Forward Thinking: Hoping for better days

Russell Baillie. Photo / NZ Herald

It's feeling like a bit of a cruel month on the entertainment front. There's barely one new movie a week to get excited about week.

Television - apart from some notable local exceptions in This Is Not My Life, Outrageous Fortune and oh all right then, New Zealand's Next Top Model - has come down with a dose of mid-year malaise. Primetime on the free-to-air networks is festooned with dying franchises and bargain bin movies.

Concert-wise, there hasn't been a big Vector Arena show in ages.

Sure, still lots of local gigs - and I was one of the old blokes in black at the first of the Shihad retro shows at the Powerstation last weekend.

I went to the Killjoy night and marvelled at the Peter Pan qualities of the band who have been with us for 22 loud years.

They even encored with It from their debut Devolve EP from 1990, which a teenage Jon Toogood wrote as a metal treatment of the Stephen King novel. Ah, nostalgia. It isn't what it used to be... .

But enough of the mundane past and present. To the future with 10 things I'm really looking forward to - some actual, some just wishful thinking ...

1. To the next local band of enough vintage and enough enduring power to come along and play an old album from start to finish. My mate Richard and I had a discussion about this at Shihad. We came up with the 3Ds but couldn't decide between Hellzapoppin' or The Venus Trail. So both please.

2. To the new series of Wallander. Already seen the first episode and am looking forward to the other two telefeatures. Have a look over at TV Pick of the week.

As Swedish Inspector Kurt Wallander, Kenneth Branagh is the best actor playing a television detective since Helen Mirren played DCI Jane Tennison. And he has to do it while pretending to be foreign and looking a bit crook.

3. To the 80s revival that will result as the cinematic confluence of The Expendables (Sly Stallone puts the old action gang back together) and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Gordon Gekko returns with his very big phone). This too will pass.

4. To the forthcoming album Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin. The unhinged brain of the Beach Boys takes George and Ira to 1960s Malibu and rewires their tunes, man. It has the potential of being pop's answer to Inception for its dream-within-dream layers. Or maybe it ain't necessarily so ... .

5. To the look on Taika Waititi's face if/when he loses the best supporting actor gong at the Qantas Film and Television Awards to young Te Aho Eketone-Whitu - who played the younger brother in Boy. Should be right up there with him feigning sleep at the Oscars that time.

6. To the Gorillaz show at Vector in December. Possibly because it will feature two members of the Clash - Mick Jones and Paul Simonon - which is one more member of the Clash than I have ever seen play live. Rumour is they are also bringing Neneh Cherry as a vocalist too. Yes, a Christmas show with a Cherry on top.

7. To the return of Mad Men. Having based TimeOut's editorial management largely on the model and methods of Don Draper, it would be nice to have some new lines to quip while slugging back another scotch before lunch. Soon please.

8. To get my new iPad. Still hasn't arrived.

9. To Jackass 3D. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 3D. The Last Airbender 3D. ... yes, yes. Just kidding.

10. To the return of 7 Days. They've barely been there a year. How can they be on annual leave so soon?

-TimeOut