David Brent: Life of the Road

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Looking forward to having a big belly laugh, my boyfriend was quick to remind me about his older films. Of which only one – Cemetery Junction – I enjoyed.

He was right, and my initial excitement for David Brent: Life on the Road suddenly took a dive.

Thinking about it, Ricky Gervais has a knack for TV series, but in his film career – in my opinion – he has always been a one-trick-pony.

After the first five-minutes of becoming reacquainted with the cocky and cringe-worthy character of David Brent, the repetitive jokes were drilled in over and over. This comedy became boring quite rapidly… Continue reading →

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Finding Dory

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I was more keen to see BFG if I’m honest, but mostly because I thought Finding Nemo was so good that ‘Finding Dory’ was just going to be a cash-in. But due to a particularly over-excited boyfriend, we ended up seeing Finding Dory. Sharing a small cinema with about 50 people – some of them peculiar, some of them creepy, and only a couple of them under the age of 13 – we unabashedly cracked open a couple of ciders and the movie began. And I was pleasantly surprised… Continue reading →

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Lie – Blue Moon Harem

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This classic 1990’s-sounding ballad, Lie, is a melancholy rock anthem with heavy guitar and drums backing strong and gravelly vocals.

With powerful guitar solos and a hard rock bridge, Blue Moon Harem’s song reminds me of string-heavy ’90s bands such as Nickleback and Soundgarden.

The vocalist has a husky voice, that reminds me of Collective Soul’s vocalist Ed Roland in their song The World We Know. Blue Moon Harem’s vocals are emotionally-charged and compliment the band’s rock genre well… Continue reading →

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The Time Traveler’s Wife

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A heart-breaking story about, not the person who leaves, but the person who’s perpetually left behind.

I like this unusual perspective, particularly since time-travel is such an attractive, but foreign, concept. Yet, the story is focused on the more human and deeply relatable themes.

I’ve heard the book is fantastic – I’m going to read it this summer. But, the movie is exquisite. If you haven’t seen or read The Time Traveler’s Wife, the low-down is that a man is a time traveller and his wife is not. The time traveller, named Henry (Eric Bana) can’t control his travelling, so his impromptu disappearances and reappearances become a way of life for his wife Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams)… Continue reading →

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Top 5: Why Fiona Apple and Sharon Van Etten should be best friends

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My two favourite singer-song writers: Fiona Apple and Sharon Van Etten need to be BFFs.

I can’t believe it – there isn’t even a photo of them together, a cover of each other’s songs, or a duet by either of them. I’m hoping they don’t see each other as direct competition or foes…

Therefore, I have collated five compelling reasons why they need to be besties forever… Continue reading →

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Inside Out

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What a fantastic premise!

I am fascinated by psychology and why people behave they way they do, and this film has simplified our complex behaviours into an entertaining and interesting animation.

It’s about a young girl… Well, more like the emotions that make up a young girl. We see inside her head and see who controls her moods, decisions and feelings:

Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear… Continue reading →

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Council House Opera – Warme

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I really love this track!

They remind me a lot of Radiohead, mixed with a sort of Shihad kind of deal – sort of grunge, but upbeat.

I cranked this baby up, and the layering of the vocals is what makes this song! His gravelly voice raises the song above a typical pop song into a something with a sound I haven’t really heard anywhere before… Continue reading →

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When You Lost Your Situation – David Arn

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The first thing I thought was ‘Nick Cave’. I think it’s David Arn’s gravelly voice and story-telling songs.

I agree with Arn’s previous critics who say that his strong point is certainly the lyrics.

“When you lost your situation, gypsies went home sick”

When Lost In Your Situation sounds like a song I’d expect to hear on one of my favourite films, Thelma & Louise, or on classic indie stations and films with its lost-sounding guitar and the grounding vocals… Continue reading →

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My Lonely Me

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A slightly abstract musical about a young woman uncovering mysteries of her childhood.

Reiga (Sabrina Dickens) is a music student suffering from flashbacks and hallucinations, particularly of a little girl. As the movie goes on, it gets darker and even rather creepy.

The little girl is Reiga’s younger self, who helps her uncover family secrets and come to terms with the tragedies of her past that she has mentally blocked out… Continue reading →

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Pokey LaFarge Comes Back to Town

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It seems I didn’t scare them off!

You may remember my hypo blog post this time last year… Here’s another:

Pokey LaFarge returns to Auckland! It was grand. This time, promoting their brand new album Something In the Water, which was released in New Zealand on the night – well before the official April 7 release date.

A lot has changed with their sound, still keeping their fantastic ragtime/blues genre and tempo, but with an extra player added to the team… Continue reading →

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Top 5: Forgotten Music Videos

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These may have slipped your memory because they are from the late 90s/early 2000s. But for some, they are embedded in childhood brains… Continue reading →

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One Story, Six Movies

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I have noticed the following story has been redone many times.

With slight variations, the general story lines are extremely similar:

The unsuspecting and naive child or ‘street kid’ helps a disabled or lonely adult who drinks a lot and whom nobody likes, and vice versa… Continue reading →

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Top 5: Lies Films Told Me About University

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Because of my obsessive indulgence in movies, I have found myself to be continually underwhelmed and disappointing at every stage of life. Starting high school, turning 16, first party, turning 18 and, the biggest disappointment of all: going to university.

Of course, American schools are totally different to the likes of New Zealand schools. But these movies certainly raised my expectations… Continue reading →

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Top 5: Film Pet Peeves

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For the sake of all the Abeds out there here are my annoyances with film and television… Continue reading →

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What We Did on our Holiday

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Like my horse, it’s funny at the beginning, saggy in the middle and a bit crappy at the end.

This is a film – featuring the spectacular David Tennant (Dr. Who!!) and Rosamund Pike – about a family of five going on holiday to Scotland for the grandfather’s 75th birthday party.

Long story short, the parents are having a divorce but only the children know, and they are sworn to secrecy while visiting their sickly grandfather so as to keep his final years pleasant… Continue reading →

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In the Mood for Love

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Because this movie isn’t in English, I’m just going to do a fat dissection of the visuals… Enjoy!

A story about two married couples who move into an apartment next door from one another. One couple is Chow Mo-wan, a journalist, and his wife. The other is Su Li-zhen, a secretary, and her husband.

Chow and Su both have a spouse who works over-time often, leaving them alone in their rooms most nights. However, their absence slowly brings Chow and Su together, and they speculate over unfaithfulness in their respective spouses… Continue reading →

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Into the Wild

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Based on a true story, Into the Wild is about a privileged young man, Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), who graduates from university. He has the world in his hands, from the outside he has a top-class education, and wealthy, supportive parents.

But his deepest desire is to distance himself from the material world of money and ‘things’. So he sets off on a journey in search of adventures in the Alaskan wilderness… Continue reading →

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Wild

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Based on a true story, Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) battles the ghosts of her past: heroin addiction, divorce, the death of her mother and the abandonment of her father. As a way to start fresh, she goes on a 1000-mile journey along the Pacific Crest Trail.

To be frank, the flashbacks made me feel really uncomfortable. But… I guess the world of heroin addicts shouldn’t exactly be attractive.

A classic ‘runaway movie’, although I’m not entirely sure if this is actually a sub-genre. Nevertheless, Wild fits into this category along with Into the Wild, Thelma and Louise, and to some extent: Eat Pray Love, Gone Girl and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty… Continue reading →

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Gone Girl

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I was so shocked by Rosamund Pike’s performance – she was fantastic of course – but I wasn’t prepared for her to pick this role.

Let’s be clear, this isn’t the mystery/detective/Midsomer Murders deal I was expecting. This is a story of a manic, psychopathic panther disguised as a house cat.

Pike’s character, Amy, is the wife to Nick (Ben Affleck), when she goes missing. They were a seemingly perfect couple who live in the suburbs, but how happy were they really before this tragedy happened?… Continue reading →

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All In One Creativity Kit (short film)

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How bizarre!

This is a spoof of any infomercial you can think of. It is so well done too – very creative! It perfectly encapsulates the manic bullsh*t that we are exposed to every day – particularly on daytime television.

How they got the idea for this short film, I don’t know! But it’s certainly well done.

It seems like it’s essentially a commercial within itself; advertising a graphic design/filmmaking company. A bit hypocritical, but certainly a fun project nonetheless… Continue reading →

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Top 5: Films Based in the Sixties

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I love the 1960s… I feel like my huge amount of posts regarding this era may have given that away.

So! Here are my top five favourite films set in the 1960s… (Plus the films that didn’t quite make the top five) Continue reading →

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Chandelier – Sia

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While we are on the topic of Sia, I love her earlier song: Chandelier.

It’s just as emotionally-charged and high energy as Elastic Heart. In fact, I see Chandelier as the prequel to Elastic Heart, because the videos are both directed by Sia and Daniel Askill and features the same dancer in the music video, Maddie Ziegler. You can definitely tell the dancing was choreographed by the same person too, Ryan Heffington, as some of the moves are the same, and so is Ziegler’s costume.

It’s still fantastic though. The video was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, and became the seventh most watched YouTube video of 2014… Continue reading →

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Elastic Heart – Sia

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I am so slow to the party.

This song was on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, and boy is it powerful.

I think the song can speak for itself, but it’s a chilling story of the singer’s two emotional versions of herself. Each side wrestles to become dominant.

I imagine it’s the side that’s strong, flexible, and can cope with trauma, versus the side that’s negative and fragile… The music video is equally as powerful – but has been rather controversial.

This concept of dominance is portrayed by Shia LaBeouf and 12-year-old Maddie Ziegler through dance. It is directed by Sia and Daniel Askill, and choreographed by Ryan Heffington… Continue reading →

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ANOTHER King Kong Movie… Ugh!

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…But good Lord, here comes another. Kong: Skull Island is expected to hit screens in early 2017, with stars such as the glorious J.K. Simmons and Tom Hiddleson confirmed to be a part of it, with potentially Michael Keaton too.

It’s to be directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who, after checking wikipedia, hasn’t done a huge amount of directing. The film he’s suposed to be known for is a Sundance film called The Kings of Summer… Continue reading →

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Never Tear Us Apart – Paloma Faith’s cover

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Originally created by Australian rock band INXS in 1988, Never Tear Us Apart was written in a bluesy genre with a similar sound to Fats Domino.

Oh how I would have loved to here that version.

I do like the INXS version, but mostly because of the gnarly saxophone solo – which simply isn’t long enough!

However, Paloma Faith covered their song in 2012. She brought her jazzy/pop/blues sound to it and created a spine-tingling version. I love it. Particularly the high note she pulls on this line… Continue reading →

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