Cloverfield

Cloverfield is out this week: producer J J Abrams large-scale lofi mash-up monster movie filmed on a home video camera. If you've seen any of the footage or the five minute clips you'll know it looks stunning, if a little "jiggly" - but more than one critic has complained of severe motion-sickness while watching it. I know horror films pride themselves on making people feel ill, but when I saw a preview myself I spent a lot with my eyes closed enjoying the excellent sound-editing and thinking about horizons. Luckily, our reviewer was made of sterner stuff.

http://www.musicomh.com/films/cloverfield_0108.htm

So what do you think? A thriving genre of film-making or a cheap attempt for meta-cinematics? Does it have anything to say about 9/11 or is it just "borrowing" from it? Is seven years on really long enough? And are we getting a bit sick of films about how hard it is to be American right now?

Music videos are back: Hercules And Love Affair and The Kills

Towards the end of 2007 we ran down our music videos section. With the rise of YouTube and Apple's music video content, less people - including us - wanted to fanny about with plugins, some of which worked for Mac, some for PC and some for neither.

We'd contemplated shutting the section entirely and posting videos into this blog instead, but while we still might occasionally do that to illustrate blog comments, we do feel the videos section is a handy way of flagging up new signings, tours, releases and general excitement for acts we like.

So at the start of this year we've redesigned the videos section to feature less content, choosing to highlight lead singles, one-offs and exclusives, viewed with YouTube. No more plugin fannying. \0/

We expect to select two or three videos a week in the section for the rest of the year. The old video links will remain in place for now too.

Do let us know what you make of the changes, either by commenting here or through that vintage communications device known as email, and get in touch if there's a music video you reckon we should post.

New Bond Title announced

The title of the next James Bond film was announced today, and on hearing it I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn't April the First. Having exhausted every one of Ian Fleming's novel titles, short-story titles, family mottos and even the name of his house, it's no wonder that the producers are finding themselves a little stuck. But what they've come up with is perhaps one of the most bizarre things I've even seen attached to a mainstream entertainment picture.

Yes, the next Bond film will be called

Quantum of Solace

It's like a game of Scrabble gone bad. Maybe it's an anagram of a real title. At any rate, it seems that 2008 is the year of silly titles. Starting with Cloverfield which didn't even seem to have a title until about three weeks before its release (and the one it ended up with is the name of a street outside the production company's window, and doesn't appear in the movie), we can also look forward to the absurd Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull appearing a little before Quantum of Solace shuffles on the big screen with all the same of a kid wearing a bad homemade crocodile costume.

Will there really be an emotional high-note where the love interest looks deep into James startling blue eyes and declares, "Will there be even a quantum of solace for you, James?" Or will it just have a silly plot centred round the particle accelerator at Cern?

The World is Not Enough, please come back. All is forgiven.

Heath Ledger Remembered

Well, we certainly didn't see that one coming.

When news filtered through at about 10pm last night that the Australian actor Heath Ledger had died at the obscenely early age of 28, it was with a numbing sense of shock. While the world's media continue on their crusade to chronicle Britney Spears or Amy Winehouse's spiralling decline into an early grave, Ledger wasn't known as a party animal. Instead, those who knew him described him as a quiet, introspective man, uncomfortable with the trappings of fame and happy to completely immerse himself in a character.

When Ledger first burst onto the screen with a witty, charismatic performance in the superior teen flick 10 Things I Hate About You, he could easily have taken the heart-throb role to success. Instead, he began carving out a career similar to that of Johnny Depp - one of character actor, unafraid to take roles that less brave figures in Hollywood would run screaming from.

Impressive work in films like Monster's Ball, Ned Kelly and The Brothers Grimm followed, before the film that was to secure his reputation - Brokeback Mountain. It seems ridiculous that two straight actors playing gay characters could cause such a controversy in the apparently liberal and accepting 21st century, but Ang Lee's epic was one of the most talked about films of the year for that very reason. That, and the sheer excellence of the film itself, of course.

Jake Gyllenhaal may have had the more showy role, but Ledger had the more difficult work, playing the repressed, initially reluctant Ennis Del Mar. It was one of those rare performances where years of hurt and regret could be conveyed just by Ledger's eyes and was justly rewarded by the Academy with his first, and as it turned out, only Oscar nomination.

Ledger's premature death is all the more sorrowful as 2008 would have no doubt seen his stock skyrocket. His perfomance as The Joker in the forthcoming Batman film The Dark Knight has astonished those who have seen preview clips. It takes quite an actor to reclaim Jack Nicholson's iconic image and make the character his own, but that's exactly what Ledger appears to have done. Christopher Nolan's film is due for release this July, but it will be impossible to watch without a very real sense of poignancy. What happens to Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which Ledger had just begun filming at the time of his death, is anybody's guess.

Given the nature of Ledger's death, there are already whisperings and speculation about whether the actor was suicidal or battling a drugs habit. Yet this isn't the place for such gossip and tittle-tattle - instead let us remember an extremely talented actor who has died long before his star could really shine.

Liverpool Capital Of Culture 2008

It seems to have been a long time coming, but 2008 is eventually here and with it Liverpool's coronation of European Capital Of Culture.

Forget for one moment the snide remarks about shell suits and criminals and focus on the fact that Liverpool is home to stunning architecture such as St George's Hall and the Royal Liver Buildings, the Walker Art Gallery and the Tate Modern, and a thriving theatre scene.

Of course, Liverpool has always had a rich musical history. It may have been overshadowed at times by the city's bitterest rivals of Manchester, but Liverpool has still managed to produce The La's, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Lightening Seeds, The Teardrop Explodes, Wah!, The Boo Radleys, The Coral, The Zutons, Candie Payne and four blokes who called themselves The Beatles or something. And yes, we'll draw a veil over Atomic Kitten and Sonia, thank you very much.

At first glance at the 2008 programme, it's difficult not to feel a touch of disappointment at the musical events on offer. An over-reliance on The Beatles is to be expected, given the band's impact on popular culture, but a Ringo Starr gig to kick off proceedings isn't exactly going to set the heart racing. Look a bit closer though, and there's several events that leap out. Paul McCartney (still a living legend, despite tabloid tittle-tattle) will play a huge gig at Anfield Stadium, with a presumably stellar supporting cast yet to be confirmed, and a huge new 10,000 arena to be opened.

There's also free festivals such as the Matthew Street Festival in August and the Hope Street Festival in September, plus regular events such as Creamfields and the Liverpool Summer Pops. Not to mention the return of legendary classical figures Simon Rattle and Karl Davies, both performing at the city's beautiful Philharmonic Hall.

Perhaps the biggest coup for the organisers though is the MTV Europe Music Awards, to be held at the Echo Arena on 6 November, and the Electric Proms - to be held outside of London for the first time. It's the latter that's likely to be the highlight for Liverpool's music lovers - with a wide variety of venues across the city and the big names that always figure at the event in Camden during October, this is pretty much a must-see.

So what do you make of the whole idea of a Capital Of Culture? Will it result in investment and regeneration, as happened in Glasgow in 1990? Or is it a meaningless title foisted on the city by the European Union? Could and should the money be better spent? Are you planning to travel to Liverpool to see any events, and if you live in the city have you been caught up in the excitement, or is it a non-event to locals?