Cemetery Junction

Cemetery Junction is the new film from Ricky Gervais and his often time comedy partner Steve Merchant.

It tells the story of a group of friends who have grown up and found themselves stuck in 1970's Reading.

Freddie (Christian Cooke) wants to better himself, refusing to end up employed in a factory like his Dad. Bruce (Tom Hughes) has dreams of leaving the town he was born and grew up in, mainly due to the strained relationship with his father who he blames for his mother leaving them. Snork (The Green Green Grass' Jack Doolan) is the last of the trio, that's not his real name by the way, but in fact a nickname that brings with it many amusing introductions throughout the film.

While the plot of the film may not be the most original you'll see this year, it has some blistering performances sprinkled throughout that make it a funny and yet at times powerful piece of cinema.

Jack Doolan stands out in every scene that he's in, partially due to his characters unusual appearance compared to the other two lead actors, but mainly because his delivery of his lines and comic timing are spot on. While both Cooke and Hughes give solid and at times touching performances in their respective roles, they never manage to reach the heights that Doolan does as Snork. The down side to the Snork character however is that for all the fantastic lines he's given he remains a very one dimensional character. Due to the complete lack of back story or exploration of the character you are left feeling that he's there only for comic relief.

On the subject of comic relief David Earl is a revelation as cafe owner Brian, a man who decided to lower his standards and hasn't looked back since. He and Snork truly are the comedy heart of this film.

Ralph Fiennes is fantastic as the sexist and completely un-PC Mr Kendrick. He is Freddie's boss and also the father of Julie (Felicity Jones), Freddie's love interest during the film. He also acts as a template for the Fiance of his Daughter Mike Ramsay (Watchmen's superb Matthew Goode) setting an example to his future son in law as to how to treat his fiance.

I could go on, but i think it would be better just to say that Cemetery junction is an excellent movie, which while a tad predictable at times is still a funny, inteligent, touching and heart warming film that has an excellent soundtrack and a brilliant ensemble cast.

Robinho

How do you get Pikachu on the bus? Pokemon.

I know, a terrible title, but then i can't guarantee the blog will be any better.

Another day brings yet another bargain from those wonderful people at game, but this particular game was not one that i had even contemplated buying until very recently.

A little background information will probably help explain why i ended up buying what has turned out to be a very good RPG.

During the days of the Gameboy colour i "inherited" a copy of Pokemon Silver from my sister, i played it for a while until i got stuck trying to chop down some weird looking tree and until that point i enjoyed it greatly. I put it away and forgot it was there.

Fast forward to a few months ago when i was clearing my room out for the umpteenth time due to a sever lack of space (i'll probably get to that story in another entry by the way). Out of a drawer i recovered my old Gameboy colour and the Pokemon game that i had given up on all those years ago. Both still worked and so i indulged in a little retro gaming. Unfortunately the on board battery used for memory retention was flatter than a pancake so any progress i made was quickly forgotten and i was forced to start over when i turned the system on again the following day. I put the game back in the drawer, took out my DS and forgot all about the land of Johto.

Since i reclaimed my DS from my mother in February (i only managed that by getting one for her) i have been experiencing something of a DS rennaisance. My Japanese Coach, Mario, 42 all time classics and embarrassingly Nintendogs have all gotten a decent play through, but i have kept my eye out for Pokemon since i had my memory jolted by that room clearance discovery.

All of this brings me to this Thursday just gone. Having bought some new clothes from Blue inc and made a very tidy saving into the bargain i thought i'd see what was available in HMV and Game, as is my usual habit. I picked up Kate Nash's new album "My best friend is you" in HMV and then headed off to Game.

I thought i'd have a look for a second hand copy of Pokemon while i was in there and very soon was asked by the sales assistant if i needed help finding anything. Turns out that someone had traded the newly released Pokemon Heart Gold back to them without even opening the box, 25 quid for a brand new game (I had a fiver on my loyalty card too). Nice.

Nintendo and Game Freak have done an excellent job of updating what could just as easily been a lazy port of the original Pokemon an Gameboy with nicer graphics. They have included a few extra touches and features that make it a full fledged DS game such as wireless gaming support a save anywhere feature and most importantly they have implemented the stylus control in such a way that it is almost as though the game should have always been on a system with touch support.

I've also been impressed by the fact that you can play this game almost entirely without touch if you so wish. They don't miss the opportunity to shill their wares either, you're character has their own Wii in their room, and when you investigate it you are informed in no uncertain terms that the Wii is the most popular console in all of Johto. I can't say that bothers me though, since they have obviously put a lot of effort into this game and it shows.

The whole game is both old and new at the same time, the additions of the previously mentioned touch controls and shiny graphics give it a new lease on what has already been a good ten year life, and the new Pokewalker (a tamagotchi that you download your Pokemon to) is a great innovation that not only helps you grind levels in a whole new way but it also promotes activity in kids.

Overall i have to say i'm very happy that i bought this game. Normally i'm not one for ports of old games on new systems, but it's obvious to me that Game Freak have spent a lot of time making this game not only look good but play well and fully take advantage of the new systems features.

Now if you'll excuse me, i have to catch 'em all.

Robinho

A purchase that will live in inFAMY

It's just a quick one today, and the title practically says it all. After work on Thursday i decided to go into town and have a look around the shops. I hadn't intended on buying anything, with 4 days to go until payday i was feeling decidedly brassic anyway. HMV seems to be a regular haunt for me at the moment, so i started there looking through the DVD's and Albums on offer in their sale.

The problem with most of HMV's stock is that even at sale prices they are often more expensive than the same product on Play.com or Amazon. Having decided to leave HMV and go home i walked past Game, for some reason i was drawn in, probably just idle curiosity at what their prices were like at the moment.

Browsing the isles i picked up a couple of pre-owned Xbox 360 games that were good value for their age. World Championship Snooker: Real 2009 (I really enjoy a good snooker game) and 2K Sports The Bigs 2 were both £8. My next find was the most surprising of all. inFAMOUS is the critically acclaimed super hero sand box game where you choose the moral choices of the main character. Released May 29th last year it sold like hotcakes and was given a 9.2/10 rating by IGN's Greg Miller. This background information is important because i can't think of another game that sold so well and was released so little time ago being available for the price I'm about to drop on you.

£10 for a brand new, sealed box copy of inFAMOUS. Jealous? no need, the offer is still on at Game.

Long live great deals!

Robinho

If music be the food of love, i'm smitten.

A few years ago i was watching a random music channel when a song called "Everybody's gone to war" started to play. It's a song written and performed by a Jersey born singer songwriter by the name of Nerina Pallot. I was so taken by the song that i bought the album "Fires" the next day. A few days later later i bought her debut album, Dear Frustrated Superstar. These were two of my favourite albums of that or any other year, and in fact are still regularly to be heard on my iPod.

Pallot has a talent for meaningful lyrics, the previously mentioned song "Everybody's Gone To War" was for me at least the soundtrack to the Lebanese-Israeli conflict of 2006. The idea behind the song, that war really is a pointless thing and that the only sure result is the death of the people you know, really stood out to me. When i used some lyrics from the song in a forum signature a friend of mine, who has a lot of family in Lebanon and whose father is himself Lebanese remarked that it was extremely fitting at the time.

The reason I'm writing about this is that last Friday i found out that Nerina had in fact released a third album in October of last year entitled "The Graduate". I was ashamed that i didn't find this out until a good 6 months had passed. I bought it as soon as i could find a copy, listened to it constantly over the weekend that followed and finally came to this conclusion. Nerina Pallot is now easily one of my favourite artists of all time.

The album gets off to a storming start. "Everything's Illuminated" and "Real Late Starter" are anthemic pop songs with a definite rock music flavour running through them. The rock momentum continues with "The Right Side" which sets out it's intentions from the get go. Guitars are front and center on this track, but Pallot's voice is never overpowered and is the driving force behind this, and every other song for that matter. "Human" allows for a little respite from the energetic pop/rock that has come before it, it's a laid back song with strings, acoustic guitar and drum beat the only instruments of any note. Again it allows Nerina to make full use of her voice to push the story forward.

The fifth track on "The Graduate" is probably my favourite on the whole album, the main reason being it is unashamedly fun. Trumpets herald the start of the song along with a piano and plenty of... yep guitars. "I Don't Want To Go Out" is the sort of song that could put a smile on the most miserable of faces, mine included.

"Coming Home" and "It Starts" are two more laid back songs that help balance this album out, but don't let that put you off. The lyrics in "Coming Home" in particular are truly affecting when listened to closely. Another stand out song on this album is undoubtedly "When Did I Become Such A Bitch?". It's upbeat, fun, and Nerina's selected use of a posh English accent and pauses in the score really helps make it unique.

The last two songs help wind the album down. "Cigarette" is another one to employ acoustic guitars and strings to showcase Pallot's beautiful lyrical performance while "It Was Me" is a fitting closure to any body of work. It's tinged with sadness and sentimentality but feels exactly right. It's rare, at least in my music collection, that a album can be so happy go lucky one minute and then so sad the next. It's a great credit to Nerina that she is able to write and perform such varied work, and even more so that she is able to make them all fit together so well on one album.

Nerina Pallot, has, in three albums, managed to create a diverse body of work in which anyone can find something to like. Her music can make you feel like jumping up and down like a little kid, or question the events taking place in distant countries. This third album, is in my belief, her best yet. It best displays her diversity as both a writer and performer and shows that great tunes married with intelligent lyrics are a dynamite combination that she can get right.

You can listen to some of her work on YouTube by visiting the official Nerina Pallot TV channel which i will link to below. Remember, if you like what you hear please buy her albums. Hard work and talent like this needs to be rewarded.

Robinho

http://www.youtube.com/user/nerinapallottv

This post is bigger on the inside...

So it has begun..........again.

Saturday April 3rd marked the return of Doctor who, and after a year without regular episodes it was needless to say highly anticipated. Before i sat down to watch it i had the same reservations as many others, almost all of which were to do with the many changes that had come about since David Tennant and Russell T Davies signalled their intent to leave after the 4 specials shown throughout 2009.

I'm happy to report however that at least in my eyes, almost all of the changes that have been made are for the better.

When Russell T Davies announced he was leaving Doctor Who some wondered if that signalled the coming to an end of the Who Revival. Luckily Davies had already spotted in Steven Moffat somebody who could lead the series to the same heights that he had himself.

Moffat is no stranger to the series either, having written some extremely tense and dramatic scripts for Tennants' Who, including my personal favourite "Blink". An episode so tightly written and superbly acted that the statues never actually moved and were still just as chilling as a Dalek or Cyberman bearing down on you. It was also an episode that showed that the Doctor doesn't even have to be on screen for a story to be a classic, something that "Love and Mosters" also proved to great effect.

RTD's Who-niverse was a camp one to say the least, he expanded it with characters like Captain Jack Harkness, entire spin off series like Torchwood and even brought back favourites like Emma Jane and K-9.

The last of the four 2009 specials showed Tennants Doctor saying goodbye to many of the elements that RTD had introduced during his run in charge. It was widely thought at the time that the new Who would choose to leave many of these elements behind and start over. That decision is for the best, because with this new series Moffat will start to write his own chapter in the story of the last Time Lord. Over time i don't doubt that many of the elements that Davies brought to the party will return but for the time being it's good that Moffat is striking out on his own.

Karen Gillen really impressed me in her series debut, as did her real life cousin and on-screen younger self Caitlin Blackwood. It's another sign of good writing that when another doctors assistant is brought in, she is poles apart from any of the others that have come before her in the new era. Billy Piper, Freema Agyeman and Catherine Tate all brought very different attitudes to the role, somehow Gillens character has managed to take all the best qualities of her predecessors combine them and not come off as a copy of any of them.

Gillen's acting was superb throughout the season opener, and it certainly didn't hurt that for the majority of the episode she was wearing a rather fetching police woman kiss-o-gram outfit. it's early days but i have a feeling that this actress might have a great career ahead of her.

One more point to touch on, and obviously the biggest of the lot. The new Doctor. When i heard that Matt Smith had been cast i had plenty of doubts. "He's too young", "He looks too weird", "I've never heard of him". We probably all thought at least one of those things when he was announced. I'm glad that they stuck with him though, because his performance in the series premier was extremely impressive. He was wacky, zany, confident, charming, exuded charisma whenever he was on screen and most importantly he felt like the Doctor.

It's very early to judge him yet, one episode does not make a season after all, but there's certainly enough evidence here to say in some confidence that Doctor Who is in good hands.

There's on last thing that needs touching on and this will be a brief point. The new T.A.R.D.I.S interior feels confused and cluttered. I may grow to like it but at the moment it doesn't seem to be any improvement over the old design. Out with the old though...

Robinho