According to The Independent, next year there’ll be a spin-off series from Doctor Who, called Torchwood. It’ll be more adult, described as “The X-Files meets This Life” and will star John Barrowman as “Captain” Jack Harkness, part of a team investigating alien activity on Earth. BBC announcement BBC has registered torchwood.org.uk Three Dollars — It ... [More]
Chicken parma, Metropolitan Hotel, North Melbourne — How could one resist a meal touted as “Fat arse chook parma”? I certainly couldn’t. And yes, it was huge. A fellow diner commented that no part of a chicken is that big, and the waiter agreed. Perhaps it was really turkey parma, or ostrich parma? It was ... [More]
Robots — This had its amusing moments. It didn’t suck. But it fails my “if it were the only thing playing on a long plane flight, would I watch it?” test. It wasn’t engaging. It wasn’t interesting. I felt little sympathy for the characters. It felt like a poor man’s Monsters Inc. Uninspired. Wallace and ... [More]
Look Both Ways: A man walks in front of a train and is killed, an all-too common event these days. The story follows the events in the weekend afterwards, for the victim’s girlfriend, a witness, a journalist, a photographer, their editor, and the train driver. It reminded me a lot of Lantana, seeing that one ... [More]
Fight Club — The first rule of Fight Club is don’t talk about Fight Club! But I will. Fight Club has been on my (long) list of “great movies that came out ages ago but for some reason I didn’t see when they were new”. I must have been busy at the time. A colleague ... [More]
The Station Agent — A train spotter with dwarfism… and he’s probably the most normal character in it. I found the attitudes of some of the passers-by towards him a little strange, and at odds to the way I’ve seen people react to short people. But a very enjoyable film; quite amusing in parts, thankfully ... [More]
A Series of Unfortunate Events — This was a paradox worthy of the appearance of Doctor Who’s reapers: Jim Carey in one of his rubbery face roles, yet not annoying. Who’d have thought? Nothing deep, but funny and suspenseful (well, a little) in the right places and totally fantastic set design. This turned out to ... [More]
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I used to like Jay and Silent Bob, and rejoiced when it was first announced they would have their own movie. But now I’ve finally seen it… well, either I’ve matured or they are best seen in small doses, ‘cos I didn’t think this was up to much at ... [More]
These are my five all-time favourite movies ever as at 8:05am, 13th June 2005. Subject to change. In alphabetical order. American Beauty — superb observations on suburban life, from the author of Six Feet Under. The Life of Brian — quite possibly the funniest movie ever. O Brother! Where Art Thou? — comedy, drama, stunning ... [More]
Sideways — a kind of coming-of-age road movie, but for the 40-somethings. Best viewed with a bottle of wine, I found myself thankful I hadn’t turned into that much of a wine wanker. Some great acting, plenty of laughs, and a touch of drama too. Very enjoyable.
Review: The End of Suburbia. I saw this at a PTUA screening to about 60 people a week or two ago. A fascinating film about the consequences of the forthcoming shortages of oil and natural gas. The film is North American-centric (as you can tell from the subtitle “Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the ... [More]
Bad Santa. I seem to recall this got reasonable reviews last year. Maybe it was the Christmas spirit that skewed critics’ judgements. I like poking fun at tradition as much as anybody, but I found it dull (and Marita fell asleep — nuff said?). The Joke got a few laughs early on, but wore thin ... [More]