Star Trek – Live In Concert

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Frostie

21^ST CENTURY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS, conducted by LUDWIG WICKI

Following the recent debut of Star Trek into Darkness at No.1 in both the American and UK box office, where it has already made $260 million worldwide within 2 weeks of release, buzz for the franchise is at fever pitch. Now London’s Royal Albert Hall will be hosting the UK premiere of director J.J Abrams predecessor, 2009’s $385million blockbuster smash Star Trek, live in concert on May 29 2014, celebrating the extraordinary collaboration between Michael Giacchino’s score and J.J Abrams’ visionary original motion picture.

With Star Trek fever at an all-time high with Abrams’ rebooted film franchise, this live concert will feature Michael Giacchino’s score brought to life on stage by the 21^st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, while the Academy Award winning film is shown simultaneously in high definition on the big screen, in the majestic surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall. This concert explores the collaborative relationship between music and storytelling and is a must for lovers of film and Trekkies alike.

Loved by audiences, the impact of Star Trek has been huge. The original series, which first aired in 1967, and is considered the most influential sci-fi series in TV history, has since spawned five successor series, twelve movies (this film being the 11^th in the series), novels, comics, games, a plethora of merchandise, and a multi-billion dollar industry collectively known as the Star Trek franchise. This concert is further proof of the popularity and legacy of this cultural phenomenon, not just through the films and TV shows but also the music and score that have played a huge part in its success.

“To hear Michael Giacchino’s music, the secret weapon of the Star Trek series, performed live in Royal Albert Hall, will be, I promise, a thrill” says J.J Abrams “The full orchestra scoring sessions for the films have been among my favourite life experiences. To give the public a chance to hear this incredible music performed live is a wonderful thing. I cannot wait to go and celebrate Michael’s truly remarkable achievements!”

Michael Giacchino adds, “In 2003, before I wrote my first film score, I saw John Williams conduct ET live to picture at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. I will never forget that event. A little over ten years later, I will have the honour of experiencing my music for Star Trek performed by the incredible 21st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of the talented conductor, Ludwig Wicki. That in itself is exciting, but the fact that we will be in the Royal Albert Hall in London, is truly amazing. After working with J.J. for 13 years, it will be so rewarding to have his wonderful film brought to life in a whole new way. I look forward to sharing this event with J.J. and the Star Trek fans, new and old”

This event is part of the Royal Albert Hall’s series in celebrating classic films with live orchestra. 100,000 people have now enjoyed sold out performances at the Hall of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Matrix, the 50^th Anniversary of West Side Story, Disney’s Fantasia, Singin’ in the Rain and the upcoming world premiere of Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton on October 7^th and UK premiere of Pixar in Concert on February 22^nd 2014. The Hall looks to provide memorable visitor experiences for all and, as a charity, these own-promoted events form a part of its extensive public benefit remit.

Star Trek- Live in Concert

Thursday 29 May 2014 at 7.30pm– Star Trek (2009)

Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP

Tickets £15 – £55 (booking fees apply)
Box Office 020 7589 8212
www.royalalberthall.com

Tickets on sale Friday May 31st at 9am from the Royal Albert Hall Box Office

Liam Hemsworth, Solange Knowles & Chloe Norgaard at Belvedere Party in Cannes

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Frostie

Belvedere Vodka played host to one of Cannes biggest, most exclusive parties. Some of the celeb world’s biggest names came out to play, including a newly single Liam Hemsworth and a newly pink-haired Chloe Norgaard. Hip hop icon Reverend Run from RUN-D.M.C performed to the celebrity-filled crowd at the legendary VIP ROOM nightclub to celebrate the world’s first super-premium vodka’s return to Cannes (France) for the sixth year.

Here is the gossip!

Liam Hemsworth – This was a total guys night out for Liam with his agent and manger and he seemed to be LOVING the excess female attention – the girls went NUTS when security walked him in – clamouring for photos, even throwing ice at his table to get his attention.

Liam also JUST landed in Cannes at 12:30am that night, so literally, his first stop at the festival was the Belvedere party

Chloe Norgaard – She was pulled through the crowds of people, only to be noticed by her distinctive and newly-dyed pink ‘rainbow hair’.

Solange Knowles – Came with two friends and refused to do any interviews claiming she was ‘super jet-lagged’. She didn’t mind buying her own drinks and came across as extremely down to earth.

The Top 10 Tearjerkers For Men

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Ian Hare

There’s a reason why John Gray’s relationship book from 20 years ago, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus has passed into folklore.

Whether you consider it cod psychology or insightful, it trades on the differences between the sexes. Sweeping generalisation coming up? Perhaps, but if you did a quick straw poll, you may find that men frequently consider women as over-emotional, while women think of men as being cold-hearted.

Case in point. My family was never demonstrative. It took a serious car crash to shake my emotions loose. Though both relatively uninjured, my friend went home and cried, therapeutically, like a baby. Not me. Instead of letting it all out, the shock of that decades-ago crash got pushed way down.

But psyche will out. The effects of that M1 impact have today manifested themselves in a potential blub-fest given any excuse – even Harry Judd’s perfect quick-step on Strictly Come Dancing a year or so back.

But what films generally get men choked up? The final scene of An Officer and a Gentlemen where a white navy-suited Richard Gere carries out Debra Winger from her factory and into a better life has reduced a number of women of my acquaintance to tears. Blokes just wonder where they can get a similar suit, believing it’ll turn their flabby, pasty bodies into 80’s Gere-magnet.

Instead, these are the movies that get men complaining that they have something in their eye.

10. Father of the Bride – 1991

One film that few men would admit to reaching for the tissues over. Charles Shyer’s remake of the 1951 Spencer Tracy film is likeable, occasionally funny and often over-sentimental. But when Steve Martin’s George Banks plays basketball with daughter Annie (Kimberley Paisley) for the final time on the evening before her wedding, fathers with daughters of every age are sniffling in sympathy imagining their own little princesses grown up and gone.

9.Steel Magnolias – 1989

A tear-jerker that crosses the sexes. The chances of getting a guy to sit in front of this one in the present days of Fast and Furious 27, The Expendables 19, and Explosions and Car Chases 462 may be remote, but in the late 80s many a man choked up at this heart-tugging, bittersweet film of a group of Louisiana women (an all-star cast including Sally Field, Olivia Dukakis, Julia Roberts and Shirley Maclaine). Detailing life, love, birth, death and the bonds of friendship, it’s a guilty pleasure and a snuffle-fest.

8. Forrest Gump – 1994

Tom Hanks’ titular character has men excusing themselves to make the tea when he talks to his late wife, and lifelong love, Jenny at her graveside. “You died on a Saturday morning. And I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father’s bulldozed to the ground. Momma always said dyin’ was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn’t.”

Hope you want your PG Tips flavoured with tears.

7. The Untouchables – 1987

Not a dry eye in the house when Sean Connery’s hardened Irish cop Malone gets gunned down in his own house by Al Capone’s crony Billy Drago. Connery crawls in his own blood to alert Kevin Costner’s Elliot Ness to a timetable vital to nailing Capone, before expiring – along with many a man’s self-control.

6. The Champ – 1979

Kudos to child actor Ricky Schroder for this one. Jon Voight’s ex-boxer Billy Flynn stages a comeback to give son TJ (Schroder) a better life, but sustains a fatal injury in the ring on his comeback trail. Schroder desperately asking his dad to ‘wake up, Champ’ had whole cinemas bawling into their popcorn.

5. Philadelphia – 1993

In a film topical when AIDS was newly-terrifying and still misunderstood, Tom Hanks as Andrew Beckett hires a homophobic lawyer (Denzel Washington) to fight his case against the conservative law firm who fired him. Beckett collapses during the trial, but wins the case. The scene with Washington as Beckett nears death is a tear-jerking scene of redemption.

4. Hidalgo – 2004

This dark horse of a film – pun intended – stars Viggo Mortensen as cowboy Frank Hopkins. Taking his horse Hidalgo to compete in a gruelling endurance race in the deserts of Arabia, man and beast are near death before drawing on their last reserves in a triumph against the odds. If that’s not enough to get men sniffing, wait until the end. Forget Turner & Hooch, this is the real animal/man heartbreaker.

3. Tombstone – 1993

Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday were never better than in the scene where the TB-ridden Doc is living his last minutes.

When the dying Kilmer says to Russell: “Wyatt? If you ever were my friend, if you ever had even the slightest feelin’ for me, leave now. Leave now. Please?” before Russell walks away with a final “Thanks for always being there Doc.” The tears are streaming down both men’s battle-hardened faces – and ours.

2. Toy Story 3 – 2010

One again Tom Hanks makes the charts, but this time it’s a lament for lost childhood. After three films, college-bound Andy finally gives up Woody, Buzz et al. As Andy takes one last look at the toys, he says: “Thanks guys.” and drives away. Woody, watching Andy leave, replies with: “So long, partner.” And a whole host of guys are suddenly five years old again and missing their much-loved childhood toy.

Good job this film was 3D and us guys could be macho behind our glasses while our partners openly sobbed.

1. Gladiator – 2000

Considered by many as one of the greatest movie death scenes ever filmed, the top male crying game goes to Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning Gladiator.

If anyone on the entire planet hasn’t seen this Oscar winner – and that can only be Amazon rainforest lost tribes – the whole final scene is gorgeously set up.

First, there’s General Quintus’ (Tomas Arana) respect for Russell Crowe’s Maximus Meridius by defying deranged emperor Commodus (Joacquin Pheoenix) as he begs for a sword. There are the quick cuts to the Elysium fields where the dying Maximus sees his family, Lucilla (Connie Neilsen) kneeling over Maximus in his last moments whispering: “Go to them,” and there’s Gracchus (Derek Jacobi) asking for people to bear his body from the arena before an arena full of people steps forward – all set to Lisa Gerrard’s brilliant evocative music.

No wonder the man-size tissues all get used up.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have something in my eye.

Image courtesy of akeeris / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Deadfall Film Review

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Catherine Balavage

*Spoiler Alert*

One of the best things about Deadfall is Eric Bana. His turn as Addison, a man on the run with his sister (Olivia Wilde) after a botched casino heist is outstanding: chilling and ruthless. He plays psychopath incredibly well. The wintry landscape and the pace of the film makes this a wonderfully entertaining thriller/western/noir.

However his stone-cold killer has a different side. Whilst on the run he sees a man abusing his wife and children, throwing them out into the snow, he helps the family but in the morning gets into a shoot out with the police. The small daughter, who thought he was there to save them, says ‘You’re no angel!’. “No, I’m not.’ he says and makes a run for it.

Addison is clearly loved by his sister Liza, but unlike him she actually has a conscious and morals. They separate as the police are looking for a man and a woman. Olivia Wilde is great as Liza but must have been freezing in her skimpy clothes. All of the characters are multi-layered and crash into each other before coming together in a tension filled finale.

Sissy Spacek is always brilliant, and here she is calm and collected as the woman who has unwelcome thanksgiving guests.

There is also an excellent snowmobile chase and the film starts with a well-shot car crash. An excellent crime drama. Go see.

The Big Wedding | Film review

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Catherine Balavage

*Spoiler Alert*

This broad comedy about a long divorced couple (Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton) who pretend they are still married for their adopted son (Ben Barnes) is fun and entertaining. His biological mother is a strict catholic and he never told her they divorced.

De Niro’s character, who cheated on his ex-wife and has been through AA three times, is a lovable rogue. His long term girlfriend (Susan Sarandon who is amazing) was the best friend of his ex-wife. The only thing I disliked about the film, and which I found unrealistic, is that Keaton and Sarandon would be friends, and that Sarandon also lives in the house that the couple built themselves and raised their children in with her ex-husband. I can’t think of one woman who would be friends with the woman who broke up her family and now lives in the family home.

This is big comedy, and it is not scared to take risks. Some of the comedy is risque, but I really enjoyed it. It has a strong cast who bounce of each other well. Robin Williams as the priest is as good as ever. De Niro (my favourite actor) plays his character well, making a complex and flawed character lovable.

This is a Hollywood comedy film, the person I watched the film with said it was funny and good, but not realistic. In a way I agree, but I don’t care. This film would make a great night out: funny and entertaining.

Angelina Jolie: “I have had a double mastectomy”.

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Catherine Balavage

Angelina Jolie bravely had both of her healthy breasts removed in February, and had reconstructive surgery in April, after finding out she had an 87% risk of contracting breast cancer. Jolie found out she carried the BRCA1 cancer gene. Jolie lost her mother, Marcheline Bertrand to ovarian cancer when Marcheline was only 56. She also revealed she has a 50% chance of contracting ovarian cancer. She said:

‘Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65% risk of getting it, on average. Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could, I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.’

‘I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.’

‘I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer,’ she continued. ‘It is my hope that they, too, will be will able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options.

‘Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.’

Jolie worked during her treatment, speaking out about violence against women and children at the G8 summit in London last month.

In the article entitled My Medical Choice for the New York Times she praised the support of her fiance, Brad Pitt, and their children Maddox, 11, Pax, nine, Zahara, eight, Shiloh, six, and four-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, saying: ‘We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.’

Village At The End Of The World | Sundance London 2013

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Daniel McCarthy

Following on from the success of her debut feature Brick Lane in 2007, director Sarah Gavron, along with co-director David Katznelson, journey to the remote plains of North-Western Greenland for a transition into documentary feature. The focus in Village At The End Of The World is the small and isolated community of Niaqornat, a coastal village that has seen the fishing and hunting trade decline steadily over recent years and the population whittled down to a scant 59. Gavron turns her camera to focus on four specific individuals in the community; the mayor and chief hunter Karl, isolated teenager Lars, outsider and sewage worker Ilannguaq and Annie, the oldest member of the village. We follow them as they recall their experiences in living in Niaqornat, how they cope with the vast isolation around them and what they plan for the future of themselves and the village.

From its opening breathtaking aerial shots of the sparse and beautiful landscape of Greenland Gavron’s film is clearly concerned with the division, both geographical and spiritual, of nature and man. Early sequences like this reminded me of the incredible documentaries of Werner Herzog. Niaqornat is merely a dot against a large backdrop and much of the drama of the narrative follows the efforts of the villagers attempts to make sense of their lives against such a seemingly unforgivable void. Its thankfully told without much gloom and doom hanging over the proceedings as the villagers at the heart of the story are mostly upbeat about their situation and surroundings. Ilannguaq cheerfully recounts moving to Niaqornat to marry the woman he loves whilst shovelling resident’s waste into a bin. Lars, the isolated teenager, enthusiastically gives us a tour of his ‘virtual life’; the vast array of contacts he has amassed on social networking sites and a tour of Google Earth detailing all of the places he wishes to visit beyond the tiny commune. This sharp contrast between the desolate landscape and digital world truly hammers home the concepts of isolation and longing without jumping off into maudlin territory. The village’s traditional roots and older generations are represented by the older Annie, who recalls frightening yet eerily beautiful memories of days with no electricity in the village and the sound of ice sheets breaking echoing across the plains like cannon fire. Gavron captures such a moment on camera along with other moments of genuine natural awe such as the 24 hour darkness that descends at winter. Moments like this provide a genuine cinematic spectacle that again recall the likes of Herzog or even Terrence Malick in its staggering sense of environment and justify its place on the big screen.

However it’s on the more intimate and personal details that the film stumbles somewhat. Whereas the more episodic and seemingly random recollections and observations are absorbing and even delightful, the central thread of the film revolves around the efforts of the community at large to save the fishing factory that could potentially provide their means of survival. As illuminating as these insights are into the importance of fishing and hunting to the community, the narrative backbone of the film seems terribly convenient and neat as though perhaps the filmmakers felt that that the natural flow of observations and interviews with the locals would not be enough to sustain the film despite their strength. There is also a lack of insight into the relationship between two of the key interviewees that is brought up but never truly discussed in major detail suggesting that perhaps the directors wanted to incorporate it into the story despite one or both of the subjects not being so willing to go into details. At a scant 76 minutes, Village At The End Of The World keeps it brisk and doesn’t outstay it’s welcome though (and I don’t normally find myself arguing this) I would have liked a slightly longer running time in order to delve deeper into the richness of the culture as well as their magnificent surroundings. Gavron certainly has a fine eye for detail and the moments of wonder and warmth she finds in the cold, inhospitable landscape are a joy. Hopefully in her next documentary she can flesh these ideas out to their fullest potential.

Read Up On The Great Gatsby: Great Gatsby Reading List

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Frostie

The Great Gatsby has been released and the roaring 1920s are back in fashion in a big way. We have a reading list for you from the lovely people at Kobo

Has Baz Luhrmann stayed true to the book? To find out if he has captured the essence of the novel it might be time to revisit the classic.

Kobo has provided a handful of reads for inspiration and the best bit is you can get them all for under £10.00. All eBooks are available online at www.kobobooks.com and can be read on any mobile, laptop, tablet or eReading device.

FICTION

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Price: 0.98p

The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when, The New York Times remarked, “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s that resonates with the power of myth. A novel of lyrical beauty yet brutal realism, of magic, romance, and mysticism, The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.

This is the definitive, textually accurate edition of The Great Gatsby, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and authorised by the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The Waste Land and other Poems by T.S. Eliot

Price: £4.19

April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain . . . Published in 1922, The Waste Land was the most revolutionary poem of its time, offering a devastating vision of modern civilisation which has lost none of its power as we enter a new century.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Price: £5.99

Published in 1926 to explosive acclaim, The Sun Also Rises stands as perhaps the most impressive first novel ever written by an American writer. A roman à clef about a group of American and English expatriates on an excursion from Paris’s Left Bank to Pamplona for the July fiesta and its climactic bull fight, a journey from the centre of a civilization spiritually bankrupted by the First World War to a vital, God-haunted world in which faith and honour have yet to lose their currency, the novel captured for the generation that would come to be called “Lost” the spirit of its age, and marked Ernest Hemingway as the preeminent writer of his time.

NON FICTION

Critical Studies: The Great Gatsby by Kathleen Parkinson

Price: £4.99

Kathleen Parkinson places this brilliant and bitter satire on the moral failure of the Jazz Age firmly in the context of Scott Fitzgerald’s life and times. She explores the intricate patterns of the novel, its chronology, locations, imagery and use of colour, and how these contribute to a seamless interplay of social comedy and symbolic landscape. She devotes a perceptive chapter to Fitzgerald’s controversial portrayal of women and goes on to discuss how the central characters, Gatsby and Nick Carraway, embody and confront the dualism inherent in the American dream.

Only Yesterday: An Informal History Of The Nineteen Twenties by Frederick Lewis Allen

Price: £7.91

Hailed as a classic even when it was first published in 1931, Only Yesterday remains one of the most vivid and precise accounts of the volatile stock market and the heady boom years of the 1920’s. A vibrant social history that is unparalleled in scope and accuracy, it artfully depicts the rise of post – World War I prosperity, the catalytic incidents that led to the Crash of 1929, and the devastating economic decline that ensued–all set before a colourful backdrop of flappers, Al Capone, the first radio, and the “scandalous” rise of skirt hemlines. Now, this mesmerizing chronicle is reintroduced to offer readers of today an unforgettable look at one of the most dynamic periods of America’s past.

The Roaring 20’s And The Wall Street Crash by Nick Shepley

Price: £2.27

The Wall Street Crash was an epic failure of the financial system at the start of the 20th Century, but it alone did not cause the Great Depression. This edition of Explaining Modern History looks at the deeper causes of the crisis. Ideal for GCSE and A Level.

This historical book describes Americas entry into the first world war -leaving it the most affluent country the world had ever seen, through the fantasy of American capitalism in the 1920s culminating in an examination of the causes of the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression and finishing with an assessment of the effectiveness of the government’s economic remedies. All whilst busting myths of the crash of 1929, explaining in very clear terms how it actually happened, and drawing enlightening parallels to today’s economic woes.

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