Amherst Lane

It’s so rare that I come across someone who intrigues me so much with their presence, and sound. Joanna is an excellent harp player with a child-like voice that at first was a little disturbing, but is always engaging.
Joanna Newsome has a childlike quality to her sound that reminds me of what it is like to create music without judgement or self-criticism. She is an old soul with a sound of pure creativity. If you haven’t checked out “The Milk-Eyed Mender” or “Ys” You’re missing out.
Here’s a link to “The Book of Right On.” -Tony Joanna Newsom

Ok, so I’m a nerd. I love anything that has to do with super powers and comic books…except this movie. Zoom is a movie about a jaded ex-superhero who is hired by the government to train a group of super-powered kids. It sounds like a great idea on paper. (Hell, I loved Sky High), but the problem with this movie is cheese. I guess maybe I went into this one expecting something that everyone could like. I mean Peter Dewitt did “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey”. Unfortunately, this movie is targeted only at kids. Zoom is definitely for the Nickelodeon crowd. Don’t get me wrong, There were some decent performances by Tim Allen (aka Zoom), Courtney Cox, and if you can believe it, Chevy Chase, but they don’t help the movie that much. It’s funny that they chose Chevy to play the government scientist in this movie. The entire feel of the movie was that of a National Lampoon film. In fact, there is even one scene where the kids lock Chevy in a room that simulates weather. They spend several minutes of the movie torturing him Lampoon style. This felt like a guilty pleasure for the director and made for one of the most pointless scenes . The special effects were ok, and the acting was fair, which didn’t make this movie a total bust. But, the character development was predictable and one-dimensional. Of course, this is a kids movie after all. I give this movie a definite “Don’t waste your time unless you’re baby-sitting your eight year old brother.”- Tony

I have new storyboards up in the Gallery section. Thanks to my brother Michael for taking over the coloring for me. Wonder Twin powers activate!!
These are for our upcoming short film “Under Observation”. -Tony

The Amherst Lane crew is at it again with another podcast investigating the history of the comic book movie. Relive the memories as we dissect the success and failures of these two colliding monolithic genres.

length: 10 min. 14 sec.

I didn’t watch as many movies as I would have liked this year. I’m sure some really amazing pieces of cinema didn’t make on my list. Here are my top fifteen movies without the five best. Just as Rene said in his post, you’ll have to wait for the podcast for those. And, since I’m a punk, I’m going to one-up Rene. I’m adding a little comment of why these movies are on my list.

6. Beerfest-
The funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time. (I love you Broken Lizard)

7.V for Vendetta-
It’s easy these days to miss the message of a story when you we have such amazing special effects. This one got it right. (Even if Alan Moore hates everything about Hollywood, it doesn’t stop him from letting them make the movies.)

8. Little miss sunshine-
Just watch this one. That little girl is precious.

9. Lady in the Water-
Not M. Night’s best movie, but it still made my top 15

10. Slither
Nathan Fillion is my new Bruce Campbell.

11. Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny
THE D !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12. The Descent
Rene and I cringed through half of this movie together. One of the only scary movies I enjoyed last year.

13. Nacho Libre
I can’t get enough Jack Black in stretchy pants!!

14. superman returns
Everyone who knows me, knows I’m an Uber Dork for superhero movies. X-3 made me want to cry. At least Bryan Singer brought back our beloved boy in blue. Superman was not the best superhero movie I’ve seen, but I definitely see good things in the future for this franchise.

15. An Inconveniant Truth
I’m not sure how scientifically proven Al’s information is, but he throws one hell of a slide show. I guess politics sucks all the fun out of the room, because he’s actually kind of funny in this movie.

-Tony-