I'm going on an adventure!

I was quite apprehensive about whether or not I was going to enjoy Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ due to overwhelming concerns regarding the way it was filmed, after the trailer alone received bad reviews at the San Diego Comic-Con for being shot in a relatively new way it made the movie look too much like a movie set and less like Middle Earth. On top of that I also bought tickets to the 3D showing (An accident) which made me even more wary of what I was walking into. However I was very pleasantly surprised.

Source: MovieStore/ Rex Features

Martin Freeman (Sherlock, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) compellingly plays Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit who enjoys a quiet lifestyle like the majority of Hobbits. Whilst much of his own generally awkward personality reflects onto his portrayal of Bilbo, it doesn’t put the viewer off, nor does it ruin the feel of the film. On one quiet day, Bilbo gets a visit from Gandalf the Grey, who is played by the wonderful Ian Mckellen (X-men, The Da vinci Code) the aftermath that follows this is 13 Dwarves turning up in Bilbo’s Hobbit hole demanding food and hospitality.

There is one main scene that really captured my attention and will stick in my mind for a long time, and this is not a spoiler for the film because it gives none of the plot away. The scene is in Bilbo’s home, all of the dwarves have quietened down, they are gathered around the fire and the entire group starts singing such a melancholic song. The atmosphere felt in the film is passed onto the audience, so much so the viewer gets caught up in the emotions that are occurring on the screen.

Source: Newline Cinema

There are many cameos from characters in that we grew to love, or in some cases hate in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Elijah Wood returns as Frodo which was truly wonderful to witness again, and also Ian Holm returns to the franchise as the older version of Bilbo. Amongst the tremendous cameos are Hugo Weaving and Cate Blanchett who in the Lord of the Rings trilogy played the elves, Elrond and Galadriel. And of course how could one forget Andy Serkis and Christopher Lee who return as Gollum and Saruman (I may have become a little enraged when Saruman made his entrance)

There are a lot of things I could comment on that make this movie truly fantastic, but unfortunately I only have one page and I have to keep it short and spoiler free! Although occasionally you can feel your attention slipping from the film, it will almost immediately return to you. Even if you haven’t seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy this film is meant to be the prequel, so it’s still worth seeing it. Yet again the score is absolutely wonderful and contributes so much to the atmosphere felt in the film. Please go and see this film, or buy it on DVD when it is released because you will really not regret it. I give this 5 out of 5 stars because it is truly fantastic, and as one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Jackson certainly has not disappointed.

Elementary, my dear Watson

Like quite a few people, I was rather apprehensive to watchthe American adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Thereason? All the promotional posters and press releases made Elementary appearan awful lot like the BBC’s adaptation ‘Sherlock’.  To the people, like me, who put ‘Elementary’down before even watching it or even reading up about it, then that may be correct. But in actual fact theyboth have their differences and their similarities.

‘Elementary’ from American station CBS, features Jonny LeeMiller (Train spotting) as the infamous Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Liu (Kill Bill:Vol 1) as Dr Joan Watson. There was quite an uproar over the fact John Watson is now a woman, however many fans have been eager to see this happen on the offchance that the relationship between Watson and Holmes can be explored on a newlevel, that is made very obvious in some adaptations. The decision to change John into Joan, was defended by the writers as ".. Holmes struggles a bit with women... What could be more trying for Sherlock Holmes than working with Watson as a woman?" Whilst set in New YorkCity, Holmes remains very English, which is a factor that would be a shame tosee go. 

The one mistake you could make when comparing the two, is to say they are one and the same. Of course, both adaptations are set during the modern age so it is very easy to make assumptions. However, the thing that Elementary keeps in the spotlight that Sherlock does not is Holmes’ drug addiction. This is referenced once or twice in the BBC adaptation but Elementary delves more into it, with Watson being Holmes’ “Sober Companion”.

My one main issue with Elementary is that the Score soundsperhaps too similar to the Hans Zimmer score for the Guy Ritchie filmadaptation. Now, you could say I’ve been looking out too intently for faults inthe show. You’d be right, but this fault is very obvious. If you’re remotelyfamiliar with the Hollywood film, you should know that the score is what makesit even more fantastic. It would appear the creators of Elementary havecottoned onto this and have decided to throw in their marginally differentversion of the score. This makes it rather annoying if you’re watching thisshow as a fan of the Guy Ritchie adaptation.

Now, onto the actual review of Elementary rather than mydescription of what’s good and bad about this show. “Finally”, I imagine youare thinking!

For the pilot episode, it isn’t a complete disappointmenthowever there are certainly things they could improve on but it’s not as bad asyou may originally think. The choices for Holmes and Watson were at firstwarily approached, but they bring their own version of the characters to the field, and it works well. Liu's Watson doesn't take any trouble from Sherlock, if he is being disrespectful towards Joan then it is made certain that he is put in his place and knows he is in the wrong. Of course, I imagine the show will getbetter as time goes on. Not every TV show is a goldmine from the offset, but itcertainly has potential. I give Elementary 4 stars out of 5.

The Angels Take Manhattan Review

Property of BBC

Tonight (29/09/12) the mid season finale of Doctor Who aired in the UK. This episode was written by Steven Moffat, and due to his track record with episodes you just knew from the offset that it was going to be a tear jerker. The Angels Take Manhattan was one of the most beautifully written episodes of the new Doctor Who that I have ever seen. This summary will be relatively spoiler free, as not everybody has had the chance to watch the episode yet.

Property of BBC

As the final episode to feature Amelia Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) the Whovian fandom didn’t know what to expect with their exit. Whilst completely heartbreaking, there was no other way Amy and Rory could have left the show. Their exit was in no way clichéd, and it completely did their characters justice. Through out the episode, their love for each other was completely obvious that you couldn't help but be happy with the way things ended. This was the best performance Matt Smith has given as the Doctor, the emotion he put into his performance was completely heart wrenching. It was close to the performance David Tennant did in Doomsday. Of course though, how could I forget River Song (Alex Kingston). She was her usual fantastic self, if not better. 

The Weeping Angels were as terrifying as ever, so mentally prepare yourself for them. Also emotionally prepare yourself if you have not watched yet.

I cried my eyes out from 20 minutes in, and I am still occasionally tearing up, you have been warned at how heartbreaking it is.

Things needed to survive this episode:

• A cushion (To hide behind)
• A box of tissues (for when you start crying your eyes out)
• Ice Cream (for emotional support)

Madness- Muse

Today, Muse released the first single from their upcoming album “The 2^nd law” titled Madness. Whilst going for a dubstep sound on the new song, Madness still holds much of the Muse sound that fans have grown to love over the years. This new single is one of Muses softer songs, however this doesn’t lessen the impact the song has on you. Matt Bellamy’s voice is suited for a range of genres and the soft rock/dubstep style that Madness offers is no exception. 

The lyric video for the new single is posted below, so you can make your own personal judgement on it if you have not already heard it. 

Personally, I love the new sound and I think it's great that the band are trying out something new. The song is great and extremely catchy and I can't wait to hear what the rest of the album has to offer us. 

Muse's new album The 2nd Law will be released on the 1st October. 

The Society of S

The Society of S by Susan Hubbard

If you haven’t read the book already and plan on going on to read it then I shall try and keep this review as spoiler free as possible. The Society of S is the tale of 13 year old Ariella Montero, who has been shielded from the rest of the world by her father, Raphael Montero. She was not allowed out to meet other children, was home tutored by her father and brought up to believe she had a disease which could harm her if she didn’t keep to a strict diet and didn’t go into crowd. The book is split into 3 sections detailing a different part of Ariella’s journey to finding out and becoming who she really is. At times Ariella comes across older than she actually is, and you find you have to remind yourself she isn’t 17 years old, rather a 13 year old with great intelligence and conforms to what people expect of her to begin with. Susan Hubbard has a great writing style, which really lets you connect with the protagonist and shows you how her mind works. Her use of references to Authors and Poets really creates a voice for her characters and shows the relationship the protagonist and her father share. In the final 2 sections, we are introduced to a number of easily disposable characters and the plot becomes very rushed as if Hubbard is trying her hardest to make a plot. We aren’t introduced to the Society in which the title of the novel speaks of, until very near the end and even then it’s only a fleeting few paragraphs. I will give this novel 3.5 stars out of 5, as I found there was not a particularly well developed plot that engages the reader. However the protagonist Ariella makes up for it I feel, with her strong personality and intelligence. But not enough to bring the rating of this book up. I feel the only reason I might go on to read the sequels, is to find out about the loose ends that are brought in towards the end of the novel. But even that cliff-hanger is easily resolved if you paid attention to a comment toward the end of the first section.

The Society of S.
Source; Goodreads.com

All Time Low concert review.

All Time Low

On January 18^th, two friends and I went to see pop punk band All Time Low with supports, The Maine and We Are The In Crowd. At concerts like these, you can always guarantee to see some interesting looking people, who hate you for no apparent reason. But then again, there are also the people that make you feel completely at home and you don’t even know them.

We Are The In Crowd

The atmosphere at this concert was brilliant; everybody was so excited you could practically hear the collective sound of everyone’s heart beating out of their chest. The first to play was We Are The In Crowd, who aren’t all that well known over here in the UK but nevertheless they still put on a brilliant performance. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t have high expectations of seeing this band but their songs are catchy and the singer, Tay Jardine, is a lovely lady who really got the crowd involved.  Don’t get tricked into believing that they are  Paramore but with different members, because they really aren’t. Their songs aren’t quite as heavy as some of Paramore’s songs and their style leads more towards the pop side of the genre pop punk. I can honestly say that their performance alone made me want to go home straight away and buy their albums. Their performance gets a very well deserved 7/10.

The second support to play was The Maine, and by this point in the night, everybody was overheating but well prepared for the headliners. The Maine are a band of 5 men (I use the term men lightly. They’re like children.) From Arizona, USA. They’ve been in the industry for about 5 years now, and it was my first time tonight seeing them. It was one of the top 3 greatest performances I’ve ever seen. You can honestly tell that they love what they’re doing as it shows in their music, which had everybody dancing and singing along. They talked to the crowd, got them to laugh and really connected with us all. They played about 7-8 songs, most from their latest album Pioneer, but some of their classics from Black and White, and also Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. Front man, John O’Callaghan really puts his heart and soul into the songs he performs, as do the rest of the band. All in all I’d give their performance for the night at a 9/10.

The Maine

Finally it was time for the big moment, the main event. Everybody waited in anticipation to finally see the headliners All Time Low, and the welcoming they received was spectacular. This was my 4^th time seeing them, and they have yet to let me down. They were in high spirits tonight, making their usual jokes, pointing people out in the crowd and insulting one another. This was the tour for their latest album, Dirty Work, which whilst the actual recorded songs weren’t brilliant, when heard live you were converted and actually started to like the sound of them. The band themselves are very energetic, jumping across the stage and diving into the crowd, it’s a surprise they have the energy considering they tour 9 months out of the year. They played all of their classic songs such as Jasey Rae, Popping Champagne and Six Feet Under The Stars, they also played new songs which don’t particularly get played live a lot, along with songs from Dirty Work such as Guts, I feel like dancin’ and Time Bomb. To add to the atmosphere the lighting was absolutely fantastic, their light designer, Jeff Maker II is truly brilliant, he was lighting up the back drop and making words appear across an LED board which had the crowd laughing. The Guitarist Jack always jumps into the crowd, and the reactions this gets is pretty scary but so much fun as well. You could tell that there were people in the audience who were there just to try and ruin the night for other people, you could also tell that the parents that had accompanied some of the younger children were slightly uncomfortable with the language being used by the front man, Alex Gaskarth, but it didn’t spoil the night for anybody. Overall, All Time Low’s performance warrants a 10/10 because they get better and better every single time, and they always put on a brilliant performance.

Greg Spero Gig review.

Chicago meets Lanercost.

On the 5^th April 2012, walking into Dacre Hall at Lanercost I didn’t know what to expect of the musician Greg Spero, having never heard his music before. However if the atmosphere of the audience was anything to go off, then I was feeling positive anticipation. We arrived at Dacre Hall at 7:10pm so we had 20 minutes to wait until the show began. Dacre Hall itself is an old stone building with a spectacular wood panelled fire place and quite a small venue.  

Soon enough the main lights were all turned off, and in the centre of the room where the band was set up, a spotlight shone. Greg Spero, a young man from Chicago, who is exceptionally talented on the piano, was putting on a performance and he was backed by Andy Champion on the bass and Adrian Tilbrook on the drums. They started off by performing the song ‘Hills’, a catchy song that sounds even more beautiful live than it does on Spero’s album ‘Acoustic’. After playing the first song, he spoke to us about his adventures so far in England, and his excitement about playing for us at a sold out show. The next 2 songs he played for us were ‘Autumn Leaves’ and ‘When I fall in love’, which are just a couple of examples of the musical talent that Spero possesses. He then proceeded to play the song ‘Universe’. The song ‘Universe’ is a beautiful piece of music that you find yourself getting lost in whilst listening to it, but not only do you get lost in its beauty but Greg seemed to completely immerse himself into the performance.  The first set ended with a cover of Miles Davis’ ‘Blue in Green’ which completely compliments the original, and even that is an understatement. Local Saxophonist Roz Sluman joined in with some of the performances. Simply saying that she’s brilliant doesn’t do her justice, the crowd loved seeing her perform and she honestly was amazing.

 The second half of the night’s performance was set into motion with a cover of The Beatles song ‘Blackbird’ which added a new twist to a classic song; whilst still complimenting it with Spero’s musical grace. The second song to be played was a cover of ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ performed by Judy Garland and Harold Arlen, which like the original was very beautiful. After this came the song ‘Footprints’, which is a lovely little number that sounds absolutely great. Then he performed ‘Latin Fusion Blues’ which can also be found on album ‘Acoustic’, it’s a more upbeat song but it’s catchy and performed brilliantly. A rendition of ‘Sly’ by Herbie Hancock followed ‘Latin Fusion  Blues’ and it was just as wonderful as the original, along with all the other songs this shows off his obvious talent. The final song Spero performed for us was ‘Stella by Starlight’, this song was the perfect song to close with, it’s upbeat and you remember it once it’s finished.

He obviously puts his heart and soul into the performances, as they sound absolutely wonderful. Greg comes across as a very charismatic man who interacts well with the audience. He asked the audience what they wanted to hear and the fulfilled their requests. This in my eyes makes him a good performer. Obviously Spero isn’t the only person to thank for an evening of wonderful music, there’s also Andy Champion, Roz Sluman and Adrian Tilbrook who all performed splendidly. The evening was absolutely fantastic, and I completely recommend listening to Greg Spero as his music is truly beautiful and he needs to be heard.

Spero's acoustic album universe.