MAN ABOUT TOWN

Because I've been a bad, bad blogger of late - blame my life: there was a hell of a lot happening in July-August, most of which I can't go into detail about - there have been quite a few performances I've attended recently that I haven't had time to blog about: until now. Apologies for the brevity of the following 'reviews' (perhaps 'impressions' would be a better word); I've got rather a lot to catch up on! Bell Shakespeare's HAMLET There was a point, a few years ago, where I was determined never to see another Bell Shakespeare production. The company's shows - especially those directed by John Bell himself - had become stale, predictable and tedious, I thought - so much so that the last Bell production I saw, Romeo and Juliet , I walked out of in disgust. So it was with some foreboding that I went to see the Marion Potts-directed Bell Shakespeare production of Hamlet at the Arts Centre back in July. Happily, it wasn't that bad. Which i...

Stop laughing, I'm serious. The holy grail of gay newspaper editors such as myself is an interview with a gay AFL player. Right now a rumour is doing the rounds (spread by 3AW's morning segment, 'The Rumour File') that the Victorian version of The Footy Show has paid a gay player to come out on the show - presumably tomorrow night. Now, I've been doing some digging, and I've come up with a few potential names - and no I'm not going to share them with you - but I haven't had any luck finding someone who will speak on the record. So, I was wondering if perhaps you , dear reader, might just happen to know a gay or bisexual footballer? He doesn't have to play AFL - I'd also be happy to speak with a VFL player or even someone in a country league - or a soccer player for that matter - but I would very much like to interview someone for a feature article on gay men and team sports. So, feel free to drop me a line: richard dot watts at eevolution dot com...

Ok you lovely folks (by which I mean all of you who read this blog on even a semi-regular basis; and yes, that means you ), you probably know the drill by now. It's Radiothon time at 3RRR again, which means it's time for our annual shout-out to those of you who listen to and love the station I volunteer for, to please, please, please subscribe to something you don't actually have to pay for out of the goodness of your heart, to help keep such a remarkable independent media outlet alive and kicking and on-air for the next 365 and a wee bit days. If you subscribe to my show especially, I wil dance the dance of pure, unmittigated joy* the next time I see you. And that's a promise. This year Radiothon has a circus theme , too - how cool is that? Please subscribe - you know you want to. You also know that it will make conservatives like Bronwyn Bishop hate you, which is an even better reason to subscribe if you ask me. Go on. Please. Just for me? If not for me, how about ...

And so finally, after this long, drawn out process, we come to the final four of the 15 films I saw at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival. Thanks to Richard and his team for their expertise, to the Limelight publicity crew for their assistance, and to my fellow punters for helping make this a truly enjoyable film festival experience. Roll on 2009! MAD MAX II Part of the festival's committment to showing classic Australian films from the past decade, this screening of George Miller's high-octane action flick Mad Max II was introduced by actor Eric Bana, who had hand-selected it (although apparently he actually wanted to screen the original Mad Max, but no print was available) as being one of his favourites. Bana also took part in a Q+A after the film, in which questions ranged from the insightful (such as one about the film's lack of dialogue and strong visual narrative) to the banal (one nervous fan asked: 'I was wondering, um, how you learn your line...

Yes, I know that MIFF has now been over for a week and that I should have got my final batch of reviews online a little sooner, but I've been busy, ok? Here are my thoughts on two more of the films I saw, with another four reviews to come... BOY A This strikingly if bleakly shot British film tells the story of 24-year-old Jack Burridge (a sensitive performance by Andrew Garfield), a shy Mancunian delivery van driver freshly released from prison after serving 14 years for a murder committed when he was only 10 years old. After rescuing a young girl from a car crash, the man-boy Jack becomes a local hero, but the attendant publicity threatens the anonymity of his new identity. Simultaneously, two important relationships - his first, fledgling love affair with a lusty co-worker, Michelle (Katie Lyons); and his friendship with Terry (Peter Mullan), his caseworker - highlight issues of trust, love and need in Jack's life - as do the flashbacks which gradually flesh out Jack's pa...

So now I've managed to squeeze in a total of 12 sessions at the Melbourne International Film Festival , which to people who only see a couple of movies a year will seem like a lot of cinema-going in just 13 days, but by my usual festival-going standards is pretty pissweak. Damn work deadlines and tiredness-generating-workloads interfering with my film-viewing pleasure... Enough grumbling: time for details. BOB MARLEY: FREEDOM ROAD At only 54 minutes, this brief doco about reggae superstar Bob Marley's life, death and career was, unfortunately, the most unsatisfying film I've seen at the festival so far. Its reverential tone never dipped far beneath the surface of the man's life and music; an impression unfortunately bolstered by a series of personal testimonies from those close to Marley, none of whom seemed to have anything bad to say about the man. In short, Bob Marley: Freedom Road felt like a clumsily-produced piece of filler for a cable TV channel, and I regret wa...