A radio station in the U.K. got 300 locals together for a cover of the Pulp classic “Common People”. BBC Radio Sheffield is celebrating its 50th anniversary, having first broadcast on Nov. 15, 1967, and to mark the occasion it decided to go all out. The station got its presenters and 300 local residents to […]...
- 11/20/2017
- by Corey Atad
- ET Canada
A Hard Knock Life: Bettany’s Naive Debut Exudes Good Intentions
Actor Paul Bettany makes his directorial debut with Shelter, meant to be a glimpse into the terrible degradation of the homeless population in New York. Glossy casting and a certain ignorance conveyed in its melodramatic narrative sensationalizes subject matter meant to be sobering, and thus opens up the simple title to all kinds of ironic interpretations of Bettany’s privileged, arguably clueless perspective about a human predicament otherwise passionately presented.
At the end credits, the film is dedicated ‘to the homeless couple who lived outside of my building,’ and there’s something incredibly moving about Bettany’s accomplishment, even if we are aware of a certain naiveté in every single frame and the possibility the director/screenwriter did not engage with his subjects directly for a prolonged period. Bettany uneasily unites sordid realism with tropes we’re accustomed to...
Actor Paul Bettany makes his directorial debut with Shelter, meant to be a glimpse into the terrible degradation of the homeless population in New York. Glossy casting and a certain ignorance conveyed in its melodramatic narrative sensationalizes subject matter meant to be sobering, and thus opens up the simple title to all kinds of ironic interpretations of Bettany’s privileged, arguably clueless perspective about a human predicament otherwise passionately presented.
At the end credits, the film is dedicated ‘to the homeless couple who lived outside of my building,’ and there’s something incredibly moving about Bettany’s accomplishment, even if we are aware of a certain naiveté in every single frame and the possibility the director/screenwriter did not engage with his subjects directly for a prolonged period. Bettany uneasily unites sordid realism with tropes we’re accustomed to...
- 11/13/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Brie Larson is one of the most in-demand actors working in American cinema right now. She hasn’t had the requisite breakthrough to push her forward, but has instead had a variety of strong roles that accumulated on her resume have made her very in-demand. She won much critical (and audience) praise for her turn in the remarkable, if little-seen, Short Term 12 in 2013, and offered stellar supporting work in films like 21 Jump Street and The Spectacular Now.
Larson is only 25 but already has more than 40 screen credits to her name, including main roles on TV series like Raising Dad and The United States of Tara. (Others may know her best for a recurring role as Abed’s ex-girlfriend, Rachel, on Community.) She has many exciting films on the horizon as well, including this summer’s Trainwreck and the adaptation of the bestselling novel, Room.
The actress also recently gave...
Larson is only 25 but already has more than 40 screen credits to her name, including main roles on TV series like Raising Dad and The United States of Tara. (Others may know her best for a recurring role as Abed’s ex-girlfriend, Rachel, on Community.) She has many exciting films on the horizon as well, including this summer’s Trainwreck and the adaptation of the bestselling novel, Room.
The actress also recently gave...
- 4/27/2015
- by Jordan Adler
- We Got This Covered
To American audiences, Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker has always been a little inscrutable. British, rail thin, well-dressed, and bespectacled, Cocker resembles something of a hybrid of Bryan Ferry and Philip Larkin. Although Pulp first scored an international hit in 1995 with “Common People," Cocker had been laboring away under the same moniker since 1978 — many of those years in his small hometown of Sheffield. Nearly a decade after the band’s demise, Florian Habicht’s new documentary, Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets, out now in theaters, follows Cocker & Co. back to Sheffield as they conclude their 2012 reunion tour.Musicians have said that the worst shows are hometown shows and the worst audiences are hometown audiences. Was that Pulp’s experience going back home to Sheffield?That was definitely a factor in why we were nervous playing [Sheffield] and maybe why we had put it off until the last...
- 11/24/2014
- by Erik Morse
- Vulture
Pulp: a Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets
Directed by Florian Habicht
UK, 2014
Perhaps the new documentary Pulp: a Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets is best summed up by Pulp’s frontman, Jarvis Cocker: “Life is a random process, but you can add narrative to it.” Director Florian Habicht tries to impose a narrative upon his mishmash of concert footage, band interviews, and fan testimonials, but it never coalesces. Ultimately, some top-notch concert cinematography, a few intriguing visuals, and Cocker’s delightful cheekiness make this a must-see for Pulp fans, and a must-skip for general audiences.
Sometimes, you can go home again. After taking an impromptu nine-year hiatus in the 2000s, the seminal alt-rock band Pulp re-assembled in 2011 to “tidy things up.” The ensuing European tour culminates with one last electrifying performance in the band’s hometown of Sheffield. Interviews with band members make it clear that, despite...
Directed by Florian Habicht
UK, 2014
Perhaps the new documentary Pulp: a Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets is best summed up by Pulp’s frontman, Jarvis Cocker: “Life is a random process, but you can add narrative to it.” Director Florian Habicht tries to impose a narrative upon his mishmash of concert footage, band interviews, and fan testimonials, but it never coalesces. Ultimately, some top-notch concert cinematography, a few intriguing visuals, and Cocker’s delightful cheekiness make this a must-see for Pulp fans, and a must-skip for general audiences.
Sometimes, you can go home again. After taking an impromptu nine-year hiatus in the 2000s, the seminal alt-rock band Pulp re-assembled in 2011 to “tidy things up.” The ensuing European tour culminates with one last electrifying performance in the band’s hometown of Sheffield. Interviews with band members make it clear that, despite...
- 11/19/2014
- by J.R. Kinnard
- SoundOnSight
We're not quite halfway through the season of "American Horror Story: Freak Show," but things are starting to come together nicely. "Bullseye" is an especially satisfying episode because it offers a few juicy reveals that play off of each other and have already set certain events and revelations in motion, but not so many that we're overwhelmed. Relative to the non-stop craziness that Ryan Murphy et al packed into just one "Edward Mordake" episode, "Bullseye" has a little breathing room that lets us take in the different revelations and the themes that are gaining clarity.
Spoilers from here on out!
The Wheel of Fortune
It's Elsa's birthday week, because that's how she rolls. As one does, she pulls out the good old Wheel of Fortune to practice her aim - the TV crowd goes wild for knife throwing, am I right? As she pictures different targets, she contemplates her own...
Spoilers from here on out!
The Wheel of Fortune
It's Elsa's birthday week, because that's how she rolls. As one does, she pulls out the good old Wheel of Fortune to practice her aim - the TV crowd goes wild for knife throwing, am I right? As she pictures different targets, she contemplates her own...
- 11/13/2014
- by Jenni Miller
- Moviefone
Not even a week after Florian Habicht’s documentary about Britpop outfit Pulp is released, comes a sweet drama from first time filmmakers Stewart Alexander and Kerry Skinner, that shares the same name of the band’s signature hit. However that is where similarities end, as this ensemble piece instead bears comparisons to Ed Blum’s 2006 endeavour, Scenes of a Sexual Nature.
Set on a London common, predominantly across one day – we delve into the lives of various people, some passing through, some staying for the afternoon. We meet the widowed Ian (Iarla McGowan) and his young daughter, the pregnant Jenny – played by co-director Skinner, the alcoholic Harry, played by other director Alexander, and elderly couple Derrick (Sam Kelly) and Pam (Diana Payan), to name just a few. Each character with their own respective problems, but as the day turns to night, the varying narratives combine, and blend in to one another.
Set on a London common, predominantly across one day – we delve into the lives of various people, some passing through, some staying for the afternoon. We meet the widowed Ian (Iarla McGowan) and his young daughter, the pregnant Jenny – played by co-director Skinner, the alcoholic Harry, played by other director Alexander, and elderly couple Derrick (Sam Kelly) and Pam (Diana Payan), to name just a few. Each character with their own respective problems, but as the day turns to night, the varying narratives combine, and blend in to one another.
- 6/9/2014
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The 21st edition of Sheffield Doc/Fest kicked off last night with the European premiere of Florian Habicht’s documentary Pulp: A Film About Life, Death And Supermarkets, about Britpop band Pulp.
It was one of three opening films being screened in Sheffield last night, together with Rehad Desai’s South African documentary Miners Shot Down and Thomas Balmes’ Bhutan set documentary Happiness.
With over 3,000 tickets sold across the events, it was the biggest opening night in Doc/Fest’s history.
The Pulp screening took place at Sheffield’s City Hall and was broadcast to 120 cinemas around the UK, including the BFI Southbank.
Speaking to the packed City Hall audience, festival director Heather Croall said: “About 18 months ago I met the film director and film producer down the road in the pub and we agreed right there and then that this film was going to open the festival in a year and a half and that...
It was one of three opening films being screened in Sheffield last night, together with Rehad Desai’s South African documentary Miners Shot Down and Thomas Balmes’ Bhutan set documentary Happiness.
With over 3,000 tickets sold across the events, it was the biggest opening night in Doc/Fest’s history.
The Pulp screening took place at Sheffield’s City Hall and was broadcast to 120 cinemas around the UK, including the BFI Southbank.
Speaking to the packed City Hall audience, festival director Heather Croall said: “About 18 months ago I met the film director and film producer down the road in the pub and we agreed right there and then that this film was going to open the festival in a year and a half and that...
- 6/8/2014
- by sarah.cooper@screendaily.com (Sarah Cooper)
- ScreenDaily
“This band are the reason that I’ve never worn a tie.” This quote is one of the many superb fan quotes from Shane Meadows’ excellent documentary Made of Stone. Released last year, the film followed the comeback of legendary band The Stone Roses. The documentary was outstanding, but what made it exceptional were the scenes that explored the reaction of the band’s fans, many of whom had never expected to ever see a reunion. Ranging from unashamed joy to downright hysteria (even Meadows himself could barely keep it together when hearing the news), each of the fans discussed what exactly the band and their music had meant to them. Through listening to the fans, Meadows gains a true understanding of the way in which music can form the identity of the common man, and how music can allow a person to break out of the comfort of their...
- 6/6/2014
- by Nia Childs
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
★★★★☆Far from an overnight success, Sheffield-based group Pulp originally formed in 1978, but only achieved major recognition in the nineties with their unique brand of indie disco that included big hits such as Babies, Common People and Disco 2000. They became a staple of the Britpop movement, selling over ten million albums worldwide, but always remained faithful to the place of their humble beginnings. Florian Habitcht's Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets (2014) documents the story of the band as they prepared - during their 2012 comeback - for their final hometown show, utilising live footage and interviews to shed some pragmatic light on this most British of cultural phenomena.
- 6/5/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
"When they first started out I listened to their music with Blur. And of the two I prefer Pulp," says an older Pulp fan Josephine in new documentary film Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets.
"More melodic and better words actually. It makes you think, what they say. And I like music that makes you think."
Josephine isn't wrong. Jarvis Cocker might have been a reluctant lyricist at the start, but his words about sex, Sheffield, class, sex, jealousy, sex, growing up and sex are an integral part of what makes Pulp so very special.
Below, Digital Spy rounds up 20 of the very best Pulp lyrics and invites you to share your favourites in the comments box below.
Nb Please do not read the lyrics whilst listening to the recordings.
1. 'Love Love'
"I recall a special friend, I invited her home for tea,
And while my mother cooked the meal,...
"More melodic and better words actually. It makes you think, what they say. And I like music that makes you think."
Josephine isn't wrong. Jarvis Cocker might have been a reluctant lyricist at the start, but his words about sex, Sheffield, class, sex, jealousy, sex, growing up and sex are an integral part of what makes Pulp so very special.
Below, Digital Spy rounds up 20 of the very best Pulp lyrics and invites you to share your favourites in the comments box below.
Nb Please do not read the lyrics whilst listening to the recordings.
1. 'Love Love'
"I recall a special friend, I invited her home for tea,
And while my mother cooked the meal,...
- 6/4/2014
- Digital Spy
Florian Habicht’s nostalgia-infused documentary about Pulp; one of the pioneers of the Britpop phenomena, opens somewhat predictably with their biggest single Common People. On first impressions, such a selection seems too obvious, as though appealing to a mainstream audience rather than the “proper” fans. However eventually it makes perfect sense, as the song is contextually perfect in relation to this film, as that’s what this is truly all about; the common people.
Gaining most of their success in the mid-90s, particularly with their release of the classic album Different Class in ’95, Pulp, led by the enigmatic frontman Jarvis Cocker, have since returned to the stage, reuniting to tour once again. This documentary chronicles the band’s decision to get back together, in the build up to their final show – in their hometown of Sheffield.
Sheffield plays a huge part in this title, as Habicht follows the city’s inhabitants voyeuristically,...
Gaining most of their success in the mid-90s, particularly with their release of the classic album Different Class in ’95, Pulp, led by the enigmatic frontman Jarvis Cocker, have since returned to the stage, reuniting to tour once again. This documentary chronicles the band’s decision to get back together, in the build up to their final show – in their hometown of Sheffield.
Sheffield plays a huge part in this title, as Habicht follows the city’s inhabitants voyeuristically,...
- 6/2/2014
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets is the best film that could be made about Pulp. The majority of British pop bands were eager to be seen as “one of the lads,” with a pint in one hand and a copy of Loaded magazine in the other. Not Pulp, who wholeheartedly embraced an individualistic style of pervy proletariat, outsider chic. Their lyrics are the stuff of fluttering net curtains in run-down terraced houses, chaotic and confused teenage lust and not only not fitting in, but knowing you’ll never be able to. This documentary, centring on the band’s 2012 farewell concert, grasps everything that Pulp is about. It’s less a straightforward band biography and more a sociological study of the swamp of fears, loves and passions that bubbles away under the industrially cratered landscape of Sheffield.
That it captures this northern English atmosphere so perfectly is...
That it captures this northern English atmosphere so perfectly is...
- 5/30/2014
- by David James
- We Got This Covered
Austin’s tents might be put away and the venue halls are emptied but the flurry of expected post SXSW fest deals are in overdrive. About a week after grabbing another music-theme docu (The Past is a Grotesque Animal), IndieWIRE reports that Oscilloscope Laboratories have once again (see 2012′s Shut Up and Play the Hits) grabbed a “final” concert film in Florian Habicht’s Pulp: A Film About Life, Death, And Supermarkets. Described as an imaginative and witty portrait from THR, O-Scope will put the film in a handful of fests before releasing the film theatrically later in the year.
Gist: Pulp find fame on the world stage in the 1990′s with anthems including ‘Common People’ and ‘Disco 2000′. 25 years (and 10 million album sales) later, they return to Sheffield for their last UK concert. Giving a career best performance exclusive to the film, the band share their thoughts on fame,...
Gist: Pulp find fame on the world stage in the 1990′s with anthems including ‘Common People’ and ‘Disco 2000′. 25 years (and 10 million album sales) later, they return to Sheffield for their last UK concert. Giving a career best performance exclusive to the film, the band share their thoughts on fame,...
- 4/10/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Losing Your Virginity in an Art Gallery and Why We Need a Moratorium on Stupid Performance Art We get it, you're challenging the status quo. But you're boring. by Liam Mathews British artist Clayton Pettet put on a show at a London gallery last week called "Art School Stole My Virginity." Pettet is a 19-year-old student at Central St. Martin's College, the prestigious art school where the spoiled rich girl from Pulp's "Common People" studied sculpture. He had promoted the show by announcing that he would lose his anal virginity in the gallery in front of audience members. The Kernel's Rob Price attended the performance, and his report is disturbing; not because he saw Pettet get painfully fucked in front of strangers, but because he didn't. Pettet under-delivered on his less-than-exceptional promise, and this precise half-baked lack of creativity [...]...
- 4/2/2014
- by Liam Mathews
- Nerve
Keeley Hawes has been a familiar face on British TV for many years now, with roles in Spooks, Ashes to Ashes, Identity and Upstairs, Downstairs to name but a few.
She is currently on our screens playing Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton in BBC Two's Line of Duty and will join Peter Capaldi in Doctor Who.
In honour of her contribution to drama and film, Digital Spy presents ten things about... Keeley Hawes.
1. Hawes's dad and two older brothers are all London taxi drivers and she is the only one in her family to have pursued acting. The family are very supportive of her work though, and her dad often spreads news of all her latest roles to everyone he picks up to help with the ratings!
2. During filming for Line of Duty Hawes had to have her head flushed down the loo and undergo some other very unglamorous task for the role.
She is currently on our screens playing Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton in BBC Two's Line of Duty and will join Peter Capaldi in Doctor Who.
In honour of her contribution to drama and film, Digital Spy presents ten things about... Keeley Hawes.
1. Hawes's dad and two older brothers are all London taxi drivers and she is the only one in her family to have pursued acting. The family are very supportive of her work though, and her dad often spreads news of all her latest roles to everyone he picks up to help with the ratings!
2. During filming for Line of Duty Hawes had to have her head flushed down the loo and undergo some other very unglamorous task for the role.
- 3/14/2014
- Digital Spy
Stewart Alexander is a Canadian actor and writer based in London, England. He was born and raised in Lachine, Quebec, and moved to the UK shortly after graduating from McGill University. Having made a number of short films on Super-8 in college, he embarked on a self-appointed apprenticeship assisting in the lighting, sound and editorial departments for a number of production companies in the UK. He also wrote and directed a short film called, “The Leather Jacket,” which was shot on 16mm, and edited, in a pre-digital age, on a Steenbeck. After meeting Kerry Skinner while studying to be an actor, he wrote the stage-play “Body Checks,” which they co-produced to considerable critical acclaim, and then adapted into a screenplay.
Now Alexander and Skinner have co-directed their first feature, the comedy-drama Common People. The film weaves together six stories and over thirty characters to present a dramatic, humorous and sometimes magical tale of romance,...
Now Alexander and Skinner have co-directed their first feature, the comedy-drama Common People. The film weaves together six stories and over thirty characters to present a dramatic, humorous and sometimes magical tale of romance,...
- 11/11/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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