LAST NIGHT IN SOHO...Where Nothing Is As It Seems
LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, the 2021 British thriller-horror flick by Edgar Wright, is as slick as they come and it leads viewers ever so smoothly deep down into a neon-lit trippy rabbit hole.
We follow Eloise, an out-of-town introvert naive girl played by Thomasin McKenzie. She is moving to a vibrant London neighborhood near Soho to study at a prestigious fashion school. But nothing is as it seems, and our girl "Ellie” has some serious “abilities” (and/or mental issues) on top of some family drama that makes it difficult for her to navigate the "MEAN GIRL plot" at the school. But her life is turned upside down after she gets what is seemingly the deal of a lifetime and moves into a super roomie room in the middle of London. The thing is, the old landlady (Diana Rigg's last performance) is kinda creepy and the place is decrepit and old, well it is in Goodge Street so guess you get -wayyyyy less than - what you pay for... Everything is like back in the 60s which is perfect since Ellie is obsessed with that decade!
So what should happen happens and at night the girl is transported back in time where she meets, observes, or maybe becomes another young aspiring artist played by Anya Taylor-Joy named Sandie. She is a it-girl type pretty tall and slender bombshell blonde who, with the help of a shady dude played by Matt Smith, wants to become a big-time singer in Sixties' Soho no matter how... From there it all goes downhill and Ellie's beautiful nostalgic dreams turned into terrorizing nightmares where she is trying to figure out if ‘is this real life is this just fantasy’ or maybe something else!
This hence leads to room for all kinds of glorious and freaky shenanigans...plus some unfortunate missteps or plot holes! But the film is so captivating and engaging at all times that one won’t have too much time to dwell on the laters or might be willing to sweep them under… the floor! That being said Edgar Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns wrote a hell of a story that is only elevated to heaven - or more like hell in this case! - thanks to a spectacular show masterly shot (by Chung Chung-hoon who better get that Oscar) and filled with some mind-bending practical and technical effects.
This is all perfectly illustrated in the “highlight of the film” or its piece of resistance (which probs happens a bit too early on for that or that is sadly maybe not topped later on; but how could they top it!) A great party scene where we are introduced to Taylor-Joy's Sandy and Soho's bygone underground world. This scene will undoubtedly go down as one of the best ever made thanks to its technical prowess (one will be seriously blown away by reading about the behind-the-scenes and how they actually did a Texas switch!) and its dizzying intoxicating sight and sound combo.
And sound LAST NIGHT IN SOHO provides! After all, what did we expect from the guy who brought us BABY DRIVER and its music shepherded direction style. The soundtrack is filled to the brim with nostalgic vibing bangers and we even get to witness Taylor-Joy hidden vocal talents perfectly fitted for the mood. It is hard to fathom this movie with another actress as this is 100% a case of casting match made in heaven with Anya who, fresh from the glory of Queen Gambit proves - to those who did not believe the hype way back from THE WITCH - that she is the real deal and one of the most interesting performers of her generation (along with her fellow Brit, Florence Pugh --- Side note: that would have been an awesome pairing - and doubly amusing considering Anya was originally considered for the role of Eloise) But one thing for sure Anya Taylor-Joy is mesmerizing as ever as Sandie and having someone like Pugh playing Eloise might have also brought something a tad different (decisiveness?purpose?) to the role as Thomasin's take or interpretation of the character might be lacking some momentum. Yet her vacillation is why Ellie is so unsettling to watch.
Nevertheless, this is McKenzie's best, and, plausibly, her “always-disturbed-way-of-being” persona and weirdly unique intonation/pitch, that are, to say the least, very specific, might seem over-the-top for LNIS'S heroine but guess it hammered the point that she is the very obvious black swan. In addition, she is also meant to be a weirdo in and out, but at least she is not alone as the only main character of color, Michael Ajao's John, is likewise unmistakably “different” and...well a simpleton like Eloise. And this brought us to LAST NIGHT IN SOHO “problematic” aspect (or one of the "problems"): it was probably not intended but the way this character behaves and its treatment is sometimes quite unfortunate.
But again the pair are like a couple of Dopey, so no real beef here although it will VERY easily irritate some as they might find themselves yelling at them/the screen: “why you gotta be so naive!” Eloise is essentially akin to a wide-eyed old-school Disney princess (a 6-years-old in the body of a 16-year-old!) or some variant of the horror genre “manic-pixie-dream-girl-ingenue it-girl"...Wheew! However, with all the different looks and subtle behavioral/mood changes she goes through throughout the movie, Thomasin seriously displays some versatility as she certainly transforms herself; also thanks to the clothing she's wearing. Like everything in this movie, the wardrobe is outstanding, with all those dresses and coats! And they did a truly outstanding job as indeed those clothes are not wearing the girls, the protagonists are wearing the sh$t outta them!
Moral Of The Story: 9/10
LAST NIGHT IN SOHO....Death Becomes Her And Beautiful Nightmares? Maybe, maybe not and more, for it is safe to say that it is one of the best films of 2021 and no doubt one of the most visually alluring films ever made.
It is a must-see for so many reasons and, despite things clearly needing to be more plainly explained (like how Eloise “abilities” work for one,) its murder mystery story, twist (cuz yes there is a twist!) and, well, mysteries will stay with you for a long long time.
And so will the psychedelic visual or the wonderful soundtrack (that too many of us are obsessing over!) And, lastly, its witchy vibes with nods to the like of THE CRAFT or evidently SUSPIRIA and the Giallo-ness of it all sprinkled all over, because, what less did you expect! There is also something wicked about LAST NIGHT IN SOHO and this can be seen through its many possible influences, references, or callbacks, bringing to mind other surreal movies. Thus all those easter eggs make this film an even more entertaining and bewitching one to watch. So if you haven’t done so, watch it tonight…. or watch it again!
8 notes
·
View notes
***The Top 5 Rap Verses of 2021***
The Pundit’s Picks For the ”BEST” (a.k.a. MY Favorite) Rap Verses, From a Year Filled with Great Rap Verses...
In a year filled with “I gotta rewind that!” rap verses from some of the best to ever a hold a microphone, how do you even manage to pick “the best” verses?
The answer will always be some combination of how tightly the verse was written, the quotability, conviction of the MC, content (especially as it ties to a specific moment in time), wordplay, flow, delivery - and of course, personal tastes.
So in a year filled with stand-out verses from Lil Wayne, billy woods & E L U C I D (either solo or together as Armand Hammer), MIKE, Mavi, Skyzoo, Ransom, AZ, Your Old Droog, Willie The Kid, Conway The Machine, Earl Sweatshirt, Boldy James, Maxo Kream, Lil Durk, Roc Marciano, Little Simz, Peezy, 42 Dugg, Che Noir, Wiki, Fivio Foreign, Benny The Butcher, Lil Baby, Westside Gunn, Rio Da Young OG, EST Gee, Navy Blue, Stove God Cook$, Babytron, Jay NiCE, LAURYN FREAKIN’ HILL (!?), Mach-Hommy, Nicki Minaj, Polo G, Sleep Sinatra, Evidence, SHIRT, Raz Fresco, Jay Electronica, Jadakiss, P4K, Curren$y, Lute, Babyface Ray, Monday Night, The Opioid Era, Rigz, Semiratruth, Peezy, every damn member of Bruiser Brigade, Freddie Gibbs, Stik Figa, Fly Anakin, Tyler the Creator, Sauce Walka, Teller Bank$, Pros Ap, Namir Blade, Bizzy Banks, Valee, Nappy Nina, Lord Apex, Lloyd Banks, Sideshow, AKAI SOLO, BandGang Lonnie Bands, Defcee, Breeze Brewin, maassai, Ty Farris, Kipp Stone and Dark Lo....how can anyone choose just 5???
The answer: you remember this is ultimately a meaningless list, I’m a busy man with a family, and at the end of the day this is just an excuse to celebrate a mere glimpse at my favorite music of 2021!
These five songs came to mind because they each possess some form of “ex-factor”. Amidst the weekly tidal waves of new music over the course of the year, these five songs featured not just great artists rapping on a great song with great lyricism, but they each hit me with a bar - or even series of bars - that changed my course of thought for the day. This is not at all about the funniest punchlines or most clever metaphors, it’s deeper than that...it’s what separates a MC that happens to be an above average skilled rapper or writer, from a flat-out ARTIST.
With that all being said, here are my choices for the Best Rap Verses of 2021...
5. “Sunbeam” by Chester Watson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlxvoTNpPFI
(1997 was quietly one of the best projects of 2021, thanks to the quiet brilliance of Chester Watson. You wouldn’t be able to guess that he is primarily based in an uptempo party town like Miami when listening to 1997′s gentle and gorgeous opening song, “Sunbeam”. The poetic skills he showcases within this verse elevates the song to ear-grasping levels...and the sad honesty behind quotes like “once uttered words can run faster than horses,” should firmly place “Sunbeam” into song of the year conversations.)
Sunbeams create rainbows in the smoke
I was up early, outside, it was cold
And these last few days been rainy with a cloak of clouds
When overhead, make the city seem remote
Gold in the flesh, so I'm so picturesque
Ballerina, it control pirouettes
Feel the dosage effects, see my soul silhouette in the distance
See my soul silhouette
If you listen, then you just might grow and progress
I just do it, asked Nike can they cut the cheque
'Cause cuz' fluent, feel the sunbeams on my chest
Either that, or it's just steam from the fresh pre-roll
That I tucked somewhere in the vest
MM...FOOD, I feel like I eat beats for breakfast
Move smart, a negative plus a negative's negative
Can't be reckless, we all know the streets is treacherous
People gon' switch up, that's to be expected
Yeah, that's to be expected
I don't need the friendships just to be respected
Yeah, disrespect is out of the question
Always take precautions, no second guessin'
I Love Ugly garms are to guard the chains on my neck with
Lose for wisdom, I cannot make exception
Vibin' under sunbeams and reflection
Wavy when your wife is your best friend
Visualize, like, that's the life I could mesh with
And remember to always tell her she's gorgeous
Once uttered words can run faster than horses
Yeah, so you can't be indifferent
Two Balancias is good as he is wicked
Smokin' spliffs on the edge of existence
Watch the smoke spin in the air like a kick-flip
People look at my hair, it's addictive
Then they say I don't belong there, I'm a misfit
Brown skin is just a characteristic
A racist's heart blacker than me and all of my kin mixed
Some friends stayed, some friends went
Some things changed, some things didn't
Still get compared to The Weeknd
Felt like a Starboy when that sunbeam hit.
4. “Let It Roll Interlude” by IAMNOBODI feat. Phonte & BeMyFiasco [Phonte’s verse]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcG-NAR9KTk
(If anyone has the lyrics to this verse, please feel free to share! Full disclosure, I know less than nothing about IAMNOBODI or BeMyFiasco, but maaaaaan who is better than Phonte at cramming content into a short verse? From old school MC braggadocio to tackling middle-aged life during a quarantine to the Little Brother reunion, Phonte is able to tastefully add color to a background without blinding you with the details. Like any gifted artist, he knows that the music goes farther without having to be too on-the-nose with every rhyme. He always says just enough, and with just enough flare, to let you know exactly what his message is and that not many can match him as a MC or a song writer. While I would bet money that this verse will not getting any end of year recognition on any other site, it doesn’t make it any less special to me....I mean, “they spit with ‘Karen’ struggle, I spit with Sheila E’s(ease)”, that’s incredible!)
3. “Fuck You Know About Me” by DJ Muggs & Rome Streetz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa8E8DVi-Tc
(Like many of the artists on this list, you can choose just about any one of their verses from 2021 and crown it the best verse of the year. Straight up, Rome Streetz is my favorite MC at the moment and has the largest amount of *great* verses in 2021, and it is NOT close. As a feature artist he is one of the hardest working and most potent, but he is equally skilled at pulling off great full length albums. This joint off of Rome and Muggs’ fantastic Death And The Magician really nails exactly what makes him a generational MC. Rome’s style is a perfect blend old & new school because his content could neatly fit into the early or mid-90′s New York scene, but his writing skills are so clearly of this era. A writer’s writer trapped inside a true knuckled-up New York shit talker, on first listen his aggressive demeanor can mislead you into thinking that he’s just another throwback MC, but once you realize that he doesn’t even need a full bar to be a true standout in this game, you can really begin to appreciate how special he is. “Live from where they give a dealer more time than a rapist” and “it’s hard when you learn a real lesson from a fake friend” both sound like they could be credited to legendary quotes from Biggie, JAY-Z, or Nas, and while it may not be fair to compare them, as far as I’m concerned we have not seen the ceiling for Rome Streetz yet and he has first ballot hall of famer written all over him.)
I really only want the 'fetti, fuck being famous
Too many worried 'bout what another n*gga's name is
My main concern is freein' my dogs out the cages
Live from where they give a dealer more time than a rapist
The system racist, that ain't no new revelation
Crazy how mistakes gave me the best education
From the start, lots of ends was the destination
Road to riches, need a Rolls Royce and a 'rari racin
A pocket with a dead face paper placed in
It's hard when you learn a real lesson from a fake friend
Watch the reptiles, they blend with the same skin
Only so long a coward can front like a brave man
Stupid n*ggas gonna spend eleven if they make ten
Try to block the god, I'm a home invader, I break in
No brake, all gas pedal, ping pongin' memories of how I made a big boulder out my last pebble
Rebel, foldin' bread like a pretzel
Can't skip steps, scrap, I excelled at every level
Send a coin, get the tracking and hope the package get through
Everything you do in your life is a chess move.
2. “With All My Heart” by Ka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-jihUW-hvg
(Ka’s name will be dropped into these conversations virtually in any year that he drops a new album. A Martyr’s Reward is another diamond in the crown of his elite discography, that can somehow managed to go relatively unnoticed by many, while being worshipped as royalty by a fanbase that continues to grow with each release. Honestly, you can pick any one of his verses off of A Martyr’s Reward and dub it one of the best verses of the year, because Ka’s pen remains unparalleled. He manages to weave double-entendres together in a way that never feels forced, so even if you don’t pick up on it, the rhyme still makes perfect sense within the theme of the song - and that may not sound all that impressive, but I assure you that it makes him a unicorn in rap music, very few ever achieve that level of nuanced editing without sounding corny or redundant. I had to select “With All My Heart” as my pick for best verse off of the album....because if you know anything about Ka’s firefighter background - and the petty backlash from a certain NYC-based garbage rag that tried to frame Ka as a hypocrite - it makes the 9/11 reference at the end of his verse unique, and historically powerful...)
Gruеsome me; used to bе if we had rift, you felt the wrath
Now I'm too sophist', still don't miss with shooting gift to help your path
On your road to triumph, you know the science, I dealt in math
These God sessions answer hard lessons; brethren seldom ask
My misses gave butterfly kisses, she know I felt the lash
The land is tense, I stand for sense, never knelt for cash
Solid vow, I got it now, bow to who held it last
Was done well and young fell if he dispel the past
They tried to hush me cause gave dusty a smarter new glisten
From a priceless mold, I might be old but I harvest nutrition
You know the beast controls, so peace to those Gods that do listen
If you scout them, each album imparts a new mission
From child was already handling, images very damaging
On corners politicking, police break us up like gerrymandering
Once learned the land was never ran, never ran again
No lessons clandestine all these ancestors I'm channeling
Billion good deeds, eclipsed by a moment of weakness
Got my yield in the field, you was at home in the bleachers
From a savage site, had to fight just for owning some sneakers
Where every link is grim its sink or swim, we got thrown to the deepest
You ain't living premier if you living in fear
No verdicts, not guilty since block filthy, no innocence here
Since seared by sin, all I ever been is sincere
If you hear I'm on the premises, every premise severe
Though my rank capped at captain, I did it admirably
Cause of my race, took hits from the start, it never staggered me
Knew I was black back then, so at ten I had tenacity
No tracks are vacuous, my pact is to do it masterfully
When them planes crashed, Ka did his task in the catastrophe
I dug and I held when them towers fell, how dare you try to hassle me?
1. “Life Of The Party” by Kanye West feat. Andre 3000 [Andre’s verse]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YNL5DCRNec
(Too easy of a pick for #1? Far from a simple verse but the second we all heard Andre 3000′s - unofficial, at the time - verse off of Kanye West’s DONDA album, clearly this was destined to hit the best verse of the year lists on most mainstream sites. Yes, it’s a slam dunk to slurp up any new material from the elusive, magical flute toting Outkast member...but I’m really not that guy, I have all the respect in the world for Outkast but personally I don’t keep their stuff in my regular rotation, I’m sorry but it’s just not my typical vibe! Managing to overshadow the whiny “beef” that was Ye vs. Drake in 2021, as well as the out of control media freight train that is Kanye West in general, Dre’s verse on “Life Of The Party” is not just one of the best verses of 2021, I think it is one of the greatest rap verses that I have ever heard.
Seriously. Forget you know anything about Andre 3000, and just focus on the messages in this verse, the performance, and the poetry he wields on this joint...he manages to turn an ode to someone else’s mother into a deep AF, personal exploration of his relationship with his own deceased mother and father, his childhood and his flaws, his changing perspectives as a young man that is rapidly getting older, someone that has all the fame and riches in the world but can still say something like “Miss Donda, you see my mama, tell her I’m lost” - and Andre aside, don’ even get me started on the section with DMX and his daughter closing out the song - and NO SHUT UP I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING. In my opinion, Andre gave us audio gold with this one, and it’s a no-brainer selection for the best rap verse of 2021.)
You run into my mama, please tell her I said, "Say something"
I'm startin' to believe ain't no such thing as Heaven's trumpets
No after-over, this is it, done
If there's a Heaven, you would think they'd let ya speak to your son
Maybe she has in the form of a baby's laugh
I heard passing by in a stroller remindin' me, "Hey, keep rolling"
I don't know, maybe she has with a prick of a blade of grass
I've been layin' on way too long, got me itchy
Got up and roamed a lil' more
Miss Donda, you see my mama, tell her I'm lost
You see, she'd always light a cigarette, we talk, I would cough
Exaggeratin' a lil' bit so she get the point
Tryna get her to stop smokin', I would leave and fire up a *****
'Til I quit, started back up again, twenty years later
All that time, y'all thought a ***** was high, thought I was crazy
My mom, she ain't cut no corners
Got me back on track, I don't miss her overstepping
But do miss her showin' Seven civilian life ****
Ah, Miss Donda, you see my mama, whisper her this:
The real reason I was geeked to go to church
Must confess, when y'all grown-ups would be in Bible study
That girl helping me with my homework? Her and I were ****
So pure and ****, so spirit spinning and dirty
So on, so on, and so on, we hoped that no one heard us
Sh-sh, ah, ah
And to this day, I think her mama knew but let us explore
Miss Donda, you see my father, please, ask him why he never married
Always smiled, but was he happy inside?
Because I carried my mother's name, did he carry shame with him?
I'm sure she did it out of spite, 'twas her decision at birth
Shit, she probably was hurt, ah, poor baby
Two young people with different views, a lot for a young lady
No coincidence, they both passed away from heart conditions
There's a dissidence at play, dad and mom do hard division
Three Thou', poster child for big d*ck n*ggas raised by their mothers
I'm supposed to smile as if God knew that I would be troubled
Keeps me around, for what? I don't know
But I do know that it's crucial, that we do so, pronto
I don't know how much long though...
As always, thank you for checking out my stuff. 🙏
Next stop: my picks for the best rap albums of 2021...stay tuned!
7 notes
·
View notes