Documentary Review: Muscle Shoals

Image: Wikipedia

An acquaintance recommended that I check out the documentary Muscle Shoals. I finally got around to that this weekend while doing some photo work from recent adventures.

The movie is about Muscle Shoals, Alabama and the two recording studios there that created many a familiar sound. Those studios were FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

The film is an amazing story of this town and the sounds that came out of it. I was blown away by the number of musicians that have recorded here. As well, the number of songs and albums created at these studios was staggering.

If you have listened to classic rock, R&B, or southern rock, then chances are those albums and songs were cut in these studios.

What is even more amazing is the number of R&B songs that were created here. I mean created. Not, brought in fully fleshed out by an R&B band, but built from the ground up with the FAME Studios backing band (which later split to form Muscle Shoals Sound Studio) who would be backing some of the biggest names in R&B singers.

They reiterate this throughout the film and it truly is mind blowing to find out that some of the soulest sounding R&B songs to come out had an all white backing band playing with the lead black R&B singer. They talk about how some musicians would walk in to record and wonder where the "Muscle Shoals" band was. They were even shocked to learn it was a bunch of white Alabama boys that were creating this sound.

This was a great documentary that anyone into music would enjoy. If you like The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, Bono, Steve Winwood, The Allman Brothers Band, or Lynyrd Skynyrd; then you will want to watch this movie to learn some of the history of their great music.

It's well worth your music geek evening to watch this one.

Movie Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Image: Wikipedia

First, I love Wes Anderson movies. So it is no surprise I loved The Grand Budapest Hotel.

I love Wes's unique characters. You glimpse the tip of the iceberg of their background/characters and that is enough to make you understand the motivations behind each.

Of the Anderson movies, I really loved this one. It ranks up there for me with Rushmore. I loved it as the repeat players in the Anderson cast came onto screen; Schwartzman, Murray, Wilson.

Each one is enjoyable to watch as they go about their quirky roles.

I enjoyed the "oldest" flashbacks so much I was left wanting more each time the film came back to the present of the story was being told. The entire movie was great but the telling of the main backstory is just fantastic.

One comment that we heard coming out of the theatre and which I agree with was, "It's nice to see a movie with so much use of colour." I fully agree and the colour pallette very effectively conveyed the time periods and settings. Rich Orange and Purples at the hotel contrasted with the earth, snow, and muted colours of the alleys where the poorer people live.

If you like Wes Anderson movies (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou) then you owe it to yourself to go see The Grand Budapest Hotel. It had us laughing throughout and glued to our seats (not even noticing that the theatre was full and we had the worst/best seats in the house in the middle of the front row).

Movies I Have Never Watched and Don't Plan Too

Sometimes I hear about a movie that arouses my curiosity and I usually write it down to remember to check it out later. These are for those non-big budget movies.

Now sometimes I wanna watch a check your brain at the door blockbuster. That said, there are many of these movies I don't want to watch. Some are even for series or franchises that I loved as a kid but either grew out of or the trailers look so terrible I just skip it.

So, which movies have I not seen and feel strongly against enough that I never want to see them. Without further ado, here is stuff I consider trash without having even seen it.

• Titantic
• Ya, special effects. Ya, big name actors. Ya, James Cameron.
• Don't care.
• I almost saw it once when friends were watching it and I said, "What is this?" The reply, "Titantic." I turned around and walked out.
• Not interested.
• Transformers Movies
• BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.
• Not interested.
• Anything from M. Night Shyamalan
• When I watched The Sixth Sense, on opening weekend, and about 5 minutes, ok maybe 10 minutes into it (without knowing) I said to my friends sitting next to me, so Bruce Willis is a ghost, what's the big secret in this movie that they are talking about? That pretty much sealed the deal for me and Mr. Night movies. Noone around me was happy either, note to self, shut up in packed movie theatre.
• Next movie was Unreakable and again, a movie that wanted to be good but was never set free from, "See, I am tricking you into thinking this is not a movie about what it is obviously about."
• He fooled me twice into watching his movies, not again.
• Anything by Tim Burton
• I keep trying to like his stuff and it is technically masterful but I am not interested. If I see his name attached now I skip it.
• What don't I like? It is just weird in a way that does not interest me weird. I like weird things, but not his style.
• Twilight Series
• Watched first 2 since my wife was into it. Hell, it had Vampires and Werewolves, what could go wrong.  Oh hell!
• I could not bare the rest and never plan to watch them again. Ugh!

Almost made it on the list and would have before my kids got into it.

Harry Potter

Would not go see it on my own and unlike those adults that loved the book but they don't read books people. I do read books and this is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

Now, since having children I have read a little with my oldest. Opinion partially budged but I would never read it myself.

I will relent on this series and watch it only because my kids are interested. Besides that though, I normally just read on my phone when it is on.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I will append more when they come to mind.

What do you dislike enough that you never plan to watch it?

Movie Review: Mr. Peabody and Sherman

The kids and I enjoyed the new Mr. Peabody and Sherman movie. They liked the humour in the movie and the action packed scenes. I enjoyed the flashback to childhood watching the original show on Saturday morning cartoons and watching them enjoy the movie.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman has had a pretty large marketing push I felt. They have spread it around to areas that many of us that grew up watching the skits on The Rocky and Bullwinkle show are visiting now with kids.  For example, there was a tie-in at the Home Depot Kids Project on March 1. Here is Finn with his Trojan Horse that he built there:

There is also a Mr. Peabody and Sherman comic series ongoing, which I have been buying for the kids. We all are enjoying that one. They love having a comic to read since Dad has a bunch they can not read (due to subject matter).

As for the movie, it was fun, I love time travel, and I love Mr. Peabody & Sherman. A trip down nostalgia lane and an introduction to a fun series for the boys.