Movie Review - Groundhog Day

GROUNDHOG DAY (1993)

U.S.A, 101 Mins

Hard to believe it’s already been a year since we lost the very talented actor/director/writer Harold Ramis. Best known for his roles in Ghostbusters & Stripes, he also stepped behind the camera to direct several films, including this week’s review from 1993, Groundhog Day. Need to re-acquaint myself with a quality film – I’m still getting the bad taste of last weeks movie out of my mouth!

So Groundhog Day stars Bill Murray & Andie MacDowell, & is based around the well-known day in the States which is celebrated on February 2^nd.  Murray plays Phil Connors, a jaded & self-centred weatherman with a local Pittsburgh TV station. He travels with producer Rita (MacDowell) & cameraman Larry (Chris Elliot) on Feb. 1^st out to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities the following day. Phil can’t stand the whole day or the town of Punxsutawney, & is eager to leave as soon as their production is wrapped up. They are halted by a big blizzard however, & are forced to return to Punxsutawney.  Phil wakes up the next day to find that is once again Groundhog Day, with the day playing out exactly as it did the day before. It seems only Phil himself is caught in the time loop however – everyone carries on as normal. When Phil continues to relive the same day over & over, he decides to take advantage of it & the fact there will be no repercussions the following day by smoking, drinking, learning secrets from town locals to his own advantage, & even stealing money! Ultimately, he decides to take advantage of the time loop to find out more about Rita, who he has a thing for, to try & woo her into sleeping with him, only to continually fail.

The constant repeat of Groundhog Day & his failure with Rita eventually drive Phil over the edge, as he attempts suicide to beat the day repeating. But again the next morning, he finds himself waking up at 6am on Groundhog Day.  Further attempts at ending it all have the same affect – he still wakes up the next morning, & it’s still February 2^nd. Phil eventually confesses to Rita of his situation, with knowledge of every single detail of what happens in Punxsutawney to back him up. Rita eventually believes him to an extent, & they enjoy a nice day together. This is the turning point for Phil, as he starts to realise to use his personal time loop for good – to help out people of the town, & doing good deeds, & learning to speak another language. Eventually, Phil has be-friended just about everyone in town, & his efforts impress Rita without the sleazy tactics Phil resorted to earlier on. They spend the night together, & Phil wakes up the next morning to discover that it is February 3^rd – his time loop has finally been broken, & Rita is still with him. Learning his lesson, Phil continues his new-found good attitude & suggests they move to Punxsutawney.

As it probably shows, I love this film. Bill Murray is at his absolute best here, playing the self-centred Phil Connors perfectly, using his dry, sarcastic sense of humour to its utmost. Andie MacDowell plays off him well, playing the sensible & smart lady who Phil ultimately aspires to.  There are plenty of laughs along the way, as Phil deals with his personal situation, & loveable characters like Larry the cameraman, & Ned Ryerson (Stephen Tobolwsky) as the irritating old high school friend who Phil encounters most times he re-lives the day. The film also has a positive tale to tell, guiding us to the conclusion of the cheap & easy way often leads to failure, while a good & kind heart is ultimately the way to go to happiness. While not setting the box office world on fire when it was initially released, Groundhog Day has become a much loved & recognised film over the years with much to offer, & critics have acknowledged it as a contemporary classic.

Groundhog Day is one of those films I know word for word, & would easily say is in my Top 5 favourite films of all time. As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, I’m a big Bill Murray fan, & he is at his best here. A feel good film with plenty of laughs along the way, with an excellent supporting cast, Groundhog Day is still as good as it was when released 22 years ago. I’m giving it the full Monty:  *****

Movie Review - Fifty Shades Of Grey

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (2015)

     USA, 125 Mins

Dir: Sam Taylor-Johnson

Ahh the measures I go to for my fellow Linc-ers! When I agreed way back in December 2013 to go & review this movie when it was released I really didn’t think things through, did I? Still, an agreement is an agreement, so along to the cinemas I went earlier this week.

So in case you've just arrived on Planet Earth in the last few days, Fifty Shades Of Grey is an erotic romance film adapted from the very successful book of the same name by British author E L James, which I haven’t read I should stress from the outset – so this film review is based solely on the viewing of the film itself. The two key characters are Anastasia Steele (played by Dakota Johnson) & Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). Grey is a young corporate executive, who is already a billionaire despite his young age. Anastasia is a young college undergraduate attending class near Vancouver, who fills in for her roommate Kate in a rare scheduled interview with Mr Grey at his corporate headquarters in Seattle for her college newspaper, of which Mr Grey is a patron of. Mr Grey from the outset takes an interest in Ana, & a blossoming romance develops from there, which goes into some deep & at times kinky places as the relationship evolves. And that my friends, is it. That’s your entire storyline in 125 minutes of film. Seriously, nothing else of any note storyline-wise happens at all outside of Mr Grey & Ana’s rapidly escalating relationship.

Look, obviously opinions are going to vary widely on this film. As a single guy in his late 30’s seeing this film, Fifty Shades Of Grey clearly resonated with me a lot differently than it would for younger females for instance.  I had already garnered very different views by the time I saw it on Tuesday night. But this my film review, so I’m not going to mince words here – this was quite possibly the worst film I’ve ever seen. Nothing actually happens outside of the relationship. No character development takes place. No other plot points are developed, outside Ana & Kate actually graduating from college & moving to Seattle. The supporting cast are nigh invisible. Ana’s afore-mentioned roommate Kate bobs up occasionally, usually just to bounce off some dialogue with Ana on just what exactly is happening with her & Mr Grey. Though she does find time to bed Christian’s brother Elliot, though how & why is never explored of course. Ana’s parents also bob up at some point in time, but again rather than play any meaningful role, they really seem to just be there to bounce more questions & answers about her budding romance than anything more meaningful.

This film was literally unsalvageable even before we reached the steamy stuff – I was literally ready to gouge my own eyeballs out by then, going by how lame everything had been till this point. And even the selling point of some pretty full on sex scenes, to speak nothing of the more kinky stuff which follows later on really seemed awkward. There is little chemistry here between the two main actors. Maybe couples going to see this might find this risqué stuff a turn-on, but otherwise again it just seemed painful & awkward to watch, even though this was obviously a selling point of the book & film.

I honestly have tried to find something worthy to come out of this steaming pile of crap in the last few days, but still haven’t found one. Honestly, I’ve seen better story-lines in the cartoons I watched in the 80’s when I was 10 years old. I’ve seen more meaningful & deeper dialogue in my 11 year old niece’s acting classes.  There is literally nothing to take out of this film – its 125 minutes of my life I’m never getting back L Even the ending makes little sense, other than leaving the door wide open for the other books in the series to be adapted into films to continue the saga I guess. I NEVER walk out of films before they finish, & especially in this case as the sole reason I was going was to review it, & I literally had to stop myself several times from getting up & walking out during some scenes, it was THAT bad.

I’ll refrain from labelling Fifty Shades Of Grey as the worst movie of all time – it warrants a bit more perspective than just a few days to be crowned that dubious honour. The film has broken box office records in the States, & I daresay we won’t be far behind either, so it really matters little what I think in the scheme of things anyway. Ladies will swarm to this, & no doubt drag their blokes with them. Though I urge anyone to re-think this decision, very very seriously.  If this crap is what passes as must-see viewing these days, then somebody needs to get me on that space shuttle to Mars, cause I want off this planet.

Fifty Shades Of Grey scores a DUD (zero stars)

Movie Review - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008)

USA, 166 Mins

Dir: David Fincher

I was very intrigued to check out The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1922 book of the same name, the film is a fantasy-drama starring Hollywood A-Listers Brad Pitt & our own Cate Blanchett. Pitt stars as Benjamin Button, a child born in New Orleans in 1918 with all the appearances & physical maladies of an elderly man, who ages backwards – actually growing younger as he ages. Blanchett plays Daisy Fuller, Buttons love interest throughout the film.

In the present day, the whole story of Benjamin is told through the eyes of Daisy’s daughter Caroline by reading Button’s diary at the request of a dying Daisy. Benjamin’s mother died in childbirth & was rejected by his father Thomas Button, so he is raised by Queenie, a worker at the nursing home where Benjamin was abandoned. And so begins an amazing tale, as Benjamin gradually transforms from a wheelchair bound frail man(?) at the age of 7, to learning to walk & become a fit & healthy (& increasing younger) man. He meets Daisy (Blanchett) through her grandmother who is staying at the nursing home when she is just 6 & immediately forms a special bond with her, though he is still for all appearances an elderly man at this point.  And so beginning a fascinating tale of adventure & love, as Benjamin begins a life journey that takes him to many places with many different experiences, all the time growing younger while Daisy grows older, until they reach a time & place in history where they are of similar age & begin a relationship. In between times, Benjamin has worked on a tug boat, had an affair with the wife of the British Trade Minister, met & befriended his real father, & been involved in & survived World War II.

They have a daughter together, but as time continues on, the once again growing physical age gap between Benjamin & Daisy – this time Benjamin growing younger & younger, while Daisy is getting on in age - becomes an issue, & Benjamin must make a decision on their everlasting, but ultimately doomed love while he still can……

The curious Case Of Benjamin Button has been compared with the likes of Forrest Gump, & with good reason – this is a very moving & high class film which was nominated for a swag of Oscars, eventually winning 3. An engrossing story that is well told through the eyes of Daisy’s daughter (Julia Ormond) & takes through many eras in American history which Benjamin experiences – World War II, the 60’s, etc.  Pitt & Blanchard in their lead roles are very convincing, & certainly bring their A game to the table in what would have been very challenging roles given the different ages they must represent throughout the majority of the film. We are much caught up in the special relationship that Benjamin & Daisy share throughout, but at the same time know that it cannot end perfectly due to Benjamin’s condition.

Well supported by a good cast, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is certainly worthy of your time, & has that special quality feel to it. Clocking in at nearly 3 hours, it certainly is a lengthy film, but very easy to get caught up in, so it really doesn’t feel that long. The digital effects which are used to de-age & re-age the main characters are first rate, as are the historical settings. There isn’t much to dis-like about his one, it’s an easy **** for me

Update - 25 Random Things About Me Pt 2

Ok, on with the list!

12)  I loooove a good book. Am a self confessed book-worm, which ties in with point 1 pretty well i suppose. Give me a good book & a quiet spot, I'm gone for hours upon hours.

Well, social media - particularly twitter - has eaten into this somewhat, but still can usually find time for a good read, especially with e-books & my kindle making it easy depending on what I feel like reading.

13) Our whole family went to hell & back between late 1995 & 1997. My older (by around 2 hours) sister Alisha had anarexia. It is 100% true when people say that the whole family has anorexia, not just the person suffering it. I saw a healthy & intelligent high school girl lose so much weight it was scary. I still don't think we all realise just how close we came to losing her to that disease. For around 18-24 months, we went through the system of RCH visits, family meetings, youth centre admssions & terrible nights at home where she threatened to kill herself & didn't want to go on, etc. Rightly or wrongly I really allowed it to affect my uni studies. It remains the only time I've seen my father openly cry in front of me. I can't imagine how it must have been for Jess, our younger twin sister coping all the rumours & name calling at their high school. If it wasn't for Mum's goodwill & strength, we would never have made it through those dark days.

Still the worst 2 years of my life

14)  I was in a car accident in 2001 that so easily could have been fatal. Driving home from work with my brother, about 4 or 5 weeks after i had been transferred to 
west Footscray from Richmond, a truck overtook us at Little River. Problem was it wanted back in our lane before it had clearly overtaken us. It ripped right into the drivers side of the vehicle & we somehow did a 360 & ended up in the mid-strip of the freeway shaken but unhurt. If there had been a car in that right lane behind the truck, we would have been goners. Yes it is true your life flashes before you in situations like that.

Was pretty scary stuff. Some dickhead rear ended me on my way home from work last July, lucky I was just shaken, car was written off though. 

15)  I never thought I'd be one for the bar/nightclub scene. It was a good 6 months after i first turned 18 before a few mates talked me into going out. But come a few months later, at the start of '94, we were heading out in G-town every Saturday night - I could count on 1 hand how many Saturday nights in the mid 90's we didn't end up at the good ol Geelong Hotel!!

Sadly the good old GH was torn down a few years ago for the extension of the private hospital next door. Can't even drive past & reminisce anymore!

16)  I almost became a groupie for the regular cover band that played the Geelong Hotel there in our glory days, so to speak. Men Of Lesuire - in hindsight they were just your average Saturday night pub cover band. But it was a fun time - met a whole heap of new friends, including some pretty good looking girls, hehehhe. and hey, nothing beat throwing your arms around the nearest girls when the band launched into "Piano Man" at 1.30 in the morning, drunk as!

Good days, good days! Well, good nights, lol 

17)  In later years, Friday nights at The Lyric - back then Geelong's best known & biggest nightclub - became the norm for us all. Theme was Timewarp 70's/80's. I guess thats where my love of that music era began. Great nights - VIP entry b4 11, $6 shakers before midnight, then we'd hit the dancefloor grooving to all the tunes. You had the timewarp twins up on stage to check out & a guy with a big 70's hair-do wig dancing on the balconies, giving away $$ to the girls who could do the best fake orgasm. Bloody awesome nights, so many hangovers too!

Best nights ever. As much as enjoy the occasional night out at Retro in Melbourne, & even the Retro in Sydney on the odd occasion I'm harborside, I don't think anything will top the TimeWarp nights at the Lyric!

18)  I had a MAJOR obsession with all girl Aussie pop band Girlfriend, who were really big in the early 90's. My whole wall was covered in their posters/clippings from newspapers, etc. It reached the point where when their 1993 Geelong concert clashed with our family trip to Central Australia, I was seriously considering flights to meet the folks in Alice Springs so i could still make the concert & meet up with the family later on. Common sense won out.......

Don't worry, my old high school friends never let me forget it!

19)  I freely admit that the company I've worked for for the last 11+ years is never going to win awards for the best workplace, & they will never realise their true potential while the current owners/directors remain in charge. However, I wouldn't swap my experiences over the years for anything - I've learnt a hell of a lot about myself, & how the world works. Plus I have met so many quality people, & made a huge group of people I consider valued friends. And that ranks above all else in my book

I could do a whole blog post about my time at Dimmeys. Thankfully I finally got out of that toxic environment in late 2011. Why I stayed as long as I did is a daily thought. I'll save inner thoughts & details for a separate blog I think.

20)  My first real bad experience with alcohol was on my 18th birthday party. I had my friends round for a BBQ & drinks etc. I was drinking Strongbow up until a mate showed up later on in the evening, with my birthday present - a big bottle of Jim Beam. So we all started doing shots of that, & I found out the hard way Strongbow, Jim Beam, & sprints around the block at 1am in the morning was NOT a good mix! Boy was i sick!

Ahhh come on, we've all been there before right? :)

21)  I still rate "Back To The Future" as my all time favorite movie. A close second, despite me risking my bloke membership card, is Titanic. It's 1 of only 2 times I've ever walked out of a cinema absolutely having being blown away, lost for words. For the record, the only other time was when i went & saw Mulholland Drive.

Still numero uno

22) Yes, I am happy to admit it - I AM A PRO-WRESTLING FAN!! My brother & a school friend of his were into it at a time when it was the in-thing (late 80's) & they ended up dragging me into their interest as well. As luck would have, they grew out of it, while I still followed it, to this day, though not as religiously as I did say at the start of the decade. And yes i know how it works. But its a pet hate of wrestling fans to say its fake. IT IS NOT FAKE! Yes the match results are pre-determined, but the moves they use in the ring are legit!!

I've really dropped off the wrestling bandwagon a lot more in the last year or 2, though I still follow whats happening, & see the occasional show. My niece & nephew are right into it though!

23)  I cannot stand 95% of the T.V shows currently screening (ratings or non-ratings time). If you aren't into reality T.V or crime shows, its bad luck you i guess. Big Brother was the sole exception in my dis-like of reality T.V, & that got totally un-watchable in its last 2 years. I'm glad they canned it when they did.

It's only gotten worse! When is it going to end? Seriously, we're gonna look back at our TV viewing habits in 20 years & wonder what the hell we were doing watching all this crap? Certainly haven't gotten back into the revived BB, though I will admit there is one reality show I've found which is pretty decent - The Amazing Race.

24)  I am a bit of a sports nut (people who know me well are probably saying well duh right now). Cricket, tennis, soccer/round ball football, Olympic sports, etc.... even a bit of rugby & Grid Iron......though nothing could ever come close to AFL Footy. I was born & bred on the game as a mad Geelong supporter, & take my footy very seriously. To put it in perspective, I've missed a grand total of 2 Geelong home games in the last 15 years - one in April 1999 for a mate's wedding, & one last June when i was overseas on my Barbados trip.

I missed game No. 3 in 2011 when I was in Vegas to be part of my friends' wedding - fair excuse, haha. Be otherwise I'm probably even more sports mad now, especially with plenty of awesome twitter peeps to chat with it about!

25)  I believe its pretty much true when they say your high school days are the best days of your life - looking back i had a pretty good time back then. Sure there were the groups, as per any high school/uni movie you've seen. I was part of the "sportie" group i guess - we played cricket, basketball, all-school chasy, badminton, footy, impress the girls, etc. Also, if i had a dollar for every game of downball I played in high school (Corio rules apply of course) I could afford to take the rest of the year off work! Also, being the first group to do the (at the time) brand new VCE was very challenging!

Last 6 years have only solidified that opinion - plus life really seemed to be a lot less stressful back then. That goes with growing up & taking on responsibilities though I guess.


So there you have it - in summary I guess you could say I haven't really changed that much, apart from my employer. Have managed several more interstate/overseas trips/holidays though, which has learnt me quite a lot. So that might make an interesting next blog I think! Thanks for reading! :) 

Update - 25 Random Things About Me Pt 1

I'm damn hopeless at these blog posts, lol. anyway, I'm gonna try & get back into it. Wanted to go back & re-post one of those facebook in-things this all the cool kids were doing a number of years ago - in this instance where you had to note 25 random things about yourself, the tag a heap of your friends. Me being me, it turned into a bit of an essay! So 6 years on, lets re-visit this, & add in any additional/relevant notes thats happened:

  1) I have always been a quiet, non-talkative person. I guess some people interpret that as rudeness or ignorance, but it is honestly just who i am, & have always been. Having a distinctly quiet voice at the best of times does not help things. It certainly doesn't mean I have no interest in whats being discussed

 Not much to add here, its still something that makes it hard to connect with new people.

2) It is just beyond me that we are in the year 2009, yet we still are so far off world peace as a human race. We've had so many years to sort out what really are petty issues, yet we still bomb other countries & fight over really minor issues in the scheme of things. We were given 10 basic rules to follow as a human race, yet we break them all on a daily basis

Just sub in 2015 for 2009, & it's still right on the mark. If anything, I think we've gone backwards in the last 6 years, what with ISIL becoming such an issue in the last 12-18 months. Just beyond my capacity as a human to understand - we've come leaps & bounds in areas like equal opportunity & racial tolerance etc. but wars lingers on

3) I think true love/a soulmate/ that special someone is truly a special gift which a lot of people mis-interpret for whatever reason. The real thing I believe is one of life's true gifts & should be treasured & valued so very highly. I just hope one day I get to experience it

Rather, rinse, repeat. No update to give you here 

4) I'm proud to say I have never, ever smoked a cigarette. Never. Not even a puff behind the school shed in high school. I was lucky i guess that none of my friends in high school really got into that habit. Smoking is one of the few things that really irks me - one day I hope to convince someone to quit

All good here, never have, never will smoke! 

5) My taste in music is, I freely admit, pretty cheesy. I loooove my 80's music, including a whole heap of forgotten & one hit wonder songs. That being said, I generally enjoy a bit of music of any sort at some point, i.e I love listening to classical music when i am stressed, yet there are times when its good to throw some Metallica on & do some headbanging!

Yep, I can't stand today music - give me my 80's, lol 

6) My best mate's name is Keenan - he has been my best mate ever since we were 5 years old when i first moved to Geelong. We have been through just about everything together - whether we lived just around the corner from each other, or at opposite ends of the state, he has been there for me for nearly 30 years, & is like a brother to me. I was very proud to be groomsman when he married Melissa in October 2002.

Very proud thats we are still best mates. Life dictates that we don't catch up as often as we used to - marriage & 3 lovely kids obviously take priority - but I still take a lot of pride in such a long & prosperous friendship. 

7). My favourite actor is Bill Murray - love his sarcastic, dry sense of humour. Can't think of a bad movie he has been in. Fav. actress is harder - Ashley Judd, Sandy Bullock, Natalie Portman & Kate Winslet are all up there

Still true, just saw Murray's latest film St Vincent last week, he still has it!

8)  My friends & family will ALWAYS be more important to me than work & related income. To me work is just something that has to be done to pay the bills & allow you to live your life - a necessary evil if you like. I've never been driven by career

Still the case. When you saw how career has (still does) dominate your father, it just makes me realise that its not me. Life is to be enjoyed!

9) My favorite childhood memory (not involving footy for once!), would be Sundays when i was around 10-11.  Back in those days, everything bar your local milk bar, bakery & the occasional petrol station was shut on Sunday, so it was family day. We would have a sleep in, then Dad would take my brother & I (& occasionly my sisters when they reached an older age) on our traditional Sunday morning bike ride, quite often up to Lovely Banks & back.  And we got home, Mum would have the old fashioned Sunday roast cooking, along with a big apple pie.  We would all pitch inj & sit down and have lunch together, then settlle back & watch the Shirley Temple midday movie.  I really miss those innocent days sometimes

As we live in such a 24/7 society these days, just makes you remember those days more fondly

10. I would say Halide is probably my most valued female friend. I've known her for over 11 years now - she worked at Dimmeys H/O as PA to our then GM, John Maguire when it was still located in Richmond. Was always asking for a hand to re-arrange her office, or help take the mail down to the post office, lol. But despite the fact she left for Telstra around 9 years ago now, & is a busy, busy person with a demanding workload, she always makes time to catch up with me for a coffee, a bite to eat & a chat once every 4-6 weeks, no matter what. Thanks Halz, it means the world to me!

Still a very valued friend, though she moved back to Turkey a few years ago. Still comes back to Melbourne to visit, & we still catch up then - in fact we're due to catch up next week!

11)  I've worn glasses since the start of 1987 (also when i started high school) Ironically, my folks discovered i was having trouble seeing long distances....when i couldn't read the scoreboard at the MCG! Initally I was only required to wear them to see longer distances, & but gradually wore them more & more - it can become a real hassle constantly taking them on & off - to the point where I wear them pretty much all the same expect when i'm reading or sleeping. I went through the phrase of name calling when i first started wearing them (i.e 4 eyes, professor), but that dropped off & I adapted pretty quickly

Don't need to add anything here

To be continued in Part 2!!