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Shutter Island and other reviews - 17th March

Posted by: Glyn James in MyBlog on Mar 17, 2010

Tagged in: tudno fm , The Scene with Glyn James

Hi there

Quite a few films worth seeing this week - here's my pick.

SHUTTER ISLAND A new film from Martin Scorcese is always an event and this is no exception. The plot is deceptively simple. It’s 1954 and two US marshals, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, are sent to an island institution for dangerous criminals to investigate the unusual disappearance of an inmate. But DiCaprio’s character has suffered tragedy and he begins to find life on the island difficult to cope with. The film plays like Cape Fear, The Prisoner and, inevitably, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The doctor in charge, nicely underplayed by Ben Kingsley with more than a nod to Leo G Carroll in Hitchcock’s Spellbound, is trying to help the patients rather than using sedation and surgery, but DiCaprio suspects he has something to hide. There is a storm brewing and things need to be sorted out…. Part gothic horror, part noir thriller, the film never loosens its grip. DiCaprio is superb, and Scorcese clearly knows how to get the best from his team, which include Emily Mortimer and Max von Sydow. It might not be his best film, but it’s a masterclass in film making, and an enjoyable one too

ALICE IN WONDERLAND 2-D AND 3-D A composite of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and, oddly, Jabberwocky in which a 19-year-old Alice returns to the Wonderland she first visited 10 years before. It's in a bit of a mess, to be honest, and she's seized on as the heroine who can defeat the Red Queen - an excellent performance from Helena Bonham-Carter with a big head - by slaying the Jabberwocky. Yes, I know it should be the Jabberwock, but they don't. It's a dark affair, as you would expect from Tim Burton, and, as is his trademark, the evil court of the Red Queen looks stunning whereas the good White Queen and her palace are cold and anaemic. Amazing 3-D effects, a nice part for Johnny Depp as a flame-haired Mad Hatter and more British CGI thesp cameos than you could shake a vorpal sword at. As usual, ignore the reviews, park your memories of sweet little Alice outside and enjoy the film.

THE LOVELY BONES

A murdered girl watches over her family from a place between earth and heaven to help them come to terms with her death and to help them find her killer. Peter Jackson adapts Alice Sebold’s excellent novel and tries too hard to make it all things to all men. Whereas the novel was perfectly judged, Jackson instead can't decide whether it's a supernatural story, a thriller, a horror film or, disastrously, a comedy with Susan Sarandon as the alcohol fuelled granny. With some script editing and a firmer hand this could have been a much better film. Still, it has a great performance from Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon (like the fish).

LEAP YEAR

This is a sort of 'When O'Malley met Sally'. Amy Adams plays a New York career girl who wants to propose to her dull boyfriend who would have been played by Ralph Bellamy if this was a 1940 screwball comedy. Sadly it isn't, so our heroine comes to Old Oireland where she can propose as it's leap year and you can do that - exactly why you can't do that on any day of the year in New York isn't made clear. But there's bad weather, they divert via Wales (gosh) and a grumpy Irishman, played by Matthew Goode, whose accent veers from Killarney to Kilmarnock, offers to take her to Dublin for a fee. They hate each other, of course but soon....I think you know the rest. The first half is dire, but if you can stomach that it does sharpen up a great deal. Fun if you're a fan of shamrock and irritating omigawd Americans.

Also on are:-

AVATAR

James Cameron’s epic 3-D blockbuster.

GREEN ZONE

Based on the book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran and set in the early days of the Iraq war, an army inspector dispatched to find WMD stumbles upon an elaborate cover-up instead

HACHI – A DOG’S TALE

Based on the true story of a college professor's bond with the abandoned dog he takes into his home

THE CRAZIES

The residents of a small town are plagued by insanity after a mysterious toxin gets into their water supply. Remake of the George Romero 1973 zombie film.

PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF

A student discovers that he is the descendant of Greek gods.

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

A prince, transformed into a frog, has to get a princess to kiss him to break the spell.

I LOVE YOU PHILIP MORRIS (I’ll review this next week)

A lovesick prison inmate goes to great lengths to reconnect with his old cellmate. Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor are the odd couple.

THE BOUNTY HUNTER

A bounty hunter is assigned to track down his bail-jumping journalist ex-wife, but she gives him the slip to chase a lead on a murder cover-up. Oh dear – Jennifer Aniston strikes again

So there we are!

See you next week - Tuesday between 10 and midnight.

Glyn

We'll all have bloggy pudding...

Posted by: Glyn James in MyBlog on Dec 16, 2009

Tagged in: tudno fm , Not On The Playlist

Compliments of the Season!

Well, that's the polite bit over with...now let's get down to NOTP business.

Ahhh - those Russians! Well, that's what Boney M said, and who am I to argue? So Three in a Row featured three Russians in disguise - namely Tchaikowsky, Rachmaninov and Prokoviev as heard on Pet Shop Boys' 'All Over The World', 'All By Myself' by Eric Carmen and the mighty 'I Believe in Father Christmas' by Greg Lake. (Nutcracker, Piano Concerto no.2 and Troika, since you ask).

The Long Song was by the much neglected Janis Ian and the album version of 'Stars' - and could have been written for the talent show wannabees that seem to dominate the charts that once had new music in them - or am I just being nostalgic for a non-existent past?

Kitsch'n'Sink featured Dion deMucci and the Spector-produced 'Make the Woman Love Me'. For us Spector fans (well, not extending beyond his music) I'll obviously be playing most of 'A Christmas Gift For You' next week in Not On The Christmas Playlist along with some quite obscure offerings from other bands.

Charity Shop Corner featured a seasonal album that I think might just go back to the shop, £1.99 or not! It's 'All Your Christmas Favourites'. So far, so good - except they're all sung by the wrong bands. To avoid too much discomfort I chose the shortest track - Sandy Posey with 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day'. Oh dear. Well, I could have chosed Merry Xmas Everybody - by Chicory Tip?!

Other music was by Crowded House, Gabriella Cilmi, K T Tunstall, Furniture, The Beatles, The Rutles, Florence and the Machine, Supertramp, The Jam, Magazine, Elbow, Godley and Creme, Keane, Bessie Smith, Death Cab for Cutie, Aim, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, The Crystals and Mike Nesmith.

Don't forget you can email me on glyn.tudno@gmail.com with your suggestions - or just to wish me happy Solstice!

Have a great time - and remember, STRESSED is DESSERTS spelled backwards!

Glyn

Welcome to new website.

Posted by: Karl Davies in MyBlog on Aug 7, 2009

Tagged in: Welcome , tudno fm

Tudno FM have joined forces with Kindways to launch our new website. As you all know new website are a working progress and this one will only get better.

We now have brand new blogs, friend networks and so much more.

Keep checking the website for updates or listen to Tudno FM 107.8 or online at www.tudnofm.co.uk