The 100 Greatest Movies of the 00's

1. The Dark Knight

2. Memento

3. The Lord of the Rings

4. Tropic Thunder

5. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

6. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

7. Zombieland

8. Spider-Man

9. Black Hawk Down

10. High Fidelity

11. The Departed

12. (500) Days of Summer

13. Wedding Crashers

14. Inside Man

15. Love Actually

16. Atonement

17. Shaun of the Dead

18. Hellboy

19. Funny People

20. 300

21. Pan's Labyrinth

22. Inglourious Basterds

23. There Will Be Blood

24. American Gangster

25. Gran Torino

26. Sin City

27. District 9

28. Flags of Our Fathers

29. Elizabethtown

30. Gladiator

31. Superbad

32. Drag Me to Hell

33. Almost Famous

34. Watchmen

35. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

36. Traffic

37. Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith

38. Bend it Like Beckham

39. Knocked Up

40. Gangs of New York

41. School of Rock

42. Hancock

43. Up in the Air

44. Wall-E

45. Slumdog Millionaire

46. Letters from Iwo Jima

47. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

48. Waitress

49. Pineapple Express

50. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

51. Grindhouse

52. 2012

53. Garden State

54. Catch Me if You Can

55. Dead Snow

56. American Dreamz

57. Murderball

58. The Incredibles

59. Iron Man

60. Legally Blonde

61. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

62. Pootie Tang

63. Supersize Me

64. Snakes on a Plane

65. Fahrenheit 9/11

66. Zoolander

67. Up

68. V for Vendetta

69. Mean Girls

70. Idiocracy

71. Closer

72. Eastern Promises

73. Hot Fuzz

74. Saved!

75. Brick

76. Juno

77. Zach and Miri Make a Porno

78. Munich

79. Sunshine Cleaning

80. Bring it On

81. Half Nelson

82. Maria Full of Grace

83. Team America: World Police

84. Blue Crush

85. Fanboys

86. Couples Retreat

87. American Pie 2

88. Orange County

89. The Rundown

90. A Walk to Remember

91. Lars and the Real Girl

92. Serenity

93. Punch Drunk Love

94. The Hurt Locker

95. Dedication

96. Remember the Titans

97. Little Nicky

98. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

99. Avatar

100. Red Eye

I Want My Music Television vol. XC

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Madder Red – Yeasayer



I guess we have Yeasayer to thank for giving us a little insight as how Kristen Bell could date Dax Sheppard.


Wake Up Everybody - John Legend, The Roots featuring Common and Melanie Fiona



I do not know exactly where they find the time, but color me excited for a collaboration album between The Roots and John Legend. Hopefully Legend carved out a week to join The Roots on Late Night to perform a bunch of the songs.


(Expletive Delete) You – Cee-Lo



Expletive lyrics have not been this catchy since Closer by Nine Inch Nails. Thank you Cee-Lo for raising my chances of getting mouth washed out with soap in the near future.


Bushwick Blues - Delta Spirit



Hurmph. I actually thought something was actually going to happen, but it was all build up and no payoff from Delta Spirit. At least the song is pretty decent.

Previewing Witness: Katrina

It is hard to believe we are already upon the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina which was officially classified as one five years ago today. It took another week before it wrecked havoc on the gulf coast where things still are not back to normal in placed she hit. Tonight at 9:00 the National Geographic Channel is taking a look back at the storm literally through the eyes of people who lived through it with Witness: Katrina.

All of the footage show will come from those on the scene from amateur cameramen documenting how they try to live through the storm throughout the Gulf Coast (but mostly focusing on New Orleans), filming as water rises above their waste, walls getting blown down and even the Superdome falling around them. The footage ranges over seventy-two hours of the storm starting with a bunch of hippies mocking at how un-scary a hurricane named Katrina sounds to hours after the storm passes as we join residents trying to rescue their neighbors who stayed with their house.

It is good they the show stays in first person for just the prelude, the storm, and in immediate aftermath so the special isn’t bogged down with the finger pointing, celebrities getting stuck in a boat or dudes with the nickname Brownie that came afterward, just an unfiltered account of real people in the path of the hurricane. The only addenda we get are an update of how the videographers are doing today. Check out a preview of Witness: Katrina below.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. CXLIV

Quote of the Week: Hey Seth, South Park called, they want their everything back. (Jeff Ross – The Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff)

Song of the Week: Hooked On a Feeling - Blue Swede (as sung by David Hasselhoff, The Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff)

Big News of the Week: It’s Allergy Season: There are very things I hate more than allergy season. I just want to stay in bed until the first frost.

Leverage: Two themes are emerging from this season; the plot either revolves around daddy issues or a ripped from the headlines stories. This week was the latter but I assume due to budgeting, I assume they moved an off shore drilling explosion into a mine because the explosion was already pretty lame. Too bad there isn’t a real Leverage team to get payback on BP for raping the environment. You can stream recent episodes on TNT.tv. You can also download Leverage on iTunes.

Rescue Me: I never thought Needles had that in him. But I wonder if there will be repercussions from above like the other captain makes it sound like (my guess is yes). And Tommy just cannot be content, I never thought the Sheila moratorium would last, but I thought it would go past one hour. And Janet should deserve some blame as she should have realized that the “goodbye” wouldn’t go well. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Rescue Me on iTunes.

Covert Affairs: Another Joe McCoy red herring. When he popped up earlier this season on The Closer I would have bet he was the killer of the week, but alas he wasn’t. Then this week I would have bet he was going to turn out to be the leak, but of course he just turned out to be another horny Congressman (and I assume a Democratic one because most Republican sex scandals involve dudes). You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Covert Affairs on iTunes.

Free Download of the Week: White Lies - Stacy Clark (iTunes): For fans of peppy pop and if you enjoy this song, there is another song from Stacy Clark on the Vanguard Records Sounds of Summer Sampler) which I mentioned a couple weeks ago.

Deal of the Week: Save on DVDs from the Stars of The Expendables (Point Break, multiple Rambos, Terminator 2)

Video of the Week: Not once, but twice, I saw a trailer this week and though “this reminds me of Showgirls.” Maybe not the best sign of things to come at the local multiplex. First, and most obvious Showgirls rip of is Burlesque which features Christina Aguilera’s acting debut and Kristen Bell. Looking at the tailer, it looks like we will finally get the answer to what Showgirls would look like would if it were written by a gay dude.

Burlesque Trailer


And the next one is a little bit of a stretch, but I guess it is the whole dancer gets replaced plot, but I get strong Showgirls vibe from Black Swan, the thriller from the dude who have us The Wrestler and stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Of course this movie would be from the Gina Gershon perspective. And what the frack is with that last scene in the trailer?

Black Swan Trailer


Next Week Pick of the Week: Memphis Beat, Tuesday at 10:00 on TNT: Memphis Beat never quite win me over, and it didn’t help being on at the same time as Rescue Me and Covert Affairs, but maybe I will catch up now that the season is ending this week.

Around the Tubes vol. LXIII

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Friday Night Lights, If God Is Willing and da Creek Won’t Rise, Eastbound and Down, Modern Family, DVD2Blu, Bond of Silence, and Richard Petty.

- If you have ever wondered why I go on and on about Friday Night Lights but found it too cumbersome to catch up, ABC Family recently bought the syndication rights and will start airing the show from the beginning starting Tuesday September 7 at 6:00. Below is the poster hyping the premiere.



- A couple years ago, Spike Lee made a Katrina related documentary When the Levees Broke and now of the fifth anniversary of the Hurricane he is revisiting the subject with If God Is Willing and da Creek Won’t Rise focusing on the recovery in New Orleans and the recent oil spill. The two night event starts Monday with the second part on Tuesday, both at 9:00 on HBO. Below is a trailer:

Trailer

- In other HBO news, Eastbound and Down returns for its second season September 26 at 10:30 and here is a teaser:



- It would seem like a no brainer that Modern Family should take home the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy in that is the funniest show nominated. But over at the Daily Beast, they still have to explain why Modern Family Should Win an Emmy Over Glee.

- For those that have upgraded to Blu-Ray recently but do not want to spend all that money upgrading your DVD collection should head over to DVD2Blu which lets you exchange your DVD’s for a much cheaper than buying a Blu-Ray new. And now the program has some TV sets available for exchange such as Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Smallville and The Sopranos.

- The latest Lifetime movie premieres this Monday at 9 and stars Kim Raver (24) and Greg Grumberg. Here is a sneak peak of Bond of Silence:

Bond of Silence Preview


- This is more for you out there south of the Mason-Dixon Line (as country and auto racing doesn’t play as well up here), though if you were on the winning side of the Civil War, you may still find this video of six foot six Trace Adkins trying to get in a NASCAR entertaining.

Trace Adkins Is Stick and Richard Petty Won’t Help!

Can I Come Home for the Summer, I Could Slow Down for a Little While

In a story I broke yesterday, John Mellencamp has a new album out and it is boring (see I’m not Falling up the Ladder), a claim made because the new blood of folk has made the genre much more interesting in the past decade than the Mellencamp disk has to offer. Another of those previously mentioned new bloods is the mountain man looking Ray LaMontagne (whose song Trouble was perfectly used in the commercial with the dog trying to hid his bone safely, maybe not a good ad from the company’s perspective because I cannot recall off the top of my head).

Unlike other folk revivalist recently that take a more rock approach, LaMontange fuses his folk with a heavy dose of blue eyed soul. But Ray took a dip into the bland with his last album Gossip in the Grain with almost every song in the set sounding like we have heard it before. Thankfully for his follow up Ray hook thing up by adding a backing band, the Pariah Dogs, to the equation that brought him out of rut much like when Ryan Adams brought together the Cardinals.

The new album God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise starts out with the very un-Ray like blues meets funk grooves of Repo Man before settling into familiar territory with New York City’s Killing Me for those that are dawn to LaMontange’s more sensitive tracks. New York instantly rivals Trouble as one of his best tracks in his catalogue. That is followed up with the just as strong title track with is waltzing slide guitar opening. Another standout track from the album is the breezy Beg Steal or Borrow which sees LaMontange sing in a mid tempo song that you could mistake for a Nick Drake cover.

Song to Download – New York City's Killing Me

God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I’m not Falling up the Ladder

Bands like The Avett Brothers have shown that folk music doesn’t have to be boring. And we can trace back the resurrection of that upbeat folk rock back to the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack that earned producer T-Bone Burnett multiple Grammy Awards. Even Bruce Springsteen brought plenty of energy to his Seeger Sessions album that covered songs from folk icon Pete Seeger.

With all that in mind, the latest folk album from John Mellencamp is pretty bland considering that other contemporary folk albums of the past decade even with No Better Than This being produced by Burnett. Mellencamp recently said he is done being a rock star, and it sounds is if he purposely decided to have no to little fun on the new album and not even in a dark way like his last album Life, Death, Love and Freedom. No Better Than This is just bland.

The album doesn’t do any justice to the places where Mellencamp recorded the songs. While on his minor league baseball park tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, Mellencamp would take detours to record in places like Sun Studio, the former home of Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, and even the Sheraton Gunter Hotel where Robert Johnson recorded some of his legendary tunes.

Mellencamp and Burnett even recorded much like in those landmarks’ heyday on an old Amplex reel-to-reel tape recorder in mono. But it sounds as if he was trying too hard to recreate that fifties feel that he forgot to add some passion because that isn’t exclusive attribute to a folk star. As Mumford & Sons show, you can be passionate about making folk music too.

Song to Download - Each Day of Sorrow

No Better Than This gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.