What's On @ the Movies 2013 - Before Midnight

Are you in a relationship? Do you fight? Could you relationship end before a 2 hour film ends? If you answered yes to any of these questions, maybe this film is not for you. Here is a quick peak before my review and viewpoint:


Ethan Hawke is a total spunk right but Julie Delpy, man she is a mad bitch in this film. You really end up hating her guts by the end of the film and just wish she would shut up and listen for five minutes. I found myself thinking thank goodness I don't wake up next to someone who analyses everything that you say, twists it around and it turns it into a large argument which makes up the most part of a 2 hour film.

So if this film sounds depressing it is, I mean I didn't see the first two films in this series but I get the concept, long marriage, thinks go south and people look at where they are in life and find out well hey maybe I am not that happy after all.

I found this film a little shallow at times and really I just wanted to punch Julie Delpy but the critics are loving it sick and look it is a critics dream. The conversations are interesting but some scenes go on and on and on.

This film will not be everyone's cup of tea (the session I saw there were all of ten people to start with and two walked out 15 minutes in, leaving 8 to ponder their own relationships) but look it was easy to watch (also easy to drift off I found myself making a kick ass shopping list at one point) and Ethan Hawke is ageing super well.

Overall I can only give this a pass mark of 2.5 as it did annoy me a bit.

A Weekend of US Telemovies

So after hearing some much about Sharknardo I just couldn't refuse it's lure, and with a trailer like below, who could blame me?



Yes with lines like "It's so Bad it's Good" it really says it all. Ian Ziering, Tara Reid and Aussie former Baywatch star Jaason Simmons (Character Name - Baz - LOL) lead this "All-Star" cast into a pit of LA hell with a massive storm that has sucked sharks up in it and then spits them down onto the "All-Star" cast. Yes it's as crazy as it sounds and the special effects are some of the worst around but hey it's all in the name of B Grade horror right?

Sharknado has had so much media (good and mainly bad) and has already confirmed a New York sequel. Hells Bells! What isn't getting a sequel these days?

Now onto a HBO movie which has screened at Cannes and has had international cinema release and is currently screening here at many cinemas.

It's Behind the Candelabra the final ten years of the life of the very camp piano kind Liberace. I discussed this with a co worker today and back in the day, gay wasn't thought to be why a man was a bachelor just "they might not have found the right lady yet". I guess Elton John and Liberace were two peas from a pod. And Ricky Martin also found comfort in hiding his true identity for years (until his career came to a screaming halt - now unfortunately we are stuck with him on the Voice) who will be next? One Direction or One Erection?

Let's take a look a this Matt Damon/Michael Douglas HBO number:


It's high camp, it's well acted and Rob Lowe is a hoot! Comparing this and Sharknado is impossible so I will just say this, it's clear what the best telemovie of my weekend was, so if your in the mood for some made for TV action get amongst it!

What's On @ the Movies 2013 - The Conjuring

Three movies, three days, wow and I still want more... Yes it's been a big three days of films for me from blockbusters to horror and celeb overload comedies. It's been a good mix and I think I saved the best till last. Yes The Conjuring is a fantastic ride, not only if you like Horror but if you like a good old fashioned edge of the sit Thriller with balls.

Now James Wan an Australian famous for the Saw Franchise decided to drop gore and create great tension and suspense in the latest ghost horror story. This however has a difference, it's a true story.

Ed & Lorraine Warren are paranormal investigators and they help a family who thought moving to the sticks was a wise idea. 1. It's never a good idea to leave a stressful busy city, why? because ghosts and demons don't like traffic and the hustle and bustle. 2. It's way more scary out near real trees and no close neighbours.

So the film sounds a little like a lot of other films before it but armed with the amazing Patrick Wilson (one of the MOST handsome men in the movies, next to the god Joseph Gordon Levitt) and Vera Famiga (the mother in the recent TV hit "Bates Motel") who play Ed & Lorraine Warren.


To say this is one of the best thrillers I have seen in a long time is no word of a lie. It's great, the tension and suspense just builds and builds and the cast really are fantastic. Apparently the movie has done so well a sequel is already in the works.

I will be interested to see how Insidious: Chapter 2 goes after this film, with James Wan also on directing duties. He will also pair up again with Saw friend and fellow Aussie Leigh Whannell.

The Conjuring was the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I am so happy to hear it has been a commercial hit and had positive reviews from fans and critics and like and with that I give it a solid "I nearly shit myself on more than one occasion 4 Stars".

What's On @ the Movies 2013 - The Wolverine

I was wanting this to be better than the last Hugh Jackman outing X Men Origins: Wolverine, alas it wasn't. I was surprised to read the reviews have not been all bad for the latest "The Wolverine". According to the Wikipedia page for the X Men (film series) X Men Origins: Wolverine has been the worst received X Men film and I will not be surprised if this film soon takes out that milestone.

X Men: First Class was exactly that first class and I don't know whether it's just the lack of interest in only one character in the film or the fact that the films just are not that interesting and the best bits have all been in the trailer below or movie shows explaining the latest blockbuster.


So you might think I am a little harsh but when an action film goes over the two hour mark it needs to be something magic. And this is just not. Shame really.

I think this might be the last Wolverine (solo) outing as it just feels really tired. I must admit I am really looking forward to the 2014 X Men: Days of Future Past but I should have known better the stand alone Wolverine just doesn't really stand up.

2 Stars for it's Sydney turned Tokyo filming locations.

What's On @ the Movies 2013 - This is the End

This is the End is the new Seth Rogan/Evan Goldberg film with a whole stack of famous people in it and boy it is nasty and wrong but oh so much fun.

I really ended up loving this film and if you have seen it, the ending is just so amazing! Take a look below:



Rihanna is gold in this film and poor little Michael Cera! Oh so wrong but oh so right. In a world when everything has to be so politically correct it makes me smile when this gets through the censors and at the mainstream cinemas. It's completely not everyone's cup of tea but I really got into it.

Yes the boys have some growing up to do and all the dick and ass talk makes you wonder if James Franco or Seth Rogan have ever gone down to gay town.

In the end this film made me smile, made me laugh and made me realise that who needs to take life so seriously just have fun.

Anyway this weekend I hope to end up at the movies a few times so watch this space for more AWESOME film reviews, right?

Okay so This is The End rates 3.75 Stars....

Tonight:

@ 8:30pm, check it OUT:

RE: What's On @ the Movies 2013 - Only God Forgives

The OMG Scene, would your mother say this at the dinner table?


Again, OMG!

What's On @ the Movies 2013 - Only God Forgives

What happens after hours in Thailand should sometimes remain in the dark and most of this film with Ryan Gosling belongs in the dark. The highly violent sequences and he foul mouthed Kristen Scott Thomas make for an evil sitting at the cinema and at times left me feeling very uneasy.

However this said it has won a few awards at film festivals in 2013 and was written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn the man behind the ultra wanky and violent Drive in 2011 (also with Gosling as the lead).

I enjoyed the edge of your seat tension the soundtrack and the darkness brought but the over the top violence and vile characters made for a challenging cinema experience. This film is definitely not for the faint hearted and ladies if your man suggests this film, maybe say you have Netball practise or something cause even the Gosling and his foxy demeanour really is not worth the blood shed.


Only God Forgives is a hard one to rate, I couldn't recommend it but I can't say I hated it so 2 stars.

Back at the Theatre (Finally) - The Importance of Being Earnest

It has been like forever since I went to the theatre and man o man was it nice to head back into that beast. To be honest it's a little sad I have no idea what the last piece of the theatre was I saw. But The Importance of Being Earnest was such a nice treat. The team that brought you "Beautiful Thing" have returned with a lush set a great set of actors and a choice take on this Oscar Wilde classic.

The Importance of Being Earnest may never have been done in such a fun camp manner but Andrew Benson as Lady Bracknell was FAB. The rest of the cast is delicious and so fun to watch and seemingly have a great time in this piece.

I enjoyed every minute of this high camp theatre outing and I so love a matinee. The best part of this matinee was their was a school group and maybe older folk and all from young to old had a really fun time from the opening piano driven covers of Nicki Minaj and Gaga hits to the final bow.

To grab a ticket today pop over here and make a fun night/afternoon (only one matinee remaining) of it.

For it's star rating I am going generous and breaking it down:
1 Star for Andrew Benson just seeming to have the time of his life
1 Star for the great song choices from Icona Pop to the Ting Tings
1 Star for the great set and lush costumes
1 Star for the fact Burley Theatre has given two hits of out two for the shows I have checked out, well done.

Total rating = 4 shiny camp glossy stars.

Enjoy the weekend dear readers and three sleeps until another ALBUM of the Year nomination.

Flashing off the Record - Does 100

Yes 100 posts in almost as many days, check out a very special 100th post tomorrow night (I have a bit of work to do on the list!) with the 100 biggest songs from my Sunday Countdown so far in 2013... It will feature some of the biggest tunes of 2012 that continued to be popular in 2013. Plus some of this years biggest tunes from Daft Punk & Pharrell to Matt Corby and Lorde.

So check here tomorrow and then again on Monday as yet another album of the year will be revealed. So far it's a tight race between Disclosure and Rudimental.

In meantime I will have another Throwback Thursday for you too.

Also coming soon to this BLOG a look at my birthday weekend so hold tight!

True Blood sees 7

Yes renewed for a late Birthday for me, True Blood will back in 2014 with a whole new series. In the meantime here is a look at the upcoming next episode:



Oh yes shit is getting real this season!  So let's hope it keeps on the up and up for series 7, who would have ever thought it would continue on for 7 years!

Also a big R.I.P for Cory Monteith, 31 years old, the age I just turned, how sad.



Season 5 of Glee starts soon and I expect it will be a moving start to the season.

Come back in a few days or so and I will bring you some birthday snaps. Until then stay safe.

Thank U

To all the lovely text messages, all the well wishes and general love I felt today.

So here is my role call of lovely people:

Thanks first and foremost to my boo for an awesome night away in the city at the dreamy Shangri La Sydney (I will post up some photos soon, I promise!) and then to my adorable family from my grand dad saying I was too old and he wanted to remove July from the calendar as birthday's cost him too much to my mum + dad.

To Daniel's awesome family too and the nieces loving singing happy birthday Uncle Andrew, so gosh damn cute and this is coming from someone who really dislikes kids.

Now to you my amazing friends and stuff:

Peta
Michelle ZANG Bang
Miss Michele Mclean
Some random - Sorry I don't have your number, ending 298 (love it - Happy Birthday Spunky Boy???)
Miss Amy W
Belinda L
Nicole T
Boot Camp Johnny
Marcus - the old witch from the City
H & fucking R Block - A tax reminder on my B'Day, Really? WTF
Karren G + My Aunty Karen
My beautiful boss MM
Lucy Rose Fokkemma
LG
Lachie

Plus to Heather and Brooke I loved seeing you both on the weekend and Heather is totally a TOP mum and Brooke you will be beyond amazing too when he/she pops out.

All in all ace day and thanks everyone!

XXX

What's On @ the Movies 2013 - The Heat

What can I say about this Sandra Bullock/Melissa McCarthy film other than my excitement about it's release has been on my radar since March this year.

So let's check out the trailer one last time before we experience my review:


So it's totally one of those Melissa McCarthy type movies with her being the crazy one and Sandra's character being the uptight cop. But guess what? Unlike Pacific Rim and it's Transformers rip off this works.

The Heat is not as laugh out loud as Bridesmaids but it's much funnier than your average Hollywood comedy.

In a summary of the plot it's your usual style comedy with a little conflict, laughs and more amazing support actors than you can poke a stick at.

The Heat is one of the best movies I have seen recently (yes it's been a really average Winter of films) and I would totally recommend you seeing this over any of the other slightly lame school holidays films which are currently screening.

Sandra Bullock really needs to be in these style of film cause let's face it see has done some rather average stuff in the past. Melissa McCarthy is Melissa McCarthy all over the film and let's be honest that's why we love her!

In summary it's a good light hearted bit of fun, 3.75 Stars with a little bit of wee (from excitement) in the mix too.

Redfern Next Tuesday?

Shall we, for this?



I think HELL YES!

Another Album of the Year Nomination - REAL SOON

There has been a huge amount of music released lately and that means it's time for Disclosure and Rudimental to be joined for the race of my 2013 Album of the Year.

There has been heaps of huge Hip Hop releases including and not limited to, Bliss N Eso outta Sydney, Jay Z and the EPIC Magna Carter Holy Grail, Kanye released his God inspired hit Yeezus and local boys Spit Syndicate recently gave us Sunday Gentlemen.

Not only Spit Syndicate give us Sunday Gentlemen a fairly tight local Hip Hop release, they did a great cover of "Latch" by Disclosure recently:



Now that is some Album of the Year love.

So stay tuned to Flashing off the Record for more details real soon. In the meantime Happy Hump Day and here is some excitement for tomorrow at the old Cinema:

What's On @ the Movies 2013 - Pacific Rim

Oh dear, news.com.au featured a piece yesterday suggesting the Lone Ranger was the worst film EVER, had they seen Pacific Rim yet? Cause really if they were in one of two screenings last year the Lone Ranger looks like a masterpiece after sitting through this two hour red hot mess.

A very Sons of Anarchy cast and Guillermo del Toro, how could this go wrong? Well it totally does and the smell of a sequel makes me feel a little ill.

It's kinda like a cheap Transformers rip off with big special effects but a lot of lulls in the action. When the action scenes disappear so did my attention, the acting is fine, the effects great but this unoriginal robot v alien/monster thing, so 2000.

I got bored by the second hour and thank god for free popcorn and water cause otherwise I would have turned to my phone for Entertainment.

Pacific Rim, please don't believe the articles on how bad the Lone Ranger is, this film is SO much worse.

Check out this piece below:


I can only give this half a star for Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy & UK Queer as Folk fame).

A Week Till my Birthday & another 4 Day Working Week....

So next Monday I am officially in my mid 30's and not just one of those random 30 year olds. So before the week before gets too crazy, here is my final gift registry and again if you really want to make me happy, send me a funny text or somethin'.

Game of Thrones - Season 2 

One Tree Hill - Season 5

Dexter - Season 7

The Walking Dead - Season 2 

Gossip Girl - Season 5

Gossip Girl - Season 6

Damages - Season 4

Now onto my other BLOG, another album of the year will be announced shortly making it three albums and last night Matt Corby killed it and finally made it to number one with the below monster hit:



Fingers crossed his album is finally on the way with two recent monster smashes (Brother & now Resolution) it's time to get that album out onto the stands.

You may have missed Jay Z's new album dropping last week but over on Flashing off the Record I took a look back at Jay Z's simply amazing career, give it a look.

Well until the next entry and it will probably surround this very film:



Take it easy y'all and happy Winter School Holidays X

What's On @ the Movies 2013 - The Lone Ranger

We are smack bang in the middle of School Holidays in NSW and that means a lot of shit is on at the cinema and there are more kids with pimples than just the regular offenders behind the counter. So it was off to the next Disney (so called flop) The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp. Now the reviews have not been too positive and the box office sales have been a lot lower than expected so is it that bad????


No it's actually not, when you look at what is on offer currently at the cinema:

Despicable Me 2 - Nah need to see the first one..
Epic - Nah would rather masturbate with a cheese grater, just saying...
Monsters University - No thanks, too old
Fast & Furious 6, The Great Gatsby, Man of Steel, World War Z - Been there, done that!
Wikileaks thing - Maybe

So really is there that much choice right now? No.

But hey Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer (yes apparently that is his real name) do a good job along with a small but fun role for Helena Bonham Carter who seems to be in every movie alongside Johnny.

So it's way too long straight up but the action sequences and horses make up for it. Johnny Depp is really good and I must say for a blockbuster I actually had a lot of fun.

So if your thinking how to spend three hours over this Winter School Holidays period maybe give The Lone Ranger a crack, it's fun and it's better than your average Disney effort.

3 Stars for a Lone Ranger and his super talented side kick.

Happy 4th of July!

Just me on my Mother Fuckin' High Horse

So a few week's ago a story about a middle aged woman abusing and racially attacking a school boy caught my eye. I thought what a loser and really, do people these days not know somewhere someone has a recording device in 2013 and if you behave like a tool, not only you will have bad karma but the world will loathe you.

Now I saw this posted on Ninemsn and a ACA & I truly have little respect for the way ACA treats stories with people of other races, we all remember the Great Mall of China piece? But this is just rubbish.

First up after watching this the woman is not just stupid but she is a complete loser. Drinking in the middle of the day and playing pokies while most people are at working and not abusing school kids this woman needs her head read if this was to get her sympathy.

I for one have little respect for you if drinking, playing the pokies and racially attacking a minor is your way of spending the afternoon and I think Susan needs to do some soul searching or at least get a job or put herself in the place of someone she feels the need to swear at and tell to go back to where they came from.

It's people like this that make Australians look racist and small minded, it's funny for me to think that just cause your white it means your supreme to any other race. We all are worm feed at the end of the day and all your wealth, knowledge and job title does not leave this world when you do, so suck it Susan, you have no right to judge others on their race, religion, beliefs but I do judge you for being a complete bogan who I wish was shipped off somewhere else, anywhere other than Sydney city.

Now my Soapbox continues to something more positive and as we hit mid winter Summer festival announcements start rolling in and here is a teaser for a festival which has been tracking on for a little while now:


Now to TV and the last True Blood episode kind of bored me, I felt nothing, I thought will a 7th season be announced, will this season just be a reminder that TV needs Alan Ball? Time will tell and here is what we can expect next week:


Also in TV land Dexter's first episode of season 8 was too much, it was SOOOO good, really 8 years on and this show rocks, it's so sad it's coming to an end but this season looks mega good, take a look at a promo for episode two, SPOILER ALERT if you missed episode one:


Also if you're bored this new show is kinda camp fun!


Until next time, peace out....

July 1

Besides it being the first day of a new financial year it's also the first ever World Sugar Free Day. I did a sugar free month a few months back and the results were crazy, my stomach had never been flatter and I didn't go all crazy ass I still ate fruit I still ate a few things here and there it was just a month free of soft drinks, treats and unnecessary junk.

So if you're interested in World Sugar Free Day have a peek over here.

It's also the 41st birthday for the one the only Missy Elliot, what a career but where on earth is that "Block Party" CD she promised years ago? In the meantime let's Pass the Dutch!



Oh what a hit!

Also today is International Tartan Day, yes bring on the Scottish and speaking of overseas it's also Canada Day! What an International and delightful day to have off and BLOG this random excitement of July 1 your way.