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Jacob Collier at Bristol Sounds review | Something magical for everyone

Musical prodigy Jacob Collier had the crowd in the palm of his multi-instrumental hands at Canons Marsh Amphitheatre, as part of the Bristol Sounds series of open-air concerts.

We are into the second hour of waiting for Jacob Collier at Canons Marsh, Bristol, and the person behind me sounds apologetic. The crowd – a fairly proportionate mix of young and old – seems fairly calm, responding to DJ Louis Cole with at least twice the energy he gives off during his set. I count at least twelve differ
News9live •

Derry Girls Season 3 review: An endearingly hilarious farewell

The writing is so impeccable that it feels like the characters are competing with each other to see which of them get to deliver the funniest lines.

“Ugh, I’m so effing sick of peace! It’s all anyone ever bangs on about.”

Declared by a frustrated Michelle in the first episode of the third season, this line perfectly sums up the entirety of Derry Girls. It is a show about teenagers who, despite living in an Ireland plagued by life-threatening events every day, would rather care about more impor
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High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Season 3 review: Another wild meta ride

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Season 3 review: Another wild meta ride

This season takes meta to a whole new level, and takes every opportunity to name drop as many Disney properties as possible.

When High School Musical: The Musical: The Series first came out in 2020, the reception was lukewarm at best (probably because people lost interest halfway through reading the title). In the months following its release, however, the drama surrounding its leads Joshua Bassett and Olivia
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Extraordinary Attorney Woo review: Park Eun Bin starrer is your new comfort KDrama

Extraordinary Attorney Woo review: Park Eun Bin starrer is your new comfort KDrama

Translated as 'Strange Attorney Woo Young Woo', the show follows the titular Young Woo (Park Eun Bin), a talented rookie lawyer with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

It is a generally agreed fact that 2016 was one of the best years the KDrama industry ever had. With the release of such iconic shows as Descendants of the Sun, Reply 1988, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, W, and more, no other year has since matched up to
News9live •

Girls Generation: New album ‘Forever 1’ underlines towering legacy, enduring supremacy of KPop’s OG queens

Fifteen years ago, if someone had told me that South Korean pop music would permeate the socio-cultural fabric of global pop culture so deep that over the years ‘behind the scenes’ would become the second most popular meaning of its abbreviation, I would have requested them to share their hallucinogens with me. And yet, here we are. However, while the world is familiar with BTS, Stray Kids, Blackpink, and the likes, many are still woefully unaware of the legendary artists who walked, crawled, sl
News9live •

Jack In The Box review: Jung Hoseok’s debut album finds hope in miasma of darkness

Jack In The Box review: Jung Hoseok’s debut album finds hope in miasma of darkness

Artists are usually torn between continuing their old style so fans know what to expect, and creating something completely new that they can call their own. Hoseok does a bit of both.

The Kpop industry is not unfamiliar with the concept of stage names. There are memes aplenty about all the permutation combinations of letters that KPop artists have used as their pseudonyms — RM, JB, BM, IU, CL, D.O – the list goe
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The Summer I Turned Pretty review: Genuine in moments of non-romantic relationships

The Summer I Turned Pretty review: Genuine in moments of non-romantic relationships

The Summer I Turned Pretty is worth adding to your teen YA watchlist.

There was once a time, about four years ago, when teen rom-com novel adaptations exercised an absolute chokehold on large sections of young society. Some, like The Kissing Booth and To All The Boys I Ever Loved had enormous success and saw their stars (especially the male ones) become international heartthrobs, dubbed with epithets like ‘the
News9live •

Our Blues review: Emotional smorgasbord for all ages

Our Blues review: Emotional smorgasbord for all ages

Whichever cross-section of society one may hail from, it is almost guaranteed that Our Blues will have at least one moment that will go straight to your heart.

There must be something in the water over at Netflix Korea. Time after time our hearts are taken on emotional rollercoasters for about two months, and just when we’ve barely recovered, along comes the next Molotov cocktail of feelings – ready to do it all over again.

Written by celeb
News9live •

Proof review: BTS new album is definitive proof of their supremacy

Proof review: BTS new album is definitive proof of their supremacy

BTS’ laundry list of achievements grows about a mile every year, but from time to time, before the world grows too used to them, we get reminded of why they are the sheer force that they are. Their latest album is Proof of exactly that.

The statement ‘BTS is taking over the world’ does not hold the same gravitas it once did. Now, people hear it and say, ‘Yeah, we know. What else is new?’ BTS’ laundry list of achievements grows
News9live •

Twenty-Five Twenty-One review: A masterful, poignant portrait of youth

Twenty-Five Twenty-One is the latest addition to the growing list of Korean content that Netflix is absolutely knocking out of the park.

Where to begin about Twenty-Five Twenty-One? If this review sounds far from objective, it is simply because the reviewer has been unable to fully distance herself from the subject yet. Whatever it is that makes (most of) a show feel like a warm blanket on a rainy day, Korean writers have definitely figured it out, because Twenty-Five Twenty-One is the latest a
News9live •

Our Beloved Summer: The gentle subversiveness of Choi Woo-shik, Kim Da-mi’s Netflix drama

Our Beloved Summer: The gentle subversiveness of Choi Woo-shik, Kim Da-mi’s Netflix drama

Some may prefer romance that transcends the 38th parallel, or the love of immortal beings who appear the second you blow out a candle. Our Beloved Summer says that it is equally heartwarming to fall asleep near the one you love, to gulp down terrible tea because they made it, or to chase each other around a library just because you can.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record – it has been astounding
Cultured Vultures •

Hawkeye: Season 1 – Episode 1 & 2 REVIEW

The Hawkeye name has had many a discouraging adjective flung at it over the years. Forgettable, bland, vanilla — I will stop in deference to the seniority of the character (as is the Indian way). It’s understandable why Hawkeye’s fanbase is relatively smaller in comparison to the other Avengers. Out of the original six founding members of the Avengers Initiative, he is the only one who is not an actual god, a literal superhuman, a Jekyll-and-Hyde rage monster, a trained assassin in skin-tight le
Cultured Vultures •

Tick, Tick... Boom! REVIEW - Emotional & Heartfelt

The audience is quiet. An increasingly frantic piano plays in the background. ‘In eight days my youth will be over forever, and what exactly do I have to show for myself?’ worries Jonathan Larson, instantly making himself relatable a mere two minutes into the film.

Anyone who knows that a year has 525,600 minutes in it would be familiar with the iconic musical Rent (that, or they just know it as the song from Michael Scott’s farewell) . Lin-Manuel Miranda’s adaptation of Tick, Tick… Boom! is an
Cultured Vultures •

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 8 REVIEW - Noice But Not Very Toit

Ah, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. You would be hard pressed to find anybody who actively disliked this show – and for good reason. In the eight years that it’s been on the air, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has given us countless iconic catchphrases, nuanced depictions of pertinent issues, and a veritable bevy of lovable characters. Even though it is true that all good things must come to an end, that never means it hurts any less when it does.

The year and a half between Season 7 and Season 8 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Cultured Vultures •

The Kissing Booth 3 REVIEW - Mediocre Summer Fun

The first Kissing Booth movie came out in 2018, adapted from a Wattpad story written by author Beth Reekles when she was all of fifteen years old. The reality of that last fact has influenced the series from the very start, but it is most evident in this final movie.

Filmed back to back with The Kissing Booth 2, the film follows the last summer of Elle (Joey King) and the Flynns before Lee (Joel Courtney), Elle and Rachel (Meganne Young) head off to college.
Cultured Vultures •

Black Widow REVIEW - Romanoff Deserved Better

Too little, too late. The phrase must have occurred to many after the release of Marvel’s much awaited Black Widow. To be fair, the film came into existence with several difficult boxes to check, and does a decent job with most of them. Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Thor Odinson have each received three solo films so far (although Civil War was more of another Avengers film), and a movie focusing on the first female Avenger has been long overdue.

Moreover, Black Widow is the first Marvel movie t
Cultured Vultures •

WandaVision: Season 1 – Episode 9 ‘The Series Finale’ REVIEW

Well, this is it, folks. ‘The Series Finale’ is finally here, and it is a lot to unpack. The final episode of WandaVision sees Wanda reaching the culmination of the emotional journey that we were introduced to in Episode 1. Wanda’s Westview is no longer, and many inevitable goodbyes are finally said.

The show picks up right where we left it, with an Agatha/Wanda faceoff. More players are soon added into the mix, with both Visions showing up and zooming away for their own showdown. The forty-min
Cultured Vultures •

WandaVision: Season 1 – Episode 8 ‘Previously On’ REVIEW

I imagine the gist of the pitch meeting for ‘Previously On’ went somewhat like this:

Producers: So, how much trauma and heartbreak do you think we should include on this one?

Packed to the brim with moments of agony and genuine suffering, ‘Previously On’ is an emotional punch in the gut like no other episode on WandaVision so far. This week, the show takes a deep dive into Wanda’s past, recontextualizes key moments in MCU history, and finally names Names.

Last week’s episode left off with Wan
Cultured Vultures •

WandaVision: Season 1 – Episode 7 ‘Breaking The Fourth Wall’ REVIEW

It’s extremely commendable that a show like WandaVision is so consistently well executed in each successive episode. I think that part of the reason is also because no one really expected it to be this good. ‘Something you’ve never seen before’ is what every third showrunner uses to describe their show, but within the Marvel universe, WandaVision has certainly delivered on that aspect.

This week’s episode, ‘Breaking The Fourth Wall’ is based on iconic shows from the mid to late 2000s that popul
Cultured Vultures •

WandaVision: Season 1 – Episode 6 ‘All-New Halloween Spooktacular!’ REVIEW

We’ve reached the holiday special episode of WandaVision, and the show continues to delight and confuse at the same time.

Starting from the title itself, ‘All-New Halloween Spooktacular’ has all its feet firmly grounded in Marvel comics lore. The most obvious nods to the source material are, of course, the Halloween costumes, which are a gratifying excuse for the audience to see Wanda, Vision, Pietro and Billy in the comic book accurate getups of Scarlet Witch, Vision, Quicksilver and Wiccan re
Cultured Vultures •

WandaVision: Season 1 – Episode 5 ‘On A Very Special Episode’ REVIEW

Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. After last week’s episode gave us most of the exposition we needed to catch up, WandaVision is definitely back to leaving us going ‘what just happened!?’ Buckle up: there is a lot to unpack this week ‘On A Very Special Episode’.

Firstly, we’re back to the sitcom homages again! Aside from a slight reference to Full House in the opening credits (a familiar-looking shot of a picnic), the primary show chosen for tribute in this episode is, rather fittingly, the 80’s staple F
Cultured Vultures •

WandaVision: Season 1 – Episode 4 ‘We Interrupt This Program’ REVIEW

It seems that Marvel has finally decided to end our misery and lay their cards on the table. This week, ‘We Interrupt This Program’ departs from the regularly scheduled period sitcom to bring us a delightfully meta episode that is the most Marvel-esque yet – and now we finally have some answers.

True to Elizabeth Olsen’s recent comments, Episode 4 brought about a tonal shift from what we have seen so far in WandaVision. The historically accurate sets, the corny jokes, and the 80’s sitcom (I was
Cultured Vultures •

WandaVision: Season 1 – Episode 3 'Now In Color' REVIEW

Well, now we are well and truly in it, my friends. WandaVision has begun peeling back the layers of its carefully constructed show, and it has raised the stakes considerably. In the third episode, ‘Now In Color’, the show enters the 1970s realm of the sitcom, with opening credits featuring the iconic hexagons from The Brady Bunch, and a very Partridge Family-esque theme song.

In the vein of family themed shows that the ’70s brought in, our lead couple is about to become parents themselves. You
Cultured Vultures •

WandaVision: Season 1 - Episode 1 & 2 REVIEW

With the release of Black Widow pushed to later in the year, WandaVision has inadvertently had to shoulder the responsibility of being the audience’s first taste of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel fans who have been starved for content for a whole year might find the show a tad underwhelming, considering how it dials down the macho one liners and elaborate CGI battles (so far, anyway). What is more, this is the first time we would have to wait for the whole story to be revealed,
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