I enjoy stage musicals but in my opinion they don’t transfer well to the big screen.  On stage you can see that the scenery is fake, the costumes are fake and the singing is for real.  On film the scenery is for real and the singing sometimes takes you by surprise.  Especially when its Pierce Brosnan suddenly bursting into song !

The plot is believable:  On a small Greek island its almost wedding day for 20 year old Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and she has a problem.  She doesn’t know who her father is.  It could be any of 3 of her mother’s (Meryl Streep) past boyfriends played by Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth or Stellan Skarsgård, so she invites them all to her wedding.

Sophie’s mother has also invited her old friends played by Julie Walters and Christine Baranski.

The singing is passable rather than professional but there are some good dance routines and a few really funny moments.

There are also some wonderful scenic shots.

In all, a film  that doesn’t take itself too seriously (its clear the cast had a lot of fun making it) and all those ABBA song will get your feet tapping.

And be sure to stay for the credits to see the boys in spandex !

http://villagecinemas.com.au/Movies/Mamma-Mia.htm

Nice food, nice staff and not expensive.

Will probably go again.

Topical posts are at least six months old, current post are never replied to - perhaps because they don’t appear for days.  And if you do reply that doesn’t appear for days either.

I can’t be sure this will ever appear but there’s always the hope that someone, somewhere out there will hear the call.  Please.

Mother’s Day lunch at Henry’s Restaurant, Bayswater.  Table was booked for 12.30 but most were there by 12.15, 4 kids and 11 adults.  We got our starters at about 1 p.m. (except they forgot 1 prawn salad), the kids had their meals at the same time (except they forgot 1 chicken nuggets and beans).  I had pumpkin soup but unfortunately although there was garlic bread there were no plain rolls.  After we had waited for the forgotten dishes to be served and waited again, we did not get our mains until 2 p.m. (by which time we had consumed most of  our BYO).

The restaurant was full but not crowded so I cannot understand why they took so long (chef Gordon Ramsay would probably have something to say about that).

The food, when it finally arrived, was very good although the portions weren’t huge.

And there was a stonking $3 per person corkage charge.

All in all, disappointing.  For the prices they charge the service should be noticeably better and if they cannot service a full restaurant they either need more staff or should not accept the bookings.  Room for improvement.

Not a bellyaching laugh but a little light froth.  The plot follows the St Trinians tradition of a poorly run school, where both pupils and staff are borderline criminals, threatened with closure by the education minister.  Anyone old enough to have seen earlier versions will remember many of the characters: Flash Harry, Matron and the ‘terrible twins’.  Sublimely subtle performance by Rupert Everett as both the headmistress and his own scheming brother, very ably supported by Colin Firth as the Minister.  Some  interesting references to past classics such as The Italian Job and Pride and Prejudice (you can’t miss this one, its a real beauty).

When the schoolgirls plot to steal one of the art world’s most famous paintings in order to save the school from bankruptcy you think they may have lost the plot.  But this is the charm of St Trinians, they may be uneducated schoolgirls but they’re not stupid!

Footnote:  The picture in Miss Fritton’s study is a painting of Alastair Sim.  He played the part of Miss Fritton in at least two earlier St Trinians films.

Anyone contemplating going on a diet should make this bar their last stop. The food portions are enormous !

We went there for a late weekday lunch, after the rush. The place was clean and the service friendly. You get a buzzer for when your order is ready and collect yourself.

Themed as an english style pub there is a large range of english beers as well as local. Obviously the former are expensive but that’s to be expected. There was plenty of space, the upper floor was closed, but I should imagine on evenings and weekends it gets pretty chokka, especially when there’s live music.

Would I go again ? Yes, but probably order one meal between two. After this visit I didn’t need to eat again until the next day!

In a word: deep, very deep.

Babel is a multi-threaded tale set in Morocco, Tokyo and USA/Mexico.

A Japanese businessman, at the end of a hunting trip in Morocco, gives the guide his rifle as a gift.  The guide sells it to his neighbour and the neighbour gives it to his two young sons to guard the goats while he is away.  Whilst trying to see how far the rifle will shoot they take a pot-shot at a tourist bus winding along the mountain road and appear to miss.

On board the tourist bus are an American couple played by Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt, holidaying in Morocco and trying to patch up their marriage.  The wife is hit in the shoulder by the bullet, severely injuring her.

Meanwhile in Tokyo.  We are introduced to the daughter of the Japanese businessman.  She is a deaf and mute schoolgirl, whose mother committed suicide.  Together with her deaf friends she attempts to live a normal teenage life but is frustrated by the attitudes of teenage boys to people with handicaps.  The multiple frustrations of being deaf, being mute, of her trouble communicating with her father and her inability to fulfill her sexual curiosity are painfully illustrated.

And meanwhile in the US.  The cook/maid/nanny of the American couple wants to go back to Mexico for her son’s wedding but can find no-one to baby sit the two young children and so decides to take them with her.

Back in Morocco.  The tour bus detours to a small mountain village with a doctor and one phone.  The other tourists have little sympathy for the injured wife.  They are frightened to be away from their air-conditioned hotels and want to continue back to civilization.

There is more, much more.  The Japanese schoolgirl attempts to seduce a detective.  After the wedding in Mexico the maid’s nephew panics at the border returning to the US and leaves the maid and the two young children stranded in the desert at night.  The other tourists leave the injured wife and her husband to fend for themselves in the Moroccan village as they hightail it back to civilization.  The Moroccan goatherd and his two sons are hunted down by the police.

As tragedy is seemingly piled upon tragedy we see the whole range of human emotions and frailties exposed.  Although some issues are resolved at the end, I would not say this film has a happy ending.

This is not an easy film to watch.  The innocent suffer more than the not-so-innocent.  I can’t say that I enjoyed the film, it’s not that sort of film, but it made me think so I am glad I watched it.

Babel is available on DVD.

Among its many awards are Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture and an Oscar for the music score.

Anyone going to the chilli fest at Jindivick this weekend ?

In a word  - disappointing.  The trails promise much but the film delivers little.

Ten years, yes ten years, after a bio-engineered virus has killed 90% of the world population and turned 9.99% into flesh eating zombies Will Smith is still searching for a cure.

PLOT SPOILER - LOOK AWAY NOW
There are several logical loopholes, not least of which is; if he has been broadcasting every day (for 10 years) why hasn’t the survivor community contacted him !  What do the zombies eat when they can’t find the remaining 0.01% etc.

Frankly, I thought Shaun of the Dead was more believable and definitely more entertaining.