Ad of the Week

This week I was going to try and stray from the usual TV ads I've been picking, but then I saw an advert that I just had to pick. It's the new advert for mobile network 3, created by Wieden & Kennedy (a dab hand at making excellent cat-based adverts (see Cravendale's Cats With Thumbs campaign)).

In Britain, our mobile networks have all taken a similar approach to their advertising over the past year. A mobile network was become such a standard thing people have, and they all offer largely the same things, so they've all gone for humour to sell themselves. Vodafone have Yoda, EE have Kevin Bacon, and 3 have a small ginger-haired girl dramatically miming along to We Built This City by Starship with a small cat (who also sings along, why not). It's a fantastic advert because it's memorable. Of course, ideally 3 would like more customers from it, but because you find yourself singing the song or just having a little smile to yourself when you remember the cat, it works. 

So you go, #SingItKitty!

Artist of the Month - This Ground Moves

I first heard This Ground Moves at a comedy night, I know, a strange place to hear a band. The lead singer was a guest at Steffan Peddie's Chat Show Thing in December last year. They played a few songs acoustically and I quite liked them. So when their album came out I bought it and I am very glad I did.

The North East has produced some pretty amazing indie bands over the past few years and I really hope that big things happen for This Ground Moves. They're album is really catchy, the kind of songs you don't get bored of hearing a lot of. It would be really great to see them gain the same sort of accolade as a band like The Futureheads because I think they have a whole lot of potential. Definitely the kind of band that are going to sound amazing in the summer, I think they would be the ideal band for a slot at a small festival like Y Not or 2000 Trees.

Favourite songs - Feed Me To The Dogs
                              Turned On

Review - Her

Spike Jonze's latest offering, in it's very simplest form, is a story of love and loss, but if there's one thing Her certainly isn't, it's simple.

The film is set in the not too distant future, Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a writer for BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com. Theodore's world, as is everyone's in this age, is entirely technology dominated. Although Theodore spends much of the beginning of the film fanaticising about his ex-wife Catherine (Rooney Mara) he is alone most of the time. Even his friend Amy (Amy Adams) doesn't see him very often, and his other human interaction is limited. It is around this time we meet the most up to date operating systems OS1. OS1 is a Siri-esque operating system that learns, adapts, has intuition and grows emotionally. Theodore's selected OS is Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) and from here on out, Theodore's feelings find him blurring the lines between what's really real and what isn't.

At first Samantha is simply helpful, but as she grows and becomes more aware, so does her relationship with Theodore and once romantic acts begin to be played out, everything feels very unnerving. Even as you see Theodore with other humans, he's never as at ease with them as he is with his OS. There are so many layers to the film, so many things it could be saying, possibly a commentary on people's relationships with technology, or people's relationships with each other. Essays could easily be written about the messages in Her.

Purely on face value though, it is a beautiful film. Soft lighting, gorgeous colours, great camera angles, but it's not a film to really be taken on face value alone. It is certainly thought provoking, a film that will cause differences of opinion and that is by no means a bad thing. I think personally, what was so unsettling, is that out if every A.I film I've seen, Her is certainly the most realistic, and that idea of what society could potentially become is quite scary! 

It is definitely not a film for everyone but it's definitely a great film to go and see, I do highly recommend it. 

Music Monday

This Monday I'm full of cold, so I'm going for some chilled out slower songs this week! 

Books From Boxes - Maximo Park

October Trees - Ron Pope

Lady Killer - The Horrible Crowes

The Boat - Chuck Ragan

I Remember A Rooftop - Alkaline Trio

Ad of the Week

This week, I'm going for another trailer. This time for Locke. I picked it because for once it's a trailer that really gives nothing away. I know the basic plot of the film, which stars Tom Hardy as Ivan Locke. I know that it's a thriller, and set in real-time film, following Locke on a 90-minute drive, and the only other stars in the film (including Ruth Wilson and Olivia Coleman) are just voices you hear on the phone. The trailer tells you nothing more than that, in fact, without that knowledge the trailer tells you very little at all, and yet it intrigues, I know I definitely want to know what's going on!

As a film, it looks really interesting, it's really not often you see a film with only one actor, even if there are others, they're only on the phone. I can't wait to see it!

12 Years A Slave

I decided not to do a review of 12 Years A Slave because I was a little late to the party and since it won the BAFTA for Best Film, you don't need me to tell you it's good. I just thought I'd write my own feelings about the film, and yes, there will be spoilers but it's been a book for over 100 years, so, y'know...

Going in I knew it was going to be tough, but you need that sometimes, a film that moves you and draws you in, and it does just that. Chiwetel Ejiofor was outstanding as the lead, and now I can say he did deserve the BAFTA for Best Actor. I think it must be so hard for every actor in the film, from those portraying the slave owners to those portraying the slaves. Michael Fassbender's Edwin Epps was absolutely evil, it's hard to believe that people like that existed. Some of the slave owners, particularly Benedict Cumberbatch as Ford, showed glimpses of humanity, but still, they were slave owners.

The hardest scenes to stomach came near the end, at one point I was nearly moved to tears, and I know other people have cried watching it. So far I've been praising Lupita Nyong'o for looking beautiful at awards shows, but I have to praise her very strongly for her role as Patsey, she acted the hell out of it. There is a sort of happy ending though, all thanks to Brad Pitt, but I use happy quite loosely. Solomon makes it home to his family, discovers he is now a grandfather, but all the other slaves are left behind still suffering, I just wanted him to take Patsey with him when he left!

Definitely go and see it if it's still on where you are, it's very powerful, and now I'll be more of a trustworthy source when it comes to the Oscars if it wins, and I hope it does well!

Music Monday

These weeks seem to be coming round FAR too quickly! This week I'm quite enjoying some more lively music, so here's my Monday playlist for this week-

Running Away - Friendly Fires

My Number - Foals

Of The Night - Bastille

Zimbabwe - New Navy

Alone Together - Fall Out Boy