Film review: OF HUMAN BONDAGE review (John Cromwell, 1934)

Philip Carey (Leslie Howard), a man with club foot, embarks on medical school, having been told he has no aptitude for artistry. One day, when out with friends, he meets a tarty, coarse waitress named Mildred (Bette Davis). Despite her unattractive personality, her unusual but not altogether becoming looks, and her barely-disguised contempt for his physical condition, Philip falls hopefully in love with her, an attachment which she flagrantly abuses.

Film review: SOMEONE TO TALK TO [一句顶一万句] (Liu Yulin, 2016)

A couple get married, full of love and hope for their future together. Several years down the line, they barely speak a word to each other. Around their anniversary, one discovers the other has been cheating on them and filled with murderous rage, revenge becomes their raison d'être as they do everything they can to ruin their spouse's life.

Actually, I'm not retelling the plot for Gone Girl, but Liu Yulin's debut movie Someone to Talk to. Adapted from the 2011 Mao Dun Literature Prize, 一句顶一万句is an economical yet intimate look at what happens after the love has gone out of a marriage and feelings of resentment at having one's heart broken fester.

Niu Aigo (Hai Mao) is the jilted husband, who tries his best as the patriarch of the family, but unfortunately his modest earnings as a cobbler and simple vision for their future aren't to the pleasure of his wife, who has outgrown him, and has an affair with the wealthier local wedding planning magnate. The film is considerably less kind to her, and rightly so, given she makes comments that make her seem like a  right gold-digging shrew. Woman knew her husband was poor when he married her; she doesn't get to screw everything up when that slowly sinks in.

In only his second film role, Hai Mao is just wonderful as a man who, after being wronged, is all affront and sharp edges, until self-realisation (and a few convenient plot machinations) give him the self-realisation to let go and become a stronger person for it.

His character essentially goes through all five stages of grief through the course of the film, and in doing so, exhibits some spiteful colours. But it's a testament to Mao's humane, heartfelt performance that even at his lowest points, you're rooting for this guy to pull through. His character was reminiscent of John C. Reilly in Chicago, another pitiable cuckold, and it's rare that cinema not only focuses on the person who's been left behind, but the person who was left behind happens to be male.

Someone to Talk to also features a subplot about Aigo's older sister's ill-fated online dating adventures and how she eventually settles, because, as she matter-of-factly states, 'I'm 39. I couldn't get anyone younger'. This kind of pragmatic, frank dialogue makes Someone to Talk to by far the most honest Chinese film I've seen this year (although there's not much in the way of competition).

Liu Yulin directs the story in such an unfussy, natural manner, with a working class Chinese town as the backdrop, I was invested in the plot in a way other films with more frills have failed to achieve. One scene, where Aigo angrily takes his frustration at his wife gallivanting out on his young daughter, carried genuine pathos and was far more powerful than anything I watched in yesterday's manufactured, sappy, The Shite Between Oceans.

I like a good revenge flick a hell of a lot more thanas much as the next person. Films like Gone Girl and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo contain scenes which imbue me with sadistic wish fulfilment at various men who have wronged me. I myself can nurse a grudge for quite a while, although my modus operandi is significantly less bloody and a tad pettier than anything Amy Dunne or Lisbeth Salander confect; that bellend Stefan who racially abused me over a year ago is immortalised in my Fantasy Football team name, 'Stefan is a Kuntz'.

But there's a lot to be said for Someone to Talk To's more forgiving approach. 

Someone to Talk to is a sincere and profound look at loneliness and the multifaceted nature of marriage, elevated by the magnanimous treatment it gives its protagonist. It illustrates how toxic holding onto past transgressions can be, not just to oneself, but to those that we love. Ultimately, it encourages the protagonist and the audience to look beyond, not behind.

Perhaps it's time I, like Aigo, made like Elsa from Frozen, and Let It Go. Good news for Wasteman, Watford fan and The Wolf of Fleet Street, then.

8/10

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If you enjoyed this review, do check out my other ones, which include a fair few Chinese movies.

TV Review: ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK season 4

Ever since its inception, Orange is the New Black has been one of Netflix's USPs. Very loosely based around Piper Kerman's memoirs of her experience in jail, with Taylor Schilling playing the televised version of her character, 'Piper Chapman', the show has never failed to entertain, shock, amuse and trouble viewers. Season 3 was considered by some critics to be a slight misstep, but even so, the stakes were high for season 4, which, thanks to the way in which Netflix drop a whole season in one go, I devoured over the weekend it hit.

With Litchfield Penitentiary becoming privatised, the MCC are keen to squeeze as many bodies into the jail-space as humanly feasible. By viewing prisoners as currency, however, they do not consider the factions that could occur by the simple mathematical probability from there being more people. This manifests itself in the form of strained race relations that arise when there is a surge in the Dominican inmates, and a group of white supremacists who resent the way they've asserted their authority. Piper Chapman, who, in a late, rare moment of self-reflection, admits she wanted to 'win prison', unwillingly stokes the tensions between the two groups, only to see herself branded (in more than one way) as a racist herself for her unthinking egotism.

In order to keep these brawling inmates in line is the introduction of Captain Piscatella (Brad William Henke), a giant of a man who takes no prisoners and regards the women of Litchfield as absolute scum. Piper's manufactured, wide-eyed charm that may have twisted the arm of a warden or two in the past simply doesn't work on Piscatella, who has seen it all before and bought the T-shirt. His unconventional methods for showing the inmates who's in charge are met with opposition by Warden Joe Caputo, which makes for a power struggle between the two of Shakespearean magnitude. Caputo tries to do what is best in the majority of situations, and the unenviable juggling act of of running a prison with  insubordinate prisoners, sly, thuggish officers and a big corporate sector who wishes to monetise the jail to an inch of its life are really highlighted in season 4 of OITNB. Nick Sandow is extremely effective at humanising Caputo and at times one couldn't call who has it worse -the mistreated inmates of Litchfield (not having enough sanitary towels to go around so that menstruaters had to stick tissue inside themselves was a new low), or the hapless Warden overseeing them all.

Other plot strands of season 4 include sadistic officers who like to toy with the prisoners for their own entertainment, Lolly and Alex struggling to deal with the albatross of their defence-killing of one of Kubra's cronies, and Maria Ruiz emerging as initially unwilling leader of the Dominican girls. This reluctance is illuminated in her flashback episode, 'Power Suit', where we learn that her father was a low-level kingpin for people from the Dominican Republic, and, such was her distaste for his antics that she turned her back on him to live with a Mexican guy. Another interesting flashback is Maritza Ramos, by far the most striking girl in Litchfield, who used her beauty to trick car dealerships into leasing her fancy cars for a test drive, under the misapprehension that she's some rich old man's trophy wife. Watching flashback!Maritza untangle herself from a quagmire this gets her into is one of the funniest parts of season 4. Had I been a betting woman (which I'm obviously not. Ahem), I would not have wagered Maritza was incarcerated for Grand Theft Auto, showing, once again, that the employment of flashbacks in this show can completely toss your preconceptions of characters out of the window.


Elsewhere, romance blossomons between annoying hippie Brooke Soso and Poussey Washington, the likeable class clown of Litchfield. The two are beyond adorable together, and Kimiko Glenn and Samira Wiley deserve kudos for crafting a romance that is organic, believable, and so full of love and hope. Judy King - a famous TV chef - gets sent to Litchfield for tax fraud, to which Poussey, a big fan, becomes turns into a starstruck fangirl whenever she's around. Brooke, in the way only Brooke can, tries to relieve her of her awe around Judy, only to cast some offensive aspersions of her own. This illustrates Brooke's narcissism and inclination for the farfetched, which is illustrated in her flashback. But in seeing how much her casual assumptions have hurt her girlfriend, Brooke gains the self-awareness that she never had when she was doing the same thing in the free world. It is a pleasure to learn each individual character's histories and see how much bad life choices and circumstance plays in them winding up where they are.

Orange is the New Black also very sensitively continues with the fallout of the Pennsatucky's rape in season 3 by officer Coates. Her friend, the confrontational man-hating Big Boo, is, understandably furious. Pennsatucky also feels some anger, but mainly sadness, and the show graciously gives her some closure (after season 3's 'A Tittin' and a Hairin'' episode, watching her character being raped twice in the same episode really was too much). It's amazing how much Pennsatucky has grown since her intolerant, evangelical Bible-bashing days of season 1, and there's something rewarding about watching her help Nicky through going cold turkey; the Doggett of old would never have done that. Taryn Manning excels at her portrayal of a multidimensional character who could have so easily descended into farce.

In fact, Orange is the New Black is one of the few shows where I am yet to see a dud performance. Uzo Aduba usually reaps the awards come Screen Actor Guild and Emmy time, and she is indeed brilliant as the unhinged Suzanne Warren. But I think Aduba's best acting, and baitiest scenes, were in season 2, when the manipulative Vee took her under her wing. The acting love needs to be spread more evenly in the next round of Emmy's, and there's a plethora of choice.

Samira Wiley deserves a lot of love for making Poussey so awesome and lovably goofy, and injecting real passion into her and Brooke's tender romance that makes the audience root for them in a way we don't to the blah Piper/Alex romance. Hearing the two discuss their plans for getting their life on track after leaving prison was almost tear-inducingly optimistic. As Taystee, Wiley's fellow Juilliard alumnus  (hot dang, does Juilliard produce some talented dames!) Danielle Brooks, gets appointed Caputo's P.A. this season. In doing so, Brooks shows incredible diversity in her acting range, first in her hilarious keenness for the secretarial role, complete jazzing up her prison attire and demanding a watch, but later, when tragedy hits, her character's raw reaction to the event in question is really upsetting to watch, and nails the pathos of Orange is the New Black. Taylor Schilling, Natasha Lyonne, Kate Mulgrew and Yael Stone are a few other standouts from the supremely talented ensemble cast.

In season 4, Orange is the New Black might have hit its peak. The frank, earthy dialogue is absolutely hilarious, but it would be nothing without the cast to deliver it so well. Case in point: Cindy's sass when her new roommate dares her, "'You really want to go there with me?" and, she retorts "Oh, went there, bought a house, moved in, bitch. And now I'm remodelling the kitchen." Furthermore as with Brooklyn Nine-Nine, another New York-set show of a somewhat different flavour, the pop culture references come thick and fast in the everyday conversations of the inmates, but in a natural, unforced way that both illuminates the gaps in characters' knowledge ('The Hungry Games' will never get old) and occasionally flirts with the meta (all those Walking Dead and Game of Thrones references hint at some foreboding).

OITNB has always modulated between comedic and dramatic scenes with a kind of irreverence that made my eyes water (who can forget the employment of 'Cellophane' as the credit song as a character was being pummelled to death by rocks wrapped in a cellophane bag?) But in season 4, the catalogue of the prison being overfilled and understaffed and inmates' hatred of each other was never going to end well. When the collateral damage occurs, it's undoubtedly one of TV's most heart-breaking moments; almost George R.R. Martin-esque in it's 'SCREW YOU, WRITERS!!!!!!!!' brutalness. The sheer injustice of it all had me weeping. But I could recognise the significance of it to the show. That's prison. And that's also life. Sometimes, the good die young.

It's the mark of such a fantastic show that OITNB offers wit, morality and the hint of redemption (or further deterioration?) at the climax. June 2017 can't get here fast enough.

Grade: A

Album review: MIDNIGHT MEMORIES (One Direction)

(this review is of the Deluxe addition of Midnight Memories, which features three more songs than the standard version).

A year on from Take Me Home, the nation’s most lusted after boyband have gotten up to all manner of adventure, from Harry’s failed relationship with Taylor Swift irking her so much that she felt the need to blast him on various public occasions, to Zayn being accused of cheating on Little Mix’s Perrie, only to follow it up with a proposal, classic. 

The boys have shown they are now fully-fledged #adults by inking various parts of their body (even little Niall has a tattoo now!), and in between that, they’ve managed to star in a Morgan Spurlock documentary, and, oh yeah, make some music.

The album opens with the somewhat ambitiously titled Best Song Ever. It’s not quite that, but it’s a sufficiently cheerful pop number with a catch chorus, making it a shoo-in for playlists in upcoming Christmas parties (I’ve already heard it in upmarket bars!). Happily has a charming country music vibe to it, all strings, banjo, and feet-stamping. Perhaps I’m biased, but I really don’t see the criticism that the boys can’t sing, especially when their voices sound so strong on this track, all without an autotune in sight.

Story of My Life has deepness and maturity that we normally expect these five to eschew, featuring Zayn’s heartfelt delivery of “but baby, running after you is like chasing the clouds”, a gorgeous line of poetry that drives home the sad point that no matter how much you love someone, love alone may not be enough. Unfortunately, it was slightly let down by the Mumford and Sons-esque riff in the background, a band I associate with mawkishness. 

Don’t Forget Where You Belong channels Take That, in a good way, with a cheeky What Makes You Beautiful nod: “and the proof is in this song”. The refrain is absolutely swoon-worthy, exhibiting the vocal talents of the band’s two fittest members, Louis and Zayn (just dictatin’), who’s voices complement each other’s terrifically.

It doesn’t take Alfred Kinsey to work out that in the three years since the band’s inception, One Direction have racked up a few notches in their bedposts, and this worldliness comes across in their music, which is more adult, more self-assured. The album’s title track Midnight Memories serves up GQ-type swagger, boyband style. The line “5 foot something with the skinny jeans” hails 30H!3 Starstruck and its more lascivious “tight jeans, double DDs” with a sultry, rock-style, whilst teetering on the right side of naughty (“Same old shhhh but a different day”) such that pre-teens’ parents won’t refuse to buy the album. 

Little Black Dress, a throwback to vintage rock that Louis and Liam helped co-pen, simply exudes sex, and is all the better for it. And Alive, which casually glazes upon the topic of sex addiction, features angel-faced Niall reciting “I whisper something in her ear that I just can't repeat”, which is certainly something.

These days, it seems an album isn’t anything without a cheeky bit of dubstep on it, and the token dubstep track of Midnight Memories is Little White Lies, a song which addresses an issue that is under-represented in mainstream pop music by men: that woman want sex just as much as guys do. “I know you want it/ I know you feel it too/ Let's stop pretending/ That you don't know what I don't know/ Just what we came to do” they sing in two-beat, and because this is One Direction, the topic of female desire makes for jaunty music-making, whereas in the hands of Robin Thicke, it just sounds creepy. You see, presentation is everything.

With 18 songs, the law of averages would dictate that there will be some non-entities, and this album has (possibly more than) its share. Diana is filler song in motion, and the Tears for Fears vibes of Everyone Wants to Rule the World-sounding in the background cannot redeem the ambiguity with the lyrics “I don't think you even realize baby you'd be saving mine” with regards to whether the song is about Princess Diana puts it in the vaguely poor taste category. 

You and I isn’t as affecting or sweet as their other love songs, and “not even the gods above can separate the two of us” reminds me of the first song (can’t remember the name) on Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz album. It’s never good when a song reminds you of Miley Cyrus, just truthin’. And Strong is a tad corny for me, whilst Does He Know is forgettable, and two of the few songs I would angle the “all One Direction songs sound the same” criticism at. And whilst Midnight Memories had a tolerable amount of Mumford and Sons similarity, Something Great sounded too much like M&F than I felt permissible.

Where I complimented the lads on their braveness to try their hand at falsetto in the Take Me Home album, they clearly had fun doing so, because there’s some more on Right Now, with Zayn pushing his vocal range at “You know I can't fight the feeling” like a pro. 

The final song of the deluxe edition, Half a Heart, seems a gloomy tone to depart on, but what it lacks in happiness it makes up for in pure emotion, with Zayn belting “I'm half a man- at best / With half an arrow in my chest/I miss everything we do/ I'm half a heart without you”. It really is true what they say; an artist has to suffer to produce true art, and in the same way, it helps, as a someone appreciating the work if you’ve suffered the pangs of disappointed love, because the lyrics of Half a Heart really resonated. And it seems quite apt that the legendary Casanova of 1D, Harry, ends the song, and the album, with the last sad word.

Persevere with Midnight Memories. Sticking two filler songs within the first five tracks of the album wasn’t too shrewd, but there is quality on it, not to mention some emotional lyrics that render some of the songs almost as layered as an onion. 

That being said, I don’t think it surpasses Take Me Home. It ends with less of a bang, and whereas even the filler songs of Take Me Home survived the repeat listening test (I’ve since completely altered my view of Heart Attack, which I’ve decided is brilliant), I imagine you’d have to pay me to re-listen to some of the duds on this album again. However, it’s still better than 99% of the crap that’s out in the music industry, and once again, exhibits that One Direction are so much more than just five pretty faces.

Grade: A-

Album review: SALUTE (Little Mix)

Little Mix’s second album is as bright and bold as their previous, with the girl group having newfound swag from their globe-trotting exploits to add to their music-making. As with DNA, Little Mix take co-writing credentials on the majority of their album, meaning that Salute is truly the concoction of fierce foursome Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall, as opposed to the bland music industry play-by-numbers girlband that many would expect from the product of a Simon Cowell TV show.

Romantic Towers exhibits their growing emotional maturity, a moving ballad about doomed love, a theme that I am personally feeling too strongly too much right now. “Once we were made like towers / Everything could've been ours / But you left it too late now my heart feels nothing, nothing at all” they croon forlornly, to a swelling, majestic string orchestra overlayed with RnB beats. It helps that all four of them are all talented performers, so the delivery of the lyrics sound heartfelt, when the song could have turned out mawkish in lesser vocal talents.

Being unafraid to borrow from their hip-hop sisters is another thing I really rate about Little Mix. They channel both Amerie and Lady Gaga in standout track, About the Boy, a feisty, sexy track about a fella who’s just got that one thing. Fabulous harmonisations, an extremely catchy beat, good blend of singing/spoken word and another topic that I have a personal experience or ten of makes for a wonderful song. And the crème de la crème comes at the jazzy refrain, where soon-to-be Mrs. Zayn Malik, Perrie Edwards gets to exhibit her fantastic pipes in her high note, which has to be heard to be believed. And then heard over and over again, because it is just that good.

Like the sass in DNA’s How Ya Doin’, the four girls strut their stuff proudly here too, with lyrics like “Boys will be boys, I got plenty knocking on my door / but none of them compare, you’re the one I’m waiting for” in Nothing Feels Like You. For some reason, Little Mix have the likeability to carry off lyrics like this, whereas in lesser talents, such as Pussycat Dolls’ Don’tcha, they could have simply come across as vain.

As with most albums, there are a few duds. These Four Walls didn’t affect me in the same way as Towers, despite it going for the same thematic field, and the frailty that the producers were going for in the girls’ voices comes across as just weak vocals, which definitely undersells them. Similarly, in Good Enough, the girls demanding “Am I still not good enough? / Am I still not worth that much?” simply comes across as needy, and jars with the girl power vibe of the rest of the album, however well-sung.

Thankfully, the rest of the album is all about unabashedly celebrating girls and how terrific we are. Boy has serious Destiny’s Child-esque vibes, in both the beat, singing style and the Say My Name-type themes. Their single, Move, which they performed recently on X-Factor with gusto, is a hugely enjoyable dance track that is pure pop, with some cool rapping to boot. Perrie is my favourite singer of the four, and she belts out the bridge tremendously, showing an enviable opera-esque quality to her voice that complements her band members well.

In the void left by Girls Aloud, there hasn’t really been a girl band that have reached the heights of them. The Saturdays made a fair crack of it, but they lack a certain je ne sais quoi. Little Mix may have been considered as a cynical money-making ploy to fill that gap by some critics, but the make some damn good music. From the military-style Beyonce-esque drumming, messages of not allowing men to play us and cheap and cheerful RnB components, there is nothing in Salute that you won’t have heard before in millions of other songs, but such is Little Mix’s energy, that it all comes off into a pretty decent end product. I salute their second album.

Grade: A-

For more of my album reviews, click here.

Album review: BANGERZ (Miley Cyrus)

Grabbing headlines for all manner of scandal or internet feud these days is Miley Cyrus, who seems to be on a personal race against time to shed her good-girl image of Hannah Montana. Critics across the field have slammed her for degrading herself, others have said she’s actually a feminist, some have branded her a demon with a tongue that runs stray. 

One thing’s for sure though: I would never have given her album a second thought if it hadn’t been for the attention that VMA performance garnered her. So my suspicion is that, for all the ostensible cringe, girl knows what she’s doing.

The album itself is actually a disappointment in the gossip stakes. Music-wise, she plays it safe in terms of her collaborating partners (Ludacris, Nelly, French Montana). It is notable that the Princess of Pop herself, Britney Spears, makes an appearance on the song SMS (Bangerz). 

Miss Spears herself has been in the public eye a fair share of the time, but one thing that Britney always excelled at throughout was the music. Miley’s got the headline-seeking down to a T, better than Britney herself. But the quality of her art still has some way to go.

The album opens with Adore You, a lethargic piece of schmaltz that fails to make much of an impact. It’s followed by We Can’t Stop, her smash hit single, and my pick for the highlight of the entire ensemble. With an effortless swagger, Miley advises her young following to “Remember only God can judge ya / Forget the haters 'cause somebody loves ya”, which could also been read as a prescription manual for how she is currently living her life. Unlike several of the other songs on Bangerz, the use of autotune actually suits the song and doesn’t feel excessive. It’s an easygoing, casually amoral tune that makes for fun to bop along to.

We Can’t Stop, however, doesn’t redeem the sheer volume of duds on the album. 4x4, which tries to amalgamate Cyrus’ country-music roots with her current RnB target market, plays like a hot mess of hoedown brawl with Nelly hollering “MOTHAFUCKAS” when he feels like it. I cringed throughout. 

SMS (Bangerz) is equally sloppy. Whilst I have nothing wrong with girls bragging about their promiscuity in music (hell, men have been doing it for years), Cyrus seems so keen to ram the “I CAN STRUT. I CAN FUQ WHOEVER I WANT. I HAVE LOTSA FUQ BUDDIES ON SPEED DIAL” message down our throats, that it just sounds a bit tryhard and desperate, again, hailing memories of that trffic VMA performance. And My Darlin' featuring Future, samples Ben E. King’s Stand By Me, with dire consequences.

The majority of the love songs on the album aren’t bad, to be fair to her. Wrecking Ball isclearly stealing from the formula Lana del Rey used in Off to the Races in how she’s singing about a destructive love with a bad man, with Lana’s version being far better, but it’s catchy and affecting enough in its own right. 

FU is my second favourite song on the album – you can feel vitriol and rage at an ex that I can completely sympathise with. Maybe You’re Right captures the whiney rage of breakup that I prefer in Taylor Swift songs, but it’s still listenable.

As a singer, I actually think Miley Cyrus is pretty talented. She holds her own in On My Own, a decent shout for female independence, and in Hands in the Air, an engaging RnB ditty, she exhibits her skill for warbling. The main problem with Bangerz, then, isn’t her voice. 

The problem is that these collection of songs – some good, some bad, some utterly horrific, doesn’t have a narrative thread; it all feels terribly disjointed. Does she wanna go all Destiny's Child and be an #IndependentWoman? Does she want to make a whole album about casual sex and how liberated it makes her? Or does she want to sing ballads about failed love? Like a child with ADD, Miley Cyrus seems to want to cover all bases at once. 

In the end, she covers none.

Personally, I prefer the songs where Cyrus tones it down and sings songs about doomed love, as I feel that plays well to her vocal range, and her background in acting suits her delivery of the more heartfelt, dramatic lines, which she belts out with excellent gusto. But she needs to pick a focus for her next outing. 

Bangerz currently plays as a chaotic mishmash of poorly-thought out tunes that may have sounded good in theory, but doesn’t quite work in practice. 

An example, perhaps, of art mirroring the artist’s life.

Grade: D

For more of my album reviews, click here.

Book review: MURDER MOST FAB (Julian Clary)

Having just suffered his first love and heartbreak, Johnny Debonair is uprooted from his farmhouse in Kent to the big city, where his grandmother enrols him in drama school, believing the change will do him good. However, his classes are filled with self-absorbed people, who think too highly of themselves, and he soon becomes disillusioned with acting, long realising that he won’t be going anywhere with his pipe dream.

Favourite One Direction Lines

Yes, I am a little bit obsessed. Some of these are for the poetic value of the lyrics, or the way the boys sing them (such as the way Zayn belts out #8).

01. “Shot me outta the Sky, you’re my Kryptonite” – One Thing (Harry)

02. “The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed” – What Makes You Beautiful (all)

03. “It hurts me to think that you never cried” – Stand Up (Niall)

04. “I lie awake just to convince myself this wasn’t just a dream” – I Should’ve Kissed You (Liam)

05. "I'm blinded 'cause you are everything I see" – More than This (Liam)

06. “I hear the beat of my heart getting louder whenever I’m near you” – I Wish (Harry)

07. “And if we get together, yeah get together, don’t let the pictures leave your phone” – Live While We’re Young (Zayn)

08. “And giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl, you and I, we’re ’bout to make some memories tonight” - Live While We’re Young (Zayn)

09. “So come one, you got it wrong, to prove I’m right I put it in a sooooooooong” – What Makes You Beautiful (Zayn)

10. “I would walk through the desert, I would walk down the aisle, I would swim all the oceans, just to see you smile” – Stand Up (Liam)

11. "I used to think that I was better alone / why did I ever wanna let you go?" - Rock Me (Louis)

12. “Get out, get out, get outta my head, and fall into my arms instead” – One Thing (all)

13. “It feels like I’m constantly playing a game that I’m destined to lose” – I Would (Louis)

14. “I’ve tried playing it cool, but when I’m looking at you, I can’t ever be brave, cos you make my heart race” – One Thing (Liam)

15. “Now I’m climbing the walls, but you don’t even notice at all, that I’m going outta my mind, all day and all night” – One Thing (Niall)

16. “When he lays you down I might just die inside” – More than This (Harry)

17. “I see you every time I close my eyes, what am I gonna do” – I Should’ve Kissed You (Liam)

18. “Then I see you on the street, in his arms I get weak” – More than This (Louis)

19. “It took a minute, girl, to steal my heart tonight” – Stole My Heart (Harry)

20. “There is no place I’d rather be than right here with you tonight” - Stole My Heart (Zayn)

Review of the songs in “The Break Up” (S4E4) episode of Glee.

I’ve not blogged for a while, which is naughty, but I’m going to try my best to get back into it now! Despite telling myself I wouldn’t, I got into series 4 of Glee, and some of the songs have already been stellar, so I thought I’d resurrect that thing I do where I review each song as if I know anything about music. ☺️

Film review: ANNA KARENINA (Joe Wright, 2012)

Adultery. It’s always made for some of the most delicious film, TV and book storylines. Indeed, between 1873 to 1877, Leo Tolstoy used it as the basis of his novel, which he published in eight parts. Joe Wright, always one for a literary classic (Pride & Prejudice, and to a lesser extent depending on how much you rate McEwan, Atonement), adapted this 19th century Russian lit classic to the big-screen. 

After scouting across the continent for filming locations, he finally settled for the unusual, somewhat Dogville-esque of having the vast majority of the film filmed on a stage. 

The big difference between Anna Karenina and Dogville however, though, is where the latter barely had any set at all, with the locations and props chalked into the wooden floorboard, the set of Anna Karenina, whilst discernibly all a stage, is vast and opulent, with moving backdrops and richly designed interiors aplenty. 

The purpose of Wright choosing to having the movie filmed on a stage was because he said that Anna felt like her entire life was “on a stage”, and, indeed, the scenes where she faces society and stylistic touches are added (such as dancing couples freezing into a tableau whilst she dances with Count Vronsky) are certainly very effective indeed.

Favourite lines from Lana del Rey's 'Born to Die'.

01. “He got a soul as sweet as blood red jam and he shows me, he knows me, every inch of my tar black soul” – Off to the Races

02. “I heard you like the bad girls honey, is that true?” – Video Games

03. “We all look for heaven and we put our love first / Somethin' that we'd die for, it's our curse” – This is What Makes Us Girls

04. “Baby put on heart-shaped sunglasses, cos we gonna go for a ride” – Diet Mtn Dew

05. “All my friends tell me I should move on, I’m lying in the ocean, singing your song” – Dark Paradise

06. “You said I was the most exotic flower / Holding me close in our final hour” – Million Dollar Man

07. “Come take a walk on the wild side, let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain, you like your girls insane” – Born to Die

08. “Because I’m crazy baby, I need you to come here and save me” – Off to Races

09. “I want my cake and I want to eat it too” – Lolita

10. “Now my life is sweet like cinnamon / Like a fucking dream I'm living in” - Radio

Album review: BORN TO DIE (Lana del Rey)

Celebrity. It’s a fickle business. When Lana del Rey’s Video Games first made its way onto the airwaves last year, people instantly fell in love with her. The song was beautiful, as was she. She was dubbed the “gangster Nancy Sinatra” and could do no wrong. 

An unsuccessful appearance on Saturday Night Live, which was promptly torn apart by the Twittersphere, combined with the revelation of her past as indie artist Lizzy Grant, triggered a wave of intense public backlash. Critics crawled out of the woodwork and slating her, insulting every aspect of her music as well as speculating over whether or not she had had plastic surgery. Going into the release of her album, Lana del Rey was shrouded in negative publicity.

Four mini-film reviews: LOST AND DELIRIOUS (Léa Pool, 2001), MEAN GIRLS 2 (Melanie Mayron, 2011), THE KING'S SPEECH (Tom Hooper, 2010) and MEAN CREEK (Jacob Aaron Estes, 2004)

Screening Log (24/01/2011 – 30/01/2011) 

My winter exams ended on Friday, so I’ve basically just had a big-ass movie binge since then (along with catching up with Pretty Little Liars, which is fan-bloody-tastic!)

Lost and Delirious (Léa Pool, 2001)

Mischa Barton plays shy, unsure Mary “Mouse” Bedford, who feels alienated from her dad and stepmother, who at the start of the film drop her off in a girl’s boarding school. She’s placed in a room with Piper Perabo’s charismatic wildchild and her popular best friend Tory (Jessica Toree). 

She soon realises that Tory and Paulie are more than just friends, and whilst Mary gets used to the idea and Paulie loves it, Tory has trouble admitting to herself that she could be in love with another girl. 

Lost and Delirious is beautifully shot and scored, and although there are moments which descend into laughable histrionics, it still remains a hugely affecting and poignant look at young love and loss. 

Mischa Barton in particular impressed me me; whereas I’d always found her annoying in The OC, here, her subtle performance is more on the level of her great work in Lawn Dogs, the epitome of youthful charm and sweet innocence.

7.5/10

Most Underrated Songs

I don’t pretend to be an expert in music (which is just as well, because if I did, I’d just embarrass myself), but I do know what music I like; I love me my Kanye, my Girls Aloud, anything I can get my groove on to in a nightclub, etc. So I thought I’d spread some love for songs which I feel need and deserve more attention!

Singapore (Girls Aloud)
The moving away (whether it be literally or emotionally) of a loved one is a topic that has often been covered in songs, but Singapore’s soft rhyming scheme, gentle poetry and the genius way it divides its verses up by girl in order of whom it suits the most, just really strikes a chord with me. The song didn’t even make the album cut when Chemistry was released, but later the producers must have realised the error of their ways when they released it on The Sound of Girls Aloud: Greatest Hits. Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, John Shave and Lisa Cowling, the songs writers really deserve commendation for the way they’ve written in the longing feeling of wishing time away without that loved one with us: “I'm watching day time TV / And wishing you were with me / I'm counting hours and days / Gotta stop believing what the movies say”

Memory of You (Girls Aloud)
Released as a B-side with The Loving Kind, Memory of You is so hauntingly beautiful that it damn near threatens to eclipse the song it’s meant to be supporting. Kimberley Walsh, who is criminally used on the majority of Girls Aloud songs, takes centre vocals here, with Nicola Roberts playing second hand, and the combination of electro-pop, elegiac lyrics (“surfing channels ‘til I bleach out the pain”) and beautiful themes of love and loss render it one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard.

Whatever you Like (Anya Marina)

I first heard this song playing softly in the background during a Dan/Vanessa/Hilary Duff threesome in gossip girl, and it fitted the scene so well. Whilst I like T.I.’s original, I found his delivery of some of the lyrics a bit seedy. The cover by Anya Marina only features the slightest of deviation in lyrics, yet there’s something about her ethereal voice that makes lines like “late night sex, so wet, so tight” sound almost angelic. It’s no mean feat, that.

Good Foot (Justin Timberlake & Timbaland)
This song was in Shark Tale. It was also a song that loads of the good dancers in my secondary school got their groove on to, leading me to consider it somewhat of a swagger song. And you know how I like my swagger. Anyway, it’s a simple enough piece, about dudes dancing in a club, but it has some brilliantly arrogant lines like “I’m not being cocky, I just noticed that she was looking at me.” Get you, JT, get you!

Fix Up Look Sharp (Dizzee Rascal)
Yet another swagger song. Whilst Dance wiv Me got all the fame for the Calvin Harris connection, I would argue that this song was a helluva lot cooler. “Sweet as a nut, sweet as Tropicana” and “if you don’t believe me bring your posse bring your crew” are lines that I would under normal circumstances, roll my eyes at, but Bow-born Dizzee carries it off with, you’ve guessed it, swag.

Pennies in My Pocket (Emilio Estefan)
Although I was far from won over by Miami Vice, the film which the song appeared in, I can’t help but love the song itself, which has a catchy beat and cute lyrics. The lyrics in fact, I found, were quite hard to decipher, but that is perhaps much of the song’s charm, that it makes you work for it.

I am not My Hair (India.Arie)
Five years before Will Smith’s daughter was whipping her hair back and forth, India.Arie sang about the topic in a much more refined style. The remix with Akon gives the song some added sass. The litany of hair-related experiments always makes me smile, the line “success didn’t come until I cut it all off” highlights the superficial nature of society and India.Arie’s heartfelt delivery of the line “I am not my hair” absolutely carries the song.

Photographs (Rihanna ft. Will.i.am)
Aurally, this song sounds like another Will.i.am collaboration, with Cheryl Cole, Three Words. But I greatly favour Photographs and would go so far as to say it’s my favourite off the Rated R album. The song captures the yearning for a failed romance, and how the woman in it has been reduced to staring at photos of them, wishing they were real. I dig.

Good Old Fashioned Loved Boy (Queen) & Lullaby (Dixie Chicks)
Pure delightfulness!

Everybody wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears)
I love Shout and Head over Heels, but this is probably my favourite Tears for Fears song. And I know one could refute it being an “underrated” song, as it did win Best Single at the Brits in 1986, but there doesn’t seem to be much love for it nowadays, or even from the band itself then. Which is shame, because despite the catchy nature of the song, the subject matter is deadly serious and deserves more attention; in the words of Curt Smith, “it's about everybody wanting power, about warfare and the misery it causes.”

Boys (Cheryl Cole)
The song was written by Adele, who’s cover of Make You Feel My Love stands as one of my favourite covers of all time, and it is so astute in capturing the mindsets of girls and boys, and how no matter how many times we get our hearts broken and how we should know better, girls still remain hopeful that love is out there. I like that.

Waking Up in Vegas (Katy Perry)

I tried to denounce the Katy Perry liking when she first came out, finding her a bit too bawdy and in your face. But, you know what? I’m bawdy and in your face, so it’s not like I can really talk?! Anyway, Waking Up in Vegas recounts a weekend in Vegas gone wrong, with hilarious consequences. Teenage Dream will by far and away be my favourite song of hers, but this is witty stuff.

November has Come (Gorillaz)
I love to try and rap along to songs, but the rapping in this song with its convoluted plays on words are so good that I am nowhere near conquering it. And Damon Albarn’s delivery of the chorus is some of his best work. A beautifully sad and nostalgic gem.

Jesus Walks with Me (Kanye West ft. Mase & Common)

I love the original, but this slight remix is even better because it has the terrific line “Do you know how I be embarrassed? / My prayers sound like Ben Stiller’s on Meet the Parents”. Which is genius, let me tell you. I also like "I walk with God, I got the scars to prove it". Although, to be totally honest, I feel that a lot of Kanye West songs are underrated. Which is somewhat ironic, considering.

So yeah, get listening! If you fancy a download of any of these, prod me and I'll get 'em uploaded for ya!

Bung’s Favourite Songs of 2010.

1. Forget You (Cee Lo Green)
I wasn’t too enamoured with this song when I first heard, but multiple plays on nights out with friends, not to mention the terrific cover done by Glee, has gotten me to really adore it. Essentially, it’s quite a sad tale of a man’s failed romance with a golddigger, but such are the upbeat tempo and tune that Cee Lo Green really has fun with his silver-tonguing.

2. Love the Way You Lie (Eminem ft. Rihanna)

Far and away, one of the deepest, most moving songs I’ve ever heard. It captures an abusive relationship that is massively detrimental for both parties involved, yet such is the power of the love (and hate) binding the two involved, that just walking away isn’t an option. This being something that both Eminem and Rihanna are very well versed in, it’s no surprise that Rihanna’s voice touches emotive highs and Eminem’s rapping really resonates.

3. Airplanes (B.o.B ft Hayley Williams)
Dreams, aspirations, shattered hopes, wishing upon airplanes… been there, done that. Hayley Williams has a beautiful voice, some parts of B.o.B’s rapping really hold true. What’s not to love?

4. Power (Kanye West ft. Dwele)
“No one man should have all that power,” notes Kanye, although I would argue that if anyone’s deserving of power, it’s him, for coming out of hiding after being publically denounced a thousand times last year to comeback and produce, write, score and rap and sing in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, by far one of the most complete albums I’ve gotten my hands on, this song on it being the crème de la crème.

5. On to the Next One (Jay-Z ft. Swizz Beats)
The video raised some problems with one of my super-Christian friends at work, but I absolutely adore everything about this song, from the Swizz Beats appearance (Cher Lloyd ripping them off irks me ever so), to Jay-Z’s all-round swagger and arrogance. “No I’m not a Jonas brother I’m a grown-up, no I’m not a virgin I use my cojones.” Tell me that’s not poetry.

6. Teenage Dream (Katy Perry)
If there is one song that invokes memories of Summer 2010, it’d be this. I turned 20 this year so am no longer a teenager, but the song itself invokes the memories of what it’s like to FEEL like a teenager when you’re in love. Brill.

7. Empire State of Mind (part II) (Alicia Keys)
Poetry, pure poetry. Alicia Keys is a goddess.

8. Kickstarts (Example)
Example actually came to my University several weeks back, and I missed the opportunity to watch him perform. Still not over it; this song is gorgeous.

9. Take One for the Team (Ft. Cyhi the Prynce, Keri Hilson & Pusha T)
For flat-out lulz, there’s no better than “Take one for the Team”. “He said that bitch wasn’t pretty enough to finger!” whines Cyhi the Prynce in one verse, whereas Kanye happily admits that despite trying to be nice, “You know what? I’m not a nice guy”. More honest.

10. Monster (Kanye West ft. Jay-Z & Nikki Minaj)
11. Bad Romance (Lady Gaga)
12. Fireflies (Owl City)
13. Born Free (M.I.A.)
14. Tightrope (Janelle Monáe)
15. Waka Waka (Shakira)
16. Acapella (Kelis)
17. Good Intentions Paving Company (Joanna Newsom)
18. Just the Way You Are (Bruno Mars)
19. California Gurls (Katy Perry)

20. Dog Days are Over (Florence and the Machine)
21. Like a G6 (Far East Movement ft The Cataracs & Dev)
22. You Got the Dirtee Love (Florence & Dizzee Rascal)
23. Billionaire (Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars)
24. What’s My Name? (Rihanna ft Drake)
25. We Dance On (N-Dubz ft Bodyrox)

Top 10 Girls Aloud song lyrics that I connect to.

Back to the Girls Aloud obsession once again! One of the many things I love about their songs is that I can always recognise something of myself in their lyrics. So here are 10 of their song lyrics which I feel I connect to:

01. “Without any meaning, we’re just skin and bone, like beautiful robots dancing alone” – Untouchable


02. “Boy did you ever think that loving would be nothing more than walking me home? No no” – Sexy! No No No…

03. “My Aladdin’s lamp is down and I got a fear, ooh baby, right here” – The Promise
04. “It might sound crazy but your voice still leaves me all funky” – Whole Lotta History
05. “You could be the one that’s the head of the pack, babe. You could be the power stealing the whole damn show” – Crocodile Tears
06. “Surfing channels ‘til I bleach out the pain” – Memory of You
07. “I got you, I know your game. Doesn’t mean I know how to play” – History
08. “Gone are the days of magic, those times were cool. I tried to make love not hate, what was I to do” – Rolling Back the Rivers in Time
09. “I've been waiting all this time for you / And I've been hatin' all this talkin', baby, black and blue” – Waiting
10. “Wake me up before I drop out on you / You treat me rough to show that you care / And I just can't refuse baby” – Wake Me Up

Oh, would you look at that, nearly all of them relate to love, and the pangs of disappointed love. Typical Bung!

From top to bottom, she's a woman, sunshine.

Set in Argentina, Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is a young, suave hustler who drifts from place to place, with nothing but a loaded die for company. One day, amidst a mugging, he is rescued by Buenos Aires casino magnate Ballin Mundson (George Macready) and the tycoon, spotting a diamond in the rough, employs Farrell as his henchman. The two men enjoy a sucessful relationship, for along while acknowledging the only third party as Ballin's cane.

However, emotions become complicated when Ballin marries a beautiful but heartless woman, the eponymous Gilda (Rita Hayworth). Unknownst to Mundson, his loyal devotee and his new bride were once together, in a relationship that is the very definition of "tempestuous". Needless to say, that relationship did not end well, leading to both parties loathing each other, but also paving the way for one of the most wickedly entertaining three-handers in cinema.

Rita Hayworth shimmies across the stage in a wide range of figure-hugging silk dresses, her curves accentuated with shiny, bold belts. Her performance outshines ever the sparkliness of her belts, as she exudes sultry elegance in every frame. Her character is jaded, cynical and has no qualms with using and abusing any men she comes across, but one smouldering look from her and it's not hard to see why she has men going gaga for her.

Her chemistry with Glenn Ford (whom she would later bed in real life) is sizzling and their exchanges demonstrate perfectly that fine line between love, hate, and how easy it is for the two to fuse. It is this edge to Gilda and Johnny's repartee that make them such a curious couple, and their anti-hero characters so compelling.

So sexy that I'm surprised certain parts were permitted by the stuffy Hayes Code of the time and featuring two very different renditions of what is now one of my favourite songs Put the Blame on Mame, Gilda is a representation of the ultimate battle of the sexes. The film has been read by some has having soft homoerotic undertones between Ford's character and Macready's, but, I read it differently.

The love Johnny Farrell feels is all for the titular character, but, such are his jealouses and insecurities, that he fooled himself into believing otherwise, that he hated her and could do without her.

When she returns into his life, with her usual arsenal of conniving games, his world is rocked again, and so begins their vicious circle.

And, to be honest, that is what love is all about, really.

5. BRIEF ENCOUNTER (David Lean, 1945)

To most, having to have grit removed from one's eyes is not the best circumstance under which to make an acquaintance. But for Celia Johnson's Laura, this is how, on a railway station, she meets dashing doctor Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard). The two form a friendship that soon becomes more than platonic. Despite their love for each other, their relationship is never consummated. Caught in such a bad romance, they realise that due to social rules and their commitments to their family, the tempting option of running away together is simply impossible.

Cinematography goes a long way in telling the story. The camera shots are so close-up that they frame just Laura and Alec, suggesting that, for the time being at least, they are in their own perfectly formed world.

The fact that the title gives away the fact that Laura and Alec's romance is short lived does not detract from the poignancy and power of their brief time spent with each other. Although the two do not sleep together, there is no doubt of their desire to do so, making their restrain even more admirable (the scene in which they are interrupted by a prying friend was extremely frustrating when I first watched the film but now I see that it fits perfectly with the themes of social decorum and doing what is right rather than what we want).

Many things make Brief Encounter the gem it is, but two things stand out. The first is the usage of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto. There have been films which have been ruined by the terrible music in them, and others wherein the music is either so good or so bombastic that it deflects attention away from the film. In Brief Encounter, the elegiac piano tune complements the film perfectly. Used throughout, it evokes the emotions that Laura is feeling in us. 

And the second? Why, that would be Celia Johnson's exquisitely beautiful performance as the housewife who looks for an exciting, new thing in her life, only to realise that when all is said and done, however exciting, however much it thrills her, she cannot throw away what she already has. As Alec places his hand over Laura's shoulder as they say their goodbyes, tears never fail to come to my eyes. Brief Encounter is as deep and British a film as they come.

06. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)

You’re very unsatisfactory, scram.

Only saw six movies in two weeks. Poor.

Dorian Gray (Oliver Parker, 2009)
Curious little adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s world-known novel. The acting from Ben Barnes was ok, Colin Firth was amazing as ever and I was absolutely beguiled by Ben Ben Chaplin’s depiction of Basil Hallward, but Rachel Hurd-Wood was turdtacular. Dorian Gray’s downfall was interesting and bizarre at the same time, and the way the painting of him deteriorated over time was genuinely creepy. The rest of the film itself was pretty unspectacular.

Bright Star (Jane Campion, 2009)
I expected to loathe this film, as Luke and I saw the trailer to it many, many times, and lol’d each time. However, I ended up loving it. I just adored how unashamedly old-fashioned and uncool the film was, as well as the sheer love and depth of emotion on display. Ben Wishaw and Abbie Cornish made a terrific couple and their interactions were beautiful. The entire film built up to one, solitary kiss (aye, there are no bunging scenes at all in this love story), and the kissing, when they came, were so moving and powerful. The ending, as you’ll know, was heartbreak, but I got a bizarre sort of relief from the sadness and woe. Gorgeous movie, inside and out.

Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)

LOVE THIS FILM

Hairspray (Adam Shankman, 2007)

Aww! One of the sweetest, loveliest, most enjoyable films I’ve seen in my life. Nikki Blonksy is terrific fun in the lead, and I loved so many of the songs: The Legend of Baltimore Crabs, I Can Hear the Bells, Good Morning Baltimore, Mama I’m a Big Girl Now, and more. The supporting cast were all wonderfully charming: Amanda Bynes, adorably dappy, Queen Latifah oozed wisdom, Michelle Pfieffer made a delicious bitch and John Travolta was loltacular. Also, I feel so dirty saying this considering the amount I’ve slagged him off in the past, but, I’m starting to accept my crush on Zac Efron. He can be rather awesome sometimes, and in Hairspray, he was. Anyway, so much fun, and I loved all the messages it promoted: equality, the power of friendship, and it’s what on the inside that counts.

The Last Seduction (John Dahl, 1994)
Famous for that scene against a fence, Linda Fiorentino is half-fierce, half completely psychotic as Bridget, a modern day femme fatale. The background music was so Sex and the City-esque, which gave mixed messages about the genre about the movie, but, not putting it into boxes, I totally enjoyed it .The plotting was intelligent and appropriately cruel and there were plenty of moments of black comedy.

The Major and the Minor (Billy Wilder, 1942)

Terrific fun! Ginger Rogers ditches the all-singing, all-dancing schtick she usually does (though she does get to display her happy feet, albeit briefly) plays a woman who masquerades as a 12-year-old girl to avoid paying the full train fare. In doing so, she meets Ray Milland’s army major, a nice, charming, but slightly guileless guy who believs her when she lies about her age. He takes to becoming her uncle and introduces her into his world (including a less-than-keen fiancé), but, rather predictably, both parties end up falling for each other. A wonderful prelude to the gender-swapping in Some Like it Hot, The Major and the Minor instead deals with age-lying, with Ginger Rogers giving a brilliantly double-edged turn; sweet and sour, she’s 12 and 21 at the same time. There are some sequences when the young army trainees who date Rogers try to shag her which border on paedophilic, but on the whole, it’s a wickedly funny comedy of errors. The title is also a work of genius =)