EAST IS EAST - THEATRE REVIEW

EAST IS EAST AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: Tuesday 13 - Saturday 17 January 2015
Performance Reviewed: Wednesday 14 January (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

At the risk of going there, it’s something of a charged time to be experiencing a show like East is East, given the recent political and social bubbling over the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris. As every Tom, Dick and armchair Harry attempts to define and dictate what Islam is and Muslims are, the answer, it seems, lies in a show set in a British Muslim household in the early 1970’s, based on a 1990’s film of the same name. It’s startling, and in a strange way quite refreshing, seeing how timeless and cyclical some of the central issues and themes are.

Mercifully, East is East remains confidently self-contained, and whilst granted there are the odd throwaway inferences of a ‘them versus us’ mentality to the wider British population, generally this is a show predominantly centred on a Muslim, Pakistani family dealing with a slew of issues and problems both religious and familial within and of itself. It’s infinitely more focused and compelling as a result, as proud, principled business owner George Khan (Ayub Khan Din, writer of both the play and the film) struggles to accept the changing times, personified in his six spirited, wilful and frequently disobedient children. Regimented, stubborn and fiercely proud, Khan is a skilfully written and masterfully played character - at times an aggressive, blindly ignorant borderline-tyrant, at others a whimsical, charming family man evidently trying to do best by both his family and religion in the way he has been raised and taught to do so. Neither extremity is painted as absolute, and in many ways Khan’s plight is the shows most compelling and touching thread, especially in this production. As he sits transfixed in front of his TV following the ensuing Indian-Pakistan civil war crises, a reporter cites ‘Pakistan will never be the same again’, and the analogy couldn’t be clearer. It’s the Pakistan of Khan’s home, head and heart that are just as much under attack, by the modernity and will of his own children, as any affairs on foreign soils.

GHOST - THEATRE PREVIEW

CITY GETS IN THE 'SPIRIT' AS GHOST THE MUSICAL ARRIVES IN BIRMINGHAM FOR CHRISTMAS!

Celebrated tearjerker musical, based on the 1990 Oscar-Winning hit film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg arrives at the New Alexandra Theatre this week to begin an extended Christmas and New Year Run!

Dates: Tuesday 17 December 2013 - Sunday 05 January 2014

Preview by Kyle Pedley

Theatre fans in Birmingham and beyond had best get their hankies and tissues at the ready this Christmas and New Year season as one of the most celebrated touring musical theatre productions of the year returns to the Midlands to see out 2013 and welcome in the New Year in the city's New Alexandra Theatre. Technically audacious and visually stunning, our previous review of this same touring production gave it a coveted 5 out of 5 stars, citing it as "Single-handedly the most ambitious, bombastically visceral and tirelessly inventive touring musical production[s] we've had the pleasure of experiencing.... an at-times breathtakingly dynamic and kinetic explosion and exploration of eye-candy and splendour".

(A)MUSINGS GIVEAWAY - Jack the Giant Slayer Blu-Ray!

To celebrate the release of Jack The Giant Slayer on DVD and Blu-Ray, we've teamed up with our friends at Warner Bros. and Partners Hub to give one of our lucky readers a FREE Jack The Giant Slayer Combo Pack - containing the movie on Blu-Ray, DVD AND Ultraviolet so you can watch it whenever and wherever!

About Jack the Giant Slayer:

X-Men director Bryan Singer takes on the classic children's tale and gives it a modern injection of action and spectacle, with a cast including Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Skins, X-Men: First Class), Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge!, Star Wars) and Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones) in a fantastic, thrilling fantasy adventure for the entire family!

For details on how to enter see below the Jack the Giant Slayer blog app

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY - FILM REVIEW

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

Release Date: 12 July 2013
Director: Dan Scanlon
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Starring: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren (voices)
Screening Reviewed: London Press Screening

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Ah, Disney-Pixar. Never again shall I doubt the partnership of the house of mouse and jumping desklamp as arbiters of the movie sequel. My initial trepidation at the very concept and essence of Monsters University combined with a general nonchalance for prequels as a whole meant I was more than prepared for this latest offering to be a passable but altogether unremarkable affair that would surely pale in comparison to its brilliant, charming and imaginative predecessor. In fairness, these concerns were not altogether unfounded - Pixar's output of late has been a little hit and miss to say the least (Brave, anyone?) and their most recent sequel took an already below-standard franchise and elevated it to new levels of stagnancy with Cars 2 just two short years ago. And yet thankfully Monsters University washes away any bitter aftertaste of oil, grime or haggis (forgive the Celtic stereotyping) and presents a vibrant, gleeful and irrepressibly charismatic romp that is every bit as enjoyable, hilarious and entertaining as Monsters Inc. before it.

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL - FILM REVIEW

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

Release Date: 8 March 2013 (UK)

Director: Sam Raimi

Running Time: 130 Minutes

Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff

Screening Reviewed: London Press Screening

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Following on from the unprecedented success of 2010’s Alice in Wonderland live action sequel-of-sorts, it was unsurprising to see Disney mine their seemingly endless supply of franchise in the hopes of re-igniting that particular spark of success with the world of Oz. Whilst that may be a cynical perspective to approach Oz the Great and Powerful with, the similarities and overall tone and feel of the two movies are markedly similar just from first glance, even with a different (and equally distinctive) director on board. Fortunately, whereas Alice was something of an incoherent and poorly realised mess lost under a sea of questionable CGI, Oz the Great and Powerful is a much more confident and inventive affair which ends up being a perfectly serviceable prequel to the events of the beloved MGM classic.

2013 MUST-VISITS - THE MAKING OF HARRY POTTER

Amongst the excitement of the awards season coming into full swing, we've also been taking a look at Film and Theatre related attractions and experiences here in the UK that may be worth your consideration when planning trips and breaks in 2013. Top of that list is the excellent Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter. Editor-in-Chief Kyle was invited to a trade and press visit to experience the attraction for himself last week and has put together the following review and report on the first of our must-visits of 2013.

WARNER BROS. STUDIO TOUR LONDON -
THE MAKING OF HARRY POTTER

Attraction Review
by Kyle Pedley, Editor-in-Chief

Having been enthralled by franchise cinema from an early age, seeing the likes of Jurassic Park in cinemas multiple times at an age when most children have yet to see the inside of their nearest multiplex, I have similarly attended my fair share of conventions, touring film attractions and making-of exhibitions. Naturally they have varied in size, scope, quality and authenticity, but none of them have achieved the scale or excellence of what Warner Bros. are offering with their superb making of experience at Leavesden Studios.

When looking at film-related ventures and experiences for the new year, there really is nowhere better to start than this incomparable Harry Potter experience which, thanks to it’s diversity and depth of content provides something the whole family can appreciate, be they Potter aficionados or clueless muggles who have never seen a minute or read a page of the beloved saga. Naturally, it is fans of the series who will benefit most from this experience, getting to venture through such iconic sets and locales as the Hogwarts Great Hall and Diagon Alley, have a peek into the offices of Professors Dumbledore and Umbridge, Hagrid’s hut, hitch a ride on the Knight Bus and go visit the homes of the wizards themselves - knocking on 4 Privet Drive or peeking into the homely idyll of the Weasley’s Burrow. Costumes, props, prosthetics, creature models, maquettes and much more adorn every inch of the sizeable tour which you are generously permitted to not only photograph at leisure but also experience generally at your own pace (within your allotted time slot).

LES MISERABLES - FILM REVIEW

LES MISERABLES

Release Date: 11 January 2013 (UK)

Director: Tom Hooper

Running Time: 158 Minutes

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen

Screening Reviewed: National Press Screening

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Given the renaissance of musical movies and adaptations which seemed to kick into gear with Moulin Rouge and Chicago in the early 00’s, it is a little surprising that it has taken so long for the longest running and most celebrated musical theatre production of all to get it’s big screen adaptation. In many ways the show seems a natural fit for the big screen - its ensemble narrative handling both the grandiose and the tender and passing as it does through time and geography at a relatively brisk pace. Yet for all of the cinematic flavourings of the stage show, it also presents a number of curiosities which make this screen adaptation a less atypical affair.

Les Miserables is for all intents and purposes entirely musical, with the majority of its dialogue sung rather than spoken, and there being very little in the way of stopping for set pieces or choreography - from the bombastic opening shipyard sequence through to its tender finale, this is a story told almost exclusively through song. The benefit of this is apparent from the offset, deftly avoiding any of the stop-and-start nature that plagues so many musical adaptations. These are not show numbers attempting to further the story - they are the story itself, the essence of the film and tale being told. The unfortunate downside of this perma-musical approach is that occasionally the more indulgent or frivolous moments from the stage show which could easily have been cut threaten to venture into self-parody or redundancy on screen.

DJANGO UNCHAINED - FILM REVIEW

DJANGO UNCHAINED

Release Date: 18 January 2013 (UK)

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Running Time: 180 Minutes

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L Jackson

Screening Reviewed: UK Press Screening

Reviewed by Henry Kelly

Over the past ten or so years, Quentin Tarantino has diligently been working through his favourite genres, like a collector sifting through old records. Tarantino’s desire to find different and more interesting environments to play out his love for exploitation cinema finds a brilliant home in the Spaghetti Western aesthetic of Django: Unchained.

While his recent films have felt akin to a geeky kid at school donning the shades and ripped jeans aesthetic of lower-budgeted exploitation films, with Django: Unchained, Tarantino still allows himself to indulge but the film overall feels lighter and more at peace with itself.

Set at the midpoint of the 19th century, in the southern states of America, the world of Django: Unchained is one constructed around slavery almost to a point of hyper-reality. It’s prolific use of the ‘N word’ and larger-than-life characters exist in a post-modern vacuum that eliminates the chance for a sensitive dissection of an ugly part of American history. This will be a disappointment - or even cause offence for some - who would not like to see such themes handled with such a light touch. For the less disconcerting however, Django: Unchained is an awfully entertaining film.

BRAVE: MOVIE REVIEW

BRAVE

Release Date: 17th August (UK)*

Director: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell

Running Time: 100 Minutes

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters and Robbie Coltrane (Voices)

Screening Reviewed: US Theatrical Release

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

For a Studio so proudly determined in developing consistently original and unique cinematic outings over the course of it’s highly successful existence, Brave seems to represent the first time originality and purely self-contained storytelling have fallen by the wayside for animation giants Pixar. Whilst this may not deliberately have been the case, it is difficult to ignore the fact that their latest feature length outing, which depicts the story of feisty Scottish princess Merida, is their most pedestrian, by-the-numbers offering since 2006’s Cars (ignoring that films risible 2011 sequel). 

At a time when Katniss Everdeen has given ‘girl power’ its latest shot in the arm (likewise with bow in hand) and other releases such as Snow White and the Huntsman have similarly empowered their princess leads, so much of what Brave seems set on telling and showing us with its central protagonist seems a little old hat and unremarkable to say the least. Little time is wasted on establishing Merida as an independent and headstrong yet fortunately quite likeable young woman, daughter to Billy Connolly’s bawdy King Fergus and Emma Thompson’s resolute yet overbearing Queen Elinor, and within the first few opening scenes the tension and dynamics between the royal family are very effectively laid out. Merida feels stifled by royal protocol and the way of life expected of her whilst Elinor is the atypical over-zealous parent who is firm out of necessity yet distanced and detached as a result.