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August 2nd, 2013 
Peter Nolan 
Still The Boss despite being 63 … Bruce Springsteen in released on Sunday.
Source: Supplied
BRUCE Springsteen is back, will the DRS raise its ugly head at the cricket tonight but, first, follow our recipe for baked brie with lemon thyme.
Welcome to HomeTime, our 4pm daily bulletin of what to watch on TV, what to cook and today the best of the new releases at the movies.
What movies to see this weekend, with Leigh Paatsch
The Way Way Back, Rated M, 1hr 43mins
Not cliched … AnnaSophia Robb and Liam James star in
Source: Supplied
You have this seen this kind of coming-of-age movie before. All that is missing is narration along the lines of “and after that summer, things would never be the same again.” While this sticky-sweet sentiment is all
THE WAY, WAY BACK
has to say, it is conveyed with such a perfect blend of regret, hope and conviction that it just cannot sound clinched. The lost boy due to find himself in this poignant comedy-drama is Duncan (Liam James), a painfully awkward teen enduring a terrible holiday at the beach house of his mum’s new boyfriend. There are no big performances or heavy moments here. Writing-directing team Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants) keep the tone of their work carefully positioned between funny-bittersweet and funny-sad. It is a difficult zone for a movie to land in – Little Miss Sunshine remains the most successful example in recent memory – but an accomplished acting ensemble including Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Sam Rockwell makes it look deceptively easy. {General release}
The Audience, Rated E, 2hr 34min
For the love of fine acting … Dame Helen Mirren in The Audience.
The filmed stage play
THE AUDIENCE
is breaking all kinds of records in cinemas around Australia. Normally, a special-event offering like this would be over after a fortnight, but public demand remains so strong that it just has stay in release. If you do appreciate acting of the highest calibre, don’t let this impressive production from Britain’s National Theatre pass you by. Helen Mirren returns to her most famous screen role of Queen Elizabeth II for an episodic tale re-creating the monarch’s regular weekly conversations with her various Prime Ministers. These extended chats with the likes of Sir Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and even current British PM David Cameron are in no way the stiff, formal exchanges one would expect. Each individual session bristles with earthy humour, surprising pathos, and most incisive lines of questioning on the part of Her Majesty. {Limited release}
Springsteen &I, Rated M, 2hr 4min
Musicians (L-R) Max Wineburg, singer Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt and Patti Scialfa of the E Street Band speak at the Bridgestone Super Bowl XVLII half time show press conference held at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, 29/01/2009.
You can safely file the unorthodox rock doco
SPRINGSTEEN &I
under homemade, heartfelt and highly enjoyable. Though very much a positive celebration of all things Bruce Springsteen, none of the usual tropes of typical filmed tributes are in evidence. Last year, a worldwide invitation was issued to devotees of The Boss to shoot their own movies about their idol. Phones, tablets and webcams were immediately activated, and the response was a literal deluge of footage. Director Baillie Walsh and his small team of editors have done an incredible job both filtering and collating these raw frames of fandom into a cohesive, persuasive whole. What immediately hits you is that Springsteen’s famed skills as a storyteller par excellence have clearly rubbed off on some of his most fervent followers. Includes 30 bonus minutes of exclusive concert footage at the end. {General release – opens Sunday}
What to see on TV tonight with TV writer Dianne Butler
The Ashes Third Test, Day Two, Fox Sports 2 and GEM from 7.30pm, 3 and a half stars
DRS come back another day … Will Australia’s captain Michael Clarke crack a double century tonight to put the Poms down and out. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Source: AP
Normal people didn’t know what a DRS was until a month ago. Whereas now I feel like many of us could even confidently use the term Hot Spot in conversation. Which is more than any of us can say for those umpires. Why the shock though? Show me the sport where umpiring is in any way shipshape. Let’s just get Brad Scott on the phone, senior coach of the North Melbourne Football Club, and ask him his view on umpiring standards. Obviously you’ll be watching that tonight, North Melbourne versus Geelong, the team his twin brother Chris Scott coaches. And you’ll be able to, and a rugby league game too if you feel like it, Test cricket’s tremendous that way. I turned the cricket on last night, 11, 11.30, David Lloyd was talking about tripe. He thought he was hilarious, especially when he interrupted himself to let everyone know Geoffrey Boycott likes his with vinegar on it. And they cut to a shot of a bewildered old man in a commentary box. Was it Geoffrey Boycott? We’ll never know. Cricket can be very trying. If it’s not Graeme Swann’s costume it’s Shane Warne using Elizabeth Hurley’s bum as a stress ball. At least in Australia we refer to tripe as sweet breads. And gee, those English callers really hold the microphone right up to their mouth don’t they. Have you seen them? It’s not healthy. It doesn’t look healthy and it wouldn’t be healthy for the next person who has to touch it. Have a look tonight. Ian Chappell wouldn’t carry on like that with a microphone if there was a gun at his head.
Friday Night Lights, ONE, 8.30pm 4 stars
The greatest sports series ever … Connie Britton as Tami Taylor, with Kyle Chandler, in the foreground, as Eric Taylor in . (AP Photo/NBC, Bill Records) Picture: Ap
Source: AP
This show, I think you’d find if research was done, is the difference between sports teams winning and losing. Ask anyone, it’s the greatest sports series ever. Name another one though, right? Sure. But this isn’t just about sport. You maybe saw the film, starring Billy Bob Thornton as the football coach. This is one of the only times I can think of where the TV series that came later was better than the movie. And a fair bit better too. I don’t know why exactly but this is season four starting here tonight. I have a vague idea it’s got something to do with the ABC, which had this show and then didn’t run it all. Money problems. It’s going to be worse under Tony Abbott, just remember that. So. Friday Night Lights. If you don’t know the story, it’s basically this: high school football team in Texas, a one-horse town called Dillon, poor, the fake War on Terror is on, football is very, very important. I’m almost crying writing this. Or maybe on the inside. Something terrible happens to the quarterback – get into the habit of saying QB1 so you look like you know what you’re talking about – way back in season one, and it colours the whole series, really. This show feels very real. The pressure from sponsors, for instance. The coach, Eric Taylor, is like their father. A lot of them don’t have fathers. His daughter goes out with one of the big stars. His wife Tami – OK, pretend you’re up to tonight’s episode – is now the principal of the richer rival school which has just come about in a school district split, leaving Coach Taylor in charge of the new East Dillon team, and they’ve got nothing. No money, no players, the ground looks worse than Old Trafford. And the guy he maybe likes for QB1 has only ever played football on a video game.
American Horror Story, FX, Foxtel, 8.30pm 4 and a half stars
What happened to Sister Jude … Sarah Paulson as Lana Winters inPicture: Supplied
Source: Supplied
Only two months away from the start of the next series of this sensational show. I love that this is from the same people who make Glee. This is the last episode of season two and it’s fairly disturbing, but not as disturbing as the line-up on free-to-air tonight. I would suggest moving on to Jana’s recipe for fondue if you haven’t been watching this show, and then making damn sure you watch it when it’s repeated before season three starts in October. Starring many of this cast. No, it’s completely irrelevant that a lot of them died, they’ll be playing different characters. This is the wonderful thing about a supernatural show. So tonight this is what you’ll find out: what happened to Sister Jude – Jessica Lange, scary, yet a very nice dancer – what happened to Kit Walker, who everyone thought was Bloody Face, the terrifying but enterprising killer who skinned women and turned them into lamps, what happened to Dylan McDermott’s character, who was the son of Bloody Face, and whose mother was Lana Winters, the resourceful journalist played by Sarah Paulson. And you will also find out what happened to the hot honeymooners from the very start of the show, the pair who were taking the tour of the asylum where Bloody Face lived, Jenna Tatum and Adam Levine – Channing Tatum’s wife Jenna Tatum and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine. It’s bad. It didn’t happen for real though so I’m OK with it. I think the only thing you won’t find out is WTF were those aliens all about.
What do we need more of, what do we need less of on TV? [email protected]
WHAT TO COOK TONIGHT WITH JANE FRAWLEY, NATIONAL FOOD EDITOR
Naughty but nice … Baked brie with lemon thyme.
Source: Supplied
One of the great gifts of the seventies, along with Star Wars, flared trousers and disco, was the fondue. Sure, this communal dish consisting of veg and bread dipped in a pot of hot cheese had been eaten on the ski slopes of Switzerland forever – God bless the Swiss for nominating it as a national dish – but suddenly it was the hip dish for the dinner party set.
In 2013, the closest thing you’re likely to have come to a fondue is a chocolate fountain. Until now. Thought not quite a cast iron pot bubbling away at the centre of the table, this recipe offers all the salty, oozy, cheesy joy of a fondue without the effort.
Trust us, it’s delicious. Invite friends, buy wine, bake brie and end the week on a high.
Baked brie with lemon thyme
Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Skills: Basic
250g round brie cheese
4 sprigs fresh lemon thyme
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
Crackers, to serve
Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced.
Cut a 22cm circle from baking paper. Place brie in centre of paper. Make 6 small slits in top of cheese. Cut 1 thyme sprig into six pieces. Push thyme and garlic slices into slits. Fold baking paper over brie to enclose. Place on a baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes or until brie is soft.
Remove leaves from remaining thyme sprigs. Finely chop leaves. Sprinkle brie with thyme. Serve with crackers.
Recipe by Cathie Lonnie &Michelle Noerianto from Super Food Ideas.
Photography by Chris L Jones &Andrew Young
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