The latest music from Germany, UK and USA, with new videos from Kaiser Chiefs (yes!) and Linkin Park, plus interesting live performances from American Idol.
вторник, 7 юни 2011 г.
събота, 4 юни 2011 г.
German chart comments - Issue date - 3.06.2011
No one can stop Pietro Lombardi from being the German chart champion and the guy clocks up a third week atop the countdown. Jennifer Lopez is once again immovable from the second position, while the Party Rock Anthem rises two positions and peaks at #3.
The highest new entry comes (somewhat surprisingly) by Brooke Fraser. The singer is a complete newcomer for the German charts, despite being a star in her native New Zealand. "Something In The Water" comes from Brooke's third studio album and its arrival at #9 just shows how Germans like radio-friendly songs.
The impact of Eurovision continues to be felt after the contest final three weeks ago. Thus Ireland-representatives, the annoying/funny (delete depending on taste) twins Jedward break the German top 20 boundary with their "Lipstick". The Pet Shop Boys influence is so obvious (especially in the video), which only helped the two boys to enter this week at #12.
The final new entry in the top 20 comes from newcomer Andreas Bourani at #16. There is not much to be said for the German singer, except that he has been recently on tour with local star Clueso.
A special mentioning for several peaks among the first twenty this week. After a steady and unbroken climb Adele scores a second top 10 single in Germany after "Set Fire To The Rain" rises to #8 from #13. A new peak also for Jupiter Jones' "Still" at #13, while Romanian star Alexandra Stan enters the top 20 for the first time. She is now officially more successful in Germany than peer Inna.
Further down the top 50 new peaks also by Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful Of Sunshine" at #32, DJ Antoine's "Welcome To St. Tropez" at #34, Pitbull's "Bon Bon", which soars from #92 to #39 and Bob Sinclar's "Far l'amore" at #46.
Video - Natasha
Apart from the entry of Jedward at #12, the Eurovision's winners, Azerbaijan's Ell and Nikki, enter this week at #33. As long as winning songs are concerned, this position can be considered a moderate success. Last year's "Satellite" was of course number one, while two years ago Alexander Rybak's "Fairytale" reached #4.
Thanks to the use of their music in a commercial of Vodafone, Australian duo Bag Raiders has its first single in the German charts as "Way Back Home" arrives new at #38. Seven positions below the tough times for German band Scooter continue as their latest "The Only One" enters the countdown at #45. If the song does not advance any further, it would be officially their least successful single ever. And if this was passable for previous single "Friends Turbo" as it was taken from a soundtrack and was actually a remix of an old Scooter song (it still reached #43), this time around there is nothing of consolation. The song is based on Charlatans' "The Only One I Know" from 1990, which never entered the German charts.
And the remaining new entries with videos:
#48 Eric Saade - Popular - A good new entry for the Swedish representative at Eurovision.
#54 Cee Lo Green - Bright Lights Bigger City - Perhaps the best single of Cee Lo so far.
#59 Jay Khan - Nackt - Jay was famous as part of US5, now he is known for his habit to walk naked on the streets...
#62 Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne - Hit The Lights
#90 Electric Lady Lab - You & Me
Oh, and this week makes history as the fall of Krypteria's hymn of Borussia Dortmund to #80 from #6 is the biggest fall in the top 100 ever...
Video
The Album Chart
The album charts all over the world have been stormed by Ms. Germanotta and Germany makes no exception. Lady Gaga's second LP shoots itself directly at #1 and thus becomes singer's second album to reach the summit after the multiplatin status of "The Fame". At the same time Adele and Soehne Mannheims swap places and take this week the second and the third positions, respectively
The top ten also sees new entries belonging to local soul diva Joy Denalane at #8 and Swedish metal gurus HammerFall at #9.
петък, 3 юни 2011 г.
Austrian chart update - 3.06
Die Österreichische Hitparade
The top three
1. Pietro Lombardi - Call My Name (3rd week on top)
2. Snoop Dogg vs. David Guetta - Sweat
3. LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem
The new entries
10. Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song *
12. Brooke Fraser - Something In The Water
20. Scooter - The Only One
25. Cee Lo Green - Bright Lights Bigger City
38. Chris Brown - Beautiful People *
* - Still to enter the German charts
** - pure Austrian stuff
In BG Cinemas from June 3 - Part 2 - Lora, Kung Fu Panda 2
Лора от сутрин до вечер / Lora From Morning Till Evening - Bulgaria - A paradox, ladies and gentlemen! It starts with the logo of bTV, it's Bulgarian and I loved it! And it's definitely the best Bulgarian movie of the last year, though the much hyped Podslon may have something to say next week. But let's elaborate a little on Lora now. Unlike most of the Bulgarian titles lately, the film concentrates on a simple albeit quite absurd story and most crucially doesn't take itself too seriously. By deciding to skip any philosophical preaching and focusing on a tiny little cast with not many familiar faces (there are no Baharov brothers and any Ljubo Nejkovs, thank the movie gods), director Dimitar Kocev - Shosho has given us pure entertainment. Next to its comic elements, breezy action moments, memorable supporting cast (the all-inquiring neighbour is fantastic) and sharp script, Lora From Morning Till Evening surprises most of all with its simplicity. Oh, and the fact that singer-turned-actor Milenita is not a theatre actress definitely helps. She may not have the best acting chops but at least looks natural. And last, but not least, it's such a delight to watch a movie without feeling all the time that you are sitting through a long (KFC/Nedelya) commercial! If our film makers manage to come out with three or four films such as this flick per year, Bulgarian cinema is gonna be on the right path. And maybe, just maybe, a true masterpiece is waiting around the corner. (Spotlight) ****
Кунг фу панда 2 / Kung Fu Panda 2 - Let's be clear from the start - a movie which has as antagonist a peacock with a destructive mind, called Lord Shen, could have never been a mistake! Add to the mix a hero who is a cute cuddly panda, adoring noodles and kung fu but still pondering about his origins, and we have one of the best sequels this year. After last week the wolf pack shocked us all with its troubles in Bangkok, now it's time for the kung fu warriors to return with a real kick. And, having in mind the great action choreography, what a kick it is! You're gonna watch fights in which everything comes into use - paws, tails, feathers, you name it... In the second instalment of Kung Fu Panda, Po and his loyal friends will not only face the aforementioned bird with an agenda but our hero will also have to deal with the fact that his father, the goose, is actually not his parent... Ooops! Sorry for the spoiler... The animation is once again perfect, this time enhanced in 3D, while the voice cast is ... it's actually great names dubbed by nobody-cares-who-you-are Bulgarian talent. Anyway, despite the aforementioned slight hurdle, at the end Kung Fu Panda 2 is a rewarding experience. Your children will love it, while you may feel a little bit nostalgic for the old dusty VHSs (illegal of course) with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. (Forum Film) ****
This week previews:
X:Men - The First Class - A solid proof while the X:Men universe is so much better than the Avengers one. ****1/2
MISSED OPPORTUNITY - Prom & Bridesmaids - Expect a separate feature next week. We are gonna deal with this crime soon...
MISSED OPPORTUNITY - Prom & Bridesmaids - Expect a separate feature next week. We are gonna deal with this crime soon...
The ratings:
***** Perfect
**** Unmissable
*** Fun
** So-so
* Stay away
четвъртък, 2 юни 2011 г.
In BG Cinemas from June 3 - Part 1 - The Tree Of Life
(or the most controversial review among my humble output)
Дървото на живота / The Tree Of Life - Many film critics, and especially Bulgarian ones (if there are any at all), are quite easy. Show them something they cannot understand, throw in a spoon of philosophical quotations (better to be from the Bible), put cool actors (one of them considered to be the most handsome in Hollywood, the other among the quirkiest ones) and they will all stare in awe. They will praise your masterpiece with all their hearts and brains. It also helps if you've decided to take the position of an enigma director, who cannot be bothered to be interviewed and comes out with a movie only once a decade. If we are lucky...
So here arrives The Tree Of Life, only the fifth movie in the long career of director Terrence Malick. It's a universal truth that Malick's films are not everyone's cup of tea. In all of his movies prior to The Tree, he prefers to show us stunning visuals and to inspire us with excellent cinematography, rather than with dialogue or any complicated script. In other words, Tarantino he is not. And here comes his latest, full of all of the above, but missing something very crucial - a story. The Tree of Life is so full of ideas, that at the end it loses its focus, its purpose, its reason to be on the big screen. It crashes from the weight of its own seriousness.
We can roughly divide the narrative into three parts, whose connection is completely lost - the dysfunctional (or was it functional?) family in the 60s in USA, the lost soul of one of the grown-up kids in a big metropolis and because this would have never been enough, we have 15-20 minutes showing us the creation of the world, with dinosaurs! It's like Discovery Channel gone terribly wrong! So, it's about the meaning of life and death, but it is also about the abusive father figure, the troubles of adolescence, the tough times in America, the connections between the siblings and so on and on and on, for 139 minutes. At one moment we have a dinosaur out of the water, at the next we have Brad Pitt being hard to his kids. And perhaps somewhere in Malick's mind there is a connection between the creation of the world and the stealing of a woman underwear, but, sorry, I couldn't get it.
Some will say, it's a movie about loss and how we handle it. Okay, but the director seems to have been too absent-minded in the editing suite, so we never learn what exactly had gone wrong in the life of Sean Penn. And as I mentioned editing, it's a movie which never gives a chance for the viewer to take a breath. There are shots after shots after shots, and everything from a different angle. If Malick has wanted his ideas, whatever they are, to be conveyed to the audience, he should have given us, the ignorant viewers, at least a moment to dwell over them. And if the director could have managed to focus only on the family part of the story, but still keeping his philosophical and religious propaganda, as well as his beautiful cinematography style, it could have been the movie event of the year. But no, Malick is so keen to show us the Big Bang. The Big Boring, if you ask me... And if this is art, it's definitely not cinema! (Tandem) *
сряда, 1 юни 2011 г.
New on DVD/Blu-Ray in Bulgaria in May 2011
 |
| DVD of the month |
A+
Premieres on DVD/Blu-Ray
Секретариат - конят легенда (Secretariat) - This horse racing drama moved past our cinemas and perhaps for a reason. Still has one or two merits, Diane Lane included - **1/2
Пътешествията на Гъливер (Gulliver's Travels) - Hollywood has f*cked up yet another classic, no surprises here *
Път с предимство (Due Date) (DVD&BD) - A failed attempt to repeat the Hangover success. It's a date you'd better skip. **
Черен лебед (Black Swan) - A true masterpiece for the new decade. Haunting! *****
Сексът и градът 2 (Sex and the City 2) (DVD&BD) - It's awful and I liked it! Blame me! ***
Мачете (Machete) - Danny Trejo makes the role of Machete his own. Great fun but not for the easily offended. ****
Убийствен пъзел: Последната глава (Saw: The Final Chapter) (DVD/BD) - Thank Hollywood it's the last chapter! **
Хари Потър и Даровете на смъртта - част 1 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - part 1) - A step back in terms of excitement but never has a franchise been so consistent in quality. ****
Лов на дребни хищници - A Bulgarian title on DVD! Not so good though! ***
New on Blu-Ray
Най-дългият ден (The Longest Day) - A war-themed classic, star-stuffed with John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Sean Connery and more ****
Звукът на музиката (The Sound of Music) - The hills are still alive & you know I'm fan of Austria, so no surprises here - *****
Tandem
Premieres on DVD
Пътят на самурая / The Warrior's Way - Not many realised that this martial-arts movie was in the multiplexes last winter, but it's still worth checking out ***1/2
Някъде / Somewhere - The fans of Lost In Translation will devour it, the others will yawn at it. ***1/2
В брой / Cash - Boromir meets Thor, just watch Game of Thrones instead! **
Обитаемият остров / Obitaemyy ostrov - Russian sci-fi from 2008, only for the most passionate about the genre **
Някъде / Somewhere - The fans of Lost In Translation will devour it, the others will yawn at it. ***1/2
В брой / Cash - Boromir meets Thor, just watch Game of Thrones instead! **
Обитаемият остров / Obitaemyy ostrov - Russian sci-fi from 2008, only for the most passionate about the genre **
The ratings:
***** Perfect
**** Unmissable
*** Fun
** So-so
* Stay away
BG Boxoffice Update - Weekend 27-29 May
 |
| How much BO in Bulgaria!?@?! |
A second week on top of the Bulgarian boxoffice for the pirates, who capture BGN 193,479 for the weekend, bringing their total treasure to the quite impressive BGN 1,040,603 for just 12 days. And as people are recommending it, it's a safe bet that the movie is sailing towards the two million leva barrier. This week's drop of 68% may seem steep, but we should also have in mind that the previous weekend actually consisted of five days so no direct comparisons can be drawn.
Smashed by the power of Jack Sparrow and Barbossa, the only new entry of the week has to settle for the second place with BGN 79,393. The movie in question is the excellent (yeah, I'm aware of the Rottentomatoes rating) second part of The Hangover. The first adventures of the wolf pack scored BGN 88,870 in their debut two years ago. Any comparison however would be tough as I'm not sure whether the results of The Hangover Part I did not include preview screenings as back then there was no separate calculation of these figures. Anyway, the first part finished with a total of USD 217,000. Oh, and we should also not forget that first time around the party goers had no competition, with only Terminator: Salvation a major player in the Bulgarian cinemas then but had been already two-weeks old when The Hangover arrived.
Going back to the present, a special mentioning to Fast Five and Rio, the latter closer to the one million leva threshold, the first still with some catching up ahead of it.
The only film to step out of the top ten this week is The Lincoln Lawyer. The praised by the critics court thriller is about to finish its cinema run with around BGN 100,000, which, let's say it, is not at all that bad for an independent movie with zero promotion and not so popular stars in it (McConaughey fans, pleased don't get mad...).
Compared to my last week projection, The Hangover Part II finished below my BGN 120,000 forecast.
Next weekend projections:
The Tree of Life - BGN 35,000 (including previews)
Kung Fu Panda 2 - BGN 160,000 (including previews)
Lora From Morning To Evening - BGN 20,000 (if any figures are released at all)
(1 BGN = USD 0.74/EUR 0.51)
Абонамент за:
Публикации (Atom)