My 2017 – a look back (part two)

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Craig M

As I learnt writing the last look-back, 2017 has been a pretty packed year as far as entertainment is concerned, and there’s been plenty of highlights over the months. So continuing this little bit of nostalgia, I thought I’d give a portion of this to my music highlights of the year, of which there have been many.

In the summer, Garbage made a return to the stage going on the road with the iconic Blondie for their co-headlining ‘Rage and Rapture’ tour which over 20+ dates travelled the United States and from what I hear was a roaring success. During the tour Garbage released a stand alone single, the politically charged ‘No Horses’ accompanied by a powerful, hard-hitting video (see below). It was another belter of a track from my favourite band, but wasn’t the only highlight of the year for me…

Indie electro-rock band PVRIS returned with their second album ‘All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell’, and it was a step up from their impressive debut and cemented them as a new, unique voice in my music landscape. Add to this British four piece Wolf Alice also delivered their second album ‘Visions Of Life’, and like PVRIS it was an improvement over their debut and a haunting, artistic experience full of emotion and effective songs that has made them one of my favourites. A couple of more veteran artist also released new material and although I don’t listen to everything out there, I am glad to have discovered Paramour with their fun, energetic album ‘After Laughter’ proving worthwhile. I was also happy to see the return of possible my favourite female solo artist Kelly Clarkson and her latest release ‘Meaning of Life’ really impressed and proved this singer still had it after her previous, otherwise forgettable ‘Piece by Piece’ album.

Well back to the movies and such…

July to December

As the blockbuster season continued, I didn’t get around to all the big hitters but was pleased to see the latest of one of the best franchises around right now, War For The Planet Of The Apes which again proved powerful and exciting with stunning effects. Less engrossing but still fun was the rather hypoed but run-of-the-mill Baby Driver. Adding to the disappointment was the surprisingly un-engaging Christopher Nolan WWII drama Dunkirk which for a war movie directed by one of the best around, proved strangely boring and lacking in character or spectacle. It sure was ‘pretty’ though.

Get Out was a rather unsettling thriller and an interesting take on the racial tension subject, and hyped book adaptation Girl On The Train was an enthralling mystery with a great central performance from Emily Blunt. One of my favourite directors, Park-chan Wook returned with The Handmaiden, an erotic period movie that although a tad drawn out was an engrossing love-triangle thriller. Mark Wahlberg’s based on true events thriller Patriots Day was also powerful and gripping, whilst Jake Gyllenhaal sci-fi thriller Life was particularly effective and scarily-relevant. August finished up with one of my personal horror highlights of the year, the far better than it should have been sequel Annabelle Creation.

Around this time I also watched the highly anticipated and very long awaited new season of Twin Peaks. This was probably one of my most perplexing, strangely gratifying and definitely unique experiences of the year. David Lynch’s magnificently bizarre and utterly surreal 18 episode ‘TV event’ is still something I am trying to piece together in my head even months after finishing it. I had the box set for Christmas so may well be diving back in. That ending though….yeesh.

French cannibal horror / coming of age drama Raw proved effective if disturbing and distasteful but has certainly stuck in my head. However, the latest entry in a once beloved saga, Alien Covenant was very underwhelming, having more in common with the tiresome Prometheus than the Alien movies. Then I stumbled upon Netflix movie Gerald’s Game, a surprising, engrossing and creepy-as-hell Stephen King Adaptation.

I finished (at least the story) of the highly acclaimed and heavily hyped The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and as if testament to just how much fun and appealing that game was and still is to me, I still find myself going back to finish every shrine, find every weapon and do at least the majority of side-quests. I even recently purchased the season pass. Yeah I can’t get enough of this game.

The highly anticipated Blade Runner 2049 disappointed, with a plodding pace, forgettable visuals and was only marginally saved by a good turn from Harrison Ford. However all was not lost as November rolled around and the much anticipated Super Mario Odyssey was finally released … and proved to be everything I had hoped it would be. Add to this I finally got my hands on the highly acclaimed Japanese animation Your Name which proved to be a decidedly clever and thought-provoking body-swap drama.

So we come to December and particular stand-outs were Despicable Me 3 and the otherwise maligned Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Bigger name movies like Spider-Man Homecoming and even Star Wars The Last Jedi didn’t fair as well for me but still had their moments. With Christmas upon us again, I always enjoy writing these look backs and considering the movies that will eventually make up my Top Ten. I’ll have that particular post out on New Years Eve, so please drop by then and check it out.

I also managed to get my hands on a new phone. Previously and for about 3 years I’ve had the Samsung S6. However now I have the recently released iPhone 8, which I’m loving so far and along with my iPad, that’s me all Apple’d-up going into the year ahead.

So there we have it. That was my 2017 in two big entertainment nutshells.

Roll on 2018.

Craig.

What I’ve been up to

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Craig M

I haven’t posted on here for a while. Well, apart from going away on holiday for a long weekend last week, I haven’t been watching any movies and have more been concentrating on a combination of work and in my leisure time, playing some games. Currently I’m playing Destiny 2 on Xbox One which I had pre-ordered a while back. Short impressions? I’m really digging it. It’s not exactly far removed from Destiny 1, bar some improvements and polish to the formula, such as now being able to travel to different locations without returning to orbit. I put many hours into Destiny 1 and can see me putting just as much time into this sequel. The advent of clans and easier to be a part of fire teams seems an added incentive also. Graphically it’s no slouch either, with varied planets to explore and great effects and atmosphere. The core combat is also as satisfying as it ever was. The game could greatly do with some new enemy types however but apart from that I’m having a great time.

Another game I’m enjoying is Steam World Dig 2 on the Nintendo Switch. I liked the look of this game from footage I’d seen a while back and it’s as fun and interesting an experience as I’d hoped. What can I say – platform exploration mixed with mining / digging is like gaming crack, and I find it very appealing that I want to rush back to the game time and time again. It may be a 2D platformer but it has colourful, vibrant graphics with a charming art-style and plenty of detail. I don’t have much else to say other than give it a try if curious.

I also got my hands on the highly anticipated Sonic Mania. I have the Switch version and boy, I’d forgot how difficult Sonic used to be. It’s sort of a celebration / re-imagining of the first 3 Sonic The Hedgehog games from waaaay back on the Sega Megadrive, with a few new stages added in for good measure. Although I’m enjoying it and it’s still a great deal of addictive fun, it’s reliance on old-school pixel graphics is a little disappointing – a bit of refinement here and there would’ve been nice – and a few new animations only adds so much. Overall for a Switch game it’s at times a bit ugly. Yet as a celebration of a famed videogame character, I guess it does it’s job well enough.

I finished watching Twin Peaks Season 3 also, and have come away somewhat disheartened. The ending, without spoiling just left me thinking ‘wtf?’ and many plot threads (if they can be called that – this was not your usual show) failed to go anywhere. I’m leaving my final verdict until after I’ve re-watched the whole season on Blu-ray where I can really study it … not that I’m really expecting to come away all that wiser. We’ll see. Yet I will say this: as a purely artistic, utterly surreal ‘vision’ and as a return to film-making by acclaimed director David Lynch it was still effective, and at times amazing – but satisfying? The jury’s still out on that one.

I have some movie reviews in the pipe line and a few other ideas for this blog, so keep an eye out for further updates soon.

Craig.

Peaking at the Garbage

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Craig M

See what I did there? Yes, this post is primarily about two big loves of mine…Twin Peaks and the rock band Garbage. First more of an update on what’s going on with my favourite band. Firstly they are working on new music! This is reported to be a song they hope to release in time for a forthcoming tour. Shirley Manson, lead singer and general all-round bad-ass, has also contributed her vocal talents to the soundtrack of TV show ‘American Gods’ with a song she worked on with composer Brian Reitzell (Hannibal, 30 Days of Night) called ‘Queen of the Bored’ and well, it’s super cool. Video-link below:

Secondly Shirley is visiting London to attend the summer-camp music school for girls known as ‘Girls Rock London‘ as a Patron giving talks I presume on what it’s like to be a woman in the music business, conveying her 30+ years experience to the attendees. Should be very interesting. Here’s a picture of her as posted by the event organisers. Yeah, she’s looking great as usual. Now as mentioned earlier the band are preparing to go out on tour – with none other than legendary band ‘Blondie’ for the rockingly-titled ‘Rage & Rapture Tour’ which kicks off in July. Around the same time the band will also be releasing their autobiography entitled ‘This Is The Noise That Keeps Me Awake’ … so an eventful time for Garbage and a great time to be a fan of this pioneering and acclaimed band. Although they seriously don’t get the recognition they deserve these days; even 20+ years after they began, Garbage don’t answer to nobody and do their own thing, their own way … which is pretty damn cool.

On the TV front of course the big event has been the (very) long awaited return of Twin peaks – you know, that quirky little soap opera about a murdered girl that ran in the early nineties, got cancelled after it’s second season and also spawned a (mostly) reviled movie that later gained cult appeal. Now it’s back and if you thought the original was ‘a bit weird’ … well, David Lynch, series creator and all-round genius (or madman, I’m undecided) has been let off his leash and delivered possibly the strangest, darkest, freakiest and most daring TV show in years. I’ve watched 3 episodes so far of the 4 that have been revealed, and even though I’m loving it as a Lynch aficionado – it’s also really messed with my head and I can certainly understand if even die-hard Peaks fans could get turned off. Just watch it though – you just have to give it a go and make your own mind up. It’s that kind of experience. Even if you end up not liking it.

To celebrate the release of Twin Peaks, I also picked up the newly-restored version of Lynch’s Oscar-winning surreal drama Mulholland Drive and will be watching and reviewing it soon, so watch out for that.

Well that’s all from me for now. Check in again soon and I’ll have more stuff to show you…probably.

Craig.

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2016 by Craig M

It’s that time of year again and how fast it seems to have come around. Doesn’t feel like twelve months. I’m having a really nice day and have been spoilt rotten so thank you so much to those that have got me anything and I really hope you like what I got you!

This year I have had a couple of box set, namely the Blu-ray set of the cult TV series (due back in 2017…) Twin Peaks which comprises of the full, re-mastered versions of the two seasons of the show as well as the movie, Fire, Walk With Me. Another box set I got is it has to be said, well overdue and a series of movies I intend to fully review on this blog…yes, its Harry Potter!! I confess I have never watched a Harry Potter movie but I am actually really looking forward to delving into this much acclaimed and popular world. In addition to the box sets, I have also had a very nice book, namely ‘The Secret History of Twin Peaks’ by series co-creator Mark Frost and am excited to read through that as a great companion-piece to my Twin Peaks collection. I also received the much anticipated (and long awaited) The Last Guardian for PS4. In the picture below you’ll also find an R2D2 mug, and well, I love novelty mugs so that was a nice surprise. Oh yes, and a Jennifer Lawrence calendar – don’t judge me! ha ha. As well as the above, I also got the usual smellies, clothing etc and have to say I’m really humbled by what I’ve received this year.

I’ll take this opportunity to also thank you, my readers / visitors to this blog. All year round I write it as a hobby, a continued interest and next year will mark 10 years that I’ve been running Craig’s Movie Report. I’m not particularly popular or put that much content on here, but I love running this blog and love any feedback or interest I get. So thank you all.

Merry Christmas and here’s to a wonderful Happy New Year!

Twin Peaks to return!!

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Craig M

I can hardly believe it but a show I have always been fond of from quite a long time ago is the cult favourite Twin Peaks. Well imagine my glee when reading recently that show creators David Lynch & Mark Frost had decided to bring back this show after 25 years. Wow. Sort of as a result of a growing online petition on Facebook and probably due to the fact David Lynch hasn’t done anything that notable since 2006’s INLAND EMPIRE … this is now going to be a reality.

Here’s a little teaser from Showtime who will be making the project for an initial eight episode run in 2016. I can hardly wait! Fantastic News.