AUGUST REVIEWS

What I’ve Been Watching

Raised by Wolves  S1

This is my top pick of the month! Written by the divine Caitlin Moran and her sister about their childhood and growing up in a home schooled environment with the most unusual mother, Della. It is set in the now, is absolutely hilarious, and chock block of snappy one liners. Caitlin’s character is Germaine, wild and without filter, much to the annoyance of her older sister Aretha. There is also the shy Yoko, the tween and only male Wyatt, the sassy toddler (this chick has me, oh my) Mariah, and the babby, Cher. You get the picture. Rounding out the cast is Grampy, who is sooo wrong on so many levels, but in the most endearing way. This is the kind of show that has you laughing out loud throughout and that’s a rarity!

The Kettering Incident

This is my next top pick, an Aussie drama that is hard to peg or describe.  A young woman, Anna, returns to her small Tasmanian home-town of Kettering from London where she is a successful doctor. But she is having black outs and is unsure why medically, although she suspects they are connected to an incident that happened when she was much younger. An incident where her step sister disappeared. When another young girl disappears, Anna now becomes the suspect. What happened to these two girls, did Anna murder them both, what are the flashing lights and unexplained phenomena that happens, did UFOs take the girls, or is it something completely different. This 8 part series has you changing your mind constantly in a town full of people who are not what they seem. Brilliant Australian cast, stunning cinematography in Tasmania, and a great script that leaves you guessing until the very last minute.

Broad City S2

I love these girls, trying to avoid work and have as much fun as they can. Besties forever, with a great supporting cast. Laughs all round and great physical comedy.

Him and Her S3

Him and Her are Steve and Becky, who live together in a small UK bedsit with a variety of visitors. This season focuses on Steve trying, very unsuccessfully to propose to Becky. This is English dry comedy at it’s very best.

Silicon Valley S2

S2 commences with Pied Piper – the start up company of the group – in demand with many firms offering them money. This takes them to dizzy heights with much sabotage along the way as the boys are not content to just roll with the victories.

Barracuda

The small mini series from the Christos Tsiolkas book about a young male swimmer who has the Olympics in his sights, until things go very wrong. The series pretty much followed the book, although it did tone down some of the more challenging subject matter.

The Night Of

I loved this drama from the get go. Basically a murder procedural, which is normally not my thing. The first episode follows a young Muslim man through a night in the city. He picks up a young woman and goes back to her apartment, and when he wakes in the morning find her stabbed multiple times and dead. There is more to it than that, it is very detailed and through a series of absurd turns finds himself arrested immediately. AS a viewer you are sure he is innocent, but all evidence points his way and nowhere else. The remainder of the series takes you on twist and turns for a resolution you will never expect. Starring the wonderful John Turturro as his goofy but clever lawyer. Turturro is outstanding,  but the rest of the cast of relatively unknowns are also great. This is must see tv!

The Intern

I admit I am way over De Niro and his attempts at comedy, I cannot remember the last film I saw him in anything that impressed me. So I had low expectations for this. It wasn’t great but it was better than I thought it would be. Anne Hathaway manages a start up biz that has taken off online and is not coping. The biz takes on interns but uses seniors instead. De Niro obviously uses his age to assist Hathaway in some life decisions.

Creed

I love Rocky, it is one of my all time fave films. And I didn’t mind the sequels either, although they were not a patch on the original. Donnie is the son of Apollo Creed, spending his younger years in jail, he decides to take up boxing and asks Rocky Balboa to train him. This is a lovely bookend to the series, though you can see they left it open for more.

Goosebumps

Loads of fun about a young boy who moves in next door to mysterious house with an odd man and his daughter living there. The odd man, Jack Black, is RL Stine, author of the Goosebumps series. When the young boy and his friend sneak into the house they find the entire series of books locked up, when they accidentally unlock one of the books, they set off a train of unbelievable events as characters from the books are unleashed. This was loads of fun!

Big Stone Gap

A pale imitation of the successful southern novels by Adriana Trigiani. The trilogy was a mix of humour, melancholy, drama, and family saga. BY condensing all three books into one movie distilled the charm of the books and made them seem dour. A shame!

Straight Outta Compton

Loved this excellent music biopic about N.W.A. It is my movie pic of the month. With a cracking story and even better soundtrack, it tell the story of their rise to fame with great performances. Paul Giamatti (can he be in every film?) is also excellent as their manager.

5 Flights Up

I still don’t know about this film, It is always lovely to see Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton on screen but I felt this was walk through kinda film for them and surely they don’t need the money. They play an older couple who decide to sell their Manhattan apartment for something easier for them to grow older in, yet neither really seem sold on the idea. Predictable and yawn worthy!   

Poet in New York

A sweet little independent film about Dylan Thomas and his visits to New York. Quite intriguing with a fine performance by the male lead and by Essie Davis as his long suffering wife.

Maigret

Rowan Atkinson plays the famous French detective, Maigret, in this first movie length feature. Young women are being murdered and Maigret is called upon to find out what is going on. Very lovely and sweet.

Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict

I loved this sooo much. I am a huge fan of Peggy and her fabulous life, and it is one of my regrets I did not get to see her art collection whilst in Venice, but I will be back. It traces the story of her remarkable life, who she befriended and her wonderful collection of modern art. This is a great doco, a must see for art lovers or lovers of history.

Agnetha Doco

This was a sweet doco about the blonde gal from Abba, her rise to fame and what happened thereafter. She still looks amazing today and her voice still stunning.

Paul McCartney/Beatles Docos

Foxtel had a Beatles month with a myriad of Beatles, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr docos. My favourite was a black and white doco of McCartney in NY not long after 9/11 and getting together his concert for NY. He was on a grounded plane that day, and could see it all unfolding outside his plane window and it upset him deeply. He wanted to help and did what he knew best, wrote some new music, and gathered some friends to play a concert. The film follows him in the weeks leading to the concert, chatting to fellow musicians, and doing a media blitz. It shows him in quite a vulnerable state. He is an old hand, but the media circus obviously gets up his nose. He likes to wander the streets and chat to people, and mostly people are respectful, but you can see how things get out of hand and he handles them well but with gravity if needed. One particular interview got to me, asked if The Beatles would ever reform (probably for the one zillionth time in his life), he simply said to the interviewer in a jovial but actually utterly heartbreaking way: ‘No, I would look to me side and he wouldn’t be there, you know.’ oh boy, talk about bring tears to your eyes.

Joni Mitchell Doco

This was a lovely doco about the life and music of Ms Mitchell. A sheer delight and class act!

Queen Docos 

Another Fox special, a whole afternoon of Queen and Freddie docos, concerts, and clips. Heavenly!!!!!

What I’ve Been Reading

In My Skin – Kate Holden

I never really get into books that are hyped up or oversold (yeah yeah I am a book snob!) and this was one I had avoided for those reasons. But I saw Kate on a panel at the Newcastle Writers Festival and was sold, so I gave it a go and really loved it. It is of course not for the faint hearted, what a horrid life she was living, but what a great recall of it and beautifully real in it’s execution.

The Romantics – Kate Holden

This is Kate’s follow up, where she disappears to Italy to reinvent herself after In My Skin. Not as salacious at the former, and showing a lack of restraint you would have thought from her previous escapades. It was still a great read, but not a patch on the earlier.

Buddhism for busy people : finding happiness in an uncertain world by David Michie

This was a lovely spoken word I listened to, with many great ideas and thoughts in terms of living a peaceful and more zen life.

The Early Stories of Truman Capote

Some early short stories by the great man, lacking his sharp wit which was obviously developed over time, they are still worthy of a read.

Men We Reaped – Jesmyn Ward

This award winning history/biography about post Katrina and how people were treated. Specifically men, men of colour, and a handful of men close to the author. Eye-opening, corruption, hatred, racism, and pure sadness. This is worth reading as a social history.

Searching for Schindler

This is another spoken word and my pick for the month (after Salinger). What a remarkable story! It tells how Thomas Keneally came across, by accident, the story of Schindler looking for a new brief case in a handbag store in California. It follows the journey of him meeting key characters, getting the story written, and sold almost immediately to film but taking many many years to become a film. Keneally weaves a wonderful yarn about how a story is told and the creative process behind it. I was in heaven!

Rare Books Uncovered – Rebecca Barry

Short essay type true stories about various rare books and how they were found. Sometimes in second-hand book stores, sometimes in old attics, sometimes in the most unusual of places. This was a fascinating read.

All the Buildings in Sydney: that I’ve drawn so far – James Hancock

This is a lovely book with crude but detailed hand drawn pics of Sydney buildings!

All Salinger, all the month – you can read here about my musings on Salinger and his published works.

My Salinger Year – Joanna Rakoff

This was an absolute delight to read. Less about Salinger and more about publishing in the late 90s and just fascinating. Rakoff, a wannabe writer, lands in New York to work at a small publishing firm. The year is 1996 and the world is moving fast electronically, but not this firm. As she commences work she realises the firm looks after one reclusive J.D.Salinger. What this mostly means is they receive many many fan letters for the great author, and it is Rakoff’s job to read them and send a form letter in return. The memoir is more than Salinger, it is surviving in New York, the dawn of the electronic age, change in the publishing industry and more.

What I’ve Been Listening To

Stranger to Stranger – Paul Simon – new album, and not bad at all

Detour – Cyndi Lauper – this is Cyndi does Country and blues and boy does it suit her. She sounds amazing. This was a great album, completely unexpected

Passenger Concert – Hammersmith 2014 – fabulous live concert featuring everything you want to hear and more.