Tron Legacy (2010) review

Review: 3 out of 5 stars.

The first time I watched Tron was in the late nineties and I was around six years old. At the time, it was on satellite TV and this was before Sky had been widely available to everyone. I had NTL Broadband, the company is known as Virgin Media now. From what I remember, Tron was about a computer whiz named Kevin Flynn who is an employee at ENCOM, a software company, where he used to make the best video games for.

It was a well contrived film that is known for its remarkable imagination and stunning graphics at the time in 1982. Rumours of a forthcoming sequel in production and being green-lighted had spread. I even swore I saw a small ad for Tron 2 at an old rental store where I used to get blockbuster movies and thrilling martial arts films. At last, though, Tron Legacy is here in 2010 and reached theatres in December in most of Europe. When I first saw and heard what they were doing with this movie, I felt it was going to do an appalling job at the box office, but actually, it did become a feasible hit.

Tron Legacy is directed by Joseph Kosinski who is known in the commercial television and feature world as a wizard in computer graphics and visual effects. It stars Jeff Bridges who reprised his role as Kevin Flynn from the previous film and plays the digital counterpart, Clu 2, Garrett Hedlund plays his fully grown son, Sam Flynn, Bruce Boxleitner took on the role of Alan Bradley, a stepfather of Sam ad Tron; a security program. With a screenplay written by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, the film lasted 127 minutes, produced by Steven Bailey, Jeffrey Silver and writer and director of the first film, Steven Lisberger. It was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.

Good:

Where the last instalment of Tron left off, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has become CEO of ENCOM International and led the industry by storm until his sudden disappearance in 1989. His son, Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), is left an orphan and heir to his father’s multi-national enterprise. Over two decades later, Sam became a rebel; he does not have any interest taking control of ENCOM and often makes fun of members in the board meeting with his skills in extreme sports. His last stunt gets him arrested by the police after he parachutes off from the ENCOM building. Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) then approaches Sam about a message he received on his pager, mysteriously sent by Sam’s father, ironically, the connection was cut for years. This came from an old arcade, without hesitation, Sam began to explore the abandoned place for clues only to find a room at the other side of the arcade inside a laboratory. He finds the computer and gets digitized by a prototype machine, some kind of laser.

In the opening scene, a few minutes into the film, evidence of a dysfunctional relationship is found between Kevin and Sam. Told in a fairytale or story book archetypical narrative, eight year old Sam is told by Kevin about the digital landscape hidden within a computer named “The Grid” where programs are represented as humanoid-electronic beings inside systems. This gives new audiences some closure and fills us with necessary information in order to know what it is about. Fans of the original film also are given ideas on where its source began and where it is heading. From the initial 30 minutes, we learn before Kevin was missing, he promised to change society through science, religion and medicine from his autobiographical book “The Digital Frontier”. Also, that Kevin had created a new User friendly system where programs and users can integrate. Those who are Tron fans know Kevin visited the virtual world once before.

Hedlund provided a great performance as Sam and made a convincing, heroic, protagonist in the sequel. His moments of loss, missing his Dad, can be felt by viewers but how the character deals with such aggravated emotions is quite intriguing. Any calculated or observant individual can see through his very hardened exterior and realise he is lonely. The story is not all that fantastic, considering it took at least thirty years to get a visionary project off the ground. However, its visuals and cinematography are nothing short of beautifying. The disc battles and light-cycle races are cool. This is where IMAX 3D comes in handy, it’s done in an ultraviolet fashion on a grand scale. Dark, lightning-filled, skies give the notion you are inside a videogame with futuristic cities. About forty minutes into Tron Legacy as Sam encounters the enigmatic Clu 2 (Bridges) and facing Rinzler (Anis Cheurfa), a masked warrior who fights against users or rogue programs, in a deadly battle with discs, he meets Quorra (Olivia Wilde).

Bad:

The problem with Tron Legacy is there is not much character development and the script is not that engaging to be on the level of Inception neither is the plot original. I have no qualms toward how successful this film is, on the other hand, it seems the film crew have leaned too much on the lens of 3D rigs and cameras plus various angles on the whole landscapes in the setting than actually focus upon the structure. There is an obvious style over substance here, and it did not help with two writers whose credits include television shows like One Tree Hill and Lost being under the wing of a fan boy director who only so far as done adverts. Another thing is the movie has a few holes in continuity and storyline; the positioning of characters within some medium and long shots and timeline. For example, how can a program (Clu 2) send a message to a pager? No sort of intelligence can do that. Plus how come Sam does not have the same god-like abilities as his father, I mean he is a user?

By the time Sam and Quorra locate Kevin in a wasteland off The Grid, tragedy is replaced by a need to leave which is a bit too quick. If given enough time, the dynamic between all of them should have been show more, especially from Kevin and Sam given that it is a father-son story. In the middle, Kevin reveals his gift to the real world were ISO’s (isomorphic algorithms), special beings of unknown origin who can unlock mysteries in the human condition. Clu 2 destroyed them as he believed they were a threat to the system. The message here from this meeting is hubris and perfection, which are good topics in action/adventure but more details of the purge of ISO’s and those contexts and themes should have been dealt with more. Sound was deafening including the robotic voices of programs, save for the Sirens, but was layered over by a superb music score from Daft Punk. I will not spoil Clu 2’s master plan but it’s not hard to work out.

Overall:

Tron Legacy is a fun, simple, thrilling motion picture with stunning 3D inspired CGI visuals in place of a slapdash script and faithful direction. Actors have played the characters with gravitas and energy. Although, I do feel Sam could have shown a little more resentment towards his Dad for being missing for so long but there was a sense of unsettlement, so I can’t really complain. The high point goes toward the score by Daft Punk, which is a very good choice and works extremely well along with the picture. With a lot to work with, sustenance would be the key in making us feel more satisfied. This is for people that want to be on their seat feeling energized and fans of the previous film.

- Written by Kbon

Buried film Review

Review: 2.5 out of 5.

Sorry guys, I've been slacking these past couple of months but I have got at least two reviews up there that are ready for my inspection. I am concentrating on films at the moment, but I will get back to music very soon. This year has been my luck watching so many rubbish films, I may have to call this site "Kbon Worst Reviews". Joke aside, this movie was not too bad, however, it could possibly be chucked into the gutter if not brought to the right hands - like mine.

Buried was released in September 24th 2010 in the United States and everywhere sometime in October. It is directed by Rodrigo Cortes starring Ryan Reynolds as Paul Conroy, a truck driver buried alive in a casket in Iraq with only his Blackberry mobile phone, torch, lighter and Zippo. It turns out he was captured by an Iraqi kidnapper (with a ridiculous Middle Eastern accent) and threatens to put the lives of his family in danger if Paul does not make a ransom video and the wire transfer of up to $5,000,000 dollars. Through Reynolds' cynical and innocent attempts at black humour, we learn about the mysterious captor from the FBI official; on another, similar, case who is called Mark Wright. Not much is known about this man, only that he is buried in a location not far from where Paul was trapped. Reynolds did very well to convey the anxiety and harshness of his character, we know he can pull off the wise-cracker as shown in films such as Blade Trinity (2004) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).

Good:

Spanish director Cortes did well to provide the intensity of the drama, although he did not have much of a thorough concept to work with, he showed us how many tools he has got in his disposal to keep you watching for 94 minutes. Credit goes out to Chris Sparling with a methodical script about our most common fears in human nature: claustrophobia. There is one flaw I did not like with this, but it might just be me and this is the ending of the story. Apart from that, I give Sparling prompts for a carefully built character arc. The performance by Reynolds is what carried the film in a spiral of emotion. He nailed the persona of Paul very well and it allows us to go deep into his psyche - from anger to desperation and from sarcasm to kindness - with the Green Lantern movie coming in theatres in Summer 2011 we know he can breeze it like pulling tricks out of a bag to use his magic torch. The camera shots give us a way of reaching out to the character and tells the viewer he may not get out of here. Music is beautifully composed and sound is not overused.

Bad:

You are probably wondering if this is so greatly constructed why did I give it just 2 and 1/2 stars? This is the reason: now remember when I told you I felt the ending of the story was poor, well that is only partly my deduction. I won't go into specifics of the scene for the sake of spoilers but I will tell you it left me disappointed. I was expecting more from it and this let the film down. Secondly, I know that depending on the actor, movies that feature merely one character on screen can be quite difficult to gauge interest. Now the director has made up for these strict limitations of characters and locations - he is in a coffin from start to finish - with mystery and some action sequences. Despite this, the kidnapper cannot be taken seriously and I laughed to myself and nearly choked on popcorn at how stupid this guy is and his supposedly broken English does not help things. Its nearly enough as though we are witnessing a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon at the other end of the line. The next mishap is Buried is riddled with holes as deep as Paul is, maybe even more down under. It did not explain or grant any background information on what led him to be trapped? Who are his enemies? And why did they bury Wright plus what is the link between him and Paul?

Overall:

A film with a strong premise of being faced living under the earth forever, this has a rich writing style, tough visuals and stunning performance by Ryan Reynolds. On the other hand, the mystery flattens by unsatisfied answers, untied plot ends and mediocre ending that loses itself along the way. This could have been done more better if the director had pushed it a little beyond its limits. The money for tickets was not much of a waste, but its worth your bet not wasting your time and just go for the DVD or Blu-ray.

- Written by Kbon

Inception film review

Review: 4.5 out of 5

To all of you people fanatical about film,

Kbon is now at it again. It has not been long since I reviewed Prototype, but I always wanted to take a chance in going through another item that dares pass my keen judgement. I just never had time. This, in particular, is the one movie I was intending to use before I watched A-Team. Well, today folks the film I am going to review is by Christopher Nolan, Director of The Dark Knight and The Prestige. Yes, it's Inception. Nolan and his younger brother, Johnathan, are geniuses when it comes to making Hollywood blockbusters. I don't need to mention anymore credits as their status as filmmakers are more painted on cash notes and worldwide than any word on the street. Oh, what the heck, Christopher has been nominated and won many Academy, Satellite and Empire Awards, notably for winning Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and more. He now has the next Batman film in development while adapting a whole twist on the Man of Steel everyone knows, Superman.

The newest contender in the film world introduced his idea of dreams to Warner Brothers in 2001, which started with an 80-paged treatment. Christopher then decided he was not ready to produce something at this kind of scale. I understand this due to how grand a concept it can actually be once you start talking about the mind. My question is does it live up to it's expectations as does, say The Dark Knight? Well, I have little anxiety towards Nolan's works and Inception borders on an entire new level of The Matrix. In short, this guy knows exactly what he's doing. Recruited in Nolan's team of actors is Leonardo DiCaprio who did films such as Shutter Island who plays extractor, Mr. Cobb, tasked with stealing dreams. He leads a team of extractors to perform a process called inception; store an idea in a subject's mind while unconscious. A pretty insane length to rob an item, don't you think? Maybe, but you got to love the odds with this. Imagine planting a suggestion into your teacher's head and convincing them of giving you straight A's. That would be cool. So, what is the plot?

Inception has a total of 148 minutes and was made by Nolan's own studio, Syncopy Films, and Legendary Pictures. This was distributed by Warner Brothers. Mr. Cobb is first shown on the beach, waking up to find an old man who describes a symbol, a spinning top, which is the perfect indicator of whether he is sleeping or not. Cobb, with his right-hand man, Arthur, (Joseph Gordon Levitt) embark on a mission within the mind of Japanese business man, Saito (Ken Watanabe) via drug inducement methods. The mission becomes awry thanks to Mal (Marion Corillard), a formidable woman always ruining missions and who poses a threat against Cobb. It appears this was a test, forcing Cobb to help Saito convince Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) in terminating his rival's empire, father of Robert, Maurice Fishcer (Pete Postlethwaire). In return for the mission's success, Cobb will be free to visit America and see his children. He drafts in Eames (Tom Hardy), the forger who can alter his form within dreams, Ariadne (Ellen Page), the architect in charge of building dream worlds and Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who specializes in sedatives that causes these mental projections to occur. With a team assembled, they face danger in every corner and death in this realm could result in the mind to enter a relapse: being lost forever in-between fantasy and reality.

The Good:

Alright, now that we sunk deep into our creators' madness, I got a few more things I got to say about Inception. The strengths is down to construction. Nolan, where have you been in my whole life? This is stupendous, not only has our writer/producer/director has got everything down to the cast, he's got an intelligent script and mesmerizing visuals courtesy of Wally Pfister. The drama creates urgency making you realize no matter how precise your skills are or how clever you can be, anything can go wrong. Brilliant acting plus a moving score by Hans Zimmer provided that unsettling build up. My favourite is the hotel scene where Arthur battles henchmen while escaping his team in a floating sequence. It will be memorable and is really breathtaking to watch. Nolan has obviously worked on this for a long time as the whole story is broken into layers split in the shape of an onion that connects like a domino effect. Of course, it does have some low points.

The Bad:

Unsurprisingly, this feature does not have many downsides. However, every watcher of Nolan's films knows his tendency to confuse audiences. Many can be a bit more than baffled at how well crafted his multi-strand plots are. It did the same to a friend and he almost slept near the bitter end of the movie. Me, being the film buff I am prevented this and I continued to watch. I got to admit though, I did pull a "What the--?", a couple times but it all made sense to me eventually. Another defect is the pacing is slow and quite daunting, it makes you lose sight of what Cobb's motive for the mission are? Finally, the main conflict against Mal as we learn in the close of the first Act that she's merely an avatar of Cobb's late wife is gotten rid of too easy. It would have been great if she had more screen time to fill her presence as someone imposing. I believe the actress, Marion, had potential and would have been more suited better as the film's villain if she was given more opportunities to be shown more of her character. At least she had enough for exposition but she felt a bit flat.

Overall:

Inception was a terrific film and is, believe it or not, one of the best films of this year. I can't wait until it hits DVD and Blu-ray release. My advice to anyone who goes to see a film like this, go watch it in IMAX theatres. I didn't have a chance to do that but it is worth the experience. This is by far the most fantastic use of mind blowing action since The Matrix or even Equilibrium. While those gratifying pieces built the foundations of imaginary settings, Nolan beats them by looking at the minor details that distinct them from this.

- Written by Kbon

[Prototype] game review

Review: 4 out of 5

Okay, I'm going to take a break reviewing films just for a short while.

I haven't made any critic responses since Predators and that was a long time ago. Well, I'm back in my favourite desktop seat, but this time I share many view points on a video game. Non other than a large step of the most entertaining game of the year. It is Prototype, now because game's are very complex, I will judge it and break it down by the "Story", "Game play" and "Design" rather than how I critique films, music and other media.

Prototype is published by Activision and developed by Radical Entertainment, featuring Barry Pepper who voiced Alex Mercer, the most powerful character in the Wildstorm universe. It was released over a year ago in June 2009 for the X Box 360, PS3 and Windows PC, they also released a comic book published by DC comics Wildstorm, which ties in with the game. Players get to become the anti-hero in an open world environment and do battle with an ever present black ops military organization called Blackwatch and the Infected, (Resident Evil, anyone?) mutated victims of a plague spread throughout New York City.

Story:

Mercer wakes up in the middle of a morgue just before two surgeons were about to dissect him. He escapes a facility, Genteck, who are the main figurehead and centre of genetic manipulation and several conspiracies within the game. Though it is not long before the Blackwatch soldiers confront Mercer, attempting to shoot him down. Mercer, obviously survives and exhibits superhuman abilities. He discovers that he carries in his palms shapeshifting abilities that grant a range of different powers.

Eventually, he makes contact with his sister, Dana Mercer. Not only do we learn her connections to Alex and Gentek as the reporter dug enough information to fight against the company while her brother was undercover. Alex subsequently encounters a psychopathic woman called Elizabeth Greene, who like Mercer is altered by a virulent weapon dubbed "Blacklight", which changed her in ways that literally trashes Darwin's theory of natural selection out the window. Feeling a link towards Greene he frees her only to get smacked by her ungrateful "mother". Greene births hideous monsters such as Hunters and other abnormalities while she infects the entire city, which sets the stage for what's to come. The effect of that and how it stretches in with his constant search for those who is responsible.

I have played some levels and this is a largely progressive, incredible storyline. The interesting thing about this is although this game is linear, many of the audiences is able to feel attached to Mercer. This is especially on side missions e.g. Web of Intrigue. Mercer, through a system like this can steal memories from targets who are involved with his past by absorbing host's body's. The feature allows the audience to veer down memory lane to uncover secrets and growing mysteries relative to the main plot. Nothing I found wrong in the story that is pretty well written except the pacing can be a little tedious.

Game Play:

Mercer has the ability to disguise himself by consuming others. This enables the user to regain health after it decreased from attacks. In addition, stealth is a major issue when it comes to infiltrating army bases at some point in the game. There is a reticule at the bottom of the screen in your Heads Up Display (HUD) that measures your discretion. If you are spotted in your host's guise doing suspicious activity, it will be harder to escape.

Another factor is Mercer gains 'upgrades' or special manoeuvres during the course of the game. These abilities come across in a few options for defensive and offensive powers. For instance, he can transform parts of his body into blades that can penetrate almost any material. A defense would be a shield he envelops that blocks most attacks. Going through a catalog of powers is not as tough as it sounds. It's simple to activate plus this does not interrupt normal play.

In addition, the character has super strength and gymnastic capability that makes use of his parkour movements. Alex can go anywhere, you are basically unstoppable. The only problem with the mechanics is the controls are crazy sometimes. I think one point in level 2 I had a problem throwing a car onto a helicopter, but it easily clears that flare up. The other trouble was difficulty adjusting to his agility, he just goes on and on non stop. It compels the fluidity of his travels slightly because you cannot go up a building without falling off the top of it.

Design:

The presentation is descent, but not perfect. A lot of things can be done here besides the story like working alongside the Infected or military during Events section. That is only just a sample of the potential you can try in this game. These help to keep the gamer busy, nevertheless, collecting medals in a sort of arcade tone maybe fun but can get old very quickly. The graphics on the monsters are believable and is a good spokesperson for very mature levels of gore. At least it is not too demanding though, visuals are crisp, especially when diving into Alex's subconscious in vague but effective flashbacks. Sadly, there is always drawbacks with entertainment so I hate to break it like this, but the skyline has low quality and the drastic change transitioned from pre-infection to post-infection in the setting does not do much for me.

Overall:

Developers at Radical Entertainment balanced a sharp cut apocalyptic premise with a gritty, open world, superhero game for single player. With a few improvements this would be a masterpiece. Prototype still is more than just an idea, it is a collector's item that coups up a conspiracy that fits it's way on a control pad snugly as much as slipping into footwear. With intense game play, remarkable graphics and clever story I could play it in fortnights. You can truly change everything and become anything within this ball of a game.

- Written by Kbon

Predators (2010) film review

Review: 2.5 out of 5.

Thank you to all who read here,

I came from my long while of watching films to review the 2010 film, which I had a fair share of little expectations for. After watching the laughing stock that was A-Team based on the famous big television series and the even more expendable mercenaries in a B-movie known as The Expendables, I had decided to review Predators. This Sci-Fi film is a remake of the Predator franchise. So, forget Alien vs Predator (2004) and Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007). Pretend they never happened, that is exactly what I was told by one of my friends when I was just about to buy tickets at the box office. Those crossovers stink anyway, nothing compared to the first two original films Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990). Let's get down to it.

As per usual, I will break this down into three categories. Those of you who read my past reviews know this, as for those who don't know, they are the "Good", the "Bad" and the "Overall". No, I didn't make a Clint Eastwood reference. Man, you people always spot these Easter Eggs a lot, just kidding. Anyway, Predators (not Predator, notice the "s") is directed by Nimrod Antal and is produced by Robert Rodriguez, the master behind the Spy Kids series and most recently Sin City and Grindhouse with Quentin Tarantino. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and is 107 minutes long, a bit of a drag than it needed to be. What is quite interesting is the fact that Rodriguez penned an early draft of a script for Predators more than a decade ago in 1994 before Fox invested with this. In a way, I'm kind of glad they picked the right time to show it. On with the review, I'll get to my bench mark later.

Predators had the Lost feel to it, but that does not necessarily do much for the ratings. When you are shown on the screen in the opening scene, you first meet Royce (Adrien Brody) who literally falls from the sky from only God knows where into a jungle reminiscent to an Amazon. Royce meets up with several other people who have landed in the jungle and turn out to be either hired soldiers of fortune or convicts execpt a doctor. The party includes Cuchillo; a drug lord (Danny Trejo), Nikolai; a Russian soldier (Oleg Taktarov), Isabelle; a sniper from Israel (Alice Braga), Mombasa; RUF officer (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), the skilled Yakuza member; Hanzo, (Louis Ozawa Changchien) death row inmate; Stans (Walton Goggins) and finally the doctor I was talking about, Edwin (Topher Grace). In a space of 15 minutes during the film, it becomes obvious the group is not on the planet they think they are on.

Good:

Before I get to the good bits, let me say that this movie does bring a sense of intrigue. I admit that I was surprised by the level of gore in this film since this is a certificate 15, but that does not really do much for me. There were some little good parts in it that kept me watching like the surprising appearance of our guest actor Laurence Fishburne, but even he did not do well to save this feature in being average. There were some crispy clean visuals as I would expect in a science fiction film of this day and age plus some very snappy dialogue. The Predators themselves were just how I knew of them with their gnawing split mouths and Rasta dreadlocks hidden away by their space helmet/masks. Yes, as ugly as ever. I thank everyone in the costume department for their handiwork. Another great part is the film maker's new take on the extraterrestrial hunting machines, an existence of a new specie of Predator dubbed Super Predators who are larger, more bloodthirsty and do not share that honour the original does. Among other creatures, I will talk about later, there is a feud between those large Predators and the classic ones. I do appreciate the sword fight between Hanzo and one of the Super Predators, but that is really it and was more for entertainment.

Bad:

Predators serves as only a half point between the box office failure and splendor masterpiece of Hollywood films, meaning don't bother waste your time going cinemas just rent it in your local DVD or Blu-ray market. I made a painful and reckless mistake watching this. Nevertheless, I didn't really complain, I mean I had cheap and tasty popcorn. The sweet kind, done just right. The acting was mediocre at best, although, I couldn't believe the factor of Fishburne's rendition of a crazed militant could be so bad. In my mind I was thinking along the lines of "Is he for real?!" but as I placed more popcorn in my mouth I just was shocked at the idea. Fishburne you can do better, man. I will ignore the fact that producers killed off a black man in the most terrible fashion they can think of. The irony is Mombasa (Ali) is not the first but the second target after another non-Caucasian man (Trejo). After more senseless humans getting picked off, a lame plot twist involving the doctor and some brawl with monsters I now come to my final conclusion. My rating fits the picture of another great concept gone to waste.

Overall:

The script is weak in certain places, but it beats A-Team with leaps and bounds. Though it still does not do enough to really pick me apart with their awesome plasma guns, in fact it does not even come close. The acting was okay but Fishburne felt like an extra. Good direction, but poor execution, visuals are standard blockbuster imagery and so is the sound, which sets the creepy air but it takes all of the thrills away and can get boring quite easily. They did a number on the effects budget and relied on references from previous films to catch on. My suggestion is just buy it on DVD and just wait till the ticket sales end. I got another review for you coming in a few weeks and it is [Prototype] the game, which means I have to grab my PS3 pad and start breezing through all the levels. Peace out, fans.

- Written by Kbon

Baptism Under Fire review

Review: 4 out of 5.

I'm back again people,

It's been about two weeks since my last review on Drake's album. I had a couple loose ends that needed to be tied up and have been a little busy in those weeks but I'm now in the game. Before I start, I would like to keep a notice that at some point I may review classics as well as what's new also. So, those hardcore fans out there, don't feel left out. Change the subject, let's talk about some music and today I'm going to review Phoenix Da Ice Fire.

Phoenix released his mix tape, Baptism Under Fire last year on November 2009. I know this because I actually went to one of his launch parties' to promote the CD. At the moment he's recording his new album, but I won't tell you what it is. I will save the title of that for a next review, but I'll give you a clue. If you listen closely, you'll hear a teaser of the album plus it revealed the name of it. His bars are really great and breaks the definition of true Hip Hop. His flow reminds me of Nas because he drives real deep into an almost immeasurable vocabulary, which some might say would be comparable to Busta Rhymes. Probably, even better than Rhymes. Now down to the bones of the structure.

The mix tape, for all intents and purposes, has constructive lyrics and his style has a classic theme on some of the instrumentals that make it authentic enough for older and younger audiences. Phoenix will rob your mind from all the hype before making you "baptised" in the heat that comes from his list of tracks. While others like his track "Eargasm" leaves you feeling good and takes you out of your comfort zone in your normal routine, certain tracks like "Use Your Imagination" borders on a higher level of consciousness. The songs I favour is "Purple Mist", "Coconut" (you've got to try this one), "Ecstasy", "Aryan Sky" and "Use Your Imagination". I also like "Echo" too, most of them I listed are mostly uplifting of the spirit, but there are a few that are very high thinking. Baptism Under Fire did well to balance the margin between freedom of speech and feel good tunes, which plays smooth. However, does it do well enough to value against reviews? Actually, yes it does.

The Good:

Baptism Under Fire was mixed by DJ Roast and features artists like M9, Prophet, Young Roots and J Tha Exodus. The mixes were beautifully laid out. Each track falls in line with the next and improves with each beat. What is good about this is Phoenix does not take long to make his point when it comes to higher thinking hyperbole's and metaphors in his lines and delivers it how it is in order to make your opinion from them. Another thing is the beats, which sounds very classical, but can be easily accepted with new audiences coming up rather than being trashed. In the mix tape, a description within the case tells us the journey he goes through and I do see where he is coming from. The best collaboration is with J Tha Exodus on "Most High". Like Busta Rhymes, Phoenix executes his lines with strong precision, but rather than use just hardcore rhymes, he selects different subjects to play around with. The same thing he does in every track.

The Bad:

There is not many faults to this mix tape, but I will say one thing: it's mainly style. Phoenix said to me himself that he comes from a Garage background. That is not the problem, however, Phoenix has a very fast rapping pace, which could make it hard for some to pick up what he's saying. Sometimes there is no chance for a breather and other instances we cannot pick up the punch lines when he makes them. Although this is the one part I had a problem with, the rest is fine. I give him four stars out of five because the rhymes are deep; albeit a bit controversial but that's how Hip Hop started out, incredible beats, suitable collaboration and fantastic creativity. With a little more scope, this could have been truly impressive. Another tidbit that had brought it down is the mixing is repetitive in some of the tracks, but that is only due to editing so it wouldn't be fair to judge on that sector.

Overall:

All I can say for this is I can't wait until he's new album comes out. I am confident it will be great and I have very high expectations for it. Phoenix has obviously spent a long time building this mix tape up like fire. I will listen to this until my eardrums fry. The CD has great originality, tackles interesting subjects, a good composition and has a bonus track to go with the package. If you learn from your audience you will go on clear and keep perfecting what you have. I'll leave on to say the next two reviews I will do involves a game, one from a video game console for an open world action-adventure released in June last year and a film that involves a group of mercanaries and convicts thrown onto a planet and soon realise they are playing a game and that they are the prey.

- Written by Kbon

Thank Me Later review

Review: 3 out of 5.







What's happenin',

I'm here again this time to do a review on one of the most recent and best rappers and singers' in the game now from non other than Young Money Entertainment. Yeah, that's right, Lil Wayne's crew. I'm going to do the latest album of the Canadian artist, Drake, this is his first studio album made and it's called "Thank Me Later". Now I first listened to his tunes from his mix tape "So Far Gone", his third mix tape, but it turns out he's been doing some other mixtapes as far as 2006 such as "Room for Improvement" and "Come Back Season", which I definitely need to get a hold of. Some people out there compare this artist to Kanye West. For me, this is really true and I could see the similarity between them. It is from both their mannerisms and their flow that makes them out to be very compariable. To be honest, I felt this album was pretty good, but not as good as his last mixtape. His lyrics spoke a lot of volumes but I just feel this album didn't really jump out to me in the way that "So Far Gone" did. Anyway, the artists features Lil Wayne himself, Nicki Minaj of course, a young abrasive Trinidadian diva, The Dream, Alicia Keys, T.I., Jay-Z and Young Jeezy.

This album was released on June 15th 2010, which has been signed onto the Cash Money, Young Money and Universal Motown label and one of the producers of this was Kanye West. The single is "Over", I've seen the music video of this sometime in April-May as there has been leaks going around on the Internet. That is the 2nd favourite track of mine, the visuals on that video is really good and how it was laid out was really well done. No vocoder crap, I'm thankful for that, keep it real. To me, a vocoder only works on certain artists' like T-Pain but what I'm curious to know is why do most artists' use that? I mean, is it really that necessary or just part of the cool factor the same way visual effects are carried out in some films? Anyway, off topic, let's get back to my review. There's other tracks on this album like "Karaoke", "Fireworks" or "The Resistance", which are more love orientated or independent moving songs more focused on either family and relationships between either hardships with girlfriends or thereof problems faced with friends and parents, mostly domestic. On the other hand, there are tunes such as "Over", "Unforgettable" and "Fancy" that remind us why a majority of us really love Hip Hop. The verdict? Well since there is a track on it such as "Miss Me", featuring Lil Wayne I was dissatisfied with this. I mean Mr Carter, seriously, you can do better than that. It is hard to decide because it was good, don't get me wrong but personally, it could have gotten much better. I will break this down in three stages that I have done in the 4.3.2.1 review.

The Good:

I appreciate all the different beats on it, some of them, "Unforgettable" remind me funny enough of the slow jams from the 90's that we all need to get back to. Good artists should drop the whole quick-album-run-of-the-mill cash making scheme that all have sunk to these days. As stated by David Banner in an interview on Vibe magazine, it's all of the record producers fault who get cardboard cutout musicians and it's not about how good you could rap anymore. This is true and if we don't get anyone to do something about it before it's too late the rap, hip-hop genre will be destroyed. Passion talk for another time, I love the balance in here because most albums I listened to recently don't have that, it's got feel good tunes which make you repeat the words every time and nod your head whereas the others almost tell a story through metaphorical speech which comes off as a small biography. I'm glad he's talking about variable subjects here. "Fancy" has a well good ring to it that could blast off in the nightclub somewhere. I just like the chorus on this.

The Bad:

I would have given this at least a 1/2 in front of the 3, but this didn't really do enough to value that. There was not much depth to his lyrics, not much punchlines and the music felt a little all over the place. It was as though it was contemporary R&B in this mixed with Rap and other things in this, which makes you wonder in your head "What is it I'm listening to?" before checking the label and going yeah "Parental Advisory - Explicit Content". Drake needs to stick to what he knows. No actually I take it back, be versatile with your music, but not too much that it dilutes it with a litre of water of different stuff thrown into it. This means not too many guest appearances and rap with things in good context like what he did on his last mix tape. Those are the main points that had brought this down. Otherwise it was a good listen and I wish the rapper all the best with his music. He's got potential and if he keeps it up could probably be a next Kanye West. This album has pretty good recognition out there and is received very well. He is listed on the Billboard Hot 100 at the top five.

Overall:

Drake makes up for his less construed lyrics in content with a slow paced, relaxed, rap story which keeps you wanting more as he delivers. His vocals help level the balance of his smooth base and takes all of us on a soft cruise back to what slow jams were. The good choice of instrumentals shows us what he is made of and that he cares about the quality. Although it does not help when you are thrust with different vibes meshed together. Those who are more interested in pop are not left behind. There's a little of that in there as well. I would listen to this over and over again, but it's mainly targeted at those who are looking for just a chilled out evening or wants rhymes.

- Written by Kbon