Pat Green's Pride and Joy

Country star Pat Green feels pride as big as Texas over new album

After two decades in the music business, Pat Green has learned what’s most important. “My happiness is being around my family and hanging out with my wife … and certainly I love being onstage,” he says.

The Texas native, who’s enjoyed national success, is back with his first album in five years. And he says he made Home his way.

“Making records by committee is kind of what I felt it was like on big record labels,” he explains. “It got tedious to me, and I wanted to be in charge again. So that’s what I did.”

On the 13-track album, which came out in August, Green is for the first time backed by his own band. “This is just my guys sitting down being creative and collaborative. It still sounds like me, but we didn’t put as much of a high shine on it — we let some of the edges hang out.”

Home includes seven songs co-written by Green as well as a number of tunes composed by some of Nashville’s heavy-hitters. Though he didn’t write it, the hardworking singer strongly relates to “While I Was Away.”

“Zane [Williams] was very gracious to let me cut that. It’s a different level of honest … square to the teeth of the emotions parents feel that are forced to go make a living when their kids are growing up.”

Home also includes a track co-written by Dierks Bentley and another by Jon Randall and Shane McAnally. Green also gets assists from Lyle Lovett, Sheryl Crow, Delbert McClinton, Lee Roy Parnell, and Marc Broussard.

Green hopes the new record gets his name back in the public, and he’ll work hard to do it.

“My philosophy on putting records out and on doing anything is you can’t outwork me. You gotta work as hard as you can if you want the project to be successful, and that means I’ve gotta press the flesh, smile pretty for the camera,” he explains.

“I don’t think I really put too much thought into it other than to say, 'Honey, I’m real sorry but I’m gonna be busting my ass for the next few months to get this thing out.’”

Green’s schedule is ramping up, and he’s got a number of Texas dates on the books, including September 19 at Globe Life Park in Arlington and October 3 at City Limits in Stephenville. The singer is excited to share what he calls his “baby” with fans.

“I think it’s the best I’ve ever done,” he says. “I’m just as proud as I can be.”

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Movie Review

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 gives video game fans exactly what they want

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Sonic the Hedgehog (Ben Schwartz) in Sonic the Hedgehog 3

The first Sonic the Hedgehog movie in 2020 was one of the few video game adaptations that managed to appeal to both fans of the Sega game and those who just want to watch a fun movie. As the series moved into a second and now third film, though, it’s become increasingly reliant on giving the video game fans what they want, with not as much attention paid toward simply telling a good story.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) continues to live with human friends Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter), as well as Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba), who stuck around after the events of the second film. Dispensing with any kind of narrative coherence, the trio is called away by an undefined military force to help with the escape of Shadow (Keanu Reeves), another alien hedgehog who has been locked away off the coast of Japan for many years.

Suffice it to say that the trio does not initially fare well against the powerful Shadow, forcing Sonic to do the unthinkable: Ask his nemesis, Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey), for help. What Sonic doesn’t anticipate is that Shadow has a history that left him with a grudge against most of human society, and he’s intent on using his powers - with a little help from his former mentor, Gerald Robotnik (also Carrey) - to exact his plans for revenge.

Made by the same team of director Jeff Fowler and writers Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the film is a combination of manic action, jokey sequences, and a dash of heart. The addition of Shadow ups the mayhem considerably, and the filmmakers rarely slow things down (although, oddly, the super-speed of Sonic and company feels lessened this time around).

The initial casting of Carrey gave the comic actor permission to indulge in whatever wackiness he could imagine, and giving him two roles in this film means double the nonsense. Ivo and Gerald (who’s Ivo’s grandfather, for the record) face off in a number of silly scenes, none more absurd than a dance sequence aboard a space station threatening to explode Earth (yeah, this movie is a lot).

Does the plot make a lick of sense? Absolutely not, but the filmmakers seem to acknowledge that fact, throwing anything and everything at the screen to try to entertain kids and/or fans of the video game series. It should come as no surprise that the end credits tease yet more characters from the video games joining the franchise, making it abundantly clear who is expected to get the most enjoyment out of the series going forward.

In addition to Carrey, the voice actors continue to make the characters fun. Schwartz and O’Shaughnessey provide the cartoon-style acting, while Elba and now Reeves give a nice counterbalance with their deep and serious voices. Marsden and Sumpter aren’t given much to do this time around, and Krysten Ritter shows up as Director Rockwell, a character who’s mostly there to move what little plot there is further along.

A four-quadrant movie is one that appeals to all ages and genders; Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a one or maybe two-quadrant movie at most. But it’s more fun than the other family-friendly offering this Christmas season, and fans of the video game will likely love the depiction of their favorite characters on screen, so it’s doing something right.

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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is now playing in theaters.

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