#I'mNotDavidNorMargaret, Film Reviews My Way 2015

Everything happens in threes and I recently saw Jurassic World twice, MI-5 Rogue Nation twice and now the latest and one of the funniest comedies of recent times Trainwreck.



I gave this the unthinkable five star review in my original review, during one of the longest periods of preview screenings, girls night out screenings, advance weekend (including Fridays and Mondays) screenings and basically any staff or employer screening.

I then watched her stand up show on YouTube.



God I laughed, it made me feel like I saw where and how this film was developed, created if you will.

Trainwreck is a great film and in the rather small audience yesterday there were still men and women (of all ages) laughing out loud and really that is the main goal of a big screen comedy. No one I know has had a bad word to say about this wonderful and fresh take on relationships and dealing with families.

I got a bit more teary on the family stuff this time around because to quote Amy I have had a cunt of a time with family stuff lately leaving me feeling like shit for 6 weeks. This film however is a five star film, Randall Park is easily one of the most handsome men in comedy and the soundtrack to this film also struck me as well done and well thought out.

A pure delight to see this gem of a film, next I want to see Last Cab to Darwin and Fantastic Four, let's face it I have to hurry to see the Last Cab to Darwin as Aussie films have a very short life span these days :(

Anyway for those who skip to the end for my star rating, 5 Stars (AGAIN!)

Channel 7 Serves up a US Drama months after it aired

And not just months after it aired in the US, months after it aired on Presto (here) which according to Ray Morgan research 100,000 Australian homes have subscribed to. Point being after piracy and being one of the first trophy shows for Presto watch ratings for US drama Aquarius stall. And I'm not talking DOA (dead on arrival) Dancing with the Stars stall, I'm talking Restaurant Revolution stall, 4 episodes a week to a mere one two hour instalment.

This show has been doomed from the start NBC in the US aired all episodes on their streaming service (much like ABC iView did with Glitch) and then welcomed poor weekly ratings. I am bewildered as to why NBC has given the green light for a second season as the recent episode scored 1.45 million viewers in the US. The US has a population of over 300 million, 1 out of every 300 million people watched this show, shit!

Looking forward to seeing how this drama will fair on Channel 7 as in the past shows which have aired a while ago in the USA have failed miserably in Australia. Adding to this the free trial on Presto you have LEGAL access to here, this could be a massive bomb.

Channel 7 is in a risky position, Restaurant Revolution failed hardcore, their costly MKR V Hot Plate court case, Dancing with the Stars is majorly on the nose, The X Factor coming in right after the Voice (yikes - singing overkill!) and ladies in the newsroom dropping like flies.

I called for more Drama on TV but in a timely fashion, all I can say is thank god for SBS who will air this new series The Principle later this year.

Its time to talk REAL TV

So I have reviewed a shit load of films lately, crapped on about the dreadful state of Australian TV and the overload of reality rubbish on at present so now it's time to talk drama. However the news isn't all good on the drama front either.

First with the bad. Hannibal in it's final season and it's no surprise no streaming services are willing to give this show a fourth season. The second season was wonderful, the first season set up the characters and what we were in for but this Third Season my oh my. Basically it's two seasons in one and neither of these mini seasons are particularly good. Which is a shame as the cast is stellar.

Gillian Anderson joining Hugh Dancy, Lawrence Fishburne and Mads  Mikkelsen this could have been great, news story - it's not. Season Three is a sad end in this once great and fantastic looking series.

Now to True Detective (you can see this coming if you have followed the online rants) no series has been more anticipated, however Season Two is a failure on an epic level. Even with Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams & Taylor Kitsch (yum) this show is woeful and lacks any direction or coherence. It's hard to follow up a massive smash hit and unfortunately Season Two of True Detective could be one of this years biggest failures.

Under the Dome, surprise, surprise has completely given the critics and the non believers evidence that this show should have been a limited one season event. Season Three is over the top and lacks any direction or possible conclusion in sight. This has become the new Lost with people thinking what in the world were the folks at CBS thinking renewing this series again...

Now to the good and Ray Donovan (like Hannibal originally) has completely come into it's own. I love Ray and his wife and his kids are not 100% irritating. Jon Voight is great as the father who is neither 100% good or 100% evil. It's also refreshing seeing Katie Holmes in a meaty role in this successful Third Season.

Devious Maids and Mistresses (both in their third seasons) also show that trash (and well made trash with lots of hunks) also has a place still on TV. I would give anything for these shows on 7:30-8:30pm in place of shitty reality TV with try hard "Characters".

Murder in the First is slightly disappointing in it's Second Season after a solid first however Taye Diggs is just simply divine.

Scream the MTV TV version of the once successful film series is also a bit of fun, but it is to be taken completely with a grain of salt. I was surprised to learn this quickly and easily got a Second Season. Not sure where it will go in 2016.

Other than this I look forward to the return on The Leftovers and I have just started on DVD Masters of Sex Season One which I am really digging, thank god for Showtime!

So it's the weekend and mid Winter so go lose yourself with some solid drama, or not so solid if you feel like Mistresses or Devious Maids.

I hate it when I am Right

So on July 30 I predicted the wave of new cooking shows would be a massive failure, I didn't know this would be immediate, with Restaurant Revolution going from four episodes a week to two to finally one. Shocking.

Now the biggest drama is the court case between Channel 9 & Channel 7 in relation to the copy cat nature of The Hotplate and MKR. The ONLY winner here (like the Bill Shorten commission) is you guessed it the lawyers for the respective channels. Why in fucks name would anyway start playing Cat videos in place of a new reality franchise and then think, oh let's waste some more cash, oh let's start a legal battle that will get us some PR.

Just out of control, PEOPLE AT CHANNEL 7 & CHANNEL 9 LISTEN UP, who in the fuck does your programming? It is TERRIBLE. Decent B Grade and even quality dramas are on at around 11pm on Channel 7, but Cat Videos from YouTube, oh that's prime time or Big Bang Theory re-runs, oh yeah that's primetime.

Australian networks, next month is September, September in the USA marks the return of their killer drama line up, if you weren't hurting now with ad revenues and pathetic ratings, next month you're gone. If it wasn't for pensioners and stay at home types commercial TV would be dead and buried. The final frontier of sporting events is the last win you have SO USE IT. Drama PEOPLE love it, look at the Walking Dead's Facebook, look at what trends on Twitter and try avoiding a Game of Thrones spoiler.

Reality TV, it's now officially done, come on Australian networks it's time to wake up and to quote the Herd - this country needs a fucking shake up, wake up!

#I'mNotDavidNorMargaret, Film Reviews My Way 2015

MI-5 take two, after seeing this Friday and giving it 3.5 Stars, did my opinion of the film improve, decline or remain the same? Let's see some more footage from the 5th instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise.



So it's Rogue, there is a bunch of people (you will know and soon know better) running around in this film, attempting the impossible and Tom Cruise does some damn impressive stunts.

Now some would ask why did I see the same film twice in four days? Well it's all about the free passes, one was from the film distributors and the second and invite from my lovely bank. Lovely bank? Yes Isla Fischer is right to be a brand ambassador for the Orange bank ING Direct. They are amazing. First up no fees, no charges and no annoying overseas call centres. They are the future of banking (and no this is not a paid post).

So back to the film, look, it's good, it's nothing new, but still I enjoyed the hell out of it even the second time around, so I am standing by my 3.5 Star rating on this latest action blockbuster. Speaking of which Marvel is at it again, will I see Fantastic Four's reboot this weekend? Time will tell. Until then BYE

#I'mNotDavidNorMargaret, Film Reviews My Way 2015

PAPER TOWNS, what a film!

I had waited a while to see this one and at first after seeing the trailer I put it on my "when I have seen everything else list" and well I have seen seen everything else but I was so pleasantly surprised.



That's the trailer I am talking about. Think Juno, think Fault in Our Stars and think every coming of age film but this one is done right and well.

Using music to engage the audience and a cameo from the hunk from said film Fault of in Our Stars (it got a massive ooohhhhhhh from the audience I sat in with, cute right) the younger members of the audience ate this film up.

I loved the use of Haim and the Vance Joy in this star studded soundtrack with new music from Santigold (which is her first in years) I was in heaven. Music plus a good film usually equals me liking and rating a film higher than usual.

And actually speaking of my marking after reading back my old Mission Impossible review I used to mark extremely highly didn't I.

Well today I am going back to the old days and marking high as I really enjoyed this film and got very caught up in the movie. Paper Towns is easily one of the best coming of age/high school films I have seen in years, 4.5 Stars, great.

#I'mNotDavidNorMargaret, Film Reviews My Way 2015

A large amount of people and reviewers have shown a positive light on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE ROGUE NATION, how will I fall on this film?



Well Tom Cruise you are looking amazing, action wise this is a extremely well done film. I cannot flaw any action scenes or the plot (at times however requires a little too much concentration) is not too shabby for an action film.

I can see a 6th film on the way as the film is long but does come to a complete abrupt ending.

I think since Ghost Protocol which I reviewed all the way back in Early 2012 and gave a monster 4.75, gower I am not going that high this time.

I am going to give this Rogue film in the franchise a healthy 3.5 stars, great action and Jeremy Renner is also a very handsome 40 something year old so good on you.

Next up hopefully Paper Towns and I am also off to another screening of Mission Impossible on Monday so you may get another take on this film mid next week.