Palo Alto Review

When I realised I was seeing Palo Alto last weekend and read the synopsis, I really thought I was going to see a snapshot of the lives of teenagers in America. Something edgy and raw like 13 or Skins. A more modern telling of the same kind of coming of age story and the trials we all experienced during those adolescent years. When the film began I re-framed my expectations, perhaps this was something more like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, beautifully atmospheric, accessible yet with darker tones, less raw but still realistic in its core values and message. Unfortunately, Palo Alto wasn't anything like 13, Skins or The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It wasn't really anything substantial at all.

Based on a series of short stories written by James Franco, Palo Alto follows four teenagers as they stumble through life trying to figure out who they are and what they want whilst not really figuring anything out at all.

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Scarjo A Go-Go Episode 4: If Lucy Fell, or "The Compromise"!

This week we really stretch our limits as we suffer through writer/director/actor Eric Schaeffer's romantic death-pact abomination, If Lucy Fell! But will young Scarlett Johansson continue to shine? Assuming, of course, that we can figure out how the hell she even fits into this mess! Put me in your ears and I'll unravel it all!

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Guardians of the Galaxy

You should absolutely believe the hype about Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. It's funny; it has some great characters, great special effects and a great little self-contained story. On the eve of it's release in Australia I recommend you all see it. More than once.

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The Dresden Readthrough: Changes

We continue our readthrough of Jim Butcher's uber-popular urban fantasy series The Dresden Files today with book twelve, Changes. The continuing plan is to do a book a month on the first Tuesday of each month, and with 16 books on the publication schedule between now and when our readthrough is over, our reading list should be pretty full for the foreseeable future. For those reading along, we are going via publication order, so our next entry will be the short story collection Side Jobs.

As for Changes, some mixed reviews had me wary on this, but outside of a pretty deliberate curveball, this ended up really restoring my faith in the series.

FPcast! The Fruitless Pursuits Podcast for August 4th 2014! Star-Lord, Man!

This week we review Guardians of the Galaxy, Perth-based apocalypse movie These Final Hours, and Gia Coppola's Palo Alto. Plus we talk about that Deadpool footage, a big batch of new trailers, and run a celebrity interview from the archives! Star-Lord, man!

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