Chimpomatic

Mesrine Part 2: Public Enemy No 1

More expensive, directionless French gangster antics. With added Almaric.

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4th Jan 2012

Che Part Two

Stylish, but dull and anti-climactic meander through Che's exploits in Bolivia.

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2nd Dec 2011

I Don't Know How She Does It

Don't know why she does it: autofill gender studies romcom antics from SJP, lite on rom/com.

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24th Sep 2011

Old School

Extremely watchable, vintage \#stupido antics from Frank the Tank and the gang.

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17th Jul 2011

Blonde Ambition

Lowest common denominator fish out of water romantic comedy. Secret Of My Success is a distant memory.

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11th Jun 2011

The Romantics

Unambitious old - friends - reunite - for - wedding flick, covering well trodden ground.

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4th Jun 2011

How To Make It In America

Season 1

HBO

With Entourage winding down after an epic 7 (soon to be 8th and final) seasons, HBO have started to line up it's successor. While the no-money, Lower East Side vibe of aspiring fashion entrepreneurs Ben Epstein and Cam Calderon might seem like a million miles from the valet parking of Vincent Chase's Hollywood, there are many parallels with this East Coast cousin - following the same dreams of success and the high life, just jumping on board at an earlier stage.

Despite the opposing fortunes, lifestyle envy also plays a big part here and while the reality of always being a dollar short might not quite hold the everlasting appeal of having a dollar too much, always knowing the hippest parties and being on first-name terms with every door man in town is something many of us would have loved 15 years ago. Slow motion mixes with flash frame photography and well chosen music to beautifully capture the gritty, exciting world of opportunity of both the Lower East Side and the just-graduated student mentality.

How To Make It In America has that quick-fix vibe that gets you high in 25 minutes and leaves you wanting more. Well-rounded episodes that fly by, but the season arc stays strong and is filled out well with multiple story strands (including a career-best performance from Luis Guzman and Rasta Monsta) all staying as strong as each other, while still building the bigger picture of the show's overall themes and agenda.

Great stuff. Should be back for season 2 later on in 2011.

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1st Jun 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Pulp Fiction

Tarantino's showy, overlong 2nd film highlights all of his swagger - signposting his later flaws.

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27th Feb 2011

Suburban Girl

Weak, empty romantic drama with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin. No redeeming features.

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30th Jan 2011

Once Upon A Time In The West Midlands

Dissapointing sub-Mike Leigh antics from Shane Meadows.

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12th Sep 2010

Inception

(dir. Christopher Nolan)

What a relief it is to see something new. After all the endless sequels, franchise-extensions, remakes and reboots we've been lumbered with in recent years, you start to feel like no-one is going to bother coming up with anything new, which presents an odd problem: what are people going to remake in 20 years time?!

Anyhow, Inception delivers on its promise of mind-bending action. It's smart, coherent, tense, exciting, unpredictable and rich with emotional depth. Once the rules of the game are established early on - ex-military tech is now being used by corporate spies to steal secrets from people in their dreams you say? Oh, OK, fine! - the movie takes hold, dropping you off in its dream logic, throwing you around the world, dizzying you with some excellent special effects and not letting up until the final credits. Think Eternal Sunshine of The Ocean's 11 Mind, with a bonus dash of Matrix flash (before it got shit). 

Leonardo DiCaprio steps up to the promise he's been showing since The Departed, with another beefy role as the experienced dream warrior who gets hired to plant an idea, rather than steal a secret. It's like he's getting wider rather than older. Ellen "Juno" Page is a great addition to Nolan's tricksy world, adding a grounded, sarky teen level to the blockbuster antics. Tom Hardy's role moves a touch too far towards Action Dude from the cerebral, shady forger who's brought on board the team to impersonate people in dreams, but he's still great - surely a big lead role in a Hollywood film can't be far off for him? Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays DiCaprio's right hand man, another thoroughly watchable performance from him. Cillian Murphy makes a decent mark for them to target. Ken Watanabe and Michael Caine - two more Nolan veterans - add yet more weight. Marion Cotillard perhaps hams it up a little as the mysterious French femme fatale, but that's a minor niggle - and there's an argument to be made that it's an intentional device. 

Going in cold to a film like this is highly recommended - so we'll stop here; it's easily the film of the summer - and a strong contender for the year's best.

Check out the comic book prequel here.

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14th Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Other Man

Under-developed romantic mystery with Liam Neason. The 85 minute running time took forever.

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10th Jul 2010

The Soft Pack

The Soft Pack

Heavenly

I know this has been out for ages but I'm just loving it. Formerly known as The Muslims, this San Diego four piece wisely changed their name and emerged with a belated release of this debut proper. It doesn't rewrite anything but just hits all the indie-punk buttons in quite a mild mannered, but endlessly pleasing way. The formula is very much two minute breakneck shots of garage rock full of jangle guitars, frantic drums and all propelled by singer Matt Lamkin's deadpan swagger. Where this formula is broken is where this band really come alive. Midway through the record you get Pull Out. It establishes a steady beat early on and keeps it steady throughout. Lamkin's repeated vocals give it an almost Krautrock kind of mesmerism. It builds up on this pace then crashes down to return to the rolling drum beat, then starts the process again. Closing track Parasites continues this structure but eases down on the gas and finishes things with at a belting pace. It employs extended areas of driving guitar between Lamkin's shouted vocals and sees the last minute out in this fashion. I's the final sprint and it's electrifying.

There's been much hype surrounding this band, largely due to the name change but also some pretty memorable live shows. This hype has taken its time to manifest here in the UK and it might have been difficult for a small band's reputation to precede them this much. But this release does all that justice and more than wets the appetite for the future.

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4th Jun 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Melvins

The Bride Screamed Murder

Ipecac

This is the first proper Melvins release for two years and the third to feature Jarred Warren and Coady Willis from Big Business. The two preceding albums (Senile Animal, Nude With Boots) were chock full of twin-drummer assaults and memorable tracks that somehow combined the best of the Melvins sound with that of Big Business. This new release has its moments, but ultimately fails to satisfy.

Speaking as a total fan-boy, I can't say I'm not disappointed. I've travelled more miles to see this band play live than any other. I've always loved the new ideas that come with shifting line-ups, and lived with this new release for a month before posting my review, but I can't get over the fact that this album is (at best) hotch-potch, and at worst, weak.

It's certainly diverse - the opening track The Water Glass is a rallying cry for the Melvins massive - all military cadence drumming and boot-camp chanting. OK, a bit baffling, but perhaps it'll work live. Things suddenly look up with track 2 - Evil New War God. This is the best track on the album - classic Melvins chunk winding into a doomy synth assisted riff during it's outro. Great stuff, but from here on in, the pickings get much slimmer. Pig House starts out promisingly enough but ends up in a rock-bolero - that most hackneyed and corny device. Even if it's meant to be ironic, it still sounds cheesy.

I'll Finish You Off is next - and to my ears it sounds just like a Big Business track. I'm not hearing much Buzz and Dale in there. Electric Flower follows and this could be said to be the other highlight of the album. Hospital Up comes next, which sounds like a track that might have been left off Nude With Boots - it starts well but dissolves into two minutes of faux-jazz fucking around. The joke wears thin after about 20 seconds. Inhumanity And Death is a bit incoherent - a stitch-together of left-over riffs, or orphans that don't really get along with each other. Then we get an 8 minute version of The Who's My Generation played as a sloppy bar blues. Once again, the irony is lost on me - it's just boring. The Melvins have done some awesome cover versions over the years (White Punks On Dope, Promise Me) but this doesn't come up to scratch.

The album winds down with PG x 3 - a folksy tone-poem played through three times - on melodica, a-capella, and on fuzz guitar. It ends with a child's voice counting numbers and looping on the number 4. I quite like this, but it's not exactly Steve Reich. Perhaps that repeated number 4 is reminding us that there are four people in the Melvins, each with equal input. Perhaps - but I'm not sure if this serves as a declaration or a disclaimer.

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#HarrisPilton

3rd Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sage Francis

Li(f)e

Anti

It's been a long time coming but finally the follow up to 2007's Human The Death Dance drops and it sees Mr. Francis all grown up. I remember seeing Sage Francis at Plastic People many many years ago as he stood in the middle of the crowd spitting venomously into his mic and backed by a CD of recorded beats that he himself had to operate. Well Li(f)e is a far cry from that set up and is the first time Sage's unique and intricate poetry is given the panoramic backdrop of a a full and live band, not to mention the guest appearances. Opener Little Houdini sees Sage hook up with Grandaddy's Jason Lytle and Slow Man teems up with Joey Burns of Calexico. The result is a far richer concoction and one that works on may levels. It's more low key than previous releases and the warmth with which his beats emanate seem to give Sage's rhymes more body.

Three Sheets To The Wind livens up the general slow pace with Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla on guitar, Slow Man shimmers with midwest heat and closer The Best OF Times continues Sage's tradition of ending on an epic note. WIth rich orchestration he wrenches the heartstrings to the bitter end.

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28th May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Harlem

Hippies

Matador

Hippies is the Matador debut from this Austin three-piece and it improves on the previous Free Drugs effort. This doesn't stray too far from the archetypal dirty knees of your favorite garage bands and is all the better for it. Out of the ramshackle compositions come sugary choruses, rolling guitars and a frantic rhythm section. Vocal duties are often shared and the hooks are spat out at an alarming rate. It's non stop for just over forty minutes and sixteen of the finest jangle-pop you'll hear for a while.

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28th May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

LCD Soundsystem

This Is Happening

DFA

From the solid dance record that was their self-titled debut, LCD Soundsystem have managed to successfully evolve into one of the most essential acts around today. As solid as the debut was, you'd be forgiven for pegging them as a one trick pony. 2007's Sound Of Silver put paid to any of that by topping all the 'best of' lists that year, including All My Friends gaining the top spot on my "best tracks of the decade" list. With that record they stepped out of their dance shoes and became so well-rounded it's almost annoying. James Murphy's got his shit locked down. He hooks the chicks with his onstage antics and charisma, and appeals to the guys by looking like a record company executive that's trying his hand on the shop floor - and aceing it every time.

So what next then for Murphy and crew? Well there's only one thing for it. You follow all that up with an equally tough record and meet the throbbing expectation head on. I say "equally tough" but This Is Happening isn't quite as satisfying as Sound Of Silver although it's close enough. Opener Dance Yrself Clean is a hell of a way to kick off a record; starting slow then punching in with the most pleasing beats since Daft Punk last played in his house. All I Want is the other power-track here and one that really displays the multi-string bow with which this band wield their charm. Centered around a looping guitar chord, it stretches out over six minutes with very little in the way of chorus, it just goes on and on with trance-like sensibilities which are interjected with bleeps and synths that swirl and dive around this structure. Pow Pow is reminiscent of I'm Losing My Edge and also Talking Heads' use of spoken word. Closer Home wraps everything up so perfectly with a near eight minute swirler of unbridled joy. It's another one that's gloriously reminiscent of Talking Heads and one that displays Murphy's trick of "all verse" delivery. The length of these songs coupled with the "all meat and no fat" structure gives an album like this some considerable might.

Everything James Murphy creates under this banner will ultimately be classed as dance music but this has an intelligence rarely seen in the genre. It's fiercely contemporary with songs like All I Want but then gloriously retro with Change and You Wanted A Hit. It's got its weak points however. Somebody's Calling Me is a bit tedious and lead single Drunk Girls (which just sounds like a lazy attempt to prick up the ears of radio listeners) is a touch thin. Having said that, along with I Can Change it's really the only conceivable choice they've got in terms of releases, when every other song here averages out at seven minutes. But when you're surrounded by such quality it seems darn-right picky to pinpoint these as weaknesses. It's a pretty rare thing when you get an album that I clearly haven't enjoyed as much as the predecessor that's so good there's really no reason to mark it any lower. (Having said that Sound Of Silver should really have been 4.5)

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17th May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Inglorious Basterds

Another over-long pretentious mess from Tarantino. Brad Pitt adds to the problem.

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1st Apr 2010

Kick-Ass

(dir. Matthew Vaughan)

V enjoyable superhero flick that does exactly what it says on the tin. Adapted from the comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr, it follows the adventured of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) a high school fanboy who asks a simple question and then follows it to its logical conclusion: why hasn't anyone tried being a superhero?

After a few half-assed encounters with some low-level street thugs (basically involving him having his ass-kicked), his scuba-suited antics get picked up on YouTube and he becomes something of a local hero. This brings him to the attention of a far more organised duo - Hit Girl and Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage on great form) - who show him (and us) what real-life vigilantism would actually look like - basically, some unhinged people running around with a lot of guns and weapons.

The action is fast-paced, the nods to comic books on form without being overbearing (one flashback scene all told with comic panels is brilliant), and the dialogue a deft balance between hilarious and daft. Aaron Johnson (last seen as the young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy) is an engaging lead, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka McLovin in Superbad) has a good sense of comic timing, and it's always good to have Nic Cage in a role where you don't hate him for not being as good as he used to be. 12 year old powerhouse Hit Girl is a force of nature too, she gets some of the best lines, and this could easily be a breakout role for Chloë Moretz.

Chuck in the odd disarmingly moving scene, some gore-packed fights and a plot that keeps just the right side of almost-believable, and it's a winner. Totally not suitable for kids though, will be interesting to see how well it does without an underage superhero audience packing it out (although, let's face it, there are probably more than enough grown-up superhero fans around these days...). 

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23rd Mar 2010 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet