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Archives for April 9, 2008

American Pie Presents Beta House (2007) Review

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Having been a huge fan of the first three American Pie films in the series I thought I’d give ‘American Pie Presents: Beta House’ a try when I noticed it available for rental. I was put off the series by the fairly awful direct-to-DVD ‘American Pie Presents: Band Camp’ film and decided I’d probably not watch any further films in the series. For some reason I decided to change my mind when it came to the latest slice of the pie, I tried to forget about how disappointed I had been with ‘Band Camp’ and rented this with renewed optimism for the series.

When ‘American Pie Presents: Beta House’ began I thought to myself I’d probably done good in avoiding the series for three years. This film appeared to be a gratuitous display of the naked female form and the humour seemed completely out of kilter with what I had seen and loved in the past from the ‘American Pie’ films. I was all but ready to turn it off and send the disc straight back, things then started looking up however and ‘American Pie Presents: Beta House’ began to amuse and impress me. It wasn’t vintage American Pie I thought to myself, but it was definitely worth watching and I therefore decided to stick with it. I’m so glad that I did as this is genuinely a pretty good film, it’s not greatly intelligent but then again that was never the appeal of the ‘American Pie’ films to begin with.

Erik Stifler is off to college with his good friend Cooze, it is here that he is brought into the Beta fraternity by his cousin Dwight. Both Erik and Cooze are single, Erik’s girlfriend has recently left him and both of them are therefore looking to take full advantage of college life. The Beta Delta Xi Fraternity have a strong rival in the form of the Epsilon Sigma Kappa (GEEK’s), the two rival fraternities are always looking to get one over on the other. The Beta fraternity is all about partying hard, whilst the the focus of the newly formed Epsilon Sigma Kappa fraternity is purely academic. The two rival fraternities seek to settle their differences by pitting their skills against one another in the battle of the Greek Games, an event that was long ago banned by the college and last won by the Beta Delta fraternity. It’s the first Greek Games for forty years and the stakes are high, there is everything to play for as these two bitter rivals battle it out in their quest to emerge victorious.

There are plenty of laughs here and as the film progresses you come to realise that this film takes the series back to its roots. Before ‘Band Camp’ the American Pie films were in my opinion always excellent. Director Andrew Waller here captures the full glory of the early films and once more brings life to a series that ‘Band Camp’ very nearly killed off. ‘American Pie Presents: Band Camp’ was directed by Steve Rash, a man who has since directed the third and fourth ‘Bring It On’ films. It would seem that this man takes on already established film series in a quest to end them, his talent as a director is minimal and he is in fact fairly awful. Andrew Waller was new to the directorial world when this ‘American Pie Presents: Beta House’ film was released and his enthusiasm and intention to succeed as a director really shines through. Andrew Waller gives life to this film which makes for an extremely enjoyable viewing experience.

The performances here are not exactly of an Oscar award winning standard, nonetheless though all involved in this film impress in their parts and no one lets the side down. Steve Talley as Dwight Stifler has a great comic presence, for me he is the most amusing man here and provides for much of the films laughs. John White as Erik Stifler is also pretty impressive, not as much so as his on-screen cousin but definitely still worth mentioning here. It takes a certain type of person to perform in a silly fun film of this sort, and those chosen were picked well here. Credit must go to Joe Nussbaum as it was he who brought these characters to life as director with the fifth film in the series ‘American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile’. The fifth film is not one that I have seen, but having been so impressed with this sixth incarnation of the American Pie series I’ll definitely be giving it a go now.

‘American Pie: The Wedding’ (also known under the name of ‘American Wedding’) was officially the last film in the American Pie series. It was the third and final true American Pie film, but three additional ‘American Pie Presents’ spin-off films have since been released. ‘Band Camp’ was the first, ‘The Naked Mile’ the second, and ‘Beta House’ is the third to have been released. I can’t count for the quality of ‘The Naked Mile’, but given that it uses the same characters as this ‘Beta House’ film, what I will say is that the cast for the last two films in the series have been extremely well chosen. ‘Band Camp’ was an absolute disaster in my opinion, had it been given a theatrical release then it would have been laughed off the screens, not because audiences would have found it so funny but because it was simply terrible. ‘Band Camp’ was not very funny at all, there were a few laughs but much of the time it was all a little bland; ‘Beta House’ is no such bore and is in fact an excellent film. I’d recommend the first three ‘American Pie’ films first and foremost, but what I will say is that ‘American Pie Presents: Beta House’ provides for excellent additional viewing. It’s far from perfect but it does provide a fair few laughs and is therefore a greatly enjoyable and extremely effective comedy film.

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The Thin Men – EP

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The Thin Men is a London based band fronted by a man named Blair Jollands. Having grown up in New Zealand, Jollands left to busk around the USA where he ended up performing at CBGBs in New York. He later relocated to London and this is where he currently resides with his band The Thin Men. The Thin Men, a four piece band release their music through Blair Jollands own personal record label Glow B Recordings.

For those that like artists such as David Bowie and Rufus Wainright, the music of the band The Thin Men should definitely appeal. The music is a surreal display of rock music, it’s hard to describe but what I can say is that the voice of Blair Jollands is absolutely fantastic. His vocal tone comes across perfectly throughout this release, the man’s voice possesses such elegance and eloquence. The vocals float through the music and come across brilliantly over a beautiful backdrop of fine instrumental sound. It is without doubt the vocals that make this music so special and throughout the five tracks of this EP always they come across perfectly.

There’s a definite David Bowie air about the music, often in fact the sound comes across entirely like Bowie and vocally Jollands is at times extremely similar. There is some fine guitar work present on this release, the drum beats are impressive, and a keyboard is utilised to terrific effect throughout the five tracks of this EP. Blair Jollands does not here restrict himself purely to vocal duties, he proves himself to be multi talented as he smashes his way through some succulent guitar licks, fine piano playing and some superb harmonica work also. Jollands is very much at the forefront of this bands sound, the brains behind it all and a fine talent he is too.

The EP begins with ‘Nowhere’, progresses with ‘Dream of You’ and not once on this release does the music ever disappoint. The EP reaches a climax with the terrific track ‘Walkin’ Blues’ and it must be said that this is the perfect closing track. The music possesses a great beauteous quality and all four of this bands members impress massively here. On all five of these tracks the bands members prove themselves to be exceptional in fact and not once does the talent of The Thin Men fail to shine though.

I’d definitely recommend giving this EP a listen, Blair Jollands contribution is magnificent and never does the man disappoint. It is no wonder that a track of the bands was once chosen as song of the week by the late, great John Peel. The Thin Men is a highly talented band, the music is brilliant and all elements come together perfectly here in order to provide for an exquisite display of aural excellence. The music contains a great beauteous quality, the talent of Blair Jollands always shines through strongly and at every moment of this EPs progression all of the bands members prove themselves to be sensational. Four members contribute to the sound of The Thin Men, all of whom are greatly essential to the mix in providing for a highly entertaining musical creation.

Release Date: 28th April 2008

Rating:
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Chromeo – Fancy Footwork

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Chromeo is an electrofunk duo from New York City. The music created by this pair is an energetic dance sound, vocals are laced excellently over a funky backing of guitar, keyboard, and synth. The music is fun and greatly entertaining, albeit quite repetitive. The problem with this ‘Fancy Footwork’ album is that sometimes in the tracks the same beats are looped over and over to absolute irritation, at the start of each track the music sounds superb but before long you find yourself wanting for it all to come to an end.

With each track here Chromeo put across their funky electro flavours, the music possesses great energy and there is no denying that this duo are talented at what they do. Each track has something slightly different to offer, the music is entertaining but the tracks are at times a little too long. Some of the tracks are four or five minutes long, in these cases the looped music is not particularly effective as before the tracks come to a close the music becomes greatly irritating. It is when the tracks are around the three minute mark that the music of Chromeo is at its best; three minutes is just the right length for music of this sort and when the band sticks to shorter offerings I find the music to be absolutely excellent.

‘My Girl Is Calling Me (A Liar)’ is an extremely funky offering from this album that I feel works extremely well. The groove is excellent and every element of the music here sounds fantastic. ‘Momma’s Boy’ is another fine track from this release and perhaps is my favourite. It’s a stripped down track and for the first minute there is very little going on here other than the vocals. I like the minimalist approach that Chromeo take here; less is more as they say and this is certainly true with this track. The music is fun, the vocals come across exceptionally well and I for one have no cause for complaint whatsoever with this one. The vocals possess an echo, it works well and does in fact suit the sound of Chromeo superbly.

The problem with this album is that it is not consistently excellent, there are great moments of promise here but there are also other times when the music is not very impressive at all. Instrumentally the music is always upbeat, sometimes the sound just doesn’t quite work out however and it all sounds a little messy. I would definitely recommend this ‘Fancy Footwork’, it’s not all smooth sailing however and with the good here you must also accept the bad. With some tracks the sound can become extremely repetitive, the vocals can repeat constantly at times and at others it is the instrumental loops that offend. Chromeo is a talented duo, when the sound works here the music is absolutely sensational but sadly this album lacks the consistency required to ever be considered as a classic.

Label: Backyard
Release Date: 30th July 2007

Rating:
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The Films – Don’t Dance Rattlesnake

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‘Don’t Dance Rattlesnake’ is the début album from American indie pop band The Films. The music is not hugely exciting, and this is in fact probably one of the most annoying albums to have emerged in 2007. The vocal approach is whiny, instrumentally the music is often just unenthralling noise, and on this album The Films show very little talent whatsoever. It all begins with the stomping of feet, the clapping of hands, and instantly you know that this album really isn’t going to be up to very much at all.

What is present on this album is twelve fairly terrible tracks of indie annoyance. The lyrics often take on the issue of lost love and this album is just too predictable and uninspiring for my liking. With a début it’s always best if you do things a bit different, nothing new is here offered by The Films and as the band progresses through this album constantly you are waiting for the music to explode into action but never does it actually do so.

The music moves along at a snails pace, instrumentally this band does very little to impress and vocally The Films do everything to disappoint. I can’t stand whined out vocals of this sort, there are so many indie bands out there that have this exact same vocal approach as this and never does it actually work. Not once would I say that this album offers up anything that is remotely enjoyable, as the album progresses you find yourself reaching for the ‘stop’ button increasingly more often as the vocals build and build in annoyance. So many hand claps riddle this album, and there’s only so much you can take of this before it all becomes a little too much. In the interest of giving The Films are fair hearing I made sure I listened to this ‘Don’t Dance Rattlesnake’ album from start to finish, all I can say of this matter however was that this was an absolute waste of my time.

One of the tracks on this album is fittingly titled ‘Being Bored’, I can definitely relate to this situation having listened to this album. Bored is probably an understatement for what I felt when listening to The Films though, I’d suggest irritated is far more appropriate a term. I’m sure there will be some that this music appeals to, who exactly would listen to this out of choice however I’m not too sure. Indie is not a genre of music that I loathe, I can’t stand the music of The Films however and for me ‘Don’t Dance Rattlesnake’ was certainly not an enjoyable listening experience.

Label: 7Hz
Release Date: 18th June 2007

Rating:
Review Star