Seagulls are crazy critters. Endlessly ravenous or so it appears, they stalk you like the paparazzi after a film star, eager for anything you wish to discard especially if you’re eating hot chips (fries) on a sunny summer’s day. They are cute and annoying all at once but did Continue Reading
Movies
Movie review: Moana
Perfection is a quality much sought after in our world but very rarely realised; however with Moana, a superlative animated feature film by just about any measure, Disney has come impressively close to this well-nigh impossible goal. Directed by Ron Musker and John Clements, Moana is the product of extensive Continue Reading
Rewind the reel! My favourite films of 2016
2016 was not one of my finest years – but then that was in keeping with pretty much everyone else so let’s just chalk it all up to a malevolent calendar and leave it at that shall we? – with the lowest point being the death of my dad Continue Reading
Poster me this! Adorable Sing posters show characters and voice actors together
SNAPSHOT In a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, a koala named Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) works to keep his theater from closing down. To this end, Buster and his sheep friend Eddie (John C. Reilly) hold a singing contest to raise money, and the entire town auditions for a Continue Reading
On 11th day of Christmas … I watched Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, a production of the Jim Henson Company based on Russell and Lillian Hoban’s 1971 book of the same title, is a delight in every sense of the word. Packed full of American folk music-inspired songs composed by Paul Williams, who went on to write “The Rainbow Continue Reading
Psst! Here’s the the real deal on Santa’s Secret Stories
Oh my but does Santa have secrets! I mean it stands to reason right? He lives in hiding up on the North Pole, spends his time with reindeer and elves, neither of whom are exactly the stuff of everyday life – unless you’re a reindeer herder in which case Continue Reading
On 9th day of Christmas … I finally watched Nightmare Before Christmas
It’s a rare person indeed who hasn’t, at some point in their life, felt bored with their existence, numbed to the once-transcendant novelty of something that used to be an overriding passion. Jack Skellington, the “Pumpkin King” of Halloween Night and the ring master extraordinaire of everything ghoulish, goblinish Continue Reading
Movie review: Rogue One – A Star Wars Story
For a fable of galactic proportions, Star Wars has never been afraid to confront the realities of war or the destructive excesses of absolute power. The destruction of Alderaan in A New Hope or the freezing of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in carbonate in The Empire Strikes Back are Continue Reading
On 7th day of Christmas … I watched Office Christmas Party
Office Christmas Party wants to be funny. Desperately, festively, stick-everything-into-the-script-that-isn’t-nailed-down funny. And yet for all the (usually) luminously hilarious comedic talent hired, staging of over-the-top Christmas festivities and provocative posturing – allusions to a Human Centipede in the mens’ room anyone? No? Good choice – the film consistently fails to Continue Reading
Air New Zealand wants you to come walking in a SUMMER wonderland!
As a Christmas romantic, the great disparity between the traditional northern hemisphere visual look of Christmas and the much warmer southern hemisphere reality has never troubled me too much. Sure there are some people who rile at the idea of celebrating sleigh rides, winter wonderlands and chestnuts roasting over Continue Reading