Adam The God

No, that is how you spell and pronounce it. Just read that intelligence is more likely apparently passed on by the mother. So he must have had an intelligent mother.

I didn't get a lot from Bronson. I don't love Chopper, but I can see its merits and it's certainly a better film. Tom Hardy is great though.

He's been in a bit of a blind spot for me. I've seen Bronson and have been meaning to see Drive and the Pusher films for years, but have never really wanted to enough. Love the Drive soundtrack though. I got into that at the time. Cliff Martinez is great.

Yeah, true, although I can often look past substance if the style is amazing. Hence my love of giallos, but I have never been able to with Burton. His first Batman film is good.

Yeah, I studied German Expressionism at Uni too. Haven't seen The Sniper, Ace In The Hole or Murder, My Sweet. I find it one of the great paradoxes that I love German Expressionism and noirs, but rarely like anything by Tim Burton.

Noirs are great. Roots in the German Expressionist period. I love the style. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari - the original Shutter Island. Double Indemnity, Laura, The Third Man, The Night of the Hunter and one of my all time favourite films, Vertigo. The top of the list for me of neo noirs is also considered a giallo, DePalma's Dressed To Kill. Love the Cohen's first film too, Blood Simple.

Just finished watching the genius that is Adam Curtis with his new film HyperNormalisation, which came out a couple of days ago in the UK. This film is incredible. If you haven't heard of Curtis, he makes documentary films for the BBC with their archive and often deals with international politics and masterfully weaves between political events in the West and the Middle East. Although terrifying, I'd have to say this film is the best film I've seen in 2016. It is incredible. The ideas blow my mind and the way he sums up complex ideas about society, the ways it functions and its problems is something I haven't seen from a filmmaker before. He's Michael Moore without humour and more intellectual. Has anyone seen it yet?

And hopefully Salem staying on the park helps this too.

IMO Hibberd is a much better ball user. Hibberd is more defensive, plays as a defender, a good, long kick and is reasonably strong one-on-one. Melksham is a winger that could play off half back or half forward, use his pace and break some lines. But he's not extreme pace like Hunt. Personally, I think Melksham butchers it by foot, but can occasionally kick a good goal. A highly rated junior that crumbled a little bit IMO at AFL level. Will be interesting to see how he adjusts to Melbourne. Particularly with a year out of the game.

I'd be astounded if Newton was still on our list next year.

You can see the narrative the press are going to run with though, can't you? Sprouting things like 'Will Lewis lift Melbourne into the top 8'. They seem to be saying yes, but certain pockets of the media (if not all of it) clearly didn't think we'd make it next year without him. Prior to Lewis coming on board, I would have been very surprised that if we'd been relatively injury-free that we wouldn't win 12-14 games. That would get us probably into 8th position. But with Lewis, there's no doubting his experience in tight contests will help us and perhaps be the difference at least once, if not more next season. If things go really well, it's not impossible to see us finishing on the cusp of the top 4. It all depends on how quickly our guys grow and develop. The Oliver's and the Petracca's in particular.

Hibberd, Melksham and Lewis will definitely change things, but IMO probably not enough.

Yep. And I'd be worried if I was Bernie to be honest. And even though he's my favourite player, Jets may be in trouble too unless he keeps attacking off half back. He doesn't have the same flexibility that our other backmen give, nor an elite trait like Hibberd's kicking. I want a lot more from Kent and Garlett too. If they can't both hit 40 goals I reckon we'll be a chance at really pushing up in the higher echelons of the top 8. They're both too inconsistent for my liking. Anyway, they're all good players, so I like that it's come to this.

I'm not saying it's going to happen a lot, but I wouldn't be surprised if Bernie is dropped for a game or two next year if our squad is fit and he doesn't reach a higher level than he did this year. He may have racked it up in 2016, but he makes too many hideous clangers for a player with his experience. They won't all be consistent, but I'd have Gus, Oliver, Tyson, Salem and Stretch in my team every week (injury-permitting). Melksham is perhaps the other not so definite starter for mine. He and Vince may well be competing for the same spot, unless they see time for Bernie on a wing. It'll be interesting to see who Goodie favours. All coaches do. It's great seeing that team though. It's really starting to come together. I reckon we still need one more elite mid in that mix that can play forward or distribute off half back, but we can go after them at the end of 2017 if no further deals are made this trade period.

Yeah, the early giallos are the best. Argento hasn't made a good one for years. Yep, saw The Witch. I thought it was beautifully shot and created mood brilliantly, but yeah, didn't blow my socks off or shock me. If we're talking general European arthouse, can't go past Bergman. The Virgin Spring is great. I really like Brink of Life too, but it might be a little inaccessible. Persona is another. Back on US slashers, I love the early Friday The 13th films and A Nightmare on Elm Street too. Oh and if you're at all into comic surrealism Luis Bunuel was a genius. One of the key inspirations for David Lynch. You can even hear the Bunuel influence in Lynch's dialogue.

I'm a big giallo fan. Seen any? Love the style, shotmaking and music. Giallos are the original slasher films but made in the 60s and 70s in Italy, with often American or English actors. Basically murder mystery thrillers. Here's a list of my favourites: By Dario Argento: - Deep Red - Tenebrae - The Bird With The Crystal Plumage By Sergio Argento: - Torso (probably the biggest influence on American college campus-based slashers) - The Case of the Scorpion's Tail By Lucio Fulci: - The New York Ripper - Lizard In Woman's Skin - Don't Torture the Duckling The House with the Laughing Windows (Pupi Avati) is worth seeing. I saw it at MIFF a few years back. Some also consider Brian DePalma's best film Dressed To Kill to be a giallo too.

It is also probably a bargaining ploy to ensure they don't ask for anything more for him. We start with a little more and we'd take it and run if we could get it done for next year's, but we'll also be happy to settle for this year's.

Shall do. Thanks mate.

I take it most have done STRANGER THINGS? The score and world is amazing. Loved it. Emmy-Award-Winning TRANSPARENT is back for season 3, which I'm looking forward to checking out. THE AFFAIR is back in November for season 3 as is, I think, THE FALL. THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE season 2 is also back before the end of the year. Amazon are smashing it. Oh and BOSCH should also be back for season 3 in early 2017. Been meaning to check out THE NIGHT MANAGER and watch the rest of FARGO season 2, which I started and then didn't finish.

Tried Luke Cage last night too, mate. Didn't hook me. Is there a specific episode it hooked you?

I rate The Shield pilot finale as one of the great TV moments, along with the finale of S2E12 of Breaking Bad and the final episode of Twin Peaks. But I totally get you on the macho stuff, but I love the swagger. Ah yeah. Still never seen it. I should check it out. I've never got around to Luther either. That's not a Jimmy McGovern show is it? Haha, good segue. And I don't get the whole Idris would make a good Bond thing. James Bond is a product of White Europe. It just wouldn't make sense for me. Many of the characters around him could change and not be effective (ie Jeffrey Wright playing Felix Leiter), but it'd be another film unless he was White European. Yeah, fair enough. Each to their own. I love the 60s and 80s Bond films the best, but SPECTRE was my favourite since the 60s Bond's. Unpopular opinion in some parts. I really like all the Craig films though. Yeah, I produce, but have always loved film and TV. Do you still screenwrite?

Haha, I was on the edge my seat to see Inception. I followed it from early principal photography, but was a little underwhelmed. I think that's where Nolan started to go downhill. Inception, The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar are all forgettable, but enjoyable enough on first viewing IMO. I'm a big Bond fan and I hope he one day gets to helm a Bond film. His style of narrative construction might discount him as the production company like to go with the less adventurous choices, although Marc Forster and Sam Mendes are a bit of a change in direction. If Mendes doesn't helm the next one (I expect him to), expect someone like Nolan to direct it.

I prefer Oz to The Wire, but once you get used to the pace of the latter, it becomes gripping and binge-worthy. But The Shield IMO is the superior cop show of the early 2000s. True Detective season 1 was great. Season 2, not so much. HBO keep umming and ahhing about renewing for a third. They've cancelled it, then it's been back on, then on hiatus etc. Haven't seen Rake. Are we talking the original Australian series or the US remake? Cannot wait for the third season of The Affair and the second season of The Man In The High Castle. I love Transparent too, but haven't caught up with Season 3 yet. And the third series of The Fall is out soon too. Another Amazon show I've really got into is Eric Overmeyer's (The Wire amongst other things) adaptation of Michael Connelly's Bosch. That's a cop serial I like a lot. Has a few Wire regulars in it too. Oh and just found out Amazon are coming to Australia later this year. Very exciting. Much prefer their catalogue of original shows to Netflix. The Amazon production model is also the future.

I've only been to IMAX a few times. The last time was seeing INTERSTELLAR in 70mm. Pretty amazing. Pity the film was just good and not brilliant.