Culture & Literature – Page 32 of 37

28Jan

By Douglas KnightNo Comments

Stations of the Cross Review

Stations of the Cross, dir. Dietrich Brüggemann, Germany 2014. 107 mins, cert. 15 Regular worshippers at the church of Haneke, Seidl, Schleinzer, Dumont et al will likely receive Stations of the Cross (Kreuzweg) as manna from heaven. Certainly this reviewer eagerly bounded up the altar steps of the ICA earlier this week. The fourth film from Dietrich Brüggemann, written with his sister and regular collaborator Anna Brüggemann, Stations won the Silver Bear for best script at the Berlinale earlier this year. Whether the film was a deserving winner I can’t tell, since I wasn’t at the festival. But without wishing to sermonise, I have full faith in the piety of their choice. Using its title mimetically, the film cleaves into fourteen minutely intertitled chapters corresponding to the eponym...

28Jan

By Molly HarrisNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV, Music

Who will be the next Bond music sensation?

With the release of a brand new James Bond film comes a brand new title theme song. Sam Mendes has revealed that the artist to perform the next title theme has already been chosen, but it is still being kept under wraps. Following in the footsteps of Adele and the legendary Shirley Bassey alike would be a daunting task for anyone - so who will be the next artist to take up the gauntlet? The bookie’s favourite as of December 2014 is Sam Smith, closely followed by Ed Sheeran. Sam Smith came into the limelight earlier this year, releasing his debut album and also winning the BRITS Critics Choice Award 2014. Adele also received this award in 2008, so perhaps this is a sign that he will be next Bond singer. If we look back at previous theme tunes it would be hard to ignore the musical leg...

28Jan

By Jordan ThorneNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

BAFTA Masterclass with Cinematographer Dick Pope

A rapturous round of applause ensues as Dick Pope, a leading creative force in cinematography, takes to the stage. The academy award nominated Mr Pope is still working today, and his impressive portfolio spans many films including a variety with the iconic film maker Mike Leigh to Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008) – the later which was neglected from the talk, unfortunately. What came next was a selection of personally selected clips, conversation and audience questions. Dick seemed a lovely, humble gentleman passionate about his craft who saw cinematography as an art form. At its core cinematography is the basics of what goes into a shot – the colours, lights and camera shots for instance that creatively manipulate every frame we view and can add so much more depth and intrigue...

28Jan

By Harry CrawfordNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Tolkien’s Cinematic Hurrah

It’s slightly past Christmas, and the final Hobbit cash-in has arrived. Sadly, this is it people - Tolkien will never reach the big screen again - but you’d be surprised to hear it’s not because this is the final film in The Hobbit trilogy. Alas, the decision lies with the Tolkien estate. His descendants have claimed they hate this trilogy, and that his stories have been modernised beyond recognition. Adaptation is a cruel business indeed. What of the film itself? Well, Sir Ian McKellan will forever make a superb Gandalf (nothing new there), same goes for Christopher Lee as Saruman. There’s nothing special about the rest of the cast however; Martin Freeman continues to be as Martin-Freeman-ish as he can whilst the rest contribute to a potent display of overarching masculinity. Director ...

28Jan

By Emma BradleyNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music, Theatre & Performance

Understanding Opera; Misconception & Snobbery

In its prime, opera was considered in much the same way as we now think of cinema. So what keeps so many young people away from opera today? Two obvious reasons are the initial uncertainty of watching entertainment in a foreign language, and perception of opera being exclusively geared to a wealthy elite. However, there are more subtle prejudgements surrounding the genre, such as how popular music today is linked to a more free and casual vocal style as opposed to the vocal precision and intensity of opera. With this in mind, how do we go about dealing with the issue of inaccessibility in opera? Is it more important to have an audience who can access and experience more of the work, or respect the composer’s original opera? Taking libretto (the operatic text) as an example; the composer...

28Jan

By Jordan ThorneNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Jeremy Irvine and Phoebe Fox talk Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death

Following the success of the unnerving first instalment of The Woman in Black, I went to meet with stars of the sequel, Jeremy Irvine and Phoebe Fox, to talk horror, rocking chairs and men in shorts… Q: So, the film draws on many traditions of the horror genre, what is it about these elements that make the film so scary for audiences? Jeremy – A lot of it is down to sound mixing and the way that you prepare a scare through the editing. We all know something is about to happen and then it happens when you don’t expect it, and that’s when you get the best jumps. Phoebe – One of the things that works really well in the first movie, and in the play, that feeds through into our movie is the sound of the rocking chair – it’s terrifying! Q: There’s a very creepy atmosphere, as you menti...

28Jan

By Rory CaineNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

A Love Letter to Netflix

Hey, I would say it’s been a while, but we were together an hour ago when I should have been writing an essay. This is what I need to talk to you about. I think we need to take some time apart. Over summer, it seemed too good to be true. It was a perfect romance; all onesie days and staying up all night. Hours together. Days even? Maybe I’m exaggerating. We just got each other, you know? We had the same taste, we still do. If I wanted to binge watch Desperate Housewives for a week and barely surface from my room, so did you. If I’d come back from a night out and wanted to watch a quick comedy until I fell asleep, you were there with the Pepsi and popcorn – Well, at least it felt like you were. I think some higher power had intended for us to find each other. You’re the Immaculate Co...

28Jan

By Eleanor WaltonNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Tales as old as time

Trends come and go in Hollywood from fashion to A-lister; everything comes in and out of style and the world audiences taste in films is no less fickle. An example? Twilight. It dawned the vampire era in tv and film in 2008 and the fallout from is still being felt with films like The Vampire Academy, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and Warm Bodies all being greenlit following its success. But with the lacklustre response from audiences for similar franchises in comparison to Twilights’ success the tastes have changed. It may be easy for people to claim that now is the era of the superhero with another eleven films planned in the genre over the next five years. But in the shadow of trends rising and falling in recent years has been one far more consistent and it’s seen its fair s...

28Jan

By Thomas McDonaldNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Black Mirror: Please Mr. Brooker, can we have some more?

Over the Christmas period we were lucky enough to be treated to another devilishly evil Black Mirror episode, starring Rafe Spall and John Hamm, warning of the dangers of our “block” culture, where we would rather “block” a person than deal with them face on. It was a typically brilliant and twisted episode, entwining three separate stories into a terrifying, gut wrenching climax, made all the worse by the fact it isn’t all that far away from the world we currently live in. Once again, Charlie Brooker knocked it out of the park, with the episode receiving suitably rave reviews. Some have even started to recognise Brooker as one of the finest script writers working in this country. He has now been the creative force behind over 4 successful tv series, and with Black Mirror has written 6 ...

28Jan

By Polina KatoNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Twin Peaks by David Lynch. THAT GUM YOU LIKE IS GOING TO COME BACK IN STYLE

THAT GUM YOU LIKE IS GOING TO COME BACK IN STYLE 25 years later...Twin Peaks by David Lynch and Mark Frost returns on SHOWTIME 6th of October SHOWTIME announced: «The critically-acclaimed Golden Globe and Peabody Award-winning series Twin Peaks will return as a new limited series. Series creators and executive producers David Lynch and Mark Frost are on board to write and produce all nine episodes of the limited series. Four-time Oscar nominee David Lynch will direct every episode. Twin Peaks will go into production in 2015 to air on the network in 2016, marking the 25th anniversary of when the program last aired. Set in the present day, Twin Peaks will continue the lore of the original series, providing long-awaited answers for the series’ passionate fan base». The show starts with...