Arts:Blog Cinema Review: The Punk Singer Posted by Across the Arts on March 4, 2014, at 8.20am “Girls to the Front!” Lorna Irvine reviews the celebration of music icon Kathleen Hanna. Once upon a time in the early nineties, long before Britney, Beyonce, Miley and Ri-Ri, Bikini Kill, along with Bratmobile, Huggy Bear, Die Cheerleader, Lois and Sleater Kinney, were part ofContinue reading “Archive Review : The Punk Singer”
Category Archives: Pop culture
Disney Villains
Ever since I was a child, I found Snow White and the like pretty insipid. They just seemed to waft around waiting for things to happen, they had little to no agency. Good girls and boys were boring. I liked the villains., or the creepy ones. Cruella DeVil is a style icon, albeit one thatContinue reading “Disney Villains”
Lost In Music: David Bowie – Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Remix)
This is a cut from The Next Day, a remix by James Murphy for DFA featuring the one and only Steve Reich, sampling his ‘Clapping Music’ and a soupcon of Bowie’s ‘Ashes to Ashes’. The clown is faded- the hat may be jaunty, but love is lost.It’s at once a jump forward and a lookContinue reading “Lost In Music: David Bowie – Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Remix)”
30 Years Of Baz Luhrmann’s “Star Cross’d Lovers”
As Valentine’s Day doth approacheth, I take a look at the enduring classic, as reimagined by Australian director Baz Luhrmann. I bloody HATED Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet when I first saw it at the cinema in 1996. I felt that transposing the Shakespeare classic to Venice Beach and bringing in nineties slackers in HawaiianContinue reading “30 Years Of Baz Luhrmann’s “Star Cross’d Lovers””
The Lolita Problem
Kidcore; Jenna Ortega as ‘Wednesday’, ‘St Trinians’, ‘Pretty Baby’, Jodie Foster in ‘Taxi Driver ‘, a young Britney Spears, Natalie Portman’s early roles, Kawaii, groupie tales, sexy young models, schoolgirl strippers, Page 3 and of course, the book from which the fetish arose- these are all massive cultural touchstones for many fans of pop culture.Continue reading “The Lolita Problem”
*Film Review : Melania
This radical, wholly impartial new documentary from Brett Ratner and Amazon follows the thrilling upward trajectory of one Melania Knauss Trump, as she finally finds her feet on the global stage. Melania is now her own unique brand. She’s right up there with Beyonce, Madonna, Oprah and … yes, possibly, even God. Melania is everyContinue reading “*Film Review : Melania”
Lost In Music: Before Lana Del Rey … Mazzy Star
She Hangs Brightly was the debut album from Mazzy Star, aka guitarist Dave Roback and vocalist Hope Sandoval. Previously, with singer Kendra Smith, they were Opal, but she was replaced, and the (ugh, I hate this word) jailbait prettiness and sleepy drawl of Sandoval proved more marketable, it seems. Released in 1990, essentially the duoContinue reading “Lost In Music: Before Lana Del Rey … Mazzy Star”
Catherine O’ Hara Has Gone
The versatile actor with the lovely voice has passed away at 71 and it’s such a big loss. To a whole generation she’ll forever be Kevin’s mom Kate McCallister in ‘Home Alone’, to another, Moira Rose in ‘Schitt’s Creek’, to older comedy fans she started out on Canadian TV as a sketch comedian, but forContinue reading “Catherine O’ Hara Has Gone”
Film Review: Marcel The Shell With Shoes On
Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate’s mockumentary is one of the most lovely family films I’ve ever seen. In the hands of Disney, it probably would have been a treacly exercise in trite sentimentality, but leave it to independent filmmakers to create something pithy, poignant and rather beautiful. Marcel (adorably voiced by Slate) is indeedContinue reading “Film Review: Marcel The Shell With Shoes On”
Young
And just like that, I’m catapulted back in time, back into the mid-nineties. Social media means phoning your friends to talk about films, clubbing is still the preferred choice of our weekends, and we can handle drinking culture and the occasional pill or spliff. Pulp, Bjork and Husker Du ring out on the dancefloor. It’sContinue reading “Young”
Hit The North 