When embarking on such a flashy trend just keep a few things in mind before you do something you’ll regret.

1. If you’re a first timer, maybe go for neon accessories before embarking on the head- to- toe train.
2. Do neon with neutrals. They all look amazing with light greys actually and they won’t lose their vibrancy.
3. Lastly, I’d prefer if you didn’t mix fluorescents. Lumo pink and yellow? Side by side? Just reminds me of my Leaving Cert Biology book.

There really are some excellent neon finds out there this season. Penneys, of all the places, have actually mastered it pretty well in some of their clothes. It’s quite characteristic of this season to see neons in patterns and Penneys have nailed it with really well structured pieces. Even us pale Irish chicks can get away with it, it’s a win- win for errbody.

Summery little number from Forever 21

V 60′s. V cute. €21 Penneys

]]> http://inretrospectfilm.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/issue-21-april-2013/ Sat, 04 May 2013 13:59:39 +0000 Charlie Derry http://inretrospectfilm.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/issue-21-april-2013/ A film guide for April 2013.

Reviews include:

Oblivion,
Iron Man 3,
The Place Beyond The Pines,
Spring Breakers,
Evil Dead,
Bernie,
Scary Movie 5,
Promised Land.

Click image to read.

As if watching Justin Bieber’s ex, that girl from High School Musical, and a Pretty Little Liar snort blow off strangers’ nipples and have filthy pool sex with James ‘Look at mah shit’ Franco didn’t completely ruin your childhood in Spring Breakers, this Disney Princess Spring Breakers trailer will certainly finish the job.

Brought to you by the team behind Dora the Explorer’s live-action trailer, this CollegeHumor short nails the terrible dialogue, general plot vacuum, and calculatedly ‘hip’ music of the original all the while featuring real Disney Princesses.

Snow White says ‘bitch’ a lot, Cinderella gets naked a lot, and the Genie looks like blue Snoop Lion. A lot. It’s perfect.

The only thing missing is a 5 minute montage of Ariel and Cinderella pistol-whipping Floridians to the sweet sound of Britney Spears’ seminal ballad “Every Time.” Well, that and Mulan peddling black tar heroin:

CollegeHumor’s Favorite Funny Videos

Enjoy.

Pain & Gain

Release Date: April 26, 2013

Director: Michael Bay

Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie

Runtime: 130 min

Tagline: Their American Dream is Bigger Than Yours

Michael Bay doesn’t have a good reputation. He’s that one director that is best fit to movies that have gigantic budgets and simple plots. Some may call him a director of stupid blockbuster movies, but he’s hardly the worst director in the business. That’s McG. A guy whose movies are stupider than his name. Anyway, back to Bay. While he is best known for huge, popcorn movies (Transformers, Pearl Harbor) he surprises with Pain & Gain, a movie made for $26 million.

Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is the charismatic manager of Sun Gym, a fitness centre where muscled guys lift weights and fatties might as well be the plague. Lugo has a very specific philosophy (taught by motivational speaker, Johnny Wu, a tiny role for Ken Jeong). He’s a do-er, and if he believes he deserves it, the universe will serve it. He just so happens to believe he deserves everything local rich guy, Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub), possesses. He enlists the help of Sun Gym buddies Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) and Paul Doyle (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) to do so. Together, these juice monkeys envelop themselves in a extortion ring and kidnapping scheme that goes terribly awry.

These guys are truly willing to go the extra mile to achieve the so-called American dream. The movie shows how far people might actually go to achieve what they desire, and these extreme lengths can be shocking. It’s also shocking to learn this film follows the true story upon which it is based (a three-part series entitled ‘Pain & Gain’ by Pete Collins) very closely. If you think you had a hard time believing Bernie (where Jack Black plays the titular Bernie who strikes up a relationship with a wealthy widow and when he kills her, he has to go to great lengths to creat the illusion she’s still alive) was based on a true story, you haven’t seen anything yet. This is so strange and bizarre that, during the movie, we’re reminded that “this is still a true story”.

A violent true story is written into a hilarious action comedy, so the audience could easily admire that, or be easily offended. The case is, Hollywood is once again exploiting something awful and making it into something entertaining that will make money. Though, this story about the Sun Gym Gang (that takes place between the latter end of 1994 through June 1995) really should be known. Still, the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely pen a great black comedy, even if it is lengthy. Everyone should see this just to see where they stand on the film, much like the other 2013 movie set in Miami, Spring Breakers. This is truly one of the most bizarre and strangest movies of all-time, but it’s also one of the most memorable and entertaining of 2013 thus far.

Michael Bay’s movie has some great production design and writing, and it’s nice to see that he’s directing a passion project; and it also helps that the closest thing to Optimus Prime are fancy cars and riding lawn mowers. Some of the characters, though, are only a little more emotional than robots, mostly because the three main protagonists are money-hungry sociopaths. The characters’ actions are so moronic that it’s hard to care what might happen to them. We don’t really feel compassion for charismatic sociopaths, like they wouldn’t for us. The sociopath that shows the most human emotions is Paul Doyle (mostly for Jesus or Kershaw) and Doorbal. The dark comedy really produces laughs, and the offbeat humour is right on the money. Wahlberg and Mackie are great in their roles and everyone has great comedic timing, but the real star here is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson has played badasses in the past (like Mathayus in The Scorpion King, Chris Vaugh in Walking Tall, Luke Hobbs in Fast Five), but this is one of his strongest performances as an egotistic moron who happens to think he’s a badass. He’s hilarious and very charming as the criminal who hits rock bottom, finds Jesus, and then becomes hooked on cocaine once again when they find wealth. He steals every scene, and right now, I can’t think of a time where Johnson delivers a more entertaining performance.

Ed Harris is great as the main investigator working for Tony Shalhoub’s Kershaw, even if he might not be extremely memorable. Rebel Wilson also shows some sultry emotions, mostly during her sex scene with Anthony Mackie, where she brings her own nun-chucks to spice things up. The versatile Shalhoub performs well, and he gets more than a few laughs as the victim. Everyone’s chemistry is ideal. It’s hilarious when his character is trying to manipulate the weak link, Paul Doyle. Their relationship is very funny, mostly because Doyle calls Kershaw, “Pepe”, and he nicknames himself “El Dad”.

This is sure to be one of the most outlandish and entertaining movies of 2013, and it’s an incredibly pleasant surprise. It is also hilariously twisted and its originality is deadly. The movie is stylish and colourful, but the movie is rather unbelievable and it is about ten minutes too long. Still, it’s bound to become a cult classic. The ensemble cast is great (Rob Corddry is also in the movie, among everyone else aforementioned). The majority of men will surely be entertained and laugh at this great black comedy of violence, inarguably moronic choices and chasing the American dream. If you’re a female, or a male who is really in touch with their feminine side, you might not enjoy it as much. Yes, that may sound sexist (forgive me), but it’s kind-of the truth with such a violent tale. One thing’s for sure, Popeye would approve of this movie.

83/100

I have encountered the most polarizing reactions every time this film has come up in conversation.  The director’s deliberate decision to title the film “Spring Breakers” and use Disney/ mainstream stars like Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and James Franco definitely lured many unsuspecting viewers into believing they were going to be watching a sugary-pop easy to understand film (like something from the National Lampoons series)… and of course what they were met with instead was a Harmony Korine film: a brazen, quirky, and at times uncomfortable art film.  haha!  SO brilliant.

Obviously, I was somewhat prepared for this and knew what I was getting into.   I’ve seen some of Harmony Korine’s other work such as Trash Humpers (where a group of people wear old person masks and go around humping things… shot on VHS) , Umshini Wam a bizarre short film with South African rap group Die Antwoord, and Kids (which Korine co-wrote and is one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen).   The thing that has stood out to me about Korine’s work (and what made me want to see this movie without knowing anything about it other than that he directed it) is his ability to really affect his audience.  He makes you feel uncomfortable, and through that discomfort he provides imagery and subject matter that stays.  After you watch one of his films, you keep thinking about it.  It jarrs you.  It wakes you up…  and I personally like being shaken awake from time to time.

All of the characters in Spring Breakers seemed like exagerated caricatures rather than real people.  They existed in an alternate reality that was both dreamy and gritty at the same time and this reality became increasingly more quirky and seemingly self aware of it’s absurdity as the film progressed.  The absurdity level reached its peak when James Franco’s character “Alien” (basically the rapper Riff Raff) sits at a white baby grand piano, ocean side, playing a Brittany Spears ballad while the 3 girls dance around in pink ski masks, holding guns and singing along.  I felt like laughing and crying at the same time.  It was AMAZING.

And I will say, that during the film there were multiple moments where I felt kind of bored and uncomfortable (as I expected).  There was a lot of repetition- visually and verbally with phrases dubbed over the scene played over and over.  When I left the theatre though, I did have a feeling that I liked the movie overall.  My friends and I stayed seated for a moment after the movie was over to process it and THEN we danced down the empty movie theatre halls out to our car as that La Roux song played alongside the credits.  And THEN the really interesting thing that happened is, as days went by, I just kept finding myself thinking about this movie and appreciating it more and more.  I kept imagining that dreamy and gritty world of purple and pink neon and tacky ocean- inspired decor and kept hearing “spring break forever” on repeat in my head…  And I’m not mad about it.

Spring Breakers star Selena Gomez has teased fans with a sneak peak of the music video for her new single ‘Come And Get It‘.

The StarGate-produced single was released to positive reviews from fans and mainstream critics alike, and the first live performance of the song at MTV‘s Movie Awards was praised by some of Gomez’s fellow starlets – such as pop queen Britney Spears. Therefore, if the video is right then Selena could be onto a winner with this potential summer anthem.

Check out the trailer, below:

The video for ‘Come And Get It‘ will premiere May 7 exclusively on VEVO.

I‘ve loved Azealia Banks ever since I heard her first ‘mainstream’ hit 212. The video, the girl. She’s got some balls! I love her ‘I don’t give a fuck’-attitude and her big mouth. She reminds me a bit of Santigold, but way cooler. I’m about to go to see her live for the first time on 10 and 11 May in Warsaw at Freeform Festival. SebastiAn, Apparat, Miss Kittin and Parachute Youth will perform but to be honest Azealia”s the one and only reason I bought the tickets.

‘Esta Noche’, my favorite song from her album, uses samples of Montell Jordan’s ‘Get it on tonight’, which I think is a sexy song either way. BUT when Azealia joins in, it becomes even better. Just listen to it, honestly. It’s so grooooooovy. Her entire new album ‘Fantasea’ is so good, with ‘Nathan’ and ‘Luxury’ on the top of my list. I think she’s original and she combines all music styles I love.

Photographing random places I love. With my new Samsung Wave I’m becoming one of those douchebags taking phone pics everywhere. I’m not on Instagram, and I won’t be in the near future (why? I’ll tell you in a next post), but I enjoy finally taking good phone pictures of places I want to remember. And of course, Julifestyle is always on my mind while taking these pictures. The first picture was taken at my favorite restaurant in Warsaw, about which I’m posting soon! The second picture was taken in a cool student cafe (called Fenomenalna, literally ‘phenomenal’) close to the Library of Warsaw University. You can just chill in a hammock whilist eating the most wonderful pancake in the world! The third picture was taken at the library. This building is so impressive. The 4th picture is in the park close to work, you might remember it from my previous post.

I’m goin’ wild for the night, fuck being polite! This song is so rad. It’s from the ‘Spring Breakers’ soundtrack. I’m not a huge Skrillex fan, but Skrillex combined with Birdy Nam Nam… Love at first hear (is that even an expression??). +try to stop running at this song. It’s on my work out playlist and believe me, I go hard on this song.

Dried figs. They look disgusting, I never liked them before but now I love them. They’re my perfect snack. They’re sweet, the texture is funny. They’re low in calories, high in fiber, they’re stuffed with vitamins and you can combine them in any meal.

What are your current obesssions?

Spring Breakers Redux
I saw Spring Breakers again, and I have a couple new things to say. Before I saw it the second time, I spent a few minutes on the internet looking at pictures and videos so that I knew what Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson looked like. Being able to tell them apart definitely added a new dimension. Hudgens was the better of the two. I was impressed by her.

There has been a fair amount of criticism of the treatment of race in the movie. I want to make a point about said criticism. I think a lot of people get confused when they say that something is racist or “problematic” or whatever. I won’t be able to remember the source, and this might be a misquote, but this is the general argument of a lot of people: “Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers says that black lives are worth less than white ones.”

When people say this as a criticism of the movie, or to imply that Mr. Korine is a racist, what they mean to say is “Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers says that black lives should be worth less than white ones.” That’s a totally different statement. If Mr. Korine believes that, then that’s a problem. BUT. I think Mr. Korine’s objective with the film with regard to race is that first statement–with are instead of should be–and I think that’s a pretty valid statement about race relations in America. The truth of it is plain as day for anyone who lives in East Oakland or any other place in America like East Oakland. If you want to disagree with that or talk about why that opinion is wrong, go for it, Mr. Critic, but I haven’t seen anyone actually try to do that.

The other race-related criticism I’ve seen is that Mr. Korine is simply oblivious to issues of race and his blindness on the issue results in all the main characters being white and the only black character dying and Mr. Korine not even considering the implications of that. This is a stupid criticism. The guy wrote a novel about a race war set in Florida, for Christ’s sake. And did you notice the girls were in a lecture about the civil rights movement in the first scene? Mr. Korine is very obviously–to me, anyway–aware of how his movie is seen and interpreted in terms of race.

To make a long point short: Spring Breakers obviously has a particular point of view about racial politics, and I’ve seen no one anywhere make an intelligent point about said point of view. Furthermore, the stupidity and laziness of professional writers sometimes surprises me.

The Silence
I didn’t like this one so much. A pretty good concept that didn’t work out so well in practice. I don’t want to give a plot summary, but a lot of the movie surrounds a police investigation of a sex crime and a very closely related sex crime from twenty years ago. The characterization of the police officers in question was so ridiculous and not believable that it was hard to take anything here seriously. They all seemed to be deranged in one way or another. The idea has the potential to be a great thriller, but it just didn’t really work.

To the Wonder
I love Terrence Malick. I think he’s the best. I wholeheartedly applaud his approach to making movies. I just want to say that before I start.

Before I saw To the Wonder, I scanned the first paragraph of Dana Stevens’s review on slate.com. I think I was biased by reading it, because Ms. Stevens made note of the “mockery it’s receiving from some quarters.” Going in knowing that some movie people thought it was laughably bad kind of took me out of the experience. Or maybe not. There may have been a couple other contributing factors, which I will mention. This was certainly not his best movie. Its runtime is 112 minutes, which is notably shorter than any of his movies since Days of Heaven. It was kind of in a weird middle area. It lacked the relative narrative tightness of Badlands and Days of Heaven, but it also lacked the kind of sprawling grandeur that his more recent movies have had.

Malick films all have voiceovers. Extensive voiceovers. Sometimes poetic and/or pretentious voiceovers. In To the Wonder, these voiceovers are almost exclusively in French. You have to read them in subtitles, which takes away a lot of their impact. I think the whole experience of the movie would be different (better) if you spoke both English and French and saw it without subtitles.

The star is Ben Affleck. I’m not a huge fan. He just didn’t work for me. I’m surprised he was cast in the first place. He doesn’t really fit with Malick’s other leading men. They all have had an easy, natural physicality. There’s not a lot of dialogue, so a lot of Malick acting is just being on camera in different situations. Mr. Affleck looked uncomfortable throughout the whole thing. He looked like he was tensing all the muscles in his shoulders a lot. He just doesn’t have it in the same way that Brad Pitt or Martin Sheen have had it in better Malick films, or even in the way that Javier Bardem has it in this one.

I thought the Javier Bardem scenes were strong. There should have been more of him. More of Olga Kurylenko, too. She definitely has a presence. Rachel McAdams also had a couple good moments. Maybe I disliked Mr. Affleck’s performance so much because I thought he was clearly outshined by his supporting cast.

There was a lot of self-reference here. Wheat fields everywhere. I don’t know how much of it was supposed to evoke Days of Heaven, but that was the main effect for me. A lot of the domestic stuff felt like a 2013 version of The Tree of Life. Some of the church stuff felt similar too. IN FACT, you eagle-eyed viewers might have noticed a little piece of info in the credits: “clips from The Tree of Life courtesy whoever”. I’ll be trying to figure out which shots were recycled the next time I see it. I also thought I noticed a couple nods to Badlands. I wonder how much of that was intentional.

It was kind of jarring to see a Terrence Malick movie set in the present day. He’s never done that before. Scenes in supermarkets, etc. I liked the supermarket stuff. That famous Malick style worked better there than I thought it would.

Everyone go see Badlands

The Place Beyond the Pines
This was a great movie. It was 140 minutes or so long and I was totally spellbound to the point that I was disappointed when it was over. Structured almost like a Greek tragedy. Another shoutout to Dana Stevens, who got to the Greek tragedy comparison before me. Although I thought of it before I read her review. So there.

Essentially three acts. Act I: Ryan Gosling. Act II: Bradley Cooper. Act III: their kids. I thought that was an interesting way to do it in retrospect. In the moment, I was very disappointed when Mr. Gosling’s character died. He was terrific. He’s probably the best actor (male category) around these days.* Bradley Cooper was OK. I had hope for him after Silver Linings Playbook, and he wasn’t bad or anything in this, but he didn’t match Mr. Gosling. Of course that may be unfair. Not many can match Mr. Gosling. I thought Dane DeHaan was great as the grown-up Jason.

*The best overall, of course, is Michelle Williams. Go see them together in Blue Valentine, the previous movie of TPBTP director Derek Cianfrance.

Emory Cohen as AJ was tougher to figure out. His character was an obnoxious guido douchebag with not much depth. It’s hard to gauge an acting performance when a character doesn’t call for much of the stuff that we think of as acting. Call this the Betty Draper problem. Betty doesn’t have much easy surface emotion and has petulant, exaggerated reactions and only seems to have two facial expressions. A lot of people think this is because Ms. Jones is a bad actor. Or is it that she’s a great actor because that’s how Matthew Weiner intends Betty to be? Hard to tell sometimes.* Same with Mr. Cohen here. He was certainly the most unlikable character. Unlikable because of bad acting or good acting? You be the judge.

*Count me in the pro-January Jones camp.

Reviews for TPBTP have been mixed. A lot of critics thought it was overambitious and self-indulgent and unfocused. I can see that. I think in a sense it has a lot in common with movies like Les Misérables. You need to be able to give yourself over to the movie and turn off the part of your brain that says, “this is emotionally manipulative and/or implausible and/or artificial.” English teachers call this willing suspension of disbelief, but I think there’s something more than that. It’s not just accepting the reality of the story, it’s accepting the director’s authority over your emotions. That’s hard for a director to do. Derek Cianfrance did it pretty flawlessly. This, combined with the superb Blue Valentine, makes me a big fan of his.

Apparently Mr. Gosling did a lot or all of his own motorcycle stunts. The opening shot is an awesome long tracking shot that culminates with him riding his bike in a sphere-cage with two other bikes. It was a really cool shot, especially to open the movie. Tracking shots like that can be distracting when they’re used too often or self-consciously. It’s an easy way for a director to show off. But this one worked perfectly.

I thought the ending was great. Really great.

Dark Skies: Sci-Fi horror about a suburban family that will be very familiar to anyone who has seen any of the Paranormal Activity movies. Not bad but probably one to wait for the DVD or stream.

Spring Breakers: Satire or exploitation? Four young female college students looking for “a break from reality” head to Florida for spring break, there they meet Alien, a drug dealer, rapper and wanabee gangster. Depending on your point of view they get more than they expected and all they ever wanted. Not as hollow and meaningless as some would have you believe but not as edgy or subversive as the filmmakers would like you to think.

Papadopoulos & Sons: British comedy about a self made millionaire who loses everything and is forced to reopen the family fish and chip shop with his estranged older brother. Lightweight but well-meaning and enjoyable.

Oblivion: Set in a dystopian future on an abandoned earth. It has its problems but it looks great and there is enough going on to entertain. Forget the anti Tom Cruise backlash he is actually perfect for the role although totally overshadowed by the mesmerising brilliant Andrea Riseborough who steals the film despite having a relatively small part.

The Place Beyond the Pines: Splint into three distinct sections. As a whole the film is really good but its lasting impression suffers as each section is a little weaker than the one before. Taken on its own merits the contrivances of the plot are a problem but they rely on coincidence far less outlandish than many Shakespearian tragedy.

Olympus Has Fallen: Basically its Die Hard in the White House. It has its problems chef amongst them is not casting an everyman in the lead. That and totally steeling its plot from Die Hard.

Evil Dead: It doesn’t know if it wants to be a remake, a rebook, a reimagining or a sequel to the horror classic. It lacks the humour and the originality of the original on a positive note it does still manage to be repugnant and repulsive.

Iron Man 3: The perfect steppingstone between the first and forthcoming second Avengers movie. It ticks all the boxes and avoids all the pitfalls of Iron Man 2. I doesn’t quite live up to the first Iron Man and could do with having about ten minutes trimmed from the running time, mostly in the final act.

I’m So Excited: Following The Skin I Live In was always going to be an impossible task, that’s why Pedro Almodóvar did the right thing by turning to a lightweight farce, or did he? While on the surface the movie is a silly and irrelevant comedy, not far below the surface is a cutting political allegory. Far from the directors best but still worth seeing.

The Look Of Love: You never know what to expect from Michael Winterbottom and this biopic of Paul Raymond doesn’t disappoint. It starts well but losses its way towards the end. The casting is perfect, particularly Steve Coogan as Raymond.

Iron Man 3 is probably the best film of the month, Oblivion was certainly the most pleasantly surprising but the movie of the month has to go to the one that is being talked about most and will probably have the most lasting impact. Surprisingly, the movie of the month is:

1. Three Bad Sisters
2. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
3. Starbuck
4. High School Hellcats
5. The Road Killers
6. Fire With Fire
7. Young and Wild
8. Inja
9. Cabiria
10. The Passionate Friends
11. The Place Beyond the Pines
12. From Up on Poppy Hill
13. The Great Waldo Pepper
14. Slaughterhouse-Five
15. Crimes of the Heart
16. That Little Band of Gold
17. When Love Took Wings
18. Wished On Mabel
19. Mabel’s Wilful Way
20. Fatty’s Plucky Pup
21. The Blue Lamp
22. Raggedy Man
23. Casual Sex?
24. Little Black Book
25. Lou
26. Frankie and Johnny (1991)
27. Tomboy (1985)
28. To The Wonder
29. Six Figures Getting Sick
30. Premonition Following An Evil Deed
31. The Alphabet
32. The Amputee
33. The Grandmother
34. Spring Breakers
35. Cowboy and the Senorita
36. Keep The Lights On
37. Character Studies
38. Curses
39. The Movies
40. My Stars
41. Fool’s Luck
42. Bridge Wives
43. A Small Circle of Friends
44. Lou’s Prey (Epidemic Film Festival)
45. By A Thread (Epidemic Film Festival)
46. Defining Your Roots (Epidemic Film Festival)
47. The Last Tournament (Epidemic Film Festival)
48. American Rugger: The Highwaymen at Maggotfest (Epidemic Film Festival)
49. Acceptance (Epidemic Film Festival)
50. Beyond Redemption (Epidemic Film Festival)
51. To Be A Big Liar (Epidemic Film Festival)
52. Grant and Allison (Epidemic Film Festival)
53. Vox Populi (Epidemic Film Festival)
54. Enigma (Epidemic Film Festival)
55. Dead Letters (Epidemic Film Festival)
56. The Devil Set Me Up (Epidemic Film Festival)
57. Principal (Epidemic Film Festival)
58. The Boy Who Cried (Epidemic Film Festival)
59. Palindrome (Epidemic Film Festival)
60. Leap Year (1924)
61. Dirty Girl
62. Gun Fever
63. The Sapphires
64. Christine
65. The Italian Job (1969)
66. The Swimmer (TCMFF)
67. Suddenly It’s Spring (TCMFF)
68. Ruggles of Red Gap (TCMFF)
69. The Razor’s Edge (TCMFF)
70. Gimme Shelter (TCMFF)
71. The Ladykillers (TCMFF)
72. Deliverance (TCMFF)
73. The Desert Song (TCMFF)
74. When Magoo Flew (TCMFF)
75. Flying Down To Rio (TCMFF)
76. Come September (TCMFF)
77. Scarecrow (TCMFF)
78. Salesman (TCMFF)
79. Cluny Brown (TCMFF)

1880s: 0
1880s: 0
1890s: 0
1900s: 0
1910s: 6
1920s: 6
1930s: 3
1940s: 7
1950s: 7
1960s: 6
1970s: 8
1980s: 7
1990s: 3
2000s: 3
2010s: 24

Like I said, I picked seven films to talk about. I just saw so many great films this last month and I couldn’t not talk about these seven.

To The Wonder, 2013 (dir. Terrence Malick)

I’ll probably be writing more about this film towards the end of the year. This is a film that defies practically everything we’ve been taught about what a modern (or any “narrative” film, really) should be and because of that it has divided both critics and audiences. I was in love with every frame of this film. I left the theatre feeling drunk. Dunk on cinema and drunk on love and drunk on life and I must applaud Malick for his uncanny ability to do something new with each and every one of his films.

Spring Breakers, 2013 (dir. Harmony Korine)

Another film that defies traditional narrative storytelling, this may well be my favorite 2013 release to date. It’s much deeper than it’s being given credit, probably because people don’t know how to take bright colors and young girls seriously and that is more telling of society than the film is itself. I read a lot of reviews that made me really angry, mostly because they were sexist and exploitative of the film’s leads and Korine never is. One of the film’s more sexuality explicit scenes was, for me, one of the most empowering and knowing scenes about a young woman’s worth in society that I have ever seen. This is one that will probably fall under the radar for now, but in a few years its genius will be noticed.

The Swimmer, 1968 (dir. Frank Perry)

This was actually the first new-to-me film that I saw at TCMFF and it remains my favorite of all the films I saw. It is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. It’s a slow build that is also the most perfect disintegration of a character that I’ve  ever seen. As Burt Lancaster swims home – swimming a river of swimming pools from his friend’s house up a hill, across the county to his own – we meet his friends and acquaintances and slowly learn more about who he is and how others see him. It’s one of the best condemnations of the American Dream ever made.

Suddenly It’s Spring, 1947 (dir. Mitchell Leisen)

This was one of the “discoveries” films shown at the festival and I am so glad I saw it. I actually saw it right after The Swimmer and it made for the most delightful double feature. I had never heard of this film and didn’t know what it was about going in; I just went because I love Paulette Goddard. It turns out it is a great feminist film in the form of a screwball comedy/returning from war film. The film explores women’s roles at home, in the workplace, in the army and the strange shift that came about after women went off to war and how it confused both men and women when it came to gender roles. I’m really surprised I haven’t seen this film mentioned by any feminist film critics before, but it definitely should be explored more deeply.

Come September, 1961 (dir. Robert Mulligan)

This is the film most famous for being where Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee met each other, but it also happens to be a really hilarious farcical film featuring one of the funniest performances I’ve yet to see from Rock Hudson (he also dances and oh me oh my). It’s also a beautiful travelogue for the Italian countryside. Make sure you find it in the proper CinemaScope, though, because the framing is exquisite. Gina Lollobrigida gets some absolutely fabulous costumes and amazing dialogue. In fact, this whole film could be used to teach how to write good, witty dialogue.

Scarecrow, 1973 (dir. Jerry Schatzberg)

I hadn’t ever even heard of this film before it was announced on the festival’s lineup. Boy am I glad that I got to see it. Hackman and Pacino are wonderful together and the film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s a character piece in the guise of a road film. I wish Pacino would do more comedies, because he’s clearly a very skilled comedian. The film’s director introduced the film.

Cluny Brown, 1946 (dir. Ernst Lubitsch)

Another film I had never heard of before, when I saw it was Jennifer Jones and Charles Boyer in a Lubitsch film (his last!), I just had to be there. This was my last film of the festival and I laughed pretty much straight through it. I hope it gets a DVD release some time soon, because it’s definitely as good as anything Lubitsch has ever done and I would really love to own it and watch it on a cold, rainy day when I need something to brighten up my spirits.

So that was April. Too many movies, too little time. May has possibly some big changes in store for me, but I will let you know about that as they come. I hope you watched some great cinema in April and may you watch even more in May!

I went to see this film, it is not my normal choice but as I have a cineworld I had seen everything else at the cinema so I gave this a try – not a mistake I will be making again.

Their was no real story line as such, or at least not one that seemed to have an ending. When writing stories at school we were always told to have a beginning, a middle and an end, this really had no end? It basically started with a group of girls (from what I feel – 3 slags and a good christian girl that went to bible studies, but was swaying from the line).

They wanted to go on spring break but they could not afford it so three of them (the slags) went to a local cafe and held a gun to everyone to take thier money – with this money they could afford a holiday. Off they went (that was the beginning).

They then went to lots of parties, got very drunk, did drugs and kissed each other naked and performed sexual acts (of an uncomfortable nature to watch). Then they got arrested and some random guy with gold teeth bailed them out and they went to his party. They got to his house and he had guns and money on the bed, the girls put a gun in his mouth and made him do a sexual act with it in his mouth (cringe worthy to watch).

The gold teeth guy then fell for the christian girl but she didn’t like him, he touched her and again this offered very uncomfortable viewing. Christian Girl went home. Skanky looking slag girl then got shot on the arm so she went home, then the goold teeth guy and the 2 remaing slags went to a guys house, good tooth guy got shot and then the 2 girls went around shooting 20 body guards and this main guy (weirdly enough these body guards with training were unable to kill two random slags with no training).

Then the film ending and that was around 90 minutes of my life I will never get back!

To describe the film – a porno for a 13 year old!

First, here is my review for The F-Word, in which I argue that there’s much more to SB than bikini-clad ‘hotties’ and explain why, contrary to the opinion of others, the film does not reinforce rape culture.

Aaaaand, here is my second review, for Rock’n'Reel, which sums-up the film’s greatness nicely.

Short on funds and desperate for a good time, Candy and Brit rob a diner in order to finance their vacation plan. The girls then embark on a week of hedonistic pleasures, grinding up against the rest of the bright young things on break who are ready to crack open a beer and take off their clothes. For a few blissful days, the world is a sunny, drunken, beautiful mess. Life, however, quickly catches up, and the girls are busted for narcotics possession.

The girls’ saving grace is an angel named Alien (James Franco), a rapper/hustler who takes pity on the group and bails them out of jail. With his arrival, the film’s neon glow fades into something much darker and sinister. Faith, quickly recognizing that the naïve innocence of spring break is about to be ruined, hops back on a bus to school. The remaining girls quickly assimilate themselves into Alien’s world. The characters indulge in the pleasures of excess, rolling around on beds filled with guns and money. Alien even shows off his shorts and caps in a Gatsby-like manner. Each shocking scene attempts to top the next, and the girls luxuriate in the absurdity of their situation every time.

Korine’s message with Spring Breakers is certainly clear: American teens tend to romanticize an amoral, hedonistic lifestyle. As fun as it seems to snort cocaine off your friend’s bellybutton, the consequences quickly add up. The film aims not to promote a lifestyle of living fast, but to remind viewers that such a lifestyle will lead to dying young.

While Spring Breakers is difficult to watch, it’s even harder to look away. There’s something to be said for a movie that can make robbing fellow spring breakers to the tune of ‘Everytime’ by Britney Spears look as mesmerizing as it does. But there’s also something to be said for plausibility. Personally, I stop suspending my disbelief when two 19-year-old girls are able to take out gangsters like seasoned army veterans. But even when Spring Breakers borders on ridiculous, the film still gives you something to think about. Even if you end up hating Spring Breakers, it’s worth seeing for the discussion alone.

Quantity doth not equal quality.

I saw 53 films in April, though if you subtract the 17 as part of the Sundance London Film Festival, the total comes in at 36. I distinctly remember at some point – maybe towards the middle of April – glancing at my current tally for the month and vowing that after the 15th, at the very least, I would solidly watch a good number of cinematic gems to compensate for my thus far dismal showing.

The quality wasn’t up to snuff. I’d been so resigned to plonking an old VHS in the 17-inch box telly downstairs night after night that I’d allowed my true cinematic preferences to go by the wayside. May is going to be the month; I’ll break the year’s record of 53 and concurrently swamp my mind with pure, unadulterated cinematic mastery.

Sundance London was a joyous experience. Aside from the films themselves, I savoured the chance to convene at length with a good bunch of fellow critics, a few of whom I now have the pleasure to work alongside. It’s a thing of rare beauty to be able to walk up to a complete stranger, ask them the preliminary ‘who do you write for?’ and then dive straight in with your individual responses to, say, Upstream Color. I’m grateful for it, having always conducted most of my in-depth film talk exclusively online with other cinephiles (whose company and conversation I certainly appreciate).

Anyway, leaving out the festival rankings (click here for those), here’s my Top 7 for April:

1. Bad Timing (dir. Nicolas Roeg, 1980, USA)
2. Still Walking (dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2008, Japan)
3. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (dir. Russ Meyer, 1970, USA)
4. Angustia (dir. Bigas Luna, 1988, Spain)
5. Spring Breakers (dir. Harmony Korine, 2012, USA)
6. The Kid with a Bike (dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2011, Belgium/France/Italy)
7. Somewhere (dir. Sofia Coppola, 2010, USA)

I know, I know.

By Simon Miraudo
May 1, 2013

Feel like getting a little freaky, but still concerned about your spiritual well-being? Don’t stress: most major religions have a loop-hole for you to exploit. Naughtiness is almost expected in their ranks, if not explicitly encouraged. Amish adolescents get to enjoy ‘Rumspringa,’ a fully sanctioned period during which time they can indulge in such sinful acts as drinking, drugging, or driving motor cars. Catholics go one better, classifying every one of their constituents as “sinners” from birth and forgiving them a lifetime of transgressions, so long as they can squeeze in a literal Hail Mary atonement on their death bed. There seems to be institutionalised immorality ingrained in even the most puritanical of organisations. However, there’s no such thing as a free ride, least of all to an eternity of peace and chocolate in the great beyond. Amish teens who never want ‘Rumspringa’ to end are ex-communicated from their families. And maybe you’ve heard of the toasty location reserved for unapologetic Christians in the afterlife. Yet writer-director Harmony Korine is called the hypocrite…

The enfant terrible of arthouse cinema follows up cult classics Gummo, Julien-Donkey Boy, and Trash Humpers with Spring Breakers, in which a quartet of nubile young women break bad in Florida. Selena Gomez stars as Faith, a born again Christian who has grown tired of her local surroundings and is desperate to have some fun in the sun with her three BFFs, Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson), and Cotty (Rachel Korine). Strapped for cash, they orchestrate a hold-up of a local restaurant to bolster their holiday fund. Leaving Faith out of the loop, the remaining trio – in a fantastic, single take tracking shot – viciously snatch the loot, and set a course for Spring Break. Faith’s a little concerned about the moral implications of their crime; the marijuana haze and pool parties ease her concerns. When they’re all arrested for drug possession in Florida, local rapper/gangster Alien (James Franco, like a crunked Jay Gatsby, or Kid Rock by way of Willy Wonka) bails them out, with the understanding they’ll join his harem as a thank you. Once again, Faith’s moral compass points in the other direction. Her gal pals, meanwhile, are hypnotised by Alien’s, ahem, charms.

A satire of the grotesque rite-of-passage known as Spring Break, the message may be lost on those who only came for the bountiful breasts and booties. “What message?” they – like the countless teens who were fooled by the presence of former child stars Gomez and Hudgens into witnessing this bizarre, sweat-and-vodka drenched nightmare – might ask. Korine’s biting commentary takes America’s puritanical culture to task for its double standards, particularly its habit of allowing a little sinning so long as it’s immediately followed by a lot of sorry (we could go back and forth as to which aspect he’s specifically criticising, however: the sinning or the sorry). Each girl is taken to the breaking point of their decency; once they hit their limit, they make their exit from the feature and pledge a lifetime of goodness from here on out, no matter how debauched they got. This is the ethos of religion taken to its logical conclusion. And hey, there’s no better stand-in for Hell itself than the state of Florida.

Korine doesn’t play God, though; judging the girls’ increasingly immoral actions and asking us to classify them on the scale of ‘good’ to ‘bad’ to ‘get thee to a nunnery!’ He lets them run rampant with unabashed delight. If anything, the real villain is the setting itself; not just ‘Spring Break’ but America – or Western Civilisation – at large. I think of the lecherous boys in the background who leer at Faith, Candy, Brit, and Cotty, plying them with liquor. That disgusting date-rape culture is practically factored into the teen experience; accepted as a given, and thus, forgiven and forgotten. I was reminded of CNN’s coverage of the Steubenville rape trial, in which the reporters sympathised with 16-year-old Ma’Lik Richmond and 17-year-old Trent Mays, whose “promising futures” had been ruined by a guilty verdict. Little mention was made of their victim. For the kids in Spring Breakers, the concepts of right and wrong are askew. The fault lies not with Harmony Korine, but the schizophrenic nation –  deeply religious, yet increasingly depraved - from which they hail.

Maybe there is no message. Considering the oblique and impenetrable nature of Korine’s earlier works, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn he was merely trying to play a joke on that aforementioned audience enticed by the promise of a sexy, bloody, exploitation flick. Even if this was made with unsavoury intentions, as a pop art collage wherein Disney princesses force Oz the Great and Powerful himself to perform fellatio on their AK-47s, it remains a pretty startling piece (see also: the parking lot performance of Britney Spears’ ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ as well as the violent montage set to her mournful ‘Everytime’). Shot by Benoît Debie (of Irreversible and Enter the Void fame) and scored by Cliff Martinez (with an assist from Skrillex), Spring Breakers is an immersive phantasmagoria; one of the funniest, strangest, prettiest, and flat out maddest films of the year.

Franco’s ridiculous performance is towering, and his memorable monologue – “I got ‘Escape!’ Calvin Klein ‘Escape!’ Mix it up with Calvin Klein ‘Be.’ Smell nice? I smell nice!” – should become a staple for drama students if there is any sanity in this cockamamie world. The four leading ladies also do some fine work, Gomez in particular. Hudgens and Benson are extremely convincing as murderous sexpots, and the final sequence is absolutely thrilling; a neon-tinged shoot out scored hauntingly – and hilariously – by an orchestral composition of Skrillex’s Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (which, like the movie itself, works both without irony and as a tongue-in-cheek joke). The graphic content may prove to be too much for some. Harmony Korine probably isn’t sorry, nor should he be. Not when the final product is this good, this thoughtful, and this entertaining.

4.5/5

Check out Simon Miraudo’s other reviews here.

Spring Breakers arrives in cinemas May 9, 2013.

Spring Breakers:

Prediction: Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers will be the best Great Gatsby we see in theaters this year. It’s as if The Great Gatsby, Scarface, and MTV Real World had a baby, and the birth was shot by Terence Malick using Nicolas Winding Refn’s color palate. We watch four bored small-town college girls (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine) long to escape and get to Spring Break, where everything is perfect. The film opens with a Spring Break montage, phallic beer bottles, giant bare breasts, and shaking asses, all set to pounding dubstep. Their American Dream is a world of excess, an escape from the chains of responsibility, work, or law. While the early parts of the film are enjoyable, especially a chicken shack robbery, Spring Breakers kicks into overdrive when they meet a thug rapper named Alien (James Franco), who proceeds to introduce them to the shady underbelly of what it takes to live and maintain this lifestyle they initially craved. It’s a hypnotic dream of a film, gorgeously shot, daringly structured, that doesn’t fear plunging into surrealism. The girls all do great work, but the real star here is Franco, who gives potentially a career-best performance. Alien plays host to the contradictions of both the American Dream and the hyper-macho male. His “Look at my shit” rant is an instant classic, hilarious and thought-provoking. Here’s the rare film that pleases both my arthouse side and my trashy side. Its balancing act is formidable, and it will likely end up on my list as one of the year’s best films.

Upstream Color:

I generally despise the expression “you need to see this film twice to really get it,” but with Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color, I feel willing to make an exception. While this is the type of film one should ideally enter knowing as little as possible, I will give the vaguest of descriptions: after a woman (Amy Seimetz) undergoes a strange traumatic experience, she meets a man (Shane Carruth) who is similarly damaged, and they bond together as they attempt to figure out both what happened to them and how to move forward. If you are a giant fan of Carruth’s first film, Primer, you will be surprised just how much of this film is without dialogue. Upstream Color is reliant nearly exclusively on visuals, the polar opposite from Primer in terms of stylistic execution. The sparse dialogue still carries Carruth’s trademark deadpan poetic intellectualism, but it’s really quite an accomplishment to go from dialogue-reliant to image-reliant as gracefully as Carruth does here. He tackles love, loneliness, fate, an causality in the universe, yet the film feels as intimate as a whisper. The final act of the film, which contains no dialogue at all that I recall, is a tidal wave of pictures, sounds, and the soaring original score, composed by Carruth himself. It’s as thrilling as anything you’ll see this year, even if the exact way the puzzle pieces fit together might escape you. I’m of the opinion that if a movie can’t relay the particulars of its story to the audience upon first viewing, perhaps it’s not telling its story with enough skill. With Upstream Color, however, the skill is never in doubt. It’s not for everyone, but those intrigued may find themselves highly rewarded.

If you have seen the trailer for Spring Breakers, then you have pretty much seen the film.

The only part you miss is James Fanco’s hilarious speech about his ‘shit’ referring to the items he owns (shorts, cologne, guns, that sort of thing) not his feces. Actually you also miss out on the boobies, lots of boobies, but half of you reading this already have those anyway. For the other half, you might have girlfriends, or Goggle.

So if you’re not bothered about missing out on that (it will probably be on YouTube at some point) I wouldn’t trouble yourself with choosing a cinema, gathering companions and buying a ticket. The movie is basically a repeat of the trailer, or as my companion pointed out, a glorified music video.

The dialog is continuously repeated, which I think the director, Harmony Korine, intended to represent some sort of drug experience. It doesn’t come across as a drug experience; it comes across as lazy writing.

Maybe I’m being too harsh on Spring Breakers. Popular reception says it’s a hit, a raping of the senses (meant in a good way), outrageous. But in reality, nudity, drug references and abuse, guns, violence and people generally being naughty isn’t new and it’s been executed far more convincingly in the past and hopefully will be in the future.

The only reason I can think of as to why there has been so much hype around this film (and positive reaction) is that everyone is enjoying watching Disney princesses try to break into adult film in the most crude way possible.

It’s like watching Disney porn on the internet, Minnie Mouse giving Mickey head, that sort of thing. Except it’s been made into a feature film and James Franco’s Drexl influenced character is the one giving head, to a gun, held by High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens.

Maybe that last paragraph has made you want to go and buy a ticket to this springs, Spring Breakers. If it has you’re probably going to LOVE IT.

So here it is:

To start off, the two films that I had most looked forward to seeing at the cinema this year were released within two weeks of one another and neither of them disappointed. The first was Harmony Korine‘s filthily fluorescent fable Spring Breakers, a sexploitatively arty giggle of beer-soaked debauchery charting four young American college girls’ hedonistic sojourn into the night of their vapid, candy-coloured souls via a dangerously goofy wannabe gangster played at sleazily full tilt by Hollywood-heartthrob-turned-oddball James Franco. The second was Fede Alvarez‘s Evil Dead, the much-anticipated reboot of Sam Raimi‘s iconic horror benchmark from 1982, which like Breakers promised nothing but a rowdily good time for those attuned to its twisted fancies, though this one involved severe body mutilation and dismemberment via chainsaws, nailguns and the good old-fashioned “boomstick“. I’ll see if I have the time and patience to write blog entries on each of these movies at a later date, but just for now, be sure to know they both have my honest, lager-stained seal of approval.

Then there were the three live concerts I managed to lug myself to… The first was from Gabriella Cilmi, who managed to cultivate a short, intimate set at St. Pancras Old Church near Kings Cross in London, showcasing some gritty-pretty new material that was aeons away from her previous album of shiny disco anthems (which it must be said, even if they weren’t a perfect fit for her, were still pretty fabulous in of themselves). The new single Sweeter In History is a pretty clear indicator of the more contemplative, rockier road she is traveling along with her music now, both thematically and stylistically, and whilst these new songs may not be as redolent with clever pop hooks as her previous work (one of the more gorgeous tracks was co-written with trip-hop’s tortured poster-boy Tricky, of all people), her voice sounds more rapt, emotional and vitally alive than it ever has done. By the time she had gotten around to a crowd-pleasing rendition of her breakout hit Sweet About Me for the finale, she was able to revisit the precocious pop of her earlier endeavours with a convincing edge of experience that had previously been absent, which is a neat summation of the refreshing change of pace her new sounds are offering. Here’s hoping there’s more to come…

My friend took this picture…

But two days later, I was back in Kings Cross for another night of leftfield pop treats… Well, further up Pentonville Road to be exact, where in the upstairs bar of the Lexington pub, one Karin Park delivered an evocative set of goth-tinged electro-pop, the bulk of which came courtesy of her fourth album and one of last year’s most unfortunately ignored pop gems, Highwire Poetry. Opening questionably with a pig-faced figure looming large in what looked like a KKK hood and cloak attacking the speakers with a pre-recorded mix of distorted vocal tics and belches, Park herself arrived onstage with a mischievous glint in her eye, appearing to go for a look that suggested the kooky daughter of Gary Numan (whom she actually supported on his dates in the UK last year) and Sheldon Cooper in her unhealthy-Rocky-Horror-obsession phase, her modelesque 6’3″ frame looming over the audience in intimidating style. Once she got going about three songs in though, any awkwardness there might have been melted away, her brand of addictive synthpop proving to be just as head-noddingly propulsive live as it does on CD, with Park acquitting herself as well on the keytar as she did her vocals and her brother David joining her onstage for percussion duties and earning himself a few justified ovations from the audience via some exemplary solos (it also didn’t hurt that he happened to look like Thor either).

My friend didn’t take this picture… But hey, it’s still good.

After a bit of a break to get around both the build-up and the actual weekend-long celebration that was my birthday, I was then back at Shepherd’s Bush Empire to bear witness to Phoenix‘s welcome-back performance in support of their new album Bankrupt! after three years away. I wasn’t sure what I was going to make of the French indie-pop band’s set this time though, as it would consist mainly of songs from the new album, which after a few listens I can declare certainly isn’t their best, not to mention there also being a fear of fatigue, given their having literally just hopped off a transatlantic flight after giving the revelers at Coachella in L.A. something to dance and sing about the previous weekend (this being the Monday night). What trepidations I did have though were promptly told to fuck off and die as soon as they opened with the new album’s lead single Entertainment, and I was quite shamefully reminded just how bloody marvelous a live act these guys are, the precise, almost-ornate twinkling of the studio tracks given enough reckless, ebullient bombast to leave even the stoniest hearts with mile-wide grins. The highlight for me was, after breaking the drum kit on the second song (!) and have to skilfully segue into impromptu acoustic renditions of Countdown and (fabulously) Air’s underrated-classic Playground Love, the sprightly opening chords of Lisztomania‘s came bursting through the speakers, brighter than ever, prompting from me a scream of pure elation that I haven’t had at a gig yet so far. And yes, as you may have heard, the immensely crowd-friendly frontman Thomas Mars did actually climb the walls of the venue to get to the first floor balcony area like a Gallic Spiderman to party with the rest of us that weren’t in the stalls below; it was awesome.

All together now… “Spiderman, Spiderman…”

But enough of this live commentary… I did manage to listen to quite the veritable bit of new music in between all (ALL) of this, so without further ado, courtesy of Mixcloud and Spotify, may I present:

2013 BlogMix#4: April

01) Empty // Atom™ >> Electro-disco stalwart Uwe Schmidt returns to the fold with an album of rebooted, previously-abandoned material from years ago; though marred by the death of his longtime business partner during its making last year, HD still cuts a strident, anti-pop swathe through today’s techno music to deliver some highly animated moments of triumph.

02) Sweat // Major Lazer featuring Laidback Luke and Ms. Dynamite >> After releasing a trilogy of free remix EPs over the previous month, Lazer’s second album Free The Universe finally landed front-loaded with even more celebrity guest turns than its predecessor. And rather awesomely, it’s all head-swaying, rump-shaking business as usual, as if Diplo‘s batshit-crazy dancehall project never left us in the first place.

03) Numb // Cassie featuring Rick Ross >> Not including the unofficial, fan-made mixtape trilogy that surfaced online last year, Miss Ventura released her first mixtape RockaByeBaby earlier this month; inspired by early-90s crime-saga New Jack City, this free sampler of seductively imperious wares has helped get more than a few people excited for her second album, should it ever arrive obviously.

04) Dieu // The Haxan Cloak >> Back into avant-garde electronic experimentation now, courtesy of British-born one-man-production house Bobby Krlic and his second album Excavation, an LP that has inspired as much awe from bloggers and critics as it has cold sweats of intangible fear, so forboding  and frightening is its sound design. Definitely one to watch for End Of Year plaudits.

05) Das Wort // DJ Koze featuring Dirk von Lowtzow >> Something a little more soothing and plaintive now, courtesy of German DJ Stefan Kozalla and his second album Amygdala; featuring a roster of guest stars that reads like a particularly starry night at his favourite local nightclub (Matthew Dear and Apparat among them), it’s what a warm, fuzzy electric blanket would sound like if it were a mix compilation.

06) White Snares // Instra:mental & dBridge >> Arriving courtesy of DJ/producer Boddika’s Nonplus record label, Think And Change is a so-hip-it-hurts compilation showcasing some of the finest sounds from the best dance music producers working today, including Four Tet and Joy Orbison. Guaranteed to keep any party going at full force, all night…

07) Jets // Bonobo >> Having quietly and diligently carved out his own niche for the past fourteen years, DJ/producer Simon Green’s fifth album The North Borders sees him make the grandest “I have arrived” statement of his career so far, a sublime mix of hip hop beats and soulful samples that is the very epitome of sun-swept, urban gorgeousness.

08) I Am Sold // James Blake >> 2011′s Posterboy For Lovelorn Misery returns with his latest album Overgrown, after having befuddled as many listeners as he did enrapture with his low-fi production wares and pained warbling on his eponymous debut. Not much has changed for the little bleater thematically really, though his arrangements have certainly grown in scope and ambition.

09) Only The Winds // Ólafur Arnalds >> Having somewhat stumbled into a career of contemporary classical music by accident, Arnalds has for the best part of a decade established himself as one of the genre’s brightest talents (his biggest professional coup so far being providing the score to TV drama behemoth Broadchurch). Fourth album, For Now I Am Winter, confirms this rather beautifully.

10) Subway // Yeah Yeah Yeahs >> If previous album It’s Blitz! represented a shinier, poppy side to Karen, Nick and Brian’s oeuvre of bracing alt-pop, fourth album Mosquito sees them in their most adventurous mood yet, aided in no small part by trusted hand Dave Sitek in the production booth. N.B. Isn’t the full-throated gospel choir ending on Sacrilege the most bewilderingly greatest??

11) Always There, In Our Hearts // The Flaming Lips >> Although The Terror is not quite as barnstormingly crazy as 2009′s Embryonic, the Lips’ first album of original material since that freaky opus came to pass still proffers a valuable clutch of leftfield, psychedelic treats in their own inimitable style… can anyone answer me though whether this Ke$ha album is really happening, though?

12) Air Bud // Kurt Vile >> And then we finish up with some tuneful Americana courtesy of Mr Vile and his fifth solo album Wakin On A Pretty Daze, trading on effortless, Dylan-esque cool and expansively robust, slow-burning arrangements to summon up the biggest critical hit of his career.

And that’s your lot, readers… Hope you’re April was as event-packed and full of good tunes as mine was. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to run into a darkened corner and listen to my Best Of Boards Of Canada playlist on repeat until June 10. It’s been eight years and I can’t. Fucking. Wait!!!!

xxxo