Gangster Squad

Director: Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, 30 minutes or less)

Starring: Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone

Gangster Squad is a typical 1950's, Los Angeles based mobster film. Mickey Cohen, a top mobster in LA and Chicago, is taking over Los Angeles one phone line at a time so he can take the title, “King of the City” (so lame). Set specifically in 1949, fresh stories and memories of the war are floating around, SGT. John O'Mara is a detective that can't seem to lift those memories(not surprising). The impression I got was, it was his sole purpose to take down anyone who had done any bad in the world(despite being told not to, many times). As the Cohen rises in taking away Los Angeles' “soul” from the LAPD, the chief inspector calls upon O'Mara to get together a secret crew of police officers to take down Mickey Cohen.

With help from O'Mara's pregnant wife (because she obviously knows exactly what traits a secret police crew need) John and his wife (mostly his wife) put together LA's dream team. Which include: a black cop who is amazing at throwing knives, an old guy on the front of what looks to be a comic book that my twelve year old brother could draw, a really brainy guy who also fought the war and of course the gorgeous, naïve SGT. Jerry Wooters. Somehow a Mexican guy joins the “Gangster Squad”(which they name themselves), despite his lack of police experience and he has never shot a gun before, he just “listened in” on one of their plans and decided that he may as well join now. Before I continue, can we just reflect? This film is set in the 1950's, if I'm not mistaken and I remember my year nine history correctly, black and whites were not aloud to mix, am I right? Certainly not a Mexican!

There's no character development in this film, I didn't even know Jerry Wooters was a sergeant until I got home and looked it up on IMBD, I also had no idea what he was fighting for, without giving anything away he seemed to change his mind about the “dream team” pretty promptly. Further on in the film, it seems like he changes his mind as to why he's fighting! I know there's only a certain amount of time in the film and explosions and big guns are obviously more important but it'd be nice to know some details.

Although the film is named 'Gangster Squad' it's shocking how little we know about them apart from O'Mara and Wooters; again poor character development. Dare I say this film is a complete rip off of Scarface, not the story, the “slow motion gun wounds”, the rolling of the shoulders, the proud pouting while shooting a machine gun; it left me in a sombre state of squalor. There's one more thing I need to say before I say what I actually enjoyed. I've never been a fan of Sean Penn, but in this film I particularly didn't enjoy his acting, he spent the whole film looking as though he was having a stroke, failing to make eye contact with anyone. Not even his “lover”, Grace Faraday. He also reminded me of a nodding dog, bulldog like features and all.

By now you're probably wondering, “what the heck did she LIKE about this film?”. Well here's to sum it up in one paragraph, the colour grading and editing were excellent, beautiful colours; very warm and raw, although they would be more appropriate in a RomCom, somehow it worked. I went in to the cinema with very low expectations, there were parts where those expectations were exceeded and parts where the film met those expectations, the film is very much like a sound wave (yep, I did just use that analogy). The acting from the rest of the cast (minus Sean Penn) was super, especially Ryan Gosling, who always delivers. Lastly, the ending was wrapped up nicely, showing what everyone went on to do; which I really liked.

My final verdict: wait until this film goes to £3 in HMV...oh wait. However, if you enjoy a film with little to no character development, big guns, explosions, over-the-top fifteen rated gore and an extremely cheesy script (my favourite line being “Hold on to your hats, boys”) only then would I recommend seeing it for the hefty price of £9.20 or more (the rip-off prices of Cineworld).

So, this years Oscar nominations were revealed today. Here's my thoughts:

Best Supporting Actor:

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

Alan Arkin, Argo

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln.

Who do I think should win? Well in all honesty I've only seen one film out of that list, Silver Linings Playbook. Robert De Niro was brilliant in that film, don't get me wrong. But there's something telling me that Christoph Waltz will win because 1) He is amazing 2) Django Unchained will be brilliant 3) It's Quentin Tarantino. Tommy Lee Jones, for me, always pulls through with a brilliant performance in everything he does. Argo, I haven't heard enough about. I don't think I've even seen any other Alan Arkin films to judge his performance skills on.

My prediction: Robert De Niro. 

Best Director:

David O'Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Michael Haneke, Amour

Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

I think from my previous reviews it's quite obvious who I think should win this. Although Silver Linings Playbook was amazing, from a directors point of view everything was perfect. However, just because of how beautiful Life of Pi is...it has to be Ang Lee. I'll be very surprised if Life of Pi doesn't win. However, having Steven Spielberg as a nominee, it's going to be hard for anyone else to win. Let's hope we can pull away from the obvious choice.

My prediction: Ang Lee

Best Actor:

Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln

Denzel Washington, Flight

Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

I think we're seeing a trend already aren't we? It seems that there are two films that are ruling the Oscars so far; Silver Linings Playbook and Lincoln. In my opinion, Les Miserables should be nominated for so many more Oscars than they are. I haven't seen it yet, nor do I plan to see it for another couple of weeks but I already know that I'll come out like a crying wreck. Hugh Jackman is one of the best actors for this role and I know he'll play it perfectly. For that reason I think he deserves to win Best Actor.

My prediction: Hugh Jackman

Best Actress

Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Once again, Silver Linings! I honestly think Jennifer Lawrence deserves this. She manages to break out of her role from The Hunger Games and turn herself in to a completely different character, completely unique. Which, as far as I know she sticks strictly to the book character, which is amazing. She totally deserves this Oscar. But then I go back to thinking about The Impossible, Naomi Watts I know plays a VERY strong role in that. I think I'm going to stick with my first decision here. 

My prediction: Jennifer Lawrence

Best Picture

Beats of the Southern Wild

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

Lincoln

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Amour

Django Unchained

Argo

This year at the Oscars, I think the judges choices have been pretty broad. For Best Picture there is a film from every genre. It's hard for me to pick a favourite here, I think Les Miserables deserves the Oscar because everyone has worked so hard to keep to the original screenplay, but then again with Life of Pi's cinematography, I think it deserves the Oscar too. Django Unchained is just a brilliant piece of work and Silver Linings Playbook is a great film to tug at your heart strings and makes you feel good about yourself. I feel like I am a bit biased here because I haven't seen the rest of the films that are up for nominations. I guess this can be my task, to watch them all before the Oscars. But I think this time I'll have to go for 

My prediction: Life of Pi.

From here, I will just give my predictions because I do not know enough of the films to give an extended opinion.

Best Foreign Film

Amour

No

War Witch

A Royal Affair

Kon-Tikki

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see any of the foreign films that are nominated for Oscars this year so cannot give an opinion.

Best Animated Film

Brave

Frankenweenie

Paranorman

Pirates! Band of Misfits (UK title: Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists)

Wreck-it Ralph

My prediction: Frankenweenie

Best documentary film 

5 Broken Cameras

The Gatekeepers

How To Survive A Plague

The Invisible War

Searching For Sugarman

My prediction: The Invisible War

Music (original score)

Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli

Argo, Alexandre Desplat

Life of Pi, Mychael Danna

Lincoln, John Williams

Skyfall, Thomas Newman 

My prediction: Argo, Alexandre Desplat

Adapted Screenplay

Argo, Chris Terrio

Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin

Life of Pi, David Magee

Lincoln, Tony Kushner

Silver Linings Playbook, David O Russell

My prediction: Silver Linings Playbook

Original Screenplay

Amour, Michael Haneke

Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino 

Flight, John Gatins

Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola

Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

My prediction: Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola

Cinematography

Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey

Django Unchained, Robert Richardson

Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda

Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski

Skyfall, Roger Deakins 

My prediction: Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda

Costume Design

Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran

Les Miserables, Paco Delgado

Lincoln, Joanna Johnston

Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka

Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

My prediction: Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran

There are a couple of surprises however, I'm EXTREMELY surprised that Leonardo DiCaprio isn't up for an Oscar AGAIN! If anyone deserves one this year, it's him. He's really put himself out this year to get into as many films as he possibly can: The Great Gatsby, Django Unchained and The Wolf of Wall street. I'm not really sure how the Oscars work, if there's a cut off point or not? Because I'm also really surprised that The Hunger Games isn't up for any Oscars either? What's going on?! 

Now, before I start this post properly I want to make something clear. I know, to all of you who avidly read my blog (ha ha) you're probably used to my music posts, which is why you read this. I am however, trying to find another niche. I want to try my hand at writing about film as well as music. Although music is the drive in my life, I feel that film is becoming increasingly more favourable to me. This might be because of my college course, which as you all know is a Film and TV course. So, to keep myself and everyone happy...I'm going to try to write about both.

Lately, as I delve in to the deepest depths of procrastination I have been watching film trailers and there's one in particular I keep going back to...

Yes, that's right. The Great Gatsby. Yes, I am jumping on the bandwagon with this one and finally yes, I did only read the book after I saw the first trailer. It had been on my mind for a while to read it but as soon as I saw the first trailer (emphasis on first) it became my main priority. The reason for this? I guess it's sort of a pet peeve of mine to not read the book before seeing the film. So when I first saw the trailer I assumed it's first release date (Christmas time). I rushed through the book, thoroughly enjoying every word and every description F.Scott Fitzgerald gifted us. I'm not here to talk about books because book reviews really aren't my forte (they are Sophie's however). Anyway, just as I couldn't get more excited about the film a second trailer is released. Okay so here's the thing, I get exactly thirty-one seconds into the trailer and have to pause it for a breath. Who would have thought in the first thirty seconds it checks all the boxes: great CGI, great soundtrack (yes, I do love Watch The Throne), great cast, stunning picture quality and best of all plot explanation. As we move on through the trailer we begin to find about more about this "chap", but who is he? Jay Gatsby of course! Anyone who has read the book are either grinding their teeth with rage or (like me) howling with excitement at this surge of colour: the confetti, the parties, the dancers, the waiters with drink trays and best of all Florence and The Machine. On a side note, I have found that Ceremonials (Florence's late album) is and has been used for a number of films, not that I blame them the music is so dramatic. But coincidental it's been so popular for films.
   For many people, The Great Gatsby is just another "boring" book you've studied at either GCSE or AS or A-level, am I right? I bet after watching this trailer you wish you had an imagination like director, Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, Australia, Romeo + Juliet), in just one trailer he has managed to sum up pretty much the whole story. The trailer takes a dramatic change at around 01:26, from which Filter - 'Happy Together' starts playing (For all those who have been racking their brains for that one, you're welcome). You begin to have a short insight of Gatsby's feelings for a strange blonde woman in the form of Carey Mulligan, who would have thought...a rich and passionate man, add kinky to that equation and you're not far short of Christian Grey! No, I'm kidding. Jay Gatsby is NOTHING like Christian Grey. Anyway, from here you have a montage of what I can only gather to be twists within the book, maybe this is Baz Luhrmann's way of saying "don't worry everyone, I've not missed anything!". That's what one can hope anyway.
If Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't get an Oscar for this, I will be a little more than surprised! On a final note, there is one thing in particular I love about this trailer but it takes a few times to watch it to pick up on it. Aside from Meyer Wolfsheim (a minor character), not one other name of a character is mentioned in the trailer, apart from Gatsby's. Centering the whole trailer around him, understandable enough apart from the book is narrated from a completely different characters perspective!

Okay, it's been a while but I bought myself these really cute notebooks the other day for film and music reviews, they were on sale but they're really handy! So I thought I would try my hand at a film review, so here goes. My review for Life Of Pi.

The Life of Pi, 2012
Directed by - Ang Lee
Starring - Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Adil Hussain
The Life of Pi is an astonishing story which started as a novel by Yann Martel. Before the film I believe it wasn't exactly the most popular book, however after watching the film I can't wait to go out and buy the book and compare it to the the film (like most book adaptations). The film is about a 16 year old boy named Piscine Patel, who was named after a beautiful swimming pool in Paris "Piscine Molitor"; he changes his name to Pi whilst still in school as he got teased by his classmates. Pi is Hindu, Muslim and Catholic; claiming he just wants to "love god", religion is a huge part of this film and Pi is heavily influenced by religion. His family run a zoo in Pondicherry, the French part of India. After living there for 16 years, Pi's family decide to immigrate as they cannot afford to live there any longer. After his family die in a shipwreck, Pi finds himself alone and stranded on a lifeboat, only to discover the Bengal tiger from the zoo (Richard Parker) is on the boat with him. This film is about the struggle of Pi and Richard Parker as they are alone in the pacific ocean and are trying to find reality, together. It is a story of friendship, coming of age and life.
 There isn't anything bad to say about this film; it's absolutely stunning and the acting is tremendous. Whilst watching I felt as though I were in a dream or watching someone else's dream. It has the best cinematography I have ever seen, wonderfully colourful and teeming with life. For me, this film was life changing, not so much the story but the way it was shot. Each scene had been carefully planned out, each more stunning than the last. The use of colour grading, flawless special effects and every colour you can imagine, The Life of Pi is certainly a once in a lifetime film. I don't think anything will ever top itself in the fact of a nature/wildlife/friendship story. If you thought Free Willy had you tearing up, just wait until you've seen Pi's brave journey with a wild, hungry tiger. It's one of the only films I can truly say I'm glad I saw in 3D; it wasn't one of these "try hard" 3D films where everything is jumping out at you, but it just made it even more perfect and believable. To be honest, I was so engrossed in the film that I didn't have time to remember it was in 3D, after about fifteen minutes I didn't even notice. While watching it, I felt every emotion inside of me light up, I was up and down more than a six month pregnant woman. Every emotion was real, which I can't say is true for a lot of films, I came out of the cinema feeling physically drained I was so engrossed. The characters were so real too. I feel that Pi's character was very relate-able, in that he was trying to grow up on his own, trying to find his own path. Which, in ways is very similar to most teenagers of that age, but they are fortunate enough not to be in the unique situation he's found himself in.
"I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts most is not taking a moment to say goodbye" - Pi Patel.

So, on Friday I saw The Maccabees in St-John's Church in Hackney. Despite tramps fighting, the public openly naming their dog "slut" and getting strange looks from everyone, the Church itself was lovely. To put things into perspective for you, I arrived in Hackney at around 3pm and met with my friend Jordan, after enjoying a lovely half pint of coke in a pub in which we were undoubtedly the youngest in, we headed to the Church, being the first people there. After waiting what felt like an eternity, having a quick chat with Felix and waving to Orlando (fangirling, sorry); we were in and at the barrier (a usual when seeing The Maccabees).
   Of course we had the half hour anticipation of waiting for the first support, which to my surprise was Jessie Ware. I knew Jessie was supporting, of course, but I thought she would have been second on the bill, rather than Jamie 'N' Commons. Jessie, however was an absolute babe, her set was acoustic and although she had to restart a song (if I'm not mistaken it was 'Night Light') every note was pitch perfect. She told us a lovely story about how she got to know The Maccabees, she told us how she grew up with Felix, going to the same primary and secondary school, university and living with him! I guess we really do learn something new everyday. Not only did her voice sound mystical and dream-like, she looked absolutely stunning as per usual. It was just a shame that everyone was talking so loud over her, being in a Church the acoustics were brilliant, however it didn't just emphasize the voice on-stage. It emphasized everyone's voices!

(Jessie Ware looking fabulous)

Now, don't get me wrong it's not often I slate a band, in fact this is probably going to be the first time. Jamie 'n' Commons were messy, too loud and just not the right band to be supporting The Maccabees at all. Although it was The Maccabees themselves who suggested them, I was very disappointed with their choice. The occasion wasn't right, everyone was pretty chilled after Jessie's acoustic set and everyone knew The Maccabees were playing the whole of Given To The Wild, a very emotional, sentimental album. Having a voice that was huskier than Bruce Wayne's and guitars that were louder than a 10 year old with their first amp was less than exhilarating and exciting, in fact, it was pretty embarrassing for the band. Especially when they openly said they were trying to be Bruce Springsteen, it's nice to take influence, every band has influences but admitting to a crowd you're trying to be another artist? No, thanks. I did give the band a listen on Spotify a few days before the gig, I didn't mind what I heard but I knew from my first listen that this gig wasn't the best for them to be supporting. Maybe if they were in a bigger venue, with fans that are there for Bruce Springsteen wannabes they'll be better, but not this time. Sorry boys. 

   I think I speak for everyone when I say, we were more than relieved when Jo Whiley came on stage to introduce The Maccabees. The whole experience was completely mind-blowing. Every drum, every bass note, all the guitars were exactly the same as on the album, I have heard Given To The Wild performed live many a time but in pieces, so to have the whole thing from start to finish live, that was special. I think that the hearts of all The Maccabees fans there that night were once again touched by the five...oh wait, six boys on stage. It was that night I had heard Will was officially "part of the band", I'm happy about it. I know some The Maccabees fans aren't exactly ecstatic about it but I think it's cute they've taken Will on "full time". Of course, by 'Pelican' the crowd were getting rough, producing the "mosh pits" that The Maccabees are known for. The boys on the other hand seemed like they were having a great time, but also in deep concentration. The set felt like it went by so fast, it was hard to believe they had played the whole album! Orlando thanked the fans for sticking with them from the start, which as it always does, pulls at my heart strings. I feel like such a proud mother, watching them grow as a band and that shows through their music. Orlando also said that they would most certainly never perform the whole of Given To The Wild again, making the night feel even more special. 

    All in all, the gig was superb and a complete one off experience. Forgetting about Jamie 'n' Commons, obviously.

(Half of The Maccabees, basking in all their glory)

   

I interviewed Swim Deep for shout4music. Here's the outcome.

Swim Deep, a five-piece from Birmingham, are in the running to be one off the much talked about buzz bands of the year. With their compelling single 'King City' (which includes the infamous “pretending Jenny-Lee Lindberg is my girlfriend” lyric) and now 'Honey' the only way for this midlands based band is a sharp ascendancy towards the masses ear drums. We chat to Zach about their current tour with Spector and why they love Tame Impala so much.

You're going on tour with Spector later on this month, are there any particular venues you're looking forward to playing?

All of them, we've played a few shows with them over the last few months and they've been some of the best crowds we've played too, there just so up for it. They just love sunshine popstars.

Who's your favourite band right now? Why?

Tame Impala, the way they write music, the way they record music, there pop/ RnB melodies just absolutely blow our minds.

How did Swim Deep come about?

Austin and Higgy met whilst working in Morrisons. Ozzy asked Higgy if he wanted to get the hell out of this place and write music, higgy said yes, then I (Zachary) and Cavan met those guys on the dance floor in Birmingham.

Do you think - given the current music scene - that Birmingham could be/is the new 'Madchester'? If not, do you think it ever will be?

I think it already is tbh, there's just so much coming out of Birmingham at the minute, and every one seems to be loving it.

You guys seem to be really into California. What is it about California that makes you so attracted to it?

The sun, the babes, the beaches, everything to do with California attracts us and makes us want to live there.

Where do you see Swim Deep in 5 years?

On a beach in California surrounded by babes, drinking sangria.

Name 5 albums you'd take on a desert island...

Tame Impala - Lonerism

Pond - Beard, Wives , Denim

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense

Elton John - Rocket Man

Michael Jackson - Bad

Tell me about the first gig you ever went to, who was it, when and what you thought of it.

My first ever gig was an NME tour when i was about 13, Lethal Bizzle played and it was huge, it was in Birmingham. i remember just jumping around like a fool shouting 'POW'.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this being published and the fact I got the chance to interview them in the first place! The interview was over email so it wasn't entirely exciting but it's better than nothing! 

Day three at NME (poet and I didn't know it)

Today was so busy compared to the rest of the week. We started, as usual with the mail, now...we were told that we would be getting more and more mail as the week went on. However, as the week has gone on so far it's become increasingly less, which I'm fine with but I thought as the new issue went out today there would be more mail today, guess I was wrong.
   After we had finished the mail we finished transcribing the interviews, Tom Howard came up to us in the morning asking us how we were doing and how we were finding it all, which was really nice. When the editors give you a task, they really are considerate towards you and understand that it's difficult. We said to Tom that we'd try and have them done by lunch time, however the interview was longer than I though, it ended up being around 40 minutes in length. If you've never transcribed an interview before, let me tell you...it's difficult. You have to listen to things several times before you really come to grips with what they're saying. We tried to get them finished by lunch time however we ran over by an hour and didn't get them finished until two. I had literally just finished my transcription when Jenny Stevens, the deputy news editor approached us, asking if we could transcribe an interview for her. I explained that I would love to do it as I really enjoy doing it, but I would have to start after lunch. She was really surprised that we had left lunch so late to finish some work. I guess she was impressed because she ushered us off to lunch. When I came back she gave me the Dictaphone she had, it wasn't hers it was Dan Stubbs' the news editor. She asked me too look through the files until I could find her interview, I thought this would be a pretty simple task however it deemed near-on impossible to find her interview, in the end I had to take it back to her and Dan seemed to find it so fast. I was so embarrassed, it made me look like such a fool and technophobe but I guess they didn't mind because it's not my fault I'd never seen a Dictaphone in real life before. I only got a third of the way through the interview before it was time to go home. I felt bad but I knew I'd be in the office all night if I'd carried on. I said to Jenny that I didn't mind going home and transcribing the rest for her, she said that it was okay. I guess she was working to a deadline because I got an email from her a couple of hours later saying that her deadline had been extended and could finish it tomorrow morning if I wanted to, of course I obliged. I felt that I couldn't leave it half done. So I guess that's what my job for tomorrow will be, I'm also hoping to do my single review tomorrow as well. I'll probably do the Disclosure track and the Swim Deep track. Karen gave us a list to choose from today, I thought these two would be okay because I'm a fan of both the bands. I haven't really written any bad reviews yet, so I didn't want NME to see my first bad review. The editors will be going through them with us on Friday, I think.