Elysium

'And the meek shall inherit the earth'. Unfortunately in this film they inherit a diseased, overpopulated earth while the wealthy live it up on Elysium, a luxurious space station orbiting the planet. It's an interesting and relevant idea from the mind of Neill Blomkamp, the same guy who wowed audiences in 2009 with sci-fi thriller District 9. The action comes thick and fast as Matt Damon finds himself with only a few days to live and must get to Elysium where he can be cured of radiation contamination. His fate becomes intertwined with the fate of humanity and the bigger picture overshadows his own life. The relevance of the film is in the vast gulf between rich and poor and the determination of the rich to hold onto what they have. It's nice to have an action film with a social conscience, although I feel Blomkapp could have fleshed out this part of the story more and also focused more on character development. The special effects are very good and Sharlto Copley, of District 9 fame, makes a brilliant baddie. All in all it's good entertainment but not the film that could fully redeem this summer's disappointing cinematic releases. 7/10

Edinburgh Festival with The Shawshank Redemption, Brainsex and Craig Campbell

Our first show, Brainsex, is probably the main reason that you are now viewing this blog. Sorry to disappoint but it is not as dodgy as it sounds. My own interest was purely educational. Honestly. The show took place in what seemed to be a small shipping container called the George Square Box, which was a bit strange. As my friend Alan retorted, we were half expecting to find ourselves in Afghanistan on rendition by the end of the show. Regardless, we dutifully lined up in a fairly long queue - obviously many other people were interested in Brainsex from a purely educational point of view. I felt sorry for the girl collecting the tickets. "Are you here for Brainsex?" she would ask. We were all very mature about this of course and did not emit a single giggle or chuckle. The show itself proved to be an interesting and amusing hour about the differences between the male and female brain. The science part went a bit over my head at times, but the presentation was often injected with much needed silliness and humour. Overall it worked quite well and I can think of many less pleasant ways to spend 60 minutes in a small shipping container. Our next show was a stage adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption at the Assembly Rooms Music Hall. It was an impressive venue, complete with glittering chandeliers, for a much loved film and novella and I wasn't surprised that the hall was packed almost to capacity. It was always going to be impossible to live up to the emotional power of the film but despite watching the play from a slightly defensive position I still managed to enjoy it. I particularly liked Omid Djili as Red, the convict who befriends the main protagonist. His American accent was so convincing that I wasn't sure it was him at first. The set props, movable steel cages, were cleverly used to create each prison scene and there was an authentic prison feel to the stage presentation. (I've never been in prison, in case you are wondering) The story unfolds fairly well and the acting is thoroughly solid but the screenplay doesn't really capture the intimacy and importance of the relationship between the two main protagonists. Also the twist at the end could have been given more thought by the director, it just doesn't work as well as the film. Alan was impressed, being one of maybe ten people in the world never to have seen the film before. He promptly resolved to put that on his to do list, so I guess that in itself is a good testimony to the stage version. Our final show of the day was Canadian stand-up comedian Craig Campbell, at one of the smaller venues within the Assembly Rooms. We had seen him last year as part of a trio of Canadian comics and having been the best of the three we decided to give his solo show a go. He is a very likable, winning character and there is just something naturally funny about him, like Tommy Cooper or Eric Morcambe. Even some of his weaker material of the night still got a laugh due to the way he would tell the story or the facial expression he would pull. He started the show off by interacting with the audience and for a few minutes I thought he was going to go fully improv on us, but somehow he managed to overlap the audience jokes with his prepared material. Funny guy and it was good to end the day on a cheerful note.

Only God Forgives

Only God Forgives is a dark, violent story set in Bangkok about the unfortunate human need for revenge. The plot is fairly simple, although at times I wasn't quite sure what was going on, especially with Ryan Gosling's strange character. The acting is very good, especially Kristin Scott Thomas as the ice queen bitch from hell. Gosling acts with a lot of controlled intensity, similar to his portrayal in Drive. On the down side there is a lot of slow, purposeful walking and posing that seems unnatural but maybe it was meant to add to the surrealism of the film. Some of the cinematography is quite striking, and you get the feeling each scene has been carefully thought out and rehearsed. It doesn't always work but I admire the director's ambition and vision. The violence cannot go unnoticed - there are a few scenes of graphic violence that are really quite disturbing and don't add anything to the film. Only God Forgives is an atmospheric, stylish, strange film that never reaches the heights of Drive, the directors previous film and a far superior one at that. 7/10

Edinburgh Festival with Rich Hall, David Baddiel and Greg Proops

                                                                      David Baddiel

Mercifully the weather was clement on our opening Festival day and Tony and I travelled through to Edinburgh in good spirits. Alan and his girlfriend were already in the capital so we would meet up with them later in the evening for our first show of the Festival. After some dinner in Princess Street Mall we were faced with the unenviable task of finding the Assembly George Square without our human SatNav (Alan). Surprisingly we arrived at our destination without much ado and even had time to sneak in a cheeky pint at The Gilded Balloon. We were only a few hundred yards from the Assembly George Square and so we met up with Alan and Hannah in the queue for our first show, David Baddiel's Fame: Not The Musical. But alas due to 'technical difficulties' we were standing in the line for about 40 minutes. 'Technical difficulties' could genuinely be technical difficulties or it could be the standard excuse for many different situations, like when Axel Rose of Guns 'N Roses refused to go on stage until his hamburger was cooked to his liking. To give David Baddiel his due, he seemed genuinely apologetic for the delay when he arrived onstage but for the four of us it meant that we had to leave his show early to get to the Greg Proops venue on time. With the benefit of hindsight or the acquisition of a time machine I would have stayed for the whole David Baddiel show, which was funny and interesting, and given Greg Proops a miss. Baddiel's first stand up show for many a year dwelt on the phenomena of fame and what it is really like. He gave some interesting insights, often in the form of humorous anecdotes, and I found him an engaging and sharp character. Proops was a disappointment - he stretched some unfunny jokes out far too long and failed to connect with his audience. He seemed a bit awkward at times in his delivery and stage persona that in turn made me feel awkward. He is certainly a smart guy, but I don't think he is a natural stand up comedian. Maybe he would make a better dinner companion. So we left the Debating Hall at the Gilded Balloon Teviot wishing Proops had had the technical difficulties and not Baddiel. We consoled ourselves with a few pints, drinking somewhere in the George Square complex until it was time for Rich Hall's Hoedown at the Spiegeltent Palazzo. I was really looking forward to this. And he didn't disappoint. He had assembled a good trio of musicians (drums, bass, lead guitar) with himself on acoustic rhythm guitar and keyboard. His songs were a mixture of country and blues, his cowboy hat sort of gave it away, and the music was actually very good. His lyrics were inventive and clever and funny, and he enjoyed some banter with the crowd in between songs. It was a fun, enjoyable show and it might prove to be the highlight of the Festival already but we shall see.

                                                                      Rich Hall

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski

 

Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird met with much controversy when first published in 1965. It is set in an unnamed Eastern European country and follows the harrowing experiences of a young boy abandoned by his parents at the beginning of World War Two. The controversy largely surrounds the depiction of the peasants that the young boy encounters as he moves from village to village over a period of about five years. They are brutal, ignorant and callous to an extreme. Compare this to what the author really experienced as a young boy trying to evade the Nazi occupiers and I can understand the controversial response. Many villagers housed Kosinski and his family at the risk to their own lives and there is no evidence that he was badly treated. Why Kosinski decided to write a book vilifying these people is both perverse and baffling. I don't understand why Kosinski wrote The Painted Bird in the way that he did and the actions of the peasants are so bad as to be almost unbelievable. But it is a work of fiction of course, and I guess that would be Kosinski's defense. Some of the scenes of violence, brutality and rape are extremely disturbing and harrowing, and I would recommend caution in reading this book. The frustrating thing about this book is that it is so well written, with Kosinski demonstrating a great command of language. This book could have been a masterpiece but it will remain a highly disturbing enigma.  

This Is A Call: The Life And Times Of Dave Grohl by Paul Brannigan

This Is A Call charts the rise and rise of Dave Grohl, from fledgling punk rocker to drummer of grunge superstars Nirvana to lead singer of his current band Foo Fighters. This biography is an interesting insight into one of music’s most successful and talented rock stars of the last twenty years. One of the things I liked about the book is that the author, Paul Brannigan, has walked the walk, rather than being a general music fan who decides to do some research into Dave Grohl and write a book about him. It is obvious that Brannigan has followed punk rock and grunge from his early years and his passionate and dedication comes across in his writing. He builds up a good picture of the punk rock/grunge scene of the 1980’s and 90’s, describing and referencing bands that influenced and played a part in Dave Grohl’s developing music taste and career. The book struck a personal note on more than one occasion. I was a big Nirvana fan in the mid 1990’s and I remember well the importance of this type of music as an expression of my teenage angst and confusion. Since then my musical tastes and hormones have mellowed considerably but reading This Is A Call made me wonder about all the bands and fans who didn’t make it, either in terms of commercial success or just personal happiness and growth. It’s obviously better for people to channel their alienation and hurt into music than get involved in violence or crime or drugs but in saying that music, especially that kind of music, is not enough to heal and console – Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain is a prime example. He seemed like a nice guy but ultimately damaged and very fragile. I remember the feelings well and grunge music served its purpose in its own strange way for a time but I am glad that I am no longer part of that scene. But not all rockers are like Cobain or destined to share his fate. Dave Grohl, in the interviews I have seen on YouTube and in this biography, comes across as a very down to earth, likable guy with his head firmly screwed on. He has had his trials and tribulations like everyone else; his experience in Nirvana was pretty challenging and ended in the suicide of Kurt Cobain, and even Foo Fighters had personnel problems in its first few years. But despite this there is a sense that Grohl manages to maintain a positive outlook on life and not let all the group dynamics weigh him down. In all of this his passion for music and his own musical integrity shine through brightly. 7/10  

The Quick And The Dead

Unusual take on the western genre. Sharon Stone stars as a woman gunslinger out to avenge her murdered father, thus entering a quick fire draw contest to get to the man responsible, Gene Hackman. All the western clichés are hammed up, and director Sam Raimi has get fun with them. I really enjoyed some of the performances; Gene Hackman is his usual brilliant self as a tyrant of a villain, Russell Crowe plays a reformed killer forced to take up the gun again, and a fledging Leonardo Di Caprio swaggers about as a cocky young gunfighter desperate to impress. Sharon Stone is not great, maybe because she tries too hard to play her role like Clint Eastwood. Quirky entertainment. 7/10