It's unusual for the ABC to feature original films on the National Broadcaster, however Here Out West breaks that trend.
I believe it just concluded streaming on the free ABC iVIEW, however for more information you can go HERE.
It took me a number of viewings to get through the entire collection of short stories that made up Here Out West. Showcasing the awesome multicultural diversity of Sydney's west, the cast is extremely diverse.
You can read a full glowing review HERE from excellent Australian TV blog, TV Tonight. Otherwise scroll below for my unique score.
The main story line bringing all storylines together is, a baby is kidnapped from hospital by a desperate grandmother. Her flight sets off a chain of events that bring together complete strangers over the course of one dramatic day.
We see a closing night of a Chinese restaurant, a nurse of a double shift sending love and most likely money back to the Phillipines, a young Aussie Vietnamese successful business man balancing both traditional family life and a high powered role.
Along with various other aspects of trying to make it out in Sydney's West. It's touching, raw and engaging. Sydney's west has a lot to offer, so Here Out West only really touches the surface.
Unless you like all the different short stories, you may wish for the current story to hurry along. Either way this was a decent watch. 2.75 Stars.
Kevin Bacon's daughter, Sosie Bacon is the lead in the latest film currently playing at a cinema near you. Smile landed either last week or the week before playing the horror fans while in my session a bunch of under 15 year old's were kicked out for not having photo ID on them. It took me back to when I saw the OG Scream film back at Erina Fair, having to provide photo ID.
Based on his 2020 short film Laura Hasn't Slept, has Bacon as a therapist who, after witnessing the bizarre suicide of a patient, goes through increasingly disturbing and daunting experiences, leading her to believe what she is experiencing is supernatural.
Alongside Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, Kal Penn, and Rob Morgan also star.
Originally set for a streaming release through Paramount+ (my subscription just expired before getting to watch Yellowjackets - BOO!), however the studio opted to release the film theatrically after strong positive test screenings.
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the jumpscares, production values, and Bacon's performance, though some noted the similarities to other horror media, such as It Follows and The Ring.
I did find it a little predictable, with spoiler alert, no real explanation of what caused the smile. I left feeling like horror has really been a little overdone in 2022. With TV series, films and life in general all having horror elements on the daily.
I can't say this was my favourite horror film of 2022 nor film of 2022. I will pass it though as it did give me the odd jump scare. 2.5 Stars. Sosie Bacon one to watch!
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is the show everyone is talking about right now. Literally everyone. At work, the gym, the coffee shop. It is the water cooler series the Real Love Boat wishes it was!
Netflix hasn't had a hit for a while! Finally true gruesome crime comes to the rescue.
The life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is extremely disturbing. To be honest I had never heard of him, until now. The first episode has you on the edge of your seat. It's intense, full on, creepy while reminding me of my past trusting people from the clubs, going to a randoms place. Man I was shook.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, this is Murphy's best work in a long time. After the very disappointing American Horror Stories season two, this is a serious return to form. Maybe that big pay day from Netflix was worth it after all?
Evan Peters stars as Dahmer, in which he will likely pick up some awards along the way. While Richard Jenkins, Molly Ringwald, Michael Learned, and Niecy Nash also star. Nash is sublime as the terrified neighbour who gets ignored from an extremely useless police force.
The police scare me at the best of times. However seeing the lack of action taken between 1978 and 1991 with Dahmer, I have lost even more faith.
The ten reverting episodes landed late September. It took me a few watches to get through the ten, however this was the best Netflix series I have watched in months and months.
The critics have given it mixed reviews, praising the acting but many deeming it exploitative. The spotlight needed to be shone on these shocking crimes, the lack of interest by the police and the failure to protect societies most vulnerable.
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a difficult watch, but a compelling one. Check it out now on Netflix.
How strange! I totally forgot to review, Ticket to Paradise. More strange, I actually liked this film!
Ticket to Paradise is a slightly predictable rom com with George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
As a divorced couple who decide to team up and sabotage the impending wedding of their daughter (Kaitlyn Dever). Arriving in Bali (really filmed in Australia) they try all stops to stop their daughters happiness. Random idea for a film plot, parents keep their children unhappy?
However, David and Georgia Cotton, travel to Bali after learning that their daughter, Lily, is planning to marry a man named Gede, whom she has just met. They decide to work together to sabotage the wedding to prevent Lily from making the same mistake they made twenty-five years ago.
Gede is drop dead gorgeous, Maxime Bouttier is a total 10 out of 10!
So before this film departs the cinema I should give it a real quick star rating. It's hard reviewing and thinking of a star rating over a week since I saw the film. So here goes..... 3 Stars for romance and sun. I have romance but no sun right now. Come on Sydney! This rain is seriously fucked up!
Fall has a short and sweet cast, for a rather short and stressful film. Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Mason Gooding (Love, Victor) + the Walking Dead's Negan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
The main plot is two women who climb a 2,000-foot tall radio tower and get stranded at the top with no way down. This follows the adrenaline junkies and best friends, Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner), are climbing a mountain with Becky's husband, Dan (Mason Gooding). While attempting to secure a piton inside a small cave, a bat flies out at him, causing him to lose his footing and swing from the harness.
Small spoiler ALERT -
Becky and Hunter try to save him, but the harness breaks when he tries to swing back to the rock face and he falls to his death.
This leads to a flash forward, well 51 weeks later in fact. Becky has become a depressed alcoholic who has estranged herself from her father, James (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), because he suggested that Dan was not as good a guy as Becky had made him out to be.
James encourages her to move on with her life, but Becky refuses and later contemplates suicide by overdosing on prescription medication. She is interrupted by Hunter, who invites her to climb the 2,000 foot (610 m) B67 TV tower in the desert.
Though Becky is hesitant, she changes her mind and decides to go along so she can finally move on from Dan's death. They make the six hour trip to the tower, and while eating at a diner the night before the climb, they learn it was decommissioned years prior and is set to be demolished the following winter.
The film is good escapism, however it is extremely stressful. I did a super tough HIIT class before. I am not sure if I had more sweat in the Sprint class or the film.
It does go a little longer than it should. There is a moment in the film where I almost groaned out loud at one particular plot point. However overall this was an enjoyable outing to the cinema. Speaking of for some reason I never posted the rom com with Clooney and Roberts I saw recently. That will come soon.
For now, Fall gets a solid (or not so solid, depending on where you find yourself) 3 Stars.
The fifth season of Cobra Kai started off a little lame, but ended with a big bang. By episode nine and ten, the series went into overdrive. The yet to be renewed Netflix hit series landed on September 9, 2022. Landing on nine months since the fourth season streamed on NYE 2021.
Will a sixth series be greenlit?
This is the third season to be released to Netflix, following its YouTube origin days.
Head of the Snake was the finale episode, so for a recap and my general thoughts on the season, see below the trailer. Warning there are SOME SPOILERS below!
Kreese, in prison, tries showing mercy towards a cellmate, but it ends tragically when he is presumably killed in a fight.
A vengeful Barnes, who hijacked the limo, decides to launch an attack on Silver and his senseis at his mansion, and Johnny and Chozen join him, but Daniel refuses, leaving him behind. Barnes is quickly subdued, while Silver and Chozen engage in a fight to the death, which ends with the latter being wounded.
Meanwhile, Johnny almost gives up on defeating the senseis, but does so after seeing an ultrasound of his unborn baby and is later assisted by Barnes. At the same time, Tory helps the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students infiltrate the Cobra Kai dojo and hack the mainframe to procure footage of Silver beating up Stingray, but when they find out the footage was deleted by Terry, they decide to upload the video of Tory's confrontation with Silver, in which he admits to rigging her match with Sam.
Mitch betrays them because of the Cobra Kai students not calling him Penis Breath, warning them about the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students' plan. A fight between the 3 dojos ensues, soon joined by Kim.
Devon switches sides and helps Tory fight Kim, while Eli and Demetri acquire the footage and join the fight.
Anthony grabs the Cobra Kai tablet, and as the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students protect him, he uploads and plays the video on the dojo screens via YouTube, disillusioning the Cobra Kai students. Daniel, Amanda, Carmen and a remorseful Stingray arrive at the dojo, as does Silver, who desperately talking to the Cobra Kai students, but they don't respond to him as his true colors are finally exposed.
Daniel challenges Silver to a fight using his training against him and finishes him off using a crane kick, which leads to Silver falling to the ground in defeat. Silver's students desert him, leaving their Cobra Kai shirts on him, and he is arrested when Stingray confesses to his false testimony.
Tory and Robby reconcile with a kiss, and Sam and Miguel confess their love for each other. Chozen arrives being heavily wounded and is hospitalized, while Barnes steals a painting from Silver to compensate for his furniture store. Daniel, Johnny and their students celebrate their victory over Cobra Kai. However, unknown to everyone, Kreese is revealed to have faked his death by using melted Jell-O as fake blood, and escaped prison.
Cobra Kai is sorted left wide open for a sixth season, but really how much longer can it go on for? I am assuming a little longer since it's commonly in the Netflix Top 10. Well definitely here in Australia.
As another long weekend/public holiday comes to a close hopefully I will be back to the movies really soon! If you need some viewing today, some light hearted, easy to watch viewing on the Netflix, give Cobra Kai a crack.
The little show that does, Reservation Dogs has just finished its second run. Ahead of being renewed for a third season late last month.
Created by Sterlin Harjo + Taika Waititi, it airs stateside in the USA on FX, while in Australia it streams on Binge.
The second season premiered on early August, running for an easy binge of ten episodes. Slightly more than the first season of eight episodes.
The series has received widespread critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including a Peabody Award, two Independent Spirit Awards, and nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Awards and Golden Globes, and was named one of the best series of 2021 by many critics.
The second season sees the Rez Dogs still experiencing grief over the loss of their friend, Daniel.
The foursome being broken apart and scattered, and missing each other. The "California dream" does not turn out the way they expected, resulting in more feelings of disappointment and abandonment. While they cope using humor, they also face increasingly more adult challenges. Financial and family responsibilities arise as they continue to try to figure out their lives.
The season features a number of almost standalone episodes all combined into one wild ride of a second season.
Reservation Dogs may not be everyone's cup of tea, however it has some soft tender moments, mixed with quality comedy.
As the US TV season ramps up, another series calls it a day for a while. Looking at the release schedule of the last two seasons, it looks like FX will bring this back to our screens again next August. FX has just released the return date for American Horror Story returning this month, with Atlanta also returning super quick for its fourth and final run.
Until next time, you may hear a little more about Cobra Kai's fifth season. Until then, happy long weekend and school holidays NSW!
