--> In the Man Booker prize winning LIFE OF PI (now made into a major motion picture by Ang Lee) there is a tiger in a lifeboat. The tiger is called Richard Parker. According to the Internets, in his book THE LIFE OF PI, author Yann Martel has the tiger misnamed Richard Parker as the result of a mix up. The hunter responsible for capturing the tiger is called Richard Parker. Sure, that may sound like sitcom nonsense to you and me, the sort of thing that might have happened on Gilligan’s Island, but it’s actually part of a Man Booker award-winning novel, dude, so it must be hell plausible and well written. Anyway, I find the name of the tiger instantaneously annoying, Neither Richard nor Parker is a good tiger name and when said jointly, the irritation factor is extremely high. If the tiger is referred to as Richard Parker every time, then this conceit has the quality of a small child saying a phrase over and over, just for the sound of it, all meaning having been...

I’ve just skimmed through the Bond movies in preparation for watching Bond 23 aka SKYFALL and in my humble, grumpy old man opinion, the title songs haven’t been much chop for a long time. I’m not referring to Monty Norman’s famous theme, nor am I talking about the movie soundtrack music created by the mighty John Barry or lately David Arnold. I’m focussing on the new song that accompanies those famous title sequences that were substantially the creation of designer Maurice Binder until 1989’s LICENCE TO KILL. Despite the death of Binder, the Bond franchise continues to reference his pioneering work in the field of movie titles featuring naked women in silhouette, wielding guns. I believe there hasn’t been a half-way decent title song since the 1980s, I find the recent attempts rather forgettable.  Jack White alleges he wrote a title song for QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008) and performed it with Alicia Keys, but even as it plays, it appears to Erase Itself From My Memory. I’ve hear...

The other night I Facebooked and Tweeted: If you're channel switching on the free to air my Perthian FBB's, David Lynch's DUNE (1984) is on 9. "Muad'Dib!” Among the replies the following morning were some quotes: “For he IS the Kwisatz Haderach!” “The spice must flow.” “His name is a killing word.” “Walk widdout riddum, It won't attract the worm.” “I see the truth of it...” Also “For once I regret my lack of an actual TV” “Soooo much unnecessary voice over” If you saw DUNE at the right time, somewhere around its release, or perhaps at the right time in your development as a fangirl, geekboy whatever, there is some chance you love this movie. Obviously, my filmhead friends and I have a great affection for it, but in many ways, it’s not an easy movie to love. It’s probably best enjoyed by people who have read the Frank Herbert novel on which it is based. If you don’t know the book before you see the movie and if the movie itself doesn’t turn you off w...

So my fellow geeks, is there any way we can consider Joe Pesci's turn on the Snickers' telly ad as canonical to the LETHAL WEAPON franchise, or the Angry Man in Scorsese Films Like RAGING BULL and CASINO franchise? Probably not. The idea that there is an established body of works that shape a fictional character and others that do not, has spread like Vegemite thanks to Our Beloved Internet. Her, nerds and geeks of every stripe will argue, for example, which movies or TV series about the Teenage Mutant Turtles are canon and which are not. In some versions of the story, Turtles mentor, Splinter is the mutated form of a man called Hamato Yoshi and in other versions he is the mutation of a rat owned by Yoshi. I am given to understand that Peter Cushing's role in the 1965 movie DOCTOR WHO AND THE DALEKS is not canon, but is considered part of some kind of extended Doctor Who Universe. Science Fiction franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek, often have meandering strands...

Zeitgeisters, You may recall the saga of the Stationary Travelator Parts One and Two . You may recall that back in January the Garden City folk were predicting a 26 week turnaround to replace the busted travelator that comes up in the main Food Court. I thought they were "under-promising and over-delivering" as the old maxim goes, but no, recently they unveiled their schmick, new moving stairway pretty much half a year after it was munted. Attempting to represent its Metropolis -like wonder with a still photograph is a fool's errand, but trust me when I say that travelling up or down this modern wonder is an unforgettable experience. It's how I imagine shopping in Coruscant would feel.

"It's not expensive," Tywin declared, "It's deer." I've been rewatching the first series of Game Of Thrones. There's an extended scene in episode 7, "You Win Or You Die" that properly introduces the character of Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance). I don't know the books and I see online that there is much to be made about the fact that Tywin is skinning a stag and that it is the sigil for House Baratheon, so there's plenty o' symbolism for those who want it, but I thought it was excellent for other reasons. Doubtless my vegetarian and vegan friends will find the whole thing a turn off, doubtless anyone who has ever skinned a game animal would say Charles Dance was making a right hash of things, but showing Tywin doing something so ordinary with a connection to death was solid television story-telling.   We often see hunting in fantasy/medieval drama, but rarely do we see the mundane and bloody result. To see Tywin just going at h...

It's Friday, my 7.30am to 7.30 pm work day. I get home, eat dinner and fall asleep on the sofa. I wake up hours later and 27 DRESSES is on the telly. I've never seen 27 DRESSES. And it turns out that Katherine Heigel's character has somehow ruined the wedding of Malin Akerman's character. Judy Greer is there also and although this usually means her character was to blame somehow, it seems no, this time it's Katherine Heigel. This accords to my own movie tastes because Katherine Heigel is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a movie. I never believe in any of her characters for even a nano-second. I am sure I am projecting here, but all Heigel characters seem to be a thin veneer over the real Heigel who is beaming out this message, "Get a load of me in that last scene? Cool, huh? I grabbed it and nailed it, baby. " I am willing to concede that her inner monologue probably isn't quite so influenced by Sinatra's Rat Pack as I...