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INDEX: Paris Underground + Going in Style + The Fauves + Jackie Reese + Blue Eyes + My Fair Lady (Theatre) + Seven Types of Ambiguity + John Wick + Winter Blues (music) + Alien: Covenant + Their Finest + Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol 2) + My Emma + The Fate of the Furious + Beauty and the Beast + Spiral +Jean Paul Samputu + A Streetcar Named Bob + Adele + Moonlight + Trapped + Hidden Figures + Kinky Boots + Manchester by the Sea + La La Land + The Other Side of the Wind
+ Sense8 + Hacksaw Ridge + Fantastic Beasts
+ Sense8 + Hacksaw Ridge + Fantastic Beasts
For book reviews click HERE
Making Sense of it
Reviewed by Michael Meyer
Sense8
Stars: Doona Bae, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai
Creator: Lilly Wachowski
Netflix
Sense8 is a science fiction series on Netflix. The trailer advertising got me right in (see below).
Episode One, two and maybe three. Yeh, they was interesting. There were too many characters being introduced for too short a time which was frustrating me and I was glazing over a bit not being able to get into these characters or really understanding what was going on. It was difficult to get to know the 8 major players because they were there for such a short time.
However, if you stayed with it, and that’s a major achievement for me who shifts away from a website in 20 seconds if it doesn’t load quickly, around series 3-4 (of 12) it takes off.
These 8 people come from all walks of life and very different backgrounds and live in different countries. One by one, circum-stances start to connect them together in an unusual real-time transition from one to another. It happens anywhere to the point where only that person can talk to another one of the eight so if anyone else is around it starts to get pretty interesting, and funny.
The 8 are linked mentally(at first) and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order.
Without scene stealing, amongst the group is a pretty smart, rich gal who also happens to be a martial arts expert, takes the fall for corporate crime and ends up in jail, there’s an actor with a boyfriend and a girlfriend, there’s a cop, a fella from Mumbai, two girlfriends but only one of them is a Sense8.
Stars: Doona Bae, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai
Creator: Lilly Wachowski
Netflix
Sense8 is a science fiction series on Netflix. The trailer advertising got me right in (see below).
Episode One, two and maybe three. Yeh, they was interesting. There were too many characters being introduced for too short a time which was frustrating me and I was glazing over a bit not being able to get into these characters or really understanding what was going on. It was difficult to get to know the 8 major players because they were there for such a short time.
However, if you stayed with it, and that’s a major achievement for me who shifts away from a website in 20 seconds if it doesn’t load quickly, around series 3-4 (of 12) it takes off.
These 8 people come from all walks of life and very different backgrounds and live in different countries. One by one, circum-stances start to connect them together in an unusual real-time transition from one to another. It happens anywhere to the point where only that person can talk to another one of the eight so if anyone else is around it starts to get pretty interesting, and funny.
The 8 are linked mentally(at first) and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order.
Without scene stealing, amongst the group is a pretty smart, rich gal who also happens to be a martial arts expert, takes the fall for corporate crime and ends up in jail, there’s an actor with a boyfriend and a girlfriend, there’s a cop, a fella from Mumbai, two girlfriends but only one of them is a Sense8.
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They all get brought together in times of duress. The skills of each other helps them get out of trouble.
The series is set on location, photography is fabulous and the series action-packed and sexy for many unusual reasons. 8 in the tub and the other one said? It’s a fantastic series. It’s a pity we can’t all watch it on Netflix. But for $12 a month (how much is Foxtel??) well worth the value for this series alone. Then there’s Queen's Gambit and … The series had its critics early on because of the slow start but once it’s up and running I found I was wanting more and watching three episodes in a row. |
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Brave Heart
Reviewed by Karyn Sheridan
Hacksaw Ridge
Starring: Andrew Garfield
Director: Mel Gibson
As the director with a mostly Australian cast and set in New South Wales and Fox Studios, Mel Gibson took an event during World War ll and turned it into an award-winning film.
In the beginning, the Doss family lived on a farm in Lynchburg, Virginia. With the second world war upon them, and despite the father being in the World War One, he is firmly against his sons’ joining the army. However, one son does, Desmond Doss.
In flashbacks about the family, it becomes apparent why Desmond won’t go into battle with a weapon. His father’s use of a gun set Doss against using firearms. It was that moment that became pivotal to his beliefs.
The scene changes from the quiet of the farm where he and his brother grew up to the horrors of war.
Starring: Andrew Garfield
Director: Mel Gibson
As the director with a mostly Australian cast and set in New South Wales and Fox Studios, Mel Gibson took an event during World War ll and turned it into an award-winning film.
In the beginning, the Doss family lived on a farm in Lynchburg, Virginia. With the second world war upon them, and despite the father being in the World War One, he is firmly against his sons’ joining the army. However, one son does, Desmond Doss.
In flashbacks about the family, it becomes apparent why Desmond won’t go into battle with a weapon. His father’s use of a gun set Doss against using firearms. It was that moment that became pivotal to his beliefs.
The scene changes from the quiet of the farm where he and his brother grew up to the horrors of war.
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There is nothing ‘simple’ in Hacksaw Ridge, as one reviewer stated. It is a bloody movie, relentless in its pursuit of violence in war. This event is a fact which saves it from being another war film, full of glory for the winners and little else except to add mistreatment to both sides.
Slow to begin, it ramps up during a battle on the island of Okinawa during WWll. Here is where we see in full terror the guts and gore that is war. It is shocking and cringe-worthy in its relentless depiction of ferocity and chaos. However, it is the determination of one Desmond T. Doss, a conscientious objector who becomes a combat medic with an infantry company so that his own conscience is clear to sign up but without using a gun. It causes problems for the Army. Who would go to war without firing a shot? |
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Doss on top of the escarpment. Photo: Courtesy Desmond Doss Council
Doss, a tall lanky and vigorous young man is accepted into the Army and abused by the other soldiers because of his strong beliefs as a Seventh-day Adventist. During training, he is as fit and more active than the others and, in some quarters, there is a quiet respect for this man of a Christian faith so strong that he continues to embrace the fight against guns.
It is on the island of Okinawa that this story comes into its own. The Americans are losing this battle. So many lives lost but in amongst the carnage is Doss, who carries or drags those alive to relative safety. The order is given to evacuate.
As Doss is one of the last to leave, he sees men who are alive. He stays and hours later he is still bringing casualties to safety, one by one, all 75 soldiers in various stages of injury. Each man he returned to save he asked his Saviour, ‘please help me get one more’. His strength incredible, and with legs buckling he did. There are heart-wrenching moments as he drags his fellow men to the edge of Maeda escarpment, ties a rope around them and secured to himself drops them to medics below.
All too soon, the word spread about the incredible determination of Doss and the fact he was alone in returning soldiers to safety. Reinforcements arrived, and the tide of war changed dramatically.
President Truman awarded Doss the Medal of Honour in 1945.
Desmond Doss died on the 23rd March 2006 aged 87.
Note: Desmond T Doss was the first and only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for actions above and beyond the call of duty in World War II. Two others, also conscientious objectors, received this honour during the Vietnam war. Wikipedia.
It is on the island of Okinawa that this story comes into its own. The Americans are losing this battle. So many lives lost but in amongst the carnage is Doss, who carries or drags those alive to relative safety. The order is given to evacuate.
As Doss is one of the last to leave, he sees men who are alive. He stays and hours later he is still bringing casualties to safety, one by one, all 75 soldiers in various stages of injury. Each man he returned to save he asked his Saviour, ‘please help me get one more’. His strength incredible, and with legs buckling he did. There are heart-wrenching moments as he drags his fellow men to the edge of Maeda escarpment, ties a rope around them and secured to himself drops them to medics below.
All too soon, the word spread about the incredible determination of Doss and the fact he was alone in returning soldiers to safety. Reinforcements arrived, and the tide of war changed dramatically.
President Truman awarded Doss the Medal of Honour in 1945.
Desmond Doss died on the 23rd March 2006 aged 87.
Note: Desmond T Doss was the first and only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for actions above and beyond the call of duty in World War II. Two others, also conscientious objectors, received this honour during the Vietnam war. Wikipedia.
2001 - Fantastic Beasts
Reviewed by Karyn Sheridan
Thunderbird Frank
Pickett Bowtruckle
It is not necessary to know everything about Harry Potter to enjoy this movie. Some of the creatures in the narrative come from previous Potter stories. This quirky illusory feature is author JK Rowling’s first screenwriting effort with a subliminal message about Harry Potter. It arrives in the form of a Guide to Magical Animals and written by the lead character Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). It was a text Harry used from this book. There is always criticism aligned to such a movie, and this one isn’t let off without comment. However, if fantasy and magic are your cup of tea, then you will love the film.
To start at the beginning, it is 1926 when Newt, a magi zoologist arrives in New York for field work for a book he’s writing. His battered old suitcase holds his magical creatures. But into this case he can also go, and there he wanders a vast nature reserve full of his friendly beasts some of whom have escaped.
However, the bumbling Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) in New York to gain a loan for his bakery business inadvertently grabs Newt’s suitcase instead of his own. He finds himself in another world that he’s not sure he likes. Both he and Newt meet two female wizard sisters one of who reads Jacob’s mind, which isn’t such a good idea because Queenie (Alison Sudol) is a gorgeous blonde. Her sister, Porpentina Goldstein (Katherine Waterson) is an investigator for the Magical Congress of the United States. Her job is to rein in wizardry and the animals that have escaped from anywhere especially Newt’s suitcase. She faces a dilemma when she meets Newt and Jacob.
The three friends inform Jacob that what he has seen and experienced will be wiped from his memory when he returns to his world. He does not fully understand how this may happen. In the meantime, Newt and Jacob try desperately to recapture the animals and throughout their adventures they find themselves up against the evils of Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) who dominates the city. Mayhem strikes the railway station as Graves wreaks havoc and destruction aplenty.
To start at the beginning, it is 1926 when Newt, a magi zoologist arrives in New York for field work for a book he’s writing. His battered old suitcase holds his magical creatures. But into this case he can also go, and there he wanders a vast nature reserve full of his friendly beasts some of whom have escaped.
However, the bumbling Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) in New York to gain a loan for his bakery business inadvertently grabs Newt’s suitcase instead of his own. He finds himself in another world that he’s not sure he likes. Both he and Newt meet two female wizard sisters one of who reads Jacob’s mind, which isn’t such a good idea because Queenie (Alison Sudol) is a gorgeous blonde. Her sister, Porpentina Goldstein (Katherine Waterson) is an investigator for the Magical Congress of the United States. Her job is to rein in wizardry and the animals that have escaped from anywhere especially Newt’s suitcase. She faces a dilemma when she meets Newt and Jacob.
The three friends inform Jacob that what he has seen and experienced will be wiped from his memory when he returns to his world. He does not fully understand how this may happen. In the meantime, Newt and Jacob try desperately to recapture the animals and throughout their adventures they find themselves up against the evils of Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) who dominates the city. Mayhem strikes the railway station as Graves wreaks havoc and destruction aplenty.
Newt and Pickett
Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) is a shy young man and who is consistently used by the dark wizard Graves for power over the metropolis and eventually Credence ekes out his vengeance. A necklace given to Credence by Graves which warns when there is danger disappears leaving this part open for further development. Also, what happened to Modesty, the only friend of Credence? Both adopted, but Modesty is frightened by what Credence shows in his magic. She disappears back into her destroyed former home.
The assortment of adorable, hilarious and bizarre animals is appealing such as the tiny, sprig-like Pickett Bowtruckle. A shy creature that, as the environmentalist, supplies wand wood for wizards. The Niffler, much like our platypus is endearing and adorable. He was in the fourth Harry Potter Story, Goblet of Fire. New words for creatures thought up by Rowling include Thunderbird Frank; Swooping Evil; a Demiguise; an Erumpent; Graphorns; and the Occamy amongst others but the speed at which these animals appeared then disappeared is quite staggering.
The magic of several pieces of special effects included an iron gliding on its own over a piece of material; pieces of paper flying to be filed by itself is hard to keep up with as so many emerge.
J K Rowling’s wild imagination shows no bounds because the story for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was conjured up way back in 2001. There are at least three stories to follow which makes one wonder what she has in mind beyond this series?
The assortment of adorable, hilarious and bizarre animals is appealing such as the tiny, sprig-like Pickett Bowtruckle. A shy creature that, as the environmentalist, supplies wand wood for wizards. The Niffler, much like our platypus is endearing and adorable. He was in the fourth Harry Potter Story, Goblet of Fire. New words for creatures thought up by Rowling include Thunderbird Frank; Swooping Evil; a Demiguise; an Erumpent; Graphorns; and the Occamy amongst others but the speed at which these animals appeared then disappeared is quite staggering.
The magic of several pieces of special effects included an iron gliding on its own over a piece of material; pieces of paper flying to be filed by itself is hard to keep up with as so many emerge.
J K Rowling’s wild imagination shows no bounds because the story for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was conjured up way back in 2001. There are at least three stories to follow which makes one wonder what she has in mind beyond this series?
Niffler
