Category: reviews with a 3 of 5 rating

audio review : Light-Years ( album ) … Nas + DJ Premier

audio review : Light-Years ( album ) ... Nas + DJ Premier

“Preem and Nas” are rap music legends; two of the best at what they do to this day; so fresh beats and rhymes are a given. Where their songs and this album falter is at the breaks. A DJ scratching-in familiar, sometimes trite, vocal samples; Premier’s signature; might sound nice in the background, but it can’t take the place of a good hook.

Light-Years, which should be credited to vocalist Nas alone as the tradition goes, is about looking back at not just his career but hip-hop in general. He gives a Bouquet to seemingly every female MC he can think of. Writers, like KRS-One’s Out For Fame, salutes graffiti artists. There are also sequels to 2nd Childhood and NY State Of Mind.

my rating : 3 of 5

2025

3D Energy Drink : Strawberry Lemonade

3D Energy Drink : Strawberry Lemonade

This is the most confusing 3D Energy Drink of them all. There seems to be two versions; one with and one without the Strawberry Lemonade label on the front; with different tastes. Perhaps it’s a psychological trick, but the plain one tastes plain. Even more baffling is that, at one point, only the former was featured on the official site but called Chrome.

my rating : 3 of 5

Pure Life Purified Water

Pure Life Purified Water

You do need it for Life, but not all drinking water; the bottled type you buy from a store; is made the same. This BlueTriton brand is Purified “using reverse osmosis” and “enhanced with minerals for a crisp taste”, but I prefer my water distilled with no flavor at all.

my rating : 3 of 5

audio review : Public Domain 7 [ The Purge ] ( mixtape ) … Max B

audio review : Public Domain 7 [ The Purge ] ( mixtape ) ... Max B

Max B is free at last. Not that he wasn’t somehow able to record vocals and put out songs in prison, which makes this release not quite as significant as it otherwise would’ve been. It’s also another crude Public Domain mixtape rather than a proper album, which doesn’t help, but there are some mini waves to ride. The highest include I Want Smoke, Lap Dance and All Of It.

my rating : 3 of 5

2025

video review : Child’s Play 3

video review : Child's Play 3

Last time it was his new foster home. Now; eight years later but not even a year in real life; Chucky follows Andy to military school. That concept; putting the two in such a random setting; distracts from the simple but effective horror story Child’s Play began as. Never mind the fact that Andy isn’t even played by the same actor from the first two movies and is metaphorically replaced with an annoying black kid.

my rating : 3 of 5

1991

video review : Child’s Play 2

video review : Child's Play 2

If you’re going to cash in on the success of Child’s Play, you have to do it while its star kid; Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay; is still young and cute. It’s two years later; the theatrical premiere comes on the exact same day; and Chucky’s back, still trying to take over the boy’s body but this time at his new foster home.

This sequel, like RoboCop 2; another recent movie based on a man trapped in a man-made body; pales in comparison to an original that should’ve been left alone. Some of the plotting doesn’t even make sense; Andy acts afraid of Chucky yet seeks him out in a dark basement; even for a horror flick about a killer doll.

my rating : 3 of 5

1990

video review : Child’s Play 3

video review : RoboCop 3

video review : RoboCop 3

RoboCop 3 isn’t as bad as its first several minutes; too much time goes by before he makes his first appearance; suggest. The pace and tone seem made for TV as opposed to something you’d pay to see at a movie theater, but it’s surprisingly better than 2. That’s despite the silliness of its plot, which pits the protagonist against a “damn ninja”.

my rating : 3 of 5

1993

video review : RoboCop 2

video review : RoboCop 2

Not even the crime-ridden city of Detroit, now plagued by a popular street drug called Nuke, needed another RoboCop. The original stood on its own as a sort of modern-day Frankenstein. 2 is a lot less endearing. Nor is the editing and cinematography as slick. The plot continues with OCP and an underlining theme of corporate greed; appropriately enough for a money grab.

my rating : 3 of 5

1990

video review : RoboCop 3

video review : American Sasquatch [ Man Myth Or Monster ]

video review : American Sasquatch [ Man Myth Or Monster ]

I suspect the Sasquatch is a Myth. This documentary; the first from David Paulides not related to Missing 411; only reinforces my suspicion. Bigfoot as simply an undiscovered species of “flesh and blood ape” is intriguingly plausible. It’s the creature being given supernatural attributes, enabling it to literally disappear before you can get a good camera shot, that makes the eyes roll.

It’s a convenient excuse, in other words, for what is essentially a lack of evidence. People talk about their alleged encounters; one woman swears it stared into her bedroom window one night à la Peeping Tom; but the video/audio recordings are rather unconvincing. Sasquatches, even magical ones from “the spirit world”, might exist, but this doc, while interesting, fails to make the case.

my rating : 3 of 5

2025

audio review : A Miracle ( album ) … Lyrical Lively

audio review : A Miracle ( album ) ... Lyrical Lively

This is Lyrical Lively’s first album since going viral, but it seems to have been released in its demo stage. The drums on a couple of songs; Lost Sheep and Blind Bartimaeus; sound unintentionally clipped, but the most obvious flaw is the awful vocal edit on Stand Up For Jesus. Even he couldn’t forgive such a sin. Not that the set isn’t decent overall.

my rating : 3 of 5

2017

video review : Supergirl

video review : Supergirl

Helen Slater is pretty enough as Supergirl; Superman’s younger cousin; but it’s her nemesis Selena who gets the beauty (butterfly) lighting for what seems like every scene she’s in. That’s just part of what makes this movie; a big-budget fantasy adventure; as campy and silly as it is; traits you’d have to embrace to fly anywhere near enjoying it.

my rating : 3 of 5

1984

audio review : Uh Huh ( album ) … Lyrical Lively

audio review : Uh Huh ( album ) ... Lyrical Lively

This is the debut of Lyrical Lively; a 74-year-old rapper. That sentence sounds ridiculous, but give it a chance. The beats are much better than you’d expect. The first three songs are actually Good; perhaps more uplifting and certainly more accessible than the Christian God the reverend promotes obsessively. That’s more than I can say for most rap albums, gospel or otherwise.

my rating : 3 of 5

2014