Eclectic Pop

The excitement in the air was more than palpable as a cool night breeze gave way to an exhilarating evening, filled with high energy performances, endearing crowd interaction, and a generally celebratory mood. The message of Fun’s signature song “We Are Young” definitely captured the spirit of a crowd that young and old had all joined together from different walks of life to imbibe in a night of cheery song.

For years I’ve been meaning to see this movie, and after several attempts, the goal was finally accomplished recently. The lack of ambition to actually see the critically adored and audience raved indie “Splice” for all of these years can now be seen, in retrospect, as being a possible instinctive defense mechanism to avoid the totality of its awfulness.

Overview: An invisible force field, otherwise known as “the dome”, covers the small town of Chester’s Mill, thus cutting the citizens off from the outside world.

Storyline Direction: Slow from beginning to end. They tried to stir some action into the mix but it was too late. The momentum of having characters that we cared about had sunk faster than the Titanic and we were left straggling in the icy waters that were the remaining storylines.

"Agents of SHIELD"

If you’ve seen any of the Marvel movies since, “Iron Man”, you know about the elite agency that is tasked with keeping the superhuman working for the not-so superhuman agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. so if you loved “The Avengers” you will more than likely like this. The cast, mainly composed of newcomers is anchored by fan favorite Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson.

"Hostages"

Toni Collette (“The United States of Tara”) and Dylan McDermott (“American Horror Story”) go head to head in this cat-and-mouse, political thriller. Collette plays a doctor, whose family is held hostage by terrorists who threaten to kill them if she doesn’t fatally operate on the President.

There’s no question it is an interesting set-up for a thriller however, as a full blown series, the plot could grow very weak. This would’ve been better as a mini-series. Streamlining the storyline and having confirmed character direction would’ve been much more attainable.

#16: The Counselor

Based on an original screenplay by Cormac McCarthy, ‘The Counselor’ finds a lawyer (Michael Fassbender) caught in the crosshairs of a drug trafficking crisis. It is an interesting premise given the often saintly presentation of the law profession. As with "Prisoners", an amazing cast brings expectations to a deafening level.

Led by Fassbender, it also stars Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Goran Visnjic to name a few. The thriller is directed by one of the masters of tension, Ridley Scott and has the potential to receive some awards attention. When the script went out, everyone in Hollywood was vying to be a part of it. They seemed to believe it was something special, audiences will know if they’re right soon enough. Release Date: October 25