RE:Commend: Garfunkel and Oates

When you look at the great, old-school rock'n'roll duos from the late 60s to early 80s, the groups "Simon and Garfunkel" and "Hall and Oates", come to mind. And when you look at these two closely, you'll realise that within the duo-dynamic, one of them is the all-singing, all-dancing front man, while the other often waddles around in the background, awkwardly strumming away at a six-string. This, of course, is a notion that comedians/actors/musicians, Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci have tongue-in-cheekily picked up on, naming their two-girl comedy folk band after these underplayed "second bananas", in the form of Garfunkel and Oates.

    But the sweetly ironic thing is that these guys are anything but "second bananas", with enough pure, undeniably raw humour in their off-beat songs to claim them as top banana; every time. Just have a listen of any one of their songs, and within moments you'll be giggling at the crude, cutesy and ultimately true lyrics that accompany the Ukele/Guitar combo they've got going on. There's an upbeat tune about getting your medical marijuana licence featuring comic, Doug Benson, in "Weed Card"; a melodical venture into the true thoughts of everyone with "Pregnant Women Are Smug"; and a no holds-barred, F-Bomb-athon in the aptly named "F**k You" (which surprisingly starts out as a pretty little love-song). Other highlights include "Handjob, Bland Job, I Don't Understand Job", "This Party Just Took a Turn For The Douche", and the Christmas-themed, guest-star packed "Present Face".

   While their humour is certainly that of an adult-level, it's hard to disagree with their explicit lyrics when they're used to such amusing comedic affect; gangsta rap, this is not. And so it doesn't come as much as a surprise that the pair have landed a pilot deal with HBO, with a show that's promised to be "Glee with dick jokes". Think of them as a female version of the hilarious Flight of The Conchords, and you'll get an inkling for how funny this show could be...

  With a mass internet fanbase that rises day by day, two albums already produced and a third to be released later this month, it's safe to say that these gals are sticking around the comedy-music scene for a while. So start getting used to them now, and be thankful for the uplifting laughs they'll bring you: line by line, lyric by lyric, chord by chord.

So check out this G'n'O classic, "You, Me and Steve":




And don't forget that Garfunkel and Oates also have a website, a Youtube Channel, a Facebook Page and Twitter! Plus all their albums are available via iTunes: what are you waiting for? Go buy!


ATR
@DMeisterTweets

RE:View: Sucker Punch

If I asked you to think of every action movie convention you could, and then told you that they would all be in one movie, what would you say? No way, right? Well director Zack Snyder has attempted just that in his latest cinema outing, Sucker Punch. A hybrid between fantasy/action and thriller/sci-fi, Sucker Punch aims for the same mind-bending plot devices seen in the likes of Inception, but with all the heavy action, can the story keep up?

    The tale follows 5 girls :

• Emily Browning as Babydoll
• Abbie Cornish as Sweet Pea
• Jena Malone as Rocket
• Vanessa Hudgens (Yep - from High School Musical!) as Blondie
• Jamie Chung as Amber

 Locked up in a mental asylum, they attempt to escape by using the power of their minds to find five items that will set them free. Ever seen Rugrats? Well the way that they imagine stuff around them when they're playing is kind of like what happens here, just with more violence and scantily-clothed women. This complex idea however, doesn't always work and will leave you wondering why the hell a battle between a girl and 3 huge Gatling gun-wielding samurai's just took place.

    However, the style and action of these bizarre fight scenes really can't be flawed. Every battle runs smoothly with slow-mo cuts, close up combat and some stunning camera work in places to capture the beautiful choreography at work. Action-junkies will feel right at home here as fights with dragons, steam-punk German zombies and robots, unfold into some truly awesome set-pieces.

The action is crazy-awesome

          As for the multi-layered plot setup, it seems to struggle at times. Most things look to be based on implying things, rather than actually executing them which creates some plot holes and bad pacing issues. If you looked deep into it, there are some real serious themes of rape and abuse going on, but unfortunately these aren't built upon largely due to the 12A rating, leaving the finished product slightly sloppy. Plus the fairytale setup of "3 problems" (i.e. the three pigs houses) gets tiresome after a while and feels like the easy route of plot progression that really doesn't benefit the wannabe-complex script.

          The girls (although none really stand out) give fairly decent performances and manage to carry it well enough. Some more dialogue during fight scenes could have helped build some chemistry between them all though, and a couple characters seem a bit dispensable and only there to make up numbers (namely Hudgens and Chung's roles). On the whole though, the acting is fine.

You can't deny them their hotness...

     I can see what Snyder is getting at here and when closely analysed this could be viewed as a master-piece, but obviously the everyday movie-goer isn't going to get that deep, or even the critics. It seems a bit too like Snyder's film and no one else's, which is why it comes off a little rough. Granted, Snyder's cinematography and imagery is spot on and the action is handled expertly, but that's not going to satisfy everyone, especially those who came for a "mind-bending vision of reality" and instead got what came off like a video-game adaptation. I guess some slack should be given due to the fact that this is the first time Snyder's using his own material and can be somewhat forgiven due to his lack of guidance in the story-telling department this time round.

3/5 Stars - It's certainly fun to watch, just don't go expecting the next Shutter Island.

What did HeSaidSheSaid think of Sucker Punch? Click here to find out.