Growing up as a child and well into my teens we weren’t allowed to watch television at home unless it was educational and/or a documentary. If you found a documentary on boxing, you’d won the lottery as far as my father was concerned. I spent a good few years wondering why anyone would want to win the lottery.
I developed an allergy to documentaries early on in the piece as a result and took up binge watching Melrose Place and several other shows the minute I left home.
These days, I’m back to not watching TV. Have been like that for roughly twenty years but will occasionally cave for hubby if there’s a 21 hour back to back series we can watch in one wasteful weekend together or there’s house flipping involved. I must say, I’m a bit partial to Chip and Jo right now with our own renovations in mind. It’s practically considered research and development.
I know it might seem strange that I feel the need to justify my TV watching (or lack of) but it’s honestly why I completely suck and avoid trivia nights and it is the only way, I fit so much else in my life. Like 69ish films (70 if you allow me to count one film twice) so far this year. There’s my tv time, my flick fix…
FLICK FIX
I must confess, I love a good film and I’m a bit partial to this time of year… when popcorn is considered a staple food on the menu most nights and there’s a different film premiere, preview, advanced screening, special event or an outdoor venue launching their summer movie line-up.
Last night we were invited to the launch of the Outdoor Cinema in Kings Park (you can view their program here). We were season pass holders a couple of years running and despite a mishap where I attempted geocaching in the dark after a film one night and got lost on the side of a cliff, with a multitude of the most massive spiders’ webs you’ve ever seen when the sprinklers came on, I couldn’t think of a better place for a summer date night.
The film last night was Instant Family. A comedy about a childless couple that decides to foster a child and ends up with three siblings. Interestingly, I’d already seen the movie with a friend at the premiere a couple of weeks back. It’s up there as one of my favourite films this year, so I jumped at the chance at seeing it again and bringing hubby along for a long overdue date night. For those that don’t know, hubby has been working interstate and only recently returned.
FILM REVIEWS AND EVENT COVERAGE GOING FORWARD…
Much like our virtual book club On the Bookcase, Flick Fix should run as a monthly or seasonal feature in your inbox from July 2019. Movie giveaways, some special events, film festivals and any films that I walk out of the cinema completely obsessed about may warrant a full feature here on AMC. The rest, especially anything I’m lukewarm about, will rate a mention on our round-up post. Anything overly negative will probably only rate a social media share prior to attending or I may hand over the reins to my plus one for the film if its more to their fancy.
Speaking plus ones… I generally put a bit of thought into who I invite to what films, and other events. Hubby is often away and even when he isn’t, there are only so many romcoms and fashion shows he can handle in one year. I don’t generally make my plus ones jump through too many hoops or spend 30 minutes attempting to get a picture-perfect boomerang pic or selfie prior to the film. There’s no reciprocal invite expectation, or any requirement to publicly share their plus one status, dress the part for an outfit of the day shot or mention me or the film on social media. That’s completely up to them.
The hope is that the film or event might appeal to them, we get to catch up and I love getting their feedback afterwards either way. Waving to all my plus ones past and present. I couldn’t have survived the year without you.
In almost 700 events/films/shows/you name it, over the past six/seven years that I’ve been officially covering gigs here in Perth as Mystery Case, I’ve only been on the plus one receiving end seven times and one of those times probably doesn’t count because we may have inadvertently crashed an event by choosing the wrong door. Clearly, I’m an always the bride, rarely the bridesmaid kind of gal. Just the way I like it.
I appreciate that my taste, although diverse, can be a little dry like my humour and sometimes hard to take but I like to keep things real and relevant. I’m also only prepared to broaden my movie genre horizons so much. Generally, I more often than not, make the exception for hubby. Take the Mortal Engines Perth premiere on Wednesday at Hoyts Carousel. More hubby’s genre than mine, although I’m slowly converting. He loved the film, I was a little lukewarm. Enjoyable, fast-paced but not something to write home about.
On the other hand… Ladies in Black, that you should assume is most certainly my genre and demographic, while charmingly sweet and choc full of nostalgia for me having met hubby while I was living on the North Shore and working in Sydney CBD, where the film is set, didn’t have enough of an appeal for me to warrant the big screen. I walked away thinking… 50 shades of bland. Don’t get me wrong, you couldn’t fault the acting or the cinematography itself. I can see why it won awards, I just felt the story could have gone a lot deeper and the format would have been better suited to a mini-series with a focus on each character.
I adored the widely panned Book Club. I went with two girlfriends to an advanced screening and we, like a lot of the audience on the night, laughed our heads off. I actually can’t remember laughing so hard at a film in a long while. Yes, I did find parts, especially the ending, more than a little cheesy but it worked for this film. A film that I honestly believe has a very limited appeal when it comes to the masses, who I’m assuming will find this more of a cringe-fest. Much like me with over half of what appeals to a much younger demographic. Although, I’m probably more eye-rolling than cringing. Which has me wanting to connect/reconnect with a similar demographic to myself for Flick Fix both locally and virtually. We’ll hopefully be setting up an independent feed and subscriber base for this, later in the year.
Having said all that, I do intend to cover most genres, even the occasional ‘horror’ film. For the record Toni Collete’s Hereditary, that I said a very quick ‘yes’ to attending the film premiere earlier in the year without looking at the film/genre or trailer and purely due to the leading lady herself, was far from horror or the scariest film ever. Can’t say I loved the film entirely but it certainly didn’t have me running for the hills or hiding behind my hands like most horror films. The predictability factor meant you could see what was coming which took away the fearful, sitting on the edge of your chair, trying not to look factor and replaced it with an almost comical creepiness. The film was definitely creepy.
It might surprise you (probably not as much as it does me) that a documentary makes it to the top of my list (so far) for films for 2018. And looking at what’s coming up in the next fortnight (given that we’re now previewing 2019 films), I can’t see that changing. Last year, the standout for me (and surprisingly hubby as well as we never seem to agree when it comes to films) was BABY DRIVER. What a ride that flick was from start to finish.
Any guesses what my favourite film for the year is so far? Do you have a favourite? Join the conversation on our socials or drop me an email (admin@rachaelc5.sg-host.com).
