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GO SEE ... "SHUTTER ISLAND"
Martin Scorsese's psychological thriller "Shutter Island" topped box office charts the first week of its release, raking in $40.2 million. This trumps Scorsese's previous highest grossing film, Oscar-laden "The Departed," by over $10 million.
"Shutter Island's" well-deserved popularity is the result of a high-intensity plot which is entertaining for all.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshall sent to Shutter Island - home to an insane asylum saved for the country's most hopeless cases - to investigate the disappearance of a murderous patient.
As the story unfolds, Daniels uncovers controversy and corruption within the asylum. The movie gets thrillingly complex when Daniels' own sanity begins to be questioned by his partner, the audience and eventually himself.
Aside from the ridiculously ominous score and occasionally clichéd screenplay, the movie is another Scorsese success with its thrilling twists and eerie cinematography. The ambiguous ending gives the audience some freedom of interpretation, and I personally am still forming my own conclusion.
Although the film is not a typical jump-out-of-your-seat thriller, the workings of the asylum and its patients are certainly disturbing.
Check out "Shutter Island" if you're looking for a fast paced plot, some household names and an atypical scare. Make sure to bring friends because you'll want to discuss the mysterious ending.
- Corey Fawcett
DROP "ODD BLOOD" ON YOUR RECORD PLAYER ...
Yeasayer's newly released album, "Odd Blood," takes the experimental rock and neo-psychedelic style of their first album, "All Hour Cymbals," and runs it through an electro-pop filter to create an involving and catchy music experience.
With "Odd Blood," Yeasayer wanted to work with a more pop sound, using heavier bass, a plethora of pedals, synthesizers and a wide variety of indigenous drums. "Odd Blood," clocks in at just under 40 minutes, but each song encompasses elements from too many genres to be easily defined.
For a listener, it is easy to get lost in the dreamy synthesizer loops, far away falsetto vocals and danceable drumbeats of songs like "Ambling Alp," "Madder Red," and "O.N.E."
Yeasayer takes MGMT's psychedelic style and gives it a pop twist to create a complex mix of adventurous songs that will keep your interest no matter how many times you hear them. Go out and buy or download "Odd Blood," for a colorful and positive mix of the experimental electro-pop music of Yeasayer.
- John McCarty
