Really? Four years in the making, and all they come up with to follow Grammy award-winning, 2009 breakthrough fourth album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, is a Kenwood blender mix of David Bowie, Prince, Sparks and Jam & Lewis producing Janet Jackson?

Bankrupt! (with exclamation mark, like so many West End musicals) is a worrying title. No longer do they stand out from the other ’80s copycats.

The lead single, Entertainment, sounds like a leftover from the WAP sessions, recycling Bowie’s China Girl with chunks of Jean Michel Jarre and Empire of the Sun thrown in. It carries some of their Indie energy, while reminding you that Thomas Mars’s pure, high-register voice can carry much better material than this. Suddenly it’s finished and into The Real Thing, a solid pop-radio play-list filler of very little substance, which also ends suddenly.

S.O.S in Bel Air belts along with a Thomas Dolby / New Order feel; the song is Owl City cranked up to eleven but terrified of it’s own shadow. It’s as if Phoenix are afraid that if they slow down the whole thing will grind to a halt. There are some good hooks, but everything gets lost in the cacophonous racket of synths and drums.

Trying to be Cool tries too hard to be cool. Is that irony or just bad luck? I can never tell. Is it reassuringly familiar or irritatingly non-descript? Electronic wallpaper music or shiny, shopping mall muzak?

The seven-minute Bankrupt tinkles along for two minutes then goes all concept-trance, arpegiating harpsichords, until four minutes twenty when the song proper begins, a Pink Floyd prog-rock album track.

Drakkar Noir and Chloroform are supposedly the one-two combination knock-out punch, but Drakkar moodles about like Mars couldn’t work out how to get from verse to bridge to chorus and rolls into Chloroform with all the subtlety of Georgio Moroder. Lyrically it’s a quirky French beat-poetry lesson with a bit of philosophy, wrapped in a mid tempo ballad and I really don’t know if that’s enough.

Don’t: “just don’t bother.” It’s not a great way to start a fast song. Remember Plastique Bertrand, that cliche of 80′s French synth pop (I know, he’s Belgian)? You will when you listen to Don’t. You might hear more Thomas Dolby too.

Bourgeois. Seriously? A French act and you have to title a track Bourgeois? While they were moodling about sounding like Two Door Cinema Club featuring Owl City (again), I got to thinking about titles they missed: Fillet Mignon, Deja Vu, Petit Filous. “You lost your mind on a cruise ship.” Bowie would be proud.

Finale Oblique City brings us back to where we started, a good bit of rattling pop with nothing memorable until it just fizzles out. I went back to playing ‘spot the synth riffs.’ If only they’d thrown in some Herbie Hancock, we’d have the whole set. RC

Related: Two Door Cinema Club -  Beacon

Time travel is possible and it’s here as a working scientific phenomenon. That’s the only explanation I can find for Vicious, ITV1′s latest situation comedy, which is barely a ‘sit’ and contains no ‘com.’

Starring Britain’s two foremost theatrical knights, Sirs Ian McKellen (The Hobbit, X-Men) and Derek Jacobi (Henry V, Underworld Evolution) as an elderly gay couple, with guests Frances de la Tour (Hugo) and Marcia Warren, Vicious is based on the idea that two high-camp gay pensioners can be as waspish and bitchy as they like and everyone will scream with laughter.

Sadly the high-camp bitchiness in Vicious is less American sitcom Will & Grace (from which writer Gary Janetti graduated), and more a horrible travesty of limp 1970′s sit-coms such as Are You Being Served. It’s false in every note and gesture, made worse by the inexplicable laughter track, the gales of laughter merely blowing the tumble-weed across the screen at high speed. Unlike the gags.

This is fossilised comedy from a different era; the overt homosexual couple is the only modern thing about it, but completely undercut by gross queeny stereotypes, pensioner jokes and supposed quick-fire lines that fall off the diving board, banging their heads on the way down. What were Ed Bye and Mark Ravenhill thinking when they took on this dinosaur? That it was going to compete with sharp US sit-coms with genuine pace and wit?

This is depressingly like watching a 70′s British end-of-the-pier show (now we know why the pier shows ended) as McKellen and Jacobi telegraph their performances to the empty upper circle at the Barbican. Even de la Tour seems to have forgotten the laser-precision of the intimately squalid farce Rising Damp which made her name as Ms. Jones.

Contrast with the The Office-style comedy The Job Lot scheduled straight after; nothing new, but painfully funny.

Not Vicious. Squandered. SC

Related: Review: The Thick of It – The Inquiry

Catapulted into a near-disastrous adventure at the beginning, the zippy pace is set, although I found the level of violence coupled with the extraordinary amount of crying a rather uneasy blend.

Chris Pine (Unstoppable, People Like Us) is the young action hero personified, and in certain camera angles he is Kirk – maybe it’s the nose – and his performance is heartfelt, energetic and entirely true to the character.

Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) is all splendid villainy and pathos, bringing an unfamiliarly pumped-up physicality to the role and dealing with finesse with a script that all too often resorts to the monologue.

Karl Urban (Bourne Supremacy, Lord of the Rings) is pitch perfect and seriously underused as Doctor McCoy – it’s not about impressions, but he’s nailed it. A shame then that the script mostly left him trotting out well known McCoy-style sayings. Here’s hoping that a third instalment allows him more to do.

Along with some background artists there are only two main female characters, and in true Trek tradition we get one in her underwear, plus two in bed with Kirk and a rather creepy camera up-an-actress’-skirt shot during an action sequence. Yes, it’s true to the original series’ approach but I was disappointed that with so much else re-imagined here they couldn’t have moved on a bit from sixties thinking.

Costumes are a mixed bag – Harrison’s almost Regency elegance contrasted with the remarkably Nazi-looking Starfleet dress uniforms, complete with big grey peaked caps. Great make-up, including a remarkably sleek Klingon and a diverting blue-eyed android I’d have liked more from.

It all looks superb (even allowing for that bloody lens flare effect again); future London and San Francisco are hyper-realistically evoked and the alien planets, space scenes and post-911 imagery are visually fabulous.

Yes, it’s a bit of a re-run of a previous film. I’d avoided spoilers and didn’t see it coming so was genuinely surprised (although how one man could manage to get seventy or so pods into a high security weapons array without help or being spotted – never mind: spoilers), and with a cameo by Leonard Nimoy and the filling in of another little bit of Trek history with the arrival of Dr Marcus, it’s a satisfying, funny and exciting addition to the canon. PH

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Director: JJ Abrams
Writers: Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci
Certification: PG-13
Running time:  2 hr. 3 min.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-fi
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Pavel Checkov, Peter Weller, Alice Eve, Bruce Greenwood

Related: Review – Source Code

Originally posted at Catling on Film

I’ve been watching movies as long as I can remember.

Silent clowns Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton; classic Westerns (all of them!), visionary science fiction from Forbidden Planet to The Day the Earth Stood Still.

I thrilled at Errol Flyn as Robin Hood and the Sea Hawk; Jimmy Stewart maturing from honest everyman to gritty cowboy. I was captivated by Connery as Bond, touched by John Mills in Great Expectations.

I laughed at the sublime Gregory’s Girl and Ealing-comedy inheritor The Tall Guy.

I remember becoming aware of great directors; Kubrick, Coppola and onto International films with Kurasawa. I am not Spartacus and the thought of a Space Odyssey gives me travel sickness, but I will watch them over and over.

Working on the fringes of the film and TV industry, I sometimes get to be on set with some of the most Internationally renowned film-makers; Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Martin Scorcese. My list goes on; Mike Nichols, Ralph Fiennes, David Yates, Stephen Hopkins, and some of the rising stars like Regan Hall and Noel Clarke. Seldom, barring one director I won’t name, a disappointment.

I still get through a lot of movies, both on the big screen and on those shiny silver discs, now spurred on in my addiction by Victoria.

I still get excited at the prospect of a new high-concept, big idea movie, a thought-provoking bit of sci-fi, the latest literary adaptation, or anything with a Western show-down in the finale.

Too many movies, not enough time. RC

Related: Review: Great Expectations (2012)

Image: Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, Ben Hur, 1925

Originally posted at: Random Subjects Made Simple No. 57 – Hay fever – Not something to sniff at, by Educare, Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

As many of us know, hay fever is more than just an excuse not to mow the lawn, in fact, with 20 per cent of people in the UK suffering, it’s the country’s most common allergy. So who or what is responsible?

Allergic rhinitis is an allergic inflammation of the nasal passageways. When caused by any plant pollen the condition is called pollinosis, but if caused specifically by grass pollens, it is known as hay fever. It occurs when an individual with a sensitised immune system inhales an allergen – such as pollen. The allergen starts a bit of a chain reaction: the body reacts to the allergen by producing antibodies, which binds to mast cells. This kicks off a release of histamine, which is what causes the sneezing, the itchy and watery eyes, and all that mucus.

The pollen responsible for hay fever varies from individual to individual and from region to region, however, it is generally the small pollens of wind-pollinated plants such as junipers, birches, willows and beeches. And although hay fever is commonly a spring and summer issue, it can be suffered throughout the year.

If you’re a sufferer then, statistically, you developed it during adolescence (although it can crop up at a later age). It will get better over time (not a promise), although no doubt you’re probably sick of squirting intranasal corticosteroids up your nose every summer. A recent study has suggested regular acupuncture may offer some relief, and other sources suggest that eating local honey and even stinging-nettle tea could help out, but the general opinion is that you’re stuck with the Beconase and Piriton.

If it’s any help, the BBC website offers a daily ‘pollen risk’ to keep you clued-up, and to tell you when to stay indoors.

Related: How-to: Be ‘Twitterate’ [Re-post]

Image credit: View through rape field towards Westbury cement works – geograph.org.uk – 424300

Duncan Jones’ superb high-concept second feature eventually sinks under the weight of its’ own pseudo-science nonsense, but not before Jake Gyllenhaal turns in a star performance.

Implanted into a dead man’s last eight minutes of life, air-force pilot Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) has to find a terrorist bomber on a train in order to stop an even worse atrocity; over and over until, like Groundhog Day, he gets it right.

Following the success of Moon, Jones sets about Source Code with ambition and self confidence for this sci-fi action adventure that sits somewhere between a virtual reality and time-travel thriller.

Think of it as the most expensive Twilight Zone/Outer Limits episode ever, with a convoluted structure and several ‘future shock’ twists before the end. Like all other time-travel thrillers – Denzel Washington and Tony Scott’s near-twin movie Deja Vu, or Ben Affleck’s Paycheck – neither the science nor the plotting stay on the rails longer than the first horrific train wreck.

Gyllenhaal (Prince of Persia, Hurt Locker) does a phenomenal job of the Quantum Leap style implant into another man’s life, each time getting closer to unveiling the bomber’s identity whilst trying to unravel his own past and present.

Gyllenhaal  is well served by Vera Farmiga as his handler, Goodwin, while Michelle Monaghan gets the thankless job of being good and pretty as the woman he wants to save. Jeffrey Wright is the stock callous scientist heading the Source Code programme, Routledge; uneasily for us, the character is both black and disabled.

It’s a difficult movie to describe any more than this without massively plot-spoiling. Even though Jones inverts the usual Hollywood blockbuster structure, with the biggest bangs at the beginning and the quiet, reflective ending, you can see where this train is heading from the start – and I don’t mean Chicago, which features as a massive backdrop.

There are some excellent intimate scenes between Gyllenhaal and Farmiga, Gyllenhaal and Monaghan; and the sleuthing episodes on the train are fine Hitchcock homages of tension and suspense; a confined space and an Orient Express roster of a few suspects. It’s gritty and raw in places as Jones refuses to soften the edges of even this fictionalised War on Terror.

The biggest let-down is the utter nonsense of the central premise. Routledge merely hints at neuro-science and quantum physics so that Jones doesn’t have to explain anything in detail, but still the whole thing bumps into a stack of parallel universes and time paradoxes and the whole Jenga stack comes crashing down mere minutes in. By the final act, it’s reduced to match wood.

Source Code, despite this silly concept and sillier title, rattles along the train tracks with engaging performances and some unexpected set-pieces, the otherwise intelligent and sensitive script executed with style and pace by Jones.

That it works at all is down to Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and especially Gyllenhaal. It may not be Inception, but it’s the longest eight minutes you’ll have the pleasure of sitting through, over and over, for two hours.  RC

Source Code (2011)
Director: Duncan Jones
Writer: Ben Ripley
Certification: PG-13
Running time: 1 hr. 27 min.
Genre: Thriller, Sci-fi
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Michael Arden, Cas Anvar, Russell Peters

Related: Inception

Then round to Kellie Miller’s [11] welcoming working Biscuit Studio tucked into Wilbury Grove mews; for cheese, wine and muffins and a private view of her latest work. We just missed the mayor’s visit. Particularly attractive were the 3D pieces, especially farm animals in tranquil porcelain fields, and “Follow your path”, an avenue of trees in oil and gesso.

Saturday 4th May
Staying with Hove Arts for now, after a rainy breakfast in Hove, our first visit was to a newcomer, 49a Hova Villas [3] to meet South African artist Andrew James Hofmeyr at home. A charming touch was the avenue of umbrellas suspended overhead leading us into his garden flat, which has perhaps one of the best garden features in town – the church next door.

Two very different styles to enjoy here, reminiscent of the best children’s book illustrations: first, the large scale paintings on mellowed recycled scaffolding board. Featuring domestic Brighton terraces, half-familiar landmarks and little glimpses into windows, the works are haunted by ever-present foxes and gulls. We share the city with wildlife and Hofmeyr’s work celebrates the connection.

At the other end of the scale, I also loved “Spring Fox”, an intricate black and white line drawing of a fox and ducks in the countryside.

After three individual artist showcases, next on to Collectors’ Selection [5], a great favourite. This effortlessly civilised and beautifully presented house is the home of some serious sculpture and a wealth of paintings.

To the conservatory and garden for the sculpture trail, where I found Olivia Ferrier’s rackety, raggedy black bronze ravens and wanted the whole flock of them. The ground floor features pleasures everywhere you look, especially Hazel Reeve’s white plaster head “Adam”. Then on and up for Diane Brandrett’s delicate window views and folding screen, and a celebration of the life and work of the late Cyril Mount. This house is consistently excellent, always a highlight.

Nearby is Polish and Pin [7], a house dedicated to reclaiming, re-imagining,and recreating works from re-cycled objects. The house is full to the brim with plenty to see and buy; I particularly noticed Anne French’s superhero contemporary decoupage furniture and Carola del Mes’ vintage teapots recreated as lamps and clocks.

Then to finish the Hove Arts morning, off to The Wolf at the Door [6], which has just had a new extension built. Destined to be the new kitchen, for the festival it’s a light airy gallery space. Highlights include owner Jill Tattersall’s handmade paper painting [I liked “Vitis Vinifera” very much] and Campoli & Nelson’s sinuous silver and bright glass pieces.

Later, over to Dyke Road Arts, kicking off at The Gloobaah House [4] and garden, for a wide variety of art and craft, especially Ember Vincent’s smoky raku bowls.

On to The Trojan House [9], hosted by artist Troy Ohlson. Her new pieces, including a quartet of bright acrylic landscapes, join her established wildlife work. I was very taken with two moonlit paintings; “Doves in Love”, a muted night time image and the striking “Midsummer Evening Hyde Park”. Guests include Howard Young, whose Maltese stone carving “Within” looked superb in the garden.

Then round to 56 Tivoli Crescent [8], the house on the side of a hill with two storeys invisible from the front. A room full of Chris Hill’s pastel acrylic Brighton scenes echoed the house’s fabulous views over the whole city.

Finally today to The Dog House [5], back after a year off. Rhoda Kay Baker’s sculptural white paperscapes, cut and folded hanging pieces catch the light and shade and Linda Calvert’s translucent white ceramic lamps inspired by wet sand on beaches caught the eye. Upstairs to the rooftop studio for cream teas [£3] before heading for home.

Sunday 5th May
A quieter day today, with a walk up to a new Dyke Road Arts house, The Holistic House [10]. My first note was “Wow!” This house needs to be seen. Set rather further out from the main trail than the map would suggest, the whole house has a spiritual feeling and it’s worth the walk. The sculpture lawn drifts into surrounding woodland and is peopled with willowy figures by Ginger Gilmor. Then into the sitting room, a quiet haven for Hellen Morris-Clarke’s jewellery and live music. The hall hosts Gill Orsman’s photography, and bright embellished fantasy paintings by Claire Johnson. To finish, a smart kitchen complete with waitresses serves afternoon tea. [One small jam and cream scone and tea is £3. A thought … perhaps better not to serve the jam and cream on top of the paper napkin, though]

We took a leisurely long walk back, finding ourselves at The Cat House [7]. Some serious steps and a welcome cold drink at the top, and into a mid-Victorian house [original-features and great-view hawks will appreciate this one]. Particularly liked Jill Christie’s blue -green ceramics collection, from sweet little egg separators and egg cups to big imposing vases.

And finally today to The Station Pub [6] virtually next door. A friendly corner of this sporty pub features Nigel Summers’ paintings, inspired by the Falmer Stadium.

Bank Holiday Monday 6th May
Firstly to established Independent The Claremont [11], a Victorian villa hotel and garden in Hove. Start at the top and walk down, visiting some of the bedrooms – and bathrooms – to see the work in place in attractive settings, and you’ll probably want to move in. I noted Stephanie Parker’s 3D illustrations, Carne Griffiths’ angel screen-prints plus work by established artists ceramicist Rowena Gilbert and painter Serena Sussex. The recently developed sunny garden featuring Karl Smith’s hefty driftwood bench is a great place to sit with tea and cake.

Picking up the smart little brochure on arrival for a full description of the artists and their work, I was disappointed to find quite a few of the rooms not open to view as they were occupied, and the room cleaning process was much in evidence. Not quite so sleek a presentation as usual today; perhaps a return visit to the Claremont is needed to hopefully access more of the work.

Hove Arts are all open today, so on to 2012 Best Open House-shortlisted Albert Mews Studio [2]. A charming welcome and a cup of tea with Lizzie Lock, who is showing her vintage-look millinery. The 40s style printed hosiery, printed fashion, homewares and 3D seagulls are all created at this busy working studio.

Our last visit of the weekend was to Tessa Wolfe Murray and Guests [8], a very well established house. Upstairs to Tessa’s ceramics studio for her elegant galaxy-patterned vases, wall pieces and clocks, plus some tempting little gifts – I picked up one of her cards with an iridescent ceramic moon brooch today. The staircase features original work and prints by Harry Potter book cover artist Cliff Wright, including some captivating Rackham-inspired illustrations.

The end of a busy four-day weekend in May 2013. Next viewing on May 11th.

Image credit: Cliff Wright: Book cover illustration for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

“In a Culture Show special, Oscar winning director Danny Boyle talks to Mark Kermode about his new film Trance, London 2012′s afterglow and the highs and lows of an extraordinary film-making career.”

Danny Boyle began his career in subversive agit-prop theatre at the Royal Court and went on to be equally subversive in TV.

Breaking into feature films, his back catalogue includes the violent, kinetic, anarchic as well as touching, satirical, philosophical and romantic. From iconic counter-culture Trainspotting, frenetic horror 28 Days Later, to eight-Oscar triumph, the brutal romance Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle is at his best when he refuses to compromise. It was something he acknowledged in less successful projects – Hollywood excesses A Life Less Ordinary and The Beach.

Unashamedly Northern, working class and left-wing, the unlikely creative director of the London Olympics poured all of his theatricality into a political crowd-pleasing show.

Post-Olympic triumph, Boyle turned away from the world-wide fame to return to subversive shorts and thriller Trance.

Guided by self-confessed fan Kermode (without notes), Boyle spoke candidly about all his work, with inserts from long-time collaborators all the way back to first feature Shallow Grave: writer John Hodge, producer Andrew MacDonald and actress Kerry Fox.

There were reminders of some great work, including TV’s Mr Wroe’s Virgins and the under-appreciated Millions.

Kermode, Boyle and The Culture Show at their best. RC

Danny Boyle: Man of Wonder
Available on BBC iPlayer
Season 2012/2013 Episode 30 of 32
Broadcast: Fri 29 Mar 2013 00:30

Fandango surrounds you with it’s dreamy, ambient quality, a rich layered sound, swinging between Pat Metheny harmonies and Ray Davies witty ditties, all wrapped in modern production.

Black Mould is the eccentric opening track, an off-beat, trippy number that makes you wonder what the Kiwi maestros were on when they wrote it. Modern Rock passes quickly by and we’re onto The Captain: 80′s synth pop a la Ochestral Maneuvers’ Dazzle Ships, easily the most catchy, commercial track.

Thames Soup arrives as a sudden inpouring of Ray Davies and the Kinks; light guitar pop and a reflective lyric.

Evolution Did is a tiresome return to psychedelia with its nonsensical repeated hook. The unsettling Inside Me Dead is a moody and noirish atmospheric ‘ballad’ for want of a better description; it’s the post-trip come-down in the wee small hours.

The epic Corale begins as a dreamy instrumental, progressing to mid-tempo, distorted and sinister; the dream turning altogether darker, in the way concept-album masters such as Pink Flloyd, Radio Head, King Krimson (remember them?) used to do.

Supernatural is back to pure Ray Davies melancholy, which continues with Walls. Morning Riff passed me by entirely.

Sideways Glance is a bitter-sweet mid-tempo ballad with lots of layers and seventies flute, Bacharach and David in it’s genes, especially when it goes jazz-funk in the final movement.

Third act finale Friendly Society is a pure 70′s concept album, 17 minutes 40 of middle-era Pink Floyd styling. Taking up most of disc two, it rises and falls as the Fandango signature track.

There’s no doubt that Phoenix Foundation have talent and maturity as well as the courage to make exactly th album they want. Unfortunately that happens to be a self-indulgent throwback to 60′s, 70′s and 80′s favourites that seldom engages and doesn’t gell.  SC

Related: Review – Junip – Junip

From the HMFC Memorial Sound Archive we present another episode of the show, Tomorrow’s Technology Today from the archives. Listen to Episode Four here:

Tomorrow’s Technology Today Episode 4: Work

Painstakingly restored by Robin Catling and Victoria Pritchard, with the assistance of Studio 1919, Tomorrow’s Technology Today was a pioneering broadcast which ran from 1936 to 1939.

Related: Tomorrow’s Technology Today Episode 3: Car

Firstly, this languid, at times dream-like Japanese movie is far from your standard katana-actioner, a long way from it’s frenetic forebears. Second, the Ichi character is a woman.

Blind from birth, Ichi (the exquisite and utterly engaging Haruka Ayase) is taught the sword by her father, for whom she now searches across Nippon’s feudal out-lands. Saving the life of a pacifist samurai, they fall into the employ of the local Yakuza, themselves under threat from disfigured gangster Banky (Shidou Nakamura).

Opening with the standard tropes of the mysterious gun-slinger arriving in town, Ichi has all the classic elements of a samurai adventure, although framed as an art-house movie by director Fumihiko Sori. The middle act replays the Fistful of Dollars / Yojimbo capture and escape of our heroine, while the third act is an epic action sequence and battle for redemption.

Ichi is at times a little slow and lingering, and the plotting is more than a little melodramatic, particularly at the climax. But the excellent cast play it straight, it has enough action to keep samurai fans hooked and it looks stunning. RC

Ichi (2008)
Director: Fumihiko Sori
Writer: Taeko Asano
Certification (UK): 15
Running time: 119 mins
Genre: Action & Adventure, Historical
Cast: Haruka Ayase, Shido Nakamura, Shidou Nakamura, Takao Osawa, Yosuke Kubozuka

Related: Casshern