A New Radio Show!

I kick started a brand new radio spot last Friday morning on ABC Southern Queensland with host David Iliffe.

It’s a special DVD spot which looks at the films being released in that week. The most exciting part is that each week, I’ll review one older release – one that people might have missed but will be a good find on the weekly shelves of the video store. I started out last week with my all time favourite film – Billy Elliot (I couldn’t resist).

You can check out a podcast of my first show at http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2009/07/matthew-toomey.html?program=southern_queensland_breakfast.

Other podcasts will be available on the ABC site and of course if you’re living in the south part of Queensland, you can listen live – the show airs at 6:45am every Thursday morning.

You can always catch my other shows too – Thursday mornings at 6:50am on 612 ABC here in Brisbane and Thursday afternoons at 5:30pm on Logan 101.1FM. I am a busy man.

Toomey Awards

Every year, I have my own set of awards which I like to dish out. It’s modelled on the Academy Awards and has very similar categories. Don’t worry about voting – my awards are a dictatorship where I pick and nominate all the winners. I like it that way…

You can view this year’s list of nominees at http://www.thefilmpie.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=639&Itemid=57.

My top 5 films for the past 12 months are – Burning After Reading, Milk, Persepolis, Revolutionary Road and The Wrestler. Not the best list but not a bad list at the same time. 5 great films if you haven’t had a chance to see them yet.

New Website Update

My new website has been up and running for about a month and thanks to everyone for their feedback.

It’s taken a lot of man hours but I’ve finally converted and uploaded all of my old reviews – there are 1,037 in total. Over the next week or so, I’ll put proper links in my review lists to help people find them.

Further, I’m going to bring back an abbreviated version of the video section from my old website. It seems that there’s still a lot of demand for it and given that I’m now doing a special DVD review show, it’s certainly worth having. Stay tuned.

Brisbane International Film Festival

The Brisbane International Film Festival will be held from July 30 to August 9, predominantly at the Hoyts Regent Cinema in the heart of the city. The official launch is later this week but you can already see details of the films that will be screening at the BIFF website – http://www.stgeorgebiff.com.au/default.aspx.

There are a few films that have tweaked my attention but I’m sure there’ll be a lot more following the launch and my reading of the full program. In next week’s issue, I’ll include a breakdown of what films I plan on seeing.

In other exciting news, this will be the last BIFF to be held at this time of the year. In 2010, it has been revealed that the Festival will be moved to November. I think it’s a great move. November is usually a quiet, lacklustre time of the year in terms of movies and this will certainly give it some spark. Hopefully, it will also allow a wider range of films to be screened – particularly since its closer to Oscar season and near the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. I’m used to getting rugged up for long queues outside of the Regent in winter – it looks like this will be final time.

A Very Late Merchant

Released this Thursday at the Palace Centro Cinema is The Merchant Of Venice. The film looks interesting (I’ll be checking it out for sure) but what surprises me is the year in which it was made – 2004. It was released in the UK and the United States almost five years ago. Wow. Why wasn’t it released in Australia back then? Why the wait? The film stars Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes and Charlie Cox – I guess they’ll all be looking a little younger than I expect.