Favourite Soundtracks Part III

I would like to apologise for my half year hiatus from this very blog! My absence can be explained by the fact I have just started studying at university so have been busy settling in, meeting new people and finding time to bury my nose in Law books on occasion... But fear not and rest assured that I am back and ready to reignite my passion for film. 

Actually, it's rather presumptuous to assume anyone has actually missed activity on Amateur Reviews but I have certainly missed writing it...

FAVOURITE SOUNDTRACKS PART III

1. Les Miserables I Dreamed A Dream - Anne Hathaway I love this musical but the stand out track as cliché as expected is Anne Hathaway's portrayal of the musical theatre great. Ideally my favourite song from the musical is One Day More, however something about the movie version did not quite gel for me as much as some of the stage versions.

2. Great Gatsby Back To Black Beyonce and Andre 3000 This was one of my most listened to CDs of the summer so I was torn between a great many of the tracks. The hip hop edge of the sound track is to our ears what jazz was to Gatsby and co. in the 1920's. Genius from Baz. And as a side note, my second favourite would be Together by The XX.

3. The Vow England The National Yet another track by The National makes it onto one of my favourite lists (About Today from Warrior being the other). This is the instrumental version which ends the movie, however the original with lyrics is beautiful also.

4. Flight Gimme Shelter Rolling Stones Now I know that this song features in so many films other than Flight, but this is the most recent use of it that I am aware of therefore I decided to pick Flight as the soundtrack from which it's from. The intro of this song is summer personified in a song.

5. Social Network In Motion Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross Incredible Oscar worthy soundtrack, the movie would not be what it is without it. I also particularly enjoyed the choral cover of Creep by Radiohead which accompanied the trailer too though is not part of the score.

6. Inglourious Basterds Cat People David Bowie Great song to accompany an even greater tracking shot by Quentin Tarantino.

7. Romeo + Juliet Talk Show Host Radiohead Another inspired Baz Luhrman soundtrack. The modern music in the modern take of Romeo and Juliet keeps the movie feeling fresh and relevant nearly 20 years on. Impressive film making.

8. Requiem For A Dream Lux Aeterna This song is used in so many other contexts nowadays that I sometimes forget that it is from this movie by Darren Aronofsky. I believe it was used for a Lord of The Rings Trailer? Either way it is a cracking piece of soundtrack to a cracking movie.

9. There Will Be Blood Convergence Johnny Greenwood I actually struggle to listen to this. It is not something that you'd put on for a bit of easy listening, or at a party for that matter. But I included it in the post just for the sheer fact that it encapsulates the urgency and unease of the movie ridiculously well. There Will Be Blood is truly brilliant but an undeniably hard watch; this soundtrack contributes to quality. 

10. Silver Linings Play Book Buffalo Alt-J Feat. Mountain Man And finally to round off the list... Alt-J is one of my favourite bands so when I heard their distinctive sound on the Silver Linings OST I was very happy indeed.

So that rounds off Part III. There will probably be a Part IV as I have always got my ears trained on the songs that come from some of my favourite films. Until then you can by all means check out Part I and Part II via the links below if it takes your fancy (or perhaps not if you hate my music/film taste!) 

Part I
Part II

The Great Gatsby - Review

THE GREAT GATSBY

2013

12A

Directed by Baz Luhrmann

Starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Joel Edgerton and Carey Mulligan

I had expected this film to either be mind blowing or awful. After watching it, I feel somewhat underwhelmed as The Great Gatsby is neither impressive nor disappointing; it's somewhere inbetween. Baz Luhrmann's vision brings Gatsby alive for the 6th time and has certainly stamped his creative visualisations all over it. However the razzmatazz feels like it's getting in the way of the story, even though said razzmatazz is the most enjoyable bit.

It's hard to review a film that's based on a book (especially one as highly regarded as this) because film should be reviewed in its own right, it seems wrong to judge a film by unfavourable comparisons to a book. With that said, the plot of The Great Gatsby is almost incidental to the success, and the same with the film. People love the twenties era, the music, decadence, clothes. The film is beautiful, fun to look at and I wanted to be there but it largely ignores the subtleties of the book (maybe because the themes can't be translated well onto film...) The Great Gatsby as a book embodies the Jazz Age of the twenties in such as way that makes it one of 'the great American novels' and that's why people only started to really love the book when the twenties had passed; because it is a great impression retrospectively of a lost Age. In this sense, the film stands up very well in comparison to the book.

The film is remarkably decadent and fun to watch. The cars, costumes and parties zing off the screen with a freshness and excitement that is reminiscent of the originality and newness of the twenties. The  hip-hop soundtrack was to us what Jazz was to them, modern and innovative. Jay-Z does work well with the film, it is non jarring and adds to the over all appreciation. 

It is an interesting method of narrative to place Nick in an asylum as a recovering alcoholic. It echoes Holden Caulfield's position in The Catcher In The Rye; however in the film version of The Great Gatsby, it doesn't work as well as it does in J.D Salinger's magnus opus. It seems that Tobey Maguire was either miscast of misdirected possessing too much of a childlike demeanour, as there is nothing wrong with him as an actor. Also, the prose that appeared as if written on the camera was heavy handed and gimmicky and almost detracted from the themes that were trying to  be conveyed. The main ideas of the book however were translated well. The Great Gatsby isn't a tragic love story, it speaks of the elusive American Dream, aspirations and illusions of youth and brutal social politics.

Carey Mulligan is notable as Daisy Buchanan - boring yet intriguing, hollow and ethereal; it is easy to see why Gatsby fell for her but equally easy to see her always being a weak and vacuous woman. Her husband, Tom Buchanan is played remarkably well by Joel Edgerton. One of the few scenes that is standout is the heated exchange between Tom and Gatsby in the Manhattan hotel room. It showed that when the actors were allowed space to breath, unencumbered by confetti cannons, they could truly enact the tension and apprehension as contained in the book. Ultimately, Leonardo Dicaprio was made to play Gatsby. This has been his most impressive portrayal for a very long time and it was easy to find yourself lost in the character and believing him to be someone real and not just Dicaprio putting on an act. The direction of the core actors is Lurhmann's greatest achievement. 

Rating 6.5

Cannes Film Festival - Coverage

Been loving the coverage coming from the Cannes Film Festival this past week and have collated some of my favourite pictures from some of the events. There looks to be some amazing films premiering this year so keep it locked for discussion on some of the buzz films that reviewers are getting excited about!

 

In Competition (Jury chair: Steven Spielberg)

 

Only God Forgives, dir Nicolas Winding Refn

Borgman, dir Alex Can Warmerdam

La Grande Bellezza, dir Paulo Sorrentino 

Behind the Candelabra, dir Steven Soderbergh

La Venus a la Fourrure, dir Roman Polanski

Nebraska, dir Alexander Payne

Jeune et Jolie, dir François Ozon

La Vie d'Adele, dir Abdellatif Kechiche

Wara No Tate, dir Takashi Miike

Soshite Chichi Ni Naru, dir Kore-Eda Hirokazu

Tian Zhu Ding, dir Jia Zhangke

Grisgris, dir Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

The Immigrant, dir James Gray

Heli, dir Amat Escalante 

Le Passe, dir Asghar Farhadi

Michael Kohlhaas, dir Arnaud Despallieres

Inside Llewyn Davis, dir Ethan and Joel Coen

Un Chateau en Italie, dir Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi

 

Un Certain Regard (Jury chair: Thomas Vinterberg)

 

The Bling Ring, dir Sofia Coppola

L'Inconnu Du La, dir Alain Guiraudie

Bends, dir Flora Lau

L'Image Manquante, dir Rithy Panh

La Jaula De Oro, dir Diego Quemada-Diez

Anonymous, dir Mohammad Rasoulof

Sarah Préfère La Course, dir Chloé Robichaud

Grand Central, dir Rebecca Zlotowski

Fruitvale Statio, dir Ryan Coogler

Les Salauds, dir Claire Denis

Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan, dir Lav Diaz

As I Lay Dying, dir James Franco

Miele, dir Valeria Golino

Omar, dir Hany Abu-Assad

Death March, dir Adolfo Alix Jr

 

Cinefondation (Jury chair: Jane Campion)

 

Special Screenings

 

Weekend Of A Champion, dir Roman Polanski 

Seduced And Abandoned, dir James Toback

Otdat Konci, dir Taisia Igumentseva

Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, dir Stephen Frears

Stop The Pounding Heart, dir Robero Minervini

 

Midnight Screenings

 

Monsoon Shootout, dir Amit Kumar

Blind Detective, dir Johnnie To

 

Homage To Jerry Lewis

 

Max Rose, dir Daniel Noah

 

Out Of Competiton 

 

All Is Lost by J.C Chandor

Blood Ties by Guillaume Canet