Review: Toyota Camry Atara SX - A Family Trip

This is where we yelled "Oh what a feeling" - we're like that

Back in the days I learnt to drive in a Toyota Camry. And so it is that a great lineage of our family has driven a Toyota Camry. It's an expectation now, in our family, that when you get a new car, 90% of the time, it's a Toyota Camry.

Apparently we like the Toyota Camry.

The roses are on the verge of being dead-headed, the Crepe Myrtle is on the verge of blooming bright. We headed to the Hunter Valley this weekend in the brand spanking new Toyota Camry Atara SX. Aye. Aye. Aye.

We had such a wonderful family escape, we hung out like we haven't for ages, we swam, read, and escaped the city - all courtesy of Toyota. 

We drove hither and thither, vineyard to vineyard, checking out the scenery, the vines, the views. The gelato!

The drive was smooth! It was keyless! I love keyless because I don't have to rummage in my handbag for keys while wrangling small children. And the car? It was made in Melbourne, with love. 

I'd like to say I took it to 240kms just to check it could really go that fast - but I didn't. I trust Toyota.

I would however say this car has grunt - but it's smooth grunt. It handled well on bitumen, and I impressed Matt with my Stig-like navigation of a very bumpy, very potholious* gravel road without hitting one bump. GENIUS! 

The lowdown:
You'll like the Toyota Camry Atara because:
- it's a great family sized car;
- the keyless entry;
- the keyless lock;
- the moon roof;
- the superior safety features;
- the leather upholstery;
- the roomy boot;
- the super fuel efficiency (we drove around all weekend and still have half a tank);
- the customised lumbar support for the driver (HELLO TOYOTA!);
- it has two exhaust pipes which impressed the Doctor;
- it's a super smooth drive;
- it's customised metallic ultramarine blue - (Matt LOVES this) if you want it to be;
- it has lots of ace cup holders (I am a sucker for rad cup holders);
- it is psychic and can automatically change the temperature;
- it alters the headlights automatically - if someone's driving towards you, it will dim the high-beam

Why you won't like it:
- Because we had to give it back [insert sad face here];
- Because your partner will want to drive it and you can't hog the steering wheel

* I made that word up.

The Darling Bird

Check out my new mani ladiez!

It's called 'The Bird' for reasons only known to me. And you, if you like to occasionally flip the bird too. Like it?

I truly love playing with beauty products. The ability - and the accessibility to change how I look - I create different personas witheven  just a slick of lip colour, or a different eyeshadow. It's fun and playful and I like it.

One of my totes favourite, bestest ever beauty quick fixes is nail varnish. I can change it as often as I wish and be a new person with shiny nails with colour dripping from them - et voila.

Last night I concocted 'The Bird' - my very own manicure. I created it with two colours from the brand new Darling (Showpony - which is the best pink ever, and Trophy Wife - a Limited Edition metallic glitter like none you've ever tried).

Created by two Sydney gals, Darling applies beautifully -  even with just one coat. Can I get a bit nail-nerdy on you and tell you that the coverage is sublime - I didn't use a base coat and it applied smoothly, and chip-free.

Besides a range of rad colours - the Darling nail lacquers are 3-free - NO toulene, formaldehyde, DBP or camphor and they're animal testing and cruelty free. I am so loving all of this after searching for a quality nail varnish that comes in hot colours.

This is it baby. Darling.

Movie Review:: Rango

A couple of weeks ago I convinced the smalls they wanted to see Rango. Tiny was pretty keen - the Doctor, notsomuch. He needed a lot of convincing.

But we watched it - a couple of times. Who could resist a film starring Johnny Depp? Clearly, not I. Who could resist a film about a chameleon starring in a Western? Clearly, not I.

One of my favourite scenes - without giving too much away - is where he sheds his skin. If you've seen Rango, you may know this scene, he kind of freezes, and the skin cracks off. Exactly how my eye feels. Like a lizard shedding its skin.

But in the interests of reviewing this fairly, I'll review as two different people. The (wo)man in the mirror. And the (wo)man not in the mirror.

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1st review: from a mother of a 3.5 year old and a 6 year old

Finally a cool & quirky film with an all-star cast. I like Shrek, Cat In the Hat and all those others as much as every other person, but Rango is a bit different. Johnny Depp. Isla Fisher. Johnny Depp.

BUT Rango has some pretty serious, pretty dark undertones. The content is pretty heavy for a small person. There are some sinister characters - which - well so are there in real life, but these are condensed.

It's also violent. Gun-slinging, down and dirty Western style.

Both the smalls were a bit scared at one stage, and I had to stay planted firmly on the couch with them.

So as far as kids movies go, it was good, but be prepared, it's a bit scary. A bit dark. A bit sinister. But with a happy ending.

Now Tiny is obsessed with lizards and they're all called Rango.

3 stars

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2nd review: as a 32 year old woman

Well HELL-O Johnny Depp as a Hawaiian-shirt wearing chameleon. Hello Isla Fisher as a bug-eyed lizard.

Hello beautiful animation and quirky-cool storyline.

Couldn't fault it. Loved it. Funny. Fast paced. Laugh out loud humour. And I really did laugh out loud.

Well worth watching. A couple of times. It's a delightful movie with a moral. Yep.

4 stars

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There ends my DVD review. Have you seen Rango? What did you think?

A Little Review

On Sunday the Doctor, my niece P.Bee and I went into the city to watch a preview of Disney's new 'Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue'.

The Doctor was madly boo hooing it telling me he didn't think he'd like it, it looked a bit girly. But he was coming anyway. There was no way he was going to miss out on the mandatory choc top.

On the way there was much heated backseat debate about whether Tiny should have in fact come along, and whether she could have in fact remained seated for the length of the film - or whether she would have made too much of a racket and stood up and got us tossed out. It was decided by the backseat jury that it was best Tiny did not attend.

We loaded up with choc tops and popcorn and set forth on our Tinkerbell journey. We found a seat. No booster seats. Bummer.

P.Bee (aged 4) said: "She (Tinkerbell) didn't have a bag full of jewellery." Apparently this was a bummer.

"We had some ice-creams, excuse me."

"I had a fantastic day."

And this pearler: "She's daddy was a bit cross."

The Doctor (aged 5) said: "Imagine if you got captured - you wouldn't have this aptitude."

And "When I saw it on Chloe's bag (someone he goes to preschool with) I didn't think I'd like it. But they made it look good."

As for me, well, I, er, it was Tinkerbell peeps. It wasn't Juno. Matt and I wouldn't be clambering to watch this by ourselves. Of course not, it's a kids movie. The mixture of English and American accents was a bit annoying.

But the Doctor and P.Bee didn't mention anything about that. They were enchanted. The smalls loved it and the Doctor wants to buy the DVD. He particularly loved that Tinkerbell fixed things.

Wassup Rockers

Have you watched any good movies lately? I have an ever-growing back catalogue that I feel I'll never get through, for the reason that Tiny always seems to sidle up to me on the couch and want to watch. Er, toots, you're meant to be in bed.

Matt and I watched Wassup Rockers (2008) a couple of weeks ago (on DVD).

If you've ever seen Kids, it's by the same directory - Larry Clark.

Mr Larry likes to get down and dirty in his film-making. Wassup Rockers is certainly no different.

For the first twenty minutes I was all 'er do we have to watch this...?' Nonchalant and not committing to movie watching, instead lying next to Matt reading blogs. In those twenty minutes any females were portrayed as floozies, and it had some hardcore Latino punk. Not really my scene. It's well documented that I love period films. Give me an empire line dress (as opposed to the Empire striking back), a chilly English backdrop and a cup of tea and I'm there, enthralled.

But I jump ahead - Wassup Rockers looks at a group of Latino-American boys living in South Central Los Angeles. They skate. They dress like the Ramones. They buck the trend of their own gnarly hip-hop neighbourhood by wearing tight shirts and tight jeans. And they decide to ride the bus into Beverley Hills to go skating.

They don't drink. They don't smoke. They're living high on their youth. And skating.

Once they step off that bus, there starts a narrative featuring a day or two of adventure, prejudice (Jane Austen - hell0!), daily danger they face, and a great insight into life as a fringe dweller. A lot of the script is improvised and the boys play themselves which can sometimes make for slow viewing.

Straight after, I had the blues. This is not a film you're going to walk away from and say - wow that was ace and uplifting and yowsers, let's watch it over again. But two weeks later I guess I can appreciate it more.

It's been a long time between reviews.. I give Wassup Rockers - *** and a half stars.

If you liked Lords of Dogtown then you might like this.

The UnReview:: The Women

Every now and then you are lucky enough to be the recipient of my un-reviews. Or my anti-reviews.

Thank your lucky stars because I am saving you a lot of:

a) time

b) money

c) viewing pleasure

d) reputation from being seen to be hiring these ridiculously poor films and having that on your record

So today, I un-bring you The Women. Possibly one of the worst films I have ever had to endure. I say had to because, well I couldn't just abandon it, I always have hope that a film will redeem itself, even if by the one hundred and nineteenth minute it hasn't done so, there's still a few minutes left.

The most tantalising part of this film was watching Meg Ryan's lips. And realising Meg and Nicole Kidman share the same duck bill mouth. It was a revelation.

I won't go anymore into this film because for the record, I'd like to be re-imbursed the almost two hours it took from my life.

Apparently this is a remake and the 1939 version is awesome. This one, notsomuch. Eva Mendes was badly cast - not to mention Candice Bergen as Meg Ryan's mum?! Wrong. What was Candice thinking?? What was I thinking?

I give it half a star if I could even be bothered.

Review: Last Ride

image via

New on DVD: Last Ride (2009)

Director: Glendyn Ivin (previous winner of Cannes Palme D'or - 2003)

I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned, but I am a big fan of Australian film. It's why when I saw Last Ride sitting on the shelf, I grabbed it. I couldn't wait to see the latest offering.

Hugo Weaving and Tom Russell star in this film about a father and son on the run through central Australia. It's a dark ride that held both Matt and I captive for the entire film (which is rare because I usually stop the film half-way and go to bed). The cinematography is beautiful, the scenery is incredible, and the story - heart-breaking and yet, there's a little hope in there too. I really was spellbound by this film.

The soundtrack is super good too.

I could easily watch this film again, to pick up on some of the shots I may have missed, and just to go on the Last Ride again.

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Classic Review:

The Pajama Game starring Doris Day (1957)

Apparently this is based on the hit Broadway Musical featuring the choreography of Bob Fosse. If this is a drawcard to you, then you should totes check it out. I hired it for the colours and the costumes. And as a bonus, it also features Hernando's Hideaway. OLE!

Light, pretty to look at. Content - are you going to punish me if I say a little flakey and sentimental (I fast-forwarded through some songs - too slow, go go go). I don't think I'll ever be rushing to re-rent this one. Sorry Doris.