Pet Shop Boys

After 20 years or so as a huge fan,I finally got to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert last week. This tour has been going for close to a year now off the back of their last(and best)album Fundamental. The audience was a real mixed bag and there was a fun Mardi Gras atmosphere. They did a 2 hour set.3 back up singers including the amazing Sylvia Mason James,2 funky dancers and very slick projected visuals made each song a mini piece of theatre. Standouts for me were The Soddam & Gommorah Show, M.I.N.I.M.A.L.S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G,Where the Streets Have no Name, Rent, So Hard...All of it really :-) The only downer for me was them not doing my favourite song Love Comes Quickly but i guess sacrifices have to be made somewhere down the line...A fantastic night it most certainly was...

Here's a great highlights video from the Barcelona concert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27SbCwYgRU[/youtube]

300

This film is hilarious...Everything is so cartoony...the violence, the freaks, the abs, the performances...everything! I enjoyed every second of it. It's not a history lesson but a big dumb piece of entertaining fluff...It looks great considering it was all made inside a big warehouse..A hysterical, historical epic!

Get a (second) life!

There was an excellent documentary on the ABC(Here in Australia,on the 4corners tv show) about the PC sim Second Life...Click on the link:

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20070319/default_standard.htm

GIVE 'EM THE OLD...

RAZZLE DAZZLE...

The picture sums up my feelings toward this movie. It also got the biggest laugh in the movie. After the brilliance of last years' mockumentary KENNY, i had high hopes for this movie about competing kids' dance schools. Good points: All the women gave great performances but the film floundered whenever Ben Miller(Mr Jonathon)was in front of the camera. He was abysmal. His improv was painful to watch and painfully unfunny. The only moment that truly stood out was when the costume designer sang Spandau Ballet's Gold, after being mute for the whole of the movie. It was the only genuine,warm emotional moment in the whole film...May it disappear from the public eye and never be seen again...TERRIBLE!!!

Shaun of the Dead was a brilliant comedy that paid homage/took the piss out of some iconic horror movies and stuck the knife into the rom-com genre too. I believe one of the tag lines was ROM COM ZOM...inspired!
HOT FUZZ references so many American cop/action movies a lot of them will escape unnoticed...mostly because of the movie's Englishness. Simon Pegg & Nick Frost make me almost pee myself laughing(Spaced was a great TV show) and the cast is really strong here. I thought the first half of the movie dragged a bit but it was fun nonetheless...Once the"accidents" begin,the film shifts up a few gears with some Argento inspired sequences. One accident involving a journalist(very similar to a scene from The Omen) waiting by the village church had half audience laughing hysterically and the other half recoiling in horror...The plot seems pretty straightforward but takes a different direction... I'm glad it's already a blockbuster in the UK as it means this talented bunch get to carry on doing what they do best.With the money it's making I'm guessing they'll be able to pull off a great sci-fi genre piece next...

Sean of the Dead did it for me because i was familiar with all it's references...I'm not so familiar with some of the material here but it succeeds as mindless,action packed,gory,foul-mouthed over the top entertainment.

GRINDHOUSE

I saw this gigantic cardboard promo standee for the Tarantino/Rodriguez splatterfest...It's probably the best one I've seen...Movie opens here at the end of May...One of the many reasons I'm hanging for this movie is to see Fergie get brutally butchered...It can never compensate for what she has inflicted on the music scene but it's a bloody good start...

Marie Antoinette

Finally got to see this last week. It was showing as part of http://www.moonlight.com.au/ and as the dates are set in stone you have to hope it doesn't rain on your parade.

What put me off seeing this @ the movies earlier was the noisy trailer. Thankfully the modern music was evenly and well placed(apart from the horrible track playing after she shags the Swede) and not as omnipresent as the trailer indicated. Beautiful film with Sofia Coppola's paw prints all over it. Not a history lesson(thank god)...not much of a plot but it really doesn't need one. If you were disappointed that you didn't see her get the chop at the end of the film,what can i say...you're a moron =)

Fave part: When her pussy posse comes to stay at her fantastic "little"retreat...