Ovals

Westfield Bondi Junction

Focus

Will Smith and his team of pick pockets and con artists take on Margot Robbie as an intern and they embark on a series of ever wilder and complex heists from New York through New Orleans to Buenos Aires.

'Focus' is so full of twists that you start to foretell them the longer the film proceeds simply because by then you have been trained not to take what you see at face value. It is all increasingly implausible but fun nonetheless.
★★★1/2

Bridge

Tonight, 48.40%, 9/14

Biblical sails

The traditional Wednesday afternoon sailing races on Sydney Harbour today beneath the type of clouds favoured by Hollywood for its biblical epics. Passing storms (out of photo left) influencing this interesting late afternoon light.

St Patricks Day

Seemingly everyone has a little bit of the Irish in them on this day. I have no Irish in my ancestry but I'm happy to celebrate anyway.

May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies and quick to make friends. And may you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.

Bridge

Tonight, 45.80%, 8/10

Inherent Vice

A Private Investigator (Joaquin Phoenix) is asked by a former girlfriend to trace her missing boyfriend only for her to go missing too.

'Inherent Vice' is set in the California of 1971 and is full of 1960s hippy, surf and drug culture. The languid atmosphere of the film's design had me dozing off frequently. It's an overlong film noir 'wannabe' with some ironic moments.

'If you can remember the 1960s, then you weren't there' is a popular saying. If you can make sense of this film's plot and characters then you must have been high.
★★

Sleep art

Discarded mattress in Randwick

Eastern Boys

'Eastern Boys' is a French film set in Paris about a man who falls for a East European rent boy who is part of a gang of boys and young men who prey on and rob their pick up victims. The rent boys are themselves victims and hostages to their 'boss', a stand over pimp of a man.

In the French film style events move slowly with minimal dialogue and it is difficult to tell over what period the plot is set.

Despite potentially distasteful aspects the film manages a surprising tenderness between the lead characters.
★★★

Evacuate...evacuate......

Interlopers in Australia's best city.

There have been sightings of Highriser and his accomplice R in Sydney.

Worry not citizens, I am monitoring their movements. Yesterday they infiltrated Centennial Parklands  and even found their way onto an ivory tower in the Eastern Suburbs where they posed momentary threat to Her Majesties Mary and Victoria.

Once discovered they were quickly placed under guard in a safe house in a shady area of the city.

They should be eradicated by Tuesday at the latest.

Bridge

Tonight, 56.80%, 2/13

Political speak

My carefully calibrated policy...

...is your thought bubble

...and vice versa

Bridge

Tonight, 44.20%, 6/9

Kingsman: The Secret Service

I'm not particularly familiar with Kingsman the comic book series but a viewing of 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' I suspect gave me a firm idea of what the series is like.

A group of hand picked and tested mostly gentlemen using code names from King Arthur's court save or protect people from difficulty under the guise of a select Saville Row Gentlemen's outfitter. The self appointed group of nerdy looking individuals have access to an unlikely array of high tech weaponry that would be the envy of James Bond and his ilk.

I quite enjoyed the low key dry humour in the general premise of the set up. However the over the top stylised violence which probably looks OK in comic panels struck me as overlong and tiresome in movie form.
★★★

Strictly sugar

Oh dear how will I look my best for next week's visit by Andrew and R? (That's not Andrew R as in 'Elizabeth R' but Andrew and his partner R.) I've just experienced the sugar binge from hell.

An entire packet of party mix on Tuesday.

Another entire packet of party mix on Wednesday.

An entire block of Rum n Raisin chocolate on Thursday.

I am a wicked, wicked man.

Footsies

I visited the podiatrist today, an appointment I have every six to eight weeks. I have problem feet. I need to wear orthotics to improve my balance and without them my feet become sore if I have to spend even a moderate amount of time walking or standing. I've been attending the same Podiatry practice for about ten years now.

I suppose over that time I've been treated by about half a dozen different Podiatrists. All of them have been young; that is, aged in their 20s or 30s.

A 'model' Podiatrist from Newcastle University

None has been the senior, revered General Practitioner type of my youth. I'm not complaining, some of the men who have treated me have been almost as good looking as the smiling fellow above.

But I wonder why it is that someone fresh from school, or of similar age, decides that playing around with feet for the rest of their lives is the career for them? I don't think that any of my practitioners has been a foot fetishist as such. It's an interesting career choice but not one I would ever have contemplated.

Bridge

Tonight, 48.70%, 7/12

Unfinished Business

In a Jerry Maguire inspired moment Vince Vaughn resigns his job and sets himself up in competition with his former boss, would you believe Sienna Miller? He takes with him the aged retrenched Tom Wilkinson and a goofily naive Dave Franco. This trio end up in Europe causing and responding to all manner of mayhem; none of it especially tasteful.

I can't say that I have liked Vaughn in his recent films - most of his characters being nasty to some extent - but in 'Unfinished Business' he is almost decent which is more than I can report for the level of humour the film contains.

I did chuckle occasionally but I am almost embarrassed to admit it.
★★

Bridge

Tonight, 53.40%, 3/8

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

How clever is the film title 'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'? This sequel to the delightful hit 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' is clearly, disappointingly and perhaps predictably inferior to its predecessor.

Most of the earlier characters reappear in the sequel but for the most part very little of consequence or development occurs to them. This is mainly a rehash of the earlier film with a bit more focus on the Indians a little less on the interloper foreigners.

It is a mostly pleasant film and there is the occasionally humorous moment but neither element matches the charm and delight of the first film.
★★★