Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

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Destination Guides

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Matt Bochenski rounds up the best films, music and books heading your way this month

Shrek Forever After

Director Mike Mitchell
Starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews

The Shrek franchise has long had a problem. What do you do when you start out as a sarky riposte to Disney’s all-consuming cultural dominance, only to become the new all-consuming culturally dominant kid on the block? Neither Shrek 2 or Shrek the Third had a satisfactory answer, so hopes had been lowered for this valedictory instalment.

But wouldn’t you know it, they’ve only gone and pulled it off. Shrek Forever After is easily the best film in the series since that first breath of fresh air in 2001. Where the first two sequels were domesticated, neutered affairs, this time around Shrek has been stripped not just of his baggage but also of his entire identity. In the midst of a temper tantrum at his kids’ birthday party, the green ogre strikes a deal with pint-sized devil Rumpelstiltskin to get his old life back for a day. Of course, it’s a trick, and before he knows it, Shrek has been catapulted into a world where he wasn’t born, he didn’t save Princess Fiona, and Far Far Away is ruled by the bad guy. So he has to save the day. Again.

Hang on: Shrek has to save Princess Fiona and rescue the kingdom from a miniscule megalomaniac? Observant Shrek fans will note that this is exactly the same plot as the first film. Which is no bad thing when Shrek Forever After is every bit as funny and smart as its forebear – and it looks amazing in 3D, too.

When You’re Strange

Director Tom DiCillo
Starring The Doors

Why do The Doors continue to exert a grip on our collective pop culture psyche? Perhaps it’s because they’re one of those bands where everything just seemed to come together – musically, historically, socially and politically. Active from just 1965 to 1971, they fuelled a relentless youth movement of change and opposition.

Jim Morrison has already been the subject of so much romantic veneration (Oliver Stone’s The Doors) and gentle pastiche (Mike Myers’ Wayne’s World) that he’s in danger of becoming little more than a cipher, which makes Tom DiCillo’s clear-eyed film all the more interesting. Narrated by Johnny Depp, When You’re Strange is an evocative exploration of the band’s appeal, placing the emphasis on the music but also bringing an unusual sense of objectivity to its appraisal of Morrison’s doomed poet reputation. It’s still very much the frontman’s film, but maintains a documentary edge, with DiCillo resurrecting the spirit of the decade from the perspective of a journalist rather than a fan.

Kylie Minogue

Aphrodite

Humanity can basically be divided into two camps – people who love Kylie, and the recently deceased. She may have been away for a while now, but Aphrodite shows not only that the singer hasn’t lost her instinct for great collaborators and cutting-edge production, but also that if anything, it’s sharper than ever.

A cynic would call this album ruthlessly efficient Euro pop, but Kylie has always defied cynicism. The first time you hear the dynamite chorus of ‘Too Much’, with its insistent, euphoric rhythm, in a crowded club, any cynicism will be blown away. Even in weaker moments, such as the Tinkerbell vocal on ‘Cupid Boy’, Aphrodite still possesses the power of great pop. At its best, it shows that Kylie retains the ability to teach the young pretenders to her throne a thing or two, particularly on the title track, with a military-style drum tattoo transformed into another monumental piece of dance mania.

Ultimately, the consistency of this album is breathtaking. Perhaps there’s too much vocal distortion, and perhaps elements of it play to the crowds, but Aphrodite is brilliant pop.

MIA

Maya

Opinion is divided on how to pronounce the title of MIA’s new album. Some seem to think it’s ‘Maya’, others suggest it’s simply ‘Y’. This is typical of an artist who loves to provoke, taunt and defy expectations. It’s why the video to the album’s concussive first single, ‘Born Free’, was by French director Romain Gavras and was an extended hate letter to police and the authorities.

But Maya Arulpragasam is more than a troublemaker. As her first two albums, Arular and Kala, proved, she is a crossover star, taking the influences of her Sri Lankan heritage and expressing them in a modern hip-hop language that is uniquely effective.

With Maya, she’s upped the ante, taking on not just mobile phones, social networking and the dislocated anomie of modern life, but also terrorism, oppression and exploitation. ‘Lovealot’ is the track most likely to create media hysteria, referencing hot topics including the Taliban and Russian militants. But it’s the more R&B-influenced tracks that are worth the purchase price. ‘XXXO’ takes on the privacy invasion of Twitter, while ‘Space Odyssey’ sees MIA at her most emotionally disconnected. Come for the controversy, but stay for the music.

Book club

This month’s must-reads

The Search

Nora Roberts

If you’re a frustrated novelist, look away now, because Nora Roberts has published close to 200 books. There are a staggering 300 million copies of her novels in print, so it would be easy to believe that the author is coasting, knocking out stories to a factory-like formula. But The Search defies those expectations.

This is the story of Fiona Bristow, a dog lover who moves to the isolated Orcas Island in an attempt to escape a secret. She devotes her time to rescuing people who are stranded in the wilderness, determinedly forgetting the painful elements of her life. This is made more difficult with the arrival of artist Simon Doyle, however, whose pursuit of Fiona facilitates a series of events that see her past finally unearthed in the middle of island life.

Roberts’ ability to create romantic and compelling characters hasn’t faded with success, nor has the relentless energy of her plotting. Ideal summer escapism.

Broken

Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter is one of the new breed of female crime writers carving out a place in this traditionally male world. Her protagonist, Will Trent, grew up in an orphanage but became a star detective with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. A natural puzzle solver, he’s an intriguing character.

Broken sees Trent return prematurely from a holiday to confront a classic crime set-up. A body of a young woman has been found in a lake, with a suicide note recovered not far away. Murder, however, is the real cause of death, and when the chief suspect is found dead in his police cell – with the words ‘Not me’ written on his body – it’s clear there’s more to this than meets the eye, and nobody can be trusted: especially cops. Trent then sets about solving the crime with customary zeal, stumbling across a rich cast of supporting characters in the process.

Slaughter is beginning to make this look easy; Broken is a poised, thoughtful book that’s studded with great set pieces and unexpected reveals. It carries all the hallmarks of an old hand in this genre.