Music Review: Coming Up For Air

  Three or so weeks ago, I was recommended this album by Kodaline, by a good friend of mine. I wasn't too interested, so I put it off until last week. At the time I was listening to it, I wasn't keen to actually "absorb" the music and really listen. So I wrote a review, which had a great lack of enthusiasm and was all negativity.

  However, yesterday, I decided to give it another listen a few days ago,  paying attention to things like the lyrics and how they affect the songs and the melody. I discovered that it wasn't half-bad, and while most of the things I wrote in the first review I feel are true, I have many positive remarks to add to them.

Kodaline, from left to right: Vinny May, Jason Boland, Steve
Garrigan, Mark Prenderghast

    Kodaline was formed in 2005 in Swords, Dublin, and was known as "21 Demands." In 2011, they changed their name to Kodaline. On many websites, they are said to be of an indie/alternative/folk rock genre, and while I agree to some extent, I also disagree. Just because they play their own instruments, it doesn't necessarily make them sound like they're a rock band. 

  "Coming Up For Air" is their second studio album, released in February 2015. The mood of the music is usually sad or depressing, and it almost makes you feel as if you want to lie down, while not relaxing you. The lyrics are quite clever in some songs, while others are not.

"Coming Up For Air" Album Cover

    The only thing I really enjoyed about this album, were the songs Coming Alive, Unclear, and Love Will Set You Free. These songs have the most interesting lyrics in my opinion, and they draw me in the most.

    One thing I disliked about this album, was that a lot of the songs reminded me of songs I've heard before. They had the same melody, the same beat, etc. The majority of songs reminded me of Coldplay or The Killers, and a few sounded exactly like One Direction. Another element of this album that I disliked, was that in some songs, the lyrics are incredibly repetitive. I understand that choruses are repeated several times, but as in the song "Everything Works Out in the End," it's the same lyrics over and over again, with this verse being repeated throughout the whole song:

"They told me
Everything works out in the end
Everything works out in the end
Everything works out in the end
Everything works out in the end

Everything works out in the end
Everything works out in the end
Everything works out in the end
Everything works out in the end"

   Overall, this album was okay, but it wasn't great. Some of the album  had a lot of meaning, while other parts made no sense and were almost boring. And while Kodaline has a lot of talent, it was nothing special that I hadn't heard before.

★★✬☆☆

5/10

Movie Review: Men, Women and Children

"You don't seem to understand how dangerous it is on there."

"The only thing that's dangerous in this house, mom, is you."

     Men, Women and Children is about a series of families, who in one way or another, have social media ruin their lives at this point in time. The movie also questions our existence, and how we shouldn't sweat the small things, because they're simply not big enough in the realm of existence.

Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot
(link to youtube video mentioned multiple times in the movie)

     The movie begins with scenes of the planets and a satellite, and after dragging this on for about ten minutes, Emma Thompson narrates and talks about this particular satellite. I won't talk about all of the problems and how they were resolved because there were so many of them, but I will about one in particular.

Tim Mooney (Ansel Elgort) was star of the football team, before quitting to play a video game he has 'invested' over one thousand hours playing. Months before, his mom had also abandoned him, and moved to California. Brandy Beltmeyer (Kaitlin Dever) is monitored by her mother, Patricia, (Jennifer Garner) on and offline, by knowing all her passwords, and a device that tracks every move Brandy makes on her computer and on her phone. Tim and Brandy begin talking, after they meet in a mall after school. Tim reaches out to Brandy via Facebook, but because Patricia is on Brandy's account before she is, she deletes the messages so Brandy can never see them. At school, when she tells Tim this, she tells him about her secret Tumblr account, which her mom doesn't know about. They begin communicating about that, and Brandy starts sneaking out to see Tim.

A few weeks later, Tim's dad cancels his gaming account because Tim had told them his mom was engaged (which his dad did not know), and they said harsh comments about it. Tim, being upset, reaches out to Brandy for support. Patricia, however, found Brandy's secret Tumblr, and tells Tim things like "I'm bored of you," and "talk to me ever again and I'll block you." Tim being upset, overdoses on antidepressants, and is found by Brandy and Tim's dad on the floor of his room. He is then taken to the hospital and stabilized.

     One of the best parts of this movie, is it makes you realize that dangerous things can really happen to anyone on the internet. I also really liked the way it brought in Pale Blue Dot, and while it had no actual relevance to the movie, it makes you think about how small we are in the universe, and how small our problems are related to everything else. One of the worst parts, was that there were these huge ideas, and the first half hour of the movie was great. But these ideas were just shut off, and it seems as if this movie was finished like homework on the morning of the day it was due; by the time you got halfway through, you fit in a sloppy ending and be done with it. I also really didn't like Jennifer Garner's character, Patricia Beltmeyer. Yes, the internet is a dangerous place, but she was hypocritical and was a complete invasion of Brandy's privacy. She almost killed someone her daughter cared so much about, because she was only thinking of herself.

     In conclusion, while this movie had some great messages and ideas, they were drowned in a week ending. It shows all the negative sides to social media and how technology has advanced, when in reality, it has greatly benefited us as well. You can keep in contact with people all over the world, with just one click of a button. I personally think, that's amazing.

★★★☆☆

6/10