2011 Movie Wrap-Up

The STiXXclusive Movie Year in Review

Well….damn….it’s that time of the year. The end of the year, the end of one chapter for some, and the opportunity for a fresh beginning in the future. I’d like to thank all of the people who have read my reviews (music & movies alike) and have actually taken the time to give positive feedback, despite the fact that they are exasperatingly long, but I try to hold your attention the only way that I can: The natural way. SO, without further adieu, let me go into by Best & Worst of 2011 when it came to motion pictures. These are simply a reflection of my own opinion of the movies that I saw, and many people will have different opinions, BUT…that’s why we write these things. So…let’s start with the bad, shall we? 5 for each category.

TOP 5 WORST MOVIES OF 2011

1. Bad Teacher

Someone for the love of Timbaland, get this guy OFF THE MOVIE SCREEN and INTO A STUDIO! Honestly, he’s funny, as we all know from his skits on Saturday Night Live, but in movies in which we have to LOOK at him for more than 3 minutes, he doesn’t shine so bright. It’s like watching a train wreck happen and you can’t look away, and Cameron Diaz does nothing but use her surprisingly good looks to parade all over the screen and NOT DO THE ONE THING REQUIRED OF HER IN THE FIRST PLACE……..act. If I could have, I would have walked out of the theatre…it was that bad.

2. In Time

      I’m sensing a pattern here. ‘Movies that Justin Timberlake were in,’ but in all honesty, I didn’t expect it to be that bad. The concept where time = money was SICK, I’m not gonna lie, it was just executed PISS! POORLY! I was upset, I won’t lie. Acting was SUB-PAR (the crying scene was the funniest thing I watched all year), and again I say, OCCUPY JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE IN A STUDIO! WE WANT AN ALBUM! The girl from Mean Girls/Red Riding Hood…ya…hold some seats. Like 8 of them…together…and throw on a blanket…and sleep. Just…go away…please (he got some ratings because he acted with my future wife Mila Kunis in Friends with Benefits though).

3. Hangover 2

      More disappointing than anything because of the hype, and the fact that I couldn’t live up to the first one, which is hard, I won’t lie, but it just…dragged on. There were funny moments, but at the same time, it could (should) have done way better than it came out to be, especially since it was so hyped up. And the fact that people were saying that Bridesmaids was better just adds to the disappointment.

4. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

      Okay, listen…before you decide to chop my head off, hear me out. Action wise, yes it was crazy, but the story was all kinds of foolery on all levels, and Shia annoyed me more than anything. The new female lead was nice to look at, but Megan Fox had the tough bitch mentality to fill the role. I know that these films aren’t for story, they’re for entertainment. I was entertained, but I wasn’t like “oh shit, wow, WOW! GOD DAMN!” as I was in the first one. It was better than the 2^nd one, but it still fell short of spectacular. It should win for all of the techy stuff, I’ll still buy it to have the collection, but it’s not something I would just watch for the hell of it on a rainy day.

5. Thor

      The way that I despised this movie…man…LISTEN! I was on the verge of throwing something while watching this. It had some good moments, but it felt SO CORNY! Like, we all know the story of Hamlet. 2 BROTHERS! 1 FATHER! ONE’S GREAT! ONE’S NOT! ALL DAY! EVERY DAY! BY HIMSELF! JEALOUS ONE BACKSTABS THE GREAT ONE! THE GREAT ONE GETS PUNISHED AND WANTS REVENGE…have I made my point yet in my Kevin Hart voice? Idris Elba wasn’t needed in this movie, that was a TERRIBLE casting role in my opinion, and I get why the Norwegians were mad. “How’s this nigga gonna be one of our Gods tho? Hold up.” Okay, they didn’t say it LIKE THAT, but you get what I mean. I get that this is for the development of the ultimate ‘Avengers’ movie coming out next year, but still. YAWNS EVERYWHERE!

*HONOURABLE MENTION*

Jumping The Broom

      I’m not contractually obligated to review this, but it was all cheese all the time, and I swear it was a Tyler Perry movie too. I tried yo. I really did. I tried to be pro-black. Spike Lee, John Singleton, Antoine Fuqua, YES…this man here? I can’t. There was humour and I did learn some stuff (okay, ONE THING), but aside from that, YAWNS ON DECK!

ONE TO THE GOOD STUFF! The highlights of the year (that I saw, at least). And like I said, this is just my own views. You have different views? WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEW AND EXPRESS YOURSELF *insert NWA song here*

TOP 5 BEST MOVIES OF 2011

1. Super 8

      Disagree if you want, but this was ARGUABLY, the best movie I watched this year. It felt like the old time movies Spielberg was making in his prime, just thrown in with the eccentricity of JJ Abrahms. Many people say this is like the 2^nd part of Cloverfield, but it had nothing to do with Cloverfield in the first place (okay, maybe the mystery monster thing, but that’s about it.), it was a different concept, and it had me from start to ending. The young cast was great because they were funny, the simple idea of them just making a movie and then it escalates to something greater is GENIUS. The simple shit is often the best shit. Don’t complicate things. The only thing that was kind of “HUH” worthy was the ending, but when’s the last time you watched a movie with a perfect ending? Exactly.

2. X-Men First Class

      If Super 8 was 1A then this is 1B, if anything, they can easily switch roles. This movie was WAY better than anticipated. It totally wiped away the disastrous memory that was X-Men Last Stand (oh, lord…what a mess that was), and it set a new bar as to way superhero movies were supposed to feel like. There were HARDLY (unless you’re a diehard fan) any flaws in this movie because it was simply great all around. Storyline, characters, plot development. Nothing was really missing. And if there were, clearly I didn’t point them out, because I was too entranced with the greatness of this movie. MUST SEE! MUST OWN! FOREVER!

3. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

      I literally just saw this movie last week, and it made the list. The first one was great (which I watched the night before….LEGALLY), and I went into the movie with limited expectations, and I came out WOW’ed because of the amazieus (shoutout to Althea for that word) ways of Guy Ritchie. Robert Downey Jr. is the based movie god. He’s slept on like no tomorrow. People are acting like he wasn’t the best of the cast of Tropic Thunder, and he doesn’t hold it down for Iron Man…come on. Stop sleeping on the God. Go watch it…WATCH THEM BOTH!

4. Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

      Crazy. All I can say. CRAZY! I got the books, and I’m reading them. The hype is real. The hype is alive. I am DRINKING ALL THE KOOL AID with this series. I didn’t watch the Dutch movies, and quite frankly, I’m not about to. The books are enough. I’m anticipating the next 2 movies, because this one was AMAZING! Watch it RIGHT NOW! Aside from the Bourne & Harry Potter movies, this can quite possibly be (wait…LOTR too) one of the best Book – film adaptations we’ll ever watch. FUCK TWILIGHT! J

5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

      People forgot about this movie. They really did.  The reason why I liked this movie a lot was because of the story of Caesar. It was a great prologue for the Planet of the Apes movies. The development of the Chimp and the emotional bond between human and chimp was a great story, and the revolution had a Che Guevara feel to it. It’s a deep movie that a lot of people had go over their heads. Underrated. By far.

*HONOURABLE MENTIONS*

Lincoln Lawyer

Limitless

J Edgar

Ides of March

Moneyball

      Okay, so it wasn’t much of a list, but it was written in ink, and it’s set in stone (ish). SO, you can either agree, disagree, discuss, form your own top 5 (or 10), and share. I’m all about sharing, which is ironic because I’m an only child. HOWEVER…it is what it is, SO, I thank you for reading this and my many reviews that I tossed in your direction this year. I hope to entertain you more and enlighten on more reviews and whatever else comes to mind. I thank you all, and for now, for the last time in 2011

THAT’S MY WORD & IT STiXX

Cole World - A Sideline Story (Album Review)

Cole World: A Sideline Story

ALBUM REVIEW

            Alright *scratches head, cracks knuckles & neck* let me start off by saying that, IT IS WRONG TO STEAL MUSIC FROM ARTISTS WHO PUT THEIR HEART AND SOUL INTO WHAT THEY DO JUST SO WE CAN BE BLESSED WITH THEIR TALENTS…..okay, I got that out of the way, ON TO COLE WORLD!

            I suspected that this album was going to leak a week before its official release (9/27), and low and behold, it does. A lot of people have been hyping up J Cole for the past couple years when he came out with ‘The Come Up’ & ‘The Warm Up.’ Then, mixtape after mixtape, we all waited (believe me, we waited) for a debut album. The hype surrounding J Cole was that he was the 2^nd coming to Nas. Let’s stop with the reaching please. PLEASE! Let Nas live.

            Intro

J Cole starts off the album by telling a story about the day he got signed to Roc Nation with a bunch of friends. He’s been consistent in reminding us that 1. He came from the bottom. 2. He worked his ass off to get a deal and 3. Girls treated him like nothing. Known this for a few years now. We’ve been force fed his “pain,” but you have to admire his persistence. It’s still easy to relate to, because we’ve been there.

            Dolla & A Dream III

If you’ve been following the life of J Cole from his first mixtape, you understand what “Dolla & A Dream” represents. The often used cliché is a staple for people who basically came from nothing, and only had their positive attitudes and motivation with little to fund them to get them on their journey. This is just a continuation of the series of tracks. In this version, he’s actually had a crazy buzz and following (Social networking and all) and how he’s living with that. He reiterates his passion to succeed: His mother, his haters, the “bitches” that dissed him. “Look what a nigga made out the shit that I was livin”

            Can’t Get Enough (Featuring Trey Songz)

I ALMOST SKIPPED THIS SONG! For real, I can’t stand Trey Songz, but at least he didn’t have a verse on it for him to wail, because Lord have mercy this wannabe R. Kelly/D’Angelo lightbright has been on my last nerve. This is a song for the ladies (like many of J Cole’s songs. He knows his target audience clearly). Basically, a girl is getting at J Cole, because he has groupies, her friends are saying “he’s a bad guy,” and she “can’t get enough” (It’s the lightskin thing. See: Drake & Breezy). This song is catchy, I will not lie. The beat is nice. Trey didn’t annoy me on the hook as much as I anticipated that he would. Good song. It makes the iTunes cut.

            Lights Please

Okay, so….this song was on Cole’s 2^nd mixtape (and my favourite one) ‘The Warm Up.’ I saw this on the tracklisting and I was like - - -> o_O. It’s been out since I was in college (I started in 07, do the math). If you haven’t heard this song before (The hell you been?) basically he’s having a conversation with a girl basically venting out his issues, but he needs to just calm down and turn off the lights (play on words, because sexual content is displayed in the song, so it could mean turn off the lights to have sex with the girl, or to sleep. Just a little nugget).  I still enjoy this song, but on the debut album, I had an issue with that. NEW MATERIAL!

*SIDE NOTE* I’M VERY VERY VERY VERY HAPPY THAT ‘WORK OUT’ WAS NOT ON THIS ALBUM! THAT WAS SOME HEAPING TRASH RIGHT THERE!

            Interlude

As the album & story continue, he goes on explaining how he got pulled over shortly after learning that he got signed to Roc Nation. Ironically enough, he was in New York for 3 years, never got pulled over for anything, and the biggest day of his life (at that point), he gets pulled over by an undercover and goes to jail (not for long though, but the irony killed me).

            Sideline Story

I like this song a lot. In my top 5 songs of the album. He’s rapping about his coming out. He represents his state a lot, and has let us know of that (he hails from North Carolina). He does more venting about how people doubted him for chasing his dreams, leaving his home state to do so, and in succeeding, this is a shot to the haters essentially, and that he doesn’t need any co-signs from anyone to prove himself worthy of being in the rap game as a legitimate emcee.

            Mr. Nice Watch

Worst song I’ve heard this year. Absolute garbage. The beat sounds like I’m playing Tetris on Ecstasy. The song has no clear point to me. It’s just a cocky song really. Jay-Z didn’t do the song any justice at all. Was better off staying off it and let J Cole fail on his own. I’ll give some props to Cole for switching it up a bit, but….no….bad attempt. Bad, bad attempt. I listened to this song a few days ago. Hated then, hate it now. Now skipping to next song.

Cole World

Alright, so this beat sounds like the next level of the Tetris game that I just listened to. Horrible beat. It really sounds like he used a sample of a level on Super Mario Bros. for SNES. This song, I also didn’t like. The cocky flow yet again, didn’t appeal to me at all. NEXT PLEASE, NEXT PLEASE (You see what I did there? Ya, that’s right.)

            In The Morning (feat. Drake)

Man, if this isn’t the biggest simp song ever, I don’t know what is. Okay, maybe I’m boosting a bit, but when this song initially came out (Originally on ‘The Blow Up’ [Unofficial Mixtape], the remix with Drake debuted when Friday Night Lights dropped), everyone went crazy because two of the biggest social media buzzed rappers at that time were on one track. It’s DEFINITELY a song for the ladies (and the desperate men out there, let’s be honest) that has been quoted on Facebook statuses & Twitter updates for almost a year now. The song is dope. There’s no denying that. But, again, it’s old. Looking for new stuff here, helloooooo Mr. Cole, what’s happening? All of that free time and nothing? Really? Alright. Drake’s appearance on the song (as well as every Drake appearance on EVERY song) brought out yet another BILLION fans and groupies to latch onto Cole’s already growing buzz. Drake tends to do that (See: The Weeknd). Nonetheless, good song….even though it’s old.

“Baby, you summa time fine” or "Can I hit it in the Morning?" < - - - LET’S BE HONEST! HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE YOU HEARD SAY THIS LINE?!

            Lost Ones (Best song on the album)

THIS, Ladies & Gentlemen, IS A SONG! ISSUES BROUGHT TO OUR ATTENTION! I heard this song about a month (or 2) ago, and INSTANTLY, I was digging it. It speaks on a young couple going through a very common issue in today’s society: Teen Pregnancy. Cole plays the roles of both male & female reactions (and also adds in what his homeboys think about the situation). Male suggests abortion (which is 75% the first choice, sadly), and the mother (which she SHOULD) gets offended and lashes back, and the way that it was rapped out and everything right down to the very emotion, was very poetic and Tupacish (not to be Blasphemous, but let’s be honest). It’s one of the realest songs I’ve heard in a LONG TIME! Very proud of Cole for this song. EVERYONE NEEDS TO LISTEN TO THIS!

            Nobody’s Perfect (featuring Missy Elliott)

One of my favourite artists EVER comes back and reminds us why she was one of the best at her time. Missy’s versatility. People forgot she could sing you know. J Cole sends yet ANOTHER shout out to the bitches he dated, the people who hated, and yadda yadda yadda. But it is a good song because he takes the opportunity to shout out to his past love and her flaws, but yet again, no one’s perfect and 2^nd chances are what life is all about, so he’s trying to woo her back with all of his lightskin artillery on deck. Good song. Keep it on the iTunes.

            Never Told

This is a deep song (seems like it’s the deep, intricate, thought provocative half of the album). Cole talks about the “game” when it comes to Men and Women. Both play it, both live & die by it, and playing with fire will always get you burnt. I had to listen to this song a couple of times to really understand what he was getting into, but it does make sense, and it’s a good song overall.

*Sidenote* Majority of this album was produced by J Cole. He’s a talented guy, don’t get me wrong, it’s just his promotional struggles and recent songs that have been his slight downfall. He’s not a terrible rapper as people claim him to be (Which is really stupid if you ask me). People need to calm down with all of that talk.

            Rise & Shine

Starts off sounding like something inspirational, like stepping off of a cloud walking towards the pearly gates. Another coming out type of song (I get that he’s happy about his success, but damn, it’s getting old. Yes, it’s consistent to who he is, but for….real). He’s preaching about what he wants when he gets to where he wants to be, shouts out his boys, shouts out his old bitches (again), and how he was destined to kill the rap game by God’s will (i…ron…ic). But all he’s saying in this song he sums up in half a bar: “Sun gon shine, but the rain won’t stop” MEANING, I’m going to continue to shine and be great, but the downfall will still happen, and haters will hate regardless…a paradox, if you will (not a walking one).

            God’s Gift

Okay, so from where ‘Rise & Shine’ left off (literally, it sounds like one continuous song if you listen to both of them, until the beat drops for God’s Gift). Clearly, Cole has found Jesus between having sex with women & shouting out his haters. True. Talking about his persistence in his grind and getting signed by Hov (Jay-Z for the ones following at home). I didn’t see the point of this song. Should have just made ‘Rise & Shine’ an 8 minute song because he’s essentially talking about the same thing. So…I mean…what’s really going on here? This is a ‘meh’ kind of song…Production was decent.

            Breakdown

There are 3 stories in this song. 1. Cole meets his father gets out his feelings about the neglect and void he felt in his life without a father in his life. A life that many single mother children have to endure unfortunately. 2. Drugs & the street game are rough to avoid when times are really rough. He talks about how his boys get caught up in that life, and end up either dead or in jail. Basically they “breakdown.” 3. A man is in jail, he has a daughter, and a girl that’s still down for him, and she’s fighting her mother, who wants her to move on, but she won’t stop holding down her man. More and more stories that relate to young adults today. Yet another deep song. This is the Cole I like. He’s not a GREAT punchline rapper per say (his freestyles are still sick), so he just needs to stick with what he’s good at and he’ll be fine.

            Nothing Lasts Forever

The name speaks for itself, but Cole’s talking about relationships. When you lose a good thing, and you wish you had it back, you tend to reflect. You tried, and it didn’t happen. Nothing lasts forever, which is a good motto, but it’s a positive song because it shows that even though you’re not together with the person, you can still be friends (In. Some. Cases). Another good song. Sometimes you need to listen to songs with a storyline to just reflect and think about things in your life. The 2^nd half of J Cole’s album really did that for the most part.

            Daddy’s Little Girl (LAST SONG)

A good girl went bad. How do sweet innocent girls turn into alcohol abusers? “Mama couldn’t never reach her, Brother tried his best to teach her, She thinks she’s ready for the world, look at Daddy’s little girl.” A lot of people tend to act rebellious when they don’t have a parent around that that they were close too. People try to talk to her. Her ‘Daddy’ in this instance is a Pimp possibly, or the spirit of her father. Either way, there’s a void in her life, and she’s acting out in her own way. And that’s how rebels tend to act and why (some, not all) women who are more likely to have more sex and experiment with more drugs and alcohol than women who have that “comfort zone” with two parents in the household (EVEN THOUGH…..IT MAY NOT ALWAYS TURN OUT THAT WAY….I just need to clear that up before the feminists of the world gang up). It’s still a song with a message, and it’s a good one. Yet another song I enjoyed.

OKAY…overall, this album had the feel of a mixtape. Why, I say that is:

• 1.      Had a storyline that was similar to his previous mixtapes
• 2.      Old songs FROM said mixtapes
• 3.      The hype didn’t help its rating either

J Cole has proven that he is a lyrical artist. Although many view him as trash because of his wordplay, you have to go back into the archives and really take him in from the beginning. If you’re a first time listener of J Cole after hearing this album, you’ll understand that this is a rapper that is humble from his beginnings, cocky at times yes, because of said beginnings that humbled him, and that he does have a voice for the young people of our generation. NOW, he’s no Kendrick Lamar or Blu, let’s just get that clear, but Cole is definitely a name that you could say that will be one that you will remember for years to come along. That’s for sure. I gave his album a 3 out of 5 for the 3 reasons that I stated. May bump him up to 3.5/5, but he sad solid features, production was good for the most part, lyrics were thought provoking, not much of a shock value or anything that made you scrunch up your face like GOT DAYUM, but he showed off his talents, and that’s essentially what we (some of we) expected. MOST of us expected greatness, especially when Cole said that this was going to be a classic. Not quite, but not terrible. BUT, for now, that’s my opinion, this is my review

THAT’S MY WORD & IT STiXX

Ay Day (Official Music Video )- Schoolboyy