Last night, the Golden Globes awarded a gong to Jason Reitman for the screenplay for “Up in the Air”. This surprised me because I thought that the screenplay was one of the weakest aspects of this film.

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Once again Australian courts have let us down. Nick D’Arcy, who viciously aussalted a fellow swimmer and damaged his face for life has been let off jail. Why? Because he’s a sportsman and in Australia all is forgiven if you are a sportsman. So D’Arcy, who’s no example to young people, is going to be turned into some kind of hero if he wins a race. I suspect it wouldn’t matter if he murdered someone as long as he can swim for Australia.

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I enjoyed “Gran Torino” on a very basic level. I liked its ending.

Even though it’s meant to take place in an urban setting in Michigan, it is essentially a good old-fashioned western. Solitary hero, Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), suffering from tragedies in the past, is fed up with humanity but comes good at the end and saves the day. There are goodies and baddies, and the goodies win, just the way, Eastwood and the rest of us would like it to be. I am calling the hero Eastwood because it’s Classic Eastwood we are watching.

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It is a pity that the film, “Revolutionary Road” was released this year when the world is in a financial crisis almost as severe as “The Great Depression.” Had it come out during the economic boom of a few years ago, then the Wheelers of Revolutionary Road, Connecticut, might have aroused some sympathy in us.

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I’m most amazed that President elect Obama is making his historic journey by train. Not a Connex train that’s for sure or his trip would have been cancelled on account of the weather. (For those of you fortunate enough not to depend on Melbourne’s public transport, Connex is a company in Victoria which is copping much criticism lately because of its unreliable train service.)

Anyhow, back to Obama. I would have thought that he would arrive on water, walking on it, in fact, and then he would turn that water into wine. My point is that too much pressure is being placed on the poor man. He is expected to be the panacea for every ill in the world, apparently, and it’s so unrealistic.

The new President will have so much to take care of. The economy, the troubles in the Middle East, the war in Afghanistan, the health system, the tax system, the education system, the illegals, global warming and carbon whatsits all demand immediate attention.

For crying out loud, give the man a break! He is not Mighty Mouse nor is he the Messiah. He seems to be an affable and talented man who wants to do his best for America. And it’s pleasing to see a man of colour become President. But if one builds him up to be any more than human, not only will the honeymoon be brief but the marriage will be annulled. And that would be a shame.

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I was naively looking forward to watching “Frankie Howerd:Rather You than Me” on cable TV last night. Of course I should have known that if David Walliams of “Little Britain” fame was acting in the title role of the British comedian, that it might be a little strange. And it was.

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As my blog readers know, it takes a lot to impress me when it comes to cinema. Just when I thought it was impossible for films to shed more light on the Holocaust, “The Counterfeiters” has impressed me like no other film in years!

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To visit Vassar College in New York state is to appreciate what philanthropy can do when it comes to education. The college was set up originally by a brewer called Matthew Vassar for the liberal arts education of young ladies.

I had read about Vassar in literature and heard references to it in American films, so it was truly a pleasure to walk around its beautiful buildings dating back to the Nineteenth Century. I was in architecture heaven and would have loved to live on campus.

This is what money can do when it is used for causes more worthy than buying a football team. But money can also be used as a bribe and as a tool for propaganda.

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Two days ago the chart that records the number of visits to my web site skyrocketed.

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I hate all this fuss about Heath Ledger’s death. No sooner was he found dead, all the experts crawled out of from under their rocks and theorised about what happened to him. It’s all a bit sick and so pointless.

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