FrightFest Movie Haiku - Sin City

www.sincitythemovie.com

Dir: Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez

Cast: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba

Tales of the city
all violence, justice, revenge
like living comic

Sin City brings three stories from Frank Miller’s acclaimed series of graphic novels to life. In The Hard Goodbye we follow hard-as-nails Marv (Rourke) who’s been framed for the murder of sympathetic hooker Goldie (Jaime King) and is now on the run, desperate to exact revenge on the real culprit, silent killer Kevin (Elijah Wood). Then there’s The Big Fat Kill which sees private eye Dwight (Owen) caught up in a turf war for the Old Town district between the deadly street girls and the vicious mob following the death of corrupt cop Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro). The two tales are book-ended by That Yellow Bastard, in which haggard cop Hartigan (Willis) tries to protect stripper Nancy (Alba) from a heavily scarred paedophile (an unrecognisable Nick Stahl). As with Tarantino’s masterpiece the individual plots intersect a couple of times along the way and this structure suits the film perfectly. These stories are pure pulp fiction, full of vigilantes, cops, corrupt officials, whores, rapists and murderers who love nothing more than to beat, torture, maim, stab, rape and kill their enemies. Did I mention that this movie is violent? Whilst it could be considered a flaw that each vignette is so similarly themed, the movie transcends these drawbacks with its overwhelming visual flair. Director Rodriguez insisted that Miller come on board to co-direct, and between them the pair have succeeded in putting the pages of the comics right up there on the big screen. Sin City has a style all of its own which matches the source material down to the last detail; all black and white (filmed against a green screen, with the background added later) with a few splashes of colour dabbed here and there for effect – it’s a bold, audacious approach and looks amazing. The film’s powerful look is heightened by some terrific make-up work and costuming, from the criss-cross of plasters and scars on Marv’s face, to the curve-clinging fetish wear of the hookers – it really is a fan boy’s wet dream! The casting too is inspired, from the main characters right down to the minor roles involving such talent as Michael Madsen, Rutger Hauer and the lethal Devon Aoki. Of course Willis lives for this type of role and is as solid as ever, but this time he’s outshone by Rourke who proves that he really is now firmly back on the comeback trail. Like Ron Perlman in last year’s Hellboy, you’ll believe that Rourke really is Marv. Whether the unique style and relentless brutality will appeal to a mainstream audience is perhaps open to question, but it’s safe to say that for those who do make the effort, you really won’t have seen anything like this before.

soulmining rating *****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Shallow Ground

www.shallowgroundmovie.com

Dir: Sheldon Wilson

Cast: Timothy V. Murphy, Stan Kirsch, Patricia McCormack, Lindsey Stoddart

Man covered in blood
able to trickle away
doesn't make much sense

Shallow Ground is a hard movie to summarise as it doesn't possess the most coherent of plots. It all begins with a young naked blood-soaked man coming out of the woods and arriving at the countryside office of local sheriff, Jack Sheppard (Murphy). Poor old Jack is struggling to come to terms with the death of local girl Amy who was slain in the woods by a hooded killer - he had the chance to save her life but uttered one of the classic genre lines, "You'll be safe here," or, "I'll be right back," and of course we all know what happens to characters in that kind of movie. They die. With blood-boy handcuffed to the chair and not saying anything things take an even weirder turn as cryptic messages appear on the doors ("No one leaves") and blood seems to ebb and flow across the floor at will. When paramedic Darby (Natalie Avital) runs some makeshift blood tests on our fella she discovers that he has at least three different blood types, which coincidentally happen to match a number of missing persons in the area... and (you shouldn't laugh, but you will) if you cut and paste the various mugshots of these people together the resultant photo-fit looks remarkably like our bloody friend. As officer Dempsey (Kirsch) rightly exclaims at this moment, "This doesn't make any sense!" You have to give first time director Wilson some credit here, there are a number of original ideas in Shallow Ground. The main problem is they don't work terribly well together in the one film. You've got all the issues with the bloody character - probably the strongest idea in the movie - mixed in with the homicidal maniac on the loose, plus a hokey subplot involving Dempsey and some lowlife drug dealer to contend with. It does kinda pull together in the end but there's little in the way of an explanation as to what's happening. Wilson gives it his best shot on a limited budget and produces an intriguing piece of work here. Unfortunately the acting is fairly poor, but then again the entire script is straight out of The Big Book of Movie Cliches. Having said that, the cheesy dialogue does add a fun element to the film and certainly for my part made the whole thing a lot more enjoyable as I was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I'll certainly be interested to see what Wilson can do with a decent script and a bigger budget. Could be a name to watch.

soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - R-Point

www.rpoint.co.kr

Dir: Kong Su-chang

Cast: Kam Woo-seong, Sohn Byung-ho, Oh Tae-kyung, Park Won-sang

Soldiers go missing
they follow broadcasts from ghosts
soldiers go missing

As regular readers will know I'm a big fan of Far-Eastern horror, but even I am beginning to tire of Asian ghost stories these days. I had hoped that R-Point might offer something a little different, with its Vietnam war setting involving a platoon of haunted soldiers, but no, they still manage to squeeze in the all-too-familiar image of the long-haired young lady somewhere along the way. The film begins with the solitary survivor of a group of soldiers who went missing on an island south of Ho Chi Minh City. He claims they're all dead, yet HQ keep receiving mysterious radio broadcasts from the missing soldiers. A decision is made to send out a second platoon headed by Lt. Choi (Kam) and they duly embark on their mission to seek out their fellow compatriots. Needless to say there's an ancient curse on the island and this latest bunch of soldiers encounter some spooky goings on, and one by one turn against each other... Let's just say that after the first five minutes of this movie you'll have predicted the ending, and you'll be right. The main interest is in seeing how this is accomplished, but even then director Kong isn't quite sure whether he wants to make a straightforward ghost story or just rip off some ideas from The Thing. The story unfolds at a slow pace and is hampered by a cast of characters that are just too interchangeable for you to really make any connection with. It doesn't help that they're supposed to be tough guys, yet as soon as there's a drop of blood spilt they're crying like a bunch of babies! On a more positive note some of the cinematography here is very accomplished, with some great swooping shots over the advancing platoon as they head towards their impending doom, yet the director tends to focus too much on long shots, rather than intercutting with close-ups of the individual characters. In the end it was Matt who summed it up best with his comment, "R-Point? More like R-Pointless!"

soulmining rating: **

FrightFest Movie Haiku - From Beyond The Grave

www.imdb.com/title/tt0070078/

Dir: Kevin Connor

Cast: Peter Cushing, David Warner, Ian Bannen, Donald Pleasence

He sells them antiques
dead things haunt the wicked ones
let's have a seance

May's one-off FrightFest day began with a witty introduction from Mark Gatiss (The League Of Gentlemen) explaining exactly why he likes this Amicus anthology movie from 1973 so much. Each individual episode is linked by a shopkeeper (Cushing) who runs the aptly named Temptations antique store where customers who are greedy or mean towards him tend to suffer an unfortunate fate. We have four tales here: The Gate Crasher in which Edward Charlton (Warner) is drawn to sacrifice young prostitutes to feed the spirit behind his mirror; An Act Of Kindness in which Christopher Lowe (Bannen) befriends a war veteran (Pleasence) and falls for his daughter who he soon learns has hidden powers; The Elemental in which Reggie Warren (Ian Carmichael) enlists the help of batty old psychic to rid himself of the invisible demon that's burrowing into his shoulder; and The Door in which William Seaton (Ian Ogilvy) purchases an ornate old door for his stationary cupboard which then opens up to reveal a whole lot more than headed paper and envelopes. It's easy to see why Mark likes this film so much; watching it over twenty years after its initial release proved to be a real fun way to start the day. Whether the film was actually creepy back then is a moot point - in today's world this time capsule of early seventies England is a real comedy classic. The stories are fairly standard hokum that wouldn't be out of place in Tales Of The Unexpected, but they're packed full of familiar faces and all are entertaining to watch aside from the rather dreary fourth segment. Some of the exchanges of dialogue here are fantastic; witness Edward's friends when they spy his new mirror - "It looks like it belongs in a medium's parlour," says one. "Let's have a seance!" replies another - this is funny the first time around, but downright hilarious when it happens for a second time! Then in the second story there's Lowe's wife (Diana Dors) and her thinly-veiled contempt for her husband and her fixation for cooking sausages and beans for supper. In the third segment when Reggie switches price labels on some snuff boxes we have Cushing delivering the immortal line, "I hope you enjoy snuffing it." And that's before the turn of Margaret Leighton as the barmy Madame Orloff exorcising the invisible 'elemental', followed by one of the best exit scenes I've seen in ages courtesy of Reggie's wife. Despite the rather weak final chapter which fails to thrill or chill, there should be something here to tempt any potential unsuspecting viewer.

soulmining rating ***

Fantasy Football Awards

Congratulations to Dom who won this year's Fantasy Football Super League Manager of the Season award. Here's the lucky fella pictured with his winner's medal and the fifty quid first prize in his pocket.

Drinks on Dom in the Waggon later, yeah?

Hanging on the telephone

In response to "Anonymous" (actually, let's name and shame a certain Mr Stephen Smith of Eastleigh, Hampshire) who recently commented on this site, "The will of the people has spoken, and they want the Crazy Frog!"

My response is this:

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Dirty Wonderland at the Grand Ocean Hotel

www.franticassembly.co.uk

photo by Perou

I went to see Dirty Wonderland last night, the latest work from Frantic Assembly which has been commissioned especially for this year's Brighton festival. It's a site-specific piece of theatre housed in Saltdean's vacant Grand Ocean Hotel, a magnificent old Art Deco building which closed its doors to the public in December. The show begins with an amusingly-guided bus journey out to the venue where we're assigned the roles of prospective investors visiting the hotel during its final days of operation. On entering the lobby we meet a young couple, Alex (Joseph Traynor) and Rachel (Imogen Knight), who've arrived to spend a dirty weekend in the hotel. The pair are separated and we follow Alex as he roams the different floors of the hotel looking for Rachel. As our journey progresses we're introduced to all manner of hotel staff including the morose Manager, his bullying assistant, a seductive chambermaid, a down-trodden porter and the foul-mouthed chef. Each character has their own role to play as the drama unfolds and we're treated to an hour of fantastic drama and performance which veers from comedy and eroticism, right through to confusion, madness and despair. The use of the hotel is amazing as you find yourself rushing down narrow corridors to tiny bedrooms, then contrasting with scenes inside the lavish lounges and grand ballroom for the finale. The whole cast are exceptional and the drama is complemented by a terrific soundtrack from Goldfrapp - moving from the haunting opening of Lovely Head, through the thumping bass of Strict Machine, and climaxing with the beautiful Utopia. An outstanding piece of original theatre and absolutely unmissable!

You can check out some of the other glowing reviews from the national press here:

The Guardian

The Times

The Daily Telegraph

Movie Haiku - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

www.starwars.com

Dir: George Lucas

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid

He becomes Vader
Ouch, that lava is scorching
give me that black mask

The final Star Wars film then. Let me start by saying that I'm not a massive Star Wars fan. Sure, I liked the original trilogy as a kid, and I acknowledge their undoubted impact on popular culture today, but it has to be said that Lucas's previous two episodes have been spectacularly underwhelming. Still, my anticipation for Revenge Of The Sith is greater as we already know the plot for this final episode which ultimately sows the seeds for the original film. This movie concerns the rise of the dark side and in particular, the fall of Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) and his emergence as Darth Vader. We also know he's going to lose his wife, the now heavily pregnant Amidala (Portman) and turn against his mentor Obi-Wan (McGregor). It's going to be a darker film this time around, and that can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Thankfully director Lucas just about manages to pull it off this time. The story is much more focused without any unnecessary subplots to slow things down, and it gets off to a great start with Anakin and Obi-Wan on a mission to rescue Senator Palpatine (McDiarmid) from the clutches of evil Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). Even R2D2 gets to shine here and really steals the show from the other characters. It's almost a shame that this battle begins the film as really it's the best part of the movie, but there's plenty to hold the attention as the rest of the plot unfolds. Again the acting is a little patchy, but McGregor finally nails the role of Obi-Wan at his third attempt, and McDiarmid - the unsung glue that holds the whole franchise together - is deliciously evil in his pivotal role. The special effects, which bored me so much in The Phantom Menace, are much improved here, and only once do they look a bit rubbish; sadly this is during the climactic showdown between Anakin and Obi-Wan amidst a lava flow. Nonetheless this is a fun movie and if you're a Star Wars fan then you can't fail to enjoy it.

soulmining rating ****

As a footnote, as a consequence of catching a late night screening of Revenge Of The Sith I had to walk home along Brighton's seafront at 1:30am. What I didn't expect to encounter was a chap standing in the bushes with his trousers round his ankles getting sucked off by another man! It's perhaps somewhat unfortunate that now whenever someone talks about this film I'm going to have the mental image of a bloke sucking someone else's cock.

Crazy Frog - Boycott that f***ing single now!

Some worrying news just in from www.nme.com

Crazy Frog set to beat Coldplay to Number One

Coldplay look likely to be beaten to the Number One spot this week by a song originally designed as a ringtone. According to music retailer HMV, Crazy Frog's Axel F is outselling Speed Of Sound by a 4 to 1 margin in their stores.

Chart expert Gennaro Castaldo said: "Music purists might not be too happy at the prospect of the Crazy Frog outselling Coldplay, but it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise when you consider its huge novelty appeal and the massive amount of exposure its currently getting. Kids obviously find it cute and cool, but students and even office workers seem to be drawn to its rather kitsch, ironic appeal. The only real issue is whether the record label can press enough copies to keep up with the huge demand that we're seeing right now."

Now regardless of whether you're a fan of Coldplay or not, this is clearly not good news. Let's be honest, if you're even considering buying the Crazy Frog single, or just downloading the ringtone then you are a brainless moron. I'm well aware that there's been some excruitating novelty hit singles in the past but if this song really does reach Number One then I fear it will be time for me to leave the country. People of the United Kingdom, I beg you - don't do it!

Movie Haiku - The Leader, His Driver, & The Driver's Wife

www.nickbroomfield.com

Dir: Nick Broomfield

Cast: Eugene Terre'Blanche, JP Meyer, Anita Meyer, Nick Broomfield

Eugene's not happy
Nick's late cos he stopped for tea
don't overtake me!

Continuing my pledge to review every film that I see on the big screen I've taken a bit of a departure this week with a retro screening of this documentary from 1991 which was shown as part of a Nick Broomfield event at the Pavilion Theatre. The Leader, His Driver, & The Driver's Wife sees Nick and his team in South Africa following Eugene Terre'Blanche, the leader of the white supremacist AWB Afrikaner Party. At a party rally the cameraman is attacked by a party member and knocked to the ground. Terre'Blanche's driver, JP, takes pity on the crew and offers to help secure an interview. This is no easy task as the elusive Terre'Blanche keeps missing every scheduled appointment, so in the meantime we get to learn more about JP and meet his scatty wife, Anita. When Terre'Blanche finally does promise a definite interview, Nick turns up five minutes late. The leader is furious, bellowing at the film-maker until he confesses he was late because he'd had stopped for a cup of tea on the way. He's such a dominating man, you actually feel quite concerned for Nick's well-being at times (the scene where he berates Nick for filming him driving is also a worthy example). It's a fantastic piece of work from the legendary Broomfield, edited deftly to follow the chase for an interview. As with many other examples of this type of film-making, it is often the events that happen along the way, or the reactions of the supporting cast that build up a fascinating character study and in most cases supercede the actual interview itself. Driver JP is a character on the edge, wanting to quit his prominent role at one moment, yet advocating the death of black South Africans the next. Unlike Terre'Blanche, you feel some sympathy for him and Anita, yet at other times are made well aware of the threat he could pose. Despite the serious subject matter there's also a lot of humour in the film, some from Nick himself (as the faux-naive film-maker, a role which Louis Theroux now apes so successfully) and many from the matter-of-fact statements from the party supporters who are just unbelievably ill-educated. You really must see the scene in which two locals try to chat up Nick's female assistant with their "pretty girl" joke, it's a priceless moment. I spoke to Nick after the screening and he confirmed that he's just finished filming a follow-up piece to this documentary which he hopes will get a cinema release next year - it will be very interesting to catch up with these characters again fourteen years later.

soulmining rating ****

Doctor Who Exhibition on Brighton Pier

The new Doctor Who Exhibition was unveiled on Brighton Pier last weekend and will be open throughout the Summer season. The exhibition focuses on the new series of the show and features models, props, drawings and costumes from the first six episodes to date. More items will be added as they become available. I've posted some photos of the exhibits below, and you can find out more information about it all at www.doctorwhoexhibitions.co.uk

A male Auton dummy from episode one, Rose.

A female Auton dummy from episode one, Rose.

Jabe and Forest of Cheem from episode two, The End of the World.

Cassandra, the last human, from episode two, The End of the World.

Moxx of Balhoon from episode two, The End of the World.

The "Space Pig" from episode four, Aliens of London.

One of the Slitheen from episodes four & five, Aliens of London & World War III.

The brand spanking new gold-coloured Dalek from episode six, Dalek.

The beaten-up base unit of the Dalek, with Kaled creature exposed, from episode six, Dalek.

A lone surviving battle-scarred Dalek from the sixties.

Brighton Pier

The iconic Brighton Pier, as taken on the one and only sunny day we've had this month.

View from Brighton Pier

Marine Parade and Madeira Drive to the east of the pier. You can see my flat from here.

KT Tunstall at the Concorde

I saw KT Tunstall play live in Brighton for the second time this year when I caught her at the Concorde on Tuesday evening. I wondered how her music would transfer from the more intimate setting of the Komedia, but I needn't have worried - she sounded great! If anything, the sound was better and KT is playing with greater confidence and maturity now that she's broken into the charts; her performance was so assured. In addition to tracks from Eye To The Telescope she also debuted a new song, One Day, towards the end of her set, and she finished the night with a solo acoustic performance of Throw Me A Rope. Excellent stuff!

Three Festival Shows

The loveGods at the Spiegeltent

I've been working so many hours this month that I haven't had much opportunity to catch many Festival shows, so I was delighted on Monday when I was able to fit in three shows in addition to my nine hour shift in the office. At lunchtime I took an hour off to see the lovely Nicola Benedetti (www.nicolabenedetti.co.uk) perform in the Pavilion Theatre. She's the violinist who won last year's BBC Young Musician competition. She played pieces by Schubert, Debussy and Brahms and finished with a sublime interpretation of Gershwin's It Ain't Necessarily So - and then returned for a well-deserved encore. Early evening I was at the Dome to see Nick Hornby (www.nickhornby.co.uk) read from and discuss his latest novel, A Long Way Down, which follows the lives of four characters who meet on a roof-top on New Year's Eve as they each prepare to commit suicide. I finished my evening at the Spiegeltent watching The loveGods (www.thelovegods.com). It was another decent performance from our local heroes, and the tent provided a fitting surrounding for this sold out show - just a shame about the amount of chatter by the bar. In addition to such favourites as Heroin the band have now added some new songs to their repertoire, and their final track, Disco, took quite a diversion into clubland which sounded fantastic!

Movie Haiku - The Jacket

www.thejacketmovie.co.uk

Dir: John Maybury

Cast: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh

He died in Gulf War
goes mad wearing straight-jacket
visits the future

The Jacket begins with the death of Jack Starks (Brody), an American soldier stationed in Iraq. Yet he survives. One year later he's declared mentally insane and sent to an asylum run by Dr Becker (Kristofferson) after being implicated in the death of a cop. The doctor runs tests on his patients by placing them in straight-jackets and holing them up in the morgue. When this happens to Starks he finds himself fifteen years into the future where he meets Jackie (Knightley), a girl he helped many years ago. Can the lessons he learns from the future change the past or the present? Or is he just completely barking mad? The Jacket follows in a long line of altered reality films, as most recently evidenced in the similarly themed The Machinist and The I Inside. In some ways this hampers this movie as the plot feels just a little too familiar, despite a different handling of the subject matter. It's never less than interesting, but at the same time never rises above its genre roots. Director Maybury does a competent job and Brody is fine in the central role. Keira Knightley gives a more edgy performance as Jackie which bodes well for her forthcoming appearance in Tony Scott's Domino. There's some good supporting roles too, with the ever reliable Jennifer Jason Leigh as a sympathetic doctor who's willing to listen to Starks' stories, whilst Brit Daniel Craig turns up as a fellow mental patient. I also enjoyed the brooding ambient score by Brian Eno. But what I would really like now is something a little more original from Hollywood instead of these endless variations on the one theme. Please?

soulmining rating: ***

Play It Cool in May

There's only been a select few CDs which have been on regular rotation this past few weeks and these are those:

• Nerina Pallot - Fires (Idaho)
• The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective (Tee Pee)
• Garbage - Bleed Like Me (Warners)
• Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth (Interscope)
• The Dandy Warhols - Dandys Rule OK (Tim Kerr)

Unfortunately my blagging skills let me down last month and I ended up missing Nerina Pallot's support slot at the Komedia. Fingers crossed she'll do her own headline shows soon. I've been a fan of The Dandy Warhols for ages and recently picked up the DVD of the excellent rockumentary Dig! which follows the fortunes of them and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. As a direct result I've really got into the BJM's stuff and I'm delighted to see that they're gonna be over here supporting Black Rebel Motorcyle Club on tour next month. Garbage and Nine Inch Nails are both playing at Brixton Academy in the coming months and I'm now kicking myself that I wasn't quick enough to get tickets...

Festival Blog

Yes, the Brighton Festival has kicked off big style. I bumped into Matthew Andrews, the Festival photographer, whilst I was working over at The Old Market on Thursday evening and he's set up his own blog with photos from this year's events. I've added the site to my 'cool blogs' section and you can check out his work here... www.matthewandrews.co.uk

Movie Haiku - XXX2: The Next Level

www.sonypictures.co.uk/movies/triplex2

Dir: Lee Tamahori

Cast: Ice Cube, Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman, Samuel L. Jackson

It's Cube not Diesel
he must save the president
world's first tank-jacking

Sometimes I wonder why I keep subjecting myself to this sort of rubbish. Even the title doesn't inspire confidence - The Next Level? Is that the best they could come up with? (And why bother changing it from the US title of State Of The Union in the first place?) So, a sequel to XXX is probably as welcome as a dose of the clap, but here it is regardless. The good news? No Vin Diesel this time around. The bad news? We've got Ice Cube instead. Still, ditching Diesel from 2 Fast 2 Furious actually resulted in a half-decent sequel (in my opinion)... sadly this time around nothing can save XXX2. The plot, as if you really care, sees Gibbons (a returning Jackson) appointing a new XXX (Cube) to save the president from an assassination plot being led by rogue General Deckert (Dafoe). Lots of shootings, explosions, fancy cars, and thumping urban music follow. It's simply awful. This is action movie film-making at its worst. As if the story wasn't bad enough it's made even worse by some special effects (witness the high speed train / car chase) which look like they've come straight out of a computer game. The acting is appalling too; Cube seems to be reading his lines off an autocue whilst Dafoe may as well have phoned in his performance from the other side of the planet. And Samuel L. Jackson - well, the second-most overrated actor of the last decade has obviously just stopped reading his scripts altogether since the success of Pulp Fiction. Special mention must also be given to the typically large-breasted leading lady; check out the final on-screen kiss in glorious close-up and you'll notice she has a moustache to rival Ice Cube's own. The end of the movie threatens yet another XXX... please no, I can't take any more of this. Remember kids, I watch these movies so that you don't have to. Hey, at least Cursed was funny...

soulmining rating *

Movie Haiku - Maria Full Of Grace

www.mariafullofgrace.com

Dir: Joshua Marston

Cast: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yenny Paola Vega, John Alex Toro, Guilied Lopez

She becomes drug mule
swallows sixty-two pellets
but will she get caught?

The film follows the story of Maria (Moreno) a young factory worker in a dead-end job, obliged to provide for her family. She gets pregnant by her loser boyfriend who she doesn't really love and dreams of a better life. Then she meets Franklin (Toro) who offers her a way out - by working as a drug mule, traffiking between Colombia and New York. We're presented with a stark, non-judgemental view of the drug smuggling industry as Maria makes her first run along with her naive best friend (Vega) and new acquaintance Lucy (Lopez). Needless to say, the run doesn't go smoothly and we then follow the girls as they have to deal with the consequences of their actions. Maria Full Of Grace is a thought-provoking piece of work and a great debut from American director Marston. He creates great tension from the story, especially in the scene when the girls are aboard the plane en route to New York, unsure what fate has in store for them. However the real star of the movie is newcomer Moreno, who as Maria Full Of Drugs is truly exceptional and fully deserves her Oscar nomination. She glides through the film like an angel and you really find yourself supporting her character and applauding the choices that she makes to improve her life. It's such a strong performance that I'd recommend seeing this film for that reason alone.

soulmining rating ****

May Live

May in Brighton means one thing - it's Festival time. This year's Brighton Festival runs from 7th - 29th May and will see hundreds of live events taking place at venues throughout the city, so there really is something for everyone. My pick of the month's events goes as follows:

03/05 - Martha Wainwright - sister of Rufus - plays an intimate show at the Komedia.

05/05 - The Concorde plays host to the return of Hot Hot Heat whose new album Elevator seems set to challenge the likes of Kaiser Chiefs and The Killers to the top of the current pop scene.

11/05 - The Magic Numbers return to the Concorde, ably supported by the excellent Pipettes.

13/05 - Over at The Old Market Dom Joly will be talking about comedy and his latest novel as part of the Brighton Festival.

16/05 - Brighton regulars The loveGods return to play in the famous Spiegeltent which this year will be taking up residence in the Old Steine gardens.

17/05 - After her sell-out performance at the Komedia earlier in the year, KT Tunstall is back for a sell-out gig at the Concorde.

18/05 - Documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield will be discussing his life and work at the Pavilion Theatre.

23/05 - There's a Skint Records night at the Spiegeltent featuring the amazing Emiliana Torrini... or you could go an see Avril Lavigne at Brighton Centre. The choice is yours!

24/05 - Brighton Centre plays host to The Chemical Brothers.

25/05 - The Rakes, Nine Black Alps and The Checks make up the bill for the latest NME tour to arrive at the Concorde.

27/05 - Another Boutique night at the Concorde with Ladytron playing live.

31/05 - Alabama 3 are at the Concorde this time, most famous for their theme to The Sopranos television series.