Relics, Words and Other Things
This beautifully crafted film feels much like a great American novel, in exactly the same way that Baz’s Gatsby didn’t. Rather than relying on brash colours and CG trickery, Mud’s vivid world is defined by real landscapes and salty, nuanced characters. Leaving Gatsby was like crashing down from a sugar high, whereas Mud still had me in its net days later.
Mud reviewed for The Weekly Review
‘This, for me, is the shot that sums up the entire movie. It was a Sunday on the avenue next to the zoo in Regent’s Park. The wolves are not there anymore. We had to make the rain, much to the amazement of the tourists walking by. They were treated to some Hamlet and a prop man feeding snacks to the wolves to keep them in frame.’
“In the best possible way, listening to the record is a little like being cornered at a party by an ex, who then spends an hour whispering confessions and admonishments in your ear.”
Laura Marling’s Once I Was An Eagle reviewed at The Weekly Review
For Suede, the mythology has always been as important as the music. Listening to Suede feels like joining a gang of slightly decadent misfits, clothed in back leather and op-shop glamour. It’s music that other people aren’t supposed to like – that makes sense to you and the chosen few.
Bloodsports reviewed at The Weekly Review
Most nights the sea came rushing over the hill and punched in Jasper’s window. It was always the ceiling fan that worried him most, slicing down as he bobbed up from his bed.
When it wasn’t a tsunami, it was an asteroid burning across the night sky. Once, he saw a meteor collide with the moon and massive fragments of shattered rock came tumbling in flames to Earth. Running for his life, Jasper looked back to see a fireball engulf his father.
On being scared and becoming a writer, with some brand new fiction.
“You’re a man of property if you can walk out of a room, having heard a great tune.” Van Dyke Parks interviewed.
“But my intention is not to be sexual – it’s a much more open nudity. There’s no mystery. What happened when that act went online was I lost control of it and the context in which it’s seen. The act started to be viewed through a porn context, which changed everything.”
Ursula Martinez on accidentally achieving internet fame for her magical striptease.
Here are 50 tracks (many of them featured in @theweeklyreview) that I listened to a lot this year. In no particular order.
(Source: Spotify, via myke-bartlett)
“There’s a rule of thumb that says it’s better to confuse an audience for two minutes than let them get ahead of you for three seconds. It’s just asking yourself how much do we need, how much does an audience need?”
Paul Thomas Anderson interviewed for The Weekly Review
Certainly Argo is a film in which Hollywood paints itself as the hero. Fortunately, it’s also a film that reminds us what Hollywood does best. Affleck’s direction is confident and edgy, working from a taut and sparky script. The final act accelerates the tension to palm-dampening extremes, but only once do we hear the director crunch gears.
Argo reviewed for The Weekly Review
