In the wake of the Brisbane International Film Festival I was also fortunate enough to review the latest Marvel blockbuster over at Indooroopilly cinemas on Monday the 1st of November, 2021.
Eternals became a little infamous for its muted critical reaction in comparison to other film from the franchise. I found it a film not without some merits but ultimately I too shared a frustration at what may have been and was not. You can read my review here https://scenestr.com.au/movies-and-tv/eternals-film-review-20211103
Of note to Beetley Pete maybe that the cast includes the talented actress Salma Hayek.
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Another lanyard of power. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Indooroopily Cinemas. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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Karen and I. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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Two Marvel releases in a row. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
I was back on assignment for Scenestr for the second and final weekend of the Brisbane International Film Festival 2021.
On Friday night the 29th of October I went to New Farm Cinemas to see the latest film from 75 year old Paul Schrader – The Card Counter.
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Schrader has been on a revival run of late and this feature is part of that while continuing his “Man in a Room” stories. American Gigolo may remain his masterpiece, but I enjoyed partly how this film seemed a counterpoint to that. I also enjoyed the performances from the cast that includes some of the great actors that have come to stardom in the past year including Oscar Isaac, Tiffancy Haddish and Tye Sheridan.
The next night I was back at New Farm Cinemas late at night in one of their cinemas at the back to watch Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn from Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude. Karen and I both had dinner at Ombra before I went to see the movie.
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Karen at Ombra. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Me at BIFF 2021. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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Back at Ombra. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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There was not a massive crowd in the cinema but there were some young people who occasionally cackled at what was unfolding on the screen. That felt right. Young people at a film festival watching something foreign and wild that provides a way of looking at things.
That was it for another year at BIFF, I am very glad to have been on assignment to watch and review six films at BIFF. I am very glad that the Brisbane International Film Festival continued in the wake of COVID and remain a staple of my hometown showing 81 features and 22 short films during its eleven day run.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
I returned to the Brisbane International Film Festival October 23, 2021 as a freelance writer for Scenestr. Having a long association with the festival going back to the days when I used to be a Volunteer at it, it was a particular joy to get to review so many films at the Festival for Scenestr. As it always with such a wonderful program there were plenty of films I would have liked to have seen but did not get the chance one of them being You Can Drive My Car which went on to win an Oscar for Best International Feature Film. Others were The Worst Person in the World and Zola. I do have to say I feel like those films found audiences in any event and the films I got to see and maybe champion are still to be discovered.
BIFF was under new management having switched from the Gallery of Modern Art to be run for the next three years by Film Fantastic Limited who have been responsible for several years for the running of the Gold Coast Film Festival.
Following the film there was a Question and Answer session with the two “stars” of the documentary Phil Robinson and Tim Boyle, editor Navas Illava and writer/director Neil McGregor led by film academic Ruari Elkington. One of the pleasures of such film festival screenings and particularly special when it is something home grown.
Arriving at Newmarket Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Next up I went to New Farm Cinemas that afternoon and discovered a new Italian place outside the cinema named Ombra. It is just a fairly small place, beautifully decorated and with friendly staff who served delicious meals at reasonable prices. I fell in love with it immediately and have gone back from time to time with Karen who was sadly not joining me for these BIFF screenings.
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Inside OMBRA before the dinner crowds. Copyright Lloyd Marken
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Oh my God this was so delicious. Copyright Lloyd Marken
Preview of things to come. Copyright Lloyd Marken
Painting of new releases outside New Farm Cinemas. Copyright Lloyd Marken
A rainbow. Copyright Lloyd Marken
I was in attendance at New Farm to watch eight locally produced shorts, I found something to commend about all eight of them but a personal favourite was James Latter’s Home. I also found Stephen Lance’s Torch Song riveting and was touched by Loani Arman’s Our Greatest Escape.
There were quite a few people packing into the New Farm lobby waiting for this one.
It was such a joy to be back at the Brisbane International Film Festival and to be reviewing so many movies and Undine was easily one of best films of the year.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
I am sorry for my absence these past two years. My plan is to get back into the swing of things but we will see as life continues to pull in a lot of different directions as it does us all.
For now and probably going forward, I have gotten rid of the COVID-19 Diary. I enjoyed doing it but at some point it slowed down my productivity referencing all the news articles and while I would like to say I will return and finish it off the past two years suggests otherwise.
Instead I will be returning to writing about films and shows I see and have a few ideas in the pipeline I hope to bring to fruition.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
On Sunday the 29th of November, 2020 I was lucky enough to attend a preview screening of the HBO documentary The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? at New Farm cinemas and I got to take Karen with me.
Just another milestone that things were pretty in our neck of the woods while case numbers continued to rise astronomically abroad.
I enjoyed the documentary, it rang very poignant for me given Barry Gibb’s advancing years. I can tell you there were quite a few people of Barry’s and my parent’s age in the audience. I even floated the idea of taking my Mum but she had to decline. Maybe in the audience there were people who had known the Bee Gees from their days in Redcliffe. They certainly laughed and nodded at points like they were flicking through the pages of a photo album. Your culture remains your’s for life – it takes hold you of for life.
I grew up in a household of The Beatles and The Bee Gees. I heard The Rolling Stones and David Bowie but they weren’t in the house. I’m prety sure at one point there was a copy of every Bee Gees album on at least LP, tape or CD.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
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Karen and I. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Me posing with Rocky poster. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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It sent me down a bit of rabbit-hole of Youtube clips.
I would urge you to listen to a live acoustic performance they did of one of their lesser singles Blue Island from one of their strongest later albums from the early 1990s. The thing is, it’s not a bad song but something magical happens when the harmonies those brothers had together sing it. It is something special.
There is an interview Maurice Gibb had in the wake of doing rehab for alcoholism, (I thought he got clean well before Andy Gibb’s death not after) and Barry Gibb talking about his brothers, his wife – his family to Piers Morgan.
There are personal favourites here like The Nights on Broadway (I had no idea they were that broke when they recorded that album), and younger hits like You Win Again which is soooo 80s, their last hit single This Is Where I Came In which I will defend to the death is proof they were still crushing it in 2001, their first big hit as they left Australia in the 60s – Spicks and Specks which is a personal favourite and maybe lesser known to Americans and even Brits I think.
Songs like Alone and Immortality from 1997 which resonates even more now. Absent are the disco hits which I loved as a kid but have listened to a lot more than these gems and I suspect you have too.
I went to a preview screening of the new movie Tenet for Scenestr magazine.
Tenet was the first blockbuster to be getting released in cinemas since COVID had shut down cinemas earlier in the year. Warner Bros. was betting big that people would return to the cinemas but if they did, the blockbuster would have the run of the movie going public.
Attending a preview screening of a blockbuster is always a thrill for me. The preview screening was in a VMax screening at Indooroopilly Shopping Centre. There were only other critics present at the screening, familiar faces. People seemed fairly relaxed. At the screening of Waves there was some sense of hopefulness and rustiness at what was for some of us the first screening we had been to in a while. Here things were more relaxed but there was security at this one given the high profile nature of the film. There was a media embargo to enforce.
My review was published the following week on Wednesday the 26th of August with the film premiering the next day.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
I would argue that while Tenet is billed as a blockbuster, it is not a crowdpleaser and in a particularly dispiriting year I think something like Wonder Woman 1984 would have played much better but COVID remains the all too important factor. Its actually a relief to know that people would rather prize their lives over seeing a movie where they deem the risk too much. In Queensland we felt relatively safe with a small number of cases.
Yet on the same day that I went to see Tenet, a supervisor in her 70s at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre in Wacol tested positive for COVID-19. She had been working shifts until she started to have symptoms. She was now admitted to hospital. Her diagnosis led the centre to go into shutdown with testing of 127 youths and over 500 staff at the centre. There were eight active cases in Queensland at the time.
-Lloyd Marken
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I was solo again for this preview screening. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
I was on assignment with Scenestr magazine for the first time since the pandemic shut everything down in March.
Cinemas had just re-opened in Queensland and I attended a preview screening of Waves with a bunch of critics at New Farm cinemas. There were no plus ones so Karen wasn’t with me.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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There was definitely some joy to be taken that here was another activity back but this one was tempered with some caution.
As a film buff people have often asked my feelings on how the pandemic has shut down movies.
Since this pandemic happened I’ve never really missed movies, I’ve watched some classics and some new stuff on streaming services.
Yes I’ve worried about those who work in the arts.
New Farm Cinema. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinema. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinema. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinema. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
New Farm Cinema. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
But more so I’ve worried about everybody who has lost their jobs in recent months.
I love going to the cinema but I haven’t felt I lost her in these recent weeks.
We’ve lost lives. Hundreds and thousands of them.
We’ve lost jobs.
Millions of them.
We’ve lost good health and good prospects for the future for millions more.
I enjoyed seeing a wonderful movie and being a film critic again on the job. Something I am eternally grateful for.
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But on the 6th of July I found my cinema had patiently waited for my return and was happy to see me again. I know she will wait for me again and for all of us if need be.
I was very fortunate to attend a preview screening of Birds of Prey with Karen on Wednesday 05FEB2020 at the Myer Centre in the Brisbane CBD on assignment for Scenestr for the first time in 2020. I always feel fortunate to attend such screenings and get to review new films. The crowd we were with seemed to enjoy the film and I found there was a lot I appreciated about the film but I worried if it would find an audience. So far box office has been soft for the film but I believe when it finds its audience it is going to become quite beloved by them.
There is an irreverent rebellious attitude to the production and a manic joy. I thought similar thoughts about Suicide Squad that seemed well cast with interesting characters in desperate need of a plot and being able to make more of the potential of its premise and explore the unique possibilities that could come from it. Birds of Prey, a female centric sidequel spin-off, is a step in the right decision with better action and a better plot but still full of dropped ideas and unexplored potential.
There are to my mind no positive male characters in it but I can live with my heroes, anti-heroes and villains coming in all genders, races and creeds. No doubt the film is saying something about the female experience and exploring gender politics but how much it really says I’ll leave to the individual viewer to decide.
Afterwards Karen and I enjoyed some pizzas at the Hilton Hotel lobby.
About a month later Karen and I were with friends seeing a movie at Palace Cinemas and came across some print issues of Scenestr and its sister publication Frooty.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
Started in 2017 and produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises, Frooty is an online national magazine that covers news and entertainment with a queer perspective. Their first print issue rolled out in July 2019 across five major states (QLD, NSW, Vic, SA, WA) and have followed monthly since. Frooty is one of the country’s widest circulating queer titles.
-Lloyd Marken
Crowd starting to build for the preview screening. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen waiting to go in. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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Karen and I ready for the film to begin. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Hilton Hotel Lobby. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The bar at the Hilton Hotel Lobby, makes me think of The Shining. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Courtesy of the Byron Bay Pizza company. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Queen St Mall, Brisbane. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Me with a copy of Frooty Issue 10 working from home on the 31st of March, 2020. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Enjoying a little light reading. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
I attended with my wife Karen a preview screening of the film 1917 at the Myer Centre on the 5th of December last year. That seems a long time ago now, Christmas and New Year’s have happened since, I’ve been working in my humble public servant job, the film has become an Oscar contender and my country has been burning.
Some of us have tried to help where we can. Others have forced handshakes and tried to re-write history in their press interviews. A special few have been helping and making a real difference and I stand in awe of them.
I hope you are all well.
I guess. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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The old Regent. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Top of the Myer Centre. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Christmas in the Queen Street Mall. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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In the Hilton Hotely lobby looking up. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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We went there after the film to eat. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
A favourite place for Karen and I go to hang out with friends. Great pizza, starters or cocktails and spirits. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
The crowd gathering. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Looking down. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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Musicians performed. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
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Traditional selfie before the film starts. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Karen thinks John Cena is a really good actor. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
I remember there was a buzz in the air after the screening with people talking excitedly amongst themselves about how good the film was. Karen and I went to the Hilton Hotel lobby to grab something to eat. We’re quite fond of the place. I’m interested to know what you all thought of the film.
I wish you all the best in 2020.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
I was lucky enough to be on assignment again for Scenestr magazine last Wednesday night to attend a preview screening of Terminator: Dark Fate at Reading Cinemas, Newmarket. There were other critics and fans in attendance.
Getting off the train at Newmarket in sunny Brisbane, Australia. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
About to enter Newmarket shops. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
In the cinema with the movie about to begin. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Foyer of the Reading, Newmarket. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
Back to the Drawing Board Productions 