Roisin Murphy

I saw her live at the Koko club a while back and this performance was the highlight. Stumbled on this while surfing and needed to post it. Performance at it's highest.

"Surveillance" Trailer

An FBI agent tracks a serial killer with the help of three of his would-be victims - all of whom have wildly different stories to tell or so goes the IMDB synopsis. All I can say is bloody hell this freaked me out just a teensey bit.

The Cast is bloody strange: Julie Ormond, Bill Pullman, French Stewart (what the...), Cheri Oteri....if that didn't get me curious then the fact that it is directed by Jennifer Lynch (Davids offspring) and produced by the weird master himself definitely did.

Mini Review: "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency"

In Precious Ramotswe, Jill Scott, Anthoney Minghella has created an unlikely hero: A woman who has is intellegent, not a size 2 and very happy with herself.
They have breathed immense life in to Alexander McCall Smith’s creation, so much so that after you have finished watching the TV film you yearn to visit Botswana and have a cup of bush tea with the No. 1 Ladies Detective.

This is a film that will not change you life per say, but what it will do is change your opinion of Africa. Too many films these days have centred on the atrocities Africa and its people suffer. This is not to say these stories should not be told, but it is so refreshing to see this vast country represented in such a colourful and positive life.

Jill Scott has proven that she is an actress. Her accent never falters, and she exudes her characters positive outlook, even when faced with sorrow. I for one cannot wait to see the rest of this series. I just hope it comes sooner rather than later.

B

Music Mondays.

What can I say about Hercules & Love Affair aside from you need this in your collection!!

Andrew Bulter has created futuristic, electro disco by way of the goths. "Blind" the lead off single sounds like crying on the dance floor thanks to the sorrowful drenched vocals of Antony of Antony & the Johnsons.

I know my friend Andra has already found this and shi-shi-shi-shimmied his way around his flat. Watch the video for 'Blind" below.

I cannot wait.

Here is a still from the new Saoirse Ronan movie "City of Ember".


If you have not read the book, I urge you to do so. It is meant for the teenage audience, but it seems to me that this is where incredibly rich and imaginative stories are coming from these days.
The premise of the book and supposedly the movie is centered around the City of Ember, the one known surviving settlement and "the only light in the dark world" that's slowly dying as supplies run low and the electrical system starts to fail.
Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, two 12-year-olds who watch as the light of Ember flickers and race to discover a way out. The story is brilliantly paced, with no real action to speak of, just a wonderfully told story about survival and the imagination of children.

If done correctly (and if director Gil Kenan has any of the magic left over from "Monster House") this will be a stunning movie and perhaps a surprise hit.

I LOVE 4 Minutes..........

.....The REMIXES!

I mean, how typical, release a sub standard track as a lead off single for her album and then I hear a few of the remixes here and all is forgiven.

If enough tracks off the album get remixed I can then make my own version of the album that I love and forget the original if it is shit.

I just need to redesign the album images.....she just looks so tired in the pics, as I am sure she is. Perhaps she needs some more of the those vitamin B shots.

Ohh and how hot is this cover....another for my collection.

Trailer Park - Atonement Girls

Firstly Romola Garai in "Angel". This is the story of a young woman with incredible imagination who refuses to accept the world around her, and creates her own realities. At the moment it doesn't seem to be the thing to break her out, but then again it is just a trailer.



The Saoirse Ronan in "Death Defying Acts". This premise is while on a tour of Britain in 1926, Harry Houdini enters into a passionate affair with a psychic out to con the famous magician. The trailer does not do much to excite me, but I am curious to see how Saoirse follows "Atonement". (this has had release nightmares so do not expect very much at all)



And then this little trailer which for some reason looks like it could be a lovely little movie. "The Waiting Room"

Va Va Voom!!

How have I never seen this pic of the great Kate before?? Sure she looks like a replicant from "Blade Runner", but is that such a bad look?

"Then She Found Me" Trailer

Maybe Bette??????

Music Monday - Santogold

Wow! She is just mecca.

I cannot wait for this album to drop.

She was the only black kid in a private school, and when she became part of a clique called the 'fearsome 5', the school called her mum to complain about her bulling and her mum replied "I don't give a fuck! She's the only black girl — I'm glad she fits in."

Can you love someone just from a story?

If not for the story how about the music. She mixes electronic beats with punk guitars and New Wave synths with her own sassy vocal delivery. Think M.I.A. meets Tegan and Sarah.

Check her out on her my space page.

Check out the official video below for 'L.E.S. Artistes'.



What I'm searching for, to tell it straight, I'm tryin to build a wall
Walking by myself down avenues that reek of time to kill
If you see me keep going be a pass by waver
Build me up, bring me down just leave me out you name dropper
Stop tryin to catch my eye I see you good you forced faker
Just make it easy. You're my enemy you fast talker

Chorus:
I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up
If I could stand up mean for all the things that I believe

What am I here for I left my home to disappear is all
I'm here for myself
Not to know you I don't need no one else
Fit in so good the hope is that you cannot see me later
You don't know me I am an introvert an excavator
I'm duckin' out for now a face in dodgy elevators
Creep up and suddenly I found myself an innovator

Chorus

Change, change, change,
I want to get up out of my skin
tell you what
if I can shake it
I'm 'a make this
something worth dreaming of

Music Monday - New Hottie on the Bloc

What do I know about Sam Sparro?

Aside from being kind of cute and a little bit..... .... ... ... .. ...... ... . .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. . ... . ... .... .... . . . a place you send your kids to in the summer to get rid of them while you have affairs and drink copious amounts of gin.

Well ... . .. .. not alot.

He is from L.A. I believe and is about to make it HUGE, especially here in the U.K. where we like different music.

Check out his classy and hot music video for the soon the be released "Black & Gold".

Movies see and reviewed in 2007

A- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
A- Atonement
A- Ratatouille
A- No Country for Old Men
A - A Mighty Heart
A- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
A - There Will Be Blood
A- Into the Wild
A- Zodiac
A- Persepolis
A- Hairspray
A- Once
A- Michael Clayton
B+ Juno
B+ The Namesake
B The Savages
B 3:10 to Yuma
B The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
B Eastern Promises
B I'm Not There
B- Jindabyne
B- Away From Her
B- Hot Fuzz
B- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
B- 30 Days of Night
B- Control
B- Transformers
B- Enchanted
C+ I Am Legend
C+ American Gangster
C+ The Simpsons Movie
C Charlie Wilson's War
C Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
C Across the Universe
C Elizabeth: The Golden Age
C- La Vie En Rose
C- Gone, Baby Gone

My Favourite Disney.

Well at least traditional animation that has nothing to do the great Pixar.

I know you are all going "Lilo and Stitch"? REALLY? And probably thinking I have no taste.

Well you are wrong. Sure the film has some flaws, especially with the space invaders ending that seems so out of whack with the rest of the story, but what it more than makes up for it with is heart.

Directed by the out and proud gay man Dean Deblois with directing partner Chris Sanders this is a Disney film unlike any other I have ever seen. It is the only one that has made me openly sob as an adult, even after watching it the 10th time this weekend.

The premise is Stitch, a wicked creature condemned to die, escapes from his faraway planet and lands in a Hawaiian village, where he's adopted as a pet by Lilo, a misunderstood and quirky orphan (featuring the best voice work I have heard in some time by twelve year old Daveigh Chase).
Together they run amok, pursued by Lilo's exasperated older sister Nani, and by a pair of bumbling aliens sent to earth to capture the fugitive. It all sounds like typical disney fare, but it is far from this.

At the heart this is a story of a lonely child and her extraterrestrial friend yearning for a nuclear family. You know Nani and Lilo are alone. Lilo lashes out at her school friends and is an outcast because as Nani (an wonderful performance by Tia Carrere) says:

"They just don't know what to say".

After seeing a shooting star Lilo wishes for a friend, and angel to come. It is these quiet moments that you realise this is probably the most realistic portrayal of a child struggling with the death of her family that you will see.

If you put it on paper, this Hawaii based story it sounds like the latest Oscar bait independent drama: "After the death of their parents Nani must prove to child services that she is capable of being a guardian to her young sister Lilo who is having trouble dealing with her grief. The addition of a new pet makes matters worse and Nani struggles to keep her small broken family together".

It was this story that captured my heart so much. The truth the writers found in this small family unit is astonishing. The two sisters screaming at each other and each going into their bedrooms to scream into a pillow are both extremely funny and so true. The relationship between the sisters is not only complex but oh so true. Nani is not prepared for having to be the care giver, and constantly resorts to making decisions based on sisterly fun rather than adult responsibility.


The death of the parents is treating extremely unsentimentally for a Disney film. You only see a picture of the family all together, and the death is explained heartbreakingly simply to Stitch by Lilo:

"It was raining, and they went for a drive. What happened to yours? I hear you cry at night. Do you dream about them? I know that's why you wreck things, and push me."

Of course at the end of this film, Stitch begins to yearn for a family of his own and realizes he needs to make his own. He is an outcast that i feared, but have found acceptance in an unlikely place (this could so be a thinly disguised gay acceptance movie, especially considering that the two aliens sent after stitch have to find earth disguises and one picks up some wigs and becomes addicted with the way he feels as a woman. So much so when is partner tried to try on his wig he screams "You're just jealous because I'm pretty!!" Thank you Mr. Deblois!!!)

The moment in the film where I loose my shit and start blubbing is at the end when Stitch is being sent back and he has to explain to the aliens who Lilo and Nani are with his broken English:

"This is my family......I found it, all on my own. Is little, and broken, but still good.... Yeah......still good."

Jesus tears.....STOP!!!

So there I wanted to share my favourite Disney animated film to you. It also features one of the best disney songs I have heard in forever. If you haven't seen it, give it a go.
For extra fun see how many previous disney film references you can find in it.

For a fun Poll....What is your favourite traditionally drawn Disney animated film of the last 10 years?

"Deception" Trailer

Hugh Jackman...yes! Ewan...Hell yeah!! Michelle Williams...Umm hmmm. So why does this not seem that exciting to me. Perhaps it is the way the trailer is cut but don't good movies usually come with good trailers?

MAFFE Awards 2008!! The Lead Actresses

Marion Cotillard - "La Mome"

Takes an iconic woman and gives an iconic performance.
She ably transitions between many different ages, never once faltering.


Angelina Jolie - "A Mighty Heart"

Treats the role with immense respect and dignity to Marianne Pearl. Even turning away from the camera to grieve.
The accent never waivers.


Keira Knightly - "Atonement"

The smallest role of the bunch, but it leaves such an impression. The clippered 1930's speech to her face as she realizes her feelings. A true actress emerges.


Laura Linney - "The Savages"

For being funny, pathetic and true.
She is believable as a sibling and a woman who is deeply flawed.
You never question her.


Annamarina Marinca - "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"

For the difficulty of carrying the movie on her back.
The moments she has to reflect on what has transpired she truly shines. amazing acting.


Ellen Page - "Juno"

She carries the movie and is able to make the stylized dialogue completely believable.
Any actress who can say the line "I don't know what type of girl I am" so poignant and true is brilliant.

Paul Scofield has died.

The 'In Memorium' section at he Oscars will be especially sad this year. Read the whole article here. Something is in the British air this March. First Minghella and now Scofield. At least he lead a great life.