Category Archives: Entertainment

The Adjustment Bureau – Film Review

Entertainment, , , , ,

Admittedly in action movies like The Bourne Identity he handles the physical requirements well and that franchise certainly made the pre-Daniel Craig Bond era look in need of the reboot that was to come with Casino Royale.

But on the whole there is a woodenness and lack of emotion that has made me avoid Damon vehicles. Which makes it all the more interesting that I think his personality and the electric spark between him and female lead, Emily Blunt, makes The Adjustment Bureau stand out as a strong relationship movie.

Damon plays David Norris, a candidate for the US senate. He is being stalked by a shadowy group of men wearing hats, who have the ability to step through any door, say one in Battery Park, and immediately emerge from a different door anywhere else in New York City. They are the people who keep our lives on track, or on “The Plan” as they put it.

One of them is supposed to stop Damon from meeting Blunt on a bus by making him spill his coffee – causing him to go and change his shirt rather than get on the bus. But the intervention fails, Damon meets Blunt and they start to fall in love.

The rest of the film is about the Adjustment Bureau trying to prevent them from being together. This scenario is played out on the streets, on the rooftops and in the underground bowels of the city of New York, and although this is not an action movie, there are some exciting, if not, nail-biting moments.

Sadly part of the narrative is clunky however. You have to ignore Terence Stamp’s ridiculous speech about the Dark Ages and the failings of human beings. The motivations of the “Men in Hats” is not explored deeply enough. And we never really know what the plan is all about and how things would be different if the two leads hadn’t met as was intended. The numerous references the “The Chairman” and the obvious religious connotations are too oblique. And why is man in hat, Harry (well played by Anthony MacKay), so keen to help Damon when the rest of his kind are obeying the orders of the Chairman?

But Emily Blunt’s character, Elsie Sellas, is so alive, attractive, sexy, likeable and vulnerable and the way she and Damon interact is flirtatious, tender, fun and loving that their relationship sweeps aside the inadequacies of the plot. They are so good that you just want them to be together and to overcome the hurdles set in front of them by the shadowy forces.

Right from the moment they first meet you want a happy ending and that makes it worth watching to find out whether your wish is part of “The Plan”.

Magnum the Rock Band not the Tom Selleck TV Series.

Entertainment, , , ,

magnum the rock band

Magnum and wine lovers will immediately think of a bigger than standard champagne bottle. Many more would think of the 1980s TV detective series, Magnum PI, in which a curly haired and embarrassingly moustachioed Tom Selleck investigated crimes in Hawaii.

Say Magnum to me and I think about Magnum the rock band, one of the world’s greatest unknown and under-rated rock bands.

Started by two brummies, Tony Clarkin (song writer and lead guitarist) and Bob Catley (vocals) in the 70s they are still going strong today having just released a fabulous new album, “The Visitation”.

I first saw them live at Leeds Poly in the 80s during Clarkin’s “black hat and long black coat” phase. I went to their gigs well into the 90s as the Clarkin look and outfit changed to cue ball bald and black leather. Hatted or bald he is a great guitarist. Heavy but melodic, intricate and precise. On this new album the sound is more defined than ever before.

Into the 2000s I kept up with the DVD releases of a series of concerts celebrating the 25th anniversaries of some of their earlier works – played again live in all their pompous entirety.

Their music is multi-layered, very melodic, sometimes cinematic and occasionally medieval. Catley’s vocal delivery is strong and assured and yet delicate when required. Some of their songs, including “Start Talking Love” which charted in the 90s, drive a heavy bass riff right over the likes of Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. I imagine if Henry VIII had listened to heavy rock – Magnum would have been favourites at court. But that suggests they are old and tired. Well they are older but “The Visitation” is definitely not tired. It ripples and roars at the same time.

They deserve to be more well known. They don’t deserve to be under-rated. But perhaps that has given them their edge over the years. This lastest offering deserves a good listening to, on an iPod with no concern about the volume limiter.

The Lion, the Tourist and the Bloody Big Rock

Entertainment

Christmas was an overload of new Blu Ray discs and DVDs. Watched whilst demolishing the last of the festive turkey scraps, the final Quality Street chocolates, and the few remaining Twiglets. Afterwards it was good to get to the cinema to see some new films on a big screen for a change.

But what a mixed bag this trio of blockbusters turned out to be. One fantasy CGI filled adventure, one rom com come thriller and one movie about a guy trapped in a ravine by a fairly sizeable chunk of rock.

Narnia; Voyage of the Dawn Treader sees many characters from the first two films reunited on a sea voyage visiting weird and wonderful distant lands. Prince Caspian displays enough bicep to keep the young female audience happy. But I found myself irritated both by the character and whiny voice of newcomer, Cousin Eustace. It was gratifying to see the big mouse whip his arse early in the movie. When he got turned into a dragon he lost the annoying voice at least. Although redeeming himself towards the end of the adventure, initial impressions prevailed.

The film is gorgeous to look at but lacks the spectacle of the first movie and also desperately needs a villain on a par with the White Witch.

Aslan the lion makes a appearance to allow the mouse to travel over the crest of a big wave into Aslan’s country – an unsubtle biblical reference.

Whilst the Narnia actors seemed to be going through the motions, those in The Tourist were more wooden than the hull of the Dawn Treader.

Johnny Depp usually chooses interesting and quirky roles. So what possessed him to accept this one? He looks lost, bored and uninterested all at the same time. Angelina Jolie attempts to be cool, calm and collected and simply comes across as characterless and emotionless, whilst trying hard to maintain the integrity of her pout.

The only reason for Depp’s character to be attracted to Jolie’s would be as a result of intense chemistry and bubbling sexual tension between the two of them. There is neither. There’s some action maybe, and a few plot twists that are so well sign posted you can’t miss them coming, but compared to Salt, Jolie’s other recent thriller, this is one Tourist that should have stayed at home.

I’m sure the adventurer in 127 Hours wished he had stayed at home after he falls into a ravine and gets trapped by a huge rock. With only one main setting, the ravine, and only one main character, this film could have struggled to engage the attention over 90 minutes. But it succeeds.

As the adventurer’s plight gets more futile and he runs out of water and options, a series of increasingly psychedelic flashbacks increase the tension to nail biting proportions.

You know what he is going to have to do to escape, and the anticipation of this is worse than the reality of the amputation he has to perform on himself. I’ve seen more gore in TV’s Casualty but Danny Boyle makes that tension unbearable. So the big rock wins in this otherwise lack lustre threesome.

We’re gonna need a bigger boat.

Entertainment

Time off over Christmas and New Year inevitably means many duvet days watching films on TV, DVD and now for the first time, Blu Ray.

Piranha 3D gnawed its way into my Christmas stocking this year. From the cover photos and blurb it looked like a good excuse to expose as much bikini clad female flesh as possible. It also promised to showcase the questionable acting skills of Kelly Brook, as well as showcasing as much of her bikini clad flesh as possible.

Surprisingly enough, once you get past what’s on display, you are left with a pretty good thriller, with at least six genuine heart stopping shock moments. And some scenes of real edge of the seat tension. The film pays homage to Jaws (especially in the opening moments with Richard Dreyfuss), with one shock to equal the “head coming through the hole in the boat” moment from the 1975 classic.

There’s not much story. It’s summer and all the youngsters are out on the lake enjoying the sun. An earth tremor creates a crack in the lake bed through which a huge swarm of prehistoric, and extremely hungry piranha fish emerge. They immediately start to sate their hunger on the revelers. The special effects are gruesome and there is gore galore with just enough black humour to balance off the blood.

It took me a few moments to recognise the actress playing the cop who jet skis in to the rescue – Elizabeth Shue (Marty McFly’s girlfriend in the second two Back to The Future films). And as if in homage Christopher Lloyd turns up in typical mad starry eyed professor mode to support her efforts to rid the lake of its feeding frenzy of fiendish fish.

In the end it is really just about bikini clad flesh being stripped to the bone, but the out of seat shocks and the tension elevate it above the fish food it first appeared to be.