With a number one album on Billboard and a Grammy win Slipknot is one of the most successful bands to ever come out of Iowa. I recently sat down with Corey Taylor at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids for a chat about the last ten years and what else has been going on with Corey and the band. So here’s the interview.
So there you go, I hope you enjoy the interview. Next week I’ll have a video interview up that I did with Jeff of DevilDriver as well.
So folks tonight at midnight Terminator: Salvation is going to be release to the big screen. Just in case you need a reason to go see it here is the trailer.
Not only that but a little birdy told me that tonight at 9:00 PM catch a presentation of the original Terminator (1984) on the Ultra Screen and then stick around for Salvation. Cost $14.75 and only at the Crossroads 12 Marcus Theatre in Waterloo.
And here’s the original trailer for the Govenators breakthrough role. Absolutely awesome movie! Kids my money is on this double feature tonight, and I may just make an appearance for this!
Also coming up this weekend Cornstalk 11. There’s Lollapalooza, there’s Bonnaroo and then there is Cornstalk 11 happening this weekend right here in our own back yards. Two stages, three nights, one low price and you can see national acts as well as regionals and locals of all genres. Folks for your money this is easily one of the best events in the Cedar Valley and I think you should get out there at least one night and see what Spicoli’s Bar & Grill & the Reverb Rock Garden is throwing down.
7:30 PM – Eddie Buzzard – I may be biased with these guys since I played with them for awhile, but they are one of the best local bands around right now!
Last Thursday I tripped down to Cedar Rapids to catch the Slipknot, All That Remains & DevilDriver show at the U.S. Cellular Center. I did interviews with Jeff from DevilDriver and Corey Taylor of Slipknot. Give me a week or so and I’ll have some stuff up on the blog. Also Adam Amdor our noon news producer is putting together a big package using those interviews as well as Killswitch Engage and other local and regional bands. This should be killer. I’m also going to have a show review up when I can too. Here are some pictures to tide you over until then.
So last night I caught this movie on DVD and once again this franchise is proving to be a winner. We had a different director on board this time by the original director Len Wiseman was still keeping things on course as a producer and writer on this one so it doesn’t stray far away from the two previous films.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the third film in this vampire meets werewolf via Romeo & Juliet trilogy, but it’s actually a prequel film and plays out the events leading up the the opening frames of the first Underworld movie. When I saw the first one in the theatre with my buddy All Beef we were both excited to see vampires and werewolves colliding on the big screen and we weren’t disappointed but we weren’t blown away either. Then the second one came out and I waited for it on DVD and was blown away with the improvements over the first film then this third film comes out and while I had heard rumblings that it was better than the first two I was leery about seeing it in the theatre. Well I’m kicking myself now since this would have been amazing to see on the big screen. While I think it’s better than the first and on par with the second film, I think the visual effects would have been awesome to see on a much bigger screen than mine at home.
So basically the Underworld movies as I have alluded to in my previous paragraph is the story of two star crossed lovers, one a vampire and one a werewolf. One from the ruling class, one from the slaves, but two hearts beating as one… 80′s break down. Ok, back to the point at hand here. In this latest story Sonja and Lucian are in love. They dig each other, Lucian is Victor’s (the head vampire) pet and Sonja is Victor’s daughter. Thus Victor is none too happy to find out his daughter is in love with his favorite pet. Are things getting stranger here for you too? I thought so, but that’s the story.
There are a few side stories about werewolves and betrayals and humans paying the vampires to be nice to them, but they are all superfluous to the real story which is how Lucian got his spine and stood up to Victor. Since this is a prequel we all know how it’s going to end in the end, but it was fun to see how it got there.
What I liked. First off I really liked the story, it was simple, it’s timeless but it’s easy to fall into the trap of cheering for the good guys when they are really good. I’m also a werewolf sympathizer. Out of all the monsters werewolves are my #1 monster, Godzilla is a close second though. It was a good fun story that didn’t need a lot of brain power to follow along with. I also liked the action sequences, while there wasn’t a ton of them in this movie, they were all done with crossbows and swords as opposed to the tech weapons of the first two films. I’m a sucker for sword movies like Excalibur, and this film did those films justice, although Lucian’s trench coat and leather pants might have been a bit out of sync with the times. I also liked the characters and the acting. While none of it was academy award nominating brilliance, it was all very good for what the film was. And no one, not even Bill Nighy phoned it in. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.
What I didn’t like. How many ways can you shoot a movie in blue? My biggest complaint with the whole movie is that the director decided (which in fairness was actually a Len Wiseman choice originally) to shoot the whole movie with his blue/grey filter on. My wife said “it looks like the Matrix in a castle” or something to that extent. Well she’s right, it’s pretty drab and lacking any color besides, blue, grey, black, and the various shades of it. It does really bring out the reds and oranges of the fire and blood, but those things are few and far between. I’m also a little dissappointed that there wasn’t more action in the movie. I wanted to see more vampire on werewolf fighting, but Patrick Tatopoulos decided he was going to go to the Michael Bay school of action directing and keep all the cool stuff kind of just out of sight so you don’t get a good chance to see the action. Except for one cool scene where you see a werewolf cut in half, which hurt me to my core but was a great visual effect. But really those are my only complaints with this movie.
All in all Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is a great way to spend an hour and a half in front of the TV with a bag of caramel corn. It doesn’t tax your brain and it’s a visual feast with a love story for everyone! This film is rated R and does have some scary elements, but there is no nudity, very little cussing if any and pretty unrealistic looking blood that is shed by mythical creatures. I wouldn’t have a problem showing this to an early teen. I’ll give it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.
Well folks, I was hoping to be more caught up than I am at this particular point in time, but I’m not so I just wanted to post something quick about last Saturday’s Free Comic Book Day. First off X-Men Origins: Wolverine destroyed at the box office, which is a total win for me. Second, my son and I had a great time at both comic book stores in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Metro.
Frist we headed over to Limited Edition Comics and Collectibles on the hill in Cedar Falls.
Give a kid a cookie and comic books and he’ll be happy every time. We wanted to stick around and see Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers but had to keep moving on so we didn’t wear my boy out too soon. Thanks to Rob and everyone for the cookies and the good converstation!
Next the boy and I headed over to The Core.
That final pic pretty much sums up our day. I had fun chatting with Mike and Joe (one of our directors here at the station) about all things comic book.
If you all didn’t make it out to get some free comic books you should have, there were some great ones in the bunch that I didn’t have a chance to get reviews written up before the day. But I’m going to get them up here soon! Good times were had by all!
Gonna have to make this quick, I was hoping to have the second batch of reviews of the comics done for you for Free Comic Book day but my real job has kept me pretty busy lately so I just wanted to give you the low down on what’s happening for these two events today.
I’m going to have to skip my Cedar Valley Weekend post for this week too. Sorry everybody, it will be pack next week time permitting. I also want to write a little review for Thomas the Train: The Circus Comes to Town the I caught with the family last week. OK enough.
So as most of you know X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released to theatres at midnight last night. It’s the first summer blockbuster out of the gate and it’s looking like a real winner. Word on the street is it’s pretty good. I’m going to check it out as soon as possible and get my review up here for you all.
Also it’s Free Comic Book day on Saturday. So get out to either one of our great comic book stores (or both wink wink nudge nudge) this Saturday and get your hands on a new comic for FREE.
Limited Edition Comics and Collectibles on the Hill in Cedar Falls will have refreshment and fun as well as Darth Vader and Stormtroopers from 1 to 4 PM. The fun kicks off at 10 AM!
The Core will also be giving away free comics as well and will kick off their day at 9 AM!
Both places will also be offering great sales and deals on most of their merchandise and I know you all are looking to get me the Zombie Spider-Man & Mary Jane bust for my birthday right?
OK so I have to run, I know this was short, believe me I wanted to do much more, but time, there just isn’t enough of it sometimes! I will be at both locations sometime tomorrow hanging out with my son though so come on out and say hello!
