Tag: review

Posted on

2 Guns

So, this is what I like about films, or rather, what a film needs for me to like it. Sympathetic Characters. It’s not that hard is it? To hook me in to a story I need a person I can relate to and feel for. The main reason I have walked out of one film and one film only was that I hated the characters and I didn’t care whether they lived or died (that film was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe). I would have walked out of Van Helsing but someone else was sitting in the row and I didn’t want to disturb his film.

2 Guns HAD sympathetic characters and a good script that covered the buddy-buddy aspect of working in a team (something Hawaii 5O does really well). It was funny and had some, reasonably plausible, action scenes. All-in-all it was a very enjoyable film. The baddies end up dead and the good guys win. Well done.

Posted on

Decade of Aggression – Slayer

This review is easy to write.

I first got this album on double music cassette in about 1992. I had seen Slayer as part of the “Clash of the Titans” tour at Wembley Arena and really liked them. They recorded the video to “War Ensemble” at that particular concert. I think that some of the songs on this album were recorded at that exact gig that I saw. The tape version has since been supplemented by a CD version and finally an MP3 version on the NAS drive.

This is an AWESOME album.

If you only buy one thrash metal album then it had better be this one and then in all honesty you only need to play the first song as it covers all needs of guitar based turn-on.

My favourite songs on this album are (and I don’t apologise for the length of the list):

  • Hell Awaits
  • War Ensemble
  • South of Heaven
  • Raining Blood
  • Dead Skin Mask
  • Seasons in the Abyss
  • Mandatory Suicide
  • Angel of Death
  • Hallowed Point
  • Blood Red
  • Postmortem
  • Chemical Warfare

The atmosphere conveyed by these disks is brilliant. You can only find one better live album out there (Live After Death). This puts all others to shame. Get it. Play it. LOUD.

Posted on

Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd

I’m expecting some complaints after this communication and album review. First let me give you my personal story of “Dark Side of the Moon”.

I was about 14 and was visiting Lynda, my best friend’s Aunt. First she showed us the video to “Thriller” which was very exciting and then she told us to listen to a particular album. It was, obviously (?), “Dark Side of the Moon”. I can remember the gatefold album and looking at the cover. I don’t really remember listening to the music much but I seem to remember the catchy riff of money. The music had a lot of weird stuff going on.

Years later I remember describing Pink Floyd as “dull monotonous shit”. I think, overall, this is a statement I will stand by. “Dark Side of the Moon” I will accept is a classic and parts of it send shivers down my spine. That does not mean that I have to like everything by that band and it certainly doesn’t mean I have to accept them as geniuses.

BTW I probably will accept Pink Floyd as genius. Their music really does affect some people a lot. A lot more than I would consider suitable but they love. It just doesn’t bother me so much. Sorry about that. I think I can recognise the good but also you have to accept it does nothing for me. It’s a bit like religion. I understand the attraction to religion and its good points but for me it’s all rather offensive.

Posted on

Dark Roots Of Earth – Testament

I bought this album because I was going to see Testament play at KoKo in London. I know “Practice What You Preach” from my days at school and I thought I needed to know a few more songs and so I got their latest album.

Old Dog  applies to this album, but I would say it definitely works well. There’s a maturity in the song writing and it is also well produced. The anger is still there but reduced slightly from those heady days of teenage testosterone. They played a few songs live and they sounded good. There’s something funny about middle-aged rockers trying to maintain the anger at the establishment, but also becoming part of the machine they hated.

It’s worth a listen.

Posted on

D – HexRx

HexRx make dirty hellectro music. That’s quite curious because hellectro is rather dirty in itself. HexRx take many samples from horror films and then build “tunes” around them. I can listen for about an album at a time and then it’s time for something else.

I like it, I just can’t take too much. Listening is an experience, which is a bit of a theme with this album.

Posted on

Now You See Me

I went to see this film to kill a few hours one evening. I’ve just signed up for unlimited films with Cineworld and so I aim to go at least once a week from now on.

This film was a slight disappointment. The premise was really good but the tricks were just too fanciful. I’ve seen some big stage magic before but linking that in with real criminal activity just pushes it beyond the acceptable. This was one of those films where everything seems to have been planned including how everyone will react. I don’t think this is possible and I don’t like it in films. The super-criminal is able to predict exactly how everyone will make their next move and so can perform wondrous tricks and activities. BS. Life just doesn’t work like that. Ultimately people are a little unpredictable and so I don’t like these sorts of films.

Look, it killed a couple of hours and I spent most of the time trying to recognise the Hulk in the film. I’m rubbish at recognising films and so have to rely on IMDB (or the Cardiff Movie Database as I first new it!).

Posted on

World’s End

Went to see this “British” film in Croydon with A Smith. Sometimes I go to the cinema with A Gunn, so you make your choice about names.

Had a nice curry before the film and some good Indian lager. I don’t think this affected my judgement as Smith thought the same as me.

The film had some nice touches and its funny parts were quite funny but it wasn’t great. “Alright” was just about as far as I could stretch. The lead character was annoying and I just didn’t care much about him. He could have been much more interesting and sympathetic and the film would have been better.

I think they tried to do too much with the film. They’ve done cop films and zombie films and this attempt at sci-fi/horror didn’t really work. The “aliens” could have been much creepier and the gang should have discovered these things a little slower in the film.

It was alright.

The town where it was filmed looked very pretty. Damn, that’s quite a middle-aged thing to say!

Posted on

Red2

Saw Red2 this morning at Cineworld in Rochester. It killed a few hours after my run. It also was very nearly not Red2 that I watched. I sat through adverts and trailers only for the wrong film to start. We all left the screen and the management said they’d put on the correct film.

Did have to sit through more adverts and trailers though which was a bit shit.

The film itself is funny in a few places and full of crazy action, but overall enjoyable. It’s nice to see old stars doing the action thing. I particularly loved Helen Mirren shooting cops and general up-to-no-goods from a Lotus while it was spinning along the road. Also, the pick-up of Bruce Willis into an Aston (?) driven by Zeta-Jones was excellent and laughable. Great fun. The plot was pretty poor and very “early Bond” but then they made loads of money.

Overall, worth a watch. Not as good as the first.

Posted on

D.O.A. – Throbbing Gristle

The full title of this album is:

D.O.A. The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle

This is seminal. When you take the members of Throbbing Gristle and look into their backgrounds and previous work you start to understand where they were coming from. In 1976 COUM Transmissions were doing this sort of crazy stuff. And modern day artists like to think that they are pushing the boundaries. I guess they are, but I can’t help thinking that it’s all been done before.

So, Throbbing Gristle, they made “music” to challenge pre-conceptions and to see how far they could take it. You might not like listening to it, but your life will be enriched for doing so (unlike a 1D album). You have to remember when this was made. 1978. The technology they were using was ground-breaking and their sound was something special. To understand the origins of modern industrial music you HAVE to include TG.

Favourite tracks include:

  • I.B.M.
  • Hit By A Rock
  • Dead On Arrival
  • Hamburger Lady (one of the most disturbing songs I have ever heard)
  • AB/7A
  • Blood On The Floor

Listen, appreciate, take some paracetamol (you’ll need it).

Posted on

Crunch – Impellitteri

In about 1990 I was given a music cassette with “Stand In Line” by Impellitteri. I was stunned. It’s a brilliant album with some seriously cracking songs and heavy riffs. Fast forward 15 years and I noticed that there was a double album deal on Amazon for some Impellitteri stuff. I bought it.

This is very much speed metal in the vain of Yngwie or Gamma Ray. My concerns were raised after playing the album through a few times. Let me show you the titles:

  • Beware of the Devil
  • Slay the Dragon
  • Fear No Evil
  • Speed Demon

My curiosity was piqued and I did a little Wikipedia-ing. This is what they say there:

Chris and I and Ken Mary are all Christians, but James and Ed and Glen, our touring drummer, don’t necessarily proclaim themselves as Christians, so it’s not a Christian band.

The themes of the songs are religious. I would say they are a Christian band.
Does this affect what I think of the music? Yes.
Should it? Probably not, but then I think that religion is immoral and particularly offensive and serves no place in the modern world.
Do I still listen now and then? Yes, I quite like the style, it’s worth a play now and then.
I still think that “Stand In Line” is stunning.

Privacy Policy Proudly powered by WordPress