I love this show, so I’m going a little easy on it – and I won’t give out spoilers, as the season only ended last week.

I will start by saying that after watching a couple of episodes I thought that ‘The Boys’ was gone.

It appeared as though the writers had stumbled down a similar path to other television franchises, with the amount of political allegory sharply rising – to the point where it became less satirical and more of a statement.

The levels of violence in the show were also turned up a notch, and there was a lot more sexual deviancy as well – with toilet humour and gross-out gags thrown into the mix.

Does this work, or is it just cheap point-scoring? – I don’t know.

Overall, there were enough glimpses of the old magic to see me through to the end of the season, but make no mistake – this has the look and feel of a show that is running out of ideas.

To be fair, that is completely understandable.

So, the show-runners need to ease off the politics, dial down the filth, and get back to some real entertainment – such as Soldier Boy singing ‘Rapture’ in season three – see video below.

Seasons 1-4 of ‘The Boys’ are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Video courtesy of Vought International YouTube Channel.

Screenshots courtesy of Prime Video.

To ‘celebrate’ the season finale of Star Wars: The Acolyte, a very creative person with an Aussie accent came up with this gem!

*LANGUAGE WARNING* – The F-Bomb is dropped a number of times during the music video.

This clip was originally posted by Film Threat – click below to watch the video on their YouTube channel.

Although I would not describe myself as suffering from acrophobia, I do get very uncomfortable with heights – especially in an open environment.

So, when I stumbled across this on Netflix the other day, I found myself immediately triggered to the point where I was shouting out words of caution to the characters on the screen. Of course, neither of the lead actors followed my advice, and I had to quit the movie halfway through.

I won’t get into an actual film review here, (for the hour or so that I was able to watch) but what I will say is that the visual effects – both digital and trick photography – are brilliant.

My understanding is that part of the tower was built on top of a mountain, and was only around 100 feet tall, allowing the film makers to create the illusion of great height, as seen in the photos above.

When digital effects are added, the results are incredible.

The number of ‘bad’ movies I have been unable to finish would be too many to count – but never have I stopped watching a film due to my (very mild) fear of heights – not until now.

‘Fall’ is currently streaming on Netflix – if you’re up to the challenge.

Poster and screenshots courtesy of Lionsgate Films and Netflix.

Graham Arnold was a much-loved figure at the Central Coast Mariners during his tenure as coach from 2010 to 2013, where he guided the club to their first A-League title in 2012/13.

Following the Grand Final win in April 2013, Arnold would re-commit to the Mariners for another two seasons, signing a contract extension in August that year.

However, in mid-November Arnold would drop a bombshell, announcing he was leaving the club and had accepted a coaching role at Vegalta Sendai in Japan.

Now, here is where things get interesting…

In early April 2014, Arnold quit his Japanese job after only six matches in charge – with a record of 0 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses.

Less than a month later, he would return to Australia and in early May was appointed as the new Sydney FC manager, following the sacking of Frank Farina.

Needless to say, some folks at the Mariners were not impressed, and plotted a scheme to take revenge upon their former coach. The next home match against Sydney FC would mark Arnold’s return to the Central Coast, but in opposition colours – and the locals planned to let him have it!

How it started…

Accusing Graham Arnold of chasing the big bucks, the Mariners website not only created the moniker of ‘Cashed-up Arnie’ for their former coach, but provided a page where play money could be printed out featuring Arnold’s head – the idea being to toss thousands of fake notes about at the game.

If everything went to plan, the hostile crowd would get right under Arnie’s skin and aggravate him enough to perhaps influence the outcome of the match.

How it ended…

I love sporting banter, and although I think the Mariners were a little unfair toward Graham Arnold, this bizarre caper was still very funny.

Arnold would go on to claim back-to-back premierships at Sydney FC, including a Grand Final win in 2016/17.

During the same four-year period, the Central Coast Mariners would not play finals football – winning the wooden spoon in seasons 2015/16 and 2017/18.

All photos courtesy of various online sources.

It’s time for another weekly rant about ‘The Acolyte’, but as always I will steer clear of all other distractions and focus simply on the facts.

Let’s begin by going all the way back to the final scene of episode one.

Here is ‘The Stranger’ standing on a rock, whilst telling his apprentice a thing or two about killing Jedi, and quoting the following.

“If you attack a Jedi with a weapon, you will fail.

Steel or laser are no threat to them.”

I admit, the scene looked good – the mysterious villain with his back turned, igniting a red lightsabre, and speaking in a deep metallic voice.

But any Star Wars fan would know right away that this pearl of wisdom is inaccurate, and most likely put into the show by its lazy writers because it sounded ‘hip and cool’. Just one of dozens and dozens of critical writing errors that we’ve seen in this series so far, but I am only highlighting this one in particular as the events of episode five blew it right out of the water.

Now, before we move on to the fifth installment, remember the quote – “If you attack a Jedi with a weapon you will fail. Steel or laser are no threat to them.”

Whoops!

Ouch!

Blimey!

That’s gotta hurt!

And let’s not forget the off-screen death of the Wookiee.

What was that quote again? Oh, that’s right – “Steel or laser are no threat to them.”

Now, let’s revisit the first episode and take a closer look at how Jedi fare against steel.

Oh, would you look at that?

Death by fruit knife – steel fruit knife.

Now, if you change the bad guy’s quote and remove all the nonsense about laser and steel, then at least this part of the wayward storytelling is corrected. So why didn’t they?

I don’t understand what is happening with this show – nor where its 180 million dollar budget went.

I will end on a positive note and say that despite all the glaring issues, the lightsabre fights were pretty good – better than anything seen in the sequel trilogy. Also, the performance of Manny Jacinto as Qimir/The Stranger is top notch – probably the highlight of the show.

All screenshots are courtesy of Lucasfilm/Disney Plus.

Whenever Scotland qualifies for a major football tournament, we are treated to some incredible theatre as thousands of supporters belt out their anthem around the stadium.

And at Euro 2024 they have been at the top of their game!

But don’t take my word for it. Click on the link below to hear the Scots in all their glory, courtesy of MarkofScotland82’s YouTube channel.

Below is a link to the broadcast version, courtesy of Optus Sport.

Hopefully Scotland can defeat Hungary this morning, because then we will get to hear their rousing rendition at least one more time during the knockout stage.

This week marked the fifty-year anniversary of Australia’s first appearance at the FIFA World Cup Finals.

The achievements of this squad are legendary – a group comprised of amateur players who qualified against the odds to take their place among the top sixteen teams in the world.

Drawing both East and West Germany in the group stage was always going to be a tough ask, and the Socceroos lost both matches – after putting up a serious fight. The third and final game was against Chile, whom the underdogs managed to hold to a 0-0 draw.

No one would have thought at the time that 32 years would pass before Australia would make their next appearance at the World Cup Finals.

Over the past week, Football Australia have been releasing some great articles and videos about the ’74 Socceroos, such as the team profile from the official tournament programme, as seen below.

Perhaps second only to Bradman’s ‘1948 Invincibles’ – the 1974 Socceroos will forever hold their place among the giants of Australian sport.

Link below to the brilliant documentary on the Football Australia YouTube Channel.

Photos courtesy of Football Australia and other online sources.

I thought a 15% audience score was as low as this would get, but it seems the downward slide is continuing. The question that remains now is: – will it drop below 10%?

I should point out that the critics are once again on another planet here with a combined 84% score. How can the ‘experts’ miss what is arguably some of the worst writing ever seen on television? To me, at best – and being very kind, I would give this two stars out of five.

So, in unison with fellow ‘Star Wars’ fans everywhere, I decided to step up and play my part…

To be fair, if this show – which I’m only watching for comedic value – suddenly turns around and starts resembling actual ‘Star Wars’, then I will add half a star or more to my rating.

“The power of one… The power of two… The power of MAAANNNNYYYYYY!”

The 2011 Lars Von Trier film ‘Melancholia’ is at times grinding and slow-burning, and starts off with an hour-long dysfunctional wedding scene featuring some truly dislikable characters.

It does not get any easier to watch beyond that point, as serious mental illness is a major theme throughout. However, this is somewhat balanced out by the spectacular visuals and locations, not to mention the intrigue surrounding the arrival of a rogue planet near Earth’s orbit.

Any film from Von Trier is an acquired taste, with his directing style not to everyone’s liking.

I would say ‘The House That Jack Built’ would be the only other of Von Trier’s projects considered anywhere near ‘mainstream’ – although it was extremely violent. On the other hand, I found his previous film ‘Nymphomaniac’ so offensive that I could barely make it half-way through.

‘Melancholia’ is worth a watch, if you’re looking for something to challenge your senses – with a little science-fiction added into the mix. It is neither violent, nor offensive – but does feature some nudity. The cast is solid too, with Kiefer Sutherland, Kirsten Dunst, and Alexander Skarsgard.

Von Trier may be an eccentric film-maker, but as you can see in the screenshots below, he is no mug when it comes to cinematography and creating fantastic visuals.

All photos courtesy of Zentropa Productions.