Movie - The Trip To Italy

This is a very pleasant little movie.

There is no plot to speak of. It's just Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing fictionalised versions of themselves, driving from one restaurant to another, with the backdrop of some spectacular Italian countryside.

Not a lot happens, action wise, but the dialogue is hilarious in places, especially when they start talking about movies and doing impressions. The part where they were talking about the Dark Knight Rises, and how Michael Caine wasn't going to "bury another batman", almost caused me to leave the cinema so I could have a really good belly laugh without interrupting the other cinema patrons.

Movie: 3D X Men: Days Of Future Past

Bryan Singer is back where he belongs: making great X Men movies. His last foray into the X Menu universe was 11 years ago. Has it really been that long? Seems like only yesterday....

The plot of the movie itself is nothing original. It's been done in lots of movies. Basically, the world has gone to hell. Mutants are being hunted down and killed by giant human engineered robots who can detect mutants and adapt to their powers. The robots were created back in 1973 by a scientist, who was subsequently killed by mutant Raven, who is also known as Mystique. Of course, this killing has spurred on the government to continue working on the giant robots, with the aid of the soon captured Raven's DNA, to make the robots adaptable. Wolverine is sent back to 1973, in a fashion, to prevent Raven/Mystique from killing the scientist, and thus preventing the mutant/human war. Just like Marty McFly going back to 1955 to prevent terrorists from killing Doc Brown.

The movie is in 3D, but it didn't seem all that noticeable (I see a lot of 3D movies so maybe I'm becoming immune to it's effects). I don't think it would have made much difference to have seen the movie in 2D. I think I'm quite lucky. I have no problem with watching 3D movies. The difference in the lighting level is barely noticeable to me, and I don't get headaches like I know some people do. Maybe it's because the cinema I go to has all their machinery set up correctly (I only ever go to one cinema).

All the usual cast are back from previous X Men movies. According to IMDB, Hugh Jackman still holds the record for the most times an actor has played the same character in films, seven. He's also the only person who has been in all the X-Men films, if you count the little cameos as well. One great addition to the cast is Peter Dinklage, who was in one of my favourite movies, The Station Agent.

Wait for the end of credits, there's a little bit extra. I have no idea what it means though. I'll guess I'll have to wait till 2016 and X Men Apocalypse.

Heard In The Supermarket On This Day: May 23, 2014

Today, I heard one of my favourite Neil Diamond songs, Brooklyn Roads.

"Brooklyn Roads by Neil Diamond on YouTube"

Heard In The Supermarket On This Day: May 21, 2014

My local supermarket doesn't play the usual "muzak" when you are a walking around trying to find something to eat that hasn't been processed to within an inch of it's life. Sometimes they play some cool stuff. So I've decided to keep a record of the last song I hear as I leave the complex, mainly as a little exercise to amuse myself.

Today, we had "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS, one of the great songs ever written, in my humble opinion.

Here it is on YouTube:  "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS

By the way, as I was searching through YouTube, I also found this version from American Idol which I quite like as well:  "Never Tear Us Apart" from American Idol

Movie: Noah

Firstly I want to say that I am not religious. I don't believe any of the tales from the bible, although I do believe that the myth of the flood is based on a true event, just not on a world wide flood. I went so see this movie because I believe the basic story of Noah and the flood would provide plenty of opportunity to create a big cinematic epic, with lots of good looking visuals and thunderous, wall shaking sound effects.

This movie is just plain crazy.

Think the Bible meets Lord of the Rings, with Noah as a kick-ass ninja superhero beating up on the bad guys (all that's missing is a big ass cigar dangling from his lips with which he can light his dynamite..). I can understand why the religious people hate this movie, but I think their cause would be better served with ignoring this movie completely and not drawing any unwarranted attention to it. I suspect it will disappear off the big screen quite quickly.

The most ridiculous things are the ugly rock monsters, who start off as man's helpers (as angels I think), then enemies (when God punishes them by changing them into ugly rock monsters), and then help Noah build the ark!... Now, I'm no bible scholar, but I don't remember hearing anything about ugly rock monsters in the bible.

There was no specific mention of "God" in this movie. Everything was being done in the name of the "Creator".

Not much more I want to say about this movie. Even the music wasn't very good. I did like Emma Watson though, and Ray Winstone always makes for a good bad guy. Oh, and the guy who is Percy Jackson was ok as well.

I see this movie is in 3D as well. I didn't get that option, so, being a big 3D fan, my opinion of this move may have been different had I seen it in 3D.

Springsteen: You Never Can Tell

Absolute proof that the E Street Band are the greatest band in the world right now:

"You Never Can Tell" on YouTube

If you are not a Bruce fan, watch this and then try to resist becoming one...

Springsteen, Perth, 7th February, 2014

I've have just arrived home after attending the second of Bruce's three shows here in sunny Perth. I am a happy, exhausted, and slightly deaf camper.

I've been waiting 6 months for this show, and I wanted to treasure and remember every second, because I'm pretty sure that Bruce will never come back to this city which is, as Bruce himself sang (in Sherry Darling), the most isolated city in the world.

Actually, I've had the tickets for only 6 months, but I've been waiting for thirty years for these precious three hours.

I did take a few pictures right at the end, but only with my mobile phone (I can't connect my phone to my computer anymore, so I had to use my camera to take a photo of the phone's screen). They didn't come out very well, so I decided to get a bit artistic and apply some special effects to try and salvage something:

The show was a bit late starting. Pure genius. Let the punters get a bit restless, a bit anxious, so that when Bruce finally hits the stage, all this nervous tension is released in a single moment. Brilliant.

There were many highlights, as there probably is with every Bruce show. In no particular order, here's what I liked tonight:

The Ghost of Tom Joad - Sung by Tom Morello. What a great voice. It's the first time I've heard him.

Tenth Avenue Freeze Out - Bruce jumped up on the lighting console, which was just a few meters from me. My near brush with greatness. He doesn't look as tall close up.

Save My Love - Rapidly becoming my favourite Springsteen song. A lost gem from the mid seventies, rescued on The Promise CD. It was a pitty that the people around me didn't seem to appreciate it. It was pretty obscure though.

Pay Me My Money Down - with the thirty second timer (to get up out of our seats and shake our Western Australian asses, as Bruce put it...)

Rosalita - Bruce introduced the song as the premier Australian performance. Something just for us second nighters. Bruce managed to mess up one the verses by coming in too early. He's only human after all, folks. Only Springsteen can turn a mistake into a joyful highlight.

Born To Run/Dancing in the Dark - No further comment needs to be made. The place went wild.

Waiting on a Sunny Day - sung by a little kid that Bruce met at the beach yesterday. I don't think his parents will ever let him forget it.

Johnny 99 - A bleak lyric turned into an all out party song. One of the top highlights.

Thunder Road - Last song of the night before everyone went home. Just Bruce and his guitar sounding glorious.

There were a few classics that did not make an appearance, and I for one am glad they didn't because the show would have felt unbalanced. There was no Born in the USA, Glory Days, not much from Wrecking Ball unfortunately. We got Hungry Heart and Light of Day. He did a killer acoustic version of Girls in Their Summer Dresses. In fact, all his acoustic stuff, of which there was very little, sounded superb. I wish there could have been more. There were a couple of songs from High Hopes, including High Hopes and the Aussie classic, Just Like Fire Would. The Rising was sensational, coming just before the encore. It was so good I would have been happy if the show had ended right there, but then we had the Baseball bat to the head encore with Rosalita, Born To Run and Dancing in the Dark, all brought home with Twist and Shout, just in case your senses hadn't been assaulted enough already. But that wasn't the end. Bruce strapped on the accoustic guitar and finally finished things off with Thunder Road. There never has been, and never will be anything that will ever come close to the epic experience that is a Bruce show. Calling it big just doesn't do it justice.

I can see why many people are addicted to going to show after show. If I was living in America I would be too. Bruce plays every show like it's going to be his last show. You can see it in all the DVD's, and you can certainly feel it when you are actually there. You never want it to end, but you know that when it is inevitably over, there's nothing more that needs to be said.

And of course, I have to mention the lighting guy, whose name I know not, whose performance was almost as entertaining as Bruce's. Now there's a guy who obviously loves his work, and who wouldn't love having the job of turning the lights on and off at a Springsteen show every night?