Notes from a Genius

Lukas Nelson is the son of country western singer/songwriter Willie Nelson, and you can see it on his face, and you can hear it in the twang of his voice. But, the musicianship and guitar playing is all him. He plays guitar like a reinvention of Eric Clapton and you can see he wears his influences like that on his sleeve. Hell, at one point, he even played a guitar solo with his teeth. The guy can shred with the best of them. And I guess it's no wonder why he and his band- The Promis of the Real- have been asked multiple times by Neil Young to be his backing band (he even released recorded an album with them), as well as Bob Dylan. This was an absolutely incredible show. Die Alone Play Video Four Letter Word Play Video Fool Me Once Play Video Carolina Play Video Runnin' Shine Play Video High Times Play Video Something Real Play Video Just Outside of Austin Play Video Just Breathe (Pearl Jam cover) Breakdown ( Tom Petty an...

"The Late Bloomer" starring: Charlotte McKinney, Johnny Simmons, Blake Cooper, Kumail Nanjiani, Beck Bennett, Lenora Crichlow, Paul Wesley, Brittany Snow, J.J. Simmons, Maria Bello, Jane Lynch written by: Joe Nussbaum directed by: Kevin Pollack Kevin Pollack is the master of impersonations. The guy has had secondary/small roles in a ton of films dating back to the early '90s; films like L.A. Story, A Few Good Men, Grumpy Old Men, The Usual Suspects, That Thing You Do, She's All That, The Whole Nine Yards, End of Days, Hostage, the TV show "Mom," Casino, etc. So you would think he'd have learned some things from being on set with a plethora of directors and actors. For his directorial debut, "The Late Bloomer" what does he decide to tackle for subject matter? Sex. More specifically, a 30 year old virgin sex therapist. Yes, that's right. I mean, the 40 year old virgin thing has already been done, and done very well. This is just rau...

"The Pact" starring: Caity Lotz, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Haley Hudson, Sam Ball, Mark Steger, Agnes Bruckner, Casper Van Dien, Dakota Bright written by and directed by: Nicholas McCarthy Here's another cliche horror film that goes more for jump scares than really concerning itself with telling a decent story, and then it somehow sets itself up for a sequel. In  The Pact ‘s slight but effective opening scene, a young mother chats with her little girl over webcam, walking through the house with her laptop to find a better WiFi signal. The “gotcha” moment here is telegraphed well in advance, but the premise of the scare is clever, and the money shot is nothing more than that eerily open doorway, impenetrable blackness behind it. McCarthy gets a great deal of mileage out of a prop and a shadow—surely an invaluable skill when directing a haunted-house film. But convention dictates that eventually the lights must be turned on, and what was really behind that doorway is inh...