Epinions Recent Reviews for Afterglow34

The One Hit Wonders Strike Back, Vol. 1: The Verve Pipe

Sun, 24 Feb 2002 17:20:06 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - Much like the slew of groups that were sprung following the death of a truly angry man, The Verve Pipe spent much of the latter half of the ‘90s slogging around in a post-grunge funk, not quite sure whether they should revamp their...

Cherish the Good Times (Chicks Rock Write-Off)

Tue, 18 Dec 2001 00:31:26 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - As a promotional tool for this momentous event, I envision a UK fight night that features Cerys Matthews and Shirley Manson as the main event, and just for jollys sake, the Gallagher brothers on the undercard duking it out over each other’s...

Another Great Import Slips In Under The Radar

Fri, 24 Aug 2001 18:23:47 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - I think Rob Sitch needs a hug. And not because he’s unhappy.

After creating another unseen masterpiece, The Castle, back in 1997 (though it didn’t reach stateside shores until last year), those who may have been paying proper attention...

The Idiotic Writeoff: A Masterpiece of a Different Sort

Fri, 17 Aug 2001 05:21:53 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - Bollocks to the masses. To ‘ell with the lot of ‘em, I’m bloody sick of the grandiloquent claptrap that afflicts our film houses today. Joe Suburbanite (i.e. Me) gets treated to the same rot week after week; stuff so bad that Hollywood is lucky not to be...

Bill Shakespeare's Heartbreak Hotel California

Tue, 14 Aug 2001 02:15:48 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - My British acquaintances recently informed me that many residents in London have been repeatedly and inexplicably spooked by the echoes of hysterical laughter racketing amongst the walls of Westminster Abbey. According to Scotland Yard Chief Inspector...

Upton Sinclair meets Andy Warhol in downtown Manhattan

Wed, 8 Aug 2001 04:28:46 GMT
rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - Based merely on its' nature and execution alone, 15 Minutes would have been nothing more than a laughable, self-indulgent attempt to satirize the vulture-like nature of today's news media... had I not agreed with the message being imparted. That...

The Backstory of a Classic

Thu, 2 Aug 2001 16:56:05 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - I imagine that casting someone in the role of Orson Welles was an unenviable experience; regardless of the selection, there would undoubtedly be a faction of dissenters who would be right there to point out every little imperfection. At one point there...

Defining Coincidence (Also unintentionally crashing the 5 Star w/o)

Wed, 1 Aug 2001 22:41:12 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - Six Degrees of Steven Page (or something like that)

THE SCENE

Chicago, early 1994

America was wallowing in the ashes of Nirvana, following the tragic death of the band's heart and soul,...

Appreciating the Underappreciated: A Songwriter for Sale

Mon, 30 Jul 2001 20:51:55 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - Outside of the immense, guarded factory where pre-packaged pop artists were produced and introduced into the world seemingly by the minute, a haggard but resolute young chap sat quietly on the curb with a tattered guitar in his hand and a song in his...

Proof Through Sensationalism: The Story of the Steinmetz Seven

Sat, 21 Jul 2001 05:15:36 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - "We're 11 and 0. That's why I get to use the copier."

When the Steinmetz Academic Decathlon scandal was unleashed on an unsuspecting Chicago public back in 1995, sides formed almost instantly on each end of the issue, inciting a...

The Bros. Gallagher and 70,000 Screaming Maniacs in an Enclosed Space: Oasis' Familiar to Millions

Fri, 20 Jul 2001 04:14:44 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - It has been duly noted in many a British tabloid that the Gallagher brothers of Manchester have shown great aptitude, and little remorse, in the past for causing trouble. Add 70,000 bags of well-doused, angst-ridden, impatient, pre-adult raging hormones...

Jet Li's Fun With Acupuncture

Thu, 12 Jul 2001 21:26:50 GMT
rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - Within the Summer of Lowered Standards 2001 comes Jet Li's token contribution to the fray, Kiss Of The Dragon, a film that does very little in defying this summer's Bond-esque mantra, "More Is Never Enough." Hoping to play on the Martial...

Dogs and Frogs and Goats, Oh My!

Tue, 26 Jun 2001 19:59:04 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - During the Election Heard (and subsequently Laughed About) 'Round The World last winter, Dave Barry made a rare television appearance on Larry King Live as part of a humorist panel's view on the election. And for a few precious minutes, Larry King Live...

I Can't Find the Writer...

Wed, 20 Jun 2001 18:53:12 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - In these days of film, almost proudly marred by first-rate explosions and second-rate writing, the nuances of a great film are most often lost due to a sudden rush of testosterone, emphasizing the need of the male psyche to feel good about himself only...

There's Only One Letter Between Inanity and Insanity

Mon, 11 Jun 2001 01:32:50 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - "The government? No, I know those guys, no way." - Ira Kane, "Evolution"

There have been a few movies in recent times which have attempted, though rarely successfully, to combine the polar opposites Action and Comedy. It may be...

Human Indeed...

Tue, 5 Jun 2001 19:32:34 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - The film scene recently has been cluttered with such a litany of soulless, unfeeling retreads, that there often isn't any room left for the films that truly deserve to be seen; except in those precious few arthouses, where some of the most important...

Real-Life Tension... on a stick!

Tue, 5 Jun 2001 02:18:42 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - When the film Thirteen Days came around at the end of last December, more lenient critics praised it for managing to keep a palpable feeling of tension despite the fact that many of us learned about its' ending around sophomore year of high...

It's 10 O'Clock; Do you know where your wife is?

Sat, 12 May 2001 03:03:01 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - "Can somebody find me my magical book of adjectives?! Thank You!"

Once in a long while (even fewer and farther between these days), there comes one of those common sense-defying, brain-busting films that catches the film world off...

Stunt Men...

Thu, 19 Apr 2001 17:32:55 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - Admittedly, I'm one of the large majority of Barenaked Ladies fans that caught on with the American emergence of Stunt back in 1998 and '99, though everything that I've done and learned since then would point to my recently upgraded diehard status...

For a Grace, or for a Monty?

Thu, 19 Apr 2001 04:39:05 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - Saving Grace is a film that is so rich in such down to earthiness and real people that one cannot help empathize with every single character in it. Every frame of Saving Grace is genuine, an aspect severely lacking in most of Hollywood's product...

Guilty as Charged? On what grounds?

Thu, 19 Apr 2001 03:25:22 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - Rarely would I feel the motivation to let my feelings be known on such a seemingly average work, but in this case, I think someone deserves the benefit of the doubt here...

Before we find Dave Matthews "guilty as charged" for...

Maroon... Real Pop for Real People.

Sat, 21 Oct 2000 00:09:57 GMT
rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - In these days, I find myself unable to stomach most of the drivel on commercial radio. Like our little pink friend, the Energizer bunny, the "tunes" (qualifying as such because most of them ARE actually in tune) just seem to keep going and going...

When pop music was good...

Sat, 5 Aug 2000 04:36:14 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - In an era fraught with sappy pseudo-pop, I anticipated the release of Everclear's new album as if I knew it was going to be as good as I thought it would be. Albeit that this album IS a non-typical Everclear album, Art Alexakis made it clear that he had...

Jerry's Angels? Not quite.

Sat, 5 Aug 2000 04:06:19 GMT
rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - I'll admit, my opinion on Coyote Ugly was probably somewhat jaded to start out with; I didn't want to like this movie, and henceforth, my chances of liking this movie were severely lessened. Let it be known that I posed this following question to a...

The death of Rock?

Fri, 7 Jul 2000 01:58:31 GMT
rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Afterglow34 - When local media in the Chicago area began preaching about the death of Rock and Roll (always capitalize it, people) as coinciding with the impending end of the Smashing Pumpkins, I was helpless not to think the same myself. With seemingly every...