It’s hard to watch Kids in Love and not want to punch nearly every single character in it in the face. Chris Foggin’s debut picture is teen wish fulfilment at its worst and has about as much depth as a puddle after a brief spring shower.
Chicken (2016)
The way mentally challenged people are depicted on film is a mixed bag. For every great example, there are tens of horrible ones and entering any film that uses those issues as a central tenant is always a bit nerve wrecking. Thankfully, you can relax when sitting down to enjoy Chicken.
Letlive
Sitting down to write about letlive is a tough thing to do. Since the release of their debut album Fake History, they have established themselves as a bands who continually defy expectation. It is a trend that has continued with the fantastic If I’m the Devil… an album which shows them upping the soul side of their soul-punk sound.
Farewell To Studio Ghibli
Have you ever read a book, watched a film or listened to a piece of music and wondered why you haven’t been doing this your whole life? That’s the feeling I got last year when I sat down and watched my first Studio Ghibli film. The second I turned on My Neighbour Totoro I fell in love, and I still can’t figure out what I had been doing for the previous twenty-three years. It’s a sadness that is compounded by them releasing what they say is their final film, When Marnie Was There.
The Nice Guys And Plot
Before we get into this, let’s make it clear that this post will include spoilers for The Nice Guys. Now that is out of the way, let’s go. The Nice Guys reads like a list of Shane Black’s greatest hits. Mismatched buddy cops (although in this case it is a buddy PI and a buddy tough for hire), fast-paced dialogue, jabs at corporate America, plucky young children and an underlying darkness beneath the jokes. There’s even some Christmas. It also has a plot that at some points is completely nonsensical.
Prophets of Rage
“We’re doing to demonstrate what it means to be anti-establishment. We’re going to demonstrate what it really means to rage against the machine. It’s a locomotive-like fury.”
The words of a certain Tom Morello, a man you may have heard of. He is, of course, talking about the newly formed Prophets of Rage. An amalgamation of Rage Against the Machine men Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerfield, Chuck D of Public Enemy and B-Real of Cypress Hill. But are Prophets of Rage the best the music industry can do?
Obsessed With The Past
I’m a gluten for punishment me and that’s why far too regularly I find myself browsing through the comments of the latest Metal Hammer Facebook post. It’s a horrible dark place where the very worst sections of our world reside, and it inevitably leads to me wanting to chew my laptop with frustration. It does, however, give me a constant supply of ideas for stuff to write about. So that’s something.
X-Men Apocalypse Spoilerific Review
One of the disadvantages of going to see a film a little bit after it comes it out is that you’ve already heard everyone else’s opinion. You go in with at least a small amount of your brain made up. If everyone you trust says it’s shit, you expect it to be shit. If everyone says it’s great, well you get the picture. This can go one of two ways. You either end up cementing that opinion or being pleasantly/horribly surprised. Heads up, this review will contain all the spoilers.
Money Monster (2016)
Around two-thirds of the way into Money Monster it is tough to see where it is going to go next. Until that point, it has been a tight thriller all set within the confines of one studio. However, it becomes apparent that that portion of the film has lost steam and that something new has to be added. When it does come to be it loses everything that has made the film work and drops the whole thing into the ridiculous.
PUP -The Dream Is Over
Opening an album with a song called ‘If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, Then I Will’ might feel like the most comprehensive way possible to announce that things aren’t quite right in a band’s camp. Yet for PUP, it almost seems par for the course. Their second album, The Dream Is Over, is packed to the brim with self-deprecating humour which suggests that they might not be quite as close to self-destruction as that song suggests.
Ramblings About Wrestling 