La Roux - La Roux Review

La Roux is a relatively new British electropop duo. Their debut, eponymous album, released earlier this year, is a chirpy, synth-riddled album, and it's a joy to listen to. It's reminiscent of '80s new wave music, as well as recent offerings such as Röyksopp's "Junior".Here's a track by track look.

In For The Kill - The second single released. It should be worrying that a track on the subject of murder is such a jolly tune, but it's definitely a toe-tapping start to the album. Catchy, too.

Tigerlily - Has some annoying shouty bits. The song is pretty beaty, and the non-shouty parts are pleasant to listen to.

Quicksand - The first single, which was released on a smaller label prior to the album's release. The chorus has a really nice melody. Less keen on the vocals - would be interesting to hear an instrumental version to see if a lack of vocals improved it.

Bulletproof - Third single, and the first La Roux song I heard. The start reminded me of, coincidentally, Röyksopp's "Remind Me" (video remix). The moment Jackson started singing, it stopped reminding me of Röyksopp. The vocals, while initially seeming out of style with the melody, works, and the chorus is very catchy. The music video is also rather awesome for this song (see below).

Colourless Colour - The beginning makes this sound like a sad song, but the chorus seems more uplifting. The contrast works and makes this the sort of tune that would go underappreciated. One of the strong points of the album.

I'm Not Your Toy - ...and this is the strongest song. The fourth, and at time of writing latest, single from the album, I'm Not Your Toy, with one of the catchiest choruses I've heard in a long time, and one particular repeated lyric that also stuck in my mind "It's all false love and affection, you don't like me, you just want the attention" - not because of its meaning, it just seemed to hit some weird bit of brain that made me want to remember it. Love it.

Cover My Eyes - One of the sadder songs on the album. Also acts as a demonstration of Elly Jackson's vocal skill, something that's not essential in electropop but what the hey. Well made song.

As If By Magic - "It's like the rest of the album" would suffice. I'll summarise what that encompasses though - chirpy, enjoyable, catchy. Contains an "oooo-oo-oo-ooo" bit (there's probably a technical term for that) that shot a shiver down my spine upon first listen.

Fascination - Probably the least memorable track on the album, but still decent. Takes advantage of the abundance of "____ation" words in the English language to decent effect... notably "frustration".

Reflections Are Protection - Mixes a haunting bassline with gleeful lyrics to good effect. Chorus, as standard, is catchy.

Armour Love - This, along with "Colourless Colour", makes me wonder if La Roux wanted to include a couple of songs purely to take advantage of British ways of spelling certain words. Of all the songs on the album this is the most "different". Sounds a little like a choir song which they stuck a synth in for good measure.

Growing Pains - The last song on the album is also... pretty average in comparison to the other songs. Disregarding the chorus of course, which is the standard, catchy affair.

So, overall, a strong initial offering by La Roux. The worst part of this album is it raises a question mark as to where to go next. The band has stated they're in no hurry to make a second album - when they do, hopefully they'll be ready to match or better the quality of their first.

La Roux - Quicksand

La Roux - In For The Kill

La Roux - Bulletproof

La Roux - I'm Not Your Toy

(84%)

The Simpsons Movie Review

The Simpsons. Once the unquestionable king of cartoon comedy, now currently in its 21st series. It took 12 for it to start declining in quality. Don't get me wrong, it's still watchable, but compared to its glory days 10-15 years ago, it's nothing.The Simpsons Movie is, in series terms, on a par with Series 13-15 - not a wreck, but not hilarious either. It certainly has its moments, but it feels a little too stretched out and at some points it feels like it's trying way too hard to get laughs (here's looking at you, Spiderpig).

In The Simpsons Movie, Lake Springfield is overcome with pollution. A plea from Lisa to the townfolk sees the lake completely fenced off to prevent further, catastrophic contamination. Homer, with the pig he acquired from a Krusty Burger advert, is looking to dump its vast amount of waste quickly to get to a donut giveaway. He chooses Lake Springfield. Alas, the excess polution results in Springfield becoming the most polluted city in America, and the President (Arnold Schwarzenegger, though not guest-voiced by him) blindly chooses a solution which sees the entirety of the city being isolated with a giant, "unbreakable" dome. When the residents discover Homer's to blame for this, they begin a manhunt which ends when the Simpsons discover a sinkhole in their back garden that sends them underneath and out of the dome.

Summary of the rest of the plot - Homer wins a truck (their car, of course, lost in Springfield), move to Alaska, Marge and the kids go back to try to save Springfield, Homer gets lonely and goes back also, and, well, Series 20 followed, so you can figure out if it was a success or not.

So, will regular viewers of The Simpsons be disappointed by the movie? If they've not seen much of the newer stuff, yes. If they have, probably not - it's an improvement on the recent episodes. I wouldn't go so far as to recommending The Simpsons Movie, but if you see it at a low price on DVD somewhere (I got my copy for £5), it's worth watching.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIawszTxNG4]

(61%)

The Warriors Review

Note: the copy of The Warriors I own is the DVD of the Ultimate Director's Cut, which is said by the director to be different in certain aspects to the original. The comments I make may not be applicable to the original version.The Warriors is a film from 1979 which focuses on gang culture in New York. It is said by the director, Walter Hill (48 Hrs, Aliens) to take the subject in a futuristic, comic-book way.

The setting of the film is, as said, New York. In this fictional New York, there are around 200 gangs, each controlling their own area (or "turf"). The film begins with representives of 100 of these gangs, including the gang the film looks at, The Warriors, going to a mystery meeting run by The Riffs, the seemingly most promonent gang. The Riffs leader, Cyrus, gives the peaceful crowd a speech about how, if they teemed up, they could easily outnumber the NY police force and run it all. This speech is interrupted when the leader of another gang, The Rogues, shoots and kills Cyrus, then frames it on The Warriors. Most of the remainder of the film focuses on The Warriors' desperate, weaponless return to their turf, and the encounters with enemy gangs they make along the way.

It's a film anyone can enjoy. There's next to no complexity in the plot - the previous paragraph is pretty much all there is to it, but their encounters with other gangs all lead to different results. For example, the 30-strong low-down gang The Orphans seem to have the Warriors outnumbered, until they throw a petrol bomb at the nearest car and blow several of them up. At another point, they have to outrun a gang called the Turnbull ACs to get to the train home in time - the ACs are sporting a large grey bus and a host of melee weaponry.

It's an action film where the entertainment comes as much from the range of characters in the Warriors (the womanising Ajax, the newbie Rembrandt, the serious leader Swan etc) as the stuff they have to endure on their venture home. It comes recommended. And, if you enjoy it, the 2005 videogame out on PS2, the original Xbox, and PSP, serves as a prequel to the story, showing the backgrounds of the characters in the film, as well as being a decent game in its own right.

Here's a trailer of the film, and a trailer for the game too for good measure.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV4cgs-bPic]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kjFVBlo6-s]

(89%)

Up Review

To me, "Disney/Pixar Presents" is a seal of quality. There has not yet been a film under their name that I haven't enjoyed. If you ignore A Bug's Life, there has not yet been a film under their name I haven't found near-flawless. This is, in a way, a bad thing though - every time I'm about to watch their newest release, I have this small feeling of dread - their films often have premises which, with any other producer, would probably be absolutely terrible. Up was no different - an old man in a floating house?!

But... it worked. Once again, Pixar took a frankly stupid premise and turned it into a gem. I'm going to say this was their best film - it wasn't (WALL-E still holds that trophy to me, with the critically shunned Cars a close second), but it was still a brilliant film.

The plot goes like this - Carl Fredricksen is an old chap living in a small bungalow, which holds memories of his passed love. Her passing is covered at the start of the film with a sequence which summarises their relationship from childhood to pensionerhood (if that's a word). Now, his district is being plowed down to make way for a city-like area. Unwilling to lose his house and be taken into care, he purchases thousands of balloons which result in the entire building, with him inside, taking off. Of course, to give the film a little character drama, a young scout happens to have been on his doorstep as the balloons were released. Most of the film sees him using home-made curtain wings to direct the house towards Paradise Falls, a place his lover had always told him she wanted to go.

Of course, no Pixar film would be without a villain. Up's comes in the shape of a multiple dog-owning famous hunter called Muntz. Though initially friendly to Fredricksen, Muntz turns hostile when he begins to think the pensioner is after a large, unique bird Muntz is looking for to restore his diminished, senile reputation.

A lot of the comedy comes from the fact Muntz's dogs are wearing collars which translate their incomprehensible woofs into understandable English words, and that this allows them to chat and bicker as humans would. Muntz's target bird is also used for laughs - it finds Fredricksen and the boy scout and has some cartoonish characteristics such as a liking of chocolate.

It's a smashing film. As said before, I prefer some of Pixar's older efforts to Up, but am in no way disappointed. They seem to constantly hit brilliant comedic notes and blend them perfectly with clever storylines and, of course, the necessary, cheesy endings. This film can be considered highly recommended, though if you need further convincing, here's a trailer for it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USpI6Jzl3No]

(90%)

Fatboy Slim: Weapon Of Choice Music Video Review

Coverage of music videos will probably be rare here, but some deserve to be looked at.In the music video for Fatboy Slim's Weapon Of Choice, Christopher Walken dances around an empty hotel. That's pretty much it. Directed by Spike Jonze (also director of the stunning film Being John Malkovich), it's a great watch, which begins with him slowly jiving his way off a seat and ends with him flying around a foyer. The track itself is a good listen - it's the sort of track most people will know but less will know the name and artist of. It's been in quite a few English advertisements for TV programmes.

Here's the video for your viewing pleasure.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZbckwYY9r4]

(88%)

Cuil Review

This is old news, but what the hey.Cuil.com is a search engine created by, amongst others, ex-Google workers, looking to create a revolutionary new search engine. They cited the most popular search website, Google, as using outdated technology.

As soon as you go onto Cuil, you can see the website uses a sleek, modern design:

Cuil

It also appears to partly base its simplicity off Google, which's default homepage is also little more than a logo, a search bar and a few buttons. Cuil also includes a boast that it indexes over 12 billion websites - a bold claim, which has led to criticisms that the site is more interested in the quantity of searched sites, not the quality of search results.

I found that these criticisms are agreeable. I searched for a several things in both Cuil and Google, and Cuil's results were far less fitting. For example, I tried "the year of elvis presley's death". For such a mundane question with such a single, findable answer, I'd expect to see it in the results without visiting websites. Google's second result clearly said in the title:

Elvis Death - Elvis Presley Death - Elvis Presley Died 16 August 1977

Cuil? Nothing. Nowhere. I got conspiracy theories, Elvis CD box sets on sale, and two results on Michael Jackson. Incidentally, Ask Jeeves (yes, we, the UK, got Jeeves back), Yahoo! Search, and Microsoft's Bing all managed to give me the precise date on the first page of results too.

So, Cuil looks pretty, but with so many other more competent search engines, it's rather pointless. It's fairly new, so I guess it has room for improvement, but I think Google is too popular for it to really get attention.

Visit Cuil

(39%)

Psychonauts Review

It's a little saddening to see half-decent games underselling and disappearing off the face of the gaming planet. It's even more saddening when the game in question isn't half-decent, it's astonishingly good. Psychonauts is one of these - an original, amazingly fun, varied platformer that was swept under the carpet while poor sequels jumped off the shelves and into people's gaming collections.

In Psychonauts, you play as a boy called Razputin who has inherited psychic powers. His dad doesn't want him to use them, but he does, so he's run off and joined a psychic school. The tutorials take the form of lessons. As you progress, the plot darkens.

What makes Psychonauts truly stand out is the variety. Using a device given to you part of the way through the game, you can enter the minds of other people. Each person's mind takes a different form - it's there that the variety (and originality of many of the levels) comes in. The standout level sees you entering a janitor's mind and hunting for someone called the Milkman. The level is a rural district, which's road twists around like crazy.

Other fascinating levels include one where you enter the mind of someone playing a war board game - you actually go into the board itself and have to complete the game by moving pieces safely to their destinations. There's also a hunt for playing cards in the mind of a matador, which culminates in a battle where you have to fire arrows at a bull using telekinesis.

Graphically, Psychonauts isn't (and wasn't at the time of release) stunning, but it's certainly adequate. You can always tell what's happening.

Psychonauts is available from game retailers at a very undeservedly cheap price. It can be bought for PlayStation 2 (the version I have), PC, and Xbox (and Xbox 360 if you include its release on the Marketplace). Alternatively, you can play it for free with adverts on GameTap. If you haven't already, go and do it now. You're missing out.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md_8uDtbffQ]

(96%)

Pleasantville Review

Here's the sort of thing the older generation might say: "Films aren't original nowadays". In some ways, it's an agreeable point - the number of action films which do absolutely nothing new is rather high. But, every so often, one is released which has a premise scarcely, or never, seen before. I, personally, have seen nothing like Pleasantville before.

Here's the plot. There's a teenage boy (Tobey Maguire) and his sister (Reese Witherspoon). The boy is fascinated with a 1950s black and white comedy soap program, "Pleasantville", in which everything is pleasant. His sister, however, is interested in boys. I won't spoil any of the events in the film, but basically, a series of actions leads to them being sucked into the television and into Pleasantville, where they "become" two of the characters.

As they begin introducing non-pleasant aspects into the village of Pleasantville, such as sex and emotion, things in the world start to change from black and white to colour... then the people engaging in non-pleasant activities do too. The second half of the film focuses on the old fashioned black and white people and the coloured people going against each other.

The film is incredibly entertaining to watch, and very cleverly done. It's a great premise, and the clash between pleasant and non-pleasant (I don't say "unpleasant" because that suggests "bad" - "non-pleasant" can cover emotions like "ecstasy" and "happiness") leads to some interesting results. It was released in 1998, and can be picked up, undeservedly, in most cheap sections of DVD retailers. Highly recommended.

(89%)

Saints Row 2 Review

When I found out the sequel to the awesome but Xbox 360-exclusive Saints Row would be multiformat, including a release on the PlayStation 3, I was happy. Sure, I'd lose out on some of the back references, but I'd at last have a silly alternative to GTA. That was pretty much the main reason I bought Saints Row 2 - to play about. What I wasn't expecting was a game with both the gormless fun of playing about the city, and also a surprisingly clever, engaging plot.

For the plot, there are three storylines you can follow. Once these are all complete, there is a final fourth one. Each of the three initial storylines focuses on one of three opposing gangs (you being the member of the fourth gang, the Saints), the Brotherhood, the Ronin, and the Sons of Samedi. The Brotherhood are a tattooed, thuggish lot, the Ronin are oriental sorts with katanas and... motorbikes, and the Sons of Samedi are hippies. Finishing a storyline results in the eradication of that gang from the city, with each mission resulting in one piece of their "turf" being handed over to you, and the climactic missions all involving killing the gang leaders in a platformer-boss-style fashion. The final storyline then sees you fending off an evil corporate giant looking to clean the city of gangsters.

So, what sort of stuff is covered in the mission spectrum? There's all sorts - burning drug crops, making someone accidentally kill their girlfriend with a monster truck, burying someone alive (then, at any point after in the game, returning to the grave and hearing his screaming), and even a thrilling mission in which you tow a car to a garage. Yay!

That's the bit of the game I wasn't expecting to be awesome out of the way. Here's the bit I bought the game for: messing about. There's a lot you can do - full car customisation, plane piloting, fight club participation, insurance fraud (jump infront of fast cars and sue them), spliff smoking, making your own radio station out of tracks in-game, etc. There are a ton of cheats which can aid messing about, too, including some to make it rain pedestrians, lower the gravity, set all cars to attack you... whatever suits your fancy.

The music in-game is probably the strongest part of Saints Row 2. Despite the seemingly constant gangster theme of the game (which includes unchangable, expletive-filled rap forced through your ears on the main menus), the radio stations cover a wide range of genres - rap, classical, easy listening, electronica, and even '80s pop. And, in a move Grand Theft Auto games should really have had, you can switch off certain radio stations so you never need listen to them. Add to that the fact you can buy (with in-game money) tracks and remix them into your own radio station, and you won't be forced to listen to anything you'd rather not again.

Then, of course, in a second move GTA should've done before - complete online two player co-op. That means you can both be doing missions together, or even playing in the city independently (no San Andreas-style limits, you can be on opposite ends of the city, in two different cars, in buildings together or separately, anything). There are also several games to play together, including the incredibly fun Death Tag. In this, there's a time limit, you both have randomised weapons with infinite ammo, and most deaths loses.

So, my opinion of Saints Row 2? If you're over 18, get it. If you're under 18, wait until you're 18 then get it. If you have it, play it. It's an absolute blast whichever way you'd rather play it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meP62UPanio]

(Note: Content Warning: strong language and depictions of virtual violence)

(92%)

The Prodigy: Invaders Must Die Review

Unlike a lot of critics and others, I actually quite liked The Prodigy's previous album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. Still, anything considered a comeback album is welcome to me.

Invaders Must Die, as you may know, was the first new album by The Prodigy in 12 years to feature the full line-up - Keith Flint, Liam Howlett and Maxim Reality. Their previous group album was the stunning The Fat Of The Land. This one returns to a sound more like their older stuff.

Here's a track-by-track mini review.

Invaders Must Die (title track) - A solid start, if a tad repetitive. Great bassline. A shorter edit was released a while before the album as a "preview" track - I prefer the edit personally.

Omen - Good first proper single. Fairly angry track, less repetitive than the previous, with, for a tune by The Prodigy, has quite a few sung, original lyrics.

Thunder - My least favourite track on the album, though still not bad. Slightly weird lyrics, and the track as a whole seems to have something missing from it.

Colours - Great track, even better if you're listening to the album in order. The bassline is addictive, and the nearly-rapped lyrics actually work pretty well with the rest of the track.

Take Me To The Hospital - Weird at first, better with repeated listens. Thumping track, though you can't expect anything less with The Prodigy. This feels a hell of a lot like the style of Experience.

Warrior's Dance - Haunting, heavy, and downright brilliant.

Run With The Wolves - Another grower. The sung part is pretty catchy in my opinion.

Omen Reprise - A dancier, inferior version of Omen.

World's On Fire - Starts bland, gets pretty good. Fairly heavy, and shouty, track.

Piranha - Thumping, catchy, rave-suited track. Very much one for the head-banging crowd. A little repetitive, but not so much it ruins the track. Kinda works with it, actually.

Stand Up - ...and then there was this. Nearly half a minute of near-silence, followed by one of the most amazing, and different-to-their-normal-style, tracks I've ever heard from The Prodigy. This finished the album off on a massive high.

Overall, I very much enjoyed the album, maybe even as much as The Fat Of The Land. Here are the videos for the released singles:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3EIogaEwxY]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olHnyslc-OM]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxZJTRhcFg4]

(85%)

Brüno Review

It's been a while since a film genuinely cracked me up. Up is the closest I've been all year, I think. So when Brüno came out, I knew what to expect. Brüno, the latest film starring Sacha Baron Cohen, is a lot like his previous film Borat (I won't bother with the subtitle, it's got something to do with Kazakhstan though), one which was shot primary unscripted and with unsuspecting other people. Brüno is pretty much the same, though I got the feeling more of this film was scripted than Borat.

So, what does the film entail? Baron Cohen plays a stereotypically homosexual, stereotypically Austrian man named Brüno, who has gone to America seeking world fame. Taking into account the level of controversiality in Borat, you know what to expect.

(Spoilers ahead)

Happenings in the film include Brüno adopting a black baby (which he swapped for an iPod) called OJ and appearing on an African-American chat show, appearing at a fashion show in a velcro suit and running onto the catwalk attached to several items of clothing, bringing Paula Abdul food served on a hairy, naked man, and seeking help from a Christian "sexuality healer", becoming straight and presenting a straight-only fight club show, only to have his ex-boyfriend climb into the ring and get off with him there and then. Cue hundreds of angry straight audience members throwing their beverages and snacks into the ring in disgust.

(End spoilers)

Brüno relies heavily on shock humour to obtain its laughs, so some people will be immediately put off. Others, however, will lap it up.

I guess the easiest way to determine if you'll like Brüno is if you've seen and enjoyed Borat. If you haven't seen Borat, try out the trailer.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAGpmNb2xfQ]

It's not the cleverest film around by a long shot, and some parts are a little nasty, but I got the laughs I wanted. It's a good, love-it-or-hate-it film, if not quite as good as Borat. (78%)