Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Virus Diary week 47...
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Listening back on beloved music of our youth this week, we were struck that maybe it’s the old stuff that all sounds the same these days and not the new - as per the received wisdom. Every track we played elicited the same response from the young music critics who have taken over our house: Is that U2? Ian Mcculloch
would have a fit if he realised he was being compared to Bono but there are some definite similarities.
Likewise The Cure and, more obviously, Simple Minds. It’s worrying that maybe we’re wrong to shake our heads wistfully when the latest banging chart track comes on the wireless muttering, where’s melody? But it doesn’t stop us switching stations to find something more appropriate with the
cruel flick of a tyrant. It’s not the only time we’ve felt like tryants this week as we sternly reminded the kids they weren’t allowed into the play park.
“Sorry guys, it’s not even the coronavirus - see, if we let you in there we lose our right to mutter about other parents behind their backs.”
Sanctimonious twerps, us? Maybe it’s not just 80s pop bands that start to sound like Bono as they get older...
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If imitation is a form of flattery, the Safdie brothers will be very chuffed when they see Ben Hozie’s new drama. Sadly, I suspect they will be the only ones smiling after enduring this grim, grimy little film.
Like the Safdies’ cult hits Good Time and Uncut Gems, this is a tale of New York low-lives trying to raise money at short notice. Twenty-something Jack (Peter Vack) is about to be evicted from the cramped apartment where he spends long days and nights blowing his savings on internet blackjack and online dominatrix ‘Scarlet’ (Uncut Gems actress Julia Fox) who, unsurprisingly, isn’t all she seems.
Shallow, internet-obsessed youths are topical, probably, but Hozie forgets to craft the suspense or dark humour that would keep an audience hooked.
Granted his voice is a little too thin to make him the live act his music deserves, but there’s no question The Weekend’s Super Bowl half-time show was anything less than spectacular.
Dozens of masked dancers with beady red eyes made the whole thing feel inappropriately creepy – while adventures inside a hall of mirrors were gloriously bizarre. And – of course – ‘Blinding Lights’ made for a spectacular finale.
Not sure how much of the elaborate production the Canadian star (left) will bring on the road, but the good news is he’ll play the SSE Arena on October 13, 2022. For once, such a massive tour will only visit Belfast and not Dublin – which gives us a reason to be a little smug.