Another year over … Hard to believe another 365 days of movie and TV and song and book-filled wonder has passed and we’re here once again greeting Santa Claus with cookies and milk (and likely a zombie, a twerker and faulty stars too). Given it is almost the end Continue Reading
aussiemoose
On the 12th day of Christmas … I decorated my tree with pop culture icons
When I bought my first Christmas tree as an adult in 1992 – I was technically an adult for about a decade before that but it took some money and a mindset change before I got around to acquiring my own tree; for years, in my mind at least, the only Continue Reading
Timely Christmas message: Sir Ian McKellen and Cookie Monster learn how to resist
If ever there was a word with which we all need to be familiar at this time of the year, it’s “Resist”. But like Cookie Monster, who doesn’t quite get the concept, the idea of it evades many of us as we saunter off for another bathtub of eggnog, Continue Reading
On the 11th day of Christmas … I watched “The Grimm Who Stole Christmas”
* HO HO HO! THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW! ** “I have but to swallow this, and be for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation. Humbug, I tell you; humbug.” Christmas is without a doubt a most magical time of Continue Reading
Movie review: The Captive
If there is one thing that can be said for Atom Egoyan’s movies of late, it is that he has not surrendered the immersive visual or narrative style that made his name with movies like Exotica (1994) and The Sweet Hereafter (1997). His latest film, The Captive, starring Ryan Continue Reading
On the 10th day of Christmas … I listened to Idina Menzel’s Holiday Wishes
There’s no doubting the sheer awe-inspiring talent of the voice of Frozen, Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran Idina Menzel. She has a voice straight from the gods, one that combines fearsome power and delicate beauty, the sort of stage presence money cannot buy, and the kind of vibrant personality that has Continue Reading
“What does it all mean?” The trailer for Sundance documentary The Visit
SNAPSHOT An alien encounter. A hypothetical visitor arrives from Outer Space. The authorities are immediately alerted – the military, defence and communication advisors, and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. How to deal with this unprecedented event? How to reassure Earth’s inhabitants, who are prone to panic, Continue Reading
On the 9th day of Christmas … I read Everything I Need to Know About Christmas I Learned From a Little Golden Book
If there is one thing I learnt very early on in life, it’s that Little Golden Books have a lot to teach a person. It doesn’t matter what the circumstance may be, the simple life lessons of these gloriously-drawn, perfectly-worded books provide all the instructions you need to make Continue Reading
Weekend festive pop art: Santa Claus is coming to a movie poster you love!
Ever get the feeling that Santa Claus is EVERYWHERE? It’s a sensation not helped by songs like “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, which incidentally is the most played Christmas song of the past 100 years, which has lyrics like: “He sees you when you’re sleeping He knows when Continue Reading
On the 8th Day of Christmas … I watched the movie A Merry Friggin’ Christmas
We love our families. We hate our families. It’s a war of competing, diametrically-opposed emotions for most families each Christmas who, though they long for tree-decorating, eggnog-sipping harmony, usually end up with the festive version of War of the Roses. Perhaps that it is a little extreme, but the Continue Reading