Tag: review

And Introducing… Billy Joel

One of the most successful singer/songwriters of all time, introduced

What’s The Topic? One of the most successful musical artists of the 20th century, the singer/songwriter Billy Joel.

Billy Joel is one of the few artists who genuinely needs no introduction. A giant of the music industry from the early 70’s until his final album in 1993, Joel has enjoyed commercial success like virtually no-one else. Currently ranked as the third highest selling solo artist in American music history, his commercial success has been vast and, though well-appreciated as both a musician and songwriter, credibility has rarely been one of Joel’s hallmarks. Well loved but, you know, never cool.

Since officially ending his recording career in 1993 after a run of twelve studio albums, Joel has continued to tour to record-breaking success. He is now so popular that he became a resident and franchise of Madison Square Gardens in New York City, performing one concert per month, and was awarded the Kennedy Centre Honours in 2013 for his lifetime contribution to American culture. That’s quite the achievement, that is.

Despite a troubled personal life that’s taken in three marriages, depression, a suicide attempt and alcohol dependency issues, Joel managed to produce record-breaking music successfully for three decades and remains an inescapable part of any story of music in the 20th century. And with a surprising new single released in 2025 as well as a brand new retrospective, And So It Goes, released the same year and providing a remarkably unflinching look at his career and personal life, it’s a perfect time to rediscover an artist whose back catalogue remains an indelible part of American music.

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Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla’s back and, for the very first time, Oscar-nominated! But does G-1 deserve the plaudits?

What’s The Movie? Godzilla Minus One

What’s It All About, JG? In 1945, a kamikaze pilot, Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), lands his plane at a repair station on Odo Island, pretending it’s malfunctioning in order to avoid completing his mission. While there, Godzilla (a relatively small version) emerges and smashes the place to smithereens. Shikishima is ordered to his plane to use the gun but freezes up and can’t open fire so almost the whole population is wiped out. Returning to Tokyo and riddled with survivor’s guilt, he first discovers his parents have been killed, then takes in Noriko Ōishi and the orphaned baby she’s caring for. Over the course of a year they slowly grow closer while Shikishima gets a job clearing mines with a whacky collection of crew (“Doc”, “The Kid”) that both sides put down during the war. At the same time, the nuclear testing mutates Godzilla and he becomes a… bigger rampaging monster? Yep! They witness Godzilla destroy a naval ship then it heads landward to wreck as much of Japan as the special effects budget can stretch to. During this attack, Noriko sacrifices herself to save Shikishima. Finally, Godzilla uses its heat ray to trigger what is very obviously a nuclear explosion, before returning to the sea. Doc, along with a collection of citizens and some decommissioned ships, contrives a plan to take out Godzilla by sinking it to the bottom of the sea and then shooting it back up again while Shikishima distracts it from the air in the lone plane Japan has post World War II. Shikishima, now suicidal after the loss of Noriko, sees this as his chance to redeem the deaths on Odo Island, and once Godzilla has been sunk and resurfaced, flies the plane loaded with explosives into Godzilla’s mouth… only to eject at the last second. Godzilla is stopped and, in the final scene, we discover Norkio survived and is in hospital.

And in the final shot… Godzilla survived too.

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