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Andrew's wonderful world of pop culture

#ChristmasInJuly movie review redux: The Night Before

Posted on July 17, 2022July 17, 2022 by aussiemoose

Much as we might love our parents and siblings and crazy Aunt Phyllis and her 20 cats, it’s often the families we create throughout our lives of close, trusted friends that come to define our adult lives most profoundly. That’s certainly the case in Jonathan Levine’s The Night Before, a Continue Reading

Posted In MoviesTagged In Christmas In July 2022

#ChristmasInJuly festive animation review: Sonic Christmas Blast

Posted on July 17, 2022July 17, 2022 by aussiemoose

Not being a game player of any kind, this reviewer’s only real contact with Sonic the Hedgehog had been the great pop culture soup in which many of us happily swim these days thanks to the internet where you can be exposed to a huge degree by characters and properties Continue Reading

Posted In Animation, Short film, StreamingTagged In Christmas In July 2022

Book review: The Eulogy by Jackie Bailey

Posted on July 16, 2022July 16, 2022 by aussiemoose

There is a curious time in everyone’s lives, in the immediate, disorienting aftermath of the death of a loved one, when time seems to stop but also go into a mad overdrive, mixing together the past and the present in an blender-frenzied attempt to make sense of a loss so Continue Reading

Posted In Books

Head back, waaaay back to Middle-earth: Trailer drops for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Posted on July 16, 2022July 16, 2022 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOTPrime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of Continue Reading

Posted In Books, Streaming

Life, death and scarred humanity: Five Days at Memorial (Apple TV+)

Posted on July 15, 2022July 15, 2022 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOTFive Days at Memorial chronicles the impact of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath on a local hospital. When the floodwaters rose, power failed, and heat soared, exhausted caregivers at a New Orleans hospital were forced to make decisions that would follow them for years to come. The stacked ensemble cast Continue Reading

Posted In Books, Streaming

Movie review: Thor – Love and Thunder

Posted on July 15, 2022September 10, 2022 by aussiemoose

Without putting too fine a point on it, because Odin knows Taika Waititi (who can normally do no wrong – see Our Flag Means Death, Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) certainly hasn’t, Thor: Love and Thunder is unholy, unruly, near unwatchable mess. That’s not to say there aren’t some fine elements Continue Reading

Posted In Movies

Starting over in your 40s: Neil Patrick Harris confronts single gay life at a certain age in Uncoupled

Posted on July 14, 2022July 14, 2022 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOTMichael Lawson (Neil Patrick Harris) seems to have it all figured out. He’s a successful New York City real estate agent with a great career, a supportive family, close friends, and a loving relationship with his partner of 17 years, Colin (Tuc Watkins). But when Colin unexpectedly moves out on Continue Reading

Posted In Streaming

Book review: The Boy With a Bird in His Chest by Emme Lund

Posted on July 14, 2022July 14, 2022 by aussiemoose

It’s all too easy to begin hiding yourself away from the world, especially if you’re told repeatedly that this is something wrong with you, that people will reject you if they know. Or even if they don’t. Sometimes that rejection and sense of fear can be cruelly anticipatory, foreseeing problems Continue Reading

Posted In Books

On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain? Thoughts on Baymax!

Posted on July 12, 2022July 20, 2022 by aussiemoose

Baymax, the medical robot that injected a huge amount of heart into 2014’s Big Hero 6, is adorable. He is algorithmically relentless. It makes sense; he’s been programmed to provide the best care possible to those he identifies as being in need and he will do it whether you want Continue Reading

Posted In Animation, Streaming, TV

Weekday character posters burst: Get to know everyone in DC League of Super-Pets

Posted on July 12, 2022July 8, 2022 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOTIt sure isn’t easy being Superman’s dog! Krypto hails from Krypton and has super-powers like his owner; but his social skills are decidedly alien at the dog park and he has no idea how to be ordinary. But when Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the rest of the Justice Continue Reading

Posted In Animation, Movies

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Recent Posts

  • The short and the short of it: A lonely robot selflessly looks after others in Sunspark
  • Back on the job: Thoughts on Man on the Inside S2
  • From villain to zodiac hero: how Zootopia 2’s snake character has made the film a global hit (curated article)
  • Book review: Best Summer Ever by Heidi Swain
  • Ready to move on? So, after lots of grief and forgiveness, is Shrinking S3

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RSS SparklyPrettyBriiiight

  • The short and the short of it: A lonely robot selflessly looks after others in Sunspark
    (courtesy official Sunspark site) SNAPSHOTIn a post-human wasteland, a robot scavenger unexpectedly finds the broken body of another robot while looking for spare parts. After failing to fully revive her, he must decide how much of himself he’s willing to give in order to bring her back to life. Sunspark Continue Reading
  • Back on the job: Thoughts on Man on the Inside S2
    (courtesy IMP Awards) When it comes to sitcom royalty, you would have to consider Michael Schur, who has had a hand in creating and delivering standouts of the genre such as Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place, as occupying the top of a very hilarious heap. He Continue Reading
  • From villain to zodiac hero: how Zootopia 2’s snake character has made the film a global hit (curated article)
    (courtesy IMP Awards) Yanyan HongPhD in Media and Film Studies, University of AdelaidePublished: The Conversation Nine years after their first adventure, Zootopia’s “dream team” are back. This time, perky optimistic rabbit cop Judy Hopps and charming fox Nick Wilde must to solve a reptilian mystery. Zootopia 2 has won the Continue Reading
  • Book review: Best Summer Ever by Heidi Swain
    (courtesy Simon & Schuster) If the festive season is all about love and renewal, then novels set in summer are all about the capacity of a time of sunshine, outdoors activity and time with friends and family in relaxed setting to recharge the soul and give you a brand new Continue Reading
  • Ready to move on? So, after lots of grief and forgiveness, is Shrinking S3
    SNAPSHOTShrinking follows a grieving therapist named Jimmy (played by Jason Segel) who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his own training & ethics, he makes huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives… including his own. Shrinking is a streaming series created and written Continue Reading
  • It’s a big city but the English capital comes alive in Sir David Attenborough documentary Wild London
    (courtesy BBC) SNAPSHOTAfter a life spent travelling the globe, the world’s most famous naturalist turns his attention closer to home to explore the wildlife of England’s iconic capital. Having lived in London for 75 years, Sir David has an intimate knowledge of the city’s natural history, and there’s no better Continue Reading
  • New Year’s Eve book review: New York, New Year, New You by Rachael Bloome
    (courtesy Secret Garden Press) The idea that you can reinvent yourself if you just find the right inciting incident is a seductive one. It defies the idea that who we are at any one point in time is the only person we will ever be, and encourages us to dream Continue Reading
  • Songs, songs and more NYE songs 2025: Hurts, Aubrey Logan & David Ricard, Blair Davie, Ben Rector + Sia
    (via Shutterstock) Gotta be honest – I’m a Christmas guy and once that day is done and dusted, I tend to lose interest in gthe other big event on the calendar, New Year’s Eve. I used to be more excited by it but as the years have gone by, I’ve Continue Reading
  • Popcorn and wine and a comfy seat in the dark: My top 25 films of 2025
    (via Shutterstock) Due to an unrelenting level of stress, which it seems only books could address in any meaningful fashion – they are the only medium which has ever allowed me to properly switch off and escape and forget the world around me; these days, they are the only one Continue Reading
  • Fire up the playlists and let the music fly free: My top 25 songs of 2025 + my 8 fave clips of the year
    (via Shutterstock) It’s been a weird year for me and music. I still listened to lots and lots and LOTS of it, it was still the soundtrack to all my commutes and occasional exercise outings and even short trips to the shops, and it remained the focal centre of the Continue Reading
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