Mon, 21 Mar 2005

Bride and Prejudice

We usually manage to go to the movies at quiet times, but today’s effort in the middle of a Monday afternoon was our biggest success—we were the only people in the cinema. Bride and Prejudice was pretty much what we expected—an amusing and quite well made piece of entertainment. I’m not sure how well it would work for an audience unfamiliar with the Jane Austen original, but we know it well and were very well entertained by the way they re-told the old story in modern India, Britain and the USA. Nothing here that will change your life, but good fun.

Posted at: 17:11

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Sun, 23 Jan 2005

Sideways

We saw Sideways yesterday. Since we had free tickets, we went to Birch, Carroll and Coyle at Indooroopilly—a cinema complex that we tend to avoid because of crowds and prices. Being early, we were among the first into the theatre. It stank. There might have been a hundred wet dogs hidden under the seats, judging by the odour. And it was filthy. The floor and the seats in the entire area that we wanted to sit in were covered in popcorn. But we did have free tickets, so we cleared a couple of seats and settled in.

Then we got subjected to the incredibly offensive anti-piracy propaganda piece and I began my program of protest. But Chrissie really hates it when I draw attention to myself in public and she begged me to stop. So I contented myself with reminding her of my reasons for protesting, loud enough for the people in adjacent seats to hear. I wasn’t greatly surprised when none of them leapt to their feet screaming abuse at the screen—after all, revolutions have to begin with small steps. But I remain hopeful that people will get sick of being insulted when they have in fact paid their money to see the movie.

As for the film, it was great. I won’t spoil it for anybody, but it’s worth noting that we felt that the four principals all played their parts well and that the film had many really funny moments, as well as a nicely-balanced story. It’s not a “great” movie, but it’s excellent entertainment. I’d recommend it highly.

Posted at: 12:46

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Thu, 03 Jun 2004

Brilliant Carmen

Went to Opera Queensland’s Carmen the other day and was very impressed. Excellent set, great orchestra and chorus, very good principals and a brilliant Yvonne Fontane as Carmen. I’ve seen six or seven productions of this opera over the years and this was the best of them, due in large part to the performance of the title role. Ms Fontane has the voice, the body and the acting to carry off this rather challenging role—even for opera, it’s pretty implausible. We loved it.

Posted at: 14:03

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