Spicks & Specks 100th Show 


Well there goes 100 episodes. Most have been hilarious and fun (helps to have a couple of glasses of red of course!) whilst others have caused me to hit the red harder to enjoy them. Much of the success imho depends on the guests. It still rates well which is great to hear (go local Aussie content!) but I think it’s time they changed the format around a bit. I’ve followed the show since day 1 (you can thank Myf for that :D ) so I’ve seen guests sing passages from the most obscure books imaginable countless times and the novelty has started to wear a little thin. What do you guys think? Should they mix it up a little and start some new segments? Should they get favourites Hamish Blake, Frank Woodley, Ross Noble, Jason Byrne, Amanda Keller, etc… to appear more often? What about showing more classic ‘tragic’ video clips at the end of the show? (like the one above). Or is the show absolutely perfect the way it is?

 
 
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Wednesday, May 30 2007
 
TV
 

Short Reviews #26 

Apocalypto
Apocalypto (2006)
starstarstarstar_half

It’s easy to give Mel Gibson as a person shit. He’s done more than a few things to offend just about anybody with a strong religious belief. But I have to say as a filmmaker, he’s proven himself as half-way decent. Braveheart is a flawed film but it does rouse a momentum and The Passion of the Christ managed to avoid preaching to the masses and instead delivered a solid exploration into human empathy. With his new film Apocalypto he’s made a film which almost strips away Hollywood sensibilities and goes for the primeval nature of survival. Sure, it may not be historically accurate but the last third of this film is entirely gripping and literally had me on the edge of my seat. Visually, the film is a real treat. The mixture of HD and film cinematography by Aussie Dean Semler is simply stunning and a must on a big screen. The costumes and make-up are also breathtaking. The film is rather brutal at times which have some critics calling Gibson a “cinema sadist” and he doesn’t shy away from showing graphic beheadings and one person getting their head eaten by a Jaguar. Yes, it’s pretty nasty stuff and watching this film, I couldn’t help feel like some of the imagery was some sort of therapeutic release for Gibson’s nightmares. After all, he wrote, produced, funded and directed the picture. But at the same time, I felt like Gibson was really coming into his own as a filmmaker. Keep an open mind with this one and you’re bound to find something quite extraordinary here.

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Sunday, May 27 2007
 
Film Review
 

Smart Girl? 


This worries me. If you’ve seen Magnolia, you’ll know where I’m going with this.

 
 
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Sunday, May 20 2007
 
Daily Life
 
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