Kanye follows up Graduation with a brilliant album that you will almost certainly not get on the first listen, if you’re expecting anything like Graduation or Late Registration. Kanye is of course reknowned for his hip-hop, but he takes a turn towards left-field here, experimenting with synth-pop style beats, and heavy on the synth-drums - indeed, half the name of the album, 808s, is for the drum machine used to produce the all-pervasive thumping drum line. ...
Rocknrolla: Superrrrrb. Guy Ritchie at his best since Snatch, which surprisingly was way back in 2000. Weaves a tale of property, money and gangsters in (where else but) London, and does a damned good job of it. While you might only recognise one or two of the faces in here, most of the cast do well to bring something different to the table. Dry humour prevades, and for once a foreshadowed sequel is not unwelcome. ★★★★ ...
Patapon - it’s a reasonably simple idea executed brilliantly: your button keys correspond to different drums, and combos timed to 4-beats-to-the-bar is like issuing a command. Mashing a “rythmn” game with a platformer that has some of the quirkiest characters and storyline you can think of. Unfortunately, it is actually really really hard. It’s deceptively simple - keeping a beat going isn’t too hard if you’re musical enough, but the more advanced commands that come into play later on requires precision timing, and the game is rather unforgiving. It’s also very much you’re-on-your-own in many parts, requiring you to pick up on clues that are far from obvious in order to progress, or resort to looking up a guide. Hand-holding is bad, but progression in a platformer should be fairly obvious, one would assume. ...
Burn After Reading: Black-as-pitch comedy spoof of the spy thriller genre from the Coen brothers, starring Pitt, Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton and J. K. Simmons - if that’s not a by-line for a winning movie, then I know not what will convince you. I love movies where seemingly simple storylines weave into an intricate plot, and this is probably one of the best that I’ve seen of the type. Definitely not one for the kids though, particularly with Malkovich in fine form as a swearing alcoholic ex-C.I.A. analyst at the core of the hijinks. ★★★★ ...
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - There’s only so many times you can kill the same bad guy, right? Which is why Rick and Evie are now All Grown Up and settled in Oxfordshire, England, following World War II (where their exploits for the British Government have set them up for the life of landed gentry). They’re thrown back into things when their son Alex (now very much grown up from his showing in The Mummy 2) uncovers the terracotta warriors… only now, they’re mummies from an ancient curse, and the Emperor isn’t happy with his millenia-long sleep. ...