Review - The Hunger Games

Think a mash up of television shows Big Brother and Survivor and the movie The Truman Show, with many of the characters dressed with costumes straight out of The Grinch. It is understood that a synergistic projects give a result much greater than the sum of the parts. It could be argued that The Hunger Games miraculously achieves the exact opposite

The director Gary Ross equally manages to disguise a one hour story as a two hour and twenty-two minute film. The trailers do not show any of the 60minutes of faffing about training and attempting to create back stories for the protagonists and antagonists.

The only suspense for the audience is the wait to discover the accuracy of their predictions for the plot and sub plots, predictions made before the opening credits are complete.

The wasp scene is entertaining as was the ummm…the…ahhh…the camouflage make up.

Without even knowing that the studios have already committed to a trilogy this final scenes barely even attempt to draw this particular story to a conclusion. Instead it is all about creating the segue to and opening scenes of the second movie.

Wait for this to come out on DVD and just hope your friends do not buy it and force you to watch it over a few drinks on a wet Sunday afternoon.

ANZAC Cliche

Rain on ANZAC Day is so cliché and yet Melbourne did it again. It is as predictable as an exaggerated pause by any host of any reality television show before announcing an elimination.

Albeit Melbourne did have an extraordinary amount of rain, normally a shower or two will suffice, but not 2012. 15 mm and cold winds to boot. Then again the veterans of too many wars have survived a lot worse than a bit of precipitation while walking down the street. For starters the cheering they heard in the parade was of spectators applauding their bravery and sacrifice not of blood crazed enemy combatants trying to shot their head off.

Channel 7 also could not help themselves when it came to ANZAC Day clichés. AFL. The depth and gravitas of the voice over providing an overly sentimental narrative that attempted to equate the ferocity, importance and history of the game with that of the events of 1915 in Gallipoli.

Note to Channel 7, the key words in the above sentence are “a game”. AFL football is just a game. In fact the ANZAC Day game is just one of 198 games to be played this year – and I am only counting home and away games at the elite level. Yes there are two sides all “battling” for the victory but that is where the similarity ends. When a war can have a half time break where the two sides sit down to eat slices of orange while the kids run around having a modified war, and there are almost 200 wars in a season leading to a finals war series then we can start to make comparisons. Regardless Channel 7 will continue trying to convince us that our lives will be changed by 36 men running after a piece of leather.

Like the Murdoch repeatedly stating that they were unaware of the activities of their journalistic staff, we are just not buying it.

Julia Gillard spoke at services at Gallipoli and South Korea (no this was not another Labour Government stuff up – she really meant to be there to honour soldiers who fought in the Korean War). Is there an official speech all Prime Ministers must recite at dawn services? Gillard used many ANZAC clichés.


"So this is a place hallowed by sacrifice and loss. It is, too, a place shining with honour and honour of the most vivid kind".


"We remember what the Anzacs did in war. And for what they did to shape our nation in peace. This is the legend of Anzac, and it belongs to every Australian.”


"Not just those who trace their origins to the early settlers but those like me who are migrants and who freely embrace the whole of the Australian story as their own.


"For indigenous Australians, whose own wartime valour was a profound expression of the love they felt for the ancient land.


"And for Turkish-Australians who have not one but two heroic stories to tell their children." Ms Gillard said.

As well as thanking the Turks for their treatment of the Australian dead and subsequent honouring of Anzac Cove"
This is a speech that is as predictable to Tony Abbott saying “no” or “big new tax.”
The final ANZAC cliché is drinking and two-up. Some would argue they are traditions not clichés. I agree – for ex service men and women and in the case of the coin throwing game ex service personnel who served prior to 1950. For the rest of us it is a cliché or maybe just an excuse. It is an unfortunate and cruel joke that the parade starts in the cities (near the drinking venues) and takes them out of the area to shines and memorials. With all of the debate about the length of the parade, it would make sense to turn the march around and get them to head towards the drinking holes. How quickly would the diggers move then?
Betting on two up is as cliché as 20-somethings getting completely plastered at the Melbourne Cup, then guys in fluorescent tuxedos walking home barefoot whilst their girlfriend wearing little more than a handkerchief wears his shoes home, carrying her own shoes in her hand

Comedy Festival Review: Boneshaker - This is Siberian husky

The 2012 Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Awards fund shows and artists that are exciting and different. In the Mooseheads own words (apparently mooseheads can talk) they want to get behind ideas that are a bit mental.

Recipients receive support in developing and producing the show, support which includes a director and additional publicity. This is a much sought after award in Australian comedy with only 2-4 shows receiving it each year.

Boneshakers are one of the recipients of Moosehead in 2012. Thye fulfill the criteria of being mental. The show is a self-described sketch comedy show that is stiff providing a madly jagged ride. In what could be the most accurate description in the festival’s program, Dan Allemann and Simon Godfrey invite their audiences to join them on an unsettling trip of the absurd and ridiculously battered.

This Is Siberian Husky is a sketch comedy show comprising of half a dozen loose narratives that repeatedly run parallel to and intersect with each other throughout the show. Mathematically and physically impossible you say… that might be why I came away from the show exhausted and confused.

The performers give everything they have physically and vocally, which often resulted in it all getting a bit aggressive and yelly, Using only two wooden boxes as props, with no costume changes Alleman and Godfrey play a series of absurd characters of both genders. Scene and character changes are depicted rapidly and subtly by the change of lighting, a sound effect or the quick change of posturing from the stars.

The Pyjama Men have famously wowed audiences at the Comedy Festival over the past few years with a similar manic, multi-story style of sketch comedy – but they are also brilliantly funny. Boneshakers are absurd and obscure, producing only occasional, gentle laughter.

Alleman and Godfrey voice a rapid fire and verbose dialogue, their physicality was equal to any aerobic workout class. I wanted to have laughed with the same frantic energy as the performance. I didn’t.

Fr more Comedy Festival reviews go to http://www.anewleaf.com.au/

Comedy Festival Review: Gillian Cosgriff - Waitressing and other things I do well

If my mother saw this show she would use just one word to describe the performance. Lovely. Cosgriff was dressed in a lovely dress that matched her lovely voice and piano playing. The show was lovely.

Cosgriff presents a polished show, maintaining her sweet smile and innocent tone throughout. Cosgriff uses her tunes with story-based lyric, along with spoken anecdotes to tell of her life as a struggling performance artist. The audience, more mature than you would see at a regular stand up show during the Comedy Festival, enjoyed the show and responded with polite titters and giggles.

Unfortunately the laughs were no bigger than this for the vast majority of the show, some notable exceptions were Cosgriff’s deconstruction of a song in “The Song Song”, her song that uses Ikea as a metaphor for sex and her demonstration (with audience participation) of a child’s piano lesson.

For mine, the show needed more material of this nature to comfortably fit in a Comedy Festival. It needs more laughs. As it is, as lovely as the performance is, this show is more a cabaret show.

Housed in Chapel off Chapel in Prahan In a festival that is definitely focussed at the Melbourne Town Hall and the CBD it is a risk to cross the Yarra. If you like cabaret “Waitressing…and other things I do well” is worth the journey. The performance is quality entertainment an uplifting and somewhat humourous night out. As the title suggests she does it well. Lovely.

Checkout other festival reviews http://www.anewleaf.com.au/

Comedy Festival Review: Idiots of Ants

Think Two Ronnies (with four guys not two) this troupe follow the traditions of great British sketch comedy in a style that is full of contradictions. They are sophisticated yet simplistically silly, intelligent yet puerile, they are amateurish yet highly polished.

The costumes, sets and props are generally understated yet enough to enable the entire audience to suspend their disbelief yet they masterfully utilise modern technology for endless sight gags.

The show opens on a WWII plane with crew holding a German prisoner of war, that is until one of cast breaks the forth wall pointing out they are all just actors. This is the beginning of an hour of endless fast gags, puns, slapstick, songs and audience interaction.

The “Dad jokes” sketch and the hens night that woke up as men are particularly noteworthy in a show that had the whole audience LOL-ing from beginning to end.

There is occasional profanity but - unlike some comedians who use “f**k” as the punch line to every joke or merely as punctuation – it is used sparingly and skilfully.

The show is fast, too fast. Idiots of Ants definitely subscribe to the adage of leaving their audiences wanting more. I could have watched their sketches all night. Days after seeing the show I am still giggling to myself about this show.

Comedy Festival Review: Elbowskin - Hey Diddle Diddle

Ernie and Dave, aka ElbowSkin, use nursery rhymes as the vehicle for this Vaudevillian-esque performance. The cheap homemade sets (think high school drama), and the fact that the boys tech the shows themselves, belies the intelligent, researched and politically aware material that keeps the audience laughing throughout.

ElbowSkin have made their name in Melbourne comedy as musical comedy larrikins, Hey Diddle Diddle sees them experiment with more straight stand-up, story telling, puns and visual gags to create segues between the songs. The experiment pays off. After the brilliant opening song, it took a few minutes for them to find their rhythm in the dialogue, but their retelling of the historically accurate version of Sleeping Beauty definitely wakes the boys up, if not the drunk guy who passed out early on in the show (it was better for everyone this way). They don’t miss a beat for the rest of the show.

ElbowSkin toy with the audience (including the unconscious drunk), both metaphorically and literally, as stuffed toys are distributed for the finale – Australian politics as a fairy tale.

Other highlights include the rap about “back when they were young”, the song to Hitler’s mother, and the very punny dialogue between Humpty Dumpty and the spoon.

My only disappointment was that I love music comedy, and this show did not have enough – leaving the audience wanting more.

Softbelly is a relatively small room, and ElbowSkin are only performing a few shows, so be sure to get your tickets early.

for more Melbourne International Comedy reviews check out The Pun www.anewleaf.com.au

Comedy Festival Review: Michael Workman - Mercy

The Winner of the 2011 MICF Best Newcomer award returns for his second solo show. It is one thing to burst onto the scene with an award winning performance, the challenge is to back that up with the second release. Michael Workman’s second show proves he is a quality act.

Showcasing his talents (which he has in spades) Mercy is equal parts cartoon drawings, music, and story telling. There is nothing about this show that could be described as ‘stand-up’. There are no set ups and no punch lines. Most of the laughs are derived by sublime timing, clever word play, phrasing and subtle yet pointed facial expressions.

Mercy is a heart warming and thoroughly researched narrative. Workman is quietly spoken, understated and almost apologetic. The audience lap it up, hanging on his every word and image. The ‘Shark Facts’ song is whimsical and silly creating an unexpected diversion in the show.

Be ready to think though, the humour is cleverly woven into the monologue and unless the audience is paying attention, much of the wit will be missed.

One risk of a narrative style is that the details of the story limit the opportunities for humour, if there one disappointment in this show it is that Workman falls for this trap. I particularly wanted more comedy in the drawings. Having said that, it is a beautiful story, and wonderfully told.

Mercy is a show that would equally belong in a festival of drama, as it does in one focused on comedy. Audiences who are sick of jokes about relationships, alcohol and social observation, and want some quality theatre will love Workman’s show.

For more Melbourne International Comedy Festival reviews check out The Pun www.anewleaf.com.au

Comedy Festival Review: Asher Treleaven - Troubadour

Asher is not your average comedian, and Troubadour is not your average festival show. The stage is bare, bar the six hats separately lit on pedestals. The hats represent de Bono’s six coloured thinking hats that Treleaven masterfully uses to shape his narrative

Treleaven, a lanky hipster owns that stage from the moment he enters it, taking us through an articulate, verbose and vocabulary rich audio-autobiography.

Starting with a beat poem to rip through his school years the audience is at the mercy of his multiple talents honed through years at circus school and as a street performer. His physicality underscores the show as he gives absolutely everything. The Melbourne Hall Cloak Room is (as Treleaven himself describes) a sauna – his performance could be likened to the physical workout of a 60 minutes Bikram Yoga class. Although already thin, he has to be shedding kilos each performance, doing a full run of shows this festival he runs the risk of disappearing altogether.

If only street performers could make the diabolo as raucously entertaining as his “sexy diabolo” routine, they would not have to beg for money at the end of their busking shows. The enactment of engorging an increasingly aroused penis is not offensive but side-splittingly funny.

Returning to his busking routes, Treleaven concludes by asking the audience to demonstrate their enjoyment of the show, not by putting money in a hat, but through applause. All of the audience clapped and cheered at length.

A must see of this year’s festival, just be sure to take a towel to wipe yourself down and water to keep yourself hydrated as the room is hot, damn hot!

For more Melbourne International Comedy Festival reviews check out The Pun www.anewleaf.com.au

Comedy Festival Review: Sarah D - I Can Drink Puddles

Sarah entered the stage to the theme tune from the 1970’s TV show Wonder Woman, dressed in a Wonder Woman costume. Well a variation of the costume. In place of the form-fitting leotard was a blue netball skirt resplendent with silver cardboard stars pinned randomly across the front, a red singlet over which was a red sequined bikini top stuffed with tissues, and a gold cardboard tiara. The costume and the short lived Wonder Woman persona was never explained.

Sarah is the principal dancer and teacher with Melbourne company, Dance Sister. She incorporates her dance style – well an alcohol affected variation of her dance style – in the show that is also dotted with drunken raps.

My enjoyment of the show was not improved by having vodka spit/sprayed over me from the stage or being pelted by marshmallows. The later having the unfortunate affect of providing the audience with missiles. Having been pelted by the confectionary, the audience obliged in practicing their baseball-style pitching techniques by fast-balling them back the stage. Curiously Sarah continued to exchange fire creating a food-fight that, dangerously for Sarah, could have continued throughout the remainder of the show.

I am clearly not in the intended demographic for this show. Although I enjoy an alcoholic beverage or three, I have never enjoyed people who become loud, obnoxious and crass when drunk.

Unfortunately for me, this is exactly what I can drink puddles is about, with Sarah D spending an hour reliving her most drunken moments. It was uncomfortable.

For more Comedy Festival reviews checkout The Pun www.anewleaf.com.au