Welcome to the March reviews! I'm finally back from uni, and I've watched lots of films but not read any books (except for on my English course and they're all too wierd for here) so I'm not going to review any for a while. You'll just have to make do with films and CDs. My April review should be on time, but after that I go back so who knows what will happen.
This is excellent! In a similar vein to Offspring, and they mention them in their thanks, but in some ways it's better because they seem less cynical and sarcastic. Of course, like all these groups they claim to hate everything and swear a lot, but this lot seem to do it more cheerfully! I just can't stop playing this, ever since I bought it about 4 weeks ago now. It really is a rocking album, and I think it does actually cheer me up which is unusual for this style of music. I only play Offspring when I'm angry, but this will do for all occasions (and it's good for drowning out other student's music, if you live in halls like me!). Favourites are of course In Too Deep which everyone knows, and also Handle This. There are only one or two that I'm not bothered about, overall this is very cool and I'm glad I bought it. They are one of those groups that can do rock stuff but still have a tune you can hum, unlike some of the stuff by Limp Bizkit or Cradle of Filth. I give this a rockin' 9 out of 10!
I'd heard rave reports of this film for ages, I saw trailers which looked excellent and wanted to see it for ages, and when I finally did - I don't know why I bothered! This may be a controversial view as all my friends seem to love it, but I was not particularly impressed. The film has many excellent features, and I will probably buy the soundtrack as I absolutely love the singing in it, full marks to Kidman and McGregor, and for their acting. The lighting was great, costumes, setting and so on, but it was let down by an overly simplistic plot and Baz Lurman's directing, which doesn't always work for me. I'm one of the few that wasn't that impressed by Romeo and Juliet, either, which he directed. He does some things incredibly well, some of his camera work produces a very different and striking effect, but the first half hour or so of this was nonsense. I think he took innovative camera work a bit too far, and the result was a bit of a mess. I know people won't agree with me, and the film has received awards which goes to show how much I know, but for me although it has some nice touches, the whole package left me very disappointed. Perhaps I should blame it on all the hype I came across, getting my expectations too high. I might enjoy it in a few months if I watch it again. For now though, despite the music which deserves a 10, the film as a whole gets a mediocre 5 out of 10.