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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The (Pod) Casting Couch - Horrible Bosses

The (Pod) Casting Couch reviews 'Horrible Bosses', answers some questions without notice and rates their feature four Scene Stealing performances. The Couch is Western Australian film critic Shannon Harvey (@Choc_Bomb), Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo (@Quickflix),  Andrew Williams (@IntheBoxSeat) and Laura Hewison (girlonfilmblog.blogspot.com). Check it out and give us a great rating on iTunes if you're a fan!

The Interchange Bench - Round 22

The Interchange Bench put the call out last week for a female listener to send us an e-mail. Did we get one? Listen and find out! E-mail us your Brownlow tip at theinterchangebench@gmail.com.

Monday, August 15, 2011

TV REVIEW - SUITS

When I sat down to watch Suits, I wasn’t particularly enthralled at the idea. Watching two snappily dressed, rich, white guys banter and do legal things isn’t really my idea of a good time unless its very nicely executed. While I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Suits is ‘very nicely’ executed, there’s a degree of competency at work here that just makes this show fly by.

Reading American critics’ reviews had made me think that ‘Suits’ was going to be a slog, and while you should never think too deeply about what’s going on, a slog it is not. Leads Patrick J. Adams and Gabriel Macht have an easy chemistry and natural charm, although it still baffles me how often in the pilot they aren’t in scenes together, as the show really clicks when they are.

Macht (The Spirit) stars as Harvey Specter, a flashy attorney who is ‘the best closer in town’. This seems to be based more on reputation than actual evidence, as he spends most of his time in the pilot screwing up. Through some contrived plotting he meets Mike Ross, (Adams) a pot-smoking screw-up who also happens to be a genius. He hires Ross to join his legal firm despite the fact he’s never been to law school and they begin to close cases together.

And that’s it, really. There are other people who populate the law firm like Gina Torres (Firefly) as their boss and Rick Hoffman as a lawyer so incredibly prissy and annoying he makes Macht’s character look like a self-deprecating, humble street urchin – and that’s probably the idea – but really this show is about whether you like the two leads and want to see them do the legal equivalent of solve crimes together. The writing is unspectacular, the women are smart, attractive and underwritten, and the cases are nothing to write home about. It’s all down to whether you like the characters.

Personally, I started out not liking either of them but begrudgingly accepted they were a watchable duo in the end – and maybe liking them a little bit. Sure, Gabriel Macht may be playing a played-straight version of Barney Stinson and Adams is like a straighter-laced Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad, but they make decent, inoffensive, frothy viewing.

Just don't think too hard about it.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

The (Pod) Casting Couch - Green Lantern/Superhero Movies

The (Pod) Casting Couch reviews Green Lantern and does a superhero themed feature four. Featuring The West Australian's Shannon Harvey (@Choc_Bomb), Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo (@quickflix) and Laura Hewison. E-mail us at thepodcastingcouch@gmail.com or @podcastingcouch on Twitter!


The Interchange Bench - Round 20


It's a full bench this week as Steve and Andrew are joined by Michael Genovese and Claire Thomas (@ClaireT78) to discuss the round just gone. Our e-mail topic this week is to let us know your biggest disappointment of season 2011 - e-mail us at theinterchangebench@gmail.com and you too could be commemmorated in song.
If you've enjoyed the podcasts, please do us a favour and give us a great rating on iTunes! Cheers


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Interchange Bench - Round 19

Michael Genovese (@GenoveseMichael) makes his triumphant return to the Interchange Bench, joining Andrew and Steve in a wrap that unsurprisingly concentrates primarily on the Melbourne fallout. It's not all Woe of the Demons, though, as Beau Mitchem (@Mitchem89) joins us from Newcastle to review a Western Bulldogs season that fell just short of his prediction of a runaway premiership. E-mail us at theinterchangebench@gmail.com with your thoughts to win our very special prize.




Monday, August 1, 2011

FILM: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES REVIEW

Rush Hour: Always a bitch.
I’ve never really understood the whole ‘Planet of the Apes’ phenomenon. I get that they’re entertaining films with a few good ideas and a nice twist, but the series’ longevity and level of cultural impact was always somewhat beyond my grasp. I was therefore not only surprised that there was a prequel on the way but even more surprised that it was premiering in this, the most blockbuster-heavy summer in recent memory.

Most of the hype for ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ has happened by stealth and put the special effects front and centre as the primary selling point. Stars James Franco, Freida Pinto and Draco Malfoy (I mean, Tom Felton) have been sidelined in favour of short, effects-heavy clips of the stunningly real-looking apes. Not only is this also how the film itself works, but it’s also why the film works – and no one is more surprised than me that it does.

The (Pod) Casting Couch - Captain America/Top 4 Sidekicks

The team (Shannon Harvey @Choc_Bomb), Andrew Williams and Laura Hewison tackle the new Marvel Flick Captain America: the First Avenger and talk about their top 4 movie sidekicks of all time. E-mail us at thepodcastingcouch@gmail.com !

                                                                       
           
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