Matthew Beckett Reviews

This week I have decided to review American singer songwriter Lady GaGa's sixth album Chromatica, released a few weeks ago. This album furthered GaGa's success worldwide, it went to number 1 in the UK becoming her fifth number 1 album and her eighth top 10. In the US it became her sixth number 1 album in a row and her eighth top 10. In Australia it became GaGa's fourth number 1 album and seventh top 10 album. Chromatica went top 10 in twenty six other countries, of them it went to number 1 in fourteen. The album has also spawned three hit singles so far, in the UK all three have gone top 20 with two going top 5 one of which hit number 1 (there was also another top 40 entry upon the albums release). In the US all three singles went top 40 with two going top 5 and one  hitting number 1, while in Australia all three went top 10 with one hitting number 1. I have been a fan of Lady GaGa since day one, as soon as I heard Just Dance I knew there was something different and special...

This week's film review is another animated family film (we've been watching a lot as a family lately), this time the spy comedy Spies In Disguise released earlier this year. Directed by Troy Quane and Nick Bruno, staring the voices of Will Smith and Tom Holland, alongside Rashida Jones, Ben Mendelsohn, Reba McEntire, Rachel Brosnahan, Karen Gillan, DJ Khaled, and Masi Oka in supporting roles. Before I go further I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you intend to watch the film and don't like spoilers wait to see the film first. Lance Sterling (Will Smith) a cocky secret agent of H.T.U.V. (Honour, Trust, Unity and Valour) is sent to recover an attack drone from an arms dealer in Japan, he is ordered to stand down when the buyer, cybernetically enhanced terrorist Killian (Ben Mendelsohn), arrives but breaks in anyway. Sterling defeats the arms dealers gang and escapes with the briefcase containing the drone. Back at headquarters he confronts young scientist Walter B...

Album review time and this week I have chosen the fifth and most recent album by American jazz singer songwriter Gregory Porter called Nat "King" Cole & Me, which is what it sounds like an album of songs by or inspired by the legend himself Nat "King" Cole. This album furthered Gregory's success making him one of the most commercially successful jazz singers since the 1960's. This album peaked at number 3 in the UK giving him a third top 10 album, in Australia it peaked at number 5 making a third top 40 album. Nat "King" Cole & Me also went top 40 in five other countries making it a third in four of them. When I first heard Gregory on BBC Radio 2, my mothers favourite radio station, I instantly loved his voice and style being a fan ever since and collecting several of his albums. His voice is so smooth, soulful, emotive and energetic adapting to each song incredible, whether he wrote it or not, making his voice so unique and reminiscent of ...

For this weeks film review I have chosen a kids film, the animated adventure comedy Storks released in 2016. The film was directed by Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland and stars the voices of   Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Anton Starkman, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Stephen Kramer Glickman, and Danny Trejo. Before I go further I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you intend to watch the film and don't like spoilers wait to see the film first. After generations of delivering babies to families all over the world one stork named Jasper (Danny Trejo) wanted to keep a baby for himself, he accidentally destroys her address beacon and gets exiled while the girl is adopted by the storks and named Tulip. The storks CEO Hunter (Kelsey Grammer) turns the company into a package delivery company instead. Eighteen years later Hunter assigns top delivery stork Junior (Andy Samberg) to fire Tulip (Katie Crown) as she is a burden on...

For this weeks album review I have chosen British singer songwriter Dua Lipa's brilliant second album Future Nostalgia which was released a few weeks ago. This album follows Dua's hugely successful debut album which was released in June 2017 it peaked at number 3 but has yet to fall out of the UK charts spending 134 of it's 157 weeks in the top 40 (currently at number 25), it also went top 10 in thirteen other countries including Australia and top 40 in another twelve countries including the US. Outside of that it was an incredible debut album, leaving big shoes to fill for Dua's second album but she definitely filled them with an even better album and more chart success so far. Future Nostalgia has spent it's first ten weeks in the top 5 with four of them being at number 1 in the UK, it also hit number 1 in Australia and ten other countries, the album went to number 4 in the US and top 10 in another 18 countries. So far three singles have been released from Future ...

Welcome to another film review, this week I am reviewing Jumanji: The Next Level which is the direct sequel to Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle and the fourth film in the Jumanji franchise (the other two being Jumanji is 1981 and Zathura: A Space Adventure in 2005). Directed by Jake Kasdan and starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser'Darius Blain, and Madison Iseman reprising their roles from the previous film, while Awkwafina, Rory McCann, Danny Glover, and Danny DeVito also join the cast. The film was released in December last year and finished as the tenth best selling film of 2019, pretty impressive considering the top 10 also contained Avengers: Endgame (the highest grossing film ever), Toy Story 4, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker and Frozen 2 which were all highly anticipated. Before I go further I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you intend to watch the film and don't like spoilers wait to see the...

For this weeks album review I asked my wife to choose again and this time she chose Hurts 2B Human, the eighth album but American singer songwriter P!nk which was released last year. This album continued P!nk's success worldwide, across her eight studio albums and one greatest hits album, becoming her third number 1 album in the UK and ninth top 20 of which only one missed the top 10. In America it also became her third number 1 and eighth top 10, while Hurts 2B Human is P!nk's sixth number 1 in Australia with four other top 20's. Hurts 2B Human also went top 10 in eighteen other countries seven of which it went number 1. There was only one hit single from this album, Walk Me Home went to number 8 in the UK, number 11 in Australia and top 10 in another eleven countries. I have always been a fan of P!nk, her voice is incredible and fits every style of music she has tried which she always pulls off perfectly, plus her lyrics are always brutally honest and hard hitting. It com...

This weeks film review is on the 2015 comedy The Intern directed, written and produced by Nancy Meyers and starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway in the lead roles with Rene Russo, Anders Holm, Andrew Rannells, Adam DeVine, and Zack Pearlman in supporting roles. Before I go further I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you intend to watch the film and don't like spoilers wait to see the film first. When retirement becomes too boring for seventy-year-old widower Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) he applies for a senior citizen intern programme and becomes one of four new interns at About The Fit, a fast growing e-commerce fashion company based in Brooklyn. Ben is assigned to work with Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) the founder and CEO, she is initially sceptical and keeps him at a distance, however he wins over co-workers and gets into Jules good graces. One day after work Ben notices Jules's Chauffeur drinking, so gets him to leave and drives Jules himself, which he cont...