Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

I have been waiting to see this film for some time and I am glad I finally did. I was thinking this would be more of the typical Zach Braff (i.e. Garden State) that I enjoy but since this film was not written by him (it was written by Paul Haggis of Crash and Million Dollar Baby fame – interestingly enough he was having trouble selling both of those screenplays – which of course turned out to be huge successes – when he got the gig writing The Last Kiss) and since this movie was a remake of Italian director Gabriele Muccino’s film L’Ultimo Bacio it was much different than I expected.

The Last Kiss turned out to be a very interesting exploration of human relationships as seen through the eyes of Michael (Zach Braff) and his friends who are all approaching 30 and are in various places in their lives.

The main focus of the film is on Michael and his fiance Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) who appear to be in the perfect relationship and are expecting a child. Temptation for Michael comes in the form of young college coed Kim (Rachel Bilson) and he spends a good portion of the last part of the film trying to patch up his mistake.

I am sure some of the movie was lost on me since my friends and I are not quite to 30 yet (we’re in our mid 20s) but I still enjoyed the human relationship study and the story in general which was well written. The cast was also outstanding and worked very well together (congrats to the casting folks). Definitely check this one out when you have a chance. It’s well worth it.

Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

As some of you may know I have been on vacation for the past week or so in beautiful Puerto Rico hence the lack of posting (see the pics here). I am now back and ready to go. To start off I’ll hit you with a music review and then I’ll head over to a movie review and a book review and by then I will (hopefully) have something of substance to write about.

Prior to leaving for vacation I went out to see my friend John’s friends band (whew – that’s a mouthful) at Elbo Room in Chicago (conveniently located one block from my apartment). The band is called Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts and they played a great set (for those who are keeping track Will is John’s friend). Up after Will and the Addicts was Sunday Morning Chameleon (SMC for short). I was intrigued by the name and because Will mentioned to John and I that SMC was a killer band.

Well, my friends, Will was bang on. SMC is a great band. They were probably the tightest local unsigned band I have seen in years. I went ahead and purchased their CD the very next day and it’s equally as good as the live show (on second thought, can you ever really beat live?).

On the disc they do have a very Coldplay-like sound but they have recently added a second guitarist (present at the live show but not on the disc) who has made the overall sound SMC’s very own with only a dash of Coldplay. It’s amazing what one additional person can do.

I am hoping these guys get a new disc together with the additional guitarist soon. If they do and get it out there they should be singed to a deal ASAP (calling all A&R reps). Check out their tunes on MySpace when you get a chance and pick up the disc. SMC is definitely one of Chicago’s finest bands and will hopefully be known around the country and the world soon.