Recently I’ve been given the opportunity to start reviewing movies for this website. I thought that was a lot of fun and it has legitimized all the hours that I’ve spent watching movies (almost). I couldn’t imagine my passion carrying me any further until I had the pleasure to interview actual movie actors.

Project X is a new movie about two friends who throw a huge birthday party for their friend Thomas. Things quickly get out of hand as random people start showing up and the night gets later. Kirby Bliss Blanton plays a girl who is great friends with the leads. She has been super close with Thomas her whole life and you can tell that there could be something there romantically. Alexis Knapp plays the girl who every guy in the school wants to bed, including Thomas.

Nathan: Thanks for doing this ladies. I saw the movie last night and I thought that it looked like the most fun movie ever to make. What was it like being on set for that?

Kirby Bliss Blanton: It was like it seems; It was really, really fun being on this film.Obviously we weren’t getting wasted or doing drugs. It was like a party but we didn’t drink, I promise.

Nathan: What was the worst part about it?

Kirby: The night shoots. You are trying to sleep in until 6 PM to go to work at 8 PM. It totally messes up your sleep schedule. I was nocturnal for a minute.

Alexis Knapp: The worst part for me was wrapping as the sun was coming up and then coming home…

Kirby: Yeah, we’d come home, eat breakfast then go to sleep. It was very strange.

Alexis: Yeah, it was very weird.

Nathan: In previous interviews you’ve mentioned that Todd Phillips (director of the Hangover and producer of Project X) was kind of the Godfather of the set. What have you learned from him and some of the more experienced people on set?

Kirby: Todd has a vision and he goes with it. He’s not afraid to push those boundaries. He’s really intelligent and he’s really funny. It was just so awesome to be able to work with him. I hope we get to work with him again. Everything is a learning experience for me.

Alexis: What I learned from Todd is that it’s ok to break some rules and to cross lines and boundaries because it’s usually funny and worth it.

Nathan: Kirby, you’ve worked on a lot of Nickelodeon and Disney channel shows, what have you taken from previous experiences and applied to making your first film?

Kirby: I’ve been doing it such a long time that I’ve been learning the whole way with each opportunity that it is the work ethic. You need to stay focused. It was really hard because it was like a party, but you’ve got to still work. Working with other people and other personalities you just have to make sure that you are on point.

Nathan: Alexis, you’re background is in modeling is that right? What have you learned from that?

Alexis: I just finished playing a model in a new TV show, outside of that modeling has benefitted me in zero ways except for kind of introducing me to the world. My background consists of mostly ballet, instruments and singing so don’t call me a model.

(girls laugh)

Nathan: You mentioned that you have a background in singing, I know that you are appearing in a movie with Anna Kendrick and Brittany Snow that is based around music. Will you be singing in that?

Alexis: Yeah, that movie is really great. It’s sooooo friggin’ funny. It revolves around the collegiate competitive a cappela world. I’m singing and dancing. Me, Brittany, Anna, Anna Camp we’re all in a girls group, you could say. It’s like a more adult Glee. I’m excited.

Nathan: Kirby, I saw that you were doing the American adaptation of The Inbetweeners. The original is one of my favorite shows, have you ever seen it?

Kirby: Yeah, of course I have; gotta do my research.

(laughs)

Nathan: What character are you playing?

Kirby: I play Charlotte (the object of affection of the main character, Will, and most of the other boys in school). I did a few episodes for the MTV version. The bottom-line is we don’t get to curse as much. It’s not as raunchy, because in the UK you can say whatever bloody hell comes out of your mouth; MTV isn’t going to let us say fuck or anything. We’re doing every episode with the same story just without the language.

Nathan: I’m looking forward to it.

Kirby: And we’re not going to talk British, that would be weird.

(girls laugh)

Nathan: If you had unlimited funds to throw the party of your dreams, what would you have there? What would you do?

Kirby: I would probably have something like a reptile convention. It would be like a mixture of a reptile convention and a Star Trek convention. That’s what my party would be like.

Alexis: I would want to do something really embarrassing like renting out a concert hall and have everyone do karaoke really bad. Drinking would be a necessity. I don’t know, that’s a really good question, though.

Nathan: Kirby, in the movie your character is very much “one of the guys” and Alexis you are more of an untouchable vixen, is that how you perceive yourself in real life?

Kirby: For the most part, I’m kind of a guy’s girl. I’m friends with a lot of dudes and most of the guys I’ve dated were my best-friend beforehand, so that I can kind of relate to. I’d hope to say I’m not the girl-next-door, I’d like to think there is more to me than that, but I can definitely relate.

Alexis: For me that character is definitely not who I am. That’s one thing that Kirby and I have in common. Day-to-day I don’t really do any girly things or consider myself to be like {my character}, that’s not who Alexis is at all in real-life. I’d rather play video games than go out and taunt boys.

(girls laugh)

Nathan: Have you guys been at any house parties where cars were driven in to pools or things got set on fire?

Alexis: My porch one time got set on fire because a dude failed to take a flaming shot that he kept bragging that he could do. The shot glass cracked and a little bit of vodka spilled on the porch and immediately burst in to flames so I ran inside and filled up my blender with water. When I came out he had patted it out with his shirt and hands. Thank god he didn’t burn down the whole damn neighborhood with my house.

(laughs)

(to Kirby) Any crazy party stories?

Kirby: I don’t have any crazy party stories. I’ve been asked this a bunch. At one point I threw a party and my parents left to stay at a hotel so I could party but that’s because they trusted me and knew I that I would be cleaning up the whole time and they were absolutely correct.

Nathan: It wasn’t like Thomas’ parents in the movie who trusted him before things got crazy?

Kirby: No, not at all. I’m a little bit of a loser in that way. I was literally cleaning up and people were like ‘Kirby, I’m not finished with that’, ‘well can you hurry I need to clean.

Nathan: Alexis, at the end of the movie there is a scene between Thomas and his dad while looking at the destruction of the party. There is a moment where {his dad} is surprised, shocked and kind of a little proud. You are a new mother, what would you say or do to your daughter if you found out she had a similar party?

Alexis: I would probably beat my child’s ass.

Nathan: You wouldn’t be as understanding as Thomas’ dad?

Alexis: Definitely not! I didn’t throw any parties like this as a kid, so my kid isn’t going to throw parties like this. I would rip some faces off!

(girls laugh)

Nathan: What other projects do you have in the works?

Alexis: I have a movie called So Undercover, starring Miley Cyrus and Jeremy Piven. It’s also a comedy. It takes place in a sorority. Miley is in the FBI and she goes undercover to get information on a mobster’s daughter. I play that mobster’s daughter’s roommate. I play a character who is very uppity, very girly.

Kirby: I have another comedy coming out called Hot Bot. It’s kind of a newer version of Weird Science but instead of creating the perfect woman they just happen upon this sex-robot. That’s basically what the whole movie revolves around, these two nerds getting to play with the most beautiful woman ever and she’s a sex-toy robot.

Nathan: Are you playing the sex-bot?

Kirby: I wish, man. I’m not the hot girl, I guess. I play the girl-next-door again.

Nathan: Any plans for a Project X 2?

Alexis: They kind of wrote it in…

Kirby: They left it open.

Alexis: If we sell enough tickets. That’s why we’re doing this press tour.

Kirby: We want to make people sick of us by the time we are done because we want to do it again so bad.

Alexis: Oh, yeah!

(girls laugh)

See Project X starring Kirby Bliss Blanton, Alexis Knapp and several other funny young actors starting Friday, March 2^nd.

Nathan

Nathan enjoys film, music, sports and most of all, speaking in the third person.

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It seems that the release calendar is kind of picking up now after the doldrums of early Winter and we are starting to see more releases each week. Just this weekend you have your pick between a war movie, an R-rated comedy, a Tyler Perry movie and a handful of others. There are certainly more movies coming out lately, but are they any good?

Act of Valor is a new movie about an elite team of Navy SEALs that is tasked with rescuing a captured CIA agent. She has info about a terrorist organization that is planning to bring suicide bombers in to the United States through smuggling tunnels in Mexico.

What sets this movie apart (for good and bad) is that they used real active-duty Navy SEALs instead of actors for the lead roles (Alex Veadov, Roselyn Sanchez and Nestor Serrano). The movie is prefaced by a brief introduction by the makers of the film, Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh. In this segment they describe that they had recruited the SEALs to train actors for the film but felt that the actors couldn’t grasp the tactics that the real guys use so they just cast the real SEALs.

Perhaps before they let the actors go they should have taught the SEALs how to act. Sure they do well in the combat sequences, but when it comes to any dialogue they kind of fall flat. To make matters worse for the team, the rest of the movie is populated with real actors and their inexperience shows even more whenever they interact with them (luckily those times are few).

While the performances are suspect (not a surprise), the filmmaker’s gamble would seem a failure if the SEALs couldn’t pull off the action sequences. Well, the movie delivers; the combat is great. We see a little of everything; quiet infiltration, sniping and a healthy dose of an interesting first-person combat view that should be familiar to any Call of Duty fans.

While the acting may be wooden at times, the action certainly makes up for it. While it does kind of come off like a recruitment film for the armed forces, the journey is pretty fun.

2.5/5 Stars

Nathan

Nathan enjoys film, music, sports and most of all, speaking in the third person.

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As I mentioned in my review for Act of Valor there are a lot of movies coming out this weekend. If you can’t find something in which you may be interested you may not like movies all that much. Wanderlust is the new R-rated comedy from David Wain (Role Models).

George (Paul Rudd) and Linda (Jennifer Aniston) love the New York City lifestyle. George is a mid-level executive and Linda is an eccentric who has recently completed work on a documentary. They have just purchased a studio apartment (or micro-loft) but are upset that they have to give up the big city lifestyle when George loses his job.

They drive to Atlanta to stay with George’s brother who owns a portable toilet rental company. Along the way they stay in a bed and breakfast that is run by a hippie commune. When George gets upset with his brother they decide to try the hippie lifestyle to see if it will suit them.

Wanderlust is a very crude comedy. That normally doesn’t bother me, but this film is a fairly extreme case. If you find that bothersome, you may want to stay away from this one.

While the movie is quite funny the story really lacks any sort of emotional pull. You don’t really care about the characters figuring things out, you just want their journey to be amusing. That is really what sets a movie like 40 Year Old Virgin or Forgetting Sarah Marshall apart from movies like this. While we are very interested in what happens to Andy (40YOV) and Peter (FSM) we never have quite the same connection with George and Linda. It’s not that they are entirely unlikable, it’s just that we aren’t really given enough depth to really make them seem like people and they are just one-dimensional characters.

Rudd is his typical charming self. He can pull off the vulgarity and still seem like a gentleman (kind of). His monologue in front of a mirror is the comedy equivalent of a speech of similar composition in The 25th Hour. It was easily the highlight of the film, and probably the funniest scene i’ve seen this year.

Aniston doesn’t suit the movie quite as well. She never quite captures the eccentricity of her character and seems out of place a little bit.

Several of the supporting characters were very funny. Ken Marino as George’s older brother, Rick, and his wife Marissa (Michaela Watkins) steal almost every scene in which they appear. A few of the members of the commune are very funny as well; Kerri Kenny as the spacy hippie Kathy is one of the better performers in the film.

There is a difference between good and funny. Wanderlust is funny, it just wasn’t very good.

2.5/5 Stars

Nathan

Nathan enjoys film, music, sports and most of all, speaking in the third person.

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Some live bands win you over with simply a great musical performance; for others, the stage presence and visuals are the real hook. And then there are bands like MUTEMATH, which on Thursday night at the Beaumont Club put it all together, giving your senses everything they wanted when you walked in the door.

I previously saw MUTEMATH at the Bottleneck last October, days before the release of the band’s latest album, Odd Soul. That performance was highly memorable mostly because of the music; singer/keyboardist Paul Meany, bassist Roy Mitchell-Cardenas, drummer Darren King, and new guitarist Todd Gummerman are remarkably tight and passionate performers who take the band’s eclectic recordings to another level onstage. But the Bottleneck set also offered moments of entertaining showmanship which suggested that in a venue with fewer limitations, MUTEMATH would really deliver something to see as well as something to hear.
With the Beaumont’s bigger stage and more expansive square footage, MUTEMATH fully delivered on its top-notch live reputation in a two-hour set, augmenting its sound with theatrics to match.

But first, the music. If a band can be judged by whether it sounds better live than on your iPod, then consider MUTEMATH an overwhelming success- and this is a band that sounds plenty good on record.

They kicked things off with the psychedelic blues-inflected title track off Odd Soul, and continued with a slew of their most uptempo songs, including a hard-hitting rendition of recent single “Blood Pressure” and their “Twilight” soundtrack hit “Spotlight.” With the exception of the 2007 hit “Typical” – which it saved for a satisfying encore — all the MUTEMATH songs that the casual music listener would recognize were already out five songs into the set. But that didn’t make the show any less climactic; the band’s energy, musicianship, and versatility held everyone’s interest throughout.

Joey Berlin

Product of Kansas City suburbia who inhales pop culture old and new. Among other things, I'm a fan of fried chicken, college basketball, Crown Royal and rock 'n' roll. Find four things that make life more fulfilling. I dare you.

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Arrietty might be little, but she’s taking audiences on a big adventure in “The Secret World of Arrietty.”

“The Secret World of Arrietty” is adapted from the novel “The Borrowers” and tells the story of a tiny girl (about the size of a bug) known as a “borrower.” Borrowers live in the walls of houses owned by normal-sized people like you or me. They survive by “borrowing” what they need from the home. It can be a stressful, yet adventurous life. The borrowers must evade weather elements such as massive raindrops or blasts of wind, run from mice and cockroaches, and above all avoid being seeing by the humans. It’s the number one rule of a borrower, not to be seen, since rarely has it ended well for their race. To add to her family’s stress, Arrietty (voiced by Bridgit Mendler) and her family fear they maybe the last of the borrowers as it has been quite some time since they last saw another of their race. Being young, Arrietty slips up and is seen by a young, sickly boy of the house, Shawn (voiced by David Henrie). The two form a cautious friendship, but Arrietty and Shawn learn that not all people are as understanding and sweet as he. Arrietty and her family soon find their lives in danger from the overly curious and mischievous caretaker of the house.

“The Secret World of Arrietty” is a beautiful film and is literally about the little things: little people and little details. The animators do a great job exploring the little details that would go into what our zoomed in world would look like. Sure there are moments when you see a fuzzy cat or a character makes a silly face when you’re like, this is obviously a cartoon. But for the most part, you’re looking at a masterpiece painting that’s all about the details. The nature drawings with bents blades of grass and ladybugs crawling into the frame are just fantastic. Arrietty and her father’s adventure into the kitchen hilariously and brilliantly uses nails sticking out of floorboards. Then there’s the dollhouse! A single teapot in this doll house has fancier details than any other animated film I’ve ever seen. Not to mention the rain! It almost took my breath away how it was animated as a zoomed out view of the house then zoomed up to how it looked from Arrietty’s perspective. Exquisite!

“The Secret World of Arrietty” was originally animated by Disney’s Japan division and then dubbed for U.S. audiences. I think this is an important note that parents need to be aware of before bringing children to see this film. There are a few cultural differences that are noticeable not just in the animated actions, but also in some of the dialogue. So while I think most parents won’t mind teaching their kids about the cultural tradition to take off shoes when entering the house, some maybe uncomfortable with the open discussion about the inevitability of death and poor parenting: fairly heavy topics for a children’s film. Most Disney films gloss over these things and there was some interesting voice over at the end that sort of forced a happier ending than I expect the original version had, but again, I could see some parents wanting a head’s up about these topics. Hey, at least these open discussions aren’t as shocking as “Ponyo” (Japanese Little Mermaid-esque animated film) having a discussion about drinking breast milk.

Though the animation was beautiful, I was a bit disappointed in the voice actors. Dubbed movies are never quite as good as original versions, yet while I could excuse occasional syncing issues, I had a lesser time getting past how dull David Henrie sounded. Is his idea of playing ill to just speak as ho hum as possible? Then the usually dynamic and hilarious duo of Amy Poehler and Will Arnett were shockingly subdued. Arnett mostly grunted as Arrietty’s father, Pod. I did find Mendler enjoyable as the bubbly Arrietty and Moises Arias’ jungle speak as Spiller was also fun. Yet while the voice acting was less than stellar, the animation more than made up for it. This could have been silent film and it still would have told a beautiful story of friendship and family.

If you are looking to see a beautiful animated feature, go on an adventure with Arrietty. Just keep in mind that while this is a Disney-labelled movie, it’s a bit different from their other U.S. offerings. Weighty subject matters and a slower exposition might make this a film best suited for families with slightly older and maturer children.

Bethany Smith

I'm a geek; I love music, technology and grammar.

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Hollywood has a long habit of making movies that mix action and romance (especially around Valentine’s Day). The idea is that they can provide something for everyone so that anyone will enjoy it. This Means War is one of those movies.

They hired a director quite familiar with action, McG, and the two male leads who are no strangers to the genre. They then filled the movie with America’s new sweetheart, Reese Witherspoon, and hope that the audience shows up in droves.

The movie follows Tuck (Tom Hardy) and FDR (Chris Pine) who are CIA operatives and best-friends. FDR is the typical playboy and collects female conquests. Tuck is a more serious, and slightly more mature, agent and has an estranged girlfriend and child. Everything comes tumbling down when Tuck meets Lauren (Witherspoon), a product tester, on an online dating site. She then runs in to FDR who tries to pick her up like he does with every pretty girl. She ends up deciding to date both (although she agrees to see FDR fairly reluctantly). From then on the boys try to sabotage each other while trying to spy on Lauren to learn what she likes and dislikes.

The three leads all do a pretty decent job but are somewhat limited by a script that doesn’t always provide them with great material. Reese may have been miscast because she comes off as someone who is much too sweet to date two men at the same time. Chris Pine plays the ladies’ man perfectly and it is completely believable that he could pick up any woman he wants. Tom Hardy does a good job, but is withheld from delivering a performance that is as good as he his more recent performances.

While the movie is largely a romantic-comedy there are still some pretty good action scenes. The final car chase is well made and fairly fun to watch. It does kind of lack action and pace at times and it seems like there was room for maybe one more action beat. The romantic elements don’t always work because of the previously mentioned lack of believability of Reese’s character, and at times the comedy leans too much on slapstick and it doesn’t quite fit in the world of the CIA.

Perhaps the biggest fault of the movie is that it just doesn’t know what it wants to be. They may have tried to make a movie that is a little bit of everything in the hopes of attracting a large audience but they have instead made a movie with a lot of things that will turn off certain groups. It still makes for a fairly fun movie as there are enough elements to keep parties interested, although everyone may leave wanting a little more.

Nathan

Nathan enjoys film, music, sports and most of all, speaking in the third person.

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You can watch the 16th President slay slavery and vampires in “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” on June 22. The film is based on the Seth Grahame-Smith novel.

Bethany Smith

I'm a geek; I love music, technology and grammar.

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There are plenty questionable things going on at the annual Afentra’s VD Party at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City. Cock Ring Toss with inflatable penises (penii?), Spin the Bottle, Unhook the Bra Races and much more. Between the pot smoke and the borderline rape moves, you could almost forget to watch the bands. Almost. Fortunately, the one non-questionable thing about VD Party is that there is going to be good music, good enough to keep your eyes on the stage and off the sketchier behaviors of the audience. This year’s Buzz VD Party featured Middle Class Rut with Chain Gang of 1974, The Lonely Forest and local openers, O Giant Man. 

Local openers, O Giant Man, got the show off to a killer start. If I hadn’t known they were local, I would have assumed they were a national act. The band performed with a happy confidence on a giant stage that I’ve seen plenty of local acts fall apart on. One of my favorite members to watch was keyboardist Rick Schulenberg. Rick was all smiles and rarely sat still as he played the keys. He ventured away from the keyboard toward the end of the set and teased the lead singer, who never wavered despite his bandmate’s hilarious antics. O Giant Man reminded me a bit of Vampire Weekend’s clever indie rock with the upbeat rhythms and keys, but they weren’t overly squeaky clean like the Columbia grads, venturing into the more ambitious and experimental areas of bands such as Modest Mouse. It was fun rock music and i expect big things from these guys.

Next up was the broody Chain Gang of 1974. They were a bit of an odd fit for the evening’s lineup, but I was still excited to see them. Unfortunately, the anticipated excitement level quickly dropped. I had trouble connecting with this band, despite loving their record. Perhaps it was the pitchy vocals, the unnecessarily low lights or the feeling that the band just didn’t care that much, but I never fully connected with them. To be fair, I saw the band a year ago at SXSW in a small venue, and I had a blast at that performance, easily getting amped up to dance. But something just seemed off — and it affected not only the band, but the audience’s reaction. If you haven’t heard this synth heavy group before, they sound like something right off a John Hughes soundtrack, so it was fitting that they gave a shout out to Molly Ringwald, dedicating a song to her.

While Chain Gang fell below my expectations, The Lonely Forest quickly surpassed them. These indie rockers can be almost stereotypically geeky and awkward, saying things like “We’re watching the X-Files after this” or “Does anyone out there have any peanut butter,” but their overshare tendencies just make them endearing. I was surprised to hear them start off with the radio singles. Generally, if you’re playing a radio show, you save the radio singles for the end of the set so you don’t lose the audience. Yet, they never lost the attention of the audience. That’s because after singing along, ‘turn off,” repeatedly, the audience was hooked and ‘turned on’ to the music of The Lonely Forest. They happily obliged when asked to put up cell phones or sing along to a particular verse and I saw plenty of couples getting cozy to some of the slower numbers. There was a ‘wtf moment’ when the evening’s first crowd surfer surfed through a slow number, but I guess he was just warming up for the heavier rock of Middle Class Rut. Regardless of the ‘wtf moment,’ this was a great performance and I think it left many in Kansas City already checking for the Lonely Forest’s return to our city. 

Headliners Middle Class Rut are a favorite in Kansas City. They’ve already played the radio station’s shows for Halloweenie Roast and Buzz Beach Ball, but people keep turning up for them. While they’re a bit heavier at times than what I normally listen to, I can’t help but feel awed every time I hear them and see that there really are just two members in the band. I sometimes have to do a double take because they sound so much bigger than a drummer and a guitarist. Both members sing, so that does help with the big sound, but that just adds to the impressiveness — it’s incredibly difficult to drum and sing at the same time, and their drummer drums hard. With their set, the crowd went wild — in a good way. I wouldn’t be surprised if almost everyone took a turn crowdsurfing and it looked as though everyone knew all the Middle Class Rut songs.

The Buzz pimped their show as a place to hook up and find a new love interest. I don’t know how people did finding romantic relations with other people, but I would still say this night was a success as almost everyone fell in love with at least one of the bands. Here’s to an even crazier VD Party next year!

Bethany Smith

I'm a geek; I love music, technology and grammar.

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When the Midwest band Josephine Collective broke up,  the members didn’t just scatter and disappear into the wind OK. So they scattered (Atlanta, Dallas, etc), but several of them stayed in the Kansas City area and nearly all the former members found new and diverse ways to stay a part of the music scene. We recently learned of a new project from one of the singers: En Route. 

Dillon Teague DeVoe is En Route. It’s an electronic, alternative rock act based in Kansas City. Local radio program, Homegrown Buzz, first introduced us to En Route with “Bliss.” A song that sets a rhythm with a repeated electronic effect that sounds like a wave. Guitars soon enter and then Dillon starts to sing. His voice sounds like there might be a very slight reverb or echo effect on it to match that repeated electonic wash sound. It sounds like he has really smoothed out since we last heard from him. About two and a half minutes in, the song explodes into an awesome instrumental solo. Andy Armstrong contributes instrumentation and Jeffrey Hilty joins on bass. Check out “Bliss” below:

You can also download Bliss from The Rondevu here. The Rondevu is “an institute of independent music and art, in all genres.” They’re also helping support and record some other great KC musicians, so take the time to explore their site.

Bethany Smith

I'm a geek; I love music, technology and grammar.

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