Review: "The Great Gatsby: Soundtrack" (2013) "Envokes The Younger Ages"

By: Gabriel Roderick

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So today will be our very first CD review!

And Jay Z definitely helps make this process even easier.

Instead of reviewing each song, I'll talk about the album as a whole. I understand the point of a soundtrack but this collaboration and star power of artists because it's open entity.

The opening song is Jay-Z's 100$ Bill will a insert of Gatsby talking.  Then there a few more sudden lines from what I assume is the movie in the songs!

This album paints to pictures, well two movies. A movie that reflects The Great Gatsby that was filmed then another pictured from the book.

So the songs go in order of how the events of the book take place per say. Gatsby is loaded with money, partying and of course the notorious affair. Once the fun and games are over and we have tragedy after tragedy plague our characters. Then the finale song ends with the phrase, "Kill and Run". You also see a tones of suspense, happiness, joyful and then sadness as the songs progress for about a hour.

I'm sure once I see the movie I'll be able to put scenes from the movie to each of the songs, just looking at the trailers I see why they choose these songs.

Mr. Baz Luhrmann paints such a great picture with his interpretation, it's nice that Jay-Z could match this with his songs.

This album just seems to fit to perfectly, I can't really describe it. It's just write. Like the Star Wars background music when the Empire appears, these songs where made for this movie.

The irony of it is there's some techno, rap, soul and just plain non jazzy songs which in the timeline of the Great Gatsby would not fit the film at all.

The one song that I first saw accompanied to this trailer was Jay Z, Frank Ocean and Kayne West's No Church In The Wild. This song I was surprised was not on the album seeing as it's the epitome
 of Jay Gatsby and his life styles that he tries to teach Nick. Also seeing as this was Leonardo Di'Caprio's idea to bring Jay Z in to incorporate Hip-Hop especially after Baz heard the song!

I was worried how this soundtrack would fair without that song, but with the collaboration of each artist involved, these modern day songs fit the scene of a older time. Just like in Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet!

1990s lifestyle meets a Shakespeare play?

Unheard of! 

Now again nearly 15 years later! I'm okay with his interpretation of modern music and older social
life. The connections are just there, it's important to know that without Jazz without these elaborate parties there would be no Hip-hop no Dub step no elaborate rapper's parties.

Jazz did in fact help pave the way in the music industry and the soundtrack like the movie pays homage to a well worked time.

As I said before the transition of the songs are suppose to paint the picture for you, sometimes it's not as vivid right away. You may have to dig a little deeper in each song, listen a little more closely to get the overall message that pertains to each scene. Otherwise you may listen to it as most soundtracks a cluster of songs pertaining to a movie. This album attempts specifics and the most part hits the nail on the head.

The transition also becomes much darker. Granted the film is a dark film towards the end, the lyrics and overall tone become kind of "haunting" as you progress. The last song as I said "Kill and Run" and that is said nearly 10 times to further the point. It becomes a ghostly voice almost telling you the tragedy. The good that comes out from the darkness is that it adds some new modernism to the album.

01. Jay-Z – 100$ Bill
02. Beyoncé and André 3000 – Back to Black
03. will.i.am – Bang Bang
04. Fergie, Q-Tip, and GoonRock – A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)
05. Lana Del Rey – Young and Beautiful
06. Bryan Ferry with The Bryan Ferry Orchestra – Love Is The Drug
07. Florence and the Machine – Over The Love
08. Coco O. of Quadron – Where The Wind Blows
09. Emeli Sandé and The Bryan Ferry Orchestra – Crazy in Love
10. The xx – Together
11. Gotye – Hearts a Mess
12. Jack White – Love is Blindness
13. Nero – Into the Past
14. Sia – Kill And Run

Our Honest View gives, The Great Gatsby Soundtrack a 8/10. This album does push boundaries, painting several stories for the listeners who are intrigued. However cutting a vital song to the main character of the movie, not very wise.The counterbalance between the artists on this collaboration is what brings lights and dark's to the album truly making it a work of art.

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Review: "Halo 4" (2012) "343 Shoots The Competiton"

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Our very first Microsoft review! And a very special one at that!

Honestly I have to say I was never a big fan of the halo franchise, yes I have played most of them. The multiplayer could never keep my interested for to long and the story never caught me like it did with everyone else but, Halo 4 I can say has to be one of my top 5 games of 2012. 343 brings a beautifully crafted masterpiece to your home, with its over the top and well balanced multiplayer, gorgeous and engrossing campaign and the episodic greatness of Spartan ops, 343 proved that they were over qualified for the job and made a game that will keep you hanging around for more even after the ending credits.

Almost everyone knows the story of Halo, so I wont spend too much time on it. Your master chief, a badass Spartan and with your trusty A.I Cortana nothing can stand in your way. Halo 4 takes place 4 years after the events of Halo 3, you find master chief frozen on the Dawn where you are woken by Cortana, who sense there is something wrong and she’s right. The dawn is being pulled into the alien world Requiem, at the same time the Dawn is being invaded by the covenant. But that’s just the tip of the ice berg for Cortana and Chief, its been 7 years since Cortana has been in service which means she is starting to over think things (like most women), a condition A.I.s  called rampant. This is a story between John and Cortana, there bond that makes them one of the most deadly duo’s in the universe. With new Promethean enemies, the forerunners, and the covenant this is one of chiefs most action packed adventures to date.

When you first start up the campaign you welcomed with beautiful CG cut scenes. From he moment your unthawed, the world of Halo hits you with If you’re looking for something to make you jaw hit the floor look no further, Halo 4 has I have to say some of the best graphics for this console generation. From the moment Master Chief is unthawed to the last bullet shot in the campaign, the graphics make my 32” tv look like a painting Picasso painted. Your eyes aren’t the only things that are that is going to be happy, your ears will have a blast as well. Neil Davidge did a superb job with the music and sound, I use my turtle beaches any chance I get. From every gun to every enemy the sounds are unique and make you fell like your there. 

The real meat and potatoes for me is the multiplayer, which honestly I spent most of my 32 hours of halo with until I was assigned this review. 343 incorporated a new leveling system which, ala CoD, the more xp you get, the more you level up and the more you unlock things such as fancy armor pieces to deck your Spartan in. But it doesn’t stop there, gaining xp lets you change you load out for different tactics and game types. Getting to level 5 lets you customizer your load out to tailor your game play needs, unlocking new armor abilities which 343 added several new ones, Promethean vision which lets you see through walls to pinpoint you enemy, Thruster pack which gives you a boost in any direction for quick get away from enemy fire. Some of the classics are back like Jetpack and hologram. Tactical packages that help your Spartan with things like mobility, which gives you unlimited sprinting and firepower, which allows you to equip a primary weapon in the secondary slot. Support upgrades are just that, things like Dexterity, which speeds up your reload time and ammo that gives you twice as much ammo to start with at the beginning of the match.

When it comes to the multiplayer, UNSC Infinity that houses a ton of Spartans that train constantly for the covenant invasion. Onboard of the infinity you have 4 modes war games, Spartan ops, forge and theater.

War Games is where you will find your basic RvB classics such as Infinity slayer and big team slayer. There are some new playlist to keep you occupied, Dominion being a tertris clones throws in some thing to keep it fresh like being able to build turrets and fortify your base. 10 playlist and more coming form 343 will make sure your nothing going to take Halo out of your system for awhile.

Spartan Ops is 343’s new co-op mode that takes place after 6 months after the events of the main campaign. 343 is doing something that most studios should do to try to keep consumers from trading there games in, they have been and will continue to support Spartan ops for 5 season with 10 episodes each season, each week a new episode will be available to download for free of charge. Getting 3 of your friends together to lay waste to some baddies is always fun and the story on its own is good enough to keep you coming back to finish each episode. An even bigger plus you gain a huge chunk of xp from playing co-op online on legendary difficulty, which is great if you want to take a break from Wargames but still gain xp and play online. Forge is what it was in Halo 3, which is a map builder that you but with more add features.

Greatest Review’s gives “Halo 4” (2012) 5 stars out of 5. I honestly can’t think of to much that is wrong with this games. Everything 343 did with the Halo franchise will go down in history, not as being a great game, but by not messing up a beloved franchise, if anything they gained one new fan.

Replay value: Moderately High

t;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>By: Nevill Adeyeye

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