Tag Archives: Shari Sebbens

The Moogai – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A truly emotional ride through a new mother’s hell realised when no one trusts her that something is coming for her son.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

A tree ringed with fire.

The Moogai Review –

Today, we are looking at a fascinating film that, like Cargo, started life as a short film and then was expanded into a feature. Also, much like Cargo, I have never watched a short film, so I am coming into this world without any preconceived notions about where it would go. Indeed, I only knew that it was a horror film and that the production behind it is Indigenous, a combination I had not seen much of since Cleverman, and I am glad that I made the trek to BIFF to watch this, even if it meant I did not sleep well that night.   

So, to set the scene, it is the 1970s and officers from the government were snooping around the missions, hoping to take away the kids as their fathers were away for work. Agnes (Precious Ann) and her sister (Aisha Alma) run into the bush to escape, but Agnes hides in the one cave she should not have gone into. In 2024, Sarah (Shari Sebbens) has just closed a deal at her law firm and is enjoying the highlife with her husband Fergus (Meyne Wyatt) when suddenly her baby comes without warning, and both almost lose their lives in the process. Sarah is trying to adapt to the trauma and is not helped by her birth mother, Ruth (Tessa Rose), nosing in. But as she tries to sleep, she sees white-eyed children warning her that ‘he’ is coming ‘to take her baby away’.

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Movie Review – Top End Wedding

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TL;DR – Joyous, Funny, Beautiful, and Moving.     

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Top End Wedding. Image Credit: Universal.

Review –

As a guy, it might not be kosher, but I love a good romantic comedy, one that you can sit back, laugh, but also be moved by the characters. However, this is a genre that has kind of been on the backburner in recent years with only Crazy Rich Asians being the one to come to mind when I think of good works to draw from. Today, thankfully, I get to add another film to this list with the joy that is Top End Wedding.

So to set the scene, we open in on a couple living in Adelaide who are both having very important days. Lauren (Miranda Tapsell) is having her first major client meeting and if it goes well she will get a promotion for the firm she works in under Hampton (Kerry Fox) who is often referred to a Cruella. Meanwhile, Ned (Gwilym Lee) is trying to live up to his father’s memory in the courtroom but finds the job difficult because he has no passion for it. Well, Ned decides to quit his job and proposes to Lauren, the only catch is that Hampton will only give Lauren 10 days off for the wedding, as in the next 10 days, and Lauren has always dreamed of having her wedding in Darwin where she is from. While this should be easy to put together, things take a turn when she arrives home to find her father Trevor (Huw Higginson) and mother Daffy (Ursula Yovich) had recently separated and no one knows where her mother is.

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TV Review – The Heights – Season One

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TL;DR – This is a show that is filled with clever writing, full of compelling characters, interesting stories, and heart you rarely see.                      

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

The Heights - Season One. Image Credit: ABC TV.

Review –

Authenticity, this is something that content creators across the world are desperate to achieve because it is what modern audiences crave, even if they don’t quite know what it is. Add to this it is easy for people to notice when something is out of place when it is something close to them, like the lives of tradies, or small shop owners, or people living in apartments. So it is a bold move to set a new drama series in a setting that is deeply familiar and even bolder when you pull it off with style.

So to set the scene, The Heights revolves around the people that live in and around a block of apartments called The Tower. While the area around is starting to rapidly gentrify, The Tower is made up of low socioeconomic residents just trying to make their lives a little better. One day as everyone was out enjoying the sunshine with a BBQ and a game of soccer the fire alarm of The Tower rings out. This causes all kinds of frustrations for the residents like Hazel (Fiona Press) who have to evacuate when everyone knows it is a false alarm. When all is sorted, everyone goes back to their lives when a soccer ball gets kicked into a garden but when Pav (Marcus Graham) goes to collect it he discovers a newborn baby among the veggies. Pav an ex-cop runs the baby straight to the local hospital (it was quicker than waiting for an ambulance) into the hands of Claudia (Roz Hammond) a doctor that is new to the hospital and area. Everyone begins wondering whose baby could it be, but there is a lot on everyone’s plate, like a wake and a closing of the local pub, starting a new school, finding a new job, and 100% not telling your mother than you are studying education and not business. Now, from this point onwards, we will be looking at the season as a whole, or at least the first 16 episodes, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.         

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