Word: partly
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Between its plot and the actors’ delivery (“Nail this job and consider yourself a part of the club,” says James’ unseen C.I.A. correspondent, while Charlie Wax tells the gangs he shoots up to “Wax on, wax off”), “From Paris With Love” so embraces cliché that it almost becomes tongue-in-cheek. Indeed, a lot of the movie finds humor in appropriating the hokey reality of action movies such as “Rush Hour.” There...
...Palo Alto, the Stanford Student Government has been circulating a little e-flyer about "Wellness Week," whose theme, conceived with utmost originality, is "Finding Balance and Happiness." Why? Because, you know, that’s what one does in California. Find balance and happiness. But the best part of this otherwise eye-roll inducing event is the central image on the flier—sea lions! Really! Don’t they look relaxed...
...when all is said and done, “Heligoland” subscribes to a pretty good method. Nobody does the bleak soundscapes and skittering breakbeats that characterize trip-hop, which Massive Attack themselves helped pioneer, to greater effect than Del Naja and Marshall. So for the most part, the songs of “Heligoland” are highly successful. These ten tracks are united around a dark, chilling vision that completely absorbs the listener into the album’s world...
Along with Adebimpe and Sandoval, Massive Attack enlist the help of several guest artists to varying degrees of success. Eight of the ten tracks borrow vocals from other musicians, and for the most part, their efforts are much appreciated. There’s a great deal of variety in the voices that carry the melodies of “Heligoland,” a welcome dose of diversity on an album that tends towards monotony in its musical textures...
...allows the acoustic guitar to shine through. Smith’s clear and tender vocals are here successfully highlighted. Liberated by the more varied melody, Smith weaves a narrative that is less mournful and more hopeful than those of the other tracks. For just over two minutes the clouds part, and Midlake captures a poignant sense of winter that is not all doom and gloom...