"Mare of East town"

Is a series we bought and have just started. Pretty good.
More depth to it than the usual programs.

He Died with a Felafel in His Hand - a semi-classic cult film from downunder.  It features the story of Danny (Noah Taylor), who enters the lounge of his Sydney flat late at night and discovers that his roommate Flip (Brett Stewart) has died in front of the TV holding a felafel kebab.  It recounts his journey through various  share houses where he keeps encountering the same people who are all strange and a little weird.  It stars Noah Taylor, Emily Hamilton, Romane Bohringer, Alex Menglet, Brett Stewart, Damian Walshe-Howling, Sophie Lee, Francis McMahon, Ian Hughes.  He goes from a house in Brisbane to a house in Melbourne to a final house in Sydney.  He discovers that he is a write up give it up,  throwing his typewriter into the harbour.  In the end, Flip dies in front of the TV, Sam has confessed she loves him and Nina has run off with another flatmate, Anya, to Paris.  Run ins with goons, with the police in several cities and several thousands of dollars in debt because of his own excesses and the excesses of his flatmates, Danny ends up facing the Beaks in court.  It captured the spirit of the early 2000s and became a bit of a cult classic.  Well worth watching for the first time or again.

Avatar - The Way of Water

Watched this movie this afternoon. The follow up to the 2009 original "Avatar", this sequel exceeds the original in terms of storytelling. Whilst it lacks the "wow factor" of the original, as we have seen it all before, the visuals are still stunning.

At least 13 years have passed since the original events have taken place -- convenient. Jake and his wife Neytiri have had at least 3 children. In fact, one of their children was the speculated immaculate conception of Gracie's avatar. How that came about was part of the story, as the hybrid Na'vi (Jake and Neytiri's children) think that Dr Norm Spellman (played by Joel David Moore) had a secret affair with Dr Grace Augustine and impregnated her. In any event, things had been going swimmingly for the last 15 years (?) with (chief) Jake Sully and family. The Sully clan also have another adopted son "Spider". He was speculated to be the illegitimate son of the antagonist "Colonel Quaritch". Being born on Pandora, Miles "Spider" Socorro was too young to go back to Earth in a cryotube. Therefore, he was adopted by the community (and the tribe of the Na'vi).

One night, the Sullys find the night sky littered with a bright star (followed by smaller lights). Nothing short of another invasion was on the cards for the Na'vi, as the "skypeople" from Earth are trying to re-establish control of Pandora. Not satisfied with leaving Colonel Quaritch for the past, the invaders create an avatar for Quaritch so that he could be 'reborn' with his old 'charms' to exact revenge again Sully and his clan.

Sully, knowing the ominous outcome of staying with the Omaticaya (Na'vi forest people), choses exile to seek refuge with the reef people. Although shunned at first, the leader of the Metkayina accepts the Sullys into his clan, with the hope to teach them their ways. Quaritch, however, begins to track down the Sullys (somehow looking towards the reef clans for some reason) through a process of elimination and drawing out the targets through targeting the sully children. Spider is taken hostage by the marines and is used as an interpreter.

Much of the remainder of the movie is a back and forth tactic of escape and capture. Inclusive is that the whales of the Pandora world have helped in assisting the Na'vi to prevent capture. Although, I would agree that much of the movie is a 1.5 hour story put inside a 3 hour movie.

I found this movie better than the first movie. Although, I did watch "Avatar" last night and felt that I might have had a bit of an overload of CGI amnesia by the end of the movie. That seemed true again this time around in theatre. Director James Cameron was alleged to say that cinema sales would need to be $2 billion for the movie to break even. I find that a $400 million dollar budgeted movie would not need that amount to break even. Although the movie would need to do about $1 billion in sales to make money. I figure that the Avatar sequel should probably make $2 billion anyway. If big budgeted schlock movies can make a billion, "The Way of Water" should make $2 billion.

Rating: A-

I was fairly tired yesterday afternoon. I thought that I was going to fall asleep in the theatre. So, I closed my eyes for 5 minutes and practically dozed through the previews. I was awake for the entire 3 hours and whatever minutes of the movie. It was like Titanic meets Aliens meets The Matrix meets Pocahontas. Much of the last 13 years between original and sequel have been a splattering of mid-range big budgeted movies that I feel are not worthy of anything more than dvd or blu ray purchases.

I have kind of made the decision not to watch the other 2 sequels of Avatar when they are released in cinema. I might just purchase a dvd and rewatch to my heart's desire.

Wheels on Meals - a Jackie Chan action movie set in Spain.  Made in 2010, It stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Biao Yuen, Benny Urquidez, Lola Forner, Keith Vitali, Herbert Edelman, Richard Ng.  Filmed in and around I assume Madrid, it follows the adventures of two young men who run a food van,  A bit of nonsense without much to redeem it except exceptional Kung Fu fights and a pretty Spanish girl.  I give it a score of about 8 out 10. 

Frank wrote on Dec 5^th, 2022 at 6:57am:

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/movie-reviews/the-nearperfect-the-b...

Frank wrote on Jun 27^th, 2022 at 7:52am:



Not a fan of Baz's previous movies but had a gawk at this one last night.

Very well done.

I liked it that the fat period was not dwelt on too much and that Elvis's death was not over done.

Great selection of both the young and old actors that had a very strong resemblance to the original 👍

Glass Onion - Netflix.

Quite an amusing tale that seems to be thinly disguised as a satire about Elon Musk! 

Well worth a look.

Mind you, Daniel Craig's accent is a little on the bizarre side.