Summer Movie Round-Up: A Summer for Coming of Age

 I'm a huge fan of Summer movies, but it's been a weird few months this year. There has certainly been no Avengers-level blockbuster as far as quality. Being a Marvel fan-boy, I enjoyed Iron Man 3 and The Wolverine. Fast & The Furious 6 was good fun and even if Pacific Rim didn't live up to the hype, I still enjoyed it. Yet none of these were as awesome as I wanted them to be. Action movies--blockbusters in general--seem to be flagging in 2013. They just aren't doing it for me.

On the other hand, my three favorite films of the past three months have all been very similar. It's almost as if they've formed a trilogy of their own. Mud, The Kings Of Summer and The Way, Way Back all deal with teens or preteens coming of age. All are hilarious, and all are emotionally affecting in at least some way.

I just saw The Way, Way Back two days ago and I think it's my favorite film of the year so far. What a perfect blend of emotions. Absolutely hilarious, but certainly not sugar-coated or Hollywood-ized. I feel like it's the little movie that could, and maybe if it didn't have such an off-puttingly lame title, it would actually brek out with the public, Moonrise Kingdom style.

My point in all of this? I don't often post about movies, but I want to encourage everyone to skip the multiplexes for a week and try something a little smaller. I'm all about the blockbusters, especially during the Summer, but the indies are where it's at this year.

HAIM - The Wire

"I know that you're gonna be okay, anyway"

I would absolutely love it if HAIM surprised us all and just released an album without even scheduling it beforehand. I've been playing their past three singles all year and I'm sure that this will be added to the mix, but I really need a full-length because I can't get enough of these girls. To me, their sound is so 90's, which I have a fond nostalgia for and naturally gravitate towards (almost as much as the 80's). I love that there's more of a riffy guitar influence on this track. It's quite different than a lot of their past work, yet still sounds like them. As much as I adore dance production, more of this organic, band-focused pop music would be great in the future too.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy their previous stuff here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Hanson - Get The Girl Back

"It's about time to put your cards back on the table"

This has been percolating for awhile. Initially, when Hanson first released their new single, I gave it a quick listen and thought "this is surprisingly great." Then, I promptly forgot about it. Now I'm really delving into their new album (amazingly titled Anthem) and getting kind of obsessed. I've always thought Hanson were very talented. I play This Time Around and their debut album to this day. The awesome thing is that they've just kept on making quality music, even if most may have forgotten about them. Anthem is full of material that's rockier, funkier and hookier than their other recent material. It deserves to win over new fans and bring back old ones (like me). Anyone think Taylor sounds a lot like Michael Jackson in parts of this? SO catchy.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.