Top Ten Favorite Jonathan Young Covers

     Who is Jonathan Young, you ask?  Well, he is a musician on YouTube who is most notoriously known for making rock and metal covers of Disney songs.  I discovered his channel a little while back and have been trying to soak up as much of his material as I can fit into my schedule because the guy is just that damn good.  Seriously.  Originally this post was going to be Top Ten Best Jonathan Young Covers but that would imply that I've gone through his entire library of material when in truth I haven't so these are my personal favorites as of this very moment.  Enough lollygagging, let's get right to it!

     10 - Hotline Bling (Punk Goes Pop Style ft. Travis Carte)

     Given my musical tastes, it probably is no shocker when I say that I really did not care for Drake's "Hotline Bling."  Even if I was still in my multi-genre days and more open minded to the hip-pop genre, I doubt I'd like it simply because I really don't like Drake's vocal style and I need my music to be energetic and containing life force, something the original severely lacks.  Here, Jonathan and guest Travis Carte takes the lifeless song and turns it into a genuinely amusing song (not ironically amusing in that "funny that this song is so popular" way I see it) and music video featuring some of the funniest "white guy" dancing and Drake's lyrics being performed through Travis' roar that would make Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch proud.  This one might be at the bottom of the list because topping Drake isn't a tough bar to clear for me (no offense if you're a fan, music = art = subjective) but man this one makes me feel good.

     09 - Danger Zone (Power Metal Cover from Top Gun ft. FamilyJules7X & RichaadEB)

     I've always been a fan of the original Kenny Loggins version of this song (it's as crunchy as he ever got), even though I've never bothered to watch the movie that made it popular start to finish (didn't hold my attention, sorry).  I've always liked how the verses slowed down before kicking up again with the chorus and solo.  Here, Jonathan and his roommates have added a continuous upbeat tempo to the song and it is fun in its own right.  Even though I may find myself leaning more towards the original, this one is still well worth checking out.

     08 - Hellfire (Symphonic Metal Cover from Disney's Hunchback Of Notre Dame)

     Confession time: I've one seen Hunchback maybe thrice and that was years ago so forgive me if I have forgotten how damned dark the villain is and this song is a great reminder of that.  While I do really like this version, there is something about the original that is much more damaged and unsettling with the Gothic aesthetics and those red robed fuckers towering over Judge Claude Frolo, staring down at him in judgement.  Calm down, Frolo!  Seriously, nobody's blaming you, this is totally normal.

     07 - Poor Unfortunate Souls (Metal Cover from Disney's The Little Mermaid)

     Hey, look!  Another immensely unsettling Disney villain song.  Given Jonathan's deep voice during the second verse, it is quite creepy here too just with more power chords and pounding drumming.  This one is closer to the original than Hellfire but as much as Jonathan sells the twisted sales pitch that is this song, Ursula's tone and expressions do eek ahead in terms of disturbing.

     06 - In The Dark Of The Night (Metal Cover from Anastasia)

     I honestly don't remember if I've ever seen Anastasia start to finish but I heard this one on a list of villain songs and it really stood out to me (Jim Cummings singing as Christopher Lloyd will usually do that).  The original does have that discomforting feeling like the previous two entries but unlike those ones, Jonathan is able to bring a similar scale of fright while turning up the crunch and in all honesty, I would consider this a tie between cover and original.

     05 - Eye To Eye (Pop Punk cover from Disney's A Goofy Movie)

     This one I have seen, theatrically in fact.  Much like In The Dark Of The Night, this was another tie between original and cover for me.  The original sounds to me like a Michael Jackson song if Sammy Hagar provided guitar work and I can honestly see either version being on the radio but I do think that Jonathan brings a certain energy to this song that the original doesn't have, especially in the chorus.  Both are still damn good.

     04 - Kiss The Girl (Pop Punk cover from Disney's The Little Mermaid)

     I don't think I brought it up in Poor Unfortunate Souls but I think I've only seen The Little Mermaid like, once.  Maybe.  I know that within the context of the story, the song is playing in a slow momentum romantic moment so obviously a pop punk version would seem out of place.  However, as far as Disney songs go, the original Kiss The Girl felt pretty...meh to me.  Enter Jonathan Young, who adds a pulse to this song that is quite uplifting and makes me bob my head and tap my feet along every time I hear it.  Literally.  Also, I do like how his version acknowledges some of the flaws to The Little Mermaid and the story of the video of him and Savannah Stuckmayer reminds me of Scholar and I before we started dating so this one has sentimental value for me, despite not being attached to The Little Mermaid.

     03 - Stayin' Alive (Power Metal cover of The Bee Gees ft. RichaadEB)

     Okay, everyone knows the original Stayin' Alive, either in actual song form or in parody form.  If you haven't, you're probably under the age of, say, 20 or you've just emerged from that rock you've been living beneath all your life.  I jest, of course, but while I don't hate the original exactly, it could safely be said that I've heard it enough times to last me the rest of my life and I never thought it would as a metal song.  That is until I heard this version and I was surprised at two things, like actually being able to understand the lyrics in the chorus for the first time in my life (I'm 30, for the record) the fact that I want to headbang to Stayin' Alive.  Disco might be dead but this version has plenty of life left in it.

     02 - Bells Of Notre Dame (Metal Cover from Disney's Hunchback Of Notre Dame ft. Caleb Hyles)

     This was the song that made me subscribe to Jonathan's YouTube channel, not that I have any particular attachment to the film but just that this is a really good song in its own right, source material not withstanding.  I know the original version plays at the beginning of the movie so you don't want to pummel the audience too early but for a song that tells the story of a Judge murdering a gypsy and nearly committing infanticide, its pretty...fluffy in comparison.  Jonathan and guest Caleb make the listener feel like they are at the cathedral being stared at by the name dropped "Eyes Of Notre Dame" with how foreboding the tone is.  And that breakdown with the Latin chants and galloping guitar?  Nnnnggg, that's the good shit right there and I'm so happy to see that it has passed one million views.

     01 - The Phantom Of The Opera (Metal Cover from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom Of The Opera ft. Malinda Kathleen Reese)

     Allow me to put this into perspective: I know the basic story of Phantom but I haven't seen any of the movies or musicals (I'm an uncultured swine, I know).  After listening to this song, they are on my "To Watch" list.  In the meantime, I looked up different versions of this song, the most prominent being the 1986 Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford original (near as I can tell, please correct me if I'm mistaken), the 2004 Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler version from the Joel Schumacher film and, sadly my least favorite, the Nightwish version.  I like Nightwish but Phantom is not one of their better songs.  In my research for this one, I found that none, NONE, of those versions came close to the greatness of this collaboration.  Malinda starts off singing softly, slowly building up to that amazing ending while Jonathan brings this wounded snarl to the Phantom that makes me believe he's truly a lonely figure living beneath the theatre falling for Christine (Malinda) and her voice.  A good way to gauge if I like a song is how often I sing it to myself at work and I find myself singing this every shift.  While writing the words you are reading right now, I have listened to this song eight times and it makes my hairs stand on end every time and were I to play it another eight, the same thing would happen.  I didn't think it was possible to out-opera metal Nightwish but Jonathan and Malinda have not so much wiped the floor with the others, Nightwish's especially, but more sent them crashing through the floor beneath them.

Not unlike this scene.

     Well, guys and gals, there's my take on my favorite material from Jonathan Young.  If you want to check out more of his stuff, check out his YouTube channel.  If you've liked what you've heard on this list and wish to support him, here are the links to his iTunes, Spotify, Patreon and his website.  Also, while you're at it, be sure to nudge that "Follow" button here and subscribe to me on YouTube and I'll leave you with one of Jonathan's original songs, Restless Heart.

     Stay cynical!

     -The Cynic

Is It That Bad: Cars 2

In 2006, Disney/Pixar released the film Cars, the second film in their roster to have an entirely non-human cast. The film was received with positive/mixed reception, scoring 74% on Rotten Tomatoes and 73/100 on MetaCritic, the lowest ratings that a Pixar film had received on either site. I was working in an electronics store when Cars hit DVD so I was able to watch it a few times and the film got the grow on me, so I purchased the DVD and invested about $30 into the franchise. Wasn't the absolute best Pixar film, but was still better than The Incredibles. Despite the lowest critical reception of the Pixar films, Disney kept pumping out Cars merchandise for years after the film's release, long before it was announced that there was a second film on the way.

On June 24, 2011, Cars 2 hit theatres and Imax, much to the delight of children and dread of haters of the first film everywhere. However, upon looking up reviews online and asking people on my friends list on Facebook, I was surprised how much negative feedback this film was getting. While the film was still a box office success, it was Pixar's worst reviewed film yet and is also their lowest grossing film in North America since A Bug's Life. So naturally, being a fan of the first film (my son also loves it) and being something of a glutton for punishment, I went out and rented Cars 2 the other night to answer the question: Is It That Bad?

I'm so glad they brought back Fillmore, with Lloyd Sherr replacing the late George Carlin.

The plot of Cars 2 starts out with secret agent Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) investigating supposed terrorist activity on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean. He finds one of his agents has been crushed into a cube and sees the terrorists looking at something resembling a video camera. McMissile takes some pictures of it but when the terrorists spot him, he leads them on a chase throughout the rig and actually manages to kill some of them (wait, what?) before escaping. Cut to Radiator Springs, where Mater (voiced again by Larry The Cable Guy) is meeting up with his BFF Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) after McQueen is returning from winning his fourth Piston Cup. While on a date with Sally (Bonnie Hunt), McQueen sees a promo for a new World Grand Prix sponsored by a new alternative fuel company that he was invited to. When one of the racers, Francesco Bernoulli (voiced by John Turturro), begins insulting McQueen on air, Mater calls the station and basically puts McQueen on the spot, so he accepts the invitation to the Grand Prix. However, the two paths cross at the Grand Prix and Mater is mistaken for the American operative that McMissile was supposed to meet up with in Tokyo and essentially, the fate of every car in the world is put in Mater's axles.

Francesco vs McQueen in Italy.

Visually, Cars 2 is right up there with Pixar's best work with great detail going into the environments and characters and many people who diss this movie will tell you that. However, what others are complaining about is the story and the characters (or more specifically, character) the film chooses to focus on. Honestly, I was not expecting a story quite of this caliber in Cars 2, considering how the first film was more like a fish-out-of-water where Mr. Hot Shot needed to learn what the more important things in life were (a premise not much different than the one shown in Thor). Here, it's basically a cross of James Bond & Mr. Bean with anthropomorphic vehicles and you know what? It's actually pretty fun. Kudos to Pixar with wanting to take this sequel in a different angle unlike the Toy Story series, where life changes seems to be the underlying theme of the first two films until it slaps you across the face in the third one (albeit Toy Story & Toy Story 2 remain my favorite Pixar films). In fact, there were some parts of Cars 2 that I thought were pretty intense for a kid's film, specifically the fact that they show cars being killed onscreen. At the same time, one of these somewhat on-screen kills was Bruce Campbell's character, which as we all know: killing off Bruce Campbell isn't in any way, shape or form cool.

The other big complaint that anyone who hated this movie has is that the film focuses too much on Mater. Most of the original cast of characters make return appearances in this one (except Doc Hudson), but they are basically cameos if nothing else, which is really too bad because I felt the first one didn't showcase some of the characters enough and I was hoping they'd fix some of that in this one, but no. Instead, they take a backseat to the new characters and Mater. Hell, even Lightning McQueen takes a bit of a backseat to his best friend. Does this bother me? Not as much as you'd think, really. First off, I don't have a problem with Larry The Cable Guy in this role, and I'm not one of those people who hate on him because it's cool to hate on him. He does far better as a voice actor than as a live action actor (anyone who's seen Delta Farce can confirm this) and I might even enjoy his work as Mater more than his standup bits, keyword being might. Also, let's think back to when the first Cars film came out for a minute. Who was the most popular character? Who was the one who had the kiddies in stitches and was the star of the animated short on the DVD? Yeah, Mater. Considering how much kids loved Mater, it only makes sense that they give him more screen time to appease the kids. Now, I'm not one of those lameasses who thinks that kid's movies can get away with fucking murder because they're kid's movies, but really, do you honestly think that Disney & Pixar wanted to aim this film equally to adults as they did kids? Let's not forget that Disney has a really nasty track record of killing their characters' parents. You know, the onscreen representation of their primary source of income? Of course they're more focused on keeping the kids happy, they already have your money. It's not like Mater doesn't learn anything by the end of the film either. Yeah, he realizes that he's a little out of control and tends to screw up...a lot. Yet, in the end, Mater is able to figure out who's behind this terrorist plot and, quite literally, almost gets himself killed to prove it. Yeah, the rusted tow truck has some serious balls by the end of the film.

One last thing I heard about Cars 2 is that there really isn't a lesson to be learned in this film. Not true: the whole purpose of Cars 2 is to show that A) If you truly consider someone your friend, you won't throw away what friendship you have over something as trivial as a trophy and are willing to forgive them for their faults, and B) You don't have to be the biggest, strongest or smartest person in the world to be important or to make a difference.

Mater is in this movie a lot. Deal with it.

So is Cars 2 really that bad? Absolutely not. Is it the best sequel ever made? No. Is it my favorite sequel ever? No. Is it better than the first? No, but considering some of the other Disney sequels out there, Cars 2 is without a doubt one of the better ones. Upon watching these films, it really does seem like people hate on these movies if for no other reason than because Larry The Cable Guy voices the most popular character in the two films. Personally, I had a blast with Cars 2 and I will gladly purchase this DVD down the road. Hell, I'm even game for a third Cars film, or even the spin-off Planes coming in 2013. So yeah, as far as I'm concerned, haters of this film, namely Kyle Smith of The New York Post, can blow it out their exhaust pipes.

-The Cynic

P.S. Does anyone else out there think that this is a friggin' awesome picture?

Quick Blurb Review: The Princess & The Frog

Okay, so I haven't really touched base on films intended for much younger audiences on either here or my YouTube account with exception of two posts. It may come as a surprise to some who read this, but I have a soft spot for kids movies. Many great films immediately come to mind: All Dogs Go To Heaven, The Land Before Time, the first couple of Shrek films, Aladdin, A Goofy Movie, An Extremely Goofy Movie (which is the only direct-to-video Disney sequel actually worth watching and could've done well in a theatrical run), Robin Hood, The Aristocats, Peter Pan. It's no coincidence that the last six films that I mentioned are Disney films because let's face it, there's a reason why people keep calling animated movies, regardless of what company produces them, Disney films, because Disney does it best. Lately, you can chalk that up to their collaboration with Pixar Studios to keep churning out well rendered hit after well rendered hit, but something about those films were missing something. Before you start sharpening your knives and flooding the comments with hate (provided you haven't closed this tab by now), I have a lot of respect for the Disney/Pixar films. Anyone who questions the impact that the Toy Story franchise has had on the animation world is a damn fool, even if the 3rd movie was a tad over-dramatic. Yet, after 5 years of CG Disney movies, the whole thing was starting get a little old. I remember saying to my brother, "The next generation doesn't know what they're missing with the older style animation films." Sure, Disney gave the hand drawn stuff a rest after the painfully mediocre Home On The Range but then they decided to dust off the drawing board and gave us The Princess & The Frog, Disney's first hand drawn film in five years.

The plot behind The Princess & The Frog is that Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) was raised in a work work work lifestyle and as an adult, she works two jobs to try and help bring her father's dream of opening a restaurant in New Orleans. Meanwhile, Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) has come to New Orleans to try and find a wealthy wife to get himself out of a financial bind. There, he and his assistant are confronted by The Dancing Shadowman, Dr. Facilier (Keith David) who spins some voodoo magic to convince them that he can give them everything they ever wanted. Long and short of that, Naveen gets turned into a frog and in order to break the spell, he has to kiss a princess. At a costume party, he mistakes Tiana for a princess and makes her kiss him, accidentally turning her into a frog as well. They then go on a mission through the bayou to set things right.

Tiana is also the first Disney Princess to be African-American.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't really take a lot of notes of things to talk about while watching this movie because I was having way too much of a nostalgia trip with Princess & The Frog, so I'll talk about the movie as a whole instead. This movie continues the fine Disney tradition of leaving our main character with only one parent (father's gone seven minutes into the film. Wasn't surprised) but while it carries on this odd tradition, it also pulls out a lot of stops from the hand drawn Disney films that we loved. Elaborate musical numbers with people who can actually sing (Anika Noni Rose was in Dreamgirls), talking animals (including a Jim Cummings voiced Cajun lightning bug), really cartoony sight gags, large ballroom dances, wishing upon stars, it's all here. Not surprisingly, the movie takes a bit of a darker turn in the final act to bring in an element of peril and suspense, but when your villain is a voodoo twirler voiced by Goliath, then I'd be disappointed if it didn't get a little dark (seriously, the things that Fecilier summons to find the heroes are kinda freaky shit!). Watching this movie honestly gave me the sensation that I had back in 1992 when I first saw Aladdin in theatres.

Cynic Fun Fact: This was the first movie I ever saw in theatres. Too bad it was followed up by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

However, as much fun as I had watching Princess & The Frog, the film is not perfect. There's one scene where three hideously inbred hunters try and catch our heroes for supper that I felt was really stupid and not necessary. Being aimed at a younger audience, I can see why that scene was in there and will even let it go. There might have been a couple of parts trimmed down a bit to shorten the run time slightly and Tiana's friend was really annoying, but I think that was the whole point of her. Fortunately, those gripes don't overshadow the rest of the superb quality found in this film. If you've been wanting to revisit hand drawn Disney, give Princess & The Frog a shot. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

If nothing else, YouTube the song "Got Friends (On The Other Side)." It's quite the spectacle and shows that Keith David has a pretty decent singing voice, too.

The Incredibles - Is It That Bad?

Disney & Pixar seem to be a perfect pairing. They've put out some of the most memorable animated movies of recent & quite arguably all time, but one movie always seemed amiss to me...The Incredibles. The first time I saw this movie, I was pumped to see it and was hoping for a funny/action family film. Yet, once the credits rolled, I walked away disappointed. I don't know why but I was just really let down by this movie. It just wasn't that entertaining, or funny, which is odd for a Pixar movie, and it didn't have the gripping feel of some of the superhero movies I had seen by that time. So I dismissed The Incredibles as a disappointment and left it at that. It even ranked #5 on my Top 7 Most Disappointing Films. In fact, I considered it "Pixar's St. Anger." Now, I've caught a LOT of crap about this over the years and having mentioned it in passing, it was suggested that I give it another go. So I went out and rented it to determine one thing: is The Incredibles really THAT bad?

For those of you who haven't seen it, the story revolves around Bob Parr, aka Mr. Incredible, as he lives the glory of being one of the world's greatest superheroes. However, one of his actions lands him with a lawsuit that results in many superheroes under fire. Eventually, there is a ban on superheroes and any remaining heroes have to be only their secret identity. Fifteen years pass and we see Bob and his wife, Helen, formerly known as Elastigirl, living normal lives and trying to raise their three children, all of which have powers of their own. Bob still hangs out with Lucius Best, aka Frozone, and reminisce about the old days. Don't wanna spoil it too much, but basically something comes up and Bob is called back into action that results in his family getting involved too.

Okay first, what I liked about the movie. I really thought all of the voice actors did a bang-up job here. There is not a single lack-lustre performance in this film and that's very hard to come by nowadays. Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, everyone. Another thing I really liked about this movie was how good the animation and detail put into every scene was. The character designs may seem cartoony but that actions & movements are so believable that it doesn't feel like a cartoon in parts. There are scenes where even the background environment looks stunning and makes you wonder if they shot blank footage of an environment and animated the characters in afterwards. I'll admit that the scene bashing capes was pretty amusing and I'm surprised no other films had mentioned this kind of thing. There are a lot of nods to various characters like The Invisible Woman, The Flash, Cyclops, The Mole Man, Morph, Robin, Iceman, just to name a few. Finally, the movie clocks in at just under two hours but it doesn't drag on at any point, so you get a nice fluent pacing with this film.

And now what I didn't like about the film. One of the jokes the movie likes to make is how Mr. Incredible is out of shape. It's funny the first couple of times but after awhile, I grew tired of it. I'm sorta on the fence about this one thought because while it grew tiresome, it also made you feel bad for the guy who longed for the good old days and despite growing unfit, he still does what he feels needs to be done. My biggest complaint about The Incredibles is that I didn't find it all that amusing, not in the way that other Pixar films are where the laughs are frequent. I got a chuckle or two out of this movie but that was about it.

So time for the final verdict: Is Disney/Pixars The Incredibles Really That Bad? Honestly, no, it isn't. Back when I first saw this movie, to me comic book movies were mostly guys and gals in suits fighting crime and not much else so I wasn't truly prepared for this one. Coming from Disney/Pixar, I was expecting a movie with plenty of laughs and memorable characters but I don't feel this movie delivered, but as a superhero film I hoped for a gripping story with plenty of action and tensity to keep me wanting more, which I don't feel this movie delivered. However, after reading comics like The Watchmen, The Walking Dead & The Stand where the comics aren't about fighting crime in a supersuit but more about the character's internal struggles to be at peace with themselves and realize their place in the world, I can now appreciate the overall story more than I could when I first saw it back in November 2004. While The Incredibles is still my least favorite Pixar film, I do feel that I owe it and its fans an apology for comparing it to Metallica's St. Anger. This movie isn't that bad, but I wouldn't say it was all that good either.

-The Cynic