hardtack

I know it's not everybody's cup of tea, but I and my son just sat through almost 3 hrs of Interstellar at the IMAX in Sydney's Darling Harbour, and loved every second of it. I'm still not sure exactly what it was I saw, so this is at the top of my future Blu Ray purchases list as it definitely warrants multiple viewings.

It may have been me Cards... I'm pretty sure I mentioned it. A feel good film. A few more I could recommend are: Philomena, Chef and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (which has been around for a while now and you may have already seen). The bluray of 20,000 Days on Earth arrived a couple of weeks ago, so I'm looking forward to getting the opportunity to sit down and watch that. Most recent viewing at home was the Hayao Miyazaki animated film, The Wind Rises... as can be expected from Miyazaki, a fantastic piece of work.

No reason not to think he may develop quicker than that, given Kyfe's (Canons talent manager) comments: "Kyte believes Wright will thrive in an AFL environment, given he already has a solid base underneath him. "Once he gets on to an AFL type training program, he's going to be a monster,"

With the need for a forward, with Jamar nearing the end of his career and with Gawn being injury prone, I would not be surprised to see Wright get the nod as he fills both needs.

Just spent the past three and a half weeks in the UK, Berlin, Brussels and Paris with my son. The long flights are a great chance to catch up on a few movies. Those that caught my attention were: The Chef, Pictures and Words, The Double (an odd little Brazil like film) and What We Do In The Shadows, which is a very funny and extremely well scripted mocumentary about a house shared by vampires in suburban New Zealand.

Looking forward to seeing that. I rate Rodriguez as Tarrantino's equal and find it very funny that he is able to create Spy Kids and films like Sin City, Desperado, Planet Terror etc without any difficulty in the transition at all... particularly the way he can have you looking at Danny Trejo (sp?) as pure evil one moment (the knife man in Desperado) and as the most gentle uncle you could imagine the next (Spy Kids). He's a very clever man!

I am pleased to hear that there is going to be a sequel to "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". That is one of the few films I can watch over and over. The only other films that have made such an impression are "Intouchable", "Diva", "Monsoon Wedding", "Spirited Away" and "My Neighbour Totoro". I'm now waiting on my Werner Herzog collection on blu ray to arrive (it finally shipped from Amazon in the UK after multiple delays in its release) and also Miyazaki's latest animation "The Wind Rises". Took my sons to see "Guardians of the Galaxy" yesterday... what a hoot!! Absolutely loved it and is by far and away the best of all of the Marvel releases. Clever wit, great action and you even find yourself caring about the characters which for me was a little surprising.

I finally got around to watching Ben Stiller's Secret Life of Walter Mitty the other day and really enjoyed it... well written and well acted. And besides, just about anything with Shirley MacLaine and Sean Penn in it, cannot be bad! One good thing about having young kids means I have an excuse to go and indulge in the occassional guilty pleasure... went and saw Godzilla (latest remake) recently and absolutely loved it and will go and see Guardians of the Galaxy in the next week or two. Have to say though, that I am a sucker for Godzilla... having DVDs of every Godzilla and associated kaiju such as Baragon, Mecha Godzilla, King Ghidorah (and Mecha Ghidorah), Mothra and so on... I have roughly 45 of the TOHO films on DVD. The only dud was that appalling American effort in the 90's (or whenever it was).

Loved that "mini opera"

I'm pretty sure that was originally a movie and was possibly made in Scandinavia (Norway?)... remember seeing it a while ago.

Apparently Porte has the best time trial times of all in the top 10, so hopefully if he can maintain position until the second last stage without losing too much ground on Nibali, he may be in with a shot for a podium finish (if not outright victory).

Wrist guards in teh wet wouldn't have helped Froome as he did his wrist in the dry in what appeared to be a really innocuous fall. The commentators last night were speculating that it may actually have been broken. But what riveting viewing that stage was! I thought the ride of the stage was (and I forget his name) Porte's team mate in dragging him up to within 1:54 (I think it was) of Nibali by the finish. The way Nibali rode the cobbled sections was also beautiful to watch.

Was that the mark over Yze? (I think Winny said something about sharing the car or whatever the prize was, with Yze in return for the leg up).

Interesting to note that the Real Footy game review had Tom in the best players: Vince, McDonald, N Jones, Dawes, Watts, Dunn, Tyson. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/norths-five-goals-in-10-minutes-destroys-demons-20140622-zsi6t.html#ixzz35QyiB3U0 I don't necessarily agree he should be in there, but by the same token, I think the OP's (and a couple the other usual suspects) reaction is way over the top. Yes, he drove me crazy with his disposal by foot on the weekend, but apart from that, he played a far more serviceable game than a number of other more highly rated players (Howe, Garland, Frawley etc).

Well, I guess you could look at that as being due to the fact that film schools tried to adopt that as a standard wen the likes of Polanski, Bergman and Fellini were all de rigeur Which film school by the way? I studied graphic art at Swinburne in the very early 70's and had some contact (more on a social level) with people in the Film & TV school - my only recollection of anything film related then in my studies, was some visiting "expert" talking to us on how they blue-screened everything in The Sound of Music... they sent just a camera crew to the alps to film the scenery; apparently not a single actor actually set foot in Austria (or Switzerland?). As for me, I'm just a fan of film, so I'm not professing any knowledge on the technical aspects

Not sure I will be able to get along to the festival yet - finances and other plans allowing or not. (what is the film you have playing there?). Re Repulsion... I saw both that and Images for the first time in 1972, so not having been over exposed to SFX at that time, I found myself pretty immersed in Repulsion (especially the hallway scene with the groping hands)... also, considering Repulsion was made in 1965, the effects weren't too shabby - yes, not exactly Harryhausen, but still pretty ok ;-) If you have time for a drink when you are here, let me know. Would be good to start connecting names with faces on this forum.

My favourite Altman film is Images... originally, the explanation for it not being released on DVD was that the original print was supposedly lost, but then suddenly it appeared on DVD. Excellent psychological thriller that I first saw around the same time as Polanski's Repulsion (which although rather more visceral, had a few similarities).

I have... his name is Salem

I think we should stick with him... but having said that, if things keep going the way they are on both sides of the country, we might be able to do a straight swap for Nik Nat ;-)

Yes, that was made for TV "On Death Row". I've been a Herzog fan since the early 70's and if there were ever any doubts I might have had about him, Fitzcaraldo erased them completely... superb film from a master of the craft... and lunatic to boot! He makes a film based on a true story about an opera lover who hauled a paddle steamer over a small "mountain" with nothing but local tribes people, a few logs, ropes and pulleys and so what does he do? He repeats the feat hauling a paddle steamer over a small "mountain" with nothing but local tribes people, a few logs, ropes and pulleys!! I believe he also ate one of his boots after losing a bet with his main actor Klaus Kinski.

Just a heads up for those who are seriously into watching DVD and BluRay like myself, and just in case you aren't already aware of it....it might be worth your while looking at investing in the Laser BR1080P 3D BluRay player. It is region free for DVD and via the setup menu can be assigned to play any bluray discs from any region (A, B and C). The other good thing is that it comes with a 3 year warranty. The only other multi region bluray player I know of is the Kogan (there used to be a Soniq), which is pretty ordinary in terms of life... I had one and it died after about 18 months with just a one year warranty. Quality is very good with the only issue I have found being the fact that it doesn't handle 48 frames per second 3D well... I brought this to their attention (they are a local Sydney based company - of course manufacture is in China) and they are looking into fixing the problem. So far the only 3D discs I have found that are 48fps are Life of Pi and The Hobbit - most others are 24fps which works perfectly. This issue only relates to the playback of 3d bluray... not the regular 2D discs. I purchase most of my blurays from Amazon in the UK as well as from the US or Japan as even with the cost of shipping, it works out to almost 50% cheaper than buying locally (well, not the case with Japan... but certainly true for the UK and US). Anyway.... cheap as chips and well worth a look.

Watching "the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" for about the 10th time. Don't know what it is about this film, but it manages to pull me in every time in watch it...the characters, the story, the scenery (in Jaipur, a place I have been and have fond memories of), just everything about it is perfect! This and the "Intouchables" (a beautiful French film) are two films I am completely in love with.

Well, the way things have gone at the MFC, that could well be the end of their careers.

No, you won't know until the end of their careers.

Off to see Jeff Beck (among many others) at the Byron Bay Bluesfest next month... can't wait!