Stuff and Things

By 1977, William Friedkin was firmly established in the upper echelons of Hollywood. His two hits, 'The French Connection' (1971) and, most famously, 'The Exorcist' (1973) were both heralded as classics. The latter, of course, being one of the most famous films of all time. Then he wandered off to spend the next few years in five countries on three continents making his next film. The result was 'Sorcerer'.  Allow me for a moment to go on a diatribe about film consumption in the modern age. The common way to watch films these days is through one of many streaming platforms. However, there are certain films that do not make it onto any of these platforms and are thus lost to the netherworlds of nowhere and that's it, they're gone. You can't buy them, rent them or watch them anywhere. Whether it be ownership politics, or licensing issues, or algorithmic demons controlling everything and everyone, who knows? Or it may be, in the case of this film, that ...

"As long as American life was something to be escaped from, the cartel would always be assured a bottomless pool of new customers."  My introduction to this book was back in 2014, when director Paul Thomas Anderson released the film version. Billed as one of the great modern auteurs adapting one of the most lauded writers in America, the film proved to be pretty loathesome, in my humble and unsolicited opinion. The plot seemed convoluted to the point of being complete nonsense and almost three hours of over the shoulder shots of people with wacky names talking about other people with wacky names led to audible groans by the end. Indeed it felt so much like an animated novel that, almost the entire time watching, I found myself thinking 'I bet this would make a great book'.  Set in a fictional version of Los Angeles in 1970, private eye Larry "Doc" Sportello navigates his way through the murky underworld at a time when the counterculture of the 60s was dying ...

If you were to rank modern directors, most people would have David Fincher near the top of their list. He is a master, capable of matching style to story while still keeping all the distinctive features that let you know it's a Fincher film. In 2007, he released 'Zodiac' which tells the story of the still unsolved case of the Zodiac killer, who terrorised the San Francisco / Bay Area in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  As with all of Fincher's work, it is exquisitely put together and few people manage to create atmosphere in quite the same way (look no further than the poster for an example). While this is a tremendous talent, when the subject matter is as bleak as this, it doesn't always make for comfortable viewing. Each killing is portrayed in such a realistic way that I personally found them haunting, particularly the couple by the lake - a truly harrowing scene because of its execution. All of this only deepens the experience, and the recreation of San Francisc...

You may or may not of heard of Bobbito Garcia and DJ Stretch Armstrong, but if you were in New York City, or in any way involved in Hip Hop in the early 1990s their names were two of the most important in the game. During this time, their radio show was probably the single most vital showcase in the industry. Such was the prestige around it that an appearance on this platform alone could make or break your career. Almost every single one of your favorite artists came through their doors to get on the mic and try and make an impact. As Talbi Kweli says in this documentary "first you was nice on your block, then you was nice in your neighbourhood, then you was nice in the park, then you got to go on Stretch & Bob" . That was the career path for aspiring MCs back then.  Now, all of this might suggest some sort of grandeur around proceedings; people sitting in chairs, po-faced, silently judging talent. Nothing could be further from the truth and from the opening moment of thi...

This year marks the 30th Anniversary of this album (my god, I'm old) and, with the recent announcement of their return next year, it feels appropriate to revisit this classic.  It's easy to forget this album in the deluge of success that followed it, particularly the follow-up which became one of the biggest selling rock records of all time. "What's The Story (Morning Glory)" is one of those albums that simply everyone owns. At least 25% of the proceeds likely went up the nostrils of one or the other of the Gallagher brothers, but before that there was this.  Although it might not have become as ubiquitous as "What's The Story..." the release of this record in 1994 still made a massive impact and made 5 ordinary blokes, from a council estate in Manchester, megastars. Great albums have that timeless touch, wherein they sound like they could've been recorded yesterday - such is the quality of the songs - and this is no exception. There's really...

"Life's too short to waste time on second-class ambitions. Go for the big ones."  Few people in life have gotten anywhere near the achievements of Sir Ranulph Fiennes. He is one of the most famous explorers in the world and holds multiple endurance records, including being the oldest Brit to climb Everest and accomplishing the ridiculous feat of running 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents just four months after having a massive heart attack. So I would approach this book knowing that you will be faced with the gnawing feeling that you are a coward who has done nothing with their life many, many times. Although it's being pushed as a self-help guide of sorts, this book doesn't really delve too far into that side of things and, frankly, works much better as a memoir of an absolutely extraordinary life. It's not a life most of us will be familiar with as Sir Ranulph grew up posh. I don't mean 'we had a nice house' posh. We're talking old-school ...

When it comes to Tom Hanks, it's hard to think of many people who've had a better Hollywood career. His mere presence in a film is not only enough to secure bums on seats but almost single-handedly elicits a seal of approval that, no matter the film, you will not be wasting 2 hours of your time with old Tommy at the helm.  Until now.  A Man Called Otto is about a caricature living in what appears to be the only cul-de-sac on the entire planet inhabited by fellow caricatures who all do the exact same thing every single day. No one works. No one has a life. They exist only for this plot.  Let's start with Otto. Every day he gets up, goes for a walk, comes across an apparent dunce doing a workout that no one on earth would ever do or has ever done, gets annoyed about it, and continues wandering around moaning, grumbling, and generally being an absolute arsehole to everyone he meets. He then tries to kill himself and fails. That is all he does.  For the first time in ce...

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Some things you cannot be objective about. Coldplay is one of them. Is Chris Martin annoying? Yes, probably. Is it ridiculous that some of their song titles are emojis? Again, yes. Have Coldplay become the living embodiment of what Gen Z consider deeply middle-aged and unhip? Yes they have. Do I give one sh*t? No I do not.  Having bought their first ever album back in 2000 when I was a university peasant and Coldplay were one of many shoegazer indie bands rising up at that time. I was drawn in by the intimate beauty of 'Parachutes'. It felt like four guys in a cabin somewhere writing cozy, lovesick lullabies. Then, two years later, 'A Rush of Blood to the Head' came out and they have been churning out stadium-sized anthems ever since. Over the years they have seemingly given up on trying to be the new Radiohead (a comparison that was made a lot in the beginning and now seems completely absurd) in favour of sim...

It is a rare treat these days to go into a film knowing absolutely nothing about it. Yet I somehow managed just that when scrolling through Amazon Prime looking for things to watch in the wee hours of the night. Something about the tagline intrigued me and I, falsely, assumed that it was a wrestling movie based on the famous Hart family. How wrong I was.   Set mostly in Dallas, TX in the late 1970s and early 80s, this film instead tells the true life story of the Von Erich family - all of whom, save the mother, were professional wrestlers. If you read this post , you will know that I was quite the fan back in the day but these guys were a little bit before my time. So I went into the film truly clueless, which was an absolute treat.  From the first frame you felt like you were in good hands. After a black & white cold open, the film really begins with that over-saturated, film-grain texture that draws you in like some kind of spooky voodoo magic. The shot is simply Za...

Released in 1977, this was Spielberg's much anticipated follow-up to mega-hit and undisputed all time classic, Jaws (1975). At this time Spielberg was not Spielberg and everyone in the entire movie world was curious to see if this young prodigy just struck lightning in the bottle with his first big effort, or was he really the talent that people suspected he might be. Thus this film, upon its release, was closely watched and, for the most part, proved the latter to be true.  The plot is an exploration of the effects a UFO sighting might have on very specific individuals which, at the time, was probably a quite revolutionary take. Things centre around Roy Neary - an average bloke living a fairly typical, blue collar existence as an electric lineman in suburban Indiana. That is until he encounters (ba dum - tiss) something very strange in the middle of the night. This event changes him forever, and not necessarily for the better. Haunted by a relentless vision, Roy quickly devolves i...

"I don't really regret anything in my life" - Vince McMahon To whoever is reading this (likely no one), I have a confession to make: there will be times when reviewing things when I will not be able to be objective. When the subject matter is so close to my heart that all trace of journalistic integrity will be thrown out of the window in favour of just bleating on about how much I love something. This is the case with WWF wrestling.  From the very first time my cousin and I snuck to a backroom at a family party and snuck a watch, I was absolutely hooked. My eight-year old mind was utterly blown by the sheer scale of these mammoth characters I saw on the screen. The noise, the colours, the sheer violence completely blew me away. I needed my next fix immediately. And so from about 1988 to 1992 I was wrestling and wrestling was me. I watched nothing else. I cared about nothing else. I practiced my wrestling moves wherever I could, humiliating my mother in public many times ...

" Optimism nauseates me. It is perverse. Since man's fall, his proper position in the universe has been one of misery.” - Ignatius J. Reilly The title of this book comes from a quote by Jonathan Swift -  'W hen a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him' -  and its  publication is one that you cannot help but have mixed feelings about. After all it is considered one of the greatest works of comedy ever created, winning none less than the Pulitzer Prize on its wild and weird journey. However, as you may or may not know, none of this happened during the lifetime of John Kennedy Toole.  Amid a tide of relentless rejection, he took his own life in 1969 at the age of 31. Indeed it was only due to the maniacal persistence of his mother that this book saw the light of day at all, eventually being published in 1980 - 11 years after its author's death. This in itself is a terrible tragedy and, as a r...

Any fans of Radiohead out there, I think it's time we face facts. Radiohead are not coming back. It has  been NINE YEARS since their last album, during which time all of its members have consistently released new music on the reg. Of course, the band itself would never do anything as naff as actually announce their retirement or a farewell tour. In fact, if you were to draw up the archetypal way for Radiohead to disband, this would be it: just cease to exist, form new bands, put out music and let the masses slowly figure it out.  After all, this is the same band that decided to do no marketing for 2000's 'Kid A' (joke was on them, it went straight to #1 in the charts) and randomly release an album online for free (again, joke is on them, most people paid for it and made them rich). It's over. Simple as that.  However, all is not lost. Because, if you pay attention, the two most driving creative forces behind the band (Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood) have moved on to...

Brought to you by the creators of 'Glee' and 'American Horror Story', among other things, is this 9-part anthology about the real-life story of the infamous Menendez Brothers.  For anyone unfamiliar, Lyle and Erik Menendez took 12-gauge shotguns to their parents in the summer of 1989, blasting them into what prosecutors called "shapes almost unrecognizable as human from the amount of damage sustained" . The story itself is pure Hollywood - two rich, handsome, young Beverly Hills suburbanites kill their parents to claim their estate and fortune, committing the almost perfect murder. When the case went to trial in 1992 it was the first in what is now (annoyingly) an all too common 'media circus'.  Helicopters buzzed overhead, fans bayed for blood, or autographs, in the street and full television coverage beamed across the world from inside the courtroom. This was one of the seminal reality TV sensations.  As for this show itself, it is obviously a highly...