That's My Dad.

The Hunger Games - 

As far as I’m concerned, The Hunger Games is a resilient piece of social criticism. It speaks with high density over gargantuan post-modern issues; everything from deconstructing gender roles to examining the impending dooms of mainstream entertainment. For this, it makes sense for the series to achieve the hype status its earned. And in that regard, the film does a quality job as an adaptation. Paired with fantastic directorial and cinematographic work along with a killer, scene-stealing performance by Jennifer Lawrence: The Hunger Games can almost feel like an accelerated art-house thriller for its demanding attitude to be taken seriously. But alas, my reservations with the series were proven true. It’s not the film where my issues stand, but in the source material. For all the high-level drama, there isn’t much substance behind the George Orwell-esque dystopian concepts. Author Suzanne Collins gives an abundance of thought in this fantasy, yet after the bite there isn’t much to chew on. And as for the actual ‘hunger games’, my pulse never increased once during this otherwise uninteresting take on “Battle Royale”. (7/10)

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Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror 

I was never one to deeply analyze Sleigh Bells. They built themselves to be irresistible for the indie scene, and they were. Their debut release “Treats” came out of nowhere and took the indie pop scene by storm in 2009. It’s murderous loudness and juicy pop hooks created polarizing opinions, most in favor of the band. One might construct a deeper meaning in the intentions of this group, but some things are best left enjoyed on face value.

In case you didn’t know, Sleigh Bells is duo Alexis Krauss, former teen pop singer, and Derek Miller, former hardcore guitarist. On their sophomore LP, Reign of Terror, the duo is most notebly out for a new style and, believe it or not, an itch to sound louder than Treats. Sure enough, it was made possible. Just when you thought Sleigh Bells was loud enough to shatter your eardrums, they kick it up another notch.

This is where the pros and cons of this album come from. It’s commendable to see Sleigh Bells go beyond their comfort zone, go for a different artistic and recording style and accomplish their goals in doing so. Specifically, Reign of Terror’s hi-fi recording and arena-sized guitar-based songs are what make this LP feel so fresh. But in all these new changes, what was the opportunity cost? Simple. Where Sleigh Bells became louder, they became less interesting; far less interesting, less entertaining, less immediate, less poppy, less exciting. Listening to a track on Treats gives the same joy as striking a match does: the friction of two forces dying to get set ablaze into something powerful. With Reign of Terror, I feel like I’ve been given a bite stick made of pure metal and am forced to sit through 36 minutes of an album. 

It’s a shame to see an exciting group do the right thing as artists but fall short in their results. Reign of Terror is not worth anyone’s time, but Sleigh Bells will be around. Here’s hoping for them to us with album No. 3. 

This album was my drunk and racist grandmother. (4/10)

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My Week With Marilyn - 

An absolutely magical introspection into the human condition of one of the most intricate figures in film: Marilyn Monroe. With an impeccable British ensemble, luscious cinematography, pitch-perfect direction and an awe-inspiring, methodical and eternal performance by Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn” attests as one of the most understated gems of art-house cinema in 2011. (9/10)

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Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die -

You can’t deny credit for the braveness, production value and mystique Lana Del Rey and her music offers: in making dark social commentary on our generation and challenging mainstream pop. Yet, in comparison to others who do the same thing, Del Rey falls majorly behind; not as musically talented as Amy Winehouse, not as clever or insightful as Lily Allen and not as meaningful as Odd Future. With of this artist’s hype, I can see Born to Die become the one ofthe most ridiculed and hated albums of 2012. (4/10)

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Top 20 Films of 2011 (1-10)

1. The Tree of Life

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

3. Drive

4. Beginners

5. Moneyball

6. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

7. A Separation 

8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

9. 50/50

10. The Artist

My name is Mohammed Zain and I am an entertainment writer. I am currently 17. 

Since the start of this summer, That’s My Dad has been my continuous workplace. I’ve written on a near daily basis, reviewing films, video games, books and music. I sincerely thank all of my followers for reading and enjoying my work; this website means a lot to me and I’m looking forward to expanding it as time goes on. Things to come hopefully are video reviews and coverage over any film and music festivals I happen to attend. I truly am grateful for my following and my readers, thank you for reading my opinion. Reminding once again that I do take recommendations on things to review next, so don’t hesitate to recommend.

Thank you for reading and please keep following.  

For anyone interested, I’ve left a list of things I’ve reviewed this summer as a reference to revisit or read for the first time. 

Films:

American Graffiti (1973)

Badlands (1973)

Beginners (2011)

Crazy, Stupid Love (2011)

Drive Angry (2011)

The Green Hornet (2011)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (2011)

I Love You, Phillip Morris (2009)

The Lost Boys (1987)

Midnight in Paris (2011)

The Notebook (2004)

Rango (2011)

Serpico (1973)

Sin City (2005)

Source Code (2011)

Sucker Punch (2011)

Super 8 (2011) 

The Tree of Life (2011)

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2002)

Music:

Adele - 21

Battles - Gloss Drop

Beyonce - 4

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2

Craft Spells - Idle Labor

Cults - Cults

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Rome

Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys

Earl Sweatshirt - Earl

Evangelicals - The Evening Descends

The Horrors - Skying

Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid

Ke$ha - Animal

Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement

Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What

Portugal. the Man - In the Mountain in the Clouds

Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

Ski Beatz - 24 Hour Karate School

Title Fight - Shed

Tyler, the Creator - Bastard

Washed Out - Within and Without

Television:

Bored to Death - Season 1

Glee - Season 2

The Office - Season 7

Video Games:

Duke Nukem Forever

Books:

The Great Gatsby

Very special thanks to my good friend Jon Cozart for recommending my blog.

Managed to get me 70 followers within a day. 

He is most definitely my dad.

Stick around, I’ll be reviewing his videos as well.

As always, thank you for reading. 

Top 5 Films of 2011 (So Far)

1. The Tree of Life (Review)

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (Review)

3. Bridesmaids  

4. Beginners (Review)

5. Midnight in Paris (Review)

Just because we like soda, fried chicken and mashed potatoes, doesn’t mean they’re preferred blended together in a smoothie.

Director Zack Snyder should be ashamed of himself on this one. The so-called “visionary” behind films like 300 and Watchmen has developed his most recent film, what seems like his passion project, Sucker Punch.

Claimed as a “critique on geek culture’s sexism”, Sucker Punch is a multi-layered experimental action-drama that revels inside a fantasy taking place in someone else’s fantasy taken place in someone else’s reality. It behaves as a product of feminism combating an overly exaggerated vile representation of society and claims to empower all of us from within. 

The truth is Sucker Punch is a demeaning and horrifically constructed film that abuses the presence of its female cast, mesmerizingly idiotic script, usage of modern music and symbolic over-the-top action sequences. The approach Snyder takes with this film comes off as shallow as the limit goes; erasing all traces of credibility of the crafty spiritual significance the film bases itself on. There are clever concepts in this film that can be admired individually, yet the construction of Sucker Punch crumbles so quickly that nothing positive can be taken from it. 

Snyder truly got in touch with his inner eleven-year old geeky child self on this one and created a film that actually abuses the usage of background music, making it feel like a mediocre Youtube fan video that combines film clips to their favorite songs every step of the way. Action sequences successfully accomplish to mimic moments found in video games, yet no respect is given to the film at all, making it feel like Snyder going off on arbitrary tangents since he feels like the room for it was available.

Sucker Punch is an ideal product of messy film-making. It gets lost within itself and forces you to get lost in order not to find the scattered flaws. Instead of being a product of its own culture, it becomes a blasphemous mess of sexist, ignorant and weak storytelling.  

This movie is like a casserole made by your younger brother and the family dog.

Kind-hearted people bring out the best in us. It’s a social tendency. 

Through a handful of romance-based scenarios, we are told a combination of stories that hold their weight in importance before us and tickle our hearts, just not as well as they should. Our primary focus on this film retains on Steve Carell’s character and the ripples of his divorce that effect the people both related and unrelated around him. It’s a domino effect through a continuous string of events, an angle taken on rom-coms many times, soon to be exhausted. This is where many of the film’s flaws seep in; plot structures feel all too mechanical and slightly rushed beyond its comfort zone. Few of the independent story-lines between duos in this film, of which they are many, are slightly spoiled and hopelessly attempt to win us over with its absolutely relentless passion over the traditional qualities on love. This is where the film begins to shine.

Crazy, Stupid, Love is a film with a heart of pure gold that truly wants you to appreciate and embrace the ultimately positive core of romance. It certainly explores its dark sides, tastefully and bluntly, then offers the light out of the tunnel; leaving a sweeter impact that provides humor on both ends of the stick. Not only internally, but much of the humor comes from the well written and delivered dialogue dished out from the best: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei and the new Analeigh Tipton. Plenty of weak links are found in the cast as well: Julianne Moore and Kevin Bacon give another round of poorly executed performances as well as some rather irritating performances from the younger members of the cast; the weight of this film’s success was majorly on the cast and it was a shame to see it dip with Moore and Bacon. Plenty of moments also fell flat by some juvenile direction that neglected potential moments where its darker qualities should have been fleshed out further for a more authentic and realer feel.

By and by, its flaws are made up for by plenty of humanistic comedy through a handful of whole-hearted characters and a sincere approach towards all forms of affection lost in a post-modern society.

This film was my mom. 

The once-in-a-generation phenomena, here it is. The end. 

If anything immediately worth applauding for, it’s the brilliantly schemed double-film approach to such a magnificent final act; focusing on two gratifying core focal points separately. The first, exploring dynamics between the trio protagonists and letting the film function as multiple crafty character studies along as a adventure that breaks its own franchise’s conventions. The second, delivering the more massive effect the series desired to resonate its final note on. Yates lets the films contrasting natures function like the finale of a grand symphony, orchestrating through something viciously climatic. Not only did this concept allow more room for it to breathe, but also highlighted the story’s heavily charged spiritual nature and let it simmer well enough for you to consume more wholesomely. 

Part Two saved itself up in multiple core aspects, surely. The biggest bang it lands is how massive this film feels. The series lands right on the epitome of everything it wanted to be and relentlessly keeps going higher; this film will linger upon our generation as the definition of cinematic, well deservedly. It’s a magnum opus that feels so because of how much extreme care went into this in comparison to its predecessors. It changed the context of the entire saga, making it feel like the past films were all just a pot kettle ready to screech and steam for this last installment. This also being an ironic parallelism to the story’s build-up and ultimate release of truth in the last moments of the film. 

The biggest surprises Part Two packs are the aesthetic layers it elaborates itself on. The level of cinematography is goose-bump inducing and visually dazzling, more than most fantasy films entirely, let alone this series. This quality comes from its very modern and slick methodical practice of camerawork and obsessive pattern-based visual structure. This was the biggest addition to the film visually, creating more intense elements to every scene, maintaining thematic continuity. The acting and direction on this film is perhaps the darkest this series would ever allow it to go. Rowling’s work wraps itself around very bright philosophies and utilizes dark methods and stories to deliver them and this film emphasizes those contrasting elements physically as vividly as Rowling intended them to be. 

It’s victorious, the bravest of the series. Oozing with sentiment and affection for itself: it’s characters, it’s spiritual meaning, it’s universe. When I was a kid, I would always feel hollow inside when I watched a Harry Potter film for the first time and have it end; my senses lingered over the immersion and the atmosphere as I was hopelessly left wanting more of. That feeling died for many years as I matured until I saw Harry in his epilogue as the screen faded to black today, accompanied by that wishful finale orchestra piece that wants to remind you of Harry’s tales and what he really means to you. What he will always symbolize. 

This film is one of the coolest dads in town.

Director Alfonso Cuaron always knew what spin to put on his subject matter and how to portray it. With every step taken in life, a new story is unlocked. Many bold philosophies are depicted through the story of two sexually-loaded youngsters and a life-fulfilling older woman, all digressing and evolving through their most significent and meaningful experience of their lives. It all means something to all of us, but no one knows what until its all over with. 

Y Tu Mama Tambien is not conventional eroticism. It’s naturally unrestricting, endearing and harsh. The sexual layers of this film are very necessary for the desired characterization and emotional results; it’s uncomfortable, it’s experimental, it’s honest. The artistic boundaries broken don’t come off as “artistic boundaries being broken” but representational of the facets of the film’s themes. So what’s wrong with using sexuality to deliver philosophy? Nothing. 

What really sets this out of the water is its worldly perspective; the concept of life having a dense and heartbreaking story at every corner revolving around the past and future that contrasts the present in a harrowing sense. Its accompaniment by the youthful spirit brilliantly tamed and executed by the entire cast and Cuaron adds the heavy flavor that blesses this film with the life and colour it adores. 

It takes a second glance and a heavier appreciation is granted for this tale. Take your shot, you will be surprised.

This movie was the free-spirited cousin with an abundance of stories waiting to be explored by your eager ears.