December 9, 2017 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

Weekend movie poster art: Star Wars The Last Jedi

Posted on December 9, 2017December 1, 2017 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOT Rey took her first steps into a larger world in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and will continue her epic journey with Finn, Poe, and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the continuing Star Wars saga. The Last Jedi is written and directed by Rian Johnson and Continue Reading

Festively changing it up: The delightfully different tale of Santa’s Husband

Posted on December 9, 2017May 12, 2021 by aussiemoose

Right let’s just get it out there then shall we? In Santa’s Husband, Daniel Kibblesmith’s delightful take on the person of Santa Claus who, you may recall, is a teeny-tiny bit central to modern celebrations of Christmas – for those of a religious persuasion, please note I’m not sidelining Continue Reading

On 2nd day of Christmas … I reviewed A Bad Mom’s Christmas

Posted on December 9, 2017December 8, 2017 by aussiemoose

Hollywood, generally speaking, does not have an expansive palette when it comes to films with a festive flavour. Movies are either unbearably sentimental, laden with so much holiday sugar that sugar canes look on in envy, or so brusquely raunchy that even the merest whiff of chestnuts roasting and Continue Reading

Festive book review: A Merry Little Christmas by Cathy Bramley

(courtesy Hachette Australia) OOOO OOOO OOOO (courtesy official Cathy Bramley Facebook page) OOOO OOOO OOOO

Movie review: And Mrs

(courtesy IMP Awards) When my parent died within 3 1/2 years of each other, the grief that enveloped me was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. It felt as if all the old certainties had been swept away and that all the things I knew and could count on were Continue Reading

Happy Christmas ads to all! John Lewis, Aldi Australia, Barbour, M & S Christmas Food, Sainsbury’s + Deutsche Telekom

(via Shutterstock) Yes, yes, I know, I know, Christmas os commercialised, we’ve lost the true spirit of the season etc etc blahedy-blah-blah and on and on … But honestly? I love Christmas ads. The good ones anyway. Sure, they’re trying to get you to buy something but they are often Continue Reading

Festive movie review: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

(courtesy IMP Awards) As a child of the Church (thought failed, ultimately, to stick in childhood), it’s always fascinated this reviewer how something as pure as belief in the goodness of a higher power, which should always elevate and enliven can somehow become a tool for oppressive, punitive religious expression. Continue Reading

Book review: A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas

(courtesy Penguins Books Australia) Life is full of “It seemed like a good idea at the time” moments. We can, we believe anyway, have all the wisdom of Solomon and the insight of a god, in one crystal moment of absolute clarity and act accordingly, only to find not that Continue Reading

Festive movie review: Hot Frosty

Having your festive viewing expectations subverted is a rare and precious thing indeed. Much of the time in Christmas viewing land, what you see is what you get, and that is usually a good thing since you want fun, escapist entertainment with a heartwarming moral core, and that is precisely Continue Reading

Comedy review double: Season wrap-ups of Frasier (S2, E9-10) and Only Murders in the Building (S4, 9-10)

(courtesy IMP Awards) Frasier (S2, E9-10) If you’ve been paying attention , and for the sake of my robustly fragile writer’s ego, I hope you have, you will have noticed how thrilled I am that Frasier 2023, as it’s often termed, has well and truly come into its own in Continue Reading

Book review: The Secret Christmas Bookshop by Cressida McLaughlin

(courtesy Harper Collins Collins Australia) If there is one universal theme in the rich and varied storytelling of humanity, it is the need to belong. Sure, we all want to fall in love, to know connection and find our village, but at the heart of all these story types, is Continue Reading

Something big and loud this way comes: Sneak peek at the Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special, “Joy to the World”

(courtesy BBC/Disney+ via The Gallifreyan Newsroom) SNAPSHOTBridgerton‘s Nicola Coughlan will be starring in the title role of “Joy to the World” as a traveler checking into a London hotel over the festive period. Before long, Joy’s quiet holiday is interrupted by a Silurian wandering into her hotel room and the sudden arrival of The Continue Reading

Movie review: Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point

(courtesy IMDb) In popular culture at large, Christmas is often seen in very distinct, sharply-realised ways. It is variously a season of miracles or healing or wondrous discovery, and there is always some sort of point to proceedings whether it’s saving Christmas itself by helping Santa or doing a life-changing Continue Reading