My wallet hates me right now. 
  
Where to begin. In the past month or so I've been buying DVD's on almost a weekly basis. It started with the 15th Anniversary edition of Reservoir Dogs for $10, then Pulp Fiction for $15, then Requiem for a Dream. Then, last weekend, I was faced with yet another irresistible deal: buy one get one free on a table full of TV seasons. I settled on seasons one and two of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and as my freebie? Well, you may remember Beavis and Butthead: The Mike Judge Collection from a few years ago. Well, the collection had three volumes, each of which were sold separately initially, but were boxed up with the movie "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" for the hefty sum of $120 that holiday. To make a long story short, the set was marked down to $40, the same price as the Sunny season. I snatched it, having been a fan of the show for years now. In my twisted little mind, that show puts nearly every other animated comedy to shame. 
 
Oh, and that game Modern Warfare 2 came out last week. I went all out. Midnight launch? Yup. I gotta say, the guys at the midnight launch were......enthusiastic? There was nearly a brawl over PS3 vs 360, and the grueling two hour wait left me to believe that most of the bickering fanboys had forgotten that they no longer had keyboards in front of them. Yeah, there were a bunch of tools there.  But it all worked out in the end, I got my prestige edition quickly after midnight, and played all night, and all of the following day. 
 
You all know about the game. It's awesome, nothing more needs to be said. I will say this though: the night vision goggles are pretty sweet. They work well enough, and are a lot of fun to fuck around with with your friends. 
 
So after I bought the prestige edition, I made myself a bit of a promise: this will be my last big purchase before the holidays (I have gifts to buy and such). Well, that promise lasted all of a week when it was announced that Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament were coming to town on February 14th, and tickets were only $20 (after fees of course). There will indeed be thrashing all around that night. I can't wait. 
 
Even after all of these purchases, there lies two more in my future: L4D2 and Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut. I was going to hold off until Christmas for L4D2, but the $35 price tag at Best Buy for black friday was just too good to pass up. I'm having oral surgery that morning (more on that in a sec) so I'm leaving my copy in the hands of my friends, hopefully they're able to snag one for me. As for Watchmen, the five disc collector's edition is just to appealing to pass up. Having seen the director's cut already, my love for that film has only increased. I can't wait to see how the Black Freighter stuff is woven in. Four hours of pure heaven in my book. 
 
Finally, there's that bit about the oral surgery. Nothing drastic, of course, just getting the old wisdown teeth out before they go on to be a major pain in the ass down the road. I'm happy to have the little fuckers out, as they hurt like a bitch when they were coming in. Needless to say I'll be doing a lot of gaming in between icing my face. MW2 and L4D2 will recieve heavy rotation.  
 
Well, that's about it for me. Nothing else to report, hope you all are having a great time with all of the great games coming out this holiday season.  
 
Until next time, 
 
-Everyones_A_Critic

Richard Kelly’s latest film after the lackluster Southland Tales brings him back into the realm of mind-fucks and bizarre coincidence last seen in the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko. The Box, starring Cameron Diaz and James Mardsen, is a mostly successful tale that Darko fans are sure to enjoy, provided they don’t think too hard about it.

The film is centered around a couple (Diaz and Mardsen) in 1970’s Virginia who have almost lost it all financially. Just hours after receiving a mysterious box on their doorstep in the early morning, Diaz’s character Norma Lewis loses her faculty tuition discount at the preppy school she teaches at. Her husband Arthur is denied entry into NASA as an astronaut, and the two are thrown into a world of financial uncertainty. That is, until Arlington Steward, played wonderfully by Frank Langella, pays them a visit.

Steward makes them an offer you’ve undoubtedly heard one hundred times now: if they push the button mechanism he gives them, someone whom they don’t know dies, and they win a cool million for their troubles. If they don’t nothing happens and Steward simply leaves the couple to live paycheck to paycheck. Funny how fate works, eh?

Now, that part of the plot is all that the trailers are willing to tell you, and it’s all I will tell you as well. Let me just say this: the film is far more than a simple decision. Much like Darko before it, The Box raises a lot of questions, many that get answered but still some that are left for you to answer yourself. Some may consider it a cop out; I considered it an invitation for discussion when the film ended.

This is where the reception will ultimately be divided. There is a moment or two in the film where we’re left shaking our heads or wondering why the characters act the way they do. While I’m usually a big fan of analyzing films, this is just one of those movies where you have to “go with it”. If it doesn’t make sense, wait. Eventually, it will. Many will criticize the film for inconsistencies with the plot, and rightfully so. However, if you accept these inconsistencies as simply part of the film, you’re bound to enjoy it for the two hours it has you sucked in.  

The performances are, for the most part, quite good. Mardsen’s portrayal of Arthur was particularly well done, and he creates a genuinely likeable character. Diaz does a fine job with her role, though her southern accent tended to feel forced and sometimes hokey at different parts of the film. She manages to keep it up throughout, but it isn’t without its pitfalls. Langella’s Steward is both a charming and at times menacing character, and it’s nice to see him getting some work after Frost/Nixon.

During the film’s two hour running time I never lost the feeling that Kelly truly cares for this genre, and that this film was a labor of love. Much like how JJ Abram’s Star Trek paid homage to one of television’s most timeless series, Kelly’s adaptation of the Twilight Zone episode “Button Button” (adapted from a short story before it) feels like an ode to Rod Serling’s classic series. Kelly is reverent to himself and to his idols, and while The Box may boast a PG-13 rating and some cheesy trailers, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Overall score: 4/5

TL;DR: More accessible to newcomers than Darko before it, The Box is an interesting thriller, provided you go along with the sometimes absurd plot and bizarre sequences. With this in mind, it is a film that can be appreciated by Darko fanatics and newcomers alike.    

Last night I saw what can only be described as the loudest show I've ever been to. The venue was superb, and I was right above the stage in a balcony with the perfect view. There were mosh pits, crowd surfers, and unfortunately juggaloes (I guess you can never escape them) and it was a hell of a night all around. Here's my review of the show band by band:  
 
-High on Fire: I had heard some of their songs through my friends, though the only one I really knew was "Fury Whip" which they opened with. They sounded fine, and the whole band just seems like a bunch of really cool guys. I found myself often fixated on the drummer, who was going absolutely apeshit.  
 
-Converge: I hadn't bothered to get into these guys before the show, mainly because I'm not a huge hardcore fan (or whatever genre you want to put them in, don't flame me). While musically they sounded really tight, the vocals were just noise to me. I will give them this, they had the greatest stage prescence out of any band that had played that night. Jacob Bannon, the singer, was whipping the mic around like a nunchuck (spelling fail) never stayed in the same place for more than a few seconds. At one point he called out to a guy in face paint (more than likely Juggalo paint) and asked what his favorite metal band was. He responded "Dinmu Boigeer". Bannon responded with "It's Dimmu Borgir, and you call yourself a fucking fan?!" and then continued to thrash about the stage. Even though I didn't know the music, the show they put on made up for it. 
 
-Mastodon: You can go ahead and say it: I'm a bandwagon Mastodon fan. I loved Crack the Skye when it came out earlier this year, and hearing the entire album live was absolutely phenomenal. I got goosebumps when the opening keyboard for "The Czar" came on. The trippy video that played in the background was immersive and proved to be a very effective addition to the performance. After Crack the Skye finished, they played a set of five or so songs from their previous albums, one from Blood Mountain, two from Leviathan, and two from Remission (MOTHER PUNCHER!!!). They closed on a Melvins cover (I think?).  
 
While Mastodon is a group of very talented musicians, I felt that they weren't very lively on stage. It was pretty awesome to see Brann Dailor going nuts on his drum kit, but the rest of the band just sort of stood there. Troy Sanders would occassionaly look out to the crowd to throw up the metal horns, but other than that they really didn't do much. Brann threw his drumsticks out to the crowd at the end, and they only said three words during their whole set: "See You Tommorow." It was great to see them live, but I kind of wish they had said.....something. 
 
-Dethklok: After an intermission/backstage view of the band, Brendon Small came out and opened with "Blood Ties". Their set was pretty well divided between old and new material. All of the best songs from The Dethalbum were played like Awaken, Birthday Dethday, Thunderhorse, Murmaider, Hatredcopter, and Fansong. Awaken and Murmaider were particularly fun live, as they got the crowd involved. Awakening ancient trolls and listing off weapons to kill mermaids with is pretty fun when you're screaming it in a packed venue. The Gears, Burn the Earth, and Dethsupport were also played from the Dethalbum II. They were fun to see, but I think Mastodon had the best set over all.  
 
So it was a phenomenal show all things considered. 
 
Have you seen any of these bands live? Do you have any stories from the shows?

There are those that love the Saw franchise, and those that loath it. Some will be in line for the midnight showing of the latest film, while others blame it for singlehandedly starting off the “gorno” sub-genre and defacing the horror genre. Still there are others like myself that watch each film each year simply out of curiosity. What character have they resurrected this time? What crazy traps do they have this year? How do they plan on confusing us even more? After the third installment I’ve been largely indifferent on the franchise. I don’t explicitly hate it, but the bloated plot lines and increasingly dull traps have shortened my level of patience for this once proud series (by which I mean the first two films).

Still, Lionsgate pumps a new film out each year the weekend before Halloween like clockwork, and people still flock to the cinema opening weekend to check them out. After the abysmal 5 installment you’d think you’d be hard pressed to find anything likeable about another sequel, and you’d be right. The problem with this is that I didn’t really find much to hate either. The film certainly won’t earn any new converts, but the fans of previous films will undoubtedly like it more than the last film, and will probably find something to like about it.

Don’t get me wrong here, Saw VI has a lot of flaws, most of which stem from its convoluted and now absurd plot line. Now that Agent Strahm is dead Agent Hoffman is now Jigsaw’s last living apprentice. The film revolves around Hoffman covering his tracks, blaming his crimes on the dead Strahm and making sure the “last” pieces of Jigsaw’s game fall into place. All the while the insurance mogul who denied Jigsaw coverage is put through a series of grueling tests for his “crimes” against the sick people he has denied coverage to. Poor use of political commentary aside, series veterans will know exactly what to expect here. William the insurance agent is faced with decisions that will leave one or more people dead but will save the life(s) of others in the process.

The strangest part of the film is that despite the constant jump between storylines, nothing really ever gets answered. Yes, the contents of the box revealed in Saw V are revealed, but we’re never told why they’re there and why they’re used on whom they’re used on. It’s a shame, because there’s little pay off. I expected something to be in the box worthy of a year’s wait, but ended up feeling ripped-off and confused.

Even if you go with the loony story line to see the traps, there’s a noticeable decrease in quality with each test. One of these is a maze where the subject must walk through white hot jets of steam to reach the end. The trap feels like it was ripped straight from a video game, and demonstrates that the filmmakers have been running out of ideas since Saw IV. Another trap has two subjects having to place a pound of flesh onto a scale to grant their freedom. This reminded me of a very similar scene in a far superior movie: 1995’s Seven. In that film, a lawyer is forced to give a pound of flesh as an act of contrition for their ‘crimes” against society. The only difference between the two is the subject’s job description. Even the carousel trap from the posters is disappointing, and being one of the last traps of the film makes it even worse.

Even with all the negative aspects of the film, and the sheer lack of positive ones, I still felt my eyes glued to the screen. I didn’t check my phone to see what time it was, and I never really found myself bored. At the very least, it didn’t overstay its welcome. Fans of the previous entries will probably like this, but newcomers will hate it and ultimately just become more confused as to why we watch these every year.