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Watch the new featurette for Babylon – in cinemas January 19!

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:03:49 +0000

From Damien Chazelle, Babylon is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart.

A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.

Babylon will be released in Australian cinemas January 19!
www.facebook.com/ParamountPicturesAU/

Baby Driver Movie Review

admin — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 17:43:02 +0000

How to be accessible without pandering to the audience? Writer/director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End) does a remarkable job at successfully walking that tightrope with Baby Driver. From the ultra exciting opening car chase sequence to the bittersweet ending, his work is clever, calamitous and completely compelling. It’s use of music is also unique as both a backdrop and a plot device.

Wright pulls remarkable performances from his entire cast. Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent) shows a real star turn as the enigmatic title character and both Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx really sell the menace as they both play great criminal psychos. Headmaster Kevin Spacey keeps them all together with a solid mix of benevolence and belligerence.

Special mention should also be made about the car chase scenes. Without any noticeable computer generated imagery, this overused and tired cinematic device is presented as fresh and unique as it’s been in many years. This is down to the driver’s raw abilities and some amazingly staged choreography of the cars and their surrounds.

It’s fast paced but still slows down long enough for some effective character development. Few films this year will fire on all cylinders with as much assurance and energy as Baby Driver. Don’t miss it.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/BabyDriverMovie

John Frusciante – The Empyrean Album Review

admin — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 21:46:47 +0000

The Empyrean is a good case study for those that have followed the parallel paths of Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist, John Frusciante. His accessible work with those funky monks has always been countered by the dark and challenging projects he does on his own. In his latest solo effort he strays even farther from the commercial path.

One of the most outstanding qualities of Frusciante’s playing in the Chili Peppers is that even with the amazing facility he has on guitar, he never lets his playing degrade into mere histrionics. He keeps it earthy and real. With his solo stuff he tends to stray into the spacey and ethereal. So for fans with only the Peppers as reference, this isn’t an easy work.

This latest solo project is a concept album of sorts and in John’s own words can be described as such “The Empyrean is a story that has no action in the physical world. It all takes place in one persons mind throughout his life. The only other character is someone who does not live in the physical world but is inside it, in the sense that he exists in peoples minds.”

Spacey descriptions aside, the album has a strange flow and will at times try the listener’s patience as it leaps from moments of elongated instrumental muse to more concise renderings. It even features a cover song in Tim Buckley’s Song To The Siren. Joining John in this journey is among others, RHCP bassist Flea, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and Josh Klinghoffer (who has collaborated in the past on other Frusciante projects like the amazing A Sphere In The Heart Of Silence).

Those that have an appetite for art for arts sake will be right at home with the sonic excursions on offer here. For others with a more commercial preference, it will take a bit more effort but for both groups there are many moments of transcendence to be found.

Rob Hudson
johnfrusciante.com