meaner and leaner ups the impossible status · the weaponwielding newbie jane carter (paula patton)...

Centralian Advocate, Friday, December 23, 2011 — 19

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ALL GIG GUIDE DETAILS MUST BE PHONED IN(8950 9777) OR FAXED (8950 9740) TO

THE CENTRALIAN ADVOCATE BY TUESDAY.

ROCK BAR:Fri Leon Spurling and Damo Armstrong from 8pm. Sat DJ Van Birdn from 9pm. Tues Dom Costello from 8pm. Wed Leon Spurling 8pm. Thurs Bec Matthews from 8pm.

BO’S SALOON:Bring in your iPod every night from 9pm and the resident DJs will play the songs you want to hear. www.bossaloon.com.au.

MEMO CLUB:Fri karaoke from 8pm. Sat DJ from 8pm.

ANNIE’S PLACE:Fri Duncan Rae and Final Notice from 8pm. Sat Christmas orphans party all night.

SOUNDS OF STARLIGHT:Tues-Fri The Didgeridoo Outback Show with Andrew Langford. For bookings call 89530826.

JUICY RUMP:Fri Gareth J Dawkins from 5pm and DJ Jed from 10.30pm. Sat DJ Jed from 10.30pm.

MONTES LOUNGE:Fri Basil Raelene from 7pm.

EDITORS NOTE:Would you like your gig in our free weekly gig guide? Call the Centralian Advocate on 8950 9777 or fax to 8950 9740 for a free mention in every Friday edition.

www.therockbar.com.auAll new acts welcome at

The Rock Bar Ph: 8953 8280

An end-of-year exhibition of 150 items byCharles Darwin Univeristy students calledAll Fired Up was held at Witchetty’s Galleryat Araluen Art Centre earlier this month.Apples Kemp, Sarah Joyce, Emma Hill(front) and Melissa Hall were there

Kaye Kessing, Katja Pott and DeidreHooker at the exhibition

Phil Rudd and Sarah Phillips with Phil’schildren Bonnie, Nick and Patch at theCDU end-of-year exhibition

Suzi Lyon, Iain Campbell and Carole Buckat the All Fired Up exhibition whichfeatured paintings, drawings, sculptures,prints and ceramics created by CDU’s artstudents

Christine de Chambord, Sara Phillips,Mirian Wallace and Sally Jeavons at theopening. The exhibition has now closed

Visitors Inge and Neil inspect ‘‘Harry’’ byKatja Pott at the CDU exhibition

Pictures: PATRICK NELSON

Indonesian languageand culture was cel-ebrated in Alice Springsrecently by the AustraliaIndonesian CulturalCentre with a quiz nightand Carers Week. Aspecial aspect of thequiz was the questionswere asked in Englishbut the answers had tobe in Indonesian. Morethan 60 people at-tended includingspecial guest Indones-ian Consul MuhamadNazirwan Hafiz.

Australia Indonesian Cul-tural Centre president IbuDarmini, with IndonesianConsul MuhamadNazirwan Hafiz, after re-ceiving an award for pro-moting Inonesian culture inCentral Australia

Winner of the Indonesiaquiz night Ruby Syme withMr Hafiz

Judy Tedcastle was pres-ented an award for beingthe best participant during2011 in Australia Indones-ian Culture Centre activi-ties

RIGHT: Senior citizensJean and PeterThurgood receive aChristmas gift andcard from NT CentralAustralia Minister KarlHampton

Adam Giles, Indonesian Consul Muhamad Nazirwan Hafiz,Ibu Darmini and Domenico Pecorani at the recent AustraliaIndonesian Cultural Centre carers week celebration

Meaner and leaner upsthe Impossible status

Tom Cruise in the new MI

By Leigh Paatsch

EVEN when it hits a flat spot,Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol isnever less than good.

And when it really picks up thepace, a genuinely-great action moviebursts to the fore.

Now it must be said that in theMission: Impossible pantheon, GhostProtocol doesn’t have a lot to do tobest the rest.

The spectacular first M:I (releasedway, way back in 1996) locked afidgety, gadgetry formula firmly inplace.

The following two didn’t exactlybreak ranks, aside from a few minorcasting rotations.

While Ghost Protocol is as jumpyand tech-obsessed as its prede-cessors, there is a leanness andmeanness at its core that transcendsall earlier M:I efforts.

The starker tone of the new film,which puts it closer in feel to MattDamon’s Bourne adventures, is es-tablished immediately with an elec-trifying extended opening sequence.

The action begins in the heart ofMoscow, where veteran IMF agentEthan Hunt (Cruise) is serving timein a grotty maximum-security prison.

How Hunt came to be there is of

little importance to the plot. What isimportant is how the IMF will busthim out of this hellhole.

With long-serving computer whizBenji Dunn (Simon Pegg, the solesupporting holdover from past M:Iproductions) calling the shots andthe weapon-wielding newbie JaneCarter (Paula Patton) firing them,Ethan Hunt is soon back in the spybusiness.

And then just as quickly, out ofbusiness.

Again, the why and how is barelyaddressed here.

All you need to know is that theKremlin has been blown to smither-eens, and Hunt, Dunn and Carterhave been fingered with the blame.

Forced to go rogue to clear theirnames, Hunt’s small team — nowbolstered by a shadowy IMF fieldanalyst named Brandt (JeremyRenner) — sneak down to the MiddleEast money mecca of Dubai.

Cruise’s many detractors will findhim in the most bearable form he hasbeen in for ages.

A lot of the needy show-offery isgone, signalling Tommy Boy maystill have some good stuff to come.

Rated M, at the Alice SpringsCinema.