Category: Media

Thirty years has passed since the original trilogy concluded with Return of the Jedi. The epic struggle between the light and dark side of the Force has now been expanded thanks to the vision of the Mickey Mouse corporation.

When the news that Lucasfilm has been sold to Walt Disney Studios, the initial reaction was very mixed feelings to the die-hard fans.

What will become to the beloved series when the Disney ‘machine’ grinds out millions of dollars to promote the sequels in the future? The original episodes were perfect they said. Casting aside the dismal prequels as if it did not exist…

And yet, to everyone’s relief, Episode VII has restored faith. Thanks to the enthusiasm and attention to detail from J.J. Abrams.

Sure, the prequels by George Lucas left a bitter taste in the mouth to many with the somewhat average reception to Revenge of the Sith, considered to be ‘good’. But with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney have awaken the passion and fun behind this popular film franchise.

This film review will not be a spoiler but want I would like to express is my pure delight in the spectacle that is The Force Awakens. The thrilling X-Wing versus TIE fighter battles, the witty banter between the old crew and the new players, not forgetting the amazing lightsaber fights.

It was all very emotional to take in and yet, so exhilarating to experience. Director J.J. Abrams, producer Kathleen Kennedy and the co-writer of the original trilogy Lawrence Kasdan have produced a masterpiece with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Seeing the old stars back once again with the likes of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher was touching. Even nostalgic. Yet, the weary faces shows how much their have aged since Return of the Jedi… At least Han Solo was up for the fight in the latest Star Wars.

The new players, in the shape of Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Issac, were a Force to be reckoned with, pardon the pun. The trio were fun, energetic and bring a fresh take on the Star Wars universe of likable characters.

But my absolute favourite is BB-8. This little droid had the best moves. Rolling around and making beeping noises! Got a sense of humour too. BB-8 makes R2-D2 look like an antique. Sorry, C-3PO. Your buddy cannot match the wonder ball droid.

As for the villains, the stand out performances is definitely Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. A dangerous and troubled warrior with one of the most over-the-top lightsaber this galaxy has ever seen.

So does Star Wars: The Force Awakens live up to the massive hype? Yes. Definitely. J.J. Abrams has delivered the goods and I am so grateful it is great. Full of warmth, humour and terrific set-pieces.

The Force is strong with this one.

My music tastes are pretty eclectic. I like a bit of everything but a bit more of metal. Jazz however is low on the list and big band jazz even less.

So remind me again why am I going to see Whiplash?! Well, it’s down to two things. One is that it is drum based and drums fascinate me. I can’t play them for toffee, but love seeing people who can. Secondly, it’s been tagged Full Metal Jacket meets drums. So now I’m interested.

The story follows a young musician and a maniacal teacher with the most outrageous teaching methods at a high-end music college.

We first see Andrew (Miles Teller) practicing drums alone in the Shaffer Conservatory of Music. Hearing a sound he stops, looks up and we get to see the infamous teacher himself. Terrance Fletcher, (J.K. Simmons) then asks him why did he stop. This prompts Andrew to continue playing, which is met by our first insight to Fletcher’s mindset when he retorts with “I asked you why you stopped and then proceeded to play like a wind up monkey.”

We see Fletcher use much nicer words later in the film in a couple of scenes (yeah that’s about it), but it’s a gentle subtle introduction to the grand master teacher, as later you get to see him in full bore Full Metal Jacket insult mode.

Fletcher’s belief is fear and intimidation is key to getting the most out of his band members. Shouting and chairs flung at his band when they make a mistake is par for the course. However, playing in Fletcher’s class comes a pathway to greatness such is his influence in the music industry.

Our real introduction to Fetcher comes when we hear the band play for the first time and someone’s instrument is out of tune. Your really not prepared for what follows as we see the enraged teacher work his way through band increasing his anger as no-one owns up. Utterly enraged, full bore shouting; nose-to-nose with each student has you flabbergasted. This really is like the lineout in Full Metal Jacket and Sgt Hartman introducing himself to Private Pyle.

After he finds the culprit and sends them packing (after a great Mars Bar joke), your left open jawed at the expletives Fetcher has just unloaded on his own students. Wow.

Having been handpicked, we assume Andrew on his first day might be excused from such behavior. No. Not even slightly. Crying it seems creates even more abuse. Each time Andrew plays, Fletcher comes forth with “Not quite my tempo” and the tension increases each and every time those words are uttered. From now on, I will forever try and work that saying in whenever the need arises!

As a viewer you are as shocked and stunned silent as much as the other band members looking on and just like them, relieved you’re not the target.

While the film doesn’t quite fully advocate Fletchers’ teaching methods, you get to see how much it drives Andrew to play out of his skin, quite literally until it bleeds as he tries to emulate some of his (real life) drum idols, one of which being Buddy Rich.

As the film progresses we follow Andrew as he practices all hours and Fletcher doing whatever it takes to get the best out of his core drummer. This culminates is a simply incredible last scene. Instead of your jaw dropping from the abuse, it’s dropped with awe as Andrew drums for his life. I damn near jumped up punching the air.

What’s more incredible is that Miles Teller is a self taught drummer and all the drumming is for real. However, he played as a rock drummer and as he found out, jazz drumming is a whole new ball game which involved weeks and weeks of teaching and practising.

It’s a fascinating film, loosing based director’s Damien Chalelle music school experience, isn’t perfect. Beyond the shouting there isn’t a much else to the film apart from a great “family meal” which has football playing sons taking centre stage, with drumming being seen as rather laughable by the football son’s parents. You only wish is to put them in front of Fletcher for some abuse.

But you are drawn into Fletchers’ performance and of course Andrew’s drumming skills. J.K. Simmons is just fantastic and given the outrageous abuse he gives face to face with his students must take a lot more skill than it looks. It feels so real, not at all just put on for show. He is very consistent in his role and while you might not think it is the right way of teacher, you totally believe he does not think there is any other way.

Reviews:
IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes
Empire Magazine

Interviews:
J.K. Simmons
Miles Teller and on-screen girlfriend
Cast and Director

Buddy Rich drum solo’s:
Buddy a few days before his death
Nine minute solo 

Reviewed by invisiblekid

It’s the end of the world but not as we know it. The conclusion to the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy from Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost is a highly entertaining and amusing take on the science fiction genre involving huge amount of alcohol.

Following the success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the third instalment from the Spaced team focuses on a group of friends reattempting an epic pub crawl in their hometown, before unearthing an alien/robot invasion.

Simon Pegg stars as never-grown-up man-child Gary King, who’s become obsessed with his epic pub crawl (the Golden Mile of twelve pubs) that he failed to complete with his best friends Andy, Ollie, Pete and Steve (Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine respectively) in their hometown of Newton Haven, twenty years ago.

After reuniting his four friends – all of whom, unlike Gary, have grown up and now have families and responsible jobs – Gary persuades them all to join him in recreating their epic twelve pubs, twelve pints pub crawl in Newton Haven.

However, after a few drinks, they discover that the locals are all behaving rather differently and soon their evening takes a bizarre turn and ‘The Five Musketeers’ end up fighting for their lives.

Co-written by Wright and Pegg, The World’s End feels darker with a sinister tone compared to the previous films in the so-called Blood and Ice Cream trilogy. The pop-culture references are not as frequently mentioned in the television series Spaced but it’s still manages to be hilarious thanks to some witty dialogue and visual gags.

The fast-cut video style from Wright brings a sense of excitement and energy into The World’s End and the bar-room brawls in particular are beautifully directed, done in a similar way to the fighting sequences in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Pegg is just excellent in The World’s End. Pushing the limits from his usually likeable screen persona by playing Gary as a significantly more obnoxious character than we’re used to seeing.

Equally good is Frost as his best mate Andy. The on-screen chemistry with Pegg is a given thanks to their friendship off-camera.

The supporting cast is just fantastic with Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine playing Pegg’s old school mates. You can really sense the bonding between the old mates from these talented actors, reminiscing the fun and free lives before moving on and having responsibilities.

Rosamund Pike plays the love interest for both Pegg and Considine. Her part is just minor in the film and yet in that cliché sci-fi style, Pike comes to the rescue before the end of the world.

There’s also cameos from the likes of Pierce Bronson (who reunites his former Die Another Day co-star Rosamund Pike), Nicholas Burns and the old cast from the Spaced television series (Mark Heap, Michael Smiley, Reece Shearsmith and Julia Deakin).

The use of music is inspired and the flashback sequences to the men as teenagers recapture that free spirit of doing what ever their feel like perfectly.

Wright and Pegg’s witty script is packed full of quotable lines and is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s also dead-on and surprisingly emotional in its depiction of male friendships.

It even manages to say some interesting points about both the gradual homogenisation of British society, in particular the gag involving chain pubs, as well as commenting on both the appeal and the inherent dangers of nostalgia.

So in summary, The World’s End is a fitting finale to the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy with a bangin’ soundtrack, fantastic cast and entertaining script. I raise my glass in approval to Wright, Pegg and Frost in providing so much fun and laughter over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here we go with Danny Boyle‘s… let’s call it “his film”. Filmed during a break for his preparation of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, it’s clear he wanted to let loose. Not as free and loose as say Trainspotting, but definitely a film with little input from Hollywood executives saying what he can and cannot do.

I won’t spoil it by saying too much since towards the end of the film you have no idea what the hell is going on, but the last scene changes everything and you don’t get it until the final take. Even then, you will still be questioning what you have just watched.

In the beginning, we see an auction house (think Sotheby’s) selling a very rare painting. We are introduced to Simon (James McAvoy) who works there and subsequently is involved with the stealing of said painting. However, he suffers a blow to the head and forgets where he has hidden the painting.

The crew he worked for, lead by Frank (Vincent Cassel), hires Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) a hypnotist to see if she can unlock his memory and to see if he can remember what happened and where Simon has hidden the painting.

It’s not a spoiler to say she gets to know what he is looking for, but from now on, that’s all I’m going to say. However, what follows is a film you need to concentrate 100% for. It bounces back and forth the the extent that actually, paying too much attention almost makes it harder to follow.

It’s strange but if you watch it, you’ll get what I mean. You manage to keep up until near then end when wham! You have no idea what is going on.

If this were a film from any other director, you’d have no faith in it. But knowing who is behind it, which in my opinion is second only to Chris Nolan’s Inception or Memento for mindf**ks, you have faith. That faith I think is restored and rewarded. BUT, I’m not quite sure.

Make no mistake, this is a very good film, which is filmed impeccably with great angles that remind you without doubt, this is made by the same bloke who made Slumdog Millionaire which if nothing else, looked blooming gorgeous.

But an hour after watching, I’m not sure if it is brilliantly written, or in the films world, brilliantly convenient. The trouble is, one makes for a great film, the other makes for a not great film. Again, you need to watch this to get what I mean. Then you’ll know exactly where I’m coming from.

All the acting is great though. Sure the characters sometimes act strangely, but this is purely down to the role they are playing. We are treated to some torture scenes which have you holding onto your fingers with savage pressure and a very painful (for the boys) gunshot wound.

There is also some full frontal female nudity, which at the time grates and seems way out of place, but again, this becomes apparent at the end and you see why Danny was showing you it.

Whatever your you think of my ramblings, you HAVE to see this film. You may love it, but while I doubt you’ll hate it. You may certainly think it’s jumped the shark a bit. But you have to sit down, relax and think about it after it’s over to see if you like it or not. If there ever was a film to watch with a friend or loved one and partake in the act of discussing it over a slice of pie after, this is one of them.

Like I said, you may think in the end it’s stupid, but step back and even if you didn’t like it, you cannot deny right up to the end, you were hooked.

Reviewed by Invisiblekid

Let me start by saying horror films are hard to make nowadays. Kids are not scared by the same things as they were years ago. But yet, so many modern horror films do the same things as found back in the 1970s and 80s.

The choice of going alone in the forest, going downstairs to investigate a noise. All done back then and for the last few years, joked about by today’s modern teenager.

So in recent years, that meaning and scare tactics has waned. So now we have just a competition as to how graphic we can be before the censors jump in and things that make you jump as the tactics to scare you.

This is not horror. Making you jump is not horror. Making you jump is not the same as making you scared to look out of your window or walk down a path in the dark.

Nah, now it’s all about how much blood can we produce and how we can make CGI look real and how much torture we can get away with.

That’s why I’ve not watched or cared about a horror film for years. On hearing the news the The Evil Dead was going to be remade had me crying into my hands and a continued hatred for modern horror.

But also hearing about the involvement of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell (the original creators of The Evil Dead) certainly made me think again. Seeing the trailer also brought me forward into thinking, this could be rather good. I was excited about a horror films for this first time in years. The words of the pair saying have faith rang in my head. They made me have faith.

Oh and by the way. This IS a remake. Most on the set have said this isn’t so. This is a new version that should be thought of as it’s own and want it to stand on it’s own two legs. Huh, well the very fact that it copies 99% of the original shows that this is so a remake and they are all liars.

I then saw the red band trailer. Oh the pain. Oh the anger, oh the lies…

This appeared to be nothing more than Evil Dead meets Saw. Gone was the true scares only to be replaced by blood and one frame cuts hoping to make you jump. This had me running for the hills. In one fell swoop had me doubting everything I was told, and in no way had me wanting to race to the cinema to see this.

So here we are with the Blu-ray release. Being such a huge fan of the original, almost a bigger fan of the sequel and liking the third instalment, no matter the reviews, I would sit down and watch this alone, in the dark, on the floor – the snoring black Labrador was taking my place on the leather sofa.

I was hoping to be proved wrong and that this was finally a remaking work remaking. To improve on the original and restore my faith in the horror genre. It didn’t.

The premise of how they get to the cabin is rubbish. To be fair, I don’t know how you could get a bunch of teenagers into a cabin in the woods without it being shit, but this was weak.

A girl hooked on cocaine was going to go cold turkey with the help of her friends, and so this cabin seemed the only only place to do it. I guess Betty Ford was too expensive.

So the group roll up and make themselves comfortable in the cabin. But there is a smell coming from the basement. They investigate and find a load of dead animals and a book wrapped in plastic and barbed wire.

Of course this is an open invitation for it to be opened and the famous words of resurrection of the dead are recited. This I am not bothered about as how else would you raise the dead? By reading a Mr Men book?!

We soon get to the smack addict being left alone outside in the pouring rain who is “taken” by the woods. In the original, the first victim is also attacked by the woods and is bound, tied by it’s branches.

What follows I’m sure you can guess if you don’t know already the infamous scene. A scene that lead to it being cut for the UK video release (as well as other cuts). Later, the original director said he was not a fan and that he wished he cut it out completely. But in true fashion,  the remake tried to improve it and in true fashion failed… Hugely.

I was surprised it was not more graphic, in fact I’d say less so than the original despite the censors allowing much more realistic and explicit footage to be shown nowadays. It has ZERO scares and just reminded you of how much better it was done 32 years ago!

To cut a long story short, the whole film carried on in this manner. To be fair to the film, it was impossible to remake it and for it not to be compared to the sublime original.

There were takes of the 1981 film that took you back, but within seconds we are back to blood and gore and despite the involvement of Sam and Bruce, simply no idea how to make a horror film. At least a good one in the 21st century.

The 1981 version had some great funny moments that this version was sorely lacking. The original didn’t take itself seriously and yet this version has nothing but. It was “Hey look at me, I’m trying be be a great horror film, please come and watch me” all the way through. It tried to be scary, but it just wasn’t. At all and that’s it’s big problem.

I was so bored I found myself drinking yet more Polish 96% Vodka just to get through the film!

The acting was awful and had me wanting everyone in it to be killed ASAP.

The good stuff just reminded you of why you’re not watching the original where it was done better.

It reminds of the remake of Psycho which literally copied the entire film shot for shot but was somehow turned it to utter crap. The ONLY redeeming thing is the fact that with this Evil Dead, God bless ’em, there is very little CGI and what CGI there is, is done very well.

This was a terrible idea and at no point did anyone involved stopped to think the same thing. I urge you, to never go anywhere near this steaming pile of excrement (tho massively better than Eden Lake) and just go out and buy the original Blu-ray and watch how it’s done.

Not scary, not funny, not funny scary, so what was the point?

Further reading on The Evil Dead:

Mark Kermode’s thoughts
IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes
Empire Magazine
AVForums