Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (371)

Content

Ross (3284 KP) rated Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) in Movies

Jul 8, 2020

Decent comedy, though some real liberties taken with Edinburgh's geography

This is a decent comedy following the events leading up to mediocre Icelandic pop duo Fire Saga heading to represent their country at the Eurovision semi-finals. The portrayal of Icelandic people as being quite stupid and backwards and still believing in fairies was maybe a little offensive but added some of the best comedy, and with a silly film like this anyone taking that seriously would have real problems.
The setting of the contest in Edinburgh was a nice touch, as with Infinity War it is always good to see the end product from the annoying road closures. However it didn't make sense, given the hosts were not British and Britain didn't win the contest, but again lets not take this too seriously. The car chase was a mess though, with the car one minute heading one way along a street and shortly appearing at a roundabout at the end behind them. Also, the Glasgow SSE Hydro arena being at the end of George IV Bridge was just all sorts of wrong.
The geographical inconsistencies aside, this is a nice silly little comedy that drags on a little too long with a fairly cliche'd plot.

Kudos

Bobby Gillespie recommended The Original Singles 1965-1967 Volume 1 by The Byrds in Music (curated)

"I think this is the first Byrds album I owned. I bought it because it had all the singles on it. When I was a kid I didn't have a lot of money so I'd probably go and buy a band's greatest hits album, just to give a taste of the band – I love singles and greatest hits albums. I love this record because every time I hear it, it's joyous, it's transcendental and it makes my spirit soar. Whenever the Beatles and Byrds released 45s, they were all in mono because they were more powerful in terms of mixes. I watched repeats of Ready Steady Go! in the mid-'80s and was entranced by performances of 'Mr Tambourine Man', and also when The Beatles covered it too. The Byrds helped us dream away the greyness and bleakness of Glasgow and the repressiveness of Thatcherist Britain. The Byrds are better than The Beatles for me. I'm more of a Stones guy myself, but The Byrds just portrayed this image of beautiful Californian transcendent sound. That run between '65 and '67 in this compilation of A-sides and B-sides is unbeatable. I almost don't want to use this word, but it's a perfect record and basically formed the foundation of Primal Scream."

Source

Kudos

Before The Storm (DCI Lorimer #18)

Alex Gray

9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Your favourite Scottish detective is back with a brand new case, one that threatens to destroy...

ClareR (5779 KP) rated Caledonian Road in Books

Sep 16, 2024

Caledonian Road

Andrew O'Hagan | 2024 | Contemporary

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I loved Mayflies, so I was really looking forward to Caledonian Road - and I wasn’t disappointed. There are a variety of characters, from the extremely well-off to those living in council flats and struggling to get by. This is a “State of the Nation” story, and it lays out just what that state is. From the Russian oligarchs and landed gentry, to slavery, inequality and crime. People have far too many secrets, until, that is, the media get hold of them.

Caledonian Road shows the repercussions of Covid and Brexit (none of it positive), and how those with money think they can get away with whatever they want to.

There are characters that you can really get your teeth in to, many of them rather unpleasant. The main character, a university academic called Campbell Flynn, is struggling with his life. He grew up working class in Glasgow, and has married in to minor aristocracy. He likes to think that he hasn’t lost touch with his origins - but has he?

There’s a lot going on in this novel - too much to write here - and you’re really better off reading it for yourself! It’s a chunk of a book, but it sped by. I loved it.