Upcoming Single Releases (Updated 1st August 2013)

This Week’s Single Releases

AFI – I Hope You Suffer

Blitz Kids – Run For Cover

Brookes Brothers feat. Chrom3 – Carry Me On

Charlene Soraia – Broken

Disclosure – F For You

Imagine Dragons – It’s Time

Lana Del Rey vs Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness

Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop

Miles Kane - Taking Over

Noah & The Whale – Lifetime

Primal Scream - Invisible City

RESET! – I Need You

Sean Paul - Other Side of Love

The Strypes – What A Shame

Tinie Tempah feat. 2Chainz – Trampoline (EP)

11^th Aug

Axwell - Center Of The Universe

Bump – Baby Blue

Booker T feat. Jay James – Broken Heart

Ellie Goulding – Burn

Ray Foxx feat. Rachel K Collier – Boom Boom (Heartbeat)

The Vaccines – Melody Calling (EP)

The Wanted – We Own The Night

Unconfirmed

Alice In Chains - Voices

C2C – Happy

DJ Fresh vs Diplo feat. Dominique Young – Earthquake

Kim Cesarian – Undressed

KT Tunstall - Invisible Empire

Mikky Ekko – Kids (EP)

Naughty Boy feat. Emeli Sande – Lifted

Rudimental feat. Foxes: Right Here

18^th Aug

Anna Meredith - Jet Black Raider (EP)

Klangkarussell - Sonnentanz (The Sun Don't Shine) (feat. Will Heard)

Laura Mvula – She

Matt Cardle and Melanie C – Loving You

Unconfirmed

Dawes - From A Window Seat

Franz Ferdinand – Right Action (EP)

Lady GaGa - Applause

Little Green Cars - Absolute Zero

Miguel feat. Jessie Ware – Adorn

Olly Murs - Hey You Beautiful

Tich – Obsession

Wretch 32 feat. Jacob Banks - Doing OK

25^th Aug

Bastille - Things We Lost in the Fire

Shane Filan – Everything To Me (EP)

Tame Impala - Elephant

Unconfirmed

Bo Bruce - The Hands I Hold

John Legend - Made To Love

Little Nikki - Little Nikki Says

Naughty Boy - Think About It

Olly Murs - Right PlaceRight Time

Rizzle Kicks – Lost Generation

The 1975 - Sex

1^st Sep

Joel Compass - Astronaut

Martin Solveig and the Cataracts feat. Kyle – Hey Now

Unconfirmed

Goldfrapp - Drew

London Grammar - Strong

Mutya Keisha Siobhan – Flatline

Neon Jungle - Trouble

Pitbull feat. Danny Mercer - Outta Nowhere

Trinidad James - All Gold Everything

8^th Sep

Austin Mahone – What About Love

The Naked And Famous – Hearts Like Ours

Unconfirmed

2 Chains feat. Pharrell - Feds Watching

Armin Van Buuren - Beautiful Life

Chvrches – Lies

Cyril Hahn feat. Shy Girls - Perfect Form

Example – All The Wrong Places

Manic Street Preachers - She Me The Wonder

The Other Tribe - My Girl

15^th Sep

The Aston Shuffle – Can’t Stop Now

Jason Derulo feat. 2Chainz – Take Dirty

Unconfirmed

Iggy Azalea - Change Your Life

Katie Melua – Ketevan

22^nd Sep

Jonas Brothers – First Time

Lorde – Royals

Nelly feat. Nicki Minaj and Pharrell - Get Like Me

Unconfirmed

Chase & Status - Count On You

29^th September

Basement Jaxx – What A Difference Your Love Makes

Unconfirmed

Michael Buble feat. Bryan Adams - After All

Sheryl Crow - Easy

Upcoming Singles With Unknown Release Dates

Fall Out Boy - Alone Together

Fantasia feat. Kelly Rowland – Without Me

Ghostpoet – Cold Win

Inc. - Angel

Jack Savoretti – Lifeline

John Legend – Made To Love

Paramore – Ain’t It Fun

Rudimental feat. Foxes: Right Here

Texas – Detroit City

Vampire Weekend – Unbelievers

Volcano Choir - Byegone

Within The Ruins – New Holy Wars

Yodelice – Fade Away

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Despicable Me 2 [Review]

It’s only recently that I became acquainted with the first film in this story, three years after its original release and I found it to be a charming, fun kids film but without the major laughs of similar films. And it’s pretty much the same for the sequel which sees reformed villain Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) being employed by the Anti-Villain League to find a villain that has stolen a secret formula. Naturally his minions and three adopted daughters come along for the ride, as does Agent Lucy Wilde (voiced by Kristen Wiig) who acts as a clumsy, but well-meaning, love interest.

Considering the Minions have been the most iconic parts of the films and its related merchandise, they don’t seem to have any more screen time in this film than the first and their presences range from the mildly amusing to the feeble, with the film revelling mostly in toilet humour and cringeworthy set-ups. In contrast to, say, the recent ‘Monsters University’ which manages to neatly balance appeal for adults and children – though perhaps not very young children – this is a film purely aimed at the kids and parents will struggle to last the relatively pacey running time.

That’s not to say it’s without its moments. A series of scenes with Gru after discovering Lucy has left the country counterbalances an earlier scene and pastiche of romance films perfectly, and a rogue chicken from the restaurant that forms the centre piece of Gru’s initial search for the villain, provides most of the laughs, alongside a few moments of the Minions. Elsewhere a few smiles are raised but I wouldn’t say it was up to the quality of some of the recent, quality CGI animations. However, there were lots of adults laughing at key points during the film, so perhaps it’s an acquired taste.

Graphically the film stands up and the personalities and unique character modelling make the film. Pharrell Williams’ score is much more minimal this time around and the supporting cast, such as Russell Brand’s Dr. Nefario, get criminally little screen time.

If you loved the first film or are a big fan of the minions then you’ll enjoy this. Very similar in vein to the first film, it’s a nice, family-orientated outing but with its humour that very rarely lifts above fart gags, rude names and sound effects, adults won’t have as good a time as they would do at ‘Monsters University’, ‘How To Train A Dragon’ or such like. There’s plenty of slapstick too, which mostly works.

The plot is never going to be exceptional, but the stereotypes are all in full flow here with very familiar plotting around love and family, and it feels at time like a series of unconnected sketches. As the film reaches its climax and ends with a dance number that has been so often parodied it’s no longer funny. It feels like the film has run out of steam and is having to draw on Rayman’s Ravin’ Rabbids for inspiration. I felt more awkward at the bad dialogue more times than I laughed.

Kristen Wiig, however, steals the show, with her voice acting and I hope to see more from her in the, inevitable, sequel and spin-off.

Not a totally bad film, just a little bit bland and lacking the material to really call it a true film for everyone, but if you’re a big fan of the first film then you’ll love it.

(4/10)

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Upcoming Singles (Updated 27th July 2013)

This Week's Single Releases

Amplify Dot feat. Busta Rhymes - I'm Good

Backstreet Boys – In A World Like This

Big Sean feat Lil Wayne & Jhene Aiko – Beware

Bonnie McKee – American Girl

Britney Spears - Ooh La La

Calvin Harris feat. Ayah Marar - Thinking About You

Clean Bandit – Dust Clears (EP)

Eliza Doolittle - Big When I Was Little

Elton John - Home Again

Emma Stevens – Heart on Hand (EP)

Juicy J feat. Wale & Trey Songz – Bounce It

Justin Timberlake – Take Back The Night

Kelly Rowland – Dirty Laundry

Le Youth – Cool

Lissie – Further Away (Romance Police)

Little Green Cars – My Love Took Me Down To The River To Silence Me

Mario feat. Nicki Minaj – Somebody Else

Mark Morrison – I Am What I Am

Olivia Ruiz – Volver

Placebo - Too Many Friends

Shy FX feat. Liam Bailey – Soon Come

4^th Aug

Blitz Kids – Run For Cover

Brookes Brothers feat. Chrom3 – Carry Me On

Charlene Soraia – Broken

Disclosure – F For You

Imagine Dragons – It’s Time

Primal Scream - Invisible City

RESET! – I Need You

Tinie Tempah feat. 2Chainz – Trampoline (EP)

Unconfirmed

Fall Out Boy - Alone Together

Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop

Noah & The Whale – Lifetime

Rudimental feat. Foxes -  Right Here

Sean Paul - Other Side of Love

11^th Aug

Axwell - Center Of The Universe

Booker T feat. Jay James – Broken Heart

Kim Cesarian – Undressed

Ray Foxx feat. Rachel K Collier – Boom Boom (Heartbeat)

The Vaccines – Melody Calling

Unconfirmed

Alice In Chains - Voices

C2C – Happy

DJ Fresh vs Diplo feat. Dominique Young - Earthquake

KT Tunstall - Invisible Empire

Mikky Ekko – Kids (EP)

Naughty Boy feat. Emeli Sande - Lifted

The Wanted – We Own The Night

18^th Aug

ANNA MEREDITH - Jet Black Raider EP

Ellie Goulding – Burn

Laura Mvula – She

Matt Cardle and Melanie C – Loving You

Unconfirmed

Dawes - From A Window Seat

Franz Ferdinand – Right Action (EP)

Miguel – Adorn

Miles Kane- Taking Over

Olly Murs - Hey You Beautiful

Sean Paul - Other Side Of Love

Tich – Obsession

Wretch 32 feat. Jacob Banks - Doing OK

25^th Aug

Unconfirmed

Bastille - Things We Lost in the Fire

Bo Bruce - The Hands I Hold

John Legend - Made To Love

Little Nikki - Little Nikki Says

Naughty Boy - Think About It

Olly Murs - Right PlaceRight Time

Rizzle Kicks – Lost Generation

Shane Filan - Everything To Me

The 1975 - Sex

1^st Sep

Martin Solveig and the Cataracts feat. Kyle – Hey Now

Unconfirmed

Goldfrapp - Drew

London Grammar - Strong

Mutya Keisha Siobhan – Flatline

Neon Jungle - Trouble

Pitbull feat. Danny Mercer - Outta Nowhere

Trinidad James - All Gold Everything

8^th Sep

Austin Mahone – What About Love

Unconfirmed

2 Chains feat. Pharrell - Feds Watching

Armin Van Buuren - Beautiful Life

Chvrches – Lies

Cyril Hahn feat. Shy Girls - Perfect Form

Example – All The Wrong Places

Manic Street Preachers - She Me The Wonder

The Other Tribe - My Girl

15^th Sep

Unconfirmed

Iggy Azalea - Change Your Life

Jason Derulo - Dirty Talk

Katie Melua – Ketevan

22^nd Sep

Jonas Brothers – First Time

Lorde – Royals

Nelly feat. Nicki Minaj and Pharrell - Get Like Me

Unconfirmed

Chase & Status - Count On You

29^thSeptember

Unconfirmed

Michael Buble feat. Bryan Adams - After All

Sheryl Crow - Easy

Upcoming Singles With Unknown Release Dates

Fantasia feat. Kelly Rowland – Without Me

Ghostpoet – Cold Win

Texas – Detroit City

Vampire Weekend – Unbelievers

Volcano Choir - Byegone

Within The Ruins – New Holy Wars

Yodelice – Fade Away

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Only Connect walls

Only Connect is a brilliant quiz show on BBC Four and below I've created two connecting walls from it. Can you solve the walls?

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The World’s End [Review]

I have a confession to make. Many moons ago I watched ‘Shaun of the Dead’, coming to as a fan of Nick Frost from ‘Danger! 50,000 Volts’ and its sequel, with no knowledge of ‘Spaced’, and didn’t enjoy it. Now, I do plan to watch it again now I’m older to see if I misjudged it, but because of this I was wary of going to see ‘The World’s End’, the new film from the Pegg / Frost / Wright stable. But I’m glad I did as, for the most part, this was one of the funniest films I’ve seen in a while.

‘The World’s End’ tells the story of Gary King (Pegg) who decides to get his childhood friends back together to complete a 12-bar pub crawl that they never completed as young adults. Since those days the gang have left Newton Haven and all grown up, aside from King who only has this to bring meaning to life. He manages to convince his four friends to join him on the crawl but as they make their way around town, things are not as they seem.

‘The World’s End’ is a strong, character-driven film. Though much has been made of Pegg playing a much less likeable character in this piece, he makes the role his own and proves, following his scene-stealing turns in the new ‘Star Trek’ films (arguably the best role in the re-boots), that he certainly has plenty of acting strings to his bow. The four friends joining him – including Nick Frost and Martin Freeman – all embrace the plot well and there are some strong jokes in the opening section involving word play, their history and how chain pubs look similar.

The film’s script really shines and there are plenty of laughs to be had, alongside some well done choreographed fight scenes, especially one with Pegg trying to finish a pint. The characters are well drawn and the past and present all tie together neatly, with enough drama and character development to balance out the comedy.

A third in the sci-fi elements of the plot come into play and these compliment, rather than overshadow, the more down-to-earth character side and with the introduction of Rosamund Pike as ‘Sam’ gains momentum. It’s only as the film reaches its conclusion and its standoff with a higher power that it struggles to match the comedy up with quite a jingoistic shouting match, that feels more at home in a US-made disaster movie than a British effort, though the payoff is surprising and the conclusion, though bleak, does have its moments of continuity, though it does feel like an end that is at odds with the start.

I can’t comment on the film’s ability to fit nicely into the thematic trilogy as I’ve not seen ‘Hot Fuzz’, but as a standalone movie I really enjoyed it. The effects were convincing throughout but it was the humour and character development that really stood out for me, with more laugh-out loud jokes than I’ve seen in a film for a while. The ending feels a little bit awkward before resolving itself but otherwise it was a thoroughly enjoyable comedy, with Pegg and Frost shining throughout, supported by Freeman, Pike, Marsan and Considine.

8/10

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Monsters University [Movie Review]

It’s been a long time since I saw ‘Monsters Inc’, the inspiration for the latest Disney Pixar film, which serves as a prequel to the 2001 film, but I can remember the key points and remember enjoying it as a fifteen year old, more so than the last couple of Pixar films such as ‘Ratatouille’, ‘Cars’ and, I await the backlash, ‘Toy Story 3’, which were decidedly average compared to their own oeuvre, which has always set high standards, but also to an increasingly competent range of animated films released by other houses including ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ and ‘How To Train a Dragon’. Though I haven’t seen ‘Cars 2’ or ‘Brave’ to judge them, ‘Monsters University’ feels like a return to form for Pixar with a film that, though not doing anything massively groundbreaking, is warming, comforting and a pleasure to watch.

The film follows Mike who, following a school trip to what will be his future workplace, decides that he wants to go to Monsters University to learn to be a scarer. So, flash forward many years, and he’s off to the campus to learn his profession where he meets Sullivan as a fellow student and rival. Characters established in ‘Monsters Inc’ appear here, alongside many new faces in a busily populated campus. Mike and Sulley soon find themselves thrown off the course, though, after flunking the semester one exam, and their only hope of return is by winning the Scare Games as part of the uncool frat house ‘OK’.

It goes without saying that ‘Monsters University’ looks lovely, and the technical advancements of a decade can be seen, but I found myself too engrossed in the story to really admire how it looks, but the number of characters populating the campus shows how much grunt the computers can now manage. It’s the story and characters of the prequel that shine, with Mike taking centre stage and becoming a really engaging character, alongside the other five that make up their house, who all get enough development to be cared about. Dean Hardscrabble (voiced by Helen Mirren) is another welcome addition to the cast, as the scary University head, and there’s plenty of foreshadowing for fans of the first film to enjoy.

I wouldn’t really call ‘Monsters University’ a funny film; there weren’t really any moments when I laughed, but it does have its fair share of tension, interesting set-ups and a strong structure, especially when it gets into the area of the Scare Games. The plot itself never strays too far from being predictable for most of the running time, from the familiar set-ups to the knowledge that it’s got to eventually resolve things as set-up for the original film, but there are some excellent set pieces and some moments of suspense and tension that you wouldn’t expect from a children’s film, plus the conclusion isn’t quite how you think it will resolve itself, so perhaps it’s not too much of a path well trodden.

Overall the stars align for this prequel and make it one of the stronger films in Pixar’s growing collection of films. It’s relatively predictable and the plotline overshadows any advancements they make graphically, but it’s the characters and their adventures that really shine here. Throw in another brilliant short film called ‘The Blue Umbrella’ ahead of the movie – rating next to ‘Wreck It Ralph’s’ ‘Paperman’, and this is a film well worth seeing. It definitely held my attention for its considerable running time, but the younger members of the audience I was in saw a lapse in attention, and to me the final quarter is quite dark for a kids film, but resolved in a light and quirky ending montage.

A great film, plus, Claire Wheeler is pretty cute for a CGI character!

(7.5/10)

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Upcoming Singles (Updated 17th July 2013)

This Week’s Single Releases

Alunageorge – You Know You Like It (EP)

Andy Burrows – Keep On Moving On

Charlie Brown – Floodgates

Counterparts - Witness

Diana Vickers – Cinderella

Foals – Bad Habit (EP)

Hurts - Somebody To Die For

Jay-Z feat. Justin Timberlake – Holy Grail

Kings of Leon – Supersoaker

Lee Thompson’s Ska Orchestra feat. Bitty Mclean – Fu Man Chu

Nina Nesbitt – Way In The World (EP)

One Direction - Best Song Ever

Professor Green feat. Miles Kane – Are You Getting Enough?

Roll Deep feat. Camille – All or Nothing

Scouting For Girls – Millionaire

Taylor Swift feat. Ed Sheeran - Everything Has Changed

The Weeknd – Belong To The World

28^th July

Amplify Dot feat. Busta Rhymes - I'm Good

Britney Spears - Ooh La La

Clean Bandit – Dust Clears (EP)

Eliza Doolittle - Big When I Was Little

Mario feat. Nicki Minaj – Somebody Else

Mark Morrison – I Am What I Am

Olivia Ruiz – Volver

Shy FX feat. Liam Bailey – Soon Come

Unconfirmed

Don Diablo feat. Kelis & Alex Clare - Give it All

Stooshe – My Man My Music

4^th Aug

Blitz Kids – Run For Cover

Brookes Brothers feat. Chrom3 – Carry Me On

Charlene Soraia – Broken

Tinie Tempah feat. 2Chainz – Trampoline (EP)

Unconfirmed

Calvin Harris feat. Ayah Marar - Thinking About You

Fall Out Boy - Alone Together

Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop

Noah & The Whale – Lifetime

Rudimental feat. Foxes - Right Here

Sean Paul - Other Side of Love

11^th Aug

Axwell - Center Of The Universe

Kim Cesarian – Undressed

Mikky Ekko – Kids (EP)

Unconfirmed

Bloc Party - The Nextwave Sessions

C2C - Happy

18^th Aug

Ellie Goulding – Burn

Matt Cardle and Melanie C – Loving You

Unconfirmed

Dawes - From A Window Seat

Franz Ferdinand – Right Action (EP)

Little Green Cars - Absolute Zero

Miguel - Adorn

Olly Murs - Hey You Beautiful

Tich – Obsession

25^th Aug

Unconfirmed

Bastille - Things We Lost in the Fire

Little Nikki - Little Nikki Says

Naughty Boy - Think About It

Rizzle Kicks – Lost Generation

1^st Sep

Martin Solveig and the Cataracts feat. Kyle – Hey Now

8^th Sep

Austin Mahone – What About Love

Upcoming Singles With Unknown Release Dates

David Nail – Whatever She’s Got

Demi Lovato – Made in the USA

Disclosure – F For You

Fantasia feat. Kelly Rowland – Without Me

Justin Timberlake – Tunnel Vision

Texas – Detroit City

Thomas Rhett – It Goes Like This

Uncle Kracker – Blue Skies

Vampire Weekend – Unbelievers

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