#SUMMER-BINGE-FEST - Bloom

Upon completion I was not 100% sure what I thought about Bloom, it had a strong start, a rather slow middle and a fairly underwhelming end.

Sure it has Jackie Weaver (well for a bit) and Bryan Brown along with Ryan Corr near nude for a late of the first half. But something is missing.

It felt a lot like Glitch but in place of the dead returning, the sick and/or old were returning to their (sometimes more randy) youth.



Bloom doesn't however out stay it's welcome only living on our small screen for six episodes.

It dropped on New Years Day and gave Stan another Australian Original series. I am not sure if it would be back for a second series or whether I would want another six episodes.

Bloom is fine Summer viewing, however it's not as good as the recent Mystery Road in terms of Australian drama and ABC appears to have a jam packed good line up for 2019 in that category.

Bloom it's streaming right now on STAN and in recent terms of Australian drama, you could do a lot worse.

Cinema Slut #2019 - A Star is Born

I did see this film back in late October/November and on the eve of the Golden Globes I thought hell, let's see it again. It's A Star is Born. You can check out my former five star review HERE and also check out the Golden Globe 2018 winners HERE. Unfortunately for Lady Gaga a Golden Globe was not for her, however Shallow took out the Best Original Song.

Shallow was written by a shag of talented folk, Mark Ronson, Lady Gaga herself, Andrew Wyatt (Miike Snow) and Anthony Rossomando.

It's not just Shallow that shines in A Star is Born, both Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are near flawless. The movie itself is paced well, it's beautiful the songs look and sound amazing on the big screen and I just had to see it again play out on the big screen.

I have to admit as reviewing this again it makes me sad it did not win any major awards, Gaga and Cooper really put there all into it.

Bohemian Rhapsody was great, but A Star is Born really was a better film with music at it's heart and with such wonderful new music, music that has appealed to listeners since the soundtrack was released is a little bit of a let down nostalgia always seems to win.

I will be interested to see how the music fairs at the Grammy Awards next month, however for me reviewing the film again, it is still an amazing five star film, it's so real, raw and brilliant.

If you haven't had the chance to see it (what have you been doing the last two months or so?) make sure after it's Golden Globes snub you get along to a cinema before it gets replaced with more lacklustre school holiday films. Here are some of the musical highlights from the spectacular film.

#SUMMER-BINGE-FEST - Mystery Road

Returning back to an Australian icon, Aaron Pedersen and Judy Davies, it's time for a movie to TV spin-off. Generally reserved for US efforts like Lethal Weapon, Limitless, The Exorcist, Fargo, Taken and the Terminator series. So good on Australia for resisting popular titles like The Castle, Muriel's Wedding and Strictly Ballroom the TV series.

Mystery Road has already been on the big screen twice, so it's not completely unimaginable that it could be a week to week mini series. However not a mini series anymore it returns to the ABC in 2019 for a second season - full description featured on the ABC 2019 Upfronts HERE



The ABC has excelled over the past years with Glitch earning critical acclaim, Harrow was popular and Miss Fisher and the now absent Doctor Blake were all huge drama hits.

Mystery Road was the big winner at the 8th AACTA Awards, winning best series, best supporting actor and actress, best editing and best original score. Hell it beat Wentworth and SBS powerhouse Safe Harbour.

Six episode runs are excellent, SBS is loving four run and done stories and they do them well. Long running series don't seem to work well in Australia. Even the commercial networks love an eight episode season.

This season packs in so many Australian greats from familiar talents like Ernie Dingo and Deborah Mailman to great newcomers.

This was an excellent binge. I do love Summer to catch up on some excellent TV. ABC has done well loading full seasons over the Summer of cricket and tennis.

It's also nice seeing Tasma Walton return to the small screen and Kris McQuade will always be Jacs from Wentworth season one to me.

After binging this and wondering how it could be Wentworth I see it now, it covered a lot, showcased a lot of talent plus it looks a million bucks.

Mystery Road is outstanding, get on iView now if you missed it in June/July last year like me. TV does not get much better than this!

#SUMMER-BINGE-FEST - Jack Ryan

Unlike House of Cards, this is actually DOPE! Sometimes on holidays you need to just wind down at the end of a day with a TV episode (or two) and Jack Ryan, well I smashed that on my recent Bangkok trip.



After watching Amazon's Homecoming on our free trial it was time to give another series a go, Jack Ryan. Eight episodes, easy as.

It's your usual terrorist/action series, however the acting and action scenes are ace. Abbie Cornish represents Australia and a lot of women (and some men) as Jack's girlfriend. Ryan played by John Krasinski has already been played by on the big screen by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. What a list!

The series has already been renewed for a second series shifting to South America this time from the Middle East. It could get political.

As my forced leave period comes to an end I promise to try and smash through a final few TV episodes, my list is ever growing with Stan's new Australian Bloom out now and the second season of The Punisher coming January 18. Although with Netflix clearing the cupboards of all Marvel shows maybe this will be the last season.

Jack Ryan, it's streaming now on Amazon and it is honestly well worth a look.

Cinema Slut #2019 - The Favourite

Have you ever been to the movies before really knowing much about the film, had watched the trailer or read much about it? Well that was me today at The Favourite.

I was mind blown by the performances and Emma Stone finally redeemed herself after that woeful film Aloha.

The Favourite features Stone, Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz in this period bedroom hoping drama.



Apparently it's not very historically accurate however the story is interesting all the same. Queen Anne is outrageous, the language is wild and does deserve the MA rated it's been given in Australia and the costumes are fab.

The Favourite is another Australian Boxing Day film, it is up there with Aquaman on different levels, I loved this film and laughed and was on the edge of my seat towards the end. Maybe cause I needed to pee after drinking too much Kombucha.

Either way this was a grand end of the year/start to the year film.

The Favourite is my favourite film this week, 4 Stars.

#SUMMER-BINGE-FEST - House of Cards, Season Six

All I can say is WHY?

Season 5 ended and a lot were ready for the Netflix series to call it day, it didn't, Kevin Spacey happened and then the show got rewritten without him and cut from 13 episodes to 8. It was rushed, a red hot mess and the last episode, well don't. Don't start me.



If you stuck with this show from the start (2013, Netflix first original title) you may like me just want to see how it all ends.

Robin Wright did an alright job, however even she can not save this dogs breakfast.

Constance Zimmer added some fun to the series since she was free from her brutal run on UnReal, however the show maybe should have just bowed out with Kevin Spacey.

It's sad when shows that have a huge legacy leave on such a sour note.

Maybe binge it if you are up to date on all your series, however if you are knee deep in new Australian Bloom or watching Ray Donovan week to week, put it on the back-burner, it can most certainly wait.

Cinema Slut #2019 - Aquaman (4D)

Yes new post title, new year, Happy New Year from your resident Cinema Slut. All 2019 I will continue to bring an unbiased approach to my take on films. I have no trained/qualifications/experience in reviewing/making/starring in or directing films, I just know what I like.

What I do however like at the minute is movies in 4D and I am so happy one of my local four cinema outlets has it, however for my first review of the new year I am still in Bangkok so this is based on my 4DX experience at Central World, Bangkok. And actually I have never been to this cinema before so it was a nice change from the busy one at Siam Paragon.

Here is the trailer for my first 2019 review...


Ok so this unfortunately (like Vice) will not make my list for Best Movies of 2019, why? Because it was one released in the last year (2018) and two I saw the film after my list for the year was published. It's flawed I know, but WTF. So actually this does fall under my Movie Matinee Madness titles as it was a 3:10pm session on New Year's Eve so technically. Anyway to the movie hot damn.

Now this was tipped to be the biggest film of Boxing Day 2018, why? Because their was no Star Wars, Vice was aimed at the more high brow crowd, as was The Favourite (next on my list to see) and Holmes and Watson, honestly why. Why!

New Year's Day sees a new Mary Poppins film, however Aquaman is currently doing solid box office. To date (1 Jan, 2019) over 750 million bucks, not bad for a 200 million buck film.

Filmed mostly in QLD (go the Gold Coast and surroundings!) and various other places, not as important as Main Beach, Aquaman looks incredible. And not just because Jason Momoa is a hunk of a man (not your usual leading man look) but those underwater scenes are killer!

A huge cast including our own Nicole Kidman and fellow male beauty Randall Park, they are joined by Amber Heard (remember her last experience in Australia with her doggies), Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and even long time Saw friend Leigh Whannell drops by.

A sequel is planned and by the looks of it, Randall Park & Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will play much larger roles. Not that, that is hard with Park appearing for all of two minutes until the end credits. So stay for the end credits, stay!

The use of actors from various other films/TV series makes this a great cast, whilst Wilson and Wan have worked together a lot on the Conjuring films, Wan is an extremely talented and brilliant mind with blockbusters of this nature. Mashing everything up together to finally deliver another good DC film.

Marvel won't be too nervous as Shazam looks like it's going to be a stinker or a weird success story. Side note end.

But really DC have had a tough time with movies, Justice League was a bit too overcrowded and tried to be an Avengers film, but kind of failed.

One downside, the music, it's some of the songs used in this film are beyond terrible, Pitbull's weird Africa mash up Ocean to Ocean and Skylar Grey's two songs, awful, leave it to Black Panther and Kendrick for music next time.

Other than the music, Aquaman actually is awesome! I think it'll be a while till we see Aquaman back on our screens, however I really cannot wait.

Aquaman is a solid film, school holiday fun, does not feel like almost 2 hours 30 minutes in the cinema seat nonstop fun filled action joyride.

4 Stars.