My Week in London - Miss Saigon (Review)

Last week I stayed in London and took the opportunity to see 3 shows in the West End I'd been wanting to see for ages, of which I have now reviewed to share my thoughts of them. The second show I saw was the recent Miss Saigon revival and without further ado here is my review!

Miss Saigon (Thursday 30th July, 2:30pm) 

I managed to get one of the last front row day seats for the Thursday matinee of Miss Saigon, one of
the shows I’ve been most eager to see for years. Thankfully I was not disappointed by this extravagant and harrowing production, led by Eva Noblezada’s stunning performance as Kim.

The production values and technical work on this revival is one of the main highlights of the show, as shown through the numerous ambitious set pieces such as “The Morning of the Dragon” and most notably “The Fall of Saigon” flashback, featuring the iconic helicopter sequence. When backed up by Boublil and Schönberg’s beautiful score, the whole show really feels epic. Yet this is not at the expense of the slower, more dramatic numbers and the performances.

Eva Noblezada brought the audience to their feet at the conclusion of the show which speaks for the strength of her performance. Her voice is just gorgeous and any worries in regards to her acting ability based on the show’s earlier reviews were dispelled by her layered performance combining weariness, innocence and ferocity into the tragic young woman.

Jon Jon Briones is excellent as the sleazy Engineer and almost steals the show, while I could barely tell that Richard Carson and Marsha Songcome were in fact understudies as they both sung and acted incredibly as Chris and Gigi respectively.

While I was blown away by the spectacle of the show, I did not feel as emotionally invested in the central romance between Kim and Chris as I felt I should have. The chemistry between Noblezada and Carson was strong but there was still something missing in their relationship, which is what keeps the show from being truly outstanding for me. Nevertheless, Miss Saigon is a thoroughly impressive production that I’d recommend seeing before it bows out of the Prince Edward Theatre at the end of February. 

★★★★

I'll be posting my final review tomorrow! If you haven't already check out my Billy Elliot review and my Memphis review. Thanks for reading! 

My Week in London - Billy Elliot: The Musical (Review)

Last week I stayed in London and took the opportunity to see 3 shows in the West End I'd been wanting to see for ages, of which I have now reviewed to share my thoughts of them. The first show I saw was Billy Elliot and without further ado here is my review!

Billy Elliot: The Musical (Tuesday 27th July, 7:30pm)

Billy Elliot has undoubtedly become one of the West End’s staple musicals and is currently celebrating its tenth year in London. And even after 10 years, it remains an awe-inspiring production filled with breath-taking dance sequences and both heart-wrenching and warming moments.

Even sitting in the Upper Circle at the beautiful Victoria Palace Theatre gave a great view and fully immersed you in the production. The best way to describe the show would be an emotional rollercoaster (cliché I know). Lee Hall’s book and Elton John’s music takes you through a real wide range of emotions on Billy’s journey to becoming a ballet dancer whilst the struggles of the Miners Strike of 1984-85 affect his family and local community, that left me laughing and crying at various parts of the show.

The Billy I saw, Brodie Donougher, was a terrific performer who embodied the character of Billy extremely well and proved to be strong as a singer, actor and particularly a dancer. His Electricity and Swan Lake numbers were jaw-droppingly good and gained rapturous applause from the audience. Other standouts included Deka  Walmsley as Billy’s father, who perhaps emphasized the ‘rollercoaster’ factor the most through his excellent performance channelling the stern, abrasive father who steadily releases his inner love and care for his son whilst maintaining a wicked comic timing (particularly in the ‘Audition’ scene). Wendy Somerville was a more than worthy alternate to Ruthie Henshall as Mrs. Wilkinson, while Gillian Elisa and Chris Grahamson filled out the primary cast terrifically as the rest of Billy’s family.

Elton John’s music goes from being infectious and toe-tapping (Expressing Yourself) to inspiring (Electricity) to greatly affecting (Dear Billy – both renditions) and the show is at its most impressive when merging singing, dance and dynamic choreography into impressive set-pieces (Solidarity). The only struggle was hearing some of the lyrics over the orchestra, particularly in the opening numbers of the show which felt somewhat overcrowded for lack of a better word.

Nevertheless, Billy Elliot remains an electrifying show in the West End that combines great songs, amazing dancing and an extremely talented cast to bring this inspiring and heart-wrenching story to life.

★★★★½

Check out my review of Miss Saigon here and my review of Memphis here! Thanks for reading! 

Mad Max: Fury Road - Review

Source

Mad Max: Fury Road is quite simply the best film of 2015 so far, and one of the best action films I’ve seen in years. After being dormant for over 30 years, Fury Road marks a long-awaited return to the iconic post-apocalyptic Mad Max series of the 1970s and 80s and re-establishes the series as one of the best there is. No film I’ve seen in cinemas in years has enraptured me so thoroughly and had me in such amazement from the start. Director, George Miller combines so many elements – action, acting, cinematography, effects and even the story - effortlessly and creates a cinematic experience that simply has to be seen. This all may seem like hyperbole, but it truly is this good.

Miller manages to put every CGI-action blockbuster that currently populate the box office to shame, by staging as many of his intense action sequences practically as possible, only adding CGI to enhance shots and to create sequences that are impossible to achieve in real life – for example, the incredible and beautiful sand storm scene. This combined with his sharp direction and the flawless editing by Margaret Sixel makes every action scene as electrifying and audacious as the last, climaxing in the nail-biting final 20-minute car chase where the two sides collide with each other explosively.

Despite the obvious focus on action, Fury Road thrives in the story department as well. Miller and his co-writers, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris have generated a refreshingly simple plot and a vast world populated by well-defined characters. This time, a traumatized Max (Tom Hardy) finds himself caught in the middle of an ongoing chase while aiding Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and the oppressed five wives in escaping as they are chased by the leader of the only-known civilisation, Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) who wants his wives back to create children to maintain his rule.

The screenplay constantly subverts expectations, firstly through the fact that most of the character’s backstories and the film’s universe are revealed to the audience solely through implication, relieving the film of the endless clunky exposition seen recently in many action blockbusters. Most significantly, the film arguably makes Furiosa the film’s protagonist, as her actions drive forward most of the film’s story and Charlize Theron completely owns the film and creates an excellent action heroine whose gender is both irrelevant and essential to her motivations and actions as she fights ferociously but in order to liberate the five wives from the oppressive and disgusting treatment they received under Immortan Joe.

This is not to say that Max has been sidelined in the film – as many have suggested – as we see the tortured and almost inhuman Max at the beginning learn to trust and work with others again, somewhat restoring the humanity he once had. Tom Hardy is excellent as the brooding loner, filling the role in a different manner to Mel Gibson’s more charismatic portrayal, while maintaining the intensity of the original character. Nicholas Hoult is similarly superb as war boy, Nux as is Hugh Keays-Byrne as the main antagonist, Immortan Joe, who creates a truly loathsome character to root against.

Mad Max: Fury Road is a film that is not only relentlessly exciting and thrilling in its action, but is also a genuine visual feat – seriously it is one of the most beautiful-looking films I’ve ever seen - and much deeper and subversive in its story and characters than what could be expected. George Miller has created a new benchmark for the 21^st century action blockbuster and it does not look like this can be beat anytime soon. 

★★★★★

Pitch Perfect 2 - Review

Source

Amongst my particular age bracket, 2012’s Pitch Perfect was easily one of the most popular films in years and perhaps the best received ‘teen’ film since Mean Girls in 2004. Anna Kendrick’s Cups became a viral sensation and the film won most of its audience thanks to its many laughs and catchy songs. Making a sequel to a comedy like Pitch Perfect is risky and often all it dishes up is more of the same but usually in a less appealing manner (Think The Hangover Part II). Other times it pays off and we get a film as good if not better than the first one (Think last year’s 22 Jump Street). Thankfully, Pitch Perfect 2 mostly fits into the latter category.

First time director, Elizabeth Banks delivers solid work in the role, directing the many musical numbers with aplomb – particularly the Car Show number by DSM -  and musically, the numbers themselves are as good as the first films, if not a little less crowd-pleasing. The sequel delivers many great laughs, particularly through Banks and John Michael Higgins who return as acapella commentators and the first film’s breakout star Rebel Wilson. However, some jokes feel fairly uncomfortably offensive (for example: any line from Chrissie Fit’s Flo, whose character begins and ends with ‘immigrant who can do backflips’), others fall flat (most notably, Snoop Dogg’s cameo) and the good ones don’t seem quite as uproarious as some from the first.

With regards to plot, its three years on from the first film and the Barden Bellas crash back to the bottom of the acapella group ladder after Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) suffers a wardrobe malfunction in a performance in front of the President. This accident gets them banned from competing on a national level and so to get this ban revoked, they seek to win the World Acapella Championships. This forms the main backbone of the film and more or less follows the same trajectory as the first film.

Where Pitch Perfect 2 branches out is everywhere else, where the group of girls are all facing graduation and some are dealing with the uncertainty of their future better than others. Beca (Anna Kendrick) is attempting to pursue her music producing dreams but faces trouble along the way, Chloe (Brittany Snow) seems to be in denial about the whole concept (after all she is a four-year senior)  and Fat Amy is running from commitment when her on-off lover Bumper (Adam DeVine) suggests they enter a real relationship. Meanwhile, aspiring songwriter Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) joins the group, seeking to gain the Bella experience her mother did.  Screenwriter, Kay Cannon mostly succeeds with developing these characters using these subplots, particularly with Becas which provides a really great and natural progression for the character. As a result, Pitch Perfect 2 is far less formulaic and more character driven than its predecessor, a welcome and pleasing development.

The rest of the girls remain the one-dimensional stock characters they were in the first film and perhaps have even less time than they did in the first film, likely to make room for Wilson’s increased role as well as Steinfeld’s character, which is a shame considering the talent amongst them. Beca’s love interest, Jesse (Skylar Astin) and their former rivals, the Treblemakers also have significantly reduced roles, allowing the awesome European champions, Das Sound Machine to fill the screen, who contribute several outstanding musical numbers to the film.

Overall, Pitch Perfect 2 is a blast from start to finish and is in many ways better than its predecessor through its better development of characters and slightly less clichéd plot. Its humour and musical numbers don’t hit quite as many highs as the first one, but they are still good enough to guarantee a thoroughly enjoyable musical experience. Finally, its just very refreshing to see a female-led and female-directed film promoting friendship and success from females in the mainstream film industry and being such a huge success!

★★★½

Glee: The Top 10 Episodes

The pop-culture phenomenon Glee takes its curtain call tonight, after 121 episodes and over 700 performances over the course of its six year run. It's no question that Glee was never as good as it was in its first season, and the show began to increasingly create and drop important plots in an episode, write characters in entirely different personalities on a weekly basis and use countless songs purely for iTunes sales, rather than to advance the plot. But for a while at least, Glee was really something special, so in celebration of its finale I decided to create a list of its top 10 best episodes (in my opinion of course).

Four Films in a Day - Part Two (Jupiter Ascending + Shaun the Sheep Movie)

Here is part two! Go read Part One before this if you haven't already!

In celebration of finishing our mock exams, my friend & I indulged a ‘full movie day’ at our local cinema and saw 4 films in a day (basically for free may I add – bless you Cineworld Unlimited!). So here is a review for the last two films I saw that day:

JUPITER ASCENDING

Source

Jupiter Ascending is the kind of batshit insane, big-budget epic that you cannot believe was greenlit and funded in this day and age. The Wachowskis’ populate their vast worlds with rat, elephant, mole and lizard people, twinky robot lawyers, dragon bodyguards and shapeshifting ‘gollums’ and create truly magnificent space environments for Channing Tatum as a wolf-soldier with gravity boots to run around with Mila Kunis in. The convoluted plot involves a powerful family of technologically advanced humans who ‘harvest’ planets to maintain their youth and are seeking to hunt down a girl (Kunis) whose genetic signature matches their deceased mothers, giving her a valuable inheritance that they all want. And that is the abbreviated version. Regardless of whether you love it or hate it, you can’t deny that it’s awesome that a wildly ambitious epic like this can still be made.

The film greatest asset is its frankly stunning visuals, not just with CGI of the vast space environments but with the beautifully detailed backgrounds, costumes and character designs that fill the film and make it a treat for the eyes. The universe-building by the Wachowskis in this film deserves more credit than it has been given and this kind of ambition and flair in a big-budget action/sci-fi flick is something I wish was used more often in blockbusters. 

However, the film suffers from a story that is often repetitive and drills through a few too plots in its running time. The characters are fairly thin and unremarkable and the actors don’t do much to help elevate them, though are generally decent (with the exception of a gleefully awful Eddie Redmayne as the film’s primary antagonist whose obscene scene-chewing is just so much fun to watch). Moreover, Kunis’ Jupiter is too often relegated to a ‘damsel-in-distress’ role, while her romance with Tatum seems to come out of nowhere and is pretty groan-worthy.

While these negatives may seem quite significant, the mad ambition and originality of Jupiter Ascending help to elevate it to a level where it is a firmly enjoyable space opera that I wish weren’t tanking so hard at the box office.

★★★

SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE

Source

It was a bold move from Aardman to take Shaun the Sheep and his gang from the titular TV series and stretch out the usual 7-minute episodes to an 80-minute feature film. It features no dialogue at all (aside from ineligible grunts by the Farmer) and while it widens the usual scale of the TV series, there are none of the large, action set-pieces that populate many recent family films. However, the Shaun the Sheep Movie succeeds tremendously on its own merits, never having any issue in conveying its surprisingly dense plot and creating some excellent physical comedy.

Aardman (known for creating Wallace and Gromit, amongst films such as Chicken Run) continues to prove stop-motion animation as a format that can be as visually sharp as the computer-animated films that make up most of the mainstream animation industry, but with twice the personality. Their use of humour and quirkiness always make their efforts feel more authentic and charismatic than most other animations and Shaun the Sheep Movie is no exception to this. It transcends its very young target audience with some great gags – including a hilarious commentary on the vapidity of celebrity – and provides a lot of fun for people of all ages. It would be great to see more animation studios that take it down a notch and really focus on telling a great story as Aardman have in this film. 

★★★★

Please leave a comment telling me your own thoughts on these films, and on my reviews of them! 

Four Films in a Day - Part One (Big Hero 6 + Paddington)

In celebration of finishing our mock exams, my friend & I indulged a ‘full movie day’ at our local cinema and saw 4 films in a day (basically for free may I add – bless you Cineworld Unlimited!). So here is a review for the first two of the films I saw that day:

BIG HERO 6

Source

After the blockbuster success of Frozen, Walt Disney Animation Studios had a lot to live up to with their next release Big Hero 6, an adaptation of a lesser known Marvel Comics title. Luckily, this animated superhero romp is a real treat that stands among Disney’s strong films. Directors, Don Hall and Chris Williams fill the film with excellent action sequences, great humour and colourful & memorable characters.

The plot shines when focusing on the heartfelt relationship between protagonist, Hiro and the huggable healthcare droid Baymax, invented by his deceased brother, Tadashi, finding real poignancy in Hiro’s status as Baymax’s “patient”. His belief that going on adventures and spending time with his friends will help Hiro deal with his unresolved grief offers an unsentimental look into mortality and how it can affect young people, proving Disney’s readiness to tackle serious issues in their blockbusters. However in the film’s third act, this heart is lost slightly due to a descent into the more formulaic waters of a typical ‘team-up’ superhero movie with a fairly unremarkable villain and large action set-piece. It’s a shame but luckily doesn’t take away the impact of the film’s earlier themes.

Overall, Big Hero 6 is a fun and well delivered family film. The city of San Fransokyo is gorgeously animated and designed to combine elements of Japanese and American culture while the central friendship of Hiro and Baymax provides a genuinely heartfelt backbone to the film that is unfortunately diminished by the slightly more lacklustre and unoriginal final act. 

★★★½

PADDINGTON

Source

Out-of-nowhere, Paddington has become one of the highest grossing and best received films of 2014 in the UK and after finally seeing it, it’s not hard to see why. Adapted from the classic Paddington Bear stories, this is an effortlessly charming and delightful family film, filled with wit and fun that while targeted towards a younger audience, is sprinkled with knowing gags for adult audiences that truly make it a film ‘for the whole family’.

Director, Paul King (of The Mighty Boosh) and co-writer, Hamish McColl update the original stories into a modern London setting, with mild satiric undertones critiquing the xenophobia and anti-immigrant beliefs that are all too common in British society. King’s imagining of London somewhat resembles Wes Anderson’s quirky style and creates a lovely – though sadly monocultural – depiction of the city, while the film’s cast of great British character actors - including the likes of Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins as the Brown parents, with Peter Capaldi and Julie Walters in supporting roles – are great fun in their roles.

In conclusion, Paddington is simply a family treat. It may not be pushing many boundaries with its plot but its charm and good-hearted nature has deservedly won audiences over.

★★★★

'Part Two' will be up tomorrow, featuring reviews of Jupiter Ascending and Shaun the Sheep Movie! Also, please leave a comment telling me your own thoughts on these films, and on my reviews of them!