....

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MikeMaroon says "In the Midst of Breaking Up, The Beatles Come Together" about The Beatles - Abbey Road (Remastered 2009)

MikeMaroon — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:11:53 GMT

The Beatles are indisputably(although someone will ALWAYS try and dispute anything) the greatest band in the history of popular music. To argue otherwise simply proves you have no idea what you are talking about. In 2003 Rolling Stone magazine compiled their list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" Five of the Top 10 belong to, you guessed it, The Beatles. While Abby Road comes in at number 14 on that list, it remains one of that groups most important albums simply because it was the last time John, Paul, George and Ringo ever recorded together. Let it Be (#86 on the list) was the last album released by the Beatles, but they actually recorded it before this one. Also, the album cover itself is iconic. How many times that scene been borrowed?

In case you haven't heard, 40 years after the band broke up, Beatlemania is once again sweeping the nation. That's because, finally, 22 years after their catalog was released on CD, in far inferior form, it was released again, this...

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MikeMaroon says "Following a Revival with a Ride in the Country" about The Blue Ridge Rangers: Rides Again by John Fogerty

MikeMaroon — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:13:52 GMT

John Fogarty no longer has to prove he can write killer songs, so, he resurrects his Blue Ridge Rangers for a collection of mostly covers. And, you don't have to listen to those early CCR records very long to realize Fogarty always was a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. His follow up to the 2007's excellent Revival album. The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again is essentially the sequel to his 1973 album, you guessed it, The Blue Ridge Rangers. That album was his first solo record after the demise of that obscure little band, Credence Clearwater Revival. Since CCR was considered kind of a swamp rock band, Fogarty distanced himself from that with his album of country covers (including songs like Jambalya by Hank Williams, which was a hit off that album). And even though he promoted as a band, truth is ole John played all the instrument on that album.

The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again is somewhat more of the same, with a John Fogarty tune thrown in, except he doesn't...

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MikeMaroon says "Watching Movies the way they should be watched." about LG BD370 BLU RAY PLAYER

MikeMaroon — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:45:01 GMT

Okay, here's the deal. I've always been an early adapter of new technology. The problem with that is, when you rush right out and get the newest thing, you often wind up with the tech problems that come with unproven stuff. On the other hand, being the first to have something can be cool. I've experienced both those things. One of the prime examples, for me, was back in the early 1980s when VHS and Betamax video players came out. This development was exciting because being able to watch theatrical release movies in your own home, at your convenience was unheard of. HBO existed in those days, but, to watch a movie you had to be in front of the TV when when they were showing it. I was in Germany at the time and I chose Betamax because the handful of friends I had at Zwiebrucken AB had already chosen that format. Well, you know how THAT went. Those people transferred back to the states and VHS overwhelmingly won the video battle. It wasn't very long before I was a Betamax...

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MikeMaroon says "Bobcat Goldthwait's Darkly Twisted Lessons on Life....." about World's Greatest Dad

MikeMaroon — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:31:24 GMT

Ah, technology. World's Greatest Dad is a small film I wouldn't have gotten to see a few years ago until it hit the stores on DVD/Blu-Ray because it is only in limited release. The closest city having a theater showing it is Atlanta. As much as I love movies 110 miles is what we call "a fur piece" to go. Fortunately for me, Comcast cable (and that's not a plug, just a fact) now features, on its On Demand channel some smaller, limited release movies currently in theaters. Cool. For $6.99, which is less than it costs to go to the movies, I was able to sit in my living room an watch a current release in HD.

Imagine you are a single father to a 17 year old kid even a mother couldn't love. As World's Greatest Dad opens we learn that Lance Clayton (Robin Williams) is a forever frustrated writer, with several novels and a drawer full of rejection letters to accompany them. And like every writer I know, for him the creativity itself is not fulfillment. He wants readers. ...

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MikeMaroon says "Gonna be doing one thing and one thing only....killing NAH-zees!" about Inglourious Basterds

MikeMaroon — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:19:24 GMT

If you've ever seen a Quentin Tarantino film, you know you can describe them in many ways, but one adjective that never applies is "subtle". His latest, Inglourious Basterds, suffers no lapses in that department. What it is, though, is pretty good revisionist history entertainment.

Seeming to take at least some of his inspiration from spaghetti westerns, in particular The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Tarentino has re-created history as we would like to have seen it, a WWII with the Germans afraid of the Jews, and for good reason. I mean, let's face it, the one group of people you can relentlessly slaughter in a movie and raise the objection of no one is the Nazis. Or, as Indiana Jones so famously said of them, "I hate those guys."

Inglourious Basterds opens to the beautiful scenery of the French countryside in 1941. The occupied French countryside, and more specifically at the home of a dairy farmer, Pierre LaPadite (Denis Menochet) and his three lovely daughters. Soon he comes...

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MikeMaroon says "He's Got That Something Special, That King George" about Twang [8/11] * by George Strait

MikeMaroon — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:34:08 GMT

It's a testament to his iconic status that George Strait, at age 57, has the same number of number one hit singles as his age. Hell, most artists aren't even getting airplay at that age. But, George Strait isn't just any artist. No sir, he's King George, and, ask around all you want, but you won't find a single knowledgeable person who will dispute that title. Since 1981 and his first single Unwound, George has been a mainstay at the top of the country music charts while guys like Garth Brooks and Randy Travis (both GREAT artists, by the way) have come and gone. And with 38 albums going gold or platinum during those 28 years, he's had more hit records than anyone but Elvis and the Beatles. Oh, and 57 number one singles? That's more than anybody. ever. ANYBODY.

Twang is Strait's 38th album and it continues his long streak of excellence with a few surprises. The thing about a George Strait record, you see, is you know you're gonna get a bunch of good music with a traditional...

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MikeMaroon says "There's everything to LOVE about LIVE on the INSIDE" about Sugarland - LIVE on the Inside

MikeMaroon — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:43:26 GMT

Taking their cue from a couple of recent successful rock bands (AC/DC and Eagles), Sugarland has chosen to release their latest album exclusively at Wal Mart. Now, I'm NO fan of Wal Mart, but I am a fan of Sugarland so I took my little self down there to snag a copy of this CD/DVD set, LIVE on the Inside.

LIVE on the Inside, the CD, is just what is sounds like, a compilation of concert performances from places like Lexington, KY; Alberta, Canada; Austin, TX; Atlanta, GA and Minneapolis, MN. What might surprise you about it is all the covers of well-known rock artist songs included in this set. It really shouldn't surprise, though, because their last studio album Love on the Inside, was all over the place musically and rock influences were stamped all over it. In fact, right before jumping right into a cover of Eddie Vedder's Better Man, Nettles tells the crowd she's spotted two ladies down front wearing Led Zeppelin and Clash tee shirts and she loves that because, "it's all...

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MikeMaroon says "Cooked Up Slick Country-Pop. Missing Some Ingredients." about Gloriana - Gloriana

MikeMaroon — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:02:28 GMT

Let a band like Little Big Town taste a little success and, invariably, another group will come along and try to be them, too. So it goes with Gloriana. The problem is, the former seems organic whereas the latter seems to be manufactured and over produced.

Brothers Tom and Mike Gossin form the core of the band, which also includes former winner of the America's Most Talented Kid reality show, Chyenne Kimbal and Georgia native Rachel Reinert. The band Gloriana came into existence in 2008 and appears to have been rushed through the "photogenic twenty-something harmonizing pop/country band" assembly line. The members of the band had a hand in writing only one, the last, track on the album. Instead the bulk of it was co-written by the man who produced this collection, Matt Serletic. Now the man is no slouch, having worked with acts like Matchbox Twenty and Blessed Union of Souls, but the problem is a young band singing other people's songs with slick production is gonna sound...

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MikeMaroon says "Funny People aren't Always Funny, especially when they are dyin'" about "FUNNY PEOPLE"

MikeMaroon — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:01:40 GMT

I used to think of Adam Sandler as a comedian who made some movies. After watching him in the new Judd Apatow film, I think I'll start thinking of him as an actor who does comedy. I knew he could act from seeing the film Punch Drunk Love, which really wasn't seen by a lot of people. But, playing a comedian who's life is really not very funny in Funny People, Sandler proves he has the chops to make dramatic films. He's Billy Madison no more.

Apatow drew on his own experiences as a struggling stand up comedian to formulate a story about a big star who winds up mentoring a young, struggling comedian and learning something in the process.

If you go to Funny People looking for another Knocked Up, 40-year Old Virgin or Talledega Nights, you will leave disappointed. Oh the laughs and vulgarity are there alright. They just don't take center stage in Funny People. No, for all the scenes involving stand-up comedy and James Taylor dropping the "F" Bomb, it's the drama that steals...

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MikeMaroon says "A Rod is as Good as a Mick-to The Faces and Ronnie Wood" about A Nod is As Good As a Wink... To a Blind Horse by The Faces

MikeMaroon — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:30:38 GMT

I decided it would be fun to occasionally review an old classic album because, well, that's how I roll. And rock. So, let me introduce you to what is easily one of the 20 or 25 best rock albums ever recorded. A Nod is As Good as a Wink..To a Blind Horse is the third album by The Faces and brother, it is the very definition of CLASSIC rock.

Riding the tail-end of the British Invasion of the late 1960's, left over members from the groups Small Faces and The Jeff Beck Group team to form The Faces. You may not recognize most of the band members but two of them you know for sure. Rod Stewart, who of course went on to iconic status as a solo artist and Ronnie Wood, now a long time member of the Rolling Stones, were the new members added to form a rock band that, although they released a grand total of four albums, are accorded almost legendary status by some fans.

Perhaps that's because The Faces embodied everything people thought a rock group ought to be and you can hear it all right...

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MikeMaroon says "Soaring on the wings of infectious retro hooks." about Brooke White - High Hopes and Heartbreak

MikeMaroon — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:08:08 GMT

Brooke White's first post-Idol album, High Hopes and Heartbreak isn't likely to be a huge hit with the Top-40 crowd because it's not hip hop or modern rock enough. Shoot, at all! But, its still possibly the best album out there by an Idol alum. There. I said it.

The reason she finished fifth on American Idol Season 7 is not because she wasn't talented enough to be the American Idol, but because she weren't modern enough. Channeling her inner Carole King and a whole host of other retro influences she's delivered an album full of songs sure to remain in the heads of any listener for hours. Can't ask for more than that.

High Hopes and Heartbreak is chock full of the very things we came to love about the lovely Ms White as the Idol season wore on. First we couldn't help but love her sweet naive charm only enhanced by that big radiant "everything is always groovy" smile. But it was her music, so off-handedly different from the slick pop-rock productions everyone else was throwing...

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MikeMaroon says "This printer does pretty much everything except pour me a drink" about Canon PIXMA MP620B

MikeMaroon — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:10:36 GMT

I've always had a computer in my home since, oh, about 1982 when I bought a Commodore 64 while stationed in Germany. I've owned various types and models of printers, from an Okidata Dot Matrix to a thermal printer of some brand I can't remember. I've had Epson, HP and Lexmark printers. I've watched them all evolve over the years and, like most computer related technology, they just keep getting better and cheaper. Lucky us.

For the last 7 or 8 years, though, I've pretty much been a Canon man. Why, you ask? Because they consistently have found a way to build a better mousetrap. My last 4 printers have been Canons and each one has served me well, right up until I needed to get a new one, for whatever reason. This time, my Canon PIXMA MP450, a little over 2 years old, was working just fine, but it lacked a feature I suddenly found myself needing. Wireless capability. We had just gotten a new laptop and it was needed for school work. So, we could either put documents...

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MikeMaroon says "He's Done It Again" about Brad Paisley - American Saturday Night

MikeMaroon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:34:02 GMT

You may or may not know Brad Paisley holds the record for most consecutive number 1 singles in the Soundscan Era (since Nielson started counting record sales electronically, in 1991). The streak is current and stands at 10 with the recent ascent to the chart throne by his latest single, Then from his new disc, American Saturday Night. And I'm here to tell you, there's a fair chance that streak ain't over. There's no way to know for sure where a song is gonna peak on the charts, but American Satruday Night promises to cough up several more singles with a chance to reach the top.

In fact, I'm not sure Paisley is able to put out a bad album. He's released 8 so far, and exactly 8 of them have been keepers. If, when looking back 15 years from now, Brad Paisley hasn't had a career mirroring the likes of George Strait and Alan Jackson, I'll be a monkey's uncle. Well, I do have that one nephew, Ralphie, but we don't claim it, er, him.

American Saturday Night, in spite of the raucous...

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