Film Review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Welcome back to the Marigold Hotel! Well actually, we don’t start there. We start in California as Sonny (Dev Patel) and Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) heading to look for investment in Sonny plans to buy a new property & expand his hotel empire. Meanwhile back in Jaipur, our familiar residents appear to be settling in just fine: Evenlyn (Judi Dench) is a fabric sourcer for a company, Douglas (Bill Nighy) is a ‘tour’ guide, Norman & Madge (Ronald Pickup & Celia Imrie) are managing the The Viceroy Club & Carol (Diana Hardcastle) is in the travel agency

And here in lies the problem: Once you’ve been re-introduced, the film seems slow and, in some points, a little dragged out, not the haphazardness of the first one that kept the pace. There are still the laughs though it feels not in as much quantity of the first. The return of Jean (Penelope Wilton) halfway through the film, looking for a divorce from Nighy’s character Night, feels awkward and almost disjointed leaving you feel that there is either a)something missing or b)just an excuse to bring back this particular character. In some instances, if it had only been Douglas’ daughter Laura (played by Claire Price) & not Jean, it may have worked better.

Joining the cast this time around is Guy (Richard Gere) and Lavina Beech (Tamsin Greig) as the newest residents at the Marigold Hotel…but what are they really here for? Thankfully the film divides it time equally between the different characters and their lives rather than sorely being focused on just a few.

 

 

Was a sequel needed? Probably not as the first did finish on a nice little note and left you wondering what did happen next but felt complete. This one however we feel does leave a few unanswered questions and loose ends. As much as we love our friends at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, we are hoping that the plan is to leave things are they are here. There is a danger of ruining a good thing here is a three-qual was to be made. Maybe it’s time we checked out and allowed them to get on with their lives.

Markus Feehily // Love Is A Drug

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The name might not be familiar to you, but if we were to say drop the u and s from Markus and you’d have a former Westlifer. However, forget what you thought about him and see where he is now, with his debut solo single, Love Is A Drug

We’ll be honest and say that this was not the track that we were expecting, given the route other former members have gone down. This is at the other end of the scale yet feels honest and with a sound that we’re pleasantly surprised to say suits him. The song itself is something that we see fitting in with the musical landscape as it is at the moment.

Well worth taking a punt on and will be interesting to see where he goes from here

Rating: 4/5

Carly Rae Jepsen // I Really Like You

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It’s been 3 years since we last heard from the Canadian export, but now she’s back with her latest single I Really Like You.

The track itself feels as if it belongs to the 80s with it sound but at the same time there, there is a feeling of familiarity as hints of her debut single Call Me Maybe. Maybe that’s a good thing here given the time that passed since we’ve last heard from her. The only draw back we can see is listeners being annoyed by the constant repetition of really in the chorus (there’s a lot in there).

Rating: 3/5

Cascada // Reason

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It’s been a far wee while since we’ve heard anything from Cascada, but now they’re back with their latest single, Reason.

From what we can gather, this song was originally released under the alias of Diamond in 2004 but has been given a reworking for the 2015 release under the Cascada name. Knowing this explains why it does sound very much like the early Cascada releases. It is interesting to see them returning to a old sound, but maybe they’re needing to go back to the start to discover where they might have been going wrong

Rating: 3/5

Ellie Goulding // Love Me Like You Do

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It’s already been named as the fastest selling single of 2015 in the UK (for the moment, anyway) but Ellie Goulding makes a return to the chart with a little number lifted from the forthcoming Fifty Shades of Grey.

There’s almost a beautiful contrast to the song with Goulding’s almost innocent sounding vocals paired with the lyrics having more of an inkling to the film and of course book that it’s taken from. Our one grips with the track though is how similar it’s sounding in comparison to past single releases so in that way, we don’t hear anything that we haven’t heard before, yet we find ourselves enjoying the track.

Anyways…Mr Grey will see you now

Rating: 4/5

Callaghan // Best Year 2015

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We’ve been fans of Callghan here for a while and is soon to release a new album, A History of Now. The first release from it isn’t a new track but an update to a release from 2012.

We not going to lie that the 2012 release is still a favourite (see our original review here) but this updated sound seems to fit better with the sound of the upcoming album, based on what we’ve heard over on Callaghan’s site. And we guess a track that been with her for 4 years does deserve an makeover. Here’s hoping  that 2015 is the ‘best year’ for her.

Rating: 4/5

Selena Gomez // The Heart Wants What It Wants

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It’s been a while since we last came across Selena Gomez but this release, taken from her forthcoming best of, For You did catch our attention.

It’s a raw & emotional track all about falling in love with the wrong person, knowing that but being unable to do anything about it as after all, as the title says, the heart wants what it wants. Our only gripe with the track is that of the chorus with the long drawn out want of the chorus. It does just feel to us that it detracts from the heart felt emotion of the verses & bridge and that there was nothing else that they felt could fit here.

A shame just one thing detracts from what is otherwise a great little number.

Rating: 4/5

Kelly Clarkson // Heartbeat Song

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It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from Kelly Clarkson, but to be fair, in between, she’s got married and had a child so you can forgive. However, she’s back with a new track taken from her forthcoming album, Piece By Piece.

We think that maybe the song should be in the emergency room. With symptoms such as feeling numb, pins & needles on her tongue and a rising temperature, the verses of Heartbeat Song sound as if they’re a beat in atrial fibrillation (that, is racing) while the chorus is in sinus rhythm (that is, normal pace). It’s a nice change to hear from her, in comparison to some previous released singles.

Surely a top 10 for Miss Clarkson as radio listeners & streamers sing along with the infectious chorus…Will be interesting to see what else she’s going to offer on her forthcoming release.

Rating: 4/5

Meghan Trainor // Lips Are Movin

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Meghan Trainor made chart history last October when her song All About That Bass made it into the UK charts purely on airplay alone. Her follow up comes in the form of  Lips Are Movin.

Just as with the last, the latest offering has a theme and this time it the boyfriend cheating. Sadly for us, we’re hot hearing anything here that we didn’t hear with All About That Bass and feels a bit like a re-hash of it. And then you think back to Christmas when that lovely track I’ll Be Home popped up.

It’s a shame that such a similar song has been chosen next when we’re pretty sure that there’s more to Meghan than we’ve heard at present.

Rating: 2/5

Various Artists // The Lion King Legacy Collection

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Celebrating the 20th anniversary (has it really been 20 years already?) and the first in the new Legacy Collection, is the 1994 film The Lion King. Split across 2 discs this is probably as close to a complete soundtrack as we are going to get (when you compare it to the original & the special edition).

Disc 1 is essentially the film with familiar vocal tracks of Circle of Life, Just Can’t Wait To Be King etc. all here but interspaced with Hans Zimmer’s score which beautifully accompanied the film but that we didn’t, in parts, really get to appreciate at the time. Disc 2 contains demo tracks of score segments, two songs omitted from the original film (The Morning Report, which later made an appearance in the re-release and of course, in the stage version of the show and Warthog Rhapsody, the song that Hakuna Matata replaced), an instrumental version of Circle Of Life and of course, Elton John’s versions of Circle of Life, Just Can’t Wait To Be King & Can You Feel The Love Tonight.

As we said, this is probably as close to a complete soundtrack as we’re going to get. It’s a big improvement on the original release as well as the re-release special edition. But who will it apply to? That is the question. For us we could see those who grew up with the film originally or those that have an interest in the lesser heard score. We love the idea of having the score and vocal tracks mixed meaning, in essence and assuming you know the film well enough, you could just stick this on, close your eyes and you’d be there in the film. Now…why can’t all soundtracks be like this?

Rating: 4/5

Alex Cornish // Beyond The Serenade

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It’s been 3 years since we’ve had an album from Alex Cornish (we had a little release in the Play Your Part EP back in 2013) but now he’s back with album no. 4, Beyond The Serenade

Opening track, Footnotes on the Page opens softly but as if progresses it builds to a crescendo before heading back down to close just as softly as it opened. Easy going verses and attention demanding choruses & bridges make up the DNA of First & Last. Everywhere I Go again seems to use building blocks, introducing each instrument on a new layer before reaching a crashing chorus and then going uphill from there (for some reason we're imaging a crazy car tour for a video...)

Work the Fields uses the first minute & a half as an instrumental, layering the instruments which, for us, conjures images of busy city life before Cornish's smooth vocals come in with piano, with a reminder of that busy feeling kept by the quick intermittent beat, before giving way to rising strings and a calmer, gentler feel of getting away from it all.

Something a bit calmer and sedate in the form of Downstream with a similar theme continuing in How I'm Meant To Be. A bit of sombreness creeps into the album in the form of I'll Never Learn. The Pine & The Birch brings a little rock to the proceedings and took us by a bit of a surprised when we first heard it on a well known streaming service but after that initial entrance, it's not too far from what we know of Alex's work. After that wake up call, things are taken down for a bit with Drives Me On.

We're not entirely sure if Cornish is channelling his inner Billy Joel with a piano driven track Again & Again that reminds us a little of Always A Woman & The Piano Man but this gives way to Give Me Time, a track similar in style to Everywhere I Go in terms of how it's built, from gentle to a demanding roar. Closing the album is Nothing In Return which a song of two half, the first with vocals while the second is an instrumental with some interesting sounds at the end of it.

For fans, there is a little bit of everything from Alex's past releases as well but at the same time, it feels as if he's experimenting without deviating from what he knows works. This would be the album that we'd recommend for anyone not familiar with Alex's previous releases...and it makes for a good show live too!

Rating: 4/5

Symphobia // What’s Done Is Done

 
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You may not have heard of Symphobia but they came to our attention in the closing months of 2014. It is the latest project from producer Geo with singer Adeesha taking on vocals. The first 2 singles (Brand New Day & I Do, I Do, I Do) never really caught our attention, but the latest one, What's Done is Done perked our interest.

Compared to the past two singles, which were based on classical themes, this is a completely original track. Joining Adeesha on vocals are Jade Valerie (who has worked with Geo previously) and Marinoux. All three vocals work well with two distinct styles, Adeesha's hip-hop/rnb while Jade & Marinoux bring more of a pop feel to it. Add to that Marinoux also sings in French, which does come across as a little odd, but yet doesn't seem to distract from the track at all.

One worry we did have, reading the comments, was with Jade featuring, were people jumping on because of her? Time will tell as the album (titled Noc-Turn, slated for a release in February) with the next track (We Are) apparently next up single wise.

Rating: 4/5