NOSTALGIC NEWS 5 YE A R S A G O
5 YE A R S A G O
ME BEFORE YOU Morgan McMillan
WRONG CROWD — TOM ODELL Georgie Holmes
Me Before You is a romantic drama adapted from the novel of the same name. It is an incredibly heart-breaking watch as we see a woman from a small town form an unlikely bond with a recently paralysed man she is taking care of. Sam Clafin stars as Will Traynor who was a successful banker and party animal before a motorcycle accident leaves him paralysed from the neck down. Starring opposite Clafin is Emilia Clarke playing Lou Clark, a woman with no prior experience in caring except for a cheery disposition that Traynor’s dad believes in. They are both from different worlds but despite their differences, they fall in love. It was released 5 years ago and despite there being all that time to process the film's heartbreaking ending, it still hurts every time after any rewatch. The film delves into disability and the impacts this has on mental health and is a powerful and beautiful story worthy of all the tears you will definitely shed.
Wrong Crowd is Tom Odell's sophomore album, featuring the hits 'Wrong Crowd' and 'Magnetised' among numerous others. This album showed fans a different side to Odell. While his debut Long Way Down (2013) gave us the loving, soft songs singles 'Grow Old With Me' and 'Another Love'; Wrong Crowd offers a wider range. Opening with the album's title track, 'Wrong Crowd' is a rhythmic classic that is impossible to sit still to. Other notable mentions include 'Concrete', which features the most addictive melody line, and 'Daddy', where Odell's tougher and louder side is unveiled. Every track on Wrong Crowd showcases Odell's stark songwriting, evoking scenes of heartbreak and love. It reached number 2 in the UK charts and gave us even more lovable and addictive tracks to listen to.
10 YEARS AGO TRANSFORMERS DARK OF THE MOON Jacob Hando In the year that the world said goodbye to Harry Potter and hello to Game of Thrones, Transformers: Dark of the Moon crushed the box-office to become the fifth-biggest film ever at the time. But how does one get nostalgic for an admittedly bad film? Truthfully, one wouldn't. But for me, it is a nostalgic film. From the brilliant trailers to the intriguingly daft premise (Neil Armstrong found a Transformer?), this was an 11-year old's perfect film. I saw it enough times as a kid that I am impervious to the blatant flaws: the film is long and often slow, the human characters are poorly acted and even more poorly written, and it features excessive military porn. But a recent re-watch opened up new frontiers to appreciate it: the sound design is exquisite and the score is excellent. Furthermore, the actual Transformer aspect of the film is stunning: the opening is gorgeous, the action is high-octane and the tipping skyscraper set-piece is very well made. It did open the can for a sky-beam third act (and two horrendous sequels), but the Chicago battle, highway chase and eyepopping CGI are fond childhood memories that still make me smile. No hate!
05
Images courtesy of IMDb and RCA
