Sunday 21 October 2012

Over used sayings in Tv and film

Thanks to a generation weaned on Transformers and Iron man, the three most over used sayings in American film/Tv. 'Suit up!' 'Bring it!' 'I know! Right?!'
Whether watching Green Lantern, Avengers or a Michael Bay movie, chances are even the most cliched nugget of dialogue will wind up being overused by your kids and the next generation for years to come.
English language purists may roll their eyes but truth is Ehren Krueger, Alex Kurtmann and Roberto Orci have already left an indelible mark on the Western world's dialogue by penning some of the most successful films of the 21st century.
These bite sized chunks of dialogue, bullet points for the action generation, have already filtered into everyday speak. Okay, so what you may think.
Well, like 'chaos/hilarity ensues', personally i think they should be used sparingly.
So suit up readers. If you have a comment, bring it! And if you've just wasted 2 mins of your life reading this... I know, right?!!

Sunday 14 October 2012

The X Factor

'I'm going to have to hurry you!' Dermot O'Leary says this every week having just padded 50 minutes of air time with ex X Factor winners and the latest US starlet over to plug their new album.
The blonde mum with hair by 'Hedge dragged through backwards' - because she's worth it, hopes she's won over the nation, but if she had a degree of sense she'd know one thing: the key demographic who asks a parent or guardian before casting their vote does not want their mum to win The X Factor. He/She'd rather show her parents her Facebook updates than do that, and so we're down to the usual blend of decent talent, boy bands, street acts, solo artists, lovable scousers, cute mums and cannon fodder for the ADD generation.

Even watching the show on fast forward is tiresome, so its a good job Dermot is so entertaining with his matey schtick and likeable cockiness.

Oh well. Only another two months to go until the grand finale when we see who might get a number one before getting dropped by their record label and the deluge of their CDs winding up in an Essex landfill site.



Saturday 13 October 2012

Dean Friedman

In one of those everyday Friday occurences i get an email saying a music artist from the past is up for interviews. This time it's Dean Friedman, moustachioed New Jersey singer songwriter of Lucky Stars fame, a fave guilty pleasure that's as old as my wife, 34.
I ponder it for a while, get curious and check his gigs. He's playing 10 miles away in Selby. It's fate.

Wife gets back from same place and half an hour later we're heading back there.

Selby Town Hall is a modest little venue full of pensioners and a few boozed up fans. Ironically one of his biggest forgets to turn off her annoying phone and almost ruins the end of the gig.

Truth is fate had a good go scuppering it with a faulty power lead to his Korg synth dying a few times.

He battles on regardless and his version if Lucky Stars on guitar, a first apparently, is superb, not least because of the audience helping out with the female half of the vocals.

It's a fun gig, Dean's unique vocals on a par with Barry Gibb for falsetto riffs and trills as music journos might call them.

Most surreal moment of the night is his response to Half Man Half Biscuit's 80s hit The Bastard Son of Dean Friedman. As witty retorts go it's inspired lunacy, a little like most of the show.
Recommended.

Thursday 11 October 2012

Prometheus: The blu ray review

Four months after the debut Imax screening of Ridley Scott's Alien prequel - because that's what it is regardless of all the fuss about how it fits into the xeno saga - viewers can finally judge the movie on its own terms.

Nothing cuts through the gloss and wrapping of a movie better than a home viewing, and the result is a fractured, occasionally brilliant film.

Like a shattered mirror, shards of the film are superb, but harsh cuts to get the movie down to two hours have left a Frankenstein's monster, stitched together.

The performances, effects, set design and score are all great, but there are too many loose ends.

Maybe a director's cut or sequel will improve things, but as a standalone movie, this is just an elegant but annoying misfire.

Well worth repeated viewings, but still off target.

Wednesday 10 October 2012

The X Factor

'Louis, i need to know who you're sending home...'
The few million folks still left watching The X Factor were either perched on the edge of their seats as befuddled Irish X Factor judge Louis Walsh tried to reach a decision. I interviewed him once before series one started and he had enough trouble working out what a hypothetical Q and A about world leadership was, so the sublime Dermot O'Leary may as well have asked him to condense Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time into a 30 second precis.
When he opted for Ibiza loving Essex lad over a 2011 TXF reject, Gary Barlow was so disgusted he walked off. Either that or he remembered he'd left the gas on.
All of the above may have been a desperate attempt to generate viewers, but it remains to be seen whether it works.
As for Louis, i think Dermot should ask him to multiply 9 x 3 for the next show and then badger him for an answer after 58 minutes of filler.