Batson's Blog

Pink revealed on Ellen last week that she’s coming out with a new album in April. Well, damn!   The Truth About Love came out in 2012 and Beautiful Trauma was just released in 2016.  Usually there’s a space of a few years between her albums. Since I realized I purchased but never actually listened to all of the songs on Beautiful Trauma , I figured I’d better take a listen before her new material is out. The post-motherhood Pink has been kind of hit-or-miss.  She turned a direction with her Greatest Hits …. So Far! album.  The new tracks on that release ('F**kin’ Perfect,' 'Raise Your Glass') had attitude but didn’t feature the rebellious nature that her previous work had.  They were rebellious, but in a more positive way.  Those songs lead into ‘Just Like Fire’ and ‘What About Us.’   Gone is the poetic angst that put her on the map.  It’s replaced by a fighter for equality and her perc...

Melissa McCarthy was on fire for a while — several years. Has her time subsided or is it unrealistic to expect someone to stay on top of a particular field for so long? Especially a field that can be as fickle and wishy-washy as show business? Those were the thoughts going through my head as I watched this movie. Probably not a good sign when you’re watching a movie and not actually paying attention to it. The movie started off normal enough. It almost seemed understated compared to some of McCarthy’s other films. I thought it could end up being a family comedy at first. But that soon changed ... somewhat. The problem with this movie is that it straddled the line between family-friendly comedy and ‘outrageous’ comedy. McCarthy is great at playing those potty-mouthed characters. But she’s kind of a one trick pony in that sense. I get the impression she’d like to break out of that mold a bit. McCarthy’s acting was fine in this movie — good, in fact — but her character flopp...