Gangster Squad (2013) – A Review

Synopsis: Tasked with taking d0wn a notorious mob boss in 1940′s Los Angeles, the Gangster Squad set about destroying Mickey Cohen’s business ventures and his ability to ruin the city. As far as these guys are concerned, drugs, illegal gambling and murder are off the menu.

Main Cast: Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie

The Hype: Originally set for release last year, events at a Batman screening in a cinema in Colorado pushed the film back to an early January release instead. I firmly believe that those tragic events made sure that this movie missed out on some Oscar nominations, but it was done for all the right reasons. The violent nature of the film could also have dented its success.

What I Thought: I was thoroughly entertained watching this movie. Essentially when you break it down, Gangster Squad is a loose remake of The Untouchables. However, that didn’t take anything away from the story and the quality of the cast was certainly enough in the first place to get my attention. It’s funny, every time I see Josh Brolin on-screen these days, I can’t help but think that he really is Tommy Lee Jones’ lovechild, lol. Performances from the entire cast are excellent although there wasn’t any one actor that stood out for me, it’s an ensemble thing here, much like LA Confidential was in terms of acting prowess. The look of the film is nice aswell and although the film is violent I don’t think there was anything on there that we hadn’t seen before in a gangster type film.

Conclusions: There have been better gangster movies made in the past, but this movie is nicely produced, the story is basic, but entertaining and the cast is a great group of actors that are doing some very good work of late. Brolin has certainly ventured further onto my radar in recent years.

Smurfin’ The Web Rating:

Trailer:

Iron Man 3 (2013) – A Review

Synopsis: Tony Stark is forced to resort to revenge tactics when all that he holds dear is taken from him by a terrorist name The Mandarin. He will have to go “old school” to save the day this time.

Main Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Kingsley, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale

The Hype: Possibly one of the most hyped films of this century. Following the success of The Avengers, the next Iron Man movie was bound to be a huge hit. The last two had been excellent and the third installment has already passed the $1Bn mark at the box office, so all those people who claim that piracy is killing the movie business can kiss ma arse

What I Thought: Overrated. I didn’t think it was anywhere near as good as the previous two films. I felt that the story was weak and the big reveal that is made spoiled the film for me. I cannot berate the special effects, they are top-notch and the production of the movie is excellent, but all that is for nought is the story is poor and I’m afraid that is exactly what let The Avengers, and now Iron Man 3 down for me. We do not know if there will be another movie or a reboot, or what yet. I am guessing they will do the next wave of superhero films including the Avenger characters and that fad will be over once more.

Conclusions: Poor story that lets the film down overall.

Smurfin’ The Web Rating:

Trailer:

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 – Final Review & Thoughts

It’s all over! We have a winner, and what an anti climax it was.

Denmark won the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with their song “Only Teardrops” performed by Emmelie de Forest. During the course of this year’s blog series on Eurovision, I have made no secret that I thought that there were far better songs in the competition and last night was no exception so I’m going to say little else about it in all honesty.

The rest of the show was great, and even some of the weaker acts did a really good job last night. The first half of the show was certainly the weaker half and things picked up just after the halfway mark, although a couple of earlier countries stood out like Malta, who were really good. Their young singing doctor Gianluca Bezzini looked like he was having the best time and that is what I like to see at Eurovision.

OK, I’m going to talk a little about Bonnie Tyler. The UK’s representative performed 15th which was a decent draw. I have read lots of comments on Facebook regarding her performance. Some say that she was really good – I couldn’t disagree more. I think her performance was awful. The song was wrong for her and she just isn’t suited to Eurovision in my opinion. I can see why she was picked, her popularity across Europe is well-known and the idea was good, but I’m afraid it was never going to work with a song like that.

Then I read comments which I read every year saying things like “we should pull out now” or “it’s all a fix” blah blah blah. Let me address that first comment. The UK will never pull out because the BBC gets a lot of exposure from broadcasting the show. There is also the financial aspect. Do you really all think that the BBC makes no money out of broadcasting the show? If they didn’t they just wouldn’t think it was worth it and we would have pulled out long ago. As for the second comment saying that it’s a fix – I don’t think that there is too much truth in this. It is hard to tell. Denmark were a clear favourite from the outset. They were one of the first songs picked for the contest (January in fact) and therefore have had a lot more exposure around Europe. The UK could take a lesson from there.

Now onto the political voting. Perhaps there is still an element in some corners of Europe, but on the whole, I think that this is an urban myth. Personally I believe that countries generally vote for songs that they hear quite a lot, or that they can understand, or in actual fact are just good songs. Eastern Europe always comes into criticism for the block voting thing, but bear in mind that most of these countries speak similar languages and those songs will be released in those countries. Do you hear for example the Azerbaijan songs on the UK chart? No… I rest my case.

My other gripe regarding Eurovision are those people who claim that they don’t watch it. Last night in the UK, the viewing figures at one stage topped 9 million viewers. You’re not telling me that some of those people aren’t the ones that say “I hate Eurovision, it’s all a load of crap”. Well here’s one interesting fact for someone who said just that to me last night, one of the entries was written by Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath. The person that made that statement to me is a massive Black Sabbath fan, proving that ignorance is a big problem in this country regarding Eurovision.

If people actually sat down and gave the show a chance and tried to forget the days of old when yes, admittedly the contest did contain a lot of cheese, then they might find that there is much more out there that they might enjoy. The UK’s approach to entering the contest has had a lot to do with people’s attitudes towards Eurovision having chosen some very dubious acts in recent years, but we are slowly starting to learn from our mistakes. However, if the country wants to ever succeed again, they have to pick a good song, a current popular act and really promote the hell out of it.

Anyway, after all that ranting and raving, I will leave you with what I thought was a great halftime segment with host Petra Mede performing a song to tell us all about Sweden and what it has to offer the rest of Europe. It’s funny and they are much like the UK in a lot of ways. I hope you enjoy it and come back and visit my blog again next year where I shall endeavour to actually pick a winner in 2014.

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 – Final Preview

The day has arrived! After a whole year (I can’t believe it’s been a year since my last Eurovision blog series) we are down to the last 26 countries. The running order has also been decided and instead of drawing the acts out of a hat, the organisers have set the order in a way as to make the show more interesting and not have too many acts with similar styles of song together and such like.

The UK’s Bonnie Tyler has been drawn to go 15th which is much better than the dreaded 1st spot they got last year. Her song has actually grown on me a lot and unlike my wife, I think we might just end up on the left side of the scoreboard this year. The second half of the final definitely has the better set of songs in it so I think that we can discard the first 14 or so songs from getting anywhere near the top 3 places.

And so on to my predictions. Well, unfortunately one of my favourite songs – San Marino – didn’t make it through to the final. I think that they could have made it into the top 3, but I think there are better songs that have made it through from both semi finals. To make it interesting, I am going to give you two possible sets of top 3 results. I think the top 3 could look like this:

1. Denmark
2. Ukraine
3. Georgia

My second set of results could look like this:

1. Denmark
2. Norway
3. Netherlands

The Netherlands is a strange creature. It is possibly one of the most different Eurovision songs we have seen for quite a number of years and there seems to be a liking for it across Europe. As you can see from my two possible outcomes, Denmark tops both lists. Unfortunately, from the outset and long before the countries had even chosen all of their songs, it would appear that our Danish friends have been chosen to win the contest this year. Their performance in the first semi final was okay, but certainly not the best. The ticker tape shower on the crowd smacked of putting the cart before the horse and very presumptuous.

Personally I think there are far better songs that are capable of winning Eurovision this year – namely Georgia, Ukraine and Norway, but like last year, I think the winner has already been chosen. If the UK want to win next year, they have to pick a young girl, put her in a white dress and make sure she has bare feet.

Sarcasm aside, I wish all the acts the best of luck and hope that Bonnie Tyler doesn’t win, but does a respectable job. I’ll be happy with top 10. I will be very happy with a Ukraine, Norway or Georgia win though. Have fun on Saturday night if you are watching and be sure to check back on Sunday for my review of the final and competition as a whole. See you soon =)

Eurovision 2013 Semi Final 2 – Review & Thoughts

Last night’s second semi final was very competitive and we now have another 10 countries through to the final on Saturday. We had a nice little musical act to open the show and after being given the instructions from host Petra Mede who was wearing what UK commentator Ana Matronic described as “an open casket funeral for her legs”, we were straight on with the entrants.

I managed to score 6/10 yet again in this semi final with my predictions and there were some shocks. Here is a list of the qualifiers from Thursday.

• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Finland
• Iceland
• Greece
• Norway
• Georgia
• Romania
• Hungary
• Malta

Like I said, a couple of surprise winners here. Armenia were actually booed in the arena following their qualification, but someone noted that it may have been down to the fact that there were many Azerbaijanis in the crowd. Personally I think the song is very weak and I certainly didn’t expect it to progress. Romania also qualified. The falsetto voiced Cezar giving a great account of himself and although he has a fantastic voice, it still sounds wrong. What I was disappointed at was the fact that San Marino did not qualify and I felt that the song was a really good one and her performance was really good and should have been enough to get them through.

I think if the Maltese singer Gianluca Bezzini smiles anymore he is going to have some really sore facial muscles. He is just having so much fun and he gets the chance to do it all over again on Saturday. Lastly, although the sing isn’t one of my favourites, Greece qualified with a strong performance. I would have still swapped them for San Marino though, lol.

So we now know all of the countries that will fight it out in the final on Saturday. I hope you will check back tomorrow to read my preview of the final and who I think will make it into the top 3 places. I was going to leave you with one of my favourite acts from the second semi final, but as they qualified, I don’t want to spoil the actual stage act for you. Instead I will leave you with the opening performance which was very clever I thought.

Semi Final 2 Preview – Eurovision 2013

Let’s now preview the second semi final for tomorrow. I’m not sure whether there was a stronger set of songs this year, perhaps they are a bit more even than I had first anticipated. Here are my predictions for the second semi final qualifiers.

Georgia – This is a cracking song. I reckon this will be in the top 3 on Thursday night if not the winner of the semi final. A strong song, and a great performance will see Nodi & Sophie easily qualify.

Norway – My favourite song of all the entries this year. This girl is hot, talented and should be getting tipped higher than she is. I think the pre-semi final odds of 6/1 are longer than she deserves and I would put it more around the 3/1 mark. If she can do it live, then Margaret Berger must be in with a shout of placing this year.

San Marino – I still can’t believe that this is the same girl who sang the “Social Network Song” last year. This is a very good song that has a point, is brilliantly sung and I think they will surprise a lot of people this year. Full marks for making more of an effort in 2013.

Switzerland – The name change doesn’t dampen the spirit of this song. It’s still a catchy number with easy lyrics and I think it will qualify on Thursday. They should be able to give a good performance on the night.

Azerbaijan – They have a great record in Eurovision and I think we will see Farid Mammadov qualify with this song in Malmo. From what I have read, he is quite popular in Eurovision circles and this could be another for an each-way bet on Saturday.

Albania – I’m going to stick this in here, purely because I like the song. Scandinavia like their rock music and hopefully some of those countries will give this song some votes. The track has a catchy tune and its about time we had more rock music represented in Eurovision.

Malta – They have picked a nice cheery song and the young singer really looks like he’s enjoying every moment of his time in Eurovision. I hope he gets through; partly because of his enthusiasm, but also because the song is very listenable and has that classic European country Eurovision sound.

Iceland – A decent song that will certainly get votes from its neighbours in Scandinavia. Will everyone be willing to share the votes around though, with Iceland, Norway and Finland all in this semi final, surely someone has to lose out? On Thursday though, I think Iceland will make it through to Saturday’s final.

Greece – It’s not often that the Greeks fail to do well at Eurovision. Last year was their worst finish for a very long time and I don’t think they will do much better this year, although I do think they will sneak into the final with this song. However, if it doesn make it through, it won’t do well on Saturday.

Macedonia – I was actually lost for a last qualifier for this post. In the end I plumped for the one out of the four countries I’d narrowed it down to that had the most YouTube views. A peculiar track mixing traditional dance, and ballad sounds. This is a VERY outside chance for qualifying.

And there you have it. I shall review the semi final on Friday and see how I faired with my predictions. I hope you enjoy the semi final.

Eurovision 2013 Semi Final 1 – Review & Thoughts

The first semi final went without a hitch last night and we now have 10 qualifiers that will join Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy and Sweden in the final on Saturday. I thought it was a very slick show and they have certainly cut back on the costs of staging this event this year without losing any of the atmosphere and excitement that fans enjoy about Eurovision. In fact I would say that the smaller venue has increased the atmosphere somewhat with only around 11,000 capacity in the Malmo Arena.

The introductions were short and the host Petra Mede was very professional albeit a little strict sounding and quite regimented. However, her attention to being precise was a good approach as it meant less messing around with silliness and cringeworthy gimmicks and gags. (Remember the rhyming couplets in Denmark?)

I predicted my 10 qualifiers on Monday and I was reasonably accurate. I got 6/10 correct this year, not as good as last year, but okay. Here are the 10 countries that have made it through to Saturday’s final.

• Denmark
• Ukraine
• Lithuania
• Belgium
• Moldova
• Estonia
• Netherlands
• Ireland
• Belarus
• Russia

A very good mix of music has progressed and although I felt a couple of acts had missed out, I am happy with the results. There were only really two countries that I was surprised had qualified. Lithuania and Belgium. The former had no stage presence and the song’s lyrics are a bit strange, but I suppose we can’t all be Paul Simon or Bob Dylan. Belgium was decent and his performances have definitely improved since I first heard him sing it live, but I felt that Austria and Croatia had performed better on the night and did enough to make it through.

Not to be for them this year though and we head into Thursday’s second semi final eagerly and hope that we can get yet another good set of songs to battle it out with the 16 that are already there

Did I mention the giant? Yes, Ukraine’s singer Zlata Ognevich was carried onto the stage by a giant - Igor Vovkovinkiy  who is 7 feet 8.33 inches tall! and is the tallest living person in the United States. His role was pretty pointless because that was the extent of it, but it certainly made it memorable. Moldova’s Aliona Moon had some excellent video projection on her dress and the use of the rising platform was put to good use here.

And so I enjoyed the first semi final and look forward to the second one on Thursday, a preview of which you will be able to read here Thursday morning, so I hope you’ll check back and perhaps leave your comments on Eurovision so far or indeed anything I have had to say on the contest. Who have been your favourite songs? who do you think will win?