Popcorn Zombies

By Michael Momper It is so good to be back reviewing a movie! The beginning of 2019 has been largely devoid of exciting blockbusters and even largely lacking in widely-released critical successes. However, much of the movie-loving community was buzzing with excitement prior to the release of Jordan Peele's sophomore directorial effort, Us. He is fresh off the enormously successful and critically acclaimed debut film, Get Out, which was released in 2017. With this release and word of his forthcoming reboot of The Twilight Zone , he has established a very solid reputation for thought-provoking and thrilling horror. With Us, we see his affinity for the classic slasher films of the 1980s, but also are treated to some excellent performances and remarkably captivating atmosphere. The movie follows a family that is on vacation in Santa Cruz, California, a place where the mother/main protagonist experienced a harrowing and terrifying sight when she was a young girl. Sh...

Graham Craycraft You can’t have music without having the artists to create it. My favorite genre of music is singer-songwriter which covers a wide range of genres. These artists put their lives, or lives of characters, into their songs. Often times you can find more about the artist in these songs than in any interview or article. It is one of the most pure expressions of tribulation, joy, and often suffering. For years artists have used this platform to explore their own lives, but also the world around them. People may love an artist and their music until they learn about their political, social, or religious views. A perfect example of this is when my buddy Michael (the other guy who writes here) told me that he just couldn’t listen to Steve Earle anymore after seeing him in show on the LSD tour. Earle is a known socialist and sports the Hammer and Sickle on his drummer’s kit as well as t-shirts. When Michael saw this something changed. Even though previously enjoying Earle’...

                                        By Michael Momper Ryan Bingham is a raspy-voiced New Mexico native who has consistently been one of my favorite staples of the alt-country or Texas Red Dirt country music scenes for many years now. His songs are honest reflections of the outlaw and rambler lifestyle, and with his raw guitar playing and soulful vocals his songs seem to perfectly encapsulate the dusty West and the plains of this great nation. 2015's Fear and Saturday Night was an excellent addition to his catalog, as it brought us some Dylan-esque harmonica/acoustic ballads, fuzzy rockers like "Top Shelf Drug", and foot-stomping sing-alongs like "Island in the Sky". His newest album is American Love Song, and it is most likely my most-anticipated album of the year. Coming in at over an hour of music, this latest addition to the Bingham canon is a long journey, full of a...

By Michael Momper Music is an art form that, at its best, is meant to fill a particular space, or indulge in a certain mood in order to relate to listeners and find the commonality between Man. Bluegrass is a genre that oftentimes recalls one to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, or the simple pleasures of the "down home" South. It is a genre where, much like country, the best lyrical poetry is often found through honest storytelling or the celebration of the roots of society, like family, faith and hard work. Mandolin Orange is a duo, a married couple in fact, from North Carolina. Up until now, I have returned to them frequently as a very relaxing bluegrass band with tasteful mandolin and guitar. Their lyrics are usually quite friendly and paint calming portraits of nature when they are in top form ("the starlight and the sea, together form eternity, and the wind moves like an echo, as the world drops off to sleep"- from their 2016 song Echo). T...

Graham Craycraft “All I Want From You” is the first album of North Carolina duo Chatham Rabbits. Sarah and Austin McCombie decided to leave the safety and security of day time careers and step out into the world of full time, no backup, this better work, musicians. Their debut album released on January 11, 2019 consists of ten songs at forty minutes and is a genre mixture of country, bluegrass, old time and others. Chatham Rabbits pulls immediate sounds from groups like Mandolin Orange, Gillian Welch, and even a bit of Old Crow Medicine Show on song “The Fire.” Austin and Sarah take different songs to lead the vocals, but they all carry an enchanting thread through its entirety. You could put on this album and just lay back in a quasi dream state. Many of the songs on this album have classic themes or subject matter seen in this genre and others. Love, longing, hard living, etc. What is most impressive in this album is the ability to take these classic subject matters and tell the...

By Michael Momper Clint Eastwood is 88 years old and still going strong. His capable hands are all over his latest movie, The Mule , as he plays the lead role and directs the film as well. It seemed that many critics were initially apprehensive about the idea, as some mentioned that he seemed to be playing the same grizzled and stubborn old man that he has played before, such as in Gran Torino . Many critics, unfortunately, completely fly off the handle when they hear racial slurs in a movie, despite what the message of the movie is. This is a very ignorant way to digest a movie and I feel sorry for them for having missed some great film-making. If you are a fan of Clint Eastwood or dark American dramas, read on, because chances are good that a little bit of rough humor and nicknames are not going to make you jump out of your seat and protest. The Mule is an extremely entertaining genre piece because it deftly blends multiple plot devices; it is at its heart a characte...

By Michael Momper Some movie franchises are bound to chug along indefinitely, for better or worse. It certainly seems that the Rocky franchise is an example. Transformers , Jurassic World , Star Wars ... with never-ending franchises like these, there are always stumbles along the way as the filmmakers often will coast on nostalgia and hearken back to what made the first movie famous, or will give in to other tired cliches just to cash in on the blockbuster mania. Occasionally there will come a new entry in the franchise with a fresh angle or spin, and I certainly felt the first Creed movie had this factor. A new perspective was given to the viewers, seeing a new up-and-comer through Rocky's aging eyes. I don't believe Creed II has the same must-see factor, however. In terms of run time and pacing, this movie was pleasant enough I suppose. There was nothing that would make people leave the theater early or anything... enough fights and decent family melodrama t...