Music
Max Richter’s
Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works
(*****) fused neo-classical instrumentation, ambient sounds and sampled
dialogue in a compelling manner. Norwegian band Ulver performed another
creative volte-face to deliver a consistent set of electronic pop songs in
The Assassination of Julius Caesar (****).
Noise musician Ben Frost had a busy year with the release of the
Fortitude soundtrack (***), the
Threshold of Faith EP (*****) and its
accompanying album
The Centre Cannot Hold
(****). Neil Young’s demo album
Hitchhiker
(****), recorded in 1976, proved that understatement is often a virtue,
while Mogwai delivered their strongest set in some time with
Every Country’s Sun (****). Kikagaku
Moyo contributed further psychedelic noise on
Stone Garden (****), while Brian Eno’s most immersive ambient piece in some time
came in the form of
Reflection
(****).
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross recorded an effective cover of
John Carpenter’s Halloween (****),
alongside Nine Inch Nails’
Add Violence
EP (****). NIN’s classic 1990s releases
Broken
(*****),
The Downward Spiral (*****)
and
The Fragile (****) were also
re-released in ‘definitive versions’.
Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch’s
Blade Runner 2049 (***) score didn’t quite reach the majestic
heights of Vangelis’ original
Blade
Runner soundtrack, but still contains some fine work (especially when you
skip the superfluous vocal tracks). Contrarily, Kyle Dixon and Michael Dixon’s
synth soundtrack to
Stranger Things 2
(***) might have benefitted from some of the 1980s pop and metal songs used in
the show.
Films
Paranoia and dread were potent driving forces in
It Comes at Night (****), which features
strong lead performances from Joel Edgerton and Christopher Abbott.
Armando Iannucci's satire The Death of Stalin (****) was as terrifying as it was amusing, with fine performances from an all-star British and American cast.
Blade Runner 2049 (****)
effectively evoked the atmosphere of Ridley Scott’s original film and featured
some fantastic visual effects, although there were perhaps too may action
scenes and a rather hammy performance from Jared Leto. Michael Keaton was in
fine form as McDonald’s guru Ray Kroc in the entertaining
The Founder (****), while Jennifer Lawrence undertook one of her
most challenging roles yet in
Mother!
(****).
Lady Macbeth
(****) was a tense re-telling of a novel by
Nikolai Leskov, filmed in the
north east of the UK, while Rachel Weisz starred in the more lavish period drama
My Cousin Rachel (***). Natalie
Portman was effective in
Jackie
(***), while
Fences (***) suffered a
little in translation from the stage.
T2 Trainspotting (***) had some interesting things to say about memory and
nostalgia, but suffered from some predictable plot devices and an ugly soundtrack.
Manchester by the Sea (***) and
The Levelling (***) were both reasonably
gripping family dramas.
Logan (***)
brought the Patrick Stewart-era
X-Men
franchise to a violent-but-poignant end. The divisive
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (***) was entertaining in parts but also
overlong, with a reliance on unnecessary sub-plots and CGI critters reminiscent
of the atrocious prequel trilogy.
Theatre
I didn’t find much time for drama this year, although my
reviews of
Hedda Gabbler and
Playing Up 4 at Northern Stage can be
found on this blog.
Television
Twin Peaks: The Return (*****) was unpredictable, baffling, infuriating, amusing and at times genuinely terrifying; David Lynch has raised the bar once again. Netflix's
The Sinner (****) was a disquieting and absorbing drama exploring repressed memory, while the BBC's
Line of Duty (****) was as tense as ever in its fourth series.
Stranger Things 2 (***) was an enjoyable sequel to the first season, although not without its flaws.
The Handmaid's Tale (***) effectively brought Margaret Atwood's dystopian vision to life
– at a time when its lessons particularly bear repeating
– although there were a few curious diversions from the source material.
Game of Thrones (**) seemed on something of a crash-course this season, with very questionable plotting and some lacklustre performances, although it remains an effective spectacle at times.
Reading
I have a tendency to neglect contemporary writers, but I found Michael Finkel's
The Stranger in the Woods (*****) fascinating: an account of Christopher Thomas Knight's extraordinary 27 years of solitude in the North Pond area of Maine. I thoroughly enjoyed George Orwell's meticulously written
Down and Out in Paris and London (*****), which has aged much better than
The Road to Wigan Pier (***).
The Revised and Updated 2016 Edition of Nicholas Pegg's
The Complete David Bowie (*****) is the most thorough guide to a musician's work that I've ever read, while Oliver Sack's
Musicophilia (****) is an accessible, anecdotal study of the effect that music can have on the human brain. Margaret Atwood's novel
The Handmaid's Tale (****) has possibly never seemed quite as relevant. The world is a sadder place without the wit and (hard-earned) wisdom of Carrie Fisher, as displayed in
Postcards from the Edge (****). Nic Pizzolatto's
Galveston (****) is a dramatic, noir-flavoured novel from the creator and writer of HBO's True Detective, while Shirley Jackson's
The Haunting of Hill House (****) manages a palpable sense of atmosphere in its brevity. Kazuo Ishiguro was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, and
The Remains of the Day (****) is a successful period piece with a strong narrative voice. The surreal nightmares of Neil Gaiman's
Neverwhere (****) and Philip K. Dick's
Minority Report: Volume Four of the Collected Stories (****) kept me sane while I was recovering from surgery. Finally, I enjoyed re-reading Henrik Ibsen's
Four Major Plays (****) and Tennessee Williams'
A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays (****).
