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Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
1998 | Classical
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I picked Steve Reich because I think it changed the parameters of how I thought about music. At the time I was 17, playing in The Edmund Fitzgerald and I hadn't really ever been aware of modern classical or minimalism and it inspired me and also reinforced stuff that I intuitively liked in music, such as points of sounds and structural emphasis. The band Youthmovies introduced me to Reich - they had a quite formative effect on me in a sense that, up until then, I still listened to music in a tribal way, as in I had to identify with whatever subculture was going on, so I listened to Skinny Puppy and really plunged my identity into that, for example. I was in that teenage phase of tying up your fashion and your self identity with music. They also played me Gwen Stefani, Missy Elliott and Stars Of The Lid and they showed me that you didn't have to only identify with one tribe - they broke that way of thinking down. So that record was really important. And on a more simplistic level, it's just stunning. It's the kind of record you can listen to in any environment, unbound by context - it induces a trance-like state. It's a particularly good record to listen to when you're on the Underground, it's soothing - the perfect soundtrack to seeing thousands of people walking past you. He's one of my top five favourite musicians of all time."

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Trolls (2016)
Trolls (2016)
2016 | Animation, Family
The new film ‘Trolls’ by Dreamworks opens nationwide November 4.

Trolls is an animated kids movie starring the voices of Anna Kendrick as Poppy, heir to the Trolls, and her pessimistic best friend Branch, voiced by Justin Timberlake.

Trolls opens with a quick summary of the Trolls personality– they are always happy, love to hug, party and dance. This is immediately followed up by revealing the trolls biggest predicament: the Bergens.

The Bergens don’t feel anything at all and don’t enjoy doing anything, the only amount of happiness they feel comes from eating the trolls on a holiday they deemed “Trollstis”.

I actually enjoyed this concept although it is a bit dark for children. The film however, manages to stay away from having a dark tone throughout. Instead, it’s filled with cheesy musical numbers and has a very basic plot, I.e. trolls get kidnapped and need to be rescued.

The character depth is pretty slim and the only character development we really see is with Branch (Timberlake) who goes from being pessimistic and a downer to positive and happy by the very end.

Multiple times during the movie I found myself asking “when is this going to end?”. There was maybe one moment throughout the entire movie that got a half chuckle out of me and that was absolutely it.

Despite such big names like Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Russell Brand, Zoey Deschanel and Gwen Stefani, the subtle adult jokes sprinkled throughout the movie were few and far between…. Rather than most recent films targeted at kids, that have an underlying thread aimed at drawing in adults and making it worthwhile for the adults to attend, Trolls adult aimed content seemed to be at an absolute bare minimum.

Therefore, my conclusions are this: If you’re looking for a kids movie that also has substance that reaches adults, this film doesn’t make the list. This film is simply a kids movie in every way.

However, if you want to take your kid to a movie that lights up his face and brightens his day this movie is worth sitting through.

I’d give this movie 2/5 stars as an adult, but the 8 year old boy gives it 5/5.