TV Review: Russell Howard's Good News

Old news is good news

Weeknights from 10.25pm (AEST) SBS2

What’s it all about? Brit comedian Russell Howard takes an irreverent look at the news of the week.

The Verdict: The problem is it’s old news but Howard’s comic timing and rapier wit makes it an entertainingly bawdy romp down recent memory lane.

4.0/5.0

Switch on this satirical news programme and you might think you’re in a time warp; one month you could find Russell Howard, the boy-faced British comedian with the wonky eye skewering the rescue of Chilean miners (2010), the next the royal wedding of Wills and Kate (2011), the next Tiger Woods’ sex scandal (2009). 

That wouldn’t be so unusual if the show was in repeats but as a free-to-air first run staple of SBS2’s recently relaunched schedule it’s just plain bizarre. Perhaps the programmers over at SBS2 have been time tripping?

The good news is that even old news is still well, good, and very funny when it’s wrapped up in the rapier wit and crack comic timing of Howard who has written and presented the BB3 show since 2009. It’s part stand up, part Good News Week, part Funniest Home Videos with the odd sketch thrown in.

Russell Howard takes a pot shot at the news

It's Brit-centric with Howard's quick fire lampooning of UK pollies and Old Blighty's inane talk telelvision but the comic regularly takes a pot shot at global targets too, including Australia - Karl Stefanovic beware.  

A highlight is Howard’s serving up of some of the weirdest and wackiest news stories you’re likely to see. There’s the Dutch artist who turned his dead cat into a helicopter (witness the footage on YouTube), the dog who shot his owner in the buttocks and scientists’ theory that dinosaurs farted themselves into extinction with 520 million tonnes of methane gas.

Howard’s edgy, ribald and often crass comedy won’t be to everyone’s taste but that’s not all he’s got in his playbook. He’s a charming inquisitor in the ‘Mystery Guest’ segment and a good sport – from grappling with a champion female sumo wrestler to breaking his hand skylarking with a movie stunt man.

Rusty's sumo wrestling lesson gets real

Then, things change gear at the show’s end with the unlikely inclusion of a genuinely feel-good news story that may just have you welling up; like the young disabled girl given a new lease on life by her assistance dog.

“I genuinely had a tear in my eye,” admits Howard. “And I looked down and saw my dog licking his arse.”

It shouldn’t work but it does.

TV Wrap: A Place to Call Home

All soaped up

Sundays 8.30pm, Channel 7 (AEST)

What’s it all about? The saga of rural dynasty the Blighs and protagonist, nurse Sarah Adams.

The Verdict: An impressive, lavish Australian drama which is frustrating in it’s soapier, literal elements.

3.0/5.0

Taking a melodrama to task for being too soapy and all too obvious is a little like criticising a leopard for its spots - it goes with the territory. But do things have to be quite so sudsy at Ash Park, home to the sagas of wealthy farming dynasty The Blighs? 

Keep your shirt on

In recent weeks, this lavish 1950's drama from Packed to the Rafters creator Bevan Lee has worryingly ventured more and more into Mills & Boon territory via Brokeback Mountain. 

There’s been love triangles and quadrangles, blatant scheming, face-slapping and longing, lusty glances between handsome and/or shirtless-and-ripped farm hands. 

And some outrageous dialogue too; “The other night when you made love to me, was it on her orders?” says the suspicious society import Olivia (Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood)  to her afflicted hubby James (David Berry) of his grandmother's (Noni Hazelhurst) influence. Now that’s one meddling matriarch.

Slap happy

Another concern is that Lee and his writers are trying to tackle every major social issue of the period – mixed relationships, premarital sex, post-war trauma among the mix -  spreading themselves too thin and laying it on too thick. Issues of sexual identity and anti-Semitism are dealt with with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. 

And we don’t need a consistent 1950’s soundtrack or a roll call of pop culture references to remind us we’re visiting that decade - the sumptuous production design and elegant costuming take care of that.

One not-so-happy family

And there’s the rub. It may not be Downton Abbey (no matter what the naysayers say, that’s the cultural benchmark) but A Place To Call Home has a fine pedigree with many elements gelling, not least a compelling, steely leading lady in Marta Dusseldorp (Crownies). So it’s puzzling why a drama has to prove itself by spelling things out so acutely, at times painfully so.

It’s most probably a fanciful wish – why fix a show with a healthy audience if it ain’t broke – but as the show’s debut season wraps up this week, let’s hope season two will see things settle into a more subtle, less contrived groove.

            

Movie Review: The Conjuring

Scary movie

Genre: Thriller/Horror. MA15+

What’s It All About? When a family is terrorised by a powerful spirit, demonologists the Warrens are called in to attempt to vanquish it.

The Verdict: A winning fright-fest that lovingly recreates classic horror. It’s true story origins make it all the more chilling. Bring a spare pair of underpants.

 4.0/5.0 from me, Margaret

It’s hard to recall a film of recent times that so authentically and effectively evocates the classic old school horror movies of the 1970’s and 1980’s.

That it is until this chiller arrived from Australian writer/director James Wan (Saw). The irony is that in a time when torture porn and special effects heavy entries in the genre have long become de rigueur, Wan, one of the modern progenitors of the former (alongside writing partner Leigh Whannell) here strips things back to create a classic fright fest complete with creaking doors, spine-tingling scares and that old staple, a freaky demonically possessed doll.

Dorothy was definitely a long way from home

If you didn’t recognise the high profile cast you could be fooled into thinking you’re watching a re-release of a classic 1970’s haunted house horror. The Conjuring – from the retro opening credits to visual and tonal flourishes that echo classics like The Amityville Horror, The Exorcist and The Shining – is a loving tribute to the era.

"Macabre, atmospheric and genuinely spine tingling"

And it’s 1971 where the story takes root as Carolyn and Roger Perron (Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston) and their spirited brood of five daughters make that most familiar of unwise moves into a Rhode Island farmhouse that (of course) isn’t the charmingly rustic dream home it appears. The Perron’s faithful dog knows better than to enter its domain though.

We need to talk.....

Soon enough, things start to go bump in the night. And then some. Mother is coming up in mysterious bruises, clocks are stopping in sync, the temperature is chilly and the kids are seeing dead people amongst other supernatural idiosyncrasies – tugging of limbs, errant farting etc. Yes you read correctly.

Who farted?

Who you gonna call? It’s time for a visit from veteran paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) who discover that the house is indeed haunted by a coven of spirits with one particularly hateful one about to give them all the fight (and frights) of their lives. There’s spirits dragging and levitating bodies, crashing family portraits and one hell of an exorcism. Not to mention some classic “don’t-go-in-there/down-there” moments.

Just hangin'

Sure, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before but even the loosest interpretation of the moniker ‘Based on a true story’ adds to the fright-factor veracity in a major way.

How true to life (or afterlife) the story is, is hard to tell. It’s based on the case files of The Warrens an infamous real life ghost-hunting duo (Lorraine has said the film is mostly accurate). In the film, the Warrens light heartedly attest they’ve been called everything from demonologists to kooks. We’re told at the film’s beginning that the Warrens have opened their case files to, for the first time, reveal one of their most infamous ghost hunts (Another was the basis for The Amityville Horror).

Casper wasn't being very friendly

What really elevates this horror story above some others is the top-notch cast. But this film belongs to the ladies; Taylor is truly haunting, Farmiga truly haunted. She brings a gravitas, an inherent truth to every role she plays and her clairvoyant Lorraine is no exception.

Vera really needed that nasal hair clipped

Don’t be put off by a clichéd beginning featuring the aforementioned demonically possessed doll – this is merely a window into the Warren’s world of hauntings. And while the film looks like it may just be a retread of classic horror tropes it’s to Wan’s credit that he slowly ratchets up the tension making this haunting a believable one, the slow-burn then upping the ante in the film’s second half.

Macabre, atmospheric and genuinely spine tingling, this is one movie where a backup pair of underpants is best advised.