CCR Revisited

In one of the best artist collaborations in a long time, John Fogerty has done it again with his new album “Wrote a Song for Everyone”. Best known for his days with Creedence Clearwater Revival or CCR as well as his solo career, John Fogerty has brought together a variety of artists to help in rerecording songs from his days with CCR. Some of these artists include Kid Rock, My Morning Jacket, Bob Seger, and the Foo Fighters all with John Fogerty providing vocals and guitar. The songs themselves are fantastic and offer a new vibe to these classics, like the Foo Fighters rendition of Fortunate Son, which took it from a grass roots rock to a more hard rock sound. Albums like these are few and far between, mostly because this album is for anyone and everyone young and old.

If there was one band that would be considered the most underrated, It would be Creedence Clearwater Revival. They were from an era of music that produced such artists as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and The Rolling Stones, which filled the airwaves. Though many of their hits like Fortunate Son, Bad Moon Rising, and Born on the Bayou are played regularly on classic rock stations. I grew up listening to the many songs Creedence Clearwater Revial have made and hearing them in a different tone with the contributing artists own flair is incredible. Each artist in the album brings their own unique sound to the table which will definitely appeal to people who haven't heard CCR or John Fogerty before.

The album itself contains songs from John Fogerty's days in Creedence Clearwater Revival and a few new ones. The numerous artists that have been included range from the Hard Rocking Foo Fighters, the country sound of Keith Urban, and the old time rock and roll of Bob Seger. Though to no surprise, Fortunate Son featuring the Foo Fighters is the first song, which as I said is a great take on the old classic. Born on the Bayou with Kid Rock and Who'll Stop the Rain with Bob Seger sound just like the originals right down the roots rock gritty guitar and vocals. On top of the old stuff the new songs Mystic Highway and Wrote a Song for Everyone featuring Tom Morello are amazing in their own way. The numerous other artists included make this album a unique work of art that will be a favorite of mine for years to come.

Master Mind F#$@ed

What do you get when you mix an ex British Security Agent, a school filled with the children of ten richest people in America and a hacker rebel skater……. You get Masterminds……. What were expecting Paul Blart Mall Cop Two?  No in 1997 two years after what had appeared to be the final Die Hard Movie.  A movie hit the screen with the tag line “The criminal mastermind of the century.  Just met his match.”  To say nothing else to not go into the levels of depravity and one liners, you can say this movie is cheesy, a Die Hard light, or Die Hard Rip off.  And you would be right on all accounts.  But either way lets dig into this shit hole of a movie and see if we can’t find a nugget of gold.

The movie starts out with our main character Ozzie.  Ozzie is your typical everyday….. wait what the fuck is that a dial up internet cloaker program?  Ugh already this movie even for it’s’ time the technology is outdated.  A V.23 modem in 97 was out of date as V.23 ran at 1.2K during a time when 56K was wide spread and in use.  Lets also look at the fact he is hacking into a MOVIE STUDIO by playing a gaming which is by far the weakest excuse for security even with a one minute time limit to quote “find the exit”.  Even if this was a viable security protocol WHICH IT ISN’T why in the name of god’s green earth would you make your security that easy to crack into?  You find out in the morning scene that Ozzie has hacked into the Studio to get a pre-release copy of Scream 2……..  Wait so you mean to tell me Dimension Film Studio was hacked into and brought down by a 1.2k modem and a joy stick…….. WOW Movie….. Wow.  

That aside, lets continue on shall we.  Ozzie after being caught by his father who just so happens to also be a computer wiz and extremely wealthy……. Okay one quick point you work as an executive for a multibillion dollar company and best friends with your boss who owns the company and you can’t afford to have the latest Technology in your home………….. words they fail me at this point…. Words fail me.

Ozzie is punished by his step mother Helen who tasks Ozzie with bringing his step sister to school Shady Glen.  Shady Glen a private school for the overly privileged children of wealthy families, and the place of origin for Ozzie’s misbegotten rebellious phase.  In which we meet Raif (Patrick Stewart) the new Security consultant to Shady Glen.  After one last prank to the security guard at the gate it is revealed that Raif Bentley has plotted to and has taken over the school and inadvertently trapped Ozzie in the school also.  

The plan is simple siege the school, hold the children of the ten wealthiest people in America ransom and get away via tunnels once you have the cash and leave the cops to think you are leaving by demanded helicopter…..  At least the plan in Air Heads made more sense.  Back to the story, wait the children of the 10 wealthiest people in America go to the same school.  Movie you are making this so hard for me to show your shining moments.  

So Bentley and his band of miscreants siege Shady Glen and proceed to hold all the children until such a time when a negotiator is called in.  Demands are made and the ransom on the ten children continues on until the money is delievered.  Problem, during this time Bentley and his crew are being messed with by our Rebelious Anti-Hero Ozzie and his multitool walky talky….  I would seriously love to get the specs on this thing cause it did a lot of shit.  Had an impressive range, had built in wires to take control of the the loud speakers, and I am pretty sure it controlled the TV as well I could be wrong.  Through out these shenanigans ozzie finds himself in the security control room.  Which instead of doing something smart like disarming the school and breaking the terminal  he proceeds to get a few bits of info and lock the door.  Really genius boy?  You can wire a security system to auto wipe your hard drive, modify a walky talky into an all purpose tool.  Reroute a security camera feed to view porn.  But all you can think to do  is a get a list of names and lock a door when you have full access to the school’s security brain.  John McLane you are not sir.  

Despite all the plot holes and obvious facepalm moments and out of wack story telling on the director’s part.  Masterminds is brainless fun.  If you do not pick at it to much and shut off what you know to be true it is bearable.  The shining moments come from the two leads Patrick Stewart while not particularly taking the role seriously makes a convincing villain over acted at times but hey what can you do it was a paycheck right Patrick wink wink nudge nudge.

Overall I give this move six out of ten.  Masterminds tries to take itself seriously but it fails so hard.  I mean can you honestly tell me that you don’t watch a train wreck as it happens.  This is a guilty pleasure for me and I do find myself watching it from time to time when I am feeling like I need to watch something to make me laugh.