Usually at this time in a Premier League season, fans are excitedly posturing over possibilities for how the end of the campaign might pan out.
Newcastle United supporters, on the other hand, are just wishing the end of the season was now. So far, 2014 has been a pitiful time to support the club, with Sunderland, Spurs, Everton and Manchester United having all scored more goals at St. James' Park than the Toon Army have done themselves.
The miserable streak continued at Stoke City, with a flukey goal from one time transfer target Erik Pieters - his first goal since 2008 - continue a miserable recent run. An aggregate 12-0 defeat in the last four outings has reduced fans faith in the team significantly, with belief seemingly hurtling towards its lowest since promotion in 2010, and caps off the miserable streak since the previous fixture against the Potters.
Back on Boxing Day 2013, Newcastle racked up the biggest win of the campaign with a 5-1 win over Stoke at St. James' Park. Sure, Stoke had two players sent off, but you have to take advantage of that, and a good display in victory got Newcastle up to 6th in the table. Even better than that, the team was only 3 points from 4th placed Liverpool, and dreaming of an unlikely Champions League challenge like in 2011/12.
Since then, the wheels, doors, mirrors, panels and even the bloody roof have fallen off. Newcastle have only won 4 games since, and each is retrospectively tainted.
A 3-1 win at West Ham in mid-January included the performance that convinced PSG to sign Yohan Cabaye, a 1-0 win over Aston Villa should've been more but for poor Cisse and Remy finishing, and a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace was fairly undeserved.
This leaves out the 4-1 win over Hull City at the start of March - arguably Newcastle's best performance since that reverse game against the Potters. But that game is not remembered for some superb Tim Krul stops, a marvellous strike from Moussa Sissoko and a first Premier League strike from Vurnon Anita.
Instead, the main memory of that game is Pardew's moment of idiocy when he nudged his head at Hull midfielder David Meyler. Hull's Meyler may have escaped censure for pushing the manager and starting the fiasco in the first place, but Pardew was an idiot for stooping to his level.
Since that, things have collapsed at a fast rate. A poor performance in defeat at a Fulham side who hadn't won in 2 1/2 months beforehand was bad enough, but humiliating performances at home to Everton and a Manchester United team saving players for Bayern Munich were worse.
The true nadir had been the performance at Southampton, where it took 72 minutes and 3 Southampton goals for home keeper Artur Boruc to even have to make a save. This was a tragic performance where the team not so much didn't show up as abandoned all pretence of interest in playing the sport. If anything, 4-0 flattered the Toon Army defenders, and had Rob Elliott not made 3 superb stops to deny Jay Rodriguez, a once-in-a-generation humiliation could've occurred.
But somehow, despite not conceding three less than at St. Mary's, the game at Stoke was worse. A team with something to play for or even pretending to have something to play for may have caused trouble, but home keeper Asmir Begovic only had one save to make in the whole game.
While Newcastle may have had a penalty for a foul on Papiss Cisse by Geoff Cameron, and while Anita, Ameobi and Gosling all missed sitters, the performance was by and large dreadful. A puzzling 3-5-2 formation didn't seem to have any logic or comprehension to it, which was made even more bewildering by some confusing substitutions and position places.
Anita's right wing-back position was particularly confusing, and the confusion was not helped by the bizarre shoehorning of youngster Adam Armstrong into this position later in the game.
By the end, the players showed no hint of a fight back, with a Mike Williamson blocked shot and a wayward drive from Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa the nearest to an equaliser.
This was the moment Newcastle fans finally decided Pardew was a useless incompetent, with chants supporting his dismissal ringing out of the away end and the players were booed off. For most of this sullen year, the fans have largely stayed with the team, but this felt like a moment when the trust had been eroded.
Nevertheless, Pardew continued his usual attempts to evade criticism. This week's blame game saw the wind, the referee, the fans and the local media all blamed, rather than his failure to motivate a flagging squad from caring about proceedings.
Pardew's attempts to blame the local media for creating fan discontent was a bizarre move, albeit one fitting the club's preferred narrative after they banned the local media from the club earlier in the campaign. It duly led to the media embracing the ultimate in snarky behaviour, with a hilarious and some may argue fitting back page where the Sunday Sun apologised for the multitude of sins Pardew has managed in 2014.
Fan approval is also certainly low, with Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere full of negative comments and calling for Pardew's time to be up.
Under a more committed chairman, Pardew might be fretting for his job. Supposing Stoke and West Ham catch the freefalling Toon and take away what would only be a second top 10 finish since 2006, and Pardew may see his position under threat.
It goes without saying, however, that it would take a lot for Mike Ashley to throw millions at Pardew for him to leave. Relegation last season would certainly have seen him dismissed but aside from that, who knows.
The players certainly don't seem to have faith, with the multimillionaire team drifting without interest through matches.
Also not helpful was the arrival of new Managing Director Lee Charnley, who was appointed last week and announced the club would not engage in heavy spending. One or two new players in the summer, maybe, was in his words.
This is faintly predictable - after all, this year saw all of 2 players arrive, both on loan. But much more is required. A replacement for Yohan Cabaye, one (maybe two) new centre backs, a right back for the inevitable departure of Debuchy, two new wingers, two new strikers (four if Remy and Cisse leave) - in fact, something everywhere except in goal, and even then a departure of Tim Krul would change that.
The club as a whole appears to be like West Bromwich Albion last season. Last season, the Baggies raced out of the traps and sat 4th in November with a team built around a loan striker (Romelu Lukaku), before crawling to the end. They did just enough to retain a top 8 finish, but delivered an awful points return in the second half of the 2012/13 season that left Baggies fans uneasy.
They were right to feel that unease. This season, West Bromwich Albion have been in a relegation battle as well as having 3 managers. Barring a surprise win at Old Trafford in September, they've never got going and throwing away leads in the 94th minute in consecutive home games against Cardiff and Spurs has left them in a heap of trouble. In fact, Newcastle were the last team WBA beat at home - another unwanted skidmark against this train wreck of a year.
A failure for Newcastle's hierarchy to wake up and not arrest this slide will mean 2014/15 will be a desperate campaign. But at the moment, the club appears hell-bent on sleepwalking towards the end and possibly dark times ahead.
Sunday, 13 April 2014
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
How I Met Your Mother - Last Forever: TV Review
If How I Met Your Mother has taught us one thing, its that Ted Mosby's children have incredible attention spans.
The show has been on the air for nine years, with 200+ episodes produced in that meantime chronicling the crazy lives of Ted, Barney, Robin, Marshall and Lily. Ted's children must have the world's best attention spans to be able to focus for nine year's worth of story in one sitting.
This stand-off certainly at least provided arguably the best line of the entire series, when the older Ted tells his kids "I kept this story brief and to the point!" - possibly the best laugh out loud moment of this hour.
Of course, demanding teenagers to sit still for nine years may not quite be realistic. But there has been much to admire over the show's run. Its willful defiance of conventional narrative coupled to plenty of good-natured humour and barbs was often the basis of some good viewing, even if it was sometimes prone to missteps (Season 8, for example, was largely forgettable).
Now, with the end of the road in sight, the advance buzz was with people wondering "What is the end going to look like?"
It starts, predictably, in 2005, with Robin's integration in the friendship circle - closely followed by the heady day of May 2013 when Barney and Robin's wedding took place. Season 9 has been building to this.
Think then, of what a smack in the face it must've felt like, when it was dropped at the end of the second act that they were divorced.
The broken woman that Robin becomes, however, is a fair depiction of life. As much as we want to maintain contact with the friends we grew up with, and continue the crazy stupid world we live in when we grow up, sometimes the party has to stop. Certainly, you'll want the party to stop if it contains your ex-husband and the man you could've married and blew it with.
When the party did stop, boy did it stop abruptly. After last week, when the knot had been tied and all we had seemingly had left to go through was Ted and The Mother's meeting and procession to when Ted begun telling his kids the story, and why.
There may have been some surprises and shocks along the way, but near the end, we finally got to see the scene we had been waiting for. The scene in the middle where Ted introduced himself to the mother was perfectly calibrated, and was exactly how it should've been played out, in the middle of a train station platform in the heavy rain, and was a perfect rendition of the big scene this whole thing has been building up to over the past nine years.
It would've been satisfying to end there. There'd been a hurricane of differing tricks, twists and turns as it fully - if a bit quickly - navigated their 30's and 40's in a whistle-stop run of information, but it somehow all stuck. Until, that is, the final ending parts.
This will go down as a very divisive end to a TV show. But it also feels underwhelming that it was essentially figured out ages ago in 2006, and it feels bizarre that this whole episode was engineered to go straight for the conclusion, and with all the Twitter-breaking outrage that followed.
There was a sizeable number who figured out the plotline of the death of the Mother long ago - several weeks ago, in fact, and it was sad and kept ludicrously low in the plot but was seemingly inevitable. Even then, had it been revealed she'd died and Ted was going to stop there, knowing he'd waited so long for his perfect woman only to lose her, nobody would've protested if he just said "I can't remarry again". It would've been understandable if his heart had been built up only to be torn to shreds.
It also felt underwhelming it just sort of ran through the death, going straight from "she got sick" to "Dad, she's been dead for six years" - way too fast in telly time to acknowledge what a sizeable thing killing off the mother from the title actually is, and that's why so many feel cheated by it.
In fact, Josh Radnor has done exceptionally well not just to be part of the sitcom where he's spent nearly all of it impersonated by Bob Saget. He, and the actors that play the kids, have done exceptionally well to keep quiet about this since when they filmed it all the way back in 2006.
It deserves some credit for accepting that real life can, for some people, be a painful kick in the balls, not follow the blueprints that you thought it was going to follow, and some people do not get the fairytale ending. But even then, it still feels very weird they decided to culminate the show with the ending that Seasons One-Five would've got in a conventional sitcom. Of course, its quite a long time after it seemed sane, doable or practical for Ted and Robin to resume their relationship.
As for everything else, its conceivable this episode should've been stretched out for a few more hours, rather than trying to cram a hurricane of information into one hour (48 minutes with adverts). A few episodes earlier in the season could have been condensed, allowing a few or perhaps even a half-season to play it out, rather than the fact it aired with a weirdly blip-blip-blip feeling filled with some amusing in-jokes (Cockamouse! Sonofabitch! Yellow umbrella!).
Lily and Marshall's parts certainly felt almost afterthought-y at times, although their happy ever after was always likely (Marshall gets to be a state supreme court judge with 3 kids, and Lily stays with). Alyson Hannigan certainly did well to pull of a dramatic heart-upsetting moment while wearing a bizarre white latex whale costume - no mean feat.
Barney gets the ultimate surprise in the form of a kid of his own after going on a "Perfect Month". This was probably the most surprisingly touching part - even with the pain of the earlier divorce.
Robin's parts worked for the first part, but the finale felt weird. Ted's kids persuading the broken father to ask her out using the fabled blue French horn from the pilot. This is the internet-breaker of a moment, and from afar and in depth, it still doesn't really scan properly.
All in all, there was plenty to admire for 40 of this show's 48 minutes. The last 8, however, is not included in this. Sure, its wasn't as painfully bad as Dexter's perplexing travesty of a conclusion. But is it legen... wait for it... dary?
Well, no. Legendary outrage amongst Tweeters, perhaps, but the show itself was a good show until the ending moments, and rather than answering all of our questions, it just leaves us dozens more that we'll probably have to answer ourselves.
3/5
The show has been on the air for nine years, with 200+ episodes produced in that meantime chronicling the crazy lives of Ted, Barney, Robin, Marshall and Lily. Ted's children must have the world's best attention spans to be able to focus for nine year's worth of story in one sitting.
This stand-off certainly at least provided arguably the best line of the entire series, when the older Ted tells his kids "I kept this story brief and to the point!" - possibly the best laugh out loud moment of this hour.
Of course, demanding teenagers to sit still for nine years may not quite be realistic. But there has been much to admire over the show's run. Its willful defiance of conventional narrative coupled to plenty of good-natured humour and barbs was often the basis of some good viewing, even if it was sometimes prone to missteps (Season 8, for example, was largely forgettable).
Now, with the end of the road in sight, the advance buzz was with people wondering "What is the end going to look like?"
It starts, predictably, in 2005, with Robin's integration in the friendship circle - closely followed by the heady day of May 2013 when Barney and Robin's wedding took place. Season 9 has been building to this.
Think then, of what a smack in the face it must've felt like, when it was dropped at the end of the second act that they were divorced.
The broken woman that Robin becomes, however, is a fair depiction of life. As much as we want to maintain contact with the friends we grew up with, and continue the crazy stupid world we live in when we grow up, sometimes the party has to stop. Certainly, you'll want the party to stop if it contains your ex-husband and the man you could've married and blew it with.
When the party did stop, boy did it stop abruptly. After last week, when the knot had been tied and all we had seemingly had left to go through was Ted and The Mother's meeting and procession to when Ted begun telling his kids the story, and why.
There may have been some surprises and shocks along the way, but near the end, we finally got to see the scene we had been waiting for. The scene in the middle where Ted introduced himself to the mother was perfectly calibrated, and was exactly how it should've been played out, in the middle of a train station platform in the heavy rain, and was a perfect rendition of the big scene this whole thing has been building up to over the past nine years.
It would've been satisfying to end there. There'd been a hurricane of differing tricks, twists and turns as it fully - if a bit quickly - navigated their 30's and 40's in a whistle-stop run of information, but it somehow all stuck. Until, that is, the final ending parts.
This will go down as a very divisive end to a TV show. But it also feels underwhelming that it was essentially figured out ages ago in 2006, and it feels bizarre that this whole episode was engineered to go straight for the conclusion, and with all the Twitter-breaking outrage that followed.
There was a sizeable number who figured out the plotline of the death of the Mother long ago - several weeks ago, in fact, and it was sad and kept ludicrously low in the plot but was seemingly inevitable. Even then, had it been revealed she'd died and Ted was going to stop there, knowing he'd waited so long for his perfect woman only to lose her, nobody would've protested if he just said "I can't remarry again". It would've been understandable if his heart had been built up only to be torn to shreds.
It also felt underwhelming it just sort of ran through the death, going straight from "she got sick" to "Dad, she's been dead for six years" - way too fast in telly time to acknowledge what a sizeable thing killing off the mother from the title actually is, and that's why so many feel cheated by it.
In fact, Josh Radnor has done exceptionally well not just to be part of the sitcom where he's spent nearly all of it impersonated by Bob Saget. He, and the actors that play the kids, have done exceptionally well to keep quiet about this since when they filmed it all the way back in 2006.
It deserves some credit for accepting that real life can, for some people, be a painful kick in the balls, not follow the blueprints that you thought it was going to follow, and some people do not get the fairytale ending. But even then, it still feels very weird they decided to culminate the show with the ending that Seasons One-Five would've got in a conventional sitcom. Of course, its quite a long time after it seemed sane, doable or practical for Ted and Robin to resume their relationship.
As for everything else, its conceivable this episode should've been stretched out for a few more hours, rather than trying to cram a hurricane of information into one hour (48 minutes with adverts). A few episodes earlier in the season could have been condensed, allowing a few or perhaps even a half-season to play it out, rather than the fact it aired with a weirdly blip-blip-blip feeling filled with some amusing in-jokes (Cockamouse! Sonofabitch! Yellow umbrella!).
Lily and Marshall's parts certainly felt almost afterthought-y at times, although their happy ever after was always likely (Marshall gets to be a state supreme court judge with 3 kids, and Lily stays with). Alyson Hannigan certainly did well to pull of a dramatic heart-upsetting moment while wearing a bizarre white latex whale costume - no mean feat.
Barney gets the ultimate surprise in the form of a kid of his own after going on a "Perfect Month". This was probably the most surprisingly touching part - even with the pain of the earlier divorce.
Robin's parts worked for the first part, but the finale felt weird. Ted's kids persuading the broken father to ask her out using the fabled blue French horn from the pilot. This is the internet-breaker of a moment, and from afar and in depth, it still doesn't really scan properly.
All in all, there was plenty to admire for 40 of this show's 48 minutes. The last 8, however, is not included in this. Sure, its wasn't as painfully bad as Dexter's perplexing travesty of a conclusion. But is it legen... wait for it... dary?
Well, no. Legendary outrage amongst Tweeters, perhaps, but the show itself was a good show until the ending moments, and rather than answering all of our questions, it just leaves us dozens more that we'll probably have to answer ourselves.
3/5
Friday, 28 March 2014
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Film Review
CAPTAIN America has forever had the viewpoint as being among the weakest superheroes in Marvel’s assembled superhero roster.
The other elements have the respective strengths, such as Iron Man’s technological array, Hulk’s destructive power, and Thor’s god powers. But the captain is essentially a standard soldier turned supermassive, which is largely down to the steroid injected into him at his origin.
One elaborate reading into him is that the shield is an admission of weakness – that he is significantly more vulnerable than his superhero chums and is a weaker link, although as this film routinely says, he’s not exactly easy to take down.
Although his origins film was of a so-so nature, the return outing of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is also the main continuation of Marvel’s ever-complex Avengers franchise for 2014, with this the last stop on the way to next summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron – the second full-on superhero bunfight.
To the credit of the Captain, his persona as a trusting man from the 1940′s with set ideals thrown into the power struggle of the 21st century is an interesting concept. It could have been easy for this to be a simple wham-bam adjustment to our times, and coming across 70 years of technological innovation, popular culture evolution and changes to general life.
But the political elements are not so much bought to the fore as the key composition, and they’re played in a very interesting fashion. This film oozes Machiavellian scheming from shady characters – a bit like House of Cards with superheroes, which is fitting given Washington DC serves as the film’s primary backdrop.
Rogers’ boss remains Avengers assembler Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), who is harbouring a barrel load of secrets just as SHIELD is getting the green light for the launch of a huge defence initiative entitled Operation: Insight. These are three giant plane-carrying warships, using satellites to pre-emptively find and eliminate potential threats to national security.
But Rogers is losing faith in the structure of SHIELD, after finding fellow agent and Avenger Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) received different orders on a mission in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
The web of deceit goes further, with SHIELD head Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) unconvinced his former friend Fury is trustworthy enough – not helped by Fury’s lack of trust in everyone and everything. But things then fully begin to spiral out of control, leaving the Captain and Romanoff together on the run from the authorities.
The movie begins to take a turn for trouble when the titular Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and his hordes make their appearance, with a mission to take Fury out moments after he attempts to postpone Operation: Insight.
After refusing to divulge information on Fury, the Captain is added to the list of "take-outs" by as-yet unknown baddies, although they probably should've known locking 25 people in a lift with him was going to end in him victorious.
The tightly-woven nature of the film oozes political riffs, musings on the jettisoning of personal freedom and good, functional uses for each of its main characters.
Used particularly well is first film scientist Armin Zola (Toby Jones), whose consciousness is stored on a vast array of vintage data banks. He truly spills out the long game of scheming for good, confirming Hydra was not quite dead and more preparing to assume absolute control.
The interesting notion is another thing that is not quite far away. Similar mediums like the upcoming video game Watchdogs have been exploring the notion that the excessive extent of technology's place in all our lives is now making it very easy for the bad guys to prepare a global takeover.
This scheming and intrigue functions well despite the fact a lot of the basic structure within the movie conforms to cliche. There are a number of plot points – primarily near the end – that conform to the expected nature of these things, which seems to be standard issue for films of these nature. Some particular points come across when the identity of the titular Winter Soldier himself is revealed, and when the showdowns come along.
Naturally, as is the case, the final moments are a big showdown as Insight is preparing for its world-changing launch, with the film's final moments seeing burning ships and twisted metal fall from the DC sky as the Captain and the Winter Soldier have it out on the bow of a stricken and tumbling vessel.
This is an obvious niggle, but there is much to admire nevertheless. Particularly adept is the various performances, with Jackson and Johansson continuing the impressive performances they posted in during the first Avengers movie. Also impressive is newcomer Anthony Mackie as ex-military paratrooper Sam Wilson, who becomes a huge aid to the cause as the film progresses.
While some reviews said Captain America himself was outacted by Stan Lee and by a portrait of Dominic Cooper, his performance is nevertheless well functioning.
The Captain may still not be Marvel’s best superhero, but he and his friends do deliver a compelling vision of entertainment that continues the Marvel universe in a suitably grandiose fashion, and perhaps providing the studio a new direction to go into.
There is certainly plenty to build upon, and not just with an intriguingly positioned mid-credit scene that includes a new HYDRA and some minor characters from the X-Men comic books that threaten to play a big part in Avengers 2.
But for the moment, all Marvel fans can do after seeing this is wait and see if this more mature step becomes the stride Avengers 2 walks in.
3.75/5
The other elements have the respective strengths, such as Iron Man’s technological array, Hulk’s destructive power, and Thor’s god powers. But the captain is essentially a standard soldier turned supermassive, which is largely down to the steroid injected into him at his origin.
One elaborate reading into him is that the shield is an admission of weakness – that he is significantly more vulnerable than his superhero chums and is a weaker link, although as this film routinely says, he’s not exactly easy to take down.
Although his origins film was of a so-so nature, the return outing of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is also the main continuation of Marvel’s ever-complex Avengers franchise for 2014, with this the last stop on the way to next summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron – the second full-on superhero bunfight.
To the credit of the Captain, his persona as a trusting man from the 1940′s with set ideals thrown into the power struggle of the 21st century is an interesting concept. It could have been easy for this to be a simple wham-bam adjustment to our times, and coming across 70 years of technological innovation, popular culture evolution and changes to general life.
But the political elements are not so much bought to the fore as the key composition, and they’re played in a very interesting fashion. This film oozes Machiavellian scheming from shady characters – a bit like House of Cards with superheroes, which is fitting given Washington DC serves as the film’s primary backdrop.
Rogers’ boss remains Avengers assembler Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), who is harbouring a barrel load of secrets just as SHIELD is getting the green light for the launch of a huge defence initiative entitled Operation: Insight. These are three giant plane-carrying warships, using satellites to pre-emptively find and eliminate potential threats to national security.
But Rogers is losing faith in the structure of SHIELD, after finding fellow agent and Avenger Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) received different orders on a mission in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
The web of deceit goes further, with SHIELD head Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) unconvinced his former friend Fury is trustworthy enough – not helped by Fury’s lack of trust in everyone and everything. But things then fully begin to spiral out of control, leaving the Captain and Romanoff together on the run from the authorities.
The movie begins to take a turn for trouble when the titular Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and his hordes make their appearance, with a mission to take Fury out moments after he attempts to postpone Operation: Insight.
After refusing to divulge information on Fury, the Captain is added to the list of "take-outs" by as-yet unknown baddies, although they probably should've known locking 25 people in a lift with him was going to end in him victorious.
The tightly-woven nature of the film oozes political riffs, musings on the jettisoning of personal freedom and good, functional uses for each of its main characters.
Used particularly well is first film scientist Armin Zola (Toby Jones), whose consciousness is stored on a vast array of vintage data banks. He truly spills out the long game of scheming for good, confirming Hydra was not quite dead and more preparing to assume absolute control.
The interesting notion is another thing that is not quite far away. Similar mediums like the upcoming video game Watchdogs have been exploring the notion that the excessive extent of technology's place in all our lives is now making it very easy for the bad guys to prepare a global takeover.
This scheming and intrigue functions well despite the fact a lot of the basic structure within the movie conforms to cliche. There are a number of plot points – primarily near the end – that conform to the expected nature of these things, which seems to be standard issue for films of these nature. Some particular points come across when the identity of the titular Winter Soldier himself is revealed, and when the showdowns come along.
Naturally, as is the case, the final moments are a big showdown as Insight is preparing for its world-changing launch, with the film's final moments seeing burning ships and twisted metal fall from the DC sky as the Captain and the Winter Soldier have it out on the bow of a stricken and tumbling vessel.
This is an obvious niggle, but there is much to admire nevertheless. Particularly adept is the various performances, with Jackson and Johansson continuing the impressive performances they posted in during the first Avengers movie. Also impressive is newcomer Anthony Mackie as ex-military paratrooper Sam Wilson, who becomes a huge aid to the cause as the film progresses.
While some reviews said Captain America himself was outacted by Stan Lee and by a portrait of Dominic Cooper, his performance is nevertheless well functioning.
The Captain may still not be Marvel’s best superhero, but he and his friends do deliver a compelling vision of entertainment that continues the Marvel universe in a suitably grandiose fashion, and perhaps providing the studio a new direction to go into.
There is certainly plenty to build upon, and not just with an intriguingly positioned mid-credit scene that includes a new HYDRA and some minor characters from the X-Men comic books that threaten to play a big part in Avengers 2.
But for the moment, all Marvel fans can do after seeing this is wait and see if this more mature step becomes the stride Avengers 2 walks in.
3.75/5
Thursday, 27 March 2014
NME Awards Tour at Brixton Academy - Live Review
These are puzzling times for NME, which is still capable of breaking new bands but is struggling with falling circulation.
Despite this circulation fall, people still have interest in what it has to say and what it has to put on. While it takes a while to fill, its a sell-out crowd in the Brixton Academy tonight, assembled to watch 3 new bands and one not so new band.
Traditionally, the opening slots have been a breeding ground for bands that have reached big status. The likes of The Vaccines, Florence and the Machine, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and Coldplay have all gone from opening the tour to winding up with top 10 records, arena tours and the like.
Playing in the slot with the ghosts of the big names are a four-piece from Liverpool who, in the words of their frontman, have grown quite a bit from not existing this time last year.
Kicking-off proceedings were Circa Waves, who are an impressively calibrated group. With a set formed of very pleasantly heavy but poppy tunes, there is something decent stuff going on here. Some reviewers have compared it to vintage-Strokes, although there is the odd wiff of a Foo Fighters riff lurking around here as well.
Drummer Sian Plummer is particularly impressive, with some superbly crafted percussive links throughout a continuously high-tempo set.
Following them on are Brighton two-piece Royal Blood, who have grown in reputation since Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders wore one of their t-shirts at Glastonbury last summer.
Like the first act, there's a pleasant heaviness here, but its amplified significantly. The impressively channeled use of Michael Kerr's bass guitar to perform heavy guitar riff is a fantastically brutal mood that dictates the track. Combining with some battering drum parts and some huge choruses, its certainly a winning combination - not least for a crowd beginning to fill up and get rowdy.
It also provokes some of the evening's first mass singalongs, with new single Little Monster and the brute force of earlier tune Out of the Black inspiring the crowd to join in on vocals and engage in some spirited moshing.
Third on is a band already heralded as one of the best new acts of 2014. Temples have been widely cited as the best (or only) band to ever come from the Northamptonshire town of Kettering, while the likes of Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr are fans.
With a top 10 debut album and such famous followers, one would be expecting big things. But one would not be counting on their slot getting off to a flat start. The band seemed overawed by their surroundings, and the opening song goes by quickly in an anonymous blur.
The show does improve the further down the setlist the band go. Early single Keep in the Dark is an intriguing stumbly feel to the band's psychedelic outlook, as is the title track from debut record Sun Structures. By no means is a bad performance provided - and one that deserved more credit than the odd "That was shit" uttered by crowd members - but by the same token, it feels quiet and almost sonically overawed in comparison to the two bands that preceded them.
Headlining the evening, in a curious trick, are a band who were show openers way back in 2003. Interpol were largely seen as failing to top 2004's Antics, with the following two albums charting higher but lacking the tunes to make a lasting impression.
Rather than return with their own tiny venue shows, the New York four piece have opted to return to the public consciousness by taking up residency on NME's jaunt. Its an unusual process for the magazine, given the headline act is usually an act breaking through, like recent headliners Django Django and Two Door Cinema Club.
But the moment they stride on, they look and feel confident to own the space. After all, they have previously headlined concerts at the famous rock venue five times. They open confidently with the rush of debut album single Say Hello to the Angels, but its following song Evil - from Antics, no less - that gets the crowd really rocking into high gear.
The song is introduced by a prominent bass riff, but that song is one of the few occasions that touring bassist Brad Truax's instrument can be audible over the hubbub of his bandmates on the stage.
Nevertheless, there is plenty power to the Interpol tracks. Following the opening duo is the melancholic delights of C'mere, while the likes of The Heinrich Manuever, Narc and Not Even Jail are expert reminders of the band's classic back catalogue.
There are also three new songs dotted around. Each provides an interesting update on the vintage Interpol sound, with My Desire adding a funkier strut, and All The Rage Back Home sounding impressively jangly, even despite its bizarre and seemingly unnecessary restart.
The main set concludes with the faster PDA and Slow Hands, much to the delight of a boisterous and rowdy front few rows. But of course, its not the end, with the band returning for a three song encore that concludes abruptly with the doomy Obstacle 1.
The band are well orchestrated as ever, with Paul Banks' stern baritone and the bandy-legged Daniel Kessler's serrated guitar adding expertly crafted guile to fulfill a very impressive 90-odd minute set.
Its the conclusion to a good evening's entertainment, and certainly proves that despite the NME's perceived failings a a magazine, the brand name is certainly well-allied to some excellent concerts bringing to the fore some good new acts, and some old friends.
4/5
Despite this circulation fall, people still have interest in what it has to say and what it has to put on. While it takes a while to fill, its a sell-out crowd in the Brixton Academy tonight, assembled to watch 3 new bands and one not so new band.
Traditionally, the opening slots have been a breeding ground for bands that have reached big status. The likes of The Vaccines, Florence and the Machine, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and Coldplay have all gone from opening the tour to winding up with top 10 records, arena tours and the like.
Playing in the slot with the ghosts of the big names are a four-piece from Liverpool who, in the words of their frontman, have grown quite a bit from not existing this time last year.
Kicking-off proceedings were Circa Waves, who are an impressively calibrated group. With a set formed of very pleasantly heavy but poppy tunes, there is something decent stuff going on here. Some reviewers have compared it to vintage-Strokes, although there is the odd wiff of a Foo Fighters riff lurking around here as well.
Drummer Sian Plummer is particularly impressive, with some superbly crafted percussive links throughout a continuously high-tempo set.
Following them on are Brighton two-piece Royal Blood, who have grown in reputation since Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders wore one of their t-shirts at Glastonbury last summer.
Like the first act, there's a pleasant heaviness here, but its amplified significantly. The impressively channeled use of Michael Kerr's bass guitar to perform heavy guitar riff is a fantastically brutal mood that dictates the track. Combining with some battering drum parts and some huge choruses, its certainly a winning combination - not least for a crowd beginning to fill up and get rowdy.
It also provokes some of the evening's first mass singalongs, with new single Little Monster and the brute force of earlier tune Out of the Black inspiring the crowd to join in on vocals and engage in some spirited moshing.
Third on is a band already heralded as one of the best new acts of 2014. Temples have been widely cited as the best (or only) band to ever come from the Northamptonshire town of Kettering, while the likes of Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr are fans.
With a top 10 debut album and such famous followers, one would be expecting big things. But one would not be counting on their slot getting off to a flat start. The band seemed overawed by their surroundings, and the opening song goes by quickly in an anonymous blur.
The show does improve the further down the setlist the band go. Early single Keep in the Dark is an intriguing stumbly feel to the band's psychedelic outlook, as is the title track from debut record Sun Structures. By no means is a bad performance provided - and one that deserved more credit than the odd "That was shit" uttered by crowd members - but by the same token, it feels quiet and almost sonically overawed in comparison to the two bands that preceded them.
Headlining the evening, in a curious trick, are a band who were show openers way back in 2003. Interpol were largely seen as failing to top 2004's Antics, with the following two albums charting higher but lacking the tunes to make a lasting impression.
Rather than return with their own tiny venue shows, the New York four piece have opted to return to the public consciousness by taking up residency on NME's jaunt. Its an unusual process for the magazine, given the headline act is usually an act breaking through, like recent headliners Django Django and Two Door Cinema Club.
But the moment they stride on, they look and feel confident to own the space. After all, they have previously headlined concerts at the famous rock venue five times. They open confidently with the rush of debut album single Say Hello to the Angels, but its following song Evil - from Antics, no less - that gets the crowd really rocking into high gear.
The song is introduced by a prominent bass riff, but that song is one of the few occasions that touring bassist Brad Truax's instrument can be audible over the hubbub of his bandmates on the stage.
Nevertheless, there is plenty power to the Interpol tracks. Following the opening duo is the melancholic delights of C'mere, while the likes of The Heinrich Manuever, Narc and Not Even Jail are expert reminders of the band's classic back catalogue.
There are also three new songs dotted around. Each provides an interesting update on the vintage Interpol sound, with My Desire adding a funkier strut, and All The Rage Back Home sounding impressively jangly, even despite its bizarre and seemingly unnecessary restart.
The main set concludes with the faster PDA and Slow Hands, much to the delight of a boisterous and rowdy front few rows. But of course, its not the end, with the band returning for a three song encore that concludes abruptly with the doomy Obstacle 1.
The band are well orchestrated as ever, with Paul Banks' stern baritone and the bandy-legged Daniel Kessler's serrated guitar adding expertly crafted guile to fulfill a very impressive 90-odd minute set.
Its the conclusion to a good evening's entertainment, and certainly proves that despite the NME's perceived failings a a magazine, the brand name is certainly well-allied to some excellent concerts bringing to the fore some good new acts, and some old friends.
4/5
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Need for Speed - Film Review
At some point recently, Hollywood film producers clearly decided the video game console was the latest thing to adapt into feature movies by the barrel load.
There have been a number of films based on video games, but most adaptations have not worked. Resident Evil is somehow still having movies made despite the films being almost universally unpopular, while Doom, Lara Croft, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Super Mario Brothers have all spawned films that tanked with critics.
Yet the next few years will see an explosion in titles. A number of adaptations are in the works, with Angry Birds, Rachet & Clank, Assassin's Creed, World of Warcraft, Mass Effect, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Shadow of the Colossus and the more recent Lara Croft and Mortal Kombat reboots are all set for cinematic releases in the next few years.
While a Grand Theft Auto game might be the crossover name, the two other main video driving games are set for adaptation. Gran Turismo has only just been greenlit, but trying to steal a charge on the use of video games to tap into the Fast and the Furious' stranglehold on car-action is the EA title Need for Speed.
Somehow the 6th installment of TF&F was one of 2013's highest grossing movies, so clearly the market is there. But transforming what is essentially a racing game into a 2hr10 movie is not going to be easy. Nevertheless, Dreamworks and EA decided to have a go anyway, with a plot centered around a former racer called Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul), who is running a mechanics in upstate New York.
Very quickly, we're introduced to Marshall's gang of mechanics and machineheads, along with the racing and the financial perils they are in. This leads to a "deal with the devil", who here is Indy 500 racer and car upgrades mogul Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper), who offers a vintage Ford Mustang that Carroll Shelby worked on just before his death.
With no cash, they get to work on the car, and successfully sell it for $2.7million with a 25% cut to Julia (Imogen Poots), who is working on behalf of a mystery billionaire. But Dino is still not happy and challenges Tobey and his sidekick Little Pete (Harrison Gilbertson) to a race for the money inside three imported Koenigseggs.
The film takes a turn for the tragic when Little Pete is crashed into by Dino, leading to the car flipping 12 times before going over a bridge, into a ravine and bursting into flames. Dino duly frames Tobey and he's chucked in jail for two years. Its a bold and slightly odd step to do this early on, not least given its only been a few months since the tragic and early death of Fast & Furious star Paul Walker, who died in a fiery car crash in Los Angeles just after Thanksgiving.
In the hands of a different script-writer, this plot point could have led to something like Breaking Bad on wheels. There were many times over the meth drama's run when Paul's character Jessie Pinkman lost someone that its a small wonder he wasn't mentally shot to pieces long before the end of the drama.
Instead, he gets out and, stone-cold serious, decides he wants to challenge Dino to a race. With Julia in tow, he borrows the vintage Mustang and goes for an epic drive from New York to San Francisco in 45 hours to register for a high-stakes car race organised by recluse DJ Monarch (Michael Keaton).
Along the way it takes in Detroit, Nebraska, the Grand Canyon and Bonneville Salt Flats, which clearly means someone is not reading the maps properly. It also takes in a variety of stunts, annoying other road users, hijacking helicopters, mid-road refuelling, an aerial stunt updating the famous ending to Thelma & Louise and eventually culminates in an angry exchange at a San Francisco hotel.
The journey plays like a po-faced update of how one might just play a regular game on one of the many dozen Need for Speed titles. Its unbreakingly, almost stiflingly, serious - almost enough to overlook potholes. For example, the breathless ease in which Tobey's air support Benny (Kid Cudi) is able to nick aerial vehicles is never fully explained, not to mention how quickly he appears to get from one place to another.
This is not the only plothole you could slide through. While we're led to believe the animosity is down to Dino being with Tobey's ex-girlfriend Anita (Dakota Johnson), the gap is never filled in, and the mutual hatred is never fully explained.
Dino is certainly given a very unsympathetic, almost loathsome appeal, but is also made to look incredibly stupid by keeping the evidence that implicates him in shortcut form on his work computer. It feels in many ways that his character required a lot more fleshing out.
Eventually, it winds up with the big race, but by then, a number of plot points have become eminently predictable. The race itself even has a predictable feel, almost as if you're just watching a big live-action remake of the game, or a version of Mario Kart where police carts have replaced banana peels.
That's not to say the plot is the mess everyone describes it as. The "revenge thriller" premise is a staple of expensive multiplex filler, and the motivation "he got away with killing my best friend" is as pure a motivational hatred as you can want. This motivation can certainly explain a number of absurd failings of reason by the main characters, even if it often struggles to convince as it continues.
In a way, the gaudy fun of a cross-country road trip and winning a dangerous car race is stifled by this serious cloak. It could just embrace its place as a showroom for expensive performance race cars, and it certainly does show off what car geeks will have paid their money to see - the likes of the Bugatti Veyron, the Lamborghini Aventador, and the aforementioned Mustangs and Koenigsegg's rushing around at miles per hour narrowly avoiding police cars and normal cars, and flying down turf.
But for those who fancy a bit more substance, its disappointing to see it believe its own substance too readily, and ends up going nowhere fast.
Its not a barren desert that many said it was. Aaron Paul's first major role after Breaking Bad does see him at least embrace a slightly less tormented existence, and he does do quite well with such meagre rations, while Imogen Poots certainly holds her own within such an orgy of testosterone and petrol fumes.
Much has also been made of its refusal to use CGI, with the cast all taking stunt driving lessons and dummy shells made of the real cars to do the explosions for real. Its certainly more authentic then all manner of random and pointless exploding cars that usually pad out these things.
But at the end of the day, this could have been one of two things - a film that finally shows its possible to add character, plot and something compelling to the macho automotive extravaganza film world, or a film that proves its possible to make a good solid movie out of the video game medium.
There were many possible turns on the highway towards its development, but it simply was content to be a midlane hogger. Its a surprisingly acceptable film but it could have been so much more.
2.5/5
There have been a number of films based on video games, but most adaptations have not worked. Resident Evil is somehow still having movies made despite the films being almost universally unpopular, while Doom, Lara Croft, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Super Mario Brothers have all spawned films that tanked with critics.
Yet the next few years will see an explosion in titles. A number of adaptations are in the works, with Angry Birds, Rachet & Clank, Assassin's Creed, World of Warcraft, Mass Effect, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Shadow of the Colossus and the more recent Lara Croft and Mortal Kombat reboots are all set for cinematic releases in the next few years.
While a Grand Theft Auto game might be the crossover name, the two other main video driving games are set for adaptation. Gran Turismo has only just been greenlit, but trying to steal a charge on the use of video games to tap into the Fast and the Furious' stranglehold on car-action is the EA title Need for Speed.
Somehow the 6th installment of TF&F was one of 2013's highest grossing movies, so clearly the market is there. But transforming what is essentially a racing game into a 2hr10 movie is not going to be easy. Nevertheless, Dreamworks and EA decided to have a go anyway, with a plot centered around a former racer called Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul), who is running a mechanics in upstate New York.
Very quickly, we're introduced to Marshall's gang of mechanics and machineheads, along with the racing and the financial perils they are in. This leads to a "deal with the devil", who here is Indy 500 racer and car upgrades mogul Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper), who offers a vintage Ford Mustang that Carroll Shelby worked on just before his death.
With no cash, they get to work on the car, and successfully sell it for $2.7million with a 25% cut to Julia (Imogen Poots), who is working on behalf of a mystery billionaire. But Dino is still not happy and challenges Tobey and his sidekick Little Pete (Harrison Gilbertson) to a race for the money inside three imported Koenigseggs.
The film takes a turn for the tragic when Little Pete is crashed into by Dino, leading to the car flipping 12 times before going over a bridge, into a ravine and bursting into flames. Dino duly frames Tobey and he's chucked in jail for two years. Its a bold and slightly odd step to do this early on, not least given its only been a few months since the tragic and early death of Fast & Furious star Paul Walker, who died in a fiery car crash in Los Angeles just after Thanksgiving.
In the hands of a different script-writer, this plot point could have led to something like Breaking Bad on wheels. There were many times over the meth drama's run when Paul's character Jessie Pinkman lost someone that its a small wonder he wasn't mentally shot to pieces long before the end of the drama.
Instead, he gets out and, stone-cold serious, decides he wants to challenge Dino to a race. With Julia in tow, he borrows the vintage Mustang and goes for an epic drive from New York to San Francisco in 45 hours to register for a high-stakes car race organised by recluse DJ Monarch (Michael Keaton).
Along the way it takes in Detroit, Nebraska, the Grand Canyon and Bonneville Salt Flats, which clearly means someone is not reading the maps properly. It also takes in a variety of stunts, annoying other road users, hijacking helicopters, mid-road refuelling, an aerial stunt updating the famous ending to Thelma & Louise and eventually culminates in an angry exchange at a San Francisco hotel.
The journey plays like a po-faced update of how one might just play a regular game on one of the many dozen Need for Speed titles. Its unbreakingly, almost stiflingly, serious - almost enough to overlook potholes. For example, the breathless ease in which Tobey's air support Benny (Kid Cudi) is able to nick aerial vehicles is never fully explained, not to mention how quickly he appears to get from one place to another.
This is not the only plothole you could slide through. While we're led to believe the animosity is down to Dino being with Tobey's ex-girlfriend Anita (Dakota Johnson), the gap is never filled in, and the mutual hatred is never fully explained.
Dino is certainly given a very unsympathetic, almost loathsome appeal, but is also made to look incredibly stupid by keeping the evidence that implicates him in shortcut form on his work computer. It feels in many ways that his character required a lot more fleshing out.
Eventually, it winds up with the big race, but by then, a number of plot points have become eminently predictable. The race itself even has a predictable feel, almost as if you're just watching a big live-action remake of the game, or a version of Mario Kart where police carts have replaced banana peels.
That's not to say the plot is the mess everyone describes it as. The "revenge thriller" premise is a staple of expensive multiplex filler, and the motivation "he got away with killing my best friend" is as pure a motivational hatred as you can want. This motivation can certainly explain a number of absurd failings of reason by the main characters, even if it often struggles to convince as it continues.
In a way, the gaudy fun of a cross-country road trip and winning a dangerous car race is stifled by this serious cloak. It could just embrace its place as a showroom for expensive performance race cars, and it certainly does show off what car geeks will have paid their money to see - the likes of the Bugatti Veyron, the Lamborghini Aventador, and the aforementioned Mustangs and Koenigsegg's rushing around at miles per hour narrowly avoiding police cars and normal cars, and flying down turf.
But for those who fancy a bit more substance, its disappointing to see it believe its own substance too readily, and ends up going nowhere fast.
Its not a barren desert that many said it was. Aaron Paul's first major role after Breaking Bad does see him at least embrace a slightly less tormented existence, and he does do quite well with such meagre rations, while Imogen Poots certainly holds her own within such an orgy of testosterone and petrol fumes.
Much has also been made of its refusal to use CGI, with the cast all taking stunt driving lessons and dummy shells made of the real cars to do the explosions for real. Its certainly more authentic then all manner of random and pointless exploding cars that usually pad out these things.
But at the end of the day, this could have been one of two things - a film that finally shows its possible to add character, plot and something compelling to the macho automotive extravaganza film world, or a film that proves its possible to make a good solid movie out of the video game medium.
There were many possible turns on the highway towards its development, but it simply was content to be a midlane hogger. Its a surprisingly acceptable film but it could have been so much more.
2.5/5
Saturday, 15 March 2014
Franz Ferdinand at The Roundhouse - Live Review
Its been ten years since Franz Ferdinand first burst into the pop-rock mainstream with possibly one of the best debut albums by any band.
Their self-titled first album was a fabulously cultivated series of dance rock anthems, with an number of jangly and gleeful but massive choruses even beyond the signature scrawl of Take Me Out.The album led to an Ivor Novello songwriting award and two Brit Awards. It was then followed up by a second album in 2005 and a major tour that included four sell-out nights to 8,000-a-time at Alexandra Palace and a headline performance at Reading Festival 2006.
Franz may not have followed fellow '06 headliners Muse and Pearl Jam into doing tunes in a stadium environment, but their music is certainly a beast that works as well - if not, better - in a gorgeous-looking & intimate room such as the historic Roundhouse.
Dressed in identical black, white and grey suits, the band kicked off the evening in surprise fashion, as drummer Paul Thomson walked on alone, before counting in and kicking off the intro snare rolls of new song Bullet. This was soon followed up by the appearance of the rest of the band appearing from behind video towers onto the stage.
Most acts nowadays perform with LCD and LED video screens that give the effect of being giant televisions, to the point where its now a bit perfunctory to see these. So some kudos has to go to the band for using the vintage high school projector, which displays a myriad of funky artistic imagery around and behind the four-piece. This had begun with a montage of airport departure windows, which had been booted up some 10 minutes before the band had even begun the gig.
After the opener, the band were back into the debut material - beginning with carefree anthem The Dark of the Matinee. It leads to a trade-off of sorts, with new songs like Evil Eye followed up by vintage classics like No You Girls and an extended rendition of Do You Want To.
New or old, the band and crowd were certainly enjoying themselves. Sweat was apparent on both sides of the crowd control barriers, with the crowd entering the dance-rock spirit with gusto. Meanwhile, singer Alex Kapranos looked to be having one hell of a time behind the microphone, energetically bouncing around the stage with a number of high-kicks.
There is certainly a fine interlocking music ship, with Bob Hardy and Thomson's rhythm section finely placed for Kapranos and guitarist/keyboardist Nick McCarthy to layer on a number of jangly guitar licks. Its also impressive how much energy flows through the show from the start, with Kapranos showing more energy than many bands half his age.
The energy does recede for the calm melancholy of new single Fresh Strawberries and classic ballad Walk Away, before restarting for the build-up tune Stand on the Horizon and a surprise I Feel Love-inspired remix of Can't Stop Feeling.
Bigger surprises follow, with an airing for vintage track Auf Achse followed quickly by a shortened version of electro-rock freakout Lucid Dreams. But they are both warmly received old friends, and set us up nicely for a big run of finishes. It starts off with Michael and then the pop-rock classic Take Me Out, which is very much the song that gets the room moshing like never before.
It leads nicely into a raucous rendition of Love Illumination, the demonic This Fire and a final run-through of Ulysses, which closed the bands last appearance here.
They're not done this time though, kicking straight back into things with the punchy and direct Right Action. Two older album cuts follow before a run-through of new album closer Goodbye Lovers and Friends seems to bring things towards the end.
"But what if this is not the end?" ponders Kapranos, before adding "Do you want one more?". An enthusiastic crowd agrees, and we're led straight into the delightful Outsiders. Its an impressive myriad of jangly styles led by the percussive snap of tambourine, and it ends with the classic dogpile around Thomson's drums, as the sound of percussion fills the room all the way to the nights conclusion.
Certainly, the band have proved that, for all the trials and tribulations they've encountered since reaching the rock n roll big time, the band are still an impressive live force and capable of delivering a fantastic night out for all.
4.5/5
Supporting the band were underground troupe Mazes, whose singer said his previous time seeing Franz Ferdinand came 10 years or so back when the band were opening for Belle and Sebastian. While Mazes somehow managed to five songs before someone remembered to switch on their snare drum microphone, the band certainly improved from unsubtle beginnings to an impressive conclusion.
Their self-titled first album was a fabulously cultivated series of dance rock anthems, with an number of jangly and gleeful but massive choruses even beyond the signature scrawl of Take Me Out.The album led to an Ivor Novello songwriting award and two Brit Awards. It was then followed up by a second album in 2005 and a major tour that included four sell-out nights to 8,000-a-time at Alexandra Palace and a headline performance at Reading Festival 2006.
Franz may not have followed fellow '06 headliners Muse and Pearl Jam into doing tunes in a stadium environment, but their music is certainly a beast that works as well - if not, better - in a gorgeous-looking & intimate room such as the historic Roundhouse.
Dressed in identical black, white and grey suits, the band kicked off the evening in surprise fashion, as drummer Paul Thomson walked on alone, before counting in and kicking off the intro snare rolls of new song Bullet. This was soon followed up by the appearance of the rest of the band appearing from behind video towers onto the stage.
Most acts nowadays perform with LCD and LED video screens that give the effect of being giant televisions, to the point where its now a bit perfunctory to see these. So some kudos has to go to the band for using the vintage high school projector, which displays a myriad of funky artistic imagery around and behind the four-piece. This had begun with a montage of airport departure windows, which had been booted up some 10 minutes before the band had even begun the gig.
After the opener, the band were back into the debut material - beginning with carefree anthem The Dark of the Matinee. It leads to a trade-off of sorts, with new songs like Evil Eye followed up by vintage classics like No You Girls and an extended rendition of Do You Want To.
New or old, the band and crowd were certainly enjoying themselves. Sweat was apparent on both sides of the crowd control barriers, with the crowd entering the dance-rock spirit with gusto. Meanwhile, singer Alex Kapranos looked to be having one hell of a time behind the microphone, energetically bouncing around the stage with a number of high-kicks.
There is certainly a fine interlocking music ship, with Bob Hardy and Thomson's rhythm section finely placed for Kapranos and guitarist/keyboardist Nick McCarthy to layer on a number of jangly guitar licks. Its also impressive how much energy flows through the show from the start, with Kapranos showing more energy than many bands half his age.
The energy does recede for the calm melancholy of new single Fresh Strawberries and classic ballad Walk Away, before restarting for the build-up tune Stand on the Horizon and a surprise I Feel Love-inspired remix of Can't Stop Feeling.
Bigger surprises follow, with an airing for vintage track Auf Achse followed quickly by a shortened version of electro-rock freakout Lucid Dreams. But they are both warmly received old friends, and set us up nicely for a big run of finishes. It starts off with Michael and then the pop-rock classic Take Me Out, which is very much the song that gets the room moshing like never before.
It leads nicely into a raucous rendition of Love Illumination, the demonic This Fire and a final run-through of Ulysses, which closed the bands last appearance here.
They're not done this time though, kicking straight back into things with the punchy and direct Right Action. Two older album cuts follow before a run-through of new album closer Goodbye Lovers and Friends seems to bring things towards the end.
"But what if this is not the end?" ponders Kapranos, before adding "Do you want one more?". An enthusiastic crowd agrees, and we're led straight into the delightful Outsiders. Its an impressive myriad of jangly styles led by the percussive snap of tambourine, and it ends with the classic dogpile around Thomson's drums, as the sound of percussion fills the room all the way to the nights conclusion.
Certainly, the band have proved that, for all the trials and tribulations they've encountered since reaching the rock n roll big time, the band are still an impressive live force and capable of delivering a fantastic night out for all.
4.5/5
Supporting the band were underground troupe Mazes, whose singer said his previous time seeing Franz Ferdinand came 10 years or so back when the band were opening for Belle and Sebastian. While Mazes somehow managed to five songs before someone remembered to switch on their snare drum microphone, the band certainly improved from unsubtle beginnings to an impressive conclusion.
Saturday, 1 March 2014
The Lego Movie - Film Review
There has always been a love from people for a certain well-known brand of little Danish plastic bricks.
Lego has grown into a well-loved toy brand, and even among adults still has a certain wistful feeling looking back. Its still an entertainment Goliath with many different toy ranges and licensing deals with famous film franchises, spawned many computer games and .
Even so, the idea of a movie based on Lego does seem faintly ridiculous at face value. While kids may have spent many hours playing with the items and assembling the more-recent and more-ambitious Lego kits (personally I enjoyed the Bionicle toys when I was young), it seems faintly odd that these little plastic bricks could be the premise for a movie.
The hope of the film's success had been pinned down to a surprisingly impressive cast roster, which includes a number of bankable film stars playing supporting roles, and that kiddie-nostalgia feel.
There is certainly plenty of intrigue to the way it runs, plus plenty of films it liberally runs similar. Opening the film is a scene similar to the opening of Avengers Assemble where evil guy Lord Business (Will Ferrell) steals a fabled weapon called the Kragle but is warned of a prophecy to stop him by the wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman).
But it then leads into something almost from a pop montage, all set to a bubblegum pop track called Everything Is Awesome. The song is so sweet and sugary its enough to feel like an overdose of pick n mix.
The montage introduces us to principal character Emmett (Chris Pratt), who is an ordinary construction worker in the capital city of the Lego World. His pleasures even include living life by the instruction manual, drinking overpriced coffees, watching derivative slapstick and loving pop songs on loop - almost a satirical version of contemporary society.
Things begin to turn when he is the last one to leave his construction site job and runs into Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), who is a "Master Builder". Emmett tries to meet her but falls through a hole in the world, suffers hallucinations and eventually winds up discovering a fabled artifact called The Piece of Resistance, which bonds itself to him.
He is subject to heavy questioning by split personality Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), who spoils the fact that Lord Business is about to use the Kragle - a tube of glue - to destroy the Lego World as they know it. But Wyldstyle is able to help him escape first the prison, then rows upon rows of cops, and then the city itself - moving to a distinct and different realm.
In this new world based on the Old West, Wyldstyle and Vitruvius explain the world has been divided into separate realms by the evil Lord Business, who is planning to use the Kragle to permanently preserve the world in perfect shape.
Emmett attempts to convince them of special powers, but he is heroically weak. This is before Bad Cop - now just Bad Cop, after his Good Cop persona was erased - to him. But just as all seems doomed and their about to be eaten by Crocodile Cops, they are saved by Wyldstyle's boyfriend, who just happens to be Batman (Will Arnett).
The central axis of characters has certainly created a good story arc out of it, with a number of good gags, and a well-formulated (if formulaic) storyline.
Filmed from a mish-mash of the actual bricks and CGI, the cinematography of this film is vastly superior to a number of recent animated movies. Its a very good looking film, and there are plenty of good jokes peppered throughout the movie.
But there are a number of frustrating touches is the way it wastes some of its sight gags. There was impressive scope for references to the Star Wars characters, which appeared midway through. It also underplays the relationship between Superman (Channing Tatum) and Green Lantern (Jonah Hill), which is consistently amusing on its rare forays, while Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulders), Gandalf (Todd Hansen) and Dumbledore are among characters underused.
This wealth of characters appears in a lurid neon land where the Master Builders reside, and where Emmet is expected to have the plan to help defeat Lord Business in his evil plan. But Emmet deflates the builders, before its revealed a tracking device fitted to him led the police to their hideout, with the cops promptly destroying it.
The plot fizzes and rushes in a lurid neon hue, but it almost suits the film's aesthetic to do so, and the central "stop the bad guy" plot does not feel rushed, even if more time could be spent setting up the final assault.
Its there where things get interesting, and where we really reach the interesting moments just as all hope has truly seemed lost. Possibly the best sequences of the film come as a little kid called Finn (Jadon Sand) and The Man Upstairs (Ferrell) appear in a live-action sequence that almost recalls the scenes from Toy Story, and adds a new text.
These sequences are the best-paced and best portions of this film.
This is a very odd piece of film. The plot, for what it is, moves very nicely and there are plenty of amusing gags and interesting points raised. Yet at the same time, it waited too long to deploy its most moving and what could've been its most amusing part, while wasting a number of impressive actors and potentially great setpieces.
Its still a good movie. Its just not the movie it could've been.
3.5/5
Lego has grown into a well-loved toy brand, and even among adults still has a certain wistful feeling looking back. Its still an entertainment Goliath with many different toy ranges and licensing deals with famous film franchises, spawned many computer games and .
Even so, the idea of a movie based on Lego does seem faintly ridiculous at face value. While kids may have spent many hours playing with the items and assembling the more-recent and more-ambitious Lego kits (personally I enjoyed the Bionicle toys when I was young), it seems faintly odd that these little plastic bricks could be the premise for a movie.
The hope of the film's success had been pinned down to a surprisingly impressive cast roster, which includes a number of bankable film stars playing supporting roles, and that kiddie-nostalgia feel.
There is certainly plenty of intrigue to the way it runs, plus plenty of films it liberally runs similar. Opening the film is a scene similar to the opening of Avengers Assemble where evil guy Lord Business (Will Ferrell) steals a fabled weapon called the Kragle but is warned of a prophecy to stop him by the wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman).
But it then leads into something almost from a pop montage, all set to a bubblegum pop track called Everything Is Awesome. The song is so sweet and sugary its enough to feel like an overdose of pick n mix.
The montage introduces us to principal character Emmett (Chris Pratt), who is an ordinary construction worker in the capital city of the Lego World. His pleasures even include living life by the instruction manual, drinking overpriced coffees, watching derivative slapstick and loving pop songs on loop - almost a satirical version of contemporary society.
Things begin to turn when he is the last one to leave his construction site job and runs into Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), who is a "Master Builder". Emmett tries to meet her but falls through a hole in the world, suffers hallucinations and eventually winds up discovering a fabled artifact called The Piece of Resistance, which bonds itself to him.
He is subject to heavy questioning by split personality Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), who spoils the fact that Lord Business is about to use the Kragle - a tube of glue - to destroy the Lego World as they know it. But Wyldstyle is able to help him escape first the prison, then rows upon rows of cops, and then the city itself - moving to a distinct and different realm.
In this new world based on the Old West, Wyldstyle and Vitruvius explain the world has been divided into separate realms by the evil Lord Business, who is planning to use the Kragle to permanently preserve the world in perfect shape.
Emmett attempts to convince them of special powers, but he is heroically weak. This is before Bad Cop - now just Bad Cop, after his Good Cop persona was erased - to him. But just as all seems doomed and their about to be eaten by Crocodile Cops, they are saved by Wyldstyle's boyfriend, who just happens to be Batman (Will Arnett).
The central axis of characters has certainly created a good story arc out of it, with a number of good gags, and a well-formulated (if formulaic) storyline.
Filmed from a mish-mash of the actual bricks and CGI, the cinematography of this film is vastly superior to a number of recent animated movies. Its a very good looking film, and there are plenty of good jokes peppered throughout the movie.
But there are a number of frustrating touches is the way it wastes some of its sight gags. There was impressive scope for references to the Star Wars characters, which appeared midway through. It also underplays the relationship between Superman (Channing Tatum) and Green Lantern (Jonah Hill), which is consistently amusing on its rare forays, while Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulders), Gandalf (Todd Hansen) and Dumbledore are among characters underused.
This wealth of characters appears in a lurid neon land where the Master Builders reside, and where Emmet is expected to have the plan to help defeat Lord Business in his evil plan. But Emmet deflates the builders, before its revealed a tracking device fitted to him led the police to their hideout, with the cops promptly destroying it.
The plot fizzes and rushes in a lurid neon hue, but it almost suits the film's aesthetic to do so, and the central "stop the bad guy" plot does not feel rushed, even if more time could be spent setting up the final assault.
Its there where things get interesting, and where we really reach the interesting moments just as all hope has truly seemed lost. Possibly the best sequences of the film come as a little kid called Finn (Jadon Sand) and The Man Upstairs (Ferrell) appear in a live-action sequence that almost recalls the scenes from Toy Story, and adds a new text.
These sequences are the best-paced and best portions of this film.
This is a very odd piece of film. The plot, for what it is, moves very nicely and there are plenty of amusing gags and interesting points raised. Yet at the same time, it waited too long to deploy its most moving and what could've been its most amusing part, while wasting a number of impressive actors and potentially great setpieces.
Its still a good movie. Its just not the movie it could've been.
3.5/5
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