Short Reviews #10 


Getting less and less time to watch movies lately. But there’s some here that keep me up past my bedtime:

The Squid and the Whale
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Frequent Wes Anderson screenwriter and director of 1995’s cult hit Kicking and Screaming, Noah Baumbach delivers his strongest piece of work here about family and the effects of joint custody divorce. Jeff Daniels was snubbed of an Oscar nomination here because he’s brilliant here and will blow you away. The kids are equally as good including Jessie Eisenberg (whom you might remember from Roger Doger) and Owen Kline (son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates). The film plays out like one big therapeutic session at times (director Baumbach going through similar things when he was growing up) but without the strong performances from the aforementioned cast and a superbly observant script, this one could have been another made-for-TV movie. As they say, ‘write what you know’ and that feels unequivocally truthful in this case.

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Wednesday, March 22 2006
 
Film Review
 

Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony 


Tuned into the 18th Commonwealth Games coverage on 9 (why Ray Martin yet again?) last night, hosted here in Melbourne. I was planning to go down to the Yarra to watch it all myself but work kept me back late.

First impressions? Not tooooo bad. Watching that iconic old skool Melbourne tram float down with a pair of fairly crap cockatoo wings surfaced my initial reservations about the whole proceedings. Quite frankly, it looked VERY average and when it landed on what looked like a Melways map (Melbourne’s own unique mapping book), I cringed. Luckily to diversify a little, out of the tram spilled various dancers and singers dressed as ordinary Melburnians which was a nice touch. Seeing the entire MCG lit up and then later on the whole of the CBD was pretty amazing to witness and some of the music choices were well-handled. Hearing The Church perform their hit ‘Under the Milky Way’ made me feel proud to be an Aussie but I reckon The Cat Empire would have been a little tired after playing no-stop while the athletes rolled out.

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Thursday, March 16 2006
 
Daily Life
 

Sopranos Season 6 Premiere 


Holy m*%$##!*$(@*$ shite! The new season of this landmark series kicked off Sunday night with an absolute cracker! The critics have gone absolute nuts over the premiere scoring a 96/100 on Metacritic with quotes such as this:

The Sopranos unfolds at a more absorbing and imaginative level than TV’s strongest series, from ABC’s Lost and Grey’s Anatomy to Fox’s 24 and House.

Five of us fans sat around the television in a fixed state of consciousness, never daring to fixate our eyes elsewhere. Then the episode hits us with a twist that knocked us right out of the park. I’d love to tell you all about it but I couldn’t dare give it away. But what I will say is this final season looks set to be the sharpest, strongest and boldest the show has ever been and will send you rushing out to buy the previous seasons on DVD just to see what all the fuss is about. And for those who think television is a weaker form of narrative compared to traditional film should rethink their ways. Hell I’d even go so far as to say The Sopranos is on par with The Godfather trilogy. And I don’t say that lightly!

 
 
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Tuesday, March 14 2006
 
TV
 
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