Movies, television, and Nintendo… Here’s some different things I’ve been thinking a lot about this past month. Maybe there’s something here to interest you too?
With Sydney in the midst of another lockdown, time really is a construct. I’ve had work to get on with (thankfully), but the past month has felt like a minute and a year. Between cancelling holiday plans and yet more ill health in the family, not to mention an irritating, emotionally manipulative neighbour (great dramatic fodder in that one, folks), getting by alone with a life lived via Zoom is pretty bloody average. So this month’s post is not going to be a big one. I just can’t be bothered. What I can say is that there has been a lot of movies and telly and Nintendo (thank the universe for Nintendo) this past month.
A stand-out highlight has been the Netflix series Sex Education, a show I’ve taken far too long to get to, but does everything I want out of a TV show and more. And it has Gillian Anderson. Corker.
Surprise of the month was Jurassic Park III (yes, really). Miles better than Jurassic Park 2 because this one actually had Sam Neill, but fell tragically short when it chose to only involve Laura Dern in about two fairly insubstantial scenes. Bring on the non-Chris Pratt re-boots ASAP…
Other hits include Dumplin‘ and Fear Street: Part Two – 1978 (the second, and by far the superior, instalment of the recently released R.L. Stine adapted teen slasher trilogy). Comfort viewing was provided by 1998’s Practical Magic; a popular naughties classic that packs a power cast that I imagine would be nigh on impossible to put together now, with Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest, Stockard Channing, Aidan Quinn and a very teeny Evan Rachel Wood.
And yet through all this, I still can’t stop thinking about Holidate, a fatally flawed rom-com that failed to deliver on so many levels despite a ripper comedy concept and uber hottie Luke Bracey (the Chris Hemsworth you get when you’re on a budget). As my friend Margaret so eloquently put it, both the writer and the director (and I would also add the DP) seemed to be making wildly different movies, and so we get a product that should have been romantic and funny and yet was decidedly neither. So very odd and confusing…
As for my gaming therapy, there was a lot of Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and a beautiful, moving indie called Spiritfarer, about a young girl who guides the souls of the dead into eternity, which frankly I would happily adapt into a Miyazaki-esque animated epic in a fraction of a heartbeat. Someone please let me do this. Someone. Please.
Okay folks. Hope your local bakery also makes Lockdown Hot Cross Buns too – they help. Stay safe, x
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