REVIEW: Kaiser Chiefs

ARTIST: Kaiser Chiefs
ALBUM: Yours Truly, Angry Mob
LABEL:B-Unique

PLATTENSPIELER RATING: 7.0/10



The first really big release of the year commercially, much rests on this one. Opening single 'Ruby' blasted into the upper echelons of the charts and its chant-pop thrills weren't lost on me. I am in fact a fan of this lot. Not a huge one, but half their first album was utterly fantastic. Thats the problem though, only half of it. The singles were all breathless post-Britpop stompers and all deserved their indie disco ubiquity. But the rest was true filler and spoiled the broth.

This time around, we're promised beefed up sounds and a more complete record than last time and it looks as though that's been achieved. 'Ruby' is a stormer, bouncing and singing along all over the shop but they continue the hot streak with 'The Angry Mob' and 'High Royds', both finding the midpoint between Blur at their most Kinks-y and Pulp in their populist pomp. The tunes are sprinkled so liberally throughout, you can barely believe the proliferation of moments that, by listen two, you are singing along to. The big problem, along with a few bits of substandard Oasis-lite filler, are Ricky Wilson's lyrics. His odd style of inverting certain sentences sounds primary school like in its naivety causes the songs to lose their power. Sometimes it works, lending a sing-a-long simplicity to the tracks but mostly, it brings it down.

No blockbuster then, not going to fire them into Oasis levels of fame. But another serviceable piece of blistering rock and pop for the masses to gobble up.

REVIEW: Grinderman

ARTIST: Grinderman
ALBUM: Grinderman
LABEL: Anti-

PLATTENSPIELER RATING: 6.4/10



Nick Cave is on a hot streak. No doubt about it. The antipodean King of Baritonal misery has been in rude health, not only producing a magnum opus in Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus, but writing one of last years finest films, the bloody, brutal outback revenge western, The Proposition. This is perhaps a little bit of a day off for him from keeping up this astonishing run of form. Grinderman is a bar band formed of Cave and a few friends, seemingly made to simultaneously evoke his days in Birthday Party and their dirty post punk and let him cut loose, deliver a host of good fun party songs in his own inimitable style.

It begins however with the angry, blustery 'Get It On', combining spoken intonations and thumped piano chords into a confrontational form of muscle blues. The guitars are crunchy and fuzzed beyond recognition and Cave barks the lyrics with a poetic howl akin to Swordfish-era Waits. '(I Don't Need You) To Set Me Free' is more conventional, recalling Cave's Bad Seeds in its ominous atomosphere and stabbed guitar. 'Death Charge Ethel' then brings in harmonies into its abrasive, thrashing Stooge-isms. As you settle into this mood of uncompromising blues rock, it becomes a fairly dull performance, combining Waits-lite spoken pieces with more garage dirt. The best moment comes on the evocative, simplistic emotion of 'Man on the Moon' where Cave opens up the heart in the way he used to on his finest records.

By no means The Boatman's Call, but no embarassment, this is a diversion into a heavier Cave but you feel, without his Bad Seeds to frame his tales, he seems a little at odds with the World.

TV at the moment

So we've been meaning to keep up with writing about TV so this is the guilty result of such inactivity. Here, I'm just going to give you all a rundown of the current TV shows I'm watching and also anything I've just got into on DVD or download:

Heroes: I cannot understand the hype this show gets and the immense critical and commercial receptions its enjoying. This is mainstream television for sure and is both relentlessly expensive and at times, retarding in both writing and outlook. Characters appear purely for exposition sequences, yet again pissing on the audiences' intelligence. The voiceover is intensely irratating and the lack of ability to imply without explaining everything happening in a scene makes me want to rip it to shreds. Yet, week after week, I come back. I have an explanation. Concept. Heroes, like Lost and 4400, run on great concepts that, if used well, could prove truly incredible in television terms. I may feel bad everytime I watch, but hopefully, with the introduction of a few good writers and better character development, this could be the best thing on TV.

Lost: Disappointing at the moment but building up steam again. Should prove a winner in the end but needs to wake up out its lull to get things moving again. Also, very tired of Kate flip flopping between Jack and Sawyer. The writers need to understand that you can't have a strong female lead if she's just incessantly deciding which boy she likes.

The Office: The best sitcom on TV right now and so far, utterly flawless in its execution. Its finest asset remains Steve Carell, just the finest comic actor of his generation right now. But the supporting cast do such justice to every script that you cannot fail but be in hysterics at the perfectly written plotting and punchlines.

Ugly Betty: A truly awful show in some respects but blessed with a sense of fun and a heart missing from so much popular television. Deserves attention mainly though for America Ferrara's brilliant lead performance, possibly the most likeable character we have around right now.

Rescue Me: Just watching the first season of this and it is really quite good. A few moments fall flat here and there and the religious moments reak of a sentimentalism this vicious show is better than. Denis Leary is brilliant in the lead but its the entire mood of cynical, true heart that makes this such a fascinating experience. Nothing else has quite explored 9/11 with such a degree of unsentimental, human emotion and it should be applauded for that. Also, like The Sopranos, it a just fabulous title sequence that puts you perfectly in the state of mind to enjoy the show.

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - What a show! I can't believe I missed this horrific, misogynistic portrayal of pure assholeness first time round. This is Seinfeld packed up with booze and spunk and its protagonist's astonishing behaviour represents the finest angry comedy on TV. Brilliant.

The Shins @ London Astoria

I cannot tell you how much I had looked forward to crossing this one off the list. Along with a variety of other acts including Radiohead, Tom Waits and Arcade Fire, The Shins were a band I needed to see before I died. Their three records, including the darker, eloquent Wincing The Night Away are amongst my favourites of the millenium so far with Chutes Too Narrow as perfect a song cycle suite of anglophile indie as you will ever find.

This show, at the historic and still ridiculously overpriced Astoria, was part of the NME Awards tour so we got four bands for our money. First up was Alberta Cross whose set we partly missed but who appear to peddle a familiar if well executed form of modern, folkish indie. Their final song though was an elegant sweep that marked them out as an interesting prospect.

Next up, excitingly, was Voxtrot. Heavily touted on the blogosphere and blessed with the finest single of last year in 'Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives', they were a huge disappointment. It wasn't entirely their fault; the guitars were nowhere in the mix so all their outstanding, stabbing guitar motions that punctuate their best work were lost in the mire and the whole set lost its teeth. It ended up a vaguely embarrassing set characterised by Ramesh Srivastava jumping around in a truly weak fashion to try and give the proceedings a little brashness. On record, they're wonderful. Live, just horrendous. They have much work to do.

Polytechnic are hotly tipped indie rockers over here but seemed to be unsure of where their strengths lay. Their songs were all just slightly too long while they never quite gave any reason why they should be given any precedence over any other modern indie acts peddling melodic guitar lines and 'quirky' voiced pop. 'Cold Hearted Business' is a pleasant enough single but just not enough personality on show.

The Shins come on to quite a degree of love being flung their way. They pepper the set with songs from accross their three brilliant albums and not a moment falls flat. The sound again isn't quite right but they fight through with charisma and stage craft, clattering through their up tempo material with more muscle than could have been expected. 'Phantom Limb' provides an early highlight along with opener 'Sleeping Lessons' while most of Wincing The Night Away sounds full and confident. 'Kissing the Lipless' is strident and crisp, even inspiring a short jam at the end, the evening rockingest moment. 'New Slang', while rendered poorly in a Band-like country roll is still a just immense song while 'Caring Is Creepy' tears the house down with its fuzzed drive. A couple of missing masterpieces ('Young Pilgrims' & 'Fighting In A Sack') annoy but mostly, its expertly played and as charming as ever. They remain amongst my favourite acts although seeing them at a smaller, less irratating venue would likely prove a more fruitful experience.

Alberta Cross myspace
Voxtrot myspace
Polytechnic myspace
The Shins

UPDATED: Albums of the Year

So it has take far too long to do this and I apologise but my albums of the year have slightly changed. For this, I am sorry. Anyway, so here is the final list of my Top Ten albums of last year without explanation and I again apologise for this.



1. The Hold Steady - 'Boys and Girls In America'
2. Tom Waits - 'Orphans: Bawlers, Brawlers and Bastards'
3. Cat Power - 'The Greatest'
4. Joanna Newsom - 'Ys'
5. Guillemots - 'Through The Windowpane'
6. The Flaming Lips - 'At War With The Mystics'
7. Wolfmother - 'Wolfmother'
8. TV On The Radio - 'Return To Cookie Mountain'
9. The Decemberists - 'The Crane Wife'
10. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - 'Etiquette'

Look forward to more reviewing in the future too with Arcade Fire, Grinderman, Kaiser Chiefs and Modest Mouse all in the chair very soon. Love y'all!!!

So yes indeed, the wonderful and lovely Beth has yet again won the Oscar Predicting competition. And not just won either, truly opened up a can of whoop up in here!!

I've only briefly tallied them up but I believe I came last with 7 correct, followed by Tom with eight. Beth however, got 12 categories right!! This, I believe, is a new record so well done to Beth on that one.

It wasn't a hugely surprising night, although I really didn't think The Departed would take home the gong for Picture. Even so, its a worthy winner and its great to finally see Scorsese get his Oscar for a genuinely wonderful moment in his career. A few have obviously begun a backlash saying this one was given to him as owed goods but I would dispute that. The Departed is a true auteurist piece from the Great Man, exploring many of the key thematic concerns his best work has had at its heart. Its great to see him finally take home the prize and he deserved it thoroughly.

The only other vague surprise was Melissa Etheridge taking home best song over the three Dreamgirls nominations. Otherwise, fairly solid night.

We are starting a new feature now called Personal 66. In it, folks get to choose their favourite albums, songs, books, comics, DVDs, films and then three personal items. We have no reason to do this and it won't go towards anything, but who cares. Let's do it anyway. First one should arrive within the next few weeks along with a fuller indication of the rules.

Another year down then, and fun it was too. Later everyone. xoxoxo

My Oscar Predictions!

So finally the time has come. It all comes down to these. Myself and The Beth will predict the Oscars for you and next week, a winner will be decided from the three of us (McGuyver included).

Me/Beth

Best Picture – Letters From Iwo Jima / The Departed

Best Director – Martin Scorsese for The Departed / Same

Best Actor – Forest Whitaker for Last King of Scotland / Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson

Best Actress – Helen Mirren for The Queen / Same

Best Supporting Actor – Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine / Djimon Hounsou for The Blood Diamond

Best Supporting Actress – Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls / Abigail Breslin for Little Miss Sunshine

Best Adapted Screenplay – Children of Men / Notes on a Scandal

Best Original Screenplay – Pan's Labyrinth / Babel

Animated Feature Film – Cars / Happy Feet

Art Direction – Pan's Labyrinth / Dreamgirls

Cinematography – Children of Men / Pan's Labyrinth

Costume Design – Marie Antoinette / Same

Documentary – Deliver Us From Evil / An Inconvenient Truth

Film Editing – Babel / The Departed

Foreign Language – Pan’s Labyrinth / Lives Of Others

Make Up – Pan’s Labyrinth / Same

Score – Pan’s Labyrinth / The Good German

Song – ‘Love You I Do’ from Dreamgirls / Same

Sound Editing – Blood Diamond / Letters From Iwo Jima

Visual Effects – Superman Returns / Dead Man’s Chest

So there we go!!!!!! See you on the other side!

Tom's Oscar Predictions

So, McGuyver is bloody going off to the grand ol' kingdom of Hong Kong for a week so he has to get his predictions in now. Therefore, if they are wrong, he has something to blame it on.

Here they are then from the King of Flimsy Wisdom...

Best Picture – Little Miss Sunshine

Best Director – Martin Scorsese for The Departed

Best Actor – Forest Whitaker for Last King of Scotland

Best Actress – Helen Mirren for The Queen

Best Supporting Actor – Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine

Best Supporting Actress – Abigail Breslin for Little Miss Sunshine

Best Adapted Screenplay – Notes on a Scandal

Best Original Screenplay – Letters From Iwo Jima

Animated Feature Film – Cars

Art Direction – The Prestige

Cinematography – Children of Men

Costume Design – Marie Antoinette

Documentary – An Inconvenient Truth

Film Editing – The Departed

Foreign Language – Pan’s Labyrinth

Make Up – Pan’s Labyrinth

Score – Pan’s Labyrinth

Song – ‘Love You I Do’ from Dreamgirls

Sound Editing – Flags Of Our Fathers

Visual Effects – Dead Man’s Chest

104 Book Round Up #4

Shame The Devil by George Pelecanos
I'm a huge fan of modern detective fiction. When it's done well, as Pelecanos exemplifies, it can be moving, almost Shakespearean and a match for anything within the more revered literary genres. Pelecanos is well known for writing television's greatest series The Wire but his own works are well worth investigation. This is the final volume concerning Nick Stefanos, a Greek private eye with a liking for the bottle and a series of tough relationships. He's a classic character of noir but Pelecanos infuses the story with the same sense of righteous social anger and downbeat, everyman atmosphere of that incredible TV show. Its by no means a life-changing novel, but those looking to further investigate similar fare to The Wire should check out his wonderful oeuvre.


The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin
Songwriter and vocalist of the incredible Richmond Fontaine, Vlautin essentially just transposes the pain-blasted country rock narratives of losers, drunks and dreamers into prose for his debut novel. This story of two brothers and their small adventures around the American heartland, drinking, philosophising and waiting for something better to come along. Its a beautiful, downbeat story that will chime with lovers of Denis Johnson, Raymond Carver or John Updike but Vlautin never quite manages to capture the subtlety of those peers and their evocation of humanity at its most purely desperate. Still, its a sad, moving story that is well worth seeking out.


Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Hands down the best book I've read in the challenge so far. To sum this up in only a couple of lines is near impossible given the breadth of its scope and ambition. A reinvention and subversion of The Great American Novel, this story of a Greek family through their history just has everything you could ever ask for. Its intensely moving in places, as his perfectly formed, easily lovable characters go through the trials and tribulations of life. Callie, the narrator, is indeed a hermaphrodite, a genetic anomaly born in this case from incest. Its a great triumph that despite the two moments of incest within Callie's family, you never consider it wrong or irksome. It is likely the most romantic slice of incest I've ever read. But Callie's story takes far too many deeply human turns to ever concentrate purely on the incest or hermaphroditism. This is a stunning achievement, written in some of the most elegiac, elegant prose my eyes have ever consumed.

Four brief reviews

Devil Wears Prada-
A book which doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression, but for its whole duration is light and entertaining enough. The character of Miranda Priestly is the main selling point as she is a great antagonist, who thankfully the author never tries to redeem (unlike the film which suffers for this). Nothing about this book makes it particularly stand out, but you won’t regret reading it.


Oryx and Crake-
An extremely solid book, let down by its awkwardness in balancing the light and dark moments. The story is fascinating and the characters are well rounded from the insecure Jimmy/Snowman, to the brilliantly minded yet disturbed Crake. But the book is often unsuccessful in injecting humour into the story, and once people start to die in vicious circumstances, the lighter instances seem like a waste. Also the book doesn’t quite successfully end with any degree of satisfaction, leaving the story at an odd moment, which doesn’t settle well. But Margaret Atwood is a fine writer and Oryx and Crake is a terrific read for the most part.


The Understudy-
Simply great! No one could claim this book has anything important to say or would be called a classic, but each page was a pleasure to read. The writing is fantastic; creating one of the most likeable leads I’ve seen in a book for a long time. The story while simple (downbeat actor falls for wife of A-list actor who he is currently the understudy of), is never dull and the author blends drama with laugh out loud comedy flawlessly. A truly entertaining book, well worth your time!


The Lovely Bones-
The best book I’ve read this year so far. The perspective of this story, which is told by a murdered girl is fascinating, but it is the effect this murder has on her loved ones which makes the book special. From heaven, she watches as her family cope with her death, and how their lives change for the better or worse. And her pain of not being a part of this world anymore is incredibly moving. Superbly written and very touching, The Lovely Bones is near perfect.

BAFTA Predictions

Hello again. No introductions. No wordplay. No charming foolishness. Just cold hard predictions. Me. McGuyver. Beth. BAFTAs. Go!

Best Picture: Babel, The Departed, The Last King of Scotland, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen
Me: The Queen
Beth: The Departed
McGuyver: The Last King of Scotland

Best Director: Alejandro Innaritu (Babel), Martin Scorsese (The Departed), Valerie Dayton & Jonathan Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), Stephen Frears (The Queen), Paul Greengrass (United 93)
Me: Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
Beth: Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
McGuyver: Martin Scorsese (The Departed)

Best Original Screenplay: Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen, Pan's Labyrinth, United 93
Me: Pan's Labyrinth
Beth: The Queen
McGuyver: Pan's Labyrinth

Best Adapted Screenplay: Casino Royale, Devil Wears Prada, The Departed, Last King of Scotland, Notes on a Scandal
Me: Last King of Scotland
Beth: Notes on a Scandal
McGuyver: The Departed

Best Actor: Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed), Richard Griffiths (History Boys), Peter O'Toole (Venus), Forest Whitaker (Last King of Scotland)
Me: Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Beth: Forest Whitaker (Last King of Scotland)
McGuyver: Forest Whitaker (Last King of Scotland)

Best Actress: Penelope Cruz (Volver), Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal), Helen Mirren (The Queen), Meryl Streep (Devil Wears Prada), Kate Winslet (Little Children)
Me: Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
Beth: Helen Mirren (The Queen) ... but i love the Dench!!!
McGuyver: Helen Mirren (The Queen)... this guy loves this film!!

Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland), Jack Nicholson (The Departed), Leslie Phillips (Venus), Michael Sheen (The Queen)
Me: James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland)... i copied Beth.
Beth: James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland)
McGuyver: Jack Nicholson (The Departed)

Best Supporting Actress: Emily Blunt (Devils Wears Prada), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Frances De La Tour (The History Boys), Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Me: Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)... Beth copied me.
Beth: Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
McGuyver: Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada)

Orange Rising Star Award: Emily Blunt, Eva Green, Naomie Harris, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw
Me: Cillian Murphy
Beth: Emily Blunt
McGuyver: Emily Blunt

REVIEW: Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls makes me feel funny. It does. I finished watching this movie and both loved and hated every moment of its running time. Therefore, it is only fair to simply split this review in two and give you a few reasons why I liked it, and a few why I didn't. Fair? Okay.

I didn't like Dreamgirls because...
The first half of the movie whizzes by at such a ridiculous pace during which we cover the rise of The Dreams, their splintering and finally their fall. During this we witness Martin Luther King Jr., the L.A Riots (seen during a peculiarly calm conversation/song) and pretty much every event of the U.S's turbulent 1960s. They are all just skimmed over in the background as we watch the Dreams sing loudly at each other and Jamie Foxx's bewildered Berry Gordy figure. To say this is a thinly veiled biopic of The Supremes is quite an understatement as the parallels with Diana Ross and Mary Wilson in Jennifer Hudson's character become palpably clear.
The film also has just terrible songs throughout, that simply don't sound like that classic Motown sound but rather like the musical interpretation that they are while Beyonce Knowles is a deeply average actress and is left standing as a singer by Hudson. Eddie Murphy, while excellent, is hamstrung with the most ridiculous frankenstein character seemingly a composite of Sam Cooke, James Brown and, in the film's most sickly moments, Marvin Gaye.

I did like Dreamgirls because...
For all its bad points, its thoroughly entertaining and features a grandstanding performance from Jennifer Hudson. Her singing is just immense, blowing the rest of the cast off the screen while her acting is near flawless, portraying Effie Wilson with the just the right balance of arrogance, humility and righteousness.
For a truly overreaching reason however, I would say you could read the saga of The Dreams as a portrait of a very modern American dream. Young girls come from nowhere, making it on pluck and tenacity. They get their lucky break but greed sours their dream and they fall apart, throwing away their wealth and getting back to their roots.

So there you go, I would say that overall, it wasn't a film I fell for but give it its credit, Hudson is amazing and deserving of your attention.

Film: Dreamgirls
Director: Bill Condon
Plattenspieler Rating: 6.0/10

REVIEW: The Last King of Scotland

Its all over. Just everyone stop campaigning, baiting or pushing for your Oscar, it is only going one way this year. Forest Whitaker gives a showstopping turn here playing Idi Amin, the militarian dictator of Uganda during the 1970s whose reign saw approximately 200,000 die, many of whom were simply murdered for speaking out against his regime. From literally the second scene he's in, when doctor James McAvoy tends to his hand after a car crash, there is no doubt that this is the best performance you will see this year. One thing perhaps to say, is that it is not technically a lead performance, with McAvoy in every scene. But, despite an excellent performance from the Shameless star, Whitaker just rips this away from him. His Amin is charming and funny in early scenes, before we, and the naive doctor, start to witness the true horrors of his regime. That second portion of the film, after the revealing of Amin's tactic of killing all who do not support him, lends the film an inherent tension, based mostly on previous knowledge but helped by the rapid shot of intensity in both events, violence and performances.

Kevin MacDonald (Touching The Void) handles the film beautifully, portraying Amin's poisoned Kingdom with enough seductive attraction that we never feel abhorred by McAvoy's unwavering support of him before Amin reveals his true self. He stages some supreme, lo-fi action set pieces of brutal realism, the closing scenes particularly effective in their astonishing grisly viciousness, finally damning Amin in the coda. Its a performance driven film, only let down by a few touches here and there but spare a thought fo ames McAvoy, who gives a superlative performance but is outshone by a truly towering one from Whitaker. Both perform a feat of making unsympathetic characters lovable and believable and, while one job here is certainly harder than the other, McAvoy asserts himself with a wide-eyed cocky charm that swiftly shifts into betrayed fear in an instant. Not a perfect movie, but a genuinely exciting and fascinating portrayal of one of the 20th Century's defining icons of evil.


Film: The Last King of Scotland
Director: Kevin MacDonald
Plattenspieler Rating: 8.5/10

REVIEW: The Fountain

Long awaited or long winded. Beautiful sci-fi epic concerning true love, soulmates and transcendence. Or... kaballah referencing nonsensical vanity project of a filmmaker sent mad. Well, to be honest, its a little from both. But what so many have criticised within the film is exactly what makes it such a startling experience to watch. Its a film you have to give yourself to, buy into its philosophy and the storytelling. This is no linear, easy love story like you may see churned out by Hollywood every month or so. This is complex, intelligent cinema to allow into your soul, to let burn into your mind.

The basic story, if there is one, is that two souls' existence cross the Tree of Life and we follow them across a 1000 year love affair, witnessing them as Conquistadors in 16 century Spain, present day couple and future self living in space inside a giant bubble. It all sound crazy but Aronofsky's skill at linking the parts is of fair stature. Having said that, it cannot be denied the utter crushing brilliance of the present day story, following a doctor (Hugh Jackman) and his dying author wife (Rachel Weisz) as he tries to find a cure for the cancer killing her in front of him. Thematically, by blending this with the fantastical exploits of his time-hopping, it aligns itself with films like Pan's Labyrinth, drawing out the inherent sadness in all of life's inevitabilities. Jackman is immense in these scenes, portraying a man obsessed with his one true love and saving her life with grace and intensity betraying his roots as Wolverine.

The critics are wrong folks. Sure, it could have been just astounding had the original budget remained, but with that lesser budget and certain naivety reveals itself, the visuals of the future recalling the flights of fancy from Melies in their innocent beauty. The two leads are incredible, both deserving of Oscar nominations they never got due to the ridiculous mauling of this movie in the U.S. It was unjust. This is brave, beautiful filmmaking that is far from perfect but a truly immersive experience of sadness, loss and love.

Film: The Fountain
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Plattenspieler Rating: 8.7/10