The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada: A Film Exposed Review

The FilmExposed newsletter went out today and I was surprised to see my Three Burials... review has been attached to the UK DVD release.

This was actually my "interview" review, the one they asked me to send in at the drop of a hat to get a seat on the bus. It never was posted so I posted it here myself. Now it's popped up, so you can check it out if you missed it.

Don, you'll especially like the line:

"It is a well-worn adage but landscape is most definitely the main character of this film."

I really enjoyed this flick. I probably wouldn't have seen it if it weren't assigned owing to my ambivalence towards Westerns and my animosity towards Tommy Lee (and anyone else with a double barrel first name). I stand overwhelmingly corrected on both counts.

Haul ass to FilmExposed for the whole kit and kaboodle.

Tags: movie reveiw, FilmExposed, film

Westgarth (book of) Revelations

Watts In Westgarth?
Last night, dear friend, Richard took me along to the opening of Ana Kokkinos' The Book of Revelation at the re-opening of the redeveloped Westgarth Cinema.

I won't say too much about the film, since I am covering it for FilmExposed (though I'm not sure when they will plan to run it because it will be a while before the UK release), but I will say that my reaction, along with the majority of the audience was somewhere between meh and urgh. I really wanted to like the film because I loved Kokkinos' work on Head On but, no, meh, urgh!

On any other night I would have been stabbing myself with a rusty fork for wasting my time and money on such a work but last night I wasn't worried in the slightest because it was a red carpet shin-dig with free red, tasty morsels and people to watch, all in the luxurious environs of the redeveloped cinema.

As the new carpet smell wafted between us, we listened to the platitudes fly and watched the flashes glare at the stars and their dangerously sharp cheekbones. Watching the media types scramble for the stars is highly amusing; watching the stars try to get some time to themselves is even more amusing. I loved the banality of the whole affair. And I loved the cinema.

The only other film I had seen at the Westgarth was a screening of John Carpenter's The Ghosts of Mars, the film that plundered the world's precious supply of neon zinc cream, where the "ghosts" looked like they'd been attacked by Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever. Back then it was grubby and had wonderfully unstable seats. Now it's all dolled up. The original fitting are all still there, the seats have been comfified and the balcony has been enclosed and split into two new cinemas. It is a truly classy venue and one I'll be heading back to very soon to see a good film.

Thanks, Richard!

Tags: film, architecture, cinema

Look Mum, Finger Socks!

Went to another hand therapy session yesterday (it's a Monday morning thing) and, according to Kate, everything seems to be coming along nicely. A few developments in the exercises but nothing too dramatic. I do get to work on my limp wrist though, so that is something.

The latest addition to my "therapy couture" are these snug fitting finger socks. They are not actually socks at all, they are pieces of elastic tape to pressure my fingers into a less sausagey state. I suppose they are the physical manifestation of peer pressure.

The best thing is, this stuff only seems to stick to itself. Genius!

On my way home, I decided that I am going to buy some Post-It-Notes and carry them with me wherever I go so I can leave notes for people when they are not in. Yesterday Richard's door would have carried the message: The world is not enough! Don't ask me, I don't understand either.

Further on my way home, I passed the blackfellas outside Smith St ANZ. One of them shouted out, "You've been in a fight, mate" to which I nodded knowingly in reply. Then one of the women Leytoned up and screamed, "COME ONNNN!!!" I laughed out loud, mainly because I'd been making the joke all week but she was the first person to actually notice my splint's uncanny likeness to our country's premier bogan.

I do miss the Aboriginal sense of humour. I really must see Ten Canoes

UPDATE: Apparently blather blog was inspired wax visual on the theme of Paganini Hewitt.

Tags: hand therapy, injury, photos

Look Both Ways: A FilmExposed Review

If you read my previous post you'd know that this review took three films to write. If you are at all intrigued...

The review starts like this:

In her first feature, award winning Australian animator Sarah Watt tackles the hefty issues of death, grief and the pain of surviving. After being delivered an uncertain prognosis for his newly diagnosed testicular cancer, photojournalist Nick (McInnes), is sent to cover the death of a man in a tragic train accident. There, Nick meets Meryl (Clarke), an artist crippled by paranoid delusions of death and destruction...

And ends like this:

... Many of the plotlines seem to wallow, undeveloped in the bleakness, and in the face of the irrevocable certainty of death the film struggles to find anything profoundly new to say. Then again, that is comfortable in itself, in a way, for it is the little hopes that we end up clinging to which can bring the biggest rewards.

For the guts of it click over to FilmExposed

Tags: movie review, film, FilmExposed

Faster Pussycat, Procrastinate, Procrastinate!!!

Last night, after taking in Look Both Ways on DVD, I settled in to write my review for FilmExposed. It was a bit of a late starter this one so I was under a bucket load of pressure. While I typed I decided to put on a film in the background. Bad move.

While I didn't get much of the review written, the whole divided attention scenario helped me to enjoy these two mediocre films immensely.

First up, Big Eden, you know, that film with the guy from Ellen. I'd spent a long time avoiding this one, or trying to sit through it (some of it seemed quite familiar), it always just seemed a little dull. In the end it was but with my mind trying to get on with work, Big Eden seemed the more enticing option.

I was eventually won over by the film's quaint country folk rooting FOR the guys to get together. Eden, indeed!

It was calming to watch a queer film where the gay issues are not the biggest issues. And it kept my mind off my work, which hadn't progressed past a few sentences, so out came...

Derek Jarman's Sebastiane.

Um, well... I couldn't really get over the suspicion that all the film was going to amount to was well-shot soft-core with English schoolboys, all grown up, showing off their Latin skills.

I was first aroused (suspicion-wise) during the slow motion sequence where Leonardo Treviglio spent six minutes pouring water over his naked body.

So yes, Jarman proved the existence of God!

See...



Tags: movies, queer film, gay

I Wanna Play!

I'm feeling a little left out with all my fellow bloggers coming out of the closet electronically. So, I've decided to share some of the diary I kept when I decided to bust forth onto the scene almost (fucking hell!) ten years ago.

Let me set the scene: I was living and working in the desert in Western Australia. My backyard looked like this:


A few months before in Broome, heart a-quiver, I had bought my gay magazine and decided to come out. You join this rather sad predicament after I had already broken off my long long term relationship with my girlfriend and resolved myself to tell my parents:

28 October 1996
What a strange time to begin to write a diary, I mean I have only been living in Jigalong for the past nine months. Really this should have been started back then and then all the monumental events of the past year could have been covered as they unfolded. Unfortunately hindsight is little compensation for the loss of opportunity and it now falls to me to write about the myriad of ideas constantly adrift in my mind in no justifiable order.

Spurs- what has prompted me to set my thought into some palpable shape? Well my life it is a changing and living in Jigalong has necessitated this as an outlet for my mind otherwise I am quite sure I will go completely mad. But right now all I can think about is going to sleep so I shall have to continue this tomorrow or whenever.

29 October 1996
So pour out all your thoughts if it be your whim. Where to start? The fact that I am gay and cannot tell anybody up here about it. How do I explain to three men who only want to get there rocks off with anything with tits and one guy who proports to be open minded but nearly looses his lunch every time that he sees any fag action on the television that I couldn’t give a fuck about women and that I would rather have something more substantial between my thighs.

I really couldn’t give a fuck about what they think and there are only two things stopping me from shocking the whole damn lot of them. The first is the fact that I haven’t yet told my parents and I really couldn’t handle them finding out from anybody else purely because they might be upset that I didn’t confide in them. Personally I am beginning to feel that this might be indicative of my very optimistic view of how the whole revelation deal is going to pan out, but really how else can I survive in life if I don’t have some faith in my family. Secondly I really don’t know how the community and the kids would react to my homosexuality. My greatest fear is that they would no longer allow me to teach here any more, maybe that is being rather more pessimistic but it gives me a decent excuse for me to keep my little secrets if that is what I am sub-consciously desiring.

Well I suppose I have explained why I am now writing this diary, hopefully it will prove to be a window into my caged soul and somewhere I may go to confide my problems to the world.

Well let us discuss what I want in life now that I have reevaluated how I am going to live my life, that is really how it turned out to be because although I have known I am gay for some time it has only been in the last few months that I have given any thought to the way this will impact on my life. In fact I have only in that time considered that a wife and three kids simply will not be a part of my future, and that is a shame and somewhat depressing every now and then when I stop to think about it. So what is going to take the place of this life of normality which I have always taken for granted would be mine? What can I say? I have nothing to role model such a lifestyle and that makes it very difficult to think of a gay lifestyle after the age of thirty, surely there must be some elderly fags around maybe I’ll see them when I hit the scene.

But how do I see my life being happy without a socially accepted girlfriend? It has been one of the most freeing consequences of breaking up with Melanie to find that I now consciously think of my next relationship being with a guy and it is truly amazing how liberating that feels- to dream, to live to experience love and pain and desire. All the feelings I had cut off in order to survive now return and I burn inside to feel them for the first time. I imagine myself with some other guy to be able to run my fingers through his hair and to actually want to kiss him rather than ashamedly try to ignore all the advances. Too be able to touch and squeeze and rub without wondering why I don’t feel excited over the whole affair. Of course finding a guy I can do this with is another matter especially since I know not where to begin, and I am not willing to have meaningless sex with a horde of men to find Mr. Right, strange that I still cling to my romantic notions in the strangest of situations.

SBLJ, what a different headspace. Do you want to know more? There are plenty big dramas to come...

Tags: diary, coming out, gay

The Gayest of Tears

"Stripes are in this season..."
I recently blabbed to y'all how I have taken to Bunburying through my iPod to see what is thrown at me. Yesterday it was a memory from days long passed.

As I arrived at the bus stop on Hoddle St. my iPod whisked me off to the coast of Maine with the song "If I Loved You" from Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel (I told you my iPod could surprise).

In times like these I tend to regress back to my hyper-emotional days. Key triggers are musicals and Disney films... okay, only the musical ones, so I suppose it is just a musicals thing.

Still with me?

Listening to the song reminded me just how brilliantly innovative these artists were. In a six minute song, the two leads meet, fall in love and basically get engaged all through explaining how they don't love each other. It's lush, heartbreaking and had me quietly tearing up at the back of the bus. The true beauty of it all is that it is believable, or maybe that is just me. There's no happy ending so that sort of adds to the credibility factor.

I'll be tracking down the film version so you haven't heard the last of this yet... sorry!

Tags: music, musicals

The Short End Of The Bus

Twitch has cunningly ferreted out the full trailer for John Cameron Mitchell's new filum, Shortbus.

When I first read about the genesis of this film a few years back, I was a little skeptical. Audition tapes, nudity, real sex, "come and create your character with us"; it was all a little fluffy (don't mind the pun) but from the looks of things, it seems to have come together extremely well and it has been well gushed-at in Cannes.

Whether or not we get to see it in the Commonwealth of Censorship Australia is another matter. Yeah, they eventually let 9 Songs through their ever more strangling net but that was straight sex and we uranists haven't fared quite so well.

I guess all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope that Cannes still holds some weight.

Then again, it is always good to get out and protest with Dave and Margs!

Now, go get sexy!

Tags: trailer, film, censorship

Bugger, but... Fuck Yeah!

Tonight, I had fully intended to attend the opening of Soccer Australia's re-revamped A-League (it's "Version 2.0" apparently).

Unfortunately, wandering back from entertainments yesterday evening, I noticed an inordinate number of Melbourne Victory strips wandering around.

Last night, I would have full intended to attend...

During an unwarranted pitstop at *cough* KFC, I tapped a supporter on the shoulder and received the good news. A 2:0 victory for Victory against Adelaide, a team we haven't manage to score against in seven matches!

Looks like the boys from Brazil were a wise investment.

Full Match Report

Tags: soccer, football, A-League, Melbourne Victory

The View From Here

Sometimes the world outside scares the shit out of me.

Just something new to fight against, I suppose.

Tags: photos, Melbourne

All Bow

Overnight the trailer popped up for Stephen Frears' new film, The Queen, which stars Helen Mirren as, well, the queen.

There is something incredibly audacious about releasing a film that covers this subject matter (the death of the Princess of Wales), from this viewpoint (that of the queen herself, her family and the Prime Minister) and in what seems to be a grounded and introspective manner (there is little here to remind us of the appallingly sensationalist docu-dramas of the early nineties).

One wonders, with respect to a production such as this, how much involvement these public figures have had in the development. While the film doesn't appear to be seeking to spark discussion on any specific agenda, it is speaking with the queen's voice and casting the incomparable Helen Mirren in the role can only further cement this conceit.

The film looks astoundingly good. It is hard to hear what is going on in the trailer because there is some serious Oscar buzz. Frears is a consummate film maker who has delivered some classics (My Beautiful Laundrette, Dangerous Liaisons) and looking back at his oeuvre I am astounded at the classics I have missed (The Grifters, Prick Up Your Ears).

Get thee hence and greet The Queen

Tags: film, movie, trailer

The Craw

Some devotees of the site have been begging for photos of my hand since the stitches were removed earlier this week (you macabre devils, you), so I oblige.

Kate and Kate have given me some exercises to ensure the scar tissue doesn't attach too firmly to the tendons. There is very little movement at the moment and I have to be tres careful that I don't reopen the wound but apart from that, everything is peachy apparently.

It is quite awkward getting through the day one-handed. You'd be surprised at the menial tasks that rely on both hands. It can be frustrating but everyone is very helpful.

Helsa has already renamed it "The Craw", so beware!!!

Tags: photos, injury

Adam and Steve (or She's The Man) and She's The Man (or What You Will)

I took in two crowd pleasing comedies the other day. I don't know why I am posting them together but for some reason I have an inkling that there is some reason (and it is not because they both star Julie Hagerty, beloved star of Flying High nee Airplane).

Both were pretty broad comedies, one for the "gay" set and one for the "teenage girl" set. Of course arguments can be made that one of the sets encompasses the other - I'll leave that up to your imagination. Normally I would have run a mile (okay, half a mile) from Adam and Steve, it's the sort of bland, well-meaning comedy that plays to the masses and bores me shitless. It had a couple of trump cards though... Parker Posey, indie film goddess extraordinaire and Mango himself, Chris Kattan (Can you hold the moon in your mouth? Such is Mango!).

They helped marginally but nowhere near enough to lift the film out of the mire of mediocrity. They do share one of the film's funniest exchanges:

Yeah, he is a shrink. I think he knows more about this stuff than us. He has a degree. We just have Oprah.

Oprah has made it impossible for me to have a close relationship with anyone besides Oprah.

She's The Man was holding the aces though: Channing Tatum and Shakespeare.

Channing Tatum...


'Nuff said!

Shakespeare... I've always loved the teen flick updates of the Bard, especially the comedies (which only makes me wonder why I missed A Midsummer Night's Rave). I know they're crap, but they're good crap, and Twelfth Night is one of my favourite plays.

Amanda Bynes was really likeable as Viola/Sebastian and they worked the play pretty well, even if they did castrate Malvolio's plot line a little severely.

What does all this say about me? Am I a fifteen year old girl? Maybe but I hide it well, at least I hope so. I think, teen comedies are so far removed from my reality that I can enjoy them as a spectator (and dream of getting into Channing's shorts). Gay comedies hit too close to home and play off stereotypes that I just don't subscribe to so I'll stick to the morbid, arty European fag films (spaced out with teen flicks, of course).

Tags: movie review, film, gay

Is this where you live?

Originally uploaded by No-necked Monsters.

Digging In

On account of the recent meme, a timely visit by a fellow Battlestar Galactica devotee and, I suppose, my recent return to Melbourne, I've been noticing the growing web of Oz bloggers out there, especially in Melbourne.

I've always blogged on an island. A friend recently berated me (friendlily) for being an impersonal blogger. I don't suppose No-necked Monsters ever really set out to be an online diary, though it has skipped through that field at times. I guess I always kept a rein on that side of the blog out of respect for my partner. Now that our relationship has come to an abrupt conclusion, I may gaily wander those fields more often, maybe.

Anyway, I just wanted to let y'all know that I've added an Oz blog section in the sidebar as I am going to start paddling off my island and out into the shimmery blogosphere. If you are an Oz blogger, pipe up, shout out, drop in...

Tags: blogging, community, Melbourne

What Price Freedom (of Information)?

I just wanted to bring your attention to the activities of my goodest of friends, and part-time armchair activist, Don over at Blather-Blog.

He is currently locking horns with the Attorney General's Office over some legal advice our Prime Autocrat Minister reportedly received concerning the legality of the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay.

At the beginning of July this year, he put in a freedom of information request for the documents. He says it much more pretty like:

I request the following documents:

Any and all legal advice provided to the Commonwealth Government regarding the legality (or otherwise) under international law of the military commissions established by the United States of America to try detainees held in Guantanamo, Cuba, or elsewhere.

I consider that any claim to legal professional privilege under Section 42 of the Act has been waived by the disclosure of the substance of the advice received, by the Prime Minister, who publicly stated on 30 June 2006: “Our advice had been, as had the American Government's advice . . . that it was lawful.”

The Commonwealth Government has knowingly and voluntarily disclosed the (alleged) substance of the documents, and therefore waived any legal professional privilege over those documents.

Of course, nothing is ever simple or cheap. At this point in time Don is paying the (not insubstantial) processing charges, after his submission for a waiver was bureaucratically denied.

He is going to go them hammer and tongs, even enlisting some of his friends who are still practising law to ensure they can't weasel their way out.

Have fun following the paper trail...




Tags: politics, Australia, legal

What's in a meme?

I've been memed. What the fuck does that mean?

No, seriously, leave a comment and tell me where they pulled that name from because I can't be bothered looking up the wiki.

Aaaaanyway, this little gem comes courtesy of Richard at the newly-christened Watts With Words? and says (and I quote):

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

Ladies and ladies, I reach next to my pillow and I present to you an excerpt from the (graphic) novel Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (luckily page 123 fell on one of the written pages):

We have labored (sic) long to build a heaven, only to find it populated with horrors.

It is the oldest of ironies that are still the most satisfying: man, when preparing for bloody war, will orate loudly and most eloquently in the name of peace. The dichotomy is not an invention of the twentieth century, yet it is in this century that the most striking examples of the phenomena appeared. Never before has man pursued global harmony more vocally while amassing stockpiles of weapons so devastating in their effect.

I'm actually really enjoying it. It is my first graphic novel and I am resoundingly impressed.

Now let's tag (and reveal my meagre collection of blog pals)...

Textick
blather blog
It's All About Me!
Codehesive.com

Tags: meme, books

City Smackdown: Melbourne vs. London

Not really, just an excuse to post some photos of Melbourne.

Where London is all domes and marble facades, Melbourne is predominately line and glass. It is interesting that I never think of it that way.




Tags: Melbourne, photos

Final Reviews

The last of my film reviews went up on FilmExposed yesterday evening.

Ironically, they were the first and the last that I wrote.

I should have sat on them both a while longer because they don't flow that well but, hell, they are published anyway.

You can check them out by clicking on the pics above.

Don't stop visiting the site because I will be back, one way or another. You can subscribe to their newsletter by visiting the site or send me an email and I'll get them to add you to their list. There are a reasonable amount of giveaways too so don't be shy.

Alternatively, there is a new RSS feed for the reviews. Just plug feed://www.filmexposed.com/RSS/ into your RSS reader.

Tags: film, movie review, FilmExposed

Welcomes Home

More catch ups with more friends. Had dinner with N, A, R and JP (that's Neale, Andrew, Rick and, um, JP) last night. The lasagne came in three varieties and the brownies were ultra-fresh, as in "Would you like some brownies for dessert?" -"Yes, that sounds lovely!" -"Okay, I'll just head to the kitchen and whip some up" fresh.

So good to see the boys again.


Night before, I caught up with Glen at his swanky new address with the killer views.

Choice.

Tags: friends , photos, Melbourne

Oi, Is This A Dagger, Mate?

I don't bitch and moan... much... but since i've been back in Oztralia, I've found myself bitching and moaning non-stop about Bell Shakespeare Company. I don't know what it is about Bell that sets me off so badly. Perhaps it is my frustration at not having a solid and reliable Shakespearean troupe down here. Bell has such promise and almost always squanders it with aplomb. It is probably a case of so near yet so far.

It is teeth-grindingly frustrating.

But I've not come here to belly-ache; I've come to let you know that something wicked is this way coming. Next month, my new boyfriend, Sam Worthington, is starring in Geoffrey "Romper Stomper" Wright's film version of Macbeth.

You can check out the trailer over at the official website.

It probably smacks of hypocrisy, given that I have railed so vociferously against Bell's anachronistic theatrical updates, but I think cinematic Shakespeare needs that lift or they end up wallowing in the dankness of Eliza-Jacobean England. Of course, it can be done well (McKellen's Richard III) or abysmally (Ethan Hawke's Hamlet), and I think this one shows promise. I have some quibbles but my fingers are tightly crossed.

Tags: film , Shakespeare , theatre

F.Y.I.

Well, it's all over!

But what a fantastic result. I'm so glad Pete and Glyn were together in the end.



Do make sure to watch Pete's interview with Davina, especially if you haven't seen him much on YouTube.

The housemates say it best but I'd like to echo how brilliant it was to see such a rare human being on reality television.

And finally, there have been some requests for more Nikki, so please enjoy:

Nikki and the bed incident
Nikki and the air conditioning incident (in English)
Nikki and the air conditioning incident (in Welsh)
Nikki and the case of the ghetto slag
Nikki and the mp3 player incident (a MUST see!)

Or, if you can't be bovered with all that, check out her Best Bits montage



Tags: BBUK

Brick (or, You talk funny like!)

One of the positive things about coming home is that I will be able to catch a few flicks I missed in the UK. Yesterday, Richard and I caught Brick at the Kino.

While I wasn't blown away I was certainly impressed, immensely impressed. Director Rian Johnson, despite not being able to spell his own name, has an real eye for making the screen pretty - a talent that is considerably lacking in the world of American independent cinema. And original to boot.

Playing like Veronica Mars on steroids, Brick is über-noirish and set in a conspicuously deserted high school. Everyone natters away as if they've been surviving on an unhealthy diet of pulpy detective novels, so much so that it would be easy to look at Brick as a classic from a bygone era if it weren't so try-hard. The film trades heavily off this conceit, so heavily that when it breaks it totters on the edge of silliness.

Luckily, Johnson is aware of this gaping hole of credibility and he manages to patch it up with some deft, self knowing comedy (the scenes with the mother are absolute gold).

The performances are wryly perfect, excepting the femme fatale, who is neither femme nor fatal, except for her acting.

All in all, an expert play. The flick lands just on the right side of Bugsy Malone. At the end it feels like a great popcorner, surprising given its heavy themes. Personally, I think that is quite an achievement. Rian is certainly a name to watch.

Tags: movie review, cinema

¿Qué hacen Los Killers?

What are The Killers up to?

Their new album Sam's Town has been slated for release in early October and by the sounds/looks of things, they've traded all their shimmery, sequiny glam-pop-rock for a Fellini-esque, Maria Full Of Grace-aping feel with heavy Springsteen overtones.

Confusing, but I like it. The lead single, When You Were Young left me a little cold to begin with but had me in its thrall by the end (and you too can check it out at either if the sites below).

The music video has a trailer, which is bizarre and looks to have a very sombre lead in that is not on the single.

The new(ish) website is another thing entirely.

Well, a reinvention is as good as a holiday.

Tags: music , video , design

The Question du jour

Last night, at the newly, almost exactly the same Q+A, there was one question on everyone's lips:

"What is it like being back in Melbourne?"

Well, it's like this:


And this, which I love:


And this:


And this:


In words, it is comfortable and nurturing and safe. I can walk down the street and feel I understand people. This world makes complete sense, so much sense that it is like a dream you don't question, you just let it flow around you and through you.

Then I look at my hand and I know why I've come back here, and the rest of the world becomes my unfinished business. It is weird to be back here so quickly and under these circumstances. It is like someone took some scissors to my life - cut me out and stuck me back here without consulting me. Yes, it is exactly what I need but that doesn't make any easier.

And then there's this and this and this:



And everyone else who fronted up. I love you all. It was like I'd only just seen you last week. Sorry I didn't get to chat to everyone at length. I'm wearing my cement boots at the moment though, and with this hand I can't untie them, so I'll be here for a while and I know I'll see you again in no time.

Hell, if the weather keeps up there may be a bbq around the corner.

x

Tags: Melbourne, photos, friends

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd

To all those Sondheim fans out there, you can officially uncross your fingers.

It was announced today that Tim Burton's film version of Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp is definitely going ahead. Rehearsals in November, filming in February, release in late 2007.

I think Burton is perfect for the job. He should be able to take the stage show and flesh out the macabre blood bath into a fully fledged film. In other words this should be more Chicago than Rent.

And Depp as Benji Barker. Classic. He's not the typical vision of Todd but I know he'll muster the much needed presence.

Apparently Sondheim had him audition to check that his voice wasn't too rock n' roll for the role. It's good to see the old man ensuring that they don't fuck this one up. At least it can't be worse than A Little Night Music (yes it was filmed and quite justifiably forgotten).

Props to Ain't It Cool and Dark Horizons fo breaking.


Tags: cinema, musical, Sondheim

Boooring... For A Little While

I have to really sit down and think about some constructive way to occupy my time, or some work I can manage while me hand repairs itself (with the help of Kate and Kate, and me I suppose).

There is a light on the horizon. It is not constructive, nor is it work: it is television!

I am sure some of you are dying to know when your shows are coming back.

Prison Break - August 21
House - September 5
The Wire - September 10
Veronica Mars - October 3
Lost - October 4
Battlestar Galactica - October 6

Lots of fun ahead on all fronts. But where what is going to fill the gaping void left by Alias?

Fear not viewers, there are some hopeful glimmers.

Brothers and Sisters: Set in Los Angeles, follows the ups and downs of the Walker family after their father William dies unexpectedly. The siblings each face new challenges after the safety net of their father is gone.

*cough* Six Feet Under *cough*

Alias Connection? Ron Rifkin and Balthazar Getty, plus executive producer/sometime director, Ken Olin

Anything Else Decent? Rachel Griffifths *cough* Six Feet Under *cough* and Sally Field

Premieres: September 24

Six Degrees: Six very different New Yorkers go about their lives without realizing the impact they're having on one another - yet. A mysterious web of coincidences will gradually draw these strangers closer, changing the course of their lives forever. Is it happenstance? Fate? Is there a greater force at work in our world, guiding us along and connecting our lives?

Alias Connection? Same producers - headed by Abrams

Anything Else Decent? Jay Hernandez who still owns my heart after he sweltered through Crazy/Beautiful

Premieres: September 21

Heroes: A serial saga about people all over the world discovering that they have superpowers and trying to deal with how this change affects their lives. The relatable superheroes include Peter Petrelli, a 30-year-old male nurse who believes can fly, Diego Medina, a 28-year-old junkie who has the ability to paint images of the future when he is high, Niki Sanders, a 33-year-old Las Vegas showgirl who can do incredible things with mirrors, Hiro Makamura, a 24-year-old Japanese comic-book geek who literally makes time stand still, D.L. Hawkins, a 31-year-old inmate who can transport himself through walls, Matt Parkman, a beat cop who can hears other people's thoughts, and Claire Bennet, 17-year-old cheerleader who defies death at every turn. Not only are they discovering what having superpowers means to them but also the larger picture of where their superpowers come from. Eventually their superpowers draw them together when they try to evade the series' antagonist who wants to harness their super-DNA for himself. Their ultimate destiny is nothing less than saving the world.

Alias Connection? Not much - Greg Grunberg, but there are Buffy links too!

Anything Else Decent? Superheroes? Everything else is decent!!!

Premieres: September 25

Oh, and Jenny's new film, Catch and Release has a trailer now. Really, it does. Go see!

Thanks to TV.com for the dates and summaries.

Tags: television, Alias