Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles review

Posted : 1 month, 1 week ago on 16 July 2008 02:28 (A review of Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles)

It's amazing how an artist can sound so much better live than he does in the studio. I've heard two studio albums by John Mayer, the first being pretty mediocre pop and the second being pretty good pop, occasionally blues inspired. However, it is his two live albums that I think are really outstanding, this one and 2005's 'Try' with what he calls 'The John Mayer Trio'.

John Mayer is a very good songwriter but his albums frequently lose their way in some mediocre music. Somehow, that flaw is vastly mitigated in his live performances. In this concert, he plays three distinct sets - an acoustic set, an electric blues set with the rest of the 'Trio' and a third and final set with the band.

The first set is amazing, it's direct and uncluttered and he sounds good, really good. The second set is amazing as well and he demonstrates what a skillful blues guitarist he is. He is good enough to be invited to Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar festival. The songs are mostly from 'Try' which isn't a bad thing at all.

The third set sees him returning to a more conventional setting, with a band, and playing his more popular songs. He sounds much better than he does on his albums. There is a slight raw edge to his music, naturally imparted by playing live. The overly processed feel of his albums is gone and this allows his songwriting to shine. As I said before, he writes good stuff, and now it has an excellent setting too.

The DVD is a better buy than the CD if you have a 5.1 sound system and it's nice to see how diverse the three sets really are visually as well as musically.

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Taking a leaf out of the Matrix playbook

Posted : 1 month, 2 weeks ago on 13 July 2008 04:16 (A review of Batman - Gotham Knight (Single-Disc Edition))

The Wachowski Brothers pioneered the idea of having animated shorts by multiple directors/studios set in the same universe as their movies. The Animatrix was the product of that effort and what an effort it was. It explored the deeper recesses of the Matrix universe - things that didn't find their way into any of the movies, even as side plots.

Gotham Knight attempts to do the same with the current Batman movie universe started by 'Batman Begins' and continuing later this year with 'The Dark Knight'. It doesn't reach the same heights as The Animatrix when it comes to exploring previously unexplored parts of the universe (primarily because there isn't that much to explore), but it's a very good collection of stories nevertheless.

The DVD consists of six twelve minute animated shorts exploring some familiar characters (the Italian mafia, the Scarecrow, Killer Croc) and some not so familiar ones. Most of them are a centered around action but each of them has a distinct and interesting plot. The six stories are varied as well, which keeps the experience interesting. My favourite is 'Working through pain' which explores Bruce Wayne's attempts to control physical pain.

If you're a Batman fan and are eagerly looking forward to 'The Dark Knight', you'll do well to check this DVD out. Everyone else can probably skip this.

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Eric Clapton - Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 review

Posted : 2 months ago on 22 June 2008 07:09 (A review of Eric Clapton - Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007)

This DVD is proving hard to review. There's no way I can do justice to it in a couple of paragraphs.

Eric Clapton invited a varied bunch of performers to the day long festival. The only common thread is that all of them play blues guitar in some form. The result is that there's is so much good music packed into the four hours that it's not even funny. The varied bunch of performers are all on top form. The sound quality is amazing, it feels like a studio recording.

It's hard to pick highlights since the whole DVD feels like a highlights package. I'll pick a couple of surprises instead. The first was Susan Tedeschi. I haven't heard much from her but I knew her as a good singer in the vein of Bonnie Raitt. Surprise, Surprise! She's an awesome blues guitar player too. The second was John Mayer. All I remembered about him before listening to set here was some vague pop music from the early part of this decade. Again, Surprise! His subsequent album was heavily blues influenced and he's a damn fine blues guitarist too. Good for him, I'll be checking out his album soon, especially the song 'Gravity'.

Final word - As expected, the set played by Eric Clapton and all his collaborators was amazing. However, even though the title say's this is an Eric Clapton record, it's not, really.

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Awesome first season

Posted : 2 months ago on 22 June 2008 12:54 (A review of House, M.D. - Season One)

We're dropped right into the world of Gregory House without any introduction. Every episode is unique and interesting as House and his team try to figure out their case. Along the way, we learn more about the characters and the world of House gradually expands. Watching this on DVD is a great as you can watch a bunch of episodes in one go. Hugh Laurie is brilliant, as usual. I've been a fan of his for long (think Blackadder and Jeeves & Wooster among other things) and it's interesting to see him in a drama for the first time.

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Fun and funny sci-fi adventure

Posted : 4 months ago on 27 April 2008 09:49 (A review of Back to the Future - The Complete Trilogy )

I have loved this trilogy of movies since I was 11 or 12. The second movie wasn't that well received, which has always surprised me. I thought it was superbly written. In fact, all three movies had pretty strong scripts which is commendable for movie sequels.

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Sharp witted Star Wars spoof

Posted : 4 months, 1 week ago on 19 April 2008 02:05 (A review of Robot Chicken: Star Wars)

Star Wars will always have a special place in movie history. That makes it a target for all kinds of spoofs, it's almost a cottage industry. It takes something special to stand out of the crowd. I was surprised to learn that Seth Green co-wrote the material. He's a very talented comic writer.

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Underwhelming re-edit of TV series

Posted : 4 months, 2 weeks ago on 14 April 2008 07:10 (A review of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man)

The OVA is a re-cut version of the first season of 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' anime series that follows the major story arc of the series about the hacker, 'Laughing Man' and his motives.

The editing cannot hide the disjointed nature of the story, which is inevitable given that almost all the footage is from the original episodes which had their individual emotional crescendos. Unfortunately, the character development has been almost completely edited out of the movie since those episodes generally did not form part of the main story arc. All in all, it's a poor substitute for watching the original anime series and works only as a recap of the main plot, rather than something that can stand on it's own.

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2nd gen Indian does stand-up, and how!

Posted : 5 months, 2 weeks ago on 15 March 2008 02:08 (A review of Russell Peters - Outsourced)

He's the first Indian stand up comic I've seen who breaks out of cliches and is actually funny. Takes on racial stereotypes and cultural idiosyncrasies among other things. Brilliant stuff.

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Still great after over a decade

Posted : 5 months, 2 weeks ago on 11 March 2008 10:58 (A review of Four Weddings and a Funeral (Deluxe Edition))

I've seen this movie about a dozen times now. That's one DVD I'll always have on my shelf.

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The Wachowski's Breathtaking Vision

Posted : 6 months, 4 weeks ago on 2 February 2008 05:27 (A review of The Ultimate Matrix Collection (The Matrix/ The Matrix Reloaded/ The Matrix Revolutions/ The Animatr)

It takes more than one viewing to take in the grand vision of this trilogy. The Wachowski brothers have created something magnificent.

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