GIRT BY SEA Well, even without Covid, my 2020 was a bitch. After a string of 1-2-3 significant health issues (all old bloke stuff), two near-miss car accidents (Jeebers, they were close!), some friendship tensions (I don't wanna talk about it) and dropping my Batman mug, I was glad to see the end of the year. I paused this movie blog during much of that time, only viewing 2 new-release-in-cinema movies in the final 6 weeks: Tenet (just too smartypants for its own good) & Wonder Woman 1984 (one of the silliest movies I have ever seen). So here's to 2021 and HOPE FOR A HELLU ..read more

WHAT TO DO...WHAT TO DO... Hello again. How are you? Any better? Yeah, I've been locked down too, socially distant and self-isolated now for nearly 8 weeks...just starting to come out of it now. Here in South Australia, I have been amazed by how compliant / obedient the vast majority of the population has been...and as a result, we're not doing too bad. Economically, we are a disaster zone of course but at least we didn't turn into Brazil, y'know? So here's cheers to our leaders who (mostly) listened to the health & science experts and didn't make too many dangerous blunders. How did I spe ..read more

WHAT...ME WORRY? So...how are you? I know I should be making a list of movies about mass panic, dystopian futures or zombies, but I think one of the best ways to cope with crises like our current one is through smiling as often as possible. I don't mean gormless grinning like an idiot, but simple smiling at little beauties which are always there (here at home, I appreciate the sound of magpies gargling music in the peppercorn trees and the sheer deliciousness of a cheese & gherkin sandwich...to each their own). Sure beats crying over absent toilet paper.  While I despise most schmaltz &a ..read more

THE WORST OSCAR WINNERS Like a whole pile of movie addicts, I watched and was fairly accepting of this year's Academy Awards. While I am sure that once I have fully digested 2019's output (which at this early stage doesn't look too promising...no wonder a foreign-language film won: it was hardly Hollywood's stellar year), I will have personal preferences, at least none of the choices were cringingly bad/wrong/stupid. However, of course, the Academy has made some selections in the past that time has proven to be, at the very kindest, questionable. Here is my list of woeful winners. How embarr ..read more

WWI Films: Six of the Best Having watched and been disappointed by the Golden Globe winning / Oscar contending movie 1917, I was led to consider other World War One movies: Is there such a thing as a great one about the Great War? Rummaging through my collection (and looking at what others think...well, a little bit anyway), I have come up with the following list. Foreign language films and documentaries have been excluded, as well as films where The War is only a side-issue to the main focus of the story (The African Queen; For Me and My Gal; The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp). And, of co ..read more

Movie-Viewing Experiences  27/11/19 - 26/12/19     A+ = Adored Masterwork   A = Excellent   A- = Very Good   B+ = Good   B = Nice Try   B- = Scrapes By  C = Significantly Flawed   D = Pretty Bad   E = Truly Dreadful: Looking Into the Void   F = Absolutely Vile: The Void DEATH AT A FUNERAL (2007) A   SECOND VIEWING d: Frank Oz CAST: Matthew Macfadyen; Rupert Graves; Andy Nyman; Daisy Donovan; Peter Dinklage > would have to be in the running as one of the most purely-funny comedies of the 21st ..read more

Movie-Viewing Experiences  22/10/19 - 26/11/19      A+ = Adored Masterwork   A = Excellent   A- = Very Good   B+ = Good   B = Nice Try   B- = Scrapes Through  C = Significantly Flawed   D = Pretty Bad   E = Truly Dreadful: Looking Into the Void   F = Absolutely Vile: The Void KNIVES OUT (2019) B+   FIRST VIEWING   IN-CINEMA d: Rian Johnson CAST: Ana de Armas; Daniel Craig; Chris Evans; Michael Shannon; Jamie Lee Curtis > this is the best written / trickily-plotted Hollywood comedy-murder-mys ..read more

Movie-Viewing Experiences  9/9/19 - 21/10/19       A+ = Adored Masterwork   A = Excellent   A- = Very Good   B+ = Good   B = Nice Try   B- = Scrapes Through  C = Significantly Flawed   D = Pretty Bad   E = Truly Dreadful: Looking Into the Void   F = Absolutely Vile: The Void COLD TURKEY (1971) A-   FIRST VIEWING...CONTENDER FOR THE MOVIE JUKEBOX d: Norman Lear CAST: Dick Van Dyke; Bob Newhart; Pippa Scott; Barnard Hughes; Jean Stapleton > there's a thin line between satire and cynicism...both ..read more

Movie-Viewing Experiences  12/8/19 - 8/9/19      A+ = Adored Masterwork   A = Excellent   A- = Very Good   B+ = Good   B = Nice Try   B- = Scrapes Through  C = Significantly Flawed   D = Pretty Bad   E = Truly Dreadful: Looking Into the Void   F = Absolutely Vile: The Void GONE BABY GONE (2007) A   SECOND VIEWING d: Ben Affleck [his directing debut] CAST: Casey Affleck; Michelle Monaghan; Ed Harris; Morgan Freeman; Amy Ryan > I am not alone in believing that the British produce the very best cr ..read more

Movie-Viewing Experiences  14/7/19 - 11/8/19      A+ = Adored Masterwork   A = Excellent   A- = Very Good   B+ = Good   B = Nice Try   B- = Scrapes Through  C = Significantly Flawed   D = Pretty Bad   E = Truly Dreadful: Looking Into the Void   F = Absolutely Vile: The Void SABOTAGE (1936) A-   THIRD VIEWING d: Alfred Hitchcock CAST: Sylvia Sidney; Oskar Homolka; Desmond Tester; John Loder > this British thriller contains Hitchcock's most brutal scene prior to Janet Leigh having a shower: the ki ..read more