Piece By Piece Movie Review

 A review of Piece by Piece (2024), dir. Morgan Neville.

They did downplay Chad's impact, but not as much as I was anticipating. They definitely downplayed Pharrell's relationship with Timbaland. He's like, "Yeah we went to the same school," when they're cousins. 

Timeline was a little confusing, like, they pretend that "Drop It Like It's Hot" is the first Pharrell / Snoop collab, but they acknowledge "Beautiful" later in the movie. And they talk about "Blurred Lines" (from 2013) (🤮) before Clipse's Till The Casket Drops (2009).

Speaking of Clipse, where is Malice?

5/10, not enough Cudi.

 

Top 10 Albums of 2019

2019 was an oasis in the desert. Call it a renaissance. The charts had been mostly depressing for three years; 2019 came out swinging with a bright, optimistic mood that even the most cynical oldhead couldn't help but appreciate. The songs getting played on the radio were the best they had been in years, with new acts Lil Nas X and Billie Eilish topping the charts and influencing the charts to this day. "Old Town Road" and "Bad Guy" were a nice complement to the more dark tracks that had stuck around, and old acts had brightened up too. Typical sludge loser Post Malone decided to sound happy for the first time with "Sunflower" and "Circles," both massive hits. Panic! At The Disco likewise returned to the top 10 with "High Hopes" and "Hey Look Ma, I Made It." These songs may not be good, but they reflect a great optimism that seems strange and almost naive knowing what was to come the following year. None of these names will be appearing on this Top 10 list; I hate happiness. Even so, I think the overall sound of this year can be categorized in a distinct binary between happiness and despair. These two themes will be recurring in my retrospective of 2019.

High Fidelity Movie Review

I watched this movie with the bros because I thought it was going to be a funny haha movie about music nerds. Boy, was I wrong.

This movie is, in my mind, a contrast to Mud. Mud teaches that sometimes you can do everything right, and love still falls apart. High Fidelity teaches that sometimes you can do everything wrong and still end up with someone who loves you.

This movie means a lot to me for 2 reasons. First, Rob Gordon is a despicable person. He's self-centered and dumb. He is drawn to people solely by desires of the flesh. He treats people like garbage. Second, Rob Gordon is like me. He's self-centered and dumb. He is drawn to people solely by desires of the flesh. He treats people like garbage. And he lives on his wider-than-average knowledge of music history.

It makes me happy to see Laura come back. The bros and I were conflicted over it though; did Rob truly grow? After all he had done, is there ever a good reason for Laura to go back to him? Did he take advantage of her dire emotional situation? Do I deserve happiness after the way I've treated people in my past? 

I think that, whether or not he deserves it is besides the point. He has her and he is working to be better. That's the real point. Laura may be naive, but she is the best person in the movie. Forgiveness is a beautiful thing. 

8/10. I'm gonna go cry now.

Top 10 Albums of 2021

    Sure, the list might be a bit late. But I'm glad I waited. Some of these I didn't recognize until recently. I certainly wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about. It wasn't due to being lazy.