Chimpomatic

Training Day

Twisting thriller with a typically OTT performance from Denzel. Better than I remembered.

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7th Sep 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Edgar Wright

A film that's so shallow it's almost deep, Scott Pilgrim is fun, bubblegum matinee viewing. Your enjoyment might depend on your tolerance for Michael Cera's mumbling, videogame references, Batman-style POW! BLAM! ZOM! effects, indie band battles etc etc, but if that's all up your street, you'll enjoy it. 

Cera is Scott P, a Canadian slacker who falls for a new hot NY chick who skates into town with a host of evil exes in tow - if Scott wants to date her, he has to get through them first. Meanwhile his band, Sex Bob-Omb is working its way through a battle of the bands contest and his gay roommate Rory Culkin is trying to get him to move out of his flatshare so Scott can stop cramping his style.

It's never really explained why Scott has to battle Ramona's exes: is it all in his mind, the reaction of a post-adoscent brain fried by a lifetime of videogames to meeting someone with a past? 

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6th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Tron

Disney's innovative & original 80s Wizard of Oz, which unfortunately hasnt got any deeper or less dull with age.

Halliwell says: Complicated science fantasy chiefly interesting for its computerized blend of live action and animation, which isn't always successful.*

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5th Sep 2010

The Soloist

Engaging, ambitious, borderline pretentious drama from the director of Atonement, with Robert Downey Jr.

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5th Sep 2010

Terminator Salvation

Badly thought out, derivative sequel that ultimately entertains at the expense of the franchise.

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4th Sep 2010

Jaill

That's How We Burn

Sub Pop

Sub Pop's newest signings are really lightening my mood of late with this debut album of effortless indie rollers. With lead singer Vincent Kircher's grasp of melody and the ease of which this band deliver their message, That's How We Burn emerges as a record beyond its years. This could be due to the band's stint in relative musical obscurity - a stint that saw them develop their style and form a sense of unity that, well, unites this sound.

Nothing's being rewritten here; there are few stand-out moments and the album works more as a whole as it runs on a pretty even tempo for its entirety. But it's in this simplicity and familiarity that my enjoyment has found its foothold. With songs like Everyone's Hip Jaill inject a certain degree of muscle into the archetypal indie jangle and a good dose of the surf rock vibe presides throughout. Falling neatly alongside bands like The Soft Pack, Jaill have stuck to what they know and done themselves proud.

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3rd Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Line

La Linea

Pretentious, under-developed clone of Soderberg's Traffic, with none of the class.

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30th Aug 2010

Space Cowboys

Strangely lethargic OAP astronaut adventure from Clint Eastwood.

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27th Aug 2010

Sufjan Stevens

All Delighted People EP

All's been quiet from the Sufjan camp in terms of new material since 2005 - and out of the silence emerges this 8 track EP. To put it mildly I think I'd prefer to watch reruns of England vs Algeria 2010 than listen to this again. It's equally as dull, but just doesn't have so much riding on it. To be honest I think I'd given up on Mr Stevens somewhere between Illinoise and one of the endless Christmas albums. Bookending the now pretty formulaic delicate and breathy ditties are two songs that stretch out in a bloated and directionless yawnfest. I'm even getting bored of writing this review, I'm officially done with Sufjan Stevens, shame I won't get to see the conclusion of his American States project.

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27th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Gomorra

Classy, assured, multi-layered crime drama documenting the urban mafia in Naples.

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26th Aug 2010