panapp

A truly well-crafted review for a masterpiece series where Groening really manages to give his best. "The Simpsons" are confined within the expressive possibilities of small-town America, while "Futurama" extends the narrative (literally) to every possible universe of space and time, often shedding the burden of having to make people laugh and succeeding on multiple occasions in touching the heart, as in the sentimental episodes between Fry and Leela, which are stunning, like the one where Fry eats worms from an expired sandwich that, however, make him a genius for playing the holophonor.

Reviewer standards review, very very good single.

Terrible and completely useless review. The album will surely be enjoyable, after all we already know all the songs, but I agree with Darius in comment #13 in calling it a bit surplus given the short time since the previous one; if it’s an unplugged version then it’s already something. The cover is so-so, it seems like the first idea that came to the designer's mind.

Very good review and an album that might not deserve a 4, but I want to raise its average, especially since it contains that infinitely beautiful track "Satin Chic," stunning both in its original form and in the dreamy remix by the Flaming Lips.

I basically agree with the entire review, including the fact that the highlight of Kylieamore is "X." However, I elevate the tracks "In Your Eyes" and "Come Into My World" to absolute masterpieces of pop from all times and places; they are stunning songs accompanied by equally stunning music videos.

Terrible review, the only thing I can salvage is that the reviewer likes "American Life" by Madonna, which I also consider excellent. It's a nice pop album, but Darius is right in saying that Shakira has managed to express herself better in some of her other works; "She Wolf," however, is a very successful song with a wonderful music video that just barely stops in time before reaching the V.M.14 rating.

As Oscar Wilde did not get to see the 20th century, Tim Burton died before the 21st century in 1999 with his last immense masterpiece, "Sleepy Hollow." After that, just a jolt in the chair with "Big Fish" and a minimal "mh" of appreciation for the final scene of the little house in the snow of Willy Wonka's father in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"; for the rest, a sterile repetition of himself. It will be said: true great artists write the same book, record the same music, shoot the same film endlessly. That may be true, but there are ways and ways to replicate oneself infinitely: even Fellini fundamentally made the same film over and over, but what a difference, huh. Perhaps it’s my architectural professional deformation, but for me, Burton’s sets are a perfect litmus test for analyzing him. My completely personal impression is that the key film of Burton's career has been "Planet of the Apes": a commissioned film of rare ugliness, it was the last film with Lisa Marie and the first with Helena Bonham Carter, as well as the last film shot when Burton lived in America before moving to England; my opinion is that before, in the USA, he had to invent his gothic world, conjuring it in his mind from the consumption of third-party works (horror films) through the filter of imagination, whereas now that he is in England, the gothic is right before his eyes every day, and then there’s Dante Ferretti who creates historically accurate sets, what more do you want. Before, there was Lisa Marie: you had to come up with something to give her a dark allure she doesn’t possess; now with Helena Bonham Carter, a bit of mascara and voilà, she’s ready to play the witch (in fact, she’s perfect in Harry Potter). In simple terms: there’s a difference between the spaced-out dark of "Edward Scissorhands" with the castle and those impossible stairs and this "Dark Shadows" where all the pillars are statically plausible. Burton used to work well in the realm of fantasy; now he has shifted the focus and it’s no longer in focus.

A rabbit? Revisit the original ballet that features an even more standardized and almost simplistic, if not sugary, plot in assigning the roles of good/evil, light/shadow, etc., and in the romantic story of lost & found lovers which has been exploited beyond all limits: of course, it’s the musical and choreographic contributions, that is to say the staging, that make it all brilliant. Here, an attempt was made to construct a Freudian journey, more or less Bignamesque, and on this one can debate, accompanied by an exceptional visual side that will also borrow from horror standards (and not so faintly, with blood flowing in truly minimal amounts), but in an extremely thoughtful manner and not with sterile quotationism or, worse, a lack of ideas: even here, it’s the staging that holds everything together. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve already seen this film twice in the cinema and once on DVD, and it always captivates me. As for the "emo" (ahem), you may find it hard to believe, but in the real world, paranoias exist, and the theme of the film is not lesbianism, ballet, blood, horror, or whatever else: it’s identity, the search for one’s own identity, and to represent this theme, the director uses a model based on the adolescent parabola, which is often prey to paranoia. You might say: I’m bored by films that dwell on paranoia; fine, they’re not for you, but that doesn’t make them bad. Two small notes from a pedantic know-it-all, forgive me: “mongoloids” is an insult I haven’t heard since middle school, and not just because politically correct language has taken hold in the meantime, but because one grows up and realizes there’s nothing worse than offending people by metaphorically using existing diseases that cause suffering to others; “the overprotective mother who seems to be the modern version of the one from 'The Pianist' by Michael Haneke” is the worst use of a colon in years, I’ll assume it’s a slip.

Despite sharing the review in essence, I wouldn't be that harsh. I'm proud to have been a fan of Goldfrapp since the beginning; I own all their albums and singles, and even the vinyl of the wonderful "Satin Chic" remix by the Flaming Lips, just to say I love them so much that I spend my money on them. However, this latest "Head First" didn't even resonate with me. Nevertheless, my love for Alison (and also for Will Gregory; let’s remember that all the songs are co-written, and Alison is probably at home baking muffins right now) prevents me from being too harsh. I still consider it not a bad album for its genre, aka disco revival. Stepping away from the genre discussion and speaking more generally, it is undeniably a much poorer album in terms of ideas compared to their other works, which often flirt with perfection, though it's not completely devoid of nice moments, like "Alive," which I really enjoy both as a song and a video. The comparison with Lady Gaga, no, absolutely not: any outtake from a Goldfrapp recording where they tune their instruments or warm up their voices is still superior to the best of Germanotta’s tracks, which will always and forever be irreparably terrible.