All too often in the indie music scene, artists will attempt to outdo each other's quirkiness or wit, which ends up to be musical ideas with no substance or meaning. Then there's the 2007 Sub Pop release, Cease to Begin by Band of Horses, which calls back to the old days of when artists were only concerned with making good music. Cease to Begin is one of those front-to-back albums that is not afraid to elaborate on where indie has been as well as show where it could go.

Using ethereal guitar melodies and vocal lines reminiscent of The Shins, vocalist/guitarist Ben Bridwell takes listeners on a beautifully landscaped journey clocking in at just over thirty minutes of quality tracks. Highlights include Is There a Ghost, No One's Gonna Love You and The General Specific for sheer beauty and unifying qualities that make up Cease to Begin.

This is one of the important indie albums that reminds us all of why we fell in love with this music in the first place, and gives an optimistic look into the future of indie music. Cease to Begin combines fantastic story telling and strong musical gestures to create a fully loaded album as a worthy follow up to Everything All the Time.

Since I’m the horror guy/MAN of the website I decided to do a top 5 horror movie countdown in honor of the holiest of holidays, Halloween. However, many top lists suffer from being too long. So this list will only consist of the top 5 horror films of all time. There will be a new movie added everyday until Halloween. Without further delay, I give you the five films I love more than my future children.



Many people feel Bill Paxton is just a second rate leading man and a first rate character actor, but there is much more to the man. For instance, Bill Paxton directed this criminally overlooked horror film.

Frailty is a combination of a great B-movie script and A-film production values, including Matthew McConaughey as the lead. The film constantly takes chances that always work in the end and contains some very memorable images, including the scene where the angel comes down from Heaven to give execution orders to Mr. Meiks. As a horror movie, Frailty doesn’t contain a lot of jolting scares, but that is not its game. Frailty slowly gets under your skin and is intelligently creepy.

Some people believe in the myth of the werewolf; a mystical creature that is a man during the day but turns into a ferocious half man half wolf creature when there is a full moon. Some people also believe in the myth that there has never been a good werewolf movie made. I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty that the second myth is false. There are at least two good werewolf movies and one them is The Howling, the number 4 selection in this horror countdown.
The Howling was written by John Sayles; the indie darling behind Lone Star and Men with Guns. Sales involvement is evident in the fact that The Howling has smarter more developed characters than those that usually appear in horror films. Sayles talent is also obvious in the fact that the film has some clever things to say about cults and lust.
The Howling also has great transformation scenes, some nice nods to past horror films, and suspenseful hunting/chase sequences. However, the main reason The Howling is so dear to the horror heart is because of the horribly fantastic ending. I will just say that it revolves around a live newscast. If you are one of the people that believe in the myth that there has never been a solid werewolf movie, I demand that you watch The Howling.Evil Dead 2 may be classified as a sequel, but it is really more of a remake of the first film, containing the same premise and similar set up as the original. However, despite being a remake there are many fresh and bloody great moments to be found in Evil Dead 2.The film consists of one blood laced sequence after another. Giving the viewer laughing dead animals, bloody chainsaws, and a dancing headless girlfriend.
Besides the gallons of blood and chainsaw induced dismemberments, there is also a large amount of laughs to be found in Evil Dead 2. The film’s joke friendly attitude lets the viewer know they’re suppose to have fun with the film and to just sit back and enjoy the carnage.
Evil Dead 2 does showcase some great horror scenes and moments. Although, the film’s humor is what ultimately elevates the film over its predecessor and what makes it a truly great film.

Every once in a while you will find yourself at the video store looking at a movie that you’ve never heard of but looks like it could be a solid film. You don’t know anything about the film other than the quick synopsis on the back and that it probably wasn’t released at the theaters, which is not a good sign. You debate whether or not to take the risk with your $3.99. The worst that can happen? You’re out a few bucks and two hours of your life. The best? You discover a true treasure made even better by the fact that you were expecting almost nothing from the film. The latter is the case with the gloomy horror gem Cemetery Man.
Even though Cemetery Man was never released in American theaters and took several years to even make it out on DVD, there are couple elements that add validity to the film even before first viewing. The film was directed by Michele Soavi; the protégé of Italian horror director and icon Dario Argento. Cemetery Man also stars Rupert Everett, who was already a fairly respected actor when the film was made
Rupert’s chance worked out because the film is fantastically bleak and bloody. The filmmaker’s love for blood is evident by many gruesomely great scenes, including a memorable battle between the lead and his recently deceased love by the pond. At times, Cemetery Man uses its horror premise to say some meaning full things about life and love. The film contains multiple love stories that involve the deceased and the living and all of them containing a decent amount of heartache and horror. Cemetery Man does a fine job of blending humor, horror and drama all together to create a unique cinematic experience, while never losing sight of its nihilistic vision.

Sorry Exorcist, I know you are use to being number one on any horror countdown, or at least top three, but not this list, not this time. The Exorcist is more of a drama about a mom dealing with her daughter’s severe condition with moments heavy on shock value scattered along the way. Number one deservedly belongs to the frighteningly realistic Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
A film that is a brutal and gruesome exercise in horror; shot with a documentary style, making the audience feel even more uneasy about the images on the screen. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre boats an iconic villain and startling moments of true terror. When Sally is running in the woods from Leatherface you truly believe this woman is running for her life. Watch this scene then another chase scene in a horror film and you will understand why this film is number one.

Neil Gaiman's highly-acclaimed book,Coraline, is two parts Tim Burton, two parts Roald Dahl, and one part Lewis Carroll. Stir in your most frightening childhood nightmares, and you're starting to get the idea.

Pick up this short, brilliant read aloud story for Halloween. You'll find yourself sympathizing with young Coraline when her disinterested, preoccupied parents send her away to count windows and doors. One door is not what it seems.

The first time Coraline ventures through it and enters the "other world," you will find her mirrored parents delightful. They're invested in Coraline. She's the center of their world, and they want her to stay forever. Over time, the other world reveals itself to be a menacing, frightful place; her other mother's dark button eyes and papery skin allude to their darker side.
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Jason Schwartzman, co-writer and star of the film The Darjeeling Limited visited the Angelika Film Center in Dallas on Tuesday for a special screening of the film.

It was the same movie theatre I had sat in time and time before. The same movie I saw a week ago. The same short film I downloaded on iTunes.

The lights dimmed and the movie started. I laughed at the same parts, plus some. The guy in front laughed the hardest. He knew who was going to be there. I wondered if he was just sucking up. Probably.

The movie was over and most everyone applauded. The lights began to fill the room.

"Blah, blah, blah. I work for The Quick. Blah, blah, blah. Without further-ado, Mr. Jason Schwartzman." More applause.

"Hi, I'm Jason."
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This Almost makes up for Forces of Nature and Bounce

Gone Baby Gone is one of those films where you have to wonder about its journey to the screen. It’s easy to understand the studios wanting to green light another project based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, the author behind the critical hit Mystic River. The directing of the film by Ben Affleck is not as easy to explain or understand. The former A-List actor has never directed before, or done anything in his performances to make you think he is capable of handling a project demanding of such a skillful and mature hand. However, Affleck has won an Oscar for writing and co-wrote the adaptation of Gone Baby Gone. I suppose the people involved in producing the film weighed the ability Affleck showed as a writer with Good Will Hunting against the lack of talent Affleck has shown in his film performances and decided to take the risk.

Gone Baby Gone is a carefully crafted noir set in Beantown that is enhanced by the intelligent decisions made by the director. The actors playing most of the secondary characters in the film look and talk exactly like the people that would live in the film’s neighborhood; this casting greatly enhances the film’s realism and helps the audience accept some of the secondary character’s quirky behaviors.

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Our very first video review:

The Snow is such a Lovely Shade of Red.

Within the horror genre lives several different sub-genres. Some of these types of horror are well known and discussed and some are not. There is your traditional horror, which is heavy on the suspense and the subtext. Next you got your postmodern and supernatural horror. Then there is the type of horror I lovingly refer to as brutal horror. A sub-genre I named and created in my head. These films are not focused on creating suspense in the traditional sense. Instead, they scare you by putting their characters through unimaginable pain and torment and making you witness the whole ordeal. The audience gets to watch as these functioning members of society are hunted and terrorized by monsters (supernatural or human) to the point where they are no longer members of a modern society, but creatures using all their instinct and strength to survive. For the most part I would consider 30 Days of Night a brutal horror film, and I mean that as a very sincere compliment.

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close By Jonathan Safran Foer

Synopsis:
Oskar Schell is an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Review:
When I first picked this book up off of the shelf and flipped through the pages, I thought to myself "this is going to be interesting." The pages were filled with photos of doorknobs, colorful scribbles and unintelligible text. And for some reason it excited me.
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When it comes to movies, the term legal thriller has always sounded like an oxymoron to me. The term legal reminds me of long documents full of terms and conditions I don’t understand, and even if I did understand them I still wouldn’t care about what they were saying. In short, the legal world is boring to me. Thrillers are anything but boring; they are full of exciting elements like car crashes, backstabbing, and sex. Which is why I tend to scoff when I hear a movie described as a legal thriller. Even with this skepticism, I still went to see the 10:00 am showing of Michael Clayton, a legal thriller. (more...)

Stupid title, stupid movie.

Prologue

Before getting to my first review, I would like to say a few things regarding horror films. I love horror films. I have loved them since my Papa Bear first exposed me to their glory, by showing me Aliens at age seven and The Howling at age eight. The films terrified me. They also created a bloodlust that could not be satisfied. Throughout my childhood and early adult years, I have seen many horror films hoping to satisfy that bloodlust, for at least a moment.

Lately, the films the horror genre has churned out have been stupid, lacking soul, or made for 11-year-olds having slumber parties. With the decline in truly good horror films and the rise of remakes, prequels, and just plain bad movies with no merit, it appears as if the horror genre may be performing its death rattle.
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