Soundtrack Radar: The Great Gatsby is GREAT!

Baz Luhrman's delayed 3D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's  classic novel, The Great Gatsby, is just around the corner with a stellar cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton.

If we forget about the inclusion of 3D gimmickery for a film of this pedigree, the real surprise is the soundtrack.

1. 100$ Bill - JAY Z

2. Back To Black - Beyoncé, André 3000

3. Bang Bang - will.i.am

4. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) - Fergie, Q-Tip, GoonRock

5. Young And Beautiful - Lana Del Rey

6. Love Is The Drug - Bryan Ferry, The Bryan Ferry Orchestra

7. Over The Love - Florence + The Machine

8. Where The Wind Blows - Coco O.

9. Crazy In Love - Emeli Sandé, The Bryan Ferry Orchestra

10. Together - The xx

11. Hearts A Mess - Gotye

12. Love Is Blindness - Jack White

13. Into The Past - Nero

14. Kill And Run - Sia

We've had a listen and pick Sia's Kill & Run as the best of the bunch, whereas Emeli Sandé's cover of 'Crazy In Love' ranks as one of the low-points, (sounding like someone wanted to make a down-tempo version of Doop) of an otherwise varied running order.

Using rappers, dubsteppers and rockers maybe off-kilter with the period (and I couldn't spot a significant black actor in the film), but this is typical of a new wave of films where era-appropriate music is disregarded in favour of pushing major label artists.

Hear for yourself a 30 second snippet of each song from the forthcoming soundtrack below.


The Great Gatsby is out on general release in 2D and 3D on 16th May in the UK.

See 35 minutes of Beyond: Two Souls from Tribecca Film Festival

In a bizarre, but natural move, the world of gaming and film collided earlier this week as the much hyped Beyond: Two Souls made its debut at the Tribecca Film festival and forms part of the 'competition' entries - a first for a major festival.

Head of Quantic Dream and wanna-be games auteur, David Cage, unveiled a chunky 35 minutes of gameplay from the upcoming title to an audience more akin to viewing fully fledged films.

The game is the spiritual (pun-intended) successor to the wildly popular Heavy Rain (2010), which shuns traditional conventions of gaming and places the gamer in the control of a cinematic choose-your-own-story. This time, Cage has roped in Hollywood's Ellen Page (Juno, Hard Candy) and Williem Dafoe (The Hunter, Antichrist) to add credibility to his tale.

Players take control of Jodi (Page) in a complex tale of revenge and survival with one exception; Jodi has a supernatural entity following her every step named Aiden. Not much is known about the poltergeist that accompanies her every move - but suffice to say, it's a malevolent force that is reminiscent of the titular one in Spielberg's 1982 film.

Beyond:Two Souls moves away from tired concepts and stereotypes associated with games, as proven in Cage's previous games, and the sequence below covers oral sex, childbirth and arson. The script for the game itself sits at 2000 pages long, with several paths and unique stories to be told at the behest of the gamer.

Technologically, Beyond: Two Souls is at the peak of the current generation's gaming capabilities - involving high production values, talent and bespoke motion capture to bring as much realism to the narrative as possible.

Cage has announced that there will be (a rather short) 10 hours of 'gameplay' - whether this will account for cut scenes and periods of non-interactive play is yet to be established.

From a non-gaming standpoint, the game looks extremely impressive: a realistic and mature approach to move the two industries closer together
 
Already being criticised by some of the gaming fraternity as 'another film' and belittling its gameplay elements to 'simple button pressing' in comparison to other games, Cage has a tough task ahead to convert any die-hard Call Of Duty fans - but those he has won over in his back catalogue can be sure to have their heart-strings plucked from their chest once more.


As another exclusive for the Playstation 3 system, Beyond:Two Souls will be released 8th October 2013.

Film Review: Iron Man 3

Cert 12A. 130 mins. Prod. Marvel Studios, Paramount Pictures, Fairview Entertainment
Dir: Shane Black Screenplay: Drew Pierce, Shane Black
Starring:Robert Downey Jnr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce

There's much to like about the third installment of the Iron Man franchise, but does it finally get rid of all the creases left behind by its predecessors?

New Music: Watch Azealia Banks video for Yung Rapunxel

Recently more famous for her frequent Twitter tirades, Azealia has hired Jam Sutton on directorial duties for her new single 'Yung Rapunxel' [sic].

The song hasn't got the infectious vocals or beat as her break-out hit '212', but we already knew that wasn't a direction she was going in from the very understated 'Liquorice' release of last year. Yung Rapunxel will feature on her perpetually delayed album, 'Broken With Expensive Taste'.


The internet is already a kerfuffle of conspiracy theories due to the video's prominent use of Illuminati symbolism. The jury seems to be out on this track. 

We think it's all a big mess.

Azealia Banks will be playing Lovebox Festival in London this July.

Film Review: Oblivion

Cert 12A 126 mins.Universal Pictures, Chernin Entertainment, Ironhead Studios
Dir: Joseph Kosinski Screenplay: Joseph Kosinski, Karl Gajdusek, Michael Arndt
Starring: Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

As a passion-project for the second-time feature director, Joseph Kosinski, and well-trodden ground for a legendary leading man - does Oblivion's ambition leave its mark in the tome of science fiction cinema?

Everything the casual gamer needs to know about the PS4 launch.

We couldn't think of a punchier title.

Last night was the launch of the best worst kept secret Playstation 4 by Sony in New York. Here's what you need to know:

After two hours of waxing lyrical about its under crackers (namely some 8GB DDR5 RAM and x86 architecture, geeks) the controller is all we see of the mythical machine.

It's a smoothed out offspring of its predecessors, imaginatively titled: Dual Shock III.

It has all the functions of your old controller but with improved ergonomics including a non-slip rim to the analogue sticks and a share button (we'll come on to that in a bit).

Film Review: Les Misérables

Cert 12A. 157 mins. Working Title Films, Cameron Mackintosh Ltd 
Dir: Tom Hooper Screenplay: Victor Hugo (novel), William Nicholson
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron-Cohen, Helena Bonham-Carter.

Tom Hooper's highly anticipated follow up film to The King's Speech finally makes landfall in time to clear up during awards season in the form of the big screen adaptation of Cameron Mackintosh's musical, but how does it fare compared to its small stage comrade?

I'll make no illusion over the fact that I avoid musicals.

Save for a few notable exceptions, (notably Rent and Mary Poppins) I find absolute ridicule in the singing of spoken words (as if speech isn't purposeful enough) that makes me titter with loathing over the try-hards of privileged youth theatre, bellowing songs to flesh out a narrative that could have easily have been delivered through some well-rendered dialogue. Nevertheless, I'll suspend this revulsion for the sake of parity.

Some have said that to pick fault in the source material is a moot point. The 'world's longest running musical' states the fanfare for the West End's theatrical production - how could it run for so long if there are fundamental flaws in its origins? Well, in the same way that people still consume food from fast-food outlets regardless of the horror stories, but I digress...

It's pre-French Revolution.

We're watching Jean Valjean (Jackman), a prisoner pulling a warship alongside various slaves and miscreants on a gargantuan stage. Whilst doing so he is protesting his innocence over being incarcerated to the jobsworth Inspector-In-Chief, Javert (Crowe). Thus, is the epilogue to tale of uprising, justice, romance and, of course, resolution.

From the outset, Tom Hooper's adaptation is something to marvel. The sheer scale of scenery combined with sweeping vistas and fluidity immediately elevates this beyond many other stage to big screen transitions. His clever integration of computer generated landscapes into sound stage shots is suitably purposeful and unmarred by the usual problems associated with it.

The soft focus allows for cosmetic blemishes to be hidden but, in turn, detracts from an edge of realism - something Hooper never really allows for - permitting the action to play out as more of an assisted fairytale with the roots firmly grasped around the stage. To be critical of this purposeful tone is a tad harsh - there is a clear demographic who will flock to this film (if not fans of the musical) and to maintain the authenticity, Hooper has had to keep to the well trodden path, which is mundane but a better option than alienating those that can recite Les Mis verbatim.

A well known selling point of the film is that there is very little ADR (dubbing to you and me, Automatic Dialogue Replacement to the techies). Hooper took the bold step of capturing as many of the performances from the actors' mouths as they sang. Even Anne Hathaway conceded that the cast believed the director would change his mind at a later date. With a live orchestra to hand as filming took place, vocalising the film 'live' once again nods to the stage origins and leaves performances naked and vulnerable - not necessarily in its favour.

Jackman easily carries off his central role with aplomb, having already an excellent pedigree in being a song and dance man through his acting career. Hathaway (unsurprisingly), drew every breath from the motionless audience as a post-chemo Fantine, flaring nostrils from her wretched and abused frame during the most famous of songs, 'I Dreamed A Dream'. Crowe, however, seems to have come in for the majority of the flack.

Although Jalvert's voice was recast as a baritone to accompany Crowe's range - his performance pales in comparison to the strong and confident delivery from his on-screen sparring partner, Jackman. In reality, Crowe sings in his own mediocre middle-of-the-road country band, but he is set up for criticism here with the re-pitched vocals and difficult task of out-singing Jackman.

Whilst not being the best, he's certainly not the worst.

Elsewhere, Eddy Redmayne does his best public schoolboy choir impression with his Eton-esque chums while central love puppet, Amanda Seyfried warbles like a nightingale in a ear-clasping tremolo, saved only for her scant appearances. 

Sacha Baron-Cohen and Helena Bonham-Carter's inkeeper roles avoid detection for their vocal failings because of the 'comedic' element they bring, which gives them a free pass to be risible at their lines in exchange for some wickedly evil slapstick turns as pantomime baddies.

One of the fundamental problems with this adaptation is the balance of faithfulness it plays to the source. At moments it's overly Cockney, as if to deliberately poke the audience into submission with its irritable 'Cor blimey guv'nor' attitude and grating segues into a wannabe 'Oliver!'.  If truth be told, I thought they were all going to break into 'Knees Up Mother Brown' as the finale neared. 

Apologies if I'm being over zealous in my misgivings. 

The film chugs along at such a rapid pace so there is little time to dwell on the mistakes (and there are a few included for added authenticity) while the two-and-a-half hours breezes by unnoticed. Bodices are tightly fastened, teeth are sufficiently yellowed, and Paris is suitably murky enough to maintain the illusion of the dank and despair that we find its characters.

Hooper straddles the line between the cinematic and theatrical to satiate both parties - no mean feat in itself. He has coerced strong performances from all of his ensemble to keep even this skeptical viewer engaged at an emotional level to moisten his eyeballs within the first half an hour. While this hasn't changed my outlook on musical theatre to the extent progressive screenplays such as Rent have, its ratcheted up new found admiration for the art and hope that one day we'll see Jason Donovan put on a Technicolor dream-coat on a big screen.

A worthy watch, if only for the cinematography, Jackman and Hathaway.

★★★★☆

Les Misérables is out on general release from 11th January nationwide