December 2024 – Page 5 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

(courtesy Hachette Australia) Christmas is popularly thought of as a magical time of second chances. It often doesn’t feel that with all the rush and busyness and the general furious exhaustion and angst of life seeming to reach a tinsel-draped fever pitch, but in The Nine Lives of Christmas by Continue Reading

Movie review: Mufasa: The Lion King

(courtesy IMP Awards) Full admission upfront: this reviewer, for reasons that still evade him, never quite warned to The Lion King, the 1994 animated gem from Disney that introduced us to the world of Mufasa, Simba and the Elton John-soundtracked Circle of Life. Two trips to the cinema were made Continue Reading

Book review: The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis

(courtesy Hachette Australia) Back cover blurbs are written with a singular purpose in mind – to entice a reader, with thousands of reading possibilities at their bookstore-packed disposal, to pick a particular book and take it home to be read (or in the case of this reviewer, to be added Continue Reading

The short and the short of it: Sage words and a some affectionate parodying in The Badger, the Rabbit and Billy

(courtesy YouTube (c) Birdbox Studio) SNAPSHOTThe Badger, The Rabbit, and Billy is an amusingly introspective animation by Birdbox Studio about an older badger gently encouraging a young rabbit to take the first steps on a journey to find himself. Before the badger could finish, however, another bunny named Billy happily danced around and letting them know Continue Reading

Movie review: Sonic the Hedgehog 3

(courtesy IMP Awards) Is it possible to quip merrily while still saving the world? You might think the level of concentration needed to avert global annihilation might preclude any and all comedic utterances, black humour laced and otherwise, but in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, directed by Jeff Fowler (who also Continue Reading

NYE book review: This Year’s For Me and You by Emily Bell

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) In a great many seasonally redemptive romcoms, tragedy is usually just the curtain raiser to something good and wonderful down the track. Sure, the person’s heart is torn in two and terrible changes are wrought in the fabric of their life, but by and large, the Continue Reading

Movie review: Falling Into Place

(courtesy IMP Awards) Most romantic comedies (romcoms) would have you believe, and honestly this kind of escapism is why we loe them so much, that all you have to do to move beyond the pain and trauma of your past or present is to meet someone special and suddenly, WHOOSH!, Continue Reading

Stream, stream my televisual dream: Top 25 TV / streaming shows of 2024

(via Shutterstock) In many ways this was a very good year for my consumption of TV/streaming shows. I got to watch a lot more than 2023 but while lists were ticked off and shows enjoyed, it also began to feel, not for the first time, like watching TV is now Continue Reading

Fire up the playlists and let the music fly free: My top 25 songs of 2024

(via Shutterstock) People often talk about music soundtracking their life but in my case, it really is what happens. I listen to music on the train. On the way to and from the train station. In shops. When exercising. When I need to just chill out and escape a very Continue Reading

Popcorn and wine and a comfy seat in the dark: My top 25 films of 2024

(via Shutterstock) This was a year in which I still watched a lof of films but where I was just as apt to watch them on a streaming platform as at a cinema. It’s not that I’ve fallen out of love with seeing movies out in the cinematic wild, and Continue Reading

Conquering the TBR like a mountaineer: My top 25 books of 2024

(via Shutterstock) I’m not going to sugarcoat – this has been a tough year. Not because someone died or my world imploded dramatically in some way; it just felt like all the pressures of work, which was ridiculously and unrelentingly frenetic, ganged up on me, to the point where I Continue Reading