It’s a wonder we get anything done on weekends at all. I mean, there’s so much reading to be done. First, there’s the Saturday newspapers and all the extra lift-outs featuring your favourite columnists, like Wendy Tuohy at the Herald Sun. Also from the Herald Sun, Anna Byrne’s fab fashion overview never fails to give me the shopping bug and I can’t put the paper down without scanning Leigh Paatsch’s movie reviews. Plus I’m a big fan of The Age Weekend mag.
Special mention goes to Leigh Paatsch this week for his line about John Jarratt’s performance in the newly released Wolf Creek 2. I can’t remember when I last read such a beautifully scathing sentence: “As for John Jarratt, watching him reel off his repertoire of guttural grunts and wince-worthy wisecracks is like being trapped on a crowded train next to a drunk, disturbed circus clown.” OUCH.
Having seen the movie myself at a special preview screening last Wednesday night, I can’t say I felt as strongly about Jarratt’s performance. Neither would I agree with Paatch’s half a star rating for the movie. Yes, Jarratt’s performance does seem slightly ill-fitting in some moments with it’s comedic bent, but on the whole he is a terrifying and believably insane serial killer.The movie itself does artfully manage to create nail-biting suspense and definitely delivers on the believable gore and vicious torture front. I’d give it two and a half stars.
John Jarrat as Mick Taylor in Wolf Creek 2
