Christopher Connor

Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear has been a staple in households across the UK since his first appearance in A Bear Called Paddington in 1958. Younger audiences are perhaps most familiar with his major film appearances in Paddington and Paddington 2 in 2014 and 2017 respectively. Following a lengthy wait, the franchise now returns with Ben Whishaw’s Paddington and the Brown family whisked off to his homeland of Peru in search of his missing Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton).
There may have been some ...

Neu Bulletins are DIY’s guide to the best and freshest new music. Your one stop shop for buzzy new bands and red hot emerging stars, this roundup features some of the tracks we’ve been rinsing at full volume over the last week.
We’ve also got a handy Spotify playlist where you can find the full slate of Neu tracks we’ve been loving, so you can listen to all our hot tips in one place! Dive in…
mary in the junkyard - this is my california
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Paying no mind to winter’s increasingly dark ...

While there are plenty of post-punk and orchestral art rock bands vying for attention, there is a searing originality that marks Flip Top Head apart. The six-piece group from Brighton showcase the full range of their influences on their debut EP ‘Up Like A Weather Balloon’, having already sold out shows in London and playing at The Great Escape. Flip Top Head’s sonic landscape is beguiling, transporting us through a landscape of jazz, classical music and avant-garde rock.
Opener ‘I Can’t Wait...

Gladiator II, 2024.
Directed by Ridley Scott.
Starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Djimon Hounsou, Matt Lucas, and Derek Jacobi.
SYNOPSIS:
After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.
On its release in 2000 Gladiator proved to be a mammoth smash, grossing nearly five times its ...

Chris Connor chats with The Wild Robot Composer Kris Bowers…
The Wild Robot has earned some of the strongest reviews for an animated film for some time. The score from Kris Bowers has been singled out for particular praise and could well feature in the awards mix. We sat down with the man behind the stand-out score to discuss how he came about shaping the score and some of the unique challenges presented by the film’s scale and story…
How did you find charting Roz’s growth?
A lot of that had ...

Frank Herbert’s Dune is one of the most recognisable Sci Fi novels from the 20th Century, dealing with the long running feud between the Atreides and Harkonnen families for control of the spice producing desert planet Arrakis. The book’s most recent two part adaptation from Denis Villeneuve with Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides has earned rave reviews and strong box office with a third instalment based on Dune Messiah on its way. The franchise now extends to the small screen with Dune Proph...

Released: 11th November 2024
Director: Sam Yates
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Shazad Latif, Matilda Lutz
Daisy Ridley shot to fame in 2015 with her turn as Rey in Star Wars’ sequel trilogy. In more recent times she has shifted to smaller roles, that have showcased her range such as the well-received Sometimes I Think About Dying and Young Woman and The Sea, both released earlier this year. Her latest role is as a suspicious wife in the neo-noir thriller, Magpie, which is also based on an original ...

Neu Bulletins are DIY’s guide to the best and freshest new music. Your one stop shop for buzzy new bands and red hot emerging stars, this bumper roundup features some of the tracks we’ve been rinsing at full volume over the last couple of weeks.
We’ve also got a handy Spotify playlist where you can find the full slate of Neu tracks we’ve been loving, so you can listen to all our hot tips in one place! Dive in…
Moreish Idols - Slouch
Moreish Idols’ new single ‘Slouch’ is a captivating blend of...

Chris Connor reviews the finale of The Penguin…
The Penguin has built steady momentum across its run as alliances have shifted and there have been twists and turns aplenty. The penultimate episode saw Sofia with Oz’s mother and planting a bomb that put a dent in his drugs operation and the city itself. So, with just one episode left, how does the finale resolve the dangling threads and potentially set up events for The Batman Part II?
The episode really concludes the back-and-forth between So...

In the wake of the success of Apple TV+’s Slow Horses, Chris Connor looks forward to a new golden age of TV spy shows…
Espionage and TV have a long and often hugely successful history, if we look at acclaimed adaptations of John Le Carre’s work including The Night Manager and Alec Guinness-led adaptations of the Smiley versus Karla series. In more recent years we have had the likes of Killing Eve and Spooks to sink our teeth into, showcasing a wildly different tone and approach to spy craft.
...

Indie trio Our Girl comprising of singer-guitarist Soph Nathan (The Big Moon), drummer Lauren Wilson and bassist Joshua Tyler showed they are a force to be reckoned with on their 2018 debut LP ‘Stranger Today’. While Soph Nathan has in the interim been working with The Big Moon, the group have come together to release their follow-up ‘The Good Kind’, does it deliver on fan expectations, a resounding yes. The album was produced by alt-rock titan John Parish (PJ Harvey, Sparklehouse) with Natha...

CLASH writers have their say...
Seasons come and seasons go, but The Cure remain – indefatigably – The Cure. Live, the band are a stunning force, with Robert Smith’s voice and emotional heft belying his years. It helps, too, that the group are able to draw on one of British music’s most unique catalogues, songwriting that plumbs the depths of misery and self-doubt only to emerge renewed in the beatific light of love, and human connection.
New album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ is their first in 16...

Chris Connor reviews the seventh episode of The Penguin…
The Penguin’s previous episode ended on a tense cliffhanger with Vic and Oz’s mother Frances in Sofia’s view as she and Sal continue their quest for vengeance against Oz. Instead of tackling this upfront, the penultimate episode spends its first ten minutes filling us in on some of Oz’s backstory, showing his childhood and relationship with his two brothers and his mother, adding context to the present-day events and reframing how we se...

Since forming in 1987 Underworld have helped redefine British electronic music with a style that is hard to put your finger on but familiar and easy to get lost in. ‘Strawberry Hotel’ is their 11th studio album and their first since 2019 and, with 15 tracks spanning close to 70 minutes, it is another highly ambitious project that shows the duo of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have no intention of slowing down anytime soon.
Black Poppies is a gloomy opener built around distorted vocals. Almost omin...

Released: 1 November 2024 (Disney+)
Director: Laurent Bouzereau
Few figures within the world of film scores have left a mark as recognisable as John Williams. His status is nothing short of legendary. The man behind scores for the majority of Steven Spielberg’s illustrious career including Jaws and Indiana Jones. George Lucas’ much-loved Star Wars franchise and oh so much besides in a career that stretches back to the 1950s. For someone who has created some of the most recognisable music in t...