My new favourite tumblr: Des Hommes et des Chatons

I was going to wait and put this in Five for Friday but I can't wait that long to share!

Des Hommes et des Chatons.

As you can see, too many good images to choose from, so I went a little crazy.

Yes, I am going to turn in to a scary old cat lady. And I'm ok with that. 

I love Judi Dench...

Movie review: The Bourne Legacy

I can’t honestly review this movie because I’m not enough of a fan. I like the series, I had this huge urge to re-watch it from the start a couple of weeks, but if I try to review the movie I’m just going to get something wrong. 

So, fourth movie in the series, first one minus Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. That didn’t bother me in the slightest because I have a screen-crush on Jeremy Renner so I enjoyed every minute he was on screen. 

The movie is utterly predictable and like every other action film, particularly the previous Bourne movies. Nothing is new, nothing is experimental. Which isn’t to say it isn’t highly enjoyable as an action flick. Good fight scenes, tough guys, CIA fuck-ups and conspiracies abound. 

This movie feels like a stepping stone of a film. The studio wants to continue the franchise, Matt Damon didn’t want to make any more, so they needed to find a way to continue. This is a stepping stone film to give them an excuse to keep creating Bourne movies and eek out this block-buster franchise. 

One thing I would say is that if like me, it’s been a while since you’ve indulged in the Bourne movies, try and re-watch or remind yourself of the previous three before going to see this one. There was a lot of reference to previous ‘program’ plot lines and I got a bit lost in it all. If I’d known what the CIA/agency people were talking about I might have enjoyed ‘the plot’ a bit more. 

So yeah The Bourne Legacy – go see it for a mindless action film night out. Buy a drink to take into the movie with you, it’s a long film.

Movie review: Magic Mike

One of my closest friends is getting married next month. As part of her pre-marriage celebrations it was decided that a collection of females should get together for a film-bonding experience. The film of choice was one wedding-related but we missed

So on the bride-to-be’s suggestion we opted for the next best thing: half-naked men. Yes, last night I went to see Magic Mike. 

Magic Mike is inspired by star Channing Tatum’s previous life as a male stripper. It’s pretty lazy on the notion of plot-line and the drama / conflict feels so token. It’s as if the film makers decided they couldn’t really make a movie that was 1.5 hours of stripping, so they threw in the easiest, most obvious ‘conflict’ they could muster. Conflict enters story, provides ‘drama’, conflict leaves. Subplot: dealt with. 

Really though, this film is about men getting naked and ‘fulfilling the dreams’ of their under-sexed female clientele.  The dance / strip scenes are what makes this movie worth seeing and there are some genuinely spectacular moves on display. Tatum in particular is a true performer who relishes his turns on stage. There is a great scene of Matthew McConaughey instructing the latest recruit on the art of hip-grinding to achieve maximum frenzy in the audience.  

 Oh god, no.

Five for Friday no. 29

Dressing like social media. I'm so traditional - I'd choose from Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

 'facebook'. Image courtesy of B for Bel.

A girlfriend of mine shared this around last Friday so I thought I would pass it on. A song for Friday.

 

The beauty of the Stockholm Subway. I miss living in a city with a subway. 
 

 

 Image courtesy of This Art is Yours.

L.A. as a film map.

The cutest things that ever happened. Do not open unless you have spare time and a supply of 'awwww'.

 

A creative long weekend in Brisbane

Thursday

Thursday night I was taken to the premiere of A Hoax at La Boite. Now, shamefully I must admit that prior to entering the theatre I had No Idea what the play was about. Fortunately there was a wonderful little program that told you it was inspired by cases of great 20thC literary hoaxes while giving away absolutely nothing of the plot.

The first act - I have never heard so much swearing on stage - was shockingly funny. The second act was confronting and the four actors excelled at every moment and we the audience of loving if slightly jaded Brisbane Arts Types lapped it up. Not so much about literary hoaxes as identity, the nature of truth, media and the lies we tell ourselves and each other, it’s a great work by Australian award-winner writer Rick Viede. Brisbane is the world premiere location.

Some shows this week have had to be cancelled. The lead actress is flying to Cannes because her film debut ‘Sapphire’ has been selected for the Cannes International Film Festival (congratulations!) so I don’t know if the run has therefore been extended.  If you get the opportunity, I’d recommend seeing it.

Image courtesy of La Boite.

Friday

Friday night saw me walking around Highgate Hill looking for the location an impromptu show venue. Anywhere Theatre Festival sees theatre work by starting-up writers, actors and directors being performed anywhere except a conventional stage. Last year I saw The Taming of the Shrew at The Zoo; there are shows in parks, in the Queen Street Mall and tonight I was looking for the ordinary suburban house hosting the show. 

A House of Cards has, sadly, finished its' run. It was performed underneath a house with the audience on couches, mattresses and bean bags. I’d got there early because Chuck was official photographer and got a front and centre comfy-couch position. The show was short and sweet, the work of writer / director / lead actor Michala and inspired by a Radiohead song.

Anywhere Theatre Festival is running until the 19th of May and is an annual event in Brisbane. There are usually half a dozen shows on every night so there is sure to be something you want to see and the tickets tend to range from free-of-charge to about $15, so don’t say you can’t afford it.  It’s a great way for you to have a night out and support your local just-getting-started theatre scene.



Saturday

Saturday was hastily organised on Thursday when I discovered that Polytoxic Loves You were putting on their new show The Rat Trap.

The brother-troupe for Polytoxic Loves You are ‘Briefs; all male, all vaudeville, all trash.’. I’ve been to see them twice now in Brisbane and its a show that I will happily see every time they come around because they’re juts so godsdamn entertaining. I knew Polytoxic Loves you - which is half the guys from Briefs with a couple of cool women thrown in - would be excellent so I persuaded a bunch of friends to coming along with me, telling them it was 'circus cabaret' and there we were on Saturday night.

This is the blurb for the show; 

Polytoxic invites you to The Rat Trap, a technicolour tiki bar where the doors are locked but the drinks are flowing. Curfew is lifted and the guest list includes the high flying King of Burlesque, a body adorned Samoan chief, a hot brown bitch, a fabulous femme fatale and a seven-foot Islander drag offender. Come witness the unholy union of these five mongrel cross-breeds as a soap-opera saga of epic proportions unfolds.

I can't do any better than that description. Fun, fabulous, circus cabaret, striptease and shameless overacting as the 5 performers ran amok in the closed studio. I can’t say anymore except we all had a wonderful night out and I now have another group of fiends who insist on being invited the next time either Briefs or Polytoxic Loves You are performing.

Photo courtesy of PolyToxic Loves You.

The Rat Trap is running at The Billie Brown Studio until 26 May. If you’re 30 and under tickets are only $30 and it’s a night out of genuine entertainment. Hell, it’s worth it just to see the crowned King of Burlesque do his stuff. Want to know what the hell that means? Go see the show!

Mark Winmill performing as part of Briefs.

Sunday

Sunday night was one of my first gigs of the year (shamefully slack). Frank Turner, William Elliott Whitmore and The Smith Street Band at The Zoo. I was going primarily for Frank Turner but Chuck got me onto the other acts in the lead up to last night’s show and I’d had Sigourney Weaver by The Smith Street Band in my head for a week!

I can’t write a gig review. I’m hoping Chuck will do that for me. It was a brilliant line up of local and international, the crowd was for the most part really into every set and the guys were all clearly having a brilliant time on the last night of their Australian Tour.

Frank Turner is such an enjoyable live musician. The fans at the front of the stage – of which I was one – single along to every word and he really plays for the crowd, putting on a fun show like he’s just really enjoying our company.  So we sang and yelled and I danced like a fool and bought CDs. Check out Frank Turner on his website or on YouTube.

The trustworthiness of beards

Another sweet info-graphic (because who doesn’t love info graphics), this time on the trustworthiness of beards. I’m not sure I agree with all of it but I think it is pretty accurate. Especially the placing of the neck beard in ‘threatening’, because neck beards are manky and indicative of certain laziness and lack of self-care.

If you have a bearded man in your life or you are thinking of inviting one in, please take a look at this helpful chart to gauge just how trustworthy they are and perhaps take the necessary precautions.

Movie review: James McAvoy, sorry...X-Men First Class

Last night I went to see X-Men: First Class and loved it. It was exactly what I thought it would be; an action movie covered in a thin layer of translucent plot with a healthy side serving of cheese.

What really made this evening of high-quality low-thought entertainment was the casting of James McAvoy as the young Charles Xavier. X-Men was two hours of James McAvoy deliciousness.

James McAvoy made it on to my Grade 12 'celebrity husbands' list (I think Jane's as well, but she might not like that I said that) and I think he'd still be on there if, say, I got desperately bored at work one Friday and wrote a new version. He and January Jones both played telepathes and I think they were the sexiest mutants in the whole movie. James McAvoy as the thinking, charming but incredibly powerful mutant and January Jones as the evil side-kick strutting through the movie in a series of skimpy or leather outfits a la a 1960's Bond film.

If you know what should happen in the comics, you probably won't enjoy the movie. But that's so often the way with book → movie translations; guaranteed to disappoint and annoy most fans. I personally got very indignant at the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 trailer before the film started.

Anyway, the movie was very entertaining provided you had no expectations. I'm not going to try for a more sophisticated review – there are enough reviews by people who really care about the franchise for that. Just go if you like a night of mindless entertainment and James McAvoy.