Marianas Trench can be considered "Canada's little secret," as we always get their albums and singles ahead of other regions, and they rarely perform outside of the great white north. Us Canadians are extremely lucky that we have such an amazing group almost all to ourselves, and that is evident in their latest studio album, "Ever After," released in Canada on November 21, 2011 and December 21, 2011 in the United States. The album consists of twelve tracks, including five singles. Some tracks have an upbeat and exciting tone, while others have a more dark and mysterious feel to them. The album received critical acclaim, with it reaching 8th position on the Canadian Albums billboard, and for good reason. Canada is very lucky to have such a talented group of musicians representing them, and here's why.
The cover of the album, depicting several toys on shelves, which reflects the album's story.
Ever After is a concept album, with a storyline being told through the tracks, as well as no pauses between them. The story tells of Josh Ramsay, who lands in the fictional world of Toyland and sets off to defeat Queen Carolina and return home. Even when you're just listening to the songs without knowing that there's a story being told, you can sense that there's a trend hidden in the lyrics. Josh Ramsay's voice never fails to blow you away, and you sometimes wonder how he manages to hit all of those high notes. Hit singles "Haven't Had Enough" and "Fallout" are notable examples that show off Ramsay's amazing talent.
"Haven't Had Enough" music video, released on August 25, 2011. Nice pirate hat.
The lyrics, aside from telling the story, also offer a subliminal message in between the lines. They talk about love, disaster, and happiness, which all happen along the course of the story. I'd even go so far as to say the lyrics give the songs a personality; it feels like they speak to you, like you can relate to them. I found the lyrics to be relaxing in some parts, and intense in others. In some cases, even both at the same time! A songwriter always wants to give their lyrics a meaning, and Ramsay doesn't disappoint. You'll surely agree when you hear the mysterious but upbeat sound.
"Fallout" music video, released on February 2, 2012.
I'm getting some Michael Bay vibes from this, despite this being a music video.
Some songs also incorporate a sort of "rock meets opera" type of feeling. This is especially prominent in "Stutter," the eighth track and fourth single, which involves a choir occasionally echoing Ramsay's vocals in certain points of the song. It is because of this that I find Stutter to be my favourite track; it stands out from the others in that it shows that something big is happening, like the the listener is climbing a mountain on his/her way to the climax, before rolling down and recovering from the fall. It truly is unique in it's own way, and it fills the role of that one song on an album that NO ONE can stop singing. However, I felt like some of the other songs sounded to familiar to one another, with not enough differences to distinguish them from each other. Fortunately, songs like that are not put right next to each other in the track list, so you'll always be listening to something relatively new each time.
"Stutter" music video, released on December 20, 2012. That's a terrible fake mustache.
Overall, I found Ever After to be different from other albums of the same genre. Being a concept album puts it in a league of it's own, and the story combined with the amazing vocals and upbeat tune makes this a worthy title of #8 on Canadian Albums, and will surely please anyone who enjoys the genre. After listening to this, I have high hopes for their next album, "Astoria," which will hopefully carry on their unique music style. So if you "Haven't Had Enough" 'By Now," keep an eye out for Marianas Trench's next big studio album coming out this spring. (Yes, I know they were bad puns. I'll get my coat.)
The Good:
+Fantastic lyrics that tell a fantastic story
+Connecting the end of one track and the beginning of another helps to continue the flow
+Vocals are loud and pronounced The Bad:
-slightly repetitive tune Final Rating: 9 out of 10
If you're set up to be one of the most anticipated films of the year, there's two things that you would do if you were smart; make it the best experience possible, and split it into two seperate movies. While the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 unfortunately succeeds at the latter, it somewhat fails at the former. The latest entry in the Hunger Games series falls short to its predecessors, which is evident shortly into the film. There is an extreme lack of action for a science-fiction WAR film, which instead turns it into something along the lines of a teen love triangle drama. The experience itself turns out to be more than it's worth, with the film being split into two separate parts, with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 coming later this year. Come to think of it, this has become a widely disliked trend in Hollywood recently, with most of these movies becoming known as shameless cash-grabs that could easily be made into a 3-hour movie instead of waiting another year or two for the next one to come out. Needless to say, Mockingjay: Part 1 has become one of these such movies, and only takes place during the first half of the book. And we all know what that means for sci-fi movies that are split into two parts; little to no action.
The official movie poster depicts an action-packed joyride, but looks can be deceiving.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 picks up where it's predecessor left off. Katniss Everdeen has been rescued from the 75th Hunger Games arena and has been taken to District 13, an underground city thought to be lost in a war long ago. Due to Katniss' actions in the previous films, District 13's President Coin hails Katniss as the perfect icon for the upcoming rebellion against the Capitol. Now known as the Mockingjay, Katniss begins a campaign to win over the hearts and minds of the rest of the districts, which in turn will lead to the uprising that will prove to be the Capitol's downfall.
I bet this all sounds like a lot of action, huh? It's not.
The survivors of District 8 salute the Mockingjay with the iconic three fingers that started it all.
All of this is not to say that the movie is BAD. This can still be a lovable film in many ways. All of the actor's performances were fantastic, with the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's role as ex-head-Game-Maker-under-cover Plutarch Heavensbee significantly standing out to me. Jennifer Lawrence is still nailing it as Katniss, and I especially love Haymitch Abernathy's character as Katniss' mentor and how Woody Harrelson portrayed him. However, I found that certain actor's characters are still somewhat lacking in character. For example, Gale's character is still very underdeveloped, and I felt like he was just there to fill the role of the "cute best friend of the main protagonist." I'm sure that all of the "Katniss x Gale" shippers out there will disagree with me, but he just didn't seem as important to the story than he did in the books. He does have a VERY important scene in the book that has yet to be covered in film however, so maybe when Part 2 releases in November, we'll see some tweaks to his and other actor's characters. The special effects are also very well made, despite not being used all the time.
District 5 rebels take down a Capitol dam. You can hear Lawrence's voice singing "The Hanging Tree" in the background. This is one of the few action sequences in the entire movie, but it really shows off the magnificent special effects.
The iconic poem written by Suzanne Collins herself. The Lumineers of "Ho Hey" fame provided the eerie background music for this addicting track.
At the end of the day, Mockingjay Part 1 fails and succeeds at a number of things. I walked into the theater with high expectations, and I was somewhat disappointed. A severe lack of action scenes makes the film seem slow-moving and lazy. However, I must add that when the occasional action scene did appear, it did not disappoint. In my opinion, the best part is when Katniss visits the ruins of District 12, and sings "The Hanging Tree" which continues as a voice-over for a District 5 demolition team destroying a dam that supplies the Capitol with power. This scene is probably the most iconic scene in the entire series, and I encourage you to find the scene and experience it for yourself. The acting performances are fantastic, but several characters need some more work done before they come back for the big finale. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 releases on November 20, and despite Part 1's various issues, I'll be first in line to see if they've built upon their mistakes and made a truly spectacular ending to an amazing trilogy. All it needs is a little more action and character development.
The Good:
+Acting is the best in the series thus far
+Truly well made action sequences, despite the scenes themselves being extremely lacking
+Amazing special effects
The Bad:
-Slow pace
-Shortage on action sequences
-Some characters are somewhat underdeveloped
-The "two-part-film" concept turns out as nothing more than a cash-grab
