Sunday, September 11, 2005

(Un)Reality TV

In one evening, tonight in fact, I:
  • Watched 5 minutes of the 2004 Paul Hogan film Strange Bedfellows, and although I had low expectations, it was 5 minutes of my life I will never get back. This film is a huge stinking pile of doo doo. Paul Hogan and his tightly drawn face can't act, the lovely Michael Caton looks like he wants to place a call to his agent, and the gay characters (both those that are supposed to be gay, and those that are supposed to be only pretending to be) are so broadly drawn, two dimensional and cliched that... oh, AAAAARGH! There, that's better.
  • Caught the first of the Australian Idol Top 12 13 shows (Yes, 13! Wildcard Show shock!). What surprised me this year is that although I have no clear favourite on musical ability yet, I am finding some of these singers hugely likeable. There is a joyousness and good humour about some of them (James, Lee, Milly, Dan, Tarni) and a heartfelt gratitude also (Anne, Daniel, Roxanne) that is totally winning me over. If this year is like previous years, likeability and 'nice' appeal will go a long way with the punters.
  • Channel surfed between Idol and the fantastic Broadway: The American Musical on the ABC. Wonderfull stuff, and the early history of the musical in America was all new to me, and very interesting. Oh look, it's out on DVD!
  • Caught the opening 10 minutes of the mockumentary Oil Storm on Channel 7. Now, this went to air in the US in June and as such made for an interesting and sobering piece of entertainment. To air it less than two weeks after a devastating real life event, one which is almost exactly described in the opening sequence, on almost exactly the same date, one which is still not yet resolved and has killed/displaced/ruined the lives of many, many people - well top marks for insensitivity Channel 7.

Phew, I also saw Greg Araki's film Mysterious Skin at the movies this afternoon, but its getting late so that's going to have to wait until tomorrow.

5 comments:

Michael said...

I caught a lot of "Broadway", natch, and it was good stuff. Very interesting how it's evolved over the years, while still feeding back on itself, of course. I am a showtune gay, with no apologies. You know. I am what I am.

The Other Andrew said...

So what, you don't want praise or pity? Is that what you're saying?...

I really enjoyed it, I must get the DVD. I like a good musical too, although I'm staggered by just how few od the ones they mentioned I had actually seen.

Sunshine said...

We saw Mysterious Skin too (I think I blogged it a few weeks back). We were quite disturbed by it but nonetheless, it was a very well made movie, in our opinion.

Anonymous said...

I have the broadway DVD set, if for no other reason that I am SLIGHTLY obsessed with Wicked. I saw it on Broadway, and it was so wonderful. The DVD has a whole extra feature on it (at least the American ones do), and that is the reason I had to have it!

The Other Andrew said...

I would love to see Wicked, if/when it ever comes to Australia (it's a date everyone, m'kay?).

I'm a huge champion of the novel. I discovered it years ago and have recommended it ever since. I have all of Gregory Maguire's other novels, but so far Wicked is the favourite. I have a bit of a thing for the Wizard of Oz, and this book and 'Was' by Geoff Ryman are too favourites loosely based on the novel/film.