Returning to the original rushes the concert is restored to its full length and presented, for the first time, in its entirety. This amounts to an additional 47 minutes of previously unseen material! Not released on Video, this is the first time this 1982 concert will be available for the public to buy. The pictures are restored and colour graded. The sound will be offered in both a brand new PCM stereo mix, and a fabulous DTS 5.1 surround sound mix.
Being as this features the best band in the world, ever, in the history of music, ever, fronted by the most talented front-man to pick up a microphone (...ever), you can rely on me to give you an objective review. These upstarts are going to have to earn their five stars, dammit.
Seriously, ratings are moot in this case. If you like Queen, buy the DVD. If you don’t like Queen, buy therapy. But assuming you are one of the intelligent majority, yet inexplicably haven’t bought this, I’ll try and put it in context.
Queen made two soundtrack albums: Flash Gordon and A Kind of Magic (for Highlander). Flash was a bit silly really and is difficult to listen to stand-alone. It’s their most famous work though from a lean period that saw them experimenting with euro-pop (or “funk black” as Freddie calls it) in the Hot Space album. A Kind of Magic is entirely opposite and features some of their best work. That return to form starting with The Works, coincided with their performance at Live Aid, where they blasted everyone else off stage. They then followed that with the Magic tour and much live material comes from that.
So Live at the Bowl is quite unique, especially as there are no releases of their early years, certainly not to this video quality anyway. Filmed in 1982, just after the release of Hot Space, it finds the band almost in limbo, though it hasn’t dulled their confidence. It’s mainly old classics peppered with Hot Space stuff, but nothing from their second phase (Radio Ga Ga, etc). So this is a fairly rare opportunity to see Action This Day, Dragon Attack, Back Chat and even Get Down Make Love performed live. But they really perform the shit out of both new and old! They were always unpredictable on stage and willing to mess a little with the music, so you got something worth seeing and not just video versions of the records. No-one else got audience interaction of this level either, so you get a real sense of being there, enhanced by the amazing DTS audio.
It starts properly with Hero, a filler track from Flash expanded to a brief rip-roaring rocker. They follow with the rare “fast” version of We Will Rock You. An amazing start! Other stand-outs (difficult to find when they are all fucking superb) include a gorgeous alternative intro to Somebody To Love which also gives Roger Taylor a drum solo. May gets his first show-off point in Now I’m Here, as you’d expect. Soon it settles into the much loved classics, with other rarely seen live versions, like Sheer Heart Attack.
Freddie shows off constantly of course! Playful and full of attitude throughout and in great form from the off, typical of the born performer, and changing occasional lyrics here and there. A week after Hot Space’s release and they’re all ready getting flak, so he has a screw you, nothing to prove demeanour. Stage was home and he is sorely missed. Their range as a band is unsurpassed.
Sorry if this isn’t balanced enough for you. If you wish to complain, please sod off and watch Westlife or Celine Dion instead.
Paranormal Activity, a review by samuelrichardscott
Paranormal Activity (2007) United Kingdom Blu-ray - Rental
Overview: Katie (Katie Featherson) and Micah (Micah Sloat) are a twenty-something couple who've just moved into a new home in San Diego, California. Katie has an interest in the paranormal and believes that malevolent spirits have been following her since childhood, though Micah is not so easily convinced. However, after several nights of loud noises and strange happenings, Micah starts to agree with Katie that some sort of ghost may have followed them to the new home. After a paranormal researcher tells the couple he can't help them, Micah decides to take control of the situation and sets up a battery of video cameras so if a spirit manifests itself, he can capture its behavior on tape. Once the surveillance cameras are in place, Katie and Micah bring in an Ouija board in an effort to talk to the spirits, a move that deeply offends the ghosts. Paranormal Activity was the first feature film from writer and director Oren Peli.
My Thoughts: Despite a microbudget of just $15000, Paranormal Activity was one of the biggest hits at cinemas of 2009. Unfortunately as this was my first viewing I was unable to avoid the hype that the movie generated which usually makes me expect more than I get. This is no different. The movie builds up the suspense and the tension phenomenally, in fact it does it so well, that when the time comes for a scare you feel completely annoyed as you get nothing but a large sound effect or Katie being pulled away. The acting and direction is very good as far as debuts go and it'll be good to see what Oren Peli brings us in the future but I just can't help but feel that I was overcome with the hype when it came to actual scares, despite enjoying the tension building segments. I have heard mixed feelings about the ending on the theatrical version (which is what I watched) and I'm undecided as to whether I liked it or not at this time. Despite the things I didn't like though, I think this was a great achievement considering the budget and certainly think it will be worthy of an eventual buy. 3.5/5
First aired: 7/24/2007 Attorney Patty Hewes hires a new associate, Ellen Parsons, to help her as she tries to ruin Arthur Frobisher. Hewes represents a group of employees that are suing Frobisher after he sold his company, leaving the employees devastated. Ellen is unaware that her best friend, Katie Connor, is working for Frobisher.
Thanks Jon, you were right! This felt less like a 'pilot episode' and more like the beginning to a mini-series or film. I was hooked from the beginning, a series that takes it's audience seriously with skilful writing and superb direction. The slow-paced nature only adds to the tremendous suspense, I am at writing in a real 'WTF' is going to happen next trance-like state Excellent plot twists and a great cast makes this a winner for me. I can even forgive Ted Danson being a star in it! But this is Glenn Close's show. What a superb performance in the opener, so perfect a role for her perceived attitude fueled personna. I cannot wait to get back to this series at the end of the marathon
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May 19, 2024, 03:24:24 AM
