With just a swing from the… Pendulum.

When I think of Australian music I automatically get reminded that the only two decent things to come out of Australia were AC/DC and The Living End. This was until the Big Day Out 2009 where I was introduced to a group that managed to pack out the Main Arena.

When you are walking up the stairs towards relief after bruising and battering yourself in the Bullet For My Valentine pit, you start to feel a bit left out when you stop on the stairs turn around and are greeted to probably about 10,000 people just dancing and jumping for the hell of it. If you want to see this amazing display, then YouTube it. After seeing this display I researched who this band was.

Pendulum was their name, an Australian Drum ‘n Bass group that take pride in playing real instruments. Pendulum is a 6-piece group that have managed to make their way into the world of international fame, yes that is right an Australian group other than AC/DC are making it.

Forming in 2002 Pendulum has since produced three studio albums and one live album. You know you have made it as a band when you can safely say you have played at the Brixton Academy.

Hold Your Colour was Pendulum’s debut full length album and held true to its word of being predominantly Drum ‘n Bass. Songs such as the hits Fasten Your Seat Belt, Slam and Tarantula are just a teaser as to what this album really sounds like.  The heavy Drum ‘n Bass sound and constant fast paced beats really just get you in the mood for jumping around and enjoying yourself, and any track of this album would send a night club in the downtown into hysterics.

In Silico, Pendulum’s sophomore album was a little more experimental than that of Hold Your Colour, which attempted more of an original sound, and with a heavy drum influence it sounded nothing like what was being offered in the Drum ‘n Bass market. Stand out tracks on this album such as Showdown, Propane Nightmares, and Mutiny showed how much these boys had matured in the music industry, and how well they could change the music industries stereotype of Drum ‘n Bass and completely bring the genre to a whole new level.

Pendulum’s latest attempt Immersion has once again attempted to take the Drum ‘n Bass genre to a whole new level. Immersion is attempting to break the mould by incorporating other genres such as Dub Step, Metal, and Electro-House. Their attempt at Metal is with one of the heavy weights In Flames on the track Self vs. Self, which does itself justice, making metal sound like it was injected with a shot of extra bass. Immersion also takes a stab at the sort of rock operas we see Green Day doing on their newer albums. Pendulum’s “opera” is The Island Pt1 (dusk) and The Island Pt2 (Dawn), Dusk is more of your standard sounding Pendulum track whereas Dawn is attempting to get influence from the Dub Step part of the music industry.

If you are a fan of In Silico and Hold You Colour then definitely check out Immersion, you will not be let down. Tracks like Salt In The Wound, Set Me On Fire and Crush sound like good ole classic Pendulum. If you are new to Pendulum then definitely get all the above mentioned albums, you will not be disappointed with what you get, Pendulum cater to all music types whether you’re a rap star or a rock legend.

Thanks to the guys at Frontier Touring, Pendulum will be hitting Kiwi shores playing West Auckland’s Trust Stadium on Wednesday the 27^th of October. Tickets are selling incredibly quickly so make sure you head to www.ticketdirect.co.nz and click the Pendulum logo. Tickets are $72.50 plus service fees.

Director: Lee Unkrich

Rating: 4.8/5

Reviewer: Eleanor Rubio

One’s never too old for a Disney to-be-classic film, and no, I did not push children out of the way to get tickets to see Toy Story 3. Though on that note, eleven years of subconsciously waiting for a third Toy Story has been worth it. Initially, I thought a third instalment was going to be disastrous knowing how Disney has a silent knack of bastardizing their own film productions by giving it sequels. But being Disney-born-and-raised, I know I’m committed.

Toy Story 3 starts off with an opening montage, playing ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’ and smoothly recapping the first two sequels. The story pretty much aged with reality – Andy is now about to leave for college, and his toys are accidentally donated to Sunnyside Day Care which turns out to be not-so sunny and ruled by evil in cute form: a tyrannical strawberry-scented purple teddy bear named Lotso. It was like The Great Escape from there. With all honesty, I surprised myself with how much I got into the film’s twists and plots. The film isn’t as gut-wrenchingly funny as Up, but it does it.

The voice actors of the characters stuck with the original except for Slinky’s. Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear) are adorable as ever, and the new characters are fabulous. Disney Pixar, like the rest of their productions, got their visuals spot-on once again with Toy Story 3. There are major enhancements: if you compare Toy Story 3 to its prequels, you won’t fail to notice how Pixar has gotten better. This is most evident with the humans – they look very much improved, like in Up and Ratatouille.

Toy Story 3 is actually a necessary cap-off, if you look at it from a cynic’s view. Toy Story 1 & 2 have been youthful, light-hearted and ultimately fulfilled the family criteria, and Toy Story 2 did touch on themes of abandonment; but for those who grew up with the franchise like me, Toy Story 3 is the bittersweet growing-up la-dee-dah that leaves you disenchanted – well, depending on how much you can relate to Andy. I don’t remember being that attached to my toys. Anyway, the film addresses these adult sentiments, more in-your-face than Toy Story 2 but without boring kids. You’ve probably heard it’s a tear-jerker – virtually true.

I’m not necessarily a kid-at-heart, but Toy Story 3 is like cherry on top. If Disney leaves this trilogy alone, it’ll continue to be one of the best trilogies ever made.

Firstly, let me make myself clear, I went to this film for LAUGHS and LAUGHS ONLY! Sure I read the novels a few years ago, enjoyed them to an extent and put them in a bookcase never to be touched again…but I did not see this movie for any sense of disturbing pleasure!

Ahem, now that I have slightly justified my reasoning behind this self inflicted torture, let me talk about the movie…

Well… as anyone who has seen the previous two movies will know; the actors can’t act, the storyline is weak and my god! the romantic scenes are just painful, awkward and downright horrendous! The only members of our society that would appreciate this kind of rubbish are pre-teens, tweens or (heaven forbid) deprived full grown adults that have no literary knowledge or taste.

I think the most hilarious parts of this film were the constant marriage proposals between Kristen Stewart’s character (Bella) and Robert Pattinson’s (Edward), the almost sex scene (“I’ll hurt you Bella [with my rock hard, crystal cock]“), the fact that in EVERY scene Taylor Lautner (Jacob) was practically naked and flaunting it and of course, best of all, the fight scenes, where the aforementioned crystal body parts of the enemy vampires were ripped off with satisfying “Cha Ching!” sounds. Think Super Mario Bros., *ding ding*, you jump up and hit bricks with your fist and coins pop out. My friend and I were in fits imaging coins popping out of the vampires corpses. 30000 points to me! YIPPEE! Momma Mia!

Anyway, in conclusion, I DO NOT recommend any sane person see this film! Unless of course you like self inflicted pain and are a little bit fucked up in the head…so in other words, see it if you are a Twilight Fan.

Starring: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Topher Grace
Director: Nimrod Antal
Producer: Robert Rodriguez
Official (and very cute) Website: http://www.predators-movie.com/3/5
Reviewed by John Case

23 years is a long time between drinks, and for fans of the original Arnold Schwarzenegger movie there has been some absolute and forgettable dross in between (‘AVP Requiem’ should be burned on a pyre along with the cast and director).
‘Predator’ was a gripping action flick, one of the best of the late 80s, with Arnie and his commando crew hunted in the jungles of South America by an invisible alien beastie determined to add them to its trophy cabinet. After an inevitable catalog of gruesome deaths, as the commandoes are slaughtered one by one, it’s left to Arnie to prove ‘man’ is the greater predator (he does).
Fast forward to the beginning of ‘Predators’ and a man is awakening as he’s falling. Barely able to get his shute to open in time, he crashes onto the floor of an alien world alongside a group of human scum of the earth – no explanation, no time to adjust – they are the prey and the hunt is on.
Adrien Brody (‘The Pianist’, ‘King Kong’) buffs up and adds a certain psychological depth absent from most of Arnold’s acting, but ultimately this is still a ‘who dies next and who will get away’ kind of film with the first reel delivering most of the suspense and the last most of the action. Watch Laurence Fishburne (‘Nero’ from ‘The Matrix’) chew scenery as a man trapped on the planet for nine years, scavenging from the dead. See Topher Grace (‘That 70s Show’, ‘Spiderman 3’) try and slip under the radar as the supposedly ‘odd man out’.
Suspend belief, buy an extra large tub of popcorn, switch off your brain for an hour and 47 minutes, sit back and be entertained.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

129 minutes R16

NZ Release Date: 29^th July 2010

The Girl Who Played with Fire is the second film adaptation of the book trilogy by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, proceeded by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and followed by The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

I haven’t read the books, so went about asking friends who had what they were about to try to get a little background in preparation for the movie media preview. The answer from friends was that the plot was too complex to try to explain, but that the books were awesome and intriguing. Having limited time I decided to watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (sometimes called “Men Who Hate Women”) to at least know the general gist of the trilogy. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a violent and disturbing movie, which canters along at a pace that is difficult to keep up with if you haven’t read the book.

However I was glad I had seen that movie going into the The Girl Who Played with Fire, which assumes even more knowledge of the books than the first. Like any book adaptation where the plot is complex, the movie was a bit disjointed, with plots not really explored in any detail, but skipped over, and alluded too. For example at the heart of the storyline in this movie is the exposure of a human traffic smuggling ring, but this is only brushed over, instead, it focuses on Lisbeth and Mikael (the main characters), who are partly caught up in the smuggling ring and partly caught up in the action from the previous film.

If you don’t like watching movies in subtitles, don’t like sadistic violence, and haven’t read the books, I don’t suggest you go and see this movie, but if none of the above phase you, the movies are an interesting and entertaining watch, and are worth paying to see.