Quick Review - BBC Symphony Orchestra Concert - Barbican Centre

At the end of January my friend had managed to arrange tickets to the BBC Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven's 4th and Ravel's Bolero.

So what can go wrong when you have some of the finest musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever composed? Well, nothing.  

The music was played with flawlessly.  

I was more impressed with the Beethoven stuff than I was with the 20th symphony by Rave but it was all beautiful.

Philistine Alert
It was the first time I had been to such a recital and there were some odd things going on that I quite didn't understand. The audience seemed to instinctively know when to clap and when not to clap during the breaks in the music. I am guessing you remain silent at the end of a movement and clap at the end of a symphony. There was also an apparently famous flautist who got everyone in the audience very excited. My friend and I just went with the flow (though I did clap in the wrong place once).

Despite playing the role of fish out of water, I enjoyed the experience of just sitting and letting you mind wonder as the orchestra got on with their job. There are further recitals planned at the Barbican this year and I'd recommend trying to experience an orchestra like this at least once.

Oscar Review - American Hustle

Period pieces often serve as Oscar bait. Having a quick scan over the best Oscar winners since the beginning of the eighties, it seems most have some kind of historical setting. From Gladiator to Titanic from Forest Gump to Lord of the Ringsⁱ the academy seem to like being taken into the past and meeting characters with period hair and clothing. American Hustle provides lots of period clothing and hair and is very aware of it's historical setting and my guess is the Oscar Academy will be impressed. Set in the late 1970s, David O'Russell's American Hustle is a fictionalisation of the Abscam affair, in which the FBI enlisted (in the film forced) con artists to entrap, um I mean, ensnare senior politicians in a bribery sting, using a fake Arab Sheik.

Following closely on the heels of O'Russell's heavily nominated Silver Linings Playbook and starring Oscar winners Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro and with nominees Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams, you have to assume that the producers had the Oscars very much on their mind as they were pulling everything together. So I guess the question is this - does bringing together all this talent in one film actually work and does it deserve the accolades it so very desperately wants?

My Pod Delusion Contributions

Over the last few years I have done the very occasional contribution to the excellent Pod Delusion pod cast (about interesting things).  It's not excellent because I occasionally grace it with my audio brainfarts, but because of the excellent work put into it by it's editor James O'Malley and some of the amazing contributions and interviews he somehow manages to arrange.

Some of my contributions are interesting whilst others are not great.  Have a listen.  My favourites are the ones on Nuclear War, the Olympic Conspiracy Theories and the first one I did on Parliamentary Censorship in which I interview the excellent New Statesman journalist Helen Lewis and one of my comedy heroes Craig Reucassel.

I also did one on George Galloway winning the Bradford bi-election.  For some random reason it was made into a Youtube video.



I am not the most natural broadcaster and I have an awful, dreary, monotonous voice, god help me.

Oscar Review (analysis)– 12 Years a Slave

Note: Over the next couple of weeks I intend to do reviews of all 9 best film Oscar contenders. Most won't be this long but there is so much to be said about 12 Years a Slave that I thought I'd spend a bit of extra time on it. The following is as much of an analysis as it is a review.

I guess it's of note that there have only been a small number of mainstream Hollywood films that directly deal with the issue of Black slavery. Perhaps it's because America's “original sin” does not make for comfortable viewing for the average American cinema goer. It's of further note that of those films the central characters are often white. Examples such as Lincoln, Glory and Amazing Grace often tell the story of abolition from the perspective. Other films such as Ride with the Devil and Gone with the Wind often place the concept of slavery itself firmly in a supporting role to a central theme of the American Civil War. Even Spielberg's Amistad, a film in which Morgan Freeman and Djimon Hounsou play leading roles, still required a cast of white heroes to further the court room drama. I guess in the minds of Hollywood produces, the majority white cinema going public requires a leading character with whom they, as privileged white people, can relate.

I am not trying to devalue all the aforementioned films as the story of abolition, and white people's role in it, is a story that should be told. However, I think its important that it was not until recently that the mainstream Cinema going public was able to see slavery from the perspective of a black main character projected on the Big Screen. Tarantino had his own unique take on it with 2012s Django Unchained¹ and 2013 bought us 12 Years a Slave.

Review: Once (The Musical) – Phoenix Theatre

After watching Spamalot and experiencing how musical theatre could take something I love and turn in it into a giant turd, it was with much trepidation that I was convinced into going to see a performance of Once. I am a fan of the 2006 film of the same name. Set in Dublin, the wonderfully understated film follows the developing friendship (and possible romance) of “Guy” an Irish busker and “Girl” an immigrant Czech girl as they bond over their shared love of music. The soundtrack of the film was mostly written by the two leads Glen Hansard (of the Frames) and Markéta Irglová. It also has one of the most cringing and realistic portrayals of a desperate man having his offer of sex rejected.

As for the musical, it's poster seemed to haunt my commute for the last year and it's very existence would anger me on a daily basis. I don't care if you want to make pull a musical out of the arse of a mediocre 1990s movie but when you try to do it with one of my favourite films its only going to make me angry. As you can probably tell I have a slightly over developed sense of cynicism. I can report, much to my surprise, that my cynical side seemed to take a night off and I genuinely enjoyed Once.

Declan Bennett (Guy) and Zrinka Cvitešić (Girl)

Review: Monty Python's Spamalot at the Playhouse Theatre

Finally, we have an answer to the question “What would Monty Python be like if it was performed by CBBC's Dick and Dom?”. I have personally never asked that question and I am not sure if anyone else on this planet did but I experienced the answer a few weeks ago when my friend invited me to see Monty Python's Spamalot.

Yes, This happened!

I am aware that I am not expressing an original sentiment when I say that Monty Python in general and the Holy Grail in particular have played a central role in my development as a human being. I remember my first encounter with Python. I am not sure how old I was but it was a new years eve, and after watching the fireworks on TV I continued watching as a film about the Holy Grail started. I don't recall the extended credits sequence (maybe because the jokes went over my head) but I do remember being engrossed by the misty hillside and the ominous sound of a rider approaching only to collapse with laughter once I experienced the now legendary coconut gag. Mercifully, my parents allowed me to stay up and watch the entire thing and from then on I joined the rather large python loving fraternity. Flash forward about 20 years later and I am sitting in a theatre, the same gag is being recreated on stage and I seem to be the only person in a 700 seater auditorium not laughing.

New Blog!

That's right. Despite having little in the way of original thought and opinion to add to the ever expanding blogshpere I have got in my mind I should start writing and this is a place to store my text based brain farts.

I will, for the time being, avoid any political and controversial stuff and simply focus on reviewing any films, plays and musicals I may see.

From now on when someone asks my opinion of a film or show I have seen I will simply say "haven't you read my blog?"

I am here to learn, so feel free to leave criticisms and suggestions in the comments.

Blakeley (@blakeleynixon)