Essential January '13

ESSENTIAL VIEWING THIS JANUARY:

The release of a new Quentin Tarantino movie is always an event. Despite a varying degree of success with his most recent features you can always count on the wonderboy of 90's American independents to provide a solid piece of entertainment. And most often something you have not seen before. His latest, Django Unchained, is mostly the first part. With a running time close to three hours it does play on for too long and the final act does become a bit of a mess, but up until that point you will have seen some of the most exciting scenes and sequences Tarantino has ever produced. Relying heavily on his key players as always, Tarantino gets another triumphant performance from Inglorious Basterds’ Christoph Waltz and a truly memorable Leonardo DiCaprio, who has a field day as a villainous plantation owner. The supporting actors outshine leading man Jamie Foxx, who is surprisingly bleak and uninteresting as the title character. However, presented through the terrific cinematography from Robert Richardson, this is thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining stuff all across the board.

After several animation features and working to explore the possibilities within the genre for the last decade or so, Robert Zemeckis’ return to live action is truly welcome. The director of Back to the Future, Forrest Gump and Cast Away is enjoying himself shamelessly with this month’s Flight. Featuring a close to career best performance from Denzel Washington, and great support from John Goodman and Don Cheadle, this is a very impressive piece of storytelling centered on the facts and errors of human beings. The film has been sold using the much talked about plane crash and tremendous visual effects, but that is all over and done within the first 20 minutes.  After that it is all about Washington. The now close to sixty year old veteran once again prove himself as one of the finest of his generation, and does so to compelling and convincing effect. It is a superb study of an understated yet highly emotional performance, which has gone on to earn him praise and nominations from every corner of the industry. In fact, if it weren’t for Daniel Day-Lewis’ Lincoln, this performance would be sure to bank Washington his third Oscar.

A completely different film that made its way under the radar of most is Take Shelter. It had a very limited theatrical release, but can be enjoyed just as much on DVD. The second feature from director Jeff Nichols comes with one of the year’s finest screenplays (also by Nichols) and a pair of truly excellent performances. The always reliable Michael Shannon plays the lead as the tortured soul coming to terms with the possibility of his mental illness, while Jessica Chastain proves herself as one of Hollywood’s finest as his frustrated wife. The film is both disturbing and provocative, but ends up as one of the most moving American films in a long time. After his debut Shotgun Stories in 2007 and the upcoming Mud, Nichols has really made his mark as one, if not the one to watch.


ESSENTIAL LISTENING THIS JANUARY:

January is always a bit slow when it comes to new album releases so it is very nice that this month happens to feature two new records from this writer’s home town.

Vishnu received critical acclaim with their debut Outskirts of Love two years ago, but didn’t make an impact on the charts. It is possible that their second outing may suffer the same fate, which is a shame because Nightbeat Love is another strong effort from the rock outfit. They follow familiar recipes but at the same time provide memorable tracks and showcase unquestionable qualities within the band. It does not stray too far away from their debut, but Nightbeat Love covers more ground and contains several more ingredients that should, and hopefully will catch the attention of many.

Another musician from the north who makes his second outing this January is Christer Wulff. The singer / songwriter’s debut EP Until We Meet Again (2009) proved a very talented voice in the making and three years in the making, his first full-lenght album has given audiences a right to expect great things. They are probably not entirely full-filled, but the self-titled album contains plenty of well-crafted tunes and catchy beats. Wulff has broken out more electronics for the album. Where his EP was a quiet and downbeat collection of five soft pop tracks, these ten songs come from an artist excited to prove himself even further. There are elements of both gentle disco and indie, but at heart there is no doubt that emotional and British inspired pop is what Wulff is mostly about. A very promising, and much welcome debut album from a great voice and songwriter.

Despite coming out in April of last year it was not until the release of this month’s single King and Lionheart that this writer became aware of Icelandic folk rock band Of Monsters And Men. Their album My Head Is An Animal is a superb record and a very impressive debut. It is well-produced and put together in a highly skillful manner, but at the same time with a very playful and experimental sound. The six piece orchestra provide a fresh and enthusiastic approach to the wide indie genre, and should be a real treat to experience live. Here is the video for their most recent single from the album.