Bat Out Of Hell The Musical Review
The Plot
In a dystopian future wild teens wander the apocalyptic streets, mysteriously never aging past 18 years old. The tyrannical Falco rules high above them with his wife and rebellious daughter Raven trapped in a luxurious skyscraper. Until a forbidden romance between Raven and Strat, the rock and roll leader of the Lost youth, threatens to tear both worlds apart.
The Good
Meatloaf’s epic musical collaboration with composer Jim Steinman remains one of the highest selling and most iconic albums of all time. Originally created with the intention of being a theatrical production, after over 40 years Steinman finally realises that dream to the delight of long term fans and new audiences alike.
As crowd pleasing ‘jukebox’ musical Bat Out of Hell draws upon a truly unique collection of songs, made even more powerful by audiences existing familiarity. Few West End productions can boast soaring power ballads with even half the power of I’ll Do Anything For Love. It’s simply an enjoyable embarrassment of musical riches to parades hits like Dead Ringer For Love, Two Out Of Threes Ain’t Bad and the titular Bat Out Of Hell.
Meatloaf is one of the most instantly recognisable and powerful vocalists in rock history, so it’s a massive compliment to the entire West End cast that they are able to fully match that note perfect power and collectively reimagine his popular back catalogue. Aided by elaborate production value and the grandeur of one of London’s most lavish Theatre spaces the musical fully succeeds in avoiding ever feeling merely like skilful karaoke. There’s genuinely electrifying atmosphere to these live performance that gives audiences so much more than watching a YouTube medley of Meatloaf music videos ever could.
Bat Out Of Hell has assembled a talented cast of seasoned theatre veterans and undaunted newcomers. The shows core quartet of Rob Fowler, Sharon Sexton, Christina Bennington and Andrew Polec all deserve considerable praise for vocally flawless performances and for bravely tackling some of the more cringe inducing dialogue. The show often nods to self-awareness of its more ridiculous elements and the cast’s consistently earnest and enthusiastic performances carry audiences through those moments with a confident smirk.
Though the first act lurches often from the sublime to the ridiculous an indisputably stronger second act sees the show deliver a steadier stream of musical spectacle less often interrupted by silly narrative elements. Uncertain audiences are likely to be won over entirely as the show finds its feet and struts through a succession of iconic power ballads with their rapturous support. Having adjusted to the somewhat weird and wonderful world of Bat Out Of Hell The Musical audiences are ultimately left with the simple truth that these songs are uniquely entertaining and meaningful in the way only rock anthems truly can be.
The Bad
Meatloaf’s unique brand of gothic rock opera is widely appealing, but there are still some who are of course less enthralled by its kitsch charms. Those reluctant to embrace the ostentatious vocal theatrics of Meatloaf and Jim Steinman’s elaborate compositions are unlikely to find that opinion altered by the transition to stage. Indeed those that specifically object to the self-indulgence of 10 minute long power ballads will only be left more exhausted by a series of them tied together by sparse dialogue and a frequently bizarre narrative.
Shamelessly gothic production design and a near constant use of heavily stylized video projections may also divide audiences between those who love the camp fun factor and those left unsure how seriously to take anything. Likewise while Steinman’s lyrics have always been elaborate and wildly melodramatic, without the swooping support of symphonic guitar riffs that same language risks becoming outright laughable dialogue during the connecting scenes. Though of course that bare chested crudely poetic silliness is an entertaining guilty pleasure in its own right.
Though the show undeniably captures much of what millions of fans love about Meatloaf, amplifying those distinctive traits won’t win over everyone and especially those who find endless rock opera more draining than delightful.
The Ugly Truth
Bat Out Of Hell soars onto stage with triumphant performances of the most beloved rock ballads. The show pays loving tribute to the unique charms of Meatloaf while equalling his legendary live performances, especially in a relentlessly spectacular second act. After 40 years this new musical is a unique addition to the West End and essential viewing for existing fans and those discovering these song for the first time alike.
Review By Russell Nelson
The Odyssey Official Trailer
THE ODYSSEY, directed by Jérôme Salle and starring Audrey Tautou , Lambert Wilson and César Award winning actor Pierre Niney is set to open in the UK and Ireland on 18 August 2017, by distributor Altitude (Moonlight, Lady Macbeth).
The film examines the life of ocean-explorer and adventurer Jacques Cousteau, one of the iconic figures of the 1960s, with a screenplay co-written by director Jérôme Salle and Laurent Turner. The film also features a score from Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat.
Taking audiences back to 1948 the film finds Jacques Cousteau, his wife and his two sons are living in paradise, in a beautiful house overlooking the Mediterranean. But all Cousteau can think of is adventure. Thanks to his invention, an independent aqualung allowing divers to breathe under water, he has discovered a whole new world. Now all he wants to do is explore this world. And he is willing to sacrifice everything to achieve this.
Check out the official trailer below ahead of the UK premiere on 5th July with a special screening at Cine Lumiere:
Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards Winners 2017
For more than 30 years, Metal Hammer has been the biggest heavy metal magazine on the planet, and after a turbulent end to 2016, and their resurrection in 2017, they threw the party of all parties for their readers at this year’s Golden God Awards 2017 in association with Orange Amplification.
Taking place at IndigO2 at The O2, London on Monday, June 12, WWE megastar Chris Jericho hosted this unique and special night, which was, like all Golden Gods shows, all about the fans. There are no tables, no sit-down dinners, no industry backslapping – this is a room full of genuine fans who have voted in their hundreds of thousands to see their favourite bands be victorious. The night celebrated the best of heavy metal from the past 12 months as well as performances from some of the world’s most exciting bands.
“After a difficult end to last year in which the future of our magazine looked uncertain, we couldn’t have thought of a better way to celebrate our comeback,” says Metal Hammer Editor Merlin Alderslade. “From the one and only Chris Jericho returning to host our awards for a record-breaking third time, to seeing legends like Tony Iommi, Tom Morello and Chuck D walk out on stage, to honouring the contemporary names who make our scene great, it was the kind of evening that only the Golden Gods can provide. As always, though, the most important thing was the metal community coming together again – and we salute everyone who has supported us in the last year and beyond, be it by coming to the show, buying our magazine or simply spreading the good word of heavy. Horns up!”
The godfathers of metal, Black Sabbath, collected the evening’s main honour: the Golden God award presented by Roadrunner Records. Founding member and metal legend Tony Iommi was on hand to collect the gong in the year that saw the end of the band’s final, 81-date world tour and glittering 49-year career.
Mastodon headlined the evening’s ceremony with a blistering live set in what was one of their most intimate performances in years. Following the release of their acclaimed ‘Emperor Of Sand’ album in March, the band’s stock has risen monumentally to become one of the world’s must-see live acts, proven by them winning Best Live Band presented by Monster Energy.
Opening the show were riff veterans Orange Goblin, one of the UK’s most vital and important metal bands. Frontman Ben Ward, along with his partner Sandie Soriano, were behind the incredible campaign to raise money for TeamRock (Metal Hammer’s then parent company) staff following the closure of Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Prog magazines – and rightly the team behind those magazines felt that Ben and Sandie deserved the Defender Of The Faith award presented by Orange Amplification.
Sweden’s Avatar brought their catchy ‘circus metal’ and enthralling theatrical live show to the proceedings. This truly unique band were also voted Breakthrough Band Of The Year presented by World Of Tanks, proving they are a band on the up. Completing the live line-up were blues rock legends Clutch, simply one of the greatest live bands heavy music has ever seen!
One of the evening’s most sought-after awards is Album Of The Year and this year it was awarded to ‘Magma’ by Goijra. The follow-up to 2012’s critically acclaimed ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’, ‘Magma’ was one of the most hotly anticipated albums of the past 12 months and also topped Metal Hammer’s end-of-year critics’ poll.
Exodus are true legends of the game. Founded in 1979 in California, they were one of the pioneers of thrash metal. A mainstay in ‘Greatest Thrash Metal Bands Of All Time’ lists, they inspire and influence bands to this day and were rightly crowned 2017’s Inspiration presented by Spinefarm Records, an award presented on the night by fellow thrash icon Mille Petrozza of Kreator.
This year’s Icon presented by uDiscover Music award went to The Dillinger Escape Plan. Currently on a world tour, the band announced earlier this year that they will be disbanding following their Tokyo date in October. In their 20-year career they’ve released six acclaimed albums and are regarded as the pioneers of mathcore.
Best International Band presented by Nuclear Blast went to Avenged Sevenfold, who continue to sell out arenas around the world, pushing the boundaries of rock and metal. Best UK Band went to Architects, whose 2016 album ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’ broke the Top 15 of the UK charts and capped off a significant and difficult year for the band.
Rap metal supergroup Prophets Of Rage picked up the Spirit Of Hammer award. This is an award for those who hold the principles and passion of metal and what Metal Hammer stands for in their daily lives. The group consists of three members of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave (bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk), two members of Public Enemy (DJ Lord and rapper Chuck D) and rapper B-Real of Cypress Hill. On announcing the band, Morello stated, “We’re an elite task force of revolutionary musicians determined to confront this mountain of election year bullshit, and confront it head-on with Marshall stacks blazing.” Need we say more about them collecting this year’s Spirit Of Hammer gong?!
Iron Maiden’s role-playing mobile game, ‘Legacy Of The Beast’, took the Best Game accolade, with Eddie himself making an appearance via VT to collect the award.
Formed in 2015, UK death metallers Venom Prison have been making a serious impact on the scene and beyond, and they picked up Best New Band. Doom metallers Pallbearer, who released their third album, ‘Heartless’, in March, have received huge critical acclaim since their inception in 2008 and picked up the Best Underground award.
Once again the guitarists got the plaudits that they deserve – after all, where would music be without the incredible axemen and women we love to worship?! This year, Airbourne’s kamikaze guitarist Joel O’Keeffe picked up the Dimebag Darrell ‘Shredder’ award, and tour de force Devin Townsend was rightly awarded Riff Lord presented by Century Media.
The Metal Hammer Golden God Awards in association with Orange Amplification winners are…
Best New Band: Venom Prison
Best Underground Band: Pallbearer
Best UK Band: Architects
Breakthrough Band presented by World Of Tanks: Avatar
Best Live Band presented by Monster Energy: Mastodon
Best International Band presented by Nuclear Blast: Avenged Sevenfold
Best Independent Label: Nuclear Blast
Dimebag Darrell ‘Shredder’: Joel O’Keeffe
Best Game: ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ by Iron Maiden
Riff Lord presented by Century Media: Devin Townsend
Inspiration presented by Spinefarm Records: Exodus
Best Album: ‘Magma’ by Gojira
Icon presented by Udiscover Music: The Dillinger Escape Plan
Defender Of The Faith presented by Orange Amplification: Ben Ward & Sandie Soriano
Spirit Of Hammer: Prophets Of Rage
Golden God presented by Roadrunner Records: Black Sabbath
Snatched Review
The Plot
Stuck with a non-refundable exotic holiday for two after a breakup, a directionless young woman resorts to taking her reluctant mother along instead. Unfortunately the dysfunctional pair get much more adventure than they ever bargained for when they venture outside of the safe confines of their holiday resort and get swiftly caught up in a world of violence, kidnapping and death.
The Good
Goldie Hawn returns to the big screen and quickly proves a good partner for Amy Schumer as the pair work their way through all the typical mother/daughter dysfunctions. Schumer likewise clearly benefit from having someone consistently in place to play against. If the film had been attempted as solo vehicle with Schumer’s character facing her Latin American misadventures alone it would surely have proved unwatchable. Thankfully the leading ladies are a comfortable match and it helps spread the comedic responsibilities around.
Though the film is noticeably heavy handing in shoehorning Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack into the supporting cast, ultimately they deliver enough scene stealing laughs to justify the overtly clumsy way the film introduces them. Their contribution is good enough to make the lengthy set up it requires feel like it was at least worth it. Likewise The Mindy Project star Ike Barinholtz manages to deliver surprisingly consistent laughs as Schumer’s geeky housebound brother. He keeps what could so easily have been a pointless sub-plot distraction frequently amusing instead.
Writer Katie Dippold and producer Paul Feig manage to dramatically improve on their critically and commercially drubbed Ghostbusters reboot. This time Dippold’s script succeeds in at least crafting a fair few satisfying set pieces, one liners and supporting characters. Though Schumer still regularly steers proceedings towards her own most comfortable territory at least Dipplod’s script keeps the comedy a little more diverse. Schumer’s signature shtick is undoubtedly more appealing when diluted down.
At least Snatched is never dull or disgusting in the way so many similarly themed low brow movies become. To that extent it does surpass the lowest expectations even if it falls short of achieving truly memorable success.
The Bad
While Snatched represents an unquestionable vast improvement on Amy Schumer’s infamously disliked recent Netflix comedy special, those that loath Schumer’s trademark style of lazy self-deprecation will undoubtedly find her character in Snatched yet another unappealing prospect.
Schumer’s default self-loathing caricature of someone utterly oblivious, selfish and slovenly is fast becoming overly familiar. It also persists in making her readily embraced and self-proclaimed status as a feminist icon feel deeply ironic. The only thing that really saves Snatched is that it isn’t as egocentric and one note as Schumer’s self-obsessed stand up material.
While Goldie Hawn’s return to the big screen is indeed welcome, it’s a little strange to see the famously precocious star now morphed fully into a neurotic mother role. Perhaps after a self-imposed sabbatical and career lows like The Banger Sisters this is likely a deliberate decision though.
Snatched does much to help writer Katie Dippold and producer Paul Feig atone for the unmitigated disaster of their female fronted Ghostbusters flop, however it’s still the same kind of set piece slapstick cringe comedy that will divide audiences between giggles and groans. For example, watching Schumer get inevitably caught attempting to wash her vagina in a public bathroom is either amusingly awful or just awful, depending on your point of view…
The Ugly Truth
Snatched certainly won’t win over those already firmly opposed to Amy Schumer, but it offers enough genuine laughs to mostly amuse audiences seeking a simple guilty pleasure. Goldie Hawn’s welcomed resurgence and a scene stealing Wanda Sykes are also notable positives.
Review by Russell Nelson
Alien Covenant Review
The Plot
The crew of the spaceship Covenant find themselves unexpectedly awakened from hyper sleep while carrying 2000 people to settle a colony on distant planet. Discovering a strange message emanating from a mysterious seemingly perfect planet leads them to deviate from their carefully laid plans in the hopes of finding an even better new home for their new colony…
The Good
Prometheus was largely derided by the fans and critics for a lack of iconic Aliens in an Alien prequel, for Covenant the trailers and posters were emphatically clear that the recognisable monster would be horrifically present.
Covenant also retains one of the rare positives of Prometheus in keeping Michael Fassbender in the cast, this time in dual roles as prototype android David and his successor Walter. Alongside Fassbender the addition of the competent acting talent of Billy Cudrup, Danny McBride and Katheirne Waterston help give at least a little personality to the endangered Covenant crew.
Alongside these familiar faces the overall look, design and visual effect success of the film is evidently its strongest asset. The classic HR Geiger creature design and dark visual motifs of the saga, combined with credible future tech give the film at least a polished visual credibility.
The film’s expensively crafted science fiction world, frequent bloody action and unashamed philosophising will no doubt keep fans with those particular combined appetites entertained.
The Bad
The largest single criticism of Ridley Scott’s first prequel Prometheus from fans and critics was that it failed in its self-declared intention to finally explain and expand upon the more mysterious elements of the original film. Decades of fan speculation and intrigue surrounding possible explanations for the origin of the crashed alien spaceship and the actual ‘Aliens’ created a truly powerful mystique. Unfortunately it also created a very high level of expectation for revelations of actual answers. Prometheus utterly failed to provide those answers, leaving frustrated long term fans and bemused newcomers with yet more unanswered questions.
With Covenant Ridley Scott had a second chance to finally deliver a more satisfying and coherent film capable of filling a growing list of gaping plot holes, unfortunately this simply does not happen. If anything Covenant further confuses and undermines the existing mystique of the saga in favour of predictable plot twists and heavy handed philosophising.
Covenant fails to resolve the Prometheus mysteries surrounding the alien ‘engineers’ or to neatly set up the origins of the Alien xenomorphs in a way that actually fits at all with the original film. Beyond failing to untangle the muddled mythology of the series, Covenant also has a plot driven by two dimensional characters making increasingly odd decisions. Audiences will be left largely bemused and frustrated by the antics of characters that recklessly walk themselves into obvious disaster. It’s particularly frustrating given the number of times the franchise has now seen mostly disposable casts prove the architects of their own gory demises.
In particular despite Michael Fassbender’s competent dual performance, Prometheus android David is again a major catalyst for much of the events of Covenant, but as with the first film his motivations remain ill-defined and largely implausible.
Leaving aside notably disappointing and at times confused narrative flaws, the film offers moments of blood splattered action. Unfortunately many of these moments of body horror and acid drenched mayhem will likely only have a powerful impact on those unfamiliar with the past films or truly hard-core fans of the series.
Covenant marks the 8th film in the combined Alien cinematic universe, so it’s safe to assume the saga’s signature scenes no longer grab audiences with the same shock factor they once did. Nothing in covenant comes close to matching the memorable suspense of Scott’s original Alien or the action packed adrenaline of James Cameron’s war themed follow up Aliens. It unfortunately feels like the franchise is drifting further out into the confused vastness of space without moving much closer to recapturing the iconic heights of these essential earlier films.
Scott supposedly has two more planned Alien prequel films to make, but based on the evidence of Prometheus and now Covenant it seems a real shame for fans that these films have killed off director Neill Blomkamp’s exciting plans for a direct Aliens sequel with Sigourney Weaver. There’s a growing sense that Scott’s desire to hang on to the franchise has probably actually cost fans their best chance of getting the actual Aliens film they have patiently craved.
The Ugly Truth
Alien Covenant mostly mimics the familiar and popular elements of the increasingly long running franchise, however slick CGI and repeating iconic moments can’t mask a general failure to live up to the high standards of the early classic films in the series. The franchise which looms large over both the horror and science fiction genres is sadly still yet to truly deliver fans the brilliant sequel they have long awaited and deserved.
Review by Russell Nelson