TheRetroCritic

Well, The Offspring's long-awaited new album Days Go By is out and, having grown up listening to the band (among others), I thought I'd give this one a listen and *gasp* a review. Days Go By is a mixed bag to say the least. On the one hand you've got those decent new Offspring tunes which, though hardly groundbreaking, are always fun. " The Future Is Now" kicks off the album on a high note, " Secrets From The Underground" follows and, as familiar as it sounds, it's still energetic and enjoyable enough to justify its existence. Then we get title song " Days Go By" , a remarkably dull effort. I can never seem to listen to it all the way through. It's not "terrible" I guess, the chorus is fine at least, but it never takes off. I just couldn't get interested in it at all. Thinking about it, this one would work on a Green Day album with Billy Joe Armstrong's voice more suited to this type of tune. " Turning I

  Alfred Hitchcock's lighthearted thriller may not always be number one in people's top Hitch-lists and it may have been overshadowed by more sinister and daring efforts like Psycho or Vertigo but North by Northwest was never meant to be anything more than good, suspenseful fun. Which it is. Cary Grant is wittier than ever in a role which sees him being constantly bewildered, drink driving, pursued by a plane, hanging off Mount Rushmore and causing a ruckus at a sales auction. But throughout, he never seems to take things too seriously and takes it all in its stride as we sit back and enjoy the Bond-style adventure he's been forced into. The film contains all the classic tongue-in-cheek Hitchcock traits: an unsympathetic mother, a tortured blonde love interest, a case of mistaken identity and, of course, suspense by the buckets. The final jump cut and joke right at the end cheekily reminding you one last time that North By Northwest is indeed mostly a fun, silly action