The Verdict
Where we deliver hot (and cold) takes on pop culture, judging whether a subject is overrated or underrated.
This would be a truly bold move for the Fast and Furious franchise
Whenever a car chase scene begins, I let out a bored sigh so strong it blows my dogs across the room.
- by Deirdre Fidge
Farewell to TV’s most creatively unhinged show
Don’t wait till it’s gone to appreciate what we have in Riverdale.
- by Robert Moran
Please, make it stop. Disney’s live-action remakes are ruining childhoods
I love and respect the relentless pursuit of money, but how much more of this can we take?
- by Nick Bhasin
I don’t give a Ratajkowski what you think of celebrity gossip, I love it
The Kiss Heard Round The World was the highlight of my month, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
- by Tabitha Carvan
In praise of the intermission, the best part of theatre
Movies, take note: it’s the right time for a halftime.
- by Robert Moran
Opinion
#FreeKeanu: When can we stop pretending that John Wick is good cinema?
A decade on, it’s time for John Wick’s candle to be snuffed out.
- by Robert Moran
Ted Lasso is nice, but there’s no way it’s good comedy
The much-hyped TV series Ted Lasso is to comedy what being slapped in the face with a wet newspaper is to boxing.
- by Luke Ryan
No wonder the carpet wasn’t red: award show fashion has become beige
Once a highlight of the international fashion calendar, the pre-show preening for the Academy Awards has become as predictable as an episode of Is It Cake?
- by Damien Woolnough
Why there should never be another Met Gala
The event has proved itself a relic of the past - and the past is where we should leave it.
- by Alice Tovey
Madonna and her ‘new face’ are completely brilliant
The pop icon knew her new face would be the face that launched a thousand think pieces.
- by Mali Waugh
And Just Like That … Aidan returns to sap the life out of Sex and the City
No one cares that you make tables with your hands and have nice hair, just take your dog and leave.
- by Thomas Mitchell
Why Reputation era Taylor Swift was my favourite Taylor Swift
Look what you made me do: completely re-evaluate that album.
- by Tabitha Carvan
Board games are terrible. Please don’t make me play them
No, I don’t hate fun. Your fun is boring.
- by Kishor Napier-Raman
I know it’s summer, but outdoor entertainment is for the birds
Just ’cause it’s summer, do we have to completely disown roofs?
- by Robert Moran
We need to save Osher, Australia’s son, from The Bachelor
Like Queen Elizabeth II before him, the artist formerly known as Andrew G represents constancy for us all.
- by Alice Tovey
Keep your smocks and linen sets – you can’t beat my summer hat
One of the few hats lucky enough to share its name with a disease, the Legionnaire cap with flaps and back is the ideal accessory.
- by Deirdre Fidge
I ruined my office Kris Kringle - and I’ll never take part again
There were two things I knew about Stacey: she didn’t know my name and she worked in marketing.
- by Alice Tovey
It doesn’t make sense, but Austin Powers is somehow still very funny
I’m not sure how this is even possible and you should know that I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea.
- by Nick Bhasin
The best gift you can give your children this Christmas? The truth
My friend’s kid keeps eating sand, so I don’t think it’s a huge intellectual triumph to convince her Santa is real.
- by Patrick Lenton
Paint and sip? Why can’t team building be kept to office hours
Brush and Bubbles, ArtBar, Champainting, Canvas and Cabernet, Picasso and Piss, Botticelli and Booze - they’re popping up everywhere.
- by Cherie Gilmour
Sin, sex and Celine Dion: This is the best album you’ve never heard of
Here is a wild work from an enigmatic genius that is ridiculous, over the top and dripping in lyrical and musical excess.
- by Michael Koziol
Awkward nudity and secret bars? I dread the boom in immersive theatre
It’s become a buzzy cultural go-to ever since the infamous Sleep No More, but this type of theatre sucks from the moment you walk in the door.
- by Robert Moran
Since I first watched this show, I haven’t been able to think of anything else
If The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is good enough for Roxane Gay and Meryl Streep, it’s good enough for you.
- by Eliza Reilly
Three cheers for the best part of singing Happy Birthday
A few months ago, a friend told me one of the funniest stories I’ve heard. I’ve thought about it a lot since.
- by Rebecca Shaw
When can we stop pretending that Bluey is ‘must-see viewing’ for grown-ups?
Bluey is the Lantana of kids’ shows: perfectly fine but with a reputation far outstripping its actual quality because our expectations were so low.
- by Ben Pobjie
Why do we need to BeReal? Reality is depressing
I saw the best minds of my generation, sitting on office chairs, wearing cardigans, toiling endlessly under the yoke of capitalism.
- by Patrick Lenton
Press restart: Why it’s time to bring back TV’s Press Gang
It should be a point of national pride to get the ’90s hit streaming on the ABC (its spiritual home) again.
- by Tabitha Carvan
Not the same as it was: One Direction were always great. It’s me who sucked.
What if those millions and millions and millions of teenage girls were, in fact, on to something? What if One Direction were never really bad?
- by Tabitha Carvan
Opinion
Tedious, nauseating, overblown: why it’s best to leave this ‘classic’ book in the past
Trying to get into the first few chapters of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road while a toddler wriggled all over me on a plane, it seemed like a meaningless list of places I’d never been and people I didn’t care about.
- by Michael Ruffles
Enough of this tin-hat weirdo, Australia needs a new cultural hero
Who made it compulsory to make Ned Kelly cameo in every single Australian novel, poem, or painting ever?
- by Eliza Reilly
Chill out, what ya yellin’ for? Avril was the best, and we took her for granted
It’s been exactly 20 years now, since June 2002, when Avril Lavigne released her breakout debut album Let Go.
- by Robert Moran
Let’s have a moment for the finest piece of literature in cinema
Quite simply, it’s the best grand gesture ever in a rom-com.
- by Deirdre Fidge
Why you should vote 1 against political satire
Modern satire is often just someone in a suit shouting ... and changing no one’s mind.
- by Demi Lardner
Upstairs, Downstairs, who cares? Can we be done with Downton Abbey, please?
After six seasons and two movies, Downton Abbey is still just rich English people sitting around a big house, waiting for other rich people to visit.
- by Thomas Mitchell
Thanks Apple, but we don’t need new emojis. The perfect option already exists
The humble smiley does not pretend to convey a range of complex human emotions. And yet, he somehow does.
- by Deirdre Fidge
Shame on us, we didn’t know what we had until Sizzler was gone
It was the Garden of Eden with its green and white panelling, a beautiful cornucopia of trays full of pretty okay food. And we let it fade away.
- by Rebecca Shaw
Bob Dylan, a great poet? A great delusion more like it
Some of my favourite songs are Dylan songs. But Dylan overvaluation syndrome has afflicted the world for too long.
- by David Free
It’s time to dump Dumbledore and his big hat energy
What does he offer other than a judgemental hat and a sink where he lets all his memories swirl around like off milk?
- by Patrick Lenton
Fact: Kourtney Kardashian is the only Kardashian worth keeping up with
With the Kardashians’ new Disney+ reality series set to debut, it’s time for a closer look at their secret weapon: Kourtney.
Paris Hilton’s Stars Are Blind is the greatest summer song of all time
The track has been forever maligned, the predictable potshots afforded to a song recorded by a world-famous socialite.
- by Robert Moran
Don’t Chop The Dinosaur, Daddy is not even close to being a good ad
Give me the working-class Lube Mobile kid every day of the week.
- by Thomas Mitchell
It’s time to stop pretending Top Gun, and its sequel, are good movies
I honestly don’t think I have ever seen a movie with less imagination than Top Gun: Maverick.
- by Karl Quinn
25 years on, Julia Roberts not getting the guy is iconic
My Best Friend’s Wedding, the subversive 1997 hit by Aussie P.J. Hogan, broke the rules of Hollywood romcom lore.
- by Sinead Stubbins
We’ve forgotten how to read long novels – and we’ll pay the price
I’m making a pitch for Great Big Books – for those literary whoppers that make unashamedly large claims on our time and attention.
- by David Free
High school is not sexy, enough with the glamour teen dramas
Catching a private jet to the Maldives instead of going to Questacon for a school excursion? Please.
- by Patrick Lenton
Help, I care more about the gift shops in galleries than the art
I’ve always been far more comfortable in the bright lights of the souvenir shop than in the hallowed halls of the gallery.
- by Cherie Gilmour
This is your last chance to watch the most underrated show on TV
In its sixth and final season, The Good Fight is still not getting the attention it deserves.
- by Meg Watson
The world gets worse, but public libraries are forever
There’s a place that lets you take home books for free. Why aren’t you there right now?
- by Robert Moran
Push pineapples and shake those trees, this is the greatest novelty song
And while we’re at it, clear a wall in the National Gallery for the 1984 hit performed by anthropomorphic fruit.
- by Elizabeth Flux
These Good News Week duets deserve far more than YouTube obscurity
Underneath their hammed up homoeroticism was a genuine friendship and sense of fun that created a great TV partnership.
- by Michael Koziol
Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/comedy/the-verdict-20230124-p5cf0o.html