Top 5 under appreciated film characters.

5. Bill Murray as The big Ern in KINGPIN

The Big Ern shows unflappable concentration in the final bout between him and Roy Munson, trumping the one hander's return to glory while simultaneously maintaining a crumbling comb-over.  The charitable public figure who juggles guiding youth and subtle boob grabs takes over the film with his overwhelmingly lovable jackass personality.


4. Vector as Vector in DESPICABLE ME

Somehow making a orange sweatsuit look appropriate for villainous brainstorming, Gru's nemesis Vector gives us a look inside of a premiere criminal masterminds at home life which includes a shark tank that resides under his entertainment room. Although Screech in a sweatsuit comes up short in the film, his character adds tremendously to the replay value of Despicable Me.

3.  Brad Pitt as Mickey in SNATCH

"wy da fook i winna caravan weeth no wheels on it?"
 The bareknuckle boxing Pikey who plays possum the entire film captures the quirky Guy Ritchie picture with his slurred speech and in ring presence. The only error in this film by Brad was that he didnt have more lines that we could try and decode after four or more views.




2. Anna Faris as Brandi in Observe and Report

Anna didnt have to look far for inspiration with her role in Observe and Report. Its basically the same role she played in the slapstick Scary Movie series with a bleach job. Only this time she added a large dose of annoying woooooo girl attitude and a pinch of post high school slut. "Shoooooooootssss!" 

 

 

 

 

1. Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs/ Rorschach in Watchmen
NO EXPLANATION NEEDED!

You win RiRi, you win.

Are you ready to come to grips? Are you ready to admit it? Whether you're on the fence (no youre not), hate her, love her, absolutely disagree with her dating choices. Quit bullshitting yourself, the undeniable force that is Rihanna has been on a relentless tear since her debut album "Music of the Sun" in 2005. If you were a "Pon de replay" listener you were assured that her niche look and sound would have a shelf life of fast-food fries. You couldnt be more incorrect! Although there was a slight and almost unnoticeable lull after her second album (still commercially successful), she cashed in as such few artists do with one of those iconic, once in a lifetime melodies that runs the gamut of cradle to grave listeners featuring her fellow artist and CEO Jay-z. That song was entitled "Umbrella" from her 3rd studio album "Good girl gone bad". The Barbadian lightning bolt recruited the services of go to guy songwriter The Dream and formulated a top 100 pop songs of all time record. This moment cemented the ever growing "ok, i guess shes winning me over slowly" attitude that seems to overcome more and more of your friends. The music industry collectively agreed that she'll be here a while so get comfortable. The follow up album to GGGB was "Rated R" in 2009 that featured a multitude of solid singles solidifying her engravement on pop culture. But what was different about this current Rihanna was a new hell hath no fury look and attitude amongst her music. This change usually comes from female pop artists who are usually highly directed by a large team of stylists, and p.r agents monitoring their every move early in their career. But success is the ultimate liberator and Rihanna had that. She shed the good girl island look and went full fledged modern day Madonna. Now although we've seen this before, Riri still maintained an originality in her looks, music, and tweets. On her next album "Loud" she threw the wholesome caution to the wind and gave us singles like "S&M", "Whats my name?", and "Skin", which are just as promiscous as their titled.

AND THEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Yellow diamonds in the liiiiiiiight, now were standing side by siiiiiiide."
Right when you thought pops newest princess had ran the well dry with her the infectious melody/ power pop ballad recipe, she hits us with the most significant pop song of the post 2000 era. Collaborating with the enigmatic Calvin Harris, the duo somehow blended house, dance, pop, and electro into one song that had lyrics you could pen down on a napkin. Less was so much more in this case of the "We found love" single that punctuated the evergrowing trend of pop and house bleeding into each other. This record will go down as one of the most powerful singles in pop history.

Rihanna is currently burning up radio stations with another sound evolution record entitled "Diamonds" off her "unapologetic" album. Which features trap music influence, features from Kanye and eminem, ballads, dance, and her familiar pop songs. One thing is definite, Rihanna is the most significant pop artist since Madonna. Outlasting her runners up Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and even a feeble attempt at coming out of retirement from Britney Spears.

You win RIRI, you win.

End of the year/world awards : Mayan edition

At last another year has seemingly transitioned from January to December in a seemingly Usain bolt-esque 100m timespan. Amongst all the false promises that'll inevitably turn into february's guilt were sure to make ourselves, comes a look back on the supposed final year of our existence. A lot transpired this year other than our beloved Mayans slight miscalculation. So here are my terribly slanted looks at the ups and downs of 12'. I give you the "end of the year awards: Mayan Edition"


Best Film: ARGO



If you take our generations far and away best film director and couple it with our generations far and away best on screen actor and add a smidgen of presidential portrayal of one of our most significant american figues, you would assume you'd have a shoe in for film of the year, right? Well, almost. Maybe in any other year except this one. In a surprising delicate on doucheyness performance from Ben Affleck and a much more matured directing version of Ben, he gave us his 3rd directorial effort with Argo. A non-stop antacid popping provoking, true story. Now i always find movies that are based on real events are usually the hardest to stay entertained in without throwing the once "true story" film into a "loosely based around" escapade. But Argo accomplishes the accuracy of the story and keeps the viewer in the spot of any of the hostages that are perfectly depicted by an ensemble patchwork cast. Also included a surprising but much needed comedic relief by the sharp tongued duo of Alan Arkin, and John Goodman who did their best Grumpy old men visit Hollywood rendition. Argo offered a perfect balance of the type of film that will always succeed in hollywood and gave us a brief hiatus from flying Aliens, spaceships, computer generated heavy scenes, and explosions. Heres to you Mr. Affleck, for having a flawless directing record thus far. Maybe your true calling is behind that camera instead of in front of it. If you need convincing, just take a trip down to your local redbox and rent the thought provoking DAREDEVIL film you did.

Honorable Mentions: Killing them Softly, Lawless

Dishonorable Mentions: The Master, The Dark Knight Rises, Flight


Best Album of the year:

Brandon Flowers, fresh off his solo effort "Flamingo" rejoins his cast of unshaved, verging on hipster cronies to give us The Killers 3rd studio album "Battleborn". As a heavy duty fan you are always weary of a band changing their sound too much in an attempt to stay relevant with the ever changing music scene. The Killers failed at this, and succeeded tremendously at taking their original sound to new heights by injecting audio growth hormones into everything from their melodies, eerily profound synthesizers, vulnerable content, and all around musical accompaniment. While their single "Runaways" currently burning up every alternative station youre tuned into, they also have 2 melancholy songs that balance the overall high energy that remains throughout the album. Battleborn provides stories from Brandon's childhood, love lost ballads, and the typical "what the hell does that line mean?" lyricism that we've come to expect. The killers have reached their full potential with an almost immaculate album. Us fans are just hoping we can ride this creative wave for a couple more projects.

Honorable Mentions: Watch the Throne (Jay-z, Kanye West),  Kaleidoscope (miguel), Red (Taylor Swift)

Dishonorable Mentions: Channel Orange (Frank Ocean),