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Hunt For The Wilderpeople
Accomplished, charming NZ indie comedy that wears its influences well.
1st Feb 2017
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The Goonies
Seminal kids movie that I underrated in '85. Shot with an easy pace, until the free-swim at the end.
Halliwell says: The bottomless pit of the Spielberg genre, a silly tale which takes forever to get going and is acted by children who have not studied elocution. The trick effects when they come are OK, but it's a long annoying haul to that point.
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22nd Jan 2017
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A Bigger Splash
Glacially paced, pretentious arthouse fluff, that fritters away a potentially interesting set up.
21st Jan 2017
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10 Cloverfield Lane
Ambitious small scale sci-fi that drags a bit before it all gets a bit wacky.
11th Jan 2017
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Batman vs Superman
Dawn of Justice
Mind-boggling, convoluted actioner that seems to have been written by picking ideas out of a hat.
4th Jan 2017
Read more 1 star reviewsThat time Ween opened for Fugazi at City Gardens | Dangerous Minds: https://t.co/beQTSveudq
3rd Jan 2017
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When Harry Met Sally
Text-book rom-com that rebooted the genre and set the template for the next 3 decades.
Halliwell says: Over a period of 12 years, a couple meet occasionally to debate whether there can be friendship without sex between a man and a woman.***
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26th Dec 2016
Read more 4.5 star reviewsRT @JuddApatow: That is truly hilarious. Best Trump joke of the day or week. Made me smile through the pain. I love thinking he hates wo…
11th Nov 2016
Read on TwitterRT @HillaryClinton: "To all the little girls watching...never doubt that you are valuable and powerful & deserving of every chance & opport…
10th Nov 2016
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Deadpool
Stupid action movie that never stops winking at the audience.
4th Nov 2016
Read more 2.5 star reviewsRT @HugoSlime: I hate \#advertising that doesn't pay attention to detail @madedotcom who the hell treats \#Vinyl like this https://t.co/N875m…
23rd Aug 2016
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Contact
Ambitious 90s sci-fi. Not entirely successful, but it has a seriousness and scale that's rarely seen today.
2nd Aug 2016
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Monsters Dark Continent
Money grabbing sequel that ups production value and bypasses the charm of the original.
9th Jun 2016
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Southpaw
Cookie cutter boxing pic that can't decide if it's ripping off Rockie, Raging Bull or Million Dollar Baby.
8th May 2016
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48 Hours
Dated buddy cop movie that wrote many of today's movie cliches. Dated, but still brutal and funny.
16th Apr 2016
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Ant-Man
That Paul Rudd that we like gets a shot at super hero status. Solid enough, but not particularly remarkable.
3rd Feb 2016
Read more 3 star reviewsRT @GSElevator: \#1: Most taxi drivers understand that we'll never be friends. Uber drivers, not so much.
16th Jan 2016
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Cobain Montage of Heck
Unconventional doc that manages to put an interesting spin on an otherwise downbeat subject.
16th Jan 2016
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The Incredibles
Decent Pixar effort that's lost a bit of its shine with age.
21st Dec 2015
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Body of Lies
Expensive, glossy thriller that's trying to be gritty. Muddled and forgettable. Classic Ridley Scott.
17th Dec 2015
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Greenberg
Accomplished indie that's getting better with age. Rich, 3D characters and performances.
5th Dec 2015
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Wild
Kaleidoscopic self-discovery wilderness pic that could do with a map. Not unlike Into The Wild.
18th Nov 2015
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Ex Machina
Self conscious, pretentious Brit sci-fi that acts a lot more mysterious and enigmatic than it really is.
8th Nov 2015
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Friday Night Lights
Solid dry run that set the tone for the long form TV epic. Get 'er done.
22nd Oct 2015
Read more 3 star reviewsCHECK OUT THAT 4x4! Happy \#BTTFD - Marty McFly's 2016 Toyota Tacoma | Uncrate https://t.co/rL5DLsqdXK
21st Oct 2015
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The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
Focussed British indie thriller. Twisty, but somehow not that memorable.
17th Oct 2015
Read more 3 star reviewsRT @DuffMcKagan: " @McKagan_FcBR: Guns N' Roses, @DuffMcKagan - The Marquee, 1987 http://t.co/uuJJTfU7km" That was a good trip. My first tim…
16th Oct 2015
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Coherence
Intriguing indie sci-fi that makes the most of its small setting, before becoming a bit incoherent.
30th Sep 2015
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Keith Richards Under The Influence
Stylish doc that avoids too much new-album promo, instead focussing on the legacy.
29th Sep 2015
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Attack of the Clones
Brutally incompetent, all-Easter-egg sequel that only makes the @StarWars universe smaller.
29th Aug 2015
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Star Wars
Dated, clunky, clumsily directed nonsense - that still manages to capture the worlds imagination.
Halliwell says: Flash Gordon rides again, but with timing so impeccably right that the movie became a phenomenon and one of the top grossers of all time. In view of the hullabaloo, some disappointment may be felt with the actual experience of watching it... but it's certainly good harmless fun, put together with style and imagination.***
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7th Aug 2015
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Ant-Man
Efficient Marvel shrinking antics in which that Paul Rudd that you like gets a cool suit from Michael Douglas.
9th Jul 2015
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Joe
Well meaning indie that doesn't hit the mark, despite Nic Cage's most serious effort in years.
3rd Jul 2015
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While We're Young
Close-to-the-bone indie pic that avoids the obvious. Noah Baumbach directs. Ad-Rock co-stars
9th Apr 2015
Read more 3.5 star reviewsRT @BiIIMurray: If I'm ever on life support, unplug me. Then plug me back in and see if that works.
6th Mar 2015
Read on TwitterRT @BBCBreaking: Harrison Ford was reportedly piloting this single-engine plane that crashed onto a golf course http://t.co/j0oNzY3O0S http…
5th Mar 2015
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Before I Go To Sleep
Derivative amnesia thriller ….that still manages to remain vaguely intriguing.
31st Jan 2015
Read more 2.5 star reviewsRT @MrChuckD: Harpo Marx kept character from 1910-1964.No one heard his voice in public performance ever. That is amazing. Who could do tha…
9th Jan 2015
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Multiplicity
If you like Michael Keaton, you'll love this screwball comedy that doesn't really have a start or end.
24th Dec 2014
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The Hottest State
Heavy-handed coming-of-age movie that attempts to capture some of Linklater's charm.
12th Dec 2014
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Predestination
Clunky time-travel-paradox yarn that telegraphs its beats well ahead of time.
5th Dec 2014
Read more 2 star reviewsTrailer Park: Star Wars 7
The Millenium Falcon is looking pretty tasty in the new Star Wars trailer - and the X-Wings skimming across that lake are not too shabby either. Less so the comedy rolling robot, or the lame attempt to top Darth Maul's lightsaber.
"It's as good as the Phantom Menace trailer looked" - CJ

28th Nov 2014 - Add Comment - Tweet
Wilco - What's Your 20?
Wilco have clocked up an impressive 20 years since their first gig in 1994, as The Black Shampoo. For their 20th anniversary, they are relased a retrospective best-of, plus a 4 disc set of rarities. Out in the UK on Dec 1st.
Epic timeline below.

WILCO
• May 1, 1994 - Uncle Tupelo performs its last show as a band at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, MO.
• May 1994 - After Uncle Tupelo's split, Jeff Tweedy, Max Johnston, Ken Coomer and John Stirratt carry on as Wilco. Factoid #1: Before arriving at Wilco as the band's name, they considered calling themselves "National Dust."
• August 1994 - The sessions for what would become Wilco's debut album, A.M. begin with Brian Paulson as producer for Reprise Records. (Paulson handled similar duties for Uncle Tupelo's final album, Anodyne.) The Bottle Rockets' Brian Henneman, formerly a guitar tech for Uncle Tupelo, plays lead guitar on the album (and clinking bottles on "Casino Queen"). Jay Bennett joins the band after recording finishes.
• September 13, 1994 - The first released Wilco recording, a collaboration with Syd Straw on the Ernest Tubb song "The T.B. is Whipping Me," debuts on the benefit album Red, Hot + Country.
• November 17, 1994 - Performing as "Black Shampoo," Wilco make its live debut at Cicero's in St. Louis, MO.
• March 28, 1995 - Wilco releases A.M., touring extensively behind it.
• October 29, 1996 - The double-disc Being There is released. Bob Egan joins the band
during recording, while Max Johnston leaves afterwards.
• November 1997 - The band spends a week at Willie Nelson's Texas studio Pedenales
working on demos for songs that would eventually appear on Summerteeth.
• December 1997 - The band take occupancy of The Loft, the Chicago space that they
record and practice in to this day.
• January 1998 - Mermaid Avenue recording sessions begin in Dublin with
singer/songwriter Billy Bragg after a trial run in Chicago the month before. The album
brings to life previously unrecorded lyrics by Woody Guthrie.
• June 23, 1998 - Mermaid Avenue is released and eventually nominated for a GRAMMY
in the category of Best Contemporary Folk album. Bob Egan leaves the band and Leroy
Bach joins.
• March 9, 1999 - Summerteeth is released, taking another jump ahead of expectations.
More songs are recorded for eventual inclusion on Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 2.
• January 9, 2000 – The band’s last show at Lounge Ax, the late, great Chicago music
venue co-owned by Tweedy's wife Sue Miller Tweedy and Julia Adams.
• May 30, 2000 - Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 2 debuts, featuring new Guthrie songs from Wilco
as well as others by the band and Bragg that didn't make the first record.
• January 2001 - Coomer leaves the band not long before cameras begin rolling on Sam Jones' documentary about Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's recording. Glenn Kotche, who had begun working with Tweedy on side projects and live shows, joins.
• June/July 2001 - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is turned in to Reprise Records and initially met with dismay and silence. Management begins a delicate back and forth with the label to extricate the band from its recording contract. The band eventually leaves Reprise with the album, no strings attached, to shop around elsewhere.
• July 4, 2001 – Wilco headlines WXPN’s Fourth of July concert in Chicago's Grant Park; unbeknownst to anyone at the time, this will be Jay Bennett’s last show with the band.
• August 16, 2001 - Jay Bennett leaves Wilco.
• September 10, 2001 - Scott McCaughey visits Chicago and enlists Wilco to back him up
on the latest album by his project The Minus 5. The album, titled Down With Wilco, is
released on Yep Roc Records on February 25, 2003.
• September 18, 2001 - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot begins streaming for free on Wilcoworld.net,
a practice the band also employs on future recordings. Tour plans are made featuring Tweedy, Stirratt, Kotche and Bach, re-configuring the band’s live performance in the wake of Bennett's departure.
• April 23, 2002 - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot arrives in stores via Nonesuch Records. The album goes on to be certified Gold (sales in excess of 500,000) by the RIAA and remains to this day the band’s best-selling album.
• July 26, 2002 – Sam Jones' documentary on the recording of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, entitled I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, opens in select theaters. Also that year, Mikael Jorgensen begins working with the band, first in the capacity of sound mixer, later adding keyboardist to his duties.
• November 2003 - Work begins in New York City on A Ghost Is Born with producer Jim O'Rourke.
• January 28, 2004 - Leroy Bach's departure is announced.
• March 4, 2004 - Pat Sansone and Nels Cline join the band.
• April 2004 – Tweedy enters rehab to treat an addition to painkillers; A Ghost is Born
release is delayed.
• May 19, 2004 - The first live performance with the new lineup (which is now Tweedy,
Stirratt, Kotche, Jorgensen, Cline & Sansone) debuts at Otto's in Dekalb, IL. The lineup
remains current.
• June 15, 2004 - Greg Kot's bio on the band, Learning How To Die, hits bookstores.
• June 21, 2004 - A Ghost is Born is released. Factoid #2: Alternate title considered: Wilco
Happens.
• November 2, 2004 - The band releases The Wilco Book, capturing Wilco in pictorial, literary and musical form.
• December 31, 2004 – Wilco headlines Madison Square Garden, sharing a bill with Sleater-Kinney and The Flaming Lips. They close the show, in their pajamas, with a post- midnight covers-set including “Don’t Fear The Reaper.”
• February 13, 2005 – A Ghost is Born wins Best Alternative Music Album at the 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards.
• November 15, 2005 - Kicking Television: Live in Chicago, the band's first live album, is released, featuring tracks recorded over the course of four shows at Chicago’s Vic Theater.
• May 15, 2007 - The first studio album to feature Cline and Sansone, Sky Blue Sky, is released. It debuts at #4 on the Billboard charts and is nominated for a Best Rock Album GRAMMY.
• September 12, 2007 - Wilco performs first ticketed show at the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The show is a benefit and raises more than $100,000 for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
• February 15 – 20, 2008 - The band plays every song from every one of their albums over a five-night residency at the Riviera in Chicago.
• March 1, 2008 – Wilco performs “Walken’” and “Hate It Here” on Saturday Night Live. Ellen Page hosts.
• April 28, 2009 - Wilco: Live - Ashes of American Flags, a concert film from directors Christoph Green and Brendan Canty following the band from Tulsa, OK to Washington D.C. on their 2008 tour, is released on DVD.
• May 2009 - Former Wilco member Jay Bennett passes away at his home in Illinois. A statement from the band remembers Bennett as a "truly unique and gifted human being."
• June 30, 2009 - The band gets meta with the release of Wilco (The Album) and its lead single "Wilco (The Song)." Like Sky Blue Sky, Wilco (The Album) debuts at #4 on the Billboard charts. Wilco receives a GRAMMY nomination for Best Americana Album.
• July 2009 – Jeff Tweedy appears on the cover of SPIN magazine.
• January 29, 2010 – Wilco performs Buffalo Springfield’s “Broken Arrow” at MusiCares
2010 Person of the Year concert honoring Neil Young. SPIN calls the performance
“brilliant,” and one that “revealed a band in complete control of its capabilities.”
• August 13 – 15, 2010 - Wilco kicks off the inaugural Solid Sound Festival at the
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. The festival features band members' side
projects, as well as other artist-friends like Mavis Staples.
• January 2011 - The band announces the creation of its own label, dBpm Records after
their contract with Nonesuch ends. The label's first release is the Wilco single "I Might"
with a B-side cover of Nick Lowe's "I Love My Label," first released at Solid Sound
Festival. Factoid #3: dBpm had been kicked around as a possible album title for years.
• September 27, 2011 - The Whole Love, the band's debut album for its label dBpm
Records, hits the Billboard charts at #5 and receives a Grammy nomination for Best Rock
Album.
• November 23, 2011 – Rolling Stone names Nels Cline one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists
of all time.
• April 21, 2012 - Timed for Record Store Day and to commemorate Woody Guthrie's
100th birthday, Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, a vinyl box set (which includes the first two volumes, a third collecting unreleased songs, as well as a DVD of the documentary, Man In the Sand) is released. Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 3 is also released digitally.
• July 8, 2012 - Wilco plays largest headlining show (to date), performing to 15k+ fans at Chicagoland's Kane County Cougars 5/3 Bank Ballpark. The show coincides with the breaking of a Midwest heat wave that saw Chicagoans sweltering through multiple days of record-breaking temperatures exceeding 100-degrees.
• June 21, 2013 – Wilco plays an all-request covers set during the opening night of the 2013 Solid Sound Festival. Songs performed include Television’s “Marquee Moon,” Abba’s “Waterloo” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” Tommy Stintson joins for a cover of The Replacements “Color Me Impressed.”
• June 26, 2013 – Wilco joins Bob Dylan’s AmericanaramA tour. The band welcomes several guests to the stage throughout the tour including Government Mule’s Warren Haynes, Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter and The Band’s Garth Hudson.
• November 17, 2014 – Exactly twenty years to the day since Wilco’s first performance (as Black Shampoo) Nonesuch Records releases two Wilco collections: The first, Alpha Mike Foxtrot, a 4-CD, 4-LP/Digital box set amassing rare studio and live recordings from the band's archives, and the second, What's Your 20?, is a 2-CD/Digital compilation of essential tracks culled from the band's previously released studio recordings.
28th Nov 2014 - Add Comment - Tweet

Biff Tannen FAQ
@TomWIlsonUSA got so sick of questions about Biff Tannen that he wrote and FAQ and even a song to address these burning issues.
Links
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16th Nov 2014 - Add Comment - Tweet

Filmage: The Story of Descendents / All
Nostalgic doc that doesn't avoid the realities of being pop punk pioneers. @Descendents.
15th Nov 2014
Read more 3.5 star reviewsTrailer Park: Filmage - The Story of Descendents/All
The @Descendents documentary is finally out - an all-time CSF favourite band since they roared onto my music radar in the Santa Cruz skate film Street of Fire in 1987 ...though even that was after Milo got back from college.
Buy it now on iTunes (US) or direct from the film's website.

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9th Nov 2014 - Add Comment - Tweet
"Jeff and David have an aesthetic shorthand". You can say that again @americancine http://t.co/BwZc6phA9N
5th Nov 2014
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