The Secret Life Of Bees – Movie Review

The reviews of The Secret Life Of Bees have been mixed, swinging between quiet acclaim and charges of sentimentality amidst much eye-rolling and honey-based punning. A whiff of American schmaltz and my custom is to affix peg to nose and walk on by at conspicuous pace; although I don’t have much faith in most critics, I would have been inclined to weight the saccharine accusations with more cred and steer clear of this one. Happily, I scored a free ticket to the Perth preview. Happily, because this bribe overrode my mush detector system and cleared a way through the cynicism – this is a little gem of a movie.

A couple of days after I attended the local premiere, those two old crocs of cinema critique, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, reviewed this movie on their ABC TV show At The Movies. More on their findings in a moment, but here we come to an aside. Continue reading The Secret Life Of Bees – Movie Review

Bono vs Chris Martin – A Wanker Calls A Wanker A Wanker

Oh, but it’s been a while since I started off the week with a good guffaw. And the source of all this belly-wobblin’? This report from good ol’ PerthNow of none other than Bono labelling Coldplay’s Chris Martin a wanker!

That would qualify for obvious remark of the week coming from anyone but Bono. But BONO calling anyone else a wanker? HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!!! …cough splutter conniption…HAW HAW HAW HAW HAWWWWWRRRGGHHH! Continue reading Bono vs Chris Martin – A Wanker Calls A Wanker A Wanker

Q: When Is A Dog Not A Dog? A: When It’s A Slumdog!

I meant to get this post up before the Academy Awards began. Thought they were tonight. The farce is currently underway, apparently. Just saw a report that Penelope Cruz won Best Supporting actress for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Not the worst decision they could have made.

Before any more results come through, I am compelled by an irresistible urge to express my incredulity that Slumdog Millionaire and the Best Picture award have ever been uttered in the same breath, let alone appear certain to be forever united in a gold-plated figurine called Oscar. Continue reading Q: When Is A Dog Not A Dog? A: When It’s A Slumdog!

movie reviews + occasional other musings