Reviews, Niki Boyle
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Sparrow and the Workshop – Caves, Edinburgh, Thu 9 May 2013
22 May 2013
The alt.country/rock trio launch latest album Murderopolis with aplomb
There’s a party atmosphere to tonight’s gig at the Caves, the second of two launch parties for Sparrow and the Workshop’s new album, Murderopolis. Bunting and balloons festoon the stage; a bottle of whisky makes its way round the crowd; and both Sparrow…
Vehicle 19
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10 May 2013
Car-based thriller starring Paul Walker neither fast nor furious enough
Having made his name with souped-up vehicular antics in the Fast and Furious franchise, there’s a small smirk to be had when Paul Walker’s Michael Woods lands in Johannesburg and finds himself mistakenly saddled with a sedentary rental minivan. Fans of…
The Hijacking
26 Feb 2013
Tense Danish thriller about a ship taken over by pirates in the Indian Ocean
Tobias Lindholm’s seafaring thriller explores contrasting claustrophobic environments through the eyes of two protagonists: Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk), the ship’s cook on board a hijacked freighter in the Indian Ocean, and freight firm CEO Peter (Soren…
Fire with Fire
4 Mar 2013
Dull action revenge flick starring Bruce Willis and Josh Duhamel
Oh, Josh Duhamel – is there nothing you can do? In between contributing nothing much to each instalment of the Transformers series, he has popped up in low-to-middling romantic ventures like Safe Haven and New Year’s Eve. He even joined the cast of this…
Citadel
20 Feb 2013
Bleak and morally dubious ‘hoodie horror’ set in Glasgow high rises
The ‘hoodie horror’ subgenre can be neatly summed up as the Daily Mail’s favourite nightmare: good, honest (almost invariably white) folks terrorized by gangs of feral (almost invariably multi-racial) urban youths. 2008 horror Eden Lake and the Michael…
Discopolis, Dems and Jonnie Common among highlights at Big Day In
15 May 2013
Inaugural Edinburgh indoor mini-fest: Wan day, hunners o’ bands
Having successfully assembled an astounding line-up of electronic indie talent from across the UK, the initial concern for Electric Circus’s inaugural Big Day In mini-festival was getting people through the doors, especially given that the…
Spring Breakers
22 Feb 2013
Harmony Korine's ludicrously bad drama about four girls gone wild on spring break
Incoherent, brash and self-consciously 'arthouse' in execution, Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers is an intriguing cinematic spectacle: an awful film that seems aware – nay, aggressively boastful – of its own awfulness. It follows a quartet of…
Gimme the Loot
4 Feb 2013
A naturalistic, sun-kissed indie film about two New York graffiti artists
In a documentary clip at the beginning of fiction feature Gimme the Loot, a trio of New York graffiti artists discuss the art form’s holy grail: tagging the Mets' Apple (a gimmicky trophy that appears whenever the baseball team hit a home run). Sofia…
Dabangg 2
3 Jan 2013
Enjoyable Bollywood action sequel starring Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor
Dabangg, released in 2010, introduced us to hyper-macho super-cop Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan), a sharply dressed unorthodox policeman living and working in rural northern India. The sequel, produced and directed by Arbaaz Khan (who also stars in both…
All Things to All Men
28 Mar 2013
Formulaic cops and robbers thriller starring Gabriel Byrne and Rufus Sewell
The opening minutes of All Things to All Men suggest that something interesting could be in the offing. ‘It’s good to see you again,’ says a gun dealer as stony-faced thief Riley (Toby Stephens) concludes their transaction. ‘Just like old times,’ says…
How to Survive a Plague
22 Feb 2013
Moving, Oscar-nominated documentary about the early days of AIDS campaign group ACT UP
Founded by playwright Larry Kramer and a group of fellow activists in March 1987, the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) is a grassroots group dedicated to influencing US AIDS policy and research. David France’s documentary charts the group’s…
John Dies at the End
20 Feb 2013
Self-conciously bizarre cult comedy offering from director Don Coscarelli
Penned by Senior Editor at Cracked.com David Wong (real name Jason Pargin), the 2009 novel John Dies at the End was a comedy-horror tornado of cultural references, paranormality and winking self-awareness. Cult filmmaker Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba…
The Thieves
13 Feb 2013
Patchy Korean heist flick with an overly large cast but some impressive action set-pieces
Korean writer/director Choi Dong-Hoon follows up previous efforts The Big Swindle and Tazza: The High Rollers with another crime caper aiming to be the Eastern equivalent of Ocean’s Eleven. Unfortunately, The Thieves comes in rather below those slick…
Grassroots
13 Nov 2012
Eminently dislikeable political comedy starring Jason Biggs
There’s a lot of things going for Grassroots. It’s a political comedy timed for release when US election fervour is at its peak; it focuses on the same type of community-led campaigning that won Barack Obama his first term; it has the feelgood status of…
Stephen Collins – The Gigantic Beard that was Evil
26 Apr 2013
Collins’ graphic novel inspects the havoc wreaked on a neat community by unruly facial hair
On the bland, egg-shaped island of Here, Dave lives a comfortably dull life: by day he performs a data-processing job; by night he sketches the view from the windows of his suburban home. Like the other inhabitants of Here, Dave is wary of change and…
The Host
3 Apr 2013
This Stephenie Meyer-adapted sci-fi has some good ideas let down by dull scripting and wooden acting
Whoever decided to combine the talents of author Stephenie Meyer and writer-director Andrew Niccol should never eat lunch in this town again. Both have form in coming up with intriguing, high concept storylines: an adolescent human falls in love with…
Blancanieves
26 Feb 2013
1920s set silent take on the Snow White story, with seven bullfighting dwarves
It’s going to be difficult to get through a review of Blancanieves without mentioning The Artist, so let’s get it out of the way now. Both films are European, black and white, reduced format silent films in romanticised 20th century period settings.
Mama
18 Feb 2013
Feature-length version of short is a supernatural tale of feral children
Picked up under Guillermo del Toro’s production wing following an utterly terrifying short film, the feature length version of Mama comes to the screen under auspicious circumstances. The film initially makes good on these promises, but as is often the…
Men at Lunch
13 Feb 2013
Lightweight documentary about the iconic New York photograph, Lunch Atop a Skyscraper
The photograph of 11 construction workers grabbing a bite to eat on a girder 800 feet above street level is one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, capturing the spirit of the American Dream and fuelling the mythic ideal of New York as the…
Biffy Clyro – SECC, Glasgow, Mon 1 Apr 2013
4 Apr 2013
Simon Neil and co continue to smuggle hard rock weirdness past the arena anthems crowd
Given that Biffy’s ‘Many of Horror’ was (in)famously given the X Factor seal of approval back in 2010, it’s impressive that they continue to plough such weird and hard-rocking furrows alongside their more radio-friendly anthemic fare. Granted, the…
Jonnie Common, River of Slime and Shift-Static - Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, Sat 9 Mar 2013
18 Mar 2013
Mixed bag from Song, By Toad Bad Fun night
Tonight’s edition of Edinburgh indie label Song, By Toad’s BAD FUN series serves as a showcase for the world of current alt.electronica. First up, Shift-Static do a nice line in off-kilter electro-pop, melodic yet unafraid of some forays into…
The History of Future Folk
22 Feb 2013
Charming but slight sci-fi music comedy in the vein of Flight of the Conchords
Cosmic-folk twosome Future Folk started life on the underground New York music scene, playing acoustic guitar-and-banjo tunes with sci-fi lyrics to crowds of bemused punters. The gentle whimsy and a focus on music rather than jokes puts their foot…
Dirty Beggars – Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Wed 5 Dec 2012
13 Dec 2012
The bluegrass quintet headline a varied line-up of folk/roots acts
Adam Holmes has gathered together an impressive cross-section of folk/roots musicians for the latest edition of Adam Holmes and the Embers Present... Starting off with the beautiful vocal harmonies of Jenn Butterworth & Laura Beth Salter (or Jenn and…
Dan Mangan – Oran Mor, Glasgow, Sun 25 Nov 2012
12 Dec 2012
Raw, vulnerable alt.indie folk with spaced-out banter
‘I don’t think this is the most jet-lagged I’ve ever been onstage – I think this is the most jet-lagged I’ve ever been.’ There’s a hint of ragged, rough-round-the-edges-ness to Canadian indie-folkie Dan Mangan’s gig tonight, due no doubt to his…
Starbuck
28 Nov 2012
Likeable but flawed comedy drama about a prolific sperm donor
David Wozniak (Patrick Huard) is a loser. He works – barely – at his dad’s butcher shop; he neglects his girlfriend Valerie (Julie LeBreton); he’s borrowed money from gangsters to start his own domestic pot farm, and is unable to pay it back. On top of…
