...got the following music:
Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again
Richard Hawley - Standing At The Sky's Edge
Best Coast - The Only Place
Beach House - Bloom
Cornershop - Urban Turban
Allo Darlin' - Europe
Lawless- dir. John Hillcoat
Starring: Shia LaBouef, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska
From the guy who's friends with Nick Cave and directed The Proposition and The Road, comes a film which some might be disappointed to learn is not a biography on yer one from Spartacus and Xena but actually about Depression-era bootlegging. The only drawback with this could be the accents grating and also the thought "it's no Boardwalk Empire" running through your head. Also good to see Jessica Chastain get some work, it's been a while.
On The Road - dir. Walter Salles
Starring: Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart
The director of The Motorcycle Diaries finally brings Jack Kerouac's book to the big screen and judging from the trailer he's assembled a good cast, it certainly looks great but will it be able to hold your interest for the entire duration or will it meander like most road movies too much? After enjoying The Rum Diary recently if it's at least as good as that I'll be happy, plus Salles' previously mentioned effort was rather good wasn't it?
Safety Not Guaranteed - dir. Colin Treverrow
Starring: Aubrery Plaza, Jake M Johnson, Mark Duplass
Time travel romantic comedies have a mixed record for every Peggy Sue Got Married and Groundhog Day you get a Time Travellers Wife, a Kate & Leopold and (apologies a bit of sick came up at the thought of this one) The Lake House, but with enough indie cred in the shape of Plaza and Duplass (the man is slowly becoming my hero) we shouldn't be dealing with anything near the latter.
Take This Waltz - dir. Sarah Polley
Starring: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby, Sarah Silverman
Sarah Polley returns behind the camera to direct this dramedy about a woman in a happy marriage who starts to fall in love with a neighbour. While not exactly sounding ground breaking there's more than enough talented people involved to hopefully make it worthwhile.
Ruby Sparks - dir. Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Starring: Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Annette Bening, Steve Coogan, Elliott Gould, Antonio Banderas
Coming across more Stranger Than Fiction than Weird Science, this is a film dealing with an author whose character/dream girl comes to life. Written by Kazan herself and starring her real life beau, Dano, the film's directed by the team behind Little Miss Sunshine and Smashing Pumpkins "Tonight, Tonight" video which Hugo ripped off in my opinion.
Yes folks, THAT CRISPIAN MILLS co-directs a film featuring Pegg as an author of children's books who seems to become obsessed with murderers, being murdered and laundry apparently. Worth a look out of curiousity alone.
So I'm gonna do my ususal thing of banging together a load of youtube trailers into a few posts. There's plenty I'm looking forward to over the next few months, not least Wes Anderson's new one on Friday, I also haven't seen The Raid yet, but here's what else is on my radar.
Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement
Now this can go either way, but there should be enough laughs and moments to keep everybody content. Very impressed by the casting, the film is populated by people I like a lot, including Clement (obviously too busy with this to sneak into the Muppet movie), Michael Stuhlbarg, David Rasche and Bill Hader.
Starring: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade
Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and directed by one third of The Lonely Island and co-starring the genius that is Richard Ayoade, this comedy sees a neighbourhood watch take on an alien invasion, so seems to be the vulgar older brother of MIB
Starring: Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis
Political comedy just in time for the US Presidential elections, from the director of Meet The Parents, what could go wrong, hopefully nothing. Galifianakis's character of Marty Huggins seems very similar to his "brother" Seth from his Live at The Purple Onion DVD which continues to crack me up.
Starring: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Jacki Weaver
The team behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall reunite for this rom-com which hopefully justifies its long running time, nearly 2 hours, you're a comedy don't forget.
...also watched:
Childrens Hospital Season 1&2
Eastbound & Down S3
...got the following music:
M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion
David O Doherty - We Are Not The Champions
The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight
The Soft Boys - A Can Of Bees
The Magnetic Fields - Love At The Bottom Of The Sea
Tindersticks - The Something Rain
Jack White - Blunderbuss
Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue Vol. III
Brendan Benson - What Kind of World
...got the following music:
The Shins - Port of Morrow
...read the following book:
Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too! by Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon
Mitch Hedberg was a joke machine with a very particular style and delivery which was mainly derived from nerves, that's why he wore the shades, the man really was an expert at paraprosdokians (google it).
If you like what you hear, check out his albums "Strategic Grill Locations", "Mitch All Together" and "Do You Believe in Gosh?".
Richard Linklater continues to make interesting career choices and follows up Me & Orson Welles with this Texas based dark comedy/drama and ropes in Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey to star.
John D. Loudermilk was a singer-songwriter from the early sixties whose biggest hit (both in the UK and US) was "Language of Love", but has had songs covered by the likes of Roy Orbison and The Everly Brothers and most notably "Tobacco Road" by the Nashville Teens and Jefferson Airplane. Loudermilk know his way around a catchy hook such as this gem, where he asks for the good doctor's help with a broken heart.
So who's Dr. Ben Casey? Well "Ben Casey" was a major US medical drama from the 50's, and as Loudermilk says in the song he watched every week, opening titles below, so now it all makes sense.
Newbridge resident, Harry Potter enthusiast and Mark-Hughes-style volley expert, Ciarán Dwyer has taken a break from sponsoring sports teams and plans to release some new material under a new moniker "Knoxville Morning" this June, but just to whet people's appetites he's put "The Lighthouse Song" up for you to have a listen or download.
