Keep It Fresh

Okay both films that have been out for a while and both films that I wanted to see upon their initial release but you know how it is? Between one thing and another you just don’t get to see what you really want to see and end up spending 12 yos on an impulse trip to the cinema and end up sitting through a pile of crap. Anywho, I rented these two last night for a bit of a double feature (look I know I’m a film buff). It was money well spent.

16 Blocks

From Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner comes 16 Blocks. “An aging cop (Bruce Willis) is assigned the ordinary task of escorting a fast-talking witness (Mos Def) from police custody to a courthouse. There are however forces at work trying to stop prevent them from making it.” If Willis wants to continue acting into his older years then these are the kinds of roles he needs to taking (not Die Hard 4!). Def impressed me in ‘The Hitchhickers Guide To The Galaxy‘ and complete won me over as the ‘theif with a golden heart’. The script is engaging and intelligent and reminded me of the likes of ‘Inside Man‘, ‘Phone Booth‘ or TVs ‘24′. Donner knows how to shoot an action film well so this coupled with good acting and an intelligent script makes 16 Blocks a popcorn muncher worth watching.

(check here if you like Google Earth. They’ve mapped the actual route taken in the film with movie clips as tags. May contain spoilers)

Brick

Since leaving TV Joseph Gordon Levitt has in my opinion hit gold with his recent film roles. Firstly playing a teenage hustler in the highly recommended and very intense ‘Mysterious Skin‘, and again in 2005’s Brick. Brick had me interestedfrom the get go, with unique teaser posters, winner of the Sundance Special Jury Award and the word’s ‘film noir set in a high school’ floating around it. But of course I never caught it’s limited cinema run and now wish I had made good on my resolve to check it out sooner. The plot is typical of film noir, with our main character following lead after lead each one bringing up more questions. Levitt plays teenage loner Brendan, who beings to delve into the underworld of a high school crime syndicate after discovering the body of his ex-girlfriend. With excellent performances all around from a fairly young and fresh cast, Brick pins you to your seat from beginning to end. Beautifully and simply shot and with an ending to rival that of ‘Lost In Translation‘, Brick is a sure fire cult classic. I will be buying the DVD.

Side Note: This pretty much sums up my day.

• Butterfly Explosion play Crawdaddy this Friday. It’s the launch of their EP ‘Turn The Sky’. Check it out…should be good!
• Ham Sandwich were excellent as always last night. They keep going from strength to strength and new single ‘Words’ is a testament to that. I turned up late so I don’t feel I have the right to put up a full review but I can say that it was a great (if slightly messy) night.
• I am actually working on a proper post. A guide to Hard Working Class Heroes festival coming soon.
• Finally I highly recommend comedian Dane Cook. This guy is fantastic and I don’t know why I haven’t heard of him sooner. Just punch his name into YouTube and straight laughing your ass off.

To quickly inform you of Band On An Island. I saw these guys support the Mighty Stef last night in the Vodoo Lounge and they quite good. Excellent in fact, so do check them out. The play the Olympia Sept. 25th.

Now I must dash. Ham Sandwich play Whelans in a few hours so stop reading this and go….GO!

What have Pedestrian, Fionn Regan, Broken Social Scene, Archie Bronson Outfit and The Rags got in common?

They all appear in Dan’s Electric Picnic photos which you can view here.

Okay this should have gone up sooner but I had problems logging into WordPress…don’t know if it was me or them.

I was given an unexpected live treat on Saturday night. In my laziness I neglected to actually find out who was actually supporting Neosupervital at his Crawdaddy gig. It was a band I heard only good things about and a band that I will only say good things about. It was none other than Dublin based four piece, Cowboy X.

Opening with an excellent cover of Blondie’s ‘Hanging On The Telephone’, I will admit to standing quite bemused for a moment wondering if Neo had enlisted an 80’s cover band for his support slot. All was quickly set straight after song number two (Between The Hit), after which sultry lead singer Karen McCartney introduced the band. After that, Cowboy X had me hook, line and sinker. Remember the night club that featured heavily in Buffy The Vampire Slayer? It always had these bands playing at it who where putting out great music (to a bizzarely uninterested club full of people) while remaining effortlessly cool on stage. Cowboy X is one of those bands. Gliding through a highly enjoyable seven song set, the band seemed to be having as much fun as us, with guitarist David Grealy still putting in more effort then some of the guys I used to watch at school talent shows. A great support band for what would unfortunately be a slightly disappointing main act.

For those who enjoy harmless camp fun then Neosupervital is a must. Before the man himself arrives on stage, we’re greeted by his support band, consisting of Miss K on the keyboard, Jessie Love Action on the bass and DancinVin on the…well, dance. The intro goes on and on when finally we hear hoots and cheers from the back of the room, with those of us at the front the last to realise that Neosupervital is making his arrival through the crowd. This is as exciting as tonight’s performance will get until closing number ‘Rachel’. The problem for me is that Neosupervital falls into the same catagory that most dance music does. I like the music but how are you going to make the live performance interesting and entertaining?

I found myself at times losing interest in the nights performance despite DancinVins best efforts he quickly became boring and at times a little cheap. It was closing number ‘Rachel’ that did revive my interest, with the asked for “two girls and a boy to join us dancing on stage” turning into a large group of people storming te small Crawdaddy stage for dancing, playing with drums and general silliness. Maybe I just don’t get it, but this ripping finale was too little, too late. Like me if you enjoy the music of Neosupervital then check him out live and formulate your own opinion. Judging from the crowd around me, he will remain in vogue for a little while longer.

Neosupervital’s self titled album is out now. He plays Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny with Bos Volenti on the 22nd.

Cowboy X play Crawdaddy on the 21st.

The Sagem has returned to its former glory!

There was an odd issue with linking photos from Picasa (you may have noticed blank space where the photos should have been) so I’m linking with Photobucket. Hopefully the same problem won’t happen this time.

Neosupervital & Cowboy X gig review up sometime tomorrow.

Update: Photobucket seems to make all the images lighter and slightly out of focus. Odd…I’ll look into more when I’m putting together a new post.