Nouvelle-Guinée, 1942. L’Australie et le Japon sont en guerre. Le 39ème Bataillon reçoit pour mission de sécuriser la piste de Kokoda. A la suite de bombardements, quelques soldats se retrouvent totalement isolés au coeur de la jungle, sans vivres ni moyens de communication. Alors qu’ils tentent de rejoindre leur régiment, la bataille fait rage. Les combats, la faim, les maladies vont décimer le 39ème Bataillon…

Origine du film : australien
Réalisateur : Alister Grierson
Acteurs : Jack Finsterer, Simon Stone, Luke Ford
Genre : Guerre
Durée : 1h 32min
Date de sortie : Aucune information …
Année de production : 2006
Titre Original : Kokoda: 39th Battalion
Distribué par : Aucune information …
Critiques spectateurs : Aucune information …
Bande annonce : Aucune bande annonce disponible pour ce film …

Qualité : DVDRiP
Format : XviD
Langue : Français
Sous-titre : Aucun
Découper avec : Aucun
Nombre de fichiers : [/i] Fichiers
Taille des fichiers : [i]700 Mo
Taille totale : 700 Mo

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GWOBGOJU

The Black Balloon is a story about fitting, discovering love, and accepting your family. I guess all of use can relate with these common issues in life?

For one thing, its’ not easy being Thomas Mollison (Rhys Wakefield). He’s about to turn sixteen; and moving into a new house and school is lot for him. His older brother Charlie (Luke Ford) announces their arrival to the neighbors by banging a wooden spoon and wailing on the front lawn. Charlie doesn’t speak. He’s autistic and has ADD. He’s also unpredictable, sometimes unmanageable, and often disgusting. Thomas hates his brother but wishes he didn’t.

The Mollisons are an army family; but it’s not what you’d call a regimented life, or even a regular household. Thomas’ cricket-obsessed father, Simon (Erik Thomson), talks to his teddy. Simon and Maggie (Toni Collette) are openly intimate, and now Maggie is going to have another baby.

One morning, the semi-naked Charlie escapes the house and leads Thomas on a chase across the neighborhood. Charlie bursts into a stranger’s house to use the toilet; and Thomas finds himself face to face with Jackie Masters (Gemma Ward), his gawky but fascinating new classmate. The trouble is she’s in the shower.

Maggie has complications with her pregnancy and becomes bedridden. Thomas and Simon between then take on Charlie’s daily routine; and Thomas experiences the less savory aspects of coping with his brother. What he didn’t bargain for was the shit-smearing, shopping centre tantrums, and riding the Autistic School bus. It’s sink or swim; and Thomas is drowning.

The truth is he is – literally. The school swimming lessons are a nightmare, because Thomas has never got beyond doggie paddle. Then Thomas is partnered with Jackie for basic life-saving; and Jackie swims like a fish. It’s only when they get to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation that things pick-up and young love blossoms between the two—well, three, because Charlie is also entranced by the pretty girl.

Thomas’ birthday dinner turns into a nightmare. Pent-up frustrations about his brother pour out that are both confronting and ultimately heart-warming. This award winning Australian film explores what I believe illustrates the reality of families with autistic children; and how family members deal, cope and undergo everyday life.  At the same time, I felt that the film was also more about how a brother grows to love his brother; accepting him for who he is; and while at the same time, finding teenage love amongst all the chaos and circumstances.

Kicking off the Easter long weekend, UK band The Duke Spirit played a free show (courtesy of FBi 94.5 and Spring Court sneakers) at the Beach Road Hotel, Bondi.

What an amazing night last night was… I stumbled upon The Duke Spirit back in 2007 through a friend of a friend’s Myspace page. She had a song of theirs on there and it was fantastic. That song  “The Step and the Walk” is now a longtime favourite.

Hubby and I were very taken by their music. We lived in New Zealand and there was no way the Duke Spirit were coming to NZ. They’ve been doing UK and USA but haven’t yet been down under.

You can imagine my surprise when Hubby comes home one night in March with a local music mag and on the cover it’s the Duke Spirit! Yes siree. They were coming to Australia (we’ve moved here last year) and their first show is in Brisbane. Now that was the besy news I’ve had in an uber long time.

We’ve basically been counting sleeps till the gig. And so last night we make our way down to The Zoo in the Valley, full of excitement and anticipation. They were absolutely fantastic. Liela Moss is an ideal frontwoman, captivating and commanding at the same time. The lads do their thing almost unnoticed, but that totally works for them.

I just had to take photos so I spent most of the time behind my point and shoot camera (Hubby even said “Smell the roses honey, smell the roses”, but I just had to immortalise the moment). The set felt 10 minutes long, it was over in a flash.

After the gig we went to buy a poster and Luke the guitarist was there. Hubby and Luke started chatting, I joined in and we kinda just spoke for what seemed like a while. Liela came out and we chatted briefly before she went on to sign a trillion posters and merch. She said she loved my outfit. Word. Toby and the boys from the band came out too, and we had good chats. About their tour, SXSW, the fact they’re actually getting a holiday here in OZ, about them coming to New Zealand, their old record label, about their site and a myriad of other things. They are totally genuine, real folk and I’m so glad we got to meet them.

Just before we left we all took photos together. Liela even said to Hubby and I that we looked so gorgeous she had to take a photo for us (she said we looked like famous people… gosh flattery totally works).

Here are some pics….

The Duke Spirit - Live in Brisbane

Liela on the harmonica

Liela Moss and the Duke Spirit

The Duke Spirit

The Duke Spirit

The Duke Spirit and us after the show

The Duke Spirit

hubby and I - photo by Liela Moss

Here are some videos from last night

The Step and the Walk

Love is…

I’m not opposed to sequels. Really, I’m not. There are a number of films whose sequels live up to or exceed the quality of the original.

Many sequels, however, flop. They fail for a variety of reasons–lackluster script, poor acting, disorganization, forced punchlines…etc. However, I find that one vice which cripples many sequels is casting–casting a replacement for an established lead or supporting actor. You know the ones. I have nothing against Maria Bello. I’m not familiar with her other works, but I’m sure that given the right material she could do well. But she is not Rachel Weisz. That may be enough said, but I expound. She lacks her charm, her spunk, and her sex appeal. Worse, she misrepresents the character of Evelyn; and perhaps still worse, has zero chemistry with Brendan Fraser–which seems nearly impossible. If you can’t get the lead actress from the first two films in a series, here’s a hint: don’t make a third. Sure, you might make a profit before word spreads that it isn’t worth the hefty cost of a theater ticket. But if you still have the decency to create a film for reasons other than money, do credit to the first two films and those who worked hard to make them. If Rachel Weisz can’t jump on board because the script is mediocre (maybe just a rumor), take another look at the script. Some actors can be prima donnas, but are you really proud of the script for this hokey third installment?

Bear in mind that I very much enjoyed The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. The love shared between Rick and Evelyn somehow died before Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and feeble attempts to reignite it were futile in the face of no chemistry. One or two sentences were meant to bring us up to speed on why the relationship between the O’Connells and their son Alex had soured, but the excuse failed to explain the extent of the damage. People change, and roughly fifteen years is a bit of time, but could the sweet, adventurous blonde boy from the second movie loved and cherished by his parents become a womanizing bad boy? Especially with no explanation?

The script hardly provided opportunities for any of the characters to shine, although Brenden Fraser did his best to portray what was written, and seemed to pull off “sad” rather well in spite of changes made to his inherent character. Still, Fraser’s heart didn’t seem to be in it. Likely in part due to change of actress, Evelyn had very little translating to do, and her knowledge of history rarely came into play. Jet Li did well enough, and I’m a fan, but the mummy was not nearly so cool as the one from the first two installments. The story was a little confusing, but ironically not as intricate.

 The special effects were not nearly as impressive, although the little eye thing that turned all kinds of crystal and liquid dazzled me for an instant. Thank goodness Fraser and Luke Ford served as some eye candy. And pretty Asian girls with martial arts skills always enhance a film. The guys can drool while the girls can feel slightly empowered. But just as there was no ignoring a change of lead, there was no ignoring a change of director, and the differences of style were painful.

I wish I could give this film high marks. The series is by no means Oscar-worthy but it’s certainly highly entertaining. I just feel like smacking industry people sometimes and screaming “why?” Why make another when you know–and they had to know–the script, direction, acting, and chemistry don’t live up to the series’ standards? At least John Hannah’s Jonathan Carnahan was consistent. But how I missed Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay.

Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The
★ / ★★★★

When I read this film’s scathing reviews (to say the least), I thought people were just being way too hard on it so I still wanted to watch it. Despite people’s advice (and insistence) to stay as far away from this movie as possible, I still hoped that I would like it even just a little bit because I love the first two “Mummy” installments (they reminded me of the spirit of the “Indiana Jones” franchise). This time around, I’d have to agree with everyone else; this is as bad as they say it is. First of all, they replaced my favorite actor from the franchise: Rachel Weisz. I thought she was perfect as Evelyn O’Connell because she excels at being bookish-smart and rarely depending on chance in order to reach some sort of success. It means that she’s perfect for Brendan Fraser’s character, Rick O’Connell, because he’s too goofy for his own good (which often leads him to trouble) and only depends on luck in order to get the upper hand. Maria Bello, Weisz’s replacement, interprets the character so differently, I felt like she was Rick O’Connell’s unwelcome second wife. She’s one dimensional, not that strong, and lacks charisma. Not to mention she doesn’t have chemistry with Frasier. Moreover, even though Luke Ford as Alex O’Connell is nice to look at, I didn’t find him as witty and as plucky as the younger Alex O’Connell (Freddie Boath) back in “The Mummy Returns.” In fact, I found Ford as interesting as an inert plank leaning against a wall. Brendar Frasier, despite his best efforts and fun energy, was sidelined. To me, the focus of this film was the conflict between Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li’s characters. Not only did the camera spend too much time on them (even though I really liked their martial arts scenes), the story is really about a thousand year old thirst for power and revenge. And somehow, Frasier and the gang managed to get tangled in its maelstrom. As for the film’s pacing, it didn’t really get interesting up until the forty-minute mark. In fact, I was kind of getting sleepy which is not a good sign because I love action-adventure films. I love watching characters travel from one place to another, seeing exotic locales, and winning at the end of the day. In this film, I didn’t really care about the characters because I never thought they were in any real danger. I literally rolled my eyes from when the Yetis appeared up until the end. Just when I thought that’s the worst of it, a dragon appeared… and then a giant monster that could bring down planes. In a nutshell, it just got too ridiculous. As much as I love the “Mummy” franchise, I’d have to urge everyone to skip this one and see something else–something that truly captures how it’s like to go on an adventure.