Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

In India

Text Matt Bochenski
Images Rex Features

A round-up of the top films, music releases and books heading your way this month

In 1996, renegade journalist and London gad about Toby Young set off to conquer New York with a gig at Vanity Fair, the emperor of high-style magazines. What followed was, in effect, a first round knockout, as our hapless hero waded into New York’s celebrity circuit with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, soon getting himself fired from his prestigious position.

As a kind of revenge/catharsis, Young penned a self-deprecating memoir of his failure, How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, which has now been made into a ollywood screenplay (another career that Young failed to conquer, as recounted in his second book, The Sound of No Hands Clapping).

Brit-com star Simon Pegg is on excellent form as ‘Sidney’ Young, whose insufferable arrogance and social faux pas see him ostracise the editors of Sharps magazine, and repel a variety of beautiful and famous women, while he fails to realise that colleague Alison (Kirsten Dunst) is interested in the ‘real’ him. Celebrity cameos keep things lively (Megan Fox, Gillian Anderson, Thandie Newton), but this is Simon Pegg’s show all the way.

Tropic Thunder
Director Ben Stiller Starring Ben Stiller,
Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr

What happens when you take a handful of Hollywood’s biggest stars – some of whom are in dire need of a big hit – drop them in a jungle with an inexperienced director and set out to shoot something epic? That is the story of Tropic Thunder – the film within the film – but it’s also the story of Tropic Thunder the film itself.

Okay, let’s work this out. Ben Stiller’s ensemble comedy is about a group of Hollywood actors shooting an Apocalypse Now-style ’Nam drama in the jungle, with all the meltdowns and ego clashes you’d expect. When their director takes them into the heart of darkness to get ‘real’ – only to accidentally stand on a land mine – the confused actors are pitched into a genuine fight for survival that they think is a staged film set. Cue hilarious antics.

But – and here’s the kicker – what you actually get in Tropic Thunder isn’t just a group of actors (including Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr) playing a group of vain and ignorant actors. They actually are, themselves, a group of vain and possibly quite ignorant actors all too happy to descend into a petty squabble to out-mug each other, while Stiller, a hugely limited director, also can’t help but give in to the very sort of Hollywood action dramatics that he’s trying to satirise.

It’s all very confusing and post-modern, but sadly it’s not that funny. Until, that is, a cameo from a certain megastar arrives like a hurricane to blow the house down.

Book club

The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly’s latest thriller, The Brass Verdict, is something of a bold experiment. It brings together two of his most popular characters – Detective Harry Bosch and attorney Mickey Haller – in a single novel for the first time. It’s a gamble that could have seen each man struggling for oxygen, but it pays off handsomely in the end.

Mickey Haller is the slip-shod legal attorney. When his partner, Vincent, dies in mysterious circumstances, Mickey is left with a new case load, including a high-profile assignment to defend a Hollywood exec accused of killing his young wife and her lover.

Enter Detective Bosch – the attack dog of LA’s robbery homicide department and a veteran of many a Connelly classic – to investigate Vincent’s death.

With some tight plotting, cool dialogue and a great Star Wars-esque twist, The Brass Verdict is an excellent reason to stay out of the rain this autumn.

Q+A NITIN SAWHNEY

Nitin Sawhney
London
Undersound

When did you first make a connection with music?

I think the first time I was struck by sound was when listening to a piano. I remember when I was four I just ran up to this piano and smacked it as hard as I could and kept hitting the keys andthinking it was very exciting.

Who or what inspired you growing up?

When I was growing up I listened to lots of different types of music and was in lots of different types of bands. I mean, I played with youth orchestras and I played with a lot of Indian classical musicians. I was just playing all the time and trying to find ways of expressing ideas.

Why do you think music was important to you?

To me, it’s all about what taps into our subconscious. And for me, music is a fantastic, sonic way of representing your cultural background.

Do you believe that music can positively impact society?

People have said that they felt that they were able to make music and be accepted for their own identity through some things that I have done. I feel very honoured that people feel that way but it’s not necessarily my sole intention.

Oasis
Dig Out Your Soul

Cast your mind way back to the mid-’90s and you might recall a band called Oasis: swaggering, era-defining, generation-awakening warriors come to burn, pillage and generally destroy the landscape of the dance-dominated British music charts.

It was a brief, glorious period before the band were replaced with joyless robots, programmed to repeat the same tunes over and over while mouthing platitudes about Paul Weller and the Beatles.

So here we are, awaiting the release of their seventh album, and where once a new Oasis record was, literally, front page news, these days it’s only the hardcore fans who argue that the band still have something to say about contemporary music.

And yet, all the early signs are that Dig Out Your Soul might actually contain – wow!– new ideas. Noel Gallagher has confessed that it’s a bigger, more ambitious record than either Heathen Chemistry or Don’t Believe The Truth (although the title is just as bad), influenced by the psychedelic trips he experienced as a young man. There’s no doubt it’ll sell by the bucketload, but Oasis’ chance for greatness continues to shrink.

Book club

Ken Adams Designs the Movies: James Bond and Beyond by Ken Adams and Christopher Frayling

Okay, admittedly, this huge new book isn’t exactly the sort of thing you’d take with you for your holiday reading – but for fans of cinema it’s a must have.

Ken Adams is the legendary production designer whose imagination has given birth to some of the most iconic film sets of all time. Most famous for his work with Stanley Kubrick (the ‘war room’ in Dr Strangelove is an Adams’ invention) and the James Bond franchise, he also worked on designs for opera, video games and a futuristic cinema – all of which are included in this definitive book.

It’s a gorgeous thing to look at, with 250 illustrations demonstrating Adams’ peerless craftsmanship, and an excellent introductory essay by Christopher Frayling.

Highlights include early sketches of Bond’s modified Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger; Blofeld’s volcanic lair from You Only Live Twice detailed in thick black pencil work; and the futuristic concept art for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The whole book is a fascinating treasure trove for anybody whose imagination has ever been captured by cinema.

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

CAPTCHA Code (required)