Review: About Time (2013)

A very delightful and quirky British film that manages to combine a great sense of humorabouttime1 and some quite interesting time travel in one package.

A lot of the time travel episodes revolve around fixing awkward boy-girl mistakes and this is what gives the film its ultimate charm. In one sequence the central character Tim for example uses his powers to go back three times and repeat his sexual performance with the new girlfriend to get it “just right”.

In fact in the pursuit of love and happiness with his new found squeeze he often repeats every little encounter until he gets it just right.

After Bill Nighy’s arch evil performance as a vampire in the Underworld series of films, it took a little while to adjust to him as the caring father; but he delivers a brilliant performance that ultimately makes the film what it is,

Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre The Wiggles – Apples and Bananas Tour

The Wiggles “Apples and Bananas” Tour launches 2014 at a cracking pace! Anthony. Emma, Lachy and Simon start their tour in Sydney and then travel from March until June entertaining children around most of Australia. By the end of this year, The Wiggles will have toured to every state and Territory in our wide brown land! After launching their latest TV series “Ready, Steady, Wiggle! to most of the world as well as four CD and DVD titles, The Wiggles spent most of the last year touring. Red Wiggle and former “Phantom of the Opera” musical theatre star Simon, breathlessly enthused. “I thought I’d toured before, but being in The Wiggles has meant I’ve performed in places I’d only seen on a map before, its been so much fun!” 
The Wiggles fame is founded on their all singing and dancing live concerts and the “Apples and Bananas” tour promises to be one of the best! “We’ve played around a lot of the world over the last year” said Blue Wiggle and founder Anthony. “Australia, New Zealand, Canada, right across the USA and even to the sands of Dubai. At one stage, we had spent more time on our tour bus than in our homes! But it was so worth it, the reception has just been amazing.” Purple Wiggle Lachy enthuses. “From getting to perform at a Mets baseball game in New York to the hundreds of performances in radio stations where all we had was an acoustic guitar and our voices, it’s been a blast!” The first female Wiggle Emma feels like her feet have not yet touched the ground with TIME and PEOPLE magazine in the USA trumpeting her inclusion. “I grew up listening to The Wiggles and so the songs are there in my brain. To be asked to be part of this group is a dream come true”. And it looks like our young audience has taken notice with the appearance of what journalists have called “The Mini-Emma Army’, girls dressing like Emma with their bows in their hair and even on their shoes. “They are the most adorable “army” I’ve ever seen, they’re quite “bow-tiful” laughed Emma.

The Apples and Bananas tour will feature songs from their new Apples and Bananas CD and DVD which is a new collection of nursery Rhymes such as “This Old Man” and “The Wheels on the Bus” given The Wiggles magical music touch. Wiggles songs are a part of every Aussie child’s as their most recent CD and DVD number one success on the I-tunes chart show (for Hot Potatoes, The Best of The Wiggles), the latest Wiggles hits such as “Do the Propellor” and “Simon Says” are just as popular as anything over their 23 year history. The “Apples and Bananas'” tour will feature these new hits as well as Wiggle classics such as “Hot Potato” and “Rock a Bye Your Bear”. The Fab Four of fun will of course be joined by Dorothy the Dinosaur, Captain Feathersword, Wags the Dog and Henry the Octopus!

2014 will see The Wiggles filming a new series of Ready, Steady, Wiggle and preparing for a new Wiggles feature film! Blue Wiggle Anthony added, “It’s a new generation of Wiggle fans” and we can’t wait for them to see this new show. Don’t miss your chance to see the most successful children’s group of all time. Get your tickets to The Wiggles “Apples and Bananas” tour as they’ll sell like …..hot potatoes!

Police appeal for information following theft of fuel near Wagga Wagga

Police are appealing for information after fuel was stolen from a property near Wagga Wagga last month. Just before 10pm on Wednesday 11 December 2013, two men entered a property near Currawarna -approximately 30km north-west of Wagga Wagga – and stole fuel.

Police believe it is possible the fuel was then on-sold to local members of the public. They are seeking assistance from anyone who may have purchased fuel around that time, or who has information about the incident.

Detective Inspector Steve Radford from the Wagga Wagga Local Area Command has also issued a safety warning to other property owners in the area. “Property owners and machinery users alike are advised to ensure the security of their properties and fuel tanks,” Detective Inspector Radford said. “We also recommend property owners consider the installation of cameras as a preventative measure,” he said.

Review: The Banshee Chapter (2013)

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Anyone that works it out first time watching gets a prize!

A sometimes rather confusing film focusing around the MK Ultra mind control experiments of the CIA.

Two journalists end up taking an experimental drug used in these mind control experiments to locate another friend who took it and disappeared. It appears that the drug opens the ingest-er up to another dimension Ala Pulse. Strange things start happening but nobody is quite sure whether they are hallucinations or not.

All in all a rather interesting film, which probably needs a few watches to fully glean what is going on. The ending of the film really asks more questions than it answers, but if like me you think that is cool (i.e. it leaves you wondering) you will like it.

Review: Insidious Chapter 2 (2013)

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Just as screamy as the original!

Essentially a continuation of the original Insidious film with a lot of back story and extra hints about where it all came from from the master horror director James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring).

The ending of the first film left us kind of guessing, but in the sequel all our questions are answered and the final battle between the family and an army of nasty demons is won.

I was rather intrigued at how well this movie matched the original and I suspect that a lot of the footage was shot with the original. Footage cut out to the reduce the length of the finished film was brought back into play. Either that or they had the best continuity people in Hollywood History.

All things considered I think this sequel was almost as good as the original!

Review: Insidious (2010)

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Dpn’t watch this one too late at night..

This is a very scary film in the finest traditions of horror, despite being something of a photocopy of Poltergeist,

After some horrible disturbances and spooky faces in the dark a young boy lapses into a coma for no reason. His parents soon realize, with a help of a psychic, that a battle beyond life itself is going on for control of his body.

Some very good special effects and lots of screamy frights make this a great horror night in. The ending is a real kicker.

Review: We Are What We Are (2013)

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Yes more grossness to come…

This is a very disturbing film which rather than being exactly a horror flick is more gross than anything else.

Certainly there are many elements of Gothic horror in it which leave you feeling even more unsettled, but in essence once you work out whats really going on its just a stomach churner!

Having said that We Are What We Are is beautifully filmed and well acted with very good performances from some of its younger stars. It has an overall atmosphere and creepiness that heralds something deep and dark throughout.

Review: Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (2013)

Normally I don’t do reviews on mini-series but Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter was so good and undserso filmic that I decided it qualifies.

The German series focuses on the war time experiences of five friends and how it changes them forever. Two are brothers and members of the Wehrmacht (Regular Germany Army). They are set to go on their first posting which is to the ill-fated Russian campaign. One is a nurse who is also going to Russia to work in hospitals behind the front lines. Another is an entertainer who wants to be bigger than Marlene Dietrich, the final is a Jewish man who works in his fathers tailoring business. All five have been friends since they were children.

The story is very complex over three episodes and to explain much of it here would be to spoil it for you. What I can say is that the production values are first rate with film values that stand up beside some of the best such as Band of Brothers.

I believe this series is about to be shown on SBS so I would not miss it when you see it airing.

Review: Young and Wild (2012)

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A publicity photo for the film. It didn’t get quite this debauched.

A very interesting film from Chile about a young girl with evangelistic religious manic parents who do every thing they can to repress her sexuality.

This of course has precisely the opposite affect and the girls sets about various interludes with both her boyfriend and another girl, which she chronicles in her online blog “Young and Wild”.

My only criticism of a quite entertaining film was that it was unnecessarily graphic in part. Whilst I don’t see a major problem with pornography as such, having it spliced through this movie constantly for dramatic affect only degraded the film somewhat. The story could have been told just as effectively without having to get quite so vernacular.

Having said that a close argument could be made that it was directly related to the turmoil inside the young girl Daniella and the rebellion she showed to the puritanical life in which she is placed. I guess its just a matter of taste,

Review: Jeune et Jolie (2013)

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Yes I think she finally got the seduction bit right…

Otherwise known as Young and BeautifulJeune et Jolie is yet another French film about a young girl becoming a prostitute.

One has to wonder i guess why there are quite so many films of this ilk coming out at the moment in World Cinema, it seems to be a topic that is both titillating and fascinating to audiences the world over.

I don’t think its all men in their forties that are driving a market for this type of film either, as they are doing the job and winning awards at Cannes (Although you might find some link as they invariably contain lots of nude scenes of beautiful young actresses with decrepit old men!).

This films perhaps stands out as an exploration of a young girls journey to understanding seduction. Through her work she slowly realizes that their is more to sex than just the act itself.