Chimpomatic

London Boulevard

Surprisingly acceptable mockney caper. Think The Long Good Friday with flashes of Only Fools & Horses.

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18th Feb 2012

I'm Not There

This novel, stylish, pretentious biopic fails to make the most of its biggest asset...Bob Dylan's music.

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10th Feb 2012

My Morning Jacket

Roundhouse

A near flawless set and perfect venue elevated this to more than just another MMJ show.

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8th Nov 2011

The Terminator

Well-paced suspenseful original as Arnie's relentless cyborg hunts its target, spawning a franchise.

Halliwell says: Slick rather nasty but undeniably compelling comic book adventures.*

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17th Jun 2011

Eddie Vedder

Ukulele Songs

Simply awful. George Formby does \#PearlJam

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3rd Jun 2011

Best Of 2009

CJ

Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances
Rip roaring

The XX - XX
A late entry

John Frusciante - The Empyrean
Mr prolific returns

Doom - Born Like This
Quality in a struggling genre

Ian Brown - My Way
Despite his pedestrian lyrics still doing his own thing well.

Gig of the year (didn't go to enough)
Micah P Hinson - Zaragoza, Spain 

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28th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Best Of 2008

CJ

Music
Why? - Alopecia. Leftfield hip-hop of a high standard
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend. Song of the year: "Walcott"
Mighty Joseph - Empire State. As close as we've come to a follow up to the excellent Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes. I came to this late having enjoyed them on Later recently
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid.

Close: Despite a few clangers My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges has been working its way back up my playlists. It also has one of the worst album covers ever.
Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold

Film
No Country For Old Men - gripping
Iron Man - great entertainment

Best gig
Didn't go to enough

Biggest disappointment - The Dark Knight. Didn't live up to my high hopes, especially after Batman Begins

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15th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Bruce Springsteen

O2 Arena

I was not without trepidation approaching this show. Springsteen has been top of my “most wanted gigs” list for longer than I care to remember. A bit like a kid who has been saving his pocket money for months, when it came to the crunch did I have the guts to go through with it? What if it couldn’t match my expectations?

Three tracks in and all fears had been completely dispelled. The opening chords of Radio Nowhere, from this year’s album Magic, made the hairs on 20,000 necks stand sky high. No Surrender and Night quickly followed and then he spoke for the first time. “Hello London. This is a really big building…but that’s okay…cause we’re the big building killers” And he was right. Despite the size of the show, both Springsteen and the E Street Band pulsated with the raw energy you imagine they had back in New Jersey 30 years ago. The political fervour from that era is also still there, denouncing the current US administration in the lead in to Magic “Its not Magic. It’s tricks”

It speaks volumes for an artist who has been recording and producing this long that half the show was made up of tracks written and released this side of the millennium. Magic and 2002’s The Rising produced songs that were as well received as all the classics we had come to hear.

The tempo of the night was perfect as we were taken up and down at all the right moments, never tired of rocking, or weary of some truly moving ballads. Racing in The Street was a particular highlight, with rasping vocals over Roy Bittan’s piano. The main performance closed with a rousing Badlands with the entire audience calling out the background vocal.

So to the encore, with a plethora of some of the best hits still not heard. It was Jungleland that raised the bar again. Piano leading the whole band into a mass of power and expression on stage with Clarence Clemons’s incredible saxophone. And then more, Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark, and American Land. Finally, Christmas hats were thrown on stage from the audience for Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. We felt like he'd already arrived.

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20th Dec 2007 - 5 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Die Hard 4.0

(dir. Len Wiseman)

The original Die Hard movie is up there with the best action movies. Die Hard 4.0 is down there with the worst.

Bruce Willis claimed that he would only make this film when the story was right. They clearly offered him so much money he couldn't say no. From the off it just didn't feel like a Die Hard movie. There was no intriguing build-up as we have previously had with the villains enacting their plan, no reluctance from Willis to save the day (again), and no wit or real humour. Within minutes of the start, John McClane is battling it out against numerous submachine guns. From then on in it was just a string of stunts culminating in a ridiculous finale in which he takes on a US fighter jet (including jumping on and off it whilst it hovers in mid air).

Die Hard 4.0 was more like Under Siege 3.0. but Seagal must have turned it down.

This reviewer is giving it 1.0

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5th Nov 2007 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Hollywood Homicide

Ron Shelton

Two cops, more interested in pursuing other careers, search for the killer after a nightclub murder. Harrison Ford makes one movie per year these days making this choice inexplicable. It really is that bad..

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1st Jul 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Rifles

Astoria, London

This was an assured, powerful and entertaining performance from London four-piece The Rifles. Lesser debutants may have melted under the lights, playing in front of a sold-out Astoria. These boys simply rose to the challenge.

When a band has only one album behind them there is room for few surprises during a live show, but surprises were not what the audience wanted. The english storytelling style of Joel Stokers lyrics made each track an anthem as if the audience had been listening for years. With thousands of voices ringing out to each chorus there was a sense of homecoming in the atmosphere.

Blasting off with single She’s Got Standards, One Night Stand and Repeated Offender the pace was set and it was clear we weren’t going to be hanging around all night. With a presence on stage mixing arrogance and accomplishment the band looked and sounded as if they had experience well beyond their years. Its difficult to imagine the bands by which The Rifles are clearly influenced being so assured at the same stage in their careers.

Slowing down for She’s The Only One and the rolling drums of Fat Cat we stepped through most of the album. Strong b-side NLL broke things up and a new track suggested there is likely to be some musical evolution when a second album comes along.

An encore including Narrow Minded Social Club and Local Boy sent the audience home wanting more but feeling they’d seen something special. Drummer Grant Marsh’s grandparents made it to the show; lets hope they enjoyed it as much as everyone else did.

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7th Mar 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Rocky Balboa

(dir. Sylvester Stallone)

We revisit Rocky who is now running a modest restaurant but in need of one more challenge.

Not the worst big-name follow-up that we will see this year.

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17th Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Proposition

(dir. John Hillcoat)

19th century lawman Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) captures Charlie (Guy Pearce) and Mikey Burns. In order to save Mikey from hanging, Charlie is released and given nine days to find and kill their older brother Arthur Burns (Danny Huston), a grusume criminal.

This brutal narrative, penned by Nick Cave, gives a vivid impression of an early, lawless Australia. The oppresive heat, vast landscapes and ruthless characters add to the sense of drama here. The early signs of destruction of the Aboriginal peoples are here. Some have been tempted into the world of the settlers and others fighting to proetect their community and native culture.

Whilst all these components set the film up nicely the action doesn't quite live up to the potential. Certain relationships such as Winstone's with his wife (Emily Watson), and why he suffers from chronic head pain are only alluded to. Likewise, the dynamic between the outlaw brothers is never really uncovered. At only 1 hour 40 there was some room to expand on these themes further, but still an enjoyable and interesting experience.

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15th Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet