Prince died last week and I, like many others I would imagine, watched Purple Rain. A little personal context if you'll permit me. I always respected but never particularly pursued the man's music (shamefully I count myself among those now moved to make up for this past neglect). His loss didn't feel as strangely significant to me … Continue reading The Strange Magic of Purple Rain
Swirling around the central conceit that social media is a bad thing and we're all addicted, Friend Request marks the English language debut of director Simon Verhoeven, and those who have already seen last year's innovative horror Unfriended will feel plenty familiar with some of the ground it covers, albeit in a markedly different way. As with Unfriended, Friend Request … Continue reading Review: Friend Request
Back when it was released around this time in 2014, I was perhaps unduly harsh on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, largely citing it as a movie designed to rearrange the pieces on the board for Joss Whedon's second Avengers film Age Of Ultron and therefore something of a stop-gap instead of a satisfying experience in its … Continue reading 180: The Durability Of Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Before we get started there is a bit of health and safety business worth mentioning that I've not seen anywhere else as of yet, least of all at the top of the film. Victoria opens with an extended sequence of strobe lighting. If you are someone who is adversely affected by such things, you might well … Continue reading Review: Victoria
Fleeing Sri Lanka after his involvement in the atrocities of the civil war, Dheepan (Jesuthasan Antonythasan) assumes a new identity, taking up residence in a French ghetto and working as the janitor. He is not alone. With him are 26-year-old Yalini (Kalieswari Srinivasan) and 9-year-old Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby). Though they are complete strangers, they must … Continue reading Review: Dheepan
Having been renewed for a second season, Damon Lindelof and Tom Perotta decided to (or potentially were encouraged to) make some changes to their cult supernatural melodrama The Leftovers. One of the most notable was replacing Max Richter's histrionic theme music with a sourced and overly chirpy 1990's country song. Almost the polar opposite of what preceded … Continue reading Review: Midnight Special
Without further ado or the ambling opening paragraph, let's do this. 25. Earth - Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I My personal favourite of Earth's tremendous 'second phase' which started with 2005's Hex: or Printing In The Infernal Method. There's a dusty slowness to AOD, DOL I. Great. So what, right? That's what Earth do. … Continue reading What I Listen To: 50 Albums Of The Decade So Far Pt. II
So, for a bit of a change of pace I'm moving outside of this blog's usual remit to offer some music suggestions. I listen to an extremely varied set of sounds, both modern and more classic (currently going through a heavy Miles Davis kick), and as a sucker for a big ol' list, I thought … Continue reading What I Listen To: 50 Albums Of The Decade So Far
