Wednesday 3 August 2011

5 Reasons Why They Really Shouldn’t Make a Buffy Movie

We have, up to know, restrained ourselves by way of Buffy posts for fear of saturating this blog, but we've finally decided to let the cat out the bag: we love this show! Anyway, a few months ago, they announced a new Buffy movie, without the original cast and without Joss Whedon. We're pretty sure everyone knows this is a travesty, but here's our reasoning:


1.     No Joss. 
This is the obvious number one point, and almost all the main cast members have said something about this. Clearly this man made Buffy and as Buffy fans we should all bow down to him. The point is, he’s not having anything to do with it, so it’s not even proper Buffy. It won’t be as clever or full of the hilarious pop culture references we all know and love. 

2.     The cast. 
Let’s face it, you can’t replace Sarah Michelle Gellar, she still is Buffy. But the rest of the cast too! We can’t see anyone else playing Giles, Willow, Xander, Spike, Anya or Angel. Or anyone else. I mean, I’m watching a film now and it’s got Tom Lenk in it and even though he looks older, I still see him as Andrew. You can’t just replace amazing people with lesser mortals.
3.     There are 7 seasons. 
So where do they start? It’s obviously not going to be added to the end of season 7 because that’s already been done in the comic books, and they’d use the same cast, but the TV series covers from her beginnings. So when is it going to be?! Are they going to try and redo, say, season 1 in a film, or will it be like the daptation of Series of Unfortunate events where they tried to unsuccessfully roll about 4 books into 1 film. You can’t do that much in 120 minutes. We’ve seen all we need to see!

4.     It will be like 'copying' Twilight.  Only it's quite clearly not.
So everyone loves vampires at the moment, so why saturate the market with something that is already going to be rubbish?! Sorry but it’s true, it’s going to be the weakest of the vampire films/tv shows out there at the moment, because it’s not so serious. Buffy’s always been pretty light hearted, at times, almost a comedy and the new stuff is so serious it hurts. All the kids who love Twilight and have never seen Buffy just won’t like it. They should just repeat it from the beginning to the end on TV. 
5.     Spike, Riley or Angel? 
Who’s going to be the love interest? If they put either Spike or Angel, it’s going to divide people, for obvious reasons; I don’t know anyone who likes both! Surely one film is too short for her to have two love interests. This also brings me back to my second point… who the hell will play them? I can’t really see Zac Efron (or any other young American heart throb) bleaching his hair and donning a cockney accent!

Monday 25 July 2011

Films That Really Matter To Us: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

For more info on my 'films that really matter to us' posts, see this post.

Where do I start with this film?! My mum introduced me to the genius of John Hughes' 80s teen movies when I was about 10 and I have been in love ever since. It made me want to skip school for just one day and have the most amazing day of my life. In hindsight, my mum shouldn't have shown it to me at such an impressionable age, but she's always kept my film taste cool before its time and for that I can only thank her! I could have written about The Breakfast Club (another one of my mum's favourites), Pretty in Pink (yes, my mum was responsible for me seeing this one too. In fact, she made me watch it the night before my year 11 prom) or even Weird Science at a push, but there's just something magical about Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Again, this is one of those films that is constantly parodied, and once you've seen it, you start seeing homages to it EVERYWHERE.  

Skins' main character, Tony, narrated a trailer saying "A wise man once said, life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it… and that would be a shame." The wise man was, of course, Ferris Bueller. I loved this because it pretty much summed up the way Skins was going to work - so long as you knew where it had come from. For God's sake, someone on the bloody X Factor sang Twist and Shout while incorporating the Ferris Bueller dance!

Matthew Broderick plays Ferris Bueller, a clever, cocky high school senior who just wants to take the day off from school to enjoy himself. In order to properly enjoy his day, he must convince his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck) to steal his Dad's Ferrari, and trick the his school into letting his girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara).

However, this becomes incredibly difficult when the headteacher, Ed Rooney (played by the marvellous Jeffrey Jones) and Ferris' annoying sister, Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) decide to foil his plan to simply have a relaxing day off. If you have ever seen Home Alone, you'll know how slightly unbelievable John Hughes' scripts are, but yet you accept everything! This is exactly the same with Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Everything that happens to him, be it catching the stray ball at a baseball game, somehow ending up in the same restaurant as his unsuspecting dad, or stealing a Ferrari from his best friend's parents is all totally believable, and what more it could happen to me if I skip school. 


Ferris Bueller's Day Off has had a lasting impact on pop culture and not without its reasons. It's oddly moving, funny, clever and still says something to schoolchildren today. But don't ever show this film to a 10 year old!

Saturday 16 July 2011

Thoughts About Harry Potter (no film spoilers)

So I really feel that I should write something about Harry Potter now it’s all over. Having written this, I know I haven’t included anything about the films, but they will never mean the same to me as the books. I love them dearly, and have decided to write this now because having seen the 7th film, I realise that it is the books more than anything else that draw the strongest emotions from me. (Oh, the video games are amazing too!)

I’m not going to bore you with how much of a Harry Potter fan I am – anyone who knew the 11 year old who rolled up to the first day of secondary school can vouch for me, but let’s just say, off the top of my head, if you’re looking to buy some dragon’s liver in Diagon Alley, I know it’s 17 Sickles. OK, so yes, I was a bit of a weird child, I probably still am.

I’m not alone in saying Harry Potter changed my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think as I’ve got older, rereading all of the books proves what a wonderful writing style J. K. R. uses. The books are not written ‘for children’, as such – there is wonderful language and metaphors, seldom seen in other children’s books. I don’t claim to be a English lit expert, but J. K. R’s use of the language is fantastic, and I’m pretty sure there’s more than a few children who have a wider vocabulary (I’m not talking about words like ‘Muggle’!) thanks to reading Harry Potter. I love J. K. R’s writing style because she never talks down to her readership – she assumes they are all capable, and the books are much better for it!

I was lucky enough to be born on 8th July, which will be remembered by some as the date that Prisoner of Azkaban was released in 1999, as well as Goblet of Fire in 2000. Those days were amazing, and somehow, my parents managed to get copies of the book to where we were living in Norway. What stars! Once we’d moved back to the UK, I went to the remaining midnight openings, which were almost more magical than the books themselves! Book number seven, the Deathly Hallows was released the same year that I finished school, so by that point, I had literally grown up with Harry.

Reading all of those books for the first time is something I will always remember, or rather, finishing them is – that longing for it to last just a few more pages, yet a desire to see how it will all turn out, and finally, the realisation that the next book might not come out for a couple years yet! The emptiness on finishing the 7th instalment, in the early hours of 21st July 2007 was mind numbing. I’d never experienced anything like it before. The feeling of satisfaction that you know how it ends is combined with the horror that there’s never going to be anything ‘new’ – fair enough, the films were yet to be released, but I knew the storyline.

J. K. Rowling has made me escape to a world I could never hope to dream up, laugh and cry like a baby and she deserves this lowly blogger’s thanks.

Saturday 26 March 2011

Films That Really Matter To Us: Annie Hall

For more info on 'films that really matter to us' posts, check this post out.

*If you have not been fortunate enough to read my rant on why no one seems to give a damn about Woody Allen any more, now would probably be a good time to read it.*

I love Woody Allen. I mean everyone 'of a certain age' knows he's a genius, right, and OK, his personal life is dubious at best, but I really love his films. He always starts his films the same way, with the same titles at the beginning, and they'll normally be full of witty, quotable lines. Annie Hall is no exception. I'm not going to stand up and say it's his best film, because there's a hell of a lot of Woody Allen films I haven't seen yet - but it's certainly one of my favourites out of the ones I have seen.

Dianne Keaton is just too cool as Annie - a kind of crazy, air-headed woman, with a ridiculous fashion sense. Apparently Woody Allen liked her fashion sense in real-life so much that most of the clothes she wore were her own.

Woody Allen plays his stock character - a neurotic, intelligent, yet nerdy man. In this case, he's Alvy Singer, a comedian who, like Woody Allen, despises L.A. and all that it stands for. He falls in love with Annie Hall who has promising prospects as a singer and who ends up relocating to L.A.

Of course, there are mishaps and tender moments in their relationship, but ultimately, it's just hilarious from start to finish.

Personal highlights include the lobster scene, the spider in the bathroom scene and finally, one of the funniest things I have ever seen: the cocaine scene.

Lastly, if you have not seen Annie Hall, here's some reasons why you really should:
  • It will enhance your viewing of other films and TV shows. I can think of many films and tv shows that parody, pay tribute to and just plain rip off, Annie Hall. For example, if you've seen the Green Wing house party episode from series 1, you will laugh even harder. Human Traffic (1999) draws heavily from it.
  • It's 134 on the IMDB.com top 250 films. And let's face it, it's most film geek's secret ambition to watch all of those films!
  • It won Best Picture at both the Oscars AND the BAFTAS in 1977. 
  • It's been preserved by the United States National Film Registry as a film that is culturally significant.
  • Total Film reckon it's the 44th funniest film EVER. That's pretty darn funny!
  • The American Film Institute recognised it in about 6 or 7 or their '100 Years...' films.
Just go out and watch Annie Hall, you can probably pick it up for a fiver from HMV.

Thursday 10 February 2011

Films That Really Matter To Us: 28 Days Later

For more info on "films that really matter to us" posts, check this post out.

Of all the Danny Boyle films to pick, I pick the one about the zombies. Why the hell do I think this film has some sort of significance!? It's bloody amazing that's why!

First of all, I'm going to get one thing straight with you. I hate scary films. I mean I get scared watching Disney's Snow White or Ice Age 2, so I'm hardly going to sit down and watch a terrifying zombie film. But because it was directed by Danny Boyle, I was drawn in. 28 Days Later is not terrifying. In fact, it's a bit tense and jumpy, but no more tense than, say, Girl, Interrupted (well that bit at the end with Angelina Jolie going a bit crazy spooked me, anyway). It's pretty gory, but we're not talking sawing your own leg off or blowing up a shark in the middle of the sea. To be honest, this film is pretty tame apart from about 15 minutes into the film and the last half hour.

Mind: blown.
28 Days Later is just a really great example of what the British film industry can do. If you don't watch the whole film, just watch from when Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in the hospital to just as he enters the church. I don't care how many times I watch that film, I'm still amazed that they managed to shut of parts of central London to shoot the deserted post-apocalyptic scenes. It then becomes a zombie film for a bit, but it's got believable characters and the inevitable 'child in peril' character.

To me, it's one of those films that you expect to watch once and never want to see again, but it's such a mind blowing film that I can't actually think of anything else to write! Plus, it's got a killer soundtrack!

Monday 7 February 2011

Films That Really Matter To Us: 24 Hour Party People

For more info on "films that really matter to us" posts, check this post out.

OK this isn’t one of those must see films unless you know who Tony Wilson, Joy Division, Happy Mondays and Factory Records are. 24 Hour Party People takes its title from the song of the same name and it’s a biography of Tony Wilson’s heyday years.

24 Hour Party People is presented in a really cool way – it’s not exactly a dramatisation, but it’s not a documentary either. If you are aware of who the real Tony Wilson was, you’ll appreciate Steve Coogan’s portrayal of him. It’s played as a documentary with moments when Coogan talks directly to the audience, but there are also some really effective film moments too. Ian Curtis’ suicide is one example of this.

Control - too narrow minded?
What I love about 24 Hour Party People is that it doesn’t just focus on the doomed career of Ian Curtis. So many tv shows and now a film – Control (2007) – have documented his tragically short life, ending with suicide at just 23. However, what these films, books and shows fail to address is the fact that Joy Division was not the end for the Manchester music scene, nor Tony Wilson and Factory Records. In fact, it wasn’t even the end for Joy Division themselves, who regrouped to form the very successful band, New Order. 24 Hour Party People goes way beyond this – it goes right up until the final night of the legendary Haçienda club in 1997.

Starting with the influential Sex Pistols gig in Manchester in 1976, 24 Hour Party People shows the crazy life that Tony Wilson led and includes all the bands we’ve heard of, and some of the ones we haven’t. It’s everything I could possibly want in a film – it’s about music: how it’s made, who is influences, how it changes over time and the cultures it creates. The film makes the music the centrepiece in Tony Wilson’s story, he lived it and breathed it and this is effectively conveyed.

Steve Coogan is amazing as Tony Wilson!
24 Hour Party People has the balls to exaggerate, but they normally tell you when this is (“I definitely don’t remember this happening”, says the real Howard Devoto as he is shown sleeping with Tony Wilson’s wife), but as Tony Wilson says, when you have to choose between the truth and the legend, print the legend!"

I can’t really put into words how amazingly chaotic this film is, yet it makes perfect sense given that it’s about a record label that was so badly run that it hardly made any money and sold records that lost them money just because they looked nice (see Blue Monday – New Order). If you’re interested in music or pop culture, this film is a must see!

Sunday 6 February 2011

Films That Really Matter To Us: Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2

For more info on "films that really matter to us" posts, check this post out.








For obvious reasons, I’ve listed both these films together. Apparently they were originally meant to be one film but it would have been too long – that’s why the full credits are at the end of the second one rather than the first. Anyway, I am by no means a connoisseur of Tarrantino films, I really enjoyed Pulp Fiction, but for me, it’s all about Kill Bill. A powerful female, amazing fight scenes, diverse cultures and of course, a bit of a freaky love story is essentially what this film is about to me.

I could wax lyrical about how cool Uma Thurman is in Kill Bill. In fact, I think I will! I mean, imagine how cool she was in Pulp Fiction and then times it by a thousand and you’re not even close! OK I know a cocaine addict overdosing on heroin is not someone I should be looking up to… neither, for that matter is a incredibly violent woman who goes on the rampage, killing people for revenge but seriously, she’s really cool. I guess I just like films where a girl is kicking ass for once. I think that’s it, yeah, I just liked the fact that you had an intelligent, strong female character participating in cold blooded revenge against the people who tried to assassinate her – including her ex. I think she’s pretty justified, don’t you?

The Crazy 88 are no match for The Bride's samurai sword
When I first watched Kill Bill, one of the things I thought might put me off is the amount of graphic violence in the films. There is a lot of violence in the Kill Bill films, as you would expect – it’s a Tarrantino film, anything less than a bit of gore is unacceptable! But the fight scenes are just so cool. Take the bit near the end of the first film when ‘The Bride’ (you don’t find out her name until the second film) fights the Crazy 88 and it’s just a bloodbath, but there’s some awesome use of colour/black and white switches, and some pretty nifty stunt work too. Te first film is very violent and there is little dialogue – it mainly focuses on The Bride’s quest to kill O-Ren Ishii, one of the assassins who put her in a coma, with a bit of a quest to get the best samurai sword ever made along the way.

By the time the first film ends and she still hasn’t killed Bill, you immediately want to watch the second one. It is not disappointing. Poor old Uma still has 3 people left to kill – Buddy, Elle and, of course, Bill. The second film is not set in Japan (as most of the first one is), but is almost a western. The contrast in the 2 films is really good: O-Ren Ishii, boss of the Japanese underworld compared with Buddy who lives in a trailer somewhere in Texas. While it doesn’t have as much fighting as the first film, there is very cool fight scene between The Bride and Elle in Buddy’s trailer. However, my favourite part of the film is the flashback sequence to The Bride’s training with Pai Mei, a mysterious Chinese martial arts master. He provides some light comic relief before effortlessly demonstrating his skills to The Bride who becomes eager to learn from him.

Volume 2 has a lot more dialogue and explains the entire back story so the audience’s questions about what happened to make Bill want to kill The Bride so much and what happened to her baby. By the end of the film it’s taken you on an emotional journey that’s actually pretty intense.

I don’t think it’s really spoiling it to tell you that she does kill Bill, I’ll leave all the details out, but if you haven’t seen the two Kill Bill films, what have you been doing with your life?!

Friday 4 February 2011

Films That Really Matter To Us: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

For more info on "films that really matter to us" posts, check this post out.
If you haven't seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I'm not sure how much you'll understand from this post. It's definitely one of those films that you need to watch at least twice to understand it properly, and if I try and explain the film's plot, it will probably put you off, just watch it and make up your own mind!

What really makes this film amazing is that although it's not a conventional love story - the break up happens at the beginning and the Joel almost realises that he's in love with Clementine after the moment has passed, it's still ridiculously sweet. I also find the film heart-breakingly sad, because just as he realises he loves Clementine, he wipes the memory of her. I think because the ending is very ambiguous - the image of them running along the beach on a loop could be interpreted as a happy ending or is it just pointing out that their relationship is doomed to failure each time?

Kate Winslet: she's crazier than you.
Kate Winslet plays Clementine, and obviously, she's fantastic and was Oscar nominated blah blah blah, but I think the actor who makes the film is Jim Carrey, who plays Joel. I genuinely dislike most of his films because I don't funny his zany idea of comedy remotely funny, but in Eternal Sunshine, he doesn't pull one crazy face, or shout or scream or act stupid and he's actually really good. Kate Winslet takes on the extroverted character, and Carrey plays a pretty ordinary, quiet guy, overwhelmed by everything about her, which really makes a change! I think because Joel's such a likeable yet understated character, you forget it's Jim Carrey and that really isn't a bad thing.

Leaving aside my blatant dismay that Jim Carrey wasn’t nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, the story, is just ridiculously bitter-sweet. Because it starts with the break up and works its way backwards through the relationship, by the end of the film, you can't believe that Joel and Clementine ever broke up to begin with, which just makes the final memory scene in the house even more heartbreaking. When you are watching the scenes in Joel’s mind, you are very aware that they are memories that are being erased, and this just makes it so much more tragic.


Not too wacky...
The other thing I like about this film is that it's presented in a believable way - it's not totally crazy and 'out there' considering it's about a company, Lacuna Inc, which can erase specific things and people from your mind. Eternal Sunshine even deals with the ethical issues that having such technology would pose - Kirsten Dunst's character, Mary, ends up sending all the files back to the clients after she is told the memory of her affair with Lacuna's boss has been erased. Obviously the memories are presented in quite a wacky fashion - almost dream-like, particularly the part when Joel realises he doesn't want to erase Clementine any more and decides to 'hide' her (unsuccessfully) in other memories of his.


I've only even seen one other Michel Gondry film - Be Kind Rewind, and I didn't really rate it. I don't know what other people think - should I try watching a few others, or is ESOTSM a bit of a one hit wonder?

Hey, you! Like the blog? Want to be involved? We're now on Twitter (@MoviesMusicSoap) so feel free to follow and drop us a line. Maybe there's something you want us to write about or maybe you have an idea you want to write yourself, get in touch! If you're a band, filmmaker or any other kind of artist and want us to review you, again, please get in touch! Or hey, maybe you're just lonely and fancy a chat...

Thursday 3 February 2011

Films That Really Matter To Us

This series is looking at films that have a special place in our hearts. Here's the list of films and links to the articles about them. Enjoy!

·     Annie Hall (1977)
·     Away We Go (2009)
·     Lost In Translation (2003)
·     Juno (2006)
·     The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Why The Smiths are TOTALLY not depressing.

Morrissey's smiling and holding flowers: not depressing
Why do so many people hate on The Smiths because they are ‘depressing’? OK so some of their music isn’t exactly going to be included in Ministry of Sound’s next ‘Ibiza Dance Albums’ compilation, neither will it be featured in the 'Happiest Songs In The World Awards' but does that mean you can’t enjoy listening to The Smiths? If you’re just listening to the music, and not the lyrics, then you could be excused for thinking they are a bit depressing, but if you’re not listening to the lyrics, you’ve probably missed the point of listening to The Smiths in the first place.

I believe there are three kinds of Smiths songs:
1.     The hilarious songs:
Girlfriend in a Coma: funny?
Smiths fans: we just 'get' this
Some of The Smiths’ songs have hilarious lyrics. I’m not talking about listening to your iPod on the train and getting funny looks because you’re laughing so hard songs, I’m talking about funny-witty lyrics. I’m sorry but what’s not funny about ‘Vicar in a Tutu’ and ‘Shelia Take A Bow’. As for ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’, please don’t tell me that song isn’t funny because everything from the lyrics, to the relatively upbeat music, not to mention Morrissey’s brilliant delivery of the lyrics make it just that.

2.     The “I relate to that” songs:
I think the majority of Smiths songs fall into this category. Maybe it’s to do with how much you can relate to Morrissey’s lyrics, so I suppose you could argue that it’s depressing that I relate to them as much as I do. But if you are someone like me who does relate so much to the songs, you think it’s bloody uplifting that you’re not the only person on the planet who’s miserable because you’ve just found a job. Sorry, but it’s true.

3.     The depressing songs:
That's just depressing...
OK so yeah, I’m admitting that there are some depressing Smiths songs. Shock horror. There are some, but they really only make up a small amount of Smiths songs. These include (but are not limited to) ‘Never Had No One Ever’, ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ and ‘I Know It’s Over’. They are genuinely tugging-on-your-broken-heartstrings-whilst-twisting-cut-glass-into-your-miserable-soul songs. I mean ‘I Know It’s Over’, as far as I can decipher is about someone wanting to die because they have just realised that the person they obsessed over never really had anything to do with them and was essentially all just a dream. Think of it as the depressed version of ‘Funny Little Frog’ by Belle and Sebastian.

A final closing point: the BBC ran a poll about songs to listen to when you're depressed and 'I Know It's Over' won. You're hardly going to tell a depressed person to listen to a song that's going to make them more depressed, are you?! 

Is split personality an overused plot twist?

[This contains massive plot spoilers for The Machinist, Fight Club and Secret Window]

When I watch a film where there’s two main characters and one of them is a bit dubious, at some point, I will make a guess that split personality in involved. Usually I’m wrong but the point is, I’m used to this plot twist: towards the end of the film, we realise (usually at the same time as the main character) that the character that is in some way an antagonist is actually the main character’s second personality.

Here's Johnny... Depp
When I first saw Secret Window, I was genuinely shocked that Johnny Depp’s seemingly meek character (Mort Rainey) was actually the split personality of John Turturro’s violent, menacing character (John Shooter). The plot then quickly descends into a pathetic thriller with Rainey writing “shoot her” (if you’re that unobservant, it’s a 'clever play' on the name Shooter) on all the walls in what I can only assume was a desperate attempt to turn this film into something as meaningful to cinema as The Shining. The point is, if this wasn’t the first film I’d seen where a character has split personality, I think I’d have been able to guess pretty damn quick.

Christian Bale: women love him.
The Machinist is another one of those films, but in this one, I guessed not only the glaringly obvious split personality twist, but also half of the plot. Christian Bale is a very talented actor, and probably most people know this film as ‘the one where he lost all that weight’, but it’s actually one of his best (if disturbing) performances. However, even someone with as much talent as Christian Bale couldn’t help the film’s obvious plot twist. The second personality, ‘Ivan’, played by John Sharian, is so obviously a figment of Trevor Reznik’s imagination from the first time he shows up at the factory that the film’s barely worth watching. I’ve only seen this film once, and that was enough, it just didn’t hold my attention in the way that, say, Fight Club did.

"Wait... so I'm also Brad Pitt?!"
The first time I saw Fight Club, however, I was totally amazed. They really did the plot twist well; I suppose that’s down to Brad Pitt and Edward Norton giving really good performances, as well as David Fincher’s direction. The only thing that might give it away is the way Marla Singer acts when she’s around ‘The Narrator’ – she’s sleeping with him, but he thinks she’s sleeping with Tyler Durden. When The Narrator finally realises that he and Tyler are the same person, it’s a revelation for the audience too, and the film goes to a whole new level, with The Narrator trying to stop Tyler from carrying out what is essentially a terrorist act.

Rather than the other two films, which use split personality as a way to draw sympathy from the audience before revealing the ‘monster’ underneath (Rainey has been committing the murders and Reznik has killed someone in a hit and run accident), Fight Club attached the audience to both personalities, before ultimately revealing one to be a bit of a lunatic, and the other to be the ‘sensible’ one. This means that even though the split personality twist happens with a significant proportion of the film left, the audience is still excited as to what will happen to the two characters. Personally, I think that filmmakers should stop using the split personality twist to explain away a ‘bad guy’ or unrealistic character such as John Shooter or Ivan and allow Fight Club its moment of glory!

UPDATE (26/02/2011):
I went to see Black Swan on Wednesday and guess what?! About ten minutes into the film I realised that the plot twist of the film is that Nina (Natalie Portman) is having some sort of hallucination which is basically split personality. 

To Darren Aronofsky: how the mighty have fallen! Why did you have to do that?! It's not original and it's not clever anymore! If your ridiculously predictable film wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards tomorrow, I will be very upset.

Hey, you! Like the blog? Want to be involved? We're now on Twitter (@MoviesMusicSoap) so feel free to follow and drop us a line. Maybe there's something you want us to write about or maybe you have an idea you want to write yourself, get in touch! If you're a band, filmmaker or any other kind of artist and want us to review you, again, please get in touch! Or hey, maybe you're just lonely and fancy a chat...

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Why We love: Radiohead’s Amnesiac

I’m one of those people who that the sun shines out of Radiohead’s behinds. I believe there are many of us. Most music critics will tell you that OK Computer is their finest recording, and many will go on to assure you that it is the finest album ever made. Sure, the album’s a masterpiece, but I don’t think it’s even their best work, let alone one of the best albums ever made. I suppose you think I’m going to be pretentious and say Kid A is my favourite (if in doubt: that’s the weird ‘experimental’ one they did after OK Computer).

The crying bear: so much better than Pedo Bear
Kid A, close, but that’s simply not pretentious enough of me. I’m going to be uber pretentious and tell you that the best Radiohead album of all time is Amnesiac. Yes, Amnesiac, the crazy sister recording to Kid A, the one that you probably don’t own and have listened to once on Spotify before declaring that you just didn’t ‘get’ it.

So now you’ve picked your jaw from your desk and re-hinged it, I’m going to tell you why.

Amnesiac flows like a dream, and compared to Kid A, it sounds like ‘experimental Radiohead’ without being too floaty and slow [hear Treefingers to see what I mean]. If you really want, you can look at it as having a song from the different ‘eras’ of Radiohead on it. Ie there’s the guitar driven Pablo Honey/The Bends/OK Computer music, the ‘artsy fartsy’ Kid A music and then the ‘despair at the modern world’ music of Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows. There really is nothing to dislike because although these sounds are quite different, somehow, they fit well on Amnesiac.

If you want crazy time signatures, listen to ‘Pyramid Song’ and I dare you to try and tap your foot. If you want more of Radiohead’s weird ambient music, listen to ‘Like Spinning Plates’ and try and decipher Thom’s lyrics. If you want full on jazz, just listen to ‘Life in a Glasshouse’. There really is something fun for all the family on this record! Lastly, if you were in any doubt about this record, check out the amazing re-vamped version of ‘Morning Bell’: it’s loud and almost acoustic compared with the original from Kid A. I love both dearly, but Amnesiac’s version has more bite.

Baically, if you haven’t already given it a go, try Amnesiac as your next Radiohead listening venture. BUT, if you've never listened to Radiohead before, you might want to try something more accessible, like The Bends or OK Computer.

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Have You Seen This Man? Woody Allen anyone?

Or: Why don’t more young people watch Woody Allen?

I saw this topic on an IMDB.com discussion board and decided to weigh in here.

To a certain generation, you say “Woody Allen” and Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979) or Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) springs to their collective minds. Dianne Keaton, ‘La-Di-Dah’ and, of course, Mia Farrow will also be mentioned. However, most of my generation seem to struggle to even recollect that he voiced ‘Zee’ in Antz, let alone anything else he might have done before or since. Allen’s films are original, often hysterically funny, and if not, dramatic observations of life. If you haven’t already guessed, I am a big fan of his and I believe he is a genius.

Alvy Singer, reincarnated
But why, when you mention Annie Hall (one of his most famous films) to anyone my own age, are you greeted with a blank stare and “I’ve never heard of it”? It’s commercially available in many shops, it won many Oscars and influenced so many films since – even Channel 4’s Green Wing paid homage to it in its 5th episode - however, I doubt many of its younger fans got the joke. IMDB.com currently list Annie Hall as number 133 on their top 250 list. Can you now understand my frustration why more people haven’t discovered Woody Allen’s work through Annie Hall?
 
Maybe it’s the fact that he plays records rather than docks his iPod in Play It Again, Sam, or that he talks about Nixon in Annie Hall that put the younger generations off. However, Woody Allen’s stock character is broadly a neurotic New Yorker, unable to function anywhere else. Yes, he plays that character in a lot of his films, but he does it really well! This sort of character is, surely, funny to any age – his erratic attempts to stay cool during a date in Play It Again, Sam (1972) or his extreme hypochondria in Hannah and Her Sisters drew hysteric laughter from me, after all.

Yup, that's Zee from Antz
OK so maybe Annie Hall and Manhattan are too ‘of their era’ to be relevant today (a point which I disagree with), but let’s look at some of Allen’s newer films. I disliked Small Time Crooks (2000), but when Woody Allen simultaneously discovered London and Scarlett Johansson in Match Point (2005) and later, Scoop (2006), you’d really think his audience would widen. Scoop has wacky and outlandish plot, but ultimately is a hilarious depiction of two New Yorkers trying to fit in to the British upper class – surely just the kind of film that British people of any age would appreciate! Lastly, of course, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) received international praise, yet many people I know have never even heard of it, let alone seen it.

So, in my opinion, there really is no excuse for people my own age not to have at least seen one Woody Allen film that isn’t Antz. So, get moving people, get over the fact that he married his step-daughter and start with Annie Hall. See where you go from there!

Hello Blogosphere!

Welcome to Movies, Music and Soap. We've got some treats lines up for you. All kind of articles on music, film, TV and pop culture. I hope you enjoy what we have in store for you. Please feel free to get in touch - @MoviesMusicSoap on Twitter. 

If you think you have some good ideas too and would like to write for us, send us a message on Twitter and we'll get back to you. We can't promise any payment, but it will up your internet street cred. Maybe.


For the curious among you, the blog name comes from the film Fight Club. The posters often say 'mischief, mayhem, soap', which is a reference to the plot of the film. If you haven't seen it, go and watch it right now!