The League Of Gentlemen Live Again! 2018 – 02 Apollo, Manchester

To celebrate 20 years of the League, they ended up on tour, live again. The last time they took the show on the road, I was too young to go, so all I could do was watch the DVDs and wonder about all those pens, Dave’s and precious things. Of course I wasn’t going to miss them this time round, Royston Vasey was my second home as a teen afterall, even if I didn’t get a ticket till the night before.

Well, maybe Royston Vasey is no longer my second home, more like my eighth or ninth or so. That’s what twenty years does to you, to me, and to them…

Suspiria

Suspiria 
Release Date: 16th November 2018
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Amazon Studios 

This is a remake to a film from the 70’s, a film which sounds pretty wild when you see the ideas and concepts laid out as words, never mind actually seeing it all in motion. Unfortunately despite loving everything I read about the original, I haven’t had the time to track it down so I can meticulously compare and contrast the two versions. Though the words still stick, and here we are. I guess as long as I dance around those ideas, everything will be alright. That 1977 fully integrated Goblin soundtrack woven into the blood drenched claustrophobia surely can’t match up against the 2018 Thom Yorke and Luca Guadagnino combination, surely? But for me, that dance off is for another day. Dancing alone, this new rendition still got my feet twitching, so who needs the past to compare and contrast?

 

The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Release Date: 16th November 2018
Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen
Netflix 

The Coen Brothers turn to Netlfix for their latest, it’s the current in thing to do, and with the new venture into the world of streaming, here we are with the Coen’s first anthology movie (alone anyway) too! Might as well take the experimentation as far as you can when exploring new pastures, for it’s the land of opportunity. And might as well get your stake in whilst that land remains untarnished. Well, largely untarnished…

MFKZ

MFKZ
Release Date: 11th October 2018
Directors: Shojiro Nishimi & Guillaume ‘Run’ Renard
Ankama Animations 

MFKZ, or Mutafukaz as it’s known as outside of public display posters, is the hip hop of anime, giving weeaboo rappers the chance to star in the anime they love to tweet about so. Vince Staples and RZA are just some of the voice talent involved, living their best dreams as they bring the grimy cockroach infested city living to life. That is the dream… right?

An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn

An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn
Release Date: 23rd October 2018
Director: Jim Hosking 
Picturehouse Entertainment 

After The Greasy Strangler put me off sausage for two days, and had myself and my partner at the time chanting ‘Hootie Tootie Disco Cutie’ at one another until we couldn’t tolerate each other’s presence to the point of romantic self dissolution, I knew I was down for whatever came next.

So here it is, whatever came next. For one magical night only.

Or numerous if you own it on DVD.

Dogman

Dogman
Release Date: 19th October 2018
Director: Matteo Garrone 
01 Distribution 

They’re really scraping the barrel when it comes to superhero names these days, right? Okay, it isn’t about that kind of Dogman, but merely a man who deals with dogs, and isn’t that something everyone can get behind?

After watching a rather crummy fireworks display somewhere in Edinburgh, I decided to see a movie at the nearest indie cinema to try to salvage the night. This was the pick due to good word of mouth, and I sat at the very front to read the subtitles, for I forgot my glasses. And with my eyes so close to that screen, I felt like I was up close and personal with all those dogs on display. If only I could have reached out to stroke them… then I too could have become a Dogman. But hopefully not that Dogman, no one would want to be that guy.

Bleach

Bleach
Release Date: 14th September 2018
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Netflix 

There was a small pocket of time, sometime in 2004, when Bleach soaked out from the screen and into my life, without disastrous bottle of bleach like effects. I remember spending a good chunk of summer that year marathoning the show, with its hazy hues and mellow yellow atmosphere digging deep into my own soul. I didn’t care much for when it strayed away from the urban cool the show loved to emit, but by that point I was over it, and in came 2005. I still can’t believe 14 years have been and gone… but anyway!

This live action rendition of the soul reaping story heads back to those early days, but most of the time, and especially this time, those memories just don’t work when dragged into the present. But it would have been nice if it at least tried.

Mirai

Mirai
Release Date: 2nd November 2018
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Toho

I spent a good chunk of my childhood in the midst of a spat with my sister, I’m sure every single one of us with a brother or sister can say the same. Mirai takes such spats and mixes it with the future and the past, for that’s the only way to truly get over a wild sibling squabble. If only I knew, if only you knew. But for every sibling that pops up from here on out, take heed…

Instrument

Instrument
Release Date: 29th March 1999 ( 8th November 2018 Dulcimer showing)
Director: Jem Cohen 

‘‘We need an instrument
We need an instrument 
To take a measurement
To find out if loss could weigh”

And so, a documentary based on punk rockers Fugazi came to be.

Halloween

Halloween
Release Date: 19th October 2018
Director: David Gordon Green
Universal Pictures 

I recently went to see John Carpenter at Manchester Albert Hall, the horror director was there to play some of his movie tunes, past and present, so it seemed fitting to go and see the new Halloween beforehand. It felt akin to listening to a bands new material before going to see them live, even if John isn’t on directorial duties this time. He’s all about the music this time round, though even without his iconic synths, this 40 years later sequel would still slay. Just with less menacing guitar solos.