There is an arresting poetic beauty and authenticity to Charlie’s Country, Rolf de Heer’s latest feature film with legendary actor David Gulpilil, that is starkly evident from the silent second to opening shot of the movie in which an introspective Charlie sits in his humpy, lost in mumbling introspection, Continue Reading
Just dance! The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Remixed by Eurovisionaer
It’s been 2 months since the large ship-shaped stage at Copenhagen’s B&W-Hallerne fell silent and dark, the representatives of each of the 37 competing countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 sang their last (for that week at least) and the enthusiastic audience members went home, counting down the Continue Reading
A whole lotta zombies coming our way: The Walking Dead season 5 preview (videos)
If you are of sound mind and memory, you will recall that Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman Reedus) and many of the others, save for Carol, Tyreese and baby Judith who were yet to arrive at the “sanctuary” of Terminus, finished up season 4 locked tight inside a rail Continue Reading
Studio Ghibli enchants once again with the haunting When Marnie Was There
SNAPSHOT An atmospheric ghost story with truths to tell about friendship, families and loneliness. Anna lives with foster parents, a misfit with no friends, always on the outside of things. Then she is sent to Norfolk to stay with old Mr and Mrs Pegg, where she runs wild on the Continue Reading
Movie review: Calvary
Films that set out to tackle the big issues of life such as death, revenge, sexual abuse, estrangement, love and salvation to name but a handful, often tread a thankless and perilous path. They either run the risk of coming across as insufferably pretentious, too far above the day Continue Reading
“Hello Caesar, Its Gollum”: Andy Serkis imagines a conversation between the characters from LOTR and Planet of the Apes on Conan
There is no doubt about it. Andy Serkis, who has provided the speech and mannerisms for a host of motion-capture characters in movie franchises like The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and The Planet of the Apes, is an amazingly talented actor. While you very rarely see Continue Reading
Falling Skies: “The Eye” (S4, E2 review)
* Watch out there are spoilers! And aliens … don’t forget the aliens * After re-imagining, re-booting and all but completely re-tooling itself in the season 4 opener “Ghost in the Machine”, Falling Skies went on in episode 2 “The Eye” with all the gritty, dirty (literally in the Continue Reading
Finally growing up: The feel good life lessons of St. Vincent (trailer)
SNAPSHOT Maggie (McCarthy), a single mother, moves into a new home in Brooklyn with her 12-year old son, Oliver (Lieberher). Forced to work long hours, she has no choice but to leave Oliver in the care of their new neighbor, Vincent (Murray), a retired curmudgeon with a penchant for Continue Reading
Now this is music #32: Alison Wonderland, Low Roar, Seinabo Sey, La Roux, Dream Koala
It’s time to take a turn for the contemplative, the meditative with a collection of songs that recognise that life is not always kind or good to you. In the case of these songs that variously deal with getting through the hard times, surviving the end of a failed Continue Reading
Book review: The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
Grief is not the uniformly expressed, clean cut, step by step, easily measured process that modern pop psychology has led us to believe. Like any expression of our humanity, it is as individual as the person experiencing it, fleetingly brief for some, painfully lingering for others, its expression finding Continue Reading