Dean Spanley will make the producers of Botox an absolute fortune; those who see it will have a crinkled brow throughout while trying to understand what the hell it is actually about…

An excellent form of compensation for newly-acquired wrinkles is watching the magic between the stellar cast. Sam Neill, Peter O’Toole, Jeremy Northam and Bryan Brown click together in a wonderful meshing of masterful acting and gleeful nuances.

A co-production between New Zealand and the UK, fledgling director Toa Fraser has bravely taken on an adaptation of the 1936 classic book “My Talks with Dean Spanley” by Lord Dunsany. This ambitious film kneads together the fantastical and ye olde English society.

Set in 1904 England, the story centres on the gradual interlocking of past and present lives shared by the four leads. O’Toole plays Fisk Snr, a cantankerous and selfish old man and Northam plays his son, Fisk Jnr, who visits him every Thursday. On one particular visit, father and son attend a talk given by a visiting swami on the ‘transmigration of souls’, or reincarnation.

Fisk Jnr is fascinated to see an Anglican church Dean (Sam Neill) in attendance and asks him to dinner in order to discover why. The Dean is only enticed by the promise that his favourite tipple, Imperial Tokay, a very rare wine produced by the Hungarian royal family, will be provided for his consumption.

Enter Bryan Brown’s character, Wrather, a courier of sorts who somehow manages to acquire the liquor on more than one occasion.

Over the ensuing dinners, Spanley’s past life is slowly revealed under the spell of his favourite elixir. An incredible connection is discovered that brings around a great emotional catharsis to all involved.

Bryan Brown’s over-the-top Aussie accent shatters the reserved manner of the other characters and the wicked gleam in his eyes is enhanced with every close up.

Sam Neill is his usual calm self, letting loose only when he escapes to his Tokay-inspired reveries.

Peter O’Toole is one of those rare actors who can spellbind you with his eyes, no matter how rheumy. The confidence and ease with which he embraces his character is a sounding board for the other three thespians.

So, if you want to see the magnificent Peter O’Toole parry with Northam, Brown and Neill, prepare to be rather bemused but quite contented with the ending. 

How and when did you come up with the concept of LAB?

I came up with the concept for LAB about 18 months ago. Living in London you’re surrounded with great street art all the time. I had been buying art for a good few years, particularly limited edition prints. I’d done a little screen printing myself and knew enough to put together a website, so after a few beers and a chat with my good friend Morgan we came up with the idea to produce prints ourselves. Morgan knew this guy called “French Danny”. He’s a 50 something, Gauloise-smoking French guy who’s worked as a fine art screen printer for the best part of 30 years. Between the three of us we had all the ingredients for LAB

Do you get many artists approaching you to be added to your site?

We get about 5 or 6 emails every week from artists looking for information about working with us. We try to write back to the majority of them with encouragement, but sometimes it’s difficult. We regularly get submissions of classically styled oil on canvas artwork - I’m not sure whether these people have actually checked out our website, but regardless it’s really good to see new talent.

How do you choose which artists to show?

We choose artists whose work we like. When I lived in Europe I spent a lot of time photographing street art and anytime I found a piece that really caught my imagination I would try to contact the artist. More often than not it takes me a long time to eventually discover the identity of the artist. A couple of months ago I was chatting to a lady from Madrid at one of our shows and I was telling her about a couple of really cool pieces of street art in Madrid, but I didn’t know the artist’s name, but described the work. She knew exactly who I was talking about and even gave me the email address of the guy. Little by little the pieces of the puzzle come together.

Are you an artist yourself? What is your background?

When I was younger I spent a lot of time painting oil on canvas, but then I discovered girls and cars (and) I stopped. Since then I’ve concentrated on photography and some web design. I struggled for about 6 months to make our website. I’m pretty pleased with the results and we’re always getting compliments from people about our site. I get huge artistic enjoyment from working with our artists.

You’re launching in Australia? When is that going to happen?

The launch in Australia will be in late February. Before moving to Sydney I had been in contact with a good few Australian artists, so we will hopefully launch here with some home grown talent.

Why do you think street art is so popular?

Street art is popular because it catches the mood of the people. There is nothing better than walking around a corner, looking up and seeing a great piece of art on public display. Banksy is the king of this technique and we were lucky enough to live in London for the majority of his rise to fame. Street art is popular because people can relate to it.

Do you think ‘graffiti’ should be banned as it is in most places?

The term graffiti is used a little too loosely. Graffiti is used for everything from train tagging to installations by Os Gemeos. For me, if the motivation for doing the work is creative rather than just destructive, then I’m all for it.

What’s unique about your site? How do you differentiate from other sites that sell similar artwork?

There are a couple of main differences between us and other sites. We don’t just sell artwork, we produce the artwork. Every print that is for sale on our site has been screen printed by us. We work with the artists from conception of the piece through to selecting the paper and finally quality controlling each piece before signing and stamping them.

When I set out to design our site I really wanted to break the mould of all the typical gallery sites. The majority are designed with the objective of being easily updatable rather than creative. The LAB site is definitely about creating something fun for people to browse through rather than looking through an Athena catalogue of 500 pieces of art. It will a long time before the LAB website has a filter by “colour theme” or “art has flowers in the background” option!

This is probably a very daggy question but most of the artists have strange names. Do you have any idea how they come up with them? ‘Superoboturbo’? ‘Oh Death’? Is this normal in this world?

Hmm, good question! You know, I’ve never thought to ask the guys how they came up with their names. I know a couple of them that produce mainly street art are concerned that by using their real names (this) would make them easy targets for the police. One of our artists “The Krah” has a number of identities, email addresses and bank accounts in the Cayman Islands to keep people off the scent. We generally meet in a darkened pub and exchange brief cases with artwork and cash.

What makes a good street artist?

Banksy reckons the holy grail of being a good street artist is taking less time to make the artwork than it takes to look at it. Art that makes me think about my surroundings is good street art. I also really appreciate the effort some artists make in gaining access to the perfect location.

Do you have any Australian artists on your books?

At the moment I’m working with three Australian artists. There is some great talent out there. So watch this space!

Reunited after 11 years, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio remind us why they made history together in Titanic…

Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes’s latest film Revolutionary Road confronts and challenges our preconditioned sensibilities and notions of relationships, social status and personal dreams. It strips your ideals and beliefs to their core and makes you question your life’s direction and the motivation behind your choices.

Set in Connecticut in the 1950s, Winslet and DiCaprio star as April and Frank Wheeler, children of a generation determined to do something ‘special’ with their lives. Seven years after they meet, however, they are married and living in the suburbs with two kids, suffocating in a life they once scoffed at.

Frank works at the same company his father did which makes him hate the job even more. April, still lamenting the demise of her acting career, is both mentally and emotionally sinking in her cookie-cutter role as wife, mother and homemaker.

In a last ditch attempt to shake their lives up, she devises a plan for the family to move to Paris. While he takes some cajoling at first, Frank quickly comes around to the idea and robustly jumps on the bandwagon. It’s full steam ahead for a short while until fear, doubt and mistrust start to wobble the wheels of their Paris cart. With their relationship already on tenterhooks, the steady disintegration of their dreams forces both Frank and April to reconsider their future. 

Based on Richard Yates’s 1961 novel of the same name, Mendes (who won an Oscar for Best Director - American Beauty in 1999) is a master at honing in on the complex trivialities that compress suburban life. Mendes deftly capitalizes on the acting prowess (and the previous celluloid union) of his stars Winslet and DiCaprio. Supported by notables such as Kathy Bates and Michael Shannon (who is magnificent as her psychiatrically-disturbed son, John) this solid cast carries the challenge of elucidating Yates’s vision in sublime style.

Cinematographer Roger Deakins lovingly focuses on the actors’ faces to catch every nuance and reactionary tick. At the top of his game, Deakins has received seven Oscar nominations as Director of Photography including film greats such as The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou and No Country For Old Men.

Partnered with Sam Mendes, Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kathy Bates, this movie is a powerhouse of elite talent.

Prepare for Revolutionary Road to pave the way at the Oscar nominations on the same day as its Australian release.

Revolutionary Road is released on January 22 2009.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a movie that will warm the cockles of your heart as well as showcase Pitt’s versatility as an actor. Based on a short story of the same name by iconic writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (of The Great Gatsby fame) this elegant film shines through the mediocrity to surprise and entertain. The film’s messages of acceptance, unconditional love and determination are not shoved down our throats but massaged onto our psyche with velvet gloves.

When Pitt’s character is born into a wealthy New Orleans family his baby body has the skin of an old man. His horrified father panics and dumps the ‘baby’ on the doorstep of an old-peoples home. God-loving and kind-hearted Queenie, the proprietor, scoops him up and adopts him as her son, naming him Benjamin. Not given long to live by a doctor, Benjamin defies the odds and keeps growing younger.

Cate Blanchett stars as Daisy who meets Benjamin as a child while visiting her grandmother at the retirement home. Benjamin instantly falls in love with Daisy and watches from afar as she grows into a beautiful woman. There is a celluloid sigh of appreciation when Daisy and Benjamin finally meet in the middle at relatively the same age. After a few years of bliss they can no longer ignore the fact that they are aging in opposite directions.

It is not just the leads who enchant this film. The supporting characters add great depth, humour and grace. Queenie (played by Taraji P. Henson who has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role) the elderly boarders in the retirement home and the tugboat captain (played by Eddie Izard) are especially endearing.

Yes, the film runs for nearly three hours but you are so immersed in Benjamin’s story that the time flitters away. The costumes are lush and the colour, smell and heat of New Orleans radiate from the screen. The makeup, wigs and prosthetics used to transform Pitt through all stages in life is state-of-the-art, as is the cinematic magic used to transplant Pitt’s head onto a stooped and withered body.

Known for films such as Se7en, Fight Club, Alien 3 and Panic Room, director David Fincher’s first foray into a softer kind of movie is a resounding success. He skillfully weaves close ups with sweeping vistas to create a smorgasbord of visual delights. In his third collaboration with Pitt he shows the audience yet another facet of the actor’s prowess.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a genuinely feel-good film that you will walk away from with a wide smile and light heart. You may even dare to brave the three-hour running time once more.

Kid Robot toys by Eliazar

Where do grown-ups go if they love playing with toys but believe they will be doomed to a life of raised eyebrows and the sad shaking of heads if they publicly display their wares? Have no fear; Thunderdog Studios have your toy-loving derriere covered.

ThunderMutts, ZuluQueen, BillyBananas and KidRobot figurines will look very hip and cute on the mantelpiece and can be displayed sans humiliation. They come in a range of colours and decorations so even the most discerning of interior decorators will find a design to suit.

So who is behind Thunderdog Studios and their hipster toys and designs? Meet Tristan Eaton, designer extraordinaire and king of a creative dynasty. Born in Los Angeles in 1978, Eaton focused on his art to help cope with moving so much and began painting on canvases such as walls, bins and billboards. He eventually moved to New York City to study but dropped out when he started making money from his artwork and designing toys for Fisher Price.

Steadily building his design and urban toy empire, Eaton has been commissioned to create branding designs for such corporations as Dell, Nike, Rolling Stone Magazine and Victoria’s Secret.

Thunderdog Studios was most recently recruited into politics by designing paraphernalia for the Barack Obama campaign. One of the highlights was the ‘Thundervote’ bike decorated in the colours of the American flag that travelled around with the Obama campaign.

After meeting fellow toy designers and artists, Paul Budnitz and Frank Kozic, they embarked on a mission to create designer toys that had both artistic and commercial value. Dunny and Munny were born under the umbrella brand of Budnitz’s company, KidRobot.

The figurines’ bold and contemporary designs and colours represent the melding of the three artists’ ideas on youth culture, politics and fun. They have also bridged the divide between commercialism and critical acclaim as well as appealing on an aesthetic level.

The cutting edge patterns, shapes and garish colours reflect the urbanism and gritty street trends that are shaping today’s popular culture; fashion, architecture, music, technology and even some forward-thinking corporations. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC has also jumped on the bandwagon, displaying nine Dunny and Munny figurines.

So, be loud and proud in your love of toys and try, if you can, to get your mitts on a Dunny, Munny, KidRobot or Thundermutt. These little cuties scamper out the door as soon as a new version is released. But remember, in order to retain the impression that you are a lover of toys as pieces of art they must be left in the box!

This is ‘Australia’…

The intricacies involved in making a film, especially one as large scale and logistically demanding as Baz Luhrmann’s newest film ‘Australia’, are largely lost on most of us. As consumers we demand entertainment in its slick, finished form. The process of how it came to be may flicker across our consciousness momentarily but is then lost in the ether, never to be pursued. I delved deeper and spoken to one of the integral members of the production team, Nicole Kidman’s full-time stand-in, Sydney-born Alexis Lever. 

What is a stand-in’s role?

A stand in works with the director, cinematographer, camera and lighting department to set up a particular shot and essentially do the ‘dress rehearsal’ before the actor steps in and shoots. The director uses a stand in for blocking and placement, the cinematographer and lighting department set up intricate lighting arrangements and the camera department rehearse camera movements and set down marks on the ground for the actors and make sure the camera is in focus. It’s a long process getting all that right for each shot!

Before the actor steps in the director will film a rehearsal with the stand in to make sure the movement comes together flawlessly on screen. I was the full tine stand-in for Nicole.

Did you get the position of stand-in just based on your physical resemblance to the actor?

My height, skin tone, body shape and hair colour were very important. Of course it saves everyone time if lighting and cameras only need to be set once. Nicole is so efficient at what she does that it is important for her to be able to walk onto set, rehearse the scene on camera then do two or three takes and walk off. Any time she spends in front of the camera waiting for lighting or camera adjustments is wasted time.

Tell me about your background.

At the time of the castings for the job I was working in a law firm, modeling part time and finishing my law degree. I guess I was preparing my applications for graduate law employment and considering my options as an intellectual property lawyer! I actually ended up finishing my degree from my mini-maui campervan in Kununurra and in Bowen. I sat two exams under the supervision of Bowen Police department in a holding room. I was 15 minutes late for what was meant to be my final law exam because I was on set. Baz had announced to the entire crew on a microphone that we had to shoot the scene quickly so I could get to my exam. I was very embarrassed. I changed out of costume in the car and sat the exam in a wig (that was glued to my head) with the costume department’s best attempt to change my 1930’s pin curl hairstyle. I wish I could say I passed- but I guess failing my last law exam because I was on set with Hugh Jackman is not such a bad story!

Do you want to be an actor as well as a model?

I never really was the most successful model- it was never anything I was ambitious about. The ‘Australia’ job was the best modeling job I ever had and it came totally out of left field. I gave up serious acting when I finished high school but continued to do screen classes until recently. I loved working in front of the camera on ‘Australia’ but my experience on Wolverine behind the camera as an on set production assistant is more true to who I am now. When ‘Australia’ resumed shooting for additional photography this year, the same assistant director who had interviewed me for the stand in position over a year before, took me on as a member of his AD team.

How did the Australian outback affect you?

In Kununurra we lived in mini-maui campervans in a showground about 10kms out of town. We worked 6 days a week, 15 hours a day for 2 months. Set was a 1.5 hour drive onto a station that had no mobile reception and was incredibly isolated. You can imagine that most of the crew crashed or let loose on their one day off. I was determined to make use of the extraordinary experience I had been given and every Sunday I would borrow a transport 4wd and drag my boyfriend out into the Kimberleys to explore. We spent every one of our days off exploring El Questro and the various gorges, waterfalls and private springs. We were alone, in the some of the most beautiful backdrops in the world. It was a very romantic place for me.

Did you have to stand out in the heat to get the correct angles, lighting etc before Nicole stepped in?

Compared to what the rest of the crew were doing my job was very easy. I always had an umbrella with my name on it and I am ashamed to say I often had someone holding it above my head for me while I blocked through scenes with Baz. I was always made to stay out of the sun and I always had people handing me bottles of water. Some of the crew were out in the heat of the day in the outback sun lifting and lugging huge pieces of equipment and cameras…. I was always amazed that the boys had enough energy for a workout or game of cricket or touch in their very short lunch breaks. Even during a dust storm out on the salt flats!

Were there any horror stories on set?

The biggest problem we had was the rain. Wherever we went it rained. Our entire set in Kununurra was underwater at one point- during the dry season- and we were forced back to Sydney to wait while it dried out which was a logistical nightmare. I heard someone say once “a Baz Lurhmann movie is a lot cheaper than a desalination plant- why doesn’t the government just pay for Baz’s movie to travel around the country and bring on the rain!” It actually worked in our favour to some extent as the shots we got during the three weeks of torrential rain and storms in Bowen are some of the most emotional and harrowing of the film.

What are your fondest memories?

Definitely kissing Hugh’s stand-in Taris!! And we had to do that a lot!!!

One of the other stand-in’s for the character of Daisy was a wonderful woman named Ellie Chatfield. She was a part of the stolen generation in Australia and I learned a lot from her and her story. I can’t imagine what it was like for her to experience what she has and then to experience the making of a movie like this one that so unashamedly deals with the horrors of that era of our history. I know that Baz was also very moved by her story.

What were your hardest moments?

Like anyone new to the film industry it is very easy to get swept up by the romance of the location and the film making process… I was swept up….and its not always romantic….

How long did you spend on set?

On average 13-15 hours a day with a 45 minute lunch break. For some months it was 6 days a week. I started in March 2007 during the pre production and we finished a few days before Christmas.

You went to the NYC premiere. Tell me about it.

It was a lot of fun walking the red carpet for the first time. It was at the beautiful Ziegfield Theatre in Manhatten. And seeing the movie for the first time was very amazing and emotional.

What’s next?

Who knows! I am just enjoying this new chapter in my life and taking everyday as it comes.

Do you miss Australia?

I miss my family and friends, and my cat Fancy Face.

“Bland…James Bland” should be the catch cry in the 22^nd film in the Bond franchise. Like a salad without dressing there is nothing too tempting about Bond’s latest adventures…

With a lot of hype and out-of-this-world expectation Quantum of Solace arrived in cinemas with a bang but delivers with a limp. The latest Bond installment falls as flat as Olga Kurylenko’s acting skills and not even the valiant efforts of devilishly handsome Daniel Craig can save this flick from ‘bad sequel syndrome’. Because it is a sequel; it picks up within an hour of where Casino Royale finished and unless you have seen Royale recently, you really aren’t going to follow.

At the helm of the latest Bond flick is German director Marc Forster. His resume includes films such as the gentle Finding Neverland, the kooky and wonderful Stranger than Fiction and the melancholy Kite Runner. Forster’s first attempt directing a big budget action film is nervous and wobbly with too many choppy scene changes. The ‘kill-em-all’ and ‘trust no-one’ angles along with confusing action shots leave a bad taste in the mouth. The audience is dragged through a muddy ‘plot’ which follows Bond’s revenge mission for the death of his love Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green in Casino Royale – please revive her back somehow! Cloning, perhaps?). Tacking on Camille’s (Kurylenko’s character) story of revenge for the death of her family at the hands of a vicious dictator is designed to bully and bamboozle us into thinking there actually is a noteworthy plot.

There are some great things about this film. As expected, the stunts are seamless and highly impressive with Bond happily trashing an Aston Martin, speed boat and DC aeroplane. The scope of locations (from Sienna to Haiti to the Bolivian desert) is glorious and mandatory Bond fodder. The excellent cinematography ensures the exotic settings are vivid with colour and life and the audience is swept along for the ride. But the paring down of the humour, gadgets and any chemistry 007 has with the two women in the film leaves us with only the husk of a Bond movie. Mathieu Amalric’s portrayal of the villain, Dominic Greene, feels like he’s still channeling the quadriplegic character he played in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. He sometimes seems sinister but mainly looks bored. As usual, Judi Dench is fabulous as M.

In a nutshell, this is a lacklustre film that is getting people into cinemas by riding on the coat tails of its far superior predecessor, Casino Royale. Daniel Craig has apparently signed on for two more films and one can only hope they bounce back with the renowned Bond bang.

Photo by Dan Zen

From banking to Bond in just four years, Simon Kassianides is one of the new bad boys on the 007 block. You’d do well to keep him in your sights…. 

Yusef, as described by his off-screen alter ego, Simon Kassianides, is “an agent for Quantum, the organisation that Bond learns more about in this film. His job is to make women of influence who have highly classified information about their governments fall in love with him. The moment they are in love he is ‘kidnapped’ and held to ransom in exchange for the secrets they are privy to.”

And who is man behind the character blamed for unravelling James Bond’s heart and setting him on this vengeful rampage? While you may not have heard of his name (yet), he counts Woody Harrelson as a friend, says Daniel Craig has the bluest eyes he has ever seen and fell madly in love with Eva Green in just one day. Oh, and he took his mum as his date to the royal premiere of Quantum of Solace at Leicester Square in London.

Kassianides is a charming ball of energy you can’t help but instantly like. Somewhat surprisingly, acting wasn’t even on this handsome South Londoner’s radar until about four years ago. Rather, he completed a business degree with his sights set on working in a bank. Realising he didn’t want to be “a cog in the machinations of globalization”, he floated around in a few odd jobs before deciding to see what the world of ‘showbiz’ was all about.

He landed a job as a runner at a production company and, after a year of perfecting the art of tea and coffee making, was asked to jump in front of the camera as an extra – allegedly due to his smouldering Mediterranean good looks. Feeling something click, Simon enrolled in a course at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama and within two weeks was cast in a lead role for a pilot TV series where an agent saw him and signed him on the spot.

A steady flow of television and stage roles followed including a play with Woody Harrelson. Four years later, as he was about to switch off his mobile phone to board a flight to Barcelona, his agent called. The producers of Bond wanted to see him for a role - be there in 90 minutes.

Winning a role in one of the most successful film franchises in the world is a dream come true for Kassianides. He threw his whole being into shaping his character. Playing a dodgy looking ethnic created its own challenges – who wouldn’t want to have the mantle of mugging and glaring and snarling at Bond? According to Simon, Daniel Craig is “devastatingly humble and gracious” although he refused to wrestle with Kassianides in his tight blue swim shorts, no matter how much Simon begged.

Filming his scenes at both Pinewood and Aldershot studios in Buckinghamshire in England, the character description changed dramatically from the day Kassianide’s signed up to the first day of filming. “What I prepared myself for one day I’d have to forget the next so I tried my best to relax and expect nothing and everything! We went for something psychological in the end and I think/hope we’ve achieved that. I’m proud of it.”

On October 20 2008, the film was ready for worldwide domination. “It was a dream night for me. I took my mum as she and I had a difficult time together during my teens making ends meet, so I knew what it meant to her to be there watching me speaking to the press. I enjoyed every minute of it.”

So what is next on the agenda for the bad boy of Bond? Kassianides will soon start filming for his first lead role in a movie called Between Two Fires by, Agnieska Lukasiak,(an Algerian film maker). The storyline involves an Algerian musician and a Polish woman from the Ukraine both on the run from their home countries that meet in an immigration camp in Sweden. They start an impossible romance that gives hope and fear to them both in an extremely hostile environment.

Perhaps if he has a break in his filming commitments, Kassianides can once again visit Sydney and see more of Australia. Here for two weeks in 2005, Simon absolutely loved it. “I met the friendliest girls, ate the best sushi and went to the best zoo I’ve ever been to. The architecture was great too - how different suburbs have their own very distinctive personalities. Plus I have some amazing friends there who I loved seeing in their hometown. I can’t wait to go back.”

With the juggernaught that is James Bond in Australian cinemas, keep an ear out for the ring of Simon Kassianides’s footsteps as he enters the hallowed halls of the Bond.

The world of spies, plastic surgery and internet dating collide in a fast-paced tumble-set in the intelligence capital of the world, Washington D.C, and Big Brothers Coen are watching…

Joel and Ethan Coen, known colloquially as The Coen Brothers, have been creating left of Hollywood cinema for over 20 years. Jacks of all trades, the brothers write, direct, produce, edit and even wield camera’s in their productions. Their latest offering, Burn After Reading, is a spy film rife with grim pleasure. Cranking up the pace from their last offering, the multi-Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men, the storyline and character idiosyncrasies don’t relent, making twists and turns that would leave even the figure eight giddy.

One of the principal reasons to see the film is the stellar cast: George Clooney (a Coen-film regular), Frances McDormand (a nip of nepotism here but she’s a goodie), Brad Pitt (do you need a reason?), John Malkovich (even his teeth can act), and numerous other familiar and worthy faces.

Similar to their other black comedies, particularly The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona, the plot is thick with oddball characters, ridiculous coincidences, bumbling idiots and lotsa swearing…Add some intrigue and “the Russians”, and all stops are pulled out.

In a nutshell, Chad (Brad Pitt) and Linda (Frances McDormand) are gym instructors at Hardbodies Fitness Centre where a disc containing highly sensitive CIA data is found. Desperate to secure funds for plastic surgery that will help her find love on Internet dating sites, Linda, with the aid of her air-headed but loyal buddy, Chad, attempts to blackmail the owner of the information, Osbourne Fox (Malkovich).

Mayhem, mishaps and murder ensues with the Coens’ trademark noir humour permeating the realm of spy culture. Clooney’s character, Harry, adds perfect comic relief as the egotistical and paranoid treasury office employee having an affair with Fox’s wife. His ‘invention’ will have you in stitches.

The cinematography is snappy and precise with no languishing or extraneous shots sought or needed. It’s a departure from style in some respects, and the pace of editing keeps the film racing along. It’s also evident the seasoned actors are having a bloody brilliant time as they ham it up for the cameras.

The dialogue is zippy and the overwhelming oddity of this film will leave you feeling slightly disorientated, but hey, it’s the Coens… Like No Country for Old Men, I felt the ending was rather abrupt and could have been rounded off in a more satisfying manner, however all is forgiven when you are engaged by the trademark witty dialogue and screws-loose characters.

Touted as the next Coen project is a film script entitled “Suburbicon” which will be directed in 2009 by Clooney.

Image by altemark

Mosey on down (or up or across) to Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art to check out artworks of great intent, including some that may make you twitter with excitement, blush or even gush… 

There are plenty of fabulous things to tickle your inner creativity and quell your cultural conscience at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) at Sydney’s Circular Quay. The current main attraction is a collection of sculptures, paintings, photography and installation art from one of Britain’s most daring creative artists, Yinka Shonibare, MBE. Shonibare was born in England in 1962 and brought up in Nigeria but has returned to London where his professional career excelled. A 2004 Turner Prize nominee, Shonibare has piqued international attention for his examinations of sexuality, race, class and humanity through mixed media installation. 

Shonibare’s subversive offering is a series of headless mannequins arranged in various scenes. Most eye-catching are the three-dimensional embodiments of paintings by famous artists dressed in ostentatious African-print fabrics, a key element in his work. It’s out there stuff but certainly gratifying for an uninitiated audience. 

Initial impact and intent comes from the first mannequin that greets you - a headless woman on a swing hung from a tree bough covered in ivy. She is resplendent in her ball gown and has irreverently flung off a shoe that hangs suspended above her. Gwen Stefani or Alice in Wonderland would be proud if not a little jealous. Meanwhile, the lines of culture and race blur.

The contents of the next room could promote awkward questions if you have children with you. Five groupings of mannequins in various sexual positions assault the senses. While the carnal positions may make you blush slightly, the mannequins are all immaculately dressed and you may infact learn another way to use a parasol. Once again the juxtaposition of conventional humanity with sexuality and gender is curiously represented.

Mannequins aren’t the only items on display in this exhibition. There is a short film of two beautiful ballerinas, Odile and Odette, dressed in the most stunning tutus of orange, pink, purple, aqua and blue. Shonibare’s utilisation of a professional theatre dresser in his work is evident in throughout the exhibition and certainly resonates here. The film shows the dancers standing opposite each other on either side of a large and empty frame and they dance exactly the same routine to give the illusion of one ballerina dancing in front of a mirror. Their bodies are masterpieces in themselves and the tutus are mesmerising. There is no musical accompaniment, only the staccato sound of the point slippers tapping the floor and the laboured breathing of the dancers as the routine becomes more complex. It’s ambitious artistic expression at work, which has great visual impact, but seems to be a divergent coda to the other work at hand.

There are also two photographic exhibits, a series of paintings and a video interview with the artist about his history and inspiration.