I find prog rock a funny old thing, because it certainly
encompasses all manner of styles. For example, Asia
are always bashed with the prog stick of love, but personally I wouldn’t call
them a prog band, they are just a melodic rock band with some proggy people
involved. Personally, I like prog that has a bit of balls to it, like It Bites,
Pallas and the like, not so much the ones that do a fifteen minute song that
never gets going. Atmospheric has a place in prog, but it should be balanced
with the ‘rock’ part of the name, is all I’m saying.
Lonely Robot is the creation of one John Mitchell. Mitchell
is very well known in the prog world as part of Arena, Kino, Frost and of
course It Bites. He calls Lonely Robot ‘the most fun I have ever had in a
studio’, mainly because there were no restraints on what he could do, or how
the songs should sound. Unsurprisingly he has roped in a bunch of friends and
contemporaries, including peter Cox (Go West), Howard Jones and prog vocalists
Heather Findlay (Mostly Autumn) and Kim Seviour (Touchstone).among others. Findlay joins Mitchell on
the mournful, haunting ‘Why Do We Stay’, a standout track amongst standout
tracks, whilst peter Cox gets ‘Boy In The Radio’, a catchy mid tempo track, all
to himself.
‘Please Come Home’ is definitely a prog rock album, mixing
aspects of all of Mitchell’s previous bands and adding a sprinkle of the man’s
own personality on top. There’s narration by Lee Ingleby, an eight minutes plus
track (‘Lonely Robot’), instrumentals, plus the requisite atmosphere and rock that
are fitted together perfectly, along with plenty of melody. It’s by turns heavy
and whimsical, downbeat and upbeat, introspective and expressive. For me, ‘The
Tall Ships’ remains Mitchell’s finest work, but ‘Lonely Robot’ will definitely
delight anyone who calls themselves a fan, and is a great starting place for
newcomers who like their prog with big brass robot balls.#
Phil Vincent has released a lot of albums. By my count,
‘Path Of destruction’ is his nine hundred and twelfth, although I may be a few
out. Buolt like a brick shithouse and determined to bring the same weight to
his music, Phil is never less than entertaining, and although the Tragic stuff
still sees him write everything, the addition of extra musicians does seem to
bring a new dimension to his songs.
This latest album sees Phil teaming back up with his Legion
cohort and serial guitar guest Vince O’Regan, who pops up for lead guitar
duties, with other long term cohort Damien D’ercole adding his own guitar licks
to the songs. Opener ‘Look At me Now’ is a catchy piece of work, accentuated by
Eric Ragno on keyboards, and manages to be punchy as hell with a stiff melodic
backbone. It’s great to hear Phil’s vocals improving slightly, with some good
harmonies bolstered by a crystal clear production. It’s a pretty accurate
indicator for the rest of the album, which mixes crunchy riffs, melodic
choruses and some sweet guitarwork throughout. Worthy of note is track three,
‘All The Time In the World’, which ranks as one of Phil Vincent’s most melodic
pieces of work, culminating in a skin chafing solo from O’Regan.
The run time of 55 minutes is bolstered by track six, where
it all goes ambitious with a five part song called ‘Lake Of Tears’, clocking in
at nearly seventeen minutes. To be honest this doesn’t mean that Phil has gone
all prog rock or anything (thankfully), and the time flies by, even if the
reading of it as a single track means I can’t listen to the parts as individual
tracks without faffing about. A little later the album closes with ‘Thank You’,
a sweet song of thanks that could be directed towards a mother or God.
‘Path Of Destruction’ can stand proudly at the top of the
Phil Vincent catalogue, providing 55 minutes of quality melodic rock mixed with
big riffs and very tuneful vocals. You can’t fault his ambition in chucking in
a six part song, nor his talent for catchy choruses, but you can fault the
decision to stick a picture of a fake breasted scantily clad lady on the inner
sleeve (not to mention the arse shot on the back). This makes a very decent
album look tacky and dated, and I was genuinely embarrassed that anyone else
should see it, especially after getting interested queries from those hearing
the music as I reviewed it.
In the end, it’s the music that counts, and with that in
mind I can thoroughly recommend this album. There’s not a dull moment to be
had, not a track that begs to be skipped. If you’ve ever liked one of Phil
Vincent’s many albums and projects, from solo to Legion, then Tragik will make
you a very happy music fan.
Well, if you thought ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ was an
obscure comic to turn into a film, it’s got nothing on ‘Big Hero 6’, taken from
a 1998 Marvel comic featuring Sunfire, Silver Samuraui and some other people. If
you have actually read it and were hoping for a tight adaptation I’d walk away
now, as ‘Big Hero 6’ has been kicked around and abused so much fans should
bring a rape kit to the cinema.
Whilst the established marvel characters from the comic have
been jettisoned, they’ve kept 13 year old genius (think Tony Stark in short
trousers) Hiro, and marshmallow like robot (changed from a monster) Baymax (I
kept hearing Betamax for some reason). Other original characters Honey Lemon,
Wasabi and, um, Fred are intact as well, but with different origins. Basically,
the comic has been Disneyfied, and to be honest is probably better for it.
Set in a mash up of San Franciso and Tokyo (San Fransokyo, natch), this east meets
West film tries very hard to mix anime with Disney, and doesn’t succeed that
well, with oriental characters not looking at all oriental to be honest. The animation
is, of course, first class, with the city itself looking gorgeous. The plot
centres round loss and revenge, basically, with one massive hole in it that
should make everyone question the villain’s methods.
The star of the film is Baymax, a white, sort of cuddly
medical robot who tries to fix Hiro’s broken spirit after a personal tragedy.
Baymax is very endearing and has his own personal development alongside Hiro as
the two become close. The other characters are pretty one dimensional and after
the main Big hero 2, the other 4 fail to make the viewer care that much for
them, being neither likable nor unlikable, just sort of there.
‘Big Hero 6’ is remarkably contrived and very unoriginal,
yet remains entertaining for all it’s faults. It’s never going to be regarded
as a classic but will keep kids amused for 90 minutes with it’s fun characters
and in your face action sequences. Just don’t expect too many of them to be
clamouring for a baymax toy afterwards, as any excitement will probably
disappear in a few hours.
When I was a wee sprog, I read a few Paddington books and
enjoyed the adventures of the small bear from darkest Peru. I also
hadrather a soft spot for the creatively made children’s TV series, where paper
cut outs were animated to surprisingly good effect, and my mind will never
forget next door grump Mr Curry’s shouts of ‘BEAR!’ whenever Paddington mucked
things up. These are treasured memories, people, and I crossed fingers that the
new film version wouldn’t trample all over them.
Well fear not, as ‘Paddington’ is one of the best family
friendly films I’ve ever seen, full of genuinely hilarious and touching
moments. The backstory of the bear himself is handled sensitively, with the
animation of Paddington (un-named until he arrives at a certain railway
station) and his Aunt & Uncle beautifully done. His adoption by the Brown
family isn’t cut and dried, as grumpy risk assessor Mr Brown (Hugh Bonneville)
want’s to hand him over to ‘The Authorities’, which is never a Good Thing.
It’s Mr Brown that provides the core of the film’s emotional
heart, as he takes the same journey as Mr Banks in ‘Mary Poppins’, learning to
love his family for who they are, not what he wants them to be, and to
appreciate that having a bear in his life isn’t a bad thing, no matter how many
times said bear accidentally nearly burns down the house, or floods the house
etc etc. The rest of the family are very well sketched out and played, notably
the old Scottish housekeeper Mrs Bird, played by a reliably on form Julie
Walters.
The only slight downside, for me anyway, is the need to add
an evil villain to the plot. Nicole Kidman is Millicent, who basically wants to
capture and stuff poor old Paddington. Her reasons for doing so neatly tie her
in to the story, but I would have been happier if the film was simply about
Paddington, the Browns and 90 minutes of mishaps. Nothing wrong with Kidman’s
performance or indeed the plot itself, I just felt it wasn’t needed in any way,
shape or form.
The best thing about the film is, rightly enough, Paddington
himself. The personality, voice (from Ben Wishaw) and animation are faultless,
and when he gets into a few little misadventures the comedy is fast and
furious. A little bit of bother with a sellotape dispenser is worthy of Chaplin
himself, and an escapade with a London
bus brings to mind Norman Wisdom or even Frank Spencer at their best. His gradually
acclimatisation to London
life is handled well, as is his acceptance as part of the Brown family. The other
highlight is some amazingly creative direction from Paul King, who uses several
visual tricks that bring to mind Peter Howett’s imaginative ways back in the
90s. You may not have heard of him, but I have a feeling he is set for big
things.
Absolutely stuffed full of jokes for young and old, smart
and stupid, ‘Paddington’ is a film that all the family can enjoy. There has
been a bit of a palaver over the PG rating, and to be honest it is definitely a
case of the certification board being too overprotective of the young uns. There
is nothing too upsetting here, or anything that impressionable minds are likely
to copy. There is one, beautiful moment of peril that occurs in silence that
had many in the cinema drawing in a concerned breath, but that’s about it, and
it is brilliant to hear the reactions of the kids (and adults) to it. Very
highly recommended, this will delight audiences for years to come.
To many people, ‘Dumb & Dumber’ is a comedy classic, and
rightfully so. Sure, it’s vulgar, crude and features two of the most annoying
characters ever committed to celluloid, but boy is it funny. The ill advised
prequel ‘Dumb & Dumberer’ did it’s best to soil the memory of the original,
but now the Farrelly brothers have returned to give fans a proper sequel, but
is it just a dumb move on their part?
Aside from the Farrellys, the big draw here is the return of
original stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, both of whom look pretty much the
same as they did twenty years ago. As Lloyd and Harry, they have breathed life
into two characters that most people would want to murder after five minutes in
their childish, moronic company. As with the original, the viewer gets a
voyeuristic glee in watching them say and do terrible things that are funny
mainly because of their naivety. Seriously, if these guys weren’t certified morons
they’d be certified calculating psychopaths.
The road trip plot centres around the search for Harry’s
long lost daughter he never knew he had, who Lloyd wants to bang. There’s a few
complications along the way, but that’s sort of it. Naturally, it’s an excuse
to put them into situations where they can behave like assholes and generally
wind up everyone they meet, particularly at a science conference at the end. Oh,
and we get to find out what Lloyd considers the second most annoying noise in
the world, so that’s nice.
So is it funny? I have to say that’s a firm ‘yes’, because I
certainly giggled plenty of times, especially at one of the funniest fart gags I’ve
seen and a bizarre, gross encounter with a frisky old lady. The main characters
are as preposterously dim as ever, and once you enter into their reality (in
ours they would be dead by now, beaten by an angry mob) you can sit back and
just enjoy the daft ride.
‘Dumb & Dumber To’ is a fun way to waste and hour and a
half or so, and although it doesn’t reach the comedic heights of the original
it certainly has a good go. Carrey and Daniels are both excellent, Carrey
especially, and I can’t do anything else but recommend this to fans of the
first one.
Sometimes, something comes along that just grabs you by the
metaphysical balls and won’t let go. Usually, people tend to get grabbed by
films of TV, maybe a special album or song, but if you’re really lucky it’s a
book. I still remember the first time I read ‘The Colour of Magic’ by Terry
Pratchett (in about 20BC when it was new), and I still like to dig out Robert
Heinlein’s ‘The Door Into Summer’, because in my opinion it’s the best book
ever read. You may disagree, but if so you probably haven’t read it, or you
have and are simply wrong.
I picked up ‘Ready Player One’ in a charity shop last week,
with it’s cover and gushing quotes about it’s geeky loveliness hitting the part
of my brain that used to thing the ZX Spectrum was awesome. A good holiday book
is essential, so you have something to flick through while the wife is looking
at shoes, handbags or, in may case, disappearing in health food shops for so
long you expect her to come out with Dr Livingstone.
The book is three years old now, and is set thirty odd years
in the future. He planet is getting more and more screwed up (the climate
change ‘nuts’ were right, natch) and the people more and more poor. The only saving
grace for the downtrodden masses is OASIS, the next giant step in technology.
OASIS is a complete virtual reality world that has replaced the internet and is
free for all to use. A kid can go to school in it, play in it, do absolutely
anything. The thing is, it’s inventor dies and his legacy is a competition:
whoever can find three hidden keys and gates within OASIS (which has many, many
‘planets’ created within it) will get all his money and control over the
system. This is more than big, and just about everyone tries to find them,
including our lowly trailer park hero Wade Watts. Wade is only a kid, but a
smart one, but even he can’t decipher the first riddle clue, and after five
years enthusiasm is waning. Well, it is until Wade finally cracks the clue and
the hunt is really on, and it’s a race between him and the evil IOI corporation
who want to find the prize and take over OASIS, but in a . y’know, evil way
(their corporate slogan may as well be ‘Bwah ha ha haa’).
So we get a book that is mostly set inside the OASIS system,
but does also give us a very good idea of what the ‘real’ world is like. The
picture Cline paints of America
in 30 years time is above all realistic. Just like some of William Gibsons
ideas have come perilously close to reality now, the future depicted in ‘Ready Player
One’ is depressingly prophetic. The characters are all wonderfully depicted,
though, and I found myself rooting for Wade from the off. There’s only a few other
characters in the book, mainly as it’s narrated
by Wade in the first person, but each is also very realistic and easy to
envision within your mind (even if they all are represented by their OASIS
avatars). When Wade makes a successful leap of logic in the quest, I found
myself happy for him, and I also found myself hating IOI as much as he does.
Much like the OASIS programme, ‘Ready Player One’ allows the reader to immerse
themselves in the pages and live the story along with the hero.
Another cool thing is that there’s a huge amount of 1980’s
retro stuff, logically explained away because OASIS’s creator James Halliday
was obsessed by the decade and anyone who wants to win the prize must study his
obsessions just as hard as he did. Monty Python, Ferris Bueller, The Commodore
64… it all gets a look in, as to classic arcade games like Pac Man and Joust. As a teenager of the 80s I loved this aspect, and it’s
hard to stop the little geeky thrill as you recognise an obscure reference that
isn’t otherwise explained in the text. The author even gave a way a DeLorian in
a competition of his own last year. Good move, Mr Cline… Good move.
‘Ready Player One ticks all the boxes a good book should. It’s
a speculative science fiction book that also taps into the fondness that the
1980s still holds for many people. It will appeal to sci fi fans and computer
geeks, but is not so complicated it will put off people with a casual interest
in either. If you like computers, video games, science fiction AND the 1980s
then this is the perfect book for you. As I like all these things it’s straight
into my top 10 and I’m not letting it go – find your own copy, geek boy (or
girl).
John Favreau is a lucky man. Ever since he penned the indie
hit film ‘Swingers’ (primarily so he could be in it and therefore find some
acting work) he has been a respected actor and director. A man who has been
happy to earn enough to make life comfortable with no desire for a mountain of
cash to sleep on (paging Mr Cruise…), he makes films he wants to make and has
been shown to be pretty shrewd in his choosing. ‘Chef’ is his first script
since ‘Swingers’, apparently because he found himself with a story idea he just
had to tell, which gave him a fierce desire to write not felt since then. Of
course, he had to direct as well, and the result is certainly not some kind of
vanity project, it is instead one of the most honest films I’ve seen this year.
Favreau is Carl Casper, a very good chef. This is made very
clear to us as he prepares to greet a very important food critic and serve him
something to make him go bananas (though probably not actual bananas). The problem
is that his asshole boss (Dustin Hoffman) wants him to stick to the same safe menu
he has been doing for years. Inevitably, the critic gets the safe food and tears
Casper apart in
his review, disappointed because ten years ago he was the chef that made him fall
in love with food and now he is a hack. Casper
discovers tweeting because of this and accidentally starts a flame war with the
guy, culminating in a face to face freak out that, naturally, makes him an internet
sensation, something he definitely doesn’t want.
We follow Carl’s story as he wonders what to do next, knowing
that cooking is the only thing that makes him truly happy. Ex wife Inez suggests
he gets a food truck to be his own boss and rediscover the joy of cooking for genuine
customers, so he does and that’s where the story really takes off. What it’s really
about, as these things tend to be, is Carl rekindling his relationship with his
ten year old son as well as his one with food. It’s about a man remembering what
life is all about, and finding out where he left the passion he had a decade ago.
As you may gather, I liked ‘Chef’. From the trailer I thought
it should be okay, but was not expecting such a beautifully made film. Even though
it contains such well known faces as Robery Downey Jr, Dustin Hoffman, Sofia Vergara
and Scarlett Johansson it doesn’t need them. ‘Chef’ would stand up well if the
only person in it you’d ever heard of was Favreau himself. It trundles along
good naturedly, making you care for every single character as it goes along,
and making you want to eat every single thing Casper cooks up. An ideal ‘date’ movie, ‘Chef’
contains the sort of heart that you don’t get from big studio movies, so go and
see it.
