Fuse issue 89 by Forge Press

INTERVIEW: SPECTOR // BOND, JAMES BOND // INTERVIEW: PROSPECT GAMES // LORD OF THE FLIES

FREE ISSUE 89

“Spectre finally embraces all the classic Bond tropes”

Friday 6 November 2015

INSIDE

ARTS

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Northern Ballet’s 1984 comes to Sheffield (p. 11)

GAMES

New Games release Fallout Shelter (p.10)

SHORT FUSE 3 GAMES FEATURE 4 Interview: Managing Director of Prospect Games ARTS FEATURE 5 Preview: The Lord of the Flies

was not enough for us entertainment addicts, and we’ve got double the content. Music Editors Charlotte and Tara went along to London-based band Spector’s (notice the varied spelling) Leadmill show and also grabbed a quick interview with their lead singer Fred. If Spectre and Spector don’t tickle your fancy then never fear - Arts and Games have it covered. Arts have an exciting preview of Lord of the Flies, reviews of the hilarious Dara O Briain and Northern Ballet’s 1984, and a brilliant book corner on The Catcher and the Rye. Games have managed to snag an interview with the Managing Director of Prospect Games, Andrew Bennison. Not only this, but they have reviews of Pulse and Fallout Shelter. Fuse, if I may say so, is looking damn beautiful. Although I have an announcement to make - this will be my last issue as a Fuse Editor. After being on the ever-wonderful Fuse and Forge

MUSIC

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Spector play Sheffield favourite Leadmill (p.12)

SCREEN

Daniel Craig in the new James Bond (p.14)

MUSIC FEATURE 6-7 Interview: Spector SCREEN FEATURE 8-9 All of the best James Bond films defended REVIEWS AND LISTINGS 10-16

EDITORIAL

hat a fortnight this has been! We’ve had the ever creepy yet wonderful Halloween grace us, and some of the costumes I’ve seen have been better than ever (especially Harry Chambers costume as Jeremy Corbyn - that beard though). Not only this, but we’ve had some rather large releases happen within the entertainment world. The name is Bond, James Bond. There has been a lot of excitement for new release Spectre, and Sam Smith’s track has most certainly drummed up attention for it one way or the other. I am, unfortunately, not a fan of his dulcet tones. Of course we couldn’t let that slide and Screen Editors Luke and Rhys have been working away to put together the very best Bond themed feature they can. They have a wonderful piece which all of you lovely contributors have helped to put together on the best Bond films. Expect lots of Craig, Brosnan, and Moonraker. Naturally, one spelling of Spectre

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Press for the past two and half years, ever since previous Editor Nic collared me at the Activities Fair 2k13, I now have to leave. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the best Editors, make some incredible friends, and read some top class reviews from contributors. Leaving is going to be incredibly difficult. You’re all left in the brilliant hands of Kazuma who has an impeccable music taste, as well as second to none entertainments knowledge. He will guide you through all things Fuse from now on. This current Editorial team are wonderful and I’m sure we’ll all see some incredible features and reviews pop up over the next few issues. I’d best return to the bat cave that is my History degree. Thanks for having me folks, JOSS x

FUSE EDITORS Kazuma Osaki Joss Woodend ARTS EDITORS Jo Gallacher Joshua Hackett GAMES EDITORS Ash Emritte Moya O’Rourke MUSIC EDITORS Tara Hodgson Charlotte Pick SCREEN EDITORS Luke Baldwin Rhys Handley FRONT COVER Philippa Spottiswoode BACK COVER Dan West

CONTRIBUTORS Beth Andralojc Emma Bragg Harry Chambers Emily Cuthbert Thomas Fay Jonathan Felton Harry Gold Alisha Griffiths Ruth Grivell-Mellor Julia Hodder Daniel Hopkins Jamie Hughes Sam Kelly Molly Kerkham Harry Minogue Matthew Mills Georgia Nolan-Rose Alex Pinfold Callaghan Ramsay Ned Westwood Polly Winn Marie-Elsie Worswick

Email us over at fuse@forgetoday.com or come along to one of our contributor meetings!

Friday 6 November 2015

SHORT FUSE

HARRY POTTER: HAS IT LOST THE MAGIC?

he idea of Harry Potter making a theatre debut was always going to be an interesting topic of discussion. With the opening of Harry Potter Studios, Universal Potter World and of course, Pottermore, Harry Potter has very much become a consumer product in itself. It’s sad to think but since the last film instalment was released, a theme park, a collection of spin-off books and a play have all been created in the name of Potter and it’s all becoming a bit too much. I can understand the excitement and fascination of a brand new storyline but can’t helping thinking

“Introducing Harry to the stage will hopefully elicit a wider audience and get people obsessing over a new craze; theatre”

Consumerism aside, the concept of Harry Potter onstage is a tricky one. Despite the seemingly capitalistic view on the play, what cannot be denied is how Harry Potter has changed the world in which we live in. Cynical fans may be nervous for the revival of Harry Potter but the feeling in the air seems to be enthusiasm. To see how Harry has changed after the final chapters of the series is sure to be exciting for millions of fans all over the world who hope to get their hands on a ticket. Perhaps what is most potent about this new narrative is Harry’s transition into an adult; just like the

young audience who have grown up with the series, the nostalgia will surely snap everyone back into a magical mood. Being the most successful book series on the planet, introducing reading to children who might otherwise have not endeavoured in such an activity is a triumph. Rowling’s challenge of introducing Harry to the stage will hopefully elicit a wider audience and get people obsessing over a new craze. Theatre. EMMA BRAGG

INVASION OF THE SEQUELS

t certainly has been and will continue to be good couple of weeks for gaming. Some of the big titles of the year have just been unleashed onto the world with many more in tow. From afar, this seems like a very exciting time to be a gamer, but upon closer inspection, one notes a sense of familiarity. An Assassin’s Creed game, a Halo game, a Need for Speed game, a Call of Duty game, a Fallout game. With the exception of Fallout, this lineup isn’t just 2015. It was the same in 2012 and the same in 2007, and if not this specific set of games, a plethora of sequels have been dominating the skyline year after year.

Rowling is pretty much doing everything she can to keep Potter a household name and allow the excessive flow of money to keep ‘rolling’ in.

The more cynical narrative would explain this ‘sequel phenomena’ with two simple words: money grabbing. In many cases, that’s true. Take a game a lot of people like and make another one and you’re going to make big bucks. It diverts a of effort lot away from creating an original game, because original games are a risk. With sequels, you’ve already got a brand and a solid group of consumers who will sometimes defend your product to the death. If this was all there is, it would be depressing. This is depressing because we’re the one’s feeding this great big sequel machine. However, despite some of these sequels getting

mixed reviews and some of these ‘brands’ feeling a little tired, there are some that genuinely excite. Sequels are like people. You can’t generalise. Only some feel lazy and uninspired, but it can easily feel like this simply because we take good as normal, therefore bad draws our attention. We’re biased towards noticing bad things. Many would fail to argue that Fallout 4 is a bad thing. To say there has been a lot of buzz surrounding this particular entry of the Fallout series is an understatement. It seems to have been developed with care. It feels genuine while providing you with the goldie oldies, it also seems to offer a whole set of new features.

The upcoming RollerCoaster Tycoon sequel similarly offers greater freedom. Are sequels a bad thing? There is no answer to that. They can be. But unlike in the movie industry, sequels and remakes in gaming can be justified to a greater extent. Gaming technology is developing at a rapid rate, and old favourites are always in need of an update. But at the same time, more original games would not be unwelcome. To conclude: there is a fence, and I am sat on it. ASH EMRITTE

MERCURY PRIZE: SLAVES TO THE MUSIC

t’s that time of the year again, as the nominations for the 2015 Mercury Prize have been announced. The award itself, created to reward the most prolific and talented musicians of the year, has yet again provided a wide range of acts to promote the very best musical talent in Britain and Ireland. Some of the acts have graced the stage before, such as Florence + the Machine, with her groundbreaking debut, Lungs. This year she works wonders with her third effort to date, How Big, How Blue,

F T

How Beautiful, although a number one album will not be guaranteed success, as former greats Paul Weller, Radiohead and Blur have discovered. Also returning, is Gaz Coombes, with his most impressive solo album to date, Matador. A win for the former Supergrass frontman would capitalise a majorly successful year, which included an incredible live performance at Glastonbury in 2015. The Mercury Prize has still stuck to its guns about promoting multiple genres of music however, with the

nomination of Slaves’ punk debut, Are You Satisfied?, being a sure dark horse for the crown. The Tunbridge Wells pair have had a majorly successful year-boosted by several festival slots, as well as a widely acclaimed cover version of the song ‘Shutdown’ by the popular grime artist, Skepta. Other special mentions may go to Jamie XX with In Colour, or Wolf Alice with their grunge inspired debut My Love Is Cool. The former will surely be one of the favourites for the award, due to the rapturous reception of his debut album.

Although with these awards, nothing is set in stone, as shown by major upsets in the past, notably last year with Young Fathers. Results are due be announced announced on 20 November. Tune into BBC Four or BBC Radio Six Music to catch all the action. CALLAGHAN RAMSAY

LET’S NOT GO BACK TO THE FUTURE

or a minority of unfortunate people, Wednesday 21 October appeared simply as an ordinary autumnal day. For a huge number of avid film fans, however, it was marked a very special event indeed: Back to the Future Day. hat’s right, it’s the exact day that Doc Brown and Marty Mcfly arrive in the future in the second instalment of the Back to the Future trilogy. Considering the hype created by fans and film-goers, it comes as no surprise that newspapers and websites jumped on the bandwagon by publishing articles comparing

the predicted Back to the Future

“Any selfimportant blogger or ill-informed journalist can fling their vague musings on the subject” 2015 with the actual one. While I enjoy drawing parallels between fiction and reality as much as the next film fanatic, too many

re-tweets and re-posts of such articles can spoil a trend. In other words, too many cooks spoilt the broth. It seems that what began as the circulation of observational pieces from dorky webzines, of which I am an unabashed fan, and articles spun from the credible interest of national newspapers has developed into a free for all space, in which any self-important blogger or ill-informed journalist can fling their vague musings on the subject. Thanks to the widely accessible tool that is social media, people that have never seen and possibly never even heard of the Back to

the Future trilogy are grasping the opportunity to publish their minimalist articles, from which no devotion to the trilogy can be detected, with their filthy hands. All that these writers need to do is simply identify the predictions which have come true and those which have not. So, if you’re a die-hard Back to the Future fan, do yourself a favour and avoid social media for the next few weeks. BETH ANDRALOJC

Friday 6 October 2015

FEATURE

GIVEN THE GREENLIGHT

Matthew Mills interviews Andrew Bennison, director of Prospect Games on the subject of Steam Greenlight

rospect Games are an independent games developer based in Manchester, with a goal to make “innovative and amazing games while experimenting with crazy technology”. Their first full length release, Unbox, recently made it through Steam’s Greenlight service, which allows indie developers to get their games onto the Steam Store with the aim of reaching a wider audience. A game about selfdelivering cardboard boxes, I

got the chance to play Unbox at EGX in September, and was impressed by its quirky and competitive splitscreen gameplay. Andrew Bennison, the company’s Managing Director, talked me through the development of Prospect’s first PC release, and his experiences of getting the game through Greenlight. “For us, the process consisted of a b o u t a month and a half of research

and preparation, assessing the other Greenlight projects and finding out what worked and what didn’t in terms of drawing gamers in. The issue we had is that Greenlight is not really geared towards discovery, in that many players only scroll through the front page entries when browsing the games on offer. Developers are only given a front page spot for a day or so, and combined with the fact that consumers cannot rank the different entries on the service this means that getting noticed by casual gamers can be difficult. You are basically cold selling as being on the service itself assumes that no one will have heard of you. “ O u r

strategy for the Unbox campaign was to make as iconic a page as possible, based off of the research we had done; we settled upon a gif for our featured image, supported by a concise one minute video with a fleshed out description and FAQ. We felt that it was little things like this that made all the difference in engaging with players, and once we had the page in place our focus turned to directing traffic to the Greenlight campaign. “We made sure we had a strong presence on social media, posting regularly to keep up any momentum we had gained. Part of this relied heavily on the audience that we had publicising the campaign and spreading the word to places that we may not have otherwise reached. The work we did online was vital in helping us stand out and stay in the minds of consumers. “A large part of our success was also down to our presence at various gaming events, and looking at analytics it was actually the attention we got from EGX that pushed us through Greenlight. I also spoke at a student conference at Staffordshire University and presented a talk on setting up a business at Play Manchester earlier this month (10-11 October). These events obviously gave us the chance to advertise the game at the same time. “I also believe that there’s a lot to say about the game itself. Players were engaged by the co operative element, which is really important to indie developers because of our inability to compete with major companies in regards to setting up servers for online play. Also, I think people like being able to just start up a game with friends at home, as it provides a more enjoyable and competitive experience. At the end of the day, it’s all about creating something that people will enjoy.” Unbox will be released in May 2016.

Friday 6th November 2015

FEATURE

magine a society governed not by morality and reason, but purely by the survival instinct inherent within us all. This terrifying idea, taken from the pages of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, is soon to be played out at the Lyceum. Since William Golding’s novel hit the shelves in 1954, it has shocked readers with a plot that chillingly details a descent into savagery. A group of schoolboys crash-landed on a tropical island is a scenario with the potential for the new beginning of a utopian society. The reality that Golding portrays, however, is a terrifying exploration of the dark side of human nature. A society lacking in morality and reason might sound frighteningly familiar, especially with the association of a leader to the central symbol of a pig’s head. It then seems that Timothy Sheader’s directorial task, in bringing the novel’s increasingly relevant themes to audiences across the UK is more

important now than ever before. As the director who brought To Kill a Mockingbird to life onstage, Sheader has already proven that he is skilled in the art of not killing a classic. It is undoubtedly an extremely difficult challenge to translate the collective impact of novels to the stage. Yet it is a challenge that Sheader undertook with Harper Lee’s classic novel, and he did so with the additional aim of taking away the hierarchies of the theatre. His goal in taking away these hierarchies is to create an immersive environment, where all audience members can be released from themselves so that they leave the theatre looking at the world from a new perspective. Renewing Golding’s timeless themes with a new generation of actors, and for a new generation should enliven and instill its important lessons in the children of the future.

The novel was actually written while Golding was teaching at the Bishop Wordsworth’s school, and since made its way into school curriculums. Yet it is an allegory that is not just relevant to schoolchildren – it is relevant to us all in its exposure of what lies beneath a veneer of civilization. Indeed, the invitation to open one’s eyes to hypocrisy is made in specific relation to the ‘adult world’ at the end of the novel, when a naval officer rescues the boys. Golding suggests that because this supposed figure of morality is in the middle of a war, he does not have the right to condemn the boys’ barbarity. There is great potential for this production to give these themes a lasting impact, in the light of Sheader’s rather radical approach to theatre. Lord of the Flies excitingly began with just fourteen performances at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in September, before embarking on a major tour of the UK, which is set to crash-land at the Sheffield Lyceum from 10-14 November. Bringing with it is the reportedly massive set, and a young, talented cast. So, if you want to be challenged, chilled, and have your worldview changed – don’t miss out on this crucial production by the Regent’s Park Theatre Company in its five day run at the Lyceum this November.

Friday 6 November 2015

FEATURE

rior to their seventh Sheffield gig - their second headline show at The Leadmill - I’m shown to one of the venues’ seemingly myriad dressing rooms. London-based indie rock band Spector’s fascinating frontman, Fred Macpherson, is sitting quiet and content in a corner sofa, taking in his surroundings; which include music-magazine covered walls and a roadie playing a kazoo.

After the release of their sophomore album, Moth Boys, London band Spector took to the road to give “My musical their new material its first selection was airing. Charlotte Pick caught limited to what was in the three up with the quartet ahead for £20 section at HMV” of their Sheffield date at the sporting various city’s iconic Leadmill to talk itemsSittingof happily, his band’s merchandise, it’s clear to see he’s proud of Spector, a band that he jokingly inspiration, playing live, informs me may never have come about had it not have been for his competitiveness. and mornings’ after. “The first song I wrote was when I was about age 15, and it was out of pure competitive spirit with some other people at school who had started a band. I’d absolutely

never thought of starting a band and then the second they did it I was like ‘wait a second’ and then I just wrote purely out of the idea of trying to make a band rather than for the joy of songwriting… the joy of songwriting came second.” Their debut album, Enjoy It While It Lasts, released all the way back in 2012, not only achieved them moderate mainstream success but also garnered comparisons to other contemporary indie rock bands such as the Killers and the Strokes, comparisons which Macpherson acknowledges the basis of. “On the first album, unlike the second album, there were lots of songs where the references and the influences were a lot more clear, both in our heads and therefore probably in the audience’s heads. “I was listening to a lot of Sam’s Town by the Killers and that directly influenced songs like ‘Chevy Thunder’ and ‘True Love (For Now)’. The Strokes had a direct influence on songs like ‘Twenty Nothing’… they’re still a direct influence on songs like ‘Decade of Decay’ on the new album, you can still hear that kind of thing.” In terms of his other personal musical inspirations, Fred cites a somewhat eclectic list; “I like Nick Cave, I think he’s my favourite artist. I like Tom Waits, Bryan Ferry, Kanye

West, Drake and Mr Ringo Starr… actually no, I don’t like him - well, I like him as a character but I don’t think he’s inspired me. The first band I knew was the Beatles, it usually is, isn’t it?

“We were apprehensive about the making of our record for lots of reasons but it was never about whether we could live up to Enjoy It While It Lasts”

“Every year that goes by I decide there’s a band I liked that I no longer like, so that narrows it down. I think it started because my musical selection was limited to what was in the three for £20 section at HMV. First I got a Ramones album, a Clash album and a Sham 69 album, then I cut out Sham 69 a couple of years

Friday 6 November 2015

FEATURE

Spector: The Return of The Moth Boys

PHOTOGRAPHY: DAN WEST in, then I cut out the Ramones but I couldn’t cut out the Clash because they’re actually just too good.” His capacity for elaboration on this topic highlights just how large a part of his life music has played. The success of Enjoy It While It Lasts added no pressure to the creation of their second album, Moth Boys, released in August this year, Macpherson admits, “We were apprehensive about many things, but the success of our first album wasn’t one of them. We were apprehensive about the making of our record for lots of reasons but it was never about whether we could live up to Enjoy It While It Lasts. It was more like, to what extent can we surpass it and how do we go about doing that? It was never like ‘ooh how are we going to follow that ‘classic’ up?’” Three years elapsed between the release of Enjoy It While It Lasts and Moth Boys. Macpherson notes that a lot has changed with Spector in that time: “Three years is a long time. We’re in different places in our lives now and a lot of that time was experimentation, song-writing, sending ideas back and forth and just working really hard.” With this change came an altered perspective, a subsequently different sound and the ability to look analytically and in retrospect

at their first album, its creation and its production, “Only now can I see where we were in 2011/2012. I think we’re more musically engaged now, that’s more one of our interests. “I don’t think I cared that much about music in 2012… now it’s the thing I care the most about, other than the well-being of my family and band mates. Now we’re just engaged in making Spector something good, and trying to develop it. We’re more in tune with our audience in terms of whether we’re entertaining them, or failing to do so.”

“We’re more in tune with our audience in terms of whether we’re entertaining them”

Macpherson is quick to note that the inspirations behind Spector’s second album and the lyrics within it differ to those of their debut, but similarly lack pretentiousness and boast poignancy and personality. “The inspirations were more

real-life experiences than musical inspirations, our taste informed the production and the people we worked with informed it. I think for all of us, in terms of writing the songs, the inspiration is real life. It sounds like an obvious thing to say but I only say that because it wasn’t us sitting there saying, ‘oh let’s listen to this great, lost track from 1974 by the Police and see what we can take from it’, it was more like, ‘oh this happened at this point in time, does that warrant a song about it?’ We didn’t all sit around and play each other our favourite Neil Young album or anything.” With their recent headline UK tour having just come to an end, Fred reflects on what it is that makes a gig one of his ‘best’, as a performer: “The best gigs are those when it feels like we’ve done something for the first time that we’ve never done before, not necessarily like playing a song but kind of succeeding in creating something that we’ve aimed to create that even now we can’t do consistently.” Macpherson’s energy and enthusiasm seems reinvigorated when asked about the live side of his job. It’s clearly a part of Spector that he thoroughly, whole-heartedly enjoys, and his brilliantly upbeat, energetic, memorable performances are a testament to that. One of

his penultimate remarks of the interview is a poignant one, about living the life of a musician and performer, “The highs are playing the gigs and the lows are waking up hungover or having to work out what clothes you’re going to wear when you don’t have anything clean, but sometimes it’s the moments inbetween that are the kind of ‘dead moments’ when you’re blissfully unaware of everything else. It’s those moments where real peace and joy can creep in.”

“The highs are playing the gigs and the lows are waking up hungover or having to work out what clothes you’re going to wear”

As for the future, Spector are undeniably headed for great things, but Fred, known for his somewhat

self-deprecating lyrics and humour, is sceptical about what he’d be doing if he wasn’t the frontman of an increasingly successful indie band. “I’d hope I didn’t have a job that began at a certain time and ended at a certain time… unless those times were really close to each other… and happened like once a week. I might be a hand model or something, maybe.” Something he’s not sceptical of however, is Spector’s potential to do increasingly well in the near future. “If we’re still around in another five years, I will imagine it’s because we’ve done something great, I don’t think we would still be around in five years if we were just trundling along. “It’ll be interesting to see if we can transcend everything we’ve done already. If we can then I hope in five years time we would be on our fourth or fifth album, or maybe even sixth by that time.” Watch this space.

FEATURE

Friday 6 November 2015

WITH 53 YEARS ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE UNDER HIS BELT, JAMES BOND - AKA AGENT 007 - HAS LONG COURTED CONTROVERSY AND DIVIDED OPINION ACROSS HIS 24 CINEMATIC APPEARANCES TO DATE. TO MARK THE RELEASE OF SPECTRE, FORGE SCREEN OFFERS AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW ON SOME OF THE MOST UNANIMOUSLY REVILED, AND ONE OF THE MOST WIDELY ADORED, ENTRIES IN THE CANON.

Friday 6 November 2015

FEATURE

LIGHTBONDAGE FOR: MOONRAKER (1979)

by Daniel Hopkins With Spectre out and a decade of serious action thrillers now defining the Bond franchise, it’s easy to forget the classic - if somewhat cheesy - older films. Moonraker is both cheesy and classic. Though a cash-in on the success sci-fi was having at the time (thank you, Star Wars) there’s not much more you could ask for in terms of epic action. The story is quite simple - a megalomaniac wants to take over the world with the help of his master race of soldiers and a giant space station, like a sort of futuristic Hitler. On top of that, there’s Jaws (Richard Kiel), arguably the best movie henchman ever, space battles, speedboat chases and a vintage pun as the villain is pushed into the never-ending oblivion of space: “Take a giant step back for mankind.” And finally, to finish off a series of cheesy escapades: sex in space. Has Daniel Craig ever made love in zero gravity while orbiting the earth? No. No, he hasn’t.

FOR: LICENCE TO KILL (1989)

by Harry Chambers After Roger Moore’s gimmicky, slapstick treatment of Bond turned the franchise into a bloated self-parody, Timothy Dalton went about crafting Fleming’s character into something darker, deeper, and much more believable. His second and final outing, Licence to Kill, isn’t even his best, but its value lies in the legacy it leaves behind on the series. Personal, vulnerable, and painfully aware of his deficiencies, it’s the rogue Bond seen here that is so much more enjoyable and unpredictable than the cartoonish superhero so often deployed. In the wake of Skyfall’s mammoth success, this should sound uncomfortably familiar to Daniel Craig, whose much more readily acclaimed but fairly identical take owes almost everything to Dalton’s very human treatment of the gritty, sober challenges that faced him. Bold revelations about Bond’s mystifying past, hard-hitting torture scenes, and carefully placed cues to the precarious down-and-out which lies under his outward persona - these are all reasons why 007’s most recent incarnation is so revered. But it was all here, in this neglected offering from 1989. Sadly, it was a way of looking at Bond which audiences took 25 years to appreciate.

FOR: DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002)

by Beth Andralojc Despite being the highest grossing Bond movie released before the advent of Daniel Craig, Die Another Day received a lot of criticism following its release in 2002. It follows Bond as he seeks revenge on a member of the British government that has revealed his MI6 Special Agent identity, leading to his imprisonment and torture. While some critics denounced the film for its arguably complex plot, most accused its director, Lee Tamahori, of employing too many computer-generated graphics during the making the film. Although many asserted that the special effects distracted viewers from the main story, I would argue that they helped the action in the film appear even more realistic. The more reality-based action scenes enabled by the use of CGI, such as in the famous hover craft chase, giving the film a fiery punch, steering it away from the usual suave aura of the pre-Craig Bond movies. Therefore, despite lacking the grainy cinematography that is usually characteristic of Pierce Brosnan’s Bond movies, the more engaging qualities of his portrayal resonate in Die Another Day. It could be argued that the punchy plot subtly prepared viewers for the more realistic action that would appear in Craig’s debut Casino Royale in 2006. It should also be pointed out that Die Another Day is Brosnan’s last ever movie as 007. Therefore, even if you don’t agree with me, for this reason alone it should be placed highly on your list of favourite Bond movies.

AGAINST: CASINO ROYALE (2006)

by Polly Winn The baffling thing about the Bond franchise is that it seems to be exempt from the normal standards of what is seen to be good within the film industry. Casino Royale is the perfect example of this. Putting aside the Daniel Craig debate - he’s a fairly decent Bond as they go – the film is awful. First, the storyline. There are elements of creativity and weak attempts at interesting plot twists, but for some reason those are pushed to the side in favour of unnecessary nudity, long and ominous music, and product placement (oh, the product placement). The biggest defence of the film is simply that it isn’t as terrible as Die Another Day, which is quite frankly, not good enough. Its disjointed story dwindles amid flashes of Omega watches and casual sexism and is then rushed to a disappointing and pointless end, throughout which you question the relevance of the two hours that you’ve just watched. Eva Green as love interest Vesper Lynd is boring, and any attempt at genuine emotion feels ceremonial, false and cringe-worthy. Casino Royale is a sign that the franchise desperately needs to be modernised, and, nearly ten years on, this is still the case.

FOR: QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008)

by Sam Kelly While Casino Royale and Skyfall are often considered by fans and critics as among the best Bond films, the one between them is looked upon as an ugly stain on the Craig era. The overly shakey action style, an emotionally tortured Bond lacking in wit and charm, and an underwhelming plot about controlling Bolivia’s water supply were the main criticisms of Quantum of Solace. That rubbish title didn’t help, but Quantum mostly suffers from coming before and after two great films and, looking back now, it gets given a harsh ride. Director Marc Forster tried to take the series in a new, more realistic direction, and the film is full of visual flair. Craig is excellent as a Bond who most closely resembles the hero of Ian Fleming’s books, while Jack White and Alicia Keys’ unique theme song ‘Another Way to Die’ is severely underrated. Some tweaks to the script and some added flashes of humour could have made Quantum a great Bond film. Even as it is, it’s still better than at least half of the Moore and Brosnan entries.

Friday 6 November 2015

REVIEWS

Fallout Shelter

ethesda’s Fallout Shelter takes place in your very own vault, tasking the player with the incredibly important role of Overseer. Anyone who’s played the Fallout series will know that in these underground nuclear bunkers/ inhumane experimental labs, things tend to go catastrophically wrong, with most inhabitants dying horribly. The premise of the game is therefore simple; keep your citizens

CULT CORNER PULSE

rguably Pulse’s biggest draw is its visual style, as you play as Eva, a blind girl attempting to explore the world around her using nothing but sound - forming images through sound creates a world mostly without texture, with the environment disappearing when you stop moving or suddenly emerging as large creatures walk past. This gives the game its atmosphere. A level of disorientation, which is created by extra visual effects, helps make Eva’s experience more interesting than the simplistic level design would otherwise allow. They also consistently outdo themselves as more setpieces are introduced as the game progresses. Unfortunately the game does not engage the player much beyond that. Primarily this is due to underutilised mechanics.

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alive and happy whilst keeping your vault prosperous and growing. The player does this by building various rooms within their 2D vault, then assigning the vault’s dwellers to work in the room best suited to their skill set. Each room has functions varying from collecting resources to attracting new dwellers. All this is done in the typically quirky Fallout art style and design, including dwellers being represented in the form of the iconic Vault Boy character and a retro soundtrack which perfectly captures the atmosphere of the series. Everything is built instantly too, so

Fallout Shelter does buck the trend found in most free mobile games of having premium currency to speed up time. However, the player will still need to wait for the in game

The developers attempted to incorporate different play-styles into each of the game’s short levels. One might play like a walking simulator akin to a game like Gone Home, another a light puzzle platformer or horror game. Some certainly show potential; however the mechanics and story are too underdeveloped to warrant repeated plays, besides perhaps 50 collectibles which only seem to unlock an achievement. Had the game focused on just one concept, I argue it would have made better use of its premise. Whether or not someone will enjoy this game therefore depends largely on their appreciation of the game’s art direction and premise. The game will be a worthwhile purchase when it comes around in the Steam sales, as given the £10.99 cost it is very difficult to recommend Pulse at full price. At the very least it forms a solid basis for potential future attempts at a similar premise.

REBEL GALAXY

Alex Pinfold

“Repetitive” currency to recharge before being able to construct any more rooms. It’s here where Fallout Shelter starts to show its flaws. Although initially fast paced and exciting, with the player tactically planning their every move, the game

irefly: The Game. Well… not quite, but it certainly feels that way. Rebel Galaxy is the wild west of space exploration games. Lasers, rock and roll and plenty of objectives and factions to choose from, the title screen practically screams at you to jump in and start kicking ass off the bat, and that is exactly what you’ll be doing. From the get go you’re flying through space in the Rasputin, a small but agile spacecraft with basic equipment, towards a space station to meet with a frog-like alien who will get you started off with the main story. The main quests seem to jump up in level quite quickly, so I found myself exploring the galaxy and picking up different side missions along the way. There is a faction system, each mission will have an effect on your standing with each faction, a small plus or minus sign and the relevant

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soon becomes a repetitive cycle of waiting for money and expanding their vault with no real reward or endgame in sight. The player stops having to think tactically as they accumulate more resources and slot into their same routine. It’s at this point that the games inevitable microtransactions, which come in the form of items for your dwellers or unique characters, become ever more tempting in order to mix things up and recreate that fun felt at the start of the game. As a free micromanagement mobile game, there are much better options on the market, such as

Simpson’s Tapped Out, which offer far greater creativity, strategy and depth. However, bearing in mind Fallout Shelter is essentially a companion app to market the upcoming release of Fallout 4, Bethesda have done a pretty good job compared to other similar apps e.g iFruit for GTA V. Overall, if you’re a fan of Fallout, Shelter is definitely worth a play for the initial fun, just don’t expect to play it as much as you normally would a Bethesda game.

faction’s symbol is shown by each mission. Missions can be low or high risk, although sometimes when warping away to what you think would be an easy mission, you’d find yourself zooming head first into an array of multicoloured lasers with the A.I. on my ship constantly warning me for ‘incoming missiles’.

limiting, it is actually what makes the game so good. There is no need for up or down when you can expand the map size to such a large scale on just one single plane. If you want a full three dimensional experience, buy yourself some proper flight simulator controllers and play Elite Dangerous (or go ahead and wait on Star Citizen). The controls are fairly simple, you can change the power of your ship’s engines to passively travel faster or slower, there is a boost which is limited by your engine power, and when there are no objects or planets in your way you can warp at very high speeds across the galaxy. Optimisation is good and the UI is user friendly – especially on a controller. Quest, explore, fight your way through gangs of space pirates, pull in your loot and upgrade your ship. Rebel Galaxy is an immersive space exploration game with plenty of options that provides entertaining and colourful gameplay.

“Firefly: The Game” Most battles are quite literally space raves, a rock and blues fusion soundtrack will start playing and you instantly feel like you’re in the futuristic wild west. The graphics are great, with a tad too much lens flare I might add, but the aesthetic is nice, bright and colourful. The gameplay is smooth, and best experienced through the use of a controller. The entire game is played on a single axis, there is no up or down, only forward, left and right. Although this may sound quite

Luke Baldwin

Ned Westwood

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DARA O BRIAIN: CROWD TICKLER Five tours in and you would think that Dara O’Briain’s Crowd Tickler would struggle to compete with some of the comic’s earlier material. But the Mock the Week host is as hilarious as ever. O’Briain’s routine consisted of his usual observations on family life and nationality, with the occasional hint to his nerdy love for all things science. All of this was delivered

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with impeccable timing and wit yet in comparison to other similar observational comics, the material can fall somewhat flat. The reason for this isn’t that it’s bad by any means, but because the rehearsed jokes are in many ways just a vehicle for O’Briain to transition between the many improvised sections of his performance, most notably his renowned audience interaction which takes up roughly half of the two hour show. It’s here that O’Briain’s natural humour is fully on display, and it’s brilliant. These sections, and his ability to bounce off whatever

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the audience throws at him no matter how dull or bizarre, has the audience, and sometimes O’Briain, in tears.

“You had to be there!” Having seen O Briain’s previous tour, Craic Dealer, it’s safe to say that this specialty has only got better with time, as O’Briain has become adept at making a highly entertaining bit out of even the most shy audience members. It’s important to clarify that at no

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point in the show does O’Briain mock his fans. His joking with the crowd feels more like a conversation with friends, albeit an incredibly funny one. O’Briain creates a relaxed attitude by showing genuine interest in the people he’s talking to, which then allows the audience to become fully engrossed and completely let loose in laughter. One such lucky participant was yours truly, who, as the youngest person in the front row, quickly became O’Briain’s representative for all things youth related, the highlight of which was his rather grim warning that I would live to see

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a world without helium. Even topics as bleak as this had the room erupt with laughter. O’Briain has often described his shows as “you had to be there”. No phrase better describes the chaotic, side-splitting, impromptu nature of his show. This kind of atmosphere is incredibly difficult for one person to create, and could never be reflected when watching a recording. O’Briain is a truly funny man and an even better performer - the ideal combination for any comic. LUKE BALDWIN

BOOK CORNER THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

T 1984

eorge Orwell’s masterpiece 1984 has been adapted many times as a movie but never as a piece of dance. Northern Ballet have taken on the difficult task of transforming the novel, with its strong message of totalitarianism, into an original ballet. And somehow they manage to pull it off! Costume and set designer Simon Draw represents certain symbolic elements, which then allows the audience to identify clearly with the characters and follow the story. Indeed, all characters are dressed in identical blue suits with

a red ribbon. Protagonist Winston Smith lives in extreme poverty, as depicted by the old battered antique shop and minimalist furniture around him. This contrasts with the multiple modern screens set on stage portraying Big Brother, who observes all characters during every second of their daily lives and is a constant presence throughout the entire ballet. This creates a dramatic effect upon the audience who in turn also feel trapped in this totalitarian society. To complete the intense and frightening picture, the lighting is dark and rather gloomy. The relationship between music and choreography bring the ballet to life. The combination of the two makes the audience breathless and completely hypnotised, with a constant level of tension as the scenes unravel. Each step or

movement mirrors repetitive themes within the music - the dancers move like puppet dolls filled with hate, automatically responding to the call and duty of Big Brother as though possessed by the regime.

“Simply brings the book to life!” All are united under the same force but still remain deeply alone as individuals. The climax is reached when Winston gets tortured and founds out that he has been betrayed by the party, with the music and choreography picking up a quicker pace to reflect the character’s pain and anxiety. Amongst the strong emotions displayed in the ballet, the

audience does get to experience a softer scene, which ties in with a more traditional style of ballet. The romantic scene when Winston and Juliet fall in love touches the audience, as a duo they have a real connection. The two characters perform a series of “portée” wearing lighter coloured costumes in a very green scenery. This serves to reinforce the audience’s attachment for both main characters and their shared fear under the totalitarian regime. The ballet simply brings the book to life, it’s intensity is deeply frightening for an audience, perhaps due to the fact the themes of 1984 still remain relevant in today’s society. A must-see show. JULIA HODDER

By J. D. SALINGER

he Catcher in the Rye is a classic for many, yet to a 21st century audience, the novel feels relatively tame and painfully dated. The most divisive part of the novel is protagonist Holden Caulfield, who has been equally portrayed as the defiant ‘rebel without a cause’ of the literary world, and as the whiny, irritating and pretentious teenager we all were at one point in our lives. At first, Holden seems subversive, decrying the superficial and insincere nature of those around him. But the reader soon tires of this, leading to his insightful observations becoming tedious and repetitive rants on how ‘phony’ he seems to find everything. This is made worse by the way that the novel has gone on to effectively hold a death-grip on the genre of the bildungsroman or ‘coming of age story’. Every new novel about adolescence is either heralded as the new Catcher in the Rye, or passed off as just another generic retread of Salinger’s work. These inevitable comparisons forge countless novels to live up to people’s seemingly expectations of a new novel that is not trying to simulate Salinger. Although there is no denying its influence on young adult fiction, the novel has ultimately been far surpassed by more sophisticated and complex portrayals of adolescent identity. THOMAS FAY

Friday 6 November 2015

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SPECTOR @ LEADMILL

ondon-based indie rockers, Spector, graced the Leadmill’s main stage, and treated their audience to a magnificent, exuberant display of showmanship. Their performance came complete with bright lights, electrifying guitar and a frontman, Fred Macpherson, whose natural state seemed to be either jumping around in a graceful frenzy or thrashing his pig-tails to

GENGAHR @ LEADMILL

raditional folkloric belief has it that in the days surrounding Halloween, some kind of agitation in the dark, the obscure, and the unseen takes place, frenzying spirits and the paranormal into heightened and unnerving activity. While this notion might not be taken quite so seriously today as it once was, precisely 10 days before this eerie red-letter day, it seems as plausible an explanation as any for the witchcraft behind Gengahr’s onstage clout.

“The contorted noises from his guitar was closer to an act of necromancy than musicianship.” Quietly heralding the start of the gig, singer Felix Bushe’s gentle whispers to the opening bars of ‘Dizzy Ghosts’ are like incantations, and fans readily submitted. They moved obediently as one concerted effort, ebbing and flowing like the tide in perfect synchronisation with the music’s wavering intensities. Occasionally, groups in the audience allowed themselves to break out into intimate, inward-facing little pockets, dancing impulsively to the set’s more unhinged moments.

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his band’s hypnotic, melodic guitar and synths. Spector emerged from a sea of smoke and atmospheric blue lighting and got their set off to an electrifying start with ‘Lately It’s You’, off their recently released second album, Moth Boys. ‘Never Fade Away’, their first ever single, followed this, and had the entire audience clapping in time to the refrain, “You know I’ll never fade away”. Macpherson had by this point already entranced a majority of his audience, only two songs in. The third song of the night, ‘Bad Boyfriend’ captivated the entirety, uniting the Bushe and his bandmates were clearly doing their best to revel in their ascendancy to such live capabilities. As the night went on, he continually reminded his audience of his disbelief about how far they’ve come on this tour, both through his humble inter-song exchanges and his recurring adolescent grin, which materialised at the crowd’s frequent and vocal expressions of adoration. Conspicuously occupying stage right was the wraithy figure of guitarist John Victor, hiding behind a drape of finger-in-plug-socket hair, flattened and matted by sweat. Stomping stony-faced and remorselessly on an impressive and confusing array of pedals, his deranged wrenching of otherworldly, contorted noises from his guitar was closer to an act of necromancy than musicianship. As the set’s closing piece, Gengahr let their silvery, summery romp, ‘She’s A Witch’, gently exorcise those fallen prey to the voodoo motion at the outset of the night. The experience proved to lift the song out of its original melancholy, and the delicacy of the moment was intoxicating. It was like a spiritual homecoming, in every sense of the word. Taking stock of everything they’ve mastered in the past month and putting it all to a devastatingly enjoyable use, this show was both an opportunity to appreciate how far they’ve come, and to consider just how far they still can go. HARRY CHAMBERS

crowd in the joyous engagement of emotionally shouting the tracks opening lines at each other, “I’m worse than a bad boyfriend, I’m a bad artist and I’m a bad loser, but look at the way I win.”

“There was not a still person to be seen”

‘Stay High’ and ‘Decade of Decay’ were other crowd favourites. These tracks left everyone literally and metaphorically gasping for breath, due to both the sheer brilliance of Spector’s execution of

THE CRIBS @ O2 ACADEMY

or a band whose core audience is renowned for such fanatical dedication, the Cribs could have probably got away with using the support slots before their feverishly awaited headline set as a means of widening their reach or boosting ticket sales, but the band were intent on providing a cohesive show from the outset. Pulled Apart By Horses lived up to the requirements of aggressive energy, but it was openers PAWS who most closely resonated with the spirit of the Cribs. “We are all young” was an appropriate lyric to close their set, and, delivered with an outwards gesture to the crowd, it acted as an invitation to reckless abandon which ultimately pre-empted the 15-second chasing droves of crowd-surfers that the headline performance soon brought with it.

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them and energy behind them and the crowds’ physical attempt to keep up with Macpherson’s enthusiastic bouncing around. From the very first note of ‘Chevy Thunder’, there was not a still person to be seen in Leadmill’s main room. For the last part of the song, Fred made the ecstatic crowd, who had been waiting like coiled springs for the opportunity to jump around euphorically to this track, literally become coiled springs, by making them crouch down ready to spring back up for the final chorus. This worked to great effect, as the overly excited crowd bounced up with unparalleled momentum,

shouting the words, “Chevy thunder, Chevy, Chevy thunder”. ‘All The Sad Young Men’ brought the night to a beautiful end, as the crowd contentedly and emotionally sang the memorable chorus line at each other, “I don’t want to make love, I don’t want to make plans, I don’t want anyone to want to hold my hand”. A final act of showmanship came in the form of Fred adopting and holding a Freddie Mercury-esque stance as the track, and set, drew to a close.

Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever dominated much of the Cribs’ set, with ‘Ancient History’ proving a fitting opener, rousing the crowd into a frantic frenzy that rarely relented, befitting the endurance of an album largely responsible for their still blossoming status almost a decade on. Moshing has become notoriously entwined with the Cribs’ live experience, and the band embrace it, but the nature of its constant ubiquity made the crowd reaction seem less a response to the performance than a result of pre-established expectations. ‘Be Safe’ wasn’t subdued, but its understated musicality underpinned Lee Ranaldo’s spoken word contribution in a combination that elevated the show to a higher plane than anything that preceded; the crowd’s unified chant of the beloved chorus bringing together those in attendance with emotional communion as well as raw physical power. Of the new cuts, For All My Sisters shone brightest in movements of

similar reflection, not least with the highpoint of ‘Burning For No One’’s twisting melancholic stretch of a melody, and there were just enough of these instances of respite to believe that the band themselves recognise the importance of balance to their so-desired raucousness. ‘Shoot The Poets’ worked particularly well, too – “I never learned how to play it”, joked Ryan Jarman, encouraging the crowd to help him out. As if they needed any invitation. The tongue-in-cheek plea worked as a throwback to the band’s amateurish reputation of their rough-and-ready beginnings, but regardless of their keenness to retain that sense of reckless spontaneity, the Cribs have become proficient in the delivery of their pop-come-punk gems, and this performance was an exhibition of their now well-honed expertise.

CHARLOTTE PICK

JAMIE HUGHES

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BEACH HOUSE: THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS

istful synths, warm slide guitar and a languid vocal delivery: this may all sound very familiar to long-term admirers of Baltimore dream pop duo, Beach House, but following progressively expansive records Bloom and Depression Cherry, Thank Your Lucky Stars is a comparatively stripped-back affair that will excite

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fans of the band’s early material. Beach House is the product of a partnership between chanteuse and keyboardist Victoria Legrand (niece of French composer Michel Legrand) and guitarist Alex Scally, and Thank Your Lucky Stars is the group’s sixth effort. The duo’s stock has risen steadily, from early critical acclaim to mainstream success following the release of 2010’s Teen Dream. Throughout, Legrand and Scally have never strayed too far from a basic template of simplistic drum machine beats drenched in layered synths, reverb guitar and Legrand’s mesmeric vocal narratives. The

ELVIS COSTELLO: THIS YEAR’S MODEL

result: intoxicating pop ballads of the highest calibre. These principles give Beach House records a fundamental consistency which allows for the flourishes and embellishments that really captivate the listener. Their albums always feel well-conceived, executed with aplomb. Thank Your Lucky Stars is no different. Arriving barely two months after Depression Cherry – a surprise to fans the world over – this record really sparkles. From the opening bars of ‘Majorette’ which entrances with an arpeggiated guitar riff to the pervasive keyboard melody on

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‘Common Girl’, these songs have an element of the sublime. Legrand and Scally have an ability to make grand gestures with their music, evidenced most clearly in the refrain on ‘The Traveller’: “I was looking out of the window at the sky / Starless vigil of a life that has gone by”. There are a few remnants from the aforementioned Cherry – see album centrepiece ‘Elegy to the Void’ and personal highlight ‘Open Thing’ – but Thank Your Lucky Stars certainly has its own presence and identity. Although not without its faults –some of the tracks are slightly

convoluted, labouring to their conclusion – this album benefits from being slightly shorter than its predecessors and doesn’t outstay its welcome. The songs gradually embed themselves and are subtly revealed to the listener. Thank Your Lucky Stars may not shimmer like Bloom or have the same arresting quality as Teen Dream, but it further cements Beach House’s position as one of contemporary music’s most prodigious acts.

with its classic indie rock elements, but it also has an underlying pop likeability. It sets up the EP for great things with its timeless sound, and offers a promising perspective of what’s on the horizon for Man Made.

mastered on an EP of only 3 songs. The final track, ‘Everything and All of This’ is a gentle conclusion to the EP. It’s a classic lighter-in-the-air moment, and with superbly crafted lyrics, it’s a touching piece. It’s heartfelt, beautifully executed and enticing – and as the final track, it most definitely possesses a haunting quality. The thing that makes Bring Some standout is the fact that every track offers you something a little bit different, and shows another dimension to Man Made’s music. They have already established a strong sense of identity, individuality and originality with their sound and image, which is missing from a lot of new and upcoming bands, and this quality has begun to get them finally noticed and awarded the credit they deserve. Overall, a good listen and definitely a band with big things to come in 2016.

JONATHAN FELTON

SINGLES

CULT CORNER or an artist of such undoubtable talent, Costello’s profile has been on the wane. Whilst new wave contemporaries such as the Smiths, New Order and the Cure have in recent years enjoyed something of a revival amongst Generation Y, Costello’s own mark on the musical map of the late 70s and 80s has been somewhat overlooked. It’s a crying shame, for 1978’s This Year’s Model (his second album and first with backing band the Attractions) is an absolute gem. So, fire up your laptop, log on to Spotify and hear for yourself. This Year’s Model caught Costello near the summit of his musical and lyrical powers and it shines through twelve tracks, and there’s not a duff one on there. The Attractions also deserve credit for their exceptional musicianship. Backing band they may have been, but Steve Nieve, Bruce Thomas and Pete Thomas’ completion of Costello’s unique brand of rock shouldn’t be overlooked. Containing other such classics as ‘No Action’, ‘Lip Service’ and ‘Night Rally’, this album zips by and will always leave you wanting more. Enjoy. HARRY MINOGUE

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ADELE: HELLO

hough Adele may have already broken the UK chart record with her new single ‘Hello’, as it’s just not quite on par with previous colossal hit ballads of hers. The simplistic chord sequence is monotonous and dull, the lyrics are somewhat lacking poignancy and are, at times, repetitive and predictable. The use of synthetic instruments on the track only heightens the relatively cheapsounding production, and the rhythm never seems to change. The big climactic crescendos we’re used to hearing from Adele tracks, prominent in ‘Skyfall’ or ‘Set Fire To The Rain’, are nowhere to be found in ‘Hello’ - it just never quite builds up to much. Having said that, Adele’s everpowerful, emotive vocals save it massively. Her beautiful, resonant voice has an ability to capture your heart and your feelings the second you hear the opening line. It is, after all, the balance between vulnerability and confidence in her voice, which is what makes Adele so mesmerizing. ‘Hello’ is a ballad in the truest sense of the word, and no doubt it will go on to be an iconic, classic song due to its enormous mainstream popularity. It’s just a shame that her incredible vocal talent has been somewhat suffocated by a tedious tune. MARIE-ELISE WORSWICK

MAN MADE: BRING SOME

recent signing to record label Kobalt, a debut album on the cards for 2016 and being tour support for Johnny Marr – it’s pretty clear that Manchester trio Man Made are an upcoming band with edge and potential. Their new EP, Bring Some, gives off the impression that they are ready to revolutionise Manchester’s music scene, and the EP (together with frontman Nile’s signature sequin jacket) completely destroys any presumptions you might have about Manchester bands. The first and title track ‘Bring Some’ brings to the table an instantly memorable and indelible riff, which is an essential ingredient to any catchy indie-pop anthem. It’s undoubtedly a track that will grab the attention of a variety of listeners

“They have already established a strong sense of identity, individuality and originality”

‘Don’t Thank God’ layers up rustic vocals, dramatic, choppy riffs and tense drumming, to create a more dark and enigmatic vibe. It’s a nice contrast to the opening track, but still manages to maintain what seems to be their signature sound, which is an impressive task to have

ALISHA GRIFFITHS

Friday 6 November 2015

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“A highly entertaining escapade that feels at home with the old Bonds”

Spectre is, it comes at the price of abandoning the rawness and emotion found in the previous Craig films. The images of a bloody Bond in Casino Royale were the exciting sign of a hero who was not as indestructible as those who preceded him. Sadly, director Sam Mendes has foregone this, as Bond hardly breaks a sweat. Consequently, there’s no sense that he’s in any real danger, an unwelcome return to a problem with the Moore/Brosnan eras. Finally, while Waltz is an excellent choice for a Bond villain, at times he seems to recycle his Hans Landa

character from Inglourious Basterds. Although that still makes for an unsettling villain, a talented actor like Waltz could have done more with the role. However the irresistible flow and confident style of the film covers these flaws well. Spectre may not hit the highs of previous Craig films, and will disappoint those who liked their gritty direction, but it offers everything you’d want from a Bond, and shows that the series is still going strong.

CULT CORNER

SMALL SCREEN

PARKS AND RECREATION (2009-2015)

NARCOS: SEASON 1

Narcos has then-US president Ronald Reagan. At times, these sequences also provide a muchneeded reminder that the events occurring in the show did indeed actually happen. Rather than being a mere rehash of the ideas from Breaking Bad, as the show may at first seem, Narcos has a much wider perspective. Exploring not only Escobar’s rise

SPECTRE

fter three Daniel Craig films spent re-establishing James Bond into the modern world, the ending of Skyfall seemed to set everything into place. Spectre finally embraces all the classic Bond tropes, leaving character introspection and gritty violence in favour of a rip-roaring, lighter adventure that maintains the sophisticated tone which characterises the Craig era.

here many comedies rush to mock and undermine their characters for cheap gags, government-set workplace sitcom Parks and Recreation observes the civil servants at Pawnee city council and the townsfolk they serve with genuine interest and humanity. Parks is blessed with a diverse ensemble of comedy actors all at the top of their game, including a chubby, pre-Marvel Chris Pratt, a terrifyingly deadpan Aubrey Plaza and Nick Offerman’s breakout moustachioed Libertarian Ron Swanson. But it all rests on star Amy Poehler’s magnificent turn as Leslie Knope. Workaholic, bloody-minded and unwaveringly devoted to her loved ones, Leslie Knope is a true role model – a gloriously flawed and utterly sympathetic superwoman. Amidst the cosiness, Parks still finds space for hot-button satire, casting a wry, keen eye over topical issues like same-sex marriage, the financial crisis and men’s rights activism while managing to be incisive and clever, never callous or cruel. Tragically overlooked in the UK – having only surfaced in the obscurities of late nights slots on BBC Four and Dave – Parks is a true cult classic, brimming with weirdness, charm and wit, but it’s that undefeatable humanity that stays in the head and the heart. RHYS HANDLEY

The film opens with a spectacular five-minute tracking shot that follows Bond through a Mexican Day of the Dead parade before a fight scene inside a helicopter, one of the best pre-credits sequences in the series. From this breathtaking opening, via Sam Smith’s pretty bland “Writing’s on the Wall”, we are introduced to Bond’s quest to find Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), the head of criminal organisation SPECTRE, a regular foe of Connery and Moore’s Bonds. Bringing back villains from the classics is characteristic of a film full of loving tributes to the greatest

Bonds. There are villainous lairs, witty quips, plane and car chases, and globe-hopping locations. This is huge scale spectacle, a smooth and highly entertaining escapade that feels at home with the old Bonds. Meanwhile, psychologist Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) is the best Bond girl since Casino Royale’s Vesper Lynd, an intriguing and well-rounded character who helps develop the plot, although the ease with which she falls for Bond is at odds with the modern films’ more progressive attitude towards female characters. As undeniably entertaining as

rguably the most infamous drug smuggler to have ever lived, and certainly the wealthiest, Pablo Escobar’s story has fascinated filmmakers and writers alike for decades. The latest attempt at telling his story comes in the form of Netflix original series Narcos. Following on from the online streaming service’s successes with House of Cards and Orange is the New Black among others, Netflix are quickly making a name for themselves as having quality exclusive programmes. Initially, the dual narrative structure flicking between America and Columbia feels clunky and at times unnecessary, as Escobar’s (Wagner Moura) story is the one that is of real interest, rather than Steve Murphy’s (Boyd Holbrook) back story as a policeman in LA. However, as the season progresses and Murphy moves to Columbia, both narratives become more and more intertwined, providing an interesting comparison in perspective. Without the voice of the law, we might be inclined to see the murdering and thieving Escobar as a hero, albeit a significantly flawed one. Sequences of archive news footage and photos throughout the show are reminiscent of Shane Meadows’ masterpiece This is England, serving the same purpose of providing a wider context. Where This is England has Thatcher,

SAM KELLY

“Escobar is an unquestionably bad character but he still elicits our sympathy” as a notorious criminal, Narcos also illustrates social and political issues present in Columbia as a whole. Not to mention it is, at times unbelievably, is based on a true story. However, like Breaking Bad, Escobar provides us with an unquestionably ‘bad’ character, but expertly manages to elicit our sympathy, sometimes to a disturbing extent. As mustachioed crime fighter Steve Murphy puts it at the end of the first episode, “good and bad… they’re relative concepts”. Indeed, while delivering this line, he is surrounded by numerous corpses, apparently able to justify the killing of people due to their affiliation with the drug trade, making his morals questionable at the very least. Narcos, then, is a fascinating exploration of the drug trade in Columbia, but also of morality, making it a must-see. HARRY GOLD

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CRIMSON PEAK

he marketing of Guillermo del Toro’s latest film does not do justice to the beautiful intricacies of his gothic romance. The overall buzz is misleading in that it resonates the feel that Crimson Peak is a ghost horror film, but the film itself is a manifestation of del Toro’s appreciation for the genresynthetic nature of gothic romance. Del Toro seems to argue against

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this social stigma related to ghosts early on in the film, when lead Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) submits her novel to an editor only to be rejected because it is a ghost horror story. Edith states that it is “a story with a ghost in it.” Though subtle, this line is descriptive of the film, as ghosts are not the central figures, yet the marketers have obscured their purpose in the plot. In fact, the focus of the film lies in the emotional struggle of the three main characters. Lucille Sharp (Jessica Chastain) is a tragic character whose inexorable love for her brother Thomas (Tom

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Hiddleston) and her familial legacy locks hers in an emotional prison but is forced to make changes when Edith enters their lives. Thomas is definitely aware of his sister’s love for him, but is troubled by his new romantic attachment to Edith, who represents something new, progressive, and hopeful. Edith, as a strong feminist character, struggles in the oppressive nature of society that expects nothing from her as a fragile, young, innocent girl and must deal with Lucille who sees her as weak. Del Toro’s triumph with this film is embodied by his delicate

representation of these heartrending struggles via gifted cinematography. The first half of the film takes place in Edith’s home, New York, where Victorian higher class life becomes a captivatingly realistic experience. The intimate waltz scene is also impressive. The viewer is enchanted by the growing romantic tension between Thomas and Edith but simultaneously exposed to the cold, unrelenting eyes of Lucille. In the second half, which takes place in the Sharp residence in England, the gothic house set, along with its primary resident,

to understand what is happening already. The finale shares the rest of the film’s lack of clarity. It’s confusing and frustratingly inconclusive, leaving the viewer underwhelmed. It seems that the film’s trying to set up a sequel before it’s sure of its own plot. The characterisation is one dimensional, demonstrated by the stale and unwitty exchanges between characters. This is particularly clear when Kaulder flirts with a flight attendant, intending to appear suave and charming, like a supernatural James Bond, but instead comes across as toe-curlingly strained. Chloe is likeable, but her characterisation is also patchy, not even the most talented actor could flesh out her token female role. The Last Witch Hunter has promise, but is an underwhelming film with a tedious plot and dull characters, leaving the audience feeling bored and bemused.

GOODNIGHT MOMMY

Lucille, becomes an exquisitely orchestrated ensemble of terror. With her wardrobe designed in a despondent gothic colour palette and her marvelous ability to embody the tragic hysteria of Lucille, Chastain becomes part of the artistic perfection of the entire set. With such a beautifully composed triumph by del Toro, it may be unfair to expect marketing capable of doing it justice. That’s how troubling and brilliant this film is. KAZUMA OSAKI

“Vin Diesel looks like a Shoreditch barista who moved to Winterfell”

THE LAST WITCH HUNTER

he ingredients for an entertaining action-fantasy film can be found in The Last Witch Hunter. It stars Vin Diesel as an 800-year-old witch slayer named Kaulder, living in a slick Manhattan apartment, tasked with keeping the peace between witches and humans. He’s helped by a potentially badass collection of sidekicks: Michael Caine as a priest named Dolan, another priest also known as Dolan (Elijah Wood), and a benign yet street-wise witch, Chloe (Game of Thrones’ Rose Leslie). People fight with flaming swords. Vin Diesel talks in his trademark monosyllabic rumbles. The audience sees Vin Diesel wearing a beardwig, looking like a Shoreditch barista who moved to Winterfell. This film could have been a fun “so bad it’s good” guilty pleasure.

It could have been a serious analysis of the misogyny behind our myths and stories of witchcraft. Kaulder does make some profound comments about the politics of slaying. Unfortunately, The Last Witch Hunter is none of these things. It’s mostly quite boring. This is largely due to the plot feeling like an afterthought. It’s loose, only vaguely making sense. Fantasy clichés are thrown into the film at random, without any real explanation. What 21st century New Yorker would use the phrase “mouldering crabapples”? Why is a character referred to as a “14th level warlock”, even though what a warlock is or their apparent ratings are never mentioned again? It’s doubtful that even producer Diesel knows. There are rare moments when the film sheds light on what’s going on behind all the unwieldy special effects. These are heavy-handed explanations, delivered without subtlety by Kaulder to other characters, who probably ought

MOLLY KERKHAM

orror films often fit into two categories: blood porn and carnival-style spook house. Goodnight Mommy is neither. This film is refreshingly different; no villain pops up in the background and the violence is not gratuitous but rather is carefully staged, sensitively done, and always with emphasis on the victim not the act. The film centres around two twin boys played by Lukas and Elias Schwarz at an idyllic Austrian retreat. We quickly learn that the boys have a difficult relationship with their mother, and that they suspect that, since the accident which has left her covered in bandages, she is not their mother, but a demon. The strength of this film lies in clever writing, quality acting, and originality, it does not follow the usual horror formula. The majority of the scenes happen in daytime with lots of sunshine. It has a warmth

about it which manifests itself in the summer environment and the likeability of the twins. This warmth is incongruous with the horror, but the confusion this creates is not frustrating, it is intriguing. The actors do a great job, leaving you suffering from inner emotional-conflict. Some scenes which are genuinely uncomfortable to watch and leave you both disconcerted and disgusted, and that is due largely to the actors’ strong performances. However the film does have its weaknesses. The millionaire family screams cliché, and the large country retreat is frustratingly conventional. The most disappointing thing is the conclusion; after an incredible twist it is very dissatisfying to see such a predictable end. Despite this, Goodnight Mommy retains a unique quality which other horrors lack. It is genuinely horrific, leaving you perturbed and wriggling in your seat in squeamish ecstasy. GEORGIA NOLAN-ROSE

LISTINGS ARTS WILLIAM GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES 10–14 November Lyceum

Produced under the direction of London’s sensational Regent’s Park Theatre who have the recent bighit To Kill a Mocking Bird under their hats, the theatre adaptation of the classic novel Lord of the Flies lights up the stage with its popular, captivating story.

ENSEMBLE 360 10 November Upper Chapel

Do you still feel a bit too young to sit down quietly at a mature classical concert? But still want to try out something a bit more adult? If so, Ensemble 360 will be the perfect concert for you. While it keeps its class with canon pieces by Chopin and such, Dvořák’s Sonatina has influences from many global sounds and proves itself a bit more hip than other productions of its kind.

PETER PHILIPS, BRITISH POP. SOLO SHOW. 30 October – 25 November 99 Mary Street

99 Mary Street follows up its popularly successful Peter Blake exhibition with their Peter Philips solo show. Considered as one of the most influential pop artists in England, Philips presents various artworks from his 50 year career. Being compared to Andy Warhol in the United States, Philips is a pop artist sensational that you cannot miss.

DARK & LOVELY 18–20 November Studio

Dark & Lovely is a production by Selina Thompson who has recently gained lots of critical acclaim with her Chewing the Fat production that toured last year, which was about the politics of body image. She’s back now with a show on dark hair presented engagingly through various audio and visual mediums.

LEGALLY BLONDE 22-23 September The Crucible Theatre

Even if you’ve read the novel or watched the movie (or both) you are still missing out if you haven’t watched the musical adaptation of Legally Blonde yet. Legally Blonde: The Musical won seven major awards and has grasped the hearts of many with its cute, charming atmosphere.

HANDMADE FOR CHRISTMAS

30 October – 10 January Millennium Gallery The jolly season is here! If you’re looking for gifts and items to give or furnish your house with a holiday mood, do it with these endeering, handmade crafts! A warmer, cozy alternative to the High Street - this show keeps you in the presence of warmth.

GAMES FALLOUT 4

MUSIC THE 1975

SCREEN RED ARMY

10 November Windows, PS4, Xbox One

11 November, 7:00 PM O2 Academy

6-12 November The Showroom

The newest offering from the Fallout series will be the fifth release, and is set 200 years after a nuclear war. You play in a post-apocalyptic Boston, completing quests and acquiring experience. What better way to spend your time?

The 1975 are on tour showcasing their second album scheduled to release February 2016. Their addicting pop sound despite their indie rock genre and their brilliance on stage (not to mention their fanciable looks) are only two of the numerous reaosns of why you should watch them for an unforgettable night.

A gripping, extraordinary documentary chronicling the careers and lives of the ‘Russian Five’ an almost-unbeatable ice hockey team formed in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Told from the perspective of its captain Slava Fetisov, the story portrays his transformation from national hero to political enemy.

KREPT AND KONAN

DIE SUFFRAGETTE

If you’re a hip-hop fan and you don’t know Krept and Konan yet you’re missing out. The London duo have taken the UK underground scene by storm with their funny and yet whittingly expressive style. Oh, and last year they won the Highest-Charting UK album by an Unsigned Act award with a world record - now that’s what promising sounds like.

If new release Suffragette didn’t please you, then this film at Showroom will offer another take on the sufferage movement. Based on the life of Christabel Pankhurst, the film marks the pivotal actions and political convictions of Nelly Panburne - most notably putting a bomb under the chair of the suffragette’s opposition, Lord Ascue.

RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER 10 November Xbox 360, Xbox One

After the release of Tomb Raider in 2013, Rise of the Tomb Raider follows Lara Croft as ever. Most excitingly the game will feature a crafting system, where players can create weapons from savaged materials.

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE GAME 13 November Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One

Did you expect anything else after the anniversary of Back to the Future? Developed by Telltale Games, you’ll have the opportunity to hop in the DeLorian yourself and live life as dear old Marty McFly.

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2016 13 November Windows, OS X, Linux

Despite this being released on Friday 13, the new Football Manager will offer something new - you can now customize the appearance of your manage on pitch. If the new Sims-esque feature doesn’t excite you, then maybe the new Fantasy Draft and Create-A-Club modes should.

GAME OF THRONES: EPISODE 6 - THE ICE DRAGON

18 November, 5:00 PM Plug

CRAFT SPELLS

19 November, 8:00 PM Bungalows and Bears After captivating the hearts of many indie fans through their retro pop sound and melancholic lyrics with their critically accalimed debut album Idle Labor and their follow up EP Gallery, they’ve sadly been somewhat off the radar for two years - their long-awaited return to the stage is finally here.

OF MONSTERS AND MEN 20 November, 6:30 PM O2 Academy

The Icelandic indie folk rock band that rapidly ascended to stardom in just a few years since their formulation in 2010 are back with their sophomore effort Beneath the Skin to prove that their major 2011 success My Head Is An Animal wasn’t a fluke.

17 November The Showroom

LOVE 3D

18 November Curzon Gaspar Noé returns to our screens with the sexiest film we’ve seen since Blue is the Warmest Colour, Love 3D. It follows Murphy, a young filmmaker, who wakes up on New Year’s Day to a frantic phone call from his missing ex-girlfriend, Electra, Oh, and this performance requires 3D glasses - view at your own will.

FILM UNIT

Nelson Mandela Auditorium Sheffield’s volunteer-run student cinema returns with films for just £2.50 each. For more info and a look at their full schedule for the autumn semester, go to filmunit.org.uk 6/11 - The Wolfpack 7/11 - Tomorrowland 8/11 - Dear White People 13/11 - Timbuktu 14/11 - Ted 2 15/11 - London Road 19/11 - Dude Bro Party Massacre III

17 November Windows, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

ALBUM RELEASES 6 November

NETFLIX RELEASES

Following on from all of the books and all of the TV series’, Episode 6 - The Ice Dragon hits shelves this November. Anything with dragons and Daenerys Targaryen is bound to be fun.

Björk - Vulnicura Strings

10 November

Sara Bareilles - What’s Inside: Songs From Waitress

Big Eden

The Japanese House - Clean [EP] 13 October

MARIO TENNIS: ULTRA SMASH 20 November WiiU

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, from Camelot Software Planning and Nintendo, comes to WiiU. It has a total of four modes, including Mega Battle, giving the players an ability to use The Mega Mushroom, and the Knockback Challenge which has the player facing Challenging AI Opponents. Plus, it’s Mario so why not.

Alessia Cara - Know-It-All Justin Bieber - Purpose One Direction - Made In The A.M.

11 November The French Connection That Thing You Do! 13 November With Bob & David: Season One 14 November Nebraska

20 November

15 November

Adele - 25

The Brittany Murphy Story The Voices

Enya - Dark Sky Island Six Organs of Admittance Hexadic II

16 November Testament of Youth