Blur: 3 Things Missing from 21

This week Blur announced the release of a career spanning box set to mark the 21st anniversary of their début album Leisure.

The package will come as a special 21-disc set, including 2cd special editions of each of the band's seven albums, four discs of rarities, three DVDs including two hours of unreleased footage, two live shows and a disc of video rarities - plus a a collectable 7" from when they were known as Seymour.



Sounds pretty comprehensive? Here's 3 things that didn't make the cut that any would-be completist might want to hunt down.

Starshaped - Video, 1993



A fly-on-the-wall documentary, covering the time the spent mostly drunk and touring their first tow albums. The DVD re-release suffered from technical problems so may explain why it didn't make the cut for 21, though you can now get hold of Day Upon Day in the box set for the first time since this video.

Live at the Budokan - Live Album, 1996



Japan-only live album, though if you were signed up to the Parlaphone mailing list like I was back then you were able to get hold of a copies via mail order - well worth the effort it was too featuring an excellent setlist and a band at the peak of their popularity and giving a performance that breathes new life into many of the Great Escape tracks in particular.

Bustin' + Dronin - Remix/Live Album, 1998



Another import album, though this one actually managed to sneak into the UK Top 50 chart thanks to a low-key release over here. The remix side of things is pretty weak with a so many versions of Death Of A Party going down and the bigger name remixers phoning it in. The Live CD picks things up however with a recording on a live session from John Peel's home studio Peel Acres from 1997, notable for featuring a version of Popscene, at the time an elusive track to hunt down after its commercial failure as a single.

Review: Tabloid

Even without a skilled documentary-maker like Errol Morris behind the camera, the story at the centre of Tabloid would be strong enough to grip the viewer - as it tells the tale of Joyce McKinney, a beauty queen accused of abducting and imprisoning a young Mormon Missionary along with umpteen twists further along the way.

Morris recognises that the material itself is more than enough to hold everyone's attention and sticks to simply letting those involved (apart from the object of McKinney's affection, Kirk Anderson) tell their side of the story, with the contrast of McKinney's crazy charisma against the various differing takes on how things really went down amongst the tabloid frenzy created is always engaging.

When the film veers away from the main tale of kinky sex onto McKinney's attempts to clone her dog in later life, the documentary does lose its way slightly, due to the lack of other protagonists and their input - all these different points of view is what makes Tabloid such an interesting documentary and Morris's skill in bringing them together makes for a gripping watch, with the added comment on the
nature of British newspaper journalism having extra relevance in light of the hacking scandals of recent times.

Review: The Hunger Games

Comparing this to Twilight is really mis-selling what type of film this is. Whilst the adventures of Bella and Co. gets undeserved flack for daring to aim itself at teenage girls, it doesn't really offer that much else to crossover to any other audiences - The Hunger Games however can be enjoyed by anyone teen and upwards thanks to its superior mix of story and action.

The more realistic comparison is Battle Royale not only for sharing the children fighting to the death premise (though despite Jennifer Lawrence being brilliant she struggles to pass for 16) but Gary Ross deserves great credit for making a 12A feel more brutal than what actually goes down on screen with a tense, dystopian atmosphere gripping throughout. The only let-down comes towards the end with the introduction of some ropey CGI monsters that do there best to ruin the mood created, but this slight blip doesn't come close to spoiling things.

One question that did bug me after was I'm still not sure how someone who lives in a District where they have to survive on hunting squirrels is quite so proficient in cake decorating though?

Review: Your Highness

The premise of Your Highness (which is little more than swearing in a medieval English accent) unsurprisingly struggles to hold itself over the duration of an entire film - any fans of Danny McBride are still better off sticking with Eastbound & Down. There's still a few laughs to be found, but thankfully most of them pop up in the red-band trailer above, so you don't have to bother with watching the film itself.

Review: 21 Jump Street

A remake in loosest possible sense, 21 Jump Street might carry the name of the 80s undercover police show, but the film is closer to Superbad than the TV series.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum play the lead roles who find themselves out of their depth time after time in every scenario, but by being constantly funny the film manages to avoid seeming repetitive. Hill might be the one from the comedic background but Channing Tatum is the star of the show, stealing all the the scenes he's in thanks to the best performance of a himbo since Brad Pitt's turn in Burn After Reading.

I'd be tempted to say the film could do without the last 20 minutes as like most modern comedies it does suffer from being just a bit too long, but in featuring one of the best cameos of recent times you can see why they chose to keep all of it in.

Review: Half Nelson

Half Nelson's setting can't help but draw comparisons to season 4 of HBO's The Wire, and the eagle-eyed viewer will be able to spot a couple of the kids from the show return in Dan Dunne's classroom - but David Simon's show never worked in just a single sixty minute fix and in being so similar to it, Half Nelson is a little bit of a letdown, drifting by without much resolution, not having the luxury of another 50 episodes to tell its slow-burning story.

However, there's still plenty to like about the film, in particular excellent performances from Ryan Gosling as drug-addled teacher Dunne and Shareeka Epps as Drey, who share a unique Teacher/Student relationship on discovering Dunne's addiction. The film-makers also deserve credit for avoiding falling into the same trap of Gran Torino where having such a great actor in the lead shows up a cast of novices in support, though we know from Blue Valentine, Gosling could step in and sing over the end credits if they wanted to go down that route.

Review: Lars and The Real Girl

The premise might sound like one from the latest gross out comedy, but Lars and The Real Girl avoids the lewd humour to tell a sweet-natured story about one man's relationship with a sex doll he buys off the internet.

This film is definitely more Coen Brothers than Farrelly Brothers, with the wintery setting recalling that of Fargo. But the darkness of the Coen's work is something that is missing from this film, a result of everyone being so nice means there's no real drama of such to drive the story forward, meaning it kind of drifts towards the end - but on the other hand with everyone being so likeable does serve to give the films finale surprisingly enough warmth that could melt the iciest of hearts.