I am late to Civil War. Other than seeing some general impressions of the film, not all positive,, I haven’t really engaged with what people’s impressions have been. I have just got out of a showing and thought as a photographer, I would gather my immediate thoughts, as the film is more of a homage to war photo journalists than I had realised.

Alex Garland’s film takes place in a near future version of the USA where a President seems to have overstepped his Presidential power, closing down the institutions of government and staying on for a third term. An alliance of southern states have waged war on the President who has authorised the bombing of US citizens.

The actions follows two war correspondents Lee, an awarding war photographer, (Kirsten Dunst) and Joel (Wagner Moura) in the final days of the war as they race to DC in the hope of capturing an interview with the President before he’s disposed. Along for the journey are Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), a young rookie photographer and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), a seasoned New York Times journalist who doesn’t know how to retire. 

For much of the film it is a road journey through a war torn un-United States. However, it is less about the civil war, with the film exploring what makes a war correspondent do what they do. Why would you put yourself in danger to photograph the worst side of humanity? Alex’s father was a journalist at the Telegraph and Alex grew up around people like those in the film. This is his homage to these courageous people.

Kirsten Dunst is excellent in the role of an experienced but jaded war photographer who realises she has shut herself off the horrors she photographs and who in Jessie, the young rookie, see’s her younger self and does not want Jessie to become her. Having believed she was sending messages back home as a warning to stop people doing the same, but with Americans fighting Americans, she knows she sacrificed part of herself for no reason. Jessie meanwhile looks up to Lee and gradually, like the American soldiers around her who are killing fellow Americans, she follows Lee’s path and becomes immune to the horrors she is photographing. 

The film is beautifully shot. The cinematographer, Rob Hardy, manages to make the film feel like it has been captured by a war photographer. Pretty much all the film is filmed as first person, putting you right in the action and horrors.

I am not sure what I was expecting. Given the political aspect, I had expected the politics to be more overt. But they aren’t. At no point do the journalists discuss the right or wrong of the opponents. While, there are fascistic aspects to the President, no side is presented as right or wrong. The war’s progress simply plays out and is documented by the journalists.

As a photographer, I have never been able to do street photography. I always see people and not photos. I have never understood the idea of photographing people dying or in distress. Seeing a person’s death in a photograph, seems to dehumanise who the person was. I found this a really interesting study of a type of photography I could never do. The idea of running towards danger is challenging enough. To photograph and not help, seems completely alien to me. With daily images bombarding us about the horrors happening to civilians in Gaza, I keep wondering how you can ‘stand by’ and photograph such horrors. But it is because these horrors are happening that people are capturing them. It needs us to be horrified to remember our humanity and to do something about it. This film, is about those people who hold up a mirror to our inhumanity and what they personally sacrifice to do their job. Definitely a candidate of my film of the year.

‘The World At Our Feet’ is the duo’s first single. The track drips with a cyberpunk aesthetic that wouldn’t be out of place in dark underbelly of Bladerunner. The song feels like it comes from a decaying dystopian near future where we have lost our dreams and are slaves to the system. 

Driving the song is a heavy persistent beat, like a massive sheet metal press is pounding away in the background. It is hypnotic, but also oppressive. Ominous electronic music is punctuated by detached vocals. Shouts of ‘Here we are, the world at our feet’, isn’t the chant of somebody who is optimistic that change is coming. There is a distressed realisation that he is no longer in control of his destiny and is but a cogs in the machine, but also the faintest of hopes that they will achieve the impossible.

In a goth club, I am sure this will go down a storm. Even for the non-goths amongst us, I found it very danceable. Fat Concubine are not trying to play to commercial trends. They are doing their own thing. If you want to listen to something different, I can recommend this slice of dystopian art-punk. 

‘The World at Our Feet’ was released on 1st September and is available from Bandcamp

The band formed in 2016, have been making waves across Shropshire and were recently voted the ‘Best Band’ at the Shropshire Music Awards. The record has been in the making for several years and reflects a difficult few years for the band, following the sudden death of their guitarist Rob Jones. After a break, the band made the difficult decision to continue as a four piece. With the debut album ready for release, it seems the hard work and overcoming tragic emotional lows is finally paying off.

The album opens with the meaty guitar riff of ‘Chasing All I Know’. The songs sets the scene for the rest of the album. Not afraid to use heavy catchy riffs, you can hear influences of bands like Royal Blood and Band Of Skulls. I can also hear why Shropshire audiences love them. I can imagine these songs play well live. Reflecting on how the pressures of life can cause to us to lose touch of ourselves. The song builds up the pressure until the guitar is screaming in the background as Chris Leech, the lead singer, sings ‘I am chasing all I know’.

Again the big riffs are out for ‘Begin Again’, a song about how tied we are to social media, searching for likes and validation of the image we present online. Maybe ironically, it has a crowd friendly chorus that will get any audience jumping around and who surely are going to be hitting ‘like’ on Facebook when they get home.

My favourite song on the album, ‘Reach Up Higher’, a BBC Introducing ‘Record of the Week’, is extremely catchy with its repeating chorus and fast tempo. Perfect for the band’s apparent incendiary live performances. Maybe it is thematically a bit close to ‘Begin Again’, as it also looks at the influence people have on others through the media, and how they can shape our perceptions of the world and lead us to strive for the wrong things. But it hard to avoid how maybe some of the wrong people are manipulating us through the media and social media.

Bringing the tempo down and pushing the guitars and drums to the back. On ‘Hole In The Sky’, Chris expresses an emotion we have all felt at times, especially over the last few years. The difficulty of understanding the world when the world around is falling apart and we doing our best not to fall apart too. The band resit the temptation of bringing the guitars back to the fore and instead leave Chris to his reflection.

Where the album is strongest is where it plays around with these big riffs. But you can hear other influences on this album. ‘Back to You’ wears its Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s influences on its sleeves. For me it sits incongruously amongst the rest of the album, if like me, you got bored of the Chilli Pepper sound after one album. However, that is the only week point. The rest of the album is good.

Closing the album is a ‘lighter song’. ‘The First Time’ has that slow, ‘everyone link shoulders and sing together’ tempo. Usually I am not a fan of this type of song. But the song, written about Rob, is both reflective and joyous, with Chris reflecting, ‘I wish for one more moment’. I think all of us know that feeling. Given the tragic loss, this heartwarming song is the perfect way to close the album and a fine way to remember a friend.

Overall, Black Bear Kiss is an enjoyable slice of indie rock. I’m trying to wrack my brain if we have any similar bands in Hertfordshire. But the Royal Blood vibe didn’t really take off here. I can’t remember hearing a Hertfordshire band with a similar sound. Many Hertfordshire bands seem to be influenced by skater-type rock of the early 2000s or Slaves-type pop punk. I am sure if they ever make the trip down to Hertfordshire they would go down well at The Horn.

Black Bear Kiss’s debut album is available from 3rd March.
Digital version: https://blackbearkiss.bandcamp.com/album/black-bear-kiss
CD and Merch: https://blackbearkiss.sumupstore.com

Tom Hanks plays Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’s manager, as an unreliable narrator. Close to death, the Colonel is reflecting in a fevered dream on his relationship with Elvis. Justifying his decisions and presenting himself as the person who made Elvis. This allows Luhrmann the freedom to play fast and loose with the facts. It also sadly means most characters don’t have to have any depth, Tom is only remembering his version of Elvis and no one else matters to his story. 

Sadly, Elvis’s early life and early recording career at Sun Records is brushed over very quickly. The story picks up after the Colonel sees Elvis and puts him on a tour with Country star Hank Snow and the travelling carnival that follow him. As with most of the film. I have no idea if this is true. Yes, Elvis toured with Hank. But the carnival seems to be used to set the scene on how the Colonel views everyone as an exploitable opportunity. 

I was disappointed they took the decision to omit Elvis’s early recording career. We all know about the Vegas years and the comeback special. I wanted to see Elvis’s early life. How did Elvis become Elvis? Instead, Elvis is almost fully formed at the beginning of the film and doesn’t develop significantly as an artist through the rest of the film.

The key to any music film is to create convincing performances. Taking on Elvis is an unenviable task. Elvis is such a recognisable performer. We are all familiar with the various live recordings and also his feature film output. With so many Elvis impersonators, finding a balance between creating a realistic portrayal of Elvis and becoming yet another impersonator is a difficult task.

Austin Butler plays Elvis and has received a lot of plaudits. I have to admit he does a decent, but not quite convincing job. The way the story is told, leaves Luhrmann’s Elvis without much depth. You never really get to know Elvis. Austin does the best with what he has. But he is given slim pickings. For example, his relationship with his mother and Pricilla are explored in a perfunctory way. At times Elvis just comes across as a teenager with tantrums. With so much of the film focused on the relationship between Elvia and the Colonel, Most other characters are in the background barely interacting with Elvis. So this Elvis comes across as humourless and at times he is all a bit emo.

But for me it is the way Luhrmann has handled the live performances that means Austin’s performance doesn’t quite work. While he did a great job with the physical side of performance and he a good job singing the songs. The live performance didn’t appear to have be captured as a live performance, with vocals overdubbed in the studio. At times it looked like he was miming and the music had none of the dynamics of a real live performance, sounding like a clean studio recording. 

The film does a good job of creating a sympathetic Elvis character. You never feel he ever has any control over his own destiny. Every time there is a chance of him escaping his cage. He is manipulate by the Machiavellian Colonel. Hanks, as always, does a great job. Playing the Colonel as somebody who revels in his own schemes and like any snake oil salesman, uses charm and Elvis’s own dreams to keep control. By the end of the film you are left in no doubt that the Colonel abused his relationship with Elvis and that Elvis’s death was inevitable. But it also robs Elvis of much of his own agency. His bad decisions all caused by the Colonel.

By the end of the film. I never felt I really learnt anything new about Elvis and was left feeling like this was a wasted opportunity. I had hoped that this might have had the grit of ‘Walk The Line’ or the humour of ‘Rocketman’. Instead, it managed to sit somewhere in the middle and sadly it did not reach the heights of either film.

Pistol, the Danny Boyle directed TV series has already proved controversial. John Lydon tried to stop the programme from using the Sex Pistols’ music after he refused to be part of the series. With a court ruling the remaining Pistols had a majority rules agreement about the licensing of the music. I think John was also concerned he would be portrayed poorly. But the series isn’t the John Lydon story, but Steve Jones own story of the Sex Pistols.

The first episode sets the scene for the series. It is pure fantasy. While Steve claims he stole some equipment from Bowie during his ‘Ziggy Stardust’ tour. The episode has him climbing through a window of the Hammersmith Apollo and wheel out a trailer full of gear. The introduction of Malcolm McLaren, has him as Steve’s fairy goth mother. Saving him from a prison sentence, helping him form a band and this set the context for everything that follows. This is the story of Steve’s manipulation by Malcolm. Yes, it is the story of the Pistols. But it is told from Steve’s perspective and his reflection on why he made the decisions that eventually led to betrayals, the splitting of the Pistols and the death of Sid and Nancy.

In some ways John shouldn’t have been concerned about the series. There are arguably two good guys in the series, John and Chrissie Hyde. John sees through Malcolm and because of this, he ultimately has to go. Chrissie is the person with the big heart willing to help Steve achieve his dreams, at the expense of her own dreams.

For those of us who haven’t really looked into what happened to the Pistols, while playing fast and loose with some facts, Danny Boyle manages to tell the story of the Pistols and to a lesser extent the punk movement with humour and pace. It never feels laboured. The main reason for this is the excellent cast.

Anson Boon who plays John is a revelation. While it isn’t a spot on representation of John. It works. He manages to capture John’s weird style of speaking and singing along with his skittish body mannerisms. This John is intelligent and principled. His addition to the band is what transforms the band into the band we know.

Equally impressive is Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Malcolm. I only know Malcolm from the 80s and 90s where he always appeared to be a bit of a snake oil salesman. Thomas decides to play him as a modern day Barnam. He is a showman manipulating his circus to create the biggest headlines. Taking credit from everyone (especially Vivienne Westwood). But never taking responsibility for any of his own actions or showing any concern about who he hurts.

If like me, you didn’t know the story. I won’t spoil it for you. It is worth approaching this not as the definitive history of the Pistols, the punk movement, or even a true story. Approach the programme as the memory of a man who now knows he was manipulated at the time and made decisions that ultimately leading to tragic two deaths. This is him recognising Malcolm played him.

The idea of the devil and music goes back decades. Artists staring in their own movies is now well established. It seems at some point big bands reach a point when they want to act or star in their own movie. So the idea of a horror movie featuring the Foo Fighters kind of make sense.

The premise is that the Foo Fighters are looking for a location to write their 10th album. Their manager suggests a house with a connection to music. Unknown to the band, the house has a dark past. The last band to record there had ‘musical differences’, leading to their singer murdering the band. Not long after they move in, the house starts to posses Dave.

I can’t say I’m a fan of horror films. The trailer suggests this is a horror film that leans heavily on comedy. I was thinking ‘Shaun of the Dead’ with drums. But within the first five minutes the film had nailed its horror credentials to an upside down cross. If you are squeamish, be warned, there are grisly scenes that aren’t played for laughs. I’m sure horror aficionados will not be shocked the scenes. But if you are like me and you don’t watch certain types of horror because they’re needlessly grisly. Some of the scenes might make you squirm. Saying that, the film is not psychologically scary, which are the horror films that tend to haunt with me.

Written by Dave Grohl, the film is at its strongest when it plays for laughs. Dave Grohl is such an affable guy, it’s easy to laugh along to him. Given that none of the band are strong actors and seem to be happiest with the scenes where it is more like them larking around. It might have been advisable for them to lean more heavily on the comedy and some of the funniest moments are the little quips between band members. The film also picks up a bit when the band members start to become the ‘Mystery Gang’ and investigate Dave as the interchange between band members works well.

If you are a Foo Fighters fan, this is a must see. If you are a horror fan it will be worth watching for curiosity reasons. But it is not likely to scare you. If you don’t like horror. I’d probably give it a miss. For everyone else. For the rest of us. It is not a bad film. There are worse films in the cinemas at the moment.

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