Streaming – The Changing Landscape

04 Dec 2019 6 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Articles, Biography, Composition, Writing Tags: , ,

Yesterday, I was asked to talk on local ABC radio about streaming services and what they mean to average consumers, and I thought it was a great opportunity to expand on that and offer some alternatives to the big names – ie: Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney +. 

Here in Australia, with different licensing agreements, it is slightly different. We have region specific versions of Netflix and Amazon Prime plus local player Stan, which, along with the highest level of AU content, has held the license for a lot of Disney properties since last year. Foxtel Now provide a number of HBO titles here and HayU offers wall-to-wall reality TV shows, if that’s your thing. There’s also AppleTV+, YouTube Premium, 10 All Access and Kayo (a subsidiary of Foxtel) for sports nuts. Add in the free services, SBS On Demand, ABC iView, 10play, 9Now and 7plus and it gets even more complicated.

The problem is, particularly with the advent of Disney +, how is that going to affect local media consumers? Streaming video on demand (SVOD) was supposed to be the cheaper alternative to leaving the house to actually go to the movies (perish the thought) or the video store (may they rest in peace) but it’s rapidly turning into something of a digital dilemma and if you watch a lot of screen media, a potentially expensive undertaking. The other thing to remember in all this too, is as consumers, we only ever own the right to watch, not a hard copy of the media, and there is no guarantee that our favourite films or shows will stay on those services. 

For my household of two tech-savvy adults, we share Netflix with another family, which halves the cost of a premium subscription. I signed up for Amazon Prime a few months ago simply to watch Good Omens (and it was worth it just for that) and the Suspiria remake because I was doing a screen studies major and I love horror movies. But I don’t know if I’ll keep it on past the new year. If I see things I particularly love – Good Omens being a perfect example – I go and buy DVDs or Blu-rays. I know in this age of minimalist living I’m being very old fashioned, but I like being able to put a disc on with all the extra features – just like I love real, physical books! And I have a loyalty card at my local independent cinema and I still love going out for dinner and a movie. 

Having said that, I also subscribe to MUBI, which provides 30 films on a strict 30-day rotation. This service is curated to provide independent, foreign language SVOD and it remains my favourite paid subscription for several reasons. Firstly, I never suffer from the usual paralysis of what to watch because everything is only there for 30 days. The films come from all over the world and have given me a chance to delve into cinema I would never have thought of looking at – thinking of directors like Ruth Beckermann, Ciro Guerra and Krzysztof Zanussi as well as favourites like Peter Strickland, Agnes Varda and Ben Wheatley – it’s great for broadening your mind and getting away from the somewhat generic fare on offer through the major services. But when I’m looking for something less demanding, I go to TUBI. There’s a little of everything but it ranges from fairly good to absolute trash movies and television. The horror section is particularly worth sifting through and the bonus is, it’s free. 

So, what’s going to happen with SVOD? I think there’s going to be some casualties along the way. From what I’ve seen so far, I think Stan might fail as they lose content to Disney +, and in turn, they may well struggle to keep subscribers outside of school holiday times when kids require entertainment and I can’t see AppleTV+ keeping up with their initial business model of original content. Unfortunately, a lot of people in Australia simply won’t be able to afford multiple subscriptions and could revert back to pirating content – something we were infamous for in the early seasons of Game of Thrones, which was only available on Foxtel on first release. 

Meanwhile, I’ll keep watching MUBI and SBS On Demand, going to the cinema and dreaming of a day when the Criterion Channel and Shudder are available here in Australia – and spending more time out in the garden or reading books…

So what do you think? Are you a media junkie like me? Are you obsessed with The Crown or Carnival Row? Do you still buy DVDs or Blu-rays? Let me know – I’d like to hear your thoughts too.

And here’s a photo of me and Neko, because he’d far sooner have my complete attention than compete with a screen, even if it’s cat videos!

The Embrace of Now

02 Dec 2019 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Composition Tags: , , , , ,

So, I’m a week past handing in my final project for uni. All things being equal, I should pass and be able to graduate next year. Seriously, I’m too tired to cheer, and I’m still not sure if I want to travel up to Queensland for a couple of days, dress up in a funny gown and hat just so someone can hand me a piece of paper. Having said that, it would be nice to meet a few people in person, some tutors that were outstanding and some fellow students who’ve become online friends.

I uploaded a 4000 word research paper concerning villainy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I feel my work only scratched the surface. The last couple of weeks were intense but really, last week spelled the end of six years of online study. It’s been a mammoth undertaking and while I got a lot out of the experience there are some things I would’ve done differently and others I’d rather not have done at all. But that’s part of the study journey and it’s different for all of us. 

Despite what most people think, I only give a reasonable impression of an organised person, and some of my 3rd subjects were very demanding on my time as well as my attention. Combined with too much work, a laptop that kept crashing whenever I opened a pdf, increasing levels of anxiety and depression and rampant insomnia, the last three months have certainly been a struggle. 

But I got there. I did what I could, when I could – and when I couldn’t, I didn’t. 

Sounds so simple when I type it out like that but believe me, it wasn’t. Trust me when I say, I agonised over every single bit of it, but (fingers crossed) it’s done now and the big question looming on the horizon is what’s next?

Who knows? There’s a number of projects starting to take shape, some of them more realistic and better formed than others. But rest assured, it’ll be a ride – and as ever, I’ll stress about the smallest details like I always do. And while I stress, I’ll be holding every moment of it dear, imbuing it with passion, like I always do. 

Meanwhile, today is my birthday. I have a new laptop that I’m still getting used to (another kind of stress), I had the most wonderful dinner cooked for me and the wine was a perfect match. There was cake too that I didn’t make and I watched my favourite Ben Wheatley/Amy Jump movie, Kill List – not for the faint hearted. I should write a movie review about it but not right now. 

Now is for embracing the passion of time off, chilling out and enjoying it for what it is – now. 

Because, as I said to a friend tonight in Italy, now is all we ever have. Let’s enjoy it ❤ 

The new laptop for new projects

 

Sneak Preview ‘Behind the Curtain’

10 Nov 2019 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography Tags: , ,

https://soundcloud.com/user-169879792/both-sides-of-the-curtain-episode-1-sneak-preview-pilot

While NSW & parts of Qld are on fire and I’m chipping away at my final project for university, here’s a preview of the latest radio play I’m involved in.
This is the pilot for ‘Behind the Curtain’, a comedy/soap opera that is set in Tasmania but has relevance to any small city. Tons of fun to be part of as an actor but a slick production thanks to the excellent writing by Matt Dean​ and sound effects, production and theme tune by Mike Raine​!

Hope you enjoy it – and please let me know what you think!

I’ll get back to being academic now and see you all in early December, when I hope to be in a position to write regularly for this blog!

Take care lovelies ❤

Ad Astra

09 Oct 2019 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Movie Review, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

Ad Astra (2019)

Directed by James Gray, screenplay by James Gray and Ethan Gross.

I’m in the midst of the madness that is my final undergraduate unit, a special screen studies research project that is quietly driving me to distraction at the moment. So, what better way to distract myself from writing about films than go to the movies!

Ad Astra was just the tonic I needed. Gorgeously shot by Hoyte Van Hoytema (Director of Photography for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Interstellar and Dunkirk among his many credits), this is a stunningly beautiful film that, in terms of framing and colourisation, owes a tremendous debt to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and narratively to Joseph Conrad’s novella ‘Heart of Darkness’. From the opening, gut turning sequence, this is a visual feast.

In essence, this is a story of men told from an extreme male perspective and women are ethereal and clearly seen through the male gaze (Liv Tyler’s Eve) or pointedly asexual (Ruth Negga’s quietly understated Helen Lantos). The essential conflict here is between fathers and sons, and within Roy. The idea of buttoned up masculinity he inherited from his father is on clear display, and Roy’s ability to compartmentalise his feelings does nothing to help him (or any man) engage with or process the inner demons of his emotional life. The story is narrated throughout by Roy and while it helps at times having that inner voice, I found it strayed into some very on the nose musings, particularly in the last act. This wasn’t helped by some pacing issues in the second act that drew me out of the film in a fairly abrupt way.

Brad Pitt has never been high on my list of preferred actors but I really liked him in this. The sulky restraint he shows here as Roy McBride is reminiscent of his taciturn Jesse James in Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford (2007), still far and away my favourite Pitt vehicle (if you haven’t seen it, just do it – you can thank me later!) But there is no room for Brad to be the grump when there’s the godfather of grouchiness, Tommy Lee Jones to contend with! As Roy’s father, H. Clifford McBride, he just has to glower at the camera and I’m sold.

Despite its fairly obvious flaws this is still an enjoyable watch, and overall, I found it to be a surprisingly immersive film, helped tremendously by the Max Richter score. However, for those of you with a passion for science and particularly physics, try and put your knowledge on hold – a lot of the science doesn’t hold up to scrutiny – but it’s a fun and at times, quite thrilling ride!

Suspiria (1977) & Suspiria (2018)

08 Aug 2019 1 Comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Movie Review, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

I have to confess, the original Suspiria (1977) has always been one of my favourite horror films and Dario Argento a director I generally enjoy, despite the unevenness of his oeuvre. So when the remake was announced, I was a little concerned that anyone should mess with one of the movies that ushered me into adulthood.

On the plus side, Luca Guadagnino has made some good films, such as The Protagonists (1999) and Call Me by Your Name (2017). He’s a regular collaborator with Tilda Swinton and I’d read enough to know that he wasn’t going to try to do a shot-for-shot remake. I decided finally to watch both in the same day, starting with the original.

I can’t remember where I saw Suspiria when it finally arrived in Australia – it might have been at a film festival – but I know it was in a cinema. I do remember being awed by both its astonishingly bright colour palette and the really wonderful score by prog-rock band, Goblin. Jessica Harper stars as the virginal Suzy Bannion, who arrives as the new American student at a dance academy in Freiburg, all to the background of the Munich hostage crisis. There was also an absence of men, which was unusual for most horror films of the era, let alone giallo – a traditional domain of the leering, usually psychotic, sex-crazed maniac! Instead, male characters are sidelined and the screen is dominated by women of all ages, body types and dispositions ranging from the ridiculously innocent to the truly evil. Harper is sublime as the ingénue whose dewy eyed innocence is so lovingly captured in Argento’s frame.

While many aspects of this film haven’t aged particularly well (even back in the day it could be read as camp) it has an undeniable atmosphere, a creepiness that builds throughout to a climax that is ridiculous, gory and oddly satisfying all at once. Every time I’ve watched this over the years, I always think of it as a drug-fuelled, psychedelic Alice in Wonderland horror for the late 1970s.

Guadagnino’s Suspiria is unsurprisingly, a completely different beast. To start with, the academy has been transferred to Berlin, though in the same time period. Interiors are muted and drab and exteriors are predominantly in rain or snow, which gives a bleak coldness to the film. There are sub-plots involving Baader-Meinhof terrorism and Germany coming to terms with its Nazi history which I found muddied the central theme of the dance academy as a home for an ancient coven.

Dakota Johnson takes the central role of Susie and while I like her as an actress, I found it difficult to connect with her in the role of the innocent ingénue (Mia Goth as Sara seemed to fit this role with far more ease and believability). Nevertheless, there is a sincerity that Johnson brings to Susie, applying herself to the bizarre tasks required for the sake of the dance. And dance is a major theme in this version.

Where Argento used it only as a mechanism to provide a house full of women, Guadagnino milks it relentlessly, particularly as a means of controlling and manipulating the bodies and minds of the young dancers. Head of the academy, Madame Blanc is played with equal parts relish and menace by the always wonderful Tilda Swinton. It also made me realise she is undoubtedly one of the most graceful women on the planet and it’s worth watching just for her. She also plays a prominent male role (albeit under a lot of make-up) which works up to a point.

Thom Yorke provides a good musical score as expected and Jessica Harper makes a welcome appearance in a small role, but where this film fell down for me was in attempting to make something much deeper than the material allowed.

Throughout, I felt Guadagnino was trying to dig down deep into the psychological underpinnings of horror but in an altogether far too knowing manner. The result was for me, a ham-fisted and overly long mess – and turning what should have been an emotional and (literally) gut-wrenching ending into a pastiche of 21st Century nihilist cinema with added red.

Worth watching if only for Swinton and it has some good moments – but for me, ultimately a disappointment.

Suspiria (1977) is available to watch in Australia on Tubi and Suspiria (2018) is currently on Amazon Prime

Spider-Man: Far From Home *NO SPOILERS*

30 Jul 2019 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Movie Review, Writing Tags: , , , , ,

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Directed by Jon Watts

A quick review tonight. We’re in the midst of flu season here in Tasmania and this is the first chance I’ve had to get to a cinema to see this movie.

This was always going to be a difficult film, coming after the high drama of Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019) but for the most part this is a fun, surprisingly frothy romp around Europe with Peter Parker and his school friends. While I’m definitely not in the target demographic for this, I really related to the awkward teen moments of Peter, MJ and co.

As one would expect this far into the franchise, Marvel’s visual effects are up to their usual high standard and the production values generally are what I’ve come to really appreciate. But I felt there were issues with how the narrative works and particularly the motivations of the villain not being plausible. In Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Vulture was a fully realised bad guy, with very believable reasons for his actions, but here I couldn’t find the same rationale.

There’s an old maxim in writing that says you can never have a really satisfying protagonist without a fully formed antagonist. Without heading into spoiler territory, our main villain and his happy band of hench-people just didn’t ring true to me. That amount of maniacal, mad scientist level vitriol and egotism was something I’d expect to see in the 70s cartoons, not the urbane, hip, 21st century MCU.

Nevertheless, this is still a solid entry, with a great central performance from Tom Holland who balances the awkward teen who just wants to be a normal kid and the smart, heroic action hero. He is undoubtedly now my favourite Spider-Man. The rest of the cast are just as strong, and it was lovely to see Jon Favreau and Marissa Tomei having a ton of fun as Happy Hogan and Aunt May. The final set piece is really very satisfying and though this isn’t my favourite film in the franchise, it’s still a rollicking good ride.

Do stay for the very end, the two cut scenes are not only very funny but also nod to future directions for the MCU Phase 4.

Baw-da Farce – A Radio Satire

19 Jul 2019 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Inspiration, Writing Tags: , , ,

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Australia, I live in Hobart, the capital of the southern-most state, Tasmania. While it’s a small city (just over 200, 000) it’s really quite an extraordinary place for creative endeavours and recently I’ve been reminded of the many amazingly talented people I’m blessed to rub shoulders with.

One of them is Matt Dean, originally from the UK (via Western Australia), a fellow songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, stand-up comedian, educator and generally decent human. The last few months he’s been quietly writing, recording and producing a radio show which satirises some of the issues we’re currently facing locally and as a nation. The episodes are quite short (all around 10 minutes) and have provided quite a lot of laughter in my house these past months.

Last weekend, I had the immense privilege of recording three episodes in an afternoon with Matt and his ensemble. The first of these, ‘Rolf Creep’ is up for listening now on Soundcloud and I think it’s laugh-out-loud funny. It harks back to radio satire that I grew up with and still love.

Please note this is for adults. There is bad language (some of it from me), very questionable themes and Australian references that should travel well – but don’t hesitate to ask if you need a translation! I hope you enjoy it ❤

Apollo 11

17 Jul 2019 4 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Movie Review, Writing Tags: , , ,

Apollo 11 (2019)

Directed by Todd Douglas Miller

Like so many kids of my generation I was obsessed with space and space travel, something that has persisted in my love of pure science as well as science fiction literature and film. One of my earliest preschool memories was running around our yard in rural Australia with an empty cereal box as a helmet, telling anyone who would listen I was going to be the first singing astronaut.

This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and my local, the State Cinema in Hobart has joined with a few other independent cinemas to run a Moon Festival. This short season of moon-related features opened tonight with the documentary Apollo 11.

As a child of the 60s (I was 10 when Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon) this film bought back many memories, such as having the day off school in the middle of winter, sitting with my friends on our couch, all with our legs raised trying to put our foot on the ground the same time as Neil Armstrong. And long conversations with my beloved father about physics, space travel, what we might find there and the hope the Apollo missions represented for humanity.

So, as soon as the pre-mission countdown began at Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) and the luscious sound design started to work its magic, I knew I was being emotionally manipulated by a very cleverly made documentary – and I welcomed it with open arms! Rather than filling screen with facts and figures, this film explores more the feeling of the time and the profound nature of the mission. Even though I know how the story goes, I felt the tension build in me as the astronauts and their ground crews approached crisis points.

Everything about this film is big – the opening scenes of the Saturn 5 rocket sitting on the launch pad, the crowds who came to Florida to watch the launch, the sound of take-off and the beautiful, insistent score by Matt Morton that doesn’t intrude but blends beautifully with the overall sound design by Eric Milano and the superb film editing by Todd Douglas Miller.

Unsurprisingly, this movie won the editing award and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize (documentary) at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and I have no doubt it will go on to earn further industry accolades. If you have an interest in the moon landing, space exploration, lived through the event or just an interest in modern history, this is a great film. See it on the largest screen you possibly can, (there is an IMAX version) preferably one with a very good sound system.

This superb film has taken archival footage and made it meaningful for new audiences half a century later, no mean feat! I found it stirring and incredibly uplifting but I left the cinema with a profound sense of sadness that my generation never followed through on the promise of truly going to the stars.

The Moment I Wept – Ode To a Little Hen

04 Jul 2019 6 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Biography, Chickens, Urban Farming Tags: , ,

It’s been a very sad morning.

Apart from suffering from a very nasty virus the past few weeks (I blame Dark Mofo Festival) the weather’s been pretty awful and I’ve been watching the elderly hens and particularly B1 & B2 fairly closely. Although they’re younger than the rest, Isa Browns are notoriously frail little things, not bred to live long, just as egg-laying machines. These two came to us over 4 years ago from a paddock-run operation outside of Hobart. At 18 months they were too old to be commercial layers, but they suited us just fine and have been reliable egg-layers ever since. Incredibly tame, these docile little girls also enjoyed being picked up and petted, unusual among my rabble

Today I had to made the call to euthanase B2. I examined her and she was clearly starting to suffer, so I removed her from their run to a sunny spot near the apple trees. It was quick, as pain free as I could make it with a sharp hatchet. She left this plane being thanked for the joy she bought into our lives – not to mention the eggs. She was buried deep with great ceremony in a fallow bed, her final task to condition the soil over the coming months.

I was sad but this is the pact we make when we decide to keep backyard poultry or any companion animal. Chickens in particular can go downhill very quickly and I hate the thought of any creature in my care suffering needlessly. I kept it together until I went back with some barley greens for the other chickens.

There was B1, standing at the gateway, looking for her sister……

Vale B2

 

The Meg

06 Jun 2019 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Movie Review, Writing Tags: , ,

The Meg (2018)

Directed by Jon Turteltaub

I first recall seeing Jason Statham all the back in 1998, in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and he’s proved to be an enduring and (mostly) perfectly serviceable screen presence. Like Dwayne Johnson, he seems to be aware of his limitations as an actor and plays to his strengths – he wears a suit very well and is certainly one of the best screen action men – but he is wasted in this dreadfully sad excuse of a film. It seems they were aiming to generate the tension of Jaws (1975) but lacked the ammunition to do so.

Sadly, this even missed multiple opportunities to be “so bad it’s good”, with awful dialogue, a pedestrian and predictable plot, standard ho-hum character tropes, at times very dodgy CG and not even a single helicopter getting eaten by a monster shark. I was very disappointed.

On the upside, I’ve seen the trailer for Hobbs and Shaw, which is due for release in August and that looks an infinitely better vehicle for Statham. I’m really glad I didn’t go and see The Meg in the cinema, waiting until it came out on Amazon Prime. Nevertheless, it’s almost two hours of my life I won’t get back.

 

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