From 8 to 7. The X Factor contestants gave their shot with their performances last night. And although, some performances did stand out, it was an average night over all. Movie week did not turn out to be as grand as I had expected. Louis kept on shouting about him being the judge and also boasted about his limited movie knowledge. Simon kept on nagging about Lloyd’s performance and Cheryl. And actually, in a long time, John & Edward actually evolved into being likeable. Phew! Danyl has emerged from the shadow of being cocky, then broken, and gave a heartfelt Prince performance last night. Stacey shed off her non-mobile skin and took on a sexy image, and Olly felt as comfortable to do the Twist and Shout. As for Lucie, I think Miley Cyrus would give her an intern position, and Joe just seems at home with theatre. But the winner of the night for me was absolutely Jamie Archer. He is born to be wild…I mean..performer 
I can totally see him performing at Wembley or any world class stadium.
Talking of which, I am very very sad today to hear that Steven Tyler has quit Aerosmith. And more sad so, coz Joe Perry says that the remaining band is searching for a vocalist to replace him. IMO [ and the millions of Aerosmith lovers ], Steven Tyler is the voice of Aerosmith. No matter how good a song is – if it is not sung by Steven Tyler, it will never be an Aerosmith song. Tyler is the face, the voice of Aerosmith. If there is no voice, there is no music. Period.
Back to the competition. My predictions for the night.
Bottom 2: Lloyd Daniels and Lucie Jones / Jedward
Eliminated: Lloyd Daniels.
We have to find out when the curtains go up as the Live results are announced in just 2 hours from now.
Performers of the night: Black Eyed Peas and ex-X Factor winner – Leona Lewis.
Join us for the Liveblog and discussion of tonight’s result night – Live at 8pm London time. Cheerio!
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Last week’s elimination of Rachel had the whole nation talk about how cowardly Simon Cowell is and how he favours popularity over talent. To answer that, I’d say talent is all about popularity, as far as singing is concerned. I accept that Rachel is indeed one of the best female voices in the competition. But as I said earlier, if her records don’t sell, [ which is a bit clear from her bottom 2 experiences ], she will not go a long way. However, singing can be put into other use. A part in a Broadway or West-End musical can be a good avenue for her singing talent. Coming back to this week’s competition -it’s Movie week tonight on the X Factor. The Top 8 will be singing Movie soundtracks, and Danyl has already sung – I don’t wanna miss a thing. We’ll be updating the playlist for the night as soon as possible.
This is going to be a mixed genre of songs – from pop to hip hop, to retro, disco and even rock. So it all boils down to the song choice for each contestant. Although Rock is Jamie’s forte, I think Simon should explore his range by giving him a pop number and making him sing in a totally new arrangement. An original twist to a very popular number will make him shine through. I believe out of Simon’s three contestants, Jamie hasn’t been praised as much as he should. And lot of it is because of Louis Walsh’s stupid comments. And hey, Simon’s three acts are still in the competition. Whereas – Louis two acts – Miss Frank and Kandy Rain, Cheryl’s – Rikki Loney and Danny’s- Rachel Adedeji have been eliminated.
So far in the competition, the most consistent performer and growing each week has been Olly Murs. I love Stacey but I genuinely think that when it comes to pop performances, Live concerts and tours – she won’t be able to give that level of grand performance. But again, that’s just me.
Nevertheless, we have almost 5 hours to go for the Live show 5. We’ll catch you in a bit with the playlist. But do join us for the Liveblog at 8 pm London time. After the Jump—> The entire playlist of this week’s song choices.
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O Re Paakhi…O Re Paakhi resonates in my ears and as I sit down to write the review of Sudhir Mishra’s Khoya Khoya Chand, all that flashes into my eyes is the wet paint of the film sets, the halogen flood lights, the larger than life posters, and the filled theatre screenings of 1950’s -1960’s Bollywood, build perfectly to the last inch. Khoya Khoya Chand is sincere, honest and almost perfect in technique but unfortunately what starts off as story telling ends up being a history lesson. It is so much like a long lecture which started as being interesting and colorful, until the colors became repetitive and started blinding my eye. Of course, I’d stand up and applaud the technicians of the movie again and again throughout this review for making it almost feel like being seated in a Time Machine and getting deported to an era of the pot-bellied Producer getting bullied by the Superstars, the sleazy divas, the “favourable” Superstar, the struggling writer, the non-compliant industry-outsider director, the run of the mill dialogues and screenplay and the mom accompanied struggling wannabe. All of this and much more is taken care of perfectly and this is no small feat. What OSO (the other tribute to Bollywood movie, yeah the more commercial one) tried to attempt, Khoya Khoya Chand has achieved all of that and much more and it effortlessly makes us believe in Sudhir Mishra’s vision of the Black and White era of Indian Cinema. [Continue Reading…]
Sweded!
If you love the movies, you better watch Be Kind Rewind.I am completely swept, Sweded and absolutely blown away. And if I may say, this is what movies should be in the first place. Let’s leave the reviewing part for a while, and take this moment to praise the creative genius that Mr. Michel Gondry is. He has given us one of the most heart wrenching romantic movies of all time (Eternal Sunshine..) and here, he has set out to do a light hearted movie, casted Jack Black and Mos Def in the lead, which even has an uncanny premise to it. Almost silly you might presume. But what happens next is best described as Brilliant with a capital B. And I really don’t care what the ratings are, what the critics say. In a year where the movies are divided into two segments chronologically- Summer Blockbusters and Thanksgiving season, there comes a movie which retells the tale and brings the moral upfront- that movies were all about the heart more than the moolah. And mind you, it IS inspirational in ways more than a million.The plot is pretty much present in a lot of websites already, and so wouldn’t at all qualify as a spoiler if I mention it here. Neither would it matter, because you really HAVE to watch this one to get what I say. Now listen carefully James! [Continue Reading…]
