Joelene Pynnonen

Joelene Pynnonen embraces the life of an avid book lover in every way. When not reading or bowing to the will of the tyrant cat, Joelene likes to draw, make futile attempts at learning Finnish and occasionally work in a bookstore.

CIA analyst, Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy), spends her days as the brains behind the missions that her field agent partner, superspy Bradley Fine (Jude Law), embarks on. Initially joining the CIA in the hopes of making a difference for her country and having a more exciting life, she has never-the-less taken her mother’s advice and settled for relative obscurity.

When one of Fine’s missions goes sour and all of the CIA’s active agents are compromised, Susan seizes the chance to finally get into the field. With her loyal friend Nancy as her eyes and ears, an Italian lecher as back-up, and the most embarrassing toiletries bag ever at her disposal, Susan is ready to take on the International arms dealers threatening the world.

Films like this can always go one of two ways. Either they kill it on every level, or fall flat with the jokes never quite hitting the mark. The trailer was entertaining, and Melissa McCarthy almost single-handedly salvaged Bridesmaids for me, so not seeing it was never an option. The fact that I love spy spoofs just added incentive.

With so many movies and shows of a similar genre out there, it’s fantastic that Spy managed to keep the spy spoof fresh and hilarious. It’s as crass as Archer, as over-the-top as Get Smart and as unabashed as Austin Powers – but it has a distinct essence all of its own.

The cast has a superb energy; each of them really bouncing off the others in the comedic scenes. Jason Statham is the biggest – and best – surprise as Agent Rick Ford. Of course he’s not new to comedy with the brilliant Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch under his belt, but the way he fuses the tough guy character with the bumbling side-kick is hilarious. Melissa McCarthy’s Susan Cooper is also amazing. Her flair for improvisation and her comedic timing makes her the glue in Spy, holding all of the other characters and the plot together seemingly with ease.

Aside from how hysterically funny Spy is from start to finish, it also has an astounding amount of amazing female characters. Aside from her friend, Nancy, Susan’s boss is a woman who is acerbic as hell without being vilified for it. The main villain that the CIA is keeping under surveillance is female and rather than being out to destroy her at any cost, Susan is able to identify with her when her drink is tampered with. It’s refreshing to see such strong themes of female friendship in Spy.

Spy looks like the kind of movie that would have been incredibly fun to make, and it was just as fun to watch. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there’s a follow up with all of the original cast members.

Damian Magee

Damian Magee is a West Australian writer and reviewer and a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society. He’s a life long fan of crime, sci-fi, anime, literature, history, biography, TV & films who has been writing reviews, non-fiction, & presenting seminars on these genres for the past 30 years. 

When I learned that the BBC was remaking Poldark, my first thought was that at last all 12 books could be filmed.  Winston Graham continued to write the series almost until his death in 2003.  The second thought was a hope that the new cast would suit the characters, as the last attempt in 1996 failed due to the miscasting of the leads, and because of the poor dialogue.

The first season of the new series is based on the first two books; “Ross Poldark”, and “Demelza”, comprising of 8 episodes. Due to the success of the series in the UK, the BBC has commissioned a second series, based on the next two books; “Jeremy Poldark”, and “Warleggan”.

The actors selected for the roles in this new series are excellent choices. Aidan Turner brings home a complex man who life has been shattered by war, lost family and  betrayal of love, who then finds family and love again with the help of Eleanor Tomlinson as Demelza. Shot on location in Cornwall, the photography is just a delight on screen; the sun rising over the cliffs in the morning is breath-taking.

It was sad to see Warren Clarke die as Charles Poldark, Ross’ rich uncle, just as he did so quickly in real life. The other cast members seem to fit well into their roles: Heida Reed as the beautiful and hard done by Elizabeth; Kyle Soller as Francis Poldark (Ross’ cousin), who never lives up to expectations; but Jack Farthing as the new George Warleggan–the villain of the piece–still has a long way to go to fit Ralph Bates shoes from the 1970’s series. It’s also nice to see the original Ross, Robin Ellis, in a small role as Reverend Dr. Halse.

It is very hard for me not to jump beyond the next episode because I read all of the 12 books. The plot of series one is very close to the novels, apart from the first scene.  Set in America, you see Ross in his English uniform fighting the American Rebels, and receiving the wound that gives him his scar. Then the story changes to Ross coming home and finding his father dead, his home almost in ruins, his income gone, and his fiancée about to marry his cousin Francis, due to mistaken reports of his death.  Tension builds from scene to scene. Then Ross encounters Demelza, a scene lifted straight from the page to the screen.

Debbie Horsfield, a playwright and writer of BBC’s series Cutting It, does an excellent job on the adaptation of Winston Graham’s novels.  Looking forward, if the BBC and cast continue, we should have six seasons of the Poldark saga.

Alayna Cole

Alayna Cole is an MCA (Creative Writing) candidate who loves to write stories when she’s not studying.

It’s hard to believe a movie that is essentially a two hour car chase could be so complex, but Mad Max: Fury Road is riddled with interesting storytelling choices that will change the way I view action movies from this point onwards.

For anybody who spends as much time online as I do, it was impossible to avoid seeing the controversy surrounding the release of Fury Road. One article described the movie as ‘Trojan horse feminism’, hiding messages empowering women behind cars, guns, and explosions to sneak them into cinemas. But I don’t think George Miller and the stellar cast of Fury Road are trying to be secretive at all.

Now might be a good time to remind the internet about the definition of feminism: the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of equality. Fury Road isn’t trying to kick men out of action movies, but rather to show that women are just as capable of surviving the apocalypse, car chases, gun fights, dust storms, hand-to-hand combat, and mortal wounds as men are. A woman can be more than the ‘prize’ waiting for the action hero at the end of the movie; a woman can be the action hero.

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