You'll never know

I went to church tonight for the first time in a while.
Fortunately, it was a very positive experience and I met some very nice people. That's encouraging to start.
I was quite taken by the guy leading the music in the way he was so open and just poured his heart out with the words he said. I admire that and took the opportunity to tell him that and how he responded was significant - we're all broken, there's no-one here who is perfect, but he's with 'family' and that love is brought out in various ways.
It wasn't a long conversation but hopefully there will be more.
Why did I go to church? It's been on my mind for a while now and I hope tonight can be the start of some change for me.
The message was an excellent one, about how you'll never grow if you don't push yourself (termed as 'go') and I think I only yawned once during the sermon (which would be a personal record I'd say).
I'll consider going again next week. I need some stability in certain areas and from what I experienced tonight I think there is a chance I can find it in this way.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

After what I regard as a disappointing sixth instalment, Harry Potter is back to its best with the penultimate film in the franchise - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 .
With Hogwarts now fading into the background following the death of Dumbledore in the previous movie, Harry and co are thrown into the real word (somewhat) as Voldemort increases his attacks.
If you didn't know they had split the final book (I have read none of them) into two movies you'd be hanging on the edge of your seat at the climax of part 1.
A lot of the focus is on the three young characters Harry, Ron and Hermoine and the dynamic between the three of them has never been so tense, in a number of ways.
Much of part 1 is about the search for the Horcruxes which must be destroyed to bring down Voldemort. There is infighting between the trio, some sexual tension and a number of light moments.
I even didn't mind Dobby in this film, though his third person talking is hard to listen to at times.

Possibly the highlight of Hallows part 1 is the animated sequence depicting the story of the Deathly Hallows and the realisation that they are what Voldemort is after to defeat Harry Potter.

With six months to wait and find out how the series concludes, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a 'to be concluded' segment at the end a la Back To The Future III to give us a taste of what is to come.

One of the better Harry Potter films and a solid 8 out of 10.

Numbness

It's amazing what a good TV show can do to you.
I felt a strange sense of numbness as I watched Packed To The Rafters tonight, in the wake of the death of a major character last week.
For quite a while I wondered what it was about the episode that felt wrong. Different. And it wasn't until the end I realised it was because I felt the same way Ben Rafter (Hugh Sheridan) did throughout the episode. Numb. It was all surreal and the producers and actors did an excellent job of portraying that. And Hugh was a standout.
It was uncomfortable to watch. I really wanted to give Ben a big hug.
From the trailer for the season finale next week it looks like the emotions are going to be running high again.
To recap, last week we had shock (albeit a predictable one as it went on), this week we had numbness, it looks like next week we're going to have an emotional explosion.

I wondered....

There's a line from what could be considered an obscure movie from 1994 called Threesome, which starred Lara Flynn Boyle, Josh Charles and Stephen Baldwin, that has always stuck with me.
It seems that the older you get the truer it gets.

'I wondered how some people can be such a necessary part of one's life one day, and simply vanish the next. Isn't it supposed to last?'

I always suspected it would be like that with certain people I've come across and that's generally pretty easy to accept. Things change, people change and people move on. We all do that. But some people also stick around.

Red

I'm sure there are a lot better movies out there at the moment than Red but for what it is, this movie is very enjoyable.

Red focuses on a bunch of retired CIA agents, principally Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) who are considered dangerous and are being hunted by the government.

He's struck up a relationship over the phone with Sarah (Mary Louise Parker) and, much to her surprise, arrives in her house and kidnaps her (to save her life) as he is being hunted and sees it as a threat to her.

It does take a little while to get going but from this point Red really hits its stride.

Moses tracks down his old comrades Joe (Morgan Freeman), Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Marvin (John Malkovich) and, as Joe says 'gets the band back together' to take on the current CIA led by William Cooper (Karl Urban).

There's a fair bit of entertainment going on here but you can't ignore Malkovich who completely steals the show as the paranoid 'everyone is out to kill me' Marvin, who we meet in very silly circumstances.

Malkovich has always been a classy actor and this performance is no exception. You just have to laugh every time you see him, whether it is from a wisecrack or just a look on his face.

Overall Red is pretty standard action/comedy with the twist that all the main characters are 'retired' and in Joe's case a rather unbelievable 80 years old.

But you're going to have fun. A 7 out of 10.