not bad, but maybe a bit over-rated?
924279
I haven't seen all the movies that James Stewart made with the director Anthony Mann, but I have to say that I liked "The Man from Laramie" better than this one.  Not that this one is bad -- but it seems as if the idea of this movie was better than the movie itself turned out to be.  That's not the fault of the actors.  The plot set-up and the screenplay are weak.  The idea of three morally compromised men (James Stewart, Ralph Meeker, and Millard Mitchell) in a situation in which they have to take a murderer (Robert Ryan) from Colorado back to Abilene to face hanging and collect the $5,000 dollar reward is potentially interesting, given that there's the temptation to reduce the number of people who would split the reward -- a point that the outlaw prisoner, Ben Vangdergroat (Ryan), keeps bringing up to his captors.  Ben is one of these charming psychopaths who, for much of the movie seems kind of likeable, and Ryan plays him well, but the character is superficially conceived and written for no other reason than to get under the skins of the men who seek a reward for him.  His captors are Howard Kemp (Stewart), a Civil War veteran who has lost his farm through bizarre circumstances and needs the reward to have a chance to get it back.  Ralph Meeker is Roy Anderson, a dishonorably discharged soldier who has run afoul of some Indians too, and Jesse Tate (Mitchell), a prospector of advanced age who is obsessed with making a big strike  and who is open to Ben's suggestion that he knows where gold is.  In the middle of these obsessed and questionable men is Lina (Janet Leigh), who is traveling with Ben, who was her dead father's best friend.  Lina tries to think well of everybody, even Ben.  The movie might be seen as her education.

Without giving away the plot twists, I will only say that the circumstances of the three captors getting together against Ben is highly implausibly handled, even by the standards of Western conventions.  When you think about it, there's no reason why Howard couldn't have done what he set out to do alone: bring Ben to justice.  Getting the other two involved is simply a device to set up the "noir" atmosphere, and it's rather transparently obvious.  Howard is wounded during the chase and goes off his head for while, and thus we learn about what has embittered him, but he's not really interesting beyond that.  Stewart plays him with the requisite intensity, but neither Roy nor Jeff nor Ben is really involving as a character.  The sexual tension occasioned by Lina's presence is alluded to but never really dramatized, perhaps given the decency codes of 1953.  The movie isn't dull, and it isn't too long, but the obvious arbitrariness of the set-up is always a bother for me.
318816
Like Antonio Pappano's "Verdi Requiem" released eighteen months ago, this recording has been heavily hyped and promoted at a time when new such recordings are thin on the ground - and like that "Requiem" (see my review) I think it has merits without being anything special. Certainly the choir, orchestra and Pappano's conducting are all as good as one could wish but I think we run into some trouble once we start making comparisons between the soloist teams here and on previous celebrated versions, particularly with the women.

In case you think I'm being hypercritical, I would say that I am not by far the only commentator to express reservations - although those who dissent are likely to be drowned out and showered with abuse and negative votes for saying so. Maybe it's a case of only dead fish going with the tide, but swimming against is my MusicWeb reviewer colleague Bob Farr, who has also heard a lot of versions and remains underwhelmed. While acknowledging the "dramatic thrust" of Pappano's direction he has serious doubts about the sound balance, which places the soloists too far back, apparently seemingly behind the orchestra, and secondly he expresses disappointment with both Netrebko and DiDonato. I certainly immediately noticed the wobble and lack of firmness in a voice which, when even in its prime, was always too soft-grained for the spinto qualities the music demands and here sounds distinctly laboured. Some have attributed the recent deterioration in her voice, also noticeable in her Micaela in "Carmen", to her having returned to singing too soon after giving birth, when time is needed to recover from the physiological and hormonal changes that happy event occasions. Nor does Joyce DiDonato really thrill; she lacks the heft of lower register brought to the mezzo line by singers in competitive recordings such as Agnes Baltsa, Lucia Valentini Terrani and Yvonne Minton, and sounds faintly uninspired. In truth, both ladies are bland and lack spiritual conviction; I don't buy the throw-away line about this piece being "just a laugh" with no true religious content - you can hear the difference in the gravitas of the soloists in superior earlier versions conducted by Kertesz and Muti. This might explain why some earlier reviewers were not ultimately as wowed as they expected to be having read some fairly enthusiastic plugs.

The men are much better, though even Brownlee cannot provide the gleam of Pavarotti (or, for that matter, Bjorling in his wonderful recording of the "Cuius animam") and the sturdy and splendidly named Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is not necessarily preferable to Hans Sotin or Gwynne Howell.

So I'll stick with my two earlier versions, while still acknowledging Pappano's achievement - but I think he is let down by his ladies.
2076387
Marc Martel is incredibly talented, and was part of an amazing yet under-appreciated band called downhere. After gaining notoriety through a viral video auditioning for a Queen tribute band, he's understandably trying to capitalize on his notoriety by releasing the piecemeal solo efforts here, but it doesn't sound much like the Marc Martel from downhere. I mean... it SOUNDS like him, but the style is... bland. It's the kind of thing that sounds like the result of a focus group trying to identify the fundamental elements of popular music that will appeal to the most people... It's got all right the pieces, but it's nothing special. It sounds so familiar that by the time you've heard it once, you've had enough. It's not bad... it's just there.

As someone familiar with downhere's work, it's somewhat disappointing to hear the comparative shallowness lyrically when compared to any downhere album. Downhere fans will also miss hearing Jason's voice blending with Marc's, and the chemistry of the rest of the band that supported them.

Overall, it's not terrible, but it could have been so much better.
1572182
First of all, I consider 3 stars a perfectly good rating. Too much star inflation going on, as if what you like is somehow in competition with what others like.  This is just good solid basic rock and roll. A couple of songs with reasonably memorable melodies. Very competent musicianship, but it is restrained into the service of the song, not the ego. Plus as the Amazon review points out, it's sort of a second tier supergroup, with some interesting links for the collector. I had it on LP and certainly felt it was worth upgrading to CD. Would actually have given it 3.5 stars, if that were possible.
3927242
It is not bad, by any means... there are an abundance of books as such. This one did not standout as a memorable read.
3225048
This one kind of fell flat for me. It was good, but not great. I think a lot of it came down to Joe Hill overusing things like "they closed the door, and then it never opened again" at the end of many chapters. It's an interesting device, but it was so overused it got to be annoying.

The world of the story was interesting, and the plot was solid as well. The Dragonscale was a really creative idea, and it's clear he had a lot of fun playing around with it. The main thing that drops it down to 3 stars for me is that the characters are feel relatively flat. You can guess what they're going to do well ahead of time, and there are only a couple of major surprises.

Don't let me dissuade you though, this is a good book, and totally worth your time. I think 3-stars is buyable.
2816208
It seems that The Cure is making a comeback in the form of all these new acts that sound old.  You can thrust Washed Out in that equation.  It's interesting that they chose such a name for their group, considering the fact that their musical direction leaves them sounding a bit, well, washed out.  It's not that I can't appreciate this breed of music; it's just that the synth heavy beat becomes rather stagnant over the running time because there is no real change in the musicality.  It just remains redundant from start to finish.  I would have liked some swells here and there to differentiate key moments in the song.  Instead, `Amor Fati' seems to go nowhere.  I'm sure there will be some who really enjoy this, and I will admit that in parts this song (and apparently this group) shines.  Vocally, I see a lot of potential, but the flow of the song itself is so monotone that the vocals take on a similar shading.  And yet, despite my apparent dissatisfaction with this particular song, I ultimately hear something that has me intrigued and wanting to hear more.  I know, strange right?  Well, I am interested in hearing more from them to see how well rounded they are as a group.  If the balance of their album is in this same vein then I'll be staying far away, but if they can use their talented parts to create something a little more unique and interesting than I can see them becoming something I thoroughly enjoy.

So, I personally kind of hate this song but I am interested in hearing what else this group can do.
852883
Cooper has written a fairly entertaining action novel for the 21st century - I'm just torn about how good I think it is.

It's written for a specific audience, I think...I'm just not quite that audience member, or at least half of one - but I suspect I was looking for something different than what Cooper wanted to write. It's the literary equivalent of a summer movie - it wants only to entertain, and doesn't ask a lot of you as a reader.

The pacing is almost flawless, and I'm certain it would adapt well to teleplay or screenplay. I wasn't wild about several of the plot elements, but it's Mr. Cooper's story to tell. And to be sure, the themes that one can confront in this particular genre can be fairly hefty; there's a strong argument for not going very far into certain concepts if one is afraid of going into them badly; if that's the case, I don't blame Mr. Cooper for taking a fairly shallow approach.

It's just this: it's the story of a man trapped in a shallow, violent game. The problem I experienced is that the confrontation and solution to his problem lacked as much nuance as the game world. In the words of a great Texas songwriter - when I scratched the surface, I found more surface.

I'm debating whether or not to pick up the second book. I might. Haven't decided.

Mechanically, there are some errors that require some editing - grammatical/usage/spelling in a couple of places, but other than being mildly distracting from the flow of the read, it's pretty well put-together.
2637303
After hearing so much about it, and having the hype built up so, I felt it was slightly overrated, but overall it was a pretty good entertainment.
I really enjoyed the performance by Christoph Waltz, as he primarily made that movie great.
2757304
There are different theories as to why Lloyd Banks' sophomore album Rotten Apple didn't sell very well. One is that it just isn't that great, but I wonder if anyone else is in the same boat that I am: until a couple of months or so ago, I didn't even know it existed.

As usual, I agree with Pablo's review. I thought The Hunger for More was overrated, although it did produce some good songs like "On Fire", "I'm So Fly" and "Warrior Pt. 2". But THIS album is pretty unoriginal: all Lloyd really talks about is shootin' people up (labelmate Prodigy would later follow that example with HIS album, Return of the Mac). Speaking of P, he shows up on "Get Clapped", and he makes a very disturbing comparison of gun-totin' to shaken baby syndrome.

Gun talk continues in "Survival" and "NY NY". There is also an obligatory song for the ladies, the Keri Hilson-assisted "Help", that comes off pretty okay. And guest stars' appearances are hit-or-miss. I don't understand why Musiq Soulchild is on this album, but his hook adds nothing to an already average "Addicted". And while Lloyd, Young Buck and 8Ball sound decent on "Iceman", Scarface blows them out the water (although his verse doesn't work well with the production).

Some people might say that Rakim sounds good on "You Know the Deal", but he really isn't in the song: it's just a sample from an old Eric B. & Rakim track. And choruses tend to fail as well, like "Playboy 2" and also "Stranger", which is indeed stranger because Lloyd is rapping the hook in an unusually low voice. The title track really isn't about anything, and "The Cake" has a lyrical faux pas: "I need the bread/Lil n's need Christmas." Huh?

In the end, this album is only for diehards because Rotten Apple is the most accurate title ever.

Anthony Rupert
4853336
Hear me out with this one: I know its an unpopular viewpoint. Its not that this album isn't good: it is. However in the context of modern music I find it over-rated. There's no question that this was a highly important album and that without it we would not have much of the great music we benefit from today. In this respect, the Man-Machine is a 5-star album. However, it terms of pure current listening pleasure, independent of this romanticising, the album scores lower.
It's still good, obviously, but due to its date the constraints on technology mean it sounds rather dated and simplistic now, dwarfed by the huge electronica/techno acts of the 90s like Aphex Twin and Underworld. Clearly they would not have existed without Kraftwerk, but they are further down the evolutionary scale, and thus, in a purely detached sense, better to listen to. There are some good pop songs here, notably 'The Model', but it is running out of steam in the modern music scene.
3165921
Well, I'm glad I got it, but I'm not crazy about it. Sound quality is -- pretty good for the price, but not great. The plastic it's made of seems cheap and brittle to me, but maybe I'm just too picky.

My main thing is that the user interface is just bizarre. I haven't bought this kind of equipment for quite some time, but surely things haven't changed so much in the intervening years that it's nearly inscrutable -- ?? For example, there's a button labeled "Standby," which is the on/off button. Where the heck did that come from? In the off position, a tiny red light is on at all times. That seems odd to me -- I don't need a light to tell me it's off when no lights would work just as well, although I guess that does help you distinguish between Off and a power outage, if that's important to you.

Another thing that annoys me is that some functions are only accessible via the remote control. And wehereas the unit has more light indicators than needed, the remote has no lights at all -- you can't tel if it's on, off (I think it's on all the time) to let you know if the batteries are any good or not, and when you press a button, no light then either.

Like I said, I'm glad I've got it, but it's -- bizarre.
4011556
I've never read, or have the desire to read Twilight, but I do know that the series has created a very unhealthy fanboy/fangirl obsession among people. I also know that at least by the looks of the movie, it has a creepy gothic tone to it, which also creepily seeps into this song. The song, sound wise drifts in and out of modern rock, and a hint of post-hardcore. In either case, it's not very original.

Sure, Haley Williams always bring an extra element with her vocals, but there's not much to love here. It's not really something you'd rock out to, sing-along to, and it doesn't strike me as brilliant. I mean, I'd be considered around the target age group, and I just don't get it. Maybe it's because I like my music lighter and sunnier. But overall, this song heavily strikes me as something I don't like, but others might. Whether you're that other, depends on your taste for the dark side, or the twilight, in this case. I also think the song is heavily geared towards fans of the book, which doesn't do people like me much good.

Real Score: 2.5
1834962
The story was not bad, not memorable either.  It seemed like another movie or movie back story audition; there is a feeling that The Legendary will win big eventually.  It seems pretty obvious who his nemesis is.  At least the art is pleasing.  I prefer the sweeping space opera from the DnA days, but granted, that would be difficult to put all of that into a movie or 2.
416612
Pretty good, but a bit disjointed and "rushed" in places
3041596
Good little speakers yes, but IMO they are overhyped by the gushing reviews here. To me they are just OK, quite good but not anywhere close to high-end products from the likes of  AudioEngine or Klipsch. The many fawning 5-star reviews here would have you thinking you will get the same audio performance, but I was somewhat disappointed.
4071965
people seem to be agreeing here that this is nonessential, not one of their best. I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool authechre fan - most of their stuff seems to me to almost get somewhere interesting, but not quite. Felt that  way about Amber, Tri Repetae++. Chiastic Slide's a little better, EP7 I'm  not sure is worth the effort. but on this one, to me, they nail something  they don't quite get right on other releases. it's complicated, it's  crunchy, the sounds are appealingly analogy and trippy; they set up  differing overlayered tracks that sometimes compete and sometimes harmonize  in a way hooks my head while making my butt move in the car while I'm  driving. The psychedelic and slowly building last track totally sweeps me  up and spits me out. maybe autechre sometimes seems too complicated to me,  as in unfocused, unlike Pan Sonic for example, but on this one for some  reason the focus seems momentarily perfectly sharp.