Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has to hold the record as my most avoided book ever. A friend lent it to me twelve years ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since. He probably wonders where the hell it went. The problem is, I know my friend’s penchant for esoteric works of much vaunted philosophical richness, and at heart I’m a lazy bastard who doesn’t like to think much. Well, it’s not that I don’t like to think, but I hate being bored, and boring was what this book looked to be. But let me tell you, this amazing piece of work is anything but boring.
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Thursday, October 30
The Metro Theatre, Sydney

OK, at the risk of sounding like some pop psychologist or worse, I just have to say it: I don’t think success and recognition sit all that well with Glenn Richards. The steady downwards progression in quality from album to album corresponds to Augie March’s rise as a force in the Australian music industry. Sunset Studies appeared out of nowhere and blew us away. Strange Bird failed to meet our (probably unfairly inflated) expectations, but it was still pretty damn good. Moo You Bloody Choir nudged the band pretty firmly into the mainstream, both in terms of sound and airplay, spearheaded by the spectacular success of “One Crowded Hour”. And then, riding an immense swell of critical and industry anticipation, along comes Watch Me Disappear. OK, it’s not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but just stop for a moment and compare it to Sunset Studies. There simply is no comparison.
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The title says it all. Yep, this is a movie about a group of people floating around on a lifeboat. Doesn’t sound real exciting, does it? How could anyone possibly make an entertaining film out of that? Never mind. Alfred Hitchcock will show you how it’s done.

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Dutch film director Paul Verhoeven has been making a living on lurid, box-office-friendly Hollywood thrillers for some time now. Characterised by a sort of polished sleaziness mixed with frank violence, these films have never been particular favourites of the critics, but nevertheless, their pure entertainment value has led to many of them going down as cult favourites (RoboCop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, Showgirls). In Holland, Verhoeven is more highly regarded - his breakthrough 1973 film Turkish Delight was voted Dutch Film of the Century in 1999. Perhaps it’s fitting then that, in his return to his homeland, he should abandon robots, strippers and aliens for the more serious subject matter of the Dutch World War II Resistance.

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There is no more tiresome Hollywood tendency than its predilection for basing big budget films on old TV shows. One would think the American film industry was creatively bankrupt from the slew of these remakes that have hit cinema with increasing regularity since the 90’s, but the truth is that it is more indicative of cycnical populism; of producers having found an easy answer ot the question of “What do the peeps want?”. Well, I guess that’s what they get paid for. At least you get seasoned pros like Michael Mann appointed to realise these projects. But, really, doesn’t Michael Mann have something better to do than rehash this old ground like this? Maybe so, but even when he might be working on the wrong project, he still does a damn fine job.

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OK, how old is Keira Knightley? 23 or something? And how many films has she racked up now? Surely she is one of the hardest working actresses in the world - she seems to be in a new movie every few weeks! In Saul Dibb’s period drama, The Duchess, she has found a role substantial enough to stretch her ability more than usual, and she comes through with flying colours.

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Midnight Juggernauts
British India
Van She
Bluejuice
Lost Valentinos
Children Collide

Manning House
Saturday October 18th, 2008

That’s right. Festival season is upon us once again. And in these days when no self-respecting festival will deign to charge you much less than $150 for vast lineups containing two or three acts you know well alongside two dozen you’ve never heard of, what an opportunity the crowd at Sydney University’s Manning Bar have presented us with in Sounds in the Grounds. Four of Australia’s hottest acts for forty bucks? Could we possibly go wrong? The short answer is “No”. Read the rest of this entry »